#trueheroes

Ok so hear me out! I know some people did not like the ending cause it was ‘cheating’ (they had freaking aliens, trolls, wizards, titans, crazy gods, and even a lore on why they earth was created and people are upset about time travel being a thing? Which we already knew from the Wizards series).

But I honestly think it wasn’t a bad ending! My favorite was that Jim doesn’t go back and claim the amulet for himself in the end. He has seen just how much potential Toby has and what he can become and knows that for things to turn out differently, they need a Toby not a Jim as troll hunter. This is the same guy who at the beginning of the movie thought his whole identity had to revolve around being a trollhunter. To realize and accept that as well as actually give it up is not something we usually don’t see when a hero goes through a crisis like that (usually they ‘accept’ it but in the end they get to stay being a hero). And I mean completely loose being a hero! NO ONE knows or remembers what he has done or what he was willing to give up for his friends! It honestly is amazing and not something to knock! And considering what Toby did to help save the world and his friends on multiple occasions (especially when he took down the titan) he earned that title and chance of hero being the hero!

Now to get to my original reason for this post. Toby has the amulet, Jim is a sidekick, and Jim knows a lot of what the future will hold. How do things unfold now!?!?

Guillermo Del Toro I NEED a series now on Toby being the freaking TrollHunter!!!!

I NEED to see Toby train to fight Gunmar all the while Jim cheering him on cause he knows he can do it! I need to know how all their relationships with the trolls reform! I want to see it all!

@guillermodltoro please oh please make this happen!!!

These brave men and women are true heroes who had put their lives on the line to save countless others. Their valiant service and sacrifice will never be forgotten. Never forget 🇺🇸

This weekend saw us lose a hero. Chadwick Boseman, King T’Challa, the Black Panther. He was many other things as well, a son, a husband, a teacher, a friend, but to most of us he will always be the Black Panther. It is both a compliment and a slight to boil a person down to one singular thing, but in truth, this is what makes greatness. Michael Jordan is basketball. Jackie Robinson is the first black man to play in Major League Baseball. Martin Luther King IS freedom. 

I knew little of Chadwick Boseman before seeing him in the Black Panther. And for me seeing him in that movie was watching someone fully formed. He was all the things we imagine a hero to be, but he was one thing most important of all. He was a black man.

I’m not a black man. I’m a Mexican man born in San Antonio, Texas to two young Mexican parents. I grew up in a divorced household that was nevertheless filled with love. I was surrounded by many of my own people, but at the same time lost to a large part of my culture. Since we lived in America we spoke little Spanish in my house and thus I grew up not knowing my native language. This invariably separated me from my Spanish speaking relatives and left me far away from my culture. A world that served as a foster culture for me was comic books. As an only child growing up alone while my mother worked, comic books were my babysitter, my school and my religion all in one. I read as Spider-Man found the strength within himself to be a great hero. I read furiously as the Hulk battled his inner demons as much as any other bad guy and as Captain America battled for what it meant to be an American. And in that world too was the Black Panther.

The Black Panther was a created by two comic greats, Stan Lee and Jack “The King” Kirby. It’s fitting that one king beget another. Kirby was a thunderbolt of energy and imagination and The Black Panther was just one of his many unconventional creations. The important thing and the thing that made T’challa such a pivotal character is that he was never a singular hero. He was always associated with his kingdom, the fictional land of Wakanda. This land was beautiful beyond measure, it was filled with technology far ahead that of the current world and it was ruled by a noble black man that could match wits with the smartest Marvel heroes and match muscle with the most powerful of them. Kirby and Lee realized even back then that the African people, culture and history was worthy of exploration and full of thrill and wonderment. There may be some argument as to the plunder of black culture by two white men, but for now maybe we can believe that this culture was seen by Kirby and Lee as something deserving of more respect and affirmation. And indeed, for many of us, black, white and everything in between and fictional it may have been, the Black Panther was our first vivid glimpse into the greatness of Black Culture.