#this is not a sequel or follow up to the comic or anything this was drawn first and then i remembered the jump in the water tiktoks

[dissidiawol]

#this is not a sequel or follow up to the comic or anything this was drawn first and then i remembered the jump in the water tiktoks #silver the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #sonic 06 #sth #temporary art tag #digibroney

[pokeberry5]

your tim is soooooooo beautiful i can’t stop looking at him 😍

do you have any good tim whump fic recs? like the classic comm cuts out when he’s in trouble or really anything

(thank you!! im glad u like my tim art)

(in reference to this, where i mentioned liking whump fics where tim ends up on the ropes alone and his comm cuts out)

i was digging through my reading history to try to find some recs and it seems??? i may have extrapolated fics based on what i wanted to read rip

i did still put some fic recs together! but these are slightly to the left of your original requests. i'm gonna put them in order of relevancy. broad warning to please read the tags on all of these

Little Pig, Little Pig, Let Me In by nierembergia

tim's on the line with damian when suddenly a harmless-seeming interaction at a gala turns sinister (wip)

buy the ticket, take the ride

wherein tim is attempting to deal with things on his own after finding himself alone in vegas, at some point calls jason to "consult" him about blood spatters, and then has to hang up on him because he's getting shot at

the days of theft (no more) by SilverSkiesAtMidnight

gen omegaverse, jason takes tim and in the process snaps the bond between bruce and tim. including this one because the pack bond snapping between bruce and tim has, to me, the same emotional impact of a comm getting caught (wip)

Into the Brighter Night by shoalsea

the set up of this fic is tim manipulating the bats into following a plan he misrepresented and then purposefully going dark, although the majority of the fic deals with the interpersonal fallout of tim's actions (complete)

children of the stars by Scarlet_Ribbons

jason takes tim in because jack drake's a piece of shit and ends up doing his own growing in the process. not sure how to explain why i'm including this without spoiling it, but there is a Big Moment later in the fic that to me is equivalent to tim purposely cutting his comms off to deal with a situation himself (wip)

Call to a Lonely Earth by Drag0nst0rm

in the midst of brucequest, tim ends up on an earth where there are no longer any children and bruce has lost both his sons. i'm mostly including this one because i like it a lot, but—mild spoiler—tim does make a call explaining what he presents as a hopeless situation that he can't be saved from and then hangs up! (first fic is complete but sequel isn't)

also, while it doesn't quite have the same emotional force of what i was looking for, detective comics (1940) #698-99 is where i originally got the idea from and it does feature protective dick and alvin draper!

#tim drake #dc #fic rec #asks #red talks #THANK YOU FOR THE ASKS THO #i hope these are still ok #i love all these fics!! they're just not as relevant to what i originally wanted #i would kill for a fic like what i was thinking about #also this took a bit to put together bc i read an obscene amount of tim-centric fic in a three month haze during the summer of 2022 #and i never bookmark anything #AND THE RANKINGS OF FICS HAVE CHANGED SINCE THEN #this was very close to becoming a rec list of tim centric fics containing emotionally charged “phone calls” but i held myself back #im also pretty sure have of these are quite well-known already #i would also recommend silverskiesatmidnight and scarlet_ribbons more broadly for their tim-centric angst

[lynaferns]

Birth from an Eclipse

Cradle

I had this idea for a while for the forest elves au. Please tell me what you think, I'd apreciate some feedback about composition, colors, storytelling, etc. I want to improve at making comics.

I didn't make a sketch or anything for this, I started with colors and random experiments and the pages came one after the other, so maybe the narrative is a little weird(?

I have an idea for maybe a part two(??, but I don't promise anything, if I don't feel it follows up right I'm probably not making a sequel to this.

Now I'm gonna rest my hand and not draw for a few days.

The comic in strips.

I was going to make it one strip to see how it looked like but the image was really long and it scared me so I cut it in two

#my art #digital art #comic #forest elves au #elves of the forest au #idk if tag the characters #??? #I mean #they are in the drop but are not recognizable so #technically??? #bro idk #I could still tag... #elf sun #elf moon #I guesssss?

[stealingpotatoes]

And I'll Go With You

Summary: After finding out about their long lost family, the Naberries invite Luke & Leia to the family home for a traditional Naboo dinner. Leia’s feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all.

(sequel to my pooja meets the twins comic that got too long (nearly 3k) and turned into a fic instead of a 2nd comic!!) -- [also on ao3!]

--

It wasn’t like Luke had been eating badly these past few months. Ever since the Rebellion had become the New Republic, rations had been swapped out for consistent, mostly-hearty meals. There were still battlefields and shoddy basecamps, of course, where the food primarily consisted of ration packs and whatever the base cooks could make with what they’d managed to get through battle lines. Yet those were slowly becoming the exception and not the rule, especially as Luke fell further into the ancient role of Jedi diplomat, helping Leia convince systems to join the New Republic. Battles in politics tended to mean fancy meals with too many people and food Luke couldn’t even begin to understand. Even moreso for him than most; politicians and the like were more than happy to offer their finest meals to the Jedi master who’d blown up the Death Star and supposedly defeated the Emperor. 

But none of that fine cheffery compared to the simple stomach-filling warmth of a home-cooked meal -- especially not a home-cooked meal prepared by his grandmother (he had one of those now!) for him, his sister, and their entire family. 

Luke looked around the Naberrie dining room, joy bubbling in his chest and stomach at the warmly-lit sight. Empty dishes and plates stretched across the long table, that had earlier been filled with all kinds of Naboo dishes Luke had never seen or tried before. At either head of the table, his grandparents sat laughing at something Ryoo, sitting by their grandmother, had just said. At Luke’s side, Leia was enraptured in a quiet conversation with their cousin and her old colleague, Pooja, that Luke imagined he wouldn’t understand even if he was listening. His aunt and uncle, Sola and Darred, were the only ones not seated, circling around the table and dilligently clearing up the wreckage of the family meal.

“Are you sure you don't want some help with that?” Luke asked Sola as she piled up another plate opposite him.  

“Really Luke, it’s alright,” she replied with a kind smile.

Luke half expected an assertion that he was their guest to follow, but none came. The blank space left a sunny feeling in his chest; he wasn’t a guest here, he was family. Completely and utterly welcome, as if he’d been a part of that family his whole life, and not as of a few days ago. 

He was so wrapped up in the small joy that he almost didn’t notice Leia’s quiet excuse me, before she gently placed her napkin down on the table and gracefully got up to leave the dining room. 

Luke doubted the Naberries thought anything of it -- Leia’s years of politics made her far too good at hiding her emotions to let them do otherwise. She was so good that even the strongest of force users might not have been able to sense it through her mental and expressive shields. But Luke was not any old strong force user; he was Leia's twin, and so her secret turmoil blared in his head like a whirring attack alarm. 

He cleared his throat and excused himself too, not sticking around to field anyone’s quick questions (though knowing he should’ve). He wound through the love-filled house, following his senses and memory of the tour they’d been given earlier to reach the starlike presence of his sister. He passed through only two short hallways, both’s walls were filled to the brim with memories he’d never known. Holos of his young cousins, of Sola and Darred on their wedding, and of a brown-haired woman Luke wished he’d known as mom. He’d learn every story behind each of the pictures and keepsakes, some day. 

He reached the back garden door -- a light, wooden thing, as ornately simple as the rest of the house -- and stepped into the early night. 

The garden was hardly cold, but the sudden coolness compared to the hearth-warmth of the house bit at Luke. He stared up for a moment. Three moons hung white in the sky, painting the white house walls and the green of the garden in blueish moonlight. It was strange how it reminded him of home and yet was so different. Tatooine too had three moons, though all it did was turn golden sand a deep, colourless blue or silver. Never the friendly blue of Naboo’s.

Shaking himself from the thought, he easily spotted his sister standing cross-armed in front of a neat, flowery maybe-vegetable patch. Her white, Naboo-style dress with puffy sleeves and a many-layered skirt stood out against the dark of the moonlit garden as if it were a small, fourth moon itself. 

Leia had bought the dress shortly before their diplomatic trip to Naboo for any formal dinners they would be invited to as a part of their Republic negotiations with the Naboo. It was, apparently, very strategically important to acknowledge the culture of those you wished to diplomatise with -- even if Luke and his poor galactic fashion knowledge thought the dress looked no different from any of her Alderaanian dresses. He supposed it was lucky he got to wear his Jedi robes everywhere. 

“Hey,” Luke started, stepping up beside her, careful not to get his boots too close to the pristine flowers. 

Leia smiled up at him, almost hiding her sorrowful expression. “Hi.” 

She glanced back at the windows of the house, where warm, orange light diffused out across the neatly cut lawn, not quite reaching their night-blue patch of the garden. “You didn’t need to come out here for me,” she half-apologised. “It’s cold, you should get back to dinner.” 

“I wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

Leia opened her mouth, but quickly closed it, as if realising I’m fine was a useless excuse to your brother who could sense your emotions. “You didn’t have to do that.” 

“You’re my sister, yes, I do,” Luke smiled with a slight shake of his head. After a breath, e leaned down slightly, trying to better enter Leia’s pointed-down sightline. “Hey, if you want to leave, I’m sure we can come up with some urgent New Republic excuse.” 

Leia was the far better liar, but Luke had the added advantage of being one of the only Jedi in the galaxy. If Leia didn’t come up with some political excuse, Luke could always make something up about the force that nobody could refute. 

Luke shrugged. “We’ve been here half the day, anyway, I’m sure they won’t take it personally if we miss one last course. There’ll be other--” 

“No, no, I want to stay,” Leia shook her head with a sure furrow of her brow. “Really, I just needed some air. I don’t-- I can’t leave this.” 

Luke nodded, hoping she didn’t notice how thankful he was that he didn’t have to go. 

“It’s a nice night to be out.”

“Mm. Naboo’s temperature is quite agreeable,” Leia said, her voice growing politically hollow. 

What were they doing, talking about the weather like they were at some stunted party? Luke wanted to say Leia, we both know I’m bad at this not-talking-about-feelings thing, please just tell me what’s on your mind, but he knew his sister well enough to know a brute-force question like that wouldn’t get much out of her. He needed to wait and let her talk on her own terms. So Luke left a gentle space in the air between them, one that Leia could fill when she was ready. Only quiet night birds and the faint rustle of garden trees were so brave as to interrupt it. 

“Maybe I came out here for more than air…” Leia mumbled, predictably rewarding the silence after some long moments. “It's only that they’re so… I don’t know how to say this.” 

“It’s okay, you can say whatever it is,” he managed through the slight panic entering his mind. Did Leia not like their new family? But they were so nice! They were perfect! 

Clearly noticing the worry knotted in his brow, Leia held her hands up. “No, no, it’s nothing against them. It’s barely even about them as people, it’s just…” 

Luke only watched for her continuation, aware all he could do was try to project his own comfort through the force.

Leia forced a deep breath in and out, clenching her eyes shut for a short moment. “When I lost Alderaan, I lost everyone. I lost my father, my mother-- anyone I’d so much as briefly considered family. I had nobody to call my own. Nobody. And I thought that was going to be it, forever. I thought that I would never have any family ever again.” 

“But then,” a smile crept onto Leia’s lips as she gave Luke a short glance, “you came blasting into my life and you told me about everything, and suddenly I had family-- I had a brother!”

