Fragments of my Souls

And they were promising, their concept is a great way to explore more things and show that there is more to this than just blind faith, daddy issues related to blind faith, religious dogma and it's damaging effects on the human psyche, the grey area in morality and why not everything that glitters shine, identity and finding your own in a sea of masks.

But they have no development except being just accessories and ornaments to make Marc look cool by comparison.

Where are their own arcs? Their own growth besides becoming more and more loyal to Marc, and their world revolve more and more around Marc like some twisted spiral of co-dependence.

We have the Marlene-replacement with plenty of parallels to Marlene, but more of an enabler and can be a b*tch with no sense of boundaries (Marlene is the better, stable person to have walked away and actually grow on her own.)

The Frenchie-replacement but more submissive and obedient.

The Randal-replacement, ignoring the fact that both Steven and Jake are more of a sibling to Marc for years. And Marc still doesn't see it.

The Black Spectre/side-kick replacement, 2 of them.

And all of them also have this hint of co-dependency that mirrors Marc's dependency towards Khonshu. Which is weirdly narcissistic of him that he wants them to be dependent on him. It was framed as a good thing, as a whole "power of friendship" and how having people to rely on is good, but the more you think about it beyond the fancy art. It's actually alarming as it's a feedback loop to co-dependency that they are all enabling more and more.

Even if he was out of the picture, they are still dependent on him. I half expected Reese to just quit her school and move into the Midnight Mission building be the next "Marc Spector". Which, is questionable. They even dress the part so might as well have the same problems that define Marc.

Bad family relationships, daddy issues, and bad decisions.

If Jed was more gutsy, then he would make them face one of Marc's old enemies. And loose, badly. Because Marc's enemies are conditioned to fight an unpredictable lunatic with the backing of a god and cannot exactly die. Marc can be ruthless and have a level of aggression/power. Which none of the new characters do not have, even Tigra. She may go berserk and is a vetaran Avenger, but she is also predictable in her moves, AND don't have the backing of a god. Not the same way Khonshu is with Marc.

This shows the reality that Marc's level of enemies, are designed around HIS skillset and HIS fighting style. Years and years of fighting back and forth forced each other to adapt. And having 4 newbie LARPER in cosplay fight them, even with a veteran Avenger whose only plan is just going ham, is something that is not going to cut it because Marc's enemies work in a very different way.

Heck they even planned to bring him back, because they are now glued to him like a co-dependent child.

The Blood Hunt also feels really, weird to because you have Thor, the Sorcerer Supreme who died a million times and the Scarlet Witch who could wipe out the entire concept of Mutants, yet they can't exorcise the god that possessed Blade? What is this, Age of Khonshu again?

Both of them are like that and it's unhealthy for both!

It benefits her more than Marc. Compared to I don't know, raising her son?! Instead, she just inserts herself in Marc's little cosplay gig and is a bit of an ass that always gets away with it to a point that I really want her someone to beat some sense into her.

Instead of someone who is supposed to mature a bit because motherhood is a responsibility, Some one who is forced to grow because she now can't be impulsive as before for the sake of her son. And this progress should have happened off-screen. Instead I got an emotionally repressed teen in the body of an adult made of hormones who treats Marc like some Hank-replacement, jumped the moment the opportunity arrived right infront of her son.

What happened to her growth? Oh wait, there is none. Not to mention she acts like she is better in Marc life when she was not always there at all. And just have an ego that I really want to be plummeted.

Jed Mckay needs to write her better than some "arrogant strong woman" archetype whose story revolves around Marc like her son don't exist. She have a life outside of Marc and Jed needs to actually implement than just showing 2-3 scenes of her with William, and in one she looks miserable. She hates being a restrained single mother. And I feel sorrier for William.

Which only shows that she actually is not happy with being a single mother, the responsibilities, the restrain, the normal quiet life needed to help William grow without problems. She wants to go berserk again, to fight and not be a stay-in mom who have practice restrain to be an example to her son.

