#the point of a timeline is solidifying that characters do age and that time is able to flow! Cuz time's an interesting theme to explore! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sporksaber · 4 months

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This idea has not fully formed in my brain yet, but dpxdc time reversal isekai. This'll be a bit disjointed so bear with me.

Danny phantom and DC are the same universe to start with. Danny goes darkest timeline (not in the dan way. Dan is boring. He does not exist for this purpose) after years of being legally not human and trying to run from the giw while the organizations that should of helped didn't.

In the original timeline he is found out in some horrible way and has to run. He is kidnapped by the giw. He frees himself and finds himself entangled with the batfam. Everything goes wrong, his tenuous relationship with them gets super messed up as none of them are in a good place, and danny is slowly dying. Eventually it all gets broken off.

Danny, completing his journey into insanity, kind of destroyes the universe. And on a little related tangent, when writing these kind of stories all powerful characters are hard to deal with. Characters like clockwork give me the ick because their pulling at the strings robs the characters of their agency and they often fall apart when you look at them critically. So I'm nerfing clockwork. He can see all the timelines, he can watch over them and prevent major fuckery, but he isn't just able to meddle as he pleases.

Like I said, Dan doesn't exist and the whole bit never happened (originally I said that because it's a lame plotline but now it has real reasons) so Danny's never met clockwork. Clockwork takes the burst of power from danny going nuclear and reverses the time stream.

Danny wakes up on the day the event that leads his parents to find out happens. He's unable to avoid it as he's confused and dissriented with a bunch of strange thoughts and images making his head feel fit to burst, but does avoid the giw while running away.

Onto discussions of a main plot point: the romance bc it's always there with time reversal isekais (and with my fics in general tbh). As I'm thinking about it it's hard to decide bc I recently read a bunch that annoyed me into disliking them all and made me step away from the cross over for awhile. But as I was thinking of what to write I came to a decision. I already have one of these for Tim, having it be damian would make all the other characters older than him and it doesn't fit the vibe I'm going for to have danny surrounded by a bunch of adults when he isn't quite one, Jason just isn't fitting in my head rn, so I'm making it Dick. (I did also consider bruce, but I didn't...

The ages I'm going off of: bruce 37 (27), dick 21 (11), Jason 18 (8), Tim 15 (5), Damien 10 (fetus.)

I'm torn. I like the concept of Bruce being the love interest better but i dont know if i like it more than Dick. Like I said, this idea came to me and I immidiently opened a a draft. The idea is not solidified. And as I think more about it, maybe bruce would be better. Because with crossover ships you can slap the timelines together however you want you can change the ages and ship characters as you see fit. My initial reason for not considering bruce was the ages and wanting all the kids to be around for the plot. So I'm going to do the math.

Danny gets his powers at 14. Gets away with only monsters of the week to deal with for the first year. Giw gets new funding and becomes a consistent problem into when he's 16. It's manageable for awhile. I'm going to say he deals with it well enough for them to pull back and regroup around when he turns 17. Six months later and The Incident happens and he's outed. He runs and in his panicked gets captured by the giw.

My initial plan (initial meaning first thought that occurred less than an hour ago) was for him to be kidnapped long enough to be thoroughly traumatized but not super long. Like a few months. And I'd thought his freeing himself might have somthing to do with them kidnapping Jason or somthing. And if I stick to that Dick works really well and I feel like there's some really good content in dick and danny ending up together.

With Bruce I'd have to adjust the timeline more. Both for my batfam agenda and to make it not icky. If bruce is going to be in his mid thirties danny needs to be a minimum of his mid 20s. So I think if I were to go with Bruce I'd extend the kidnapped time to like 2 years (so Danny's like 20) and have him spend some time in the ghost zone before coming back to mess up the giw? I don't know. I'm going to have to write some stuff physically.

This has gotten out of hand and now I'm confused and my head hurts. I think the difference in the decision in unstable young adult danny vs unhinged adult danny in the original time line.

And the other thing I have to consider is not just main timeline but post rewind attempt 2 timeline and how those ages fall.

Dick is easier because it'd be easier to not have to handle that mess. I could have what I want without worrying about an age gap. And I think they could be really compelling. Especially with the idea of Dick seeking out Danny to help Jason, the brother he thinks he failed. Their relationship is originally a will they won't they as Dick has to deal with his family being a mess and desperately not wanting to lose anyone again while danny is in a limbo between who he is and if he's human. And it doesn't work out. It blows up in their faces as circumstances tear them apart and force them to let go of eachother. And you get the forbidden romance trope as batman doesn't trust danny. And then danny loses his shit and everyone dies before the rewind.

I think after the rewind they'd restart quieter. Danny searches out a familiar person after running away. Dick had just become nightwing and set up in bludhaven. Jason is 14 and hasn't died yet. Maybe they'd meet organically. Danny is drawn to Gotham and ends up in bludhaven while skirting around it. He meets the new vigilante who he knows but he also knows he doesn't (his core remembers. The core always remembers). Dick finds himself drawn to this haunted guy he keeps running into, maybe it's his savior complex, maybe it's somthing else entirely. He figures he's some kind of meta, jumpy from escaping someone's experiments.

Eventually Danny will remember Jason. Dick brings him up and Danny's filled with dread. Dick thinks his reaction is wierd. But Jason is eventually saved.

If I were to write it this way I think I'd have a couple of different mystery plot likes that connect thematically but aren't actually connected. (A nightwing vigilante based one of mob bosses or whatever, Danny's whole deal, what the giw is up to, where their money comes from and how that's gotten on the jl radar). But that's all on that for now.

To summarize: they have a very turbulent relationship initially. Dick will eventually be forced to chose the bats over danny. Danny has not properly healed from the giw and slowly spins out of control. After the rewind it's a lot of Dick solving mysteries as Danny tries to heal. The plot would be majorly driven by Dick, Danny's is mostly internal.

Back to the bruce concept (reminder that these two concepts are not connected at all).

The thing with time reversals is that you have to decide in the beginning whether or not the reversal is seperate from the main characters original timeline or if it's continuous. Are they the age they were pre reversal or the age they were reversed to? How much of it do they retain?

With the Bruce option I matched it to bruce being like 6 years older than danny. So pre reversal danny shows up to investigate bruce when his connection to the al ghuls (10yo damien) is established. Danny is 30, jaded, and less human than the other version. He's been warped in a way. The torture was longer and he recovered in the zone. A lot of his friends and family died.

Some relationship stuff happens, some al ghul caused demon stuff happens, the world is destroyed, time is reversed.

I'm fudging the previous timeline a bit. Danny's reveal happens at 19 while he's still in amity taking a gap year to weigh his dreams against his responsibilities. The Incident happens. He's kidnapped for a few years. Escapes durring an expierenment that allows him to slip into the zone. Dedicates himself to destroying the giw.

Danny post reversal retains skills and knowledge but is still his 19 year old self. He returns to the day of the incident, is confused, gets outed, dips but escapes the giw. Goes to Vlad and demands money, resources, and a contract that makes him heir without the downsides of his shady practices. It's important to not at this point, danny is basically bluffing. The kid has no idea what's going on or if it'll work, but he spooks vlad enough for him to agree now, plan how to spin it in his favor later.

So Danny takes a bit to decompress from that shitshow.

Flash forward, bruce wayne notices he has a bit of a (new) stalker problem. Some guy he doesn't know (and Brucie Wayne knows everyone) starts showing up at all his galas and the charity events he goes to. 20 year old Danny Fenton, heir to Masters Enterprises.

Cue Romcom.

This would have a drastically different tone from the other version. Very fun and much lower stakes.

Anyway I'm done for now. I hope you enjoyed this 2 hour unedited rant. Might expand on both separately, I like them both.

#fanfiction #dp x dc au #dpxdc #dp x dc crossover #im not going to tag them individually

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judedeluca · 3 months

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I've put a lot of time and effort into the concept of Roy and Lian Harper becoming associated with the preboot Legion of Super-Heroes, because to me I see the Harpers and the Legionnaires were abandoned by the narrative when it was decided they didn't matter to a larger name character.

The Legionnaires went for several years without needing Superboy in their book. Hell, they basically kicked him out of his own comic. They were one of DC's most popular teams and managed just fine without his ongoing presence.

Roy was developing just fine as Arsenal without Green Arrow's presence. In fact Ollie was dead for most of the period where Roy really came into the name. While Lian grew beyond her role as the cute infant prop she was in the 80s, gaining an insightful personality and a legitimate presence in the Titans books.

Then all of that went down the drain as soon as some editor decided none of it mattered. The Legion was screwed over because DC never bothered to consider what would happen to them after they removed Superboy entirely from Superman's history, at which point the Legion's entire existence was thrown out of whack. Despite their strong fan base and deep lore, DC couldn't stop to factor in how they'd be effected by John Byrne's Man of Steel. It would be over 20 years until DC finally allowed the Legion to be part of Superman's history again, and then that was quickly screwed up when they overhauled his history AGAIN in the New 52.

Roy and Lian were screwed over because DC decided they needed to overhaul Green Arrow and Black Canary thanks to the failure of the GA/BC marriage. Even though Lian had little to do with the Green Arrow comics - she only appeared in ONE Green Arrow before she died - she was deemed unnecessary by editorial. Lian died, and Roy was twisted into a parody of himself to make him another failure to haunt both Ollie and Dinah's consciences. While he was running around with Jade in Deathstroke's bastard Titans, his parental figures were free to mourn how they failed him without ever really grasping just how deep that failure ran.

As of right now, the Legion's status now hinges entirely on how relevant they are to Superman's history. Instead of the childhood friends of Clark Kent, they were replaced by a bastardized copy which gleefully took Jon Kent away from his family to try and mold him into their perceived image of how he needed to be, solidifying the loathed age-up.

The idea of Roy and Lian being a family again seemed like actual poison to DC's editors as Roy spent years deemed an accessory to Red Hood, of all people, while Lian was randomly picked to be Catwoman's new protégé in a poorly executed story which only made the timeline more confusing. Even when it looked like father and daughter could finally reunite, it only happened when it was convenient to Green Arrow's narrative. They don't get to be near each other unless Ollie benefits from the interactions. Roy knew Lian was alive again for over two years but wasn't allowed to do anything to find her until they were both in a Green Arrow book. And they still were torn apart from each other, with Roy's status being used to once more haunt his mentor while Lian's the one doing... whatever.

To me, I've seen how the Legion and the Harpers have both been failed by the narrative of the DCU. Their accomplishments and their roles were deemed inconsequential if they weren't in service of some other A-List character (or B-List in Red Hood's case), and despite how DC keeps promising things will change the same problems keep repeating.

