#so any kind of alternate Loki is basically what I mean

[cha-melodius]

Tagged by @lgwilt​ on this post of writer asks for fanfic writer appreciation day. Thanks so much again for the tag! I’m putting most of this below a cut because it got long!

— How long have you been writing fanfiction? 

In total? Errr more than 25 years. But there was a long gap in there!

— Do you have a favorite word? (One that you love. Doesn’t necessarily have to be one you use all the time.)

I feel like I have one, but I really have no idea what it is. (This question made me wish there was some algorithm that would look at all of my works on AO3 and tell me what the most commonly used words are lol)

— Share a favorite run-on sentence that you’ve written.

I purposefully use run-on sentences a lot when I want to show a character drowning in their emotions/feelings. Here are two quite long ones that I found that I particularly like:

It’s not like he wants to spend a night with Loki, that’s insane, but that fact hasn’t stopped his mind from helpfully replaying the feeling of Loki’s fingers curled around his wrist, or how he’d pressed close as they hid just outside the collective’s hideout, waiting for an opportunity to slip away so Mobius could call for backup and Loki could disappear into the shadows again. (—from What Makes A Good Man)

Or, they had seemed that way, until Illya caught himself staring breathlessly at the line of Napoleon’s neck as he craned for a better view of something, or the way his lips pouted when he found his glass of scotch mysteriously empty, or the way his hips moved subtly when he danced to a song only he could hear in the privacy of their suite. (—from Love is a Chemical)

— Share a bit of a scene that you’ve written that still gives you FEELS.

How about: basically the entire end of You, or Your Memory, which I don’t want to spoil for anyone who hasn’t read it. But here’s one part of it:

No one—no one—has ever kissed Loki like this. Not even close. Mobius kisses him with a reverence that is truly shattering, like he savoring every second of contact, like Loki is the only thing in the entire universe that matters. He cradles Loki’s jaw with tenderness that is completely at odds with the way Loki’s hands are twisted the front of his jacket, clinging with a desperation that he’d no doubt find disgraceful if he had even a remote corner of his mind to devote to the thought. As it is, though, he doesn’t. Mobius’s lips are delicate and demanding in turn, setting a pace that makes it feel as if they could keep kissing for the rest of time.

— What is your favorite kind of character interaction to write? 

Enemies (or rivals) to friends to lovers is definitely my favorite dynamic. I can’t get enough!

— Do you have a hyper-specific genre?

I don’t think so! I mean, the single genre I write the most in is spy fiction, but that’s not really hyper-specific. I have too much fun bouncing around in different AUs.

— Any personal or frequently used tags?

“Food as a Metaphor for Love” is in there a lot, but one of my non-standard personal AO3 tags that I love is “soft boys being soft”. According to AO3 my two most-used tags (tied for first) are “Getting Together” and “Angst with a Happy Ending”, which sounds about right.

— Share a joke or funny moment that you’ve written that still makes you laugh.

It’s not really easily shared moment, but one of my first Napollya fics (Light Will Keep Your Heart Beating in the Future) contains a recurring joke about defenestrations in Prague and it always delights me to no end when someone comments on it lol.

— Best editing tip?

Read dialogue out loud to help figure out if the flow is natural.

— What drives you to write?

All these stories in my head busting to get out! And to be honest with you, getting to share them all with you, and hopefully bringing other people joy in reading them.

— Share something about your writing that you have wished someone would ask you about. Or alternatively, something that you are just really proud of.

One of my favorite things is surprising my readers with a twist. When I started plotting out long stories instead of writing them on the fly, I discovered the joy of seeding lots of foreshadowing and hints in the story prior to the twist, which I think (hope!) really makes rereads even better.

— Where do you draw inspiration?

From all around me, really. Sometimes from other media or things I’ve read, sometimes from friends’ ideas or prompts.

— What is your immediate reaction when you receive a new comment on a fic?

Sheer, unadulterated joy? 😅

— What is your biggest challenge in writing?

Probably staying motivated without external validation. It’s why I tend to post multichaps as I’m writing them, because it’s hard to put a lot of effort into a long story and not know if anyone actually cares about it.

— 1–2 sentence preview from your current WIP?? (Only if you are willing.)

I feel bad because my active WIP is in a new-to-me fandom that literally no one on tumblr follows me for, but so it goes! (I’m not abandoning my old fandoms, don’t worry, but I have to get this story out of my head...)

Alex knows his food is damned good, he’s got no false modesty there, but he’s rarely had such a reaction to someone enjoying his cooking. Maybe it’s the way that Henry moans when he takes the first bite that’s making his face feel hot, or the way he shamelessly chases the errant sauce that runs down his long fingers with his tongue that has sweat beading up at his temples. Maybe it’s just really hot in this kitchen.

— What story or scene are you most proud of?

Everyone’s probably tired of hearing me say this, but Love is a Losing Game. I mean, I’m proud of a lot of my stories, but that is the one that really feels like a complete and original novel, even if most of the characters aren’t mine.

— Please link your profile so we can admire your works!

chamel on AO3

#about my writing #ask games #writing #fanfic #fanfic writer appreciation #my wips

[wrenhyperfixates]

What do you mean by "another incarnation of Loki" ?

Well, what don’t I mean? Lady Loki, kid Loki, king Loki (could this even be the rouge Loki variant?), or really any other Loki from any other branch in the timeline

#but most likely would be the first two I said #like if we got kid Loki in the young avengers that (I can only assume) they’re doing it would be 👌 #like with all the characters they’ve introduced/has been confirmed will be introduced we better get young avengers #Phase 5 perhaps? #so any kind of alternate Loki is basically what I mean #don’t necessarily think that means variant Loki will be gone if we get another one too #but I need more evidence to fully formulate my ~theories~ #ask #anon ask #anon #the loki show #the loki show spoilers

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

Would you say that Loki being tortured by the black order/thanos/the chatauri is not quite canon but more than fanon? For me, it kind of sits in that weird in between place where technically we haven't had complete confirmation but yet there seems to be enough evidence that it's more than just fanon?

hahaha so I got this ask, uhhhh, a while ago and I was going to do a short answer but then I started tossing out bullet points and once I had those I wanted to link them to posts discussing those things in more detail and now it’s September and I definitely got this within like, a week or two of the show finale, sooooo anon whoever you are I hope you’re reading this blog enough to know that I finally got around to answering your question 😬

anyway yeah, that's basically where I come down on it. it's never been made explicit, but I think it's also fair to say that Loki's alliance with Thanos wasn't an equal partnership at the very least, and canon heavily implies it wasn't a fully willing one either and Loki went through some seriously bad shit during his missing year. extrapolating that to "Thanos had him tortured" is an interpretation, but it's also an interpretation that makes sense of a huge pile of canonical evidence--more sense in most cases, I would argue, than any alternative explanations. I mean, there are possible alternative explanations for a lot of these individually, of course, but not all of them, and I don’t know that there’s much else that pulls together all these pieces. plus all this speculation is happening in the first place because we aren’t explicitly told what a lot of these things mean, so a torture-related reason is just as likely to be accurate as an alternative one.

and when I say “a huge pile of evidence,” there’s...well, there’s a whole lot, at wildly varying levels of significance, and also wildly varying levels of detail because I just want to finish this post already:

he looks burned or otherwise messed up in the post-credits scene in Thor (could be from something not related to Thanos! but if that’s the case it’s still pretty relevant in terms of, you know, Loki’s missing year being Bad Shit)

intro scene in Avengers--sweaty, pale, dark circles under eyes, almost collapses while walking out, basically collapses into the truck and seems to need to brace himself just sitting/kneeling there (like above, could be from something else, like...coming through a portal that hasn’t been properly stabilized is hard on the body? but I don’t think we have any additional evidence to support that specific idea, as opposed to the likelier one that stabilizing the portal was necessary just to make it bigger and keep it open) (link also includes Thor post-credits scene)

also he's obsessed with making others kneel to him, and he comes through the portal kneeling, head bowed, so the former seems kinda weird if the latter was completely voluntary

his back seems to be hurting again after Thor yanks him out of the quinjet and dumps him on a mountain

his conversation with the Other--Loki postures a little but then goes still and silent with tears forming in his eyes and allows the Other to circle around behind him, threaten him, and visibly hurt him; clearly shaken when he comes back. adds up to YIKES.

we all remember “He will make you long for something as sweet as pain” but as far as evidence goes, I find “You think you know pain?” to be even stronger, because it seems...fairly definitive and personal, implying that Loki has experienced significant pain and the Other knows about it, either because it happened on Sanctuary itself or because it happened during Loki’s missing year in general but was significant enough that it came up later (as in, it was discussed, or there was physical evidence when Loki got there)

here’s another great post going over evidence of Loki carrying out the invasion under duress

edit: here’s another one

I always kinda thought "burdened with glorious purpose" could imply someone else did the burdening (which is...only part of the reason I did get super annoyed about it being turned into a context-free catchphrase even before the show, yes, and then the show made that about 10 times worse--not so much in episode 1, I think it's reasonable to assume he's still somewhat under the scepter's influence in the opening scene, but I mean the way the other Lokis and the marketing absolutely ran it into the ground)

Fury says “this doesn’t have to get any messier,” and Loki replies, "I've come too far for anything else." on Avengers Tower, he tells Thor, "it's too late to stop it.” I’m not saying those lines indicate torture, or really anything at all specific, but they do seem relevant in terms of Loki not being the mastermind of this whole mess

"I remember you tossing me into an abyss" indicates possible memory issues, which is...also pretty damn relevant

the scepter is shown affecting the Avengers' moods just by being in the same room, and Bruce even grabs it without realizing (they’re all human except Thor, who doesn’t seem as affected, but it’s still textual evidence of the scepter affecting people without being deliberately used on them)

as a textual comparison, there's a huge contrast between the way Loki behaves toward the Other and by extension Thanos, and the way Ronan behaves toward both of them in GotG, which also implies some things about the differences between those alliances

Ragnarok post-credits: Loki seemed to recognize Sanctuary II and was immediately horrified/terrified, compared to Thor who just looked kinda confused

Infinity War: on the one hand Thanos maybe doesn't know Loki’s Jotun (”well for one thing, I’m not Asgardian”) and that's weird, but on the other, he knows Loki well enough to know the most effective possible way to make Loki give up the Tesseract, and the way he kills him is like...unnecessarily personal, not to mention unnecessary in general because he could’ve just backhanded Loki into the wall, used the Power Stone to explode the ship, and teleported out. instead he wanted Loki’s pain and fear because he liked it. it is really not a stretch to suppose that this was also true when they first knew each other.

