#like most of my comics there is no reasonable explanation that would lead to this taking place but its funny so i drew it. its the vision

[personishfive]

in which goro is recruited

[thagomizersshow]

I love when sci-fi/fantasy writers throw in a random fact about a fictional species that actually has big repercussions for that species' biology.

Like, there is a species in Star Trek called Saurians who are adorable dinosauroid looking dudes. They've had very little revealed about them despite having been mentioned as early as the original series by way of "Saurian brandy" — a drink that is so strong it can put a Klingon on their ass in one swig.

Other than that, most of what we know about them comes from snippets involving a reoccuring character on Discovery named Linus, who is mostly a comic relief character. Now the reason I bring them up is that in one episode there's a scene where Linus is eating bamboo of all things, and I'm not sure the writers realized how telling this is about Saurian biology.

Bamboo is a damn hard food to eat, and us humans can only eat the shoots of a few species. Even then, raw consumption of shoots can lead to cyanide poisoning if you aren't careful. We still don't know how exactly a lot of animals that eat a lot of bamboo (bamboo lemurs, red pandas, bamboo rats, elephants, gorillas) are able to digest so much of it without getting cyanide poisoning. There is some sort of neutralization process in giant pandas involving the rhodanese enzyme that turns cyanide into the non-toxic thiocyanate that they just pee out, but the process is still poorly understood in other species.

Bamboo is also hard to digest for the same reason all grasses are; their plant wall cellulose is hard as hell to break down. Like, your choices are:

a) you do a poor job of digesting it and just spend all day eating (giant panda, red panda, bamboo lemur)

b) you grow really big and have a big gut (elephants, gorillas)

c) you only eat the parts of the plant that are easier to digest (bamboo rats)

On top of that, bamboo is loaded with silica phytoliths that are like microscopic bits of glass. These evolved to make their tissues even harder to chew and metabolize.

It's hard to make out in the scene, but it looks like Linus is eating raw bamboo leaves. Just picking them up with his fingers and munching on them like it's nothing. That means his teeth and/or jaws would need to be very powerful (maybe hypsodont? or maybe tooth batteries?) AND, because he's eating it raw, he'd have to be immune to the cyanide in some way.

One explanation could be in the Star Trek Adventures TTRPG, where Saurians are said to have an ability called "Enhanced Metabolism" where they recover from toxins faster than other species (my guess is this was meant to reference their brandy being so strong). BUT, that's not the same thing as the immunity real bamboo eating animals seem to have. My head canon is that Saurians have a diet similar to red pandas, where bamboo-like plants are their main diet on their homeworld, but they'll eat other stuff too when it's available, AND they've evolved some way to convert cyanide into a harmless chemical they excrete, like a giant panda.

All of these whacky biology shenanigans stem (hehe) from the casual writing decision to make a supporting alien character seem weird by eating a weird thing.

[celaenaeiln]

I’m not sure if this is something you’ve talked about before so sorry if it is, but I’ve just been reading a bunch of your Bruce and Dick centric posts and was wondering,

They are mutually codependent and there is SO MUCH genuine love there is between them, but obviously their relationship leads to a lot of hurt on both sides (I feel that Dick gets the shorter end of the stick there but anyway) and one of if not the main point of contention in their dynamic is the fact that Dick wants freedom and autonomy in a way that Bruce fears because of his own insecurity about Dick and his trauma regarding having a lack of control.

Do you think there could ever be a situation that would make either of them (personally I’d say likely Dick because again, in their dynamic Bruce mainly acts however he sees fit in order to keep Dick with him rather than anything else) permanently cut off their relationship? Either totally or just in a personal sense while still working together professionally as heroes.

Then as a follow up, if their relationship was cut off, how do you think this would affect both characters (and possibly how it would affect Dick’s dynamic with the Titans, considering how a big issue with them is how devoted Dick is to Batman)?

I was gonna say I can't think of one but then I remembered the Batman Beyond Comics!

But even the Batman Beyond comics where Dick and Bruce are estranged, they aren't able to provide a reasonable explanation for why Dick abandoned him.

In one of the two fates, Dick gets shot by the Joker

Batman Beyond (2010) Issue #4

Which is not a great explanation because I know for a fact the cape is bulletproof because I've seen bullets bouncing off it. But also the purpose of Batman Beyond is that Bruce is alone and no longer Batman but the city still needs a Batman. Therefore Terry becomes Batman. If Dick stayed as Nightwing, then there really wouldn't be a need for Batman because Dick would just become Batman instead or pass it on to someone else. Bruce would still have his emotional support system and that can't happen. So the best writers could come up with to create an abandonment scenario is the bulletproof cape isn't bulletproof.

But even though Dick completely cuts off Dick, Bruce says in the continuing Batman comics in lieu of apology something along the lines of "you're still my heir, Dick." to which Dick just walks out and Bruce feels depressed. He could've taken Dick out of the will or cut him off too but until his death he kept waiting for Dick to come back even if he never admitted it. So yes, Dick is more likely to abandon Bruce under the extremely worst made up and not logically circumstances because even in the most nonsensical scenarios, it's impossible to write a comic where Bruce abandons Dick.

The second reason Dick leaves Batman is because Bruce slept with Barbara but worse tried to use that to prevent Dick from marrying her. Barbara explains the story to Terry.

Batman 2.0 Issue #28

Now this, this is the believable part. Not Barbara cheating on Dick with Bruce but what comes after -

Batman Beyond 2.0 Issue #28

It's Bruce using other people to get Dick to stay single. Bruce's attachment issues are out of this world.

He promised Barbara not to say anything and the second she left he ran to Dick to tell him everything first!

Even after Barbara cheated on Dick, which still isn't believable, it can be excused for a night of passion where she was aching and missing him. But what's Bruce's excuse? He missed Dick too but he has no love for Barbara and much more clear-minded. He slept with her knowing that Dick would eventually find out one day and he used that knowledge as a weapon to keep Dick from getting married. Bruce and Barbara both know they don't love each other and Bruce could care less that she's pregnant but the potential of manipulating Dick into staying single was evidently too good to pass up.

Literally why Bruce???

But putting aside how both of these circumstances technically shouldn't happen for the sheer reason that it doesn't make sense for them to, the only answer for when Dick would abandon Bruce or vice versa is never.

But let's say it did happen and something went so egregiously wrong that Dick left him. How does that affect relationships? One answer - everyone would unilaterally side with Dick. When Bruce fired Dick, Superman was ready to fight him (verbally). But if Bruce had done something so horrible as to get Dick to actually leave him forever, given how Dick sticks with Bruce through everything and is canonically stated as Bruce's confidant, then at that point Bruce has become irredeemable.

It's not a surprise at all that no one, absolutely no one, stays with Bruce in Batman Beyond. He's completely alone with no family or friends. Because if Dick refuses to stay with him, then who will?

But one thing always stays consistent no matter what happens between Dick and Bruce. Whether it's the past, present, or future because even if Dick abandons Bruce for reasons undefinable - Dick will always come back for the kids.

Batman Beyond (2012) Issue #23

Batman Beyond 2.0 Issue #2

So no, realistically there isn't a circumstance in which Dick would abandon Bruce. In fact during Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne, Bruce gets infected with a killer virus so Dick takes a vaccine that's been completely untested - purely experimental - and undergoes a blood transfusion with Bruce to save him.

Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne

"I've got nothing to lose."

Dick would give up everything for Bruce. Their blood transfusion gets interrupted halfway when villains try to kill them but Dick fights off like 50 people while having hallucinations, pain, and a high fever from the killer virus but he'll do anything if that's what it takes to save Bruce.

That kind of devotion doesn't die easily. They're both equally unhealthily overly attached to each other.

[skitskatdacat63]

Hey, do you remember that really homoerotic scene from Skyfall? No? That's okay, here's a Vettonso version of it :)

- explanation & w/o text:

Hi hello, finally my weird psychosexual relationship with Casino Royale has come to fruition. Yeah this is directly based off a scene from Skyfall, but I def envision the vibe as being more like Casino Royale hehe. I can't believe I made that inspo board for this AU almost 4 weeks ago, and then ended up drawing a four panel "comic" about it. Ahhhh proud of myself, a bit, a tad. I think this took 20+ hours across the span of a week? God. Anyways I digress! The AU!!

