#‘what version of Jason do his stans actually like??1!1??1!1’

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

1. Jason joking about bludhaven being nuked was more of a mockery towards Bruce than a funny haha joke. Mia herself said she was fine and he didn’t try to kill her. I can’t see why sleeping with Talia is a reason to hate him as a character.

2. He wasn’t jealous of Tim, and he made it abundantly clear he didn’t want to be robin. He was 1) testing the new kid’s competency and mentality and 2) irritated at Bruce for throwing another kid into a life of danger. Anyway “Jason Todd was here” was funny.

3. Tentatodd! I think it’s so cool that he can shapeshift??? Please bring this back DC!!!!

4. Gunslinging Batman was H-O-T. If I didn’t love him sm I’d be irritated at him for making me think Batman is attractive.

5. Pill helmet. Identity crisis baby I wanna hug and support through whatever phase that was. 👨🏻‍🦰

[dr-tonytonychopper]

BATFAMILY AS FOLKLORE SONGS

i’m honestly shocked i’ve haven’t done this one. this one is a little different tbh, usually i just do characters and maybe lyrics but this time i did actually did explanations and i was watching the long pond sessions so i could get accurate notes on each song. DISCLAIMER there’s a lot of run on sentences and i hope it all makes sense, peace and love-ssb✌️🫶

the 1: steph and tim, i see this as being from both of their povs. i think a relationship between them wouldn’t work long term it would’ve been fun if you would’ve been the one

cardigan: dick/babs, i know that all writers have their own opinions on who is the “other woman” but timeline wise it’s kori so i see this as being from babs pov bc she goes back to him no matter what

the last great american dynasty: The Wayne’s, i feel that after Bruce adopts his kids and starts collecting others he starts kinda shifting what the wayne’s are where as when he grew up it was about image, poise and galas he starts to change and all he cares abt is if his kids are comfortable i had a marvelous time ruining everything

exile: jason and bruce, even though this song is like two lovers fighting i think it can be interpreted as jason being upset after tim becomes robin and it took you five whole minutes to pack us up and leave me with it and i can see bruce’s pov of being fed up with giving jason the chance to do the right thing but him not doing it like you’d get your knuckles bloody for me second, third and hundredth chances balancing on breaking bridges, i couldn’t turn things around you never turned things around

my tears ricochet: damian and talia, “it’s a song about greed. it’s a song about how somebody could be your best friend and your companion and your most trusted person in your life and then they could go and become your worst enemy who knows how to hurt you because they were once your most trusted person.” Taylor Swift long pond sessions you had to kill me but it killed you just the same this whole song and specifically this part and the quote reminds me of when talia made and had a clone of damian kill him i didn’t have it in me to go with grace and you’re the hero flying around saving face you hear my stolen lullabies

mirrorball: Stephanie, i’ve never been a natural all i do is try i know everyone is like this is dicks songs it’s not he’s the natural however i feel stephanie is put on this pedestal for being independent but she’s not and i feel like she morphs herself into a different version of herself depending on who she’s with “we have mirror balls in the middle of a dance floor because they reflect light they are broken a million times and that’s what makes them so shiny. we have people like that in society. they hang there and everytime they break it entertains us” Taylor Swift long pond sessions

seven: damian and jon, it’s a song abt besties idk 🤷🏻‍♀️ past down like folk songs the love lasts so long

august: kori/dick, IM SORRY DICKORI/ KORI STANS! to me when writers write this love triangle they write babs as the one, she’s smart and sensible and someone to settle down with while kori is written as a fling and something that is just someone who’s there in the moment and that’s what august is about it’s about this girl who was seen by this guy as a fling while she is truly falling for him and from everybody’s pov she’s this bad girl and temptress while all she wants is to love and to be loved

this is me trying: tim, they told me all my cages were mental so i got wasted like all my potential, tim is often now written as this happy go lucky character and i think that in red robin he’s fighting some real demons but in the newer runs he’s fighting to make it through the day or insecurities about his position in the family or as a superhero or even as bernard’s boyfriend and i feel like it’s just so real like no other character is going to compare to me when it comes to that and when it comes to his position in everyday life he is the definition as wasted potential he is crazy smart and charismatic but he just hates school and hates studying i was so ahead the curve that the curve became a sphere

illicit affairs: bruce/ talia, bruce and talias relationship is not healthy but i do believe that they both or at least bruce loved the other person and i feel like it shouldn’t even be described as an relationship because it seems like a means to an end

invisible string: the entire batfamily, definition of right place at the right time

mad woman: cass, in the comics and fics cass is often written to be a crazy, feral woman and i think that it’s a narrative constantly written about women and i feel like men are written as traumatized while women are not written or perceived with that tone they are written as vindictive or crazy

epiphany: babs and jim gordon, epiphany is written paralleling WWII to the pandemic and i think the perfect parallel in comic book history is babs and commissioner gordon fighting the same fight but taking different paths or routes and aaron dessner describes the song as comparing taylor’s family history and hero’s of today and i feel like that’s the perfect way to describe it

betty: babs/dick/kori, i already described my thoughts twice but i feel like dick would maybe take more accountability

peace: bruce/selina, imma be honest i don’t know if it’s canon that bruce doesn’t do relationships bc of batman but it’s fitting and i feel like it’s probably that even in relationships with other heroes is a conversation to be had bruce truly can’t give selina peace, he cannot promise stability or a promise of staying alive or not being over tabloids as he’s the richest man alive all these people think loves for show but i would die for you in secret

hoax: duke, duke is the one character that i can’t really get a read on but as the newest member of the batfamily i feel like there’s still this feeling in him that’s like i have this new family and i love them but at the end of the day i want my parents my parents that raised me at the end of the day he’s a boy who wants his parents. i also feel like he’s still trusting of people and he reaps what he sowed everytime

the lakes: tim/bernard: tim always has an exit plan and it’s always escaping by himself to be by himself and i feel like it’s the same no matter who he’s with but when he met and started dating bernard he finally found someone to escape with and exit the hero world for im setting off, but not without my muse

batfam (taylor’s version) is coming so lmk what albums you guys want next🤭🤭

[boasamishipper]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 🤍

you're so prolific I want to make you pick 5 😈

how can you ask me to choose Only Five.......this is like asking me to choose a favorite child.......

The Stars Walk Backward (Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Finn/Rey)

this fic contains everything i wish the sequel trilogy had given me: luke training finn and rey, reysky, endgame finnrey, queer poe dameron (as well as a plethora of other queer characters), kylo ren actually being a villain, a finn-centric main storyline, a stormtrooper rebellion, etc etc etc. it remains one of my more complicated multi-chaps (see: all the plot points i made myself juggle), and though i will forever be angry about the direction the sequel trilogy took, this fic will always have a special place in my heart.

Make A Wrong One Right (Top Gun, Iceman/Maverick, Maverick&Goose)

[stefon snl voice] this fic has everything. time travel. magical realism. heavy angst. gratuitous back to the future references. ice and mav's conversation in ch2 remains my all-time favorite scene i have ever written for them.

Word on the Street (Top Gun, Iceman/Maverick, Outsider POV)

in which a handsome navy pilot moves into the neighborhood and the real housewives of fallon, nevada, promptly go feral - even more so when none of them can seem to agree on what the handsome navy pilot looks like. this was my first time writing outsider pov, and i had an absolute blast doing so. sharon markowe my short jewish queen 2kforever.

You Had Me At Aloe (Top Gun, Iceman/Maverick, pre-Rooster/Phoenix/Fritz)

fritz may have gotten exactly Zero lines in top gun: maverick which is sad but Also that means that my headcanon of him as amy santiago trapped in the body of jason mendoza is not jossed!! hurray!! while i loved writing fritz being a Mess and the number one iceman kazansky stan on base and playing off bradley and phoenix (as well as sick!mav confusing bradley for goose), this fic makes the top five faves list solely because of this exchange:

Fritz buries his face into a wad of toilet paper and wails. “I told my hero he looked like a plant!” There’s a long pause. Fritz can hear Phoenix whispering part of an explanation. “Well,” Bradley says at last. “In your defense, he kind of does.” “That doesn’t make it better!”

For A Minute There I Lost Myself (Ted Lasso, Nate Shelley-centric)

you know, during the hiatus i was pretty proud of myself for coming up with this version of nate's s3 arc, and after s3 dropped i was even more proud of myself because Boy Howdy is 'nate grows into himself as a coach for west ham, bonds with his players, stands up to rupert, and mends fences with ted, who also apologizes to him' a more compelling storyline than whatever the fuck jason sudeikis and co gave us. goddamn.

bonus 5 faves because i can:

When I See Your Light Shine (Ted Lasso) - In which Sam matches with Dani on Bantr instead of Rebecca, and the rom-com of the ages ensues. Part 1 of a series.

Austin Alone (9-1-1: Lone Star) - In which Owen and Billy become friends with benefits after the reopening of the 126. Co-written with my bestie @lilalbatross.

and it was not your fault but mine (Ted Lasso) - In which Jamie learns that forgiveness is not the same thing as trust, and Sam gets some agency back.

Many Happy Returns (No Exchanges or Refunds) (What We Do In The Shadows TV) - In which it is Colin Robinson's birthday.

'cause a cat's the only cat (who knows where it's at) (Top Gun, Captain Marvel) - In which Maverick and Iceman's alien cat has alien kittens. Part 8 of my TG Captain Marvel AU series.

[karouvas]

pretty little liars and the raven cycle!

Pretty Little Liars 

will do show first then books :)

Show:

favorite character: Spencer Hastings!! Mona is a somewhat close second and I love all 6 of the main girls but Spencer is everything to me

least favorite character: Ezra Fitz. Byron Montgomery is in second place which makes sense as they are practically the same person 💀

brOTP: I’ll say Spanna even though I also like them romantically, and Spencer and Jason have a really interesting dynamic as siblings/foils that I appreciate a lot

OTP: Vandermarin and Spemily, Vandermarin’s probably #1 ultimately because they’re soo the canon love story of Pll… but Spemily is so underrated imo and it’s my favorite Spencer ship and Spencer’s my favorite character so that gives it something extra for me. 3rd place is Spencer x Mona

OT3: going to say Hanna/Mona/Alison is ultimately the most fascinating one to me in the narrative but I’m open to a lot of different poly combinations with this show

NOTP: I don’t like any of the main het pairings but especially not Ezria

favorite storyline: Spencer’s 3b arc and Spencer’s 4b arc I love when my fave is suffering and in a spiral it’s fascinating xd. 4b is probably my favorite section of the show period between the Spencer addiction plot (which definitely has it’s issues in the writing but Troian is just fantastic playing it), Shadow Play, the EzrA stuff and Aria’s processing which I find very engaging especially in She’s Come Undone, it’s also where Emily/Alison is most interesting to me because of the attention given to Emily processing her feelings (attention that it never given again after this :/) Hanna stepping into the role of detective more than Spencer and Spencer and Emily’s fights so a lot of interesting shifts in dynamics caused by them knowing Ali is alive now, Ali’s coded diary… I just love it in all it’s messiness xd.

least favorite storyline: Ezria and the deadnaming both were terrible. A lot of post time jump storylines

what I wish had happened but didn’t: Ezra going to jail, men being held accountable for literally anything, for the writers to care more or at all the last two seasons I think anything even slightly good that happens post time jump is thanks to the actors and not the writers and even most of them seemed tired

what happened that I wish hadn’t: Ezra/Aria endgame male chars being given unwarranted grace in general

Books

favorite character: Aria Montgomery she has a slight edge over Spencer if we’re going with book versions of the chars specifically.

least favorite character: Wren since Ezra is less relevant in the books

brOTP: Spencer and Hanna + Spencer and Emily

OTP: Aria x Noel and Aria x Emily

OT3: Aria/Courtney/Emily

NOTP: Spencer/Wren since Aria/Ezra is less relevant in the books

favorite storyline: Emily faking her own suicide to then hunt down Alison in the last book slayyy.

least favorite storyline: Spencer’s romantic storylines in the second half of the series why so many flops :/ and then the Wrencer endgame yuck

what I wish had happened but didn’t: I wish Hanna’s arc had been stronger in the second half of the series although I’m not a fan of her post jump arc in the show either so…

what happened that I wish hadn’t: Wrencer endgame ugh.

