#i have no idea what happens in episode 3 of the loki series but i hope it still works for this fic

[nerdieforpedro]

Weekend Update 02/25/2024

Nerdie! You saw it right! He won! *hugs tightly*

Yes he did! 🥰 We're all so happy for him! Finally!

We're also buzzing about how he looks like he's on the cover of a romance novel. Maybe on a ranch, maybe in the 1800's. It's a pretty versatile look. He likes his deep V's....

As we all should. Also, I'm taking notes on that. *scribbles*

Anything new besides, well clearly pirate adventures?

Pirates have scurvy and Pedro is well nourished so none of that. Other ideas for his characters. Ezra and Pero might have scurvy though. I did manage to write some this week. It's been busy. 👀 Ugh...real life stuff. Nothing major. Just needs to be done.

Nerdie's fics:

Guiding Light (Ezra one shot - I was chatting with @lady-bess and had the idea for this. I always have Ezra in some crime. 😎)

Lunch is happening right? (Part two of my summer romance Javi G fic. Not sure how many parts.)

He told me his name (Din Djarin x plus size female reader) I wrote it after reading a new Din fic by @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin (will be listed below. I'd still call it moody because despite writing, I still have trouble with my vocabulary. 🤣 It is pretty though. I'm working on a follow-up since people asked 👀)

Can't win carino (Javi G one shot - for @i-own-loki because she gave me the idea and the moodboard so I ran with it.)

The Man Next Door (Jake Lockley one shot for @megamindsecretlair because she kinda asked, more like I asked her what she wanted in it. She asked for action and smut. I might try more action in fics later.)

Get a room you two and BONE (Part two of my Tim Rockford comedy series which now has romance? I binged too much B99, watched a bit of Castle and a few episodes of Kojak with my mom. The insanity will only increase with part three but maybe there might be some growth between Tim and Doc? Or a hippo.)

Nerdie I thought you said you were busy....that's six fics...

I was and some of them I had been working on for a while. I also had some insomnia (that lead to parts two and three of the Tim Rockford fic). Anyway, on to the main event! 😘

Nerdie's fic recommendations! or things I read this week. 😄

14 x kisses by @trulybetty (Jack Daniels x reader) Part of her 29 days of valentines for February.

Sorgan Girls Are Easy - Solo Din Djarin by @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin (the fic that inspired my Din - her Din has 100% more smut)

Half of you - chapter 3 by @foxilayde (Santiago Garcia x fem. reader) Slow burn series - love it and trying to read it slowly to savor it.

Falling for you by @toomanystoriessolittletime (Javi Pena x fem reader) A bittersweet read that had me wonder what was next but I was hopeful.

Sunday Naps by @javierpena-inatacvest (Frankie Morales x fem reader) More proof that cuddling with Frankie leads to wonderful things.

Poe Dameron falling in love with his shy best friend (GN reader) by @i-belong-to-the-stars What one hopes for if you're shy and you're in love with those curls...er Poe. 🫣

Mystery Strain by @rebel-held (Dieter Bravo x GN reader) All kinks are valid and who doesn't love Dieter with a belly? 😘

Bulletproof by @laurfilijames (Jax Teller x fem reader) She wrote poetic porn with feelings. I was overcome, titllated and confused.

A girl walks into a bookshop by @oonajaeadira (Ezra x fem reader) Soft Ezra with a bookshop, yes please! 😄

Beneath the mask by @saradika (Din Djarin x fem reader) A medieval knight Din...so where does one pick up the velvet dress?

Loneliness by @sirowsky (Pero Tovar x GN reader) Pondering Pero in your local Park? Highly recommended for Valentine's Day.

15 x cashmere by @trulybetty (Joel Miller x GN reader) What thread count was it that encouraged Joel to hop in bed in such a state? For my personal file. 👀

He sees you by @maggiemayhemnj (Joel Miller x reader) This writer will tell you she just loves words. I would argue that the words love her in a unique way that makes you see the things. 💜

16 x dance by @trulybetty (Tim Rockford x reader) I pictured him dancing with the reader in his trench coat. @secretelephanttattoo (El) is to the holsters as I am to the trench coat. 🤣 In my mind.

Quiet Moments Collection by @secretelephanttattoo (various Pedro characters x reader) It’s the small instances that you think don’t matter, that are the most meaningful.

Plus One by @always-andromeda (Frankie Morales x fem reader) Always a fan of two idiots in love, even with their spat.

A Strange Fate by @youandmeand5bucks (Silva x fem reader) Two people who came together because of life circumtances. Are they really satisfied?

A Beskar Valentine by @firstofficerwiggles (Din Djarin x female reader) Awesome username, it makes me giggle. Din will be ten steps ahead and still fifteen behind when it comes to matters of the heart. My guy is an overthinking champion.

Seven by @lokischocolatefountain (Javier Pena x reader) A simple discussion about children leads Javier to a drastic solution.

To be Explored Later by @legendary-pink-dot (Frankie Morales x fem reader x Santiago Garcia) aka Ms. Curls if ya nasty! 😘 Somehow I missed the gem of a sandwich. How the reader was able to think about anything is beyond me.

Red Light Glow by @missredherring (Lucian Flores x fem reader) This man has me and @rhoorl keeping track of his silk shirt and gold chain. We would accept his call. The guilt would go away too quickly if we felt it at all. 😌

Incarnadine by @iamskyereads (Pero Tovar x fem reader) This Pero has me swoon with his care toward the reader, his love of baths (I just want him to soak and relax - he's been earning coin!), and his word choice. This is another person that words appear to favor. 💜

Not like I fangirled over these writers this week or anything 👀

What on the docket for this week Nerdie?

Part three of the Javi G summer romance

Maybe...Roc & Doc part three I don't like sitting on finished parts but then I whine about having no motivation for the next part. 👀 I make no sense.

March is toward the end of the week so my March Spring Prompts will start! I scheduled the first six days I think. I got anxious about getting behind (which isn't the point of doing them but anxiety doesn't care) and did some in advance. I like how they're coming along and that they're short. Unlike this update. 🤣 They won't have summaries, but will have warnings, tags and notes.

And because I hear series and I think "I should start another one!" I decided to write an Ezra series. How did I happen upon our favorites prospector/scoundrel/reluctant father figure? I've been reading works by @morallyinept @maggiemayhemnj and @magpiepills

Ezra intimidated me because of his language, but actually, I think I'd get along with him because he puts on a persona with a great deal of performance. It's the audience's job to figure out if you're serious or not. Or at least that's how I approached him. 🤨 This could go badly. I stuck him on the bayou with an air boat and I want him to cook gumbo. *full delusional achievement unlocked*

Special shout-outs to @connectioneverywhere and @soft-girl-musings for sending me lovely asks this week.

Also to @inept-the-magnificent who called Tim Rockford her sidepiece and I am still very tickled. 🤣

This update was long 🤗 Hehe

Love Nerdie ❤️

#weekend update #Nerdie #Nerdie's update #pedro pascal characters #fanfiction #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #din djarin #joel miller #frankie morales #dieter bravo #the mandalorian #nerdie fic rec #pero tovar lovers unite! #pero tovar #ezra prospect #Ezra #jax teller #javier peña #javier gutierrez #tim rockford #jack daniels #Lucian Flores

[cleabellanov]

hi and welcome to my ted talk about the latest episodes of what if, please read through 💙(2)

The children of Odin are clearly better off without him. I mean, look at her!! (she actually reminds me of a Valkrie at a first look 🤔)

"Having your crown, you threw away your sword, forgetting that she was your own daughter"

"You cannot defend darkness with darkness. Only light." AND SHE DIDDD. I JUST LOVE HOW BADASS SHE WAS THIS EPISODE.

In this universe, Hela is not the godess of death anymore, because she doesn't value the same ideas she used to before learning the light part of life. But I wonder, since it hasn't been said in the episode, what is she the godess of now? Maybe she kept the death part, but took on life too. The godess of life and death. It comes full circle. Or perhaps, the Godess of Hope. Because, even though death comes to all, you can have hope in life.

And oh, the end. Of course that for an animated series that doesn't go a lot over 30 min/ episode, you're gonna have an open end.

Which is why I love it! Not only the path Hela undergoes, along with her transformation, is crazy and probably doesn't happen a lot of the time, but it also has huge consequences. It is very likely that in this universe, her and her team prevented the rise of Thanos, citting him from his roots. Let's raise a glass or two for s time where the avengers are alive, and Thor and Loki grow up closer together, not apart. 😌

Very important!!!☝🏻 everyone say thank you to Cate Blanchett for her service in voicing Hela once again, it wouldn't have been the same without her.

That being said, thanks for reading <3

#we love Cate Blanchett #marvel #what if #spoilers #the watcher #hela #godess of death #odin #loki #thor #brothers #queen Hela #queen frigga #odin borson #tony stark #bucky barnes #the guardians of the galaxy #the guardians of the multiverse #gamora #thanos #time stone #the ten rings #ten #shang chi #what if...hela found the ten rings

[unofferable-fic]

“You’re just annoyed that your personal headcanon isn’t canon!”

Or; my personal thoughts (ranting) about the Loki series and its surrounding toxic discourse.

First of all, I’m going to preface this with the following: whether you loved or hated the Loki series, or you fall somewhere in between, your opinion is valid and if anyone tells you that you can’t express that in a critical manner, then they need to kindly go away. I should also mention the obvious which most people understand — death threats directed at anyone involved in making the series is disgusting and if you do so you’re fucking deluded.

Now that that’s out of the way…

I’m someone who wasn’t overly fond of the series in the end. I went in surprisingly hopeful after enjoying Wandavision and TFATWS. For the most part I really enjoyed the first 3 episodes (episode 3 being the best imo) but I found myself quickly disillusioned by how the narrative seemed to fall apart in terms of cohesiveness. Keeping it short and sweet, I feel like a lot of the relationships (whether platonic or otherwise) were rushed. I found Loki’d dynamic with both Mobius and Sylvie to be confusing, unbelievable, and all around not earned. It feels as though they had a start point and an end point (ie. Loki needs a genuine friend) but we didn’t see any of the journey in between to show how the relationship developed. The quote “after all this time…” in episode 6 sent me over. Like Loki pls you’ve known this woman for max two days or something… No, I’m not salty because he didn’t end up with Mobius. No, I’m not salty because of “selfcest”. I’m salty because I don’t think the relationships were done as well as they could have been. Also, even though no one asked, Loki x therapy is the only ship I give a rats about.

Other points include the following:

Loki felt more like a side character with little impact on the events in his own show.

Sylvie sometimes teeters into Mary-Sue territory, and at times appears to be valued only because she is a woman.

Mobius’ relationship with Loki seems inherently toxic and he is not his therapist. As someone who regularly attends therapy sessions, if your therapist ever talks to you like Mobius talks to Loki — get a new goddamn therapist, Jesus Christ…

In my opinion, the show explores very little of Loki’s character and what makes him tick, especially considering this is post-Avengers 2012 Loki. I’m aware there were only six episodes and I’m not expecting everything to be crammed in, but where Loki was in Thor 1 and the Avengers seems so disconnected from where he is in the series. It seems to portray him as someone hellbent on power and ruling, as opposed to someone desperate for respect and the love of his family/people.

But I digress, the real point of this post was to tell certain people to feck off. Obviously there’s going to be discourse around the series, but I’m starting to get really sick of one side telling the other “you put your personal headcanons on Loki”, “he’s not your character”, “you’re just annoyed because canon didn’t go how you wanted”, “you’re projecting your own abuse on him”, blah blah blah. And here was me thinking the discourse around Ragnarok was bad, but this is another level, lads.

Here’s an idea, how about people who liked the show stop acting like those who didn’t just pulled their opinion on Loki right out of their own ass? All I know is that every opinion I’ve ever formed on him was based on the first three films he appeared in. That’s it — nothing made up because I love to project as someone who went through similar shit to him.

Discuss the show, but don’t be a massive bellend about it.

In summary, Tom Hiddleston I am free next Saturday if you are free next Saturday and I’ll buy all the rounds of Jameson you need while we talk about Loki and how he — no matter what happens to him within the MCU from here on out — will always be one of favourite characters to grace the big screen.

(Anyway who cares what I think, people are just going to call me a whiny Loki apologist regardless.)

#loki #me saying shit #loki series #loki season one #loki show spoilers #anti loki series #anti loki show #found this in my drafts #and never posted idk why #so here you’s go lmao #Loki show discourse #tom hiddleston #loki series negativity

[ikeepwatchinghelicopters]

I obviously have to ask about Illya a pallas cat loool, but also the friendly fire one? I have no idea what fandom that's for but I'm curious anyway <3

Thank you very much for the ask!!

Lol, Illya as a pallas cat is pretty self-explanatory, I think. The basic idea is that Illya gets mysteriously transformed into a pallas cat and Napoleon and Gaby have to deal with the strangely friendly animal while also being worried sick about Illya, who they think is missing. There are lots of possibilities as to what exactly can happen while he is a cat and I haven't decided yet whether I should take the more angsty road or the more fluffy road. I have just the beginning written and I didn't even get to the part where he gets transformed yet. Here, enjoy this snippet and appreciate it, because I actually really dislike the movie Illya mentions and I had to rewatch parts of it to write those three sentences:

'It’s hard to determine how long he’s been walking before he stumbles upon a small house. It’s more of a hut, really. That means Illya must’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere, because he definitely did not pass any civilisation while his snowmobile was still doing its job.

As he walks towards the hut, he feels like Ivan in Морозко. At least this hut has no chicken legs and hopefully any potential inhabitants will be more pleasant than a Baba Yaga. The trees around him don’t look particularly sentient either.'

The friendly fire one is a fic inspired by the Loki series. I think I started to write it for Febuwhump 2022 and it was supposed to be an exploration about what would happen to Casey if he got pruned and sent to the void in episode 1. The idea was that he would meet President Loki.

This snippet is the very end of what I have written because I didn't figure out how exactly the relationship between Casey and President Loki would look like, lol:

'“This is so messed up,” Casey whispered. He managed to stand up, which made his headache a bit worse, but at least the twitching has already stopped. The shivering continued, but Casey suspected it was more due to the cold now. He spotted some movement in his peripheral vision and turned towards it. He was suddenly looking at the face of the variant with the blue box. His clothes were different, and he wore some kind of horns around his head. Casey thought it looked rather tacky. “Hello!” the man leered at him. “Who are you?”'

#my fics #tmfu #loki

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Something here is a lie. 😂🤨

Okay, starting with the last one. Both Waldron and Raimi admitted they never watched WandaVision and they were both very clear they didn't know what had happened in the series except for the post-credit scene. It's likely one or both of them might have backtracked from that though, like Waldron did after he let it slip he hadn't watched Thor or The Avengers prior to writing the Loki series.

And I find it hard to believe he didn't know about NWH because Defender Strange says word for word the exact same line Stephen says to Peter in the movie (albeit in that movie it's clear he's referencing his time on Titan but in MoM that line lacks any depth since it's Defender the one saying it).

The scene of Wanda with Black Bolt is the perfect example of something that sounds cool and looks cool but 1) it's not explained, 2) it's a god-level power that Wanda shows once but never again in the movie, 3) Wanda goes from that to having a kid hit her and she stumbles and falls. Is that scene where she says "what mouth?" a great one? Holy shit, it's awesome. So badass. But it's there for shock value, nothing more.

So the original pitch was to literally show Wanda's corruption on-screen as part of the story, but Raimi chose to "bring that good stuff forward" where her corruption happens off-screen? How is that a good idea? If we had seen her going darker and darker during the movie it would have been a fantastic story, especially heartbreaking post-WandaVision, and it would have given time to Stephen to get to know her and befriend her so that their final fight would mean something.

Also, going back to the first point... why the "scripts" for WandaVision? All the episodes were available at the time Waldron was writing MoM, they delayed the movie 3 times. He didn't need the scripts, he could have watched the episodes. The longest ep is 46 minutes long.

#anti michael waldron #multiverse of madness #doctor strange #I should probably add anti sam raimi too #I hate it because I love his Spidey movies but holy crap.... he earned it #mcu critical #mcu salt #wanda maximoff

[takerfoxx]

Alrighty, High School DXD, season 3! AKA, the one that everyone hated and caused a big rift between the anime's director and the light novels' author that caused him to go to a different studio entirely for the next season and completely retcon the last four episodes of this season!