First of all, their Bond song would be "My Way of Life" by Frank Sinatra. It's so toxic, codependent and obsessive, I'm in love with it. And it really suits Fernando and his motivations and outlook in this AU. Basically, MI6(in the context of James Bond) in this AU is an analog for Ferrari. It picks theses guys up, tells them that they're Ferrari MI6's most special boy, chews them up, and then spits them out when they're finished extracting all their talent and skill and life force.

Much like with Ferrari, Seb in this AU replaces Fernando after Fernando loses favor and becomes undesirable. Now Seb is the new golden boy, and Fernando has turned to a life of crime! Fernando resents Seb for this of course, but also becomes obsessed with him and the idea of him , and how they are connected. It's weird to watch someone else basically go down your exact same path and unknowingly make all the same mistakes(buying into the mysticism of it all too much, being overly cocky, having naive beliefs and goals, etc.) He is caught between wanting to doom Seb even more but also wanting to "save" him, by corrupting him and convincing him to work together.

Basically: He's both a Bond girl and Bond villain.

Fernando is in such a weird place in this AU. I think he's just very dramatic. Seb is just casually living his best 007(005?) life, and Nando is watching him with binoculars, whispering to himself: "DOESN'T HE UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE NARRATIVE FOILS!?" Yeah he hates Seb, but like the song lyrics say, their lives and dreams are inherently tied up together. He would feel lost without Seb, because Seb basically, unknowingly, destroyed and then took over his life. Maybe he'll feel satisifed if he manipulates Seb into going down the exact same path a bit better.

About the drawings themselves. Still can't believe this scene is a real thing that actually happened, insane to me. But in this AU, after the events of these drawings, Fernando definitely kicked all his henchman out of the room, and fucked Seb in the chair. And then against the wall. And then on the floor. Hey man, Seb is already looking mighty delicious with his unbuttoned attire and being tied up.

I think the general plot would be that Fernando keeps trying to seduce him to the dark side, and Seb keeps making him think it worked, only to escape at the end of the encounter. Leading Fernando to just come up with increasingly more violent and kinky traps. Seb goes along with it(read: enjoys it), leaving Fernando satisifed, only to somehow escape and wink and make kissy faces at Fernando in the process. (Fernando smoking cigarette in bed: "How do I make him stay. Sigh.")

I like to think though that Fernando does win in the end, by realizing, ah wait shit I do need to actually explain my motivations to Seb. And Seb is so worn down by his job, not Fernando, and how he's being treated, that he listens, really actually listens, and realizes Fernando does really have valid reasons. And then they become evil crime husbands yayyyy. Wow you thought this was a espionage AU? Well it is, but just not the outcome you'd expect.

[neogandw]

Page 4 of 6, the rest can be seen here.

Honestly this is the part where I just get to have fun with the training montage and the reason of why I love Smash Bros like I do.

The gameplay IS fun even if I don't actually play online matches all that much (I'm not all that competitive, I play mostly solo or with friends exclusively), but to me Smash Bros is a toy box.

I love these universes and Smash Bros has introduced me to many more over the years, to me its an introduction to various things I could learn and play with, and even more fun to me its concocting how these series gel together and how you could use their elements as playthings to craft a story or a cohesive universe.

I explored this before with another massive comic I made, honestly kind of one this is a sequel to. Its "The Strongest Fighter".

To me, I am not interested at all in "who would beat who", I prefer to think of "Okay, if these two were to meet, how WOULD it go down?" or "If so was in this situation, what would they do?", the joke of the Strongest Fighter comic is not to actually decide who is the strongest in terms of made-up power levels, but rather an exploration of how these characters view and talk about one of their own in a context disguised as a poorly thought-out question.

A lot of people tend to miss this, sadly, even if Shulk points out "Anyone can beat up Kirby" rather blatantly at the end.

So, going back to Page 4, its also similarly an exploration of the question "how do you go on about getting strong in this context?".

With splatoon, there's not much other than "pick up the weapon and sink or swim, we ain't an helicopter parent, you figure it out". But when you introduce the idea of a MENTOR (specially one out of universe like Peach is) how would you go on about teaching something so abstract as getting good aim?

Its not so much that Orange needs training in weaponry at all, I did make it a point to show that she was Super Fresh with everything BUT the Chargers back on Page 1, but that her aiming skills with the Charger are so off that:

Speedy targets won't stay still (Joker just dodging out of the way)

Her shots are blantantly obvious (Samus just leaning her head to the side)

She's not using shooting at a range, so her aim is so off that she misses even in Super Flat World.

So the training montage is tackling these issues.

Study up and learn how the weapon actually works, as I said her first mistake was skipping up Sheldon's explanation, so the first thing Peach does is explain the basics of the weapon to Orange (if you notice, the billboard does show things like leading the shot as exemplified with the Rabbid, using bombs to flush out your enemies and the importance of things like Ink Saver). Basic stuff, but you do hit the books to learn your tool.

Learn in a safe envoirement that is somewhat predictable, and it is slow going (notice the timer of the Break the Targets), get used to shooting long-distance first and foremost, no matter how long it takes.

Then you introduce the erraticness (AKA: the ducks) and practice off that, Orange hit exactly half and Peach mentions as much. The dog may laugh, but its a start.

And finally, put it to the test. I specifically chose Sonic to be the target to be hit because he'd be the most erratic, fastest and would NOT allow himself to be hit that easily. Landing a headshot on Sonic has to be the hardest thing you could do.

I did mostly pick scenarios that would be funny, but I did want it to be a ramping up in getting good. Not just jumping from point A to point B and just skipping to "welp, you're a god at sniping now".

Anyway, the hidden jokes and references of this page:

I used to be a teacher (programming, if you're curious), so the panel of Inkling Girl going to school is reminiscent of my experiences as a teacher and a student. hence why Inkling Girl's set-up on the school resambles what I know rather than the desks you find on Garreg Mach. Such as taking special attention to draw the ever present ruler, using a square notebook for math, the pencil sharpener and erasers being the ones we use down here on México and the bag being a knock-off rather than an official product. Its just sort of the norm you see around here.

You may notice the random calendar on the Garreg Mach page on the top left. On the coloring process I decided to add to the joke of Inkling Girl going to school by imitating a Persona UI.

Originally the joke was to have it be styled after P5's, but the UI used wound up being Persona 3's instead. Not only is it topical thanks to Reload, but the reason I did it is that curiously -just as I was working on this panel- I hit this date on reload ( 8/10 ) and it just so happened that THIS is when you downright lose an entire week worth of days because Mitsuru decided to sign you up for summer classes without consulting you. Fitting for Inkling Girl sacrificing her own free time to learn and study.

Small thing, but if you actually read Orange's notebooks you may notice she's dividing by zero.

Just to show how much Inkling girl sucks at aiming, the break the targets timer is there to show how badly she's doing. Normally during Break the Targets you either get timed to your best time counting UP if you're doing it on the dedicated mode or counting DOWN from 2 minutes if you do it from Classic Mode. The timer instead reads 28:05.15, meaning that Peach had her do it at her own pace and its been nearly half an hour of just missing shots (since she's only been able to hit 1 target so far).

Also, the timer number may be random, but its actually Splatoon 1's release date. I love to hide significant numbers like that on my works. I forgot to mention it but Peach's player ID back on page 3 was also a release date.

And to add on to the cute factor, the platform they're standing on in Break the Targets is actually taken directly from Peach's stage. So she's lending her own target test for the practice.

Fun fact: on the Duck Hunt panel you can see the UI discussing how many ducks have been hit by Inkling Girl. Not easily apparent though is the blue bar below the ducks.

THAT is the minimum requirement. In the original Duck Hunt the UI for the duck tally would shift over to the left and be compared to that blue bar, if you didn't shoot enough ducks to go beyond where the bar was pointing at the game would end.

Essentially, Peach is asking for a bare minimum of 4 ducks to be hit, which Inkling Girl technically did as she managed 5, but she's still frustrated due to the dog's mockery.

Irregardless of how the montage was gonna go on the planning phase, I always wanted to have Sonic be the last test for Inkling's improvement because -once more- I like to think more in-character when writting down these scenarios.

