#Then it's not interesting. It's not a good plot device. It's comics. You can do anything and you choose something overdone?
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In the canon in my mind I ignore all the deaths and revivals and retcons and pretend that Jason was the only one to die because every time they kill another batfam member off only to revive them later, it loses its meaning in general, but especially because it's kinda like a slap in the face for Jason's arc every time it happens, as well as for why his relationship with Bruce became so strained. Bruce's grief from losing Jason is one of the most defining arcs of his character. Going from Professional but Warm to Cold and Distant and almost Brutal, being closer to the 'No killing' line than ever, only to be pulled back into the light and forced to open up again when Tim came around.
It goes unsaid that it's defining for Jason, Red Hood, ect. How his views on the afterlife would've changed, how his value of self was affected and relationships strained, how there's likely gaps in his memory.
I hate that every time they do a cheap kill for shock value it completely overshadows the trauma and affect on these characters that was caused by Jason's murder, that deserves to be explored, and that I personally want to see them actually, properly reconcile and heal from.
I would say Damian is the only other member to actually die but it was during his childhood with the League, and I doubt it happened only once. There was a headcanon somewhere about how he had brown eyes but they turned green because of the Pit and the family didn't realise Damian had ever died until they found old baby pictures of him and saw the colour change. I personally really like that idea too. So essentially they didn't know until much later.
Anyway, that's the Batfam storyline headcanon in my mind.
#I'm still debating on Steph#But I don't know how I feel about it. I'm leaning towards no#Before anyone is like 'Writers do it to keeo things interesting-' I don't care it's not interesting lmao#If you're only good plot is to kill someone off that's already been killed before just for them to come back again in another issue#Then it's not interesting. It's not a good plot device. It's comics. You can do anything and you choose something overdone?#Have someone fuck an alien or something do something that's actually unique or fun or whatever#Jason Todd#Red Hood#Bruce Wayne#Batman#Damian Wayne#Robin#Batfam#Batfamily
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do u have any links to resources about the beta and alpha kids' characterizations and personalities if you have any? i am interested in writing for them and i just wanna know what makes them them iykwim
The Beta + Alpha Kids are... By no means my specialty, as everyone knows, and I personally have zero interest in writing them. That said, I'm pretty sure that most "guides" like that are written by and for writers of lighthearted, canon non-compliant roleplaying, and all the ones that I've seen... Aren't good, and are typically incredibly biased. They definitely tend to want the reader to portray the character in whatever light they see the character in, rather than... How they are in canon. For example, some lean heavily into making Dave a soft, perfect victim, Rose into a tea-drinking lesbian, Jake into a lowkey villain, et cetera.
This is about to get pretty long. It's been a while since I've had to put something under a Read-More... But here we are. Let's get going.
Content Warning: Long, Whole Lot of Rambling about the Technical Aspects of Writing.
There tends to be interjection of headcanons, unnecessary opinions, and ham-fisted attempts to make characters look better or worse than they actually are. Context is missing, sources are missing, so on. Oftentimes when looking at guides to writing characters, I wind up just questioning what comic the writer read, because it doesn't feel as if we read the same one. Their writing and critical thinking skills are often called into question as well, given the way these guides tend to approach characters as a concept.
There's often a distinct failure in being actually analytical or observant, and they tend to view characters more as People than they do... Well, Characters. Which may sound like an odd distinction to make, until you realize that when you're writing a character, you need to understand what role they're fulfilling in a narrative before you focus on who they are as a person and judging their morals. Characters aren't anything more than narrative devices. They're strictly there to drive the plot forward. Yes, since characters tend to be people, of which are often in situations, you tend to judge their morality, ethics, the way they handle their circumstances and other people with average human judgment... But at the end of the day, moral arguments and personhood matter less than what they are meant to do, what they're supposed to represent, and how they're supposed to drive the plot forward. To focus on who and how they are as People- how righteous they are, how much their morals align with yours or those of the real world- is to focus on Form over Function.
Characters are Tools.
A tool can be painful to use, or painful to watch in action, but it's still a tool. Sometimes pliers are for pulling teeth, and sometimes they're for twisting wire. You can't effectively pull teeth with a wrench, and you can't effectively hammer a nail with a screwdriver. You could, theoretically, and I'd love to watch someone try, but it's not recommended. It's ineffective. You need to know what a tool is for, how you could use it, and maybe even how you could make your usage of them surprising. A hammer is typically used for driving nails into place. Usually with the head. This doesn't mean you can't drive the nail in with its side, and it doesn't mean you can't use it to break fingers.
What this "Form over Function of a Tool" means in practice is... A lot of "guides" to writing Dave will go over the fact that he is the Ironic Cool Kid who has suffered a lot of Abuse at the hands of Bro Strider, and interject that headcanon of his character arc "being about overcoming Internalized Homophobia and/or Toxic Masculinity" (neither of these are true), but fail to mention that he is essentially a Tutorial Agent, and how his whole character hinges on how he absolutely does not want to be a Main Character.
Everything he does is grounded in the fact that he's a Tutorial Agent, and therefore an NPC. He's a regular kid with a rough home life, and wants nothing more than to keep playing his role as just a random NPC. He doesn't want to be a Main Character. He doesn't want to fight, he doesn't want to be in an epic, he just wants to be Some Guy. He wants to be normal, and he wants to be able to be forgotten to the sands of time.
They focus so much on Who he is as a Person that they tend to fail to recognize What he is as a Character. It's not effective. You don't really need to worry about who they are as people. You don't need to focus on the paint job on a tool. You need to know what that tool is, and what it's being used for.
It's best to not consult guides written by other fans. It'd be best if you read through their dialogue yourself, and really dissected them and how they function... Find out what makes them tick.
Luckily, there's a blog out there that does have just about every line of dialogue in Homestuck sorted by character, so that's pretty good for ease of access. Good for you and good for me. I use it all of the time.
Here you go.
#homestuck#homestuck analysis#homestuck meta#beta kids#alpha kids#dave strider#rose lalonde#jake english#writing advice#dave.pdf#homestuck.pdf#nekro.pdf#nekro.sms
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This might sound like an odd question but I’m planning on making my own comic at some point and I was wondering if you had any advice? Specifically in making the plot, deciding what each character does and maybe panel/page composition and how to make harmonious colour palettes?
Also one more question but when you were at the beginning of developing Stray Souls did you post little lore/plot snippets and character doodles/info or did you mainly wait until the comic was out?
(Sorry I know this is a lot but I was just wondering sort of what your process is because everything seems so seamless and well-put-together :> )
Ehh first of all the seamless and put-togetherness is an illusion 🫠
A lot of my work is built organically (fancy way of saying I just sorta wing it) and very dependent on what makes me excited at each given point. Generally, I come up with an idea for a character or a plot point and from there start branching out.
Say, I create character A. A needs a story so I create some beats for them, a beginning-middle-end type thing. While thinking of this, characters B, C, etc pop up as placeholders/devices for A's story, and the world gets shaped around it as well. Then suddenly something in the world gets decided that in turn changes A's story a little, and so on. Then I go into B, C, etc and do the same thing (build a story, let it bleed into the world and let the world bleed into it).
There's pros and cons to this sort of thing of course. Most of the time I over-develop characters or world bits that are completely unnecessary and clutter the narrative (especially when it's something like a comic, where things need to be explained visually and economically), and because of this sort of chaotic process I also tend to get entangled in my own concepts and lose track of my main threads. I don't dislike it entirely so it's just a matter of figuring out what works best for your own goals and processes.
Some general advice for comics that I've learned from trial and error: try stripping your story down to its bare bones and see what you absolutely need VS what's there for flavour or added context. Only add flavour once you're sure you can tackle the minimum, both in writing and artwise. Keep your character designs simple if you value your hands lol. It's fun to design complicated details but you WILL get tired of drawing them after a while. Sometimes it's ok to tell and not show 🤷♂️ if you're a one-man team sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet. Bear in mind that long stories will take YEARS to complete in comic format. Not an end all be all, but you do need to think about that. Also just go for it once you've got a structure you feel good about. I personally don't like over planning and don't even script things, so I don't think you need to have everything on paper before getting some chapters rolling. Most of what I've learned about comics has been making them, not thinking about making them. Oh, and readers tend to be more lenient than we give them credit for - if you're passionate enough about your world or characters, chances are at least some people will be interested regardless of whether you think art or writing are up to par
As for the other question, I spoiled the shit out of stray souls before launching it and still kinda do it for fun LMAO. Nothing too serious ofc but I've always loved giving people an insight into characters and world outside of the comic since the comic itself is a little peek into the whole thing. It also kinda serves to keep people interested imo
And I just can't keep my mouth shut about my stories lol
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whike I mentally prepare myself to make a whole damn comic, it's time I talk about the FNAf movie because fuck you I am going to write what I want
cw: spoilers for the FNAF movie!!
At base value, I loved it. I felt the pacing was a little slow, but I love it. From the little refs to the games, to the in general plot, it was just very enjoyable, even if most of the plot is just from the fact Vanessa didn't tell Mike wtf was going on.
NOW! let's talk technical!
For a pg-13, it was pretty good! I feel it matches the games really well! It's not too scary, but it can give you a startle, especially to any newbie! My mom was startled by the balloon boy lmao. Also it had blood so it's a plus.
The acting, dialogue, and overall set is really good. Scrumptious if I do say so myself.
I loved how the animatronics looked. Freddy and chica being my overall favorites. Idk they made my boy Bonnie blue so I had to take a few points. The cupcake running around was weirdly funny to me lol.
Now lemme touch on the plot!
