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fumblingmusings · 10 months

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I am an absolute and utter fucking SUCKER for Scotland ×England sibling dynamics of older and younger sibling shenanigans

I love the idea of Scotland being the older brother who England can rely on. Whilst i believe the fandom mostly prefers Wales and England sibling dynamics bc the way Scotty is in the manga (he is a bit of a dick to England, which i believe stems from how the Scottish and English relationship actually is) , i believe Scotland is the one who looked after and raised England when they were wee babys, and is the one England inevitably runs to for just ab anything

(this can also be my unhealthy obsession with ScotEng but this isn't relevant to the ask so ignore it)

I loved all the moments England/Evelyn and her siblings had in SPE.

I wonder what they felt seeing their little sister slowly losing herself, constantly falling ill, if they worried she would slowly fade out of existence at one point or if conflicts between their governments made then cold towards her and anticipating the day she was gone.

What was their relationship as baby nations? You mentioned in your fic that Eva didn't remember her mother much, and what little she did, she believed her mother didn't want her at all. Does that mean Ali and Wales were in charge of raising England as a child? What was that like for them? At what point did they teach Eva what she was and what the would mean for her and them.

I hope your future fics could have more UK sibling moments, whether as nations or as humans, bc i love them deeply and i literally live for any uk sibling content.

In other words, where do i send you the monies for more England and their brothers sharing a single braincell. Bc the car scene had me dying

This answer is so long I'm sorry I completely rambled sorry sorry...

Scotland is a dick in the manga towards England partly because he deserves to be a dick towards England and partly because us Scots are the most contrarian annoying bastards on the planet where everything has to be a goddamn battle and it's genuinely exhausting because most English and Welsh people would let it go out of fear of being rude or confrontational but Scots just get a kick out of being the devil's advocate in the most inopportune times. This is partly England's fault and partly just a leftover from how stubborn the Highland-Lowland conflicts have been over the years. That Simpsons joke by grounds-keeper Willy?

They're right.

Anyway!

I like the idea of England Scotland and Wales really only having each other for about a thousand years, with Ireland always keeping its distance where necessary. And those early memories don't go away easily, that human connection cannot be forgotten even after a hundred armies and a dozen dead Kings say they should.

A lot of the time, all they had was each other, when England was split in seven Scotland in four, and Wales in god knows how many tiny kingdoms. They were real wanderers. And no matter what they do to each other, they still can't get that first millennium out of their memories. Scotland is and was far more likely to intercede in English politics when requested by the government versus the other neighbours. Because we're nosey buggers who like burning York.

I go with Wales being the oldest (which I think is not a popular choice but... meh), then Ireland, then Scotland, then England, and then obviously wee Northern Ireland a thousand years later. I know Hima has the Irelands in a sort of two Italies situation where they were babies together, but I think that's the biggest piece of canon where I'm like... no. I can maybe accept him popping up during the late 16th century, but not prior to the 1000s like the other four.

I think in the fic I have the kids born around the time of Rome's arrival. But they aren't Rome's kids. I don't know... haven't thought it through entirely, but Britannia was never a particularly good mother by modern standards, even more so when it hit home that the children, but particularly England, signalled her death. Evie went from being her mother's little apple to a cuckoo bird. And Eva liked Rome, he was funny and made her smile and brought her nice things. Her mother didn't, clearly, and made her and Ireland watch the destruction of Colchester and St Alban's and London. Ireland was like ooft. alrighty. Then went on with her day. But England took it... poorly.

But when they lose their mum, they are still kids themselves. None of them are a day over twelve when Britannia dies, so they know what it's like to rely on fickle humans for protection only to realise they really can't stay too long with any of them. They raise each other for a while until they all go their separate ways. I mentioned in the fic that England was a clingy, weepy little girl. Honestly, her siblings, who were just kids themselves, couldn’t cope with her, and one by one, they decided to go and live with their own people.

I headcanon that England and Scotland were the last to split because the overlap of what's now Lothian, the Borders, Cumbria, and Northumberland were grey areas in ownership for such a long time. Edinburgh was after all technically English from 680 to 970, and in the 940s, Strathclyde stretched through Cumbria and into Yorkshire, so England and Scotland have always been overlapping with their people.

I loved all the moments England/Evelyn and her siblings had in SPE. I wonder what they felt seeing their little sister slowly losing herself, constantly falling ill, if they worried she would slowly fade out of existence at one point or if conflicts between their governments made then cold towards her and anticipating the day she was gone. What was their relationship as baby nations? You mentioned in your fic that Eva didn't remember her mother much, and what little she did, she believed her mother didn't want her at all. Does that mean Ali and Wales were in charge of raising England as a child? What was that like for them? At what point did they teach Eva what she was and what the would mean for her and them.

The UK siblings for me are interesting during the 16th to 19th centuries because they all lack control one way or another, and the way they try to take it back for themselves is toxic. Scotland and Wales throw themselves into the army and navy respectively, and England completely shuts herself away with stolen children. Like they just disconnect from their own people. The whole point of Slow Paced Envy was to write about dissonance. Dissonance between the character's actions, what came out of their mouths, what they thought and what they knew to be true. Everyone in that fic runs on contradictions that are either flat out toxic and dangerous or - at best - delusional. England isn't the only one in the fic like that. I hope I portrayed it well...

So England is their baby sister at the end of the day. And she is - to be blunt - such an anomaly. She's so much weaker, she's got far less fire in her, she's way more passive. Scotland loves to travel and see the world (and do all kinds of heinous or drunken things) - it's what he lives for. Wales loves to fight. England wants to have a wee farmstead with barn cats and her witch cauldron. Her brother's flip between resenting her and pitying her.

But she's still their baby sister. I think that colours their relationship with her more than if it were Arthur, who is just another boy, albeit the youngest. Again, I think gender messes with the dynamic. Ireland deliberately extricates herself from the 'oldest sister = caretaker' role, but England falls into the 'baby' role, definitely. Not spoiled particularly, but she does receive the most attention. From everyone. Not that it ever made her happy.

There was no chance of them being on equal footing with each other. Scotland wanted it to be him. It was his royal family after all the pulled them all together. He has the better temperament for power, is more book smart, is a better tactician etc etc... And yet it's all on baby sister who by the 17th century is addicted to Opium and probably has had TB for the past three hundred years. It's laughable. It's a joke. God is mocking them. Make it make sense.

It's that conflict of "I know my sibling and they personally would never lay a hand on me but their people will and sometimes I cannot look at my sibling without thinking about what their people have done in their name and I hate them for it."

That saying that makes its round on the internet: the love was there, it didn't change anything, but it was there. That's really how I understand Scotland Wales and England's relationship. Love cannot overcome, nor should it necessarily. But it's still there. And that's something.

I hope your future fics could have more UK sibling moments, whether as nations or as humans, bc i love them deeply and i literally live for any uk sibling content. In other words, where do i send you the monies for more England and their brothers sharing a single braincell. Bc the car scene had me dying

Ha! This ask was payment enough. I'm glad you enjoyed the car scene. The one bit of levity that entire fic had...

Thank you for the ask! I'm sorry this reply is so scattered and long but ah! It made me happy. Thank you!

#q&a #fanfic ask #not entirely well composed or consistent thoughts below the cut #anglo-scottish relations pre 1300 *fascinate* me #hws england #hws scotland #headcanon #hetalia

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kardamaeloise-25 · 10 months

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Kardama Dead Child Creepypasta

(Art_n.artz_77)

Kardama, a strange creature of humanoid appearance that exudes a pure winter in its body, this creature is an extremely rare Demon, in addition to being rare it is totally different from other common demons, it does not have horns or the color of blood on its skin, this one young creature was a princess of an icy kingdom from another dimension that was ruled by these demons of great power and that was in conflict with the lands of the cruelest demon of all Zalgo (Z'algatoth ), his father was the king of this world and his mother the queen. The Queen was kidnapped by Zalgo, she was cruelly murdered and that made the king declare war between the lands of this cruel monster so that this way ended once and for all the mortal hatred that they had caused for years. While Kardama, she wanted to stop this war, the war was going to lead to the extermination of the entire kingdom, her father imprisoned/sealed her in the castle where it was impossible to leave, so that she would not interfere in the fight. Her prediction was right, all the subjects of the frozen kingdom lost the war, the king unfortunately died in the hands of evil himself and they were exterminated with only her left, the poor creature was trapped in the seal for 200 thousand years, with no way out, her powers didn't break the doors or the walls of the place (as it was done as punishment when she didn't obey her creator). After centuries, someone frees her from the seal, it was someone least expected by the young creature, a woman with a sword that belonged to the angels, black eyes, managed to open the door with that sword and saw the creature in the corner of the room with deep hatred. When she got close, she felt the frightening power of that creature, but Kardama did nothing with the woman and she finally got out of that prison. The creature princess looked throughout the castle and kingdom to see if anyone survived; unfortunately he had no one but ruins, his home that was intended to govern his subjects has now become an empty place. Since she doesn't have anyone else, only the lands were her property, hatred was transcending in her icy body, in her eyes came out dangerous tears that if they had contact with human skin would turn to dust, she discounted her anger using her weakened powers (due to the years she was preserved inside the seal) in her lands, the woman with the sword defended herself from those attacks and tried to stop her. Suddenly, the creature stopped when she felt something strange in the environment around her, it was dark and her body felt tingling. She came across an inexplicable being that was in her conscience. the creature stopped when he felt something strange in the environment around him, it was dark and he felt his body tingling. She came across an inexplicable being that was in her conscience. the creature stopped when he felt something strange in the environment around him, it was dark and he felt his body tingling. She came across an inexplicable being that was in her conscience.

"My little creature, everything has been ruined, there's nothing left to go on, the thing you feared the most happened because you weren't able to change fate and now you're going to let divine fate guide you without regrets." - said by an unrecognizable and frightening voice by a being that has a form of smoke of darkness.

What is my divine destiny then? - she answers confused and firmly so as not to be afraid

"It's me" - after this short speech of this enigmatic being, he hypnotizes her, causing him to have total control of the creature's mind and then he soon gives his command where he would completely change the rare species of demon.

After she got back where she was, she kicked the black-eyed woman out of her property, almost killed her with that blow, Kardama entered back into her castle, trying to look for something inside the place, she found her experiment she planned use in some year, a potion that served to increase the strength of her powers, but it was a failed experiment that would lead to death if she drank it, with all the feelings of hatred and resentment that inhabited the creature, she took it without hesitation (probably that was the command of the enigmatic being). At first she hadn't felt anything, until she caused an extreme itch on her oily skin that almost ripped from her claws, her throat was hot, her eyes burned, her appearance changed bizarrely and she writhed nonstop. The pain lasted a long time until I felt nothing and fell dead on the ground. The environment where it was was in frightening silence, around the creature's body, Zalgo's demons appeared to finish their work, they soon prepared their claws for it to become stung until when they got very close to the creature their body began to slowly freeze from painfully, they could not breathe and gradually lost their movements. When they died, the creature they were going to kill would rise from the ground, in their last vision, they will see that the creature had a different appearance than those they killed in the war, the hair was white as snow (expected from a being of ice), now they were so dark that not even light entered them, her eyes were blue and bright like diamonds, now they darkened and finally her skin was pale and oily, then it grew paler even closer to the white and rough texture. What the hell did that creature become? no longer resembles its species, we conclude that the rare species has gone extinct forever, the surviving creature has changed, and its already troublesome behavior has increased to extreme danger, the new Kardama has destroyed Zalgo's henchmen, he not only wiped out their bodies, they no longer exist, nothing will recover them, and so this is the origin of a new problem in space. The youngest creature of all cosmic beings (hence "child") kills everyone in its field of vision and just wants to play the most sadistic actions imaginable forever. Kardama Dead Child.

#creepypasta #art #oc #kardamacreepypasta #kardamadeadchild #kardamadeadchildcreepypasta

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phantom-le6 · 11 months

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Ramble of the month June 2023: Phase 2 of the Batman Begins-Led DCEU

This ramble is coming so late in the month of June simply because I wasn’t quite sure what to write about. I had hoped to land on something a bit more general current affairs or otherwise different from my usual run of Marvel and DC-related articles, but the one idea I have in that line is very much in its infancy and will take a while to work out how best to do. As such, I’ve decided to quickly put my alternate DCEU up to the same level as my 90’s MCU that I did a ramble for last month.

With my alternate DCEU, as those who read my March ramble will remember, the idea was that Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins is used to kick-off a wider continuity, producing what I would hope was a better, more consistent and cohesive superhero film universe. To recap, the alternate DCEU I’ve come up with begins in 2005 with Batman Begins and works on a basis of one film a year, then two as the momentum builds, and the break-down of those films is as follows:

2005: Batman Begins

2006: Man of Steel

2007: Wonder Woman

2008: The Dark Knight, Green Lantern

2009: The Flash, Man of Steel 2

2010: Aquaman, Justice League

Going into the second stage of this alternate DCEU, the films shift into the three-per-year pattern I also use in my 90’s-based alternate MCU. The slate for this hypothetical DCEU phase 2 breaks down like so:

2011: Wonder Woman 2, Green Lantern 2, Green Arrow

2012: Hawkman, Batman/Superman, Aquaman 2

2013: John Constantine, The Flash 2, Suicide Squad

2014: Justice League 2, Green Arrow 2, Batman: The Long Crusade

As you can see, solo hero film sequels make up a fair chunk of the phase, but so do introductions for more solo heroes, and we also get more films based around teams and ensemble casts. How do these then interconnect to tell a story? Well so far, Batman’s first two solo films went much the way Nolan made them in real life, but with the cover-up of Harvey Dent’s crimes, etc. in the Dark Knight being done in a pro-Batman way, enabling his inclusion in the Justice League. Superman got his solo introduction in an earlier version of Man of Steel, then better defined himself with the aid of Martian Manhunter against the likes of Lex Luthor and Metallo in a sequel.

In turn, Wonder Woman’s origins remain very much World War I-centric in this film-verse, the Flash gets his introduction in a clash with the Rogues instead of doing Flashpoint, while Green Lantern goes through a revised origin based on the ret-con done when Hal Jordan was resurrected in the comics. As for Aquaman, that film is designed around the 2018 version, but changing some elements as well (Aquaman learns about his Atlantean origins as an adult, his mother is only usurped rather than executed, etc.) This all then leads to a Justice League film where the League battles the White Martians, based on Grant Morrison’s JLA: New World Order.

With this as our foundation point, let’s look at what the phase 2 films offer.

Wonder Woman 2 (2011) Directed by Gates McFadden

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

King Faraday = Bradley Cooper

Maxwell Lord = Zachary Quinto

Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah = Kirsten Wiig

Paula Von Gunther = Diane Kruger

Sensei = Chow Yun-Fat

This film borrows only slightly from Wonder Woman 84 of the real DCEU. It involves Diana, Maxwell Lord, Cheetah and the Dreamstone, but a lot about it is also changed. The film is set in the 1960’s during the Vietnam war, and Wonder Woman is coerced into helping government agent King Faraday hunt down rogue businessman Maxwell Lord and Nazi war criminal Paula Von Gunther, both of whom seek the Dreamstone. The villains are also accompanied by the reluctant archaeologist Barbara Ann Minerva, and their quest takes them to Nanda Parbat for the final act, bringing them into conflict with Ra’s Al Ghul’s predecessor Sensei (since Ra’s got white-washed in Batman Begins by the casting of Liam Neeson, we can’t claim Sensei as Ra’s father as per the comics).

I’ve retained Gates McFadden as director from my alternate version of the first Wonder Woman, and Kate Beckinsale as my alternate Wonder Woman, while Kirsten Wiig is the only carry-over from Wonder Woman 84. Everyone else is a fresh casting, and I’ve very purposely left Steve Trevor (played in this alternate DCEU by Heath Ledger to leave the Joker role for Willem Dafoe). Comics have a bad tendency towards not letting death stick, and except for a small handful of cases, I don’t think it’s a habit the films should follow.

Green Lantern 2 (2011) Directed by Matthew Vaughan

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan = Ben Affleck

Carol Ferris = Liv Tyler

*John Stewart = Derek Luke

*Guy Gardner = Damian Lewis

Thaal Sinestro = Mark Strong

*Katma Tui = Mila Kunis

Kilowog = Tyrese Gibson

Tomar-Re = Hugh Laurie

Salaak = Dominic West

Arisia Rrab = Anna Paquin

*Boodikka = Gina Carano

*Ke'Haan = Kevin Durand

*Laira = Emma Stone

*Kreon = Ryan Philippe

Carl Ferris = Kurt Russell

Tom Kalmaku = Taika Waititi

Andy = Connor Trinneer

Biff = Josh Lucas

Ganthet = Patrick Stewart

Sayd = Glenn Close

Appa Ali Apsa = Hugo Weaving

*Lyssa Drak = Angelina Jolie

*Arkillo = John Cena

*Amon Sur = Ben Foster

*Romat-Ru = Ian McShane

With our first GL film bringing Hal Jordan into the corps and having him and Sinestro team-up to take down Black Hand and Atrocitus, the second now has room to really play with the Hal-Sinestro dynamic. In this film, Sinestro goes rogue early on and is imprisoned by the crops, only to be broken out by members of his fledling Sinestro-Corps, the fear-wielding Yellow Lanterns that are the antithesis of the Green Lanterns. As the Green Lanterns are rocked by the rise of the Yellow Lanterns, Hal is forced to find his trust again and recruits fellow humans Guy Gardner and John Stewart to aid him against Sinestro.