Sonic is the fastest thing alive, he's capable of dodging whatever bullet or explosive eggman tends to throw at him (capable, not reliable, it depends on player input if he does so or not). So he'd be perfect for target practice, specially for something like Sniping.

Sonic's pride would NOT agree with being shot in the face, admittedly, but he could be talked into it if asked as both a challenge and a request. Peach wouldn't put anyone in danger and it is really just ink, so if its for the sake of helping others, Peach could reliably ask Sonic to do it and he'd at least take solace in helping someone else. Though he'd likely taunt and make it as hard as possible due to his ego.

To show that it was amicable and that Sonic agreed to it I had the two bits of Peach handling a tower and Sonic giving a thumbs up, to show that he was in on the plan.

I could have drawn Green Hill Zone again (in fact, the planning phase did had it AS Green Hill), but I instead opted to go with Seaside Hill as the background (kind of a mistake on my part since Ocean Palace is OBTUSE on its architecture), mostly because I wanted some scenery variety with Sonic, its not always gonna be on Green Hill Zone, you know.

The Loading screen that Inkling is having on her head while she realizes she passed the final test is from Sonic 06, which I shouldn't have to tell you that its infamous for its loading.

I originally wanted it to be Splatoon's loading icons, but those would have required animation since they're not visually understandable otherwise. So I just went with the Sonic theme and made it match.

The UI used for the last two panels are the stage clear screens for Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 1 respectively. Also, I didn't just copy-paste the assets from Splatoon 3 into the comic, every time you see the weapon icons like that its one of my recreation of those assets.

[mdhwrites]

Honestly It's quite disrespectful and insulting, how Dana cared more about her beef with Disney than making a good show for the fans who supported her, some even financially. I've had it with her extreme fans raging to people when she's criticized for her obvious lack of care on S3 (the story in general), spamming and blaming on Disney and the shortening. Now that's revealed it wasn't Disney's fault for "ruining S3" since there was no S3 to begin with, that just puts more salt on the wound.

And lying about having plans for S3, what was that about? Stirring more hate on Disney? I find that pitiful and pathetic. If fans are gonna get mad at her from this revelation they have the right to do so. Toh should've stayed in the drafts or be written as a freelanche comic

Edit: I do think this person is too harsh on Dana as a person. I'm curious even what they mean by financial support from her fans (her charity livestreams? Unless she does those more often for personal gain but those people would likely donate anyways as just fans of the show) but as I go into below, I do agree that her unprofessionalism is a real problem and that with the fandom she somewhat helped rile up, it makes it frustrating to learn that a lot of this was on vapor. Not lies, but just... Not nearly as much solid foundation as we were led to believe. There is a lot to be said about how Dana, from my understanding, has been one of the most available leads on a show... Period? At bare minimum, for modern cartoons. Like others will talk but Dana was extremely candid. In fact, it feels like she probably learned some lessons from it because the blaming Disney stuff actually went DOWN as the show progressed. Like at least now it's "I wish I could have done more things," rather than, I dunno, just straight up trying to say they're why episodes you're not proud/ of aren't as well regarded didn't turn out.

Which she did.

With S1A.

Before SEASON TWO was out.

Like... You just shit talked literally half of the content that is out for your show and threw your publisher under the process. Why do I think that might not have been received well?

And when I was biggest in the fandom, around the time the news of the shortening happened, you heard a LOT of different explanations from Dana, like it was one executive who made the call or how TOH wasn't a 'part of Disney's brand' or the like. When the Florida stuff came out with Disney, she pretty explicitly called Disney out for it (which is fine and I approve) but then went on to insinuate that it was hard for her to believe that the show had been cancelled for any reason besides representation, a move I DON'T approve of and makes ZERO sense with how they got to do so much more gay shit in S2B and even add new elements like confirming Masha was they/them or confirming Luz being Bi on screen in Thanks to Them. It's not a great look for a director, especially during the times these statements were coming out.

Being unprofessional admittedly doesn't make her a bad person but like... Yeah, I get upset thinking about the contradictions here too. That even in the same post Hoot that she has to admit that the shortening pushed them creatively and they had no real plans, she's still talking like she had plans. Like there was something to be missed when... No. Not for the STORY. Just your bucket of ideas for a perpetual series.

It leans into the idea that saying you were going to do X means you would have done it perfectly. That Dana doesn't understand that the only perfect work is the one never done. She's fine with being remembered for what wasn't there if it means being remembered better. As a creator myself who struggles with putting things to the page... I don't know. It hurts to some extent.

Which just a small update: I've been having real trouble focusing the past couple days. My head is not on well right now. It's why these are being a bit more emotional and late night rather than my normal posts in the morning because that's just how I've felt like doing it. Hope you're all taking care of yourselves and see you next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[neonscandal]

If you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from BNHA? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this question before....Thanks....

My faves, I've been asked a few times so I'll be light on explanation, but, honestly, I'm liable to switch up depending on whatever I just read or watched.

Katsuki Bakugo - I just expanded on this but I just generally think more people could give more grace to the traumatized little demon child who has, for reasons against his will, largely been put through trials not only as Midoriya's rival but also as a potential love interest (re: damsel in distress trope)

Izuku Midoriya - I kinda touched on what makes Midoriya interesting but realize it's kinda in the context of the chemical reaction between he and Bakugo. Simply, I like Midoriya for a few reasons that I may not have previously intimated. Those being he is a certified chaos gremlin which is sometimes lost on us as the reader/viewer because he's our narrator (Bakugo only seems insolent. He'll say "don't tell me what to do", but do exactly as you've asked. Midoriya will smile in your face after being told what not to do and adapt the most pants shitting plan to break his bones and risk fatal injury known to man right after.), he's such a fucking nerd, also, kin.

Shouta Aizawa - I love a good traumatized character. But his characterization is so stern, rough around the edges and nonchalant (I usually like trauma with a side of silly goofy✨). It truly belies the fact that he's just a big ole softie who understands the nuance of his students in such an endearing way. Like, I just love him.

Shoto Todoroki - Character wise, Shoto is really entertaining because, while he is a nepo baby, he is skilled to back up why he should be in class 1A. He is not dumb but he is simple. I appreciate that he is regularly unexpected comedic relief and it definitely comes at the price of something neurospicy. Additionally, he and his family situation are just as integral to the story as Midoriya and Bakugo's evolving relationship and power dynamic and it adds texture to him as a tritagonist.

Eijirou Kirishima - My fifth is an oscillating fan available for whoever last occupied my mind but this comes from a recent ask where someone mentioned being a kiribaku because same. Kirishima is the first to earn Bakugo's respect because of his earnest and unrelenting attempts to befriend him. He and Denki are good indicators that Bakugo is, perhaps, not as enigmatic as the narration leads us to believe. His veneer of manly bravado barely covering his insecurities and lack of confidence? The fact that he thought the best way to be a new person was to dye his hair?? KIN. He is precious to me.

⚠️ Spoiler Warning through chapter 411.

These moments are not in any particular (in terms of favorite or chronological) order.

Feral Deku Being Found By Kacchan - Just, the whole arc of being found by Class 1A, beaten down by them, apology in the rain, and being advocated for by Class 1A against an angry mob? The whole thing was goosebumps inducing, just the way they've all grown.

Discovering the Sir Nighteye's Prediction Saw Deku Dying in Action - Toga is a disruptor but also, perhaps, so are all those OFA quirks. Even so, Sir Nighteye not only resigned to his own death but also Deku's which is so wild of him when he so earnestly wanted to discourage All Might from the path to destruction he saw ahead of him. He really had beef with a kid. BUT ALSO Sir Nighteye coming back to be like "All Might... this isn't a comic book, you don't have to die here,". OMG the boomerang arcs all of these characters get is just so heartwarming/wrenching depending on who it is.

Bakugo, With No Other Choice, Facing Off Against Shigaraki - We got so much from that, including, confirming that he cared about that whole host of extras so much that he would think to pass along their care to someone else. That was just so beautiful for his development but also real tears. I remember I was in the midst of reading the manga for the first time and saw a hint of a leak and I read like 150 chapters in a matter of days to get caught up.

Heroes Rising - Literally, that whole movie. GOOSEBUMPS.

Bakugo vs Uraraka at the Sports Festival - This fight was so brilliant for so many reasons.