“Blasting is a bit of a strong word…”

Leia levelled him a raised eyebrow. “Is there a weaker word you think fits better, then?”

Luke huffed out a chuckle, remembering how quickly their first meeting had devolved into a blaster fight and a narrow escape of death. “I guess blasting works.”

Leia let out a quiet sigh, her presence brightening. “And suddenly it’s not just you, it’s our grandparents, our aunt, our uncle, our cousins, and it’s all…” Leia trailed off. 

Luke nodded slowly. 

Finding the Naberries had been very different for the two of them, but only now did he appreciate the true difference in what their new family meant for them both. 

He’d had little cause to think of what new family meant to the two of them before, given how easily she accepted Luke as her brother, and how resolutely she refused to accept Vader as her father. Luke had thought it was so simple; that it was just Luke was good in her eyes, Vader was not. He saw now that it ran deeper than just Vader’s evil. 

Luke loved his aunt and uncle, but they’d never claimed to be his parents. They had always left room for Luke to long for a mother and father, to dream of the people they never spoke about. He had despised the reality of his father at first, but come to accept that while Vader was not the father he dreamed of, he was Luke’s father nonetheless. However awkwardly he had filled that lifelong gap.

To Leia, Vader was not only a villain, but an invasive species. A predator, encroaching on the still-sore memory of Bail and Breha Organa. He could not be her father; that position belonged solely and permanently to Bail and nobody else. Vader would only ever be relegated to a ‘birth father’ -- and that was only on days that Leia felt particularly merciful. 

The Naberries, on the other hand, didn’t stand to replace anyone. Padmé Amidala, their mother (force, that was weird to think), may have stood too close to Breha’s position -- but Luke suppose finding out your birth mother was your childhood hero and a founder of the rebellion was very different to finding out your parent was the Emperor’s genocidal attack dog. And even then, she was gone now. She could play little part other than a puzzle piece and a forgotten memory; she did not threaten to take a dead parent's place like the living Vader had once done. 

The rest of the Naberries were purely happy additions to their family. There was no limit to how many aunts and uncles and cousins you would have, and neither twin had ever had grandparents before. Their family had become so full and so big with only a chance meeting of Leia’s old Senate colleague Pooja (and some intervention from an unsettling resourceful woman named Sabé). It had all happened so fast, and it was so wonderful… and so easily overwhelming. 

Even Luke struggled to get his mind over all the sudden expansions to his once-thought-gone family, and his grief over two family members and strange hermit mentor was hardly comparable Leia’s planet-sized grief. He knew it wasn’t, because he had felt the difference for himself, every time she saw a certain plant or a heard a certain phrase. Such little things would bombard their force-bond with the soul-crushing grief that had hit Leia out of seeming nowhere. 

Luke stretched the force out to Leia now, focusing on her shields as uninvasively as he could. Her heavy mantle of grief lay near-dormant, at least, but it was still present in the back of her mind. 

Leia glanced up at him from the flowers, perhaps sensing his search despite her lack of training. If she did, she made no comment. 

Luke put his flesh hand on her shoulder. 

Leia delicately rested her own hand on it, bringing her eyes to firmly meet his. “I am okay. It’s just… it’s…” Leia -- the princess whose educated words never faltered, the general who could muster the greatest of speeches out of thin air -- stuttered.

“It’s a lot to deal with,” Luke offered. 

Leia gave him a nod. 

“But you're not dealing with it alone,” he said, turning around to face Leia in full. After a moment of quiet staring up, she turned to face him too. “I know this isn't all quite the same for me. I know it’s… a different kind of difficult. Still, I’m here. I’m always here for you. And I’m sure all of them are too,” Luke said with a nod back to the house. 

Leia hummed in agreement-acknowledgement.

“I don't think they're expecting you -- expecting either of us -- to be completely and suddenly okay with this. I’m sure it’s almost as much for them as it is for us. But they're our family. We may not know each other very well yet, but they already love us so much.”

Luke knew it so certainly; he could sense all the Naberries’ love for the twins, as strong as the heat of the suns on a Tatooine noon. Mottled by cloudy grief in places, but always oh-so present. It radiated off each of them in waves whenever Luke and Leia were around. 

“I think I’m just trying to say it’s okay,” Luke concluded, losing steam in his speech. “However you’re feeling now, it’s gonna be okay.” 

Silence drifted between them, entirely comfortable and nothing like the eager, questioning one Luke had left earlier.

“Thank you,” Leia smiled finally.

Luke shook his head. “It’s nothing.” 

“No, really, thank you. I don’t think I say it enough, but I love you Luke. I’m-- thank you. For being my brother.” 

Before Luke could even think of replying, Leia crashed into him, wrapping her arms around his robes and shoving her face into his shoulder. Luke caved into the hug, pulling his arms tight around his sister in return. 

“I love you too,” he replied softly. 

They stayed like that for a good few moments, fused together like twin stars, basking in each other’s presence as if they truly were so. The galaxy seemed so utterly at peace in the garden around their tight-armed cradling, like it had never faced a single war or fight, like Luke and Leia had always been one and never been ripped apart by the tragedy of circumstance. 

Luke sensed Pooja’s presence -- joyous, if a little timid -- before he heard her treading over the grass towards him and his twin. The two of them pulled apart to face Pooja at the same time, arms still half-pressed together. 

Pooja came to a slow stop as they did, standing still in the bright square of warm window-light. It painted the the cream of her dress a loving orange and made her half-up curls near-glow with its source behind her. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt…” she started serenely, half-smiling at her cousins standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the blue near-dark. 

Leia shook her head, moving towards Pooja. “We were just about to come back in anyway.” 

Pooja brightened, bringing her hands to an almost-clap. “Perfect timing! I came to tell you Grandma’s about to serve up dessert. It’s cake, her speciality.” 

“Sounds wonderful,” Luke’s mouth watered at the thought of more of Jobal Naberrie’s cooking, despite the protests from his already-full stomach. 

“Not as wonderful as it tastes. Now come on!” Pooja over-gestured. “If we don't hurry, Ryoo will have eaten all of it before we get there!”

Leia laughed with all the gentle warmth of the Naboo sun. “We’re coming Pooja, don't worry!”

They followed their hurried cousin back to the nearby door, forming a line as they reached the portico of the entrance.

“I'm so happy we found you both,” Pooja admitted quietly as she held the door open for her cousins. The two of them stepped back into gentle embrace of the family home, something sweet hanging in the warm air. 

Leia gave Luke a quick glance before she turned to Pooja; “I’m happy we found you too.”

#luke skywalker #leia organa #pooja naberrie #sola naberrie #jobal naberrie #ruwee naberrie #ryoo naberrie #darred naberrie #star wars #potes wrotes #skywalker twins #space twins #skywalkers & naberries

[cupcakeslushie]

Okay. I've been tip-toeing around this AU for a while now, but I just got caught up, and now I think I have a (decent) grasp on what's going on. So I wanna go over everything I know so far to see if I'm right or wrong on anything. Don't know if you'd be willing to correct me or not. Either way, I hope my mistakes can help you understand what to clarify to other fans like me. But, I also have some questions. You probably won't be able to answer most of them, but it's at least worth a shot.

First, where's Venus? Like, why is she not in your comics that are (sort of) separate frome the canon now story. The ones that skip to the future way after all the turtles reunite. Did she die? Did she escape? Is it because she wasn't introduced yet when you made those comics?

Two, why do you keep on making references to the future timeline? I know you're planning on possibly making your own stuff leading up to the events of the movie. It just gives me a jumpscare when I see certain...imagery in those comics. I guess you're hinting at what your version of the future apocalypse would look like, but it just hurts to see. Specifically in the comic explaining both the events and aftermath of the movie and the bad future timeline. It's starting to really confuse my brain as to where this story is headed. What's meant to be the main focus? The Hamto's reuniting? The aftermath? Or the future?

Third, did you make all those min-comics before you started the actual AU? Or did you do them during?

Fourth, are any of those mini-comics relevant to the actual story now? Or have you changed your mind on a few things? It's just that everything is so all over the place, I don't really know whether to trust if they're accurate. I know most of them are just there for funzies, but the longer ones concern me. I guess I'm just not used to the storyteller doing sequel, start, prequel, start, sequel, prequel, prequel, sequel, and then end. Or maybe it's just me, and I'm sleep deprived.

My little observation speech is gonna take a while for me to get out in your asks because when I get theoretical, my speech gets long, and my proper English goes down the drain. So I'll be back. I appreciate your work very much. Despite the pain it causes me, it's still amazing.

I’ll try my best to clear up what confusion I can!

1. As far as Venus. The answer is kind of a mix of, I was still figuring out her design and backstory while coming out with some of those early comics, and then, once I had that down, I wanted the boys to grow strong bonds as a main cast. That’s why a lot of the side characters are only making small appearances in the Sep!AU Life stories, as those are mainly for the boys reconnecting. (Usagi shows up the most because I love him and am totally biased towards him).

This maybe hasn’t been stated outright, but I wasn’t really expecting so many ppl to like Vee as much as they do, and now im trying not to spoil too much of her story. It’ll unfortunately just take us a while to get to the meat of it. Since the boys reconnecting takes up a lot of the early s1s2 story, Im trying to follow the familiar Rise blueprint of Draxum, Shredder, Krang, and then in s3 we’ll have crazy fun new stories with the extra characters.

Ive also decided to take this little nugget from one of the Q&As, and use it for Venus instead of Jennika. It was a much needed bit of inspiration to explain why Venus sorta disappears for a while and will go through some major physical changes (not yet revealed) before the family can figure out a way to reach her.

2. I’m not sure if you mean jump scared in a bad/triggering or neutral way, but if you need me to tag anything on those posts please let me know!

The glimpses of the future timeline, are being scattered throughout wherever they parallel the present story in little ways, but that’s only for now. As we get closer to the movie plot, bigger chunks of the future will be revealed, because the future versions of the boys will have a larger role to play in the present timeline. So we will need more backstory than what the canon got. And also I just enjoy drawing my future versions so sometimes I don’t think too hard on a reason. I just like throwing them at ppl with no warning or reason.

When s2 ends, I plan on collecting all the future related stuff that’s been released, and recapping it for easier reading. Right now, it’s just little sprinkles of foreshadowing to give ppl an idea that, ‘oh crap. The doomed timeline is a bummer’. In my mind, I guess i thought it’d be kinda like a fun scavenger hunt for clues, but maybe ppl don’t like that 😅

3. All of the side-stories were written as the main comic was/is being released. A lot of them resulted from asks that just spawned the need to expand on certain ideas, or a desire to give all the turtles their time to shine.

For instance, when I was doing Donnie’s section of the main comic, it was a good few months where we hardly saw anyone but him and Venus. I wanted to just mix it up, and give Raph some love with his ‘Raph Time’ short. When Leo was front and center in the main, we hardly saw the others, so Mikey and Donnie got their little ‘Secrets’ short (and it was also I fun thank you for EW making it so far in the tmnt sep competition).

4. Anything that has been reworked/revised or just plain dropped should have an ‘Edit’ note because yes—I have gone back and changed some things, but more so from the asks i got in the early days, and some movie idea drafts.

