#TIMs and predators for example

[aloveofclaritea]

"What are you going to do, have genital inspections to use the bathrooms?"

-a TRA

Males truly cannot conceive of the idea of simply respecting the space and boundaries of women. It literally doesn't cross their minds, so their minds immediately jump to whether or not women can forcibly stop them. The belief is that if a woman cannot forcibly prevent it, you may take anything you like from her with impunity.

- Marian Rutigliano

[ruestheday]

Wait, what mean thing did Alfred do to Tim on his 16th birthday??

oh boy

see, this is an instance where i’d be fine if people ignored this happening, because bruce (and therefore as an extension alfred) are like weirdly horrible. even doing my mandatory googling to make sure im remembering everything correctly quickly brought me to posts about everyone agrees how insanely ooc this was for both (even on reddit, which has some of the most comic-obsessed fans), but it still happened unfortunately.

so, for tim’s sixteenth birthday, bruce decides to gift him with surprise training.

tim has a birthday party, and at the end of the night there’s a weird box there. tim freaks the fuck out and takes it to bruce to check out, he does, blah blah blah.

it ends up activating when tim’s alone, and it’s a hologram of alfred in the (apocalyptic) future saying that someone on batman’s team has gone bad and the worlds fucked because of it (and then immediately gets shot and killed before he can finish). tim’s half like “well obviously this is bullshit” and half “HOLY SHIT ???!????” and doesn’t tell bruce because he’s not sure if it’s real or not.

i’m going to summarize, but tim thinks it’s fake at first, and then thinks it’s real (because the guy he was blaming it on was in jail) so he’s like ok cass goes bad (since she’s the newest batfam member — side note: cassandra predates damian as a batfam member so put some respect on her name) and when he decides it’s not cass he tries to figure out how it could be dick.

future!alfred then appears before tim and tells him that yeah he died, but it’s all chill they bring him back, and starts delivering more bad news until tim’s like ??? Ur not real! and rips off future!alfred’s mask to discover it’s just real alfred underneath.

tim’s immediately like upset and disgusted. he demands answer from bruce who is like “just training, get good kid” (and also implies tim is stupid bc he believed it) and tim is like Fuck this. Fuck all of you. I’m out. (he does eventually come back obviously)

he also gets to tell bruce to go to hell. now im a bruce wayne glazer but that was deserved because what the fuck

this is some crazy paraphrasing and i’m positive there are 10x better breakdowns out there. but long story short alfred helped gaslit tim drake into having a mental breakdown on his sixteenth birthday because bruce said to.

i also really don’t like this from bruce’s side because literally what the fuck was that. prime example of the 90s-2000s comic wanting bruce wayne to be a bad guy to appeal to angsty male readers (which was an actual phenomenon and explains a lot of why bruce is so batshit [ha] insane to his family during this era)

edit: this is 1993 robin #116-120 btw

[rosemaryentombed]

my favorite thing about about the 90's young justice solos is that they catered towards three distinct audiences, and yet after all these years, the one that would have been LEAST likely to be projected into nowadays is now the MOST woobified out of the three.

tim: a story for white kids, by a white guy who hates poor people, and didn't really take itself OUT of that white-male-projective-state even after all these years. bonus note, now the gays can project into tim cuz timbo's finally out the closet, and chuck dixon wants to kill himself over it, but it's ok bc we like tim even tho we don't like chuck.

bart: a story initially about a time-displaced refugee whose narrative heavily mirrored a refugee's forced assimilation into a new culture WHILE also appealing to the adhd/autism crowd, which the writer was absolutely OK with because bart's story can be accepted by BOTH the refugee narrative enjoyers and the adhd/autism crowds without impinging on his narrative poignancy, plus mark waid actually loved bart and he loves that WE love bart. inshallah he will write his boy again.

kon: a story about teenagers who are being neglected, and so he's acting out every which way and partying it up because he was meant to appeal to the 90's teenage rage and show how easy it is for kids to get caught up with predators like knockout and tana because of the lack of structure and discipline in their lives, but when geoff decided to ignore nearly ten years of creator-run canon, we had to deal with his timkonnie dreams, and now geoff's leaving, so now we gotta deal with the yja nonsense and some lady's self-insert dreams going into a character whose writer is not only still alive, but actively on the bi!kon train but from the 90's crackhead era perspective. and HE'S the one most woobified.

it's absolutely facinating cuz you'd think kon would be the most hated out of the three bc of his issues with consent and the unhealthy ways he frames relationships, but instead it's BART who people hate the most! bart's being infantalized and discounted and used at a third-man-ship-prop, while tim's being rewarded for being an emotionally strugglesome white man who just came out of the closet, and it's not nearly as bad as how bart's getting his ass beat in the fandumb, but poor tim can't even date his high school homie in peace without someone crying about how he 'deserved' kon instead.

to think that the character with that many issues would be the MOST woobified character in the yj cast is insane, bc what are you even woobifying? his depersonalization? his lack of boundaries with women? his inability to read a room? the fact that nobody loves nor cares about him enough to protect him from the horrors of the world? the fact that he was a stellar example of a CSA survivor who didn't even KNOW he was a victim of CSA, and thus wasn't really able to understand the ramifications of his inappropriate behavior until years later when he forced himself into a masculine fold so he didn't fall into the trap of being like 'the old him' again?

kon's story was a story of self-hatred come to life in the most fantastical ways. he thinks it's ok to publicly date a grown woman other people are judging for dating a dumbass minor. he didn't know what a mother's love was, and had to witness it first hand with nanaue's mother. he thinks an emotionally unavailable and distant clone handler is his dad bc he doesn't KNOW anyone else who can fit into that mold. he thinks roxy's his sister but still has no problem sexualizing her in his head bc he thinks it's ok to find your older sister hot.

kon was the DEFINITION of the kids are not alright, nope, not at all, hell to the fuck no. geoff was the single biggest driver in stripping all the nuance from his character post-graduation day, but he not even here no more... what's the excuse in continuing to strip away at what makes kon, kon? i know dc's afraid to admit lois and clark looked the other way when a teenaged clone was dating an adult woman, but you woulda thought he woulda been a turnoff to the fandumb as well. he aint tho, so he suffers for it accordingly.

i can only hope karl kesel lands another contract after these new movies flop, so we can finally get a REAL follow-up to the 1994 solo. you could never make me hate that man's insane writing. justice for 1994 kon. if dc still had good writers, we coulda had a multi-year healing arc exposing how horrifying superheroing really is for people, and why clones deserve something to the equivalent of human rights. instead, he's doin fuckall and kissin m'gann. no shade to m'gann, she absolutely deserves more than the current caricature.

