Young Sevika For No Reason

sigh... spiderfist

My favourite fan theory about anything is "Gandalf fucked a hobbit once", as an explanation as to why he's so invested in them. Like several generations ago, purely by happenstance he just happened to encounter a fearless Took lass who decided to Fuck That Old Man and by the powers of supreme hobbit reproduction skills, the natural happens.

So Gandalf just goes "ah well fuck, gotta fix this", somehow makes sure she's arranged an excellent marriage, and pays her future husband a visit like "just a heads-up you're going to have an early, unexpectedly large and supremely excellent child and you are going to be nothing but loving and proud of your firstborn, or she is going to become a very rich young widow whose husband tragically died of a mysterious case of Killed By A Wizard, ok?"

And after that he's been visiting here and there to discreetly keep track of which ones are his descendants, and then after keeping track of all of them becomes too much work, decides to narrow down to the ones he's deemed to take after him (the ones the other hobbits think are weird, mostly) until deciding that Bilbo was his favourite. Probably has zero wizard blood in him by now and Gandalf doesn't even consider the hobbits he's been keeping tabs on as his offspring in any way anymore, it's basically a hobby to him by now.

So any time other Maiar or other immortal races notice him keeping an eye on the hobbits and ask him what's his deal with the halflings anyway, he just shrugs and goes "idk I just think they're neat."

Steve: Spider-Man, status?

Peter: Your honour, we're cooked

Steve: ?

Clint: He means he and I got shot

Steve: Oh

Steve: OH—

What is this? A crossover episode???

Artists.

You do not need your Twitter.

Twitter is not the boost you think it is anymore.

I have seen at least 6 people I follow on BlueSky saying they have looked into their numbers and compared to Twitter? BSky gives them over double the exposure and follow through for outside links (probably because Twitter kills your tweet if you have links).

Twitter is testing a feature to allow other users to click a button attached to your posts to put your art into their Grok ai and make ai art with it without your permission automatically.

It is marking non-ai art as being made with Grok (probably to promote it).

You do not need Twitter.

Twitter needs you.

Starve the fuckin thing.

I’ve loved Spider-Man for as long as I can remember. It started with watching the Fox Kids cartoon as a four-year-old, recording episodes on VHS, I was drawn to Peter Parker’s scrappy, awkward resilience. It didn’t matter that I didn’t fully understand the plot; I knew it mattered. My dad and uncle had collected comics before I was born, so the mythos was already in the background of my childhood. I’d flip through their old issues with reverence, even if I didn’t understand all the references. It felt like peering into a world that had always been there, waiting for me to join.

By third grade, it became my thing. A handful of comics for Christmas was all it took to hook me. I started collecting Ultimate Spider-Man, following it all the way to issue #100. I didn’t just read the stories, I studied them, absorbing the characters, the pacing, and the shifts in art styles. Spider-Man’s world became a lens through which I saw my own, and I began adopting parts of him into my life. Photography became a hobby because Peter had his camera. Science caught my attention because of his intellect and drive to use his powers for good. Spider-Man wasn’t just a character I admired; he was shaping my identity.

One night, a friend was staying over, and I launched into an impromptu presentation on Spider-Man’s artistic evolution. I compared the anxious geometry of Steve Ditko to the bold expressiveness of John Romita Sr., and the sleek energy of Mark Bagley. I wasn’t trying to impress her; I just had so much love and curiosity for the character that it spilled out. Years later, she still remembers it, laughing at how passionately I broke it down. Now, whenever she sees Spider-Man art, she tries to remember the details I shared, even if she doesn’t remember the names of the artists.

Eventually, I stopped collecting regularly around the “Brand New Day” arc. It wasn’t that I stopped caring. The reset of Peter’s lore felt like a betrayal. Years of growth and emotional stakes were erased, and it felt like Peter wasn’t being allowed to grow up. That frustrated me. But I didn’t leave entirely. I kept up with the comics, watched the movies, and played the latest games. No matter how much time passes, there’s always a part of me swinging alongside him.

Sometimes, I boot up one of the Spider-Man games just to swing around, not to finish missions or chase collectibles, but for the sheer joy of it. It’s comforting, like muscle memory for the soul. The rhythm of web-slinging through the city, the rush of wind, the hum of the world below, it calms me. It’s a reminder of being a kid, imagining I could swing between buildings and feeling that sense of possibility.

Spider-Man has always felt like the most human of superheroes. He’s not the strongest, the smartest, or the most selfless. He’s tired, bruised, and sometimes almost ready to quit. But he doesn’t. He keeps showing up because he knows someone has to. That’s why I’ve always needed him, to see that it’s okay to be flawed, to try even when it’s hard.

