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#No tragic back story just got high on power and is a dick
get-rammed · 9 months
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Us with Tyler:
I love the fact that people went "oh Tyler 👀" to "oh, Tyler 😒" so fast 😂😂
He grew up with older sisters, so he can take punch. Go for his ego and insecurities. That will hit him harder than swinging at him ever would
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stxleslyds · 3 years
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It’s very interesting to see your thoughts on Winnik cause personally while I like that he made jason a bit unhinged and fun in utrh his other characterizations of his were eh at best. Like why would jason not care about the world and why would he take over the drug trade of all things considering his history. I feel like Winnick had a very surface level understanding of Jason. There was a lot of his past to explore but it wasn’t explored that deeply. Plus I absolutely HATED his Bruce and talia characterization. And how he wrote Talia in both utrh and lost days was absolutely disgusting and his explanation for why he did it was that Jason loves Talia and that they were both messed up ppl??? Which is where I can’t forgive him. I feel like he was a one hit wonder because ever since utrh his Jason story started to go downhill. I also feel like it’s because DC doesn’t know how to write a character that’s from a poor background and that’s a huge disservice to Jason. I do hope that Rosenberg or another writer (hopefully female) does a good job on him. He’s been suffering under shitty writing for so long. Sorry for the long ask I really enjoy reading your posts.
Hi Anon, thank you for sending your ask!
Well, this is a great question because I love giving my opinions on Winick’s UtRH and Lost Days. I know those books (or some moments in them) are not everyone’s cup of tea and I had and have some problems with some of them but I have also come to understand them or even accept them as a writer bringing up a morally grey area in his books and doing it well (or at least I saw it that way after re-reading and researching a bit about his thoughts on those matters).
This is going to be a long post (I suppose) because there is a lot to cover and I want to let you know in a clear way why I think that what Winick wrote works beautifully for Jason. I will try to answer this as coherently as I can, so I will talk about the points you made in your ask separately so I make sure I don’t forget anything.
Let’s begin!
“Why would Jason not care about the world?”
I assume with that you meant about what happened in Bludhaven when Chemo was dropped there by the Society? That is valid but that really wasn’t Winick’s fault (I believe), that whole thing was shown in the book because back then the Bat-related books were more interconnected and that was what was happening in Dick’s Nightwing run at the time, which I think was used to explain why Dick suddenly stopped helping Bruce in Gotham.
And then I think Jason and Bruce watching that happen when they were having that conversation on that roof was very well planned out. I think Winick used that opportunity for Jason to be his peak level of little shit and make Bruce feel bad about not arriving in time to save another one of his kids. Even though Jason later revealed that he never blamed Batman for not arriving in time to save him, I believe Jason said that about Dick to make Bruce hurt more. Jason was trying to make Bruce stay in Gotham so either Bruce or him killed the Joker that night. Winick on the other hand had to finish his story, him branching out and having Batman go to Bludhaven would have benefited absolutely no one either, and it just didn’t fit the story that was being told in Under the Red Hood.
That’s why I think that Jason reacted that way to the Bludhaven and Chemo situation. If by caring about the world you meant something else let me know! (He obviously cared about Gotham in UtRH and other people in Lost Days).
“Why would he take over the drug trade of all things considering his history?”
Well, I have to be honest with you Jason wanting to control the drug trade in Gotham makes absolute sense to me, and even more when I think about Jason’s past history.
Jason and Bruce have always been (to me) clear opposites in various angles, and in UtRH, Winick talks about that a little bit too.
Batman was created to eradicate crime from Gotham after Bruce witnessed the death of his parents, that was the tragedy that set him off, and even though it was tragic and awful he had everything outside of his parents, he had a home, a support system, people that cared and gave him love, and money. He never had to be in contact with the cruel reality that was Gotham. We know through various stories that Gotham is deeply rotten and corrupted.
But Jason did know how corrupted, rotten and devoid of hope his city really was, he lived in the streets and in an abandoned apartment alone because he didn’t trust the police or social workers (he didn’t believe the system was helpful). He had seen his mother die at the hands of drugs after his father was sent to jail due to his criminal behaviour. Probably his father was a drug dealer and was the person that got his mother into drugs, (I believe that was later made canon, I might be wrong). But why did he do that? Maybe because he came from a poor and complicated background and nobody wanted to employ him so the real bad people of Gotham, like Black Mask, Cobblepot and many others, saw his vulnerability and his desperation to make money and they gave him a job as a drug dealer.
Considering that Jason was made out to have very deep problems with people selling drugs in schools and all that, I can estimate that maybe one of the big Drug Lords at the time employed Jason’s father when he was barely a teenager, that way he earned money, he stopped going to school and sold drugs to his peers so the bad people could control more people while they were vulnerable.
If all of that is true then Jason wanting to control the drug trade in Gotham, by becoming a Drug Lord himself, makes perfect sense to me. I mean let’s talk about this, what were his other options?
Kill every drug lord?
What if that set off a gang war in Gotham over who got to be the next big Drug Lord? I mean, it would be like real life, if someone dies in that sort of position there would always be someone else to take their place. Drugs are clearly (in Gotham) a great way to get money and power.
Also, if he killed all the drug lords then what happened to the people that were working for them, how could Jason help them get another job?
Explode every warehouse and facility with drugs in them?
And then what? Wait for Black Mask and the others to buy more and put a target on his back? Maybe kill some innocents so they can send a message to Red Hood that if he keeps destroying their drugs or whatever people will pay for it?
Maybe all the drug lords would come together and kill the Red Hood themselves, what could one man do against everyone else? Black Mask and the others had vulnerable people on a payroll, if they stopped working or went against what their boss said they would have been killed and then families would still be vulnerable and desperate to survive in Gotham.
Come forward as Jason Todd, the not so dead son of Bruce Wayne, and start a campaign against drugs?
Jason would have ended up dead in seconds, everywhere you look there are corrupt people. What could have been the point of that? What could have Jason be able to give families like his so they could stop living under the control of drugs and Drug Lords?
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Jason being a Drug Lord himself was the best option because Jason KNOWS the reality of Gotham and Gotham’s people. His way of dealing with drugs could control the drug trade in the first 10 years and then eradicate it after that time. His plan was genius!
Jason knew that for people not to suffer as his family did, he had to take the slow and hard path of becoming the thing that he hated the most. He needed to attack the monster from within. So, when he made his first move he controlled the street-level dealers, he told them “I will protect you from both Black Mask and Batman if you stop dealing drugs to kids and in schoolyards if you do that, you are dead”, it is genius! By being clear about not wanting to have kids and high schoolers involved with drugs he set out a new path where those people weren’t forced into drugs and driven away from school. And that’s the way Winick made us see Jason’s not so new morals, he protects Gotham’s kids and he will kill you without hesitation if you endanger them.
From that he built, Winick made it clear, at first Jason would convince the people working for other Drug Lords to work for him if they followed his rules (and he offered them protection!). If Jason worked on the drug trade, he could have controlled who was inserted in the drug life or could have made it exclusive to the rich or club exclusive. In his intention of taking over the drug trade, he could have moved drugs away from Gotham’s most vulnerable.
And if he employed those vulnerable people, he would have made them work for him on other levels, that way those vulnerable people still had jobs and were protected from people like Black Mask. And in due time, fewer young and poor people would be involved with drugs or the drug trade.
Red Hood employs poor people and makes them not sell to other poor people or kids, he pays his employees good money so their families make a better life for themselves and their kids go to school, they are all protected by the Red Hood and his team (Jason could have trained others and make a team or gang that focused entirely on security), those people then get to retire with their families far away from drugs and maybe Gotham too.
I mean, Winick never did those things but I think that was the way he was thinking about it, he really set a golden path for future writers, his story had to finish Jason’s dilemma with Bruce and Joker but then his life as the Red Hood continued. And it could have been good if other writers used the characterization that Winick had given Jason: protector of children, killer of rapists and everyone that endangered women, children and teenagers. All of that was thrown away for a mythical fight with Ra’s al Ghul for people that were as trashy as Ra’s.
“I feel like Winick had a very surface-level understanding of Jason”.
I have to disagree. I think he understood Jason’s character before his death well and then built a grown-up version of him with those morals more developed after he suffered more and then saw how the world and Batman’s ways hadn’t changed after his murder.
We are talking about post-crisis Jason here; he was sweet and he loved being Robin but he also saw the world differently from Bruce and Batman. He lived a very different life than the one that Bruce lived when he was a kid. Jason even said that he “could fend for himself just fine” and that he had “graduated from the streets of crime alley”.
To me Winick understood this completely, he knew that Jason had had close contact with how drugs could affect people and what a criminal record could lead you to, but he also understood that Jason was a survivor of "crime alley" and all its worst people. He probably knew of things that people were doing of he saw them happening. He knew how to protect himself from those things but understood that not everyone could do it. And when Batman took him to Ma Gunn’s school Jason learned that Batman was ignorant of how awful and manipulative Gotham’s people could be. Ma Gunn wasn’t running an orphanage or cool school; she was teaching children how to steal and harm others. He hated it, he was “okay” when he was alone and now, he was locked in with older kids that beat him and Ma Gunn who was exploiting children’s vulnerability.
I assume Winick took that and maybe decided that was the moment when Jason knew that even if Batman was trying to do good, he still didn’t see Gotham (or that side of Gotham) for what it truly was.
When Jason became Robin and worked along with Batman, we could already see that Jason thought very differently about what should be done with rapists, and abusers of all kinds, Jason saw the world differently when he was a kid and a teenager and then after his death, Winick used that to build a Jason Todd that as a young adult still saw Gotham for what it truly was.
“There was a lot of his past to explore but it wasn’t explored that deeply”.
I am really confused by this (and I am very dumb), did you mean that his past before his death wasn’t explored? Because that was not the point of this book, the information was already there with Jason’s previous appearances in comics, and even then, Winick explored through flashbacks in UtRH how he saw Jason and what it was that Jason thought about crime.
If you didn’t mean that and you meant his past before the events of UtRH but after his death then, well, I would say that Winick couldn’t have fit that in UtRH but he did write a story about that time in 2010 when he wrote Red Hood: Lost Days.
“I absolutely hated his Bruce and Talia characterization”
I will only talk about the Bruce part here because you mentioned Talia later in your ask.
To me his Bruce was perfect. I really think that his characterization of him was spot on, but maybe I am biased because I don’t like Bruce at all? I suppose that you are talking about Bruce’s characterization in those last moments in "crime alley" with Jason and Joker? And how he decided that making Jason drop the weapon by throwing a batarang to his throat and saving Joker was a better option than Jason killing the Joker?
If it is that then I would love to see what you think Bruce would have done at that moment because I didn’t really see Bruce using a gun (in any way) as an in-character thing for him, and even though DC has always danced with the idea of Bruce actually killing somebody I know that they wouldn’t have him do it, and even less when it comes to killing the Joker.
I mean, Bruce brought back Joker from the dead when Dick finally killed that piece of shit so, yeah, I don’t know.
I feel like Winick was trying to show just how loyal and squared Bruce is when it comes to his own no killing rule. Jason wasn’t asking for Bruce to go on a killing spree he just wanted Bruce to kill the Joker and he didn’t. Winick even had Bruce say that about him not wanting to kill one person because he felt that if he did that, he wouldn’t be able to stop and I think that’s pretty true. Maybe it is a bit too much but I don’t think it’s a lie.
“How he wrote Talia in both UtRH and Lost Days was absolutely disgusting”
That is absolutely valid, listen, if you didn’t like how he wrote her at all I really can’t say anything against that. My first real and solid contact with Talia’s character was in that book, so when I read UtRH I really liked how he wrote Talia in that, it seemed to have that aspect of Talia’s love for Bruce being so strong that when she saw Jason was alive, she wanted to help him so Bruce could see how much he loved her. It is messed up but I believed it fitted her character, she had good intentions but her reasoning was a little bit wonky.
With Lost Days, I thought that her character was well written, she isn’t a hero and she isn’t a villain, she is just a player in the game that is the League of Assassins and that world. That obviously changed up until we had that scene happen between her and Jason, I was grossed out and I didn’t understand why that had happened which leads me to what you said next in your ask.
“His explanation for why he did it was that Jason loves Talia and that they were both messed up people”.
This is a part of the interview where Judd Winick answered a question about Jason and Talia sleeping together. The interview was done by Sara Lima in ComicVine’s podcast.
“SL: Why did you decide to write the romantic scene between Jason and Talia in Lost Days?
JW: For those playing at home, Jason Todd, at the end of Red Hood: Lost Days, and Talia slept together. I did that because it was really disturbing and to shine a light on the fact that these are not really well people. A lot of people didn’t like that, which was correct. “You weren’t supposed to like that. That was supposed to be, ‘oh God, stop that, what are you doing?’ It really was. As well as, for Talia, her reasons, being that Bruce had wound up inadvertently killing her father and she was ragingly angry with him and went from love to pure hate and still loving him at the same time. And Jason, given the opportunity to have sex with just about the only woman who Bruce has had sex with or really cares about, ‘Yeah, I’ll go there.’
SL: He’s like, ‘yeah, cause I hate that guy.’
JW: Yeah! ‘I hate that guy!’ And I think that Jason probably had the hots for Talia. She’s hot, he doesn’t exactly have a lot of relationships going on – It’s not a good thing for either of them. These are two people who murder people, two people who are screwed up, screwed up emotionally. There’s this question that why would he do that and Talia only loves Bruce. She might only love Bruce, but she does have sex with other people because that’s just sex. And we’re all grown-ups here. I think those who shake their fist and get angry at this kind of thing might be some of our older readers. I’m an older reader, but I acknowledge the fact that people aren’t that chaste and grow up: people have sex. That’s why I ended it like that; It was messed up.
Maybe it was in another interview or something but this is the only time that I have seen Winick talk about that and I don’t think he mentioned Jason loving Talia but he did say said that “These are two people who murder people, two people who are screwed up, screwed up emotionally”.
When I looked it up, I found that someone that is described as screwed up is a person that is “emotionally disturbed”. That description is one that I feel is valid for both Jason and Talia at the time, they both had a lot going on and were fighting some demons so maybe it’s not a nice thing to say but I can’t say that the statement isn’t true. Or at least that’s how I see it.
When I came across that interview for the first time, I wasn’t expecting Winick to apologise for writing that interaction but I did want an explanation so after he said, “A lot of people didn’t like that, which was correct. “You weren’t supposed to like that. That was supposed to be, ‘oh God, stop that, what are you doing?’ It really was” and “for Talia, her reasons, being that Bruce had wound up inadvertently killing her father and she was ragingly angry with him and went from love to pure hate and still loving him at the same time. And Jason, given the opportunity to have sex with just about the only woman who Bruce has had sex with or really cares about, ‘Yeah, I’ll go there.’”
I felt like that was enough, granted I didn’t like it and I still don’t like it but I don’t see it as Winick writing something disturbing with evil intentions, I just see it as him writing these two morally grey people doing some very morally grey stuff.
This is not me saying that this is how things have to be taken, I know and understand many people who absolutely don’t like this at all and that’s valid. I am not here to change your mind about that, personally when I read the why he wrote that I felt like that explanation was enough but that is just me.
“I feel like he was a one-hit-wonder because ever since UtRH his Jason story started to go downhill”
I think Winick was only meant to write Jason’s comeback to comics, around the time he was writing Outsiders and Green Arrow. And there was also the “Infinite Crisis” (Winick wasn’t involved with that one) event going on in the middle that explained some stuff like how Jason was resurrected which was explored in Batman Annual #25 in 2006 (like a year after the UtRH book had come out and it was also written by Winick). Then with the popularity of the UtRH book the animated movie was made (written by Judd Winick) and because that was coming out DC allowed Winick to write the six-issue mini of Red Hood: The Lost Days in 2010.
The UtRH story didn’t go downhill, DC simply couldn’t handle that level of mature storytelling at the time, just after that event ended DC was already planning on changing stuff and then the New 52 came years later.
Winick’s Jason even made an appearance in Outsiders #44-46, there Red Hood wanted to help the Outsiders break out a good man (Black Lightning) out of prison because he hadn’t killed anyone (it had actually been Slade). Jason/Red Hood’s characterization and story going downhill wasn't on Winick, it was on DC and their lack of interest in making their characters complex and dual.
“DC doesn’t know how to write a character that’s from a poor background and that’s a huge disservice to Jason”
Absolutely. But in my case, I do think that Winick did work with Jason’s background very well. To me, he set a path and no one could follow it but I might also be horribly wrong.
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I also hope that Rosenberg does an amazing job! I absolutely love his work, as I have said before he is super funny and isn’t scared of writing characters who kill. I feel like he will bring back the sarcastic little shit that Jason once was but he will also bring back that sense of seriousness and dedication that Jason has for the work that he is doing. Rosenberg even showed us some of that in that prelude to Task Force Z in Detective Comics, I absolutely recommend them if you haven’t read them, issues #1041 and #1042 were the ones with that backup story.
I can see that we have very different opinions but that’s just a part of the comic world, we all perceive these comics differently and that’s valid! I am glad you enjoy reading my posts and I hope that even though we have those different opinions you were still able to enjoy my answer! If you think that I misunderstood anything that you say please let me know, sometimes my brain just doesn’t click.