TRC

favorite character: Blue Sargent there was a time when I readily considered her my favorite character in anything full stop still one of my forever girls I adore her.. Adam Parrish is a close second love him to pieces <33

least favorite character: I don’t really have one, I’ll say Kavinsky but mostly because he’s overrated/his stans are insufferable, while I’m reading he works fine within the story (this is the same way I feel about the Darkling actually)

brOTP: Blue and Ronan, Calla and Persephone and Maura, The Gangsey as a group

OTP: Bluesey ultimately but also Adansey and also Pynch and also Blue x Noah I contain multitudes <3

OT3: there is a lot of poly shipping potential in this series… Blue x Gansey x Henry is practically canon and I love them but I also am very into Gansey x Blue x Noah and Adam x Gansey x Blue… and Ronan x Adam x Gansey is also good…

NOTP: Ronan x Kavinsky less because it’s toxic I’ve shipped worse more because again the fandom is annoying

favorite storyline: the entirety of Blue Lily Lily Blue there’s so much in that book I adore, Persephone mentoring Adam, Blue and Calla scenes and Blue’s internal conflict while her mother is missing, Gwenllian and her dynamic with Blue and learning more about mirror abilities/what Blue is, Adam’s character arc in that book in general, so many of my favorite Bluesey and Pynch scenes and Persephone’s death is a gut punch that really works and the title… I love it :).

least favorite storyline: the ending of TRK is kind of anticlimactic even though I still love it like the other books

what I wish had happened but didn’t: Blue’s arc to have better closure in book 4

what happened that I wish hadn’t: the whole Adam and Ronan being racist to Henry part :/

ty!

[batarangsoundsdumb]

guess fucking what? my inbox is so fucking full right now i'm unloading all of this shit in one post.

For the 11th gotham memes: gothamites react to bruce being jacked in a tiktok he made with kids, like super yoked, ripped as hell

fucking hilarious thanks. i think i did it in one meme post, but i genuinely don't remember which one

i dunno which of the batfam would do this but one time i was sleeping over at a friends house and ended up on the floor bc the bed was so very small and i just stayed there because the rug was soft

that's a drunk jason move i don't know what to tell you

tim and jason are "i listen to pop punk" solidarity. whenever jason highjacks the batmobile theyll go on long ass car rides blaring mcr and paramore and then never talk about it again

as they should!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tim: no jason it's my turn using the aux cord i gotta put on my jams jason: don't you dare put on weird shit tim: don't worry, you're gonna love this *plays fearless (taylor's version)

hear me out hear me out, red hood stans 🤝 nightwing stans t h i g h s

holy shit yes.

SNL au: Bruce breaks character when pretending to superman and says something like "I'm not superman! You've seen his gps!! It's from 2001!!!" @sabeanybabe

superman flies past the snl building the next day just to say 'actually it's from 2005, i'm not a heathen'

does your back hurt from carrying the batfam fandom

it hurts more from the exotic rock collection i keep in my backpack, but thanks for the concern.

I love your posts by why would you always leave the best parts in the tags?

as a treat for the people that check the tags ;) (and also because i'm committed to the short post aesthetic)

somehow your playlist was everything i never knew i needed. i mean it. this is my new favorite playlist.

and don't you dare get a new favourite playlist!

babe ur stoner tim playlist is exactly too perfect, earth is literally blessed by ur existence

babe thanks so much! i love my stoner tim playlist because it's just my usual playlist but people think it's an artistic choice that i put taylor swift and britney spears in there, when it's just what i unironically like listening to

JANDKSKDK BILLY RAY CYRUS ON THE STONER TIM PLAYLIST I LOVE IT IT

again it's not even an ironic choice, i know every single word and i genuinely like the song

The last chapter of Fundamentals of Casework has me crying at work. Thanks I love it @dudelookitsalesbian

oh babe, i'm sorry, but also, not sorry i love chapter 4 so much it's my lovechild with the 'mental illness' tag

soooo....stumbled on your tumblr by some stroke of fate??? read your DC fanfic first. which is PHENOMENAL btw. then found all the batmemes; the funniest thing EVER bc everyone forgets about regular old gothamites. kept scrolling and your blog pops up as recommended. clicked on the ao3 for shits and giggles and waddaya know?!?!? it's YOU!!! you're LEGEND!!!! ever seen that meme? it's a video of a cat that got into a baseball field and the two announcers get really invested in his escape attempt and start giving a play by play of the cat instead of the game. memeable moment: "GREAT stuff from the Cat!!!"

i seriously think about this ask every single day and it's so fucking funny to me that i've never seen the meme you're referencing, but i still find myself going 'GREAT stuff from the Cat!!!' whenever i see something funny. but wow i'm glad you liked this steaming pile of garbage

Fav dc character overall? And fav batfamily character?

don't ask me to pick between the loves of my life, but i can tell you i've cried about every single batfamily member and also wally west (my beloved)

What's your opinion on fans having a problem with batfam being "too big"? And some even claim that batfam is just "Bruce Alfred Dick Damian" and the rest of them are just "friends and allies" (source: reddit) Personally, I like batfam because of this reason but idk

stupid. a family can never be too big. i'm not that big a fan of like huge batfam stuff with everybody from every single universe, because as much as it's funny for bruce to have like 30 kids, it just feels a little too OOC for me.

This is the best tag I've seen involving the batfam, thanks for thinking of it

This is canon now @nctxrejects

lmao yeah i think at that point alfred has had to sit through like at least a dozen coming out talks and just has a pride flag collection in the attic that he pulls out whenever a kid comes out

idk why batfam hits different as compared to any other superhero family

bc it's found family and usually the other superhero families are almost all genetically related in one way or another

I don't know if you watch the umbrella academy but I saw your last post about batcest and saw the similarities. But the thing is (although I think it's weird) in TUA, they addressed it by saying "they were raised as weapons, not siblings" or something along those lines, which is simply not the case with batfam.

yeah i watched tua but i also thought it was ridiculous and they still treated each other as siblings so i didn't like the luthor/allison thing, and am glad they stopped doing that shit bc it fucking sucked.

Hot take: Batcest shippers are the same people who believe adopted siblings are not actual siblings

smoking hot take: batcest shippers are the people who watch 'my sister got stuck in the washing machine' porn

Duke was adopted by Bruce?

not technically no, but do i, tumblr user batarangsoundsdumb, look like i care?

True story but I had to change my freaking name because it used to be "Damien" and most people would go "OH LIKE DAMIAN WAYNE" like please I'm just tryna live

true story, but i don't actually think of damian when i hear the name damian, literally the first thing that pops up is damian darkh like bruh what?

apparently dc comics company supported comic stores by giving out new titles and stuff during the beginning of the pandemic to help them run and I just think that's wholesome

ah yeah that's so fucking cool, still don't like dc, the company, because this world is a capitalist hellhole and we're all owned by warner brothers or disney with no in between.

ayo looking at tumblr head canons and finding out bruce is actually a terrible father is a punch in the gut

lmao yes, in like 50% of comics bruce is a terrible father and it gives me whiplash

oooh I just saw the jason todd vs winter soldier post and the real question is: batman vs iron man

while iron man has like hundreds of cases of armor, batman could throw out an emp and have the guy dropping out of the sky in 2 seconds.

dickfast = fastdick = quickdick = quickie

magnum hot take

hey bata(?) just thought I'd let you know I have copied the obnoxious emoji and Billy Ray post for use on simping men going forth

thank you 😘🌷 (@spacebarsidecar)

why would you do that to your followers???? i get why i did it, but why would you???

what is scarecrow made the nightwing funko pop himself, like those diy-ers that paint over other ones

oh god no, horrible take, horrible take, that's a disgusting thought oh no

I see your HC that Bruce and Oliver fucked and raise you this: Dick and Roy ALSO fucked

yes they did and it was a horrible moment for jason to find out dick has fucked both of his best friends

"at this rate bruce adds like 1 child to his family every decade or so" Duke is introduced in 2013, Damian as Damian, not as an unnamed child, in 2006. And he is already 14 years old, Robins rarely remain Robins after 16 😬 It looks like a new Robin and Batkid will appear in a couple of years

i mean i can't wait? but somebody will probably die first tho, we're due for another major character death. my money's on either cass or duke this time.

BRO you're so right all of your Bruce's ex headcanons are amazing but they aren't ships, that's kinda wild. Like I don't want any peeks into how their relationship was I just want to see everyone make fun of them

lmao YES it's just i love bruce being a slut, like good for him.

I am in love with your posts your honour thank you

omg thanks are we like,, gonna kiss now?

The justice league needs to have a meeting to discuss how many of their members/partners have slept with bruce. Because through a combination of cannon & fannon (if DC wasn’t homophobic) we have AT LEAST: 1) clark 2) lois 3) oliver 4) dinah 5) john

Thats not counting villains or random civilians @dudelookitsalesbian

yes yes yes, they'll have a yearly meeting about how many of their collective exes could be out for revenge and batman's list just keeps getting longer.

tim was like "i'm drake now" and everyone was like ahh so your fursona is a dragon and tim was like pffffft no. ducks.

and what about it?

when steph's fighting livewire and she zaps her with lighting and nothing happens and then they both just. stand there awkwardly for a second and talk. yeah i couldn't stop laughing at that batgirl steph is the BEST

oh yeah that was fucking hilarious and i think it would be so cool and sexy of dc to give steph a little comic series,,, as a treat

Hi I absolutely adore all of yours "Bruce and Oliver very badly pretending they didn't fuck each other" memes

lmao i do too

I need you to know that “Bruce Wayne had frosted tips” is one of my favorite Bruce takes of all time it’s so galaxy brained. you’re right and you should say it

he also painted his hair blonde once when he was travelling and in conclusion, this is why he's being blackmailed by the gotham gazette.

you know my thing about gordon being branded as the only good cop in gotham is its a load of shit like arguably he's a good person and not working to screw people over or anything but the fact that he also works w. batman makes him a shit cop. like yea batman is better than the mob but its still illegal its still an abuse of power he just not making bank

babe, all cops are bad cops. (but yeah youre absolutely right, working with vigilantes makes you a shit cop, but also working against vigilantes just makes you an asshole cop yanno?)

ruh roh i think i’m about to add “so not yeehaw” every time i don’t like something

that's a very good vocabulary upgrade

somehow i feel like steph already knew. like babs obviously knew but i feel like bruce got high/drunk in front of steph and started telling his boarding school stories and steph was just like “oh you fucked up i’m never gonna forget this”

steph and bruce have weird uncle/rebellious niece dynamic and they just hang out sometimes and bruce will be like 'i once broke my arm when i tripped over a hedge when i was drunk so oliver drove me to the hospital on an electric scooter' and steph will just have to sit there with that knowledge in her head.

Hello I just wanted to tell you you are So right in all your steph opinions bc she is, in fact amazing and I think that's very sexy of you. Ps. Your Bruce/Oliver fic is hilarious

babe, thank you so much and yes steph is amazing and i love her and she deserves the world and she's the best member of the batfam hands down. also thanks

In Supersons we see a couple of kids that are implied to be Damian and Jon's children and the boy has laser eyes and can fly, so I asume he's not adopted. The girl, who calls Bruce grandpa, can also fly, btw. So it's canon (probably by accident) that Jon can have kids and he must have married one of Bruce's kids. (I'm hoping for Damian, mostly because any other of his children would be waaaaaaaaaaaaay too old.) @artemisa97

lmao that was probably an accident seeing as jon is a 17 year old superhero in the year 3000 (by the jonas brothers)

You know, I'm a die hard fan of your memes, but I gotta say one thing: if Gothamites actually took gas mask everywhere with them, then the Scarecrow would just be a weird dude in a weird costume, and not a villain oh so scary. DC really should just takes notes from you.

bold of you to assume there's no gothamite anti-maskers

How does it feel being the funniest person on this app?

horrible, next question.

I can't listen to Green Day or Billy Joel without thinking of your post about how Bruce got arrested at a Billy Joel concert @nightwings-kid

yeah that's your mistake, i on the other hand can't enjoy billy joel without thinking about the glee rendition of 'uptown girl'

I've FINALLY been watching the Batman animated series and I gotta say, after watching "the gray ghost" I am CONVINCED that Batman is a closeted super hero geek who was 100% freaking out the first time he met Superman and is just REALLY good at hiding it.

superman: so what do you do in your free time? batman, thinking about the superman fanfiction he's writing on the batcomputer: i have no free time

bruce and oliver be like boyfriends to co-workers 401k (do the justice leagues get 401ks??? not that bruce and ollie would need them, but-)

lmao yes just 400 thousand words of bruce realising 'oh dip oliver is such a fucking dumbass' (also i don't know what a 401 k is but i assume they don't?)

