Loki Appreciation 2020

[Raye]

NP. I am mostly digital these days but stayed subbed to their mailing list for just such an occasion.

So, I updated the playlist. https://music.youtube.com/playlist?l...l6bNYuxpaJ68vx I also added a couple in there for the previous arc that, well, i just decided they would fit. The last couple issues were fairly straight forward, so pretty straight forward additions for them. Or at least it started that way. I had finished it off with 1979 by the Smashing Pumpkins, because Thor seemed to be getting nostalgic, and the themes of the song speak to that, and I am a child of the 90s, so Smashing Pumpkins gets ME nostalgic. Which led me down a 90s rabbit hole, and well... time warp at the end there. And there will probably be some more 90s next few months. But I have a whole bunch picked out for the next arc, it will be a challenge to narrow it down more than anything, but the plot ought to last several issues so that's ok. If there's one thing metal is great at, it's songs about vengeance and violence, but expect a lot of growling (in Swedish, even!) Also probably more Amigo the Devil, maybe some more Murder By Death, i mean, it's called Murderfolk for a reason, we got a serial killer on the loose, may as well go with it. But have some picked out for the more human emotional aspects as well, assuming it goes something like i expect. May try to do one emotional one and one violent one per issue.

And all that brings me to mention that i was giving the next arc some thought the past couple days, where it might lead, who might show up etc. And it occurred to me that if we can't have the Loki and Jane teamup in Valkyrie, (sounds like the thing Aaron has planned is a King in Black tie-in, not necessarily continuing the story started in the solo book) it would be cool to see that here. Jane seems like a no brainer to show up this arc. Not only is Blake apparently targeting people who have taken the mantle of 'Thor', he has had, by far, more interactions with her over the years than with any other character. So he's (unfortunately for her) probably going to take a much more personal approach with her than with anyone else. Also, given what we learned in Aaron's run about what happened with her family, where she had some resentment towards Thor for not saving them from that car crash, because he just couldn't be everywhere and save everyone, it would be interesting to see that turned back on her somewhat. Blake seems to resent the 'Thors' in particular because it appears that the pocket dimension he lives in is lacking heroes or maybe just specifically Thor, because Thor is only there when Blake ISN'T, and Thor hasn't swapped places with him in years, which means Blake's mirror world went to shit. And Blake seems to be extending that resentment not just to Thor personally, but to anyone who has taken the mantle. I think he figures if his world can't have a Thor to protect it, then this one shouldn't have one either, even if some of them are technically ex-Thors. Also, this is just spitballing and not based on much, but Jane is a doctor, so Loki taking a scalpel to the neck could be a way to bring them together in the story, if he needs her to patch him up, and maybe he warns her or something. But I think they could make a good team here. The other 'Thors' have not had much if any interaction with Blake so they would not be able to know what he's all about, really. But both Loki and Jane know him, so they could use that to formulate a plan against him.

[Raye]

So, solicits came out a few days ago, and once again no Loki mentioned anywhere. While I do have faith that he will have a part to play in the Thor arc, it is disappointing, after we had it really good there for a while, where we could be pretty much guaranteed to see Loki appear in a fairly substantial part at least every couple months, and there was that Sideshow statue and the FCBD box. It kinda feels like something was being built towards, and then.... nothing. Hopefully it was just delayed due to Covid stuff, but still. Like i said, I do think he will have a part to play in the Blake arc of Thor, especially since he was shown in the preview video, just... i dunno, it's frustrating to not have anything to speculate about, since that's basically half my enjoyment. It's fun for me to guess where things are going. and i can do that with the story in a general sense, but it's harder when it comes to Loki specifically. ok, done whinging. Just saying, I want to see some evidence in the solicits that he's going to have a part to play next few months, and I hope the silence on that front is just them trying to surprise readers.