It's funny going into something already knowing that it's going to be bad and knowing the circumstances behind it. I mean, I've been enjoying the series thus far, even with its flaws, but I was curious to see how much of a trainwreck this was going to turn out to be.

And honestly, it got off to a fairly strong start. Like, the character interactions felt more developed, a few of the ones that had faded into the background were getting more focus (except poor Kiba, who's been pushed aside ever since his own focus arc finished up), the whole turning the Issei house into a multi-story mansion was a hoot, we FINALLY get some focus on Issei's trauma from being betrayed and killed by Yuma, Koneko looked like she was going to finally get some development, the whole gods and demons lore was getting expanded, and so on. Like, it was going good! I'm sure fans of the light novel were annoyed at them doing things out of order, but it was still good.

Also, they fixed those damn eyecatches! Seriously, how'd they fuck up something so simple last season?

But while I did like the training arc and the Loki fight (though he could have stood to have had some more personality), the next arc started to go off the rails. It was basically just a weird mix of past arcs (save Asia, the rating game, creepy suitors) with not a whole lot new mixed in, and I was bummed that the rating game thing got nixed, because I liked the last one and was looking forward to this one. Still, the villain (already forgot his name) was suitably hateable, kidnapping Asia always means some level of instant investment for me, and this series is meant to be a power fantasy anyway, so seeing a loathsome douche get his ass handed to him is still a good time.

And then things rolled over into the last four episodes, the ones that get retconned by season four, and I was like, "Ooooh, NOW I get it."

Yeah, it was a mess.

Okay, okay. Individually, there was some good stuff. Like, the fights were still pretty hyped, the voice acting and animation were good, and we get both the big Asia and Rias kisses. And there were some neat ideas to be had.

Unfortunately, it couldn't seem to just pick one. Like, wow, it cycled through one plot line after another here.

So...Asia gets suddenly transported to another dimension where she'll die and everyone is grieving and Issei is losing his mind and going berserk on a bunch of villains that I also kind of forgot who they were and what their deal was to begin with...only for her to get rescued by the C-team offscreen. It's fine.

Next, Issei's Dragon form has malfunctioned and is slowly killing him and everyone is so worried...except they suddenly remember that they have a healer. So Asia heals him up, easy-peasy. He's fine.

And then Issei's doppelganger shows up and mind controls Rias so everyone needs to go get her back so I guess Rias is the final boss now, but power of love and...what the hell was going on? Is the Chaos Brigade the villains or not? Wasn't Koneko's sister supposed to be important? Akeno's whole thing with her dad got wrapped up way too quickly and too easily and was never really mentioned again. I remember Loki cursing Rias and Issei, so I guess that's an explanation for the doppelganger, but even so. What the fuck is happening and why?!

Yeah, it was all over the place. I completely lost track of what the plot of this season was even supposed to be. And while I can't say that I didn't enjoy aspects, on the whole it really fell apart.

Plus, we are running into cast creep. What worked about the first season is that the number of characters was manageable, so everyone got time to shine, but now there's so many that most just sort of do one thing per fight and other than that just sort of stand aside (poor Gasper). It's the Z-fighters all over again.

Well, at least the OVA was genuinely good. Like, bringing back the Big Bad from season one and find out that his loss has traumatized him so badly that even the heroes feel sorry for him and try to get him back on his feet? Yeah, that's great. And him and Issei's rivalry is just so wonderfully petty. Honestly, keep Riser around. He's got way more rival chemistry with Issei than Vali does.

Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again. How in the hell haven't Issei and Asia fucked already?!

#high school dxd

[paellegere]

final thoughts: supernatural season 2

finished season 2 this morning and it ended on a great note. i like the ending a lot more than i liked s1's, since it felt more natural and less contrived. the buildup to it was awesome, and the setup for season 3 is clear and motivating!

i think my biggest criticism of s2 is the pacing. it really wasn't bad, all things considered, but there were a few episodes i thought just didn't belong in the sequence they were. where s1 had this continual forward momentum going, s2 had occasional abrupt stops. example, the tonal difference between ep12 nightshifter and ep13 houses of the holy felt massive. nightshifter amps up the police subplot, ending with them worried about being implicated in another crime and therefore being on more police radars. houses of the holy kinda ignores that and has very little follow-up to them needing to lay low. it's only really brought up again when they're talking to henrickson and he mentions that they were flying under the radar up until now—which is all well and good, but that should have been felt after all of that happened. instead what we got felt more like a reset button where things went back to normal for them. a very "business as usual" case, as if they weren't being pursued by the law.

there were a few other negligible cases where i got a bit tired of binge-watching the series, which honestly didn't really happen in s1. so the pacing was a bit slower overall. nothing that was super obvious, but it did have its bumps.

but really, that's my only real criticism of it. i think the plots were strong this season, and the tension built really naturally over the course of it. if i had to wish for anything, it would have been development, of any kind, for sam's psychic powers—or otherwise the active rejection of that development. where the other psychics were growing their powers or gaining increasing command over them, sam remains oddly stagnant, which is something i wouldn't expect considering he's put into high-stress situations so often. if it's a matter of accepting the powers, then it would have been nice to see him struggle more with it. they just weren't very prevalent until they were relevant, which was fine in season 1 because they were still trying to figure out what the hell was going on, but now that they have an idea it felt more like things should be Happening with sam. maybe they will in season 3? honestly i can't remember, i watched it a decade ago.

the last 3 episodes of the season were honestly really great though. i love how all three of them play into each other, even though the A plot of ep20 is relatively unrelated to the season finale. it set dean up perfectly for his struggle in ep22 and gave weight to his wishing the world to burn without sam in it. hit right in the gut with all the context of who dean is as a person and what his wishes and desires are.

i still love the commitment to camp in this show and the way they use camp in a unique way that doesn't really come to mind when you think of camp. it gives the show its identity and the fact that the writers and actors don't shy away from it really makes it a great watch. there are some seriously funny episodes in this season, and it makes me even more excited for the funny episodes i know are coming up. gabriel/loki/whatever was especially a hit and i love the interesting storytelling format of that episode. the addition of new psychics was great, and i liked how different their personalities were and how they so clearly conveyed the ways they coped with their powers. they create a wonderful backdrop for sam, and it all came together well for the finale.

overall a great season—it had a few hiccups, but the tension and buildup was really good, and most of the episodes did a fine job at following up on the previous developments and keeping the momentum going. super excited to start on season 3 :)

#liveblogging: supernatural #supernatural #one more season until castiel #then the fucked up polycule begins #.txt #the winchester gospel

[onepandaparfait]

2023 TV Show Roundup

All my hyperfixations released a new season this year, so here is a ranking / brief review of each. Starting with the best and going to worst.

1 - Lupin Zero

When they first announced a miniseries of Lupin III as a kid, I had low expectations. That doubt only increased when they said kid Jigen was going to be in the show too. All the previous lore had Lupin and Jigen meeting as adults. I also always headcanoned Lupin as having a bad/lonely childhood so this messed with that. But then the show was really good, cute, and fun. Now I love the idea that Lupin and Jigen have always been together, and the first thing Lupin stole was Jigens heart??!! Oh my heart. Also, this is a minor thing, but they actually show Lupin’s grandpa being bisexual. I never expected this series to even acknowledge that men can be bisexual especially one so close to Lupin.

2 - What We Do in the Shadows Season 5

Last season when the gang was going to spilt up, Guillermo said that they couldn’t because they are a family and that bugged me, because in season 4 the gang did not feel like a family. HOWEVER, season 5 changed that. In this season it feels like the characters care about each other. Not just because they show how the vampires are willing to help and protect Guillermo, but also the smaller moments of the gang helping each other. My fav episode is Urgent Care. Between Nadja and Guillermo saving each other and Nandor helping Collin Robinson, it was good stuff.

3 - Loki Season 2

I did not finish season one, but I love Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleson, so I gave the show another chance, not expecting to finish it. To my genuine surprise, this season was really good to the point where I would rewatch it. Very scifi. Love this cast, especially the inclusion of Ke Huy Quan.  Lots of Lokius moments. THE SADDEST ENDING, but they left it kind of open so there’s hope. The sad ending did not kill my enjoyment of the show… unlike the next two.

4 - Good Omens Season 2

Love seeing Crowley and Aziraphale back, but this season was disappointing. It felt like nothing happened until the last episode. Idk maybe when season 3 comes out some of this will matter. It doesn't sit right with me to have a season of filler and then push how next time something big will happen.

5 - Our Flag Means Death Season 2

I was with it for the first three episodes. I think the 30-minute runtime really hurt the show and pacing. Although, it’s so weird that WWDitS has the same runtime and can tell complete funny stories in each episode. The critique I have has already been said. They killed my favorite character in the worst way, so I don’t know if I will be watching season 3.

#review #my life #what a year

[kafkaoftherubble]

哈哈！最近咱们的脑袋肯定膨胀了点吧！不过有些已存神经元应该已经被新知识变迁更换修改了，因为成人的脑筋不像儿时那样能一昧地添加新细胞织出新生神经网络嘛。对此俺是有点忿忿不平，但健康的新陈代谢不过如此!

多产脑细胞不代表更聪明哦！那应该是脑癌了。对吧，俺可爱的傅尹? (哈哈被牵扯了，有什么措手不及的？）

哟，想聊废话了喂！

It's great to get back into reading things beyond Jujutsu Kaisen's brainrot. I don't resent my JJK brainrot at all, but the 8-Foot Tall Woman was also right about me being too fixated on one or two trees to the detriment of the forest. I can't ramble good on one topic—even if it's my current single-most obsession—if I tunnel-visioned!

My reading speed continues to be slower than all but my most recent predecessors, but I don't think my 悟性 is necessarily less than theirs. Yours should be better than us, too! We must have done something wrong if you were worse. You're the ones who inherit this psycho-causal process called "Lyndis", after all!

Other than the books we're currently reading (Behave; A Series of Fortunate Events; Buddhist Ethics), we're finally resuming podcast listening as the renovation (more chiefly, the noise) is in its meeker phase. I still haven't finished the one about immortality technology, but I planned to check out Nobel prize winners and the stories and research they work on, too. So far I've learned that the winner for the Medicine category is a duo whose fundamental research in mRNA has helped immensely in the production of the COVID-19 vaccine. Do you also know there are technically two kinds of mRNA? Messenger RNA and Micro RNA. I know, we already know that but I sure forgot the distinction.

This week I'm gonna read and understand block universe theory! Or, eternalism. Do you remember why? Yea, it's cause' I wanna ramble about Loki Season 2's interesting scientific premise regarding "time." See... We may ramble at an obscene length, but we never ramble without citations and/or some links to the facts we have at hand. We're a scientist-who-never-was, after all! Being deprived of the money and opportunities and all that luck-dependent stuff might have killed that dream, but we're still a person of science!

If I believe in block universe/eternalism, I'd tell you not to spoil me on the length of the ramble I ended up writing. However, I believe in the normie idea of time: this is a 3-dimensional universe where time propels forward into the "future." Meaning, you cannot spoil me because you are from the future, and time is linear and moves in one direction. If I ended up being wrong about time, though, don't spoil me about my wrongness, either. Let us be surprised!

On the philosophical side: ... I have nothing specific hoarding all of my attention yet! No, I discount Buddhism for a reason. That shit is always a philosophy of interest. Fionn is a very studious Buddhist after all. Lyishere is definitely gonna be the loudest person to question my atheist card, haha! I can't blame her; she thinks her "number 1 best friend" place is being seriously undermined by the Buddha, but honestly? I prefer my best friend to be alive rather than dead. Is she still alive when you're reading this?

---

... Well, then the weekends happened. The Middle East, yea. One of the most complex conflicts, of course. The region's always been marred that way, but it's something different from the usual this time, so people noticed and reeled.

There really isn't anything we can do directly except donate to humanitarian causes, which is barebone. Our country already has a stance toeing her usual religious and ideological lines plus some typical caveats, and I don't have any insight or bespoke wisdom to blare over the internet.

And really, I can't think of anything direct I may affect.

However, we are always a slave to our curiosity, so for now, our reading list and podcast episodes are temporarily dominated by the need to understand. I want to know about what happened, and why the timing, and what are the intentions, and what's the consequences and effects, and what's coming next, and who's planning to do what, and what scenarios it might end up and the people who's gonna be part of the collateral.

I know I sound callous, but I don't care who those people are, specifically. I don't need to know if it's a kid or a woman or a recently married man or a young girl who dreamed of becoming a scientist or an old couple. I know they say statistics dehumanize people into numbers and graphs, but it doesn't bother us. We don't need a face to know it's a life lost. We don't need to know someone personally to know the value of their life. Just the nebulous concept of "humans" is enough. By this point we've grown far from who we used to be that I can cognitively decide why something is bad without being told what the right emotional reactions should be.

I want to know the statistics. Not just casualties, but the places destroyed, the livelihood affected, the number of people on which side of the debate, etc. I want to hear interviews of the people involved because I really want to understand. What should be the right action? What should have been done? What should be the right mindset? There were times when peace was more possible—what prompted a moment like that? Can we replicate it again? What can we do to de-escalate? How do we prevent the next "it"?

I definitely aren't in the room where decisions are made. We can't affect anything. But paying attention itself is a form of solidarity—I think it triumphs over any reaction or platitude. How good can the actions you perform be, if you do them inattentively?

So we're amassing information regarding this in the meantime!

I'm sorry. It's gonna be distressing to you, innit, Fionn? A good few days of it.

Huh. "If that distress' only contribution is making me look away, then it's insignificant"? I'm glad you're on the same page as the rest of us! But then again, I never doubted ya! I know you better than They do.

#a piece to the rubble

[yaraaltroreboot]

MagiHero Yara-san Episode-Issue Titles (TLDW)

TL; DW: Too Long, Didn't Write

TV show or comic book series, I just have to organize MagiHero Yara-san’s stories.

1 - MagiHero Arrival - Part 1

The exciting tale of Yara Santos start when she moves from Brazil to New York. She recently turned 20, and as possibly any young adult, is filled with doubts about how to be and act about everything. As she’s unpacking her stuff on her apartment, she find a 10-color pen with a magical totem attached to it. With a burst of inspiration, she draws ten MagiHero personas. The next day, the MagiHero drawings vanish from the paper sheets and Yara transforms into the Prime MagiHero Priya.

2 - MagiHero Arrival - Part 2

Testing her designed abilities, she finds Batroc the Leaper with a not-so-reliable team, being confronted by Spider-Man and his first team; Iron Fist however is not with them, having departed to K’un L’un to fulfill his duties. After they’re all defeated, Pryia’s powers time out and she returns to normal in a nearby alley. There, Spider-Man invited her to S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, but she refuses, pointing she just got her powers and still don’t know if there’s more. Following Spidey’s advice, she visits Doctor Strange, and he explains the totem in her pen contains multiversal energy.

3 - Around the Big Apple with Squirrel Girl

Squirrel Girl comes over to Yara’s apartment to fill in the roommate vacancy, and to thank her, she shows her around New York and S.H.I.E.L.D. and shares some of her experiences in the academy. They end up bumping into the Magicians of the Pride trying to invade the Sanctum Sanctorum (yeah, great idea trying to invade Strange’s home) and along with Stephen, leave it clear they are not welcome.

4 - Purple Rage

Heroes all over New York get involved in scandalous crimes, including Spidey and Ms. Marvel. Determined to find out what happened to her friend, Yara go to S.H.I.E.L.D. and meet Daredevil and The Howling Commandos, developing a crush on Werewolf by Night. Soon, the pattern of crimes have a common facton: the Purple Man. Even though reluctanty to beat up her friends, Yara joins the fight, and as Heliantha, both her and Man-Thing destroy the Purple Man’s facility.

