#because reconstruction after big villain fights

[daylightcommand3]

PvWeek Finale (3/11/23)

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

Due to recent retcons, the world of Overwatch now has a main villain: Anubis. The one and (now) only "God Program".

Cause and Effect

This rogue AI is singlehandedly responsible for the backstory of every single hero due to it causing the Omnic Crisis, AKA the single most important event in the Overwatch timeline.

Without Anubis:

Gabriel Reyes, Jack Morrison, Ana Amari, Torbjorn Lindholm, and Reinhardt Wilhem would have never joined Overwatch, for without the Omnic Crisis, Overwatch would have never been needed to form.

Echo would have never been made.

Lena Oxton would have never been a test pilot for Overwatch's Slipstream project, and subsequently gain teleportation powers.

Cole Cassidy would have never joined Overwatch. He would have remained the right-hand man to Elizabeth Ashe.

Genji Shimada would have died after the fight with his brother, Hanzo, for neither Overwatch nor Dr. Angela Ziegler would have been around to save him.

Dr. Angela Ziegler's parents would also still be alive. Perhaps without their deaths, Ziegler may have not been pushed as hard to put all of herself into nanobiology and the medical field.

Dr. Moira O'Deorain would have never been hired by Blackwatch nor subsequently by Talon.

Olivia Colomar would have never had to work for the Los Muertos Gang as she would not have been orphaned by the Omnic Crisis.

Jean-Baptiste Augustin would have never joined Talon as he would have not been orphaned by the Omnic Crisis.

Amelie Lacroix would have never been brainwashed by Talon as her husband would not be the leader on Overwatch's Anti-Talon Task Force.

Akande Ogundimu would have never become Doomfist as he would not have lost his arm in the Omnic Crisis. He would have remained a competitive martial artist.

Aleksandra Zaryanova would still be a national athlete if there was no Omnic Crisis to fight in.

Hana Song would continue to be a Starcraft champion if the Gwishin weren't still around.

Lucio Correia dos Santos would have not become a star if the Vishkar Corporation had not taken over his town.

Without the Omnic Crisis, Vishkar would not have grown as big through their reconstruction contracts. As such, they may have ignored a young and poor Satya Vaswani.

Zenyatta would have never become a part of the Shambali.

Ramattra and Bastion would have never been built.

Orisa would not have been able to be built by Efi, for the OR models would have not been developed enough without the models Anubis made.

Vivian Chase would have never joined Overwatch.

Fareeha Amari would have not been able to look up to Overwatch and be inspired to be a hero by them. She would also not be able to work for Helix Security International as the organization was made to replace Overwatch. Her relationship with her mother may be slightly better off however.

Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou would have never lost 9 years of her life and 5 of her colleagues if Overwatch did not employ them.

Winston would have never joined Overwatch once he returned to earth.

Hammond would have never become Wrecking Ball as there would not be a mech-fighting arena in Australia.

Without the Omnic Crisis, the Australian Liberation Front would have never formed. As such, the Australian Omnium would have not been blown up, meaning there would be no wasteland. No wasteland means no Junkertown. Odessa Stone would have been able to grow up with her father, mother, and siblings.

Mako Rutledge would have lived a life of peace.

Jamison Fawkes would have a nice and quiet childhood with his mother.

Brigitte Lindholm would have never been inspired to be a hero by Reinhardt Wilhelm. She also would not be named Brigitte.

Anubis is also responsible for the anti-omnic sentiments present in the current world of Overwatch, for the Omnic Crisis caused these sentiments. Thus, Anubis is responsible for Null Sector for two reasons.

Anubis is the reason why many corporations are doing well, because after the crisis many companies took advantage of the economic downturn and reconstruction processes. (Vishkar, Volskaya, LuMerico)

Also, I lied. Two heroes origins do not depend on Anubis.

Dr. Siebren de Kuiper's experiment still would have left his mind shattered.

Kiriko Kamori would still have to deal with the Hasimoto Clan after the fall of the Shimada Clan.

Regardless, it is undeniable that Anubis has had an immense impact on the world of Overwatch.

Who is Anubis?

Recently, a question has plagued me: what is Anubis like? What is its personality? What is its opinions and beliefs?

Now, many would say that Anubis is a soulless machine that shows no emotion or sentient thought. That Anubis's only goal or drive or personality trait is to kill all humans.

I disappointedly agree.

All evidence points to Anubis having no personality or true motivations. A truly soulless machine. Which I guess could be used as a parallel to other omnic characters (especially Ramattra). But, man, imagine if Anubis had motivations and beliefs.

Would Anubis see Ramattra as a traitor? See Bastion as a broken tool? See Echo as a mockery? See Zenyatta as useless? Would Anubis hold a grudge against the 76, Reaper, Ana, Reinhardt, and Torbjorn for its imprisonment? Would Anubis have an immense hatred for Pharah over her duty of keeping it locked up?

Perhaps those questions are best saved for another time. Especially since I'm afraid of how the Overwatch writing team will handle Anubis with a personality.

The Future

The big question is: what’s next for Anubis. It’s still a potential threat as it remains locked up. Furthermore, both Talon and Anubis itself are trying to free it. It’s only a matter of time before the biggest threat in the Overwatch universe is free.

I’d imagine if Anubis ever got free, the easy thing to do for the developers is have it take over Null Sector so they don’t have to design new enemy models. And in all fairness it just makes sense. Free army based on your designs.

The Future of PvWeek

As you should all know by now, I'm discontinuing PvWeek. This series has been an interesting and educational experience. I've learned to not do this. I often found myself stressing to make sure the PvWeek released on time. I was also forced to release some lackluster and unresearched PvWeeks. I much prefer to take as much time as I need/want on Overwatch lore posting. So that's what I'll do.

However, PvWeek will return. As said in the first PvWeek, I started this series in order to generate hype for the upcoming PvE. I've recently realized that it's going to be a while before the PvE is anywhere close to being released. So I'd be stuck doing this series for a long time. Which would very quickly lead to burnout. Something I want to steer clear from. I'll probably start PvWeek back up a few weeks before the release of the actual PvE. So stay tuned.

Thank you to all who read and interacted with PvWeek. Stay safe. And good luck on your weekly challenges.

See you around.

#PvWeek #overwatch anubis #ramattra #overwatch 2 #ow #overwatch #overwatch lore #ow lore

[bougainvillea-and-saltwater]

Top 10 Skyrim Characters

I was tagged by @blossom-adventures (thank you so much! 🥰) to share my top ten Skyrim characters, so here we go:

Miraak. Not only because I'm writing a fic about him, but because I truly believe he had potential both as a character alone and concerning his bond with the LDB. Bethesda did not do him justice and his story was written hastily and with many plot holes, however, this is why there are many wonderful fics with amazing headcanons that reconstruct his past and his personality, so he doesn't seem like the ultimate black villain with absolutely no motives for his actions.

Paarthurnax. He is this old and wise grandpa we all run for advice and in contrast with Miraak, Paarthurnax was written in-depth: even though a villainous dragon, he overcame his dominant nature through effort and was redeemed.

Vilkas & Farkas. The wolves of my heart! I love how they have been written with completely different personalities despite being twins, and I wish they were my best friends (or my protective big brothers! 🤗).

Brynjolf. He has big brotherly vibes too; he is this friend who will pick a cute nickname for you (this soft-voiced "lass" is everything, I swear!). What I love the most about his character is his loyalty to the Guild and his undying faith/trust in the Dragonborn from the first time he sees them until the very end when he declares them as Guild Master.

Speaking about the Guild, I absolutely love Karliah, too. I can't get enough of this melodious voice she has, and her beautiful purple eyes. Also, she is the reason why the Dragonborn is still alive after Mercer's betrayal and attack (nursing them back to health and all), plus, I adore her tragic romance with Gallus - calling her his "little nightingale" inspired me quite a lot for another cute bird-like term of endearment in my own fic... 😇

Serana. I mean, I am emotionally attached to her. Mostly because she has a veryveryvery similar personality to my own LDB (and a rather shared traumatic experience), but truly, Laura Bailey's soothing, smooth voice is amazing; I could listen to it all day! (Also, I think I can spoil this, Serana will make a big cameo in my fic, and she will play an important role in the story... 👀).

Teldryn Sero. My favorite follower in-game, and the best elven character in Skyrim. He has lived a long life himself, and he cannot help but be constantly snarky with witty remarks that make me want to smooch him! 😘 I love that he is also a spellsword, like Jia, and together they always make the perfect duo!

Delphine (& Esbern). Yes, I like Delphine. She may not maintain the best relations with my LDB, because of this Paarthurnax issue, but she is a character I admire, and I think she and Esbern are well-written. Despite their age, they don't hesitate to fight with fearlessness, they are brave and dedicated to their oath as Blades, and they hate the Thalmor. Anyone who hates the Thalmor is a friendly character.

Jarl Balgruuf & Jarl Idgrod. Probably the most likable, honorable Jarls. I love Balgruuf's wisdom and Idgrod's ability to see visions - despite being stigmatized by it.

Ulfric Stormcloak. The truth is, that the questline about the civil war I don't usually complete it, because I don't really want to choose a side. So, I'm neither an Imperial nor a Stormcloak. But Ulfric is the epitome of a gray character - he is not bad, per se, but he is not good either, and some of his motives are unclear. I personally love complex, gray characters that I end up loving to hate; makes me try to comprehend their deeper intentions, and thus I know that their development is meticulous and well-written.

Now for the tags! I tag: @miraakulous-cloud-district @illumiera @kiir-do-faal-rahhe @prettytamagnii @b-lizi to reveal their top 10 Skyrim characters! 🥰🥰

#thank you for the ask!💖 #ask game #skyrim #the elder scrolls v

[team7-headquarter]

My Shippuden kunoichi dream team + explanation of every selection:

1. — Tsunade Senju:

Being honest, it was hard to choose between her and Konan for the first place. In the end, I think the byakugo seal and the war experience would give the win to Tsunade, who is said to be the strongest kunoichi of the shinobi world.

Tsunade is for me the most valuable kunoichi of the entire Shippuden series. Changed the way wars were fought with her medic nin innovation and entered the frame already as a legend, she did it for Konoha, going as far as healing all the kages during the fight with Madara, even while she was on the brink of death.

She had the greatest impact through the story, beyond any arc. That's why she's our number 1, even if Konan could have surpassed her if she was allowed to live more years.

2. — Konan:

The nightmare, the angel, the dream, the villain of the kunoichis. If Tsunade didn't have a jutsu to self-heal herself, Konan'd have stolen the #1 long ago. She has the best performance of any kunoichi in the series, that being her fight with Obito. Jiraiya was not kidding with this one.

