#Stop retconning history

[kelluinox]

"The colonial practice of zionism..." you know, if you don't even know the basic FACT that jews come from Judea and therefore cannot be colonizers in their own land, then maybe you shouldn't be speaking about things you neither know nor understand? Only two words into a sentence and you're already wrong. Truly, every day you absolute uneducated baffoons on here and twitter are just continuously proving that before the age of internet only your family knew you were a fool

[kirbyddd]

[something-in-your-walls]

rest assured @meepso1234 your tagged request is circling around my brain

[theofficialvincenzo]

I only just got into the Legend of Zelda series a few years ago with BotW, and I absolutely love it. But every time I play through one of the older games, I discover connections to the newer games and find myself baffled by how many people just like, actively refuse to interact with some of the lore.

Like, the Zelda community is such an amazing place for community theorizing and conspiracies, and the people involved are so smart and passionate about this stuff. But then the moment I try saying "Hey, I think the Ancient Robots from SS and all the glowing-green robots from TP might be related to the Zonai Constructs from ToTK"

or "Hey the ancient guardians from those astral-realm trials kinda look like the Zonai, and also have 3 eyes??"

or "Hey, ancient mysterious flying islands with blocky Jomun-inspired architecture also appear in Twilight Princess and Four-Swords Adventures..."

"...Do we think the writers had this in mind for longer than we thought? Or maybe they're connecting older unanswered stories to try fleshing out the world's history?"

I'll definitely see a few people point these things out but then I see an overwhelming amount of people who just respond with "hmm. Nope. Can't." or "Stop putting so much thought into it it's not that deep."

Like omg who cares if it's not that deep? What happened to forcing Nintendo to retcon in the "three timeline" thing? Where's the pizzaz? Where's the imagination?

These games are so much fun to try connecting together

[casscainmainly]

POC Batfam Members Reading Guides + Starter Comics

The Batfamily has a lot of excellent POC characters, but I know comics can be hard to navigate. This list compiles the main POC Batfam members, their reading guides, and recommended runs to start out with. Not including Dick, but if you want a reading guide for him check out this one from @fantastic-nonsense (it actually covers all the Batfam members, it's a great one-stop resource!). This is not an exhaustive list by any means, so feel free to comment/add on with any additions!

Damian Wayne / Robin

The biological son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, Damian Wayne's character growth, complex relationships with his family, and general adorableness has endeared him to the hearts of many.

Reading list from @dailydamianwayne

Recommended starter run: Batman and Robin (2009)

Cassandra Cain / Batgirl

Raised to be an assassin, chose to become a hero. Cassandra Cain's unique abilities, stubborn personality, and amazing character journey make her one of the Batfam's most lovable characters.

Reading list from @dailycass-cain Recommended starter run: Batgirl (2000)

Duke Thomas / Signal

After his parents succumb to Joker gas and disappear, Duke Thomas throws himself into the world of vigilantism. He is beloved for his dedication to his family, unique connection to Gotham, and headstrong personality.

Reading list from @duketectivecomics

Recommended starter run: We Are Robin

Helena Bertinelli / Huntress

A child of Gotham's most powerful mafia family, Helena Bertinelli seeks vengeance after an assassin murders them. Her passion for the people she cares about, her Catholic background, and her sometimes volatile personality make her an interesting and unique beloved character.

Note: Helena was originally portrayed as White, but was retconned in Tim Seeley and Tom King's N52 Grayson run to be mixed race and/or Black. She also has an extremely messy publication history, and it's debatable whether N52/Rebirth is even the same character. She is not to be confused with Helena Wayne.

Reading list from @purpleladyofthenight

Recommended starter run: not a comic, but Justice League Unlimited's episodes "Double Date," "Grudge Match," and "Question Authority" are a great introduction. Then Huntress (1989).

