#axis retcon mostly

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

I need to decide how to do the x men because I was gonna have Endgame cause them to exist due to time travel reasons but I’ve changed my mind. So here’s how I’d make them work with how I want to do the mcu but there’s room for tweaking it. (Mostly Erik and his connections with the twins, which makes sense at the end)

I think I’ll have it so they were open during the 60s-80s (So the Dofp trilogy except it’s only First Class and Dofp + some time after that because I don’t like apocalypse or Dark Phoenix for my rewrite) but they’re forced to go into hiding. Erik especially because… he’s an ass and keeps murdering people. Charles does his most to keep Erik from harm but there’s only so many ways to save your husband when he clearly doesn’t want to be saved. (Oh also, No ‘Peter’ in DOFP, because… Pietro isn’t even alive yet lmao, I’ll figure out what to do with the gap he leaves later)

In the 90s, Erik Lehnsherr (born Max Eisenhardt) reunites with a girl he met during his time being ‘trained’ by Kevin Bacon, and like him, she still looks really young for her age. He guesses she’s a mutant (which is to say I’m claiming mutants age slowly so I can still have the xmen around even though they’d be like geriatric by the 2000s in reality), and they end up having a little family together. Redo of the murder scene from Apocalypse, except the wife (Who is actually Magda Eisenhardt this time, not this random white woman conveniently called Magda that Erik found), after Erik leaves, is alive. She pulls the arrow out of the bodies of both her and her daughter, heals, and attempts to heal her daughter, but knowing she can’t, buries her and flees.

Erik ends up arrested by SHEILD, and will remain as such for near about 20 years. But his wife, on the other hand, ended up in Transia, where she met up with her two friends, Django and Marya, who she asked to take the children she was pregnant with at the time, as they were Erik’s and she knew that if they stayed with her, their father would end up finding them. She wanted her children to have a better life than that. They agreed, and raised the children under the ruse to many that they were Django’s sister’s children that they adopted (to explain why Marya was never pregnant). Of course, they end up dead a few years later, but Magda by this point is either missing or dead herself.

Of course, when Wanda ends up being tested on by SHEILD after she joins their side (alongside Pietro, his death comes later), as a little deal for them to see what had been done to them, Bruce finds the X Gene. But the secret of what mutants were made of was hidden by the government when the mutants went into hiding, so he didn’t know what to do with it, and instead came to the conclusion that the twins were just… born the way they were, that the testing was simply a trigger for the gene to activate. Tony then theorises that there are those with this mutated Gene, and then he re-discovers the mutants, and Erik (despite SHIELDs attempts to keep Erik a secret) and then it’s with Tony going to question Erik that the mutants are brought into the MCU.

Might change some things around, but I honestly love the whole ‘Magneto is the dad of the Maximoffs’ thing even if it is technically no longer canon. Like how I love the ‘Gaia is Thor’s mother’ thing even though that was recently retconned.

#this is an anti retcon household #axis retcon mostly #mcu #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #the x men #erik lehnsherr #Wanda maximoff #pietro maximoff

[scarlet--wiccan]

What are your thoughts on House of M v2 (2015)? I swear I saw someone say they don’t like it but I can’t remember why

I like it just fine. The nice thing about the 2015 Secret Wars event is that you don't have to take a lot of worlds it depicts too seriously. They're mostly fun AU ideas or riffs on established alternate continuities that, in this case, aren't strictly canon and aren't going to have any lasting impact. Obviously, you still need to be critical of certain things, but my point is, the stakes were a lot lower for titles like House of M or 1602, and they were able to leave a lot of their problematic elements at the door and just focus on the fun, interesting stuff. 1602 is probably the better example-- they took a very heavy, very challenging depiction of colonial history that made a lot of offensive choices in the original text, and they turned it into a really fun Shakespeare & Marlowe fantasy pastiche.

So, Secret Wars: House of M (2015) is a fun little AU miniseries that asks "what if the Magnus clan was a dysfunctional royal family" without the context or baggage of the original event. Yes, there are still challenges-- the premise of a mixed Romani & Jewish family forming a quasi-fascist monarchy replete with "education camps" is a big problem, and I wish that it had been interrogated more closely. I do appreciate that this story removes the layered sexism and ableism from the original-- Wanda is full herself here, and it's actually one of the most earnest depictions of her as a regular mom and a good parent to Billy and Tommy since 1989.

The most frustrating thing about this comic, for me, is that none of the characters appear to actually learn anything, and no real change is brought to their world or their nation. Magneto remains secure in his rulership. His children and grandchildren are allowed to continue their internal conflicts and minor rebellions because they've also been brought closer together as a family-- it seems sweet, but it effectively defangs any true rebellion that could have occurred within the court. They no longer pose a threat to the power structure, and the actual oppressed people of this world are no better off.

But none of that really matters, because, by the end of the summer of 2015, that world had ceased to exist. If you can disengage your political ideals far enough to enjoy fantasy media about court intrigue and messy royal families-- as many people do-- you can enjoy Secret Wars: House of M for what it was-- a fun miniseries that was, in many ways, a swan song for the Magnus family. Remember, the AXIS retcon had taken place the year prior, so this is the last time we saw them all together as a "true family." In a lot of ways, indulging in an almost-guilt free HoM AU felt like fanservice, but I think a lot of fans at the time were happy to have something to look forward to.

#secret wars: house of m #house of m (2015)

[arttrampbelle]

Gonna post MY OFFICIAL SHANG TSUNG BIO. because nrs is wrong and i said so. So suck it boon,suck it fans,this is how shang tsung is supposed to be. Die mad. 💅🏻💋☕💖

Anywho enough of venting. Here's his bio.

❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤

Name: Shang Tsung

Full name: Tsung Shang (i hc his last name is tsung because it sounds better and most of mk names are both given and surnames. I looked this shit up and listen,this game was made by two American nerdy guys. What are you really expecting? A masterpiece? No)

Age: physically: in his 40s. (If we go by cary hiroyuki tagawa's performance in the 95 movie. He was around 40 when he starred in that film. Ik,he dont look it but it's true. And it makes way more sense than how some people and canon depicts his youthful rejuvenated form.) Technically he is over 500yrs (and i collectively ignore any new retcons or canon saying otherwise). He is mortal in technicality. But he is immortal by proxy. Due to his curse of to wither and age less he takes the souls and vitality of others. (Like an energy vampire in a weird way. Guy is basically Chinese Dracula)

Gender/prns: amab, he/they. (He is masc but people are so damn xenophobic and amercian centric on what masc is. But ya know we aint here for that politics. I hc he uses they or gn prns on occasion. If it calls for it. But most of the time is masc coded prns because he's 1. Lazy. 2. It's just a force of habit. And 3. It feels more comfortable for him. Otherwise he's gonna use gn. As he defults everyone to. Because thats how he works,as for himself. Well he just doesn't really give a damn much. He is who he is. Period)

Height: 5'11" (tho in his old man form. I hc he shrinks a bit to a 5'6"/5'7" lol)

Weight: approx maybe 175? I dunno im not good with measurements. So plz dont hate :')

Hair: black,long,and up to his lower back/buttocks. (In his old man form the same but white/silver. Still thick and luxurious. Despite being an old man he takes good care of himself. I can't ever see shang ever living in squander or despair. Even when shit is rough for him. He ooozes confidence even when he struggles. He's mastered self mastery. (God i wish that were me) )

Eye color: dark brown. (Goldens,glosses and turns to a pale gold as his curse affects his aging.)

Origins: Earthrealm (EARTHREALM. NOT OUTWORLD YOU DUMBA$$ES. fucking nrs othering shang tsung and getting rid of what made his betrayal interesting. Fucking morons buy into it too. But whatever.)

Resident realm: earthrealm,on his island. (Which i have hcs about but that is for a separate post because it would be too long to add here.)

