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i-yap · 2 days

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MY FAVORITE IS DICK GRAYSON FORVER WILL BE DICK GRAYSON AND HERE IS WHY

DICK GRAYSON X Y/N ( FRUSTRATED ME EDITION)

- first of all , he is the hottest character in dc (literally the comics have written this line by line)

- he is the real one with communication issues. You think jason struggles with that? NO jason uses any chance to tell me people how much he suffered. But dick? He wears a smile, he hides everything he is feeling

- the only person who gets to see the real him is YOU. The stress, the pressure, the mommy daddy issues...cmon. and bruce prolly was the worst at raising grayson and learned from his mistakes for the rest

- dick is someone who tries to be happy. Who tries to have a normal life. Who tries not to let his issues affect him . But they do which is why he has so many fucked up relationships. But when he meets you he wants to keep you, he needs to keep you with him. So he tries yet again to open up, fix his issues, love you the way you truly deserve.

- AND let us all not pretend we are all not stressed asf in life. He is so joyful and bright and will almost never dull the mood. Car karaoke ? Done. Skinny dipping in some random lake you drive by? His suggestion. Amusement parks? He is excitedly pulling you to all the rides and WILL 100% WIN YOU THE BIGGEST TEDDY

- he is deep, he js in touch with his feelings and he knows how to take care of you. Idk abt u guys but I have issues . I want a man who gives you those words of affirmation, who makes it super obvious he likes you.

- he needs you just as much as jason or tim or damian do. He also never had genuine love, he also has been a soldier a leader the person responsible all his life. He needs yo hold you, he needs that peace and quiet away from everything he has to deal with . He wants someone he can come home to and just show how drained he is .

- he is so kind to the world but he WILL BURN IT FOR YOU . I refuse to believe any other opinion on this. No matter how big a hero this guy is...remember how he killed joker for jason? Someone he said he hated? Broke the no kill rule?? Yea imagine what he will do for you.

- and how dare u suggest he isn't jealous/ possessive. He gets so cranky..not insecure and u don't have to coddle him and avoid all other men ...but u do have to give him extra kisses

-HE IS THE REAL GREEN FLAG fuck the whole " a hero will sacrifice you for the world but a villain will burn the world for you" NOT HIM NO HE WILL KILL EVERYONE OKAY cuz how date anyone suggest taking you away from him after everything he has done for the world. You are his reward and you better remember that.

- slow waltzing in the kitchen while he sings you his favorite love song, giggling in a pretty cafe while sharing a piece of cake( he is feeding you the whole thing and will kiss you when u Ask why he isn't eating any himself) , getting tipsy and walking back home all sweet and drunk and in love. He is adventurous and wants to experience everything With you.

- best part, everyone around u will love him. I'm sorry but I like it when my bf is liked by the old ladies and my parents and my boss. He will make you the power couple, even if you aren't as "powerful". He is your biggest loudest supporter always. Always introducing you to ppl as if you cured world hunger , telling everyone just how smart and kind you are taking any opportunity to talk about You. And dancing with him at galas makes you feel like a princess

- he will get the best gifts, say the sweetest things, be the most supportive kind eyes only for you guy once he genuinely falls in love.

I love jason a lot too, and tim and bruce too. Like yes I daydream about all of them But I just hate how underrated my boy here is.

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billybatsonbrainrot · 7 hours

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Has anyone asked about “gods body swap” yet?

Hello! :) You're the first to ask about "Gods Body Swap"! It's an identity reveal fic.

It starts off with the Justice League fighting a villain with magical psychic powers. The villain, about to lose, decides to body swap the whole justice league. However, Captain Marvel always had mental barriers strong enough to cause headaches to anyone who tried to enter his mind. Or at least Billy's, because their power goes past Billy and onto the six gods that gave him his powers.

Now the gods have been body swapped with the justice league and Billy stays the same. But the justice league is now in his head where the gods are supposed to be, and everyone is freaking out. The gods and Billy are able to defeat the villain because their powers transferred over with their consciousness. They find out after the fight that the effects will last a week at max.

This of course, causes more freaking out among the league. They didn't even know Cap had literal voices inside his head. And they belonged to gods!? They're not even in anyone's physical body, just floating around Cap like ghosts.

At least there's some good news. The gods, since they're gods and weren't physically here just more of an astral mind projection that come and go as they please, can actually go back into their original bodies. None of the members have to worry their reputation or relationships in their personal life being ruined. And Billy won't have to worry about looking after them.

They leave the JL members' bodies in the med bay.

The Justice League, however, are not gods. Something is blocking them from entering their own bodies.

Which means Billy is left with:

Batman as Soloman

Superman as Hercules

Green Arrow as Atlas

Wonder Woman as Zeus

Green Lantern as Achilles

Flash as Mercury

And Billy wants to find a way to help them right away. But first-...well first he has to go home and have dinner because he promised Rosa he'll be home by 7. And he actually has a test tomorrow, so he can't miss school. He's actually busy the whole week, so finding a faster way won't even matter in the end.

The justice league is left with no other choice but to follow him around as spectators, only allowed to make commentary.

At first, they were intrigued when Cap said he had a personal life to get back to. Now they can do nothing as they come to the horrifying realization that their coworker is a legitimate child. And then they find out that his siblings are too.

They are also interested in Billy's school life. Who said high school drama isn't entertaining? At least his grades aren't slipping.

#billy batson #shazam #ask game #justice league

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conceptofjoy · 2 days

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:V... im going through all of callie's parts through the linear viewport andddd.. well im at where she's given roxy her drawing of her trickster self. the muse class is often construed as a class for a character and not something that's more of a fourth wall narrative influence..

