Viacka

the way singing next to each other is their thing

I looked up the quote Strickler uses in the first episode. It’s from a 1976 pop song by Billy Joel … called “James.”

James, we were always friends,  From our childhood days  And we made our plans,  And we had to go our separate ways.  I went on the road -  You pursued an education. 

James, do you like your life?  Can you find release?  And will you ever change -?  Will you ever write your masterpiece?  Are you still in school -  Living up to expectations, James? 

You were so relied upon, everybody knows how hard you tried -  Hey, just look at what a job you’ve done,  Carrying the weight of family pride.  James, you’ve been well behaved,  You’ve been working so hard,  But will you always stay  Someone else’s dream of who you are?  Do what’s good for you, or you’re not good for anybody, James. 

I went on the road.  You pursued an education, James  How you gonna know for sure? Everything was so well organized.  Hey, now everything is so secure,  And everybody else is satisfied. 

James, do you like your life?  Can you find release?  And will you ever change?  When will you write your masterpiece?  Do what’s good for you, or you’re not good for anybody, James. 

(no hate to the movie I did enjoy it, this is just a fix it - if someone actually wants to write this please tag me I would love that)

- staja never happened cause Aja didn't really need a love interest but Steve is still her 'blond oaf'

- instead steli/creepslayerz cause they gay honey

- Steve is now ohmygod my bf is tall and hot and they kiss the end (fade to black movies over jkjk)

- they go to get Excalibur and call in the secret weapon

- Steve is insufferable but it's cause his bf is there lmao

- he's not used to being the short one

- nomura still dies and THEY ACTUALLY MOURN HER

- instead of strickler and Jim talking, waltholomew grabs the charges, chucks them at the thing as a flyby and just manages to get out of range but falls, injured

- he lives tho cause Barbara fucking deserves something GOOD LET HER HAVE IT

- they see the titan rise again and same dread

- they go to Hong Kong cause they've lost contact with Claire

- Archie manages to get out too, his dad willingly stays behind, does he die? does he take over? tbd

- then the mega gun robot collapses, everyone is okay and they regroup

- when Claire does the big portal, she faints for a hot sec when they get back and more, if not all, of her hair turns white

- nari and skrael still fight and both die

- horrible realisations happen etc.

- things go as usual but instead when the time stone (avengers much??) reveals itself and "the chronostone make right", it takes jim back to when they're planning after they do the hero speech

- this time, less sticky magic is used on Toby so he gets up on the titan and instead it's both him and Jim fighting together in the end

- bellroc never stood a chance

- especially when it's blinky who goes in and manages to set off the magic killer thingy

- however the magic in Jim's armour shorts out for some reason and Warhammer is super heavy

- so both of them sucker punch bellroc off the titan and bellroc disintegrates

- blinky survives but he's missing an arm and an eye or two

- also he actually needs a staff or walking aid now cause his legs are pretty banged up

- but he's made of stone so like he's more durable

- anyways the movie ends with the stricklake wedding and everything is okay

- maybe it finishes with Jim's best man speech or just a voice over with everyone happy and safe

- maybe it's sunset (closing the series) or sunrise (new beginnings await, just not on screen)

- "Don't think. Become."

- He tries to make Jim the martyr and hero but still doesn’t know much about him and how he reacts to Trollhunting problems.

- He forgot about Bellroc’s pronouns. And that Jim doesn’t have an armor anymore.

- He really likes tropes such as body-switching and time-travel because he has seen too much science fiction.

- He tries to scare Steve with the pregnancy arc because they argued recently. 

- If he was Toby, he’d feel the weakest in the group. He can’t understand Toby’s place in the Trollhunters. 

- He doesn’t know how Claire’s powers work.

- Also the whole thing about Blinky and the “glued” pages.

- He actually never liked Strickler. 

- Of course he gives himself a glow-up.

- And he’s the one that creates the giant robot, not Krel, for the same reason.

- He has to kill someone else to elevate the stakes. Ends up giving Nomura a “tragic” death. It doesn’t work. 

- Desperate, he decides to kill Toby at the last moment.

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans movie came out a few months ago and while it was pretty okay over all, the ending was just bad… (That’s just my opinion ::D) So, I wrote an alternative ending and decided to just draw a comic out of it because.. why not?

