#this is very accurate and I'm loving the comic but it looks like the brain has a tiny *rect dick

[plorpl]

More info (and insane screenshots) from the House MD DS game for those who want to know.

Way, way too much info under the break!!

The game took me about 5 hours to play total, including pauses for screenshots and cackling laughter. There are 5 cases, and each one has: the main case, a clinic patient, and a small subplot about Cuddy that strings through all 5 cases and concludes at the end of the game. It's extremely linear. To solve the case, you do activities when you are prompted, each having its own types of mini games. Activities include: examining the patient, ddx-ing, running tests, running labs, questioning the patient/friends/family, and searching houses/other areas for clues. All of these mini games suck. The best one is when House has to have an epiphany so you play brick breaker with his brain:

WHEN YOU DDX THEY USE THE MOUSE BITES PHOTO

You'll notice here that the visuals are a little uncanny valley. The likenesses are... not good.

The worst offender is 13, who always looks just a little bit off.

One of my favorite parts of the game is that you get graded on your performance and if you do bad, Cuddy doms you.

And when you do good, Wilson kind of negs you?? Feels like the people who made this game were obsessed with him (same). The contrast in these two screenshots really gets me.

More insane top screen screenshots without context:

Honestly, some of my favorites need both screens to really be appreciated:

I do not recommend playing it, really. These are the best parts, and the game itself is slow and can be frustrating. There is also... a lot of problematic nonsense. Worse than the show. Not going to try to make excuses here.

That being said, it's surreal. House is like a bad stand up comic for most of the game, and so much is out of character - House visits the patient FIRST THING every case, the whole team misses very obvious deductive leaps, there's no gay sex, etc, etc, etc. But at the same time, the people who made the game clearly had a love for the show. It follows the typical structure of an episode faithfully and has some detailed, satisfying visuals in it. Everyone's clothes change each episode, even in their little bottom of the screen sprites. This Wilson makes me happy with his show-accurate mug and hand gesture:

And there are some nice interiors/exteriors of the hospital and better rendered pictures that make me smile:

It made me and my friends laugh a lot. And it also makes me a little sad. I spent a lot of my childhood playing shitty licensed games like this (remember the madagascar one???), but they are mostly a thing of the past. I know they were cash-grab trash, but it's odd that there's this genre of game that doesn't really get made any more. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm glad this game exists.

Anyway, here's an upsetting House and Wilson for the road:

[cupcakeslushie]

Okay. I've been tip-toeing around this AU for a while now, but I just got caught up, and now I think I have a (decent) grasp on what's going on. So I wanna go over everything I know so far to see if I'm right or wrong on anything. Don't know if you'd be willing to correct me or not. Either way, I hope my mistakes can help you understand what to clarify to other fans like me. But, I also have some questions. You probably won't be able to answer most of them, but it's at least worth a shot.

First, where's Venus? Like, why is she not in your comics that are (sort of) separate frome the canon now story. The ones that skip to the future way after all the turtles reunite. Did she die? Did she escape? Is it because she wasn't introduced yet when you made those comics?

Two, why do you keep on making references to the future timeline? I know you're planning on possibly making your own stuff leading up to the events of the movie. It just gives me a jumpscare when I see certain...imagery in those comics. I guess you're hinting at what your version of the future apocalypse would look like, but it just hurts to see. Specifically in the comic explaining both the events and aftermath of the movie and the bad future timeline. It's starting to really confuse my brain as to where this story is headed. What's meant to be the main focus? The Hamto's reuniting? The aftermath? Or the future?

Third, did you make all those min-comics before you started the actual AU? Or did you do them during?

Fourth, are any of those mini-comics relevant to the actual story now? Or have you changed your mind on a few things? It's just that everything is so all over the place, I don't really know whether to trust if they're accurate. I know most of them are just there for funzies, but the longer ones concern me. I guess I'm just not used to the storyteller doing sequel, start, prequel, start, sequel, prequel, prequel, sequel, and then end. Or maybe it's just me, and I'm sleep deprived.

My little observation speech is gonna take a while for me to get out in your asks because when I get theoretical, my speech gets long, and my proper English goes down the drain. So I'll be back. I appreciate your work very much. Despite the pain it causes me, it's still amazing.

I’ll try my best to clear up what confusion I can!

1. As far as Venus. The answer is kind of a mix of, I was still figuring out her design and backstory while coming out with some of those early comics, and then, once I had that down, I wanted the boys to grow strong bonds as a main cast. That’s why a lot of the side characters are only making small appearances in the Sep!AU Life stories, as those are mainly for the boys reconnecting. (Usagi shows up the most because I love him and am totally biased towards him).

This maybe hasn’t been stated outright, but I wasn’t really expecting so many ppl to like Vee as much as they do, and now im trying not to spoil too much of her story. It’ll unfortunately just take us a while to get to the meat of it. Since the boys reconnecting takes up a lot of the early s1s2 story, Im trying to follow the familiar Rise blueprint of Draxum, Shredder, Krang, and then in s3 we’ll have crazy fun new stories with the extra characters.

Ive also decided to take this little nugget from one of the Q&As, and use it for Venus instead of Jennika. It was a much needed bit of inspiration to explain why Venus sorta disappears for a while and will go through some major physical changes (not yet revealed) before the family can figure out a way to reach her.

2. I’m not sure if you mean jump scared in a bad/triggering or neutral way, but if you need me to tag anything on those posts please let me know!

The glimpses of the future timeline, are being scattered throughout wherever they parallel the present story in little ways, but that’s only for now. As we get closer to the movie plot, bigger chunks of the future will be revealed, because the future versions of the boys will have a larger role to play in the present timeline. So we will need more backstory than what the canon got. And also I just enjoy drawing my future versions so sometimes I don’t think too hard on a reason. I just like throwing them at ppl with no warning or reason.

When s2 ends, I plan on collecting all the future related stuff that’s been released, and recapping it for easier reading. Right now, it’s just little sprinkles of foreshadowing to give ppl an idea that, ‘oh crap. The doomed timeline is a bummer’. In my mind, I guess i thought it’d be kinda like a fun scavenger hunt for clues, but maybe ppl don’t like that 😅

3. All of the side-stories were written as the main comic was/is being released. A lot of them resulted from asks that just spawned the need to expand on certain ideas, or a desire to give all the turtles their time to shine.

For instance, when I was doing Donnie’s section of the main comic, it was a good few months where we hardly saw anyone but him and Venus. I wanted to just mix it up, and give Raph some love with his ‘Raph Time’ short. When Leo was front and center in the main, we hardly saw the others, so Mikey and Donnie got their little ‘Secrets’ short (and it was also I fun thank you for EW making it so far in the tmnt sep competition).

4. Anything that has been reworked/revised or just plain dropped should have an ‘Edit’ note because yes—I have gone back and changed some things, but more so from the asks i got in the early days, and some movie idea drafts.

All the short comics done in the last year, especially the ones that are listed in my pinned post, are canon and fall somewhere in the timeline. They’re like supplemental reading though—extra meat to give the world and the characters more personality. They do have particular backstory plot and important info in them, but nothing that shouldn’t eventually be re-visited/repeated in the main story.

um I hope that cleared up some things! I know it’s kind of a crazy amount of lore. I’ve tried my best to organize it in the pinned post, huge timeline, and search bar tags, but I know it’s getting harder and harder for newer ppl to jump in as it just get bigger. Thanks for reading regardless!

[timetravellingkitty]

Mulan 2020 sucks lol

Written and edited by yours truly

So, Mulan 2020 happened. And I am disappointed. Seriously disappointed. It is utter garbage. I would genuinely prefer it if I watched Mulan II 5 times in a row, and that's saying something.

There is so much to talk about because this has so many issues. I don't think my brain can handle a movie as bad as this for some time. It is a disgrace to the original animated movie.

(Who cares about spoilers?)

And yes, I can and I will compare it to the original movie because it is a remake. It is totally valid to see where this fell flat and where the original succeeded. I'm not saying it has to be like the original cartoon, that is stupid. As I mentioned, it's to highlight the failures of this movie.

Besides, even if we forget the fact that it is a remake, this movie is still horrible.

INTRODUCTION

Mulan 1998 is a classic. It has great visuals, an awesome soundtrack, wonderful and compelling characters, a great message and a cool plot. It's just a great movie in general. It is an adaptation of The Ballad of Mulan, a Chinese legend. Both the legend and the animated movie are about a young girl named Mulan who disguises herself as a man to take her father's place in the army to fight back against an invasion.

As big of a success Mulan was, Chinese audiences thought some things were weird. For instance, having a dragon be a comic relief character, given that dragons are highly respected in Chinese culture. So of course, Disney decided to try another shot, claiming that they wanted to be more culturally sensitive, accurate and closer to the original ballad.

Mulan 2020 is a remake of the original animated movie, and was marketed to be more "accurate to Chinese culture and the Ballad". This claim is, of course, false, because they failed in that aspect. Say what you will about the cultural inaccuracies in Mulan 1998, but at least it was a great movie. Besides, Mulan 1998 didn't pride or market itself on being culturally accurate, the way Mulan 2020 did, so there's that.

CHANGES

I don't mind some changes. And honestly, if there's one thing I appreciate, it's that it isn't a carbon copy of the original (looking at you The Lion King 2019).

Li Shang's character is divided into two characters: Commander Tung and Mulan's love interest Honghui, apparently in light of the Me-Too movement. This is a dumb reason. Disney wasn't comfortable with a superior having a relationship with a subordinate? The hell? The romance between Shang and Mulan was only insinuated at the end, when Mulan wasn't even a part of the army anymore, so there's that. Also, Mulan gave her consent, so I don't know what they’re talking about.

Mushu isn't present in the movie. I can see why though. He contributed quite a bit to the soul of the animated version but a CGI dragon would be very distracting. Also, the director said that removed him to achieve a more realistic tone.

Grandma? No grandma. Mulan has a sister though, who only exists to mess stuff up.

The Huns are replaced with the Rourans and Shan Yu is replaced with Bori Khan.

Mushu is replaced with a phoenix, who acts as an emissary for the ancestors

There are no songs, except in the end credits, which isn't a bad thing. The instrumentals of the songs in the animated one play during some scenes (I'll talk about the music, don’t worry)

CHARACTERS

The characters in this movie are so boring. Our lead character Mulan lacks the charisma her animated counterpart had. She's utterly bland, uninteresting and poorly written. In the original, she knew she wasn't physically strong and that she couldn't solve her problems with her strength, so she used her intelligence and wit. She excelled by working hard and being strong willed and determined. This Mulan is a well rounded character.

Mulan in the live action is given Chi powers (Chi is a big part of Chinese medicine, in case you didn't know). Honestly, I wouldn't be as mad at Mulan being given superpowers, had they actually done this properly! Chi isn't like midichlorians, it's something that flows through everyone. Mulan is naturally born with dumb superpowers and has to hide them because as her dad says, " Chi is for warriors, not for daughters”. There is a problem:

It has been mentioned many times that Mulan needs to hide her superpowers otherwise she will be shunned and ostracised. Then why doesn't she get more repercussions everytime she uses her powers? The worst thing that happens is little Mulan getting looks of disgust when she uses them. On other occasions, when she is now a part of the army, she uses her powers in training and she doesn't get any backlash? What the hell?? Then why even bother in the first place?

The only way for this narrative to work is if Mulan got more repercussions for using her powers.

If I were to make the line "Chi is for warriors, not daughters," work, I would make it go something like this:

*At the end of the movie when Mulan comes home*

Dad: Didn't I tell you that Chi is for warriors, not daughters?

Mulan: "I am a daughter, but I'm a warrior too."

(Yes, I know this is similar to a scene in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but this would be better, tbh. Also, watch Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Let me compare the training montages from both movies.

In the animated one, there is an absolutely AWESOME montage of Mulan training side by side with her companions, slowly gaining their trust. She climbs the pillar with both medallions by using her wit, not by brute force. This Mulan worked hard. Besides, the fact that "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" plays over this is the only thing that makes it better (banger song, thank you Donny Osmond)

In the live-action, Mulan is supposed to lift up buckets and climb on top of a mountain. There are also other training scenes, but those aren't very important. In these scenes, she succeeds with the power of CHI. WHY? Mulan here just achieves her goal because she is oh so special. She didn't work to achieve her goal at all, because she is perfect. No struggling or development here at all.

Mulan in the animated version was more concerned about saving her father. Mulan in the 2020 version is a dumb patriot who can't even do patriotism right ("I know my place. It is my duty to fight for the kingdom and protect the Emperor") How very empowering.

In short, live-action Mulan can do no wrong. She has no flaws, no personality and no charm. Everything comes to her pretty easily, because MAGIC.

Li Shang's role in the live-action is divided between Commander Tung and Mulan's love interest Honghui, as mentioned before. Both of these characters are flat, dumb and boring. Tung exists to tell Mulan to cultivate her Chi and to train these idiots (and to offer his daughter’s hand in marriage to her, unaware that Mulan isn’t actually a guy, but eh). Honghui is there to be a stupid love interest, who gives us an “I am Spartacus” moment.

