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galactic-magick · 1 year

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Beach Day: Adam Warlock x Reader

Summary: Seeing your boyfriend on the beach awakens your insecurities about dating a perfect golden boy, and said boyfriend is more than willing to silence those insecurities.

Words: 0.9k

Warnings: talk of insecurities, also some making out

You never thought you’d be having a beach day with the Guardians of the Galaxy—but here you are, sitting on a sandy towel within eyesight of beautiful waves. The sky on this planet is a gorgeous purple, reflecting on the water. Phyla, Rocket, and Groot are building the most complex sandcastle you’ve ever seen, Kraglin is using the trees for target practice, and Adam is playing fetch with Cosmo. It’s quite peaceful—a nice slowdown from the last chaotic mission you had.

This was somewhat your idea actually, since you mentioned a memory of going to the beach back home on Earth. Everyone on the team had either never been to a beach before or it had been so long they didn’t remember what it was like, so the next planet you came across you decided to take a mini vacation.

Your boyfriend, Adam, was definitely the most excited. Not only did he want to experience something like this with you, but he never would’ve had something like this with the Sovereign. Beaches are messy, and certainly no place for an elite race of people.

Still, even though Adam’s been removed from that world for over a year now, he continues to be out of place. You watch him as he laughs with the others, the sound of an angel. His hair falls all over the place, but even when it’s tousled it’s still perfect. His golden skin glistens in the sunlight, complimenting the purple sky. His body is perfectly sculpted, not a single flaw in sight. He is gorgeous in every way.

You’ve never told him how it makes you feel sometimes, dating a man who was quite literally designed to be perfect. You’re just a normal Terran, full of blemishes and insecurities. You have more faults and defects than you can count, both on the inside and the outside. You look so plain compared to him, and even beyond appearances you’re not sure how much you really have to offer him.

After the sun sets, you all pack up and head back to the ship for the night to sleep. Adam notices something is off with you as you settle down in your shared quarters, which greatly confuses and concerns him.

“Are you alright?” he asks, taking a step towards you. “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah I had fun,” you turn your back to him while you change into your pajamas, “I’m fine,”

He grabs the hem of your pajama shirt as you’re putting it on, pulling the rest of it down as his knuckles graze your sides. He then snakes his arms under your arms gently, wrapping them around you in a hug.

“Please tell me what’s wrong,”

You sigh, turning around to face him, “I did have fun. I’m not lying about that part,”

“Good!” he smiles, “But you’re not fine?”

“I’m fine, I’m just...not feeling good about myself,”

An even deeper wave of concern falls over his features, “You don’t feel good? Are you sick?”

You can’t help but laugh despite your melancholy. Sometimes you forget he still doesn’t understand many things.

“Not that kind of not feeling good, more like I don’t like myself right now. I’ve just been getting in my head a lot and overthinking stuff,”

“How could you not like yourself? You’re the most wonderful person I’ve ever met! Did something happen today that made you feel this way?”

“It’s going to sound so stupid-”

He puts a finger to your mouth, “Hush. It’s not stupid if it hurt your feelings like this,”

“But what if it was you?”

His eyes widen, “I hurt you?”

“Well, no. I don’t know. Ugh…” you sit down on the bed, face in your hands. “You didn’t directly hurt me or anything. I guess...I guess I just don’t understand why someone like you is with someone like me,”

He comes to sit beside you as you continue.

“I mean, you’re so perfect, and I’m very much not. You look like heaven as a person and I can’t find a single thing wrong with you. Watching you on the beach today made me think about how beautiful you are. And it’s not even just that, you’re also the sweetest person ever. You treat me better than anyone I’ve ever been with in the past, and your heart is just as golden as your skin. I just don’t get what you see in me when you’re...well...you,”

Adam is stunned at your words, instantly feeling horrible for indirectly making you feel this way. In his mind, everything is the exact opposite. He sees you as the perfect person, and himself as just a messed up monster with gold plating. He couldn’t possibly put into words what he feels for you and how he sees you.

So rather than fumbling over his words, he takes your face in his hands and kisses you, tenderly and passionately. After caressing and kissing every feature, he moves down to your neck and shoulders, roaming his hands over your back and torso. There’s nothing needy about his movements, only a pure demonstration of his undying love for you.

He doesn’t go too far down before coming back up to capture your lips, remaining there while his hands smooth over the rest of your body. He pulls your close, as close as he can without risking hurting you with his strength. He touches you like you’re a masterpiece, a piece of art created from the divine. He’s grateful beyond belief that you’ve chosen him as a partner, and he knows he wouldn’t be who he is now without you.

He pulls away for a brief minute, looking into your eyes.

“You’re the one who’s perfect, not me,” he says. “Don’t you dare believe anything different,”

You nod in understanding before bringing his lips back to yours, determined to return the intense amount of love he just gave you.

Read this to make a Guardians request!

#adam warlock x reader #guardians of the galaxy x reader #gotg x reader #adam warlock #guardians of the galaxy #gotg #guardians of the galaxy vol 3 #gotg 3

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sunsetsands · 1 month

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Almud Masterpost

Seemed like a good idea to create a place to compile information about the main planet project I have going.

Most of the pictures here are hand-drawn. I have slowly been improving at digital art, so I do intend on gradually replacing them with procreate recreations, but until then, have these messy pencil illustrations.

The planet’s name is Almud (pronounced “awl-MOO-duh” (yes, the D at the end is its own syllable)). It is the second planet from its star, an orange dwarf. Conditionswise, Almud is very similar to Earth, just a lot warmer and wetter, and without a single large moon. Instead, it has a somewhat recently-formed system of rings. These rings are made of the debris from the planet’s former moon, which floated in past the Roche limit a few dozen million years ago and got torn apart. Almud may or may not also have a smaller moon or two somewhere further out. I haven’t decided on that yet.

This is a map of Almud’s entire geography, which is slightly outdated. I’ll probably make an updated version at some point eventually possibly maybe. If you’re curious, those numbers on the continents were so I could keep track of continental drift to make sure everything made sense. I care way too much about tiny details.

This is a rough (and I mean very rough. Not proud of my craftsmanship on the outlines here) approximation of what Almud’s surface looks like. The foliage uses a teal pigment to photosynthesize, and the sky appears pink during the day. Obviously, not all of the planet is wetlands, but there are definitely more wetlands than there are on Earth thanks to the much higher humidity.

I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what Almud’s animal-equivalent life should be like. After several failed attempts, however, I think I have gotten it to a point I am satisfied with. Below is a phylogenetic tree of all of the “animal” phyla present on Almud, and an overview of what each phylum has going on. I tried not to rip off Earth's phylogeny too much, but there are some notable parallels.

Vaxistoma (roughly "vaccine mouth"): Small fishlike creatures that feed through a proboscis with an extendible needle-tooth-thing inside of it. The rest of their body is covered in thick, hard scales. They mainly inhabit deeper waters where aquatic duossei are less common.

Duosseus ("two skeletons"): The closest equivalent to vertebrates. First members were fishlike, with calcified plates covering the outside of their bodies and rod-shaped bones supporting the inside. The outer skeleton atrophied mostly in the terrestrial members, but most classes do still have notable remnants, as shown in the small drawing above.

Limosus ("muddy, slimy things"): Soft, squishy creatures without much in terms of an internal skeleton, but most groups do have some external armor like their relatives listed above. Can be accurately summarized as "molluscs, but more alieny", though a few members are more like worms or sea stars.

Jocomodivirae (very roughly "funny little guys"): Small velvet worm-esque invertebrates with a thick, leathery pad over their back. A very diverse phylum with many, many members. Definitely not just insects with no exoskeletons.

Planagelattae ("flat jellies"): What if flatworms had three eyes?

Xenigmalus ("strange, mysterious things"): I can't think of a good way of describing these, which is pretty fitting for what they are. Body plans vary wildly here, but are almost always some combination of fins, tentacles, and a big translucent sack. Like the vaxistomans, they usually inhabit deeper waters.

Cornivermia ("horned worms"): Pretty self-explanatory. The flat, hard bits at the fronts of their heads help them dig through softer areas of soil. Some groups use these growths instead as something more akin to pincers, fins, hooks, or shells.

Carniherbae ("meat plants"): You know those animal-fern things from the Ediacaran era? These are just those, but not extinct.

Vivitria ("living glass"): Soft, feathery insides protected by a crystalline silicate shell. Many species in this phylum are colonial, which tend to look like colorful, floating geodes. These colonies often have surprisingly complex sensory capabilities, and some have been found to be about as intelligent as Earth cats.

Xylovitria ("wood glass"): Terrestrial relatives of the vivitrians, almost all of which are colonial. The defining feature of this phylum, besides their terrestriality, is their symbiotic relationship with a wide range of plant-equivalent species. The xylovitrian colony forms a protective, glassy wall around the plants' branches, as well as a system of feathery roots beneath the soil which serve to both gather nutrients for their plant partner and exchange gametes with other colonies to create new, empty xylovitrians for the plants' seeds to land in. In return, the plant gives the colony some of the byproducts of its photosynthesis.

Chiforma ("X-shaped"): Four-sided radially symmetrical creatures. Contains such captivatingly creative groups such as "squids, but four", "clams, but four", "eels, but four", and, most creataculiciously of all, "coral, but four". A shining example of the innovation that specbio nerds are capable of.

Nodovellis ("tangled hair"): Formless, sessile filter feeders. Basically a slime mold trying really hard to be a sponge, but the closest it could get was becoming a loofah.

(Feel free to give critiques or advice on the scientific names I made. All I really did here was mess around with google translate. I know there are guidelines and policies for what is and isn't an acceptable phylum title, but I've never been able to understand what any of them mean. If anything immediately makes you go "That's not how that works!", let me know)

For some additional information, I imagine that life on Almud began in freshwater rather than saltwater. This made the transition to land pretty easy for most of the animals, since they could afford to just flop around in muddy wetlands without any risk of drying out. This does mean that their skin is very, very sensitive to salt, however.

There is one sapient species on Almud: These slug things. Their actual species name is Akada, if that's important. Akada are descended from a social burrowing species that learned how to cultivate the many plants and molds that thrived in the dark, wet conditions of their tunnels. They are herbivorous, have a herd animal-like social structure, and currently have a level of technological advancement similar to ours. For more miscellaneous and mostly jokey info on them, please look here.

I will expand on all of this when/if I find the time and motivation.