and despite the show not really addressing this, at least not directly/explicitly, it actually does provide several new pieces that also fit the theory:

additional (possible) evidence of spinal issues and other indications that he’s frequently in pain--which could of course be from the battle, the Hulk-smashing, and the Tesseract dumping him in the desert, but the fact that Avengers gives us two different pre-battle scenes of possible back issues indicates they might’ve already been around (i.e., from Sanctuary) and just worsened by the battle etc.

he’s absolutely terrified the instant he sees Thanos onscreen in the Time Theater--I mean, the first thing he sees is himself trying to stab Thanos and Thanos stopping him, so yeah, it’s...probably reasonable to assume Thanos isn’t going to have a nice response to somebody trying to stab him? but for somebody who doesn't know the specific context, which show!Loki doesn’t, it could just be part of a battle, and/or it wouldn't seem out of the question for Thanos to just smack him aside. but Loki seems to know immediately that something awful is about to happen and he isn't surprised when it does...only when it actually leads to his death

edit: here’s a fantastic gifset juxtaposing scenes from Avengers, Infinity War, and the show, and basically it just makes all my points for me

edit, January 2024: I didn't realize until much later, but you know how that gifset above juxtaposes Ebony Maw's creepy "even in death you have become Children of Thanos" quote with Loki stuff? well, the actual Loki episode in Legends season 1, which is literally just a clip show catching audiences up on his time in the MCU before the show, also does exactly that. so I'm not saying that Marvel's saying Thanos actually considered Loki one of his kids or at least one of his potential kids for a minute there, with everything that implies given the way he treats his actual kids, but like. I'm not not saying that, and it's interesting, isn't it? Thanos wouldn't even be the only person to use Loki's insecurities and daddy issues to get him to do something (you know, because Mobius literally tells him he's doing this).

edit: when Loki tells Mobius that he hurts people because he’s had to, he’s referring to a lot of things, and he doesn’t necessarily mean “I have literally been hurt by people who will hurt me again if I don’t make them happy” but also, I mean...he could mean that, and putting this scene together with the conversation between him and the Other is...really something.

there’s an early scene on Lamentis where Loki might just be out of breath again as he is many times during the series (from, I would imagine, a lack of ability to stay in shape over the past year, so that’s...also a thing), but he might also be fending off a panic attack--from scary situation in general? orrrrr from dodging asteroids, something that potentially could have happened on Sanctuary, which is itself an asteroid field? I recognize this is kind of a stretch but like, I'm just saying, it does fit

Similarly, his abilities (physical and magical) are pretty damn inconsistent and this is a possible reason

"I've lost track of the number of times I’ve been killed"--either it's hyperbolic bravado that's way more nonsensical than his usual, or...??? combine this with “no resurrections this time” and it’s INTERESTING

additional extratextual evidence:

there’s an Avengers deleted scene where the Other contacts him two more times, once before the battle really gets going and once midbattle (thanks @scintillatingshortgirl19 for the link!). the first time doesn’t look too bad; the second time, though, the contact definitely seems to hurt him. maybe that's not deliberate on the Other’s part like it was before, but it also means the Other is cool with causing him significant (and distracting) pain in the middle of a battle? and also shows he's always watching? plus there are two different instances shown here, only one of which shows Loki reacting with obvious pain when contacted, which certainly could indicate the Other is doing that part deliberately

Hiddleston interviews--didn't give specifics but did say Loki's missing year was Very Very Bad, a struggle to survive a very precarious existence, run-ins with the universe's worst people, lots of brushes with death, etc.; specifically compared it to being kidnapped by terrorists, which doesn't necessarily mean that Loki was kidnapped by terrorists (or that his situation was directly comparable to Tony's in Iron Man, but I assume that’s what he was thinking about), just that it was that level of scary and dangerous, but...it's also a very specific comparison to make!

Marvel confirmed in Loki's bio that the scepter was influencing him and he didn't know it, so although this doesn’t necessarily rise to the level of mind control, torture, etc., it’s still...very relevant

Aug. 2022 edit to add: remember the fan theory that MCU Loki’s eyes are green, but they’re blue in The Avengers because of the scepter’s influence/control? not as blue as the other people completely controlled by the scepter, obviously, but blue enough to suggest Loki wasn’t really in control either? I think this has been mostly debunked as a legit theory based on things like...Tom Hiddleston has blue eyes and there’s no evidence he’s worn colored contacts or had his eyes digitally recolored while playing Loki, so any apparent color change is likely the result of lighting or fans recoloring screenshots after the fact. on the other hand, comics Loki has green eyes for sure, and I’m fairly certain the original Thor posters recolored his eyes to be extremely green and then just dropped that later...and even as late as season 1 of the Loki show, Marvel can’t make up their minds on his eye color as shown in a couple of official licensed figures from the exact same line of toys. the toys in particular almost certainly weren’t intended to mean anything except lousy quality control, but on the other hand if Marvel keeps refusing to be clear about this, then I’m absolutely going to continue finding evidence where none was intended.

so--yes, Loki being tortured by Thanos is...not canon, strictly speaking. but I’m also never going to say it’s just fanon, because there’s a ton of evidence supporting the idea that Loki was not fully in control during the invasion and was doing it under a combination of duress and external influences, and “said duress included actual torture and/or the use of the Mind Stone” is like, maybe one step beyond that. it’s an interpretation, sure, but it fits well enough that it’s an extremely reasonable interpretation, to the point that it seems very possible at least some of the people in charge of Loki’s story did actually intend to imply it.

#loki meta #my meta #loki #marvel cinematic universe #loki show #the avengers #thor: ragnarok #avengers: infinity war #guardians of the galaxy #thanos #thor #conversations #anonymous

[lokiitty]

https://screenrant.com/loki-show-sylvie-romance-incest-backlash-director-response/  Okay but this is super weird because... For a start she pretty much says the fans interpretation of it as incest isn’t invalid and for a second her own interpretation of it doesn’t really explain why its not incest in her eyes and furthermore it contradicts a lot.  We’re told countless times that Loki and Sylvie are “”the same.”” Shes literally a variant of him. I would have been content to NOT see it as incest if they hadn’t made sure to let us know (in easter egg form) that Sylive and Loki share like a genetic origin. She doesn’t come from some way out alternate universe where everything is different. She comes from a sister universe where Loki was born female. She has the same parents as Loki and if her timeline wasn’t pruned she would have the same family. 

The only other thing that makes her “different” from Loki is obviously the fact that her upbringing was different after the TVA orphaned her and she had to raise herself. That doesn’t change her origins. She can’t just rename herself and suddenly shes not Loki anymore and changing her first name doesn’t change the fact that she still has the same parents as Loki.  Like Id love to see this as not incest too but when you put them both down on paper as the children of Laufey its hard to ignore.  Like if her family didn’t get pruned imagine this: Frigga your son is in a relationship with your daughter. Thor your brother is in a relationship with your sister. Lauefy your biological daughter is in a relationship with your biological son.  ?????? But this is suppose to be ignored because they’re from a different universe even when the universes only real difference is one is male and the other is female????  There is no obviously drastic difference that indicates a different origin like what is the case with Alligator Loki and maybe even boastful Loki.  I mean you could at least argue boastful Loki might have had different parents to Main!Loki or at least ONE different parent. Alligator Loki is a no brainer because hes a completely different species.  On top of ALL THIS we were told multiple times in canon that Loki and Sylvie’s relationship was wrong. Sick. Twisted. Demented. Unnatural. Ect. This obviously comes from the characters recognising that Sylvie and Loki are in fact too closely related to be trying to hook up. Though they’re variants of the same person they’re also basically boy-girl twins. 

Having different personalities and different goals and upbringings does absolutely nothing to change that. Me and my brother have different personalities, goals and even upbringings in places because he lived with my mum for a portion of his life and I didn’t. But guess what?? We’re still siblings LMAO. Like I’m sorry her explanation is UTTERLY BIZZARE & makes NO SENSE.  Get me wrong I don’t think Loki & Sylvie's “”romance”” is sustainable. I wouldn’t think it was even if it was written better. I don’t see it lasting and in fact I kind of think its already ended. But this is still so weird. And the way the canon handled this ““romance”“ was so forced and half hearted. 

I seriously cannot get my head around why it was ever there. Like I thought maybe it was another part of the writing team trying to indicate to us that it was wrong but with Kate saying this now I’m just ????  Also don’t like to think Loki would just casually engage in incest / any cest period and before anyone sprouts shit about the Horse Story A) Did not happen in the MCU and B) the whole horse story is born of a specific sort of homo/transphobia that existed in ancient Nordic culture, do some research. But like ??? if they could give me a SOLID understandable reason for why its not BASCIALLY incest I’d eat it up bc IF I HAVE TO HAVE SYLKI as canon ID REALLY love for it to at least not be Incest.  Then maybe I could be “”okay”” with it. Id still have my problems with it because theres just a LOT of awkwardness even outside of the too-close-to-siblings for comfort, but it wouldn’t be a completely untouchable relationship. You could imagine it being OKAY if it was written better and not seemingly used to censor  Lokis queerness but. 

Like really the least they could have done was been like “Sylvie had totally different parents”. Its an AU. Sylvie's parents could have been anyone. Any frost giants could have stood in Lafuey’s place. If its a different universe the royal Jotun family could have been totally different. But no, no one wanted to use their brains for ten seconds and just rushed together this cringe m/f presenting romance with no deeper thought because yawn. Obviously Frost Giant Laufey doesn't have to be your father for a Loki to be a Loki (again see Alligator Loki )  And thats another reason why I’m pissed with this whole series. Because its just sloppy with little thought for anything. Now those of us who arent painfully straight and arent 2012 era fangirls who are just seeing Sylvie as a self-insertion vessel to vicariously live out their wishful fantasies of having Loki fall hopelessly in love with them, have to sit here and bang our heads on the wall bc none of it makes sense and its tragic for both characters and Loki’s actual fanbase.  Just.