1. Uraraka gave Bakugo a legitimate run for his money all on her own 2. It demonstrates sexism in universe based on audience perception of the fight as well as how much public opinion bears on the split between a hero and a villain 3. Aizawa gave an unbiased interpretation of the fight and continues to defend Bakugo's character later in the story when people bring up his "villainous" behavior at the Sport's Festival 4. Bakugo is shown to be really noble where other boys from Class 1A seem to think they need to go easy on girls (who end up handing them their ass later) during the Sports Festival but also during the Class 1A vs Class 1B joint exercise 5. It spurred Uraraka to push beyond the confines of her quirk and seek tutelage under Gunhead which is like.. so huge in terms of her development but also pushes her outside of a perception of helplessness that would typically befall a main female lead in a shonen series.

Thanks for asking!

[amageish]

People seemed to like my post chronicling the queer history of Felicia Hardy, so I'm going to do something similar to that... Let's chat about the queer history of Marvel's unwitting power couple, Ellie Phimister and her girlfriend Yuki Ohara.

Let's dive in!

Content Warning: This summary will include discussion of anti-mutant hate crimes and genocide, as that is part of Ellie's comic book story.

Like a lot of queer X-Men stories, this one begins with queercoding in the 80s.

While Jim Shooter famously prohibited any queer storytelling in Marvel Comics during his tenure as Editor-in-Chief of the company and, on top of that, the Comics Code Authority also banned it, Chris Claremont, the architect of the X-Men as we know them today, never really followed those rules - and neither did his editors, artists, and co-writers. There are so many queer-coded relationships throughout his runs on the X-Men and the modern X-Men stories are still playing catch-up to this day, canonizing the intentions of him and his collaborators one character at a time. Mystique and Destiny are probably his most famous pairing nowadays, as that is canon now, but he also wrote the Juggernaut as being with Black Tom Cassidy, Kate Pryde as being bisexual for most women she encounters in her life, and, the topic for today, Storm being in a romantic relationship with the Japanese assassin Yukio.

Yukio is, to put it mildly, a risk-taker. She runs through life with seemingly no self-preservation instincts whatsoever and, for some reason, always gets by nonetheless. She and Storm have a fling while Storm is in Japan (Uncanny X-Men 172-173) and this leads directly into Storm's famous punk era, which certainly does recontextualize some of the vibes of her having suddenly gotten a mohawk and a taste for leather.

Their later reunion in Uncanny X-Men 311-313 is extra funny to me - both because of the narration textually referring to them as "more then friends" and because of Yukio justifying her daredevil attitude by suggesting it would have been "politically incorrect" of the villain to have attacked them in public.

These two "kindred spirits" hang out for a bit, but Yukio is ultimately a Wolverine character and not a larger X-Men team member, so they naturally split off as time goes on. Their last appearance together was during the 2014 Death of Wolverine event - though their affair was mentioned by an angry Kitty during the Storm flashback mini earlier this year.

That said, Yukio is obviously a Sapphic and I guess when the team behind the movie Deadpool 2 decided to give their version of Negasonic Teenage Warhead a girlfriend, they looked at the list of queer-coded characters and decided she was the right one for them...

Now, as for Ellie...

Eloise Phimister AKA Negasonic Teenage Warhead debuted in Grant Morrison's New X-Men, but her name was not said on-panel until after she was already dead. She was one of Emma Frost's students, a gothic woman with telepathic powers that foretold the death of her and her classmates at Genosha... and yet she died nonetheless.

This is a very tragic character. She has a silly name, but that is part of the heartbreak of this moment. Ellie is a child who died as a result of a genocidal desire to kill all mutants. Her silly name emphasizes her youth... which makes it REALLY tonally dissonant when it played for comedy from here-on-out.

She was briefly brought back by the camp gay villain Selene when she revived horrific versions of many deceased mutants as part of X-Force... and then she was revived for real with a new design fter the release of the first Deadpool movie. She maintains her precognitive abilities and future-sight here, but otherwise... Well, she's now a comedy character in a Deadpool book. She also can warp reality now, partially as an explanation for why she looks/acts different then her first appearances.

She paled around with Deadpool for a bit, but didn't do anything explicitly queer in the comics until 2022 (good god) where she kissed an unnamed woman, causing Wolverine to wonder if she'll one day lead a X-Men team that is exclusively made up of her multiple girlfriends. This comment is also a subtle not to the implied status quo of the Krakoa era, where Wolverine himself has two partners - dating both Jean Grey and Scott Summers.

This is a funny moment, though I do wonder why it took so long for her to be queer in the comics - Marvel comic books are generally the most queer media Marvel puts out, so I do wonder if it was something specifically about her being a Deadpool character that caused people to hesitate to greenlight queer stories about her.

Finally, in 2023, Ellie got her first solo series in the form of an Infinity Comic.

This series uses the increasingly-popular approach of having "fate" be a stand-in for "the concept of being a loyal adaptation in a multimedia landscape," as she is fated to kiss a girl named Yuki Ohara or else the fabric of reality as we know it will be destroyed.

While Deadpool is only in it for a bit, it is a very meta narrative, with a lot of commentary on the way that female characters are written in comics in general and female reality-warpers specifically, with Ellie having a lot of anxiety about the risk of her becoming like Jean Grey or Scarlet Witch - not helped by the TVA chasing her down and declaring her a threat. However, in the end, she meets her girlfriend-to-be and pauses time itself to get know her properly before having their universe-saving kiss. Good for them!

Since then, she has appeared exactly once - in a Pride issue fashion show - but I imagine she and her girlfriend Yuki are just in a little reality-warp bubble, hidden away as Fall of X finishes up.

Synergy is a dirty word in the comics landscape, but I personally like Ellie and her romance with Yuki - and I'm very relieved that they introduced a new, younger Yuki O. based on the movie for her to date instead of just retconning the established Yukio into becoming Eloise's girlfriend... Storm doesn't deserve to have her girl stolen away like that!

Also, Yuki has a giant mech and electricity powers. Maybe a little cliche for a Japanese character's powerset, but it is badass...

I hope we see more comic book stuff with these two eventually... There is potential there that is as of yet untapped - especially as they are probably two of Marvel's most notable queers by virtue of being in wildly popular movies, even if their comic queerness is a relatively modern thing.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 9/5/2023

moving closer to your best friend means hanging out in big groups a lot of the time. while this is theoretically good for mental health or whatever, in practice i overextended myself this weekend and am going to wake up tomorrow with the mental equivalent of a sore lower back

listening (2x bonus)

very fond of måneskin's new single HONEY (ARE U COMING?). sonically different from their other stuff, lyrics and tone-wise another incredible sad banger! spotify

my sister viewed the film Party Girl (1995, dir. von Scherler Mayer) last week at a party in philly and sent me this song featured in the film with no further explanation. Double Cross by First Choice (a Larry Levan remix) has what i want to call bollywood strings, a flute, and the funkiest bassline backing up some really classic disco vocals. First Choice were a group out of philly, which no one at the party knew at the time, and this blog calls this specific remix "dancefloor soul" which is probably as good a descriptor as any. i have had it on loop for a solid week. lyrics include

Love stealing, double dealing, two-timing lowdown son of a gun

which is just so much fucking fun to sing in the car. spotify

-

reading (2x bonus here also)

i read the mandalorian comics in between volumes of berserk, which feels a bit like saying i took a break from watching the evil dead franchise to watch some cocomelon.

the mandalorian comics are a remarkably uninspired nearly shot by shot breakdown of the episodes. not in the way most film/tv comics are, where they’re very clearly traced screencaps, but screenshots redrawn. this would be interesting if the artist was not contractually obliged to the very flat marvel comics style. i am constantly reminded of how the mandalorian is simply…not very good. it’s entertaining as a spectacle of television to watch, but there are not a lot of fun ideas in there. something that made me fucking scream with laughter are these panels of baby yoda

pápá, your son is So high

back to the other series with a dark haired, roaming, grouchy, reserved man on a mission. unfortunately i don't have a lot of berserk thoughts just yet, i am waiting on vol 4 to come off my library holds and my brain is still digesting it. anyway i think not wanting random "friendly" embraces from strangers is a very reasonable thing for guts to dislike and i truly do not understand why ppl in-universe get so fucking offended. unfortunately reading these late at night did lead to an unpleasant sleep experience.

