#like idk if it was a part of the original post or i saw elsewhere but a concept i saw for a backrooms monster i liked was | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

maglors-anion-gap · 1 year

Note

1, 11, and 13 from the nice asks, please?

[for this ask game]

A fanon characterization that you love:

I really enjoy fanon lalwen. She's not in the silm and she gets almost no exposition elsewhere so she really is the blorbo personality I invented. Lalwen the best friend of fingolfin, lalwen fingolfin's right hand man, lalwen the loud and the smiling, lalwen the lesbian -- idk I just really like how some folks have turned her into the big, gregarious lady, especially since most of tolkien's ladies fit different niches (tolkien would have exploded if he'd ever met a butch dyke, I don't think he'd know what to do with a woman like that). Otherwise, I like fanon maeglin a lot. Singly handedly fixed tfog for me so that I didn't have to avoidantly flip past chunks of it. Maeglin's canon behavior is obviously a real-world phenomenon (and the reason I had personal issues enjoying tfog) so there's value in analyzing that. But at least for me, it's been very nice to see people examine the interplay between low self-esteem and outward confidence, the trauma of adolescence and the adult responsibility of growth and recovery, inquisitive desire for greener grass and the feeling of freakishness or otherness. I think a lot of it takes themes present in the original but pares away some of tolkien's dated coding and the broader discomfort casual fans might want to avoid.

11. Recommend a fic with an unusual/original headcanon or characterisation that you loved:

I would recommend Half Mourning by @skyeventide! One, I love the idea of Maeglin having Dwarvish tattoos. There's so much depth there; that they'll fade and take a part of his identity with him, how distancing himself from the bad parts of his life has forcibly distanced him from the good or familiar parts as well. Two, Maeglin as a mirror for other people! Gaia has really masterfully captured something I didn't know I needed to see in Maeglin. He's usually written to be either charismatic and biting, or withdrawn and dejected (and to be clear, I enjoy both). But this fic kind of opened a third door: Maeglin who is whatever the situation requires, who has past associations and familiar customs but no real positive tether to his identity, the knowledge that he is not unwelcome but that he does not belong, that the easiest way to avoid scrutiny is to mimic the person in front of him. I felt very called out.

13. Recommend a fic (can be your own!) that features something you wish was written about more:

This is actually a series (sorry) but The Years Start Coming and They Don't Stop Coming by @i-am-a-lonely-visitor! I am very taken with Visitor's Celebhir (trans celebrian). I think a lot of folks (myself included) often write trans characters as having transitioned to their canon genders (for example, transmasculine maedhros is a staple of mine). And I love this, it's great! It's one way to explore. But I think for a while, at least what I saw, there was a bit of a stir across fandoms about best practice for writing trans characters (eughgghhh) and the Arbiters settled on "needs to match canon gender" and then enforced that vigorously. So personally, I love love love it when people take a canon character and say "I'm transing their gender the opposite direction." It requires you to analyze the character, pare them down to the characteristics about them that will never change (similar to the analysis required to set them in a wildly alternate universe) and then overlay on top of that the new characteristics of what it's like to be trans, how they interact with the world now, how that changes their character, etc. For example, Visitor's Celebhir has a certain tension with Galadriel that wouldn't exist in that manner for Celebrian. Very very tasty analysis going on. (I will be posting transfeminine caranthir soon - I say, having said this for the last three months). TL;DR: I think we should trans more characters, and if your first anxiety is "what if I'm transing them wrong??"/"I heard someone say you should never trans a character like this" you're probably *not* transing them wrong and it's going to be fine (and people love to beta so!)

#answering this was the fic game version of trying to clean my room #took me all day bc i kept getting distracted like oooh hey i forgot i bookmarked this -

14 notes · View notes

abybweisse · 2 years

Note

Do you have any prediction on Laus true intentions as of now? Why is he being loyal to o!Ciel?

⚠️ Way longer post than originally intended ⚠️

Lau’s intentions

Ahhhh…. I find it really difficult to read him. My main character analysis of him is that he's the "Jester" literary archetype, which makes him interesting specifically because he's such a wild card. You never really know what he's going to do or say. He's often starting out really serious and then turning it all into a joke, often with himself as the butt of it. However, sometimes he's deadly serious. And he knows more than he's letting on, suggesting the times where he's playing dumb are really just part of the act. I suggest clicking the tags below for more about this, particularly the archetype-related ones. Here and here are a couple posts about Lau as the Jester. There's also this about ch174. I found them by clicking the Tagging Masterpost then clicking Character Archetypes. There's also a link under the Tagging Masterpost for Analysis of Lau.

If we are to go by anything he says, he's interested in whatever he finds entertaining, which makes sense for his archetype. He's told the young earl he'll stick around as long as the kid is/things are interesting. He's also said, from time to time, that he wants our earl to be indebted to him, so that he might request some favor later. Idk what kind of favor that might be, and Lau himself might not yet know, but we should expect it to end up being significant... if it ever comes to pass. I should think so, otherwise why the build-up to it?

It could have something to do with protection for his opium den and trade. There's the queen and her servants to keep at bay, as well as competitors. His whole operation there continues only because it's being allowed to continue. What would happen if Lau returned to Limehouse (after this assignment in Wiltshire) to find out that real Ciel took over the watchdog duties and decided to demolish all the opium dens... or just Lau's? The queen could have ordered it, or real Ciel could have made a personal direct hit to his younger brother's allies. Kind of like how he targeted Soma and Agni earlier. While our earl is targeting whatever looks like it's connected to the Aurora Society, real Ciel likely has his pawns going after whoever/whatever seems loyal to our earl.

Places that have been or could be attacked and/or controlled that were/are under our earl's control or protection:

The townhouse ✅ Agni is dead, Soma has probably become an adversary, and the townhouse itself is now under real Ciel's control.

Phantomhive Manor ✅ All the servants are gone except Tanaka (who I believe is secretly loyal to our earl), and real Ciel has taken up residence there, at least for now. Polaris comes and goes, but he makes reports on their operations elsewhere. Undertaker seems to be using it as his base, as well, so all the lords of the stars are probably there a good deal of the time. At least when they need transfusions... unless one of the facilities is doing transfusions for one or more of the "lords". Not sure how everything is set up, but Polaris and Vega definitely leave sometimes to bring the blood supply for real Ciel.

Lau's opium den ❓ Ran-Mao and Mey-Rin might have returned there, but was the place even still standing by the time they arrived? Will they be attacked there, as retaliation for what they did in Yorkshire? We have to watch out for Polaris, for sure, but Jane is also still a possible adversary.

Lark Photography ❓ Last we saw, young Mr. Pitt was being interrogated by Lord Randall, but we don't know whether the Yard searched the photography studio. Regardless of whether the Yard did a thorough investigation, real Ciel might recall Mr. Pitt and order an investigation of his own. Or at least pay a visit there and demand loyalty to himself. Mr. Pitt might visit the manor and offer his loyalty to save his own arse. That could help keep the studio safe... unless real Ciel can think of some reason to go there and turn the place upside down... perhaps looking for something in particular.

Places that are not under our earl's control or protection but are still connected to him and have been generally supportive of him.

The Midford estate ❓ Lizzie chose to be loyal to real Ciel, even though she knows he and Undertaker are up to no good (but doesn't understand how or to what extent). Then again, she's torn over what to do. Paula will be loyal to Lizzie, and likely so will Edward. Alexis is a toss-up, but he will probably follow the will of Frances/Francis. If anyone in the Midford household finally speaks up against real Ciel, it could be Frances/Francis. Partly because she doesn't completely buy real Ciel's story, but mostly because she doesn't trust Undertaker (*cough* her father *cough*). Once they make up their minds, the Midfords are likely to all go in the same direction... and I expect that to be in favor of our earl. (It parallels Duster, Wess and Alex supporting Lucas in Mother3 theory.)

The Yard ❓ Lord Randall is loyal to the queen and the Yard. Fred Abberline shows loyalty towards the Yard itself but also to our earl; he was heartbroken to have to arrest our earl and Sebastian. Since Abberline previously said he would investigate and take care of things to keep our earl's "hands from getting dirty again", I believe he's trying to get to the bottom of all this, largely on his own. So, sadly, that also makes him a target. Recall that he dies in the anime adaption, and that it's really just because he was trying so hard to do his job. This might also happen in the manga; it's just that the details would be a bit different.

Sieglinde's laboratory ❓ Sieglinde and Wolfram have become loyal to our earl, but they are now financially indebted to the queen (who has provided them with the house and lab facilities), and the queen likely has various demands for Sieglinde's work focus. Since the P5 are no more, she's probably focused on random projects, some of which might turn out to be useful as weapons. Besides, the last time she saw our earl, he was telling her to be wary of opening the door to anyone, even "him". I don't think Sieglinde and Wolfram realize how unsafe their situation really is. If real Ciel visits them, she won't immediately know it's not our earl, since he apparently never explained what's going on with his twin. If she's overly familiar with real Ciel, like she tends to be with our earl (like Soma also tended to be), then she and Wolfram could end up being attacked, just like Soma and Agni. It might not matter that she's connected to the queen or that she's infinitely useful.

The queen/Windsor 🚫 Victoria -- I'm sure she only pretends to be supportive of our earl. Or she's only supportive to the extent that it's helping her. Real Ciel says to his aunt and uncle that he will eventually have to present himself to the queen (presumably to make everything official and pick up the mantle of queen's watchdog). No one in the room (including Undertaker) seems too pleased with the idea. But I expect Victoria to be delighted to finally have a bizarre doll as an "ally", as she once suggests to John Brown. And I'm sure she'll know he's a bizarre doll, even if it takes John Brown informing her of the fact (because I'm sure he already knows, as I've alluded to in an old post about ch35. Notice that while Double Charles are using binoculars to see what's going on at Kelvin's manor, John is staring across to the opposite cliff, where Undertaker is holding real Ciel). Real Ciel isn't likely to attack the queen or her servants, unless they get in the way of his own goals. If he picks up the "collar" of watchdog, he'd likely have the queen's full support to attack any target loyal or potentially loyal to our earl... including Lau's opium den/HQ in the Limehouse district.

So... that could be why Lau has been helping our earl, to save his operations in Limehouse. To protect himself, his income, his workers, his business partners, and perhaps even more to protect Ran-Mao (though she seems quite capable of protecting herself).

One of my biggest questions about Lau remains, though: How, why, and exactly when did they start corresponding by mail? All we know is that it started while Lau was still in China; he was rising through the local ranks of Qīng Bāng (and using ruthless tactics to do so, according to Haku). Who contacted whom first? Why? Was our earl trying from the start to replace Haku with someone who could be loyal to him, as the watchdog? Or was Lau already planning to leave China and sending out letters to anyone who might prove useful to him? 🤔

It might be a translation issue, but this strikes me as ominous: ch170's tagline on the title page says "The time has come. I shall accomplish it in a faraway land."

This suggests that regardless of who first contacted whom, Lau has had some particular goal set for years, before he moved to England. And it doesn't particularly matter where it comes to fruition. Now it looks as though he will finally accomplish his goal or mission, and it's going to happen in England. He's been waiting for quite some time now, but he's not giving us any hints what it is. It could be "bad". It could be "good".