I liked the plot! Like I said before, it was a LITTLE slow, but nothing too bad. I found it really interesting with what they did with Micheal and the whole dream thing.
And the idea that the children communicate in pictures rather than words hit me pretty hard, because that how I myself communicate. Although I can be.. pretty good with my words, drawing, and art as a whole is relatable to me, making Abby a really relatable character to me.
I really don't understand the hate for the movies bc it's not lore accurate. So what??? A lot of movies based on games don't! I mean- look at the Sonic the hedgehog movie!! Or the Mario movie! So your point is invalid. And also- I'm pretty sure this is a lot more entertaining than watching Micheal do five nights at Freddy's smhhh.
Though I'm sitting here in complete wonder bc like- WHO WAS THE 5TH KID?! WE SEE HER IN THE PICTURES!!! BUT- IS IT CASSIE?? OR CHARLIE MAYBE?! IDK
Also what happened to Derek I need to know.
Did he get turned into a animatronic what the fuck happened to him
Anyway
Let's talk about the cons of the movie.
I keep bringing this up, but the movie was slow. Not unbearably slow, but still slow.
Also, the whole aunt subplot- idk I felt it wasn't really needed except for the mat pat scene (he fucking embraced that scene it was great the theater I was in started cheering and I had to explain to my mom why everyone was so happy)
Also I felt the one major jumpscare we get, of foxy, was waisted. It looked like he was rolling into the security guard on roller blades. I would have liked it if maybe foxy like jumped at the guard or something. Idk just a me thing
I also feel the 'i always come back' line was rushed, same with shaggy's- sorry I mean WILLIAM'S death. It didn't really feel satisfying ig?
also, I felt that Vanessa was more of a plot device than a character. Because most of the plot literally is riding on the fact she doesn't tell Mike the truth.
But anyway
What would I rate this movie, and should you watch it?
I give it a 8/10. It's fun, and nostalgic for old FNaF fans, and a fun intro to new ones. Go check it out
#FUCK YEAH I GOT THE SABERSPARKS REF LETS GO#fnaf headcanons#fivenightsatfreddysfanart#fnaf au#fnaf fanart#five nights at freddys#fnaf sb#fnaf security breach#fnaf#fnaf movie#mike schmidt#william afton#five nights at freddys movie#springtrap#fnaf spoilers
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The Mischaracterization Of Miguel O’Hara In ATSV
( ignore the header i just find it funny . )
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OKAY. Before I say anything and actually start these topics ( many topics ) I just want to say Miguel was NOT in the right throughout this movie. I’m just trying to explain how he was not the villain. Thank you 🙏
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𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 .
As someone who has read Miguel’s comics he is.. definitely a lot of things. But, a villain is NOT one of them. Even in the movies, if you look it up, they call him an antagonist or a misunderstood hero.
Was he the antagonist of the movie? Yes. A villain? No.
Antagonists are plot devices that create new scenarios and problems for the protagonist. Villains are evil characters who’s only intent is to do terrible things.
— see the difference ?
Miguel is Spider-Man. Spider-Man is NOT a villain. ( we’ll come back to this topic . )
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𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐔𝐌𝐀 .
Miguel’s “ origin ” in ATSV is that he found a world where he was happy, with a daughter. Whenever the version of him was killed, he took over that world because he too wanted to be happy. He thought it would be harmless but it turned to the worst and created an anomaly. Destroying that entire Earth and EVERYONE in it besides Miguel.
— That’s why he made The Spider Society, to stop other anomalies so others won’t have to experience the same fate he did.
We all know the story, Spot was going to kill Miles’ father and when Miles found that out he planned to stop it from happening. Firstly, Miguel explained to Miles why he CANNOT do that and told Miles his story on how he knows what will happen first hand. Miles does not agree with what Miguel was saying ( because who would ) so he ran off. THIS made Miguel snap.
He freaked out and attacked Miles, trying to stop him from going home. There’s that famous train scene where Miguel slams Miles to the ground and yells at him. While he’s yelling he says a lot of terrible things. Saying how Miles doesn’t belong and how he was a mistake.
THEN, after Miles escaped him and tried to leave through the machine thing.. ( i forgot what it was called ) and Miguel jumped onto it and tried clawing through the barrier.. it was obvious he had NEVER acted like that before. You can tell by how everyone looks back in shock that he has never been like that before.
That’s because it was a trauma response. Miguel panicked because he knew that if Miles went to save his father not only would it destroy Miles’ Earth, but it would destroy his father anyways.
— At least that’s what Miguel believes, of course we don’t know if his theory on the canon events are 100% accurate.
That’s why he freaked out like that. He didn’t want Miles to have to go through the same guilt and agony and self hate that he had to bare. He knew how it felt FIRST HAND. And he didn’t want Miles to experience the same thing.
— In other words .. good intentions, terrible execution.
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𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐑𝐀 .
More interesting things I’ve noticed about Miguel ( with the help of others on tiktok ) is that he acts certain ways for reasons.
That funny scene with Mayday climbing on him for example, what if that scene was deeper than it seemed? He didn’t look Mayday at all, he looked forward and went stiff. That was a trauma response depicted by his own daughter, Gabriella. No matter how uncomfortable he genuinely was in this scene because of his trauma, he was still so gentle with her.
Another thing is him being Spider-Man at all is completely different from the other Spiders. When Miles said “ are you sure you’re even spider-man? ” there was more meaning to that than it seemed.
Let me explain.
Miguel O’Hara’s origin story, for those who didn’t know is very different from other Spider-Men. He wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider, he didn’t have an Uncle Ben or anything like that, he didn’t have an MJ or a police chief. He doesn’t even have Spider-Senses. He differs SO MUCH from the other Spider-Men which is another important part of his character. Not only that, but he hates being Spider-Man. He himself said “ Being Spider-Man is a sacrifice. ” That’s another reason why he took the place of the other Miguel, Miguel wasn’t Spider-Man in that universe. He was normal, he was happy, as Miguel put it.
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There’s a lot more things I can go over in more depth but I have to get ready for school .. LMAO. If anyone has any questions or anything else they want me to go over I can try and do so. Miguel’s character just has SO MUCH DEPTH to it in general and they made that depth deeper ( i’m so smart ) in the movies. I’m so tired of people calling him a villain. Yes he was terrible to Miles, he was super annoying as well. But, calling him a villain is far.
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Irt you post about the archives- Have you read any of the novels? I feel like some of them, like Joey's autobiography, help give a bit more insight to these characters, at least a little.
As for Nathan, I think it's supposed to represent that, unlike Joey, he really was a self made man with good intentions, and that highlights that Wilson was trying to live up to the shadow of his father and instead of being the kind of man his father would have raised, Wilson chose to be as vile as he is.
Memory Joey on the other hand, really is just a representation of this flawed idea people had of the man, only the good parts of Joey that he chose to show. The idealized version of himself that he saw, rather than who he really is. It makes sense to have that contrast there, but he really is just a plot device rather than his own character and it's a shame.
I can't say much for the others, because they feel very lacking. They have a lot of good moments, like the "I'm beautiful." "Always were." scene for example, but outside these moments they feel somewhat empty.
It's unfortunate, because if they had the time, team, and resources, they could have had an incredible story to tell, but limitations with money and staff because of the irl studios layoffs and TheMeatly & Mike Mood making really, really bad choices with their business caused the game to fall short of what it could have been.
we must have read different books because it felt to me like batdr completely ignores book lore
honestly i just feel like the books have been made irrelevant and theyre just kind of telling us stories about these random characters? like adrienne is doing her best to describe these characters but im not gonna lie, as there was some potential to them batdr has been a huge turn off for me for reading anymore (plus that upcoming book is gonna have a yet another completely new character as the main protagonist and im just... bruh how about yall expand upon the characters you already have because this universe is just becoming very messy and full of shallow characters instead of having fewer but interesting ones?? im not against new characters being introduced but they just keep on adding then and then it feels like what we're reading doesn't even matter in the grand scheme of things, that sucks)
sure we get an insight to joey... the only character that actually HAS a lot of complexity and screentime in the games so like yea i like joey and i enjoyed his book but again it felt more like an extra rather than anything that helped expanding the story or the world, i dont really understand their strategy for these...
nathan's and wilson's relation is just uninteresting and shallows wilson's character in my opinion, like what he says to you in game makes out nathan to have been some sort of a horrible father and that'd be kinda interesting and would make wilson a morally grey character
but no he's just a spoiled brat or whatever his archetype is supposed to be and we can throw away the entire symbolism about nathan and bockswell lotsabucks (that cartoon cat from the comics) and the fact that there is supposed to be nathan arch junior and senior making it clear that they changed their minds about the plot just to surprise people (even worse, they ADMIT to doing that in the interview that recently came out... as if it was a good thing ToT) but by doing so they just contradicted clues that existed there before that we could have gotten away from the damn books! like this just makes me not wanna buy any other books anymore because its a clear message that it doesnt fucking matter if we read them, theyre just there to tell us stories about random characters that also wont even appear in the games anyways but we will get 200 more audiologs from other randos we wont care for
again i gotta be sorry for being so negative but im just SO disappointed with batdr and with what the archives had to say
like whatever they are telling their story, its not a sin to be bad and scummy at writing (scummy as in not understanding that youre baiting people into buying extra things for understanding the lore and then making sure you surprise people anyway)
so basically
there is no use for theorising because the message is that they just want to surprise us so if we guess where theyre going they will just change the story no matter how much its gonna suck and contradict what happened before
i cannot comprehend how meatly sees that as a good thing but i guess thats how he wants to tell his stories and whatever makes them happy man
but i find it incredibly shady when you advertise your game as a mystery to be solved and personally this kills my enjoyment of the franchise
#im not saying im gonna leave the fandom but you wont see me theorizing anymore#its headcanons now only baby#and im probably not gonna get any new books#as much as i have a lot of respect for adrienne kress and enjoy her writing#i still didnt even touch the lost ones book tho i have bought it when it came out#and at this point idk if i will#im currently undergoing an awful state when im still kinda fixating on bendy but i dont have anything to power my fixation#in an enjoyable way#and it sucks!!!#ive been trying to get into other things and ive been enjoying different stories but it isnt the same man#bendy hit those very specific things i like about stories but then it started to hit the things i hate#and that is even not to mention all the controversies#its just a real shame#halfask#halfpost#bendy and the ink machine#bendy and the dark revival
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With Dainix as a Red Lantern, what Corps do you think the rest of the cast would be a part of if any?