bitches love a fucked up interior space that can't ever actually exist (it's me i'm bitches)

not to be all therapeutic but im trying to be Curious About and Gently Interrogate why i get a real bee in my bonnet once a year to read some horror comics/manga when i am big squeamish baby about film depictions of those things. i think mostly bc comics gore is so much more stylized than some of the very effective practical and cgi effects? and crucially nothing is actually like writhing around on screen it’s a still image? does anyone else’s brain have a much easier time handling still images over moving images of gore? much to consider

as with many other things, me reading berserk is indirectly @dying-suffering-french-stalkers ' fault

-

watching

i have viewed the first four episodes of Fire Force, the urban fantasy mercenary firefighter anime and do not think i will be continuing. while i have a great many questions about the worldbuilding (gravitational anomalies?? genetic predisposition to spontaneous human combustion?? solar god nuns??) it has a dead mom plot, which i am allergic to. this is also a 7.5-8 on the Ass part of the Weeb Ass Shit scale, and has a lot more casual assault than i try to encounter in anime. it's by the soul eater guy, remember the level of Stuff going on in soul eater? a little bit more ramped up groping and stuff that makes me say out loud "wow i don't like this" than soul eater.

the animation re: aforementioned fire is really top notch tho. visually complex and interesting television program.

how i found this: me and my best friend and my best friend's husband morosely poking around the anime section on hulu, looking for something to fill the spy x family void. this ain't it tho

-

playing

i have no fun genshin tidbits to share bc i am grinding talent mats while catching up with the podcast episodes of the road to partizan and i don’t have much to say about the not-fun parts of gachas. why am i playing something if it’s not inherently fun? great fucking question

-

making (3rd 2x bonus)

very uninspired (derivative, even) abbreviated sofrito thing over rice. with heavy application of Worcestershire sauce it was fine. no pics

also i finally bought a couch bc salvation army had 50% off everything for Labor Day. this is a question of ethics vs money i have decided for myself, and encourage you, the reader, to go off and quietly make your own philosophical choices without explaining them to me in detail.

it will be arriving on friday bc that is when the strapping young men who own trucks are available. my front door is a very non standard size and i have a very awkward front stair, so i needed something that could fit under the overhang while standing on its end. this one was the best size and (fortunately) the cheapest at $150. it is some sort of extremely flammable early polyester and 100% has a grandma’s soul trapped within its fibers. i will probably buy a cover at some later date to deter miss macaron but in the meantime we will do the strips of brown painters tape, which does successfully deter her. this really really does not want to be steamed so i will also be procuring some chemicals.

here are some other couches i could have bought but didn’t.

[timur-pannonicus]

Azula, Iroh and Lu Ten speculation and possible hc

It's been a really long time since I made an original post so here we go.

Trigger warning: Gender roles, marriage within families, historical realities that are repugnant to a lot of modern people.

Anyway...

I didn't come up with the theory myself but there's a headcanon that Azula and Lu Ten were supposed to be married, as arranged by the then Fire Lord Azulon.

If you take the comics as proof, there's a scene where Azulon says that he's marrying Ozai of to Ursa so that the union of Sozin's and Roku's blood will create a powerful dynasty that will rule the world.

However, Azulon is outraged at the very notion presented by Ozai that his firstborn Iroh should be disinherited, which leads to the possible conclusion that Ozai and his progeny were never meant to succeed the throne but to marry into the main line to strengthen it.

Even if you reject the comics it still remains plausible. Azulon clearly didn't have much love for Ozai, marriage between cousins in a great lot of societies through history barely raised eyebrows among commoners, never mind royalty, who often mistakenly believed "pure" blood makes offspring stronger.

Azulon might have arranged the marriage soon after Azula was born or also likely when she proved to be a prodigy and genius at firebending.

In any case, it provides a different or at least additional kind of explanation for Iroh's attitude towards Azula.

Lu Ten was most likely at least in his twenties when he died so Iroh knew what kind of women his son got along with and which not. Thus he tried to influence her into being the kind of girl his son would like. As we all know, she wasn't measuring up when she was little and after Lu Ten's death Iroh lost a good chunk of his motivation to try getting along with her.

It also gives new light on why Ozai dug his claws into her so early and raised her to be as much like him as possible. Even if he never formally got the throne he could influence the nation through his daughter, the queen.

This adds to his she was born lucky comment, from the start she had the right gender.

Plus, in my benefit of the doubt interpretation of Azula she did feel at least somewhat positive towards Lu Ten. Apart from condemning Iroh for not razing Ba Sing Se in revenge for his death there's the infamous moment where she asks Ursa and Zuko what would happen if Iroh died. She did not ask about Lu Ten and when Zuko counters and asks how she would feel if Lu Ten wanted Ozai dead, she doesn't talk back but runs out of the room.

Might also explain why she never really mentioned wanting the throne. For a good chunk of her life she was supposed to be queen anyway, giving her a rather secure sense of entitlement, so why announce it out loud to everyone?

Rant end.

Note: I'm pretty sure I will face disagreement but I simply like speculation for its own sake at times. Maybe I'm too hard or too soft on a character. Feel free to give reason why I am wrong but NO foul language or personal insults will be tolerated from my side and I don't want to see people being rude to each other in notes or reblogs either.

I'm also not exactly the best at tagging so if you have suggestions for that I'm all ears.

I wish you all a nice day.

[elluka]

Happy Pride. These are my Limbus Company headcanons. ID in alt, long ass explanations + extra headcanons under the cut bc I didn't like the look of when i put two flags on each character.

The City is a hellscape but it IS established that being GNC is cool in ruina, and I'm going off of the assumption that being nonconforming is fine for the most part, but queer identities aren't really something people talk about, BUT also it does vary wildly depending on the part of the city, leading to culture shock with a few characters having come from more conservative areas (sinclair, don quixote) when seeing people from more relaxed areas just living their best lives (faust, outis). (warning for mentions of trans and homophobia)

Dante isn't sure if they identified like this already or if they were just kind of assigned nonbinary when they had amnesia and has not questioned this. If they were to think about it, they would still be nonbinary, but maybe in a different way? They have the Agonies to go through and amnesia to wretsle with though, so they don't spend much time thinking abt gender when they;re fine with it as it is.

Sinclair is an egg still, but will eventually realise he is bigender and gay (for guys). He is aware of and respects nonbinary people and ppl who use other pronouns like Dante but subconsiously thinks that you need to have like, qualifications to be allowed identify as trans and it's not something that just anyone is allowed to do. He still hasn't accepted that he likes boys OR that he's not into girls. Give him some time, poor kid has catholic guilt in a setting with no catholics, he thinks every little thing he does is sinful, nevermind the stuff that other people actually say is a sin. He thinks its fine and is supportive when others are queer but not when he is.

Ishmael is a lesbian. She got up to some yuri on that boat. Nowadays she's too focused on revenge to think about romance though.

Meursault is pan. He doesn't care about gender, just appearance (he has comically high standards here, usually) and whether you make him do stuff he doesn't wanna do or not (he has comically low standards here, usually).

Rodya is bi. She will flirt with guys and girls alike, but when she's chatting up a woman she takes extra care to make sure it can easily be taken as a joke. My source for this is when she's flirting with Faust in canto 4. Bi4Bi with Gregor, at least in the LCB universe; she gets with others in different realities.

Gregor is also bi, nad pretty casual about it. Like, he gets nervous when chatting with anyone hot, but he's no more nervous with guys than with girls. I also like him being a trans guy, but I still need to workshop my lore for that. Bi4Bi with Rodya in the LCB universe, damn near bitchless in every other one. He has NO game.

Yi sang is something called reflectshift, which was defined by the coiner as "a gender related to mirrors , reflections & shapeshifting". He uses any pronouns but he doesn't tell people this and so people only use he/him so now he yearns for just one weirdo to break the cycle and call him something else. He will not ever express this sentiment, nor will he ever bring up his gender unless prompted, though if he is directly asked he will go on a long poetic rant about it.

Faust was a woman but then she made that contract with that undefined being and their minds connected so now Faust is a demigirl and Faust is Faust.