Why her over Mei, you may ask?

Being fair, in a 1vs1 Mei's versatility might be a tough adversary, yet Konan proved to have a quick mind, figuring out how to fight around Obito's main ability. I'm giving the win to Konan on the base that she had a great impact in the story, but again the second and third place are not as far as some might think.

I'm also giving her the best teammate award, 'cause her devotion to her friends until the end made everyone cry.

3. — Mei Terumi:

Before Tsunade, Mei was the only female kage among hidden villages... This woman is trouble, and she's not to be judge by her performance against Madara, where every other kage did vastly the same. She's TOUGH, capable of even melting Sasuke's susanoo.

Now, we need to consider the political situation she had to deal with too. Ultimately, kunoichis are not just fighters and can't be only judge by her impact in a battle. Mei was a great leader, dealing with the reconstruction of Kirigakure's reputation and the consequences of the bloody past of the nation. I'll also say she's amazing at defense and support, so shout out to our best supportive kunoichi.

Mei's third place is well earned and after her the distance between kunoichis is greater. Tsunade, Konan and Mei are the big three kunoichis of Naruto Shippuden, no doubt about that.

4. — Sakura Haruno:

I just KNOW how controversial this one will be. I'm gonna start saying that loving or hating it, she was probably the most improved kunoichi of Shippuden. By any means, she contributed greatly during the Fourth Shinobi War at her young age and was fighting alongside the real goats, getting recognition from some of the toughest. Way to go, rookie.

She has the benefit of the byakugo seal just as Tsunade, which makes them real competitors. Again, fighting is not the only valuable thing in the shinobi world, but Sakura won the fourth place by both medical and battle achievements. If it was for one or the other alone, she would not be so up in the ranking. Yeah well, it helps that she can heal the two-three most important shinobis of the war and use her techniques and chakra to give them an extra boost.

She's a four because, by the destructive force she unleashed with the byakugo, I don't see any other kunoichi facing her, except our top three ladies, that is.

5. — Chiyo :

Before I get asks wondering why Chiyo and not other younger kunoichi, let me clarify that this place is guaranteed to change after Shippuden. There's great potential among kunoichis who had great performances at the war, like Karin or Ino and Hinata, Kurotsuchi, Temari and many other younger girls the possibility to develop.

Chiyo is my fifth spot because this woman was said to be Tsunade's direct rival on the last war. Not only that, despite her advanced age she's a hell of a fighter, overwhelming Sasori on a 1/10 scale. She's a legend in the medical field, she's a legend in the fighting field, she only did 'cause she wanted too. Otherwise she'd have been at war like everyone else and I can proclaim she'd have kicked ass.

Chiyo was a tough veteran, an amazing teacher and comrade in a fight, a wise woman with an ace on her sleeve and among the kunoichis of Shippuden, her performance deserves all the recognition. She's fifth because she was already old, but back in her day I bet she was capable of winning over young Sakura and facing Mei and Konan. She might not have win, but there are few kunoichis that can say they are strong contenders in this power ranking.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

There are some kunoichis that didn't have the skill to be a menace in the fighting field, but that had a great impact in the story anyway. Some died at a young age, some we don't know much about, some had skills beyond strength that helped win the war and that without them, it wouldn't have been the same.

Shout out to Rin Nohara and Kushina Uzumaki for being the ghosts of the story. Their impact comes from even beyond death and when it mattered the most, they came in clutch to save the day. Their love and devotion shaped Naruto and Obito and guided them back to the light in due time, away from the feelings of destruction and revenge.

Shout out to Hinata too, who supported Naruto through the story and fought incredibly during the war, gaining Madara's praise. She's a good girl with a good heart, capable of representing one of the most powerfuls clans in Konoha.

Shout to Ino Yamanaka and Karin Uzumaki for being absolute legends. Ino is the reason why the Shinobi Alliance kept their communication and organizetion after Inoichi died; she also slowed down Obito with her mind-possesion technique, a feat she should brag about. On the other hand, Karin healed Tsunade, used the Uzumaki chains to slow down the Ten Tails and saved Sasuke in more than one ocassion. Fantastic job, girls.

Shout out to Temari no Sabaku and Kurotsuchi for their leading roles. Being picked for the kage guard is special and requires a high level of power and intelligence. These girls were trusted to lead their own squads and missions for a reason, so let's respect their influence, okay?

Shout out to Mito Uzumaki for dealing with both Madara and Hashirama (I don't know how she did it), for being the first jinchuriki of the Nine Tails and for creating the first version of the byakugo seal. A founder in all her right. Simply wow.

[talagirl]

ohhh this is so interesting what the fuck

#DUDE THE SECURITY COMPANIES WOULD BE EITHER GOING OUT OF BUSINESS OR MAKING BANK TOO!! #i feel like the job economy would be super tumultuous #like.. i think in the early years before society really got its bearings there would be a lot more demand for labour and repairs n such #because reconstruction after big villain fights #but then id assume people with powers would start taking over those niches as well since they would be able to do it quicker #which would probably be subsidized by the government #i think there would be a lot more drills in schools and i wouldnt be surprised if courses like phys ed were coopted for self defense #like you know how youve got to pass a health module in order to graduate? like that but with self defense and self preservatory tactics idk #basically a RUN THE FUCK AWAY module #i feel like a lot of common stuff would get super cheap as well #phones would for sure get cheaper and probably more durable #i already mentioned cloud storage replacing hard drives in most capacities #i think some of the big political issues would actually be 1. jobs 2. cost to the cities 3. the death penalty #man this stuff is so hard to conceptualize bc a society thats become accustomed to superpowered heroes in the skies is like... #such a HUGELY FUCKING DRAMATIC SHIFT IN CONTEXT #like u literally cant assume anything but perhaps the barest bones of structure would remain the same in that kind of world #especially as the years continue like by damians era it would be so so much more different #i think by wallys generation it would be established and MARKEDLY different but by damiens it would be almost unrecognizable #okay i migbt be exaggerating but u get my point #Big Univeral Events can change so much in so little time.. like look at the pandemic #weve all adjusted and become accustomed to what wouldve seemed outlandish only a year ago #now imagine that kind of constant evolution with INFINITELY MORE VARIABLES on a FAR WIDER SCALR #LIKE!!!!!!!! HELLO!!!!!!!! #god anyways yeah i think urban areas in general would become a lot less popular amongst those who can afford to move #kind of reversing the trend of urbanization and expanding cities #since most supervillain incidents would be concentrated in populated areas #so that leaves lower/low middle working class citizens trapped in the metaphorical fly jar with all this destruction and shit #which makes.. a lot of sense honestly its very characteristic of the running themes w class in america #i think initially cities with big name heroes would see a lot of immigration from young adults #but the trend overall would be people trying to move away from urban areas

[writingpracticetime]

Any other superheros convert to constructor's team?

Excerpt from the memoir of Bartholomew “Bloodhound” Hathorne, written during his ten years of confinement. 

---

I think my biggest problem is that I thought of my truesight as a superpower. 

This might be strange for anyone reading to hear. When I told that Newman guy this, he said to me: “What in the hell are you talking about? It’s legally registered as a superpower!”

Let me explain.

I was touted as the guy who could “see evil.” I used to have an article about me pinned to the wall of my office, calling me “the ideal superhero police officer.” Who better to be making arrests than the guy who can literally see all crimes you’ve committed in your head? 

I served in the force for years like that. Always so sure when I made an arrest because I knew what they’d done. I had “objective” knowledge. I could only see the crimes, of course, but that was all I needed. Or so I thought. 

The Architect made me think I was missing something. We were--well, I was against any villain at the time. But  sometimes we had to grit our teeth and work together. Working in the police had given me the impression you have to work with scum to get the job done, so that’s how I justified it. This case was some sort of reactionary white supremacist militia that, well. I had decided to fight against them during my off hours.

Bonfire that started the question, now that I think of it.

“Can you see who has weapons?” is what she asked. 

I remember her looking right at me. I could barely look back at her, though. I could see all the people she’d killed, and how she did it. Made me nauseous.

“What the fuck do you mean?” I asked.

She hissed, but didn’t explain herself. That’s when the big boss cut in.

“You can look at someone and see what crimes they’ve committed,” the Architect said. “This is California. It’s illegal for most people to own guns here. Most of those people probably got theirs illegally or brought them into the state illegally. You should be able to see them.” 

And you know what? I couldn’t. I couldn’t see who had gotten weapons. 

This haunted me long after that crisis was over. Had every single one of those men gotten weapons legally? No, probably not, I decided. Were my powers ceasing to work?

The answer came when weed was legalized in my state, and I realized I was still seeing who had bought it. This is what cued me into the secret: my power wasn’t to detect crime, it was to detect things that I, personally, thought were criminal. 

I had thought I was a finely tuned computer, making flawless and objective calculations about what people deserved.

I had shunned people in my personal life because I had detected some “crime” on them. That’s most people, you know. I had no friends. Throughout my career I had become a paranoid shut-in. I went off on rants about how corrupt the entire human race was. I thought I was the only person who could see the world clearly when really I was off my damn rocker. 

Anyway once I realized it was subjective I started to notice my ability to to detect things went all over the place. Once I read up on child abuse, I started to notice more child abusers everywhere. Once I decided using LSD wasn’t wrong, I stopped being able to tell when someone had taken it in the past.

And, well. It still took months to grapple with that. To try and reconstruct some sense of logic about what was right and wrong. But after that, I knew what I had to do. 

It’s funny. When I first saw the Architect, the sins I perceived practically blotted out my view. But after I had managed to get an audience in the Fortress of Solace to offer my inside knowledge, I noticed something had changed.

“I can’t see anything on you,” I said. 

“I thought you said my crimes were, uh, black as pitch?” the Architect said.

I explained, then. The big flaw in my apparently objective truesight. And how many people I had damned because of it. 

“Well then,” there was a strange note in the Architect’s voice. “Then you can’t rely on your power to know if I’m in the right, can you?”

“No,” I said. “I can’t.”

#constructor #my writing #post-taking the title architect

[kitsu-katsu]

Ghostbur and Wilbur are just so sad

Wilbur created a full nation with others, they fought for it, they gained independence after a war, everything was fine, but then got carried away by his own desire for power trying to rig elections and it fired back, resulting in actual competition, which he still would've fucking won if it weren't for him again, getting carried away by a desire for power and making coalitions legal only thinking about it benefitting him against Schlatt, which also fired back, and he got defeated.

