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megamindsecretlair · 3 months

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Be My Little Darling - Chapter 11

Chapter 10 Chapter 12

Pairing: Loki x Black!Fem!reader / Plus Size reader

Warnings: 18+. Minors DNI. You are in charge of your own reading experience. ANGST. Dirty talk, mentions of grief and violence. Soft Loki, Jealous Loki

Summary: Loki is the exclusive owner of the hottest club in New Asgard. Dubbed the Nine Realms, each of the nine rooms represent a different realm. You are his second in command, working the floors and ensuring everyone is having fun. It has been a week since the dust up with Loki and you are not sure how much more you can take.

Word Count: 3,939k

Masterlist

A/N: I'm sorry it's been so long! My family are my opps. I will try to update this a little quicker, I'm excited to see where these two go. A little something something before we get into the nitty gritty. Likes are always awesome. Please consider commenting and reblogging to help support writers! I block ageless blogs!

Taglist: @cantstayawaycani @braverthanthenewworld @monaeesstuff @chaos-4baby @dayjlovesromance @soft-persephone @mybonafidefeelings @nerdieforpedro @browngirldominion @thecookiebratz @we-outsiiiide@foxherder @itzgabz22

“I hate it when Mom and Dad fight,” Sweetie muttered, just loud enough for your benefit. You ignored her just as you ignored the rest of the staff all week. They weren’t stupid, they could pick up on the tension between you and Loki.

You weren’t ignoring him, not completely. He’d throw too big of a temper tantrum. But he was also unwilling to talk about what happened when you saw Thor. You just wanted him to budge, even a little.

He had forced you to confront things you hadn’t been ready to. Forced to draw out those deep grooves in your heart and put them up to a mirror in all its ugly glory. You cried in front of him. Bared your soul and body to him in a way you never had before. And what did he do? Completely shut you out.

You couldn’t survive in half a relationship. So sue you. You weren’t a half measure type of person. You loved and hated in absolutes. You didn’t know how to give up. It was why you were still looking for your family five years later with all evidence pointing to the inevitable truth: Thanos snapped them away.

Your heart cracked thinking of such a thing. That they were just…gone. There was no body to bury, no tomb to mourn. You couldn’t accept it yet. You couldn’t look your siblings in the eyes and tell them that there was no hope left to give.

So no. You weren’t giving up on Loki and you didn’t care how old he was, how powerful, or how much he considered himself a god. He would have to use his big boy words.

“Sweetie, I’m expecting a visitor today. Please make sure to notify me,” you said. It wasn’t her job, but you smiled at her so that she got the message.

“Do we need to Parent Trap them?” Honey asked, not bothering to be subtle. She sat with her usual suspects hunched over cups of coffee, bottles of water or juice, and random pastries.

You grabbed your coffee, unable to fight the smile at the reference. Movies were something you all enjoyed once coming to Earth. As far as being stranded, it wasn’t that bad of a place to be. You all have torn through plenty of movies so far, Parent Trap being among the favorites. You were still shocked that the little girl wasn’t a real life twin.

You walked over to the table while the group looked at you expectantly. Some leaned forward as if you were going to share something juicy. Others looked almost genuinely worried for you. You hated the pity. You didn’t owe them an explanation.

“The saboteur has been too quiet lately, so make sure you keep your eyes peeled. This person likes to watch the chaos from the front seat,” you said. You smiled when they groaned and leaned back.

“Princesa, please! We cannot live like this!” Honey said, her face scrunching up comically into a heartbroken frown.

“You make it sound like we’re in Hel,” you said and chuckled.

“He’s miserable without you,” Sugar said.

You took a sip of coffee to stop yourself from going on a rant. You were their boss, not their friend. Though, some dark pleasure rippled through you at the thought of him suffering. You hoped your scent still lingered in his bed. The gods knew that you tossed and turned in your bed thinking of him between your legs.

And…that was enough of that thinking. You took a deep breath. “Loki is a god, as he likes to remind us. He’s fine,” you said.

They didn’t believe you. You didn’t give a shit. You had more pressing matters to worry about. Like supply requests and restock. A prickling awareness settled over you and you straightened up.

Eyes snapped towards the door. This was all so dreadfully dramatic. You turned towards the door and saw Loki looking as delicious as ever. He couldn’t be that miserable and still look that damn good. It was unfair. His hair should be messy, clothes unkempt. Something.

Your eyes skittered over his before you looked away. It still hurt too much that he didn’t trust you with the truth. And you weren’t the begging type. So you walked over to him. “Loki,” you said with a nod.

“Is it me or is it fucking icy right now?” You heard somewhere behind you.

“Mom and Dad need to figure it the fuck out,” you heard as well.

“Darling, good morning,” he said. He stood and stared at you, making it hard for you to deny that there was anything amiss. He also blocked the damn door.

“Morning,” you said, nodding towards the door. Loki dug his hands in his pockets. You glared at him but his face didn’t change. Nothing about him did. Your hand was beginning to shake. You longed to run your hands through his hair, pull him to you, and demand kisses and smiles.

The staff was right, this was icy. Nothing like the heat and passion he was capable of. You moved to walk past him and he cut you off.

“We have to talk about the VIP list tonight,” he said. There. A wince. A crack. A glimpse into that stormy brain of his.

“Well in hand, Loki,” you said. You smiled, turned around and bowed for the audience. “And scene. Back to work, you bunch of lazies,” you said. The tension in the room melted a fraction before you shoved past Loki and out into the hallway.

Loki trailed behind you. He made no sound but you were attuned to him like never before. You were always aware of him before. How he moved, how he talked, that smile that never failed to trick and tease. But it was amplified now. As if invisible strings connected the both of you.

“Darling, stop,” Loki said. You took a deep breath at his deep timbre. That voice. Hell, let’s be honest. Everything about him drove you crazy. And you had resisted for five long, beautiful, torturous years. It was hard to quit cold turkey.

Still you marched down the hallways towards your office. You weren’t going to make a scene here.

Loki’s strong fingers wrapped around your arms, pulling you to a halt. You swung your arms wide, careful to avoid any slippage of your coffee. You growled, facing Loki finally.

“You’re such a child,” you hissed.

“You’re the one ignoring me like one,” he said.

“I’m not ignoring you, I’m busy. Work, remember? The thing you hired me for?” You asked.

“Fine, then you’re fired,” he said.

You giggled. You immediately shut up because it wasn’t funny, not at all. You drank your coffee to hopefully scald your throat and prevent you from letting any more giggles escape. You weren’t done being angry.

“You won’t even look at me anymore,” he whispered. His hand left your arm and he brought it to your face. He stopped before touching you and you finally looked into his eyes. The sight nearly robbed you of breath.

Away from prying eyes, he let you see the raw pain. The whites of his eyes were wide, mouth straining, jaw clenching.

“Ready to talk about why you blew up at me?” You asked.

“I already said–”

“I have things to do, Loki,” you said. You turned on your heel. Turned away from that look in his eyes. If you stared too long, you’d cave. And you didn’t want to. You did the work and now he had to as well.

Loki didn’t leave it there. He followed you to your office where he waited for you to settle behind your desk. He leaned into the doorframe, watching your every move. You moved a pen here, opened a folder there. But there was no way you were getting work done while he was here. His presence made your brain foggy and hands shake.

Finally, the mounting pressure got to you. You slammed your hands on the desk and looked at him. “Why are you still here?” You asked.

He crossed his arms and took a deep breath. “I don’t like that you’re mad at me. Not when we’ve come so far,” he said.

You leveled him with a stare. “This is on you. You love to talk but won’t talk about this. With me,” you said.

“That’s not it,” he said with a scowl.

“If you won’t talk, I don’t know what to think,” you said.

His jaw flexed more as he spoke. You’d give anything to know what he was thinking, what he was running through his mind.

“Believe it or not, I have a hard time admitting faults,” he said, chuckling to cover what he said.

“So you can stick your dick in my mouth but can’t tell me what’s on your mind?” You asked.

“Don’t be so crass,” he said.

You’d have to be the bigger person here. Which you hated. But you took a deep breath and looked skyward, praying to the gods and ancestors in Valhalla for strength. “I told you no more running. I meant it. But as much as you say otherwise, I need this to be as equal as possible. You cannot demand everything from me and give none of yourself,” you said.

“People are entitled to lick some wounds in private,” he said.

“I’m not asking for every detail of your sordid history. I just want to know why you blew up at me. I only asked about why you didn’t want to speak to Thor,” you said.

Loki finally looked away from you, drawing his eyes downward. He frowned as he picked at an invisible lint on his jacket. “I can’t,” he said, with a sniff. He looked back at you briefly.

You slowly nodded. “At an impasse, then. Get out, Loki,” you said. Your voice sounded tired to your own ears. You were weary, downtrodden. Maybe it was unfair to demand so much from him, something he clearly didn’t want to talk about.

You had enough on your plate without worrying about Loki and his moods. You had decided over the course of the week that it hadn’t been a mistake sleeping with him. You had known bliss in his arms and that couldn’t really be a mistake. It just likely wasn’t going to happen again anytime soon. Not while he held on to whatever the fuck was preventing him from speaking.

Never one to listen, Loki approached your desk. He leaned over it, planting his hands on it and leaning further still. His hair dropped forward like a curtain pulling open for a dramatic scene. His face could technically qualify as a dramatic scene. So many lines and planes, mouth made for sin and eyes dancing with mischief.

“Darling, please. I–” he paused and just looked at you. His eyes moved, taking in your face. You didn’t know how you looked to him. Just another angry and bitter lover? A messy subordinate with a mouth that gave as good as it got? A once irreparably damaged Asgardian without a clue in the world?

“I don’t like this between us. I finally got you in my arms, in my bed. I finally got a peek inside and it feels like you’ve closed the doors forever,” he said.

“You’re the one unwilling to walk through it,” you said, softly.

“And have you told me everything then? Every dark and horrible secret in your past? Like where you run off to every few months, disappearing at the drop of a hat? Every scar on your skin?”

Your heart roared in your chest. It beat wildly, thumping against your rib cage. “You should know that I’ve shared far more than I ever cared to with you,” you said. You thought back to the day in his office when you finally let yourself feel.

For the first time in a long time, you stopped disassociating. Stopped trying to hold it all in. You stopped trying to take flight while your feet were planted on the ground. And he helped you.

“If you want to know where I disappear off to, I’ll tell you. It’s no secret. But only if I get to demand something too. Only if you let me in,” you said.

“Ask me for anything else,” he whispered. His voice was so soft, softer than a raven’s wing. He rounded the desk and moved to stand in front of you. He got to his knees and looked at you. He was still damn tall, practically eye level with you.

He grabbed your hand and brought it to his lips. “Ask me for anything else and I’ll give it. But not that,” he said.