[l0stfoster]

I wanna know more about the harpies they interest me so deeply ‼️

HARPIES TALK TIME!! They're some of my favorites to think about. I'm gonna re-post the little bits of info about them from the original post ab Cursed here, just so this can be like a little collective master list of Harpy info :D INFO BELOW THE CUT BECAUSE I'VE LEARNED MY LESSON!!! If I add more info about harpies I'll likely edit this post

- All the greaser Harpies look out for one another. It doesn't matter if they're not from the same gang, or if their gangs have tension; you look out for one another. They may necessarily not be each other's flock, but it’s natural for them to stick together. - They flock together as much as they do because a harpy escaped Tulsa once, completely disappeared, and it set all the east side harpies into a panic. They can't leave Tulsa, so it's better to always have a connection to ensure you won't HAVE to leave. - The harpies love to play fight. They will absolutely beat the shit out of each other and then grab lunch as if nothing happened. All of the harpies have bird habits too. Most of them sleep on their stomach because catching your feathers underneath yourself when sitting up hurts. - Gifting culture and flock marking with feathers is a huge thing for them all. Almost all harpies have feathers from other harpies, though the symbolism with those isn't for flock marking and stands more as a general display of loyalty. - All harpies have an inherent aversion/fear of cats since felines are a pretty big predator to birds. Even harpies of birds of prey or the birds you'd traditionally see that go for cats have that built-in instinct to avoid. (Little fun fact, they're not fans of Umbra, and Paul abuses that. He has let Umbra gnaw on Tim's feathers before out of spite) - Not a single harpy can see glass, they're all victims to the DX windows. - Pretty much all of them can enter torpor willingly as well. Some do it more often than others, it's a preference thing. - Most of the harpies can't fly well in rain, it's just difficult in most weather conditions that aren't clear skies. However, bad weather doesn't stop them from trying; it just means there's an increase in broken bones and hurt birds for a day. - All of them can chirp, coo, whistle, copy voices, etc. Certain harpies are better at it, as the kind of bird they are makes it either easier or harder. The Shepards are a good example, being black vultures and all. Vultures don't have voice boxes and usually make low growling sounds instead of other noises. But since the shepherds are harpies and not full birds, they can make normal bird chitters and such but it’s raspy because they’re not really supposed to be able to make those noises. - They're very territorial by nature. - They generally don't eat bird meat for cultural reasons, but every now and then the birds of prey and scavengers do. It's sort of in their nature to be uneasy about it, though, and they're not fond of watching people eat bird meat either. - They all have hollow bones, so they're pretty damn light. - A lot of them affection bite. - One baby harpy gets adopted by pretty much any harpy in the proximity. Two's sister was a victim of every Harpy taking the chance to fly with her, preen her, etc. It's like that motherly thing where moms will whip around if they hear any child yell "mama", only it's that the harpies will be up and arms the second a baby harpy makes a sound. - On that note, though, the babies get bulled (lightly) for their goofy-looking wings. Mostly the ones who look like blended cotton balls as babies. Some baby birds are REALLY ugly. - They have a really good sense of smell and even better eyesight. I would not want one of them hunting me down. - Their talons are hella sharp and their nails usually get sharp as fuck too.

[casscainmainly]

For everyone in the notes saying this is because Duke is new, that's part of it, but absolving fandom of responsibility is misguided and sweeping both racism and sexism under the rug. The newness argument doesn't explain why Damian has more fics than Cass, Stephanie, and Babs, who all predate him.

More importantly: Jon Kent, who was introduced one year after Duke in 2015, has a total of 3,144 works under 'Jonathan Samuel Kent' and 9,280 works under 'Jon Kent'. That is 12,424 fics - around 5,000 more than Duke, despite debuting at roughly the same time.

The adaptation argument (that the ones who are more adapted are more likely to be written about) is also flawed - Tim has 3 major TV show appearances (The New Batman Adventures, Young Justice, and Titans). He cameos in Superman: The Animated Series, Static Shock, and an episode of Justice League. For films, he appears in two DCAU movies, Batman Unlimited, Gotham by Gaslight, Batman Ninja, and Death in the Family. That's 12 total appearances in film and TV.

By comparison, Barbara has an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to adaptations of her. She appears in 8 animated films, 6 animated Lego films, and has 5 animated film cameos. This is already more adaptations than Tim. Add to that 60s Batman, the Birds of Prey show, Titans, Gotham, DC Super Hero Girls, BTAS, Batman Beyond, Gotham Girls, The Batman, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice, Beware the Batman, Teen Titans Go!, Harley Quinn, Batman: Caped Crusader, and the live action Batman & Robin, that's 35 total appearances across film and TV.

Barbara Gordon as Batgirl is undeniably more popular to the general public than Tim Drake as Robin, and her film and TV adaptations also outnumber Jason's (13, with 90% of those being pictures of him because he's dead) and Damian's (15). So if she should be more popular than Tim in every supposed metric (longevity, adaptations, even name recognition), you have to ask yourself: why is she less popular in fandom?

To return to Duke Thomas, if you're even a casual Batman fanfic reader you would know that most of his tagged fics are not about him. Duke has 7,042 tagged fics, and of those, 242 works are tagged as Duke Thomas-centric. By contrast, Tim Drake has 62,704 total works, with 3,809 tagged Tim Drake-centric. That means 3.4% of Duke fics are tagged as Duke-centric, whereas 6% of Tim fics - almost twice as much - are Tim-centric. This is not a perfect metric by any means (for example, Dick actually has less than Duke with 2%, though this is due to him having a bonkers amount of fics), but it is illustrative of the trend that literally anyone who's skimmed AO3 could tell you.

More comparisons: Jason Todd (2,990/76,427 = 3.9%), Damian Wayne (1,870/45,635 = 4%), Cassandra Cain (200/17,060 = 1.1%), Barbara Gordon (54/16,729 = 0.3%). Keep in mind not everyone uses the -centric tag, but this is generally useful to see broad trends.

If debut date, adaptations, popularity among the public, amount of canon content, or presence in major Batman events were truly the deciding factor, Barbara would be the second most popular character in fandom (behind Dick). However, she isn't. Even Dick isn't the most popular - Tim, despite his lack of adaptations, is clearly the Batboy centred most in fanfiction and fandom. Therefore, the treatment of Babs, Steph, Cass, and Duke in fandom cannot be attributed purely to lack of knowledge.