Which, only shows how little she matured at all, or none because she is just really desperate for the thrill and an excuse to fight like the impulsive berserker that she was. No wonder the past avenger have to literally and physically slap her from time to time when she got out of control.

Look at their background, both are stuck in a situation both caused in the past but have little control of.

They fucked up, but the solution is not to start another relationship just to replace the old one because the other showed "interest". That's trauma bonding with both being lonely as f*ck, stubborn as f*ck, with a lot of repressed emotions and feelings where they want to explode but can't because they are now tied to some "responsibility". either by their own hands or by fate.

And the solution is not to find a new partner to fill the void? That is very surface level and more like an unhealthy distraction that call blow-up badly. But no one wants it to blow-up because they look cute? It looks insidious to me

She's like the opposite to Marlene who decided to step away to focus on her child.

Tigra, ends up in the opposite spectrum. She have a child, but now she is also lonely and really craving for a love-life that didn't work last time that she end up going with Marc. Who is also enabling this.

Both are enabling each other and it's swept under the rug because it's "cool".

And I really think it's a bad situation because again, she have a son to take care of and it is supposed to be her priority, not with a massive man-child with daddy issues in cosplay and a walking red-flag.

She is also a bit of a walking red flag who really needs her own character development beyond her love-life. That's her entire backs story.

Still hate the current run and the direction of the Midnight Mission in general.

Tigra could be better, but she needs a proper writer who is willing to explore more of her motives, her actions, faults and situation because it could be a good story of surviving, being a single parent while also balancing trying to be a mother to what is essentially 2 "children" who should not be left alone. Her actual son, William and Marc. While also exploring about why Marc should not be left alone as the environment Marc cultivated is designed specifically to revolve around him is also very dangerous as it can extend to William's own safety. As a way to prove that Marc really does make his own mistakes and it is now coming back to hunt him down, and by extension Tigra out of pure association. So she have to find a way to navigate all of that like an adult because she can't be the same love-struck girl in the past, she is a mother and she have responsibilities and can't just jump the gun because the guy seems like "the one". There is an actual stake now, consequences that she can't stop just by being the same wild fighter, and this should affect her decision making to prove that motherhood changed her, forced her to grow up.

A form of self-reflection for her to try and realize what exactly does she wants, or rather what she THINKS she wants vs the reality of what she needs.

Instead it shows that she is emotionally repressed and so desperate for a love life, traumatized by her last experience that she end's up being part of the "Kiss Marc's Ass" fanclub because Marc is equally desperate and lonely and willing to try.

This is exactly what happened that resulted in Williams birth, and Tigra is just making the same mistakes over again.

And William, I feel sorrier for him than everyone else. He does have some screentime but is only there for the bare minimum to show that he does exist, then pushed aside because his mother's love life and pinning over Marc (albeit with more restrain and quieter now) is more important than her son. Proving that deep inside she is a lonely bastard craving to not be alone.

And she got that through Marc.

So yeah, her own needs and love-life are placed over her son.

Some mother.

It's disappointing. And no, Marc really should not be portrayed as a that personally good of a father figure. He is good at pretending even with good intentions like an anti-hero whitewashed Count of Monte Cristo knock-off but fails to get the points across.

All edge but nothing to learn.

Complete with trying to leave his old identity (Marc Spector = Edmond Dantes) and spend more time as his new one like it have become his entire character (Moon Knight/Mr Knight/Whatever sh*t comes out of Marc's ass = The Count of Monte Cristo)

Heck, Marlene could also be compared to Mercedes.

Marlene feels like the only sane person who have some form of growth. It's painful and clearly hurts not just her, but Marc and Jake. But it makes sense when you think about her situation. And dare I say it, mature of her.

