#and providence could mean the town or the other comic with that name or the song or like a real kid i had or something. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

clockworkslick · 8 months

Text

oh. its 10/16. so short summary before i talk about nothing for a bit too long: a year ago i came up with the idea to actually go through with taking one of my silly ideas and turning it into something that other people could read, so i started drafting the concept of providence, a webcomic i make and thats updating everyday. more talking under the whatever.

so ive always made little stories that i would run through in my head for like two or three months when i had mental downtime, and then move on to some other goofy idea. this is either a totally normal thing or im a freak, honestly i have no frame of reference for how other people act. anyways i was home from college last year and i had this idea for an rpg fantasy story, initially an idea for playing modded minecraft with some friends (god i wish that was a joke), but i started writing shit down in a google doc. i wrote out a handful generic slots for various fantasy classes: witch, dryad, ranger, knight, vampire(not a class but i dont give a fuck), blacksmith, etc. and then i named some of them. i finished naming and writing out plot nonsense in november and changed the name of the comic from "Drive-By" to "Liberty" to "Providence."

honestly i think that was the easy part because its totally non-commital. unfortunately after that i had to actually start making the pages. the original plan was to finish act one before may, which was an optimistic goal to say the least, but also maybe if i didnt have to do anything else it would have been totally possible. or if i was just faster in general. anyways i started drawing everything at the end of december and then didnt stop for 6 months. actually thats a lie, i started drawing pages and havent stopped since then, but what i meant is that i started uploading the comic in may. i had a backlog of about 75 pages and the art change just in that time was nuts. comparing act 2 art to act 1 is more nuts but im not about to redraw the 170 pages of a1 just so that its APPEALING and PALLETEABLE. i learned way more about web design from doing this comic than from my actual web design class. like insanely more. you have no idea how little that class helped me with anything aside from making friends through mutual hatred of being poorly taught.

sixo de mayo (may 6th) came and i started doing this thing for real, and its been so surreal having people actually talk to me about these guys that have been in my head for months. my sister recently asked if deacon was my self-insert, which is sort of true but only in the sense that we both have social issues and like to be dumb on sort-of-purpose, and then she told me that her favorite character was reagan. theres not really any deep meaning behind her telling me or that reagan is my favorite too, but its just so surreal to me that people can have a favorite, or any opinion, on these characters i obsess over.

alright i think im done for now, i just wanted to talk about the comic on its sort of birthday, and also the day that the gang got pulled into the story. i mentioned that vaguely in the story once already, but im cool with being more direct about it. ill probably go on another rant again about this sometime, maybe on sixo de mayo, but probably sooner because im obsessive and like to type. happy birthday comic, heres to a million more. or however many years it takes to make a 5 act story at a rate of like 200 pages in 10 months. hopefully that number will go up.

#i kind of wasted away today and didnt realize the date until just now #i sort of feel bad about speaking like a marketing manager when i talk about providence but i dont want to assume people know what it is #because statistically thats impossible #and providence could mean the town or the other comic with that name or the song or like a real kid i had or something.#its not a kid i dont have a kid im basically a child. a large twenty year old child

0 notes

archietransdrews · 1 year

Text

literally talking to the walls of my room like. riverdale's internal logic relies on the explanatory power of one's origins to an absurd degree, framing the actions of the protagonists as prescribed by their generational predecessors to such an extreme that the town's founding years not only provide meaning, context, and motive to current events as is typical in an archetypal place-based narrative but futhermore exert a horrifying control over the characters, compelling them to repeat or rebel against the actions of long-dead townspeople to whom they are only distantly related. these scenes from the past, when included in the show, are filmed using the same actors as the present-day scenes, producing the past as not only reminiscent of but in some aspects identical to the present. blood and bloodlines are used by various characters as explanatory schemas for the behavior of different characters throughout; riverdale is a place overdetermined by its own origins to the point that our protagonists spend years trying and usually failing to escape the combined generational curses of an entire town whose entire history consists in the repetition of its own genesis ad nauseum. does this seeming over-reliance on origins exaggerate the process to the point of effective parody, or does it merely & more straight-forwardly reinforce the [genetic] origin as privileged locus of [fictional] meaning?

a potentially conflictual reading of riverdale's historical "origins" is that they are invented or produced through the act of jughead's narration of riverdale as text; this reading posits that there is no "before" the pilot of riverdale, save what jughead invents to give additional meaning to the events which make up his plots. riverdale is his puppet show; everything in the text has been filtered through his point of view, which is to say that everything acquires the exact same level of (un)reality, whether it's a comic book character come to life or the sins of one's ancestors. in this framing, the true origin, and the key to whatever meaning might be made of this text, is the moment jughead's narration begins in the pilot with "our story is about a town.." in foregrounding jughead's ongoing acts of authorship and creation which function to continually produce the narrative & all it contains, riverdale destabilizes epigenetic origin as a locus of meaning by framing it as in some way artificial, invented, unreal; however, it does this by substituting another, no less authoritative, specifically authorial origin in its place.

and there is still a THIRD possible genealogy through which we can read riverdale as understanding itself, namely the genealogy of the cinematic canon. we well know that riverdale is constantly referring back to earlier moments in the history of film, from 70s noirs to 80s coming of age movies to 90s thrillers to etc. etc., not so much situating itself within this history as aiming to encompass all of the various stages of the medium's development. this argument could be broadened to include the histories of other prominent cultural forms, namely the novel and the comic strip; the meaning in riverdale might be said to be primarily derived from comic conventions, the principles of character creation and economy of image that have governed strips for decades and which now cause riverdale characters to wear outfits that have no in-world meaning except to refer back to their original iconic wardrobes, e.g. archie and jughead's S and R t-shirts.

which of these frames has the most explanatory power? which best helps us to understand or analyze why events in riverdale play out the way they do? i think in most cases one needs some combination of the three to be able to even begin getting at what's going on, which suggests that at least part of riverdale's project is the destabilization of the genealogical narrative via the introduction of several distinct, at times competing, narrative origins. riverdale is a story whose meaning is located simultaneously in the past, the act of narration, and the development of cinema and comics as mediums. while this structure does not necessarily step outside of the dominant symbolic framework that looks to origins in order to generate the meaning of a text, it is in typical riverdale fashion that the show wants to do everything at once, meaning in this case that rather than privileging one frame through which we are meant to make sense of the show's content, we are given to several possible readings which are all compelling in their own ways & when taken together succeed in troubling the final authority of any one interpretation.

#took a break from the liveblog this week to watch some other programs but she is still HEAVILY. on my mind #the jughead paradox is going to blow this whole thing wide open btw #syllabus

185 notes · View notes

comicaurora · 1 year

Note

With the ubiquity of Webtoons, it is apparently becoming less and less feasible for an author to start up a webcomic that they host themself and then actually garner and audience. How do you feel about the possibility that, supposing you are able to sustain Aurora to completion, 10 years from now Aurora might be one of the last of the traditional style?

Oh, I doubt that. If by "traditional style" you mean "one complete print-ready page at a time", infinite-scroller one-panel-at-a-time comics are a completely different animal, stylistically speaking. It's more like a reel of film or an animatic you scroll through than a comic. There are things you can do with it that you can't do with traditional paneling, and things you can do with traditional paneling you can't do with that. It's a "two cakes" situation - a functionally distinct art form with different strengths and weaknesses. Just look at what a webtoon looks like when it's printed in book form - all those straight-line panels have to be cut up and floated onto a single page.

It's not a style you favor if printing is a consideration from the get-go, like with some of the oldest webcomics that originally made the jump from traditional publishing to the much-less-annoying world of online distribution. They panels fit together because that's what they were meant to do, it leaves less empty space on the page and it's overall a smoother transition from online to print because the pages are basically already done.

And if "traditional style" means "independently run," well, comics and webcomics have, to my knowledge, always been a largely unprofitable venture for the individual creator, at least until physical book sales and merch enter the equation, and the question "how do I get people to read my webcomic" was never an easy one to answer - it hasn't gotten more difficult with time. Conglomerates like Webtoons and Hiveworks give creators an easier answer to that question by providing centralized hosting and advertising, but the mechanisms that made early webcomics work haven't appreciably changed. Anyone can buy a domain name, plug in some Wordpress tools and go to town, same as they could back in 2005. I'd say it hasn't gotten less feasible to be independent, it's just that sticking with a conglomerate is a (theoretically) simpler route to views and success that didn't exist in the early days of the 'net.

And the thing is, that doesn't mean they're better for everyone. If a conglomerate tool existed that would've let me make my comic site exactly how I wanted it to - with spaces for lore, maps, additional content, etc - I probably would've done that instead of starting from scratch, since lots of the backend structuring work would've already been done for me. But Webtoons comics are, as mentioned, completely stylistically different from mine, and Hiveworks submissions are closed, plus they design their own site for you and also lock themselves in as your publisher. I personally don't like it when other people take creative control out of my hands, and there are plenty of artists that feel the same way.

If anything, the rise of social media and the centralization of the net into things like twitter and reddit (and even tumblr) makes it theoretically simpler to get your independent comic noticed than back in the wild west early days, because now you know where a potential audience for your work is hanging out. Back in the old days I don't even remember how I found some of the comics I read religiously - maybe TVTropes links, thinking about it? But that was basically all they had for discoverability! From my perspective it's only gotten easier to get the word out about a project you're working on, and while part of that is because there are now large hosting platforms that comic artists can sign onto, part of it is a level of interconnectedness that has only grown with time that allows the work of independent creators to be discovered, shared and spread faster than ever.

#asks #art stuff #writing stuff #behind the curtain

274 notes · View notes

radiomurdeer · 3 months

Text

Wishlist

Random ideas I'd like to see. These are by no means comprehensive or in any particular order and I'm down with lots of plotting/changes to initial idea, these are just some things off the top of my head to help facilitate plotting. You can view the wishlist tag itself by clicking here. This got long woops so I'll put it all under a cut.

With Anyone/General Scenarios

Hotel Dad Alastor - maybe he shouldn't have told Charlie he viewed her as his spawn. I feel like such a bold claim should have consequences.

Alastor is injured after the fight and is dealing with it. The other muse does not believe that he's fine (maybe he is, maybe he isn't) and wants to help.

Alastor is injured after the fight and is taken advantage of (dark thread)

corruption thread! slower burn, Alastor just being a general creeper and influencing those around him in a negative way. Or someone corrupting him but I feel like that might be harder to plot for.

muse as one of Alastor's contractees and has to deal with having a weird creepy boss

found family stuff I'm a sucker for it

Alastor joining the Vees. How willing he is can be variable. Maybe he joined when Vox asked? Maybe he lost the fight with Vox and one of the Vees ended up holding his leash 7 years ago. Maybe he finally relented after coming back from his sabbatical. Bonus points for anyone trying to convince him to change his name to Valastor or something equally dumb with a V to match the rest of them (he refuses, tyvm)

redeemed!Alastor - Great Alastor, altruist, did die for his friends. He's not happy about this. No one is happy about this. Falling from Heaven any% speedrun go! Or maybe Heaven figures out a way to use him against Hell?

human!AU with Alastor as serial killer dating a horror/crime writer like this post

IDK I just like political intrigue

With Charlie

AU where Alastor is, in fact, dating Charlie like he insinuated at the beginning of Episode 5 before switching tactics to be a father figure. This is probably not a healthy ship but it could be

Hotel Dad Alastor - you made the claim my guy, time to stick with it

IDK make him sit in therapy or something. He's not a resident, he's staff, but he should set a good example right? Or maybe she wants to try out some psychology stuff she's read about and get his opinion before testing it on the resident(s)

them working together on some project for the hotel or something else

field trips to Cannibal Town or elsewhere - for someone raised in Hell, she doesn't really seem to know much about her people

With Husk

role reversal, Husk owns Alastor's soul

Overlord Husk - stuff in the past leading up to the game where Husk lost his soul

aftermath and time following Alastor getting Husk's soul

With Lucifer

Lucifer and Alastor having to deal with each other, I just want banter and maybe reluctant co-parenting/co-hosting at the hotel.

Something based on the Mutual Satisfaction comic by @/Fernrynn on Twitter, first page is here but the rest is easy enough to find (tw: gore, canniballism), - Lucifer makes a deal with Alastor to provide his meals. Probably more of a horror thread tbh?

I like RadioApple of all flavors. Lucifer and Alastor dealing with starting to like someone they can't stand and having to deal with feelings is a fun dynamic.

With Vox

Them meeting and working together, Alastor taking a newly spawned Vox under his wing.

AU where they continue working together and the 'Vees' didn't happen (idk I love the idea of 'the Media Demons/Broadcast Husbands' getting a rep and showing up at the hotel in the pilot instead of just Alastor)

the point leading up to and including where Alastor and Vox split. I high key headcanon this happened in the 70s/80s when Valentino showed up. An ultimatum was given, and Vox chose Val. Super negotiable on the reason for the split though.