All the short comics done in the last year, especially the ones that are listed in my pinned post, are canon and fall somewhere in the timeline. They’re like supplemental reading though—extra meat to give the world and the characters more personality. They do have particular backstory plot and important info in them, but nothing that shouldn’t eventually be re-visited/repeated in the main story.

um I hope that cleared up some things! I know it’s kind of a crazy amount of lore. I’ve tried my best to organize it in the pinned post, huge timeline, and search bar tags, but I know it’s getting harder and harder for newer ppl to jump in as it just get bigger. Thanks for reading regardless!

#rottmnt #tmnt #ask slushie #separated au #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt separated au #sep!au infodump #ew au #Empyrean Weeping Au

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (December 10-16, 2023)

Suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma, who originated the roles of Gigan and Hedorah and played Godzilla in all of the Heisei films, passed away on Saturday at the age of 76. A serious performer paired with a serious Godzilla, he approached the role with near-religious reverence. Asked to give advice to Godzilla's next actor following the completion of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, he said, "Be Godzilla. Don't do anything else. Write books about playing Godzilla, talk to reporters about playing Godzilla, but don't do anything else. Just be Godzilla." His second stint as the character, Godzilla vs. Biollante, is my favorite movie of all time, and it's pretty staggering how many of its key people are gone now. Rest in peace.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters finally brought Godzilla into the present-day storyline—and finally let him enter Japanese waters in the flashbacks to 1955. (The only other time he's done this in the Monsterverse is in the debatably-canon Godzilla: Awakening.) I enjoyed the flashbacks a lot more than the main story this time, as the latter is just piling on the Ominous Pronouncements while withholding details to a degree that seems unrealistic from a Watsonian perspective. Give me a well-acted, doomed love triangle any day.

Comic book sales data is nigh-impossible to find these days, but 2022's Godzilla vs. the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers must have made bank, since it's getting a sequel! Writer Cullen Bunn and colorist Andrew Dalhouse are back, with Baldemar Rivas now handling the art. First issue's coming in April. The logline:

Worlds collide a second time as everyone’s favorite kaiju meets up with Earth’s mightiest warriors once again to take on the most fearsome monsters from both sides of the multiverse, with Rita Repulsa egging them on! This one has it all: SpaceGodzilla! Clawhammer! Tentacreep! But what exactly does Rita intend to do with their collective might, and how have her mysterious new allies, Astronema and the Alliance of Evil, given her added reach across worlds? The Power Rangers are on a mission to find out, but first…all roads lead back to Godzilla!

I recognize some of the proper nouns in there, at least!

Godzilla Minus One added even more North American theaters (from 2,540 to 2,622), but with stiffer competition in the form of Wonka, it fell to fourth with $5 million. That gets it over $30 million here; we'll see how much of a boost it gets from the holidays. The film is piling up accolades from regional critic groups, as well as a nomination at the Critics Choice Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

I'm also making my way through all the videos Toho put on YouTube when I was desperately dodging spoilers, so look forward to more Minus One gifs and screenshots.

One more trailer for the Kaiju No. 8 anime, which is, for whatever reason, going to stream worldwide via X/Twitter. (Maybe they saw that users there already upload entire movies and decided to get ahead of the curve?) Don't worry, it'll be on Crunchyroll too.

#kaiju week in review #kenpachiro satsuma #power rangers #kaiju no. 8 #godzilla #godzilla minus one #kaiju #monarch legacy of monsters

[askew-d]

YIZHAN FIC REC LIST

— if you just got into the fandom, you might know switched, yizhan or yizhan through the years, so let’s go through other stuff! we’re gonna take another ride. also, if you care about this, green will be for bjyx dynamic, red will be for zsww and blue will be for lsfy. from my point of view, ofc. orange will be for the not specified, couldn’t grasp. let’s go.

• where else but home, by purplemoster — fluff story where wang yibo accidentally returns home to xiao zhan every time. super sweet read!

• ⭐️ cool boy gets a life, by saezutte — xiao zhan’s a writer and his character, cool buy wang yibo, gains life. it’s wonderful, i want a cool boy for myself. who wrote this did an awesome job.

• ⭐️ i’m not as good as you think (or as bad as they say), by ilyria — aaahh, what a gorgeous story! basically, xiao zhan becomes yibo manager and the idol, well, falls in love. there’s a sequel!

• follow shot, by cataclysms — cameraman wang yibo freaks out about idol xiao zhan. because, come on, it’s xiao zhan! we get you, boy. beautiful.

• xiao zhan’s graphic design playbook, by augmenti — this one’s absolutely gold! fantastic. xiao zhan as graphic designer and yibo as someone who thinks his prices are too small. sexual tension ensues.

• caffeine addictions and brain malfunctions, by little_passions — if you want a coffeeshop yizhan au, here’s your to-go! cute!

• query: cardiac, by iluvnaruto1412 — our radiographer technician wang yibo discovers that doctor xiao’s a hottie. there’s a whole series that’s outstanding, don’t mind the mcd in the last part, you’ll understand as you read.

• an ode to love, by spoonful_of_sugar — sappy reminiscent of their story. truly so fluffy i had toothaches the entire read.

• ⭐️ one feline war for love, by ilyria —a fierce cat becomes a human after xiao zhan saves him, and this human wants xiao zhan all for himself. so very good, i died and resuscitated. worth it.

• chef’s kiss, by jalpari — chef xiao zhan in day day for an episode and becomes enemies with wang yibo. but for a short time. love this development for them!! so well done.

• ⭐️ this is what they say, by xiaoyibao (a_storm_of_frustrations) — yibo thinks xiao zhan’s breaking up when the man’s actually trying to get married to him. comic, lovely, poetic!

• set me into motion, by deinde — backup dancers wang yibo and xiao zhan being whipped towards one another. an angel wrote this.

• ⭐️ finding yibo, by vesna (mrsronweasley) — kidfic where yibo transforms into a young version of himself and xiao zhan takes care of him. i’m losing my head. it’s great!

• ⭐️🎖️never close our eyes, series by thirtysixsavefiles — catboy wang yibo and kinda batman xiao zhan. perfect through every part. i’m flabbergasted.

• 119 my cat is struck, by serendiiii — fireman yibo, cat owner xiao zhan, you can have my heart! adorable!

• a spot of light, by akatsukishin — this is for everyone who loves a drama! delivery boy xiao zhan and successful ceo wang yibo.

• a story of others to tell, by deinde — this author has some seriously good plots. in this one, yibo pines enough to end up in cql world. extra nice!

• cut to the feeling, by vesna (mrsronweasley) — drama pa and the huge star xiao zhan. is there anything better?

• love thy neighbour, by jalpari — single dad xiao zhan and neighbour who becomes babysitter wang yibo. marvellous!

• ‘cos you make me feel electric, by chajatta — fansite xiao zhan loves his inspiration, wang-laoshi from uniq. i love this for them, genuinely.

• ⭐️🎖️ world of cultivation, by eggo — yibo and xiao zhan meet each other through a game; well, not only. hilarious! chaotic! romantic! perfect!

• gravitating towards you, by bittersweetirony — high school au with student council president xiao zhan and sports freak wang yibo, we all know we needed it.

• 181.3 cm high, by eleven14 — wang yibo wakes up high in anaesthesia. you might imagine what comes after. excellent!

• ⭐️ we are made to love, by jalpari — xiao zhan writes columns receives one letter questioning on love. aah, so poetic! definitely worth every second.

• no path better than our own, by athousandfaces — harry potter au! we’re lucky to have this gorgeous story. i had a lot of fun reading it.

• my future in your laugh, by timelykey — doctor xiao zhan falling in love with overworked wang yibo. wow, what a journey, you’re losing it if you haven’t read it yet.

• love in the time of coding, by thevoiryflute — a hacker au for yibo fits him so much, i don’t know why. just know that this perfectly-written story caused butterflies in my stomach.

• summer surf shop, by anonymous — yibo goes to a variety show and gets much more than he imagined. absolutely gold.

• pick me, pick me up, by domeneec — wrong number au for yizhan, we need it. and it’s so well-written too.

• escape velocity, redefined, by thirtysixsavefiles — i have to admit that this au of pirating away together with royalty made me suspicious at first. but after i read it, it’s so goddamn brilliant.

• 缘分 | (yuánfèn), by fyredancer — royalty au, give me more yizhan royalty. good writing, good development, good plot, had a good time reading it.

• signal fire, series by fireflavoredwhiskey — spiderman yibo! spiderman yibo! spiderman yibo! spiderman yibo! if he knew about that, he’d be happy to know that in an universe he gets to be his favorite superhero.

• ⭐️ the magic position, by sophiahelix — just a sweet, short story with yizhan being cute together and it melts my heart away every time.

• ⭐️🎖️ with joy and purpose, by feenwitch — android wang yibo living alone in a planet until xiao zhan crashes his plane there. it’s just perfect. and the writing’s wonderful.

• perfect match, by sandorara — personal ai for xiao zhan turns out to be more than he expected. gorgeous wang yibo affecting xiao-laoshi and changing his course of life. incredible!

• 🎖️ their kindred encounters, by fireflavoredwhiskey — can i have this printed, please? actually, i think there might have. it’s a the age of adeline au, xiao zhan doesn’t get old. melancholic in the ideal dosage. angst. comfort. everything.

• the ruby ox and the golden boy, series by aces_low — a mafia au that attracted me. i’m usually not into these kind of aus but aah this one… it’s unique.

• ⭐️ half is loss, half is gain, by yin_chi — celebrity xiao zhan needs a bodyguard and guess who it is? well, yeah, this story’s a blessing upon us here. i couldn’t stop reading once i began, just warning y’all. addictive, i want more.

• ⭐️🎖️ between holocenes, by fireflavoredwhiskey — this author broke the heart of so many people by just vanishing from the fandom, but ah how greatly they write and how extraordinary their works are. this is a the time traveler’s wife au and it rocks.

• fixtures and fittings, by ella_minnow — interior designer xiao zhan and motorcyclist wang yibo! believe me when i said i screamed during the development of their relationship.

• ⭐️ 为战而爱, series by anonymous — bits of sdc moments with established relationship yizhan, the works are seriously stunning.

• what i could do (if i didn’t love you), by trestle — one-night stand au with architect xiao zhan. seriously really good through and through.

• ⭐️ hand in glove, by pessoa — brat yibo; you have my heart. the development in this work’s crazy, it’s a whole rollercoaster of feelings. neighbours au!

• say you love me (again and again), by lanwuxiann — sweet story of yizhan growing up together and loving each other through every step of the way. hella soft!

• ⭐️ four of hearts (l-o-v-e me zhan-ge), by eleven14 — yibo being silly to win over xiao zhan’s heart, and of course, it works. short, but very funny and lovely.

• a head’s up, by madfilaments — xiao zhan arrives at sdc without giving a head’s up and yibo’s frustrated. a pretty satisfying thing to read. awesome.!

• 7 reasons to support your local cat café, by buttstrife — host wang yibo, cat café owner xiao zhan, a romance for the history books. they’re so very lovable.

• ⭐️ the bravest man i ever knew, by biscuitpoo — another hogwarts au! this time, xiao zhan’s a bit more slytherin-like, and it’s a whole show.