#art #pencil on paper #alien #slug #akada #almud #spec bio #speculative biology #spec evo #speculative evolution #xenobiology #creature design #drawing #sci fi #guess who just learned that the name I gave to this planet is also the name of an antiquated unit of measurement #good to know it's not #like #an obscure slur or something #my art

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floridensis · 1 year

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hey! my parents recently bought a house near orlando and the yard leaves much to be desired. they are already planning on changing a lot of the garden, do you know of any good low-maintenance plants they could plant? unfortunately they are snowbirds so they won’t be around to maintain anything in the summer

thanks for reaching out! it would be awesome if your parents could get a lot of natives for their yard. it is healthiest for the environment and makes for a very low maintenance yard because the plants are in their natural habitat

you can get some ideas of plants to use here:

and you can find native plant nurseries here:

ive heard great things about The Natives and Green Isle Gardens, which i dont believe are in orange county but are still nearby.

you may be able to hire a native plant nursery to do landscaping for you or offer you a consultation

as general advice i immediately suggest replacing as much lawn grass as you can with Phyla nodiflora, known as f(r)ogfruit. its low growing, hardy, adorable, spreads easily, and is good for pollinators. very popular with native gardeners.

muhly grass is a beautiful landscape plant and it is not in the plants best interest to be maintained but people are insistent upon giving it a terrible buzzcut. it doesnt need this. it looks like a normal bushy grass most of the year but in the fall blooms into a beautiful feathery puff of pink-purple.

i also think it would be nice to get yourself a beautiful longleaf pine, Pinus palustris (NOT slash pine or loblolly!)

im not super familiar with the landscape of orlando, so i think it might be rewarding to check out some nearby natural areas for inspiration as well. if you do, try taking pictures of what you find and posting them to iNaturalist so people can weigh in on your finds and you can learn more about them. i would be happy to help ID for you if you send me your username

i wish you the best! we can use all the restorative landscaping we can get!

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tranquilspot · 11 months

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John: Read Colonel Sassacre's text.

Long post ahead! TW/CW: unabashed sexism, misogyny, racism, call to murder as a 'joke', aged like milk content

Block of text n°2. Get ready to get the old timey dictionary, cause I sure will do a loooot of research.

Before reading the text itself, let's analyze the picture. There's Mark Twain (Colonel Sassacre in this universe) in the middle with a silly magician hat on top and an engraved sun. On his left and right, surprisingly two versions of The Fool arcana.

The Fool represents new beginnings, freedom, innocence, a free spirit. Pretty accurate for John. There's also several clowns: entertainment, playfulness, tricks, but also mockery, illusion, humiliation. I'm saying this because it's relevant. We'll see it much later, during different points in the story. On the bottom, two masks, both smiling. One a demon, perhaps the Devil itself. Which is also a major arcana: obsession, dependency, powerlessness, limitations when it's upright. In reversed it's independence, revelation, reclaiming power, reclaiming control. Very interesting. Let's keep it in mind for later. I have no idea for the other mask, it would be easier if I knew the origin of the 'borrowed' pictures that constitutes this montage. At last, two writing tools that could represent freedom of speech, creation and imagination. The word colonel was added on one of them.

Welp, that's enough dilly dallying on the image, let's dig right into the text now. *grumble mumble I have to manually write it grumble mumble*

Hell's bells, we are having a mighty sporting time of it!

"Hell's bells" is to express anger, surprise or irritation. I'll bet it's surprise here. let's see the rest of the sentence. I haven't find a direct explanation for 'sporting time' but I suppose it means 'dynamic good moment'?

Hold fast, my intrepid fellow pranksmiths! We've merely nicked the mahogany of our japing chests.

Pranksmiths is such a cool term :D So if I understood correctly, this means: "Hold on my fellow pranksters! We've barely scratch the surface."

If I may direct the incisive ogle of your beagle puss to the wriggling regency of rubber bugs […]

Wait wait wait so many new words here!

A sharp eye, okay, of our joke glasses (the one with the funny nose and mustache), and hey! First time seeing 'wriggling', that's mostly used in troll culture. Sassacre was married to the baroness, not sure how much he knew about trolls but I don't think the use of 'wriggling' is a coincidence here. Betty Crocker was already mentioned too. There's miiight be a small chance that this peculiar plot element existed early in the story. 'Regency' is to govern, hmm 'wriggling regency of rubber bugs'. See it's not trivial! Bugs, insects that govern. Sneaky early foreshadowing~

[…] plastic parasite, squirming serpents, pliable pests […]

:0 I know it's common repulsive animals, but look closely. We have bugs, immediately followed by parasite (opinion on his wife perhaps?), followed by a snake (Lord English), and 'pests' are aften rodents. Not sure where does the last one fall in the metaphor. Reading too much into it? Maybe, maybe not.

[…] and every such order and phyla of creepy crawlies!

I'm curious to see what 'order' means in this context. Perhaps 'and such things'? Also phyla! Hello brand new word. Oooh I see, like two branches of the same group of things. Junction! And creepy crawlies! I literally on the picture but i forgor. It's self explanatory, crawling little bugs. This confirm, or at least solidify, my theory on Colonel Sassacre's book to be a parody, autobiographic, but now hinting at what we are to expect from this comic, in terms of plot points and characters (trolls, a tyran parasitic sovereign, snake species..)

Land sakes alive, we are cooking with petrol now!

'Goddamn, now we're talking!' We're half-way through the introduction, of the book I mean! Can't wait to reach the end of Act 1, which is only a part of the 'tutorial'.

In further exhibits we shall dwell on artifice useful to your exploits.

Alright, not very complicated to understand.

Is your pappy's rod and reel handy?

What? *long search* Oooohhh like a fishing rod and thread. I thought that was an innuendo *sweat* I mean it isn't above Hussie to not do it. 'Handy' here means in your hand, or near it.

What about a bit of iron cord; it shouldn't prove elusive.

Are we talking about cord made of iron, or the cord of a iron, the appliance? If it isn't rare to find it I'd say the latter.

Bring those writhing rascals to life, […]

Uuuuuuuhhhhh..

and set the nerves of some old maid to the wreck of Hesperus!

Okay what the fuck old man!! Not only it is misogynist but you take delight in scaring to death a poor woman that didn't ask for it? Bring them to life.. what the heck does that entails? Wait it's rubber bugs and such, so you're not electro-stimuling them, how does cord + rubber work? Whatever, what's more interesting is the mention of another entity, Hesperus. One we never hear about either in the story nor the community itself. It's a titan, embodying the evening. Right between Hemera, the day, and Nyx, the night.

However here it is not about the god itself, but rather a poem, the Wreck of Hesperus. It's the short story of a skipper who board a ship with his daughter and didn't listen the warning about a hurricane. Long story short, the ship crashes and sink, dude dies and the corpse of the girl is found still mangled to the remains of the ship. That's horrifying. What the fuck, it went from 'let's have a jolly time with plastic toys' to 'what if we made scream a maid like a terrified girl on a sinking ship, sounds like fun!'. He really wants to scares a woman to death.

Do you have a bothersome aunt who never seems troubled to find ways with your sunny afternoons? A broad, splintery fence— a bucket of white wash, perhaps?

Sir this is a crime, he's calling for violence and murder. That's a feminicide happening soon! What the fuck, how in HELL is this book not censured, or BANNED?! This is 2009, doesn't someone check books before publishing them?

By gum you'll fix her wagon!

I'll fix your face, time shenanigans be damned! What is it with dudes fixating on other people's ass?!

Also, whitewash is a mixture, and "covering up a scandal" too. Smells like subconscious slip of his wrongdoings~

God this is tedious and awful to read. Almost there!

And what of that tawny gent who puts his lackadaisical lean near the sarsaparilla font?

It feels like a lot of made up words. I mean yeah words don't come from trees or the 'Great Book of All Words and Those Yet to Come', but I can't imagine people using them on a daily basis.

Ok, 'lackadaisical' is showing little effort or enthusiasm, 'sarsaparilla' is either a climbing plant (east asia) or a drink based of said plant. Between the sarsaparilla and the mahogany, him knowing such foreign flora gives me rich traveling dude and colonialism vibes.

You'll have that listless octoroon find the spring in his step just yet!

That's a lot of stuff that I don't understand, but I do know that an octoroon is mixed (ethnicities). "The word octoroon signifies a person of one-eighth African ancestry." according to Wikipedia. Gonna add racism to the old man bingo. Listless means lethargic. As in 'lazy african pests'. Yep it's racist alright. When does it takes place anyway? 1910/20-ish?

Alright lemme think and recontextualize all of it, I suck remembering events and dates so I need time. My grand-grandmother was born in 1912, year and day of the Titanic sinking I think.

The expression "sakes alive" was popular in 1930~1950, and its earliest use was 1860. So I kinda narrow it down.

After a good while I found this screenshot I took in 2019, couldn't find user pepple :/and princeofhope haven't posted anything since 2014. I couldn't even find the original post. But yeah, by relying on this graph it does make sense. [I wish I could properly credit pepple, if they're still there] —>

#homestuck #act 1 #homestuck reread #reread blog #colonel sassacre's book #the fool #old timey vernacular #racism #sexism #misogyny #bigoted old man #call to murder #problematic book #re-contextualizing

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binniesthighs · 3 years

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hi!! i rly liked your first writing it was so cute and you described jisung so well too! can i request a friends to lovers with han? kinda slow burn like they're really good friends but jisung gets jealous of her close friend and reader secretly likes him too but she doesnt wanna ruin the things between them so... one day they get into a fight and they end up making out😳 bc shes like "wtf we're friends" smut is ok but just a make out would be fine too the details r up to u💗

why yes you can! Thank you for requesting hehe you are my first ask ever ♡ I hope that you like it, here’s some best friend ‘sungie for ya :)

all yours | reader x jisung |

Paring: self-insert, female reader x han jisung

Genre: fluff ‘n a lil bit of smut & angst

Tags: student!reader, bestfriend!jisung, lab partner!felix (haha), friends to lovers, mutual pining, best friend au, college au, jealousy, slow-ish burn, mentions of exams, some yelling, reader is secretly whipped for jisung (and jisung for the reader), explicit language, marking, that good good makin’ out

Word count: 2.4k

“Hey!”

The little ball of paper that you had crinkled up bounced off Jisung’s arm with a soft pat.

“What happened to studying together? You said that you were gonna quiz me.”

Jisung’s eyes popped up from his phone screen looking a little bewildered. “Sorry, I just...got a little distracted.

“Distracted? Looking at what?”

“Oh, nothing.” He placed his phone down, clicking it off.

“Is “nothing” code for some girl’s Instagram?” You dished him out a teasing smirk. “I think you forget that I know you better than you know yourself sometimes.”

Jisung shuffled the papers in front of him pretending like he had something to do. “Psh. I was not.”

“--Does she go to school here?”

“I told you, I said no.” He furrowed his brow trying to look as serious as possible, but that was nearly impossible for someone as naturally adorable as him. “Why are you drilling me? Aren’t you supposed to be doing some work right now?”

“~So are you~” You teasingly sang back to him, giving him a kick under the table just for good measure.

Jisung threw your balled up paper ball back to you. “Let’s just get back to what we were doing so we can leave. I don’t wanna end up like him.”

He nodded over to the end of your table where a student had fallen asleep mid-chapter. His nose twitched and he snorted a little bit. You knew exactly what Jisung meant, you didn’t want to be at the library at 11pm on a Tuesday either; it was your better judgement that told you.

