#I was a character from the comic 'Pretty Deadly'

[nkjemisin]

#old photos #2014 #halloween parade #spirited away #I was a character from the comic 'Pretty Deadly' #kelly sue deconnick #emma rios #I was trying to look creeped out #probably because I was creeped out

[asmosmainhoe]

hi i saw that you mentioned you’d do Obey Me Characters react to you being jealous and was wondering if you did it, cause i couldn’t find it 😅. and if not.. well i guess this is a request haha thank you 🫶

The brothers reacting to a jealous MC

Notes: Omg it's been yeaaaaars since I talked about that jsnsjqh I totally forgot

Gender: neutral

Warnings: none

Masterlist

Lucifer

Saying that he doesn't enjoy the scene that unfolds before him would be a lie. You're standing there with your arms crossed and a frown on your face, too proud to admit your jealousy

He might even tease you little bit and have that awful cocky grin form on his pretty lips. That frustrates you more than anything

"Don't be a fool, my love. As much as I take joy in seeing you like this I don't want you to feel insecure."

"I'm not insecure though. I trust you."

"I know, but nevertheless I want you to remember that you have no competition. You could never have competition."

Maybe it's his reassuring voice or the adoration that is oh so obvious in his eyes that makes the silly voice in the back of your head shut up. You believe him when he says that no one compares

Mammon

So many mixed feelings. On one hand he likes the thought of having his favorite person fight for him, but on the others he really doesn't want you to beat yourself up over this

Mammon is a party animal and incredibly outgoing so those traits naturally come with some side effects which is in this case an overly confident admirer. The same admirer who is currently experiencing the terror of a lifetime thanks to the deadly looks you're giving them

As much as a jerk your beloved boyfriend can be this time he's keeping his teasing comments to himself. On the contrary even. He's sending clear signals towards the other demon by displaying so much affection towards you to the point where you have to practically shove him off you. It still leaves you giggling and grinning

"What in Diavolo's name are you doing?!"

"What does it look like? I'm givin' ya the Mammon deluxe package!"

Leviathan

Of course he knows the feeling too well. After all he's struggling with keeping it at bay at the slightest interaction you have with other people. It's not his intention to hurt you or cage you in simply because he can't control himself

So out of all the brothers Levi is the one to react the fastest. He's already pulling you aside for a more private setting and tightly wraps his arms around you

"Please don't think anything of it! You're my number one and you always will be!"

The hug might or might not have been a way to hide his intense blush as he's saying those words. We all know that it takes a lot out of him

He will avoid the other person like a plague from that point on even if you stop being jealous of them. Someone only has to mention their name and he's jumping to his feet as if he got stung by something

Satan

He doesn't care about how others feel about him so when you first mention that he has an admirer he doesn't pay it any attention. You don't know if it relieves or bothers you to be honest

While Satan couldn't care less about such things he still does care how you feel in this situation. If you're uncomfortable with the way the other person is treating him then he will address it to them immediately

But beware! He thinks the problem is solved with that and most likely doesn't quite notice that it still bugs you. You literally have to bring it up to him, but don't worry. Everything after that is easy

"Please don't get this the wrong way. I trust you with all my heart, but I don't know...I guess I need some extra reassurance to be able to get passed it."

"No, don't apologize, my dear. I'll give you anything you need to have the issue solved."

Asmodeus

Us Asmo stans know that he comes with a price. The price being a comically large amount of fans who would kiss the ground he walks on

Usually you're not the type to be bothered by that, because you knew exactly what you agreed to when dating him and Asmo has done everything in his power to never let you feel insecure in this relationship

Unfortunately there is still this one specific person who you can't seem to stand at all. The thought of them alone turns your stomach upside down and has your blood boiling

Please feel more than free to bring it up to Asmo though! He doesn't want you to feel that way.

Since the beginning he's been doing nothing, but fight the allegations that he's not a loyal partner and only cares for one thing and you've been making sure that he knows how much you trust him

"I can tell them to step on the breaks and if they don't listen then I'll just be a bit more assertive."

"What exactly do you mean with assertive?"

"Don't you worry your pretty head, honey."

The next day this person magically vanished from all social media and for some reason Asmo doesn't want to give you any details, but you do know that his fanclub has something to do with it

Beelzebub

Like Satan he couldn't care less what other people feel towards him. He has his family and his own close circle that's all he really needs, but he's an extremely attentive boyfriend. Your sudden mood changes whenever this particular demon is mentioned or around don't go unnoticed

"Did they do something to hurt you?"

Beel-fight-mode is activated and he's looking around for that person, ready to knock the breath out of their lungs

"No, no! It's a bit...silly."

You're feelings aren't silly! They're valid! Just tell him what's going on and he will get to it immediately

If you need some extra reassurance after that then he's more than happy to cover you in love and affection

Belphegor

Is it bothering you enough to put up with his teasing? Don't give me that look. We both know that he's going to provoke the shit out of you

"Wow, is someone jealous?"

"I will punch you."

Yes, he will make you suffer for several days, but when he notices that you're genuinely hurting from it he will stop

He doesn't mind being rude to others to get his point across or to get you what you want. So, no. He's not breaking their heart. He's shattering it into million tiny pieces and stomps on the remains

Later that day when you two are cuddling in bed he's telling you that you're the only one for him as he drifts off to sleep kissing you

#obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me x reader #obey me brothers #obey me lucifer #obey me luci x reader #obey me luci #obey me lucifer x reader #obey me mammon #obey me mammon x reader #obey me leviathan #obey me levi x reader #obey me levi #obey me leviathan x reader #obey me satan #obey me satan x reader #obey me asmodeus #obey me asmo x reader #obey me asmo #obey me asmodeus x reader #obey me beelzebub #obey me beel x reader #obey me beel #obey me beelzebub x reader #obey me belphegor #obey me belphie #obey me belphegor x reader #obey me belphie x reader

[hunkahulkaaburningfudge]

Black Widow, Winter Soldier, and WinterWidow reading list

I made this list for another post, but I thought I'd put it here too.

Black Widow (1999) by Devin Grayson - Natasha's first solo. It's only three issues, and it's the start of modern Black Widow. It introduces important aspects of her character, like the Red Room. Yelena is introduced for the first time.

Black Widow (2001) by Devin Grayson - Another three-issue comic, which I thought was a fun read. It's a Natasha, Yelena, and Matt team-up comic. It's a part of Marvel Knights, which told more mature and darker stories so I have a soft spot for the 1999 and 2001 runs for this reason.

Black Widow: Pale Little Spider (2002) by Greg Rucka - Another three-issue comic. While not focused on Natasha, it's a Yelena solo. It's part of the Max comics line, which was an attempt to tell adult-only stories, and it definitely shows because Yelena visits a bondage sex club. A very important comic for Yelena.

Black Widow: Homecoming (2004) by Richard K. Morgan - I think this comic was extremely influential for modern Black Widow. A lot of her mythos originated from this comic. The movie took a lot of inspiration from this comic as well, like the pheremones thing.

Black Widow: The Things They Say About Her (2005) by Richard K. Morgan - This one is decent. It's not entirely important, but I think it's worth a read. A classic Black Widow story where Natasha is on the run and doesn't know who to trust. While it's overdone at this point, I think this was the first comic to portray it. Yelena and Matt show up in this one too.

Captain America (2005) by Ed Brubaker - VERY IMPORTANT. Bucky is reintroduced as the Winter Soldier and shows up in #1. While it's long, every issue is worth it. Natasha doesn't show up until #27, but #27-#50 is peak buckynat. This run is one of my fav comics of all time.

New Avengers #48-64, Annual #3, Finale (2005) by Brian Michael Bendis - Natasha isn't super important in this, and she barely shows up, but Bucky shows up frequently. I wouldn't say it's entirely important, but it's during Bucky's time as Captain America, and when he interacts with the Avengers, so I recommend it just for that. Also, I'm a little biased because New Avengers (2005) is probably my favorite comic ever.

Black Widow (2010) by Marjorie Liu - The best Black Widow story ever written. I don't think anyone has disliked it. 10/10, I always love to reread it.

Black Widow: Deadly Origin (2010) by Paul Cornell - A miniseries about Natasha's origin. Not entirely important, but it's a solid Black Widow story. Appearances from Bucky and Wolverine.

Captain America #600-619 by Ed Brubaker - Again, it's very important for both Bucky and Natasha. It's a continuation of Captain America (2005).

Captain America & Bucky #620-624 (2011) by Ed Brubaker - Pretty important. It's a retelling of Bucky's life. #624 is all about buckynat and how they met. A lot of iconic buckynat content that the fandom gushes over is in it.

Widowmaker (2011) - Not super important and Bucky isn't in it. A fun team-up story about Clint and Natasha with Bobbi. I enjoyed reading it.

Winter Soldier (2012) by Ed Brubaker - I cannot tell you how much I love this comic. It's the best Bucky's ever been written and I don't think anyone will disagree when I say that no one has ever understood Bucky like Ed Brubaker. Extremely important for buckynat.

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March (2014) by Rick Remender - I'm not going to lie; I don't really remember much from this comic, but I know people like it.

Black Widow (2014) by Phil Noto & Nathan Edmondson - Another popular comic for Natasha. It's probably my second favorite Black Widow comic after Liu's. Another Black Widow is on the run story, but Liho is introduced in this! Bucky is in #8, 15, 17-18. A must read.

Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier (2014) by Ales Kot - This isn't my favorite, but the art is absolutely beautiful. I don't think it's essential. Natasha is not in this.

Black Widow (2016) by Mark Waid - I enjoyed reading this comic. I'd rank it third after Liu and Noto. Bucky is in #9-10. Essential Black Widow comic.

Tales of Suspense #100-104 by Matthew Rosenberg - A Winter Soldier and Hawkeye team-up where they look for Natasha after she was killed by Hydra Cap in Secret Empire (no need to read it; SE is trash). A fandom favorite, and I absolutely love it. Winterhawk exploded in popularity after this run.

Winter Soldier (2018) by Kyle Higgins - Natasha does not show up in this, but it's very important for Bucky. It's a short five-issue miniseries, and it's probably the best Bucky has been written since Brubaker.

Black Widow (2019) by Jen and Sylvia Soska - It's a miniseries, and it's a fairly dark one. Natasha is back from the dead, and she's PISSED. Bucky doesn't show up in this one, but Steve does, and it's after her murder at Hydra Cap's hands.