• ⭐️🎖️ so happy you could come; so happy to be here, by alex_mtg — a masterpiece! betrothed yizhan with royalty and the uniq boys and this sweet development of their relationship. just amazing! :)

• ⭐️ threads, by planet_b612 — a sherlock and watson au! it’s phenomenal! in fact, this author has only good works, so it’s definitely worthy to check out.

since i’m doing this already, might as well recommend some of my own stories, so i’ll be adding the ones i favour (sssh):

• half a bottle is enough — yizhan fight and xiao zhan gets home carrying a cardboard wang yibo. just some silly boyfriendos!

• falling; never broken — yibo has bulimia (please, be aware of the trigger warnings) and xiao zhan’s a doctor who helps him.

• a best friend and a lover — xiao zhan goes on different dates with different versions of wang yibo to look for a ‘type’. they’re both stupidly in love, your honour.

• darling you, play it cool — yizhan bodyswap au where only wang yibo’s famous though. i wrote this in 2023 and i’m the most proud of it.

• sleep tight until the moonlight — yizhan enemies to lovers where both of them spend their time being radio hosts in university :)

• whispering through dusty aisles — my au where xiao zhan’s a literary deity and yibo’s still famous, they meet occasionally and sparks fly. it’s my most poetic creation.

everyone, please remember this is my opinion! of course, there a lot of other works — famous or not — who aren’t in here. if you want to check out more recs of mine, see my bookmarks! thank you :)

#yizhan fic #yizhan #bjyx #bjyxszd #bjyx fanfic #yizhan fanfic #yizhan fic rec #the untamed #cql #wang yibo #xiao zhan #zsww #lsfy #bjyx fic rec

[cuephrase]

i didn't realize this needed to be said, but jason doesn't die at the end of UTRH?? not in the comics, or in the movie. and on top of him not dying, bruce does not kill him??

like, this is most obvious in the movie. jason isn't suffering from any potentially life threatening injuries when the building blows up, bruce grabs (or attempts to grab) him, and then they get separated in the explosion. bruce digs through the rubble looking for him and doesn't find him. ambiguous, yes. and there is no sequel to the movie to like definitely prove that he's alive in that universe, but bruce doesn't find his body which is superhero logic 101 for 'this character isn't dead'.

moving on to the comics.

now, this is...not a great look. i'm not a medical professional, okay, and it's not the clearest shot, so i can't sit here and claim with 100% confidence that jason's carotid artery did not get cut in some way. but i can reasonably assume it wasn't, because, well, look:

do you see how deep inside the artery is? and again, not the clearest shot, but it looks like if the batarang was to hit anything, it would probably be the jugular vein.

the jugular vein being cut would bleed a LOT. but, and just to remind you, i am not a medical professional, it would almost definitely not be fatal. while it bleeds a lot, it doesn't bleed enough fast enough. (but that's so much blood!!! yeah ik. it's a comic book. they like drama.) and, if the victim is able to put pressure on the wound, that reduces the bloodflow a lot and the blood is able to clot better, etc. we see jason do exactly that. the amount of blood on the floor doesn't appear to increase a whole lot from the initial gush either. he'd still need medical attention, don't get me wrong, but he's not dying from that.

we can't even assume that he's dead when he drops to the floor because if you pay attention to the panels, jason's moving. his back is initially facing the joker and then by the last panel his back is facing bruce.

anyways, joker blows the building, and we see no bodies. just bruce's silhoutte in the wreckage in one panel, and the narration is cryptic and foreboding. ambiguous, certainly leaves room for fans to come in and what if?

but dc answers the question about whether or not jason is alive almost immediately. i say almost because infinite crisis takes over immediately after batman 650. because of this, there is no neat follow through directly after the events of utrh, because instead we get One Year Later. (they just went big event!! no resolution!! gap year!! perfection!! pure brilliance.) so does jason pop up in batman's first issue OYL? no, but he does in nightwing's. dick seems somewhat surprised to see him, but i honestly think it has more to do with dick being surprised that the person running around nyc killing people in a nightwing costume is jason than him being surprised jason is alive.

so we know he lives. big whoop. how the hell do i know that he didn't just get dragged into another Lazarus Pit for a refresh while infinite crisis was happening? i don't. i mean, if i remember correctly, all the pits were destroyed by bruce and bane, except one, and at the time i don't think the location is known? point is, would've been hard to get to one.

but the biggest reason, aside from everything else, the way i know jason did not die temporarily again in the comics, is that it requires assuming one of three equally improbable outcomes.

outcome 1: jason doesn't survive the explosion, because he's incapacitated and bruce tries to save him, but fails. why is this improbable? because literally what is the point in telling that story again if you're just going to have jason pop up alive again basically as soon as he can. bruce certainly feels like he's lost jason post-UTRH, but not in a my-son-is-dead way, in a my-son's-lost-his-way way.

outcome 2: jason doesn't survive the explosion, because he's incapacitated and bruce chooses not to save him in that moment. bruce, who has only gotten himself into that situation to begin with because he was trying to save his son, decides to let him die at the last moment. bruce, who has been haunted by finding jason's body in the smoldering remains of a warehouse for years, allows history to repeat itself when he's right there and he can save him this time. bruce, who will always try to save someone, even the joker, even if it means risking his life.

outcome 3: the batarang sliced jason's carotid artery and he bled out and died...at the hand's of batman. batman, who does not kill. batman, who has never killed. batman, who refuses to take life, decides to break his one rule in the spur of the moment to kill his son and save the joker? oh, but, maybe it was an accident. maybe he didn't mean to cut jason that deeply with the batarang. maybe, for the first time in batman's many years of precise batarang throwing, he messes up and whoopsie, kills someone.

maybe, let's set the batarang down for a sec and pick up occam's razor- we know that jason is alive post-utrh. there is a crap ton of hoops to be jumped through and rules broken to explain how jason might've died, and then you've got to figure out how he's alive again. it's a much simpler path of logic to follow that jason was injured, survived the explosion, and that is how he is still alive post-UTRH.

look. you can dislike how bruce chose to handle jason's ultimatum. you can explore the what-if-it-had-happened-this-way in fanfic or posts. but you cannot claim that jason canonically died at the end of Under the Red Hood. it's just not true. and claiming it's true directly contradicts immutable canon foundations. there is a lot you can say about bruce wayne, about batman, that are canonically true, but he is not a murderer.

plus, i mean, c'mon, if jason had died at bruce's hands, do you really think he'd never bring that up? you really think his petty, dramatic ass would keep his mouth shut about his father killing him to save the joker? you think the hero community would find out that batman killed his son and just be casual about it?

from here (Green Arrow #70), we at least know that ollie knows about their fight, which if he knows the whole justice league probably knows. (there might be a comic out there were bruce discusses it with them, idk.) it seems like ollie was under the impression that jason was dead again, or maybe not in good enough shape to be running around in a costume. interpret as you want. ollie being under the impression that jason is dead would fall under outcome 1 imo, maybe 2 if you want to imagine that bruce fudged some details when he filled in the other heroes, if you're assuming he decided to do that. i haven't read a whole lot of comics where bruce is interacting with non-gotham heroes, but it is my understanding that bruce is not exceptionally forthcoming with info. personally, i think ollie asking for clarification comes more from a place of green arrow writers not assuming that green arrow readers know what's up with batfam comics, but that they might've heard about UTRH and so they're just going, yep there was an explosion, no jason isn't dead. bottomline- there's no way ollie will be working with bruce, especially with mia, if he thinks bruce is a killer.

look. you can dislike how bruce chose to handle jason's ultimatum. you can explore the what-if-it-had-happened-this-way in fanfic or posts. but you cannot claim that jason canonically died at the end of UTRH. it's just not true. and claiming it's true directly contradicts immutable canon foundations. there is a lot you can say about bruce wayne, about batman, that are canonically true, but you cannot say he is a murderer.

#jason todd #red hood #bruce wayne #batman #under the red hood #dc comics #engage with canon as much or as little as you please #headcanon what you want #but if you're going to make claims about canon please don't spread outright lies #there's plenty of canon angst and trauma in jason and bruce's relationship #i promise #bruce doesn't need to kill him #for things to be rocky

[davidmariottecomics]

Goodbye IDW! Hello Something New!

Hi there! 

After seven years and some change, today, 12/22/2023, is my last day at IDW Publishing. It's for good reasons. Things just timed out that my last day could be the last work day of the year for IDW and in the new year, I'll be starting a new job elsewhere. I'll still be in comics and once I can talk about the new gig, I'm really stoked to be letting you all know. So, today, I want to say my goodbye to IDW. 

But first, before I get to that, I did have something else notable happen this week. I sent my last tweet!  I'm officially shutting down my Twitter at the end of the year and if you see a Twitter account claiming to be me after January 1st, it's an imposter. If you'd like to keep up with me, however, I've got good news! There are lots of other ways to find me still. Here are a few! 

Check out and bookmark my website! Get access to my blog, plus lots of behind the scenes stuff and new projects at my Patreon!  Subscribe to a newsletter version of my blog for free at Buttondown!  Follow my blog on Tumblr!  Keep up with my main socials: Bluesky and Instagram (I'm @davidmariotte at both)! 

Okay, with that out of the way, let's talk about it. This is not my first time saying goodbye. In fact, almost exactly a year ago, I said my farewells to Transformers, one of the hallmarks of my IDW run. I don't want to revisit that too much, so if you want to read about my early days at IDW or that part of my career or a big list of thank yous to my collaborators, you can! And while I've had significant runs with other books, most notably Sonic the Hedgehog which with January's Sonic: Fang the Hunter #1 will mark 100 issues of Sonic at IDW under my editorial eye, or my personally exciting, if shorter runs on stuff like Godzilla, Samurai Jack, the Hasbro Action books, Canto, Scarenthood, The Kill Lock, The October Faction, Wynonna Earp, Brynmore, Atomic Robo, or literally so many other books, I don't want this to just be a retrospective on the work. In fact, I'm largely not interested in talking about the past when I say goodbye this time. 

IDW has afforded me a lot. They've helped me find my place in the industry. They let me do some writing. They let me do a lot of editing. I learned various other skills both through directly on the course of the job and through my own interest because of what I was doing and seeing there. I have made true lifelong friendships. And I have made comics. So leaving feels weird. I'm very bummed to be leaving a place that really has been my home (and for the past couple of years, has quite literally been mostly at my home) for so long. But I am even more excited about what's to come. On my side, I can't announce it just yet, but watch this space for some big news soon (after a couple weeks of much needed vacation). 

Talking about the future I actually can say a little more about, I wanna tell you how excited I am for IDW. Yes, I'm leaving, but IDW remains home to so many people--both at the company and our freelance creators--and so many projects that are close to my heart. Next year is their 25th anniversary. That is an impressive feat in not just the world of comics, but any industry. For the milestone, they've got a lot of cool stuff planned. 

I'm not going to blow up IDW's spot and say anything about what's coming up too early. Just to talk about the things that are already public knowledge, you've got things like the new TMNT: The Last Ronin sequel! The TMNT ongoing on it's road to issue #150! There are cool new originals like Golgotha Motor Mountain! There's the launch of the aforementioned Fang the Hunter which is IDW's first Classic Sonic mini-series and sees 100 unique issues of Sonic at IDW and is just laugh-out-loud funny and full of such good action! And I'll tease this, when the Sonic ongoing is back with issue #69 in May, you'll be in for an absolute treat as that series runs up to #75! 