5 - Laufeyson Rise Again

During a visit to the Avengers Tower, Yara overhears from Thor that Loki’s lingering consciouness reencarnated, far earlier than expected. She tags along with both Thor and Thunderstrike (Jane Foster) to find Loki, but once they do, he’s revealed to be a preteen, with no memories of even being Loki or any human memories at all. Jane is skeptical, but Thor sees that as a possible chance to fix their broken bond. However, their bonding moments are cut short by an inasion of the Frost Giants. Seeing no other way he could help his “brother”, “Luke” puts on his helm and his memories flood back. Now as Kid Loki, he helps the Thors defeat the giants, but before he can turn on them, Luke’s consciousness make him stop and retreat.

6 - All About Mutants

Wanting to understand more about mutants like Wolverine, Yara visits the Fantastic Four, and has a chat with Mr. Fantastic about it, meeting also his and Invisible Woman’s children, Franklin and Valeria. The reunion is of course interrupted by a call to action, and fighting beside Wolverine and the Avengers trainee Reptil, they face off against Mole Man and his Moloids, now powered up by HYDRA.

7 - Morbid Bond

Morbius the Living Vampire is shown to be alive and well, even recovering partly his human appearance, and after facing off against the Web Warriors, he lures the Venom symbiote away from Agent Venom, seemingly splitting them forever. Meanwhile, Rhino and Vulture want to use their new animal-shaped armors on missions, but are still considered too unexperienced to do so (kinda weird telling this to former mutated villains, right?). Yara feels bad for Flash’s situation, but after they talk, she realizes Venom is still bonded with him, pointing that he might have left him to protect him. After some thought, even heavily weakened, Flash goes with Yara in her Mona form, Rhino and Vulture to where the Web Warriors find Morbius. He forces Venom to bond with him, and puts the new adaptations he made to proof… until it refuses to attack Flash and ejects the Living Vampire, bonding with his friend again, bringing Agent Venom back. Morbius is arrested, Spider-Man puts Rhino and Vulture into mission training and Flash is happily reunited with Venom once more. For now.

8 - Date Tripper

Yara gets a letter from Werewolf by Night and is excited to read he’s asking her on a date. Squirrel Girl is happy for her, but also worried something might go wrong; after all, it is her roomie’s first date. Around the next day, Jack Russell arrives in human form to pick Yara up and they talk during a walk about things they like to do; Yara however stops many times to help people across the city, especially children. Around night time, they have dinner in a regular place, and as Jack explains his origins to her and how it was Blade who “pushed him” to ask her out, he admits it was a wise move, because it’s been actually really long since a girl showed genuine interest in him as a person, and Yara was not just pretty, but kind and understanding. Their date is interrupted by Absorbing Man and Shriek (unlikely combination, right?), and Werewolf by Night and Yara in her Lucia form gives them their just desserts. Sitting under the moon light, Jack tells Yara she should accept herself the way she is, because she’s a wonderful person and he actually enjoyed being pushed to this date, but this doesn’t keep them from wrapping up their first date with a kiss. 

9 - Space Oddity

Nova is passing by Earth with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and they catch a glimpse of the Collector’s ship hovering above the planet. Squirrel Girl then calls Sam to tell him about the Black Order, but the call is cut short. Nova flies to New York and finds Yara in her Ragya form, Rhino and Speedball fighting against Black Dwarf and Corvus Glaive. Sam manages to get them out of Corvus’s weapon reach and they retreat to the Guardians’ ship. Yara is worried about her roomie and friends, and the Guardians are still pondering what were the chances of the Black Order resurging thanks to Adam Warlock. As they enter the Grand Master’s ship, they find Supergiant seeking for Thanos’ particles around the Earth, and both the Collector and the Grand Master trapped in the very pods they kept the heroes in during the Contest of Champions (talk about karma!). It all culminates in a big battle among our heroes, the Guardians, the Black Order and every hero Gigabyte, the Technopatic MagiHero frees from stasis. After a vow about the Mad Titan’s return, the Black Order retreats and the Elders of the Universe leave Earth (but not before Yara has a talk with the Collector and gives him a flower. Aw, that’s nice).

10 - The Runaways - Part 1

In Los Angeles, a group of teenagers and a pre-teen make their way to the subway, escaping from Cloak and Dagger. One of them opens up a map and trace their route to New York. The next day, Yara and Doreen are visiting Glorian, following a tip from Hulk; this interdimensional artisan is in fact the creator of Magihero’s totem, but he’s confused over how it ended up on Earth and took such a different shape; he does give some valuable advice about the multiversal energy he used on it, even opening the possibility of MagiHero opening portals to other worlds. The girls are called back to Earth by Cloak and Dagger, who inform them about a group of Los Angeles criminals they’re seeking. Squirrel Girl goes with them, and Yara finds a crying girl in the park. Her name is Molly Hayes and she lost her Doop doll and got separated from her friends. They are surprised by Wolverine’s fight with Juggernaut and Molly, excited to see her hero, jumps to fight him, revealing herself as a mutant. After recovering her doll on the ground, they’re teleported out of there by a goth girl, and as they appear in an alley, Molly reunited with her friends, who are revealed to be the criminals Cloak and Dagger are looking for: the Runaways. They’re not that okay with Molly befriending Yara, sure they can’t trust anyone, but she’s sure her new friend’s reliable; Molly then explain their parents did the crimes they’re being seeked for, and as they talk about the Pride, Yara recognize the Magicians from the time they tried invadir Doctor Strange’s house. Understanding they have an enemy in common, A-Wild agrees to cooperate with Yara to track down the rest of the Pride. Their reunion is crashed by Squirrel Girl, Cloak and Dagger, but Yara stops their fight with her Nyara form, and the Runaways escape. Dagger is furious at her, but Yara defends the Runaways. Cloak’s taken by the Outcasts of the Pride, who manipulate him to take everyone to their hideout.

11 - The Runaways - Part 2

Yara, Squirrel Girl and Dagger wake up in a mystical-like room, observed by six couples; she immediatly recognize the Magicians and the Outcasts, and understands they’re in fromt of the Pride themselves. They demand her to bring their children to them, so they can convince they’re doing this for their own good; in exchange, they’ll free Cloak. Understanding their manipulative nature, Dagger agrees for now, but once they’re out of there, she tells Yara and Doreen to look for the Runaways while she’ll find out what’s really going on. Squirrel Girl’s furry pal Tippy Toe track down the heroes on an out-of-buisiness motel, and although ready to fight, Molly insists they listen to Yara. Unable to lie, Yara admits the Pride wants them, and Arsenic explain their side of the story; at the same time, Dagger investigates about the Pride through S.H.I.EL.D.: Alex Wilder (A-Wild), Chase Stein (Talkback), Gertrude Yorkes (Arsenic), Nico Minoru (Sister Grimm), Karolina Dean (Lucy in the Sky) and Molly Hayes (Bruiser/Princess Powerful) always hang out together once a year while their families took part on some charity event; one day, they invaded the event only to find out it was a sacrificial ritual for some entities called Gibborim. Unable to save the girl, the kids decide to expose the Pride’s atrocities to the police. However, as they look for evidence, some of them discover their powers. Molly is taken by the Rpide and they threaten the kids until her mutant abilities are awaken. As before, Yara and A-Wild agree to cooperate to defeat the Pride; they “surrender” to Dagger and Alex’s parents come over through a portal; they explain the Gibborim existed before any other entity and demanded their sacrifices to get their servants closer to save humanity from its own stupidity, and even to live forever; Squirrel Girl’s furry friends give them the signal, but the Pride already knew about their plan, and trapped Gravity, Vulture and Kid Arachnid. Yara transforms into Ragya and leads the battle against the now-assembling Pride. Molly is overpowered by Gertrude’s parents, but Wolverine joins the party, saving her and helping the team win the battle and free their friends. The Pride retreats through a portal, and although thankful for their help, the Runaways do not want S.H.I.E.L.D.’s help, still unsure they can trust much people; however, Alex do hope they can work together with other heroes, and Yara assures they’re never alone, as they start looking for a new hideout.

12 - Deadpoolades

While getting a computer call from her family in Brazil, Yara tells her grandmother Rose and her uncle Gabriel what’s new without really telling the superheroic stuff: she found a roommate, new friends, a guy that likes her and might soon look for a part-time job. Their chat is cut short when her room is invaded by Deadpool, and he drags her into a chase by stealing her 10-color pen and opening a portal with it, the totem changing to suit Deadpool’s crazy personality. Annoyed by the Merc with a Mouth, Yara follows him through the portals he open and pass by Asgard, the Howling Commandos’s Monster Truck, the Avengers Tower and ends up in Peter Parker’s house. Lucky for her, Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider intercept Deadpool. Peter explains what he went through with this guy, and while they discuss over moral and how annoying each other think they are, Yara wants to find out how he unlocked the portal-opening power. Retrieving her pen, she turns into Pryia, and Deadpool points out the fabric of reality has lots of strings some people like him can manipulate; in this universe, Peter Parker has this power too. However, he tells Yara someone so unexperienced with “awareness” couldn’t possibly learn with the master or help him track down the Wise Men of the Pride; the mention is enough for Yara to want in on that mission. Scarlet and Spidey tag along with them, Peter watching the Merc with a Mouth closely to avoid him getting to Yara’s mind or nerves. While traveling through different locations with the totem’s power, and training Pryia’s awareness with fantasy world traveling, Deadpool finds his “targets” in a bunker, contacting the Pride while revealing to be expecting him to come; Peter accuses Deadpool of working for the Pride and bringing them there as the actual targets, but he could not care less for Spidey’s nagging. The Wise Men then reveal their reward to be “better than money”, offering Deadpool to join their Gibborim cult; he doesn’t take it well, and joins the heroes to beat the mad scientists. In a fantasy battle filled with crazy imagination traps, Spidey, Deadpool and Pryia beat the Wise Men. Deadpool isn’t able to finish them however, as the MagiHero switched his weapons with toys; Deadpool laughs at that, while Scarlet is just confused about what the heck just happened, Spidey and Yara winking at each other.

13 - A Spidey Kind of Halloween

Halloween arrives at New York, and many heroes are invited to the Avengers tower to party the whole night. Yara refuses to go with Squirrel Girl because she’s not much of a rave person, and justify her costume picking to Jack Russell as a thing she always did on Halloween, even without trick-or-treating in her country. Spider-Man overhears that while passing by her window and lets go of his plans of sneaking into the Avengers’ party (they didn’t sent him an invitation again. Why, just why?) and takes her on her first trick-or-treating adventure. While they follow a group of trick-or-treaters and get some candy themselves, Spidey shares some creepy super stories about Scarlet Spider’s nightmare demons, a interdimensional travel with Dr. Strange and Gravity and Echo testing out a urban legend; by the end of the trick-or-treating route, Yara connect the dots to find out the three stories happened in the same day. When they get back to Yara’s home, Jack is watching her horror anime collection with Rhino, Vulture, Squirrel Girl and Speedball (confirmed couple!), and they tell the party was crashed by some “weird bug lawyers” and Blade actually beat them all up single-handedly. They wrap up the night with a cool scary movie sleepover.

14 - Vote for Jameson

Squirrel Girl and Yara are hanging out around the mall, and after getting a flyer annoucing J. Jonah Jameson’s run for mayor, Yara speaks out loud of how much she dislikes him, recalling the time she went jobhunting at the Daily Bugle and he ripped off her Spider-Man plushie’s head. Sure it wasn’t wise to bring a plushie when jobhunting, but she was frightened as heck of not succeeding, and that plushie was a gift from her rockstar father. Nearby their table, they meet Jameson’s son John, who’s worried about his father’s candidacy, not just for the Spidey-hating reputation he built, but because apparently he’s been influenced by a group of people to write harrowing anti-hero propaganda. Unlike his father, John doesn’t hate Spidey; in fact, he’s eternally grateful for him saving his life, and doesn’t want him or any of the superheroes around town to get into trouble. Even not wanting to help J. Jonah, Yara and Doreen inform their finding to Nick Fury, and he sends two agents of S.H.I.E.L.D to infiltrate Jameson’s operation with Doreen and John; by Squirrel Girl’s insistence, Yara joins in too, using her MagiHero Gigabyte to help uncovering any viable evidence. They find the Thieves of The Pride are the ones planting bad ideas on Jameson’s mind in order to locate the Runaways and prevent any superhero to get in their way. When the agents and the heroes are surrendered, John reveals to still have some Man-Wolf abilities, freeing everyone and convincing his father that these methods will only bring more problems to New York; hating Spider-Man is no excuse to spread hatred everwhere else. Even though not changing his mind about Spidey completely, Jameson listens to John and the Thieves retreat before they can do anything to stop them. Later, as the girls ponder about the Pride’s nest step, Jameson appears on the screen, announcing his candidacy without attacking any superheroes, including Spidey for once.

15 - Robot Riot

During a visit to Stark Industries with Rhino, Yara observe Iron Spider work non-stop in his new blueprints. Suddenly, they’re attacked by one of the mech weapons in exposition, being saved by Iron Man himself. Tony reveals his sore loser rival Justin Hammer somehow got tecnopathic abilities and has stolen most of his armors’ parts and weaponry. Hammer reveals himself in one of Stark’s screens and gloats about his new powers provided by his “new benefactors”, which Yara knows for sure are the Pride. After she assures tow can play that game and turns into Gigabyte, they all make their way to the academy, following a call from Vulture: all the security grids were deactivated and the villains were escaping, except for Doc Ock. Hammer offers him to join his side, but when the egos collide, he shortcircuit his nanotechnology, turning Ock back to his hairy, scarred face self. Gigabyte face off against Hammer while Iron Man and the others help surrendering the villains and restoring the system, Gigabyte times out in the worst possible time, but before Hammer can harm Yara, Ock provides a distraction so they can escape. Out of Hammer’s sight and reuniting with the others, Yara feels ashamed for failing, but being encouraged by Tony and Amadeus, she recalls another technological hero than can help, and accepts Ock’s idea of a change of strategy. Hammer expands his technopatic ability in New York, and clearly is losing his mind with it. Now as the Fighter Robot Starshine, Yara face off against Hammer once more, helped by Rhino, Iron Man and Iron Spider. With combined EMP power, they defeat Justin and rip the Pride’s technopath armor apart, not that it helps with his sanity. Hammer is taken to the asylum, Ock goes back to prison (after getting his nanotechnology restored and a thank you kiss on the cheek by Yara), and Yara helps the Academy students to set everything back to normal.

16 - The Wrath of K’un Zi

Doreen and Yara are hanging around the apartment, talking over rent paying; Yara still feels a bit unsure about her roommate paying her rent by herself, and still wants to find a job to help as well, even though Doreen really don’t see it as a big issue. Their talk is interrupted by an unexpected visitor outside: Nova burst through the window with an injured Iron Fist, and is followed by a female ninja that has no name, due to very racist ancient rules of the Capital Cities of Heaven. While recovering quickly, Danny explains K’un L’un was for years being threatened by K’un Zi, due to a misfortunate incident caused by the previous Iron Fist, his grandfather Orson Randall: he accidentaly killed K’un Zi’s champion due to his war trauma. Now, Davos the Steel Serpent is leading an all-out attack on K’un L’un, and although the rebellion leaded by his tutor Lei-Kung the Thunderer suceeded for a while, Danny knew he had to call help from outside. They all rush back to K’un L’un to find the Steel Serpent himself talking to HYDRA, recalling their plan. Reuniting with all the female rebels in very fashionable disguises, Yara and Doreen sneak into K’un-Zi to rescue Lei-Kung, but obviously Squirrel Girl doesn’t go unnoticed (*cough* tail giveaway). Yara turns into Ragya and the female squad wipes the floor with Steel Serpent’s army. The Thunderer then reveals Davos is his son, and his plan would cause an obliterating chain reaction on all Capital Cities of Heaven. Steel Serpent ignores his father and adoptive sister’s pleas to stop, and blames it all on the Iron Fist legacy: he was banned from the city for not surrendering after losing to Danny’s father Wendell Rand and challenging the dragon Shao-Lao for his own rules. Iron Fist then challenges Davos to battle, while The Thunderer and the female rebellion help protecting K’un L’un from HYDRA and Nova, Yara and Squirrel Girl take over the kamikaze plane before it crashes on the city. Iron Fist is victorious, Steel Serpent becomes a prisoner and The Thunderer supports Danny on the decision to long-due erase the sexist policies of all Capital Cities. Before Yara and Doreen leave with Nova, Danny ask his friend to give Misty Knight a letter from him if she ever returned to New York.