He kept his eyes on your hand, his lips resting softly against it. You brought your other hand to push his hair behind his ear. “That is my price, Loki.”

He loosed a breath while your phone rang. The damn thing was still foreign, even after five years. You answered it. The front desk host let you know that your visitor was here.

You pushed your chair back away from Loki and moved around him. He said nothing and made no noise while you left the room. Your heart felt like a rock in your chest. Each step you took from him felt like lead in your shoes.

Still, you marched on. You walked to the front and greeted the Asgardian tracker you hired. He was impossibly tall, taller than Loki even. With smooth bronzed skin, short hair, but a host of tattoos criss crossing his bare arms. You didn’t know how he wasn’t freezing in this type of climate, but well, you weren’t going to complain.

“Erik!” You said, wide grin splitting your face and you hugged him.

He turned when he saw you, grinning. His smile was so heartbreaking. Why couldn’t you be head over heels for someone like him? He held on a second too long, having last seen him months ago.

You grew up with Erik in your village on Asgard, running through the streets and getting into all kinds of trouble together. You had entertained something between you many, many years ago, but it was clear that you were better off as friends. You had already given your heart away a long time ago.

You sat on a lounge chair in the front and tried to temper your expectations. But hope was a cruel thing. It cropped up, over and over no matter how many times you tried to squash and burn it within you. Erik settled next to you, but he wasn’t smiling.

“No word yet on your family. The universe is very large,” he said.

You nodded. You figured as much. You tried to hold it together, but throwing that door open within you opened yourself to it all. You felt the tears but you weren’t completely transformed. You blinked them away and squared your shoulders.

“I have people on it though. They’re out there,” he said.

You shook your head. “They’re not.” You took a shuddering breath at that realization. Five years was too long to keep searching for people that clearly weren’t here, wasn’t it? The fall of Asgard had to have spread by now. For half of life to be eradicated, even people who had never heard of Thanos likely knew his name now.

If not, well, they knew that those people were gone. Vanished from their lives. Turned to dust and never to be seen again. If Thor was here, all hope was truly lost. The Avengers he so affectionately ran with over the years had gone all but silent. If they were hopeless…

“Perhaps it’s time to involve Heimdall,” Erik said.

You shushed him. You didn’t need that man turning his gaze on you. He was so eerie, seeming to know so many things. His eyes, like galaxies, were far wiser than your age.

“I can’t. I can’t just walk up to him and ask. Maybe it’s time to call it,” you said. You didn’t want to say it. That same crack in your chest split wide open at the thought of stopping your search.

Erik grabbed your hand. “Hey, I’m not giving up,” he said.

You patted his hand. “I’ve taken enough of your time. You have more important people to track down,” you said. Your voice warbled. You hated this. This was why you kept this shit locked away and buried at sea.

“No one is more important than your family. They’re my family too,” he said. He scooted closer to you and drew you into his arms. You greedily took the comfort. He was always so warm and solid, giving the best hugs you’d ever known.

“My, Darling, who’s your friend?” Loki’s voice cut into what had been a sweet and peaceful moment.

You cracked one eye open, trying to disengage from Erik. But he was slower to let you go. He hadn’t missed the deadly tone of Loki’s voice. Where the hell did he come from anyway?

Erik stiffened, turning fully around to face the larger threat. Loki had a devilish smile on his face, but his eyes were seething.

“Loki, this is Erik,” you said. Before you could explain further, Erik stood up and blocked your view of Loki for a moment. Erik held out his hand and Loki shook it, keeping that smile on his face.

“Erik, haven’t seen you around,” Loki said. His eyes slid towards you and you inwardly groaned.

“Erik has–”

“I pop in every few months to check in on her,” Erik said.

“Every few months? Really?” Loki smiled at you. Shit, shit.

“He’s–”

“Any friend of Darling’s a friend of mine,” Loki said.

You narrowed your eyes at Loki. You didn’t know what game he was playing but you weren’t in the mood. “Erik has been looking into something for me. Right, Erik?” You stood up and nudged his shoulder to agree with you. His eyes were still trained on Loki. What was this, a fucking pissing match?

“I was just telling Darling that I’d like to meet more of her friends. We see so little of them,” Loki said. He sauntered around Erik, putting his arm around you. “I like to make sure she’s happy. Always.”

Your eyes bugged out of your head. Erik took in Loki’s arm around you and lifted an eyebrow. “Keeping secrets, are we?” Erik asked. He crossed his arms and stared at you, putting you on the spot.

You licked your lips slowly, trying to describe what you and Loki were to each other. Boyfriend? Boss? Occasional sadistic charmer?

Loki hugged you close and you looked at him. He smiled at you, leaning down to kiss your cheek. “Didn’t tell him about me? I’m a little hurt,” Loki said. Still with that damn smile. You were starting to panic. You might’ve been a little afraid of what he’d do.

Loki moved his right hand to lift up your chin and plant a small, but sultry kiss to your lips. You gasped and he drank it down with a low hum. “Always so private,” he said against your lips.

You were going to murder him. Your hands itched with magic dancing between your fingertips. A dagger? A sword? You were going to cut him down where he stood.

“Erik, he’s–”

“Loki, of Asgard, everyone knows,” Erik said. He raised his eyebrow at you but you didn’t know what he was trying to communicate.

“Will you two shut the fuck up?!” You yelled. You drew the attention of some patrons who cast little glances towards you. The host stood in the corner with a few staff members, Honey among them, as they stared at all three of you. They saw the kiss. Your shoulders deflated. There went the little bit of respect you had around here.

“Erik is a childhood friend who has been looking for my family. They went on a trip when the Snap happened so I don’t know if they’re out there, looking for us, or if they’re gone,” your breath hitched on the word ‘gone’ but you persisted. “Loki is…Loki. We’re figuring it out. Now, say hi to Denby for me,” you said, looking at Erik who slowly smiled.

You shoved off Loki’s arm around you. “As always, you’ve gotten what you wanted and made out like a thief,” you tossed at him.

“You’re no better than he is,” you told Erik.

You stormed off. Leaving everyone in the dust. An ache thumped in your head. You needed away. Away from here with all of its bullshit.

“Darling!” Loki called after you. This time, you heard his steps behind you, heard him walking down the hall. You ignored him. Your fists clenched and unclenched. Your teeth grated. You were fuming with nowhere to direct the anger.

Loki caught up to you outside of your office once more. You pushed him when he was in arm’s reach. “What the fuck was that?!” You yelled.

You were in the back, well away from any patrons. The hallways had music playing, soft muzak that kept up the hazy and alluring vibe of the club. Each room played its own music so there was no danger of being overhead. Except the staff. You imagined the rumors flying like wildfire, distracting the staff and performers. You were going to be sick.

“A miscalculation,” he said.

“What?” You said. He swooped in and waved his stake in the air like you were some prize he won over a miscalculation?

“I didn’t know about your family–”

“You would have. I would have told you. As always, you want and you want and you-”

“I have always maintained that I want you because you’re mine,” Loki said. All sense of propriety was gone. Extra eyes be damned. He advanced on you and pushed you against the wall.

“Completely mine. Mine to do with as I please,” he said. His lips traveled from your temple down to your neck, bypassing your lips. Your body instantly reacted. Craved him. Craved another hit of what he could bring you.

You grabbed his jacket and turned around, pushing him against the wall. He grinned as if he won. As if you would give in and forget all about your ultimatum. You licked the long expanse of his neck and his breath fanned over your skin.

You pulled back and smiled at him. He grinned back, hanging his head and looking up at you through his pretty eyelashes. Then you slapped the smirk right off of his face. He licked his lips as if he meant to taste the sting. You raised your arm again and he caught your wrist.

“Darling, not in mixed company,” he said. He gave you a wink. “Save it for later.”

“You are the most arrogant, infuriating, child-like, obnoxious–”

“Do keep going,” he interrupted.

“Confusing man I’ve ever met! You irritate the fuck out of me! You…bastard,” you said.

“I don’t know how else to be,” he said.

You yanked your wrist out of his hand. You were breathing too heavy. You couldn’t get enough air in your lungs. You wanted to smack him. You wanted to curse him. You wanted to toss him into hot lava and see if he’d melt. You wanted to kiss his stupid face.

“We promised no lies between us. And if you can’t give me that Loki, you can’t have me.”

He opened his mouth to say something, all hints of playfulness gone. But then the lights went out and the screaming started.

Masterlist | Chapter 10 | Chapter 12

#Megaminds Secret Files #The Secret Loki Files #Loki x Black!reader #Loki x Black reader #x Black reader #Loki x Fem!reader #Loki x Fem reader #Loki x reader #Loki x you #Loki imagine #MCU Loki #Loki #Loki of Asgard #Loki Laufeyson #Loki Odinson #Loki fanfic #Loki fanfiction #Loki fan fiction

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guppyfish77 · 4 months

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Another year Another summary of Art! An Entire Year of Submas lets gooooooooooo!!!! This year I feel like I really pushed myself when it comes to illustrations and I feel like I've learned a lot! But at the same time I feel a little tired, next year I think I wanna relax and experiment a bit more, I gotta learn to loosen up! Might get more art out if I do :p

I also feel the Submas grip ever so lightly relaxing (unless they decide to do Unova remakes haha XD), so I might introduce some of my numerous ocs in 2024! I'll probably start with the conductor oc ;]

Thank you for all your support! (you are all very nice! ToT), I still have a good amount of submas stuff planned in the works so look forward to that (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

If you are interested, I also have some commentary and behind the scenes for some of my submas illustrations! I wanna talk about it and now seems like a good time to do so now that the year is over! (Beware! its going to be long!)

All titles are linked to the original post

Lunch Break

hoho! This one is the sort of AU thing in which the only thing that changes is that I give Emmet a Victini friend (not a part of his team, I dubbed them the "victory duo" because Emmet likes winning and Victini is the Victory Pokemon), I planned out a few wordless comics regarding the idea, they were all very lighthearted slice of life kind of stuff, usually Victini causing some mischief and the brothers having to deal with it

and here's the thumbnails for this piece! I played around with various angles but decided to keep it simple and choose a straight on angle. It was originally a snack break and Emmet sharing a granola bar with Victini, but as I was planning it, submas unexpectedly showed up in the Pokemon Anime where they were serving ekiben, after learning about it it quickly turned into a lunch break! (how fun when new information lines up with an art piece you are working on hoho! ^ ^) After studying what foods Ekiben usually have in them (there was quite a variety!) I took what I learned and try to make the food look like the gear station logo :D

In the background there are children drawings because in the battle subway one of the trainer classes you can face off against are preschoolers, and I thought at least one of them would share their drawings with the subway bosses (and of course why wouldn't they hang it up?), there is also a trophy in which you can get in the players room if you beat the subway bosses on the super trains (one day, battling competitively is not my forte), I did my best to make Emmet's office feel lived in by adding a little bit of clutter (like adding a note) but overall very organized

(hey hey that joltik mug looks familiar in the corner there, its the same one Rei is holding in the christmas drawing)

Bonus Emmet and Victini Drawings

aw come on dude, not on the trains!

ah this one, it gave me quite a bit of frustration! This piece I used to challenge myself on perspective, and challenge me it did! The version you see now is I believe the 6th iteration of this drawing! The reason for restarting so many times is because I originally wanted it to be in 3 point perspective, but I couldn't get it to look right so its now in 2 point... Haha Some valuable lessons learned there!