The witch is by far the most interesting character. She actually has more than one side to her, has SOME kind of depth and you can even feel sorry for her. She is supposed to serve as a foil to Mulan, given that both have similar powers. In case you've forgotten (which is something I wouldn't blame you for), she's an outcast who's now working with Bori Khan. Why is she an outcast? Because of her Chi. The witch has said many times that she could kill Bori Khan in a snap, then why doesn't she kill him? Because she needs acceptance? What the hell? She decides to pull out the whole "We're the same, you and I," stupidity to Mulan, and I can see that. It's just that the writers just didn't put much thought into it. “It’s too late for me” because you saw a woman leading an army of men? Also, why does she warn Mulan that Bori Khan is coming? Unless she's playing both sides, except her motivations aren't made clear enough for this to make sense. Finally, she dies for the dumbest reason. God, it just makes me so mad. She had so much potential, but no. They just had to mess her up.

Bori Khan? MORE LIKE BORING KHAN. Not much is there. His animated counterpart Shan Yu was scary and contributed to some of the darkest moments in the movie. This guy over here is just...nothing. That's all I have to say.

Mulan's sister is only there to mess up the meeting with the Matchmaker. What a stupid change. First off in the animated version, it's Mulan who messed up, because she isn't perfect. She fails at being stereotypically feminine AND masculine, but in the live-action, she literally pulls off a Spiderman cafeteria scene, and the blame is put on the sister. In the animated movie, this scene is groundwork for Mulan wanting to prove herself and going on a hero's journey, providing depth to her character, but in the live-action, she's perfect. What is the point? (I know this section was supposed to be about the sister, but eh). The sister doesn't provide anything else to the movie, so thanks! I hate it. Moral of the story: Girls can do anything boys can, as long as they have superpowers. If you are born special like Mulan, you can be respected, whereas if you are like the sister, you have no significance and in the end, you can just fit in and be irrelevant. Congratulations!

The live action group of guys Mulan met and befriended in the army lack the charm and comedic timing of their animated counterparts. That’s it. Seriously. I have nothing more to say about them, because they don't really have anything going on. I don't even know why they are included, because their contribution is nil, save for them blandly speaking lines from the animated version’s songs ("I don't care what she looks like, I care what she cooks like"), which is seriously cringe.

The dad is there to tell Mulan that Chi is for warriors. A shame, because I really liked the dad in the movie. He was a source of wisdom for Mulan, whose greatest honour was having her for a daughter. In the live-action, he just takes the sword that Mulan is given at the end of the movie. The mom is meh.

The emperor is also meh. At least he was wise and cool in the animated version, but here he just does bed sheet kung-fu.

Did I mention that the dynamics between the characters are unnatural, forced, awkward in a bad way and in no way indicates any chemistry between them? Oh yeah, I didn’t, until now. They don’t establish much when it comes to emotion.

Simply put, Khan (Mulan’s horse in the animated version) had more personality than all of these characters combined

PERFORMANCES

Liu Yifei as Mulan was a pretty terrible choice. She is just a block of wood, who has absolutely no range, and this isn't because of the writing. She is genuinely bad, and is regarded as one of China’s worst actors (I kid you not). She just can’t emote.

Jet Li as the emperor is meh. But hey, he doesn’t have much to do, so eh.

Jason Scott Lee as Bori Khan is fine. He doesn’t suck, but he lacks the command and authority of a character who is supposed to be intimidating, but I guess it has something to do with the writing of his character.

Donnie Yen is a martial art legend, but unfortunately, he doesn't have much range as an actor.

The best performance of this movie is that of Gong Li, who played the witch. Honestly, she is charismatic, charming and has an idea of what she is doing.

To save everyone’s time, simply put: most of the performances are bland and mediocre. Partly due to bad writing and partly due to most of the actors not being, well, good at acting.

CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL ACCURACY

So Disney went all “we like cultural and historical accuracy”, which is nice. For example, the Huns are replaced by the Rourans, a real tribe in China around the time Mulan was supposed to be alive. They also removed the hair cutting scene, because as iconic and awesome as it is, it doesn’t make sense. Chinese men wore their hair long too. You know what? I like these kinds of changes. I appreciate accuracy. If only Disney didn’t pride themselves on their accuracy when they got almost everything else wrong (They somehow got Mulan's house wrong lol). I don't know jackshit about Chinese culture so just go watch that Xiran Jay Zhao video it's very swag

THE BALLAD OF MULAN

In a surprising turn of events, this isn't accurate to the Ballad, like they had marketed it to be (I know, I’m shocked too). In a reference to the Ballad, Mulan is riding a horse and she sees two rabbits running side by side. She goes home and tells her family that she saw 2 rabbits, and she thinks that one was male and the other female, but she wasn't sure. This just misses the entire point of the Ballad.

Long story short, Mulan in the Ballad is actually a seamstress. She joined the army in her father's place. She defeats the barbarians and goes on a ten year long campaign with her friends, after which they meet the Son of Heaven (a sacred imperial title of a Chinese emperor). He offers her a high ranking position, which she refuses, because she just wants to go home. She returns home and her family welcomes her. Sometime later, her friends come to visit her, and they find out that she is actually a woman. The friends are shocked because she has been in the army for 12 years and in those 12 years, they didn't even realise that she was a woman.

Mulan then replies:

The male hare's feet hop and skip

The female hare's are muddled and fuddled

But when two hares are running side by side

How can you tell the male from the female?

Which is where the poem ends.

So, Mulan just going on, judging those rabbits like that makes absolutely no sense. The Ballad is about how no matter how different men and women look, when they live and fight amongst each other, who gives a damn about the differences? You know what would have made sense though? If Mulan got off her horse, went close to the rabbits, examined them, and then made the conclusion that one is male and the other is female. This would actually be sticking to the message of the Ballad. Also, why do they make it ambiguous as to whether she accepts the high ranking position? I assume for a sequel (yes, God save my soul). Here we can see another example of its impeccable accuracy to the Ballad.

THIS ISN'T EMOTIONAL AT ALL

Everything that made the original film good has been stripped away. Every moment that is meant to be emotional is very dull. For example, the scene where Mulan makes the decision to take her father's place in the army is supposed to be a very powerful scene. Mulan is risking it all just so her dad can be safe. She might be killed if discovered, and her family would be dishonoured.

When Mulan comes back from the Matchmaker, she has a moment of reflection while singing "Reflection". This is the beginning of her personal journey, discovering who she is. In this, after Mulan comes back from the Matchmaker, she doesn't have a moment of reflection. The army immediately shows up. Am I really supposed to believe that Mulan feels bad about this? That Mulan is really struggling?

When Mulan’s friends are singing, it suddenly shifts to the striking scene of the burnt village. This, in my opinion, is the best use of tonal whiplash. From this point on, things are getting serious, and the emotional weight of this tragedy is felt. In this, they just randomly show up at the village.​​ There is no seriousness (stop trying to tell me this movie is adult, mature and serious, it just looks like that on the surface).

Their attempts at being emotional are poor and unconvincing, and ultimately, the end product is an emotionless, soulless, depthless entity.

THE MUSIC

The director mentioned in an interview that she didn’t add songs into the movie because it is “unrealistic to break into song when you're in war”, and I don't think I’ve heard anything more false (apart from the concept of a flat Earth). Even I, who isn't going into war anytime soon, know this is false. They instead inserted instrumentals from the original film. Except, it's very weirdly placed. The instrumental for Reflection is placed when Mulan is fighting the Rourans after she reveals herself to be a woman. Like, there isn't any context. In the end credits, they had the original song "Loyal, Brave and True" sung by Christina Aguilera, which was nice. I don't really have much to say in regards to the music. The music is overall forgettable.

THE ACTION

The action may seem weird, but this kind of martial arts is a part of the Wuxia genre, which is what they were going for. Well, they failed. The choreography is bad, the CGI is bad, EVERYTHING is bad. Honestly, if you want a good Wuxia movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon exists. The action is here stupid and stiff.

OTHER DUMB STUFF

Why does Mulan take her armour off before going into battle? That is just stupid. Can't you just take the bindings off? Also, WHY OPEN YOUR HAIR-

Mulan really likes kicking spears (and pointy stuff in general). Seriously. It’s weird.

The CGI is okay I guess, I don't know. The phoenix in some scenes looks pink to me. There are some pretty visuals though.

It is very obvious that there is a green screen used in the scene where Mulan and her friends find the burnt village. And it looks bad. Pretty ugly. It looks bad. The green screen looks bad.

The war strategy is just weird. I can't really say anything about it in text form because how am i supposed to describe it, help- (she literally teleported behind the bad guys in the avalanche scene-).

I like how the animated film, which had a dragon as a comic relief and other silly stuff, is more mature than this.

For what joy does Mulan get another sword from the army? Also, shame the dad is all “oh look at the values written on the sword, they are honourable” even though in the original the greatest honour was having her for a daughter.

How was Mulan even able to tell the gender of the rabbits?

Why not just try to send a warning to the Emperor that the Rourans are coming to get him?

Why does Commander Tung let Mulan lead them-

I AM SO DONE

Well, I think I have said everything I wanted to about this movie. I know I havent talked about its controversies (like filming next to a concentration camp), but honestly, I am done. I am so done with this. This document took 5-6 months of my life. I am kind of proud of this, and there isn't much I have done to be proud of. I did procrastinate on this a bit, and I had stuff going on, but finally, I am done. In the future, if I remember something, I'll add it here, but I think that is unlikely. I never want to watch or even go near Mulan 2020 again. It's horrible, and there is barely anything redeemable. I hate it here. It’s been reported that a sequel is in development. If it’s true, of course I’ll watch it, how else am I supposed to validate my self hate? I am also, of course, the resident “friend who suffers for everyone else’s entertainment”. If you want a live action remake of Mulan, Mulan: Rise of a Warrior exists. Go watch it, it’s free on YouTube with subtitles. I really liked it.

If you’ve somehow made it this far, thanks for reading. I congratulate you for putting up with whatever this is. I would also like to take a moment to congratulate myself for actually committing to this. It was painful yet fun to complain about this to the best of my ability. If anyone wants to add anything to this, feel free to do so. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m out. I have lost my faith in humanity, and I have other things to complain about.

[choctalksalot]

If Jake is based on archetype of Strong Female Character then I think he should get Evil Woman arc. Let him snap and go bananas. Sburb is his stage and he is gonna became a star, and break fourth wall and if needed all the walls. I just really want Jake to go batshit. And then better but first batshit. And fight with crockertier! Jane because I think it would help them both to have a proper scream match and some stabbing or two.

admission: i have let this ask stew in my drafts for months because i had exams, and also because i needed to fully process everything in this singular paragraph because it threw a wrench in my jello sack processor

so, in short:

thank you for this ask anon holy shit i love getting asks about this stuff i am full of words about it !! that being said

I AM QUESTIONING THE CLASSIFICATION OF HIM AS STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER. I AM SO VERY QUESTIONING IT

that statement triggered a fucking. sleeper agent in my brain because i disagree so hard so so hard, oh my god i'm. okay technically it's a half disagree. sliver of agreement in there but it's for a very specific scenario that I need TIME to explain (which i now have so Buckle Up)

if you want my aabsolute shortest shorty short response to this ask it's yes, i think jake deserves to go batshit insane, i would like nothing more than to see him be a petty deranged bitch. king shit honestly!! But Not In That Way Slash Manner. okay now WORDS

so, we have the idolization/I Know What You Are he has with lara croft. we have all his big talk about being an adventurer, we have fisticuffs and guns and sparring with a bot, but, as many posts before this have pointed out in much more depth than i can attempt to surmise, jake is not that. motherfucker is a coward, avoids conflict like the plague and plays up an oblivious front to dodge responsibility (god i still can't read the jane confession scene without screaming look at that fucking LIAR)!! a defining aspect of jake's character is his continuous lack of agency throughout the comic too, which is a rabbit hole i'm not going down for the sake of my sanity and your patience [:

point is, in the words of a shitton of other people: he's a hapless bimbo archetype, or at least attempts to embody it!!!!

he wants to be a strong female character, makes an idol out of an example of them (lara), but in the end the narrative itself bends backwards to call him pathetic. point and laugh at the moron in the piss coloured underpants. something something, yet another case of lost potential

there are specific circumstances under which jake does hit as a strong female character. that's getting old i'm gonna shorten that to sfc now. big thanks to tony crazyexdirkfriend for this perspective because the one angle where i can read jake as an sfc is from an extremely meta perspective, in reference to how he's built up to be someone with a lot of importance/skill/competence, while in reality his agency is pretty much moot. it's an empty label, all his "strength" is superficial and falls away once you look any deeper than the upper epidermis. that's neat as hell!!!! i don't think that's the take you were going for, but it is an angle i enjoy and appreciate <:

that being said, even with this and any accurate read of jake really, him having an evil woman arc will have to take place in a specific set of circumstances methinks,, like mfer is probably actively performing an insanity act for Some Reason, an angry tired jake is more likely to revert to sopping wet bawling retreat anger than anything else. letting him snap and go bananas will only work if you character arc his ass enough to change a fundamental part of him!!! and a crockertier scream match is more in jane's favour for. y'know all the years of being a vent box for him. which i don't think is accessible on a count of, y'know, Literal Mind Control

i am the no.2 supporter on the Let Jake Be Batshit train (only second because i know at least four people who'd tie for first) but i don't think he'd seek out attention from beyond the 4th wall. because he can't handle the pressure of being perceived. no walls have ever needed to be broken for jake english to be a star - he's always been performing!! for the people around him, for the narrative, to be the oblivious himbo that never meant to do any wrong. the core of jake english and what drives him to extremes has always been to be liked, and to be safe. maybe those two things are the same to him. it gets suffocating, y'know? and when something gets too much, jake does what he's always done: he runs.

so yeah, no, i don't think so. do let him be a catty bitch tho!! he deserves that [:

[milowing]

i just finished binging the dead boy detectives show, and i need to get my thoughts out, warning for spoilers

no spoilers tldr: its rlly good please go watch it i need a season 2.

now, onto the review(??):

it is very VERY different from the comics. this isn't *necessarily* bad, in fact i have no problems with pretty much any changes the show made, i just get antsy about cbms/tv shows changing the source material, bcs that happens all the time (i love the blue beetle movie but i will never forgive it for victoria kord). so here are some changes i liked: i liked the explicit queerness, i liked niko, i liked the fact that there were people in the afterlife actually looking for them, i liked how they wrote tragic mick (i love him so much), and i liked the setting change; some i didn't mind but would hate in the comics: edwin's magic, the whole brains/brawn thing?? (istg if a single one of you decides to portray charles as stupid, i will kill you), crystals personality & dynamic with the boys (she was fine but so drastically different from her comic self i would've preferred her to be an oc tbh), the removal of squooshing, the fact that the dead boys don't take cases from the living, edwin's hell being so much more violent, and the fact that they actually call themselves the dead boy detectives (i could be wrong but i've read all of their solos and i don't think they've ever done this??). the only change i really outright dislike is charles' death. i loved the part where edwin took care of him and read to him, but him being killed by the same bullies who killed edwin in the same place is just so much better than the lake. also, once again, crystal was a fine character, but that is just *not* the crystal palace surname-von hoverkraft i know!! where is her obsession with video games? where is her tech savvy? where are her insane parents?? i hope that one day we get an accurate cartoon adaptation of the toby litt run.

now moving on to the show itself!! i really liked the plot, the fact that it was semi-episodic, the cast of characters and actors was incredible. i just really liked it lol. tbh the literal only part of the show i didn't like is the fact that edwin and charles didn't kiss by the end. like... not even once. i wouldn't mind this if this wasn't a netflix show that wasn't getting much buzz, because i'm 99% sure this show isn't going to be renewed. also it felt kind of... idk, queerbait-y?? like there's obviously queer characters and content, but it feels like i watched this *for* edwin and charles' relationship and then they never got together. i feel like shows do this a lot, where, yes, there's a queer character, but they just aren't allowed to be in a happy relationship and get with the person they love. like idk it just makes me kind of angry, especially since we're probably not getting a season 2. i liked literally everything other than that, but it's just such a big scar on my enjoyment of the show that i can't help but mention it.

i don't really have much else to say other than: i really liked it, go watch it.

[lizardlycrimes]

I just read your tags on your reblog (of the thing I stole your tags for 😅) and - you know the moment in the cartoon where Kash says "we were hoping Earth Wind and Fire here could assist" and everybody looks at Keyleth and Keyleth looks the other way first like "...oh you mean me??" That was 100% me ^^' I am HIGH KEY flattered, but also I'm very much "??!???!?" at the thought of anyone fangirling over me, of all people! whyyy (for real, though, really!?)

(also always SO SO GOOD to find someone else who fucking loves Scanlan 'Patented Disaster' Shorthalt, warts and all 💜)

I don't think I've gotten an ask before!!! This is exciting!!!

Also I love that scene in TLOVM so much I get what you mean by the whole "oh you mean me thing" sjshdjdn I'd probably be a lil shocked too but I'm genuinely am like. A big fan. Getting even this ask got me fangirling all over again!! I love your art so much and you have such an accurate way of portraying Scanlan it drives me nuts!! Both your design and characterization in comics and such just ahh!! Being able to say that's my boy!!! Is so exciting to me!!

It's so hard to find people who are decent about Scanlan it's insane though!! I've seen Scanlan be put through such hellish miss characterization and exclusion. Often times treated more like a thing than a person in my opinion. (Sam's characters as a whole I think are very slept on. Like even with big character reveals the only time I've seen fcg really be posted a LOT about was in relation to romance) on the rare occasion where I see someone who clearly appreciates Scanlan's complexities they basically get immediately engrained into my brain just like you have. Though with how much you've posted of him I think you're past simply engrained and just are part of my brain now.

Also warts and all is a funny way to put it while also being very accurate ajshsjsn but if I dive into that this post though I'd end out discovering what's the word limit on Tumblr 😅

[kheprriverse]

pspspspspsps

the language of Termina that you showed in a wip with Terminus and Time interacting...is that from anywhere in particular, or did you create it? I'm very curious for details! 👀✨

[I hit a button on accident (twice) when nearly done with this and it reverted and deleted basically everything (twice) so please excuse any sorta messy un-hinged-ness to my writing here. Plz take Ctrl+Z away from me I'm begging you]

but AAAA!! ty for the ask as well as the kind words and general interest in the reblogs! And you wanted me to infodump so... uh below the cut will have my brain garbage flung out until I decide to stop typing. Enjoy!

For now what's in the post is a complete mix of things.

I was delving into some fan-created Hylian languages, but mostly used the font from here (which its all a very interesting read even if its incredibly old) for now as a placeholder. Because I DO plan to delve deeper into Terminian sometime in the future, along with some cultural stuff.

As for what it says, its totally scrambled nonsense LMAO. English translated poorly into japanese, written backwards, then scrambled a little, then flipped XD

I was going to be somewhat simple with the post and just using OOT/MM's script and maybe jumbling it, but in going through fan-made languages I sorta fell in love with the font that I ended up using. It IS a placeholder though and not meant to be insanely accurate to anything let alone easily deciphered.

Buuut in case you wanted to know what's actually being said I have it written out already!

Terminus taking the time to shit on Legend for no other reason then that he just can. Much to Time's displeasure.

I decided to scrap the short comic. But I liked the idea of Time and Terminus both being able to converse with one another privately (without the rather invasive mental connection they have with each other).

I like the idea that the hylian languages across the eras are so similar, enough to where the boys can MOSTLY understand one another in speech (but maybe not in writing). Then as they travel over time, things become easier and easier.

But Terminian?? Not a single one of them knows it or has even HEARD of Termina until FD came along and Time had to spill the beans. They probably didn't even know a separate, completely different, language like this even existed. Much like Mudoran in lttp.

Things I wanna focus on/keep in mind when working on this:

What was the cultural impact FD (dubbed Terminus by the boys) had on Termina? (What came first: the chicken or the egg? Also what is his role here?)

How does termina's culture compare to Hyrule? (holidays, food, beliefs, history, etc)

What does the language look like? Do I want it to be Syllabary? Abugida? Alphabetic? I'm personally leaning towards Syllabary but other forms of writing have interesting potential. Whereas Alphabetic (like some of the other hylian scripts) would be easier to work with.

What does it sound like? I feel like this would be where Terminian and Hylian experiences a sort of disconnect (especially if we go with an alphabet system). I've thought of a very stilted(?) almost reversed way of sound -- like smth isn't entirely right and just feels strange. But to residents of Termina it's completely normal and very easy to speak.

Termina is a very strange place and I really wanna play into it. I'm also very happy that you showed interest in this because it allows me to say stuff I normally would've just kept to myself.

Also I plan to delve into a Twilit language, culture, and just generally the whole world, too. Because yeah ofc we're going there. I am simply coping.

[imperiuswrecked]

Can you please talk about why you think Namor has BPD? (At least I think you said that you believed Namor had BPD, it may have been another condition.)

I've spoken about Namor + Mental Health Issues many times in the past, but I can put it all in this post to make it an easier read rather than going through my older posts. I do state that I believe Namor has BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) but I will also go over other stuff that have come up in the comics.

General Disclaimer: I'm not a mental health professional, and comics are not good at accurate representation of mental health disorders, and this meta is just my thoughts on the matter of Namor's personality, and mental health issues (MHI). Also content warnings for mentions of mental health issues, suicide, genocide, and rape.

I think the Mental Health Issue that gets discussed the most is Bryne's 90s Namor run where he claims that Namor has Bipolar Disorder. Forgive my long winded response but let me explain the situation behind it and why I personally believe this is a terrible way to use MHI in comics, but of course if people feel represented by a superhero/anti-hero who has the same issues as them then that's good for them and I'm personally not out here to argue with anyone about MHI representation in comics.

Bipolar Disorder

It's the 90s, Namor has been bouncing around books all throughout the 80s after having his 60-70s series canceled, the character has been married twice and widowed twice (Dorma - 1st Wife, Marrina - 2nd wife) he's had one 4 issue mini series and a limited 12 issue series, Saga of the Sub-Mariner, before having his own solo title again; Namor, the Sub-Mariner (1990) and a new look was needed for the Prince of the Seas, so Terry Kavanagh & John Bryne decide to play up the 90s Business Man angle, and Namor is turned into a Corporate Eco Warrior, this time deciding to fight those who harm the oceans and its creatures in the board room rather than the seas. Saga of the Sub-Mariner (1988) sets up Namor for the 90s, with a recap of all the character's history but anyone reading Namor knows that Namor isn't a superhero like Captain America or Superman, who lean towards a lawful good character, instead he's had time spent as a villain and hero, as Marvel puts it "Namor was the first hero-villain" and is the Archetype Anti-Hero and this is very important and I stress this very hard that because of Namor's Anti-Hero characterization it would be impossible to make him a lawful good hero like Captain America without losing important parts of the character. Namor isn't an american or surface world hero, so how does he now work in the surface world? How does a writer take a morally gray character like Namor and make him the hero of his own title?

You would think perhaps they might lean into WHY Namor is angry all the time, WHY Namor hates Americans and other surface dwellers, WHY would he constantly be fighting against them. You would think a good writer would love to play around with plots of morality, human greed and the willful destruction of the earth's oceans with a character whose upbringing/morals don't match the general typical hero type, and the tropes of a vengeful entity seeking justice.

But that would be asking too much of writers.

Instead Bryne blames all of Namor's past misdeeds on "he's crazy" and thus begins my most hated, over used, writing trope for Namor which I've dubbed "The Mad (as in crazy) Sea King Trope" you see this pop up many times in Namor's comics. So now whenever Namor is evil or doesn't fall in line with the surface heroes thinking/wanting to do things, its not because Namor has some actual grievance with the surface world, no he's just got a chemical imbalance in his brain and he needs to take a dip in the ocean or a walk on land.

Namor, the Sub-Mariner (1990) #1

"And my studies have led me to the conclusion that your occasional periods of almost homicidal rage are directly the results of your mingled bloodlines. --- Too long underwater and you begin to suffer from oxygen starvation. Too long on the surface and the reverse occurs. In both cases the result is a kind of Intoxication. You become irrational... insane!"

And with this comic Bryne has irrevocably hurt Namor's character forever. The damage this comic has done will never be undone nor will Namor's character ever have a chance to really dive into Why he's so Angry at the world without Marvel coming back around to this comic. Namor was the original "Angry Young Man" of comics, because Everett said he put some of himself, his own youth, his anger, into Namor's character. If I come across that statement/interview again I will definitely post about it, I just feel that this post is already too long and don't want to sidetrack getting deeper into Namor's design/character.

Namor's extreme hostility and anger is not a character flaw, its by design that he harbors such great resentment towards the world his father came from.

"The Original "Angry Young Man" - The Sub-Mariner" art by Bill Everett

Namor isn't angry because he's crazy, he's angry because severe injustice has been done to his people and home and he wants to avenge that. Everything about Namor is about him trying to navigate two worlds and the anger he feels at the harm one side has done to the other. Namor means "Avenging Son" for a reason.

However with this Bipolar explanation Bryne has neatly swept up all of Namor's complicated emotions and issues with his human half and the human world into a tidy pile and then tossed it out.

I would rather Namor be held accountable for his actions than for them to be forgiven (and why should he CARE about human forgiveness anyways???). I would rather Namor hold a mirror up to the human world and call out their sins which is why he does what he did in the past rather than this half assed "oh, its not really his fault, so its all ok now" writing. This is why I think Bryne's Bipolar Namor hurts the character because it takes away any agency or consequences for the main theme of the character and his world. And it's boring. It's so utterly boring that I want to cry. Perhaps because I love complicated plots, any explanation that absolves a character without putting the work in makes me dislike that writing. Bryne was trying to redeem Namor and in my strongest and unhumble opinion, Namor does not need redemption. Nor should Namor care about human laws or seek to be absolved by subjecting himself to their rulings.

He's not the hero for surface dwellers, he's the hero for atlanteans, and if people actually took the time to see things from Namor's point of view instead of trying to shove the character into the traditional hero mold then they could understand why Namor attacked the surface world.

Trial of the Sub-Mariner - Namor, the Sub-Mariner (1990) #13

"But the fact remains, Namor has never been brought fully to account for many of early crimes against humanity-- including declarations of war and the actual invasion of New York!" "Reed! You sound as though you think Namor should be found guilty of the charges! Yet we know now many of his rages against the world were caused by a blood imbalance due to his mixed racial heritage."

Bryne resolves Namor's past actions by writing that he is guilty of his crimes but by way of insanity in a throwaway speech bubble that if people were less of an intense reader might miss and forget instantly but I'm too much of an obsessive reader, lol. So Namor has to serve a 100 years of probation (again this isn't brought up ever again in any future issues, he literally never does his probation) monitored by Captain America who is his parole officer, Steve plays the part of Jiminy Cricket to keep him on the path of good and Namor is free to be the Good Guy who doesn't hate America/Surface Dwellers. This also leads into another grievance I have with Marvel writers who use Steve as the Moral Right to Namor's Immoral Wrong, but again that's a post for another day.

Imo Byrne is a terrible writer. I won't say I hate the 90s run because there are parts of it I greatly enjoy, but I do criticize how badly this effects Namor's character to this day. It makes no sense logically nor is this how Bipolar disorder works.