She left for a reason, and they should show why instead of just making it a Marc glazing run each time. And when they dragged her in by having werewolves kidnap Diatrice, it feels, really shallow again. because even if it shows that Diatrice can be in danger simply because of marc's history. It's not a Marc connection, It's a Khonshu connection.

so it's not because of him or his past actions.

that is also my biggest problem, because no matter how much they try to push that Marc can be at fault and makes his own problems. You can still blame Khonshu. Again.

The god is once again the scapegoat of every single bad thing in the run. Not Marc, all he gets is an ego run but does not feel any major consequences. Instead, everyone worships him. Literally. Marc is a massive poser and hypocrite and is rewarded for it.

The midnight mission staff, including Tigra are characters, no matter how cool they are drawn. They are shallow accessories meant to make Marc look as cool as ever, as some misunderstood edgelord with daddy issues. Including Jake and Steven.

At least they could also use this to explore Jake and Steven since in the comic continuity, Jake was the one who impregnated Marlene and is the father. But he was tossed aside for Marc, leaving Jake to not ever have the chance to spend some time with what his daughter is essentially not even tell her the truth.

Even Marc wants to hog Diatrice. Like dude, you did not get Marlene pregnant. You are her uncle, stop trying to replace Jake because it feels not just unfair but a really shitty move to steal Jake's own role and his own daughter.

For what? to feel validated? and loved? Jake is right there you selfish idiot!

Because Marc here can barely make any faults without Khonshu in the picture anymore.

The road to hell is paved with good intention, and Marc even without Khonshu is still human with human flaws. But he barely faces any hard consequence besides being nagged at. He is known to be reckless, to still mess up and even though he is trying not to mess up, he over compensates and that effort still can mess up. Which he barely faces hardcore consequences now because apparently he can only face hardcore consequences only if Khonshu is involved, and not by his own choices.

Because he is not supposed to have all the bad faults. All that goes to Khonshu as the "abusive" on just to make Marc be the victim, be the tortured hero who needs to defeat Khonshu instead it having any true accountability and stop making Khonshu his scapegoat.

The run still does that no matter how many times it ways other wise. It claims Marc is the only one behind his action, but Khonshu still gets the blame regardless. They don't truly deliver that message because Marc will have to be just as much of an asshole as Khonshu. Which Marc is already an asshole in the past but they never shown it because only Khonshu can be the comical asshole with no redeeming qualities who actually does his job of wanting to protect countless lives for thousands of years, or be an actual character on his own. All that should be dumped to Marc and Khonshu, in this run is barely a God bit interpreted though the biased lenses of a white Jewish guy who barely knows Khonsu and raised to hate him, so everyone should also hate him as well. A Plot Device purely to make Marc look good.

Khonshu is not the God of the Moon on his own, he is the God of just one man and barely related to Khonshu's actual domain. Steven Grant and Jake Lockley is also a massive dissappointment with how fast and just weirdly hunky dory everything is. As if the 2 are not mad or separate autonomous identities with their own choices and sharing a body with Marc who is acting like a problematic dictator who they practically treat like family more than Marc's own family. Yet Marc doesn't even see them as family even though they have helped and been together so years. Marc imprisoned then in their own mind and can still do it anytime if they are not useful to him in some way. Where is their justice? Their autonomy and own sense of self was never explored, and they weren't even given some time to talk to a therapist like all the others. Like they are not important nor have their own issues.

The rest of the midnight mission really looks more like they don't understand Marc and just the image or rather, what Marc shows the world. Or they are desperately lonely, which only makes it worst because they now need more professional help for getting really too deep in this.

This method is manipulative because it quickly hits all of Tigra's emotional motherly instincts and emotional needs. Marc is pretty much a high-functioning sociopath but with emotional needs who manipulated everyone to love him out of pity.

don't believe me? look up the definition of a High-functioning Sociopath. An introvert who knows how to use his charm to manipulate and trick others while hiding their disorder.