Species: Human

Alignment: Neutral. Maybe a bit chaotic. The yin axis. (All in all he's for bis own morality. Never anyone else's)

Weapons: chinese saber or straight sword.

Abilities/powers/etc: Soul magic,fire magic,the dark arts. (He's a mofo sorcerer bih! I have hcs more about soul magic and how his damn magic works. Because people dont really care to write this)

Allies: anyone who he deems trustworthy enough.

Nemesis: any who dares cross him. Liu kang. (He fucking hates liu kang. No it's not secretly likes him. NO HE FUCKING HATES THIS GUYS GUTS AND WANTS HIM DEAD FOR THE SHEET FUCKING PLEASURE OF IT! SHANG,HE'S A PETTY LIL SHIT. OK?!)

Current whereabouts: on his island. Doing who knows what. Mostly tending Mortal kombat tournaments. And any who wishes to learn under him. As he is a master after all.

🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉❤🐉

Blank below cut (in case you wanna use it for ocs):

Name:

Real name:

Age:

Gender/prns:

Height:

Weight:

Hair:

Eye color:

Origins:

Resident realm:

Species:

Alignment:

Weapons:

Abilities/powers/etc:

Allies:

Nemesis:

Current whereabouts:

Dominion: (used for god characters only. Titans dont exist and i completely erase them from narrative. So dont even fucking add this. Dont even try. It's either gods ocs,immortal ocs(i.e. like bo-rai cho) or mortals (like kung lao,etc). Pick one)

#mortal kombat #shang tsung #shang tsung bio #mortal kombat bio #my shang tsung bio #my hcs #my hot takes

[always-hetalian]

oh you poor thing; you have no idea what you've just brought upon yourself >:D

💕👎🔮✒️🔥📚💛🪞🧠🏆🗺️

ong

💕 : Who's a character thst you love but never (or rarely) talk about?

Iceland! He's actually in my top 3 but I don't rly know what to post ab him. I wouldn't call him underrated since he has a lot of fans, but I'll try to mention him in my posts more in the future :3

👎 : What's the worst character design in your opinion?

Belarus' ribbon maid outfit thing she has going on is just... weird imo?? I would appreciate it if she just wore a normal uniform like everyone else tbh. Also Turkiye's mask is zesty af idc

🔮 : You can choose to retcon one thing from the manga/anime, what is it?

Korea's character maybe?? idk why Hima considered that a good idea.. I would prob replace him with an entirely new character,,, oh, and that super old strip with Japan and China (you know the one I'm talking ab) was super bizarre and I dont see a reason not to remove it if I was given the option to ahshdhg

✒️ : Do you have a headcanon that you love, but directly contradicts canon?

Does the FACE family dynamic count?? Idk if it contradicts canon b in case it doesn't im also gonna say that I see Hungary as a lesbian which im pretty sure does count bc she was canonically married to Austria iirc

🔥: Give us a hetalia hot take !

I'd really like to see more moments of the axis and the allies just hanging out together. Considering theyre the main characters it's lowkey sad many of them barely have any interactions together (Hima pls all I need is a panel w/ Germany nd China). I rly liked the movie night episode in the anime for that exact reason

📚 : Recommend a fanfic?

I haven't read that many hetalia fics acc, but searching under the Allies tag on AO3 is my favourite thing to pass a Sunday afternoon <3 def recommend it

💛 : Name a friendship that doesn't exist in canon but you'd like to see between two characters!

I have a ton of those but ig my fav example is Italy and America. I feel like if they were given more scenes together they'd be a rly good duo, since they both have the same vibes nd stuff imo

🪞 : Do you have any physical appearance headcanons for your favourite character?

I like to think China is a leftie mostly bc i'm a leftie and I dont see much representation of us in media,, i can also imagine him having chubby cheeks for some reason

🧠 : What's your most "essential" headcanon? (one you can't imagine the hetalia universe without!)

Idk how to answer this one 😭

🏆 : Sell us on a character! Maybe it's someone you think deserves more love - tell us why they should be liked !!

Romano is not underrated but shh let's ignore that,,, so yh I find him very relatable most of the time, he has a lot of canon content to consume and he's overall js an entertaining character and a grumpy silly lil guy who's fun to like

🗺️ : Who's your favourite allies member? Axis member? Nordic? And favourite character who's not in one of these groups?

My fav ally is China (or maybe Canada idk), fav axis member is Japan nd fav nordic is def Iceland. From the rest of the cast i like Greece, his cat obsession is the realest thing ever, I ship giripan and that's also the country I'm from sooo

#hetalia #thx for the ask #:3

[elbiotipo]

Since we are talking about retro games (well, I AM, idc about the rest of you) I'm reminded of Starlancer and Freelancer, I got the Starlancer CD with a magazine when I was like 7 or 8 (maybe it's still there somewhere) and played it until it scratched and I played Freelancer as an adult, they're really good

the games themselves are fine they're very good space shooters and Freelancer is an excellent space trucker simulator (yes that's its own genre) with very good combat exploration and a living universe...

the "funny" thing about them is the geopolitical setup, in Starlancer you fight all across the solar system in a war for the Alliance which is made of the USA, the EU, Japan and Latin America it's unclear (more on that later)... So basically Space NATO against the Coalition that is made of China, Russia, and the "Tigris Confederation" or the "Saracens" it's so hkdjfjkssdjsdhj it's U-S-A AND ITS LITTLE BUDDIES AGAINST THE AXIS OF EVIL COMMIE-MUSLISMS (the game was released in 2000 btw), your friendly squad is mostly composed of Usamericans, British, Japanese and a few Latinos (again, it's unclear) and all the enemies have stupid accents and moustache twirling monologues it's so racist it comes all the way down to funny because how balant it is seriously even my cousin at 12 or 13 noticed... like you remember that Top Gun parody Hot Shots where all the Arab pilots have names like Falafel? It's exactly like that but taken seriously

NOW the sequel Freelancer is an amazing game where you can explore star systems and stuff, the story is good there's a lot of worldbuilding, but the backstory is as follows: some Aliens destroyed the Solar System (I acutally believe it was retconned from the Coalition destroying the Solar System because that would be too racist even for them), and the Alliance sent colony ships to escape (the rest of the world gets fucked I guess) which made new nations across the stars but they're basically the same nations of the Alliance now even more stereotyped, so you start in Space USA with planets such as New Manhattan, New Alaska, etc. and there's also Space England with a Space London which is rainy, Space Japan, Space Germany which has lots of space factory planets and starts wars at random, you get the idea

but the fifth lost colony ship, which was called the Hispania (AJHGHJSDGJHDFS MUERE DE CRINGE ODIO ODIO ODIO) apparently was supposed to represent both Spain and Latin America (because Hispanics I guess) apparently was destroyed or sabotaged because the captain was bad or something.

And what happened to the survivors of the Latin American themed ship?

they became drug dealers and bandits.

(you can't interact with them in game btw)

yeah.

it's still a fun space shooter, not gonna lie.

#it's so sad because they really could have done something very good with Freelancer I would have loved to visit Space China or Space Russia #even with all the stereotypes hell even Space Hispania (AAHHGJJJJJHHHH) would be fun #but no they were really really commited to their NATO Supremacy worldbuilding apparently #starlancer #freelancer #cosas mias

[maplequeen94]

📚 recommend a fanfic!

🔮 you can choose to retcon one thing from the manga/anime, what is it?

🗺️ who's your favourite allies member? axis member? nordic? and favourite character who's not in one of these groups?

Haha, gonna be honest, I read mostly Smut so my rec is a Spicy one

Lines by tea_petty on AO3, I love really good self indulgent Canada/Reader fics

The first thing I thought of for the anime is to not make France so overly pervy. When I first got into Hetalia I HATED France because I don't like super perverted characters. To me, he's definitely extremely sex positive and encourages people to love and embrace their bodies, maybe a little too much, but he knows when to stop because they're getting really uncomfortable.