Luke Fox / Batwing

The son of Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox, Luke Fox inherits the mantle of Batwing from David Zavimbe. Inducted into the Batfam during Rebirth, Luke is known and loved for his genius-level intellect, his complicated relationship with his father, and his unwavering dedication to the cause.

Reading list from @lornahs (includes David Zavimbe)

Recommended starter run: Batwing (Luke shows up in #19 onwards, but the rest is worth it too!)

Maps Mizoguchi / Robin

A student at Gotham Academy, Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi is the newest Robin on the scene! Energetic, ever-curious, and a huge Batman and Robin fan, she's a fan-favourite for a very good reason.

Reading list from @emilyarmadillo

Recommended starter run: Gotham Academy

Other characters who are Batfam adjacent include Talia Al Ghul, who I would recommend using fantastic-nonsense's reading list again, and Jace Fox, for whom you should read The Next Batman: Second Son.

POC characters are still few and far between in comics, and it's important to support the characters we already have to show DC that there is a demand for diversity. All of these characters have truly interesting stories, personalities, and character arcs, and deserve our love and support!

[cocogum]

Amalia being Yugo’s first is WILD and here’s why.

When you really think about it, Amalia is technically Yugo’s first lover in the history of the krosmoz.

Just take a moment to think about it for a second. Let it sink in.

According to what we know about Yugo and what he was like in the past, the dude couldn’t stop moving around and never had a day off from his adventures with Adamaï.

That was back when he wasn’t king and had Chibi as the one leading the council of six (unless the story got retconned but it doesn’t change the fact that Yugo was extremely adventurous). Yugo would be spending his days on his original planet discovering and battling beasts regardless if he was unaware that he rinses and repeats every time he gets reborn.

According to the manga, Yugo and Adamaï’s room looked like a giant museum that was filled and piled up with so many things he got from their adventures that it was insane how much they went outside.

So this not only tells us that Yugo was always hyperactive but it also shows how much of a messy guy he is, hoarding around all his stuff. What kind of man has these habits AND has a steady normal relationship? His partner would continuously get frustrated by the amount of times he’s late and unprepared for their dates because he’s so busy doing his own thing.

Besides, even if Yugo did want to get married to someone, who was he going to go to? The only people on his planet are people of the same race as him which are mainly composed of his primordial siblings and his people who there’s a very high chance that they are somewhat related to him and his siblings (Because let’s be honest here. Mina, Chibi, and Qilby must’ve played a huge part in even having subjects in the first place. Why do you think they’re the “primordial ones”? Qilby must’ve just been curious tho lol “iN tHe NaMe Of ScIenCe”)

So no, Yugo couldn’t have gotten into a relationship even if he wanted to.

Amalia was literally his first which is WILD (but good lol) given how many lives he has had.

Also, it’s highly likely that Amalia is the only exception. Yugo’s life is filled with calamities and dangers to defeat. If the literal retired iop god and his daughter don’t have any clue as to why his life is so dangerous but “fun” (Dally told him that he remembers why Yugo’s his best friend BECAUSE of those dangers and Elely asked him how his life can be filled with so many to begin with), then I don’t know how anyone who doesn’t have a fearless spirit can even like staying with Yugo, let alone be in a romantic relationship with him.

And even if there was a fearless person who liked adventuring, the chances of being with Yugo are slim to none. Amalia was a good option because unlike anyone else, she had so many common points with Yugo that it almost felt like she was MADE for him (evidence presented here) like a cute Sadida doll made for a dragon. Or in this case, a cute sadida made for a demigod with dragon blood 💕💕

For crying out loud, she was even the only royal who wanted to go see the world and attempted more than once to leave her kingdom to do so. How many other royals do you see doing that?? They all have abrasive, snobbish personalities who can only think about themselves and reject anything different from them. The only one who used to act so differently from the other rulers was her mother.

Amalia is truly one of a kind.

(It could also be the fact that Amalia just looks extremely different, appearance-wise. The whole Sadida look stands out a lot. They don’t necessarily get confused by other races like forgelancers/iops/sacriers, enutrofs/fecas/foggernauts. The fact that she looks/wears/talks/protects nature might also be another thing that Yugo gave his attention to.)

