#han meta

[predator-padawan]

yeah GL’s depiction of padme and anakin’s romance was downright scary and uncomfortable as hell to watch but also it does seem like the natural progression for a man who wrote han and leia’s romance too a few decades earlier i just remember as a child when i first saw that scene of han and leia in empire strikes back where he’s cornering her against the equipment and she keeps saying no over and over and he’s just leaning in CHILLS GOOSEBUMPS KLAXONS BLARING we gotta stop as a society congratulating him for that pairing fr

Oh god THANK YOU. I do not like Han and Leia's romance at all and think its so weird when people who are uncomfortable with how Anidala is written don't seem to take issue with Han/Leia. I have a lot of headcanons about Han and write about him in relation to Luke so often the fact hes a womanizer who does not care about consent is very deeply rooted in my understanding of him so its wild when people don't seem to see that in his character?

ANYWAY its very, very clear to me that GL thinks the height of romance is "woman says no ten hundreds times which actually, secretly means yes :)" I hate him. I actually think Han/Leia is a cultural landmark for the "boys who bully and chase you on the playground actually have a crush on you and its harmless and you should humor them" rhetoric pushed on girls. I mean the "I love you" "I know" bit is so important to the cultural lexicon of romance.

I HATE IT!! I HATE GL!! I think I've been using gentler language up until this point because I didn't want to stir shit but no matter what I always end up stirring shit anyway so who even cares anymore. Make no mistake: this is a George Lucas Hate Blog.

[ghosthan]

Let me talk, for a minute, about Tony and Natasha’s interactions in Iron Man Vol. 3 #6.

I’m just really heart eyes at their interactions and the vibe in this issue. She summons him via purposefully, overly cryptic messages to lounge in tiny bathing suits together on a sailboat, and asks him to be her hot little piece/kidnapping bait for a mission she’s doing, (someone is kidnapping scientists in fields like Tony’s field), and he is like, ‘Well. anything for you, babe. Remember when we were Avengers together? uwu’

And she says, basically, that she’s much better as a spy, and they don’t talk too much about it, but the subtext here is really interesting-- Natasha’s guilt, blaming herself for the Avengers “failure” and disbanding, and I think she’s generally a pretty emotionally guarded person, and Tony is too, but this is something they both understand, and I appreciated the nod to guilt complexes (brief enough to not bring down the sexy island vacation/buddy spy movie vibe.)

Oh yeah. And she says, ‘oh and no armor. you have to be helpless :)’

I just find the pan out to the sail boat and the “no... armor? 😳” panel very comedic. Liike. They may as well have given him a “gulp” sound effect.

But Tony is naturally helpful and agreeable, and he drinks his Respecting Women Juice-- this is her mission, if he agrees, he’s going to do it her way-- but he’s also so fucking uncomfortable being without armor. It’s his emotional support billion dollar technology. It’s his crutch, he doesn’t like walking around exposed. But anything for a friend, right?

So they spend a few days basically having as much public fun as possible, flaunting Tony’s presence, dangling him like a piece of fruit for the bad guys, “Oh boys, I’m here, I’m unarmed, it would be a shame if someone came and... kidnapped me 😳😳😳”, and they go to a gala together (looking like an extremely hot couple),

and...

Assassin: Hello

Nat: Tony... run to safety, you’re in danger

Tony: aight, I’mma head out

I don’t love tropes that woobify Tony or make him a damsel in an incompetent way, or need to be rescued constantly by some alpha male ship counterpart (this is a common Steve/Tony trope, from what I’ve seen) but objectively I think it’s hilarious and so in character for him to willingly make himself vulnerable to be used for bait, absolutely hate it, and fully trust in his female friend/hero counterpart to rescue him.

“Yeehaw, I’m finally getting chloroformed, took them long enough, sure hope everything is good with Nat and her plan to save me :)”

and meanwhile she literally got so caught up in the fun of beating up an assasn while wearing a ballgown, (quote: ‘You’re wasting my time, you can’t be working for the people I’m after so it’s time to stop playing with you’) that she... she just kinda... loses Tony:

good issue. fun issue. read iron man volume 3 and talk to me about it thanks

[ghosthan]

Who’s your favourite iron man love interest and why?

Hi anon! Sorry it took me so long to answer. I just answered an ask about my favorite canon Tony ships here.