Web of Black Widow (2019) by Jody Houser - Another Natasha miniseries where she's on the run and her friends are worried about her. Bucky shows up in #2 and #5.

Falcon and Winter Soldier (2020) by Derek Landy - A fun team-up comic with Sam and Bucky. Natasha doesn't show up. Not essential.

Black Widow (2020) by Kelly Thompson - It's...not great. Many people have already talked about what they didn't like, so I won't go over it, but it has some fantastic buckynat moments. However, I will say that I really love Natasha, Yelena, Clint, and Bucky teaming up in this comic. That group together is highly entertaining. It doesn't seem like anything from this comic will be paid attention to in the future, but I would still read it.

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (2022) by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly - Really trash. I didn’t like this at all. Bucky isn't written well, and I think Natasha shows up like twice. Skip.

Captain America: Cold War (2023) by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly - Another trash event. Skip.

Thunderbolts (2023) by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly - Buckynat FINALLY get back together after they broke up in Winter Soldier (2012). A boring comic otherwise.

#buckynat #natasha romanoff #bucky barnes #black widow #winter soldier #marvel comics #winterwidow

[feathernotes]

Hello! My name is Krispy, and I’m the co-creator of the webcomic Ghost Junk Sickness (along with @spacerocketbunny​) It's story time!

GJS is a webcomic published by Hiveworks and features two bounty hunters with an unstable dynamic who are pushed to pursue the deadly bounty dubbed the Ghost The current iteration of GJS is about 9 years old (and wrapping up next year!) It’s been an incredible journey full of ups and downs. We’ve learned SO MUCH creating this comic, and I wanted to share some of it’s origins with you all in hopes of inspiring more folks to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy- and make that comic!

The origin of Ghost Junk Sickness came from our love for Magic Knight Rayearth and Final Fantasy 7. Vahn, the protagonist of GJS, was basically a mash up of Hikaru and Cloud from those two series. The very first version of this story has unfortunately been destroyed, and this map is the only piece I have left of that world. Character art still exists though, and it was pretty funny to see how obvious we were with our inspirations at the time.

The original attempt at the story was called Crew, and my sister Space and I worked on it in 2002-2004. We sort of got lost in our own ideas after that, and weren’t as focus on making the comic (now lost). A few years later, I decided to try my hand at it and it looked like this:

This was all done on low quality paper, whichever I could find at the time and some pencil crayons. This attempt was over 600 pages long and had a pretty random story plot, much like the first version. I could not tell you what it was about haha 😅

My second attempt (then called Divine Ace) I wanted to look more 'traditional manga' and kept with just inks and tried my darndest to tone on the computer (it never worked out). This one lasted over 400 pages, and was more allinged with my liking to edgy action anime and games at the time. It was also Trigger's first appearance!

After experimenting and eventually wanting to change- I started to work with Space again, and we collaborated in full on our first fancomic for TF2 called "Be Efficient, Be Polite." It was a good lesson on how we could coordinate our shared skill sets and plan out who did what as far as the whole process of comics go.

All of these comics (save for the very first lost version) were hosted on DA the day we got our hands on a scanner. It was our first taste on being 'webcomic creators' back in the day, and it was very fun! We didn't much care for readers, only the process of completion at the time, so a page done was always a victory worthy to be celebrated (and back then, we had more time to make pages!)

And so, as the years went by and we decided to move on from our fandom roots, Space and I went back to the Crew/Divine Ace project and redesigned and overhauled the entirety of it. (You can see the full evolution here) We wanted to re-asses what the story, comic, and characters meant to us, and how we could convey some pretty important ideas and concepts to our potential readers. From that, Ghost Junk Sickness was born, and began pre-production in 2013.

Years after, we find ourselves reflecting on how much we've learned from the process of going ahead and diving in head first. There were certainly many iterations and years it took to get where we are today, but realising that it all began that day Space and I decided to scribble some pretty mediocire comics in our homework books and papers. Because that is the beauty of comics- The many skill sets, the hats, and challenges that come along with creating them. And how much we've become better at so many things along the way. So if you read this and feel nervous about diving head first into your first comic, I'm here to re-assure you that things will feel tough, but exciting. Things will feel really hard but amazing when you're getting your story out in front of you with such an incredible medium. Webcomics will always be my favourite because of how accessible it is to any skill set. And know in your heart of hearts that there ARE people out that that LOVE to see growth, they love to see the progression of your journey. So get out there and start creating that comic that's occupied your brain for so long, and start breathing that life into your OCs and your world. The only way is up with webcomics, and the only way to start is just by creating now.

#webcomics #webcomic #ghost junk sickness #hiveworks #feathernotes #me talking

[madcapmento]

One sec I need to talk about Shiva.

Lady Shiva was introduced in Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter in the 70s. She was a traveling martial artist hellbent on getting revenge for her sister, who she believed had been killed by Richard Dragon. She lured Dragon into a trap, revealed herself as Carolyn's sister, and tried to fight him to the death. Once she realized that Dragon had nothing to do with it, that Cravat and The Swiss (unimportant villain characters, they killed Carolyn) had been the ones to kill her sister, she helped Dragon defeat the villain (by giving him her shiny belt so he could redirect the beam of a deadly laser that was being pointed at them while they were fighting, don’t even ask) and Richard Dragon and Lady Shiva became allies, friends even. Dragon convinced her it would be a waste to kill Cravat and told her that he had killed the Swiss himself. She accepted this. They shook hands. This all took place over the course of one issue of Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter. It took ONE issue for Shiva to go from antagonist to ally. She then tagged along with Richard because she liked the adventures he got up to, the danger, the challenge, and the thrill of it. Richard even called her later on when he needed help on a different adventure. What I’m saying is she didn’t start out as evil.

Okay, so what do we know about Shiva so far? She’s a thrill-seeking peripatetic martial artist of great capacity and skill. She cared about her sister. She’s willing to kill. She’s an adventurer and a valuable ally. Great. Moving on.

The Question 1987 features THE Lady Shiva. A character capable of both ruthlessness and mercy, cruelty and tenderness. A curious, thrill-seeking, teasing character. She was vicious and nonpartisan and she was working as a mercenary for hire. But she was an ally, even when she was beating the shit out of Vic. She loved the O Sensei. You can tell she even cared about Vic in her way. I’m not saying she had a heart of gold, or that there weren’t tropes she fell into. She wasn’t and there were. But she was a fairly well-rounded, morally gray character that played a key role wherever she showed up. She was closer to a non-traditional anti-hero than anything else. Idfk, just go read The Question.

I read a tvtropes article describing Lady Shiva as “an archetypical Dragon Lady, complete with sinister motivations and exotic sex appeal,” which… she isn’t. She subverted this trope in several ways actually. She never had “sinister motivations” until Chuck Dixon got his grubby little hands on her. Her motivations were pretty neutral. She had her own set of principles, she was very morally gray. She wanted to travel and fight worthy opponents on her adventures for the thrill of it. She seemed to operate mostly on personal whims, and on the basis of building worthy rivals, out of love for the art of combat. And she didn’t use her sex appeal for shit (until the Richard Dragon reboot comic kms), she didn’t tolerate sexual advances or objectification. She just WAS NOT a conniving temptress, I don't understand where this misperception came from (but I do blame Dixon, I’ll get to that in a sec).

This same article states that she began as the arch-nemesis of Richard Dragon? Unless you’re accepting the version of the two of them from the very short lived Richard Dragon 2004 series as their canonical relationship then NO she didn’t. But I digress.

There was a marked change in the way Lady Shiva was written by the time Robin (1991) came out, this is where her character starts to lean towards the Dragon Lady trope imo. She also weirdly, and maybe arguably, leans more into traditional femininity while at the same time being written as more wild and uncontrollable. Chuck Dixon seemed to fundamentally misunderstand Lady Shiva as a character. He turned her (sometimes ironic) disdain for brutes who wouldn’t last a second in a fight with her into stereotypical womanly haughtiness. He turned her capacity for ruthlessness into bloodlust. And he made her into a conniving, somewhat deranged, villainous woman, tempting our young hero towards evil (oh my!). Again, I’m not saying she ever had a heart of gold, but Dixon changed core character traits (namely her respect for other people's personal code) to turn her into a villain.

“Kill him, little bird. Kill him and become a predator…Aren’t you my weapon? My instrument of death? Say you are mine.” Like?? She would not fucking say that, respectfully.

That isn’t even to mention Richard Dragon (2004) where Dixon turned Shiva’s relationship with Dragon into a resentful, sexually charged dick-measuring contest.

Even so, I don’t entirely hate Shiva as a villain, especially in Batgirl (2000). Pucketts Shiva is a bit less egregious imo. So she’s a passively suicidal evil mentor-figure who wants Cass to be a killer like her. Whatever, I can get on board with that I guess. I can enjoy it because I love Cass and this is a great comic run. But the retcon that–Listen, THE RETCON THAT IS SHIVA’S SISTER BEING KILLED BY DAVID CAIN, SHIVA DESCRIBING THIS AS FREEING, SAYING SHE’S GRATEFUL, THEN AGREEING TO GET PREGNANT WITH HIS CHILD IN RETURN?? This boils my blood. Shiva, who was introduced as somebody who cared about getting revenge for her dead sister. Shiva, for whom freedom and autonomy were core character traits. That Shiva?? That Shiva is relieved her sister is dead and is willing to carry her sister's killer's child to term?? What the fuck?

I hate it. I don’t understand it. Why would you take a complex character who makes it difficult to tell who she really cares about, and flatten them into somebody incapable of love?

Okay I’m done, this is getting too long and I don’t even want to get started on New 52 era Shiva. I don’t have a conclusion, I’m just annoyed. Thanks for reading. The Question (1987) is NOT a perfect comic but if you’re interested in Shiva please please please check it out, it’s very moody and philosophical, noir-esque. Also Chuck Dixon suck my dick.

#lady shiva #the question #vic sage #tim drake #chuck dixon #Chuck Dixon anti #denny o'neil #shiva #sandra wu san #90s comics #70s comics #cass cain #the question 1987 #richard dragon #david cain #dc comics #dc characters #dc meta #80s comics #please forgive how rambling and disjointed this sounds #and the writing quality is just not there but I have a point!!

[hubristicassholefight]

Swordswoman Showdown Round 3

Malenia (Elden Ring) vs Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess)

(Better here in a "preferred character" sense, not "who would win in a fight")

Propaganda below cut

Malenia

She is arguably the hardest boss in any Fromsoft game.; She is the favorited boss of Animal from the Muppets.