I could answer this with my thoughts, but I think it's more interesting to put this out as a discussion question. And it gives me an excuse to talk about wacky DC lore!
For those who don't know, the general gist of the lantern corps is that they are intergalactic organizations that harness the power of "the emotional electromagnetic spectrum", meaning every emotion has a color and if you have enough of that emotion and a corresponding lantern ring you can get powers from it. It started, obviously, with the Green Lanterns, and was Care-Bear'd out from there. The colors and their corresponding Vibes are:
Red - Rage. Red lanterns are pissed off all the time and are almost always evil. In the comics they're a lot more hardcore, like "straight-up blood magic" hardcore, but in cartoon adaptations they're basically just glowy and mad. Green Lantern: The Animated Series introduced a heroic red lantern, Razer, who serves as the good guy's edgy, grumpy lancer with a heart of gold. Basically all the others are jerks.
Orange - Greed. There is only one Orange Lantern at a time because they're too greedy to let anyone else share the power. That's basically their whole deal. More of a gimmick villain than anything. Apparently comes in lego form.
Yellow - Fear. The oldest of the bad-guy lantern corps. Unlike most of the Lanterns, it's less important that a Yellow Lantern feel fear than that they cause fear, which is totally cheating. The problem is these guys fight the Green Lanterns, whose whole deal is they don't respond to fear, which means they're kinda doomed from the outset. The absolute funniest thing to ever happen with a Yellow Lantern ring was this:
Green - Will. Not an emotion, but they came first so they're allowed to break the theme. Green Lanterns are powered from sheer heroic willpower, which is why they are basically always good guys. They have the ability to use their lantern rings to construct anything they can imagine, but they're all boring motherfuckers who make boxing gloves or guns, which is why the best Green Lantern is Kyle Rayner, an artist.
Blue - Hope. These guys have the power to bolster nearby Green Lanterns, which makes sense - easier to hold onto willpower when you have hope backing you up. Depending on the story they can also nerf nearby bad-guy lanterns. The Flash has been one of these, but surprisingly Superman has not, which feels like a huge oversight.
Indigo - Compassion. Pretty small and niche, mostly just introduced as a plot device in the Blackest Night storyline. Their actual tangible ability lets them mirror the abilities other Lanterns, which is a cool way to make compassion a unique power. Unfortunately their lore is basically "they are all sociopaths incapable of feeling emotion without their lantern rings, which are used to 'cure' them, and this is fine. also they are 'tribal' and wear body paint and fight with sticks. this came out in 2010." that aside, cool concept I guess??
Violet - Love. The "star sapphires" can channel the power of love and decided to make that everyone's problem. Oscillate between being good guys and villains of the week depending on how much that writer hates Hal Jordan's girlfriend. They were the Token All-Lady Lanterns for a while until they were recently confirmed to be co-ed, they had just been operating on the assumption that only women are capable of Real Love while men must be Mistrusted or Controlled With It, because despite being an intergalactic civilization composed of thousands of different alien species and cultures, apparently '60s earth gender essentialism was receiving the Emotion-Reading Power Ring Seal Of Approval for millennia. Whenever Wonder Woman gets a lantern ring it's one of these.
Black - Death. Also not an emotion, but whatever. These guys are smart, mean zombies. As they got more powerful in the Blackest Night super-zombie apocalypse story, any superhero who had ever died and been brought back became a Black Lantern, which is totally cheating considering what franchise this is.
White - Life. ALSO not an emotion, but the vibe of these guys is that they're like all the other lanterns combined into their truest, purest form, in the same way that white light is a mix of every color. Almost like the concept of trying to draw hard delineations between human emotions is a losing battle! I think you're only allowed to use this one if you're in the last 95% of your limited run and the bad guy really needs to die already.
Ultraviolet - Being A Huge Bummer. I guess someone decided the lantern corps needed ninjas. Representing "invisible light," aka most light, their emotion is "all negative emotion", which is somehow distinct from rage, fear and greed. What I like most about DC comics is how none of the writers agree with each other about literally anything.
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Ok so I lumped this on the discord earlier but there was barely any grammar and most of it was just repetitive rambling. I decided to rewrite it for myself but also because I didn't wanna let that paragraph of autismsplaining go unheard. So yeah. Enjoy.
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In the comics it's Homelander that rapes Starlight, not The Deep. (It was also A-Train and Black Noir, but for the sake of this post we'll forget that.)
As we all know, The Deep alone assaulted Starlight in the show, and there are a few reasons I'm guessing they changed it. The main one is that if it were Homelander, it'd reveal that he's a bad guy too early on. In the first episode he's made out to be this perfect hero, maybe even the "one good supe", and then he lasers the Mayor of Baltimore's plane in half at the end and it all goes downhill from there. Although it would make Starlight's side of the story worse/more interesting with her inability to speak out and the realization of how far Vought is willing to go to keep profits, I can understand why this just wouldn't work.
So they changed it to The Deep. I could be reading too far into this, but I'm guessing it was him specifically because in the comics he seems (or seemed, since I'm still just past Herogasm) to not really have a storyline or even personality of his own. I can only remember him even talking once or twice. Other than Black Noir until that god awful plot twist, I'm pretty sure he's the only member of The Seven who you never get to learn anything about. They could've turned him into the real "one good supe" bar Starlight. They could've given him the Jack from Jupiter treatment and replace him with an original character. I guess they didn't wanna do the latter twice, which is fair. So to make him both a more significant character and more believable villain, this is what we were given.
Yet even with Homelander and The Deep's switched dynamics (probably not the right word), they still wanted to include the whole Ryan plot. For this reason, and I'm guessing this reason only, Homelander too was written as a rapist.
What I always found strange about this is that Homelander showed no signs of that sort of behaviour before or since Becca. I know they kind of needed him to be "that guy" so they could include Ryan in a comic-accurate way. Like, what's more realistic, Homelander settling down with a nice happy family or him gaining the female validation he craves by force? But still, that part of him is always jarring to remember.
I feel like this could've been done a lot more effectively if they delved deeper into his relationship with Stillwell. The reason people so often forget that she groomed him - or don't realise it at all - is because it's just never discussed. It's implied, mentioned in passing out of the show's context, but never actually spoken about. So often I see their relationship reduced to "haha mommy kink breast milk needy good boy." And to be fair, that's basically how it's portrayed in the show. I just wish that it wasn't. Anyway, I'll probably do a whole post about that in the future. I'm getting off topic.
What I'm actually trying to say here is that they probably almost gave The Deep a child instead. It would've made sense, including that aspect of the comics but changing things up again like usual, giving the child to "the" rapist character instead of creating a second one just for the sake of it. Again, I understand why they didn't go with this.
I mean, he wasn't a main antagonist in season one. And not once has he been considered a supervillain. It's more obvious as the show progresses that he's basically just comic relief (another thing I'm a little pissed about but I digress). And since his powers make him more of a glorified human than an actual supe, it would be harder to make his offspring a significant plot device. Ryan is a threat. A ticking time bomb. I'm very excited to see what they do with him in season four. But Kevin Junior? I mean, what would there even be to worry about besides toxic masculinity and an inherited case of body dysmorphia? The only thing this hypothetical kid would be good for is a redemption arc, and it's becoming increasingly clear that the show either doesn't want that for The Deep, or is saving it for the milisecond before his gruesome death.
If this was the original idea, I understand why it was kicked. If it wasn't, it's still kind of a missed opportunity. I really think it was an unusual choice to have Homelander rape Becca. Then again, there's the whole controversy over whether he actually did, but I'm not gonna get involved.
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A flare-up of Arkham Trilogy fandom has been triggered, and so I spent entirely too much money on the Arkham Knight Genesis comic. Art is nice, writing is pretty good. I'm not a comic person, and find most comics to have ugly art these days, but this one (and Soulfinder from Iconic Comics) impressed me.
I always liked this version of Jason coming back best since I heard of the character. A plot device like a Lazarus Pit needs to be kept to a minimum because otherwise it just breaks everything and the Arkham version where the Pits are nearly exhausted and restricted to the Ra's plots is the best way to approach them. Jason being crazy because of torture and not mystical woo-woo side effects offers more interesting directions to go in to me, problems that can't be easily solved because they are choices he made while at least somewhat in possession of his faculties.
Man, I thought the backstory I cooked up for Arkham's Jason was dark but the canon one is darker. I had it where he never knew his dad and his mom was an addict who OD'd when he was young, but in the comic both parents are meth addicts who tried to sell him to the mob to pay their debts, which didn't work because that's nuts even in Gotham, and so abused him until he was thirteen, when Jason sold them out to the mob and watched them get killed in exchange for getting a small bit of turf where he was left alone to do small time crime.
