u/tsabracadabra

...that the Hero's Shade, who has been teaching her those bomb-ass sword techniques, is the Link from Ocarina of Time?

I can't wait to see her reaction. We've come so far from "beh!" 🥲

had this idea on the back burner for a while but once I saw that picture of Dylan in the leather jacket trying so hard to be cool, I knew the time was right

EDIT: This is very specifically a St. Louis thing 🤣 The show takes place in St. Louis, Missouri, which has a LOT of high schools. So I took a stab at it.

I can't explain my reasoning except I know in my heart Gangle is from Crestwood.

This is a repost of a Tumblr post I made a couple months back, in response to a screenshot involving Dylan-Venom & Toxin. I still think it's pretty relevant now, so I've copied the body of the text below, with a couple edits to make it more legible on Reddit.

This is Venom (2021) issue 27! That's Dylan Venom carrying Toxin in his mouth.

This was actually the arc that gave me the foundation upon which I interpret a lot of Dylan's personality, too.

Just an issue before, we had this moment:

"Toxin is our grandchild."

Venom has already revealed that it's Dylan in there, not Eddie, so they're not trying to maintain a façade. By this point the Venom symbiote has developed a sense of individuality, so it's not using "our" in place of "my."

They could have easily said "Toxin is family" and retained a similar meaning, but they didn't. They, as a unit, chose the word "grandchild."

Dylan actively chose to claim Toxin as his grandchild instead of his nephew.

More than that, this arc also showed Dylan taking responsibility for any baby symbiotes he found, making it his mission to find good hosts for them. He was furious when Nat bonded to Sliver without his knowledge or input because he was worried about Nat being a bad influence on it.

Dylan was parentified (and grandparentified) in Eddie's absence.

This is where it clicked in my brain just how Dylan's personality is shaped by Eddie. Where Eddie refuses to accept responsibility when it gets inconvenient, Dylan willingly shoulders responsibility that was never his to bear. "Toxin's grandfather" is Eddie's role. "Caring for baby symbiotes" is something Eddie should be worried about, as King in Black.

But Eddie's not here, and the way Dylan sees it, somebody has to. So he steps up.

You know, I was reading this arc as it came out, and I remember thinking "This is cool and all but I don't really think this has any thematic relevance to Dylan. I thought this was going to be one singular rogue that Dylan could have to himself, but no, it's just this... weird cult of people collectively detaching themselves from their identities and calling themselves No One."

But thinking about it now in relation to what I just said [earlier], it actually is thematically relevant. Dylan is trying so hard to fill the void that Eddie left behind that the void has started to subsume him. He's working himself so hard trying to shoulder all this responsibility that he's losing aspects of himself to do it, and is dangerously close to (metaphorically) losing his identity as Dylan.

Dylan and Valeria both know this is an important conversation to have in advance, *before* the evil space gods or whatever possess you and use you as a pawn in their conquest.

For over a year now I've been shipping them because I think their personalities would be so compatible, and because you could get some *really* interesting stories out of "class romance with a superhero twist."

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Street-smart & book-smart... in my mind, they have a very Aladdin and Jasmine vibe. 🥰

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And now during the upcoming Queen in Black event, Dylan's gonna be in the Baxter Building soon! There is a nonzero chance he might be in a panel with Valeria! In this nebulous moment where the pairing has yet to be confirmed or denied, I can bask in the anticipation.

For a while now I've thought Dylan and Valeria would be a cute couple. Now that I know Venom & the FF are going to be interacting in Queen in Black I'm hoping to see these two on a page together.

It's kind of a bummer that right now most people only know Dylan from those few viral panels of him roasting Paul, since there's a lot more to his personality than that.

Anyway, listen: Book Smart Genius x Street Smart (Formerly) Homeless Kid.

Son of an outcast anti-hero x daughter of what is basically superhero royalty. (And goddaughter of LITERAL royalty.)

There is a reason class romance is such a timeless premise and this pairing can supercharge that idea with the complicated superhero politics of Earth-616. We could get SO many good stories & character development opportunities out of these two.