I used to think he wants to punish all of Great Britain for the Opium Wars in China. He's previously suggested he lost family during those wars. It could be that's why he wanted to deal in opium in England -- get them hooked on this drug. Because the Opium Wars were all about the Brits (mostly) wanting to flood China with opium while financially profiting from it. This not only increased opium addiction in China, but it meant silver (used to buy the drug) was leaving the country. This could explain why Lau's holding onto his opium den, instead of fleeing the country and heading elsewhere, like back to China.

But, if things get bad enough, he might have to halt operations anyway. Or operations might be halted on real Ciel's or the queen's orders. In other words, the den might be shut down by force. As I said in one of my old posts (linked at the start of this reply), Lau and Ran-Mao could end up fleeing like they did in s1 of the anime. That was also related to charges about drug trafficking. It was "Ciel" who was charged with filling candy wrappers with drugs (the drugs even ended up in the hands of children), but Lau decided this was having a negative effect on his opium business, so he decides to bail. "Ciel" has Sebastian fight to kill them, and he supposedly does. In the season 2 reboot, Lau and Ran-Mao return, explaining they had made a deal with Sebastian to spare their lives. We know that Sebastian can't make deals like that, based on his contract with our earl, so that's just one more reason why I say s2 wasn't well-written. Anyway... back to the manga.

Idk what Lau has to gain from completing this assignment other than a huge boon over our earl. Of course, our earl has likely been stripped of his title and his position as queen's watchdog. He's definitely lost easy access to the Phantomhive coffers. So, what can our earl ever do for Lau now? Unless our earl wins and somehow manages to regain his former wealth and status. Whatever Lau's true intentions, if he ever decides the rewards are no longer worth the risks, he and Ran-Mao will likely bail. Though it wouldn't go exactly like it does in s1, the situation might be very similar.

I wish I could say something more definitive, but I just don't know what Yana-san wants his ultimate goals to be, so idk if it means being loyal to our earl or perhaps only playing a long con.

28 notes · View notes

papiliona · 4 years

Note

Im here for headcanons. Feed me, I'm starving for headcanons

Okay okay okay I bring them as mother bird brings the worm to her screeching children.

Ranboo cannot gauge normal temperature. This mainly has come from the fact his house has no walls and is in a snowy biome, but i feel like the end is very cold so his enderman half means that he just doesn't get cold at all.

I also like drawing him so that his enderman half and the white part are different textures. Idk why.

Techno in my brain is a man wearing a pig skull mask, but because he has the same size head as regular pigs the mask comes from a nether Hoglin. In general I picture Techno as like... A seasoned warrior in the vein of Odysseus (as opposed to Tommy who is an Achilles type person), so maybe his entire outfit consists of battle and adventure spoils he's gained over the years.

Technodrip

Eret still wears his king outfit, but the metal is tarnished and the Cape is torn.

A lot of these are aesthetic idk what to tell you.

Niki dyes her hair with flowers. The pink was originally light and calm and meant to symbolise hope, but when she saw how hopeless the world around her was she made it more and more intense until it was like fire.

Also she totally uses baking skills to make potions/explosive concoctions.

The people in the badlands actually originate from a badlands biome (the one with the hArDeNEd cLaY) and were nobody's there, so they left to gain power elsewhere.

The egg smells kind of like red velvet muffins. Until you get close to it.

The smp afterlife is like an echo of the overworld, but really faded, empty and with a short render distance. It looks like the smp but before anyone did anything and with no mobs

Dream is in the mortal world as some kind of punishment. I like to think of him as a Greek God figure, human in appearance but able to change the course of fate and absent from normal moral codes. He's on the smp because he committed some petty offence in the immortal realm, so he's bitter, playing with everyone. Like dionysus in percy Jackson but like... Evil and shit.

In the L'Manhole you can hear screams echoing.

Karl occasionally uses really outdated words mixed with modern phrases because time traveller. Like occasionally he'll just be like 'are you biting your thumb at me dude?'

George's goggles are made of really boujie materials and are gem encrusted

Ranboos crown is more tiara like. I need it to be a bejewelled elaborate designed circlet because otherwise the way the pixels are spaced on his skin will irritate me.

Wilbur had a room littered with unfished songs and compositions. Before L'Manburg he wanted to be a musician (this is kind of more just canon). They made a statue of him in New L'Manburg, but ghostbur couldn't bear to look at it because it looked wrong. The reason was that it was an image of the destructive Wilbur as opposed to the creative.

All of the clothing on the smp is of one distinct aesthetic and period for each group but the only modern piece is Tommy's red and white shirt. Nobody knows where it came from.

Ranboo naturally has his irl hair colour, but he split died it permanently and couldn't remember that it wasn't originally like that.

Twitch Prime is a god that looks like Jeff Bezos in a toga

All the technology on the smp is run by cogs. In my mind the smp is like the world in this series called septimus heap, where its simultaneously high fantasy in aesthetic but a clear post-futuristic version of our world. So there are relics of 'modern' technology that is broken and dispowered (like Jack Manifolds headset)

Everyone's netherite armour has different carvings and designs on it

Dream and Awesamdude play chess together in prison, in silence. Neither of them speak but Dream seems to appreciate the company (does he though?)

Tubbo used to like playing piano and ukelele in his bee house sometimes. Sometimes he would sit in the corner of caves whilst Ranboo mined and play instruments too.

Hamilton in the smp universe is a fictional novel (its pretty much fictional irl anyway) and Wilbur read it when he was a teenager.

Erets wool blocks are actually scarves he knits and leaves lying around, wrapped around tiny notes.

Quackitys voice is not autotuned he just sings like that™

I know foxes do this thing where they will sneak into farms and cause ruckus, and for some reason whenever Fundy is near technoblade both of them are just really uneasy

Snowchester is also a front for people to go ice-skating because fuck you my child is completely fine

Ranboo gardening 👍

Sometimes endermen will put grass blocks in piles near Ranboo's shack house when he blacks out for a long period of time or is visibly distressed.

Sapnap used to have wanted posters of himself everywhere because he is a petkiller but when the hype died down he framed them all and put them in his house. Also he plays the violin.

The twitter trending guy is canon but he runs a newspaper which is consistently sued unsuccessfully for having political biases, because as soon as it seems like he's writing in favour of one person he just writes in favour of another. The one true anarchist, Ranboo could never.

252 notes · View notes

golbrocklovely · 2 years

Note

Hi👋🏼 Im confused on the timeline of when the boys were arrested and lived solo because i wasn’t really IN the fandom then, just lurking i guess. So they lived in the old trap-house when they got arrested but when Colby posted his story he was in his own apartment??

Did they take a break and move during that time or was the video of Jake finding out taken elsewhere? Also how did the fandom find out? Like how specifically did they know what jail in florida because im guessing they were in state and not federal. Also sorry to ask so much but the video of Jake…was it edited because when he and griffin scream, the bass increases.

they got arrested on jan. 16, 2019. they were still living in the trap house. by late feb early march, they moved out. they took the rest of january off, for the most part. colby filmed (at least) one video in the trap house talking about being arrested. but he didn't film the story of what went down until he lived by himself.

and i'm assuming the video you're talking about is the one livestream jake held the night they got arrested and griffin and corey and aaron were there. if you're talking about another video, idk. that was taken at the trap house.

the fandom found out originally that snc were MIA bc of jake and kat. both of them had tweeted out earlier that night that they were trying to get a hold of snc and couldn't. jake joked "hope they didn't get arrested :/" and… that's kinda what started the fire lol

after that, fans looked at snc's last story on insta and saw that they were in the tampa area (i believe) and so fans literally started searching thru counties near there to see if snc's mugshots were online. i was literally watching someone's livestream of them trying to find out what county they were in. then it just kinda happened. someone found colby's mugshot, jake went live, the fandom as a whole found out.

and no the video of them finding out snc were arrested was not edited. i think they just screamed so loud, it broke the mike for a second lol

#ask #personal #sam and colby #jake webber

5 notes · View notes

nightwingmyboi · 4 years

Note

Hey so I was wondering about Dick's Romanian heritage. Is it mentioned a lot in comics or media? Is he dark skinned in any adaptations? Is it true he originally went to Juvie after his parents died? Where would I go to find this stuff out? Thanks!

Sure! So, Dick’s heritage is a pretty complex topic. I think it’s best to leave the explanation to [this post]. Since I know not everyone will click the link, just to briefly clarify something: Dick is Romani, not Romanian. Being Romanian means being from the country of Romania. Romani people are scattered across the world. Also, Dick is typically depicted with light skin in canon...him being Romani would not conflict with this, because the Romani people have a large range of skin tones. Not at all opposed to him being depicted with darker skin, but just so that you know. Very, very strongly recommend checking out the post for the whole story (edit: and checking the reblogs for the counterpoint to said post!!)

Robin (1993) Annual #4

As for your other question...in one version of Dick’s origin story, following his parents’ deaths, Dick was sent to Gotham’s Youth Center. This center was essentially a juvenile detention center; most of the kids were sent there for committing what are described in comic as “adult crimes.” It was a very rough environment for Dick, especially in the aftermath of his parents’ deaths.

Dick going to the center after his parents died is technically a retcon of his origin (ie it was something added later). I know for some reason certain people hear the word retcon and immediately are like “then it doesn’t count!!!” but I think that is very much the wrong approach. True enough, some retcons are bad--that is, those that completely ignore previously established characterizations or plot points, and in doing so often radically change the story for the worse. It’s fine if people want to ignore those bad retcons, I do so myself. But, that’s not true for every retcon lmao. I’d say the juvie origin retcon is a great example of a good retcon. It really helps to clarify and enhance the original story, and I don’t think it should be dismissed. Hear me out here:

1.) The juvie origin doesn’t replace any previous origin story--it really only adds to and improves upon the timeline of Dick’s original origin.

For the most part, in previous tellings of the story, Dick’s origin went pretty much straight from his parents dying to him and Bruce in Wayne Manor. It’s a pretty sudden, jarring jump; the in-between was largely left to the reader’s imaginations or implied to not exist at all. And I’ll be real...the pacing and immediacy of events is pretty wonky and unreasonable. In one of the most extreme speed runs through Dick’s origin I’ve seen, Dick’s parents die and Batman immediately swings down from the rafters and tells Dick that he’ll solve the case...while Dick’s parents’ bodies are still cooling a couple feet away (Batman #436). Yeah, that is absolutely ridiculous lmao, as is the idea that Bruce just immediately adopted Dick the day his parents died. I think that the juvie origin very nicely slows things down and helps to organically fill in the gap of time that would and should exist between Dick losing his parents and being taken in by Bruce.

2.) The juvie origin helps to rationalize Bruce’s reasoning for taking Dick in.

In previous origin stories, Bruce’s main motivation for taking Dick in is that he saw his own suffering reflected in Dick and wanted to help him. I dig the parallels between Bruce and Dick...but this is very flimsy reasoning to adopt someone lmao. With all the tragedy that occurs in Gotham, you cannot tell me that Bruce had not run across some orphans before. Bruce sympathizing with Dick certainly should be part of what motivates him, but there needed to be something more. If there is not some immediate, urgent reason to adopt Dick, then it makes zero sense that Bruce would try to raise him honestly. Why would Bruce tear Dick away from his remaining family and friends at the circus? Why would Dick want to leave? And even if Dick could no longer remain at the circus, why wouldn’t Bruce allow Dick to go to a good foster home, especially since Bruce is so laser focused on his solo crusade against Gotham’s crime that he doesn’t even allow himself to have a steady girlfriend half the time? Lots of plot holes here!