Gothamites would totally boo superman as he saves Gotham while batman is out. @meenje

he's like 'okay think about that next time you want to be saved from an alien octopus'

I just took long break from dc comics and I come back to see ric grayson ??

i think it's very cool and sexy of dc to see dick and just think 'you know what? let's just give him a traumatic brain injury' and then didn't develop his character in any real way

SPEAKING OF RIC GRAYSON, gothamites making confused memes out of ric grayson is much needed

'dick grayson is my taxi driver? can anyone explain what the fuck happened he looks like an italian plumber?'

i hate to say it but batfam are def "marvel characters" in that sense they are characters who are human but become superheroes unlike most dc characters who are gods trying to be human maybe this is why I like batfam

fair enough

[isaacthedruid]

Please allow me to tell you about one of my favourite cartoons through this informal essay I did for school a couple of months back. 

Gravity Falls and How it Did The Unimaginable

**SPOILERS... KINDA**

The 2010s saw the creation of some of the most iconic animated tv shows ever made, the likes of Adventure Time (2010), Steven Universe (2013), Over the Garden Wall (2014) and The Legend of Korra (2012). To explain why this era’s shows are so admirable is honestly rather difficult. Yet, there are many factors that can be taken into consideration when looking for an answer.

The past decade was very successful in perfecting their craft and utilizing the animated format to their favour, creating some of the wackiest and fascinating cartoons ever made. With the advancements made in both 2D and 3D animation for film, this bled into the world of TV as well.

To mention that 2010s cartoons have stunning visuals would be an understatement. Everything about the animation was beautiful; the strong colour palettes, the clean and imaginative character designs, the colourful and immersive backgrounds and especially the mesmerizing worlds that can be found within episodes that are half an hour.

This era’s cartoons also led to a massive shift in storytelling, writing longer-running stories that spread out across seasons while also swapping out episodic adventures for serialization. This heavily aided in the popularization of these shows, due to the rise of internet fandoms and dropping the taboo that cartoons were only for kids. Many shows acknowledged their older viewers by leaving clues and even puzzles to be solved by the theorists who have a large appearance on social media platforms like Reddit, Twitter and Tumblr. As the shows progressed, their fandoms created many theories for what they believed might happen within their favourite series. The top three shows from this era all utilized these changes, being at the forefront of the shift and helping guide the creative vision of 2010s cartoons.

Often regarded as many people’s favourite cartoon, Gravity Falls presented one of the best mysteries of the decade with two seasons and only 40 episodes. Inspired by Twin Peaks and The X-Files, it’s considered as the kids’ version of these two iconic shows as this cartoon acts as many people’s first introduction to horror through bright colours and fun characters.

This series follows the adventures of Dipper and Mabel Pines, twins, who are sent to spend their summer with their great-uncle or Grunkle Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon. This town is full of oddities like supernatural creatures, insane and eccentric inhabitants, and many puzzles. The Pines twins must adjust to the weirdness while uncovering the mysteries and protecting their new town.

While living in Gravity Falls, the twins are forced to work in the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap created by their Grunkle Stan that overcharges unlucky tourists, teaching about fake monsters despite there being real creatures all over town. On his first day in Oregon, Dipper accidentally came across a mysterious journal written by an unknown author that explains all the oddities to be found in this strange town. This book acts like an encyclopedic of the Weird for Dipper, an inquisitive 12-year-old kid who seeks answers.

Dipper is an extremely intelligent kid, his brain being far more developed than his body. He’s rather awkward and self-conscious as he often stumbles over his words or gets embarrassed trying to talk to girls. Despite this, the boy is an adventurer at heart who just wants to grow up and skip his upcoming teenage years.

While Mabel is quite the opposite in many ways, she is loud and has an in-your-face personality. Mabel is bouncy and fun, she is so excited to start high school. She is easily excitable and for the larger part of the series, she is in her boy-crazy phase. Mabel is a girly-girl as she likes all things; glitter, unicorns, rainbows, partying and crafting. Yet, she doesn’t often compare well with many of the other girls in town, they see her as weird and “too much”.

(In all fairness through, it is not too kind to either of the characters as their personalities are more complex than just awkward nerd and artsy girl-girly.)

Dipper and Mabel’s personalities are very different but somehow, they—along with their Gravity Falls family—manage to solve mysteries and save the town, multiple times.

Gravity Falls is an honestly genius series that completely changed the way cartoons were made. Originally when writing a series, you’d create a base of your story; characters, the universe and a basic plot. Yet, when creator, Alex Hirsch (who was in his early/mid-20)s and his small team first began constructing their show, they planned out everything they could possibly think of for the first season. Additionally, outlining some answers for their biggest mysteries that would be answered at the end of the series.

Despite being rated TV-Y7, this series really pushed the boundaries of kids’ television. From the teeth being ripped out of a deer’s mouth by a demon, rearranging the functions of every hole on a man’s face to an aggressive pop-rock sock puppet show that ended in a dramatic slow-motion scene of the puppets burning. Gravity Falls wasn’t afraid to get a little weird or creepy. Or create some genuine nightmare fuel. 

From the beginning, Gravity Falls had built a mystery into its series, hiding secrets and clues all throughout the show. Most notably were the backwards-recorded message and cryptograms, using roughly nine different kinds, even creating two of their own.

The inclusion of cyphers and mysteries for fans to solve is possibly the reason why this series was so successful. As one of the first shows to do something like this, Gravity Falls used social media and internet fandoms to its advantage.

As mentioned earlier, cartoon fans have quite a presence on social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr. They create theories and share fun ideas about their favourite shows. Viewers of Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe were all included in their share of theory fun.

Sometimes, fan theories end up being correct but when you’re Gravity Falls creator, Alex Hirsch, you don’t just watch from the sidelines as your viewers figure out the biggest mystery of your show. No, you create a hoax to get your viewers off your trail and that is what he did. Around 2013, only halfway through the first season of the show, viewers had started to follow the clues, theorizing who was the author is Dipper’s mysterious journal.

Unfortunately for the Gravity Falls production crew, the viewers were right— for the sake of readers who have never seen the show, I will not mention who the author was as it would be the biggest spoiler.

In 2013, a supposed leaked image of a tv showing a younger version of the show’s crazy old man character, Old Man McGucket, writing in the infamous journal was uploaded anonymously (by Alex Hirsch) to 4Chan.

Despite the image only being on up for a few hours, it spread like wildfire. Much to the team’s success, theorists stopped searching for the answer to “who is the author” and just accepted the image of McGucket as the truth.

To further push the fake-out, three words were posted to Alex’s Twitter, “fuming right now.”

The tweet was deleted a few minutes later and fans genuinely believed that someone from the Gravity Falls team had leaked the most important part of the story.

While doing research, I came across a Reddit post from April 10th, 2013, the day after ‘leak,’ Alex’s tweet was uploaded. In this post, user, TheoDW uploaded an image of Alex’s tweet with the caption, “It seems that Hirsch got mad at last night’s leak. He already deleted this tweet.”

Seeing the reactions of these Redditors in 2013 is kind of weird and crazy to look at. “He has every right to be upset. Someone internally released a plot revealing screen shot of series breaking spoiler information,” a deleted Reddit account commented.

“This is Alex Hirsch’s biggest success by far, he spent a huge amount of time carefully planning out the series, and then in a moment someone releases a major spoiler. It would make anyone upset,” the user, Time_Loop commented.

“Seriously, this is a nightmare for a storyteller, and shows a breach of trust. I feel so bad for him–honestly, I hope whoever did the leak gets caught and appropriate action is taken. You don’t f–k with someone’s story like this. It’s unprofessional.” the user, lonelybeloved angrily commented.

In 2014, this ‘leak’ was finally disproven when viewers were given an episode on McGucket’s backstory and an amazing tweet from Alex Hirsch. 

Alex had post an image of himself playfully pointing at a monitor with the supposed leaked picture with the caption, “1) Make hoax  2) Upload to 4Chan  3) Post angry tweet about "leak" 4) Delete tweet 5) Let internet do rest”

It is so interesting to look at these comments know that all of this was orchestrated by Alex.

I wish I had been old enough at the time to follow theories and fandom stuff like I do now with current cartoons but really looking at this from an outside perspective, this was insane!

The real author wasn’t revealed until 2015 and when viewers first got the answer to this biggest show on their screens, they must have freaked out!

Following the finale in 2016, a single frame of a stone version of Bill Cipher, the show’s villain, flashed in after the credits had finished.

Alex Hirsch and his team actually created a real-life statue of their villain for their viewers to find and on July 20th, 2016, the Cipher Hunt began.

By following clues, the Hunters found themselves all over the world; Russia, Japan and then travelling throughout the United States for the final 12 clues. When the hunt took them to Los Angeles, actor, Jason Ritter (voice of Dipper Pines, also a massive fan of the series) and Alex Hirsch’s twin sister, Ariel Hirsch (the inspiration for Mabel) joined in the fun helping the search.

Finally, the hunt ended on August 2nd when someone tweeted out an image of the found statue in Oregon, the same state in which the fictional town of Gravity Falls exists. The Cipher Hunt had ended but finding the statue wasn’t Alex’s goal for the scavenger hunt, it was about the journey and bringing together the viewers, more than having them actually find the statue.

Creating its own hoax, an international scavenger hunt and quite a bit of nightmare fuel, Gravity Falls was a show truly unlike any other.

The 2010s saw some of the strongest cartoons ever made, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe acting as the leaders for multiple different changes in the medium; storytelling, worldbuilding, interaction with viewers, utilizing social media, representation and further pushing music into the cartoon world. From what was created this past decade and what has already been released in 2020, I’m so excited to see what comes next.

I have another one of these which is on Steven Universe’s representation and music if you would like to see that too!! 

[ae0nx]

YOUNG JUSTICE EP 6 - 13 RECAP

Ok, I finally caught up on Young Justice and I have to admit the Artemis arc was good but the Zatanna arc has been my favourite so far. I'm weak for all that magic, bizarre nonsense! Anyways before we get there:

ARTEMIS ARC

I really love Artemis and Jade's relationship and how complex it is and how it was interwoven through all these other female friendships/dynamics in the arc

Because I'm a batfam STAN: I lovedddd the moment where Barbara just lets Artemis know that the batfam could have her back in the mission if she wanted and that they will be there in an INSTANT to go fight the shadows 'after what they did to Jason'. Squaaaadddd 😂

Speaking of... Jason! All we're asking for is at least one episode to explain what happened to him and what's his mental state right now. Just one! But, I'm glad that him, Onyx and Jade are in their supervillain recovery classes with Ra's Al Ghul. I really hope this doesn't come back to bite them but knowing this show and Ra's, it probably will lol

Onyx and Jade seeing the island as home even though they have a lot of trauma attached to it is so real and I love that the decision wasn't a completely cookie cutter clean way of resolving things.

Cassandra and Bab's relationship gave me everything I wanted! I love when batfam stories highlight their connection because I feel like it's always lowkey slept on by writers. While at first I wasn't sure about the whole 'Killing Joke' fix in how Barbara became paralysed from the waist down, with some thought, I really prefer this version of events. It humanises the heroes with non-abilities but at the same time just makes Cassandra and Barbara's relationship so much deeper and complex... WHILE erasing the hold the Joker over Barbara's life in the comics which I also deeply appreciate. Fuck the Joker.

The literature quotes put in the episode titles, scenes in the show, dialogue and even the end credits were a nice touch. Sometimes it did feel a bit shoehorned in, but most of the time it worked and I appreciate them showing the audience (especially the younger ones) all these great texts of work.

Hmm... I would say that Artemis' arc feels the least personable out of the arcs we've gotten so far as it felt more so to do with Jade's search for redemption and how her actions affected Jade and Artemis' relationship. But, Artemis has been through a lot so I'm fine with them taking it a little easy on her lol

ZATANNA'S ARCCCC!!!