Again, we’re keeping the director from a first film into a second, and much of the cast is retained from the earlier film. For ease of reference, the new additions for this film are marked with asterisks, and those from Lyssa Drak down are all Yellow Lanterns; every other new character added is a member of the Green Lantern Corps. Where possible, I’ve tried to go for notable actors who I feel can really create the sense that we’re watching two corps of ring-wielding warriors; one group very much a kind of space-police, the others more like terror-wielding space-maniacs.

Green Arrow (2011) Directed by Simon West

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow = Ethan Hawke

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

John Diggle = Gary Dourdan

Felicity Smoak = Elisabeth Moss

Robert Queen = Michael Ironside

Moira Queen = Julie Hagerty

Count Vertigo/Werner Zytle = Christoph Waltz

Tommy Merlyn/Dark Archer = Dean Cain

William Tockman/Clock King = Bill Irwin

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Hellhound/Kai = Archie Kao

China White = Kelly Hu

The emerald archer is someone DC has constantly talked about giving a solo film to, but somehow never seem to get around to, something that’s rather surprising considering the character’s efficacy in recent years kicking off TV’s Arrowverse continuity. As such, I really wanted my hypothetical DCEU to give this character the cinematic chance DC and Warner Brothers don’t seem to be offering. Going through various films I know to come up with a good director, I’ve landed on Simon West of The Mechanic and various other action films to lead on this one.

For the title role, I picked Ethan Hawke based on an age similarity to the actors I’ve already picked out for Green Lantern and Flash, since Green Arrow is closer to those heroes than to most others when joining the Justice League. As such, picking someone too much younger or older risks creating a mentor/mentee relationship instead. It also doesn’t hurt that Hawke is a good actor, and for his co-lead, co-hero and love interest, I’ve picked Malin Akerman based on her performance in Watchmen.

Other cast members mostly vary from notable film actors to CSI alumni. My notable options in terms of picking up anyone who has had other DC-related roles include Dean Cain (Superman in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), Michael Ironside (the voice of Darkseid in the DC Animated Universe) and Christian Slater, who plays Deadshot in the DC Animated Movie Universe. I’m also aware Kelly Hu plays the role of China White in the Arrow TV series, and decided this was a casting worthy of transfer into my alternate DCEU.

Hawkman (2012) Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Carter Hall/Hawkman = Sullivan Stapleton

Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl = Jessica Alba

Carl Sands/Shadow Thief = Rupert Friend

James Craddock/Gentleman Ghost = Benedict Cumberbatch

Khufu = Adrian Lester

Chay-Ara = Naomie Harris

Hath-Set = Colin Salmon

Cinnamon = Bryce Dallas-Howard

Nighthawk = Chris Pratt

Commissioner Emmett = Robert Wagner

Stewart Frazier = Anthony Mackie

Professor Ziegler = John Rhys-Davies

Emma Ziegler = Reese Witherspoon

Hawkman is one of those superheroes who really needs his own film before you go shoving him into team films, something the people on Black Adam didn’t realise apparently. After all, this guy is one-half of a regularly reincarnating duo, and frankly learning this has somewhat spoiled my affection for the old Justice League animated series by bringing in Hawkgirl alone. Regardless, it’s something best done in its own film, and this time I’ve picked Thor director Ken Branagh, based on his work on both Thor and the most recent film version of Death on the Nile.

The fun thing about Hawkman and Hawkgirl is they reincarnate, so any film focusing on the pair for origin purposes can shift between time periods, and in the process use different actors for the roles. Black British actors Adrian Lester and Naomie Harris play the pair in their Ancient Egyptian incarnations opposite Collin Salmon, while their “wild west” incarnations are played by Jurassic World duo Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas-Howard. This leaves the modern versions to be played by Sullivan Stapleton (300: Rise of an Empire) and Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four, Sin City). Rupert Friend and Benedict Cumberbatch then play the modern-day antagonists, each with roots in those past lives. A few notable actors then round out the cast in some supporting roles.

Batman/Superman (2012) Directed by Rob Marshall

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Lex Luthor = Kelsey Grammer

Mercy Graves = Scarlett Johannsen

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Lois Lane = Kate Bosworth

Dabney Donovan = Emile Hirsch

Joseph Martin/Atomic Skull = John Cena

General Swanwick = Harry Lennix

Dr Emil Hamilton = Richard Schiff

James "Jim" Gordon = Gary Oldman

Capt. Maggie Sawyer = Jeri Ryan

Insp. Turpin = Colin Farrell

Jim Harper/Guardian = Bobby Cannavale

Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning = Jamie Foxx

Rex Mason/Metamorpho = Karl Urban

Tatsu Yamashiro/Katana = Devon Aoki

Prince Brian Markov/Geo-Force = Daniel Brühl

Jennifer Lynn-Hayden/Jade = Rachel Nichols

Amanda Waller = Viola Davis

Rick Flag Jr. = Joel Kinnaman

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Captain Boomerang/Digger Harkness = Hugh Jackman

John Corbin/Metallo = Orlando Bloom

Killer Frost/Louise Lincoln = Amanda Seyfried

Major Disaster/Paul Booker = Dave Bautista

Parasite/Rudy Jones = Alexander Skarsgård

Count Vertigo/Werner Zytle = Christoph Waltz

Unlike Snyder’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, I’m not trying to do a hero-on-hero clash based on an Elseworlds graphic novel. Instead, I’m taking my cue for this one from the DC animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Much like that film, this one would have Superman framed by Lex Luthor for the murder of a supervillain. As the government and public alike turn against him, Superman has to turn to Batman for aid in proving his innocence. The government’s efforts at apprehending Superman result in the enlistment of the Suicide Squad, giving the villain team an intro ahead of their own film, and to combat them, Batman brings in the Outsiders.

As a result, this film becomes something of an ensemble picture, which is a key reason why Rob Marshall is my chosen director. Marshall directed the fourth instalment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as well as the recent live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Such films doubtless give him not only experience in directing the fantastical, but also dealing with large ensemble casts. Speaking of which, the film retains a fair number of actors from the Batman and Superman solo films of this alternate DCEU, and most notably pairs Christian Bale with Brandon Routh in the title roles. John Cena also gets a second DCEU role, as he also appears as Arkillo in Green Lantern 2. Both roles would be mo-cap CGI, though, so factor in appropriate voice effects for each role and it’s an easy double-cast to excuse.

As for the two teams involved, the Outsiders have largely gone unused in film, with only the misplaced Katana turning up in the Suicide Squad film of 2016, and I’ve recast that role to Devon Aoki simply because that’s an actress I’m aware of. In turn, the only Suicide Squad casting I’ve retained from the 2016 film has been Viola Davis and Joel Kinnaman. The rest of the squad is either gathered from this film-verse’s past instalments (Deadshot, Boomerang, Metallo and Vertigo), or they’re new to this film (Killer Frost, Disaster and Parasite). The squad’s selection, in turn, is about combining fan favourites with villains who can put Superman in jeopardy.

Aquaman 2 (2012) Directed by Jonathan Frakes

Arthur Curry/Aquaman = Chris Pine

Thomas Curry = Bill Pullman

Atlanna = Kim Catrall

Mera = Felicity Jones

Orm/Ocean Master = Taylor Kitsch

Vulko = Jonathan Frakes

Dr Stephen Chin = Tadanobu Asano

Black Manta = Idris Elba

Scavenger/Peter Mortimer = James Franco

Siren/Hila = Felicity Jones

Aqualad/Garth = Luke Benward

Yes folks, I’ve brought back Trek actor/director Jonathan Frakes to helm the second Aquaman film while also reprising the role of Vulko. With Aquaman now ruling Atlantis and preparing to marry Mera, and the treacherous Orm now imprisoned, Black Manta returns for revenge, aided by Mera’s villainous twin sister Siren and human criminal Scavenger. This film is also the first to start in on the idea of superhero apprentices by bringing in Garth, better known to comic fans as Aqualad, or Tempest to use his latter-day codename. The cast is largely unchanged from film 1, and Siren being a twin to Mera allows for an obvious double-casting in those roles. As a result, only James Franco and Luke Benward are new additions. Franco, of course, is well known for roles in the Raimi-Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, the first film in the rebooted Planet of the Apes continuity and various others. Benward, by comparison, is a former Disney Channel actor with a decent filmography even by the time of this film, and he is of an age to integrate well with others I’ve cast with a view to setting up for a Teen Titans film or two down the line.

John Constantine (2013) Directed by Sam Raimi

John Constantine = Matt Ryan

Zatanna = Katrina Law

Jason Blood/Etrigan = Eddie Redmayne

Alec Holland/Swamp Thing = David Harbour

Dr Fate/Kent Nelson = Mads Mikkelsen

Inza Nelson = Tessa Thompson

Morgan Le Fey = Elizabeth Hurley

Mordred = Will Poulter

Felix Faust = Brad Douriff

Enchantress/Dr June Moone = Keira Knightley/Natalie Portman

Solomon Grundy = Andy Serkis

Having learned that Constantine is Liverpudlian in the comics, I’m certainly avoiding the use of Keanu and other non-British actors for the role in this alternate DCEU. The Americanisation of non-US roles is something I can’t stand generally, and when it’s done to a character from any part of Britain, I get even more ticked. As such, I’ve retained the Arrowverse and DCAMU choice for the role, Matt Ryan, going into this film. It’s largely a one-off, but the film has Constantine dealing with the return of Morgan Le Gey and her son Mordred, figures from Arthurian history, aided along the way by several other mystic heroes. Unlike the DCAMU’s Justice League Dark, this film isn’t about a team-up; rather, it’s more of an Indiana Jones-meets-horror adventure, with Zatanna and Jason Blood being the only ones along for the ride in the long-haul.

Given the horror aspect, I’d be putting this film in Sam Raimi’s hands, and throwing in a veritable who’s who of quality actors. For the Enchantress, I’ve actually cast two women to play the role for one very simple reason. The Enchantress of DC lore is a separate entity from the woman she possesses, and I think casting two actresses that can appear similar to play each character is a different way to do that. Since two people pretending to be one was a trick Keira Knightly and Natalie Portman had to pull in the Star Wars film The Phantom Menace, I think it’s a good idea to use that same casting here as an homage. As for Bruce Campbell, I’ve not put him on the cast list but I know he’d show up in a suitable comedy relief moment. An obnoxious American tourist Constantine could put some minor curse on for a quick laugh seems appropriate.

The Flash 2 (2013) Directed by JJ Abrams

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

Iris West = Drew Barrymore

Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash = Jake Gyllenhaal

Wallace "Wally" West/Kid Flash = Calum Worthy

Det. Ira West = William Sadler

Dr Henry Allen = Harrison Ford

Darryl Fyre = William Russ

Capt. Singh = Faran Tahir

Patty Spivot = Cameron Diaz

Tina McGee = Pauley Perrette

Francisco "Cisco" Ramone/Vibe = Wilmer Valderrama

Ralph Dibney/Elongated Man = Ben Savage

Sue Dearborn = Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Mari McCabe/Vixen = Lupita Nyong'o

Captain Cold/Leonard Snart = Rob Lowe

Heatwave/Mick Rory = Ron Perlman

The second Flash film sees the Flash becoming increasingly established as Central City’s de facto superhero, even inspiring other metahumans to become heroes. However, it isn’t long before Barry finds his new life in jeopardy, thanks to the sociopathic nature of time-travelling speedster Eobard Thawne, otherwise known as the Reverse-Flash. This film brings back much of the first film’s cast, with Jake Gyllenhaal taking on the villain role as Wilmer Valerrama (NCIS), Ben Savage (Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World) and Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) play the hero roles. Mary Elizabeth Winstead then rounds out the roles by playing Sue Dearborn, the love interest for fledgling hero Elongated Man.

Director-wise, we’re again unchanged from original to sequel; I picked Abrams for his work on the rebooted Star Trek films, and for now I think he’s still the one to direct the Flash. That’s not to say all sequels in this film run, or in my 90’s-based MCU, will retain the same director for each hero or team. It just happens that in this case, I’ve kept a lot of the titles consistent because I honestly think the less you can change your director and any recurring cast roles, the better.

Suicide Squad (2013) Directed by Guy Ritchie

Amanda Waller = Viola Davis

Rick Flag Jr. = Joel Kinnaman

Floyd Lawton/Deadshot = Christian Slater

Captain Boomerang/Digger Harkness = Hugh Jackman

Killer Frost/Louise Lincoln = Amanda Seyfried

Hellhound/Kai = Archie Kao

Mirror Master/Sam Scudder = Terrence Howard

Garfield Lynns/Firefly = Chaning Tatum

Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger = Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Sameer Park/Copperhead = Sendhil Ramamurthy

Siobhan Smythe/Silver Banshee = Katie McGrath

Bette San Souce/Plastique = Elisha Cuthbert

Eric Needham/Black Spider = Mehcad Brooks

Brian Durlin/Savant = Michael Rooker

Roman Sionis/Black Mask = Ewan McGregor

General Wade Eiling = Clancy Brown

King = Cuba Gooding Jr.

Queen = Jennifer Lopez

Jack = Mark Whalberg

Ten = Jaimie Alexander

Ace = Chris Hemsworth

For this film, I feel it’s to go with Guy Ritchie as director, as his work directing films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels makes him a natural fit for covering a film that’s all about criminals. In this film, the plot would be about Black Mask hiring the Royal Flush Gang to steal classified military intelligence. The intel is in three parts, and the Suicide Squad is called in. Their mission; either capture the Royal Flush Gang for interrogation or follow them to find out where Black Mask is hiding the intel. Again, this is a huge ensemble cast, and the film will inevitably involve a body-count by its very nature. The cast includes a huge number of notable actors, some of which are brought over from other roles in TV’s Arrowverse. The only repeat from the DCEU not previously mentioned in this ramble is of course Michael Rooker as Savant, which is a transferred casting from James Gunn’s Suicide Squad film.

Justice League 2 (2014) Directed by Alan Taylor

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan = Ben Affleck

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter = Chiwetel Ejiofor

Arthur Curry/Aquaman = Chris Pine

Vandal Savage = Gerard Butler

Talia Al Ghul = Marion Cotillard

Giganta = Hayley Atwell

Amazo = Steve Austin

Professor Anthony Ivo = Brent Spiner

Lex Luthor = Kelsey Grammer

William Hand/Black Hand = Wes Bentley

Weather Wizard/Mark Mardon = Michael Fassbender

Black Manta = Idris Elba

Solomon Grundy = Andy Serkis

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Lois Lane = Kate Bosworth

Snapper Carr = Josh Duhamel

Iris West = Drew Barrymore

Carol Ferris = Liv Tyler

The second Justice League film follows a similar tact to the animated DC film Justice League: Doom. In other words, a major villain manages to uncover contingency plans Batman developed to take down his fellow heroes if they went rogue. These plans are then adapted and used against the Justice League. Both films are based on JLA: Tower of Babel, but in our film as with the animated version, the lead villain role shifts from Ra’s Al Ghul to Vandal Savage. However, I’ve included Talia because we’re now way off Nolan’s original Batman trilogy, and yet I still want to see the thread of Talia’s vengeance on Bruce retained. Also, Talia stole Batman’s contingency plans in the comics, so it’s a good way to get back to being true-to-source.

Much of the cast is recurring from past films, with only a handful of the villains being fresh additions on this film. I also add in Amazo and his creator Professor Ivo as opening villains, with Amazo later coming back for certain plot-points. Since Amazo is an android, I thought it would be fund having Brent Spiner, who played Data in Star Trek: TNG, appearing as Amazo’s creator. The whole thing is directed by Alan Taylor, who I think did a good job on Thor: The Dark World despite popular opinion to the contrary. I’d be curious to see how he handled a Justice League film instead, especially one with all the twists and turns this one would involve.

Green Arrow 2 (2014) Directed by Simon West

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow = Ethan Hawke

Dinah Lance/Black Canary = Malin Akerman

John Diggle = Gary Dourdan

Felicity Smoak = Elisabeth Moss

Roy Harper/Speedy = Cameron Monaghan

Moira Queen = Julie Hagerty

Grant Wilson/Ravager = Andrew Garfield

Carrie Cutter/Cupid = Serinda Swan

Prometheus = Sebastian Stan

Dr Arthur Light = James McAvoy

Barry Allen/The Flash = Matt Damon

Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent = Brandon Routh

Diana/Wonder Woman = Kate Beckinsale

In this second Green Arrow film, the Justice League approaches Oliver Queen about replacing Batman on the team. Oliver, however, initially refuses because while he disagrees with Batman’s methods, he is aware the League lacks sufficient regard for the idea that fail-safes should exist. When a group of villains then manage to make three of the League go rogue, it falls to Green Arrow, Black Canary and young hero Speedy to set things right. While things kind of work out and result in Ollie joining the league, Wonder Woman leaves because she isn’t willing to concede her objection to the idea of checks and balances.