Hope you have a fantastic week!
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thunderheadfred · 3 years
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🤚Shigaraki HC's🤚
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Part 1 of my Shigaraki Thesis HCs. The Second Worst: 1 - 2
This was rough because even though Shigaraki is one of my favorite characters of all time, I have nothing sexy to say about him canonically.
that's a lie, i'm lying. i had to break this post into parts, that's how much of a liar liar pants on fire i am
Warnings for quite possibly everything. Minors do not interact.
- - - - -
Okay first of all:
You know it. I know it. We all know it. This man is not boyfriend material. He disintegrates boyfriend material for fun.
You don’t want to date this man.
Frankly, you can’t date this man.
Seriously. Run.
If you’re a villain, you’re his underling. Maybe, if you squint, you’re kind of like his... um... least-hated workplace associate. What do you want, a trophy?
If you’re a hero, good luck not dying horribly. Maybe you’d make a cute hostage. Hope you can escape cuz he is NOT letting you out alive.
If you’re a civilian, perhaps that’s the best case scenario. He stalks you a little before he becomes infamous. You go on the worst date of your life but luckily you don't tell him where you live. Later you see him on the news standing in a pile of rubble and you just think, “ohhhhhhh.”
If he somehow, impossibly, against all odds, manages to develop a single affectionate feeling toward you, AFO is going to hunt you down for sport. You are NOT getting in the way of world domination. Again, good luck with that.
If somehow you managed to clear all those hurdles and kiss Shigaraki Tomura square on the lips, I can see one of two things happening.
1) You’re his body pillow now. Goodbye sunlight. You live in his room. He doesn’t have to chain you to the bed, because you know escape is pointless. Congratulations, the end is nigh.
2) Total mind break. At the first sign of genuine human affection, his trauma vault is instantly unlocked. Memories come rushing in, his quirk goes nuts. There’s like a 99.9% chance he’ll accidentally kill you and it will destroy his soul forever. But let’s say you’re the lucky 0.01% - then it’s time to fuck off together to a foreign country. He’s terrified, traumatized, and possibly broken beyond repair, but I guess he’s not a villain anymore? Have fun nursing him back to... semi-sanity.
Moral of the story: you’re better off getting hit with a quirk that takes you to an alternate universe where the worst thing Shimura Tenko ever did was throw a Playstation controller at his sister’s head. He’s an aspiring video game journalist with zero charisma and severe self-image issues. He has no earthly idea how hot he is. Please, for the love of God, fall for that guy instead.
haha just kidding
join me in hell, fellow Shigaraki fuckers:
- - - - -
Scenario the first:
so apparently you enjoy living in a cage?
Listen. He does not smell right. He doesn’t need to bathe much because his skin is constantly annihilating itself. So he’s not exactly dirty, but every instinct in your body is screaming in confusion, unsure if he’s alive or dead.
Breath of the damned. Sweet as moldy lemons. Whatever he eats just... rots. He doesn't produce enough spit.
He will kiss you very deeply. Until you choke. Forget the cold, chapped lips because they're the least of your problems. He's got those skeleton hands caging your face and you're trapped against a wall and his gigantic biting teeth are prying you open. He licks inside your mouth like he's trying to steal your soul. He'll probably succeed.
His hair is exactly as soft as it looks. Too bad you'll never get to touch it.
He’s either got no sexual impulses at all and will laugh at you for trying, or he’s a full-on incel. I don’t know which one. I don’t want to find out. Apparently you do, and I salute your resolve.
You will be lucky if Shigaraki treats you like a pet. He loves his Nintendo DS more than you.
Consent is not applicable. You showed interest in him once, now you're his plaything forever. There's a power imbalance between you so wide you could chuck a planet in there.
Safewords? lol
Doesn't want to break you, because what would be the point? He's already broken enough things. He wants to keep you around for a good long while. He'll take good, good care of you.
Unless you disobey.
Obsessed with making you cum whether you want to or not. Yes, this IS a high score thing. It's just so flattering. Say hello, orgasm torture. Was that another one? Aww. You barely moved. Oh, what's that? You're begging him to stop? Haha. He won't.
Don't cry. He'll drink your tears.
He'll touch you everywhere with bare fingers. Slow, feather-light strokes, like some kind of demented ASMR artist. This is not a trust exercise. He knows exactly how much it terrifies you.
Oh yeah. You're getting finger FUCKED. Do you fantasize about having a loaded gun shoved inside you? Same difference.
Will eat you out like nothing else, but not in bed. That's the kind of shit he does on a boardroom table where anybody could walk in and see you writhing. Spreads you WIDE open and sucks on you. Makes out with your asshole. The whole nine yards. It's wet and loud and nasty.
Only time you're out of his sight (and not locked in your room) is when he shoves a remote control vibrator where the sun doesn't shine. Operates it through an app while he calls you and jerks off. Wants to make your knees fail on a crowded train.
Come here. You get to sit on his lap like a dog. Four fingers on your throat, dick hard under your ass. He'll dry hump you in front of God, the Devil, and everyone else.
If he's playing video games, you're cock-warming. He does not care which hole. He won't even look at you.
He might get hard but he does not get naked. You do not know Shigaraki Tomura on a personal level. You have only the vaguest idea what his dick looks like. It feels long and thin, almost sharp. Maybe he's actually been fucking you with an ice pick this whole time. His hip bones dig into you and bruise. He likes to kiss and bite the marks he leaves.
He mocks you for being so fucking pathetic. Have you always been a such a needy slut or is he really that special? What is wrong with you? Even he thinks you're crazy.
Shigaraki won't kill you, but All For One will.
- - - - -
The Second Worst Scenario:
The half-mad ghost of Shimura Tenko is in love with you, and your life is about to become a tragic wreck.
(this half of the post went completely off the rails and turned into like... a whole-ass Victorian Novel)
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vvienne · 3 years
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TODOBAKUDEKU FIC RECS
Curse of Baytown by surveycorpsjean
With the last of his hope, Shouto stumbles into a strange town. Be it destiny, or be it fate; his life will change forever.
two whole dicks for a half and half bitch by Ascend
Todoroki stumbles his way into a threesome, Midoriya cries into his pants, and Bakugou gets cockblocked no less than twice, but eventually, they all get laid.
Of Respite and Odyssey, Balm and Halcyon, Rapture and Godot, Lear and Pierrot by JayJEx
Aizawa and All Might’s Forever Squad of Problem Children
(8:47 AM) Midorito: @/everyone this is an official callout post for @/Discount IcyHot Patch, who is returning to musutafu tomorrow and DIDN’T EVEN TELL ANY OF US!!!!! ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ
Shouto groans in despair. Predictably, the group chat immediately explodes.
-or-
Todoroki returns to Musutafu after six years away and his tragic inability to keep up with all of the people in his life catches up to him in the worst, most irritating ways possible.
(Though he might at least get a boyfriend or two out of the matter. That’s a plus.)
if it was only a distraction (how come I can't stay away) by Voulezvous_79
He scrolls down and his heart stops - shit, shit, shit, no. Bad Izuku. You are over this. Completely, totally, definitely over any high school crushes that were going nowhere - because it’s the photo.
The one he surreptitiously had as his phone background for his entire first year in America. The one he cried over when he got on the plane. The one he jerked himself off to - once, okay!? It was one time, and he panic-deleted it after he came, and then cried about that, so he’s not proud, okay?
---
Or: Izuku's back in Japan, and he's definitely, totally, 100% coping with his friends' new relationship.
Biology for Assholes by fruiticle
Bakugou, an omega with Pseudo Alpha Syndrome, was content to live with his heatless, smoke-scented, absolutely-not-soft condition.
Really. He wouldn’t change a thing.
JUMP!!! by cxlmberry
Izuku grew up watching Superhero Legend, the iconic, generation-defining anime series featuring the invincible crimefighter All Might. Now, he is ready to become a professional manga author himself, to inspire thousands of people with his own series for decades to come – if only things were that simple.
Weekly Shounen Jump picked up Shouto’s series when he was only sixteen, and since then, he has become one of the most accomplished authors in the magazine. He’s a teenage prodigy. A genius. Jump’s main attraction. Sometimes the stress of it is too much.
Katsuki is talented – extremely, rudely so, and he knows it. An incredible artist and master storyteller, he’s out to become the one and only, undisputed King of Shounen Jump. Now, he only needs to get published.
A story of passions and careers, talent and hard work, second, third and fourth chances, as well as recovery and growth.
---
Alternatively, a budding manga artists AU.
Fire in the Mountains by EllaBesmirched (El_Bell)
“I’ll do it.”
Enji froze, fingers curling into a fist at his side, and didn’t turn around.
Shouto froze too, feeling his own eyes widen in shock at the words that had come out of his mouth, at the fact that he had actually stood up, followed his father out of the room, and dashed after him all just to say… he’d do it? He would do it? Him. Shouto Todoroki. He would--
Enji finally turned around and fixed Shouto with an expression so scathing, Shouto had to fight to keep his chin raised. “You’ll marry the Barbarian King.”
Shouto blinked. “Yes.”
How (Not) to Bribe a Human Sacrifice by maxisnotokay
"You want to kill me?" Katsuki asked, brows raised. He suddenly looked a little less like a king and more like a man, peering at Izuku through the moonlight. "You help me make this cure, and you kill me."
"Those are my conditions," Izuku said. He didn't break his gaze. "A deal's a deal, Kacchan, and I'm trying to be a hero."
+++
[fantasy au. midoriya literally falls from the sky and strikes up a deal with an unlikely candidate. things do not go as planned.]
Guildy Pleasures by Mysecretfanmoments
As the only son of a powerful politician, Todoroki Shouto's life is just one big boring cutscene—except when he logs on to Land of Heroes, where he plays as ShoutO, slaying foes and keeping his fellow guildmates alive. It's enough fun that it almost distracts him from the fact that he's falling for two of those guildmates. Almost. But he's got to stay in stealth mode, because Bakugou and Midoriya are mega-popular streamer duo ZeroDeku… and they're already dating each other.
Shouto has managed to keep his real identity a secret from them all this time, but when he's caught on live television watching one of their streams he ends up not only pulling aggro from the whole country, but catching the attention of ZeroDeku themselves. To his shock, they actually want to meet Shouto, the politician's son—and this time there's no avatar to hide behind.
the universe must have my back, you fell from the sky into my lap by lelex
The picture looks like it was taken in a cafe, Todoroki in a light blue sweater that even from a distance looks wildly soft, seated at a baby grand piano with his short hair effortlessly tousled. It’s one of those photos where it’s obvious Todoroki wasn’t expecting it to be taken—he’s in the middle of looking up at whoever is behind the camera, a smile small on his face but delight evident in the curve of his mouth.
He’s stupidly beautiful. Looking at him for too long makes Izuku kind of sweaty.
They both sit there staring at this one picture for almost three full minutes. In complete silence. Eventually, Kacchan sighs a little bit and tips his head backwards to rest on the couch. Staring up at the ceiling, he murmurs, “Well, shit.”
Izuku can’t stop the lightly hysterical laugh that explodes from his mouth in response.
“We’re fucked.”
*
Izuku, Katsuki, and Shouto fuck up a meet-cute, twice. But everyone wins in the end.
Cinderoki, the Sweaty Prince, and the Furious Fairy by Esselle
"I wish I could go to the royal ball for Prince Izuku," Shouto finally told the fairy.
Katsuki screwed up his face. "That's it?" Shouto nodded. "Why?"
"It seems fun."
"It's not going to be fun." Katsuki scowled. "It's going to be terrible. You have to have a better wish."
"I want that one," Shouto said.
--
Todoroki Shouto is cursed. Since he was five years old, he's been locked away from the rest of the world to keep his out of control magic a secret. He thought he could be content with his storybooks—until an invitation comes from the royal palace, inviting his family to attend a ball for Crown Prince Izuku.
Shouto wants to go; he wants to be normal; he wants to leave his cage. Most of all, he wants to know what it's like to live in a fairy tale, even if it's only for one night. Fortunately, he's about to meet one pissed off fairy named Katsuki, who's been watching Shouto his whole life and waiting to make his wish come true.
Powder Keg by Ajaxthegreat
Bakugou really, really, really didn’t want to be trapped in an elevator with Todoroki and a fireproof dildo.
Sensory Input by Esselle
"Captain," Shouto says, clearing his throat. "You put in a request?"
Midoriya stands in front of the window now, staring out at the endless expanse of stars. He turns when Shouto enters. Like Bakugou, he's dressed casually, in a simple grey shirt that stretches over his chest. His green eyes blink wide as though in surprise, before he smiles. It's sheepish and shy. In front of the window, the vastness of space flung out behind him, he's as stunning as a supernova.
"I did, right," he says. "The, um, the thermostat… seems to be, maybe—"
Bakugou cuts him off with a loud sigh. "Quit wastin' his time and tell him why he's really here."
--
Shouto is a remote crew member of a spaceship—his real body is stationed on a world far away, but his consciousness is housed in a maintenance bot on board the ship. When he manages to attract the attention of the ship's gorgeous captain and fiery first officer, it doesn't take long to discover that the bot's adjustable sensitivity levels have more enjoyable applications than repair work.
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irontinystar · 4 years
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hi! i was wondering if you’d recommend other authors that you enjoy or even specific fanfics you like? i’ve only just started getting into the steve/tony fandom and want to follow more people! thank you!
Hi there!!! Welcome to the fandom!!!<3<3<3
I’m so glad you asked this question since I’ve always wanted to do a fic rec post!!!!
HERE WE GO:
10K+ WORDS (ONE CHAPTER) FICS:
Quit while you’re ahead by magicasen
“It began, as things tend to between them, as a bet.”
the reason you ruminate the shadowy past by Mizzy
“So, Captain America effectively manages to cockblock Tony for a year.
It's not Steve's fault. Well, actually, it is. But he was just proving a point - that if a superhero is gay, how can it be wrong? Steve just picked the wrong superhero to make the point with. Now America will think they're dating - and Tony's not going to be the guy to break Captain America's heart.
There's only one way out. To save face, Steve and Tony have to become fake boyfriends. Steve thinks the "boyfriends" bit will be the hardest to act... but maybe it's the "fake" part that will be the hardest act of all...”
made to make you blue by gottalovev
“Steve, drunk for the first time since the serum, hits on Tony. It's everything Tony's ever dreamt about, but he refuses to have sex with a drunk Steve who can't truly consent. They do kiss, though, and Tony stays the night. The morning after brings a misunderstanding of disastrous proportion, where both men wrongly assume the other is uninterested. Life gets extremely complicated when Enchantress, mad at Thor, casts a spell that links people who love each other together, letting them feel the other's pain.”
On the Turning Away by thegraytigress
“Tony's new relationship with Steve is going great. They're a few weeks into it, and it's utterly amazing. He's feeling better and more sure of himself than he ever has before. Honestly, he's flying high.
But then he asks Steve a simple, logical, and seemingly innocent question: "do you want to spend the night?" And everything comes crashing down.”
love the sin, love the sinner by silkspectred
“It keeps happening. Not often, just once or twice a month, but it keeps happening. Always in the same way: it’s unplanned, sudden, unexpected, Steve is surprised and eager, his dick goes from zero to one hundred in two seconds, Tony’s touch is electric, everything he does drives Steve crazy, but he never lets Steve kiss him, he very rarely looks Steve in the eye, he never talks, never makes a sound when he comes, never mentions it later.”
Of Beards and Best Defenders by nannersmelo
“Tony finds out about when Steve had a beard once upon a time, and outraged that he never got to see it, decides to find a way to witness it by himself.”
Tony Pretends To Date Steve (Until He Doesn't Have To) by HappyStony
“"You alright?"
Of course he was not alright! Tony had a blue eyed, blond haired, six foot too high, two hundred who knows what pound, too sexy for his own good ninety something, mentally twenty, year old man on top of him. Who even asks that question in a situation like that?
Or: Basically the title. Tony pretends he's dating Steve until...well, you know.”
i have found the one (whom my soul loves) by soniclipstick (veriscence)
“It's been months since the Avengers were pardoned. One by one, they'd all gone home, until Steve finds himself alone in the grand old building T'Challa had given them.
But everything changes when Steve answers the doorbell, and Tony Stark strides in with more grey on his temple and make-up on his face than Steve remembers.”
Hating Steve Rogers by nanasekei
“The thing about hating Steve Rogers is that it shouldn’t be easy - but it really, really is.”
we have become something different, beloved (tragic and lovely) by Areiton, venusiaries
“"What's the Accords?" he asks, and Tony's head tilts. "I don't think that concerns you," he says. "But you don't deny that it's something." "There's a lot of something's I'm involved in that you don't know about," Tony says.
~~~~
There's a story, years long and publicly known, about the way the Avengers ended and why. And then there is the truth, carefully hidden and protected.”
remedy by quidhitch
““I like the walls,” Steve shrugs, knocking his knuckles against the side as if to demonstrate. “Makes me feel covered.”
A soldier in a fortress, Tony thinks, which is a pretty ridiculous thought to have about Captain America and his enormous limbs stuffed into a too-small bathtub, but there it is.
Or: Tony Stark learns a thing or two about what it means to be In Recovery™.”