The juvie origin fixes a lot of these issues! Staying at the circus is not an option for Dick, not because Bruce just snatches him away, but because legally Gotham Juvenile Services says that the circus is an inadequate environment for raising a child. Dick is sent to juvie, and the comic makes a point of showing Dick nearly being beaten to death almost immediately upon arriving.

Dick is in danger and he’s lost in the system, so there is no longer a possibility for him to land in a good home. Initially, when Bruce goes to find Dick, he’s still tracking him down only with the intention of getting justice for Dick by solving his parent’s murder. But Bruce is a good person at heart. When Batman finds Dick trying to escape from the juvenile hall, beaten to hell, he intervenes. The next morning Dick is taken in by Bruce Wayne.

So now, taking in Dick isn’t Bruce tearing Dick away from the chance of having a loving family and throwing him into the dangerous life of a crime fighter; taking Dick in is Bruce saving Dick from a horrible situation, possibly even saving his life. The only way to get Dick out of the potentially deadly situation he was in quickly was for Bruce to take him in as a foster parent. Bruce’s actions actually make a lot of sense! And Bruce is forced by necessity to take on a fatherly role that he does not feel suited or prepared for, rather than him adopting Dick on a whim. The juvie origin gives this scenario the urgency and necessity that it desperately needed.

3.) The juvie origin has been around for a long time, and pretty successfully adds nuance to Dick’s character without completely altering or changing who he is.

The juvie origin is a retcon that has been established for about 25 years, fyi. Robin Annual #4, which is where this idea first came into play, was released in 1995. There are also references to this origin story in Nightwing Vol. 2, and that comic series ran from 1996 to 2009, so it’s not like the juvie origin is completely baseless or totally removed from the narrative.

Nightwing (1996) #11

Also...Dick Grayson has been around for 80 years. In DC comics, I’m pretty sure he is predated only by Superman and Batman. You are inevitably going to have to add nuance to his character as time goes on. The juvie origin adds a very interesting complexity to the character and his fight against crime, considering he himself has been in the system...there’s so much untapped potential there!! So yeah, I feel like the juvie retcon is a very valid addition to Dick Grayson’s origin story. Plus, Robin Annual #4 is just a very well written and well thought out comic book that really fleshes out Bruce, Dick, and Alfred’s initial relationships to one another in a realistic way, and more people should check it out.

What I’m saying...is that more people need to get on board and accept the juvie origin guys!! It’s my favorite origin for Dick, hands down. Thanks for giving me an excuse to talk about it anon.

As for where to go for more info…well, you can always check out Dick’s DC wiki, or anyone else’s, for basic summary info. For me, I always like going straight to the source. You could find a comic rec list that focuses on what you’re interested in and just dive in and build your knowledge that way. Sometimes if you google around, you can find neat creator interviews that address questions like the ones you asked. If nothing else, I’m sure there are people on tumblr (like me :D) or elsewhere online who are willing to help you out and point you in the right direction if you’re curious about something in particular. Idk if other people know of a good resource for things like this?

#thanks for the ask anon!#ask #dick grayson #robin #bruce wayne #batman #alfred pennyworth #juvie hall #meta #romani #romani dick grayson

714 notes · View notes

wheres-sam · 4 years

Text

I binge-watched the spn anime because of the brain rot

It’s bad except for the parts that are good, and it’s pretty to look at. Here’s a comprehensive list of pros and cons. Spoilers ahead!

Pros:

- more psychic kid backstories: Max (Nightmare), Lily (Darkness Calling), Jake (Loser)

- more psychic Sam

- more Azazel

- basically if you want more about the psychic/demon kids, watch the anime

- more young Winchesters

- the monsters, the superhuman abilities, the fight scenes, it all looks really cool animated. (But PSA it’s violent. It doesn’t shy away from blood and gore.)

- Sam and Jessica backstory

- more of the brothers being cute and funny together

- Missouri isn’t forgotten

- includes some Japanese legends/mythology

- the impala looks great in every scene. They did Baby good

- the “Supernatural” intro title

- the outro sketches of the boys hanging out with Baby

- Episodes adapted from the original show are different, but I like some of the changes? It’d be boring if it was an exact retelling and the visual medium wasn’t utilized. (I know I said spoilers before, but this is when they get detailed. If you wanna skip over, I’ll tell you where they STOP.)

Nightmare goes more into the abuse Max has suffered. Instead of locking Sam in a closet, Max sends Sam through the floor and covers the hole by breaking his bed in half, and it’s extremely sexy how Sam shoves the 2 halves apart with his mind. Later on Dean puts bandaids on Sam and they talk about demons loudly in front of a fast food intercom.

In My Time of Dying highlights the guilt Sam feels over Dean. In both the og and the anime John verbally blames Sam for not shooting Azazel, but where in the og Sam goes right on arguing, in the anime he reels back for a moment like he was slapped. Dean’s spirit touches Sam’s shoulder, and Sam knows immediately that it’s Dean. He doesn’t even question it. Instead of “Are you here?” it’s “I know you’re with me. I can feel it.” And I love that. Dean figures out right away he’s dealing with a reaper, and the reaper takes on the appearance of Mary to convince Dean to move on to the afterlife. Instead of a Ouija board, Sam uses a laptop to talk to Dean, and the first word Dean types is “Sammy!” Dean is so fond of his little brother and Sam is so baby.

Rising Son is an anime only episode, but it draws inspiration from John’s journal. Dean has a proper breakdown over his dad’s death and the possibility of having to kill Sam. Ms. Lyle, Sam’s favorite teacher who turns out to be possessed, is explored. John takes Dean hunting, and in the journal Dean hesitates to shoot a buck, and little Sam shoots it thinking it was endangering Dean. In the anime, Dean’s cornered by a moose and Sam makes it explode with his mind and it’s so !!! How little Sam’s first words are, “I’m glad you’re okay. It didn’t hurt you?” The boys are covered in blood and guts and Dean’s like 👁👄👁 “Why are you here? Did you do this?” And then Sam starts freaking out a little, the shock sets in. “I don’t know. I don’t know, honest.” And he’s staring at his hands, and I am a big fan of Sam showing superhuman signs as a kid. Like in the journal, Ms. Lyle tries to take Sam. She gives Sam the illusion of a choice to come with her or stay with Dean, and Sam chooses Dean. This ep is pretty much when John figures out Sam has demon blood. He kills another hunter that wants to kill Sam.

Crossroad is based on Crossroad Blues, and I love how the crossroads demon shows up. It’s hard to describe, but it’s so neat, like she’s walking underneath Dean in this mirror world, and then the mirror world takes over the regular world, so you really get this sense of otherworldly seclusion, existing outside of time.

What Is and Should Never Be shows Dean is a firefighter in his ‘Mary never died’ world, and Sam got to play soccer growing up like he wanted. The brothers hold each other after Dean is saved from the Djinn.

AHBL part 1. When Azazel shows Sam that he fed Sam his blood, Sam gags and slaps a hand over his mouth, and I like that reaction more than the live action. The psychic kids get to go more anime with their powers, and that’s a lot of fun. They don’t need weapons. Ava slams Sam into the brick side of a building and cuts him without touching him. Jake snaps Ava’s neck with one hand and then catches Sam in his arms. When Jake attacks Sam, there’s no gun or knife. He’s relying on his super strength, his fists. Sam throws his arms up to protect himself, and (accidentally?) pushes Jake back with his mind, and the collision creates a crater in the ground. Jake puts his fist through Sam’s chest to kill him. It’s brutal and it’s rad as fuck. These kids are terrifyingly powerful.

The Sam and Dean reunion before Sam is killed is not as emotional as the live action imo, but what the anime does intrigues me. Hurts in a different way. Because Sam is stunned after he uses telekinesis again, on Jake, and when he hears Dean behind him Sam freezes. He doesn’t look relieved to see Dean, but wary and weary. It’s Dean taking steps towards him, not the other way around, and it has to be because Sam doesn’t know if Dean saw him push Jake back. Sam doesn’t know how Dean’s going to respond to all this, to him, having powers that come from a demon, the demon, Azazel. Sam hasn’t had a chance to process anything. He’s scared. He’s tired. And the way the anime focuses on Sam’s eyes here. Gah. “Dean. Dean, I’m...” I’m sorry. I’m all right. I’m glad you’re okay. I’m a monster. There’s also this one shot between Sam and Azazel that sends me because of how anime it is.

AHBL part 2. I love how Sam brought back to life is animated, with all the color returning to his face and a light wind rustling his hair and his lips parting to indicate his soul returning to his body. Jake attacks Dean, and, a lot like how Sam activates telekinesis to save Dean from Max in Nightmare, Sam gets a burst of superhuman strength. He rips Jake’s arm off and tackles him to the ground and beats him to death, punches holes into his body, and it’s so savage and bloody and scary, and I love it. The Devil’s Gate opening looks so cool animated. Same goes for Dean shooting Azazel with the Colt.

Not to turn this into a meta post, but I also noticed how the last couple times Sam uses his powers they’re colored green-yellow, the same colors as Mary’s ghost when she reveals herself in the anime’s Home, and I don’t know if that’s intentional, but it’s neat how it draws a connection to Sam’s biological family instead of Azazel’s blood.

The Spirit of Vegas is like Bad Day at Black Rock, but Dean has all the bad luck instead, and it shows off the silly cartoony physics that make animation fun. The boys sleep outside and split a chunk of bread for dinner. Also this lil bit of Dean’s hair tied in a bow.

- (STOP) the brothers are pretty. I am not immune to animated Sam and Dean Winchester.

Cons:

- Jensen doesn’t voice Dean until the last 2 episodes

- The English dialogue is really bad sometimes. I wish I could’ve watched the sub, but I couldn’t figure out how to change the language

- Some character designs are really different from the live action, and maybe that’s petty, but if you’re gonna change the characters diversify them? Don’t just make them unrecognizable white people

- Missouri’s design as a stereotypical witch doctor is racist

- Gordon is replaced by some British guy named Jason?? Why

- There’s an LGBT character who is not accepted by her family and, while that bigotry is always shown to be negative and she dies the hero of the episode, she still dies ://

- In the English dub Lily’s gf is made into her roommate instead. Idk about the sub

- Bobby’s pretty much a totally different character

- Sam and Dean are OOC sometimes

- Dean’s hair usually looks darker than Sam’s and it drives me crazy

- The storytelling is, overall, not nearly as good as the live action

- The non-Japanese lore in some episodes makes no sense. Sometimes it’s just plain ridiculous?? Like there’s a giant robot made of cars and scrap metal controlled by a demon? ? I wish I was making this up

- Meg’s role is severely reduced

- No Harvelles or Roadhouse

- Shadows are overused, but maybe that’s because the og show is so dark?

- I don’t mind the art style. I like the aesthetic, but I wish it was a little more expressive. It doesn’t do Sam’s puppy eyes justice.

- AZAZEL’S SHADOW?? PROPORTIONS?? PEA SIZED HEAD

- Idk why they mashed season 1 and 2 together? The story feels rushed

- there’s not as much chemistry between Sam and Dean, but that’s a given without J2 on screen

- Nobody tells you!! That there’s scenes after the credits!! And some of them are important! Why are important scenes after the credits??

The anime would not be good on its own, without the heart and depth the live action brings, but it works as supplementary material you can cherry pick from. I would watch more if there were more episodes.