"Arguably" the hardest boss in any fromsoft game? You don't even know. She is OBJECTIVELY the hardest boss in any fromsoft game. On march 1st 2023, a bit more than a full year since the game's release, From Software released the stats on the amount of attempts each boss took for the players collectively. As of march 1st 2023 Malenia has killed the players 329.000.000 times. That's 10 Tarnished every second. That's almost the entire population of the United States. Malenia is also an optional boss in a secluded area hidden away from everyone. According to PlayStation trophy statistics, only 37.9% of people who ever bought the game managed to even REACH Malenia in the first place. Which means among those 329.000.000 people she has obliterated were only the most dedicated of Fromsoft fans. Only 33.3% of people even managed to beat her. That number also includes everyone who beat her with summons, which makes her significantly easier. This means out of all people who bought the game on PlayStation 4 or 5 and reached Malenia which is about 3 million people, 377.000 just fucking dropped her, they didn't even do it with summons. Difficulty aside. Malenia is also extremely pretty and has the softest lips, her Goddess form looks like a painting. She fights with elegance and style unrivalled by any boss in the game, dancing through the battlefield with deadly, fluid motions. Malenia is also 256cm or 8'4" tall. Huge woman.

post let me solo her

#malenia is 8'4“ flat chested and broad shouldered#she kills you with incredible grace and poise#trans icon#id let her Waterfowl Dance on me and Infect Me with her Scarlet Rot...

#malenia is so dedicated to the sword it mends her failing body. she lives by fighting#her strongest attack is a technique that halts the progress of her terminal illness#i can never stop thinking about that. by all means she couldve rotted into a mile of mush before the game started#but she persists!! she persists!!!

#malenia blade of 15 layers of contradictory goals and personality traits summed up in like twelve total lines of dialogue#she's a stupidly good character but shes also a woman who did horrible things in a game with a deliberately vague narrative#so everyone just enters What A Bitch / Step On Me mode with her#as they are wont to do. the lowlives.#anyway what would happen if you hated yourself and successfully became someone who can do plenty of good#and yet the only way to live on and keep doing good would be to embrace the self who causes so much pain#but there's nothing left. so you wait and you rot and you keep telling yourself that you're still the self you love#and then you have to do it again. and now your conflictual agony is over because clearly you lost yourself long ago#and you look up knowing that you're the danger you've always feared you were. and you smile#and turn john eldenring into filet in 2 seconds flat

Xena

Warrior Princess

She wields a sword and chakram. Just had to submit a biconic swordswoman.

i love her. she made me gay as a kid. Anyway, her weapon of choice is her sword, she is obviously very good with it

#unfortunately i have to choose and i have to choose xena#a) utena had no warcry. b) xena fought gods. c) xena has kickass goofy comic book combat which is my favorite

xena didn’t just fight gods. she fucked up a girl’s life so bad that she (calisto) devoted her entire being to destroying everything that xena loved that ended up with calisto becoming a god in order to destroy xena, which didnt work because xena entombed her in lava. and then when xena and gabrielle encountered calisto in the (christian) afterlife (different from the greek one which they also fought her in), calisto dragged gabrielle to hell so xena became an archangel in order to save gabrielle and then sacrificed herself in order to undo all the harm that she did in calisto’s life and then when not!jesus (played by timothy omundson) revives xena and gabrielle, calisto impregnates xena with the reincarnation of calisto’s soul in order to end the cycle of hate. xena doesnt just fight gods. she creates and destroys them

#this isnt even mentioning her fighting julius ceasar several times#telling brutus that caesar is not his friend#xena and gabrielle’s souls reincarnating across centuries in order to kick ass and fall in love all over again#or the time xena became a god but tbh that ep is kinda ‘uhhhhh…..’ even if they did hire a consultant for it

#I think everyone here knows to vote for Xena. I think a couple people here might have some propaganda for Xena saved already#everyone remember that Xena/Gabrielle is CANON and that's a pretty big deal also#(does anyone have that Xena Loves Trans People interview around because that would also make good propaganda)7:47 PM

#malenia #elden ring #xena #xena: warrior princess #poll #official #round 3 #swordswoman showdown

[sonic-hot-takes]

New Sonic media needs to introduce more heroic male characters to the lineup.

Normally I like my takes quick and spicy and let people come to their own conclusions with them, but out of all my thoughts on the series that I’ve shared with fellow Sonic fans, this one tends to get the most ire. Bellow the cut are my more in depth thoughts on the matter.

I may be forgetting someone but I’m pretty sure the last character the series introduced that was simultaneously a guy, a hero, and had any sort of staying power was Silver all the way back in TWO THOUSAND SIX. This applies to ALL Sonic media/canon, by the way (be it the games, comics, spin offs like Boom, etc.)

The closest character I could think of that fills this criteria is Razor from the post-reboot Archie comics—he did appear in both the main comic and Sonic Universe, and was the only new character to get his own SCO backstory—but for obvious reasons he’s not showing up again any time soon. I don’t count Chip or Yacker since they’re pretty blatantly meant to be one off characters that fill a specific niche for that game’s plot. Also let’s be real they’re both mid as hell

Compare this to the girls: Sticks, Tangle, Whisper, Sage (who is framed as more of an antihero in Frontiers than a villain), Trip, this new girl from Dream Team…

People scream sexist at me whenever I bring this up, which is ironic because I am a Girl™ myself. My favorite Sonic character, Blaze, is a Girl™. Sticks is one of my favorite additions to the series in a long time, and she’s a Girl™. I’m not against Girl™ in Sonic.

BUT it does make me raise a brow looking at the track record of new characters that have been introduced to the series, specifically when it comes to gender and morality alignment. This is a lot more prevalent in the IDW comics than in the games, but it’s present in both.

Since Colors (which signaled a shift in direction in the series), the new antagonists we’ve gotten in the games are: Orbot and Cubot, the mostly male Deadly Six, the Hardboiled Heavies (if you wanna count them), Infinite, and Sage (kind of). In the IDW comics, we’ve gotten Rough and Tumble, Dr. Starline, Mimic, Clutch, Kit, and Surge.

In the same time period, the new leading/supporting protagonists we’ve gotten in the games are Yacker, the Forces OC, Sage (kind of), Trip, and Ariem (the new girl from Dream Team). You can also squeeze Sticks in here since she’s the only Boom character to get any extra relevance or spotlight on her outside of that spin off. In the IDW comics, we’ve gotten Tangle, Whisper, Jewel, Belle, and Lanolin.

Sure, there’s a little overlap here and there. But you should notice a pattern.

Do not interpret this as me saying that Sonic Team or the writers at IDW have some kind of anti-men agenda going on. That’s not what I’m suggesting. BUT I am getting tired of every new hero being a girl and just about every new villain being a boy. Can’t we switch it up a little?

Even the most prominent female antagonists in the series have some kind of sympathetic edge to them. Surge was brainwashed and experimented on by Starline. Sage’s character arc is supposed to be the focal point of Frontiers, and she only does evil things under Eggman’s command. Trip isn’t even evil in the first place, she just ends up working with Eggman and Fang for…reasons, and ultimately turns against them and becomes a playable hero. They’re not framed the same way that most, if not all of the male villains are. Not even Merlina is fully immune of this.

Outside of the sexist allegations, I usually get one of two responses whenever I bring this up:

A lot of Sonic fans are girls, so the series should introduce more female characters in order to appeal to their female fans.

The series already has a lot of male characters, so they need to balance out the cast with more girls.

Both of these points have their merits and flaws. I think that both of them are/were true up to a certain point, but nowadays they don’t hold up as well after we HAVE gotten tons of new female characters. When Sticks and Tangle were first shown off, I was ecstatic! Sticks being a fourth wall breaking conspiracy theorist is both tons of fun and a character archetype that the series hadn’t explored until then, and Tangle has one of my favorite designs of any Sonic character. But at some point, I started to notice the trend of every new hero being a girl and every new villain being a boy, and it really started to bother me. For IDW Sonic it was around the time Belle and Clutch were introduced (with Lanolin ultimately being the straw that broke the camel’s back—she insists upon herself), and for the games it was after seeing Ariem in Dream Team (I probably would’ve been more annoyed by the Fang/Trip dichotomy if I wasn’t absolutely joyous that the Nack Is Baaaaack). The whole “we need to introduce more girls to the series” angle doesn’t hold up as well when the series seems reluctant to commit to a straight up evil girl. Sonic desperately needs to flesh out his rouges gallery in the games, so why not add an absolutely psycho female antagonist?

Also this is a more personal note but I hate hate HATE it when people allege that girls can’t relate to male characters, so franchises need to introduce the Girl™ character so the Girls™ can relate to her. Can girls not relate to boys? Can boys not relate to girls? Once again, not against female characters in general, but that particular mindset has and will always bother me.

Who knows, maybe Ariem will end up being the main villain of Dream Team. It’d be cool, but I don’t see Sonic Team taking that route, especially not on an Apple Arcade exclusive. I don’t expect any big twists in that game.

Those are my two cents. I just think it’d be cool if we got a new boy as well as all the new girls we’ve been getting.

#I think I’ve brought this up here before but I don’t remember #sonic the hedgehog #sega #idw sonic #sticks the badger #tangle the lemur #whisper the wolf #sage the ai #surge the tenrec #dr starline #ariem the sheep #sonic dream team

[mrcowboytoyou]

Star Trek: The Fotonovel

So TOS fotonovels are a thing that exists. If you've never heard of them- they're comics composed of stills of the show episodes. A couple of the first six movies were also made into fotonovels BUT they're both a little different than the ones based on TOS episodes and I will get to them in due time.

Right off the bat there are a couple of things that need to be said. For one, why do these exist? Well I imagine they made for a good way to consume your fave episode without having to wait for it to come on TV again. With that in mind, these fotonovels work perfectly. They're very true to the episodes with some exceptions. These differences come from the fact that these aren't comics drawn based on an episode, they just take stills directly from the show and the show was not intended to be read/viewed in this way.

Some things cannot avoid being abridged or compressed in favor of this new format but for the most part this is never really distracting and nor does it take away from the reading experience. After all, it's supposed to be a very detailed reminder of the episode you already know, so you can just relive it with the pictures.

Additionally, sometimes the fotonovels have extra lines and these are mostly found in the way of thought bubbles the characters have. Overall they're very charming but don't have a lot of utility now a days. I own some because I have problems.... They make up almost a fourth of my ST TOS book collection.