Binary System by Annie D (scaramouche) ( @no-gorms )
“Tony tends to be tactile with people he trusts. These days that list of people includes Steve, which is a good sign of the progression of their friendship. For his part, Steve seems to enjoy it as much as Tony does... until Tony goes a little too far.”
The Best Policy by starknjarvis
“Tony Stark breezes through life on bluster and bullshit. When he gets hit by a truth spell, he locks himself away in his workshop so he can find a way to reverse it without anyone finding out. So why can't he say no when Steve keeps asking to spend time with him?”
Slipping off the Page into Your Hands by Sineala ( @sineala )
“Soulmates have their first words to each other written on their wrists. This should make it easy. For Steve and Tony, it is anything but. Steve's problem is that the future he has awoken into is nothing he was ever expecting: he has a soulmate now. Who might be a robot. And if his soulmate is Iron Man, how can he be so attracted to Tony Stark? It should be impossible. Tony's problem is that he is Iron Man, his soulmate is a man whom he in no way deserves, and he is going to fight everything in his heart and do his best to make sure Steve never, ever finds out the whole truth.”
How to Win Affection Without Really Trying by Annie D (scaramouche)
“Tony almost dies saving Steve’s life, but that’s just part of being an Avenger. It’s no reason for Steve to get all weird and intense around him afterward.”
A Certain Affinity by miobambiino ( @miobambiino )
“"They were like that a lot nowadays, ever since they got back from their little kidnapping escapade. Sure, they’d been close before then - they all had - but now… it was different. They were close, close. Squishing up next to each other, whispering to one another, playing with each others hair, apparently.
Steve inwardly grimaced at himself. He was being bitter and petty, he knew that. But he couldn’t figure out why, though. His teammates were getting along, which is only a good thing. Especially considering how they started things off way back on the helicarrier. But since when were Tony and Nat this cosy?"
Aka Steve is jealous of Tony and Nat's friendship, gets the wrong idea, and requires a little help from Nat herself to get some well-needed perspective.”
Admiring the Scenery by Annie D (scaramouche)
“Steve’s used to people checking him out, but when Tony does it, it feels… different.”
Symmetry Breaking by Annie D (scaramouche)
“After the Battle of New York, Steve rode off on his motorbike. That's how it went the first time.
This time he rides back, all the way to Stark Tower, where he asks Tony for help.”
MULTICHAPTERS FICS:
almeno tu nell'universo by silkspectred
“Tony drives off.
Well, he wants to.
But he can’t.
Because.
Steve Rogers is in front of his car.
Steve fucking Rogers. Is in front of Tony’s fucking car.”
take my heart clean apart by mistymountainking
“He’s tired, so tired of waiting, tired of touches with no meaning, tired of holding his breath when Steve’s in the room, tired of keeping this love to himself.
“I can’t—I can’t, if you don’t mean it.”
***
Tony comes home exhausted after an SI event. Steve acts as welcoming committee. It's an old, careworn routine they've perfected over the years, but tonight ends up going in a very different direction.”
Thrust Issues by Sineala
“A battle gone wrong leads Tony to the unexpected and pleasant discovery that Steve is much more well-endowed than he could ever have imagined. But when Tony learns that Steve has never actually been able to sleep with anyone because of his size, Tony does what any good friend would do: he offers to relieve Steve of his virginity. Personally. Tony's determined, Tony's methodical, and Tony has a plan. He's going to get Steve laid. Tony just needs to make sure Steve never finds out that Tony's in love with him.”
Overhaul by Annie D (scaramouche)
“Steve knows that Tony has feelings for him and, since he doesn’t return those feelings, has been mildly dreading the day that Tony decides to do something about it. When that day finally arrives, Steve discovers that Tony’s wooing strategy isn’t anything at all like he’d expected.”
Whatever Makes You Happy by WilmaKins ( @wilmakins )
“Steve and his team never stopped Avenging. So when T'Challa tells them about strange events at the site of an ancient landmark, everything seems quite simple. Of course they'll help Shuri to investigate it - helping people is what they do, after all.
Until they discover that a race of alien empaths are harvesting human emotions as a source of power. Specifically, they're using the misery of one Tony Stark.
So, until they work out what's really going on, the fate of the world might depend on them keeping Tony happy.
Not simple. Not simple at all.
Set six months after CA:CW.”
a catalog of non-definitive acts by firebrands ( @firebrands )
“Tony's seen the way Steve watches him, trails after him just for a moment, then catches himself. Let it never be said that Tony Stark doesn’t pay attention. At least, when it matters.
*
Or, Steve, Tony, and the emotional fallout of keeping secrets. (Set in some nebulous time pre-AoU.)”
The Single Biggest Problem With Communication by BlossomsintheMist
“In the wake of Steve's return from the dead and the end of Norman Osborn's reign of terror, the superhero community is recovering--Steve has taken on a new role and Tony is trying to put his life back together. Things are still awkward between them, but they're determined to put things to rights. But when a discussion about their feelings leads to further misunderstandings, they discover that might be more difficult than either of them realized. Set in the early Heroic Age after the end of Dark Reign, this is a get-together story about crossed wires--and second chances.”
Broken by livink ( @anthonyed )
“After Siberia, Tony Stark faces depression, a giant purple alien and a forced reunion. Ironically, he feels as if he's the only one who is broken in this journey. Until he comes across Barnes. Then, Bruce, Natasha and Wanda. Later, he realises that the man who broke him is broken too and this is a story where they heal and find their footings back.”
wonderland by Areiton
“Six weeks after being abandoned in Siberia, Tony wakes in a Tower, next to the man who broke his heart and his trust. But the world--whatever Wonderland world they’ve landed in--isn’t like their own. The Avengers are happy here. Tony and Steve are married here. With a direct line to Steve’s emotions and the team that he’s always wanted--Tony is more than a little tempted to stay. Seeing how happy Tony is, how healthy Bucky is--Steve doesn’t disagree. But there are cracks in Wonderland and the shiny paint peeling might leave a nightmare behind--one that Tony and Steve will need each other more than ever, to escape.”
when i run out of road, you bring me home by quidhitch
““Oh, I won’t bother you.” The tone of Steve’s voice implies that he definitely will be bothering Tony, aggressively and frequently. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep to my farm, you keep to yours. Solitude together.”
Tony opens his mouth to argue that that’s not how this works, but he snaps it shut at the realization that Steven Grant Rogers is fucking with him. That twinkle in his eye has accelerated into a full-on glimmer, and the ends of his lips are twitching. Jesus, he hates this man. Or maybe he wishes he did. Tony can’t really tell the difference anymore.”
Down in Lonesome Town by resurrectedhippo
“Tony eyes him. “Why do I always find my way back to you?”
Maybe he didn’t necessarily return to Steve, but fate is a funny little thing, and after living a life of loss, Steve wants something that’s his to keep. Tony deserves a love that’s unrestrained; Steve thinks he’ll erupt with it.
Love is messy, not easy, and takes work.
Maybe love feels like rage.
But maybe love could just be jumping off a rocky mountain and smiling anyway.
After the universe is restored, Steve is lost without any direction. Retiring from the Avengers, he moves across the country and ends up building a house by a misty blue lake. Across the bridge is Tony Stark’s new workshop.”
In the Stillness of Remembering by elise_509
“Steve Rogers is a reminder of a past that Tony Stark would rather forget. But when Steve’s own ghosts suddenly become the present, Tony finds he and Steve need each other to face the future.”
Good For You by orbingarrow
“Steve doesn't understand why Tony dates people who abuse him. Tony doesn't understand why Steve cares.
The rest is bad choices, good choices, rehab, milkshakes, paintball, YouTube videos, couples therapy and learning to put the past in the past. Or: How Tony finds his happy ending.”
SERIES:
Pulse-Point by itsallAvengers
Guys and Bots by Annie D (scaramouche)
AUTHORS:
I love very deeply each author of the fics I’ve listed, but these are the main blogs I follow here on tumblr who regularly post 1K (more or less) words fic:
@omg-just-peachy
@no-gorms
@maguna-stxrk
@natasharxmanov
@s-horne
@firebrands
@iam93percentstardust
@anthonyed
@ad1thi
@littlemissstark
@chirriko
@tinytonysnark
(Plus self-spam: MrsWinterBreath , my own ao3 profile!)
Lastly, check @sabrecmcstonyficrecs blog by @sabrecmc who is not only an extremely talented writer themself, but also incredibly patient and kind enough to offer masterposts with fics about any Stony trope you could ever think of!!!
This is a non-exhaustive list because there are a LOT more authors out there that deserve their works to be read, so I suggest you giving it a chance even to fics and authors you’ve never heard of, you might find a masterpiece without even realising it!!!!
And most importantly: always leave a kudos and comment if you liked what you read, this way I guarantee you the authors will be more than happy to keep on providing you with amazing works!!!!
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Text
Quotes from “Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier” as starters
But today could be the day I finally make a difference!
Where are you off to today, you no good piece of shit?
You’ve got to dream a little harder!
It took you long enough, you shit-eating dog.
Oh, so you think you're better than me just because you can read?
Just try to keep your fat face out of that motherfucking book.
Why am I the only one who sees things as they are?
Oh, ___, sometimes I feel you're my only friend in this world.
Today, things got a little out of hand and a lot of good people are dead.
Did we get the loaf of bread back?
Why do you even bother visiting us commoners anymore, you aristocat?
I sure hope you haven't goofed this one up, ___.
Tsk, tsk, tsk, look at this mess. Dead bodies in the street.
Did you know in this barbaric country they only give you money if you work?
Who would seek employment when life offers such enjoyment?
You're only in trouble if you get caught.
My father says that you must marry me now, or I'll bring dishonor to my entire family.
I can't give up on my dreams and settle down just 'cause your dad's being a dick.
‘Cause you stole my daughter’s hymen!
That’s completely fair, but in my defense - dude, your daughter’s hot.
My ass cheeks…they're hanging out.
And what's this? Blood. Blood on my ass cheeks. Tell me, ___, how the fuck did it get there?
Oh I am grateful for your tiny ass, ___!
This really is an act of war, ___!
Do not feed me shit and call it couscous, ___!
Well an hour free is better than a lifetime in a cage. Being fed and pampered and cleaned up after. What kind of a life is that?
When are you going to learn that your actions have consequences?
One of these days, you're going to learn that life isn't about dreams coming true. It's a series of compromises and disappointment.
That's supporting a corrupt system. You're a part of the problem.
I want everything, and more!
My secret is simple, really. Anyone could do it. I just follow the golden rule!
Always treat others like sisters and brothers and they’ll do the same for you.
I get back what I give!
My hunger blinded me and forced me to act like an animal.
But we're not animals. We're gifted with minds to reason and hearts to love!
I think that's enough fun for one day, eh, ___?
Well, we have our own golden rule here. Whoever has the gold…makes the rules.
The gold that my neighbor earns through his labor is gold I’ll never see.
So keep your mouth shut and your palm open, and you may just get...filthy stinkin' rich!
You could start by telling me your name.
I suppose this will be the end of me.
I am a servant to the people, and therefore your servant.
Magic does nothing if not touch the soul.
I want to know your story, I want to know your past, I want to know your future too.
Fill my days and nights with the tale of you.
I never cared for stories until you entered mine.
Let’s make ours the story with no end.
Their mouths aren't fit to hold a donkey's shit.
Many years ago, I took my finger…and I pushed in my penis…and it hasn't come out since.
A very wise and enthralling tale, ___. We can all learn a lesson from it, I expect.
Where's my opium?
Speak now, ___! And don't fuck it up!
Well, maybe I have a new purpose now.
That is what your story is about.
I wish I had the power to rewrite this tale.
Never stop wishing it, ___.
We will be reunited one day, and unlock wonders beyond your wildest dreams!
After all, I must be pretty great, if you believed in me.
I only hope you haven't fallen prey to some sex-crazed ruffian!
Right this way, babe.
This is so unfair! Poor people need slaves just as much as rich people do! Maybe even a little bit more.
Of course it's a free thinker like who's struggling to get by. And all because of our totally corrupt class system.
I hate the class system. That's why I said, "Fuck it, I'm never going to school again."
So, you abandoned everything, to be free? That is so brave.
Brave? Me? Yeah.
All my parents ever did was support me. Give me a place to stay, tell me they loved me, no matter what. They were really bad parents.
How's a thirty-three-year-old kid supposed to know how to survive on his own?
But that is not fair! ___’s a victim of circumstance!
Don't look at me like that! These are my orders from ___.
Wait, wait, what? You slit people's throats? I didn't tell you to kill anyone! This is awful!
___, no. That is just an expression.
I'm gonna have so much gold I could swim through it! Like a pool. Do you think people can really do that?
Once I get my mind set on a chick, I just can't move on until I get this nut out.
I can’t wait to be a rich dude!
Stealing is so much easier when you’ve got already tons of gold.
We’ll get our happy ending tonight.
We weren't sure if you were ever coming back, ___.
Everyone, look at my ass!
You received the manhood of a badger?
Those are stretch marks, they happen.
Oh, I see! You received the manhood of a tiger!
Did you hear that, lads? ___ made love to a tiger!
Tiger fucker! Tiger fucker! Tiger fucker!
I DID NOT FUCK A TIGER!!!
Am I not a thing of beauty? Don't you want a piece of this? Wouldn't you gladly give up all of your worldly possessions just to greet me when I come home from a one-sided massacre, and bathe my sweaty, bloody body with your tongue?
Oh…you. Aren't you busy ruining my life?
I noticed you weren't at dinner, but I saw you tried to poison my wine. Usually when you do that, it means you want to talk. What's up, are you mad at me?
You ripped my heart out and smashed it into a million pieces. And don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about.
He/she/they was perfect! Like if you cobbled together all the best features from all the best guys/girls/people, and then gave them a tragic backstory! It's like he/she/they was designed specifically to appeal to me.
I knew everything about him/her/them! He/she/they was my soul mate! My -- my -- God, I am freaking out, what was his/her/their name?
Believe it or not, I care about you.
I don't want to be prepared. I want to expect the unexpected.
Look, you're young. You don't exactly get how things work yet. And, while I don't appreciate any of your ideas, I do appreciate the fact that you HAVE ideas. Maybe one day you'll have some GOOD ones.
Sexual predators the lot of them! Their tactics target vulnerable, young girls, and build up false senses of trust and then isolate them on magic rides of sorts. And when the moment is right, they whip it out. You know... their songs.
Be wary of young boys who whip out their songs. A song is often a prelude to a dick.
A song is a dick in sheep's clothing.
Can't you see I'm trying to impart a life lesson?
I feel like you only come to see me when there's bad news.
I counted thirteen dead before the peacocks got to them.
How the fuck did you know it was me?
Because it IS you, you're just wearing different clothes.
Wow. Pretty AND smart. You're the whole shebang, babe.
Everything I told you the other night was a lie. Don't you trust me?
Ugh. Oh no. Okay, um, now I'm kind of feeling like everything about you that was attractive to me before isn't really there anymore.
No! No, I'm just being indecisive. It's still you.
I've just got to get back on that high that I was on before.
Look into my eyes and talk to me some more about the world's injustice!
Sure. Just let me roll this blunt first.
But I don't want her/him/they to love me. I just want her/him/them to fuck me.
You guys know there's a way to get people to think about sex without even talking about sex? You just gotta do it subliminally.
Hey, babe, it's such a beautiful night -- take off your clothes.
But…let me ask you this: is your penis an innie or an outie?
___ explained everything to me. He/she/they was just pretending to be a ___. For fun.
I bet the ___ is under that ___ sized hat!
Bullshit! Why would I pretend to be a ___? Just to get laid? That's not me.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! Why are you picking on me, ___? Afraid I'll reveal your little secret?
Whoa! I thought I was just bullshitting you guys!
What made me think that I could get away with such a plot?
How does the golden rule apply in such a situation?
Whichever road I take, I will only encourage someone’s wrath!
‘Til now I’ve always traveled down the straight and narrow path.
But which way do I turn when the road’s become so... so... twisted?
You think you know me, as others think they know you, but there are two sides to every story.
I was prepared for anything, except for what ensued.
They weren't ready for my ideas.
Fortune favors the beautiful.
My only crime was love.
But the heart wants what it wants, and sometimes what it wants, is twisted.
I only wished to reclaim what was mine!
I only wished for equal rights for all!
I only wished to save her/him/them!
I only wished to be invited to the party!
I only wished to improve relations between the races!
I only wished to teach ___ responsibility… so he/she/they wouldn’t end up like me!
I only wished to give the people a voice… To help the miserable, lonely, and depressed!
I never knew my father!
It's an unfortunate situation…But you do have a choice.
What remains of a man when that man is dead and gone?
Why protect my reputation? I’m a dead man/woman/person either way!
How will they tell my story? How will they tell my tale? Will anybody even care?
Is it nobler in the mind to be well-liked but ineffectual, or moral but maligned?
If I hide to save my life, what has my life been for?
The road ahead may twist, but I will never swerve!
I’ll give them all the unsung antihero they deserve!
I’ve nothing left to lose, to the only path to choose is twisted.
So let them twist my words, let the people scorn me.
Who cares if no one will ever mourn me?