On the subject of broad speculation, though, the solicit did reveal a couple small details to think about. First, the location of this other world. It was prefaced by saying 'sunny day in Hel' which may just be a turn of phrase because Asgard stuff, but it may point to the pocket world being in Hel somehow? I still kinda like my initial idea that this place was like in the actual story, as in that big book shown last issue, somehow, but Hel could also make some sense. I had also been thinking it might be a pocket world created just for Blake, (which could work with either idea) and the second bit may point to that being the case because it says Thor is trapped in a 'suburban horror show' which does imply it could be a very small 'world' that does not represent all of Earth, just a bit of the suburbs, to present the illusion of a wider world to Blake, Truman Show style. This could work with all the above ideas, but it does eliminate some ideas like a true parallel universe. And it could explain why the world went to hell when the only missing ingredient was Thor himself. If all the other heroes, Iron Man, Cap, Spider-Man the X-Men and so on were present in this world and it still went to shit, then it's possibly getting into some uncomfortable territory in terms of how important Thor is, it implies he is literally the single most important being in the world, in terms of keeping it liveable. While some Thor stans may like this idea, i'd find kind of cringe. I get that solo books tend to play up the importance of their central character, but... A scenario like that could also be taken by Thor to further reinforce in his mind that he can't give up his old role and dedicate everything to be king, which i don't think is the right message to send. Anyway, yeah, if it's just a neighbourhood, and all the other heroes don't exist there, then things going to hell because Thor hadn't swapped places with Blake in a while makes more sense, and why everyone else didn't just step up to deal with whatever happened, why they were so reliant on Thor (and Thor specifically) to save them. Especially if the threats they are facing are as large as the other detail the solicit revealed, The Midgard Serpent. I am wondering if Jormungandr is maybe circling this little pocket reality, and that's what prevents Blake and anyone else there from escaping? Still not sure what the explanation for Blake not being a decapitated head in a dream, and back to switching places with Thor is, though. Maybe the Blake that was made 'real' and separate from Thor was himself a fake? Surely going to be some kind of retcon involved there though.

As for what this means for Loki, dunno, as mentioned, nothing to go on there, really. But I have been thinking more and more lately that Loki and Jane teaming up, and maybe Sif as well, could be a lot of fun. And if this is a pocket reality, and especially a 'story' based one, Loki may still be their best chance of reaching it, via magic, to get Thor out of there. (the solicit did say he was 'trapped' so i presume Sif can't reach this place, and Thor can't initiate the switch back himself, that would be too easy. Guessing the switch can only be initiated from the real world) The other option is somehow getting Blake to swap, and that doesn't seem likely given what we have seen so far, but he could maybe be tricked into doing so, which is also Loki's area of expertise. In either case, Loki would need to be taken out for a bit early on to allow the story to play out, maybe, but I can see how he could play in to the resolution. But that's all just stuff I've said before. If Loki does play a part, I think this might be a good place to bring Zelma back, as was kinda hinted at in Strange Academy. Maybe he needs her help to do the necessary magic, or something. But if Jane is brought in, as she probably will be, because as mentioned before she has the most connection with Blake out of all the characters, it could be interesting to kinda flash back a bit to her and Thor being together, god and mortal, and then Loki and Zelma kind of starting a similar relationship, and Jane could maybe have some insight and advice to share based on her experiences. Also, since Thor will not be present in the real world, maybe Loki and Thori could reunite. Basically i guess i am kinda hoping for a team effort resolution, i guess.

[Fanto.mx]

https://www.teeturtle.com/products/i...19577791462105

Loki shirt for half off!

