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flightyalrighty · 18 days

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(sorry if you've gotten this before or if this is not the right kind of question for the blog)

Do you have any advice on HOW to make a comic series? From what I've seen your work is fantastic, well made and written! (Cool concepts, story, and character dynamics etc)

How did you start? How DO you start?? How do you comic lol

I'm glad you enjoy my work! I'll do my best to answer this question!

I could give the ol' "Just jump in! Get started!" But I don't think that's the answer you're looking for, here. Even if it's technically the correct one.

"How do you make a comic series" Is one of those questions where the answer is kinda difficult to summarize in a single ask, because there's a whole lot that goes into it, y'know? I'll give you a brief run-down of my process.

I figure an idea for a story. In the case of Infested, the whole story was written before I even got started on the script. This is an outlier in my usual process and I don't normally do this and definitely don't recommend it.

Figure the plot like how you would figure a regular story's plot; The beats you wanna hit, the way the characters develop, the beginning, the middle, the end. What's the point of the story? What, exactly, are you trying to convey here? Who's the target audience? All that stuff ought to be figured out before even picking up a [MEDIUM OF ARTIST'S CHOICE].

Script the story. If you've seen a movie script, these things look a bit like that. You wanna not skip this step because this is where you determine the visual language of each page. Comic script writing is a whole thing and a half but I do have some random tips regarding it. -> When writing the beginning of a new scene, write down the time of day, the weather, and any important details about your setting (this is most important if you're working in a team). -> Using storyboard/film language when trying to figure out a scene is very helpful. You're not gonna remember exactly how that scene looked in your head when you finally get around to penciling it. Trust me. Write it down. Or thumbnail it! Thumbnails are also very helpful! -> Remember that you have very limited space for dialogue. Write with that in mind.

Figure the paneling on a page. I work at 11x17 and do my panel layouts based on those dimensions. I tend to make more important panels, or panels with PUNCH or SHOCK bigger than the others. Each panel is an individual illustration, but together they make a whole piece. You gotta treat it like that, y'know? Find the focal point on a page, find the most important element of it, and make that your focal point. Don't be afraid to get a lil wacky with panel shapes, either. They don't HAVE to be squares and rectangles. Check out what other cartoonists do! Get inspired! Paneling is an art-form within itself!

Page from "Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name" By Tess Stone

5. Penciling time! Get the perspective figured out, then draw the background, then draw the characters. Do it in that order. Trust me. With a background already set up, characters can be drawn more like they exist within that space, instead of floating in front of it. Also? Be aware that comic artists need to be ready to draw ANYTHING. You may have a great idea that you GOTTA put out into the world, but you have no idea how to draw, say, a car. Or debris. Or jungle foliage. There's no shame in using references, tutorials, or even doing a bit of tracing if something's outside your wheelhouse. Here's a bazillion tutorials from two guys who REALLY know their stuff.

6. Speech Balloons! Yes, really. In fact, you may want to do this and penciling at the same time. I certainly do. It's better to figure this out immediately so it doesn't hurt you later when it comes to getting your balloons to share a space with your art. Here's some great advice on the whole subject from a master of the craft

7. Inks! Line weight variation is key. Closer to the "camera" means thicker lines. If a part of a character is in shadow, that part is gonna get thicker lines, too. Personally, I make my background line art thinner than character line art. It helps the characters pop out!

8. Flats! Or flat colors if you wanna get specific about terminology. It's exactly what it sounds like -- Coloring the characters and backgrounds with the bare bones basic colors. I highly recommend keeping the character flats and bg flats on separate layers if you're working digitally.

9. Rendering! There's no hard and fast rule as to how a cartoonist ought to render their comic -- If they want to do that at all, even. Go with what you believe looks good AND is something you can do quickly. The "quickly" part is important. Heed my warning. Don't be like me.

And then I'd schedule the comic to be uploaded on whatever day suits me -- Thursday (usually) in Infested's case.

Of course, I kinda suck at relaying my process, so the final thing I can do for you is direct you to an extremely helpful book that really breaks it down in a way that may click with you as it did with me.

I hope this was in any way helpful to you!

#Anonymous #asks #comic advice

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mothmanssweetsucculentass · 1 month

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Ok here’s my two cents that no one asked for on the current (sort of?) debate going on in the Creepypasta fandom on here rn.

For starters, I grew up with Creepypasta. I also grew up mentally ill. I am also autistic. So I know my way around good and bad mental health rep at this point. And to be honest? A lot of the original stories DID suck balls at representation or just horror writing in general.

However, nowadays I see other people on here, often mentally ill or any other social outcast, taking these characters and reshaping them as their own to fit their own feelings and experiences, and I don’t think anyone has the authority to criticize things like that. Cringe culture is supposed to be dead anyways, nevermind the fact it’s inherently ableist at its core.

We also need to take into account kids still exist in the fandom. Pre teens who got tired of shit like scooby doo and wanted something more “mature” or “edgy” to get into without fully going off the deep end into full blown horror movies. At least that’s how it was for me. Not everyone, especially someone who’s younger, is gonna be comfortable with the grit and gore a lot of Creepypasta “purists” are pushing for these days, and that’s okay! When a fandom gets popular it’s always inevitable and unavoidable to have the popular characters get two dimensionalized.

There’s also the whole mascot horror thing that I don’t wanna get into, but I’m 90% sure that also plays a part in the old favorites like Jeff and slenderman being brought up again. They were and still are recognizable characters. Recognizable characters aren’t a bad thing. Making horror more approachable for younger audiences isn’t a bad thing. People having their own interpretations based out of their own experiences isn’t a bad thing.

Some of us grew up and wanted the more edgy and reality based content, and that’s also not a bad thing! But neither side should be dictating or policing how the other enjoys content in this fandom. If you personally don’t like the way something is written, characterized, depicted, or drawn, no one’s forcing you to look at it. No one’s claiming it as canon. No one’s asking for you to accept it as the end all be all.

At the end of the day this fandom was built on OCs and personal depictions of stuff. I can’t name a single character or story in this community that was created by some outside party like a movie or TV studio FIRST (because I know some got so popular they breached the fandom and got their own shows/movies/comics/etc). Everything here was created by someone who wanted an outlet for their creativity, or their pain, or their coping, or whatever else.

Realism and dark headcanons aren’t bad, and neither are any of the headcanons out there who just wanna make a goofy found family of social rejects as a form of escapism.

A 13 year old drawing a fictional layout of a fictional mansion where these fictional characters live isn’t going to suddenly invalidate the horror, I promise, it’s not that deep and it never was.

A 22 year old making a dark comic on the realistic origins of Jeff who is a fictional character in a fictional world isn’t going to suddenly invalidate the more softhearted side of the fandom.

Sure, there can still be a split if people are so adamant about that, but as someone who personally enjoys both the brutal horror side and the “haha Jeff is 15 and gay” sides equally, y’all need to at least learn to be civil to anyone who has a different headcanon than you. And if that seems like too much still, the block button exists for a reason.

TL:DR this fandom is based entirely off OCs and headcanons and people can do whatever the fuck they want because none of it is real and horror comes in many shapes and sizes and intensities and no one should be bashing anyone on their headcanons or views or rewrites or whatever else.

EDIT:

Actually wait I think I have more to say-

Horror, like any genre, has NO AGE LIMIT. And by that I mean, if someone younger wants to delve into scary stuff, they should be allowed to do so without criticism. I personally grew up on “child friendly” horror media like Scooby-Doo, and the older I got the more horror I wanted to experience.

There’s no right or wrong way to “understand” horror, and I frankly think it’s ignorant and stupid to say if you don’t fully “understand” something, then you shouldn’t be involved in it at all. Horror isn’t always about gore and unspeakable violence and the eldritch entity that wants everyone’s skin inside out. That’s why horror has sub genres for fucks sake. Gut wrenching brutality against innocent people isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and that’s okay!

However, bashing anyone’s tamer headcanons, or calling anything anyone interprets differently than you “stupid”, that’s not okay. God, I feel like an exhausted parent giving this lecture to fellow adults, but this really needs to be said and stressed.

I am an adult. I like when stuff in the fandom takes a dark turn. But for nostalgia’s sake, I also love the fanon so much, because that’s what I was exposed to.

And for fucks sake if it comes down to picking sides, I would rather stick with the part of this fandom that gives zero shits how you see a character as long as you’re having fun.

You can have your serial killer 30 year old Jeff and your canon-accurate-to-that-one-image eyeless Jack, but don’t shit on other people if they don’t want the same thing. Your interpretation isn’t canon, and neither is anyone else’s for that matter.

Realistic, dark, gritty Creepypasta isn’t a new concept, and neither is “adult” Creepypasta. And by the way, Creepypasta was never stated to be for adults. That’s like saying kids and only kids can eat trix cereal. It sounds that stupid on paper.

Let people interpret things the way they wanna interpret. No one is infringing on YOUR character ideas. Creepypasta has no age limit, nor a set way the horror has to be presented. Those who do continue to claim that just sound like pretentious assholes.

Very small side note, I personally think it’s inappropriate and rude to keep using Toby as a “bad example” of mental health rep when the creator has stated multiple times the character is old, not researched, and not even in the fandom anymore. Leave the poor guy alone.

#creepypasta #creepypasta fandom #jeff the killer #rant #I’m not a professional in anything don’t @ me #I’ve just been here for years #so I at the very least partially know what I’m talking about #I personally think this purist mindset and behavior is bs if you go and attack other creators #just be nice to people Ohmygod #update #eyeless Jack #slenderman

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kiragecko · 2 months

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cherrystainedknuckles

I guess the only problem with being asked to take a “marie kondo approach” is that in order to find any fanfic that appears to be based in actual canon timeline and plot points and characterization (which does exist, and I’m not sure why fanon fans seem insistent that it doesn’t), I literally have to search for hours. I’m not joking, I consistently make fic rec lists, and I have to search for hours and hours for actual canonical basis. same thing with character tags on tumblr.