I know some readers of this blog don't read a ton of American direct market comics. You aren't "Wednesday Warriors" who go to the comic shop every week. You like the comics you like and I've been graced to be a person working on those comics. If you aren't as familiar with how these comics work, let me assure you of a couple things. The books I was editing and many unannounced projects that I set up will still be happening. Because of the timelines of comic production, you'll still see my name in IDW books for a few more months and, at the same time, you'll see new credits creeping in. And if we've done everything right, that'll be about the only thing you'll notice is different, at least at first. As the editors really take the reins and take over, we'll both be in for the treat of the unknown! I'll be reading them with a good sense of professional jealousy. 

Now, there's one other book that has been announced for next year and I wanted to do a special call out for. Godzilla: Valentine's Day Special went to press this week. It's the last IDW book I saw all the way from inception to completion. And, in many ways, it's kind of a really good analogy of a comics editorial career. I think, genuinely, this may be the book that went from conception to reality the fastest in my career. I think it took... less than a week from a half-joking suggestion of doing a Godzilla Valentine's Day book to getting Zoe Tunnell's pitch in and approved by Toho and getting it on the publishing schedule. Usually these things take a bit--people are working on other projects, licensors need time to review things, whatever other bumps happen along the way--but this was like lightning. Everyone just got it instantly. And then Zoe turned in the script and it was great! Things continued, as they do, and then... we got a curveball or two. I won't go into too much detail, but major thanks to Sebastian Piriz and Rebecca Nalty for getting it done and having a book that we were all so proud of that I could send to press this week. And it struck me on that final press day that despite the curveballs we had been thrown, when it came to actually getting it approved, everything was so easy, straightforward, and smooth. When you read it in February, if I've done my job right, maybe you'll remember seeing somewhere that there were some curveballs. But mostly, you'll just have a really good book in your hands. (BTW, you did JUST MISS the final order cutoff on that, so do check in with your shop about still trying to get you a copy!) 

Most of the time, after a book like that goes to press, an editor gets ready to do it again--maybe in a few minutes or days or the next week. For the first time in a long time, I won't be getting ready to do it again at IDW. That's a complicated feeling, but I'm so excited for the future. 

The best metaphor I've been able to come up with for what is happening is it's like I've been working in a one room office constantly for the past seven years. It's got that dull office lighting, you know the kind. Each day, projects come and go across my desk, and as they otherwise disappear into the world, I put up one of those glow-in-the-dark stars as a memory of it. And each day, I work with so many people--my coworkers at IDW who've helped foster my growth, my collaborators as both a writer and editor who have made so many stories with me, all the folks where things never quite lined up but we kept trying, and the readers who are an inherent part of the ecosystem, the reason we make what we do. And so, for each of those people, I put up a little glow in the dark toy. 

Now, for the first time, I'm going to get up and leave the office. As I flick the switch behind me, everything in there that has been soaking up light for years now glows. Some of the glows are slight. Some are so fantastically bright, it feels like they're drawing attention through the walls of the room. Together, they make the room brighter than it was when I left. Now, sometimes, I might sneak in to borrow a toy--make a copy of it for the new office I'm doing the same thing in. Other people will certainly do the same and make they've got their Evan Stanley figure on their shelf. If I ever return for a longer time, I'll be so glad to flick the light back on and let them all absorb even more light to glow an even longer time. If I don't, I rest happy that the glow goes on and forever people will be able to come back and discover some part of it. And I'll start working on a new office soon. 

If I keep going,  I'm a little afraid that I won't be able to stop. So, for now, I'll just say again, thank you. The future is about to be very exciting. Next year is for the creators you love or don't know you love yet, the books that are going to light you up that you've come to expect and the ones that will catch you by total surprise. While there are a lot of things I'm going to miss deeply and books that I'm going to wish I had gotten to do more on, I also have the really exciting experience of getting to see this stuff as a fan of IDW, just like you. And, hey, I hope you'll be a fan of the stuff I do next too! 

As for next steps, like I've said, I'm not going far. I'll still be in comics. I'll share the news when I can.

Before that, I'm getting a little break. Not too long, just a few weeks, and obviously the holidays are part of those, but in my time between my jobs, I'm going to be working on some personal projects. I put together a little tracking list recently and I have something like 40 projects in various stages of gestation right now. Obviously, I'm not going to be working on all of those at once, and chances are, some of them will never see the light of day, but I'm going to be working on trying to bring a couple of them to you in the new year (and beyond). If you're an artist that I've had the pleasure of working with in the past and you think you might be interested in peeping the list and seeing what we could do together, let me know. You can reach me on my website contact page, through my email, or through Discord (feel free to ask if you don't have it!). 

And if you read this blog, you'll see me hyping my last IDW projects up until we run out of what I left behind. Simultaneously, once I've got stuff to start hyping up for my personal projects and for the new gig, you'll see those start to pop up here too! I'll also keep talking about making comics and my thoughts on the state of the world and whatever else it is I blog about here on a regular basis! 

Thanks for reading. Bye-DW! Next week, I'll be doing a little Best of 2023. But for now, onto our regular features. 

What I enjoyed this week: Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Reverse 1999 (Video Game), Nancy (Comic), Lego Masters (TV show), Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror (Short story collection), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Cunk on Earth (TV show), I'm a Virgo (TV show), The Boy and the Heron (Movie), an easy last week at IDW, all the well-wishes that've already poured in, leaving today to celebrate Christmas with my family and then have some downtime to work on my stuff, signing the paperwork for the new job, not being on Twitter anymore, getting all of our mail out in a timely fashion for the holidays, Chainsaw Man (Manga), I picked up Superman and Hawkgirl, so excited to get caught up on those, and knowing that in leaving this job, there are certain folks I just get to deepen my relationships with as friends, instead of co-workers. 

New Releases this week (12/20/2023): Godzilla: The War for Humanity #3 (Editor) Godzilla Rivals: Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon (Editor)

Announcements: The Cartoonist Cooperative is still doing E-Sim cards for Gaza. You can donate a digital sim card so that residents can get access to the internet and have more functional phones and, in exchange, get some comics or a drawing or whatever else is available from the many participating artists. Additionally, the CC is hosting their mini-comic awards! It's a cool way to maybe get your mini-comic recognized and make some scratch!

You can also give more directly. If you don't have money, and I get it, you can call or fax or email or show up at the offices of your representatives. Keep your eyes open for actions too, whether they're another general strike or demonstrations and marches in your area. Given the nature of the things, they often come together fairly quickly, so do exercise your due diligence. Also, of course, being informed and just giving your time to Palestinian journalists and writers is incredibly valuable. 

While Becca has got some things brewing for next year (and now on a schedule), you should reach out if you'd like to work on comics with them! You can find their gallery on their website and also, y'know, maybe pick up a few things for belated gifts while you're there!

Finally, I called out my Patreon earlier. You can support me (and boy, that would be cool during the time between paychecks because vacation is nice, but living is still expensive) and get not just this blog, but a lot of cool special features like extra posts, comics, infographics, and more! At the $10+ levels, you can also access stuff like a holiday gift guide I made, a podcast pilot for a spicy show with Becca, and a ton more! 

Pic of the Week: Happy holidays from Becca and me! If you wanna full card in your inbox, lemme know! 

#comics #godzilla idw #sonic idw #transformers idw #goodbye idw #comics news #david mariotte

[chvnnie]

Heyy

Could you do a Lee know smut in their car and he has a daddy kink and nipple kink

It’s A Scream, Baby!

lee minho x reader

word count: 1.9k

genre: smut - MINORS DNI

warnings: non idol au, soft pleasure dom!minho, sub!reader, daddy kink, fingering, dirty talk, nipple play, reader has pierced nipples, car sex, public sex, minho refers to reader as his “play thing” once, squirting. if i missed anything, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

summary: the movie is boring, you’re needy, minho is hot. how did you expect this night to turn out?

a/n: anon, you sent this the morning after i had a dream involving nipple play w a skz member so this was literally perfect. bless u for giving me an excuse to write this. also, i’m making a permanent taglist masterlist (does that make sense? idk) bc im losing track of who wants on it. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING ADDED TO MY PERMANENT TAGLIST, PLEASE COMMENT OR SEND AN ASK. thnx :))) also this fic contains several references to my personal favorite movie, even if reader hates it lmao.

this is a work of fiction. this fic in no way represents lee minho as a person or stray kids as a whole. you are responsible for the media you consume. please read responsibly.

taglist: @lix-ables, @rachalixie, @agustd-essert, @gibbysupremeacyisreal

The killer finally caught up to the main character, music building in dreadful anticipation of what was to come. Would he get her? Would she narrowly escape? Would the person you could have sworn died earlier in the movie come in at the last minute, sacrificing themselves for her?

If you were being honest, you didn’t really care. You had zoned out about thirty minutes in, the plot totally lost on you. How did they get here, anyway? Last you checked, her boyfriend was still detainted under suspicion of being the murderer. Was he out now?

Oh, who gives a shit?

Minho’s low chuckled filled the car, following a terrible joke from the comic relief.

Your boyfriend apparently gave a shit.

It wasn’t a surprise, given the fact that he was the one who suggested going to the drive-in. He was so excited about it, showing you the ad that popped up on his feed. The first three movies (apparently there were five? The thought of this movie having four sequels was making you lose brain cells) back to back for a whopping five dollars per car. It was a steal, and given the way his face lit up as he pitched the idea to you, you would be heartless to say no.

So that’s how you ended up in the backseat of the car, air conditioning on full blast and snuggled up under a blanket with Minho, watching as the boyfriend held a voice changer up to his mouth to reveal himself as the killer.

Huh. So he was guilty.

You looked over at your boyfriend, who was smiling like a kid in a candy shop. The movie reflected off of his glasses, almost hiding his pretty eyes that were sparkling with excitement. He wasn’t joking when he said this was his favorite movie; his reactions were almost enough to make you want to focus on the movie.

Key word: almost.

Instead you stared at him, eyes slowly taking in every inch of him. He sat with his legs spread, grey cotton shorts riding up his thighs from trying to get comfortable in the cramped backseat. The sweatshirt and hat he wore match, both stitched with the name of your shared university. The way he was wearing his hat, however, is what made you practically salivate, unable to look away. You loved when he wore it backwards, hair pushed out of the way so you could see every angle of his face. You could stare at him all day, constantly in awe of how god-like your boyfriend was.

He was much more interesting than some bad 90s horror movie.

You shifted your weight to rest your head on Minho’s shoulder, staring up at him with the slightest hint of a pout. His attention shifted from the movie to you, a small smile creeping on his face when his eyes met yours.

“Hi.” You said softly, gripping onto his right arm as you snuggled closer to him.

“Hi.” He responded, leaning in to peck the center of your forehead. “Having a good time?”

You shrug, fingers tracing a line up and down the arm you were holding. “Yeah. Kinda bored, though.”

He hummed, right hand moving under the blanket to wedge itself in between your thighs, staying close to your knees. “I’m sorry. Do you want to leave after this movie?”

“No, we can stay for the other two. I just…” the sentence trailed off as you found yourself growing shy. God, why? It’s not like you haven’t made a move on Minho before - if anything, you were the one constantly making moves. Constantly batting your eyelashes and pleading for your boyfriend to fuck you. He always gave in; no matter the time or place, if you wanted him, Minho would make sure you had him. He could never let his baby get too needy, after all.

“Just what?” Minho asked, and you could tell he was resisting the urge to smirk. He knew exactly what you wanted, and he wanted you to say it.