[Karabaja]

The preview is out, and look who's there ��
https://monkeysfightingrobots.co/mar...rns-in-thor-9/

[gonnagiveittoya]

It'll be interesting to see what Loki's role is like in the comics after his show, since it sounds like his show is going to be very sci-fi heavy, what with the spoilers:

TVA and parallel universe elements of it all

end of spoilers

[Raye]

The link just went to a page with the video trailer from a while back, did you mean this? https://www.cbr.com/thor-9-preview-donald-blake/

And, well, I guess we know now why Blake and Loki were facing off, Loki was the one there when Thor switched. Though I do wonder why Thor wanted Loki to watch over Blake instead of Sif or Jane. I mean Jane especially seems like the logical choice, really! Thor is under the impression Blake is the same old Blake as before, the milquetoast doctor guy, who Jane, as mentioned above, knows better than anyone else, so she would make sense to babysit him, they know eachother well. Whereas Loki, assuming old characterizations, he's show up in Loki's castle and probably like freak out, cus he's pretty much just familiar with classic villain Loki. But I presume it's for story expediency reasons, Cates wants Loki involved in the story, so, this is the excuse.

Also, looks like at least one page is missing, since Thor is picking up his helmet in the first panel, but we never saw how he dropped it. Guessing he and Loki were not quite so friendly in those missing pages, probably Loki got a little payback for the whole incident in the first issue, now that Thor is a the one visiting another king's realm.

But it does seem to be just flat out ignoring, like.... everything involving Blake over the past... what, 15 years or so? him being made a separate entity, his decapitation at the hands of Enchantress etc. Which is a bit disappointing. I get the feeling this is a story he's wanted to tell for a really long time, and is just going with it, damn what recent events show.

And the MCU has previously had very little effect on Loki in the comics, I don't really expect that to change now, or at least I hope not. MCU Loki is cool and all, but I would prefer to see the current characterization progress on it's own rather than them try to make him match the MCU now, after mostly ignoring it for so long. But I doubt they will. Loki was a child when the first movie came out and they just kept on with that plot, rather than try to make things match the movies, despite his popularity in the movies. He wasn't even aged back up to an adult until a year after after Thor 2. Maybe his appearance somewhat (depends on the artist to an extent), when he got aged back up again, and they inserted a closer relationship with Freyja, couple other nods here and there, but nothing that really affected his character all that much... I know sometimes they do make the comics match, but Loki seems to have been largely an exception to that, and there seems to b plans in motion for him in Thor, so I kinda doubt Cates would just make it go along with the show. And the show has all the alternate universe stuff in an effort to get some of the things from the comics, like Kid Loki, Lady Loki etc. into the MCU, (though with a different explanation behind them) so the comics don't really need to bring that in, they already exist in the comics. And comics Loki has had a change of heart and turned face, the Loki in the show, at least the main one, is from the end of Avengers before he's had character development in the movies, so, unless they re-do that development in the show, it would be a step backward.

also cute shirt!

[Karabaja]

Yep, that's the link I wanted to put, but that's what you get when I'm copying links and burning lunch at the same time. #facepalm

[Raye]

heh, no worries, the number of times i have posted the wrong link in chats is pretty high.

Having another look, i see that is not Loki's throne as i had first assumed, it is Thor's. So, for some reason, Loki is back in Asgard. Either another uninvited appearance, or Thor called him there. Guessing the latter, but that doesn't eliminate the possibility of another (but not all that serious) conflict, leading to Thor's helmet being knocked off. Maybe Thor needs Loki's help to do the switch this time, and that's more why he's there, rather than just babysitting Blake. That would make more sense than Thor just asking Loki to babysit Blake (like a grown ass doctor really needs babysitting) rather than Jane, Balder, Sif etc. if Loki has to make magic to get him there, and then sit and wait till Thor comes back. Except, of course, it will not be as easy as he or Thor think it will be on account of Blake having gone nuts. But this does mean it is kinda Loki's responsibility specifically to stop Blake.

