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krinsbez · 3 years

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The DC Identity-Swap AU: A World/Storybuilding Fanfic Project (that needs a better name)

What follows is what has been come up with for a DC Universe where many heroes and villains ended up with different identities, initially conceived of by comradepitrovsky and expanded on by me and others.

In some cases, the said heroes ended up with different supporting cast members, in others not.

Let us begin, with the founding members of the Justice League: -Superwoman: Diana Kent, the Last Daughter of Paradise. For…reasons, Themyiskara had to go to another dimension, but baby Diana couldn’t come, so at Hippolyta’s request, the Olympians sent her to a Patriarch’s World couple who would raise her right, namely Jonathan and Martha. She’s dating Lois Lane and her archenemy is Lex Luthor, with whom, I want to be clear, there is ZERO Foe Yay, because she’s disgusted by him, and he’s intimidated by her. -Green Lantern: Kal-El of Krypton, who the Guardians appointed to lead the Corps through the transition to running itself. Came to Earth because he needed a break, stuck around because sweet RAO this planet needs help. He managed to keep Sinestro from going off the deep end, so he’s part of the Council Kal set-up to help him run the Corps, along with Kilowog, Mogo, Abin Sure and…not sure. -Zatara: Bruce Wayne. After his parent’s deaths, Bruce was adopted by their close friend John Zatara, who realized the kid was tied to the demon Barbatos, and they figgered out a way for him to use that power for good. -Captain Marvel: Barry Allen, while studying Forensic Science in college, took some classes, and became friends, with Archeology Student C. C. Batson (there is considerable overlap between the two fields, right?). When Batson and his wife were murdered during a dig in Egypt, Barry offered to help with the investigation, and ended up becoming SHAZAM’s champion. -The Flash: Hal Jordan, test pilot for Ferris Aircraft, was struck by lightning whilst flying their latest prototype, and ended up tied to the Speed Force. (Note, like Johnny and Jessie Quick, can fly) -Hawkman and Hawkgirl: Arthur Curry and Dinah Lance. The former encountered the wreck of a Thanagarian spaceship whilst exploring underwater and ended up with the soul of Prince Khufu. Dinah was hanging around her Uncle Carter's place and had something similar happen with the soul of Chay-Ara. -Martian Manhunter. J'onn is exactly the same. Other thoughts, somewhat random, in no particular order: -Ollie was zeta beam'd from The Island to Rann instead of Adam Strange. -Adam is instead Metamorpho. -Eel managed to drag himself to Slaughter Swamp before succumbing to his wounds and so ended up becoming Swamp Thing. -Owing to…complicated feelings WRT to her adopted brother, Zatanna ended up hanging around with her dad’s colleague Thaddeus Brown, and took up his mantle instead, becoming Madame Miracle, Magical Escape Artist! -T. O. Morrow built Red Torpedo first, she got possessed by a water elemental somehow, rebelled against his programming, and ended up traveling to Atlantis, overthrew the tyrant Orm, was acclaimed Queen, married Mera, and now fights crime on the surface as Aquawoman. (I’m gonna say she sometimes wears a human disguise that looks Aquawoman-11, because I fancy her and will use almost any excuse to get her into one of these things) -Ray Palmer and Ralph Dibny became Firestorm. -Instead of becoming Cheetah, Barbara-Ann seized the power of Teth-Adam and became Captain Marvel’s archenemy. -Pam became the Cheetah instead, and is an enemy of The Flash, with no small amount of Foe Yay. -In addition to that, Hal is also in a Love Triangle with Carol and Lady Blackhawk, who came to work for Ferris after arriving in the 21st Century due to time travel shenanigans. Arguably a Love Quadrangle, since he's competing with his alter ego. -Selina and Helena are both Star Sapphires and both of them are pursuing Kal-El, who is receptive to both. -Barry is still with Linda, Wally is Capt. Marvel, Jr. -The Batson Twins became Superboy and Supergirl, but I haven't come up with specifics. Help please? -Bruce adopted Raven and Garth. Suggestions for codenames? -In an effort to gain the power to defeat Superwoman, Lex made a deal with Ares, confident that he could handle the God of War. He is now possessed by Ares, but has no idea, assuming that the ideas Ares puts in his head are entirely his own, because he’s too arrogant to believe anyone else can control or manipulate him. It helps that Ares largely approves of Lex’s ideas and doesn’t need to do much. As a side-eeffect, Lex’s power armor has a distinctly Ares-y feel to it. -Klarion is in Bruce’s Rogue’s Gallery. Said Rogue's Gallery also includes the Sivana family. Which means that yes, Bruce is dating Beautia. -Bruce's archnemesis is the man who in the normal reality became Black Manta, who I've always headcanoned as choosing to torment Arthur purely by random chance, and obviously picked differently here. Since there's no need for a nautical theme, he uses a different codename; Black Bat. -The first thing Kal-El did after completing training was rescue Kandor. Brainiac swore vengeance, and upon escaping from the Sciencells, discovered how to harness the Yellow Light of Fear. In addition to using it himself, he also unleashed a number of Phantom Zone criminals, took over their minds, and equipped his enslaved army with Yellow Rings.

-The Olympians left Diana some magic thingummy that allowed her to be trained in Amazon combat techniques, etc. in her dreams or something, because she needs something to make up for the lack of super-senses, but if she has the Lasso, I'm not sure how Lex can be a problem for her?

-Dick was adopted by the Dibnys, got himself the Gingold Extract, and fights crime as Firestorm’s sidekick, Elastic Lad.

-Mister Mind is one of Diana’s Rogues.

-Dr. Psycho is in Hal's Rogue's Gallery. Presumably, wossname the guy who framed him so he could steal his fiancee Mavra didn't do quite as good a job gaslighting her, she found out the truth, and he murdered her to cover it up. He is therefore unable to blame her for the plot in a feeble and cowardly attempt to save himself when Psycho comes after him. This leads to misogyny being a less prominent aspect of Psycho's particular psychosis, with his primary targets instead being "Alpha Male"-types like the man who ruined his life. And hey, here's Hal Jordan....

-Gen. Eiling as Reverse-Flash, Y/N? -Thawne become Sabbac, Y/N? -I think I'm gonna say Pam still has her canon powerset in addition to being the Cheetah. -Since one of the best things about Hal is how he hates being told what to do, but is most comfortable in jobs where he's in a disciplined hierarchy...Zinda recruits him to create a new version of the Blackhawks. Not sure who else is in it; I can think of a bunch of ace pilots in the DCu, but they’re all American, and the Blackhawks should be an international operation. Possibility; the same temporal shenaniganry that dropped Zinda in the modern-day also spat-out Hans Von Hammer, the Enemy Ace. -I'm adding Captain Nazi to Hal's Rogue's Gallery. Since Hal is Ambiguously Jewish, his sidekick is Inuit, and in this 'verse he's part of a team that's a legacy of an group founded to fight the Nazis, I feel like it works. Also, Hal's other villains thus far are a bisexual woman, a dwarf, and a US Air Force General, people who are naturally inclined to have beef with him and vice versa. -Abra-Kadabra being one of Bruce's villains, Y/N?

-Circe is one of Bruce’s Rogues and they have UST.

@videodromeda

#DC Comics Fanfic #DC Identityswap AU

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umbral-stigmata-unbound · 3 years

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Before the Dawn AU | Vincent Valentine (long post)

Music Theme Found Here

Basic AU Info from Profile:

In this verse, Vincent stumbled into the grasps of two elders of a rather cult-like coven, seeking to make a Feral Vampire, a demon-power gifted blood sucker of legend. He had been investigating the disappearance of his father, which led him to a beautiful woman….and between her and her cruel mate who she loved by obligation of sire-hood and despised all at once, Vincent Valentine was trapped, tormented, and eventually turned before he had a chance to understand and break free. But not just turned, he was forced through many rituals; which involved foul blood of old, much pain on his part, and a few extra ingredients, not least of which a piece of sacred crystal that his two Sires risked a great deal to get, and would eventually pay for dearly--all in hopes to make him their success. And in a way, he was. Where most others became mute and wild, or died, or were barely strong enough to go out and hunt, he was strong, and held certain abilities connected to other beings that were unlike what normal vampires could wield (instead of just increased speed and strength and endurance, and immortality and enhanced sight, etc, he came to possess influence over some predators as well as predator like deformities he could summon (claws, a tail, horns, glowing eyes), blood influence over weaker vampires to where they could be glamoured like humans, and a small level of telekinesis, and telepathy with those he chooses to share a blood connection with, or is forced to). They intended to use him, though, and after years of torment and tests, he finally broke free of their control (to some degree, it was due to the Madame Sire, Lucrecia, and the fact that she seemed torn between cruelty and a gentle regretful heart that sought to help him and free him, as well as stop further unholy experiments of their Sire Hojo). His Madam Sire was lost to him, and it was some years before he learned of her true fate. And one he came to influence the rest of the coven himself, stronger than his Lord Sire, Hojo fled, with Vincent intent on hunting him down and ending him. From that moment on, Valentine sought to liberate vampires trapped by cruel covens, making one of his own that collected strays and those in need, and he makes a point to hunt down the disgusting wretches of the world. If he was going to be a monster, he might as well be the nightmare to other monsters.

~ ~. ~

Name: Vincent Valentine (also known as the Blood Demon, or the Galian Fang)

Species: Feral Vampire (experimentally/ritually altered)

Role/Profession/Job: Former life = Paranormal Investigator and Handler (sometimes exterminator). Mid-Life during his time with the cult = Experiment subject. Current Life = Coven Leader (of the Valentine Coven), Hunter of the Irredeemable Damned, Shadow Aid to the Lost Damned

Age: 467

Nature: Before his change, he was a serious, committed human male, a hunter, trained by his father to know a monster/creature/abnormal being when he saw it, and know what to accept of it and what not, leading him to become a somewhat firm hunter and investigator. That ended when he found himself in the United Coven. After such time, he was angry, thirsty, and wild, being a feral being as he was. He knew how to handle a being like himself, but not how to be one. There was a time of chaos, but eventually, he found his control. Now, he is very much an intense, analytical Feral Vampire, only takes the blood of the willing and consenting, or the blood of those too damned to have any right. He was at a time ashamed of his more monster like state, but has sense come to have some level of peace with it and is known to be very intimidating and animalistic when on Hunts, but patient, quiet, and kind to those who deserve it.

Personality: Before his change, he was a bit secluded and inwardly curious with a big imagination--a bit of a story teller and artist, which bred a desire to see good in the world despite his family only searching for the bad. But years progressed and his role in life shifted. Seriousness and duty drove him, and drove him too far. He wanted to do right by his late father, and was a champion for the truth and balance amongst the dark. After his change, there was a secluded selfish streak as he tried to make sense of his new life, and had to let go of most of his self disgust and rage at his fate. Now, he thrives as a hand of justice, silent and secluded as he can tend to be, and an unconventional caretaker of the lost and misunderstood.

History: He was troubled but committed. His family had made great strides in their work as Investigative Hunters, but they’d also lost quite a lot as well. For some time, he did not wish to follow his fathers work. But his father fell to an unknown Monster, and it left Vincent to carry on the legacy or leave their line disgraced and the world without a Valentine to make right the horrors of the truly damned. So he took up the mantle and the gun mad especially for him by his father, Cerberus, and began where his father left off. He found that his father was perhaps too old school and harsh on the subjects he would hunt, and made sure to study every facet of the situation before dealing out punishment--half of his targets would be left spared with warning and offer of support as well as absolute end were they ever to betray his trust and expectations, and the other half he exterminated without hesitation when it was made clear they were irredeemable. His hunt eventually led him to the Union Coven, very questionable and so secluded that he couldn’t get information on them without finding himself within the coven that turned out to be more of a cult. In the beginning he was welcomed, and treated as an ally, but he got too comfortable, and was taken advantage of. The Coven leader, Hojo, and his mate, Lucrecia, took him in, still trying to win his favor despite trapping him, and told him nonsense about a great and powerful breed of vampire, and how they sought to birth it into the world. He was against it, and the more he struggled, the more they restricted him, until he was locked away in a dungeon, slowly being drained. When he was near death, he found himself bitten by both mates, and his transition process was put on hold until they could get everything they needed to use him as an experimental trial for the Feral Vampire--something they had thus far failed with. It took a great deal of splicing, blood, and magical artifacts, but finally...they succeeded. Amidst it all, Hojo made it clear he was without a heart or care, he simply wanted to create monstrous wonders. And Lucrecia...was a mystery. One moment she was gleefully at her mates side, toying and testing, and the next she begged Vincent’s forgiveness and tended to him in a very doting fashion. A breed of conflicted, toxic love was coaxed within Vincent, and he was never sure if it was true, or just a part of their experiments. He hated and loved her, and wanted to be free, taking her with him. But it was not to be. In time, his power developed and grew, showing he was a success...and he took advantage of their success. Lucrecia was missing the day he broke free, and Hojo escaped. All beasts, loyal or mindless, within the coven, were wiped out by Vincent. He spent time hunting Hojo to destroy him, Lucrecia to demand answers, and then time struggling to come to terms with what he had become and the hunger within him. A great deal of guilt and suffeirng came, before he found his way again. In time, he sought to make right again the imbalance, but with a broader view than he had before. Now, he fought for the innocent humane beings, as well as the misunderstood creatures, and fought against the beasts without a shred of goodness or heart. In time it turned into a habit, to collect the misunderstood that were on their own, usually Vampires but sometimes other, and so his Coven began. It is a community of true, proper, balanced and caring unity and many of this within his coven follow in his footsteps to help better the world.

Powers/Abilities:

Normal Vampire abilities like increased strength, speed, durability, immortality, and very heightened senses.

Some level of the traditional shapeshifting, but sometimes tied into his Feral abilities.

Influence over susceptible/weaker predators (due to an Alpha-like nature to his Feral side), as well as predator-like deformities he could summon (claws, a tail, horns, glowing eyes).

Blood influence over weaker vampires to where they could be glamoured like humans, along with his natural influence on what few Vampires he would ever create, if any.

A small level of telekinesis, and telepathy with those he chooses to share a blood connection with, or is forced to connect with due to other reasons.

Shroud flight.

Presence/Authority amongst lower demons.

Some minor demonic magic.

Possible unexplored link to a demon.

#Before the Dawn | AU Verse #Vampire Vincent #crimsonwings ~ Vincent Valentine #AU Info post #paranormal fantasy au #advertising for vampire vincent valentine #feel free to request!#simply DM or send an ask and specify muse and that you're requesting Before the Dawn AU #mood board #aesthetic board #my mood board edit

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theholycovenantrpg · 4 years

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In the beginning was DAMIEN WARD, a HALF DEMON loyal to the cause of the DEMONS. He is said to be IMMORTAL and uses HE/HIM pronouns. In this New Testament he serves as the LEADER of the VICES. Blessed be his name.

THE INDELIBLE MARK.

Damien Ward’s advent had been wrought long before he had entered the world. A slice of carnage, the Antichrist would be spat out into the earth, falsely draping himself over God’s ethereal throne; though he would never quite fulfil this prevision, he is a force feared nonetheless. The Son of Lucifer was tucked away in Hell’s mouth when he was only a child—there, his providence burgeoned beneath Judas’s watchful gaze. Since razing his father, Damien has served as the self-anointed Vice of Wrath and Leader of the Vices, positions counterpoised not merely by his birthright but also the throes of fidelity he is capable of stirring. Woven by sublime beauty and lurid horror, he is able to enchant most to his wicked will, a sense of torment and unease washing over all those who dare venture close, and as he moves, a hollow cold moves with him. One seems to understand him as a creature cut from calamity. His touch causes things to rot by subjecting it to an expeditious ageing process: anything his fingers brush over is reduced to ash. Just as God had forged the world, pulling his Creation from his rib, Damien is its ruination, the ability to rend apart God’s cosmos his own. Angels are immune to his touch, fashioned as they are from divinity, though this does not diminish his power. The prodigiousness of his abilities often wander beyond his command, and thus he has resolved to wearing protective gloves, forged from crushed angel’s wings collected in the first wars on earth, to maintain control of his skill. Unlike his hordes of beasts, Damien wears no wings, but instead has the red mark of Ouroboros branded into his neck: a symbol of rebirth and death, marking out what might once have been his world to come.