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sensitiveheartless · 2 years

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Hey senhart i have a question how does Dazai act when he is jealous?🤔 And another thing i love how you draw Soukoku is very cute😍

I think that depends a lot on which age we’re talking about and also whether or not he’s in a relationship in this imagining. Also obvs this is just my opinion, I am in no way an authority on his character lol

Long rambling under the cut (also Storm Bringer spoilers)

The thing is, we have seen Dazai jealous, at least in the fifteen arc, right? When Kouyou took Chuuya under her wing and Dazai started screeching about Chuuya being his dog. And you can read his dislike of the Sheep partially as his jealousy over Chuuya giving his loyalty to people who he considers undeserving. So in terms of Dazai when he’s fifteen, he will show jealousy but only layered under lots of bullshit (all of his dog nonsense with Chuuya)

…But that’s when he’s fifteen, and he’s certainly changed quite a bit from then. As for him in the current timeline, this might sound weird, but I don’t think he would necessarily act on any feelings of jealousy at all.

Because here’s the thing, Dazai straight up said that he thinks everything he wants will be lost just as he obtains it, and that was before he lost Ango and Oda. I don’t think he would be particularly surprised to lose anything else at this point, and I don’t think he would be willing to acknowledge that he’s attached enough to feel any such emotion over it.

…Not to mention, as Storm Bringer solidified, Dazai has always actually tried to make sure Chuuya has a choice about things that matter; Using Corruption, giving up a way to confirm his humanity, etc. Even at fifteen, he didn’t actually try to wrangle himself into a position as Chuuya’s superior, even after his shrieking about him becoming Kouyou’s subordinate. So if Chuuya did end up with someone else, I don’t think Dazai would stop him. I don’t think he’d be happy, but I don’t think he would do anything to genuinely try to prevent it.

Really, Dazai is very possessive but in a very weird, particular way—everything is buried under layers of his nonsense. Claiming that he’s been thinking about how to kill Chuuya for every day for the past seven years, telling Chuuya he wants to take a peek inside his head and that he won’t tell anyone else about it, him taunting the Sheep over Chuuya being able to make his own choices, the entirety of the scene where they meet in the basement after four years—it’s very blatant in some ways but everything is all twisted up because Dazai is a goddamn mess, which I say affectionately.

…Now I do think Dazai in an established relationship would be more of a menace, but mostly in a whining/dramatics sense. The way I personally tend to characterize him (which somehow gravitates towards Miette most of the time) he’d just get real clingy.

#I may have put a bit too much thought into this #dazai is just a really interesting character to me #and I love storm bringer dazai he’s such a mess #also thank you anon I’m glad you like the way I draw them!#ask box #bsd #bsd dazai #bsd storm bringer spoilers

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seventeenlovesthree · 1 year

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Fandom Shipping Polls - Mimi Tachikawa Shipping Analysis (Poll I + Poll II)

As pointed out in the main post, every single Chosen Child will get their individual analysis post to check on the status of the current popularity of their ships. With that out of the way, let’s take a look at Mimi, shall we!

The overall results / spreadsheet

Disclaimer: As the “Someone from 01/02″ and “Others” options from poll 1 and the “Someone from 01/02″ option from poll 2 have been excluded from the final analysis due to redundancy reasons and all results were culminated in another “final count”, the results will not be 1:1 to what the polls look like:

Overall votes: 127 (approx. 111 in sum after the exclusion), the main poll got 89 votes, the secondary poll got 38 votes.

The “Others” choice in the main poll received 4% (approx. 4 votes) and 2% (approx. 1 vote) in the secondary poll. The comments/tags did not specify any preferences here (aside from characters that were already part of the main choices).

Ship Analysis

1st place: As you may have guessed, I had already started to prepare the graphic designs a few days before the polls had ended - and I actually did expect Koushiro to win this one, considering how many times he had tied with Jou and actually surpassed him in the votes for the majority of the run-time. However, Jou (22%) picked up speed in the last few days and won with a lead of three votes in the end. Within the tumblr fandom - and especially throughout the last year -, the ship has gained visibly more attention than it has in other internet spheres, especially Japanese centric. Considering how their bond is displayed in the anime, framing their arcs to intertwine at several points in the timeline around the theme of “selfish choices vs own choices”, it is not surprising that they are viewed as viable romantic options for each other as well. They do discover their roles as supporting characters while also supporting each other just splendidly, with tiny hints of (mutual) affection sprinkled in, making it quite an appealing ship.

2nd place: Koushiro (19%) came in as second choice, despite the fact that he had led the poll by a marginal lead several times. And that is not surprising at all - as mentioned in his own analyis already, Koumi is considered to be one of the most popular Koushiro centric ships world-wide. This is due to their set-up in the series as being odd-balls of the same age while simultaneously bouncing off of each other very well as one of the go-to “opposites attract” dynamics. Additionally, Tri canonically made Koushiro crush on Mimi, solidifying a consistent fanon-headcanon (which usually goes the other way round, with her having a crush on him instead). While the portrayal of the crush was not appreciated everywhere equally, they have always been going strong for valid reasons.

3rd place: For the first time, we actually have an undeniable tie, as both Sora and Taichi received the exact same number of votes (14 = 13%). While Sora had comfortably remained as sole heir of the third spot for a long time, Taichi had slowly but steadily caught up to her - leaving several choices behind that will be thoroughly mentioned in the Honorary mentions section. Sora’s lead is easy to explain, as both girls have been supporting each other and growing together throughout the series, displaying a gentle and loving bond despite their obious differences in character and design. Taichi on the other hand may appear to be more of a subtle choice in canon, but enjoys a lot of popularity as potential partner for Mimi in fandom, due to their rare, yet endearing interactions with one another.

Honorary mentions: Here we have quite a number of interesting characters, such as Miyako (who had tied with Taichi for fourth place for quite some time, but ended at 9%), Meiko (7%), Yamato (6%) and Michael (5%). While Miyako, Meiko and Michael are usually shipped with Mimi due to their foundations in the anime - with Miyako and Meiko being clearly enchanted by her and Michael and her bonding during her time in America -, Yamato is among the male fanon favourites. As Honorary mention among the honorary mentions, Takeru (2%) can also be mentioned.

“The 1 vote squad”: This spot is reserved for for Ken (1%) and Wallace (1%).

“0 votes go to...”: Hikari, Daisuke and Iori received 0 votes each.

Annotations: N/A.

What did the other polls say?

Mimi won Jou’s (38%) and Meiko’s (42%) polls, came in second in Koushiro’s (21%) and (technically) Sora’s (18%) and also finished third in Miyako’s (17%), thus making her one of the most represented choices in the “higher tiers”.

While Taichi and Yamato scored higher in Mimi’s own poll, she did not receive as many votes in their respective polls (5% and 4%), but still counts there as Honorable mention.

She was more of a niche choice in the polls for - surprisingly - Iori (2%), Takeru (1%) and Daisuke (1%).

In the polls for Ken and Hikari, she received 0 votes - just like Hikari did in her own, thus ruling Mikari out as viable ship completely.

Notable additions / comments / thoughts

While her polls did not receive the most amount of votes, it is quite clear that Mimi inherits the reputation as currently being one of the most popular Adventure characters overall. With 127 votes, Mimi came in fifth after Taichi, Ken, Takeru and Daisuke, and even though the overall numbers are still just a comparably small sample size, it still makes her the female character with the most votes - and the most diversity in the results so far. While Jou and Koushiro were never threatened to be surpassed as first and second place, the competition between them - as well as between Sora and Taichi as third place - had been tough. Plus, several characters (Miyako, Meiko, Yamato and Michael) surpassed the “niche” option of 1-2 votes, indicating that there is quite some variation in the way how and with whom people like to ship Mimi. There is also the (in my opinion very important) notion that she’s a highly popular choice not only in the polls for the male characters (Jou and Koushiro in particular) but also in the polls for the female characters (Meiko, Sora and Miyako in particular). Which is absolutely backed up by her canon portrayal, as she is having some of her most emotional character development moments during interactions with other female characters - while also displaying quite a tendency to be affectionate and physical with them. With some male characters, she may not share as many interactions in comparison, but due to her personality structure, openness, kindness and sincerity, it is absolutely understandable that the fandom enjoys the potential her relationships offer. Still, I really hope to reach a wider audience if I choose to repeat the polls once the fandom is not as quiet as it is right now.

The comments in the tags have only referred to the already mentioned choices (”MIYAKO” and “SORA”) in all caps in particular). So the “Others” option did not reveal any other potentially preferred suitors. This leaves room for speculation, but usually, the option is reserved for OC ships or for when people prefer to not ship a character at all or when they’re considered asexual (which will definitely be a future option to include as well!)

Other Analysis Posts

Taichi Yagami Shipping Analysis

Yamato Ishida Shipping Analysis

Sora Takenouchi Shipping Analysis

Koushiro Izumi Shipping Analysis

Jou Kido Shipping Analysis

Takeru Takaishi Shipping Analysis

Hikari Yagami Shipping Analysis

Daisuke Motomiya Shipping Analysis

Ken Ichijouji Shipping Analysis

Miyako Inoue Shipping Analysis

Iori Hida Shipping Analysis

Meiko Mochizuki Shipping Analysis

#mimi tachikawa #digimon #digimon polls #digimon shipping #meta #my two cents #my edit #joumi #jyoumi #koumi #somi #soramimi #michi #taimi

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welcometoteyvat · 7 months

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love your thoughts on character’s ages. looking forward to fontaine & sumeru :) i think you described it really well. ages for my are like… they exist but they don’t at the same time.

edit: OH MY GOD TUMBLRS EDITOR FORMATTING SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! if you see random parts of words bolded PLEASE ignore i dont know why it keeps happening

if you're the same anon as the og ask i am so so so sorry about the delay T_T T_T i was drafting my answer and then boom life happened ..... anyways. thank you for enjoying my thoughts wah <3333333 "they exist but they don't" SAME SAME frfr. like the most on-point (internet) discussion I've read on ages is that the stage of life you're in is often the only factor that matters, and that can vary a lot based on like your past experiences and stuff. and from my own perspective this holds true—similarly, in genshin where all the playable characters have jobs it's hard to kind of quantify them into really distinct age ranges tbh. sometimes it's just vibes (unfortunately vibes often includes height bc it's a game w not very diverse model types). anyways! character hcs:

sumeru (sans scaramouche): collei, cyno, tighnari, faruzan, layla, nilou

i think collei has an actual canon age right? unless I'm tripping and fanon has solidified so much in everyone's minds. I still haven't read the manhua <3 but iirc people think she's 12-13 there right. maybe she's like 17 rn, i can see anywhere from 14-16 though. idk anything abt her timeline so these are quite literally guesstimates from vibes and they're likely to be wrong. Layla is such a college girlie, she's like 19-20 and sleep deprived (same fr); begging for her to catch a break on behalf of uni students everywhere. I don't have a set age for Faruzan, I can see her anywhere from 30-40, 26 years old minimum (the redesigns people give her where she looks visibly older are so cool <3). Given she was a pretty well known researcher back in her day and since academia is a long and arduous career choice, I think it makes sense; also if she's like way older than Kaveh appearance wise (≥ 10 years) , even if she hadn't gotten trapped for a century, that would be sick af (their dynamic is impeccable and I think a larger age difference makes it better, sweeter, and funnier). Nilou also feels 19-20 years old to me; no real explanation, she just has a young adult vibe, like someone just out of her teenage years but quite capable at managing her life, although still testing out responsibility for major decisions and stuff like that (age solidarity w yun jin)

iirc cyno was already mahamatra or something WHILE tighnari was still in school; thus this makes cynonari EXTREMELY funny if you're a moral purist who ships it and thinks they fell in love in their akademiya days LOL. jkjk it's also a reasonable interpretation that Cyno became mahamatra at an insanely young age, since uhhh fucked up temple of silence background smth smth and honestly it feels in character for him to go buck wild at a young age like that (person most suited for young collei fr). HOWEVER. personally I think being mahamatra at like 19 is insane—thus I think tighnari's probably 23, cyno might be 27? I don't know if that makes it """""""better""""""" from an age gap standpoint but I also don't really care. Cyno being older but more joking around friends, while Tighnari is the younger kohai but serious and no-nonsense is pretty funny to me and when they're both serious you know you're fucked

fontaine: lyney, lynette, freminet (are those the only medium youth models so far lol. damn)

anyways lyney and lynette are confirmed to be at least 10 from Lyney's story quest. such helpful information I know lol. I'd think they're probably around 19-20? 18 minimum—I personally wouldn't watch 18 year olds do gravity defying magic tricks at the nation's biggest opera house—being like 1 year older doesn't make it any better ofc lol, but I think they're above the teenage threshold bc of that. Kinda fucked up to think about the timeline and house of hearth stuff though with this in mind

