#super spies

[vertigoartgore]

2012's Winter Soldier Vol.1 #1 variant cover by Gabriele Dell'Otto.

[caw4brandon]

We Like, Are Totally Spies

When we think about shows that will appeal to boys. Action is the easiest to relate. Something like; Ben 10, American Dragon Jake Long, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Justice League will be on the list. It has drama, it has fights and it's cool!

However, there has been a movement in that era where specific cartoon shows aim to get girls into action. Kim Possible, Juniper Lee, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and The Winx Club are perfect examples of such shows.

There is an odd case for more girl-centric shows. Something about the need to balance femininity with action. The show needs to feel like an action that happens to have the main characters be girls. This is where today's topic comes in. We're talking about how;

- How's the Mission, Spies? -

< Totally Spies > by Vincent Chalvon-Demersay and David Michel follows three teens; Sam, Clover and Alex from Beverly Hills living a secret life being Super Spies for WOOHP (World Organization Of Human Protection) under their boss; Jerry Lewis.

Their missions involve travelling the world. Fighting mad scientists and twisted outcasts who seek to dominate the world with style and gadgets that conceal themselves as fashionable equipment.

The trio plays specific archetypes. Sam (green) is the brains, Clover (red) is the fashionista/ boy obsessive and Alex (yellow) is the athlete and occasional nerd. Despite their differences, they share several common interests such as their love for shopping and spy skills of agility, hand-to-hand combat and espionage.

Across six seasons, the girls matured from high school to university students. Confronting the daily struggles of homework, social lives and their petty arch-enemy, Mandy.

As a vibe, < Totally Spies > fully leans into the Beverly Hills lifestyle of fabulous fashion and some familiar pop culture names of that era. The show has a mix of the James Bond type of super spy world filled with dull henchmen, high-tech machines and some tacky villains.

- Time to go to Plan B! -

The episodes are condensed into their own episode. Although there have been some arcs that follow specific villains who have a bit of history with the main characters.

Tim Scam is a former agent who went rogue against WOOHP and Terrence Lewis; twin brother to Jerry and a sore thumb to WOOHP. There also reoccurring allies as well. Brittney (cyan) who joined the team as a trainee, Dean from the three-part series < Evil Promotion Much? > and Blaine a freelance agent who dated Clover.

The conflicts, if we can even call them conflicts at all have aged rather strangely. Some of the villains commit petty crimes like kidnapping celebrities due to jealousy or act extreme. Like being anti-consumerist with the solution of destroying malls.

Yet, some are still relatable to this day such as a kid villain who is mad at his father for being busy as a commentary on how parental neglect can cause warped ideas in a child. Whatever, it's a pre-teen show. Let's not look into it too deeply.

The world of Totally Spies is also interconnected with several other shows; [The Amazing Spiez] and [Martin Mystery].

< Martin Mystery > follows Martin, a paranormal investigator for the Center with Martin's step-sister, Diana Lombard and Java the Caveman. Fighting monsters, urban legends and aliens.

According to a special crossover episode. Martin's boss; M.O.M (Mystery Organization Manager) and Jerry know each other. Likewise, in Amazing Spiez; Jerry is also the boss of the Clark siblings. Lee, Marc, Megan and Tony. Sadly, these shows were short-lived and cancelled.

It does raise an interesting point. Why is Totally Spies more popular? As a guess, I think it's because the chemistry between the characters is a lot more interesting and fun.

The three girls are best of friends and while they sometimes bicker over boys, responsibilities and opinions. They will always put their friendship and mission first above all else. It feels more real, in a superficial way.

That an actual girl would have a girlfriend group this tight-knit and if they ever become a part of something bigger than them. They would do it together.

- Here We Go Again! -

Tacky villains, cute super spy girlfriends and awesome gadgets aside. The show has a few good jokes here and there. Its art style borrows a lot from Anime and its colors are groovy to the eyes.

For a show that was meant to attract girls into action. The show has also garnered a large following from boys as well. I think another secret to the success of < Totally Spies > can also be because of its approach to the subject. Like I said in my introduction.

There is an odd case for more girl-centric shows. Something about the need to balance femininity with action. The show needs to feel like an action that happens to have the main characters be girls.

This show is a girl's show. The girls are unapologetic being girly. Doing girl things like shopping, manicure, dating and going on dream vacations but with their secret life as spies. The show balances it out with good action and is still using that girly theme to add to its gadgets.

Heck, some of the gadgets are stuff that I would personally want to have. The Jet Pack backpack, The Wind Tunnel 3000 Tornado Blast Hair Dryer, Lazer lipstick and the Compowder are on my list. Especially with its costume change function.

It's a show that embraces both ends of the spectrum and allows it to show its respective strengths rather than shy away from the themes. With the announcement that this show is going to have a season 7/ soft reboot. It does look promising with several concerns.

But I am hopeful that for a beloved show such as this. The girls will have a proper return and inspire a new generation of girls (and boys) to be < Totally Spies >

[annachum]

In spy missions, spies are often allocated in special parts of a mission based on what they are great at

Holley's often into hacking and information data

Fatima's often Into bookkeeping and research

Finn often leads the high stakes frontline team missions as a high ranking spy

Similarly with Leland btw

Eva is more of a spy agency secretary yet she book keeps lots of spies' works

Tomber is more onto engineering and informant

Siddeley is a frontline spy jet and hacker

Stephenson is a spy train and informant for a bunch of other spy trains

Valerie specializes in charm weaponization ( to distract, deflect and scheme around ) and information gathering

In those spy missions, Valerie would sometimes disguise as a lounge singer/model or smth

Finn loves to see her perform as a jazz singer in them missions

He finds it hard hiding his lovestruck face

And even more so when Valerie decides to tease him by giving him come hither eyes as she sings close to him ( and giving enough time to distract everyone else from whatever stuff the other agents in a team mission are doing )

