Faster than a speeding bullet, but not smart enough to NOT get a mullet, it’s the #manofsteel this week on #ComicDissection. Join us for @RenoVtwitch picks of his fav #Superman #villains Everyone knows the #roguesgallery is why we read.
A short scene that has existed in my brain for a few months now that I finally sat down and wrote. Short and sweet. Hua Cheng and one of the ways we might get him to take his calligraphy seriously.
Indeed-what did an insignificant place like Yanhui Town matter to an officer of the glorious Black Iron Battalion? What did the son of a butcher matter?
In this world, perhaps there were some lives that were more valuable than others. Even if someone was likable, it didn’t mean their life had worth.
You know, actually, I think that’s part of what makes Bingqiu work so well.
There’s never a moment when SQQ suddenly finds out “the truth” about LBH, that he’s manipulative, that he’s violent, the lengths he’s willing to go to (sexuality is a different story) because SQQ already knew all that about him from the beginning.
And aside from fearing for his own safety, he doesn’t really care. I’d even go so far as to say that Luo Binghe’s flaws are part of what drew him to the character in the first place! He looked forward to seeing the protagonist as ruler of the world! He wanted LBH to succeed in everything!
Obviously he didn’t want people to die if they didn’t have to… but, well, he’s still much more concerned about LBH’s well-being and success.
Basically, SQQ knew all about LBH’s tactics and tendencies and his “true nature” from day one— and despite all that, he still embraced him. Even though they had their share of miscommunication and difficulty, I think that’s just so key to everything— where SQQ is concerned, that’s his Binghe, who he cares about, who he wants to see succeed, and nothing LBH does can change that.
Something else I noticed rewatching Thor, the Avengers, and the Loki series:
There is a noticeable shift away from focusing on Loki’s relationship to Odin and Thor to his relationship with Frigga. In the movies, Frigga’s importance to Loki is kind of there but certainly not the focus, we mostly see how his actions affect his father and brother (while disregarding the impact that their patriarchal world had on him). In the Loki series there is very little mention of Thor and Odin, instead it focuses more on how his actions affected his mother: Mobius showed him the video of Frigga trying to reason with Loki, he also used her death to get a rise out of him, Brad later accused Loki of making things harder for Mobius, B-15, and his mother (no mention of his father and brother), and when talking with Sylvie in season 1, Loki reminisced only about his mother and her belief in him.
Then, today, I listened to a podcast about fairytales and the host talked about how actual fairies weren’t actually common in them universally but magic was. Magic is present in fairytales because it allows for the possibility of transformation, the hope of change. It made me think about how important Frigga was for Loki’s ability to transform in this series; she taught him his magic, something that give him his own identity in a world that was dominated by brute male power and strength. Without her nurturing, who knows what Loki would have become in Asguard.
Even though Odin acted like he saved Loki because he took him from Jötunheim where he was left to die, Loki really only had an opportunity to live because of Frigga. Fast forward to the Loki series and in 2x06, we were told by Mobius that Renslayer (another power-driven authoritarian) is the reason Loki isn’t dust in a TVA vent, giving her the undeserved credit for saving Loki, when in reality it was actually Mobius’ belief in him, his nurturing, that saved Loki.
I then realized the parallel between Frigga and Mobius: both are compassionate and nurturing, both of them believed in Loki when no one else would, and they both gave him something he took into his transformation in the end of the series: She gave him his magic, that beautiful green magic that allowed him to give life to the timelines and Mobius offered his “heart of gold” to Loki, the gold that holds together the pieces of his crown and envelopes his throne. Both gave him the opportunity to not just live but become his best self.
It wasn’t enough that he was a lazy glutton-he was also a lecherous skirt-chaser! The man’s good looks and gentlemanly conduct were a scam; it was as though the expression “all that glitttrs is not gold” had been coined specifically to describe him. -Sha Po Lang, Stars of Chaos, Priest.
“You’re a kid, so stop day dreaming about being a hero,” Shiliu said absentmindedly. “Do heroes ever get happy endings? As long as you have food to eat and clothes to wear, as long as you can sleep without worrying about the next day, that’s already th best life you can possibly live. Even if it’s boring, even if you’re hard up, you’ll be okay.
Shiliu spent most of his time pretending to be dead and mute, and rarely said anything of value…
Chang Geng felt that Shiliu was looking down on him. Disgruntled, he thought, If we all fritter away our time like you, who will support the household in the future? Who will care for you and make sure you have food to eat and clothes to wear? It’s much easier said than done.
“It was not in the anthropologist nature to think, ‘what can I do?’ Character and training disposed him not to interfere in other men’s business. He preferred to be enlightened rather than to enlighten. To seek facts rather than the truth. But even the most unmissionary soul, unless he pretends he has no emotions, is sometimes faced with a choice. Between commission and omission.
When what are they doing abruptly becomes what are we doing and then