Also, the past few months, off and on, I have been making the Strange Academy in Sims 3, and while I am pretty pleased with the results, the combination of the massive (seriously, it's enormous, biggest lot available in the game) highly decorated lot/building, and 15 simultaneous Sims thanks to a mod (like herding cats!) the game has begun seriously chugging again. I did get Loki re-introduced to Zelma, as well as Gus, but after that, i've run into the dreaded 'Error 12' which basically means the game will not save, and have been unable to fix it, only way to continue is to back everything up and mov to a fresh town, again. But yesterday, the Steam Halloween sale began, and Sims 4 is on sale for 75% off, the DLCs, assuming you get them in assorted bundles, are 65% off, though I would be choosy about DLC since would be hundreds of dollars, even on sale, if I wasn't. I am tempted. It will still be expensive, as any DLC based game can be, (I also play Civilization, oof) but 4 does now have magic and vampires in as DLC, which makes it work for Loki, as well as adding Blade etc. and I can do the rest with mods, aside from birds as pets (I had Hugin and Munin in Asgard). Also the prospect of starting all over again is daunting, not to mention recreating my Steam Controller binding (my binding for 3 is pretty complex, and is actually one of the more popular ones in the community, with thousands of hours played on it by assorted people, it is my most popular binding on Steam) I've had this game going for ages, even though I only tend to play it every few weeks kind of thing. but 4 is, though a bit more limited in some ways, much more stable than 3, less prone to saving errors and crashes, and from what i can tell, will load your game in less than like 10 minutes. Serious, not exaggerating there, that's how long it takes to load up my save, and though my system is starting to show it's age when it comes to new games, by Sims 3 era standards, my computer is a beast. I'm considering it though. I could maybe make an ice castle for Loki. And the idea of starting over with Loki and Thor in particular, both of whom are pretty maxed out in terms of skills and stuff in 3, so kinda easy mode and not that interesting to play isn't something I would say no to. But i'd have to re-make the Sanctum Sanctorum, the Academy, Asgard (granted, that one is just a big farm house with a rainbow driveway) etc. so.... yeah, i'll decide tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are a few pics from the doomed save, the rest can be found in the main album (tho for some reason it doesn't go back to the beginning, but it does at least cover all the Strange Academy stuff): https://steamcommunity.com/id/RayeGu...view=imagewall

Overall view:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...?id=2273353335

Fave room is definitely the alchemy lab, though it is probably also the one that really pushed the game over the edge.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...?id=2273350938

Library is also fun:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...?id=2273349003

[Raye]

I did it. 100 bucks down the drain (and a bit more next month to pick up the University pack and a couple others) But the game is fun and runs MUCH smoother, and my bindings for 3 mostly worked in 4 with just a few tweaks, so that was even fairly painless, (aside from the fact that there is some kind of conflict with the Steam overlay unless you launch from Big Picture mode). I dicked around with the tutorial character for a while as i figured stuff out and got the controls fine tuned, but did make Loki, Thor, Sif, and Thori at the end of the night, and today, i get down to actually playing them.

Just a funny screengrab, as Loki tries to spin some ludicrous lie about Thor to Sif:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...?id=2276380600
But really only played the family for a few minutes so far, so not much to share.

Loki's a handful, i picked the King of Mischief aspiration for him, and gave him the 'mean' trait, and hoo boy, he gets into arguments easily. I think i will put him in the Social Media career, Internet personality track, while Thor into politics, with a social worker track. But first, get Loki going with magic!

I also downloaded many mods, SO many mods, but the two big ones for this playthrough are Armageddon and Life's Drama from here: https://www.sacrificialmods.com/downloads.html

Armageddon alows your character to be either a superhero or supervillain, so that was a no brainer, and Life's Drama adds a lot of lying and backstabbing interactions for Loki to mess with people.

I chose hair for Loki that matches the current books but kinda thinking maybe go for something longer instead?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...?id=2276395993
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...?id=2276396235
I dunno.