My thoughts on the ending of the movie:

 The thing that really didn’t make any sense for me in the movie ending was, when Jim went back in time (why did he go all the way back, I thought he would go to the beginning of the movie, not to the beginning of the entire series) he just decided to throw it all to shits and give Toby the amulet, even though??? the whole point was that when time traveling he could save everyone that died? But he just went: “lol here you go toby, who cares am i rght??” and so, he didnt have any way of knowing who would die, how, what would happen from there on and possibly doomed them all??? what???? Not to talk about the fact that the entire series just basically didn’t happen, all the character building, development etc… and then Jim just invited Stickler to his house, while he was still.. you know, evil?? WHAT???

And the fact that wasn’t Jim “the chosen one”? They hammered down the entire series that Jimmy was the only one who could be the Trollhunter, until he just wasnt i guess…? It just didnt make any sense…

Like, they had the perfect set up for a good ending. All (in my head) they had to do is cut the screen to black, say something like 6 months later idk, and boom! there is Stickler and Barbara’s wedding, everyone is there, it’s nice, lovely, good ending! I just…. don’t understand the decision that they made while writing the ending.

About the setup for the comic:

So, in my comic the idea was that Jim went back in time for the start of the movie, thus being able to save all the ones that died in it. I considered the possibility of Jim going back to the day he found the amulet, however I think it would just be a bit too messy. Jim would know exactly who would die, where, what would happen etc. It was just a bit easier to write this comic without all that in mind.

The fact that Jim is the only one who has memory of losing all his loved ones, especially Toby, his best friend, is a bit jarring and I think those memories haunt him still. I tried to show a little bit of that in this comic, to really emphasize the good ending that came from the time traveling.

Thank you tumblr for absolutely destroying image quality. Freaking wtf?

Some more Dark Excalibur AU

The Knighting of Steve Palchuk

We all agree that Steve needed a better arc than what RotT gave him. He deserved a chance to be a hero, a path that he started in Wizards before it fizzled out into being the comedic relief. Wizards set everyone up as the better generational mirrors to Camelot. Jim to Arthur, Claire to Morgana, Douxie to Merlin, Toby probably to Galahad, and Steve very obviously to Lancelot. I've said at the start that no one comes out of this AU unscathed, so while Steve gets the heroic redemption, it comes at a cost, one that pulls on that parallel.

RotT in the Dk-E still happens, I'm not letting everyone get their happily ever after at the end of Wizards. But I'll be damned if I end it with Toby and so many others dead, and Jim pushed into a timeline reset. You can thank Steve for that. It's because of Steve that Toby lives. Steve goes with Toby in the Taco truck, and it is Steve that yanks Toby out of the way of the collapsing debris. But Steve becomes pinned himself, resulting in the loss of his arm. An act of selflessness and bravery, valor and sacrifice, that earns him the title of First Knight of the Roundtable of New Camelot. An equal advisor, responsible for not only the protection of Camelot, and those Jim has claimed as his (which is everyone, human, troll, changeling, down to the last gnome), but also finding and training new knights, those who value all life and are willing to fight to protect it, and want to see the worlds of man and magic together in harmony instead of hate and fear.

And so we come to the Knighting of Steve Palchuk. This isn't just pomp and meaningless ceremony, this has true weight and meaning to both Jim and Steve. Jim pulls on Excalibur's magic, his voice resonating with ethereal power, creating a bond of trust and loyalty that goes both ways, only formed if given willingly. Knight to his King, King to Knight, both to the protection of all worlds and their peoples. Jim's eyes light up in tandem with the blade as the power of Excalibur and Nimue courses through him, flames licking along the blade's edge and into Steve. Steve's armor reflecting this bond as the magic burns through him.

And like Lancelot, Steve will get a fully functional prosthetic arm. There will be hardship, adapting to this new reality. But Steve has become a hero. A man of courage... far from his highscool self. A survivor, who will fight with everything he has.

Rise now, Sir Steve, First Knight of the Roundtable and New Camelot.

Closeups below

Notes: some of the descriptive wording around the ceremony itself came from a discussion about Jim using Excalibur for the knighting, and are used with permission of Sakon76, who is a much better writer than I.

HE’LL NEVER RECOVER