If you are interested in them my general thoughts are that the ones made from the episodes are really well done for what they are. They're also basically just some of the most popular episodes from the show using only episodes from the first two seasons. They're delivered in their own order adhering to neither the release of the show nor its intended release.

TITLES (ones i own)

The City on the Edge of Forever

Where No Man Has Gone Before

The Trouble With Tribbles

A Taste of Armageddon

Metamorphosis

All Our Yesterdays

The Galileo Seven

A piece of the Action

The Devil in the Dark

Day of the Dove

The Deadly Years

Amok Time

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Photostory

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Photostory

Now, you'll notice I said that the ones made for the episodes are good, and so far I have been sure to separate the ones done for the movies. This is because there's a bit of a quality drop.

For starters, they kept them the same length as the fotonovels of the episodes. Right away that presents a pretty big quandary because the movies are over twice as long. So if you're looking for something that adds to the experience of seeing the movies, these last two fotonovels will not do that- rather they will take away. A lot of scenes just don't make it into them and neither of them are adding from the novelizations either.

And then we have their page quality. All but one of these have shiny, coloured pages. Wrath of Khan is unfortunately in black and white and not even composed like a comic but is rather movie stills with accompanying dialogue. That's sort of like a massive let down given how big of a deal that movie is.

I intend to really get into the nitty gritty with each of these- especially the movie adaptions.

And, if you're worried about the loss of homoerotic subtext- you're all good... plus its just a tad funnier this way.

#“He's not only the best but the most amazing First Officer in the fleet.” #star trek #star trek tos #star trek tos fotostory #star trek fotostory #amok time #star trek the original series #the devil in the dark #city on the edge of forever #spirk #spock #kirk #star trek the motion picture

[milkyruins]

## kim gyuvin x reader, TROPHY WIFE

warning, i've never played pubg in my life *puts on sunglasses*

summary: kim gyuvin might have an embarrassing amount of hours on pubg, but can he really beat his partner, the deadly streamer @/not.an_aimbot?

genre: fluff

content warnings: light cursing, fps/shooter games (violence/death/guns)

wc: ~0.8k

as soon as the webcam feed populated the screen, your comment section explodes. his eyes widen like a deer as he tries to catch whatever was being spammed in the chatbox.

"baby, say hi." regaining a bit of composure, gyuvin's normal cheery self comes back. he flashes your viewers that giant smile of his and waves at the webcam.

"woah, staring into this tiny camera is weird. anyways, i'm gyuvin, yn's-- or i guess you all know them as @/not.an_aimbot on here-- partner."

he pauses to stare at you, deadpanning hard. "have i ever told you how stupid your username is?"

you give his shoulder a light smack, which helps his grin return to his face. "hey! i'm just kidding! kind of!" to which he receives another smack.

"how dare you?! you've only been on stream for what... eight seconds and you're already trying to drag my username?" you puff your cheeks a bit in frustration.

"yeah. and?" he grabs your puffed cheeks and smushes them. hard. as you bark whine at him to stop, he decides to deal more damage. "it's like what a 11 year old boy who thinks they're good would name themselves."

after enduring his sweet gesture torturing for what felt like an eternity, he backs off. finally having your cheeks back in your custody, you continue trekking on. "i'm going to ignore that and move on then." you face the webcam again, eyes carefully trained on the lens. "gyu's here so i can deflate his massive ego via kicking his ass in pubg."

gyuvin huffs. "in your dreams."

"my user isn't just like that for show, y'know. i am pretty damn good."

he gives your hair a light ruffle, breaking character a bit. "i know you are, bubs. you're the best. but i have an embarrassing amount of hours on this game and i will not go down without fight." he proceeds to enter a fighting stance, fists up against the webcam.

and suddenly you're giggling like crazy because holy shit, your boyfriend was a dork. it seemed like your chat had the same idea. "ok loser, stop trying to fight the camera and enter the lobby."

-

"'aimbot's carrying as usual. gyuvin... he's trying.' @/not.a_luvbot, well said."

"hey!!" gyuvin grumbles, hands frantically smashing the keyboard for some avail. unfortunately, from the glimpses you took at his pov, it didn't seem to help. meanwhile, you were picking up kill after kill, but somehow couldn't find your partner, who you deeply desired to shoot dead.

"baby, where are you? i have a gift for you." you smile brighter than you have this entire stream when gyuvin shrieks at you to quote, "no!!!! take that gift and shove it up your a-".

since you were doing so well, you decide to take a hard-earned break to admire you boy. his little quirks when concentrating, like his eyebrow furrowing comically and him nibbling on his lower lip, were just so endearing. even the obnoxious rgb lighting of his headset highlighted his features breathtakingly. you give yourself a mental pat on the back for pulling this specimen of a partner.

but you had the gift of death to bestow on the egotist next to you, so you had to get to work. you move a bit so you're on some high ground and watch as your boyfriend, god bless his soul, hobbles into view. he was badly injured already, the poor thing.

oh well.

with a click of your finger, he's dead and gone. i mean, there was a reason you had to clarify you weren't an aimbot, no? the match is called and the username he so abhorred sprawls across your screen (next to the iconic "winner winner chicken dinner" of course) triumphantly.

"i wasn't on my game! babe!!"

you shrug, watching as "gg"s flooded the comments. "yep, good game y'all. bad game to you gyu."

"one more match."

"that's what you've been saying for the past three rounds. i hate to break it to you, but you've been absolutely trashed by a prepubescent boy with no naming sense. three times in a row."

"babyyy..." you don't miss the pout that starts to tug on his lips. it makes you scoff and melt at the same time.

patting his shoulder in mock sympathy, you reply. "it's okay gyu, you can be my trophy wife or something." he snorts at that, minor tantrum seemingly forgotten. he gets up from his stream, giving your cheek a quick peck before exiting from the camera's view. "sure, fine, whatever. what do you want for dinner then?"

#kflixnet #gyuvin imagines #zb1 imagines #gyuvin x reader #gyuvin fluff #gyuvin oneshot #zb1 x reader #zb1 fluff #zb1 oneshot #zerobaseone imagines #zerobaseone fluff #gyuvin #kim gyuvin #kim gyuvin imagines #! 💬. ⋆｡𖦹 °✩ minis #mom i love him

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 3/5/2024

really fucking around in Breath of the Wild and not defeating Ganon, even though i think i am fairly well prepared, which is probably indicative of something or a metaphor for some larger issue. oh well! guess we'll never know!

listening

Rock the Jungle by The Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra, off an album of music from and inspired by LittleBigPlanet, a video game i have never played. Daniel Pemberton is a remarkably prolific british composer who mostly does film these days but also does a lot of BBC stuff.

this is the kind of scrubby pad to the brain electronica i need sometimes. i think these are heavily filtered and processed kookaburra sounds? at about the minute fifteen mark it adds a rolling, rollicking bassline that is, as im sure we all know by now, fucking catnip to me. at about 2:20 it adds alarm blares that fade in and out of a sort of disco-y organ? it uses its five minute runtime pretty well imo. i think this was off the spotify discover weekly.

-

reading

T Kingfisher's The Clockwork Boys, recced by @rae-being-naughty lo these many months ago, and my library hold finally came in. the goodreads blurb is a remarkably accurate sales pitch so let's yoink that

A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It’s not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher’s new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager’s city. If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.

i had a lot of fun with this! very pratchett-esque in its imperial critique through bureaucratic loopholes thereof, which is catnip to me, but i do think Kingfisher is simply better at writing women. the forger is an only child and it fucking shows.

i think if it were 5% more devoted to Humorous Bits and didn't have some nice character work between the forging accountant and the big sad blond paladin man, i would have gotten frustrated with it. i think it is simply more of a comedy than any of its blurbs suggest, and it can be difficult to ride that line between comedy and character growth through desperate acts without getting a little bit of whiplash. this is me being very depressed and a bit nitpicky though. the line "Time passed, like a kidney stone" is going to stick in my brain for a while. i already have the sequel on hold

-

watching

if you do nothing else today could you please watch this car chase for me? ok thanks

Gunsmith Cats is a three-episode OVA that's a fancam of the american city of chicago and the cool girls that live and shoot and drive there, but let's just yank the MyAnimeList description

In the dangerous suburbs of Chicago, skilled bounty hunters Irene "Rally" Vincent and "Minnie" May Hopkins run Gunsmith Cats, a firearms store of questionable legality. One day, Bill Collins, an agent for the Chicago branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, blackmails Rally and May into working with him on a case. The stakes are high, but Rally’s gunmanship and May’s knowledge of explosives are unmatched. As Rally and May unravel the secrets of the case, the two will need to use guns and grenades while being faster, stronger, and better than everyone else in order to stay alive.

all three episodes are free (in really nice quality) on youtube. i pitched this to wendy as "rally is jigen lupinthethird's little sister" and her driving skills and marksmanship... i'm not sure who would win between them but i wouldn't like to live on the difference.

animators, historically, hate animating guns and cars, except for the masochistic ones who use it to flex. there are at least three shots in each episode where i want to stand up and hold my cat above my head and hoot like a fuckin tusken raider. in the first episode, there's a raid on a smuggling warehouse (you know, a warehouse) where the BATF agent and Rally throw each other their guns and have a really cool FALLING OFF A CATWALK back to back shootout. it's hard to describe. watch the episode. i wish there were more than three episodes.

this is an OVA that, aside from the requisite panty shot and WHOOPS my whole shirt tore (one of each per episode per girl) is fairly normal about women? rally and minnie are...roommates. that bicker and eat pizza. they have a cool network of other slightly shady women they interact with a lot, and the big bad for most of the episodes is also a woman. this isn't like a bastion of feminism or anything it's just neat. sort of middling on the ass portion of the Weeb Ass Shit scale. low on the weeb and shit parts too. again this is a fancam of chicago with cool girls

i watched this bc i was trying to use up kanopy credits and came across the precursor to this, Riding Bean, which i did not love for several reasons (the big one being the legitimately pedophilic lesbian relationship) but the creator took the concept of Rally out of that forty minute...experiment? and that led me to Gunsmith Cats. thank u ppl who put free anime on youtube

-

playing

still futzing about in breath of the wild. fucking around with sidequests and a sudden need to at least discover all the shrines.

for example, i did all the labyrinth shrines. underneath the akkala labyrinth is the scariest room in the world, bc six of those fuckers are alive and they will all target you the instant you open that chest.

cannot be bothered with the eventide island shrine yet (the roguelike) bc it frustrates the hell out of me. did the thyplo forest one, which was extremely annoying bc it dimmed my whole TV screen (including the UI) instead of just dimming the game itself. im sure someone thought that would be such a cool detail but instead i found it extremely annoying and vey difficult to swap weapons or start campfires.

and then i trundled through a list of shrine quests, bc i apparently had TWELVE missing?? three were korok trials, one was eventide (apparently it only shows up as a quest if you are on the island or have finished it, bc if u die on the island it kicks you back to a pre-island save lmao) so for the others: three i just had to talk to people to officially start and then immediately complete the quest. remember when i was anxious about softlocking myself out of the jungle dragon shrine quest bc i went right there instead of talking to Kass? never fear, nintendo's got my back

"kay how did you possibly miss reading the giant stone tablet to start this quest--" i am not a clever woman. i go "oh i know what to do!!!" when i see the Orb and hare off without looking around further.