I always liked the version of him meeting Batman by trying and semi-succeeding at stealing the wheels off the Batmobile, but the Arkham version where he saves Batman's life during a tussle with the Joker is a better fit for this universe.
There's conflict between the game City Stories version of how he got caught and the comic one. The game one is much darker, from what drove Jason after Joker (horrible murder and mutilation of children at a school in the game vs. pride I think in the comic) to the actual getting caught (Jason's hubris and sense of righteousness making him very stupid in the game vs. purely a trap the Joker laid in the comic). The game lore version of events is better, though harder to depict I think in the pages the comic had for various reasons.
One thing stands out about Arkham Jason: everyone in his life had given up on him from the moment he was born...except Bruce and the family. Bruce met him for only a few minutes at most and saw that Jason could be more than just another doomed rat in the dirty alleys of the city, wanted in some way to be more (Arkham Knight Jason disputes this in narration but it's clear from what happened that's the case). But a lifetime of being given up on doesn't just vanish in a year-ish of being really valued- and Joker brilliantly weaponized it against Jason and in doing so against Batman.
The comic is from Jason's bitter angry broken pre-Arkham Knight POV but there are hints that the darkness hasn't consumed him. I think Dick naming Tim as his brother in a fight hurt him- because I think they would have had that bond before Jason was taken and 'Tim as my replacement' is a big thing for Jason. He's ruthless, yes, and apathetic to the world around him but he sees that Bruce has a memorial to him in the Batcave and it triggers really intense emotions- anger because that's almost all he has anymore and then something else he can't and refuses to even try to process.
That's why, I think, Bruce extending a hand to Jason at the end of the boss fight destroyed the Arkham Knight. I also think that getting Gotham to evacuate civilians was Jason's idea. There's no logic to it from Scarecrow's POV; more people in the city would mean more fear to, uh, imbibe. It's not that Jason is worried about collateral damage, exactly, it's that he isn't totally gone. You can see that in the game audio logs. I wish we would have gotten an encounter with him and Dick, either as the Knight or as Red Hood. I think the rivalry there with Tim is built in as a matter of history and personality but with Dick there's a brotherhood that got broken through no fault of their own.
The Red Hood smart-assery is also present in the narration in the comic. I think it was there with the Arkham Knight, too, here and there, but he's on the furious hunt in most of what you hear from him so there isn't a lot of room for it.
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Hii! Important question:
How did you start your AU in the first place? Im having some trouble with mine so if its not a bother and if you dont mind, do you have any tips or anything for starting and developoing a AU?
HMMM, that's a tough question!
In my personal experience, I started off small. I had a handful of characters I liked and who's personalities and relationship dynamics I had the basic grasp of and just started posting about them. I didn't start out with a storyline or character arcs in mind, just the characters themselves and how they interacted with one another. All of the rest came after, and even still I don't have that much planned out in the grand scheme of things! I just let ideas take me wherever my brain wants to go, and I add or rework characters as I see fit
For making your own AU, I'd say one of the first things you want to think about (besides a few characters you know you want to include and their dynamics) is whether you want to tell a more linear story or not. If your AU follows a linear story (say the kind you'd find in comics), then think about your characters as devices within the plotline. You might want each of them to fulfill a role to progress the story, so how can you change them up to serve the purpose of the narrative? Of course this doesn't mean characters all need to be a plot device, you can have characters outside of the story you talk about, but the main ones should lead from point A to point B!
If you're going for a "whatever goes" kind of AU like I and a lot of other people do, then honestly, it's up to you how you want to do it! I had no idea where I wanted to go when I first started out, I just knew I wanted to talk about characters I liked and the trials and tribulations they went through. And you never have to stick with the things you first come up with - I CONSTANTLY add new characters, new dynamics, new plotlines, and new elements to backstories. I leave a lot of my AU open to changes like that
For developing characters themselves, I'd look at their canon backstories/abilities/characterization/events as well as fan interpretations of them. A lot of the time you can get good inspiration from what other people are doing - I know I did! But there's no stopping you from completely changing a character all together. In that case I'd say just do whatever interests you that you think you can apply to them. You can take elements of their common characterization and flip it on it's head; give it new meaning. You can make them fulfill themes and character tropes you think would be interesting for them. It's really up to you! All I'd say is have a basic knowledge of what the character is in canon before you do something completely different - it'll give you elements to work with!
But honestly, the main thing is to have fun. You have the freedom to develop the story and the characters within it however you'd like, and I don't think any two people will do it quite the same. Don't overthink the beginning, either! All beginnings are messy and complicated, and your best bet is to just go for it; you'll never properly develop it unless you dig your hands around in there and start playing
I hope that all helped! My DMS and inbox are ALWAYS open to anyone who wants to infodump or bounce ideas off of me. I love seeing the creativity people can have :]
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This is like the most random concept to probably ever come to me so out of the blue, you don't have to do it if you don't want to, but also I feel like if anyone could make something interesting out of this it'd be you. (love your fics btw<3)
So like, Illinois, with his whole knock-off Indiana Jones bullshit, with an s/o who's similarly akin to James Bond...….yeah idk either, man-
You can come up with whatever action movie plot, or maybe just some domestic fluff with comically abrupt fight scenes sprinkled in cus that's just how chaotic I imagine their life would be. It's entirely up to you. I am very tired rn.
“Berlin, 1996.”
In which Illinois and his partner – in more than one sense – relive their meeting.
TW: cursing, blood, drug use, general mature themes
Pages: 12 – Words: 5,000
[Requests: OPEN]
The distant sizzle of waffle batter on a pan was the first thing you recognised when you woke in your bed. The smell of coffee wafting from the same place was the second, and the third, while a strange sensation to anyone else, was comforting to you. Your dog lapping at your hand that dangled over the side of the bed had you shaking yourself from the fuzzy grip of sleep. It was going to be a long and laborious process considering the amount of work you’d had for the last week, but this was finally a day that you could spend doing whatever you wished – which, right now, looked a lot like following the sweet scent of breakfast into the kitchen.
Moriarty led the way, the beautiful puppy, although actually a six-year-old Belgian Malinois, whom you had adopted a few years back. He had never liked many of your friends, and you trusted his nose enough to follow his advice. Sure, it might have seemed weird to take social cues from a canine, but he hadn’t steered you wrong yet. Whether it was a Russian spy you’d accidentally offered coffee to, or the smuggler who moved in down the road, Moriarty told you when people were off, and that just happened to be most of those you came in contact with. You’d long since given up making connections when the tenth potential acquaintance had turned out to be the head of some mafia you’d never even heard of.
And then imagine your surprise when you finally brought home someone he liked.
And your further surprise when he stayed the night, and then the morning, and then a week, and then a month, a year, and so on, until you should have been asking him for rent. All the while, Moriarty hadn’t made a peep, leaving you to your devices with this new and, for lack of a better term, strange fellow.
“Morning, gorgeous!”
Speak of the devil and he may appear.
That ‘devil’, affectionate, of course, was none other than the infamous Illinois Jones. A man chased by many, found by few, and held onto by only the luckiest of the lot. You were one of these people, aware that you had him in the palm of your hand, and you thanked him routinely in the morning with a kiss on the cheek for staying.
The clock on the oven flashed a sharp 08:41, an unusual time for Illi to be awake at, but you weren’t complaining. Your job was stressful; you were sure that any doctor would tell you to quit immediately with how often your blood pressure spiked, so you treasured these couple of moments when you were given a break. Your partner had an on-and-off relationship with missions, the things he preferred to call adventures, but he had a likewise relationship with the agency itself. He had a habit of running off to foreign lands without permission, looking for trouble and finding it, too. You wouldn’t mind it, had it not been for your unfortunate love of the man that drew you after him, like a dog on a leash. In the meantime, a good rest was well deserved, now that you were back in the comfort of your own home after an unexpected visit to Guyana.
Plus, he looked damn good in boxers and an apron.
You lazily wrapped your arms around his waist, unintentionally distracting him from the food he was preparing, and muttered into his neck, “G’morning.”
“If you want breakfast, you’re gonna have to let me cook, babe,” he laughed, though that didn’t stop him from leaning back into you.
Your only response was a muffled groan. It wasn’t your fault that you were so touchy-feely today. Work took up most of the daylight, and upkeep stole the rest away. The only time you really got together was in the late hours of the night when twilight would draw a sheet of privacy over the two of you and leave you alone. The stars would dance together, fireflies entertained themselves and you could just be together. Forgive yourself if you wanted to savor the minutes.
Alas, you couldn’t stay at Illinois’ side forever. You’d have to come out of hiding eventually, and now was as good a time as any, so you drowsily shuffled towards the front door. The rusted latches groaned with a mere press of your hand, swinging open with an inching pace. Immediately, a gust of dry air trampled past your face, and the faint smell of dust had you sighing more than breathing. It was a classic Louisiana morning, something you haven’t experienced in a long time – not for a lack of breaks. No, although your recent schedule has been clogged, this quant place was a safe house paid for by the agency, meaning it wasn’t only yours to begin with. It was difficult to get used to using the same amenities that a stranger had just a few days ago, in a room that had a tagline of ‘safe’, but you got over it. It just meant that sanitizing every surface was the chore of the first day.
Illinois didn’t have those reservations; the second that he stepped out of the truck, he declared it home, and went on the search for a good cave. He only agreed to come over camping in the wilderness because of the free food. Or, at least, that’s what he said. There was a small part of you that was sure it was because he didn’t want to be alone, you having no chance to agree on tents – and there was a big part of him that knew you were right.