Next is Zdarsky's writing.

Where do I begin. I first want to point out that I don't know how Zdarsky would have written Namor if he hadn't been told "No" to a Namor solo series which prompted him to change his story to include Steve and the Invaders but going by the plot of Invaders (2019) I am very glad that this wasn't a solo Namor series. If you haven't read that series the main summary is Namor gets his mind messed with a lot, by Professor Xavier, by the Serpent Crown, by a mental entity taking the distorted form of his old friend, Machan. Which prompts Namor to decide to make all surface dwellers into water dwellers and the Invaders try to stop him. So basically Zdarsky tries to stay true to the previous writing of Bryne's Bipolar disorder but also throws in way too much interference. In the comics it's almost a joke just how many times Namor is possessed or driven mad or insane or has amnesia and it happens once again this series. While it was interesting to see someone attempt to fill in the blank Amnesiac years (the time period between Namor disappearing from Atlantis after the War until the time Johnny Storm finds Namor keeps getting longer as the years go by, what used to be maybe 6 years of an Amnesiac period has now become decades), I just feel that adding more brain trauma and possession for a plot that is ultimately forgotten by now didn't help Namor's character or actually explore his psyche more.

That's not to say I hated it completely, I'm just a very critical reader, and there are very good moments that do explore Namor's psyche like when Professor X is in Namor's mind, and Namor says "I cannot be fixed. There is murder in my heart Charles." Invaders (2019) #4

Or Namor showing Steve how he feels as a super human among humans in issue 1. "Do you have any idea what this is like for me? Look how weak you all are! I could crush this man's head like you would crack open an egg! I run around on your battlefields trying to -- to protect bags of water from being punctured by other bags of water!"

In the end this series employs the same tropes from older comics: - The Mad Sea King (Namor is insane) - Steve is the Moral Right to Namor's Immoral Wrong - Nothing is in character for Namor and Namor's ooc-ness is directly tied to mental interference but Namor is blamed for it as though this is all in character. < this trope also applies to the Phoenix King Namor of the Phoenix Five.

However this series does try somewhat to showcase Namor's PTSD, but more on that later in this post.

So to wrap this up, Namor's bipolar disorder was written as a way to excuse Namor for his shady past and bouts of madness and/or to have a chance to write Namor as Evil or an Antagonist without having to deal with the issues that make up Namor's character or have to blame the surface world for their compliancy in those issues. So you can see why I highly dislike and often ignore the "Namor is bipolar" writing.

Suicidal Thoughts

After the death of Marrina, his second wife, Namor contemplates throwing himself into a swirling whirlpool of perhaps certain death in Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #57

PTSD

While Zdarsky tried to include PTSD as a plot point in Invaders (2019) in my opinion he didn't go far enough into that aspect of Namor's MHI, and instead pivots back to Serpent Crown/Machan possession/Xavier's mind manipulation. Invaders (2019) was so close but ultimately I have to give the real recognition of Namor's PTSD coding/writing to these other comics, especially Marvels Snapshot.

Namor's first real interaction with the surface world comes at the beginning of WWll, at this point Namor is 18 years old, so he's very young for a human and even younger for an Atlantean. As a teenager going off to fight a war in another land he came back with PTSD however in older comics it's more coded than stated.

Marvel Team Up (1997) #8 - Namor finds he cannot breath underwater and manages to make it to safety on a bridge in New York where a frightened human runs away from Namor and into a cop who begins to beat the man. Namor witnessing this has a mental break and believes himself to be back in WWll.

Doctor Strange stops Namor and bring him back for treatment relating to why Namor came to him in the first place and why he can't swim in water but I found this interaction to be very interesting, because this could easily be seen as Namor having a ptsd moment and dealing with the aftermath and not just about Namor's inability to swim underwater and mental burdens.

"It happened again. The Son of Atlantis does not embarrass easily, Doctor. But I foolishly thought you had cured me." "It's not your fault, Namor. I've completed my diagnosis and I've concluded that you are a very sick individual."

Another moment that I also believe is coded PTSD is in Namor, the Sub-Mariner (1990) Annual 1 - Never Again. This comic deals heavily with Namor's past in WWll, the holocaust, genocide and has many flashbacks.

However it wasn't until Marvels Snapshot: Sub-Mariner (2020) that we finally and truly get our first story that actually dives into the fact that Namor has PTSD and is very much affected by it, they do not call it PTSD instead the terms were "Shell Shock" or "Combat Fatigue" are used because this is set during an era where PTSD was not named/recognized. This story is told from the POV of a character who's loved ones have PTSD. Betty Dean witnesses her brother Lloyd's hands shake, his short temper and his drinking as a way to deal with his ptsd. She talks with her other brother about Llyod.

I really love this story because I feel it's so accurate as to how someone would react towards the situation; Betty doesn't understand why Llyod isn't happy the war is over, and Frank tells her "The war's not over for everyone, Betts." I really cannot recommend this comic enough for how it deals with Namor and Betty dealing with the aftermath of the war and how a partner/loved ones struggle with MHI hurts those around them because they are unable to help them. If I could I would post this whole comic here but again, post long, time to move on.

You see Namor react to triggers such as bullet shot sounds. His hands trembling like her brother's.

It's well known that Namor loathes Nazis, and this was another trigger for him to remember his time in the war.

In the end Betty consoles Namor but cannot get him to accept that he isn't well, and he needs help. So yes, it's canon Namor has PTSD and the Rage he had before the war is only exacerbated further because of his war trauma.

Coping Mechanisms/Addiction

As seen in Snapshot, Namor refuses to seek any therapy which was a headcanon I had a long time ago and was pretty pleased to see how spot on another writer understood Namor's inability to ask for help.

"And I don't ask for help. I'm a King dammit." - Dark Reign: The List - X-Men

So as Llyod turned to drinking/alcohol to cope with his ptsd, throughout the comics Namor is seen drinking after he loses a battle/is unable to deal with loss - Fear Itself: The Deep (and avengers but I hate Aaron's avengers so I'm not posting the Namor going in a drinking binge page here but it's there) and Namor also drinks with T'Challa in Avengers when he believes all hope is lost. (Also not to sidetrack again, but someday I really really want to talk about how Namor seems to really only open up to people like Stephen, and has less trouble asking Stephen for help than others. The Defenders team dynamic is one of my favorite things.)

But another coping mechanism is that Namor has used drugs in the past - Bucky Barnes: Winter Soldier (2014) #1 and I've run out of the allowed images on a single post so I linked my older post where I mention this.

Amnesia/Mental Possession

When Marvel began it's Silver Age, the world exploded into creation with the arrival of the Fantastic Four in 1961. At this point in the real world Namor had been out of print since 1955. Now Kirby & Lee could have just kept going without bringing in any of the older characters from the Golden Age but Stan Lee loved Namor's character very much and wanted to bring him back and what started out as a plot point in Fantastic Four (1961) #4 to explain where Namor had been for a in universe few years turns into a and overused cliché in Namor comics. I have no issues with Fantastic Four (1961) #4 using this plot, in fact its a very good and simple plot, the Pauper that was actually a lost Prince of a fantastical realm.

Namor is the first character to bridge the divide between the old golden age heroes and the new silver age heroes. The way amnesia is used as a tool to help explain and bring in the character is very contained however many times after this writers seem to love to use Amnesiac Namor as a plot device and it's happened many times in his comics. In fact Namor seems to get amnesia from literally anything, wheter it's Master Khan stripping Namor of his memories in Namor, the Sub-Mariner (1990) #25 or Namor becoming an train bound amnesiac hobo over the grief of losing his father in The Sub-Mariner (1968) #47

Meanwhile the other often used trope of Mental Possession comes up many times too, from the Puppet Master controlling Namor in Fantastic Four (1961) #14 and again in Tales to Astonish #78 to explosions leaving Namor an amnesiac and under the control of the hooded man of the secret empire in Tales to Astonish #83, etc. This is of course an incomplete list of times Namor has either lost his memories or is under another's mental control. Note: The Serpent Crown is also another recurring plot where Namor or others are controlled by the crown.

Of course I can't leave out the Phoenix King. Phoenix Five Namor is the one most people know but again most do not acknowledge that he was possessed and under the control of a cosmic entity. Even though there are two comics that talk about how much Namor hated his agency and control being taken away from him by the Phoenix.

AvX: Consequences #4 & Jean Grey (2017) #3

I bring up the instances of Namor's amnesia/mental possession and how it relates to his MHI issues because these sort of plots are present in many comics but most writers really don't take the time to go into how badly these constant bouts of loss of self affect Namor's character, which is understandable in comic book writing world because every writer wants to move onto the next plot and next action scene. However these does bring me to the next topic.

(Also if you want a good amnesia Namor comic then read Tales of the Marvels: Inner Demons, it's told from a side characters pov but it's one of my favorite comics)

Mental Resilience

Now if a writer wants a thing to happen in a comic then it will happen and explanations or consistency be damned. However I do find it very amusing how Namor is constantly shown to have an extremely strong personality and remarked to have very strong mental fortitude that not even Emma Frost can break, is shown to be strong enough to stand against The Purple Man's powers and Namor has had literally everything from tanks to bombs thrown at him and brushed it off, yet sometimes he can't resist whatever flavor of the week villain's mental powers or stop waking up with amnesia every 5 seconds.

So Namor is the most hard headed recurring amnesiac to ever live in comics. I sincerely worry he's got massive amounts of brain damage with how many times this has happened to him.

Mental Instability

I'm sure there are times when Namor just cracks under the massive amounts of constant trauma and pressure but comics don't really show that however there is a moment right after Llyra rapes Namor, he finds out, and then she lies to him, telling him she is pregnant with his child (at this point in the comics Namor was canonically sterile), and Namor just cracks, with Johnny and Ben saying Namor has "lost it". Namor, the Sub-Mariner (1990) #50

Borderline Personality Disorder

Now everything I've spoken of up until this point is supported by comic examples. However my theory of Namor having Borderline Personality Disorder came about from me rejecting the Bipolar Disorder explanation and then trying to figure out what type of MHI Namor would really have if writers cared at all to understand the character. Most of this comes from me seeing the commonly shared traits between Namor's character and the signs of BPD. I wrote this out before but here's the list again:

An intense fear of abandonment, even going to extreme measures to avoid real or imagined separation or rejection

A pattern of unstable intense relationships, such as idealizing someone one moment and then suddenly believing the person doesn’t care enough or is cruel (see: namor hounding susan storm for years, idolizing her, but it wasn’t actually a relationship)

Rapid changes in self-identity and self-image that include shifting goals and values, and seeing yourself as bad or as if you don’t exist at all

Periods of stress-related paranoia and loss of contact with reality, lasting from a few minutes to a few hours

Impulsive and risky behavior

Wide mood swings lasting from a few hours to a few days, which can include intense happiness, irritability, shame or anxiety

Ongoing feelings of emptiness

Inappropriate, intense anger, such as frequently losing your temper, being sarcastic or bitter, or having physical fights

Most of these traits are things you see throughout the comics, but nothing that's ever stated as BPD. You see Namor struggle with his self-identity, be paranoid that Lady Dorma has abandoned/betrayed him, his wanderings throughout the oceans during his periods of grief or loneliness etc. it's really just a lot of little things that I feel contribute to this headcanon.

The Sub-Mariner (1968) #4

To me Namor having Borderline Personality Disorder clearly explains Namor's rapid shifts of mood better than "oh he's bipolar and its because he's half human/atlantean and needs oxygen or he goes insane", and IF Marvel was to give Namor some kind of mental diagnosis then imo he would not be Bipolar.

Namor has so much external pressure, from the way the Atlanteans have ostracized him, and the politics of the surface world vs the atlanteans, the way he's constantly pushed to war with the humans while at other times trying to prevent war between his two people. The pressures of being a king, and the internal pressures of his inner self, his conflicts of being half human/atlantean, personal life, and losses. It's enough to make anyone crack. Let alone a character who has endured this for decades.

Atlantis Attacks (2020) #1

In conclusion, get this sea king some therapy and let him nap. He really needs it.

[bazzybelle]

Get to know me (and you)

Thank you @windsweptinred for tagging me! I am sorry it took me so long to get to this.

1. 3 ships I really like right now: Ohhh this is always tough for me. I have so many ships at all times. Ok well if we're going by my current brain rot...

Dreamling: No one is surprised by this. They caught me by the throat and have not let go for the last year. It's so funny coming in as someone who was familiar with the comics before the Netflix adaptation, because they are not at all romantic. Like, I got no romantic vibes from them (and I'm someone who sees romance vibes in everything). The MOST romance I can see MAYYYYYBE (and this is a massive maybe because I only read this arc after the show aired and I was already getting into Dreamling) happens in The Wake (and I won't go into further details because those are massive spoilers). Why do I like Dreamling? They're just so feral for each other in fanon. Plus it helps that the actors on the show had incredible chemistry with each other (I would also consider HellDream and DreamMuse as other potentials because yeah he looked like he was about to make out with those two actresses).

SnowBaz: I still have so much love for SnowBaz. This was the pair that got me through a massive depression/writing slump. Seriously guys, read Wayward Son and Any Way The Wind Blows if you want an accurate representation about depression and intimacy problems and just finding yourself once that biggest event of your life is over. It's about learning to live after trauma and how to heal. Plus this was also the first CANON queer couple I read and helped me to become comfortable with my own queer identity. Yeah... I may move on and have other loves, but Simon and Baz will always hold an irreplaceable part of my heart.