Now he lost his nation and started to see that all of his actions from the start of the election plan were rather bad, thus seeing himself as the villain, and with nothing to lose letting himself go full forward with that, eventually just becoming more and more reckless, more paranoid that everyone would just leave him because he didn't have any power anymore, becoming more anxious because of that, and so embedded on the idea that he was completely bad and that all that made L'manburg what it was had been lost when Schlatt came in, he just wanted to destroy it all.

While all of this mental turmoil was going on, he also had his own son tearing down the walls, burning rhe flag and denying he was his father to his face, just to come back and reveal that he was a spy at the last minute, by this point his trust in people was so fucked, of course he wouldn't entirely come to trust him again either. His paranoia is a BIG part of his character as Vilbur, and we could say that it all also stems from Eret's original betrayal back when L'manburg was still part of the greater SMP.

Also while this was going on, he had Dream just egging him on, playing him like a pawn to his own ends, and taking advantage of his mental state which was already in favour of just blowing it all up and giving him all the supplies needed even if Dream was technically fighting for the other side, because in the end Dream never ever cared for any form of L'manburg, Dream benefits the most with L'manburg being gone, and with Wilbur there he wouldn't even have to do it himself.

Then he dies of assisted suicide in his father's hands, remembering the song and making it clear that it's all in past tense, blowing up his creation, with a crazed laugh and leaving his symphony forever unfinished with the same words once used by the original traitor when trying to destroy it at its roots. Most people end up just remembering him as "the crazy bad dude" even if they miss him, "my bad dad" in one case, "my dear friend" in another.

And he comes back really quickly, but not as himself, but as an incomplete version, a ghost that's the embodiment of innocence by virtue of being physically incapable of remembering the sad things. He can't make amends with his son because he can't remember the bad times. He can't make up for the things people resent him for because he's just as informed as an observer from afar, one that people won't even tell much to because of how sensible the topic is and because of how Ghostbur is, especially with how avoidant he is.

But he reconstructs. Where Wilbur destroyed reaching the end of his straws, Ghostbur built back up again, making everything so much prettier, and only wanting people to be happy, giving blue to suck up everyone's sadness all the time.

Once Ghostbur told Tubbo that he was surely a better president than he himself was, adding as evidence the fact that he didn't even get a grave, no one cared that he died. To which Tubbo responds with "You're still here so we don't miss you yet". To which he says "I'm not him, Tubbo... I'm not Wilbur"

And he remembers dying as a happy memory, his father stabbing him as "the hero slaying the dragon", even if he doesn't have the reason for it clear, he knows people only see Alivebur as "the crazed bad guy".

Phil then blows up New L'manburg, killing friend and only saying he's sending a message that Ghostbur won't understand, he just talks to him as a toddler, and it's so telling when Ghostbur has his outburst and says that he knows he's an amnesiac, and the comedic relief in all of their stories, but he still feels things, all the while throwing his blue at himself. He laments the loss of Friend, laments the loss of the town that he rebuilt where everyone lived, where all their stuff was, where memories were made. "I sowed the seeds of peace and yet I'm the one who pays for war".

And he decides he wants to be revived. Not because he wishes to stop existing as Ghostbur but because he doesn't see himself as strong or apt enough to lead people to a better way, to get everyone out of a rut, even if he only knows that the last of Alivebur was "the crazed bad guy", he knows he was a good leader, and he does remember times when he was ok and happy.

But then the resurrection attempt fails. And Ghostbur disappears.

And that's the end of it.

He just up and disappeared.

Never revived by the people he told. Not left alone in death either.

Now Dream wants to revive Wilbur and use him as a pawn again, but much more explicitly. Now he's planning to tie Wilbur down by the idea of being grateful for his life being given back, even if Wilbur has expressed a desire to stay dead (different from Ghostbur), and use him to escape, make him his playing piece that he can let die and revive when wants, possibly. And Tommy said he got worse while dead, but we don't exactly know how much worse. Did his paranoia grow in the afterlife? Or just a want for destruction? All we saw was that he saw his death as a good thing, because him and Tommy are at the root of all problems, so he sees himself coming back as inevitable chaos and destruction again, "I know what I'm like, that's the issue"

Basically, his character is tragic, be it as Wilbur or Ghostbur and he doesn't seem to catch a break. I love his character so much, man, he makes me sad

#wilbur soot #c!wilbur #ghostbur #dsmp fandom #dsmp wilbur #dream smp #character analysis #l'manburg #l'manberg #it was never meant to be #c!philza #c!fundy #c!tommy #he makes me so sad #but i love him #dsmp

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Do you any suggestion for Super Sentai?plz

*cracks knuckles*

Well first off, if anyone wanting to get into Super Sentai watched Power Rangers growing up, I’d check out the series whatever season you watched was adapted from to see how things went there in comparison to how they were in the United States. So if you grew up with the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, watch Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. If you don’t know what the Sentai the season you grew up with is called, I’d check out RangerWiki, which provides a lot of information on both franchises.

I’d also recommend checking out a few episodes of the very first Super Sentai entry, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. Not all 84 episodes, mind you, but I’d just watch a few to see where Super Sentai got its roots from, because the team football attack gets referenced a lot further down the line. Yes, you read that correctly.

But for individual seasons for beginners, it’s harder for me to answer. Super Sentai has varied aesthetically and tonally across its 45 year run. Some shows are dark and gritty, while others are light-hearted and goofy. Some shows have a vehicle motif, while others use animals for a motif. So the seasons I’m going to talk about will cover all kinds of tones and themes across the years. I also haven’t seen every single entry, so these are the ones I’ve seen that I recommend for beginners.

Denshi Sentai Denziman (1980-1981, 51 Episodes)

Centuries ago, the evil Vader Clan conquered and decimated the Denzi Civilization. In the modern day, the talking dog IC awoke from his slumber when the Vader Clan began their invasion of Earth. So IC recruits five people to become the Denzimen to defend their planet and stop the Vader Clan once and for all.

The first three seasons of Super Sentai were very experimental, but Denziman was where Toei started to get an identity for Sentai down. Not only would the black visors and sculpted mouthpieces become a staple for Sentai’s (and by extension, Power Rangers) suit designs, but this was also the first season to really start a few Sentai traditions. It was the first season to have female villains, the first to use a transformation device for the heroes, the first time the monsters grew to fight the team’s giant robot.

The Denzimen, while not really going through any character development, are still very likable characters, especially Denzi Blue/Daigoro (played by legendary tokusatsu actor Kenji Ohba). The villains are also a lot of fun, a real improvement from the first three villain groups, who were all basically Earth-based terrorist organizations and/or death cults. The Vader Clan is full of villains who are just as entertaining to watch as the heroes, especially Queen Hedrian, played by the late Machiko Soga, who would later go on to play Witch Bandora, the character Rita Repulsa is adapted from in Power Rangers. There’s not that much of an ongoing for most of the series, and it can get pretty goofy at times, but it’s still a really good show.

Choushinsei Flashman (1986-1987, 50 Episodes). 

Five infants are abducted by the Reconstructive Experiment Empire Mess to use as test subjects for experimentation, but are saved by benevolent aliens from the Flash Solar System. They all spend the next twenty years in the system developing their combat skills and special powers until they decide to head back to Earth to fight Mess themselves as the Flashmen, despite the warnings of their alien caretakers.

The 1980s are usually referred to by fans as Super Sentai’s golden age, with a string of great seasons thanks to famed writer Hirohisa Soda. Flashman is no exception. While Denziman tended to have more stand-alone episodes, Flashman is more story-driven. Later on, there’s a really dark plot twist that I don’t want to give away. Admittedly, some of the special effects can be dated to showcase the Flashmen’s powers in addition to stock footage being reused a lot, but the action and camerawork are still fast-paced and rarely do the fight scenes get boring.

The villains are the kind you love to hate, and their actors all give great performances, especially the late Unsho Ishizuka (the Japanese voice of Professor Oak) as Great Emperor La Deus. This is easily one of the darker Super Sentai entries, but if you don’t mind that, I highly recommend it.

Choujuu Sentai Liveman (1988-1989 49 Episodes). 

At an academy for the finest minds in the world, three of the students feel their talents are being wasted on designing a satellite to conduct scientific research. They soon join up with Great Professor Bias, leader of the Armed Brain Army Volt, who takes them all under his wing as his students and generals. Before they leave, they kill two students, leaving their three friends traumatized. Two years later, Volt begins its plan to conquer Earth, but the three friends of the two victims developed their own technology to fight them as the Livemen in the two years since they last saw their former classmates. Bias’ students have developed their own abilities through mutating their bodies, starting a conflict between some of the most intelligent youths in the world while figuring out what Bias’ evil plan is...

Some Sentai fans consider this to be even darker than Flashman at times due to the themes discussed. Unlike earlier seasons, the heroes have a more personal connection to the villains, and act as foils to them in terms of morality. The show also has some surprisingly deep themes at times, deconstructing the harsh standards the Japanese have for education and the effects they can have on people. Seriously, the main villain, Great Professor Bias, sets up a competition for his generals as a way to advance his plans, treating it like a high academic honor. 

This series also has some amazing special effects for the time. This was the first Sentai series to have an animal motif, so they go all out by using one of the most complicated models for his giant robotic lion, a stunning innovation for special effects. It was also the first series to introduce the gimmick of combining two robots, which is a genius marketing tactic when you think about it, motivating kids to buy both robots to combine them. Even putting those technical aspects aside, this is still one of the most iconic Super Sentai seasons, and a must-watch for beginners.

Choujin Sentai Jetman (1991-1992, 51 Episodes)

An elite soldier is chosen for a top-secret military project meant to turn him into the leader of a team of supersoldiers called the Jetmen. After he gets his powers, the satellite base is attacked by the Dimensional War Party Vyram. Not only are the four remaining “Birdonic Waves” meant to empower the rest of the Jetmen scattered across Earth, powering four civilians instead, but the soldier’s fiance is killed in the process. So he has to recruit the rest of the Jetmen and form a competent team to stop the Vyram from conquering their dimension.

A lot of Precure fans view Heartcatch as the best series in the entire franchise, and many Sentai fans view Jetman the same way. It was a huge success in ratings and toy sales, which actually helped to save Super Sentai from cancellation after the disastrous sales and ratings of the previous series, Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman. It also had some elements that made it stand out from earlier Sentai seasons. While I’ve talked about how Marinette was forced to become Guardian against her will while the show doesn’t acknowledge it, this show actually does point out that almost the entire team is a group of civilians with no combat experience. Earlier episodes are not only spent assembling the team, but also training them to better fight the Vyram and pilot their giant robot.

The series introduced a love triangle for three of the Jetmen, and while controversial among fans, was very popular with Japanese mothers, who were rumored to find Gai/Black Condor very attractive and begged Toei to not kill him off. The love triangle, while arguably one of the weakest parts of this show (but still better written than the Love Square), was part of the main theme of the team being more conflicted, showing they weren’t all best friends all the time.