AU where Alastor loses the fight 7 years ago and ends up working for Vox. Or the other way around? Either is good.

Vox and Alastor team up for some reason during/after the series, possibly reconciling, possibly not

RadioStatic of all flavors, unrequited/unspoken/QPR/exes/anything. I fucking love RadioStatic

corrupt priest or corrupt nun AU? AU where one is getting tempted by a devil? both tempting an NPC? Idk Vox's priest getup in ep 2 and Alastor's nun outfit in ep 5 had me thinking

#//insert fancy wishlist tag here #//dead air; ooc #//may add or remove to this as time passes but at least it exists

11 notes · View notes

2a8n · 9 months

Text

New add. info 7

I wonder if this guy fights with his feet just like Sanji from One Piece? =/

I would limit it to Takama just beating the crap out of his brother, but oh well.

If I’m not mistaken, DSP previously provided us with this information on one of the earlier streams. At least in OkegomWiki it was already written in Takama’s biography even before this stream.

Does this mean… that non-human DSP's characters could potentially be hermaphrodites (with the exception of Rema, they have no gender, and therefore probably cannot have children)? If in the case of witches, demons, angels and higher in the hierarchy I can imagine this due to the fact that they have magic and that some of them definitely have an “extraterrestrial origin”, then what should I do with animal characters? It could be assumed that they can acquire several gender characteristics at once thanks to various potions and magic, but this statement rather says that they can give birth to children, regardless of gender. And this begs the question: are they all hermaphrodites?

Is Yukisada making so many cookies and cakes because of his love for sweets or because he wants to feed Shirogane all this and cheer him up? However, I am afraid that at this rate, both Yukisada and Shirogane will have diabetes… (6 _ 6)

Now we know that Yukisada wears a mokko-styled fundoshi. At the same time, it was previously mentioned that he also wears undergarments with orange polka dots and “something quite cute”, but for some reason this isn't in the OkegomWiki biography of Yukisada, so now only fundoshi… yeah…

What do you think the name of this ice cream shop in School AU would be? Here are a few of my options: Mogekov-Mogekos, Kremlin-Hashasky, Kremlin-Mogekos, Ice Scream, Under-Iceberg.

I hope Sal will be to EAT it. By the way, how about Mister Mogeko, Donut for Mister, Mister Defect Mogeko, Mogeko Donut?

Mogezeriya, Funazeriya, Rosaliliya, Lilisaliya…?

Hmm…it seems that Orca's older brother has authority. I wonder if this is due to their difference in strength or because Takama is older than Idate?

Honestly, I thought that here he would also order something with a Japanese twist, so I'm a little surprised by the order. (0 _ 0)

So, please remind me why DSP hasn't made a mini-comic about this yet?

Takama thinks for two, obviously… Just remember all those times when Idate did not understand the seriousness of what was happening in WaTGBS, could throw a cigarette butt in Castle Town and be punished for it, and we will immediately understand that Takama’s younger brother is not used to thinking and pondering their actions and their consequences, and therefore it was most likely the older brother who had to do all this. (- _ -)

I hope they will show us this in the full-fledged Ice Scream Remake. At the same time, I would like to see other characters from Iseberg Isle when they were still children. I would like to be look on them and on them cuteness, and look at the difference between them as children and them as adults.

Yukiyoshi and Yukisada are twins, but the difference between them is also noticeable in their physical strength. In this case, if Shirogane suddenly cannot distinguish them from each other, then he should check who is who with the help of arm wrestling. At least, even if Yukiyoshi deliberately gives in to Yukisada, he definitely won’t lose to Shiro (after all, he thinks our wolf “extremely pathetic,” so…). =)

BONUS.

26 notes · View notes

brightcalamity · 4 months

Text

Spoilers about late game things:

Man, Wei is weird, isn't he? (This is a compliment) Making an opposite of a guy who is comically evil, and you get a guy who should be...comically good? I hope that's where they're going, because that's how I read him.

Quotes:

Wei:

Well, if you know my brother's birthday, you know mine. But in case you didn't, it's the 14th of Autumn. They say there was a solar eclipse that day.

So are Wei and Yan like those 7 brothers from Portia? Except instead of the colors of the rainbow, they're light and dark? Good and evil? Yan is the dark shadow that blocks out the sun that is Wei? But he's also the guy who shoplifts from Arvio? It actually makes me feel a tiny bit sorry for Yan. Like, was he capable of being any better than he is?

Our father used to always tell us, "Be hard on yourself, go easy on others." He always tried his best with Yan, but my brother... There was no getting through to him. When I moved in, I found engraved in his desk... "Go easy on yourself, go hard on others." How strange that he relishes in such behavior...

Cursed...

I was a guild commissioner previously; I'd regularly join expedition teams going in to the Peripheries. We'd always hire a crack team to fight alongside us. We were careful. Always did everything right. One excursion, my team abandoned me out there, having been paid off by Yan. That... is a story for another time...

Poor Wei...

⁠My brother did always enjoy playing his identity swapping games... Prior to this, the longest he ever got away with it was a month in middle school when I went away for the grammar rodeo... When I got back I had some choice words for him, all of which were carefully constructed semantically!⁠ ⁠ Long ago I had a true love by the name of Esmerelda. She, too, was taken from me by my brother. One day, i came home to find her furious. She claimed that I had said the most horrible things to her. I tried to explain that I have an evil twin...! But she wouldn't believe me...

This poor man....

We send Yan to jail, and we don't have to deal with him again. I can't help but think that Wei is going to be haunted by him for the rest of his life.

Don't worry about my brother coming after either of us. He's safely locked away in a maximum security prison, and his assets have all been frozen. So even if he did have some way to communicate with his shady associates, he'd have no leverage.

:( For your sake, Wei, I hope so.

Hugo:

I feel for Wei. I mean, somewhere, deep down, he's got to have some love for his brother. It must be hard to deal with family like that. People who have just completely lost their way...

I think Wei needs therapy.

Miguel:

Yes. You all are free from Yan's loathsome presence. I however, am forced to bask in it...

You made this bed, Miguel. No, I still feel sorry for you.

Qi:

The twin commissioners are a fantastic study in the nature vs. nurture issue. Of course, these two men have identical DNA, so what exactly led them to become such different people? Hypothesis one: it's the mustache.

I think this is a bias being expressed by the creators of the game which show why they only give us ugly facial hair options.

Unsuur:

With Wei around, it kinda feels like Yan is still a member of town. Except he's, like, good. Most bad guys we meet end up being misunderstood and eventually turn good. It's almost as if... The only way Yan could ever be good is if he were a different person completely. Hm...

This one is probably actual commentary, though, ha.

Venti:

I heard you got a new Commissioner! Did he increase your salary? New healthcare plan? Well, at the very least, is he providing free mustache removals?

Wait! My mustache conspiracy theory! There's more evidence!!!

Okay, I'm kind of bummed because I was searching the wiki for a dialogue line I think is kind of interesting. Like, he says Mi-an is teaching him about "fun." Like, he didn't get it before. He went to grammar contests as a kid. He reads in his spare time. I enjoy the idea of him being just so wholesome and Good that he's just as much of a weirdo as everyone else in town.

Yan also gets disappointed in you when you give him gold and he realizes you probably just found it instead of stealing it. He enjoys his evil. Getting something honestly makes him sick. The closest he comes to giving a shit is if you get to be besties with him and he says he'd try to betray you less than everyone else. He still betrays you basically just as much or even more than them (since you're pals with him).

Hm? Yes, of course, I cheat on the Builder Charts! You'd be a fool not to! Do you have any idea how hard it is to win that thing legitimately? Eh? You don't cheat? What's wrong with you? I thought you were cool! Oh, and don't even think of trying to turn me in. I'll lie!

Since he's evil in like a magic way (and a dumb way, since if he was less like he is, he'd get away with more) I bet he enjoys when he betrays you because you're pals. If he likes you, it's because of the way he sees himself in you. He makes assumptions about your behavior and is disappointed when you act differently than he would. He could have left Wei alone and done his evil, but instead he had to ruin his life over and over.

Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. Wei should be his bright mirror. He takes up knitting as a hobby and ends up making baby blankets and caps for cancer patients on the side. He goes on the roller coaster and there's an accident but he fixes whatever broke before anyone got hurt. You see him checking out the new woods and he's walking through it and birds and desert hares flock to him.

If you're going to do the evil twin thing, I think you need to push it until it's ludicrous.

#mtas wei #mtas yan #mtas #meta

3 notes · View notes

ijustliketoreadstuff · 2 years

Text

Jubilation teaser analysis and speculations (Spoilers below)

The teaser starts off with Marinette jogging through the town, but as she passes by a billboard advertising the new alliance rings, we see that Mr. Damocles, her principal, is once again in his Owl hero costume, climbing up the side of the billboard trying to save a cat that’s stuck at the very top.

Mr. Damocles means well by dawning his superhero attire but when he first began his heroic efforts, he couldn’t understand that he shouldn’t try to mimic the abilities of the heroes themselves as they are capable of performing abilities beyond the average human body because of their magic suits, which are also indestructible and capable of protecting them from sever damages. Mr. Damocles was quick to jump into action to help someone in need, but his attempts to help involved putting himself in constant danger as he preferred to perform physical feats that his body couldn’t keep up with.

After realizing that he was putting himself in pointless danger by trying to mimic the heroes in his favorite comic book and the heroes of Paris themselves, Mr. Damocles began to change his outlook on how he could help Paris and began to devote himself to doing as many good deeds as he could that would help the community, such as tending to gardens, providing supplies to the homeless and feeding the animals of the community, if he faced a situation that his body couldn’t handle then he would call on the assistance of other people who had the proper equipment to help him save the day, like calling the fireman to help save a cat with a ladder rather than attempt to once again climb it himself and risk falling from a height that could severely hurt him at his age.

But after what happened in “Strike Back” when Monarch sent out his message to all of Paris about how powerful he has gotten, Mr. Damocles might be attempting to up his game and increase his involvement in the city, but this may mean he is going to put himself at risk again in situations that could be thought out more logically. The billboard the cat is stuck on has a lift set in place on the side, that lift looks like it can be used to take a person higher up, but rather than call on the employees who use this equipment or use it himself, Mr. Damocles seems to have chosen the more risky option of climbing the ladder that’s on the side of the billboard.

The next shot is of Marinette turning around to see him, realizing his presence and probably hearing him say something that alarmed her. But as she turns around we see her notice a girl wearing a Ladybug costume, making her way up the billboard to where The Owl was trying to save the cat.

Of course seeing The Owl is one thing, but a girl in a ladybug costume brings a whole other problem, its nothing new to see someone else in the show wear a ladybug mask or costume, but if that person wearing the Ladybug costume is willing to run around the city or pretend they are the real Ladybug either to the public or on T.V.(Like how Chloe did in “Antibug”) then that’s going to cause some problems for them and the real Ladybug.

According to the synopsis, the girl in the Ladybug costume is named Soquelin, a former classmate of Marinette’s. Marinette does try to convince her to stop wearing the costume, but weather or not she takes Marinette's word seriously is something we will need to wait for the premier to find out. According to the synopsis, Monarch ends up believing this girl is the real ladybug, and before anyone starts complaining about how he can possibly confuse Soquelin with the real Ladybug, remember that this is still a kids show so “Cartoon Logic” remains regardless of a person not having the benefits of the quantum masking effects provided to them by a miraculous, and by cartoon logic rules, anyone wearing the costume of a hero/protagonist look alike is automatically confused for being the real one unless they reveal themselves or are finally noticed to be an impersonator.

In the next part of the teaser we see Soqueline talking to Mr. Damocles who looks to be saddened by whatever it is that she said to him. If Mr. Damocles did believe that she was the real Ladybug then perhaps Soqueline decided to take Marinette’s word and reveal to him that she wasn’t the real Ladybug to prevent him from taking her performance seriously, of course news like that would sadden Mr. Damocles as he could have been very excited in believing he was finally fighting crime and helping Paris at Ladybug and Cat Noir’s level, but to know that the girl he sided with was not Ladybug and had no real motivation to be a hero other than just play pretend would be enough to leave him vulnerable to be akumatized by Monarch into The Dark Owl in this episode.

The remainder of the teaser shows Ladybug and Cat Noir fighting The Dark Owl and Monarch being shown using the power of the miraculous to better transport his akumas, with the horse miraculous, to where he needs them at a much faster pace, but aside from akumatizing Mr. Damocles , we also see that he has provided Dark Owl the power of the Pig miraculous, but not the miraculous itself. Why he is provided the pigs power is anyone guess but if Mr. Damocles got upset over being lied to by Soqueline about being Ladybug and if Monarch is targeting her, then he might have given Dark Owl the pigs power so he could confirm if Soqueline was really Ladybug or not.