Let them bury the side of the story that they’ll never learn!
Let the truth be twisted!
Let my life be twisted!
I’ll be twisted, it’s my turn!
Your armies have abandoned you. Your ruling class is corrupt and we have come to put an end to your tyrannical rule!
You'll never end our tyrannical rule!
It is I who will be doing the fucking today.
It appears that ___ has cold feet!
Yes I am talking to you! Now get your ass over here!
I've got to become a sorcerer! Can you do that?
Yes, I do feel lucky. I've got a ___! But I think he might be a fucking moron!
My fuse is about this long right now.
You either need to back me the fuck up, or shut the fuck up. Got it?
And what's the last thing you wanna do before that happens? Take off your clothes. That's right, have sex! Hurry, take off your clothes.
I'm not going to take off my clothes in the middle of a battle!
My skin is melting!
Would you stop acting like an asshole for one minute?
I'm not a tease. I'm just…not a freak.
You're making sex seem gross and lame.
You got that, ___? We are not a thing anymore, okay?
We're just having our first fight. Maybe after some make up sex…
You're the guy who killed my parents. Where have you been?
Okay, Jesus Christ, I don't know what's going on here.
That's the trick! You just really have to believe your own bullshit!
It takes someone who believes they can change the world to actually do it.
This isn't fair! Life is supposed to be fair!
Your youth and your passion, and yes, your naïveté -- these give you power.
When I was your age, I thought I could accomplish anything I ever wanted and more! But I didn't. Perhaps no one does. But you have to think you will or you won't have the strength to try.
Maybe you won't make any big changes, but a few little ones that pave the way for the next generation. And then they'll make small changes and leave it to the next and the next! It's a bit like a carousel of progress. Always spinning towards a great, big, beautiful tomorrow. And tomorrow is just a dream away.
But what if tomorrow never comes?
Tomorrow always comes. Even if it comes without us.
What will I do without you to guide me? When I am lost, where will I turn?
You remind me of someone I knew long ago.
You’re the one who put it there -- the power in me.
The power to love one another is the greatest power of all.
No matter where life leads us, we’ll never be apart.
Through thick and thin, success or ruin, I’ll carry you in my heart.
I will treasure forever what the world will never see.
You are kind, and that’s enough.
I wish you didn’t have to go when our story’s just begun.
Then I wish you every happiness.
It was more money than I had ever seen. But I was able to count it.
And that's the end of the true story.
17 notes · View notes
superman86to99 · 3 years
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Superman #84 (December 1993)
Superman takes a short Paris vacation! Like, one day short. What's the worst that could happen?
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Oh, man.
So, for the past few issues, we've been hearing about children being abducted in Metropolis. Now we see that they're being kept inside a giant toy house by some creepy bald man in Quasimodo clothes who seems to be obsessed with toys -- a "Man of Toys," if you will. Side note: no wonder the children haven't been found... all the articles about them are just gibberish! (See clip below.)
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The kidnapper thinks that these kids' parents don't deserve them, and that they're much better off here, in an underground hideout with a man who threatens to starve them if they don't play with him. (And I do mean literally play, with action figures and stuff.) Meanwhile, as these children cry for help, Superman is having the time of his life. While helping move a stranded ship with some huge-ass chains, Superman spots a sunken galleon with a treasure chest inside and fantasizes about keeping the booty...
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...before turning it over to the authorities anyway, the big boy scout. Then, he wakes up Lois at 6 AM and tells her they should go to Paris right now, which usually means your significant other is having a mental breakdown, but in this case they can actually do it. And so, after deciding that he deserves to use his powers for fun every once in a while, Superman and Lois drop everything and fly to France with super-speed for the rest of the day/issue.
Anyway: back to the child abduction! Cat Grant and her son Adam attend a Halloween party at Adam's school, but there's a disturbed weirdo in a hideous costume lurking among the crowd. Yes, I'm talking about Jimmy Olsen in his Turtle Boy suit.
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Shortly after that, a guy in a dinosaur costume (see, all the creeps are dressed as reptiles) lures Adam out of the party with the promise of "superb video games." What child could resist that? Of course, that turns out to be the kidnapper and Adam ends up in his hideout along with the rest of the missing children and, worst of all, not a single "Lextendo" console.
The kidnapper gets angry at Adam when he refers to the toys at the hideout as "old-fashioned junk" (he was REALLY looking forward to those video games), and even angrier when Adam tries to free the other kids. Adam is brave and puts up a good fight, but...
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And those were Adam Morgan's final words. "Uh-oh."
Next, we have a pretty harrowing scene of Detective Turpin letting Cat know Adam’s body was found, and Jimmy and Perry White taking her to the morgue to identify the body (most people probably wouldn't bring their former boss to something like that, but Perry sadly knows more than most about losing a kid). As for Lois and Clark, they were gone so long that the Daily Planet had time to print a headline about the murders. The issue ends when the lovebirds walk into the office smiling like two people who just spent the night fooling around in Paris... only to feel like jackasses when they find out what happened.
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To be continued!
Character-Watch:
And that's it for little Adam Morgan who, unlike the also tragically diseased Jerry White, didn't even get any post-death appearances. Adam went from a little kid scared of Superman, to a huge brat, to a character who was approaching likeability as of last week. That's why I hate it when DC kills off young characters like Adam or Liam Harper: in long-form storytelling, children represent potential. Look at how much Wally West or Dick Grayson evolved over the years compared to their mentors! Sure, there's a huge probability that Adam would have ended up disappearing from comics for 25 years anyway, but who knows, maybe we'd now know him as Teen Gangbuster or something. GangbusTEEN.
This issue also represents a turning point for the kidnapper, who is never named or seen clearly in the story itself but I don't think I'm shocking anyone by spoiling the fact that he's Toyman (it's in the cover, for one thing). In his last two appearances before this storyline, Toyman helped Superman save some kids from Sleez and looked genuinely sad to learn about Superman's death, so this is a pretty dramatic change for the character. We'll find out why he went from big softy to child killer in Superman #85 (but don't get your hopes up).
Plotline-Watch:
The most disturbing part of the issue, all things considered, is still the part where Toyman climbs into a giant crib and hugs a huge stuffed bunny. Look at serial killer Tommy Pickles here:
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Don Sparrow says:  “Even with the upgrade, Toyman is still just a man in a suit, a common complaint about Superman’s rogues gallery.” Funny you should say that, because I JUST shared an old Wizard interview in our Twitter in which Dan Jurgens talks about how Doomsday came out of his frustration with the fact that most Superman villains are dudes in suits (plus other interesting tidbits from the era, like how it was actually Roger Stern’s idea to bring back Hank Henshaw, so check out that link!).
Don again: “The entire Superman storyline of this issue feels like filler. Diving for buried treasure and soaring off to Paris -- it all feels like wasted time next to the Adam storyline.” I have a theory that the entire ship sequence is there as an excuse to put Superman in those big chains and make that Spawn joke (which I didn’t get until now, since I’ve always read this issue in Spanish).
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Superman says that pulling that big ship was "a little easier than expected" -- that's either another hint that there's something going on with Superman's powers since he came back, or a subtle dig at the state of American ship manufacturing.
Another adorable "window tap" scene for the books, and this is the sexiest one so far. Is it me or has Jurgens started copying more than just Teri Hatcher's hairdo from Lois & Clark? (For anyone who thinks Lois has gotten implants, I refer you to this clip.)
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While in Paris, Lois asks Clark if he's ever wondered what would happen if his rocket had landed in other countries. Don: “Clark’s conversation with Lois sounds like a bunch of concepts for Elseworlds stories. We eventually would see a Russian Superman, and a British Superman, but not yet the French Superman. (Hire us, DC!)” Yep, got my French Superman pitch ready, Jim Lee. Or just let us do Russian Superman again, since Red Son wasn’t even the first time you published that idea.
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Don once more: “Another thing that makes no sense about the ‘new’ Toyman is his resentment of technological toys—when in previous appearances he himself had deadly high-tech toys to vex Superman over the years.” I especially resent his hatred of video game consoles. Incidentally, I wonder what types of games are available for Adam’s beloved Lextendo. Star Lex 64? Mega Man Lex? Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles & Lex?
No one is more upset at Lois and Clark for going AWOL than Whit. NO ONE. He's so furious that his usually grey mustache turned black.
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Patreon-Watch:
As always, shout out to our patrons, Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Samuel Doran, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush and Raphael Fischer! Last month’s exclusive Patreon article was about the recently unearthed sequel to Superman 64 for the PlayStation, featuring Metallo, Parasite, and Lois looking even hotter than in this issue:
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Hot damn. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99!
And believe it or not, Don Sparrow has even more to say about this issue. Read his section after the jump:
Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):
I should start off my section with a big caveat:  I flat out hate this issue. There were several weird decisions made in the post-Death-and-Return era (most of them along the same lines of making the Superman titles more grim-and-gritty), and this story was one of the worst of them.  My theory is that, despite the praise and record-breaking sales of the Death and Return storyline, the Superman creative team felt pressure to have more extreme storylines, perhaps in response to the wildly successful Image books coming out at the time.  Between this story, and the upcoming “Spilled Blood” storyline, the Super books take a hard—but temporary--turn into more violent and upsetting storytelling—even though these stories are by the same writers as the previous few years. While death has always been a part of comics, and Superman comics was no exception, there is a jarring glibness and unfeeling toward the way violence is handled in these pages that is quite different from the stories that preceded it.  It’s made all the more jarring by the fact that well-established personalities suddenly veer wildly out of character, Toyman chief among them.  
We start with the cover, and while it is technically well-drawn (by the familiar team of Jurgens and Breeding) it’s also a very upsetting visual.  I think they should have gone with the pieta type pose with Adam and Superman, OR the scary badass bowie-knife Toyman (who apparently has a Cheshire cat smile now) but not both.  But the cover is a good hint at the tonal dissonance of the comic within.
We open with a splash of the now-extreme 90s looking Toyman, with his serial killer shaved head and spooky cloak, ignoring the pleas of hungry kids he has locked up in a tiny jail cell for days at a time (if that sentence doesn’t ring alarm bells for how wrong this is for a Superman story, I don’t know what will). For much of the issue Toyman’s eyes are obscured by glare on his lenses, further de-humanizing a character who was once one of Superman’s more empathetic bad guys.
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We cut to Superman tugboating a huge tanker with giant chains and it’s a cool visual (one repeated in the Batman V Superman film).  It feels especially out of place to focus on, given how upsetting this issue is otherwise, but throughout the whole comic, Lois is drawn smoking hot, especially on the two page spread on pages 9-10.
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The scenes depicting the actual murder, while still wildly out of place in a Superman comic, are well done, and give a real sense of darkness and menace, which I suppose is the intent.  Perhaps my least favourite visual is the Big Bird stuffie, silently bearing witness to what’s about to occur.
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The edges of the panels on get more slashy and off-kilter (to me, looking very much like the layouts more typically seen in Image comics of the day) and I suppose I appreciate the restraint of how little Dan Jurgens shows of the death of a child, showing only a bloody slash on a black background.  This is still a pretty baroque image for a Superman comic, but certainly less violent than it could be, given what is happening.
Cat Grant’s silent horror is well staged, and powerful in its way.   Lastly, Clark Kent bending in sorrow and regret is a powerful image.
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While this issue is handled marginally better, and more maturely than other comics on the shelf at this time, I still believe it is one of the biggest mistakes of the era.  Giving a long-established character an unceremonious death for shock value is gross on its own, but making it a child definitely crosses a line for me.  Making it worse is that, while the Toyman is a criminal and a killer, he has shown in past issues (a similar kidnapping storyline involving Sleez) that he genuinely cares for the well-being of children.  So for a long-time reader, this also felt like a betrayal of a long-established, fully developed character.   Adding to the ugliness of this is that Adam dies heroically, trying to free the children who have been caged, unfed, for days, but even in that regard, he fails.  The headline at the end of the issue confirms all the children are dead.  Adam’s death did not buy the other kids enough time to get away. It was all for nothing. Had Adam died, but the other children lived, maybe this issue wouldn’t leave quite as bad a taste. [Max: It’s weird because it’s all told in a way where it’s told in a way where it would make sense, narratively and within the story universe, that the other kids survived, but then it’s almost casually revealed that nope, they died too. A scene of one of the kids relaying Adam’s heroism to Cat in a future issue would have gone a long way.]
Superman doesn’t come off well in these pages, either.  It’s honestly the type of story they should just stay away from, because the more you think about all the calamity that is going on around the clock, the less defensible the whole Clark Kent persona becomes. Superman carving out time to romance his fiancée directly led to the preventable deaths of innocent children—how do you come back from that?
STRAY OBSERVATIONS:
I’m always looking for hints that perhaps Jimmy or Perry know Superman’s secret identity deep down, and Jimmy’s anger at Lois and Clark on their return to the Daily Planet offices would seem to give that theory some credence, as he’s as angry at them as if he knew Clark really were Superman.  Either that, or he’s ticked that it fell to him, and none of them to escort Cat into the morgue. [Max: Has this issue finally converted you to the “Jimmy is terrible” side now, Don?]
I don’t think I’m the only one who disliked the new Toyman—SPOILERS BE HERE: years later, in Action Comics #865, Geoff Johns retconned this whole story, reverting Schott into the criminal who over-relates to kids, rather than the child-killer of this story.  Apparently the infantile Schott, who speaks to “Mother” a la Norman Bates, is a robot so lifelike it fools even Superman, and the “Mother” he’s constantly replying to was the real Winslow Schott trying to recall the malfunctioning robot. [Max: That’s one Geoff Johns retcon I really didn’t mind, even if it felt kind of derivative of his similar “all the Brainiacs are robots made by the real Brainiac” reveal.]
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hannahelizabeth30 · 4 years
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Losing My Religion
When I was 12 years old, I went to Acquire the Fire in late October of 2011. That is when I specifically remember giving my life to Christ. 
I loved God. I loved the purpose it gave me to start my former middle school’s first FCS (Fellowship of Christian Students; most people know it as FCA) and it is still going to this day. I am proud of that and I will never not be proud of it.
When I was 16, my cousin died. He was very young, only 26. I thought that his death would help me grow closer to God. It only made me begin to question Him and His goodness.
I finished my high school education online. I thought it would make my life a lot easier. It did. But I lost all contact with people my age. I did not have any friends. I was so depressed and so lonely. 
That summer is when I did my first musical in three years. I met Kelsey, our director, who was fighting Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer. Kelsey was a bad-ass. She was a great friend and a talented individual. I knew that Kelsey wanted to be my friend, but sadly, her fight with cancer ended in death in November of 2016. 
That was when I remember the major questioning beginning. 
How could a God give a young girl such a fatal diagnosis? She was 21. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was 19. 
Why was it the one person who made me feel like a normal 17-year-old girl have to die? 
It was truly unfair and unjust.
I went back to life as usual. No friends. 
(Please note: I do have friends, they just live far away due to school and/or jobs. They are there for me, but I do not have a friend/friends that I see or talk to every day)
Then I graduated and started my freshman year of college.
I wanted to move out and get away from Akron. I thought that would change at this new school. I was excited to not be online but also nervous as well. 
A week into my freshman year of college, I was raped. 
This was the catalyst that set every doubt into motion. 
Rape is something you cannot justify. 
The Bible says that God is all knowing. That he created me in my mother’s womb.
So when he was “creating” me, he knew:
I was going to deal with crippling anxiety and depression.
I was going to be raped when I was 18 and sexually assaulted when I was 19.
I was going to deal with verbal, sexual, and cyber bullying all throughout middle and high school. 
I would be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, which is known as “the most difficult mental illness” (via Google) and has been viewed historically as “difficult to treat” (also via Google)
I was going to lose my cousin tragically.
I was going to make a friend, then lose her tragically as well. 
I was going to deal with childhood trauma. 
I was going to feel constantly overlooked and invisible.
If God claims to know all of our strengths, our amazing moments, the giver of all things good, then why doesn’t the Bible answer why we have to deal with trauma?
The story of Job is the one I found myself relating to the most because of how much it pisses me off. Instead of telling Satan to leave Job alone, God tells Satan to do anything to him and Job will still be faithful.
A real dick move there, God. 
And if Job messed up and stopped believing despite all the death, disease, poverty, and famine? Oh, then he would be banished to hell. 
People would compare me to Job in the midst of my struggles and I used to feel honored by that. Now, I just think it was an easy way for people who believe in God to give me an easy, gift-wrapped answer rather than to sit down and actually talk to me about why I was/am having these doubts and why I am struggling so much. 
I spent almost 8 years of my life begging God to help me. I begged Him every single day to cure me of the demons that lived in my mind. I begged for peace. 
I never got any. 
Why wasn’t I good enough? What is it that I am not doing enough that I am not worthy of peace? I read my Bible everyday, I prayed, I tried my best to live like Jesus and all I get is NOTHING? NO ANSWER? 
I’m done. 
I have been done, but I was just too afraid to admit it to anyone else that I was. But I’m done believing in God. 