This extended to the Vyram, who also tended to fight with each other over their plans to conquer the Earth. Sure, there was the occasional villain in earlier seasons who tried to overthrow the big bad, but this was the first time we had a whole group of villains trying to one-up each other. The best way to describe the Vyram is if the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia were supervillains who were still competent at their jobs.

The series is also incredibly dark, and is often seen as the darkest Sentai has ever gotten. There’s a lot more violence and blood than usual, and a lot more onscreen deaths that aren’t just limited to the villains. Humans are actively killed or hurt in the crossfire, and it shows just how painful this war is. And because of all of that and many other reasons, this is seen as the peak of Super Sentai. If you have to watch a single Sentai series, watch Jetman.

Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (1994-1995, 53 Episodes)

During Japan’s Sengoku Era, a team of five ninja sealed away the leader of an army of Youkai, rendering their kind powerless. In the present day, one of the few surviving Youkai tricks two bikers, who are actually descendants of two of the ninja in the past, into undoing the seal and giving all of the Youkai their powers back. Another descendant of the ninja recruits them into taking on the legacy of their ancestors to fight the Youkai, becoming the Kakurangers.

The 1990s were when Super Sentai was starting to delve more into fantasy elements rather than just science-fiction, and also started to take on a more light-hearted tone. Kakuranger is no exception. It’s a lot more goofy than the other entries, even using comic book-style graphics during its fight scenes. There’s also a narrator who appears to explain the history of the Youkai of the week, a detail I really like. While this show is still unashamedly goofy, it still gets more serious in the second half, but never loses its comedic moments entirely.

Like with Jetman, Kakuranger shows the reality of drafting two civilians to fight a war against the supernatural, with only one of the first three Kakurangers knowing how to fight. That Kakuranger in question, Tsuruhime/Ninja White, is easily one of the best Sentai heroines of all time. Not only was the first female and non-Red to lead a Sentai team, but she was only fifteen years old while the other Kakurangers were in their twenties. Marinette could learn a lot from her, and no, that’s not an insult. Tsuruhime is a complete badass, and a team-up with Ladybug would be the coolest thing ever.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, watch Kakuranger.

Kyukyu Sentai GoGoV (1999-2000, 50 Episodes)

The demonic children of the Grand Witch Grandiene begin causing natural disasters to bring destruction to Earth in order to revive their mother. In response, five rescue workers who also happen to be siblings are recruited by their estranged father to become a team dedicated to saving lives from the Psyma Family’s actions.

Did anyone ever watch Rescue Heroes as a kid? Imagine that show, but with the intensity turned up to eleven. This show is epic, with amazing action and some of the coolest giant robots in Sentai history. One of their robots is a giant train armed to the teeth with guns. Even putting aside the action, this show does a great job at highlighting all the dedication rescue workers have to their jobs by showing a lot of rescue scenes in addition to having GoGoV fight the Psyma. It even teaches the audience about firefighters from Japan’s Edo Period. There’s really not a lot of shows that explain what rescue workers were like in the past, which shows just how invested this show is in teaching people about rescue workers.

While this wasn’t the first Sentai series to feature a team of siblings (the first being the aforementioned Fiveman), I think it managed to capture the dynamic best. Family is a key theme of the series, with the healthy relationship between GoGoV contrasting with the more toxic environment the Psyma Family has.

This is easily one of the most action-packed Sentai series ever made. It is literally Fire Force twenty years before that anime premiered, and it is AWESOME.

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (2004-2005, 50 Episodes)

In the not-too-distant future (Next Sunday, A.D.), the universe has come together to the point where Earth has made contact with several intelligent alien civilizations. However, intergalactic arms dealer Agent Abrella starts to help out the extraterrestrial criminals on Earth, called Alienizers, by providing technology and giant robots to them because he enjoys profiting from crime, and dreams of a world without the police. In response the organization Special Police Dekaranger, or S.P.D., brings together a team of officers to apprehend the Alienizers.

You want to see space cops doing space cop stuff? Then this is the show for you. Admittedly, this isn’t the most story-driven show, but is instead carried by its characters, who go through a lot of development. The Dekarangers have one of the best team dynamics in Sentai history. All of them are very likable characters, and it’s a lot of fun to see them interact. But the best character in the show goes to the Dekarangers’ boss, Doggie Kruger/Dekamaster, a dog alien who becomes a Dekaranger himself, labeling himself The Watchdog of Hell. That has to be the coolest title any superhero has ever had. Dekamaster is another one of the greatest Super Sentai characters ever, taking down a hundred goons in his first battle by himself.

I haven’t even gotten to Agent Abrella, one of the coolest Sentai villains of all time. He’s obsessed with profit and chaos, and he’s easily one of the most sadistic main villains compared to his predecessors. He isn’t some evil emperor who wants to rule the world. He just wants to raise hell and make a quick buck from it. He’s also voiced by Ryusei Nakao, the Japanese voice of Frieza from Dragon Ball Z. That’s another appeal of Sentai, the voice talent. A lot of big-name voice actors have voiced characters, like Mao Ichimichi and Kotono Mitsuishi. Hell, the currently ongoing Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger has Yuki Kaji of Attack on Titan fame voicing one of the main characters.

Dekaranger is easily one of the most popular Sentai seasons out there, as it has a lot of additional material. Not only did the Dekarangers get a theatrically released film like many other seasons before it, they teamed up with two separate Sentai teams, some of them cameoed in the anniversary series Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, they got a reunion movie ten years after its finale, four of the Dekarangers guest starred in another Sentai series two years after that, Uchu Sentai Kyuranger, which served as a prologue to a team-up with another Toei hero, Uchuu Kenji Gavan, and then that led into the Dekarangers cameoing in another Kyuranger movie meant to be an epilogue to that series.

Yeah, this is why I haven’t talked about the Sentai movies in this post. You don’t have to watch any of these unless you really enjoy Dekaranger, which you should at least check out. It’s slow at times, but it’s still a lot of fun.

Engine Sentai Go-Onger (2008-2009, 50 Episodes)

The Banki Clan Gaiark have traveled from their home dimension of Machine World and chosen Earth as their new home, but they have to pollute the planet to serve as an ideal living space for their kind. In response, sentient animal-themed vehicles called the Engines choose five humans to partner up with, the five humans in question becoming the Go-Ongers.

Unlike most of the shows I talked about, Go-Onger is incredibly goofy, and I love it. The characters are all incredibly likable, both the Go-Ongers and the Engines. While Sentai had touched upon the idea of treating the mecha as sentient beings, this was one of the earliest series to actually have their partners talk, leading to some interesting character dynamics. The villains are also really fun to watch. While they’re about as competent as Team Rocket at times, there are moments where you actually feel bad for them, especially towards the end of the series.

It’s also really funny. Granted, comedy is subjective, so you may not find the same things as funny, but there are a lot of funny moments in this show, all helped by the actors giving amazing performances. Go-Onger can get extremely wacky at times, like in Episode 31. I’m not going to say what happens, you should watch it for yourself.

What makes the humor really work unlike the last attempt at a comedy-focused Sentai, Carranger, it didn’t really feel mean-spirited by portraying the heroes as idiots by claiming to be “parodying” Sentai. Yes, the Go-Ongers can be dumb at times, but they still take their jobs seriously when they’re not goofing around. There’s not really much I can say about Go-Onger other than it being a bunch of dumb fun. If you’re in the mood to start off with something more light-hearted, I’d check it out.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (2009-2010, 49 Episodes)

For centuries, generations of samurai have waged a war against a race of demons from the underworld called the Gedoshu. After their leader was temporarily sealed away for several years, the Gedoshu begin another invasion of the surface while trying to flood the Sanzu River, which grows through human misery. In response, the current generation of samurai, the Shiba Clan, assemble to fight the Gedoshu as the Shinkengers.

This was actually one of the first Sentai seasons I ever watched, as my first Power Rangers season was Samurai. And yeah, while Samurai is a really bad adaptation, I’m here to judge Shinkenger on its own. Admittedly, there are a lot of qualities that can be chalked up to cultural differences, like the whole honor code samurai have and certain plotlines you’d see in a jidaigeki film. The Shinkengers themselves are all very likable characters, and you can really relate to their struggles of being forced into this war (again, handled a lot better than what’s going on with Marinette). All of them have different responses to their situation. Some of them dedicate themselves to wholeheartedly following their lord (Takeru/Shinken Red) or being more vocal in their hatred of their duties.

The villains are also really interesting. Sure, the big bad is pretty boring, but the side villains are just so twisted they really steal the show. Takeru/ShinkenRed gets a rival who serves as a perfect foil to him, representing the idea of why one fights. Even the concept of the Gedoushu is pretty terrifying. Demons from another world hellbent on causing misery to flood our world with their water, which I must point out, is deadly to humans. They’re not my favorite villain group, but they’re a close second.

There’s also some clever plot twists that happen late into the series that I don’t want to give away. Sure, you might have a hard time getting used to the Japanese culture at first, but Shinkenger is still a great series.

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (2011-2012, 51 Episodes)

The Zangyack Empire invades Earth and because of their army reaching across the universe, they become the greatest threat the planet has ever had. In response, the previous thirty-four Sentai teams unite to fight them. They succeed, but the attack they used to wipe out the battle fleet stripped them of their powers. A few years later, a group of space pirates come to Earth in search of “The Greatest Treasure in the Universe”. While the pirates couldn’t care less about stopping the Zangyack, they still have to deal with them while searching for the treasure, which is somehow connected to the previous thirty-four Sentai teams. Also, the pirates form their own Sentai team, the thirty-fifth Sentai team in particular, the Gokaigers, who have the ability to TRANSFORM INTO ANY OF THE PREVIOUS SENTAI TEAMS.

For Super Sentai’s 35th anniversary, Toei wanted to go big this time. While the previous two anniversary seasons only had movies that paid tribute to Sentai as a whole, this was the first season where the anniversary aspect was in the premise alone. 

The interesting thing is that the series was changed last-minute, and it was totally for the better. See, in March of 2011, Japan’s Tohoku Region was devastated by an earthquake registering at a 9.1 on the Richter scale. To this day, it was the largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan’s history, and that’s not even getting into the tsunami it caused the same day. What does this have to do with Gokaiger? In response to the tragedy, several tokusatsu stars including Super Sentai alumni took to social media to encourage kids to stay positive, and even asked some of Gokaiger’s showrunners if they could reprise their roles in an episode. Originally, there were going to be some cameos from past Sentai heroes, but it would only be limited to the ones whose powers would upgrade the Gokaigers’ giant robot. After this, there were a lot more cameos from Sentai alumni in the latter half of the series. Out of Gokaiger’s 51 episodes, 24 of them were tributes to past seasons. And that’s not even getting into all of the cameos in the movies too.