“Can we get food after this?” Jisung asked after approximately five minutes of “working.”

“Sounds good to me.” You quipped, barely allowing your eyes to leave your computer screen. You found that you always had to try you best to let him not distract you. He was really good at that.

You slid a stack of index cards in front of him. “Ask me these? I’m having a hard time getting the Latin names down...if you’re not busy?”

“Nope!” He piped, and shoved his notebook away.

“Okay!” He said with determination and a little bounce. He fixed his oversized hoodie before starting, looking adorably lost in the fabric.

He asked you the first question, but it barely met your ears. There you were, getting distracted by him again.

screw you Han Jisung, you thought to yourself.

☆。*。☆。

“I just don’t understand how you make sense of all that crap, I could never be a science major like you are.”

“--And I could never understand production like you do.”

“And this is why we work.” Jisung grinned with smiling eyes while he opened the library door for you. “I’m starving, I can’t stop thinking about--”

“--Y/n??” A voice called from behind the two of you.

The two of you whipped your heads back to see a loveable looking blonde and freckled boy bounding to catch up with you. It was Felix, your lab partner from zoology. The two of you were nothing more than classroom friends, but his friendly kindness was always something that brightened up your terrible 9 am lab.

“Felix!” You beamed, holding the door so it wouldn’t close on him. “Are you here studying for the exam as well?”

“Oh yeah, I just...my brain couldn’t take it any more,” He sarcastically mimed his head pains, “I just need to get some sleep now.”

“I just don’t get how they expect us to know all of those phyla like its nothing.”

“I know right?’ He chuckled.

Next to you, Jisung silently poked at the elevator button to go down.

“Is it alright if I head down with you guys?”

“Of course!” You motioned him in.

Once the doors had closed, the three of you found a different corner of the small box to plant yourselves in.

“shit-sorry, Felix, I didn’t introduce you, this is Jisung.”

“Hi!” Felix shone, and Jisung gave him a curt nod back.

Felix waved to two of you goodbye, leaving you in the nighttime snow. You noticed that as Felix walked away he had a little bounce to his step; and you couldn’t help but crack a little smile.

“Our usual?” Jisung asked you with a little edge to his voice.

You linked your arm around his, letting out a little shrill sound when the fabric of your two coat sleeves met. “Sounds good to me!” You nuzzled up into him while both of your bodies’ heat intermingled.

The two of you walked on under the streetlights which illuminated the falling flakes in streams of light. You never loosened your grip, as had become your habit lately when the two of you walked around. Jisung never seemed to mind; the two of you had been mistaken for a couple more than enough times thanks to it. When it did happen, it didn’t phase you at all. Being close to Jisung was like second nature to you.

The whole walk over Jisung never uttered a word, which was uncharacteristic of his usual boisterous self.

“Is everything okay?”

He sniffled, “Yeah, I think I just got kinda tired out of nowhere.”

“Ah.” You mouthed, and squeezed his arm a little harder.

After a moment’s silence, he somberly announced, “If you’re in the same class as him, maybe you should study with him.”

“Huh.” You tsked. “Yeah, I mean I never thought about that before...I guess that could do me some good.”

You looked slightly up to him: a product of him being slightly taller than you. His brown eyes remained stoic, and you couldn’t figure out why. You hated it when he wouldn’t tell you what was wrong, but he was also stubborn at letting up.

“But thank you for helping me tonight! You know that I reeealy appreciate it.” You turned your tone as cutesy as you could--Jisung hated it, but you knew that it could bring a smile to his face.

His gaze softened a bit. “Anytime. You’d do the same for me.”

☆。*。☆。

Jisung rested his head on your shoulder on the bus ride home with his phone weakly held in his hand. One more bump in the road and you knew that it would go flying so you carefully took it into your own lap where it would be safe. You wouldn’t dare moving an inch because you had a feeling that he had closed his eyes. Time had slipped past 1am, and you had to keep fighting yawns yourself. The bus driver had been blasting the heat, so it wasn’t hard at all for you to feel cozy.

You glanced down at his open hand in his lap. It looked exactly like he was beckoning for you to scoop it up in your own. You wondered what what happen if you did. What would he think of it? Would he think anything of it? You had held hands before, but every time you had it had been under purely platonic pretenses. If you just grabbed it now, what would the pretenses be then? The two of you cozied up on a bus: that was something that couples did.

You shut your eyes closed tightly and tried your best to banish all the thoughts clouding your head.

Jisung’s hand twitched, looking even more inviting.

screw you Han Jisung.

☆。*。☆。

[7:14pm]

jisung: you want to come over? Changbin is cooking and i don’t wanna eat whatever he’s making alone

[7:31pm]

me: sorry, I’m studying with Felix at the library, I think that we are gonna be here late. It’s all the Latin, I’m drowning in the Latin, Sung.

I’m sorry.

see you Friday once I’m out of this hell?

[7:34pm]

jisung: see you friday.

☆。*。☆。

You pounded on the door to Jisung’s apartment with your phone in hand, the white screen showing you the number that you had worked so hard for.

“Open the door!” You called giddily. “Jisung! I know that you’re in here, we need to celebrate! ~I can treat youuu~”

Just as you were about to knock again, the door swung open, revealing a wet haired Jisung in his grey sweats and tee. His brown strands of hair were scattered around his head while he rubbed at them with a towel.

“Shit! Can’t I shower?” He jested.

It took all your will power not to ogle him more. He looked devastatingly handsome, but you swallowed down how utterly flustered he had made you.

You cleared your throat, “Uh...sorry...” then remembered your phone in your hand. “I got a 96! Can you believe it! I’m even surprised too, when I was taking the test I just got so nervous...”

“All that studying paid off huh?” He cockily rose an eyebrow. “You can go ahead and thank me now, without my help...” He shrugged with a grin.

You invited yourself in and threw your bag down at the door like you usually did.

“Thank youuu” You sung. “Oh! And studying with Felix really paid off too.” You took off your shoes, thinking of how nice it had been to finally study with someone who knew your class topics. Not that Jisung wasn’t helpful, but you and Felix were on the same page. “He knew it all way more than I did, so he was super helpful. I forgot to text him--”

Jisung closed the door behind you with a slam that made you jump. He moved away from you, not meeting your eyes. The air around the two of you suddenly became thick with something that did not feel as excited as you just were.

“...do you wanna maybe watch a movie?” You moved closer. “Or we could get some deliv--”

“--Why even bother coming over here?” Jisung suddenly huffed.

“What?”

Jisung’s words flew out of his mouth sharply, “If he was so helpful? What are you doing here, huh?”

“Jisung, I don’t understand...” Your heartbeat quickened in your chest and you felt anxiety swell there as well. Jisung never spoke to you like this. He never sounded like this.

He growled out a little sound in frustration. “I-I just...can’t believe you--”

“--Me? Jisung, what did I do?” You threw your arms up, genuinely confused.

He ran his fingertips over his temples and let out a deep exhale. “Y/n, don’t pretend like you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Your temper started to become seething and you felt your ears get hot. “Tell me Jisung. Tell me what I did. And while you’re at it, what has been up with you these past few days? Being short with me, and distant, yeah-I’ve noticed...what are you doing??”

Jisung heaved breaths in and out of his chest, then ran a hand through his hair. He still couldn’t meet your eyes.

For a moment, a flash of panic surged in your head, making your heart ache with an unexpected pain. You truly didn’t know what he had meant, and if you had made a mistake, you knew it could mean loosing him. God, that was the last thing in the world you wanted. It always was.

“If I did something wrong tell me because clearly I don’t know!!” You yelled back at him, straining your throat.

He walked up to you, then grabbed your shoulders with a firm grip. Finally, you saw his eyes, brown and soft, holding a type of pain that you hadn’t seen in him before.

screw you, Han Jisung.

“Jisung, I--”

You were shoved by the shoulders in milliseconds to the door behind you, the impact nearly knocking the wind out of you. You gasped in your surprise, but your mouth was immediately shut by Jisung ramming his lips into yours. His hands needily took your face into his palms with his mouth blazing with hunger for you.

It took you a moment to realize what had just happened and steady yourself after being so startled. His lips were so soft and warm, your brain had a hard time recognizing that he was really doing this. His haste made no indication of stopping so you let yourself do what you had wanted to do for years: you kissed him back with everything that you had.

As soon as you did so, he let out little desperate moans between your lips in response. You let your arms wrap around his back and he fell into them just right. Naturally you took one of your hands to the back of his head and tangled up your fingers in his hair. God, it all felt so good. Jisung snaked his arms around your waist and pulled you into him with force, crashing your hips together.

The two of you clumsily made your way to the couch where he threw you down and crawled over top of you just as fast. He moved to your neck then traversed around your skin, sending shivers all through your body. Your hands eagerly found his back where you dug into him, wanting to be impossibly close. To your side, he carefully took your hand in his, weaving all of your fingers together.

Jisung pressed down into you and began to suck at your neck without holding himself back. It was such an intense feeling that couldn’t help but moan out something you didn’t know you could. You felt his mouth turn into a grin on your skin while he continued. It stung a little when he removed his lips, but he gently kissed each mark as if he was soothing it once he was done. He stopped to admire the little array of purple bruises he had made.

“I want you all to myself.” Jisung’s voice was hoarse, but still honey-covered in desire.

“What are we doing?” You asked him in breathless disbelief.

“I’ve wanted to do this for so long.” He whispered, and appeared to calm his breaths. “I don’t care.”

"You don’t?”

“Why should I?” He cocked his head and used his free hand to caress your face.

“--That this could change things between us?”

“You don’t want it too?” He looked a little confused.

You felt a warmth rush to your cheeks. “--No! I do, I do...trust me.”

“Then can I kiss you some more?” Jisung grinned down at you as loving as he always had, but this time it meant something slightly different.

“...please.”

He lowered back onto you, connecting your lips once more. Jisung’s tongue languidly smoothed onto yours and you already felt intoxicated by the feeling. You tightened your fingers around his.

I’ve always been yours.

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athena14044 · 3 years

Text

I read Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2

I've been kind of struggling with my read of all of She-Hulk's appearances because I can't just read straight through a title I have to keep stopping to find some random appearance, so it was nice to just read straight through something

I mostly like the art, but in some panels Rocket and/or Cosmo look really weird. You'd think if they knew they needed an artist who can draw animals they'd get an artist who can. you know. draw animals.

COSMO I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

PUPPY 🥺 HIS FRIENDS NEED HIM 🥺 (Guardians of the Galaxy v2 #24)

God, Peter had so much depth and the mcu was like "we're going to make him a self-serving idiot" WHERE IS MY MAN WHO DOES QUESTIONABLE THINGS FOR THE GOOD OF THE GALAXY??? Having him want to save the galaxy because he's "one of the idiots who lives in it" is funny and all, but WHERE is the GUILT??? WHERE is the sense of RESPONSIBILITY????