Once again, the director and most of the case are consistent from film 1 to film 2. Beyond the guest appearances of some League members, the new cast is all bound up in addition of Cameron Monaghan (the proto-Joker in TV series Gotham) and our quartet of villains.

Batman: The Long Crusade (2014) Directed by Matt Reeves

Bruce Wayne/Batman = Christian Bale

Alfred Pennyworth = Michael Caine

Richard “Dick” Grayson/Robin = Patrick Schwarzenegger

Lucius Fox = Morgan Freeman

James "Jim" Gordon = Gary Oldman

Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin = Sean Astin

Arnold Stromwell = Steve Buscemi

Rupert Thorne = Vincent D'Onofrio

Tony Zucco = Robert Iler

Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow = Cillian Murphy

Dr Lesley Thompkins = Rene Russo

Det. Harvey Bullock = Donal Logue

Det. Renee Montoya = Penelope Cruz

Det. Crispus Allen = Djimon Honsou

Det. Peter Foley = Matt Le Blanc

For the third solo Batman film, and the last one in this phase, things change a lot more. First off, the directorial reins transfer to Matt Reeves. Second, we’re dealing with a Batman who is on the outs with the Justice League following the events of JL2. At the same time, a gang war is brewing in Gotham between the Penguin and rival mob bosses Arnold Stromwell and Rupert Thorne, following Black Mask’s fall in Suicide Squad. In the midst of all this, Stromwell’s nephew Tony Zucco returns, having killed the parent of Richard “Dick” Grayson a year earlier.

The film is essentially looking at Batman trying to distance himself from others due to trust issues, only to be made to realise he can’t do this, and just because some of his fellow heroes haven’t understood him or his ways doesn’t mean others don’t understand him. Again, we have a fair number of returning cast members, but also plenty of new ones, include Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger, taking on the role of Robin. The film also expands Batman’s supporting cast by working in more notable members of the GCPD and Bruce’s surrogate mother figure, Dr Lesley Thompkins.

So, that concludes the second instalment in our alternate DCEU for the time being. Hopefully I can think of enough other things to discuss in future rambles to keep us from coming back to this or my 90’s-based MCU too soon. However, if there’s sufficient positive response, I can always come back to both in due course. Anyway, until the next ramble, ta-ta for now.

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thelegendarywriter · 1 year

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D&D Backstory - Jack, the Fool

Winston and Roberta Hughes, two passionate inventors found themselves under pursuit by various entities for their incredible discoveries. There was controversy surrounding the conception of their child. To protect their offspring, they sent their newborn away to the distant land of Vanward where the royal family that governs the kingdom would raise her as their own.

Things did not go as planned however. The carriage hauling the baby across the continent was attacked by a mysterious creature. The cart rolled into a small village on the outskirts of the Vanward territory. This town has had a bit of turbulence with the neighboring superpower looming over their shoulder and upon seeing a carriage with a letter assigned to the King of Vanward, the villagers had reservations about investigating it. Having their prior conflicts with Vanward soldiers, their first suspicion was that it could be a trap. But one man, entranced by courage, inspected its contents anyway.

Enter the town drunkard, Eli Roseblood. He discovered the peaceful, calm child cooing in a basket, safely fastened inside the cart. Opening the letter, it reads:

Our dearest friend,

please take very good care of our sweet baby, Jacqueline. Her future depends on you. After all, you owe us one,

right?

-WHR

Eli takes the baby under his wing. Teaching her the many ways to trap and catch prey. By the age of 4, she was more competent than half the full-grown villagers. Before he took her out for her first real hunt, it was always "kid," or "hey, squirt." When she became a clever young ranger, he gave her the name Jack. Eli instills in her, a mindset that she would carry with her through her many adventures. This is what he says:

"The difference between hunter and prey is knowledge. The less they know about you, the more power you have. You give them more questions than answers and you gain control. They'll be forced to assume and that's when you pull the rug from under them. The key to setting an effective trap lies in your prey's expectations. Subvert them, often, and they won't know which is up"

Their bond over the years grew more solid with each anniversary, which Eli decided would be Jack's birthday. Eli kicked the bottle and cleaned up his act. Things seems well for the inseparable duo, though relations with Vanward never improved. Because of this, Jack developed contempt for all royal families. Her motto:

"Every empire is built on oppressing those who won't comply. "

It's the reason Jack never accepted help from strangers, because of who they might be connected to. That lingering possibility became a boundary Jack wouldn't cross for the longest time. One day, Jack found Eli dead in their home. It looked like he died of overdose. The town dismissed it as that, being that he was a known alcoholic. Jack always felt suspicious about it however, and vowed to find the truth. Jack has a breakthrough moment, getting a taste of fear during her first encounter with bandits.

She develops an ability during combat, able to sense visual, and sometimes auditory, direction that guides her decision making. It helped her defeat those rogues as well as make off with a spell becomes a hyperfixation of hers as she develops of a cunning wizard. During her time learning magic, she trapped and robbed many stray thieves, even learned a few of their tricks.

When Jack became more proficient with magic, that sense grew sharper, now telling here when she's being watched. What causes Jack unease is that it goes off far too often to for her to make any sense to her. Jack's natural response is to pretend the voice isn't there, in case whatever is watching has cruel intentions. Much of her life adventuring is filled with hearing this voice and it's communications.

Her performance skills grow exceptional.

#Jack's Multiverse #Based on my d&d character #dungeons and dragons #backstory #my ocs #milestone to level 4 #somewhere in there is a lie #Card theme #Puzzle piece #The Queen's Gambit #original #dnd backstory #original character

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jajanvm-imbi · 4 years

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Headcanons of Krel living on earth because he’s my favorite and I love him and I haven’t seen anyone do this yet so I feel like I have to

^^^^^because of this very moment I love the idea of Mary and Darci befriending Krel.

Since Aja,Vex and Eli went back to Akaridion-5, Mother was destroyed, and Claire was busy with Trollhunting stuff, earth gets pretty lonely. So Mary and Darci adopt him into their friend group.

At first Krel was a little apprehensive to joining their friend group, but he quickly warmed up to it because, he, being Krel, loves the attention.

like I can totally see Mary and Darci taking Krel to like a mall or something and doing those like teen romcom movie shopping montages where he goes into a changing room and the girls judge the outfit until they find the perfect one.

I personally believe Krel would adopt a soft boy look, with like oversized button ups and t shirts tucked into jeans, but thats just me.

anyway, because he’s friends with Mary and Darci, Krel has a new found social popularity in Arcadia.

because of this, Krel would prolly get nominated for Spring Fling king and shit

I would say Krel wouldn’t really care about being nominated, but seeing how he cared so much about the science fair and the Battle of the Bands, he would definitely care

Steve is conflicted because he wants to be Spring Fling King, but he can’t mess with Krel like he did with Jim and Eli cause Krel is his girlfriend’s brother

Krel notices this and takes advantage of it to mess with Steve and actually tries to win.

like Krel would just dominate the contests, and his theme presentation would be the flashiest and most appealing and people would just generally like him, and that would really worry Steve

like Krel, with four arms would be really good at the Touch-a-Truck-athon or whatever its called.

Krel would prolly let Steve win anyway because watching Steve squirm and freak out over prolly losing the crown and not being able to do anything about it cause he's Aja's brother is much better than any highschool dance crown

also the school 100% asks Krel to DJ future dances and events to save money, and Krel absolutely loves it

He would also definitely do the school play. Seeing how much he enjoyed being in Toby and Eli's short film, and again, he loves the attention, he would totally be down

Also it would just be another chance to mess with Steve to be the lead.

Because of this, Ms. Janeth would do another Shakespearean play, but do one of those modern renditions. Like it's the same play just in a modern setting, to take advantage of Krel's Akaridion form like they did with Jim's armor.

If not in the play he would do stage crew/tech.

Like he would create elaborate settings for them using A5 tech and Ms. Janeth would adore it

moving on, because home life is pretty lonely with just the Lucy and Ricky for company, Krel loves to host his friends for parties and sleepovers and whatever

and since Krel lives in the coolest house on the block, they love coming over

He hosts girl’s night every other week with Mary, Darci, and Clarie (becauuse she deserves a fucking break)

since we’ve all agreed that Krel is 100% a gaylien, I love the idea that he casually comes out during a girls night

like Mary would be like “So Krel, are there any girls you like?” and Krel’s just like, “*snort* Girls? Who ever said I like girls?” and the others are like “….....?“ and Krel just rolls his eyes and says "I like boys, ladies” and they’re like “ooooohhhh, okay. Cool.”

So now they spend girls night talking about boys. Claire and Darci about their mans and Mary and Krel about cute boys.

One day the girls give Krel a little rainbow pin and Krel’s just like “what’s this?” And the girls tell him that it’s an earth symbol for the gays and he’s like “theres a symbol for that here? I didnt think it was that big of a deal. On A5 it’s pretty normal” and the girls explain why theres a symbol and he’s like “oh shoot wow, thanks" and he put it on his backpack.

He’s pretty confused the first time someone is homophobic towards him cause like that kind if behavior doesnt happen on A5 and hes just like, “why does this bother you? I hardly know you” and just brushes it off. Its doesnt really bother him, mainly cause he doesnt know the earth insults towards gay people so he doesn’t even realize, but if the girls (or Toby, or even Steve, too) catch anyone being homophobic towards their friend they will attack that asshole on sight. Especially Mary and Steve

Random person on the street: Ha, *slur*

Marry: WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HIM BITCH???

Krel: Marry its fine, it’s not that big of a dealoHSEKLOSANDGAYLENMARYGETOFFOFHIM

Marry: SAY IT AGAIN ASSHAT, I D A R E YOU

Claire and Darci: *trying to hold Mary back* maRY NO

Steve: THATS MY NINJA KICKING SPACE ANGEL GIRLFRIEND'S BROTHER BUTTSNACK I'LL END YOU

Toby: *now chasing after Steve to stop him* stEVE NO

Mary would 100% find out who the rando is and destroy their life on social media. Like she would leak their job, phone number, email, school/college (if applicable) to her thousands of followers and absolutely ruin them with no remorse. And honestly, good for her

Also whilst on the subject, Krel can not drive or cook for 2 reasons: 1. Hes gay and 2. He’s a prince so he’s never had to do either before

Like he can obviously do math but that’s it.

Proof? That one scene in Wizards when Douxie had him drive the airship. You know the one.

Coach Lawrence refuses to get in a car with him at Drivers Ed after the 3rd day Krel shows up.

Krel gets addicted to sugary coffee shop-esc drinks thanks to Darci. Not coffee cause we saw in 3Below Part 1 that he doesnt like coffee, but refreshers, coolattas, frappuccinos etc…? Definitely.

As for warm drinks, he’s more of a tea person.

Moving on

He face calls Aja everyday because he really misses her

He tells her all about school and his friends and whatever and Aja tells him about the changes she’s making to the A5 government

Thanks to the wormhole they visit each other often. Sometimes Steve tags along cause he misses his ninja kicking space queen angel girlfriend. (And Eli, but that's also for another post)

They take turns housing Luug.

Krel genuinely loves it on earth, but he hates the primitive technology so he begs Aja to send him supplies and materials for his projects.

He would 10000% apply to HexTech for an after school job. Seeing his reaction to HT in Wizards and the fact that “Akaridion tech and magic are so compatible”, he would be the perfect addition to the HT staff.

The Wizards wouldn’t be sure at first but after he shows them A5 tech and Douxie’s email of recommendation about the time loop thing they made together, the wizards are like “oh yeah we definitely keeping this kid. This is going to be so much fun.”

Their inventions become more and more extravagant because Krel can and he's just extra and the wizards love it.

He would definitely find a way to use magic using A5 tech. But he would have to study magic in order to figure out how, so the wizards help him learn all about magic. And since he's learned everything there is to learn about science and technology and whatever, he's super excited to learn about something completely different and interesting. The wizards are happy to teach him. He would be the first Akaridion to learn and use magic

Like he would make his own staff with his serrator and everything. He's like "earn a staff? Nah fuck that going to make my own"

Speaking of which he really likes human swear words. But he doesnt know when it is and isn't inappropriate to say these swear words so he's gotten in trouble a few times for swearing at the wrong time

For example:

Ms. Janeth: excuse me Mr. Tarron?

Krel: what the fuck do you want?

Everyone in the room: krEL NO

Anyway, back to Krel at HT, thanks to Toby, he would definitely have a bowl of candy in his little lab. More like multiple jars of different candy just scattered around the room. Small candy like fun sized chocolate and skittles and jelly beans and whatever

And a mini fridge, of course.

Steve, Toby and Arrrgh come over to the lab alot to mess around.

Toby has a lot of sci-fi requests for Krel to make

Toby: do you think you can make a shrink ray? Laser blasters? Invisible ray? My own hoverboard? My own serrator *gASP* WITH A WARHAMMER SETTING???? WITH SPACE ARMOR TO MATCH???!!!???!

Krel: Toby you already have a warhammer and armor why do you need more?

Toby: I dont have a space warhammer and armor Krel!!!!!!

Going back to school life, I feel like Krel would take an interest in Spanish class. I mean, his human form is latino and in Trollhunters (I'm pretty sure the lightning in a bottle episode) he said "Si" in response to a question someone asked him, so I feel like he would like to learn another human language.

I also feel like he would just like to learn about Latin American culture in general since Mother gave him that form. He'd like to get in touch with his human self.

Claire (when she isnt busy Trollhunting with Jim and the gang) is happy help him learn about Latin American culture and help him with his Spanish.

Krel, being a fast learner, becomes fluent quickly with a perfect accent.

Señor Uhl, who already liked the Tarrons to begin with, would really appreciate this.

Claire's dad would also appreciate this.

Since he has such a fascination with human music, Krel would especially love Latin American music. Specifically reggaeton, since its kind of like techno music in a way and he already likes techno music.

And naturally, he learns to dance. All the styles of latin american dances. And he becomes quite the favorite on the dance floor.

He and Claire become great dance partners cause they both have the natural Latino rhythm and because Jim respects and trusts his girlfriend he doesnt mind them dancing together at parties and stuff

Although, Jim does ask for dance help at some point cause it looks like fun and he wants to dance with his beautiful talented incredible amazing gf and Krel is happy to teach him and anyone else who wants dance help.

GUITAR LESSONS with Douxie cause in 3Below Krel said he really wanted to learn how to play guitar, steals Shannon’s guitar from the bonfire and is seen multiple times strumming it throughout the series. So of course this is included.

Toby introduces Krel to YouTube and Krel instantly makes his own channel.

of course his channel is called DJ Kleb and he posts his tracks and remixes. and maybe even some vlogs

its a little slow at first, only Arcadia Oaks students are subscribed to it but Mary blows it up by posting one of Krel’s tracks on her own social media and now he has thousands of subscribers

he also gained other forms of social media like Instagram and Tiktok, platforms to post his music

At this point every girl in school wants to be friends with Krel but not in the toxic GBF (gay best friend) way, girls just genuinely think he's 10x more interesting than every other boy in Arcadia Oaks

I think that's it for now sorry this is really long I just really love Krel and I had so many ideas. Feel free to add on!!

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ilooklikeaburntchickenugget · 3 years

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Loyalty

A/N: I got inspiration for this piece from the Tumblr account @xxfanfiction-emo-trinityxx (I got their permission to tag them!) however I think they’re a wonderful writer and always one of the top ones with a huge amount of Gerard x Reader fics that I keep on crawling back to. They have a work called “Gotham City Rivals” (with two parts) that I fell in love with and decided to do my own spinoff of with their idea. I also don’t know that much about any DC comics, most of Gerard’s character in this is based off of Bruce Wayne, but I didn’t do a bunch of research so I apologize for any inaccuracies. Hope you guys enjoy! Pairing: Batman!Gerard x Catwoman!Reader Word count: 2,781 Warnings: Angst, minor fighting, swear words, injury, mentions of blood.

You slipped off your skin tight suit with a harsh gasp, your teeth grinding together at the rough cuts that the latex and leather of your suit now brushed against. Yet the sounds of a hot shower and the steam that you could already see promised some element of relief to the pain. “You alright?” You heard your boyfriend walk in the room, armor still on in it’s completion besides his mask and gloves that he was currently carelessly throwing on the marble counter.

“Yeah, I think so.” You responded, examining the damage of your wounds in the mirror. “Not the worse I’ve taken.” Reflecting back on the various gun shots and stabs you’ve received over the years.

He came over, standing behind you. His metal armor always looked so good on him, solid black with small decals that you felt lucky enough you only got to see. He gave small kisses on the cuts and bruises along your shoulder and collarbones. It wasn’t in a sexual way, more in a caring one.

He finally decided to take off his suit as well, revealing his soft muscles but well built frame. You always found it funny how comic and cartoon artists portrayed real life heroes. They ignore your hip dips, made your waist the size of a pencil, and even overemphasized your boobs. And with Gerard, well, he was actually a lot like what artists portrayed him as, maybe just a little less triangle shaped.