This was another one of the first Sentai seasons I ever saw, and it really helped me get into the franchise as a whole. It manages to explain things to people who haven’t seen certain seasons, while paying tributes to said seasons and making clever homages older fans will understand. Admittedly, the show does spoil the endings of the older seasons like Liveman and Jetman, so keep that in mind before starting this one.

Even outside of the tributes, the Gokaigers are some of the most memorable characters Super Sentai’s had in recent years. While they aren’t exactly evil, they start off not really interested in protecting Earth and care more about getting the Greatest Treasure in the Universe. The only reason they fight the Zangyack in the first episode was because their lunch was interrupted. A team of anti-heroes in Super Sentai hasn’t really been done before. Even then, there’s an interesting dynamic where some of the Gokaigers have more of a moral conscience than the others. And as the series goes on, they start to care more about protecting the Earth, even if they don’t admit it.

It’s just a really good show, and even if it isn’t your first, I’d check it out.

Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (2013-2014, 48 Episodes)

When the alien entity known as Deboss invades Earth during the prehistoric era, another bird-like alien named Torin empowers several dinosaurs into the mighty Zyudenryu to fight off the invading force. After a brutal final battle, Deboss was sealed away, but his army of followers was still growing. In response, Torin started to recruit several humans throughout time into the modern day to become the Kyoryugers.

While Gokaiger was the first Sentai I ever watched, Kyoryuger was the first Sentai I watched every week as it aired, so it has a special place in my heart despite its middling reputation. Yeah, Kyoryuger has been criticized for starting the trend of Red Senshi stealing all the screentime, and while that can easily be applied to later entries like Shuriken Sentai Ninninger and Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger (the latter basically made Red and Gold the only ones to pilot the giant robots while the others watched), I don’t think it's as bad as everyone says it is.

There is just an amazing cast of characters here. It’s the first Sentai to be composed of ten rangers (while Dekaranger also had ten, three of them were just one-offs), and it does a really good job at balancing them all out. Yes, Daigo/Kyoryu Red does get a handful of power-ups and can be the focus at times, but the other characters all have their own distinct personalities and are just a blast to watch. I’d honestly recommend watching a few episodes of this show to get an idea on how to do an ensemble cast. If I end up doing the whole “tokusatsu has better toy tie-ins than Miraculous” thing, expect me to talk about how Kyoryuger introduces its new characters and giant robots.

And then there’s the soundtrack. Oh my God, the soundtrack. Sentai tends to have banger songs for their seasons, and Kyoryuger is no exception. “Vamola! Kyoryuger”, “Solid Bullet”, “Kyoryu Gold! Iza!”, “Yuuki Bakuretsu”, “Chou Shinka! Kyoryu Beat”, “Houkou! Bragigas”, and “Senkou no Brave”. So many of these songs are incredibly catchy, and I haven’t listed all of them. The show has a bit of a music motif, so it makes sense for there to be a lot of insert songs.

The one major flaw I have to point out is that you kind of have to watch the theatrical movie (which is only slightly longer than an average episode), in order to understand some of the plotpoints for the season’s endgame, but other than that, it’s still a really good season to start off on.

Mashin Sentai Kiramager (2020-2021, 45 Episodes)

The Dark Empire Yodonheim attacks the planet Crystalia, with the king’s brother betraying him and siding with the enemy. The kingdom’s princess is sent to Earth to recruit five warriors to fight the Empire. The chosen five all possess “Kiramental”, a way of weaponizing their imagination, which they use to defend the Earth’s radiance.

Precure fans might remember this being the season where Cure Star met the Red to promote the latter’s season (actually referring to Cure Star as his sempai), and I can kind of see why. A lot of fans have jokingly compared this season to Precure because of the gemstone motif and focus on creativity, with Juru/Kiramai Red acting like a Pink Cure according to some of the comments I’ve seen in Sentai discussion forums.

This is the most recent season to finish as of this post, and it’s already gotten a lot of praise in terms of writing, characters, story, and managing all of these during the COVID-19 Pandemic and having to adapt to losing five episodes in the process. The characters are very likable, the Red is one of the better ones in recent years with him being more timid compared to the more hotheaded ones, and the villains are also amazing, and some of the best in recent years. Episodes can range from funny to tragic to just plain awesome in terms of writing, with seemingly innocent filler episodes being the source of major bombshells and plot twists. 

Honestly, there’s not much I can really say about this show other than check it out for yourself.

But these are just my recommendations. If you do some research and see a season you like, I’d go for it. If anyone else wants me to do these for Kamen Rider and Ultraman, I’d be happy to.

Sorry this took so long.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #not miraculous ladybug #super sentai

[wallylinda]

Facial reconstruction surgery??

Right so in the exciting era of Barry's run wherein he gets tried for the murder of Professor Zoom and is generally having an absolutely miserable time of things, the writers take a few minutes out of Barry's semi-daily brooding sessions to have him fight a villain named Big Sir, whom the Rogues had brainwashed into thinking the Flash killed his mouse. Big Sir goes ballistic and beats Barry to the hell and back, creating the pattycake you see before you:

Flash 1959 #342

Barry, half-dazed and delirious, fucks off to Africa and gets carted off to Gorilla City by one of its citizens. Barry then receives treatment to make sure he doesn't die and proceeds to ask for facial reconstruction surgery. Why? Because he wants to make sure his secret identity stays dead. Given, you know, that he faked his disappearance after his wife-to-be Fiona Webb had a mental breakdown and he is currently on trial for murder. It's definitely not his smartest idea.

Anyway, the face Barry decided to go with isn't it hideous

Flash 1959 #345

#yeah no big sir is definitely based off 'of mice and men' #which. ngl. is a bit strange to incorporate in this arc? eh #love love LOVE that both iris and wally are in the background of the second pic like WTF WHO IS THAT #i wanted to see the fallout to that soooo bad but no :// we get more lawyer bonding or whatever #it's like. a bit more complicated than that but that's the general gist of it lmao #asks #dc

[mittensmorgul]

I might be missing something obvious but why did Lucifer not need Nick's consent to use his body as a vessel?

I assume you mean when Crowley shoved him back into Nick's body in 12.08? Using a modified version of Rowena's "send him directly to the cage" spell and the banishing egg... heck what was that thing called... THE HYPERBOLIC PULSE GENERATOR, right.

>.>

Honestly, for me? The only part of that whole situation was that Nick was apparently STILL IN THERE TOO.

In 12.13, Crowley describes to Lucifer how he crammed him back in Nick's vessel. And you know what, I'm not putting a bunch of Eugenie villain monologue dialogue here, because I am just too tired lol. If you want to read start here:

http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/12.13_Family_Feud_(transcript)

from the first FLASHBACK scene (just search that word on that page, it takes you right there)

Davy TRIES to make it make sense in 12.15, explaining how Nick's body was effectively made into the cage:

CROWLEY: That chain around your neck? Was nothing. A stylish accessory. This vessel… That's your true prison. It's been warded with runes and spellwork from the Cage, carved into every molecule. In there? I own you. [ Sighs ] I'm just getting started. So… I'm gonna put you back in your hole, and then I'm gonna go find your spawn, and I'm gonna rip him apart while you watch. And then? I'm still just getting started. [Crowley punches Lucifer in the face]

I remember being like YES CROWLEY DOES HAVE A PLAN, THIS WILL ALL MAKE SENSE EVENTUALLY. Like... why would he of ALL people not want to shove Lucifer into the cage and lock it back up? It just made NO SENSE.

And all Davy's hard work at laying down a coherent explanation for HOW he was crammed in there falls apart in the next bucklemming episode with all the wtf "polarity reversal" nonsense. And Lucifer taking back control of his vessel and having that same sort of power over Crowley.

WHY. IT WAS ALL SO STUPID.

Things Crowley could've done after 12.17 but for some reason did not:

-recruit the winchesters for help, confessing what he did with lucifer -rebuilt the Lance of Michael (Davy in 12.12 again trying to give us a weapon that could stop Lucifer... and Crowley breaking it to save Cas... he and Cas had a mutual interest in killing Lucifer at this point...) -asked for Rowena's help sending Lucifer back to the actual cage... or HONESTLY if Crowley understood her spell enough to pervert its course to send Luci to Nick's body, he should've been able to do this one himself... >.>

Probably half a dozen other things that would've made more sense... but no...

The show wanted Lucifer/Nick more than it wanted Crowley, which... ugh...

Which brings us to the end of s13, and Lucifer's demise. I assumed that would actually be the last we'd see of him. *ugly laughing*

But no, apparently whatever magic Crowley had used to forge the Nick Vessel for Crowley required Nick's soul actually being in there? Which as you point out with your question is... nonsensical...

The phrase "discarded vessel" Crowley uses in his first convo with re-envesseled Lucifer implies "empty," i.e. that Nick was no longer in there. Knowing what we do of Nick, and the assumption that he was dead after 5.22, the logical conclusion was that he went to Hell and Crowley just shoved him in the "cage vessel" with Lucifer, or otherwise used his soul in the reconstruction of that vessel into something equivalent to the Cage. I think they were hoping there was enough flimflam in there for us to just handwave that one and not think too hard about it.

Which is honestly how I approach all Eugenie plot points. The most unfortunate thing is how it clearly affects the rest of canon, with Lucifer and then Nick overstaying their plot welcome by a decade. Though I do appreciate the other writers doing their best to point out how Lucifer's entire plot out beyond s11 revolved around how he felt he'd been rendered irrelevant to the story, and always fighting to center himself in the narrative as if anyone cared about him at all. Even Chuck just... dismissed him, basically. So... at least we have that shred of satisfaction?

But yeah, it's... it's exhausting, and this is the best explainer I've been able to come up with for any of it. I should probably have some more coffee and read this over to make sure I didn't miss anything big, but I just don't want to devote any more brain power to thinking about Nick rn... maybe later. :'D

#spn 12.08 #spn 12.12 #spn 12.15 #spn 12.17 #bucklemming canon acrobatics #davy perez appreciation tag #he tried to make something sensible out of this mess but there was only so much he could do... #supernatural weapons #lol and my tag for nick from the beginning of s14 was #nick the possibly murderous vessel of lucifer #at least i was eventually vindicated on that suspicion :'D #spn 13.23 #spn 14.01

[jason11max]

scans of all the teams

the scans online currently are shit, heres my better ones! (with translations, they are a little wonky but they seem kinda accurate)

(page1)

Participating Dancer Profile Dancers who are united in the "Dance Summit 2001". However, it seems that he really wants to monopolize "Groove Tron" ... Here, along with the introduction of the dancers, let's publish "the true usage of Groovetron".