Tie between Ineffable Husbands and BlackBonnet: These are two very new relationships and I just love them both so much. I don't know much about BlackBonnet, because I've only seen gifs of the second season and nothing more, but from what I've seen, omg I am so excited. As for Ineffable Husbands, they are SO interesting to me and I have been enjoying reading the Metas that have been coming out after the second season. It's so interesting to me, to connect this to SnowBaz, to see the reactions after the second season aired. It reminds me A LOT of the explosion that occurred after Wayward Son was released (an explosion that not only continued the closer we got to AWTWB being released, but also contributed to Rainbow Rowell leaving Twitter). I'm not going to get too deep into this (though @carryonsimoncarryonbaz has been trying to convince to write a meta comparing the two because MY GOD ARE THERE SO MANY CONNECTIONS).

2. First ever ship: Honestly? Sailor Mercury/That boyfriend she had... what was his name? Greg? I thought they were so flipping cute. Plus I liked that the nerdy girl had someone who thought she was cute. As the Nerdy Girl myself, it made me happy to see.

3. Last song:

Fegari - Natasa Theodoridou: One of my favourite Greek songs. I've been in a Greek music mood as of late, and this is a beautiful song. It's about a woman who prays to the moon to bring her husband back from his mistress, and to watch over him if she can't. She also asks the moon to take her from the Earth so that she may see her husband from above.

At least... that's what my husband tells me. Greek music is so morose you guys.

4. Last movie: I watched Barbie last week with my husband. We both loved it so much. It's such a great dark comedy.

5. Currently reading: Lots of fanfiction, but I recently bought a beautiful Jane Austen collection, as well as an illustrated collection of poems by Rumi, so I want to dive into those.

6. Currently watching: My husband on the couch. But in all seriousness, we're probably going to watch either Our Flag Means Death or Silo next.

7. Currently eating: Nothing, but I am craving some cereal.

8. Currently craving: xD Cereal.

Tags: @seiya-starsniper @mentallyinvernation @mallory-x @carryonsimoncarryonbaz @ninemagicks @amywaterwings @namistrella @signiorbenedickofpadua @tryan-a-bex @artsyunderstudy @yellobb @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @spockandthings @wellbelesbian @j-nipper-95 @zigzag-wanderer @fleabaggotme @arialerendeair @aristocratic-otter @messofthejess

[lavenoon]

I realize that I'm not quite sure what your timezone is so wishing you a 'good night' might not be accurate... So hello *from* the night instead! Hi, Luce <3 Things are a little rough atm BUT I started thinking about that funky little Other Agent and thought I might share!

Since you called him a potential "Other" agent, I thought his codename could be Jack! The initial idea being, of course, "Jack-of-all-trades" or maybe even "Jackrabbit", but the more I thought of it, there's... a LOT of story tale Jacks, to say the least. It would be funny for him to change the "reason" behind his codename when asked - 'Jack' cuz he's got a broad range of skills! Cuz he's fast! Cuz he's good at taking down enemies much bigger than him - and everybody just ends up wondering if he deadass used his own name knowing nobody would REALLY know (bonus points if he's known for being shit at naming things).

I also thought it would be a funny dichotomy for Robin, the STAR of the agency, to be seen around with just. This Dude. Basic 'Jack'.

I was also thinking that the agent gives me Command Centre vibes! I can see him manning like Real-Time info acquisition and situation analysis. If a situation Arises, he could be the one recruiting the nearest agents into action, giving info about the situation or about up and coming backup! Though I'm not sure if that'd make him more like "staff" than an agent... Alternatively, of course, if there's an Immediate Crisis, Jack could be your best bet at handling it Decent even without much to go off of. The sort of guy that's never Bad to put in a mission, especially if there's a lot Unknown. Maybe he's not as Field-involved like Moon or Robin, but I could also see him acting as like long-distance backup, maybe with a rifle - eyes in the air, so to speak!

Longwinded brain go BRR but I hold up Thoughts if Any of them at all appeal to you! I gotta get back to late night work, but I feel rejuvenated now after blabbing, and hope you're doing well! <3 -🌻 Daye

Gonna be about 9AM when I post this! Had a bit of a rough awakening, but meds are starting to kick so I'm doing a li'l better by now <3 Hope work goes well for you! Hope you get to rest soon, too!

Also taking your thoughts eagerly, here goes my conviction not to do anything with him lmao

I like him as command center guy! Robin doesn't mingle much with other field agents, but it would make sense they at least sometimes talk to the guy providing mission memos and organizing urgent changes and shit Still hard to be articulate the thoughts are foggy but I do love that idea very much, just Robin's one point of more regular contact next to Dusk. Makes that reveal comic even funnier if "Jack" really just assumed like. Dude you really hang with one guy despite me and you don't even know he has a work partner? lmao

Maybe Jack is his second name - people ask him "did you really use your first name as code name??" and he truthfully goes "no (:" and he's just another guy the higher ups sigh about but let it go because he still does his job well, and not being a field agent the code name isn't as important

Still no promises he'll play a big role but I'm keeping him in my pocket as OC now lmao, personal brain blorbo that only exists because he looked polite after I decided to give him some hair fgdhjs

Gonna continue resting and chill and hope brain starts working properly at some point, but yea wishing u a good night! <3

[fallout-lou-begas]

How's the script project like for IKROAH? Is it difficult or quite easy? Did you learn how to write comic book scripts because of IKROAH, or had you done it before? What kind of format do you use? Did you have any advice for people in the writing process of creating a comic book? Sorry if this is a lot of questions at once, but I love getting an idea of an artist's creative process.

Whew! No worries anon, I'm also someone who loves to pick the brains of other peoples' creative processes.

The writing for IKROAH can be divided into two halves: the outline and the script. The outline is a big spreadsheet and it's exactly what it sounds like, and it looks like this, but for all one hundred issues. The outline is complete and I use it tp reference all of my scripting.

The point of this outline was so that I could write the comic before I had to actually write the comic, if that makes sense. It would be extremely foolish for me to try to write all one hundred scripts up-front, especially since so many changes to the outline and overall plot of IKROAH have been made during the writing process (though it seems totally settled now). This lets me strike the perfect balance between planning ahead and knowing what I'm writing toward, and still having some freedom with the direction of each individual script. As the outline goes deeper and deeper and I get to scripts that I haven't written yet, the "synopsis" gets much more detailed as I work in very specific ideas or visions that I have for that issue. They're not set in stone, but it's just stuff I don't want to forget to try by the time I get there.

The scripts, meanwhile, are all just on one big Google Doc that looks like this.

The format of each individual script can vary: sometimes, like for IKROAH #23, I very carefully plan for myself the distinction between text and action. Other times, it's basically all just dialogue, and I let myself figure out the action more so during the composition stage. But basically every comic follows this process:

First draft of the script and dialogue

Thumbnailing of the script as I figure out page composition and paneling

Revisions of the script and dialogue to account for page composition

Digital mock-up of the comic (drawing the panel borders to scale in a digital canvas)

Lettering of the comic (to ensure there's enough room)

Revising the script again because some lines won't fit in speech balloons right or something

Drawing the comic, then inking and scanning and coloring

Further revisions of the script as I letter it and realize some lines just aren't as good and ought to be punched up

The script for each issue is surprisingly fluid and the even though it's usually minor changes, dialogue can go through revisions very well up to the eleventh hour before publishing.

The script master document also contains a complete timelined biography of Agnes Sands' life, and a complete timelined chronology of the events of IKROAH where every single issue is given a date and a "Days Passed Since Issue #1" number for my own private reference. This very rarely manifests in the text of the comic itself but it lets me accurately make references or foreshadowing when I need to.

I would say that the process of writing a comic like this is not as hard as it is time-consuming. This took a lot of work up-front, especially amassing a library of midcentury song lyrics to peruse for stingers on each issue, but now the rest of IKROAH's production is basically on autopilot. It lets me just draw it when I want to without having to worry about writing or direction as much, at least for a while -- the outline is complete, but IKROAH's scripts are only written in full up to issue #50. After that, the're mostly written with a few missing ones up to #78, and then the rest is essentially unwritten except for #98. And of course, like I said, the scripts tend to undergo a lot of revision in the production process of each issue, but this is for the best.

The closest I've come to writing like this in the past is when I hatched an idea for a superhero comic in high school and made a similar outline for all of the issues I had planned, which villains would get introduced when, and so on, but that never came to fruition. The organizational skill remained though, clearly, lol.

And as for advice, my best advice is this:

Don't wait until you're "good enough" to make a comic. You don't need to earn permission from yourself or anyone else to just do it with the skills you already have.

The best way to improve your art and comic-making skills is to just start making a comic. Your art, writing, and process will get better over time.

You only need to be good enough at art to convey your subject matter and express your vision, not to replicate anything photorealistically or perfectly. This is why strong composition and paneling can work much better for a comic than very technically good art itself. Tails Gets Trolled is unironically a good example of this point, as is the art of One (pseudonym of the manga artist behind One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100).

For any kind of long-form work, I highly recommend this short vignette structure. It's more rewarding than making only one page at a time because each issue is still a complete story beat, but it also stops you from basically drowning in the total size of a long-form project. It used to be basically any webcomic on the internet started with totally shit art and you watched the artist get better and better over time, now the Webtoon Industrial Complex has already professional artists putting out extremely polished art from square one. That's bullshit. Reject it. Embrace your amateurism but also your ambition.

Fuck around and find out. Don't be "comic-core," just be on your comic book bullshit.

Read a lot of comics. See how great visual-sequential storytellers accomplish things with pages and panels, and adopt those tricks into your own toolkit. See how they draw things or color things and try to emulate that. One of my favorite ever art teams is the one on the 1980s The Question series, of penciler Denys Cowan, inker Rick Magyar, and colorist Tatjana Wood.

[mmark1985]

I want to say why I am so aggressively against the Namor/Sue Storm story for the MCU.

So when you ask anyone who is familiar with the comics about Namor they tell you about 5 things, and always included with those things, is his thing with Sue Storm.

I want to start off by saying that I looked at the panels with Namor and Sue and it comes off like something written for a different time.... And it was. But even the more recent depictions of Namor and Sue still give me pause. This will not be viewed gently in the post-me too era. Now, if Namor is a bad guy, we can have him be like that and it would be okay... Because he's bad. But the MCU's Namor is specifically an antihero. Weighing him down with that behaviour would make him unlikeable, especially to women.

Further, the MCU has given Namor a very specific race, ethnicity, origin, moral code and gripe with the surface world.

He is 500 years old( roughly). Slavery only ended in Spanish colonies around 1880s. After which he would have witnessed caste wars in the Yucatan peninsular, then continued social subjugation of his mother's people.

So let's piece on together. In his formative years, when his brain is still developing from baby to young adult in 1500-1750s ( the movie established that he aged very slowly vs. growing up then stopping aging) he witnessed slavery, complete hatred and dehumanising of people who look like him by colonisers. Then he would have seen more oppression as a young adult into a mature adult.

So around 430 of his years he has been seeing complete oppression of mothers people, and then a system developed that placed them on the bottom of the social ladder. Most of his life this is what he is seeing when he interacts with the surface world.

Can you imagine that a man with that long of history of constant trauma would turn around and frivolously fall for an aryan beauty. Degrade himself further, because she is married and she is not interested. Wouldn't that reinforce stereotypes of the lecherous other (black or brown man) hunting chaste white women.

Lord. You all can't think this is what they are doing?

It's gross.

I have no problem with Sue Storm... None. I have no problem with interracial couples... I love it. But in this case, Its a hard pass. It would RUIN the character. If they wanted to to do him with Sue it would have to be she falls in love with him and he has to learn to love her. And it has to be so profound and deep and star crossed that he would just forget his entire 500 years on earth and be with her. But it can never be that because she is already married to Reed and this is the MCU and they can't even write romances properly.

I know an important part of Namor's character is that he ironically falls in love with a surface dweller who doesn't return his feelings. For me, it has to be Shuri in the MCU because it makes the most sense. She has very good reason not to return his feelings and he has very good reasons to find her special. Shuri gets older every year. It's not like she is eternally as we first saw her. If Thor (1000s)is okay with Jane and Bruce and Natasha was okay then who the the hell cares that Shuri would be mid-20s if this happens.

But honestly, I'm fine with it being no one, it doesn't have to be Shuri. But it can't be Sue if she is white. Maybe make Sue Chinese or Indian... Then it won't matter. But if they go comics accurate Sue, and I think they will, it can't happen. It shouldn't happen.

[scattered-winter]

ok ok i've been trying to think of a clever way to word this but it's thursday morning and my brain is usually scrambled eggs by this point of the week.

so basically. dc. batfam. jaykyle. i'm intrigued, and i'm curious about, like, starting points for beginners with terrible attention spans whose knowledge base is the first few seasons of the cw shows and young justice, your epic jaykyle post from whenever i asked about them, a handful of jaykyle fics, and the tags on your dc rbs.