“Next time,” You sighed as you look at him in the mirror that was now fogging with steam, his eyes on yours through the reflection, “You’re taking more hits.” He lightly laughed.

“Fine.” He agreed with a kind smile, “If you insist.”

“I’ve told you a million times, Gerard, I don’t know anything about those two!” You paced around his marble office trying to explain to him, “They are batshit crazy. They hold no patterns, no compunction, it’s part of their game and it makes it fun for them.” Your feet hastily moved back and forth on the gray tiled floor, the only light source was the sun creeping through the gray clouds outside and small desk-lamps around the large room.

“You’ve worked with her a few times,” He argued back from across his desk where he sat, “You have to know something.” “Those ‘two times’ happened probably five years ago, and it was exchanging files for some cash that’s it.” You sighed, “They don’t have a plan, ever, that’s what I’m telling you. Gerard, I know you’re incredibly smart and think with a plan. And the Joker’s really fucking smart too, but he’s also mentally insane and has no grip on himself other than to kill. He’s like a wild fucking animal.” Your boyfriend leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh, his finger holding his temple together as he collected himself. “If I could help you on this, you know I would in a heartbeat.”

“Would you though?” His anger was growing, both he and you knew it. In fact, the entire room and all its objects were now drowning in the tension.

“What?” You asked barely above a whisper and through teeth clenched together, eyebrows furrowing as your vision grew red. There was no response. “If you’re questioning the integrity of my current work then fuck off. You’re too scared to kill the man, and now you’re gonna put some of this one me?” You snapped, he remained emotionless. Damn he was good at his job. “Go fuck yourself Gerard.” And with that, you stormed out of the room and up to your shared bedroom.

This stupid mansion he lived in was still a maze to you, and stomping through it in your utter fit of rage didn’t help, the sound of your feet bouncing off the large halls. It made your head want to explode.

You had never once blown up on him in your two years of dating and partnership. But never had he ever questioned your morals, or more importantly your loyalty. And you were expecting some form of an apology in the least.

Sure, you felt a little bad about bringing up his own methods of working. He had his extremely valid reasons, but it was a button to push in response to him pushing yours. You knew you would apologize eventually, but you needed him to come to you first.

After all, he was the one acting like a child. It was almost like an interrogation of you, despite the fact you had told him countless times that you knew nothing about the Joker or Harley. Other than the two deals you made with them in your early days for some extra money, those two were wild cards.

So you sat in the absurdly big California king with decorated in a gray and black and decided to do some breathing exercises so you didn’t use the wall as a knife throwing target.

It was hours, no, more than hours before you saw your lover again. And if it wasn’t for your stomach grumbling in hunger you would’ve stayed cooped up in the room. You wandered your way into the grand kitchen, beginning to look for whatever you could.

Grabbing a cookie from a batch you had baked just the day before, you began brewing some coffee for yourself. Of course you didn’t hear Gerard walk in, since you two had begun this whole partner/dating thing he had begun picking up on some of your specialties, such as being extremely quiet. On missions and such you were thankful for it, considering his armor was quite clunky, but now you regretted it.

The two of you didn’t even acknowledge each other’s presence, despite the fact that you were only a few feet a way. It was like a silent game, but just completely ignoring each other. It was like the other person didn’t even exist.

But the tension was a whole other level. You literally felt suffocated by how tense it was. And you knew your lover felt the same. With the extremely small glances you took you were able to piece together how he was definitely a form of uncomfortable, his emotions starting to break through, which you knew they would eventually.

You decided once your drink was done to leave the room, leaving Gerard and the extreme conflict behind. Well, some of it at least. And back in your room you grew bored, fast.

You didn’t want to show your weak side, determination to not be the first to apologize flowed through your veins. So, you decided to relieve your stress the way you always did.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” You heard Gerard’s voice echo through the hallway next to you. Your skintight suit hugged your body, kitten heels hitting the ground in rhythm.

“Going out.” You replied.

“In your suit?” He questioned, this time grabbing your arm tightly with his hand. “I don’t think so.”

“Oh?” You questioned, turning to him and eyeing him through your mask, “And what are you gonna do about it?”

“Don’t test me.” He warned, his voice growing deep. This time, you pulled your arm harshly from his grip, which he didn’t fight back.

“That’s what I thought.” You spat, walking off.

Patrols were not the most enjoyable thing, the only time they were was when you were stressed and needed something to take your mind off of all your problems. A relationship limiting argument between you and your boyfriend was a perfect example.

Very rarely, if ever, did big stuff happen in Gotham. Small crimes like robberies, domestic cases, so on and so forth could be dealt with by the excuse of a police department the city had to offer. You were wondering when the federal government would finally come and kick a shoe up their ass.

It was funny, Gerard with all his power, I mean being the Gerard Way (despite the fact absolutely no one knew he was Batman) still couldn’t convince major officials to bring in more backup despite his numerous requests hidden in comments within conversations. The excuse was always that Gotham didn’t need help: they had Batman.

And let’s not forget his stealthy partner who did a lot of the work as well, the wonderful Catwoman who always got overlooked by the patriarchal influences that still flushed their way into society today. You scoffed at it.

On your earpiece you heard an incoming for an “escalating situation” at one of the prisons, which was just icing on the already destroyed caked for “a bunch of dangerous prisoners just got out.” Great.

It took you less than five minutes to be at the scene, strutting in and flashing your badge. It wasn’t that you actually needed one, it was just for good measure.

You got led through the dozens of police cars lining the outside of the prison all with flashing lights and a few sirens still going, escorted by one of the main detective inside where you were met with another officer talking to the one and only man himself.

Those hazels eyes hidden well under the mask looked up and met yours, softening just a bit from the black optics of Batman’s as you approached him. “Catwoman.” He said in a stern tone.

“Batman.” You responded the same, arms crossed over your chest.

You were briefed on the situation: A bunch of highly dangerous criminals did escape and were on the loose. The police felt that they needed help because some may or may not have ties to the Joker, therefore it made it a case for you and Gerard to deal with.

“Be careful,” Gerard told you, the two of you walking side by side in the street on patrol and looking out, “I don’t want you getting hurt again.” “Please,” You scoffed, “These guys probably have guns and a destructed god complex. I don’t see a problem.” “Some of these are former Arkham patients.” He warned, “They could be dangerous. And crazy.” “Like we haven’t dealt with that before.” You reminded him, “Or more specifically me, because I could have connections, ya know?” A verbal stab for sure. He looked over and glared.

“We’re not having this conversation right now.” “So when we get home are you finally going to grow up and have one after the entirety of today?”

“I told you-” Before he could even finish the two of you were surrounded by men with guns and various other forms of highly illegal weaponry. “Shit.” He muttered.

“Yeah shit.” You responded as bullets began shooting towards you. A few of them managed to ricochet off of nearby metal beams hitting your attackers, while other nearly missed you as you managed to jump behind them. With a few solid kicks and swings you were able to disarm and knock out four or five of them, Gerard getting the other 10 of them or so considering his suit and physical ability was greater than yours.

“How many were there again?” You asked him.

“15.” He responded. You looked around, mentally counting the bodies.

“Perfect, 15.” You responded with a sigh. “Do they not know how to scatter?” He shook his head.

A deafening silence filled the car on your way home, the only thing being heard was the soft engine rumbling of the mobile. You were still going to be strong about this whole thing, despite the fact that you wanted it to be over with.

You looked around out of boredom, and down at your suit to see if there was any damage. And, well, there was more than damage. “Well, would you look at that,” You lightly laughed, looking at the left side of your torso where a big slash and blood was seeping through. You hadn’t noticed any pain or anything until you looked down.

“What the fuck?” He asked, looking down to from the road.

“Gee, pay attention to the road.” He reluctantly huffed and put his gaze back there.

“You have a huge fucking slash on your side.” “I know,” You commented, “Oh well, we’ll fix it when we get home.”

You hadn’t noticed his increase in speed or the extra few minutes he cut off as you pulled into the large and modern mansion. Before you could even step out of the car in the garage Gerard had already opened your car door and picked you up, carrying you bridal style.

“You know I can walk.” You lightly laughed, holding on to his arms, “I think it was just a bullet graze.”

“I don’t want you hurting yourself.” He placed you down on the couch, “Let me grab the first aid kit.”

He was gone for only a few moments, coming back with the kit in handy, no mask and gloves this time, with no time to remove his armor. It wasn’t a life threatening wound, that’s for sure. “May I?” He asked, motioning to the zipper on the back of your suit. It was so cute to you how he always asked, despite your years of being together. You nodded, moving your hair out of the way.

He took your suit off with ease, helping you step out despite the harsh feeling you got from the slash. Carefully he sat you back down, dabbing your wound with a bit of alcohol and making sure not to directly touch the affected area. There was a certain spot where he had to touch the wound with the cottonball. You couldn’t help but cringe and gasp at the painful feeling, shutting your eyes as it felt like your flesh was burning. “I’m sorry baby.” He commented, squeezing your thigh for support. “You’re doing so great.”

It took him only a few more minutes, and the two of you deciding stitches may be stretching it too far, for you to finally be all bandaged up. You slowly got up, Gerard coming right to you and helping to hold your hips up. “I would suggest a bath but-” “Not a good idea.” You lightly laughed, placing your head on his shoulder. “Thank you.” You mumbled.

“No problem.” He responded, kissing the top of your head. “You alright?” You nodded as he picked you up again, taking you to the bedroom to rest.

He placed you lightly on the bed while removing the covers on the side you always slept. You crawled into the open area he had created, placing your wounded body onto the sheets and covering it up. “Do you want some pajamas?” He asked, now removing some of his suit, his unbrushed and tangled black hair fell just below his eyes.

“Yeah, actually,” You lightly smiled, “If you wouldn’t mind. This sports bra is kinda tight.” He nodded, walking into your closet and grabbing some sweatpants, while walking into his own to grab an old t-shirt, knowing those were your favorite things to wear.

He gave them to you, and stood there watching to which you rolled your eyes, “C’mon now, turn around.” You instructed, his eyes went wide with a form of embarrassment, “You don’t get to see my tits, yet.” He sighed, complying with you as you slipped your bra off and shirt on in a few seconds.

You decided against pants, considering that would take a lot of extra effort. So you just pulled the covers over you, sinking back in. “You can turn around now.” And Gerard did, looking at you with the shirt on and residing to his own side of the bed next to you.

You chose a petty play next, completely ignoring him, waiting for an apology. “I’m sorry.” He said, leaning back on the frame of the bed and looking at you. You looked back at him signaling him to do more explaining, “I’m sorry for questioning your loyalty and moral of your work. I know those two things matter to you very much, and I had no right to question either of those.” You took a moment to let the words settle in.

“Thank you,” You responded, “I’m sorry for bringing up the way you work. I know why you do it and I, too, didn’t have the right to do that either.” “Thank you.” He responded, both of you taking sighs of relief as most of the tension alleviated. “I love you.” He told you next. It had taken him a full year to speak those wonderful three words to you, and whenever he said them you always cherished the way they sounded.

“I love you too.” You responded with a small smile, placing your head on his shoulder which he happily complied with.

#gerard way #gerard way x reader #gerard way x you #gerard way x y/n #gerard way fanfiction #mcr gerard #my chemical gerard #my chemical romance #My Chem #my chemical gee #my chemical romance x reader

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rachelbethhines · 3 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf

Ok, so I’ve tried and tried several times to get this posted, we’ll see if this is the time it goes through. Half the reason why this review series has slowed down is not just the multitude of real life stuff I have to deal with, but also Tumblr just refusing to work with me and deleting my posts. I also can’t save my work else where due to Tumblr messing up the formatting. It’s been a frustrating mess and so far no one @staff has come up with a tech solution or work around.

Summary: Rapunzel helps to rebuild Old Corona, (after its near destruction from the Black Rocks) which will become the permanent home of Red and Angry, who have returned to Corona to settle down. However, she begins to notice strange footprints around the area, as well as the livestock becoming more unruly and fearful. The group comes across a monster hunter named Creighton, who explains to the group that the area is being stalked by a werewolf, who possessed one of Corona's citizens. Aiming to save this person rather than kill them, Rapunzel sets out to find who it is.

When Was This Decided?

No seriously, when was this decided? It’s a pretty big leap go from ‘the rocks makes various towns inhabitable’ to ‘let’s rebuild!’ What’s changed here? Cause the rocks haven’t been removed and Rapunzel failed in her mission to nullify their power. In fact the rocks were not only reawaken in the second season finale but shown to be under the power of someone who’s intentions were made unclear to the heroes.

So I ask again; who thought this was safe thing to do now? What provisions have been made to accommodate the rocks? They blocked the well, remember, and destroyed the fields; how are the people getting food and water?

And most importantly why wasn’t the audience informed beforehand? When you change up the status quo in a story you need to provide just cause to the viewers. I legit thought I had accidently skipped an episode when I first watched because this plot point was not set up properly.

Why Were They Ever Left Alone to Begin With?

In a story where neglect is a central theme and motivating factor for all the main characters, it is super tone deaf to have those same characters perpetuating neglect themselves. The decision to live on their own should not be left up to Angry and Red because they are children. Children are not mature enough to provide for themselves neither emotionally nor physically and when placed in situations where they have to do so it psychologically damages them. Which the series already showcased with Varian so why is this suddenly deemed ok?

This Completely Undermines the Past Two Seasons

The entire conflict of the past two seasons was the rocks forcing people out of their homes. Eugene was made an orphan from them, Varian lost his entire support group because them, they drove out the Saporians from their encampment which prompted them to invade Corona, and Rapunzel and company spent an entire year on the road trying to find a way to stop them from spreading supposedly.

All of that has now been flushed down the drain with this decision. And its super insulting to watch because it’s the writers telling us that we’ve wasted our time caring about this plot for two years. You don’t resolve major conflicts off screen and without explanation; it’s lazy!

Also Where Is Varian and Quirin During All This?

This is not only their home and legal charge, but it’s also the ending to their ongoing story, and they’re not even here in a silent cameo.

Wouldn’t Quirin be overseeing the rebuilding of his town? Wouldn’t Varian be using his skills to find workable engineering solutions for them, fulling his season one goal of saving his home and making his village better with his inventions? Also wouldn’t Edmund want to catch up with his brother and help out now that he’s here?

In fact not a single person who actually lives in Old Corona is to be found in these opening shots.

Oh, But We Do Get Earl

Earl might be from Old Corona, or he might not be. We’ve literally never seen him before. The artists had to create a brand new character model for this character, the writers had to write new lines for him, and the casting director had to hire an actor and have him record these lines for only less than a minute of screen time, never to be seen again. Even though they legit had shepherd models already to go from season one that they could have used. It’s a waste of resources and a prime example of the mismanagement going on in this show.

It’s Too Late In the Series to Waste Time On a New One Off Villain

Speaking of a waste, Creighton might have more story reasons to appear in this episode than Earl does but her inclusion is still a poor decision. The show already has an overabundance of villains, so many in fact that they shipped the bulk of them off in season two, and this is the final season; the season where we should be wrapping up plots and minor characters stories not kicking off new ones.

Taken on her own Creighton isn’t a bad character presa, she works for the episode, but when we could have gotten a resolution to Caine’s, Hector’s, or the Disciples’ story arcs instead it highlights how misused the series assets are.

All This Lore Will Be Forgotten In Just a Few Episodes Time

We finally get like some magical rules and backstory only for future episodes to ignore it from here on afterwards. Red can turn into a werewolf whenever she pleases, night or day, with little explanation as for why.

Just Arrest Her Rapunzel

You’re the acting queen. You have the power and the right to arrest or even merely detain someone who is threating your citizens and refuses to leave. In fact it’s kind of your job. You don't even have to throw her in a dungeon if you thought that too cruel. Just lock her up in a nice room somewhere in the castle until you’ve sorted out the mess yourself.

The series wants to treat Rapunzel as the underdog when she isn’t, and her failure to wield her power effectively doesn’t make her look ‘nice’ it just makes her look stupid and grossly incompetent. This is a conflict that didn’t need to have happened and Rapunzel let it happen.

Oh, So Now Y'all Riot

You didn’t complain when the king orphaned children with his crack down on crime. You rolled over as he dolled out overly harsh punishments to poor people who committed minor offences. You gleefully went along with the royals as they scapegoated a child for their mistakes, even as they endangered your homes. And ya’ll sat on your asses while invaders pulled off a coup and enslaved you.

But this is what you get mad over? A rumor about a mythical creature existing that your princess has zero control over. Seriously?

Man, I hate the townspeople in this show.

Pointless Dream Sequence Is Pointless

This scene tells the audience nothing new and just wastes screen time.

This Is the Wrong Lesson to Focus On Rapunzel

We do not tell the 12 year old to unload their phycological issues onto their baby sister!

You’re telling me parents were involved in writing this show? What the hell!?