SCHOOL MATES

Schoolmates junior high school unofficial dance club quartet. Infiltrate Queen's High Schooll to investigate a high school level dance club! But unfortunately that day is Sunday. There is no one in the school. At that time, a sheet of paper jumped into BANBI's eyes. "Dance Summit 2001 will be held! The winner will be given the legendary power" Groovetron "!" "Yeah! We will win the Dance Summit and make the dance club look like a junior high school !!"

BETTY: Have the Betty Dance Club become a junior high school official club.

CANDY: I want a macho boyfriend.

OLIVE: I want to collect cute animals.

BANBI: Make a boyfriend for a high school baseball player. (?)

DATA BE BOPS

A gamer team mainly active in GE-SEN "North 2001" run by the uncle of Data Bee Bop's 3D. All the games released so far have been cleared, and now he is addicted to the super popular dance game "Guest Hadave S °. Recently, he has mastered the original breaking and is motivated to participate in the real dance competition" Dance Summit 2001 ". ing. With the power of Grouptron, we are aiming to clear the Ultra Super Hard Mode of "Guest Ha Dave S". "I'll show you 50 consecutive steps of our flames!"

3D: Computerize your brain.

G-PAN: We all want to participate in the Jibapan Game Olympics.

SUZUKI: "Guest Hardave S" Clear Ultra Super Hard Mode.

HONDA: I want to ride an F1 car only once.

(page2)

CUSU-CUSU

KEI and ME go missing while traveling to Africa. CINDY and SAHARA go to Africa to find them! However, ME and KEI, who were finally found, had a strange appearance with a strange mask ...! "Groovetron" is required to break the curse of the two. Thus, the four will participate in the Dance Summit 2001. "Look, you guys dance together! It's not the case when you're cursed !!"

KEI: I want to spread the teachings of CUSU-CUSU to the world.

ME: I'm not sure because me is cursed.

CINDY: Break the curse of ME and KEI.

SAHARA: I want to live in Africa together.

FLOWER DANCING TEAM

Flower Dancing Team Four elite office workers from top-tier companies at dusk on Friday. To relieve the stress of the company, head to the 2-chome club "Hanazono". "I'm crazy about Cho! I wonder what that official is going to do !!" "Well, if you win, you'll get" Group Tron "!" "Oh, that's okay. Let's participate. I'm going to make the official a Gittan Gittan Gehyogehyo (?) !! " I mean, you guys are still in suits ... I'll just dance and forget about it. Oh yeah, there seems to be a dance competition next time.

SAFFRON: I want to start over as a woman.

MARGUERITE: She becomes the mistress of the super popular actor "Tamura Masar ☆ Kazu".

JASMINE: Transfers Jasmine's boss (CHERRY) to the Antarctic branch office.

CHERRY: Reborn with a look like a gorgeous younger sister.

(page3)

The four teams I'm about to introduce are mysterious dance teams that appear in team mode. You can't use them at first, but you can use them if certain conditions are met.

GALAXY4

A group of four who met as war refugee rescue volunteers on the remote planet "Damas". Each of them has a sad past due to the planetary war, but now they are active as a professional dance team of love and peace. One day, they received an invitation to "Dance Summit 2001". "What ... I'll give the winner a" Groovetron "... This is amazing !! If we eliminate the war from space, the number of people with a sad past like us will decrease. Alright, let's go, everyone !! "

PLANET: Eliminate the war so that lovers are not torn apart by the war.

ORION: Makes the universe peaceful and dances with various humans (?).

APOLLO: I want to make the universe peaceful so that I can farm with peace of mind.

MIRANDA Eliminate the War and make a memorial service for parents.

DISCO ESTRUS

Professional wrestlers who belong to the Lucha Libre group. At the order of the president, the orangutan UTAN has joined the group as a mascot from this season. However, the three wrestlers who love big animals are sorry for UTAN. With the power of "Groovetron", I headed to the dance summit venue just after the match to return UTAN to the Malaysian forest. "UTAN !! I'll return you to Mother Forest !!!"

TEXAS: Garlic Steak is eaten(?)

DRAGON: I want to save the Pander from extinction

UTAN: Rinkogo is eaten(?)

MICRO: UTAN is returned to the Malaysian forest.

JUMBO MAX

A group of four street gangsters I met in the back alleys of Jumbo Max Slums. (????) It is organized around BAT, a leader with strong fights. Dissatisfied with school and society, they have been violent on the streets, but they will participate in the "Dance Summit 2001" to gain real freedom at "Groovetron". "... I don't have a reason. We just want freedom and dance ..."

MEAT: Reconstruction of my favorite fast food restaurant "BURGER-DOG".

DUCK: Extinct humans to protect the earth.

JASON: I can't say ...

BAT: Get real freedom.

FAR EAST COMMANDERS

Four deadly future ninjas chasing the villainous space duo "Akdai Khan" and "Echigo Yarn" under the secret order of the future nation "Aba Kufu". However, just one step away, he misses the villainous space duo special collaboration technique "Sode no Geisha Mai". As a result, the four will be the centerpiece of "A Ba Kufu" general manager "Denchu". "Maro is messing around with Denchu. Chimi, next time, if you make a mistake, it's okay." The four in trouble decide to participate in the "Dance Summit 2001" in order to obtain "Groovetron".

IMAWA: Catch the villainous space duo.

HAMAMATSU: Get your own castle.

SHOGUN: I want to return to the original world.

TOMOE: I want to return to a normal girl.

-jason (have the scans too)

#dance summit 2001 #bust a groove #bust a move #archive

[pi-cat000]

FMA:B/BNHA Crossover (1)

Summary: Ed gets stuck in the BNHA world after the end of brotherhood. He starts trying to find a way home and ends up inadvertently working for the league of villains.  

(fic I started writing a while back. I just like the image of Ed getting increasingly frustrated with how illogical quirks are)

Part 2: here

.

Edward notices tall, dark and suspicious the moment he enters through the rickety front door into his poor excuse of an office. It wasn’t just the way his entire head was covered in a low hood, though that was mighty suspicious, no, this dude gave off some of those dangerous vibes that he would usually associate with a homunculus. The stranger's movements were slightly off, as if not quite human. Only, there was no such thing as a homunculus in this weird word. Well, not that he knew of.

  “Brat! Are you listening to me!”

   Ed begrudgingly turns his attention back to his irate landlord. The older man is leaning over Ed’s desk, close enough that Ed can see the numerous wrinkles pulling down his face. “You better not be skimping on our arrangement.”

  “Hey,” Ed taps a finger against the wood, leaning forward so the old man is forced back at the risk of butting heads, “This whole building needs new wires …do I look like an electrician?”

  That enlists an expression of acute irritation and more annoyed huffing, “Don’t get smart with me. I’ll evict your freeloading ass so fast that…”

  “Oi! Our deal was that I fix the roof, get rid of that mould up on the third floor, and you set me up for the next month.”

  “The deal was that you handle the building’s upkeep and I put a roof over your ungrateful head.”

  “Just because I can fix up some rotting floorboards doesn’t mean I’m an expert electrician… how about you go hire a person with qualifications while I get on with my day job.” He smacks his hand on the table for emphasis, motioning at tall, dark, and mysterious waiting a few steps behind the older man. Technically, he could probably figure out how to fix the building’s faulty wiring with alchemy but there was no way he was getting suckered into helping his grumpy scam artists of a landlord any more than was promised.

  To his credit, the old coot takes one look at the shadowy figure and decides to put any further complaints on hold.  

  “I’ll be back. This ain't over,” is grumbled at Ed as the man makes his exit, skirting around the larger stranger with a healthy amount of apprehension.

  “Don’t do me any favours!” Ed snaps after him, rubbing his forehead before eyeing his potential customer. The location where he has set up shop isn’t the most affluent or safe so, for all he knew, this weirdo was about to rob him. Not that he had much to steal. He had arrived in this world with nothing and, four months later, he still has barely enough to feed himself on the regular.  Not when he is pumping any money he earns into his search to get home.

  “Ah…sorry about that,” He squints, trying to see under the stranger’s hood and is met with only darkness. It almost looks like the other man is made of purple smoke. It’s unsettling. No doubt the by-product of some more weird quirk bullshit. Ed tries to keep his tone as polite as possible. “You came to get something fixed right?”

  “It has been reported that you can repair anything?” The question is asked with little inflection. Almost toneless. Hopefully, this is a customer and not a cop trying to bust him for illegal quirk usage…great.

  “Sure,” He puts on his fakest of smiles, channels his inner Ling, and launches into his best sales pitch, “I have a reconstruction quirk…as long as most of the pieces are present, I can put it back together.”

  “…and does that extend to construction and building work?”

   “Ah,” The stranger didn’t appear to be carrying anything substantial on him so the object in need of fixing was probably located elsewhere, “what the hell do you need fixed?”

  There’s no response to his question and Ed crosses his arms, “I can’t do anything high-tech, too many intricate moving parts, but building construction is fine as long as the materials are all there and I have time to plan. Might take me a few goes depending on the scale. It will cost you extra as well. I’ll have to see it to be sure of the exact price.” He rattles off his fake quirk limitations with practised ease. In a world filled with nonsensical abilities, his alchemy fit right in. 

  The tall man thinks for a moment, leaving Ed to ponder the strange nature of the request. This is the first time he has been asked to do building work, usually, people wanted more mundane repairs like fixing furniture or jewellery.

   “Acceptable,” comes the abrupt response, “My employer requires some discrete building installation and repair, basic reconstruction, shelving, wall-fittings, construction. All onsite work.”

  “That’ll be pretty expensive….” Ed answers slowly, “and time-consuming.”

  “All materials will be provided. The price will not be an issue.”

  “Okay…” Ed narrows his eyes, examining the figure, but the shadows give nothing away. “Where exactly is this job?”

  “Transport to the site will be arranged.”

  As if to emphasis the statement, Tall-Dark-And-Smokey raises a hand and an inky black circle appears on the wall. The sudden action has Ed half rising from his seat, preparing to attack or defend. A beat passes and nothing happens.

  “The mode of transport,” Tall-Dark-And-Smokey explains, motioning to the black circle. It is a quirk effect, obviously something to do with travel. Ed relaxes but remains standing.  Is it just him or does the guy sound partly amused as his obvious unease? He carefully extracts himself from behind his crowded desk to step around and take a closer look.

  “So I just step in that and hope you’re not about to screw me over.” He folds his arms, more irritated now.