It hasn’t turned me off from wanting an spn anime. I’d like to see it continued or redone, with updated animation and better scripts. There’s a lot of potential in exploring more about the psychic kids and Sam’s powers, storylines that were cut short in the og show. Animation is a great medium for showing off the supernatural, getting creative and creepier with the designs, dramatic with the fight scenes, without having to worry about bad CGI. I don’t want a live action reboot, but I think a redone animated series could be a lot of fun! (As long as it’s not an excuse to make any romantic ships take over. SPN is a platonic love story, and I like it that way.)

If you made it to the end here and are interested in watching the spn anime, you can watch it for free on the CW Seed app! You can probably stream it elsewhere, but idk where!

#spn anime #supernatural #supernatural the anime #my detailed pros is pretty much me letting you know what episodes are worth watching #and why #its bad but I kind of like it #I like what they were going for. the potential it has #I like sam and there's lots of sam

65 notes · View notes

riisinaakka-draws · 4 years

Text

part 2/6

2nd part of my old Black Sails scraps and doodles from 2016–2021. Not in any particular order.

This time the drawings are short comics that were abandoned for a reason or another, mostly because I lost the interest or felt like there was too much to redraw compared to the satisfaction of finishing something else more interesting. There’s also some talk about rigid mindset and how overthinking can lead to stagnation.

Contains early silverflint moments, specks of dust, rackham's glasses are found, jealous-Billy spying, desk-Flint gets caught, "squint-squint", a quiet moment and its bird dilemma etc.

And please do not steal and repost elsewhere. But if you do get inspired, feel free to make your own interpretations!

Long-ish post under the cut!

“What are you thinking about?”

“Specks of dust.”

“Liar.”

The idea was to show how much they and their relationship had changed. This was around 2016 when the season 3 began and I was still re-learning to draw with a tablet. Another art from the same time period (and idea) is this art: The Dynamic Duet.

And for some reason I was really stuck up thinking that I’d have to first do the sketch, then the clean line art, then planes underneath, then shadows etc. and I have always struggled with that kind of approach! Mainly because I hate doing clean line work, lol. And I was a fool for trying to start with a white canvas! It’s so much harder to find values and plan things, or at least in my opinion..

“Rackham’s glasses are found”

To celebrate their new pirate alliance, they share the four lenses of Rackham’s sunglasses as they were also found at the time (because I wanted it to resurface and they could be made into jewellery you know...). This was right after the episode where Anne fights and hurts her hands (here wearing protecting mittens from Max even though she’s not trusted at the moment). Uh, this doesn’t spark joy interest me much and it’s quite stiff and would recuire a lot of redrawing faces, so - discarded!

I somewhat like the idea still (them having something to share, although it’s on Jack’s detriment). I tried to find a stylished comical easier doodlier? way to draw them and draw clean lines etc, but it just wasn’t for me. Also here too, the background is blank and too bright. Later I started to think things as scenes and draw everything at the same time instead of adding the bg later or trying to show everything (and everyone) at the same time.

Here’s also Billy in the same story:

He’s spying on them and since it’s so bright he’s wearing his diy “sunglasses” and being envious to the others. *cough* uhhh...Idk? Also people were shipping Ben Gunn (and cheese) with Billy, so that bled into this too... Charles’ spirit is riding the “big white bird” that was mentioned in Teach’ story and in this case it’s a pelican.

As you can see, I also wasn’t using the brushes that I use nowadays. A hard (or soft) round brushes with no change in opacity just aren’t for me. For example, in traditional art, I struggle with markers and copics, but really enjoy charcoals and watercolours. I prefer ragged edges, layering and thus blending things into each other (and leaving the viewer to fill in the gaps) instead of having stark or definite things. I also struggle with vector drawings, although I have decided to finally start learning to use them...somedayyyy.

Also, I wasn’t paying attention to anatomy, like, at all LMAO. I was just so happy to be able to put something on the canvas.

This is one of my first ink drawings, but I cannot find the original anymore. Again, I like the idea, but not how things look art-wise. And I was so adamant, that I have to get everything right in the traditional drawing and not fix anything later on on photoshop because then it would be cheating. And thus, I was never able to move on or finish this properly the way I liked it (idiot).

BUT! It was a good practise to just draw and test things on paper and gain confidense on drawing things in overall (as I was still getting back into art). To get over the fear of blank paper you know, and try to find my style whatever it would start to form into.

Oh, yeah, Desk Flint.

Desk Flint was a thing for a while (still is, lol). Another drawing from that time is this Slingshot Pirate (2016). And Desk Flint keeps repeating in many later works too. The point is mainly “Flint sitting behind his desk and people interrupt him and I don’t have to draw him fully”

Well, anyway... moving on.

Here’s a plan that has been stuck for years. It’s name is “Squint-squint.” Left is the sketch (with another sketch underneath because the expressions were clearer in the old one). On the right is the continued piece with colour scheme but I cropped the eyes panel and faces out (it was so ugly for some reason) but if I ever continue/finish this, it will be redrawn there in the middle.)

Left. “On that moment their eyes were literally open(ed).”

Right. “After squinting on the shore for days, they had actually forgotten how pretty the other idiot’s eyes were.”

I still like it, quite a lot, but my perfectionist ass only sees too much “boring” things to draw and get right, so it hasn’t been a priority for a long time and other works have kept me occupied and more interested in them.

--------------------

“Quiet Moment.” 2018 (a wordless comic happening after the events of Charles Town)

I’m going to explain after these pictures, but see how big the difference is when you start to look at references and plan things together (the space, “camera” movement, background etc). I also started to colour with coarser brushes:

I drew this around early 2018. A lot of improvement! Still quite a lot of negative space (empty white backgrounds), but it fits this work. A few things tell where we are (the ship’s cabin and the balcony). Changing distances and how things are cropped/framed make things more moving and focused (and less to draw, lol). Colours and brush strokes are softer, more layered and so on.

But guess why it’s still a wip!

I couldn’t decide what bird is flying over there.

Yeap! At first it was an albatross (doesn’t go to Bahamas?). Then a seagull (but which seagull? there’s so many subspecies! Is the ship at sea or at the harbour? what birds are there on the open water/ close to the shore?? oh noo...) So, yeah, wayyyy too much over-thinking.

At some point I ended up with white-tailed-tropic-bird which was a plus! because it sounds like the bosun’s whistle, but at that point I was so tangled and frustrated and still had so much to finish with this that I left it be. Also Flint’s face looks different in every frame so I would’ve had to change some parts, lol. And then I forgot it for a couple of years! And then I had learned to draw a bit differently and again saw too much things to do, so it’s quite hard to take on this again, especially when there are so many other interesting wips waiting...

But I still really like the feeling of it! And the colour scheme. So I might just limit the things I’m allowed to fix and then post it as it own someday. I mean, it’s 90% finished, but the last reach just feels like miles.

And that’s what usually happens with my wips. They reach a certain point and it suddenly becomes really hard to finish or get back into.

But every time I learn things and then use the information in another work! :D

Final note for this post (altough this has been said hundreds of times): use references and look how things go and try to see the structure and form beneath things. And think where it is happening and how the light and surroundings affects the characters and/or spaces. And maybe think what you’re trying to convey with the art, what idea? what emotions? what purpose? or like, what are you trying to learn with the piece? and so on...

Thanks for checking this out, I hope you had fun <3

#black sails doodle #long post #but not as long as the future ones heh #tag for Block Spoils doodles #<- if you want to black list these

37 notes · View notes

sunfoxfic · 3 years

Note

Can I just at something about the awakening movie spoilers we got yesterday??

At first sight, I thoughthe looked like a baby kitten and adorable.

But also...HE LOOKS NOTHING LIKE ADRIEN?? NOR DO THE OTHER CHARACTERS?? SGKSBAIAJAHSJS

I saw that post you reblogged and was kinda relieved I wasn't the only one ngl.

Though I am all in for AUs and such, another main thing which I am low-key terrified of is the fandom response.

Like I have been so emotionally invested with this show for 6 years and thus the canon reveal would feel,,idk EMOTIONAL?? We have travelled with these kids for so long and seeing them grow and just cdshvshss it would be amazing.

But I am afraid that this movie coming out in a few months would kinda ruin the impact?? Moreover there will also be THOSE people who would go, "ThE MoViE WaS WaY BeTtEr ThAn ThE ShOw" which I definitely don't want to see. I want to like this movie so bad but some of these people are ruining it lol

And then, the models. I have so many... opinions about them. Marinette looks cute, but also looks like one of those generic character models and not like, well, MARINETTE DUPAIN CHENG, who is LADYBUG. The movie one looks pretty but lacks personality. Like I don't know how to explain it but when I see the series character models,I just feel INTRIGUED to learn more about these characters while the movie ones just have pretty hair and colours and lighting but not, personality.

Also I will be frank here, I am almost jealous that the movie has taken so much of the budget which could have been used for the show. Also the song seemed so beautiful and hearing the movie chat and ladybug singing that makes me feel weird because I want OUR LB and CN singing it?? I am being incoherent sorry djdgsjvaiabs

Anon, you are so not alone at all. Everything you said is already a concern that I've seen expressed. Honestly, the thing for me is that I don't anticipate the movie is going to be a very good retelling of the show. I can elaborate on this elsewhere but I think that the show's monster of the week format has allowed for there to be a slow progression of conflict over 4 seasons while still giving the viewers emotional payoff at regular intervals. i.e., we see the slow progression of conflict for Adrien's arc over Mega Leech and Guiltrip and Optigami and Sentibubbler, etc, but each of those episodes also provides the viewer with some relief.

That's not to mention that part of what makes the world work is that Hawk Moth is unrelenting and constantly there, which is why episodes like Truth and Gang of Secrets can happen at all. In an hour and a half movie, they can fit... maybe 3 battles? Imply maybe a few more happened? But you aren't going to get the same sense of neverending fight against evil. That, and if they don't akumatize the major characters (such as those in the Miracuclass), most of them will never get development at all, and so much of Adrien and Marinette's motivation comes down to "I am doing this because of how much I care about other people." If you never see that care in action, I think Marinette's arc in particular will fall flat, and Adrien will likely be severely reduced to "doing this because he's in love with Ladybug :D" which is. Not the move.

The more I think about it the more I think that ML needs an episodic format, which is why either a TV show or a comic/manga is ideal, IMO. A movie just won't work to tell the story we love.

And yeah, I don't think it looks good at all, and I think it's bullshit that the show can't get animated by the favored animation company but the movie is getting millions of dollars to look like crap. Zag is trying too hard to replicate the success of ML without thinking about why ML was successful and I think it'll end up flopping in the end, at least compared to what they could have done if they'd just given that money to the original show.

The brightside: You may or may not have followed me many months ago when my URL was animatics-ill-never-make but I am so pumped for the songs. I know, like capital K Know, that animatic artists are going to take those songs and give them to the original characters we know and love, and I think they're going to be beautiful. That is the one thing I am unequivocally hyped for this movie.

#asks answered #anonymous #awakening salt #<- that will be what i tag all awakening salt with from now on so please be sure to filter that if you don't want to see it

2 notes · View notes

pianosmp · 3 years

Text

Who was Pandora’s Vault originally for

(Because I have been thinking about this for far too long)

(Sorry if some of these are a little old, I forgot I made this like a month ago so I cleaned it up and here we are)

This list will go from most likely to least likely character.