Rapunzel you are the adult here. At 20 now you should be more adept to handle listening to the deep seated emotional traumas of a little girl than a fucking 10 year old! And if you’re not, or don’t want to, then it’s your job to find another adult who will.

That’s the core problem with this entire episode. It treats Red’s and Angry’s problems as some eternal issue that they need to work out and not as the inherent failure of the adults around them that it is.

It is neither Red’s nor Angry’s decision on weather or not they get live on their own. Nor is it their responsibility to be each other’s therapist. Yes, a change in living arrangements is always stressful and for children with abandonment issues it can be hard to readjust, but that’s when you need to step it up and deal with the problem; not shove it off onto the kids themselves!

Monty Is Useless

Is this all Monty is good for? Being a red herring in ridiculously simple mysteries? Is this why we wasted a whole episode introducing him back in season one? Really?

Why Are We Still Treating Old Corona As Being Separate from Corona Itself?

Look, I get that it’s a joke, but it’s a joke that highlights how poorly thought out the worldbuilding is in the series. Is the Coronan government in charge of Old Corona or not? If so then you can just make those lease laws yourself as the acting regent Eugene. If not then Frederic shouldn’t have had any say in the matter of relocating Old Corona’s citizens nor putting a child outside of his jurisdiction under arrest.

But more importantly this is a just a repeat of that vague level of responsibility Rapunzel has for people who live off the island. She can’t order a whole village to be rebuilt while simultaneously claiming that she bares no accountability for Varian and Quirin’s problems in season one.

Replacing Guns with Crossbows Isn’t the Safe Option That the Censors Think It Is

I find it kind of amusing that censors will ban showing a 17th century blunderbuss but allow it to be replaced by a weapon that is still mass produced today and can be bought in any Walmart across the country. Like I’m a major advocate for gun regulation in real life, but even I have to find this to be a bit silly. Crossbows aren’t some fantasy weapon. People still own and use them. But it would be seriously hard to get ahold of a working antique firearm.

Seriously This Is How the Girls Have Been Living and the Adults Haven’t Done Anything About It Until Now?

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse by now, but it’s so engrained into the episode I have to keep bringing it up. The show itself is visually telling us that Red and Angry can’t keep living this way, but it never wants to call Rapunzel and the other adults out for not rescuing them from this life sooner.

So All This Tells Me Is That Rapunzel Could Have Easily Checked Up On Varian In Painter’s Block, But Didn’t.

Remember they’re right next to Old Corona; meaning that Janus Point is also right next to Old Corona. Meaning that Rapunzel could easily have checked up on Varian right after Painter’s Block and choose not to. With each passing episode Rapunzel has less and less excuse for her behavior in season one.

Yeah Remember that Plot Point That Wound Up Being Entirely Irrelevant to the Story?

In jokes don’t cover your ass when you make poor writing choices. Quite the opposite in fact as all you’ve done is remind the audience of all the various dangling plot threads that you will fail to follow up on. The disciples plot goes no where and serves no purpose, and it should not have been introduced as this big important thing if you weren’t going to do anything with it.

Nice Idea, Poor Execution

I’ve heard fans of this episode tell me that they enjoy it because of this scene with Red. If you’re a naturally introverted person or neurodivergent and have trouble communicating at times then Red’s speech here can strike a cord. Which is cool; I’ll never deny someone’s feelings and if a piece of media speaks to you on a personal level for whatever reason that is great. What I’m here to discuss though is story structure and whether or not the story’s themes are presented well in context of what it’s set up.

The conflict here does not work from a pure structural standpoint because it’s a surface level deflection of the real issues. Red’s problem isn’t that she is being ignored, it's that she’s been abandoned. Now communication issues can arise from that abandonment and feeling heard can be step forward in working those issues out, but Red’s central trauma isn’t going to be magically fixed by people ‘listening’ to her, i.e. being granted whatever she wants, but by providing her with a real home and with a real guardian to look after her.

Because what Red wants on a surface level is harmful to her, and the reasons why she wants what she wants needs to be addressed more so than then sedating her angry outbursts in the moment. This is treating the symptoms not the cause.

So What Is or Isn’t Real About the Curse?

Once again, we finally get some actual lore and rules for magic and the writers are already throwing it away during the same episode they are introduced. I now have as little context for how the wolf curse works within the Tangled world as I did before the episode started.

This Is Sweet, But Once Again Context Brings It Down.

So just to reiterate, this a surface level resolution to the conflict of the episode that doesn’t actually address anything. It might feel like an appropriate ending but only if you ignore the fact that Red and Angry are orphans who’ve been abandoned but the adults.

Angry apologizing here to Red does not solve any of their problems, especially since Angry, as a child herself, is not responsible for her sister’s behavior, feelings, nor well being. That falls to the adults and they fail to address Red’s core issues and their own failings to her in their apologies as well. Not to mention that the very next scene undermines any optional progress that could have been made here.

Listening to Someone Does Not Mean Giving Them Whatever They Want

This does not fix anything. Red and Angry are still left to live on their own without any real supervision. Giving them a big play house is not providing for them, it’s spoiling them. Would you let all the other orphans in the local orphanage roam free without an adult to take care of them? No!? Gee I wonder why? Could it be because letting a 12 and 10 year old raise themselves is a very stupid idea? One that will potentially damage them later in life assuming that they don't get themselves killed in the meantime.

Moreover this is yet another example of the series overall problem with not understanding that compromise and resolving conflicts does not mean rewarding the characters at the end with everything that they want without having them work for it. That’s not how life works and it’s not how good story telling works.

This Is Beyond Irresponsible

No! Bad Show! Bad!

You do not get to pretend that negligence is the same thing as compromise. Yes I know Eugene said to come to him when they have a problem, but as demonstrated by this very episode children do not always know when to ask for help nor can they always find it when needed, that is why parents exist!

Nor does the show get a free pass for turning it’s main characters into child abusers who neglected three minors multiple times now. Even when they themselves are victims of that same abuse!

How utterly blinkered do you have to be to not see the problem here?

It’s the Return of the Pointless Parallels

Let me count the ways for how stupid this is.

Red and Angry’s conflict has no impact on the on going narrative. Even with them now being reoccurring characters they still manage to contribute nothing to the future storylines involving Cass.

Neither Rapunzel nor Cassandra learn anything from Red and Angry’s spat; Rapunzel because she refuses to acknowledge her own flaws and Cassandra’s not even here for any of it.

The sister’s dynamic between Raps and Cass is not well established and the writers mange to piss all over it by series end because of gay baiting and poor writing. Therefore relying on lazy parallels to other siblings in the show to bolster this connection falls flat.

Red and Angry’s argument has nothing in common with Rapunzel and Cass’s current fighting. One is about abandonment issues and the other is about shallow validation. Trying to tie these two themes together actually winds up undermining both conflicts.

Red and Angry are children. Rapunzel and Cassandra are not. That very much matters.

Red and Angry didn’t drag innocent people into their petty bitch fight and endanger them because they wanted to feel special.

This Makes Zero Sense

I don’t know; she looked pretty happy during Crossing the Line.

She was also able to control the rocks just fine then, so what happened?

Not to mention soon after this Zhan Tiri is telling her she needs some sort of incantation to control the rocks, despite being able to already control the rocks....

It’s almost as if the writers are full of shit and don’t actually know what they’re doing.

So Are We Remembering the Burnt Hand or Not?

Does the hand matter or not? Is it ever a motivating factor in what Cassandra decides to do? Is her waning control over the rocks connected to her burnt hand; even though having a burnt hand is what allowed her grab the moonstone in the first place? Did the moonstone heal the hand? Does Raps singing the healing incantation later on heal it? Does Cass have a forever burnt hand?

Who the fuck knows!

Not the writers that’s for sure, cause it never comes up again.

Don’t introduce plot points and then not resolve them. That’s writing 101 guys.

Wait if she needs the incantation to control the rocks and the angry thing is a lie, then how the heck is she controlling them just now? Make up your dang mind show!

I swear I lose brain cells whenever I have to rewatch the evil Cassandra plot. It is so dumb you guys.... so, so dumb.

Conclusion

It’s not the worst thing ever but series has far better episodes on offer than this one. Even in a season as suck ass as season three.

So there’s praying that this review posts this time and if you enjoy my writing and would like to support me in my projects feel free to leave a tip on my Ko-Fi. Thank you.

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #anti-tangled #anti-rapunzel #anti-Cassandra

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alistonjdrake · 3 years

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Of Rust and Gold: Season Three

*Or the likely very long intro to my third series of world building and character posts that all have to do with the second to last book in The Saints Song series.

The other ones are here:

Season one: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Season two: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Or can be found via OBS’ wip introduction post here:

heyo

Below you’ll find a run down of the prominent cast and a summary of what they’re all about so let’s get to it.

OBS, the third book in the series, showcases the Escana Empire on the verge of crumbling as a murdered king and a divided government threaten to tear the country apart. As some grapple for power and wealth, others decide to jump ship.

Prince Argus: After escaping the war in Codua and his sorta not-friend with whom he cheated on his husband with, Argus returns to Graza only to find his favorite brother dead and everyone else being a dick. In making an alliance to his father’s old enemy Argus hopes to gain a higher position in the council or in the empire overall as a dead king with infant children usually only means one thing. But y’know, he also has hopes to fix his relationship with Leo and to stop being manipulated by all the sharks swimming around him.

Queen Liliana: Problem in Graza #1. The council is almost evenly divided between her authority and Prince Leonides’, pushing them into a bitter rivalry that was toxic way before King Cidro was murdered. She’s reasonably unhappy.

Prince Leonides: Problem in Graza #2 and it was his idea to keep Cidro’s murder hush, hush until they’re in a better position to handle it. Whatever that means. As the appearance of old enemies and the disappearance of his own allies loosens his usual chokehold on the Escana government, for once Leonides finds himself at a disadvantage and there are many (likely a lot on this list alone) waiting to finally push him from his pedestal.

Lord Barraza: Partnered with Argus and ready to take advantage of the bad blood between Leonides and Liliana. His youngest son is missing after being implicated, arrested, and released from the last attempt at King Cidro’s life. Lord Barraza is pretty stern on maintaining his family’s innocence and that all he wants is peace between the Harvers and Barrazas.

Princess Damaris: Has been kicked out of the Order of the Knights (that international police force type beat) and now has blood on her hands but is currently in protection from the law on account of being a princess y’know. She’s really torn up about it.

Princess Zurina: In a bit of a twist she’s now kinda close to Leo due to the whole “Damaris killed someone” debacle. As well as slowly learning to exert her own influence while her siblings and the rest of Graza fight with one another.

Prince Orland: Eleven months older than Zurina and her right hand man. Kinda weird, but so is the whole family tbh.

Chancellor Harver: Bitter as ever. Argus’ involvement in Codua and Damaris’ murder has made Escan’s relationship to the holy capital really strained and has put him in an awkward position. Also, again, technically no longer a prince.

Prince Aayden Ponsonby: Still cleaning up the conflict in Codua and recovering from whatever happened between him and Argus. His anger problems might have momentarily gotten worse and the precarious health of his father and changing attitudes back home has made his own position as Crown Prince of Oskya a bit tense so he’s often too distracted to be mean.

Princess Hadley ek Ponsonby | Niężckna Hajnalka lik Villumsen: (I just like writing her whole name). Aayden’s wife. A bit on the wild side, might find herself in Graza because her husband as a (valid) reason to not want to be around Argus and also to keep her safe and away from what’s happening in Oskya.

Reverend Mother Ulrike: Mother of all Santivian nuns. While she instigated the war in Codua she’s not pleased with some of the outcomes. She has a very anti-Justice Zisa campaign going that she initially was aligned with Chancellor Harver on but then his cousin killed her surrogate son so now things are kinda awkward.

Hartanti Telak: Also currently missing. Still amazing and stunning though. She was last seen criticizing a nobleman for talking to her at a party.

Lady Cordinia ana’Gustavo Carvallo: Now not the only Dowager Queen/Empress in the Escana Empire. In charge of the royal nursery and Queen Liliana’s closest “friend” if she can even be called that.

Lord Enyo an’Tomas Serafin: Last seen throwing wine in Argus’ face. The highlight of his year. Totally not Lord Barraza’s sugar baby now.

Ambassador Ulmer: Probably going to quit soon. The in between for Escana and Oskyan relations. He’s trying to flatter as many people as possible and keep the peace.

Ambassador Oprinchuk: The expert on Ardunese and Oskyan relations. An ally of Justice Zisa’s and a woman feared by many. Hadley admires her.

Maltoq Zamen: Prisoner. Took a vow of silence and hasn’t spoken more than like 4 words a while back.

Leo Dianglo: Has honestly been spiraling since he and Argus had their secret wedding. If he got his way, he and everyone he cares about would be leaving Graza immediately. He overheard some unfortunate things, was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, and has another kid to take care of. He’s just having a rough time.

Mel: Surprisingly, being forced to join the knights and then kidnapped by pirates trying to use him for purposes he can’t understand did nothing but made him an even more angst-riddled teenager.

Mung: All things considered, unwilling knighthood hasn’t been so bad for him as he’s getting proper medical training and is no longer considered pirate orphan #2. Just don’t ask him how things are between him and Mel.

Officer Gerwin: Commander of the Escana Knights. The one good day he’s had was firing Damaris.

Sir Erasmus: Knight elected to keep watch on Leo and his pirate orphans. Although he hasn’t really been doing that lately. In fact, where has he been?

Catalina: Marcel’s daughter. Leo’s daughter. She’s a kid and she’s around.

Sister Rosalie Pélissier: Kellish nun who ditched the Kallenbachs and the Oskyan war camp to join Duchess Benedetta. But she wants to make friends with Argus. She also seems to know things she shouldn’t.

Lord Gaius Kallenbach: Boy needs a break. He’s almost died like twice and no one seems to care.

Lady Philomené Kallenbach: Gaius’ older sister and was (still is?) Sister Rosalie’s girlfriend. She also ditched the Oskyan war camp to hang out with Duchess Benedetta.

Duchess Benedetta Onesta Cassiopeia de ave Astorino: The warring Duchess has secured a few more victories but might be willing to surrender to the Oskyans and the Escana Empire if they can all come to a beneficial deal. After revealing that she’s not working with her uncle and has her own qualms with the holy capital, she’s made herself a glowing potential ally but still a very dangerous adversary.

Justice Zisa: The ambitions and unlikable leader of the Santivian world. He’s not a huge fan of Escan or Oskya at the moment.

Princess Wiara Mirecka: The girl Leo found marooned on a beach turned out to be a missing princess of Gegra, fleeing her home after her mentor was accused of witchcraft and she’s been causing problems (and plotting kidnappings) since.

Tamune: The living god in the cells deep within Alda.

Captain Mercy Dunham: The island of Ruiz and his fleet are gone but he’s still out there somewhere.

Master Asli: Arrested and in Alda.

Valera de Martí: As Graza and the Escana Empire struggles to stay strong after losing two kings in a so few years, some take the opportunity to reignite old whispers of rebellions and exiled fugitives may come crawling back to take advantage of the weakened government

#long post #my writing #my characters #character intro #tss trilogy #lgbt+ characters #lgbt fantasy #I'm not even gonna make a comment about how large my cast is for these books #it's already a known fact #I know I said these were all 'prominent' but honestly a good chunk stay in the background #their existence is just important for the story #like Justice Zisa hasn't been in a scene since ORG but because he's basically this world's version of a pope he keeps coming up

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earths-roots-grow-up · 4 years

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This is a super long Headcanon about Austria’s and Hungary’s relationship. It’s connected to my Austria’s Sexual Preferences HC.

WARNING for Austria being an ass, angst, toxic relationship patterns and some upsetting historical stuff like war and military dictatorships. If you love fluffy cute AusHun and hate that stuff, it may just not be your cup of tea :-).

A quick rundown of some Hungary/Austria history:

“In early stages (1500s) the lands that were ruled by the Habsburg Hungarian kings were regarded as both “the Kingdom of Hungary” and “Royal Hungary”. Royal Hungary (…) was de facto a Habsburg province.” (wiki)

“Rákóczi’s War of Independence (1703–11) was the first significant attempt to topple the rule of the Habsburgs over Hungary. The war was fought by a group of noblemen, wealthy and high-ranking progressives and was led by Francis II Rákóczi. The insurrection was unsuccessful, ending with the Treaty of Szatmár; however, the Hungarian nobility managed to partially satisfy Hungarian interests.” (wiki)

Later on Joseph II Habsburg (1765–1790), Holy Roman Emperor and the Archduke of Austria, abolished local governments in countries that were parts of the Habsburg empire, including Hungary. He established German as the official language of Hungary and divided the country into 10 parts, ignoring the historical divisions that existed until then. He unified Hungarian and Austrian administrations. All of this was met with opposition from some of the strongest groups in Hungary (like the magnates and the Magyar nobility), but they were ignored. Austro-Hungarian conflict was something that has been stewing in the background of the Habsburg empire for years and revolutions were not unheard of. All of this came to a head in 1848 when the Hungarian Revolution began and the Austro-Hungarian war followed.