(and OF COURSE i will inhale any other info you choose to share here bc i love a winter ramble <333)

I am SO GLAD you asked :]]]]] there's a great deal of info here but I'll try to keep it as organized as possible. I'll talk about movies/tv shows/other forms of media FIRST, since there's a lot less info to try and cram in. THEN I'll do comics because there's a lot of information about them, and lastly I'll do fandom stuff (blog and fic recs, and I also snuck in a bit about some of my favorite comic artists hehe) xox

the thing I love about dc is that there's so many characters and hero teams that there's something for everyone. my favorite characters might not be someone else's favorite, because there are literally hundreds to choose from and it can be overwhelming at first but it's so cool having such a wide variety of characters to love!!

that said, something to keep in mind is that almost every version of a character you see/read is gonna be a little different. there are changes across mediums (comics to movies) and even across universes, and sometimes the writers are just lazy and don't bother doing research on the character they're trying to write. many of these characters have been around since the 1930s, with literally thousands of appearances in different comics and tv shows, so they've been through a few hundred different writers and editors, each with a slightly different idea of who the character is. batman can be portrayed as a kind, caring father in one comic, but in another, he hits his kids and forces them to eat rats. those two facts are both technically canon, but since they're so contradictory to each other, the audience gets to choose which one is their canon*. it sounds really overwhelming at first, but it's actually one of my favorite things about dc, because it's almost like a sandbox. we can cherrypick our favorite things from canon to form our Better, Personal canon, and leave the rest out <3

*everyone you talk to in the fandom will also have a different preferred "canon." and technically most of them aren't even fanonizing things too much; they're just looking at a different side of canon.

MOVIES

unlike marvel, dc doesn't really have a coherent "cinematic universe," but not for lack of trying. if you're looking for comic book accuracy, generally the movies aren't a great place to go, but they're still enjoyable and can at least give you the starting information for a character!

the dark knight trilogy (batman begins, the dark knight, the dark knight rises)

this one is HARDLY comics-accurate, but overall they're very enjoyable (and the soundtrack is a whole VIBE btw). it's a good general intro to the basic lore of batman (his parents' deaths, alfred, lucius fox, etc) but it also leaves out a lot of the batman mythos (like robin).

the batman (2022)

in my opinion, this movie is the closest live action movie to what comics batman actually is. it was very definitely an adaptation that took liberties, but I really felt like it was a faithful adaptation of comics batman and what motivates him.

batman: under the red hood

this one is an animated adaptation of one of my FAVORITE comics of all time by the same name, and I love the movie almost as much as I love the comic :] there are a few things lost in translation from comic -> movie, and a few characters/events are left out, but overall it's one of my favorite batman movies of ALL time

some other movies that aren't super accurate but alright:*

aquaman

wonder woman

*there's also movies like zack snyder's justice league and batman vs superman but the one thing comics fandom can agree on is that. they're bad. they're soooo bad. ofc you can watch them but just know that the characterizations are soooooo off base for pretty much everyone. and I know that I said that characterizations can be played with a little bit but the characters aren't even recognizable in those movies so like.....are they even the same character ?? anyway

TV SHOWS - ANIMATED

unlike the movies, the dcau (dc animated universe) is REALLY good. some of the shows are interconnected and happen in the same continuity, but it's unclear if all of them are, but the shows have little influence on each other so it doesn't really matter anyway. there'll just be an easter egg here or there referencing another show.

young justice*

has a very large ensemble cast, and is a good intro to the younger heroes in dc!!

justice league unlimited*

another show with a large cast, but this one is about the older/adult heroes in the justice league.

green lantern: the animated series

one of my personal favorites out of these; highly recommended if you're at all interested in lanterns, because it's a very good introduction to lantern lore (which can be pretty complicated). it's also just very fun all around, and one of my favorite lantern characters of all time is in this show! unfortunately, he was created specifically for gl:tas, and so hasn't made any appearances in any comics/shows with the exception of a single episode of young justice. but I lomve him <3

teen titans

this was actually my "gateway" media that got me into dc in the first place!! it's very fun and dynamic, and is a good intro to the titans, a very popular superhero team**

batman: the animated series

I haven't seen very far into this one, but from what I've seen/heard, it's a very fun show!! from what I remember, it has quite a few batfam characters in it, as well, not just batman himself

batman beyond

I also haven't seen all of this, but I like it a lot! it's set 50ish(?) years in the future of b:tas (as far as I know you don't have to watch b:tas beforehand though) and is about the new batman, terry mcginnis. I really like it because terry's super funny and it's almost like spiderman in batman's suit!! (he made the joker cry once. it's glorious)

*for getting into comics, I'd recommend at least skimming a few eps of these shows with large casts to see if you have a character you really like/want to know more about, then you can ask for/find the specific comics that character is in. this is imo the easiest way to get into comics, and there are a LOT of people you can ask for comic recs. I'll give all the recs I have, but I've been in the dc fandom for a long time and I can find specific rec lists for you fairly easily if you want to read about a character I don't know much about. I have Connections (tm)

**I haven't read enough titans comics to know for sure, but I've heard that the team lineups are a little different than the show depending on what comics you read.

TV SHOWS - LIVE ACTION

titans

it's kind of shitty but by god it's OUR kinda shitty show <3 the casting for both koriand'r and dick grayson is PERFECT btw. I cannot tell you anything about plot. I've seen the first few seasons. I have no idea what happened. (I don't think it'd be too far off the mark to call this the "teen wolf" show of dc tbh)

ismahawk's nightwing series

this is a fanmade web series that has a few things I dislike (jason's characterization, mostly) but is overall fairly high quality and very fun!! dick grayson (nightwing) is the focus, but other characters also make appearances!

cw shows (yes these are their own category)

I haven't seen a lot of these in a long time so some of them don't have commentary

arrow

hoooooo boy,,,,,,this one's a doozy. the writers wanted to make a batman show I think. but they had green arrow instead. so arrow!oliver queen is actually closer to comics!bruce wayne than he is to comics!oliver queen. a lot of people don't want to get into comics ollie because they didn't like arrow ollie, but rest assured that comics ollie is sooooooooo much better godbless

legends of tomorrow

most of the characters here aren't in the comics that much but this is still probably my favorite cw show. it's funky it's fun it's ridiculously stupid it requires net zero braincells. I love it

supergirl

the flash

batwoman

I don't know enough about kate kane to tell you if this is comics-accurate or not but tbh it's fairly enjoyable regardless!

black lightning

GAMES

there are a lot of dc-related games out there that I've never gotten into, but there is one that I know a good deal about because it's soooo <333

batman: arkham knight

this one is an alternate universe version of jason todd's death and resurrection. I think there are also some comics out there set in this same universe, but at the moment I don't know titles. but basically, instead of dying in a warehouse, jason was imprisoned and tortured for 2 years by the joker. the details are lost on me but he somehow ends up free, but by this point he's been tortured and brainwashed into working with the joker and trying to bring batman down. overall it's a very emotionally devastating game and I'm a known masochist <3 so <3

COMICS

a lot of people are afraid to get into comics because of how overwhelming they are, but I highly encourage it to any new dc fan because they're so much fun!! the fandom is also filled with super nice people who are totally willing to help find comics to read for a specific character, and there are plenty of websites to read comics on for free! it's genuinely such a fun media to get into!

first of all, there's some vocab that'll be helpful to know in comics-land:

continuity - refers to a specific amount of time within the publishing record (ex: the new52 is a continuity spanning from about 2011 to 2016)

issue - a "chapter" of a comic book series (ex: green lantern #5 is the 5th chapter of that particular green lantern series)

volume - another word for "series"; also defined as a group of issues

mini-series - a comic with a set amount of issues (also known as a limited series)

one-shot - a big single-issue comic book

ongoing - a series that is currently being written/published (usually updates weekly or biweekly)

reboot - ends a continuity to recreate characters and plotlines from the very beginning (there are a few different reboots you might hear mentioned, including crisis on infinite earths, new52 [or n52], and rebirth)

retcon - when a past event is changed/written over without a reboot happening

run - a consecutive string of issues written by a single author

variant - an alternate cover of an issue

elseworld - a comic or story that takes place in an alternate universe; as such, the events of that story have no effect on the main timeline (dc vs vampires, a story where half the justice league is turned into evil vampires that took over the world and killed the other half of the justice league, is an elseworld). I like elseworlds because they're fun to explore and read without actually like. being concerned about long-term effects on the characters. it's like reading fanfiction with art

comics are also broken down into 4 main "eras" that aren't necessary for reading but can be good to know regardless:

Golden Age (1938-1956)

Silver Age (1956-1970)

Bronze Age (1970-1985)

Modern Age (1985-Present Day)

because comics are so convoluted with so many timelines and reboots and origins, you can really just jump in ANYWHERE, without worrying about chronological order (spoiler alert, it doesn't exist); and if you feel daunted and overwhelmed by the idea of just....jumping in there, don't worry!!! I felt the same exact way when I was just starting, and that's what the reading lists linked below are for!! they'll give you a place to start getting your feet wet :]

dc comics can also be grouped by which teams/families they're about. (as far as I know, the [hero]fam groups were coined by fandom as a means of grouping the literal crime fighting found families together, but groups like the titans and justice league actually exist in-universe as well). most (if not all) characters belong to at least ONE group, so if you like a character and want to get into someone similar, the groups that character is in might be a good place to start since they're usually grouped together by similar powers/origins. I listed the [hero]fam groups first, and the canon, in-universe teams last. I don't know much about some of them so I didn't add commentary on those, and each person's name will be formatted like this: given name/superhero name/additional superhero name (if applicable)

batfam

most main continuities include bruce wayne/batman, dick grayson/robin/nightwing, jason todd/robin/red hood, tim drake/red robin/robin, cassandra cain/black bat/orphan/batgirl, damian wayne/robin, alfred pennyworth, stephanie brown/batgirl/robin/spoiler, duke thomas/signal*, and barbara gordon/batgirl/oracle. however, some characters, such as luke fox, helena wayne, carrie kelley, and harper row, only exist in specific timelines/continuities/alternate universes. *duke thomas was created in the n52 reboot, so he didn't exist before about 2011, but is considered part of the batfam in most current timelines. the batfam is largely a pretty messy, dysfunctional superhero family, and I love that about them because it's sooo interesting to dig into. but if you want a wholesome superhero family, I suggest some of the others in dc (there's a large number of people in the dc fandom who have never read a single comic but write fic/blog about the batfam, but they make the batfam super sweet and wholesome [hugely ooc for the most part] when there are SO many canon superhero fams that have the exact vibes they're going for. basically: fanon batfam = canon arrowfam/flashfam/superfam)

superfam

most main continuities include clark kent/superman (kal el), lois lane, conner kent/superboy (kon el), bizarro, and jonathan kent/superboy (jon el). I don't know as much about the superfam but there are a handful of characters that only exist in certain continuities here, too.

flashfam

most main continuities include barry allen/the flash, iris west-allen, wally west/kid flash/the flash, jay garrick, avery ho/the flash, bart allen/impulse, irey west, jesse quick/jesse chambers, and a few more.

arrowfam

most main continuities include oliver queen/green arrow, dinah lance/black canary, roy harper/speedy/red arrow/arsenal, connor hawke/green arrow, cissie king-jones, mia dearden/speedy, and emiko queen/red arrow. (if you've seen arrow, expect these characters to be WAY different than how they were portrayed in the show)

wonderfam

most main continuities include diana prince/wonder woman, nubia, donna troy/wonder girl/troia/wonder woman, cassie sandsmark/wonder girl, and artemis bana-mighdall. yara flor is wonder woman in the future state universe, but I don't know if she's part of the fam in the main continuity

lanternfam

this can technically refer to any number of lantern groups, since there are more than one faction or "corps" of lantern, but in this case it's green. in most continuities, the green lantern corps includes hal jordan/parallax/specter, kyle rayner/white lantern/ion, guy gardner, john stewart, alan scott, simon baz, jessica cruz, and jo mullein. (all of them go by green lantern by default, but some have additional names for one reason or another) there are a lot more nonhuman lanterns, since green lanterns operate in space, but that's already a pretty extensive list so I just left it at the humans lmao

aquafam

justice league

one of the biggest teams in dc; it has the "trinity," batman, superman, and wonder woman, and also has a lot of lesser known characters like blue beetle, booster gold, and red tornado.

titans

this team includes dick grayson/nightwing (batfam), wally west/kid flash/the flash (flashfam)*, garfield logan/beast boy, koriand'r/starfire, donna troy/wonder girl/wonder woman, roy harper/speedy/arsenal/red arrow, garth/aqualad etc. *the team lineup largely depends on which comic you read; wally isn't a titan very often compared to the others but some still consider him part of the core team

young justice*

this team includes tim drake/red robin/robin, cassie sandsmark/wonder girl, conner kent/superboy, and bart allen/impulse *not to be confused with the tv show young justice. they have the same title but are two completely different things

outsiders

outlaws

birds of prey

now onto some recs!!! I'm starting with what I know, but if there's ever a character you want to read more about, don't hesitate to ask me!!! I can usually find most rec/reading lists pretty easily and if not, I can refer you to someone who can!!

webtoon

there's a handful of comics on webtoon, each focusing on a different character or group! I haven't read some of them, so only a few actually have commentary lol

vixen: nyc

zatanna & the ripper

wayne family adventures

funky and fun! if you want to learn more about the batfam both as a group and as individuals, this is a great place to start!* *this specific webtoon is in the "slice of life" genre and intended to be fun and lighthearted, so all the characters are highly fanonized/watered down to fit the comedy genre better. it's still enjoyable, but just know going in that if you read any actual comics with the batfam expecting it to be just as wholesome and fun, you'll be disappointed. and if you do enjoy the wholesome superhero family vibes, I recommend reading from the flashfam, arrowfam, or superfam comics, since those are all closer to the wfa batfam vibe than the canon comics batfam.

red hood: outlaws**

features jason todd/red hood, bizarro, and artemis bana-mighdall. as far as I know its tone is much closer to actual comics than wfa. the art is gorgeous, too