Ahhh... where to start... I loved pretty much everything about this arc lol

MY. GIRL. ZATANNA. It's interesting how much the OG squad are willing to make some morally questionable decisions for very emotionally selfish reasons and if they don't tie this arc up by the end of this whole season, it'd be a missed opportunity. But wow, Zatanna was really just rearing children (more so her students, tbh) to take the place of her Dad. I get it but noooo

I love how much creepy imagery there was in this arc. It was genuinely terrifying at some moments while watching it in the dead of the night lol

The villains of this arc were amazing and deserved. First off, The Child's amazing, I love her and her crystal monster doll, her and Klarion's energy and constant rivalry was dope and her VA is phenomenal!

SPEAKING OF! KLARION, THE WITCH BOY aka THAT. BITCH. He might be my new favourite character in Young Justice after this. The fact that he was insanely savage (no pun intended) in the past and had all that history with Vandal was a great backstory to his character and definitely made him more of a threat than he's ever been in this show which was a lot of fun. But, also, just his chaotic energy is so infectious and hilarious! His love for cats. His general bitchiness. Him possessing a school bus full of children and jumping numerous of times through TIME when he really didn't have to. (the after credits of the screaming bus with the screams on a loop was horribly hilarious). The fact that my heart actually broke for him when Teekl no. 1 was murdered? What was that about?! Haha, I actually hate how much I love this asshole. His VA is amazing as well.

I loved getting to know the students and the episode that centred on their insecurities. It was great to get to know them better buttt I could definitely see how some people would say we didn't technically need the episode as it didn't move the plot further. But then again, we didn't technically need an episode dedicated to Zatara's back story but these are important moments that the audience needed. I do think they could've been interwoven with the plot a little better though.

Oh Mary... her constant search and addiction to power made her a tinsy bit unlikeable but I'm ultimately sympathetic in the end. And it's kinda the same feelings I have towards Gar in this arc. I think it's just a human reaction tbh and they wrote it well enough to show that these ways of the two harming themselves and the people around them is all because of the trauma that they've gone through and stacked up overtime.

I appreciate that one of the biggest heroes of the arc was Dinah Lance and THERAPY. That was the biggest outtake I got of this arc about magic and spirituality and identity and I lovedd it. I gotta read more supernatural DC comics instead of just reading about the batfam all the time lol

In short; great season half. I can't wait to hear from Nightwing, Rocket and Aqualad in the other half!

[bigskydreaming]

Couldn't the thing with Jason thinking Dick is infallible from Truth and Justice story come from how he is compared to his brother from Bruce. Even when he was Robin with Dick and Bruce fighting, he was told that Dick was better by Bruce. Then he comes back and is a cautionary tale of what not to and how not to be while Dick and Bruce are now getting along.

I mean yeah, you could go with that take, but I’m always gonna argue that even that is more fanon based than anything else, at least before this issue. We’ve seen a lot of that take in the past already, but truth is, there really isn’t that much basis in older stories for Bruce comparing Jason to Dick. And like I’ve expanded on in the past, younger Jason looked UP to Dick, he certainly didn’t resent him. 

With this being true even when he first came back - Dick was the only one he didn’t target at ALL during Under the Red Hood, and when he did finally meet up with Dick a year later, during the Brothers in Blood arc, it was more to fuck with him than any attempt to take things out on him. Like, that arc gets a lot of shit and deservedly so, but I really do wish more people would at least takeaway from it the fact that in it, JASON referenced still thinking of Dick as family. Which just doesn’t mesh up with all the ‘they barely knew each other/they resented each other’ takes.

Pretty much all the times I can think of when Jason was compared to Dick pre ADITF, it was actually not at all what its usually represented as by most fandom takes, such as the time Jason teamed up with the Titans. For pretty much Jason’s entire tenure as Robin up until the Felipe Garzonas arc, Jason was actually portrayed as perfectly secure in his position of Robin and wasn’t threatened by anyone else’s perception of him at all. Even the arc where he loses it on Two-Face has been kinda amplified to make more of it than it was, like.....Bruce was worried about the anger he expressed there, but that was more out of concern FOR Jason and it wasn’t the “Jason was on the verge of getting fired as Robin all along” kinda narrative we tend to see referenced. 

Jason was only made out to be the angry Robin or the less competent Robin or whatever AFTER his death, which is all kinds of shitty, but like......there’s no real basis for any kind of extended history where Jason resentfully suffered under his big brother’s shadow while Robin. The angry/less competent Robin stuff was all DC retroactively railroading him after the fact to justify their choice to kill him off (which was still their choice no matter the existence of a poll), and its the narrative most people have run with because it amplifies Jason’s existence as the misunderstood and unfairly judged underdog of the family.

Now to be 100% clear, as I’ve said in the past.....there is absolutely no reason you CAN’T go with this take if you don’t want to. Nobody has to abide by canon, or a particular canon and I’ll never argue otherwise. My main point has always just been that the thing about fanfic is that its a transformative process, it enables fans to take canon and transform it into something else.....but here’s the thing....those transformations ALWAYS happen with INTENT. People are deliberate in how and in what ways they transform canon, even if they’re not always CONSCIOUS of that deliberation.....it still exists. None of these transformations just happen, they happen for a reason. Because fans want an end result that’s different from what we saw in canon.

So my thing is always just.....yes, transform canon as you like, for whatever reason. But don’t pretend that those reasons don’t exist, and understand that when people look at a canon to fanon transformation that really only results in one major difference.......they’re gonna assume that this difference, achieving this difference, was for whatever reason, the POINT of the transformation.

And here’s where I also want to express something else: my take has never been that most of fandom just hates Dick Grayson. That they’re consciously, deliberately out to smear him or make him look bad. I think there’s a lot of elements in play with how I perceive fandom’s interactions with him compared to other characters, but more often than not, I think one of the bigger issues with how his character is TRANSFORMED from canon to fanon, is just.......he’s collateral damage. I don’t think in most cases the point is even to make actual transformations of his character or characterization......its to apply these things to people he’s in scene WITH......and he just ends up transformed as well, by proximity.

Take a look at some examples:

1) Dick firing Tim

Except as we’ve gone over multiple times, Dick didn’t actually FIRE Tim. He didn’t neglect him, he didn’t turn his back on him, he could have handled that situation differently, sure, but he had none of the ill intent people assign to him when they typically ramp up how bad this period was for Tim. Dick actually called him his equal, begged him to stay, said he was too GOOD to be Dick’s junior partner........but this is not at all how this moment in canon is generally viewed by a lot of fandom. He comes off looking a TON worse, like he just chose Damian over Tim and discarded Tim first chance he got, he didn’t care how Tim was affected, he kicked Tim out of the manor and out of Gotham.

But the thing is.....I’d argue that none of this TRANSFORMATION from canon really had anything to do with Dick. I don’t actually think that tons of fans were just waiting in the wings for the perfect opportunity to make a villain out of Dick and just seized upon this moment as the perfect opportunity. I think it was just all about Tim. It was about accentuating his misery, his aloneness, heightening the whump factor of his character and amplifying the feelings of insecurity, rejection and alienation he was feeling and that people related to.

What happened to Dick’s character in most peoples’ eyes as a result of this transformation, was the symptom, not the point. It was the collateral damage, not the aim.

2) Bruce firing Dick

In contrast, we have more than one canon interpretation of Bruce firing Dick as Robin, with this leading directly into Dick leaving the manor at a fairly young age, keeping his distance from Bruce until he finds out about Jason, Bruce giving Robin to Jason without acknowledging or apologizing for the fact that he was giving away the identity that someone else had crafted and poured their heart and soul into, not him.......but this isn’t how a lot of fandom outside of Dick stans and people who are specifically predisposed towards Bad Dad Bruce like to treat that part of canon.

Here, the transformation is the reverse from what happened with Tim and Dick. Here, the feelings of rejection and alienation and insecurity Dick realistically would have felt during that time are overlooked and even outright invalidated by TRANSFORMING the canon so that actually, this period of extended estrangement is completely disconnected from any version of events where Bruce fired Dick, which he did not do here. And in fact, Dick gave up Robin, he and Bruce had a falling out, and this was mutual and two-sided and thus Dick’s refusal to come home earlier and reconcile with Bruce was not actually him standing up for himself and refusing to settle for being taken for granted and dismissed when convenient but rather just Dick being immature, stubborn and a little spoiled.

But again.....I don’t think that’s the aim so much as a byproduct of the intended end result. Once more, I think that had very little to do with Dick himself, wasn’t about making him look bad specifically....but rather, it was about making Bruce look better. It was transforming the thing he had done in canon which was so hard to defend, ie ignore all of Dick’s feelings on the matter much in the way people accuse Dick of ignoring Tim’s later, and passively rejecting him and refusing to be the first to reach out unlike Dick who actively sought after Tim when he left. Those moments in canon definitively make Bruce look pretty bad, and are hard to reconcile with Good Parent Bruce Wayne, so that is what people are trying to transform. Once again, the way it makes Dick look in contrast is just a symptom.

The further examples are honestly pretty endless.

The aftermath of Forever Evil and Spyral is ignored, transforming Dick into the true villain of that period not because people just want an excuse to hate him, but because they don’t want to or can’t reconcile what Bruce actually did in order to get Dick to act so out of character, or they want to justify Jason and Tim and others’ anger at Dick later rather than have them appear to be inconsiderate assholes just piling on a guy who just had the worst year of his life to date.

The instances of Bruce outright abusing Dick after Jason’s death and at other times like Night of the Owls are ignored, transforming Dick into an impetuous, overly aggressive asshole who isn’t reacting to Bruce’s initial aggression, but rather just popping off the handle because he isn’t being received or treated just the way he likes.

Dick reaching out to Jason and making an offer to be there for him as Robin and later times they interact in Titans as well as any actual bond they build, even if mostly just hinted at off the page....all ignored in favor of transforming Dick into this bitter, jealous jerk who can’t see past his own feelings long enough to realize he’s taking things out on an innocent kid who doesn’t deserve this, even though that’s exactly what he realized and motivated his actual actions towards Jason in canon. And again, its not so much about making Dick worse, its about overlooking the WHYS of Dick’s hurt, turning the focus from what was done to him that justifies him being upset in the first place, to some greater mistreatment he enacts on Jason and thus drowns out any sympathy that people might otherwise have for Dick.

Dick’s periods of brainwashing like under the Church of Blood being overwritten or ignored in order to transform his deliberately out of character attitudes towards his friends and teammates there into just normal outbursts that were part of his characterization rather than signs that something was abnormally wrong with him. Thus turning everyone else’s treatment of him during that time period into again just their part of a two-way street and nothing they had to feel bad about rather than acknowledge that he’d literally not been in full control of himself while they had no such excuse for their behavior.

To be clear.....this kind of thing is NOT limited to just Dick. It tends to happen any time people want to transform a canon event into something more one-sided, to accentuate a particular character’s position as the victim or the misunderstood or neglected party.....or to turn a one-way street into a mutual antagonism, to lessen a particular character’s culpability in some argument or feud. You can absolutely find examples of this same effect applying to every other character in the Batfam as well.

But the reason it happens so often with Dick, and thus every instance of it happening tends to be amplified by the sheer volume of similar situations......is because of convenience. Because ironically, the reason Dick so often looks so bad in fanon’s eyes when it comes to his treatment of his family....is BECAUSE of how Dick is so much more integrated into every one of his family’s lives (and his friends’) than pretty much any other character. He’s the collateral damage to other characters being deliberately transformed in some way purely because he’s the one who almost always is THERE to some degree. Because there’s no one else in the scene that’s being transformed.

And so to bring it all back to your question......I think you absolutely can go with that take. There’s an argument to be made for it, especially now given that this canon issue has actually established a precedent for Jason feeling that way rather than fanon just running with the idea because it makes Jason more maligned. Its still not something that’s ever going to interest me though, even if I can see the reasoning for it, because its not just the fact that this particular dynamic between Dick and Jason has played out thousands of times before in fic, as I said yesterday. Its also because like I laid out here......my bigger issue is that take has absolutely NOTHING to do with Dick himself, says nothing about his character, but his character is inevitably the one who will suffer fallout from that particular take. That dynamic, as you described it, makes sense.....but its entirely, 100% on Bruce or others for raising those comparisons, not because of anything Dick did to Jason himself.....and thus it makes Jason’s dynamic towards Dick MORE a product of other peoples’ reactions and attitudes towards him and his brother respectively.