Dark Owl uses some sort of ray gun that is able to blast the gift of the Pig’s power rather than a tambourine like Pigella’s, and knowing this is the power that shows a persons deepest wish while surrounding that image in a pink light, this means that the next image of Cat Noir and Ladybug kissing is the result of one of them being hit with the pigs power, which is bad because a person will remain still as their deepest wish is being revealed.

We also see Monarch touch the ring with the symbol of the Pig, so its pretty obvious he is using the rings themselves to send the villains the power of the miraculous, how he is able to do that is something I don’t know just yet but it must have something to do with the kwamis since they are capable of doing all sorts of things around technology, like phasing through walls or elevators to open them up (which Tikki did in “Oblivio”) and remaining invisible through any technology that records them.

Ladybug can also be seen picking up an alliance ring in the teaser, this ring very quickly shines a pink light before being picked up by Ladybug, I don’t know if she noticed the light but I wonder if Ladybug will begin to suspect that something is off about the rings now that she and Cat Noir have faced a second Akumatized villain using the power of the miraculous, but without the actual miraculous on them to take back once they return them to normal.

20 notes · View notes

ducknotinarow · 8 months

Note

Splintered Fate Michelangelo - All Symbol Headcanons please uwu

| Send me a symbol and I will write a headcanon about… For multimuse blogs, please specify!

"Looks like i'm up dudes"

When I write SF Mikey I feel it's pretty obvious that I base him off of 03 at best due to the use of the shriek 03 Mikey sort of known for when he gets spooked. I also actually pull from 12 Mikey as well when it comes to his more insightful and need to annoy sides which is why he was so quick to make fun of Donnie when it comes to Von. Not to kiddish a bit more grown in how he acts since this Mikey is pretty good about having a sort of sense of responsibility like 87 Mikey can be.

𝓕 : My muse’s handwriting. (Is it good, bad, difficult to decipher, do they prefer writing by hand or with the help of some form of machine, e.t.c.)

"Like my name stands out already buuut even among my bros I feel it still needs a touch of flare."

As we know of Mikey he is someone who prefers company over others to his own. Not that he can't handle alone time he just more rather be around others. he's not the best at quietly being together but he is good about being in the same space doing his own thing. Mikey often can be found sitting at the TV in the lair watching it or playing games. Donatello never too far off, usually sitting over by his work station. Raph tends to be around training on the wooden dummies or his room. Leo's normally the closest off mediate near by himself. He's always excited to meet new people so he can be a tad intrusive he means well. As you can see mikey likes to put a small star over his eyes this is a sign of his active imagination as someone who reads only comics this shouldn't be a shock. With the way it slants to the left we can see that Mikey can be a bit reserved himself and even introspective. This trait I feel is why Mikey of all can befriend mutants like Slash. Or despite not feeling he is the best of his brothers Mikey always does his best to try and keep things upbeat. And can be good if he can even get Don to join in on his dumb jokes to annoy Leo with.

✈ : My muse and traveling. (If they do it frequently and why, if they never left their home town, e.t.c.)

"Uh mostly just New York, Dad ain't too big on us going to the surface as is anyway."

Seeing how this game is a bit more self contained? Yeah I would say it's safe to say these turtles haven't explored beyond their city but I like to think they will. At best maybe some Neighboring States near New York maybe dip into Canada. Maybe hope a boat and cross of to England or even Japan. Or maybe they will finally get answers on the portals and find out why they sided with the foot, what Baxter had to do with it even.

✿ : My muse and nature. (If they are an ‘outdoorsy type’, like the sound of bird’s singing, if they have never set foot in a forest, e.t.c.)

"Natures a big deal I am I'm a city turtle but I got my roots still." I feel Mikey would someone who would like the idea of camping and such till he starts to understand that he ain't getting any TV time because no power XD Hell Mikey might be desperate enough to had and keep one of those old school hand crank or portable tvs. HE can't go with out it and expecting him to is unnatural he been conditioned don't be rude to him. I think he dose fine during the day when there is more to do of course.

☼ : My muse’s first memory. (Where it was, who was with them, how this memory makes them feel, e.t.c.)

"My first memory? I kind of remember Splinter finding the first comic for me? Splinter complains about my obsession now but he got me on the hook so seems unfair ya know dudes?"

Splinter doesn't really mind Mikey's interest its how distracted he gets by it all he minds. Living in the sewers of course meant not having much and Splinter wishing he could provide better for his boys. Anytime he came across anything that might be of interest he would bring it back. One day he found an old comic book discarded and brought it home he read it to all the turtles for bed time for something new and Mikey? well he couldn't sleep so when he got out of bed and went to Splinter he went and tried reading more of it to Mikey to help him sleep. This kind of started a tread Mikey learning to read by having Splinter read to him he got invested and it gave him a reason to learn. Very much how Mikey is when it comes to his ninja training as is in the first place. So to Mikey it's just a nice reminder of this fact that he got special time with his dad when he got interested in comics.

☙ : My muse’s favourite food. (Bonus: A memory, be it good or bad, associated with said food.)

"Pizza is my true love guys if I could I'd marry it be a short marriage though might not last through the wedding."

I feel it a no brainier of course Mikey out of all the turtles loves Pizza the most. He finds Pizza to be the best treat he can eat it hot, cold, and in as many other ways he can think. Outside of this Mikey really dose actually like Splinter's Noodle surprise despite how salty it is. But only because Splinter makes it. Mikey was very much that kid who clung around his parent often since his brothers were more good about being on their own. The reason Mikey can cook unlike his brothers or better even is because like with reading he learned from Splinter. Mikey just liked any extra time he could get with Dad. And this turned into a way to express love through food. Why Mikey doesn't mind being the cook for his brothers. He doesn't feel he offers them much else in truth but at least he can make a good meal for them to enjoy. Even if he gets a tad experimental time to time.

♬ : My muse and music. (What type of music they like listening to and in what context, what music they would never listen to, e.t.c.)

"Rock n' roll is my jam!"

Mikey likes music that is like himself energetic and fun, he listens to rock and pop music very often. Anything he can move to basically he's not much for the slower stuff he can often be found with headphone son when in the kitchen or ready comics heck sometimes he just sits around and listens to music. He can be a tad of a dork about it when it comes to games, sometimes he likes to match his own music to boss fights and because of it many games he just can't beat with out the right song on he has tried and failed! And he can't risk his records and speed runs! he gotta have the right beat!

↺ : My muse and the past. (Do they live in the past and struggle to let go of past grievances, or move on more easily, is there anything in their past they want to forget, e.t.c.)

"Eh not much to think about there I guess? I mean less you mean when I was a kid?"

Mikey doesn't try to dread much on the lack of what they had as kids growing up, but he knows Splinter sacrificed and scraped together best he could for them. Mikey may come off a bit materialistic but this is in fact because of how they grew up, being older and bit more able to get things like DVD's, games and even comics? despite how he can be he takes really good care of his stuff. he keeps his comics in protective sleeves, When he has them if not? they are safety stored away. Mikey tends to freak out when other mess with his stuff but doesn't really always hold this the other way around he is a baby brother after all.

☾ : My muse and sleep. (How much they sleep, how much they wish to sleep, if there is something that never fails to put them to sleep, e.t.c.)

"You don't get this pretty without catching them Z's. Why Don and Raph look like the way they do."

Surpisngly Mikey is pretty good about going to bed roughly decent hours himself. He's not much of an all nighter person himself, Mikey himself just has a very good internal clock once ten hits he basically out doesn't really matter what he's doing. I mean outside of them being a mission of course. If he is just at home he just passes right out. Mikey is a early riser so to speak as well, not like Leo but I'd say hes moving about by 6am at best and always wide wake bright as the sun and smiling. He is for sure a morning person he is the worst kind though he can start talking the second his eyes open and he doesn't wait for the coffee cups to be empty before he starts to chatter. He also thinks people wanna hear about his dreams so he often rants on about his dreams to others as well. I fell Donnie suffers this the most if anything, Mikey just thinks Donnie can explain why he dreamt about the moldy cheese escapes the trash bin and came for him with a paint gun with pallets full of acid.

✧ : My muse and art. (If they have an artistic side or not and why, favourite artist if they have one, e.t.c.)

"Eh it's in the name of course i'm an artis!"

I do feel Mikey's creative has other outlets not just his way of thinking or even the kinds of thoughts he has. Mikey just likes art he isn't very serious about it. But he dose enjoy getting to doddle here and there, he likes to slap stickers on everything. Like his skateboard deck a bit more decorative I guess would be the way to say it. He likes to make food into shapes as well. Not always appropriate though uwu. He learned to make a dick shape pancake and he never dose it around Splinter but he thinks it's the funnest thing to do.

❃ : My muse and social media. (If the muse is/would be on social media and why/why not, their general opinion on it, e.t.c.)

"Oh I'm on it pretty often here and there I like talking to people online about games and such it's fun since my bros aren't into all of that."

Mikey I feel is mostly a twitter person, but I feel he dose have a youtube channel for gaming stuff as I mentioned speed runs earlier he likes to post his speed runs online seeing as Mikey can't often get new games and plays what he owns a lot he has had time to learn all the ways to exploit glitches and such to finish games faster. As mentioned in an ask Mikey follows don and von on twitter. I feel Mikey loves to tag Donnie in things all the time he thinks Donnie might like mostly dumb jokes. Once von is around? I can see him doing the same spamming her here and there. He likes to randomly pop into their threads and post annoying gifs mostly ones telling them to just fuck. But if his heckling ever attracts others to give their two cents? Mikey jumps into defense like excuse you now on invited you here XD. Miekys gifs I feel mostly go ignored anyway by Von and Don so he will sort of fight with the random people to go away XD.

His own context is as mentioned just comics and games. Sometimes he posts pictures from around the city. He has a pretty good following because he is just very personable so he draws in followers pretty easy. So he's collab with others who make context like himself, luckily no ones thought much about him not having camera they tend to buy him being poor which isn't really a lie.

✉ : My muse and others. (If they social and outgoing or more introverted, and why. If they prefer communicating with others face to face or in written form, e.t.c.).

"I love meeting new people! I like handing around them to I get bored being alone."

As for here it's kind of set that Casey was the first human they ever really met. And I feel Mikey too some interest there similar to 03 mikey he sees Casey as this cool older brother who lets him get away with more than his own will. But he still gets pretty annoyed with Casey simallir to a sibling. Ironic. But he often jokes about April being the real first human they met. Because Casey doesn't count he's just the stray that never left. With April, Mikey tends to be a bit more accommodating around Simallir to how he was when Von first came around. I think Mikey's just good about getting along with others as mentioned it's said he's friends with Slash so no one really too of putting for him to be friendly with. He just makes exceptions like Casey again this is more because they have known Casey a bit longer. They were all kind of younger when Casey first came around so he get more family like acceptance from Mikey.

Same goes for him only as I mentioned a bit in the previous section he someone that just talks to others pretty often here and there. When he's scrolling through online. A few he dose consider friends. He has meet a few of them in person and they don't mind the turtle thing. Really all Mikey cares about is he wants to find people he can vibe with he doesn't care much for if their interests don't match sometimes he find it makes things more interesting like with Von and April.

▶ : My muse and level of education. (If the muse has some form of education, what education they perhaps wish they had, e.t.c.).

"uh? I mean ninja school I guess?"

Mikey has basic knowledgeable and that is about all. He still needs to count with his hands which is hard when you only have three fingers. As mentioned he did learn to read from Splinter and comic's is sort of where he learned ti write as well. No where like Don of course he just learned what he needed and that all he needs but he still doing better than Raphael who tends to says things wrong all the time. Though for some I feel he just stands there and nods along as if he understands, till someone points out raph is wrong so he shakes his head as if he knew that.

◐ : My muse and animals. (If they like animals and treat them well, do not care for them at all, e.t.c.).

"aww i like them they are cute! I like cats the most!"

Mikey and cats that is all I can really say. Mikey of course like animals they are cute and well animals tend to be more accepting then humans are of him so he likes to pet any strays he comes by he is a bit of animal whispering so if he finds a stray and knows where its owners are he'll drop the pet off at the door. Don't thinks this is only in good will if a reward is offered he finds a way to make sure he can get it as well.

❒ : My muse and gifts. (If they are good/bad at finding gifts, good/bad at receiving gifts, good/bad at wrapping gifts, e.t.c.)

"I never turn down a present!"

He dose not. Mikey can be easily bought just get him something he wants. Casey and Raph want the tv? just slip him a new comic or CD he don't got and hell move. Wanna buy his silence? give hims something. Want him ti side with you in a fight? same deal XD Mikey loves to receive presents and hell complain because it means hell get more stuff down the road. Other way around? he's not the best gift giver but he tries he really dose. He tries to find useful stuff for Donnie, gets candles for Leo, ducktape for Raph because it''s way to fix his punching back all the time or patch holes in his hammocks. Not out there but he dose think about it if he find something his brothers like more so? he cant wait to give it to them he runs home with it hes more excited then they might be to get it even.