Outis is a lesbian the way the way many ancient greeks were gay. Men just aren't as smart or hot or personable or cool or strong as women, you see, they don't have the soul,

Hong Lu is gay. He thinks straight people are like, not real. All the books he's read only have straight romance in them but he thinks it's like, just one of those things that people think they should add, or like a job, where no-one actually WANTS to be straight but they have to, for some undefined reason.

Ryoshu is a trans guy. He cut his own hair with a sword in a dramatic moment. It's not that he hides his identity, but he's fine with people assuming he's a cis woman bc it is funny. He will confidently walk into mens restrooms or walk around in just boxers or whatever and everyone is always just like "oh man, ryoshu's doing a fucking bit again", which is funny enough that he doesn't say anything. If someone were to react with genuine hatred or something, though, he would walk up to them, explain that he IS a guy, and kill them. It's an art.

Don Quixote is a lesbiknight, a gender "related to being a lesbian and being a knight". She used to be out, and used she/her, he/him, and the neopronouns he/her/heroself, but after one too many incidents from before joining LCB and after losing sancho (her one ally) she has decided to just be a normal weird girl since people are nicer that way.

Heathcliff is currently only about Catherine, but if she had been another gender, he would have fallen just as hard. While he hasn't processed his identity, he is still perfectly happy to knock the brains out of homo/transphobes, because he likes hitting stuck up bastards with his baseball bat and he does feel very strongly that people should be able to do whatever they want without any buggers butting in on wtuff thats not their buisness. Good for him.

Demian is bi, and his gender is "a normal human boy" or "a boy, which is one of the most common genders held by homo sapiens, who are the dominent species on earth, not counting us abnormalities, of course".

Oh yeah also Charon is a lesbian. So is Sonya. That one person who said Sonya is a he/him lesbian is so real.

OH AND ANGELA IS A TRANS GUY. I will die on this fucking hill.

Sinclair's entire section here is inspired by both the game and the book. Ishmael was pure vibes. Ryoshu was inspired by the insane backstory i came up with for her after reading hell screen. You could read hell screen and not in a million years understand the backstory i came up with. Hong Lu not knowing abt straight people was inspired by my own experiences being uninterested in romance. Thank you.

[gardensnakie]

Who's better at poetry, Stranger or Sunny?

I automatically assume that Sunny would lean more onto the drawing side of art rather than writing, let alone poetry. I think it depends on how people see the character because based on Canon occurrences, Sunny takes a lot of inspiration from the outside world, like from comic books and movies when he dreams. He creates new adventures and scenarios that would lead most to assume that he would be a good writer if he practiced. In addition to his more darker thoughts, and his sad poem skill, it seems possible he'd be good at it. But the thing is, Sunny has trouble identifying how he feels, that includes speaking and even writing those feelings down. If he were to attempt to journal anything for those 4 years that he was stuck in the house, that would ruin the world he created for himself where mari didn't die. With how much he was repressing his feelings, trying to organize them into words would be a long shot. That's why Sunny turns to drawing, in can be incoherent as he wants without directly including the thing he wants to ignore. (And sunnys drawings are cool, I'm a sucker for violent, surrealism art) Even after the truth, I think sunnys poetry would be good and cool to read (I'm not sure, I'm no critic but I'd like to think sunnys poetry would be very vivid, sometimes incoherent) His poetry would be for his eyes only, I don't think he'd actively try to get better at it but use it as a way to be less stressed.

With rare access to pen and paper, Stranger has a lot to say but speaks in a cryptic way as a way to hold back. Of maybe it's because Omori/Sunny refuses to hear anything of the truth that Stranger is simply cursed to never say it out loud. Or maybe Stranger doesn't want to frighten them away and chooses his words carefully in order to keep him from retreating further into repression. I like to think about the second possibility. Stranger is capable of altering his words in a vague, but concise way to lead, question, or warn The Dreamer. He also has access to the Lost Library and practically most of the horrors residing in Blackspace. Every idea is different down there, it changes constantly, the abstract rooms and delusions is a gold mine for inspiration. Horrible inspiration, actually. (Kinda reminds me how most artists are troubled in some way, "thank you for the trauma, I need it for my art" kinda way)

Stranger had been down there longer since Sunny avoided blackspace as much as he could. Who knows? During that time, Stranger must've talked to himself a lot. He may speak strangely, not really using the words 'I feel' because spiraling is far too easy in a quiet place like that. He can't really draw. With personified fears and ideas from The Dreamer in all those rooms, Stranger doesn't want to draw them again as a mean to express his own feelings. How can you express the hell in your head when there is hell all around you? So melodramatic. At least Sunny sat in denial, surrounded by color. Stranger reminds me of someone doodle silly things, at least draw something where he hoped to be instead of living in darkness. Though, it'd probably make him more sad, so he'd abandon it somewhere. If he could, Stranger would write a lot. His thoughts could be like a little rule book to keep himself sane. Anger, guilt, shame, vile thoughts, disgusting actions, Stranger would make sure certain mistakes don't happen twice. He'd remember his purpose, helping Sunny remember. Certainly making him feel less worthless. If all this writing was possible, Stranger would be the one with tons of poems.

Ramble. Ramble. Ramble. Jeez, that was a lot of crap. Sorry if you were expecting a yes or no with a few sentences of reasoning, I wanted to reinforce a lot. It gave me a few ideas in the process, but all of it is pretty loose and theorizable (i didnt read check this, so sorry if certain sentences of explanation are a little awkward). But yeah, whaddya think?

[pseudo-hero]

Superman #7 Discussion and Predictions for Superman #8

*Spoilers Ahead*

Sooo if you haven't been keeping up with the current run of Superman titled comics (Dawn of DC Superman)—you should. It's so good. Too many reasons why to list.

Now with that being said: My mushified-by-Clex brain saw a preview of issue #8, thought about what's been implied by previous issues and then started thinking some more about that one old but gold Kon-El character trait/plotline and how it may effect the future. The one that DC hasn't wanted to talk about in-comic, for a while.

I...I think this next issue may be leading up to Konner finally being re-solidified as the confirmed offspring of Clark and Lex—and possibly even more. So much of Superman comic media recently, this run included (even despite Lex's usual fuckery present from the beginning) has come across, to me, like they really are going to give Lex a real, no taksies-backsies redemption. One that—even if it's not permanent—will be as unforgettable as his "rebirth" was.

(Above Images from Superman #7 [2023])

This on its own would be phenomenal, but could also (if true) help pave the way for DC/writers to acknowledge Kon's direct origins in a comic, in the present day. I also feel that they would most likely redo the reason for why Kon was created by Lex in the first place, by giving us a different, (hopefully) less toxic explanation. (But Lex's past with Superman staying messy in that regard would be nice, too, I guess.)

The explicit confirmation of Conner Kent's biological parentage is very important to me because the problem I have at this point, isn't just that a lot of people are denying what it is that makes Konner their son; it's also that I can't even tell anymore if that's how he was created, due to confusion caused by all the post-flashpoint/Perpetua/Dr. Manhattan/Rebirth/multiverse-resetting-madness. (But if anyone knows a recent comic/panel where it's straight up said how this version of Kon-El was created, please @ me.)

It should also be noted that Superboy (It feels so weird to still be calling him that, now. Damn it writer(s)...) said that he felt a "connection" to The Chained. One they both felt and which is apparently related to their powers.

(Above Images from Superman #7 [2023])

So this leads me (and by the looks of it, at least a few others) to believe that The Chained (real name "Sam/Sammy") may turn out to be a third father to Konner! Or, perhaps the template they based Kon's powers on, which would easily explain why they have the same abilities. I'm kinda hoping the connection is no more than the latter. Otherwise it comes across as more predatory than if it had just been Lex and Clark's DNA, because it appears in the issue #8 preview that Lex was already a full-grown (balding) adult when Sammy was a little boy.

(Important Side Note: Does this version of Conner even know who his progenitors are?? Does Clark even know??)

(Above Images from Superman #8 [2023] Preview)

I have some questions and theories about how that's possible as well (the Lex-clone-plotline from the 90's is still "canon", I guess?) but I'll just stop here on that.