#loki series #loki fandom #loki show #loki laufeyson #sylvie laufeydottir #anti sylki #loki series discourse #antisylki #can i get an f in the chat FOR EVERYONE

[goyurim]

this is how things get lost in translation because what kim min jung actually says about yo han and sunah is ‘yeongwonie ssangdungie gateun’ which means something like ‘yo han and sun ah were always meant to be like twins’ and i get how weird that sounds in english given their relationship, hence ‘soulmates’ is the obvious better choice, but it got me thinking about the theories i’ve read on here about how sun ah doesn’t want yo han, she wants to be yo han like what she feels for him is envy not lust and they’re basically alternate realities of one another (or variants. loki fam yk what i’m talking about) living parallel in one universe. sun ah’s never had any positive adult figures in her life so of course she translates her obsession with yo han into her twisted version of romance. yo han on the other hand had isaac to tell him off when he did something wrong, to encourage him to be kind and not hurt innocent people (despite whatever yo han grew up to believe people’s ‘innocence’ to be) he still fights for what’s right in his own way. sun ah fights for herself, she fights for her life, she is at the centre of her moral compass. she’s fighting for justice too and given how hard she’s worked in her life to get where she is, i believe she’d do better than yo han to fight for what’s right had she a single person in her life who was there for her, who supported her and guided her ambitions.

#the devil judge #jung sun ah #kang yo han #moon talks #the parallel of her telling herself 'you did well!' in the mirror #to her asking yo han to be kinder to her? #like that's such a vulnerable moment #she'd never trust anyone but herself to uplift her #but she wants that from yo han bc she sees herself in him #i wish she had an isaac in her life #my heart breaks for her it really does #justice for jung sun ah!!!!! #give her all the rights!!!!!!!

[daggerlove]

I saw your post on twitter about Tom's IMDb episodic listing, went to check it myself and sure enough it's real. Idk how to feel about this. What is your opinion? Do you lean towards it being real or not?

Under read more because I tend to ramble a lot apparently haha

I think it's way too early to tell tbh.

Imdb is sometimes a great source of info and had during the filming of season 1 provided us with many clues or straight up leaks.

However, I haven't seen anything like this during season 1 (and I kept my eyes glued to that page). Sometimes, when actors or even agents add their client's credits they incorrectly list them for all 6 episodes (as it happened with REG and Erika Coleman for example) or just one (for example, Evan Peters' listing on Imdb for Wandavision) and their credits get updated as the show progresses.

When they announce a new season it's pretty common for the cast & crew to be majorly listed for only the first episode at first. It's what's happening with Season 2 of Loki right now. But as the preproduction and production progresses they kind of update their listing of the cast & crew and up their involvement with the show.

That's what happened with Tom for season 2. A few days ago he had still been listed to appear only in pilot episode of the second season. But that's changed now and his credits had been updated. But the funny thing is, that whoever edited his acting credits for season 2, didn't list him for the entire season. They listed him for ep.1, 3, 5, and of course, the finale.

And like...that's the oddest thing I've seen on Imdb in a while because one would assume someone would just list him for every episode since he's playing the titular character, right? But they kinda 'forgot' to list him for two episodes lol.

And the funny thing is, it kinda follows that 'skippy' pattern. Obviously he's in the pilot of S2, that's a given. But then he's not listed for episode 2. Suddenly he's listed for episode 3. And then he's being skipped again. And then of course he's listed to appear in episode 5 and the finale, because there's no way the titular character wouldn't appear in the finale.

So what I'm saying is, there's a pattern.

1. appears 2. doesn't appear 3. appears 4. doesn't appear 5. appears 6. appears

and it's the weirdest, oddest, but funniest thing. Because whoever listed him, intentionally didn't list him for two episodes. And quite smartly too since IF Tom, hypothetically, didn't appear in any of the episodes of the season, I'd say episode 2,3 and 4 would be the only and most likely candidates. Because as a lead, he's pretty much guaranteed to appear in the pilot, penultimate (this one perhaps not as necessarily but still more likely than 2-4) and final episodes of the show/season.

They recently did something very similar with Boba Fett.

So I was thinking. IF there's any truth to this, perhaps this means we will see two different stories and povs at first; maybe the season starts with the episode that focuses on Loki (mirroring S1) and how he deals with the aftermath of the finale, if he escapes the TVA, and sets off to find Sylvie. Then maybe episode 2 is happening at the same time as episode 1 and we see Sylvie's side of the story, how she deals with the aftermath of season 1's finale, and if she also sets off to find Loki, fix the multiverse. And then we return to an episode focused on Loki again, and then we're back to Sylvie.

Basically the first four episodes are spent alternating between two different stories. Loki and Sylvie's and their separate journey to find each other again. Because Tom even teased Loki won't stop searching for Sylvie. And maybe that way we get to see even more of Sylvie's backstory that the creators teased Elissa had written for her. It'd be fun!

And then perhaps they reunite at the end of episode 4, beginning of 5 when things start really heating up again, and while I love the idea of them reuniting very soon, in episode 2 for example, I think this episodes-long pining, their separate travels to find each other again would only make their reunion that more satisfying and amazing.

And I obviously love Tom and Loki and I can never get enough of him, but maybe if he steps back in a few episodes, that gives other less fleshed out characters the chance to get their fair share of screentime to be explored more. We have Ravonna who needs to be fleshed out more. We have Sylvie. We have He Who Remains, B-15, hell, even Mobius.

I don't know if this is real. Chances are, it's not, but if it is, I honestly wouldn't mind it.

That being said, on the off chance that this is actually real I'm just going to stock up on popcorn bc, oh boy will this cause a meltdown.

#let's just keep an eye on this #for the next few weeks #or months #loki series #ask

[bedlamsbard]

I don't know if you're sitll doing the ask thing, but how do you think will thor and loki reunite in the mcu (and how would you do it better)?

I feel...reasonably confident that there is going to be some kind of Thor and Loki interaction sometime in the future; the problem is that I'm also pretty sure it's going to be show!Loki rather than OG!Loki. I don't have anything against show!Loki, it's just for me (and this may be because my default as a writer is to work with multiple versions of the same character within the same story) he's a distinct character from the OG!Loki, and between him and 2014!Gamora and white!Vision it kind of seems like we have a pattern of Marvel killing off a character, bringing in an alternate version of them, and then going, "oh, it's basically the same, right?" obviously we have no idea what they're going to be doing with 2014!Gamora and white!Vision in the future, but that's the vibe I've got.

I don't think there's going to be any Loki in Thor: Love and Thunder, though I do still kind of predict that it's going to be doing multiverse nonsense (fond, I love multiverse nonsense); this is a prediction vaguely based on the Gorr the God-Butcher arc in the comics, where it's time travel nonsense rather than multiverse nonsense, but it's the multiverse Phase 4's set up for right now, so I think they could integrate that very easily. (I mean, easily for me, I don't know what their writers are capable of lol.) Knowing how Marvel functions, however -- I would bet cash money that show!Loki is going to be in a post-credits scene on Thor 4 somehow. (On a craft level, I love how Marvel uses their mid- and post- credits scenes. I don't always think they do it well, but I think it's fascinating.) I also have an outlying suspicion that it could be a different (new) Loki rather than show!Loki; I would love it to be OG!Loki, but that death scene was so final that I don't know that Marvel would undo it. Anyway, I expect a post-credits scene with show!Loki coming in and Thor seeing him, but no dialogue, just the shot of Thor's face. That's what I predict; I'm probably wrong, but you never know. I'd be really surprised if we didn't get Loki in a post-credits scene somewhere; Thor 4 is the most obvious place, but it could be Multiverse of Madness, it could be Quantumania, it could be one of the ones I can't predict because he's not really connected to the others as a character, but that doesn't stop Marvel with their post-credits action. Where it would go from there...I don't know. That really depends on what happens in Thor 4, since we haven't seen Thor since Endgame. Without that piece of info, I can't make a prediction on how this would fit into the long arc of Phase 4 or any of the other Events.

(btw, I'm predicting a Thor: Love and Thunder trailer to drop during the Superbowl, though a second Multiverse of Madness trailer might be more likely.)

How I would do it -- please give me that sweet, sweet multiverse/time travel nonsense with the Gorr the God-Butcher plot. I'd tie it in somewhere with that. (This is unfortunately one of the few comics arcs I've read -- I say "unfortunately" because I firmly believe that the more you know about Marvel comics the worse off you are as an MCU viewer and like. I count myself in that category. Unfortunately.) I have been struggling with the Yonder sequel with how to deal with the IW Loki death problem and coming up with a blank, so I don't actually have a good answer. From what I've seen, I'm a fandom outlier in that I don't think Classic Loki in the show is actually supposed to be OG Loki, no differences; it's one of those things where I see people talking about it and I have a "I don't think we watched the same show" reaction. Anyway, that's to say I don't think his method of surviving works for OG Loki. One could go for the handwaved thing that I did with Thor in Yonder where he was healing, got snapped, got desnapped, and is fine -- which could they do; that would be the easiest way to do it. Obviously I have already done that with Thor so I wouldn't do it again with Loki.

This is just a situation where like -- I don't have enough story context to build a "this is how I would do it with the canon set-up." I mean, we've already seen how I would have done it with the show set-up in Morning -- and I have run main timeline Loki's storyline forward about six times trying to figure out if I can fix the IW/Endgame Loki problem for a Thor reunion and I can't in a way I feel comfortable with because they're different characters and I don't think they're interchangeable, which is really the sticking point for me; I want the same versions of the characters to be interacting. For me, I don't want to slot one version of a character for another and then act like it's the same. Anyway, there's not a good answer to this. It's basically an "I need more context" situation.

#guarujaa #bedlam replies #bedlam watches the mcu

[danddymaro]

Playing with fire | Loki x Reader

Includes Enhanced Reader W/ fire manipulation, and a temper.

Basically Loki Being an Ass

Word Count : 2393

Playing with Fire

She smiled with satisfaction as she continued to clean the counter in small circles, the little powder blue rag leaving the surface with a nice shine that filled her with pride.

All the while, sweet, soft hums of happiness left her as she saw the lovely surface slowly bouncing the sight of what seemed like her reflection.

“You’ve certainly outdone yourself this time (f/n),” she said lowly, grinning at her work with fulfillment, executing joy-filled little claps as a mild cheer that lasted only a few seconds before she went back to work.

Tony walked past the doorway but whirled around as he caught sight of her, tisking at the sight, because, 

how many times has he told her now?