I’m not saying fanon fans have to stop enjoying fanon or making up their own content. I’m just saying that when the tags used for both fanon tim drake and canon tim drake are the same tag it just becomes incredibly annoying sometimes, and I understand why people who like to engage with canon (me, often) become frustrated

I have definitely had periods where I got incredibly frustrated with fanon! Around 2019, I was wondering if I needed to leave the Batfandom, because it had been so long since I read a new fic where the characters felt 'right'.

But, if you're willing to, I'd like you to consider what you mean when you divide 'fanon' from 'canon'. Because I struggle to find a hard line between the two, for several reasons:

1. Fandom is transformative. Every fanfic is going to have some interpretation of the source material. The line between what is too much interpretation and what is acceptable is different for every person. For me, I find it can even vary based on writing style or other odd things - lighthearted fic can have more noncanonical stuff in it than heavier fic, and still seem true to canon.

2. 'Canon' is subjective. I do not consider the movies or video games to be 'canon', and it annoys me when things from those creep into the fic I'm reading. (I'm okay with SOME Battinson.) Some aspects of the cartoons are okay. I consider precrisis Jason Todd to be an alternate reality version, but Donna's precrisis origins are more canonical than the dumb retcons. Wayne Family Adventures isn't my main version of the characters, but I'm not bothered if some elements show up in my stories. I'm ignoring most of the nu52, but I like Duke and I'm still watching this new Lian to see what happens. I doubt your divisions are identical to mine.

(Also, some things that I think of as 'fanon' have shown up in nu52 canon! I do not accept them as any more canon because of this.)

3. Most 'fanon' is based on canon. Canon Tim has weird sleep habits. 90s Dick is really lighthearted and joking around some characters in ways similar to fanon. Dick can canonically not be trusted to take care of himself if his mental health gets low enough. Jason likes classical literature. Etc.

These are exaggerated and/or twisted in a lot of fic, but where is the line where they stop being canon? I wouldn't bat an eye at a lot of this stuff, if it didn't show up SO OFTEN.

4. Most 'fanon fans' do know some canon. What line are you going to set where it will be 'enough'. And are they allowed to mention parts of the canon they haven't read yet? Is anyone allowed to talk about Dick's early Robin days, or only the tiny amount of people who have read the golden age stuff? A lot of the 'mistakes' I see are obviously made by people who have read ABOUT canon, but don't know quite how it fits together.

5. 'Canon' is FULL of contradictions. Yes, there are canon events. Yes, there is characterization that is consistent across 3/4s of comics. But. I'm still working on my sidekick timeline. I've devoted days to figuring out ages and passage of time. I've spent over a decade trying to figure out Jason Todd's motivations, and why Tim treats him the way he does. I've read all the 90s and early 2000s CANONICAL character assassination of Jason.

I spent years thinking that Donna's death was almost as foundational as Jason's, only to later discover that I had just happened to read the specific comics that focused on the fallout, and she only stayed dead for a short time. That happens to fans ALL THE TIME! We read a character summarizing an event we haven't directly read, and just accept it as what happened. But characters have biases, and not all writers care about accuracy.

I've read some Tim Drakes that I consider to be almost entirely 'fanon'. And quite a few that were so scarily 'canon' that I got chills. (Not all of which were similar to each other.) But the vast, vast majority have fallen somewhere in the middle.

I definitely do not want the responsibility of deciding which ones count as 'canon'! And I think I would strongly dislike anyone who tried to decide for me.

Being frustrated is logical, and I empathize. But the original post was about the impossible expectations some fans feel. The expectation to read thousands of comics, synthesize all the contradictions, and come to conclusions that match the 'true fans'. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to be complaining about.

If that's what some fans are experiencing, of course they're not going to want to engage with canon! There's no way for them to succeed, so why should they even try?

When you join THAT conversation to discuss your frustration about fanon, it strengthens that perception. When you call them 'fanon fans' it emphasizes their belief that you don't think they belong. And rather than trying to change, it's more likely that they'll double down. Canon is full of gatekeepers, so they'll avoid it.

#gatekeeping #fandom policing #fanon #canon vs fanon #usually don't do stuff like this anymore #I'm old and tired #but sometimes the words want to come out

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inquebrar · 6 months

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ok, i need to talk about guapoduo/spiderbit

brace yourselves because i wrote a whole essay about how important is the relationship between these two cubitos. first of all, i think it's important to point out that queer content in the media in general has only received more care in how it is approached recently... has been many years of reinforcing harmful behaviors about how a relationship should be, and that's why it's so easy to recognize when the misconceptions people make about guapoduo are purely because of the excessive misrepresentation gay couples had in the media.

i mean, everyone grew up being influenced by heteronormative views and pre-established patterns of how “couples behave” based on famous cliché teen movies where the behaviors are unhealthy but still extremely romanticized and it gets worse when the "love story" is between two male characters. for example, around 2000-2016 if you were looking for mlm representation, the Boy's Love (cof yaoi cof) at that time reinforced awful stereotypes that unfortunately were used as a basis and reference since then. and because i still remember how toxic the mlm stories were, it feels like a figment of my imagination that guapoduo exists.

their relationship started from: trust and communication. two complex characters in the midst of a chaotic narrative that, just like in real life, has gray areas about what is right and wrong, good and bad, and yet, these two characters are respectful towards their differences and are always ready to welcome each other when facing hardships. they have no problem disagreeing on something: the discussion about "i'd rather lose to make the other person happy" / "winning out of pity isn't a fair victory, it's false happiness" or also "the kids need a protected place to sleep, otherwise they will be in danger" X "living in fear is not living", having arguments about the different perspectives they have is not something that drives them away, it actually just proves that they remain themselves while respecting the fact that they can disagree and that's okay. you can see their personal development as their love evolves too, how positive their presence is in each other's lives and how they quickly created a bond that I dare say not even death can break.

when they're sad, they look for each other for comfort. when they're happy, they look for each other to share the joy. regardless of what happens, they know they can count on each other. they can be surrounded by other people and still orbit their own world, always looking at each other, searching for each other, close to each other with foreheads touching... they are home. no fights due to jealousy or possessiveness, they trust each other 100%. miscommunication? not even once. it's kinda comical how two traumatized, murderous with self sacrificing tendencies cubitos manage to have such a stable and healthy relationship on a crazy island. like wdym they have been married for 5 months?! also, thanks richas we owe you.

#qsmp guapoduo #spiderbit #guapoduo #q!roier #q!cellbit #qsmp character analysis #i love them they make me sick i hate it /lh

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itstimetodrew · 6 months

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Deep dive into a very minor, very niche Spider-Man topic time!

The subject…WHO IS THAT WOMAN??? 🤨

It’s not crucial to the plot, and it’s not a mind-blowing theory, I just like gathering up little background details and connecting them. :)

DISCLAIMER: While obviously the Spider-Man movies are inspired by and based on the comics, I treat the movies as their own thing because tbh...I am not reading all that. It’s Movie Universe Time!

So indeed the 2002 Spider-Man movie does have a lot of cool tidbits that give extra information on characters. Sometimes it’s very subtle, sometimes it’s more overt! So we begin our journey to discover the Mystery Woman here:

95% of the words are actual Character Lore(!), with only the last paragraph copy-pasted, but Today's Focus is one particular section at the bottom of the 2nd column:

"His personal life has not been nearly as successful as his business life. Married only once, to the artist Caroline Mulder, he was divorced after ten years of what was said to have been a singularly strained and unhappy [...]"

3 whole pieces of Mystery Woman information! Her name is Caroline Mulder, an artist ("the artist" implies she's well-known at least in NYC), and they were married for 10 years before divorcing. That gives the portraits in the mansion more context, very likely that Caroline painted them.

Caroline’s impact on the story is also stated by an executive producer in a behind the scenes book when discussing how characters are developed:

"Here's a man raising his son alone—there must be a tragic story with his wife. She must have left him! Does Harry remind him of her? Does he love his boy or hate him?"

Harry does have an interest in art like his mom. In Spider-Man 3 we see him painting a still life in his spare time, after post-traumatic amnesia ironically leaves him happier than ever before. He's forgotten many details of the negative things in his life and instead enjoys reliving childhood activities and memories. It's possible painting was a passion of his when he was younger, similar to how he discusses writing a play for MJ and playing basketball with Peter during high school, but gradually became disconnected from or was pressured to drop.

Knowing the marriage lasted for 10 years helps narrow down a few things, like that the divorce probably wasn't recent. But that’s assuming he was born during the time they were married, meaning Harry could have been 10 at most. Whether Caroline is still alive also isn't clear-cut...in the movie, at least. In the novelization for the 3rd movie, Peter confirms Harry is an orphan after Norman dies. The novelizations and movie details don't always line up 1:1, so it's left open imo. I feel like the paper would have mentioned her passing if she had died but...choose your own route of angst! (And wow would that add a whole new layer of awful to Norman’s misogynistic “advice” about women to Harry if he’s shit-talking his dead ex-wife.)

If Caroline is alive that opens a new batch of questions about where she went. Do they have any sort of shared custody situation? Doubtful, as Caroline seems to be totally cut out of the picture and only exists in the story via possessions. But if the marriage ended bitterly, and some years ago, why is her art and her collections present at all? Her portrait makes sense to keep, as it's revealed in the sequel to be the cover for a hidden safe.

(That's another fun symbol, hiding treasures behind a loved one's image. A place for safety and precious things, hidden from public view.) Other pieces of art seen around the house raise more questions about sentimentality. If Norman hated any reminder of his ex-wife, why keep her work? Why keep it for so long and have it displayed prominently?

I will not let this derail into A Norman Post (it would not end I could not stop) SO my personal take is that it’s probably a mixture of some longing for the past, but mostly spite. Keeping the art is a reminder that while he lost her, he also won. What was hers is now his (son included). Which may factor into why we don’t see Caroline involved with the family at all. Either she didn’t want to be, or she was prevented from doing so. Honestly it would not be surprising to cut all ties, as I do not think many would want to test their luck in a legal battle against a vindictive person who holds a massive amount of money and potential life-ruining influence.

I could also talk about Harry forever but in short I think these details make him more interesting. It's another angle as to why he seems so conflicted and avoidant about family issues, to the point he physically distances himself from them whenever possible. He might have had a strong connection with his mother, but it likely wasn't something he could talk about without Norman taking it as a personal betrayal. Still, he's surrounded by memories of her and keeps his own mementos nearby.

