#it's just that they have existed in due part because of mutants and magic

[whatudottu]

Hey, I noticed your post on Ectonurite religious practices, and I thought the concepts were very interesting. I’m a big fan of the Anur System myself, to the point I’ve learned how to make languages for them, if that’s not too weird…

In reference to this post-

The 'having a favourite fictional setting' to 'make a conlang' pipeline is all to real Pilgrim, my linguistics teacher let me use mine for my end of term project instead of the assigned analysis (transcribing a conversation between yourself and a friend, which probably would've been useful to study); you wouldn't believe what planet I based it on (don't look at my icon that's cheating :P)

But nah yeah, the Anur System is to me one of my favourite parts of Ben 10 Omniverse since I love horror and horror themed things but hate being scared of them so- the Anur System and the movie monsters that influence their design always has a special place in my head!

Even in my mutants and magic au where I retcon even OS to include more mutants and more magic users and presence where I made the Mummy an actual mummified priest who's attempt at resurrect worked (to the detriment to waking up to the grubby mitts of the British museum) and making Viktor an actual frankenstein's monster who's functionally mutant both to parallel Gwen and Max better (Gwen for magic obviously, Max for being a not-so-ex-Plumber who dealt with more than just alien phenomena but humans doing weird things inspired by old books and other stuff), I can't not still have the entirety of the Anur System still exist! I can't remember who but someone made thep khufan siphonophores and well- riding the coattails of my fulmini posting I got excited over them :P same goes for transylians though I haven't thought much about their potentially interesting biology other than the thought of 'how weird can scar tissue adaptations in biology become' so :P :P :P

[rose-of-oz]

𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗩𝗘𝗟 𝗣𝗟𝗢𝗧 𝗕𝗨𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗘𝗦

Given the recent sort-of resurgence of Marvel OCs in this community, I found my own inspiration revived and decided to make some myself! I actually will very likely be properly introducing all of these (as well as elaborating on my MCU rewrite that actually includes mutants and more comic-accurate stuff, which they all exist in), but for now you can still feel free to ask me questions about any of them!!

Cheryl “Cherry” Marsden a.k.a. Cherry Bomb, she/her, no ship, Margot Robbie FC. A mutant with the power to manipulate energy and use it to create small, brightly-coloured bombs. Surrendered to the Xavier Institute when she was only eleven after showcasing her powers because her parents hated mutants, but ran away at sixteen and started grifting for a “living” because she was too chaotic and pretty much everybody in the mansion hated her. Eventually became a vigilante in Brooklyn, using her powers to take down criminals and corrupt rich people, before she’s approached by the Avengers (completely Tony’s idea, is anyone surprised) because there was a chance she could help them out as a part of the team. Promptly becomes the chaotic aro-ace rep the Avengers needed, inserting herself into their little found family and causing mischief all the while. Incredibly wild and chaotic and takes very little seriously, but incredibly loyal, a good fighter, and a lot smarter than most people assume. Basically she’s just here to save the world and have a good time doing it, and we love that for her.

Raina Lombardi, she/her, Natasha Romanoff (recasted as Jessica Chastain) ship, Monica Barbaro FC. A legacy S.H.I.E.L.D. employee (her great-grandfather was a scientist in the SSR and at least one member of her family has held a job in S.H.I.E.L.D. ever since), but never wanted to become an agent like both of her parents, so she chose to become a combat trainer at the Academy and teach new field agent recruits instead. Has admired Natasha from afar for years, but actually gets to know her after Fury finally convinces her to guest-teach a hand-to-hand lesson at the Academy and they start talking. Never actually goes out on any missions, but does interact with Coulson’s team on occasion and is a big fighter when it’s revealed that HYDRA’s invaded S.H.I.E.L.D. Generally a very serious person who’s incredibly loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. and dedicated to her job (doesn’t really know what to do with herself after the agency collapses, but eventually becomes an MMA instructor), but also has an unexpected wry sense of humour and, despite her slightly intimidating facade, can be very warm and friendly. (Also a big fat lesbian who goes a little bit speechless whenever Natasha does something cool even after they start dating, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Henry Archibald a.k.a. Foresight, he/him, Sharon Carter ship, Tom Payne FC. A mutant with the power of precognition who only gets his visions in dreams, and thus suffers from fairly bad insomnia because they so often scare him and he wants to avoid them. Approached by S.H.I.E.L.D. because Fury thinks his powers might be useful, and Sharon is placed in charge of sort of keeping an eye on him the way she was with Steve, to make sure he doesn’t completely break down. Very reluctant to get close to anyone because he has a tendency to get horrible visions about those he cares about, but he can’t stop himself and eventually they become a really cute couple. Incredibly anxious, quiet, and closed-off due to his powers, but also has a very good heart and would do anything for the people he cares about. Also becomes really good friends with Maria Hill, Bobbi Morse, and most of Coulson’s team, especially Fitzsimmons and Skye.

Apollo Huang, he/they, Bucky Barnes ship, Harry Shum Jr. FC. A sorcerer (a born one, different from a mutant or witch) who moved to Budapest a few years before Bucky runs there after his magic almost gets found out back home in New York, and Bucky finds himself drawn to their stall of luck charms (that don’t actually work), while he finds themself drawn to him because he can sense the pain and dark energy from the past swirling around him. Over the year that Bucky’s hiding out, they find themselves spending more and more time together and falling in love, enough so that Apollo is even willing to reveal their magic and use it to help Steve prove that Bucky didn’t bomb the Sokovia Accords signing (he also almost uses it to kill Zemo later, but that’s a different thing). Playful and humorous, but also gentle and loving and would not hesitate to do anything at all for Bucky or anyone else they care about. Also an incredibly powerful sorcerer and not at all afraid to show off his magic to anyone who will watch.

Sabrina Devereaux a.k.a. Snowbird, she/her, Steve Rogers (recasted as Glen Powell) ship, Minka Kelly FC. A mutant with the ability to create and manipulate ice, snow, and frost, who was sold to a mutant trafficking ring by her parents when she was only thirteen and forced to fight other young mutants for entertainment. Finally ran away and lived on the streets until she was discovered by Clint a few years after he found Natasha and she begged to be brought to S.H.I.E.L.D. and made into an agent once she realized who he worked for, because she wanted to help people the way she and her fellow trafficked youth hadn’t been helped. Created her own suit and codename as an homage to the bird-themed name of the man who’d saved her, and becomes one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s best agents. Brought into the Avengers on Clint and Natasha’s suggestion shortly after the Battle of New York, and quickly becomes close to everyone on the team, as well as falling in love with America’s golden boy. Can be quiet and closed-off because of her past, but also has a lot of inner strength and is incredibly bold and not afraid to speak up for what she believes. Becomes really good friends with Thor and Bruce, and also a very sweet bisexual who has a big crush on Natasha for, like, a solid week after meeting her.

Harald Aamirson, he/him, Loki Laufeyson ship, Dev Patel FC. A knight in Asgard’s Royal Guard who’s been pining for the younger prince from afar since they were both young, hating the way Odin treated him and favoured Thor over him. When he gets assigned as Loki’s new personal guard, they finally start getting to know each other and connecting and even share a kiss, only for it to be revealed that Loki was planning to banish his brother and kill Odin. Thus begins the most complicated on-and-off relationship in all the Nine Realms, but throughout it all there is genuine love and heartbreak and so much care between them. Harald is incredibly dedicated and loyal, the perfect guard, but also a little bit feral (he’s in love with Loki, how could he not be), and isn’t afraid to bend the rules for the sake of the people he cares about. Eventually becomes one of Thor’s most trusted companions, which is definitely funny when you consider how much he used to resent him (they’re cool now, though).

Caroline “Carrie” Flores, she/her, Wanda Maximoff (recasted as Gratiela Brancusi) ship, Melissa Barrera FC. The daughter of one of the HYRDA scientists who had moved to Sokovia to perform human experiments, and although she was never allowed to interact with the subjects, never forgot Wanda and Pietro and the obvious aptitude they showed for abilities before the scientists ever got their hands on them. Due to her rage at her father and the atrocities he committed, became an assassin who hunted down the former HYDRA employees who had gotten away from the Avengers, all the while trying to figure out the secrets of the twins’ powers. Once she’s finally figured out their true parentage and the fact that Wanda is an Omega-level mutant, she finally approaches the Avengers, and through spending time with Wanda, who actually remembers her as well, they eventually fall in love! Carrie has a lot of rage and trauma due to her father’s abuse and the things she did over the years, but she has a lot of love in her heart and desperately craves to be loved the way Wanda loves her. Also, like, Probably Too Comfortable with being covered in blood, but luckily for her Wanda’s kind of into that.

Raymond “Ray” Nakamura a.k.a. Menagerie, he/him, Peter Parker ship, Ryan Potter FC. A mutant with the power to transform into any animal he wishes, who plays off the green hair that comes with his mutation and mostly just tries to fly under the radar, but eventually gets inspired by Spider-Man and decides to take to the streets as his own kind of vigilante named Menagerie - only to accidentally run into a maskless Spider-Man one night and discover that the insect-themed vigilante is actually the awkward guy who sits beside him in English. Ray decides to reveal himself to Peter as well and becomes a Friend of Spider-Man, and eventually they also fall in love and become a really cute superhero couple. Very sarcastic and blunt, but with a heart of gold, and incredibly brave and always ready to fight for what’s right and for the people he cares about. Also becomes besties with MJ, and they have fun judging people together.

Callisto, they/she pronouns, Peter Quill (recasted as Jensen Ackles) ship, Felicity Jones FC. A half-human, half-Asgardian hybrid who grew up with their Terran mother on Xander, until she was killed by a small Kree militia group during an attack and Callisto was taken to become a Kree battle slave at the age of eleven. Ran across Yondu’s band of Ravagers during a Kree mission, and Yondu, being reminded of his own past, decided to take her in, so she grew up with Peter until he left to strike out on his own and Callisto stayed with the Ravagers, and actually started to resent him for what they saw as him leaving her behind. When Peter steals the Orb, Yondu decides it would be best to send Callisto after him since they already have a grudge against him but will still bring him back alive - of course, she doesn’t expect Rocket, Groot, and Gamora to also be there and winds up shipped to the Kyln with the rest of them, and over the course of the group’s adventures actually starts to want to punch Peter less and less. An incredibly good fighter who’s amazing with almost any weapon, and the best sharpshooter in Yondu’s Ravager band. Very fierce and intense and, on the surface, a lot like Gamora, but actually has a chaotic streak much like Peter’s that they’ve tried to tamp down, and at the end of the day just wants to be loved and not left alone like she was before. Actually becomes really good friends with Rocket, and eventually the whole team comes to dead the shenanigans they get up to when left alone together.

Tagging the Marvel moots: @dancingsunflowers-ocs,

@ginevrastilinski-ocs, @xoteajays, @gabbysdawsons,

@stelstellakidd, @come-along-pond, @juliaswickcrs,

@asirensrage, @themaradwrites,

@goldheartedchaoticdisaster.

[catzncoffee]

Pacific Rim x Rottmnt

Okay so this might be a little far fetched but-

Hear. Me. Out.

So the human government fucked with kraang tech after the apocalypse.

Because of fucking course they did.

Enter the massive fucking Monsters × Kraang DNA when they decided to try and re create the Ooze Draxum created by using the kraang blood. They thought they could use the kraang they captured alive (sister kraang) to control them. They were proven very VERY wrong when the monsters ripped apart and ate Sister Kraang in front of them.

Round two of the apocalypse, except now it's entirely the humans fault.

Humans and Yokai are forced to combine technology within their governments on the down low, both resentful of the other and committed to hiding the fact Yokai are involved from humanity.

The mechs are a result of this team up. The link in the mind field between two pilots was done by the Yokai, and they stated the rules of this spell had to be very specific. The two have to be genetically compatible, not related, just compatible. There cannot be any strain on the spell or it WILL break with bad consequences. The two pilots will be linked mind and soul, they will know every part of one another, so choose the pilots very wisely. For the first few times, they won't be linked as deeply, but once the link sets in there is no hiding.

The humans main contribution was the weaponry section of this team up. Humans are cruel and violent, and they are much smarter then the yokai gave them credit for, as the yokai come to learn. The mechs are built with weaponry mixed with magic, nuclear power cells they some how managed to contain flowing next to veins of pure magic engraved into the mech. It was terrifying and efficient.

Both groups were now far more wary of the other now that they knew how effective the other was.

The mutants, however, were an outlier in all of the secrets, much to the ire of both governments. The yokai all knew what had happened by now, they'd seen the humans be turned into something like themselves, and they simply saw them as strange outlying yokai.

Tho, the term 'Mutant' was widely considered a slur in Yokai society, so you can imagine what that said about behind the scenes opinions. That being said, they did accept them into jobs and accepted help from them.

The humans of the general population didn't know much, but the apocalypse had broadcast the 'covered up' existence of Mutants. (Specifically a certain few turtles, a rat, and some other odd sightings in NYC)

Most didn't care, or outright denied their existence along with the government, but to those who knew they were out there, the had two, and only two, reactions.

One was they thought they were weird but didn't care as long as they were useful.

The other was pure hatred.

Now mutants were not accepted in the human government so they could not be pilots (so ruled the government officials 🙄😒) and any Yokai pilot was hidden from the public, but that didn't mean it had never happened.

To be exact there has been exactly One mutant pilot who faked being a Yokai to become one. Splinter. Why wasn't he outed? Because his co pilot was Draxum.

(Rest of AU below Cut)

But Draxum made a discovery during this (that will be revealed later 😁) that was crucial to future success. Naturally, of course, what ever he told the governing bodies of both groups had him kicked out. Splinter wasn't ever discovered seeing as he slipped away after Draxum was kicked.

Now the Turtle Bois have been through it. They stopped the apocalypse. And they all have lasting trauma from that, only for the human government to create what are basically giant kraangs again. And this time they are literally not even allowed to help.

Donnie was literally connected to the fucking technodrome so he can literally hear when a new one is moving and he can't fucking stand it. He still can't eat anything slimy and rarely if ever takes his battle shell off. He now gets splitting mindgrains due to the technodrone as a side effect.

Raph is blind in one eye due to the kraang take over. He also got an extra boost to strength that he despises with every once of him. He had already been having nightmares because of the kraang forcing him to harm his brothers. Way to psychologically damage a guy. He's now terrified of his own strength, especially towards his brothers.

Mikey is an artist, and an acrobatic fighter. His hands were nearly shattered, he had to re learn how to use them, and they still have episodes where they shake or hurt. His magic awakened but he had to do so much training to just contain it that he's exhausted. He's desperately trying to comfort his brothers and dad's in a healthy way but there's only so much one turtle can do.

Then there's Leo.

Leo is in an extreme self destruction spiral and not a single one of his family members knows how bad it actually is. Why? Because he's the face man! He extends every ounce of energy he has into his latest and greatest act ever: Leo Is Perfectly Fine And Normal! And the whole world is his stage. He rarely sleeps, barely eats and has put his entire being into perfecting his portals and strategies. You need a portal? He can get you to the exact place you want in two seconds, he's absolutely become a beast in battle with his portals, and his strategies (Even all the ones he keeps hidden, and all the back up plans after back up plans, after back up-) are all working down to the last letter. Ask him when he last slept and he'll say last night ofc ( -for exactly one minute, and suddenly he was back in the prison dimension and he's dying again and WIPETHATGRINOFFY-) So don't even worry about it. (He still feels immense guilt and is absolutely convinced the apocalypse, fucking both of them, are all his fault. The mechs are holding on but for how long? They keep multiplying. Not one person in his family knows exactly how close he was to dying except for Draxum, who treated him. He genuinely hates himself and believes he shouldn't have been returned from There but needs to live to be of use to his family. )

So yeah. They aren't doing great. So during a full two years the boys fight their normal villans and a few new ones (who the fuck is Usagi any ways, whys he keep going for Leo, what's up with the samurai thing? - Donnie ) and the Mechs hold up against the Kraang Kijus that just keep appearing?!?! However no one realizes that the humans did something incredibly stupid. They cut ties with the Yokai after creating suits that wouldn't need the mind field and were more 'efficiently human'. The Yokai also were convinced they would be fine after developing a barrier to seal their city away that was 'supposedly' strong enough to hold against the Kraang Kiju. This happened only shortly after Draxum was kicked, so there are only a few depots left that have the original mechs with trained pilots.