Favorite Allies member is obvious, I love my sweet boy Canada. Axis is Germany, Germany was actually my favorite character when I first got into Hetalia. Nordic I'd say Finland, he's just so sweet, I'd love to hang out with him. Other fave is Ukraine obviously, she is my other blorbo, I kin her so hard.

#thanks for the ask! #maple rambles #ask #maple answers

[bobbimorses]

wanda & pietro maximoff’s ethnicity (+magneto’s) & race in comics: a timeline

lately, i’ve been seeing some confusion and misinformation concerning wanda and pietro’s ethnicity, so i’ve tried to make a condensed timeline of their “shifting”/”evolving” parentage and ethnicity citing canonical sources and with accompanying panels. mostly so you know what isn’t new and has been lore for decades. since magneto was half their parentage most of the time (more on that later), some panels center on his ethnicity [he’ll be referred to as magneto for simplicity’s sake bc of his various aliases].

tldr; they were introduced as “vaguely european,” then “unknown but adopted by romani,” then half ashkenazi jewish, then half romani and half ashkenazi, then fully romani, then half ashkenazi and romani again, and are currently fully romani (retcon of a retcon pending)

x-men #4 (1964)

in wanda and pietro’s first ever appearance, they’re from "the heart of europe,” where they were being chased by an angry mob. no additional info.

avengers #31 (1966)

after some avengering, they return to their home village, now said to be in the balkans, and so they’re from southeastern europe. a few issues later, they reveal they were born on “wundagore mountain,” and this village ends up being “transia,” which is a whole country within marvel.

giant-size avengers #1 (1974)

wanda encounters the ww2 hero the whizzer (yes. really.), real name robert frank. he says that he and his pregnant wife, miss america (madeline joyce), had traveled to wundagore mountain for her labor. madeline died in childbirth and the whizzer (yes! really!) ran away in grief, leaving the newborns that were presented to him. wanda thinks he must be her father. since robert frank and madeline joyce are presumably anglo-americans, her ethnicity could have been presumed the same (anglo-ish). it’s still not revealed who raised the maximoffs

avengers #186 (1979)

wanda and pietro learn more of their origin from bova, the evolved cow (roll with it) who was midwife to their real biological mother, magda, who fled shortly after their birth.

the whizzer and miss america were really their intended adoptive parents, because the franks’ baby, unbeknownst to them, was stillborn.

instead, wanda and pietro were placed into the care of a romani couple, django and marya maximoff. at this point, wanda and pietro’s ethnicity remains a mystery (as magda’s is not yet specified and their biological father wasn’t disclosed), but their adoptive parents are a romani couple and they were raised within the romani community.

uncanny x-men #125 (1979)

magneto reveals he had a wife named magda, who readers know gave birth to pietro and wanda, but magneto doesn’t. dramatic irony, baby

uncanny x-men #150 (1981)

this issue introduces magneto’s origin as a survivor of the holocaust (18 years after his first comic appearance). based on several subsequent issues, it seemed clear that writer chris claremont intended for magneto to be ashkenazi jewish, and so most readers assumed he was.

in uncanny x-men #161 (1982) [left], a flashback shows magneto first met xavier while volunteering in israel, and he attends a holocaust remembrance event with kitty pryde (also jewish) in uncanny x-men #199 (1985) [right]:

and, in similar language to the #199 panel, this statement in uncanny x-men #211 (1986) also implies he is jewish:

these are but a few of several examples. however, i suppose it’s never explicitly stated. this will be important later.

vision and the scarlet witch #4 (1983)

magneto says he IS the father (which he learned from local evolved cow, bova). hooray! magda had fled from magneto, who didn’t know she was pregnant, after he killed a mob (responsible for their daughter anya’s death) with his newfound powers. under the assumption that magneto is ashkenazi jewish, this makes wanda and pietro ethnically half ashkenazi jewish

vision and the scarlet witch v2 #5 (1985)

magda is confirmed to be romani (in this unfortunate 80s manner), meaning wanda and pietro are half romani from their mother’s side, and half ashkenazi jewish from their father’s

x-men unlimited #2 (1993)

though readers thought he was jewish before, magneto is revealed to be sinti, a romani tribe in central europe. [supposedly, this is because magneto was being set up as a villain again and marvel feared anti-semitic implications if he were explicitly jewish.] this would make wanda and pietro fully romani.

x-men v2 #72 (1998)

it’s revealed that “erik lensherr,” thought to be magneto’s real name, was in fact an alias, and presumably he wasn’t sinti but needed to have an identity as one to track magda (still sinti!) down. again, he still isn’t explicitly stated to be ashkenazi jewish, but 2 years later the x-men movie comes out. that, of course, opens with young magneto in auschwitz, so now Everyone presumes he’s jewish. which, surprisingly, is only explicitly stated for the first time in x-men: magneto testament in 2008. so wanda and pietro are again half romani (sinti) and half ashkenazi jewish.

this would be the status quo until...

avengers & x-men: axis #7 (2015)

magneto is retconned to be NOT the father. wanda and pietro are retconned to NOT be mutants. is it because marvel comics was trying to separate fox-owned x-men properties from the mcu-owned properties since they were both trying to use the maximoffs? we can’t say for sure--yes. yes it was.

scarlet witch v2 #4 (2016)

wanda and pietro’s NEW real biological mother is revealed to be natalya maximoff, sister to django maximoff, thus making wanda and pietro’s adoptive parents their biological uncle and aunt. their new biological father isn’t revealed, but marvel has said that they’re now fully romani (again), so he must be too? they are also now from serbia, so presumably natalya isn’t sinti like magda.

will this retcon be undone and magneto restored as wanda and pietro’s father since that was their backstory for 36 years? who knows! if so, they will be half ashkenazi jewish and half romani again. right now, they’re fully romani, which they incidentally already were before. comics!

#meta #wanda maximoff #pietro maximoff #scarlet witch #quicksilver #magneto #erik lensherr #magda #natalya maximoff #long post #this post took a deceptively long time #i can't believe the retcon was 6 years ago #it seems like only yesterday we were all ignoring it...because we were #dadneto again when #x men #just noticed i said marya was their bioaunt #as opposed to django as biouncle and marya married #oops. rip to all the reblogged versions

[the-scooby-gang]

Hi. I love polyamorous Scooby Gang (it is the superior ship imo) but I feel really weird because I like Shelma as a ship (obviously within the bigger ship) but I feel kind of alone. I didn't really watch Mystery Incorporated so I feel like there is this anger that I don't know. Like I literally just discovered all this hate recently and I just feel weird, like I support something that might be wrong. Just wanted to ask you because not every person ships the gang as poly.

Hi Anon, here are my thoughts that i will share with you.

The Shelma hate, i believe, is mostly due to their portrait in SDMI where, for some reason, they decided to write Velma being THE ABSOLUTE WORSE to Shaggy doing things like, quoting directly from @frick-it-all-to-hecc​ og “Canon Lesbian Velma is good. Canon Lesbian Velma abusing her male partner is Bad” post (i will talk more about it later):

Belittling shaggy

Physically harming him

Isolating him from his best friend (in this case Scooby-Doo who has all the same importance and weight as human characters in the show)

Forcing him to be uncomfortable to fit her needs

Using her anger to manipulate him into doing what she wanted

Later they tried to retcon it being saying "it was supposed to feel wrong because Velma is a closeted lesbian" after the series ended but that shit doesn't fly for a number of reasons, one of them being that kind of narrative feeds into the predatory/evil gays trope (i already have a reblog of @frick-it-all-to-hecc​ post where i add to the discussion if you want to see it HERE)

Before Mystery Incorporated shat the bed, the Shelma shippers had good content to make their base.

In “Scooby Doo, Where are You?” Shaggy is the one that has Velma’s spare glasses with him. Velma knows when he is sick and has his medicine in her pockets. 