Speaking of the mcu, I will literally never get over how they made Rocket's backstory generic experimentation. where is the FLAIR. where is the EVIL CAPITALIST MOLE. I suppose it's because it's not a huge leap from evil capitalist mole to evil capitalist mouse 😳

I love Rocket and Cosmo's feud it's so funny to me. and by the end they grudgingly respect each other 🥺

I really enjoyed the plot where Drax and Phyla were searching for a way to bring back Heather

I also enjoyed when Peter got dumped with Blastaar in the negative zone, and he sent Peter into the prison.

I'd never heard of Jack Flag or Bug before this. I liked Jack Flag. I did not like Bug.

I really like the debrief log style of narration. I think they did some really cool things with it, like showing the Guardians progressively more beat up as they tell the story, before getting to Gamora who's completely burned

On the one hand, I love Rocket being the only one who can understand Groot, but on the other hand, I thought it was really funny when they met Maximus and he was able to understand Groot and Rocket was there like "what are you talking about he's just saying his name"

I have no idea what's going on with these events but I don't think the book suffered too much due to being involved.

Moondragon's Guardians uniform is really ugly... like at least Gamora's and Mantis' look nice in their desire to show skin but Moondragon's looks really weird

GOD I HATE ALIEN PREGNANCY STORYLINES JUST SAY YOU DON'T RESPECT WOMEN'S AUTONOMY AND MOVE ON This one isn't quite as bad ig bc Heather chose to let it infect (?) her, sort of? but god why would you choose to use that imagery and all the baggage it comes with.

I guess part of why alien pregnancy stories are done is because it evokes a feeling of like, incongruity because it's pairing the familiar with something completely... alien, for lack of a better term, but I don't think that they should violate a woman's bodily autonomy in trying to create that feeling of wrongness. They could have just had it, idk, attach to her head or something. That makes more sense anyway due to the telepathic aspect.

Ugh.

I like the giant space turtle judge I think that's cool

NO it gets worse the stupid cult is going to cut it out of her stomach because it's their savior or whatever NONE OF THIS IS NEW JUST SAY YOU DON'T RESPECT WOMEN'S AUTONOMY AND MOVE ON

You can literally just skip 21 and 22 it picks right back up with the actual plot after that little segue into my most despised trope. They must have just been trying to fill space before they revealed that the guardians who died were actually alive

And I think that the actual plot is good! Like, go Guardians! Fight Evil Adam Warlock! Go Phyla! It's such a cool subversion of expectations too because normally you're rooting for Life, not Death, but here it's the opposite.

Which is why I think that the alien pregnancy thing is really out of place. They literally did nothing new with it it's just like in Star Trek, or X-Files, or Angel, or literally anything that's done it before.

Ok I'm going to stop talking about this now

PHYLA I LOVE YOU

They just ditched the Evil Adam Warlock thing for Thanos' resurrection. What happened to Evil Adam Warlock? Goddamn events forcing it to end without wrapping up all the plot points. I hate them. It looks like it's leading into this Thanos Imperative thing. I do not want to read this Thanos Imperative thing especially because I Do Not care about Thanos, but I want to know what happens.

If you made it this far please enjoy this panel of Gamora with short hair (Guardians of the Galaxy v2 #7)

#liz reads comics #guardians of the galaxy #im going to read v3 i think even though ive technically read it before i dont remember it super well #liz's cosmic marvel readthrough

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sineala · 3 years

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Hello Sine, I read your post few days back on Howard. I didn’t know the MCU had an influence on the comics. I’m really surprised. My question is; were comic Tony or Steve subjected to some changes? Were they influenced by the MCU like Howard or is it mostly for unknown/side characters with no solid foundation? Thank you

Oh, yeah, comics have changed a lot in response to the MCU.

They have a habit of coming out with new events to run at the same time as MCU canon that are theoretically supposed to draw in new readers, I assume, but in practice really have nothing to do with whatever MCU thing is coming out and are generally very confusing. When CACW came out they ran Civil War II, which was a fight between Tony and Carol (who did not, at the time, exist in the MCU) about an Inhuman who I am pretty sure does not exist in the MCU. When Infinity War came out they ran Infinity Wars, which also featured a bunch of people who did not exist in the MCU and was about running a weird bodysharing AU inside the Soul Stone.

They also like to reprint older issues to coincide with MCU events, which is nice of them, but, like, God help you if you watch Age of Ultron and then decide to read Age of Ultron. There are collections of Sam’s complete Cap tenure coming out now, which is very nice, but if you are here from the MCU you may be confused about the part where Sam becomes Cap because Steve is unexpectedly 95 years old (okay, so maybe that part is easy to get now that Endgame has happened) and then also Steve is young again but secretly Hydra and simultaneously Captain America. (They are not reprinting the Steve run that was going on at the same time, as far as I can tell.) And then they push other series into prominence because people like the MCU versions -- and, I mean, I am enjoying the hell out of the current Guardians run, but its major characters include Moondragon, Phyla-Vell, and Rich Rider, so good luck, MCU fans.

Fandom is pretty sure that they stopped FF for a few years because they didn’t have the movie rights and also that they went around retconning a bunch of characters to not be mutants back when they also didn’t have the movie rights to the X-Men; the two most famous are Wanda and Pietro, but, I mean, there was also a Squirrel Girl issue devoted to explaining that she definitely was not a mutant now. They probably also pushed a lot of Inhuman characters and tried to position Inhumans as sort of the next mutants, narratively, because they had movie rights to those.

The main Avengers team is now pretty much mostly made up of characters they want to push in the MCU as well as characters people will know from the MCU. You can tell they also tried to do this at the beginning of Hickman’s Avengers run because he started with the MCU team from the Avengers movie before shoving like twenty additional people onto the team, and then they came out with Avengers Assemble which was very continuity-light and featured a lot of MCU dynamics (like, Bruce being anyone the Avengers regularly hang out with, which was definitely not the case before the MCU). They added Coulson to the comics, too. And Nadia is definitely not the same as Hope, but, uh, her name means “hope” in Russian which is, as we say now, very sus.

Also the Infinity Stones are now Gems and their colors, I think, match the MCU.

In terms of specific changes to Tony and Steve’s comics:

The RT node was obviously clearly introduced because of the arc reactor, and I would bet that Zeke Stane was created because suddenly people cared about Obadiah Stane a lot more. (Am sort of surprised they didn’t decide to resurrect him, actually.) The comments from Marvel editorial in the letters column during Bendis’ IM run were explicitly clear about the fact that they were trying to make 616 Tony sound more like RDJ in terms of quippiness and general personality. There is at least one armor that is a straight-up port of MCU armor.

Coates’ current Cap run has brought Peggy Carter back to life -- she died several years ago -- made her young, and also not made her a blonde anymore. You know, so she looks more like MCU Peggy. (The hair color thing is particularly weird in light of the fact that Steve originally noticed Sharon specifically because she looked so much like Peggy.) You get a lot more comics putting Steve’s origin in Brooklyn (although this is not 100% consistent and never was) and also I read an entire miniseries that seemed to be under the impression that in 616 it was the Red Skull’s fault Steve got iced. (It was Baron Zemo.)

There are probably more but that’s all I can think of right now.

#Anonymous #replies

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thebibliomancer · 4 years

Text

Essential Avengers: Avengers #230: THE LAST FAREWELL!

April, 1983

“Yellowjacket no more!”

Aw, dang! Hank got raptured!

Captain America, Thor, and Hawkeye is a weird collection of characters to be staring forlornly at the empty Yellowjacket uniform.

Thor hasn’t really expressed much about the Yellowjacket situation in comparison. You think they could squeeze Wasp into the shot. Just her ex-husband is all. She’s just the team leader is all.

Put Wasp on the cover, you cowards.

So last times on Avengers: Hank Pym got himself kicked out of the Avengers and out of his marriage and pretty much deserved it. He was tricked into committing treason by his arch-nemesis Egghead and sent to jail. He sat in jail for, like, a really long time. The wheels really spun on the arc.

He was kicked out of the Avengers/walked before he could be kicked out in #213. He was arrested at the end of issue #217. His trial was in issue #228.

He was kidnapped from his trial by the Masters of Evil. Then in #229, he turned the tables on them all in quite a satisfying manner and slugged Egghead in the egg head.

Then Hawkeye manslaughtered him. He’s dead.

Hawkeye arrowed the science gun to stop Egghead from shooting Hank in the back and then the science gun backfired and microwaved that egg.

This makes Hank’s victory a little bittersweet for him.

Hank Pym: “I defeated the Masters of Evil single-handed... but more than anything, I wanted to bring Egghead to justice. He was a thorn in my side for so many years. I was never able to defeat him for long, not when I was Ant-Man... and not even after I became Giant-Man! He bedeviled me in every identity I assumed. He did me the greatest wrong when I was Yellowjacket. I’d already ruined my Avengers career, when he tricked me into committing a federal crime!”

Hawkeye too is set to thinking by what happened. Maybe humming a bit of Bohemian Rhapsody to himself too.

Hawkeye: “This is unreal! I’ve never killed a man before! I never planned on anything like this happening! Yeah, but I can’t feel sorry for Egghead! If anyone deserved this, he did! My brother Barney bought the farm, stopping Egghead from killing the Avengers. And if I hadn’t acted when I did, Hank Pym would be dead! If I had to do it again... I would!”

Hawkeye: ‘Eh, fuck ‘em!’

hah.

But Hank laments that with Egghead dead, so goes his chance of proving his innocence by turning him over to the law.

Hank Pym: “Egghead was always getting away from me, Hawkeye. It’s almost as if he’s pulled the ultimate escape!”

Fun fact: There doesn’t seem to be an Ultimate Egghead! Why would there need to be? Even more than in the 616, Ultimate Hank Pym is by far his own worst enemy.

Hawkeye basically tells Hank to buck up and that there’s basically incriminating evidence lying all over the place.

He doesn’t say it but even Egghead’s dead deceased corpse is kind of like evidence. Evidence that he wasn’t dead until recently.

Captain Marvel shows up because someone finally came looking for Hawkeye.

Hank is surprised, much like others have been that this is Captain Marvel. He knew the old guy, the super saiyan. And I guess he didn’t hear there was a new one.

Hawkeye: “We’ve had a few changes since you went in the slammer, Hank. C.M. is an Avenger in training.”

Huh. Captain Marvel doesn’t even react to the dead body. Then again, there’s a lot of bodies lying all around the place.

And while Hawkeye is introducing the new Captain Marvel to Hank, one of those bodies stirs.

Moonstone has regained consciousness and assesses the situation. She could blast Hank, Captain Marvel, and Hawkeye with her coherent light pew pew but that’d just weaken her.

Like in the previous issue, Moonstone is one of the few supervillains who knows when to fold ‘em.

So she decides to skeedaddle while the getting is good but whoops.

Getting wasn’t good.

The rest of the Avengers have shown up and cornered her while she was pondering.

So Moonstone decides ‘eh fuck it’ and promises to spill all the beans if it gets her a lighter sentence.