Then the mechs the humans built start failing.

In a panic the original suits are discharged to multiple places in a frenzy, and three more are destroyed, leaving only three depots left holding genuine mechs, and all of them are furthest away from Kiju hot spots (because of fucking course the government would try and hide them away when they thought they had made something better.)

So now not only are they low on the mechs, but also pilots who can use them since most have died off.

Things kick off when April decides to go into pilot training at one of these outposts right when the human-only made mechs begin to fail and she learns to true nature of what's been happening behind the scenes. Which she immediately tells her mutant family about.

Draxum and Splinter both get recall messages around the same time.

The boys are distraught in all different ways.

Donnie is horrified when he realizes that this is why his head has been hurting so badly and he senses so much, the Kiju were evolving. Raph is immediately panicked that something is going to happen again where he will be possessed by this newer version of the Kiju. Mikey is terrified that his family might get torn apart again and that his magic isn't enough to stop it. Leo spirals even further, tossing himself aggressively into training and strategies, except now he's added the pilot training he isnt supposed to know about by swiping training videos and textbooks. (He also starts to portal. Anywhere. Everywhere. He searches for absolutely any sign of the Kraang creatures because this is ALL HIS FAULT)

When Draxum is recalled to the main base where the Yokai-Human mechs have been gathered, he reveals to the Captain there what he had discovered. Mutants, and those who match with them, are the most ideal and in sync pilots with the mechs technology, most likely due to being a mix of yokai and human DNA just as the mechs are a mix of human and yokai technology.

The boys are immediately called in to train as Pilots (obviously)

Donnie excells in being entirely connected to the mechs, and knows how to work with them, repair them, and upgrade them almost instantly.

Mikey's magic interacts nearly perfectly with the magic within the mechs, and his understanding of people and sociology makes him extremely ideal in a partnered scenario.

Raph is excellent at using his enormous amounts of strength to use the heavier mechs, and his kind personality makes it easy to work with him.

Leo Flys through training (to a concerning degree to the Captain) with extreme skill. He acts as if he's lazy or aloof, but pilots a mech in training as if it were an extention of himself, very similar to how Donnie does, but to a less mechanical degree. His stratigical work is nearly immaculate, (though he never tells his full plan as the Captain notices) and is extremely charming.

April is an excellent pilot as well, a hard worker with huge amounts of energy and drive, as well as being extremely Personable. (The Captain would like to note that the girl is noticeably possessed by a teaching spirit that makes her much wiser than her years in battle. Creepy. But very effective. )

April and Raph turn out to be a very good match, which was surprising considering that most thought she and Donnie would be partners. Their mech is a heavy hitter, heavily armored and, when Raphs ninpo is activated, can be the absolute strongest hitter in the battle.

Donnie and Mikey team up and their mech is used for maneuverability and very effective weaponry. Donnie is able to produce any weaponry with his Ninpo for the mech while Mikey's ninpo is able to make the mech move and float with ease, along with the specialty chain Donnie made for Mikey's side of things. All in all, a deadly duo.

Leo is the resident strategist, the man in the chair if you will, the face man who deals with the government officials when they get antsy about mutants and yokai being involved with the mechs (alongside Draxum and the Captain, but Leo is dangerously effective at it) and most of all, the emergency back up. See, Leo is compatible with all of his siblings (including April, fight me she IS their sister) however he has never gone past a single meld with any of them. (Cause you know, gotta hide that mental illness ey Leo?) He says he's 'more of a solo act' as an excuse which mostly everyone buys. He's filled in for Raph and April both once, and once for Donnie ( But hasn't ever melded with his twin, maybe because he knows Donnie will meld with him fully right away).

Leo's biggest contribution is his portals, which he's become extremely good at, almost overnight in his family's eyes. So that problem about the mechs being too far from the hot spots? No longer an issue with Leo around. Within a mech, Leo can summon a sword and is able to make a few, very critical, portals while in the mech. He's only portalled twice within a mech before and it was in emergency situations. (He hid the fact that both jumps had him nearly passing out and Violently ill afterwards best he could.)

Draxum and Splinter are only to be deployed as a last resort, same as Leo.

This is all working very effectively until they realized exactly why the monsters have been evolving.

The kraang kiju managed to figure out where a very large store of empyrian was.

In the Hidden City.

They sniffed it out and now they were trying to get to it, and to do that they were forcing themselves to evolve within the place they dug out as a nest, deep under water. Then they were going out, getting as close as they could before they were stopped, then forcing themselves to evolve to get closer to their goal.

Apparently eating Sister Kraang had given them a taste for empyrian, and they were starving for more.

The plan was to blast the nest to finally eradicate them before the 'bad timeline' apocalypse but revised came to be. However a particularly nasty Kraang Kiju damaged Donnie and Mikeys mech in a solo battle, and Mikey was injured. Raph and April were deployed to another depot that was under heavy fire, that they are now realizing is by design of the Kraang, to attack one place heavily to divert them away from their goal. Then, they sent the heavy hitter to get to the finish line. They managed to stop it but barely. Splinter and Draxum were deployed to buy time for what had to come next.

Que Leo needing to be paired with Donnie. On paper they were the most compatible pair out of everyone. They're fighting styles would link perfectly in the mech, the fact that, in their human DNA, they ARE actually twins (partially if that makes sense?) And their mind link has been estimated to be one of the few that will set in immediately. Leo however is adamant that it is a horrible idea, to the extreme confusion of Donnie. Because. Leo was the one who had insited the two where twins. They fought, but they were extremely close. Hell the two were called ' the twin Naturals' in the hangar by pretty much anyone who was watching them train.

To counteract what he knew was coming, the Capitan ordered that it would be himself, Splinter, Draxum and the twins ONLY when they link the twins up within the mech. (Minimizing who sees what was going to happen, to which Leo is extremely grateful.) He says to minimize distractions and people believe him. Except Donnie, because at this point he knows something is up. So they go to the hanger where there's an unused mech that's been matched up with the two (The Mech is called Nightshade don't ask me why)

The two link and immediately it's just.

Hell. That is the only thing Donnie can describe in Leo's headspace. He feels absolutely everything Leo has been feeling, had been doing to his body, sees the Prison Dimension Leo was trapped in, the same one Leo sees whenever he closes his eyes, can hear the Kraang and every awful thing that godawful monster did or said to his twin. Can feel the overwhelming guilt, the absolute hatred of himself, the pure exhaustion that Leo slaps a smile over as if it were a bandaid, the way he obsessively trained his ninpo, his fighting, his piloting and his mind and Donnie just. Gets lost in this absolute tital wave of pure fucking PAIN.

So naturally the mech goes out of fucking control, and the two are disconnected as soon as possible.

Leo portals off, but not before the Captain jumps through after him, and Donnie is left absolutely distraught and disturbed with Splinter and Draxum.

Donnie genuinely can't think for once because what? Leo has been the most confident, collected and cocky person Donnie had ever seen for his whole life. That was his twin. The one who cracked jokes and made sure every single one of his brothers was okay. The only one who got exactly what Donnie was trying to say without him even having to say it, the one who spotted him getting too overwhelmed before anyone else, the face man, the one with a plan for everything. That? That had been the opposite of everything Donnie had even known about his brother, and his world veiw has just been knocked violently off its axis. He had felt his brother DYING. Felt the life sliping away as Leo floated in that hell dimension before Mikey got to him. And before Mikey got to him? That wasn't just 7 minutes. Leo had been gone to them 7 minutes, but Leo had been trapped in there for so much longer with what Donnie now knows to be from a Time dilation effect. He's terrified about what this has done to Leo, how close they were to losing him before and how close they were to losing him now when they didn't even know.

Leo is being tackled to the ground on the roof of some building in Canada in early winter because the Captain needs to keep him from portaling away. Again. The two eventually manage to establish that Leo isn't going anywhere and they just. Sit for a second. And because Leo can't handle silence he just starts talking. He talks about exactly what he went through during the invasion. How he started it. How he was irresponsible and dumb during the whole thing. How he almost lost Raph. How Casey Jr. had told him how he'd caused the deaths of everyone. How he'd ordered his twin to pilot the technodrone. How he'd fought and realized exactly what needed to be done, his life needing to be sacrificed. How he'd entered that dimension and gotten absolutely beaten to shit. How close he'd come to dying, life slipping away with that picture of his family being the only thing he could focus on for what felt like an eternity.

Then the aftermath.

Mikeys poor hands, Donnie's shell and head, Raphs eye and paranoia. The guilt he held for all of it and how he destroyed himself as penance for his existence. The hours he poured into the numerous plans and strategies and the back ups to the back ups of those plans. The second coming of the kraang. How it made his mind turn even darker and made him push himself to be better, stronger, faster, smarter. How he stole the training textbooks and guides as a preemptive measure. And how he worked himself even harder here, knowing how crucial his role as resident Portaler was, and how he started all of this so it didn't matter what it did to him.

The Captain sits silently through all of this (frankly horrifying) explanation and gathers one thing: This was a Child fucking soldier. Leo was 17 when he counted his own life as forfeit. He was 19 now, and in another war. And he blamed himself for it, even though it was the fault of the people trying to open it in the first place, and the Kraang for being the most evil bastards to exist. So he tells Leo this. And Leo just breaks down. Finally, because this boy has been due for a breakdown for a very long time. It was kind of a miracle he was even alive with how badly he was straining himself.

So Leo portals back and is immediately hit with a certain soft shell who, while he does not speak a word, will not let go of Leo. At all. The two end up being ordered back to their rooms, although they both end up in Donnies room because Donnie had quite literally created a death grip on Leo and Draxum nearly lost a finger when he tried to get him off. (The captain stopped Splinter and Draxum from going after the twins cause they needed to talk, and also, YOUR CHILDREN HAVE TRAUMA and the Captain has words that need to be said about how severe it is.)

So Donnie and Leo are just sitting there clinging to each other because Holy fuck they need comfort right now. And Donnie asks why Leo would ever hate himself for something that wasn't his fault, and Leo breaks down crying, and telling Donnie about how sorry he is that he caused him to get hurt and even killed in the bad timeline. Donnie stops him immediately and hits him with the fact that he is Donnies twin, and he is not fucking allowed to die, or wish he were dead, or be left anywhere fucking NEAR that hellscape because Donnie needs him right here. Not a single goddamn thing that happened was Leo's fault, no matter how much he thought that one small mistake with not getting that key made it that way, it was Not. His. Fault. (Also he will be having WORDS with Casey Jr. because while Donnie can logically say that Jr. was going through, and had gone through a lot of shit, not one person on this goddamn fucking earth can look Donnie's twin brother in the eye and tell him that the deaths of his entire family were on his head and get away without Donnie getting a word or two in. Not that he tells Leo this of course.)

The two try the link again and oh fuck, Donnie still ends up in the Hellscape of Leo's fucked up memories and feelings. After failing once more, Donnie pleads with Leo to try again, cause he was just not ready for it that time, they've got this. If Leo can hold steady with all this running through his head on a good day and take on Donnies trauma at the same time, then by fucking God, so can Donnie, his twin.

So they try for a third time.

The third time goes significantly better. Leo spirals again at first, chasing the rabbit, but Donnie is right there with him, telling him he wasn't alone, and he would never be alone in this so get up and fight with him. And because Leo absolutely loves his twin more than he could possibly hate himself, he does.

And boy were people right when they estimated that Donnie and Leo as a Team WORK. The two fit perfectly as a mech pilot team, and that mech is now possibly the most deadly thing they've ever let onto the field. See, Mikey had Skill and Restraint, while Donnie had extreme intellect and Skill. But Leo has Skill, strategy, and a drive to do ANYTHING necessary to succeed.

Restraint? The Disaster Twins? Never.

The two obliterate the evolved Kraang Kiju and head to the nest with the charges and get two in place. Then the nest lets out three of the evolved Kraang Kiju and things take a turn. Draxum and Splinter are deployed to help, as the final thing needed is the charge to be dropped straight down the middle, but before they can get it down all the way the Kiju land a massive hit, one that sets off the charge too early and damages both mechs. Donnies side is unresponsive, so Leo is about to eject him, as he cant singular portal while connected to the mech. Donnie however catches on and stops him, saying dont you fucking dare. Before he can do anything though (like sacrifice himself again) Splinter and Draxum send out a group message through the coms. Their mech is already falling down into the nest, as their mobility and thrusters are completely offline, and the mech is already leaking radiation. They tell everyone that they are pushing the self destruct, and will act as the final bomb. The dad's tell the boys and April that they love them and turn off the coms, and push the button, comforting each other as they die. Leo ejects both him and Donnie (he couldn't portal the mech considering how bad of shape he was in and the fact that the mech was also beginning to leak radiation) then portals the two ejection pods back to the hanger before the nest explodes. They are Greeted by Raph and April who had made it just slightly too late, a wheelchair confined Mikey and the Captain, and all of the siblings comfort each other through the loss of both of their parents (or in April's case, Parental figures.)

The Captain checks them for injuries and makes sure their settled and WILL be compensated for the rest of their lives ( He literally threatens the government into it, with surprising help from the Yokai, who realized halfway through the evolved Kiju arc that the barrier would not hold, and those turtles just saved their lives, AGIAN)

The Captain ends up going to live with the boys in the sewer, seeing as he had nowhere else to be now that the war against the Kiju was over, and helping them adjust with the loss of the parents. (Also figuring out that no, the police were absolutely not the ones stopping literally all of the mutant and even some human crime, that was these guys the whole time.)

Also Leo finally gets therapy through Donnie telling Senor Hueso (who is basically what Draxum was to Mikey for Leo) about all of the shit that happened and that WAS happening that Leo hid. Que Senor Hueso immediately getting Leo a therapist who he made absolute sure was neutral about Mutants, and having regular check ups on Leo. The rest of the family learns that Leo has been struggling (though Donnie is the only one who knows intimately what Leo has gone through and the explanation of all of this was a watered down version of what Leo told the Captain)

And the family is horrified, and they all make sure that everyone in the family is open about the issues that have happened and work on getting better. Leo's therapist also sets up therapists for the rest of the boys too, because they definitely need it, as soon as they hear about what happen to Leo's brothers as well.

(Bonus Points if Future!Leo is the Captain for added feels((He wore a cloaking broach to appear human and only trained the pilots for combat, never actually connected to one))☺️ Plus a Splinter/Draxum love confession in their final moments.)

(Also lemme know if anyone likes this kind of thing, have a bunch sitting in my notes app from a bunch of diffrent fandoms)

[dunno-u-decide]

Y'know what will be fun, if the Order of the Phoenix react to Madoka Magica, as well learning about the Ancient magical girl who wish their existence, and watching rebellion oh it will soo fun reading their reactions and how the wishes of the these girls change the history of humanity itself

Dumbledore especially would have an interesting reaction to Madoka Magica, specifically Kyubey. Kyubey is manipulating and sacrificing countless adolescent girls to keep the universe alive, not too different from convincing students who just graduated from your school to fight a war. Even if Dumbledore's methods are kinder than Kyubey's, it doesn't change the fact that it is still manipulation, and I think Dumbledore would see that. While he still might consider some sacrifices necessary, especially with Madoka's sacrifice in the end, I think it would cause his regrets and guilt to weigh him down more, leading him to try to be more fair, even if only a little more.

I imagine the more impulsive/less emotionally intelligent members of the Order would be haters of Kyosuke and Hitomi for their role in Sayaka's fall to despair until someone else has to explain that no, they weren't at fault, it was the result of an unfair system that Sayaka was tricked by.

Harry probably sees himself in Madoka, both being young adults with the weight of the world on their shoulders, and maybe he thinks that if he's going to die, he wants to make a lasting impact the way Madoka did.

Snape would relate heavily to Kyoko and Homura, since they were all lonely due to the loss of a loved one and are loyal enough to their loved ones that they'd die for them. I think if teenage him saw Madoka Magica, he'd see why Lily hated the Death Eaters: she didn't care about having a powerful friend, she cared about having a friend who would do the right thing even when it was hard.

My personal headcanon for Lily is that her relationship with Snape was similar to Iroha and Kuroe's in season 3 of the Magia Record anime; Lily wanted to help Snape, but didn't truly understand his situation, so she couldn't give him the help he needed. Of course, part of that is because of Snape's fear of being vulnerable, but I think before she died, Lily came to this realization on her own and had regrets on how she handled her friendship with Snape. I think if teenage her saw Madoka Magica, she would've realized Snape was hiding a lot of pain, and knowing how to approach him might've saved their friendship.