I don’t need any theological lectures or how I’m going to hell now. Trying to follow God after everything I have been through brings me great pain and misery. People who have claimed to be believers/Christians have failed my family and I (more so me but when they failed me, my family felt failed as well) more times than anyone else. The world is in terrible shape right now, it always has been. You cannot sit here and try and explain to me that a good good Father would let this go on. He is more powerful than Satan! Yet he chooses to let it continue! 
It’s ironic that now as I proclaim my disbelief for God that I feel more at peace than I ever have trying to believe in him. I feel more relaxed. I feel like I’m free to be me, finally. 
Politically, I stand about the same. I still believe that life begins at conception, so there’s no way I will EVER be pro-choice or support politicians who advocate for abortion. #ProLifeAF 
I believe in equality for everyone, every person. 
Christianity does not preach that.
Religion, in general, does not mean equality and justice.
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paaradoxum · 4 years
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BakuTodo Rec List of Fics Vol. II
It’s been a while since the last time I did the other list and many new, wonderful fics appeared (the dynamics will be the same: AO3 fics that includes top!Bakugou and bottom!Todoroki for those that are NSFW), so if you wanna check out here is Part I.
This time there are 32 fics in this list, I have more and probably I will make Part III soon.
Spoiler: EVERY SINGLE one of these stories are FUCKING AWESOME.
Rating: G
→ flowers die, feelings grow by kinneyb
Summary:  When Bakugo first visits a local flower shop with Jirou, he buys some flowers in a lame attempt to piss off one of the employees - a guy named Shouto. But then he gets a little too invested in keeping his flowers alive.
→ Pretty by doop-doop.
Summary:  Like so many things that had to do with Shouto, the question took Bakugou entirely by surprise. “Do you think I’m pretty?”
→ For a Single Moment by itsclowreedsfault.
Summary:  Katsuki shakes his head with a sigh and an unbidden smile. Shouto's always been like an overexcited kid when it came to cats; Katsuki should've known he didn't stand a chance against them in Shouto's first visit to a cat cafe.
Rating: T
→ Ruin My Life by justhavesex.
Summary: He's not a vengeful person, really, he's not.
But him and Bakugou have started this little on-going war of theirs back in middle school when they were 10 years old and Todoroki had accidentally—if you got Todoroki drunk enough and fed his ego well enough he would, in fact, admit that it was very much on purpose—accidentally fed Bakugou's limited edition All Might magazine to his cat.
→ Aesthetic Distance by llyn.
Summary:  This was around the time Shouto was appearing in all the blogs and rags and instagrams wearing a hideous faux fur coat of bright, hot neon like some awful crawling creature from an acid trip had been hunted and skinned, its pelt draped over Shouto's shoulders.
→ Dance To This by justhavesex.
Summary:  Bakugou has never cared much about being an alpha, not really, not until he met the most frustrating omega in all existence: Todoroki Shouto.
→ Welcome to the Mile-High Club by minhakos.
Summary:  In which Todoroki realizes that maybe airplanes aren't the only thing that should make him nervous.
→ Boyfriend Tactics by Esselle.
Summary: 'Shouto's eyes go impossibly wide. He seems to lose all powers of communication for a moment and just stands there, frozen, staring at Katsuki and the kitten. Finally, eventually, he utters the tiniest noise Katsuki has ever heard him make.
"Ah…" '
--
Katsuki comes to the aid of a small and fluffy civilian while on patrol.
→ Line by Line by Lillabelle.
Summary:  With half his sketchbook filled with drawings of the guy, Katsuki wondered if he’s already crossed the line of being insanely creepy. They’ve never spoken, and he honestly only knew the person’s name was Todoroki Shouto because of role call in class. Shouto was just… so unique to look at with his half and half appearance. It was hard for Katsuki’s eyes not to get drawn to him. Not to mention they shared several classes, so if Katsuki ever got bored and felt like drawing something, there he was.
→ a todobaku one-shot collection by kagehinataboke.
Summary:  all of my multiple, multiple, multiple todobaku one-shots. i stan two (2) dipshit boys that are obviously in love and hate with each other.
→ amaryllis by ?
Summary:  The amaryllis has come to symbolize pride, determination and radiant beauty. Somehow this all suited Katsuki a lot more than Shouto expected.
→ tell ourselves a good lie by ElmoIsSatan. (In-Progress 12/?)
Summary: For a straight guy with anger issues, getting a “boyfriend” might just be his only escape.
Or-
Bakugo makes an impulsive decision and suddenly gains a boyfriend just to prove his parents wrong... The only problem is it’s all fake.
→ how to register for a library card (and get a boyfriend in the process) by Kaleid369.
Summary: “Friends have each other’s numbers, yeah?” Bakugou shrugs. “I don’t hate you, I guess.”
“Lucky me.”
“Lucky you,” Bakugou snorts. “I gotta go. Text me so I have your number.”
“I will.”
He's already started walking away when Shouto blurts out, “See you tomorrow?”
Bakugou shoots him a smirk over his shoulder, as if to say, Duh.
Shouto stands and stares at his retreating back, and the thought of kissing him pounds along with the beat of his heart.
→ on brand by dinosuns.
Summary: Midoriya is honestly unsure what’s worse: the tragic fact that Todoroki Shouto can make anything look objectively incredible or the fact Kacchan has six versions of the exact same photograph saved onto his camera roll.
Nobody saves a photo that many times by accident.
Kacchan set the bar, Todoroki raised it. That is not a good thing.
→ The Journey Home by dinosuns.
Summary: “Your hair looks real fucking nice.”
“I thought it was about time I grew it out,” Todoroki says, something wistful caught in his voice. “You were always saying I should.”
That’s true. And Bakugou is satisfied to know he was right about it looking good, but it’s not like he can share that with the fucking class anymore.
--
Bakugou tells himself that he's fine with how things turned out between them. He also tells himself he's not still in love.
Rating: M
→ Zephyr by yeetin. (In-Progress 4/?)
Summary: The breeze that sifted gently through a golden sea of tall, dry grass brought the tiny spike of a different scent. An inconspicuous little prickle down the spine, barely even worth paying attention to. Something no one else would even imagine being able to notice.
But Bakugou did.
→ Objection, Your Honor by Myona. (In-Progress (8/?)
Summary: Shoto Todoroki hated Katsuki Bakugou. And he had plenty of reasons to do so.
But he didn't know that how things can change for the two of them who saw nothing but trouble in each other's presence and life altogether. Katsuki was a trouble from the first time Shoto heard his name, to the first day he met the man.
Rating: E
→ On Hot Blondes and Drunken Hookups by Crossfire. (In-Progress 4/?) I love this so so much.
Summary: “I’m Bakugou. What’s your name, Pretty Boy?”
Shouto looks at the drink in his hand, then back to the beautiful blonde boy, then back to the drink and downs it in one go, ignoring the slight burn as it slides down his throat, and while it would have been more suave to appear unaffected, he gives his head a little shake. He takes a quick breath and forces the words out before he has a chance to realize what a massive mistake this all is.
“Hot blondes I want to bang can call me Shouto.”
→ Tick Tick Boom by Ajaxthegreat. (In-Progress 6/?) THIS is so good, I’m in love.
Summary: An exhausted socially awkward violin prodigy and a deaf punk rock drummer walk into a bar.
→ Better Take a Mental Picture by chibibeeee. This is HOT HOT.
Summary:  The one where Deku watches Bakugou take Todoroki and their exhibitionist kink is unlocked.
→ Cover: Blown by darkanddank. (In-Progress 1/2)
Summary: Some undercover agents got hooked on drugs. Went full Stockholm Syndrome, flipped and joined up with the other side. As Bakugou’s palm went flat over Todoroki’s navel and dove beneath his closed zipper, Todoroki started to understand just how easy it might be to go rogue.
...aka cop Todoroki gets his world rocked so hard by bad guy Bakugou that he has an existential crisis
→ Just One Bite by Crossfire.
Summary: This particular fuckup begins when he saves a cat from a demon in a sketchy alley.
Well, maybe slightly before that when his esteemed hedge-witch mentor turned out to be an incubus who coincidentally turned him and his stupid nerdy neighbor into incubi.
Or maybe when he was born to a non-magic family, but early on developed minor magical inclinations that turned out to be not-so-minor and kind-of-hugely-destructive.
Wherever this fuckup was born, it’s culminated as follows: Bakugou has been an incubus for one hundred and twenty-two days, seven hours, and thirty-six minutes, has not had a single successful feed, and is essentially slowly starving to death. His mentor is suspiciously MIA and that stupid shitty nerd has managed to secure himself a two-person harem so it’s just Bakugou, starving. To death. Slowly.
→ Gangster by Brixxen.
Summary: Bakugou is a detective trying to solve a case that's been open for months. He ends up in a town and meets a man who could be his undoing...
Todoroki wasn't expecting the blonde at the bar to leave him wanting more...
→ How to spend a Friday night by veltana.
Summary: That's how Katsuki ended up on his bed on a Friday night leaning against the headboard with his laptop between his spread legs, his hard dick in his hand, watching Shouto open himself up for him on the screen.
→ Your Turn by doop-doop.
Summary: An extra scene/epilogue/continuation of smd.
Bakugou and Todoroki housesit for Bakugou's parents and take advantage of Bakugou's large bed.
→ Comfort by hellaradholly.
Summary: Katsuki agrees to be Shouto's roommate after UA despite having an unbearable crush on him.a gift for Katie for the BakuTodo Valentine's Day Exchange!
→ Empire of Dirt by castiiron, clairesail. (In-Progress 5/?)
Summary: There was something different about being with Bakugou Katsuki. Something that Shouto had been searching for tonight, to no avail. A consistent burn in his gut, the warmth of a fire that hadn’t been stoked in many years. Katsuki had been inexcusably rough with him. Harsh in a way that had pulled him back to reality. Shouto hadn’t realized he was missing out, being so used to what he knew; going through the motions, a means to an end. His life for the last few years had revolved around mediocre sex as a way to abate constant desire, always at the forefront of his mind.
Unhealthy coping mechanisms are easier to hide when you aren't screwing your ex-classmate.
→ Be Quiet by chibibeeee.
Summary: Katsuki and Shouto stay the night at Deku's. If only they had any self control, then they wouldn't have to keep so quiet.
→ Speak Softly My Sweet Villain by Brixxen.
Summary: Ask anyone in Tokyo and they’ll tell you the same thing. That the No.1 Pro Hero Todoroki Shoto is the perfect hero. He’s kind to everyone, always the first to arrive on a crime scene, always the calm and collected hero everyone wants him to be.
It was ironic how things happened to lead Shoto to his current situation. Him moaning and shuddering like a teenager, clinging to the strong perfect body of the most wanted villain in Japan, Ground Zero.
→ Peanuts and Wolves by cashmeresho.
Summary: “Yeah, man, okay!” The guy holds up his hands in surrender and Shouto shoots him another apologetic look. “I really didn't know you guys were married! I didn't see a ring!”
“Oh,” Katsuki says. He frowns hard for a minute and then grabs Shouto by the arm to whisk him away to his table with Izuku and Kirishima to guard him or sniff him or whatever weird territorial thing he wants to do.
→ College Roommates|BakuTodo by S_Kuro.
Summary: Todoroki is the son of the famous Todoroki Enji, also known as Endeavor, his father is a famous business man that wants Todoroki to take over his business, but Todoroki wants to become a photographer. He goes against his father's wishes and goes to an art university miles away from home. There he meets a certain explosive blonde, who turns out to be his roommate. what sorts of ridiculous shenanigans will they find themselves in and what relationships will they end up in.
a BakuTodo fanfic
This is my first fanfic with these two, so don't judge me and I hope you like it.
→ Locker Room by darkqueen_25.
Summary: There are worse things to walk in on in a locker room, Inasa thinks, than your two new friends fucking against the shower walls.
There's probably nothing better than being asked to join in, though.
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himbowelsh · 4 years
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imagine dick winters the same but with extreme horny energy throughout the series. terrifying.
the sheer power of thot!winters... i can’t even
Nixon has never enjoyed personal meetings with Colonel Sink. It reminds him too keenly of being called into the headmaster’s office as a boy. Sure, the gilt-carved walls and massive oak-paneled desk might be absent; he’s no longer a sulky twelve year old, wearing knee-high socks and a bow tie; but the feeling is still there. Sink never throws his weight around just to be intimidating  ---  a trait in a leader Nixon can actually respect  ---  but when he wants to, Sink can be the tallest man in the room. Everyone else looks, and feels, tiny in his shadow.
This meeting could be about a dozen things. Hopefully Sink doesn’t know about the footlocker.
“Captain Nixon.” He doesn’t look angry, which is a great start. Sink just looks tired  ---  not surprising, for a man with the entire 506th to look after. Nixon just has to deal with battalion staff, and he felt himself going grey at the temples after a week. Sink leans forward, bracing himself standing against the desk. Nixon straightens his back and makes himself attentive, ever the headmaster’s favorite student. “Now, I called you here to discuss something delicate. You intelligence men know how to keep things confidential.”
Nixon’s mind flashes through a montage  ---  humming La Marseilles in Dick’s earshot before Normandy, leaving a coffee stain right over Holland on the map on Dick’s desk, the Dutch-to-English dictionary he placed on Dick’s nightstand for safekeeping.
“Part of the job description, sir,” he replies, smiling.
Sink looks uncomfortable. “It’s… a delicate situation. You understand.”
Oh Christ, it’s definitely about the footlocker. Nixon’s shoulders tense, though his face doesn’t change. If he’s about to get demoted, he’s going to look respectable doing it.
“About Captain Winters.”
Oh.
Oh?
“The man’s a damn good soldier. Gets all the work done, is excellent with the men… you see, they respect him. These men need officers they can look up to.”
Oh.
“Not ones who get caught naked in a henhouse with the mayor of Aldbourne’s damn daughter on top of him!”
Nixon recalls that day in vivid detail — mostly because it was last weekend, but also because of the vivid red Dick blushed— presumably all over— even though he was grinning while telling it. The man has the patience of a saint, and double the virtues that come along with it. You could fill a new testament with the exploits of Dick Winters… except at least half of the pages would be torn straight from a bodice-ripper novel.
“Now, I try to make allowances for good officers, but this is the third time it’s happened... this month. When I talk to Winters about it, he says ‘yes sir, it’ll never happen again’. Then you know what he goes and does?”
It takes Nixon a second to realize Sink’s pointing at him because he expects an answer. “He does it again,” he volunteers.
Sink smacks the desk. “He does it again!”
He does plenty more that Sink doesn’t hear about, too, but Nixon’s not about to admit that to the man’s face.
“Now, you know how to handle him. If anyone in the army can wrangle the damn man, it’s you! From here on out, your job is to keep Winters out of trouble. I hate to demote a good officer, but he’s about to leave me no choice. Take care of it, Nixon.”
Buried deep down, a part of Nixon feels like cackling. Him, official Dick Winters babysitter? Christ, it’s like putting the death row inmates in charge of the electric chair, or letting a mouse run the whole kitchen! Rather than be written up for insubordination this early in the morning, Nixon just bows his head rising smoothly from his chair. “Yes, sir. I’ll look after him, sir.”
Sink sighs, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “A model officer. A damn good man. All I ask is for him to keep it inside his pants. Is that too much to ask?”
It’s probably a rhetorical question. Nixon smiles pleasantly, and answers anyway. “Nothing’s too much for Captain Winters, sir.”
Sink waves him off with a shake of his head, settling down to focus on his next pressing issue. Nixon knows when he’s been dismissed; frankly, he can’t get out of the colonel’s office fast enough.
By the time he makes it back to the billet he and Dick are sharing, the story is burning his tongue like a sparkler. Jesus, what will Dick think? You never know what you’re going to get in a one-on-one with the brass, but babysitting duty’s something else. If Nixon’s suddenly the responsible one…
“Hey, Dick!” he calls, slamming the door to their shared house open. “Wait ‘til you get a load of —“
Nixon stops dead in the doorway, mouth hanging open. Suddenly, his mind is nothing but radio static. Dead air. A complete blank. Jesus Christ, he should learn to knock.
“Hiya, Nix,” Dick greets amiably, popping his head out from under his lady friend’s skirt. His flushed lips are almost more obscene than her wanton moaning. “Give me a few minutes, I’m just finishing up here.”
“Right.” Nixon snaps his fingers, then points a thumb over his shoulder, out the door. “I’ll just be — yeah, okay. You kids have fun.”
Yet another room he can’t escape from fast enough. This is turning into a day of uncomfortable meetings, and he’d kind of like to go into hibernation just to avoid any more.
Dick’s companion leaves first, a couple minutes after Nixon makes himself scarce. Her blouse is buttoned unevenly; she walks out on unsteady legs, face still flushed. Nixon waits a moment, just to make sure no more girls are following — he still remembers the night he got caught in a tragic jam, at least six girls filing out of their rooms as he tried to go in — but when no one else follows, he steps inside.
This time, he has the grace to rap lightly on the door. Dick turns, sparing him a close-lipped smile as he steps inside. By this point, Nixon knows he shouldn’t be surprised… still, Dick has a talent for it. “You know, I step out for an hour…”
“Veronica was just passing by.” Dick studies his reflection in the mirror, and splashed a bit of water on his face. “We’re old acquaintances. I invited her in because it’s the nice thing to do.”
