Tony, the futurist
Buckle in folks, I've had some thoughts and I'm about to make it ✨everyone's✨ problem.
Been thinking about Tony Stark, the futurist who saw the end of the world.
Tony, who in IM1 escapes kidnapping and torture and says, "I shouldn't be alive. Unless if was for a reason."
who, in The Avengers, has this exchange with Bruce Banner:
Tony: You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a… terrible privilege.
Bruce: But you can control it.
Tony: Because I learned how.
Bruce: It's different.
Tony: Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should've killed you.
Bruce: So you're saying that the Hulk… the other guy… saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?
Tony: I guess we'll find out.
Bruce: You might not like that.
Tony: You just might.
Right after this, Cap tells Tony, "You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."
And then Tony flies a nuke into a wormhole, tries to call his girlfriend because he thinks these are his last moments, did not go in there expecting to survive.
Although he survives, he witnesses an alien army so terrifying, so unbeatable, it gives him crippling PTSD nightmares and panic attacks, knowing they are not prepared to defend the earth.
I'm thinking about Tony who, in AOU, gets manipulated by Wanda into witnessing his worst nightmare.
Which, by the way, involves losing all of his newfound friends.
Later, he has this exchange with Nick Fury:
Tony: And I'm the man who killed the Avengers. I saw it. I didn't tell the team, how could I? I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it. The whole world, too. It's because of me. I wasn't ready. I didn't do all I could.
Fury: The Maximoff girl, she's working you, Stark. Playing on your fear.
Tony: I wasn't tricked, I was shown. It wasn't a nightmare, it was my legacy. The end of the path I started us on.
Fury: You've come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony. War isn't one of them.
Tony: I watched my friends die. You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets, right? Nope. Wasn't the worst part.
Fury: The worst part is that you didn't.
Tony's worst fear is to survive in a world he's failed to save. He has to "do all [he] could" or else the future he's terrified of will happen and it will be his fault.
(Not to put too fine a point on it, but there's a reason why Tony and Peter are so compatible as mentor and mentee.)
Tony's seen what's coming, and he's willing to do whatever it takes.
Here's the thing, though:
Tony doesn't actually want to die.
In AOU, when they're arguing about why he created Ultron, Tony says this to Cap:
"Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the 'why we fight'? So we get to go home?"
He tells Bruce that the reason they should create Ultron is to have "peace in our time."
He tells Pepper that his constant tinkering, his inability to ever, ever rest is because he needs to keep her safe from the oncoming threat.
Tony has a life he wants to protect, people he wants to keep safe. And, unlike the other Avengers, he knows exactly how impossible this will be to achieve.
Tony is the only Avenger who understands how severely outmatched they are. Maybe Thor understands the threat, but he has no ability to imagine losing.
Tony tries to get them to understand:
Tony: Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's… that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?
Steve: Together.
Tony: We'll lose.
Steve: Then we'll do that together, too.
Well, they do lose. And they don't do it together.
And it turns out Tony was right about everything.
He was right that he would survive to face his world that he'd failed to save.
He was right that the Avengers would not be enough.
He was right that Bruce's powers would be worthwhile someday.
And, apparently,
some people think he was right that he was only alive for this reason.
Because, obviously, the only "reason" for someone like Tony Stark to be alive is to eventually sacrifice himself, right?
A character so traumatized can only find peace in death.
Right?
No.
Stop that.
Tony Stark may have been willing to risk his life for his family, but that doesn't mean he wanted that to be his end.
Remember when this happened?
Bruce: Saved it for what?
Tony: I guess we'll find out.
Bruce: You might not like that.
Tony: You just might.
Bruce gets to live long enough to like his ending.
Remember when this happened?
All Tony ever wanted to do was make the world a better place.
And, what about this?
You're telling me that Yinsen didn't value family above all else?
That he thought Tony should die and leave them behind?
No.
Tony Stark is a futurist.
He is the Cassandra of the MCU. He warns the others constantly of the oncoming threat that only he, apparently, can see. (Even Thanos calls him "cursed with knowledge.")
No one believes him. Alone, he tries to prepare for the threat that he has witnessed. He sits with his nightmares and tries to find a way around them, constantly.
He builds a life worth living, finds people worth protecting, just like Yinsen told him to.
To protect the future, he does all he possibly can.
Tony deserved to be part of the future too.
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Viva Las Vengeance is out so I decided to waste 43 minutes of my life and here's my thoughts.