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Ok so Buck is getting a meta before I write my 7x03 meta and it’s all because of this still we just got!

We haven’t seen Buck in blue jeans (he’s worn jeans they’ve just always been super black) since season 2x01 - you know when Eddie rocked up at the station and put his shirt on - yeah you’re all thinking what I’m thinking aren’t you!!! The parallels of that jealous Buck and upcoming jealous Buck keep on paralleling. Putting him back in this style of jeans now is so very deliberate and interesting - if you ask me it’s playing not only into jealous Buck, but also into Buck and his hamster wheel - it’s playing on the whole buck 1.0 upgrade to 2.0 etc - there’s something about the fact that Buck essentially stops wearing jeans when he bonds with Eddie - something in the idea that that was the moment he was being both more true to himself, but also hiding a part of himself as well - it’s almost as if the intention is to parallel and revisit some of earlier Buck and explore him opening up the part he hid. Now with the context of Buck in s2 being in a (intense for him) relationship that’s shifted and ended without him knowing/ accepting it and a new guy coming on the scene sparking jealousy before creating a strong bond, and the parallel/juxtaposition of what we’re about to see - new guy sparking jealousy and presenting a threat to his status quo whilst he shares an intense bond with Eddie is a pretty interesting concept - the idea that they may be playing into the beginning of Buck recognising that his relationship with Eddie is changing and different in the same way he slowly figured out Abby had left him - only this time it’s changing in the opposite direction - stronger more unbreakable and allows him to be his true self - well that would be an amazing piece of storytelling in my opinion.

Now obviously alayna and the wardrobe team wouldn’t have known way back in the beginning of s2 that the story was going to head in this direction, but a great designer can make choices that they made in previous seasons work for them in future ones. So to me it feels like this sudden switch back to jeans is deliberate and about tying into the past to move and change things in the present/future. Alayna knows the full arc Buck is on and the fact she’s chosen now to do this when she could’ve done it at any point or not done it at all tells me all I need to know!

Would you like some other things we’ve got going on with this outfit?? I thought you would and I’m here to serve!

We’ve seen Buck in a spotty shirt like this one exactly twice before - 2x14 when he’s at a diner with Maddie talking about Buck finding his own apartment and Maddie going back to hers and going on her second first date with Chim.

Side bar - This is the episode we ‘hear’ of Tommy in the present tense - funnily enough to save Eddie - which in light of Eddie Tommy bestism were about to get is making me chuckle (it’s clever writing and retcon) in technical terms it’s the only reference we have of him as still working for LAFD - all his other appearances are in begins episodes so ‘historical’ rather than in the present!

And then we see a different spotty shirt when he goes to see Chase Mackey in 3x04

There’s also the other dark short sleeved button ups we see him in - not spotty, but striped - the one in 4x14 when Taylor comes back,

The most awkward I love you in the history of television in 5x09 has Buck in dark navy blue with vertical stripes (I don’t have the ref picture handy as I’m on my phone but I’ll come back and add it later 😎🤓)

Then we have 6x10 and the buckley-Han family get together where everyone finds out buck has donated his sperm to Connor and Kameron

All of these scenes are pretty key moments in Bucks arcs and what I find interesting (with the exception of the first one - 2x14 which kind of fits but also doesn’t) is that they are all moments that lead to developmental regression by Buck - under the guise of growth - moments when he thinks he’s moving forward but is in fact either side stepping or going backwards. Suing Bobby and the fire department is obviously the loudest of these moments, but they all fall into this category.