  “Your caution is understandable,” The purple circle fluctuates, undulating, and Tall-Dark-And-Smokey puts a hand inside his jacket pocket. Ed tenses again, ready to clap his hands together, relaxing only when he sees the stranger produce a white envelope. In a deliberately slow movement, the envelope is placed atop the uneven stack of books Ed has piled near the door. Ed once again gets the sense that the other man is amused.

  “Consider this a sign of goodwill and proof of our willingness to pay whatever needed,” The man tugs his hood, so it further hides his non-existent face. “Think it over. I will come by later for a response.”

  Tall-Dark-And-Smokey steps into the swirling circle which shrinks, disappearing completely.

  “Later? When the hell is later supposed to be?” Ed snaps at the empty room.

  “Tch,” He glares at the wall and its peeling white paint. What a weird unsettling guy. Suspicious as all hell.

  So far Ed’s stay in this universe hadn’t exactly been smooth. He had arrived in a building collapsing around him, later revealed to be a fight between one of this world's 'heroes’ and ‘villains,’ mentally and physically exhausted from his sudden trip through the Truth’s Gate. From there it had been touch and go as he tried to find his footing, not get accidentally killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and avoid getting himself arrested for not having identification or a quirk licence which was apparently a pretty big deal in this word. With his poor track record, he is tempted to just pack up and not get involved with Tall-Dark-And-Smokey.  

  Only…

  “A teleportation quirk…” He mutters, examining the wall more thoroughly and finding nothing out of place. It is the first time he has come across an ability like this. Against his better judgment, curiosity takes root. How far could it teleport? What were the conditions? Did it consume energy? What sort of energy and how much? What were the limitations? A lot of these weird abilities, quirks, had just as weird limitations.

  Maybe this was the breakthrough he needed.

  Ed’s alchemical research into escaping this world had long been stalled upon the realisation that the only way back to Amestris would be the same way he had left. Through the Gate of Truth. It would require an alchemy array the size of a small city and a sacrifice akin to a thousand human souls…possibly more…He hadn’t had the heart to make the exact calculations. There was no point in calculating the exact number of deaths required for him see his brother again. It wasn’t an option so he wasn't entertaining it. However, if he could somehow bypass the Gate, maybe by using some sort of quirk, then perhaps there was still hope for him. Teleportation had been one of the ones he had been on the lookout for.

  Ed clenches his metal fist, reaching for the envelope with the other, hoping for a distraction. He almost expects it to be some sort of scam. Instead, he is meant with a stack of the place’s currency, neatly bound together.

  It is a lot of money.

  He stares in disbelief, slowly pulling out the bills and running his finger over them. It is more money than all his repair jobs and his periodic pawning of ‘family heirlooms’ have made him since coming here. With this, he would be able to pay actual rent and any other bills for the next month and then the month after. Heck, he’d be able to buy himself some decent meals, a new computer and a better phone on top of that.

  Ed shoves the money back in the envelope and lets out a long, frustrated breath. There had to be a catch. No one just gave away this sort of money without reason. Not in the shithole of an area he’d set himself up in. Who the hell was willing to just throw money at someone to build goodwill? It sounded like the sort of suspicious behaviour that, had he encountered it on one of his missions, he would have reported it back to Mustang for further investigation. Not like he can just report stuff here, not without bringing unwanted scrutiny.

  Ordinarily, Ed would have scoffed and refused the obviously illegal work. However, a quirk was one of his best chances of getting home. Maybe, if he accepted this work, he could bargain for information on the guy's teleportation ability. Not like he hadn’t done other illegal things since arriving here.

  What would Alphonse say? Al was always better at reading people. Maybe he would tell him not to get involved with shady types? Or maybe he would say that Ed was too paranoid and he should give them a chance. Then again, his brother might caution him against it and tell him it was his duty to send in an anonymous tip to the nearest police station. Probably the last one. God damnit he misses Al. Ed stuffs the envelope into his shoulder bag, the one containing a portable automail maintenance kit and encoded alchemy notebooks.

  Next, he is pulling on his signature coat, coloured grey instead of bright red because red stood out and as much as he hated it, he needed to keep a low profile. Ed shuffles out of his makeshift shop, turning to lock the door. He needed more information and his four months in this world hadn’t left him entirely without contacts.

Part 2: here

#fma brotherhood #bnha #crossover #fanfication #edward elric #Kurogiri #dimension travel au #end of year WIPs #fanfiction #Baku no hero academia #fullmetal alchemist

[mothboiwrites]

one of my favorite tropes in writing is the character experiencing or doing something really epic or life changing and the forst thing they do when it’s over is something just kinda mundane or unexpected.

a character wins the big tournament and are awarded with all this fame and riches and the first thing they do rather than bath in the glory or party is go home and tell their family.

a knight rescues a princess and the only thing they as in return is a meal and new gear, not anything fancy just not beaten down ya know. they got more adventures to go on.

the big villain is defeated and everyone is trying to figure out what to do now that the threats gone and one character just takes a nap. they are tired. reconstruction can come tomorrow.

i love just the calm aftermath of a plot, love it when the character chooses to just take a break for a moment or appreciate the more humbler things. it’s like a deep breath in the story. a much needed glass of cold water after all the drama and tension and spectacle. it’s just a nice little pit stop in the story. it’s nice to just process all that new information.

im reading a fic where the character time travels back from one of the darkest timelines i have seen and the first thing he does when he is given the choice to do something is nap for like two days. was it completely unexpected by everyone because at that point in time everyone had a guess kn what he was going to ask for? yup. did he do it anyways? yup. dude died after years of mental anguish, was sent back to his childhood and decided “imma take a nap and pick up gardenin” and i love that.

because honestly sometimes you do just look at all the epicness going on in your life and rather than just dive into the next fight you kinda just take a break. and it feels wonderful when you do.

#trope #this also leaned into to self care #writing #writing tropes #writing prompt #thoughts about tropes #fanfic feels #mine

[mocacheezy]

(forgot to actualy post this when I first wrote it, anyways, rechecked the info with the help of wiki, so have my thoughts on TFA Megatron (S1))

So I finished the first season of Transformers Animated, and let me just… Let me just EXPRESS my feelings for TFA S1 Megatron and the shit that happens to him:

So Megatron has the Allspark in his sight after so many many years of searching. It’s on a tiny Autobot repair ship, shouldn’t be a problem to get it right? Except while fighting the Autobots a bomb planted on him (by Starscream, he should see this coming) detonates. He survives that with damage to his right arm, gets inside the ship and is facing off against 5 autobots (clearly repair crew, and not in sync) in no gravity. One of them manages to cut his arm off, he is down by an arm, big deal, ‘tis but a scratch, he’s fine.

… No like seriously, this doesn’t stop him. He ALMOST GETS THE ALLSPARK!

Except that the leader of this troublesome repair crew kicks him off ship, causing him to crash on Earth. The only thing intact is his head (that Sumdac finds). Is he dead? Is he in a coma? Whatever it is, Sumdac tinkers with what he found.

50 years later, Megatron wakes up, can’t move, can’t do anything really because he is literaly a HEAD (ᵃˡˢᵒ ʷʰⁱˡᵉ ⁿᵒᵗ ʳᵉˡᵃᵗᵉᵈ ᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ʳᵃⁿᵗ ᶠᵘˡˡʸ,ⁱ ˡᵒᵛᵉᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ᵉᵖⁱˢᵒᵈᵉ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᵇᵘˡᵏʰᵉᵃᵈ “ˡᵒˢⁱⁿᵍ” ʰⁱˢ ᵇᵒᵈʸ…ᵖᵘᵗˢ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵍˢ ⁱⁿᵗᵒ ᵖᵉʳˢᵖᵉᶜᵗⁱᵛᵉ), sees that Starscream was the one who tried to kill him and almost suceeded (or did he suceed? Again, not 100% clear on the function of that Key… It heals, it upgrades, it gives life and sentience… Did it REVIVE Megatron or did it just wake him up?)

And what does he do?

I MEAN LOOK AT THIS?!

He is LITERALY ONLY A HEAD, WITH SO MANY OF PARTS EXPOSED OR WIRES HOOKED UP TO SUMDACS MACHINES.

MACHINES THAT HE CAN’T USE, BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO PRIMITIVE.

AND DESPITE ALL THAT!

THIS GLORIOUS FUCKER!

STARTS PLANNING RIGHT AWAY! HE KNOWS THE SITUATION IS BAD AND HE BIDES HIS TIME!

He eventualy risks what little… Advantage? Is being locked away in the dark an advantage? When there’s autobots around being hailed as heroes, yea I think it might be though Megatron wouldn’t admit it… I think? Not outloud that’s for sure

Anyways, he risks it with exposing himself to Sumdac.

And then proceeds to deceive Sumdac! Like, Sumdac is smart. I actualy did need to take a step back and go “damn this poor man really is way over his head”, because on the first glance it seems really dumb to fall for a lie like that.

(I actualy would love to talk about the Professor in the future, especialy by just looking at him as a character on his own… BUT THIS IS MEGS SPOTLIGHT SO *yeets away for another time*)

AND MEGATRON IS NOT 100% GOOD AT THIS “I am an Autobot” THING. He lashes out! He is impatient, he is angry to the point of wrecking the lab with the energy surges and there are moments when Sumdac doubts that he himself can fix this mess he made, especialy with how angry this “Autobot” is.

But SOMEHOW, this glorious FUCK manages to turn most of the damage those outbursts cause into very convincing explanations for his reactions, WHILE also pretending to be useful and “helping”.  

He can see almost everything from where he is, once he masters the connections with the cameras and etc. in the tower and things across the city. He deflects or “explains” why his plans included flamethrowers for amusement bots, and, let me say this again! 

HE IS ONLY A HEAD AT THIS POINT IN THE SERIES!

A HEAD!

He is pretty limited with what he can do HIMSELF! Sumdac is not an ally, he is more of an enemy that isn’t aware of the power he holds over Megatron.

And he is doing everything FAR too slow.

That everything being mainly, getting Megs a body.

AND WHAT’S EVEN BETTER?!

There are so many robots around, all of them reverse enginered from Megatron himself, and none of them are of use to him. And when he DOES manage to get them to listen, something always interferes (Dinobots were a semi sucess, Soundwave rebelled, but did end up wearing a con badge (and boy was it eerie to hear Soundwave say ‘machines supperior to humans’ and how they will be all destroyed… Great episode that one) ). 

So the robots of this planet are useless to him. He has to try and find a way to manipulate human criminals to do his bidding, getting him the materials Sumdac apparently can’t get without raising suspicion. Not that it’s hard, but they are useless as well, especialy with the Autobots meddling, so that also fails. 