And that dynamic IS perfectly understandable and valid. But even if its slightly different this time because of more of a canon basis, it still for me falls into the same pattern of Dick being collateral damage to something that’s largely focused on another character entirely, with him and how he’s impacted by extension being kinda an afterthought. 

*Shrugs* And that’s just......a story I’ve read so many many times before, I’m just never gonna be all that engaged by it. 

[fancyfade]

so ive been debating editing chapter 3 on my fanfic to make 1 scene line up more from canon. (chapter 3 is this one, where the characters deal with the aftermath of battle for the cowl, Tim finds out Damian’s Robin, and Dick and Damian move to the penthouse)

I’m debating making the Tim finding out Damian’s Robin scene a little more canon compliant along what happened in Red Robin (link) for a few reasons, the main of which is in the scenes that I’m writing next (like... chapter 47 lol), Tim and Dick do have to talk about what transpired when Dick made Damian Robin. Potential reasons for change

In my fic Tim kind of just left on his own without a push, but I’m not sure if Tim would have left on such bad terms if there wasn’t the complication of Damian antagonizing him and him feeling as if Dick was picking Damian over him (even though in the comic we saw Dick trying to de-escalate and get Tim’s back, it still felt that way to Tim)

I dislike the way some of this was handled in the comic and I can’t really comment on it in my fic if I just retcon it out

it seems fair-er I guess if Tim is allowed to have flaws just like Cass and Damian and Dick all have flaws in this fic. i know many tim stans think otherwise, but punching a ten-year-old victim of child abuse in the face out of anger is wrong.

the con side is obviously this involves Damian getting hit and that kid has been through so much already. I’m really trying to figure out how it works with character dynamics vs like. give the poor kid a break-ness.

anyway if I did decide to replace the current chapter 3, this is what it would be replaced with (only the first scene, the second would be the same). If you are a reader of the fic feel free to leave your comments. I would do an “oh and I edited chapter 3″ note before the relevant stuff was mentioned if I go through with this, I wouldn’t like expect everyone to know what happened. Some of the dialogue is not like exactly like in canon (cuz thats boring and also to match with what I wrote the first time) but the feeling/ beats should be similar

Gotham’s finally had a bit of lull in the violence, and Dick is just wondering how he’s going to do this.

He’s accepted that Damian’s his responsibility – seeing the kid shot in the chest made that perfectly clear, as much as he would’ve liked it to be otherwise. He felt like he was way too young to be watching out for a kid in any capacity other than cool older brother, especially a kid who’s as difficult to get along with as Damian. He was a great fighter, of course, and he knew it – Dick’s not sure he’s ever heard the kid be humble about anything. To make things worse, Dick feels like he’s constantly stuck in the middle between Damian and the kid he actually views as his younger brother – Tim, who Damian tried to kill. Evidence in point:

“Robin?!” Tim asks once he’s gotten back on his feet and Dick's explained his plan – away from Damian, who's still recovering from surgery.

“You made Damian Robin?!” Tim asks again.

Dick sighs. He’s in the cave, in a Batman costume he feels doesn’t fit right at all with the cowl off, and Tim’s still in his regular clothes. He has no idea how to explain this to Tim – no idea how to make him feel like he’s not being replaced. Dick never wanted to be the one doing the replacing – he remembers how much it hurt to find out that Jason was Robin from the papers, and that was after he officially stopped being Robin. Tim never quit – and Dick’s not about to make him – but he has to come home to the guy who tried to kill him getting his name.

“Tim, I know this looks bad, but Damian needs this.”

“Remember when we thought Bruce was going to retire after Crisis?” Tim asks. “Batman and Robin was supposed to be us. You and me. Not you and the psychopath that tried to kill me.”

“Tim, you’re not my sidekick, you’re my partner – ” Dick takes a step towards Tim with his hand out, prepared to offer sympathy, but Tim shakes him off angrily.

“Obviously not!”

“And Damian needs me way more than you do. If we don’t keep an eye on him, he’s going to kill again.”

Tim scowls intensely. “That should really not be an endorsement for being Robin, Dick! He’s a killer! He belongs in jail!” Tim swallows a little and then lowers his voice out of shouting range. “Dick, he didn’t try to kill me because he for some reason thought it was the only way to stop me from doing something bad, as far as I can tell he just wanted to replace me. We’re talking about someone with absolutely no sense of right or wrong.”

“Of course he doesn’t have a sense of right or wrong. He’s a ten-year-old child who was raised as an assassin from birth!”

“Lots of our villains have really sad or sympathetic reasons for doing crime, that doesn’t mean we team up with them.”

“Are you serious?” Dick asks. “This isn’t the same, Tim.”

“How not?”

“Well for one,” calls Damian's voice from the stairs, and Dick can't help but cringe and think not now – “I'm a lot better than them.”

Dick's cringe only intensifies when he turns around to see what Damian is wearing. His new Robin costume.

Tim's hands clench into fists the instant he sees Damian. Dick knows he has to de-escalate things quick before Tim and Damian have another fight.

��Damian,” Dick says, trying to keep himself carefully neutral-sounding. “Shouldn't you be resting?”

Damian lifts his head up slightly so his nose is in the air, and walks down the stairs almost normally. There's only a little hesitation in the twist of his torso, a little stiffness of his right arm.

Either he's zoned out of his mind on painkillers or depressingly good at masking his pain for a ten-year-old.

“Please,” Damian says. “I was trained in the League of Shadows. Do you really think an over-the-hill ex-Robin could put me down?”

Tim's fist clenches further, and so Dick says, letting a bit more urgency slip into his voice, “Damian, shut up. Now.”

Damian puts his left hand on his hips and looks intentionally at Tim. He adds, “I'm not Drake – ”

He's barely got the word out before Tim leaps forward and punches him in the face. Dick's out of his seat, grabbing Tim to hold him back, who is still distressingly struggling against him, like he wants to keep up the assault despite the fact that Damian fell to the floor.

“My name is Tim Wayne!” Tim shouts as Dick is still holding him back.

Damian gingerly sits up. Dick prepares to release Tim, prepares to stop Damian if he has to, if he decides to get revenge. But he doesn't. He just briefly braces his right side with his left hand before wiping the blood off his face.

“I let you get that shot in, Drake,” Damian says, again dropping intentional emphasis on Tim's original last name.

As he does, Tim struggles forward.

“Tim, back off!” Dick says, because Tim still isn't cooling down –

“I want you to feel good about yourself,” Damian continues.

Tim seems to relax his stance slightly, so Dick, possibly in an error of judgment, lets Tim go. But Tim doesn't try to attack Damian again, he just shakes Dick off and starts stomping away. “You want me to back off? Fine.”

He's going for the exit.

If he leaves –

Dick can't chase him. He's not sure that he can leave Damian alone –

“Tim, wait!” Dick says, taking a step forward. “Bruce is gone. But I still need you.”

“For what?” asks Damian and damn it is there anything this kid isn't going to try to ruin?

“Shut up, Damian,” Dick says again, even though as far as he knows he's just going to wind up pushing Damian away too –

And Tim leaves.

Dick turns to look at Damian. The kid's already back to his feet, like nothing happened, and Dick takes a step forward to inspect the injury – though he's really more worried about the gunshot wound than Tim's punch. Both Tim and Damian had wound up injured pretty badly during the chaos that gripped Gotham in the rumors of Batman’s death. As his new and not-improved version of Batman, Jason had tried to kill them both, which Dick is way less than pleased about. He’d been kind of hoping that they could talk Jason down, but this seems like a line he doesn’t know if Jason can ever un-cross. He shot a ten year old in the chest.

Damian grabs Dick's wrist as he reaches out.

“Are you all right?” Dick asks.

Damian scoffs. “You're worried about Drake? I've been hit harder sparring my mother.”

“I was thinking about the gunshot.” Alfred had said the primary damage was blood loss and a punctured lung (well, traumatic pneumothorax, but Dick knew what he meant) and given the kid a minimum of four weeks downtime to heal.

It's hard to tell due to the domino mask, but Damian adopts the position of a kid who's rolling their eyes, head slightly tilted to the side with a loll. “It's not enough to impersonate Batman, now you want to impersonate my mother?”

Dick doesn't know how to approach the mother thing, so he doesn't even try. He just explains the logic for being Batman – (and there is logic behind it. It's not like he wanted this). “Someone has to step up and convince Gotham things can get back to normal,” Dick says. “And serial killer Batman wasn't going to cut it.”

“Did you at least take care of him?” Damian asks.

Dick knows that Damian isn't actually worried about Jason's wellbeing, so he says, “Do you mean 'did I kill him'?”

“Tt. Obviously.”

“Obviously not.”

Damian presses his lips together in a thin line.

Dick might as well get this out of the way now. He's going to have to sometime. “Alfred wants you out of the field for four weeks.”

“That's preposterous!” Damian shouts, and as he shouts, he coughs. He rubs his chest quickly and then glowers at Dick when he sees him staring.

“Damian, you could have died.”

“I didn’t.”

Jeez, doesn’t this kid have any sense of his own mortality? Though, Dick supposes, growing up around Lazarus Pits and a centuries old grandfather might make that impossible.

“I’m not a fool, Grayson, I know I’m not capable of healing instantaneously. I’ll take a break for one week,” he offers, like it’s a huge concession on his part.

“Four weeks,” Dick says.

“What about you?” Damian asks. “Didn’t you get injured?”

“Not as badly.”

“Are you taking a break?”

“Someone needs to convince Gotham that Batman’s not dead,” Dick says. Also, he doesn’t want to take a break. He doesn’t want to be alone with his thoughts. Losing Bruce. Failing Tim.

“Tt. Then I don’t need one either. I’m younger. I heal faster.”

Dick actually has no clue whether that’s true, because he’s not a doctor, but he knows that people usually say kids heal faster.

Dick swings his arms a little, trying to feel them out. They’re still stiff, and as they move, a jolt of pain shoots through him. Even when he’s not moving, his shoulder is still sore. He knows that he might get injured going into the field like this and that it’s not a smart decision – last time he went into the field while still healing, he wound up blowing his secret identity to Blockbuster.

He decides that at least if he’s going into the field, he won’t tell Barbara and Alfred about it. Okay, so that’s probably not the smartest of his plans. Most plans that you have to hide from people who care about you aren't smart.

“I’ll take a week long break with you,” Dick concedes. “And we can see how fast you’re healing.” The second part is a lie, of course. He's not going to supersede Alfred's orders on medical matters.

Dick sighs a little. He figures that while they’re both on bed-rest duty, though, he can try to figure out how to set things up so they can operate effectively once they get a clean bill of health.

“How do you feel about not living in the manor?” Dick asks.

“Kicking me out already?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I wouldn’t be living here either,” Dick says. It’s true. He’d rather not feel like he’s living in all of Bruce’s old places, wearing Bruce’s old costume, … replacing him, essentially. He needs a place he can clear his head.

“Where would you live then?” Damian asks skeptically.

Dick shrugs. “The penthouse, maybe. Bruce already made a bunker nearby, so we could operate out of there pretty easily.”

Damian narrows his eyes. “Why do you keep saying ‘we’?”

Because you are ten and not ready to live on your own. But Dick just says, “Well, you’re Robin now, right? That means you’re pretty much obligated to team up with Batman.”

“Batman isn’t here, Grayson. He never will be again, no matter how much you play dress-up.”

Charming kid. Like Dick didn’t already know that.

“You know I operate effectively alone, right?” Damian continues. “I don’t need to be hand-held and babysat like all of Father’s previous partners.”

Dick figures that it’d be a jerk move to remind Damian he just almost died and therefore really shouldn’t be on his own. Instead, he says, “Well, Alfred’s staying with me, so unless you want to get all your food and clean the house by yourself, you have to put up with me.”

“Tt . I don’t need a servant. I’ll just eat at restaurants.”

“On who’s money?”

“In the event of his death, my father’s assets should have transferred to me. His blood son.”

Oh boy. Dick rubs his face. “Does this have to be a thing, Damian? No one’s doubting your capacity to take care of yourself but I think it’d really be easier if we were operating out of the same building. “

A long silence on Damian’s part. “Fine,” he says eventually. “I’ll allow you to stay at my penthouse.”