Likely

- Technoblade (arguably the most likely option simply because when you mention “powerful enough to be a problem” the first thing you think of is Techno. He’s notoriously strong and unafraid to oppose Dream. Also seeing as the prison ‘changed purpose’ it implies Dream no longer saw the original intended prisoner as a threat, or at least as much of a threat, as Tommy)

- BBH (Dream’s old friend, implied more powerful then a regular human. Plus by this point the egg plot on the Dream SMP had already started. There may have been ‘good intentions’ originally. As dumb as it sounds, I’d also count putting the egg itself in jail here)

- Wilbur Soot (revived, of course. It’s been established that a revived Wilbur would be more dangerous then ever, and if Dream had any inking of this beforehand the prison would be the best way to fully utilize his power. Those not in the know would be blackmailed to keep him safe, and Wilbur could also provide some added chaos to the SMP as a whole, which may end up working in Dream’s favor. And now that he is revived by Dream, we know he’s a threat in some capacity, though seemingly not to Dream himself. Don’t forget, anyone who tries to break out Dream may be hunted down and placed in the prison themselves (or, as in the contract for visiting, “killed until they’re completely dead”))

- Ranboo (Ranboo is tied to Dream in some significant way, seeing as he was used by Dream in some of his plans in some capacity. While a help, I’m sure it could also have been turned into a threat of the wrong things were to get out. Also for meta gaming purposes that get him higher on this list, Dream and Ranboo have collaborated with lore in the past and clearly trust each other to carry the torch. Furthermore, with current Ranboo Enderwalk lore, we’ve learned that rather then just being a servant for Dream, there’s a chance the Enderwalk state was manipulated by Dream who perhaps claimed he was doing it for the greater good of the server. But more introspection on the Enderwalk state is a post for another day)

- Karl Jacob (time travel implies two things. Power and unpredictable nature. Seeing as Karl keeps most changes to himself though and seems to be self destructing either the prison is no longer needed for him or he was never considered a real threat in the first place)

- Philza Minecraft (Phil is notably dangerous, though less then Technoblade. He’s got big hostage potential due to his one life predicament and big use potential due to his knowledge in Minecraft)

- Foolish__Gamers (a literal god, and has recently shown godly powers. This would either involve pre planning on someone’s part though, which the Dream SMP isn’t particularly known for, or making this the original prisoner in a retcon “we’ll figure it out later” manner. It would be interesting though, as the prison may have been repurposed after Dream realized Foolish was at this point in time a big pacifist)

- Quackity (he’s dangerous with his tongue, but I don’t think his physical strength is enough for there to be a whole prison containing him. Not to say he doesn’t play to his other strengths- I bet he’d have an easier time convincing someone to break him out then most. And if anything else, Dream’s worries about him as a threat are now justified due to the whole ‘torture every day’ thing)

- Shlatt (a similar situation as Wilbur, but at the bottom because he’s useless as a hostage and currently still dead)

- Dream Himself (okay, so his reluctance to be in the prison makes it seem like he wouldn’t want it to be for him, but if he’s playing like the super long con somehow and the Prison is either to keep threats like the egg out or to make it seem like he’s powerless...)

Maybe?

- Dream XD (wild, and like Foolish, Dream XD wasn’t a lore concept until later in the prison’s development, back when Techno and Phil were building their Anarchy Table, but it would be an interesting twist. Especially because we don’t know if the two have any connection beyond their names)

- Jack Manifold (yeah he died and came back, but that doesn’t change the fact that he died in the first place. Plus he just hasn’t really gotten to Dream with any of his antagonistic attempts)

- Captain Puffy (mysterious past pog. But in all seriousness, she’s seen as being likable and just, doing her best to do the right thing even when making the decision to become a Villain later on with the Eggpire arc. And while she started as a ‘janitor’, she did join the server before the prison began its construction)

- Niki (she’s dangerous now but not to Dream whose locked away and gone from her ire. Also again wasn’t a threat before the prison was planned, though who knows how much Dream knew of everyone’s mental states back when he was planning)

- Fundy (also doubtful, but coder man do be coding, especially with mods now allowed on the SMP. And now with the revelation of his prophetic dreams, there’s a chance this may be the power Dream feared, especially if said powers were in the works beforehand)

- Hbomb (idk he’s got good strategy as seen with Vault Hunters and MCC and stuff but he doesn’t really use it on the Dream SMP as he prefers parkour challenges or just chillin. Perhaps would only be locked up because the Maidbomb is too powerful)

- Eret (yeah they are a monarch who doesn’t like Dream but they really do have no control and no one on their side so unless the Herobrine thing comes into play this one doesn’t make much sense either)

- Ponk (like Eret he doesn’t have much influence over others. More importantly though, all the trouble he’s made so far has been just annoying at worst. His biggest strength is probably how stubborn he is, and how long he’s been around. To quote Eret, “He’s like the John Wick of the Dream SMP.”)

- Antfrost (only if the manhunt series is cannon in the Dream SMPand Dream has flashbacks to when cat boy killed him with a potion like a chump. Though I will say there’s a non zero chance Manhunt is cannon from the comments all the hunters have made during lore bits)

- Hannah Rose and Purpled (TBH both of them are grouped here since they’re most notably physically strong due to their Bedwars experience. But Purpled is rarely ever on, and Hannah joined after prison construction had already started)

- Punz (the only reason the prison would be for him when he knew explicitly about it and could have won is Dream was threatened by his speedrun skills)

- Sapnap (objection your honor that’s too sad. For real, this is probably higher on the Mabye list due to being a big threat, as seen by the ‘I’ll hunt you down if you escape’ exchange he had while visiting Dream. Sapnap makes his decisions based of what he feels is fair, rather then loyalty (a majority of the time anyways) and furthermore he’s one of the people that knows the most about Dream. However, it’s this low because if it’s Sapnap I’d simply cry maybe)

- Mexican Dream (Dream did dislike the guy. However, he lost all his canon lives in the span of one afternoon so how much of a threat was he really?)

For sure not

- Tommy (confirmed by Dream it wasn’t originally for him during the final disk confrontation)

- Tubbo (also confirmed by Dream it wasn’t originally for him during the same confrontation)

- Skeppy (why would he have a prison in Dream’s funky dungeon if he had a better prison elsewhere?)

- Conner, Slime, Lazar, Vikk (simply not on enough for an intense prison lore stream)

- George (too pretty)

- Callahan (too cool. Also part-time is the server)

- Awesamdude (he was recruited to build the prison and be its warden when the time came. Literally the worst person to put in the prison)

- Michaelmcchill (bro he was added today)

#dream smp #pandoras vault #tonight's a thinking night lads

3 notes · View notes

johannepetereric · 4 years

Text

Ok, new idea for the Season 3 rewrite!

Ok, so Aichi joined the Miyaji Academy choir (99% girls, huge cast, mostly serious). The ones they (Aichi) actually interact with as human-to-human are the few casuals in it. They (the casuals) don’t join any field trips or competitions, so it’s more of an idol-anime-club than anything else. This was on the roster, so they (Aichi) asked about that. The girl said that the casuals are left out of competing, so they are cool with it. Though they hold off on it officially until they get the Cardfight Club established first. The club gets word of thus, so they devise a plan to get them in. After school, Day 1, they give Aichi a stack of papers as an introduction to the club (an introductory course of sorts). No signings or anything, but the basic voice drills and links are on there. After Shingo comes into play, Aichi visits the (choir) club room. He is immediately greeted with confetti and party poppers (they saw him at the gate) at the door. They test his capabilities with a song of his choice. Unfortunately, Aichi sings a Cray song (the “alien accent” they’d right away come to term it as). This one garners a “idk wtf you’re saying, but I like the melody and vibe” reaction. Kinda like with any other foreign-lamguage song. He still gets applause, though--they liked it on principle, but the accent of off-putting. The “you’re an alien trying to fit in” thing becomes a(n inside) joke. Aichi admits that he’s never learned how to sing like an earthling properly, so that’s what he’s here for. This is his first school club, much less voice club. This gathers much pity. Turns out the choir club as a whole has TWO rooms. One for the casuals (here), and one huge room for the main group (everyon else, the focus and faces of the club. No one knows of the casuals until they inquire into the club). Aichi decides to hang out with them. Every night or so at 8 (maybe just once a week at minimum, half the time), they gather in the park or the room to help each other learn to sing (like an earthling) as they’ve always done. Aichi is now part of an idol-anime. This club is hwere he/they gather(s) most of the Vanguard songs (that sound idol-ish). One he’s left Miyaji, he had officially learned how to do away with the alien dialogue/dialect in public.

The group still keeps in contact, though.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In case you’re wondering, the council is cool with non-heteronormative folks cuz “as long as it doesn’t impede your schooling, it doesn’t matter what you identify as.” The purple-haired dude (Suwabe???) is a FINE example. So everyone’s cool with NOT misgendering people (Aichi, in this case. Though he’s/they’re not the only one who identifies as a different genders. Not-straight characters are more common though (working harder than normal to justify their place in society???idk--I’m just a cis straight girl viewing gayness from a fangirl/spectator/outside perspective))

But, like, imagine Toshiki-kun just going for a walk that late at night and hearing something strange:

Toshiki: Am I hearing...an angel’s voice? ( “With another?” if it isn’t a solo)

He walks, cloudy-eyed in a trance-like state, towards the music that sounds like one just randomly died and went to heaven. In a clearing is Aichi singing a song, maybe Earth, maybe Cray and trying his best to sing it like an Earthling (though that will never work, and the Sendou knows it. Aichi’s just doing it for “the crew” (the casuals, his new clique). It has to be Earth songs. The best he can do is singing Cray but with an Earth accent (and even then, it still sounds incomprehensible to most Earthlings)), and Toshiki-kun is just paralyzed, detached from reality, dragged into Cray sometimes if it’s a Cray tune via Psyqualia. Just *sigh* the Kaichi. It’s a romance-anime moment when he’s discovered in that trance-and-staring, flustered both included sometimes.

Yeah, I am requesting my readers (since I actually get updates on who’s viewing my works (unlike on Wattpad and ao3 *disappointed, melancholic sigh*)) to help me (again. Nobody is helpful. Ever. I have to ask my friends, and then it’s--in their opinion, I’m talking gibberish--one of my “Special Interest” stuff ADHD Awareness Tumblr users post about.

Ok, gather up your knowledge, your memories of idol anime, mermaid anime, moei and BanG Dream, singing-whatever, your musical-whatevers, your slice-of-life anime (may or not have a club involved), cute romance-whatevers, whatever to give me (us) ideas as to how we going to make original content for this AU timeline. This season I plan to start the buildup for Misaki x Kourin, so prepare your fics. Whatever fanfiction you want to advertise, please add disclaimers and the link(s), cuz plagiarism exists, and send it to me. Maybe even stuff like “there’s this fic with plot blablab-blah” and I shout-out disclaimers (shoutout to ma reader (maybe I’d give ur name) who read a fic with plot blablab-blah and I’m just gonna reblog the damn thing. And..)and I might be adding fics where it’s just copy-pasting the plot (the “Can I copy you?” “Sure. Just write it a little different so they think it isn’t copied” (???) meme-thing) and I thusly must link the source(s).

But yeah, Episode 15 is not exactly gonna be a rewrite. It’s just--same day, but the plot is completely elsewhere in town, and the actions that did happen in the episode is gonna stay exactly the same (well, added internal monologue, but that’s different), so it’s gonna be somewhere else.