^ There's a photo of her in the apartment he and Peter share, the same image as the portrait (on the middle shelf to the left 🔍). Interestingly, like the portraits, the photos of his parents are kept apart. But here his mom is given more focus on a higher shelf.

Despite the work that went into backstory creation, multiple photographs, and a painted portrait, I haven’t been able to find who "played" the role of Caroline. It would be neat! But it’s also just cool to see how background details offer glimpses of a larger story if you want to look for them. :)

#it's spider-man season again in my brain but THIS time im making posts about it. watch out!!!#very 'i wrote this for myself but you can read it i guess' bc my google docs are too messy and I need a Tumblr Conspiracy Board post.#spider-man #harry osborn #norman osborn #do I tag caroline? caroline mulder?? are the people looking for her? 😭#anyway ummm I'm gonna watch these movies again soon and explode maybe with more thoughts 🥺👉👈

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10blue10 · 6 months

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The Hidden World Themes

(Rediscovered this on my computer and decided to dust it off and post it here on Tumblr XD)

The intended themes of HTTYD: THW, as far as I can tell, are about maturing, letting go, accepting change and standing on your own. These are all good themes and I agree with them in theory. The problem is the way they were handled. I’m sorry, but if the themes have gotten mixed up with implications about segregation and ‘otherness’, romantic vs platonic relationships being portrayed as a binary or one better than the other, and looking for a quick fix solution to avoid problems rather than face and solve them…then something has gone very wrong. I’m sure many of you may insist that Dean didn’t intend for these implications to be in the movie, but they are there regardless. If anything, the fact that Dean apparently didn’t notice or dismissed these issues with his script makes him more culpable, not less. Furthermore, does a franchise based on the premise ‘Vikings who ride dragons’ really need to be realistic? I’m not expecting a play by play of how history would change, but when you put dragons, or any supernatural element, in the ‘real world’, that changes things by definition. ‘Realism’ means addressing typically ignored consequences, not ‘copying’ reality (I recommend Overly Sarcastic Productions ‘Trope Talk: Realism’ for a more comprehensive exploration). That’s what reality TV is for. As I was saying…

Theme One – Coming of Age Dean wanted HTTYD to be Hiccup’s coming of age story, but he also projects onto Hiccup, and therein lies the biggest problem with the movie (and really the franchise as a whole). It revolves entirely around Hiccup, to the point that the other characters feel like NPCs, and Dean is simply ‘playing’ as Hiccup. Snotlout, the twins and even Fishlegs are all portrayed as being way more immature, irresponsible and ignorant than Hiccup ever was, but their complete lack of development is used for ‘comic relief’ (and I use the phrase very loosely). They don’t actually matter, because this is The Hiccup Show, aka The Dean Show.

What gets me is the fact that the movie seems to equate ‘coming of age’ with “get married”. Right from the start Hiccup is told he should marry Astrid, and then at the end when he sends the dragons away he’s rewarded for this ‘mature’ decision by… marrying Astrid. Something that was going to happen anyway, because of course it was. There was no way the franchise wouldn’t end with a Hiccstrid wedding scene. Let’s give the ‘coming of age’ arc to Snotlout instead, shall we? After all, he’s had development before regarding his dad Spitelout, so we can run with that. Instead of flirting with Valka (eww), we can have him be overly competitive towards Eret, to the point it’s affecting missions. Snotlout blames Eret for leaving Ruffnut behind, and Eret asks what Snotlouts’ problem with him is. To which Snotlout responds that he’s jealous, because Eret is tall, strong, handsome (wait what?), talented… even Spitelout likes him more! So Eret tells Spitelout that if he really said he prefers a complete stranger over his own son, he’s a shit dad, and then he punches Spitelout in the face. Because who among us hasn’t wanted to see Spitelout get punched in the face? Seeing this would give Snotlout the courage to stand up to his dad later in the movie. / Theme Two – With Love Comes Loss Oh boy. I get it; Dean was going for a classic ‘if you love them, let them go’ message and used this flashback scene to foreshadow/parallel it. But Stoick and Hiccup’s situations are completely different! 1) Stoick thought Valka was dead. It’s not like she decided to go and live with dragons, and he respected her decision to do so. They were separated by something outside of his control and he had to come to terms with that. 2) Stoick didn’t expect the other men on Berk to give up their wives because he’d lost his. Now then, who shall we give the ‘with love comes loss’ arc to? How about Valka and Gobber, who are also mourning Stoick. Perhaps they both unintentionally put pressure on Hiccup to be like his dad, trying to vicariously have Stoick with them through his son, if that makes sense. We could replace the flashback with a scene of them worried about Hiccup. One thing leads to another and they realise that they’ve been so focused on wanting Stoick back in some way that they haven’t just mourned and reminisced together. / Theme Three – Embracing Change “Look at you, embracing change. I’m proud of you” – says Astrid, to… I’m sorry, who? Hiccup? As in Hiccup ‘changed the whole of Berk’ Haddock? Hiccup ‘first Viking to ride a dragon’ Haddock? What the fuck? This line is stupid and makes no sense. Actually a lot of Astrid’s lines are stupid and make no sense, but I won’t get into that. The point is, Hiccup is the last person who needs to learn to ‘embrace change’. In fact, let’s just cut this theme entirely. There’s such a thing as having too many themes crammed into one story. / Theme Four – Stand/Fly on Your Own

Now for the theme that even the marketing played up. Hiccup thinks he’s nothing without Toothless, so he needs to let Toothless go. That’s the only way for him to stand on his own… or is it? Yes, in real life circumstances change, friends and even families drift apart, and people should be able to ‘stand on their own’ as independent individuals, absolutely – but we do this all the time without having to cut off ties to those we care about. There are hundreds of people in healthy, balanced relationships who still have friends beyond their significant other. ‘If you love them, let them go’ is a nice sentiment, but to me it applies better to unhealthy, imbalanced relationships i.e.: a parent who can’t deal with their child growing up, or an ex-lover struggling to accept that their partner has moved on.

As a real world example, if someone is dependent on another (often a romantic partner) for self-worth, the solution would not be to have them cut ties with their source of affirmation. It would be better to help them find self-worth within themselves, so they can ‘stand on their own’, without having to rely on another person’s approval or support…but that other person can still be there. So let’s address the Buffalord in the room; Hiccup’s apparent dependency on Toothless. For the sake of argument, we’ll assume he is too reliant on his best friend as a source of self-worth. The issue that needs addressing isn’t his reliance on Toothless, it’s his lack of self-worth without the dragons. Sending the dragons away didn’t need to be the ‘solution’ to this problem. He and Toothless had an equal, healthy partnership, shown through their matched missing limbs, similar personalities, and the way they treat each other.

HTTYD1 gives us a perfectly valid reason for why Hiccup would associate his self-worth with Toothless and the dragons. After all, if it weren’t for training Toothless, he would have stayed an outcast in his own tribe. People tell him “You’re nothing without your dragon”, but these people are usually the villains. As in the ones he has no good reason to listen to. If he believes them on some level, then that means neither he, Stoick, Gobber or Astrid ever addressed the issues that led to his lack of self-esteem and his need for an emotional crutch (which ends up being Astrid). That is the real problem, not his friendship with Toothless. If we want to give Hiccup an arc about ‘standing on his own’, let’s pick up where the second movie left off and have him still be torn between his duties as chief and what he actually wants to do with his life. At the end he understands that he doesn’t need Toothless or the dragons to define himself with, but he wants to keep studying and rescuing the dragons regardless. He chooses his own path rather than trying to follow in his father’s footsteps, thus culminating the arc of individualism/self worth that started in the first movie. I’ve also come up with a parallel negative arc for Grimmel that can tie into this ‘rewrite’, but that can be it’s own post, since this one is long enough as it is. So, how would you guys improve on the themes in THW?

#Thw criticism #httyd thw #thw rewrite

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actuallyastingray · 1 year

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Spiderman/DC crossovers

So i’ve noticed that whenever someone writes a crossover between Spiderman and DC in general, I notice that he’s always dropped in Gotham City. Granted, I can understand why. Batman and Spidey have similar origin stories. They both have the combination of brains, brawn, and technological edge that keeps them alive against criminals. Bruce already has 12+ kids, so he has experience taking in and housing other vigilantes. With the release of the MCU Spidey and Tony being his mentor/father figure, it’s not hard to realize that Bruce Wayne is the Tony Stark of DC and people want this to echo. That said, I like variety and I started thinking about what would happen if Spidey ended up in a different DC city. This is my personal take on what would occur.

These would basically start with Peter getting zapped into another universe out of nowhere and has to make do. Also, I am not sticking with one specific incarnation of any characters (sorry MCU fanbase) but instead trying to create a character amalgam based on various depictions across comics, movies, and games. In other words, I am taking certain liberties with characters/locations, but considering this is all a total AU, I feel like I am entitled to do so.

Metropolis:

Spidey would likely start living in the Suicide Slums seeing as he can’t afford his own apartment yet. He’s grown up in New York (and SS is based of East Side NY) so having to deal with this lifestyle isn’t too hard for him.

He would make friends with his landlady, Natasha Irons, and her uncle pretty quick

Peter would try to apply at the Daily Planet for photography, using a resume that isn’t totally inaccurate but he’s hoping nobody goes looking to see if the Daily Bugle exists in this world

Perry wouldn’t hire him as a photographer, he’s got Jimmy already. He would more likely hire Peter as the on-site IT repairman and maintenance guy to keep the computers running and up to date. Pete is thrilled by this

Needless to say, despite losing his intended job, he still makes friends with Jimmy. Lois takes a bit of warming up, but she comes around eventually

Lois knows Peter is homeless (Ace reporter on the case) and she starts finding ways to help him out, like dragging him out to lunch with her and Jimmy or bringing him things from home. Peter promptly annoys her to death by insisting he’s alright and doesn’t need help.