[Raye]

Well, I read Thor. And yes, there were several missing pages from the preview which explain some more details of where Blake goes, why Thor wanted Loki there specifically, addressing my questions about why not Jane etc. and how Thor dropped his helmet. And on the upside, one of those pages ought to put to rest any lingering doubts that Cates had abandoned Loki's face turn.

spoilers:

So basically, pretty much as I speculated, Blake resided in a Truman Show-esque fake suburban fantasy, just constantly walking down the street making chit chat with an endless string of neighbors. Except, at some point, he became aware of the nature of his reality and snapped. A little unclear on the details of how he gained all this power he has, but I presume we will be getting some additional answers in subsequent issues, as Thor explores what's left of Blake's world. Anyway, Thor lies by omission by saying he wants to be gone for just a weekend, to get his head back on straight and not have to deal with King stuff for a bit. He neglects to mention all the other stuff going on with the hammer etc. and says he asked for Loki specifically because he needed someone to deceive Sif into thinking he had not left (though, how he plans to do that when the possibility remains she is listening in on the conversation is a mystery) and Loki seems like the obvious choice to do that. He can say he went to Jotunheinm for reasons, Loki can hide Blake and maybe make it appear Thor's there in his castle or whatever. Loki says he is no longer the God of Lies though, and doesn't want to be the one to do that kind of thing anymore. He also knows Thor is leaving stuff out and when Thor won't admit to omitting some rather important details, Loki picks up Mjolnir and chucks it at Thor. Thor relents and confirms what Loki said, and Loki agrees to the scheme. Thor and Blake switch, Thor ends up in the wrecked world where Blake was, and finds the dead remains of a dragon, possibly Jormungandr. (there's some captions explaining a bit about it, but that's about all that happens there) Blake appears before Loki, they fight, while Blake says he he will never be a prisoner in that other world again, and in the fight he breaks Loki's arm, but otherwise Loki ought to be ok, unless Blake kills him off in the beginning of next issue, also, Loki calls himself Loki Odinson, so either a mistake, or a sign that even though Loki has inherited his birth father's throne, he is severing familial connections with him. then Blake breaks his cane and i presume he is off to kill Thors. Overall it was a LOT of exposition, which I guess was to be expected, had to explain Blake for people who might be more recent readers of the comics, had to explain Loki's face turn for people who missed that, and had to squeezed in all the new information of this realm Blake resided in. But id did make it a bit clunky, and am hoping that next issue, it's not as exposition heavy. But as I said, it is good to see that Cates is still going with the face turn, though he did kinda gloss over the solo series, with Loki being back to calling himself the God of Stories, though a little disappointing that Loki had to be the one to get beat up to show how tough Blake is. But, I presume Loki lives, he knows what is going on and it's kinda his responsibility to fix it. It may be that Blake is unaware of events in the real world since he last swapped with Thor, so he may not know Jane got her Thor on recently, which may lead to him targeting Bill, Throg etc. first, but he will probably learn, at some point, or just go to her because he knew her. My hope is that Loki will try to beat him to her, to warn her. He seems to be going after Thors specifically because he sees them as gateways to that other realm. Even though it was only OG Thor specifically that ever swapped with Blake. But I mean, he's insane so...

end of spoilers

[Riimi]

I'm pretty happy with the portrayal. I'm hoping that Blake doesn't just take Loki out quickly and he disappears. That's my biggest concern, because I want him to stick around. I hope Cates choosing to spoilers:

keep Loki as the god of stories

end of spoilers is in part due to this storyline. spoilers:

Loki refers to the other world as Blake's story so it's possible he can help Thor sort this out, at least I'm hoping it's foreshadowing of some sort. It will need Thor to fix it, I'm sure, but hopefully Loki can help.

end of spoilers

[Raye]

I don't think Loki is done here, considering that Loki and Thor didn't actually do the plan. (going to Jotunhim etc. Thor was just like 'you agree? cool!' and then swapped places, no prep) That tells me that the actual specifics of the plan is not really important to the plot, it was just to make it clear that Thor was trying to hide things, and an excuse to have Loki there, and I don't think they would have done that, if there was no intent to use him throughout the story. Also, the way it was set up does make this kinda Loki's responsibility to deal with, he agreed to help Thor, he can't just abandon that now because things didn't go according to plan. Though, speaking of that plan, I do note that the roles were kind of reversed from usual here, where Thor was attempting to deceive everyone, to try and hide what was happening with, well, everything, he attempted to lie to get Loki's help, and Loki agreed to help despite having reservations and knowing Thor had been attempting to manipulate him.