^this is in the speculation part of the wikia for muse and lord.

imo part of the reason why they're even both time and space bound in the first place is their roles in the story. throughout the story's timeline (always being here) LE exudes narrative influence through people who follow him or i guess are him. doc scratch's a major example, who is a co-author during his appearance. alt calliope on the other hand is revealed in the instant she becomes LE's downfall.

her impact in the story despite being in a narratively short amount of time is verrrry important. it goes doubly for how she's in the furthest ring and time does not factor in in a meaningful way for her. where she is, her defeat of lord english isn't rlly a when but a where. next to the green sun + where there's enough cracks in the fabric of reality. link

the term muse is being read within the context of the story but not about the story itself. caliborn commands the plot points of homestuck and (alt)calliope was created to be the end. the author worked backwards from the concept of the muse and her ties to the main villain into creating the finale. something like that.

link. calliope's absolved of her narrative ending duties slash classpect and gets integrated into the cast of characters directly after.

also circling all the way back to the trickster drawing, someone other than hussie drew roxy's trickster design and integrated it using calliope as the medium. calliope canonly only knows what she looks like because she could see the trickster arc from roxy's intoxication leading her void powers to work less. link

this is like one of the few times she was right with her theories because the source (view port) she was pulling from was objective truth lol. anyways, she's painted as a fan of the kids. like in the way a fan views their fav characters. hussie was inspired by a fan drawing of one of their characters and implemented it. the inspiration calliope brings is slightly different than her alt self but yeah. they both work in tandem basically.

#d talks

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whumppromptoftheday · 8 hours

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"this isn't how it's supposed to end," hero says, crawling toward villain's feet

villain steps on them, "this is always how it was going to end"

#whumppromptoftheday #whump #whump prompt #whumpee #whump idea #whumper #hero whump #hero whumpee #villain whumper

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that-basic-simp · 21 hours

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That's My Wife

Star and Stripe X Fem!Reader CW: N/A WC: 1.1k+

"You have everything?" I asked Cassie as she was getting ready for the celebration.

"I believe I do," she said.

"I don't know why they're doing this," I chuckled, shaking my head.

"A parade isn't too bad," she said.

"I get that, but it's not like you haven't taken down most of the bad guys here."

"Well that, and also it's to commemorate those we have lost," she said.

"That is true. I just know they're going to make it a big deal."

"The people there are going to make a big deal about it because I'm there. I honestly don't want to be," she let out a sigh. "I just want to sit with you in the crowd and watch the parade go by."

"I know. But I will be out there cheering you on," I smiled, a thought popping into my head.

A few friends of mine have done this prank on their significant other. It was a harmless prank, but it was basically they call their significant other either their husband or their wife to someone else. And their significant other is thrown off by it. I've been wanting to try this out on Cassie, but I haven't found the right time. Maybe this parade isn't the best time since the media would be all over us, considering that they hardly know about us being together. Not even my friends know about our relationship. But maybe with all the commotion, no one would hear me beside her.

"I've gotta run, I'll see you out there. I'll be looking for you," she said and pecked my lips.

"See you out there, Cass. I love you."

"I love you, too," she opened the apartment door and closed it behind her.

Once I had finished getting ready, I left the apartment and my friends were waiting for me with their significant others. Of course I felt left out whenever we'd go out since I couldn't bring Cassie with me. But Cassie didn't want anything bad happening to me if others knew, but I could trust my friends with that information. We walked down a few blocks since the parade was being held close by where we lived.

"We saw Star and Stripe on our way here!" my friend smiled at me, practically bouncing on her feet.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. I had no idea she was going to be in the parade."

"It's the talk of the country," her significant other said. "Why wouldn't they have her there?"

"Maybe to ensure no one attacks," my other friend said.

"Or they're trying to draw out a villain that's been hard to track right now."

"Either way, it's always nice to see Star and Stripe. She's always active with the community," I said. "As much as she can be."

"Since when do you know about that?" the first friend asked, poking my arm.

"I just read up on all the things she has done."

"I sense a fangirl," the second friend said.

"So what if I'm a fangirl of her?" I chuckled. "I'll be her biggest fan yet."

I technically was, since I literally knew everything about her since she shares a lot with me. Even when she doesn't, I still know what is going on with her. We reached one of the roads of where the parade was going to be taking place today. It was more on the back end of the parade, which I didn't mind. That just meant Cassie could come home earlier than if this was the beginning section.

"We have some time to kill," the first friend said.

"And there's not many people here," said their significant other.

"We get some nice seats then!" the second friend said.

"Front row, too," I said, leaning against the road barrier they had set up the night before.

As we were waiting, more and more people started to show up. They were watching the live stream of the parade since they were unable to head towards the beginning. We were watching it on my phone and my friends were always pointing out Cassie. I want to say they knew, but I didn't want to ask. Right in the middle of the live stream, I get a text notification from Cassie. My heart dropped as my friends looked at the name. I had put her in as Cass with a little heart emoji next to her name.

"Who is Cass?" the first friend asked.

"N-No one," I swiped up on the notification, making it disappear.

"Hey, look, they're rounding the corner!" a watcher nearby yelled.

My friends turned to look to find they were indeed rounding the corner. I turned off the live stream and went to see what Cassie had texted me.

"I used New Order so I am able to hear what you say. I'll see you soon. ;)"

I smiled and texted her back.

"See you soon."

"There she is! Star!" the crowd cheered as the car she was in passed by. She was in a convertible with Ethan driving her. She sat on the back seats and were waving to the people.