You laughed to yourself, pulling a porch chair into the orange sunlight. Being a safe house, it was surrounded by the thickest stretch of trees in the state and, even further, lakes and rivers that made it looked untouched by human hands. The second day had been spent exploring nature together. Illinois tugged you by your hand through bushes, over boulders, underneath a couple fallen trees, all the way to the perimeter of the land. From atop a small cliff, you could see the start of urbanization, but it was sheltered by a haze of smog and lights. The city stayed alight until well into midnight and beyond, like a dying campfire, only to be fed at the crack of dawn.
A similar flicker of a flame shot into the air in front of you.
The metal of your lighter was calming, the grooves of the ingrained letters basing you in the present. ‘Berlin, 1996’ was written in small italic near the lever, making it unlikely for you to ever resist the temptation of running your fingers over the markings. It made you smile and, from time to time, had the added benefit of you putting the lighter back in your pocket. This was not one of those times, but a grin did spread over your lips, nonetheless.
The flicker met the end of a cigarette, which you promptly pulled towards your mouth when it took the flame. Illinois didn’t like the fact that you smoked, he always said how he wanted to be fit in his 90s, but you weren’t cheering for him when he jumped 20 feet down for the fun of it either. The compromise you came to was that both of you would continue to indulge the devils on your shoulders and could laugh at the other’s funeral if they died first.
In all honesty, it was not a situation that you liked to be in. The constant, looming cloud of loss scared you more than any danger the agency put you in ever could. Nights spent waiting for Illinois to come home, the fear that time would go by, and the sun would rise and set again, and the door wouldn’t open… it was damn-near paralyzing. The only thing that kept you going, ironically enough, was that same man. At least, if you went on the same jobs that he did, you could keep an eye on him. You would know what kind of danger he was in, and you had the chance to stop it. The question was: would you be fast enough?
You took another drag of your cigarette.
“You shouldn’t smoke, y’know.” The porch crackled as Illinois stepped onto the wooden planks. “It’s not good for you.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
A light-hearted chuckle brushed against your ear, accompanied by the click of his boots and humming of cicadas. The deep sound stopped when he swung another chair next to yours. As he came into view, you saw he had replaced his apron with a simple, loose shirt that fell from him like a woman who had fainted in distress. To catch Illinois in a shirt that actually fit him would be to kill the king – impossible and, according to him, a crime punishable by death.
“You know,” he spoke up, “you don’t look like the rumors.”
Your head unconsciously twisted to the side, so that you could see Illinois only slightly better. His own gaze was fixated in the distant spread of trees. Questions as to what he was starting at batted against you, but you settled on making a curious noise, instead.
“When we first met, I thought you’d lied to me. I’d heard all these stories about a suave, collected, expert of a heartbreaker, and then…”
“They were proved incorrect?”
He took in a steady breath. “No. They were proved, uh, very correct. Actually, after hearing about you, I kinda,” he coughed, as though that would transfer his thoughts directly to you and take away the need to say the words, “made some assumptions that were not as correct.”
Illinois prided himself on being right most of the time – and expressed himself as being right all of the time. However, this was one of the only things that he would admit he was wrong about, this being you. The image he had conjured of you was snide and snobby, only in it for themself and with the biggest case of holier-than-thou syndrome he’d ever thought of. Those stories of you driving fancy cars had pushed him into a corner, trapped by a cage of disgust and partial envy. Then, the rumors of how many people you had seduced worked their magic, followed by a notorious habit of smoking and drinking, which designated you, though he perished the thought now, a scumbag.
But when he’d actually met you…
“And I’m, uh, glad they weren’t.”
He swung an arm around your chair, drew rough fingers across your collarbone and directed your jaw into facing him. The light breeze shifted your hair like a lover’s touch, and the yellow sun decorated you like a bespoke artwork. Something he’d steal from a museum if he had to, but, no, he had you sitting right in front of him, with the quirk of an eyebrow and a small smile on your lips. He was lucky, he knew that, and he thanked his lucky stars every time he woke up next to you in sparkling mornings, every time your hands brushed when he pulled you up from a ledge, every time your eyes met from across a ballroom.
The first time that happened was still something he treasured more than any bespoke jewel or painting.
“Let’s get this business started.”
The night was young, the guests were pleasantly tipsy, and you were perched at one of the centre tables, next to three attractive models and the focus of your attention.
At this moment, you and your company were in the Berlin Operetta House, a classic establishment with smoke and liquor running through its veins. You had joined in – for lack of anything better to do while biding your time – and had been seated with these four the last two hours. The women you had no information on, except for what you had observed in the time given, most of which boiled down to being pretty faces for the big guy sitting across from you.
Earnest Whimson, dramatic irony demanding repentance of his parents as he was anything but earnest. He’d made his living on buying and selling anything he could get him tobacco-stained hands on, be it stolen goods, illegal drugs, or people themselves. It was a desolate trade, rotten but protected by the wallets of the people at the top. In those cases, there was only one person the authorities would routinely turn to.
You.
The authorities, the uncorrupted minorities, would plead with your agency for help, and you were the first person on the list. Call it luck or honed skill, you didn’t care. What you did care about was getting the job done in a quick and efficient manner. These places weren’t good to stay in for more than a day, lest you want to gain a certain reputation in all of the sectors. Thus, speed was top billing this night. That, and types like Whimson made it hard to keep your cover with the way he was talking.
Luckily for you, nine o’clock was rearing its head, the lights were dimming and only a few people were left still chatting over their expensive dining. All eyes were directed towards the stage with fervor, those who didn’t know what was happening watching in piqued interest and those who did waiting with bated breath for the real show to begin.
You did know what was happening, you were indeed waiting, but your breaths were slow and steady, like a smooth rock in a brook. The plan was simple; starting at nine, you’d watch Whimson, make friendly banter with him while he bid on whatever items caught his eye. When he inevitably would call out a ludicrous amount of money for a bejeweled crown or statue and the night comes to a close, you’d excuse yourself and make your way to where that thing was located, wait for Whimson, and kindly dispatch the man before anyone could catch wind of what happened. The money he had taken out the few hours before would go to any witnesses, and you’d get back home in time for a smoke and martini.
Simple.
Except your life had to be hard, didn’t it? You couldn’t just have a plan and stick to it, without something going wrong. Why? You didn’t know. If it had to do with karma or just bad luck, you didn’t know. A pity, really, when it would have made it so much easier to fix it if you did. It almost made you laugh, the thought of what a normal, easy mission was like.
And the things that went wrong never stayed the same. In one instance, you’d find your getaway driver with a bullet through his skull – in another, your target was informed of your mission and managed to get away – sometimes, it was just raining.
Right now, the thing that went wrong was something that had never happened before.
That thing being the infamous Illinois Jones.
Not even half an hour into the auction, and yet this man, adorned in an open, off-white shirt and multiple belts, was leaping onto the wooden slats. Your jaw would have been on the ground had it not been for the table, if not for his bravado, then for his stupidity. The artifact Whimson had bid on – go figure, a bejeweled crown – slotted nicely into his hand as he snatched it from its marble pedestal, shocking the woman presenting it into stumbling back. A wink was sent her way, she ran off, and Illinois turned to the audience.
You listened as he spoke. You sat quietly, pretending that you were shocked, when, in reality, you were seething. The boiling of your blood was louder than the whispering of the bidders, and you found yourself restraining the urge to run up there and slap him for ruining your mission. Questions preoccupied your mind while he lectured the guests about the importance of culture and integrity. Why him - why now?! He wasn’t even a part of the agency, he shouldn’t have known about this bid, and yet there he was, like a smug reaper coming to steal your soul into hell. Did he even know you were there? Did it matter to him?
You only noticed Illinois had stopped talking when he swiveled on the heel of his boot, presumably struck a pose, and then stalked off the stage. Everyone was in such a shock that they didn’t stop him, at least, not at first. After a few seconds had passed for people to gain their composures, that was the cue for havoc to befall the room. Illinois had single-handedly converted an organization of logical, fat cats into a daycare for screaming toddlers; suited men pushed themselves away from tables and darted down the hallways, bodyguards unequipped their guns and set about searching for the adventurer, while some of the wives, understandably, stayed to sip on white wine. You would very much join them if it weren’t for Whimson leaning over to his personal bouncer to whisper in his ear.
“Get the street rat.”
You sighed and took a final swig of your drink. Illinois was a menace, sure, but you weren’t willing to let him die for his ignorance. The agency may have applauded you as you returned, but you had maintained something of a moral compass during your work, so you liked to think you wouldn’t let him die like this. As you said, the man was infamous, and infamous people would not find their ends at the hands of a capitalist bastard’s lapdogs.
The clink of your glass against the wooden table did not draw Whimson’s attention, but, if it had, he might have been able to avoid the bullet that wedged itself into his skull. You had aimed for his temple, and you were a brilliant shot. The smoke of your pistol camouflaged itself into the ceiling’s belt of fog. Cigarettes, similar to the one you now pulled out from a pocket to light. This job was not only stressful, it was stress. No mission could be easy, no day could go according to plan, and no panicked mob of refined guests could leave the building in an orderly fashion. People swarmed to the exits at the sound of the gunshot, tripping over one another and abandoning their guests to, presumably, your slaughter.
You took a drag of your cigarette, pressed it between your lips, and gathered the suit jacket that had been on the back of your chair. Movements slow and deliberate, it was a wonder how the guard dogs Whimson had sent to Illinois hadn’t turned around yet to catch you. Good for you, but stupid on their part. Nevertheless, you were out of the manic tide of bidders before they could even realise their owner was slumped against the mahogany, brain matter splayed on his dress shirt.