In “Shaggy and Scooby Doo, Get a Clue” after spending a long period of time away from the gang, when they are reunited, Shaggy asks her to repeat “Jinkies” because he misses her saying it.

In the second live action movie “Scooby Doo 2, Monsters Unleashed” they have a beautiful heart to heart about how Velma views Shaggy and Scooby not as the screw ups they believe themselves to be but as free people that are not afraid of being who they truly are.

In “Be Cool Scooby Doo” they engage in each others interests (Shaggy engaging with a book about the history of the pretzel while Velma eats said pretzel)

The are other moments and interactions through out the 50 years that Scooby doo has been on the air (I recommend watching all of it to really get a grasp on the dynamics and free yourself from the pop culture understanding of things like, fun fact, on “Scooby Doo, Where are you?” the ones that were kidnapped the most where Shaggy and Scooby, not Daphne.)

The only thing stoping you from shipping Shelma are the following:

You don’t vibe with it.

You only watched SDMI and nothing else and assume you have a perfect grasp on 50 years on the franchise and the inner dynamics... somehow

and that’s it.

For me, with my poly gang, the dynamics grown and change the more i work with them but Shaggy and Velma are working with a mutual supporting relationship built over years together (some of that is build upon the canon, others are my own additions).

Sharing interests (Velma is deeply intrigued with magic and its properties and Shaggy, as a young wizard, loves sharing his researches with her), bonding over their experiences as older siblings, gardening together, doing sports together (Velma lifts weights aka Shaggy + some heavy books because the boy weights the same as a feather for her, while Shaggy does gymnastics over Velma’s strong shoulders Maybe i should draw this someday) and many little other things that are just theirs and many little other things that are theirs and Daphne’s and Fred’s.

That’s the thing I love the most about poly gang. 

It’s a merry-go-round of love that spins and spins around its own axis, never faltering. Sometimes the spinning changes, going either way too fast or way too slow or sometimes it goes backwards or stops abruptly, sometimes it spins in a comfortable familiar rhythm and stays like that for a long time with only the songs changing to show that indeed time is passing around them. 

And if one of them falls from their horse, knocked out by the sudden speed, the unexpected stops or just by sitting kinda weird on the saddle, they have the certainty that 3 other pairs of hands are going to be there to help them get on their mount again.

#Scooby Gang #Gih Says #gih answers #deep thoughts at 4 am #shelma #scooby meta #merry go round metaphors #poly scooby gang #poly gang #Shaggy Rogers #Velma Dinkley

[scarletwitching]

Hello! Do you have any "real world" timeline of Wanda's backstories (particularly her origins). I know she was created in the 60s, and her first origin seems to have her as the biological daughter of two golden age American heroes. However most wiki pages only describe her latest "in-universe" history. Im curious to know how many actual real-world years she spent as a White American, German Jew, Serbian Romani, Mutant, Witch, Avenger, etc. Thanks!

I’m choosing to do this as a chronicling of backstory retcons (plus a couple of important firsts) because it would be too much to do the whole thing, and I’m going to include the various changes to Magneto’s backstory because they’re kind of necessary. The dates listed are release date, not cover date.

March 1964 (X-Men vol. 1 #4) -- It’s Wanda, no last name. She’s a mutant, part of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. She’s from Central Europe. She has an older brother named Pietro, and he promised their parents that he would take care of her.

March 1965 (Avengers vol. 1 #16) -- Wanda’s an Avenger now.

November 1966 (Thor vol. 1 #134) -- We learn that Wanda and Pietro, who are now twins, are connected to Wundagore Mountain and that there was a massive “blinding light” on the night they were born. This was maybe an aborted attempt to retcon them into not being mutants (their powers are referred to as “mutant-type” for some reason), but it goes nowhere.

May 1974 (Giant Size Avengers #1) -- Wanda and Pietro finally have a backstory. They are the children of US-American superheroes Madeline and Robert Frank (aka Miss America and The Whizzer). They were born on Wundagore Mountain, but their mother died and their father abandoned them. They were subsequently raised in the High Evolutionary’s citadel, but they ran away because it was weird being around all those talking animals.

June 1974 - February 1975 (Avengers vol. 1 #127-134; Giant Size Avengers #2 & 4) -- Agatha’s here, and she’s teaching Wanda magic. Wanda is now a mutant AND a witch.

December 1977 - September 1979 (Avengers vol. 1 #166 & 181-187; X-Men vol. 1 #125) -- Origin Story: The Good One. Wanda and Pietro are not the Franks’ kids and were not raised in the High Evolutionary’s citadel. They were raised by Django and Marya Maximoff, a Roma couple from Bulgaria (Transia, the town they’re from, will later become a country of its own), and it is implied that they don’t remember this because they suppressed their own memories. However, Django and Marya are not their birth parents. Their birth mother came to Wundagore Mountain, heavily pregnant, fleeing their father. She gave birth in the citadel, then left because she did not want to be alive anymore.

Meanwhile, Chris Claremont comes up with the idea for Magda, Magneto’s mysterious dead wife, but before the issue introducing her can even come out, John Byrne and some other guys go behind Claremont’s back and make Magda Wanda and Pietro’s mother. Which makes Magneto the husband their mother was running from and thus... None of the living characters know they are related, and it is editorial’s intention that they will never find out, though the connection is acknowledged openly in the letters column.

August 1981 (Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #150) -- Claremont begins the long process of turning Magneto into a hero, and with that, we learn Magneto’s backstory as a Holocaust survivor. Claremont continues to add to this for the rest of his initial X-Men tenure (through 1991), but crucially, he never has him say that he’s Jewish. You’re supposed to understand that he is, and most of the audience does understand. It is very, very obvious (we even get a trip to Israel), BUT he does not say the exact words, “I am Jewish.”

November 1982 (Vision & the Scarlet Witch vol. 1 #4) -- The characters aren’t supposed to find out they’re related? Forget that. They all know now. I would argue that this issue also makes it obvious that Magneto is Jewish, but whatever, he doesn’t say, “I am Jewish.”

October 1985 (Vision & the Scarlet Witch vol. 2 #5) -- This is the earliest reference I can find to Magda being Romani. It feels like that can’t be the first time that was confirmed, but this post needs to get done some time.

October 1987 (New Mutants vol. 1 #61) -- Another “earliest reference I can find” scenario. I think this is the first time Magneto mentions being from Poland. At any rate, it is a time he mentions being from Poland, and it gets retconned anyway.

July 1993 (X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 #2) -- Due to editorial meddling, Magneto became a villain again in 1991, and according to comic book legend, editor-in-chief Bob Harras thought that Magneto being Jewish and a supervillain was proooooooblemaaaaaaatic. And if he can’t be both at the same time, one’s gotta go. Enter Gabrielle Haller, who is here to give a Ted Talk explaining Magneto’s new backstory. He’s Sinti Romani. That’s the change.

December 1997 (X-Men vol. 2 #72) -- It is revealed that the Erik Lensherr identity was an alias created by document forger Georg Odekirk in order to help Magneto hide from the authorities and find Magda... by pretending to be Sinti. Which, to me, implies that Magda herself was Sinti specifically, not Roma. Either way, Magneto says he’s not Romani, but once again does not say he’s Jewish.

September 2008 - January 2009 (X-Men: Magneto Testament #1-5) -- Magneto is officially, definitely Jewish. For real this time. No more ambiguity. He’s also German now, instead of Polish, and his name is Max Eisenhardt.

December 2014 (Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #7) -- Rick Remender, who is clearly invested in Wanda and Magneto’s relationship, is forced, possibly at gunpoint, to make them not related. This is revealed via a spell going wrong and not affecting Magneto when it’s supposed to affect Wanda’s family, which is the dictionary definition of “plausible deniability.”