THE HISTORY.

DROWNING TW, GORE TW

Monstrosity is a necessary ingredient in beauty. So the woman who would be his mother had always believed. Everything beautiful was also dreadful, because it was twisted and full of fear. Wild from violence, it demanded your horror; it needed you to be afraid. This was what had brought her before the dais of the Morning Star: though there was something crooked in the angel, there was also sublimity, that filial breath of God still curled timelessly around his rib. She mouthed a prayer, not for the beast entombed in Hell, but the changeling, half-angelic, his ancient wings spread so wide that they swallowed up the sun. The worship of Lucifer was hardly extraordinary, dipping hands into black rivers and coming up with gold, but falling onto your knees for the Light Bearer was a marvel. As if by some numinous draw, God’s dwindled torch tore his way up through the earth, she was that much of a wonder to him. The woman understood him; when she gawped into his eyes, she appeared to seize something masked in him; she seemed to know precisely who and what he was, far before that secret had betrayed itself to him. His ambition hooked itself around her worship, and though she hoped he would stay with her, he refused. Instead, he parted from her with a gift. From their courtship grew something entirely unexpected: a child. Lucifer cradled the boy in his arms, a creature that should not exist, but nevertheless did. Such was Lucifer’s power. Yet, a prophecy girdled itself around him. The portent held him captive. The Son of Lucifer will eat the world, the soothsayer foresaw. He will put his mouth to the earth, skies, and ravines deep below. He will chew up and spit out all things, even the Morning Star. Though he could not bring himself to kill the child, a seed of strife spread like sickness in Lucifer’s chest. He fled uneasily back to his caves, leaving mother and child behind. He hoped never to see them again.

Though Damien seemed to be an enchantment of his own, his mother conceded she found him, at times, quite strange—yet that, she supposed, also made him beautiful. That was what she had come to love in the Morning Star, no? Beauty, like a breath of winter that climbs your spine. But when she held Damien in her arms, tickling his feet or cupping his cheek, he would not laugh, he would not blink, and the feeling dug deeper. When they walked together in the forest, his cold hand in hers, savage beasts and ferocious animals seemed not merely allayed by his presence but, by some odd providence, drawn to him. Slowly, the woman began to imagine the rot that spread from the centre of her child’s heart. She saw how he had inherited his father’s blasphemy, which before she had refused to see, and she watched as the final morsel of divinity ebbed, wave-like, away from him. She winced as it buried itself beneath the soil. She could not escape his unblinking gaze, the muscles in his face refusing to jerk upwards, even when the child had cause to smile. Damien Ward looked always like a cold creature who never changed. His parentage hung above his mother like a dark blanket, and after eight years of contrite motherhood she finally found herself at the end of her thread, the yarn red as blood. Fog wound itself around the trees, and when the mist had cleared a scene of terror washed over her: there lay a body lying limply in the moss; she watched as the wolves walked meekly to join Damien at his side, their bloodied mouths licking gently at his fingers. Something evil had revealed itself to her that day and, unable to bear the plague she’d wrought, she stepped into the river and felt its waves wash over her.

Her death seemed to stir something powerful below the ground and, its summon extending a dark, claw-like hand beneath the soil, Judas answered its call. Something primal began to knot itself together then: if Damien could run with wolves and bend them to his will, emerging high above them, then perhaps he could also do the same in Hell. Lucifer’s progeny was a source of wicked admiration to him, but he was also, he remembered, his ruin, and thus the impassible ravine grew between them. Damien let his father drape his dark divinity over him, all while his stare burned through bone to reach the throne. After all, Lucifer hadn’t carved his crown to create a legacy. He’d carved it to rule. Damien wouldn’t find a father in the Morning Star, but he found the mite of one in his Right Hand, Judas. He guided him like a beast untethered through the orbit of Hell, ingratiating themselves with all the spectres they might one day cup in their palms. Judas taught Damien how to whittle a lie with his tongue and when to loosen the knot; how to inspire conjoined loyalty and how to galvanise a legacy of fear. Ruinous, the demons flocked to him and, mantled from Lucifer beneath their shadowy veil, the Antichrist began to steal carvings of his father’s kingdom. After an epoch of collusion, the soothsayer’s words attached themselves to Damien like marionette strings and, feeling their strange movement, he felt compelled to follow them. Razing his father from his throne, Judas’s cadaverous hand behind him, hordes of beasts gnawed hungrily at his split kingdom—chewing his father up in his maw, he spat him out, an umbral crown resting on his brow. At Judas’s own encouragement, the Antichrist shaped his infernal army and, curse-spun, a score of ghosts turned their teeth to earth.

Their scourge lasted what must have felt like a millennia: Damien took the world in his teeth and shook it violently, chewing until he reached bone, while Judas built. Always, as he was tearing and grinding, spoiling and shattering slices of the world, there was Judas lingering, wraith-like, behind him—sculpting the wreckage. The Son of Lucifer stood vanward at the front of a legion of terrible monsters, turning their blades and claws on those who had once been God’s heavenly servants; loss or victory, Damien made relics of them, towed by his coven of beasts. He ate away at cities, pulled down what remained of civilisations, making ruins of things that once held fast—before long, the torrid Southern Lands were firmly clamped within his grip. When the demons were done carving their kingdom from the ground, the threat of the Heretics was stiffly dissolved, and Damien Ward settled himself in an invisible throne, a mass of angelic vestiges displayed deliberately around him. As his father had done once. At last pleased with the empire, which was his in all but name, he sighed; the Antichrist yawned out a new age. And yet, the shadows around him have begun to stir. Black-mouthed, they threaten to gorge themselves on pieces of him. After all, what are you to do when your divine purpose is stolen from you, when your reason for existence is, at last, fulfilled? Are teeth not made to chew? What remains for the howling stomach to sate itself on except a dull sliver? Though Damien continues to be feared as much as he is revered, the needle-prick of his claw begins to lose its hold. Stomachs churning with something dark and vicious, a listless hum starts to burn through his kingdom—and at its centre, something new begins to sprout.

THE CONNECTIONS.

ABADDON, AZAZEL & JUDAS: Dynasty. He was not made to be loved, but he is anyway. On earth, the Antichrist had run with a pack of wolves, far more attuned to their monstrous mores than that of humanity, and in Hell he was no different—all devils, they love each other like animals. While the demons were bent on tearing their king from his throne, they seemed happy to bow reverently to another monarchy which naturally grew in its stead; though Hell had cast out its crown, it seemed to return, ghost-like, to settle itself on each of their brows—and Damien felt he was above them all. He spoils Azazel wildly; though they fight as often as they show affection, he has no scruples about answering her every whim. Though there are times he finds her almost too spoiled to bear, he recognises his share of blame in that. Thick as thieves, it is practically impossible to tell her no. In Abaddon, he finds a strangely distant sort of maternal figure capable of embracing the parts of him that his biological mother never had been. Though she tends to abstain from passing comment, he often feels her cold, tender judgement on him. As for Judas, their relationship is infinitely more complicated: he is at once the closest thing he has ever had to family and his severest enemy. Everything he is flows directly from Judas; peeled behind his dark eyes waits every shred of advice he has ever been offered, every word of comfort, every strategy, suggestion, scheme. It is due to Judas that Damien can settle himself over their kingdom and silently call himself king—yet, is Judas not king too?

RAUM: Vassal. He doesn’t always have such personal relationships with those who promise to serve diligently under him, but Raum, he is willing to admit, is the exception that proves the rule. Damien had given something to each of his Vices: a common enemy to sink their fangs into, a kingdom to take up the cudgels for—yet he had offered Raum something more. He had offered her a purpose. The two have spoken at length over her hope to repossess that lost flake of her past, and while he’d first sympathised with her hollowing plight, he offered an alternative. Instead of searching for your history, why not cut out your future? Like stars, he plucked her dreams from the sky and offered them to her, turning them over in his infernal palms; ever since, her loyalty has hardened like alloy. It is to Raum that Damien most often turns for advice, feeling the heavy ambition of his Right Hand eat like plague at the room; having put her energy into the future they might sculpt rather than the fragments of the past she could never know, they make a decidedly visionary pair. Though whispers of dissent begin to girdle around his leadership, Damien knows well that this is a fealty that cannot be broken. Raum, after all, has made a home of his shadow.

ESTIENNE WICKEN: Little Echo. Estienne is unimpeachable evidence to the world that those who are exactly alike do not always get along. Sometimes, a likeness shared is often the cause of intense dislike. With a huff of insolence, Damien acknowledges that the tale of the Antichrist is well-known, whispers of the dark and ruinous monster that chews on pieces of the world, and thus he supposes that the emergence of an imitator is only natural. An imitator, after all, is all they are: an impressionist, an echo, a morsel of his wicked self. Estienne thinks of themself as something like a god; both beastly and beautiful, they arrange a thousand mirrors around themself and drink up their image. Full of malice, this only causes Damien’s lip to curl. At the Antichrist’s fingers waits the power to eliminate all life, taking what is gold and turning it to putrid rot, but Estienne is only the dulled shadow of a shadow—and there were already plenty of those in Hell when he’d left it. Damien tells himself that they’re hardly worth his time, that once you ignore a pest it inevitably fades from view, but Estienne draws his hatred nonetheless. He may think of them as nothing more than a splinter of the profanity long settled into his bones, but there is evidently something in them that causes him to recoil. Rotten, he makes sure Estienne knows of his disdain.

NERISSA: Agenda. It is to Judas that he has always turned to for schemes, but Damien delights in the fact that this is a plot he has hatched entirely of his own accord. Like cadaverous, wandering ghosts, the Horseman are a deep pool of limitless potential: like dipping a hand into an unfathomable milky void, it is possible to touch them and still learn nothing new about them. They are entirely without definition. In Nerissa, however, he has identified a point of recognition; they are a beast, and they feed on it. She gives way to aggression and wrath in a way similar to himself—while his is a cold outrage, like the breath of winter, theirs is hot as coals. There’s camaraderie amongst monsters, and while they have yet to coax out all of each other’s secrets, they have decided that they must stick together; after all, in times of peace, monsters are so few. What Damien hopes to gain from the relationship is less clear, though—a bloodied ribbon binds them together, but since the fall of Lucifer, Damien has found himself reneging on his promises of desolation and wastage. Nerissa, on the other hand, was wrought from calamity; perdition follows their every step. Though there is much they share, there is also much that sets them apart.

Damien is portrayed by Woo Do-hwan and was written by CAS. He is currently TAKEN by MAL.

#original rp #angel rp #fantasy rp #rpg #biblical rp #m #d #damien ward #c #cm

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years

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Why (most of) the 2010s Marvel legacy characters didn’t work

For Marvel characters I think it comes off as profoundly undermining when they get legacies, at least in the specific way Marvel attempted this throughout the 2010s.

To explain this we need to actually first look at DC’s characters in order to compare and contrast why legacies for them tend to work out better than they do for Marvel.

Simply put back in the 1930s-1950s (if not even later) DC’s characters were almost always created as powers first, people second. Wish fulfilment fantasy figures over flawed mere mortals.

Consequently you could legacy Green Lantern and the Flash in the 1950s and then do so again in the 1980s-1990s because so so long as you had a guy with a ring and another guy with super speed you were retaining the essence of both characters, the fundamental point and appeal of them.

But the Marvel characters were the other way around and practically deliberately designed to be so.

Thor was the story of the life and times of Thor Odinson. Spider-Man was the story of the life and times of Peter Parker. The Fantastic Four was never the story about a brainiac who stretched, a girl who could go invisible, a kid who could burst into flame and a guy who looked like a rock monster.

It was about a stern scientist obsessed with his work. A nurturing young woman who loved him but was frustrated by his tendency to get lost in his work. Her younger brother interested in sports cars, girls, excitement and other typically hot headed teenage endeavours. And an average Joe who was tortured and depressed that he was no longer human.

Ben Grimm could’ve looked like any kind of monster and the central point of his character would have been retained. The F4′s specific powers, complemented their personalities, but they were not the driving point unto themselves.

In contrast let us consider Captain America, probably the Marvel character who’s done the ‘replacement legacy hero’ storyline the most (at least within 616 canon). How comes he lends himself so much better to this type of story than the other Marvel characters?

Simple, because unlike most of the big name Marvel characters you know of, he wasn’t created in the 1960s or beyond. Cap was the product of the 1940s and was a peer to those same early days super heroes from the Golden Age, including the original Green Lantern and Flash. Like them he began fundamentally more as a symbol and powerset than a person.

But now flashing forward to the 21st century many (most in my view) Flash fans were upset (and continue to be so) Wally West’s ascension to the Flash mantle was undermined and ultimately undone for the sake of restoring Barry Allan to the spotlight. The reason for this upset when Wally himself had replaced Barry? Wally had proven himself a far more flawed, nuanced and complex character than Barry had ever been.

He demonstrated a degree of characterisation in the Flash role that Barry never had. It wasn’t even that he simply had more of this than Barry, but that Barry, just like Jay Garrick preceding him, had little to speak of in the first place. Thus the contrast between Jay and Barry was mostly superficial but the contrast between Barry and Wally was as stark as comparing Spider-Man to 1950s Superman.*

But Wally West, and the entire DC Universe from Post-Crisis onwards in fact, were in that mould precisely because they were trying to be more like Marvel comics has been since the 1960s onwards.

DC in effect began prioritising the people beneath the costumes over the powers.** But Marvel starting in the 1960s had pretty much always been like that with their heroes.

Consequently when legacies popped up and those new characters were pushed as being just as good, just as worthy, or (in some cases) lowkey pushed as being better than their predecessors it naturally rubbed those fans with decades of emotional investment the wrong way. OBVIOUSLY a woman or a POC can be just as worthy and just as capable as a man or a white person as a superhero. But series to series, character to character, it was almost like Marvel was taking away your beloved pet.

Imagine for a moment you had a pet named Rex that you’d known and loved for years.

Then Marvel insisted on taking Rex away from you when there was nothing wrong with him. In his place they give you another clearly different pet with Rex’s collar, who gets Rex’s bowl, Rex’s food, Rex’s toys, Rex’s bed and even Rex’s name and asks you to treat them not as just a new dog but straight up the new Rex.

Except he isn’t Rex. Rex is Rex. The ‘new Rex’ playing with Rex’s toys, doing the same tricks as him or having his collar doesn’t change that.***

Because Rex was more than a collar, his toys or his tricks. He was an individual that you’d known and loved. And even if you know Rex is going to come back ‘eventually’ having Rex taken away from you at all, having the new Rex supplant them (especially if old Rex was screwed over for the sake of new Rex’s arrival) and having so many people insist new Rex is just as great or more great than old Rex (to the point where many people loudly proclaim they don’t even want the old Rex back and the old Rex was kinda lame and boring) is going to create a massive dissonance. Maybe you would’ve been chill with the new Rex is he was just another additional pet called Rover or even like RexY who was similar yet different to Rex, but not actually promoted AS Rex or as his replacement.

Maybe you would’ve been okay with the new Rex if the old one got too old, died naturally or accidentally. But you aren’t okay with it because there was nothing wrong with Rex, you LOVED Rex and Rex had been with you and been around generally forever. So the new Rex felt like he was undermining him, especially undermining Rex’s individuality.

That’s how I think most Marvel fans felt about practically EVERY legacy situation that’s ever cropped up from the 1960s onwards, not even the ones just from the 2010s. I remember the outrage when Bucky was announced as the new Cap. I know there were people salty about Eric Masterson as Thor and the Spider-Man Clone Saga speaks for itself.