Blaming fandom's focus on the White- or White-passing boys on canon is ignoring the signs of racial and gendered biases in the way we latch onto characters. Fandom barely cares about canon - most Titans Tower AUs or family fluff blatantly ignore huge chunks of comics. If we can ignore Gotham War, make up lies about Red Robin (2009), and pretend Tim's allergic to shrimp, why can't we extend that imagination to the POC and female characters? Why are they less worthy of our efforts to make stories about them, whether they have canon/adaptational histories or not?

All this to say, trying to explain away the lack of works for Duke and the girls will not solve anything. Making excuses for the fandom is only perpetuating the racist and sexist erasure of these characters. Instead, read their comics! Here is a list of reading guides for POC characters.

Not interested in comics? Read these Duke fics (compiled by @himejoshiangels)! Also take the time to go through the Barbara Gordon-centric tag and support those creators. Feel free to post any recs of your own as well :).

Did you guys know that Duke's tag on Ao3 only has 7,000 fics? Because I didn't.

[vicedmuses]

LORE: SUPERNATURAL

since this part is pretty lengthy, you can find information below the cut! about what the species can do and where their lore stems from

aliens: each alien will depend on what planet they're from. kosan for example, being from saturn he's a space cowboy that can manipulate crystals. he's very close to the earth around him. onyx on the other hand, is detached from everything being from pluto. he's haunting, like a ghost, and can manipulate dark ice. one neutral and one evil. one open to the world and one here just to haunt it. main inspo is personal lore developed with rhi, tim, & trip

banshees: those connected to the death so much so that they can see it coming. it depends on how close they are. both geographically and then emotionally to the person. this can be completely overpowering depending on how often this needs to happen. powers include death sense, sonic scream / beacon emission, clairaudience, divination/precognition, supernatural immunity (can't be turned into anything else), harbinger connection, supernatural sensitivity, and a minor form of telepathy. main inspo is tvd

demons: creatures from the underworld. these vary vastly. some are lower level demons that barely have that much power. others are crossroad demons that make deals. then there are the high level demons who are a part of hell's hierarchy. powers include reality warping, super senses/strength, teleportation, electrokinesis, shadow manipulation, & pyrokinesis. main inspos are charmed & spn

dragonkins: descendants from dragons. these creatures roam the earth in plain disguise, looking like your everyday human. they're more tame than their ancestors, but it only takes one little thing to make them snap. powers include acid manipulation, detecting magic, enhanced strength/defenses, wing manifestation/flight, & an elemental control. main inspo is dnd

exorcists: priests blessed by angels to take out the evil in this world. they're gifted with the knowledge that it takes to expel a demon from a human body, including knowing full latin and wielding holy items. aside from this, they have no true powers themselves. main inspos are the exorcist & spn

gorgons: half serpentine creatures that have been known to be cursed in this world. others view it more as a blessing in disguise though. no one gets close enough to hurt them unless they let their guard down. abilities include paralyzing poison, super strength, telepathy, snake communication, invulnerability, immortality, precognition, & petrifying gaze. main inspos are spn & mythology

incubi: half demon and half human. they're known to be sexual predators that feed off of hormones/sex. abilities include empathy, enhanced condition, lust inducement, natural weaponry (claws, fangs, tails), pheromone manipulation, persuasion, reproductive manipulation, shapeshifting, & supernatural beauty. main inspo is spn

nightmare manifestations: a witch created katriel straight out of a neighborhood's dreams. he has all of the horrific qualities of their nightmares, but also the sexual attributes of their fantasies. his monster self looks like venom. his abilities include shapeshifting, fear projection, & lust projection. inspo comes form personal lore

the possessed: humans bodies that have been possessed by demonic entities. the main difference here is that for the most part, their soul is still somewhat around. so it's a constant push and pull. although some might choose to work with the demon within. powers can include levitating, telekinesis, super strength, and teleportation. main inspos are spn & the exorcist

sirens: half human and half sea creatures that lure people out to the nearby docks. once betrayed by a loved one while they were a merfolk and this is how they ended up taking their more demonic form, to exact revenge. powers include aquatic empathy/communication, atmokinesis, beacon emission, enhanced condition, hydrokinesis, shapeshifting, underwater breathing. main inspos are spn, siren, & mythology

vampires: bloodsucking immortal creatures commonly known in various lore. they are weak to the sun, most would burn if they go out in pure daylight. although if they have something blessed by a witch, then they can get away with it. they're frozen at the age they're turned. diet includes blood, up to their own morals whether it comes from a human or animal. twilight specific vampires may have unique abilities and their eyes change colors due to what they feed on. main inspos are tvd, spn, & twilight for those in that canon

werecreatures: there are two ways that one can become a shifter. either you're bitten or born. those that are born are far more in control of their shift since they've been dealing with it since puberty. those that are bitten, well it depends on when that happened. most can partially shift. claws, fangs, glowing eyes, etc. some can fully shift into their animal counterpart. powers include shapeshifting, claw extraction, super agility + senses + speed + strength, etc. main inspos are tvd, tw, spn

witches: born mortals that are gifting with the art of magic. their powers can vastly range and it depends on skill level, age, and practice. normally, they travel in covens set forth by blood relations or close bonds. these covers are bonded by the same mission. powers include (but are not limited to) telekinesis, potion making, spell casting, precognition, scrying, weather manipulation, and mediumship. some have powers unique to them as well. main inspos are charmed, the secret circle, ahs: coven, tvd, & spn

[parrishjeanna]

I’m just going to put this out there.

“Grooming can be defined as the process that an abuser uses to desensitise you – to make you less likely to reject or report abusive behaviour.

Grooming can happen when there is a power differential within a relationship, which the abuser exploits for their own gratification.

This is most commonly recognised as a tactic used by perpetrators of child sexual abuse, both on children and parents. However, adults can also be groomed.

Adult grooming

While grooming is most associated with child sexual abuse, it is also possible for adults, especially vulnerable adults to be groomed – or prepared – for abuse.

As with children, this is more common in situations where there is a power differential – for example by someone older or physically stronger, or by a professional who has a measure of control over you, such as a doctor or a teacher.

Many gay men arrive in London having fled homophobia in other environments and throw themselves into the gay scene. You might have then been coerced or encouraged into doing things – for example you might have met someone who encouraged you into the chemsex scene, saying that it is the norm, that it’s just what happens in the gay community, something like a rite of passage.

In expensive cities like London this could also take the form of people offering cheap or free accommodation in exchange for sex, leaving you feeling trapped in a situation whereby if you refuse sex you might then be made homeless.

Grooming can also happen in domestic and relationship settings where the abusive partner, over time, introduces abusive acts that you feel coerced into allowing. In these situations, consent is coerced and therefore is not consent. .