Freminet I'd say is around 16; 14 minimum. No thoughts for this just vibes. mmmmm idk when he was adopted into the house, if he's around 4-5 years younger than L+L, and let's say they entered the House when they were maybe 6-9 (my headcanons, is it now possible to piece together an accurate timeline of this from in-game lore??), and that was maybe 3-4 years after freminet entered, he probably was like 5-7 when he entered... wah frem............. poor child I'm giving him a hug (knowing that he's also a killing machine)

#i can like. i can SO CLEARLY see faruzan as a cs professor. her hangout was so incredibly real to me i LOVE her routes there #cyno and tighnari are interesting to me too. like its so funny to go from 'is he committing academic integrity violations' to 'worthy stude #'worthy student unlike the rest of researchers; has morals' to 'husband to annoy w jokes and also trust w my life'#i love them actually. don't think abt their relationship too much but it's really very sweet #and for the record the sumeru girlies (minus collei sorry) are all so dear. i really like their characters i like how they were written #nilou gets quite a lot of shit i think. from people's commentary on her. i still dont agree w her design but i cant stand for ppl who say #'she's just fanservice for traveler' SINCE WHEN DID YOU GET THAT IMPRESSION??? also her character teaser/trailer fucked so hard #ok anyways. enough from me ty for the follow up ask that also pushed me to actually type this up :) <3 #asks #anon ask #ramblings!#teyvat thoughts #headcanons #genshin impact

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spideyykid · 2 years

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A Peter Parker Timeline (MCU)

Because I’m tired of fighting with people in TikTok comment sections.

Peter Benjamin Parker was born August 10th, 2001. This date is a callback to Spider-Man's first appearance in The Amazing Fantasy #15 comics, which premiered in August of 1962. Some iterations have his birthday as August 27th, but Peter’s passport shown in the trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home officially confirms his birthdate. The year of his birth being 2001 coincides with his age throughout different films in the MCU, as well as being listed in the official Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki.

The age in which he would have moved in with his Aunt and Uncle has yet to be determined, as we have not gotten any concrete evidence. What we do know for sure is that Aunt May raised him. Although Uncle Ben has yet to be mentioned by name, Peter alluded to his existence in Spider-Man: Homecoming:

Peter: Ned, May cannot know. I cannot do that to her right now, you know? I mean, everything that’s happened with her, I... Please.

There was also a deleted scene mentioned by John Goldstein, who co-wrote Homecoming with John Francis Daley. This would have the character’s mention Ben Parker by name.

Another confirmation is in the series “What if.” The whole point of that series is that it is canon up until one specific point, in which the story diverges into a new variation.

Watcher: But in another universe, a single choice created a whole new hero. All this to make one Super Soldier….There. That's the moment that created a new universe. When asked to leave the room, Margaret "Peggy" Carter chose to stay. But soon it would be her venturing into the unknown and creating a new world.

In Episode 5 of What if, Peter mentions Ben as someone he has previously lost, confirming his existence in the MCU.

Peter: Practice, I guess. My mom, dad, Uncle Ben, Mr. Stark. Now Happy. I've... I've lost a lot. But my Aunt May says... used to say, that if we don't keep smiling when they can't, then we might as well just be gone, too. And... Well, they'd want us to keep going.

We also see Peter’s briefcase contain the initials “B.F.P”, further solidifying his existence in the MCU.

In the comic’s, Peter’s parents died in a plane crash. In the TASM series, Peter is four years old when his parents say goodbye to him for the last time. From what I could find in my research, Peter’s age varies and has never been confirmed, although it is pretty certain that he was between the ages of infancy up until six years old. This would mean Mary and Richard Parker would have passed away between the years 2001-2007.

We first meet Peter Parker in Civil War. This is where the concrete dates become a little bit harder to track. Most people place Captain America: Civil War in June 2016.

Peter mentions in his conversation with Tony that he's had his powers for 6 months, meaning that he would have been bitten by the spider sometime around January 2016.

This would line up with Peter’s age in Civil War (14 years old.) We also know that there is a two month time skip between Peter being dropped off at his Apartment by Tony Stark and Happy Hogan and the start of Homecoming.

Bronx School of Science, the real life Science School Midtown High is based on, had its first day of classes on September 8th for the 2016-2017 school year. This would place that scene in the car in early July, which still lines up with the approximate timeline of civil war (depending on when this scene takes place in the continuity.)

This also lines up with Peter’s age, as he is supposed to be 14 in Civil War and 15 in Homecoming. Peter would have celebrated a birthday in the two month time jump. This also lends credence to Tony calling Peter a “fourteen year old kid,” after the Ferry incident; as Peter would have been 14 when he initially did his research on him.

The Academic Decathlon is said to take place between October 13th-15th, According to a poster visible in the movie. There is another poster contradicting this information, placing the Academic Decathlon a month earlier in September. This could be a continuity error, but a better in world explanation would be that the poster claiming the competition is in September is from the year previous. The poster itself is shown to be in Peter’s room, and he could have held on to it since it wouldn’t be a jump to assume he was on the team the year before, especially as the teams are established the year prior.

Of course, this is all assumption, it could still very well be taking place in September.

American Homecoming is typically set late September and can happen as late as October. This would place Homecoming sometime late October. If you are working on the assumption that the poster in Peter’s room is the correct date, Homecoming can take place as early as late September, as the Homecoming dance is the last major event in the movie.

Spider-Man Homecoming ends with Peter being offered a spot on the Avengers. This scene can take place anytime in the school year, but presumably not too long after the events of homecoming. I would guess the end of October early November, but that’s fully a guess. It doesn’t seem to be Christmas just yet, with no snow and warmish weather, but it could also take place as far as April/May 2017. Peter would still be fifteen at the end, regardless of this fact.

There is a significant jump between Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War.

Infinity War takes place in April 2018, making Peter Parker 16 years old. From Tony and Peter’s interactions, they have definitely had some level of a maintained relationship in that year/ year and a half between the two movies. This is a topic the producers, Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Holland have all commented on. We don’t know exactly how long there is between the start and the end of Infinity war, but it can’t have been longer than a few days.

Peter was snapped in April 2018, and returned on the same day of the final battle in Endgame, sometime in October 2023. He would still be 16 years old, as you do not age when blipped from existence.

By his literal birthday, Peter would not turn 17 until his next birthday, which is on August 10th, 2024. Biologically, as they weren’t snapped away for exactly 5 years, he would hit 17 sometime in April 2024. For simplicity's sake, we are still going to use his birthday as a marker for his age, which is what they do in the MCU.

Far From Home takes place 8 months after the blip, placing it in June 2024. This lines up with Peter’s age (“I’m 16!” to Beck in the bar) and the fact that School trips to Europe typically take place in June. We don’t know how much time takes place between the end of Far From Home and the end credit scene/the beginning of No Way Home, but we do know it takes place after August 10th, as J.J. Jameson notes that Peter is a “17 year old boy from Queens.” We also know that it takes place before the start of the school year, as we see Peter’s first day of class after the fact. This places the start of the film anytime after August 11th, 2024 and before the beginning of September, 2024.

The final scene of the movie shows that it takes place around Christmas time. Peter has not completed his High School Diploma, and Ned and MJ are still in New York, meaning that their senior year is not yet complete. This places the end of the movie is set in December 2024, right at the same time as Hawkeye. Hawkeye takes place Christmas 2024, as shown by an invitation to Kate’s Mother’s Party, which shows the date as December 2024.

There is another sign that shows that it’s “New Year 2025.”

This date would make Peter Parker 17 at the end of the film, NOT 18 as some people have placed him. The only argument typically used here is the fact that seniors are usually 18, but that’s not taking into account his birthday. He’s an August baby, making him the youngest of his year.

(Take it from me, an August baby myself. I only turned 18 several months after I completed high school.)

There you go, a complete timeline of events. Use it to write fic, win arguments- I don’t care.

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duchess-of-mandalore · 3 years

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Bo-Katan Kryze’s Age

Or rather, it’s not polite to talk about a lady’s age, except in this Lady’s case

How old is Lady Bo-Katan Kryze by the time she appears in The Mandalorian?

We don’t have a canon answer, but we can get pretty close. And yeah . . . it’s a weird answer. But it’s not without reasoning.

Though Bo’s exact age has not been explicitly confirmed, Bo-Katan is in her mid-60s by Mando S2.

How did I get to that conclusion?

1. Dave Filoni has implied that Bo-Katan and Satine are twins, or at least very close in age.

At least twice, Dave, who has said that he has an “extensive genealogy of Clan Kryze,” has referred to a formative event that happened in the Kryze family when "[Bo-Katan] and Satine are six.”

The first is in a YouTube video (source listed in reblog, or search YouTube for the title listed below)

You ask yourself why is [Bo] acting one way & why was [Satine] a pacifist? I have a theoretical backstory that outlines them even at six years old—the two of them—& what transpired to make them who they are today.

- Dave Filoni, The Clone Wars Hangout - February 2, 2013, start at 28:15

The second is in an interview with IGN (source listed in reblog)

I have a rather lengthy backstory that even explains how [Bo] became a Death Watch soldier that goes all the way back to the time she and Satine are six. Because to figure out how she got to that point, and yet Satine is a duchess… I have a whole story about who their father was and what their relationships were and everything with Vizsla, going back for a very long time and how that intersects with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

- Dave FIloni, IGN Interview, 2013

Both of these sources come from shortly after The Lawless aired in 2013. Yes, it is possible that Dave has since backtracked on this idea, however, until we know more, that’s unwarranted speculation (however, we’ll speculate on whether or not Bo could be younger than her mid-60s by the time of The Mandalorian later).