Metropolis is a lot different from New York. Peter is pretty stunned the first time he debuts and gets praised and cheered on instead of scorned as a menace. It’s a bittersweet feeling that he had to get blasted into another universe in order to be appreciated

Most of the criminals are used to going up against Superman, so they have some serious power behind their punches. Spidey is very unused to not having to pull his own punches (cause Spiderman canonically has to hold back in order to not take someone's head off)

Inversely, there are a lot of superheroes as well. Supes and the Kryptofam aside, Metropolis has plenty of non-Kryptonian superheroes (Steel, Black Lightning, Booster Gold) so Spidey would definitely run into them and start making friends. I mean he’s already got the Metropolis red and blue down

Spidey would unintentionally start saving Lois, Jimmy, and Perry from danger just like Superman did during his early years. Clark is lowkey salty that Lois is teasing him about “switching out for a younger model”.

Lex Luthor is also pretty steamed that he has to deal with ANOTHER superhero getting in his way. He would be privately impressed that Spiderman can handle most situations with brains over brawn as opposed to Superman, but a hero is a hero.

Jimmy is the first to find out Peter’s identity, mostly because he doesn’t have the “awkward reporter” identity on lock the dame way Clark does.

Jimmy insists on being Spidey’s wingman, because hey he’s already Superman’s best buddy, why stop at one?

Lois is the second person to find out (mostly because she can always tell when Jimmy is lying to her). She is a little mad that someone else beat her to the finale, but she would by now have warmed up to the skinny IT nerd.

Clark is the last person to find out. He and Spiderman would meet somewhere on the rooftops and have a heart to heart. Peter feels safe venting to Supes about being from a different universe, and how he has been struggling to survive in a strange universe and being a good hero at the same time.

At this point, I feel the story would move out of a Metropolis/Superman crossover and into a full Justice League one because Supes is going to do his best to help Spidey get home. Thus, he needs to get the JL involved

Star City

I don’t know much about Star City’s layout, but I assume it is built like most cities in Northern California. Peter would likely find a low-income apartment and get a decent paying job to make ends meet.

At some point, he meets Roy Harper who just got back from rehab and finds that his old apartment is being rented out by a skinny little twerp who reminds him of Nightwing

For the record, as much as I liked New52 Roy with the Outlaws, I also enjoyed pre-52 Roy being a successful father and leader of the Outsiders. My take would be Roy just returning from a forced stint in rehab while Ollie and Dinah watch Lian. He didn’t exactly part with them on good terms and is afraid of what they and Lian with think of him.

Roy and Peter end up living together after Roy finds out Peter can barely keep up with rent and uses his detective job to help make ends meet. Peter realizes this was how Aunt May used to feel when he was the one paying the bills at home.

Commence hijinks of Roy and Peter trying to pull off dual identity jobs while not telling each other

Roy and Peter both know things aren’t copasetic with each other. Roy is still struggling with his history as a drug addict and is still avoiding Ollie, while Pete is starting to feel homesick and worry about the people he left behind. (Don’t worry, they end up talking and making each other feel better)

Roy’s friends and family keep showing up and making it hard to keep a secret identity: Jason pops up with beer from time to time, Nightwing shows up in full costume not knowing Roy is not living alone, Artemis is pissed when she thinks Roy abandoned Lian and picked up another kid (yeah I put Artemis in the DCU, sue me if I like her), and Dinah just coming over to talk and finding out she has two angsty boys that need help instead of just one

Star City has fewer criminals and more assassins than other cities. I would reason Peter isn’t prepared to deal with Merlyn or Slade and takes a bad hit

Roy throws apprehension to the wind and books it to Queen Mansion in order to save his friends life. This results in a whirlwind of everybody freaking out when Roy shows up with a bloody, dying teenager pleading with Ollie for help (Ollie, I should mention, was not aware Roy was back until this point)

Dinah is the only one who stays calm enough to help Peter while Roy, Ollie, Mia, and Artemis all have a family feud moment.

The end result would be Roy getting back together with his family, taking back custody of Lian, gaining temporary guardianship of Peter, and getting back in touch with the superhero community.

As before, I’m sure Ollie would drop it to the JL that Peter is from another dimension and he needs some help, but brags that if they can’t get him home, he’s one-upping Batman on the adoption chart

Central City

Yes, I know Keystone also exists. But considering the two are in different states and Spidey doesn’t have superspeed, so I’m restricting it to Central.

He manages to get a well-off apartment, unfortunately it’s right across the street from the Keystone Saloon. He manages to lies about his age in order to get work as a cleaner/barkeep. (For the record, I can totally see Peter’s chemistry skills coming in handy here with drink mixing. Keep in mind that Flash, who is a chemist by trade, once worked as the barkeep too)

The Flash Rogues are pretty pissed that the owner hired a kid to work the counter, but after getting some (not at all believed) reassurance from Peter that he’s just small for his age, they decide to keep an eye on him while there

Meanwhile, outside the bar, the Rogues are a bit surprised/annoyed that a non-speed related newbie is foiling their heists. That lasts all of five seconds when they realize Spiderman is another minor.

Spidey, who is used to crazed egomaniacal maniacs swearing to kill him ten different ways, is very put off with the Rogues acting like overbearing uncles to him (”I know it’s finals week kid, WTF are you doing out this late” “Kid fix your damn costume and patch yourself up before you do this again, you're gonna get hurt” “Kid do you even eat?”)

They warm up to each other, especially when Spidey offhandedly mentions he’s not used to people being so nice to him (cue Captain Cold to assume child abuse)

The Flash family proceed to make Spidey’s head spin. Barry, Jay, and sometimes Wally stand still long enough to have casual conversation, but Iris, Jay, and Bart are a different story.

Barry starts to suspect Spiderman is hiding something. He doesn’t follow him home out of respect, but after talking with Cold during a heist, he starts to subscribe to the “child abuse” theory

The fact that Peter is more or less living bare minimum with fewer calories to fuel his healing factor doesn’t help. Those bruises after a fight aren’t healing as fast. It also doesn’t help that he’s showing up to work with half healed injuries.

The ruse is up when Trickster barges into Peter’s apartment one night in order to settle the debate and finds him still in costume patching up after a fight with a non-Rogue villain.

The Rogues proceed to haul Peter over to Keystone and dump him on Barry Allen (” Here, take this. He’s not allowed back out until he’s been fed, healed up, and fixed his suit. Don’t make us come back here Flash”)

Barry and Iris get the full story from Peter while they patch him up. Peter is pretty surprised that dimensional travel isn’t the weirdest thing Flash has ever done (the guy has created parallel universes for crying out loud)

Peter is very self-conscious about eating enough to maintain his healing factor and metabolism, until he realizes he’s among people who deal with the same problems in day-to-day life outside the house. It’s a touching moment

Once again, queue Justice League to swoop in and take over.

Yes I know not everybody is used to the Flash Rogues being so close with Flash, but I grew up with this particular variant of the characters and I like that it’s a change in dynamic between heroes and criminals

Coast City

Again, I’m not super familiar with Coast City other than it is DC’s take on Californian cities.

Peter takes a job as a delivery driver to make ends meet. One of the people he delivers to more than most is Hal Jordan (because I assume Hal is just like any other mid 30′s bachelor and prefers to order take out instead of cook for himself)

Hal is extremely put off by the pizza delivery boy who looks like he could be a clone or long lost son

By comparison, he is only mildly annoyed by the arrival of a new vigilante in Coast City. (As far as I know, Coast City doesn’t really have any hometown villains. The majority of the bad guys who attack are aliens who are after Jordan for being a member of the GL corps) Hal never really had time to go out patrolling like Spiderman does, so he doesn’t care at first

Ultimately, due to teasing from the other Lanterns and Carol about “staking his turf and laying down the law with the newbie” Hal goes out as GL to talk with Spidey. Halfway through their “conversation”, one of Hal’s enemies shows up to try and settle the score

Spidey and GL team up, but Spidey isn’t exactly prepared to deal with the things a power ring can do. His costume gets shredded and immediately gets ousted as the pizza guy less than a week after dropping in Coast City

Hal is having a crisis over this. (What if this kid is his long lost son after all? I’m not enough of a bastard to just leave this kid to struggle with homelessness knowing I could help him. Dammit Batman, you are a terrible influence!)

Hal makes Peter quit the pizza gig because, “kid you are way too young to be working anyway and CPS will eat me alive if they find out I was okay with this”

Hal, predictably, is zero percent ready to be taking care of a fidgety superteen. Like this guy's level of parental incompetence would terrify Batman. Here he is having spontaneously taken in a kid off the streets when he can’t even feed himself.

Carol hears about this and puts him through the wringer about “How to Parent” Queue Hal doing the most ridiculous things from buying cheesy Parenting For Dummies books to attending seminars for single moms

Long story short, he gets his act together over this because if Peter is in fact a lost family relative, he wants to make an impression/make up for lost time (Peter meanwhile, is oblivious to this thought process and doesn’t think he and Hal look that much alike. They do XD)

Hal and Peter having a bonding moment over at Ferris Air, with Hal taking Peter flying in one of his jets. Hal is shocked that Peter is so familiar with and enthused by the inner workings and considers pestering Carol about getting Peter a position as a mechanic. Carol says not until he graduates.

Word gets out about Spidey and Hal slowly, mostly because Hal is the only hero in Coast City and manages to keep his secrets under wraps. Batman mostly figures out the truth due to Hal’s change in character (Sorry Bats, can’t be on for monitor duty tonight, I gotta get home and cook for my ki - I mean, for Carol. Cause she’s the one who over at my place. Totally. No one else)

Flash and Green Arrow show up in Coast City to throw Hal a “Welcome to Parenthood” party. Hal is not amused, but Carol very much is.

Peter finally breaks to Hal, and then the JL about being from another universe. Hal is pretty crushed about Peter not being a blood relative due to entertaining the fantasy for so long.

The League starts trying to find ways to send Peter back. Meanwhile, he starts parading Spiderman around during League meetings going on about how he proved them wrong and being a successful parent. It especially annoys Batman. (”What’s the matter Bats? Mad that you aren’t one of a kind anymore?”)

Fawcett City

For starters, I’m really not sure which variation of the Marvel Family to use: the New52 or Pre-52 versions. It makes it kinda hard to nail down plot elements since I go back and forth.