“- I told you, you don't have to do that,” He said with exasperation, pouting down at her as he coolly walked over to her, “ You don't have to pick up a finger here.” He continued, making himself comfortable by leaning his elbows onto the counter, looking at her with tired dark eyes throughout the entire time,

“In fact, even the toile-”

She stopped him by lifting up her hand in a halt sign, the other maintaining the same circular motion,

“I want to,” she said simply, looking over to him with a soft smile that was filled with peace. “It makes me happy,” she added with pleading (e/c) eyes, hoping he’d drop the argument.

“It brings me peace, so please... drop it?” she asked him, giving him the same sweet, begging eyes.

Rolling own his eyes, Stark shrugged, a heavy sigh accompanying the action, “I guess,” He mumbled, displeased nonetheless.

“If you continued to do it after the first few times, I don't know why I keep trying to convince you otherwise,” he added, a halfhearted glare directed at her, “Just don’t overwork yourself,” he pleaded her.

“ - I feel bad enough having you slaving around her,” he murmured with a sheepish upturn of his mouth.

Granted, he appreciated how tenderly she treated their home, but it was to the extent that he felt guilty, almost like he was taking advantage of her.

“Slaving?” she said with a quirked brow, “You have your drinking, and I have my cleaning… yet I’m the one in the wrong?” she said back to him, chuckling all while she shook her head, giggling even more as she saw his expression change at her words, a toothy grin etched onto his face as his eyes were squinted playfully,

“Really Red Hot?” He snickered, watching as she rolled her eyes at the address.

He opened his mouth to speak more when another voice cut through their merriment,

“Ah, Servant Girl,” Loki called out, beckoning the woman to go to him with a lift of his finger, causing her to instantly drop her happy, little expression down south,

“Servant...girl...?” she lowly, all while shooting the man a quick look that dared him to repeat the phrase.

“Yes. servant girl," The long-haired male said in a snobbish manner, “ Did I not just call you?” He questioned her, and by then the little rag in her hand combusted.

‘What is with this guy?’ She wondered while irked.

A seething hot glare was shot directly at the dark-haired prince as she destroyed her little rag, and it gave her all the more reason to be angry.

“Oh no, “ stark muttered, quickly placing a hand to her shoulder, directing her attention from Loki’s lasting gaze and turning her over to him instead,

“ he’s not worth blowing your cap off, just relax,” he advised feeling a cold sweat running down his forehead as his palms that had landed over her shoulders began to grow warmer, indicating that her temperature was rising.

He could feel her body begin to increase in heat, and he had to act fast, taking her mind off of the annoyance that triggered her,

“You don't want to ruin this pretty kitchen do you?” he asked anxiously, sweeping his arm to offer her the grand view of the luxury space.

“Besides...I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.” He further explained, hoping that it was the case, but not entirely too certain about it because after all, it was Loki.

-The same Loki that had in the past bated the Hulk out of Banner.

It was then that her ( e/c) eyes swept left and right to the little place she had dubbed her ‘safe space’ and after a good moment of reflection, she closed her eyes tightly, her harsh pants coming down to mellowing breathes that were both inhaled and exhaled through her nostrils.

“There we go, “ Tony said smiling with relief.

She gritted her teeth, “Okay...I’m fine..” She told him, soon releasing a low breath that seemed to make her deflate, her tense muscles with the blow of air.

“You sure?” he asked her, uncertain.

“Yeah,” She responded back with a lax voice, a slow smile beginning to pave way onto her face, “Sorry about that, “ She said sheepishly, her face glowing as she’d calmed to a state where she was easier to reason with.

‘Gotta be nice,’ She told herself. ‘Technically he’s a guest. One who’s not from here,’ She reasoned.

She then turned back to the prince, the same sweet expression present as she approached him, truly hoping he didn’t get the wrong impression of her.

‘I’m not a horrible person, you have to believe me,’ She thought to herself, ‘It’s just...sometimes...I’m too passionate.’ She went on.

‘I’m really sorry,’ She added while releasing a calmed breath, ‘You didn’t know any better,’ She mused, ‘I don’t know what got over me.’ 

“I’m so sorry about that,” She said with humility, nearly close to bowing her head in shame with how embarrassed she was.

“I’m (f/n) (l/n),” She introduced herself, her weary smile easing into a true, amiable grin.

 She then extended her hand out to him, kindly offering it,

“ I’m a part of the A-”

“- Avengers,” He finished for her, “Yes, I know,” He said while grinning at her, the words falling onto her and causing her to freeze, numbness soon overwhelming her as he took her hand.

‘He knows…’ She thought to herself, ‘Which means,’ She then droned on,

 ‘Which means he PURPOSELY called me that,’ She went on, the gears of her brain working at max capacity, coming to the conclusion in a manner of seconds.

 All while her face began to twitch with annoyance, she could see him slowly form a grin of amusement, one she took in with insult,

‘He thinks he’s so cute…’ She went on, soon glaring at him, ‘What’s his damn problem?!’ She added, hearing him chuckle, the sound of his velvety voice producing such an aggravating, yet warm sound that it frazzled her.

‘He’s doing this on purpose,’ She concluded, watching as every twitch of her face made his eyes glow furthermore, the gems married with amusement.

‘He’s trying to… to,’ stopping herself she bit her tongue, not knowing what his true aim was,  

‘What the hell is he even trying to do, get on my damn nerves?!’ She wondered with dismay.

‘So, You think it’s that easy huh?

You think I’m just some hotheaded punk that can’t stay fucking...uuugggggghhhhhhhh!’ She inwardly shrieked, fighting against the nature she assumed he wanted to become a spectator of.

‘I want to just wipe that stupid grin off his face!’ She thought with malice, ‘But if I do, the pretty boy wins,‘ She contemplated, her mind viscously jumbled, and throughout it all, much to her pleasure, she managed to hold herself steady, not letting the fiery strength take over.

“I hope I get to see more of you!” She chirped back, shoving out the words, subconsciously squeezing his hand.

‘- No I don’t,’ She inwardly added, wanting to wring his neck instead.

“I just know we’ll get along,” She then added with the same glee.

‘- I want you acres from me,’ She maundered darkly.

At the first elated peep, Loki’s brows rose, a chuckle escaping him as he eyed the saccharine smile that was in stark contrast to her vicious (e/c) colored eyes that clearly showed disdain, and it only gave him more reason to fuel her flame.

“(f/n) (l/n),” He then said, taking her warm hand in his before laying a little kiss to her first knuckle,

“A pleasure,“ He told her, enjoying the way her face morphed into complete, and utter shock that left her doe-eyed.

She was then left blubbering, her brain nearly fried by the simple action, not knowing how to take it,

‘Wh-who does he… think he is?’ she asked herself, unsure of just how to feel.

‘No one’s ever done that before,’ She thought to herself, ‘But that doesn’t mean i enjoyed it,’ She then added.

‘I just got caught off guard!’ She reasoned.

Tony chuckled lowly, having only seen the other man’s face throughout the entire exchange in greetings, completely missing her annoyed tick as well as her withheld aggression, only catching sight of the glowing enjoyment in the other man's eyes.

“I hope to see more of you,” Loki then added, withdrawing, and leaving her stunned.

‘Why...Why did he even want me in the first place?’ She asked herself, unsure of what had even transpired between them.

“- Looks like Reindeer Games likes you,” Tony then mused aloud, and it did nothing to help her.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The man alternated between bitter and sweet. 

He was charming even when he was a nuisance, and she detested the way he easily tweaked her. 

Anything he did was sure to make heat rise within her, from his annoying pestering that brought her close to combustion, to the sweet, charming second nature that made her face glow.

He pushed her on edge in more ways than one, and it made it all the more frustrating when he went out of his way to bother her, because sometimes she wanted to choke him, and other times,

‘Other times… I just want to...to do things with you that I don't even understand,’ She thought helplessly, having never felt so bothered by another being.

She was grateful to have learned how to properly control her powers to the degree that most of what he threw at her was shot back with sweetness,

‘Kill ‘em with kindness,’ That was the motto that, and until then, she’d followed to a T. 

But, everything had its breaking point, and as the second month rolled by she found hers,

“ Call me servant girl again you little shit,” She sneered, holding up a tightened fist before him, the little ball shaking with the furiousness she felt.

“ Oh? and what will you do, if I do ... little, servant girl?” he said snickering, nearing her with a confident strut, “Are you going to strike me?” He said while grinning, his two hands held behind his back as he leaned towards her, extending his jaw out subtly, all in a manner that dared her to do so,

“ Because I’d just love to see you try,” he said lowly, challenging her, his emerald eyes glowing as he looked down at her.

 Her already accelerated heart jumped at the glance, forcing a gasp out of her, one she was aware he found amusement in by the sly way he continued to tease her.

Her lips then twitched upwards, not in a show of amusement, but instead a nagging annoyance before she swung at him, which, of course, went straight through him.

“My...You're quite hot-headed,” he said while observing her, making her whip around to him with eyes that glowed just as fiercely as his did,

‘ Hot-headed…

Hot-head…’

She repeated the name over and over, detesting it.

The little nickname made her insides bubble, and as she dwelled in the nickname her body erupted into a heap of flames,

“I AM NOT HOTI-HEADED, IM CALM AND SERENE AND A FRUCKING DELIGHT!”

She screeched, launching herself towards him.

“- All of that foul language.." he muttered, his left hand capturing her wrist in a strong grip, soon pulling her to him before he spun her, forcing her back to his chest.

His right hand then gripped her lower jaw, holding it in a manner that made her lips pucker,

“Such a pretty mouth, and yet such ugly words,” he said amused, releasing the same sweet chuckle that made her insides bubble.

“- I hate you so much,” she said lowly, squirming all the while.

It was rare to be captured, much more, held down by someone else while in her current state, and while it scathed her, it touched her in a way that was indescribable,

‘Do you know how many people have run from me?’ She silently asked him, wondering just why he played with her so much, when she could lose control at any moment.

‘Do you know how many people I’ve hurt?’ She then added, shrinking with a touch of sadness at the remembrance, because she never forgot.

‘Because I’m this way…

Because no matter what I do… I always end up burning…’

“I hate you… so much,” She said in a weaker voice, wearing a small smile that held just a touch of fondness,

‘I hate you for being able to handle me...even at my worst.

I hate you for making me feel so small and weak next to you.

I hate always thinking about you.’

A low, sweet chuckle left him, and during then he wore a teasing little smirk she couldn't see, but could vividly imagine, because she had it ingrained in her mind.

“Ah…” He breathed, “ A shame…,” He murmured, “I love to play with your flame.” He admitted. 