2. Bo-Katan (and Satine) are close in age to Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Even establishing that Bo and Satine are probably twins or close in age, we don’t have a canonical age for Satine in order to solidify how old they are. However, we do know that Satine is close in age to Obi-Wan Kenobi. They fell in love together while they were on the run together during the time that he was a padawan.

Because this is all we know, the reasoning behind Bo’s age has to rely on Obi-Wan birth (57 BBY). I’m willing to allow for a slight difference between Obi-Wan and Satine & Bo, but it can’t be much (especially since we know that Satine begins ruling Mandlore immediately afterwards). Thus, we’ll consider the difference basically negligible at this point, and just assume that Obi-Wan, Satine, and Bo were all born in 57 BBY.

That makes them 38 years old at the time of Satine’s death in The Clone Wars (19 BBY). Bo and Obi-Wan are about 56 when they appear in Rebels (1 BBY), and Bo is about 67 years old by the time of The Mandalorian Season 2 (~10 BBY).

So yeah. That’s definitely different from how Bo looks in Mando S2. Katee Sackhoff is 40 years old (about the same age as Bo in The Clone Wars), but they really did not try to age her up at all.

Could Bo be younger?

So, just for the sake of argument, could I be wrong about all this? Let’s say that Dave has backtracked on his original plan to have Bo and Satine be twins. Could Bo be younger? And by how much?

If Dave backtracks on them being twins, he’ll probably have to backtrack on the story that he had about something happening to Satine and Bo when they were six that had a formative effect on why Satine became a pacifist and Bo a warrior.

(Though it’s only speculation, I’ve always assumed that event was the death of their mother, so in my mind, Bo can’t be more than six years younger than Satine, but I could be totally wrong about that headcanon)

But let’s say that just for the sake of argument, Bo is quite a bit younger. Let’s say she’s 15 years younger than Satine, and that would make her a little older than 50 in The Mandalorian Season 2 (still over 10 years older than Katee). That means that she would have been about 23 years old at the end of The Clone Wars.

There’s nothing that concretely denies this, but we do know that Bo’s nephew, Korkie is about 18 at that same time (he’s listed as being in his “late teens” in Season 5, in the original novelization of The Lawless), and it’s just hard for me to believe that Bo is only five years older than him. She’s clearly much closer to Satine’s age.

Plus, making her that much younger robs Bo and Satine of a connection that they clearly had at one point. In The Lawless, Satine says that it’s been a long time since they’ve seen each other and that there was a time when the two of them weren’t enemies. Again, there’s nothing concrete here, but I’d have a hard time buying an actual enemies-life feud between them when, for example, Satine is 25 and Bo is 10.

Impossible? No. But personally, I just don’t think that’s what Dave is thinking about.

Was her appearance in Mando S2 intentional, or was Bo’s age simply forgotten/ignored?

As I mentioned, Katee Sackhoff is 40 years old, but they really did not try to age her up in The Mandalorian, even though Bo likely is in her mid-60s.

While this is strange, I do not believe that this is an oversight. Dave Filoni loves timelines, and Katee has said that between takes all they would do is sit together and Dave would tell her everything about Bo’s backstory and work through all the timelines with her.

So what could the explanation be? Well ... it could be an out-of-universe explanation. It could have been decided not to age Katee at all in order to make her as instantly recognizable as possible in live-action for those who already knew her from the animated shows (I struggle with this though, because some streaks of grey in her hair would not make her less recognizable, especially with that iconic armor).

However, there could be an in-universe explanation. Instead of having Katee play someone who looks like she’s in her mid-60s, Dave may have decided to have her play someone who doesn’t look like she’s in her mid-60s (but still is).

Some options include: 1. Canonizing the idea that was present in the EU that Star Wars humans simply live longer than regular humans (personally, I’m not a fan of this because we’ve never seen characters aging in a way different from Earth humans before, so I think it would set an awkward precedence).

2. Giving Bo herself a reason for why she looks much younger than her age. The one I’m most fond of is the idea that maybe for most of the time between TCW and Rebels, Bo was stuck in carbonite (perhaps by the Empire for some reason). 15 years in carbonite would allow her to be 65 but act as if she’s 50.

3. Hanging a lantern on the whole situation by saying that “wearing a helmet in the sun really keeps the wrinkles away!” or something like that. Bo’s in great shape. She’s led a healthy (if dangerous) life, but it’s not unheard of for people in their mid-60s to be very athletic. However, I do think that if that’s the fact, it still needs to be explicitly referred to.

Will we learn more in the future?

I sure hope so. Katee has basically confirmed that Bo’s story will be ongoing and she expects/hopes to be in The Mandalorian Season 3. It’s possible we’ll learn more about Bo’s backstory (including how old she is), and hopefully we’ll get an explanation for her appearance.

Katee has said that she desperately wants to know more about the story of Bo and Satine, and how Obi-Wan/Satine’s relationship affected Bo as well. Those are all things that Dave has expressed interest in exploring:

I’d give you more detail [about Bo and Satine’s backstory] except I’d like to tell that story at some point in some form of Star Wars media in the future. I’ve discussed it with a couple people, and we’ve started to architect it into the timeline of Star Wars somewhat, just to see where these things fit.

- Dave FIloni, IGN interview (2013)

So I’m just clinging to the idea that perhaps some day, we’ll be getting more answers. Bo’s appearance in The Mandalorian and bringing her story to a more general Star Wars audience certainly bodes well for more details on the Kryze family story in the future.

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marvelvsmarvel · 3 years

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Here is my petition to bring back Marvel One-Shots

This is a screenshot of Red Skull for Marvel’s What If but it reminded me of things that I used to post about around that age old question “What happened to so-and-so or this-and-that?” That would be a terrible title for a show but I’m reminded that the Marvel One-Shots originally answered such questions. Here’s a sample of 5 Episodes I think would be great to explore!

Episode 1: What happened to the Red Skull?

When we last saw the leader of Hydra in Captain America: The First Avenger he was trying to wield the power of the Tesseract by hand before appearing to be dematerialized into a portal in the sky. When next we see him is a whole WTF moment in Avengers Infinity War appearing more or less as a ghost of Red Skull and claiming to be a guide to the Soul Stone. He makes mention that he once tried to wield the power of the Soul Stone and that it is why he is in the state he is. Story done right? Wrong! Where did the Tesseract send him? What other trouble could he have gotten into or caused along the way?

Episode 2: Secret Avengers

While the Black Widow film helped to fill in some gaps in the timeline between Captain America Civil War and IW there is a whole year of being on the run with Cap and Sam that was not spent with days at the beach. We know that they broke the rest of Team Cap out of the Raft and dropped off Bucky in Wakanda. We know that Clint and Scott cut deals to go home on house arrest but at some point the Vision turned off his tracker to join Wanda and the rest of them where they then make a deal for time away together. But Cap, Sam, and Nat undoubtedly looked battle worn when we see them in the train station in Avengers Endgame. What missions did they do? Which villains did they encounter? How many times did they cross paths with Secretary Ross and his forces during that time?

Episode 3: What happened to Loki prime when he fell off the Bifrost?

Let’s finally settle it! After Loki let go of Thor and fell into the abyss we thought he was dead! But then somehow he randomly shows back up through the Tesseract wielding another infinity stone in his staff and ready to take over the world in Avengers 2012. “I’ve seen worlds you’ve not known. I have grown Odinson in my exile.” What worlds has he seen? How has he grown? There were rumors and speculation that he did die and that Thanos somehow resurrected him. But how and for what purpose? Just examining the character he grew more as a warrior. It didn’t seem like Thanos sent him to Earth to find Infinity Stones but actually to conquer it and he even gave him the Mind Stone on top of his Chitauri army to assist in doing so. But why? Why I say??? I wanna know!!!

Episode 4: Tales to Astonish

There’s about 70 years of MCU history between when Cap went into the ice and then when Hank Pym unofficial-officially resigned from SHIELD. While I would hold out hope that they do a Hank Pym Ant-Man origin story franchise sometime down the road a One-Shot could be a perfect teaser towards that. Was he the only powered person during that time? What kind of threats did he have to handle?

Episode 5: Budapest

I know we all know what “happened” in Budapest now but we were only teased even further to what REALLY happened! Three days hiding out in the train station crawl space that Yelena called “cozy”. But we’re not just talking the time battling the Hungarian Special Forces to survive and get out but exploring the arrow marks left in her apartment wall. Were those intended for her or to help her? There is a good chance that the Hawkeye series touches on his origin story and might even touch on this as well. But this is how Clint and Natasha’s relationship was formed, when Clint made a different call, that would solidify that forever ending on Vormir, and we deserve to see how it happened!

I wanna reiterate that One-Shots kind of show behind the scenes or fill in blanks in a single episode like What If. And again I have no doubts that the MCU has plans to continue to fill in the time gap between the 1940s -1980s hopefully with other heroes. For now there are the upcoming Shang Chi and Eternals films that are going to add more historical context and What If will play out some fun scenarios. So maybe some of these answers may never be answered if not through fanfiction or mere imagination...

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himbobeefcakephd · 3 years

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okay so, opinion time!

weirdly, something that's putting me off about the new part of Lupin is that they're putting these lines next to the characters' mouths and it's aging them... and like, normally I wouldn't have a problem with doing that to a character, but in the case of Lupin III specifically, it feels like that design decision is emblematic of how they're trying to apply long-term overarching continuity, to a set of characters that thrive on being timeless, and having episodic stories that you can watch in mismatched order, without any of them really giving clues that would solidify a strict timeline of events across multiple parts.

like, obviously it matters a little bit what order you watch the show in... different parts have different tone/style/quality/theme/might as well be an AU for just how OOC it'd be to apply this treatment of their character to the continuity of other parts... and you don't want your introduction to Lupin III to give you a poor impression of what the series is capable of. but I feel like the more modern parts are struggling to distinguish themselves from one another stylistically, and they introduce a touch too much realism, which I actually don't appreciate. I don't like that I need so much context to watch this newest installment... and I don't like the color palette! it feels so drab, especially next to the super colorful, visually interesting OP and EDs that bookend each episode. it makes Lupin look really gaudy in his teal jacket when everybody else is dressed in brown, gray, and beige... the world should be meeting Lupin where he is in terms of wacky bullshit, this is fiction, we can have bonkers behavior across the board! and they could still make it a story with more mature themes... just let it be interesting to my eyeballs at the same time.

sorry for whining about this in your inbox, I just don't have anyone else to express this to, you don't have to post it if you don't want to.