Since there was a lot of commotion and no one could really hear me, or they weren't paying attention, I locked eyes with her and smiled.

"That's my wife right there!" I said loud enough to if someone was listening, they would hear me.

Her face dropped, a shocked expression came across before blush crawled onto her face. She smiled warmly at me, blowing a kiss in my general direction before winking. That got the crowd going. After the parade had ended, my friends and I headed back to my apartment.

"Did you see what happened to Star?" one of them asked.

"What happened?" I asked, turning to face them.

"Her expression changed. Maybe someone complimented her when she was driving by or something," another said.

"It's the talk of the media right now. It's going viral," said a third.

They handed their phone around. It was true. Someone had caught it on camera and they were asking what just happened. I smiled to myself, knowing it was I who caused that. Maybe it wasn't for the best, but I know Cassie enjoyed it. I waved goodbye to them and headed inside and found Cassie was already back before I was.

"Cass?"

She came up behind me and picked me up, sweeping me off my feet.

"Cassie!" I squealed, which turned into laughter as I pressed my forehead against hers, a hand resting on her cheek while the other was on her shoulder.

"Hey, love," she smiled.

"You looked great out there," I said, caressing her cheek.

"I heard what you said."

"I know. Why do you think I said it?" I giggled.

"One day, Y/N," she said, pressing a quick peck to my lips. "One day it will happen and you can finally say that Star and Stripe is yours and no one else's."

I smiled, "So we'll finally come out?"

"If you're ok with that. I don't think we need to hide anymore. I don't want to."

I nodded my head, "Besides, I want to show off my wife to my friends."

She shuddered slightly, "I'm totally marrying you now."

I chuckled as we headed towards the bedroom. I had an inkling of an idea of what was going to happen next.

#star and stripe x reader #star and stripe #cathleen bate x reader #cathleen bate #my hero academia #mha #boku no hero academia

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youling-the-ghost · 1 day

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Villain Deku AUs have always confused me because like...did we watch the same show?? Midoriya's heroism is so strong that it allowed him to:

inherit One For All from All Might

pass the UA exam (with the help of his new quirk)

save not one, not two, but three children from deadly villains AND inspired them in different ways

and probably more that I'm forgetting.

I'm not saying that Villain Deku is a bad idea or anything, I really like the concept! I just find it weird how some people say things like "the timeline where Deku is a villain instead of a hero is not far from the canon one" because there's not a single ounce of villain-ness in canon Midoriya's body.

Another main problem that I have with most of these AUs is how they almost always paint All Might as the bad guy: "Oh, he's the one that caused Midoriya to spiral into villainy" and "If All Might had been nicer to him, he wouldn't have turned to villainy" are both sentiments that I've commonly seen before which again, confuses me.

Most of this hinges on the whole "you can't be a hero without a quirk" thing, which honestly? It makes sense to a certain extent. Remember, All Might was quirkless too. He knows how helpless quirkless people are in the world. Midoriya can train until he's on par with UA students without a quirk, sure, but that doesn't erase the social ostracisation that all quirkless people experience. The truth is that the public severely looks down on quirkless people, and that's not something that a single passionate middle school student can fix. Sure, Toshinori could've phrased himself better, but what he was trying to say isn't false; it is very difficult, maybe even impossible for quirkless people to become Pro Heroes given the current system.

#izuku midoriya #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha #bnha #people want midoriya to be an edgy character so bad and it's so strange to me #like we have so many edgy characters already #what's the point of making midoriya an edgy villain?#rant-ish #I HATE it when fanfics demonise toshinori/inko just so midoriya can be comforted by other characters #bonus points in the hate category if the comforter in the situation is bakugou or a league of villains member #(I do not like katsuki bakugou)

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tobiasdrake · 3 days

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I've been pretty down on the anime today so in the interest of fairness, I just want to say that there are some amazing filler episodes out there. One of my favorites is Z episode 174: "Goku's Perplexing Problem!? The Dragon Balls are Taken Back!"

This episode takes place during Goku's hunt for the Dragon Balls following Dende remaking them in the Cell arc. Perfect place to add in some shenanigans episodes to fill time.

This is Vodka. He is a fucking guy. XD He's a filler character Toei originally created for the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, where he was Pamput's shady manager. He returns here with a master plan: Use the Dragon Balls to outlast Cell and create a mafia empire.

To that end, he's hired the assassin Taopaipai, who stumbled on two Dragon Balls and tried to pass them off like he has any idea how to find the rest.

Conveniently, those two Balls act as a magnet to attract a solution.

Vodka tries his hardest to do his best Evil Emperor WELCOME TO MY LAIR shtick but it just. It just isn't happening. Goku is not conducive to dramatic menace even from the best of villains. Ask Frieza.

And his hired killer keeps upstaging him when he's trying to look cool.

This is just fun. They even animated a lip quiver and voiced a guttural whining sound. Vodka's such a great filler villain. XD

For his part, Taopaipai doesn't recognize Goku because of his Super Saiyan blondness but once he knows, he realizes pretty quickly that he wants no part of this.

Realizing that hahahahaha absolutely nothing good can come of trying to fight Goku, Taopaipai quickly switches gears. Instead of fighting Goku, he presents him with a game.

If Goku solves the puzzle rings, he gets to leave with the two Dragon Balls that they've collected. But if he fails, he has to turn over his Dragon Balls. A fair wager.

Oh, and so that Goku can get comfortable, they bring him a chair and Taopaipai takes his coat.

His coat... holding his Dragon Balls and the Dragon Radar. Taopaipai and Vodka then leave Goku to concentrate on his puzzle in privacy.