A Brother's Roast i missed bc i forgot to talk to everyone in Goron City after defeating rudania, didn't run across Test of Will (the Goron challenge in the Gerudo highlands) bc i forgot to look off that side of the tower and was very focused on gliding into the labyrinth at the right spot, and didn't run across Guardian Slideshow on the far south beaches bc i hadn't explored there yet.

A Stolen Heirloom was deeply annoying. i had four out of five quests complete to unlock this, but there is an unmarked side quest where you have to go into this lady's house at night to figure out she wants fireflies. maybe she has some ambient daytime barks about this? i have never heard them. this was a little obtuse. also i don't love the stealth in this game. this game's stealth really works when you are well out of detection range bc u have a sniper bow, and i find it works less well for me when i have to follow a target. no i haven't finished the korok stealth trial either.

non-shrine nonsense:

ive been using Stasis as a sort of VATS equivalent. in fallout, i like to hit VATS every once in a while just to see who's out there. how many radroaches are nearby. this also highlights most interactable things which i think is nice of the game

gerudo town stuff: i missed this sand seal racing challenge by SO little the first time which annoyed me so much, it took me six more tries to beat the damn thing. i am very charmed that they actually put in a garden for the kid who was trying to grow a garden!

some beach vegetation mysteries: im really baffled by this singular hearty radish growing in full sun in what is essentially sand with a dusting of palm bark. all the other hearty radishes i have seen are in deep forests with partial sun and lots of leaf litter. what the hell is this then. plus a neat little unique sea wrack? korok circle instead of the usual lilypads.

i didn't know this game knew how to do rainbows at all, let alone double ones!

i will leave you with my many attempts to make stamina potions.

-

making

making things requires both the perfect levels of anxiety (too little anxiety and im out doing normal people things, too much anxiety and i shut down, a medium level means im frantically making things to distract myself. we are at the high end of medium) and some level of income bc i inevitably need one or two things to finish projects. eg we are at the level of anxiety where i am only able to do simple things like repainting a whole bunch of big frames for my maps (procured when i had money) but i need more matboard. so they are sitting, 90% finished, in my office closet.

garden update: more than half my bush beans came up with no leaves and promptly died, which could be due to any number of things but im choosing to believe it's bc my bestie's five year old planted them a little too deeply. so it goes. all the sweet peas are fine, all my normal peas and most of my regular climbing beans came up. a little annoyed bc only a third of my nasturtiums came up even after soaking them for 24h as recommended. the shit i Bought (tomatoes, marigolds, mint, rosemary) is doing fine. the spinach and dill i planted are doing fine too, although the spinach also had about a 50% germination rate. this does mean i don't need to thin them but. Hm. yanno?

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

[ferronickel]

@stainedglassthreads asked about my inspirations when it comes to comics creation, which I am always excited to talk about! (You have unwittingly activated my trap card, so be prepared for a long ramble!)

My comics are primarily a product of the 2014 Image boom and the 2000s webcomic scene....

...and the main sources of my comics craft knowledge are the works of writer Kieron Gillen, artist Jamie McKelvie, and colorist Matt Wilson. They're an incredible team and everything they've done together is worth checking out, but I'm going to talk about two of their comics here. Young Avengers (2012) is a good place to start. Tons of formalism and interesting panel layouts. It's the first place I looked for inspiration when I was planning the design for Looking Glasses. Definitely worth checking out if you like cape comics, but also worth it if you don't, it's pretty stand alone. (Plus it introduces a lot of ideas and characters that Marvel is currently pillaging for the MCU, so it's always nice to see those ideas in their original context before my employers ruin it)

I can't talk about comics without bringing up The Wicked + The Divine (2014, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Jamie McKelvie, colors by Matt Wilson, lettering by Clayton Cowles). It's an incredible comic and a formalist masterpiece. 12 young people are reincarnated as gods, they have two years to live, and also they're pop stars. Issues frequently challenge the way you read comics, or break into completely other mediums (One issue was written almost entirely by real world magazine writers interviewing the in-universe characters). You can see my influences here pretty clearly: the interstitials, the style shifting, my recent (incredibly blatant) reference to Lucifer's transformation. Also the fashion, Jamie McKelvie is a fantastic designer! This comic is a must read for anyone interested in the medium of comics, especially Kieron's writers notes (all available here on tumblr at @ kierongillen), where he breaks each issue down panel by panel. The writer's notes are essentially a free masterclass in comics craft. (and when you've read that, check out the zine I organized with @gen-is-gone and 37 other artists here on tumblr at @iconic-zine) I cannot overstate that this comic is the reason I make comics.

I feel like I can't not mention DIE (2018, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Stephanie Hans, lettering by Clayton Cowles). Six kids disappeared into their d&d world and returned two years later, now they're adults and their past is coming back to haunt them. It's a fascinating exploration of portal fantasies, and has definitely influenced how I approach the dark world/darkners. (also, if you read DIE and want a good breakdown of the historical stuff, be sure to check out the podcast DIE-Compressed)

Honorable mentions: The visual stylings of Caspar Wijngaard in Home Sick Pilots (2021, Watters, Wijngaard, Bidikar, Muller) The colors of colorist Jordie Bellaire, in this case Injection (2015, Ellis, Shalvey, Bellaire) The work of Emily Carroll Everything from Pretty Deadly (2015, Deconnick, Rios, Bellaire, Cowles) A lot of stuff from Sex Criminals (2014, Fraction, Zdarsky), it's an incredible comic that goes way beyond it's (fairly nsfw) concept. There's a ton of formalist stuff here, and it tackles all sorts of concepts with a level of depth you wouldn't expect from such a silly setup.

In terms of webcomics influence, I am, unfortunately, a bit of a Homestuck. There's a lot to be said about this comic and I'm trying to keep my word count down here, so let's just say that it's arguably one of the most influential webcomics, and while many of it's ideas aren't necessarily unique or are derivative of other works it is singular in it's scope and presence. I find it mainly affects my own work in the way I think about the website design. (Plus, you know, Toby Fox)

Other notable webcomics that have influenced my work:

The works of Evan Dahm Barbarous Stand Still Stay Silent Lackadaisy (and a bunch more, but this has gone on long enough)

#nickel for my thoughts #I can really talk about comics for ages and I feel like I cut this down a lot but there are still so many that I left off #wicdiv is truly the influence of all time though #that's the piece of media that explains why I am the way I am #I think one of the most important things when creating is to consume a lot of other works #I like to draw inspiration from everything I read and I'm always trying to find new and interesting comics #I'll happily talk about this stuff more if anyone is curious #I've got a suite of craft posts that I'm working on right now so hopefully those will be out soon

[p-perkeys]

I've been out of the loop with X-men comics for more than fifteen years, and actually I was in the loop for a year, maybe year and a half - I'm not from US, so they've been hard to come by. My love for mutants came mostly from cartoons.

BUT. Your fixation on Laura reminded me of my fixation on Laura from the times I discovered that she exists, so I thought you're the best person to ask this: If I wanted to read something recent and good about her, where should I start?

Actually, doesn't have to be recent, just good :D

Hiiii!!! First of all, thank you so much for this ask!! I'm so flattered that you consider me to be a good resource!! I am unhealthily obsessed with Laura haha I could talk about her for daayyyysss!!!!! It's always so fun to connect with other people with the same interests and passions!! <3 <3 <3 I love it!!

Laura's been in so much!! But here's my personal favorites, and they're all things that I feel like are important to her characterization as a whole :)

LOVED NYX (2003) - her intro into comics!! So much angst and trauma and allllll the insight into who she is!

Uncanny X-Men (I'm pretty sure 456 is the first appearance for her here!)

New X-Men (she's not there until the 20s!)was really important - a lot of big moments as she tries to navigate her first time at a semi normal life.

x-23 Target X - SOO important, we see more of her backstory and transition from the facility!

X-Force (2008) MORE TRAUMA AND ANGST. I hate what happens to her here but love the angst from a story telling perspective. You can really feel her slipping throughout this arc!

X-23 solo (2010) It is a beautiful story!! So many amazing things! and SO IMPORTANT to Laura's character development!! Love her and Remy here, love her becoming friends with Jubilee, and LOVE her reallymeeting Akihiro - the start of an amazing story of chosen family!

I like her in Avenger's Academy - to be honest I mostly skimmed. I do like the angst of the brief friendship she had with Finesse though! To me it offers another look at how Laura is growing as a person!

Avenger's Arena was okay - I personally didn't feel like there was a ton of development for her, but it's good if you like angst and it just shows another layer of her slipping through the cracks again. The same with circle of four! I think they're good to read to get into her headspace for when she's introduced in all new xmen.

All New Xmen... I didn't love until it was over. I didn't understand all the things going on, but it made sense after the fact. You do see Laura's first official romantic relationship, and she has quite a bit of development, some set backs, some leaps forward... over all good and I would recommend reading for her overall story!

Wolverines was really good!! It shows the transition of tolerating each other to deciding to be family for her and Akihiro! I personally am OBSESSED with this story and I've read it countless times!!

Her All New Wolverine solo was AMAZING!! Loved this!! There was just so much that happened for her! Gabby, Akihiro, Sarah, Kimura... you get a dose of EVERYTHING and I think it ties the loose strings nicely!!

XMen (2019) isn't a favorite of mine but I do think it's important to read just because a lot happens for her here! It continues into the reboot in 2021 with an older version of her that comes back after she's presumed dead from a mission!