“‘Old acquaintances?’” Nixon echoes, putting up a valiant effort not to laugh. “How far do you go back? All the way to last week?”
“Three weeks ago, actually,” Dick replies. By now, Nixon knows him well enough to catch the humor in his dry tone.
“Right, right.” He unbuttons his officer’s coat, surreptitiously scanning the room; Dick’s extracurriculars often leave evidence behind, and Nixon would prefer not to step on an earring again. “Well, that was nice of you. Seemed like she was enjoying herself.”
“Seemed like it,” Dick agrees, tone mild. When Nixon turns, he’s sprawled out in an armchair, head tilted back. Such exploits take a lot out of a guy… and Dick never gives himself a break. It’s not enough to be up with the sun sorting paperwork; he also puts in a different kind of work, so often that it’s amazing he hasn’t sprained anything. Burning the candle at both ends, indeed; Dick’s candle gets so much use, Nixon’s shocked it even lights anymore.
“I was going to tell you,” he says, draping his coat over the back of Dick’s desk chair, “about my meeting with Sink.” Dick makes a noncommittal noise of agreement, but at least Nixon knows he’s listening. “Got it into his head that I’m the responsible party here. Poor man. Couldn’t bring myself to prove him wrong just yet.”
Dick is quiet for a few moments; long enough to sit forward, elbows braced against his knees, watching his friend solemnly. Nixon might be the intelligence officer, but Dick’s always had a stare that can unwravel people without trying. “What did he say?” he asks, solemn.
Nixon rolls his shoulders in an easy shrug. “He asked me to keep an eye on you.” He lingers on the contents atop the dresser for a moment, pretending they’re more interesting than they are. Sure enough — a pair of ruby earrings sit forgotten. Nixon’s lips twist as he plucks them up, placing them inside a clean ashtray. Someone’s going to come looking for them eventually. “Sink’s talking about demotion, Dick. It’s crossed his mind.”
“Demotion? For what?” Dick doesn’t even sound outraged — only surprised.
“Well, the mayor’s daughter came up.”
Dick’s mouth drops open in protest; he closes it just as quickly. “Fair. Why else?”
Nixon can think of… at least twenty more reasons. Lieutenant Baldassari of the Nurses’ Corps… the baker’s wife… the waitress with the bright lipstick… that farm girl who left Dick pulling hay out of his clothes for a week… hell, when Kathy was visiting, Nixon even made the mistake of inviting Dick to dine with them. Never again. If any man ought to have it out for Dick Winters, it’s him. 
(At least Dick had the courtesy to invite him. Nixon turned the offer down — like hell if Kathy wanted him in the middle, anyways.)
The thing is… Dick’s character makes him otherwise unimpeachable. He’s so damned good. Hardworking, determined, coolheaded, sober as a judge… and filled with tireless energy towards his duty. So much energy. A frightening amount of energy, all the time, ready to lead the men in anything.
It took Nixon a while to figure out where he generates it all.
“All I can tell you is, be careful. Chrissakes, lock your doors, at least, so innocent people can’t just walk in.” Nixon turns, leaning against the dresser and crossing his arms. “I don’t have to remind you about the Sobel incident.”
“I remember,” Dick replies, lips quirking in a dry half-grin.
“Great! So you remember Sobel’s sister. And why the man was dead-set on driving you out of the damn army.”
“It was nice of his family to visit from Chicago,” is all Dick says. When Nixon just stares at him, Dick sighs and rises from his chair, turning to the desk. “I’ve got some paperwork, Nix.”
“Right.” Nixon waits for a moment, weighing the likelihood of Dick giving in and continuing the conversation. It’s not high. Shaking his head, he pushes off of the dresser and starts across the room. “I’ll leave you to it, then. Have fun. Oh, and Dick —“
As Nixon turns in the doorway, Dick looks up.
“You want me to believe you’re going to stay in and be good all night, you might wanna put some clothes on.”
Standing buck-naked in the middle of their shared room, Dick shrugs his lean shoulders, and smiles. “Will do, Nix.”
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thisyearingaming · 4 years
Text
1997 - This Year in Gaming
Muggins here was born in ‘97, and can’t really remember much of it, natch. But there were some good things released this year - I’ve played every one of these, and have missed so many more.
Diablo - Windows, January 3rd
We start with dungeon-crawl-em-up and well-loved out of season April Fool’s Joke, Diablo. I’ll be totally honest - I don’t like Diablo that much. It’s absolutely fine, I just can’t get into it. The writing, setting and characters are all very good especially since this year only marks the beginning of games being seen as a bit more adult and intelligent. Check out this gameplay from Hour of Oblivion on YouTube, and marvel at the faux-Scottish accent on Griswold the blacksmith.
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Mario Kart 64 - Nintendo 64, February 10th
Compared to its more recent versions, Mario Kart 64 is a veritable bloody relic of the past - solid controls and a quirky style mean it’s still a crowd pleaser to this day, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone right now that would die on the hill of it being their favourite single-player racing experience. It’s also got some of the deepest, impenetrable lore in any medium known to the human race - why exactly is Marty the Thwomp locked up here?
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Blast Corps - Nintendo 64, February 28th
February’s position as most boring month of the year is shaken up a bit by having a uniquely designed Rare game slammed into its 28-day long face. Blast Corps is the puzzle-action game where you take control of several vehicles to destroy homes and buildings in order to prevent a nuclear warhead exploding in the coolest incarnation of Cold War politicking ever seen in a video game. Calling Blast Corps a “hidden gem” these days is like calling Celeste a hidden gem - it impresses nobody and makes you look like a dick. 
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Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - Nintendo 64, March 4th 
The N64 was home to a surprisingly large number of above-average shooters despite its muddy graphics and small cartridge space - Turok is one of these, a great FPS game where you shoot the SHIT out of dinosaurs. Brett Atwood of Billboard said it was like Doom and Tomb Raider mixed - Doom Raider, if you will. I say it isn’t - there’s no demons, and there’s no polygonal breasts to poke dinosaurs’ eyes out with! 
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Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Sony PlayStation, March 20th
What is a retrospective? A miserable little pile of opinions. I’ve only recently played through SotN for the very first time on a TOTALLY LEGITIMATE copy with a CRT filter. Bloody good (geddit?) game, that takes the repetition of its predecessors, improves on it in basically every conceivable way, and combines it with special effects and graphics that even 23 years later had me going “ooh, that looks quite good!” Symphony’s music and audio design are wonderfully paired with a deeply enjoyable experience that’ll have you saying “mm, maybe just one more room?”
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Tekken 3 - Sony PlayStation, March 20th
Also releasing from the Land of the Rising Sun that day was Tekken 3, which many believe is still one of the best fighters ever made. Tekken 3′s combat is so fast and responsive that it’s better than some games made today. T3 is also the best and easiest way to knock seven shades of absolute shite out of your friends without risking a massive head injury or a trip to the headmaster’s office... where you could also challenge him, but only if he plays as my favourite Not-Guile-or-Ken character in gaming, Paul. 
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Sonic Jam - Sega Saturn, June 20th
The moment Sega realised that re-packaging old Mega Drive games would net them serious cash - although unlike later collections, this is a strictly Sonic affair, and has a neat little 3D world to run around in as a sort of hub world. Sonic X-Treme proved that Sonic Team would have to work hard at getting the fastest thing alive into 3D space properly: Jam is the sort of test ground for it too. It features some genuinely good emulation work for 1997, although it’s basically the gaming equivalent of going round to your grandparents at Christmas only for them to give you the exact same gifts you got in 1991, 1992 and 1994 but wrapped in a bow to make you think it’s different. What are you lookin’ at, you little blue devil?
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Star Fox 64 - Nintendo 64, June 30th
So there’s this German company, right, called StarVox. Nintendo look at Europe and say “shit, we don’t want another lawsuit... after all, we’ve done three this year!”. So they give us in the PAL region the exciting title of Lylat Wars which as far as I know means absolutely fucking nothing in the context of the game. They’re still called Star Fox in-game too so what was the point? Anyway, fun 3D shooter with graphics that’ll make you do a barrel roll off the sofa and onto the power button to make the brown and green blurs a little easier on the eyes. Hello 2007, I’ve come back to make old references with you!
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Carmageddon - Windows, July 30th
The game so scary it was BANNED in the UK! More like the game so fucking shit it was banned. Carmageddon is so deeply boring to play on PC that I can only imagine that Stainless Games made it tasteless by 90s standards simply to ramp up demand - much like another game we’ll be covering soon. 
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Herc’s Adventures - Sony PlayStation, July 31st
“And they said Kratos was the best hero? Shish... they got it wrong, sister! Hercules is clearly better... he even has a coconut weapon.” A surprisingly fun overhead action game that most people only know for... well, I’ll just embed it.
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Mega Man X4 - Sony Playstation, August 1st
A few years ago I tried playing every Mega Man game there is - I gave up at X3 because I was getting bored. Even still, Mega Man bores me - but at least the level design is good. Stay away from the Windows port. Pictured: me in the background yawning.
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GoldenEye 007 - Nintendo 64, August 25th 
The name’s Intro. Overused intro which I also managed to fuck up twice through the deeply editable medium of text. GoldenEye is like the Seinfeld of console shooters - playing it nowadays you’re unlikely to be amazed but holy shit there’s some absolute greatness in this game. Every sound and every piece of music in GoldenEye is permanently seared into my brain - sometimes I’ll just hear Facility or Frigate in my head alongside the door opening sound and the gentle PEW of the PP7. I mean come on, fucking listen to this and tell me Grant Kirkhope isn’t cool as all hell.
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LEGO Island - Windows, September 26th
The first open world experience I ever had was LEGO Island. It’s still quite good today, utterly deranged animation from the likes of the Infomaniac and Brickster - a cautionary tale for children that giving pizza to high-profile criminals is disastrous for the human LEGO race. 
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Fallout - Windows, October 10th
War never changes, but franchises do. Fallout’s legendary status in the industry is exemplified in how different it feels. Yes, we had the game Wasteland nine years prior, but until September 97 there was nothing quite like Fallout. From the chilling introduction sequence showing the ruins of the United States to the tragic ending, Fallout is an exercise in pure human misery with the brightest spots of hope it can possibly muster thrown in for good measure. What begins as a tedious isometric point-and-click RPG ends as a minigun-wielding power fantasy, before your entire worth is stripped from you at the finish line. You have 500 days to find a water chip before it’s too late, but you’re constantly being fought by terrifying Super Mutants, irradiated animals, and the biggest monster of all - humanity. See what I did there? If anything, humanity in Fallout’s setting would be the greatest unifying force possible against the horror of the outside world. But how is it? It’s dull, it’s sluggish, and it’s really hard to get into even if you’re already a fan - but push through that and it’s worthwhile to see exactly how far the series got before Todd Howard said “eh fuck it” and had the whole thing dipped into an FEV vat.
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Grand Theft Auto - Sony PlayStation, October 21st
To put it simply, the first in the GTA series is now nothing but a novelty. It has an irritating camera, wonky controls, poor graphics and deeply repetitive gameplay. But thank fuck it exists, because without it the Rockstar story may have been very different indeed. It’s quintessential cops and robbers gameplay, spanning across Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas in one game, but with maps so far removed from their modern incarnations they may as well be named “Not New York, Possibly Bristol and Orange Town”. People really fucking hated Hare Krishnas in the 20th Century, didn’t they?
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Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Sony PlayStation, October 31
A hard one to talk about, honestly - it’s more Crash and better than the first one. It looks great, and Crash controls so well compared to his first outing. It’ll also keep you playing for 100%, fiendishly addictive and unashamedly difficult. Had a weird cover that moved with your head. 
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PaRappa the Rapper - Sony PlayStation, November 17th
Type type type the words into the box! (Type, type, type - uh oh - the box?)
PaRappa is a gorgeously stylised rhythm game about rapping to steal the heart of the girl of your dreams - which involves learning karate, getting your driver’s license, selling bottle caps and frogs, making a cake, desperately trying not to shit yourself, and finally performing live on stage. Every one of its segments is so well-produced that they’d genuinely sell like ghost cookies in this era of shite rap. Notable for producing the greatest Jay-Z backing track ever made.
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Sonic R - Sega Saturn, November 18th
Sonic R is absolutely FINE with vibrant textures, interesting levels, neat gimmicks and decent controls. But I’m gonna talk about its fucking AWESOME soundtrack by Richard Jacques and T.J. Davis, an eclectic mix of Europop and New Jack Swing - even thinking about it is bringing tears of absolute joy to my eyes hearing Super Sonic Racing in my head. You’ve got the main theme, Living in the City, Can You Feel the Sunshine, Back in Time, Diamond in the Sky, Work It Out and Number One - all of these are absolute club bangers and genuinely wouldn’t be out of place in a 90s disco. 
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Tomb Raider II - Sony PlayStation, November 18th
Lara Croft returns to single-handedly endanger every species on Earth. TR2 is really good, the exploration and puzzle-solving aspects of the first game expanded upon here and the gunplay remaining just as punchy. Lara’s got a fully-functioning ponytail which absolutely boggles the fucking mind - a lot of work went into Lara’s hair for the 2013 reboot, so I can’t imagine the amount of man hours it took to get fluid(ish, come on, it’s the PS1 we’re talking about) hair movements in 1997. 
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And really, that’s all I played from 1997. I’ve left out big hitters like Quake II, Gran Turismo and Diddy Kong Racing, but I simply haven’t formed an opinion on them yet. Maybe in a future post. 
Thanks for reading.
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elenatria · 5 years
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Chernobyl is the only show who gives us a wide variety of beautiful (shipable) persons, from nerd-twink Dmitri to pure-twink Leonid.
Do I have to make a list of Chernobyl’s badass yummy tragic shippable men?
Oh well. I’ll make a list of Chernobyl’s badass yummy tragic shippable men.
Because I’ve never seen a show with SO MANY badass yummy tragic shippable men in such few episodes. And some of them had only one memorable line. One. Line.
Do I start with Dyatlov? Watch me start with Dyatlov.
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I remember… he was the second thing that impressed me when I watched ep 1 (the first was Valery leaving many bowls to his cat and committing suicide right after. I had to re-watch the bowl scene.) I was so struck by his guy-next-door looks, I was like “what the hell am I looking at, why does he look so familiar? Why does he not look like… an actor?” And then the detached way he’d say “Akimov…” as his voice trailed off, a voice so cold yet calm and mesmerizing. I’ve never seen such a realistic “villain” before and, just to play the devil’s advocate here, it still kinda bugs me that Mazin talks about him as this super nasty irredeemable villain. I have the impression that even in the recent podcast he talks as if HBO Dyatlov and the real Dyatlov are one and the same. Lack of time to explain himself maybe? Jared starts poking into that with his mention of an excerpt in the script of the court scene where we were meant to feel some compassion for Dyatlov (34:55) (his “history and motivations”). That part was omitted in the script btw, but if anyone has seen it… 
And of course there’s the deleted scene here. That we will probably never see.
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I do understand that an auteur has to support his choices no matter what, and Mazin’s choice is Dyatlov = villain. But I do believe he is kinda absolute with some things, conveniently overseeing them, even saying that he didn’t give Jared any jokes because “Legasov wasn’t funny” (46:32) . 
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Wut? 1:14
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If he had said “I didn’t write Legasov as funny” he would have kinda owned it but the use of the past tense (”wasn’t”) implies that he meant the real Legasov. Same goes for Dyatlov I guess.
Akimov.
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His relationship with Toptunov. Enough said.
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Akimov wears a wedding ring and that feeds lots of “forbidden relationship” fics and I love it.
On to Toptunov. Yeah. Twinkest twink I’ve ever seen.
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And I mean these guys are on fire, and we had to watch the very last episode to find out.
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Steamy Toptumov fics? Bring them my way.
Then we have Vasily. 
Thank god I hadn’t seen The Terror before Chernobyl so I watched Adam Nagaitis’ Igantenko with pure eyes.
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To this day it hurts to watch his scenes. All of them. And it’s even worse to read his story in “Chernobyl prayer”. Soooooo much worse. Not only because it’s a true story but because his wife’s description makes you feel the pain. How a decaying body can suffer, and the people taking care of it.
I understand some fans were kinda bummed that the show didn’t dig deeper into his and Lyusya’s love story. Makes sense. But to me they’re the definition of tragic puppy love and it hurts as it is.
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And then my beloved Sitnikov with his exasperated, confident “Follow me”. I mean.
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Another ring-bearer that one.
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Aaaaaah look at that handsome confident face marry meeeeeeee. 
Bryukhanov. Another guy-next-door. Had me staring at the screen, listening to his every-day high-pitched husky voice and I was like “Did that guy jump right out of that seaside pastry shop where I was with my dad  back in the summer of 1985?”. Did they use a time machine to bring him to the show or something?
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And now I’m finding out he has a fan base. Fuck yeah.
Fomin. Ok I legit knew that guy but I couldn’t put a name on his face
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He was James Potter. ^^ And oh, he has worked before with Stellan and Emily in Breaking the waves. Somehow you feel compelled to trust that face, never mind if in “Chernobyl” he was cowardly and scared as a rat. The way he yelled “It was Dyat-lov!…” as they took him away, so beautiful, so dramatic.
And now, on to the main course.
DMITRI.