This illustration was inspired by the history of New York Subway Trains and Graffiti! I read about it when I got to visit the New York Transit Museum and found it super interesting!! Then I went I gotta do something with this! Since Unova is based in New York after all!

I got so many subway surfer comments, they don’t know I forgot subway surfers existed while making this and that I am a huge nerd lmao

I had a lot of fun designing the graffiti on the train (yes it says among us) stylizing the fictional letters was so fun! I studied some graffiti to see how they do it, I could've pushed the graffiti style more but then it would be illegible! I also mixed in elements of Grafaiai graffiti, and trainer that is running away is the artist trainer class in SCVL because they are graffiti artists! And the train that got graffitied is the Wifi Train, due to BW (and the DS) servers being shut down, I doubt that train gets used much anymore, which makes it a perfect target!

Derailed!

hohoho! This was a fun one! I'm not sure how many of you guys read my tags, but in there I did state that this piece was based off the fact that model trains are powered by electrifying the rail it runs on (very low watts mind you) and the fact that Joltik eats electricity, but thats not the only inspiration, it was also inspired by those videos of cats laying on the layout and derailing the train!

Theres quite a variety of thumbnails for this idea (including a comic!), and the idea was there in 2022, but this year I decided to fully commit to it! I started rendering the top right one and almost finished it, but it felt really boring to me, so I switched it up and made some thumbnails in a new perspective and viola! thats what ended up being finished!

The train that is being derailed are Sanriku Railway Type 36s, based off a model train I have in my collection! (While sharing this fact on the original post Haiku Bot detected it as a Haiku?! and this art went out of my target audience, that certainly was a day (⊙□⊙;))

Also I straight up put a picture of Thomas the Tank Engine in the background, I'm not sure if people noticed cuz its quite blurry, the fact that nobody said anything means I probably would’ve gotten away with it before sharing this fact, so hehe :3c

Unexplained Melancholy

eyy! this one! It started out wholly different

It was originally me dropping Warden Ingo in various natural landscapes around Hisui as I didn't feel like drawing anymore linear perspective (ah, but heres the thing, all environments require a little bit of perspective lol), and it was just going to be Warden Ingo hanging out in a lush forest, specifically by the train rock that was shown in his concept art! but after sitting on it, I realized I could do something more with it! by making it a snowy environment I could make callbacks to Emmet's coat being white! hence the "SNOWY!!!" being scribbled there, that was added like weeks afterwards, Then I realized I could push it even more by making the whole environment about Emmet's colors! So the new thumbnail is in color because thats whats its about!

The moon smile thing was stumbled on by complete accident, while working on it it felt empty there and I added Emmet's smile to fill the space before going "moon!!!"

The piece is also a sort of a parallel to last years piece “I am Emmet, I wish for Ingo and I to be a two-car train once more” composition wise, sort of, I tried to at least 👍

Black Tower and Whitetree Hollow

Ah! I was quite proud of this one! Black City and White Forest are some of my favorite places in Unova mainly because the parallels are so very cool!

As the thumbnails suggest it was all going to be in complete black and white, as I was working on it though I could not help but add some values in there so yup! I quite like both compositions but the perspective won me out, plus that one focuses more on the characters than the other one (as much as I love backgrounds, it really is supposed to be about Emmet and Ingo U_U)

Being places of duality and having a battle challenge in there, it really fit them!

Emmet drops the hottest single of all time 🔥🔥🔥

Not really much to say about this one since it was very much done on a whim, but

its not the first time I drew Emmet with his hat backwards, I did this little doodle around the same time I did the train graffiti piece, been wanting to do something with this silly idea, and when I heard that audio, I went :o

Following Some Rumors of a Time Machine

the finale! I decided to choose Area Zero because its a very cool place! I am inspired by cool places! and I decided to give it my all for this one!

The thumbnail I made was more for jotting down the idea, and the landscape was going to be more eyelevel? Later I decided to make it so you were looking down into the crater and you get to see the fog blocking the crystal caverns, to show that Emmet was going deeper into Area Zero and the Deepest part is his destination (the time machine, not the underdepths, I didn't know about that yet haha!) I was always going to make Emmet encounter a Slither Wing, with it being based off Volcarona, a gen 5 pokemon :]

Anyways, That's all I have to say! I hope you found it interesting! (and enjoyed my varying quality in sketches and thumbnails XD) Thanks for listening! see you in 2024! ✌

#Art Summary 2023 #Art Summary

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bitter69uk · 6 months

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“Rockabilly bombshell Sparkle Moore was born Barbara Morgan in Omaha in 1939. The quintessential bad girl, she dressed in leather (and often in men's clothes), with her short blonde hair greased back in an Elvis Presley-styled pompadour. Dubbed "Sparkle" in honour of a supporting character in the Dick Tracy comic strip, she signed to the Cincinnati-based Fraternity label to issue her debut single, the hiccupping "Rock-a-Bop," in late 1956, and though still just 17 years old she toured the US in support of the record, even opening for Gene Vincent at the peak of his fame. (A planned appearance on radio's Grand Ol' Opry was cancelled due to a bout with laryngitis, however.) The sultry yet sinister "Killer" followed in 1957, but soon after Moore learned she was pregnant and abruptly quit performing to focus on raising a family. No subsequent recordings are known to exist, although an unreleased Fraternity ballad called "Flower of My Heart" subsequently appeared on several compilations, most notable among them 2004's Good Girls Gone Bad: Weird, Wild & Wanted, the first to assemble her complete recorded output in one disc (including a handful of alternate takes).”

/ From Allmusic Guide /

Happy 84th birthday to enigmatic platinum blonde rockabilly icon - and perennial Lobotomy Room favourite - Sparkle Moore (born 6 November 1939)! Now sing along with me: “You should be labelled with a skull and a-crossbones / You're a jinx to my soul, oh yeah …”

#sparkle moore #rockabilly #rocknroll #lobotomy room #kitsch #retro #1950s punk #greaser punk

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cuppajj · 9 months

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Tell me about Imperious Delirious

LORD IMPERIOUS DELIRIOUS!

As a basic summary, Lord Imperious Delirious (who I'll be calling Imperious from here on out) is a transformers villain who starred in the Transformers in 3-D and Beast Wars Uprising comics. His modern lore is that he's an AI construct made by an advanced civilization, a repository of its information that eventually became sentient. He's not a Cybertronian, but he later has the power to transform like them into a dragon. He goes around the galaxy as a liberator of other enslaved AI constructs, parading himself as a good guy but really he likes playing god. He also has freaky looking fire that can make you hallucinate your worst traumas or nightmares.

More below cut!

So in Beast Wars Uprising, Imperious was born when the civilization Gorlam Prime decided to upload their collective consciousness into one big lunar database. They wanted a place to put all their information though, so they created an AI that would serve as a database of its own for all of its history, knowledge, emotions, feelings, etc. Imperious came to be as a result, and once he had gained sentience, he came to see himself as a god figure among the remaining lifeforms on the planet, but his disdain for being subservient to his creators made him kill the rest of them. He decided that he would search the rest of the galaxy for others like him, AI subservient to organic masters (second-born intellects as he labels AI - he thinks ai is offensive). Although he's probably done a lot of liberating, three constructs he's freed went on to be his close subordinates:

A minotaur-like robot named Bruton, a naga/lamia-like robot named Medusa, and a centaur robot named Psychokhan! Not much to say about them aside from the fact that they're super cool looking. In the Alone Together comic, their backstories are explained by Imperious:

It's what he'd been doing for so long, but one day, Imperious came across the cybertronian race. At first, he thought they were AI just like him, but he came to see them as light-based lifeforms holding robotic shells hostage; basically, he saw their sparks, thought the sparks were inhabiting unwilling robot frames, and as a robot who doesn't like it when robots are enslaved to other lifeforms, Imperious decided that he'd strive to exterminate the entire cybertronian race in retaliation. Very not good of him!!

However, he does view cybertronians with enough reverence to see himself as a liberator for those who are more broken. Case in point the plot of Alone Together: I won't go over everything here, as I encourage you to read the comic or watch the comic dub (it's very good), but it's about Rampage and Transmutate finding themselves on a planet where they encounter Imperious, who by realizing that both of them have some big sad backstories, humors recruiting them to his cause. (He even gives Rampage his name, before this he was just known as Protoform-X)

It doesn't work out quite the way he wanted though, as Transmutate is untrustworthy because of past experiences with someone she thought could help her. Even though Rampage is convinced to stay, she persuades him out of it, and Imperious, having given these cybertronians a chance, decides to toss his calm persuasion aside and force them into submission the way he does best - break their minds using his fire!!

From there, we get to see how he's not only physically powerful, but he's psychologically powerful too: he gives Rampage and Transmutate horrible nightmares that slowly break their minds. Rampage suffers through things related to his experimentation, Transmutate has a sensory overload, and throughout all of it, Imperious is there as a spectator. There's always imagery of him somewhere, that or he's playing one of the roles in the nightmare. It's bill cipher level the way he torments with his victim's minds!

The way he's defeated is a mixture of both Rampage and Transmutate being able to come together with clear and resistant minds, and Transmutate using her power to knock him back (I wonder if they could've gotten out if she didn't have it?). It's basically the power of friendship!

And from there, instead of fighting them for real, Imperious lets them go - that maguffin I mentioned earlier was what he was really interested in, and it's to do with his overall plan to wage war on the Cybertronian race. The maguffin is a reformatting protocol which he uses to enable himself to transform, and he gives himself a dragon alt mode!! There's no picture of his dragon form, but there is of his root. Before and after:

Sadly, Alone Together is the most we've gotten out of Imperious, at least visually. BWU as a whole is mostly novel form, so there aren't any more pictures of what he does - we don't see his dragon form, we don't see how he or the others look while fighting the Maximals, it's very sad! In summary though, BWU ends with him seizing the Grand Mal (big giganto superweapon that could probably kill all cybertronians), but the good guys explode it which kills him too. Hooray!!!

But yeah, that's basically all she wrote with Imperious. It's sad because Imperious's concept is super cool! He's a godlike being who sees himself as a savior to enslaved AI, he's a transformer-like non transformer who's a formidable adversary to Cybertronians, I dunno it's just really cool to have a villain who's not connected to the cybertronian race, the quintessons, unicron, or earth, but who's still a super formidable foe. He has a killer character design too (they didn't have to give him the snatched waist and flowing hair but ALAS)!! I don't think we'll ever get another piece of TF media with him because he's so obscure, but a guy can dream. We can cherish what little we have of him and appreciate him for being one of the most underrated bad guys in Transformers!!