The effects of grooming

One of the key results of grooming is that the survivor is left carrying the shame of the events, often represented in a sense of complicity – that you let it happen. This self blame once again makes the abuse difficult to talk about. Grooming makes it more difficult to identify when abuse is happening, and more difficult to identify and talk about in retrospect. The law is clear; when consent to sex is coerced, including emotionally coerced sex, it is not consent.”

Their relationship is fully consensual between two adults. Tommy did not manipulate Buck into it. In fact when he thought Buck wasn’t comfortable with being with him he backed off and said see you around.

Buck was the one who chose to seek him out again. Buck was the one trying to spend time with Tommy. Buck was the one wanting to have a relationship with Tommy.

Tommy didn’t even think it was an option until Buck said he was trying to get his attention. They also do not have a power imbalance. Tommy has not tried to push Buck into doing anything Buck doesn’t want to do. Buck was the one who started the daddy kink flirting.

Let’s not forget that Buck has experience with having an older partner as Abby was 17 years older than him. And just like with Tommy Buck was the one who was actually in control of the relationship.

Abby asked Buck out but he wanted to keep it strictly on the phone because of his intimacy issues. She was good with that. Every interaction they had was instigated by Buck. She didn’t manipulate him into anything. 

The only SA Buck has suffered was at the hands of his female psychiatrist (power imbalance) which is when he realizes he has a major problem and let sex take a back seat and put his feelings first. 

Honestly, it’s sad that a healthy gay relationship needs to be defended just because one of them is a little older.

Another sad thing is knowing how much time Tim and Lou spent talking about how they don’t want Tommy to come off as a predator and were so careful of his actions and words. For example; Tommy asking TWICE if it was okay that he kissed Buck, backing off once he felt that Buck was uncomfortable with being out in public with him, telling Buck TWICE that how he felt and reacted in the moment were valid feelings he had and didn’t need to apologize for, asking TWICE if Buck was sure about coming out the everyone he knew at his sisters wedding.

Tommy has so many green flags I’d be more worried about Buck taking advantage of him if Buck wasn’t such a cinnamon roll.

All of you “fans” who think Tommy is horrible or a groomer need to learn what abuse actually looks like. Read a psychology book or something. I learned the hard way. I’ve been groomed, but was lucky enough to be too worried about getting into trouble to actually do anything. I’ve been in an emotional manipulative power imbalance relationship, that was a rollercoaster of a ride. As someone with real life experience Tommy is all green flags.

And to all you “fans” that are just here for Buddie. Stop watching the show and stick to your fanfiction. It’s not as if Buddie is going away, it’s just staying platonic the way it’s been for the last 6 seasons. FFS the show isn’t over with yet. Who knows maybe in 2 or 3 seasons we’ll get romantic Buddie or not. I frankly don’t care who he ends up with, though I greatly prefer Tommy because as a romantic partner Eddie is all red flags right now and needs time to get his shit together. My only wish is for Buck to be happy. 

Yes, I tagged the hell out of this because I think everyone needs to see this. STOP SENDING HATE TO EVERYONE JUST BECAUSE YOU DONT GET YOUR WAY.

do you think tommy is a groomer

no, he's a firefighter pilot with the lafd and imo he'd be terrible at giving dogs haircuts

[102765314]

Marine creatures in coral reef ecosystem

Credit: Raavya Bhattacharyya

Hi. This is the fourth entry in the series of blogs about coral reefs. In this blog, we will look at the various fantastic marine creatures in the coral reef ecosystem. More than thousands of marine life interact with coral reefs, but we will only see some of them in the blog. Let's start exploring them.

Coral-feeding fishes

In addition to shelter and living spaces, corals are the food source of coral-feeding fishes (also known as corallivorous fishes) (Cole, Pratchett & Jones 2008). Among 128 corallivorous fishes from 11 families documented, 69 belong to the family Chaetodontidae. Other families include the Balistidae, Labridae, Monacanthidae, Pomacentridae, Scaridae and Tetraodontidae. Below are examples of fish species of the mentioned families. Some are not coral-feeding fishes. The pictures just show how the species will look in a particular family.

Credit: Wiktionary (Chaetodontidae); Wikipedia (Balistidae; Monacanthidae; Pomacentridae; Scaridae; Tetraodontidae); Tim Hochgrebe (Labridae).

One-third of them almost feed only on corals, which make up more than 80% of the diet. Regarding feeding preference, some ingest the live coral tissue (e.g., coral polyps, coral mucous, coral skeleton), while some prefer the dead tissue (e.g., dead coral skeletons). For instance (Cole, Pratchett & Jones 2008):

coral polyps - chevron butterflyfish, Chaetodon trifascialis, Chaetodontidae

coral mucous - ornate butterflyfish, Chaetodon ornatissimus, Chaetodontidae

live coral skeletons - guieneafowl puffer, Arothron meleagris, Tetraodontidae

dead coral skeletons - scraping scarids

Credit: Francois Libert (chevron butterflyfish); Jim Nelson (ornate butterflyfish); Charlotte B (guieneafowl puffer); One People One Reef (scraping scarids)

This chronic predation can help regulate the abundance, distribution and fitness of some coral prey (Cox 1986; Rotjan & Lewis 2005; Rotjan et al. 2006). For instance, the selective predation of the coral-feeding fish Chaetodon unimaculatus on the corals Montipora verrucosa affects the coral growth, zonation and competitive ability (Cox 1986).

Coral groupers and trouts and their hunting partners

Coral groupers Plectropomus pessuliferus marisrubri and coral trouts Plectropomus leopardus feed on small fishes in the coral reefs (Vail, Manica & Bshary 2013). However, due to their relatively large body size, they cannot enter the coral reefs to conduct predation. Therefore, they cooperate with the hunting partners (Vail, Manica & Bshary 2013). For instance, the coral groupers Plectropomus pessuliferus marisrubri partner with the giant moray eel Gymnothorax javanicus and the Napoleon wrasse Cheilinus undulatus in predation (Bshary et al. 2006). The coral trouts Plectropomus leopardus hunt collaboratively with the octopus Octopus cyanea (Vail, Manica & Bshary 2013). The hunting partnership is beneficial as it increases the predation rate.