You opened your mouth with the intention of speaking your wants, but the way he was staring at you with eyes that were starting to grow wider with lust made your jaw snap shut. Timidly, you buried your head in his neck, too embarrassed to look at him.

With a click of his tongue, his other hand found the back of your neck and gently pulled your head up. “You gotta tell me, baby.” He whispered, the hand between your thighs prying them apart and slowly moving higher up. “I can’t help you unless you tell me.”

He paused right at the hem of your shorts, fingers teasing the edge of the athletic material as he waited patiently for you to speak. You knew him well enough to know that he would sit here all night, playing with your shorts until you explicitly told him to touch you. He never did anything without confirmation that you wanted it, and fuck, did you want it tonight. Taking a deep breath to try to calm the rapid pace at which your heart was racing, you finally spoke, lips trembling as you did so.

“I just need you to make me feel good.”

The smile he gave you had your heart doing backflips, butterflies fluttering out of your stomach and skin chilling. A smile filled with adoration, but also with just as much need for you as you had for him.

“See? That wasn’t hard.” His hand slid up over your shorts until he reached the waistline. “You know I’ll always take care of my baby.” He pinched the clenched material, pulling it back just a bit to make it snap. “Up.”

Your shorts were removed, tossed to the front seat of the car. Once your legs were spread open enough for his liking, Minho kissed you, his tongue wasting no time finding yours. You melted into the kiss, body immediately relaxing at the familiar taste. Minho used the hand on your neck to tilt your head, effectively deepening the kiss as his other hand began to rub your pussy over your panties. You moaned, hips lifting slightly to feel his strokes better.

“God, baby, you’re so wet.” He mumbled between kisses, spit covered lips glimmering in the light of the movie. “Have you been this wet the whole time?”

“Yes. All night, Min-“

At the sound of his nickname, Minho rolled his eyes, the fingers that were teasing you moving up to your clit and lightly pinching it over your panties. He held onto it, rubbing the bud between his thumb and forefinger.

“That’s not my name, is it, baby?” He said with a raised voice to be sure you heard him over your moans.

You shook your head, a string of no’s falling from your lips. The way he was pinching you was so gentle, but firm enough to shoot waves of pain up your body, making the pleasure that much more intense and limiting your capability to think.

“What is it? Come on, say it. I really don’t feel like punishing you tonight-“

“Daddy.” You cried out, head tossing back and hitting the back window of the car. “You’re Daddy. Please, please Daddy, just touch me.”

Before you could even finish your sentence, his hand was down your panties, finally touching you without a barrier. It felt so good, the way he played with your folds, fingers knowing exactly where to put more pressure and where to back off.

“There we go. There’s Daddy’s good girl.” His voice was low, and if you weren’t already covered in goosebumps, you were sure just the sound of him practically growling would have your entire body chilled. “Always the most perfect play thing for me, aren’t you?”

While his filthy words flooded your senses, his other hand was pushing your oversized shirt up until your chest was revealed to him. If asked, Minho would say he didn’t have a “favorite” part of your body. He thought you were an absolute masterpiece - every curve, scar, freckle, and stretch mark never failing to make his mouth water. But he always found himself drawn to your chest and the perfect way your breasts fit in his hands and his mouth. When you got them pierced and he couldn’t touch them for months, Minho thought he was going to lose his mind - and in all fairness, he absolutely did and made up for every second he lost after they were healed.

Minho shifted his body so that he was in front of you, uncomfortably kneeling on the floor of the car. “Hold.” He commanded, and your hands immediately flew to your shirt, holding it up by your collarbones. Now face to face with your chest, Minho wetted his lips before latching onto you without warning. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he decided that this was the perfect moment to shove two fingers covered in your slick inside of you.

“F-fuck.” You whined, back arching with pleasure. “Fuck, daddy, j-just like that. Oh my god-“

You looked down at him to see your boyfriend staring at you wickedly, smiling against your chest as his free hand began to play with your other nipple. He toyed with the piercing with both his tongue and fingers, the sensation making your jaw drop, nothing but loud whines leaving your mouth.

He let go of your breast, fingers thrusting rapidly in and out of you as he looked up at you. “Squeezing my fingers so tight baby. You like that? Like it when daddy plays with your pretty tits?”

All you could do was nod, words failing to form at the moment. You lifted your hips, pushing yourself further down on his fingers to silently beg for more.

Minho got the hint.

“Oh? Gonna fuck yourself on daddy’s fingers, baby?” He asked, a large smile on his face. “Gonna make yourself come while I play with you some more?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, taking your other breast in his mouth and biting down on the nipple. His fingers paused, letting you control the tempo as you pathetically tried to bounce on them. It was enough, though; the feeling of Minho alternating his teeth and tongue, and hand teasing the other nipple helping to tighten the rope in your lower belly.

Pussy clenching around his fingers, you watched his eyes roll back in pleasure, the groan he released making your chest jiggle. He looked delicious, eyes shut in satisfaction as he focused on helping you get off.

Fuck, Minho was incredible.

You were about to attempt to ask for permission when you felt his cold thumb press against your clit, only moving left to right once before the dam broke. You screamed, cumming hard around his fingers. It gushed out in a spray, drenching the seat of the car and Minho’s sweatshirt. Only when he was sure you were finished did he let go of your tit, removing his fingers from your fluttering cunt.

Minho climbed back onto the seat next to you, head thrown back as he panted like he was the one who just squirted all over the backseat of the car. You rolled your head over to look at him, the same wide smile still painted his face.

“Fuck.” He said, turning to meet your gaze. “That was one hell of a scream, baby.”

©: chvnnie 2022

#skz smut #stray kids smut #lee minho smut #lee know smut #minho smut #stray kids fics #skz fics #lee know x reader #lee minho x reader #minho x reader #chvnnie requests

[watchmorecinema]

Something I don't like about the current state of the MCU (and DCU) is just how much work it all is. Some pretentious European movie from the 70's didn't require 30 other movies to provide context. You can pretty much watch any James Bond film in any order, there's not a lot of continuity to deal with. LOTR is an incredible series with a long plot but it's still only 3 movies; you only had to watch 2 other movies before Return of the King.

But with the MCU there's just so much! I think most people were following along fine until Endgame, but then it started to branch out too much. We get a new show every week, the multiverse idea just means that there are more and more threads to deal with and I just don't feel like it's working towards anything at all. Like, is She-Hulk required viewing before The Marvels? What context am I missing if I watch Quantumania but I didn't see any of the movies beforehand? Before Endgame there was certainly an issue with too many of the movies feeling like Origin stories, but at least they didn't require a lot of context. But now I'm so far behind that it just feels like a chore to catch up.

DCU has it worse since they keep rebooting everything. If your movie is meant to setup 5 future films and those films never come, then your movie isn't even good on its own. Apparently the next Avengers movie is going to be a soft reboot the MCU, so it's like why bother?

The films have finally grown all the same issues the comics had. Too many plotlines going on at once, constant retconning, and a focus on big events instead of just telling good stories one at a time. I would be so happy if we just kept getting standalone films that didn't really tie into each other so I could just watch them whenever. If they just made a new Batman each year with no plot carrying over I'd watch them all. Why did Columbo get popular again out of nowhere? There's 70 episodes and no plot to carryover so you can just watch one and get a complete story. Literally the best comic book projects to come out recently were fairly standalone or at least didn't need a lot of context. Werewolf by Night, Across the Spiderverse, The Batman and TMNT didn't need 30 movies of backstory and they didn't spend a lot of time just introducing characters for future movies. Spiderverse of course is different in that it is a sequel and a 3rd film is coming to finish the story but 3 movies is a reasonable number of movies to carry a plot over!

And what really gets me is that I did like the MCU a lot up to Endgame. I was pretty much watching them all as they came out in theaters. It was so much easier to do then. I think there are good stories to be told in the comic book superhero genre, but I don't think Hollywood can carry a plot over 40 films and have it work.

#movie #cinema #film #marvel mcu #mcu #dceu #the batman #tmnt #mutant mayhem #tmnt mutant mayhem #werewolf by night #across the spiderverse #spider man: across the spider verse #quantumania #lotr #lord of the rings #james bond #return of the king #she hulk #the marvels #avengers endgame #soft reboot #columbo #I've heard GotG 3 is good and also doesn't require a lot of context from the other films. #It's also the highest reviewed Marvel movie post endgame #probably not a coincidence!

[oliveroctavius]

I played Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and the fundamental problem I have with it is as someone who reads Miles Morales comics, I don’t see anything being remotely respected in that adaptation. Everything about his adaptation in that game annoys me from killing Jefferson in a way that is against his character, Rio being a teacher and then politician instead of a nurse, the portrayal of Brooklyn Visions not being an integral setting and obstacle to Miles, Miles being dependent on Peter up until the last stretch of the sequel, Ganke being the guy in the chair for both Miles and Peter, and moving him to Harlem because they didn’t feel like creating Brooklyn just feels like they cut corners for Miles to mold him around Peter. Not one character from Miles supporting cast not named Ganke or any of his own rogues made the cut. They even made Principal Evans who was a black male dwarf in the comic into a black woman. Even in his own game, not one collectible references anything about Miles alone but just his relationship with Phin or talks about how great Phin is. They mention Mr. Sumida. Hell in the original PS4 game before the remaster, Miles went to Midtown instead of fucking Brooklyn Visions. Everything feels like they wanted Miles in name only and it irks me so much because they never did that with Peter.

Yeah, this is such a complete thought I don't know what to add other than to agree. I do love new characters like Hailey Cooper, but the last time an adaptation felt free to almost completely replace Peter Parker's supporting cast and love interests with OCs they just made up was, like, the 1977 TV show. To some degree the amount of freedom an adaptation feels it can have depends on how long + culturally iconic the character's publishing history has been so far. But follow that explanation just a step further, and, well, it's not like it's a mystery why Miles has had a much shorter and harder to follow comics run, either.

Even Ganke being a constant here is so clearly because of Ned Leeds' presence in the MCU and ends up awkwardly tiptoeing around apologizing for someone else's theft of its ideas... I know that Judge, Billie, Tiana, even Kamala, they don't exactly represent iconic story arcs or character connections in the adaptation-driven public knowledge of Miles right now, but the way for that to change is for adaptations to iterate on and expand the existing base.

I'm also of the general opinion that Miles' whole character will never land as hard if it doesn't start with seeing Peter Parker die in costume in front of him but that might pose some problems to the structure of the video game LOL. I'm sure they could have figured it out if they'd wanted to.

#I'd be curious for further elaboration on Jefferson's death being against his character though #miles morales #ps4

[girlfailure-smut-hour]

Study Date with Enki

Nsfw content MDNI

SERIOUS TRIGGERS IN THIS ONE PLEASE READ THE CW

Characters: Virgin!Enki X GN!Reader, Modern!AU

CW: Mentions of self-harm and pretty extreme implied physical abuse, Implied possible eating disorder, Hurt/Comfort, Oral (Giving) Penetration (Recieving), Romantic and a little angsty .

A/N: I'm posting this one outside of my usual schedule cause I don't want anyone to feel ripped off lol. I usually do more... normal stuff for more normal fandoms. This one's for all the weirdos. I wrote it months ago and have been holding onto it, but it's as good a time as ever. So I'm finally putting my weird nonsense into the world (Sorry.) I love the stinky bugs-and-opium-wizard. You invite Enki for a study date to seduce him. I might write a sequel with a transfem Enki. ~2700 Words.