(If you want to know about his Mercy version then I suggest you drop a question in @/emperor-kumquat's inbox, AND if you want to hear about my completely self indulgent IDW incarnation of him then that's another story for another time. We'd be here all day)

I once again recommend checking out the comic, which you can read here, or watching it in dub form, which you can see here!

I hope your curiosity has been satiated anon, thank you for the ask and for enabling me to talk about my new favorite pathetic awful boyo 🫡🫡

#lord imperious delirious #long post #maccadam #beast wars uprising #cjj askbox #lovely anon #im very normal about him

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umaia3aurart · 7 months

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What are your thoughts over the Japanese dub of the transformer prime series? Or any tf series!

I kinda love the second opening song of the primverse

OH! This is gonna be a long post! Let me talk a lot PLSSS!! 🥺👉👈

I love the original TFP dub but I also dig the Japanese version! I often enjoy comparing the differences between them!

A lot of popular voice actors in Japan participate in the show. Some of them even did voices in the “BEAST WARS” series, which had a big fanbase in my country.

The biggest difference between the original and the Japanese version is that the latter makes a few adjustments to the characters to make them more distinctive and child-friendly. They even added some comical lines that weren’t in the original to make it more mild and relatable for children. Because the original had some pretty serious moments. So in the Japanese version, Starscream and Airachnid turned out to be the funniest characters…

Similarly, “BEAST WARS” also underwent some comical changes for similar reasons. And because of that, the show was a hit with Japanese kids back in the day. So in TFP, I'd say they also gave a nod to fans who grew up watching it.

But as you can imagine, these changes have divided opinions among fans in Japan. Tbh, I understand how both of them feel about it because I love the original vibes! That being said, the Japanese dub has a lot of adorable moments that don’t exist in the original version! Let me pick up MY BOY BREAKDOWN as an example!!!!

He has a funny childish demeanor and talks more than in the original dub. His favorite phrase is “壊すの大好き!(I love breaking things!)”

In “Deus Ex Machina,” the episode of his first appearance, he says, “あーーーごめーーーーん！！(AAAHHH I’M SOOOORYYYYYY!!!)” to Knock Out when he accidentally hits his partner's face with his hammer!

In the next episode, “Speed Metal,” when Starscream scratches Knock Out’s paint as a punishment, Breakdown breaks the fourth wall and speaks to kids in front of the TV, saying “みんなぁ！いじめはダメだぞぉ！(HEY YOU GUYS!! BULLYING IS WRONG!!)” AWW IT'S SO ADORABLE!! HES 100% A NICE GUY lmao

And surprisingly, he even sings a song sometimes... If you don't believe me, please check out “T.M.I” and “Operation Bumblebee part 2” 🥺

And Our Knock Out is even more of a narcissist than in the original. He always praises himself for how beautiful he is. He usually uses polite Japanese when talking to others, but sometimes he talks to Breakdown casually! I love how the difference in his behavior signifies that Breakdown is special to him as a friend! ( ꈍᴗꈍ) <3

In addition, the voices of Optimus and Megatron both sound younger than in the original! On the other hand, Bulkhead sounds older than in the English version. That's interesting! Oh, and did you know? Wheeljack speaks just like a samurai! This change is probably due to his two-sword style.

I especially love Japanese Ratchet. The voice actor is Nobuo Tobita, who has played many TF characters until now. His voice is really soft and gentle! Besides, he also voiced Scourge in Rise of the Beasts! Wow, he has a wide range of acting! I’m a long-time fan of his!

Oh, speaking of ROTB, let me mention Japanese Mirage’s voice actor, Shingo Fujimori! He’s a famous comedian, and his comedy style is acting like a player and a party person (or someone like that… it’s difficult to explain). He shouts things like “YOOO! GIRL, YOU’RE SO PURDYYY!” So he really fits the character of Mirage!

Oh! And you listened to “TRANSFORMERZ” by M-flo? I like the song too! The original opening theme of TFP is magnificent, so you all might be surprised at the gap between them, but such an anime style is not bad, right? It's interesting how we find different styles in different countries!Unfortunately, the show was only broadcast in Japan up to seasons 2. I wish I could have seen the entire series dubbed in Japanese...😭

I really talked for quite a while, sorry! Thank you for the question, and for taking the time to read!

#thank you for the ask!#my thoughts #the japanese dub vs the original dub #anyway I love both!#long post #maccadam #transformers prime #rise of the beasts #japanese voice actors #transformers

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sonicjustbecause · 2 months

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Lost in translation (general). Unavoidable.

"What girl witch cute". Yes. This is the plain translation. I'll come there later.

I'm not a native English speaker. I can say I know one language and half. Written/spoken Italian (native), written English.

I like to watch shows in Italian and Japanese usually. Seldom I watch them in English. In general i dislike the translation and the voices they choose for characters from foreign shows.

Like, I would watch easily The Simpson in English because is their native show and the voice they choose are good. In the Italian show they went as far as finding VA who have very similar voices to the original VA.

Sonic Prime worked fine with English voice (because they choose canadian VA and not the american ones. Both RCS and Kirk Thorton are... uhmmm... I loved Deven Mack and Ian Hanlin). Is maybe one of the few shows I watched happily in English. And I could somewhat understand what they say because of a clearer pronunciation.

For other shows I often watch them either in Japanese with English sub, or translated in Italian. For Dragon Ball I watched the whole DB and DBZ in Italian, DBS in Japanese with English subs.

I watched my favourites episodes of Dragon Ball Z in Italian, Japanese and English, to see how they differ and how voices work.

Italian in general stay true to the Japanese dialogues (few exception here and there, I'll come later). English? Oh God. The scene with Vegeta being possessed by Babidy made me laugh in English. Something like: 'He is in my head! I'm attacked! I can't! Oh no, I'm not innocent" Talkative Vegeta. The context was the same, the message was about the same (more ambiguous and open to interpretation in Italian and Japanese, more one sided in English) but a dramatic scene like that became a comical scene in English. And the voices... oh no!.

English dubbing! NO! My ears!

Language, context...

Monolingual people think all language are the same. Not the case, languages are influenced by enviroment. Inuit have many ways to say 'snow' with a single word, referring to the different quality of it.

Coming to the language we are referring to, English is known to be a low context language. It has a word for everything and a very rich vocaboulary.

Italian is a mid context language. It has not a so large vocaboulary,

Some words are the same but with different meaning.

Example

Salutare: it does means either 'to greet and' 'healthy' Sale: it does means either "going up" and "salt"

Batteria: 'set' 'drums' and 'battery' Piano: "plan", 'floor' (of a building), 'flat' (like the surface of a table), 'piano'

Those words can be easily translates in English though.

The problem come with figuratve language. Every language has one. I don't speak Japanese so i can make examples using italian and English.

When someone is lucky, we say, vulgarly: "che culo!" But, translated in EWnglish it turns in a "What an ass!". The phrase is the same, litera, the meaning change completely. For this you can't always stay true to the original material.

Another example, still involving luck in Italian might be:

"Avere un culo così".

In English it turns something like

"Having a big ass"

From having luck to being fat. And there it turns even funnier because in Italian you can use the very same phrase to tell that either someone is fat or that a woman looks curvy in the butt area in particular. Though all of them are not nice and can be used only among close freinds. Otherwise there are three distinct phrase for the different things like: "avere fortuna" "essere grassi" "avere un sedere formoso". Context.

Japanese is abnormally high context.

Let's talk about the above monstruosity that make us laugh hard.

Among people who like Japamese stuffs, there are some who are so passionate that they would sacrifice grammar in order to have a product that is true to the original. In Italy we have many translators. Some are better, some are worse. We got cursed by this man in particular:

Gualtiero Cannarsi.

To be honest, is unfortunate. He talks the finest Italian you can hear. But his translations from Japanese to Italian suck. he is one who think the product must be true to itself, so he just change Japanese words into italian words, leaving the Japanese rules, grammars etc. Yes, nothing got lost in traslation. But the result is incomprehensible so to say the truth, everything got lost.

If transtated in Cannarsi style, Versailles no Bara turns into Versailles di Rosa (The correct translation is 'La rosa di Versailles). For a better understanding of what I'm saying, in English, if I just switch the words, I get 'Versailles of Rose'.

His translation get some... uh, funny results:

Porco Rosso is supposed to be settled in Italy. Then why do they talk like barbarians?

"To stay to have fun to those places you'll end to be kidnappen in company" Is bad I know. I tried to stay true to his awful translations. This is terrible, considering that Gibli tried to write in Italian, as best as they could to create a better atmosphere:

"Non si fa credito" "Le rosse ali si sono spezzate (correct but arcaic) "Vivo o morto?(sounds better) "Di nuovo il canto di trionfo del Porcellino Rosso (perfect)" "Le bambine sane e salve" Still the atmosphere is there, is true!

You have to be fluent in Italian to understand this. Then you can either laugh or facepalm or be disgusted.

We also have good example of translation from Japanese. Luckily we have many good products from Japan that are treated correctly. One that I can think off is from Dragon Ball Super - Broly.

In DBS - Broly, I can feel the Japanese aura/culture/mentality from every phrase, every word they speak. They all sound solemn without sounding the same. But at the same time it is translated in a fine Italian, we all understand what they say just fine. The actor were great at acting and... do you know that the one who dubs Goku is the same VA who dubs Shadow? And the voice sounds different, very silly when he dubs Goku, more serious and mature when he dubs Shadow.

We of course also had some bad translation because there was a period we relied on 4kids. Luckily we still had manga, they came directly from Japan and got translated in italian. Some of them unfortunately went translated by Gualtiero Cannarsi. Dark days for anime. It seems things are getting better right now.

Same VA, different personalities.

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lizzie-wendigo · 9 months

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Pucca: Love Recipe (review)

Okay, as I said, I hadn't the slightest idea that the series had a reboot that apparently came out in 2018. And it's not surprising, it seems that it was not even released in my country, since even most of the chapters are blocked and much less dubbed into my language.

So I had to watch the few chapters available in English, it was not a problem for me, since I understand it. So based on what I could see of this series, I'd like to make a little constructive criticism, comparing it a bit with the original series and of course at the end I'll give it a specific rating, don't forget that this is my personal opinion.

Dynamics and plots of the series:

Many people believe that Love Recipe counts as a third season, but the reality is that it's a reboot, since it doesn't even have a direct connection to the original series. Pucca only had 2 seasons, but Love Recipe doesn't seem to be a concrete third season. This series even depicts Ring Ring as a new person on the island, who appears to be a rich girl who is dependent on technology and opens a new restaurant, which happens to be Go Rong's new competition.