“Your heat...” he then uttered, before falling into silence. His hold and presence disappeared all at once, leaving her wide-eyed and surprised, her face burning with embarrassment.

She whipped around, spinning like a curious dog chasing its tail, her eyes searching for the man with wide-eyed innocence.

“I just can’t stand him, “ She murmured, fuming, by then having been subdued into a less agitated state.

‘Because I can’t think of anything but him.

I want him to play with me as much as he wants, shape me in every way I can be molded.

Loki...why are you so unbearable....so unforgettable?’

#loki laufeyson x y/n #Loki Laufeyson x Reader #loki laufeyson x you #loki laufyson #Loki Laufeyson #loki x reader insert #loki x y/n #loki x female reader #loki x you #loki x reader #loki x fem reader #loki x enhanced reader #loki laufeyson x reader insert #mcu fandom #Marvel MCU #MCU loki #mcu fanfic #MCU #MCU fanfiction #loki (marvel) #marvel fanfic #loki marvel #marvel cinematic universe #marvel #marvel x reader #marvel x y/n #marvel x you #marvel x enhanced reader #enhanced reader #the avengers reader insert

[16woodsequ]

I have three questions about writing fanfiction and you’re the best fanfic writer I’ve seen so I’m going to ask them to you if that‘s alright

1. How do you write a lot in chapters, because I never manage to write more than 1k words about the chapter topic

2. How do you stay motivated for writing a long fic?

3. Do you have any tips about how to deal with a large ensemble of characters?

First of all, I'd like to say how happy and honoured I am for this ask! It made me so happy you thought of me. I'll do my best to answer helpfully.

My response ended up being pretty long, to I'll leave it under the cut.

1.

In general, my chapters are between 3k to 6k. I find 4k-5k is a good range for me. Before I talk about writing more in chapters, I think it is important to say that short chapters are not wrong. Short chapters can be wonderful to read!

If you want to work on writing more, I have a few suggestions. First though, the way my writing style works is I go into a story generally knowing the basic plot points, and I write all the chapters first, before I post them. So keep this in mind, since my techniques might need to be adapted for your style.

When starting a chapter, I have what I call the 'bone and meat' method. To write around 5k words, I find each chapter has enough room to explore 3-5 "events". These are the bones of a chapter.

As an example. I will use chapter five of "Alternatively", because I'm guessing you read that one. (If not you can send another ask with some you've read and I can use those).

The bones of this chapter are:

Prelude/set up to Steve learning about Bucky.

Pierce taking Steve to see Bucky

Steve having a breakdown in the elevator

Steve and Tony talking about it

These are the four main things that needed to happen in this chapter. I don't always start a chapter knowing what will happen at the end, but usually by 500 words in, I've figured out what out of my plot points will be happening in the next 5k of words.

When deciding what will be the bones of a chapter, I find I have two systems. Either I give the reader a satisfying cathartic ending, or I leave them in anticipation.

Chapter five is a good example of a mini-arc within a chapter that ends with a satisfying emotional catharsis. If you think of it along a story plotting graph, the prelude is the exposition, Pierce taking Steve to Bucky is the conflict/rising action, Steve's breakdown is the emotional climax of the chapter, and Tony and Steve's conversation is the falling action/resolution.

The ending event of the chapter feels natural, because while the story isn't finished, the emotions and events of the chapter have been tied together and dealt with for the time being.

An anticipatory ending for a chapter would be more like a cliffhanger, and would probably end near the climax of whatever plot points are happening. (Such as chapter 3 of Alternatively, the emotional climax of the chapter hits right at the end.)

So basically, your overall story has rising action and a climax, but if each chapter is roughly outfitted around that too, then it may be easier to write long chapters.

Once you have the bones of a chapter, all you need to do is add in the meat to fill out whatever word count you are aiming for. If you have written the bones of a chapter, but still aren't at a word count you like, then it is simply a case of adding more depth to what is already happening—showing the emotions of the characters, getting into their head, bringing up past events and relating them to what is currently happening, foreshadowing, describing the scene/senses, etc.

Please know that when I'm writing my chapters, I'm not obsessively planning out the steps of a chapter and thinking of all these things constantly. These are just patterns I've noticed after the fact, so they are not hard and fast rules.

2.

As for how I stay motivated for long stories, the thing that works best for me is writing all the chapters before I post the story. I know this system doesn't work for every author (and believe me, sometimes I really want to post), but I find doing so relieves pressure on me, and I don't feel guilty if I don't write a story for weeks or months because I am working on something else.

That being said, for my large Alternate Timeline series, I didn't have time to write all the chapters ahead of time. By the time I was writing The Alternate Handler, I had about a 10 chapter lead.

Things that helped me stay motivated is finding parts of the story that I really wanted to write. I usually write chronologically, so having moments that I knew where coming and I was excited for helped motivate me to continue.

Also, recognising that I sometimes made things harder for myself. Sometimes I'd be stuck on how to finish a scene, or expressing something, and my writing would slow, until I would realise that sometimes things don't need to be written in exact detail. If you don't know how to get a character to walk out of a room, sometimes you can just end the scene there. Unless something is plot relevant, you can write around it, if it is an issue.

Sometimes, if I'm stuck on a story or a chapter, it helps to take a step back and figure out what the actual blockage is. Often it won't be what I think it is. Sometimes it isn't because I don't know how to write it, or I don't know what to write—sometimes I can't write a scene because I haven't seen the movie in a while, and all I need to do is find the battle on youtube and rewatch it. Sometimes it is because I don't know how an engine works, and I need to either look up the information, or make a note of it and move on to another scene.

And sometimes you just gotta clunk out a scene word after word, because once you do, it will be done, and you can always make it better later. You can't edit what isn't written.

3.

Writing Marvel gives me plenty of opportunity to deal with large casts. Generally what happens is I end up focusing on the relationship between a few main characters, while the other characters have less focus.

In my Alternative Timeline series, the relationships between Steve, Bucky, and Tony are the focus.

Of course, this doesn't mean I want to forget about the other members. You'll notice especially in Bucky and Tony's stories that they have secondary relationships with other people like Natasha, Bruce, Clint, Pepper, Peter, and Nebula. These secondary characters get scenes with the main characters too, kind of on a rotational basis.

So first tip is to trim down how many characters you are focusing on, and how many characters are interacting with each other in each scene.

In fics I will often have Thor be away on Asgard, or Clint and Natasha doing missions, etc, so they don't get underfoot.

That being said, there are times like during group meetings, when you can't avoid having everyone in the same room.

In those times, it is important not to forget who is in the room. I will literally count on my fingers, or write down lists of who is supposed to be at the table, so I can remember.

A good example of this on a small scale is Steve's birthday party in chapter 14 of The Alternate Handler. That one has almost every Avenger but Thor sitting in a circle, playing a game. I had specific moments in mind, so I needed to remember who was sitting by who. I wrote down the names in order so I wouldn't forget, and could properly situate people in my head.

An example on a bigger scale is chapter 26 of The Alternate End. In this chapter, the Avengers have a meeting with practically every other character who was there at the final battle.

Yet again, I pare down the cast a little. T'Challa and Shuri aren't there because they are in Wakanda.

To help keep control of the larger group, I start with a vague idea of where everyone is sitting, and then don't go into deeper detail than I have to.

In the scene, we know the Guardians, Peter, and Thor and Loki are all sitting kind of near each other, but I don't specify who is sitting next to who unless I need to.

I also have Tony looking around the table for a few hundred words, seeing each group, and slowly but surely introducing them to the reader. Tony hasn't seen the whole group for a while, so he has a reason to catch the reader up to speed on what has been happening. While he thinks about the life developments of the people around him, the reader starts to get an idea of who is in the room, and their general mood.

A final tip I often use is staggered entrances. If you have a large group, and something Plot Worthy needs to happen when Character A and B talk, then don't have the meeting ready to start right away.

Have some people already sitting, so that your POV character can process them, then have some more people come in, and then some more. (I do this in chapter 19 of The Alternate End, before the time travel jump.)

With a big group, you need time to show what needs to be shown, so give yourself the space to breathe and give the characters the right amount of attention.

I hope these tips and notes were helpful. Feel free to come back with more questions, or details about your own writing style if what I said doesn't work nicely for you!

And remember, these are just tips, not the golden rule.

Have a great day!

#asks #anon #writing asks #writing tips #writing suggestions #writing help #writing #fanfic writing #story writing #chapter writing #plotting

[r3volutionary-queen]

Trivia Tuesday

Creators: give a “behind the scenes” look at one of your works. This could be things that got removed or changed, the origins of ideas/details, whatever you like!

(Thanks @ao3commentoftheday for the header!)

-+-

I haven’t done one of these in a while. After having a pretty deep Ignition chat with @unlimitedhappylife last night, I thought it might be fun to share some insight.

One thing, if you read with a magnifying glass, you’ll notice in Ignition is that it has layers. Layers on layers on layers.  I also love playing with parallels. One of my favorite examples is the dynamic between Steve and Darcy. Prepare for a long post below of an author’s ramblings.

A big theme in this story is sacrifice. In the start of Ignition we see it play out where Steve is willing to put Darcy at risk by taking her on a secret mission in order to bring back the TeleThor. When they get back to the safe house, successful but with a close call, Thor and Steve have a big argument over it because to Thor, the idea that Steve was so willing to put Darcy, who is infinitely precious to him, in danger is enraging. In their argument, we see Steve state that it was Darcy’s ultimate choice to take the risk and that she has that right.

And Thor struggles with that reality because he loves Darcy like a little sister—she is all he has left.

Later, after Thanos threw down the ultimatum to the Avengers demanding they turn themselves in or he starts killing 50 random citizens a day, we see Steve getting ready to turn himself in to Thanos. He’s ready to sacrifice himself so that 50 citizens can go free because one life for 50 is worth it to him. And we see Darcy have a major issue with that (basically having a similar stance as Thor in the first argument over the idea of sacrifice).

“And if I willingly choose to sit back and let fifty people—fifty lives—be snuffed out, what will my life be worth then?” Steve’s voice was hard and unyielding. “It’s a selfish thing to want to trade fifty innocents for our lives.”

“Says the man who wouldn’t be left behind to drown in the grief,” she snapped, slamming down her mug.

And a little later in their argument...

“Steve, you’re asking me to do the very thing you are unwilling to do: knowingly stand back and let a sacrifice happen. If we’re—you said we’re friends, right?”