Taking their two Dragon Balls with them. This is such a clever ruse. While Goku sits here, attention focused on these complicated little ring games, Vodka and Taopaipai snatch up all three Balls and fucking bail. By the time Goku realizes they're gone, it will be too late.

I love that big triumphant grin on his face as he basically says, "And now we piss ourselves and run like hell."

It takes Goku the better part of the night to crack these puzzle rings.

But, just before dawn, he's able to solve the very last one.

Not that it matters because this was all a distraction, right? The Dragon Balls are long gone.

But Goku doesn't know this was a trick. In fact, Goku never finds out that this was a trick. Once he's finished, he goes off to report his success.

And then takes his Dragon Balls and leaves! Goku won this entirely fair and not at all rigged wager! Good for him!

This is fucking brilliant. This is where Toei really excels: Their strong suit has always been coming up with wacky shenanigans for characters to get up to when they aren't doing important plot things. They're not great with continuity and their fighting leaves a lot to be desired but their shenanigans writing is top-notch.

#dragon ball #dragon ball z

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brucewaynehater101 · 1 day

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There's like, what? at least THREE speedforce users concentrated in a singular time period? and the word concentrated sounds a bit extreme until you remember the fact that these btiches have power over time; they can timetravel

Impluse did time traveled and has made a place for himself in an older time period permanently

Compared to that, the metabolism's hardly a big deal at all

and unless their world/universe/multiverse is isolated in it's own bubble where not even timetravel gets out, that means their time shenanigans likely affect existing multiverses outside their own so that's a doozy to comprehend

And time travel isn't even exclusive to speedforce users, nothing is sacred, there's magic, and sciences and magical sciences, probably metas with time powers and there's also time loops and---

As far as we're aware, there isn't just THREE speedforce users who can and will time travel if it's called for, but multiple other instance of time travel or manipulation, all concentrated in a singular time period

that fucks shit up

anomalies that people might not even pick up on because the screwing of reality has affected their very minds become the norm; because minus this time period the whole rest of the timeline, before and after that era, is in perfect working order

this particular patch of the timeline is mangled forever and irreversibly, before anybody knew there was a timeperiod in need of unmangling

The clock ticks onward---the heroes and villains, and everyone beyond moves on and dies and the next generations after them don the spotlights, and time marches existence onwards as it always has; that's true, that's permanent. It's ineffable truth

Nothing has changed

you say it feels like just yesterday we did this very act as though it weren't the case

The clock ticks onwards---1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4

5, 6, 7, 8

9, 10, 11

this is how the world ends

11:30

this is how the world ends

11:50

not with a bang

11:59:59

but with a---

1:00

this is all to say that this is my headcanon to explain Tim's Forever 21 17

and also other plotholes; and maybe you can take this hc to make an AU where there's more shenanigans than ceasing to age at a certain point due to a time period being Eternal even though the rest of the timeline is still perfectly functional

=======

( as for wtf the whole clock stuff was meant to convey, it references the reblogged 'prokopetz the eleventh hour' post )

"...“The Eleventh Hour” is generally used to refer to the Last Possible Point BEFORE everything goes horribly sideways, so this would suggest that you are in a place perpetually stuck at the terrible and fruitless moment just shy of impending disaster. "

-- askmissbernadette

Ooh! AUs/HCs that explore Tim's perpetual state of 17 are rad as hell (although thankful he has finally been allowed to become an adult).

I never did quite consider the ramifications of multiple people messing with the timeline. For one person, we've seen so much media that warns against it and shit. Multiple people that aren't communicating before, during, or after their interventions? How the hell does the space and time continuum not collapse?

Then, the multiverse theory is added on top of all that? My brain is a little too tired to try to even comprehend how bad of an idea it all sounds (for the speedsters and other people who mess with the timeline).

I like to hc that some of the universes that pop off are consequences from a Flash or anyone else screwing up time. It'd be cool to see some angst regarding that (let's say Bart went back in time to save Tim in his universe which caused another universe to lose their Tim [and the domino effect of that unplanned loss for that timeline]). That, or the rewritten history causes new universes to form as a result of the many many paths and choices that can happen after that change.

It'd also be fantastic to see a villain who's like Miguel from Across the Spider-Verse, but worse. A person who picks and chooses universes that they think best suits their needs and desires. They keep hopping to other ones when the one they are in is no longer suitable. They also integrate themselves into the universes with ease and sometimes murder that universe's version of them to take their spot (they prefer kidnapping, though, so that the OG person can resume their life when the villain leaves).

Anyways, there are some great fics out there that chat about Tim staying 17 and/or the other Bats having weird timelines too

#dc comics #tim drake #dc universe #thank you for the ask!!!!

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linkspooky · 2 days

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ON MADELYNE PRYOR

Shout out to all the comic book stans who follow my blog.

So X-Men 97 inspired me to do a re-read of X-Men from the beginning. My previous read of X-Men jumped all over the place, it was basically X-Men up to Dark Phoenix and then I jumped all the way to the 2000s to 2010s. In my current read I just got to Inferno and holy fuck mom, I never thought I'd like an X-Men arc more than Dark Phoenix but here we are.

This is an entirely personal opinion which I'm not as good at expressing because I prefer over-intellectualizing my feelings, but Inferno is the only other comic book arc to make me feel the way that Judas Cotract did in how tightly and perfectly written as a tragedy it is especially for the female at its center.

Are there any women in all of fiction more doomed by the narrative than Terra Markov and Madelyne Pryor?

I mean I've written about Judas Contract before but what makes that arc so special to me is how it's about a character, a victim, a girl named Terra who by all rights should have been saved by the heroes, but not only fails every step of the way but at every point in her life really. Terra is someone how manifests her victimhood in completely unsympathetic ways but the fact that she basically had no chance in life makes her sympathetic nonetheless.