Oh my paws and whiskers.
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He cares about Ulana SO MUCH that he follows her around on a Saturday like a puppy. Bringing her coffee and who knows what else. 
He even jokes about her dedication. But oh look, he’s dedicated too.
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Comrade, I don’t wanna say it out loud but I’m crushing on you.
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You can see Ulana is almost afraid to look into his eyes when she asks him what he’s doing there. She knows. 
But of course there are so many things keeping them apart. There’s the age difference - people would call her names even if they wouldn’t call Dmitri the same names if their ages were reversed. There’s their professional relationship that shouldn’t be compromised. There’s that ring on her finger that Dmitri doesn’t know if it’s a wedding ring, an engagement ring, or an ex-lover’s present. Does she even have eyes for him? Dmitri doesn’t know.
Even meatier stuff. 
PIKALOV. 
*screaming*
Wanna love a character because of a single line and the way he delivers it? Yeah, Pikalov is your man.
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The steady decisive pause before his statement. The honour, the nobility, the self-sacrifice. If you didn’t know by then that “Chernobyl” was going to be the show with the biggest number of small but honourable characters, you got your first hint with Pikalov.
Another overlooked but honourable character. Shchadov.
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And he has lots of power bottom potential.
Alrightz. Fan favourite time. I don’t even have to go into details. Glukhov.
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Thank you, Mr Ferns, for being the only character in the show to deliver both noble heroic lines as well as eye candy.
Next: TARAKANOOOOOOOOOV.
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Big dick energy right there. His resigned pauses between sentences, the way he sucks in the smoke, his authority as he greets each and every soldier. Stunning.
Pavel.  *cries* 3
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If you swear to never watch the dog scenes again there is so much shippy potential in that one. Pacho prompts, here I come!!
Bacho, his war code of honour and his “I’m happy every day”.
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You *know* he’s not happy but it doesn’t matter. What matters is how he’s trying to convince everyone else that he is. His perseverance. There’s a war to be won, even if he knows he’s losing.
Last but not least: Stepashin. Give me Roose Bolton in a minor courtroom role anytime, ANYTIME.
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Honourable mention to Charkov because yeah, you know me. Because I just can’t get over this man. 
Also C-V-B. Also dub con. Don’t judge me.
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bigskydreaming · 4 years
Note
For the fic ask meme, 4, 16, 24, or 28
I will answer 16 now, because No Reason, Just Whimsy, but stay tuned as I’ll probably end up answering 4, 24 and 28 at some point anyway, because like. No Reason, Just Whimsy. *Shrugs*
16.  If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?
I can’t tell you, see, because I would simply make that one pairing endgame and everything else leading up to it like, contain all the other ships I could not bear to be without. (Hahahaha this is why I could never be a romance author, I can not abide by the rules of HEA or HFN in relationship stories to save my LIFE). So, y’know, SPOILERS.
No but also I’m completely aware that this is cheating and not the point of the question. But I can not choose though, that is the point, like, have you met me? I am the original poster child for ADHD. I’m THAT old.
So instead I will simply say that in the realm of Teen Wolf, Scanny is very very very important to me, which like, surprises no one. But also I would still fight someone who tried to take either Scira or Scallison from me, I remain obnoxiously fond of Scackson’s potential, and I’m still out here being like, the sole Scosh (Scott/Josh Diaz) shipper in all the land, I’m pretty sure, lmfao. 
And I mean, also there’s Scyle, of course. I could never give up the Scyle.
As far as Marvel goes, like, I am going to be riding the high of Bobby/Christian being canon for quite some time, as anyone who has known me long knows that I have been shipping this ship since Christian was first introduced and then written offstage like two issues later….seventeen years ago.
(I have a lot of issues with straight writers making gay characters’ gay-specific tragedies and traumas like….someone ELSE’S angsty back story, while they themselves are just shuffled off the page and considered irrelevant. For those who don’t know, Christian is Emma Frost’s gay older brother who she adored and when their father had Christian institutionalized against his will because he was gay, this was what made Emma break away from the rest of her family for good and set her on the road to becoming the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. 
And then, despite like, this being life-defining for her, not a single writer in the next fifteen damn years ever thought to ask themselves…..hmmm, why would Emma Frost, one of the most powerful telepaths in the world and someone whose personal morality in no way makes her above using those powers, her wealth or Hellfire resources however she damn well pleases in the name of protecting herself, those she cares about, and advancing her agendas…..why would this woman who has never let anything stand in the way of what she cares about before like….simply just…never once in all the years since she was a teenager think to herself….hmm, what if I simply go to the institution where my beloved brother is kept against his will, and just…..made them release him?)
So, aside from always thinking Bobby/Christian would be a great ship with amazing potential given Bobby’s unique history and dynamic with Christian’s sister and the fact that Christian shares a lot of the same traits, backstory and other elements that make Emma an amazing and multi-faceted character and he’s just been sitting there in Limbo for fifteen years with all this untapped potential just waiting to be mined….
I’m always going to be gleeful about this ship and with a special fondness for Sina Grace for bringing Christian back from comic book Limbo and laying the foundation for this ship, like, just because like……I feel its long overdue and the only way to ACTUALLY make anything decent out of the bullshit that was mining his oppression for the sake of another character’s angst: by finally giving HIM the chance to be a character who is affected by all that, developed and moved forward from all of that, is the FOCUS of all that…..and even more importantly, now after being left offscreen for fifteen years by writers who considered his narrative nothing more than tragic filler….he finally has a chance to be an example of a gay character who gets to come BACK from all of that and move FORWARD from it, and like…find healing and happiness with another character, like Bobby.
So Bobby/Christian is actually hugely important to me for a variety of reasons, especially right now since this is all just happening recently, and I will love them forever and in defiance of the inevitable bullshit some future writer pulls that will piss me the hell off. Y’know, just going off of Vegas odds or whatever.
Aside from Bobby/Christian I’ve also always had a weakness for Bobby/Johnny Storm because they are the most iconic ice and fire characters out there and I am basically twelve. I also have blogged at length in the past about all the reasons I’m a huge fan of Bobby/Bishop and not just because their ship name would make them a literal bop. Again, I refer you to the thing where I’m basically twelve. But yeah, there’s a whole history there where when Bishop first came back into the past and met the X-Men who’d all been legends in his time, he kinda fanboyed a little over Bobby because of Bobby’s future legend, and then was kinda like….oh, that’s it? about him once he got to know Bobby and Bishop became like, the physical embodiment of underwhelmed. 
And ever since then Bobby’s always low key been like, a hyper-active puppy around Bishop, like, trying not to SEEM like he cares an awful lot about whether or not he’s managed to impress Bishop but because he can’t be subtle to save his life, mostly just coming across as “am I living up to the hype now? how about now? am I legendary NOW? What about now?” and I dunno. Its just kinda cute and a fairly unique dynamic, and Bishop has this deliberately bland, blink and you miss it sense of humor with the right writers and that I’ve always thought has a ton of potential for him to be privately amused by this tendency of Bobby’s, enough that he’s unwilling to confess to him that Bobby actually earned his respect years ago by this point, and he just doesn’t want to let Bobby know because then he’d stop. 
And then in terms of DC, I’ve posted a lot a lot a loooooooooot about my love for Dick/Kory in canon, and how they - and by extension we - were robbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbed, and if DC doesn’t give me my canon Mar’i and Jake Grayson one of these days, I don’t care if they have to import them from another universe and then have this universe’s Dick and Kory awkwardly try to co-parent them while living their own lives separately before finally coming back together and falling in love all over again and then becoming a single united family unit forever and ever in the most ridiculously complicated comic book version of the Parent Trap ever, like…..
I can’t even think of an over-exaggerated threat creative enough to convey just how badly I want and need this, DC, give it to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee plzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
And then also, I’ve actually posted a lot a lot a loooooooooooot (though not in a few years, probably, so those posts are all super old, lol) about how I think Kyle and Donna are a criminally under-rated canon couple and were actually really really good together because they went through so much together and Kyle literally grew so much as a character specifically on the things Donna called him out for the first time they dated, like, literally so he could be BETTER, and then with how anticlimactically they ended...because the thing is, they never actually even broke up! It was this thing where like, when Donna went to LA with Kyle for his high school reunion and to literally MEET HIS MOM, like HELLO, that is not a basic relationship step, that is Advanced Dating, like…..that is where they were at in their relationship when Donna literally got the call then and there that her ex-husband and her son had just died in a car accident. 
And Donna was devastated of course, and Kyle was devastated too - for her, and also in his own way, because he’d adored Robert and like, there were these issues where they were super cute and took him to the zoo together and Kyle was bonding with him and just like, melting over this kid, and Robert and Terry were killed by a drunk driver, and like, there was a later story where Kyle just went apeshit on this drunk driver he encountered because he had all these repressed feelings about Robert’s death and how it had hurt Donna and he’d made sure not to show any of that to her or even let on that he hurt for Robert’s loss in his own way, because he didn’t want to make it about him, he KNEW better…
And anyway, the point is…they never actually broke up in the sense of either of them at any point being all, oh we no longer love each other or think this can work, we need to end it. Instead, Donna said that she needed to take some time away from Kyle and everyone else and just…come to terms with what she’d lost and figure out who she even was now in the wake of that….and Kyle totally understood, didn’t argue or try and change her mind, he just said take as much time as you need, I’ll be here when you’re ready, and oh btw, here’s this lantern construct of a locket that I want you to keep because as long as it exists you’ll know that a part of me is still thinking about you and wanting you to be happy, wherever that is.
And then like…..less than a year later, DC did their super weird Dark Angel story where Donna was erased from reality and then had to be ‘recreated’ from Wally’s memories, and for awhile just existed in the form and identity she’d been recreated from, which was based entirely on what Wally knew of her and thought and felt about her, and so there were huge gaps in her identity where she was missing stuff she should have known but didn’t now because WALLY didn’t know about it.
Such as how when Donna met Kyle’s subsequent sorta-girlfriend Jade some time later - I say sorta because she and Kyle were still figuring things out at that stage, and Jenny-Lynn in part didn’t know if she wanted to actually get into a relationship with him because she thought he was still in love with Donna - well anyway, when Donna and Jenny-Lynn met in a later issue and she said all this to Donna, Donna reassured her not to worry about it, she was reading more into it than actually existed because she and Kyle had never been that serious anyway. 
Which. SCREECH! Brakes please. HOLD UP. 
Like, I’m sorry JAY FAERBER YES I REMEMBER IT WAS YOU WHO WROTE THAT ISSUE UGGGGGH, but like, in what UNIVERSE is “dated, broke up, then got back together later because she thought Kyle had matured a ton since they first tried dating and now they were so much stronger as a couple that she oh I dunno, introduced him to her son and they went on playdates together, went with him to meet his mom, had a never-vanishing lantern locket construct that signified just how much he would always love her” uh…..’never been that serious anyway’? I’m. What? Does not compute.
BUT WHATEVER.
LOL. Anyway, point is, so things like that actually make sense when you factor in the role Wally’s memories and perspective played in who Donna literally WAS for awhile (and the understandable existential crises she went through as a result). But like, at the point in time when Kyle and Donna were most serious, Kyle was still fairly removed from a lot of the rest of the DC universe, he wasn’t a core member of the JLA yet and usually operated independently, and he and Wally were NOT close at all yet, let alone friends….in fact, for as long as Donna and Kyle dated, Wally pretty much still actively hated and resented Kyle for just existing, since he’d always been close with Hal since he was a kid and Hal was his Uncle Barry’s BFF-and-homosexual-life-partner-in-all-but-name. 
Like, it was only after Kyle became one of the core JLA alongside Wally that the two of them finally worked out their mutual antagonism and became friends, but before that, Wally was NOT shy about expressing he hated this new GL guy and wanted nothing to do with him, even though it was for unfair reasons, sooooo……like, its not really that shocking that even though Wally and Donna are two of each other’s oldest friends and super tight, like, he was never going to be the friend she called up to let him know how great things were going with her and Kyle these days, lol, y’know?
So it makes sense that when Donna was first magically reconstituted thanks to Wally’s memories/view of her (btw, this was because Wally was out of phase with reality and was in the Speed Force at the precise moment that Donna was erased from reality by the Dark Angel’s magic, and that’s why he alone remembered her and was the template for undoing what the Dark Angel had done). But anyway, it makes sense that she would for a time have had very little memory or even knowledge of her and Kyle’s prior relationship, and basically just know/remember what little Wally actually knew of it. So from her perspective then, it could very well have seemed that they were never that serious, and everyone but Kyle like….kinda just nodded and figured okay, you would know after all, and just…..everyone ended up walking away with the idea that they were just this brief fling and neither had ever had strong feelings for each other, let alone love.
The problem I’ve always had is that eventually Donna DID regain her full memories and her own sense of self, and like….she was Donna again, through and through, existing as she always had without being limited to just Wally’s view or memory of her.
Soooo, at THAT point, she should have been perfectly aware of what her and Kyle’s relationship had ACTUALLY looked like, in its entirety, and I mean, I can understand them not getting back together at that point. It’d been years, they both were in very different places, Kyle had eventually gotten together with Jade after it was expressed by Donna herself that there was no reason not to, given that its not like they were ever that serious….so by the time Donna herself would have realized otherwise, I can totally understand her feeling that the moment had passed for them, that Kyle had moved on (just as Kyle had only ‘moved on’ once he felt there was no longer a chance of them returning to what they were). Like, all of that is super weird and complicated even by ridiculous comic book soap opera standards, so I mean….lol, how do you even BEGIN that conversation, y’know?
Buuuuuut, it just kinda sucks that at no point after that Faerber issue has any later writer ever had either Donna or Kyle discuss their previous relationship(s) in terms of what it ACTUALLY was, for BOTH of them, rather than just this trivial, ancient history fling that neither had ever been super invested in….even though for several years in the nineties they were one of THE major hero couples in comic books.
So. Yeah. As evidenced, I have a lot of unresolved Donna and Kyle feelings lol.
And then of course, there are and always will be my epic “OMG DICK AND KYLE COULD BE THE GREATEST SHIP AND END ALL THE SHIPS LIKE COULD YOU EVEN IMAGINE” feelings, but like. That’s a thirty pound tome in and of itself, so. Like. Just picture the two of them standing staring soulfully into each other’s eyes and then me, creepily fixated on them twenty feet away, chin propped up on my hands and going awwwwwwww while my own eyes like, sparkle anime style but also are the heart-eyes motherfucker meme at the same time.
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Top ten fallen heroes
These are not reformed villains, though they may go into that role after, or at least an anti-hero, but most of these I prefer as villains.
10. Ozymandias (Watchmen). While you don’t see him do his heroics much in the comics, because he is pseudo-retired at this point, you do know what he did in the past to some extent and you know he’s still trying to make the world a better place. (spoilers for the comic that you really should read because there is a reason why it is considered a masterpiece) Ozymandias sacrifices his own morality to try and stop the world from destroying itself, its an awful thing that he does and thinks its for the greater good, and he clearly feels the weight of what he’s done but still stands by it; which is what makes him a fallen hero.
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9. Griffith (Berserk). Now Griffith has many heroic qualities, but he always seemed to have a bit of a dark and selfish nature; but that being said his betrayal still really hurt both the audience and the few surviving main characters; and what he did was so profoundly selfish and evil that he becomes a fantastic villain.
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8. Light Yagami (Death Note). Light does his fall really hard and really fast, but it takes a bit before he becomes completely evil. His mental chess game with L is one of my favorite story arcs in all of fiction, and it all started because this seemingly innocent boy found a notebook. There are definitely times when you are rooting for him even though you know you shouldn’t be, and I think that makes for some of the best villains. I was going to put Walter White on here, but I feel like Walt was always just a likable villain, you just didn’t know he was an egotistical dick until much later in the show.
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7.Artorias the Abysswalker (Dark Souls). Artorias in any other game would probably be a hero you follow the footsteps of, or just play as; but in Dark Souls you slowly piece together the tragic story of a hero that tried as hard and as long as he could to win an unwinnable fight and in the end succumbed to the very abyss that he was fighting. Having to fight his best friend and protector of his grave is just heart breaking, and fighting him in the DLC was almost as bad. He’s not a character that I prefer as a villain, but he is a fun boss.
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6. Angelus (Buffy/Angel). Now Angel is my favorite main character in my all time favorite show, but Angelus is a lot of fun to watch. He just loves being evil so much, he relishes it and is almost cartoonish at time with how fucked up he can be; but he has done far too much damage to the main characters of both Buffy and Angel to be taken lightly (I mean most villains in the show ether respect or fear him, and that’s pretty impressive when he’s been gone for hundreds of years). Having a main character who can go so completely evil if pushed is such a fun dynamic and when he gets to come out and play for real in season 4 it is a hell of a show. He’s such a good villain because he gets to sit and watch in agony watching Angel and friends do good all the time, but the whole time he sees how to push buttons and manipulate people so that when he gets free he can get what he needs out of them.