☘ : My muse’s relation with their family. (If they speak with each other and how much, if they are close or estranged, e.t.c.).

"Family's kind of all I got so they mean everything to me. I dunno where I be with out my brothers watching out for me."

As independent Mikey wishes to be? He isn't all that great at it. I feel in part his brothers have always looked over and after him out of habit of being older than him. So he is kind of dependent on them for many things. Mikey looks up to brothers and even their friends later down the road. he is someone who can always see something to admire about others and wish he could have those traits himself and just dosen't always see what he himself offers or brings to the table. Mikey tends to think people only like home because he is always upbeat and funny. And if he isn't? then they would like that. Sometimes it's an act sometimes he has his down days where he isn't ass energetic he might wanna curl up in bed and be alone he might not want to be online. But then what would others say or think? They would think something wrong and well there isn't he just needs a moment to himself but he can't really have that without feeling like he's missing out. if he isn't involved then what?

He tends to feel this most with his brothers, he feels he has this role he needs to stick to. Might be a bit harder to hide this from them but he hopes he dose. His brothers do so much for him as is he relies on them to much already. he knows the pressures on them. Leo's always gotta keep it together he has to be focused and serious and that lets Mikey goof off. Don has to be the one to make sure things are always working with out him they just don't have any of their resources. Raph is always trying to protect them keep them together even Mikey is selfish his brothers do so much he just wants them all to have something to be selfish with as well.

#muse| hamato michelangelo #aflockoffeathers #[ the brains of this operation -aflockoffeather]#[ rokin and heads a rollin’ aflockoffeathers]#[ welcome to weird science 101- alfockoffeathers]#muse headcanons #muse bio: hamato michelangelo #[sf verse]#((sorry wasn't feel great bleh soo headcannons of sunshine boy uwu))

1 note · View note

soul-dwelling · 2 years

Note

While you already mention troops that you dislike, be the considered "fanficy" or not, which one specifically are they? And I dont mean broader things like the author being bigoted or ignorant

Maybe "trope" wasn't accurate.

And it's not like I'm not guilty of these behaviors in my own writing or just imagining how a story could unfold differently.

But one things I think is fanfic-y in a bad way: overdoing it on worldbuilding.

I love worldbuilding. I love creating these back stories behind how cities were put together, the history of a place or a person, or how whatever you add to a story that is in that story but not in our world (superpowers, new technologies) altered how those places developed and how that history unfolded.

Then there is worldbuilding that drags a story to a halt--because it's no longer about the plot or the characters.

I could point to the various iterations of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics--and I don't just mean the pre-Ian Flynn stuff, because I think Flynn is guilty, but in a different way, of forcing so much worldbuilding and pre-plotting for future stories instead of just giving us those future stories. It's not like One Piece where you still get a good story--even as it is setting up three to four more stories in the future.

But the more recent problem with worldbuilding has been My Hero Academia.

It's not as if every time the franchise has tried to worldbuild that it has been bad. A good example of worldbuilding is the spinoff series, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, which slowed down the plot to naturally come off of a string of recent stories all about giant villains, before naturally easing into some worldbuilding details that shows the aftermath of those fights, and how those giant people now are trying to make lives for themselves--but, due to their large size, lack the infrastructure they need to survive. Any housing that can accommodate them is not conveniently located: it's a NIMBY, something the neighbors don't want near them, so giant people are kept to the outskirts of town, in industrialized areas, without access to most public transportation, groceries, and other amenities that are vital to living. And the problems these giants face lead to new problems that then lead to new stories that impact where the plot of the entire series goes next. It's not a tangent into an unrelated story: it is still building on the main story itself. That is great worldbuilding.

Then My Hero Academia, in its latest arc, takes so much about being giant, or animalistic, or a mutant or heteromorph, and throws in so much back story and new history all at once. I'm not saying any of the information provided necessarily conflicts with pre-established canon; if anything, MHA is finally building on stuff already tackled in Vigilantes. And it's not as if the back stories to Shoji and Koda come out of nowhere and are not a natural fit: they do get revealed in a natural enough manner that I enjoy the revelations. But stopping the story in its tracks to toss in some random details is inartful.

It's like when Star Wars or Star Trek mention something that was just a placeholder (so that the character doesn't say "that place," "that person," "that event" but actually names a proper noun)--only to shoot themselves in the foot because now the fans want an entire encyclopedic entry about what Jedha is, what the Clone Wars were, who Boba Fett was.

Sometimes a really skilled writer takes that name and conjures up a really good story that, on its own, works--and that should be the standard: if you didn't need to see any other Wars or Trek, does this new story work? Or is it just to answer a question no one ever asked? It's how you overburden a film like Solo with so many mythology gags that it comes off as pandering.

Heck, Greg Weisman (inadvertently?) even did a gag around this when having a future iteration of Brooklyn in Gargoyles have to hastily explain away some detail by saying "Clone Wars," with little intention on explaining what that was. It was a joke--you quickly make up a fake name, then move on. It was a meta joke about how much of the lore in these series really comes down to, "A creator just needed a name for a thing to keep the story moving, gave the thing a name, and moved on, not interested in developing the thing further."

Not that Weisman hasn't gotten my rancour up with some fanfic-y things, too. I love Spectacular Spider-man--but sometimes the coincidences of who knows who and how one thing leads to another thing are too convenient. Yes, this is fiction, you are making an artifice to make the plot progress and the characters progress--but it stands out as too coincidental. I'm guilty of this in my writing, too: sometimes you want the story to be neater and let one thing lead to another, even if that's not how it was in the original. Weisman did that with Spider-man: he took disparate details in the comics, that Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and others didn't intend to ever connect up, and he made them connect up--to the point that it felt force rather than, forgive how repetitive and unspecific this word is, natural.

(That lack of a natural fit is also why the connection between Fire Force and Soul Eater still remains so fanfic-y to me: there is so much of the one that doesn't match the other, in terms of history, tone, geopolitical divisions, or pre-established canon. I know, "canon is secondary to plot"--but when the new story you tell not only defies canon, but defies logic, its own message, the message of the other story you are linking it to, and does disservice to your characters, then congratulations, now it's not only forced and fanfic-y, it just sucks.)

And that convenience problem persists with another thing Greg Weisman worked on, Young Justice--as does another fanfic-y thing that can get bothersome: the need to pair up everyone. And don't say, "They're teenagers, of course they hook up!" Aromantic, asexual, or just "not the right time": not every teen hooks up, not every person is interested in finding someone or will find someone.

I imagine some of this is due to changes in demographics and network: Cartoon Network evidently was not fine with a same sex relationship, but once you have an older audience and are now a primarily streaming series, you can have Kaldur be bi/pansexual. And it's not like there aren't stories in the original comics of the characters dating...which is why it is so bizarre the choices made. It seems less like adapting a work and more like making your own fanfiction: "What if Superboy and Miss Martian were instead an item?" It was allowing the plot to do more of the work--as if Weisman really wanted that pairing to happen to perpetuate a lot of the plot--but I would be lying if I didn't say it fit those two characters, too, or at least this version of those two characters--two characters who don't feel like they are a complete person of any species or racialized identity, who don't feel like they fit in, but who accept the other for who they really are, however they look or whatever their origin.

Then again, for how much I decry fanfic-y stuff, there are places where I like the too-convenient, too-clean linking up of everything. For example, Ninja Turtles 2003 did a pretty good job of linking up everything--because it lent more weight to what unfolded, and metatextually was a brilliant way to get around censorship. You want to behead the Shredder but you know 4Kids won't let you? Then you make things way too convenient so that you can get away with Shredder being beheaded without killing him. You want the turtles' origin to tie into the Shredder's, even though that's not how it worked in the comics? You go ahead and connect it, have three out of your four turtles literally laugh at that idea--then have the fourth one point out how that is not only fated but means that their existence is owed to a horrible person who killed so many just for these four to exist as they are now--and suddenly that moment of laughing at how bad the writing was turns into a moment of realizing how such a connection can pose an existential crisis. That is excellent writing: you do the cheat, acknowledge it's a cheat--then take it completely seriously so that you show the audience why you did this cheat for the sake of making that audience feel something.

In other words, something is fanfic-y when the artifice seems obvious--when it seems obvious how the author was doing all of this to get the plot to unfold exactly how they wanted it to, even if it makes no sense--while the best parts of fan fiction, and hence of fiction writing overall, is when the details don't come across as something the author did but just something in the story that naturally unfolded as it should.

#long post

1 note · View note

true-blue-megamind · 3 years

Text

FAN THEORY THURSDAY: Is Minion the Real Hero?

It’s that time again… SPOILER WARNING!

We all know that Megamind becomes a hero by the end of the film—that’s basically the point of the plot, after all—but is he really the only hero? Many argue, with good reason, that the answer is no. This is not meant to discount Megamind’s turn around and selfless actions, of course, but rather to illustrate that, like most successful people, he didn’t do it alone.

I’m referring, as many may have already guessed, to Minion. In fact, the aquatic henchman’s contributions are so great that some have argued he is the real hero of the story. This is for several reasons, the first of which is rather obvious: Minion is the one who, disguised as Megamind, rescues Roxanne, helps fight Titan, and distracts the incel-turned-villain long enough for the real Megamind to put his plan into action. (Presumably, Megamind needed someone to buy him sufficient time to return to Wayne’s hideout and scan the former hero’s likeness and voice into his holowatch.) Minion does this despite the danger, and in fact nearly dies keeping Roxanne safe, showing that he has a truly heroic heart.

This, however, is not the only way in which Minion displays the selfless concern for other that is the hallmark of a heroic heart. Upon seeing the destruction of his home town on the news, Minion is the one who swallows his hurt following he and Megaminds argument, returns to Metro City at significant personal risk, and breaks Megamind out of prison so that the blue alien can defeat Titan. Given both this and his aforementioned role in the fight, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the city wouldn’t have been saved without Minion’s help.

That’s not all. The aquatic henchman makes Megamind’s turn from supervillain to superhero possible in other, smaller ways as well. There is the fact that he always supports his friend, from helping him with his schemes to apparently returning after there argument and completing the Black Mamba. (You can read about the latter in the post What’s Hidden in the Animation?) Furthermore, one fan theory states that the psychological effect Minion has on Megamind is vital to the blue man’s turnaround. Minion is more than a helper or an employee; he is Megamind’s lifelong friend. Constantly amicable and upbeat, he is likely the only positive influence his companion had throughout much of his life. The bond between the two is obvious, with teasing, cheerful banter, and even occasional pet names (such as Fantastic Fish) being regular features. Indeed, Megamind even refers to the fish as his “best friend.” Clearly their relationship is deep and sincere, and many fans suppose that that helped Megamind hold onto an innate kindness and empathy, allowing him to care about the people around him. Without that, he might never have stepped into the role of Metro City’s Defender. Given the fact that he was disdained and distrusted from an early age by most of the people around him, Megamind could have easily fallen into hardened bitterness if he had not had a companion to care about.

Finally, there is the simple fact that Minion truly does care for Megamind, literally as well as emotionally. (And, yes, I know that doesn’t sound very heroic, but hear me out.) Although we never see Minion cooking or tidying during the movie, a widely accepted fan theory is that he is the one who keeps the Lair clean, supplied, and running smoothly while his friend focuses almost solely on the calculations, schematics, chemistry, and engineering involved in creating his inventions.

Indeed, by this point the majority of the fandom has agreed that Minion is an excellent chef as well as a quintessential Mom Friend. (Minion’s culinary creations could put Michelin Star restaurants to shame, and you can’t convince us otherwise!) These suppositions are not without basis. While we never see Minion in the kitchen, he does have a “Kiss the Cook” apron—something one would hardly expect a person with no interest in culinary pursuits to own. In the film, he is also the only one we ever see providing Megamind with food—once with coffee and donuts, and once with churros—indicating that part of his job may be ensuring the blue genius eats something now and then. We know Minion makes Megamind’s clothing—refer again to the Black Mamba—and we also see Minion doing laundry in the post credit scene, further illustrating his role of domestic caretaker. Then there is, of course, the fact that, at the beginning of the movie, Megamind’s mother literally informs her infant son that Minion “will take care of you.” Finally, in the Megamind comics, Minion is clearly portrayed as cleaning the Lair, running errands, and performing other necessary chores.