This comes from the decision that Perez and Wolfram made right from the start to kill her off and never offer her any redemption, which while incredibly callous on the author's part just makes the tragedy even stronger. That's what tragedy is, it's meat to reflect the cruelty and unfairness of life, it's kind of like reality bleeding into fiction.

George’s strength was he also understood the characters 100 percent as I did so there was never any question. He knew. We had talked enough about the characters to know we were exactly on the same page with them. So I said, “Everyone keeps complaining that we’re like the X-Men” and the X-Men had just gotten Kitty Pryde. I said, “Why don’t we really screw around with them completely?” — this is the fans — “…and make them think we’re stealing Kitty Pryde only she’s gonna be bad from Day One.” You always had characters pop up, certainly at Marvel, who were bad that get redeemed. But this character would never get redeemed. She was insane. In fact, she was the catalyst for everything. She wasn’t working for Deathstroke. He was working for her in many ways and she was leading him because she’s crazy. She’s a total psychopath… and she’d be 15.

Terra's a total psychopath and she's fifteen and that's the tragedy. Was there really any other way that Terra could have turned out? A girl who has been abandoned, who was given incredible powers but no love, support, or nurturing and clearly doesn't have a home or any stability in her life if she's working as a mercenary at that young. A girl who thinks herself a villain and a player in the game but is clearly being manipulated by a fifty plus year old man who is smarter, more mature, and a serial user and abuser of people.

Terra's not just the villain, she's the protagonist of the tragedy walking through the play unknowing that her every single decision will lead to her inevitable end.

Judas Cotract and Inferno are two arcs that most evoke the feel of the Tower in Tarot to me. The Tower is just, ruin and destruction, a complete loss of control, the realization that everything you thought was wrong and in fact the world doesn't care much about what you think. It's a reminder that life isn't even cruel, it's nothing, it's random.

However, first you have to build up the tower before you start pulling the jenga blocks out one by one. Terra spends several arcs with the Teen Titans showing disturbing unchildlike behavior, but one of the so-called Heroes even notice that there's something wrong. When she does get close to blowing her cover, a violent incident where she nearly badly hurts Beast Boy after he comes onto her way too hard which is an understandable reaction as a victim of SA that gets brushed under the rug too.

It makes the heroes look worse as well. If they were heroes dedicated to saving people at all costs shouldn't they have noticed the trouble of someone right next to them? Yet, they all kind of collectively remain oblivious the same way that most victims in real life especially of Terra's kind of trauma are left to suffer in silence. Not to say the Teen Titans are bad, they are kids, and therefore it makes sense they don't have the emotional maturity to notice - it just makes them look more human.

So to summarize my point above what makes Judas Contract is a good tragedy and why Inferno makes me feel the same way narrows down to two reasons.

Madelyne and Terra are both doomed by the narrative, there was no saving them right from the beginning.

However, the fact that the heroes failed to save them reflects poorly on them.

Finally, Madelyne Pryor.

Oh Madelyne the world did you so dirty. I'm partially to blame because I skipped right to the 2000s in my first read, but before this point I'd known nothing about Madelyne other than that she was a clone of Jean Grey who died.

My first impressions of her when she was introduced shortly after Dark Phoenix weren't all that great either. Chris Claremont writes good female characters, that's not really a hot take. I'm sure you've heard of Storm, Rogue, Mystique, Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost etc.

However, I've noticed there are like two tiers of female characters he tends to write. There are the first stringers which are your storms, your rogues, these are characters who are meant to be independent and have arcs. Then there are the second stringers who are just meat to serve a role in the story. This isn't a criticism on the way Claremont writes women, I mean all stories have major and minor characters.

Madelyne Pryor was never meant to be a main character. There wasn't anything about her character that I disliked per se, she is independent, she seemed to have a life outside of Cyclops, she tries really hard to separate herself from the image of Jean Grey. However, she was clearly written to give Cyclops a wife and child in the aftermath of Jean's death and a reason to retire.

While the editorial mandate that made Claremont pull Cyclops out of his happy ending so he could rejoin a team with the original five x-men for the sake of nostalgia sucks, it is also the best thing to happen to Madelyne's character.

Madelyne before that point was a perfectly functional character for her role but she wasn't all that dynamic, she liked planes, she didn't like Jean's ghost hanging over her, she's pretty spunky and headstrong but she was at most a good supporting character but that's all she was. Claremont just decided to double down on that, Scott actually treats his wife like she exists to do nothing but support him and his emotional issues. Madelyne gives all the support that she can give and then Scott just up and leaves anyway. The woman who only existed to be a love interest to give Scott a happy ending, now has no other reason to exist without the man she's supposed to love and her happy ending turns to ash in her mouth.

This is the same feeling I was talking about with Terra, this is a person who was basically failed at every step of the way. A person who has no family. no support, it's almost worse in this case because Madelyne thought she did only for that person to toss her aside.

There's no saving Madelyne, and the fact that Scott didn't save her, that he didn't both trying until he was too late makes him the villain.

If anything Inferno is better than Judas Contract at dragging the heroes down to their lowest points, because The Teen Titans failing to save Terra is understandable because of how young they are but there's no excusing Scott's actions. Madelyne may run around in a skimpy outfit calling herself the goblin queen but the villain of this story is named Scott Summers. He had a responsibility and obligation towards Madelyne to save her and he failed, and it makes him a bad hero and an even worse person.