The sound of clicking dress shoes amidst the cacophony of panic sent leftover guests into hiding, with the thought that anyone that calm in the sea of chaos was in control of the situation, and that anyone who wouldn’t do anything to stop it was not to be messed with. This gave you the perfect path towards your new target. Calling out Illinois’ name was unnecessary, given you could already hear distant shots echoing down the hallways.
And when you came to the end, asking where those gunshots were meant to hit was also unnecessary.
The wall behind Illinois was pepped with holes, like a coral beach, while Whimson’s bodyguards looked relatively unharmed. From your position, it looked like Illinois was doing everything he could to dodge the bullets, and nothing to actually fight back. Putting your cigarette out on a recently polished cabinet, you delved into the fray.
The first man down was yours, with an ornamental vase smashed against his skull, the kind of ones only used for grasping at when someone’s strangling you, but they still worked well to knock him out. Next down was his friend, who charged at you with intent to kill, but a shard of the broken porcelain stuck in his throat sent him to the ground. Blood trickled from the cut like a damaged water fountain, but none of the others paid him mind. Really, how would they ever survive without comradery?
You didn’t know, because they wouldn’t; Illinois, in tandem with your bloodier style, brought a table leg down onto another of the staff, the frail wood cracking the second it touched his head. The man whirled around with fury in his eyes, but those soon rolled back with the force of a punch to his face. You watched on, subtly impressed, though now was no time to ogle. Instead, you could do so after these people had been dispatched.
Strikes to the lower abdomens, blunt-force trauma to their foreheads, and what you hoped were lethal cracks of bone kept everyone wanting to live away from the corridor. You brought one dress shoe down on a woman’s fingers, sighed at the pitiful crunch that was muffled by her scream, and then stood up to assess the situation. One, two, three- four, two were on top of each other, and the one that Illinois was currently bashing against the wall. That made five at the scene.
Six, if you were to include the one that popped a bullet past your thigh. Lousy shot, they barely grazed the clothing, though it was a shame; that outfit had been one of your favorites.
Swiping a hand to your gun, you whirled around to see a particularly bulky bastard rounding the corner you’d come from. Illinois jumped to your side to look at the arrivals and took notice of your weapon in quick fashion. If only he had more trouble with brutalizing that last one, you might have hit the bullseye.
But a pressure on your wrist distracted you enough to miss. With your target swiveling to look at the newly cracked mirror and one end of the corridor swarmed by suited staff members, your night was only getting worse, and you lamented as such while Illinois dragged you down to the only available exit.
Your job required a lot of running – more than the average desk job did, at least – and that was why your legs were able to work on autopilot despite the adrenaline working through your veins that pressured you to be aware of every little thing that crossed your mind. The shattered glass from dropped plates, the swinging of doors as the last party members escaped, the texture of Illinois’ hand that had steadily moved to wrap around your own fingers. He was decorated with callouses and rough patches, war wounds sustained in the battlefield of caves and climbing. They told a story, one that you could have read had you enough time, but, for now, you had to be satisfied with knowing his present – told to you, not by his skin, but by you also experiencing it at his side.
That involved the darting through doors, ducking under pipes, skirting around the staff members who hadn’t gotten the memo. You didn’t even have the chance to ask where Illinois was bringing you, too focused on not slamming straight into a wall. The steady sounds of boots marching behind you, of which you counted six or seven, propelled you forward, like striking a match against a line of gas. You barely felt conscious throughout the run; the rattle of Illinois’ pickup truck went over your head, and the jingle of a bar’s bell hardly registered until you were seated in one of the old bar seats where you came to, a drink in your hand and Illinois staring right at you. Well, not just staring right at you, but also spilling every bad pick-up line in his book.
“I was wondering if you had an extra heart, because mine was just stolen.”
You had half a mind to put your martini down and walk out the door.
“I’m really glad I bought life insurance, because when I saw you, my heart stopped.”
Did he have life insurance?
“You must be a bank loan, because you’ve got my int—”
“Why do you even want that thing, anyway?” you interrupted, vaguely gesturing to the crown peeking out of his satchel with your non-drink hand.
“So, now you’re interested?” he chuckled, but only stopped long enough to order a whiskey before he commented, “The crown of Dos Partom, an old relic from the Mesopotamian era. No idea how it ended up in a bidding war, but, really, it belongs in a museum—” he shot a glance to the side, acting as though he hadn’t been watching you for the past ten minutes, “—that, and the company isn’t bad.”
So, he was the cocky type? You could’ve guessed that from the million stories about his personality, but it was a wonder to see it in action. Sure, you had a habit of using your charisma to get into places you shouldn’t have been, but this? What was he hoping to achieve? You’d already saved his ass from Whimson’s lackeys, and yet there he was, perched on the bar stool next to you, continuing his verbal assault of shoddy lines. Your eyes rolling and your annoyance growing, you twisted in your seat and removed a cigarette from your belt’s pocket. Normally, on mission days, you had five or six, a large step down from when you had days off, and yet this day was taking its toll on your stash.
“You shouldn’t smoke, y’know.”
And so, too, was Illinois taking his toll on your patience.
“It’s not good for you.”
Regardless, you continued your strut to the backgarden of the bar. Lucky for you, despite the lateness, the weather had taken pity on you. A gentle breeze carved through the foliage and guided the smoke of your cigarette into the moonlit sky. The growl of cars and humming of lights brought you to lean against the white brick wall and take in the scenery. When you got a moment to yourself, appreciating where you were was the best you could do – because, who knows, you could be dead tomorrow.
You took another drag, and then placed it on your bottom lip as you retrieved your phone. It was just a burner that you took on missions, but it had all the essentials, including the number of your assigned agency representative. The handlers, you called them. You didn’t know the name of yours, but you trusted them with everything about yourself; where you were, who you were with, what you were doing down to the shift of a foot. Right now, you were entrusting them with the simple name of your mission and the promise of it having been finished at your normal quality.
“Berlin, 1996,” you muttered as you typed the letters.
“Keeping a diary there, sweetheart?”
Could you catch a break? Apparently not, you assumed, as the sight of Illinois wrapped around the corner. His hat was off, held in one hand, and both your drinks in the other. You met his eyes, he stared back, and then you removed your glass.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
“What do you want?”
Illinois pretended to be shocked, reeling back and pressing his hat to his chest. “Me? Want something? From you?” he gasped, a smirk overthrowing his lips only when you didn’t react. “Not at all.”
“Don’t play dumb, Jones,” you warned.
“I appreciate that you think I play dumb.”
That teasing smile, the glistening eyes, you had to look away before you did anything drastic. Whether that was punching him or kissing him, you didn’t know, but you knew that looked off into the well-trimmed hedges halted the urge. “I know you’re not just a pretty face, what do you want?”
“And I’m pretty?” Another chuckle. “You don’t need to say all that to get me interested.”
“Just—” you took a breath in, “—tell me what you want from me, and then we can part ways. Easy.”
“And what if I don’t want it to be easy?”
Someone inside the bar shouted that it was last call, but neither of you moved to grab your final drinks. Neither of you moved, at all. You stayed still, Illinois stayed still, and the only sound between you was the buzz of moths at the dangling light just a few inches away. Illinois was… he was something else, that was for sure. Either he was going to kill himself, or you were going to kill him yourself. No matter what, you wanted to be there for it.
Reaching out, you pulled a thumb along his jawline and took a sip of your martini out of the other hand. Illinois was too stunned to speak, leaving you the chance to remove your hand, snatch his hat and shove it onto his head in one, fast motion. He made some sort of sound, one that you didn’t catch as you waltzed back into the bar.
Illinois, standing in the porchlight, laughed to himself and followed you inside – and then, in another year, five months and two days, he’d be doing the exact same thing, except, this time, with a golden band around both of your fingers.
[As a Brit myself, and having seen neither James Bond nor Indiana Jones, this was a treat for me! Thank you for requesting! Also, as some of you may have noticed, I have currently closed my requests because exam season is coming up, but I should be back around the end of June. Thank you for sticking with me, and, again, thank you for requesting!]
#markiplier#illinois x reader#illinois#markiplier egos x reader#markiplier egos#fanficiton#theknightmarket#x reader#request#reader insert#oneshot#Indiana jones#James bond
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Okay so I made a comic about NSH and hunter the other day that you can read HERE. And the positive response to that comic has been great thank you guys! But I think people are missing the point of the comic- and to be fair it isn't perfectly articulated in the short 3 pages comic so I'm going to write it here:
A lot of people have summed up the comic to "NSH is a dick. Horrible person. Why would he do that to hunter" and though I see that perspective allow me to elaborate.
My favorite writing trope is when two character both represent different opposing view points to push the themes of the story. These two characters are both representative of opposite views and how the writing punishes them or elevates them in the narrative shows the writers intent. A good example of this in rain world itself is 5 pebbles and looks to the moon.
But this isn't about them. I'd like to argue there is a second duo of characters that also uses this writing trope. That of seven red suns and no significant harassment. The way they both react to seeing their friends slowly but surely kill themselves is sad to see- and is the real highlight of downpour for me. But I feel like, specifically NSH, could have been pushed more to be less of a plot device and more of a character who continues to push the themes of the story.
That's where my headcanon/ almost canon but not entirely canon, comes into play. It's no secret that the iterators have a lot of mixed emotions when it comes to their creators and how they where treated. And though I do love the emotional beats it does hit with this… I wish there was more. And there's a great opportunity for it laying right at the foot of rain world.