Compounding the situation is that more than a few media outlets (despite imo not representing the feeling’s of the majority at all) promoted (and in some cases still promote) the new characters as not just better than they are (see the dozen or so lists talking about how great Riri allegedly was) but along with many fans tear down the older characters whilst doing so.

See every article ever talking about why Peter Parker in the movies (and sometimes in the comics) NEEDS to die for the sake of Miles becoming the new Spider-Man in spite of their rationales rarely making sense from a creative/financial POV and utilizing misrepresentations of both characters to varying degrees. Even fans that appreciate the social/political relevancy of the new characters are going to naturally be upset in response to that and angrily voice opposition when the character they love gets dragged through the mud like that. And that then gets exacerbated when they are labelled as bigots for feeling upset by the changes or reacting against the character they love being dragged through the mud.****

Especially considering they would’ve reacted the same way regardless of who was the replacement hero. Again, fans at first didn’t take kindly to John Walker or Bucky as the new Captain Americas so the idea that backlash against Sam Wilson was entirely or primarily racist was itself profoundly ignorant. Especially when you consider black reviewers such as those on the Hooded Utalitarian were calling it out as bad storytelling and bad representation for black people. SpaceTwinks went issue by issue through Spencer’s Sam Wilson run and called it out as racist, ignorant and naive. NONE of which is me saying that there isn’t more than a little bigotry going around detractors of these new characters nor that there aren’t obviously bad actors.

But those people did not and do not represent the majority and framing the situation as though they do is disingenuous and highly unethical. In conclusion, the backlash against the 2010s Marvel legacy characters was entirely natural, understandable and for the vast majority came from a place of love for the original characters not a bigoted hatred for the new characters skin colour or sex.

It was a testament to Marvel’s, and the wider media, misunderstanding the psychology of most comic book fans.

P.S. In regards to that, though it isn’t exactly talking about what I’ve spoken about I’d highly recommend checking out this video which touches upon the disenchantment Star Wars fans felt over the Sequel Trilogy, which itself could be viewed as doing the same thing Marvel did with it’s replacement legacy characters.

P.P.S. The reason I think the likes of Miles Morales or Kamala Khan succeeded where others failed is chiefly due to their rise to the role of legacy replacements stemmed from their predecessors not being sidelined for their rise to the spotlight. Miles never ever replaced the 616 version of Peter Parker, widely considered by most fans and Marvel internally as the true and legitimate version of the character. Kamala Khan meanwhile picked up the Ms. Marvel only when Carol Danvers discarded it and became Captain Marvel. She was still in the spotlight in her own right, Kamala simply got her own spotlight using Carol’s obsolete name. Which isn’t all that dissimilar to fan favourite Cassandra Cain’s rise to the Batgirl mantle now I think about it.

P.P.P.S. A possible counter argument to all I’ve said is the success of the Superior Spider-Man/Otto Octavius. After all why was he embraced when Sam Wilson and Jane Foster wasn’t? Was a double standard rooted in bigotry at play?

No, but the answer isn’t neat and simple.

I think Ock as the new Spider-Man was more embraced partially because Ock had been around essentially as long as Spidey himself. But more poignantly pre-Superior Spider-Man was so atrocious that a sizzling and sexy idea like Superior (which generated tons of cheap novelty) felt utterly refreshing, even to people who had actually LIKED pre-Superior Spidey under Slott. It’s like how people praised the early Big Time stories despite their problems because compared to BND they were genuinely better.

Plus Superior, for all it’s god forsaken writing, didn’t exist to clearly workshop potential movie ideas or chiefly in aid of a social/political cause. Someone can agree that there should be more black or female superheroes but disagree that the older characters should be sidelined in the attempt to achieve that.

Especially when there were better alternative options such as introducing those newer characters within and alongside the established hero’s narrative or simply introduce them independently as has happened recently with the likes of Lunar Snow.

*This is also why I suspect Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman survived from the Golden Age into the Silver Age. Because they were the DC characters who (more than any of the other ones) had actual personalities/substance to them. **Of course this didn’t begin wholesale with the post-Crisis era. But noticeably the characters who had worked with this new shift in priorities prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths stayed generally the same thereafter (E.g. the Titans, Batman) whilst characters who had largely vacillated or struggled (e.g. Superman and Wonder Woman) were given fresh starts which proved critically and financially successful.

***Not even if he does everything just as well as Rex did or does some stuff differently that’s still good (although the overwhelming majority of the time new Rex is clearly not as good as the old Rex).

****I’ve seen people be called racist and misogynists for calling out Riri Williams honestly ridiculous degree of competency as a hero/tech genius in spite of her age. This is not an invalid criticism, yet disliking the character because of those reasons is grounds to be labelled as something ugly by another (imo minor yet also vocal) contingent of fandom.

Hell I was called a Trump supporting Breitbart reading bigot for calling out Marvel as two-faced due to never putting a black writer in charge of Sam Wilson as Captain America or a woman in charge of Jane Foster as Thor. It isn’t exclusive to comics either as I and other people have been accused of racism/misogyny for disliking the Last Jedi in spite of that film to my eyes being itself racist and sexist anyway.

#Marvel #Marvel Comics #Marvel legacy #DC #DC Comics #Spider-Man #Captain America #Flash #The Flash #Green Lantern #Barry Allan #Jay Garrick #Wally West #Riri Williams #Iron Man #Iron heart #Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi #The Last Jedi

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amyltia · 4 years

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Inverting the “Palpatine curse” in TROS (v.2)

This is the number 2 of the serie of metas Why the ST does the job as a conclusion.

1. Palpatine as a nemesis of the Skywalker

I think Palpatine has his place in the ST : the Skywalker are that good and epic partly because in the shadow there is Palpatine. Every great character (or family of characters) can do with a just as great nemesis. So yes it does lead to “the saga of the Skywalker against the Palpatine” but it’s a good thing. It is the story of two antithetic-ly symbolic families.

I found out later that Rae Carson had said something similar in a very interesting interview she gave about the novelization of TROS (https://www.starwars.com/news/rae-carson-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-interview). I quote her :

StarWars.com: Palpatine’s return has been elaborately dissected and discussed in The Rise of Skywalker. Can you help us understand who the character is in this film, and what his presence means in the Star Wars galaxy?

Rae Carson: Palpatine has been the villain since Episode I, and the first two trilogies were all about Skywalkers versus Palpatine. So I understand the filmmakers’ decision to bring him back for the final trilogy.It’s easy to create a cardboard villain with immense power; we see it in fiction all the time. But Palpatine is also clever and conniving. He’s a master of intrigue, and he always has a plan. His rise to power as Emperor was as much due to political and social maneuvering as it was the Force. This is what makes him so compelling — and so difficult to defeat.

Note : In another meta I came up with the idea that Palpatine could represent the excess of darkness in Rey but he could be seen as the excess of darkness of all the Skywalkers too. He represents Vader’s (who turns good after defeating him), Luke’s (who resists his offer of joining the dark side) and Ben’s [would need to analyse the relation between Ben and Palpatine].

2. Undoing Palpatine’s “curse” (PT and OT)

Palpatine’s main function in the saga is to turn Skywalkers to the dark side.

Another quote from this interview of Rae Carson really enlightened me and in this section I’ll try to developp it :

StarWars.com: Rey famously takes on the Skywalker moniker at the end of the story. What does this mean for her, and how does it enhance her journey since we met her on Jakku?

Rae Carson: When I was 18 years old, I took on the moniker of my stepfather to honor the bonds of love and trust between us. I imagine it was much the same for Rey, who wanted to honor her own chosen family.

I recognize that Rey’s decision proved controversial, and I look forward to discussing this with fans for years to come. But my current take is this: The entire Skywalker saga is about Palpatine turning or trying to turn Skywalkers to the dark side. He especially hopes that Rey will prove a worthy vessel for his own power and ambition and become the Skywalkers’ final downfall. But in spite of all his efforts over the course of three generations, he fails. Rey rejects everything about him and takes on the Skywalker mantle and legacy. In the end, it’s a Palpatine who turns to the light, thus handing the Skywalkers their ultimate victory.

Let’s take a look at the dynamic of the three trilogies on this point. I will call Palpatine’s curse “turning a Skywalker to the dark side”.

PT : The saga begins with the fall of a Anakin Skywalker to the dark side because of Palpatine. The curse is cast on Anakin.

OT : (1) Luke resists the curse. (2) Vader returns to the light side, the initial Skywalker is back to the light. Anakin has reversed the curse.

About Anakin : so far so good, the PT cast the curse, the OT undoes the curse, making it come full circle : Anakin is cursed and saved.

Palpatine’s curse = turning a Skywalker to the dark side

Undoing it = returning this Skywalker to the light side

The 6 films make a complete saga, but “[we] cannot deny the truth that is [the third trilogy]”. It makes the picture bigger and adds new and very interesting perspectives on the saga. And that’s the very point of this meta : why does the ST does the job as a conclusion ? Because it resolves iconic dualisms : Palpatine/Skywalker, turning someone good/bad. (note : there are many way to resolve a theme : before TROS, the OT did resolve Anakin’s arc and Palpatine’s threat, but in ONE of the many possible ways. The ST shows another possible one. It’s only a matter of perspective)

3. Inverting Palpatine’s curse (ST)

Taking the ST into account, a bigger circle is drawn, that includes the first one. The OT and PT cast and reverse the curse, but the ST are about inverting the very nature of the curse.

Inverting it = turning a Palpatine to the light side.

The ST’s structure on this point is then about a double trajectory : one from Ben and one from Rey.

(1) Ben undoes the Palpatine curse of turning to the dark side. His arc replays Anakin’s : curse is cast and undone.

(note : he also undoes a second curse on the Skywalker, the one of saving the loved one, the one Anakin’s failed.)

(2) Rey inverts the Palpatine curse by making it about a Palpatine chosing the light side. It’s like Palpatine’s curse finally backfired at him. The difference being that she was never dark sided so she didn’t have to turn to the light, but beyond that it is the same structure, only reversed.

In the first Palpatine curse, Palpatine is the mentor of the fallen Skywalker (Vader and Kylo). In the inverted one, the one Rey establishes, Skywalkers (Luke and Leia) are the mentors of the light Palpatine (Rey).

In the first curse, the Skywalkers change their names (Darth Vader and Kylo Ren), denying their light side names. In the second curse, the Palpatine changes her name (Rey chooses Skywalker), denying her dark side name. Note : about the end of TROS, it is a form a rebirth as I read in a great meta that I’ll link too. She dies after the fight and is reborn as a Skywalker. A friend of mine even added that she is ritually being reborn in the Skywalkers birthplace : Anakin and Luke both grew up in Tattoine, it is the birth planet of Skywalkers, and Rey passes the ritual too.

Both of them put an end to Palpatine’s curse in a way that is meaningful and symbolic for both (Rey couldn’t have replayed Anakin’s arc, Anakin’s own blood had to do that). Both Rey and Ben have to fix the wrong their grand-parents did to the galaxy. That’s how together they bring true closure to the saga : Anakin’s arc is fixed and Palpatine is defeated by his own technics (the lighthingns backfiring and his curse backfiring too). Even narratively they work as a dyad, is it sweet or what

The ST really is a legacy trilogy and it does the job of any legacy, fixing the wrongs that have been done, in the appropriate way. It does come full circle and this iconic theme is resolved.

4. The Rise of Skywalker : yes but what does “rising” mean ?

That’s why the tilte The Rise of Skywalker according to Rey’s arc (I did Ben’s too in another meta) can mean :

she reversing (completely this time) the curse Palpatine cast over the Skywalkers : being turned to the dark by Palpatine. Just like Anakin rose as Darth Vader at the end the PT, Rey is completely rising to the light at the end of the ST. It’s rising as chosing the light.

It is also the rise of Skywalker as opposed to Palpatine : the great nemesis has finally completely failed. It’s rising as making your enemy fail, with Rey as siding with the Skywalkers.

[I’m sure there is another one, but can’t find it yet. Maybe rising as finding herself, like emerging?]

So the ST resolves the dualism of turning bad/turning good : the Palpatine curse is shown in Anakin and Ben’s arcs and the ST adds the invert of the Palpatine curse, established by Rey). Rey defeats one Palpatine but also what the Palpatine name represents (aka “all the sith”) and the Palpatine within her (aka her dark side).

List of all my star wars meta

- Why the ST does the job as a conclusion (serie of metas)-

A. What does the title The Rise of Skywalker mean from Ben and Rey’s arcs point of view

N°1 (TROS) Ben’s arc as a mirror to Anakin’s arc, or what is a Skywalker ? https://amyltia.tumblr.com/post/614061728803749888/tross-ben-as-a-mirror-to-anakins-arc-or-what-is

N°2 Inverting the Palpatine Curse

#star wars meta #st meta #tros meta #reylo meta #reylo #rae carson #tros novelization #rey meta #ben solo #kylo ren #darth vader meta #anakin skywalker #tros spoilers #palpatine

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littlemisssquiggles · 6 years

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Hello! I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but have you watched the Alita Battle Angel movie? If not, the synopsys is that an old doctor finds a cyborg bust in a scrapyard of trash that is dumped everyday by the floating city above, called Zalem. In your latest musing you mentioned something about trash being dumped from Atlas. What would you think if Upper Atlas were similar and it would dump trash in a scapyard, in Lower Atlas? And the workers there making use of it however they can?

‘SupYellow.Always a pleasure to hear from you so no worries there fam. Unfortunately I have notseen Alita.But I definitely want to since I’ve heard positive things about it; both themanga and the recent film adaptation. Despite knowing jack about the series, Ido like the idea you present here.

It wouldn’t surpriseme if something like that were possible with Atlas. It’s funny. Folks keepreferring to Atlas by Upper and Lower. Wouldn't Upper Atlas technically be just Atlas while the lower sector is the remnants of Mantle?

That’swhat I assumed it was. The lower city being Mantle below, unless I am deeplymistaken. I like the idea of Atlas dumping their trashinto Mantle with the People of Mantle living the life of scavengers;only managing to survive due to their resourceful nature by crafting workingmachinery and equipment from whatever scraps of and parts they managed tosalvage and/or pilfer from the junkyards dumped from Atlas.

It’dbe interesting if Atlas has become rather snobbish and discriminatory towardtheir Mantlese brethren over the years to the point that they don’t even donate their broken or unused materials to Mantle’scitadel, only granting them use of whatever they can scavenge from the massivepiles of junk they dump into their kingdom periodically. Like the rich andelite only granting charity to the poor by allowing them to take what they canfrom their trash bins for the week and considering that an act of generosity.

Imagine if … the Atlesians are the typeswho have grown so spoilt from their riches that they no longer see worth in their products anymore. To Atlas, it’s allabout advancement.Forwardever, backward never and when theold outdates the new, the old is disposed of so that the new can rise up andthrive. Take over even and lead them successfully towards a bright future. Itwouldn’t surprise if that is the mantra of Atlas because that is precisely whathappened with Atlas and Mantle’s history. Atlas rose up to the point that it overshadowed Mantle and rather than aid those left behind intheir predecessor kingdom, it seems that Atlas has lost all touch with itsroots.

Allthe more reason why I’m digging the concept of the People of Mantle being scavengers—thegood kind who see worth ineverything around them, since their generations have been forced to survive onso little for so long and thus become more adaptive and more appreciative ofwhat they have and cherish. And becauseof that, they are able to make wonders with what bit they can use from the UpperWorld.

Thisalso makes me think of a really cool hunch I have concerning Penny Polendina’sfather/creator. For the sake of my musings, I’m going to refer to him as Dr. Japheth Polendina until his official canon name is revealed. If mymemory serves correctly, Gepetto isthe Italian form of the name Japheth whichis a name of Hebrew origin meaning ‘expansion’.