It would be especially interesting how the Marauders would react. I imagine that for teenage them, with the exception of Remus, a lot of the nuance would fly over their heads, like Sayaka's fall to despair and why Mami went crazy in timeline 3. Adult James might be able to pick up on the nuance, but I don't think adult Sirius or Peter would.

Homura usurping the Law of Cycles is definitely going to be a big shock to the Order. On the one hand, they might understand why Homura went so far, but on the other hand, they still recognize that what she did was ultimately selfish and will likely have bigger consequences down the road.

Discovering the ancient Magical Girl is definitely gonna be a shock. Knowing that wizards all gained their powers from a muggle girl is definitely going to impact pureblood rhetoric, since it essentially confirms that purebloods don't actually exist. Also, considering Dementors are actually Familiars, I imagine that Magical Girls, or Boys for that matter, are the only ones able to kill them, unless a Magical Girl lends her power to a wizard.

Though, I wonder how that would work in a world with the Law of Cycles, since the Nightmare Witch wouldn't exist there. Maybe instead, the Dementors are mutant Wraiths that found a way to feed off of the magical barrier around the Earth created by the ancient Magical Girl's wish.

... That was a lot of rambling.

See also:

The Truth About Magic and Dementors

The Nightmare Witch and Harry

[taowashere]

ROTTMNT theory time :)))

Spoilers for the entire series + movie

This is pure speculation and fun, and will only be supported by the lore of ROTTMNT not any other show.

So basically I’ve been trying to figure out how these badass overpowered mystic powers work because it’s more confusing than any fandom lore I’ve read so here’s a theory about that + a little more thoughts on mystic powers as a whole

One big point before I go all out on this theory, anyone can have mystic powers. They can be human, mutant, yokai, even the Kraang, all living beings can harness mystic powers with the correct training. This is slightly proven by Warren Stone being able to use an mystic stone without problems, April and Cassandra being able to use Aprils mystic Bat, and when April gets hamato ghost possessed by Karai.

So let’s get on with the main theory.

In the final episode, “Rise” Big Mama reveals something crucial to the show as a whole that the fandom didn’t really know about(due to the second season being hard to watch). When the turtles need her help to find out where Shredder has taken Splinter and Draxum, she says

“To harness a life force you would need the source of all yokai power, enperian”

Then when Shredder finds this ‘enperian’ it’s revealed that it came from a single Kraang who died either in battle or from crashing into the Crying Titan

From what we can concur, the Yokai (from Big mama be know “We yokai have existed for thousands of eons”) must have evolved from the blood/engine fuel from the dead Kraang. This being the very source of all mystic magic, but than what is Ninpo? I believe it’s just an technique that the Hamato clan learned to fight the Shredder. (Similar to demon slayer, how humans have found ways to defeat demons with ancient arts if you need a comparison)

Another point about mystic magic, is that it cant directly be accessed without unlocking it. I think weapons at the beginning of the series are more like a catalyst for the turtles to harness their inner power.

The weapons only unlock a small part of the turtles real power, such as Leo’s portals becoming twin katanas that teleport wherever the other is, Mikey’s “wip”becoming nunchucks that can extend and light on fire, and Raphs force fields becoming a lot bigger and durable. We’ll talk Donnie in a minute because he’s a special case. But thanks to the mystic weapons the turtles learn and adapt to their powers and train themselves around them.

“What about you, Donnie? Don’t you want a glow-y weapon?”

“No, I’m good. I’ll never let you go.”

It’s made clear from the first episode Donnie is the most reluctant about “mystic magic.”

Even if he’s against the emphasis on mystic magic, he doesn’t try and stop it entirely, he more try’s to find a way to make sense of it. In the episode “Donnie vs Witchtown” (or Hidden City Adventures II) he’s very adamant on being against the whole idea of something he can’t explain.

“Because, I’m the Science Guy! If mystic powers can do everything I can do but better, than why would you guys even need me?”

The whole “being insecure about your role on the team thanks to something that you can’t avoid” might have been dragged out a bit more in the series(if a certain company didn’t cut the second season in half and postponed the show). But Donnie being insecure, is the driving reason his mystic powers were so delayed. It’s hard for Donnie to accept mystic magic but when he finally does his powers start to awaken.

So these powers are awaken through acceptance, possible training, and a catalyst for those powers? Not exactly, but you’re on the right track.

We have to look in the future to understand how to trigger these powers. It’s seen in the first few minutes of the ROTTMNT movie how powerful F!Mikey mystic powers have grown. Even Casey Jr. awes at his powers and through his description of F!Mikey we know he was incredibly powerful.

“You are the most powerful mystic warrior the world has ever known. With those two hands, you send me back in time”

F!Mikey is even foreshadowed in the first episode of the show. When the turtles lose April after she tried to save Mayhem, it’s Mikey who recognizes the hidden city symbol from splinters “do not touch shelf”

“Oh, hey! I’ve seen this before! In fact, we all have.”

It’s Mikey who assessed the portal to the hidden city

"How about we let the artist of the crew take a poke at it?"

And Mikey is the first of the turtles to awaken his weapon the ‘Kusari-fundo Nunchaku.’

"Whoa. Magic weapon”

That begs the question, why exactly is it Mikey who’s the Badass mystic warrior? Why couldn’t it be Donnie or Raph, maybe even Leo? What separates Mikey from his brothers that makes him so powerful in the future?

Out of all his brothers Mikey does have one big attribute that his brothers all lack in, his ability to be vulnerable, and being in touch with his emotions. His biggest strength and weakness is his empathy and emotional intelligence, unlike his brothers whom are very dishonest with their emotions and problems. It’s seen thought the show his emotions and feelings land him into difficult circumstances and often get him in trouble without one of his brothers to to stop him from getting hurt.

“Look, Mikey, repo men have to be mean, and I don’t know if you know this, but you’re kind of a softie."

"That really hurts my feelings! Oh, you have a point. But I can do this. Hard as nails.”

“I heard something.”

“A model train. Simple answer.”

So with his more open mind and emotional vulnerability his mystic powers grew. This could also support the real reason Donnie could really use his powers. He’s the most emotionally distant of the brothers, being so uneducated on them he doesn’t know some of the basic emotions that people feel.

So in conclusion, mystic powers come from a lot of different things. They can be awaken though the acceptance that magic truly exists. They can be harnessed through a catalyst that enables the user control over them. And the thing that triggers and fuels them are emotions. Plus spending years training them will result in you basically becoming Dr. Strange.

Yes very confusing but if you want more evidence then you can just watch season 1 and the movie and pay attention to their mystic powers.

But that’s just a theory, a Rise theory!

[disenchantedif]

may i ask for more information about the magical society and human society?? im confused by it, sorry. mainly in how the magical community is so tight-knit and huddles its people into magical spaces (like you said theres only one magical college in this area?). like id like to hear more about that, especially since i assume through chekov's gun that humans/hiding from them is going to be important later? i apologize if i am nearing spoilers. i ask because it's part of why i decided to play a banshee, because they look so human, that i assume having more human-passing characters would be advantagous to the team haha

(i guess i could just be confused in the sense that i am misreading, in which case i apologize. i hope i am not missing the mark totally in what ive processed about this world's lore and relationship with humans)

id also like to hear about why the characters are designed like they are in the sense of "why not more monstrous, why are they so human-looking naturally?" at first I assumed it was because of glamors but then i realized then that Vik would have no horns and Theo no wings and so on with glamors activated. and im asking out of genuine curiosity, not judgement or entitlement; i love character design so im curious why you decided on this relatively high percentage of humanness over a lower (really monster them up basically) or even higher (like Harry Potter and the like where everyone's human, even nonhumans really) percentage. because it seems like theyd still need glamors to interact with humans outside of their secret-society to cover up several traits, but also they wouldn't need much. in most stories i read or urban fantasy, it's either Harry Potter No Glamors Needed We All Pass As Humans™️ or its something where characters have a really monstrous true design that looks very little like their human-glamor-disguise form. what you decided is neither of those things, so im really curious what made you decide that because i dont see it often! (/tone indicactor: i swear to god i dont mean for this to sound critical, im just curious and i think i worded this well enough to convey that im only feeling curiosity but i SUPER apologize if my tone implies judgement)

admittingly, i am more of a monster-fucker than most so i am more used to Katee Robert's The Dragon Bride, if not a full-on dragon love-interest, than i am a dragon like Viktor haha but, again, i do like your designs! im just curious on why that percentage of humanness, basically, in addition to my aforementioned question about this magical society's relationship with humans. your desired percentage reminds me a lot of X-Men's typical idea of mutants (like more Wolverines and Cyclopses over Beasts and Nightcrawlers, if that makes sense) which is oddly nostalgic for me, it makes me miss the X-Men cartoons i used to watch hahaha

So, when it comes to the different supernaturals, you have to understand that there are far more humans in the world. That means a lot of intermixing and typically a lot more human genes as a result.

As I’ve said before, there are totally cambion that are literally half demon (typically they have horns and their eyes are fully black, etc.) and draca with more dragon blood (Vik’s mom is fully human so he and his siblings don’t have wings and the more prominent draca traits aside from horns and slitted pupils).

Sirens are probably the most “supernatural” looking, because of the eyes that glow in the dark, the gills, the claws, the sharp teeth. That’s also because siren pods are more secluded groups that really only interacts with other pods.

As for the magical society’s relationship with humans, the obviously supernatural looking individuals do require glamour as humans at large are not aware of the supernatural.

For example; if an assault or murder were to happen on college grounds, supernatural police officers would be contacted over human police officers due to pre-existing placements on police forces across the world.

The Council, which is the supernatural governing body in each country, has their own officers within the police force that use magic to ensure the continued safety of other supernaturals (though keep in mind the police can still be just as corrupt as the institutions they serve, magical or not).

They use things like mind manipulation and the like to ensure they can detain supernaturals safely to reduce human casualties while maintaining the secrecy of their world.

However, human standards and morals have long since infiltrated the supernatural community. It’s why nephilim are so trusted despite the majority of the old families being corrupt politicians. It’s an interesting relationship to be certain.

[gornackeaterofworlds]

Posting to expand on just what my au is/what's going on. It's not simply a human remake, though it did start out that way. Chronologically:

Draxum hates humanity. That much is canonical to the show. But where it diverges in my au is his process of making mutants. Instead of taking animals and mixing their DNA with people(Lou specifically), he took "abandoned" human eggs to mix with Lou's DNA to form an embryo and *then* mix it with animal DNA. However, after doing the Lou portion first is when Yoshi was able to break free, taking the test tube babies with him. So they weren't able to be mutated, and neither was he.

The age differences went like this: Draxum used Raph's egg as a test to see if it worked. Once the embryo stabilized, he then did Donnie and Leo, and a few months into their incubation was Mikey. He had been waiting until they were born babies to mix them with animal DNA, but due to his ignorance on baby care Raph had a sickly period and the entire thing was shoved off.

How did they not recognize their father as Lou Jitsu? He's old! In my au he was Lou from age 20 to 28, trapped in the battle nexus until age 34/35, and then it's another 13 years until his sons find out he's Lou Jitsu. So he definitely looks different. And that's intentional, on his part. He was wanted by not only Draxum but Big Mama, and thus the entire Hidden City authorities on her payroll. He grew out his hair, restyled it, dressed much less flashy. And raising 4 sons all alone as a criminal put some greys in his hair, for sure.

Are there still mutants in the au? Of course! That entire aspect is the same, minus the fact the boys and Splinter are mutants. Though, because of their whole "we're the children of two presumably dead people and also live in the sewers", they're just as tolerant. Also, Piebald is a mutant still.

Who is their mother/egg donor? An original character named Cyra Raheem. She was a founder and data analyst for a software development company, which is a fancy legal way of saying she was a "hacker". She'd stored and frozen her eggs in the hope that she'd one day have the free time for children, but disappeared sometime shortly after Lou Jitsu was taken into yhe Battle Nexus. The eggs stayed frozen for a few years after, until Draxum sought a maternal "donor", and her past high status in illegal spaces caught his attention. Finding out she had eggs in cryopreservation was a treat, really.

What happened to Cyra? She was looking into Big Mama(who she thought was human) after Lou went missing, by request of Sho, and when BM caught wind of it, Cyra went missing for quite a few years.... And who knows what happened to her in that time?(I do. I know)

Why are they in the sewers if they're human? As previously mentioned, both Cyra and Lou are considered legally dead. The boys' existences are unexplainable to the average person. And Yoshi is wanted by BM and her police force, which can and do roam the surface. Just to be safe, he kept them underground.

How'd they meet April? The same way I consider their meeting in the show, which is basically PHEEBS fic. But obviously Leo isn't kidnapped as a giant turtle spectacle, so in this it's a bit darker..he was kidnapped for human trafficking reasons because of his "unique"(barf) skin and eyes.

If they're not turtles, how will they withstand the fights? Uhh.. fiction magic...? They do the same stunts they would in the show and everything, but as humans they'd get hurt significantly worse. So a mix of fiction magic and unseen recovery periods.

How can they take blows to their back that a shell would protect? See above question.

What's the equivalent to Donnie's shell being weaker/softer? A few things, actually. More sensitive skin and nerves on his back, for starters. His mother, with more widespread/"stronger" vitiligo, had a few other health issues/autoimmune disorders. Donnie unfortunately inherited them: mild rheumatoid arthritis and symptoms of multiple sclerosis(mainly affecting his eyes, bones, and balance).

What happens to the turtles left behind? Draxum hadn't bought them yet! So no turtles were harmed in the destruction of the lab

And as for anything in the future or plot related, I can't/won't answer..

[captainwidowspring]

First of all:

"To this day my most hated scene in WandaVision is the confrontation outside the Hex. It's just there to make the audience think Wanda is fully in control and couldn't care less about what she's doing."

Maybe that's part of the reason for the scene's presence, but there's actually another, dumber reason why that scene is there. During the scene, Wanda drags the missile that Hayward fired at her with her out of the hex, and throws it at him, saying, "Is this yours?" This is important because it's a plot coupon: Wanda's energy remains on the missile, and with the missile now in his possession, Hayward later uses this energy to resurrect White Vision.

This situation is dumb because Wanda's energy has never remained on things like that before. For example, in Age of Ultron, none of the Ultron bots that were killed in Wanda's explosion of grief had any residual energy on them after the explosion. And it makes sense, considering that Wanda's energy comes into existence through her, so if she's not sustaining it then it's not there. (That is, of course, assuming that she hasn't commanded her magic to do something like when she gave the Avengers nightmares, in which case it would do the thing before fading. But something like the swift destruction of a missile wouldn't warrant sustained energy.) There would only be energy on the missile if Wanda was putting it there, and since she was giving the missile back to Hayward, she wouldn't do that. That so clearly only happened in order to give Hayward the means to revive White Vision that it's ridiculous. But in any case, that was the primary purpose of the confrontation outside the hex; any work that scene did in making it seem to the audience like Wanda was fully in control of the situation was just a by-product.

Now, for me, Evan Peters showing up definitely had the potential to be a good thing, though not because I was hoping that the show was going to introduce mutants or anything. For me, it was as simple as the fact that I love Peter Maximoff—he is one of my favorite characters—so I would have been thrilled to see him interact with Wanda, another one of my favorite characters, especially since he does actually have a connection with her. And given that, in the relatively few times that Peter appears in the X-Men movies, he really isn't treated very well, the show had the chance to be a reprieve from that. Instead, however, not only is the person we're intentionally led to believe is Peter Maximoff not actually him, but also, the show basically mocks anyone who was thinking/hoping it was him by making the name they gave him into a joke, and then having the character laugh about it. That wasn't funny, it was just plain cruel. And due to the reveal, I can't even really appreciate the time that the character implied to be Peter got to spend with Wanda, because it wasn't Peter, it was an imposter. So I feel you, because I, too, have a strong dislike for that whole situation for a reason which seems to be different than everyone else's.

I think it is quite understandable that you fell for the show's misdirection when you were watching it during the release. For there are indeed multiple times where the show prioritizes audience intrigue over actually telling a good story, and even times when the show seems to be actively trying to convince the audience that Wanda is in control of the situation, despite the fact that they know she isn't. So if one doesn't go into the show knowing the whole story, it is easy to be fooled. In fact, that also might be part of the reason why so many people still think that the whole Westview incident was intentional, because the show did seem to want people to think that, and people who dislike Wanda would be less likely to readily accept the truth that she was having a mental breakdown.