17 - Guests And Beasts

During a calm night, Yara follows the instructions of an invitation to a fancy party on the Dakota Apartments, which is already a big geeking point for her due to her horror movie appreciation. Vulture is there already, having come alone due to Rhino putting all his focus on obsessively upgrading his armor. As they get in, Ant-Man, She-Hulk, Falcon, Power Man and Vision are there. While they wonder over the reason for this random inviting, their mysterious host is revealed as a eccentric woman by the name of Rachel Oskar, with a fascination for heroes and their weaknesses; as lights go out for the first time that night, all guests hear whispers from all sides, and Yara desperately try finding the source of those. When the lights are on again, Oskar is gone, and the heroes stare at each other in defiance, except for Vision. As tension rises among the “suspects”, which Yara finds confusing since they haven’t even heard of that lady, she and the android find a secret passage and accidentaly send all heroes to separate hallways. Yara starts hearing the whispers again about Vision being a threat in general for being an android that acted human, and almost gives in by transfoming into Gamma, until Kid Loki appears and snap her out of it. Turns out he’s the true responsible for Rachel Oskar’s mystery party, but she proved to have grown stronger than he recalled, and actually imprisoned him in a secret room of that magical madhouse. She’s actually a goddess called Ratatoskr, who enjoys causing discord between all races with her manipulative whispering. With Kid Loki’s unusual help, Yara and Vision find and save all guests: Vulture was surrounded by frightening versions of his parents and his past self, Power Man and She-Hulk were stuck in a shrinking room, and Falcon and Ant-Man fought each other for their way out. Rachel Oskar reappears once everyone is there to stop Sam and Scott, and she reveals her monstruous giant squirrel form. With all heroes’ efforts combined, Ratatoskr gets trapped and all her illusions and destruction are reverted. Kid Loki departs before anyone can thank him, Falcon and Vision take the goddess of chaos to Thor and Yara and Vulture can only hope that next time they’re invited to a mystery party, they know why and if it’s not a trap.

18 - Fierce Feline

Nighttime in New York; Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider are supervising a student’s first patrol: Maya Lopez aka Echo, a martial arts expert with photographic reflexes that would make Taskmaster both proud and scared. They find a mysterious white-haired lady stealing a bank after seemingly foiling the Wrecking Crew’s attempt to do so; she introduce herself as Black Cat, and easily avoid Echo’s attacks to her shock; things get worse when Spidey and Scarlet get trapped into the bank vault, and Felicia takes the credit for stopping them. Meanwhile, at Yara’s apartment, she reads over and over the letters she get every week from Werewolf by Night, and Squirrel Girl thinks it’s about time they go on another date. Their chat is cut by Maya knocking on the window, and as she explains the situation, she is still upset that none of her moves worked; like Hawkeye, she never miss. As the girls come to S.H.I.E.L.D Academy the next day, Spider-Man is talking to Dr. Strange about what Ben and him found about Black Cat: she’s the daughter of famous cat burglar Walter Hardy, and along with years of martial arts training and acrobatics, she possess tychokinesis, which is the power to affect probabilities, or on other words, cause “bad luck” to anyone that stands in her way. Yara is both amazed and worried over such a power existing and wonders if there’s even a way to stop it; Echo wants to know that too, decided to get revenge on that bad kitty; Scarlet Spider however advise her that this is not the right attitude to have. That night, Squirrel Girl and Yara in her Lucia form are waiting with Scarlet for White Tiger; and she has a plan to corner Black Cat in her own bad luck. They manage to track her down, and their strategy of avoiding possible incidents seem to work, until Echo charge aginst her from the nearest alley. The two fight until Black Cat immobilize her opponent and gets clawed in the face by White Tiger. A news helicopter film the whole incident and a tabloid revolving heroes going rogue against the new hero on NY is launched the next day. Maya is very disappointed at herself for being so careless and blind to the consequences, and Spider-Man keep alert for the progress of both this newsflash and Black Cat’s trails. Yara and Doreen try comforting her, but it’s only when Ava Ayala points out how Spider-Man prevented her from making a deadly mistake that Echo understands it’s not too late; she asks White Tiger for help, wanting to make things right. As the sun starts to set, Black Cat contacts her benefactor before she’s challenged once more by Echo, while Lucia stands by presumebly as their “judge”. Following White Tiger’s advice, Maya clears her mind of revenge and anger and focus on her objective, always watching out for any possible opening to attack and any possiblity on her surroudings. Scarlet get amateur footage by the Wrecking Crew themselves of Black Cat’s true actions on that night at the bank, and anonymously gives the truth to the news. As the fierce fighters take their battle to Broadway, the Daily Bugle report the truth all over the city, and Black Cat is defeated in battle by Echo. She’s not arrested for long, as she sneaks her way out by causing a pointless fight between civilians, but Spider-Man is already alert for this, and S.H.E.I.L.D. is informed to keep watching for her. Yara congratulates the team for the success of the mission and Ava suggest she join the Academy, but she asks for a little more time to think about that.

19 - Winter is Coming

Captain America is on a recognition misssion with the to-be Avenger Humberto Lopez aka Reptil, flying over Canada to find out about H.Y.D.R.A.’s new plan. Their plane is attacked, not by enemy fire, but by dozens of clawed creatures, which are soon identified as Wendigos. As news of Cap’s disappearence spread across New York, Reptil returns to the Avengers Tower, Yara and Squirrel Girl being there for a visit. The boy is visibly shaken by the experience, and Iron Man decides to send a squad to find Cap: Hulk is chosen to lead the team, due to his experience with Wendigos, and in a tease that backfires, Hawkeye suggest they take Yara with them. Back to Canada, Cap finds out the Pride’s Colonists and Magicians scheming to enhance the Wendigo King’s amulet abilities to put the world into submission to the Gibborim, since the original Wendigo has been destroyed. Before he can act, the Winter Soldier invades their facility and uncovers Cap’s hideout, demanding to stay out of his way and mission. As the Avengers rescue team formed by Hulk, Hawkeye, Reptil, Ms. Marvel and as an extra, A-Bomb, arrive at the last location of Cap, Yara transforms into Lucia and use her teleporting ability to distract the incoming army of Wendigos. Captain America and Winter Soldier battle the Pride’s couples, Steve still trying to reach for Bucky and actually being glad that he’s still alive, and Winter Soldier aiming to retrieve that necklace for H.Y.D.R.A.’s benefit. Just then, Hulk and Hawkeye storm their way into the hideout, and Cap ask them to not hurt Bucky. Lucia is hiding with Ms. Marvel and Reptil, needing a new plan to keep the Wendigos’ fangs out of their reach; with Therizinosaurus claws, Lopez traps the white-furred army under chunks of ice and  starts digging their way into the Avengers’ location, but not before Kamala gets her leg clawed; knowing it won’t be long before she starts changing, she pulls Reptil and Yara into the tunnel. Things aren’t looking so good for our heroes, for the Colonists use the amulet to call the Wendigos, including the transforming Ms. Marvel. Yara and Retil arrive in apparently the worst time, but quickly thinking, MagiHero asks Cap for the shield and transforms into Lucia once more, distracting the Magicians while Reptil frees the Avengers and they take on the colonists. Winter Soldier is tempted to take the amulet, but as he see captain America about to be clawed by an incoming Wendigo, he chooses to destroy it, undoing the curse on all the white furballs. As the Pride retreats, Cap congratulates Yara and Reptil on their teamwork, while Kamala deeply regrets almost turning her hero into a Wendigo. As he reflects on Winter Soldier’s decision with optimism, Yara just can’t wait to get home and get something warm to eat and wear.

21 - Dazzling Night

It’s the end of fall season, and Spider-Woman leaves her symbiote under Agent Venom’s care as she leaves for “girls’ night”, picking up along the way Dagger and Squirrel Girl. Doreen insists Yara come with them, pointing that “she needs some girl time after spending so much time with the boys”. Mary Jane has great plans for them: thanks to Harry, she got them tickets to see Dazzler, the mutant pop star, in concert. Yara however isn’t comfortable with the idea, not being able to be in noisy places for very long; also, she didn’t get any letters from Werewolf by Night lately, and she misses him dearly. As they take the Spider-Jet to Japan, the show is crowded, and Yara really doesn’t wanna get in; however, as she sees three familiar faces among the crowd, she leads the girls to follow those faces until the lights go out. Someone enter the stage, and it isn’t Dazzler, but Emma Frost. She immediatly starts attacking the crowd, and since Mary Jane doesn’t have her powers at the moment, Dagger leads the girls into attack. Yara transforms into Magenta, the rockstar MagiHero, in her magical girl form, and provides some wicked keytar action to help in the attack, but they’re foiled by Emma’s telephatic powers, and almost attack each other, being stopped by Lucy in the Sky, Princess Powerful and Sister Grimm. Before they leave the stage as the crowd starts waking up, Magenta frees Dazzler from her captivity. As she explains that Frost is planning to start a mutant utopia and she’s been trying unsuccessfully to stop her, Yara wonders about the rest of the Runaways. Molly explains A-Wild and Talkback have been arguing a lot over morality and decisions, and that they actually sneaked out with Gertrude covering up for them. The girls put their minds together to find a way to stop Emma’s destructive ability, and as Yara gets to know about Dazzler’s powers, she finally provides a plan. With the girls disguised as band members and Magenta in her rockstar form, Dazzler face off against Emma in an explosion of music and light. Frost at first seems to have the upper hand, but as she gets attacked by the heroes from all sides, she’s forced to use her diamond ability, this preventing her from using telephatic powers. Dazzler finish her off with a sonic blast, rendering Frost unconscious after a frequency that could crack her surface. As the Japanese cheer for their heroes, Yara admits she wore ear protectors before the attack started, due to the intensity. Dazzler isn’t offended, and in fact points out she did that as well when she first tried her abilities. As the show restarts, Dazzler and Magenta, accompanied by the girls, perform together a song for Yara’s loved one; the Web Warriors, Avengers, New Warriors and even the Howling Commandos tuned into the live transmission to see the show.

22 - The Bride of Morbius

The Howling commandos is contacted by Nick Fury, who has some harrowing news for Werewolf by Night: his niece Nina Price aka Vampire by Night, member of the second Commandos team, was seen with Morbius the Living Vampire. Thanks to Squirrel Girl’s pals, Yara finds out her boyfriend is on town, so she runs to the Academy and find him comforting his sister Lissa, Nina’s mother. Since she grew up with Jack and was one of the closest to him in his first werewolf incidents, Lissa is still protective of her brother, and starts suspecting the love Yara feels for him is merely a crush (she’s also worried about her being too young for him, but Yara is 20). Convincing Nick he’d protect her and promising Lissa he’d bring Nina home, Jack and the Howling Commandos leave on the Monster Truck. They find him at Oscorp, after being lured by Nina herself, and she turns into her white wolf form to confront her followers. Yara turns into Nyara to fight her, but Lissa stops her, trying to reason with Nina. Morbius points out he has opened his eyes to things science can’t explain; in other words, he’s been messing with magic and the power of mesmerizing, thanks to Dracula. He points out not only his “to-be bride” has potential in being a gratifying partner, but also possessing two types of monster powers makes her a great test subject. Nyara is disgusted by his attitude and is not afraid to speak her mind, even letting out she can’t believe she found him cute the first time she saw him. After leaving them with nina, and the team is surrounded, Jack feels tempted to rage out as a werewolf, but Blade provides an easy way out of there. As they chase the Living Vampire in the Monster Truck, Lissa and Yara have a serious talk about their families and relationships. As the Monster Truck is plummeted to the ground by Dracula’s vampire lackeys, the king of vampires himself is both impressed and dubious about Morbius’s power weaponizing ideas; during the battle, Jack Russell can’t hold back his troubled mind, and after asking everyone to step back, unleashes full werewolf rage, fighting the Living Vampire off with all his strength. After his fury is all burned out, Yara approach him, even though he tries to ask her not to do it; as she assures she’s willing to do what it takes to both help him and make things work, Lissa sees her feelings towards her brother are true. Dracula interrupts their moment presenting his improved lackeys, leaded by Morbius and Vampire by Night. Lissa tries reaching for her again during the battle, and as Jack reaches for his niece’s hand, she remembers when they actually met for the first time and snaps out of her hypnotized trance, wiping the floor with Morbius and helping the Commandos win the battle. As both vampires retreat when day arise, Lissa apologizes to Yara for doubting her, and both of them, including Nina, agree that it hurts them that Jack doesn’t really keep in touch; it’s a promise Werewolf by Night will keep working in.

23 - MagiHero’s Amazing Fantasies

While visiting a children’s hospital, Yara enjoys being in both a quiet place and a place with kids to talk with; she loves children to the point where she stops things she does to try comforting one that’s crying. When she sees a bunch of children gloomy in a room, the nurse explains they couldn’t schedule with any local superheroes to spend some time with them; she offers to help, but because of usual boring hospital procedures, she can’t really fill in the blanks. Yara’s upset about that, especially because of all the sad children, but then Reptil, who just came back from a field trip with another group of kids, convince the nurse to let her do it, explaining she’s as much of a hero as he or any of the others are. As she greets all of the kids, she explains her powers are only for serious trouble, but she have indeed some great stories to tell. Using a puppet show stage and some random dolls, she tells the stories of Spider-Man and Patrioteer’s friendship (Insect Man and Tin Pal), Werewolf by Night’s origins (Puppy Boy) and one of her favorites, the time when Squirrel Girl helped Hulk defeat Abomination, this one not requiring a nickname. Unknown to her, Doreen just happened to pass by and listen all three of the stories and her clapping calls her attention and the excitement of every single child. The nurse is visibly satisfied with Yara’s work and wants to call her sometime again that week to tell more stories; of course she takes the job, but later at home, she starts worrying about not having anything else to tell the kids, having only told the stories she could remember by the time. Squirrel Girl then recalls the many things she accomplished over the year, and assures she might have more to tell than she thinks. Later in the week, Yara transforms into Gamma, Ragya and Priya, this time telling about her own adventures, still with nicknames for most heroes and villains though: the time when she and the Thors met Kid Loki (King and Queen Lightning and Chaos Boy), her space adventure with Nova and the Guardians of the Galaxy (Star Prince and the Guardians) and her first encounter with Deadpool (Red Joke). The kids clearly recognize the heroes and villains, and one of them is admired she got to hang out with so many superheroes, and that actually made her one; but Yara replies that not all heroes have powers, and that it depends on how we use what we have to help people. After leaving the hospital, Squirrel Girl ask her how things went, and she’s happy to announce they want to see MagiHero again to hear more of her adventures.

24 - The Mole (Rise of the Gibborim) - Part 1 

Doreen and Yara wonder about the future and Yara wished she could make her choices as easily as she made friends. Out of a sudden, they’re visited by Alex and Nico through a portal; they need MagiHero to help them track down a secret agent from the Pride, only known by his codename, “The Mole”; he’s been helping their parents to get the items needed for a ritual that’ll bring the Gibborim to their reality. Squirrel Girl stays at the apartment while Yara follow them, through every corner of the city, trying to find any clues. As they reunite with the other Runaways, Molly’s excited to see Yara again and present her to their dinosaur friend Old Lace, created by Arsenic’s parents. As the Runaways assemble the clues they gathered during all the time they’ve been in New York, Yara helps them triangulate the exact possible location of the Pride’s rite (even though math isn’t really her strongest point). As they make their way to the One World Observatory, Molly tells Yara everything that happened since the last time they met at the Dazzler show: Alex apparently has stopped interacting with the team unless they’re fighting agianst criminals, and they have defeated lots of those lately; so much that Captain America and Nick Fury are both interested in training them. Familiar with the indecisive feeling, Yara admits she also doesn’t know what to choose for her future, since many times she had big expectations frustrated. Their chat is cut when Alex is taken away by two mysterious figures, and the Runaways can only find his glasses. Helped by Old Lace, Gertrude finds a missing piece of their evidence trail and starts getting suspicious. As she convinces the team to take a different direction to find Alex, the Pride is observing their every move, and everything seems ready to bring their masters back.