Please check out my fic masterlist <3

It took some doing, but you’d convinced Enki Ankarian to come over for a study date. It all started when you saw him in the library, at a table covered in stacks of books, his naturally Grey hair spilling over his face. He was so serious, scribbling notes with an almost frantic expression.

He was standoff-ish at first, but you broke through his facade with a little earnest care. You took interest in his strange fascination with the occult, withstood his seemingly random insults, and shared with him some of your own interests. It took weeks, but finally he let his defenses down and finally accepted your invitation.

You hear a knock at your apartment door exactly one minute early, and peering through the peephole you see him. He stands there in an ill-fitting sweater vest with a comical number of books nestled under his arm. In fact you’re not really sure how he’s carrying them all with his frail little arms.

You open the door and say “Enki! You made it!”

He smiles, subtly, and walks past you to set his books down. Among them you can spot books on things like demonology and fringe religious texts. A heavily worn and annotated copy of The Lesser Key of Solomon sits on top.

You walk over to the bar with him and sit down across from him. His glasses keep sliding down his bony nose as he stacks his books, but it’s cute. He looks like a librarian or something.

“Would you like anything to drink?” You ask.

“What do you have?” He replies.

“Soda, and water.”

“Anything harder?”

“Afraid not,” You reply.

“I’m okay,” he grumbles.

“Suit yourself,” You say, grabbing a drink.

He’s already immersed himself in a book by the time you sit down. “Is that for one of your classes?” You ask.

“Just a hobby,” He replies, writing notes.

What is it about this gnarled, rude, strange boy that attracts you so much? There's a certain something to him that's hard to place, but you can't help but be drawn in by him. Maybe it’s his sad stare, or maybe the passion you can sense in his feverish studies.

Maybe it was a mistake inviting him for a study date. You knew how fastidious he was in his studies and now he’s hardly talking to you. You sigh and buckle down on your own studies, but after an hour or so, he suddenly stands up. “Going out for a smoke,” He says.

You follow him out onto the patio and snatch his lighter from the railing. As he puts the cigarette between his lips, you flick the lighter and hold it up for him. He leans forward, pulling his hair away. The gentle ember gives his pale face a rich orange tone as he draws the first puff

"Why are you so nice to me?" He grumbles.

Because I want to fuck you, you think. "Everyone deserves a chance,” You say. “You're a sweet guy, Enki. And passionate. I don't know. Do I need a reason?"

He grumbles something to himself.

“So what got you into the occult?” You ask.

“It’s something I get from my family,” He replies, wincing.

“How’s that?” You ask.

"I shouldn’t have said anything,” He says. “I don't really want to get into my family situation. It's… ugly. Like me." His face contorts into a snarl.

“You should be nicer to yourself,” You say, gently touching his shoulder. He reflexively pulls away. Maybe in disgust, or maybe it’s some kind of trauma.

“Perhaps I should," he replies, Staring out into the sunset. His eyes glaze over, like a corpse almost. You decide to watch the sunset as well. There’s something to a quiet introspective moment like this.

He shakes his head as he takes his last puff, flicking the butt out into the parking lot.

“You ready to head in?” You ask. He nods his head, and you open the door for the two of you.

Walking behind him you spot a knot in his hair. Even though he’s grown it well past his back, it appears he doesn't take care of it at all.

“Could I brush your hair?” You ask as he sits down.

“I’m sorry?” He asks, jolting and turning around to you.

“Your hair,” You say. “I’d like to brush it.” He’s squinting at you, and you can’t tell what is going on behind those eyes. “It’s just so beautiful,” You add.

“If you must,” He says after a moment.

After retrieving your gentlest hairbrush, you pull a stool up behind him and sit down.

“Please be careful,” he says.

“Awww does the baby have a tender scalp?” You tease.

“I don’t have to let you brush my hair,” He snaps.

“I’m only teasing,” you giggle, before taking a strand of his knotted hair and holding it so it wouldn’t tug on his scalp when you pulled the brush through. He winced, but didn’t pull himself away from his studies. His hair is a wreck, but not unsalvageable. It would be worthwhile for him to consider at least a trim though.

“I wish I had detangling spray,” You remark. “This would be so much easier.”

He just grumbles something under his breath as you continue to brush. It feels like his hair is all knots. You could be here all night as far as you know. You tenderly run your fingers through his hair and he sighs, but not his typical sigh. A sort of relief, or maybe pleasure. You gently scratch his scalp and something akin to a quiet moan escapes his lips.

It takes nearly an hour, but you finally work out his knots. You didn’t notice at the time, but at some point, he stopped his studying to lean his head back, closing his eyes.

“Alright,” You say “I’m all done!”

He jumps as if startled and sits up to continue his studying. “Thank you,” He replies.

“When you condition your hair, make sure to get the ends,” You tell him. “That will help with the tangles.”

“Sure,” He says.

You brush your fingers through his hair again and say, “You really do have beautiful hair.”

“Thank you,” He replies.

“You should let me wash it some time.”

He nearly keeps his composure, but you notice a slight jump, or maybe a shiver. “I don’t think that will be happening,” he says.

“Who knows you might enjoy yourself,” you tempt him. 

You begin to scratch his back and he shivers. You can feel his spine, even through several layers of clothing. He feels emaciated. You could probably sling him over your shoulder, he seems so skinny.

“Why are you so affectionate toward me?” He asks. “I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

“Enki,” You say, “I like you.”

He turns around and starts to get up. “I don’t know what kind of cruel joke this is, but I don’t appreciate it.”

You stand up too and brush his hair behind his ear, looking into his eyes. Without warning, you plant a kiss on his sunken cheek. His knees nearly buckle.

“You’re serious…” He says. You nod. “This is a date?” You nod again. “Not, like, a date, but a capital D date?”

“Yes Enki,” You laugh.

“Oh my god,” He says. “I feel so stupid now. I-I’ve been so mean to you, and you-you…”

He stammers and stutters until you just kiss him. On the lips this time. He puts his arms around you to hold himself up. It’s a tender kiss, not too much, but you do slip a little tongue in. You put your hand on his chest and feel his heart pounding.

As you pull away, He’s blushing, bringing just a little color to his pale skin. You try not to notice, but his pants have gotten a little tighter now as well.

“I want you, Enki” you say.

“So quickly?” He asks, his face lighting up in nervous excitement.

“Why not?” You ask. “But it’s okay if you’re not ready.”

“I think I am,” He replies, glancing down and blushing even harder.

"Come to the room with me," you say, offering your hand. He gives you a nervous smile as he takes it.

He gulps as you enter the room. “There’s something… I don’t know how to say this.”

“Don’t worry Enki,” You reply. “You’re not going to scare me off.”

“It’s just…” he starts, “I have some scars.”

You smile at him as you take his hand and unbutton his sleeves. “Don’t worry about it.” You roll them up to reveal hesitation marks. Quite a few of them. You hold his wrists to your lips and kiss them. “Sweet boy. I’m so sorry.”

You do the same for his other wrist, then grab his sweater from the bottom, and lift it over his head. You start to unbutton his shirt, but he stops you by placing his hand in front of the buttons. “I’m sorry,” he says. “This was a mistake.” He looks like he might cry.

“Enki,” You reply, cupping a hand to his cheek. “I won’t judge you.”

He drops his hand and allows you to start unbuttoning his shirt. There’s little muscle or fat between the skin and bones. You notice more scars as more of his chest is revealed. Some long, some short. You push his shirt off of him and it falls to the floor. You brush your hand over his chest and all of his scars. He flinches. “There’s nothing to worry about,” You say. “I won’t hurt you.”

You run your hands over his back, feeling his prevalent spine with your fingers. You also notice even more scars to your surprise. Long, deep ones. Scars in places he wouldn’t be able to reach. Oh Enki, what happened to you? You think.

Now you move your hands down to his pants. He’s hard as a rock, and it’s impossible not to notice. You undo the button, and pull down the zipper. A light crop of light gray pubic hair peeks out. You can’t help but grin at the fact that he doesn’t wear underwear, but you’re not sure what you expected.

His pants fall from his bony hips, revealing more scars on his legs. You admire him for a second, careful not to let him catch you. His hip bones and ribs jut out so severely from his sunken stomach that you can’t help but worry, though it’s none of your business. His skin, though pale, is quite beautiful, and surprisingly soft.

He kicks his shoes off and removes his socks as he steps out of his pant legs. “I hope this is okay,” He says, rubbing his arm nervously.

“You’re perfect,” You say with a smile. taking his hand and leading him to the bed, you begin to undress. Enki sits up against the headboard watching, though he looks away when you notice.

"You can look," you laugh. "You'll be doing more than that soon enough."

He blushes, turning his gaze back to you. His erection is absolutely throbbing now. "You should know," he says, "it's my first time."

"That’s okay," you smile. As you finish undressing, you crawl on the bed toward him.

You start on his shins, kissing each of his scars. "Is this okay?" You ask.

He nods. "Though you might be there for a while. I have a lot of them."

"I don't mind," you reply between kisses.

You're making your way up his thighs and he's starting to squirm. You playfully brush his cock with your face, and he grips the sheets with white knuckles. You're almost worried he's going to cum then and there. He doesn't, though he leaks a bit of precum.

You pay special attention to his hip bones that jut so far out as you move up to his torso. As you reach his chest, you give his nipples a lick and he moans sweetly.

Now you've made it up to his face. He turns away, but you bring his face back to you and give him a deep, passionate kiss. His rigid body slowly melts into yours, and eventually, he starts to kiss back. You can feel his excitement in the way he pushes back into you and writes under your touch.

You pull away and start to move down his body, again planting little kisses on his body as you move down.

As you reach his legs, he can barely contain himself anymore. Writhing, and squirming, and gripping the sheets, he looks like he's going to explode before you even touch him. His erection is so hard now that the skin is thin and shiny and that little bead of precum has grown slightly.

You look up at him as you lick his shaft starting from the bottom and moving up, licking up his precum. He tilts his head back, moaning. You could tease him like this all day, laying little kisses up and down his shaft as his throbbing cock twitches involuntarily; watching as he squirms and moans at each little brush of your lips.

Eventually, when you can't wait any longer, you wrap your lips around the head and he tenses up letting out a high-pitched whimper. You look up at him as you press downward and his breath catches. You start to move up and down, feeling his length fill your mouth.

You bring your head back up to focus on the head again. You twirl your tongue around the tip as he twitches and throbs. He’s making cute little whimpers and squeaks as he shudders beneath you. You shove your head back down and he moans loudly again.

He can hardly contain himself, thrusting his hips involuntarily and writhing as you drool down his shaft. Each time he twitches, it pushes his cock to the back of your throat which causes him to moan and squirm even more. By this point he's throbbing in your mouth. You're almost worried he's going to cum now, but he keeps it together.

If you keep going like this he won't last long though, so you pull away after a moment and crawl up to meet his face with yours. You cup a hand to his cheek and plant a kiss on his lips. His eyes are brighter than you’ve ever seen them. You squirt some lube into your hand and gently rub it on his erection. He shuts his eyes and trembles at your touch.

“Are you ready?” You ask.

