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happy new year everyone ✨

Longshot is the "Fallen Messiah". Created by Arize (using Shatterstar's DNA) with the purpose of fighting against Mojo. Arize gave him the spark that would make him different from others to lead the rebellion.

He fell in love with Rita, and she decided to join him in his fight to free the people of Mojoworld. That was her doom. She discovered he'd NEVER win, and she was turned into Spiral. Rita lost everything. Longshot lost Rita.

Then he fell in love with Dazzler. She ended up going to Mojoworld with him to help him free the people there (like Rita did).

They were going to have a son. But 'Star and Ric took their baby and erased their memories. Once again, Longshot lost his partner and now also his chance to have a family. And Dazzler still to this day doesn't know what was taken from her. Ali lost her husband and child; she also lost her family.

Longshot lost both Rita and Dazzler.

And these women had their lives very damaged by going to Mojoworld, and Longshot knows it. He feels guilty about it.

However, Spiral says Longshot is always going to fail, he's the FALLEN messiah, and it's Shatterstar who is fated to lead the rebellion that finally frees the people of Mojoworld for real.

Which is...true? On two occasions, Shatterstar has freed Mojoworld.

One in X-Factor and the other in an AU. But in both occasions he's unhappy and unsatisfied with his life, and this freedom it's achieved by losing his own autonomy and loved ones.

In the AU, he becomes the ruler of Mojoworld. But he's actually just a figurehead, manipulated and used. He hates what he has become.

In X-Factor he achieved the freedom of the others by making a contract with Mojo (Leah Williams, the writer, said it in a podcast). He sacrificed himself, his privacy, and autonomy, and again, he hates his life.

In both, he's all alone.

So we could conclude that 'Star is the one who can actually win against Mojo. It's just that, unlike Longshot, who is continually going to Mojoworld to try it, 'Star only goes back there when he's kidnapped or when he's "escaping" from his problems on Earth (more specifically when he and Ric are not together). He NEVER goes back intending to defeat Mojo, even if he could.

'Star doesn't feel the "pull" that Longshot feels. And contrary to Longshot, he hasn't lost (for real) the love of his life (Rictor). He's actually lived a more "normal" life than Longshot ever could.

Both were stars of Mojoworld, and both fought in the rebellion to defeat Mojo, but they want different things. Their priorities are different.

Longshot is doomed to keep trying to overthrow Mojo even if it means losing the ones he loves. Meanwhile, Shatterstar chooses over and over to stay on Earth with Julio. I always joke about how he just goes along with whatever Ric is doing at the moment; he's just happy to be around and follow him around. I guess at the end, he did find a cause (someone) to fight for.

My personal hc is that Longshot never asks Shatterstar for help, in his attempts to free Mojoworld, because he knows (when he remembers) what he has lost and doesn't want the same for 'Star, he wants 'Star to actually have a happy life (with Julio). Longshot doesn't want Rictor's life to be damaged like Rita's and Ali's have been; it's bad enough that Julio has already been trapped and forced to fight in Mojoworld, forced to deliver his boyfriend and put him in a path of abuse.

And this is all. I just think so much about the dazzler/longshot and ricstar parallels and how one is doomed and the other, despite all the adversities, have been able to stay together.