25 - Prideful (Rise of the Gibborim) - Part 2

Following Gertrude’s direction, the Runaways formulate an invasion plan that can save Alex and stop the rite from happening. Squirrel Girl calls Yara, telling her lots of weird things are happening across town, and in fact, Vulture just got his arm broken. Nico sense her evil parents’ presence and Yara promises to call Doreen later. Each of the Runaways break into the top of the observatory, reaching for the items of the rite, but their plan is foiled when Alex appears in front of them and reveals to be the Mole; he convinced himself that serving the Gibborim might be more worth it than saving the world from the Pride, ergo, he started to secretly help his parents get the very items the team was hoping to retrieve. Yara is stunned by his betrayal and the Runaways prepare to battle, but the Pride already started to conjure their evil masters, and surrender the heroes. Three different portals open across New York, and the Pride approach one of them outside the observatory; making the heroes watch; a giant arm appears and destroys Yara and Doreen’s apartment. With a turmoil of feelings bursting in her mind, Yara snaps and without even transforming, her totem liberates her MagiHero powers to free the Runaways and defeat the Pride; as she gives in to brutality, punching Alex in the face, it isn’t until Molly calls for her that she snaps back into reality, her totem’s powers diminishing. Alex’s parents greet their masters to their realm and place their son as a sacrifice, betraying his trust. As Alex is destroyed, Nico finds a way to seal them back again and with the combined efforts of the Runaways, and the totem’s lingering energy on Yara’s being, they seal the three portals at once. As the Pride retreats, and the Runaways are greeted as heroes, Yara looks in fear and sadness towards her destroyed home, fearing this wasn’t a complete victory.

26 - What’s Eating Yara Santos?

It’s been a week after the supposed Rise of the Gibborim: the ancient entities were once more sealed away, and the Runaways are called heroes in New York. Yara however is visibly shaken by the incident, feeling guilty for not being able to help Alex and for leaving Squirrel Girl behind on their home once the team made their escape. She finds puzzling how his friends don’t show remorse for losing their leader; Karolina then explains they suspected Alex was turning to the dark side for a long time, especially due to some upsetting arguments that proved he was becoming unusually obsessed with restoring his family’s name. As Molly comes over to comfort Yara, Doreen is brought with her, revealing to have survived the destruction of their apartment and isn’t mad with Yara, being glad she made it. However, she doesn’t want to go home yet; the incident being too imprinted on her mind yet. Now as the de facto leader, Nico decides the team SHOULD affiliate with S.H.I.E.L.D. to become better heroes themselves; meanwhile, Yara and Squirrel Girl go to L.A. to visit Doreen’s parents and take a break for a while. Yara is happy to visit her roomie’s house, but can’t keep her mind out of worries. Chipmunk Hunk and Koi Boi, two of Squirrel Girl’s old friends, offer to take her for a spin across L.A., ponting out the amazing locations and how close they are to Hollywood; Yara however has an emotional breakdown and run across the city without looking to where she’s going. She ends up crossing paths with Hippo the Hippo and is rescued by Doreen and her friends, before helping them calm it down. As things calm down, Squirrel Girl apologizes for all the sudden decisions she has made, pointing out she was justy trying to make Yara feel better; she replies with a hug, assuring Doreen she’s the greatesrt friend she ever had, and everyone gets pretty emotional. After a delicious dinner at the Greens, Yara and Doreen decide to spend the weekend around, and go back to NYC by Monday; their calm moment is cut short by Nova and Molly’s arrival. Although the Pride had left, they actrually have opened four portals, having hidden one of them with another spell, and its effects were causing major chaos in New York, all superheroes available being present to help the civilians. They immediatly rush back to the city, and even though Yara is still afraid, she won’t let this stop her from helping; this renewed spirit reawakening the totem’s power. She quickly transitions from MagiHero to MagiHero to help everyone she can, and use the totem’s energy to help sealing the portal for once, collapsing of exhaustion afterwards.  As she wakes up in her rebuilt apartment, Alex, Adrian, Molly, Doreen and Jack Russell are there, happy to see her well; in the aftermath, Yara supports the runaways in their first day at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy and Squirrel Girl and her promise to face what comes next together.

#magihero yara san #earth-12041 #ultimate spider man #hulk and the agents of smash #avengers assemble

[friendofhayley]

Sorry for the wait! I feel like I fell into a pit last month...a Marvel pit, that is. Sorry y'all, but in August all I read and rec was Tony-centric stories! Thank you to all the Team Iron Man writers out there! This fic rec includes 17 fics starring WinterIron, IronStrange, FrostIron, and Misc.

WinterIron

1. Still Waters by @tsuki-chibi | i love this author so much - Tony is a silver fox - why do people stand up for Wanda again? - AU of Ultron - 12k

James didn't know what to think when he stumbled across an older version of Tony Stark who claimed to be from the future. He had no idea that agreeing to help Stark to stop the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver would change everything.

2. Classic Sci-Fi by @notdoingsohot | Steve is a bad friend, but we knew this - Loki's a bro but not at all - '40's Bucky is cute af - all the feels - 18k

Bucky wakes up to Steve telling him he's lost his memory, but not to panic, it'll only last a few days. Easier said than done when the last thing Bucky remembers is fighting Hydra with the Howlies in WWII.

He tries to make the most of it however, and there's this guy... Tony Stark. It's pretty clear the guy hates Bucky's guts, which is unfortunate because god damn is he a sight.

He tries to figure out what he did to wrong Stark, but everyone just tells him he doesn't want to know.

3. Changing Fate by Wix | time travel - it's technically pre-slash but it's gay - everyone needs a hug - tried but true trope - 27k

Tony dies in Siberia under the hands of Captain America, but fate doesn't leave it there. He opens his eyes several years earlier amidst the threat of Loki's invasion and the first assembling of the 'Avengers'. Tony may not understand why he got this second chance, but he's going to do better with it - and he's decided that he's going to share it. With a Winter Soldier who could really use a different hand than he was dealt.

Never let it be said that fate doesn't have a sense of humor.

WinterStrange

4. List of Questions (Civil War Team Iron Man) series by izumi2 | this series is so fucking good - there are so many things that did not make sense in any universe that this fic fixes - listen, I wouldn't trust Team Captain America with anything - 28+ parts

Unrelated (or not) one shots. You can read separetely or as part of the same 'universe'.

'What if' situations where questions are raised and answered in an AU.

5. Another Way by @respect-tony-stark | this is literally such a slow burn and it's fucking great - this fic is a balm to my soul that never stops giving - Tony has mental illnesses that needs to be treated!! - #teamironman - 85k+

Everyone assumed things started to fall apart during their Civil War, but Tony could tell dynamics were off way before then. It started after Ultron. Tony was trying to hold onto the pieces just as much as everyone else, but maybe the team didn't want to as much as they thought they did. Tony just hoped that Steve and everyone else would get over Ultron.

Then Tony found out about a certain Winter Soldier and December of 1991. Tony wasn't irrational. He'd give Steve a chance to confess, but there were a lot more things wrong with their team than secrets. It was time for Tony to realize that.

6. A Second Chance (To Get It Right) by DobbyRocksSocks | this is what I wish Endgame had been - hindsight is 20/20 and it's delicious - the Steve & Tony interactions hurt - just crying about Aunt Peggy - 22k

Stephen knows there's only one way to win the war against Thanos. Tony wishes he knew what the hell was happening, and just how he's waking up in 2010 with JARVIS telling him the time and date.

7. Poison in My Veins by ArcticVulpix | listen, watching the What If...? episode right after this made me feel justified - JARVIS loves Sir so much - not SHIELD friendly because fuck them - also the reason why I went on a tangent while showing my partner Iron Man 2 - 2k

What if injecting Tony with an unknown chemical during the Palladium poisoning incident had more realistic consequences? After all, they couldn't know what medication Tony was on. And how it would react to their 'cure'.

JARVIS is not happy.

8. ironstrange vs. the rogues series by imposterhuman | feat. some juicy past-Stony - it's just great to see peeps take Tony's side - Rogues didn't realize how much shit Tony put up with to help them not fail as a team - #teamironman - 13+ parts

the rogue avengers return, only, tony isnt alone this time

9. Tony and the Neurosurgeon by ArcticVulpix | part of a great series [Anyone But Steve Rogers] - cw: mind control and sexual harassment - Clint is a bro - protective JARVIS - 10k

JARVIS would only accept the best for sir. So a doctor who can keep up with Tony's banter and with a high enough intelligence to understand him was pretty high up on the list.

FrostIron

10. Tears by Arabesqueangel | dying after getting rejected from soulmate AU - enemies to lovers - Thor: Ragnarok canon-divergent - Jotunn Loki is best Loki - 11k

Thor says they are headed to Earth. Loki is understandably dreading their arrival. It's not just his own actions on Earth the last time that are causing him pause. It's the knowledge that Tony Stark is his soulmate and he can never know... no matter how much it hurts.

11. Things That Are Never Meant by katling | Civil War canon-divergent - Pepper is a BAMF - Wanda is straight-up evil in this one - some people are OOC - 28k

When Tony Stark disappears from Siberia, the aftershocks shatter some people and rebuild others. And when Tony returns, nothing will ever be the same again.

12. Tony and the Trickster by ArcitcVulpix | bless this author for their fics - I just love the way Loki *clenches fist* tricks people - one-sided Stony - people stand up for Tony! - 6k

As usual, it started because Loki was bored.

Is there really any more else to say?

13. The Power of Faith series by Draysmeria | this series! is an epic amazing story - AU from Avengers to Endgame - FrostIron vs. the world - I love the pagan representation - 5 parts

Loki has been Tony's God for a long time and there was nothing Loki could do that would turn Tony away from him, even if he attempted to invade earth. Stronger together than apart they embark on a journey to rid the universe once and for all of their ultimate enemy Thanos. It is not always easy navigating heroes, villains and interpersonal relationships, but with the power of their faith in each other, everything is possible.

14. Proof That DUM-E Knows Exactly What He's Doing (And Why JARVIS Should Stop Bossing Him Around) by NamelesslyNightlock | this is mostly told from the POV of DUM-E - the bots care and love for Tony so much - enemies to strangers to lovers - idiots in love - 14k

When DUM-E touches something he shouldn’t and it makes someone new appear in the workshop, DUM-E doesn’t know why JARVIS gets so worried. Clearly, he and Loki are going to be the best of friends.

Misc.

15. you want a war? (you don't know what you're asking for) by graveltotempo | Pepper and Rhodey are salty - Tony isn't in this story - I love a #teamironman story about consequences - Aunt Peggy - 12k

“And now? Now you’ve all betrayed,”  Steve flinched at the choice of words, “Stark, and Potts and Rhodes are not going to sit and take it.”

Natasha frowned at the phone. “What does this mean for us?”

Fury laughed - an ugly laugh with no myrth in it. “It means that Potts or Rhodes are the ones who sent me this phone because they wanted me to contact you. They wanted me - and you - to know that they are with Stark, that they are the line of defence between him and us.”

16. Tony Stark Defense Squad series by ArcticVulpix - Pepper/Tony - I love seeing the Defenders and Fantastic Four interact with the Avengers! - Carol and Jessica Jones putting Steve back in his place - Aunt Peggy - 20+ parts

Tony has recovered in the year following the Civil War, with his friends' and new team's help. With the Rogues coming back though, those friends aren't going to let them hurt Tony again.

17. From Little Things Big Things Grow by katling | Iron Husbands - this story is super amazing and makes me angry at Steve - Defenders and Fantastic Four are in this too! - hey, Team Cap are assholes - non-canon character death - 32k

In a harsher universe, Tony Stark lets Clint Barton's comment in the Raft slide off him but what would happen if he didn't? What would happen if that comment was the straw that broke the camel's back? What would happen if Tony didn't go to Siberia? If he turned his attention away from the Rogue Avengers and looked towards others to help him protect the world and the universe, even if those others come in strange packages?

#winteriron #ironstrange #frostiron #iron husbands #tony-centric #team iron man #tony stark defense squad #marvel fic rec #iron man #not team cap friendly #not steve rogers friendly

[inglorious-purpose]

Loki’s jacket

At the end of the Loki series, fans were left with a litany of burning questions, one of them being: what the hell happened to Loki’s jacket? I mean, it was a fairly decent jacket. And it just ... vanished?

Then I found an interview with director Kate Herron about episode 3 (Lamentis). In response to a question about Loki losing his pompous attitude, she says:

I remember I had this diagram with Christine from costume. People will see it as the show goes on, but across this episode in particular, Loki's lost his Variant jacket. He doesn't have that by the end, and it's like, as a Loki, he's transforming and in that sense, it's almost like his outer appearance does as well, in the sense that his jacket's gone, but also he gets more dirty. And Sylvie's the same. She loses her horns on the train, and she loses that coat that we've seen her hiding under in the first two episodes. 

source: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/loki-kate-herron-interview

The symbolism doesn’t quite work, though -- Loki’s jacket seems to disappear randomly (we never see him shedding it, he just appears without it after his fall from the train) and it’s not obvious that this is a transformative moment for his character. And he continues getting dirtier throughout the show, even though his pompousness is long gone. By the time he ends up back in the (wrong) TVA at the end of the finale, his shirt is sweaty, torn, bloodied, and covered in grime. Even though he has supposedly transformed from a “villain” into a “hero,” he looks like something the cat dragged in and vomited on.

As for Sylvie, the loss of her horns and cloak are voluntary and triumphant -- she uses both to overcome attackers (she shoves the horns into someone’s face on the train and wraps her cloak around a guard in Sharoo), hence their loss represents a victory for her. Plus, unlike Loki, she retains her pompous attitude throughout the show, berating him for breaking the Timepad, scoffing at his plan to kill Alioth bcs she has a better idea, and telling him to shut up when they reach the Citadel at the End of Time. She’s got attitude and she’s not afraid to use it, horns or no horns.

Another thing I found strange: in episode 5, when Loki is trying to reach out to her in the blanket scene, she rejects his offer and instead asks him to conjure a new outfit for her. I fully expected that this foreshadowed a costume change for one or both of them in the finale, but it never happened. What was the point of that dialog? Maybe to underline that they were starting to diverge on their paths -- he wants to share his feelings with her and connect in a deeper way, whereas she’s just concerned with doing her own thing. Maybe her rejection of the blanket is meant to foreshadow her rejection of him in the finale, but it isn’t at all clear -- one of many cases in the show where the messaging is confusing and sloppy.

Stripping Loki of his Asgardian armor in episode 1 begins the process of breaking him down. By the end of his session with Mobius, he’s lost his clothing, his magic, his glorious purpose, his family, and most of his personality. The problem is, he continues to be beaten down throughout the show without being built up again. And this is incredibly dissatisfying for Loki fans.

Contrast with WandVision and TFATWS: Wanda and Sam both get major glow-ups to symbolize how their characters have changed. Wanda, despite going through some heavy losses, has attained a deeper understanding of who she is and how powerful she can be. Sam accepts his role as Captain America and comes to terms with the responsibility that he’s taking on. Bucky doesn’t get a new outfit (although he sports some nice clothes and let’s face it, Sebastian Stan looks good in just about anything), but he’s gained some measure of peace with his past and with Steve Roger’s retirement.

On a personal level, the first two Disney+ shows did good things for me. After watching WandaVision I actually cared about both Wanda and Vision, whereas before I was pretty lukewarm about their characters. (Vision, in particular, I regarded as a tragic waste of Paul Bettany). I empathized with both of them and came to believe in their romance, which had seemed kind of random in the movies. And after TFATWS, I felt better about Steve Rogers not being Captain America anymore; I believed that Sam was up for the job and I was ready to cheer him on. And I felt better about Bucky: he’s on a path to healing and has built a solid friendship with Sam. By contrast, after watching Loki I felt anxious and disappointed. His character was treated with disdain, his tragic backstory was ignored in favor of painting him as a megalomaniac narcissist, he was given an absolutely shit romantic partner (no hate to Sophia di Martino; she was fantastic; I’m talking about the character as it was written), and he just loses and loses and loses. Will he get better treatment in season 2, or will he continue to be the butt of jokes? Will he be allowed to truly heal from his traumatic past? Will he at least get a clean shirt? Time will tell ...