I haven’t seen the newest Part 6 episodes so I can’t make any kind of judgement of them yet, and I just started Part 5 so I’m really behind in the more “modern” Lupin offerings haha. Part 4 had some fun episodes and the animation was very nice but I really didn't like some of the character dialogue bcs it painted the crew's relationships to be mmmm distant?? or detached or something??? and Lupin was weirdly adamant about not being into men which seemed pretty out of character to be so hung up on about that he mentioned it several times. I dunno there were just a lot of parts where I was like This tidbit did not spark joy so I let those bits slide out of my brain like I did not see it at all haha

But YEAH I dislike the idea of introducing continuity into the Lupinverse bcs that's never been what it's been about and it seems a weird decision to apply that after 50 years of driving by their seat of the pants in terms of episodic shenanigans??? I thrive in "everything is made up and the points don't matter" type environments for fan art story telling so I really enjoy the idea that Lupin is timeless and can be picked up and plunked down at any point and it's still a fun ride. Hmmmmmmmmm a drab color palette is kinda disappointing to hear, pops is acceptable in his sensible brown trenchcoat but otherwise that's uhhhhhh an interesting choice on the part of the show runners ( ﾟｰﾟ)

But I admit that I'm partial to the cartoony excess of the Part 1 and 2 series tbh, so I would love to see a newer series that leans more into that feral Lupin energy from decades ago and take a step back from heavy "mature" storylines but that's just me lol

(link to the full clip of this scene below)

#lupin the third #asks #anon

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mxtantrights · 3 years

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Steve Rogers, they failed you.

this is gonna be a rant. This will include spoilers at the end for The Falcon and The Winter Solider. (I WILL PUT A READ MORE BEFOR IT! BE WARNED) just based on what's happening in the first episode.

what the writers in Endgame did to Steve Rogers was character assassination. To the point where I really don’t care what happens to him as he is now (old man). I only care about how this effects the characters who care about him like, Sam, Bucky and Sharon. The writers disregarded his whole arc which was about being a man OUT of time and being able to move forward / move on. His arc also included Bucky (like for his trilogy Bucky played a noticeable role in all films it would be dumb to say he isn’t) Steve committed crimes, fought his friends, almost killed his teammate, etc. for this man and somehow I’m supposed to accept that, yeah he’ll go back in time to live out this weird crush fantasy?

Not only is it erasing his whole arc, it’s making Steve out, the person who has lost so much and sacrificed so much, to be an actual simp (derogatory). It’s making him out to be so selfish that he goes back in time to live out a fantasy with a woman who told him on her death bed to move on. (She also told him she had a family, and don’t come in here and say it was him all along because you know his ending was not hatched out during civil war!!)

Think about the logistics for a moment. If he goes back in time and stays there, then he knows things that are going to happen. (I’m not sure if he would or wouldn’t just revert to that ‘timeline’ or whatever later on) He knows what happening to Bucky. He knows what's going to happen to Tony’s Parents. He knows about the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT??? He knows way too much to not do something about it / take part in it. So here’s my take... whatever timeline he jumped to, he ends up changing a lot of shit. Think of it as Steve going on a ‘fix it’ mission. He’s able to do all the things he didn't do. This is the only thing that I can use to justify Steve Rogers abandoning his friends at the moment.

His ‘ending’ also makes no sense to me bc I feel like Peggy Carter would shut his ass down FAST. I’m not saying Steve shouldn’t have went back in time to return the stones. I’m not saying he shouldn't have had that last moment with Peggy. But I think it would’ve been greater to see him have a moment (NOT A WHOLE ASS LIFE) in the past. To be able to say goodbye to that and MOVE ON.

This also would legitimize him passing the shield to Sam. I feel like him coming back an old man just kinda offered up this excuse as to why Sam would take over. ‘Steves old, so it goes to someone else now’. I feel like, if Steve came back (the same age) and gave it to Sam it would solidify that he’s done, because he’s CHOOSING to be. Not because he’s old and he can’t (physically) anymore. And if he was being selfish in THAT way, I could live with it. I could understand his character more.

SPOILER WARNING -

At the end of the first episode we find out that Sam has been DUPED. He gave up the shield because 1) he thought he couldn’t fit it and 2) the Smithsonian wanted it. ONLY to find out that - nah they were just racist. They wanted a white Captain America. Only a white man can fill this role in their eyes. (Which isn’t that surprising, but to see it actually play out , with the added fact that Steve is an old man now, is insane)

If Steve didn’t stay back in time, he could’ve spoken tf up about it. He could have came out explicitly against this. It’s common knowledge that he gave the shield to Sam, especially after the speech Sam gave in this episode. So there has to be some outrage by some people that saw that happen (outside of Sam, Sarah, Bucky, etc.) IMAGINE THE OUTRAGE THERE WOULD’VE BEEN IF THE ‘FIRST’ CAP SPOKE AGAINST THIS!

AND THATS WHY I HATE HIS ENDING!!! Steve Rogers wouldn’t have given up like this, especially when it came it his friends. He left Bucky to grow old alone, and he left Sam to fend against the very government that they knew was shady and twisted. I’m not saying Steve doesn’t deserve to be selfish. But I think we know enough about him (from his trilogies) to know that he wouldn’t have done it like this.

I'm still gonna watch the falcon and the winter solider (duh) but let it be known that if we get some type of funeral scene for Steve I really won't care. I’ll just re-watch TWS or something.

if you made it all the way to the end , thank you for listening to my ramblings. I love Steve Rogers (from first avenger to infinity war). And I can’t wait till we officially get Sam as Cap. ( LETS GOO SAMMY!!!)

#marvel #Steve Rogers #avengers #endgame #the falcon and the winter soldier #the falcon and the winter soldier spoilers #tfatws spoilers #faws spoilers #Sam Wilson #Bucky Barnes #WISHING A VERY SCREW YOU TO ENDGAME WRITERS #ps it should've been Clint in sakovia #Yeah I got time today #avengers endgame #avengers infinity war #the winter soldier

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ramen540k · 3 years

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LGBT Visibility in Media

Sai Hudspeth

s5126293

Media Production

Throughout film’s history, documentaries have served to educate and provide visibility for marginalised communities. One of those communities being the LGBT community. In this essay I will be exploring how two documentaries, “Disclosure” (2020) and “Pray Away” (2021), provide information that supports LGBT activism. In visual media specifically, there has been a history of vilifying the LGBT community. This caused major detriments to these marginalised groups because of the image portrayed in mainstream media and in American culture. “Disclosure” and “Pray Away” utilise two main methods of providing an impactful message, those being the use of clear evidence and personal experiences.

While the status quo has viewed the LGBT community as immoral and dangerous, to change it we must understand why. “Disclosure” does an amazing job of this through providing evidence for why this has become the status quo. Throughout the film, “Disclosure” (Disclosure, 2020) references famous and revered pieces of cinema that start and uphold troupes of trans people. At 17 minutes into the film, Nick Adams, GLAAD Director of Trans Media and Representation is introduced and opens with a quote that perfectly represents the film industry’s relationship with trans people. “For decades, Hollywood has taught audiences how to react to trans people...” This quote, followed by examples such as a scene from “Beyond the Valley of Dolls” (1970) in which a trans man murders another character, a scene from “Terror Train” (1980), and “Psycho” (1960), provides both evidence and a visual connection to his words. He ends the quote with “...and sometimes, they’re being taught that the way to react to us is fear. That we’re dangerous, that we’re psychopaths, that we’re serial killers, that we must be deviants or perverts.” This use of visual evidence tied in with Adams’ rhetoric provides an understanding of why transphobia is such a prevalent issue, especially when it is revealed that a GLAAD study shows 80% of Americans do not know any trans people (Disclosure, 2020). In a BBC interview, Genna Terranova, Director of Programming at the Tribeca Film Festival, said “In the age of social media that’s where the conversation starts and that’s when hopefully change will start...” (Brook, 2014).

“Pray Away” however, focuses on a singular storyline following the inception and dismantling of an organisation called Exodus. By using testimonials from the executives of Exodus, news reels, and photos, and footage from events, “Pray Away” provides a historically accurate timeline of events with a driving emotional force. At 20 minutes and 50 seconds, (Pray Away, 2021) Julie Rodgers begins her testimony. She describes the reality of growing up in a conservative christian household and what messages she heard during her time at home. To preface her experience, the film shows TV reels of the christian conservative activists. These activists include Dr. James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, a televangelist who capitalised on the idea that “Homosexuality is moral perversion and is always wrong, period.” (Pray Away, 2021) Later, it backs up these reels by showing old Exodus ads with testimonials of “ex-gays” saying there is hope, there is a way to get rid of your immoral thoughts and actions (Pray Away, 2021). The use of visual evidence solidifies Julie’s testimony while also providing more context for the current narrative. The use of visual aids in these two films both provide more information and an immediate emotional reaction.

In both “Disclosure” (2020) and “Pray Away” (2021), professionals and prevalent members of the LGBT community are featured to provide both meaningful evidence and emotional connections between the viewers and them. Bianca Leigh at 15 minutes 37 seconds (Disclosure, 2020), talks about her experiences as a young trans woman pre-transition. One of her anecdotes is about the film “Dress to Kill” (1980) in which she identifies with the heroine because of her elegance, and femininity while the villain of the film is portrayed as a man who dresses up as a woman in order to kill the heroine. The juxtaposition of these two characters, one she identified with and the other who is supposed to be a trans person left her speechless and confused, representing perfectly the feelings of a trans person in comparison to how they are portrayed in mainstream media. This allows the audience to experience the thought process and empathy of being a trans person with little to no representation. In Vanity Fair’s interview with Sam Feder, the director of “Disclosure”, they discussed how “Disclosure” had become a pivotal point for people who have never viewed film through the trans perspective. “When I hear people say that it’s affected how they’re seeing things, that’s really exciting because this is a new way of seeing. It’s talking about a way of seeing and its use of the trans perspective as a case study, but it can be applied to every identity.” (Nast, 2021) Later in the film (Disclosure, 2020), Leverne Cox shares her personal experiences of the beginning of her transition. “I was so viciously harassed on the streets of New York early in my transition… I knew I would immediately feel unsafe just walking down the street…” This, further showing the personal connection between the participant’s life experience and an empathetic situation any audience can empathise with.

“Pray Away” however, utilises personal experiences in a different way. The executives of Exodus met with a small group of “survivors” of Exodus and listened to their testimonies. At 1:21:42 (Pray Away, 2021), each executive gives their initial emotional reaction to what the survivors had to say and how it changed their ideas of what Exodus was doing to people. Later, Julie Rodgers provides her experience with coming out of Exodus and back into christianity, reflecting on how detrimental Exodus had been and how she realised that it did not represent her religion as a whole. As the film closes out, each contributor to the film reconciles how much harm they have caused through creating the largest, longest lasting provider of conversion therapy. Rather than show the negative impacts it has had on them, “Pray Away” humanises their mistakes by providing them the opportunity to empathise with the members of their community who they have hurt. It is a moving ending to a horrific story and provides food for thought from those who have not experienced it personally.

Though “Disclosure” (2020) and “Pray Away” (2021) utilised different storytelling methods, both were incredibly informative and moving. By providing visual evidence of the experiences in each film, people are captivated by the sense of reality it provides. Had there been no visual representation of villainous trans characters, or no evidence of the indoctrination caused by Exodus, the films would have been much less impactful. In addition, providing in depth personal experiences and the reconciliation of Exodus’ actions allowed the audience to feel each film on a higher personal level. These two techniques combined made each film easy to consume and easy to understand, especially for those who are not familiar with each topic to begin with. With these topics specifically it is difficult to provide enough base information to ensure people can watch, understand, and not lose interest. “Disclosure” provided more opportunities for engagement by providing constant historical context, while “Pray Away” utilised the individuals’ story lines to break up the story shifting between the present and past.