So days later, the mostly off-screen trial of Hank Pym finally ends.

A loooot of new evidence suddenly popping up led the prosecution to withdraw all charges.

The lead prosecution witness, Trish Starr, suddenly reversing her testimony after putting on Tony Stark’s magical mental-scan helmet kind of tanked the case, really.

Wait, they really did just admit the use of the helmet in the trial when its new, unsubstantiated technology whose inventor disappeared?

Damn, I knew the Marvel legal system was wild (considering comic books as legal documents as explored in Dan Slott’s run on the character) but still!

Although it makes sense. Egghead got Trish to incriminate Hank by using the bionic arm to alter her memories. The helmet Tony invented undoes that kind of alteration. This connects the dots quite reasonably. Glad Stern was paying attention when preparing to finish this arc.

Moonstone and Beetle confirming that Egghead was using Hank as a tool also helps.

In fact, not only did the prosecution drop all their charges, the judge also dismissed all the charges. Which feels redundant? I dunno much about law, really. Just the She-Hulk version of law. Which, again, uses comic books as legal documents.

Apparently happening at around the same time, Hawkeye also had his day in court.

Literally a day.

It wasn’t a trial, just a hearing to investigate whether he was guilty of wrong-doing in the death of Egghead.

Newsman with a newsplan: “Though he was threatened with contempt-of-court charges a number of times -- Hawkeye was found innocent of any wrong-doing in the death of Dr. Elihas Starr -- the self-styled Egghead.”

Yeah, I bet Hawkeye was threatened with contempt-of-court a bunch. And I bet you anything that at least one of the times he rejoined with “No, you’re out of order! This whole damn courtroom is out of order!”

And then the judge probably just sighed.

I mean, look at that unbelievable Hawkeye in the bottom left panel.

Anyway, I think Stern must have felt a little pent up having to start his Avengers run finishing off someone else’s story, especially having to devote a recap issue to it since the plot had been interspersed with fill-ins.

Because in the middle of concluding this arc, he throws in two plot beats that I have to assume are to set up stuff of his own.

A day after the trial, the Beetle is being escorted to a cell in a Western Pennsylvanian federal maximum security prison when he bumps into another prisoner.

What neither the Beetle or the guard notices is that the bump to “Sam Smithers” has peeled off some skin on his arm and revealed THAT HE IS ACTUALLY MADE OF WOOD!

Suspect possibly a living puppet.

And elsewhere but samewhen, IN SPACE, specifically on Saturn’s moon Titan, Thanos’ brother Eros is basically complaining about being bored.

When Captain Mar-vell died of having a lot of cancer, he asked Eros to look after Mar-vell’s... uh... -google- robot girlfriend?? Elysius.

Eventual mom to Genis and Phyla-Vells.

Soooooo, Eros has done as Mar-vell’s deathbed wish was and spent an agonizing several consecutive months hanging out in Titan’s beautiful inside forests and just having a real hard time caring about one thing for such a long period of time.

I’m not even being unfair to him.

Eros: “This is the first time in ages that I’ve spent so many consecutive months on Titan! I have ever been a wanderer! I’ve sought out adventure across the wide cosmos. Frankly, I have known romance on more worlds than most sentient beings could imagine. That’s part of the problem. Our friendship has been wonderful, but I’m having a hard time adjusting to it. My previous relationships have all been of a fleeting nature.”

‘Look its not you, its me’ except for attempting to dump someone as a friend, instead of romantically.

Not dump, even. He just kind of wants to ditch her and is asking in a roundabout way if she’s emotionally stable enough to ditch.

She goes, yeah sure, go off and have fun. And maybe she’s getting tired of his company too.

Elysius: “Look... you’ve been a great comfort to me these last few months, but now I need to be alone for a while with my thoughts.”

Geez, how clingy has he been this whole time while desperately wanting to be anywhere else?

Anyway, since she’s fine with him fucking off, he does fuck off. Right to the Hall of Science.

Where Eros’ dad is like ‘oh ffs’ when Eros tells him that he needs to use the LIVING COMPUTER Isaac to look up planets with the highest adventure potential.

Mentor of Titan is a man deeply disappointed in both of his sons for very different reasons.

Anyway, would you really be surprised if I told you that Earth was in the Top 3 planets in known space for adventure?

You wouldn’t, right?

Meanwhile, back at the plot, Hank Pym is on a boat with Trish Starr.

She wants to apologize for that time she incriminated him but Hank isn’t going to blame her for being as much a pawn in Egghead’s scheme as he was.

Trish: “Yes, uncle was like that all of his life. I think he really enjoyed using people.”

And she remembers the first time they met in Marvel Feature #5, where Egghead tried to drain her mind to power his machines. Because. Batteries hadn’t been invented? Because he’s just not happy unless he’s screwing over someone else?

Second one sounds likeliest.

She also remembers the time he car bombed her car but siphoned out most of the gas first.

Trish: “He didn’t want to kill me... only maim me. Nice guy, my uncle.”

Yeah. Its stories like that why its only Trish and Hank also Fred Sloan on a boat at Egghead’s funeral. Yeah, by the way, this is basically Egghead’s funeral.

Fred is only here for Trish.

Hank reacts to Fred so I wondered if he’s important in some way or if Hank recognized him but I checked the wiki and his main importance seems to be... this issue? So I don’t know why Hank reacts to the guy.

So Fred is just here for Trish. Trish is here out of duty, since she was Egghead’s only known family. And Hank is also only here out of duty but more archnemesis ‘can’t believe that asshole is dead and I don’t even get to feel good about it’ duty. I assume.

Hank even gets the honor (?) of laying Egghead to rest. By dumping his ashes into New York harbor.

Mostly because it doesn’t seem like Trish wants to?

So Hank quotes some Mark Twain and dumps the ashes.

Hank Pym: “‘Death... the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all -- the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.’ Farewell, Egghead.”

Trish: “It’s awful to say this -- but I can’t find it in myself to be sorry. I think I’m glad he’s dead.”

And that’s Egghead’s legacy. Mourned by no one. And his death is only not cheered because the only people that cared feel shitty about feeling glad he’s dead.

ANYWAY, there’s some other loose ends to tie up.

So Hank takes a taxi to the Avengers Mansion and I guess finally explicitly explains why the mansion has seemed to change positions over time?

Hank Pym: “I never thought I’d be coming here again. The place has certainly changed since the day Jan and I met here with Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk to draft the Avengers charter and by-laws. And I still recall the time Iron Man and Thor moved the mansion back from the street to give us more privacy. What a project that was!”

Sounds like a heck of a noodle incident, Hank.

... Why just Thor and Iron Man? Did they... did they literally just shove the mansion back from the street? ... There’s... basements and caves under there. How does that work? That seems like a massive architectural project.

Hank, pls, I need to know more details. You can’t just drop that information and casually stroll away. HANK!

Captain Marvel meets Hank at the door and escorts him inside, captain marveling at how calm Hank is despite everything he’s been through.

Hank shows up to the Avengers meeting and-

Oh god, She-Hulk looks like she wants to punch the suppressed emotions right out of Jan. She-Hulk, pls.

So, Wasp is super formal, calling Hank Dr. Pym and telling him that they want to use the mento-scan helmet to see if he was under outside influence when he did all the very bad things he did.

All of the Avengers are harboring their own concerns.

She-Hulk: “I’ve read legal briefs that were more informal! She’s cool on the surface, but inside -- ! Jannie, why are you doing this to yourself?!”

Are you guys already at the cute nickname stage of your friendship or is that just the way She-Hulk be?

Cap is worried that this is rough on Jan but that she’s doing what she needs to do as the Avengers chairwoman. But he’s more worried about the absence of Iron Man who is still missing and who ignored three calls to assemble.

Thor is just internally like ‘just do the helmet, my dude.’

Hawkeye is literally biting his lip at the tension.

Hawkeye: “Jan divorced Hank after his last breakdown. If we find out that he wasn’t to blame, what’s it gonna do to the both of ‘em? I hate this! That stupid court hearing was a breeze in comparison.”

Huh, Hawkeye has a point. Even if outside influence is proven, its not as straightforward as Jan and Hank instantly getting back together, no harm no foul. There was harm. And the problems with their relationship were deeper than one incident. But it would also create this possible expectation that they should get back together because the specific incident wasn’t Hank’s fault.

And Captain Marvel is still looking at this from an outsiders’ perspective.

Captain Marvel: “They’re really hurting over this... all of them! They all care so very, very much. If I ever become a fully active Avenger, I pray that I can live up to their example.”

So Hank very calmly agrees to use the helmet. But...

Hank Pym: “Sorry... no outside influences. It would have changed a lot of things if there had been, wouldn’t it? But no, I made my own mistakes... and I have to live with them.”

Thiiiiis was the best decision for the story arc. It may seem, in retrospect, the worst decision in the long run, but I can respect the story for standing by what it has done and standing by the growth Hank has had as a result of everything that happened.

I think a lot of more modern marvel comics have gone a little wild with letting the heroes do all kinds of dubious things and also die because it can be easily undone. It was a Skrull, they were being mind-controlled, it was an AU Nazi version of them created by a cosmic cube child. Or by giving the hero some big redemptive moment like Iron Man wiping his mind to make up for doing Civil War. Or Iron Man dying to make up for Civil War 2. You can explore whatever scenarios you want without worrying about dealing with the consequences long-term.

But in this era of Marvel, they were concerned with the long-term. Not to say that there weren’t cop-outs back in this day too. But since books were expected to keep going indefinitely instead of being cancelled and relaunched, there’s less of a sense of ‘this thing is only here to play with for a little while.’ If you wrote a thing, another writer was expected to follow up on it.

And I miss that a little.

So not giving a cop-out bullshit thing that undoes Hank’s actions was bad in the long run for his image as a character. But that’s a long way from now problem, exacerbated by writers like Chuck Austin and Mark Millar who wanted to wallow in it.

For an arc where Hank fell from grace and proved himself again, taking ownership of what a garbage fire his life can be was necessary.

One among many reasons I probably won’t like the Crossing when I get to it, haha.

With Hank’s actions proven as being Hank’s actions, Hank says there’s one more loose end that he wants to help tie off.

He wants to participate as witness when the Avengers hold a court of inquiry for Hawkeye killing Egghead.

This comes as an absolute surprise to Hawkeye, who I guess never read the bylaws. Which honestly, is very in-character for him.

But it being brought up, he insists that all he has to do is enter the findings of the state judge and be done with it.

Hank insists he participate though.

Hank Pym: “Hawkeye is faced with charges because he acted in my defense. It’s only right that I act in his.”

So, the Avengers go to the first floor library, which is apparently the court of inquiry room. I feel like we’re suddenly getting a lot of details about the layout of the Avengers Mansion in recent issues.

So Wasp convenes the court all formal style, so formal style that Hawkeye thinks that stickler Cap(tain America) couldn’t have done a better job. The purpose of the court of inquiry is to determine the validity of the charge of “unreasonable use of deadly force” and determine what if any proper disciplinary action should be taken.