So what does all this have to do with heroism? It’s simple, really: Minion’s support once allowed Megamind to focus on being a supervillain, and presumably serves the same essential function now that the blue man is the Defender of Metro City. The henchfish is basically Alfred to Megamind’s Bat Man—a parallel that a Bat Signal-like beacon seen at the end of the short Megamind and the Button of Doom hints may not be coincidental. Like the Dark Knight, Megamind has no superpowers, relying instead upon fighting skills, intelligence, and a plethora of really cool gadgets. But inventing and maintaining all of those crime-fighting tools would take time, making Minion’s role vital to Megamind’s success. If the blue hero had to dedicate part of every day to things like cooking, house keeping, and laundry, along with the patrols, investigations, and battles that presumably make up the bulk of hero work, he wouldn’t have enough hours left over for designing, creating, and repairing the things necessary to do his job. Minion’s role, therefore, while not glamorous, is undeniably important. Fans theorize that Minion makes it possible for Megamind to be a the Defender in the first place, making the fishy sidekick an unsung hero in his own right.

So, while Megamind is the Defender of Metro City, and certainly performs acts of heroism starting with his defeat of Titan and continuing in the comics, he doesn’t do it alone. He needs Minion to help him be the best he can be. Indeed, the two of them are a team, and neither could successfully protect their home town without the other. This means that Minion is, at the very least, Megamind’s sidekick, but many fans argue that his role is even greater than that. Minion is, according to several fan theories, just as much a hero as his blue friend.

#Megamind #Minion #hero #Megamind movie #Megamind fan theory #fan theory #Fan Theory Thursday #fan theories #henchman #sidekick #superhero

150 notes · View notes

tact-and-impulse · 3 years

Text

@shepherds-of-haven, thanks for the fun prompts! I’ll be collecting my fics on AO3 as well.

encounter

She really doesn’t belong here.

Her fingers nervously run over the extra card in her pocket, as she scans the undulating crowd for telltale ashen hair and displeased features. It’s difficult, with the rhythmically flashing lights overhead. She’s tried calling, but with the heavy bass tingling in her jaw, it’s no wonder that Prihine hasn’t picked up. What her roommate could be doing in this downtown club, she has no idea, but she also doesn’t know the other girl that well. Prihine is from a wealthy Norm family, she never cleans up after herself, and from her frequent complaints, she loathes that she’s living in an ancient and cramped freshman dorm with a scholarship student who never goes to parties. But if something unsavory has happened to her, that would be awful.

So, she renews her grip on Prihine’s student ID and heads further into the building. She keeps to the walls, which are speckled with colorful paint and feel slightly sticky. But with her back covered, it’s safer this way. At first. Someone is shoved out of the crush, their solid back colliding into her, and she instinctively freezes. The pressure is brief, but she doesn’t wait to hear an apology, before she’s scrambling for the first exit sign in sight. She hurtles into a side street, ignoring the protests of a draft, and turns the nearest corner before collapsing.

The night air is cold, and she inhales lungfuls, trying to calm down. Trying not to cry. She has to find Prihine soon, and then, she can go back to campus. Where her classes are. Where the Mage clubs are filled with people who all know each other from Capra, while she was homeschooled. Where the Hunter organizations talk around her, forgetting she can understand their conversations. She hasn’t felt truly alone in years, but right now-

She isn’t. There’s someone here. She lifts her head and at the end of the alley, only a few paces away, she can make out the silhouette of a Hunter. White hair, gray eyes, a couple of piercings glinting in one ear, tattoos running up and down his arms. He’s crouched and balanced on his heels, an unlit stick of charch between his fingers, as he stares at her.

“You okay?” His voice is low and placid, like he’s just woken up.

“I...I just need a minute. I’m not good with crowds in tight spaces.”

“Yeah, I hate it when people breathe on me.”

She vigorously nods in agreement, before realizing. “Then, why are you here?”

“Band has a gig tonight. What about you?”

“I’m looking for my roommate. She forgot her ID, she can’t get back to our dorm without it.”

He gives a skeptical look, tucking the cigarette behind his unpierced ear for safekeeping. “Are you sure she’s in this club?”

While she answers, she takes out her phone. “She hasn’t returned my texts or calls, but she has Instagram. One of her cousins is famous on there, I think, and my roommate’s competitive, so she posts a lot. It looks like she was here in her last one...oh.” She frowns at the website, blocked entirely by a notification. She never did download the app, only searching for clues via Prihine’s frequently used social media, and now she needs an account to continue viewing.

He stifles a laugh, but his expression is only mildly amused as he extends his open palm. “Can I log in and try?”

“Sure. Thank you.” She draws closer to him, passing her device over, and his hand envelops it entirely. His thumbs are almost comically oversized as he types.

“Haven freshman?”

“Yes. Are you an upperclassman?”

“I dropped out a couple years ago. I’m across the street, at the culinary school. Is this the post you mentioned?” He slants the image towards her and she recognizes Prihine’s selfie, taken while she was waiting in line.

“Ah, that’s it! Have you seen her?”

“No, but one of my friends might have. He helps with the band’s publicity, so he’s around. Mind if I ask him?”

“Please, you’d be really helpful. Thank you, um...”

“Halek.” He supplies, as he dials another guy named Riel, judging by the brief greeting when the call goes through.

The conversation is short, and she notices the roommate must be from Leore, but she focuses on locating Prihine for the time being, only speaking to provide information and her own name. Riel doesn’t remember seeing the other girl, but he’ll check with security and will call back when they find her. The line dies, and with her phone back in her hands, she hesitates.

Fortunately, Halek pats the adjacent pavement. “Feel free to wait with me. Band’s not on again for another hour, so I’m not leaving.”

Relief sweeps over her, and she sits down, inquiring. “What do you play?”

“None of the others can agree on a genre, but I’m on drums. We perform around town, sometimes on campus if you’ve heard us before.”

“I don’t think so. Sorry.” She reflexively apologizes. “I don’t get out much.” Certainly, nowhere other than lecture auditoriums and the dining halls.

“What’s your major?”

“Biology, I’m pre-med.”

“Ah, that explains it. You’d get along with my twin brother, he’s currently applying and I don’t envy him. Everyone in our family’s invested in his acceptance, since somebody needs to live up to their standards. He’s not at Haven, but I can give you his number if you have questions.”

“I don’t want to bother him, if he’s stressed out.”

“He’s always stressed out though. That’s just how he is.” Nevertheless, his tone is fond.

“You must be close.” She draws her knees up, interlacing her fingers around them. “Your family doesn’t approve of your career?”

“They never did, they wanted me to be a politician.” He makes a disgusted expression. “No thanks. Too much work.”

“It definitely is. Signing papers, holding press conferences. A lot of people would be breathing on you.” She does her best to maintain a straight face.

“Exactly.” His gaze shifts to meet hers, and she’s not sure who breaks first, but in the next moment, they’re both laughing. Her hair’s fallen loose, and as she recovers her composure, she tucks it behind her ears. Not for the first time, he glances at the white streak, but he doesn’t mention it. Instead, he fishes in his back pocket, removing a small punch card that doubles as an advertisement. “Politics would mean quitting my job at the café too. It’s quiet, we have some Haven students like you.”

She accepts it, noting the offer of a free meal after five purchases. “What kind of food do you serve?”

“Here, I’ll show you.” He pulls up his Instagram, scrolling through vibrant pictures of their daily specials, each plate unique. It all seems appetizing, especially in the short cooking videos. In the clips, his steady fingers arrange sandwiches, work over pans of sizzling ingredients, and decorate confections.

There’s one motion in particular that intrigues her. “How’d you do that? Break an egg with one hand?”

“It’s just easier for me, keeps my other one available.”

“You make it look natural.” She attempts to figure out the trick, imagining an egg in her palm and flexing her knuckles.

“One of the waitresses can do it too.”

“So, is it a hiring requirement?”

He laughs again. “No, the other one breaks every egg she touches. You can meet them and see for yourself. You’d probably get along with them.” There’s a pause, as he gives a thoughtful expression. “Thanks.”

Too surprised, she stammers. “F-for what?”

“Usually, I’m too tired for these late night gigs, but right now, I feel fine. I can make it through tonight.”

“...Me too.” She softly says. Her earlier panic has been forgotten, and Halek’s presence is comforting. She’s having fun, just sitting out here and talking. Laughing, which she hasn’t in a long time. Already, she feels closer to him than anyone on campus.

Riel’s return call interrupts them, with the news that her roommate is currently detained at the club’s entrance and clearly unhappy by the screeching in the background. It’s her cue to go, and she hastily brushes herself off, thanking Halek again.

“No problem. Are you going back to your dorm?”

“I thought I would.” She hesitates for just a second, before venturing. “Or I can stay? And listen to your band’s performance?”

The corner of his mouth lifts. “If you want, I can let you in backstage. Take a nap, eat the snacks I brought. You don’t have to worry about crowds at all.”

Oh. That’s very kind of him. Her heart skips a beat, and she hopes she’s not blushing. “Okay then. I’d like that. See you soon?”

“See ya.”

Squaring her shoulders, she makes her way to the front. She braces for whatever abrasive words are in store, but she’s made up her mind. For the first time this semester, she’ll try to have an enjoyable college experience.

#shepherds of haven #shepherds of summer 2021 #she was the best mc for a college au because you know #*identity crisis*

41 notes · View notes

thosewickedlovelies · 3 years

Text

we could be Dreamers - Prologue

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x GN!Reader

Rating: T

Summary: How this world came to be

Word count: 1,671

A/N: Hiii friends 🤗 soo there’s not really a lot of plot or Marcus Moreno :( here, but consider this a prologue/worldbuilding for a Marcus Moreno x reader fic I may eventually write lol. I’m really interested in how this universe got from The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl to We Can Be Heroes, because like. Sharkboy and Lavagirl were literally just some kid’s imaginary friends that somehow magically became real, so what does that mean for the other Heroics? Where did they come from?? So I kinda wanted to write something that would make you Think :) and explore the ramifications of such a transformed universe.

Consider my previous Marcus Moreno fic a prelude to this prologue 💗

It was a little unnerving sometimes, being in a room with so much power. No matter that this particular training arena at Heroics Headquarters was at least the size of an American football field- when all of the Heroics are gathered in the same confined space, focused on a single purpose, you can feel it. Like their power prances tauntingly in the corner of your eye, slipping away when you try to look directly at it. Like it winds through the air, worming its way into your veins, so your very blood breathes at you to run, run, run.

Not all of the individual Heroics gave off such uncanny vibes; some were simply ordinary people with extraordinary abilities. Techo-No, for instance, and his gift for creating fantastical gadgets. The implications of his works relevant to the world at large could be worrying, but he had limits. He was just a man. Determined, and creative (even more so with his son throwing ideas at him), but ultimately human.

Not like those with powers who’d been Dreamed.

Take Sharkboy. The temper for which he’d been infamous in his youth had cooled, but when he snapped, he did so literally- blade-sharp teeth an audible clash when he bared them in a ringing snarl. Any water in the room would roil and froth- but the most hair-raising sight was his eyes, tinged with the unreadable, abyssal blackness of his namesake. Focused with a predator’s calculation on the object of his fury. (It made you think that, ironically, his temper had cooled too much- concentrated into something as icy and merciless as the depths of the sea. Just as well his wife was a lava goddess).

It was well-documented that Sharkboy could influence his oceanic kin, seeing as he was half-shark himself. Some marine biologists postulated- in low voices- that fluctuation in his emotions could unknowingly influence shark activity no matter how far from the sea he was. But nobody at Heroics Headquarters had ever dared suggest attempting a study.

That you knew of, anyway. You wouldn’t be surprised if there was a classified government branch somewhere which dealt solely with more insidious studies of the Heroics. Their weaknesses. Ways to defeat them.

Just in case.

Sharkboy and his emotions had stabilized as his Dreamer matured, but not all Dreamers were so invested in the well-being of their creations, or of the world they inhabited and could inadvertently affect. It was suspected that not all Dreamers knew that they had Dreamed at all, that they unintentionally brought Dreams into being far from where they were located and simply never became aware. This resulted in some Dreamed individuals being...unstable. Incomplete, really. Brought forth from a child’s mind, a young person who didn’t yet fully grasp the complexities of existing in this world, or indeed, the intricacies of what made one human at all.

Dreamers were children, more often than not. Their imaginative abilities generally far outstripped those of adults, worn down as they were with the grind of building a real life. The younger the person, the more time and creativity they maintained. The fewer methods they possessed to process their struggles which were grounded in reality, and not their imaginations.

Despite the years that have passed, nobody quite knows what happened to lead up to the Incident. How a single young boy had imagined so powerfully that it had warped reality; how his imaginings had given him the ability to design the universe at will.

The Daydreamer.

Max, as he later insisted on being called. An almost disturbingly innocuous name for a boy who had changed the world. Who had all but envisioned himself into having terrific powers- and enabled others to do the same.

In the years following the Incident, Sharkboy and Lavagirl continued to visit him in secret (Later, scientists realized that this why they recorded occasional, inexplicable disturbances in seismic and marine activity). But it wasn’t long before a larger threat to the entire Earth appeared- and so did they. To defend the place which they declared to be their new home. Though they had been willed into existence to protect Planet Drool, as Max determined to relinquish his daydreaming abilities and by extension, his dreamworld, so did the planet and its life diminish. Their presence there was no longer required, they’d explained. But earth could still benefit from their protection- especially after the reality of the threat came to light.