The biggest event that kick-started the revolution was the illegal act of revoking Hungarian April Laws by the Austrian monarch. April laws were laws established by the Hungarian parliment and ratified by the last Hungarian king (bc even tho under Austrian rule, the Kingdom of Hungary still had some autonomy, such as the parliament). Their aim was to modernize Hungary into a parliamentary democracy. The new Austrian monarch, Francis Joseph, didn’t like that and revoked them. This was a completely illegal act, he had no right nor authority to overwrite the hungarian parliment - but he still did. This really crossed the line with the Hungarians, who - as mentioned above - already had some problems with the way Austria was domineering over Hungary and history of revolting. So it began: “Hungarians brought 12 demands to the Austrian leadership, among them freedom of the press, civil and religious equality, and a national bank. A bloodless revolution took place on March 15, 1848, and the first independent Hungarian government was formed with Lajos Batthyány as Prime Minister.” The revolution itself was bloodless, but the war that followed wasn’t. Austria got help from Russia and the combined Russian and Austrian armies ended up winning the conflict. Hungary was yet again under complete Habsburg control. After Hungary lost, it was put under brutal martial law by Austria and Hungarian generals and members of the parliament were executed, including Lajos Batthyány who - ironically - was trying to reach some kind of agreement with the Habsburg dynasty throughout the revolution. They thanked him with a firing squad. Stay classy, Roderich. Very heavy taxation was put on the Hungarian people as punishmen. All of this was a deciding factor in how the future Hungarian/Austrian relations looked like - the “Hungarian problem” became one of the hottest issues for the Hapsburg monarchy for years to come. The military dictatorship and absolutist rule that Austria introduced over Hungary lasted for 18 years and ended in ‘67 with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, in which a dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary was established. “The territorial integrity of Kingdom of Hungary was restored. The Compromise partially re-established the former sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hungary, however being separate from, but no longer subject to the Austrian Empire. The agreement also restored the old historic constitution of the Kingdom of Hungary.” (wiki)

Why did Austria agreed to the compromise after almost 20 years of martrial law and terror? WELL “As a consequence of the Second Italian War of Independence and the Austro-Prussian War, the Habsburg Empire was on the verge of collapse in 1866, as these wars caused monumental state debt and a financial crisis. The Habsburgs were forced to reconcile with Hungary, to save their empire and dynasty.”

Headcanon: I personally HC that Austria and Hungary got married in 1570 as a direct result of the personal union between both countries. Until then, the Kingdom of Hungary was ruled by two kings: one Hungarian, and one Austrian, but in 1570s the Hungarian king abdicated in favor of the Austrian ruler. And ever since, until the Habsburg empire fell apart, the Austrian monarch was also crowned as the Hungarian king. So I consider this event the beginning of their marriage. (I’ll explain why I moved the marriage this early at the end of the post. Hint - for narration purposes :D to me a HC has to create a coherent story first and foremost)

They did love each other, and tho their marriage was mostly a political union, they were both happy to start a life together as husband and wife. But the relationship itself was unhealthy, especially for Hungary.

The simplest way I can explain how I see it is: a young, naivee woman in love marries a controlling man, who also loves her, but still wants to completely dominate her. She is shocked by the reality of mariage with him but tries to accept the new way things are now (still, the hungarian revolution of early 1700s shows that internally, she has a problem with the lack of equality).

She convinces herself that her rebellious tendencies are the real problem here, as this is what he tells her, and tries to become the Perfect Wife.

The marriage is a long one and deteriorates very slowly, from Happily In Love, through Disappointment and then Growing Resentment, into an open conflict and the escalation of toxicity. So a story as old as time.

Longer version: Austria was controlling and saw himself as the authority in their relationship: she was to listen to him, never argue with him, speak German to him, be proper and refined and play by HIS rules. She was to completely leave her old customs and ways of life behind (she was a free-spirited horse-riding warrior, he wanted a proper lady in a corset who only speaks about the weather, music and art. Austrian, preferably. She wanted to feel the wind in he hair, he though that was inappropriate. etc).

There was no place for equality here and there was no place for her true nature either. He only accepted her more wild self when he needed military help from her, but then she was to put on her (Austrian) gown again. This was a shock for an outspoken, independent and strong woman, but Hungary at first did believe that this was the best for her (’we’re stronger together’ etc).

Also, she was really in love. To the point of being willing to give up many of her freedoms and passions to be “the perfect mate” Austria expected her to be. She lost a lot of herself during those long years of trying to please him. After all, there was a lot about Austria she admired - he was artistic, subtle, refined, had this air of royalty about him. He could be such a gentleman - she was not used to being treated like a lady, as she was always “one of the guys”, and truly enjoyed it. She LOVED his music. He gave her expensive gifts and composed sonatas and poetry for her. Etc. But still - she wanted equality and to be seen for who she really is, and he was only willing to be the dashing gentleman when she played the role of the quiet, obedient SO. Resentment and anger rose in her and her romantic love and attraction for Austria began to rot away. The Perfect Wife role was at first something she got used to and though she could pull off, but with time, it got more and more frustrating.

When in 1848 the Austrian monarch decided to illegally overwrite her parliament - it was a boiling point for her. She saw red and grabbed her weapon. Tho the attempts of her leader, Lajos Batthyány, to work out a compromise with the Austrian monarch tell me that she did still want to make the marriage work and still hoped that they could become a better couple - just on different terms. But, of course, Austria was not into that. The total fallout of their relationship at this point might have seem unexpected to some, as they did pretend to be the Perfect Power Couple when in front of others, and she was discreet with her angst. But in reality this tension has been rising for years and the marriage has been an unhappy one for some time now.

And from Austria’s side, the sad reality was - he married a woman that was just too strong. That’s why he put such drastic measures in place after the Revolution failed - he wanted to dominate her once and for all and have his Perfect Marriage. He didn’t do it because he was vengeful or evil, he was just selfish and egocentric. In some messed up way, he thought she still could be happy with him, IF ONLY SHE DID WHAT HE TOLD HER TO.

The war and the brutal dictatorship that followed the Revolution were the darkest time in their relationship. It pretty much ended the intimacy they had. During this period they would get into loud arguments, throw things, he would then punish her by being even more controlling, she would take revenge in small ways like ruining his fav shirts by accident and started to think about a divorce. When Austria lost his wars with Prussia and Italy - she was on top of that, pretty much immediately demanding more rights. He had no strength to oppose her at this point. She even felt sorry for him, seeing how weak and wounded he was. Some old feelings resurfaced. The relationship abruptly got better, as she helped him heal while he began treating her better. He apologized for the way he treated her. He said that being at the brink of death made him realize the errors of his way. She was happy and agreed to re-new their vowes (the beggining of Dual Monarchy) - but she never forgot how ugly he could act. Things were never the same again. Something in the romantic relationship just died for her - most importantly, she never trusted him again. He could say all he wanted about how he’s sorry and would never do it again, the reality was - and she recognized it - that he only said those things when he was scared of death and desperately need her. When he was strong and felt well, he held her in an iron fist and forced martial law on her. The Dual Monarchy began, but the the romance was over. They still played the roles of hudband and wife in front of others, but slept in different beds.

This is tragic, because the love they had for each other was real. It was just totally ruined by Austria’s need to be in control of the relationship and inability to see her as an equal. They had totally incompatible ideas of how the relationship should look like.

When they divorced after WW1, Hungary did not suffer. To her, the divorce already happened - she mentally divorced him years ago, all that was left was a husk of the marriage and an old ring. For Austria, it was worse, as he still hoped they could rebuild and was forced to accept the rality that nope, its not happening. He took it badly.

Today they are exes that consider each other friends but Hungary would never want to return to a romantic relationship with him, as she believes that even tho Austria seems more chill nowadays, he would not be able to keep his controlling tendencies in check. This whole thing taught her that she never wants to change for a man.

The relationship between them is very complex and runs deep - tho they had their share of conflicts and toxicity, that does not mean good things never happened. They also know each other incredibly well and there is closeness there that neither of them wants to let go of.

Explanation: I moved their wedding from the birth of Austro-Hungary to an earlier date, because to me personally it makes more sense narration-wise. I don’t think Hungary would ever agree to marry him if the Revolution of 1848 and the bloody martial law already happened - this, to me at least, reads more like a dramatic conclusion to a long, difficult relationship that is becoming more toxic with time and then implodes, not something that happened before the marriage starts. So sorry for it not being very canon-friendly, but to me, it just creates a pretty coherent, emotional story of a downfall of a marriage that had potential, as there were honest feelings involved, but the dude was an ass.

This whole HC was born in baby form when I watched the episode in which Prussia wants Hungary to go hunting, mentions she used to like it, and she refuses and instead prefers to clean Austria’s house. He then comments that she changed. It was played as lighthearted and funny and I do recognize that Hima probably wanted to show that she got more mature while Pru is still like a kid, but it actually made me really sad for her. Then I watched the show Freud on Netflix and got interested in the anti-austrian movements in Hungary (LOL sorry I know this sounds really silly! ^^’ it’s a good show tho). And it kinda fitted - she wanted to hunt, she was just putting herself in smaller and smaller boxes as the Perfect Wife bc Austria expected that and she still hoped it will make her dream of Lived Happily Ever After come true.

#aph hungary #aph austria #hws hungary #hws austria #hetalia #Axis Powers Hetalia #hetalia world series #historical hetalia #hetalia headcanons #abuse #toxic relationship #sad love story #aushun

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croc-odette · 4 years

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i love ds9 and here are some episode premises that i wish had happened

DND EPISODE: already talked about this but a dungeons and dragons holosuite episode. jake is the overly prepared DM obviously, nog, ziyal, and alexander are players. nog’s player is clearly his idea of sisko, a lawful good paladin; ziyal plays as a cardassian rogue (played by dukat, but clearly based in personality on kira); alexander plays a mage who is kind-of worf kind-of jadzia and keeps switching between them through the game). there’s an NPC version that’s clearly also based on sisko at one point, but from jake’s point of view knowing him as his dad to compare how differently jake and nog, a cadet, see him.

as the game progresses, it becomes clear that the Big Bad is based on a combo of dukat/winn (corrupt government/religious figure). ziyal struggles with the classic DND question of ‘just because i would do this, does that mean my character would?’ except she’s realizing that her dad wouldn’t do any of the selfless things she wants her character to do. alexander keeps trying to solve shit through weird cantrips or puzzle solving instead of fighting and jake is like ‘it’s not deep it’s just a cave bat please roll initiative’. bashir and garak show up as like, the old couple from the princess bride and everyone has to be like ‘jake they’re not dating in real life this rpf shit is kind of inappropriate’ and he’s like ‘wait what? i thought they were dating’. miles is an NPC and dies. nog thinks jake’s-sisko-npc is too silly and disrespectful and jake is like ‘he’s MY dad’ and they have to take a break to argue about it and jake is like ‘your dad is cool too’. nog’s character changes to lawful good paladin rom. actually this whole game is ‘arguing about dads’ time now that i think about it, which jake is not really equipped to jump in on since he has a normal cool dad who he basically just thinks is embarrassing because he’s the ~messiah~ or some goofy bullshit. ends with them calling it a day after the final boss battle and then jake and nog privately talking about whether or not they can trust ziyal if she has to choose between ds9 and dukat, which was an ulterior motive of the game. ziyal is clearly clearly rattled by what the game made her realize and goes to see kira, who she doesn’t tell about the game but who still gives her a hug, and ziyal realizes that kira’s her hero (and like, her mom). alexander tells worf and dax about the game and dax thinks it sounds fun as hell and asks alexander if they can come next time, and worf is like ‘....... only if i can be a blood mage’. nog and jake go home and tell their dads they love them.

shit i blacked out

PRANK WAR EPISODE: escalating series of pranks starting with jadzia putting hair dye in bashir’s shampoo and ending with the space station accidentally going into a meltdown self destruct scenario. garak is torn between helping jadzia and quark, who are clearly the better pranksters, or helping julian and odo, who suck at pranks but are his lunch friends. everyone has to tell garak that he’s way too intense about ‘pranks’ which are actually just really dangerous booby traps he puts in people’s quarters. sisko ends the episode by grounding everyone; no holosuites for a month!! yes even dax

GREAT RACE EPISODE: there’s some kind of macguffin resource on a planet (a klingon escape pod with a survivor with crucial intelligence information?), but they can’t teleport directly to it. a vorta and jem h’dar team and a ds9 team beam down on opposite sides of its location and are both racing to get there first, having to macgyver together vehicles and tools on the way. lots of excellent outdoor on-location settings and comparison of the jem h’dar/vorta dynamic and the ds9 federation dynamic. ends with the jem h’dar almost winning but turning on the vorta at the last few yards, and sisko’s team beams out as the jem h’dar chant victory. no i refuse to think this is same plot as ‘the ship’ or whatever

KASIDY EPISODE: set earlier in kasidy/sisko’s relationship, kasidy agrees to go with jadzia as a third-party observer to negotiations with a nearby bajoran colony over a trade agreement with the federation. jadzia and kasidy bond over gossiping about sisko on the way, but once they get there kasidy disagrees with the starfleet’s contract during negotiations which causes tensions, and recommends that the bajorans reject it. she and jadzia get into an argument about starfleet and its ideals, and why kasidy chose to be an independent captain rather than a starfleet captain, and how that doesn’t make her lesser than starfleet captains. jadzia realizes that kasidy is right and petitions superiors for a new contract, which kasidy approves of. they go home tenser then when they left, but when sisko asks jadzia what she thinks of kasidy, she very seriously says that she has incredible compassion, intelligence, and integrity, and that she doesn’t need or want jadzia’s approval. but has it anyway

MUSICAL EPISODE: someone already outlined a great musical ep where lwaxana comes in with a betazoid cold and it makes everyone burst into song in another text post and like 100% cosigned

SHAKESPEARE EP: holosuite shenanigans; every character is suddenly stuck as someone from a different shakespeare play. garak is an enthusiastically combative beatrice, kira is cordelia, worf is hamlet, jadzia is a very amused katerina, julian is puck, miles is duncan (”i get MURDERED?”), odo is benvolio and kind of bummed he’s not romeo, etc. i actually don’t know any shakespeare play that well but i think it could be neat. julian is the only fucking person on ds9 who actually knows any of it well enough to figure out what’s going on, except for sisko who doesn’t really care for shakespeare but generally knows about the plays (maybe a good opportunity to talk about the racism in most ‘classic Earth’ pop culture that star trek tends to uphold without criticism). i don’t know shit about the 40 plays that shakespeare wrote about british kings but i could see sisko ending up in that kind of intense role and refusing to play into it, as do the rest of the characters who refuse to fulfill their respective roles and instead find another way to end the program.

KLINGON OPERA EPISODE: goodddddddd can we see some klingon opera, mac. i’ve been dying to see some klingon opera. premise is they believe that someone is assassinating ambassadors and so they tag along with a andorian ambassador who loves opera to see if they can figure out who the assassin is, however the andorian plays it down as over-worrying and that they should use it as an excuse to enjoy themselves. worf and jadzia go and have a lovey dovey time, sisko and kasidy go and have a lovey dovey time watching worf and jadzia get super into the opera together. julian is asked to go in case there’s poison used or first aid needed, and miles is like ‘the last time i went undercover i came home with trauma and someone’s cat so no thanks i hate klingon opera’ and after some increasingly overt passive aggressive implications that julian should take HIM, julian asks garak to go with him. bonus points if for some reason they are wearing the stupid tuxedos from doctor bashir i presume. a lot of loud arguing about the opera which almost gets them kicked out. at the end of the first act, one of the actors DOES try to kill the andorian but jadzia jumps in front of the phaser beam (cue worf being very concerned and annoyed that she could have gotten killed, jadzia being very smug and pleased with herself, her head in his lap, in a pose mirroring an earlier couple in the opera). julian feels like he would have noticed if he hadn’t been distracted by garak, and when it turns out the andorian ambassador has sensitive info about cardassia’s civilian government, julian accuses garak of intentionally trying to distract him to make sure the andorian actually died, which turns into a huge argument (ideally in a very opulent klingon opera house bathroom). during the argument, julian realizes that garak was trying to hint to him that something about the assassination attempt was off; he pieces together aloud that the andorian and the actor must have been in league together, to fake the andorian’s assassination so they could not be tried for profiteering by illegally selling weapons to the cardassian central control during bajoran occupation, which they are currently under investigation for. the other ambassador assasinations were planned by the andorian to cover their tracks. the andorian is arrested, as is the actor. at the ballroom afterparty, sisko and kasidy, in a good mood that everything worked out, agree to join in on traditional klingon dancing. worf and jadzia take a peaceful walk through the gardens and worf recites some really lovely klingon poetry about how sometimes it’s NOT a good day to die if someone loves you, that none of us fucking understand without looking it up. julian and garak talk on the balcony, and julian posits that garak is loyal to cardassia, but which part of it? garak answers, very close and meaningfully looking at julian, ‘like most things... it’s complicated.’

i was about to say ‘fake wedding episode’ but literally LITERALLY that was the shotgun wedding lwaxana/odo ep. i love star trek

KEIKO BOTANIST EPISODE: kira accompanies keiko to bajor to help find a medicinal plant that was thought to be wiped out during the occupation but might still exist in a remote mountain region based on local reports. a nice episode where we learn more about bajor and see how bajorans are coping and healing. over a campfire, kira thanks keiko for accepting her into their family. keiko tells kira that she was really intimidated by her when they first met, and then realized she’s one of the most loving people she knows. just a nice episode, maybe some mild nature survival conflict, but ends on a hopeful note of them finding the plant. miles beams down with the kids to have a picnic with keiko and kira, and kira’s happy to see children playing carelessly on bajor again.