I like the idea of Peter and Billy being homeless together and helping each other out, Peter being an older brother which is something he has no experience with.

That said, I’m not super familiar with how DC handled Billy later in the timeline other then he started growing up, joined the radio station as the host, and met Mary. Might not be the best storyline to use seeing as it seems a bit spotty

I like the idea of the New52 Marvel Family finding Peter out in the cold and inviting him in. Peter is thrust into the role of the awkward older brother with six small children looking up to him

Of course, when they transform in front of him, they aren’t so small anymore.

Despite having a caring family, food, and support, Peter is afraid of telling everyone who he is. The fear of overstaying his welcome keeps him up at night.

Not to mention, the Marvel’s have the crime fighting down cold, meaning there isn’t really a home for Spiderman either.

I think a moment where Peter privately confesses who he is/where he comes from to Billy would set up the story. Now Billy realizes his new big brother is going through the same problems he went through with trying to fit in.

As Captain Marvel, he tries to find the Marvel (haha) universe via the Rock of Eternity, but gets no results. Now Billy is afraid of telling Peter the bad news because he’s pretty sure Peter is depressed and doesn’t want something to happen.

Billy starts subtly asking Cyborg at the watchtower about research into alternate universes because maybe science can succeed where magic failed

The opportunity for Spidey to shine comes when Dr. Sivana starts up a machine that drains magic and makes the Marvel’s powerless. Queue someone with no magic powers but a lot of technical know-how to swoop in and show what he can do.

I feel something that could potentially happen is the machine backfiring and giving Peter some magical abilities as a result (I mean, the Marvel’s are basically the sources of Earth’s magic from what I can remember. Anything can happen)

From here, not really sure what could happen. I suppose Peter having to accept that he can’t go home, but is happy he can stay with the Vasquez family and still continue being a hero to his adopted siblings in and out of costume. Alternatively, the magic blast could shoot him back to the Marvelverse, with Peter being upset that he never got to say goodbye. (Spoiler: Captain Marvel now knows where the Marvelverse is and comes for a visit)

#dc #Marvel #dc comics #crossover #Spiderman x Batman #spiderman #spiderman x superman #found family #story prompt #spiderman x dc #superman #batman #flash #green lantern #green arrow

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clay-cuttlefish · 7 months

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All of Vic's cartoon appearances.

DC Showcase: Blue Beetle

A 60s-styled short using the Charlton incarnations of Vic and Ted, plus Captain Atom and Nightshade.

I'm on board with Vic being an objectivist for the sake of a janky throwback. There is no Rorschach energy here, this is entirely a parody of Ditko.

The comedy's not super inspired but hey, it's 15 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome. Look at these losers go.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Mystery in Space!

Vic is so shaped. Just a little guy.

Most of these teasers are meant to show off who the guest hero is and what they do, but not Vic. He's just chilling. Zero explanation of what his deal is other than "guy who is Around."

BatB - The Knights of Tomorrow!

Of all the heroes who have been on BatB, Vic is probably the least qualified to go to Apokolips. Why did he agree to this.

Unsurprisingly he falls in lava. Sad. Well there are other heroes.

BatB - Darkseid Descending!

And then he singlehandedly saves the world from Darkseid while most of the Justice League International blows up. King.

I love BatB's commitment to weird little dudes. It plays fast and loose with characterization (it's a kids show that's mostly about Batman and does it with everyone, I'm not gonna nitpick it) but it's got a lot of interesting randos.

I think this is the only time Jaime and Vic appear together? Actually appear, not just as nonspeaking cameos in a big event.

Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold

I watched this while babysitting and I had a great time. It's a kids movie, but hey, I have Scooby-Doo nostalgia and a soft spot for campy Batman, this does both very well.

Vic shows up, is annoying on purpose, and gets his shit rocked and his identity stolen. Extremely Vic behaviour.

Justice League Unlimited - Fearful Symmetry

I know this is a beloved portrayal. Jeffery Combs' performance is well regarded for a reason. It's the biggest adaptation Vic's ever had. It acknowledges his comic connections to other characters. I get it. I just do not enjoy him as the baseless conspiracy theorist and it drives me up the wall that it's the best he's got.

Like I'm sorry but he would not fucking say any of this. He's annoying and bad at superheroics for many other reasons but he is extremely aware of the real roots of corruption, he's not going to be repeating antisemitic conspiracy shit. Even when he genuinely sucks he sucks in very specific ways.

JLU - Double Date

Points for being partly based on Cry for Blood.

It makes me so sad that I don't like this take on Vic and Helena's relationship. I wish I did.

JLU - Question Authority

I do actually like Vic getting deeply upset by the thought that the bad future is predestined and trying to throw himself under the bus for it. That feels fitting to me even if the details aren't.

There's a version of this story that lives in my brain where Vic is more of his stubborn, no-nuance early reporter self, and he breaks into the secret government facility to try and leak everything to the world only to get his ass kicked instantly by Captain Atom.

JLU - Grudge Match

This is the world's dumbest nitpick but Vic fucks. It's the one part of being in a relationship he doesn't suck at. I have no real problems with this sequence, it's funny and does the conspiracy bit better than his main appearances, but I discovered while rewatching that this is a thing I have opinions about and where else am I going to put these extremely stupid thoughts.

JLU - Destroyer

It's just rude that Vic is in the suitup montage but has his mask on the whole time. Let him transform.

I liked his JLU episodes a hell of a lot less this time through than when I first watched them. It's generally a good show, but knowing that this version of Vic is the most accessible one is incredibly frustrating, and the overall strength means that I'm annoyed about missed potential. BatB was never going to be the serious showcase of his nuance or whatever, but JLU could have been an incredible adaptation, and it just isn't for him. Sorry JLU fans.

#clayposts #clayreads #the question #vic sage

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ihasafandom · 3 months

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Carnage re-write

I'll add these all together into a single post and probably put it onto a03 and my artblog when I'm done with all of these, but for now we're going with this format.

Part 2/??

Previous / Next

So for Eddie’s arc let’s have him learn that he needs to open up and allow himself to listen to and rely on other people. He can’t go around behind other peoples’ backs, and he can’t lie to the people in his inner circle. This will connect back to his flaws in the first film, where he tried to do everything himself his own way without considering how other people would feel about/react to that or reaching out to any of his contacts or allies for help or anything like that.

Venom meanwhile got hints of it in the first film, but we need to double down on it learning the value and meaning of community and friends and allies and all that. In theory Eddie has some of that, but he also tends to throw them away so if we can have Venom glom on and stick that’ll be good for them both in the long run (not a necessity for a good story, but I like when partners fill eachothers’ weak spots.

As for the relationship, we need them both to go on a journey where they realize that/why they care about eachother, and come to value that enough to compromise and work to find their balance.

They also both need to temper their impulses and instinctive responses to be able to think thing through and not just rush in guns blazing, though that might be a series arc and not just for the one movie.

Probably makes the main thrust of this movie something along the lines of: People and relationships are important and irreplaceable, but also hard work and compromise. They are well worth the effort of doing things right.

Which gives us some nice points to invert for our villain trio.

And speaking of villains, the villains and side-characters need arcs too.

In the film, Cletus wants to tell his story, wants to escape, wants to find his girlfriend, wants to get married, and wants to wreak havoc and kill people.

Scream wants to escape, wants to find her boyfriend, wants to get married, and wants to wreak havoc and kill people.

That’s all perfect for what the film wants to do (I have not read the comics and know nothing about scream, don’t at me. But also do, maybe you’ve got some ways to sell all of this better) 100%, no notes.

Where this breaks down is when it comes to Carnage itself. We get very little of its motivations, and we don’t get much between the symbiote and Casady, and even less between it and Scream. And what we do get isn’t compelling. It seems clear to me that they were trying to do a parallel to Eddie and Venom here, but it lacks the clarity and follow-through to really work.

Also AFAIK Carnage symbiote is supposed to be she/her and it’s a bummer that it’s not in the movie though I am always gonna be a “symbiotes are it/its first and anything else second” truther.

So to fix it:

Carnage is newly born straight off of the “we should be able to do what we want with no morals/consequences/limits” argument that Eddie & Venom were having and bases its initial personality off of that. Its motivation is that it wants to murder-party its way across the Earth. It sees Cletus as a good time and it is covetous of him as a host. It wants a match at least as good as Venom’s, and it wants its host to have things that make them feel hedonistically good, but it does not respect Cletus and it doesn’t care about Scream herself.

Cletus loves Scream. And he appreciates the abilities and possibilities that Carnage brings to the table and the way that their goals and desires align, but nothing more than that. People are a means to an end, to be used as he sees fit. To be manipulated and lied to without a thought. He doesn’t care to tell Scream about Carnage being its own being, all the better to bask in the glory of saving her and being powered up all by himself. He doesn’t care to explain to Carnage how the world works, or to reel it in, preferring to ramp it up for the carnage and chaos and pretend that it was all his idea.

Scream loves Cletus, but she is jealous and suspicious. She acts up whenever Cletus seems to have anyone else important in his life, and is even more dismissive of the people around them as little more than backdressing and playthings at best. She has skills and knowledge, and tries to use them to plan their future, but gets ignored by Cletus overruling her opinions and choices unless he is in a “yes, anything for you, everything you say will be done” mood. When she finds out about Carnage she is HECKIN jealous. How dare he have someone even closer to him than she is?

The marriage going from the two of them to the three of them is a peace offering without solving the underlying issues. And when Cletus ignores one of Scream’s choices – the officiant or somethign and Scream gets mad and Carnage slaps her for ruining their big day and then Cletus fights with Carnage for hurting his love, that is the crack that weakens them enough for Eddie and Venom (with backup) to eventually win the day. Their bond is stronger, they have put in the work, they have laid out a support network and talked about their needs, and in the end they will prevail because they have a healthier relationship for it.

This is of course diametrically opposed to how the actual movie played it, where Eddie and V got back together with no actual changes and out of desperation but the movie still kind of tried to imply that they won because their bond was better? Nah, you gotta earn that, on both sides, and we’d seen more problems on the protagonist side than the antagonists’ by far at that point.