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5. Jason Todd/Red Hood (DC comics). Jason was not a well liked character when he first appeared, or even after Crisis on Infinite Earths, but his death was still tragic and made people really question how good of an idea having a teenage sidekick really was. It was only after he came back to life and starting messing with Batman that I really liked him. Most of the villains on this list have questionable at best motivations, but if I was Jason and Batman didn’t kill Joker to avenge me, I’d be pretty pissed off to. He’s a great foil for Batman because he knows him so well, knows how to hurt him, and is pissed enough to really hurt him. He did eventually become an anti-hero and sort of DC’s answer to the Punisher (though they already had Huntress for that) but I like him more as a villain than I do an anti-hero (though he can be written well when he’s not in New 52). I was torn between him and Winter Soldier, but I think Bucky’s story isn’t quite as tragic because of the amount of time that had passed between him dying and him showing back up, and I like him more as a hero; both in the comics and in the MCU.
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4. Two-Face (DC comics). From this entry and the last one you might think I’m a Batman fanboy, but I’m not; he just has damn good villains. There are many Spider-Man villains that were good guys to some extent before something terrible turned them into a villain, but Harvey Dent has the edge for me because of how much good he was trying to do before he became a villain. In his many incarnations you can always see a dark side to him before he falls, but seeing him actually become evil is still painful to watch. He is a fantastic villain because he’s so twisted and evil, but there is still a chance for him to be redeemed. He’s a constant reminder to Batman of his failure to help his friend, and he also has a very unique visual style to him that a lot of different creators have had a lot of fun playing with.
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3. Arthas Menethil (Warcraft series). Arthas had your classic heroic backstory; young, handsome, talented prince who cared about his people would stop at nothing to protect them. He was brave and a very powerful paladin, but his arrogance would prove to be his undoing. He started down a path of doing worse and worse things to try and accomplish his goals, and eventually became fully corrupted once he got Frostmorne. Once he got his armor and became the Lich King, he became one of the most powerful villains in all of Warcraft, and the sword and armor he had made him very cool (no pun intended). His role as antagonist for a whole World of Warcraft expansion just shows how powerful he was, and being able to piss off pretty much everyone shows how good a villain he was.
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2. Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars). Now the prequels are very flawed films, but I don’t find much fault in Anakin’s characterization throughout them. He starts off just a sweet and innocent child longing for adventure, but the next time we see him he’s a cocky teenager with enough power to back up his attitude. He’s very high on this list because while he did do some evil things before his actual turn to the dark side, he was manipulated into most or all of them; that doesn’t excuse him completely because in the end he still had agency over his choices, even if it wasn’t full agency. Some people say that his turn was too quick, but I think what happened is after he made that split second decision to protect Palpatine, he realized he was pretty much stuck with what he did. He did what he did because he was naive, manipulated, and wanted to save his wife and child. I’m also a sucker for a Greek tragedy and a self-fulfilling prophecy. Everything he did after the death of his wife and supposed death of his child was because of his rage and sadness at what he had lost, and clinging to what little he had left. He’s one of the best villains in all of fiction, and is so incredibly visually striking that even if you’ve never seen a Star Wars film, you know just by looking at him who he is.
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1. Superman (Injustice games/comic). Who could possibly be a more tragic fallen hero than the symbol of hope and peace losing all hope and becoming a fascist, murdering dictator. Superman needs no introduction, but the Joker tricking him into murdering his wife and unborn child, and blowing up Metropolis sure is a different take on the character. Its not entirely surprising that something so tragic could make the Man of Tomorrow loose what made him a hero. As you read the comics you see that he started off just wanting to kill supervillains, and slowly he had to compromise more and more to get what he wanted. He never completely lost his morality, just slowly changed and warped his view on it until he became so scared of losing what he had left that he became a dictator.
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whats-the-story-tc · 4 years
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31st of January, 2020
"The One Where Atlas Stumbles"
[LONG POST WARNING]
Another day, another flannel.
Dreaming with her the second night in a row, I really bloody hoped they hadn't changed the supervising schedule and I'd see her when I come in. And I did. What with my impending two-hour rehearsal instead of my first two classes, Debate Friend and Art Friend being outside and just plainly the sight of V, I was way too giddy. Teasing Debate Friend about me and Art Friend not having to suffer in Physics, making jokes, laughing way too loud. I noticed V turning in our direction, I think I might even have seen her watching us.
As we leave, Debate Friend to class and us to look for the always late A, we pass V and I flash her my biggest smile to greet her. Art Friend and I are back soon enough, chatting, and I tell her "Something always happens when I'm having a good morning." This time it's V passing us. There is something gentle about the way she looks at me. You know that particular look on someone's face when they aren't smiling, but they still look happy? Content is the word for it, maybe. That's the look. Oh, how I wish I wasn't right about what I said...
Break between rehearsals, I'm outside chatting to my friends, most of them about to have class with the new (foreign) English teacher. Bookworm Friend is gushing, what if he's young and just out of college (either of which he isn't), cuz then she's gonna be really good at English. I automatically tell her "he's a whole ass adult and you're a minor, you can't do that" before I realise what I just said basically contradicts what I call my current love life. "Though I am one to speak" I add frowning, and everyone laughs. I really am a bloody clown, aren't I?
English with V, in the very same classroom where I spent two hours crossing my arms, yelling at and threatening one of the boys in my year (that's my character, don't be scared), and falling on my knees over and over again until we got the scene right. V is quite visibly a little worn down, still in the process of finishing what I assume was probably coffee, but powering through class. Metaphors, synesthesia, symbols and the such, what they are and how they work grammatically. After spending two hours the previous night deciphering Biblical parables and breaking them down to metaphors and meanings for a test we didn't even write, I felt ready.
Cynical Twat has his finger bandaged, I think he cut it or something, and thus he can't write. V asks him about it, and when he tells her all that, she's just like "Well, I was never allowed [not to write]." in this half surprised, half jealous kind of way.
The words for pigeon and dove are interchangeable in my mother tounge, as the actual word for dove is quite outdated. And although the metaphor was about a dove, V specified "When we call someone a pigeon, we don't mean that they smell and spread diseases." At the end of class, when somebody asked her how specific we will need to get about recognising these things in writing, she mentioned we will need to know which example is a metaphor or which one is, for example, a symbol, and added "but you will only need to know the exact subtype if you're preparing for an A level", and briefly glanced straight at me before taking a sip of her coffee. I smiled. Challenge accepted.
First lunch break, two people from the other class are rushing towards me the moment they see me, to ask for my Literature textbook. V told them if anyone doesn't have theirs, they're going to have to answer some questions for a grade. Me being me, I gave it to them because, as I told Pocketwatch Friend, "I love V to bits, but I wouldn't want anyone having to answer the questions she asks." Got my book back the next lunch break, as they forgot everyone's having homeroom, and getting their first term report cards.
V and I have a bit of a similar way of walking—long and fast strides, shoulders straight, head held high—so it was a bit funny, both of us heading towards the same door from opposite ends of the corridor. (Though I only really walk like this when I'm confident in myself. It's funny, apparently I do it often enough for it to be noticeable, cuz admittedly, V recognises this walk of mine. It's something she told me at the end of last year, when she mistook someone on the street for me, but realised our hairs were different and that I walk differently.)
As I'm sat in my usual place, head on Pocketwatch Friend's shoulder as I was really tired, I notice that there is something off about V as she's typing away on her laptop. I couldn't exactly pinpoint what, but I felt that something wasn't quite right. The feeling further strengthened when she started the lesson, and I saw her eyes. They looked years older than they did merely three hours before. There was this... deep-rooted exhaustion and sorrow in them, and at first glance, I thought she had cried. She did smile a couple times as far as I remember, and by the end of the lesson, when she showed us some romanticism-period music and art, and we all cracked up on how the cable connecting our projector to her laptop constantly malfunctioned and kept colouring everything to pink, she seemed to be in a lot better mood. That's something I noticed about her in the past two months or so, that she's usually a bit off when she starts class with us, but by the end of it, she's much more calm and feeling better. Not to brag, but I think she likes being with us.
On my way out, as she was telling everyone to put their chairs up, I told her to get some rest as I passed her. She usually doesn't hear these kind of comments because she doesn't want to, but I tried. But, while her "thanks" was probably addressed to the others, she did look me in the eye as she was walking out, me already being outside. There is something gentle about the way she looks at me. Maybe she did hear it, after all. Maybe she was glad. These looks of hers are the reason I never know for sure how she feels about me. That's the one thing I never learned how to read about her.
After I spent an hour and half with six little girls clinging to me every other minute of training, I went home feeling great. That's how I know I'm doing my job well. My boys aren't quite so physical, naturally, but I like to think they like me, too. They laugh at my jokes. Anyway, I was in a good mood, ready for dinner, having a good time... then I get a text from Bandana Friend, saying "Look at V's [SNS account]."
Private account.
I immediately got dead scared. What if she found out I was there? What if she saw? Oh God, what if I fucked up? I immediately lost my appetite, and I was in a rather intense state of fear and panic, not at all able to think the situation through rationally and spamming both Bandana and Pocketwatch Friend about the situation. Now, I am aware that I overreacted quite a bit, to the point of nearly crying, and that the situation is nearly not as dramatic as I thought, but I really felt like I betrayed her and invaded her privacy, which, especially after all the shit she's done for me, felt like quite the dick move.
Why was her account public before if she didn't want anyone finding her, you may ask. I actually haven't got an exact answer for that. The best I can say is that—she's human. She made a mistake, and I trust her enough to feel that she did. She was careless, but I'm in no position to throw the first stone at her. After all, I was, too.
For long hours after that, I felt hollow. Disappointed in myself. I could only cry later as well, once my mum was gone. Quite tragic, that. One Friday I'm crying in her arms, the next I'm crying because of her. This is why it took me so long to sit down and tell you this, even just writing all this took me 4 whole ass hours. As I thought it over and over again, I realised V isn't someone I should be fearing. That if she ever confronted me about it and I admitted to it, she would be hurt, but she'd understand. She wouldn't hold a grudge, and I could surely make it right by her, were that the case.
But both my friends offered an explanation that made even more sense. After all, it was my cousin from the other class who found it, and surely all of his classmates know. My friends both said that maybe someone over there let the cat out of the bag—honestly, some people there are the type. If you read things back, the fact that she had class with them between our two classes with her, and that she started class with us really disoriented and worn quite add up. I don't think I'll ever know if she saw I was there. I don't think she'll ever mention it. I still feel a little guilty, and something tells me all this isn't quite over yet, not until I see her again and see how she acts. But spending an hour last night, jumping around barefoot in my PJs while listening to Queen and Abba and lip-synching into my phone worked wonders to get the depression out. You should try it.
We'll see how things go. Maybe I screwed up, maybe we both did, maybe neither of us has. Whatever happens, I'll tell you next time. Promise I'll be on time from now on.
~ S ♡
[Every story I share here, no matter how specific I get with my wording, depicts actual events from my own life.]
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thatyanderecritic · 5 years
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Inu X Boku SS
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Title: Inu X Boku SS
Media: Manga, Written by Cocoa Fujiwara
Yandere(s): Soushi Miketsukami
Yandere Scale: 5/5
Criticism written by: Kai 
Editor: Julie
The Review: 
Hey there everyone! Kai here with a review that I’m sure everyone was waiting for. Sorry for taking so long. I really tried finishing the story but… god damn was it boring and convoluted. I ended up calling it after reaching chapter 31(?) out of 45. Reading the wiki was a million times easier than the actual story lmao. But I’ll get into this whole nonsense in the review. Let’s begin. 
To summarize Inu X Boku in a nutshell… well, uh… that’s kinda hard to do since it’s kinda wild. But to break it down, Ririchiyo (our protagonist) one day decided to live on her own and moved into an apartment complex. This apartment complex is known to only house the rich and each resident is assigned a bodyguard. But!!! The apartment complex and all the residents aren’t normal people but half yokai!!! OooOoOoO~
But anyways, Ririchiyo’s bodyguard is Mr. Yandere here, Soushi. Since Ririchiyo moved to this building to be independent, she wasn’t cool with having a bodyguard. But after some shoujo bullshit, Ririchiyo warmed up to the idea of having a bodyguard and they hook up. Bunch of dicking around from the characters but then suddenly DRAMA~!!! A bad guy comes around to turn the half yokai into full yokais or whatever and kills the heroes!!! Oh no!!! 23 years passed, and everyone reincarnated because that’s the logic of the world. Don’t question it. Anyways, history repeats itself and so the gang decides to prevent it by sending a time capsule backwards in time (don’t you dare question story logic!!!) to warn their previous lives of the bad guy. It worked. They killed the bad guy but wait! The bad guy was just a deeply flawed person who went down the wrong path :’( And everyone had a happy ending, the end :)
As you can see, the story is wack. But before I get into my rant, let me talk about Soushi here, since that’s what everyone wants (not my amazing opinion on writing :( ). What can I say about Soushi besides being a hot piece of ass… like hot damn, the man is hot. And as a yandere, he’s even hotter. Lots of creeper actions like preserving Ririchiyo’s gifts for him, having a room full of her pictures, literally loyal to her like a dog, and doesn’t take Ririchiyo’s no’s seriously. Soushi whole life purpose is to protect Ririchiyo and he has a solid background on why he loves her. Soushi is much more of a sweet type of yandere and the best term to call him is a “good yandere” since he doesn’t really do anything bad towards Ririchiyo or any “love rivals”. Soushi is just a chill yandere overall and a well developed character! I wish more yanderes are like him tbh. I should mention that there is a case of alternate timelines and what have you. I’m sure some smart ass would point out how Julie and I gripe about alternate universes and multiple endings. Yes, this is usually detrimental to the yandere sometimes but that’s only if they aren’t consistent with their yandere character. It doesn’t even knock them out of the running either if they fail that point. But here, Soushi was consistent in all timelines. He loves Ririchiyo and was a yandere for her in each timeline. See, is that so hard to ask when tossing in an alternate universe? Anyways, is Soushi enough incentive to read this god-awful story? Well, let me make a list here on what I thought of the manga.
Pros:
All the characters are fantastic. They’re all well developed and they’re all likeable. You’ll most likely like all the characters, if not, at least one. Just… the characters are so well written. What the fuck happened with the story?
Great art. The manga art is pretty good. What else to say?
Cons:
Oh boy… lots of cons. The first one to point out is obviously the story. It’s so wild and convoluted. I can really sense the writer's scattered thoughts throughout the story. The best way to describe the plot is: “A whole lot of ‘something’ when there’s literally nothing.” Reading the story, you know for a fact that there’s a major conflict going on within the story but there was no real sense of urgency since the characters were dicking around so much. I can really tell the writer just wanted to do… ‘everything’ with their story. They want a complex plot yet slice of life. They wanted to do a 4koma comedy, yet they want to have a telenovela. They wanted the characters to be ‘human’ with human problems yet they’re also half monsters because that’s #cool. The writer was just all over the place and had no focus. There are just parts where you feel like the writer just went “Oh shit!!! This is supposed to be a fantasy action story!!!” It’s just… bad. The first arc was the only good part of the entire manga. It focused only on the main characters and side characters with no fantasy bs nonsense. And it was rather disappointing once Ririchiyo and Soushi got together since it was rather rushed for the #plot. Really, what the writer should have done was A) just kept the manga a slice of life, shoujo story. No need for the stupid half yokai and bad guy bullshit. Literally the writer forgets that shit half the time except for gags. There’s really no point and you can just fix the rich half yokai background with just rich people problems. The fuck. B) just focus on character relationships and expand on it. Take that first arc and just… stretch it out bro. Let Ririchiyo and Soushi interact more and grow together before dumping their tragic backstory. C) stop with those chapters dedicated to 4koma comedy strips. Yes, they’re fun and it’s cute to play with your characters like that. But it’s defeats the purpose of a “serious” story if there these comedy chapters… BETWEEN EACH PLOT IMPORTANT CHAPTER. WHY??? SAVE THAT FOR THE END OF THE MANGA OR MAKE A MINI SPIN OFF MANGAS FOR THEM. DON’T TOSS THEM IN THE MANGA AT RANDOM?!?!?!
Next on the chopping block is the weird fucking loli thing going on here. Is no one weirded out that Ririchiyo and this other side character are straight up lolis and are sexualized??? It’s really really disturbing. Why does Ririchiyo sleep nearly nude? Why is there a female pervert character who leers on these two child looking characters and want to put her hand between their thighs? Is the fact that the female pervert is a female supposed to make it better? How old is Ririchiyo??? She doesn’t look like a high school student even though everyone claim she is. It’s fucked to see Ririchiyo standing next to Soushi… especially once they’re dating. She looks like an actual child next to Soushi… either Soushi is freakishly tall or Ririchiyo is freakishly short (which I’m sure that’s the case). Just… why the lolis????????
Story logic = fucked
Pointless bad guy. Literally, the second and third arc are so bad and boring. What’s the point in having him around.
Repeat: the story is just… so boring. I can’t get this off my chest any other way.
Now back to my original point: is reading Inu X Boku SS worth it just for the yandere? My personal opinion: No. It really isn’t. Just read the first arc then from there read fanfics or doujinshi (there’s so many). Far better reward and you can focus on the characters. But if you can sit this manga through, more power to you.
Overall Score: 6/10
Now please enjoy this collage of pictures of Soushi while I read some Soushi X Reader fanfics. The man is hot and I think he’s my confirmed favorite yandere <3
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