Many of the plots of the chapters are simple recycling of plots that were already shown in the original series, such as: the separation of Won from the head of ching or the beauty competitions, or even garu put in jail. I understand that they want to change the context of these chapters, but they don't stop being recycled.

Character interaction and role changes:

This point is both good and bad. I like that they've changed Garu's interaction with Pucca, in the original series Pucca was more intense with Garu, so much so that he pushed her, and was even paranoid at times, making their interactions together rarely calm; This aspect is corrected in Love Recipe. Although Pucca chases Garu, he even lets her kiss him, and his reaction is almost the same, without showing annoyance or displeasure. I have also noticed that Garu is less cold and distant with his friends and other people in general, now working in Go Rong as an ingredient collector. Besides that now he seems to be closer to Pucca (especially in the final chapter, where he already makes sure that he does loves Pucca).

Unfortunately, I can't say the same about other characters, the most obvious examples are Ring Ring and Tobe, Both used to be complete antagonists of the main characters (Pucca and Garu), Antagonist is not the same as villain. And yes, both were the complete opposite of the leads. Tobe was the complete opposite of Garu (Cruel, impatient, dishonest, cheating and obsessive) just like Pucca's Ring Ring (Bossy, conceited, spoiled, materialistic and narcissistic), and all of these were reasons for the original series to give us battles very epic among these. Well, all of that went to waste in Love Recipe, Ring Ring went from being Pucca's antagonist to being her love rival and simple comic relief, her powers are completely wasted to make garcia-less jokes (not to mention that now her transformation and screams seem to cringe), the same for Tobe, who also happened to be simple comic relief. The same also applies to other characters that became simple comic reliefs and fillers, such as Ching, Dada, Pucca's uncles, among others. Even the original series gave us more endearing episodic characters (like the Texans, Santa's ex-friend, Mel)

In addition, it seems that they eliminated other characters from the original series (such as Destiny, Muji, Doga, Chief, Clown and Shaman), only to add others less funny and endearing, (such as Rin Ring's employees, Ring Ring's father, Go Rong's other employee; I don't remember his name, the bee aliens or the person who parodies the men in black) They even changed Santa and it's less laughable and less relevant than in the original series!

Humor and jokes:

Okay, there are jokes in this series that I found somewhat funny or at least made me smile, but most of them are duller than the original series. And I don't know about you, but at least I'm not a fan of poop and fart jokes at all. In the original series they did, but they were not recurring. In Love recipe they even have a WHOLE chapter dedicated to it! WHY!? They don't abuse those jokes, but when they do, they overdo it a lot! I'm totally against these jokes, they are not funny at all.

Music and Acting:

Well, the most notorious thing regarding the music is that the original series only had an opening and ending theme, "Pucca funny love", a song that they not only used for it, but also as a battle theme. It didn't bothered listening to it in every chase, in fact I liked the song so much that I was happy to listen to it in every fight scene, of course they also used other soundtracks from time to time, but they almost always used this one. In Love recipe they don't do this, they have a new opening and ending theme, they are catchy. Although they don't use them for battle themes, since NEVER IS THERE!! And when there are, they're quite fast and boring.

Regarding the acting, I don't have much to say, because I saw them in English and now it seems that their original dubbing is not English, but Korean (where the series originally came from). Although I made a small comparison with the English dubbing of the original series with Love recipe, and I liked the performances of the original version better. But the most notorious change was that of the protagonists, if we remember, in the original series, they rarely acted, they often recycled many of the default sounds that the actors made, (Like laughter, moans, screams, etc.) although in one specifically chapter Garu speaks, I'd say that it's an exception. In Love Recipe, the actors seem to act out every mime the characters do. Personally, this change in voice doesn't bother me, pucca sounds just as cute as in the first series, and garu now sounds softer (it fits with the new personality they gave him).

Design and Animation:

We come to the last and most notorious point of this series (clarification: design is not the same as animation) Let's start with the designs........ WHAT-THE FUCK-IS THAT!? There's not much to say about the original characters, since they only underwent a couple of modifications (Like Dada, Master Soo or Santa), but the new characters... EUGH... They look like fucking avatars made on a wii. Their designs are horrible.

This goes hand in hand with the animation, many people complained that Pucca had a bad animation just because it was animated in Adobe flash, but I can assure you that it had much better quality than Love Recipe, I like that the expressions remain the same and even add more, but it doesn't make up for the poor quality of the animation. It's too generic (if you don't believe me, take a look at netflix original children's series, like Jurassic Park or their original movies, they all have the same animation). In the original series, they even had episodes where they traveled to other locations or in other universes, and they bothered more to improve or adapt the character designs (Like Puccapatra, Umberjacked, Ching it on, The bride of Muji, Surf ninjas, Garu of the Jungle, Etc) They even have a damn star wars parody!! STAR WARS!!! Even the Ring Ring's transformation looks much better and more detailed than in Love recipe, where she barely transforms. It also seems that in love recipe they never leave the island, and even so they don't put any effort into the animation, the settings seem very static and bland. It almost seems like they made this series with less budget than the original series.

Well, I can't say that this series was very bad, but it wasn't very good either, I honestly didn't expect everything to be the same as the original series, since it's a reboot; but as you can see, it could have been better, some aspects improved and others worsened.

So as a personal rating, I give Pucca: Love recipe a 4/10.

I want you to know that this is my personal opinion, although I tried to be as objective as possible. But you can leave me your opinion about this series if you wish (of course if you just come to insult me because I don't like it, you can go to hell)

#lizzie-wendigo #pucca #pucca funny love #pucca love recipe #review

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pseudo-hero · 6 months

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Conner Kent basically is a child from (medical) rape. Not calling him Clark's child is basically the mentally healthiest way to cope with this for everyone involved.

Note #1: I first want to apologize for taking this long to respond, though it's not the only time that's happened and probably won't be the last. I'm still surprised that this particular blog even got an "ask", to be honest! That being said:

WARNING: This post is about—among other things—sexual assault, properly defining/utilizing the terms and has a few violent descriptions within it. Some possibly unpopular and controversial opinions are below. Absolutely no harm or insult to any person or group was intended while I typed this out (including to the "asker"). I hope any possible readers will make it to the end before judging. I've typed this up for anybody, with no one in particular in mind, so 'you' therefore, refers to anyone as well as what's said in the "ask". This gets into and brings up a lot different subjects and ideas in regards to the Kal-Kon family relationship (both in-universe ones and meta ones), so apologies to the above anonymous user if it ever seems like I'm going off on a tangent; although I like to think all of this was relevant to the "ask" in some way.

As always, I'll try to be open-minded to differing opinions/information and I hope any possible errors made can be forgiven. This is also going to be really, REALLY L--O--N--G because I have a hard time giving short, straight-to-the-point responses for anything, I guess. Especially topics that have wide-reaching implications. I switch between character names a lot (and other quirks), may get a little repetitive (but I will try to make new points each time) and I also may at times be harsh on Clark here (but it's arguably DC Comics and their partners that are truly at fault, not him).

Note #2: I've always wanted to make a post about why Clark's treatment of Conner throughout the years has been questionable writing at best and detrimental to Clark's character at worst [as part of a not-yet-completed series on what's destroying Superman's character and legacy these days, in fact] but maybe this will end up being that post [or they'll just share many points/arguments in common].

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry, but I'm not playing that game. Only rape is rape. You comparing (and perhaps twisting) Conner Kent's/Kon-El's creation to being that of a "child from (medical) rape"—which, mind you, I can't help but be reminded of "rape baby" (one of the names unfortunately often used on such victims-by-proxy for the wrong reasons) when I read it—is not only, to me, an insult to any version of the character's backstory and the hardship they've gone through, but to those who have actually experienced the trauma of rape or other forms of sexual assault (or being conceived from any such act).

While I understand why some interpret Kon's creation that way/where the belief comes from, I feel that's only one possible interpretation and one that unfortunately—on top of promoting offensive and less-than-rational conclusions—might actually be missing the point about the real reason(s) Kon got and still gets treated the way he does.

First off, let's get down to how every version of Kon was created before getting into the details of the origin of one or another, and proving how none of them sprouted from rape: Kon is, put simply, a genetically engineered progeny; a form of "test tube baby" (not meant to be disparaging). He was made in an undoubtedly sterile (purposefully loaded word) lab from the ideas, research-based input and experimentation of dozens of scientists and geniuses, his human parent typically included. (Note how I didn't name a human parent? I'll get to that.) After many failed attempts, there was a success, first dubbed Experiment 13.

There was no warmth or genuine intimacy involved in E13's creation, just as is the case with 95% to 100% of sexual assaults (I'm trying not to assume how it went for all victims). However, there was also no physical contact, beyond perhaps the extraction/finding and adding together of DNA-type substances. (You know, what with every version of Kon being treated solely as science experiments in their early days and all.) Without physical contact, specifically/particularly/especially of the sexual variety, already the case for Superman being "raped" begins to fall apart and we can get closer to what fandom/societal problem is really behind this idea being pushed and what truth is continually missed/hidden due to said problem acting as a cover.

Continuing from before: So, as we all know, almost every version of Kon-El/Conner Kent get's his DNA from a male kryptonian progenitor (always Kal-El/Clark Kent unless stated otherwise) together with the also-male human progenitor's, and rarely anywhere else. These days most versions of Conner seem to be the half-human genetic child of Lex Luthor and Superman, and it's been like that for a while. In the beginning however, he was solely a clone of Superman before it was later decided that he was actually an altered clone of some now-forgotten man named Paul Westfield and that he only mimicked Superman's powers. They later changed it up again ("retconned" it) to the Lex Luthor/Superman combination origin(s) for the 2000's version of him, but in doing so, made it clear in BIG, bright letters that Kon is not a "clone" anymore.

Unless—we're calling him a binary clone (what we all are).

That's right, a binary clone is one of many words for child. It's just a specific type of child/progeny. Here's another definition example, with the same description. I would hope no one needs to see the definition for child, too, but you never know. So, notice how so many of the definitions for child match up with what Kon is? What are the people that argue that Superboy is not Superman's—or that he's neither Clark's nor Lex's child—really trying to say or inadvertently saying, I wonder? That Kon is no one's child? That he isn't even a child (unless someone wants him)?? Good luck using that logic with real life "test tube children" (in-vitro children, if we want to be clinical), foster children and adoptees. Bet they'll really appreciate the insensitivity.

As for his age? Why does that matter? At his oldest, he's an upper teen, so still an impressionable minor. And who ever said you needed to pop up in someone's life as a perfect, little chubby cherub to be their child? Who said your parents needed to accept you/get the chance to raise you, for you to be directly descended from them? If a parent dies before a child is born (and stays dead), is the child not their child anymore? Even if someone meets their kid—that may appear to others, to have been created when the parent was a teenager—when the youngling is already a teenager him/herself now, that's still their child, isn't it? Look at all the questions that we are forced to ask when certain fans try and come up with arbitrary definitions, explanations and excuses (or ignore preexisting ones) for what makes a child a child.