2x14 is perhaps the most interesting and relevant (what with the pattern being almost the same) in reality it’s a scene about Maddie moving forward and getting on with her life - that happens to also include buck getting his own apartment rather than camping out in her dining room. Thing is Maddie talks about going to therapy and putting in the work to feel and find normal in the aftermath of a major traumatic event. In some ways the chase Mackey spotted shirt kind of also falls into this same category - the aftermath of a major (or two) traumatic event for Buck and him trying to get back to his normal (he’s just going about it all wrong)

And here in season 7 we have Buck back in a dark short sleeved spotty shirt in the aftermath of a major traumatic event (Bobby and Athenas Cruise disaster - he couldve lost his dad) trying to get back to normal (something we’ve seen him trying to do for the back half of s6 obviously) and I can’t help but wonder - with Oliver talking about Buck getting off the hamster wheel he’s been stuck on - whatever happens whilst Buck is in this shirt is going to be a major catalyst for him. its going to set him off on his arc for this season and we'll to put in the work his sister did post killing Doug and actually move forward and learn about himself in the process. What that looks like I don’t know but the scene this is from is going to be key to his escape from repeating his past mistakes and actually growing towards his happiness.

The costume department haven’t let me down yet so I’m feeling pretty excited for that scene!

[writingwithcolor]

Creatures of Folklore Who Represent Cultures Preventing Wars Throughout History

Anonyomous asked:

Hi! I’m writing a story which is set in a fantasy version of our world. The main difference between our real world and my fictional version is that the spirits and fairies of each culture and folklore exist, and that the majority of them basically stop war from happening because they react very badly (and potentially violently) when invading forces etc try to start battles. 

I’m doing a lot of research into the histories of the various cultures that will be featured in the books set in this world so I can hypothesise how they might have developed without, for example, violent colonialism, and where trade and so on might have flourished in its place. However, it’s possible for colonialism to happen through more insidious ways, such as assimilation. In one of my books, I’m intending to use this as part of the plot, where Japan will try to colonise the Ryukyuan Kingdom through assimilation, but will be stopped by the Ryukyuan Kingdom making allies with other nations (amongst other tactics), but I was wondering if you had any advice for respectfully handling the colonialism that very much did happen in real life in a fantasy setting where it didn’t manage to occur, without erasing the history and ramifications etc of what actually happened?

Do fox spirits have citizenship? 

You mean well with this concept, but there are multiple key problems. 

One major issue with cordoning off spirits and folklore creatures by “patron” culture and have them fight said patrons’ battles is that there’s a lot of overlap. It’d be hard for there not to be a conflict of interest. 

For example, everyone knows about the kitsune fox spirit from Japan. But the story of the fox spirit was introduced to Japan and Korea by China, where they are called húlijīng. These foxes are remarkably similar, with their characteristics and stories almost borrowed wholesale. Are they all the same “species?” If so, when small differences emerge in the countries’ folktales, how do you resolve this? Do these spirits also morph and specialize, or does one interpretation win out? How about when kingdoms are unified, like the Korean Three Kingdoms–do separate versions of the kumiho reverse-evolve into a single variant? What side do they pick when these kingdoms and empires try to battle? If they live apart from humans or aren’t very friendly with them, why would they have a reason to care about invasions when they have no reason to be allegiant to said borders, or whatever name they’re called in whichever country whose land they live on?

Folkloric beings are never static, and are influenced over time by cultural shifts and exchanges, including shifting borders. Human history is stuffed cover-to-cover with events of what we called “conquest” then and “occupation” or “colonization” now. And through these changes, cultures diverged and came together, creating new stories. In other words: not even fairy tales are immune to colonization. 

Leigh can explain the rest. 

~ Rina

The Problem with Retconning War

A very simple question for you:

How are you going to rectify every single historical war that’s ever existed?

Like, the whole plot of the Trojan War as we know it is that the gods of the same culture were on different sides! And the gods made the war last as long as it did. Alexander the Great was a colonizer. Romans were definitely colonizers. Ottomans and Mongols, also colonizers. It wasn’t to the scale of modern colonialism, but it happened. If you look at census records from the 1800s of Indigenous populations in North America, you’ll find that the men 20+ have way lower numbers because they died in war! 