The thing is, due to a variety of factors, the show has mixed messaging. On one hand, there are some things in the show that do show that Wanda had no idea what was going on, and other things that can be explained by her mental state: but on the other hand, there are some things that are clearly just there for audience intrigue, or plot coupon purposes. This means that it's not that difficult for some people to take away the wrong message, even though the right one is ultimately made fairly clear.

The quote you mentioned from episode 7 is one example of this, where Wanda says, rather jarringly, "Look, we’ve all been there, right?Letting our fear and anger get the best of us, intentionally expanding the borders of the false world we created." This very much makes it seem like she knows what is going on, even though we know she doesn't, and the quote implies a level of awareness that she isn't really shown to have elsewhere. Now, upon closer inspection of the quote, I can tell why they did it: they wanted Wanda to say something that was relatable, followed by something that wasn't relatable at all and was specific only to her. But I feel like they could have had her say something such as, "Letting our fear and anger get the best of us, having our Halloween night get rudely interrupted by our partner almost dying." This would basically have the same effect, without introducing all the problems that the actual quote causes.

So yeah. I definitely agree with you that Wanda deserved better than what WandaVision gave her, and it would have been preferable if she never got put in such a horrible situation: but at least we got a chance to have a show where Wanda was respected and appreciated, something her other appearances did not manage to do enough of. And at least, with her not being in the MCU anymore at the moment, there's less of a chance that Marvel will continue to drag her through the mud. But no matter what happens, the MCU will fail to strike hatred into the hearts of we who love Wanda, and we will continue to esteem and value her.

Since we're now in the time period of WandaVision's fourth anniversary, I'm gonna go on a rant about how much I hated the experience of watching it as it was being released

As I've mentioned before, starting in mid-2019 I started to become worried that Marvel would try to go the comic route and twist Wanda into a villain. It got so bad that I had nightmares about it. So you can imagine how nervous I was knowing that she was getting a show where Vision was apparently alive again.

While for the first few episodes I was able to appreciate how good the sitcom recreations were, it was incredibly frustrating to be getting a Wanda show where she's acting absolutely nothing like herself.

I still remember the first time my heart dropped and I thought "Fuck. They're doing it." was at the end of episode 2 when time rewinds. The moment is edited to make it look like Wanda did it intentionally (though retroactively there's no way that's possible), and that was the start of a downward spiral of me thinking Marvel was seriously doing what I was scared they were doing.

I'm still more than a little amazed that Marvel had so little faith in the audience that after just three episodes they slammed on the brakes and painstakingly spelled out exactly what questions the audience should be asking. That feels like a studio-mandated choice.

Another big moment that made my blood run cold was the very end of episode 4, because again, the scene where Wanda throws Monica out is framed like she knows exactly what's going on and doesn't care. And then Monica saying "it's all Wanda" at the end... Let's just say four years ago today was a pretty bad day for me.

Episode 5 was the worst of it for me. Not only was that the episode where they hammer in just how torturous the mind control is, but it's also the episode where Wanda herself is at her absolute worst, as we've gone over in painstaking detail. To this day my most hated scene in WandaVision is the confrontation outside the Hex. It's just there to make the audience think Wanda is fully in control and couldn't care less about what she's doing. I don't care how well-executed the scene is, to even insinuate that Wanda would ever intentionally hurt innocents is enough to send me into a blind rage.

And just to cap it all off, the Fake Pietro reveal at the end made my heart sink for another reason entirely. 99% of the discourse I saw online during those weeks was little more than people theorizing/hoping that the show would be a plot device to introduce mutants or the Fantastic Four or the X-Men or a dozen other fucking things that have nothing to do with Wanda. So while for basically everyone else Evan Peters showing up was a massive vindication, for me it was confirmation that this show really didn't care about Wanda and was mainly focused on setting up future projects. At the time I distinctly remember coming to the conclusion after episode 5 that the main function of the show was to cement Wanda as a villain so she could be used as one in a later movie.

Things didn't get much better in episode 6. Vision wandering around and seeing all the frozen people in unending agony again made me want to vomit, because at that point I still thought Wanda knew about it and didn't care. The scene where he "wakes up Agnes" just solidified that for me. Wanda saying she didn't know how she did any of this didn't help much, as I immediately figured she was lying through her teeth. Granted I wasn't paying a ton of attention to her mannerisms or body language during that scene that prove otherwise. Wanda expanding the Hex was another nightmare-come-alive moment for me, because I sincerely thought it meant she was fully aware of how to control it and what it did.

Episode 7 wasn't any better either. It upset me greatly to see Wanda casually note right at the start that she knew she had created the Hex, and I think by this point I had sort of dejectedly accepted that the woman I loved was dead and an amoral monster who had no problem with casual torture had taken her place.

Even Agatha showing up didn't make me perk up, because I immediately thought she was just another creation of the Hex for Wanda to use as a scapegoat.

So as I think you can tell, this show's misdirection worked hook line and sinker on me, and I hate it for that, because it was baiting me into thinking my literal worst nightmare was coming true right before my eyes.

I went into episode 8 with a numb acceptance that this show had murdered Wanda for the sake of using her as a big bad later on. So you can imagine the gigantic whiplash I got when it ended up being a respectful, tear-jerking depiction of her that suddenly removed the veil and revealed she truly didn't know what was going on at all.

The finale was equally heartwrenching for me, choppiness and all. It was... more than a little upsetting to see the people of Westview confront Wanda with what had been happening and to see her just as confused and horrified as I was, and by the end of that scene I was crying right along with her. I shouldn't have to reiterate how much I love what little interactions Wanda gets with her family before the Hex collapses.

Seeing how many people online had the exact opposite reaction to me, where they were loving the show until episode 8, just made me feel like the only person who truly cared about Wanda.

So, TLDR, on initial release I was HATING WandaVision for 80% of its duration, and it only won me over in the final two episodes by showing me that the creators truly did understand Wanda. I still don't consider it to be worthy of her glory, but those last two episodes are pretty much the closest the MCU will likely ever come to having a good showing of Wanda as the hero she truly is.

[ithebookhoarder]

Could you do headcanons of Steven and Marc with a s/o who’s one of Wolverine’s kids?

Steven and Marc with a Wolverine!Reader

Masterlist:

——

- Ok. First of all, I have to confess I did a deep dive researching this as I don’t really know all that much about Wolverine and his kids, other than a bit from watching Logan.

- Amongst my research I found out that he has like 16 kids in various comics, shows, and movies? Like, dude. He’s adopted, been cloned, naturally conceived with most of the Marvel universe (this guy does not know how to have safe sex) and had kids without powers too.

- Side note - did you also know that a lot of his kids are pretty pissed with him and try to kill him? I mean, the poor guy really cannot catch a break.

- ANYWAY… There has been a lot of variations amongst his kids, as they all have slightly different abilities etc. However, most tend to have the same traits from Logan - including his ability to heal, claws, strength, and heightened senses. So, it’s more than likely if you were his kid, you would too.

- I’d like to think you’re one of the kids who does have a decent-ish relationship with your dad, even if you’re haven’t always been the closest. It’s more than likely he didn’t know you existed for a large portion of your life, but after you two find out about one another you’ve been slowly building a relationship.

- This is most likely due to the fact that you’ve needed his help flying under the radar from people who would wish to hurt you, be it mutant haters, or government agencies.

- It’s also probably how you ended up in London and eventually meeting Steven and Marc, after you decide to move cities and create another identity for yourself.

- This also means you fit in with their life pretty well, as they also understand the need to lay low and not be found by certain people. Marc’s military record is mostly the issue, but the whole avatar for an ancient God thing doesn’t help either. So, if you did have to keep packing up and moving, none of you would have too much of an issue with it.

- Plus, Marc and Steven won’t say no to having someone like the Wolverine in your corner either, whether it be helping you come up with an escape plan, or just as a friend… I mean, they probably wouldn’t tell him about you two being an item until they absolutely have to.

- “What?” Marc would argue, “just because we have a magic suit doesn’t mean we still feel like going ten rounds with your old man over your honour or whatever.”

- Steven would agree. “Yeah, I uh… tend not to introduce myself to parents - not that I ever get that far, given the whole cuckoo part about sharing my body. Doesn’t go down too well.”

- Like Steven, you’d probably have a great relationship with your mum. You’d both bond over the silly things you both do, like calling them when you can and having dumb nicknames for one another.

- He’d help you pick out postcards to send her whenever you move on from somewhere, just to let her know you’re alright and happy.

- You and Marc would bond over the scars you both wear, each with a different story or battle behind it. After all, you may have Logan’s healing abilities but, like him, soft tissue doesn’t always heal right and leaves scars behind from certain injuries.

- It makes you seem more human to him, which makes him feel more comfortable around you.

- “This one?”

- “Iran, from a sniper.”

- “Ouch.”

- “Ouch indeed… what about this one?”

- “Fell out of a tree as a kid, but the one next to it I got from some jack ass in an alley in Montreal.”

- You like the way he and Steven will gently trace your scars, like some kind of dot to dot puzzle, knowing how it calms you.

- You do have a stubborn streak though, which causes issues given the fact Marc has the same, and Steven hates it when either of you get like that. He’d feel like the conscience sometimes, given the fact you and Marc can be a bit gun-ho about things.

- You can also be a bit jaded as you both know the world can be full of crappy people who do bad things.

- Both Marc and Steven have enough crazy within themselves that they’d be the first to understand if you ever felt bad about or regretted what you were.

- Neither would allow you to feel bad though, and tell you all the amazing things about you that you ignore. Being a mutant isn’t something to be ashamed of and they’d be the first to fight anyone who said differently.

- If anything, they’d think it was pretty impressive… and that’s coming from the team with the powers from a god.

[girl4music]

“As for Willow and Anya, I think the original intention of all this drama might have been that we would feel as torn as Xander between Willow’s charming cat-in-the-hat antics and Anya’s, maybe, abrasive literalness. But, the older I’ve gotten the more I’ve actually been turning INTO the fish from ‘Cat in the Hat’, and Willow has NO defensible position in this episode other than Anya is: “Newly human and strangely literal.” Willow acts judgy and entitled and then defends herself by personally attacking Anya:

WILLOW: “Unless I’m really wrong about crazy Larry down at the bus stop, he’s probably not going to turn Xander into a troll.”   

And Holy Hecate, that’s some blinding hypocrisy from Willow, judging how someone else MIGHT handle the pain of a relationship fallout. It’s Sunnydale. Can’t we just agree that spells, vengeance and breakups happen? It’s an emerging arrogance from Willow following her magical development and, I get it. But it’s also a little disappointing because, other than her mostly supporting role in the Tara-centric, ‘Family’, we really haven’t had a lot of Willow this season. Anya expresses her anxiety over the fact that Xander and Willow have an intimate friendship, and Xander once actually cheated on Cordelia with her. Having been cheated on by Olaf, that is an active wound in her mind that mingled with Willow’s spell:

WILLOW: “Hey Anya, whatever really has you mad, why don't you just say it, like you do every other thought that stomps through your brain?”

ANYA: “I believe I have said it.” WILLOW: “No. You haven't. Come on. Let it out!”

The two of them hash things out as they both love Xander and want what’s best for him. But I find two things odd about the whole exchange. The first is that any responsibility Xander might’ve had in Anya’s cheating scenario is never really mentioned. Which feels like an echo of the opening where Xander and Anya put all of the responsibility for the Biley breakup on Buffy. And the second weird thing is that Willow defends her character from Anya’s accusations, not by saying she would never do that or would never want to hurt anyone but:

WILLOW: “That was a long time ago. Do you think I’d do that again?”

ANYA: “Why not?”

WILLOW: “Well, hello, gay now.”

In the interest of due diligence, it’s worth mentioning I have heard this is now a pretty infamous line. The phrasing is cute and Alyson Hannigan’s delivery is perfectly Alyson Hannigan, but the line gets criticized for a couple of reasons. First, as celebrated as the show has been for depicting same-sex relationships in a positive light for it’s time, the specific line is considered an example of what’s called ‘bi-erasure’ or ‘bisexual invisibility’, defined by GLAAD as:

‘... a pervasive problem in which the existence or legitimacy of bisexuality (either in general or in regard to an individual) is questioned or denied outright.’

Considering the show from a critical perspective, until this line in question, Willow has not really been written as strictly gay. She had a well-established intimate relationship with Oz. She had an infatuation with Xander that was there since the beginning of the series. Tangentially, there’s also the fact that Villow in ‘Dopplegangland’ clearly had the thing for Vander but also wasn’t sure if she wanted to lick or bite her own neck along with Sandy’s in the Bronze. In a UK Metro interview from May 2020, Joss said he was pressured to not make Willow bisexual over fears her same-sex attractions would feel like a ‘phase. Quoting:

‘... if I did it now, I’d be like ‘yes, she can be bi’. Because some people are! But back then it was like, ‘no... we’re not ready for that’.’

Not the greatest phrasing but, at this point, the battles Whedon had over Willow and Tara’s relationship with the network are part of the legend of the show. I wasn’t able to find many first-hand quotes from the other Mutant Enemy writers regarding the topic but, in the years of doing this, I have heard many unsourced mentions that they have acknowledged the omission. However, if you’re interested in further reading, I’ve included other links to some other perspectives more relevant, informed and/or educated than my own in the description down below. 

When I think about the show, it’s typically while peering through one of two lenses. The first is the critical one I look through while writing these videos. Through that one, Buffy looks to me like a constructed piece of fiction. Willow is an invented character. And that line now looks like a dated oversight perpetuating a crappy legacy for some people in the queer community. Worse, it’s one that the show leans into later in the series. Buuuut, if you think that’s bad... The other lens I watch the show through is as a fan. Those are the moments when spending time with these characters feel deeply comforting and I talk to other fans about them as though they were people we both knew at school: “Can you believe what Xander was wearing in that episode? SHEESH.” From that perspective I think to myself, Willow gets to say how she identifies. It’s her life. Her journey. I’m 42 and still figuring myself out. We do the best we can in the moment and, if this is what sexuality she says she is in this moment, at this time in her life, then so be it. Why should it diminish the beauty and the intimacy of anything that came before Tara?”

Leave it to TPN to perfectly communicate my stance on Willow being GAY because she emphatically states herself to be so and that’s her human right! While I do acknowledge that both perspectives do and should co-exist when observing and debating on Willow’s sexuality all the way through the show, at the end of the day I’m gonna go with the perspective the character has herself. 

The perspective being: If she says she’s gay then she’s gay. That’s the end of the debate for me because I respect her identification and declaration of her own sexuality. In my head: I know that the character is fictional, so the logic and evidence should be heavily considered in debating on her sexuality. In my heart: I love the character far too much not to view her as a real conscious person, so my overly-analytical left-hemisphere of my brain can shut the fuck up because it has no authority to speak. This means that Willow’s stated sexuality is valid every time it is stated regardless of the logic and the evidence. As it would be for any real conscious person who has identified and declared their own sexuality. 

[reversemoon255]

(This is the second of a three-part series chronicling the story, concepts, and original Pokémon that appeared in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign I worked on for several months. This entry will be more focused on a lot of my original designs and how their encounters would play out, rather than concrete story. Also, much of the art was done by @extyrannomon on Twitter, and I suggest you check them out.)

Dungeons ‘n’ Dragonites - Phase 2: Ultra City

The Queen Durant would prove to be a difficult foe, able to use all manner of elemental attacks to strike from a distance to compensate for her low speed. Furthermore, she would have full command of the Duranthill, using her followers to guard herself. As the battle rages, the team slowly begin to evolve, and their newfound strength and Types, along with the aid of the Princess, would have them see victory.

I was unsure as to the ultimate fate of the Queen. Either having it disappear into the tunnels alone, or be sucked into another Ultra Wormhole like the Poipole. And with the Queen vanquished, the Princess would choose to become partner to whoever she felt most worthy (a combination of good role playing and damage dealt).

I designed every Pokémon in this campaign under the pretense that it could actually exist. The Queen and Princess fall under the category of “Rare Variants.” There’s only one queen in a colony of thousands of ants, so it makes sense for it to be rarely seen. They’re still Bug/Steel, but special attackers, with the three spheres on each of their abdomens made to mimic the pattern of Tri-Attack, symbolizing their ability to use those Types.