But my favorite Tony love interest, in general, is a simpler answer.

[ghosthan]

what is your favorite iron man suit

Hello, Anon! Thanks for asking. I would love to talk Iron Man armor. 

I am very basic; I am a sucker for the simplistic/classic armors. I love Part of my reasoning is that, as an artist, I suck at drawing the geometry of the more structured armors. But also, I like the sleek look of the classic armors. I think they’re very sexy, from both a design perspective and the hotness perspective.

Let’s get into this. Here are some of my favorite armors, with images, and my reasons why!

The Model 2/3/4 all look visually very similar, and I think currently this is my favorite armor overall, and I’m delighted whenever these armors appear in comics. I like the shiny, smooth arms and legs. I like the details on the armor itself, and I appreciate that the details aren’t excessive.

 I find the pointy faceplate very pleasing! I believe this is the Model 2, (and yes, this is an actual comics screenshot, not Steve/Tony fan art. Thank you Hickmanvengers.)

AI Tony of Secret Empire wears/inhabits the Model 4 armor, and it’s just such a good vibe. Beautiful art, combined with my favorite armor and a beautifully drawn, sad, ghost-like Tony? Yes please! 

(It looks great from the back, too.)

And we also see it (technically model 3.8 I believe according to Fandom Wiki) during Avengers Prime, which is a really fun story full of good Tony moment, (and good Steve/Tony moments!)

(I am planning to write another separate post on best Steve looks, but in my humble opinion, his two outfits from Avengers Prime are worth appreciating.)

I also like the Extremis Armor. The face is kind of weird, but overall, it’s more on the sleek side than the chunky side, which I like. And by merit of its abilities and storylines, I’m attached to it. I’m a big Civil War person, I just can’t and won’t get over it, I’m always working on Civil War inspired WIP fic, so I spend a lot of time thinking about this armor. Maybe I have Extremis Armor Stockholm Syndrome, it’s impossible to say at this point. 

And, the Extremis gold undersuit sure is... something!

I’ve been looking at this screenshot a lot lately for fic reasons.

I also really like the bumble bee armor. I just think it’s neat. The first time I was exposed to it, I was confused by the changed colors, but once I accepted it, I just like the vibe. I like the red lights and how oddly clunky and industrial the suit is, I find it endearing. Like when a kid goes through a goth phase.

He’s like an angry bumble bee, I love him.

Honorable mentions/runners-up:

1. Model 1, you gotta, it’s a classic, it appeals to the sentimental in every Iron Man Stan, this is the origin! The tin can which first contained the man in a can :)

2. Superior Iron Man armor (because I’m disgusting)

4. Stealth Armor (I don’t even go here I just think it’s Neat)

This post is getting long so I’ll cut myself off. There are many more armors I really like and while my favorite is solidly Model 2/3/4 (sue me, I’m counting them as one for the purposes of this post), it was very hard for me to choose what other armors to include here. Maybe I will do another armor post at some point!

Also, please appreciate the restraint I showed in not turning this into a list of the ugliest armors! I am not trying to stir that pot again... but boy do I have opinions 😅

Thanks, Anon!

[ghosthan]

Who is your favourite canon iron man ship? And why?

Hi anon! Thank you for asking. I’m not sure if you’re the same person who asked the same question a month back, but if you are, I’m sorry I never answered ;o; If you are not the same person, then ignore that.

My favorite canon ship is possibly Tony and Rumiko? This is hard to answer because Tony’s had so many romances that I like for different reasons, and also it’s difficult because I’m still slowly making my way through his comics still!

But I really love Ru and she’s so different from a lot of his relationships. I like what they brought out in each other, I like her spice and I like that she was silly and spunky, because it really balanced out Tony’s seriousness sometimes. Her funky fashion (Totoro purse anyone?) and her sense of humor, and I like a lot that she uses sort of a snarky charm to hide her own vulnerability. I like that she has a sense of her own value, and that she’s competent and brave and bright. I think she just really brings joy and life to Tony, and I love Tony for her because he appreciates all the things that make her shine. He loves how snarky and witty she is, he has an emotional hard-on for her level head in an emergency and her competence and her rebellious streak-- the things that other people in her life love her in spite of are the things he loves her for.

So it’s sort of a case of like, Ru is a good love interest for Tony, but Tony is also a good love interest for Ru? 

Obviously, except for when he’s not.