I’m not of the opinion that the basic state of humanity is war and we are barely contained by base instincts. But I’m also not so far in the other direction that I believe humans lack any sort of warring instincts. It shows up in chimps and other primates, so it shows up in humans.

In a way, it sounds like you’ve taken a very Christian-fundamentalist-centric view of things, which is: humans need religion to be “contained”. That humans are amoral without some sort of religion or folklore or spirits telling them to not do a “bad thing.”

This is ignoring how people have been using religion to justify wars since religion was invented. As Rina said, there can be overlap in groups’ beliefs and deities so there’s the side-picking issue, which as I mentioned is the whole plot of the Trojan War. Even when humans write about gods meddling in war, they have the gods not all be on the same side.

Humans have war. Humans try to take over other groups because they want the resources that group has. Alliances shift. Territories shift.

This is also treating humans as a monolith—there are populations within the colonized groups that agree with the colonizers because they get benefits. Claiming that all colonized groups hate all aspects of their colonialism all of the time is deeply ahistorical and flattened. Sometimes the benefits were only for a small group, but sometimes the benefits were far-reaching. It’s in the India tag on WWC, varying views of the Mughals. 

Also, how will you handle the Christianization of Europe? How will you handle all of this folklore that only got written down via monks and nuns making notes and modifying beliefs to fit the Bible? Will any area with only Christianity’s records written down not have folklore? 

And how will you handle folklore drift? Religions are not static. If you look at Greek myths, there are ten to thirty versions of each story and those are just the ones that survived. Each city-state had its own mythology, using the same gods, modified to fit the local needs.

And what about folklore that deals with war and thrives in war? What about the gods of war and destruction? I know Norse mythology is Christianized beyond recognition, but even in its Christianized form half of it is about war. Would the Valkyries, whose whole purpose is to find valiant soldiers slain in battle, not want war? Their whole purpose is war.

Also, on top of it—how will you handle revolution?

You say yourself, colonialism could still happen subtly. Colonialism and injustice can still happen. Will these subjugated spirits force an already disadvantaged group to exclusively use a rigged system to try and politely ask for their rights back? Or would these spirits want to be free and support the means necessary to take it back?

War has happened to upend the divine right of kings. War has happened to free slaves (Haiti). War has happened for basic workers’ rights (some union strikes have resulted in war). 

You’re basically removing a whole toolbox in the fight for a better world. Yes, not being able to colonize because of fantasy AU sounds fine, until you realize that pretty much all of human history from the Romans has been created via war to some degree.

You’re basically just saying “violence is bad and humans need fantasy babysitters to not dive into it”, which really doesn’t sound that great once you sit with it. It removes human agency, removes human nature, and ignores the entire history of the planet.

-Leigh (Lesya)

Marika interjecting here:

We had an ask (Linked here) envisioning a story set in a de-colonized Hawai’i and the socio-political issues with that. Same problem.

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

I don’t think Jason has ever hated Tim

I recently revived my Jason Todd hyperfixation from its torpor and realized I had... Means and Ways of reading as many comics as I want for free, so I made the transition from Fanon Only to having read Lost Days, Under the Red Hood, Teen Titans #29 (where Jason fights and beats the tar out of Tim), Hush, Red Hood and the Outlaws (the majority of both runs), Red Robin: The Grail, Batman and Robin: Streets Run Red, Green Arrow #70 - #73 (where Jason kidnaps Mia), Battle for the Cowl, and a smattering of other bits and bobs, all within the last month.

I have come to the conclusion that the idea that Jason hated Tim before slowly learning to be okay with him is completely backwards.

Jason starts respecting Tim as a fellow combatant after basically their first meeting, and was sympathizing with him even before. Fandom talks a lot about how Jason repeatedly tried to kill Tim, but I think there’s a good argument to be made that actually Jason has never tried to kill Tim, and there’s a better argument that Jason has never tried to hurt Tim out of a dislike for him.