One of the key components of a tragedy is also agency. Agency is basically the freedom a character has to choose and how much their choices matter in the grand scheme of things and impact their narratives.

Tragedies are often defined by how little agency the characters are shown to have, and how limited their range of choices are. One of the biggest themes of tragedy is fate and inevitability at all. For example one of my favorite tragedies antigone is about a girl with very little power in the ancient greek city of Thebes who still makes a choice to give her brother a proper burial even though she knows she'll be executed for it.

Dark Phoenix is all about agency. Jean Grey is dealing with three different forces trying to take her mind, her agency. There's the corrupting influence of Phoenix, there's the Hellfire Club who wants to make her into a puppet, and then there's Charles Xavier who wants to put a lid on her tremendous powers. Everyone trying to take agency away from Jean eventually leads her to snap and try to take all of that agency back by embracing godhood because who has more agency, more control than a god? Even Jean's act of killing herself at the end was reclaiming her agency, it's her choice to die as a human rather than be executed, or to lose herself to the phoenix.

What breaks Madelyne is not Scott leaving her. Which made me like her character a lot, like the moment Scott left Madelyne was shown just how stubborn and determined she was. Madelyne stood out as the only normal human amongst the x-men who still held her own like Moira did (i guess Moira is a mutant now but I'm still in the 80s so w/e).

What breaks her is the revelation that she never had any agency in her life to begin with. Scott was always meant to fall in love with her, he was always meant to leave her, because she was nothing more than a womb for Sinister's breeding project. Once again it's masterful how Scott looks equally as villainous as Sinister in this scenario in how neither of them regards Madelyne as a person, just an object to project their desires upon.

(Honestly Jean Grey doesn't come out looking all that great either considering how little sympathy she has for Madelyne because she just sees her as an obstacle to getting back together with Scott. If anyone Jean should sympathize with Madelyne the most because they've both been toyed with cosmic forces out of their control, but I guess it goes to show how selfish and destructive Jean and Scott's love for each can be).

Is there any sequence more tragic in all of comics than this series of panels?

The symbolism in these panels too and how it relates to the themes of agency with Madelyne's character. Madelyne was a free and self-driven woman (or at least she thought she was) living out her dream of being a pilot which to her the ability to fly her wings represents her freedom and indepedence. The only thing she thought that could make her happier was Scott, but in the end not only did Scott take her wings away, he took away her everything and gave it to someone else.

"Time to lose those wings, Maddie. You can't really fly, anyway. You're not special like us."

If there's any words to express the inherent tragedy of Maddie's character is this, she's a person who thought she was free to fly, that she was real, that her life mattered only to have all that taken away from her. Maddie like Terra thinks she has agency that she's making decisions but she had no real choices from the beginning.

That's also a good way to express what makes tragedies hit as hard as they do. Tragedies slap you with the realization that you're not special. The hero is not a hero, they don't have plot armor, they're not immune to consequences, they're human and just like all humans they fail.

Even the act that Madelyne thinks is reclaiming her agency by gaining power as the Goblin Queen is in fact, not her choice. She doesn't choose to sell her soul, she's tricked into doing it by a rebellious demon that wants to kick Illyana out and reclaim limbo for himself. In Madelyne's one act of trying to steal back her power and freedom she is still just a pawn in another person's scheme.

There's also Madelyne going through literal hell itself to reclaim her son, only to make the decision to sacrifice him along with several other infants which seems to make her usympathetic but ironically makes her more sympathetic to me.

There's the obvious reference to Medea there. If all the parallels aren't obvious enough already, Jason and the Argonauts gets namedropped during the arc.

One of my favorite things about Medea the tragedy by Euripedes is that Medea is not just a girlboss who gets revenge on Jason and then walks away. Straightforward revenge narratives are bad because revenge is... bad actually. The decision to inflict more pain and suffering in the world doesn't break the chain of suffering.

Medea kills her children to show that Jason is not entirely in the wrong, and Medea is not entirely in the right. They are two human beings who's relationship is blowing up in the worst way possible. I mean Jason himself does have some points in the play, he's making a political marriage to save both of them, the only reason he's exiling Medea is because Medea made loud death threats at Jason's new bride. It's not just the heartbreak of being abandoned that drives Medea, it's her pride, the whole play started because Medea didn't want to settle for being a side chick.

Medea wants revenge against Jason but she doesn't take her revenge on Jason, she takes revenge on everyone around him for the purpose of making him feel as alone and lost as he did her. She'll kill her own children, even if it kills her to do so, just to spite him a little more.

Which leads to one of my favorite scenes in all of fiction, Medea holding the knife over her own child's throat, bargaining with herself trying to convince herself to do something she objectively knows is wrong.

MEDEA I’ve made up my mind, my friends. I’ll do it—kill my children now, without delay, and flee this land. I must not hesitate. That would hand them over to someone else to be slaughtered by a hand less loving. No matter what, the children have to die. Since that’s the case, then I, who gave them life, will kill them. Arm yourself for this, my heart. Why do I put off doing this dreadful act, since it must be done? Come, pick up the sword, wretched hand of mine. Pick up the sword, move to where your life of misery begins. Don’t play the coward. Don’t remember now how much you love them, how you gave them life. For this short day forget they are your children and mourn them later. Although you kill them, still you loved them. As a woman, I’m so sad.

Why would Madelyne after going through all that trouble to find her son, instead choose to give him to the fire? It's because for a person who was given so little choice over her own life, the choice to self-destruct is still a choice. The choice to destroy something with your own hands rather than let it be destroyed for someone else is still a choice.

That would hand them over to someone else to be slaughtered by a hand less loving. No matter what, the children have to die. Since that’s the case, then I, who gave them life, will kill them.