My penthouse. Of course. But Dick takes it. “All right,” he says. “Let’s move in.”

[damthosefandoms]

You say the character I cared about was Damian Wayne so I just four other characters that view as my favourite characters

Okay, that’s cool. Do you like any characters from DC that aren’t Damian? Because the fun thing about franchises like DC comics, or like PJO or anything like that, is that there’s more than one character to love. I love Damian, yeah, but I also love a lot of other DC characters—both in and out of the batfam. The thing about not just comics, but fictional characters in general is that they all have flaws, but they all have things that make you love them. For example, Nico isn’t my #1 favorite PJO character—I’ve been a Percy stan for years and that isn’t changing. But I still love Nico, and I absolutely respect that you love him as well.

The point that we’re all trying to make to you is that people are allowed to love characters that aren’t your favorite. I know that’s not fully your point; I think that you’re frustrated about people taking things from certain comics that you particularly don’t like and acting like those things are canon.

I understand that. I’m not a huge fan of the Heroes of Olympus series, specifically the part about Percy losing the curse of Achilles, or a lot of the stuff about Roman demigods, or Percy wanting to go to New Rome for college. And a lot of people take that last part as canon for them. I don’t consider it canon. I think Percy would never leave New York or his mom behind. However, I’m not going to go and yell at all the people who like that particular bit of canon. If they want to believe that’s how Percy’s story ends, so be it. I cannot change their point of view. Actually, by arguing with them about it, I would probably just make them stand by it more.

I think, from what I can piece together (it is a bit hard to understand your asks, but I think I’m getting the gist of it), you’re angry that some people who are big fans of Tim tend to treat Damian badly in their fan works. I get it, it can be frustrating to see your favorite character be deconstructed like that—I was around for the early days of Heroes of Olympus where the fans of Leo and Jason (Grace) and all of the new HOO characters (as well as Nico, actually) used to turn Percy’s characterization into a total idiot. Then Rick started writing that fan characterization into the series, and it broke my heart. I think this might be how you’re feeling about Damian.

What I think you need to hear and start to understand is that not all of the Tim fans on Tumblr feel that way about Damian. A lot of them actually like both Tim and Damian! Which might sound crazy to you, I don’t know. I think it’s okay to like both characters, while realizing they all have good and bad things about them. It sucks that sometimes people take one version of a character and make that into a thing. Dealing with fanon over canon can drive a person crazy.

As someone who’s been through this before, the best thing you can do is either make your own content, find some friends who feel the same way as you and chat back and forth with them, or simply stay away from the side of the fandom you don’t like. I know sometimes it might make you feel better to argue, but it never ever helps in the long run. Trust me, it’ll only make you angrier, and living in a world of hate doesn’t do anyone any favors.

I say this all with the best of intentions, and I hope it resonates with you and you’ll listen and take my advice. If not, so be it—you can’t change my mind, and I can’t change yours. Have a good day, friend.

[red-doll-face]

Rules & Info

red-doll-face rules page

What’s new ? ⬇️ updated: 10/22

ART COMMISSIONS ARE OPEN !! PLEASE COMMISSION ME !! I NEED MONEY TO HELP ME MOVE !!

AHHHHHHHH. Hello all! I am here because a friend of mine, @prophxtslash pressured me to make blog. I mostly am here to post slasher and dbd stuff because thats my new obssession. I can’t actually finally ask shit out of anonymous 🙄. I also wanted to post my mikey fics because I love him. I posted my first one on AO3 but I will be posting another 6 chapter piece as well. Check my Masterlist or my writing tag, red writes for stuff I've done already. 

What I write:

headcannons

pieces (usually between 300-1300 words)

certain nsfw 

dark content (these are killers tho wtf)

What I don’t write:

oc x canon (Maybe if you pay me)

canon x canon (Maybe if you pay me)

I will write for:

Michael Myers

Old man ‘GILF’ Myers

Nice! Michael Myers (an au character Not og Myers, must have read Mark of Incision before asking, here is a link!) 

Jason Voorhees

Bubba Sawyer

Michael Myers '07 RZ version (hes a guilty pleasure)

Billy Lenz

Harry Warden

Thomas Brown Hewitt

Daniel ‘Candyman’ Robitaille

Brahms Heelshire (idk if i really have his character down but)

Most DBD killers and survivors (especially the weenies) 

THIS INCLUDES PH and Oni I love big bois !

Resident Evil Characters: Leon S. Kennedy, Jill Valentine, Chris and Claire Redfield, Carlos Oliveira, Nemesis and Mr. X. (Please I love nemesis sm ❤️❤️❤️❤️) Finished RE8!!!! includes: all four lords, and Mother Miranda.

My Yautja OC Kota'lyutin : )

I will think about writing for:

Plague (i hate throw up)

Asa ‘The Collector’ Emory (I know yall love him, but I’m takin a break so if I don’t answer your ask its not bc I hate it, I’m just limiting the amount of things I do for him.)

The Blight (if u ask, maybe in a platonic sense, like im a friend to mr grimes i guess?)

Still thinking about Ms. Charlotte Deshayes and Victor but I’ll let y’all know

Duplicate requests (if you’ve asked another author to do it, chances are I won’t do it unless I can bring anything original to it.)

I will NOT write for:

clown (gross, im sorry)

freddy (he look like a BURNT chicken nugget) if u beg enough mayb-

idk i have to remember

Ash Williams (too lazy to read dbd lore and i never saw Evil Dead, don’t really plan to either, also a ruined character for me sorry ash stans)

you are welcome to ask!

I do NOT write about:

pedophilia

scat/piss

explicit non/con

incest

zoophilia

Created: 1/26/20 Updated: 10/08/22 Its been over a year!

Thank you for any scraps you throw my way, folks! and for reading this. I totally forgot about a bunch of people when i made this 😔 forgive me.

[ten-ten31]

Dear Yuletide Writer

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you so much for writing for me! :) I can't tell you just how excited I am. This is my first Yuletide and I guess I'm super nervous, but also looking forward to it. :)

Please feel free to browse my ao3 (KitKaos) and/or tumblr to get an idea of what I stan, like, read or write. I hope I can give you some broad ideas and inspirations in this letter to help you plan. Do feel free to fall back on my general likes if the prompts don't do anything for you. Or just use the prompts, whatever works best for you. Oh, and should you, dear Yuletide Santa, want to write in German and not in English, then I'm definitely okay with that. I'm fluent in both, so whichever you feel more comfortable with. If there's something missing or if you have a question, you can reach out to me via the mods.

General likes: I'm a sucker for the old friends-to-lovers or even enemies-to-lovers (with all the drama of grudginly admitting that the other party maybe isn't all that terrible and all). Things I'll never get tired of include coffeeshop AUs, spy AUs, musical AUs, found families, fake dating, pining, crossdressing, drunken shenanigans, fish-out-of-water situations, pop culture references, etc. Just about any kind of scene you can sneak in there about cooking or eating food (also characters being picky about certains foods and other characters going to some lengths to accommodate that) will make me happy, too. I do have a thing for descriptions of food and expecially impressions of taste - and if you want to make it kinky: food play. ;) I also have a bit of a hand fetish - so descriptions of hands are always welcome. If you want to do it, I probably also won't say no to someone breaking the Fourth Wall, any kind of alternate history AU, crossovers of my fandoms, or even some lovely steampunk aesthetics.

Do Not Want: rape/dubcon/noncon, watersports, scat, humiliation, A/B/O, soulmates AU, vampire/werewolf AU, second-person pov, character bashing of any kind.

*

Fandoms

Just two more thing before I go into detail: 1. The prompts below are nothing more than ideas - feel free to ignore them if you have a better one. :) 2. Not all of the characters need to be used in every prompt; pick and choose as desired.

*

Dial H for Hero (DC Comics)

- Summer Pickens, Miguel Montez

The 2019 12-issue run is just pure love! There is worldbuilding galore, relatable characters, a wonderful coming-of-age and initiation plot, interdimensional shenanigans, the question how Joe Average could get addicted to sudden superpowers, and so much fun with the concept of Superhero Secret Origins. Summer is a wonderfully strong and caring female lead and Miguel is a self-conscious little oddball.

As for prompts: Seeing more of their Metropolis adventures or Red/Yellow/Blue/Black Dial transformations would definitely be a lot of fun. Also, there's this cute boy Miguel asks out in the comics and I would love to see that first date. And what about Summer? She definitely won't be reduced to sidekick!

Feel free to include any other ((teenage) superhero) cameos you feel like. Please do not pair up Summer and Miguel romantically - although I don't have any problems with a fake relationship fic for them. ;)

Where to find it: Your trusted comicbook supplier.

Masks: A New Generation (Roleplaying Game)

- any / worldbuilding

I only just disovered Masks as an RPG, and ever since I started playing, it's probably the most fun rping I've had in a long time. I love that playbooks are not by the type of power but the type of problem each teenager faces personally. Like, how do you juggle school, first love, being different in a way no one should know about, being different maybe in a way people will immediately see, adults telling you who to be, chores, and being part of a young superhero team that wants to make a name for themselves? It's hard. And the best sessions alternate between deep emotional connections, hilarious teenage drama and great action scenes.

As for prompts: I would love me some good worldbuilding - so maybe there is a reason the Scarlet Songbird is still around? What was Halcyon City like back in the days of the Golden-Age heroes? What has changed since then? How do especially the older generations view the naming conventions going around for new heroes? Is there a code to follow? Who in Halcyon City pays for all the damage to buildings and infrastructure caused by superhero-supervillain fights? What was it like back in the olden days for the Golden Age heroes as opposed to now?  Are there cultural exchange programs with any of the alien races visiting from time to time? Give me a day in the life of an average Halcyon City citizen - they don't even have to be all that close to an epic fight or something. Just their way of coping with the daily madness of a huge city housing most of the world's superheroes. If you like something a little more character-specific: The one actual-play podcast that does it best in my opinion are the Theatre of the Mind Players with their "Future Shock" and "Past Tense" seasons of Masks. And I would love to read more about these characters. Have Sparrow and Figment finally get together. Give me a glimpse of how Horizon assembled his ersatz mom. What will Helix and Remix get up to?

Where to find it: The core rulebook is available from Magpie Games. The Theatre of the Mind Players’ Masks sessions can be found on Youtube.

Super Sons (Comics)

- Jonathan Samuel Kent, Damian Wayne

Super Sons is how I finally came to like and care for Damian Wayne - which, if you know me, is a major achievement! He is still a huge brat, don't get me wrong, but Jon's influence on him and the way he is confronted with certain issues he has... it's magical! It's wholesome! It's healing! They are both so fiercely protective of each other, and they both grow as characters from their experiences with each other.

As for prompts: So, dear Yuletide Santa, give me character growth and banter and friendship galore. I can see slumber parties at Wayne Manor or at the Kent farm. I can see them getting lost in space and time. I can see more adventures once they're at the same school. I can see a canon-divergence AU where Jon is finally admitted into the the Teen Titans at age 13 - how would that go? Or how about an Interrail Buddies AU?

If you want to write slashfic for them, I will not say no but would probably prefer to age them up a bit. I also most definitely don't mind any background appearances of any of their families.

Where to find it: Your trusted comicbook supplier.

Superman Returns (2006)

- any (Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Richard White)

I still love this movie a lot - not because it's particularly spectacular, but it treats the characters with love, it treats the legacy of the Reeve movies with love and it leaves SO MANY questions for fanfiction authors to answer. ;) I mean, I've been a Superman fan for a long time and I've discovered that I'm most comfortable with a Clark who wears a mask both as Clark Kent and as Superman, who isn't either of those two (and who is fallible). And whenever someone learns of his secret identity, they will see that he's so much more than either Clark or Superman. I know Lois is a fairly underdeveloped character in this movie, so I would love for her to be treated not just as a prize, especially since there were those years of her having to put her life back together after Supes just up and left.