Also, I’m having it so that, early in Season 1, Aichi drags Miwa to the Underground Cardfighter’s Hidout (Jun) to introduce him to his (future) boyfriend. Shortly after meeting the dude (beware the Trigger Warnings. They’ll be there for that one), Miwa gets less uncomfortable around Jun enough so that they’re f**kbuddies. Aichi knows IMMEDIATELEY, so he often teases Miwa about it (also as a way to get the blond off Kai if the brunet is clearly feeling uncomfortable/disturbed by said annoyance). I planned for it to be this episode, but now idk...contradicting timelines...This happens BEFORE Miwa is chained up to lure in Kai, so I need a pinpoint before then. PLEASE give me your opinions of when you want this to happen (by measure of Episode, as I do). This is just Aichi being scary (evil) and morally gray/ambiguous. K? HELP AN AUTHOR OUT!!!

And yeah, the gender changes in this status update were necessary. Get it over with beforehand n’ all.

#genderfluidaichisendou #nonbinaryaichisendou #nonbinarycharacter #gender changes #iwrotethisinsteadwhileinclass #iwrotethiinsteadofdoingclasswork #no really i have to BS the work at this point #like that meme going 'round

4 notes · View notes

cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years

Text

Athenas Masterpost

This is going to cover everything Athenas, like the official page and trailer, both new trailers, the art book preview, and some stuff shown in the ign trailers. It’s a lot.

There will NOT be endgame spoilers in this post. If there’s anything that comes up that I want to discuss, you can find it in a spoiler post I’ll be making soon :) I DO discuss a thing that occurs during the first 3 hours of BL3, though I think that’s pretty okay with y’all lol

tl;dr: there’s too much to summarize. 13 days until bl3. lmao im screaming on the inside.

“A misty, tranquil planet that has recently attracted the wrong kind of attention. Athenas is mostly uninhabited, save for a sect of monks known as the Order of the Impending Storm who have made their home in the high peaks of the mountains. What secrets do they guard here, inside ancient walls that were built long before humans set foot on Athenas?”

We definitely got a lot less info for Athenas than the other planets, and I can see why. They want to keep it mysterious.

Also, I’m not saying I totally called it that the pyramid was Eridian, but I totally called it. I am surprised it’s implying that the entire area was built by them, but what can ya do 🤷‍♂️

Anyway, since this post is long overdue, let’s just jump right in!

The Athenas video is nearly half the time of the Eden-6 one, so there’s not a lot to cover unfortunately:

We’ve seen this shot multiple times before

also the emphasis that Athenas is ‘tranquil’ and ‘peaceful’ ahahahaha no it’s not.

i love these dudes! Order of the Impending Storm!!! I wonder if their funky goggle things have anything to do with Sirens, like how they have Siren-trackers. I also really love their outfits. lowkey want one of these robes.

a great overview look of the area leading up to the pyramid. I got more to say about this... but it’s probably best if i leave it for later on in the post after we get more info

also, note the water and the rocks and stuff on the left there. This will come into play later... not even in this post. a later post.

also i totally called this being an ancient aliens reference lol

Vault logo on the flag there. definitely shows how much these guys worship the Vaults

This!!! I have so much to talk about here!

alright so now that we know what the vault keys look like.... this doesn’t appear to be part of any of the Vault Keys we’ve seen. especially not the Promethean one. not even the pyramid shaped one.

im mostly interested in this because this is obviously a monk, her robes match the ones we saw above with the hood. she doesn’t appear to be Eridian because we’ve seen the Watcher and the other Guardians, who are built in the image of the Eridians, and she looks wayyy too human. We’ve also seen statues of the Eridians in that one shot of the Pandora temple.

so it seems like the monks have gone inside the pyramid before and... built this statue? for some reason??? It’s interesting that she has an extra pair of arms as well. I wonder if she is like the Siren ancestor of Amara. which could prove my theory that the next successor of Amara would have another set of arms... it might also explain why Amara’s tattoos are everywhere on the buildings (outside of her being the Tiger)

it would also explain this shot, the skeleton with the book, which we now know we’ve seen before with Maya:

so even though they’re protecting the pyramid/temple, i don’t think they’ve been avoiding it entirely- at least not for the first time after discovering it. maybe they stopped going in after they discovered something bad, somethin like iunno... the Rampagers?

it would be Really Weird if the Eridians built that statue, especially when they probably didn’t know what humans looked like at the time. unless of course they helped shape humanity or smth. meaning they probably personally created Sirens. oh that’d be wild... i wonder if we’re going to learn about how early Sirens shaped humanity in that case. discovering fire could be entirely different lol

“hallowed land”

i wonder if this is where we’ll have anointed gear explained to us... i imagine the order is still worshipping Eridian/Siren stuff, so them having all sorta knowledge of this stuff would make sense

more Maliwan. you guys notice we see cultists purely on Eden-6 (outside of the crashed ship), but Maliwan purely on Athenas? a mix on Promethea, tho that’s bc we’ve actually gotten gameplay.

So my guess is Maliwan has joined up with the cult (be it through whatever means: Maliwan is in) and they’re looking for the Promethea key. which makes sense. they’re attacking Rhys on Promethea, so when he helps us out, word probably gets back to Maliwan (somehow) and they swap from wanting to take over Atlas (either by defeating them w/ Zer0/that giant space laser/whatever or just changing priorities) to wanting to open that fuckin Vault. Teaming up with the CoV is the best way to ensure that happens. I’m sure there will oodles of betrayal going on between the two parties.

I LOVE THESE THINGS

THEY’RE AMAZING

GOOD BOYS

in all seriousness, actually, im curious why we don’t see these good boys on Promethea. maybe they’re only for the top-tier squads? (mechanically, probably higher-level enemies) they look super high tech, so i would not be surprised if Maliwan thought Atlas would be an easy takeover so they didn’t send everything they could have

Nog! not much to say here tbqh

“Protect Athenas Before It’s Too Late”

I imagine before Maliwan gets the Vault Key or some other wild power, like power over the Rampagers. seriously, in the We Are Mayhem trailer, there’s a rampager are fighting on the side of Maliwan (altho if this is The One Rampager, or just One of Many is hard to tell. it could morph depending on which element it is. we just don’t know. personally i think there’s 1 per planet... i’ll explain later)

From the Art Book Preview:

Alright yes. “Maliwan forces have already seized control of the monastery, where part of the Promethean Vault Key has been located, turning a simply recovery mission into a vicious firefight...... A large and foreboding crypt built into the side of the mountain was also designed, and might perhaps have housed the Vault Key fragment deep within its gloomy interiors”

i don’t think this means the crypt is like an actual area. it would be interesting to discover that the pyramid is a giant crypt because... jesus. it would fit with the whole pyramid theme, at least. altho im wondering if this is more like a labyrinth situation where they’re trying to keep a Rampager inside as well as the treasure... which MAY be a Vault Key Fragment

Actually, this brings up a great point: did Atlas spread the Vault Key out throughout the planets? Is this where Typhon originally found that Key fragment? wtf was in the Vault that Atlas needed to disassemble the Key and return its fragments? oh boy i hope it’s something scary

From the Moze Eden-6 E3 Gameplay:

oh ye this. okay so this is definitely 100% Eridian. I’m guessing we get this from Athenas because this seems like a fairly important object and, well, Athenas is all about Eridian stuff. When we go through the next few videos, keep an eye out for the temples. You’ll see the glowing red diamond shape constantly reappearing there.

one of the devs admitted that there are hunks of Eridian Writing left around the world that will ‘open up’ things for the players, so I imagine this is exactly what we’ll use to get to it. If this IS only for endgame stuff I’ll be slightly disappointed. I know we have access to this before Eden-6, since there are gameplay videos that show the player breaking the Eridium chunks with this thing. the above one is from the Moze Eden-6 gameplay, tho I’ve also seen newer footage from the Balex gameplay with this same tool

The following clips can be found in this video:

im mostly interested in the wall art here

what looks like a sun or a planet

this symbol which makes an appearance elsewhere

these two are the same area, im imagining this is the fight up to the pyramid, with Maliwan forces and barricades everywhere

the sun again in the background (middle top)

this cool piece (bottom left of the above pic) which looks like a hand covered in glowing blue. i imagine this is some sorta representation of Phaselock? mainly because of the blue orb in the palm of her hand

not much to say about this area tbh. looks like a residential area to me, so possibly not in the residential district

writing on the top mid-right.

idk why i just noticed these trees are green and not red but yeah, that’s interesting. so probably a different area from Amara’s trailer aka: not Partali

and yet we see amara’s tattoos on the building in the back right. sorry for such terrible quality btw, tumblr ate these images and spit them back out

These clips can be found in the Borderlands are Yours trailer:

looks like the small building we see directly next to Maya and Ava

altho very clearly not the same exact area so im curious what these are supposed to represent. tbh im kinda reminded of graveyards. i really hope there aren’t corpses in those omg

another better look at the two pieces of art. i imagine the one on the right has something to do with the eridians given its in a diamond shape, which we know has something to do with the eridians now

also im not playing amara first (possibly last. depending on how i feel fl4k may go last) but HOLY SHIT her action skills are beautiful

THIS FUCKER

i know he’s probably a vault monster but like...

idk i feel its kinda sad gearbox is showing off a VAULT MONSTER of all things in so much promo material. like why is he fighting with Maliwan/the cult in the We are Mayhem trailer??

sup with that?

does he have multiple stages?? is that’s why he changes elements? goes from two heads to wings to extended necks. like wtf is up with this guy?? he definitely looks like he can be elementally charged given his eye sockets aren’t glowing when he emerges like they do

here but then

this dude looks like he has an entirely different skull like...

this dude is a corrosive one who also seems to be working with Maya (who i guess IS probably the corrosive aligned siren)

and we’re guessing the nuclear charged one is the one from Athenas... for reasons i’ll explain below

AND honestly i've been thinking and maybe the fire one is actually from Promethea? and maybe there’s another that’s on Eden-6 and another on Pandora?

alright so i have 2 reasons for this. one involves spoiler talk with the cloth map, so that won’t be discussed here (but if you see the map and the planets, you’ll understand what i’m alluding to here, most likely). the other is that in this screenshot of all the quests from the Eden-6 demo:

we see immediately after “hostile takeover” is the quest “the impending storm”. which is, indeedy, a reference to the Order of the Impending Storm. We know they’re on Athenas, so I imagine we run over to Athenas to get part of the Vault Key. We’ve established from the art book that’s where it is.

but then after The Impending Storm, Space-Laser Tag (which we all know is that giant-ass laser thing in the asteroid belt), and Atlas, at Last, there’s a quest called Beneath the Meridian.