Collaborative hunting tactics (Bshary et al. 2006; Vail, Manica & Bshary 2013):

Coral groupers and trouts - indicate location of hidden prey in coral reefs to hunting partners and capture chased prey in open water using burst speed

Hunting partners:

Giant moray eels - have slender body to enter the coral crevices

Napoleon wrasses - have protractile jaws to suck out hidden prey or smash the reef matrix around the prey

Octopuses - have long arms to capture prey in cervices

Credit: Georgette Douwma (Plectropomus pessuliferus marisrubri); Graham Edgar (Plectropomus leopardus); Luis Pérez Berrocal (Gymnothorax javanicus); Giuseppe Mazza (Cheilinus undulatus); Age Fotostock/Alamy Stock Photo (Octopus cyanea )

Flamingo tongue snail

Flamingo tongue snails (Cyphoma gibbosum) are gregarious sea snails that are found on the gorgonian corals, which possess distasteful toxins to protect them from being eaten (Whalen 2008). These tiny creatures are smaller than a postage stamp. Unlike most marine animals, they like to eat the gorgonian corals. They munch the toxin-saturated tissue until the hard skeleton of gorgonian corals using radula (modified tooth). One unique feature is that they can exploit the gorgonian toxins and incorporate them into the flaps of their brightly coloured mantle to make them awful to be eaten by fish (Whalen 2008).

Credit: Linda Ianniello

This is the end of this blog. I hope these fantastic marine creatures in the coral reef ecosystem have amazed you.

References

Bshary, R, Hohner, A, Ait-el-Djoudi, K & Fricke, H 2006, ‘Interspecific communicative and coordinated hunting between groupers and giant moray eels in the Red Sea’, PLoS Biology, vol. 4, no. 12, p. e431.

Cole, AJ, Pratchett, MS & Jones, GP 2008, ‘Diversity and functional importance of coral‐feeding fishes on tropical coral reefs’, Fish and Fisheries, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 286-307.

Cox, EF 1986, ‘The effects of a selective corallivore on growth rates and competition for space between two species of Hawaiian corals’, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 161-174.

Rotjan, RD, Dimond, JL, Thornhill, DJ, Leichter, JJ, Helmuth, B, Kemp, DW & Lewis, SM 2006, ‘Chronic parrotfish grazing impedes coral recovery after bleaching’, Coral Reefs, vol. 25, pp. 361-368.

Rotjan, RD & Lewis, SM 2005, ‘Selective predation by parrotfishes on the reef coral Porites astreoides’, Marine Ecology Progress Series, vol. 305, pp. 193-201.

Vail, AL, Manica, A & Bshary, R 2013, ‘Referential gestures in fish collaborative hunting’, Nature Communications, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 1765.

Whalen, K 2008, ‘Biochemical warfare on coral reefs’, Oceanus, vol. 47, no. 1, p. 13.

Images or videos from external sources:

Age Fotostock/Alamy Stock Photo - https://www.worldwildlife.org/magazine/issues/spring-2019/articles/meet-the-master-of-camouflage-the-day-octopus

Charlotte B - https://stock.adobe.com/images/golden-guineafowl-puffer-fish-swimming-over-the-bottom-a-funny-and-venomous-tropical-fish-from-the-pacific-ocean/237039937

Francois Libert - https://uk.inaturalist.org/photos/171100563

Georgette Douwma - https://www.naturepl.com/stock-photo/red-sea-coral-grouper-%28plectropomus-pessuliferus-marisrubri%29-egypt-red-sea/search/detail-0_01448718.html

Giuseppe Mazza - https://www.monaconatureencyclopedia.com/cheilinus-undulatus/?lang=en

Graham Edgar - https://reeflifesurvey.com/species/plectropomus-leopardus/

Jim Nelson - https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/2050146002

Linda Ianniello

- https://www.jaxshells.org/ryxx.htm

- https://www.jaxshells.org/6016.htm

Luis Pérez Berrocal - https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/121000-Gymnothorax-javanicus

One People One Reef - https://onepeopleonereef.org/resources/fish-info/herbivorous-fishes/parrotfishes-scarids/

Raavya Bhattacharyya - https://travel.earth/best-coral-reefs-across-the-world/

Tim Hochgrebe - https://australian.museum/learn/animals/fishes/labridae-wrasses/

Wikipedia

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filefish

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrotfish

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomacentridae

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraodontidae

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triggerfish

Wiktionary - https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/butterflyfish

[basilf1res]

Random DP x DC Blurb

And… facts about snakes at the end lmao

So, you know how poisonous creatures (like Poison Dart Frogs or Tiger Keelback snakes (Rhabdophis tigrinus) for example) usually tend to have a bright color scheme compared to their natural environment to ward off predators…

And how it’s typically headcannoned that ectoplasm is poisonous…

ANd imagine that Danny can regrow his limbs…

I give you:

Danny faces off Killer Croc in the street - who just ate Danny’s left hand - flaring his aura and flashing his eerie green eyes while his left wrist is bleeding a mixture of ruby red dotted with electric green.

——————————

This would be a funny one shot or an aspect incorporated into a fic lmfao.

Like, Waylon would be standing there like, “oH SHIT- WHAT DID I JUST EAT” before experiencing some ✨severe✨ ‘food poisoning’.

The Bats are watching this teenager shorter than Tim face off one of their rouges in the middle of the street while puffing himself up like an angry kitten. (Someone’s adoption addiction is going to be fed today)

Danny be standing there like, “BIATCH, FUDKING EAT MORE OF ME, I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU”.

——————————

Okay okay okay- so the Tiger Keelback (Rhabdophis tigrinus) is a snake that actually makes itself poisonous by eating poisonous frogs! It’s quite fascinating!

The brightness of the color around their neck/head indicates how poisonous the snake is, so if the colors are bright and noticeable, then the snake recently ate a poisonous frog (of some kind). If the colors are dulled, then it hasn’t had a poisonous meal in quite some time.

A side note: yes these snakes are 👏venomous👏and👏poisonous👏.

Here’s what it looks like if anyone’s curious:

(⚠️SNAKE WARNING⚠️ - if you’re afraid looking at snakes or pictures of snakes🤷‍♀️)

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3

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2

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1

So cute 🥰

But alas… he bites 😭

I like snakes if you can’t tell. ✨

Sorry not sorry 🤷‍♀️

[alabasterwasps]

Okay so seriously though, the Operator I think can be defeated through friendship and here is why.

Everything we know about the Operator shows us that it is a very hands off entity. It is an ambush predator, something that strikes out of opportunity, however, every time we see it appear it is appearing to do one of these things:

Incite fear/panic.

To feed/take a body to the ark.

To single someone out.

I want to focus a bit on the last point. We know that sometimes it just appears, it scares someone and causes that someone to act out of irrational fear. We know that it will appear to take a body. But it also shows up to separate people.