Part 2/??

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duhragonball · 1 year

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Dragon Ball Super Manga Ch.1-4

What’s that? Did you think we were done with Battle of Gods? No, we need to go over it a third time.

So after the success of the Battle of Gods and Resurrection F movies, Toei began producing the Dragon Ball Super anime, while Shueisha began publishing the Dragon Ball Super manga. Both started up around the summer of 2015, and both made the... uh... bold choice to retell the Battle of Gods movie.

The weird thing is that both versions have significant differences from the original story. They don’t even agree with each other, and I don’t understand what the point of this is. The basic plot points are the same, but the details change. For example, Beerus wakes up in the movie and pretty much heads straight to the North Kai Planet to meet Goku. In the anime, Beerus visits at least one other planet instead, and he decides to only destroy half of it because their food was good, but too greasy. Then he destroys a second planet and the explosion reminds him of the Super Saiyan God premonition.

In the manga, he visits an alien planet, and the locals try to poison his food, but it doesn’t work. One of their dishes is named Soup D’Saian Gahd, which jogs Beerus’ memory of his premonition, and he destroys the entire planet, not just half like he did in the anime.

My whole beef is this: Who is this for? A lot of times, you’ll see a movie come out, and there’ll be a novelization, and maybe a video game, and maybe a comic book or something. They might vary in content, but mostly because not everyone had access to the final script. I’ve heard that in the novelization of Empire Strikes Back, Yoda is described as being blue, probably because the author didn’t know they had picked green when principal photography began.

But the point is that those are different media, with different priorities. With Battle of Gods, we have an animated movie, and animated TV series, and a comic book that resembles the art style of the movie as closely as possible. The implication is that all three need to be the same, and yet they’re frustratingly different in minor, nitpicky ways.

To be sure, the classic Dragon Ball anime and manga had differences, but for a reason. The anime would pad out scenes and invent whole new ones to sustain its production schedule while the manga was being published simultaneously. Here, that doesn’t apply, because you have a TV show and a comic book adapting a two-year-old movie. Also, there seems to be no interest in making both versions agree with each other.

So let’s explain how this works. You see Akira Toriyama’s name listed all over the DBS manga, but his involvement is pretty minimal. When they list him as “author”, they mean he’s the guy who created all the characters. It’s like when they put “Based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry” on every episode of Star Trek. Gene’s been dead for over thirty years, and even before that, it’s not like he was writing all the scripts.

Instead, the DBS manga is written and drawn by Toyotaro, a different artist who was chosen by Toriyama. As I understand it, the formula for Dragon Ball Super is this: Toriyama will come up with a plot outline, then send it to Toyotaro, who expands it into a full story. Toyotaro is an extremely controversial figure in the Dragon Ball fandom, mostly for high crimes such as “drawing the Dragon Ball comic”, and “existing”.

For my part, I gave up on the DBS manga when it became apparent that it wasn’t going to do anything I wasn’t already getting from the anime. But after the anime ended, Toyotaro finally got to tell original stories like the Moro and Granolah arcs, and that’s why I decided to finally read the manga this year. Unfortunately, it means I gotta wade through a bunch of reruns to get to the good stuff.

I suspect Toyotaro was similarly frustrated with this arrangement, because his Battle of Gods adaptation is very short--only four chapters long. And there is no Resurrection F adaptation at all, which is lucky for me. I think Toyotaro was champing at the bit to get this series moving, and in the meantime, he managed to work in some new additions where he could.

For instance, chapter 1 pretty much follows Goku’s POV from Episode 1 of the anime. We see him doing exercises while Goten drives his tractor, but Toyotaro also shows him imagining his old enemies while he does his drills. This is handy, as it gives Toyotaro an excuse to put Cell in the manga. Also, I find it kind of amusing that Goku’s training regimen is exactly the same thing his real-world fans do on the playground.

Vegeta is barely in this thing, save for the part where he fights Beerus on Bulma’s cruise ship, so Toyotaro puts in some side panels of the guy, like this one of Mr. Satan trying to give him his award money.

Or, this one of Vegeta learning the Bingo dance he did in the movie, but not in the anime. He also doesn’t do it in this comic, either, as the manga version skips over most of the party. All we get is another panel of Vegeta lamenting that he didn’t get to show off his dance.

We also get this page where he explains who Beerus is to the others, while also covering the flashback to when he first met Beerus as a child. I really like the way this comic is laid out. I don’t enjoy a rushed re-telling of Battle of Gods, but Toyotaro definitely does a great job with the assignment he’s been given.

The only new plot element here is the introduction of Champa and Vados, who are destroying planets while Beerus searches for the Super Saiyan God. They don’t want to alert him to their presence, but fortunately he’s too busy to notice them. The only ones who do notice are the Elder Kai and Kibitoshin, who deduce that Champa is looking for the Dragon Balls, but not the ones on Earth. Accordingly, Kibitoshin goes to New Namek to collect their Dragon Balls, thinking this will foil Champa’s plan.

Then it turns out that’s not what it was about at all, so Kibitoshin uses the Namekian Dragon Balls to dissolve his fusion. So now he’s Kibito and Shin again. This would be reflected in the anime, when we see these two in the Universe 6 arc. So I’m guessing this was thrown into show how that happened.

Meanwhile, Champa destroys a Frieza Force ship just as it locates a Dragon Ball. So apparently the Balls Champa are looking for are a third set. According to Garana, the commander of the ship Champa destroyed, these Dragon Balls are enormous. The Frieza Force’s leader, Sorbet, is more concerned with the disappearance of another platoon of his troops. This convinces him that their only hope is to resurrect Frieza.

Meanwhile, some sort of Battle of Gods happens. Goku turns into a Super Saiyan God, but he can’t beat Beerus, yadda yadda. In the movie, Beerus blew up a small piece of the Earth to satisfy his word. In the anime, Beerus faked falling asleep so he could spare the Earth without looking like he’d changed his mind. Here, he just decides to spare the Earth, at least for the time being.

So yeah, that’s about it. The art is great, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. These four chapters are saddled with recapping a movie while also setting up events in Res F and the Universe 6 arc, neither of which needed a lot of prologue to begin with. I mean, seriously, Resurrection F starts with Sorbet deciding to wish back Frieza. The Universe 6 arc starts with Champa arriving on Beerus’ planet and stating his business. It’s not that complicated.

#dragon ball #dragon ball super: the manga #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #goku #beerus #whis #vados #champa #kibitoshin #supreme kai #kibito #elder kai #vegeta #mr satan #goten #piccolo #dende #king vegeta #sorbet

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penumbramewtwos · 8 months

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I have a question regarding the story: Why is it set between the 2050s and 2090s? I mean they are quite distant dates for today

PS: I'm sorry if my previous question sounded a bit aggressive...

Thanks for the ask! There are a few reasons why it's set between those future decades, you're quite right they are quite distant dates; here are some bullet pointed reasons behind the madness :3

I wanted to follow on from the Pokemon universes' timeline (anime/movies), especially from the creation of both Mewtwo (movie 1) and Newtwo (movie 16). Giving them time to develop their own stories behind the scenes, without actually telling their individual stories after Mt Quena, or New Tork City, respectively.

In doing so, I found starting it around the 2050's would give a time-buffer so it keeps the story open (or 2030's if you count what happened prior) and doesn't clash with the pokemon anime/movie releases of today and the near future.

Following on from the second point: I also wanted older and developed versions of well-known human characters from the anime (Gary Oak, Giovanni), as well as a presumed timelapse of people who have most likely passed on (Sam Oak) or gotten older (Ash Kechum, yes he will feature in the story at one point, but very minor :>)

Eventually the fanfic will be based around Okita and Rachael's friendship and Pokémon-partner relationship developing: Going from "fuck you, binch" to "No one touches my baby" over a course of 40 years. Which is why there is such a huge timelapse.

Slightly on topic: The comic arc will be based around the 2100's, where Okita's and Grannewt's relationship will repair over time.

Your previous question wasn't aggressive at all, no need to worry about it @dksgvz ! ^^ It was passionate and full-on, in a very good way! I also wanted to give back full-throttled response to keep up the enthusiastic energy! P.S. I whole-heartedly appreciate anyone who has a passion for physics

#answered ask #dksgvz #species 150 #S150 #Okita #Grannewt #Chilli #fanfic

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realitymirage · 7 months

Text

Heya there!

Hello and welcome to Undertale: Reality Mirage! I'm happy you found this place... And I sure hope you enjoy your stay!

Now, I'm sure you're veeeeery confused... But not to worry! Your good friend Cicada will help you!

Let's start with the basics...

What is Undertale: Reality Mirage?

Undertale: Reality Mirage is a silly little AU of mine that follows one basic rule...

Every single Undertale AU is created by Frisk writing fanfiction!

Yup, you read that right! Our favorite little ambassador is now a pre-teen and does what most pre-teens do, writing fanfiction of their favorite people, of course! And since their favorite people are the monsters they saved… That becomes the subject of their writing!

And, with the assistance of their beta reader Chara and account manager Gaster, the three enjoy watching Frisk’s fanfiction play out through the use of Gaster’s newest creation, the ‘World Builder’! It takes the plot of Frisk’s stories and turns them into movies, so to speak.

Jokes aside, Undertale: Reality Mirage is a silly idea I came up with one day, the idea in mind is that Frisk writes fanfiction with Chara and Gaster, and they watch it like a movie.

There would be multiple ‘worlds’ for them to ‘watch’, each being my own take on a popular Undertale AU, such as Underswap, Storyshift, etc.

I plan on each ‘world’ to be a sprite comic, with the events leading up to and ending being in standard writing form.

What is the first ‘world’?

The first ‘world’ that I am working on is my take on Underswap. I do not have a name for it yet other than Underswap, sadly, but I do plan on updating the name soon!

So far, I’m still in the process of outlining the lore and characters and trust me, that is a lot of work to be done. However, I’m not giving up yet! I like to think I’m making good progress!

I will not be releasing anything relating to Underswap yet, as that is where most of the spoilers relating to this AU are. After all, you’re gonna find out everything about Undertale: Reality Mirage really quickly when it releases! I have no issues with sharing stuff like that.