#loki #loki show #loki series #loki series critical #kate herron #sylvie #wandavision #tfatws #disney plus #the falcon and the winter soldier

[diamondcitydarlin]

all personal feeling/preference aside, I really feel like one of the bigger cruxes of the shipping debates is caused by the confusing tonal switch the show takes around the end of episode 3 (I know this has been talked about to death but this is just my stream of consciousness rn ok). The Loki series starts off establishing the dynamic between Loki and Mobius; apart from Mobius and Ravonna's 'friendship', some interactions with B-15, and some expository moments with other TVA folks (like Casey), there aren't really any other focal characters or dynamics and it stays this way for the first two, rather lengthy episodes. The audience is essentially being told 'these are the two main characters of this story and it will begin and end with them and their dynamic', so this is doubly unfair to people who 1) may not have liked the dynamic bc idk why you'd think after watching the first 2 eps that the show would be about anything else other than this and a character journey for Loki (and time travel), 2) people who did like the dynamic because after the 2nd episode, guess what, it's not really a thing after that. You'd have no way of knowing that from the FIRST TWO EPISODES of a 6-part series.

It's not that Sylvie is inherently a problem- at least not to me, I love the idea of everything she could have been and that's generally how I think of her- it's that the show takes an abrupt turn from not only focusing the heart of the story around a particular dynamic, but it also begins to prioritize Sylvie's pain and struggle at the expense of literally every other character, including the two the show led us to believe were going to be the most important to the narrative. The set up in episodes one and two for this series to be an opportunity for Loki to take a hard look at himself and grow as a character as a result of his new circumstances is just about completely forgotten because it seems enough to the writers that he fall in love with a female version of himself that he met 12 hours prior- character development speedrun!! Once Sylvie shows up, everything in the show seems to readjust to orbit solely around her and the pain only she is justified to have. Which, honestly, would be FINE if they had just established from the first episode that this would be the direction of the show (soidknowtostopwatchinginthefirstfiveseconds). Maybe call it 'Sylvie' instead or make her more clearly the MCU version of Enchantress and give her her own series like Agatha.

anyway it creates endless roundabout arguments of who goes best with whom because...there isn't really a good answer to that in terms of what the show gave us (see: trash). The Loki that later falls head over heels in love with Sylvie and forgets his previous 500 personalities entirely isn't really the same Loki that had scenes with Mobius prior, because Loki was rendered to caricature playdoh that molded around whoever his scene partner happened to be and whatever goals Michael had in mind at the time. There isn't anything very consistent about him in his own namesake show, there is no real arc or linear growth we can track just, 'now he's this' and 'oh but now he's this' when it's not really clear how the character got from point a to point b.

That's not to say I didn't want to know about Sylvie and her pain- of course I did. I would so much rather have heard about and seen flashbacks of Sylvie's time in the palace, what her Thor was like, how deeply she grieves Frigga and how it drives her anger etc etc, I just wanted to see it depicted with the same approach as Loki's was, in that she isn't immune from being criticized by other characters or allowing the audience room to interpret her behavior for themselves rather than manipulating the narrative to frame her as justified in everything. If B-15, Mobius aNd Loki are made to look critically at themselves, so should she so as to be a fully three dimensional part of the ensemble.

This is also why I will maintain for the rest of time the Loki / Sylvie dynamic would have been better served as something platonic / more frenemy sibling-like at least at first...because for as much as the show REALLY WANTS Loki to hate himself, for as many chances as the show takes to make him cringe at his own behavior and that of his variants, they really did nothing in the way of explaining why Sylvie is not only an exception to the Lokis-hate-Lokis rule, she fucking makes one fall in love with her in matter of hours. How? I mean, they had fun banter and there was a suggestion of them eventually getting along better but nothing that would convince me true love happened right there on apocalypse planet, that now suddenly every motive that Loki has is purely, selflessly in favor of Sylvie, a presumed Loki variant that he has already expressed intimidation towards for being more elusive than him. (What happened to him feeling threatened by her...? He just kinda forgot I guess?) The only explanation is that she enchanted him and we'll find that out in season 2, but I'm not holding my breath. It'd be a dope twist tho tbh and would explain so much.

so idk, Loki (tv show) sucked, and that's mostly because it had every opportunity to be something new, refreshing, a show for more marginalized members of the Marvel viewer base, hell maybe even profound, and it took none of them 🙃

#antisylki #lokius #-continues to rattle into the void about why this show sucked- #-even tho it deserves none of my breath or time- #this is what happens when shows with so much potential fall flat #there is nothing worse!! #im tyra banks #I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU HOW DARE YOU

[9worldstales]

MCU Loki: Why I fear they failed to deliver what they promised

At this point I’m kind of confused by who the “Loki” series is trying to reach or which is the goal/message they’re trying to pass along.

They had tried to intrigue assorted audience but, if you ask me, the series has often failed to deliver what it seemed to promise.

Of course I might be wrong. Or maybe I'm not seeing another type of audience the series aimed and managed to reach.

When the series started I wanted to keep a positive mentality and hope whatever seemed not to work would be fixed along the way or have a reason for existing that I just wasn't seeing because I hadn't seen the full story yet.

However, after 5 episodes I'm starting to lose hope the series will make a genuine effort to reach the fans at whom it seemed to aim.

PART 1 – “LOKI” IS NOT FOR THE OLD FANS WHO PRODUCED META SHOWING HOW HIS TRAUMA DAMAGED HIM

"I think it's the struggle with identity, who you are, who you want to be. I'm really drawn to characters who are fighting for control. Certainly you see that with Loki over the first 10 years of movies, he's out of control at pivotal parts of his life, he was adopted and everything and that manifest itself through anger and spite towards his family." [Loki's Struggle With His Identity Confirmed To Be A Focus Of His Disney+ Series]

What was it about Loki as a character that attracted you? He’s just fun, for one. He has a very playful sense of humor about him. I like how he never quite lets you know what he’s thinking. Beyond that, what I connect to about him is the same thing the legions of fans do, which is his humanity and his vulnerability. This is a guy who—yes, on the one hand, he was the prince of Asgard, seems like a nice life—but his father, in fact, killed his actual birth father, adopted him, lied to him about his heritage and parentage his entire life, he was forced to live in the shadow of his oafish older brother who was born to be king. He’s experienced a lot of trauma, and I think that what he’s looking for is just a little bit of control over his life. Which he feels like maybe he’s never quite had. That’s something I think we can all relate with. [From Loki to Doctor Strange and Star Wars, Michael Waldron Is the New Franchise Whisperer]

Let’s be honest, the audience for the “Loki” series is not really meant to be Marvel movies old time fans who enjoyed “Thor” and “The Avengers”, made countless Meta analyzing Loki’s behaviour and who wanted answers about what happened to Loki prior to “The Avengers” or wanted to see Loki’s family terrible dynamics be discussed, or at least to see explored the wrong dynamics of Loki’s interracial adoption (he’s taken away from his planet, the truth is hidden from him, his look is changed to disguise him as an Asgardian, nothing is done against the racial hate for the Jotuns at which Loki is exposed, even witnessing it from his brother) or talk how much in control of himself Loki was during “The Avengers” (okay, the web said the sceptre manipulated Loki, but what about acknowledging that in his own series? It doesn’t have to come from Loki who had no idea he was manipulated but someone could mention ‘think yourself lucky here the stones don’t work, they’ve the nasty tendency to manipulate people’).

The series has avoided digging into all that as much as they could.

Even when Loki talks with Sylvie, the most we get is a small big about how Frigga was awesome in his eyes and taught him magic, but this isn’t meant to explain any of the issues Loki had with his family, it just make Sylvie feel bad because she can’t remember her adoptive mother, as for the D.B. Cooper born out of a bet with Thor, yeah, fun but completely random. What’s meant to be the message about family dynamics here, that it was the bets between Thor and Loki that caused Loki to decide to conquer Earth? Or what about the Sif loop? Is it there to push on Loki the blame of his poor relation with Sif?

No, clearly not.

In regard to Loki the Frigga flashback is there to remark he had a loving and supportive family while the other two are there to have Loki admit he is ‘a mischievous scamp’, ‘a horrible person’ and ‘a narcissist’.

To put it in Classic Loki’s words: ‘Damn it! Animals, animals! We lie and we cheat, we cut the throat of every person who trusts us, and for what? Power. Glorious power. Glorious purpose! We cannot change. We're broken, every version of us. Forever. And whenever one of us dares try to fix themselves, they're sent here to die.’

In short it’s all Loki’s fault if he does bad, nothing happened to him that could have messed him up, he’s just a horrible person… however…

PART 2 – “LOKI” IS NOT FOR THE OLD AND NEW FANS WHO BELIEVED LOKI TO BE A DANGEROUS, EVIL, PSYCHOPATH VILLAIN EITHER

"Loki is an a**, and that makes my life as a writer, easy." ... "Due to the trauma in Loki’s life, I would even [accept a story] in which he is committed to being all bad." [Michael Waldron on Loki: He’s an a**. That makes things easy]

Considering the series is trying to pin SOLELY on Loki his wrongdoing, completely skipping the toxic way in which he was raised you might think they want to paint him as an evil, psychopath who was just born bad.

But no, that’s not the intention, we see it from the start.

Loki is given a quick briefing on how his beloved family loved him despite him hurting them, a briefing that contains false information which would work if we accept the briefing as manipulative but, at this point I’m not so sure that was the author’s intent. The Doylist purpose of the briefing is clearly to show the audience how Loki cares for his family, how he still has feelings, feels pain at the idea Frigga and Odin died and wish to make up with his brother.

It’s not just they loved him and did nothing wrong toward him, it’s also he who loved them and didn’t mean to harm them. That’s why we’re fed that damn discourse about Loki sending the Dark Elves to kill Frigga, because the series wants to remark that no, Loki didn’t want to kill his family, he loved them.

Tom Hiddleston used to say what Loki is came from a place of pain but the series didn’t explore that place of pain… it just gave him more pain and not just in episode 1. Episode 2 has him discovering Asgard is destroyed, episode 3 has him remembering Frigga, episode 4 shows him believing Sylvie die and watching Mobius being pruned. He doesn’t cry in Ep 5, episode 5 wants us to truly feel bad for Sylvie, not for him, but there’s a lot of bitterness from Classic Loki who commits a heroic suicide so you might say we get a sad Loki anyway.

And this also works as a shock to make him change his mind about his ‘glorious purposes’. Sorta, with Thor reminding us he’s not so bad and Loki explaining his behaviour as “I don't enjoy hurting people. I... I don't enjoy it. I do it because I have to, because I've had to. Because it's part of the illusion. It's the cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear.”

Plot-wise, this is completely useless.

The show will prove Sylvie is not Loki and has completely different motivations and Mobius, being an expert in Variants, should know.

What’s more why would Mobius care if Loki enjoys hurting people or not?

His goal is to capture Sylvie with Loki’s help. The most he should care about is how to keep Loki loyal to him, not if Loki has fun hurting people or not which, in fact, is a knowledge that won’t be used in his investigation.

No, this is here for the viewers, to tell them Loki isn’t a sadistic, evil villain, he’s someone weak who tries to scare others so as not to look weak. As Mobius will put in ‘a scared little boy, shivering in the cold’ who has an ‘insecure need for validation’.

What’s more?

The show will try his hardest to establish he’s not even competent.

Let’s talk of him as a fighter.

In the movies Loki is a competent fighter and side material establish he’s pretty strong, definitely much more than a human.

In “The Avengers” we see Captain America needs Iron Man’s help to beat him and, anyway, Loki’s plan was to be captured. Loki manages to walk away on his feet when Coulson hits him with that superspecial weapon and it’ll take him to be Hulk smashed after a fight with Thor and a meeting with an explosive arrow of Hawkeye before he can’t fight any longer.

This doesn’t happen in the “Loki” series.

Loki gets beaten up by various people in 4 episodes, preferably women (B-15, the people possessed by Sylvie, the guards on the train, Sif). You might say in episode 5 he’s not but actually Classic Loki is the one who gets swallowed by Alioth and our Loki instead survives because he has Sylvie supporting him as, on his own he couldn’t even distract Alioth.

Let’s talk of him as a wizard.

He can use magic, impressive magic but… it serves him mostly nothing. In the TVA his magic doesn’t work. Outside of it is mostly useless. It doesn’t help win fights. The Tempad he caused to disappear gets broken. To beat Alioth they needs enchantment, not his own magic. What’s more, when they’ve to go on the train his disguise wouldn’t have worked without Sylvie’s enchantment and, if this wasn’t enough, he got drunk, removed the disguise and wasn’t even able to make tickets appear.

Classic Loki too, with his impressive illusions is ultimately a distraction. Alioth tears easily through his illusions which aren’t even solid.

Let’s talk of him as a planner.

All Loki will accomplish is to escape from the Time theatre for a brief period in episode 1 and figure out Sylvie hides in apocalypses in episode 2. The rest of his plans fails or are not plan or are mocked over and not even put into practice.

Let’s talk about him as a manipulator with a silver tongue.

He can’t even persuade Mobius when he’s telling him the truth, Mobius dismisses it as a lie due to ‘cockroach's survival mechanism’.

And psychologically?

He’s just someone who crave attention because he’s a narcissist scared of being alone. Not a psychopath.

Loki is not meant to be a dangerous, evil, psychopath villain in this series, he’s a not serious man, a clown, a scared little boy in need of attention, a narcissist who needs to be loved.

Welcome to cartoon villain Loki, this Loki isn’t the Variant of “The Avengers” Loki, he’s the Variant of “Avengers Assemble”Loki… only he’s even less competent than him.

PART 3 – “LOKI” IS NOT EVEN HERE FOR GENERAL MARVEL MOVIE FANS

"That's a lot of Infinity Stones. That's true but they are useless there in the TVA, so I don't know. Is that gun loaded or not? We'll see..." [Loki Writer Comments On Whether TVA’s Infinity Stones Will Return In MCU]

“We had to create an insane institutional knowledge of how time travel would work within the TVA so the audience never has to think about it again. It was a lot of drawings of squiggly timelines.” Marvel already made its case for how time travel works in Avengers: Endgame, but that, Waldron points out, “is the way the Avengers understand it.” With a TV show it’s a little different. “I was always very acutely aware of the fact that there’s a week between each of our episodes and these fans are going to do exactly what I would do, which is pick this apart. We wanted to create a time-travel logic that was so airtight it could sustain over six hours. There’s some time-travel sci-fi concepts here that I’m eager for my Rick and Morty colleagues to see.” [How the Man Behind LokiIs Shaping Marvel’s Phase 4 and Beyond]

BC: The TVA is there to clean everybody up? MW: Yeah, Avengers: Endgame… that's how The Avengers understand time travel. 'Loki,' episode one, is how the TVA explains time travel to Loki and we're certainly building on what's come before us. [Loki: Michael Waldron On Gender Fluidity, Mephisto, Time Travel & More]

It’s true “Loki” is focusing on a new corner of the MCU but it interconnects very poorly with the movies before it.

Although Loki escaped with the Tesseract... it just dismisses completely the Infinity Stones.

Despite talking a lot about timelines and creating branching realities it waved away the whole plot of "Avengers: Endgame" as apparently supposed to happen even though it should have created branching realities.

We see Renslayer wave away how the Avengers went in the past causing the Tesseract to end up in Loki’s hands... and all the other things the Avengers did that affected the past goes unmentioned.

Bruce meeting the Ancient, Thor meeting his mother and taking away Thor’s hammer, Rocket being seen as he steals the reality stone from Jane, Tony stealing a suitcase and damaging the place in which the Tesseract was kept then meeting Howard Stark, 4 flacons of Pyn particles missing, an alarm given to the military bases, how Steve managed to bring back the sceptre if that timeline was pruned, how a timeline handled being without Thanos and Co as they went in the future or how they clearly didn’t bring the orb back the second they took it as Nebula remained unconscious there and nobody came and when she woke up Thanos could get her. It didn’t even explain why Steve remaining with Peggy didn’t change anything.

It's not that the audience has all explained... it's that they were told to dismiss it as 'meant to happen' and that was it.

What's more, the TVA apparently didn't list a finger to stop 2014 Thanos from going in the future and causing Tony Stark's death.