As for the Starter evos, Flymph has evolved into Epipesis, gained the Electric-Type, and become a full Dragonfly. Calfyre into Steared, staying mono-Fire, but growing considerably (4 feet at the shoulder, the largest mid-stage Starter). Squisque into Knaval who’s now Rock, because he’s a rock lobster! And Utaw into Uteteo who may still be pure Fairy, but has gained some gold adornments.

=====

My working title for this campaign was “Ultra City.” Hinted at by the appearance of the Poipole early in the game, my intentions would come into full swing during this portion, with boss encounters against many of the known and some unknown Ultra Beasts. I had a few encounters planned, from a pickpocket Pheramosa that they’d fight in a mall store room full of mannequins, to a Blacephalon that had kidnapped several children, hypnotized them, and had them watching his performances, to a beach episode where there’s just a Buzzwole hanging out and not causing trouble.

Things would take a twist when a Guzzlord would take over the abandoned district, raining destruction down from its highest building. The crew would have to climb a multi-floor dungeon in order to battle it, many scared and aggravated Pokémon blocking their paths. After reaching the top however, after initiative had been rolled, a mysterious Pokémon would descend from the sky, felling Guzzlord in a single strike...

Majra, the Dragoon Pokémon (a slurred portmanteau of Magic and Dragon). A Dragon hunter with a unique ability, “Hunter of Evil,” that removes all its resistances but makes it immune to Dragon, Dark, and Ghost. This Pokémon came about as I was trying to create a dramatic encounter that would interrupt an expected one. As I was thumbing through DnD and fantasy ideas, the idea of a Dragoon who furiously hunts Dragon-Types came to mind. Ice/Fairy seemed the perfect combination, and the sentient suit of ice armor fell into place soon after. As Pokémon don’t typically hold weapons, I made him part scorpion, having him hold his tail as a workaround, and also informed how his extremities would look. The Haxorus skull buckler also helped drive the Dragon hunter aspect home.

Ultra Beasts were the second category of original Pokémon in my campaign, and encompass all purely original Pokémon (including the Starters). However, I didn’t want to just haphazardly make a ton (as commissions cost money), so I gave myself the condition that if I made an Ultra Beast it had to play with weaknesses and resistances in a way to trip up experienced players, hence Majra’s ability.

Majra would not attack our players in their first encounter, unless someone was using a Type he hunts. He would be a reoccurring boss character, helping or hindering the players depending on their enemies or allies.

The next unique encounter would have been a tutorial battle against another Rare Variant, a Shiinotic possessed Parasect. Every boss encounter is technically 4-on-1, so I wanted to give a Pokémon a reason to have multiple turns, and fused or symbiotic Pokémon felt like a naturally occurring way to have that happen. I created this Shiinotic as a way to teach the players how these Pokémon work.

As Shiinotic is a bio-luminescent mushroom, I wanted to have Parasect faded in color from its light. I also thought it’d be a nice touch to have Shiinotic’s spindly fingers act as puppet strings to move Parasect’s arms around. It would have been encountered after a swarm of scared Paras started flooding out of the sewers near everyone’s school.

Then would be Fortifiend, who would be encountered a few times as an easily circumventable castle wall in the middle of the street before Majra would eventually attack it, forcing our players to take a side in the battle (with Fortifiend possibly joining them if they help it). His ability would make all attacks not very effective while it had over 50% HP, and the opposite when under 50%. Despite the name, I pictured him being very nice, and giggle whenever he heard someone compliment his stone structure.

I imagined that the world he came from had naturally occurring stone structures similar to him, and his folded castle form was a sort of net to help him catch large prey; partly why he doesn’t attack the smaller people and Pokémon of the game’s dimension (he’s around 30ft tall). He could be encountered anywhere, so he wasn’t a full quest; just a fun “what the heck is this” moment to confuse players.

Also, while it wasn’t purposeful, Fortifiend and Majra both also matched the DnD aesthetic. That definitely helped them stand out as some of my favorites, and Fortifiend barely missed the final pass for the last round of commissions.

Then was the twin encounter of Feyerre, a Fire-Type igloo and snowmobile Pokémon, and Eyescse, an Ice-Type pyramid and four-wheeler Pokémon (probably the most Ultra Beast-esque concepts I came up with). They would be messing with the weather across the city, causing disturbances until the players eventually found one of them, in when the other would appear. Their ability would flip their weaknesses and resistances, and they would have an attack that could do the same to a target. And fun fact: there’s meaning to the color and number of their eyes! Feyerre’s are F.I.R.E (Fire=Red, Ice=L.Blue, Rock=Brown, Electric=Yellow), and Eyescse’s are I.C.E (Ice=L.Blue, Sea=D.Blue, Electric=Yellow).

But their defeat would incur the wrath of a mysterious Pokémon they had encountered a few times:

“As you turn around, you see a grey Charizard standing there. It stares at you for a moment, wide-eyed and unblinking. Then it begins to open its mouth, wide, wider, and wider still, stretching beyond what should be possible. Then a hand reaches out of it...

“Suddenly you’re falling. The lights and sounds of countless unknown worlds whir past you incomprehensibly as you plummet through time and space. You try to close your eyes to shut out the flurry of stimuli, but it’s impossible to drown out as your minds begin to feel the strain of the void. Then, after what feels like hours, time seems to stand still as the heavy rain of an unknown world hits your face. For a brief moment you are able to take in the desert that surrounds you before a flash of lightning illuminates the sky, revealing a titanic silhouette looming above you before you are once again thrown into darkness. And as you come to outside the warehouse (where you encountered Feyerre and Eyescse), in the distance, you hear what sounds like laughing.

“Fofofofofo...”

The final original encounter I had planned for Stage 2 was Meadew. It would have been wandering the city, spawning grasses and flowers wherever it went. However, while beautiful, the sudden growth would be causing havoc and destruction to all the buildings and vehicles it could root into.

Unlike the other Ultra Beasts, Meadew’s ability didn’t affect its weaknesses, but instead created Substitutes since I wanted a way for it to form its own adds (the concept behind its inception). However, it wasn’t without a Type gimmick; rather than an ability it has a signature status move called “Radiance” that raises its attack and special, as well as give it the Fire-Type, making it Grass/Water/Fire (the 3 Starter Types). It would invoke this after its adds were defeated, but could be talked down through diplomacy, unlike some of the other encounters.

=====

I’ve mentioned Rare Variants and Ultra Beasts, but there was a third Type of original Pokémon that could appear: Mutant Evolutions. Essentially, evolutions like Probopass or Leafeon where being in an energy charged area or coming into contact with a huge ore deposit (what I interpreted the Mossy and Icy Rocks as, since they became Leaf and Ice Stones in later Gens) could force an unusual evolution in a Pokémon already shown to be susceptible to unique evolutionary conditions. Due to a future encounter, I already knew there would be large Metal Coat and Ice Stone Ore deposits in the mountains to the north, so I wanted to do some test prototyping using each of those items, whether I used those evolutions or not.

Poliwhirl is already shown to be capable of multiple evolutions, all of which use items, so I thought having it come into contact with a massive amount of Ice Stone Ore (since it should be chemically similar to Water Stones) could force a Mutant Evolution. This is Policuti, from the Latin Cutis meaning skin, and Poli-Cutis would mean “multiple skins,” as it wears the shed skin of preevolution. And being freshly shed is why its skin lacks pigment. It’s just a cute little frog in a raincoat! Also, the swirl on its jaw is actually its tongue.

Since Magneton evolves into Magnezone through being electrically charged, I thought about how it might evolve if charged with Steel energy. I imagined it being magnetically attracted to the Metal Coat Ore, fiercely trying to pull itself away, being stretched and elongated in the process, resulting in the bullet train Pokémon Magneline. The Mutant Evolutions weren’t supposed to be anything important to the story or that they’d run into in the wild. They were more so surprises to excite the players who would be expecting something, well, expected. I had considered doing at least one for each player if they caught a compatible Pokémon, but as no teams were filled out, I was merely left with my prototypes. The only reason I had these two commissioned was because I was very happy with their designs.

=====

As we reach the end of Stage 2, the reoccurring group of rowdy Onix would return once more. Following them deep into their tunnels, our heroes would come across a massive chamber with a giant metal stalagmite and frozen stalactite in the center of it. The Onix would then appear, twisting around them, forcing their evolutions. One into Steelix, and the other into Glacix...

[red-hood-vigilante]

more hbo spn rambles, thoughts, drabbles etc. long long post.

part 1 here

there’s some things i’ve omitted here bc others have already posted about those things, certain headcanons and characterizations and stuff. those posts are in my likes somewhere (and i’ll reblog them someday), and there’s some posts i’ve read but not liked, which i now can only vaguely remember, which is why some ideas/thoughts are similar

ALSO most of these follow the model i talked about in part one: how s1-5 will stay more or less how they are but s6-10 is changed (some things are cut out entirely, some things are tweaked and some characters + arcs are more fleshed out. more focus on sam’s trauma and post-cage adaptation to the real world as well as dean letting his rage and control issues consume him and how he’d recover and redeem himself)

as i typed these paragraphs, i realized i really have 10 seasons mapped out and ready to go. hbo hire me!!

alright go:

sam and dean get wearier as the show progresses (second half), and eventually they stop putting so much care and thought in the people they save. like...hm how do i say this, like as long as a victim/victims are saved, they don’t care about how that happens or how those people suffer potential consequences, like if the victims lose a limb or have their homes burned down because of the monster, then sam and dean don’t really care. they saved your life, now they’ll leave you with your life in potential shambles and not care because all that matters is that they saved your life, not how it is afterwards. they still care about saving that one person, but eventually it pales a little in comparison to a war between heaven and hell, being the vessels etc. ---> saving people becomes less about making sure they’re actually alright and healing from horrific events and more about just making sure they have a pulse before they move on

when angels lose their wings they are either burned off in the actual fall or ripped off of them in their vessels, which leaves pretty nasty scars on the vessel

ed and harry are so young and bright eyed about the whole hunting thing; sam and dean as kids, idolizing it, finding it exciting and intriguing when they shouldn’t. sam and dean try to get them out of the business before they too are too traumatized and desensitized to do anything but hunt. neither sam or dean will say it but they are jealous of ed and harry and their freedom to leave, and hate them for choosing this voluntarily instead of being dragged into it by tragedy

hbo spn is a slow burn. there’s a lot more shots of sam and dean in silence just sitting together after a hunt, exhausted and too tired to move yet. they’re covered in blood and guts on the side of the road after killing or covered with dirt in a graveyard after burning bones, sitting next to the fire, just watching it. the times they park the car and watch the stars? we get to see it. 

dean wears rings and the amulet all the time in the beginning, for the first five seasons. the rings vary; first they’re some of john’s old ones and stuff he finds in thrift stores. then later on he begins wearing rings from people they’ve saved/haven’t saved as a keepsakes etc. when he begins his descent to the holy murderer in s6-10 he wears less and less rings. they don’t matter anymore -> symbolically shedding who he was and what mattered to him

the only accessories sam has is a rosary/cross around his neck. he has jess’ engagement ring in his pocket/wallet. after the cage he vaguely remembers why the ring was there and who jessica was (more on this further down)

the four horsemen are manifestations of different aspects of human nature at its most grotesque and strongest, can’t be killed as long as humans live. war is conflict, famine is desire, pestilence is physical and mental illnesses.

(the seven sins are like the horsemen, tulpas of human nature instead of demons)

death isn’t a concentration of an existing aspect of humans as much as it is the end of life, the antithesis of life. death the oldest of the horsemen and has existed since the beginning of any life, organism, cell and atom. the opposite of life and light, the other half of god (as i’m typing this i’m confused as to why  amara was the opposite of god instead of death). death isn’t evil or good, remains 100% objective. doesn’t care for sam or dean at all, but has a begrudging respect for their stubbornness and entertainment they provide due to their flat out refusal to do as they’re told by celestial bodies when anyone else would crumble

by including death i feel like it very naturally begs questions of who decides when someone dies, when someone lives, why would death follow these guides instead of reaping whomever whenever, what happens if a life isn’t reaped at the right time etc. the reader in me adore the idea of death having a library with books and records of everyone who has ever lived and died and how they died - but then, who writes these books and why? do they decide, and if in that case, how? these questions are above my paygrade but you know what i mean? like there has to be some sort of system right, god created everything, death executes to maintain order, some third party deity writes the laws and the books. the three branches of government. ok but it’s hbo so again, i think we shouldn’t dive this deep into things, like as much as these topics intrigue me i don’t want to stray too much from the dirt road trip aesthetic

shapeshifters are extremely rare because they don’t require any kind of human blood or organs/sacrifice to live

i want more exploration of how magic is like science, like it just needs the right ingredients and right conditions. sam thinks of magic as an obscure branch of science; it just requires research and knowledge and clear intentions because science can be controlled and do a lot of good when used responsibly. dean doesn’t like it. he doesn’t trust the unpredictable elements and he’s seen enough to know it never goes well. magic is a force that can’t be controlled by anyone.

sam and dean have full on fist fights regularly. to practice and keeping each other sharp, but also because they’re siblings. they’re feral, insane and unhinged with each other and they get on each other’s nerves A LOT. it’s petty and childish and sometimes it can get a lil ugly but it becomes their way of family therapy. after a fight the next scene cuts to sam and dean with ruffled clothes, nosebleeds and swollen lips at a diner eating silently after beating each other up. either they sit in silence because they’re tired or both are harping on the other’s openings and weaknesses

sometimes they’ll fight a little dirty but they do so in different ways; dean will pull the old ‘look!’ and point to something and then tackle sam when he turns to look while sam will just cry out in fake pain which makes dean stop dead in his tracks before sam headbutts him or kicks him in the groin

we, the audience get used to these fights, they’re sometimes funny and for comic relief, sometimes for narrative purposes (like tricking a monster they’re fighting each other when they’re really not) BUT. then comes the times when sam and dean are actually fighting without holding back and we see how much they are capable of hurting each other or how heartbreaking and difficult it can be to watch when of them are incapable of fighting back/doesn’t defend himself -> swan song when dean doesn’t fight back against possessed sam, or when dean beats soulless sam unconscious

sam and dean also just verbally bully each other constantly but they do have their odd ways of expressing affection and care. they get the other person their fave snack whenever they go grocery shopping without being asked to and are the only other one they truly trust to have their back in hunts. have a cup of coffee ready before the other asks for one. brothers and each other’s best friend. nightmare duo but in a sweet way. the cooperation of ‘the usual suspects’ when they’re in different interrogation rooms but still has the cover story down to a t. code words and code names and cover stories, they know it all

when sam and dean fight together against a common enemy they’re a damn nightmare - because they know each others weaknesses and habits, they cover each other perfectly and in complete silence. they’ve been at it together since they were kids and read each other’s nonverbal cues like a picture book

to build off of what i said in part 1; the winchesters are pretty hated in the hunter’s community. even the people sam and dean frequently work with (bobby, ellen, jo, ash, rufus, bela, kevin, charlie, castiel etc) roasts them all the time and don’t hesitate with calling them out on their self-pitying crap when it get’s too much (spn was just objectively better when characters weren’t afraid of dragging sam and dean through the mud for being selfish and stupid) and this WILL persist in hbo spn. the only reason people continue working with sam and dean is because they know deep down a lot of the things that happens aren’t sam and dean’s fault - but they still blame them for it. doesn’t make it easier how sam or dean sometimes start crap on purpose to save the other

the winchesters are terrifying and people for sure tell stories about them, but not like ‘they’re heroes’, more like ‘they’re insane and dangerous. stay the fuck away from them’. some stories are true, like how they’ve worked with demons, but some are just game of telephone. (dean has apparently a ghost he is frequently possessed by while sam is actually a mutant vampire). hunters hate and are scared of the winchesters. sam and dean are never invited to hunter stuff (burials, memorials etc) but crash them nonetheless even though the hunters do NOT want them there.

you know what drives me insane when i think about it? how some characters in spn already are their hbo spn counterparts; john. mary. adam. maybe kevin?