I think Japheth is afitting pseudo-name for Dr. Polendina since my assumption is that he is a greatand well-renowned scientist and inventor in Atlas whose inventions hascontributed towards the kingdoms’ advancement. Makes sense, right? Beyond that,another theory I have is Dr. Polendina is unlike a lot of Atlesians . Itwouldn’t surprise me if Dr. Polendina, like many from his generation (MariaCalavera and Nicholas Schnee) was born after the Great War and contributedtowards Atlas taking over from Mantle.

Howeverunlike other Atlesians who seem to have discarded theirMantlese heritage and traditions, Dr. Polendina still holds stubbornly onto his.I like the irony of Dr. Polendina being old-fashioned despite being the inventor of so many creationsthat helped Atlas move forward. I think that could be a cool contrast to hischaracter. I like the idea of Dr. Polendina being a smart yet modest and humbleold man (maybe even a lil cuckoo for coco puffs), who doesn’t just create foradvancement but rather help humanity because he genuinely sees wonder and value in everything around him. Despite it being a traditionhis younger associates don’t understand and have tried to beat out of him foryears, y’know since they all mostly consider him a fossil and only keep himaround for his unique genius. Nonetheless Dr. Polendina sees worth in everything—includinga lifeless robotic husk he treated and loved like a daughter. That’s my theoryfor Dr. Polendina if you or anyone who were ever curious.

Ithink an anon-ninja once asked me what elements of Gepetto/Pinocchio I think will be incorporated in V7. Well I thinkthat’s one of them. I’d love to think that Japheth also shares a history with Arthur Watts.I can’t help this nagging hunch I have that Arthur Watts was probably the formerapprentice of Dr. Polendina who he loved like a son.

Inthe Pinocchio tale, Geppetto was an elderly woodcarver whoseemed to not have any former children of his own hence why he createdPinocchio and wished for him to be a real boy.

Imagine if it was the same for Dr.Polendina. Whatif… Japheth was a man who had dedicated his life so much toadvancing Atlas that he never got the chance to have the thing he wanted morethan anything—a family or at least someone to love him like one. Picture Japheth living a depressing life where he losttouch with his former family in Mantle and the closest thing to a family he hadin Atlas was a former apprentice who he cherished like the child he never had whoended up betrayinghim before disappearing entirely,believed to be dead (i.e. Dr. Arthur Watts) and lastly, Penny—the android heloved like a daughter but also ultimately lost.

Ican go on and on about my theories for Dr. Polendina but that’s the theory Imainly wish to share here. As you brought up Alita, it made me think ofsomething interesting. I have this Penny-centric theorywhere as soon as our heroes arrive in Atlas, they soon discover, much toRuby’s shock and disgust that Penny was made into a line of sentient service androidswho was being mass produced and sold to the People of Atlas.

Picture Detroit Become Human but with just Penny asthe sole android series. RWBY Chibi S2 kindof teased the concept of Penny being sold as a doll. So what ifthat will be the case for V7? What if…in current Atlas, Penny is now a popular brand of service androiddolls sold to the Atlesian public to perform many different roles insociety. Picture Penny being like the Barbie Doll of Atlas exceptthat she’s a life-sized sentient machine. Picture all kinds of Penny models beingsold each programmed with a series of different functions tailor made to fitwhatever role her user/buyer bought her to perform.

Imagine Ruby standing in acity populated with different Pennies—-Waitress Penny, Nurse Penny, Traffic Cop Penny, TourGuide Penny, etc.—who all look and sound just like Ruby’s Pennybut isn’t her. And what’s even more horrifying to Ruby is what Penny’s legacyhas dissolved into. Back in V3 I believe, Penny told Ruby that she wasoriginally made to protect Remnant. She was made to be a hero. The first of her kind tobe used to protect humanity.

Imagine howmuch of an insult it would be if this is what Ruby finds out Atlasdid to her friend after she was murdered. Not remember her as a hero butbasically a living toy to beused and abused as her consumers feel.

That’sinsane!Which is all the more reason why I want this theory to come true. I was askedlong ago by a FNDM fam about how Ruby would feel if she saw Penny locked away insidesome pod inside a laboratory. I never got around to actually answering that questionbecause Tumblr buried the original response post I was going to edit. If thatuser happens to read all of my answer posts, here is my answer to your questionnow.

Rubyreacting to a rebuilt Penny being locked safely inside a pod? Ahahaa! How about I giveyou something grimmer?

Ontop of Atlas mass producing Penny and treating her like a plaything rather than the heroshe was meant to be, you wanna know my theory for what they did with originalPenny?

Myhunch is that originalPenny is put in the trash. Meaningthat after her body was returned to Atlas, there was a meeting between themembers of the Atlas Council debating on whether or not the military projectPenny was born from should be terminated or not. Even though Ironwood is the mainauthoritarian from Atlas that we’ve met so far, I’d like to think there is another topleader calling the shots whoIronwood actually serves under.

Ifthe Atlas Council is anything like Vale’s, then there are at least threemembers on the council governing the Kingdom. From what I remember back in V4,Ironwood says he holds two seats on the council. This leaves the third and lastseat and it’s here where I think we’ll have a new authoritarian character who Ironwoodlistens to.

Basicallyit was this Atlas Council Member introduced and signed off on the idea ofturning Penny into a doll to be sold to the public. I don’t know of any puppet masters in any knownfairy tales but perhaps this Councilman, as I’ll refer to him in mymusings, could be based off of the Coachman from Pinocchio. In the 1883 book TheAdventures of Pinocchio, the Coachman was a villain who kidnapped children tobring them to Toy Island in which the bad children turned into donkeys.

IfFNDM fam thought General Ironwood was a cross due to his deep authoritarian waysand leadership then imagine someone worse than Ironwoodbut lacking the compassion. Picture… the Councilman being the type to make ajackass out of the General Ironwood since Ironwood generally has torun everything by him and the Councilman has Ironwood wrapped around his pinkie,especially now that he hasn’t been well—psychologically. I actually kinda digthis idea.

Sothe Councilman convinces Ironwood that the best way to dissolve the mess the Vytalescapade left on the military and the People of Atlas following Beacon is to turnPenny into a doll series—allowing her to fulfil the purpose she was made for.Serving humanity by serving humanity as a service doll. There are even Penniesbeing used by the military.

WhileDr. Polendina wouldn’t sign off on something like this—imagine it being oneof those uncomfortable scenarios where one’s hand is forced because they arebacked into a corner by people trying to either bullyor manipulate them. In the case of Japheth, it was both theCouncilman trying to bully him into doing his job for the military and Ironwood,though sympathetic towards the doctor and his loss, still trying to somewhatemotionally manipulate the man into doing as he and the Councilman ordered byusing Penny and the reasons she was made in the first place as his motive.

It’snot a nice game but in the end, against his wishes, Dr. Polendina had no choicebut to hand over his research and the original body of Penny and concur as themilitary—mainly the Councilman did what they pleased with her.

Andin the end, once they were done, they didn’t even have the common courtesy toreturn Penny to her father. Instead, like many things in Atlas, Penny wasdiscarded and her remains ended up in the junkyards near Mantle. I even have away RWBY canincorporate Monstro into the Atlas Arc. You know how in Pinocchio,Gepetto got swallowed by the giant whale?

Wellwhat if…at some point, the heroes visit Lower Atlas on their voyage towards Mantle. Mytheory is that at some point during the Schnee Family Affairsstoryline of the Atlas Arc, Weiss will go in search of her missing grandfatherNicholas Schnee and her searches will take her and her friends down from Atlasinto Mantle’s depth. During their voyage, the group end up in the junkyardsbelow.

Apparently,people aren’t allowed to go in the junkyards. Part of it is due to Atlas being stingy towards Mantle even with their junk and anotheris for the reason that there is a massive Grimm known to roam the junkyards.That monster is GrimmMonstro—a colossal land whale type Grimm that burrows undergroundand swims through the sea of garbage in the junk piles looking for anyunsuspecting victims to rise up and swallow.

I have this idea where Ruby andOscar are swallowed alive by Grimm Monstro and it’s in the belly of the Grimm where Ruby discovers Penny’s originaldestroyed body. Perhaps…as a better alternative, that’s how she and Oscargot swallowed in the first place. Ruby spots OG Penny while in the junkyard.Goes off on her own to retrieve her despite Oscar’s initial warnings that somethingfelt off about the junkyard however Ruby ignores hisadvice. Ruby makes it to Penny’s body in time for Grimm Monstro to rise up.Oscar jumps in to rescue Ruby. The two try their best to outrun the giant Grimmbut end up getting swallowed alive. That could be FREAKING EPIC!

Little Red Riding Hood and PrincessOzma working together to escape Monstroand save themselves plus Pinocchio is a future RWBY episodeI’d love to see for Atlas. YES PLEASE! Sign my ass up!

Andif all that comes true, we could even get Ruby and Oscar working together to revive original Penny.

Ifmy theory about Oscarawakening his inner mechanic and inventor comes to fruition, imagine Ruby begging Oscar to help her revive her formerfriend using his skills. Knowing and fully understanding how much this means toRuby, Oscar accepts and the two rosebuds get to work together. I would lovethis so much!

Ithink this could be really cool especially if after Penny gets successfully restoredthrough Oscar’s know-how, she starts calling Oscar ‘brother’. I’ll give you three veryimportant reasons why I love this idea.

Firstly,I’ve seen some fans comparing Oscar to Penny so me, being the proud Pinehead and Polendiva (Penny Polendina fan) that I amstarted to dig the idea of Penny and Oscar having a brother-sister dynamic.Like after Oscar helps rebuild her, Penny starts treating him like he was her big brother.Not father since Dr. Japheth is her father.

Secondly,I like Penny calling Oscar ‘brother’ because of the obvious, very on the nosecall back to FMA. Come on! You know how much I love those.

Andlastly, I love this idea because it appeals to another Pinehead headcanon I have where Oscar becomes an apprentice under Dr. Polendina anddevelops a father/son bond with the old inventor. I did say I wantedOscar to have a godmother type character who adopts him in Atlas. Perhapsinstead of a fashion designer, it’s an genius inventor who acts as hisgodfather.

Penny andDr. Polendina both adopting Oscar into their family = HELLA FREAKING YES.

You know my mantra. #EverybodyAdoptsOscar

I’dlove to expand more on this idea some more but I think I’ll save it for anothermusing. This response post is long enough. But for what it’s worth, I hope youlike my answer Yellow.Let me know what you think if you can pretty please. Would like to hear yourthoughts on my thoughts.

~LittleMissSquiggles(2019)

#squiggles answers: rwby #oscar pine #ruby rose #penny polendina #rwby theories #rwby v7 theories #rwby volume 7 #rwby v7 #yellow-eyed-green-crocodile #pinehead headcanons #squiggles pinehead headcanons

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sartle-blog · 5 years

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Rubens: The Early Years at the Legion of Honor

Okay, so maybe it’s not that kind of Rubens, but there are some similarities between this exhibition and a delicious Reuben sandwich. They both are glorious to behold, they both often contain significant amounts of fat, and spending a long time looking at either will make you really, really hungry.

The Legion of Honor’s latest show has been a long time in the making. Before he left the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco to head the Met, former director Max Hollein helped set in motion this last exhibition, which he considered a final parting gift to the city. He’s long gone now, but what better way for his legacy to go out with a bang than with a show all about Rubens? Born out of a collaboration between Sasha Suda of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Legion of Honor’s own Kirk Nickel, not only is this the first show dedicated exclusively to the Flemish Baroque master in the United States in ten years, it’s also the first one ever to focus entirely on the early part of Rubens’ career.

And his early development is just as fascinating as his mature work. The exhibit picks up when Rubens has already been named a master painter in Antwerp, but has put off opening his own studio until he’s traveled and learned at the feet of the Italian Renaissance masters. Ever precocious, Rubens quickly picked up work in Italy as a court painter to the Duke of Mantua, who exposed the classically educated Rubens to all sorts of Greek and Roman goodies, as well as supported his travels to see the work of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Titian, Veronese, and Caravaggio. Rubens absorbed aspects of all of these artists’ work into his own and then created something entirely new: a sensual, exuberant, and emotive style that appealed to the spiritual, intellectual, and courtly world to which he belonged as a true gentleman painter.

Some of the work he produced in Italy is here on display, including his first known self-portrait, which shows him among a group of what is likely his Northern European compatriots in Mantua, true courtiers à la the “Book of the Courtier” by Castiglione.

Self-Portrait in a Circle of Friends at Mantua. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum and Foundation, Cologne.

And just look at all that sprezzatura. That’s Rubens there in the front, looking extra ~sensual~.

Rubens returned to Antwerp in 1608 following his mother’s death, and he decided to stay and open a studio. Antwerp had already experienced its Golden Age by this point and had a severe economic slump during the religious wars that had been consuming that part of the world since the Reformation. His return coincided with the brokering of peace between the Hapsburg-controlled Southern Netherlands and the Dutch Republic to the North in the Twelve Years Truce, and Rubens felt now was the perfect time to help rebuild the city as a center of culture with his humanist friends. A selection of portraits on display demonstrate his range as he painted the prominent locals, from the formal portraits of city patricians with finely detailed, carefully controlled brushwork, to the loose, genial portraits of friends and family that offer revealing snapshots of their personalities.

While there’s no denying the brilliance of his portraits, this exhibit focuses far more on his history paintings, scenes inspired by biblical and mythological events, which are often very grand. The glory and drama of Baroque art had been ushered in in part by the decisions made by the Catholic Church during the Council of Trent, which established certain expectations for how religious art should look. In their effort to restore the majesty of the Church through art, they ruled that religious scenes must be depicted with accuracy, clarity, and emotional power. As a serious Roman Catholic, Rubens took the dictum and ran with it, creating powerful imagery that is easy to read yet profoundly moving.

Lamentation. Princely Collections, Liechtenstein.

In the Lamentation, Rubens’ true genius is on display. Even in his most magnificent, large scale works, Rubens has a knack for zeroing in on a small moment, a tiny gesture, that was both emotionally potent and utterly relatable to the viewer. Here that moment is Mary tenderly closing her dead son’s eyes while plucking a thorn from his hair. These moments are so human, so visceral, that they allow the viewer to connect in new ways to the biblical figures of their adoration or study. Nobody had ever done this before to the same extent. Sometimes, like in The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth, Saint John, and a Dove, he almost goes too far, humorously portraying baby Jesus fighting with baby John the Baptist over a dove (the embodiment of the Holy Spirit), John yanking feathers out of the poor bird’s wing.

The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth, Saint John, and a Dove. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Looks like somebody’s losing their Holy Spirit privileges until they can learn how to play nice.

Even in the enormous and violent Massacre of the Innocents we find the same small moments of emotional force that give the entire work that signature Rubens pull. The desperate claw marks one mother makes in the face of her child’s attacker, the mother whose face is hidden in her hair as she bends over her dead infant’s blue body…. within the turmoil, those intimate gestures emerge to form an arresting picture of cruelty and grief.

Massacre of the Innocents. Art Gallery of Ontario.

One of the most appreciated aspects of Rubens’ work during his time was his ability to mix beauty and horror in equal parts in a single image. The Head of Medusa, which is one of two versions and is here in the United States for the very first time, is one such work. The beautiful rendering of the snakes and salamanders, possibly done by Frans Snyders, complicates the horror of the ashen severed head around which they squirm, springing to life from drops of blood. This is just the sort of painting wealthy patrons loved to have hanging over their mantle pieces because it sparked interesting conversations about the nature of beauty and fear.

The Head of Medusa. Moravian Gallery in Brno, Czech Republic.

Similarly, Rubens’ Lot and his Daughters would have provided much fodder for conversation. It depicts the Old Testament story in which Lot’s daughters, believing they are the last humans alive, seduce their father to carry on the human race. Rubens based the face of Lot on a classical statue of a satyr (a sexually predatory being) while he took Lot’s pose from Leda, of Michelangelo’s Leda and the Swan, who is certainly the victim in that narrative. Thus, Rubens raises uncomfortable questions about victimhood, as well as the viewer’s complicity in that act of incest. The educated circles in which Rubens moved would have immediately picked up on all those references, and it likely would have allowed for some interesting talk at dinner parties.