January 2015 - June 2015 (Uncanny Avengers vol. 2 #1-5) -- Wanda and Pietro go to the High Evolutionary to figure out what their brand new backstory is. Turns out that, according to the High Evolutionary, they are not mutants and got their powers from being experimented on by him as babies. Their birth parents were their adoptive parents Django and Marya all along, which would make them Roma (not Sinti)... but something is weird about this reveal because Vision finds out there is more to the story and refuses to tell Wanda what it is or that he discovered any information at all.

March 2016 - January 2017 (Scarlet Witch vol. 2 #4-14) -- Nevermind, Django and Marya weren’t Wanda’s biological parents. Django is her uncle. His sister Natalya is her birth mother and a witch, and “the Scarlet Witch” is now a legacy title. Wanda was born in Serbia, but how that intersects with the Chthon thing is not explained. And Wanda’s dad is... the guy who murdered her mother. Who? Doesn’t say.

December 2017 - July 2019 -- A bonus! Marvel gives up on pretending Wanda and Magneto are not related... but mostly outside of comics. The official Marvel website runs articles just... saying they’re related. Official merchandise says they’re related. The mainline comics don’t touch it, but things are very suspicious.

#scarlet witch #wanda maximoff #magneto #continuity #origin #meta #written by me #anonymous #answered

[docgold13]

365 DC Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…

June 10th - Wonder Woman

Princess Diana of Themyscira is the daughter of the Amazonian Queen Hippolyta.  The queen had sculpted the body of an infant girl out of a mystical clay and the god Zeus breathed his life essence into the vessel thus transforming it into a child of flesh and blood.  Diana grew up on the island raised by her mother and her aunts Antiope and Menalippe, learning, playing and training with her sister Amazons mostly unaware of the incredible abilities that she possessed.  These powers included superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, and longevity (later she would additionally gain the ability to fly).  

Years later, when the American Steve Trevor crash landed on Themyscira, a tournament was held to determine whom would be assigned to return him to the human world.  Queen Hippolyta disallowed Diana from participating in this tournament, yet Diana did so anyway and easily won the contest.  To aide Diana in her journey she was presented with the lasso of truth (an unbreakable lariat that compels those in its grasp to speak only the truth) and a pair of indestructible bracelets that can deflect any attack.  Upon arriving in the human world Diana witnessed the atrocities being waged by the Axis Forces during he Second World War.  She decided to stay and fight alongside the Allies.  She became known as Wonder Woman and became a member of both The Justice Society as well as The All-Star Squadron.  

While not in action, Diana assumed the secret civilian identity of Diana Prince (Steve Trevor’s secretary).  The timeline and details of Wonder Woman’s origin story have been updated, retconned and re-retconned on a number of occasions, but the essentials have remained consistent - that she is a demigoddess princess of The Amazons who acts as a champion for peace in the human world.  She became a pivotal member of The Justice League and acquired a colorful galley of arch foes that ranged from mythical adversaries (like the sorceress Circe and the war god Ares) to more traditional super villains (like Cheetah and Gigantia).  

For a short while Diana denounced her super powers, offering them back to the gods, yet continued on as a heroine having mastered the martial arts under the tutelage of the sensei known as I-Ching.  She ultimately regained these powers and once more joined the Justice League.  She met her long lost sister, Nubia, and also mentored a pair of young heroines who have acted as her sidekick(s), Wonder Girl (Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsnark).  

Diana has aided the Department of Metahuman Affairs and has also acted as a member of The Justice League Dark.  Diana temporarily became a Star Sapphire during the Darkest Night/Brightest Day events.  

Actress Cathy Lee Crosby portrayed the heroine in a 1970s television movie; and Lynda Carter played Wonder Woman in the subsequent television series; whereas Gal Gadot has portrayed the heroine in the DC Extended Universe Movies.  Wonder Woman first appeared in the pages of All Star Comics #8 (1941).  

#365 DC Comics Heroes #DC Comics #Wonder Woman #Princess Diana #Amazons #Justice League #Justice Society #All-Star Squadron #Cathy Lee Crosby #Lynda Carter #Gal Gadot #cut-out #paper art

[mushroomsandteeth]

CARNAGE READING LIST

As Venom 2 draws closer and our eyes are dazzled by more shots of the beloved Hawaiian shirt clad Cletus, it was mentioned a "Carnage Reading List" for new readers should be made. I'm mostly picking stories I think are important, but there are others if you want to dive even deeper into Carnage. So here we go!

Amazing Spider-man issue 344: the first appearance of Cletus Kasady. He doesn't become Carnage here yet.

Amazing Spider-man issue 361-363: Carnage's first formal appearance! A must read.

Maximum Carnage: look up the trade. Seriously do not look up the issues individually. It is 14 issues over 5 different Spider-man books. You will thank yourself later. But THIS is the first big Carnage event. It introduces Shriek too!

Venom Carnage Unleashed: the infamous "internet fight". Very 90s. Also Cletus plays an mmo.

Plant of the Symbiotes: Grab the trade. Excellent book even if everyone and their grandma tries to retcon it out of existence. The first time Red gets "fat"

Carnage Mindbomb: a little Carnage one of. A classic.

Carnage Its a Wonderful Life: very similar to Mindbomb but not as good in my opinion. Still fun though.

Venom on Trial: Venom and Carnage fight like they are on an episode of Judge Judy.

Amazing Spider-man 430-431: Silver Surfer gets Red for a bit and Cletus says Disabled Rights

Venom vs. Carnage: the birth of Toxin! I honestly don't like this book but its still important

New Avengers issue 2: Carnage dies for the first time

Carnage 2010: Carnage is back and gives birth to their second spawn

Carnage USA: Carnage takes over a small town. This is one of my favorites

Minimum Carnage: Another one to grab the trade for. Carnage gets tiny.

Superior Carnage: Honestly I have only read the annual for this because it is FANTASTIC.

Deadpool Vs. Carnage: Fantasy fight between Deadpool and Carnage. Has an ending that makes me laugh every time and summarizes how Carnage's philosophy works very well.

AXIS Carnage: a weird little mini where Carnage was a hero for a while.

Carnage (2016): Hands down, one of the best Carnage stories. Fantastic story even if the ending was kind of weak.

Absolute Carnage: not really Carnage. Cletus is OOC the whole time and Red isn't even on him. Disappointing.

Absolute Carnage (The Youtube Motion Comic): Norman Osborn is more Cletus than Cletus is in this event so the motion comic that focuses on him being Carnage is pretty great.

Go forth and remember Carnage Rules

#venom #carnage #cletus kasady #reading list

[sineala]

hi!! first off, thank you so much for all the comics advice you provide, they're utterly amazing and are really appreciated!! I have a question regarding the last comic ask you answered: are the comics you mentioned in chronological order? you see, I've been trying to figure out the order for some time, and i would be really grateful if you could help me out 💕

It’s sort of mostly chronological? It’s complicated, because most of the volumes start and stop at the same place but this is not always the case; I was also trying to figure out a way to list the events. As it is, the way things are listed there, I don’t differentiate between runs that start at the same time as other runs and events that happen within runs. 