Sources:

Brook, T., 2014. Activist documentaries: Preaching to the converted?. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20140423-preaching-to-the-converted> [Accessed 8 July 2021].

Disclosure. 2020. [film] Directed by S. Feder. Netflix.

Pray Away. 2021. [film] Directed by K. Stolakis. Netflix.

Nast, C., 2021. Disclosure: The Oscar-Hopeful Documentary That Changed Hollywood. [online] Available at: <https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/02/disclosure-trans-representation-hollywood> [Accessed 18 July 2021].

#queer #lgbt #trans #film #photography #cinema #disclosure

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niko-jpeg · 3 years

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The SAVEd Project Master-Ish Post

“The SAVEd: A self proclaimed “team” of four surviving beings from scrapped, destroyed or collapsed AUs who managed to SAVE shortly before the destruction of said AU, allowing them to exist in a blank void of nothing as something similar to Outcodes. Thanks to the work of W, they were able to meet under very strange circumstances… These four more often than not go by the names ‘Beta’, ‘Ai’, ‘Mist’, and ‘W’.”

Howdy! It's me, Jpeg, and that weird description of a group that I just wrote is a rough run down of the dumbest idea for a project yet. I titled it “the SAVEd project” and if you read the description above, then it may be clear why. In this semi Masterpost (more like a concept post) I’m going to list the characters and their overall bios. If you don't care about this, then I understand. If you don't feel like reading all of it at once, I’ll link the individual posts at another given point in time.

It is also likely that the plot for the project will be written out a while before I make a black and white comic version of it so I have more time to get the character designs down and until then, feel free to ask questions if you're interested. And if youre not and you think Im a stupid wanna be, then thats fine too. I don't care.

In case it is not obvious, this is a fan project made by someone who's not the greatest with digital art since I still don't really know how to use my art program. Ai is the only truly original character of mine and was not based on anyone. Beta, Mist, and W are my takes on characters and the non existent AUs they're from belong to me, but the concept for Gaster, Chara, and Sans belong to Toby Fox. I hope that makes sense. Anyway, I'm going to go in that order too. Beta, Ai, Mist, and W. That's also the order I drew them in lol. Anyway, enjoy (sorry about the fact that this is inevitably going to be a very looooooooooooong post).

Name: “Beta” Dreemurr

Age: 11 (Incapable of aging)

Gender: Male

Soul Type: Red (Determination) fading into Light Blue (Patience)

Physical Features: Hair covers left eye, and scar covers right. He can see through his right eye, just like Frisk can even though their eyes also appear to be closed. Baggy jumper that resembles Classic Chara’s sweater. Locket was a gift from his AUs Asriel. Always walks around barefoot, and is the shortest of the group (not shown to scale in the drawing above). Does not appear to have a mouth physically, no one has any idea how that's supposed to work or if he uses photosynthesis or not-

Personality: Mute, but very expressive otherwise. Likes defenestrating people he doesn't like and is pretty chaotic. Can be chill and a good child sometimes. Sometimes. Always wandering off.

Name: Ai

Age: 16 (Incapable of aging)

Gender: Female

Soul Type: Green (Kindness)

Physical Features: Fluffy medium length tan-ish hair and light blue-grey eyes. Where's a pure white dress and leggings and white boots. Gold star hairpiece is a solidified SAVE point.

Personality: Tries to be serious and the ‘mature adult’ of the group even though there is in fact a real adult in the group. Was kind of adopted by W. Has a very dirty sense of humor and swears a lot.

Name: Mist

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Soul Type: Purple (Perseverance) but like, monster

Physical Features: Looks like any other sans, albeit a little shorter and younger. Sewed jacket and scarf. As he was homeschooled by his very busy father (W) he had a lot of down time in between lessons. (A note about their family. Papyrus is not present in the timeline as he was sent to train with Undyne in the capital. Mist and Papyrus were adopted by W at a young age when they were abandoned by their parents, their father being W’s brother. Papyrus’ nickname is Vapor.)

Personality: Overall relaxed and very dedicated to spending every waking moment of his life doing something. He can't just not do something. Mah bois a little hyperactive. Loves creating things and reading, overall the most open minded and creative of the group. Usually the one coming up with crazy plans and sometimes they even work. Has the slightest bit of survivor's guilt.

Name: “W”.D Gaster

Age: No one really knows...

Gender: Male (He/They)

Soul Type: Gold (Justice) but like, monster

Physical Features: One cracked down the front of his face, the other painted on because he thought it’d be funny. Usually wearing a labcoat of sorts and always keeps I.D on him, even after his AU collapsed. Golden eyes represent his soul type technically speaking, just as Mist’s Purple eyes represent his.

Personality: Tries to be the serious responsible adult but just cant hack it. Will get revenge on people who have previously hurt him or his children. Dad jokes galore. Mist is constantly asking him to not embarrass him in front of his friends and W takes it as a challenge. Sciency and overall just a dad friend, but literally. Rather than the usual "OooO spoopy scary bad dad man" hes "OOOOOOOOOO I see LIGHT am I dead?" crack head energy when hes not trying to set a good example for Mist and the others.

This post took all day to write and I poured two hours of work into each of these pieces of art, so I would appreciate if this post doesn't go to complete waste. So if you made it this far, thank you! If you have any questions, I think my asks are working? I dunno no ones ever asked me anything.

#undertale #Undertale au #the SAVEd Project #God I hope this is an original concept #gaster #w.d gaster #Mist!sans #Sans #Mist #Ai #Beta!Chara #Please this took all week to make this #Support would be appreciated #If people dont show interest then I'll scrap this and try something else #All I need is one person to show interest in this #have a good day!#niko.jpeg

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devourer--of--books · 3 years

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Some time ago (and by “some time” I mean a long ass time, oops) Kate (@pumpkinpaperweight) posted an analysis of gold rush by Taylor Swift tracing parallels to Agatha, which this post is clearly inspired by.

(Go check that one out after you finish reading this post, it’s really good.)

Ever since, I’ve had an entire tagatha x taylor playlist/unfinished post that I don’t think will ever see the light because I’m too lazy to actually finish it. But now I have some spare time and I noticed that,,,, invisible string wasn’t on it.

And that's cause, well, despite the obvious gold fingerglow motif which is very tagatha … you already read the title of the post. It’s more like my own version of of what I would have had happen post-otk (will my epilogue version ever see the light, I wonder) than anything else, but this is my account, in which I am correct all the time and accept no criticism so,,,,

Green was the color of the grass where I used to read at Centennial Park

I used to think I would meet somebody there

Basically, these first two lines are about how Sophie’s egocentrism isolated her and kept her from making genuine connections with people from very early on, until she becomes friends with Agatha and even after that.

Okay, so have you guys ever seen those tiktoks that are like ‘13-year-old me, in black jeans and sneakers, at the beach, reading a book mYstERioUsLy so that when Harry Styles showed up he’d know I’m dIfFeRenT'?

This is the energy I get here.

Like, Sophie in the start of book one doing all those ‘good deeds’ so set herself apart in the eyes of the school master hoping that he’d bring her to the school where she would meet *drumroll* The One.

Most of us have, at some point (I hope, otherwise it was just me and that would be so embarassing), tried and failed to channel that main-character-energy to manifest ourselves into a story much more interesting than whatever is going on in your life at the moment. I feel like at the very core, that’s sort of what Sophie was trying to do? It’s a very juvenile feeling and shows just how little Sophie knew about love overall. Love as it is in fairytale books, as opposed to as it actually is.

She thought herself as above everyone else and thought she was entitled to true, unconditional love, which ended up holding her back and isolating her from everyone in the town, save for Agatha, give or take.

This mindset is what really keeps her from seeing Tedros (and Agatha, and everyone else) as people, rather than characters in her story, and actually connecting with them on a non-superficial level.

Teal was the color of your shirt when you were 16 at the yogurt shop

You used to work at to make a little money

I don’t think this part needs much explaining?

On surface level, Nicola canonically started working at her father’s pub at a very young age to help with family expenses.

If you think about it a little more and contrast it with the previous line, though, it highlights the differences between Sophie and Nicola:

Nic works to help her family, learning responsibility and duty, while Sophie barely ever did anything for her father, both out of vanity (and a superiority complex) and out of spite (which is honestly undeserved all the way up to book 3, when Stefan let Callis die and fucking tried to blame Agatha for returning without Sophie and then guilt-tripped her into going to save her, after which he was dead to me lol). Sophie grew with a princess-like mindset, despite being just slightly better off than Nic, given all the villagers save from Callis and Agatha (due to them being outcasts) seem to have a similar income (with the exception of the beggar which I don’t understand and am probably overthinking about, but honestly, it’s a impossible to leave town and people die on the mill all the time, there's no college or whatever, did none of these assholes offer the beggar a job- I’m getting carried away), while Nicola has to shoulder most of the responsibilities due to her dad being sick.

Also, given the *misogyny* I’d be surprised if Nic didn’t have to do all the housework, as the only girl in her house.

I doubt that the uniform of the pub was teal and given the book timeline she wouldn’t have been 16 in any instances in which Sophie and her met in Gavaldon, but I digress.

Time

Curious time

Gave me no compasses

Gave me no signs

Were there clues I didn't see?

Also kinda self-explanatory in a way?

On one interpretation, it takes Sophie an awful long time to mature and grow into an okay person. She lashed out after Tedros’ rejection because her desire was, when you get down to it, to be loved, even though she didn't understand what love was or how to go about it. She was already loved both by Agatha and by her father but she couldn't see it because the idea of love (romantic, loud, grand-gesture) was so embedded into her, but the clues to it were there all along.

On another, you could argue that Nicola also did not see this coming at all, specially if you consider canon!Nicola rather than fanon!Nicola (why would you, but okay, ignore my Hunter post, go on, stomp on my feelings). Nicola, whose purpose in TCY was to be the new hort-love-interest no one asked for, ending up with her *gag* love-rival? Unexpected, iconic, never done before (never actually done in canon), amazing, mind-blowin-

Bad was the blood of the song in the cab on your first trip to LA

You ate at my favorite spot for dinner

Bad Blood was a smash hit on Taylor’s career, playing on the radio non-stop during the 1989 era, arguably her peak in terms of mainstream pop and radio plays.

The Tale of Sophie and Agatha was the equivalent in this context, as it was all the rage in Gavaldon after book 3; Sophie’s persona as the Dean Of Evil is solidified and everyone in The Woods knows who she is and read her tale, including Nicola (who already knew who she was, but now had a another version of her to compare to the version she already knew, which hm, did not favour Sophie either way).