And we know this area... is definitely underground. we’ve seen with the fire-y boy that the ceiling is just rocks

then we see this shot with the nuclear (?) one where the window outside is clearly showing off mountains/sky, which we know is kinda Athenas’s deal

and we know these two areas are the same v ^

since there’s the same ‘Vault’ in the background

so my only problem with this entire theory that there’s multiple rampagers is that

we see the twins killing/absorbing the red/fire one’s power which is also on athenas since the background is the same as the vault area from the above two pictures. unless there’s a similar vault-thing on promethea and eden-6. we know there’s one on Pandora, but that one is outside so.

so i guess they are the same beasty boy but... why why why show us one of the vault monsters

it’s so cool going in blind and not knowing what you’re going to get out of it.

so im going to say this is a minor vault monster (especially given it’s not exactly the same rock-like design as the other vault monsters) and the ‘vaults’ are actually something smaller. maybe they hold keys, or the pieces of the keys, or they’re part of that teleportation network i keep talking about (and i guess i should just make a seperate post about it) but i don’t know if these are actual Big Boy Vaults. especially when the Rampager doesn’t match actual Eridian-created Vault Monsters

that said given we see a bunch of dead guardians on the floor, its possible the rampager killed them? but i get the feeling we might actually be the ones to pull the trigger cause... combat is fun

so. yeah. if the rampager is guarding something that’s fine. i wanna believe teleportation network. i’d love to see the twins come in, walk out of that vault, absorb the rampager’s powers, and then walk out after locking us in like ‘peace’ and we have to use the teleportation system to make it back to promethea with the vault key fragment or whatever

[im here after the cloth map reveal like... uh huh. i see. u dumb bitchard.]

idk i just thought this was a fun screenshot lol

BoRdErLaNdS

ah yes

that’s eridium

this also appears to be in the temple, but, like, again if there’s more than one temple this could also be on Pandora or even Eden-6. Kinda leaning towards Pandora. HOWEVER since we only know for certain this sort of temple area is on Athenas (from that one statue shot), we’re gonna analyze this bad boy right now (also lowkey think this is Pandora because of the varkid nests but shhh)

what do i actually have to say about it? uhhh not much tbh. i think i’ve said all that needs to be said concerning the twins mutating cultists with slag/eridium.

i will say im pretty shocked at, like, the eridium HORNS and shit. so maybe this is just some cool little miniboss. (okay not mini because look how big he’s gotten!! just like Bloodwing :D)

you know what, it looks like he’s standing on one of these

floor tile things, and now im super curious. is the fire part of a trap? is it powering this lad up? i definitely know he’s a cultist because he’s got the neon light tubes on his shoulder pad

see here

you can see these on other cultists like goliaths and such and such

also this is pretty similar to what we’ve seen in the LLE (especially the powersuits) given their bodies also form eridium crystals when they’ve ascended

i feel like its powering him up

you know during the fight with bloodwing when Jack powers up bloodwing using the elemental flamethrower things? would be interesting if this is similar to that.

like dis

yeahhh

the radiation boy is back and he’s actually elementally charged this time

huzzah

also i love the chest mouth lmao

has anyone here seen stretch armstrong? like that one episode where Gabe (crostini man) gets turned into a bunch of flexarium monster chunks

but yeah, awesome mouth my guy.

im curious if it’s being elementally charged to cryo or if it’s stopped being charged. if this is like a cutscene between different stages in the fight, etc etc.

this also looks fairly similar to this area here

but red this time. which... may tie into the elemental stages. which maaaaay tie into those floor platforms elementally charging that demon baby up above. bloodwing 2.0!

You can find the following clips in the Official Guide to the Borderlands:

god i keep telling myself to be on the lookout for athenas clips but i get so distracted by the gorgeousness of this fucking game i forget and have to keep going back

if that dude in the back floating was t-posing i would have lost my shit

new Siren tattoos!!! we haven’t seen these before. they’re very flowy, i love them. i hope we get to meet the siren with them!

i also loooooove this area in the back. i hope we get to climb it and explore. i would love to just be able to climb to high up areas in bl3 and look down and see the area i just came from. it’s possible! we have the technology! thousand cuts / bnk3r ascension 2.0!!!

more of amara’s awesome looking powers

zane has 2 trans pride skins im so happy 😄

also look at how teeny tiny that ‘Vault’ is in the back!!! it’s only like 2x the size of Iron Bear!!! gimme BIG vaults!! GIANT VAULTS

also also

the VOID vault

i get a feeling these are connected somehow.

sniper spoooot

not much to say about this tbh. zane’s claw things look fucking dope tho. i want one irl.

we’ve seen this shot a few times before already

alright before you get mad, let me explain why i think this is athenas

you see this picture

this maliwan jackass. the building to his left is 100% athenas architecture.

the rocks in the top picture look identical to the ones next to him. plus we’ve seen water in the distance of some of the areas of Athenas

it could also be Eden-6 (which honestly i would not be surprised if it is instead) but given the ivy and the rocks i felt it was worthwhile to put in. plus the moving eridian structures are so cool looking. i feel like that’s going to be a puzzle.

oh oh also

maybe that area leads into/exits from here? because they’re both underground in cavern-like areas

but like... it could also be eden-6... because of that one shot of the temple area in the side of the cliff ASDFHDGJFJGFHSD

still radiation charged.

also seriously this ‘Vault’ is wayyyy smaller than a regular Vault. like... the one in BL2 that you can walk right up to... huge. and nothing even comes out of it. the Warrior climbs up from over the edge

the bl1 is much bigger than this one, too. also the vault of the traveller, i would argue is the biggest out of all of them but eh

for the Vault of the Sentinel, the actual arch we see... i’ve already gone over why i don’t think that’s a ‘real’ vault and that its all more of a simulation, but you can read that whole thing here bc i am trying my damndest to not get off topic for this post because holy fucking shit. this got long.

Alright so. Onto the website pictures

another cool shot of the academic district, really showing off the pyramid in the background. god i wanna know what that is. could be the temple (underground things notwithstanding). it’s probably holding that statue with the vault keys in either arm

you know the one, it’s at the beginning of this post. but damn that thing is huge!! i am hoping it holds more than just the promethean vault key.

did i already talk about how there are siren tattoos written along the edges of this area??? because... damn.

also the symbol for what is probably Vault Key sitting right smack dab in the middle??

also sorry i just noticed those blue shapes are moving. like a fountain or something?? weird light.

i mean... the trees are also warping in the background. wonder wtf is going on here...

anyway whatever she’s holding actually doesn’t match up with any of the vault keys we’ve seen so... wtf are you???

a very nice shot overlooking the water. also a wind turbine in the background. i think the area on the left is where we’ve seen ava and maya? but dont hold me to that lol

definitely looks the same. even has the tree

another shot of that area i think we’ve seen Amara fighting in

big shot of the pyramid with the vault symbol everywhere. and the planet with the beams coming out of it. which in retrospect...

anyway that’s spoiler talk so let’s talk in another post.

another shot of athenas from a slightly different angle, we’ve seen this one before, too, and i remember because i complemented the road signs

annnnd im tired. good night everybody.

#borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3 #athenas

9 notes · View notes

softgrungeprophet · 6 years

Text

who wants my thoughts on the way the 2000′s comics tried to remove the gayness of the 90s?

No one?

Too bad, here’s a bunch of half-formulated words

Gonna preface this to say this is not an essay, or on par with an essay; there are no citations or picture examples, it’s just me working through my thoughts, reformatted for clarity from the original twitter thread I made on my private

Part One of Two, or: Eddie is Queer:

I’ve actually changed my mind a little bit on this and I think Eddie is definitely queer in some way (possibly bi) but more specifically, I went from “Flash is queer-coded” to “Flash is extremely deeply situated in several closets” including but not necessarily limited to: the gay one

Part Two: Erasing Queerness from Venom and Demonizing Mental Illness:

I was thinking about early Venom's queer-coding annnnddd....

I wonder if they did Flash, originally, because they wanted to get rid of Eddie. (Subconsciously, most likely, not necessarily so dastardly as "let's get rid of this guy")

I mean, even before Remender seemingly killed Eddie off in his Agent Venom run (ofc, eddie brock never dies)—

with the Anti-Venom stuff, I mean. It all came out of the cancer+abandonment arc established in those early 2000s Spider-Man comics.

But I mean...Okay.

So, in the 90s, Venom with Eddie Brock was very clearly queer-coded and then just straight up acknowledged in The Hunger, with the Valentine's chocolates and the heart shaped "The End" bubble

Then in the 00s, they re-characterized the symbiote to be abusive, manipulative, and cruel (and ... suddenly very talkative) and separated them from each other

leaving eddie with his cancer and the somewhat upsetting (for me, at least) depiction of his mental illness/depression and suicide attempt in The Last Temptation while the symbiote was? elsewhere.

Then eddie became the evangelical Anti-Venom, loathing the symbiote, who was chemically lobotomized to be with Flash Thompson.

So Eddie Brock, the one who was depicted as adoring their union, was made to hate it and *fear* it, while the symbiote was reduced to a mindless thing with no agency of its own (after having been turned into a cruel monster), and given to Flash, the medal-of-honor war vet and peter's best friend.

(Not a *weirdo* like that Eddie Brock guy)

(sarcasm)

(disclaimer: I love Flash Thompson. I am not hating on him, also he’s probably gay)

I don't want to conspire but I do think that homophobia and queerphobia, whether recognized as such or internalized or whatever, probably had a hand in the early aughts Spider-Man Venom arcs, and probably in the Anti-Venom stuff, at the very least residually.

And Flash is the golden (straight) boy--joke's on them, I can queer anything I touch, like some kind of gay Midas. Flash Ain’t Straight. Like, wow, is that boy not straight.

Anyway I think it’s notable how they attempted to separate these characters, thus removing they gay, but it turns out both halves contributed to the queerness so, big shocker, other forms of Venom stay pretty queer, and Eddie too... stays pretty queer.

ALSO relevant: mental illness stigmas.

Like Eddie, Flash has been shown to be clinically depressed. However, he often expresses it in this kind of (often but not always) outwardly directed, acceptably masculine manner--he has anger issues and he struggles with alcoholism and he lashes out or he broods alone in his apartment. blah blah blah (I do think his story is compelling, but I do also think it is very rooted in heterosexual masculinity)

This is how men are "supposed" to be.

Eddie on the other hand, while often ALSO very masculine in his depression--pushing responsibility onto others, obsessing over vengeance, etc—there is a difference. To me, his depression reads as very inward-facing. He cries openly, has serious internalized self-worth issues and craves physical and emotional contact, and has a history of suicide—traits which are sometimes considered (by hetero-patriarchal standards) "weak" and "pathetic" (ugh) (don't hug, don't show your emotions, don't let anyone see your weaknesses, don't be a coward)

Plus, Eddie's mental illness was used to twist into a kind of big scary monster in The Last Temptation.

And the thing is... that kind of stuff IS scary... can BE very scary, for the person struggling with mental illness, depression, etc. But their direction with it (Last Temptation in particular) was voyeuristic and weirdly infantilizing, in a way that rubbed me the wrong way. I think it had potential to actually do something valuable and thoughtful but those three arcs of the early to mid 2000s felt... the best way I can describe it is "unkind."

Really the big big big difference feels like Flash’s depression and struggles were treated way more thoughtfully than Eddie’s have ever been.

I didn't really have a clean wrap-up for this thread when I posted it on twitter.

It's just like

In summary:

1) Eddie is queer-coded (also Flash is too)

2) Venom as a relationship is undeniably queer-coded, and I think the early 2000s (subconsciously or fully aware, it's hard to say) saw that and did not like that, and thought (erroneously) that removing the symbiote would remove that symbolism (not taking into account that eddie himself is just as crucial to the queer coding as the symbiote is)

3) The early 2000s did not treat mental illness well, which is not surprising, but still sucks.

IDK, as mentally ill queer person who's lived in poverty my entire life and whose dad was not there for me (classic, I know), there's a lot about Eddie's (honestly, frequently tragic) story and life that is highly relatable (despite him being a big grumpy man who's wanted by like, the FBI and shit), and I would like to see a mini or series that carefully explores those aspects of his character, for once.