I think I may like Madelyne more than Jean at this point?

The same way I like Terra more than Raven. They're very similiar characters, but it takes possession by Trigon to get Raven to attack the titans. Terra just tries to kill them by her own free will. She's willing to bury herself if it gives her one last chance at burying the titans to too. Madelyne on the other hand is willing to walk barefoot into hell, if it means she can drag Scott and the X-Men with her. Jean does things under the influence of the Phoenix, but she chose to die as a human being at the end of Dark Phoenix. Madelyne however made the opposite choice, throwing all her humanity away she gave herself wholly and unreservedly to the fire.

Also damn, x-men 97 did this arc so dirty by speedrunning through it in one episode. This is also one of the most well set-up arcs in the X-Men comics with so many threads like X-Factor, X-Men and New Mutants all coming together. It really deserved its own season not like 2 episodes, and then Madelyne dying halfway through this season.

#madelyne pryor #the goblin queen #scott summers #x men #spooky speaks #x men 97

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talesofsorrowandofruin · 22 hours

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WIP Questionnaire Tag

Thanks for tagging me, @space-writes! :D

I'll do this for The Power and the Glory:

What is the first part of your WIP that you created?: The idea of a necromancer accidentally causing the zombie apocalypse. All of the other elements came later (and then tried to take over the original idea...)

If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?: Something catchy but spooky. Khachaturian's Masquerade Waltz, maybe.

What are your favourite characters that you made? Why?: Ilaran and Lian. They're both morally ambiguous and have done some outright villainous things, so predictably I like them best :D

What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?: The Untamed (because necromancy), I guess

What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?: Getting the characters to do what I want instead of taking the plot in a new and weird direction *glares at them*

Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!: There aren't many ordinary animals, but there are immortals who can shapeshift into animals (snakes, sea serpents, a dragon, a phoenix...). These transformations tend to happen at inconvenient times if the shapeshifter isn't used to them. And they aren't always helpful -- Ilaran is afraid of heights but turns into an eagle.

How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.): Mostly on foot or by horses. For longer journeys they take either the train or the airship. And for travelling to another planet they use spaceships.

What part of your WIP are you working on right now?: Currently planning book five. I got a few chapters done then got distracted, so I just need to pick up where I left off.

What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?: Probably the zombie apocalypse. But people who come for it will have to wait a long time before it gets started ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What are your hopes for your WIP?: To finish it, then to edit it, and finally to publish it.

Tagging @lychhiker-writes, @finickyfelix, @the-golden-comet, and anyone else who wants to do this! :D

#tag game #writing #my WIPs #WIP: necromancer

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musette22 · 2 days

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Hi Minnie! I don't mean send an ask that isn't stucky related so if it's one you don't want to answer I understand.

I made the mistake of going into the TeamIronman tag on ao3 yesterday. I wasn't in the fandom when Civil war came out so I watched the movie as a passive viewer and missed a lot of the teams conversation. But I was curious because I've always been staunchly TeamCap so I clicked on the tag and it shocked me. So many of the TeamIronman fics twist Steve to make him out to be the villain even when he so clearly isn't. I mean i understand disagreeing with him on the accords and his actions in the movie but to completely twist the character so completely that's he's basically unrecognisable is strange to me. They make up all sorts of things like it's Steve's fault that Tony had a bad relationship with his father which doesn't make any sense because Steve was in the ice during that time.

To me, it seemed like majority of the TeamIronman fics don't have a leg to stand on based on the facts given to us in the movie so they're twisting Steve and Bucky to make them the villains. Not all of them, but a majority of them seem to be convinced that Team Cap should beg for Tony's forgiveness and sign the accords anyway. I don't really get it and I was wondering if you have any idea where the animosity comes from? I could be wrong but I haven't seen this in the Team Cap fics that tend to treat Tony pretty fairly and say that he understandably angry when he sees the footage of his parents death.

Hi lovely! Don't worry, you're welcome to send me asks about whatever you like, as long as they're respectful, which this message seems to be!

This is a bit of a tricky subject, in the wider Marvel fandom context, but it's also an interesting one imo. I don't want to start (or revive, I guess) a big debate at all, I'm personally very happy to just enjoy my Stucky fics and the Team Cap fandom these days, and not worry or even think about the existence any other fandoms/ships that include our boys. What they do over there is their business, and ultimately, I just don't want to know the details. I also wasn't in the fandom during the Civil War days, so I was never involved in the debate at the time (though I would always have been Team Cap, there's no question about thay for me). But I will admit that I have in the past also noticed and wondered about the same things you're describing right now, so I understand where your confusion is coming from.

I think it might have something to do with the comics, like perhaps there's more going on there than there was in the MCU, and that's where some of the Team Iron Man support/anti Team Cap behaviour stems from? But maybe not, I don't actually know anything about the comics myself, so I may well be wrong about that.

But anyway, when considering the Civil War conflict as it was presented in the MCU, I just can't understand how people could side with Tony without any understanding for Steve's perspective, or how they could ever make Steve (and Bucky) out to be the villain(s). I think you'd have to spectacularly misunderstand Steve's character and the circumstances that led to Bucky becoming the Winter Soldier to do so. Steve being a thoroughly good man is the main reason why he even became a superhero in the first place, it's essential to his very existence. And as for the idea that Bucky is a villain rather than a victim... well, that just makes my blood boil, and always will.