other things that already are their hbo spn counterparts: dean throwing away the amulet right in front of sam. eyes burning when angels are seen. how ghosts are just tragedies, stuck in a loop they can’t leave. how a lot of the monsters they meet are just victims or their circumstances or the first victim of a curse. the impala being sam and dean’s home. dean not knowing how to comfort sam when he’s upset other than trying to do things for sam that usually brings dean comfort (driving the impala, listening to rock music etc). the roadhouse. heaven being an eternal version of the memories that made you the happiest even though it’s not real. sam wanting independence and freedom but never fully having it. dean fearing being alone more than anything else and that’s where he always ends up. sam has an eating disorder after the demon blood and dean has an alcohol problem he refuses to see as a problem. dean saying “i’d do it again” without an ounce of regret and pouring himself a drink when sam tells him it was fucked up to lie to him about gadreel

the demon/angel hybrid: THIS could be sooo interesting to explore. an angel and demon hybrid are you kidding me?? not to toot my own horn too much but i’m so clever. i should write this story myself. SO. does this creature have parents who fucked in their vessels or was this an experiment by god (yes i love the ‘mad scientist’ idea, that really should’ve been played up way more) or did a pre-existing creature (human or otherwise) drink demon blood and angel grace at the same time so that it created itself? so much potential for some really intriguing storytelling and character exploration - not only the creature itself and what they would be like, but also for the people around; sam, dean, castiel, jack etc. how would they react to this thing that is the very definition of defying heaven and hell and all the natural laws? does it exist before the show starts or will we see its birth?

the powers of the demon/angel hybrid would be tricky; a mix of holy and defiant, grotesque and beautiful. unconsciously forces people to tell the truth when talking to them. poisons whatever they touch. eyes of a demon, wings of an angel. can smite but skin will burn when touching iron. can do deals but will require a sacrifice in return, not a soul, usually a body part taken then and there (the hybrid eats it. it favours eyeballs and the liver - angels like raw meat). lights always flicker. makes things explode when angry (esp people and cars). can manipulate feelings, thoughts and memories. can travel to both heaven and hell, not welcome in either places. + standard stuff like telekinesis, teleportation, mind reading, super strength etc. 

sam and dean’s wardrobe are pretty much the same; whatever’s cheap and not covered in blood. however, they do have stylistic differences. sam thinks graphic tees are funny, dean uses whatever’s black combined with john’s leather jacket. their wardrobe melds as they stop thinking of themselves as individuals and more of “me and my brother,”. their clothes are tattered and torn to shreds all the time. hand me downs, hand me ups. when they stray off their “path” and do things that are the crux of a storyline/character arc, this would reflect in their clothes. when sam is with ruby and becomes more and more “evil” he wears more and more red, a colour he has stated in the past he doesn’t really like. when dean is dead, sam starts to wear his rings and john’s and dean’s leather jacket. when dean decides he’s going to say yes to michael he dresses in white, when sam is dead dean takes off every piece of jewelry except the amulet. he holds it clenched in his fists when he’s whispering what comes close to a prayer

logically the amulet should have a backstory but you know what? i love that it’s hinted to be just a piece of cheap jewelry sam found in a thrift store he decided to give to dean. but narratively it should be explained so... idk. what could be logical solution as to why it would react to GOD himself? maybe god wore it once cuz he thought it was neat but he sold it for three dollars because he wanted coffee and then sam found it a week later

i would prefer it if god didn’t show up at all (absent father number one) but if he DID he’s not all powerful just a true neutral (like death, 100% objective) who created a thing that just took a life of its own, much like a parent and a child - the parent helps the child but can’t control it. the times he did intervene or tried to do something it didn’t really have any real long lasting effect so he gave up on trying a while ago. 

@spneveryseason talked about this, how the storyline of sam being possessed by gadreel would be horrifying if we saw everything from sam’s perspective instead of dean’s (her fic is wonderful). in the ‘dean slowly descends into a righteous murderer to become holy’ idea i have this tracks so damn well because again, if dean believes something is right, it is right, no questions about it. everyone around him is like “that’s really fucked up and you should make amends” but dean doesn’t see any reasons for why - sam is alive isn’t he? and seeing it from sam’s pov would really underline how horrifying, dehumanizing and belittling that experience was

john and mary are adam and eve. sam and dean are cain and abel are michael and lucifer. time is a flat circle. history never stops repeating itself. 

sam is the villain of s4. he is manipulated and key information is withheld from him but in the end... would it made a difference? it crossed his mind, that he could be tricked because ruby is a demon after all, but maybe he likes the power, the feeling of freedom, that he wasn’t just the baby, the one who always needs permission to do things. if he has to drain possessed people to get that power... so be it. and it’s for a good purpose, until it isn’t. he’s hungry for more, to be feared and respected. he’s enticed by lucifer’s sweet words, the potential of all that power and the idea of ruling two out of three realms. dean manages to pull him back from the brink because sam decides he doesn’t want to be what john thought he was and fail dean and himself like that.

dean is the villain in s9. he is controlling, the mark of cain without the mark. what he says goes - it’s not a democracy, it’s a dictatorship. he doesn’t see how much pain, doubt and fear he causes the people around him. if some victims or civilians die on his watch that doesn’t matter - just some collateral damage. sam can’t make dean listen to him because dean is the older one, the one who’s always called the shots. dean is the angelic one, heaven’s chosen warrior, he is untouchable and unkillable. he’s is an excellent killer, filling the void with blood and rage which is better than the crippling fear of loneliness carved into his bones. 'i butcher for love, to protect,’ he tells himself. ‘why shouldn’t i exterminate, regardless of the cost? i’ve followed the rules, i’ve always sacrificed. now i call the shots. it’s my right.’

sam’s hell trauma is never magically removed. he’s stuck with the memories and the nightmares and the occasional hallucinations. castiel can’t do anything but offers to wipe his memory completely, but sam says no, he is still doing penance. 

after dean comes back from hell he starts calling himself old man and jokes a lot about he’s 40 years older now (after he’s more comfortable about speaking about hell) 

when sam comes back he feels ancient (he’s over 900 years old at least but he lost count), weary, tired and so so so out of place in this world. he’s forgotten how to put gas in a car, how to drive, how to use a credit card, all the song lyrics he and dean used to yell together, the faces of people he knew before he fell, the softness of a bed, the schools he went to, most of the hunts he and dean, how john died, who mary is, the initials carved into the impala, the taste of food that isn’t raw meat. it’s so much he’s forgotten that he has to relearn. he prefers figuring things out with castiel instead of dean because castiel doesn’t silently resent him for everything he’s forgotten

sam doesn’t laugh anymore. despite dean’s many and castiel’s few awkward attempts, it’s more like quick smile and a quiet “hmm”. on some days he recoils when he sees blood and guts, on other days he’s so apathetic it’s unnerving

sam sympathizes with the brought back mary and castiel more than ever. dean tries to get sam to remember things he’s forgotten from his childhood but sam can’t connect with it anymore. he stopped being that sam a long time ago. dean doesn’t know what else to do than try to force this connection to be revitalized and he fails. sam isn’t that person anymore and this wedge in their relationship becomes a central factor in dean’s s6-10 desperation and isolation. sam is here and safe but it’s not really sam, not the sam dean grew up with

while sam has forgotten how to make coffee, he now knows everything about angels, effective torture tricks, a bunch of lore + biblical history, how to navigate hell, the most powerful and influential demons, rare and powerful spells as well as perfect enochian (he will speak enochian without realizing and it feels more natural than english). lucifer and michael were surprisingly talkative (raging about the unfairness) when taking their anger and hatred out on sam and adam and each other. sam had access to all of lucifer’s memories and knowledge for the time he was the one in control. walking library and encyclopedia of biblical lore.

he still has some muscle memory from hunting and sparring, but sam is ghostly thin and very rusty. even though he’s an expert on lore, he’s not fit to go on hunts anymore and he knows it. 

sam remembers adam and swears he’ll try to get him out, but he can’t. just thinking about the cage makes him vomit. he can’t talk about it, much less go near it. after a while sam thinks it might be better to let adam stay down there than let him come back up and feel this crushing emptiness and loss of direction

sam’s trials take place in s9 instead of 8; coinciding with dean’s villain arc. for sam the trials are a chance to redeem himself again, this time for good by closing hellgates forever. they’re scrubbing him clean of the demon blood and his sins and they give him a sense of purpose again now that he can’t join hunts anymore. it doesn’t matter if he dies because of it. it would be nice with a permanent and peaceful death that did something good. dean is taken aback by sam’s devotion to repent for something that happened years ago and for something sam has already paid for a thousand times over. dean realizes how messed up he himself has become and how he’s helped put sam here, on the cusp of self sacrifice again because of sickening guilt and self hatred. dean begs sam to not complete the trials at the cost of his own life and swears he’ll better himself, be a friend and a brother, not a jailer, dictator or a murderer. ‘if you won’t give yourself or life another chance, please give me one.’ ---> s10 pacifist dean learning to let go of the control, the violent tendencies and the rage

oh wait what if gadreel still possessed sam after the trials to heal him but sam is the one who invites the angel in? he’ll keep his promise to dean about staying alive, as well as heal from the inside and have breaks from the world when he doesn’t want to be present, like he and gadreel will alternate being the one in control. he keeps it a secret from dean and helps gadreel imitate him so dean won’t notice. it’s not so bad, being possessed by this angel - sam can say no anytime and gadreel is a nice guy. since they alternate on who’s present they can access each other’s memories, which is terrifying and embarrassing at first, but since gadreel and sam have been tricked and used by lucifer and been punished for it for far too long, they understand each other. now another creature knows their trauma and terrors without the need for verbal explanation. also having an angel residing in his body makes sam feel like he can hunt properly again because gadreel can heal him and take over in situations sam’s overpowered. this could show how messed up sam has come to view himself and his body. 

dean is conflicted when he finds out; sam lied but gadreel does help sam heal, sam’s traumatized and his self-worth is fucked up and dean has contributed to that. dean convinces sam to push gadreel out, that sam is still valuable, loved and a good person who shouldn’t be in a place where he views his body and mind like a property to be occupied. sam’s faith begins to come back bit by bit, not in god, but in himself, his brother, in the good things in life. they build their little family; sam, dean, castiel, the hybrids, whomever of their allies that are alive at this point.

castiel can heal sam and dean’s wounds but they are never completely gone; they leave scars and phantom pains. the brothers have SO many scars over the years. dean flaunts them to impress people because he likes the questions and the fearful admiration, the attention and the nods of approval. sam hides them.

when dean is in a bad mood or needs to get his mind off of things, sam just drops something like ‘i don’t get the deal with led zeppelin. one of the most overrated bands of all time’ and dean will go OFF every single time about the entire led zeppelin history, their discography and how they’ve shaped rock music. this will go on for hours and sam will zone out after 1 minute. but dean rants nonsensically the entire drive and it does get him to think about something else for a little bit. they stop at a motel and dean is STILL ranting while brushing his teeth. stops when going to sleep but without fail picks up where he left off the morning after and is so into it he doesn’t notice sam not paying attention at all. we could see this once in s1 when they’re searching for john, another in s3 when dean is anxious about his deal coming to an end and then again in a later season, when sam doesn’t remember to ask/doesn’t have the patience or mental capability, so they’ll sit there in tense silence, showing how much they’ve changed.

---> i can see this SO clearly in my head, how they’ll get in the car and we, the audience, will recognize the camera angle, the same lines and dean’s grumpy mood, and we’ll anticipate what comes next. but sam isn’t that kid anymore and he’s not peeking at dean to gauge what his mood is and how much of a shit eating grin he should wear when being an annoying little brother to cheer dean up. now he’s looking out the window, leaned back, they’re not looking at each other. this shot is a minute or two long, uninterrupted. dean turns on music but neither are singing along or doing anything to lighten the mood. 

s1-5: sam gets hooked on demon blood, dean has an alcohol problem. when sam goes through withdrawals, dean decides to quit drinking and joins him because he wants to be supportive, and he realizes that when he drinks two beers for breakfast there’s a problem

s6-10: sam takes painkillers, anti depressants and anti psyhosis meds to numb himself from the phantom pains and reduce post-cage effects. dean started drinking again after sam jumped and still does, but started smoking in addition because he still drives a lot and doesn’t want to die in something as pathetic as a car crash. 

there a scene in an episode in the first half of s8, when sam has decided to stay with dean instead of amelia, and dean has rejected benny in favor of sam, and then the brothers sit in a couch watching tv while drinking beer and neither of them look particularly happy about it - that’s how their relationship is a lot of the time. they know they’re fucked up and neither of them will ever be truly happy when the other’s around, but they owe each other so much and they don’t have to explain themselves to each other the way they do to others. they know each other so well, each other’s traumas and the things they’ve done, it feels fake and exhausting to try to be something other than the veteran hunters they are. misery loves company; they are miserable together but would be far more miserable apart and living a normal life. they do love each other, but neither of them are particularly happy as the show progresses. family is hell and so is the lack of it. 

OK OK i mentioned it in part one, how i had my own very specific idea about how jack should come to be and here it is. long winded but (might just write a damn fic): 

after lucifer was cast back into the cage, he is stronger than he has been in a long time (being in his true vessel helped him stretched muscles he forgot he had. and fresh air.) sam is pulled out of the cage and it leaves a rift in the magic and chains - the binding is weaker and lucifer must act fast to get out before it heals. the cage is still strong enough to hold two archangels, so lucifer has to become weaker somehow to slip out through the cracks. he can’t get out of the cage, but souls can come in. demons bring themselves and human souls as tools for lucifer to use. there’s not much he can do here - consuming them, eating them, touching them, dissecting them doesn’t give him what he wants

eventually lucifer realizes he must do like azazel and create something new of two halves, like when he created demons. he begins melding his archangel grace with a human soul. he tries with demons, but his archangel grace automatically purifies them and leaves them too weak. he must try with a human soul who is good. he finds the soul of kelly kline, who sold her soul to save a loved one. with her, the merging, works. 

he has another self, a twin, a son, who’s half human and half archangel. half lucifer. the old lucifer will die but that’s ok, his desires, presence and self will live on in his new creation. the new lucifer barely makes it out of the cage, only able to due to its human side. on earth it creates a body for itself and takes shape, no longer a form of pure power and energy akin to the sun itself but now a person, reminiscent of kelly kline on earth and lucifer in heaven. they name themselves jack. jack searches for familiarity and finds it in sam, their old self’s perfect tool and another hybrid. jack finds a mentor in castiel, a younger brother and fellow angel with human elements. they do not find anything in dean, the key to his former self’s doom.

jack’s powers: their powers are like and unlike the angels because he is half archangel. jack has wings but sometimes they don’t work, or they’ll end up somewhere else entirely. their body is their own, not a vessel, so jack can’t possess people. doesn’t talk but people “know” what they’re saying or want because jack emits their emotions and thoughts to people they’re talking to like a radio tower. jack can also have this empathic connection and communication with animals. his mood affects the weather. immortal. reads minds. can remove a soul from a body and send it to heaven/hell by touching it, with practice they don’t need to touch a body. 

other stuff about jack: the human/archangel nature means jack only need sleep and food once a week or so. eats only nougat and raw meat. because jack is a kid they nap a lot. levitates when sleeping. never blinks, stares intensely at everything. their eye colour changes based on their mood. eyes glow in the dark. normal humans who look at jack for too long experience memory loss, fainting spells or migraines and eye contact for more than 10 seconds give vivid hallucinations of their worst nightmares. always barefoot, often floats like 10 cm off the ground because they find it more enjoyable than walking. wears the wildest clothes they can find, nothing matches and nothing is weather appropriate

i have a very specific image of jack in my mind; they look like delirium from the sandman comics with the hair that looks like it’s underwater and the fishes floating around their head, here and here are examples. in live action this would look not good or maybe even ridiculous for sure but in animation... endless potential for angels and monsters to have super interesting designs sigh

castiel’s arc should end with him going from blind soldier, to the unwilling ruler of heaven, finding a place on earth with sam and dean, becoming closer with humanity and eventually a father of three (the hybrids). 

[algernoninwonderland]

Miraculous is playing one big game of Calvinball with its magic/power system and it undermines the show quite a bit

TL;DR: Miraculous has, at first glance, a very basic power/magic system… Only whenever it tries to get more complicated than “Moon Prism Power, Make up!” it ends up being an unspeakable mess, due to poor creative decisions that don’t allow for the audience to truly understand what is going on and why, outside of “whatever the plot requires so that we can get to the next scene”. 