Just something, someday, that deals with Eddie's depression AND queerness AND poverty in an honest and thoughtful way.

I’m not holding my breath, though.

#nadia reads venom #nadia rambles #i originally tweeted this on private so it's pretty train-of-thought #that's not the right phrase but i can't remember what the right phrase is #something about minds... brain..... ????#stream of consciousness--that's what i was thinking #long post #just in case

12 notes · View notes

queensweasley · 6 years

Text

Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald - Review

Okay so yeah, post got some likes so I’m doing it.

I am one of the lucky people who was able to see Crimes of Grindelwald already. It’s been released today here in France but since my cinema had a premiere yesterday night, I have been able to see it one day prior.

First of all, if you want PSA, you can find them here : [link]

So, let’s start with :

NON-SPOILER PART

Overall, I didn’t dislike the movie. I didn’t really like it either. I feel like there is too much information, too much plots at the same time, and in the end you don’t really care about any of them. The movie is a complete train wreck, tbh. Too many things happening and it’s all crashing together into some kinda alphabet soup where you can see the letters but can’t really form words.

The first scene is one of the best in my opinion, and yet also one of the worst. Nothing makes sense in it. You totally get what is going on, but you don’t understand how it could happen. It clearly summarize the movie, I’d say. It shows an action, done following a plan, but some element are just coming out of nowhere. This scene doesn’t look right at the beginning of Crimes of Grindelwald. It should have been the ending of Where to Find Them.

At that is, in my opinion, one of the movie’s biggest problem. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a good movie, but a bad introduction to a 5-movies-long saga. Most of the element that seem forced in COG could and SHOULD have been introduced in WTFT. Mostly characters, tbh. I’m mostly thinking Leta. Okay, technically she has been introduced back then, but I think we should have had more than just a photograph and a mention of being New’s ex. Tbh, I don’t even understand why she’s Newt’s ex but that might got too spoiler-y so we’ll talk about that later.

Other characters, in the contrary, are largely underused. They are clearly there to serve later in the movie saga, but in that case they have too much screen time and importance. I’m not only talking about then being too present in the movie, I’m talking about them being too present in the press tour, ads and everything. Part of the marketing of the movie has been done around them, all that for them not being a huge part of the movie. And I’m not talking Dumbledore here, well, not only Dumbledore at least.

Characters treatment, meanwhile, is one of the most inconsistent things. While some like Newt, Jacob, Grindelwald or to some extent Tina are faithful to what we saw in the first movie, others like Queenie, Credence or to so extent Tina seem kind of OOC. (Yes Tina is in both cases). I’m not saying how they are different, but while it didn’t displease me too much for Credence, it sure makes me want to start #justiceforqueenie. This leads to the relationships going from really great for most of them to a complete trainwreck in others and, in one case, abusive.

While I’m clearly saying mostly negative things, the movie isn’t all bad. As I’ve said, some characters are great, most jokes are great too and while some complain about the visual effects I wasn’t too choked by them. The music is discreet but immersive and that’s all I ask of a soundtrack tbh. It’s just mostly been through the WB effect. To quote Deadpool : “So dark and broody, are you sure you’re not part of the DCEU ?” It is a good story, just not rendered in a good way. You know, one of those story you like almost all elements but not how they’re treated and you just want to rewrite them yourself to fix it. That’s at least how I feel about it, I’m ready to kick J.K. out and write in her place.

Now this might be a bit confused but I don’t want to say too much. So if you don’t care about them, we can now enter into :

HEAVY SPOILER PART

They are, quite obviously, to be found under the cut.

I have a lot to say about it so I’m going to organize them into categories. I might forget some things but hey, I’m no professional. So, let’s start.

Scamanders and Lestrange - I find the trio to have a really good alchemy. The brothers are not depicted as the old-as-time “the successful asshole vs the weirdo angel” trope. Theseus, although successful indeed, never use it to compare himself with Newt. I don’t even think he compared himself with Newt. He’s successful, wants to help his brother the best he can and fuck, he’s a hugger and it’s refreshing to see brothers hug. (I’m saying that as someone whose sister has never hugged her, so I might be totally partial here). The relationship Newt has with Leta is also pretty good. You can sense that there’s history and it’s clearly not a case of the girl now being a bitch. Problem is, I have no idea why they split up in the first place. They seem to still go along, they seem to still care, if not feel love, for the other… And in the contrary, I don’t see why Theseus and Leta are engaged. Outside of “we need to bring Leta into the story”. They seem to go along pretty well, and clearly they care about one another but I don’t sense love. And it’s got nothing to do with the actor’s chemistry. They do have chemistry during interviews and all. No, it’s clearly lazy plotting. I think things would have been better if Leta had been engaged to Newt from movie 1 and a friend (maybe colleague) of Theseus.

The Lestrange lineage - Now you will not make me say one single good thing about that crap. The movie has indeed some good things but this is not one. First of all, it’s a mess. We don’t care about it for most of the movie and the moment we start caring, we learn that it’s not even really related to our story. Also, it’s quite the horrible story and it’s not treated in a good way at all. It’s also highly problematic, like a white man casting imperius to rape a black woman clearly sends some messages, but it’s not even used. There is no moral to this story. Lestrange is not depicted as bad because he raped the woman, he’s seen as bad because he never loved anyone besides Corvus, made Leta hate herself because she’s born of a rape and inspired revenge in the family of the woman he raped. And not only is there no moral to it, but it’s just a plot device. It’s just here to grow some artificial suspense as to the origin of Credence and only to reveal that it’s not even the real origin of Credence. And you know how it could have been avoided ? By saying that Youssouf is not the half-brother but the cousin of Leta. Leta is the daughter of arranged marriage, as is the custom with pureblood, and her father remarried to have Corvus. Now you can present him as being an asshole for not loving his wives and daughter. And Youssouf is not here for revenge but because he thinks he’s found his cousin’s brother and want to reunite them. Here. How to create your fake suspense without adding rape and racism.

Nagini the maledictus - She could have been removed from the movie. Really, she’s useless so far and I’m hoping she’ll have more use later. She’s got too much screen time and I’m sure she had to be connected to Credence somehow but then they should have been more warm to one another because so far all she’s done is stand silently behind him.

Queenie and the treatment of mental health - I love Queenie. She’s been my favorite for along time in the first movie, after a few rewatching got her replaced by her sister. She’s still a character I loved a lot and I was always defending her when a friend who doesn’t like her at all was talking bad about her. Now… Well… I get that she’s not mentally alright. And I suppose that someone like me who doesn’t have any mental health issue, I’m not the best judge of that. I actually find very interesting that she suffers from her legilimency, and the fact that it gives her panic attack, all alone in this city she doesn’t know, hearing thought she can’t even understand (French people think in French after all, at least most of us do) is a really interesting thing that deserves to be treated better.What I struggle with is how abusive they made her relationship with Jacob, and the conclusion that is given of her mental state. Queenie is a legiliment more powerful than most others, able to read thoughts without much efforts, and who never revealed her nature to any ministry member because she didn’t want to be used like a tool, an object. Yet she manipulate Jacob like a toy, taking his consent away as a mean to finally get engaged. She’ basically doing to him what the first movie established she didn’t want done to her. And when it’s revealed that she’s just struggling with her identity, her difference,there is only one conclusion. “You’re mad.” Or “You’re crazy” idk I saw the movie with french dub. At first it’s just a thought. Jacob has been manipulated by the woman he loves, he’s confused. And he regrets it immediately. But by the end of the movie, Queenie who’s been suffering, who seem to have found a solution, hears it again and this time it’s not a lost thought. It’s an affirmation. “You’re mad.” That’s all she’s gonna get from the people she counted on. Between a man who condamns her mental health and a man who offers to help, I can understand she choose the latter. But this still doesn’t make sense.If she’s such a powerful mindreader she should have known that Grindelwald is manipulating her. You know what I think ? I think Jacob should have turned.

The reference to WWII - One of the things I loved was that mention. Grindelwald show the future and it’s not a great one. Jacob, who has been in the first war, is shook to see that. It was strong. In France (and maybe elsewhere I don’t know), WWI has a nickname. “La der des der”. Basically, the last of the last (war). Seeing the violence of the war, the soldier who fought in it believed it to be the war who would put an end to all the wars. Never could another be worst, be more violent. History proved that it wasn’t the case. But at the time, they delieved it to the core. Jacob believes it to the core. And then, this man who has fought, this man who is of polish origin (if not a polish immigrant, i’m not sure if it’s been specified), sees the war, the violence, the people in line in a concentration camp. And tbh, I think this might have been a turning point for him. He’s seen what the human race has done worst, and then he sees that it’s not even the worst, and that the worst is to come. Many would just want to stop that, that’s what Grindelwald is proposing. While him not turning is a good thing, the contrary would have been interesting as fuck.

Paris yes, but not in France - Okay so this is totally coming from me being a French girl. I didn’t see Paris, I didn’t see France, in that movie. I saw it with French dubbing so idk if there was some french dialogue but if there was that’s the only clue we have that we’re in France. We could have been in another country, I wouldn’t have had a clue. I don’t see what the point was. Why settle the plot in Paris, exactly ? There was to use of France’s culture, history or anything. Nothing justified being in Paris. I mean sure the ministry was pretty. But yeah that’s all. You know, I think about it because I’ve just rambled about WWI and II but it would have been a nice thing.If Jacob was to be tempted by his PTSD, one thing that could have been nice to show are the “gueules cassées”. Gueules cassées literally means “broken faces”. It designates the soldiers that survived WWI but came back with huge disabilities and/or deformities. The movietakes place in 1927. Before 1930, disabled people struggled more than ever to find a job, most couldn’t find any at all. THIS is a huge part of French history and THIS goes in accordance with the message of Grindelwald that muggles are dangerous, destructives.

Grindelwald himself - He was… not that bad, actually. Maybe I was expecting too much bad things from him. Depp isn’t that terrible, I found that lately he’d been under-acting ? Don’t know if that makes sense. But he seemed to be at least invested. His plan wasn’t that great though, overly complicated for nothing and all. But overall, while not a great villain, not a bad one. I wish he was more manipulative, because right now it seems just saying “Hi” makes people join him like wtf. Also… “I hate Paris”. Yes dear, like every french people, get over it. :)

The Strange Case of Aurelius Dumbledore - Okay, two possibilities. One, Grindelwald is lying to Credence about his real identity, in order to give him a target. He’s just making him a weapon against Albus. Two, Grindelwald is telling the truth and Credence is actually a long lost Dumbledore brother. This would make no sense. Dumbledore is, at least 18 years older than Credence is. The younger Dumbledore is supposed to be Ariana, and she is only 5 years younger than Albus. (She was 14 when her mother died and Albus had just left Hogwarts so 17). It’s written black on white in the book that she was attacked when she was six years old. Their father was imprisoned the same year. Three years before Credence was born, his alleged father was imprisoned for life in Azkaban. Somehow, I doubt there are conjugal visits. This is totally messing the timeline up tbh. I really hope Grindelwald is actually lying.

So… I might have forgotten a few things. Don’t hesitate to message me if you want to discuss about these things or some I might have forgotten.

#fantastic beasts #hp #fb #fantastic beasts and where to find them #fantastic beasts crimes of grindelwald #fbcog #crimes of grindelwald #movie review #review #not tagging the spoilers #it's writing everywhere that it's a review #so each people will judge there level of spoiler #any further discussion about this will be tagged though #long post

5 notes · View notes