After the vibrant colors and vast canvases of his history paintings, the exhibit’s final room all about print culture seems rather underwhelming at first. Rubens was a shrewd businessman and one of the most successful artists ever, so it makes sense that he turned to print culture as a way to disseminate his images even further, completing illustrations for books and also just making engravings of his best paintings. However, upon close inspection, the drawings in this room, while less flashy, are absolutely exquisite. The room is tied together nicely with a later image of the Raising of the Cross that proves just how important those early years of development in Antwerp were for Rubens. He would go on to become a tremendously prolific and successful artist, employing dozens of assistants in his workshop, collaborating with some of the top names of his day, becoming a successful diplomat, elevating the role of the artist in society, and even creating a brand new adjective for curvaceous ladies (rubenesque), but a few key prints suggest he may have had a certain sentimental attitude toward his early years of success in Antwerp. D'aww.

Daniel in the Lions’ Den. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

The exhibit ends where it begins, with three masterpieces of enormous size. The most dazzling is by far Daniel in the Lions’ Den. It’s the most beloved painting by school groups in the National Gallery for obvious reasons, so if you’re wondering whether or not you should go to this exhibit, the lions themselves should be a good enough answer:

And are you really going to argue with lions?

There is much to admire in Rubens’ work: the brushwork, at times subtle and refined, at times exuberant and free; the beautifully arranged drama of his scenes; the quantity of different facial expressions he was able to uncannily reproduce; his beautiful renderings of golden curls on the heads of children, etc. The list goes on. The exhibit is well curated, with a range of high quality examples from all over Europe. More wall text about Rubens’ truly fascinating life and personality would have been nice, but then I think I’m the only person who ever wants MORE wall text. (That’s what the catalog is for, anyway.) But if you do get bored, and I don’t think that’s very likely, there are a few games you could play: “Count the corpses” (There are a lot of them), “Count the dogs” (those baroque artists sure loved their pupperinos), and “Count the Women Making this Face”:

That would be the expression known as "I'm so in awe my face has become a potato."

“Rubens: The Early Years” runs from April 6, 2019 - September 8, 2019 at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. You don't want to miss it. More information can be found here.

By: Jeannette Baisch Sturman

#peter paul rubens #baroque #baroque art #art museum #art history #history of art #rubens #rubenesque #legion of honor #sartle news #fine arts museums of san francisco #press preview #serious art history

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fanbyhotmess · 7 years

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Re: Allura & the making of a 6th lion

Content warning: post will contain spoilers about the latest season of Voltron Legendary Defender(s3) & of the show in general, as well as minor spoilers about the 80s Voltron (Although this is seen more in the links I mention).

So, I don’t really do theory posts- that is to say I’ve never posted my ideas before because of my social anxiety- but then I came across these two posts [1] [2] that theorize about what princess Allura’s role within Voltron, the lions, and ultimately the show will be now that A) She is a paladin of Voltron, particularly of the blue lion-like & unlike her father & B) Shiro has returned & that has thrown into question who will be with what lion.

I would recommend reading those 2 posts before you read mine, as mine will be jumping off of the ideas in those posts, particularly focusing on allura and the idea of a 6th lion. The rest of the post will be under the cut as this post was much longer than I originally intended (I love to ramble & Voltron brings that out in me exponentially lol) it to be.

Reasons why Allura will get her own lion, a 6th lion, that would be the “heart” of Voltron.

1) She obviously has a lot to bring to the team/lions/paladin dynamic in terms of natural skill and history.

As she says in the series, she knew the paladins of old (the ones we were introduced to in s3) and therefore, by proxy, she knows more about the lions and paladins structure the most of all the paladins now present. This is furthered by how, despite her initial struggles with the blue lion, the other paladins note that she progresses faster with her skills and handling of the lion faster than they did. Which again makes sense seeing as she grew up with the lions & she is a direct descendant of one of the original paladins, not to mention she is the daughter of the man who created the lions, scientifically speaking (as we saw in the flashbacks 3.6). Therefore, it makes sense that she herself could/would have an affinity to pilot one of the lions, if not a very important lion, like her father did before her.

In addition to that, she is obviously trained in flying and fighting skills. This is seen with countless situations including: she was able to pick up & throw Shiro (a massive man in his own right) in the first season, pull Zethrid (a massive alien woman herself) across the floor using her whip (the wonder woman we all deserve) in this season, her saying that the gladiator simulation that the paladins first fought was fit for an altean child & therefore implying that she herself could easily beat smth that beat them all -including Shiro & Keith (who’re seen as talented fighters themselves)-, she is always seen flying/fighting with the castle, & she showed her fighting skills when she faced Haggar in s2.

Moreover, if not for her unfamiliarity with personally flying the lions & her own anxieties over being good enough to live up to the high expectations she has of herself, I don’t think she would’ve have been as all over the place her first-time flying blue.

Bring this all together and you have someone who is obviously worthy of taking up the mantle of a paladin of Voltron in terms of skill, and given that it only makes sense for her to continue to play a part in the formation of Voltron.

2) Not only is she more than just capable of being a paladin & would bring much to the team in terms of skills & knowledge, but she could also bring much to the team dynamic through her affinity to being chosen by one of the lions, as was already seen a bit in this season.

Yes, she could continue to bring much to the team through the blue lion because, like lance -and hence why it chose her, I think- she has fears & anxieties about being enough, particularly in her case, living up to her father’s legacy in several ways and this want to impress/prove herself and be a part of something bigger than herself. Qualities I would assume the blue lion looks for and connects with in some way. However, even though she is suitable for the blue lion, as the 2nd post above theorizes the blue lion would be better suited for Shiro because of it possibly being the lion all about teamwork. So assuming that is so, even though she is suited for it some ways, like Lance was, Shiro would be the best fit out of the three.

But, then the question remains if not the blue lion and I believe that she would be suited for a lion of Voltron, then which lion and what would it bring if not that?

3) Thus, I more than just support the continuation of Allura as a paladin of Voltron, but I agree with the idea of Allura bringing about -in one way or another- a 6th lion.

Allura & this lion would bring to Voltron would be more passion & emotion -as all the paladins I think do- but more specifically selflessness & openness to change. She would be the heart, soul, and consciousness of the team.

The passion & emotion I speak of is different than that of the red lion, and more like a softer counter-part. Whereas the red lion brings drive and motivation, she would bring a more focused passion to the team, a passion for a righteous cause (i.e. saving the universe & bring peace & freedom to all); and she has this almost to a fault as we saw in this season when she met the alternate universe Alteans. She brings emotion to the team through the love/other emotions that she has about her father, her lost people, the new team and all people of the universe. Moreover, this goes hand & hand with her selflessness and openness to change. We see her selflessness in her willingness to risk her life to save planets, fighting the good fight despite the odds always seeming to be impossible to beat, & removing herself from the castle when she believed she might be endangering Voltron & its mission. But the openness to change, though it may seem a bit jarring as some fans see Allura as a bit of a “racist” of sorts due to her views on the Galra, I think is key to what her lion could bring.

Allura would bring this needed quality, because, despite what the Galra have done to the universe and how that goes against her core beliefs and despite what they have taken from her personally -which is a fucking lot and even I would have a hard time not taking that personally at first/mistrusting them-, despite all of that, she was willing to struggle against her own beliefs and her own stubbornness and her own personal pain in order to not only accept Keith -who’s half Galra- as a worthy of being a paladin of Voltron and even came to see him as family, but she was willing to set aside her feelings again to also work with the BoM -who are full Galra- for the greater good (selflessness), and maybe perhaps even someday be open to trusting & forgiving the Galra in part because of her closeness/experience with Keith. Furthermore, her openness to change is also seen both in how she is diplomatic & accepting/catering to all cultures & their rituals/ways of being (seen in several instances like the Arusians, the Balmerans, and the alliance meeting to name a few) All in all, showing that she is willing and open to changing her views, despite how difficult or painful it might be for her given her history and upbringing. Which again ties into the idea of her being selfless.

3) Taking this another step further, she could also bring a lot to not only the team and therefore Voltron but, could bring more to the development of the storyline in terms of her own story arc. Or rather having her get her own lion & switching up who gets blue and black again would provide an opportunity for Allura to develop more & for the show to take the concepts of Voltron further than its predecessors.

First, realizing that Shiro is best suited for Blue but she is still vital to Voltron and therefore seeking out & finding/creating this 6th lion bring a lot. And even that would require her to develop more of the qualities I stated the lion may have. Moreover, because she is a direct descendent of the very man who engineered the robots that came together to form Voltron, she perhaps has an affinity by blood of how to engineer a new lionbot for Voltron if there isn’t a 6th already, and could thus bring that to the storyline of how Voltron grows and this could also show a more technical intelligence side of her. Taking what her father built & pushing it further to fully realize his dream. Perhaps this will happen when there is a time when Voltron is falling apart/separated -perhaps due to a combo of the conflict between Shiro & Keith now happening and Lotor stirring things up and other stuff to come- and she steps up to help reinvigorate and steer Voltron back towards its true purpose.

Finally, some smaller more miscellaneous reasons for Allura gaining a 6th lionbot, are that as it was pointed out in the 1st linked post I mentioned above the 6th lion could fit right in the middle of Voltron -playing into the idea of Allura as the physical heart of Voltron- as the original Voltron had an ornate chest piece that many fans have lamented the loss of. And, jumping off of the idea of taking Voltron further, by bringing in another lion, Voltron would be therefore more powerful & capable of carrying out its mission.

As much as I really like this theory of Allura & a 6th lion bot, I’ll admit it is all dependent on some shaky evidence. That the blue lion is in fact better suited for no one else than her, that there could be a 6th lion bot out there or that she could/would make one, or maybe perhaps the blue lion is suited for all the things I have recognized in her that I thought a 6th lionbot would help her bring as we still don’t know much about the blue lion.

If you wanna add your own thoughts on this theory to this post, please feel free to do so but, @ me so I can see your comment.

#princess allura #vld #fan theory #my post #please do not repost #vld s3 spoilers #voltron legendary defender

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geeks-n-stuff · 6 years

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For the past few months, rumors have been swirling that Black Knight will make his live-action debut in Avengers: Endgame. Though there is of course no proof that the classic Avenger will even be mentioned, Marvel’s marketing has been hinting as Black Knight’s inclusion in Avengers: Endgame later this year.

The most popular version of the Black Knight is the third character to carry the mantle, an American by the name of Dane Whitman. Introduced in Avengers #47 in 1967, Dane Whitman is the nephew of the second Black Knight, an Iron Man villain. Dane sought to redeem his uncle’s legacy and became a superhero. As the latest in a long line of Black Knights, Dane is the protector of the Ebony Blade, a powerful cursed sword that chips away at his soul every time he uses it. Dane has spent his superhero career protecting it from others, while also struggling to protect it from himself.

Related: When Will The Next Avengers: Endgame Trailer Release?

Over the years, Dane has developed a reputation as a valued member of the Avengers, and even served as the leader of the team during the early 1990s. Along with Hercules, Wonder Man, She-Hulk, and Photon (Monica Rambeau), Black Knight is one of the few remaining key Avengers who have yet to appear in the MCU - but that may change soon enough.

This Page: Black Knight’s Avengers: Endgame Rumor & Doctor Strange Connections

Next Page: Black Knight Saved The Avengers Before - Will He Do It Again?

Black Knight May Be In Avengers: Endgame

Back in September, a rumor was going around that Marvel was working on a Captain Britain and the Black Knight film, with Guy Ritchie at the helm. While that rumor has remained unsubstantiated, it has cropped up again in recent weeks, thus suggesting that there could be at least some validity to it.

Marvel Comics added to the suspicions about Black Knight with its list of comic book reprints set to be released in April. Under the “True Believers” line, Marvel will reprint several classic comic books that line up perfectly with Avengers: Endgame. Most are connected to Thanos in one way or another; three of them, however, stand out from the rest: Avengers #71, Avengers #260, and Avengers #341. An interesting connection that they all share is that Black Knight is a member of the main Avengers team in each comic. It’s also worth mentioning that Hasbro released a Marvel Legends Black Knight figure in its Avengers: Infinity War line. A Black Knight action figure isn’t an indication of anything, but, combined with other marketing for Avengers: Endgame, it could add more evidence to the claim that the Avenger is about to be introduced into the MCU.

Related: Marvel Is Releasing Captain Marvel Too Close To Avengers: Endgame

Due to a lack of actors with unconfirmed roles in Avengers: Endgame, it may seem unlikely to some that there’s a place in the movie for Black Knight. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Marvel carefully hid Red Skull’s role in Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel could pull off something similar with Black Knight, or to avoid leaks, an actor doesn’t even have to be cast. Like the Red Skull, Black Knight can be created using CGI, particularly since the character is usually decked out in full armor. As for his voice, a prominent actor could be hired to play the part at a later point, or perhaps even a member of the cast, like Benedict Cumberbatch, could lend his voice to the character until an actor is properly cast in the role.

Black Knight Has Connections to Doctor Strange In The Comics

Though Dane Whitman’s deep ties to the Avengers on its own is enough to justify a role in Avengers: Endgame, he’s also strongly connected to another important player in the fight against Thanos: Doctor Strange. Even though Doctor Strange is currently dead, his Endgame plan is integral to repairing the MCU.

Black Knight was a recurring character in the pages of Doctor Strange during the 1970s and 1980s. The mystical nature of the Ebony Blade caused the two to cross paths in several adventures. Some of these stories involved time travel. Doctor Strange assisted Black Knight when the latter was trapped in the body of his ancestor in Arthurian times. In another encounter, Doctor Strange battled Black Knight at time when the curse of Ebony Blade was starting to corrupt him. It was Doctor Strange who helped him overcome the curse.

Related: Everything We Know About Doctor Strange’s Role In Avengers: Endgame

The Ebony Blade was nearly included in the Doctor Strange movie, but it’s possible Marvel cut the weapon from the film because they have another idea in mind for how they want to introduce Black Knight. It’s unclear what Marvel will do with Dane Whitman if and when he comes to the big screen, but linking him with the Sorcerer Supreme is one way it could happen.

-STARLORD

#ebonyblade blackknight avengers marvel thanos

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fairladymarian · 7 years

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Settling the Final Score || Self

This wasn’t the first day of the trial, but it was the first day May was finally starting to feel confident about the outcome. Before, she’d mostly sustained her belief purely on need – she had needed to win this, for her family, the servants, and herself, and so she had refused to consider failure. She had sacrificed her health and many of her friendships to make sure that she could handle everything that had been thrown at her, from absurdly intense meetings to long hours as a prefect to the secrets that had begun to poke holes in her soul. Everything she’d done had been leading to this moment. And it finally looked like she might well win.

There were four major grounds for contesting a will – the will wasn’t correctly signed, the person making it didn’t have the capacity to sign the will, there was undue pressure put on the person signing it, or that the will was procured by fraud. Her uncle had never made it clear exactly on what grounds he was challenging the will, so she and Dana had come up with a plan for counteracting all of them.

First, William Collingswood, her father’s lawyer and one of the lawyers on retainer for Firebolt, spoke about the process of signing the will. Since he had given Dana the names of the two witnesses of the event, she was able to bring them forward as well. All of them insisted that it had been signed in the correct manner, and there was nothing when reading the will that had been done incorrectly. So there were no technical grounds on which to challenge the will.

Even better, he had been an excellent character witness in defense of her father’s capacity to sign the will in the first place. Mr. Collingswood was in his mid-50s with the comfortably dignified look most lawyers seemed to develop out of natural instinct. The silvered hair only contributed to the image, while his simple black frames did nothing to hide the sharp intelligence in his eyes. Well known and well respected, he managed to speak with a thorough sort of gravitas that made it very difficult to contradict him, let alone phase him in any sort of cross examination. He was an excellent ally and a formidable enemy. Thank Merlin he’d been on her side.