It may well be because the people making this show wanted to shift their attention to kwamis and their powers in the future seasons, but holding onto that for seventy-something episodes has done the show a disservice.

Longg isn’t the kwami of Perfection. Longg is the kwami of being a cool dragon. And sometimes, being a cool dragon is enough, you know? Instead of doing complex things poorly, you can tackle simple concepts really well and people won’t think any less of your creation, au contraire.

Throughout the history of the superhero genre, a pretty nifty thing most creators have understood is that you need to explain a bit of how and why the hero’s powers work. Superman is superpowered because it’s all a matter of gravity, a fact underlined in the very first issue of Action Comics, in the very first page of Superman ever. The X-Men are mutants. Sherlock Holmes was bitten by a radioactive detective.

Basically, what happens in most cases is, the creators come up with a set of rules to sort of explain the storyworld so that you know to manage your expectations, so that the storyworld feels more cohesive too. That’s what I call a neat way to allow your audience to suspend their disbelief and feel more involved in the story being told! Things happen and are allowed to happen a certain way for a reason in-universe, there is a kind of logic proper to the work of fiction being built that makes it easier for the audience to fully get into said work.

In Hunter X Hunter, Nen is a pretty cool concept that is well-defined, we see what it is at first with no explanations, and it’s hella intriguing, which makes you want to know more (and that’s deliberate) and then the manga explains it to you a few chapters later and for the most part, Togashi sticks to that definition. And now we understand what is going on and how. Cool, right?

What do we have here? Creative decisions that are often given justifications in-universe to make them more believable in the context of the story being told, even though they are ultimately arbitrary decisions which can be challenged (see how Superman’s powers changed over time, for instance). You can toy with these explanations and that makes for great comedic potential, just look at One Punch Man!

Magic can be a little murkier for sure, because magic doesn’t necessarily follow rational logic. I won’t be getting into the soft/hard magic talk here. Still, if you want your audience to understand what is going on and if you’re not a complete hack (looking at you Joanne Kathleen), you tend to set up some rules so that the audience can grasp what the hell is going on, understand why something is really impressive or really basic. Is it really such a big deal that a character is able to master that one spell? Why? Ursula Le Guin and Brandon Sanderson are really good at that, and manage a good balance of mystery and understandability.

Miraculous fumbles the bag pretty hard when it comes to how its magic/power system works. Which, after 70-something episodes, is not great. 

Part of it is due to the exposition style Miraculous has chosen for itself, which could be great but ultimately isn’t, and part of it is due to poor definition in the first place.

Miraculous hates exposition dumps most of the time, and I think it’s actually a good thing. No one wants to feel as though they’re sitting through a boring class instead of having fun. Well done, guys! Exposition dumps often make you all the more aware of the artificiality of a story. And so, Miraculous mostly relies on context cues as a means of introducing you to the world. They just show you the thing and trust you to understand and interpret it properly. And sometimes, it works really well!

I still sincerely believe that Stormy Weather is a fantastic first episode, and it does its job amazingly well. In 24 minutes, you learn the very basic outlines of how stuff works, relationships between the characters and superpowers. Yes, it’s very basic, but that’s fine, you can’t drop all that new information on your audience all at once. We understand that the power within the Miraculous, that of the kwami, allows for its wearer to transform. This comes with nifty perks, heightened agility, reflexes, amazing strength, magical accessories, and special quirks unique to each of the Miraculouses.

Are we good so far? See, if we stuck to that, it’d be fine. Not mind-blowing but pretty okay still. Doesn’t have to be too complicated to be enjoyable, just look at Sailor Moon!

And then Miraculous tried to spice things up and communicated its ideas so poorly that the arbitrary decisions taken by the writers are glaring, and seriously affect the audience’s suspension of disbelief and enjoyment. 

The kwamis aren’t just cutesy mascots, they’re gods. And yet their powers are very limited. Why? Well, the show doesn’t really bring that question up, we can only try and infer things. Now, what are these limitations, and why do they exist in the first place? I’ve got a vague answer to the first question (a time limit for transformation once the special power is being used).

The answer to that second question is very unsatisfactory, and that’s the only one I’ve got: “because the plot requires it if we want to do such and such thing”. Which is an answer that applies to absolutely all creative decisions in fiction, yes, but there’s usually more to it as well, in competently-made shows at least, it’s not so transparent. Why is Marinette able to wield so many Miraculouses at once? Well, it’d look cool and it’d make her look powerful, so why not! But Adrien can’t. Why? He just can’t. No explanations whatsoever. Just because. It’s magic. Shut up and watch the show.

Well, that’s not entirely true. We’ve got fleeting remarks about being able to unlock kwami powers and maintaining a transformation for longer and whatnot. The problem is, they’re just that, fleeting remarks, and worse, they are so scattered across the show it’s really easy to forget about them in-between episodes, especially since the release schedule is absolute nonsense (it isn’t the creators’ fault, but it certainly has an impact on the way the audience engages with the show). So no, the show isn’t going down the “just roll with it” route, not entirely… And that makes the lack of proper explanation that much worse.

It feels as through the few rules there are in Miraculous are being made up on the fly and… Heh. That’s just not great.

It doesn’t help that the powers themselves are… Really something, huh?

Chat Noir’s power is the only one that really fits with what his kwami is meant to represent. Destruction. Easy to represent, right?

Creation is trickier, that requires being imaginative, and Miraculous isn’t terribly imaginative when it comes to its lucky charms. Hey kids, did you know that you could use a ladder to stop an ice-skater? How creative! I mean you could also use salt to melt the ice, or a baseball bat to smash his kneecaps, then… The point is, being convoluted isn’t the same thing as being creative, and while Chat Noir gets to decide what he destroys, Ladybug gets an item thrown at her and you better believe she’ll find an use to it… How is that creation exactly? Is the lucky charm popping out of thin air creation? That’s a bit underwhelming, isn’t it?

Tikki represents convolution, Nooroo is the power of creating minor antagonists…

I had to check the Wiki to remember what concepts the other kwamis are meant to represent. There’s a disconnect between that and the way powers are represented on-screen. Pollen isn’t the kwami of Subjection. Pollen is the kwami of stabbing people with a stinger. How do I know that? I watched the show and nothing else.

If you want your audience to not be confused, if you don’t want your story to feel completely arbitrary to your audience (though it’ll always be just that), maybe take the time to explain things that are crucial for the understanding of the storyworld’s inner workings. You don’t have to give everything away in the first ten episodes, not at all, but you should explain them at some point, take the time to do so if these are more complex concepts that are crucial to your show. And if they aren’t key to your show, you don’t have to include them, and I promise no-one will notice.

[sword-of-summer]

okay so i did a breakdown and prediction for WandaVision before the show started and It's Turning Out To Be True, Guys, so I'm posting it below and just tell me if it's okayish or not-

Now, WandaVision marks the beginning of Phase 4 of the MCU, and it is in itself a pathmaking event because it shows normal life without the original Avengers. Now, the show explores Wanda's mental state after Vision's death in Infinity War, and how she uses her Chaos magic to create a 'pocket reality' where things are just what she wants them to be.

The entire series is set over 6 decades, and has a running theme of couples living in sit-coms throughout the years, the late 50s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s and present. Now, my theory is that WandaVision is the beginning of a Multiverse Act that continues in Spiderman - 3 and culminates in Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness.

Now, as for the shots within the trailer, it seems that Wanda and Vision are changing their localities as time passes, and that is through the decades I mentioned above. Now, all the posters have this unique red-blue television static rip in the upper left corner, which is also the transition effect used by the editors whenever Wanda warps reality and tries to adapt to the passing, and this actually represents Wanda's warped reality fading away and opening up a multiverse. In the late 50s poster, there isn't much that suggests anything, just we know that this involves the b/w part of the show where Wanda and Vision are a newly married couple and Vision as a human, which is strange, because in all trailers/posters after that time, Vision is shown as the Android he is, from the 60s black and white where Wanda acts as Vision's assistant in the magic show, and now, the next transition is the most interesting for me because they shift into the era of coloured television and during this warp, Wanda becomes pregnant and slips into the stripes of the 70s - another fact is that the upper left rip is not normal, not it is a wood panel torn apart, like by a demon, which leads me to the obvious villainous entity for the show, Mephisto.

This marks Wanda's descent into confusion as to who is in control of this warped reality, because it may not be Wanda, it may be some evil entity who is using Wanda to get into MCU's Earth-199999 and is proved later when Jimmy Woo's voice is heard out of the radio saying "who is doing this to you?". Now, the 80s poster has a ton of references in the 2 paintings it has, one being a hybrid phoenix chicken, aka representing Vision, who here is both a hybrid between human and metal, and like a Phoenix brought to life by Wanda's magic from the ash he was left in by Thanos, and the second bird is a wren from Australia with varying plumage which is like Wanda, because her magic clashes with life in the same way. The next 90s poster is the most indicative too as this is the time where they have the twins, Wiccan and Speed, but interestingly, there's a picture on their wall with three, yes, three not two eggs, which is another reference to the fact that snarky Mephisto has snuck up into this reality using Wanda's magic, also the TV still here is of them in their original Avengers' goofy hallowe'en costumes, and the last shot is a trailer and poster mix where Wanda races out into their frontyard but there are 2 small bikes parked, meaning that is the 2000s where they live as a family of four, but what Wanda doesn't realise that Mephisto's using this fake family to claw his way into this reality and wreak havoc.

Some other shots that stood out to me were of Monica Rambeau constantly transitioning from friendly neighbour to outright "I don't know who (I am)", then the character of Agnes who I suspect is none other than Agatha Harkness from the West Coast Avengers comics where Mephisto, yet again, played with Wanda's chaotic magic and in a way it also merges with the House of X comic series where Wanda yet again creates a pocket reality (I mean, what is up with all the reality stuff) - another interesting thing is the beekeeper seen in the second trailer, which I propose is a reference to the way in which we make honey commercially, wherein the queen bee is kept incharge of a beehive with her subordinates, and she thinks that she is in charge, but the actual person benefiting from this is the beekeeper looking from above the hive, collecting the honey, just like it is here where Wanda thinks she is the queen but in reality it is Mephisto the Beekeeper looking from above the pocket reality using Wanda's brand of Chaos magic to enter into this reality.Â

I believe that the base of this entire series by which it will continue into the wider MCUÂ is The Mind Stone, because it was The Stone that gave Wanda her powers and also to the two men she loved the most - Vision and her brother Pietro. Now, there is an amazing amount of screen time given to shots of the Mind Stone in the trailer, the most intriguing of which is a tired Wanda with greyish hair looking up at the Stone with slivers of blue around it - this is the incident where Wanda received her Enhanced powers from Stucker is Sokovia and this indicates that there will be some flashbacks to earlier memories which may involve Quicksilver returning. Now, the Mind Stone is the smart one, so it has a certain intelligence which it imparts to those affected by it, as is evident in Wanda's Chaos magic and tele-abilities, Tony Stark's vision of the Earth ravaged and the Avengers dead, and maybe even Thanos's curse of Titan's fate. Now, for sure, the mind stone has been destroyed but this does not mean it hasn't already affected given the Universe changes.

Now, back in 2015, Marvel wasn't allowed to use the term "mutants" but now with the Disney-Fox merger, yes they can introduce the idea of mutants with Wanda and Quicksilver as the first in Sokovia, and then Wanda's Chaos-Mephisto born mutant kids Wiccan and Speed which of course may tie to the New Mutants storyline. Also, my theory is that mutants are made by a combination of both their mutant gene and exposure to cosmic radiation, just like Wanda was exposed to the Mind Stone. Also, the mutant gene may exist in specific closeted spaces of the earth like Sokovia, or just for the sake of an example, in Chernobyl cause well the incident. Now these mutant genes become activated on exposure to radiation, and well we have had Four Omega Level Cosmic Infinity Snaps by Thanos, Thanos, Hulk and IronMan, and there is plenty of reason to suggest that this may have triggered the mutant abilities. That is my first theory.

The second one involves Wanda unleashing her chaos magic in an exponential wave at the end just like she did in Age Of Ultron, maybe because she realises that in reality, Vision is dead and manipulation won't help, and in grief she lets out her power that rips upon the Marvel Earth 199999 to the Multiverse which will continue later for Doctor Strange and SpiderMan to put back to normal. This mega event was teased in the trailers where the S.W.O.R.D. helicopter escapes from a wall of red television like static energy, and yes, I expect S.W.O.R.D. to be fully involved in the last part of the show headed by Jimmy Woo and Darcy cause Darcy has had encounters with otherworldly beings and thus may be consulted here. The last act will culminate in Wanda and Vision rising back up to their original title of the Avengers and fighting Mephisto to stop him, but something turns and thus Wanda/Mephisto releases that wall of Magic to wreak havoc.

Also a side note - Vision will also play the act of a realist in the show where he makes Wanda realise that this is not the real earth and he realises that the Eastside/Westside area they live in as well as the people there are unusual, not real, but at the end comes to his usual humane proposition that they save them and the reality from the demon trying to wreak havoc.

TL;DR Wanda creates a pocket reality where she lives with Vision, maybe reincarnating him using her brand of magic in the grey android left after Infinity War, and as the decades pass by, their reality deteriorates due to the Satanic entity that is Mephisto, making his curses seem like blessings, but at the end Wanda and Vision try and stop this reality shredding with S.W.O.R.D and that leaves us with an indecisive future of the mutants, Vision's reincarnation(like said by Banner in Infinity War)/Vision's death and the coming of the Multiverse into focus.

That's it, I guess.

Sorry a bit long ik but i do this.

Enjoy?

Thanks for reading...

tagging @aredhel-of-gondolin cause it was in that chat i realized i have a blog ugggh why am i so stupid

[aspiestvmusings]

My wildest WandaVision Theory

SPOILERS for WandaVision..thoughout season 1 + several MCU films

This is the wildes theory I have had, I think. And I am 99% ertain this cannot be correct. But then again, I expect some surprise twists, so...

In this theory I focus on some things/details/facts from the MCU (and coming films) & some comics details & ignore others. And even though they like to use the comics as the building blocks for their films & shows, they do also change things up, so I do not expect them to follow the “comics canon” hence I’m prepared for surprises:

What we know of the MCU:

Infinity War events takes place in 2018. Wanda & Vision have had a secret relationship for two years by this time. And though many are wondering “when did he/they buy the property & how does that fit into all of their story”, I personally found that those “flashback” memory scenes filled the missing pieces from the puzzle grom past films. And it fits perfectly. With the “what if I don’t go back” scene, etc. I suspect that Vision bought that plot before the events of Infinity War. And Wanda was given the envelope along with other of his belongings after she returned from the Blip. The “love persevering” scene showed us how they connected & fell in love...while watching TV (he learned to be human also through the sitcoms & though her & she learned to not be so afraid of her “weirdness” thanks to him).

Wanda had to kill Vision in 2018, then see Thanos reverse time & bring back Vision only to kill him again...”for good”. Then she got Snapped (dusted).

When she returned “10 seconds later” she learned that 5 years had passed, and it was 2023. She didn’t find Vision next to her. But she had no time to process the Snap, Blip & losing Vision, because she was immediately thrown into the Endgame fight. (where she almost killed Thanos...until Tony used the ultimate “misdirection” trick and helped them defeat Thanos & his army for good.) Then shortly after she went to Tony’s funeral, where she had that lakeside talk with Hawkeye about those they lost (I still say that they were talking about Nat & Vision, because those are the losses that affected them the deepest personally, cause they were the closest to them)

Then a few days/weeks after that (just a few weeks after the Blip/she returned), and after she had been caught up on the 5 years she missed, and she was given his belongings, she went to SWORD to get him back/so that she could bury him (give him a goodbye ceremony). Then she created the hex out of her grief, when she was denied a proper goodbye to her soulmate (that whole things was, no doubt, a show put on by Hayward...that was made obvious in ep 8: and I’m still unsure about the colours: The “just died” Vision in IW turned basically gray, the “taken into parts” Vision on the disply tables was almost normal tone purple”, & the “brought back online” White Vision a week later was all white...with a “Tony’s triangle-shaped arc reactor element” instead of the Mind Stone in his head. The colours & small timeframe confuse me a bit).

Then she has been living in this “fantasy reality” for the past week or so...in real-world-time. Everything we’ve seen in WV has happened during a week or so in real world time. And for her everything from Scotland to WestView has happened in less than a month.