Tim is the one who feels viciously betrayed by Jason, hates his guts, and depending on if you blend in the New 52 either learns to begrudgingly like him or just stays hatin.

Obviously I need some proof here, since this goes completely against the grain of every relationship interpretation I’ve ever seen for them, so approximately seven miles of character analysis under the cut lmao

I’m gonna try to go in chronological order of the characters’ history here, which means we’re starting with Lost Days, and Jason’s first reaction to finding out there’s a new Robin:

This does not look like anger to me.

Lost Days is only six issues long, and this is the entirety of the pages devoted to Jason’s feelings on Tim. Jason succeeds in a plan that would have almost certainly killed Batman if Jason had gone through with it. Jason undeniably has Joker dead to rights at one point, but lets him go. Jason at no point in this story attempts to harm Tim at all.

Now for Hush.

Context for fanon only folks: this is where the “throat slitting” bit happens.

Context for a lot of confusion: I don’t know if Jason is the one who holds Tim hostage or not.

In the original Hush plot line this is only Clayface; Jason isn’t here at all. It was later retconned in Under the Red Hood that Jason was actually in this fight for... some amount of time. It’s highly unclear to me when they swap out. Probably because originally, they didn’t swap out. Oh well! In either case, it’s now canon that Jason coached Clayface on his acting, so for the purposes of this essay, Imma hold Jason responsible for the throat damages and the words said regardless of who did what!

Right off the bat: this is a hostage taking, not a murder. Yes, Clayson Jayface does nick Tim’s neck and absolutely makes the threat of murdering him to Batman, but it’s clearly a threat. Like, look at this panel:

He is talking a lot. This isn’t an attempt to kill Tim, it’s an attempt to screw with Batman. No matter who this is, they have every reason to expect that Batman will stop them before they do any permanent damage. Can you see that little, blurry, half-hidden line of red? Lets look at what the damage was later on:

The bleeding was stopped by a bit of cloth, some pressure, and he’ll need stitches eventually, but they can clearly wait, and Tim doesn’t seem alarmed. That’s enough to scar, and enough that it is perfectly reasonable for Tim to assume that he would have died if he hadn’t been rescued.

However, Jason being deeply protective of kids is a reasonably consistent character trait. “You really think I’m gonna bring the pain to a ten year old?” Even at Jason’s most villainous, he is willing to put himself in danger in order to protect his own sidekick Scarlet. I think it would be very out of character for him to have gone through with it. Combined with Jason’s later actions and the general fact that a hostage is pretty useless dead, I come to the conclusion that Jason was bluffing.

It is ambiguous though, and I admit that this is probably the weakest link in the “Jason never tried to kill him” chain.

But enough of that, was he angry with him? Is the hate there?

I argue no, and that really there’s no emotional investment in Tim at all. In terms of hard numbers the pages Jalay Toddface spends holding Tim hostage is 3 and the number he spends fighting Batman is 13 and the number of times he even so much as LOOKS at Tim is ZERO, like actually, literally ZERO TIMES. He does not spare poor Timmy a SINGLE GLANCE.

Now make a special note here because those three pages of no eye contact from someone who might not even be Jason are the ONLY times that Tim is called Pretender or Imposter.

I’m relying on this research done by Kiragecko: https://kiragecko.tumblr.com/post/128411908944/bat-sibling-interaction It only goes up to Battle for the Cowl, (as does this essay it turns out, I just don’t know how to bridge between that and the New 52) so it isn’t every interaction ever, but it’s still excellent research, go leave a like.

According to them: “Comments: Tim thinks about Jason a lot while he’s first training. He imagines the former Robins giving him pep talks, and uses them to fight off fear gas. When Jason comes back, though, Tim’s really nasty, especially in his head. Jason, however, is somewhat respectful. He usually calls Tim ‘Tim’, and seems to kind of like him. ‘Pretender’ and ‘Imposter’ are things that CLAYFACE said, not Jason.“

How many times are those said? Once. Each. That’s it. As a comment under the Jason and Tim post done by Kiragecko points out, “Replacement” doesn’t even get used.