I think Hawkeye is annoyed at having to go through with this (read the bylaws, my dude) because when Wasp asks if he has anything to add to his claim of innocence of the charge, he says he already gave the court copies of the court transcript that cleared him of the same charge, but also decides to speechify a little, because he wasn’t accused of contempt of court enough today.

Hawkeye: “I have already given the chair copies of the transcript of a hearing of the state courts... a hearing which found me not guilty of the same charge. And I have something else to say as well!”

“I don’t deny that my actions caused the death of Egghead. But in no way did I use undue force! I found Hank Pym in mortal danger, and I used the necessary means to save him... period. After all, we are supposed to be the Avengers, right?”

Luckily for Hawkeye, the Avengers are more willing to put up with him than a state court so Jan just goes ‘ok, noted.’

Captain Marvel also has a minor change of heart on Hawkeye. I don’t think we’ve gotten her in-depth feelings on him before (although he did get pissy about her joining the team, we didn’t see her response to that) but she’s impressed because she thought he had more wind than conviction but is seeing that isn’t so. And she’s also impressed by Serious Mode Jan who she thought was kind of flighty.

Captain Monica Marvel seeing all kinds of new sides of the Avengers lately.

Also, this isn’t important and you won’t be able to see what I mean unless I included more caps than I wanted to, but in the panel establishing the court of inquiry, Monica is just standing off to the side. But in the next panel she appears in, she’s moved over to sit on a couch instead.

I think its a framing thing but its still kind of funny to imagine her going ‘wait why am I standing up’ and heading for the comfy couch.

With Hawkeye’s statement given, Wasp invites Hank Pym to speak his piece.

And Hank gets up and gives an entirely unnecessary but probably appreciated defense of Hawkeye.

Hank Pym: “Ladies and gentlemen... I have not always been on the friendliest of terms with Hawkeye. Point of fact, we nearly came to blows a number of times... back in the days when I was an Avenger. But in all the time I’ve known him, Hawkeye has never used undue force.”

“I realize that this inquiry is little more than a formality. I have no doubt that you will find in his behalf. He did, as he said, act only in my defense. Unlike my own recent case before you, there is not the slightest hint of misconduct or negligence. The only thing Hawkeye is guilty of is being a good Avenger.”

“When I last spoke before this body, at my court-martial, I was not in a rational state of mind. I was unfit to be an Avenger. You wisely expelled me. I never expected to speak before you again. And now, I can think of no finer final statement than this... It has been my sincere honor to have known Hawkeye’s fellowship... as it has to have known yours.”

Okay. So. Half a defense of Hawkeye. And half... just a general good-bye and a demonstration that he actually does know how to deliver a defense at a court-martial. Cool.

I imagine if he had a mic, he would have dropped it.

Probably not, actually. Hank isn’t that exact blend of cool and inconsiderate for a mic drop.

Jarvis intercepts Hank on his way out and asks that he come with him to the second floor study. Jarvis has taken the liberty of gathering up the personal items Hank just kind of left in the mansion and packing them for him.

One suitcase has a bunch of Hank’s clothes that he had stashed in the mansion over the years. Including some wacky ties for wacky tie Fridays and a shirt that Hank had just plumb lost.

The other suitcase is a spare Yellowjacket outfit. In case Hank ever needs it.

Then Hank and Jarvis shake hands, Hank thanking Jarvis for everything that he’s done for him and the Avengers. He asks Jarvis to take care of himself because he knows he doesn’t have to ask him to take care of the Avengers.

This is a very touching scene. Its so touching that Jarvis excuses himself to go get misty eyed.

This is a Jarvis appreciation blog because I appreciate Jarvis as well.

Then, as Hank heads back down the staircase, he is intercepted by Thor, Captain America, and Hawkeye.

Yeah, the court of inquiry resolved off-screen because of how forgone a conclusion it was.

The three Avengers basically fall all over themselves to pat Hank on the back. Hank actually looks somewhat panicked by the positive affirmation.

That’s some mixture of funny and sad that I can’t identify.

Hawkeye tells Hank how much he appreciated his unnecessary defense. Thor clasps Hank’s shoulder and tells him he’s a class act, but in Thor-y words. And Cap extends an offer for whatever the Avengers can do to help Hank get back on his feet.

Hank thanks him for the offer but he’s already received an offer from a small research foundation in the Midwest.

Seems like getting exonerated of a treason charge is the best resume of all. That and Hank’s actual impressive resume.

But Cap has some stuff to work out re: Hank because he starts off on the stuff he put on the back burner back in that Ghost Rider issue.

Cap(tain America): “Hank... I know Iron Man would agree, if he were here, that we’re all sorry about the way things worked out. We should have realized the pressures you’d been under, prior to your breakdown. I was group leader at the time! I should have -- !”

Hank Pym: “Hold it right there, Cap! What I did, I did to myself! If I could have admitted that my problems existed... If I’d been willing to open up to you folks... Well, ‘if’ can be a big word sometimes. The fact of the matter is, I screwed up. And you did the only thing you could do! I don’t blame any of you.”

Hank has boarded the personal responsibility train and goddammit he’s riding it to the end of the line!

Good for him. Good clarity for the arc to have in its last issue.

But having started to slightly shout at the Avengers that he’s taking responsibility dammit! (he looks a bit pissed when he’s responding to Cap) Hank awkwardly excuses himself.

Cap tries to stop Hank from leaving because he has reached the bargaining stage of grief, I guess.

Cap: “Hank, wait! It doesn’t have to end like this! We could make a special amendment to the by-laws! We could reinstate you as an Avenger! You could be a special reservist -- !”

Hank: “Thanks, Cap. But no thanks. Trying to play super hero was the biggest mistake I ever made with my life! I was only fooling myself in ever thinking otherwise. But if you ever really think you might need a Yellowjacket again some day...”

He hands Cap the Yellowjacket suitcase.

Hank: “... Here! All you need is a good man and what’s in this case!”

I would hope, anyway. It’s going to be awkward if he opens it up later and its full of wacky ties.

The funny thing, although not really funny ha ha, is that Yellowjacket is the one codename of Hank’s that never really catches on outside of him.

You have multiple Ant-Men, a couple Goliaths, at least one other Giant-Man. There was a second Yellowjacket, eventually. But she didn’t make a big splash.

Despite Hank’s attempt here to pass the torch, Yellowjacket is a codename that remains inextricably tied to him. Which might be the problem. If there were another, more successful or at least more endearing Yellowjacket, Hank’s infamy in the role would not stand out so much.

Alas.

She-Hulk and Captain Marvel try next to intercept Hank. They don’t know him very well but they wanted to say their goodbyes too, despite not really knowing him that well.

Its the thought that definitely counts, probably.

But Hawkeye has some social awareness for a change and draws their attention to Wasp who is hanging back, but who clearly wants to talk to Hank.

So the rest of the Avengers quickly vacate to let Hank and Jan finally have closure. Or re-closure. “I want a divorce and to never see you again” is a kind of closure.

The situation has changed, however.

They both try to apologize to each other and then laugh at the awkwardness.

Hank: “Janet van Dyne, you are one in a million! After all that I put you through, you want to tell me that you’re sorry?”

Wasp: “I think we both made some mistakes along the way, but there were some good times... weren’t there?”

Hank: “Yes. But you can’t base a marriage on just a few good times. I fell for the young lady who reminded me of my first wife... and you thought you’d found the strong, silent hero. But I was never that strong, Jan. You know that now.”

Wasp: “Uh-huh.”

Damn, his prison time really did bring Hank a lot of clarity. That or the pile of therapists Tony kept throwing at him.

Hank also kind of talks over Jan here. Or at least steers the conversation. I don’t know what Jan would have said because Hank tells her that they both have other lives to lead and tells her to take care of herself.

Maybe its for the best, if, like Cap, she was going to try to shoulder all the blame for Hank’s bad decisions.

Hank walks out the door and finds Trish and Fred from the boat waiting to give him a ride to the airport. And then he is gone.

Like in the final image of the COURT-MARTIAL issue, Jan watches at the window.

“The last time Henry Pym left these walls, Janet felt like crying... but couldn’t find any tears. Today, at last, she has found the tears... for her former husband... for her team... for herself. Today, there is pain and remorse and release. There will be time enough for joy and hope tomorrow.”

Emotional catharsis can be like that.

In that the book kept going ‘Jan is really holding her emotions in and that’s probably not overall great for her’ its good that she can let it out now.

Kind of laughing at Captain Marvel and She-Hulk who only recently just met Jan being the ones going there there while the men she has known for years are just awkwardly standing in the background.

And that’s the fall and rise of Hank Pym. Apparently collected in trade as The Trial of Yellowjacket, which is a decent enough name too.

Overall, a good arc. That is kind of hampered by the need for filler and a writer change near the end. But honestly, Stern catches the ball and runs with it. He concludes the arc just as good as Shooter would’ve.

This arc is all kinds of iconic for Hank, although, unfortunately, most people are only aware of the beginning and maybe have a hazy understanding of what the ending does.

Although. This is a really good send-off for Hank. A really, really good send-off that would have worked best if he did like he said and quit superheroing forever.

That’s not to be, obviously, not in a perpetual narrative machine like Marvel. But it feels like it could have been and maybe should have been the last word on his character.

I enjoy Hank in Busiek’s Avengers and in Avengers Academy. And also, conceptually, Hank telling Reed “it’s on, bitch.” I very don’t enjoy Ultimate Hank Pym. So its a balancing act. The perfect exit for the character vs but I like some stuff when they brought him back.

Anyway.

After this, Stern gets to move on to his own material. Which he already planted the seeds for in this issue.

That’s a pun.

Follow @essential-avengers because of my bad puns. Also like and reblog, if you like to reblog.

#Avengers #Egghead #Masters of Evil #Hank Pym #Hawkeye #the Wasp #Captain America #Thor #She Hulk #Captain Marvel #Monica Rambeau #i did a lot of quoting because the comic has some good quotables here #essential avengers #essential marvel liveblogging

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astromechs · 4 years

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meant to write something for @murdockquills ‘s birthday a bit back, but since i ran into a horrible case of writer’s block and it’s now so far past that date, we’ll just call this a dedication. 💙

vaguely currentish canon, you can think of this as a vague sequel to this little story; also out here ignoring half the shit bendis did because the joint memorial is important to me, ok

Sometimes, his therapist has told him over multiple sessions, with an unending patience that Rich thinks has to be up there with the greatest mysteries of the universe, you have to close some doors so others can open. Have to face the past to step into the future, because otherwise, there’s always going to be some kind of gravity pulling you back.

Months of therapy have made him more open-minded to things like this, no matter how pointless they may sound, or how much of a waste of time they may seem, at first; honestly, his therapist has yet to let him down so far. He gives some serious thought to it in his idle moments, between council meetings and doing his part to maintain tenuous intergalactic peace. What doors should he close? The Cancerverse itself has already been taken care of now, for good, so that’s not it. Robbie is still out there, and — no, he’s not ready for that one, as horrible of a person as that makes him, because that still hurts too much.