While creating the hex (from her red magic), she also created a Vision 2.0 (we have now been explained that she can create things “out of nothing”, not just transform them as Jimmy-Darcy-Monica suspected) from  her “yellow magic” I might be wrong, but I think the IW blast (and possibly the Sokovia experiment blast) not only awakened & heightened the superpowers in her, but that she was also blasted with the energy of the Mind Stone...the same one that gave vision life originally. So that mindstone energy has been “inside her” ever since & she “transformed it” into the new Vision. The Vision from her memories. and I think that just like her kids, Vision is “real” (how else can Hayward track the vibranium decay signature)...aka she created both Vibranium, and possibly a new Mind Stone even (though it is possibly he is powered by her magic alone & the stone is just accessory), but this Vision in this form cannot survive outside the hex.

We know that they brought up (via Darcy & Visions talk) that Vision is a mixture of many things. Part Jarvis. Part Ultron. Part Mind Stone. Part Tony & Bruce, and not only... We know that Vision has evolved thoughout his existance. And he wants to be/do good, and wants to be more human. But this Vision does not remember anything prior the hex because he was “rebooted”, so he does not have real memories of their time prior this really. And while he acts like her Vision, the hex Vision is not her old Vision either, really. Just one part of what made him him, and that made them connect.

We know that Shuri was able to download some of Vision’s conciousness/memories & would have been able to remove the Time Stone and still have had him live..if she’d had more time.

We know that Hayward has had Vision’s body (physical form) for a while, and he’s been trying to bring him back to life...for the purpose of using him as  weapon against “threats”. We saw that thanks to getting access to Wanda’s magic powers he was able to bring his re-assambled White Vision (colourless, soulless, empty shell...without a soul) back online...to life. What I want to know from finale is how did SWORD got  hold of The Visions body & what is that “iron man” arch reactor (triangle) in his forehead? Cause they have changed the design, a bit. 

Why wasn’t he still in Wakanda (the vibranium he's made of belongs to them), or with Avengers (Tony was gone when he died, but he returned 3 months later & though the team has been busy lately, why was it not with them? I guess V. was transported there sometime during first two years after Snap, when Maria was still running SWORD, cause Tony/Avengers kinda trusted her. And he stayed there even after... Tony was one of the few who saw Vision as “human”, he was kind of one of his “kids”, so I think this is one of the reasons he didn’t want to hold onto the body himself. But he also understood that Vision had evolved, and that Wanda was the his “next of kin”, not him, so he was holding onto the body until she returned, cause I think he was sure/had hope they’d undo the snap. And I guess he trusted Sword/Maria, because he “trusted” Fury, hence he probably decided to let them hold onto the body. Unless Hayward used tricks to get a hold of it once he took over, since Avengers/others were probably focused on “Thanos”, so no time to deal with government baddies. Also, maybe based on the Sokovia accords the vibranium in Vision’s body belongs to the government, not Tony, hence he let them keep the shell? Cause based in Haywards comments they've had the body longer than past weeks... after Tony died. )

And we can be 100% certain that in the Finale the two Visions will fight each other. [sidenote: Paul Bettany is the best! I love his “inside joke” of getting to act with an actor he’s always wanted to have a scene with...himself...as Two different versions of Vision. It’s the best!] The questions remain: will both die...from Wanda’s hands and/or due to the hex collapsing? Will one die (hex-vision) leaving us with just the empty body without the soul (until in some future film they are able to unite the two). Or will they both kinda surive aka will they merge into one, and we will get our old Vision kinda back already?

I am also almost certain that White Vision in WV finale will be voiced by the same man, who voiced Ultron...that would be such a “shock” to hear. (only RDJ being the voice would be as worthy of an inside joke...cause originaly Paul voiced his/Tony’s AI, Jarvis & now he’d voice Paul’s/Vision’s AI...so opposite, but not as “shocking”)

I do not think both the Twins & Vision will survive. I doubt they’ll give Wanda a happy ending... like the sircoms she watched as a kid. So one has to “die”. Since they made it a big deal to show the twins manifest their powers...at age 10 (10 = X), just like their mom, Wanda did first...at age 10 (X = X gene), and there will definitely be X-men & mutants in the future of MCU, I don’t think they'd get rid of the kids after laying the groundwork (Billy & Tommy will definitely get access to their powers & help mom & dad fight the bad guys), so I’m leaning towards the kids surviving. Because she did not just create them, she gave birth to them, so I’d say they can/will survive outside the hex. As Monica put it: Wanda’s kids are real. And even if the sitcom reality looks fake, everything there is real (as real as possible...she actually created the materials & all)

One possible happy, but sad ending would be that both survive: Twins, who stay with her & Vision, who will not be her Vision anymore, but the empty shell. And since she “can’t feel him” in the new form anymore, that’s the sad part. That even though he, too, survives, he’s not hers anymore.

But there is another possibility...that the Twins won’t make it (and they’ll be reborn somehere later... or Wanda doesn’t know they survived, and re-united with their parents...just like in Parent Trap...). But Vision will survive..either as his old self or as just a shell. And that’s the unhappy ending... she gets Vision back, but not her Vision, not The Vision. And she has to help him evolve... it’ll take time for him to “have emotions”. But the twist will be that Wanda was and is pregnant IRL actually.

I am basing this on the timeline we have.

Because the events of WandaVision take place in 2023 (sometime in summer-autumn) & Spiderman 2: Far From Home takes place 8 months after the Blip & 7-8 months after WandaVision. Now...since it’s literally been just a few weeks since Infinity War for Wanda....what if she is actually pregnant? What if she was prior to the Snap? That would make her story here even more heartbreaking - sad, but also happy. Cause based on FFH we know the world is slowly healing from the events, but it’s not in full chaos, so there has to be a “pause” between now & then. Otherwise...Peter/SpiderMan would probably have been more sure about multiverse & there would be more chaos or something than we see in FFH?

And... the events of Spiderman 3 & Dr. Strange 2 will most likely take place right after FFH, so about 8 months from now, and we saw how everything “glitched” when she was giving birth inside the hex. So what if all hell breaks free when she does that in real reality then? And that’s what sets the multiverse events rolling in the upcoming films? Cause why is it happening 8+ months from the Blip/WV/now, not right away. It seems that she won’t be ripping open the multiverse just yet. If she were, wouldn’t Peter/Spiderman have had inside info of it being certain [he seems to not be in FFH, when he talks to the Fake Mysterio] Why will it happen only about 8 months from now? What’s the delay?

I know...crazy wild theory. But I’m just trying to look at the timeline here. Cause either she’ll just spend the next months recovering and/or practicing her new-found skills (her mom did not teach Agatha, but Dr. Strange will guide Wanda on her journey to learn to understand & use & control her powerful abilities) and hence the “calm before the storm” time. Or there’s another reason. And the timeline would fit. Though it could be 8 months simply because the FFH events had to take place during summr vacation... But the kinda calm state of the universe & the specific 8 months “timejump” in FFH makes me suspicious.

FFH also tells us that to the knowledge of general public the fallen Avengers include Tony, Nat, and Vision. But also Cap. So... either Old Cap dies soon of old age/somehow OR the informtion released to the public is not completely accurate. If it’s the first, then Vision cannot make it alive from WV (but could be resurrected at some future time, cause Wanda can create the soul, SWORD has the original body, and Shuri has some of his old database, so...) If it’s the latter then either it’s not the same Vision anymore, but a different one or they’ll just keep him a secret so that other Hayward’s won’t come after him to use him as a weapon. Until the show started I presumed that Vision is gone, for certain.

 But...he’s not a regualar human, he’s part machine, so he is one of those characters they can bring back...even if in a different form. (question is: will they & would they.. would Wanda/Avengers do that...if it goes against The Visions living will? They could & would, I think..if the fate of the universe depended on it..if they needed him on their team)

Because...as they said in WV...it’s all for/because of the children... 

And I know... he is a synthezoid (essentially a robot/machine). But... that’s the thing. In this magical universe the laws of our regular world don’t seem to appy (or rather: tech is so advanced it seems like magic?) at times. The thing is...he is not juyst a robot, an android. He is part machine, part human. And weve seen he’s evolved...beound what “parents” (Tony & co) thought was possible & what Vision himself thought was possible. He got distracted during a missio, because he developed feelings (at age 2 years or so). He’s been shown to be able to feel, cry (produce tears). So..who knows... maybe he can also procreate... with the help of Wandas magic (who can make anything she wants happen...). Even though logic tells me it’s not possible, and his tears etc are synthetic, and he’s kind of a  different species...then I’ve decided that the laws of the world as I know don’t have to apply exactly...in this world. 

I mean...the MCU has a character whose mother is a human woman & father is a planet (in human form). Hence I’ve accepted that what I know to be impossible could be possible in this MCU fantasy universe. Hence I don’t question how or why could Wanda & Vision have offspring...for real. 

THE END

PS. Once again...this does not fit the comics. This is not the simplest route. But it’s one of the wild theories I’ve had. And I wanted to share it. Even if I don’t think that it could become canon. If it were based on comics, then Billy & Tommy would be reclaimed by Agatha’s master & we’d know how & why all this...

[inkribbon796]

Dr. Strangelove and Ticking Timebombs Ch. 1: Suspicious Contraband

Summary: Tommy goes on his first real hero patrol as a mysterious shipment comes into the Brighton.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3

At 23:15 hours the officers arrived on the scene. It was one of the many warehouses along Brighton’s industrial ports. Ships came in and out bringing all kinds of goods.

Somewhere, someone with a conscious raised the alarm. Or at the very least someone who didn’t know how much money was trading hands to keep a particular shipment under wraps.

The instant the ship docked at port the flagged cargo was isolated as soon as it could and pulled to the side for police to investigate it.

Because of the way the contents of the shipments had been written it had led people to assume the type of illicit cargo that the shipment contained was living people.

But when they popped the cargo container it was mostly empty except for a five-foot airtight sealed lead box, and three other crates each about twenty feet in length. In one was a bulk order of smoke detectors, and in another a bulk order of Coleman gas lanterns. The third was full of different magical supples, all categorized and put into smaller boxes.

With no people, apart from the investigation team, the contents of the container were seized while unseen, a young man stood and watched the police proceedings from a distance. He silently followed the group to the lockup site they were taking the heavy, lead box to.

The next morning the heroes went on a patrol with no knowledge of what the police had found.

Ethan had finally started to feel like he was shaking his “junior member” shtick. Which was a relief because he’d been trying to get rid of that for years. But that came with a price because the rest of the heroes through the perfect person to mentor Tommy — who was a loose cannon who ran off at the first sign of adventure — was someone who had been the exact same thing.

When Tommy first entered the base he woke at least five people up from a dead sleep. He had two volumes: loud and deafening. He never accepted the answers “no” or “wait a second”.

So the Septics loved him, in fact he fit right in with them. Jackie called him their “vulgar firecracker”. But after Robbie’s death and revival, they were extremely hesitant to take on another apprentice, even one they really liked like Tommy. That’s why Tommy’s mentorship was given to Ethan.

Ghostbur was a different matter. Marvin was the definition of a helicopter parent around him. He might have never apologized for reviving Robbie, but he certainly learned his lesson. He didn’t want Ghostbur anywhere near any of the big villains. Which Ghostbur was alright with. The young man could go through walls and was more than capable of getting himself out of a dangerous situation.

The only problem was that Tommy was still a minor and they had yet to contact his father. Tommy refused to help them on that front and Ghostbur couldn’t remember a number. But said his name was “Phil” and that he was apparently very nice.

But Ethan decided that since Tommy was already running up the walls he could stand to be out on a patrol or two, to learn the city as Tommy was mostly unfamiliar with most of it. So because they were dealing with an apprentice who also happened to also be a minor, there was more than a bit of a cautious group around Tommy. Silver, Logan, and Marvin had accompanied Ethan and Tommy. With Ghostbut just accompanying them because Tommy and Marvin were in the group.

“Come on,” Ethan called out to Tommy, who had firmly decided that his superhero name would be “Big Man” and he would accept no other comments or suggestions on it. “Gotta[1] head back to Brighton.”

“But we went there first,” Tommy was already halfway down the street and looked like he was about to size up busy Egoton traffic like he could take the cars in a fist fight.

“Yeah normally we wrap around to check the first area of the patrol. Unless something else is going on or we get called somewhere else,” Ethan had a little spring in his steps as he walked down the street. Thankfully, Tommy rejoined the group and rushed toward the head of the group before shooting ahead.

Ethan sighed and Mark chuckled behind him, “Having fun, Crank?”

“Shut up, man,” Ethan rolled his eyes and shoved Silver away, which only resulted in Mark floating harmlessly. Ghostbur quickly trying to catch up with his brother.

“Tell me if you’re in over your head and he’s acting like a maniac,” Silver even had a smug way he was flying. “I’ll just show you a mirror and tell you all about the times I had to deal with your bullshit.”

“Hold!” Logan called out, he was still in his old outfit as he was extremely hesitant to put on a nanite suit again. “Would someone go and get Big Man and Ghostbur, they’re probably two blocks down by this point.”

Silver was the one to fly out and corral Tommy back and at the possibility of getting off of patrol duty, Tommy came racing back.

“Did something happen?” Tommy almost knocked Ethan over. “Is it a bank robbery, or a murder?”

“Due to speed and efficiency, usually Jackie and the other Septics handle those sorts of engagements. All homicide cases are conducted by the proper police authority.” Logan was on some type of PAD, receiving and answering information without even looking at Tommy. Ghostbur came to float over Logan’s shoulder. “As for homicide cases, unless magic is somehow involved, we don’t usually handle any part of those cases.”

“You know, yer[2] a real downer,” Tommy told Logan. “Don’t break that stick that you’ve shoved up your arse[3].”

With all the information he could collect, Logan closed down his PAD and finally looked over at the young apprentice. “If you’re intending to entice me to anger, you’ll have to do a lot better than schoolyard taunts and minor vulgarity.”

“Oh, you fucking asshat, I can do way fuckin’[4] better than that,” Tommy promised with a huge smile.

Logan rolled his eyes and before Tommy could start his torrent of screaming random curse words at Logan, the logical Side began talking. “It’s fortunate that we’re already heading towards Brighton. There is a situation over by the docks where Abe and his investigation team found something last night and need my assistance. The rest of you should form a perimeter around the area, Abe made it sound important.”

“Why can’t we go in with you?” Tommy demanded.

“I said nothing about entering the scene itself,” Logan countered. “I will be there to consult, then we will leave. There will be little excitement on the matter.”

Tommy kept step with Logan and began poking his arm.

Logan stopped, “What are you doing?”

“Tryin’[5] ta[6] figure out where you keep the lazers,” Tommy paused for a second. “Are you a robot?”

The logical Side yanked his arm away from Tommy. “I’m wearing a different suit. This is a nanoweave micro lycra that’s been fortified with Kevlar. The suit you happen to be talking about is my nanite-infused version of this suit.”

“The hell’s a microwaved lycan?” Tommy asked. “Is that like some type ‘a[7] mutant hot dog?”

“No, it’s a type of spandex that can stretch and flex in four directions instead of two,” Logan explained, his stride quickening. “In any event, I only have access to my TASER, EMP bursts, and my other nanite-free weapons.”

“What happened ta[6] yer[8] other suit?” Tommy asked.

After a bit of a silence, Logan answered, “The nanites and I were too compatible and they were causing problems for others and myself. So I can no longer wear it or come into physical contact with nanites.”

“That fuckin’[4] sucks, wasn’t that yer[8] whole thin’[9]?” Tommy asked.

“My “thing” for lack of a better term, is the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge,” Logan corrected. “It is my purpose, my reason for existence. However if that pursuit puts myself or others in danger, it is an unacceptable dereliction of duty on my part.”

“Heh, dooty,” Tommy snickered, getting a long-suffering grumble out of Logan. “Do you e’en know what half ‘a the words yer usin’ e’en mean?”[10]

“Of course I do,” Logan scoffed. “Why on Earth would I use a word if I didn’t know what it meant?”

“I mean, lots ‘a[7] people do that,” Tommy explained as the group kept heading back towards Brighton.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accessibility Translations:

1. Got to

2. you’re

3. ass

4. fucking

5. Trying

6. to

7. of

8. your

9. thing

10. Do you even know what half of the words you’re using even mean?