Moving on: Most/all of the remainder of Lex's family has now shown up in his hospital room. That is, his somehow-still-alive mother and his daughter! (No sister present though, unfortunately. I hope she's doing well now and not in a coma or itching to harm her brother.) Why would that be the case if they weren't planning a big plot that centers on family, possibly regarding who is and isn't a part of the Super Family (Clark's family)? Action Comics to me, also has similar themes in it that have family at their core. (And both comic runs are technically connected.) Looks like a pattern to me and I don't think that's an accident.

(Above Image from Superman #7 [2023])

Side Note: Lois is there for the ride, too, and her reaction is my reaction to this! Seriously, what is happening right now?? And although Teen!Lena has only just arrived to the scene, I think she's already a fave of mine. Love her enthusiasm (probably snark-flavored) and that choice of lipstick and eye shadow.

(Above Image from Superman #7 [2023])

(Those Brainiac-originated dents on her head are definitely related to the role she's going to play in the next arc. I just know it.)

So Lex, having survived his attempted murder (Or whatever that scene was back in issue #5... they didn't even bother to make sure he was dead!) is the spur for all this drama (along with Brainiac, too, it seems and I guess others) and in the preview for next issue, is seen being contacted by watch. Guess who the caller is and what it'll most likely be about?

(Above Image from Superman #8 [2023] Preview)

Praise be to this long-running, amazing Superman story!! Hope it stays entertaining and well written!!

Side Note: Seriously?! Why the choice to change Lex's gorgeous watch and its fantastic color scheme from issue #3 (where Superman gifted it to him)?! Assuming it's the same watch, at least keep it matching Superman's costume/uniform like before!! (I like the gold on it here, though.)

Bonus!:

Do these two happen to remind you of anyone or anything, reader?

(Above Image from Superman #7 [2023])

No? How about now?

A-ha! No way that's not an intentional reference!!

Thanks for reading!! 😁

[factual-fantasy]

20 asks with a liiiiitle bit of FNAF lore/hints 😂

So with Bonnie, yeah a lot of his memory leading up to his “accident” has been lost. Presumably due to damage taken to his head. Id say he lost about 2 weeks worth of memory? which is why he doesn’t remember Monty getting damaged or the details of his own accident.. but he does remember Foxy getting banned and how business suffered because of it.

As for Vanny and if she plays a role? And what Bonnie’s “accident” and Foxy’s “incident” actually was? Well, I’d love to tell ya,, but that’d spoil the story! 😅 But don’t worry, there is an explanation for this. For once I actually thought ahead and filled in a lot of the story! Which is why I’m so excited to jump into my next comic XD

@wackigremlinchild​ Ooooo that’s a good question.

I mean.. aaaa I dunno! I like drawing different aspects of different characters. I like drawing DJMM’s big arms and hands, but I also like drawing Freddy’s face and Monty’s tail.. hmm, but drawing Bonnie’s legs is fun too..

I’d say at the moment.? Maybe overall I like drawing Bonnie. Drawing all the squiggly wires poking out and getting creative with his hand gestures and poses considering he’s missing most of his limbs--

I’d say he’s probably my favorite :}}  

@nervousdiplomatpalacehorse​

@girlsareprettyneat Thank you! And honestly his tail was fun to draw XD I payed attention to where it was posed from panel to panel so I could make it look like it was shifting from side to side as he talked. My favorite tail shift thing though was the last four panels.. 🥺

Tenk q :}}}

@emotionalmasochiststephi​ ASKALLASKLASKLKSKSK THANK YOUUUU

(As for the question, nah, I don’t have an AO3 😅 all of my fanfics are posted on my side blog factuals-fanfics which I wouldn’t recommend reading cuz they’re old and embarrassing--)

Thank you so much!! But sadly no, I do not do commissions 😅..

(Post in question)

That picture was half a joke but also half hinting at a potential future comic.

The joke was supposed to be “a spider is scared of a spider haha”. But in reality yeah DJ would be kind’a spooked by it for the same reason why Humans are afraid of spiders. Its a tiny little skittering thing with a lot of legs. Just ehk-- creepy get it away--

But its not like he doesn’t know what it is. He knows that its one of the display music man toys. He may not have ever seen one in person, due to not being physically able to leave the Arcade.. But Moony has been all over the pizzaplex and has definitely told him about all the things displayed in Rock Star row. One of which, being the music man display toys--

Aw, I appreciate wanting to draw something for me.. But I’m just not a fan of fanart.. Sorry bud, but its gotta be a no,,, <:///

Thank you!! And yeah I’ve heard of that! Its called Chomping with Chomper, I saw Mat Pat play it on GTLive!

Thank you! And SAMMME!! 

I mean, I’ve heard all the theories and what not. And you know? They’re probably true. Monty probably did do all that in cannon.

But I just.. didn’t want Monty to be the bad guy. I like Monty, and I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and create a story where he is truly innocent. Despite all the rumors and theories people have about him

I wanted him and the other animatronics to all be the victims in this huge mess that ultimately humans are responsible for.

@toonsforkicks22​ Thank you! And don’t worry bud, just keep at it. As I always say sometimes, “You cant go backwards in developing your art skills”

I have not, and for one specific reason. Transformers Animated fans are gonna hate me for this 😅 ---

So a while back I watched all of the bayverse transformers movies and thought “Yo, these are awesome! I should totally watch a transformers show!” So I went online and looked up all the transformers shows and one I found was Transformers Animated.

But here’s the thing, I knew that it was kind’a popular.? Like I’ve seen a lot of fanart of it so I thought it would be a good one to watch.. but MAN I could NOT get over that art style.

I REAAAALLLY didn’t like the art style of the show. I didn’t like the way the characters were shaped. Optimus’s legs, Ratchet’s beer belly and booty shorts- Bumble bees entire head and the Optimus’s LIPS--

Anyway. So judging a book by its cover I tossed the show aside and watched Transformers Prime instead because I liked the art style of that one more... ;- -

Thank you!! I really wanted to try and make DJMM a more expressive character and give him more depth. Considering that the game doesn’t give you a lot to go off of.. so I’m glad I seemed to do well! :}}

Sorry Anon, yeah Refinedtale fanart is not something I’d be comfortable with. <:/

I’m imagining you telling a pal about my blog and they ask to see it, in which you send a link to my blog. If that’s the case I don’t see the problem with it? XD

I can’t really think of any other scenarios in where sharing a direct link to my blog would be an issue..?

@siyuki1234 Daww, thanks! I’m glad you like em :}}}

@mayainsel There is a story to that, but don’t worry its not dark or anything 😅

When I was first designing my Sona I thought the head looked cool but the rest of the body was kind’a plain.. so I wanted to add something.

At the time my hands were covered in band-aids due to excessive hand washing and cat scratches, XD So I thought “Hey! Bandaged hands would look cool!” So I gave my Sona bandaged hands and just called em “artist hands”

@nunyabusiness459  I’m not really sure what inspired me to make Bibi look the way he does.. although I’ve drawn characters that look like Bibi before,

I think I’ve just always liked little black furry critters with big white eyes. They’re fun to draw honestly XD

And when my pen broke I thought I’d try my hand at making an “art doll”. So I just drew a little sketch of one of these critters and got to work. 

As for his name I think I was like “ hmm.. gotta name him somethin cute. Like baby. Or bubby, oo- or Bibi. Yeah Bibi sounds good” XD

@thatoneeraser XD Bibi is he/him. And I’m not really sure what he is. He’s just some kind’a weird black furry critter with cat vibes I made, definitely his own species-

[sentientgopro]

A massive difference in Gwenpool's writing that I don't see people point out is her addressing the audience. This simple fact reveals so much about her vastly different characterisation, and can even open up an in- universe explanation for her inconsistent writing.

This was copied from A Reddit post I made on r/gwenpool, thought I'd repost it here. Since Tumblr works differently, I decided to include tags for 196 and reddit refugee, since, well, fuck it, why not, as well as a few comic related tags. Because of that, I've added a short section summarizing her writing inconsistencies. If you know all about this stuff, look for the big text saying "Main point starts here."

I'm not going to explain the inconsistencies in Gwen's writing, you're on this sub, you (Might not) know all that already. I'm going to be using Unbelieveable Gwenpool and Gwenpool strikes back as my two main references here.