And there is always that Key. That he can’t just ask for, but can’t get no matter how he tries. And by god, does he try.

His only real, longe term-ish line of self defense at the moment is Sumdac and his guilt over using a friend of the Heroic Autobots…

AND THEN!

HIS DECEPTICONS ARRIVE!

And he isn’t even sure if he can trust them, given that his Second In Command blew him to pieces. So he has to gamble and hope for the best with Lugnut.

Which is clearly tiring because, as much of devout follower as Lugnut is (the fanfics are all spot on, writers of TFA Fandom amazing job portraying this mass of devotion), it gets annoying real fast when you are trying to get things done and really need to get a body asap, and the only one you can count on is determined to sing praises to you everytime you give an order.

Not even THAT seems to bring him any closer to his goal. And then Sumdac finds what remained of his body.

Pretty good for 50 years of weather exposure, eh?

BUT it seems he will have to keep waiting, because the blizzard that is raging outside causes a blackout, so the Tower is using the backup generator, so Sumdac declairs a delay in repairs.

Megatron alternates between bluster and sweet-talk to try to get his way, but it’s no use. Megatron attempts to call Lugnut again for assistance.

(Source: tfwiki)

From the looks of it, he came back online at the begining/end of fall, so he’s been,

pretending to be an Autobot (one who is a friend of bots he knows very little about, the ones who caused him to become like this in the first place)

 pretending to be useful and helpful to Sumdac in exchange for attempted repairs (all of which have failed)

keeping his temper in check (good thing he can save the slip ups with quick thinking…)  

for about… 3 or 4 months?

And no way to leave the lab?

With Sumdac as his only company?

Probably also in discomfort given THAT HE IS HOOKED UP LIKE THAT?!

With his ghoulish hand in sight that was/is CLEARLY being used as a chair for an organic?

… Yea. Imagine doing all that, being this close to finaly making progress, and instead being told “Weather bad, no can’t do, wait a while longer”.

So if Sumdac fears enough for the safety of his planet, he’ll surely work faster right? That seems to work somewhat…

Then comes Starscream.

The absolutely last Decepticon Megatron needs right now. So Megatron has to pretend he doesn’t know Starscream tried to kill him. With Starscream CLEARLY planning to kill him for good this time.

He is a head, what can he do?

We can soon see Megatron can take great joy in punishing that fragger, with limited resources he has, while Sumdac finaly works on his body.

The only fun perk of being a “friend of the Autobots” so far.

And then Blitzwing and Lugnut arrive. I swear, I was sure with all the talk Lugnut was doing, there was no way Megatron will actualy get that body.

Good thing they got the Key and that Sumdac didn’t think/wasn’t able to put in any override codes or sound the alarms.

What followed was a gorgeous villain reanimation/reconstruction scene and I loved every second of it. I mean, just look at this. 

So, Megatron finaly has a fresh new body.

(gorgeous fucker)

He fights the Autobots, (if I start talking about the details, this post will never end), defeats them and does a magnificent job of offlining his SIC.

(Like, I love TFA Starscream. I really do. This purple bastard is a joy to watch, but given what he did, seeing him get offlined in such a dramatic, yet quick and efficient way(and knowing he comes back anyway)… Let’s just say, I was very pleased.)

The “Fuck you Starscream, Die 1.0” however, lets the Autobots escape and the chase begins.

Here I would like to thank the animators for giving both Bots and Cons gorgeous Magical girl-esque transformation scenes, because they are all beautiful BUT MEGATRON, HOLY HELL, I AM LOVING THAT HELICOPTER!

And they are back on the Ark, fighting in much the same way they were the first time, 

But Megatron has no apparent weaknesses, except perhaps being cluttered with little shards of Optimus Prime after he finishes beating on the Autobot. Their one-sided fight carries them into the hold of the ship, where Megatron succeeds in acquiring the AllSpark… 

Megatron manages to GET THE ALLSPARK! 

SO MANY YEARS OF FIGHTING AND SEARCHING, AND HE HAS IT!

And he puts it in his spark chamber. Or in front of it.

…

Megatron. You just put an anchient artifact in your chest.

I… Listen, this is a step above Megan and his SpaceCocaineStraightToSpark Nonesense, BUT ALRIGHT!

I GUESS IT IS “SAFER” THAN HOLDING IT IN YOUR HANDS WHILE FIGHTING AND GLOATING.

Before he can celebrate, he is temporarily downed by Isaac, who knows enough about Megatron’s circuitry to disable his equilibrium sensors—

(”well fuck you too Sumdac”, I mutter to myself) 

but although he drops the AllSpark Key in his stumble, the tyrant isn’t down for long. Megatron is about to finish Prime, when Sari hurls Prime the Key…

the kid Megatron could easily crush when she was standing infront of the Allspark (BUT HE DIDN’T!) throws the key to Optimus.

…

Who proceeds to jam it into the Allspark.

…

In your chest Megatron.

…

Where your own spark is, Megatron.

For the Lord of Decepticons and quite an old fellow, who I’ve just sung praise to, that was so dumb…

A destabilized Megatron flees the ship before the AllSpark explodes inside his chest, dispersing its energy throughout the atmosphere.

HE BLOWS UP! AGAIN!

This time his body is mostly in one piece, and he has Sumdac as a hostage but…

This Megatron does not have luck on his side.

He really does not.

The only reason he is still functioning is, that he is too stubborn to give up and die. 

The whole “TooStubbornToDie” does seem to be a Megatron trademark, and makes me love his character even more.

TFA Megs. S1 and I already love him so much. 

To finish up this rant of mine…

Someone get him a damn blanket and force him TO TAKE A DAMN BREAK! REST YOU STUBBORN FOOL! 

#Moca screeches #Moca watches #transformers animated #tfa megatron #seriously dude please take 5 minutes off #Long post #For some reason the read more is not cooperating

[timeclonemike]

Write Who You Know

Inclement weather forced me offline earlier today, and while that made it impossible to write (among other things) it did allow for some reflection on my many, many writing projects. Specifically, why some of them are proceeding while others are stuck fast. The result was enlightening, though perhaps not encouraging:

The stories that are making no progress are all stories where I don’t actually understand the characters I’m trying to write, in any way. Because my writing style is so character driven, this is a GINORMOUS PROBLEM.

Birthright was intended to be a deconstruction / reconstruction of Harry Potter. It takes the idea of a secret society / civilization of magical people living isolated from industrialized non-magical humanity and shows how that would actually work, and how it would fall apart. I had high hopes for it, but I just could not get into the headspace of the protagonist that I had created for the setting; he’s gay, he’s adopted, his parents are loving and supportive... the only thing he and I have in common are a love of books, and that’s not enough for me to work with.

Mirror, Mirror was already collapsing under its lack of effective characterization, so much that I wanted to totally revamp it into a reverse isekai with a fantasy adventurer transported to our world to fight its monsters (cops and capitalism). The original character was a college drop out working at Dollar General thrust into the adventure of a lifetime; all outside my frame of reference. Flipping the script leaves me with a fantasy character in our modern world, and while a sorcerer / rogue multiclass burning cops alive is cathartic to write, there’s no narrative meat to sink my teeth into, so it didn’t go anywhere either.

The Bad Guys is the same problem multiplied by five. Each of the newly minted supervillains comes from a walk of life I only have a limited understanding of; Dr. Axiom and Hazmat are Physics / Engineering Majors (I majored in Mass Communications), Digital Chameleon is an actor and social engineer (I can’t even get Dollar General to hire me let alone talk my way inside a huge company to steal important documents), Gentleman Caller is a proper gentleman concerned with dress and decorum and honor (nobody could accuse me of that with a straight face) and Memento Morrie is from the Big Apple (I’m from the middle of nowhere, for better or worse) so taken all together I put together a team of characters I have NO IDEA HOW TO PORTRAY.

Consequently, these three projects are being put on indefinite hiatus, until such time as I can re-engineer the characters to something easier for me to work with. There’s a few ideas that come to mind but for now, I think it’s better that I focus my attention and effort on the stories that aren’t fighting me:

Like Clockwork is basically, after a few plot rewrites and adjustments, a novelization of an RPG campaign in a bespoke fantasy steampunk setting. The characters draw heavily from fantasy conventions, but the motivations and key personality traits of each member of the party are essentially mine: Alice’s love of steam powered technology, Dr. Spatchcock’s disgust at the medical establishment’s treatment of mental illness, Sylvia’s rebellion against her family’s restrictions, and Edgar’s desire to connect with the memory of his late grandfather. Even the antagonist’s motivation, outrage at being betrayed by people he thought he could trust, is mine. The only problems are those of narrative clarity and pacing, which will be solved in the fullness of time.

The Last Machine is a post apocalyptic story, and that already gives me considerable leeway in depicting the apocalypse; all post-apocalyptic fiction is a commentary on existing society at the time it was written anyway. More importantly, the protagonist is dealing with the same “who am I and why am I here and what the hell am I doing” existential fuckery that hounds my every waking hour, so that’s a solid foundation right there. The protagonist’s friends were already loosely based on some impulse or emotion I found relatable; kind of wish I’d been able to do that with The Bad Guys, honestly.

The Gamble is also a post apocalyptic story, one that allows me to explore a different flavor of the apocalypse. The two main characters, Eric and Lyla, are written based on my floundering for purpose after graduating from college and not being able to find a regular job, and my sense of I-can’t-believe-I-have-to-babysit-this-grown-ass-man that comes from working for my dad on the farm, respectively. The Gamble is the second part of a trilogy, and the final part, The Signal, is a “humans through alien eyes” perspective shift, which gives me more leeway in narration. Both of those stories are proceeding, if slower than I like.

After some reflection, I have deduced that my fanfic is still ongoing, it’s just that the stress and strain from the pre- and post-election politics has fucked up my focus. Frisk is one of those characters that is very easy to project on (arguably by design) and that by itself makes the characters easy to write. The small town setting is also very familiar. The Frostpunk and Deltarune fics not so much, although they are not abandoned, just stagnant. We’ll see if I can get some updates out before 2021.

My non fiction work doesn’t fall into this same characterization bottleneck, so any delays are a result of research into the appropriate topics. The Post Apocalyptic Civilization Kit is currently waiting on some detailed analyses of disaster relief / response efforts and how well they worked, and after that there will be other blanks I need to fill in, but that’s all part of the process. Same with So They Called You Mad, my facetious how-to guide on becoming a Mad Scientist, and The Super Villain’s Starter Guide, which is the same thing as applied to becoming a criminal mastermind. (The overlap between the two means progress or delays with one book also carries over to the other.)

#writing #mike's mind #write who you know