sleepydaemon

[sleepydaemon]

and like, wow, what a good message about how this stereotypical jock-and-cheerleader relationship gets better when they move beyond traditional gender roles.

i think what makes connor and m’gann compelling to me is that they are both facing the same struggle from complete opposite directions. they desperately want to fit in with the rest of the team, but have no idea how to navigate human social interactions (compounded by dick, wally, kaldur, and roy seeming to already be friends).

m’gann leans into the hyper-feminine ‘megan’ character, which is the type of interaction she’s seen through ‘hello, megan’. this sort of works, since wally seems happy to kinda shove her into that box, which backfires a lot (ep. 3 esp).

connor just distances himself from everyone and assumes this really gruff, antisocial persona. the mask slips every once in a while, like m’gann inviting him to help her cook, but even then he still has no idea how to initiate any interaction.

and then the season continues and they find that people can appreciate them for who they really are, not just the personas they put on.

[sleepydaemon]

Taka-taka-taka

[sleepydaemon]

i think what makes connor and m’gann compelling to me is that they are both facing the same struggle from complete opposite directions. they desperately want to fit in with the rest of the team, but have no idea how to navigate human social interactions (compounded by dick, wally, kaldur, and roy seeming to already be friends).

m’gann leans into the hyper-feminine ‘megan’ character, which is the type of interaction she’s seen through ‘hello, megan’. this sort of works, since wally seems happy to kinda shove her into that box, which backfires a lot (ep. 3 esp).

connor just distances himself from everyone and assumes this really gruff, antisocial persona. the mask slips every once in a while, like m’gann inviting him to help her cook, but even then he still has no idea how to initiate any interaction.

and then the season continues and they find that people can appreciate them for who they really are, not just the personas they put on.

[sleepydaemon]

Post is set for a week, let's see how it goes...

[sleepydaemon]

I hope every writer who sees this writes LOADS the next few months. Like freetime opens up, no writers block, the ability to focus, etc etc you're able to write loads & make lots of progress <3

[sleepydaemon]

I love that young justice made M'gann's psychic shield a super-symbol in her fight against Psimon. He's just so clearly an important support for her even before she opens up to him!!! and the fact that she's already relying on him before he joins in the fight??

The show spends so much time building up their relationship and its so worth it.

[sleepydaemon]

types of guns rated by their names

machine gun- 0/10. all guns are

shotgun- 0/10. all guns do

revolver- 10/10 fuck it sure is

[sleepydaemon]

I love that scene so much!! M’gann is trying so hard to maintain this massive secret, but she’s just such a naturally open person in S1. Like, she instinctively wants to reach out to her team, but then something in her panics each time and pulls back.

my favourite part of young justice is m'gann getting scared when canary says shes turned white and then going: “ohhhh you meant caucasian”

[sleepydaemon]

Tula’s character in JY feels kinda icky to me. Like, she’s very clearly introduced as Kaldur’s love interest, which isn’t necessarily terrible, and she’s shown to be a decently powerful magic-user. But she takes one hit in the Atlantis fight scene, and suddenly she needs to be protected for the rest of the fight? Even though Garth and Kaldur have the same (or less!!) training than her and can take MULTIPLE hits just fine?? Even ignoring the fact that she is literally capable of making shields and had no reason to just block the attack with her body (I guess the logic is that she’s not combat-trained?), she could at least make an effort to keep fighting.

And then once she rejects Kaldur, she basically becomes an object for him to throw in Garth’s face, to fan the flames of their rivalry. Like, I get that he’s hurting, but these people are still supposed to be his friends!! And they’re allowed to have motives beyond a romantic relationship!!!!

Idk, but especially when Artemis, M’gann, and Zatanna are all wonderfully fleshed-out and actually superheroes, she just really bothered me.

[sleepydaemon]

Idk who needs to hear this but it's okay to cry over spilt milk. You dropped your food and you were really excited to eat it? You can cry, you're not any lesser than anyone else because it's made you upset. It's not silly if it made you sad.

[sleepydaemon]

YJ Robin sketch, cause he’s my favorite ❤️

[sleepydaemon]

I feel like we get to learn a lot about the heroes just by their costumes, which is some FANTASTIC visual storytelling on the part of the YJ creators.

Robin has a fantastic arc where he decides that he still wants to fight crime and save people, but he doesn't actually want to be Batman. And this is shocking, but at the same time, his costume is RED and YELLOW. YJ Batman wears black and grey, with a muted brown belt. Robin's colour scheme has set him apart from Batman from episode 1!! Of course he's not going to be a perfect carbon copy!!!

Artemis's costume, on the other hand, resembles Green Arrow's very closely from a surface view. They both have the multiple shades of green, quiver over the shoulder, utility belt around the waist, and her mask even gives a similar visual impact to his hood! There are differences, obviously, but in general Artemis is very much trying to look like she belongs on the team, and her supposed relationship with Green Arrow is her one ticket to achieving that.

Speedy, on the other hand, looks VERY different from Green Arrow (even before he rebrands). The colour difference seems the most drastic out of all the pairs, and his hat especially separates him from Green Arrow. He wants to be his own hero, and visually he looks like his own hero (though his costume is probably also the dorkiest, which might be contributing to his anger issues).

Superboy kind-of has two costumes, the pure white cadmus suit and the costume he picked out, neither of which bear much similarity to Superman’s costume. He keeps the symbol to signify his choice to be a hero, but he has to grapple with Superman’s rejection of his existence immediately, and is choosing to be visually distinct.