As for prompts, I've always wondered about the different coping mechanisms (Lois turning bitter, Jimmy starting up daydrinking - WTF?!) and just how their day-to-day business changed without Clark and Supes there. Give me the Planet staff banding together to rescue Lois when she remembers just that second too late that there will be no superhero to save them (I also wouldn't mind any of the Bats helping out secretly, if that's up your alley). Give me Jimmy trying not to think too much and instead getting on Lois' nerves until he's rescued by Richard intervening. I am also an absolute sucker for continuation fics, so how do things settle down after what happens in the movie? I would love for some real Clark and Jimmy bonding moments, maybe even Jimmy finding out or having known all along and covered for Clark. I would love for some truce and real friendship blossoming between Clark and Richard, as they are both intelligent, compassionate, insightful men. If you want to include Jason anywhere, feel free to do that, as he makes for such a wonderful catalyst for disaster. Feel free to write gen or any canon pairings - I'm also okay with non-canon het/slash pairs (or threesomes) as long as they make sense in-universe. ;)

Where to find it: Sadly, the movie doesn’t seem to be streaming anywhere, but since it’s 14 years old now, you can buy it relatively cheap.

Young Justice (Comics)

- Tim Drake (but do feel free to have any of the other characters in the story, too)

No matter if you're into the old 1990s YJ comics, the companion comics to the cartoon show, or the new 2019/20 version of the comics - I love all of them! So much I don't even know where to begin... The snark! The lovable teenage stupidity! The friendship that goes above and beyond! My definite favourite is Tim, because he is such a bright, snarky, secretive, repressed little bird (the moment he takes off his domino mask to reveal a second one underneath? priceless)! I also love his deep friendship with the others because that's his found family. Yes, Batman is his mentor (even though Tim might understand B better than the other way round sometimes) and Dick is his older brother and idol (hero worship, anyone?), but Young Justice is where he wants to be himself and all of it.

As for prompts: Even though I did not put either Cassie or Cissie in my request as I want something Tim-centric, the dynamic with those two strong-willed girls is definitely something I would love to see explored more. Also how the dynamic with the bats is so very different than the Young Just Us dynamic. What's it like being the one without powers in a group of hormonal teenage superheroes? I also just realized that I would love to see more of Mister Sarcastic trolling the rest of the gang. Or how about: What if Tim had powers for one day? If you're into the 2019 comics, how about a 5+1 of Why Drake May Or May Not Be A Good Superhero Alias. If you want to include the rest of the gang, you're definitely more than welcome to. Tim and Kon's bickering and outright arguments in the beginning turning into such a solid friendship (or more) is something I can read about time and time again. Pretty much the same goes for Tim and Bart. Or how about some Wendy the Werewolf Stalker shenanigans? Why is having girls in your group a bad/good idea? How did Cassie's becoming the team's leader affect Tim's sense of self? Heck, if you feel like it, open up the love triangle Tim-Cassie-Kon since there's like a ton of history there. Oh, and anyway, why is Stephanie Brown never part of any of Tim's teams? Dear Yuletide Santa, do also feel free to include any of the other teens (I have a soft spot for Li'l Lobo/Slobo).

Where to find it: Your trusted comicbook supplier.

Overall, I’m sure I’ll love what you have for me, and I'm looking forward to reading it! <3

[herecomesnaya]

1/2 When I first joined DC fandom I used to be a top Jason stan (otp JayDick)but now I'm all about bottom jay. But, when I think about it, finding arguments for topJason is much easier and perhaps more 'valid' (you know,cause his bad boy attitude and built but also his insecurities and wanting to feel superior/in charge etc.)than him being a bottom and I kind of acknowledge that me seeing him as such is just a matter of my personal preference and tbh I couldn't justify my stance if I were asked.

2/2 So I’m interested to hear, if you had to explain why Jason as a character is more likely to be a bottom, what would your arguments be? (I hope you got both parts of this question)

I’ve been saving this one to give a nice, well-thought-out reply, so why not now when I’m already knee-deep in some kinda Jason discourse today lol

there are a few things to address first before I get straight into why I tend to write Jason bottoming more often than not:

first: I’m gonna switch it from “top/bottom” to “dominant/submissive,” because I believe that’s more accurate than whether someone gives or takes it in bed.

second, I’m a switch, so I naturally tend to think of characters in terms of what they’d be like both domming and submitting, and in general I don’t care what other people do with fictional characters’ sexualities anyway

and third, the interesting thing about human sexuality that I’ve learned through a combination of a bunch of sex-related hobbies and careers over my life is how completely incapable you are of telling what a person is like in bed just by how they act outside of it. there’s a reason the “shy geek who’s a freak in bed” trope exists!

that sex-related stuff also gave me very useful insight into male sexuality especially. and the thing about strong, powerful, or otherwise confident men? they want to submit in bed far more often than they want to continue to be dominant. sex can very much be a role-reversal fantasy for a lot of people, or a relax, an escape, “giving up the reins” for a little while to someone else.

now, how do I see this applying to Jason Todd specifically?

the first thing I can point to is canon evidence in how he treats his romantic and sexual relationships. in the few he’s had on-screen, pretty much every one of them has something in common: it’s the other person making the move, usually while Jason looks startled.

here’s him with Essence from one of the recent RHATO issues. notice her hand on his head, pulling him close. her eyes are closed, his are open, like she caught him in the middle of a sentence or took him off-guard.

there’s Artemis, who’s consistently been the stronger, taller, more dominant one between the two of them. check out this panel: her hands tangled in his collar, Jason telling her to stop talking and acting like that, eyes wide again right before she cuts him off mid-sentence with a kiss.

much as I hate new 52 rhato, even it reinforces this: Isabel makes the first move, while Jason is confused and flustered. he seems to get more confident with her in rebirth rhato, but by that point, they’d already been together/friends with benefits for a while.

and of course. of course I have to mention Talia. whether it’s their first kiss:

(which you could technically explain away since he’d just gotten his memories back and was confused and a mess in general)

or the time they actually sleep together (anyone who starts rape discourse with me is getting kicked straight in the teeth I swear to holy God):

he’s always the one to defer to what his partners want. and that’s with women, who are generally seen as the less dominant half of a m/f relationship (whether that’s actually true or not, it bears mentioning, when I write mainly m/m and we don’t have any scenes like that with Jason to compare it to)

but those are kisses. how can we extrapolate what he might be like once it goes farther?

in fact, I think it’s because of those traits you listed as likely to make him more dominant. bear with me here.

his “bad boy” attitude and insecurities: that’s just it, his whole outward persona is mostly a fabrication. he isn’t actually some cold, cruel badass like he’d like Gotham’s underbelly to believe. he isn’t even cool with the idea of being disowned by the batfamily, much as he tries to play it off. he keeps sentimental pictures and objects, he cries on-screen more often than any of the other Robins (at least from what I’ve seen), he bases his whole self-worth around being accepted by the people whose love he wants.

his need to feel superior/in charge: again, this is a direct reflection of feeling powerless and insecure. he projects a LOT in his day-to-day interactions with other people. and remember what I said about powerful men in the beginning?

I believe that Jason would be more likely to submit because he wants to please his partners. he wants their approval. he wants a release from the constant pressure of trying to be the biggest, baddest, most in-control version of himself. even if Jason were to top, I think he’d still retain these traits, as evidenced by the canon snippets provided above.

so that’s my viewpoint! again, though, I don’t think anyone who writes Jason as a top/a dom is “wrong” or anything. just different interpretations of the same character! and isn’t that what every comic is at its core, anyway?

thanks for the fun question!

[yiangchen]

my live reaction thoughts to the 100 6x02 (warning: if you like octvia, probably best if you don’t read...)

—josephine is so cute oh my god. no wonder. she is a griffin after all.

—…welp. and now she’s dead. goddamnit.

—you know, this james guy came out of nowhere, but i appreciate that his only purpose is to hold octagon accountable for her actions

—raven x diyoza is a dynamic i never knew i needed

—MURPHY WHAT THE FUCK CLARKE LITERALLY INJECTED HERSELF WITH NIGHTBLOOD SO THAT THEY COULD TEST HER INSTEAD OF EMORI AND THEN SHE WENT ON TO GIVE HER RADIATION SUIT TO HER

—also clarke didn’t force bellamy’s hand…she begged him not to…and then he did it anyway. like??? i love s1 bellamy, but that was his doing. not clarke’s. she didn’t know that a riot was going to start. and bellamy didn’t have to do what the crowd wanted him to do.

—and oh my fucking god. clarke left bellamy because she thought he didn’t care about her. she knows she was wrong. she has admitted that so many times. how does murphy not understand that her isolation fucked her up and gave her abandonment issues?? especially after he’s had some very similar experiences. his inability to empathize with her is astonishing.

—bellamy defending clarke

—“when i’m in charge, people die. isn’t that what you said?” THAT FUCKING CALLBACK

—“fine, but i’m going with you.” maybe i screamed. all i heard was, “okay, babe, but together.”

—“e.cho, it’s okay. [clarke and i’ve] got this.” just gonna leave this here…

—i love one (1) power couple knocking people out

—ok but why am i enjoying everyone going insane and blarke trying to figure out what the hell they’re gonna do sdkfjsdlkfjls

—clarke trying to help e.cho out?? why am i already warming up to the idea of them having some kind of relationship?? (given that she’s not being fake with clarke now that bellamy is around)

—okay, don’t hate me, but e.cho hasn’t been self-righteous at all this season and that’s why i couldn’t stand her last season…so i’m kinda digging this version of her. and the voices in her head?? oh my god, i’m actually intrigued to find out what made her so cold. her backstory might actually be interesting. (again, given that she’s not being fake)

—clarke instantly knowing that bellamy is losing it too because she knows he wouldn’t talk to echo or herself like that if he was in his right mind

—“maybe you haven’t noticed, clarke, but i don’t need you anymore.” I’M FUCKING DYING LAUGHING. yep…he’s truly gone insane like the rest of them lmao. i love this for some reason. because everything everyone is saying is like the opposite of how they feel and or something they would never say.

—“the difference is that i regret it. you only regret having lost.” i do not stan abby but holy shit. SAY IT FUCKING LOUDER.

—octagon is a fucking idiot. could not be more obviously in the wrong and yet self righteous.

—octagon trying to take credit for saving the world and calling monty a coward…um, how about no??? is she really that jealous that the farmers saved the world and not her???

—i don’t feel sorry for octvia…i just don’t. get her off my screen.

—i’m not okay after the clarke almost killing herself scene. if that doesn’t show you that she’s selfless, i don’t know what will. she was about to kill herself so that madi wouldn’t die some day trying to save her.

—also can we talk about how clarke’s biggest fear is that she’s a danger to her loved ones? and that’s what lxa convinced her of all the way back in s2 with the whole “caring about people puts them in danger” thing. and this season we’re flashing back to mount weather. clarke is literally going to the root of her trauma. back to the season where she started isolating herself to protect her loved ones from her. the season when she first pushed bellamy away! i’m so here for this!

—MADI. WHAT AN ENTRANCE.

—so murphy apparently hates clarke, but then he stopped her from killing herself and trusted her to save him from eclipse!bellamy…so like…interesting…

—also he saved her from eclipse!bellamy before this too…

—oh, look. clarke going after murphy with no regard for her own life. like i said. selfless.

—murphy coming to save clarke! i love this so much. team cockroach for the win.

—CLARKEY G WITH THE FINAL SAVE.

—“saving my brother.” bit late for that, octabuse.

—i’m so excited for more madi x gaia interaction!

—raven finding out shaw is dead. SHE WAS FINALLY HAPPY AND IN LOVE WHAT THE FUCK JASON

—i’m just saying…blarke are linked by the legs and simultaneously not touching murphy for a reason. framing is everything.

—CLARKE INSTANTLY LOOKING TO WHERE SHE STABBED BELLAMY IN THE LEG AND HIM LOOKING AT HER REALIZING THAT HIS ECLIPSE SELF CHOKED AND ALMOST KILLED HER AND HOW SHE REACHES OUT TO TOUCH HIS HAND AND HOW THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER I’M DEAD

—also the leg wound makes me think of 3x02. rip me.

—“the hell is [octvia] doing here?” MOOD

—bellamy leaning on his son jordan

—the little kids oh my god

—and the 100 is my favorite show again. s6 is truly delivering wow. restoring faith and everything. and all because it’s finally character-driven! I’M LIVING

[laufire]

For the tv show ask 1-7, 9 & 10

(Glad to see you considered question 8 as boring as I do xD)

if you could reboot one TV show, which one would it be?