I think it’s kind of fascinating how parasocial relationships work in the context of SGE because like, the storian is there as an omniscient narrator, but it doesn’t write everything. Like, does it just expose what the people in the tale feel and think only if it suits the plot or do the tales look just like the SGE books, in some sort of fourth wall break or is it like an actual children’s fairytale, where you just get told actions and have to sort of assume motivations? How does that affect public opinion? I don’t think most people would be too keen on stanning Sophie after reading The Tale Of Sophie and Agatha (cause damn, Sophie does a lot of questionable shit there) but canonically, they do, despite her being the villain, which is something I have opinions on (do I ever not have opinions on things?).

Like, sure there would be Nevers stanning her, but honestly, if they read the tale, wouldn't they be more likely to stan Hester or even Agatha? Cause Sophie almost got both Evers and Nevers killed, doomed everyone in The Woods for a guy, and was overall a horrible person with no regard for actual Good or Evil as balanced things? Isn’t this why The Coven sided with Agatha, like, I don’t get it- Is it stanning out of fear? Cause that’s the only sort of explanation I have, specially for people in Gavaldon, but that’s something I’ll go deeper into in another time.

Anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised if Nic’s first class at SGE was about The Tale Of Sophie and Agatha, given she was originally placed in Evil, due to Dovey and Sophie’s bet, and Evil’s school curriculum was under Sophie’s control, so if you think those classes were anything other than the Sophie-Show, you are wrong.

Now, on to headcanon territory, wouldn’t it be poetic if during her first lunch Nic sat at that tree in the middle of the clearing where Agatha and Sophie used to sit? Not only for ship reasons, but the tree is right in the center, which could relate to how Nic was supposed to be half/half?

Bold was the waitress on our three-year trip getting lunch down by the Lakes

She said I looked like an American singer

It’s a real shame that I don’t remember most of TCY. (But is it really?)

This is kinda of my own personal interpretation of what the OTK epilogue should have been like (and so, it's kind of a spoiler for my ever unfinished rewrite sksnsksn).

Imagine if, instead of that horrid school wedding (kill me now, please), they actually held the respective funerals for all the people lost in the Camelot power-struggle (I’ll take a school funeral, but don’t come at me with school weddings or I’ll lose my shit).

Tedros and Agatha, poor traumatized children, are on their way back to Camelot to try and get stuff back under control and do royal things. Sophie is pretty much on her own, with the remaining faculty of the school, as well as the new kids (yeah, Hort’s staying dead, boo hoo, I’m not sorry sbfhbsdb). Nicola will be returning home to Gavaldon soon, since the school schedule is already messed up beyond repair and everyone is taking some time off anyway. She was only staying there until christmas originally, so might as well.

Public opinion on the main trio is kinda weird at the moment:

Tagatha suffered a coup, then a while laterTedros killed the brother of his usurper, whom had been more popular than him, and well, they do tell people that Japeth killed Rhian, but it’s not like they have receipts? Like, there’s no way to fact check that. They could very well have killed Rhian, we, as bystanders, wouldn’t know? You can bet rumors like these don’t just go away.

And Sophie?

Well, I think public opinion on Sophie was already fear-based rather than coming from a place of admiration for her acts. People aren’t sure of her alliances anymore, and don’t really know how to behave around her so they mainly avoid her. Now that Dovey and Hort are dead and everyone else is resuming their quests, she’ll be pretty much on her own to deal with the aftermatch, which is not only sad, but also probably not healthy. She considers staying with Agatha, but she doesn’t want to add more scandal to the Camelot situation.

So she decides to go back to Gavaldon. Not permanently tho. Just to visit her father and take some time off to decide who could balance her well enough to be appointed as Dean Of Good.

She'd choose Agatha, but you know, Agatha is kinda busy. Plus, it'd be good to see her father. Watching most of your parental figures drop like flies really puts things into perspective and maybe (just maybe) there's still something to salvage there.

Not many people know she's at Gavaldon, and that's on purpose. For once, Sophie just wants to be left the fuck alone, so she just tries to lay low and not bring unnecessary attention to heself. It's so unlike her to do so that when she walks in to have lunch at Nicola's pub, no one but Nicola even recognizes her.

And if Nicola keeps her company and accompany her on walks, well, it’s no one’s business. Bonding time? Bonding time.

Time

Mystical time

Cutting me open, then healing me fine

Were there clues I didn't see?

You know what these kids need after this Camelot shitstorm? Therapy, that’s what.

There’s no therapy in The Woods, so friendship will simply have to do. Please sir, let these kids heal.

Nicola was dragged to SGE while her father was sick and knew no one there personally, then got dragged again, now into a power struggle where she almost died multiple times, dated a guy, broke up with a guy and I can’t even remember what else but that sounds like a stressful time considering how close together the events from TCY are compared to TSY. What does she want to do now? Will she become a knight? Will she remain in Gavaldon? Does she have to finish school? How have Hunter and her dad been? Whatever went down with her brothers? Why was she important in the first place? Lots to reflect and self-search.

And Sophie. Oh Sophie.

Sophie fell once again for a ‘get-love-’quick’ scheme, not once, but twice! That is not something easy to look in the face and forgive yourself for.

With Rhian, it backfired by hurting everyone she loved, and after the shit Rafal pulled on her, she should have known better. But can you blame her? It’s not like the Rafal thing left her unscratched: you try being in an abusive relationship with a predator, see if you don’t get some trauma. And instead of doing the hard thing and keeping up the work she had been doing on herself she threw her progress out the window the moment Rhian said what she wanted to hear!

After that went belly-up, she at least managed to help her friends, but then later that backfired and she got brain-washed (are we gonna talk about this? disturbing much?). Then, she got fragile enough for her to attempt to find purpose in her life within Hort’s feelings for her, even if she didn’t actually reciprocate those feelings, simply because she was sure of them and they were familiar.

And later, even Hort was taken away from her.

(Probably for the best, given their attachment had been… precarious, to say the least.)

Therapy, I’m telling you.

A string that pulled me

Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar

Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire

Chains around my demons

Wool to brave the seasons

One single thread of gold tied me to you

These two would be so good for one another.

I think that being alone when you’re going through something is literally the worst you can do, but when you have someone who just…. gets it, you know? They were there too. They understand. It forms a connection.

After OTK, both of them (Sophie mostly) have enough on their plates for them to go down a dark path to a horrible place. But they don’t. Cause they are here for each other and have their support system to help them.

Does that translate into late nights drinking together after the pub shuts down? Maybe. Keeping tabs on each other to make sure they’re sleeping and eating right? Yes. Keeping secrets and confessions? You got it.

And then my friends, begins the pining.

Cause, you know, they’re just gals being pals, gals being gay- wait what.

Nicola probably comes to terms with it first, but thinks Sophie is not interested in her like that (she also suspects that Sophie only sees her as Agatha’s stand-in and will drop her eventually once Agatha is no longer in such high demand.) Sophie is, in classic Sophie-fashion, neck-deep in denial, she’s not a lesbian right? she’s boy crazy, she’s not a lesbian-

Except she never felt like this with any of those boys. The only comparison she has is what she feels for Agatha, this feeling of being heard and seen and understood, but-

But Sophie doesn’t want to kiss Agatha.

And in retrospect, she never wanted to kiss anyone like this either. Tedros who, Rafal who, Rhian who, Hort who, these bitches could never.

Eventually they attend the official tagatha wedding, HELD AT THE CASTLE, as each other’s plus-ones, and well, maybe consider checking my eventual OTK-epilogue for more on this, once it eventually comes out.

Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart

Now I send their babies presents

Very self-explanatory, Tedros may be Sophie’s favorite ex, but he’s still an ex and they will be killing each other if left unchecked for two long unsupervised.

Nicphie as the tagatha baby godparents. Please, YES.

I’m not gonna go into detail because children make me uncomfortable, I wish this was a joke, haha, but yes, Sophie and Nic pic the presents together and they attend the baby shower together. Are they dating, are they just married but don’t know it yet? I wonder. They're just together and no one really knows what's going on.

Gold was the color of the leaves when I showed you around Centennial Park

Hell was the journey but it brought me heaven

You know what’s funny? I didn’t tell you anything between the wedding and the baby shower. Remember how there was an opening for Dean of Good?

Yeah, too late to send in your resumes, position is already filled.

Sophie shows Nic the ropes of being Dean, or at least that’s how she’ll present it, but they’re still sort of figuring it out together. And that's okay.

They spend summers traveling around, christmas in Gavaldon, new years in Camelot and all is well. Their fingerglow colors now match. But it’s, unfortunately not gold.

Time

Wondrous time

Gave me the blues and then purple pink skies

And it's cool

Baby, with me

Yeah, it’s fucking purple.

I can’t remember if Nic has a canon fingerglow color, but I don’t really care much for canon, do I? I just really like the imagery of it, so it’s blue and pink mixed together. Because, you know I’m a symbolic bitch.

And isn't it just so pretty to think

All along there was some

Invisible string

Tying you to me?

Anyway, I am correct, this is the post.

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thenightling · 4 years

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What the Hell IS Daniel Hall?

There seem to be some people on Tumblr very confused about what Daniel Hall is. I guess someone is going to have to try to explain him. Please note: I do not have the annotated Sandman. This is purely from my own observation while reading Sandman.

Okay, very simple answer. Daniel is Dream of The Endless.

He is not still “only twee-years-old.” He is not Morpheus’ “son.” He is not Morpheus’ heir. He IS Dream. We are literally told this in every single comic he has appeared in.

Let me try to explain...

If you’ve read American Gods you know there are multiple versions of Odin based on the different ideas of him. And how the Icelandic Odin is not Mr. Wednesday even though both are Odin, that’s sort of what this is like.

To begin we need to discuss Daniel’s conception. Daniel is the son of Hector Hall and Lyta Hall. Hector is the son of Carter Hall, whom many of you may know as Hawkman. Hector gets reincarnated and so does his wife. And every time they reincarnate, at some point (usually in adulthood) they regain the memories of their previous life . Keep that in mind.

Hector was tricked by Brute and Glob into believing he was The Sandman. Gifted with some of the Sandman powers Hector. There’s just one problem. Hector was dead. Hector is a ghost.

And Lyta, though originally from a defunct (now AU) timeline had at one point been Wonder Woman’s daughter (again, now defunct continuity / AU continuity) which gave her a direct link with The Furies (The Kindly Ones).

Lyta lived with Hector in a false version of The Dreaming inside a boy’s head, in a hazy dream-state. This went on for years. Still pregnant. Any normal child would have been born already but two years had passed and she was still very much with child.

Eventually Morpheus unwraveled the great scam and forced Hector’s spirit to move on.

So the baby conceived in dreams, possibly by a ghost, (as in Sandman lore it’s unclear if Hector was alive when he impregnated Lyta) was born. From the very start Morpheus could sense the child was of The Dreaming and it was clear this was no normal child.

He was gestating in dreams for over two years. That child is more dream than flesh.

When Daniel is finally named, he names himself. This isn’t some cute “Morpheus speaks baby” moment. This is a psychic communication between him and Daniel.