I personally don't dislike Tony, I just think the MCU didn't do him any favours in those final movies, and I much prefer the more reasonable, inherently kind version of him we often see in Stucky / Team Cap fics. So no, I personally don't understand the need for such animosity either to be honest, nor where it comes from. (I have some ideas about why some people might idolise Tony and want to see him as the guy on the right side of history/the victor, and Steve as the opposite, but lets just say that I don't think I would see eye to eye with those people in real life either)

Anyway, this is all just my opinion, and I'm really not looking to antagonise anyone or start a big discussion. We're all entitled to our own fandom opinions, it's mostly just entertainment in the end, and as long as we don't harass others with our opinions or go looking for conflict, I think it's all fine. But I also don't think there's any harm in discussing questions like these within our own circles, so yeah, thanks for your message and I'm sorry I can't really shed more light on the situation for you!

#steve rogers #bucky barnes #ca:cw #civil war discourse #minnie answers

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dragonsruby · 17 days

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Considering how thirsty AA fans are over Kristoph (me included, unfortunately,) I am AMAZED I didn't hear about this part until I played the game.

Like it's PERFECT out of context, how did we not-

#ace attorney #apollo justice: ace attorney #ace attorney spoilers #aa4 spoilers #aa4 #kristoph gavin #apollo justice #and yes I DO apparently have a thing for the overconfident mentally unstable men who kill people why do you ask #it's always the villains isn't it. ...it's always the villains #Me: I don’t have a type- *sees utter psychopaths in animation* Oh no #But again I saw so many quotes online from Kristoph and they were all the same ones #HOW DID THE THIRSTY FANDOM OR THE YAOI FANDOM MISS THIS LINE I DON'T UNDERSTAND #psychadelic #tw: eyestrain #cw: eyestrain #just in case

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shakingparadigm · 16 days

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what is the theory that ivan manipulated the event where till and mizi met the wagyein?

It's not a theory, actually! It's confirmed that Ivan orchestrated the whole event. The true reason as to why however is still unknown. The information provides more context to this scene, though:

During the earlier times of ALNST the most rational explanation for this scene was that Till ran after a flower crown (presumably Mizi's) and Ivan followed him in out of curiosity. Now we know that Ivan was conveniently just standing there because he was waiting.

Side note, I find it heartbreaking (and maybe a little funny, sorry) that Till most likely didn't notice Ivan in this scene. That's just like him, isn't it. Always too busy running after Mizi while Ivan trails behind, an ever-present shadow.

I'm not sure how Ivan manipulated the circumstances for both of them to end up there, but it is confirmed that everything was intentional. What strikes me most is how they describe this particular scene:

I can't copy down what they said word-for-word (Patreon info), but they described Ivan watching "creepily" as Till and Mizi are faced with danger. We know that Ivan was familiar with the Cerberus wagyein beforehand, enough to touch its teeth and even to rest himself inside its maw. To Ivan, the wagyein is not dangerous, but to Till and Mizi, it could be. Ivan prepared the wagyein, led them there, and watched "creepily" from afar as Till fell on his knees, seemingly injured.

The closest I can get to making sense of Ivan's "scheme" is that he wanted to see how other children would react in a dangerous situation. Ivan's always been an observer, after all, and he's learned to survive by copying the more "normal" behaviors of his peers. This situation occured when Ivan was still young and had not yet developed his more charming mask, so perhaps he staged this encounter to study a situational response, to learn and mimic the emotion of fear. And what better subjects for the experiment than two of the most expressive and reactive humans of their batch? It helps that he was already fixated on Till beforehand, too. I think Ivan became irreversibly obssessed after this incident, especially since it's framed as a turning point in Ivan's life, comparing Till to the stars.

This is just my attempt at an interpretation, though. It could very well be for another reason. He most likely chose Till and Mizi specifically for personal reasons, not just for reaction. I'm still not sure on the purpose behind the whole thing.

The team wanted to capture Ivan's "dark emotions" through the shot of his stalking, which could relate to his more sinister intentions. His gaze can be read in a few different ways, though. Curiosity, interest, fear, etc. Maybe that's why they decided to redraw the shot in ROUND 6.

I think this better sells the feeling they were trying to convey.

#ivan u fucked up little guy.#also okay i just wanna clear this up #i know i make a lot of posts about ivans darker side and his more problematic traits #but this isn't me trying to villainize him or reduce him down to “toxic yaoi”#I HOPE YOU GUYS KNOW ALL MY TOXIC YAOI POSTS ARE LIGHTHEARTED.#i just want to clarify that ivan was always intended to be a darker and complicated character. even since his debut in round 3 #the way i refer to ivan (“twisted” “creepy” “obssessive” etc) are literally the direct words used by q and v themselves to describe him #but despite that id like to emphasize that i don't see ivan as a villain or a completely bad person. hes complicated #there is no normalcy in this world they are living in. none of the characters know what being truly normal is #this isn't me condoning his actions #but it has to be acknowledged that alnst is fucked up in nature. we can't expect perfect relationships from people who are born to die #plus ivan has a lot more layers past the “dark” parts. he's constantly battling himself and his desires #especially at the end of round 6 where he performs a myriad of conflicting actions (kiss strangle peck smile)#thanks to the r6 production notes we now know that ivan was going through a rapid internal conflict #“sure and unsure at the same time”#there is sooo much to ivan. his low self-esteem. his desire and possessiveness despite knowing till will never love him #his VEHEMENT insistence that till will never love him vs his desperate persistence in trying anyway #uh i need to shut up i think #anyways sorry. just wanted to clarify my thoughts on him in case people think im. yk.#in short. hes a fucked up little freak and he fascinates me. this poor tragic child. i love him.#SORRY I GOT CARRIED AWAY #alnst #alien stage #alien stage ivan #alnst ivan #asks

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