**I haven't read past the first few chapters of this one because I REALLY don't like jason's characterization. but he's my silly little guy and I'm SUPER picky about how he's written, so take my opinion for a grain lmao

now for some general recs!!!! there are reading lists out there that are much more coherent and legible than what I can make, so I linked a few for my personal favorite characters and some others :] some of them have a playlist that I made, and I'll also give a very brief overview of the character!!!

also note that these reading lists are in no way meant to be overwhelming and restrictive. if you're overwhelmed by the sheer amount of recs, there's no rule or Comic Book Overlord who will frown down upon you if you don't read them in order or even at all. comics are meant to be fun and they should be!! all the lists do is give you a few options/places to start, but they're just suggestions!! literally go wild go crazy

dick grayson (my playlist) (reading list 1 [robin])

he's the oldest son of bruce wayne! he was part of a traveling circus as a kid, but his parents were murdered when he was young and he was taken in by bruce wayne and became robin. he joined the titans, and eventually outgrew the robin mantle and took on the name nightwing. my current favorite comic with him is batman/superman: world's finest, which is on the reading list but it's pretty far down and I would have put it much higher if it were me because it's sooo <333 (dan mora's art is *chef's kiss*) I looked EVERYWHERE for a reading list about him as nightwing but unfortunately I couldn't find one. but there are a few "nightwing" series around which will probably be good places to start.

jason todd (my playlist) (reading list)

you already got the spiel about him <3 he's my most specialest blorbo bingus boy and if someone writes him wrong I shoot lasers from my eyes

cassandra cain (reading list)

she was raised by assassins but had such a strong moral compass that she ran away and became a superhero instead <3 she was batgirl, black bat, and orphan, and whatever name she currently goes by depends entirely on which comic you read lmao

damian wayne (my playlist)

the only one of bruce wayne's kids who is actually biologically related to him. he was raised in the league of assassins by talia al ghul* before being sent to gotham to live with bruce, where he became robin *talia was originally a good, kind character who was retconned into a manipulative, abusive bitch of a character which is SUCH a disservice to her but unfortunately a lot of current comics have jumped on the bandwagon of the retcon :( AGAIN, I couldn't find a rec list for the LIFE of me, but some good comics to start at are batman: batman and son, batman and robin 2006*, and supersons** *this comic takes place after bruce wayne temporarily "dies" during....final crisis, I think. you don't need to understand the crisis to read (I still don't understand any of the crises tbh) but all you need to know is that dick grayson has taken on the mantle of batman during this run; so dick was batman and damian was his robin. I love their relationship so much it makes me INSANE **this comic features a teamup between damian and jon kent (superboy). I looooooooove their friendship so much

duke thomas

<3333333 he's the only batfam character with powers, and he uses them for chaos only <3 again, I couldn't find a list, but here are some starters: we are robin, robin war, batman and the signal, and batman and the outsiders vol. 3

kyle rayner (my playlist) (reading list)

you've also heard his spiel <33333

connor hawke (reading list)

he's the biological son of oliver queen and takes up the mantle of green arrow after ollie dies (temporarily). he and kyle are bffs who I think should kiss once or twice. and he's also canonically asexual!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wally west (reading list)

he started out as kid flash, and I think in current comics right now he's the flash

some comic reading websites!!!!!!!!

webtoon (everything in the webtoon category above can be found here; they're free to read unless you pay for early access to new chapters)

comiconlinefree.net

readcomiconline.li

readcomicsfree.net

between those three, you should be able to find any comics you'd like to read; I highly recommend using an adblocker for them if you can.

FANDOM

there are quite a few awesome dc blogs out there!!!!!! some of them mostly post a certain character/group, and if so, I'll specify (mutuals will be marked with an * because I am kissing them all upon the cheek <3 they're all sooooo smart and brilliant and talented btw). if the blog is a content creator (artist, writer, edit-maker) I will specify (the dc fandom has SO much talent godbless <33)

@/moonlightbuckleys* (titans tv show; is also who got me into 911 so she has lots of content for that too; edit maker)

@/dick-nightwing-grayson (dick grayson, general batfam/dc)

@/aalghul (jason todd, damian wayne, talia al ghul)

@/ninalinovna (jaykyle, general dc; artist)

@/red-hood-redemption* (jason todd, general dc; artist)

@/collectingrobins (general batfam)

@/batshit-birds (damian wayne, general batfam; writer and artist)

@/bunnvoid* (general dc, artist)

@/daringyounggrayson (dick grayson, general dc; writer)

@/hood-ex (dick grayson, titans, general dc)

@/teeeentitaaans (general dc)

@/dauntingday* (general dc and 911 <3)

@/xandromedan* (general dc and 911 as well <333)

@/bi-bird37 (general dc)

@/sohotthateveryonedied (tim drake, general dc; writer)

@/river-bottom-nightmare (general dc; writer)

@/oifaaa (general batfam; artist)

@/junkoandthediamonds (tim drake, young justice [comics], general dc; artist)

@/desperatecheesecubes* (general dc)

@/a-sour-nectarine (young justice [comics], general dc; writer)

@/aloofwingbag (general dc; artist)

@/s-mscott (general dc, artist; is actually an official, professional dc comics artist on tumblr godbless)

@/sophieleeart (general dc; artist)

@/sully-s (general dc, artist)

@/autisticredhood (jason todd, general dc; makes edits)

@/allgremlinart (bruce wayne, general dc; artist [often nsfw])

@/broosepayne (bruce wayne, general batfam)

@/hangingoffence* (kyle rayner, jason todd, general lanterns; artist)

@/roshanina (general dc, artist)

@/wingedrobins* (jason todd, kyle rayner, general dc, artist)

@/salzundhonig* (jason todd, kyle rayner, general dc, writer)

@/mickidona* (general dc, artist)

@/bisexualgreenlanterns* (general lanterns, general dc)

@/ky-landfill (general batfam, artist)

@/rillette (general dc, artist)

@/finalgirljasontodd (general dc, artist)

@/minnow-doodle-doo* (general batfam, artist)

@/brutaliakhoa (bruce wayne, talia al ghul, general dc)

@/fantastic-nonsense (general dc, also six of crows and 911 lmao)

@/roseworth* (general arrowfam, general dc)

and here's a batfam fic rec list I made forever and a day ago <3

OTHER STUFF

this doesn't have to do with anything but I just wanted to show off some of my favorite dc artists. the great thing about comics as a medium is that the art can add SOOOOO much to the experience (but unfortunately sometimes the art is ugly as FUCK so it's a 50/50 chance lmfao) but there are some artists who I would probably sell my soul to. btw.

travis moore

dan mora

belen ortega

and that's everything for this monster of a post!!! genuinely i wish u the best in ur dc adventures!!!!!!!! if this is unclear/confusing in any way or if you have any follow-up questions I would love to clarify and answer for you :] this was a lot of info all at once and I typed it all up in one sitting so idk how coherent it is ajskldfjlskhg

[minmin-pal]

it felt illegal not to give my 2 cents on the new min art lol, thE ART so pretty

i like how in the comic one even if it's like maybe a rough sketch (i'm assuming it is) you can still see all the details of your character lol, swirly eyes, the little side hair tuffs that look like ears but probably aren't, with the little mouth and the big swoop hair thing. it's nice/gen and may i return the "evolution??" and replace it with an "evolution!!", evolution did very much happen though i'm biased since i'm in the "all min art is good art" group, we even have "min art>>" shirts :D/j/lh

i don't even know what style you can classify the most recent as, but like- it looks good?? i've been looking at it for 5 minutes now, my eyes r starting to tear up but it's so nice to look at??/gen it's a bunch of colorful scribbles and i just adore how you were even able to fit in details here like the tilting face?? and the face is perspective accurate but also looks- so pretty? there's the metal fence thing and what i'm assuming to be wild shrubbery and what my brain said to be maybe lilypads? but also it really could just be more foliage and it looks amazing either way??  

nO BUT THE Shadow cast by the metal fence cascading (is that a word-?) over the plants and the person laying down, then there's also the warm light source?? oh my god?? this genuinely looks so cool holy heck?? /gen/pos

as always, your art is always so lovely and just so diverse, it's whiplash but the good kind lol (i did in fact not know there was a good kind of whiplash till i saw min art/lh/hj) amazing works as always min<3

thank you so muhc :sob: u just made my whole. early morning whenever i see like oc art i like seeing all the traits thatre like. recognizable the quirks and whatnot amd... u pointed out theswirly eyes and the ahoge and the tufts and the small moth :sob: im literally teary eyed that might be cuz im yawning a lot though (i cant remember if it was a sketch or not but im pretty sure it was just doodle i made)

why the hell is that so high quality

im really glad u like this one cuz. it was so experimental at a point i was just adding stuff cuz i could-- but it all turned out good at the end so it doesnt matter originally i was gonna end it here

but. it just felt lacking something i like this version, since it does like have good aspects its less. unrealistic in comparison to the other, it smore solid you could say like if youd taken the other and minimalized it

thanks pal c:

[blackberry-gingham]

For the ask game… our boy toad?

Yes! Let's give him another go lol

Favorite thing

Another one for the personality aspect tbh. He's very shy most of the time, but he can be assertive when he wants to be, so lots to play with when writing him which I like. However, I will say that his appearance is what drew me in at the very start, so maybe that.

I have no excuse here, I just like stereotypical looking British guys with the long face and huge, sad eyes combo 😪

Least favorite thing

The way that he's treated in comics and most media hnnnng. He's always someone else's clown or plot device, never his own person. Like.... NEVER. I get it, someone needs to be the henchman I guess- but this is just relentless sksksksk I'd like to see him with a moment of triumph or even redemption sometime.

At his core, he's really not a bad guy, he's just so severely rejected by literally everyone else, he feels like he has no choice but to play the villain half the time

Favorite Line

This is always hard for me bc 1) I never really pay close attention to lines and 2) I haven't actually consumed much content with Toad in it bc I don't usually like how he's represented ksskssk I did like his line in the Wolverine school comic or whatever where when he's asked what he had to say in his defense for all the shit with the hellfire club attack he says "All I did, I did for love"

It sticks out to me bc it shows he has at least something of a poetic or intellectual side, aside from the fact that he's actually very caring, perhaps even empathetic towards a romantic partner. It's also extremely fucking sad bc it goes to show how he's so easily manipulated all the time, considering he'll do quite literally ANYTHING to get his targeted person(s) to like him even just a little, but yeah

brOTP

Nightcrawler, for reasons you can read on my previous ask in this game lol, but also Spiderman. I just feel like he and peter have that "smart kid outcast" vibe together

OTP

I think I'm going to have to unironically say me again for this one skskkss Literally no one in the comics can be bothered to give even a FRACTION of a legitimate fuck about him, so 😔😪

nOTP

Again, also an unironic pretty much everyone but me. See above

Random HC

This is a headcannon that I can also back up with science to make a case for why it should be canon, but: Toad's toxin is so insanely powerful that, if the proper conditions were made available, he could kill guys with the regen power of even Wolverine with it, making him actually one of the deadliest, most dangerous mutants to live. However, he either doesn't even know this about himself, or refuses to take advantage of it. Like I said, he's not ACTUALLY villain

Unpopular opinion

I'm pretty sure last time I said that I find the x-men evolution version of toad actually kind of annoying, so idk if that counts if I say it again, but yeah.

Oh, someone was upset once when I said that his NEURO-toxin is potent enough to kill wolverine, sabretooth, or deadpool for good, even tho I, again, have air tight science to back me up on it- so there's that one ig lol. Their argument was a whole bunch of stuff, but at the very start they said that "unless his poison was somehow attacking the brain first, there's no way he could kill any of these characters bc Blah blah blah"

But guess what organ a NUERO toxin attacks first tho. Go on, guess.

Song I associate

You're going to have to pry my association between Toad and Liam Gallagher from my cold, dead hands lmao. I'll never not associate an Oasis song with him primarily- Lately I'm feeling either Rockin' Chair or Fade Away both off of The Masterplan album

The former has a line like "I'm older then I wish to be, this town holds no more for me" and the latter "While we are living, the dreams we have as children fade away". Basically just giving up on happiness and being disillusioned with life, both very accurate to his sentiments as a character

Favorite Picture

Idk my dude lmao. I like how he looks in contest of champions, the days of future past movie, and how he looks in that comic arc I was talking about with his quote, but only the ones where he actually looks like a person and not a little gremlin ksksks

Most of my own art of him I like as well, but that might just be me lol

[hardestgrove]

Thinking about the Emily-Kali thematic relationship as well as the Emily-Kali-El and Emily-El relationships because I gotta Do Some Stuff in this upcoming section. typing it out here because it'll hopefully help my brain work thru it if I'm poising it as "a thing I must explain to others".

Emily and Kali are frankly very similar characters but they have some very key differences, I likened it to a doctor doom vs magneto situation which is probably one of the more accurate ways to talk about them. both come from very traumatic backgrounds with stolen childhoods and come into supernatural abilities as they get older. both then opt to use this new ability to get what they want, but this is when they veer apart.

For those unaware of Comic Lore™, Doom is Romani and his people where persecuted and attacked in his childhood, which is how he lost his father (he already lost his mother to a bad deal with Mephisto, it's comics don't worry about it). He sets out to learn magic and science to try and save his mother. Blah blah fantastic four shit Reed Richards is his supervillain origin story, I don't care a lot abut FF content. He goes back to Latveria, his home country, and stages a very successful coup against the nobility and becomes king himself. In his youth he had a vision that the only future in which humanity survives is a future in which Doom rules the world, hence his entire comic career of intense megalomania and world domination schemes.