Who is working on this?

So far, just me!

I’m Cicadawing! But you can call me just Cicada or Wispy, I don’t really mind!

I haven’t been in the Undertale fandom for long, but that doesn’t mean I’m not used to writing or making Undertale AUs! I’ve always been fascinated by the thought of taking characters people know and love and changing them around… Making them different in either easy-to-notice or hard-to-see changes.

My favorite Undertale AU is probably either Fellswap or Swapfell and the main AUs they’re from, like Underswap and Underfell! The vibes of them are just perfect…

My art skills are alright too, not the worst, but I wouldn’t call myself the best, you know? When I get enough art done, I’ll be sure to post previews! Anything to keep you all interested, haha!

My pronouns are he/him and I'm a minor, so please be wary of that!

I want to help!

Really? Already…? You haven’t seen anything… I haven’t even posted anything other than this so far!

Once again, jokes aside… I appreciate it, but as said before, not much is set in stone yet. I only have the basic concept of Underswap done… only Asgore’s character reference is fully complete!

In short, thank you for your enthusiasm, but I’m not accepting members of a team yet! Use that excitement you have to share this AU, that’ll help motivate me to keep going!

Oh, and… Sorry if this seems like I’m assuming people want to join. That’s not it, I just want to get all my question bases covered, so to speak!

Wait… Gaster?! Sans?! Papyrus?! Genocide AU?!?!?!?111

Haha… No. This isn’t a genocide AU at all.

In this AU, Gaster is a ghost that only Frisk and Chara can see. Frisk didn’t kill anyone during their journey since they did the pacifist route to achieve this ending.

And Sans, Papyrus, and all the other characters in Undertale aren’t really going to be present at all. After all, Undertale: Reality Mirage focuses on the friendship of Chara, Frisk, and Gaster, not anyone else.

That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to see your favorite characters, though. They might show up sometimes, but they aren’t going to be the main focus or anything.

But that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to see your favorite characters! After all, this is all about seeing the differences in characterization depending on what AU they’re from!

I’m confused… What’s a ‘world’? Is Reality Mirage your take on Underswap…?

Apologies for the confusion! Allow me to clear some things up.

Reality Mirage is not my take on Underswap. However, they are related.

Reality Mirage can be thought of as a folder of sorts. Inside the ‘folder’ are the ‘worlds’. My take on Underswap is one of them. It can be thought of as an AU within an AU.

I have a question that wasn’t answered here! What should I do?

I will leave the ask box open for questions! I will respond as soon as I can unless I consider those questions to be spoilers! Otherwise, count on your questions being answered!

#undertale #undertale au #chara #frisk #gaster #wd gaster #Undertale: Reality Mirage #info #faq #fanfic #...kinda

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hollowsart · 1 year

Note

Again me. X3

Why you're choose sloth for your spidersona? I can guess they're cute but maybe you have other reasons x3

One more thing.

Can you write your opinion on The Spectacular Spider-Man's Mysterio nd Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio? I'm alright if this will be different from what I'm thinking.

Hello hello again!

This will be a long response:

===

1) I tried to make a spidersona before that was like a Spider Crab/Japanese Spider Crab because "spider" and also those are my favorite crabs ever, as well as just to be silly, however nothing was working, so I gave up and forgot about it until this year. I really love sloths, they're my favorite animal ever and so I had the brilliant idea to make mine a sloth instead of a spider! Really makes mine stand out from the rest, plus it wasn't too hard to design it in a similar way to spiderman! Lots of similar design elements, like the black around the eyes and all!

I am also archnophobic and think sloths would be more friendly. It also makes people underestimate me in a fight with their preconceived notions of how sloths are vs how I actually am because of my enhanced abilities from being bit by the genetically modified spider!

Also makes my spidersona more unique and personal to me 💕 and you're not wrong about sloths being cute!! They're adorable 🙏💕🦥

..I did recently draw up a quick concept of an alternate spidersona for myself that is actually based on a spider like everyone else, the spider I chose was a Bunny Harvestman:

They're the only spider I can withstand looking at surprisingly (they're kind of cool?), plus.. cute bunny.. and a nice color palette!

----

2) I never saw Far From Home, but I am disappointed that the character isn't a rejected melodramatic theater kid with a background in the movie making business. That's all I've really gathered about him. I like my Mysterio/Beck to be a goofy funny silly guy who can be a real big threat and very serious when he wants or needs to be. I just feel his character wasn't done the justice he deserves, I guess. I don't have any desire to watch FFH to gain a more thorough opinion on Jake's take on the character tho, unfortunately.

I hope that's not disappointing?

TSSM's Beck/Mysterio, however, is by far my absolute favorite version of him and I've grown so fond of the one from the Amazing Mary Jane mini comic series where he works with MJ to create a biopic of himself. (Learned it's a part of a bigger more complex story and all but ehh, I'm gonna ignore everything before and after that little series. It's better that way. More enjoyable to imagine Beck just really wanted to make his own biopic movie with no real bad intentions or ulterior motives for making it. Genuinely his character was so cute and charming in that comic, oh my gosh 😩💖)

I haven't read really hardly any comics tho, but I just wanted to mention that!

Anyways TSSM's is absolutely my favorite above all others. He's everything I like about the character and then some! A shame the cartoon was canceled because I would have LOVED to see more of him. That's the version of the character that got me into him, got me to like him (also I mean, Mysterio's design in general from almost anything he's been in has been really eye catching and appealing, so..) and is also the main base of inspiration to my own version of Mysterio/Beck and his personality and overall design.

Smoochable blorbo 💖 would hold hands with him if I could..

#I have a headache makes sleeping difficult so I'm answering this in the meantime #//long post

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maxwell-grant · 2 years

Note

By no means do this now, but if you ever get the time recommending some good shadow fanfiction would be cool?

(Art by Michael Walsh)

Because fanfiction can be a touchy subject, I feel like I need to add a big caveat upfront that I don't endorse or necessarily agree with every single aspect of a fanfic take on the character, nor do I expect others to agree with mine for that matter. I've written Shadow fanfic and taken liberties aplenty with the material, and will probably take more if I get back on that saddle. This is just par for the course when it comes to fanfic. I’m not trying to be judgmental, I just wanna put this out here to try and prevent misunderstandings if possible.

There’s really not that many Shadow fics out there to begin with (especially not after the Conde Nast webpage purges of the 2000s) and not that many that I’d even particularly recommend, I’ve read pretty much all of them still available online as is. I’m gonna leave out some things that could reasonably be called published fanfiction, like the Tales of The Shadowmen stories featuring the character, and stick purely to what you’d find online. So here goes some of my recommendations

Works written by Cryptix / @oldschoolcrimefighters: I've said this before and don't think I can say it enough, but @cryptix23's posts on The Shadow's pulp magazines were one of the biggest deciding factors in making my liking for The Shadow turn into, *gestures at that masterpost on top of my blog, this. I owe her a debt I can never really repay for showing me the heart of this character in a way nobody else had, just by pointing out what was in the source material all along, and particularly regarding info on the agents where there was nowhere else to be found. I still greatly enjoy reading her own fics for the character and how she depicts the dynamics between the agents and The Shadow, and how much color and life they inject into these adventures.

The Nexusverse Shadow / works written by evillurks: You can find some of the prompts written via their Deviantart account Shadowtricker. This one is a lot harder to find in it’s entirety and I think some pages for it are non-existant outside of the Wayback Machine, I compiled as many as I could find in a couple of Word docs for personal reading and probably missed several. It’s on livejournal and comprises a couple hundred (maybe over a thousand) posts of a Shadow RP blog, based around the idea of a somewhat aged-up version of The Shadow still living and active in the 1980s, interacting with an AU version of Myra Reldon (the protagonist more often than not) as well as other characters and worlds through a sort of multiversal crossover dimension thing.

I haven’t had time to read all or even most of the long-form RP stories published but I have read most of their short snippets and I can definitely recommend them. These feels the most like Shadow pulps out of any of these I’ve read, there’s certainly a case for this to be the best version of Myra Reldon (taking everything that worked about the pulp version and doing it better) to the point I kinda default to this as my frame of reference for Myra at times, and though it’s not a high bar to clear, it’s the best take I’ve seen on a “The Shadow in modern times / out of his own time” concept, letting the character age and adapt to different times for better or worse, and still remain recognizably distinct and fiercesome.

Kimberly-Murphy Smith’s Shadow saga: Quoted this one briefly in another post. Will reiterate that, yes, there are aspects about this take on the character that I do find very disagreeable to the point I feel the need to point it out, but all in all: This basically takes the movie version of The Shadow and thoroughly combines with the radio, pulp and comics versions, as well as the other iterations of the movie story such as the James Luceno novelization and the Kaluta/Goss comic, and somehow makes it work.

It’s the best take there ever was on specifically the “movie” version of The Shadow because it’s structured entirely around making the inserted movie changes into a fleshed out character and universe for these things to be in. It did maybe the best job anyone had ever done, until Matt Wagner, of combining and editing all the separate takes on The Shadow into something cohesive and entertaining, as well as making his relationship with Margo work. I like it enough that it even went a long way in redeeming the movie characterization for me. It also did the one thing I absolutely think Shadow fanfics / modern works should be doing, which is introducing new agents aplenty to the fold that don’t overlap with the established supporting cast.

Der Dunkle Adler by Keith Holt: A short one, it takes place in a German tavern in WW1 with soldiers sharing stories about encounters with the mysterious flying ace with a boogeyman reputation. Really good premise, really good execution, solid ending, this is the one that inspired me to do my own take on The Shadow’s war years (although not how I’d “canonically” handle it, for the most part).

Identities and the 8th Wonder by Matt Dennion: It’s The Shadow vs King Kong told through the perspective of his 3 main identities, as Lamont Cranston shows up to Carl Denham’s exhibit, The Shadow frantically struggles solo to save people from Kong’s rampage despite being completely powerless to do anything but temporarily distract Kong, and then, as The Black Eagle, he works alongside G-8 and his team to put down Kong for good. Not the only time I’ve seen this premise done and usually this kind of “spot the cameo” exercise bores me, but this one stuck with me for a long time as an excellent display of The Shadow fighting despite being hopelessly outmatched in a way he’s never been before, spinning plans and traps on the fly against an unsurmountable menace destroying his city, making mistakes (even fatal ones) in trying to save lives, and finding a way to overcome the odds and help save the day, to a grim resolution unusual for Shadow stories. It’s a little The Spider-y and in a way that works really well for me.