Aqualad is quite visually distinct from Aquaman, but the similar details of their costumes make them match. The design of their shirts, the ‘A’ symbol on their belts, the darker pants. They are two heroes that pair together well, but who have their own skill sets. I think this really contributes to how grounded Kaldur is as a leader.

Miss Martian's costume is very similar to Martian Manhunter, with blue cape, red X, and green skin. There are minor differences, but they don't visually separate them, instead making her seem like a miniature version of him, because since she wants to be a green martian, just like him!!!

Kid Flash matches pretty well with Flash, but they add all these little details (the goggles, the hair tuft, the snack compartment) that manage to really show his personality, which is already so big.

Zatanna’s costume is almost identical to Zatara’s, showing that they are clearly close and adding a visual element to Zatara’s overprotectiveness. But then Zatara gets taken over by doctor fate, which completely changes his costume. So it ends up with Zatanna replicating a costume that DOESN’T EXIST ANYMORE!! WHICH IS SUCH A POWERFUL REPRESENTATION OF HER LOSS!!!

Idk man it’s all just so good

[sleepydaemon]

I actually love this scene with Superboy in the tower of fate.

"Those were my favorite boots 😡. This Nelson guy better be worth it 😡😡.”

Like, those might've been the first boots he ever got for himself. They might've been a present from the team, or the justice league. His feet just got dunked in lava, and that didn't hurt him, but it did hurt his favorite boots. Which are now gone forever.

Obviously, the whole team will give up whatever they need to for the good of the world, 'cause they're heroes. But this is pointing out that Superboy is giving something up that he hadn't thought he's need to, even without actually getting hurt.

[sleepydaemon]

if you are reading this i want you to stop for a moment and imagine a crab

[sleepydaemon]

Every scene between Green Arrow and Red Arrow in YJ is so GOOD and TENSE but I really love the scene where they first introduce Artemis.

The second he sees an opportunity to rebuild his bond with Roy, Green Arrow jumps at the opportunity, ditching his new protégé (and supposed niece!!), but Roy fully shuts him down.

Green Arrow so clearly wants to be friends/partners with Roy again, and probably already sees them as equals, but is completely unwilling to argue against the rest of the league to support him. And Roy is so clearly unwilling to agree to a friendship unless they are actual equals as league members, since Green Arrow has been feeding him empty promises about gaining status (for probably a very long time) without ever truly following through.

And if Roy IS hurt by his mentor replacing him, he isn't showing it at all. If anything, he seems more disgusted that Green Arrow is still trying to fix their relationship. And it's probably just the clone programming, not letting him go back into a relationship that would threaten his solo hero status, but from Green Arrow's perspective the must by so heartbreaking!!

And then there's the fact that Batman sides with Artemis over Roy, and Green Arrow is still unwilling to defy Batman, which is probably making Red Arrow even more annoyed.

[sleepydaemon]

the drAMA of Red Arrow getting upset at being replaced by Artemis as Green Arrow’s protégé, only to already be a replacement for the original Speedy without realizing it. and telling her she’d better not hurt the team when HE HIMSELF is the one who’s gonna nearly destroy the entire league. AND HE DOESN’T EVEN REALIZE, BECAUSE HE’S JUST FOLLOWING HIS PROGRAMMING!! SO THESE THOUGHTS AREN’T EVEN HIS!!!

[sleepydaemon]

The complexity of mentor/sidekick relationships adds so much depth to the Young Justice characters.

Robin’s mentor is Batman, but he’s also his adoptive father, and he seems to be a decent parent (compared to other versions). But Dick has this need to prove himself both to Batman and Bruce, so he gets crazy intense about being the team leader, which then spirals into self hatred (“Just Aqualad??”).

Aqualad has a kind but firm mentor in Aquaman, but that’s also his king, so it’s almost impossible to be truly emotionally vulnerable with him. And then as the leader, he has to ba a sort-of mentor to his teammates. So he’s left with no one to really emotionally lean on when confronted with Tula.

M’gann has her uncle J’onn who she clearly has a close relationship with, even though he has no idea the scope of her powers. But, he’s also her only ticket to Earth and she’s been lying to him about her status as white martian, because she feels like he won’t accept her for who she really is.

Superboy was literally programmed to be as close to Superman as possible, making him a perfect mentor. But Superman fully rejects him, leaving him without purpose, and being forced to see everyone else’s (perfect) mentor relationships. Superboy eventually reaches out to Black Canary though, seeking out a mentor who will actually engage with him.

Kid Flash clearly has a close relationship with Flash, who’s his uncle and mentor. They have a lot of fun joking around, but Flash really doesn’t seem to acknowledge a lot of KF’s ideas and they don’t have them at much screen time together. KF also had Kent Nelson as a role model, though, which seemed to have a much larger impact before they were separated.

Artemis really doesn’t have a mentor. Her dad taught her most of her skills, but almost none of her morals. She used to really look up to Jade, but gave that up when she got left behind. Green Arrow is supposedly her justice league mentor, but he’s barely gotten over Speedy, so for a while they have very little relationship. I think this makes her feel even more out of place on the team.

And everyone is just forced again and again into the realization that they have to make their own decisions and be their own people now. Everything can’t depend on their mentors if they want to be anything more than sidekicks.