He nods and you slowly ease down onto his cock. As he pushes into you, he moans softly. Nearly a whimper. You push down a little more until he fills you completely. For a moment you just sit there, arms wrapped around his neck, looking into each other’s eyes. Slowly, you start to move up and down, bouncing on his cock as he shuts his eyes and leans his head back.

He feels amazing inside you and he can tell from the noises you’re making. Though you’re not as loud as him, the two of you are so lost in pleasure that you’re practically screaming. If you were more aware you might wonder what the neighbors would think.

As you go, he starts to thrust his hips more and more, like some animalistic urge has overtaken him. He pushes into you harder with each thrust causing each of you to moan louder and higher. As if you can’t take it anymore, you grab his face in both hands and pull him into a deep, passionate kiss. He practically growls into your mouth as your tongues swirl around one another.

He pulls away and says “I’m going to come.”

"Come for me," you say, clasping his face. He thrusts a few more times, hard and slow, before you can feel his throbbing cock pulse inside of you, filling you with his hot cum. The sensation pushes you over the edge and you cum as he does; the both of you a trembling wreck, holding onto each other as you convulse.

You caress his cheek and look into his eyes. "That was nice," you say.

"Yeah," He says, sleep setting rapidly in.

You climb off of him as he slumps down until he's laying flat. You lay down next to him and put your arm over him. "Get some rest," you say, planting a little kiss on his cheek. He sighs contentedly and the two of you drift off.

#fear and hunger #fear & hunger #fear and hunger x reader #funger #fear & hunger x reader #f&h #enki ankarian #enki #fear and hunger enki #smut #fear and hunger smut #enki x reader #enki ankarian x reader

[wariofranchisefanblog]

I am in a major Wario’s Woods mood and mentioned I may write down my concepts of how I’d do a sequel fic and yep, doing just that now.

Not sure if I’ll ever pursue it, but I did want to at least muse a bit about how I’d imagine a follow-up. Trying to make it fit with how we know the characters now, while also adding things relevant to my interests.

One of the big concerns for it is how to justify Wario as the villain, since he has long stopped being a pure antagonist and the answer is quite simple:

Rudy.

When Rudy returned in Dr. Mario 64, he was significantly shrunk and generally portrayed as more vulnerable than in Wario Land 3, down to catching a cold. This is where personal interpretation and headcanon come in, as I imagine him to have lost a lot of his power, following his defeat at Wario’s hands and naturally, he wants that back.

Naturally, there needs to be a reason the peaceful woods tie into this, so I imagine the Sprites of the forest guarding a treasure containing the power Rudy needs to restore himself to his old strength. 

How to find it though? Wario. Making sure Wario learns of there being a treasure, he catches him off guard and brainwashes him to use his literal nose for treasure to uncover it. The brainwashing part being to ensure Wario in his greed doesn’t somehow accidentally set that power free in a way that puts it to waste. 

To aid him and ensure that they are uninterrupted, he let’s Wario hire his old minions from both versions of Wario’s Woods:

Who I imagine as a WarioWare type company of misfits, only instead of making games, they’re goons for hire, for shady business, with Katsini as the head of the company. They note Wario seems odd compared to last time they saw him, but business is business.

So they invade the peaceful woods and imprison the sprites which, for some nice callbacks, include the elder and Alice from the Comic BonBon adaptations of Mario & Wario and Wario’s Woods.

One sprite gets away though and it’s the one who aided Toad in Woods. She is never identified as anything but a Sprite in the manual, however both KC Mario and Kun go with her being Wanda:

So I go with that too, she even shares the same species name, so it checks out.

Wanda travels to the Mushroom Kingdom for help, however, Mario, Luigi and Peach are currently out to visit another kingdom, so the only one left for her to ask, that she knows, is Toad.

She isn’t really worried though, given he helped her in the past and while timid about it, he agrees and the two head off. That said, they are followed by someone and anyone who knows me can imagine who that is:

Yep, Kinoppe. 

I just love her a lot and I like interpreting her as someone who was always around, just never seen, since she is more of a civilian that only accidentally gets involved in adventures, but this time joins in on purpose, excited to see her personal hero Toad in action.

She very much takes Birdo’s role, being a look-out for when Wario tries to mess with things, which thanks to Rudy’s involvement, can even be justified as something like magic, with Wario peeking in to see how the intruders are doing.

Much like Birdo with her encouraging words, Kinoppe also serves as emotional support. 

A thing with Mario characters is that how they act can fluctuate depending on their role. Peach has had maaaaany very helpless depictions as a damsel, despite clearly being capable as many other games show as well, down to having her own adventures.

For this I characterize Toad as timid, but brave. Afraid, but ready to step up and do the right thing. That said he deals with insecurities and not knowing how to deal with the pressure of being seen as a hero. It’s nothing new to Mario, but for Toad, being the sole main hero and subject of Wanda’s belief in him and Kinoppe’s admiration of him, is something very foreign to him and he doesn’t know how to handle that yet.

Also gives an excuse for just a biiiit of teasing.

It’s not something that ever comes up on the blog, since Wario to me isn’t the character or series for it, but I do have a lot of interest in romance and a more gentle character like Toad is a nice means to sprinkle a little of that in.

Anyways, the trio adventure through the woods with many shenanigans happening, using the locations from SNES Wario’s Woods like the mountain area as a base. Along the way they face off against the bosses, with the SNES opponents being moreso mooks, while the NES ones are the big bosses.

Eventually they make it to Wario, who has found the treasure and is acting highly strange, being a mix of his Land onward power-set and looking and acting more deranged, like in his Super Mario Land 2 debut.

After a hard battle, Wario is freed from his possession, but unfortunately, Rudy has gotten a hold of the treasure and restored his power, using it to turn all the Sprites, even Wanda, into monsters like in Land 3.

When all seems lost Toad and Wario team up to take down Rudy, with the latter being more than happy to get some payback and the two take him out, breaking the curse he tried to unleash again and sending him packing.

With that, the day is saved. Toad is a hero, Rudy is chased off by the Woods bosses and Wario sneaks off with the now depowered treasure and nobody minds, since he did nothing intentionally wrong this time and the reason for them to guard it is now gone.

That’s the basic gist of it. Not sure if I ever will make it a fic, but I do want to expand on it.

I considered several other characters for inclusion, particularly Waluigi, Birdo, Toadette and the Ware crew as other possible mind control victims, but figured I’d be better off avoiding cluttering the cast too much.

#Wario's Woods #Wario Land #Super Mario #Mario & Wario #Wario #Toad #Wanda #Kinoppe #Rudy

[darth-sonny]

But what if, maybe...

It wasn't fair. Kirby was watching the baby coo and gurgle at everything in her cradle, not knowing how much hatred they were putting into their glare.

Mikey had left them watching Lita while he went to check on his risotto, and while they didn't really want to, that ugly part of them told them to comply. They did.

It would be easy. They could just push her to her side and they wouldn't even need to do anything else- she would choke on her own. Kirby shook their head. It wasn't fair. Not for them, and not for this... this thing that was everything they couldn't be. They reached a hand to keep her from actually turning to her side, because no, they didn't want her to die, that would upset uncle Raph and auntie Lisa, they just wanted her gone.

She fell back to her previous position on her shell and for the first time had her eyes land on them. And without hesitation, the baby smiled and grabbed their hand. What a strange new toy, she was thinking, and bit one of their fingers. Kirby snorted. Her bites were so weak.

"I hate you." They said. Lita giggled in pure adoration.

She didn't look at them like the others. She looked at them in a way not even dad managed to look sometimes. Curiosity, joy. Taking them in as this someone she didn't know anything about, with no hint of suspicion or resentment. She was about to bite too close to his claw, so they retreated their hand. Lita whimpered for the loss of such interesting toy.

"Do you like comics?" They asked. She moved her hands in a grabby motion, and without thinking too much, Kirby picked her up. "I can read mine for you. It's okay if you sleep through it too."

And then...

Mikey had a mini panic attack when he saw the craddle empty. He never showed, but it was hard not to feel suspicious of Kirby around the baby - that's why he left them alone, after all! To show to himself that these feelings were baseless! But now where the SHELL was Kirby?? And where was Lita??

He ran through the lair before allerting someone in mad despair, what would he do?? Whay if Kirby had done something? What if-

Mikey heard a soft chirp and a long churr. He followed the sound towards Kirby's playroom (because they only ever slept with Leo and their room was basically a big toy store), only to find...

"I know I said you could sleep, but this is the best part! How are you going to understand the sequel if you don't pay attention?" Their voice sas mildly annoyed, but soft.

Lita churred sleepily and Kirby yawned. They were sat in their bed with baby Lita blinking tiredly on their lap.

"Okay, fine. But you're not getting away from this, young lady. This is uncle Raph's favorite edition, you gotta know it to have what to talk about with him." They closed the comic book and picked her up.

Mikey was stunned, and felt emotions akin to pride, guilt and joy in his chest. He had been concerned about Kirby when Lita arrived, but now...

Maybe now things could get better.

^^^^^^me with this ask

#chopping it into bit and snorting it into my bloodstream #lets go #YESSSS #mikey feeling guilty!!!! also yes!!!!! #sonny answers #prime leo au #kirby tag #fave tag

[monsterblogging]

Putting lore on Pacific Rim together is a wild time because we essentially have the following sources to work with:

The movie, which you would be rather inclined to think of as the Most Reliable Text since it's the main text, but then you realize that you do have to choose between Hermann Gottlieb's halving pattern and Stacker Pentecost's statement about running a dozen missions as a ranger, because they can't both be true.

The Drift Space special feature on the DVD, which sources information on Newt from an outdated character bio.

The Tales From Year Zero and Tales From The Drift comics, which give you insight into the history of this setting as Travis Beacham imagined it, but the art is terrible.

The novelization, which contains some nice little tidbits about Jaeger tech and kaiju biology, and occasionally some insight into the characters' pasts and personalities, but completely butchers the characters' biographies and uses outdated information about the creation process for the kaiju. And the characterization is terrible and the prose is god-awful.

The artbook, which is full of typos in the data boxes and also contains a quote from Travis Beacham with outdated information on the kaiju creation process.

Travis Beacham's blog, where he happily answered questions about drifting, and many other questions that he didn't believe would spoil anything for the PR2 and comics he never got to make. Unfortunately, he believed a lot of things would be spoilers. (This is the man who thought fans would be able to pick up on the sequel hooks for PR2 by the "seventh viewing.") And also, he occasionally just got mixed up.

Travis Beacham's Twitter, where he, y'know, kept on being Travis Beacham.

The character bios posted by Guillermo del Toro on his Twitter account, which are all a few iterations out of date.

News articles containing quotes from interviews with Guillermo del Toro, which occasionally provide some insight but never as much as you'd hope.

The PropstoreAuction website, which has pictures of numerous props and costumes made for the film, some of which were seen in the movie and some weren't; but honestly they're all a joy to look at.

Old galleries of concept art that are still floating around out there... or are only kept alive on the WaybackMachine.

And of course, there's old interviews and BTS videos floating around on YouTube.

And if you want to figure out what the hell is going on, you have to look through it all and carefully compare and contrast everything to figure out what's probably reliable and up-to-date, and what's somebody getting confused or making a typo, or presenting actual info badly, presenting outdated information, or making a last-minute effort to paste over a plot hole (real or imagined).

#pacific rim #pacific rim 2013