As far as I can see, Superman is not delusional nor prone to denialism and isn't known for letting his emotions (or what some believe his emotions are or should be) get the best of him. At least, he's not supposed to be. Some writers in the past have had different ideas on that. In my opinion, they often ruin things for a large amount of us though, seeing as engaging in poor, contradictory behavior will never automatically = a character being more complex. It's more likely that the character will just come across as very petty, selfish, obnoxious or callous, things Superman generally should not be; maybe even should never be.

All that is to say that the need to pretend Kon is anything but Clark's (and Lex's) child in-universe and based on real-life standards, has nothing to do with authentic science or logic and at times doesn't even involve an agreed on continuity. You (the "asker") may already realize this (since you mentioned mental health and coping in your "ask") but many others don't seem to yet. In fact, the exact science isn't what matters, considering how the situation is fictional and therefore mostly pseudoscience anyway.

And even if it wasn't fictional, consider that animal reproduction is technically considered sexual whether two organisms had sex/copulated or not because of the act of the male and female gametes (sex cells) coming together. Based on that, can or can't Kon be considered just another typical mammal (mammal-alien hybrid?) made through a form of sexual reproduction, even if he wasn't made from the combining of male cells and female cells (typically not used in his case) nor (most likely) any sexual cells at all? Does it even make a difference in regards to his parentage? In reality, it actually doesn't and that question is only a pedantic-semantics one. All such questions are.

What actually matters here is the basics. Cells/DNA from these two beings were melded together to make another being. No intercourse was needed or involved. A large amount of people would still consider that as a child being made, with or without the added story context. (Many mythologies have had similar events happen in them, fwiw.) So why shouldn't our honest, selfless and compassionate Superman view it that way? Where is the extensive evidence that this is solely about Clark and his family's feelings anyway, especially in the present day? I'm sure that may be the excuse some writers hide behind, but let's be real here.

Clark, in multiple continuities, has had no problem giving Kon a name (twice, if you count Conner Kent too), encouraging him to have a secret identity like Clark, so he also gets to live his life outside of being a hero, has occasionally been seen spending time with Kon by choice, mentoring him, fighting alongside him, sending Kon to the boy's grandparents for raising in the calm, warm town of Smallville (where Clark himself was raised), enrolling him in school in that same town, literally considering him family...but he won't dare go as far as to call him son??

Now, don't get me wrong. Do I believe Superman knew what was going on just before and during Superboy's artificial development? No. He never knows until after Superboy is already out in the world flying around. Does that make it non-consensual and somewhat or very violative to him? Of course. But besides these adjectives/descriptors and (if you want to count it) the springing of a child from the experiments, the situation actually—again, I say—has little in common with rape.

(POSSIBLY VERY TRIGGERING LANGUAGE FOUND BELOW. If you can, pay special attention to what words I put emphasis on.)

Rape can be and is many awful things. The severity of the act can range from little to no bodily injury but major emotional/psychological harm from awareness of the unwanted/forced sexual contact you were put through, to very extreme bodily and mental harm. It can cause tearing, often-heavy bleeding and infection in any targeted orifice (vagina, anus, mouth and/or throat) that can take months to heal from or that the person never fully recovers from. It can make it painful to move and do certain positions with the body. For specifically the female reproductive system, it can lead to damage that's so horrible that a woman can no longer reproduce and so is left infertile. Or she can be left with a pregnancy that's taken root in her own body that she of course was not planning—since it was forced into her—and one she often won't feel like she can handle birthing. There's also always a chance that she could die during the months before the labor begins, if not during the birth itself.

In the case of one form of medical rape (which again, I don't believe Clark was put through, unless you're talking about a different definition for it), it's rape because the victim gets impregnated by semen that they did not agree to have used on them. So it's rape by deception, if not also due to the disturbingly forceful nature that 'fertility treatment' often comes with.

Can someone tell me what about any of that, purposefully emphasized words and all, is the same as how Kon was created? Am I really supposed to believe that Superboy's surprise creation through indirect means, is equivalent to the above in any way for any person involved? In the early years of the character's creation, it was implied or outright stated that Superboy got his Superman DNA from scientists—I believe CADMUS—stealing Clark's presumed-dead body and taking a bit from it (Kon was originally supposed to replace Clark, but not destroy him). What did they get? Maybe a hair? A skin cell from one of his arms? I'm not sure.

However, this was in the early years and the most violative it ever got. (Actually, I don't recall that version of Superman being all that shaken up over the matter compared to how some seem to think every version has been regarding Kon's creation, even though that one probably had some of the biggest reasons to be; he even reached out to Superboy first, in fact. Only to be rejected by him.) It also wasn't, and is still, not rape. It's overall more comparable to someone stealing his/her ex's or one night stand's condom off their body or from the trash to cause a pregnancy. A horrendous deed—but not rape.

I'm stating all this because your claim is built on a false premise. One that likely comes from an over-reliance on and desire for extreme comparisons/equivalencies. One that appears to be a very common opinion in the fandom, but which is still misguided. It's imperative that we try not use the word rape (or related words) to seriously describe any other different action just because we disapprove of it. It's superbly harmful and frankly, disingenuous.

Are you calling the situation rape because you truly feel that this is what happened or because it's the worst word you could think of to try to make people feel even more horrified than they may already feel about the situation, and to shut down conversation on Clark's strange behavior toward and relationship with, Conner? Is it that you do realize that sexual assault is a severe issue and definitely no laughing matter, so you use mention of it so flippantly to emphasize your point, not realizing that this is only contributing to the problem?

I often wonder if a huge reason for this is because many nowadays are, thankfully, far more knowledgable of the importance of consent, but to the unfortunate extent that they separate it from the actual acts that make sexual assault, well, sexual assault. Again, lack of consent by itself is not what makes something rape. There has to at the least be forced penetration involved, too and arguably blatant sexual intention.

Likewise: Stealing someone's wallet or squeezing all the money out of their bank account without their knowing, is not "financial rape". Beating someone to a pulp and leaving them there injured is not "punching rape". Wiping someone's mind of memories is not, technically, "mind rape" (despite how popular that term is now). Leaving a baby or puppy on someone's doorstep and hoping/expecting that the owner of the home will sacrifice their time to raise them, is not "nurture rape" (or "nurture coercion" for that matter). You know why all the previous is true? Because, again, only rape is rape!

Languages are always changing, adapting, sometimes shrinking but also expanding. We often add definitions to words that may not have been implied before and use metaphors and other figurative speak to make points. However, words have those original definitions for a reason and especially in the case of crime and morality, it is not wise to dilute the meanings of words for your personal opinions/arguments/headcanons. That is not only hurtful but possibly dangerous.

If you feel that this or that version of Clark is right to be weirded out by Conner for being created 'unnaturally' (based on average, modern human POV), just say so. If you feel some version(s) of Clark is right to be disgusted by Conner for being made without his knowledge or ability to stop it (presumed dead or alive), just say so. If you feel modern versions of Clark are in the right to reject Kon solely because of who the human parent typically is, i.e. Lex Luthor (since we all know that connection and Lex's intentions when creating Kon must somewhat play an enormous factor in some people's view of Kon's existence), just say so.

If you, for similar reasons, despise every version of Lex Luthor and believe he's an irredeemable monster (which I find understandable, even though I personally do like the character) and therefore that everything connected to him is tainted too, just say so. If you are so preoccupied with comparing Damian Wayne's (usual/modern/recent/current?) conception origin to Kon's own, to the point of only noticing possible similarities and wanting to claim the situations are exactly the same, despite the obvious differences (and despite how that makes Superman/Clark negatively appear but in comparison to Batman/Bruce this time who accepts his child, regardless of the actual sexual assault that took place to create him), just say so.

If you just have a certain set of characteristics in mind for Superman or think it should be anything goes if it entertains you, as the rule of thumb for Superman writing, then please, just say so. That way people with a different opinion than you will know what worldview they're really arguing with when you debate. You do not need to use a word (rape) with an already established definition that's important enough to be referenced in laws the world over, to emphasize your point. Your argument should be able to stand on its own without doing so.

It wouldn't surprise me if one of the biggest contributors to modern people's current view of Clark and Conner's relationship is due to largely popular, dramatic media like the animated series Young Justice. The show had a take on them that was based on certain older-but-still-modern comic interactions with the more modern look/personality for Kon and it was considered by many to be realistic/relatable in regards to Superman's viscerally perturbed reactions toward and avoidance of Kon. However, some others saw it for what it also was: An excuse to seep out as much angst as possible to make us feel for Kon, but at the expense of Superman's characterization.

Compare their relationship here to the one they had in the DC Animated Movie Universe film, Reign of the Supermen (a sequel to The Death of Superman movie from the same universe; both are based on the 90's Bronze Age comic(s) that I've mentioned already). It was Lex in that movie that was being unquestionably vile toward Kon. As you might expect! And it was Clark who, only after knowing Kon for a short period—probably 20 minutes at most in-movie and a few days in their world—showed the poor mentally-abused child compassion and immediately took him under his bright red cape of hope and, as often happens these days, got help from Kon's grandparents in raising Kon. As you'd definitely expect! Although it wasn't exactly explicitly said in the movie whether he considers Conner his son or not, their relationship there was still handled infinitely better from the jump than was the case with alternate versions of their relationship. The reactions from these two men from different media that are supposed to be the same character, are like night and day! It's almost like they're not the same character (hint, hint)!

There was no unnecessary drama or hypocrisy on Clark's part in ROTSM (remember they'd both be seen as dangerous in the eyes of regular earthlings). Beyond a moment of eyebrow raising, and some possible annoyance or hesitance, Clark seems to grow accustomed to Kon's existence very quickly (after Lois already had, without his realizing!) and starts acting sensibly about it afterward (while still coming across as a warm but stern and outraged father; again, as you'd expect!) which I think was a good thing and arguably just as realistic as the reverse, with the added benefit of not making Clark look douchey, un-empathetic and unreasonably judgmental. We should be way past acts of actual!superdickery in this day and age, imho. Considering the universe he exists in, Clark should be ready to take on whatever is thrown his way, even a hormonal teenage "clone" of himself, no matter if they have a human parent or not, and even if Clark doesn't get along with that parent. Seriously, more writers need to remember that. The DC world is insane and anything could happen; so the characters ought to be mindful of that at all times.