From as early as Seth’s disappearance and death (which is the most direct we have ever seen the Operator act), which as far as we know wasn’t intentional on Alex’s part (based on the genuine fear in his voice, the shouting for him, etc), to it’s later appearances with Jay, it appears to drive and separate groups of two into one.

It appears to Jay and Alex numerous times, just to drive them apart. It does the same especially to Jay and Tim, terrorizing them separately when it does. It only ever seems to fully ‘attack’ if someone is alone, and so it does it’s best to drive people apart and to be alone. It does this best by using their fear and paranoia against them.

We see it use that against Alex as Alex pushes everyone he knows away. We see it happen to Jay too, after a particularly bad encounter he immediately attacks his only ally, Tim, and for what? So it can have another person functioning like Alex, it loves keeping Alex afraid because Alex reacts violently to the constant fear and years of paranoia he’s been under, and he feeds it. We know Jay is following that same path, but that is another topic for some other time.

The Operator continuously tries to drive people away from each other, only allowing groups to enter its woods if it knows/thinks it’s going to result in death (Allowing Alex to lead Jay and Jessica in to kill them, Allowing Jay and Alex to capture Tim/Masky to try and hurt him, etc).

However, we see something else. We see the Operator leave them alone when together. It very rarely will appear to more than two people, but even two people if it is in a situation where it can’t drive them apart. It doesn’t appear to Jay and Tim in his house, or the hotels, or wherever they’re staying. It doesn’t even try. We even see that you can drive the Operator away. Tim is the best example of this. He chooses to stay, to go back to the Operator rather than leave Jay alone, and eventually it simply leaves. It just leaves, it’s not worth the effort, it leaves. Jay does to a lesser extent though he takes a heavy blow from it when trying to keep it from Jessica but does go away.

It is a strong entity, sure, but it does not seem to be able to handle more than one person at a time.

Also, again another post for another time but Tim’s meds render almost all of its abilities in a person’s mind useless.

Genuinely, if a group of people were to enter those woods, and stick together. If they were to not be afraid, it can’t do anything to them. They could starve it that way, starve the ark and diminish its hold on the woods and places and people because it could not get to them, it can’t single them out.

I have more thoughts on this but yeah defeat the Operator with the power of friendship

i think you can defeat the operator with the power of friendship but no one is ready for that one yet

[bigskydreaming]

Compiling a Top Ten List of Things I Wish Non-Nightwing Fans Knew Weren’t True About Him (pre-Flashpoint and ten only because I’m using a panel example for each one and just linking to longer essay-proofs I’ve made on literally all of these lmao why am I like this).....I need one more though. Thoughts?

1) Dick didn’t hate Jason, treat him badly or ignore him when Jason was Robin

2) Dick’s iconic jerk moments towards Kory, Donna, Alfred and others in NTT #18-22 don’t actually say anything about his character because they exist as part of a narrative showing he was brainwashed, and no, it wasn’t a retcon

3) Dick and Kory’s breakup had EVERYTHING to do with Mirage, they were fighting about it literally the page before he proposed, and you can’t claim not being ready to get married was the problem unless you acknowledge Dick only wanted to get married to prove he loved Kory in the face of everyone doubting that because of Mirage

4) Your view of Dick’s feelings about Jason upon his eventual return, and him killing people, absolutely needs to factor in the fact that Dick once beat the Joker to death because he mocked Jason’s death to Dick, and no, Bruce reviving the Joker doesn’t change anything this says about Dick’s feelings here

5) What happened with Tarantula was not the de facto worst thing to happen to Dick at that time, it is just as significant if not MORE significant that Blockbuster targeted and killed everyone close to him in Bludhaven specifically BECAUSE of Dick himself, from his apartment building, Haly’s Circus, etc. In fact, given that Tarantula wasn’t the first time Dick was raped and the fact that even as it happened, Dick - who had already taken responsibility for her and her training - told her not to touch him not just because he didn’t want it, but because he was poison....its highly significant that his thoughts were focused on him being WHAT ruins everyone who touches him....including his own rapist. He saw himself as the common denominator, and I don’t think there’s anyway to divorce this from his first rape, which was also at the hands of someone he worked with in a superhero capacity. Finally, all of this was ultimately compounded by the destruction of Bludhaven itself, and that....really....can’t be stressed enough. As well as the fact that all of this took place at the exact same point in the comics as Tim’s losses of Stephanie, Conner and Jack Drake.

6) Dick was never Slade’s apprentice. Ever. As Renegade in the comics, he worked WITH Slade, as part of an attempt to infiltrate the Society of Super-villains, but the whole time he did so, he was at Slade’s request training his daughter Rose himself. He was never Slade’s subordinate or student. That just fundamentally didn’t happen. Furthermore, he outwitted Slade, in retaliation for Slade subverting his attempt to tell Clark he wasn’t really a traitor and making Clark actually believe he was.....and it was him outwitting Slade and getting Rose to turn on her father that led Slade to have the Society destroy Bludhaven as its example to the world, despite Slade having previously promised Dick that Bludhaven would be protected. You can’t unlink any of the links in this chain of events. Bludhaven was only destroyed BECAUSE Slade and Dick never once interacted as student and teacher, master and apprentice. It was a cat and mouse game where they both played both roles, knowingly, the entire time. As equals. As all their interactions between them have gone, going all the way back to their earliest encounters in the Judas Contract. Please stop erasing this aspect of their comic book dynamics just to warp it into something where Slade is a predator who hopelessly outmatches Dick, his chosen prey. Slade’s preoccupation with Dick isn’t because of his potential, its because Dick’s the one who keeps fucking up Slade’s plans AS HE ALREADY IS. Constantly reframing things so Dick is hopelessly at Slade’s mercy or desperately in need of Slade’s help or protection says nothing about their actual dynamic, it's just using them as interchangeable props in your preferred dynamic. Which I mean, you can do, its just. Know that isn’t actually them?

7) Dick didn’t fire Tim, kick him out of Wayne Manor or Gotham, ever think he was crazy, threaten to throw him into Arkham, refuse to believe him about Bruce’s death, pick Damian over him, or any of the dozen other rabbits people have pulled out of the top hat that is Red Robin in order to depict him as the absolute worst person to ever live and who should totally just go to Hell.

8) Dick is actually the ONLY one of the Batkids who has had the experience in Arkham that people like to say Jason has had and blame on Dick himself, as he went undercover for Bruce in Batman R.I.P. in a manner that necessitated allowing the Black Glove Society to capture him, hold him prisoner in Arkham for a week, straitjacketed and drugged up to the gills and about to be lobotomized when he was finally able to fight back and free himself. While Arkham was actually full of various Rogues, unlike the time Jason actually spent in Arkham, being bored, and subjected to nothing more than psychological evaluations that said he was fine, all because Dick wanted to PROTECT him in a way that he knew wouldn’t be possible if Jason was in Blackgate, after POLICE arrested him regardless of what Dick did or didn’t want.