He gave her a careful nod, like he was waiting for the trap, and Darcy pressed on.

“Then stop asking me to be okay with losing you.”

And then, later on when the Soul Stone comes into play, I flip the script. Steve gets to experience firsthand what Darcy felt in that kitchen—what it’s like for someone he cares about to decide to put their life at risk.

And suddenly, Steve is no longer okay with the idea. It makes you wonder if the Steve we see later in Ignition would have been as open to the idea of sneaking Darcy out on a secret mission as the earlier Steve was.

Also, everyone loves to get pissed at Clint and I get it, he’s a bit of a dick. But I wanted to write Endgame Clint (minus the Murder spree) and have him be an alternative view on things. And, whether we like him or not, he speaks some pretty hard truth. He calls Steve out on his shit (in an asshole kind of way lol).

“Darcy.”

Clint slid a dangerous look at Steve who was leaning forward trying to get her attention, his hand closed in a tight fist. The archer lifted one cool brow, his voice turning mean. “Yeah, you’re going to get over that coddling shit real fast, Cap. We’ve all got tough decisions to make and a part to play. We’ve known since the moment Loki brought back the stone that there would be a sacrifice and—”

“—and it’s not you being ripped open by an infinity stone every time you touch it.” Steve bit out with real venom, his eyes flashing.

“Maybe if you weren’t just interested in getting your dick wet—”

Darcy flinched, shame washing over her, turning her face a bright red.

And a few paragraphs later...

Steve’s jaw ticked. “I don’t want us to fight, we’ve got a big enough enemy already. We don’t need to add more amongst ourselves. That being said, you do seem awful eager to spill blood that isn’t your own, Barton. That’s where I have my problem,” Steve tried, his tone less defensive.

Clint snorted humorlessly, still clearly riled up. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse, barely more than a rasp, like he had screamed it all out.

“That’s easy for you to say. Didn’t you sneak her off for a fucking mission back at the safehouse? What, now suddenly things are different—you care?”

Bottom line: I love gray areas. I love decisions that aren’t black and white, things that make you think.

Darcy is their only hope at that time of bringing back half the universe. One life for half the universe, is it worth it? Clint doesn’t know Darcy like Steve or Thor do, to him, she is the key to bringing back those he loves and so in his mind, it’s worth it.

Steve had this same conversation with Vision in Infinity War and remember, Vision was okay with sacrifice but Wanda was not (again, it’s different when the sacrifice is not yourself but someone you love).

Anyway, congrats if you read all of that. Welcome to how fucking complicated the storylines and characterizations are in my head. It’s a hot mess most of the time, but I also love this kind of shit.

If this is something folks like, I’d be happy to share any other sort of behind the scenes insights to the story or characters.

Annnnd I’m done 😂

#ignition talk #steve rogers #darcy lewis #clint barton #Thor #characterization #parallels #my writing process #behind the scenes #ao3 #trivia tuesday #sacrfice #writing themes #did this make any sense #probably not #beware #rev is getting philosophical today

[missroonilwazlib]

So I was just randomly thinking about cool ways they could reintroduce AoS characters into the new Marvel tv show lineup, and here’s a few I thought about. (Only going to focus on the original first season cast for now, although I might share my thoughts on where I think characters like Mack and Yo-Yo could go later.)

-Coulson, well this one I could see them doing very easily. In fact, there are technically two ways I could think of that they’d bring him in. Obviously, there’s his Chronicom/LMD version as it stands in the sort of current timeline (obviously not sure how they would explain some of the timeline discrepencies, although that could easily be explained by the quantum realm, as depicted in the show) either way, they could just bring that version of him in to one of the shows (like the Hawkeye show for instance.) in that scenario, they wouldn’t even have to explain to the wider non-AoS audience, how he’s alive, because of the whole “it’s actually a robot version of him” but it would also be rewarding to AoS fans to do it that way.

The other way they could bring him in is through the multiverse, which we already know it’s going to be a thing. While bringing an alternate universe version of him would be the nicest because he would actually be brought back from the dead rather than just brought back as a robot, it wouldn’t be as rewarding to the AoS fans, since he probably wouldn’t have all the AoS history intact. Of course, we could always get the best of both worlds and have both versions of Coulson show up at one point or another in a future Marvel show. I do think that if it’s the second version, the best place for him to show up would be in the Loki show, since that seems to focus on alternate timelines. (Would also be interesting to see Coulson coming face to face with the guy who killed him the first time.) Alternatively could imagine him in a future season of WandaVision, assuming the Multiverse is something it’s heading towards. If it’s just the LMD version, then I could definitely see Coulson showing up in Hawkeye probably.

-Melinda May, another easy one, being that she teaches at Coulson Academy, which probably means she still works for SHIELD. Could see her showing up pretty much anywhere, except for maybe the Loki show. Best place would probably be Hawkeye, or if a tv show spin-off of Sword happens (hopefully starring Monica Rambeau, Darcy Lewis, and Jimmy Woo,) then I could definitely see her as something of a recurring character. (Especially since it was implied in the show that Melinda May knew Woo personally.)

-Daisy Johnson, definitely could see her joining one of the shows with the new superheroes or any shows involving Sword, assuming that’s where she’s working now. Ms. Marvel in particular would be a good place for her to have a recurring role. Could also see her being the character who branches off to the movies, too, along with Coulson.

- Fitz and Simmons, now this one’s a little more tricky because they’re basically semi-retired and have a child. Also, don’t think any of us want to see them put through the ringer after everything they went through in the show. That’s why I’m thinking the best place to have them show up would be to make them recurring or guest star characters in a more comedic show. Which means definitely not Falcon and the Winter Soldier or Hawkeye, which I assume both would be on the more serious side than some of their other lineups. Now, if there’s ever a spin-off series featuring Monica Rambeau, Jimmy Woo, and Darcy Lewis solving crimes, like I mentioned earlier, then this would be by far the best place to reintroduce FitzSimmons to the wider audience. Not only would that keep them out of harm, but it would also allow the actors to return to the old school humor of the first season, which is something I’m sure us AoS fans would like to see. In fact, I feel like that would be a good show to have any AoS character show up in, like May, but I feel as far as which AoS characters would be the most ideally suited to showing up in that kind of spin-off, it would have to be FitzSimmons.

Also, random aside, but another interesting thing I wouldn’t mind seeing, at least with Fitz, is have that evil Doctor version of Fitz show up in something like Loki. De Caestecker did a great job in that role (as much as I hated seeing Fitz be evil in any way.)

-Grant Ward; yeah, sort of a forgotten character in comparison to the others, but he was part of the main cast for the first three seasons, and I almost feel like, if they bring back AoS for another season, he should be integral to it, and it was kind of a missed opportunity not to have him show up anywhere in the last season during all of that time traveling. Now, unlike Coulson, or really any character I mentioned so far, there’s really only one way you COULD bring this character back, and that’s through the multiverse. However, don’t think they could reintroduce him anywhere but in a season 8 reboot of AoS. In fact, if AoS is rebooted, I feel like the focus this time around would have to be on the Multiverse, because while they certainly toyed with the idea a lot in AoS, they were never able to truly explore it, most likely because of what they were and weren’t allowed to do because of the MCU. But since they would be working more closely with Feige and company, then there’s no reason for them not to, and that’s where I think Ward would fit best.

Anyway, those are my thoughts for now. As I said, I’ll probably do another separate post about where I think Mack or Yo-Yo would make the most sense to show up. Hope you all enjoyed reading my musings, though.

#agents of shield #fitzsimmons #daisy johnson #phil coulson #melinda may #leo fitz #jemma simmons #grant ward #aos reboot #random musings

[abanomath]

Retconning Sexuality vs New Characters

One of the usual comments whenever a comic character comes out is “But why don’t they just make new LGBT characters instead of changing old ones” and figured I’d kind of explain why, at least, I support changing old characters. 

(For this discussion I’m going to use Marvel examples because I spent hours doing the pictures for Marvel and don’t want to spend time doing DC too).

The overarching reasons essentially come down to this: Comic characters ride on their old popularity more than people seem to think. And it needs to be acknowledged the role nostalgia plays in comic sales. If it didn’t Marvel wouldn’t go to great lengths to keep bringing back dead characters from the silver age to the 90s, create a timescale specifically to avoid aging their characters, or continually hearken back to old events regularly. DC wouldn’t force Batman into every book under the sun because he has the name recognition. 

For every new character that succeeds, such as Kamala or Miles, dozens disappear into the annals of small Marvel wikia pages. And even those, most really build upon legacies of those mainline heroes. 

With that acknowledgement also comes the problem - most of these characters are white, heterosexual, Christian (and occasionally Jewish). And have been for decades upon decades. Over the past twenty years, there has been a lot of work done to try and rectify this and have even a semblance of representation for the various groups that read comics. 

Someone on Reddit put it best “Marvel/DC are fundamentally about fanfics of fanfics of fanfics”. And like fanfic writers, they are constantly making changes to keep up with the audience. A lot of comic stories are very outdated, and writers update them. 

We see this in all aspects of characters, not just their sexual orientation and race. If Reed Richard’s was written like Stan Lee wrote him, accusations of sexism would be commonplace. Deadpool was basically Slade Wilson, but Marvel, until a new writer came along and changed his personality. The X-men are going through a dramatic shift, a rejuvenation, as they are reinvented after years of being shit on. Cates has recently retconned tons of Symbiote lore and his run is great.

Comic characters are constantly being reinvented to keep stories fresh and interesting to the audience. The difference for what is a central aspect of a character and “forcing change” is time. Northstar wasn’t always gay. He wasn’t allowed to be gay, no character was at Marvel for a long time. He was retconned. Rictor was retconned. Shatterstar was retconned. 

These are some of the oldest, most high profile gay characters at Marvel. And they were retcons. But since it has been some time since the retcons (Northstar now 30 years), they are just parts of the characters. 

I want to use a visual. This is art by the wonder Luciano Vecchio. It's fanart, but it’ll serve the purpose of an example. It's not a complete drawing of every LGBT character in marvel, but it has enough to illustrate the point.