XTerminators is a resounding YESSS!!! Super fun, super cute! She's a little more relaxed and we get to see her reconnect with Jubilee!!

X23 Deadly Regensis was a nice bridge between her leaving the XMen and leaving with Remy in her early days. We get to see more of Kimura and more of what Laura went through!

X-Force (2019) was alright - it was a set up for her current appearance in Sabertooth War, which is also kinda meh lol but it's where she is now!

There are a lot of other things she's been in but I feel like it can get REALLY overwhelming, so these are just, in my opinion, most of her major stories that really showcase who she is :)

As a bonus - I loved her in Trial of Magneto and Deaths of Wolverine strictly for her interactions with her siblings. And there have been a lot of little crossovers between major events too where she just has shown up everywhere haha but I hope I answered your question!!

Please feel free to ask me anything else - I LOVE interactions like this!!!

#laura kinney #wolverine #laura x23 #marvel comics #personal recommendations #ask me anything!

[theoutcastrogue]

Masterposts

How to Rogue: a D&D 5e Masterpost

D&D 5e: Roguish Archetypes Masterpost Part I & Part II

Building a Rogue in 3.5 and Pathfinder: Collected Resources

Rogues in Fantasy Literature Masterpost

Dagger Fighting Masterpost

Thieves’ Cant Masterpost

Lock Picking Masterpost

Traps Masterpost

Tags and Credits

Basic Tags

How to Rogue: Exploring the Rogue class in D&D and assorted roleplaying games. Includes #fluff (roleplaying tips, character concepts, #backstories), #crunch (optimisation tips, guides, #magic items, #homebrew), and memes.

Rogues in Fiction: Exploring the Rogue archetype in literature, folklore, poetry, comics, games, etc, and #analysis thereof. Also relevant art.

Rogues in Theory: Exploring the Rogue archetype in history and society, and relevant subjects. Also #words of the trade (#etymology, synonyms, #thieves’ cant, linguistics).

Rogues in Practice: Tips on #how to stab and #how to steal (or, ahem, how to write/roleplay about stabbing and stealing), #exemplars of the trade (real life rogues and their exploits), and some less exemplary exploits. See also our esteemed colleagues in the #animal kingdom.

Art - Rogues Gallery: Rogue character portraits.

Art - Scene: Landscapes, fight scenes, #bar brawls, #heists, dungeon-crawling, etc. For urban landscapes, see #the city speaks.

Thieves’ Tools: Lockpicks! And assorted tools for breaking and entering where you’re not supposed to.

Tools of the Trade: Weapons! Mostly knives and daggers from all over the world (see the Dagger Fighting Masterpost for all the relevant tags), and some pretty swords and crossbows and the like.

Prison Ballads: The soundtrack.

…There is some overlap.

Quirky Thematic Tags

The ecstasy of gold: For loot, treasure, gold, and the deadly sin of greed.

The city speaks: For the hidden splendour of the city, from the gutters to the rooftops.

Heroes and villains: For good and evil and that grey waste in between which Rogues so often populate.

The phantom of liberty: For freedom, and storming the gates of heaven.

No tears for the creatures of the night: For the deadly sin of lust and its professionals.

The gambler’s face cracks into a grin: For gamblers and card cheats.

Dishonour on your cow: For honour among thieves, criminal codes, omertà, and blood feuds. File under the deadly sin of pride.

Fearlessly fleeing: For craven rogues and clever rogues. Wait, there’s a difference?

The ramblin’ rover: For vagrants and vagabonds and for the long-winding road.

The right to be lazy: For the deadly sin of sloth.

The hired man: For (mostly against tbh) the Rogue’s nemesis, the cop. See also #prison.

Swinging from the gallows tree: For the ignominious end that awaits us.

The quirk is strong with this one: See also #the potatoes of defiance, #big thief little thief, #the thrill of the heist, #the rich remember, #daring escape, #be the chaos you want to see in this world, #carnival, #stabbity, #only knives left, #dubito ergo sum, #fuck the king, #profanity makes everything better, #information wants to be free, #a begging I will go, #forbidden fruit, #the groaning rogue, #I fought the law, #the deserter. (#Tag namer explains some of the quirkiness.)

More Tags

Tabletop tales: It happened in somebody’s game.

D&D history: The conceptual and mechanical evolution of the Thief Rogue class in D&D, and other interesting stuff from the history of #roleplaying.

TRS: The Rogue speaks. Not to be confused with TSR.

Self explanatory: #D&D, #3.0, #3.5, #5e, #Pathfinder, #Pathfinder 2e, #AD&D, #roguish archetype, #feat, #skill trick, various #skills (#deception, #sleight of hand, #stealth, etc), #rogue fashion, #correspondence, #long post.

For anything else, try the search function and hope, but don’t get your hopes up because tumblr’s search function is appalling. Googling with the parametre site:theoutcastrogue.tumblr.com might actually be better.

Credits

All original work published here (i.e. the words and the occasional photograph of @theoutcastrogue​ aka @we-are-rogue, 2016–2023) is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

Avatar image: “Tymora’s Luck” (detail) by Ryan Pancost, from Dragon Magazine #388 | Wizards of the Coast 2010

Header image: “The Thief” (detail) by capprotti, for the game Exile Gods | Distant Orbit 2009

The WeAreAdventurers collective was started in 2016 by @wearepaladin. 

See also the archival blog @wewererogue​.

#rogues gallery #blog stuff #I finally made a Pinned Post

[dyke-donkey]

Valle Verde is weird anti-semetic garbage

If you're familiar with this analog horror project that's semi-popular right now, you're probably aware of the part where during the 'lust' segment of its cheesy seven deadly sins walk through, you see crying fetuses and the child character is running away in the hairy flesh canal from some surgical tools

Anyways I don't know why anyone is talking this project seriously after that, but I haven't seen anyone talking about the segment before it?? At least in the context of this very directly being a weird Christian fundamentalist project

The scene before this is 'greed', where you walk into a room of gold coin piles and artwork.

I've only been able to identify two of the artworks in the money piles- one is a snapshot of Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the other a work from Emil Nolde. (If anyone has identified the other two let me know)

At first it seems like they're there because art is an often expensive commodity. But you may notice that all of the art is abstract art, and because the maker of this has zero subtly, we also get this corner where some Christian Renaissance artwork is in the dumpster (lol)

So they're specifically juxtaposing abstract/modern art being displayed while Christian Renaissance art is being thrown away... in the money room.

Neither of the artists from the works I've identified were Jewish (Nolde was anti-semetic himself), however their art was targeted by the Nazis and other conservative authoritarians as being 'degenerate art'- a 'Jewish and communist' plot to erode traditional Christian values in art and life. Both artists had work in the Third Reich's museum of Degerate Art. The point of this here is clearly to tie the abstract art to the erosion of 'good Christian art', to sin, and blame it on 'greed' (with the most intense air quotes possible).

So this all seems comically direct but I don't see anyone addressing this?? I don't buy anyone's theories about how 'it's the characters Christian beliefs manifesting in the game', because 'the horrors of abortion' and 'the degeneracy of modern art' are not the concerns of the average christian 8 year old. This is pretty clearly the creators genuinely held anti-abortion and anti-semetic beliefs theyre throwing in their project. Nothing about this has been parody or satire, and if it was supposed to be they forget the part where it's parodying or satirizing something

Anyways like... just because something has a nice artistic direction don't turn your brain off. This is garbage, and it shouldn't be getting so much positive attention without addressing this stuff

#valle verde #analog horror #sorry this was just rattling around in my brain

[oneatlatime]

Ten episodes in!

Roughly half way through the first season, so it's time for a bit of a round up of my thoughts and impressions.

First, and most important: IT'S SO PRETTY. Seriously! The animators didn't have to pour so much love into each background and sunset, but they did! Introductory shots that last for three seconds or less ought to be framed and hung on a gallery wall. And I think that really sets the tone for the rest of this show: as a viewer, you can feel that everyone who worked on this show has love for it. There are background flourishes, pauses in plot for character and vice-versa, delicate and thoughtful treatments of difficult themes, and just so much heart. Not insincere performative heartwarming chicken noodle soup for the soul forward to five of your friends and then the whole bus clapped garbage either. Genuine heart. I feel like I'm watching something that is well loved, that comes from a happy home.

And that heart is the reason this show works. The concept of 'Kids' cartoon about a genocide survivor' never would have made it off the drawing board otherwise. It still sounds crazy when I type it out.

My thoughts so far on the characters:

Aang: Sweet little guy. Literally the only child currently alive not born into a world at war, and it shows. Also exactly the dose of fun and light-heartedness that the world as it is seems to be lacking. Has enviable serenity and a deeply rooted sense of self/self-confidence (probably thanks to Gyatso) that most adults don't. Deceptively deadly, if he ever chose violence. I am really hoping that the show doesn't make him grow up and kill people. He's lovely as he is right now.

Katara: Huge heart, too much trust. Intense. Frankly a bit much at times. Certainly feels way too much quite often. Ride or die for Aang. Would kill for and kill her brother. PEAK little sister. Has a borderline irrational amount of compassion that, when paired with her explosive temper, would make her the most deadly person in the world if it ever got twisted around to face the wrong direction (if that makes sense - like the potential for some really bad outcomes is there). Totally the girl who stole from the mall in 8th grade. Not over her mother's death to a borderline annoying degree. Tries so hard to be an adult, but keeps slipping up and acting her age.

Sokka: My favourite by a mile. Funny, delightfully sarcastic, wicked smart, can keep up with (and in fact is in charge of babysitting) the most powerful bender in the world and a fairly volatile, half-trained bender with temper problems. Perceptive (looking at you, Jet). Also ride or die for Aang and Katara, just in a more quiet way. The fact that he was willing to single-handedly face down a fire nation ship and certain death to protect his family & village kind of says it all. Either completely over his mom's death or has bottled up all emotion to the point where he wouldn't recognise her if he passed her on the street. Swings regularly between far too old for his years and half-grown teenage boy with manliness issues. Motormouth. Somehow both comic relief and linchpin. If he ever gets really quiet, you'll know things are getting serious - like there's a fire nation ship about to attack his village.

Appa: How many times has his big fluffy butt saved the day? Understands an amount of English that changes from episode to episode depending on the needs of the plot. Probably as deadly as Aang, if he chose to be, except with teeth and several tonnes of weight too. Both Aang's dog and Aang's dad. Why does he have six legs? Do extra legs present any flying advantages? Are they just for enhanced hugging? I hope so. There's a reason he's plastered all over this blog and it's not his martial prowess.