This is a hard questions because honestly, I don’t think in reboots xD. If I loved a show, a ~reimagining of it doesn’t come to my mind? Even if I won’t mind it if it happened (this is my reminder for checking out the Charmed reboot once and for all, it’s one of the very few I’ve been enthusiastic about).

Hmm. Maybe some type of Lois & Clark reboot? In the sense that I’ve wanted a clois show that reimagined the source material for a while. I would want it with Lois’ POV as the lead tho; Lois would still be older and more established than Clark, and I’ve always liked the idea of her as a war correspondent (or at least former war correspondent). It could be interesting to use a visual medium instead of newspapers, too. Lucy Liu has been one of my fancasts for a while, NGL, reinforced by that Set It Up movie. She looks a lot like the STAS version. I’ve also seen Morley and Lindsay fancasted as Clois over twitter and it’s GOOD, but tbh I want Lois to be older than him.

if you could have saved one TV show from cancellation, which one would it be?

A few months ago, I would’ve said El Ministerio del Tiempo (The ministry of time, aka the show timeless ripped-off lol), but it’s just been renewed for a fourth season after over a year without a word and I’m over the moon (they announced it the day of Los Santos Inocentes, aka Spain’s equivalent to April’s Fools, and I was suspicious about it for over a week lmao).

So with that out of the way, the question would be between Sarah Connor Chronicles and Galavant, tbh. Probably SCC, because that cliff-hanger still haunts me to this day.

have you ever quit a show before it finished? why?

I quit shows ALL THE FREAKING TIME. Usually, it’s simply because they don’t grab my hyper-fixation, and if I’m not 200% into it, what’s the point, really (sometimes, if I *do* really like some parts of the story, I go back when the season is finished and binge-watch, but mostly I just quit). Other times it’s because I can tell that my priorities are too different from the writers and I pre-emptively pull away. But mostly is due to lack of enthusiasm for the story. I don’t think I’ve ever rage-quitted anything.

are there any shows you wish could just be cancelled already?

Not really. I mean, most of my current shows are brand new xD (Legacies, Roswell, The Umbrella Academy, Elite, Sex Education, Black Monday -where I’m not caught up because I Fear the ending and I want to see how it all pans down-; I just started Deadly Class and I’m loving it), and the others are The 100, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Veep, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (tho if last season had been its end I’d be fine with it, it was gr10 for me and my priorities lol) and Suits, where, tbh, if the writers maintained the level of engagement I’ve felt in the last season, I would be fine with them running more years. And the rest of the shows I’m entertaining to watch are already finished or cancelled, so.

(I heard about SPN’s cancellation and I’m actually a little sad about it lol. Not for the show itself -I’ve only watched Bela’s, Ruby’s and Anna’s episodes and that’s how it’s forever gonna stay; I knew I would never be able to get into the show because Dean is pretty much my anti-type of lead character lol. But I found its endurability hilarious and it’s cancellation sounds fake xDD).

what’s your comfort show?

RN, Star vs the Forces of Evil. I wish more people in my dash watched it because it’s the cutest thing ever, and it has legitimately gr10 storylines. I need to watch the latests eps.

Other comfort shows: Galavant, Gravity Falls, Lois & Clark… almost any of my favourite animated shows, tbh.

which shows do you think are underrated and need more love?

Of my current shows, Black Monday. I haven’t seen anyone on my dash mention it, and it had me hooked from the first episode and the next just reinforced it (I haven’t watched past that because, as I said, there’s some foreshadowing that makes me fear the ending, as I am already way too invested… there’s only two episodes left, so I’ll be binge-watching it soon tho).

have you ever been inspired to start a new show based on gifs or memes it has produced?

That’s exactly why I started Deadly Class yesterday and I’m already half-way through lol (it’s only ten eps long). I saw it around tumblr and I took notice, thinking I might try it out at some point, though I didn’t know what it was about. Then I saw this gifset (it’s from the pilot, so not too spoilery), and I needed to know what the fuck was going on LMAO. Fair warning, though not too graphic (except kind of in the flashbacks, which are drawn in comic style and have the worst content), it has frankly upsetting/potentially triggering content. But I’m really enjoying the ~vibe and its characters. The protagonist (my fave) kind of reminds me of Scott McCall? Not so much in personality (… there he kind of reminds me of Jason Todd lol, with caveats), but in the “his milkshake brings all the boys (and girls, and nb folk) to the yard” factor xDD

what’s one show you thought you’d hate but turned out to really enjoy?

I tend to be right about my predictions in this regard lol. Usually, at most I’ll start watching something ~casually/with other people, and later it grabs me when I start shipping/stanning some characters HARD (see: MCU, Shadowhunters).

Oh, I recently started watching Legends of Tomorrow with a friend (except we’re going backwards because she’s in s4 and I didn’t feel the need to catch up first lol); giving my meh reaction to the rest of the CW DC verse (The Flash is the only one I tolerate & can casually watch some arcs once in a while, and it’s because Westallen it’s what it is, basically. I’m kind of curious about the daughter-from-the-future plotline and I might watch last season when it’s over. In general, there’s something about the ~pathos of the ‘verse that rubs me the wrong way), and I’m liking it A LOT more than I expected? Most of the characters really ~*spark* and I’m loving it (notable exceptions: Ava, Mick, and Grant? Gary? IDK, that dude).

what’s one show you thought you’d love but turned out to really hate?

Hmm… kind of same-as-above. This is probably partially because of my tendency to drop shows at the first sign of anything unappealing, because it doesn’t let my feelings grow into hate lol.

[greatrunner]

greatrunner’s favorite video games of 2018 (in no particular rank/order):

what remains of edith finch (giant sparrow) >> marvel’s spider-man (insomniac games) >> shadow of the colossus (bluepoint games, team ico) >> tron 2.0 (monolith productions) >> night in the woods (alec holowka) >> unforeseen incidents (application systems heidelberg) >> darkside detective (spooky doorway)

1. What Remains of Edith Finch – Giant Sparrow – (2017) - What Remains of Edith Finch is not a game I would’ve expected to enjoy. It’s a sleepy game, the kind you kind’ve end up dozing off to because it’s so damn quiet and slow moving. To a certain degree it kinda fooled me like Gone Home did. I was expecting a walking-simulator-survival-horror game, and instead a get a narrative driven story about a family who meet some rather unfortunate ends, or just don’t have the greatest luck in the world, which extends to the protagonist herself. A lot of the gameplay is a portal to these self-contained stories that may or may not hit a nerve of relatability with some folk. Lord knows I was completely sucked in by the story of the man who worked at a warehouse and daydreamed until the daydream was his world and reality was not. Like, really, if you like these kind of walk-about-narratives, give Edith Finch a chance. You might like it, or you might catch a good nap. Either way, you don’t lose.

2.  Marvel’s Spider-Man – Insomniac Games – (2018) – Marvel’s Spider-Man is probably the most fun I’ve had with a Spider-Man game - as far as video games go – since Spider-Man: Edge of Time (2011, written by Peter David) and probably the first time in a long time since any Peter Parker related narrative – with regard to his over-saturated media presence – actually had me invested in the character. Like, Dan Slott’s unfortunate involvement in early elements of the story (like, really, of all the Spider-Man writers, Insomniac had be Dan Slott stans, of course they did)  aside, Marvel’s Spider-Man tells a fairly solid story about a adult Peter Parker about a decade into his career as a superhero. The game, as far as gameplay elements go, is the same-ole-same-ole. If you played the Activision Spider-Man games from the PS2 era, the Beenox Spider-Man games from the PS3 era, then you’ve played Marvel’s Spider-Man. Insominiac’s game is just a refinement of all the things that worked for the previous games, but also has all the problems of the previous games. (Like it’s clear that when the devs has no idea what else to do with Spider-Man, they Naughty Dog the game and throw a torrent of overpowered, bullet-spongy enemies at you for minutes at a time and call it a day). 

Marvel’s Spider-Man probably features my favorite media iteration of Miles Morales (outside Jason Reynolds’) – like ever, and a lot of that I think, has to do with the performance of his actor Nadji Jeter (Black-ish and/or Grown-ish). Miles comes off as such a genuine and excitable teenager and his dynamic with Peter Parker works here, because he’s the supporting character, and not the lead character. Any writer from hereon-out that wants to tackle The Peter/Miles mentor dynamic thing? Never do it when Miles is the main character, the lead, you’ve just fucked up then. But Miles as a supporting character? Knock yourself, it works here, it’s fantastic here. Like, where was this version of Miles when I was reading the comic books later down the pipeline? Holy fuck, man.

3. Shadow of the Colossus – Bluepoint Games, Team Ico – (2018) – I love Shadow of the Colossus. It’s a fantastic game with control scheme issues that haunt it even in this remaster (lmao), but, for the love of mike, if you never played the original - you owe it yourself to play this remake at least once. It’s all atmosphere, all environmental worldbuilding, and all exploration. (There also giant boss monsters to fight, and all they implement one or more of those aforementioned elements.) This is the kind of game that is sorely lacking in mainstream video game media. No matter the year, this is breath of fresh air.

4. Tron 2.0 – Monolith Productions – (2003) – Fifteen years ago, TRON 2.0 was released as the proper sequel to Tron – which apparently made a lot of people salty (ah, the bliss of teenagedom) – the 1982 film that gets credited for pioneering CGI in film in ways we don’t really blink at now. 

As a game billed as a “First Person Shooter”, it was a rough game to get into – that’s not really my thing and first person view games disorient me like nothing else (to the point where I tend to dissociate in real-time). But the thing that makes TRON 2.0 work is the execution of all the elements that make the game what it is. A weirdly put together platforming puzzle adventure game that indulges in techspeak and the finer elements of computer inner-workings that your average layman just wouldn’t try to understand. It’s a world about personified computer components. 

TRON 2.0 doesn’t shy away from that. Hell, it embraces the goofy notion a human running around in a computer and never tries to make it deeper than that. A lot of people complain about the fact that Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and Tron (the title character) aren’t present in the game, but I argue that’s why the game has stuck with me like has, I figure that’s exactly why it works. It doesn’t try to retread old ground like TRON Legacy did, it does its own thing with its own characters (Jet, Ma3a, and Mercury) and wears its Saturday morning cartoon b-plot (taking over the world with the power of HACKING™) on its sleeve with no shame. It’s also a hellva lot smarter about its nostalgia nudge-nudge wink references, too.

5. Night in the Woods - Alec Holowka - (2017) - Night in the Woods is that game I thought would never come out. I thought it would end up like @skytorn and just get cancelled after boldly advertising it as a pending release for the PlayStation 4. But, it came out, and beforehand, developer Alec Holowka supplemented his audience with some really neat and creative short story games (Lost Constellation, Longest Night). Night in the Woods follows the story of Mae, a seemingly aimless humanoid cat who returns home - after dropping out of college - to wander the old haunts of her home and reunite with her friends. The trip down memory lane really doesn’t turn out the way she thought it would and as she begins to experience strange dreams, she’s faced with reevaluating the actions that brought her to the present. Night in the Woods is kind’ve anti-nostalgia. A lot of the characters, and not just Mae, have to come to grips with their present and come to terms with the fact that there’s just no going back to the past. Every place you’ve visited is not the same as it was when you were a kid, or even when you left town. It’s a genuinely moving game with a fantastic visual sense and design.

5. Unforeseen Incidents – Application Systems Heidelberg - 2018 - An extremely surprising adventure game that deals with the spread of a contagion in a small town – named Yelltown – and the small-town handyman who ends up working with a non-local reporter and a scientist to figure out why the government is spreading said contagion in small towns and how a death cult connects to the greater mystery. A lot of the game is apparently hand-drawn, from the environments to the characters, and invokes the look of a lot of survival-horror games that drill the player with grimdark survivalist rhetoric (This War of Mine, for example), but Unforeseen Incidents has a great sense of humor and knows how to balance the severity of its subject and the humor of major and supporting cast. It’s a pretty fun point and click adventure game.

6. Darkside Detective – Spooky Doorway – (2017) – Darkside Detective focuses on the adventures of a police detective and a not-quite-there patrolman who solve supernatural mysteries and inadvertently prevent the end of the world whilst bumbling their way through most situations. As a pixel-art game, Darkside Detective isn’t the strongest looking game. Its strength lies more in its writing, humor, and how much you can deal with pop-culture references of the Twin Peaks and X-Files variety.