Smiling slightly to herself, she thought back to the testimony he had presented the other day.

“Mr. Collingswood, how long have you known Richard Marian?” Dana had a slight drawl to her speech which made every question she asked sound relaxed and lazy. But there was nothing lazy about the woman or her mind.

“I’ve known him for nearly 30 years. I wrote his first will for him when he turned 17.”

“So would you say that Richard was the type of person to think about his legacy and who was going to inherit?”

“Absolutely. He spoke often about how important the Marian legacy was to him – the lands, the money, and the reputation. He wanted to be certain that no matter what happened to him, someone with the correct respect for his legacy would be the one to inherit it.”

“Did Richard ever come to you to revise the will or write a new one?”

“Yes he did.”

“And when was that?”

“Everytime his life changed in a major way, he would adjust his will to reflect that. This includes his marriage, and the birth of his child.”

“What version of the will is being contested at the moment?”

“This is the most recent version of his will, written after the death of his wife.”

“How did he seem at the time the will was being written?”

“He was quiet. Grieving. Eleanor’s illness had been hard on him, and her death was just as hard. But he was very clear about the changes to the will he wished to make.”

“What changes were those?”

“A few minor bequests were changed, but the largest change was the establishment of the new foundation in honor of his wife. He was very particular that a percentage of the family’s income would go to support the foundation in perpetuity.”

“I notice that you did not mention May in that list of changes. Why is that?”

“Because there was no change there. As soon as she was born, he had changed his will so that she would inherit Sherwood Manor, the majority of his wealth, and all of his shares in the Firebolt company. Over the years, he never changed that particular part of his will, although he had ample time to do so.”

There were a few more questions from Dana, although it mostly served to clarify a few details from the testimony itself. All in all, it painted a very clear picture. Unless it was assumed that he had spent his entire life as mentally incapable (which was hard to believe due to the success of Firebolt) or that May had managed to provide undue pressure on him from the moment of her birth, there was very little argument that could be made on any of the arguments. Just as clearly, the will hadn’t been obtained by fraud, because he had checked back on this regularly. In most cases, this would be enough to silence the issue.

But her uncle had managed to find a lawyer just as stubborn and greedy as he was, so the matter didn’t end there.

He tried to cross-examine Mr. Collingswood. Tried to cast doubt on her father’s ability to function when overworked and/or grieving. Tried to insinuate that it was her mother who had created undue pressure so that her daughter would inherit. Made vague claims about the possibility of May being legitimate at all. Anything to try and get a rise out of the other man, so he could cast doubt on his validity as a witness and thus the validity of his entire testimony.

But the other lawyer stood firm and never let any of it bother him. Not visibly anyway. He stayed calm, collected, sincere, and consistent. Nothing was able to shake him from his story of her father’s determination to have May inherit, a determination that lasted from the moment of her birth to the moment of his disappearance. He left the stand unbesmirched with the judge looking thoughtful.

That was the first day of the trial. Part of her knew it wasn’t much, but another part of her recognized that that was the most crucial day along with the final day. That testimony set the tone for how the judge would hear every testimony that followed, and that one had come down firmly in her favor. If she could keep that sort of streak going, she should be fine.

Now that they had essentially cleared the will of any possible technical error, May knew that the heart of the trial became herself versus her uncle. Who was really the person most fit to take up the mantle of Marian leadership and carry it forward. She was the one about to be on trial.

Of course, that didn’t mean her testimony came early.

The second day had been filled mostly with company people and other character witnesses. She hadn’t been surprised when Alexandra Kingsley had volunteered to speak for her competency as part of the company’s Board. The woman had positioned herself firmly behind May from the start, and while she would question any decisions she truly didn’t agree with, she had always treated May the same way she had treated her father.

So when she spoke, she spoke about May’s vision. She spoke about her preparation for each meeting and the knowledge of the company that she carried with her. Alexandra spoke of May’s vision, how hard she had worked to achieve that mission, and how much more she would be capable of when she wasn’t trying to balance that work with the work of being a student. It was a glowing testimonial, and her dismissive attitude towards all attempts to cross examine her was wonderful.

The much larger surprise had come when Bethany Rothchild stepped forward as a witness for the company. She had never trusted May due to how young she was, so May had no idea what the woman would say. Was she with her or against her?

It turned out, she was on May’s side. She spoke openly of her initial mistrust of the decision. How much she had questioned why a child would be involved in a world meant for adults. But overtime, May’s clear work ethic, dedication, and thoughtful approach to all decisions involved in the company had earned a grudging respect. A respect John Marian had never earned due to his slapdash management style and conflicted loyalties.

It was the first time someone had openly spoken against her uncle, and she couldn’t help but be surprised at the source. Then again, apparently her behavior recently had had more of an effect than she had understood.

Roland Davenport had spoken on behalf of her uncle, but there was no real surprise there. He and her uncle were clearly two peas in a pod – more interested in quick profits than long term gain. So according to him, she had no vision, no mind for business, too much sentimental attachment to the past without any understanding of how to move forward.

Dana had fun cross examining him. By the time he walked away from the stand, he looked a little shell shocked, and she looked like the cat who had stolen an entire bowl of cream. May had to struggle not to look openly amused.

The third day was for more personal, non-work related testimonies.

First, one of her uncle’s friends came on to speak. May had no idea who the man was, and it didn’t take her long to realize that his entire testimony was nonsense. He tried to paint a picture of her uncle as being loyal and forward thinking, but as soon as he tried to come up with examples, he contradicted himself so many times, it didn’t seem to matter. Even when it was Gary Keville interviewing him, he acted as defensive as if it was a cross-examination. It was clear the two were friends of some sort, but it was a friendship built on the shared desire to get rich quickly and a shared struggle to make any of that happen. Dana only stood up long enough to say that she didn’t think he was worth cross examining before pointedly sitting down again. The dismissal clearly left her uncle enraged.

For her own part, May had asked her teacher, Jane Calhoun, to speak for her. A respected former auror, now her professor of one of the core classes and the head of May’s house, she was perfectly positioned to provide prestige and veracity to May’s claims. She had enough experience on a witness stand not to be bothered by Gary’s tactics, and enough of a blunt no nonsense attitude to counteract the fluttery image her uncle’s friend had just projected. It was a nearly perfect political move.

But that didn’t stop May from being shocked at the content of the testimony itself. Calhoun’s speech was short, nothing flowery or sentimental about it. In it, she said that May was an incredibly competent and, frankly, impressive young woman who has always been an excellent example of the virtues of her house as well as a top notch student. In Calhoun's opinion, any company would be damn lucky to have May Marian heading it up.

Of course, May had hoped that Calhoun would say something good, and she’d been fairly confident it would improve her case. What she hadn’t expected was to hear Calhoun – notoriously close lipped on praise without a single sentimental bone – say she was impressed by May. Impressed. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, May would have been floating out of her seat at the mere implication.

Sylvester, her uncle’s valet, was the last of her uncle’s recruited speakers. As soon as he stepped into view, May found herself tensing. This was the man who had helped to make her servants’ lives a living hell. This was the man she had been unable to protect them from. He was one of the biggest internal dangers her household faced, and he was here to speak as if she were the problem the house needed solved. She forced herself to take deep breaths as he began to speak.

Of course, his testimony itself was no surprise. He talked about how well he’d always been treated. How John Marian saw to his needs as carefully as he tried to see to those of his employer. How cruelly wronged he was by May’s decision to take over the company when she was still a student, and how clearly unfit she was for the duty. How her absent behavior meant that the house was struggling to get by because John couldn’t make the major decisions. How he had worked for John for years and never wanted to work for anyone else, no matter what.

His testimony was another that was unshakeable. He never changed his story, never changed his tone, and other than a clear tightening of his whole body, he never lost his temper either. Clearly, he had been trained well for this in the years of living and working with her uncle. As much as she wanted him to fail, she couldn’t really fault him for succeeding either. It was what was expected of a valet.

Eileen McKendrick was the last testimonial to take the stand as the housekeeper for Sherwood Manor. She had been with the household for years, practically growing up with Richard and John Marian, and helping to raise May herself. She was steadfast and non nonsense, clearly put together and not the least bit awed by the exalted space she found herself in on this day. May had never been sure how she and Bunter had decided that it would be Mrs. McKendrick to speak for the household, but she found herself grateful. Just the sight of the motherly figure had May relaxing again.

Her testimony was much more pointed to their purpose. Richard had always been a compassionate boy who knew his mind, while John flittered from one subject to he next. Richard had always created space for his brother to be involved with the family, so he had never been isolated and pressured in a way that would affect a will. While John Marian had been the acting head of house, he had ignored multiple complaints from servants about their treatment and safety, something May and Richard had never done. The servants did not and would not feel safe with him in charge, and instead expected Richard Marian’s will to be followed, giving May full control with no more nonsense.

After the housekeeper’s speech, May found herself staring into the eyes of the judge. She couldn’t read his expression, much as she wanted to. But that didn’t stop her from hoping. Couldn’t he hear what was being said? Couldn’t he see that there were no grounds to change anything? Couldn’t he stop this now and make his decision? She was so lost in thought, she missed the entirety of the cross-examination, and could only assume that Mrs. McKendrick had held up in the same way she always did.

The fourth day of the trial began, and May dressed even more carefully than before. Today was the day she and her uncle would be brought to the stand.

As the defendant, May was called to the stand first. Approaching nervously, she carefully schooled herself to keep a perfectly calm expression. It didn’t matter what she felt, only what she said on the stand. Everything she’d done, everything she’d sacrificed, all of it had been leading up to this moment. She had found a way to lie, steal, and sacrifice to do what she needed to do. Now, she would need to find a way to tell the truth.

Dana began with the simple questions they had discussed, and May did her best to keep her answers succinct and to the point. Yes she had always known her father intended for her to be his heir. No he had never seemed disappointed that he hadn’t had a son. Yes she had been trained to take over both the household and the business from a young age, and as she’d gotten older, the training had intensified. Yes she had run the household while she was away at school from the moment of her mother’s death. Yes she was a prefect, a member of the Quidditch team, and head of the Gryffindor dueling club team, all while still attending meetings for Firebolt and maintaining top grades. Yes that was all the truth.

May kept her gaze firmly focused on Dana. Now that she was expected to speak, she found that she couldn’t look at the judge, for fear of what she might see there. The familiar faces in the crowd were somehow worse – it didn’t matter that they were there to support her, when a wrong answer felt far too much like a failure that she couldn’t afford. As it was, it took everything in her not to let her voice crack as she answered several of the questions. At every moment, she knew she needed to project confidence and love, without seeming overly sentimental or childishly passionate. It was the kind of tightrope she’d lived her entire life on, but that didn’t make it any less draining. The final question was on the surface a simple one. “Why do you think the will should stand as it is?” It was the question she had been defending all year. But being asked to put it into words had her pausing, had her think. How could she say it in a way that would make it understandable and convincing? She didn’t know. So for the first time, she let herself talk her way to an answer.

“As Mr. Collingswood said, my father has always been concerned with the family legacy. He raised me to respect the past, as we are built on the successes of our ancestors. But more importantly, he taught me to look to the future. None of us ever really own Sherwood Manor or the Marian legacy. All we’re doing is holding it in trust for the next generation. As part of that trust, we have to protect it and increase it so that the people who come after are able to start from a place that is even better.

That means more than just money. We’re one of the largest donors to charities in the wizarding community, our foundation gives out nearly twice as many grants as almost every other foundation, and we’ve invested in hundreds of new inventions that are shaping the wizarding community. As a Marian, we are required to better the world for those who come after, and we are expected to help those less fortunate than us in the here and now. He taught me that you can’t just think in the moment, but back into the past and forward into the future, all of it together, to be able to make the kinds of decisions we’re expected to make.

That’s how he thought all the time. The fact that he’s made sure to constantly update his will throughout his life is a reflection of that. So, looking into the past, I want to honor my father’s wishes and defend his will as he intended it to be executed. My work at Firebolt has been to try and increase our company sustainability through this incredibly difficult time so that we can look to the future. In the present, I have taken on as many responsibilities as possible so I can be a faithful steward of the Marian legacy. That is why I think it should stand. Not for me. But for my father, and everyone who has grown to rely on what he stood for.”

May had spent most of that final speech looking at Dana, but she saw nothing in the woman across from her. No pride, no encouraging smile. Just a thoughtful nod as if she was processing the response that she heard as it was spoken. It was the one question they hadn’t prepared an answer to, and May guessed it was precisely so she would be forced to be honest within it. Near the end, she found herself looking up into the eyes of the judge, hoping that he would understand what she was saying. In the end, it was his decision what direction her life took. But there were no clues there either. Just mild interest and a mental file.

Before she had time to process what had just happened, Gary Keville stood up to cross examine her. This was about to be the hardest part.

“Is it true that you suffered a nervous breakdown earlier this year?”

“No.” Part of May wanted to rush in and fill the question with explanations, but Dana had explicitly coacher her not to. Only answer the questions as they were asked. Provide explanations when specifically asked ‘why’ or ‘explain’, but even then, keep it simple. When it came to yes or no questions, tell the truth, but only respond yes or no. It was the simplest way not to give him anything to respond to.

“But you did visit the hospital wing at school for an extended stay this year, didn’t you?”

“I was kept in the hospital wing for a few days following a 10 hour Quidditch game which put several of the team members in the hospital.”

“So you’re saying that you aren’t strong enough to handle the physical needs of your responsibilities.”

Dana broke in. “Objection! This is harmful conjecture.”

The judge nodded once. “Sustained.”

“Over the past two years, your uncle has repeatedly tried to intervene for the betterment of your life and the Firebolt company, but you have consistently worked to undermine his attempts, and in some cases reverse his decisions entirely. Why do you feel the need to consistently spurn the help of your only living relative?”

Help? Help? Everything he had done had been for his own profit, his own betterment, and yet he had the gall to give this as a tack for his lawyer to take? He was the one taking all of their private family business into a public court! When would anyone recognize that she was the one consistently reaching out to her uncle, only to have her love tossed aside out of stubbornness and pride?

Not that she could show any of that on her face or in her voice. Instead she gave him a mildly confused look. “I’m sorry? Do you have examples so I can understand your question better?”

He looked annoyed, as if he’d hoped to push her into denials and explanations. “For one, you were reportedly unhappy with the marriage he had set up in accordance with your father’s wishes.”

“Is there any written document from my father saying that he wished me to marry into the Murray family?”

“I’m asking the questions.”

“I understand. I’m just confused as I never saw such a document, nor did I ever hear my father speak of a potential arranged marriage. So I have no way of knowing what my father’s wishes were in this matter. In addition, the Murrays were found to be guilty of multiple counts of bribery and fraud in relation to their company. I don’t think that would be the kind of family or business connection anyone at Firebolt would desire.”

“And what about your insubordination within the company?”

“As the leading shareholder, I don’t see how I can be ‘insubordinate’.”

“See? This kind of disrespect is impossible to put up with for a man of your uncle’s stature!” He roared in her face, probably hoping to see her flinch. But she was too used to frequent Gryffindor temper tantrums to so much as bat her eye.

“That was not intended to be disrespectful. I was only being honest. I am the leading shareholder, and thus the final decision maker. I did not agree with all of the decisions my uncle made, and after consulting with the other members of the Board, several of them were reversed.”

“Hah. ‘Consulting.’ Is that what you’re calling it now?”

“I believe you heard from both Alexandra Kingsley and Bethany Rothchild about my behavior in Board meetings. I’m sure they would be willing to answer any further questions you have about this.”

He continued to question her for awhile longer, but there was nothing new that was really said. It was more a series of circular accusations, designed to try and catch her out in some hole in the story or to overwhelm her into sounding young and confused. She refused to give him the pleasure of either action, and eventually he muttered an annoyed, “There are no more questions,” and she was finally able to sit back down.