Note: any song after Local God is my first time listening to it, so all these reactions were written as the song was playing.
Also I'm using the tumblr app so idk how to cut text sorry.
Viva Las Vengeance:
This song has already been shat on to death for good reason
The verse and the chorus don't fit at all with each other
And the slow part near the end is not it😬
Middle of A Breakup:
Just saying this now the lyrics on these songs are VERY on the nose AND unoriginal
'Keep your disco, give me T-Rex' tf is that suppose to mean???
It's meh. Not as painful as the first one for sure.
Don't Let the Light Go Out:
Said it before and I'll say it again: Ed Sheeran knock-off.
Shows that Brendon doesn't need uplifting beats and screehing to make a good song
Well 'good' is subjective but this is one fo the better ones.
Local God:
This song should be in JAIL.
I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT IHATE IT-
Doesn't flow together AT ALL
It's 2022 Brendon why did you make an ENTIRE 3 MINUTE SONG about a guy you haven't talked to in YEARS???
Star Spangled Banger:
the title is a obvious lie, this shit ain't banging at ALL
Why is brendon sing-talking some parts in the verse?? Could he not fit all the lyrics in??
Good to know that the verse and the chorus not fitting together is gonna be a running theme throughout this album
God Killed Rock and Roll:
I swear the beginning of with the piano this sounds like a cheap knockoff of bohemian rhapsody
The musical flow of this song SUCKS so much its kinda funny. It starts with piano with an accompany of a chorus which is the only decent part of the entire song, then the pre-chorus has a quicker beat and the switch feels so abrupt.
I don't like that it sounds like brendon is trying to chase the lyrics in the chorus
Say it Louder:
Ngl the beat actually sounds good???
'For the people in the back(back,back,back) bros trying to create his own echo💀
None of it sounds out of place so far.. his voice does kind of sound a bit werid though its kind of expected of him at this point
OK nvm, it got slow again around the middle
Sugar Soaker:
The come on come ons do not fit the beat of the chorus. They fit the verses just fine though.
He's definitely making the choruses sound 'fulfilling' when it's just the verse but upped an octave. It just comes off as lifeless..
Wtf were those come ons at the end, its like hes creating dramatic tension through audio
Something About Maggie:
HELP NOT THAT HIGH NOTE FOLLOWED BY ALL THE LOW ONES, yeah that made me actually laugh
'Let him GOOO🤩' 'people say people say run away run away😈'
Sorry but the only ones who wrote a good line about slitting wrists were MCR and that was in 2004 🙄
Also Panic hasn't really been 'emo' since Fever (maybe Vices but that's pushing it) so not only is this line just yeesh it doesnt fit at all.😬
So glad Brendon decided to embrace his snake persona with how he's saying his s' at the end of sentences
'oh yeah'😚
Brendon PLEASE stop messing up the track by switching beats halfway through it
a a a a a a a a
Friendship ended with Sarah, now Maggie is my bestie
Sad Clown:
Title is kinda self-aware, ain't it?
Alright Brendon we know you were on Broadway but that doesn't mean you have to force yourself to sing like that on your songs
Only dogs can hear it I stg
Great he got slow AGAIN out of no where, cause that went so well the last time he did it (viva las vengeance)
All By Yourself:
Another self-aware title damn, he's on a kick with these.
He likes mentioning those posters on my wall. Ironically I have two IDKHOW and FØB posters and none of him lol.
Even with a slow song like this, it still feels like he's forcing himself to sing higher than he has to.
He was right about changing everything all by himself though.
This actually sounds pretty nice, I will admit.
Do it To Death:
What else is there left to say? It sounds the exact same as the other songs..
It keeps teasing me thinking he's gonna say something else-OH SCREW OFF NOW THIS 'shut up and go to bed' SHIT AGAIN
I sat through 40 minutes of your mediocre music just to get jumpscared with a viva las vengeance callback END ME
In short: im disappointed but not surprised. This doesn't even feel like Panic anymore. The lyrics are bland and repetitive, Brendons vocals are truely fighting on their last legs and the songs can't commit to a single beat. It's like he had too many ideas and thought he could execute them all but he couldn't. I can't believe this album is actually real, I refuse to listen to this ever again.
If the studio versions of these songs sound so dogshit, I canNOT wait to hear about the tour versions.
Bonus note: the song spotify decided to auto play right after finishing the album was Famous Last Words which idk whether to laugh or cry.
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