Which leads me to ask: Why should Clark be extremely upset almost every single time Kon pops up anyway? Why does he have to be extremely upset at all? He didn't get a choice to thumb up or thumb down Kon's creation but beyond that, what was forced on him? As I noted earlier, he didn't get forcefully impregnated or even deceived. No one made him let Kon into his life either and Kon is a good kid anyway who wants to be the best superhero he can be and who's typically no worse than cocky. (Though some versions of Superman surprisingly need to be convinced/reminded of Kon's innocence.) Less honest people will try and dance around the elephant in the room, which is that they wouldn't think what was done with Clark's DNA was a big deal if Kon hadn't come from it. "Well, duh!" you might say. Duh indeed, because without Kon's existence, literally no argument can reasonably be made that Kal was harmed in anyway. (Unlike with physical attacks, which are obvious. The harm done to him would then, at most, be emotional/psychological but only if Clark acknowledges on some level what/who Conner is (his son!) but struggles to accept him/rejects him despite/because of it. Superman (and the fans that do the directly-above), should focus their ire on the true wrong-doers, not a victim. I mean really, Conner has only done wrong to Clark and his family/friends once, while brainwashed by somebody else!! (It was Lex Luthor, of course.)

This means that they know Kon is his own person with endless potential, who is vulnerable and always at risk of manipulation, who deserves sympathy regardless of how he was made and who just needs an outstretched hand from someone who cares and wants him to stay on the right path, despite where he came from. Which means they also know what it says about Superman for him to neglect Conner, but just accept it as "a blind spot" as opposed to calling it out as the horrible writing decision that it always is. Kon in the ROTSM movie is the biggest victim in that scenario and it's made clear there. In that movie, Superman didn't turn his back on or avoid Superboy at any point and dived right into a father-son relationship with him. Thank goodness.

I repeat: The parent in the movie that actively created him without the other parent's knowledge, treated him like fresh garbage, like a toy that doubled as a tool/weapon, like an object. The other parent on the other hand refused to do the same and instead did right by him and took him in. Kon's feelings and needs were acknowledged as they deserved to be. Clark was called dad by the boy and he more or less stood in his role that wasn't gonna change whether he wanted it to or not, nor whether he accepted it or not. A parent is a parent the moment they have a kid, even if they choose not to be there for them. Adoption is one way of becoming a parent that I admire (as long as no cruelty was committed for it to happen) and I'm happy for those happy to be adopted. However, mind you, Clark or The Kents raising Kon who is one of Clark's own bio kids, would be regular parenting/grand-parenting; not adoption or fostering.

He also did have a choice btw, when it came to that movie, as he always does and like everyone else has/would. He could have chosen to ignore/avoid Kon and left him to teach himself how to swim, but this is Superman we're talking about here and he, more than anyone, would ideally never behave that way to someone in need (least of all a child/his own child!). Even if other people in his place would unfortunately be unable to (which I understand and can sympathize with). Superboy did appear to be physically younger (if not emotionally) in ROTSM than he was in YJ, but my point still stands for both stories and related.

In fact, if memory serves right, (as briefly referenced earlier) the 90's version of Superman which the TDOSM and ROTSM movies are loosely based on somehow wasn't near as avoidant around or upset by the 90's Kon-El Superboy (Kon sure was annoyed by him though) as the character was in some later writers' stories, despite supposedly being of the same continuity and despite the fact that Superboy became a better person and hero as years passed. Which actually kinda adds to my point about how ridiculous this behavior/flaw from modern versions of Clark is. Funny. It also sort of reeks of higher-up interference to me... Almost like they needed an excuse to keep the two apart; very separated and in their own books with rarely any overlap, before eventually deciding to recurringly erase one of the characters from "canon" and/or their connection/closeness to the other more prominent character...

Which, finally, is what the reasoning for constantly excluding and distancing Kal-El from Kon-El really all comes down to. Seven things actually, which are all often/always connected: 1. Keeping tradition going which often causes 2. Plain old homophobia to win when it comes to writing decisions, but also usually leads to 3. Clois favoritism, both of which are due in part to 4. Fear of trying anything new and 5. Peeving off the fanbases within the fanbase, whose members all have their own version of Superman in mind (think about the YJ vs ROTSM example), which brings about 6. Laziness and simplicity for simplicity's sake and we can't forget 7. That probably more than anything else (and where the other seven stem from) there's the issue of THE FOCUS ON $$$ [profit, with as little effort and change put forward to gain it as possible, or in some cases too much effort used on the wrong thing(s)].

The need to always hold on, in some way, shape or form, to tradition is a tale as old as time and an obvious reason for Kon's constant alienation from Kal and the larger Superfamily.

I mean really, think about it. Although I focus a lot on how Conner is treated by DC and specifically Clark, he's not the only child from his life that Clark's failed to raise or be there for to the best of his ability. It's just the most glaringly obvious with him.

Every reappears-in-"canon" minor (so not imaginary story character) that pops up at Clark's doorstep gets the short end of the stick, often multiple times at different points. In fact, it's happened so many times now that it's becoming a fandom "joke" and is even—for me at least—starting to become an expected outcome on Clark's part. And guess who it began with?

That's right; Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl: Cousin of Kal-El/Superman.

In the earlier Silver Age comics, Superman got up to some very weird or borderline abusive acts that he often involved Supergirl in. From refusing to take her in and keeping others from adopting this innocent teenage orphan, to forcing her to play pretend as his love-interest (likely as a not-so-veiled excuse to kiss her on the lips), to admitting he actually wanted her in that way, but couldn't, solely because of Krypton's cousin marriage laws?? Supergirl admittedly came across at times like she had an unnatural attachment of her own to her cousin but all the same, she was far younger—even underaged by many standards—traumatized and in need of guidance, yet that version of Superman didn't notice or care and even took advantage of this fact.

The tradition has been, for a while, to have Superman treat/neglect the children in his care so horribly that any chance of them having something of a father figure-child type relationship or mentor-student relationship is nullified. In one of the most recent issues of this current run of Action Comics (2016), Superman has once again come across a child, no, two children in fact, and actually took them both in. This isn't the first time he's done that (Lor-Zod/Chris Kent ring a bell?) but knowing how every other attempt at parenting by main universe Clark has ended, I'm hoping and praying that his sweet, impressionable, ill-raised, adopted twins named Otho-Ra and Osul-Ra (girl and boy) aren't destined for tragedy. Or outside involvement that cuts their childhood short. Or somehow still getting rejected in the end after the fact because it's not convenient enough for Superman/Clark and Status Quo. Considering how cluttered the current Action Comics's Super-Family is starting to seem...it wouldn't surprise me one bit if any of these options happened to them in due time.

Now, the homophobia. Do I really need to explain this one? The closest we've ever gotten to a gay/bi main-universe (not alternate) Superman...WASN'T EVEN SUPERMAN. Not really. It was his son who I bet you the editors at DC wanted people to confuse for the other when it came to the news article titles. Perhaps as a sort of "test" to see how much they could get away with doing with the real deal. I don't say this to shade Jon, only to tell is as it appears. Clearly a large amount of the fanbase failed the test. So although we do get to have a bi-Jon now (And possibly a basically-bi-Kon? Bicon?) whether or not some people hate it, the backlash over that Superman's coming out (and maybe even the anger over his secret identity being revealed) is proof enough for DC that Clark literally cannot come out, even if he wants to. Decades of subtext be damned.

Clois is and always will be the favored partner for Superman by writers. There's nothing wrong with that imho. It truly is the quintessential superhero comic romance. The issue is that any deviation from this (even if just for a short amount of time) is often met with outrage from a huge (or just loud) portion of the fanbase, causing writers to have to find a way to backtrack, cutting back on creativity. Now it often seems they're scared to try anything genuinely new and fresh with Superman. Who could blame them? They have previous examples that prove what will happen if they do.

It should also be noted again that keeping characters as separated/distant as possible (in this case, Superfamily characters) allows for DC to have each of those characters to have a series of their own so more comics can be made and sold!!

I understand we all have a version of Superman in our heads that's "the correct one" but that's exactly why arguments about what's "right" or what could "work" for the character often go nowhere. It leads to the quality of stories being affected and the companies putting in less effort into creating, knowing that simple and typical is what's wanted anyway. It's like: Why even bother?

So to reiterate one more time: The #1 concern will always be about making as big a buck as possible through as little a means as necessary. If editors and co believe lack of change is the way to achieve that, then that's what they'll do. Them continuing into the present day to stop just short of acknowledging what Kon actually is to the Superfamily likely has very little to do with the usual excuses, and a whole lot to do with the aforementioned, with everything else leading back to it.

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wallterandtoradventures · 1 day

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⚔️"A new realm? Let's explore it!" 🧱"Let's not."

A MULTIFANDOM, REGRETEVATOR-CENTRIC ASK BLOG, INTERACTIVE RP BLOG, COMIC BLOG AND DISCUSSION BLOG FOR MY REGRETEVATOR AU my main is @muntdane, which I share with my buddy Mint! You can also find me on twitter, among other places! You can call me Leon, Brutus, or whatever else you know me by! MULTI-MUSE, more characters will be introduced overtime (hopefully, lol.)

Posts will be either drawn or done in roblox studio Wallter was designed by my buddy Paramedic! However, just about every other design on this blog is made by me. Credits will be given where credit is due, though! this blog may feature violence, blood, and substance abuse

⚔️ and 🧱 used to differentiate between TOR (my regretevator OC) and Wallter! (and yes, you can use them as emoji pronouns too.) Wallter uses He/Any, TOR uses He/Him! OCs, other canon characters, other wallter blogs, and crossovers from other fandoms are welcome and encouraged to interact! this blog follows the Wallmark+Lampert family headcanon. more info under the cut!

BASIC PREMISE

TOR is a dynabloxian, an ancient robloxian race that had been presumed to have gone extinct for about as long as dinosaurs. In this multiverse, death of old age is not a thing, however, robloxians had an exceptionally large fighting culture back in the day that had wiped all dynabloxians out. Wallter is... also a dynabloxian, however he had been preserved in ice when he was rather young and had been uncovered by ro-bio scientists. As such, he is the only modern example of a dynabloxian in the current era. Watch what happens when TOR finds the second surviving member of his people! You can learn more about TOR's character here, and get a glimpse of his dialog here!

MAIN TAGS

🥂GENERAL OOC POSTS 🥂LEON'S LORE RAMBLINGS 🥂ARTPOST 🥂FANART RBS -- ⚔️TOR RESPONSE 🧱WALLTER RESPONSE 🥂ASKS 🥂COMICS 🥂SHITPOSTS 🥂NONCANON more character tags subject to be added -- multiverse 233443 is for any fan-content relating to all multiverse stories (the place where this AU takes place in) multiverse of hearts preferably should be used by me only!!

BOUNDARIES

Proship and Drama DNI

Will only do ship RP if I'm friends with you, obviously won't be canon to the story. sorry, I'm sensitive about romance so this is easier! That being said, there are heavy shipping aspects in-story, not just relating to wallmark! And, of course, shipping-related asks and fanart and headcanons is completely fine lol.