In terms of other canon ships, I find Tony/Jan quite cute, I adore Jan, but I haven’t yet read through their first try at a relationship (but I know it wasn’t really ideal.) They were a good couple in TS:IM I think, (the only good thing about it lol), but Cantwell broke off their relationship (in a sort of hilariously unexplained, abrupt manner) as soon as he took the reigns writing Tony in the current Iron Man run, to make room for a new disastrous relationship he felt like writing.

I’m just a huge Jan fan and I think she had Tony have a lot in common, but I’m just as happy with them as friends. 

While I’m hitting on friendships, I really like Tony and Nat’s friendship, particularly in IMv3 but just generally as well, and it has a sort of sexy, pseudo-romantic quality at times, like, the kind of friends that know they look hot together and platonically do romantic things and have a deep, long formed trust between them? I have some posts about that here.

Lastly, I’ll mention Tony/Whitney-- it’s another ship I haven’t read a ton of their canon but what I have read, I enjoy, and I find Whitney’s character really compelling. And their more problematic moments scratch an itch that I have for ugly, messy, emotionally gnarly relationships between damaged people, so.

Thank you for asking! If you’re interested in reading more, someone whose opinion generally aligns with my own on a lot of Tony matters recently answered a similar ask so I’ll link you to veryvincible’s post here and here! She’s written some great meta about Tony’s canon love life, as well as some of his slightly less canon but subtextually rich relationships (cough, cough, Ty), which is very worth checking out.

[ghosthan]

616 Tony Stark deserves better writers and a finalized redemption arc that’ll stick when it’s complete. So basically it’ll stay the same when he crosses over into new Avengers runs or his own new runs. Marvel ruined his character with Civil War and now everything has to be his fault somehow. Thoughts?

Sorry it took me a hundred years to write back, but I have given this a little thought! I agree in some ways and disagree in others. I do think he absolutely deserves better writers, I’m miserable about the last few Iron Man runs and it’s so frustrating to see writers who actively dislike Tony get control over him.

I also agree that he should get to stop having to try to redeem himself, the current run (which I did stop reading after a few issues) really irritated me because Tony is treated like he needs to redeem himself, ambiguously, just sort of for.... Oh, not really anything in specific. And this could even be twisted to work for his character if it was based on his inescapable sense of guilt, but it’s not; Tony is vaguely pissed off at people for not appreciating him in Cantwell’s run, so it’s just kind of ??? to me. Personally, I enjoy Tony’s guilt complex as a part of his character, but there’s lots of room to give him guilt without narratively framing it as though he deserves to feel guilty. 

I don’t think Marvel ruined his character in Civil War, though. I haven’t been reading comics for that many years, and I certainly haven’t been reading before Civil War to have had the experience of a reader of Marvel changing his character, (as I feel now watching Cantwell vomit all over him.) Personally, I really enjoy Civil War for a lot of reasons you may dislike it and that’s totally valid, different tastes for different fans!  I enjoy how flawed Steve and Tony both are in the event, and how both of their actions are driven by their personal philosophies, deeply ingrained into them through personal experience, so depending on whose side you examine, it makes sense looking at their history and the circumstances they’re under. I don’t think they ruined his character here, and if anything, I find it interesting for his development that this was a time when he sort of had to “be the bad guy” for a cause he believed in, knowing how it would look and what he would lose, while Steve got to be the martyr. In the past, self sacrifice is Tony’s favorite tool in times of catastrophe, so to see him care enough about something to live and oversee the fallout and see things all the way through, this is almost a greater sacrifice for a man that historically will volunteer to die for pretty much anything.

However, that being said, I see what you mean in some ways and would like to see a return of some seemingly forgotten aspects of Tony’s character; the chivalry, the well-mannered gentleman of early canon, the guy who spends his free time on private, personal charity homes, the guys who tries to save bad guys from themselves, the guy who recognizes when his friends are suffering addiction and reaches out. It isn’t that Tony’s character has changed beyond recognition, but I think due to writers who don’t know him/don’t like him, and influence of MCU, some traits have shifted. I enjoy Tony having a chance to make a snarky quip, but I’ll always better enjoy a Tony with polished charm, suffering in silence against the injustice of the world on the inside. I get a little tired, too, of Tony being characterized as overly egotistical and arrogant-- wherever this came from, I don’t love it, but I don’t personally think this came out of Civil War. I don’t think Tony ever quite felt certain of himself, and something we (used to) often see was Tony second guessing himself, and despairing about making the right choices, and just wanting to do what’s best. 