Someone else had Dreamed.

It wasn’t clear who, or how, or what their intentions had been. But once it had been said, everyone was forced to acknowledge the truth of it- or at least, admit that there was no other explanation. The villain’s origins were not terrestrial in any previously established sense.

Anyone who had ever met a child could have a predicted it. Too many young people ended up feeling outcast, overlooked, by both their peers and adults in their lives. It should have been obvious from the way they whispered his name. Not Max- a moniker far too average and relatable- but what they reverently regarded as his true title. The Daydreamer. A near-holy figure who had changed the game for youths everywhere. Now they had a way to combat those who plagued them. A way to create or become the superheroes who previously only existed in comic books and TV shows.

Or some did, anyway. Individuals with the strength of will and heart to Dream weren’t rare, but they weren’t quite common, either.

The only truly neutral positive of the Dreamer evolution was that governments everywhere suddenly accepted the need for increased mental health resources. Designed to increase healthy socialization for all ages and give young people ways to process and communicate their emotional needs, such programs were approved seemingly overnight in schools from elementary to university aged. “Small town life” flourished, and many city quarters and apartment buildings took to implementing “community builders” or, less charmingly, “social facilitators”- positions designed to create cohesive areas of living and minimize the kind of isolation and negative feelings that could leave someone to Dream of improving their life.

Nowadays, not all super-powered individuals were Dreamed. The second generation of Heroics was a testament to that. As if the universe itself had reckoned with the self-inception of the Dreamers, and seen fit to provide reality-warping countermeasures of its own.

Less than a year after the Incident, babies with...unique qualities began to be born. Few and far between, it seemed at first. Whispered reports swept from far corners of the globe, a phone tree branching from frantic parents to anyone who could provide even the slightest bit of reassurance. It seemed like doctors everywhere were swapping glances, no one willing to admit what was happening- until a second Villain appeared.

Every incident report said the same thing: a baby started crying, and then the hostages were saved by a power outage. A wash of sparks that darkened half the city.

Webbed with red lightning.

You sneak a look at the fully grown Heroic now, the long braids of her ponytail slipping over the shoulder of her characteristic red training outfit. Red Lightning Fury flexes her fingers as she listens to the head trainer explain today’s exercise- the usual sort of ‘heroes versus villains’ battles, with you and your fellow specialists assisting as villains- but judging by the lack of the smell of ozone, she isn’t yet using her powers. Blinding Fast, on the other hand, appears to fritz in place every few seconds, and you guess he’s running invisible laps to pass the time. It’s hard to tell if that’s what’s causing Lavagirl’s hair to tendril like neon pink smoke even though she’s standing still; usually the hypnotic heat shimmer of her lava flow causes the effect naturally.

You stretch in place while team arrangements are announced. As the majority of the Heroics filter into the stands to wait for their match, the buzzing, writhing presence of their power fades, and you can breathe more easily.

A figure flickers into being beside you, and you jump. “Jeez, Visi! How many times have I told you not to do that?”

Having anticipated your reaction from the countless previous times she’s snuck up on you anyway, Invisigirl laughs. “You think you’d be used to it by now.” Your closest Heroic friend grins at you, all pearly teeth against smooth brown skin.

And she’s right, which is why you were so disgruntled. Having been caught unawares too many times by the invisible hero’s silent movements, you had once asked her to give you lessons. Her instruction had improved your own stealth immensely, and now that you knew what kind of signs to listen for, her attempts at startling you didn’t work nearly as often as they had. But- “It’s hard to focus on anything with all of your powers clogging up the air,” you grumble. The birthed heroes understood what you meant- they felt it too, the nagging hiss of something other in the Dreamed heroes’ energy.

Across the arena, it looks like Miracle Guy and Marcus Moreno are waiting to be your opponents. Interesting. Miracle Guy, with his Dreamed up Superman-like abilities, was the only one who had a way of seeing Invisigirl. What it was precisely, you couldn’t recall. You make a mental note to ask Visi later.

Marcus, however, telekinesis aside, is clearly meant to be the counter to your strengths. The two men are discussing intently, but as if feeling your assessing stare, Marcus glances over. He lifts his eyebrows at you in playful challenge, a hint of a smile quirking his shapely lips before he’s pursing them at his duel-mate again.

Suppressing the pleased flutter down your spine, you turn your attention to the task ahead as Invisigirl dips her head toward you. Planning something clever, you realize, intrigued by the glint in her eye. “Let’s talk strategy.”

When the starting bell rings, your partner vanishes, and your smile curves as sharp and gleaming as the blade in your hand.

#marcus moreno #marcus moreno fic #wcbh fic #wcbh #we can be heroes fic #we can be heroes #pedro pascal characters #marcus moreno x reader #marcus moreno x you #let me know what you think!!!#🙈🙈🙈#and if anyone wants to help me dream up a plot for this...i have Some Thoughts

26 notes · View notes

zanguntsu · 3 years

Text

attractiveness and morality - or how people think with their metaphorical dicks instead of their brains

people are fucking horny over the villain characters in bleach, i mean specifically the male ones because as we know the female villains are nonexistent lol. but it’s not hard to see how attractive the male characters are even though i just refuse to acknowledge men unless i have too.

however, there is an issue with how we perceive the characters based on how attractive they actually are, more along the lines of how people will excuse any offensive behavior based on physical attractiveness

the convicts oops i mean examples

there are a few examples i can name like popular male villains that people lose their shit over.

aizen is the big one, where despite the crimes he has committed, such as emotional manipulation, attempting to wipe out a whole town, murders, and hollowfying his colleagues and getting away with it. yet, he is sympathized, especially over Tousen who tends to be more villainized by the fandom or at least held in a less favorable regard.

Gin is in the same boat, with the emotional manipulation and general emotional harm inflicted on multiple people but is sympathizes because uwu he loves rangiku even though he did cause her harm, simply because he betrayed her and hurt her friends and colleagues.

Ulquiorra is another very notable one, since he also has that whole manipulation thing although not as blatant as aizen. he did kidnap a minor and abuse her (isolating her, threatens her and her friends, and it is used to control her/keep her in captivity).

Grimmjow is another example, and its especially notable because he’s just very very violent. And he never apologizes or feels remorse for it, despite generally terrorizing Ichigo and co.

Nn*itra is especially reprehensible, he is overtly sexist, as most of his violent acts are targeted at women and uh. actively saying he hates women. creepy (implied sexual) behavior towards a minor as well.

Szayel as well, he has no regard for his minions, and then theres whatever he did to nemu what the fuck that was so fucked what the fuck.

notably, these men are also wildly popular among the fandom. they will have the most fanart, most discussion, most fics i guess.

why do horny fucks sympathize with them

people empathize with people they see as attractive, and i mean conventional attractiveness. note how none of this empathy extends to people who do not fall in the category as attractive (often pale side eyes) hunk/twink. does zommari get that attention? yammy? why are they not held to the same standard as say szayel/gin or grimmjow. yammy is also angry and prone to violence, much like grimmjow.

what sets them apart is that they are not deemed sexually attractive so therefore, their flaws become easier to ignore and they arent sympathized as much. of course, kubo probably did inadvertently create this problem, seeing as theres a discrepancy in creating a complex character. another example of this is the comparison between byakuya and omaeda. of course, they are obviously different characters, byakuya has more development and screentime. however they are similar in that they are wealthy, in high positions of power, and look down on people they deem inferior for a variety of reasons. byakuya, however, is conventionally attractive and also has screentime. that being said there is an underlying issue of fatphobia as well in reducing omaeda to a comic relief character.

people empathize with attractive people or at least favor them. “People more strongly desire to form or maintain bonds with physically attractive partners relative to unattractive partners—an attractiveness-based affiliation effect (Path B). In turn, through projection, attractive partners are perceived to possess attributes that are compatible with these goals, which largely center on their reciprocation of interest in establishing or maintaining close relationships (Path C).” this is indicated by the halo effect, “the tendency for positive impressions of a person, company, brand or product in one area to positively influence one's opinion or feelings in other areas“ which also applies to beauty and how attractiveness impacts how one recognizes a person. for example, an attractive person will often be associated with positive traits such as compassion, intelligence, and other desirable traits. it could be things like how appearing well groomed heightens others perception of you, how you will appear responsible and capable.

and this does extend to the villains. aizen is viewed as a tragic villain who fights for injustice or something like that. gin is a tragic antihero i think that did everything for his true love tm. ulquiorra is a tragic villain who does not understand love. grimmjow is grimmjow. nn*itra is somehow tragic with an inferiority complex lmao take that fucking L bug boyyy loser. and szayel... exists. see how fanon interprets these characters despite none of them having any remorse for what they have done. the fandom leaps to provide a justification or rational for their actions no matter how abhorrent they are. yammy and zommari are still held as villains, yet they are not sympathized with in the slightest nor are beloved to that extent. compare the sexualization of these men and the amount of sympathy garnered from the fandom.

why this matters

its no secret that in online spaces especially, offenders are romanticized or at least sympathized. take the true crime community for example, in which case male serial killers were romanticized despite the atrocities they have committed. and this is linked to the “bad boy” trope that is prevalent in romance novels, where a troubled or dangerous man seems like a desirable partner despite stalking their love interest among other crimes. of course, this also gets a bad rep from wattpad ya books and just ya books in general.

there are examples of this trope. i have vaguely alluded to edward from twilight. there is also the cause of that white guy from 50 shades of gray, which is most known for romanticizing abuse but the audience cannot help but be allured by his white guyness or something/ there is the netflix film “you” where a man stalks a women but it is seen as romantic and people find themselves attracted to joe despite his violence. literally this type of behavior:

there’s ted bundy film and how people raved about how hot he was despite him being an absolute monster and having real victims whos family have to live with the fact that people find their family member’s killer hot. it is this in its absolute extreme, where people are fully aware of their crimes but still find sympathy or attraction towards a criminal. in this case it is the gradual romanticization of violence that may creep up. i cannot assuredly claim that there is a strong correlation between finding villains attractive and romanticizing violence but there can be some indication of this.

and this view of how attractiveness can bleed into criminal court. of course, there are other factors such as gender, sexuality, age of judges and the inherent corruption within the legal system. here is a list of studies about this topic because christ i am not copy and pasting all of that go read it yourself. but the main takeway is that in mock jurors and other public opinion, the more attractive defendants accused of crimes have less severe sentences or even less sentences (however this is not seen as frequently in judges). it shows that there is a level of sympathy, leniency, or more compassion towards attractive people.

Conclusion

the point being made here is that attractiveness affects how one sees a person. yes, it is possible to find villains attractive, however the bias of physical attractiveness and actual character can potentially be dangerous if left unchecked. this is not exactly a call to action or a psa because a) i am fully aware that this fandom is horny to the point of brainrot and that it is incurable and b) this is just an analysis on behavior in the fandom. and i am aware that the studies are cishet in nature and are not indicative of the fandom as a whole seeing as there are a fair amount of lgbt people in this fandom. that being said, my point still stands.

#hi everyone its me blaze zanguntsu back at it again with a whole essay #ramble tag #dare i tag this in the bleach tag #bleach #i am going to invite so much discourse onto my blog with this wont i

62 notes · View notes

supersonic-womanofyou · 4 years

Photo

My first attempt at an interview fic! Read this on Ao3, or under the cut.

Spotlight on Eric Bittle

Interview by Elizabeth Chu

Photographs by Jack Zimmermann

The internet personality, author, and baker talks about his childhood, his relationship with Providence Falconers captain Jack Zimmermann, being a LGBTQ role model, why he struggled with his overnight success, and his upcoming cookbook.

I meet Eric Bittle in person for the first time on a Saturday afternoon, in a trendy coffee shop in downtown Providence. Even though I’ve heard of it in passing, I’ve never been inside. Eric obviously has, since when I approach the table where he’s chosen to sit, Eric is already chatting familiarly with one of the waitresses.

But after a couple minutes talking to Eric, I mentally revisit that assumption. Eric Bittle has a way of putting people at ease, of making even the most distant strangers feel like long-lost friends-- through his warm personality, but also through his seemingly-never ending supply of homemade baked goods. By the time I sit down across from him, I’m already in possession of a whole pie and two jars of jam.

Most of the celebrities I’ve met have on screen personalities that are vastly different in person, but the Eric Bittle I meet that Saturday could have been pulled directly out of his Netflix series or one of the episodes from his vastly popular vlog. He’s perennially bright and cheery, with a Southern drawl that’s been blunted by years in New England, but is still very present. When I mention it, Eric laughs. “I used to hate my accent, but I think it’s become as part of my brand as pies are. I’d probably lose all of my followers if I started talking like a Yankee,” he jokes.