And Marc have desperately trying to hide his disorder by literally imprisoning Steven and Jake in his own head, not telling those outside the know about his disorder out of insecurity. Which only makes other's indept to him because his little charity project is more for himself and not for actually helping other for the sake of helping. It's a massive self-pity trap where he love bombs Reese, either unaware that he is making her dependent on him, or he is just that lonely and don't want to be that aware of how toxic/manipulative it is. She also who is shown to have some emotional deperation and quickly latches on to her "savior". He is lonely, he tries to change his reputation but his desperate loniless causes him to find other people who are also lonely, and more precisly, emotionally vulnerable for him to love bomb and make them like him. Unintentinoally making them owe their life to him, never want to leave him because HE saved their life. The initial goal of altruism is only surface level when deep inside he is just so lonely and want other's not to leave him but knows this so he tries to be nice, when he is subconsciously enabling it and not even aware of it.

The same method of how a cult leader reaches out. This is from personal experience BTW so the run is actually triggering with just me seeing all the red flags while everyone adores Marc's "progress" with his fanclub, who all should go to an actual therapist besides Sternman who is pretty much useless in her job by now. Heck she herself needs therapy too.

Then there's Tigra's tendency to forget about Marc's issues on some occasions and can be really, really insensitive about it.

Like please, you are an adult and a single mother. Read the f*cking room!

Her introduction felt nice and like everyone I hoped it is good for both of them, but now it's just descents to feels unhealthy, insidious, tacked on, so shallow where she just wants to have a replacement for her failed past relationship and is desperately trying to make it work for Marc by walking around all happy with smiles, love-bombs Marc like the desperately lonely woman she is, then be unable to read the room the next.

Now I just want her gone or go through ANY development besides being a needy emotionally suppressed hormonal cat who really needs to see other people. And that should be painful, a massive reality check on her part that her son needs more care and priority as a mother.

She is a single mother, not a hormonal needy teenager stuck in an adult body.

Marlene is actually better in parenthood because she learned to grow-up and put her own child first. Even though leaving New York hurts, her child is more important than her own internal needs and that is what makes her the better one. Tigra is just plain needy and internally desperate for a Hank Pym replacement because her last relationship didn't work out the way she intended.

It's also really sad since this portrayal ruined Tigra for me, from a fun character to some clingy, emotional, needy b*tch who can also be insensitive at times and sometimes fail to read the room, especially about Marc's own issues which she tends to sometimes ignore. And it's really frustrating to read/think about.

I thought they were promising for a good exploration, but with the direction, they are all shallow and just suck in their own way. Maybe it's the lack of time to actually explore it, or the run dictates that they should revolve around Marc at all cost like their own past life and individuality didn't matter. They needed depth, or any character development besides glorifying cultic co-dependency, have stockholm syndrome, and being so emotionally vulnerable that they should have either gone to a professional therapist, or see other people like a normal person. Because apparently, the only solution portrayed in the run for everyone is not proper therapy, not character development, not an emotional arc that explores their own issues and changes as an individual but joining the Marc cult and worship his ass like he is Jesus. If there was therapy then it was only there to enforce their dependency on Marc, not help them realize nor get over it. Even Sternman, Marc's therapist agrees with bringing back Marc "whatever the cost", like a co-dependent follower instead of saying how unhealthy and odd it is to cling to the past and move forward. Or call other people.

Which is already very, very odd of her to say. In other words, she is indoctrinated to the "lick Marc's ass" cult, compromised professionally, and now sucks.

It really adds to the consumerist/materialistic approach of parents when taking care of a child.

Which, reminds me of how parents would end up giving their children more toys. Sure they are trying to help in their own way but metaphorically, and literally throwing money at them is not helping in the long run.

I also see how this is a darker take on how children see's their toys as possessions and playthings to be destroyed. Kind of like Toy's Story, but the toys don't need to hide, worked for Disney, who also have massive trauma.

There's a lot of trauma in there. And social commentary on childhood "fantasy", along with deconstructing the "happiest place" with clear industrial consequences. And the "rose colored glasses" of childhood fantasy.