9) Dick absolutely 100% WAS adopted by Bruce when he was an adult, he isn’t the only one who wasn’t adopted, just the one who wasn’t adopted before adulthood. I have major issues with HOW the adoption went down, and think it should have played out much differently and would love to see a million fix-it fics tackling the WAY it played out and doing it better, but it is just flat out, categorically untrue that it just didn’t happen at all. And to be fair, Dick Grayson stans are just as guilty as perpetuating this one in the name of angst, and personally, I think that is counter-productive and just enables the perpetuation of treating him/viewing him as something ‘other’ than one of Bruce’s kids himself.

10) I have a few ideas for the tenth, but nothing definitive, so.....thoughts? Any other major topics I’ve ranted on before that anyone thinks should make an appearance here or doesn’t get acknowledged enough, or perhaps a topic I haven’t covered yet? 

[adafruit]

Apple HyperCard (1987) with Computer Chronicles clip featuring the creator, Bill Atkinson from Apple

Wikipedia -

HyperCard is a software application and development kit for Apple Macintosh and Apple IIGS computers. It is among the first successful hypermedia systems predating the World Wide Web. HyperCard combines a flat-file database with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable interface.

HyperCard combines a flat-file database with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable interface. HyperCard includes a built-in programming language called HyperTalk for manipulating data and the user interface.

This combination of features – a database with simple form layout, flexible support for graphics, and ease of programming – suits HyperCard for many different projects such as rapid application development of applications and databases, interactive applications with no database requirements, command and control systems, and many examples in the demoscene.

HyperCard was originally released in 1987 for $49.95 and was then included for free with all new Macs sold. It was withdrawn from sale in March 2004, having received its final update in 1998 upon the return of Steve Jobs to Apple. HyperCard runs in the Classic Environment, but was not ported to Mac OS X.

HyperCard influenced the development of the Web in late 1990 through its influence on Robert Cailliau, who assisted in developing Tim Berners-Lee’s first Web browser. Javascript was inspired by HyperTalk.

Video and more An introduction to Apple's Hypercard. Guests include Apple Fellow and Hypercard creator Bill Atkinson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FquNpWdf9vg https://blog.adafruit.com/2014/06/18/hypercard/

Apple Fellow and Hypercard creator Bill Atkinson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Atkinson https://twitter.com/billatk https://www.youtube.com/@photocardapp

CircuitPython Your Own Adventure https://learn.adafruit.com/circuit-python-your-own-adventure?view=all

Tons of HyperCard on the Adafruit blog! https://blog.adafruit.com/?s=hypercard

HyperCard, the missing link to the Web https://blog.adafruit.com/2021/06/07/34-years-of-hypercard-the-missing-link-to-the-web-hypercard-vintagecomputing-arstechnica/

The Library of Congress and HyperCard https://blog.adafruit.com/2021/12/15/the-library-of-congress-and-hypercard-vintagecomputing-digitalpreservation-librarycongress/

DitherPaint: a 1-bit, browser-based drawing application https://blog.adafruit.com/2021/06/09/ditherpaint-a-1-bit-browser-based-drawing-application/

Proposed Commercials featuring Mac team Members in October 1983, Full Demo Reel https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/11/24/proposed-commercials-featuring-mac-team-members-in-october-1983-full-demo-reel-andyhertzfeld-apple/

Andy Hertzfeld has a YouTube channel https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/07/20/andy-hertzfeld-has-a-youtube-channel-and-its-great-andyhertzfeld-billatk-susankare/

Apple Macintosh - Your Tour of HyperCard (1991) Apple Computer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx_WCIAM4bA

Explore Magic Cap, a smartphone OS from a decade before the iPhone https://learn.adafruit.com/magic-cap-the-smartphone-os-from-the-90s?view=all

[arobinwithoutbatman]

Fuck, Bart looked incredible with that expression. He's so much more intelligent and cunning outside of this scene; Tim was regularly caught off guard by some of Bart's wordplay. He adores his boyfriend's mind dearly. But he can't deny that those wide eyes, the pretty flush, the clear want in his voice, it's all gorgeous.

Maybe he should tentatively suggest a prey-predator thing for next time.

He heard the consent, another example for Bart being great with word play, and Tim didn't have to pretend to struggle with diving right in. The fingers in his hair were so soothing and encouraging, helping to dissolve his will power. The fake fangs oh so gently scraped against Bart's neck.

"If I start... I might not stop." He warned. "Th-The bite it-" Did Bart put on a new cologne? He genuinely smelled amazing. "-it's pleasurable to mortals. I won't be able to stop. You won't be able to recognise I'm going too far."

Tim wasn't actually going to bite him, obviously, the fake fangs weren't sharp enough to pierce skin. At most, Tim would be leaving a large hickey. His hands wandered to Bart's ass, giving the cheeks a quick squeeze then guiding Bart's erratic hips into a rhythm.

Both of them were rock hard, clothed lengths grinding against each other making Tim moan into Bart's neck. He bit down with enough force for Bart to feel it, a stand in fir a vampire bite, then switched to gentle nibbles and long licks. Cleaning up blood that wasn't there. The continued to gently worry the skin between his teeth and suckle at the path, encouraging the blood to rush to just below the surface. A hickey. It was just burst capillaries, essentially a bruise with a slang name.

But he kept going. Suckling at the skin as he guided Bart's hips. Letting out little moans as he pretended to 'feed.'

Oooohhhh Bart was making it very difficult to stay in character. All Tim wanted to do was pin Bart to the mattress and fuck him until sunrise. But he couldn't. They had a scene planned. He wasn't going to change things up in the middle of things when they weren't in the right mindset for proper negotiation. So he took a few moments to breathe, burying his nose against Bart's neck to disguise it. Pretending to get another whiff of Bart's irresistible blood.

"But I could." He croaked, glad the crack in his voice from the glorious way Bart was grinding on him could be disguised as a typical bad boy almost whisper. "You don't even realise how easily I could hurt you. How I want to hurt you."

He'd started wearing fake fangs whenever they were on these dates, taking an hour or two each time before the actual date to get used to them so the lisp was minimal. He was wearing them now and gently nipped at Bart's neck, letting him feel the point.

"I could break the skin so easily. " He murmured, sounding almost entranced. "Drain you dry. No one would be any the wiser." He pulled away, leaning back to let Bart see the change in his eyes.