The source of Bittle’s accent is his hometown-- Madison, Georgia, a town of barely four thousand people. When I ask what drove him to move up north, he gestures to himself as a whole. “Not too many opportunities for a baking, skating, Beyonce-loving gay boy in Morgan County.” He turns more serious, though, when he continues: “I was bullied a lot as a child. When I think back to my childhood, to living in Georgia-- for people who looked or acted different, it could be suffocating. I remember feeling like my future was just so starkly outlined for me-- going to a state school, settling down with a nice girl, spending the rest of my life just pretending. It sounds like overdramatic teenage angst now, I know, but I always knew if I wanted to live honestly, I needed to get out.”

And so Eric applied-- and was accepted to--Samwell University in Massachusetts, which touts itself as one of the most LGBTQ friendly schools in America, under the motto “one in four, maybe more.” According to Eric, it’s where he began to come to terms with himself and his identity, where he finally said the words “I’m gay” out loud, where he continued to bake and vlog and began to think seriously about a career in both, and where, perhaps most famously, he met his now-husband, Providence Falconers captain Jack Zimmermann.

“We both played on the hockey team, but we weren’t exactly friends at first,” Bittle says about his relationship with Zimmermann.

So, of course, I have to ask him-- what is it like, being a baker married to a hockey player? Eric and his husband seem like almost comical counterpoints in every aspect of their careers and personalities. Eric makes his living through baking and cooking, Jack plays in the notoriously-macho NHL. Eric has built a brand and a food empire off of cheeriness and Southern hospitality, Jack has a reputation of being a “hockey robot,” with his cold, generally disagreeable demeanor during interviews.

“Well, with it all laid out like that, it really does sound like we’re night and day,” Eric laughs. “But honestly? We just work. We both love skating-- that’s what we bonded over in college, actually. We also both technically majored in history, even though we have very different specialities and did so for pretty different reasons. But even our differences are compatible. Like, I love talking, he doesn’t, so we’re never talking over each other or silent. Also, pro hockey players have to eat an insane number of calories, so Jack’s always there to eat my cooking, and that’s really all I can ask for.”

Eric and Jack, who played on a line together briefly at Samwell, took the sports world by storm seven years ago when they kissed on the ice after the Falconers won the Stanley Cup, making Jack the first openly LGBTQ player in the NHL. The pair broke yet another barrier for LGBTQ people in hockey soon after, when Eric became the first openly gay NCAA Division I hockey captain.

When I ask Eric if he ever thought about following in his partner’s footsteps and pursuing a career in professional hockey, he just laughs. “Oh, definitely not. I love being on the ice, but I don’t think I would have made it very far in the NHL or AHL.”

His fame may have started out in the (relatively niche) world of professional hockey, but since graduating from Samwell, Eric has found incredible success beyond the legacy of that historic kiss. His first book, published five years ago, spent several weeks on the New York Times Food and Diet bestseller list, and was applauded as a fresh, vibrant take on Southern cuisine and desserts. Check, Please reads as seventy percent cookbook, thirty percent memoir, with every page infused with Bittle’s indomitable, ubiquitous personality. His vlog, which he started in high school and has updated continuously ever since, has millions of subscribers, who tune in every week to hear Bittle talk about everything from pies and cookies to relationships and family. Finally, and perhaps most famously, Bittle hosted his own Netflix series last year, applauded as a combination of Marie Kondo and Queer Eye, in which he taught baking with his usual brand of positivity and universal appeal, interspersed with feel-good moments and life lessons.

It strikes me that while Bittle’s career may have been jump-started by his relationship with Jack Zimmermann, he’s certainly managed to make a name for himself in the years since. To the hockey world, he may still be an afterthought to Jack Zimmermann, but to the baking world (and a good portion of Netflix’s viewership), the name Jack Zimmermann is an afterthought to that of Eric Bittle.

“Jack definitely gets a kick out of it when we’re in public together and I get recognized, and he doesn’t,” Eric says. “It’s kind of crazy, actually-- I definitely couldn’t have imagined all this ten years ago, back in college or in high school.”

And what did Eric imagine himself doing? “To be honest, I don’t think I had any idea. When I decided to go to Samwell, I didn’t even have a major in mind or anything. I just wanted to get out of Georgia. And at Samwell-- I mean, I majored in American History, of all things. Talk about a useless degree! I literally just chose the major that let me take the most baking or baking-adjacent classes.” He pauses, and laughs. “It drives Jack crazy, actually-- I never have a plan for anything, really, big or small. I’m the kind of person who just crosses my fingers and hope it all shakes out for the best.”

His husband’s opinion aside, this tactic seems to have worked out pretty well for Eric. His next, eagerly anticipated cookbook, which follows much in the vein of his Netflix show, is due to come out in two months this August. “It’s going to be focused on easy, cheap cooking and baking that’s still healthy and fulfilling. I think there’s a mindset that to make tasty, healthy food you need to have expensive ingredients and tools, or a lot of time on your hands, or have a lot of experience. But like-- I made food for an entire hockey team in a frat house on a college student’s allowance for four years, so I know something about cooking healthy on a budget,” he jokes. “I really just want to make good, healthy food accessible for everyone.”

Well, he’s managed to do that, and more. Eric Bittle’s career so far has certainly been a whirlwind. He’s gone from publishing his first cookbook to hosting his own show in what’s only been a matter of years.

“I do have to pinch myself sometimes, “ Eric says about his dizzyingly quick ascent to fame. “Like, Carrie Underwood tagged me in a tweet about hockey husbands the other day. Carrie Underwood!” The disbelief is clear in his voice. “I mean, Jack’s always been the bigger fan of country music, but the Georgia boy in me had to lie down for a moment when I saw the notification. So I think-- I still can’t really believe all of it, you know? It feels like yesterday I was still about to graduate college, with barely any plan and procrastinating on my thesis. And I guess sometimes-- sometimes I do feel a bit guilty, you know? Like-- there’s so many people fighting for this, fighting for what I’ve got-- getting books published, getting a show, everything else. I definitely had a leg up in name recognition because of Jack and hockey, and even when Jack and weren’t married yet, I never had to worry about having a roof over my head if the vlog wasn’t bringing in enough money or the cookbook wasn’t selling well enough.” He pauses, pensive, and it’s not the first time in this conversation that I mentally reassess my first assumptions about Eric Bittle. Behind the nationally famous smile and welcoming accent is a thoughtful young man still grappling with becoming a public figure and a role model, with a sprinkling of imposter syndrome, who doesn’t understand exactly what millions of people across the country see in him.

But perhaps that as well is an unfair assessment. It’s clear that Eric has a refreshing genuiness that few public figures possess, and that this is part of what has managed to speak to so many people from all backgrounds. That on some level, his modesty about his own fame is part of what constitutes his appeal.

When I mention this, Eric flushes a bright shade of pink. “Oh, aren’t you a flatterer. Well, I suppose so.”

So after this cookbook, what’s next? Is fatherhood on the horizon?

“I did mention that I never have a plan, didn’t I?” he quips. But he does confide that he and Jack have been talking about having a family. “We’ve always wanted kids, but there’s always been something going on. Jack’s job and being on roadies all the time, me trying to get my career started. We don’t want our kids to be raised by babysitters and nannies, you know? We want to be there for them, so while it’s definitely something we’re considering, we’re trying to balance timing. But it has been a couple years, so.” He blushes. “We’re revisiting the idea.”

“But other than that-- I have been approached about the possibility of some other projects and shows in the future, but I probably can’t talk about those,” he says. “And though it’s always been a dream of mine to own a bakery, that would be a pretty huge commitment. So I guess I’m just trying to say that I’m not really sure exactly what comes next.” Nevertheless, he grins, as if to say, and isn’t that exciting ?

Fatherhood or his own bakery-- I’m sure that no matter what comes next for Eric Bittle, he’ll forge ahead with his characteristic positivity and Southern grace, with plenty of baked goods along the way. *

#omgcp #eric bittle #jack zimmermann #interview #multimedia fic #art #magazine #fic #omgcp fic #zimbits #pov outsider #omgcheckplease

534 notes · View notes

sleepylixie · 3 years

Text

Pearls & Lilies

Seawalker/Merman Jeongin X Spellcaster! Fem Reader (platonic)

1.6k words, fluff, Beware of a singular mention of injury ( no toes were farmed in the making of this piece of fiction)

Fantasy AU, Supernatural! SKZ, Part-2 of Prince of Pearls from the In Umbra Universe (this can be read individually)

A/N: I’m back with my favourite merman! A Happy late( in my country and his) birthday to the Maknae on top Yang Jeongin ehe~ Here is my little addition to the In Umbra fic collection AT LONG LAST. Hope you like this! Do let me know what y’all think :)

Time flowed slowly in Atlantis, it seemed- almost like the underwater resided in a whole different plane of existence from the world he’d been a part of not too long ago. Jeongin realized this when his mortal body clock prompted him to sleep twice in a day- It was a nice feeling, like he was watching mortal time tick past him without taking him with it. Turned out, he wasn’t wrong.

Atlantis and the expansive merpeople kingdom had an entire plane to themselves, much like the ones the other supernatural races had for themselves- it was called Thallasia.

He remembered sitting with a cherry-haired female mermaid named Yeri and her brother Jungwoo before his first day of classes, listening intently to their long-winded descriptions of Thallasia. They spoke highly of the underwater plane, with its depthless trenches with blinking lights for the houses built into the sides, the meadows filled with coral that glowed in the dark and castles built of granite, agate and studded greenstone.

Jungwoo even went as far as to whisper of a secret pathway into the mortal plane, promising to show him later in the day when he noticed Jeongin’s attention visible pique at the words. That very night, Jungwoo showed him the seaweed-covered tunnel and led straight into the darker, murkier open seas of the mortal plane.

Seawalkers- mortals turned merpeople- were allowed to go back to land whenever they wished provided they never divulge the existence or location of Thallasia and Atlantis. Unlike trueborn merpeople, they retained the power to use feet or fins as they wished, which allowed seawalkers to tread land as and when they wished. The secret of Thallasia was a well-kept one to the landwalking mortals because seawalkers were created woefully rare and far in between.

That pathway became one of his most frequented corners of Atlantis in no time. Every other weekend’s sunrise would find him slipping through the seaweed and swimming down the long tunnel into the mortal seas. His personal plans of reuniting the merpeople with the landwalkers only solidified with every visit he paid to Busan and the towns that were rapidly developing around his hometown- but with his visits, he came to developing one new relationship. You.

He remembered his first steps on land, Jungwoo’s head poking out of the water as he watched Jeongin with bright, curious eyes. The feel of the sand on his toes pulled a wide grin to his face, his eyes welling up with tears from emotions he was yet to place. It was at that moment when he realised, he missed the land.

He missed having legs, feeling the crisp air in his lungs in the midst of a long run on the sand, feeling the fine grains under his toes. He missed climbing up trees for fresh fruit, his palms and soles chafing against the rough bark of the trees. He missed watching the sunrise and set and the chilly breeze against his arms but most of all, he missed his parents. Despite loving his new seawalker life and all the novelty it offered, it wasn’t entirely his own: Jeongin’s blood might have always sung for the oceans, but his heart was mortal born and raised.

“Hello, seawalker.” Jeongin’s lips quirked up of their own accord when he heard your voice, drawling and accented before you slipped into the chair in bench in front of him. Salen’s Bar and Inn was a supernatural haunt he’d taken to rather quickly, with the boisterous crowd and young owners who knew how to keep their patrons happy. One of the owners named Hongjoong, a former seawalker who had renounced the ocean after centuries of piracy, often enjoyed Jeongin’s whispered stories of Thallasia and Atlantis.

“Hello, charlatan.” he mockingly raised his glass of orange juice at you. You gasped in mock offence, reaching over to smack his arm. “How dare you! I am a respectable young lady, a successful tradeswoman at that!”

“Say what you will,” Jeongin chortled, sipping his drink. “But the only reason you sell anything if because of magic. Doesn’t that make you a fake?”

“I tell all of them it’s magic, it’s their fault they don’t believe me!” You laughed aloud before flagging down one of the waiters, placing your usual order and a mug of hot coffee. “Jeongin watched as you settled yourself further onto the bench, pulling off your heavy midnight cloak and fixing your sleeves and dress around your now cross-legged feet.

His first meeting with you had been an odd one. Jeongin’s mother had run out of ginger and herbs and threw him out of the house to do a grocery run for her, late in the evening. Quickly making his purchases, he decided to take the scenic route back home, away from the beach road and through a copse of trees. What he did not realize was that somebody else had taken that exact route that evening and had panicked at the sound of him following them.

Imagine Jeongin’s surprise when he was waylaid by an angry-looking girl with green sparks lighting up the tips of her fingers, telling him to back off from her trade items before she sliced his toes off. It was one of his life’s greatest embarrassments that he’d screamed in a rather high-pitched manner when you’d appeared out of thin air, your eyes shining unnaturally bright against the darkness of the copse.