Momo: I'm not sure if he knows what's going on? Appa and the humans are very much aware that they're all on a quest, but I think Momo is just chilling. Can be very useful when he feels like contributing (thinking of the pirates and the keep-away scroll shenanigans), but is certainly the group's cat-equivalent. Also seems to vary wildly in size depending on the needs of the animators. I love his noises.

Zuko: I don't know? Winter Solstice Part 1 Zuko and Waterbending Scroll Zuko are two different people. Either highly volatile with wildly inconsistent reactions, or poorly written. Judging by the quality of the rest of this show, where even episodes I hate contain something I love, I'm guessing it's the former? Either way, it must be pretty exhausting to be Zuko. Has drive for days, smarts, leadership, logistics, and seamanship abilities, and temper problems. Oddly, his temper seems to be his most predictable aspect. I can predict what will set him off (most everything) much more accurately than I can gauge what crawled up Katara's butt. I honestly thought he was in his twenties, probably late twenties, until it was mentioned that he was 16. He comes across as much more adult, despite (or maybe because of?) the temper tantrums. Then again, if that Zhao guy is representative, maybe fire nation tempers run hot?

Iroh: Much more consistent characterisation. Something going on here. Deep well of firebending knowledge contrasted with doddery old man persona/personality (which is it?) contrasted with some not-so-subtle attempts to obstruct Zuko's quest. I'd better not find out that he's been leading Zuko on a wild goose chase for years.

Love Bumi, love what little I've seen of Gyatso, Roku seems pretty calm, Zhao is an asshole, but he's so good at it.

Relationships:

Whoever wrote Sokka & Katara's interactions obviously grew up with siblings. I'm not sure I've ever seen such accurate sibling dynamics on television. Long-suffering super smart idiot of an older brother attempting mostly in vain to claim some authority vs. ruthless little sister with a nose like a bloodhound for mocking opportunities and a contractual obligation to sharpen her claws on said brother. That's good stuff, and I love to see it.

Zuko & Iroh, partly thanks to Zuko's inconsistent character, flip flop between long-suffering mentor and hot-headed student (episodes 1 & 2), bickering old couple who love each other really (Winter Solstice Part 1 & 2), and no-nonsense super soldier whose hippy uncle came along for the ride (Waterbending Scroll). In all iterations of their dynamic, they give off the impression that they've been together for a long time and know each other well. Which is nice! I feel like Zuko especially could use a friend.

Bending:

Airbending is stupidly deadly. I think, from looking at the whole monks and temples thing, that the airbenders as a whole leaned pretty hard into the pacifist lifestyle, and (if you'll forgive the momentary foray into fanfiction territory) I think that they chose this lifestyle because they realised how crazy deadly their powers could be when misused. Aang can send a whole row of soldiers flying with one swipe of his staff. He flings people into walls without effort, without even looking. He can run faster than any other human we see, he can fly (albeit assisted), he whips up a tornado when fighting Bumi. Presumably (fanfiction territory again) he could control/prevent breathing, therefore control/end life. Gyatso certainly obliterated a bunch of comet-enhanced (I think?) firebenders. Now, some of this might be because Aang is the Avatar, which maybe gives him an airbending power-up? What I really love about airbending (or at least Aang's approach to it, which let's be honest, is the only one we're ever going to see) is how integrated it is into his daily life. Why stand up when you can airbend yourself up? Why twiddle your thumbs when you can twiddle marbles? It's thoughtless in a good way, as in it's effortless. Is Aang even aware of how often he bends? How much of it is unconscious bending? Is this because he's the avatar? Can other bending styles be so central to how a person lives their everyday life?

We haven't seen any master-level waterbending yet, but what we have seen invites speculation. Unlike airbending, where air is air is air, water is kind of defined by its variety. Solid? Liquid? Gas? We've already seen Katara bend water to ice, bend snow, bend salt and fresh water. Is waterbending the most limitless of the bending styles?

Unless you're Bumi, earthbending seems to promote stupidity. I was blown away by what Bumi could do, but every earthbender since has lost, and lost badly. I don't count the earthbenders in Imprisoned, because they had some hefty psychological factors at play, but the earthbending soldiers in the Winter Solstice part 1 who capture Iroh were literally surrounded by their element, with numbers on their side and their captive in chains, and they lost to a naked guy and a teenager. Does being a non-Bumi earthbender have a negative effect on cognitive abilities? Does the solidity of the element prevent creativity?

Firebending is dangerous, not in the way airbending can be dangerous, but in the way a drunk with a firecracker is dangerous. Probably the element that requires the most responsibility and self-regulation, ironically gifted to the most volatile people. All we've seen so far are fairly large plumes of fire - is precision firebending possible or is it more of a 'point it in the general direction of the enemy' technique? It does feel like an outlier, in that it comes from within, not the surrounding environment. That being said, airbenders can also be said to carry their element wherever they go, because everywhere humans can go (at least for more than a few minutes) has air, so fire isn't actually that much of an outlier. Also, either Zuko is suffering from a serious case of cartoon physics, or firebending causes some sort of muscle intensification and bone hardening, because last time I checked you can't kick a flying rock the size of a small child out of mid air or shatter handcuffs with an axe kick.

Final thoughts:

I think I'm preferring the monster of the week episodes to the season-long plot episodes. I think I want lower stakes while I'm still getting to know the characters. I want - no I NEED - more Appa. Give me an Appa episode. Give me a Sokka episode too. I also want more Gyasto - he seemed like a stand up guy, and I feel like he is what an older Aang will become, if all goes well. Obviously he's dead, so if there is more it will be flashback only, but I'll take what I can get.

I think the best point of the show, and what's really drawn and kept my attention, is the finality of things, even in these early, fairly plot-light episodes. Whatever blew away half of Zuko's face hasn't been undone. Sokka & Katara's mom is dead, and looks to stay that way. Aang really is the last of his people (and so, I suspect, is Appa). Aang disappearing for a century has left a duty in some way unfulfilled, and the world has suffered for it. Legitimate consequences, which means legitimate stakes, which means I feel like getting invested in the show is not a waste of my time. No Marvel fake-out deaths here! This world is one in which actions, and inaction, have weight. No bait and switch, no last-minute saves, no "it was _____ all along!" I don't think this would have mattered to me at all if I had seen this show as a child, but as an adult who is sick of how much of modern media shies away from sincerity, this show is refreshing.

Rankings so far:

Best episode (as in most competently executed) and favourite episode are getting different categories, because in a show that deals with some heavy themes, sometimes the most expertly done episode isn't all that pleasant to watch. I think the best episode so far, by far, is Jet. It feels head and shoulders above everything that came before it. It was at times uncomfortable to watch for how accurately it portrays both what war does to children, and what war-torn children will do to/with powerful children they happen to ensnare. Like I said in my post about it, I'll probably never watch it again because it's a little too real, but it is an episode that hums along like a well-tuned engine. A close second on the best/most competent list has to be The Southern Air Temple. The way the two stories weave together, and the way they mirror each other despite depicting characters destined to be enemies, AND the way all that gets represented in contrasting colour palettes is all so clever. It also gave me my first taste of the kind of long-term thought and planning that I'm already detecting hints of. Could you really write an episode like The Southern Air Temple without knowing how your season, even your series, would ultimately end? It's the episode where I first got a taste of the wider world, the scale of the stakes, the eventual endgame.

The worst executed episode so far is probably Imprisoned. I found the tonal switch in the middle completely jarring. I know what it was trying to say about Katara (compassionate and impassioned and will act on both to protect the innocent), but honestly the message I got was that Katara is closed-minded, naive, without any sense of proportion or any ability to pick and choose battles, with no long-term planning skill, and who is far too used to having Sokka around to clean up her messes and do her thinking for her. That being said, the worldbuilding was well done: this episode told us earthbenders' weakness (take away their element by sticking them in the middle of the ocean on a metal-only rig) and what life is like under fire nation rule (pretty hairy).

My favourite episode so far is The Winter Solstice Part 1: The Spirit World. I have literally no idea why, but it made me happy. Things I liked about it include: -It's so PRETTY -Sokka being ride or die for Aang to the extent of being subjected to spirit kidnapping -Zuko pulling the Exhausted Parent (TM) move of 'five more minutes on the playground then I'm leaving with or without you,' followed by not following through -Katara being stirred to action by Appa's worry -Zuko and Iroh absolutely flattening those earthbenders -Zuko and Iroh's odd couple dynamic throughout the episode -Zuko being competent at something! -How genuinely alien that spirit thing was, especially its movement. -Aang's "I have to try, don't I?" If I could have reached through the screen and given him a hug, I would have.

My second favourite is The King of Omashu. Maximum goofiness at all times is just delightful. Bumi has an enlightened way of looking at the world that gets all the more poignant when you realise how old he is and what he's lived through. There is serious angst potential there. But the episode is so light-hearted that you don't realise that while you're watching it. Also the absolute pinnacle of earthbending so far, and some pretty peak airbending too.

My least favourite is The Warriors of Kyoshi. They gave me a badass troupe of warrior ladies and then nerfed them so that Sokka could learn feminism. Sokka (as he was characterised in that episode at least) did need to learn it, but the trope of the male student effortlessly surpassing the female master is just so tired. At least the b-plot of the avatar title going to Aang's head was both fun and necessary story ground to cover.

An excellent run of episodes so far, despite my many and varied gripes with mostly minor things. Bring on episode 11.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

You Should Watch Miami Vice:

A treatise on the most poorly-remembered show of the 80′s

If you’re like most people, when you hear Miami Vice outside the context of a bar, you picture the following: shoulder pads, speed boats, bikinis, and pink and teal pastel. You probably think about the worst excesses of the 1980′s, of a kind of cultural sinkhole where there was nothing cooler than Ray-Bans and masculine posturing.

However, much like Captain Kirk is (mis)remembered as a sleazy womanizer, and the first Rambo movie is (mis)remembered as a paean to how AWESOME KNIVES ARE, Miami Vice has been frozen in pop-culture memory as something it really isn’t. A funhouse mirror reflection of what it was actually all about.  Because the thing is: Miami Vice is good. Like, really good. 