This had taken some doing. Tim had eventually pulled out an old project of his and cleaned it up and tweaked it a little. Contact lenses that gave you an infra red view of the world and, as a weird side effect he'd never managed to fix, happened to reflect red in the right lights. Low light specifically. Like the slight glow coming from all the fake candles around the room acting as ambient lighting. He wasn't about to leave a fire hazard in their home while they were out at a bar.

[dukeaubergine]

If you object to fic & meta holding Stephanie accountable for actions she canonically took (because the original writers/editors were sexist) and badger your fellow fans over it,

but don’t say anything about all the fanworks where Talia is blamed for things she did not do in canon (example, having it be her idea for Jason to attack Tim), and don’t encourage people to choose the continuities/retcons where she’s canonically not a sexual predator over the ones where she is (thanks, canon, for that double whammy of sexism and racism),

and don’t say anything about all the fanworks where Janet Drake is a worse parent than Jack despite her limited canon page time showing her to at worst be just as neglectful, and in fact more empathetic,

Then I do not, in fact, consider you to be a feminist fan bravely railing against fandom sexism. You’re just a stan of one particular character, who’s picked up some social justice language to harass other fans with.

It’s fine to like Stephanie and wish canon treated her better.

It’s not fine to accuse other fans of sexism just because they don’t stan your favorite.

And it’s downright insulting to claim you’re doing this in the name of feminism when we see you ignoring (or joining in on) how these other female characters are villainized.

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

Thoughts on your version of the Titans?

so the Titans occupy an odd space in the headverse, and that mostly has to do with the specific way their relationship to Young Justice is changed, with the original YJ team predating the first modern Titans team

(I’m gonna discuss the Teen Titans and Titans together since I kind assume that’s what you meant anyway)

I think by this point I’ve got two posted Titans line-ups: the classic animated series grouping (though Dick is already Nightwing by that point) and the older “Lost Era” Teen Titans consisting of Bumblebee, Mal Duncan as Guardian, Hawk, Dove, Omen, and their eventual sixth member, Coagula. This team actually equates to the original canon Teen Titans, who are now the basis of the headverse Young Justice in its earliest incarnation. They fought guys like Mad Mod, Ding Dong Daddy, Mister Twister, and Hallucinatra and generally exist closer to groups like the Doom Patrol than to the Justice League proper.

Which established the running them of the headverse Titans: Young Justice is more sidekicks, legacies, outgrowths of the existing Justice League structure basically. The Cyborg era Titans are backed by the League and Dick splits time between both groups--meeting his eventual partner on the Titans, natch--but they’re not attached to the existing league members as mentees or direct successors, though many of them will pass into the League’s ranks in later eras.

So I guess for example, the Young Justice Line-Up during the early Cyborg Era would be:

Lara, M’Gann, Artemis, Wally, Jackson, and Jason (replaced by Tim after his murder)

while Cyborg’s team would be

Vic, Kori, Rachel, Gar, Dick, with Terra briefly joining the team before leaving to take over as Markovia’s sitting monarch following her brother’s assassination

From there, YJ develops a lot like both “The Team” from the cartoon and the Wonder Comics era team with a mix of the same members, barring a few who end up with the Titans and vice versa.

The Titans slowly move towards more independence from the League and starting to operate as their own and even with their own legacies in some cases. This would be similar to the Titans Academy era in Canon, barring some...choice I’m not happy with and won’t be adapting (like the Red X thing, which I have a different endgame for).

In the post-Crisis era, the Titans are probably Crush, Roundhouse, Brick, Skitter, Solstice, Inertia (the Bar Torr version of Impulse, here more explicitly alien, maybe even a White Martian? idk).

There’s also a break off group lead by Jason, equating to Generation Outlaw but essentially a separate Dark Titans group, formed out of the Ma Faye Gunn Home in Gotham after Jason returned home and established himself as Red Hood.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Some of 2005's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is needlessly strange. This film wants to have its own identity and sometimes, it goes a bit too far to differentiate itself from 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. To call it bad for these few moments would be a mistake. Frequently funny, whimsical, and with plenty of eye-popping visuals, this adaptation of the beloved Roald Dahl novel has plenty to offer.

Legendary candy maker Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) has hidden a golden ticket in five of his mouth-watering Wonka Bars. The children who find them will be allowed access to his mysterious factory. Poor, kind Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) lives in a small house with his mother (Helena Bonham Carter), his father (Noah Taylor), and four grandparents. He gets one chocolate bar a year for his birthday. There’s no way he could ever be lucky enough to win… right?

One aspect of the film will split audiences down the middle, so let’s get to it right away. This Willy Wonka is not the same one Gene Wilder played. He’s still strange and has little patience for the brats who've found his golden tickets, but this is a much more child-like take on the character. The objective here is the same as the casting of Adrien Brody in Predators: do something so different that no one will compare this version to the one we’re used to. It works but I think director Tim Burton might've gone a bit too far. Still, I like Depp. His comedic timing is terrific, the commitment to the role is complete and he’s memorable. It’s a bit much, but Wilder was also plenty weird, even creepy at times. I fall into the camp of enjoying it more than not.

The other criticism I have concern the songs. The score by Danny Elfman is terrific. It builds an appropriately weird mood as we walk into a candy factory where anything goes and imagination is the limit. It’s not the music, it’s the lyrics. Brand me a heretic, but the words written by Dahl - while catchy and clever - were never really meant to be accompanied by a melody. Who’s to blame? It doesn’t matter. The point is that this musical’s soundtrack is not equal to the one from 1971.

Let’s move on to this picture's strengths. Watch this film and you’ll be treated to a veritable buffet of shapes, textures, and colors. In terms of visuals, this is the superior film. Looking at Wonka’s chocolate river makes your mouth water, you can practically taste and smell the delicious confections he’s got tucked away in his enormous workshop. The picture also excels at bringing the characters found in Dahl’s book to life. Certain details are altered but the essence is there. A perfect example is Jordan Fry as Mike Teavee. No longer a kid obsessed with television, he’s now a child who's lost his childhood innocence. The character has much more personality (and that’s saying a lot). With a similar treatment given to many of the other ticket winners, the film keeps the over-the-top, cartoonish vibe that belongs in this sort of story meant for children, while gaining some additional depth.

You can’t help but compare Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Even if you could, I’m not sure this would be an instant classic… but it’d be close. The picture has some big laughs and contains plenty of magic. It's thoroughly fun, and with an identity all its own. If you dismissed it the first time around, I say give it a second chance. (On DVD, September 8, 2017)