After copious amounts of explaining from Jeongin, you relented, letting him pass with a begrudging apology- but Jeongin insisted on walking you all the way to your doorstep in a gesture of goodwill.

You were a spellcaster from the skinwalker plane Kyrmena- particularly from Gumiho territory, where your accent came from. Your parents had let you travel the country when you became of age, letting you learn more of the world by yourself. Busan had captured your heart for its serene beachside and the approachable people, which was why you set up a little home for yourself in Salen’s Inn, trusting Hongjoong and Yeosang’s hideout for the land living supernatural races.

That had been more than 6 months ago, the two of you becoming fast friends over Jeongin’s weekend visits. It was now tradition for him to take up this particular table at Salen’s before you bustled in from your market run, your hair tousled from the sea breeze. You were always the last person he met before heading back to Thallasia, bidding him adieu at the beach when he left.

“Yeosang has been begging me to make him a pearl and lily circlet for him lately,” you were saying, your accent curling curiously as your hands fluttered around you. “But who’s going to tell him the only pearls I have are the fake ones? I’m not going to give a dear friend a fake pearl circlet!”

Jeongin leaned on the table, his fingers lacing together as he stared at you incredulously. “Are you dense or just well and truly blind?” He asked, his voice betraying the extent of his exasperated amusement. You stopped and stared at him, your eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“You’re talking to a seawalker, “ Jeongin pointed exaggeratedly to himself, “about lacking pearls.” Your eyes widened, palm smacking against your forehead in a rather comical manner. “Wow, I’m truly a few bolts short of normal today.” you grumbled before fixing Jeongin with a beseeching stare.

“Get me some pearls, please? My usual contact for them ran out and I’m sure I’m going to get orders from the seamstress for more pearl and rose-petal necklaces.”

The people of Busan had been collectively fascinated by the pretty young lady who set up shop in their market one day, your trade consisting of the most beautiful flowers laid over pieces of precious stones and jewellery. They flocked to your shop in awe, your wares sometimes running out before the day passed- how did your flowers not wilt for weeks? How did your jewellery never lose their shine? Little did they know you set a time-slowing spell on your pieces, slowing down the flowers’ wilt and the jewellery’s dulling to a great degree.

Jeongin sighed loudly, rolling his eyes despite the smile on his face. “Whatever. Meet me by the beach at dawn in 4 days.” Your eyes brightened immediately, a smile stretching out your lips as you slid off your bench to give Jeongin a tight hug, squealing excitedly.

“You’re the best.” you giggled, as Jeongin grimaced at the bodily contact, taking your original place on the bench. “I’m sure you spent your days dealing with me just so you could ask me to get you pearls for free one day.” Jeongin sighed dramatically as he sipped on his orange juice.

“Wait, you knew ?!” You gasped, your hand raising to cover your mouth in mock shock. “I thought I was doing a good job at pretending to be your friend!”

“You clearly weren’t.” Jeongin responded with a straight face, your eyes meeting and stares holding for a split second before you burst into pointless giggles.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you those snacks you like from Daegu the next time you visit.” You grinned at him just as Yeosang dropped by with your order of food, your attention now speared on the dark-haired Fae boy. Jeongin watched in amusement as you explained Jeongin’s agreement to get you pearls for his long-awaited pearl-and-lily circlet, Yeosang’s green eyes lighting up in pure excitement at the prospect. You giggled as Yeosang patted the top of your heads in thanks before wandering back to Hongjoong, prompting you to focus on your food.

Jeongin held your friendship with him at the highest of regards, despite not knowing you for very long. You were fierce yet easy to amuse, soft with your sentiments and so very talented with your hands. Watching you piece together the strangest combinations of metal and flowers into the most beautiful pieces of jewellery would never stop fascinating him- your artistry effortless and so, so charming.

It was almost easy for time to slip by faster with you, your easy banter with him making time pass faster than he’d expect it to.

For once, however, he didn’t really mind it.

Taglist: @aliceu @decembermoonskz @kisskissbanggang @lavenderbexlatte @jl-micasea @cuokka @cotccotc @straykidsownmysoul @illicit-roses @fylithia @stellarmonsterr @soya-zz @popisdead (Dm or drop me an ask to be added or removed!)

Network tag: @inkidz @kpopscape @districtninewriters

I’d love to hear what you think of this story! - Elliana.

#stray kids #skz #stray kids imagines #skz jeongin #jeongin x reader #skz fantasy au #skz fluff #stray kids fluff #skz x reader #stray kids au #stray kids scenarios #skz scenarios #jeongin #yang jeongin #kpop imagines #kpop #ellaskz #kpop scenarios

61 notes · View notes

itsonlystrange · 4 years

Text

First off, I am not sending hate to any Mileven shipper. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I will only be providing actual facts and evidence, and hopefully will be staying relatively unbiased. As always, this is a PRO-BYLER account. If you do not ship Byler you do not have to read all the way through :).

This will be a 2 part series. The first part will address MILEVEN and how they will not be endgame. The second part will address the likely hood of BYLER being endgame.

So, I’ve been sucked into the Mileven side of Instagram after liking ONE Mileven edit, which is besides the point. Recently I’ve noticed a lot of people say that “They were love at first sight!” Or that “Why would they break up now if they’ve had 3 seasons of development?!” So I’m going to go ahead and supply you all with:

MILEVEN VS BYLER.

PART ONE (MILEVEN)

To start off with the first statement, “They were love at first sight!”

May I remind you how utterly mortified Mike was when he found Eleven. As any 12 year old boy would be. He did not give her any form of “heart eyes”. He looked genuinely scared. He took her home as a courtesy, not because he was “madly in love with her!”. Obviously not everyone would take home a random 12 year old bald girl, but El being taken to the Wheelers was not meant to be seen as a romantic gesture, it was literally just a plot device for the Kids to figure out she had powers.

May I also remind you that Mike wanted to get rid of her. He stated multiple times that she was just a weapon, and a device to find Will. He only let her stay BECAUSE she knew who Will was. He was fully ready to let her go, and send her back to wherever she came from. In the end of it all, he only cared about Will and finding Will. El was simply used as a device to find him. Obviously, now, I do think Mike cares about El. But not in a romantic way, more so a “cute puppy way”. I think he loves her, but that he’s not IN LOVE with her, romantically.

The show has shown constantly how horribly they work together. El’s most confident and prideful moments were when she was AWAY from Mike. Mike’s most loyal and selfless moments was when he was AWAY from El. They do not compliment eachother like that.

Second of all, they have nothing in common. In season one when Mike was explaining his figurines to El, she looked genuinely disinterested. Now some may say that this could be because she didn’t quite understand what she liked back then, which just further proves that she shouldn’t be in a relationship! If she can’t decide if she likes a dinosaur toy or not, how is she supposed to decide if she likes Mike! And we also know that she did have the ability to differentiate between things she liked as she seemed genuinely interested in Nancy’s clothes and photos. The only thing they have in common is shared trauma! Notice how all the other couples share something:

JANCY: love for writing and adventuring

LUMAX: both are comical and enjoy the cinema and the outdoors

DUZIE: science

Along with most of the other couples. But what does Mileven have In common? Can anyone please name ONE good memory between the two when they weren’t in danger. All the “good memories” they have are from when the world was ending.

If you said “Oh, but they make out a lot!” That’s not a ‘good memory’, hell, that’s hardly memorable at at all. Hoppper, Will, and Lucas even admit that for those 6 months in between season 2 and season 3, all they did was make out. That is not love, that is infatuation. Infatuation is a strong desire for someone, mainly romantic, that focuses on the physical aspects of their relationship rather than the emotional. Love is a deep rooted feeling. You do not need to make out all the time to be in love. Love is emotional, of course it can be physical, but you need that strong feeling before any physical aspect of love can be genuine.

Mileven have nothing in common. It’s very clear that Mike is still into D&D and is a nerd. Especially as he might be in the Hellfire Club next season (a D&D club) and also because we’ve seen that D&D is going to be a big aspect of season 4, meaning he’ll most likely be infatuated with it again. It’s obvious that El needs to figure herself out first. She needs to develop into her own human being. She’s still learning. She’s into poppy colors and magazines and makeup (which is great!), but even on a more basic level, they still share nothing in common. Mike is a nerd, we have established that. And notice how in s3 (when he was with El) he felt the least like himself. He acted so out of character. He didn’t use weird Star Wars analogies or gush about the new movie coming out like previous seasons. Now of course one could say that he’s growing up, but we see that he is genuinely still a nerd as when he’s in time of crisis he goes back to those analogies. He goes back to gushing about the new toys he’s getting at Christmas, he goes back to being a nerd. It’s almost as if he’s wearing this mask, and at the end of s3 he forgets to put it on. And then El kisses him, and he realizes that he didn’t enjoy that. So we know for a fact that he is very much still into D&D and those other shenanigans atleast to an extent, considering how happy he was to hear that Will wasnt giving up the party or D&D. Shouldn’t Mike be with someone who is atleast a little similar to him? Regardless of his sexuality, shouldn’t he be with someone that allows him to be his true self? He was incredibly Cocky and arrogant in season 3, almost like he had to be a “man” for El, and in his mind, being a ‘man’ was giving up all of the things he loved, and only kissing El, almost as if she was an object he had to obtain more than an actual human. Which Max agrees with! He treats her more so of a mask he has to wear to cover his true self. Shouldn’t el be with someone who likes the same thing she does? But then again, what does el like?! Exactly! She needs to figure out who she is before she dates anyone. She didn’t even know what shirt she would like to wear!

Now I just find this silly. Development? Really? Okay let me show you their “development”

SEASON ONE: El could only speak 4 or 5 words. They had essentially zero romantic interactions besides the kiss at the end. If El and Mike never kissed (excluding the time they almost kissed in the bathroom), people would most likely only see them as a friendship. Let’s flip the tables a bit. If El was a boy and Mike and El never kissed, this would further prove that they don’t have any romantic tension. Lucas says it the best: “You only like her because she’s the only girl who isn’t grossed out by you!” Which I agree with completely. It’s more of an infatuation. Mike is infatuated with the idea of finally having a girlfriend. Because he knows something is wrong inside him and wants to ‘fix it’ by dating a girl, as if suddenly his sexuality identity issues would disappear. El doesn’t know anything about Mike, and to El, Mike is a hero. To El, Mike is fearless warrior. And Mike knows that isn’t true. But with el, it gave him the chance to start fresh. It gave him the chance to start and become a different person. He puts on his persona of being “strong” and being able to stand up for himself, yet in the end, it’s El who does the saving. The reason he ‘likes’ El so much is because she isn’t disgusted by him. But mike is afraid that if he shows his true self, El wouldn’t like him anymore, and he’d lose that mask. And without a girl to cling to, he’d finally have to confront his sexuality. Which is why we never see Mike being his true self around El. In every single season, he is this false person. He’s wearing a facade, to keep up with these lies. Because he fears that If El knew how nerdy he really was, she’d be uninterested, and he ‘can’t lose her’ because he knows that El is most likely the only girl who will never be grossed out by him. Because all the other girls in this town know who he is. That nerdy guy from the AV club. And he needs a girlfriend. He feels safe that way. Because if he doesn’t have a distraction from his sexuality then he might take an extra step on accident and accidently act on those feelings

Ep 1: making out

Ep2: breaking up

Ep 3-6: fighting

Ep 7: neutral

Ep 8 ½ : neutral

Very end of ep 8: together?

How is that romantic? So from what we know, Mileven got a kiss in season 1, a kiss in season 2, 2 make out sessions, and then they fought. HOW IS THAT A GOOD RELATIONSHIP?

90% of their relationship throughout all 3 seasons has been kissing and fighting. That’s literally it. Not once have we seen them just hanging out and talking. Not once have we seen them go on dates. And as Hopper, Lucas, and Will put: that’s all they do! The Duffer’s purposefully put that line in to show that, it’s really all they did for those 6 months. There was no emotion to that. Just kissing. That’s it. Kissing and fighting is all Mileven has been. And honestly they would have been pretty cute in season 3 if the Duffer’s hadn’t messed it up. But the duffers aren’t stupid! They did this on purpose! Because they wanted us to disagree with Mileven. They wanted us to find it obnoxious. Because they know that they don’t have chemistry! Finn and Millie are brilliant actors and could have definitely pulled that off, meaning the Duffers had to have specifically said to “not act in love”. Mileven is a summer fling, Finn said so himself. They are their true selves when they are apart, and when they are together romantically, they stunt each other’s growth. They’re way better as bestfriends. El needs to figure herself out before she can date anyone.

Thank you for reading part one! Part two will be up soon, and will follow why I believe Byler will be end game!

Heavy inspiration from @kaypeace21 & @hawkinsschoolcounselor

#stranger things 4 #stranger things #byler #byler rights #byler theory #stranger things theory #anti mileven #byler is endgame #st4

92 notes · View notes