It would be really useful if there were a timeline (I feel like someone must have drawn one) but this is the best I can do with just text:

AVENGERS:

Avengers v1 (1963)

Avengers v2 (1996)

Avengers v3 (1998)

New Avengers v1 (2005) & Mighty Avengers v1 (2007)

Avengers v4 (2010) & New Avengers v2 (2010)

Avengers v5 (2013) & New Avengers v3 (2013)

Avengers v6 (2015) #0

All-New All-Different Avengers (2016)

Avengers v7 (2017)

Avengers v8 (2018)

TALES OF SUSPENSE:

Tales of Suspense v1 (1959)

Tales of Suspense v2 (1995) #1

CAPTAIN AMERICA:

Captain America v1 (1968)

Captain America v2 (1996)

Captain America v3 (1998)

Captain America v4 (2002)

Captain America v5 (2005)

Captain America v6 (2011)

Captain America v7 (2013)

Captain America: Sam Wilson (2015) & Captain America: Steve Rogers (2016)

Captain America v8 (2017) #25 

Captain America #695-704  (2017)

Captain America v9 (2018)

IRON MAN:

Iron Man v1 (1968)

Iron Man v2 (1996)

Iron Man v3 (1998)

Iron Man v4 (2005)

Invincible Iron Man v1 (2008)

Iron Man v5 (2013)

Superior Iron Man (2015)

Invincible Iron Man v2 (2015) & International Iron Man (2016)

Invincible Iron Man v3 (2017) & Infamous Iron Man (2016)

Tony Stark: Iron Man (2018)

The Marvel wiki will sometimes use different year numbers from AO3 – for example, AO3 has Avengers vol 5 as 2012, not 2013. It has to do with street date vs actual recorded publication date, I think, and those differ. Also the volume numbering of Iron Man on the wiki is currently EXTREMELY WRONG and has decided that Invincible Iron Man starts literally in the middle of the Director of SHIELD run so all their volume numbers are off by one. I have fixed it in my list.

So you can kind of see from the years how they link up. There were Cap comics in the 40s and 50s (the 50s Cap has been retconned as not Steve); Tales of Suspense started in the 50s, but Tony only showed up in 1963, a couple months before Avengers started. Steve shows up in the modern era in Avengers  #4. Start reading Tales of Suspense at #39 (1963), the first appearance of Iron Man; at #58 Cap joins the book, and it ends at #99 and splits into Cap and IM, Cap keeps the numbering and starts at #100, in 1968. After that volume 1 of Avengers, Cap, and IM keep running until the mid-90s.

Marvel didn’t really invent events until the original Secret Wars, in the mid-80s. Operation Galactic Storm, from the early 90s, is probably the biggest event from a Steve/Tony perspective; this is the Kree Supreme Intelligence stuff. Then volume 1 ends with The Crossing and Onslaught, which… um. Yeah.

Volume 2 of Avengers/Cap/IM runs simultaneously for about a year. Mostly we don’t talk about this. Definitely read the Tales of Suspense one-shot which came out about now, though.

Volume 3 of Avengers/Cap/IM start at the same time, in 1998, after the whole Onslaught mess is over. Cap v3 and v4 fit into the same space of time as the entire v3 runs of Avengers and IM, so Cap v4 – which is post-9/11 – ends at the same time as Avengers/IM v3, which is where the numbering starts to stop syncing. There aren’t really any major events within v3 other than small crossovers like Live Kree or Die, until you get to Disassembled at the end, which basically wrecks everything.

The next start we get is New Avengers v1/Cap v5/IM v4, in 2005. This is basically the “Civil War up to Steve’s resurrection” era, although I guess House of M happens before CW, if you want to read House of M. This is when Bendis starts writing every Avengers book known to man. CW starts about one or two dozen issues in, depending on title (they don’t start quite at the same time). Mighty Avengers v1 starts after Civil War, and if you’re following along with events, you then want to read The Initiative, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, and Siege as you go along. IM has a variety of writers and has Extremis (at the beginning) as well as the Director of SHIELD run. Cap v5 is the Brubaker run, and it’s mostly about Bucky. Captain America does some weird renumbering back to vol 1 #600 at the end of vol 5 and then goes on a bit and then (when Steve is Cap again) moves to a team-up book (Captain America & x) for a few issues, running simultaneously (as far as I know) with the beginning of Cap v6. Steve is alive again at the end of Siege.

Next, it’s Avengers v4/Secret Avengers v1/Invincible IM v1 in about 2010. Look for banners that say Heroic Age. And start with Avengers Prime. The Avengers is still Bendis. These three don’t exactly sync. Invincible (this is Fraction’s IM run) is already going before Siege (and therefore before Avengers v4); the arcs World’s Most Wanted and Stark Disassembled align with Siege, sort of, very badly. Steve is actually in Secret Avengers v1 rather than on the main Avengers team at the beginning of Avengers v4; he doesn’t head his own Cap book (Cap v6) until about halfway through Avengers, when Fear Itself happens and Bucky kicks the bucket (don’t worry, he’s fine) and Steve gets the shield again and rejoins the main team. Fraction’s run also renumbers at #500 because why the hell not. New Avengers v2 is also running now, starting I think at the same time as the others, but is not Steve & Tony-centric. Also AvX happens.

And then it’s Marvel Now and we have Avengers v5/New Avengers v3/Cap v7/IM v5 kicking off together in 2012-2013. This is Hickman’s Avengers, Remender’s Cap, and Gillen’s IM. Important events are Infinity and Axis. After Axis, Steve loses the serum and Tony goes evil and we get Superior Iron Man running in parallel with the ends of Avengers and Cap. And then the multiverse dies and we get Secret Wars and its associated bunch of miniseries.

After Secret Wars, in 2015, it’s All-New All-Different Marvel. (Avengers v6 is a preview issue for all the Avengers titles.) We get All-New All Different Avengers, Bendis’ IM (Invincible v2 & International), and Spencer’s SamCap. At this time, Steve is deserumed and running Uncanny Avengers; I forget the volume number. He was running Uncanny before the end of the world too. SamCap started before SteveCap did, and that one v8 issue is actually Spencer’s final issue that kept the numbering from SamCap. Important events include Standoff, which is when Steve gets reserumed (SteveCap starts after this) and becomes secretly Hydra. At the end of all this we get Civil War II.

Then it’s… I think it’s called Marvel Now 2.0? Avengers v7 starts at about the same time Bendis’ Invincible renumbers again (and is about Riri) so we’re at v3 by my count, and Infamous Iron Man (about Doom) starts. The two Cap books are still running on the same numbers. Then Secret Empire happens.

Then it’s Marvel Legacy, which means that literally everything renumbers to its vol 1 numbers because Marvel wants to make me cry, but Avengers and Invincible IM keep going with the same creative teams. Spencer’s Cap run ends basically when Secret Empire ends, and Bendis stops writing for Marvel with IM #600. Waid picks up Cap for two arcs, one of which is amazing and one of which is extremely confusing.

And now I think we’re at A Fresh Start and Avengers v8/Cap v9/Tony Stark: Iron Man have started. The current major event is Infinity Wars. There are Infinity Gems involved, yes.

You know, I thought this was going to be quicker to type.

Also I forgot to tell everyone to read Iron Age, in which Tony time-travels, cries in the rain, and hits on himself.

#patsserie #replies #comics reading lists

[salarta]

Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeets.

You’re getting more this time if you read this post.

By the way, here’s what I use as search terms when I look for these tweets.

polaris x-men

polaris marvel

lorna x-men

lorna marvel

lorna dane

On rare occasions, I’ll go outside them, but these are my regular search terms.

Just another case of Lorna included among characters as a fave.

Damn right she does!

This is the ever-cool @dipolarismoment on Twitter again! And I agree, it’d be cool for Lorna to get her PhD.

At the same time, it reminds me of a discussion I had on Twitter (you’ll notice I usually don’t include my own tweets/replies on these lists). Someone was complaining about Carol Danvers’ power grid card putting her intelligence too low. I pointed out the power grids seem to be bullshit more often than not.

If you look at the Marvel wikia for example. Polaris and Havok both have the exact same Master’s degree, yet somehow, Lorna is just “Normal” (2) intelligence while Havok gets to be “Learned” (3). Then if you look at Jean Grey, she’s ALSO “Learned” (3) even though she’s only college-level education.

In other words, power grids are just yet another place where whoever makes them and oversees them can pretend their bias toward characters (for or against) is more objective than it actually is. “Look at this concrete number, you have to write her as being only that smart, no smarter.”

I happen to like the idea of Lorna being bi.