While enduring one particularly boring meeting at the Proscenium, as Zoralis Gupa, once again, spends half an hour stumbling over his own words to find his point (and really tries what little patience he has with politics to begin with), Rich finally gets a flash of an idea.

It’s one he’s going to need a little help with — and he’s slowly getting more open-minded about accepting that, too.

One quiet afternoon (local time), he touches down onto the surface of Hala, with the Bowie breaking atmosphere about ten minutes behind him. They could’ve gone on the ship together, but maybe there’d been a point to prove, a point that, by all indication, he has proven; the Human Rocket can totally beat this ship any day of the week.

A satisfied smile tugs on his mouth to greet Peter as the other man finally disembarks and makes his way over toward him. Peter, in turn, pulls a frown, clearly exaggerated for comedic effect, before sticking out his tongue.

They’re two mature and dignified war heroes; they swear.

Which, incidentally, brings them to the reason why they’re here.

The helmet feels too stuffy for this, somehow, so Rich takes a second to peel it off his head and collapse it into his hand, reaching the other toward Peter as they begin to walk among the monuments to people they’d once fought beside — some returned, like them, others lost forever. His partner in every conceivable way, Peter is of course there to meet him, threading their fingers together; it helps, it really does, especially when the floating statue of Phyla makes his throat go particularly tight, and he begins to question even coming here in the first place.

You have to close some doors, he reminds himself, coming back to the moment and drawing strength from their connected hands, so others can open.

He’d never really put much thought into what it’d be like to see his own face in stone, to see himself towering over everything else, but it just — feels weird, mostly, he realizes as their feet finally come to a stop at the base of their destination. No, this is completely separate from him, from them; images from a storybook telling the legend of some great hero who’d never actually lived at all, but still represents something big to live up to, all the same. Rich swallows, and there’s a profound heaviness in his chest all of a sudden, but —

“They don’t even look like us.”

Thankfully, Peter has saved him — just like always. Taken the words right out of a mouth that hadn’t quite figured out how to form them.

Rich tilts his head. “You’re right,” he says, doing his best to keep his voice light. “Yours actually makes you look handsome.”

That, and the smirk that forms on his mouth, get him a light punch to the bicep. He starts laughing, and a beat later, amends with, “Kidding! Seriously — if either of us went around looking like that much of a prick, I’d have done everyone else a favor and just kept us both in the Cancerverse.”

Peter laughs, too, and with that, some of the weird tension in the air begins to lift. A more comfortable silence settles between them.

For a while they stay like that, each wandering in their own thoughts — but connected by their hands, ensuring that neither will go far.

At one point, Rich feels a light, but deliberate tug on his fingers; following the unspoken signal, he turns to find Peter grinning at him, more than a glint of mischief in his eyes when he asks: “You wanna draw dicks on ‘em?”

The laugh that bursts out of Rich this time isn’t the same breathy, awkward thing from before; this is one that starts in his core and moves all the way through him, shaking his shoulders and bringing actual tears to his eyes. That… that’s exactly what he’d needed in this moment, and when the laughter finally subsides and he manages to catch his breath again, when the last of the residual tears are wiped away, the gratitude is written all over his face — not just for this, but also for so many other things that he can’t even begin to express.

“I love you. Marry me.”

The words fall out of his mouth like they’re nothing, and in the immediate, he’s stunned. Not horrified, definitely not horrified, but — stunned, because the thought has honestly never crossed his mind before. (At least, not fully consciously.) He has a couple of options here. One, he can play it off like a joke before they both move on; that’s probably the better way to go, since it avoids some potential weirdness. But as his thoughts drift more toward the second one, really embrace the idea….

He thinks it feels right.

Before he thinks any more about it, Rich breaks their connection and crouches down until he has one knee in the grass, setting the helmet down beside him. He takes one of Peter’s hands again, this time with both of his own, and repeats, with all the soft, bright-eyed conviction in the universe: “Marry me?”

Peter’s eyes widen and he doesn’t say anything at first, and there’s just enough space for the doubts to start creeping in. Stupid, stupid; of course he isn’t ready for this, neither of them are ready for this, probably never will be, and it’s fine, it’s not like they need it, that’s just movie stuff, they’re —

Before he can really register what’s happening, Rich finds himself pulled off of the grass and into the tightest of embraces. Feels lips press against his before responding in kind.

Sometimes, Rich thinks, before all thought blissfully fades, you gotta close some doors so others can open.

#richard rider #peter quill #riderquill #* fic #one day i will put this stuff on ao3 but today is not this day #this day i will prevent myself from having to think of titles for just a little longer

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Marvel’s Loki Episode 3: MCU Easter Eggs and References

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This article contains Marvel’s Loki episode 3 spoilers.

Marvel’s Loki episode 3 is a big one. It’s the first episode of the series to spend the entirety of its runtime outside of the TVA offices, the first where we get to spend a substantial amount of time with the mysterious Sylvie, and the coolest visit to an extraterrestrial location we’ve had in the MCU since Avengers: Endgame.

It’s a big one, and there’s lots of cool MCU things you might have missed, or might not know about from the pages of Marvel Comics…and more!

Here’s what we found in Marvel’s Loki episode 3.

Lamentis

The planet Lamentis was introduced in the pages of Annihilation: Conquest Prologue (the very story that established the modern incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy). It exists on the outer rim of the Kree empire and is filled with scavengers trying to gather scarce resources via force. The Phyla-Vell version of Quasar and Moondragon were there to help keep the peace, mainly protecting a sect of pacifist priests from those who would take their stuff.

But to be clear, the events of Loki episode 3 take place on Lamentis-1, a moon of Lamentis, and it’s the planet itself that is breaking up and crashing into the moon, not the other way around.

Interestingly, while the lighting choices for this episode were most definitely a very specific story choice (more on that in a minute), it’s also in keeping with the way Lamentis was colored in its only comic book appearance.

Sylvie, Lady Loki, The Enchantress

We don’t get a TON of clarity on the nature of Sophia Di Martino’s Loki variant, but despite her “Sylvie” name, the balance is tipping further in the direction of her being a true “Lady Loki” and not strictly the Sylvie Lushton version of Enchantress from Marvel Comics (we wrote more about this confusing distinction here).

That being said, she’s not NOT Sylvie/Enchantress, either! It seems that Sylvie is indeed a variant Loki (recent merchandise reveals have officially shown that she is “Sylvie Laufeydottir” (as opposed to “Loki Laufeyson”) so that’s another sign that she’s truly a variant of our Loki. For some reason (probably a good one) she doesn’t want to be known as a Loki anymore, hence “Sylvie,” and she does use enchantments as a primary power, hence “Enchantress.”

So the answer here is still “yes” to any of these questions, but we’re leaning on the simplest explanation being the correct one: she’s a Loki variant, and in true MCU fashion they’re just mashing up other elements of mythology from the comics to make a cool new character.

There’s also some serious Moonlighting energy between the hedonistic Loki and the more serious and on-mission Sylvie all through this episode, but we’re wondering how many of you are even old enough to remember Moonlighting, and that is depressing.

The Loki/Enchantress-appropriate green tie-dye that Sylvie is rocking in the bar “flashback” is pretty cool, but not an Easter egg. But maybe we should bring tie-dye back this summer.

Loki is Bisexual

The “bisexual lighting” that Lamentis is bathed in throughout the entirety of the episode is no accident, as it’s revealed that both Loki and Sylvie are bisexual. Loki director Kate Herron spoke briefly about this reveal on Twitter, as well:

From the moment I joined @LokiOfficial it was very important to me, and my goal, to acknowledge Loki was bisexual. It is a part of who he is and who I am too. I know this is a small step but I’m happy, and heart is so full, to say that this is now Canon in #mcu #Loki 💗💜💙 pic.twitter.com/lz3KJbewx8

— Kate Herron (@iamkateherron) June 23, 2021

As far as we can tell, in terms of the comics, Loki’s bisexuality first came up in Young Avengers #15. After saving the world and getting a bit of a pep talk from Prodigy, a late-teen incarnation of Loki hit on his teammate for the sake of celebration, but was ultimately turned down.

“My culture doesn’t really share your concept of sexual identity,” Loki said in that issue. “There are sexual acts, that’s it. I’m actually the patron god of certain popular ones, believe it or not.” (some very cursory research fails to confirm that last point, which would really be perfectly in keeping for Loki to lie about)

“Another!”

When partying up on the train, Loki smashes his empty glass and excitedly asks for another. This is exactly what his brother does in the first Thor movie after enjoying a cup of coffee at a diner. It’s an Asgardian custom!

The Songs

The song that opens the episode is “Demons” by Hayley Kiyoko, which also includes some potentially Loki-specific lines as “Please forgive me, I’ve got demons in my head, tryin’ to eat me, tryin’ to feed me lies until I’m dead.”

The song that closes the episode is “Dark Moon,” a 1957 country hit by Bonnie Guitar (there are other versions, including a rare one by Elvis Presley and a really cool one by Chris Isaak for the soundtrack of the very cool and underrated A Perfect World, but the version here is Bonnie’s). It’s a little on-the-nose with the events happening on Lamentis, but also features haunting lyrics that may hint at something more: “Mortals have dreams of love’s perfect schemes, but they don’t realize that love will sometimes bring a…Dark Moon.”

Does anyone know the name of the song that Loki sings while he’s “full?” If so, please let us know in the comments!

The TVA

The mobile devices that TVA agents use to navigate through timelines are given a name in this episode: TemPads.

We get a couple more bits of important TVA context this episode. The first is that apparently the Time Keepers reside at the top floor accessible by a golden elevator in the TVA offices. When Hunter C-20 said she “gave up the location” of the Time Keepers last week, who could have expected the answer to be so simple?

Additionally, Sylvie reveals at episode’s end that all TVA employees had a life prior to joining the TVA. In fact, every TVA worker was at some point a Variant just like Loki and Sylvie. This directly contradicts Miss Minutes’ claim that the TVA employees were created by the Time Keepers to police the Sacred Timeline. This may mean that Mobius was also lying to Loki about the nature of TVA agents…UNLESS…in the comics, Mobius was one of many Mobiuses, because the TVA engaged in “managerial cloning” for their best representatives, while employing “freelancers” for other work. Perhaps Mobius was telling Loki his truth, while Sylvie’s theory about the Variants being conscripted into service as Minutemen is ALSO true.

During the end credits, there’s a collection of TVA file photos on a desk, showing Loki and Sylvie together. Apparently, they’re getting their images from their exploits from Lamentis-1, as one photo is specifically Loki as a train guard. Looks like these two aren’t as hidden from the authorities as they realized.

Miscellaneous Time Variants

Funny enough, the shot of Loki landing after being thrown out of the train is framed to look exactly like when Loki fell out of Doctor Strange’s portal in Thor: Ragnarok.