Never to be Cheated by @saphura: Another short one. I like the premise, I like the prose, I like the characterization, the concept’s intriguing, very solid all-around and I tend to appreciate the more explicitly supernatural takes on The Shadow that emphasize the ring and it’s weird significance.

The Life of an Agent series by Greg Daulton: This one sort of provides a bit of backstory for the main agents by showing how they could have met and joined The Shadow. I don’t have much to say about it but it’s pretty allright, more interesting as kind of a shorthand to get to know the agents a little better.

Lineage by Matt Dennion and Tom Kurtz: It’s The Shadow, Batman, and Zorro (both the original and a descendant) battling across four decades to foil Ra’s al Ghul’s master plan. It’s this big epic that does a couple of things I do find interesting, namely 1: I think Ra’s al Ghul being the arch-villain of several different established characters (and even killing one of them), with big names and legacies in their own right across the decades works pretty well in selling him as a big immortal threat to the world at large, 2: I kinda like the idea of Shambala being presided over by god-like figures from different mythologies, I mostly hate Shambala conceptually and in entirety to begin with so anything mildly interesting for it is a plus

In His Shadow by JanEyrEvanescence12: This one falls more on the “very loose reinterpretation of a lot of things and plenty of concepts I find brutally disagreeable, but it does some things interestingly enough that I still think it makes for a pretty allright read to go back to, and because it’s fanfic it’s easy to look at it more for what it is” side of things. It’s unfinished and I wouldn’t even particularly recommend it for it’s story, more so for it’s imagination and some of what it’s doing to reinterpret the character.

Strange Bedfellows by Zath Chauvert: Cute, simple, conceptually pretty funny, and I’m giving away the twist here as is, but the Phurba becoming sort of Lamont and Margo’s weird dog monster, that likes Margo and still kinda hates Lamont, is pretty great.

#replies tag #the shadow #pulp heroes #fanfic #opinion #gonna be upfront here and say that #the people who write Harry Vincent-centric fics usually get it right over 95% of everyone else writing Shadow content #and I'm including myself in those 95%#official and non-official alike #there's like 4 of you but you Get It #well 5 actually but one of them hid his tracks more neatly

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thenightling · 7 months

Text

Top 10 Halloween Mascots

Here is a list of my top ten favorite Halloween Mascots. Christmas only really has Santa Claus but Halloween has attempted several mascots over the years.

10. The Sanderson Sisters:

The Sanderson Sisters are the three stooges-esque bungling evil witches from Disney's Hocus Pocus franchise. They are loosely based on the traditional Maiden, Mother, and Crone concept and more directly may have been inspired by the three witches from DC's The Witching Hour comics (which later became the Hecateae in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.) There are currently two Hocus Pocus movies, a Disney parks stage show and a Broadway musical in development. They have all sorts of merchandise including throw blankets, dolls, and action figures. There are even Hallmark ornaments of them now. Unfortunately these characters are NOT in the public domain so only Disney is allowed to make up new stories involving them.

9. The Headless Horseman

This one is another localized figure the way Lestat is for New Orleans. The Headless Horseman is the mascot for the town of Sleepy Hollow New York (Formerly known as Terry Town but renamed for tourism purposes since Sleepy Hollow was its nickname and the basis for the Washington Irving Legend of Sleepy Hollow).

The Headless Horseman doesn't just exist in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In fact Headless Horsemen are so common in Irish folklore that they have a name for them. Dullahan.

8. The Wicked Witch of the West

The Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz (particularly the movie version) has become the classic idea of the "Halloween witch." The Halloween special "The Halloween that almost wasn't" also suggested that Halloween cannot officially start until she flies her broom across the moon. Depictions of her or witches like her are everywhere in pop culture and not just around Halloween.

A version of her even appears in the fantasy soap opera, Once Upon a Time. She's the sort of character often taken for granted and she is in the public domain though MGM claims to own the rights to a particular shade of green for her skin tone. There's currently a highly successful Broadway musical telling her side of the story called Wicked (loosely based on the novel of the same name.) Wicked is currently being adapted into two movies.

7. Frankenstein's Monster.

I, myself, would not have added Frankenstein's Monster to this list but every year new costumes and decorations are made that depict him. He is in the public domain (meaning anyone can use him) and he is a well-loved character. Unfortunately few people know what the Frankenstein monster of the novel actually looked like so most of the merchandise is a zeitgeist creation resembling the version played by Boris Karloff.

6. Lestat

Owned by the estate of the recently deceased Anne Rice, Lestat was her favorite creation, the fictional French vampire brat prince. Lestat became the hero of her Vampire Chronicles book series after initially serving as an antagonist in Interview With The vampire. Lestat became the mascot for her annual New Orleans costume ball and is still the most popular Halloween costume in New Orleans.

Lestat was played by Tom Cruise in the 1994 film Interview with The vampire, which earned the low budget sequel, Queen of the damned and later a Broadway musical. Currently Lestat is played by Sam Reid for the Interview with The vampire TV series.

5. Elvira

Elvira was a TV horror host in the 1980s. She also released some music as the character. The character's creator is Cassandra Peterson. Elvira even got her own movie and several comic book series, including ones where she took on Dracula and Faust. She even hosted The House of Mystery for a while.

4. Count Dracula.

Though not originally invented for Halloween, Count Dracula has become something of a fixture around Halloween. There are Halloween costumes and decorations of him along with other public domain monsters.

Since Dracula IS in the public domain that means anyone can use him without having to worry about copyright infringement. And so Dracula has been a character in many Halloween specials including The Halloween that almost wasn't (also known as The Night Dracula saved the World). Monster High, Monster High 2, Scooby Doo and the Reluctant werewolf, Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School and Dear Dracula.

Not bad for a vampire that supposedly was the prince of Wallachia who, as a mortal, died in fourteen seventies and according to the fiction became a vampire after that.

Universal Studios claims to own the version of him with the red lined cape and widow's peak hairline and that is why the version in Hotel Transylvania (by Sony) does not have these details, which is odd since many other depictions of Dracula not from Universal, have used these particular traits. I think Universal was just giving Sony a hard them when they found out about Hotel Transylvania. 3. Stingy Jack.

Stingy Jack is the public domain folkloric figure who we get Jack-o-lanterns from.

A very short version of the story is this. A man named Jack cheats The Devil out of his soul but is not welcome into Heaven. So when he dies he is doomed to wander. He attempts to enter Hell just to find a place to race but The Devil turns him away. Mocking him, demons toss out an ember from Hell-fire that Jack places inside a lantern to light his way.

Now a ghost Jack wanders the world but he is also something of a coward. And similar carved lanterns- he would mistake as other wandering, damned souls, and these would drive him away. These lanterns are Jack-o-lanterns.

Over time the legend evolved to suggest that Jack-o-lanterns could ward off all wandering spirits. The earliest Jack-o-lanterns were carved from turnips but Irish immigrants North America found that Pumpkins were easier to carve. (And taste better too.)

Today it is considered good luck if you can keep your jack-o-lantern burning all Halloween night. And bad luck if it burns out before midnight because that invites the spirits into your home, that the Jack-o-lantern was protecting you against.

2. Sam / Samhain.

There are two versions of Sam.

The first is Sam Haim (deliberate mispronunciation of the Gaelic Samhain = "Sow-in"). He was the very spirit of Halloween from The Real Ghostbusters Halloween special "When Halloween was forever." He is a robed figure with a pumpkin-like head obsessed with honoring the rules of Halloween and punishing those that violate those rules...

Then we have Sam from Trick r. Treat. A child-like figure with a Pumpkin-skull head under his sack-like Halloween mask. This anthropomorphic personification of Halloween is obsessed with honoring the rules of Halloween and punishing those that violate those rules...

1. Jack Skellington.

This was probably obvious. Jack Skellington has the disadventage of NOT being in the public domain. Anyone can use Santa Claus but Jack is owned by Disney. They have owned him since the early 1980s when a young animator named Tim Burton wrote his original poem / children's book that ultimately became the 1993 stop motion animated movie.

It's easy to dismiss Jack because he is owned by Disney. And that means other people don't have the freedom to play with him the way they do with other characters like Santa or even Count Dracula.

Now the modern depictions of Santa Claus (at least here in the US) have him wearing red and white and and a lot of people take for granted that he always dressed this way but if you go backward to as recently as the nineteenth century, you'll find his robes used to be long and were many colors, from white, to blue, to green, to black. The main reason we're so used to Santa in his red suit with white trim is actually because of early twentieth century Coca-Cola advertisements.

So even Santa has been influenced pop culture and corporations.

Disregarding the limitations caused by being owned by Disney, Jack Skellington has become very iconic in the last thirty-years. The popularity of Nightmare before Christmas helped spread "American style" Halloween to Germany and other parts of Europe. So for them Jack has always been a fixture of Halloween, and not some 90s novelty.

Nightmare before Christmas was something of a sleeper hit. Disney did not realize how popular it was until about a decade after its original release. (Similar would also happen with the Box office flop, Hocus Pocus, now considered a Halloween classic.)

New stories are being published involving Jack Skellington and his Pumpkin Queen, Sally, and new merchandise is sold every year. This year a Mattel's Monster High / Disney collaboration lead to the release of a limited edition Monster High style Jack and Sally doll set. Upon release date the dolls sold out in less than nine minutes, proving that Jack is still very much The King of Halloween.

Also Jack Skellington has song numbers, which, if you know Christmas specials, has a way of preserving a character indefinitely in pop culture.

Jack Skelington has appeared in Nightmare before Christmas, the Kingdom hearts video games, Nightmare before Chrsitmas: Oogie's revenge video game. The novel All Hail the Pumpkin Queen, and the graphic novel Battle for The Pumpkin King.

#Halloween

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