JAKE AND ZIYAL EPISODE: everyone thinks jake and ziyal are dating because they’ve been hanging out. julian’s an idiot and mentions to sisko ‘must be hard, huh’ and sisko’s like ‘WHAT must be hard’ and julian’s like oh my god were we not supposed to talk to him about this. jake and ziyal aren’t dating but as soon as sisko tries to talk to jake about it jake is like ‘i’m not but actually maybe i SHOULD ask her out’ and sisko is like fuck. okay no that’s fine. this is more of a B-plot but basically give jake and ziyal age-appropriate love interests they’re both RIGHT there

#i'm really about to write fake screenplays for episodes for a tv show that ended 20 years ago #star trek blogging #THIS GOT OUT OF HAND.

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princepondincherry · 4 years

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Wish RWBY was better? Try ATLA

To start: Yes, I’m aware ATLA and even LoK probably have much larger fandoms than RWBY already. I think they also have more content and were produced with a larger budget, which means we have to give RWBY some slack. It doesn’t mean criticism isn’t valid.

Since Avatar came out on Netflix, I watched both shows, and I can’t help drawing parallels with RWBY since they’re both animated shows I’ve loved about badass kids/teens with magic powers. And Avatar is SO MUCH better. For instance, inter-party conflict. The Gaang argue ALL THE TIME, and it’s just presented as the normal state of affairs, not some dramatic, crazy detail when one sibling has a slight disagreement with the other sibling. And as much flak as the Mako relationship drama gets in Legend of Korra, at least it had substance to it. We still don’t really know what the problem is with Ren and Nora. Oh, and The Last Airbender handled an unwanted kiss forced on someone who didn’t think it was the right time for romance SO MUCH better, with an immediate, “I SAID I was confused!” and the instigator having a scene right after where they called themselves an idiot, instead of the Renora kiss being presented as romantic or something.

Now I kinda want to write a list of things I feel Avatar does better. There’s a poorly-argued word vomit below the cut:

- The dead mother thing--Salem mentions Summer once with no details, and Ruby completely breaks down? What? Like, grief is fine, but this has literally no foreshadowing since the songs don’t count as full canon, and it made no sense given Ruby’s established (ha) character and the situation. Katara would have flown into a rage, and it would have been so much better.

- Arguments with adults on your side--Pakku was set up as an asshole teacher from the start, and he when confronted with the consequences of his misogyny, he changed his ways for the better. Zuko arguing with Iroh is never intended to have Zuko be in the right. Korra argues with Tenzin all the time, and usually they’re both right, but have to come to a better understanding of each other’s perspective that helps them grow as people. In fact, this conflict drives a lot of the story for the first two books of LoK. Unfortunately, RWBY seems incapable of this sort of nuance. Qrow is just drunk until he isn’t, but then later gets Clover killed, and Ozpin is supposedly just awful.

- Arguments with adults who should be on your side but aren’t--Long Feng SHOULD be on the same side as the heroes, defending the Earth Kingdom, but he isn’t for pretty stupid reasons. But, unlike Ironwood shooting people like a maniac, Long Feng is against the heroes for stupid reasons that (mostly) make sense in-universe: he wants to remain in power. (I still don’t understand why he didn’t just quietly explain that he had the real power in the city, not the king, and shuffle the kids off to whoever was running the military defenses that allowed him to pretend there was no war. I guess he thought if he just gave them the cold shoulder long enough, they’d go away?) Whatever problems there were with Long Feng’s storyline, at least he was consistently written as a bad guy. In contrast, Ironwood is inconsistently written as a good guy who has all the trappings of a tyrant but doesn’t act like it AT ALL, except when he occasionally does something extreme like shoot Oscar. He’s written (I guess unintentionally?) as a subversion of the military tyrant, except when he suddenly acts like one again. It’s like they were shooting for a Tarrlok (sketchy government official who’s both bad for the obvious reasons AND worse than he appears beneath the surface, even though he often works for the side of good) but actually wrote Suyin (someone who could easily be a totalitarian dictator, but decided not to be because of her moral principles, and is actually nice), except occasionally she attacks her allies for disagreeing with her.

- Costume design--I loved Ruby’s, Weiss’s, Ozpin’s, Qrow’s, and a few other original costumes, and Ruby’s had some very solid costumes. However, Volume 7 was terrible. The animation looked weird on Weiss’s braid, Jaune’s hair was awful, and a bunch of them weren’t really dressed for the weather. In contrast, the Avatar characters change outfits whenever it’s appropriate. You know, like real people. (If this is a “3D animation makes outfit changes harder than 2D animation” thing, then maybe 2D animation is just a superior art form when you’re on a budget.)

- Consistent power levels--Katara starts weak and gets stronger. Aang starts as only an airbender and consistently gets better at everything else. Toph invents metalbending and gradually gets more proficient with it. In contrast, RWBY’s Volume 1-3 feats are often better than their later feats, and Aura strength blatantly depends on plot. Yang’s gotten *slightly* better at fighting, Weiss learned a new skill and promptly got her butt kicked by focusing on it too much, Ruby supposedly learned hand-to-hand combat but really just did a headbutt, and RWBY SOMEHOW beat the most premiere team in Atlas after training with them for a few weeks. Sure, Toph, Katara, Azula, Aang, and Sokka are all ridiculous prodigies, but they’re established as such from the beginning. Katara still loses soundly to Pakku before he trains her. (Despite the memes about her kicking the ass of the patriarchy, he’s obviously going easy on her and still crushes her.) Aang gets beaten by Ozai without his OP special ability. Azula gets beaten easily the one time we see her go up against an adult (Iroh, on the ship in the beginning of book 2). And Toph is more like Pyrrha than anyone on Team RWBY. Honestly, this is one of my weaker points, but I still stand by the fact that the Avatar kids’ victories felt much more earned.

- Bad Fights--Yes, I know, heresy. I actually think the best of RWBY’s fights (RWBY vs. Torchwick’s mech, Ozpin vs. Cinder, Pyrrha vs. Cinder, RWBY vs. the Nevermore, Qrow vs. Tyrian) are somewhat more exciting, visually interesting, and (sometimes) emotionally charged than even the best of Avatar’s fights (Aang vs. Ozai, Zuko vs. Azula, Kya vs. Zaheer, Korra vs. Zaheer, Tenzin and his siblings vs. Red Lotus, Suyin vs. Kuvira). But my actual point is that RWBY’s bad fights are BAD, whereas I can’t even think of what the worst Avatar fights are. Sokka vs. Zuko in episode 1 was pretty bad, but that was more of a gag than a fight. Umm...Big Glowy Korra vs. Unavaatu was kinda cheesy, but I still liked it. Meelo fartbending vs. the Equalists? Idk. Meanwhile, RWBY has the Scuffle of Haven, that time Ilia seriously hurt Sun somehow, Qrow vs. Tyrian vs. Clover (visually impressive, but made NO FUCKING SENSE), Oscar landing a massively-telegraphed blow on Neo...well, okay. Maybe there weren’t that many awful fights. I still think I came away from more RWBY fights disappointed, but I can’t really argue my case very well.

- LGBT representation, normalized to the time period--Yes, Korrasami never got past handholding in the finale, but somehow Yang and Blake haven’t either? Even though it’s 2020? Actually, this is a symptom of a larger problem:

- Romantic relationships being ignored--Why won’t RWBY explicitly confirm anything? The RWBY cast are closer in age to the LoK cast than the ATLA cast, but it feels the other way around. Kataang was both heavily present in ATLA the whole time and by no means taking over the plot. And, okay, there was Jaune/Pyrrha, but she’s dead now, so the most-developed ship is Renora. Who held hands, then didn’t talk about their relationship at all for a full volume, and then had a nonconsensual kiss handled worse than the Kataang kiss in Ember Island Players. I’m glad there haven’t been any Romantic Plot Tumors in RWBY, but something would be nice. Or just don’t bring it up at all if you’re never going to develop the relationships.

- Sibling relationships--Yang and Ruby were great as sisters in the early volumes, but lately it’s just been Yang deciding to yoke herself to Ruby’s judgement, until suddenly she’s not anymore. I feel like they barely talked in Volume 7.

- Villains--If Salem wants to kill everyone and collect the Relics, why hasn’t she? She’s invincible! Ozai at least was still human, but he left to handle things himself as soon as he got a power-up. More vaguely, I just find Avatar’s villains more interesting than RWBY’s most of the time.

I’m aware that some/most of these are unfair. It’s more intended as an incoherent rambling to get my views out of my head than as any sort of persuasive argument.

#rwby #atla #rwde #TLOK

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warsofasoiaf · 4 years

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The Celtic Tiger - A Kaiserreich Ireland AAR Chapter 5: The Red Hand and the White Dove

A good general never let his successes linger too long. The key to winning a war was never stopping until the final objective was secured, which meant that no soldier could afford to celebrate his success.

2 October 1939 - Home of Michael Collins, County Cork, Ireland

The Irish had successfully repulsed multiple combined invasions from two great powers, and had successfully maintained the territorial integrity of their island. Britain had shifted their attention to the Low Countries and France had placed most of their forces along the German border or along the south of France in Marseilles. It had been days since a single Union plane or ship had come anywhere close to Irish territory. The unity that such a feat had engendered had been nothing short of exceptional. Some foreign workers had evacuated, but plenty had stayed behind to continue to help provide much needed manpower for Ireland in the face of invasion. Wealthy Irishmen bought war bonds by the armful, older men volunteered to help man civil defense spotting towers to supplement the radar stations, and workers had seamlessly integrated a full three-shift rotation to speed production along. Yet this unity had not been total, and one faction began to cause more problems.

It had been no secret that the Orangeists in Ulster had been agitating for a return to the British in Canada. To hear the rhetoric, Ulsterites needed to do everything they could to allow the exiled Windsors to return to their throne. Ireland was an ideal staging ground for the Entente, an unsinkable aircraft carrier capable of sending the entirety of the Entente’s aerial forces against the Union and the Communards. G2 had done wonders in infiltrating the Union, and the Irish Republican Army was one of the most experienced forces in the world, certainly when it came to fighting Mosley. All of that value, they argued, must have been put to use in the service King Edward. Once the United Kingdom had been restored, Ulster could be returned to the Crown, and all would be well, if you asked the Orangeists. The Unionists were seeing attendance at their rallies steadily grow and grow, before long the entirety of the Six Counties would be UUP.

The notion of joining both the Entente and the Reichspakt had been floated in the Dail. It made practical sense to join one of them, and gain the support of large and powerful armies and economies at the Irish back. Collins had exhausted plenty of political capital to shoot down those proposals, reading the refusals of the Kaiserreich and the exiled British government when the Mosley first declared war. Collins didn’t like it, it gave too much red meat to the na hAiséirghe crowd and could embolden their efforts against his immigration reforms, but it gained him a reprieve from those demanding that Ireland join one of the two European factions. Joining one would invite the Union to continue bombing and invading to prevent exactly the scenario that the Ulsterites hoped to come to pass.

With the war on, it was the perfect time to move. If it wasn’t such a threat, Collins would appreciate the irony, since the Weltkrieg was what had enabled Irish independence in the first place. He now sat in the same position as the British Empire did twenty years ago. The moment had made his mouth taste like metal, almost an involuntary moment of revulsion. The promises of 1921 seemed to be coming true at the worst possible time. The confirmation of Ulster would have to take place, one way or the other.

Now that the bombings were over, and life was attempting to return to normal, agitation against the Irish government had returned. James Craig had viciously denounced the Collins government, declaring that Collins had hoped to hobble Belfast, and that the Northern Irish would be kept out of the riches of Collins’s economic policies. The Saorstat Brewery, the Open for Business Initiative, the agricultural reforms in Connacht, the zinc mines in the center of the country, it was economic prosperity for Catholics only, Craig had made a grand show to a roaring crowd of Unionists and Ulster Volunteers. Collins’s ultimate goal, so Craig spelled out, was the economic subservience of the Northern Irish, to let them wither until they surrender who they are.

“Everything I’ve done for Belfast and it’s still not enough. The steelworks, the Short Brothers, none of it will ever be enough for James Craig.” Collins grumbled to an empty room.

---

16 November 1939 - Belfast, Ireland

The latest news wasn’t good. The Unionists, citing unequal treatment by Catholic employers, had planned to stage a large-scale sympathetic strike, which threatened everything from small restaurants all the way to Harland and Wolff. The Ulster Shipwright and Marine Workers Association, by far the largest labor union in Belfast and de facto head of any large-scale labor activity, had misgivings about striking in the middle of a war, and had strongly pushed a compromise plan. Smaller businesses unrelated to the war effort like restaurants and other service industries would institute a general strike, while shipyards, airfields, and other critical war industries would stress work-to-rule behavior and malicious compliance. As a token of good faith in their statement of grievances, the workers promised that they would maintain all repair facilities for the An tSeirbhís Chabhlaigh and the An tAerchór at full functionality; they would do nothing that would critically endanger Ireland’s defense in the wake of Union aggression. Despite this, the plan ultimately was for naught. A fight broke out between the Unionists and a large group of unknown men shouting that they were betraying the war effort. No one had been seriously injured, merely cuts, broken bones, and a bunch of filled beds at Belfast Medical.

Rumors had abounded at what exactly happened and who was involved. Collins received his share of the blame, plenty believed that he had ordered the strikebreaking action to intimidate the Ulster Volunteers under the veneer of plausible deniability. Even more outlandish conspiracy theorists suggested that Collins had organized the labor action itself, to give his strikebreakers the reason they needed to kick a couple of teeth in without actually causing significant damage to the war effort and delegitimize the Ulster Volunteers and the labor unions in one fell swoop to prevent reaching out to the Dominion or the Union. The Catholics loudly protested that it must have been the Ulster Unionists who struck the first blow, hypocritically demanding the right to protest but denying it to the Irish nationalists in a rehash of the old Irish Penal Law system. Most however, thought it was just strikebreaking, squads hired by business owners to break up the labor action. Either way, it wasn’t good for the Collins government.

This had come not long after the bank of Ireland had been robbed in Belfast, gaining plenty of money to continue to fund dissident activity within the Six Counties. The Gardai had been unable to find where the money had gone, it had almost certainly been laundered through businesses in the North. No one could prove that it was the Unionists who had robbed it, but everyone was convinced that it was the case. With the Irish budgets already stretched thin, the loss of the cash reserves in Belfast had stung deeply. Angry Irish citizens had demanded that the government guarantee their account holdings and punish those responsible. Collins sympathized, but inflation was a dangerous beast to wrestle with already, he couldn’t imagine the headache he would have to deal with if he started securing private holdings during the war.

No matter the truth of everything that had happened in Ulster, it was bad for Collins. This sort of thing could only hurt the war effort. The last thing he needed was James Craig hoping to secure himself by latching on to the Union, or declaring war on Ireland and inviting in the British crown. “Tighten restrictions, offer the usual sympathies, promise an investigation. Let’s make nice before this gets any worse.” Collins ordered, hoping to stave off catastrophe.

---

20 December 1939 - County Antrim, Ireland

It was starting to look as if it would be an armed conflict after all.

Derry had seen the first problems. A prominent Unionist activist had been stabbed in the night and left to bleed in a gutter, dying in the pre-dawn hours of a cold December morning and undiscovered until a morning street-cleaning crew found him during their shift. The Gardai had no leads, which had only mobilized the Unionists further. There had been no leads because there had been no investigation. The Gardai fully supported the murder of prominent Unionists; it allowed them to subjugate the population without fear of uprising or uproar. No doubt, had a Irish Republican loyalist been murdered, the perpetrator would have been found, arrested, and sentenced to death under wartime emergency measures.

Orangeists had been seeing a steady increase in support from Protestants in the North. Intelligence reports from police units had noted steady increases in recruiting and donations. Hardliners were urging the police to crack down on the movement, but absent evidence of a specific crime, Northern Irish advocacy groups had been a right guaranteed in the 1925 Constitution. The Gardai had to contend themselves with attempting to trace the money from the Bank of Ireland robbery and seeing if they could identify the specific groups that were causing trouble. If the perpetrators could be discovered, the Ulster Volunteers would have to disavow them and perhaps cause distress within their own movement.

The Irish nationalists despised Collins’s plans. It was war and the Ulster Volunteers were committing treason against the state. If the Ulster unions took the strikebreaking as a means to invite Mosley in, he’d have a secure beachhead, or James Craig might reach out to King Edward and slowly invite a peacekeeping force in. Neither idea seemed particularly feasible to Collins, but the fear of such possibilities was creating a lot of doomsaying, and that was enough. His success against Mosley had taught a valuable lesson: impression could mean far more than reality.