As if this wasn't enough, “Loki” just skips any possible connection with the movies, even hands Loki false information about them (he lead the Dark Elves to his mother when Loki had no idea the Kurse was a Dark Elf and they would have found her anyway as they were searching for the Aether which Malekith could sense, he’s born solely to cause pain and suffering and death, overlooks how he saved Jane twice or helped the Asgardian escape Hela) and never discusses them again.

Even with Classic Loki, who’s a Variant of “Avengers: Infinity War” Loki, they don’t talk about what happened after Loki’s supposed dead, apparently hinting it was better if he died, nor explain how Loki knew Thor survived.

PART 4 – “LOKI” IS NOT REALLY OFFERING A GOOD REPRESENTATION FOR FEMALES EVEN THOUGH IT CLEARLY AIMS AT FEMALE AUDIENCE

Let’s make a quick experiment.

Everyone, let’s name all the characters we remember which appeared in more than 1 episode of “Loki” for more than one minute.

We’ve, of course, Loki, Mobius, B-15, Renslayer, Sylvie, C-20 and Miss Minute.

5 females versus 2 males.

What’s more, females are not sexualized, they remains completely dressed, they’re clearly not there to attract male gazes, they’re represented as strong, dangerous, in control, something archived often by showing them beating males either physically or intellectually or in rank.

It seems promising. At first.

Is there someone who’s sexualized?

The “Loki” series takes care to offer us Tom Hiddleston naked.

So since there’s an abundance of females in the cast and Tom Hiddleston is shown naked is it aiming at a female audience?

Very, very likely but… but how’s then handled all this?

When Loki is seen undressed he’s not in a situation of power, like Thor who’s twice shows half naked in his movies but because he’s changing/washing and perfectly comfortable in showing his body and once in a situation which could be a male forbidden fantasy, to have many women massage your naked body, no, he’s shown as he’s powerless while being stripped by a machine. Clearly not a male power fantasy, more like a male nightmare.

And, in a totally not surprising way, pictures of this scene were spread by many female fans because it was aimed at them… though a part of them, was also honestly appalled at seeing this scene in contest, finding the forced stripping humiliating and degrading.

Sure, a naked Tom Hiddleston makes a nice eye-candy but this wasn’t how Loki’s many fans wanted to see Loki naked.

But let’s talk of female representation here, since the show seems to be interested in female audience… only who even though this was the representation women wanted doesn’t understand much of women representation in the first place.

Why?

For start because women here are all the same type of woman.

Strong fighters who’re in control and confident, with no real characterization beyond this to speak of despite the large amount of screen time.

Renslayer is an ex-hunter who can fight one on one against Sylvie and who clearly has the position of power she has because she was good as a hunter and shows her abilities in fighting after that Sylvie had beaten 2 guards at the same time. B-15 is introduced by beating Loki and is the commander of a squad. C-20 is another commander and, albeit possessed, can dispose of a part of her squad members.

Do I need to spend words on how Sylvie is depicted as this awesome fighter who has learnt to fight by herself, can keep at bay more than 1 Minuteman, can use a sword, has learnt enchantment on her own and is feared by all the TVA? Do I?

And it’s awesome to have women who are strong fighters in positions of command/power/control… but why women has to be represented as just that?

Even when they add a female as an one episode cameo, it's Sif, beating the hell out of Loki. And what about the Lady in Lamentis 1 who was too old to be strong but managed to blast away both Loki and Sylvie seeing through their deceptions?

Even the harmless Miss Minute can avoid being hit by Loki and gets she has to pretend to do researches to stall Sylvie and save Renslayer.

Women kick asses here… but that’s all they’re good for.

And so we get to Sylvie, who is the superior Loki Variant… because she’s female.

Kid Loki: You're different. Why? Loki: No, I'm not, you see? I'm the same, really. I'm the same as all of you. Have any of you met a woman Variant of us? Classic Loki: Sounds terrifying. Loki: Oh, she is. But that's kind of what's great about her. She's different. She's not trying to take over the TVA, she's trying to take it down. And she needs me. Now, you said Alioth is what keeps us here. You said it's a living thing. You said it's a shark. Well, if it lives, it dies. So I'm gonna kill the shark. I'm gonna kill Alioth, and I could use all the help I can get.

That’s what Loki preaches to his fellow Lokis who think a woman Loki would be terrific.

I mean, they’ve an alligator Loki, a POC Loki, but the one who has to be different is the female Loki. Because being female is a character trait.

Mobius: Okay. I feel like I'm always looking up to you. I like it. It's appropriate. [Ep 1]

Basically females in the “Loki” series are all representation of the Action girl trope and aren’t even different representation of said trope. I mean, “The Avengers” have 5 actions boy who’re clearly as different as they could be. Girls can be represented as different too, if they really aim at young audience they can take good old “Sailor Moon” as an example. 5 action girls who are strong and determinate AND DIFFERENT, more than just someone who kicks the adversary away.

And it’s not like they don’t know how to characterize people in a different way.

Mobius is an analyst who shows sympathetic traits toward the Variants and a certain level or intelligence. U-92 and D-90 are hunters who are shown to held Variants in little regard (U-92 wanted to attack the boy they found in the church, D-90 mistreated the scared people in the shelter). Casey is an harmless and naïve guy who had never seen a fish. The guy who made Loki sign the papers about what he said seemed emotionless but he clearly loved cats as not only he had one but on his cup there was also the image of a cat. Martin is clearly a bossy daddy’s son, who think too high of himself to the point he can’t respect rules. The boy in the church, despite thinking Sylvie was a demon, accepted and ate food she gave him and remained in the place despite the crime. He’s clearly more brave than he looked like but he’s also naïve as he easily trusted ‘the demon’ and Mobius.

What’s C-20 character trait when she gets described by Sylvie?

Sylvie: Yeah. She was just a regular person on Earth. Loki: A regular person? Sylvie: Loved margaritas.

She’s a regular person who loves margaritas. Liking a drink is not a character trait!

There’s a more diverse female representation in “Thor” than in “Loki”.

In “Thor” we’ve Frigga, queen of Asgard, loving mother and wife who’s powerless to erase Thor’s banishment. We’ve Sif, a dangerous and loyal warrior. We’ve Jane, the amazing scientist with a lot of enthusiasm. We’ve Darcy, who’s funny and who seems focused mostly on herself but who, when the city is attacked, worried to save all the animals at the pet store.

But maybe the one who gets the worst treatment is the supposed heroine, Sylvie, because the poor girl is turned into a Mary Sue.

In case someone isn’t familiar with the term:

“The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment. She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye colour, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing. She has an unusual and dramatic Back Story. The canon protagonists are all overwhelmed with admiration for her beauty, wit, courage and other virtues, and are quick to adopt her as one of their True Companions, even characters who are usually antisocial and untrusting; if any character doesn't love her, that character gets an extremely unsympathetic portrayal. She has some sort of especially close relationship to the author's favourite canon character — their love interest, illegitimate child, never-before-mentioned sister, etc. Other than that, the canon characters are quickly reduced to awestruck cheerleaders, watching from the sidelines as Mary Sue outstrips them in their areas of expertise and solves problems that have stymied them for the entire series.” [tvtropes.org]

So let’s see how she fits this checklist:

1) She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye colour: Sylvie painted her hair blonde even though the Lokis are supposed to be black haired

2) has a similarly cool and exotic name: She is the only Loki Variant who has changed her name from Loki to Sylvie.

3) She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting: Awesome at fighting she can enchant people, an ability the Lokis don’t posses, that she magically learnt on her own and that is necessary in the story. Also she figured out how a Tempad worked BEFOREseeing it in action.

4) She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing: No flaws, all her plans involve fighting and brute force is no substitute for diplomacy and guile, which could be a flaw… if it wasn’t for the fact that the series will prove Sylvie can plan just fine without using fighting and brute strength and also be successful at it.

5) She has an unusual and dramatic Back Story: She was taken by the TVA when she was younger than Kid Loki but managed to escape them and had to live alone and on the run till then.

6) The canon protagonists are all overwhelmed with admiration for her beauty, wit, courage and other virtues, and are quick to adopt her as one of their True Companions, even characters who are usually antisocial and untrusting: Loki, who has never loved anyone, falls for her, Mobius saves her and apologizes to her, B-15, who used to look down at Variants, basically asks her what should they do and is shown admiring her, the Lokis don’t criticize her plan, Classic Loki dies to save her, everyone views her as the superior Loki Variant.

7) if any character doesn't love her, that character gets an extremely unsympathetic portrayal: Renslayer, the hunter who has arrested her, is currently playing the part of the antagonist who’s fascist and believes in a murderous, lying cult.

8) She has some sort of especially close relationship to the author's favourite canon character — their love interest, illegitimate child, never-before-mentioned sister, etc.: She’s the Variant and love interest of the titular character.

9) Other than that, the canon characters are quickly reduced to awestruck cheerleaders, watching from the sidelines as Mary Sue outstrips them in their areas of expertise and solves problems that have stymied them for the entire series: Loki, the title character, has conveniently been turned into someone who’s a weak fighter and incapable of planning which Sylvie has to save by enchanting guards or giving him her sword or pruning herself or teaching him how to enchant and coming up with all the plans.

Now all she needs in order to be a perfect Mary Sue is to know how to sing well as Mary Sue usually do this as well, though I’m sure she can do it because Loki could so she surely can.

Sylvie is amazing, Loki himself said so:

Loki: No. We may lose. Sometimes painfully. But we don't die. We survive. I mean, you did. You were just a child when the TVA took you, but you nearly took down the organization that claims to govern the order of time. You did it on your own. You ran rings around them. You're amazing!

There’s nothing inherently wrong in having a new female character who’s competent, for whom the hero falls and who changes him… if all this is built around a solid plot.

Think at “Iron Man”.

Tony Stark is, to quote Tony Stark himself a “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist”.

It’s amazing, isn’t it? But the movie shows us why he’s that.

It spends time setting up his pedigree, how he inherited the money and intelligence from his father, how he was supported as he grew and studied becoming always a greater genius. Tony shows himself to be charming before seducing his first woman onscreen so that when he does it makes sense. His philanthropic activities are, at first, just mentioned but seems rooted in how his father was a hero who helped fighting Nazi and then they became his mission. He felt guilty he was a merchant of death and tried to make up for it.

Sylvie too could have a solid plot behind herself.

Instead than magically knowing what a TemPad does and how it works and managing to escape with it, she could have escaped with, let’s say, a hunter that discovered the truth and decided to rebel to the TVA or just had pity of her. Maybe another Mobius Variant who used to work at the TVA prior to Mobius and that, instead than an analyst was a hunter. She might have learnt fighting from him and then he too died and she was left alone.

Enchantment might have been an ability she might have learnt coming in contact with a mind stone. It could have been an occasion also to talk how mind stones can influence people negatively. Or it could have been taught to her by Frigga who, with a female daughter, decided to teach her a different type of magic than Loki.

Her past could have been explored more instead than being tragic for the sake of tragic. We might have seen her fall in love and either be betrayed or have to say goodbye to her loved one because that reality got pruned. We might have seen her being interested in males and females alike as she’s supposed to be interested in both.

She could have had discussions with Loki that weren’t just about Frigga or about how the TVA kidnapped her from Asgard, she escaped and from that point on she was always on the run, or about how love didn’t feel real, but more about how they were, how they felt, what hurt them and what made them happy, what they liked and what they disliked, their ideals and their fears, things that can built up a relation.

Loki basically fall for her because she’s on a mission for revenge instead than power and seems confident. That’s his reasoning.

She falls for Loki… because apparently he’s the person who spend time with her who praised her. That’s not a solid love story, that’s desperation.

SYlvie could have flaws, she could have learnt diplomacy or persuasion from Loki or could have something she lacks and Loki has so that they would complete each other.

And since the purpose was to have Sylvie and Loki fall for each other… they could have let Loki have characteristics that can motivate the exceptional heroine to fall in love for him PRIOR to him falling in love for her. He might be shown good at something, instead than just a clown.

Even if we say the real purpose of this series was to turn Sylvie into the protagonist, the heroine, a good Loki character was still needed to explain why this awesome girl would fall for him.

So okay, there will surely still be women who can see themselves in Sylvie and imagine they got Loki… and it’s not bad really… but I think we deserved more.

Long story short, yes, “Loki” has many females in its cast and this is meant to draw the female audience… but the representation is poor as almost all of the females have no character traits and Sylvie is just a Mary Sue with no realistic characterization.

A good female representation is diverse and solid. Women don't need to be born irrealistically perfect out of nothing to be good, they can inherith and grow and learn to be as such like any human being.

Last but not least…

PART 5 – DOES “LOKI” REALLY OFFERS REPRESENTATION TO THE LGBT COMMUNITY?

BC: There is a lot of talk on social media about Loki being gender fluid. Wouldn't that actually be a natural fit for the character? MW: Yeah, I guess as, with all questions pertaining to that stuff, I think those answers, truly, are best experienced in the watching of the show, as opposed to me trying to answer them. Because it's just watching it and the way that's addressed and everything will just be more fulfilling. BC: Why do you think it's important that Loki is gender fluid? MW: I think that Loki is a character that a lot of fans see representation in. People that haven't felt represented before, and they see themselves in Loki and everything. So we want to do justice to the character, to who the character is in the comics and in Norse mythology as well. And you also … you know you want folks to feel represented, and everything. That's why it's important. It always has been. It comes from everybody on the creative team. [Loki: Michael Waldron On Gender Fluidity, Mephisto, Time Travel & More]

The series hugely spread the info that this Loki would be fluid and Bisexual. The news were welcomed with delight and it’s awesome how the series didn’t hesitate to put it on paper.

Loki being fluid was written for everyone to see, and Loki having male and female interests was spelled out for everyone to hear.

IT’S A GREAT THING!

However…

It’s all we got.

It had no relevance into the plot whatsoever, it’s just a random info we’re given.

Him being fluid was on a paper along with his other data like eye colour and birth planet.

Him being interested in males and females seems to be put there just to imply he tried a large amount of people before deciding love didn’t feel real.

Assuming the other Lokis too were fluid, they actually found terrific the idea of a woman Loki in a not positive way. They weren’t interested or asking for clarifications about what Loki meant.

Loki’s bisexuality doesn’t even get a side story, them sending Fandral to beat Loki instead than Sif because Loki cheated on him or something. I’m not upset Loki ended up with a female, this is one of the possibilities of a Bisexual person. I’m upset that this was used merely to attract the audience but then wasn’t explored. They could have said Asgard was open minded with it, or disapproved it so Loki had to keep it hidden, or it could have been Sylvie who discussed some experience in that regard.

We were told over and over it was a show about identity. We expected it to be explored instead we were just told ‘ah, by the way, Loki is bisexual, let’s move on.’ And that was all.

Having representation from an important Marvel character is always important, especially considering the shortage of representation. But honestly I expected more.

PART 7 – TO SUM IT UP

Many of the people who worked in “Loki” are fantastic actors. They worked hard for this series, I can see they tried their best.

The premises for the “Loki” series are interesting.

We get a Loki who hadn’t experienced most of what happened in the movies yet, we make him confront with someone who knows his life, the one he lived and the one he was meant to live and we also make him confront with Variations of himself.

Loki has the Tesseract and the TVA has plenty of infinity stones, we could explore them.

The TVA itself have a fascist organization that dictates people’s lives and murders whoever tries to do differently, that goes so far as to brainwash the people working in it, which mistreats and belittle the Variants and establish a manipulative cult around the Time-Keeper with elements of police brutality which could be very actual.

Time travelling was the plot of "Avengers: Endgame" they could have tied the movie to the series, esplore the why some time travels were allowed and some weren't or their effects.

There were references to plenty of awesome comics they could take inspiration from.

But unless it redeems itself with the last episode… well, so far it’s failing to deliver what it promised due to a really poor plot which doesn’t give the characters a chance to be themselves or to be characterized as they’ve no real story nor real differences to speak of.

They’re given more time than a movie as they’re a series… but that’s no good excuse for wasting said time.

I’m still hoping the last episode will be spectacular, that it’ll manage to erase the messes of the other 5… but, as of now I’m disappointed.

I’ll just keep my fingers crossed and hope they’ll surprise me.