Both SRS and NSH are amazing bio engineers- making purposed organisms that are powerful enough to survive long messenger requests from them. That of Hunter and Spearmaster. And the way the story plays out for both of these genetic monstrosities (/pos) can actually tell you a lot about their creators if you go with my headcanon/theory. SRS through spearmasters campaign comes to like the little freak and brings it home- presumably it lives out the rest of it's days in peace. NSH on the other hand doesn't even consider for a second wanting it back or even caring for the creature- we can see he finds the idea of even caring about these creatures as laughable thought him and SRS' broadcasts.
And where did he get that carelessness about his purposed organisms then from the ancients (his parents) themselves. I'm sure not every ancient is terrible but the ones that designed their calculator gods surely didn't have the iterators best interest in mind. And then they all abandoned them without even an explanation (at least that's the perspective the iterators have). and in a sense to me, spearmaster and hunter are the children of NSH and SRS. Except SRS decided to stop the cycle and NSH perpetuated it.
It gives an interesting take on the cycle of abuse theme in writing. Where the one perpetuating it- NSH- we can tell isn't a horrible person. But is just doing as he was taught and told. I don't think it's perfect per say, I think it could use a bit more polish. But I like it.
That's why the end of my comic goes "its a purposed organism is it not". He too is a purposed organism. He's eternalized this all and doesn't even know it. And it gives him the much needed depth that my brain hungers for.
ANYWAYS THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK-
#Meat talks#rain world#I have so many thoughts I could go on for hours#I didn't even get to get into hunter at all#like in hunter's ending all hunter can think of is their creator#which is sadder if you go with this angle because NSH essentially set it up to die#even though all hunter wants is to go home#hrrgr hrrgrgrggrgrg
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What’re your full thoughts on season 9? I wasn’t going to watch it—especially after following along with you and other rwde blogs’ feelings on the content as the it aired—but I keep hearing this is the best written rwby season despite that. It’s a mixed bag right now, even within the more critical side of the fandom, and you always have nuanced takes, so, I figured I should ask you 🙂
You don't ask the easy questions, huh. (And I don’t reply to them in a timely manner, huh.)
I think "best written" is accurate from a certain point of view and when you keep in mind that it's being compared to other volumes of the same show. There’s a new framing device with the story, a twist villain that holds together on a second viewing, and emotional beats we’ve wanted to see hit for years. The animation itself is also good. Things are smooth and there’s even attempts at actual fight choreography. Even the voice acting is fairly consistently good.
If you can't tell already, I've said all of that with a massive disclaimer, and that disclaimer is that this volume falls apart when you look at it more closely. To me, this volume is, and I cannot emphasize this enough, frustrating. It's frustrating in a similar way to V8: you can kind of see what the writers are trying to do, but it's all executed in a way that makes you wonder what was going on in the writers' room. The plot beats, messages, and themes are not communicated well, are contradictory, or are otherwise damaging.
Heavy spoilers beyond this point if you managed to not watch it between sending this ask and me responding.
Atlas has fallen. Our heroes failed. This is the belly of the beast moment, the find-your-motivation moment, the break-the-geode-to-see-the-beauty-within moment.
And it falls so, so flat.
Penny’s death, this big moment from the previous volume, comes up a couple times but is never resolved. Jaune never states that he killed her. No one asks. Ruby is sad over her sword a couple times and that’s it.
Jaune is an old man! He’s a little bit out of his mind! Only no, he’s fine, here’s a magic knife that makes him young again.
There’s an interesting framing device! Only no, we’ll stop trying to follow it halfway through, and because the audience never knows how the story goes until the characters experience it or talk about it, there’s no interesting use of the framing device. It’s just there.
The Gods’ origin story! Only…why? Who was asking for this? Why did we need an origin myth for an origin myth? And why did it have to take up so much real estate in the final episode to boot?
To get to the main team:
Weiss’s kingdom, her home, was destroyed. She doesn’t even know the fate of her family beyond the portals. I would expect her to be the most affected by the events of the previous volume: quiet, grieving, grasping for a next step to avoid thinking about it. But no—she’s the comic relief for this volume. In addition to a mouse I personally found annoying most of the time who is also comic relief. Weiss’s trauma is almost entirely ignored except for when she talks about Penny’s death, her comment at the burning market, and one sad face in the Punderstorm. Every scene with her falling down or getting hit by a rock or cheerleading grated on me. It felt so divorced from what she should be feeling that it broke my immersion and was a significant source of frustration.
Blake is an empty character. Her whole role in this volume is two things: person who read fairy tales (that everyone else also read), and person who loves Yang. Her big hero moment is talking about a struggle to bridge humanity and Faunus that we have never seen on screen. If you’ve been bothered by Blake’s lack of agency and character in previous volumes, the former may get marginally better here at the start, but by the end they’ll both be worse than they ever were, and both a significant source of frustration.
Yang is a mess. She starts strong with the “You shouldn’t be here,” but by the end of the volume she’s turning on her sister, blaming her for her distress, and doing nothing while her sister kills herself. She puts Blake over Ruby, hell, she puts Jaune over Ruby. I couldn’t believe what she was doing, and the bees confession scene was cringe-inducing with how it made her love focus on incredibly broad or superficial things about Blake. No mention of shared trauma, or past hurt. Frustrating.
And Ruby. Poor Ruby. This was touted as Ruby's volume. She's going to be the focus, she's going to struggle. The OP hammers this point home with unsubtle imagery of Ruby crying and falling behind while her teammates carry on unbothered. That had me intrigued, because Ruby has been more or less a static character since the end of Volume 3. Her struggles have been momentary, situational, and without lasting impact, so I wanted to see her have that belly of the beast moment in her hero's journey and come out different and stronger for it.
Problems are, they went about her spiral in the most ham-fisted way possible. Ruby is obviously depressed because they have to let the audience know, but it’s to the point that I can’t believe her teammates just let things lie. As a result, her team come off as jerks. Where are the friends from the Beacon days, the ones whose reuniting was a huge moment in V5? Certainly not here, watching adult man Jaune yell at Ruby for a plan he helped create and enact. Certainly not there, slowly walking after a crying and upset Ruby who flew off in a direction Jaune should know is dangerous shortly after Neo attacked, while blaming Ruby for not talking to them when the time Ruby did, Yang brushed her off and compared her to Ironwood.
Her team dismisses her, Neo beats her to a pulp, and she commits suicide. She goes to a tree that’s been established to wipe memories and recreate people.
Is her team upset? No. Worried? No, at least until Yang sees Ruby encased in wood. But it’s all fine, because Ruby sees that her mom wasn’t perfect and that her mom thought she was perfect just the way she was as a child, and that fixes all the the trauma the entire volume hammered into your ears and eyeballs in the span of maybe two minutes.
I will pause briefly to say that Ruby’s brief fight scene is good. Genuine highlight there.
But the main villain who tortured Ruby then gets off without any resentment or frustration from the heroes. And the twist villain, whose motives are far more sympathetic to me than the main villains’, is brutally torn apart.
The dissonance between what the show seems to want its morals to be and what they actually are is staggering.
To sum up:
The status quo for the characters did not change. The status quo for the setting did not change. The status quo for the writing did not change.
If you like the show as it is, if you take it at face value, you’ll be fine, as you’ve been fine for the last several volumes. But if you try to sink your teeth in, you’ll be getting a mouthful of dust—and not even the magical kind. There is little past that other than more frustration.
#anon#unofficial adam answers#rwde#there are so many little things I could go into#but then I’d never finish my answer#but yeah this is a spectacularly frustrating volume
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My wild speculation of how they will adapt the rest of the comic / Solitaire
Okay, it’s time for my heartstopper obsessed brain to get out all the baseless speculation for season 3… Major Spoiler alert for the Heartstopper comics and Solitaire (and maybe Radio Silence)!!! Also trigger waring for ED and self-harm.
So season two introduced the plot line about Charlie’s mental health with him telling Nick (in two scenes that made me tear up) about needing to control his eating and self-harming. This will obviously be a big part of the next season, but the question remains open about how they are going to do this.
In the comics the timeline is basically like this: paris trip -> Nick telling Charlie about his research into Eds during their friend groups trip to the Beach -> Nick’s holiday and Charlie getting worse because he is arguing with his mom -> Nick’s mom telling him that love can’t cure mental illness -> Nick’s birthday and him getting Charlie to talk to his parents (best scene in the comic btw)
The comic then fast forward with the following happening during the time skip: Charlie not getting an appointment with a psychiatrist -> Tori finding Charlie bleeding in the bathroom (with Charlie’s note on the cake card for Tori) -> Charlie going to a mental health ward -> Charlie coming back and the events of the short story this winter
And then the events of Solitaire take place. Of the things that happen in that book the heartstopper comic basically only mentions two things: Charlie’s self-harm attempt after his fight with Nick and Tori being friends with Micheal Holden. From that point on the comic does it’s own storyline till present (ending probably some time before the short story Nick and Chalie)
So where does that leave the Heartstopper TV show? I think they can basically do the following:
Season 3 will cover the 5th part of the comic (including the beach scene, Nick’s holiday and ending with Charlie talking to his parents.). Let’s say they add plots for the other characters like they did in season 2 and it just about fits. Then season 4 can cleanly make the same time skip the comic did. I’m guessing they would use Nick’s and Charlie’s diaries as a framing device and simply adept the flashbacks of the comic and maybe the full story of this winter.
So far so good, but the big known-unknown in this is the whole plot of solitaire. The comic sort of skirts around the plot of solitaire and simply explains the parts that are relevant to Charlie (with the notable exception of Ben getting outed and targeted by solitaire). Adding to this the comic also has a much lighter tone than solitaire (e.g. they skip showing Tori finding Charlie in the kitchen). (As much as I would kind of love it) clearly the TV show can’t simply pivot to adapting solitaire for a season.