Aside from me just simply liking it, the only partner she’s ever been allowed to have in 50 years is Havok, and her interactions with men have been tainted by that history (too much of ANXF #4-6 was pretty clearly treating Gambit like another Havok in her life). Same as how I think Lorna would be best off with a female writer, I think being in relationship with another woman might result in writers writing her better in relationship. They might stop thinking of how “masculine” (read: dominant) her partner has to look around her and try to write her as an actual character in her own right.

Awwwww yeah.

I never thought about this before, but I’ve decided that it explains why I have this song on my smartphone. I mostly listen to songs with female singers (nothing against male ones, I just like them more; may have been a result of coming of age in the time of Lilith Fair), so songs with male singers is rare for me to have on my phone.

Two more tweets about how Lorna should get a solo, and seriously, it really is time. Moreso than literally any other time in her entire character history, and moreso than a lot of other characters that have been given solo books just because someone at Marvel likes the character regardless of interest anyone has in reading them.

Not only is she more popular than ever and prominent on TV, again, it’s her 50th anniversary in October. Literally everything has aligned for this to be the time Marvel should give her a solo.

Considering they gave Scarlet Witch a solo and heavily promoted it despite low sales, and they both let Havok hijack her big return on X-Men Blue and are giving HIM team book he leads, I’m going to see the lack of a solo and nothing major for Lorna for her anniversary by October as Marvel continuing to show bias against her. She’s gone most of her existence undervalued and ignored. She deserves something for her 50th.

I continue to see this sort of request. It’s interesting how much people want Lorna and Wanda to interact - moreso Lorna coming to MCU than the other direction. I think the perception is “Lorna is a great character, she should be alongside these other great characters in a cinematic universe compared to others I could mention.”

This makes me think of how some fans go with Lorna Maximoff, which is a pretty neat name change. I don’t know how I’d feel about if that became canon somehow, but it’s interesting as fanon.

Now here’s something worth talking a bit about.

Their relationships are all complicated because Lorna only finally got Magneto being her father restored in the past decade, but she was the first actual intended child before her forced retcon and before Wanda and Pietro were revealed as Magneto’s kids (and not forced retcon to not be).

As such, it’s only in the past decade that Lorna and Pietro both using green has been an issue.

Also interesting, one version of coloring for Wanda’s first appearance gave her a green costume as well. So basically Wanda and Pietro really really wanted to be Lorna even before she existed. :P

There’s also one panel out there from the time she was on Genosha (I think an AU; been a while since I saw it) where she was wearing Wanda’s old costume in green. They loev stealing each others’ clothes and colors.

Seriously though, one final possible reason behind giving Pietro a green costume is to try to make it harder to undo their forced retcon and for fans and readers to see them all visually as siblings. It’s the same reason Enchantress was made to look like Polaris for an Axis cover, and why they tried to introduce a new “sister” called “Luminous” with blue color scheme post-Axis. They know the color coordination matters and they’re trying to undermine it cause they don’t like all of them together as a family and don’t want fans to see them that way.

I like that Lorna is specifically cited as a possible skin. And frankly, if she was, I’d actually be interested in trying out Fortnite. Right now I don’t really care. I’m in the middle of Far Cry 5 and I have a long backlog of other games to play, on top of others I still need to buy.

Last one. I see tweets fairly often of people responding to green hair by saying the person looks like Lorna. To me, that says a lot about how iconic Lorna’s become and becoming, especially with the green hair. They could’ve said she looks like Rydia (FF4), or Aphrodite IX, or Agent Brand, etc, but they went with Lorna.

Thanks for joining me for another list of tweets! See you next time, same Polaris Time, same Polaris Channel!

#polaris #lorna dane #x-men #marvel #polaris tweets

[pcinvasion-blog]

New Post has been published on PC Invasion

New Post has been published on https://www.pcinvasion.com/battlestar-galactica-deadlock-review

Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock Review

Battlestar Galactica’s 2004 revival and its various spin-offs disappeared from our screens a few years ago, but it’s a series that retains a strong following. Despite this level of name-recognition and a setting almost tailor-made for the medium it hasn’t had much success in the world of videogames. Until now that is, when the license has been astutely dusted off by Slitherine and Black Lab Games for Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock; a title dominated by tactical fleet combat.

Based around the 2004 version of the series, Deadlock is set during the events of the First Cylon War. As prequels go, that puts it a long time before any of the events involving Adama and company. However, a couple of familiar surnames do crop up throughout, and the campaign story-line takes a brief pass at some of the more overt themes: uneasy Colonial alliances, authoritarian military decisions in times of crisis, and the ontological status of the Cylons in relation to humanity.

The narrative is pretty sparse (and while I did watch the show I’m not a die-hard, so I don’t know if this plot retcons anything), but it does a reasonable, if slightly confusing, job sketching out a version of events for the war. It’s with aesthetics, though, that Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock does the series much more justice.

Space bureaucracy, someone named Agathon … yep, this checks out.

The ship roster on both Colonial and Cylon sides has been expanded in order to depict earlier designs and provide a decent line-up for each. Alongside Jupiter-Class Battlestars and Cylon Base Stars you’ll find vessels like the pragmatic Adamant Frigate and the Raider-filled Cerberus Carrier. These creations fill their respective tactical roles, but also look and (mostly) sound the part.

Audio in Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock is handled very well. DRADIS pings sound straight from the show, and, while the studio didn’t get Bear McCreary, Ash Gibson Greig’s score does a fine job channelling a similar tone of space-mysticism. Combat effects are a bit more mixed (engines and missiles are generally good, Viper attack runs sound rather weak), and the voice acting ranges from decent to somewhat flat. You can’t skip any of the dialogue sequences, sadly.

The fact that it treats the license with care should automatically win the game a certain amount of affection. Those looking for a squadron-based fleet tactics game with a lighter dynamic campaign overview will find things to like too. After a few linear tutorial missions, Deadlock opens its galactic star-lanes up with a few elements reminiscent of XCOM. Cylon threats will harass the Colonies, resources run thin as planets consider defection, and named fleet commanders can be upgraded with straightforward skill trees.

Two fleets, and two Cylon threats. But I’ve also got missions to deal with.

The strategic campaign mechanics have a bit of an ‘old school’ feel to them, which I don’t mean as a pejorative, but which I do mean to imply are initially unforgiving. Aspects like how dedicated you should be to putting out the fires of Cylon raiding fleets, and what amount of ship losses can be deemed ‘acceptable’ without tanking your long-term prospects are left rather obtuse. A few display choices, like the method to check on Cylon fleet strength (not by clicking on them, or hovering over, but in a dedicated tab in the bottom-left) are poor decisions.

Only the semi-random Cylon fleets have their strength displayed at all, so whenever you approach a side or main mission you’re going in blind. Main missions escalate in a pretty identifiable pattern, but the side stuff (a useful way to acquire more resources) remains haphazard. You won’t know until you’re there whether you’re facing a handful of corvettes or the brute force of a Cylon vanguard (except for the missions that explicitly state it’s a Cylon strike team in their text). Retaining some suspense about enemy forces is fine, but the more egregious moments are likely to just get players re-loading a save.

But even though it’s somewhat flawed, the campaign layer of Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock does succeed in getting you to think carefully about allocating sparse resources to ship construction, research, and even to travel (spooling up your drives every single turn gets costly). That said, I think most will resort to creating powerful second or third fleets and auto-resolving the steady stream of Cylon raid encounters, as the alternative is awfully repetitive. I’m also unsure if you can ever truly ‘lose’ from too many Colony departures, as that never happened during my campaign.

Definitely blundered out of my depth here.

The tactical heart of the game is in the more crafted fleet encounters. In-game logistical limits mean that battles are restricted to seven (on your side) versus seven-but-sometimes-more on the part of the Cylons, but that often turns out to be plenty to consider when ordnance and fighters are included. I’m also not sure the present UI could handle the density of more ships.

Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock uses a turn-based system dubbed ‘WEGO’, in which orders are input for both forces and then the turn plays out in real time. That means you need to keep in mind where the enemy ship will be when you bring your firing arc (hopefully) to bear upon it. Same goes for the movement trajectory of all nearby vessels, because you don’t want to end up with a collision. Unless, of course, it’s a last-ditch suicide maneuver. Space in Deadlock is 3D, so there is a Z Axis in play with any movement decisions as well.

The AI doesn’t have any particularly incredible tactics, relying instead on numbers and (in missions) scripted surprises, but it does stick well to its roles. Smaller Nemesis ships will use their hacking abilities to cripple your fleet’s systems, Gunboat-type vessels will close in for broadsides, missile barges will generally stay back and launch salvos, and so on. It’s up to you to figure out the best counters to these combined-arms assaults. Often, that’s the ever-reliable Adamant Frigate, which can equip both ordnance (armour-piercing, anti-missile, even a nuke once they’re researched) and fighters.

The latter are incredibly useful. A few Viper squadrons can obliterate a much larger ship with a hole or two already punched through its armour. They’re quite handy in defense too, able to shoot down approaching missiles.

Things can get a little crowded when you’ve got a full fleet of seven and fighters galore.

A further layer is added by the ‘ship posture’ mechanic, allowing you to tweak how much of an attacking or defensive stance the vessel will have that turn. You can ramp up the defense to stave off a hacking attempt a little longer, or go for maximum levels of firepower just as you lure a ship into several firing arcs at once. The UI for applying all of these things is adequate, but also fairly basic in presentation and large enough to obscure parts of what can become quite cluttered space battlefields.

Satisfaction in the 14 mission (12-15 hour, on Normal difficulty) single player campaign comes from overcoming the odds in combat and leading your stretched forces to victory. Lack of resources (and the fleet cap) means you’ll always be up against it in the story missions, but deft use of the tools available will always give you the advantage over a capable, but somewhat predictable AI.

It’s then possible to revel in these victories even further with the post-mission replay function. I don’t normally make great use of these systems (a one-off spectacular goal in FIFA or something unique like SUPERHOT, perhaps), but the one in Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock is rather brilliant. It replicates the in-fight camera style from the show (a lot of pan-and-zoom, and Viper nose-cam) to retell the story of the battle. Several missions in, I was still dipping in to these to watch a bit of glorious tactical acumen played out in cinematic style.

Dramatic nose-cam action.

But while the post-battle replays are great, a major incentive to replay the actual campaign is presently a bit lacking. Upping the difficulty to its hardest setting (and struggling with even fewer resources) is really the one and only option, because once you’ve played the main missions you can’t ‘unlearn’ the times when additional Cylons show up. That initial mad scramble to adjust to new threats won’t really happen a second time.

To find new challenges in Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock you need to turn to Skirmishes (which can be both single and multiplayer). Offline, you can test yourself against Cylon forces as either Colonial or Cylon forces in mid-sized or large matches between pre-created or customised fleets. I can only presume you can’t fight against Colonial AI because it doesn’t yet exist.

Multiplayer offers both one vs one combat and two player co-op against the AI, the latter of which is an unexpected but welcome inclusion. All the tactical options from the single player campaign are available here, as are the same point-based and numerical fleet caps.

Playing around as the Cylons provides a neat change of pace.

Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock earns itself a lot of goodwill for the attention it pays to an unloved (in the world of games, at least) license. That care extends furthest to the tactical combat, which in many ways is a logical extension of Black Lab’s previous Starhammer title. Fleet limitations mean the conflicts are more squad-sized, but this does result in each ship being more of an individual unit than an expendable war resource; plus it avoids the awkwardness of even more UI clutter. The combined-arms approach of firing arcs, missile types, and fighter roles works well, and means each mission can present a compelling set of challenges with various solutions.

The strategic campaign layer is the weaker of the two distinct parts. Having the threat of Colonial defections affecting your resources is a solid retread from XCOM, but the Cylon raids are too haphazard and end up more like irritations than a genuine, constant danger. But it does possess a certain old school, obtuse challenge that I appreciate, and commits to making you allocate slender supplies. While Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock has its share of minor problems, they don’t significantly detract from some engaging tactical encounters within a universe of familiar sights, sounds, and Cylons.

#Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock

[scarlet--wiccan]

I doubt Wanda will get her own story in women of marvel since she had one last year and she’s got a solo now. Lots of ladies make the cover but not inside the book

It is interesting that they put her on what seems to be the x-men/mutants cover and she’s explicitly labeled a mutant by the midnight suns game. I have my doubts the nonmutants retcon will ever be easily undone but I think they’re walking it back as much as they can

I mean, plenty of the characters who were featured in the previous installment were also in ongoing books at the time. She might not get anything this time, but the Maximoffs have never been given a real spotlight in any of these diversity-centric anthologies. I just think it'd be nice to see Wanda finally have her moment in Women of Marvel or Voices.

I don't think that the AXIS retcon is getting rolled back anytime soon, either. It clearly wasn't part of the plan for Wanda's big Krakoan redemption storyline, and Orlando's upcoming book is mostly focused on (once again) establishing her as a standalone magic hero. I've said it before, and I'll say it again-- as much as I wish that retcon had never happened, I have no interest in reversing it now. I want good stories, not continuity wank. Orlando, Ewing, and even Williams, for all her sins, have done a good job at guiding the Magnus family's relationships back into place without having to do any more retcons. For the time being, I'd like to keep it that way.

Anyways, if I had to guess, I don't think that there is an organized effort to walk the retcon back, so much as there are fewer corporate/editorial oversights about aligning Wanda and Pietro with the X-Men brand. People are always going to associate Wanda with mutants, and now that it's not a commercial issue, they have more liberty to make those references, put her in those group shots, and yeah, fix her relationships with characters like Lorna and Erik.

[scarlet--wiccan]

This is two questions in one, but whatever: Ik you're an AXIS retcon apologist and don't really mind it, but if it were to get retconned, how would you want it to happen?

I personally think that should be something along the lines of "Back around the time of the AXIS run, Wanda had an extra bad relationship with Erik mixed with her guilt about HoM (sorry to bring it up again), so she subconsciously manipulated reality to create Natalya and make it so she wasn’t related to Erik and Magda and was no longer a mutant, but since she is now healing and getting better and building a relationship with Joseph, the spell subconsciously wears off, and she gains clarity, learns that she cast the spell in the first place, and learns that Erik and Magda are her real parents, and she herself created Natalya. So yes, Natalya did exist, but only because she was created by Wanda and, across time and space, placed in the exact same locations as Magda and put it in Marya’s head that Natalya was her sister, and so on and so on. How would you feel if that happened?

Here's the thing-- Wanda's not supposed to be able to alter reality like that. Disassembled and House of M do define her power as unconscious reality warping, but this was a contradiction which was later walked back in Children's Crusade. The way it's actualy supposed to work is that Wanda's abilities only escalate to that level when she's channeling external power sources-- and doing so has an adverse effect on her mind. During the Decimation, Wanda was tapped into Earth's Life Force, which overloaded her mind and made her "crazy." After relinquishing that power, she is restored to sound mind, and no longer has the uncontrollable, reality-altering abilities that made her so dangerous. Something very similar plays out in the Darker Than Scarlet storyline from the 80s, and even when she gets pregnant with the twins.

I think this stipulation is really important, mostly because making characters ludicrously overpowered is just no good to anybody in the long run. In Wanda's case, specifically, it's necessary to give her plausible deniability for the Decimation and undo her character assassination from that period.

In the present day, following the Darkhold event, she is more powerful and does have better control, so it's possbile that she is closer to that level now, but Orlando has thankfully avoided going there.

Anyways, the time that AXIS occurred, Wanda was not channeling external powers, and she was of sound mind, up until the inversion spell that made all the good guys start acting "evil," which, in Wanda's case, mostly meant trying to get revenge on Doctor Doom. So, she should not have been able to do what you're describing.

#axis retcon