#mcu loki #loki #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #9 worlds study

[lokitvsource]

You came into the show with the idea of Loki clashing with the TVA already in place. How exactly does this kind of arrangement work at Marvel? Michael Waldron: There was a creative brief that was 20 pages or so that basically said: “We want to do something about Loki running up against the TVA. Here’s some different avenues that might be cool to explore.” It was really serving it up for writers as a jumping off point for us to put together our pitches. Then I went off and really worked on the idea of Loki being brought in to hunt another Loki, and that becoming the heart of the show, and the Loki/Sylvie relationship. The big thing that I did in my pitch — even as early as pitching it to Kevin [Feige] — I really walked through the six episodes, kind of similar to what they were. I knew I wanted Episode 3, for instance, to be a little bit of a Before Sunrise, with Loki and this character walking across this apocalyptic moon. But Marvel had the initial, probably the most important spark of genius, which was just Loki and the TVA.

Where did the idea of the variant being a female Loki come from? That was one of my ideas, that we then confirmed in the writers room. Yeah, we knew from the get-go that it was going to be Loki falling for another version of himself.

Why was that appealing to you? I love writing any romance; it’s fun. Especially, it hasn’t been done a ton in the MCU. There’s an obviously self-reflective quality to it. And a show that’s quite literally about self-love; it is Loki getting to see parts of himself. At the start of the show, he kind of hates himself. He assesses himself to Mobius as a villain. And then he meets Sylvie, and he sees her as someone on a heroic crusade. He sees the good in her, and is able to see the good in himself.

Mobius suggests that, of course, Loki fell in love with his own variant, because he’s a narcissist. Do you think he’d be capable of falling in love with someone who is not a version of himself? [Laughs] I don’t know if he didn’t fall in love with himself first. Maybe after that, but the first time he falls, maybe this is what it had to be.

What’s the key to telling a time travel story that takes advantage of the concept without confusing the audience? I think it’s doing a lot of work that the audience never sees. It’s really understanding the logic of this thing, building out the TVA as a real organization that actually exists in our minds. Our writers room, we had a TVA handbook, encyclopedia, what they do and why they do it, a glossary of terms. And then you want to only give the audience the absolute bare minimum to understand the story, and to just get swept up in the emotional stakes of everything. If the sci-fi of it all, if the time travel logic of this show did not hold up week to week, then that would have distracted from the emotional journeys of the characters. So I’m glad that even though everyone had to take their medicine a little bit, along with Loki, in episode one, I’m glad it didn’t distract from the story we were telling. And we had the benefit of Loki being the audience’s eyes in. The audience is learning as he is.

There’s a funny scene in Avengers: Endgame where the Avengers start arguing about exactly how time travel works in the MCU. How much did you have to study what other Marvel movies had done with the idea to make sure your rules were consistent? Fortunately, Endgame was the main one, and that’s how they understand it. The TVA is an organization that understands time travel on a deeper level, probably more comprehensively than the Avengers do in Endgame. We wanted to make sure we were staying true to any rules that they laid out, but sort of establishing our own rules. It’s a time travel show. What was I thinking? A movie’s one thing, but a show is hard.

How many Loki variants did you have on the writers room whiteboard at various points? Hundreds. So many different Lokis. There was one Loki, actually maybe it was a version of Mobius that took off his glasses, and he just had really tiny eagle eyes, like he could see everything. There was stuff like that all over the white board. Tom Kauffman, who wrote that fifth episode, he’s an amazing comedy writer, and was on the first three seasons of Rick and Morty. His first draft of that episode was just bananas.

Was there a variant, or a crazy idea in general, that you really loved but couldn’t ultimately do? There was so much different stuff that we wanted to do in the Void. But the truth is, I don’t want to say any of it, because you never know. The ideas that I want to do the most may pop up elsewhere.

Okay, so let’s stick with a variant we did see. Was Alligator Loki actually a Loki, or just an alligator that happened to be wearing a Loki’s crown? A magician can’t reveal his tricks, man. That’s the great debate. Let it rage.

What was Alligator Loki‘s origin story on your side of things? Who pitched him and how was that initially received? That was maybe my very first meeting with the producers at Marvel, Kevin Wright and Stephen Broussard, talking about the show, and me saying, “When we’re doing this, you can encounter lots of different Lokis. You could have an alligator Loki. Why? Cause he’s green.” And us all laughing about how stupid that was. I think I made the point that it’s that energy of what we can do with the show. We can have something like that, but let’s play it straight. Alligator Loki, you get a laugh out of it, but by and large you try and play it straight. That was the fun tonal balance that we tried to strike in the show.

There’s been some conflicting information out there about whether the big bad was originally just going to be He Who Remains, who’s a different comics character altogether from Kang, and whether the casting of Jonathan Majors changed the plan. From your point of view, what happened? The character was always written as a version of Kang, as early as the first draft of the script, we knew in the writers room, relatively early on. He Who Remains, that’s the guy behind the curtain with the TVA, and we saw an opportunity to fuse that mythology with the Immortus mythology. And that was just really compelling. It was a way to elevate, it just felt right for Loki, because Loki was there in the first Avengers, he’s the one who brought the Avengers together, and here is directly related to the exploding of the multiverse, this event that will drive the events of Phase Four. Certainly, when Jonathan came in, it allowed us to step on the gas of just how eccentric and charismatic this character could be. I was inspired in the writing of He Who Remains by Tom Cruise’s character in Magnolia, trying to give it that Frank TJ Mackey energy a little bit. He captures that and then elevates it to something else that’s different and weird.

You just said how important the multiverse is going to be to Phase Four of the MCU. How challenging is it to have to set up this big thing for the larger Marvel endeavor while also serving the needs of the particular story you’re telling on this show? It’s a challenge in the sense that it’s all a relay race, and you’ve got the baton on this thing, and you want to do a great job. The name of the game over at Marvel is with each movie or TV show, make it the best it can possibly be. And they’re really supportive of that, and trust that it will organically fit into the larger blueprint of everything. We were excited about introducing a version of Kang, because yeah, to introduce this new big bad was cool for our show. I was aware, and cautious, of the thing I read in your review, that it might not be the most sound storytelling to introduce a new character at the very end that we’ve never seen before as the big bad of this thing. Obviously, we had the benefit that people know who Kang is, and there’s a meta thing where a portion of the audience knows Jonathan Majors is going to be playing Kang in Phase Four. But the finale was only ever going to work if He Who Remains, in a compelling way, serviced the Loki and Sylvie emotional story. That was the most important job that that character did in the finale: he laid out a very compelling conflict that ultimately drove the two of them apart.

There has also been some confusion as to exactly when you knew that there would be a second season, as opposed to you just making a limited series. Initially, in the writers room, we were not operating as though there would be a second season. And the whole way through was, this should be a story that should stand on its own. I referenced The Leftovers and Mad Men all the time. I think about those seasons, they pushed the overall stories forward, but you can pull any one of those seasons and look at it on its own as an individual story. I wanted that to be the case here, whether we did a second season or not. I think we always felt that we would want to propel Loki forward into the MCU after the conclusion of our season. The only question was, would that be in an appearance in a movie, or would that be in a second season. And it was only over the course of development that the stars aligned to make a second season.

But that end scene, where Mobius no longer recognizes Loki and the TVA is filled with Kang statues, wouldn’t have been a satisfying conclusion to a limited series. That is an ending that only works if there’s going to be a second season. So there is another conclusion to the story that I wrote that exists out there, that I guess is just for me. My own little play, that I perform with my action figures.

What was Sylvie’s original plan, before Loki hijacked her to that dying moon? It was to empty out the TVA. The entire bombing of the Sacred Timeline was to create a diversion. She’s not going to be able to create a multiverse from doing that. Ultimately, the TVA has the manpower to get out and take care of these events, but they’re going to have to scramble a lot of their minutemen teams, and it leaves the Time-Keepers significantly less guarded than they would have been otherwise. That was her plan.

You didn’t come into this as a big comic book nerd. So was there someone on staff who could tell you, “Well, there’s this giant cloud called Alioth that eats time,” or, “Well, one time Thanos had a helicopter,” or maybe someone assigned to you by Marvel? I’m constantly reading the comics but trying to not be so beholden to the and do our own thing. I charged our writers assistant, Ryan Kohler, with, “You’ve got to become the authority on all things TVA, all things Kang, and all that.” So he and my assistant, Sophie Miller, became a support staff who read a ton of these comics and became a wealth of knowledge for the writers to turn to. And then the Marvel producers, obviously are very well versed in the comics. It was Kevin Wright who came in one day and was like somebody throwing down a blueprint in an asteroid movie, going, “Alioth! Look at this!” And we were like, “Ohmigod, this is perfect!” The best thing about working on these comic book shows is that if it’s from the comics, it doesn’t matter how much of a deus ex machina it is, it’s just cool, like, “I can’t believe you pulled that from the comics.” Alioth, that was a big breakthrough that unlocked the last two episodes for us.

That is not a famous comic book that introduces Alioth. It’s an obscure Nineties miniseries, with really ugly art. But you look at it and see what it could be. You say, “If we do this, and it feels like Twister, it’s going to be really cool.”

Was Mobius’ love of jet skis there simply to illustrate his character, or did you have a grander idea in mind? I will come clean: I’m a jet ski guy. I’ve spent a good amount of time on jet skis in my day. I used to tow a jet ski to a lake and ride it in college. So it probably was me. Loki, I was just becoming a steward of that character. Mobius was a character I really felt I got to create from nothing. There’s not really anything to that character in the comics. So bits and pieces of me found their way in. I just think there’s something so poignant — here Mobius is, a guy who is literally fighting to preserve all of time in the multiverse, and yet his interests are maybe the most humble, human, terrestrial, unremarkable thing you can think of. Just a jet ski. And when you’ve got Owen Wilson playing him and it’s just that much better.

Will you be back in some capacity for Season Two? [long pause] Time will tell.

‘Loki’ Head Writer Michael Waldron — and ‘Rick and Morty’ Alum — on MCU, ‘Heels’ and More

#loki tv #loki series #michael waldron #interview

[strangerthings4theories]

S3 Is Billy’s Superhero Origin Story - Not The END Of His Story

If you’ve been following my meta, you’ll know I’m in the middle of a discussion of Billy as the mythological “god-king” who dies and lives again. Well, in my next post, I was going to compare him to the three brother-gods of Greek mythology (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades). However, I need to bring up an important point first.

Stranger Things has already raised Billy to “god” status. 

The show is about superheroes - El, Kali, and others like them - facing off against the forces of evil. And superheroes are often modern-day gods with god-like powers. A few are lifted directly from ancient mythology (Thor, Loki, etc). Sometimes, if they aren’t full-fledged gods, they have gods for parents, making them demigods (such as Wonder Woman, who’s the daughter of Zeus in the recent movies).

In S3, Billy becomes a superhero. By becoming a superhero, he becomes a demigod. And, as I’ll explain, the Duffers have already tied that to his resurrection.

>>Explore the definition of “demigod,” and we run headlong into Billy.

When we look up “demigod,” Google comes back with this:

a being with partial or lesser divine status, such as a minor deity, the offspring of a god and a mortal, or a mortal raised to divine rank.

If we look up lists of demigods in mythology, we get some interesting results, like the Greco-Roman Hercules. Hercules was known for his incredible strength (!!), as well for performing The Twelve Labors of Hercules. Among these are slaying the Nine-Headed Hydra and the Nemean Lion.

Oh look it’s Hercules vs. the Hydra/Lion. I’d say Lion because killing it was the first labor of Hercules. Also the Mind Flayer doesn’t have nine symbolic heads yet, that’s probably coming in a future season

Because of his association with the Nemean Lion, Hercules is often depicted in ancient art as wearing a lion skin:

In Roman works of art and in Renaissance and post-Renaissance art, Hercules can be identified by his attributes, the lion skin and the gnarled club (his favorite weapon); in mosaic he is shown tanned bronze...

Gosh. Where have I seen that before?

Damn. A quick Google search about demigods, and we’re already knocking on Billy’s door. I haven’t even talked about him as a superhero yet ;_;

>>Superheroes could be considered modern demigods.

Like I said in the intro, superheroes often embody the “demigod” archetype. They’re gifted with powers that put them a cut above the average human. Some even have explicitly divine origins. This gives them a striking similarity to the demigods of old myths, such as Perseus, Achilles, and our favorite lion-killer, Hercules.

Isn’t it weird how Billy looks like Perseus and Achilles and Hercules though

>>Billy’s S3 storyline mimics a superhero origin story.

Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes Spiderman. Eddie Brock is possessed by an alien symbiote and becomes Venom. Billy Hargrove is possessed by an interdimensional monster and becomes... well, Billy Hargrove, but with the added bonuses of superstrength and super-healing.

One article I read has a line about Eddie Brock in The Amazing Spider-Man (1988) that I find especially eerie:

The symbiote enhances Brock's strength and endurance, and since the guy was already addicted to working out, the result is almost equal to Spider-Man in raw power.

Hi there, Billy. How ya’ doin today.

The same article points out that, over his 40-year history, Venom has slowly morphed from a villain to an anti-hero. Look up the definition of anti-hero and you get this:

The term anti-hero has been provided to those who act as superheroes for some time and villains for another. It is not a surprise that fans usually like anti-heroes more due to their rebellious nature...

Oh look. It’s Billy’s trajectory from S2 (villain) to S3 (a villain who becomes an anti-hero). But I’m sure that’s a total accident. Wanna bet he’ll go from “anti-hero” to straight up “hero” in future seasons

But it gets better...

>>The Duffers have already told us S3 is Billy’s superhero origin (!) story.

In the first scene of S3 Ep 4, Max and El are hanging out in Max’s room. Max shows El two comic books and asks, “Which one?” 

I don’t know about you, but that bit always gave me a weird vibe. It’s just one of those things that seems... purposeful... like it has a hidden meaning. So, following my instincts, I took a closer look at the scene.

Y’all.

Y’all.

Look at the comic books.

On one side, we have Wonder Woman. On the other side, we have the Green Lantern. Framed this way, they’re presented to us as dueling opposites. or a superhero dream team, but that’s for future seasons

Wonder Woman is El. The scene tells us this by having El ask about her. She’s drawn to her, sees herself in her.

The Green Lantern is Billy. In S3, he’s the opposing force to El’s Wonder Woman. Also, Green Lanterns draw their power from the aid of magic rings.

Huh. Interesting.

If you need more evidence, just juxtapose the comic book shot with this shot from Heather’s house:

Would you look at that. Max is in the middle, with Wonder Woman El on the left and the Green Lantern Billy on the right.

Furthermore, the Heather’s house shot happens at the end of Ep 3. In the very first scene of the next episode, we get the comic book shot. The juxtaposition in time suggests they’re linked.

Now look again at the Green Lantern comic book.

Origin issue.

Origin issue.

ORIGIN. ISSUE.

Are y’all seeing this.

Not only is Billy a superhero on par with El, he’s also coming back to kick ass. S3 was his origin story, not the end of it. The Duffers are telling us so.

The death and resurrection plotline shouldn’t surprise us. Superheroes die and come back all the time. Just check out this list of superheroes who have done exactly that. Batman, Captain America, Spiderman, Superman... seriously, it’s old hat by now. (The list notably includes Jean Grey, who I consider El’s X-Men alter ego. Kinda makes me think she’s gonna die and rise again too)

It makes sense that superheroes can cheat death. Like I explained, superheroes are basically demigods - humans who are more than human. 

What better way to show you’re more than human... than to beat the one enemy common to all humans everywhere?

»»————-　✼　————-««

P.S. Billy’s superhero status probably explains why he gets an El-and-Kali-style nosebleed in S2 ;) FORESHADOWING, BABY

Oh and I love the idea of Superhero Billy SO MUCH that I made a music video about it...

»»————-　✼　————-««

The “Billy Is Alive” Meta Series

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove is alive #stranger things #stranger things theory #stranger things analysis #film analysis #superheroes #stranger things 2 #stranger things 3 #stranger things 4 #ohbillyboy #billy is alive meta #el hopper #eleven hopper #stranger things meta #billy hargrove meta #billy hargrove is a greek god #i said what i said