A concert hall in County Antrim saw the next bloody episode. Masked men shouting pro-Ulster slogans opened fire, killing members of a Dublin band and concert-goers alike who had been playing a Christmas benefit. No one from that crime was caught, as sympathetic Ulsterites had been able to smuggle the men underground. Investigators hadn’t yet been able to discover who the gunmen actually were. The pictures reminded Collins uncomfortably of what he saw in Galway and Sligo, how long would be before Irish would be doing the same to Irish? Rounding up and executing them in a field like they were sheep or cattle, it sickened Collins to his core. Craig had remained silent on the matter, but the Irish Catholics in the North were incredibly frightened. Even the foreigners were frightened of being caught in the crossfire, and that led Collins to one inescapable conclusion: he was losing control.

“Institute a stronger curfew, devote more money to investigations. Also let’s see if we can’t do something to undercut the Volunteer’s support among the Northerners, make them focus their efforts on fighting the Union. Take out loans if you have to; this needs to end now.”

---

17 January 1940 - Belfast Ireland

It was a grim day, and the dark clouds had seemed to be a herald for bad omens.

After the concert hall massacre, the Ulster Unionist Party had quieted down, but only for a short time. No progress had been made, and rumors had circulated that the UUP weren’t going to send any sacrificial lamb even if they disagreed with the action. The Unionists had sought to organize a large-scale march in Belfast. Plenty within Collins’s government urged him to quash it entirely under emergency war powers, a large assembly could be considered too great a risk from aerial bombardment. Yet with the threat of British bombardment being reduced, Collins had opted not to give the Ulsterites more reason to call him an unconstitutional tyrant.

When the news of it reached the Catholic minority in Belfast, they predictably demanded an extra defensive precaution. The sporadic outbreaks of violence meant that the Catholics feared that the march would become a riot, and the Ulster Unionists, while not proven to be connected to the murders in Antrim, were almost certainly guilty of abetting it. The Gardai hadn’t been able to stop the violence, and with the march they would be woefully outnumbered and unable to protect anyone if anything got out of hand. Collins had ordered the 3rd Limerick Rifles to strategic points, with Eoin O’Duffy at the command center. The 3rd Limerick was a mix of O’Duffy’s old guard, men that had served him since 1917 which now comfortably resided in senior leadership and NCO positions, and young recruits that had signed on near the beginning of the Internationale War, out of training and dispersed to different combat units so that they might benefit from the veterans that had been fighting in the war from the outset and absorbed the new techniques and methods of waging war.

The latter category was populated by Dean MacCabe, a fresh recruit among many. He was greener than his uniform, and had been nervous about fighting the war. Rather than wait to be drafted, Dean had signed up for the infantry to serve his homeland. In truth, he’d rather have been in a coastal fort on Clew Bay, but his country needed him here, making sure that nothing happened during the protest march. Fortunately so far, the worst that seemed to happen was a bit of name-calling. Dean himself would have been happy to have given as good as he got, but he needed to keep his cool. Level heads were needed, and he needed to prove himself worthy of the uniform.

The rain had already hampered visibility greatly, and with everyone wearing long coats it was almost maddening to tell who, if anyone, was concealing a weapon under their raincoat. With so many people on the street, it was next-to-impossible to pick out faces of known Ulster Volunteers or militant UUP’ers in the crowd. Sometimes people spoke to each other and pointed at the 3rd Limerick. Were they pointing them out in signal for an attack, or just commenting on the fact that they were there? A woman walking by with a baby carriage stopped to play with the infant inside. Was that genuine, or was it a signal pointing out the best angle of attack? Dean started to sweat out of fear, mixing with the rainwater that was snaking its way inside his own raincoat. Everything could be a signal for a waiting attack, everyone could be an enemy. He had orders to fire if fired upon, but felt so exposed that he wouldn’t get a chance to fire second.

Periodic glances to his pocketwatch gave him grounding but seconds ticked on agonizingly slowly as he kept watch. His fellows were just as worried as he was, he could see in their faces. The old NCO’s seemed to be surer, but that could just be the experience in their eyes. This was not so much war as it was psychological torture, young men signing up to placed in the rain to fear when the next sudden outbreak of death could come, and it could come from anywhere. It had only been six minutes since he last looked at his watch.

Bottles and rocks started to be thrown at the 3rd Limerick’s position now, but was it testing their readiness, or merely rowdy Unionists too deep in their cups? And how quickly could the latter turn into a full-blown attack. All it took was one man to draw, and Dean MacCabe could be dead on the ground. Every time he saw something suspicious, he debated looking to his comrades for guidance, but if he had, would that mean that he would leave himself exposed, and he, or one of his brothers in the unit, could be killed? Even a moment’s lapse of concentration could be lethal, and so Dean MacCabe needed to maintain focus. Finally, the drunks had either run out of bottles or found something else interesting to do, the bottles gradually tapered off from two in the air, to one, to none. MacCabe looked at his watch. Nine minutes.

“Eyes front, we’ve got something,” came the gruff voice of the sergeant, and Dean snapped out of his reverie. There was movement in the crowd, a group of toughs approaching square to the Limerick Rifles position. Dean’s nerves were fraying, and Dean did not plead for what was before him to be something genuine or a false alarm. All he wanted was this wretched duty to be over, to go back to the barracks, drink himself into a stupor, and forget that this day had ever happened. The toughs began to chant, and MacCabe stole a second to look at his watch.

Two minutes.

---

18 January 1940 - Áras an Uachtaráin, Dublin, Ireland

Bloody Wednesday. That’s what the papers were calling what had happened at Belfast. Only a handful dead, more wounded, but it didn’t matter if no one was hurt: the Irish Republican Army had fired on Ulstermen. Weapons were found on the bodies, but eyewitnesses swore they saw mutually contradicting versions of events as they unfolded.

Collins made a public speech expressing sorrow for the loss of life, and vowed to discover what had happened. Only one man, above all else, could be trusted to treat the matter with the integrity that such a matter required. Richard Mulcahy, Ceann Foirne na bhFórsaí Cosanta, temporarily ceded his command position as Marshal of the Defense of Ireland to Liam Lynch, to take up a commission to investigate the matter. James Craig had wanted nothing to do with it and refused to offer any official support. Luckily for Collins, the Lord Mayor of Belfast had offered his full support for the commission provided Belfast police could participate, almost certainly committing political suicide in the process. One mayor seemed to stand between the country and civil war, and that mayor was a damn welcome sight to Collins eyes. The UUP depended on local support in Belfast, a mayor supporting the Commission would mean that until he was inevitably ousted in a no-confidence vote, Collins could act to head off any potential war.

It wouldn’t be long coming if he didn’t act quickly. G2 had intercepted comminiques to the Dominion of Canada that were almost certainly conducted on Craig’s behalf. Nothing sinister on its own, mere expressions of concern for Irish Unionists in the wake of the events of Bloody Wednesday. More concerning were the trade unions reaching out to the Union across the Irish Sea. Only the fringe socialists campaigned for syndicalism after Mosley’s invasion, but that crowd started to gain more support among the trade unions after the strikebreaking action, and it would only get worse if the common man in the North figured that Mosley was the lesser evil.

“Go on, and come back with what you can. Spend whatever money you need, do whatever you can to make peace. We aren’t going to survive any more invasions if we’re fighting in the Six Counties.”

---

1 Feburary, 1940 - Special Session of the Dail, Dublin, Ireland

The Mulcahy Commission had returned surprising, and utterly damning results.

O’Duffy had asserted in his after-action reports that the Unionists had initiated violence, taking advantage of a minor street altercation to ambush a stationed unit. After receiving fire, O’Duffy had reinforced his men. Once the Ulsterites had started to take fire, they fled into the crowds, which quickly had become chaotic. The entire mess had taken less than 30 seconds, but they were 30 seconds of absolute madness.

Mulcahy’s findings concluded the opposite. He had stated that it had appeared that one of O’Duffy’s men fired the first shots, the Ulsterites had responded, and had placed weapons among the dead to minimize the risk that any could have been identified as an unarmed civilian. No one in the IRA detachment that had been fired upon would come forward to support Mulcahy’s findings, and most credible witnesses were unable to determine whether one or the other was true; most were paying attention to the parade and saw the firefight only after the first shots were fired.

The implications for the Irish Republican Army was huge. If O’Duffy was guilty, it would mean that a high-ranking member of the IRA had conspired to attack Protestant Irishmen. Before now, the government had not been involved in violence against citizens in the North in ten years, since the Northern Campaign. Now, it could have confirmed that there would be no regularization of their status, that they would always be second-class citizens in the Republic, and their only choices were rebellion or slow destruction.

“We respect the Commission and its findings. The Republic of Ireland owes a debt of gratitude to Richard Mulcahy, the Right Honorable Lord Mayor of Belfast Crawford McCullagh, and the investigators who have worked many hours to discover the truth.” Collins announced on the steps of the Dail. “There is nothing that can bring back those poor men and women who died that fateful day. All we can do is labor on in their stead. The Republic of Ireland will compensate the families of those lost, hold trials of the perpetrators, and hold them in our prayers. We cannot undo this, but we can endeavor to build something from this.”

The Bloody Wednesday trials, as they came to be known, were largely simple affairs. Testimony was mercifully brief; there was no need to be lurid or voyeuristic in The young men in the division, who had followed the orders of their superiors, were convicted of manslaughter. The officers and NCO’s on scene, who were of higher rank and ordered the shooting, had higher sentences. That only left Eoin O’Duffy himself, who adamantly maintained his innocence and dismissed the evidence against him arranging any sort of conspiracy as spurious. The prosecution had attempted to cite him for command responsibility, but the Hague Conventions had been rather vague on the notion, and the Peace With Honor had looked to avoid punishing soldiers for their actions near the end of the Weltkrieg. No one could argue that opening fire on civilians and placing weapons on them to cover up the crime wasn’t beyond the scope of normal command duties. If there wasn’t ironclad proof, the IRA would see it as Collins betraying his own for the sake of making nice with Ulster, the corruption of Collins the soldier to Collins the politician who threw his soldiers under the bus.

“They were your soldiers too, Eoin! You trained them! You’re the one betraying them. The Ulsterites are Irish too.”

Ultimately, O’Duffy was sentenced to life imprisonment, after being cashiered from the Irish Republican Army. Collins didn’t see it as a victory. If he had sent Mulcahy instead of O’Duffy, how many more lives would have been saved? What could he do, to build a united Ireland in the wake of such bloodshed.

“Call Mr. McCullagh. This is my last shot to avoid losing Ireland.”

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14 September 1940 - Belfast, Ireland

“With the establishment of the Parliament of Ulster and the transformation of the Republic into the Federal Republic of Ireland, all Irish people can truly be thought of as being weavers of the grand Irish tapestry. We thank the government of Michael Collins for establishing this institution to ensure that the Northern Irish and Protestant peoples of this great country can show and share their ways of life, and the distinct traditions that have become part of our life can become part of Ireland’s. The Cultural Unity Commission represents a tangible step on the path to the vision of our great flag. One nation, Catholic and Protestant, with the eternal flag of peace between them.” -Gerald McCullagh, First Minister of the Ulster Parliament

It was a pretty speech, but McCullagh had quieted down the UUP protests. There had almost been a complete schism between McCullagh and Craig, and Craig’s advanced age had not helped him maintain control of the party. A younger generation had been able to portray McCullagh as out of touch, wanting to reunite with a land that had fled to Canada to escape the syndicalists. Worse, they hadn’t come to support Ireland when she called for support, but Michael Collins had fought, and fought well.

Collins had established the Ulster-Scots as its own language along with English and Irish Gaelic. It had been a nightmare to organize during wartime, at one point he had joked that he spent more time trying to figure out how to translate official government manuals than he had in pursuing the fight against the Union of Britain in the past month. The gesture had surprised the moderates in the UUP, and got them to the negotiating table when the timetable for phasing in the new language was given to them. Economic gestures hadn’t worked, but Collins saw more success with political measures meant to promote Ulsterites in Ireland, first with the establishment of their own language and then with the establishment of the Cultural Unity Commission. The resolution of their status, the question that had been on the table since 1925, was being sorted. Ireland would not simply tolerate her Protestant citizens, but celebrate them. This had enraged the Irish Catholic League and other populist Catholic movements, but Collins hadn’t been worried; they had been fringe groups to begin with and banned from the Irish Republican Army.

The last step had been to federalize Ireland into four regional areas with four Parliaments, Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. Dublin would still be the centralized seat of the national government, responsible for matters of national interest such as the military, foreign policy, and inter-province commerce, but more domestic matters would be ceded to the local Parliaments. The full resumption of federal duties would be brought into effect when the war was over, but as a gesture of support, Collins had reshuffled the War Cabinet to include ministers from each of the four provinces. Oddly, this development had been celebrated with greater fanfare within Connacht and Munster than in Ulster itself, the two provinces had seen themselves receive less in terms of investment than Dublin or Belfast, and they welcomed the added jobs and local autonomy. The success of the IEAA and the war industries had made the country bloom, and if a little autonomy was lost for maximum unity, so much the better. For the first time since this war had begun, Collins began to feel optimism.

The same couldn’t be said for the world situation. The Russian Vozhd had begun to push deep into White Ruthenia and the Kingdom of the Ukraine. Japan and Germany had turned the Southeastern Asian peninsula into a massive stretch of small battles and the Pacific into a warzone, and Japan had offered its support to the Princely Federation to attack the British Dominion of India, putting the Co-Prosperity Sphere at war with the Entente. The Zhii Clique and the Fengtian government had also gone to war in support of their respective Great Power patrons to turn northern China into a proxy war between Germany and Japan, and Cheng Jiongming had taken the opportunity to take over Hunan and Siuchan mostly peacefully, espousing Chinese democratic federalism. The war in China had prevented Japanese land reinforcements, forcing them to rely heavily on their Siamese allies. Savinkov, sensing weakness, had declared war to seize Transamur, and had invaded Japanese Siberia to take back the tiny province. Entente naval invasions hadn’t made much progress in mainland France, and the Low Countries were struggling with a British seaborne invasion and French attacks along the border.

“This is the final struggle.” Collins addressed the nation in a radio speech. “Ireland cannot know peace until the menace that has been the Union of Britain is defeated. We have maintained our borders, but it is not enough to simply seek détente with those who sought to enslave us. The Union of Britain is a threat to the entire world, and there will not be peace until we have taken it in our hands and shown it to the world. The Irish Republican Army will go across the sea, and we will rid ourselves of those who seek to deny us our own country.”

It was a pretty speech, and it brought the country together, but that’s all that it was. Collins needed to find a way to provide a unified front against the Internationale. For all that Deat and Mosley loathed each other, they had coordinated exceptionally well and presented a unified front against the Reichspakt. The Entente and the Reichspakt had offered non-aggression pacts between each other, but coordination had gone no further. If Collins wanted to win the war, he would have to solve that problem. If he couldn’t, then he would face annihilation.

An impossible problem? The risk of death? Every problem seemed to have such unimaginable stakes, and each time one was solved another rose in it’s place. But that was necessary. These were the times that they were in.

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Images

Unionists Hold Massive Rally

Unionists Mobilize

Unionists Planning an Uprising?

Clash at Unionist Worker Strike

Bank of Ireland Robbery

Murder in Derry

Antrim Concert Hall Attacked

Ulster March Begins

The Mulcahy Commission

Eoin O’Duffy’s Trial

Ulster at Peace

The New Ireland

The Final Struggle

Alright everyone, this is the latest chapter. I’m not in love with this one as much as I am with some of the others, but I was happy to be able to present some of the deployed grunt experience with Dean MacCabe; there’s a little bit of my friends who went to Iraq in it, and I wanted to relay the intensity and paranoia that they felt, even if it was just for a few paragraphs.

Did what I could to ensure that these antagonists (in terms of a character that provides an obstacle to our protagonist, not a ‘villain’) came across as reasonable; one of my many faults when I write is that I have a tendency to focus more upon protagonists, so I wanted to ensure that the Ulster Unionists came across as mostly reasonable with extreme elements. I think I pulled it off well enough, but let me know what you think of it.

I’m not a fan that peace was so easy to achieve, because I think that cheapens the very real long-term efforts that these sorts of efforts entail. That’s a function of the game mechanics in HOI4, the same thing is present in the base game in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Even the ideas in those foci would take a long time to implement, but it’s an AAR, so I have to reflect the mechanics of the game in the writing and make some vague allusions that it’s going to be a long process. Such as it is, I’m afraid.

The Second Weltkrieg continues on, the next chapter will be much different, as rather than taking place in one year over a series of events, it will take place over a few days at the Halifax Conference, and it will be a dialogue-driven chapter. We will have several bigwigs making their appearance, like Kaiser Wilhelm II and King Albert I (our King George VI), and some callbacks to earlier chapters. Hope you’ll enjoy it.

-SLAL

#kaiserreich #creative #celtic tiger

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