But again, it’s a big matter of personal taste and interpretation, and I’m certainly no expert. I’m not the most well versed Tony fan out there, and I’m still growing my knowledge at a snail’s pace. I really appreciate the ask, and enjoyed thinking about it!

[jacrispyretro]

okay here are my opinions on who those three characters that die are going to be [warning there are spoilers for the books and maybe the show too i guess? i did a lot of research for this it took forever]

so i've thought about this a lot, trying to narrow down who will die

also, just so you are aware, i have yet to read any of these books, but i am doing research right now to make sure that all the facts i mention in here are as true to canon as they can be.

okay, let's just assume that the "three characters" who are going to die are major characters that we already know, and whom we have seen at least twice

here is the list i came up with - i originally just had the first nine, but remembered the last two three soon after:

hannibal

will

jack

alana

freddie

beverly

jimmy

brian

bedelia

bella

frederick chilton? i suppose he is an option

one of the dogs. i wasn't going to add this one, but i changed my mind.

now, going a little off topic for a minute, the plan for the show is to reach the red dragon story line in season four. obviously, hannibal and will are out, and i imagine, if the writers are going to stay as true to canon as possible like they have been, jack is not an option, nor is alana (from what my research shows me).

here's where the spoilers start coming in okay

so freddy lounds, freddie's male counterpart in red dragon, dies at the hand of francis dolarhyde, who is expected to appear in the show in season 4. originally, before doing this quick research, all i knew was that freddy died in canon, so i figured freddie was an obvious option for this. however, now that i know how, when, and by whom he dies, i'm not so sure she'll die in season 2. but whether it be season 2 or season 4, i'm betting that freddie will die eventually.

next on the list are beverly/jimmy/brian. i couldn't find much information on these three, but the info that i did find said nothing about any of their deaths. since they appear to be pretty minor characters in red dragon, the hannibal writers could essentially do anything with them. therefore, i'm led to believe that any one of these three could be killed off. watch out.

bedelia du maurier appears to be an original character from what i can tell? i searched around for her name in regards to red dragon, and also just tried to see if hannibal had a therapist by another name in the books, but i found nothing. i could be wrong, and correct me if i am, but it seems like dr. du maurier was never in the books at all. so she's definitely an option too, i suppose. anything could happen to her.

as you all are aware, bella crawford has lung cancer. she dies towards the end of silence of the lambs (referring to the book - it's been a while since i saw the movie, and i don't recall if she was in it or not. according to imdb, she was not, but i don't know if she was mentioned), however i'm not sure if the show is planning on going that far into the hannibal timeline. anyway, bella is similar to freddie lounds in this way, i think. she could die this season, or she could die later, but either way, i believe that her death is ultimately going to appear in the plot.

frederick chilton. no matter what adaptation of the story you are reading/watching, it sounds like chilton dies no matter what. at the end of sotl (book), hannibal sends chilton a letter "promising gruesome vengeance". then, in hannibal (book), it is mentioned that chilton went missing, and it is assumed that hannibal kept his previous promise. in the movie version of sotl, hannibal is seen following chilton through a village in the caribbean. so, again, it seems to me like he's going to die someway/sometime or another.

finally, i'm just gonna touch on the dogs. winston is the most likely one to die, i assume, because he's the only one we really know, and the one who, i believe, bryan fuller would most consider a "character". i'm just gonna pretend i never said this though, because killing winston would be THE WORST

so recap: freddie, bella, and chilton all die or are at least assumed dead in canon, but all later in canon than where the show is right now. not much is known about beverly, jimmy, or brian, and bedelia is - as far as i know - an original character, so all of them are open options too. also winston.

to be honest, i kinda just figured this out as i went along. at the start, i thought i'd have a more definitive answer by the end, but that clearly didn't happen.

also if anyone is reading this, please don't take this to heart, these are just my own deductions. to be honest though, this research has definitely made me feel a little more confident that alana bloom won't die. at least i hope not.

but yeah, despite how worried i am now, i'm looking forward to the new season. and hey, we should have seen this coming. they made it a whole season without killing anyone off - well, except abigail, i guess - so they have to make up for it somehow.