The two soldiers at the entrance to the train are called Corporal Hicks and Private Hudson which is a neat nod to Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton’s characters in Aliens!

The guards on Lamentis look kind of like they’re wearing Cobra uniforms, don’t they?

There’s a serious Snowpiercer vibe to that “rich folks getting on a train to escape a natural disaster/apocalypse while the poor are left to suffer and die.” Wait, that is actually a real life vibe, too.

If episode 2 was a police procedural, this episode is very much “peak TV,” right down to its use of an obscure needledrop to end the episode coming out of an elaborate “one take” action sequence. Daredevil no longer has a monopoly on those in Marvel TV, it would seem.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Spot something we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post Marvel’s Loki Episode 3: MCU Easter Eggs and References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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musiclovingmoth · 3 years

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studying for this comparative vertebrate anatomy quiz has me feeling extremely inadequate tonight lads

also today one of my supervisors came in with some worms she found in the horse conch tank for my other supervisor to identify which was really cool! after a few minutes of poking around at it under a dissecting scope, i think he narrowed it down all the way to a family of nemertean worms without even consulting any resources. i asked him how he knew the systematics of so many invertebrate phyla so well, and he told me he’d been reading taxonomic literature since he was 12?? which is amazing but it made me wish i had been more productive with my scientific interests when i was younger. most of my friends at school had very specific interests that they cultivated through extracurriculars or a lot of independent reading but i wasn’t like that, i kinda just liked biology and came here on that vague inclination. idk why i feel so badly about it rn. i really look up to my supervisor and i think my friends are really cool and fun people, but no matter how hard i try i feel like i’ll absolutely never be anything special compared to them. they’ve all told me i’m smart and stuff but i’m finding it super hard to believe right now

a really smart guy i knew in middle school once told us that he wasn’t actually that smart and was just good at taking tests, which i am really feeling in the club tonight

#sighhhhhhh.#lab notebook

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nosoactivehero · 4 years

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Because I am restless, and keep making Marvel shit, I’ve decided to create my own Guardians of the Galaxy team/story.

Dunno if it’ll ever get done, but I’ve stacked the roster. It goes as follows:

Kitty Pryde/Star Lady aka Kitty as Star Lord, in that outfit from ANAD Guardians.

Illyana Rasputin...with a symbiote. Mostly because I need my Kittyana content. And Symbiote!Illyana from Venom: the End looks GREAT. And Guardians!Venom was my favourite.

Rocket, Groot, Drax. A few classic members.

Avril Kincaid/Starbrand- With her Quantum Bands running low on “go juice”, Avril has taken to the stars in order to find a way to restore herself to her full power.

Phyla-Vell and Moondragon

Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters: because I don’t break perfectly happy marriages, and I also loved Ben as a Guardian. And hey! Alicia being a famous sculptor on an intergalactic scale doesn’t hurt, now does it?

Beta Ray Bill- Honestly? Just here for a good fight. And to help the final member of the team with a task.

Gwenpool: On an intergalactic search for Jeff the Shark Puppy after Quinten yeeted him into some portal.

Anwen Oakes, a.ka Ghost Rider: An OC of mine that I’ve been workshopping for YEARS. I have some art of her. Essentially, she has an Asgardian Hammer called Storm Rider, and it’s gone missing somewhere in space. So she’s out searching for it...and might have left earth due to getting dumped. Maybe.

I suppose the central themes here are, of course, Found Family, and that Everyone is looking for something.

I dunno. It’s a “plot bunny” I’m chasing. Thought I might share.

#marvel #marvel fanfic idea #fanfic idea #gotg #Guardians of the Galaxy #X-Men #fantastic four #Venom #Kitty Pryde #illyana rasputin #gwenpool #Ben Grimm #beta ray bill #phyla vell #moondragon #Ghost Rider #Avril Kincaid #starbrand

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gokinjeespot · 4 years

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off the rack #1298

Monday, January 27, 2020

It's the Year of the Rat man. I hope it's a happy one for you and yours. I had the pleasure of spending time with the newest member of the Jee Gang toting baby Ashton around while he took in the happy chaos at our Chinese New Year gathering yesterday. His wonder at the world makes it a happier place.

Conan Serpent War #4 - Jim Zub (writer) Ig Guara & Vanesa R. Del Rey (art) Frank D'Armata & Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). This bizarre adventure teaming up Conan, Solomon Kane, Agnes and Moon Knight concludes with the demon Wyrm chopped up into fish food. This story won't matter to anyone other than fans of those four heroes but it sure was fun to read.

Batman #87 - James Tynion IV (writer) Guillem March (art) Tomeu Morey (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). I'm happy Catwoman and Cheshire are in this story. I love how Guillem March draws women. There are a lot of players in Gotham City right now so please pay attention as the mystery unfolds.

Once & Future #6 - Kieron Gillen (writer) Dan Mora (art) Tamra Bonvillain (colours) Ed Dukeshire (letters). That's two fantasy stories that ends with the death of a serpent. Must be a common theme this week. One of the bad guys gets away and the story of Duncan and his Granny will continue. I don't know if I'll read the next arc since this one didn't conclude very well. I felt that Zombie King Arthur was defeated too easily.

Detective Comics #1019 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Scott Godlewski (art) David Baron (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). And so the winter solstice passes and the mystery of the Nordic cult ends. I'm glad this story about a creature from the nether regions was short.

Atlantis Attacks #1 - Greg Pak (writer) Ario Anindito (art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I picked this off the rack to read because I wanted to see what Namor was up to these days. He's back being the angry ruler of Atlantis pissed off at the air breathers. This time he's mad at all of the Agents of Atlas. That Jimmy Woo sure hangs out with the weirdest heroes of the Marvel U. If you're a fan of all those Agents you'll want to add this 5-issue mini to your subscriptions.

Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #2 - James Tynion IV (writer) Steve Epting & Javier Fernandez (art) Nick Filardi (colours) Travis Lanham (letters). Cool. It looks like Lex Luthor is going to be the one to save the world this time. I like who he's asking for help. I'll give you a hint: har.

The Amazing Spider-Man #38 - Nick Spencer (writer) Iban Coello (art) Brian Reber (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Here's the latest twist to the life of Peter Parker: J. Jonah Jameson is helping Spider-Man now instead of vilifying the hero. Jonah is also working for a new media firm and the old fogey does not like what he sees. We're back to the Chameleon storyline where Peter and his spy sister Theresa are trying to get back all the S.H.I.E.L.D. tech that was stolen. All the dangling plot threads are starting to get annoying.

Superman #19 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Ivan Reis (pencils) Joe Prado, Danny Miki, Julio Ferreira & Oclair Albert (inks) Alex Sinclair (colours) AndWorld Design (letters). I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop after Superman's big secret identity reveal. All of his Earthly super villains haven't taken advantage of the news so let's head out into space shall we? This is where Mongul attacks the new United Planets. The Superman versus Mongul fights have been epic and this new one won't disappoint.

Fantastic Four #18 - Dan Slott (writer) Paco Medina, Francesco Manna & Carlos Magno (art) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Now I get the point of this "Point of Origin" story. When Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben launched all those years ago, the Overseer of the planet Spyre saw a threat to his perfect planet and shot cosmic rays at the ship to kill the FF. We know how that went off the rails. So now we have the Fantastic Four returning to Spyre and basically screwing up the whole planet like the Overseer foresaw. Hey, you don't mess with Destiny. I wonder why Reed is so pissed off in the next issue teaser.

Batman Superman #6 - Joshua Williamson (writer) David Marquez (art) Alejandro Sanchez (colours) John J. Hill (letters). Well that was a whole lot of yakkity-yak. This issue takes place before Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1. Batman and Superman find Wonder Woman to tell her the bad news that Donna Troy has been infected by the Batman Who Laughs. Then they continue to try and find a cure for the infected. The issue ends with a surprise appearance of two super villains making the next issue a "must read" for me.

Marauders #6 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Matteo Lolli & Mario Del Pennino (art) Erick Arciniega & Federico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Kitty (call her Kate) saves the day but is sunk in the end. I've been ambivalent about reading this title of political intrigue and this issue made up my mind to bench this book. The subject matter is mature but the dialogue is juvenile so I'm outta here.

Kill Lock #2 - Livio Ramondelli (story & art) Tom B. Long (letters). The search for the key to disable the Kill Lock continues. I care about the plight of these four condemned droids.

The Old Guard: Force Multiplied #2 - Greg Rucka (writer) Leandro Fernandez (art) Daniela Miwa (colours) Jodi Wynne (letters). The team goes to rescue victims of human traffickers and get a surprise when they open the container. This book will blow you away.

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 - Al Ewing (writer) Juann Cabal (art) Federico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Call him Racoon, Rocket Racoon. Rocket's gone from looking like road kill in the last story arc to quite the fashion plate in this new run. And his guns have gotten a lot smaller. The team is recovering from the Universal Church of Truth massacre but their respite is short lived. Zeus and his Greek gods have returned and they're all evil now. You can tell because they're dressed in black. Nova asks the Guardians for help but only Starlord, Rocket, Moondragon and Phyla-Vell/Captain Marvel join the fray. I like that Marvel Boy is back and when the mission goes FUBAR, a surprise ally makes an appearance. The art alone makes this worth picking up off the rack.

Basketful of Heads #4 - Joe Hill (writer) Leomacs (art) Dave Stewart (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). Poor June, she keeps meeting up with bad men. You can't blame a girl for defending herself. Now there are two heads in the basket. Basket head number three just introduced himself. This is just too weirdly fun.

Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula #1 - Frank Tieri (writer) Angel Unzueta (modern day art) Stefano Landini (flashback art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). This is the last of the one-shots leading into the 5-issue Ravencroft mini. It's going to have lots of Marvel heroes and villains if this issue is any indication. In the first few pages alone we have Man Wolf, Misty Knight, Mr. Fantastic, the Falcon, Power Man and Iron fist and the Winter Soldier who introduces the flashback where Captain America fights with Dracula. When we return to the present, new inmates are being incarcerated into the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminal Insane. I could only identify Mr. Hyde but I didn't recognise the others. The consultant hired to work with these inmates was a surprise and may entice you to pick up Ravencroft #1 when it hits the racks on January 29. Imagine if the Joker were hired to work at Arkham Asylum.

Wonder Woman #750 - I read all 9 stories in this $9.99 US anniversary issue to see where Princess Diana was at right now. Nothing much has changed since I stopped reading her book regularly so I won't be picking up #751. I've read other comic books aimed at young female readers, the Unstoppable Wasp is a good example, but this one doesn't spark a renewed interest in me to follow Wonder Woman's adventures.

Birds of Prey 100-Page Giant #1 - Now this is more like it. There are 3 new stories and 3 reprints that I've not read before so it's a great value at $4.99 US. The core team of Batgirl, Black Canary and Huntress are joined by Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman, all fabulous females ready for action. Almost makes me want to see the Birds of Prey movie that hits theatres Friday, February 7.

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