At its core, it’s a show that is:

Well-written, with a coherent emotional and thematic arc across its seasons, despite being made before the era of arc-based TV

Incredibly beautiful, with cinematography, directing, and musical/sound editing choices that literally changed the way television was produced

Deeply, sometimes painfully human, with main characters who are often wrong and/or make bad decisions with real consequences, and who often ‘lose’

And on top of that, it’s not really copaganda (no, really), and it’s pretty damn queer (yes, really.) It’s also an old-school episodic show, which means the characters have a ton of space to breathe and grow and be multi-faceted, and the production has room to experiment, both with technical stuff and the writing. There are episodes that are so deadly serious your mouth feels dry as the credits roll; there are weird, silly, fun episodes where utterly bonkers things happen; there are episodes that feel like David Lynch was moonlighting as director. It’s neo-noir, it’s magical realism, it’s a workplace comedy, it’s a treatise on how there’s no reforming unjust systems, it’s a love story about two men who refuse to grapple with the idea that they’re the most important thing in each other’s lives.

You should watch it. But let me keep trying to convince you, anyway.

Vice was the brainchild of Michael Mann and Anthony Yerkovitch, and in 1984, it looked and sounded like nothing else on TV. There’s an auteur touch to the majority of episodes-- not just a unified look, but a willingness to try things that worked in the movies on the small screen. When you watch a lot of shows from the early to mid 80′s, they look the same as shows from the 70′s-- en episode of Spenser for Hire could’ve been shot on the same day as an episode of Starsky and Hutch. People talk about the legacy of shows that led to our modern era of “prestige TV--” there’d have been no Sopranos without The Wire, etc-- but in a lot of ways, with its artistic, film-like framing, melancholic New Wave aesthetics, and abnormally high production values, Miami Vice is the grandpappy of all of them. 

The recurring cast is very small: for most of the show, it’s these seven characters. (No, I don’t know why this cast photo is posed like they’re at a wedding for someone they don’t seem to like very much. Literally all of the promo photos for this show look like terrible wedding or prom shoots.)

From the top left, we have Larry Zito (Hawaiian shirt) and Stan Switek (pink stripes); they’re initially the comic relief. They love Elvis and bicker like an old married couple, and as partners they get a lot of the surveillance jobs. They do not escape the show unscathed.

The two ladies are Gina Calabrese (blue belted dress) and Trudy Joplin (palm tree dress); I adore them and they are wonderful, and each of them gets a couple of solid episodes, but they aren’t always given the most spectacular scripts. Gina is both the sweetest, most naive member of the group and the one most likely to shoot first and ask questions later; Trudy is an expert researcher and cannot be arsed to do emotional labor for her dumb male colleagues.

The man in the black suit with the moustache is the squad’s lieutenant, Martin Castillo. Castillo doesn’t show up until episode six, and when he does the show’s whole tone kind of suddenly clicks into place. Castillo is weird. He speaks very little and blinks less; he makes eye contact with no one unless he is making so much eye contact it makes you want to bury yourself in the dirt. Also he’s maybe secretly a samurai?

Then we have the two assholes in front, our main characters: Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. Sonny (white guy in spring green and lavendar, the kind of man who wears a sleeveless shirt under a blazer) is a career Miami cop with a history of unprocessed trauma, a conga line of dead friends and partners, a wife who is trying her best to divorce him, and a six year old son he has no idea how to parent but loves very deeply. Rico (Black guy in grey and white, the kind of man who wears a three piece suit in 98 degree weather with 100% humidity) is a New York transplant with a dead brother, an utterly bizarre sense of humor, the world’s worst taste in women, and a terminal need to fix every broken person he’s ever come across while also probably sleeping with them. Their relationship is the emotional core of the series. Neither of them is equipped to handle this.

Sonny is probably the worst-remembered part of the whole badly-remembered series. Pop culture positions him as a wise-cracking cowboy cop who drives too fast and lives even faster, when in reality mostly Sonny is just very depressed, very lonely, and almost certainly a self-hating closeted bisexual.

He is a sad, bitchy pretty boy who legitimately thinks the only thing he’s good for is waving a gun around, and he only drives his government-owned drug dealer Ferrari so fast because he’s trying to drive away from his feelings.

Vice is a five season show, and unfortunately, you’ll often see fans arguing about the seasons and whether or not you can or should skip any of them. Here’s the thing: it’s an episodic show from the 80′s. No matter how much Mann or any of the other showrunners tried to make it consistent across its runtime, that’s not really how TV works. 113 episodes does not a movie make. Because of this, each season does feel a bit different from prior seasons, and which season you prefer is going to depend a lot on your personal tastes. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t recommend skipping any of them-- when you do watch the show from the pilot to the finale, it really does feel like one coherent storyline.

Season 1: Many people’s favorite season. A good mixture of tragedy, comedy, mystery, etc. The first six episodes are still kind of “working things out” tonally, but the whole season is worth watching. My personal favorite S1 episode (Evan, the second to last of the season) isn’t available on all sources, but is an absolute must watch, especially in terms of providing context for understanding Sonny as a closeted queer man.

Season 2: My favorite season. The show has its footing and knows what it wants from its characters and its audience. I would argue that almost every episode of this season is a good one, and it’s thematically very consistent. (Also, I think, possibly the most “fun” season despite a lot of darkness?)

Season 3: Also a lot of people’s favorite season, although PERSONALLY I think of S3 as “the police brutality is good, actually” season. Dick Wolf (yes, that Dick Wolf) was the showrunner for this one, and he wanted it to be “grittier.” I think S3 is necessary for understanding Sonny and especially for understanding the relationship between Sonny and Rico, but it’s definitely the copaganda season.

Season 4: The season a lot of people feel you should skip, because it’s “too weird” or where the show jumped the shark. There are some... real strange episodes in this season, including one about aliens and another about cow semen. For real. I’ll be honest: I kind of love S4. It backpedals the grittiness and focuses more on the characters’ inner lives again, S4 also ends with a fantastic two part cliffhanger that is picked up at the beginning of S5.

Season 5: A truncated half-season with a couple of “lost” episodes that actually fit in before the finale. Season Five is sad. The fallout from the end of S4 is heavy, grim stuff, and S5 doesn’t shy away from showing how that has fucked everyone to hell and back. The finale of the show is thematically excellent and emotionally satisfying; while the show was cancelled, they wrapped it up successfully.

“Okay, fine,” you say, sipping the cafecito I handed you while I explained all of this, “so it’s not just about a cool guy in an Armani suit driving an Italian car really fast. But you mentioned it was gay? It still doesn’t sound very gay.”

Well. Let’s see.

There’s what should be a cringey “very special episode” about gay cops in 1984 that is instead one of the most heartfelt and upsetting episodes in the series. Never once does this episode no-homo the main characters, and in fact, men being able to touch each other is positioned as healing and necessary.

Sonny and Rico are the only people who think the other is funny. Their hands and eyes are on each other all the time. Rico used to watch Sonny’s college games on TV and remembers his number. They both repeatedly throw missions for each others’ sakes. They spend all of their time together. There’s an on-screen “I love you” (there’s a ‘man’ at the end but it rings like someone hedging his bets) and a few episodes later the character who received the I love you marries a random woman he literally met less than a week ago in what can only be described as the saddest and most desperate attempt to Not Be Gay Anymore ever caught on film. They cradle each others’ heads more than once. A song about “loving the boy with the pretty green eyes” plays in the background of a conversation they have about following each other to the end of the earth in the finale.

All.

these.

prom.

photo.

shoots.

  and whatever the fuck this is.

You finish your third cafecito, shaking slightly from the caffeine, trying to prevent me from handing you a fourth. “Fine,” you admit. “But I still need more convincing. I can’t just watch something that’s good and thematically whole and about two sad men in love. It needs to also have... have some kind of, I don’t know, je ne sais quoi about it. A little extra spice.” Your hand rattles the demitasse against the saucer as you speak.

I pull off my food service uniform to reveal that underneath, I’m dressed as a carnival barker.

WELL. LET ME TELL YOU, FRIEND, WE’VE GOT:

An absolutely golden 80′s soundtrack that is atmospheric, consistently used at pitch-perfect moments, and which has been preserved in its entirety without any licensing issues

A guest cast list that includes a ton of super fucking cool genre actors, musicians, poets, and other assorted famous people playing weird, fun roles (James Hong! Earth Kitt! Pam Grier! Frank Zappa! James Brown! ...G. Gordon Liddy!?) AND many of the future stars of the 90′s before they were famous (Bruce Willis! Julia Roberts! Liam Neeson! Helena Bonham Carter!)

Sonny has an actual pet alligator named Elvis. He lives on his boat and sometimes Sonny has to take him to the vet

Jai Alai

Rico is a vegetarian, which feels like a difficult thing to be in Miami in the 80′s

Izzy. Just. Izzy. The most perfect, most ridiculous, rat-bastard con man and wannabe poet, Izzy.

Episodes directed by both Starsky and Hutch

Sonny’s pathological need to put things in his mouth

Whatever is happening here:

I watch your face carefully for signs of acquiescence, but all the frothing at the mouth I’ve been doing has made it a bit hard to see through the foam. I assume you are convinced and hand you a seventh cafecito. You have not drank the fifth or the sixth. I will drink them when you leave, that’s fine.

MY JOB HERE IS DONE, I announce.

You ask me to elaborate on the whole “not copaganda” thing, trying to grab me by the candy-striped suspenders.

I can’t totally elaborate on that without spoiling a bunch of the show, but suffice to say: ultimately, Vice is about how you can’t change corrupt systems from the inside, that the police serve the rich and powerful, the function of vice cops is basically to create the illusion of order while letting the government quietly destabilize the countries the drugs are originally coming from, and that anyone who tries to be a “good cop” ends up eaten by the system, corrupt, or dead.

There’s some backpedaling on this in the middle of the series with the whole Dick Wolf thing (that man loves his fucking cops), and not every episode is totally consistent with its messaging, but season five definitely doubles down on “this is actually a bad system that really can’t be fixed.”

The show isn’t perfect (I mean. it’s still a cop show from the 80′s)-- it’s a product of its time, for better or for worse. But Miami Vice is really damn good. It’ll make your heart hurt in the best way possible. You will want, desperately, for Sonny to figure out that he’s worth something more than his career as a police officer. You’ll come out of it with a lot of feelings about Phil Collins. I think anyone who likes a good story about people has the potential to really fall in love with Vice-- I’ll admit I literally started watching it as a joke, and realized pretty quickly that everything I thought I knew about the show was wrong.

Satisfied with my answers, you try to leave.

I hit you with a plate of cocaine.

#miami vice #tv recommendations #fandom #80's #retro tv