Sometimes, I think I was raised more by Spider-Man than by anyone else. When I needed guidance, Peter’s quiet resilience stuck with me. He wasn’t rich or invincible; he was exhausted, broke, overwhelmed, and he still showed up. His sense of responsibility wasn’t glamorous; it was messy, earned through failure and trying again. Through him, I learned how to carry pain without letting it consume me and how to make the right choice, even when it costs something. He made it okay to stumble, to feel deeply, and still want to be good. In a strange way, he became the model for the adult I wanted to be.

some of my favorite lines of dialogue i've overheard in marvel rivals so far

(keep in mind these are all paraphrased im going off of memory cuz i never have the reflex to screenshot these as they happen oops)

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"I never had kids, but I did have the Avengers. Same thing." - Iron Man spawning in

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"One for me, one for Steven, one for Jake." - Moon Knight after getting a triple kill

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"Can you teach me some of your magic-?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I think you've had enough chaos already." - Loki & Scarlet Witch interaction

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"You have made your father proud, Wanda, my dear." - Magneto when assisting a Scarlet Witch with a kill

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"No one breaks a bargain with me twice."

"So I can do it once?" - Hela & Loki interaction

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"When I said "No More Mutants" you were who I meant, Logan." - Scarlet Witch after killing a Wolverine

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"How did you learn magic?"

"A place called Kamar-Taj."

"Oh so you weren't bitten by, like, a radioactive sorcerer?"

"[Extremely exasperated] Peter, please..." - Doctor Strange & Spiderman interaction

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"Leave real magic to the grown-ups, Ilyana." - Scarlet Witch killing a Magik

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"Nerd win!" - Bruce Banner if he gets a kill in his non-Hulk form

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"Are you fast enough to stop a bullet, if I shot you?"

"Well, you won't be able to. I already dismantled the inner-mechanisms of all of your guns."

"Wh- What?!"

"Now if you behave yourself I might fix them." - Punisher & Magneto interaction

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"So you can talk to rodents?"

"Tippy-Toe seems to think so!"

"Can you try and convince Rocket to clean his bunk?"

"There are some things even I can't do, I'm afraid." - Star-Lord and Squirrel Girl interaction

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"We sense great darkness and chaos within you, woman."

"You're one to talk, Venom."

"No, we... Find it strangely... Attractive."

"...Somehow, that made me want to save this universe less." - Venom & Scarlet Witch interaction

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"It's good to be fighting side by side again, like in the old days."

"Back when you used children as soldiers for your cause?"

"When you put it like that, you make me sound like a terrible father."

"For once, we agree on something." - Magneto & Scarlet Witch interaction

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"[in the sassiest tone you can imagine] Your GOD is SUFFERING!!!" - Loki taking damage

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[i also dont remember the exact dialogue but there IS one with rocket asking to buy bucky's arm. so yes we won there]

i usually dont post my Good Stuff but supersons are too cute to keep to myself...

i think the near-extinction of people making fun, deep and/or unique interactive text-based browser games, projects and stories is catastrophic to the internet. i'm talking pre-itch.io era, nothing against it.

there are a lot of fun ones listed here and here but for the most part, they were made years ago and are now a dying breed. i get why. there's no money in it. factoring in the cost of web hosting and servers, it probably costs money. it's just sad that it's a dying art form.

anyway, here's some of my favorite browser-based interactive projects and games, if you're into that kind of thing. 90% of them are on the lists that i linked above.

A Better World - create an alternate history timeline

Alter Ego - abandonware birth-to-death life simulator game

Seedship - text-based game about colonizing a new planet

Sandboxels or ThisIsSand - free-falling sand physics games

Little Alchemy 2 - combine various elements to make new ones

Infinite Craft - kind of the same as Little Alchemy

ZenGM - simulate sports

Tamajoji - browser-based tamagotchi

IFDB - interactive fiction database (text adventure games)

Written Realms - more text adventure games with a user interface

The Cafe & Diner - mystery game

The New Campaign Trail - US presidential campaign game

Money Simulator - simulate financial decisions

Genesis - text-based adventure/fantasy game

Level 13 - text-based science fiction adventure game

Miniconomy - player driven economy game

Checkbox Olympics - games involving clicking checkboxes

BrantSteele.net - game show and Hunger Games simulators

Murder Games - fight to the death simulator by Orteil

Cookie Clicker - different but felt weird not including it. by Orteil.

if you're ever thinking about making a niche project that only a select number of individuals will be nerdy enough to enjoy, keep in mind i've been playing some of these games off and on for 20~ years (Alter Ego, for example). quite literally a lifetime of replayability.

life when you aren’t romantically attracted to people