Okay, writing inconsistencies, lets make this quick. In her original Solo series, the Unbelieveable Gwenpool, Gwen is characterized as a "silly", "innocent" teenage girl (her exact age being 19, and those words arent the best descriptors, but the best I could think of in short terms.) However, when other writers pick up the character, for example in crossovers and teams, they hear "Gwenpool" and go "Oh so Deadpool with tits", stripping away any and all of her Character and personality. Another important note, later into her solo series, and an idea that would persist through THE REST of her appearances, is that she realises she is not popular enough and is heavily at risk of cancellation (which happened to her solo series) and fading into obscurity, which she actively tries to prevent. Im gonna end this here, if you don't know about Her, and youve got a spare 20 minutes, "The rise and fall of Gwenpool" By comic Drake on yt should catch you up on this. This topic of her inconsistencies has been done to death so, onto the main post.

Main Point starts here.

To try to get to the point, a massively understated difference in character is that throughout UGP, she does not address the audience. She mentions "someone is reading" while on the roof of the mobile base, worrying that shes bad, but thats it.

Breaking the fourth wall is, let's be honest, a gimmick. The character talks to the audience and thats weird and wacky! And then it got done a few times and got old for most people. 4th wall breaking also can lead to characters feeling insincere, for obvious reasons.

But the original meaning of breaking the fourth wall is talking to the audience. This is what modt people think of when talking about breaking the fourth wall. But, by this definition, and by alot of peoples conceptions of it, UGP Gwen _does not even break the fourth wall._ (Edit: a comment I saw on the Reddit post described it as "Medium Awareness instead of fourth wall breaking, which I quite like.") She begins to do it later on, though, in GSB and onwards, as she becomes more conscious of the audience.

So why? Why does it matter if she talks to the audience or not? Because Gwens interactions with the audience in GSB tend to be the parts fans don't like. Like the "could a comic book character do this" bits.

But what Im trying to say is, when Gwen is not conscious of the audience, shes the fan favourite version of herself. She _is_ herself. When she is conscious of the audience, people don't like her.

What Gwen missed when she first started getting wrapped up in trying to stay popular and relevant was what made her popular in the first place. People like her as a character. They like her being herself as a character in the marvel universe, acting as she would naturally act. By trying too hard to impress the audience and put on a show, Gwen stops being herself, stops being a character, and just turns into a gimmick. Here, I did some crazy things normal characters can't do. Aren't you impressed?

So, in summary, the difference in behaviour of addressing the audience vs not, and how much people like each version of the character at the times she does this, demonstrates that her consciousness of the audience and trying to address them is what causes all her problems.

I really do feel like concept should be taken further and should be used as the true reason for her character inconsistencies, and have Gwen come to the realisation that she should just be herself. Maybe this could happen in, say, I don't know, what movies are expected sometime in the future?

_It Ain't called BEYOND The Spiderverse for nothin', sony. Do it. Make an incredible trilogy perfect._

So, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. ESPECIALLY if youre here from one of the unrelated tags and dont know alot about her.

[seamstressthepainteater]

I don’t think I really like how The Mandalorian has been MCUified if that makes sense

Like the first season was it’s own thing, Mando went to different places across the galaxy trying to hide some kid he found from remnants of the fallen empire, it was largely its own thing and helped make the Star Wars galaxy seem bigger for me. It also had its own characters that managed to be memorable and interesting. It was a unique take on Star Wars I wanted to see more of.

Then season 2 comes out, and it’s a bit larger scale wise. Mando’s gotta find another Jedi to fulfill his kid’s destiny, which brings him back to going around the galaxy finding leads on one of these Jedi folks. There are a lot of returning characters in this season; most of the surviving season one character show up for at least an episode, Mayfeld gets some damn good characterization as a former imperial after being a one-note asshole in season 1, Ashoka gets an episode to learn more about Grogu and set up her own show, Boba Fett is a looming presence until he actually shows up and fucks shit up, Bo Katan returns with her besties, and even Luke Skywalker is in this bitch. Now I don’t like cameos just for the sake of having them, but the legacy characters at least either have good reason or are done well. Ashoka needs setup for a show, Fett is finally given the chance to be cool as shit, and Bo Katan going from ruler of Mandalore in Rebels to just another pirate gives context to why Gus Fring has the Darksaber (Luke’s just kinda there to be there though). I wouldn’t like to need to watch Clone Wars and Rebels to know what the hell Ashoka, Bo Katan, or the Darksaber are if I didn’t already, but I feel they’re given just enough explanation to make sense without it. And all of it was tied up in an emotional ending with Mando and Grogu that payed off everything set up throughout the season and made the entire thing feel grounded. It was probably the best ending the show could’ve had. This was the last time I would feel this way.

When Book Of Boba Fett was announced at the end of Mando season 2, I was exited. I loved how Boba Fett was handled in Mando and hoped that the show would flesh him out better. It was then that the rug was pulled from under my feet. Like Fredrick Fitzgerald Fazbear coming down upon a poor night guard in the dead of night, I was jumped with the truth of this show. This wasn’t a show about Boba Fett. This was just a season of Mando they shoved Boba Fett on for more runtime.

Theatrics aside, BOBF was just really disappointing to me. The Boba Fett stuff was kinda garbage, they perfected his character in Mando as a brutal goddamn terminator man, then they went back and went “he doesn’t want to be a bounty hunter, he just wants to live peacefully as a crime boss or something” which felt really weird to me. The Flashbacks were also so fucking boring, they could’ve been shorted down to one episode and given more time to Boba. I praised Mando season 2 for both giving legacy characters purpose and explanation so you didn’t need to know what their deal was. But you see, I’m pretty sure Cathleen Kennedy read my complement on that, realized she fucked up by making a story that can stand on its own, used her fucking Disney witch magic to go back in time, and had the guy who worked on the writing for those episodes shot at point blank range because holy shit they fucking shattered the ball with Cad Bane.

The show makes a point of saying that Cad Bane and Boba had a history, and this confused me. They never specified what exactly this history was, so I looked through everything I could get my grubby mits on. I looked through every one of both Bane and Boba’s appearances in Clone Wars, checked comics with Bane, looked through all of the officially released media I thought could be a lead. Then I noticed something about Bane in BOBF, he had a metal plate on his head. This wasn’t much, but I thought it was something, so I went through his animated appearances one more time and noticed he had the same plate in The Bad Batch. This just made me more confused, so I checked around and found it. The “history” the show was referring too. See when they brought back Clone Wars for season 7 they took unfinished arcs and gave them new life, but some were left on the cutting room floor. I said “couldn’t find any officially released material” because what they were alluding too was an unfinished episode, you can even see the part where Bane gets shot in the head. The crux of Bane and Boba’s unfinished business was an unfinished episode that wasn’t even considered canon at that point.

This was my Joker arc.

This show was so lazy, so uncaring about making the story seem complete without supplementary material, that the only thing they did to give the main villain a connection with the hero was a vague allusion to an event that wasn’t even officially released. Could they not have cut some of the boring-ass shit in the desert to flesh out this relationship? Was it too much to ask for this show to get even close to how Mando used it’s legacy characters? Was it too much to ask for competence?

Besides that, I thought that it kinda fucked up the great ending I thought Mando season 2 had. I knew they weren’t gonna be separated for that long, but I would’ve liked them to be apart a bit longer, or have them reunite in their own show. Feel the same way about Mando’s new starfighter, I think it would’ve been less alienating to have him get that in the beginning of season 3

Speaking of season 3, it’s also kinda disappointing. I think the shift from Mando to Bo Katan was disappointing, it’s like what happened to Boba Fett with Mando ironically enough, but it’s still disappointing that in a world where it seems like almost every character is slated for their own show, Bo was shoved into Mando. I also think Gus Fring seems less intimidating, I feel him being a part of this “Shadow Empire” is less threatening than a warlord trying to bring about his own empire. It also has the same problem as BOBF where you need to know stuff beforehand. I don’t think they ever explicitly state Gideon carpet bombed Mandalore, they just kinda said it was cursed. I know it was mentioned in BOBF, but again I shouldn’t need to watch another show to understand what’s going on in this one. I’m not gonna go too long with this one since it’s not over yet, but I’m not sure it’ll fix my problems with this season.

Anyway my biggest takeaway from this is that I hate Book of Boba Fett way more than I first thought.