(cutting this here because this is genuinely terrifyingly long and i'm so sorry. please don't read this love yourself it's basically me just thinking out loud about Character Stuff and Foils and things in my fanfic using marvel comics as a vehicle.)

Magneto on the other hand is a German born Jewish holocaust survivor. As a youth he was sent to Auschwitz and to escape being the subject of experimentation by the likes of Mengele and Mister Sinister (again... comics...) he becomes a Sonderkommando (the prisoners forced to clean out the bodies from the gas chambers etc). He was the only survivor from his family but was reunited with his childhood love Madga, a Romani girl, while in the camps. They escape together and try to build a life for themselves and have a daughter, Anya. After a display of his mutant powers a mob set their house/the Inn they were staying in (he's been around since the 60s, details get reworked a bit) on fire and Magneto is left helpless as watches his young daughter burn to death. Terrified of him and his powers Madga felt unaware she was pregnant with Wanda and Pietro. Over the years after many encounters and conflicts Magneto comes to his philosophy of Mutant Superiority. That aggressive actions must be taken against the homo sapien oppressor and a mutant nation state be created so that they might live without fear.

Doom looks at the world and says "when Doom is God, the horrors committed against me will never occur again for the only Will will be the will of Doom". Magneto looks at the world and says "when my enemies are dead and the Sanctuary is built the horrors committed against me will never occur again because those who would commit them are dead or declawed by our united might". On the surface they can end up seeming very similar but at the end of the day they're very different sentiments and come from different places. Doom wants control and power, Magneto wants justice/revenge and safety.

This same situation of similar on the surface but very different with more thought comes up with Kali and Emily. Which is why I just subjected you to bullshit about Marvel Comics.

Emily is the oldest child of an abusive household and was parentified very early on. Her parents are a delusional dangerously shallow socialite addict and a barely contained by the rules of society serial killer. She was groomed at a young age to value cruelty, aggression, control and a lack of empathy (basically to be as close to him in personality as possible) and used by her father as the warden of her siblings creating tension between them even as she struggles to protect them. At age 8 she was present for the 77 black out riots in NYC and watched the city descend into chaos for 25 hours. At 12 she experiences the psychic feedback of the Hawkins Lab massacre committed by Creel, experiencing it from the pov of the victims and Creel himself simultaneously. To survive this and her abusive upbringing her mind turned to compartmentalization and disassociation, along with heavily leaning into her naturally intense personality, "if I am constantly moving there is no time to stop and think and thus this cannot effect me". She also has turned to controlling behavior like her father's to gain a sense of safety. Unlike Eleven her memories of the massacre are not repressed but they are heavily compartmentalized to the point of abstraction most of the time and are the reason she avoided experimenting or acknowledging her powers until Will's disappearance.

Kali was stolen from what we can assume was likely a fairly normal loving home in London at the age of 5 because of her powers and was tortured and experimented on from 5 until about 12-15. They say in S4 she escaped before the massacre and she's said to be 20 in S2 so the oldest she could've been at time of escape is 15. Similarly to Eleven she eventually found a new family and people to love and be loved by but unlike Eleven she wasn't able to protect them or them her from the people sent to recapture her. Kali after these experiences comes to decide that running, hiding and trying to be normal would never work so long as she is what she is and these people are out there. So instead she decides to go on the offensive and get revenge instead. During this time she also meets and saves others who have been hurt and cast aside by society and builds a new more capable family for herself, all of whom she genuinely cares for and who all respect her and what she can do but don't treat her like a freak or different. She is fueled by a frankly, righteous rage and immense grief at what has been done to her and what she lost because of it.

When you look at their actions and appearances they can come off as similar. They're both frankly not great people who can be ruthless, cruel and manipulative but are also are full of genuine love, care and empathy for the people they care for. They're both jaded goths with psychic powers that are more geared to the telepathy end than the telekinesis end. They both have connections to the Hawkins Lab and Eleven. They both take on older sibling/mentor roles to Eleven.

But Emily like Doom works from a place of needing control and power. She is willing to violate the autonomy of others to maintain or gain control so that she feels secure. If everything is under her command then she can Stop All Bad Things From Happening. She can never be psychically Clockwork Orange'd again. She never has to be under the thumb of monsters again. "When Doom is God, the horrors committed against me will never occur again for the only Will will be the will of Doom".

Kali meanwhile is like Magneto. She does this for justice, to avenge herself and her loved ones/"siblings" and the horrors they went through. She also does it to have a purpose, to cope with what happened and find a reason to keep moving forward. There's always the question of "what happens when they're all dead?" but that's not something she can think about. She's willing to go to incredible lengths for her goals but generally prefers to leave civilians out of it. She wants Eleven with her because they're Family and she genuinely cares for her but also because they're more powerful together and can get justice more effectively as a team. "when my enemies are dead and the Sanctuary is built the horrors committed against me will never occur again because those who would commit them are dead or declawed by our united might".

Similar on the surface but Objectively Different when you dig in deeper. And that's where the tension comes from. They can both completely understand where the other is coming from and sympathize with each other quite a lot but after a lifetime of being controlled Kali sees Emily's controlling nature and need for dominance as a threat and cannot trust her. While Emily sees Kali as a threat because she refuses to do anything that isn't on her terms or tolerate anything that infringes on her autonomy. She cannot be controlled so she cannot be trusted.

Then you throw in Eleven, who for the sake of simplicity I'm going to say is solely paralleling Professor Xavier, though an argument can also be made for Jean Grey or a mix of the two. Again, some Comic Lore™ to help set the stage here.

Xavier's father was a scientist who died, his mother remarried one of his coworkers, Kurt Marko, who was only after their money. Him and his son, Cain, were abusive to Xavier and his step-father was also abusive to his mother. While he attempted help her by sharing her pain with his telepathy his mother ending up drinking herself to death. The only good thing Marko ever did was save the boys from a fire though he died in the process. Xavier goes on to graduate college at 16 and goes on an graduate degree binge until he's drafted into the Korean war, during which he uses his telepathy to find missing and injured soldiers. Takes a year long vacation after the war to figure himself out, first meets Amahl Farouk/The Shadow King the very first truly evil mutant Xavier ever met and helps him realize how dangerous they can be. He kills Farouk in a psychic battle and then meets Magneto while volunteering at a hospital in Israel Magneto is also working at, this relationship and subsequent falling out is also critical in the forming of his philosophy. After the accident that paralyzes him Xavier returns to America and forms the X-Men, a mutant paramilitary group of at the time child soldiers who's purpose is to defend mankind from evil mutants and try to get people to see that mutants are not the enemy.

If we boil down his thinking like we did the other two we get "people are capable of horrible things but also incredible things and I will try to facilitate the good while defending against the bad." Which is a bit more nuanced than it usually gets boiled down to, because if he was truly backing peaceful alternatives to Magneto and peaceful co-existence the X-Men would not exist or be a paramilitary group. While Xavier is always ready to hold out a hand first, he is not afraid to make it a fist.

We can see how there's some connections here between Eleven and Xavier, especially in things like being essentially turned into a bloodhound by the government and first traumatic encounter with the first person who is truly Like Them which results in their first taking of a life with their powers. As well as their more balanced view on the world. Eleven and Xavier, despite both having plenty of good reasons to, don't have any interest in control or revenge, though they're also not going to necessarily say "no thanks" to them either. Eleven wants to, chooses to, and believes in the goodness of others while also remembering that danger is everywhere and some people are Bad People and when confronted with Bad People doesn't react with pacifism."People are capable of horrible things but also incredible things and I will try to facilitate the good while defending against the bad."

The thing is when you also bring in Eleven I also have to shift the comparison point in Marvel Comics for Emily from Doctor Doom to being primarily Emma Frost. Doctor Doom is fairly accurate in general and in the context of comparing Emily and Kali he doesn't work when comparing Eleven, Kali and Emily or Eleven, Kali, Emily and Creel. Doom is not a mutant, Magneto and Xavier are and if they were all in Marvel Comics Eleven, Kali, Emily and Creel would all me mutants also. Philosophy, morals, ethics etc are all part of the mutant debate and all the leaders of the community argue and discuss their opposing philosophies constantly. Once you bring in more of the ST psychics it makes more sense to shift all the characters used in comparisons to ones from the same franchise.

While in the past I've likened Emily to Amahl Farouk/The Shadow King it's more vibes/abilities wise and the characterization of Farouk in Legion (FX). If anyone here would actually be compared to the Shadow King it's Creel.

So once again-- god I'm so sorry about this-- I'm going to explain some Comic Lore™.

Emma is one of 4 children from a wealthy New England family but was seen as a failure by her father for her poor grades and was shunted to the side until her powers manifested and she used them to do well in school. Around this time Xavier tried to recruit her but Emma and her father both refused. Emma had an affair with her teacher Mr. Kendall who ironically inspired her to be good teacher who doesn't have affairs with their teenaged students. Shortly after her affair was discovered her older brother, Christian's homosexuality was revealed. Christian who was fairly estranged after turning to drugs and alcohol to cope with their father's abuse attempted suicide and was sent to a mental institution. He was passed over automatically as heir and their father chose Emma, she refused and went off to make her own way in life. Eventually Emma Frost rose through the ranks of the Hellfire Club (yes we have one here too), an Illuminati-esque organization of freaky rich people who love meddling in everything. Emma took on the role the White Queen as a leader of the group. In this new position of power Emma completed her dream and built the Massachusetts Academy a rival school to Xavier's. However tragically, all her students were massacred by Trevor Fitzroy while she was in a coma and the loss changed her profoundly. She began working with the X-Men after it.

Emma is known for her cunning and ruthlessness as well as her skill. She's intelligent, charismatic, manipulative, secretive and a part of like 8 secret super cabals. She's also strong willed, caring, compassionate and deeply dedicated to the nurturing and protection of those in her care. She'll do unspeakable shit to you but she would never hurt a child. Emma encapsulates herself in an iconic line of hers-- "That's how I survived. Time and time again. That's my secret. I survived because I willed it to be. How did I survive apocalyptic fire? I simply refused to feel the flames."

We can see here how in this expanded context Emma is a better comparison to use than Doom for Emily. Like Doom, Emma deals very much in the world of power and control but Emma's background is already much closer to Emily's giving us a more close parallel. They're both coming from abusive wealthy families they both have psychic abilities and rocky beginnings with them (Emma sent her whole school unconscious during a mental breakdown once). Both are willing to kill and torture to get what they want. Emily and Emma have made it this far in life by simply refusing to be beaten down, by harnessing their own intensity to keep getting up over and over relentlessly. Emily at main times later in the series comes out on top against the likes of the Mind Flayer and Creel cause it's a mind fight and she Simply Refuses To Lose. Full Stop. "That's how I survived. Time and time again. That's my secret. I survived because I willed it to be. How did I survive apocalyptic fire? I simply refused to feel the flames."

If what Magneto/Kali wants is justice/revenge and safety, Xavier/Eleven wants community and safety and Emma/Emily wants power, control and community. We can already see overlaps and a spectrum forming.

Emma, Xavier and Magneto very frequently butt heads about what should and shouldn't be done. Xavier historically weaponizes children, Emma teaches children to fight because she knows the writing is on the wall and she wants them to have a shot, Magneto teaches children to fight so they can join him in building the better world and to protect their brethren. Emma and Xavier have similar backgrounds but she has little to no real respect for him while he and Magneto have a deep respect and understanding. They all have the same goal but different methods and ideologies and hidden agendas.

Emma and Magneto consistently poke holes in Xavier's philosophy and throw his own deeply unethical actions back in his face but he remains true to his goal of trying to gain equality as peacefully as realistically possible. While Xavier points out the flaws in their darker, more bloodthirsty natures and condemns their willingness to jump right to murder as a solution.

Emily and Kali are both older than Eleven and have spent less of their lives in the Lab than Eleven has. Their world views are both more well rounded than Eleven's given they have more exposure to it and more jaded as they've had more time to be worn down by it. They both want Eleven on their side and take issue with fundamental pieces of the other. Both are manipulative and do not like to be manipulated. Both however feel INTENSE affection and protectiveness over Eleven which can also be a point of contention when they do not agree on what is best for her. Neither think that Eleven should be left with the other.

The relationship between Eleven and Emily is much better than Xavier and Emma there's still some fundamental inability to understand each other. They simply have completely different world views. Because of who she is and what she's been through Emily works to deny her own controlling impulses for Eleven's benefit. She physically puts herself between Eleven and danger where she can. There are ways were, like Magneto and Xavier, Kali and Eleven will always be closer and understand each other in ways that Emily can never understand or be apart of. But what Emily has and Kali lacks at the time we meet her is a firm understanding of the role of the older sibling, especially in an abusive/dangerous household. Emily agrees 100% with Kali's quest to kill all the Lab workers for revenge. She would not willingly take Eleven with her to commit one of those murders, the only reason she allows it in the story is because she's dissociating at the time.

Emily, as an older sibling and protector to a girl Eleven's age already understands how Not Okay and damaging this is. Understands that while Eleven is capable it doesn't mean she should and that it's her place as the older person to tackle these things for her. Kali/Magneto would put a gun in Eleven/A Young Xavier's hand because they wish they had one at that age. Emma/Emily tells Eleven/A Young Xavier to go and work on their judo with another student, takes the gun and pistol whips the man to death themselves because if you want something done right you do it yourself and children shouldn't have guns anyway.