Finally, her uncle was called to the stand. Gary Keville took him through what was clearly a well rehearsed interview portion, describing why John felt that the will needed to be broken so that he could take over as head of the family. Curiously enough, he took the argument all the way back to May’s grandmother, his mother. He said that she had always intended the house would be inherited by a male Marian, and that May couldn’t inherit because she was female. Thus, as the next closest male heir, he should inherit under those original terms which his brother had no right changing.

Dana approached the bench slowly, eyeing the man across from her who sat there, looking some combination of smug and panicked which was very bizarre.

“So, to be clear. Your argument is that we should ignore your brother’s intentions – the intentions of the will under question – in favor of your interpretation of your mother’s intentions?”

“Um. Yes? Yes.”

“Why should we do this?”

“What?” Whatever question her uncle had been expecting to come next, that clearly hadn’t been it.

“What justification do you have to explain why we should ignore all legal precedent and break a legal will in favor of a previous will belonging to an entirely different person, disinheriting your brother’s heir in favor of you?”

“Because it isn’t fair!”

“Why isn’t it fair?”

“My brother got everything handed to him on a platter, just for being born older! He was always going to be rich, so people leeched off him and he blinded everyone to what he was really like. Now his brat is planning on stealing my inheritance from me just because she happened to be born the right way and it’s not fair!”

Out of the corner of her eye, May caught a wince on the face of her uncle’s lawyer. She couldn’t believe it. They were in a public forum, reporters filled the room, and he had called her a brat? Two questions, and his slim grip on his temper was already fraying. The room was so silent, you could have heard a pin drop.

“What makes you stealing my client’s inheritance different?”

“She doesn’t know anything about power. She has no respect for it. Didn’t you hear all her bullshit about nobody ‘owning’ any of this property and just stewarding it? It’s a ridiculous concept and it shows a dangerous weakness of character. I know all about power! Money and power are the only things that matter in this world, along with a little fun. But I’ve been told my future, and I know it will be great. All I need is what’s mine and then I can start it. And none of you are going to stand in my way. NONE OF YOU I SAY. IT’S MINE. IT BELONGS TO ME. MY MONEY, MY HOUSE, MY COMPANY, AND NONE OF YOU CAN STOP ME!”

“Even if we grant your claim about the house, the company is your brother’s. Your mother wasn’t alive when he started that company. Why is Firebolt yours?”

“HE’S THE ONE WHO TOOK THE RISKS WITH WHAT SHOULD BE MY MONEY. HE COULD HAVE LOST OUR ENTIRE FORTUNE. HE’S JUST LUCKY PEOPLE LIKE HIM ENOUGH TO SAVE HIM FROM HIS STUPID MISTAKES. BUT THE MONEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN MINE AND SINCE HE STARTED IT FROM THAT COMPANY IT MAKES IT MINE AS WELL!”

“I see. And where does May fit into this?”

“Who cares?”

“Who cares? She’s your niece. Your brother’s heir. Don’t you care about her?”

There must have been some signal from the lawyer that May couldn’t see, because she felt frozen. There. The question had been asked. Did he care for her? After all of this, was there any familial love left in his heart for her, when she’d been trying to hold on so hard to her own? Her entire world had narrowed to the answer to this question.

“I mean, sure, she’s my niece. But she’ll marry someone who can take care of her and then she won’t have to worry about business matters she has no place being involved in. So I don’t see why you’re bothering to ask about that.”

May felt like she’d been sucker punched. That was it. An off handed response to a direct question, which boiled down to ‘someday she’ll marry and be someone else’s problem’. It didn’t matter what she actually wanted. It didn’t matter that she was good as the head of Firebolt. In his mind, she had no place in business or in the company. And nothing was going to change it.

After that screaming in the beginning, he managed to come up with some decent responses to later questions, but it didn’t take much to see that he’d already done damage to his own case. In comparison to her testimony, his appeared selfish and childish. With the burden of proof resting on him, that was bound to count against him. It should have relieved her to witness this.

It didn’t.

So today was the fifth day. The last day of the trial, unless the judge requested to hear from other parties or wished to elaborate on specific points of the testimony for their own clarification. And May was cautiously optimistic.

So much of the testimony had been in her favor, she thought her own testimony had stood her well, and her uncle’s had been uncomfortably damaging. In a few hours, everything about this year would be put behind her, and (hopefully), back in her control. All she needed to do was make it through the next few hours and hope that the judge would see the situation the same way she did.

But before the judge could speak, Gary Keville stepped forward. He looked…reluctant? Which was strange. If he was stepping forward, it could only mean that either her uncle was dropping the case or they had some new testimony. Either way, it meant he wouldn’t have a loss on his record, or he had another chance of winning. What could possibly make him look reluctant like that?

“Before you begin the final review process, we have a last minute addition to your witness stand.”

“Oh really? And who is that?”

“Richard Marian.”

#self #fhogself #the trial is finally here #omg its been so long coming

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sonofsuperman-archive · 7 years

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Permanent Starter Call List:

to be reblogged and edited every time a new verse and permanent starter call is created.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE:

Krypton Verse: Royal AU. Krypton was never destroyed but Kal-El, son of Jor-El, still had his eyes on the world his father spoke of. In a bout of teenage/young adult rebellion, Kal-El used one of Kryptonian’s ships to travel to Earth, hiding his location from his family as he did so. It was during this trip that he was welcomed by Jonathan and Martha Kent as well as fell in love with a reporter named Lois Lane. For a few years, he argued, flirted, courted, and eventually married the human of his dreams. When Kal-El was found by his cousin Kara Zor-El, the Lane’s were expecting a child and thus a concession was made, Kal was allowed to stay on Earth just until the child was born before bringing the newest heir home to be trained and raised as a son of Krypton. Civilian Verse: Modern (Kinda) AU. The youngest Superboy’s powers are often faltering but never before had they collapsed as badly that bullets were able to pass through him with no barrier. Almost dying due to this mission, and with his fear of dying in an all time high, Jon decides to quit being a hero and try and live on as a civilian. A Kryptonian was never meant to stay normal though. His past comes to haunt him as he’s slowly being dragged to the world of heroism once more, but Jon’s not willing to give up his life of safety without a fight.

NEWLY ADDED:

Urchin Verse: When Jon’s parents die during the Convergence event, Brainiac sends him to a world alone. Placed on an orphanage, Jon slowly loses hope of gaining a family after repeatedly being sent back and gaining a reputation as a ‘bad kid’ for fighting the other Orphans who bully those younger. Leaving the orphanage at 8, he uses his charms, looks, and smarts, to survive the streets and become useful to any rebellion or person with the right amount of cash. [Useful for Crossovers, set in Y.C.’s world]

UPCOMING:

Sirens Verse: After a tragic accident with The Cube (an unknown object that has transported Jon and his father to a Dinosaur world before), Jon was left in the streets of Gotham without his father and with his 5 year old memories and unlocked powers. Forced to steal to eat and live in Gotham's streets, he breaks into the Botanical Gardens, meeting the Sirens along the way. Taken in by Poison Ivy, and renamed Aster, Jon ends up as a superpowered thief and helps his new mother in her attempts to help nature. Earth-3 Verse: Clark Kent and Lois Lane were/are/will always be destined to be together, the cosmic beings have ensured that ever since they were born. Thus it didn't shock anyone when Superwoman, Lois Lane, and Ultraman, Clark Kent, ended up together and having a kid. A half-amazonian, half-kyptonian child named Jonathan Kent or Jon-Il. At the age of 2, young Jon had already unlocked his powers and started his reign of terror, becoming a nightmare for any kid and adult he set his eyes on, securing his title as the strongest boy in the world and gaining his title as Ultraboy. He plans to overthrow his own father and mother as the strongest Villain in Earth but first.. he needs to grow stronger and make others weaker. Star Wars Verse: When Clark Kent chose a new world he, Lois Lane, and their new son can live in, the man picked something unknown, something exciting, yet something where they can be normal. To his own surprise, they were left in a world with luscious forests, clear rivers, and a full accepting society, a world named Alderaan. Though they planned a normal life, Clark allowed himself to be dragged to the wars, joining the Rebellion. Lois and Jon were brought and forced to live in hideouts where young Jon learned the stories of wars and jedis and how to fight. As a kid, he used his age to help the rebellion, passing on messages, spying on imperial, etc. Now that the war's over (13) and with Luke Skywalker teaching, Jon's unlocking his natural force sensitivity and the powers of a Jedi. Young Adult Verse: Superman has dropped the mantle and its time for someone to become the new face of truth, justice, and the American way. Lucky for the Kryptonian hybrid, he was able to escape that responsibility, to have more time to grow as a hero and as someone who’d have to overcome the huge legacy of Superman. With his brother stepping up to the plate, Jon decides that it’s time to be his own man and have his own team. Taking the mantle of Flamebird, as a remembrance to his brother Chris who was once Nightwing, the Super son contacted his generation of superheroes and created the newest Young Justice, protecting different cities and partaking different missions as they readied themselves into taking their parent’s titles. Adult Verse: There’s no such thing as truly ready but there is a thing called prepared and Jon’s finally prepared to take on the mantle of Superman. Leaving his team to a new and reliable leader, he heads on out to become Superman. It takes months for him to get used to protecting Metropolis and the rest of the world but he makes it through and decides to join the Justice League. With Batman and Wonder Woman as the team’s leader, they expect him to rise up among their ranks soon and to take his place as part of the trinity, here’s to hoping that he fulfills their expectations.

#//when I said I'm a multiverse... I meant it. This isn't even everything. I have WAYY more in mind a few prepared already #permanent starter call #list #verse #long post #╰★ | 𝚒 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚒 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚕 𝚔𝚒𝚍 ( saved )

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shanny-tired · 8 years

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A Personal Perspective

The Primary Races of Azeroth

Human - “The humans give me a mixed array of judgements. At one hand they are dangerous, too short lived and too quick to grasp at dangerous, volatile magics and just magic in general. Their rapid growth over the years is nothing but an astounding phenomenon, and many figures of their people have proven to have as much potential destruction as Deathwing. On the other hand, they’re an inspiration. I once thought their short lives to be a pity, and burden onto them. I see it now as a challenge by the gods. Their life is short, yet the press on, experience so much - put themselves through so much only to become something greater. In a simple span of a year for these humans, they can turn from a novice of the arcane to an skillful adept. I need to watch them more closely; dangerous, but very, very interesting.”

Kaldorei - “To be entirely honest I am unsure what to feel for my own people. Much of Azeroth’s pain is by our own doing. Our thirst for knowledge and power ultimately lead to the Legion’s invasion and attention on this realm. Ultimately, it lead to the loss of our immortality and hundreds of thousands of lives as penance for our sins. The fact that we have come so far, to go to such lengths to atone is...beautiful. Paleriver always said our people would one day incur fate’s wrath. How ironic that his foreshadowing was truth, rather than typical pessimism. I am unsure what to feel for my own race’s doings, but I am proud of my people regardless. if I didn’t have pride in my own people, what sort of Kaldorei would I be?”

Dwarf - “Ah, the Dwarves. The titans’ mythical and legendary image made... short and stubborn. Their ferocity in battle and tenacity in life is comparable to the Orcs. Truthfully I have not associated with many Dwarves to have an earnest opinion on them. Much of my knowledge of these people of stone come from others. Drunk, fierce, hearty, hospitable, and all-around pleasant to be around. The Tauren regarded them well in the past. I suppose I will do the same, if I ever were to befriend a Dwarf.”

Draenei - “Another enigma to me - the Draenei. The only Draenei I have had the privilege of frequenting in brief conversation is Masnira ( @enigmatic-elegance ). She is wise, too wise. She knows much more than she lets on, which is likely the truth in most of her alien people. I do not trust her completely, much less the magic she controls. You do not control the Shadow, the Shadow allows you to harness it, while feeding off your mind. I’ve seen several Priestesses of Elune fall to the madness. I wonder how far along the madness is Masnira? Singular Draenei aside, their people are two sides of a very strange coin. I hear tales and witness great valor and inspiration. Their prowess with magic even outshines the oldest Highborne’s ability. Their age and wisdom of lands-- planets-- I could not even begin to imagine piques my interest to no end. And yet... I see these powerful, l graceful people ‘slumming’ it within taverns within Stormwind. A dying people that leaves both a pitiful and glorious legacy. What... truly are the Draenei? A colorful race of clowns, whores and mystics? Or something so far beyond anyone’s understanding...”

Worgen - “The Nightbane were a curse to Azeroth, in my most blunt of opinions. Nature magic twisted and taken too far. The Gilneans.... are something else. While they are basically furry humans... I wonder of their future. Because of the curse, are their life spans extended? Will the curse ever subside, or will it take control of the Gilnean people entirely? The Worgen however, interest me. I will enjoy seeing their progress over the next century or so. Will they prosper, or fall to the curse? Hold on, I know of one Nightbane who wasn’t a curse: Graeldelon Bloodrage. Such a silly name, don’t you think? He was kind however. Perhaps too kind to the point where the lines between beast and man blurred. A guard dog, and almost nothing more. Imagining him commanding a troop? Nigh impossible.”

Forsaken - “Death is a natural part of life. To die means to return to the earth and let your spirit rest. We, as druids, are taught to not take death lightly, but to not grieve too heavily either. It is the natural cycle after all. I forgot this teaching when my mother died, I screamed at the heavens for my mother to return. The forsaken are an abomination that must be eradicated. I respect the tenacity of Sylvanas - to create an empire out of corpses and former Scourge, but respect does not mean acceptance. Greymane had best succeed in destroying Sylvanas and her people. While his judgements are clouded because of revenge, I agree with his wishes. Revenge is petty, even I as one who sought revenge, know of its unsatisfying return. We must destroy the Forsaken in time, for now we must unite to destroy the Legion.”

Orc - “Filth, every single one of them. They come from a foreign world and do not even attempt peace, no thanks to the humans and their like mindedness. War, and more war. Instead of focusing on the greater threat, we chose to focus on each other - to form this Alliance and Horde to pit our races in devastating wars, and for what? Glory? Honor? Land? Idiotic. At least some of their people have sense. The Shamanistic Orcs of the Earthen Ring seem to have a better idea for peace, and what it means for Azeroth. Thrall is a fool, Hellscream was a greater fool. I’d rather the lesser of two evils upon the mantle of their ‘warchief’. With their kind so bloodthirsty and hungry for battle, peace and unification is but a distant dream.”

Gnome - “They amuse and terrify me. Their contraptions and machinery see to the advancement of the Alliance, but...everything just explodes or some other malfunction! Keep their machinery away from me, but keep the company close. They are amusing in the way they speak, and maybe some of the most friendly people in all of Azeroth. Of course, much like the dwarves I’ve had very little experience with their race. There was this one Gnome however... very sweet but much too sexualized and flirtatious. I will need to at ‘extremely malleable’ to my observations. For their size, they sure can intake larger things...”

Sin’dorei - “I detest the Highborne, but the Sin’dorei? Truthfully, I respect and pity them. A proud, powerful race that simply had fate play against them, thus making them hostile with nearly all races. Thus, making them a dying, nearly extinct race much like the Draenei. They are trapped and alone, though the Horde has accepted them, it doesn’t seem like a pleasant relationship. The Alliance would never consider their assistance, and that ideal is reciprocated by the Sin’dorei thanks to Jaina Proudmoore and past humans. I would like to meet a Sin’dorei, within neutral ground, under friendly terms. Maybe make business deals with such a creature. I had heard their food and drinks are exquisite...”