Also, I had some more thoughts on this this morning which kinda ties into what I just said. The book keeps referring to Blake as Thor's shadow, and how he's become a darkness, right? What if... that's because the next 'Thor' needs a different kind of Donald Blake? Let me try and explain.

Blake seems to be targeting the Thors because he sees them as potential gateways back to his prison, even though in the past he's only been linked to OG Thor specifically. But insane or not, he does seem to have an understanding of how this works, so I'm going to assume that he can be linked to any 'Thor' and that could send him back to his prison, if he sees that as a potential threat. So it seems like with his cane broken, apparently severing it's link to Mjolnir/Thor, he might need to be bound to someone else to facilitate sending him back. So if he can't be bound to a Thor because he kills them or whatever else, and with OG Thor trapped in the fake world, either Thor has to be brought back without doing the switch thing, OR Blake has to be bound to the NEXT Thor, someone he can't predict and target, and that may be how he is ultimately sent back. Blake's heel turn and he shadow/darkness bit, not to mention Loki's early involvement in the story, makes me think that, for symbolic reasons, Loki makes the most sense, because if that happens, it becomes symbolic of Loki keeping his darkness from escaping into the world. For Thor, Blake was there to teach him humility, and to remind him what it meant to be human, that was the big lesson he had to learn, so Blake being a normal dude worked for him. But then if Loki is destined to fill that role, linking him to Blake could make some sense, but I don't think Loki necessarily needs exactly the same type of lessons Thor did. Instead, he needs to be reminded to keep his darker impulses under control, and linking him to an insane Donald Blake, who Loki acts as kind of a prison guard for, could do that. And thus, that may be what may have caused Blake to see the world for what it was and go nuts? a little nudge from fate to set that up?

The text of this issue and the last made it very clear Loki no longer wants his old role, and that someone else will be taking up the mantle of God of Lies, so he's not in that role any longer, and there will be someone else taking up that role, absolutely fully confirmed at this point as far as I'm concerned, they are still doing the roles thing, and Loki's escaped his old role and needs a new one. And he's taken the name Odinson, he was the first person Blake encountered upon switching, and it is Loki's responsibility to stop him, because he was part of the plan that freed him. Given all that, it just feels like he should be a part of the resolution, and that would make the most thematic sense

[Karabaja]

I'm just silly happy that
spoilers:

Loki obviously stays on the right path, for now; them boys are on good terms, to the point where Thor trusts him without reserves, and Loki gets to have a little payback for Thor's assholeness in issue #1.

end of spoilers

[Prof. Aegis]

I liked this issue and the characterization of Loki. Cates hasn't thrown away all the growth and development Loki has gone through and the nod to being the God of Stories and Myth helps show that as well as how Loki states he has no desire to go backwards. Yes, God of Misfits as was established in the most recent series isn't mentioned, but his characterization is consistent with all that had occurred there and before. But Loki is also very intuitive and could tell Thor was hiding something. I didn't like him being so easily handled by Blake, but I can chalk that up to being unprepared for the conflict.

This story is off to a good start and hopefully this means Loki will have a central part in this story as Thor will be battling his own way through elsewhere for a few issues I would think.

[Karabaja]

While I like Loki powerful, I'm fine with him being bested by someone, even if it's a bit silly considering his power grade, as long as the story is interesting and he's not doing a face-heel.

In other news, my 9 year old has a huge crush on Loki. She's making me translate AoA to her and she loves every moment, evdn if she doesn't understand the entire narrative. My job here is done