Now I’m going to grey out all the character’s that weren’t originally gay. This means, the characters that either weren’t allowed to be gay (because of Marvel editorials), or were reinvented as LGBT by later writers. You’ll notice immediately how so many of the big recognizable LGBT characters are greyed out. Deadpool, Valkyrie, MAC, Loki, Rictor & Shatterstar, Northstar, Moondragon, etc. Even poor little Tong was retconned in by Fraction. Nor was Karma established as a lesbian for many years after her debut. Mystique and Destiny, despite having subtext, were only confirmed to be lovers in 2019. 

Now I’m going to take out the alternate universe versions and “implied characters” (aka, characters that were implied to be LGBT but not confirmed till much later). Herc is gone (despite being historically bisexual, Marvel insists he is straight in 616), Jessica Drew is gone, Colossus (who is hard to see), is also gone. Daken is really the big “implied” character. Despite kissing a man in his initial run as part of a ploy (and then killing him), Daken’s sexuality wasn’t more explicit for several years until Dark Wolverine, and wasn’t confirmed until 2011. 

Next I’m going to illustrate the “new character” problem. I’m going to grey out all the characters that have less than 40 main appearances. Why 40? It is arbitrary, but the idea is that its enough appearances that means the character has probably been used by multiple writers (though not always the case, such as Vivsector who was basically used almost exclusively by Peter Milligan).

And you see that almost all the characters are now grey. Even this list of 15 characters (Billy, Teddy, Karolina, Bling, Morph, Phylla Vell, POD, Toni Ho, Angela, Anole, Victoria Hand, Graymalkin, Vivsector, Striker and Doop) come with their own caveats. 

Striker, despite meeting the threshold, hasn’t made an actual comic appearance in 5 years, and almost all his appearances were in Avengers Academy (with cameos in other series like Young Avengers). Doop is a complete joke character. Victoria Hand was a Dark Reign character that died 8 years ago and will likely never return. Angela, if you count her real-world circumstances with spawn, is technically a retcon. Even Anole, who has the most appearances of any LGBT character that started LGBTA, has basically been a cameo in recent years. 

And this is the inherent problem with the “well just make new characters”. They have. Several times. What happens to the majority of them is that the second the writer is done with them, they are tossed aside. Why?

Because they don’t have the history to propel them forward. The history that Marvel and DC have based their entire business model around. 

#lgbt #lgbt comics #marvel comics #dc comics #lgbt characters #representation in media #representation #rant #kinda #Billy Kaplan #Teddy altman #Anole #Northstar #Shatterstar #Rictor #Ricstar #young avengers #marvel #dc

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

I suppose part of what’s bothering me about the response to Loki episode 4--the whole show so far, actually, but especially episode 4, and by extension why I’m worried about the final two episodes and the response to them--is that it’s kind of...making me doubt my own perceptions, or grasp of storytelling, or taste, or something.

and yeah, I’m sure some of that is just that I have some issues with having, knowing, and defending my own opinions about literally everything, which I’m fairly sure can be traced back to when I was a kid and I was taught by implication that having opinions or preferences usually equated being fussy/difficult/wrong. (I was the oldest daughter, I was way more conflict-averse than my sister, I often tried to do the peacemaker thing, I was raised evangelical and conservative, my dad is a lawyer with a lot of very strong opinions so he’s good at arguing them anyway, plus everything he believed was pretty much the foundation of my life for many years, it’s a whole mess of factors.) but it’s also...

I mean, I know taste is wildly subjective, and it’s totally possible for two people to come to a text in good faith and still develop very different interpretations, and of course people have different priorities and dealbreakers when it comes to fiction. but things like pacing or writing storytelling in general are a little more objective, right? whether you like a thing, or think it has more good parts than bad, isn’t really relevant to a discussion of whether it’s flawed in more technical ways (although of course the subjective aspects will influence how much importance and attention you assign to various technical aspects).

and, you know, I haven’t spent a lot time actually studying visual media in a non-fandom way, but I have a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in English literature, I taught freshman English for two years as a TA while getting my MA, and I have years of actual professional experience in different kinds of editing. I have at least a halfway-decent idea how to analyze a text, in other words, both for thematic aspects and for more technical ones. I also like to think I’m not a bad writer, in both technical and more subjective ways.

so--I’ve mostly liked the Loki show thus far. some of that is intentional on my part, which I’m aware gives me a bias right off the bat; I’ve basically been determined to like it, so I’ve actively looked for things to like, focused on opinions from people who also found stuff to like, and sought out analysis or alternate takes for stuff I didn’t care for on first watch. but on a purely technical level, I’ve found the show to be...pretty good, in general? some moments of sloppy writing, certainly, especially within the larger context of the MCU, but the vast majority of it seems...pretty competent to me. and if we’re focusing on technical aspects, that’s not so much a matter of opinion--it’s a lot more possible to be just plain wrong, and evidently I can’t tell the difference. (as a side note, “it’s totally okay to like things that are objectively garbage! ☺️“ is, uh, nowhere near as validating/comforting/whatever as a lot of people seem to think it is.)

with episode 4, specifically, my general reaction was one of relief, because I saw in it some payoffs to at least one major thing that had been bothering me from the beginning (i.e., the perception of the TVA as The Good Guys) and something of a return to the more serious tone I preferred from the second half of episode 1. and maybe I just need to be following different people, but my response...doesn’t seem to have been the general fandom reaction at all. in fact, multiple people I followed recently for their takes on the show, people who posted almost entirely positive stuff about the first three episodes and sometimes even engaged in a bit of scolding others who were more critical, kind of hated it, to the point that their negative reaction to episode 4 seems to have colored their reactions to the show in general and now they’re primarily posting criticism too. (and no, their reactions had nothing to do with ship wars, at least in terms of massively preferring one ship over another.) I also follow people who liked episode 4, but for various reasons they haven’t posted about it anywhere near as much, so that doesn’t help much in terms of getting a balanced perspective. and it’s sort of just...messing with my head that there’s such a huge difference in reactions to this episode, in both technical and more subjective terms.

I don’t really have a conclusion for any of this, it’s just bothering me and I don’t really know what to do with it.

#loki show #loki spoilers #marvel cinematic universe #my meta #I...guess? #obviously I need another tag for things that don't really qualify as meta #but still fall under 'talking at some length about a text and I might want to find it later'

[ravenclaw-questions-gone-writing]

Ven Rambles: Abandoned Lore 1

@fanfics-and-fangirling  The lore is long and kinda complicated. I’m sorry, you were probably expecting like a paragraph or 3. I basically wrote an essay on it.

Ok, so I mentioned how it’s a three way interconnected universe and a crossover. The fandoms you need to know are Miraculous Ladybug, Batman (DC), Marvel, and the CLAMP-verses, most specifically Cardcaptor Sakura and possibly XXXHolic which is in the same multi-verse so I’m counting it as one.

Some ten thousands of years ago, several world/dimension traveling magic users - the leading members of which were Clow Reed, the most powerful sorcerer in the multiverse and Ichihara Yuuko, literally known as the space-time witch, and a Loki from an older, alternate dimension - decided to make things easier for others to travel through dimensions while simultaneously creating a safe haven for their kind since there are some worlds where magic users are hunted, either for slavery or death.

They started with connecting universes in 3s, moved onto 7s, and then 9s before creating even more complex varieties of interconnecting field spells. That’s not particularly important because the universes we’re interested is one of the earliest, imperfect versions. I should have but did not make a name for what these interconnected universes are called.

The universes are set in an equilateral triangle with the three universes as cornerstones, the shape that stabilizes the plane at the center - from henceforth will be called the central plane - that is essentially the magical version of an airport. It also has the affect of stabilizing time, so instead of 1 minute to 1 month ratio between the connected universes, it’s a minute to minute thing. And it’s linked to the passage of time on Earth because Midgard is the “center of the universe“ in Marvel-verse, Miraculous-verse doesn’t have aliens (as far as I know), and DC-verse is just outnumbered. Because it’s set in an equilateral triangle, it’s shape is very delicate and a shift or misplacement could cause the entire central plane to deteriorate and collapse.

Because the central plane is entirely made of magic, I imagine it looks something like a cross between a Wuxia world and classic fantasy land. You have magic plants and creatures growing out of random crevices and bizarre weather patterns that are a result of whatever plane guardian - Clow Card creatures, bc Clow Reed would absolutely do something like that and I don’t think the other two wouldn’t really object- is active and doing their job that day. But because of that, central planes is also a treasure trove of magical ingredients.

Over time, this particular one was abandoned in favor the newer, less delicate planes - with different universes as cornerstones - with have higher quality whatever ingredient is needed. The more powerful magic users move out. The remaining magic users 1. don’t know it’s possible to cross dimensions 2. do not have the power to 3. new magic users are brought in after the new planes were created and are sent there instead, completely skipping over introducing our central plane. At any rate, the number of magic users dwindles and at this point in time, only a handful of magic users remember it exists.

(Frick, why does Tumblr keep deleting paragraphs when I just want to delete a sentence. I have to retype all of that and I lost my train of thought. This is the fourth time already.)

By the time the story begins, the ones who know about it are the Al Ghuls, Frigga, the Loki that was born in this Marvel-verse who was introduced to it by his mother for his magic lessons, and anyone who stumbles across the random portals that have begun to appear because the Marvel cornerstone has been slightly shifted out of place by some cosmic event. (Marinette, who’d probably about 8 - 10 years old at this point in time.)

That shift caused the Marvel-verse to start pulling away, which in turn makes the other two cornerstones pull together in an attempt to maintain equilibrium.

Before we go further into that, a quick crash course in magical numerology. The first nine numbers are sacred, each one with a meaning attached to it. The ones we’re interested in for this story are 1, 2, and 3. 1 means unity. 2 means disorder. 3 means harmony.

I apologize for not being able to fully articulate this part but it makes sense in my head and I will do my best to make sense to everyone reading this.

As long as there are 3 cornerstones, the central plane will be stable due to the harmony factor. Problem is, as DC and MLB universes get closer, they begin to merge, made easier by the fact they’ve been bound together for so long. This makes the numbers drop from 3 to a fluctuation between 1 and 2.

Magic begins to separate them as 2+1= 3 rather than a full trinity of 1+1+1=3. Marvel-verse is totally fine (for now) but DCxMLB universes are experiencing some trippy things, news begins to filter between the worlds, abnormal weather patterns, memories merging and many more “ghostly interaction” experiences. For the most part, people can just dismiss it but the magically and spiritually inclined are having the worst time of their lives, especially those with foresight abilities.