Troll - “I once fell in love with a Troll, you know? Though ‘empires’ were at ‘war’, if you could call it that, there were still those that hadn’t a care to give for the conflict and much preferred to simply live life freely, without judgement from elders or leaders. A more...rebellious time in my life to be sure. We hardly understood each other but still...became friends. After the language barrier slowly closed, something more began to unfold. My own...personal experiences aside, the Trolls I believe to be a race similar to the Tauren in their way of ideals. Shamanistic, tribal, but as civilized as Stormwind’s roads. If... you can call Stormwind nowadays ‘civil’. Those within the Cenarion Circle - upon Val’sharah and Moonglade - amazingly kindhearted and mystic. While their ideas about our Wild Gods to be perceived as Loa is... strange and ultimately wrong, it is easy to look past that and find more similarities than differences. Just as the humans, the Kaldorei, the Dwarves - they fight for their beliefs and not just to conquer and create destruction. Not anymore at least.

Goblin - “Ah, the Goblins... I both love and hate their kind. I hate their pillaging of our native land for resources without even the slightest permission, war broke out because of those damned green midgets and larger green brutes. Their machinery is more volatile and terrifying than that of the Gnomes. What even is this ‘rocket fuel’? It powers much of their contraptions and seems extremely unstable. They rip Azeroth asunder to find the resource.... maddening. In hindsight, I’m not entirely sure who their are allied loyally to, themselves? Most likely themselves. The Cartels and those within Booty Bay are quite... friendly, if shrewd, and perhaps a bit lewd. If I can a silver coin for how many times I’ve had advances, I’d...likely have enough to exchange for a gold coin. If I had a gold coin for each time I was called ‘toots’? Enough to purchase a home in Stormwind. To me, them and the Gnomes share very little differences. Goblins are only larger, meaner, and much more green. Amusing really, if i had to choose between having relations with a Goblin or a Gnome... I’d rather apply myself to those green creatures.”

Tauren - “My favorite race of people on this land would be none other than the Tauren. If we all lived as the Mulgore Tauren do, the world would be united, peaceful, and ready to stand against any threat at any moment. Such powerful, stoic beings. As a Kaldorei, I have nothing but the utmost respect for them. As myself, I cannot help but feel oddly attracted and curious to the Tauren people. Powerful enough to shatter a tree with one fell swoop, yet instead of mongering for war, they choose to live peacefully and be one with their Earth Mother. Truly, there isn’t much I can say about the Tauren people. They are... indescribable with words to me. One would need to witness their overpowering sense of life and strength to truly understand why I hold such an infatuation with them. I’d much prefer Archdruid Runetotem leading the druid practice, but such a fantasy will stay just that.”

Pandaren - “I know little to nothing about the Pandaren people, other than the fact that their culture and food is extraordinary. I’ve managed to speak with one on a rare occasion of myself in the city. He told me that their lives were fairly peaceful and unburdened until the war between Azeroth’s greatest factions was brought to their island. So he says, I find it hard to believe that there would be a world without some conflict. Granted, he was quite the heavy drinker... I smelled his native brew the moment he spoke. A brew I tried myself and... well I understood why he drank it so much. I wish to visit Pandaria one day, just me and whomever wished to join me for an entire year. A vacation to escape from life and simply... experience a land so vastly diverse.”

(Tagging @everyone because I think it’d be neat to hear the views other people have on other races! Everyone sees things differently, what does your character see the world’s populace as?)

#Writing #perspective #kindaracist

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dorenekvance · 4 years

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5 incredible Canary Islands Volcanoes

The Canary Islands have a purely volcanic origin which, favoured by a unique geographical situation, gives rise to climatic conditions considered to be one of the “best climates in the world”, causing an explosion of nature that makes the archipelago unique. These volcanoes in the Canary Islands have left their mark in the form of mudflow, calderas or craters.

All this formation can be seen throughout the geography of the islands and can be easily visited. One of the most surprising formations that have left the volcanic eruptions are the pahoehoe, volcanic flows formed by dry crust that offer a wavy and quite rough surface.

In addition, some of its black or reddish sand beaches are characteristic of the great volcanic legacy that the Canary Islands treasure.

Thus, we will talk about everything related to Canary Islands volcanoes: how many there are? Which are the most important historically? Which attract most visitors? How many of them are still active today?

How many volcanoes are there in the Canaries?

The Canary Islands have a high rate of volcanoes compared to other regions of Spain. At present, there is not much data on exactly how many volcanoes there are, but the estimation is around 30. The islands with the most volcanoes are Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Palma.

Most important volcanoes in the Canary Islands

The activity of the volcanoes in the Canaries has its origin in the oceanic-Atlantic crust created more than 30 million years ago from large volcanic eruptions. Thanks to this, the islands are one of the geographical areas of the world with the greatest biodiversity with a pure and wild environment that together with its beaches, make them an incredible tourist attraction.

Therefore, the Canary Islands, like most volcanic islands, are like buildings that rise up from the seabed, so that only 10% of the island’s building stands out from the sea. This suggests that there is still an important volcanic mantle underneath. Let’s discover the 5 most important volcanoes in the Canarian archipelago.

1. Caldera de Bandama – Gran Canaria

The Caldera de Bandama is located within the municipalities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Telde and Santa Brígida. It is an enclave that attracts many visitors due to its large dimensions, steep walls, the cave paintings found inside and its location within the Bandama Natural Monument.

The caldera arose from a volcanic process with an explosive nature that may have started some 4,000-5,000 years ago. It is one of the most attractive Canarian volcanoes, both for its peak and for the caldera, as they are two natural units with a singularity that not only attract many visitors, but also scientists.

2. Teide Volcano – Tenerife

This is the most famous volcano in Tenerife, but it is not the only one we can find on the island. Its 3,178 meters high make it the highest mountain in Spain and the third highest volcano in the world. However, its attraction also lies in the biodiversity of its ecosystem, making the climb to the top a real experience.

The group formed by Teide-Pico Viejo is the last great volcanic formation of the island of Tenerife and the last part that was formed from the Caldera de las Cañadas del Teide. Its last eruption dates from 1798.

3. Teneguía Volcano – La Palma

Among the volcanoes in the Canary Islands The Teneguía It has the privilege of being the last great volcano to erupt in 1971. It has an altitude of 439 metres above sea level and is located at the southern end of the Cumbre Vieja on the island of La Palma.

Its eruption buried a large area under a huge lava layer, being one of the volcanoes of the Canary Islands that gained ground to the sea, forming lava deltas that made the size of the island grow. Since then, both the volcano, named Teneguia after a nearby rock, and La Palma became another tourist attraction of the Canary Islands.

4. Caldera de Taburiente – La Palma

The Caldera de Taburiente is considered a natural wonder of the island of La Palma. In fact, it was catalogued as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. Thus, it’s no surprise that it is one of the island’s major tourist attractions.

This enormous 8-kilometre in diameter crater, that was formed from solid lava that was later converted into basaltic rocks, has an approximate height difference of 2,000 metres. It’s currently part of the Caldera de Taburiente National Park, along the Roque de los Muchachos and La Cumbrecita.

5. Submarine Volcano – El Hierro

On October 10, 2011, an underwater volcanic eruption –that had been in the making for some months– took place, which came to a definitive end in March 2012.

The importance of this eruption lies in the remodeling of more than 9 square kilometers of seabed, creating new habitats, forms of life, eliminating others and also affecting all environmental conditions of the area, having to vacate places like La Restinga.

All of this meant that many people, attracted by the idea of seeing a live volcanic eruption, crowded onto the smallest island in the archipelago so as not to miss this event.

Active volcanoes in the Canary Islands

The Canary Islands have always had a high level of volcanic activity, both underwater and on land. Indeed, there are several active volcanoes in the Canaries that are being studied by scientists.

Regarding this, we have highlighted some of them such as Teide, that has been speculated of a possible eruption in the coming years due to its high activity. The underwater volcano of El Hierro is also active, as the last eruption happened in 2012. It is studied and monitored closely.

Another volcano that has been very active in recent years is Cumbre Vieja in La Palma. Due to its high volcanic activity, it is one of the Canarian volcanoes that has caused numerous seismic movements.

Canary Islands volcanic activity

The Canary Islands have always suffer volcanoes and their activity. Talking about their formation is talking about volcanism and seismic movements caused by that activity which takes place in their interior or underwater.

Countless eruptions have gradually shaped the islands throughout the centuries. In some cases such as the Teneguía or the submarine volcano in El Hierro, land has been gained to the sea.

In short, getting to know the volcanoes in the Canary Islands means learning about the history of the formation of this small paradisiacal archipelago, which have an overwhelming biodiversity and a magnificent climate, making them worthy of the name of Fortunate Islands.

La entrada 5 incredible Canary Islands Volcanoes se publicó primero en Villa Gran Canaria | Holiday Rentals | Villas.

5 incredible Canary Islands Volcanoes published first on http://blog.villagrancanaria.com/

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ourwomanhood · 7 years

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Interview: Tiffany B Chanel, Abstract Artist, on the Art of Letting Go, the Importance of Cultivating Relationships with Her Supporters, and Experiencing Peace

Tiffany B Chanel is an abstract artist currently based in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. As a creative, her work has also encompassed sneaker and jewelry design. She has produced work for clients such as Tami Roman from Basketball Wives, and actress Tamara Mowry, best known for her role on “Sister, Sister.” Currently, Tiffany hosts “Paint & Chill” sessions on the last Friday of every month, where individuals gather to experience relaxation in an intimate and artistic setting.

Check out the interview I conducted with Tiffany to find out how, as an artist, she has “mastered the art of letting go”; the defining moment that lead her to pursuing her craft full-time; why she chooses to be heavily and directly involved with her community, careful to build solid and trustworthy relationships with her supporters; what happens during her “alone time” in the studio; and the legacy she hopes to leave behind.

Interview: Tiffany B Chanel, Abstract Artist, on the Art of Letting Go, the Importance of Cultivating Relationships with Her Supporters, and Experiencing Peace

Jasmine: Hi, Tiffany, thank you doing this interview. You are a sneaker and abstract artist living in New York. Tell me some things I might not know about you.

Tiffany: Well before the art, I actually started out making jewelry. I was known for making earrings and my jewelry was featured on Russian Dolls, Essence, Tami Roman from Basketball wives, Fuse magazine on singer Rye Rye, and many other[s]. So once upon a time, when people heard the name Tiffany B Chanel, they automatically thought jewelry. I started painted in 2012, and I launched my website on my birthday. November will make 5 years of me being an artist. Outside of painting for clients and shows, I host “Paint & Chill” classes every last Friday of each month. I also work with schools, doing a “Family Art Night” as a way of giving back and bringing families together to bond with their children, [at the same time as doing] something positive.

Jasmine: Your art is bold and confident. You focus heavily on “people” as your subjects, using blocks of color to enhance their facial features. I appreciate an artist that uses color unafraid and in interesting ways. True-to-date, there are artists whose work stays hidden away because of self-doubt and one not-so-inspiring comment from a person who lacks appreciation for the wide ranges of art the creative world has to offer. To intensify the degradation, they’re convinced that what they’ve created is not good enough to earn a living from, even when the standard of what “good enough” is lacks definition and is arguably unreasonable. But then, you have that dauntless group of artist who shamelessly set their work upon a mantle for all to see, regardless of what others may think. They appreciate support, but this work is personal, therefore, they take personal responsibility for encouraging and rooting for themselves. It is what they do, who they are. Tell me why you choose to do this kind of art and how it helps to express who you are as an individual, as a woman.

Tiffany: Both ways that you describe the different types of artist is true. As for me, I realized a lot about myself from the people who were paying attention to my growth. The one line I always heard from creative beings or entrepreneurs was, “Tiffany you mastered the art of letting go!” It took me a while to understand what they meant because I was naturally just being me, and moving how I move. To be honest, I didn’t choose to paint faces - it chose me. I received an opportunity to paint Tamara Mowry’s son, Aden. I had never painted a face for a person before. I felt that if I was being asked to do this, most likely it’s because they know I can. After doing it, [a lot] people started contacted me for portraits, and that is how it began. I don't have to think about the people I paint, I just see the colors from the moment I am shown the picture.

How I create showed me a lot about how I see, how think, and who I am.

Painting on canvas helped me to express who I am as an individual. I say that because paintings take many hours and days to complete. It helped me to see all of the things I had in me that I wasn't aware of.

Jasmine: Tiffany, when was the defining moment you decided to go full-force into the creative world?

Tiffany: I decided to go full force in the creative world when I finally found my passion. I have always been creative, but not necessarily passionate. Being creative came natural, so I had to be fulfilled. And, once I was [fulfilled], I knew that painting was my passion.

Painting became a challenge when I decided that I would never paint the same thing twice.

It was also a great feeling to create for people all over the world that I had never met. I would just read their words and try to connect to who they were. [I wanted ] to understand how to create something that they would fall in love with. The feeling of being challenged and impacting so many people became so addictive. I automatically knew that creating for people was my purpose.

Jasmine: Let’s talk relationship and community. I have an educational background in communication and have learned the complexities of navigating that space. When all the definitions, theories, and studies are put aside, there is one thing that remains: communication is one of the strongest tools one can utilize to build relations among others. You conduct a lot of interactive art events for your community of supporters. A lot of your posts on social media not only highlight your work, but truly show the level of interaction and relationship you ’ve cultivated with those around you. There are other artists who opt for a more private lifestyle; choosing rather that their artwork to be what spectators interact with. Tell me why you feel it is important to connect with your audience in this way, and how it has strengthened and refined you.

Tiffany: I feel that it is important to connect with my audience because they are actually the people who are supporting my passion. Realistically, there are some people who do not want to purchase art until they have met the artist. Once [we have met], they are able to purchase [because] they know [the] artist behind the work.

In my community, I have “Paint & Chill” classes where I do not paint with the group, [but] instead talk them through it. I show them that it doesn’t matter if they have never painted before. I watch my crowd and talk each person through it based on things they can relate to and they all end of leaving with a masterpiece. Through these sessions we talk about life, passions, struggles, and occupations. The class is very intimate so everyone gets a chance to meet a new friend, ask me any questions, and to see some of my art in person for the first time. By connecting to my audience I have gained many new friends, opportunities, knowledge, clients, and priceless moments. Doing more with people has helped me become a better listener, host, speaker, and being.

Jasmine: During the sessions you have alone in your studio—when you have that “think time” and those meditative moments—does the art you create, even though you know it will eventually end up in someone else's space, offer you healing or inspiration? Tell me about it.

Tiffany: During my creative sessions I have clarity and peace of mind.

In life we go through things that may be rough on us mentally and emotionally. When I am able to sit still [and alone] for many hours at a time, I notice that I am not affected by random negativity or drama.

I play Neo-soul, R&B, and soulful music. I love painting to music that I can relate to and music that forces me to feel. Music and painting combined forces me to reflect, cope, and become more self-aware.

While painting, I have had time to understand that I may have just quickly outgrew many things and people due to my passion; [also] accepting that I may have had to let go of many things and individuals in order to accomplish [what] I am doing now. The peace of mind comes from allowing myself to accept my experiences and learn from them. The clarity comes from watching myself paint daily and being able to see my growth.

Jasmine: What legacy do you hope to leave behind for other women in the arts?

Tiffany: I would hope to leave behind a positive walkable journey that continues to impact others.

Jasmine: Tiffany, tell me one word that would describe your journey thus far.

Tiffany: Unimaginable

Jasmine: Are there any current or future projects you’d like to talk about?

Tiffany: I am working towards showcasing new collection in September.

Jasmine: Where can you be found online/offline?

Tiffany: I can be found at www.tiffanybchanelart.com

IG: @tiffanybchanel

FB fan page: Tiffany B Chanel

I am located in Brooklyn, Bed-Stuy to be exact.

Jasmine: Thank you, Tiffany!

#art #artist #Abstract Artist #Tiffany B Chanel #Tamara Mowry #Tami Roman #Russian Dolls #Essence #Fuse Magazine #Rye Rye #Our Womanhood #Paint & Chill #Family Art Night #Brooklyn #Bed-Stuy #interviewswithjasmine #Interviews #Interview

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