Of course the dream scenario would be season 3 -> solitaire movie adaption -> season 4 😍
But I think that is somewhat unlikely since it would slow down the production of the show and also make it confusing for people who just watch the show.
I’m kind of sad to say this but I think they will simply cut the plot of solitaire and put a few of the more interesting pieces into the show. For example, in season 4 they could have a b-plot of Tori meeting Micheal without the context of the actual solitaire group and that leading to a toned-down version of the scene of Tori finding Charlie in the kitchen.
They kind of already started this in season 2 with the Ben Hope plot. Charlie is basically done with Ben. We don’t really need the solitaire-scenes of Ben confronting Charlie at school or Ben getting beat up at the party. The story with Imogen is also clearly similar to the story with Ben and Becky in the book.
This way you can still have all the parts of Solitaire that are needed for Nick and Charlie’s arc and also a different version of Tori’s arc as a b-plot. Ironically Solitaire without the actual group Solitaire… and no Higgs burring down. Even Tori as Wendy Adams meeting Francis as Doctor who girl is kind of questionable.
Yeah, so basically that is 3 days of my disorganized thoughts about the future seasons. I have no doubt that Alice and the whole team will do a great job on future seasons. What do you think about how they will adept the rest of the comic?
#heartstopper netflix#heartstopper season 2#heartstopper#solitaire#alice oseman#charlie spring#nick nelson#tori spring#Just a bit of speculation#Whatever they do will be great
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My Predictions for the Final Spider-verse
My semester is over, b*tches. You know what that means - I watched both the Spider-verse movies again. After seeing them with fresh eyes (meaning I thought about nothing but The Hunger Games and international relations for four straight months), I have a handful of predictions for the next movie. I am mostly interested in putting these all down so I can check my skill whenever the next film finally comes out. Disclaimer - this is motivated by no external knowledge. I've only read like three Miles comics and played the PS4 games, so this is all guess work. I have no idea how faithful this franchise is to the other media.
So, obviously throughout two movies we have the narrative of "Miles doesn't know who he is or what he wants". In the first movie we have the Great Expectations essay, and in the second we have his college applications where his advisor says "I don't know Miles, and I don't think he knows himself," (or something to that effect). We set the stage for the third film asking who Miles is going to be, both as himself and as Spider-Man.
Enter to Earth 42. We left Miles with the Prowler/Miles 42 and Aaron Davis on an Earth with no Spider-Man, which is being destroyed by the Sinister Six Gang. Based on the Spider-Man theme of redemption and how villains can always become good, I think they team up to help Earth 42.
Gwen + crew join the equation, with Miguel close behind. Miles needs his own watch to keep from glitching, so I have to assume there will be some dire scene where he's glitching out. A near miss, but he gets the watch. Either that, or Earth 42 Miles helps him build one, and he misses Gwen + co. altogether.
There will be someone who holds off Miguel. I think it will either be Miles42 or Spider-Woman, despite the former being a "villain" and the latter being unwaveringly aligned with Miguel's ideas in the second film.
Miles makes it back from Earth 42 just in time to fight Spot. I don't think Miles saves his dad, though - I think Gwen does. She's not lost anymore (she mended her issues with her dad), so she has to make up for betraying Miles in ATSV. We got a little foreshadowing of the Garfield-esque fall from TASM 2 in ATSV (I think in Mumbattan?), so I'm certain we will see the real fall in the third film. But of course, Miles can save her because he's an anomaly and from a different dimension and the rules don't apply to him the same way.
Based on Miles losing his uncle in the first film, I think someone close to him will still die in the third one. I just have no idea who.
I think the way that Miguel finds out that the worlds can tolerate Miles being an anomaly is that his canon event is interrupted and the world doesn't implode. I think they'll finally consider that despite being an anomaly, he's already had many of the canon events of a true Spider-Man.
I think they take out Spot the same way he came into being, by reversing whatever the process was that made him what he is. I think this mostly because there's no time to introduce new tech into the final movie of a trilogy. His first flashback scene in ATSV shows him holding something which reacts to the energy from the collider and transforms him. Miles, Gwen + co. just need to figure out what it was and reverse-engineer things.
Hobi was used a lot as a fast-acting plot device in ATSV, so I have to assume he will play a similar role in the last movie. He'll make an offhand comment about something that's obvious to him but not to anyone else, and it'll serve to expedite the plot.
Either that, or we find out more about Miguel's attempt to live in the alternate universe from Peter Parker, and they gain enough insights into how the multiverse works that they find a solution. Maybe both.
The only one I really don't know about is the Spider-baby. She obviously motivates Peter Parker to do the right thing (kids serve this purpose for him in both films), so I have to assume she'll just remain in that static role. Penny, Spider Noir, Pveter and Spider-Ham I think will just be muscle again.
Since we didn't get a real "What's Up Danger" scene in Across the Spider-Verse, I think the climax of the third film is going to blow the rest of them out of the water. What's Up Danger and the (lesser) scene on the train to the moon in ATSV both showed Miles breaking the glass he was perched on, because he's still scared. Logically, the climactic scene of the third film is going to be a reflection of those scenes, but we see he isn't afraid anymore. He is Spider-Man in the next film. Not a kid wearing a costume, trying to figure out what he wants and what his values are.
Oh, and obviously Miles gets and keeps the ability to go between dimensions. I also think the Spider Society will have some kind of overhaul and they begin to treat anomalies more fairly.
I know it's years out, but god I cannot wait to see this movie. The character motivations are so consistent between the first two films, I really want to know if I'm right about anything.
#ATSV#TASM#across the spider verse#miles morales#into the spider verse#ITSV#Gwen Stacy#Spider-Man#movie predictions#my writing#film review#movies#netflix#movie review#marvel#across the spider-verse
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This is no way meant to be a hate ask and look i want to like the idea of canon klance and i want to like canon Keith but lbr if the writers had made klance or any keith ship canon they would have done it in worst way possible with the ship being only meant to benefit Keith while simultaneously being detrimental to the love interest. Cause fact is that Keith was writers pet, the top priority, the self insert, they destroyed all the characterization and agency and roles of other characters for the plot and story and then destroyed said plot and story to make Keith super cool hero character.
I keep seeing posts like how canon wouldnt suck if (insert Keith ship) had been canon and i am like, canon sucked because they priortized a lbr white coded able bodied character over canonical characters of colour who were reduced to torture porn, hate sinks, and comic relief. Canon sucked because the characters who were established as important parts of the story were reduced to side characters and plot devices so that Keith could shine brighter. And a canon Keith ship would not have helped any character other than Keith, and if anything would have reduced the other character as an eye candy comforter.
Again this is not meant to be a hate ask. It is just been frustrating to be in this fandom especially as a darker skinned woc to watch this show and fandom still treat characters of colour as woke points while using them to prop up Keith
I have debated over responding to this message, mainly because there are some things in here that could potentially cause drama on my page if I even respond to them in any way.
However, there are some points in here worth addressing, so...
First and foremost, I am going to say that I can see your intention is not to make this a hate ask. However, it does come across that way to some degree.
The main reason being that you are making valid points about the other characters, but you are doing it by pushing Keith's character down - and that is the stuff I don't really like to see, here.
I'm not trying to invalidate your view on things, because I realize your point was literally this, just the other way around. I'm just saying for the sake of my own page, I've had a lot of asks in a similar vein and it's not really something I'm interested in discussing in asks.
Of course everyone can like and dislike whichever characters they choose, but I do like to keep things as fair and equal as possible across the board.
So, I am always open to discussions and opinions on why a character or another deserved more and better, but only if they do not come at the expense of another character.
And with this, specifically - I just don't see this version of Keith you are referring to, so there's not even much I can add to that part of your ask.
To the other parts, however, this very much illustrates the need to having diversity in the creation process of shows and movies.
Unfortunately, a lot of studios and execs and whoever greenlights these things still rely on the "token" aspect when it comes to diversity.
As your ask proves, it doesn't do any good just to simply have characters of color, for example, if they are reduced to stereotypes or insignificant parts.
This is where the actual diversity should come in - because it needs to happen behind the scenes for there to be a change that will actually mean something.
In my opinion, experience is so much more important than any title or rank or connection.
It is important to actually include and receive input from creators who understand a situation on its basest level.
I consider myself to be a very empathetic person who tries my best to understand human nature and emotions.
But I, as a white person, will never have the same experience as you, a person of color. It's literally and physically impossible.
But that's the whole point.
Because if a book were to be written about the actual experiences of growing up as a poc, there are insights and stories you, anon, could offer than I could only take a wild guess at. And vice versa.
I'm not saying that creators should only create based on their own personal life and experiences. But it is important for larger projects such as shows that want to include a diverse cast to actually employ people who understand what it is like.
Because it's not enough to just throw a darker skinned character in a show and say "Hey look at us we did it. Diversity! Woohoo!"
And it is just bad storytelling all around if any character in any given situation is only there for the purpose of the "main character" (or any other character).
Because what really makes a story interesting is the diversity that can come from the different experiences and opinions of the various characters - how they can clash and converge and change and grow.
The final thing I will add is that in my mind, Keith is Asian and Galran, so...mixed. I understand a lot of trouble could have been avoided if the showrunners had just confirmed this was the case while the show was airing, but, well...we can't change the past.
It was, in the most technical sense, confirmed here, but I do understand that most people will view that as too little too late, and that's understandable.
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