Notice how Morpheus puts his fingertips to Daniel’s forehead there. This is how they psychically communicate. In the Kindly ones he mentions how he and Daniel have “spoken” and this is later confirmed by Daniel, himself in his more mature / True form.

Morpheus did not name Daniel. Daniel named Daniel.

Daniel isn’t a name chosen at random. Daniel picked it for himself because Daniel is the Biblical Oneiromancer. Daniel is the Dream prophet or Dream Scryer of the Bible. He was the prophet who had visions and prophetic dreams foretelling the future and communicating with God. Daniel in Sandman chose this name for himself because he knew who and what he truly was.

Even Lyta (despite her resentment toward Morpheus) knew the name was right for her son and smiled when she repeated it.

Later (though still appearing very human) Daniel is revealed to be what some might call a dreamwalker. A dreamwalker is someone who can lucid dream and enter the dreams of others at will- what is supposed to be a very rare ability. Daniel lucid dreams his way to The House of Secrets and stays for story time.

The striped pyjamas are no accident. This is a nod to Toby in the fantasy film Labyrinth. In Labyrinth Jareth, The Goblin King, does choose Toby as his heir and does plan to turn him into what he is. There is a similarity in that Morpheus knows Daniel will take his rightful place in his realm but he did not pick a human child at random as an heir. Daniel was born into Dream Magick. He literally gestated in it. This is no normal baby.

Now we come to the explanation of what Daniel is.

Morpheus attempts to explain being Dream of The Endless to Matthew, and how all anthropomorphized incarnations of Dream of The Endless are just “aspects” of a greater whole, he uses the metaphor of facets of a giant jewel.

During Sandman: The Kindly Ones, Puck and Loki burn away all that was human from Daniel. Daniel (as a being) survives this transformitive fire because he is clutching a phoenix feather. But he is now transformed. The human part (what human there was) is gone now.

Puck and Loki did not give him that feather. They didn’t even know what he had in his hand at first.

Now here’s where things get weird... er. Before even this, Cluracan has a brief vision of Daniel in his true adult Dream of The Endless form. It’s similar to the illustration of Daniel’s Dream of The Endless form previously shown in Destiny’s book.

Notice here when Morpheus shakes hands with Daniel, we see Daniel in a pose that is most assuredly not a normal pose for a toddler. He is posed like a noble greeting another noble. One hand cupped behind his back as he stands up straight and shakes Morpheus’ hand.

When Morpheus “Dies” Daniel comes into his own. He physically becomes Dream of The Endless corporealized- with all the powers and memories that go with it.

This scene can be interpreted as Daniel finally taking his true and proper form as Dream. Also notice the dreamstone is shrinking. Each dreamstone is made from a piece of Dream’s very soul. Daniel is absorbing that soul fragment into himself and becoming wholly who and what he is supposed to be. He IS Dream of The Endless. That is not a title. That is who and what he truly is.

This is further solidified when in Sandman: The Wake Daniel tells Matthew that HE was the one who stopped The Corinthian from killing him. And that was while Daniel was still in the form of Toddler-Daniel, making it clear that even at that point he wasn’t truly a normal toddler.

Daniel, himself, tries to tell the reader that he IS Dream of The Endless. He’s not Morpheus but he IS Dream. Dream of The Endless isn’t a mere title. It’s WHAT he is. It’s who he is. He’s a facet of this great crystalline entity.

This is made more clear in Sandman: Overture when we see Morpheus meeting the other aspects of Dream. He acknowledges that they are all “him” yet they are autonomous to each other. Self-aware and self-contained yet linked.

Daniel isn’t some human baby that Morpheus randomly chose as his heir. Daniel IS him. Both are shards of the same being. But here’s the thing. Facets of Dream of The Endless CAN exist autonomously from each other. This is how Morpheus was tricked into thinking the cat (Desire) was another aspect of Dream (another shard) in Sandman: Overture.

So you see, when I “Ship” Morpheus with Daniel I speak of two pieces of a greater whole finding a balance, kinship, and understanding with one and other. I speak of two adult aspects of a greater whole. Not a man and child. Not a man and his heir. Not a child who was groomed by a supernatural being. But two supernatural beings with the same knowledge, power, and (for the most part) memory as each other- pieces of the same soul corporealized. Both connected by being facets of the great jewel that is Dream of The Endless yet autonomous to each other.

Even if Daniel had been human he would be pushing thirty-years-old right now. Characters in Vertigo Comics were aging at real-world speed (until they switched over to DC Black label, which was only a few months ago). This is no three-year-old, folks.

Now for a hypothetical.

Morpheus would be the younger of the two as in my “shipping” of the duo requires Daniel to have resurrected Morpheus as a dream entity. As a dream entity Morpheus would no longer quite be Dream of the Endless anymore but free from that role in his own “death” as Dream of The Endless.

I feel this is what happened- that he became a dream entity posthumously. Notice his appearance in Hob’s dream in Sandman: The Wake. He was there with Destruction. Hob did not know who Destruction was other than a random street artist he saw once. he did not know Destruction’s connection to Morpheus. There is only one explanation for that dream he had of them. The only explanation is that it truly was Morpheus in his dream, brought back as a dream entity but dead as “Dream of The Endless.”

If Morpheus exists as a dream entity now, that’s Daniel-Dream’s doing. And therefor Daniel is technically the older of the two now, as Morpheus had to be recreated to become this dream entity. (Sort of like how Matthew became Dream’s raven.)

Morpheus may have his ancient memories and knowledge (as Daniel does as well) but in his current state (as a dream entity) Morpheus would technically be the younger, at least in that form.

There. That’s the best way I can explain it.

I hope I have that right.

#Neil Gaiman's The Sandman #The Sandman Universe #The Dreaming #Daniel Hall #Morpheus #Dream of The Endless #Neil Gaiman #Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Universe

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benmparks · 3 years

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The Brown Family Tree

I’m going to start cross posting stuff from my Patreon over here! You can go over to my Patreon page to subscribe for early access to more posts like these.

A little bit of backstory before I jump into it, I am currently working on revising my novel that will be the first official A.L. High novel. A.L. High is a story concept world or whatever that I have been crafting forever, and this post talks more about the family central to the whole thing! If your curious about the rest of the story, I have more posts on my Patreon discussing the main characters and other stuff.

Full post below!

The backbone of the overarching story of A.L. High is the Brown family. Beyond the plot of the book I am working on now, there are several storylines following other members of this big family. As I’ve discussed, the first book focuses on the twins Harriette and Collin brown, and their cousin Fedora Baker. When working on this draft, I wanted to sprinkle in more interactions with the older Brown siblings to craft the narrative that the twins come from a big family and were two of the youngest in that family. I couldn’t do that without really understanding who these siblings are, and where they’re at in life which brings us to my point today: The Brown Family Tree.

So, who is the Brown family beyond Harriette and Collin? Let’s see.

Leslie Brown - Mother

Leslie is the picture of a perfect mother, designed to be the ideal mother figure to contrast Fedora's own struggling relationship with her mom. Her outward design is heavily based on my own mom, because what is more motherly than that. Historically, she was a doctor, but in the most recent iteration of her character she owns a restaurant in town and is passionate about local, organic, and healthy dining. She cares very deeply about other people, which makes her a fantastic mother to anyone who needs one.

Grayson Brown - Father

Grayson and Leslie met in college and got married shortly after graduating and moved back to his hometown of Allen Lake. He was a police officer, and died of a sudden heart attack shortly after the twins were born. When alive, he was your typical father figure who spent most of his time at work but tried hard to maintain a strong relationship with his kids. Having grown up in poverty, he was determined to steer his own family in a different direction even if that meant sacrificing personal time with his kids and wife. He was successful, though, his family was one of the more well off families in the town.

Eric Brown - Son

Eric is the oldest of the seven kids, and the "trouble child of the family". He barely graduated high school, focusing more on his social life and video games than his studies. Opting out of college, he hopped from minimum wage job to minimum wage job until he finally landed a good paying job in Allen Lake’s last local factory. He dates around a lot, but struggles to make any real connections. Possibly because he never really got over his highschool sweetheart (hint hint, nudge nudge. A story?)

Robert "Bobby" Brown - Son

The second oldest, Bobby idolized his older brother despite his lack of ambition. Bobby only went to college because he was offered a track scholarship, along with his own high school sweetheart. Changing majors a bunch of times, he ended up graduating with a business degree and went on to manage a local gym. He is still with his girlfriend, living together in a casual situation that his family worries will never grow past that stage.

And yes, I did consider changing his name so it wasn't Bobby Brown, but he is too much of a Bobby for that.

Grayson Brown Jr. - Son

Grayson was the third oldest, but he always felt like the child of the family due to the large age gap between him and the twins. It felt like him, Bobby, and Erik were one group, and the pair of twins were another. Grayson was the prodigal son who surprised everyone when, after graduating high school early, he decided to take a couple gap years to do some outreach in developing countries. In the timeline of the first novel, he is studying environmental policy in Denmark.

Harriette Brown - Daughter

We’ve talked about her, but here’s a lil placeholder to show her as a part of the family.

Collin Brown - Son

Ditto.

Winnipeg Brown - Daughter

One half of the youngest set of twins. She goes by Winnie in the books. These two are barely characters. I could flesh them out, admittedly, but they’re just kids. I will say, they were a surprise to both Leslie and Grayson Sr, having thought they were past having more kids. After Grayson passed, Leslie saw them as a gift to keep her busy during those tough times.

Penelope Brown - Daughter

The other half of the twins, who I believe goes by Penny primarily in the books.

A Couple Other Notes on the Extended Family

As I’ve discussed, Fedora is Harriette and Collin’s cousin. So, her mother Laura is Leslie’s one and only sister. They have a whole story, which you can read some of in my short story collection. Perhaps, if the people wanted it, I would post their story “My Sister’s Future Husband” here....?

Their mom has no name, but has a story. I don’t want to give too much of it away, because it is also touched on in that short story but let’s just say she was a younger, incredibly reluctant, mother. Not much unlike Fedora’s mother, I guess the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, huh...

Fedora’s family also consists of Laura’s husband, David, and his son Bentley who I believe I discussed in another post. I will say here, a little exclusive hidden in this weird post, that Bentley’s story is probably the next book.

Last point, Fedora’s friend Bryan is also her cousin. In the original canon, there was a good reason for him being in the same town as her, but in this one we just toss it aside as a crazy coincidence because I do not remember it. Bryan’s dad is Fedora’s dad’s brother, and they have a whole family that also has a story.

Conclusion

My point with all of this was to introduce the Brown family as a whole unit, and solidify the stories of the siblings who make quick appearances in this novel, while also displaying the wide breadth of stories that A.L. High as a concept captures. I hope any of this made sense, since it was completely self indulgent, but I want to keep you guys posted on everything that is A.L. High as I continued to work on the first novel.

Thanks for reading this far! Stay tuned for more A.L. High related news, including perhaps, a new name..................

#writing #writing community #story #stories #blog #blog post #al high #mine

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