The two universes haven’t really merged yet, probably won’t for another 5 years or so, but it’s close enough to be an inevitable event and that causes it to the math to go from 2+1=3 to 1+1=2, which as I have mentioned, destabilizes the central plane. It still exists, but it is now an EXTRA chaotic place, most of the sentient magical flora and fauna are going crazy and the guardian cards are in full panic mode which does affect a whole lot of things. The central plane eventually crumbles and anything inside it at the time vanishes into the in-between of universes, most likely never to be seen again. (Either they die from lack of anything they need to survive, miraculously find their way onto another plane, or descend into the literal hell that is where the most cursed and hated creations ever to exist were thrown into where they must adapt or die, probably die. Unless they have knowledge of the old way of moving between universes, in which case they’d be fine once they’ve re-oriented themselves.)

I hadn’t decided if Marvel-verse will detach completely and accelerate the merger between Maribat verse or if it rebounds and forces another merger which would also accelerate the merger in a different direction. I’d also like to mention that since Earth is where the worlds are linked, that is the place that is most affected, other parts of the universe are like “hey, budge over and make some room for me.“ because before that, it was probably just a void there and only the parts where there is some.

If this isn’t fully coherent, that’s because I was in the middle of world building before angst and crack took over and I had to scrap the idea.

#Maribat #mlb x dc x ccs #mlb x dc x marvel x ccs #maribat x CCS #Ven's ideas #Ven's rambling #multi-crossover #crossover #discarded idea #it evolved into Tropes-verse #should i make this into an outline? #i'm not sure if it makes sense #feel free to ask questions #it's kinda long #sorry about that #this took me all day #bc tumblr kept deleting whole paragraphs #well damn #i might actually come back to this one day #i really liked the idea #but then crack took over #Daminette

[effingunicorns]

MCU time travel for people who still don’t get it two years later

Bruce explains time travel like this:

Think about it: if you travel to the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past, which can't now be changed by your new future!

Now, the basic concept underlying this explanation is simply that events which have been observed to occur cannot be changed in a timeline where they’ve already occurred--you can’t change your past, so you can’t change the past. You can, however, create a second version of the past where events occurred differently, and if you’re very careful you can interfere in the past without changing anything meaningful.

These ideas are still a little hard to visualize, though, so I’ll break them down further beneath the cut.

The creation of alternate timelines is like this: imagine you take a digital copy of The Hobbit and go through it, find-and-replacing every instance of “Gandalf” with “Bob”. Anyone who reads this copy of The Hobbit from here on out will be learning about Bilbo’s adventures with Bob and the dwarves, but that doesn’t change the fact that people reading every other copy of The Hobbit are still reading about Bilbo and Gandalf and the dwarves.

Each point in the Avengers’ time travel adventures where they accidentally influenced the past too much--where Loki escaped, where Thanos decided to leave the past entirely and come after them--is someone replacing a different name in The Hobbit with “Bob”. Each of those universes is the resulting copy of the book, a unique instance which tells a slightly different story without having an impact on all the previous versions that were printed.

Now let’s look at the second means of time travel, the kind where you interfere without changing anything meaningful--what the Avengers originally planned to do with their little time heist. In this instance, instead of replacing “Gandalf” with “Bob” in your copy of The Hobbit, you’re adding a single space to the end of six different paragraphs. This change isn’t wholly invisible--you’re adding six characters to the total character count in any program that monitors such information, and six bytes to the total file size, but both of these numbers are so small compared to the sheer size of the work they’ve been added to that they might as well have always been a part of it, and they’re an invisible character so you won’t notice when you read back either.

Obviously this didn’t entirely go to plan, but in the time periods where they didn’t fuck up badly enough to split off new timelines--2013 Asgard and 1970 New Jersey--the universe can bend a little to accommodate “we’re just not gonna talk about the time a raccoon stabbed me in the neck on Asgard because Captain America swore me to secrecy” or “it looks like some unknown parties tried to sneak in and steal the fancy blue cube, but they’re gone and it’s here on the ground so I guess we’ll just ramp up security for a bit” or however they got put back.

So with all this in mind, we know (or are reasonably certain) that Endgame created two new universe for sure--2012 and 2014--and left two other points slightly modified but broadly unchanged--1970 and 2013. The only point still up for debate is Steve going back to the 1940s, and either possibility has arguments supporting it.

If Steve went back without changing things, 1) he was in a time when it would’ve been easier to assume a new identity, 2) we know little enough about Peggy’s family in the movies that he could’ve been her husband and the father of her children the whole time and she just lied in her museum interview, and 3) at some point he could have discreetly used his knowledge of the future to obtain a replacement for his shield to give Sam when the original was inevitably broken.

(In this scenario, we’re ignoring the events of the Agent Carter series for the following reasons: it’s from a whole collection of spin-offs largely ignored by the MCU main timeline, it contradicts the Agent Carter short which inspired it and which is part of a collection of short films that have otherwise broadly been treated as canon within the MCU, and there were time travel shenanigans in Agents of SHIELD which complicate the whole situation well beyond the scope of this meta.)

If Steve went back and did change things, we haven’t seen the new universe he created, so you can assume if you like that he went hog wild with the changes--saved Bucky the first chance he got, leaned on Howard to be a better father to Tony, put the weight of his reputation into supporting the Civil Rights movement, orchestrated Thanos’s resounding defeat with minimal Avengers casualties, whatever makes you happy.

Both scenarios are equally likely while canon (an actual part of the MCU, not word of god) remains uncommitted. What you do with that knowledge is, again, beyond the scope of this meta, but if you want to change the past of the MCU you’re gonna have to do it the old-fashioned way and write fic like the rest of us.

#meta #marvel #mcu #mcu meta #steve rogers #my stuff #my meta

[iamanartichoke]

Maybe your mutuals, who might already be accepting of of ships like thorki, aren't outraged about sylki, but there's a lot of that going on in the wider fandom on Twitter and Tumblr. Apparently it's basically incest (no one tell them about thorki) and also homophobic and can cause a lot of harm to "communities and minorities". It's all fun and games until someone thinks it's morally acceptable to dimension jump and fuck their alternate self. I swear antis can't hear what they sound like lol. 1/2

I don't remember what I posted to prompt this ask, so I'm sorry if my reply feels a little disjointed! But re: Sylkie - I mean, I can't really speak for my mutuals but the general consensus on my dash has nothing to do with any ~problematic~ elements and everything to do with how cliche and unnecessary the ship is. I'm not really sure how the ship is basically incest?? I mean, I know where the show has landed (that she's a Loki) but interpretation-wise in the fandom, either she is a Loki, or she isn't. If she is, then it would be selfcest, not incest, and if she isn't, then she's basically just some woman he met and fell for. They didn't grow up together, they don't share any genes, they aren't siblings.

Also," the ship is homophobic and can cause harm to communities and minorities" - okay. Lmao. Calling Loki/Sylvie homophobic is, I'm assuming, stemming from outrage that a confirmed bi character would be interested in someone of the opposite sex - but, I mean, what do they think bisexual means? Calling Loki/Sylvie homophobic is actually biphobic af, tbh.

"It's all fun and games until someone thinks it's morally acceptable to dimension jump and fuck their alternate self" should be embroidered on something, bc that is one of the funniest and also "out of context, this would be really fucking weird" comments I've ever seen on this hellsite. Lmao. Bless.

But, yeah. I'm not super here for the ship, but it has nothing to do with any 'cesty reasons. Insofar as it getting in the way of Mobius/Loki - I mean, if you're gonna boycott and hate a ship on behalf of the oppressed, you gotta at least be consistent about it. Mobius/Loki could be (and is, by some) considered an abusive ship. Not only is Mobius verbally abusive to Loki, but Mobius is - and never stops being - in a position of power over Loki. They're not on an even foundation, and furthermore prisoners can't freely and willingly consent to sex/relationships with those holding them prisoner so, congrats, there's your problematic, abusive, r*pe apologist ship, my purity loving friends. Enjoy sitting with those rainbows and candy canes for awhile.

(^^ I don't necessarily see Mobius as abusive toward Loki, for reasons I can't articulate, and I don't feel it's a problematic ship (though the power dynamic actually is a factor), for the record. But this was a fun exercise in critical thinking.)

Anyway, so yeah, I'm not surprised that the purity culture antis are raging, I'm just glad to not be seeing it. Like I said, in my corner of the fandom, the issue with Sylkie is just the context of it - it being cliche, it coming out of nowhere, and it being a plot at all bc Loki didn't need a love interest and Marvel sucks, consistently, at writing good love stories.

I'll probably expand on this in a separate post, but those are basically my issues with the ship as well. I don't really have a problem with it, in theory. I don't disagree that the characters have chemistry, and that they've trauma bonded, in addition to sharing the variant bond that allows them to skip right over a lot of those 'let me slowly trust you and let my guard down as I reveal more and more of myself to you' steps; they get to skip those steps bc each variant already knows them. They know their own walls and protective layers, and they know what's at the core, just by virtue of being two versions of the same person. And in that sense I don't even really have a problem with how quickly it came about, I guess.

But it's like - yeah, this definitely needs its own post, lmao, but basically I feel like it could make sense in theory but doesn't follow in practice. But maybe it will over the next two episodes, who knows.

On that topic, though, I like your speculations. Somewhere between yesterday and today I gave up on my own speculations, though, bc the showrunners confirmed it was romantic and I don't feel like bothering anymore. It would have been cool to see some kind of magic or a plan or even something a little more surface-level than 'I love you bc of reasons,' but, well. Sometimes you order eggs off of the menu and you meant scrambled and you're expecting some fluffy, hot, cooked to near-perfection scrambled eggs and the waiter comes out with a runny sunny-side-up dish and when you're like the fuck is this? they just shrug and say, I don't know, you ordered eggs? And looking at it on the plate - technically not wrong but unappealing, bland, and not what you expected - just leaves you feeling like, oh. Okay. I can plainly see there are no hidden scrambled eggs here, so I guess I'll just eat these.

I'm not longer sure if the ship or the show or both are the wrong eggs, lmao. This shit is why I really enjoyed Loki's love metaphor, even though later interviews w/ the showrunners and Tom framed it as not really being great or profound. Which adds more credence to the possibility that I might just have shit taste in general, but well, there we are.

Thank you for the ask and sorry it took awhile to answer!

#asks #charlotte replies #loki spoilers #tw r*pe mention #tw purity culture #a nonny mouse #loki tv series spoilers #loki series spoilers #this is a terrible response i'm sorry anon lmao