While I am 18, refrain from NSFW asks. I want the multiverse to be enjoyed by all audiences!

Suggestive fanart of my adult OCs is allowed, however, my friends OCs will be featured on this blog as well. Do NOT draw suggestive fanart of my friends OCs.

I am not comfortable with walllamp and woodlamp! Do not even make jokes about it. (DW, I know the family isn't canon.)

Magic anons are allowed, but I can ignore the magic anon for whatever reason I want. I'm also not going to collect anon emojis since I use emoji markers for characters, but feel free to mark yourself with an emoji anyways.

I am autistic, please elaborate if you are being serious about something! Please elaborate if you are in-character or out-of-character!

Do not attach flashing gifs to your interactions with me! :(

DUBS ARE OKAY WITH CREDIT FANART IS OKAY WITH CREDIT USING MY ART FOR EDITS AND PFP IS OKAY WITH CREDIT FANFIC IS OKAY WITH CREDIT ALL I ASK IS YOU SHOW ME WHEN YOU'RE DONE!

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zanewatchestuff · 5 months

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Superhero Roundtable: Invincible

How do structural mythology, cultural studies, and cultural history reflect the series’ world and world-building around superheroes?

Invincible, much like many modern iterations of the “Capepunk” superhero genre that explores superheroism in a “realistic” manner accompanied by dark comedy and gruesome conflicts, offers commentary and its own unique premise on the cultural studies, cultural history, and structural mythology especially. The structural mythology of the show that initially borrows and parodies the structural mythologies of shows like The Justice League (2001) constantly explores what it means to be a hero through the main character, Mark Grayson. The 17-year-old half-human-half-Viltrumite high school student grapples with not just having to learn how to use his new powers, but also what being a superhero means, a concept that Mark struggles with throughout his entire career. A modest example of this is how Mark dubs his superhero alter-ego as “Invincible”, yet throughout the series, he is constantly beaten to near death and loses many major conflicts. Additionally, his father, otherwise known as Omni-man, someone whom Mark initially looks up to and models his superhero identity and perspective after, reveals to Mark that he comes from an alien race whose purpose is to conquer the universe and nearly kills Mark after Mark’s refusal to join in his father’s conquest. This is one of the most pivotal events in the series, as not only did it result in the death of thousands of people, but also is the beginning of the deconstruction of the illustrious image superheroes held and greatly influenced Mark’s career as a superhero.

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The media of Invincible, which includes both the show and the graphic novel from which the show is adapted, greatly reflects cultural beliefs in their audience, more so in the comics, and adds onto these shaped beliefs. Apart from the show bolstering a wide array of superheroes from many different races and ethnicities, Invincible adds to the cultural view that anyone can wear the mask, a view famously explored through Spider-man media. Superhero monikers in the world of Invincible, primarily in the comics, are interchanged and evolved upon e.g. numerous people taking on variations of Omni-man’s identity and a few characters temporarily and permanently stepping in as Invincible with their own perspectives on what that position means.

The comic run of Invincible spans from 2003 to 2018, meaning there is a large element of cultural history that each major arc of the comic run is influenced by, however, the current run of the show makes some attempt to modernize some of the cultural history elements. One that particularly jumps out is the change in values of broadcasting and information exchange and how that has played a part in the growing caution and distrust for authoritative bodies, namely the U.S. government, among the younger generation. In some scenes in the show, as Mark is starting to develop agency in being a superhero, he has numerous arguments with Cecil Stedman, the government agent in charge of the Global Defense Agency, and even defies orders that Cecil gives him in acts of both rebellion and growth in his own ideologies on ‘superheroing’.

In what ways are the superheroes and their abilities informed by their racial, gender, sexual, and cultural identities?

In many cases, superheroes in Invincible are inspired by already existing superhero entities of both Marvel and DC with a range of alterations, some of which are informed by their racial, gender, sexual, and cultural identities. Both Mark and his father Nolan exhibit powers popularized by DC’s Superman that also similarly stem from their cultural identity as aliens, namely, Viltrumites from the planet Viltrum. Though not explicitly explored in the early stages of Mark’s career, his Asian identity also plays a role in his superhero identity. Many male characters seemingly naturally have some degree of increased physical strength and durability as part of their abilities with very few exceptions like Rex-Splode whose ability is able to create explosions by charging molecules to an unstable level of power. Most female superheroes exhibit abilities that aren’t necessarily akin to physical strength or explosiveness and more so some form of manipulation of matter, with very specific exceptions in characters like Monster Girl who shares similarities to Marvel’s Hulk in that she can transform into a large monster with supernatural strength, durability and healing, and War Woman who bares similarity to DC’s Wonder Woman in numerous ways, including her supernatural strength, speed, and durability

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The show also shamelessly plays into the trope of having black male characters have superstrength and/or supernatural durability, as there are numerous black male characters, both heroes and villains, who have almost the exact same abilities with the exception of characters like Darkwing, the Batman-inspired superhero.

In what ways do costumes and concealing identities further separate the superheroes from normal society? How necessary is it for the superheroes to hide their true identities to successfully achieve their goals?

The show takes some time to explore the process of how superheroes pick their costumes and how they choose to have their identities displayed, such as hiding one of their identities or making attempts to separate them.

A somewhat common trend among some superheroes of the world, usually superheroes who have had experience in the careers or are generally older, is that they don’t wear a mask or any sort of garment that could skewer their identity, which makes a lot of sense for superheroes who don’t have separate identities in their day-to-day lives, but for characters like Omni-man/Nolan Gray and Atom Eve/Samantha Eve Wilkins, one of Mark’s friends and allies, they’re still able to hide and separate their identities without using a mask of some sort. This isn’t quite successful for Eve as Mark is able to recognize her at school after encountering her as her superhero counterpart earlier, and she offers an explanation that most people don’t expect someone they know to be a superhero, a very Hannah Montana situation that mostly works. Mark, however, has a number of reasons as to why he has to wear a mask, especially for the safety of his friends and family, as there are numerous cases in the comics where villains exploit his identity as well as his ties to his Father.

The costume designs also play a part in separating the superheroes from society and are explicitly described as symbols. When he starts, Mark builds his costume with the notable goggles and bandana to hide his identity. He later visits Art Rosenbaum, a suit tailor who designs many of the costumes of the show, and we see him create Invincible’s suit and mask that he dawns for most of his career that helps hide his identity as Mark Grayson (an important detail that will be explored quite soon in the series). When picking a suit design with Art, Mark states that he doesn’t like the orange and yellow suit designs and wants something “more iconic” (hence the yellow ‘I’ in the middle of his suit). This reflects both Mark’s understanding of the superhero identity that is modeled greatly after his father who dawns an ‘iconic’ white and red suit with the letter ‘O’ on it, a symbol, as Omni-man describes it, and the design of other superheroes entities of the time that dawned sleek black lines and colors that accompanied whatever other color scheme the superhero wore.

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How do the economic, political, and social events that occurred during the series’ creation and broadcast cultivate and inform the superheroes’ decisions and actions?

The Invincible comics began its run in 2003, meaning some of the comic elements and stories may have been influenced by the period of time in which there was a heavy focus on the United States combatting terrorism following the events of 9/11, as many “alien threats” dealt with by the superheroes resemble this period. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002) also came out a year prior and is heralded as a large influence in comic book superheroes, most likely also being an influence in the creation of Invincible as they share very many similar elements (and even have various comic runs where both characters crossover to work alongside each other and are drawn by the same artist).

Nonetheless, the T.V. show that’s been broadcasting since 2021 very much attempts to modernize the story, and we see elements of more transparent Government involvement (or rather more exposure into the credibility of the Government) following major events such as Trump’s impeachment. Additionally, in recent years there has been general dialogue and questioning over the State following more and more largely broadcasted and empowering social justice movements and mass protests in recent years (e.g. the Black Lives Matter movement) that have worked to counter a lot of authoritative policies as well as deconstruct prevailing social constructs. In the show, this can be reflected by how Invincible (and several superhero characters) begins to make more of his own decisions instead of simply following orders given to him by Cecil, as well as a general distrust for Government authorities by the general public due to either their reliance on Superheroes and their continuous exploitation of people, both superheroes and non-superheroes.

How do the superheroes question themselves, each other, and their obligations and duties to the people around them?

Mark especially questions his role and obligation as Invincible as his plate grows larger, takes on more responsibilities and constantly has his beliefs toyed with. Growing up with a father as a superhero, being a superhero just like him had been Mark’s dream for 17 years. However, after having his whole world shattered when his father revealed himself to be a world conqueror playing “superhero” and “family man” as a means to accomplish his goal of conquering Earth, killing the most powerful superheroes and thousands of civilians due to Mark refusing to join in the conquest, Mark begins the continuous journey of questioning his role and responsibility as a superhero, often fearing he would turn out like his father and constantly blames himself for the destruction Omni-man/Nolan caused. Even in the second episode, we see Invincible learn the nuances and difficulties of superhero work when he causes the death of an Old lady while trying to evacuate her from an alien invasion.

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A common theme in the show is the irony of Mark’s superhero name, Invincible, and how he is often going up against threats that are a lot more powerful than him and he repeatedly gets beat up and loses his battles. This takes a toll on Mark, causing him to question his abilities more often than not, as well as those close to him e.g. his mother. It also plays into the theme of growing up and independence and all the challenges that come along with it.

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Atom Eve also goes through her own journey of establishing her obligation and duties as a superhero, as she comes to the realization that her abilities (the power to see and manipulate matter at subatomic levels) could be used for more humanitarian purposes like solving world hunger and building homes rather than being reduced to violence in the form of crime fighting. She leaves her superhero team in order to pursue this goal, which she learns comes with its own challenges that cause her to question whether or not she’s doing the right thing.

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Our season 1 antagonist, Omni-man, has his own journey of questioning himself and his obligation as a superhero. Initially, his militaristic, planet-conquest mindset that is instilled in Viltrumite culture is conflicted when he comes to Earth and learns about humanity and societies on Earth, developing an obligation to protect the planet, even if he planned to conquer it in the future. Even after revealing his goal was to “breed” a suitor, a.k.a Mark, that could help him on his conquest, he is unable to follow through because he’s overcome with emotion and memories of his time on Earth while nearly killing his son. In the 4th episode of the 2nd season, Omni-man shares a vulnerable moment with Mark/Invincible where he talks about how he doesn’t understand why he cares for and feels obligated to protect a “weak” alien species, why he feels like this should be his purpose instead of the Viltrumite conquest, and why death and the guilt of his actions suddenly begins to weigh on him for the first time in his life. The episode ends with Omni-man fighting his ex-comrades to protect an alien planet alongside his son, completely showing an overhaul in his initial ideologies, and is prepared to die for the Thraxan alien species.

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