Valerie also led several all female spy missions btw

Later on Holley also sometimes does that too

A number of cars keep listing similarities between Holley and Valerie

Holley is defo a bit more like her mom but she also has hunches of her dad as well

And also bits of her grandmother Marigold Hozier, and her great aunt Sarah Churchill too

Since Finn lost a number of spy friends and also his wife in the dangerous spy missions

He often has white lilies and roses around his house garden as a commemoration of then

Valerie is one of the ONLY people who truly can break thru Finn's icy shell

But after she died, Finn battled thru depression for a while and it becomes tougher for many others ( including his closest friends sometimes ) to Crack thru his outer shell

Him having a better relationship with his daughter helped him to learn how to be more vulnerable again

Similarly with what Doc learned from Lightning

Oh and Parvaneh is more of a medical spy jet, but she defo helps with her husband Siddeley with them information backup as well

Rod Redline is more on weaponry specialization and dangerous field missions

Josie is more of an astrophysicist for a spy company for years ( until Rod died ) but she also often helps with the astrophysics backup for field spies and such

[magicalrobodokiofficial]

Chapter 3 is now out- and it's a whopping 51 minutes of gay masquerade content!

My collab fic with @weaponsdrawn has reached it's third chapter! Apologies for the delay, we both had mental issues and college finals (not a good combo) but we're back, baby!

Synopsis:

The dark axe. A method of controlling and damaging dark creatures that can destroy the multiverse. It was destroyed long ago, with its various pieces scattering to many familiar dimensions, including the universe where the Robodoki crew lives. A new duo of enemies team up to rebuild the axe, a secret agent group called IDDA is in charge of handling this mess, and the Robodoki team must help them and others to save the entire existence of time and space itself…

Will these new interdimensional alliances get along? Will the Robodoki crew become successful spies? Or will their entire existence succumb to a rift in time?

A collab fic between weaponsdrawn on tumblr/killerqueenie on discord, this co-written fic was written by the both of us. She owns the IDDA characters and the Roomerang Showling characters, I own the robodoki characters.

Magical Robodoki Miniseries- A Rift In Time - The Spies and The Liar

Page 19 Read The Spies and The Liar from the story Magical Robodoki Miniseries- A Rift In Time by Stevenstoriesofold (S...

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[ladyfantasy98]

Female Protagonists, Empowerment, & Totally Spies!

So recently I’ve been watching old cartoons on Netflix, Amazon Prime, & Hulu,  to stave off quarantine-restlessness. Watching What’s New Scooby-Doo, Danny Phantom, and Totally Spies! has really brought me back to my childhood and been something nice, easy, and relaxing to engage in.

But watching Totally Spies! the other day gave me a revelation: what a positive and empowering show it is for young girls (and women) watching it.

The show follows three high school girls, best friends Clover, Samantha “Sam” and Alexandra “Alex”, as they assist a secret government agency called the “World Organization Of Human Protection (WOOHP)” as super spies. They are regularly whisked away from school and their everyday lives by hidden passages in lockers, restrooms, trashcans, and utility sheds; briefed on a mission by WOOHP director Jerry; given pretty cool gadgets; and sent on missions to find missing persons or stop villains from taking over the world. All while also dealing with the drama and woes of high school, including bullying, homework, romance and crushes, school dances, etc.

Now it’s not a perfect show. Watching it as a 22-year-old instead of a 10-year-old (so I’m not in the intended audience anymore, anyway) I can see the problems. Silly villains, generic world domination plots, a lack of respect towards physics, and sometimes cheesy or stilted dialogue, to name a few. And it’s not that great representation-wise, even though the Main Characters are teenage girls, and Alex is I think supposed to be Latina, she’s s “Ambiguously Brown” as TV Tropes would call it.

But at its core, Totally Spies! is a show about a trio of best girlfriends who Save the World practically every week. Clover, Sam, and Alex (especially Clover) can be vain, ditzy, and boy-obsessed, and they enjoy shopping at the mall and worrying about their appearances, like stereotypical teenage girls. But on missions, they prove themselves brave, smart, resourceful, clever, caring, and strong. And at the end of the day, they always have each other’s backs.

And this combination of typical teenage girlhood & super spy skills, while seeming contradictory, adds to the positive image of girls/women. I’ve read other articles that criticize shows (especially cops/detective shows) for making their female characters overly masculine who shun feminine clothing and interests.

But Totally Spies! lets their female characters embrace their feminine side while kicking bad guys’ (and gals’) butts. Even their weapons -- gadgets like Laser Lipstick, Bracelet Handcuffs, Butterfly Laser-Emitting Pendant, & Hoop Earring Communicator -- take traditional feminine products and give them a spy upgrade, allowing them to be both beautiful and practical.

I enjoyed watching Totally Spies! as a kid because of the action, the colorful animation, and the fact that the the protagonists were girls. Years later, I’ve been drawn back in by the nostalgia and the easy watchability. But I’m happy to realize now how empowering Totally Spies! was -- and is -- for female audiences. Despite its flaws, this show should be celebrated for the image it presents of its female teenage protagonists -- strong, brave, smart, & caring friends who like to hang out, dress up, and save the world every other Tuesday.

[sorry-for-my-bad-english]

"clover's my girlfriend"

[widowronin]

Clint, drunk at bar somewhere: Everyone always makes such a big deal out of lying. You literally just say stuff.

Natasha: *nodding*

Clint: My brother thought I was straight until I was 23.

Clint: Ya'll still think my name is Clint.

Natasha:

Natasha: waiT

[abs0luteb4stard]

WATCHING

(I'm saying this motherfucker is a 15/10. -- FIGHT ME)