Under the Red Hood is basically THE Jason Todd comic. To my memory he doesn’t interact with Tim in it. However, it does contain that aforementioned reconning! So we get to see his reasoning during this encounter.

And it very very clearly isn’t at all about Tim.

Moving on to Titans Tower, which is indisputably focused on Tim: When he fights Tim, he is absolutely violent and over the line, but he’s NOT out of his head. Jason is clearly very lucid and careful about what he’s doing.

Is he angry? Of course! He’s angry at the Titans who in his mind cared about him way less than their other members, and accepted a replacement robin as though his life, his whole flesh and blood self, was something that could be so easily forgotten and swapped out.

But I think it would be a mistake to assume that Jason’s at all mad that he isn’t Robin anymore.

A very interesting direct parallel to this fight is when Jason kidnaps Mia, Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy, fights her, appeals to their commonalities and encourages her to solve crime his way rather than Green Arrow’s way.

In both scenarios Jason engineers a way to isolate a sidekick and attempts to teach them something through combat. He makes a direct appeal to them against their mentors, and seems genuine about what he’s saying. He also lets both of them live, and with Mia is honestly pretty damned polite about it all. At least, as polite as a guy can be about kidnapping you and encouraging you to try to kill him in your high school gym that he definitely should not know about.

The plain fact of the matter is that Jason knocked Tim out, had time to paint his whole ass name way up high on a wall, and did not kill him. This is the same Jason who just prior to that took out all of Tim’s allies non-lethally. The same Jason who kept Mia’s protector’s busy non-lethally. The same Jason who cuts Mia free and gives her weapons back and starts slow in their fighting to make sure he doesn’t hurt her too badly. The same Jason who seems to feel very strongly that killing, trafficking, or selling drugs to kids is an unforgivable offense and very clearly sees Tim as a kid.

Quite frankly, this reads not like a murder, and not like a jealous beatdown, but an attempt to convince Tim that he’s going to get himself killed and needs to get out while he still can. In Jason’s mind before they meet, Tim is purely A Robin, a kid who deserves better than to be put into danger against the same monsters over and over again until he finally slips up and dies.

Is this a hairbrained and back asswards way of doing that? Yes! But it does track for someone who tries to do all of his talking through his actions, which do speak louder than words, but unfortunately C-4 loudness is not actually a significant boon to nuanced communication.

If you want to put it in a less charitable way (and maybe we should, this is a bonkers asshole move on Jason’s part no matter how you slice it) then we can say Jason is testing Tim, trying to see if this one has what it takes to be better than he was, to survive where he couldn’t. Personally I think it’s a mix of both, and for this end of that emotional mess: Tim passes the test.

Jason leaves while talking about Tim in present tense, showing that he has every expectation of Tim being alive, and praises him in the process:

Did you know that the fun panel of Tim kicking Jason in the nuts is actually from the same comic run, about twenty or so issues later?

Did you know that the argument they were having starts with Dick and Tim wrestling with Jason and accusing him of a murder he did not commit, and in fact tried to save the victim from?

Did I mention yet that the death in question was of Duela Dent, aka the JOKER’S DAUGHTER, whom Jason caught attempting to hold a young woman hostage for ransom? And that Jason repeatedly shot her getaway balloon instead of her and then tried to save her life immediately afterwards despite the fact that she was going to let the hostage plummet to their death? And it is implied that part of the reason he’s so easy on her is because of “Once a Titan always a Titan” loyalty, with this being our first clue that Jason isn’t the one shooting at her anymore?

Did I also mention that he comes to her funeral in part to be around Donna (the starry leotard lady whose statue he smashed) because it’s nice to be around people who understand being displaced by their own death? And that the one who sticks up for him in this scene is Donna?

At risk of negating my own thesus here, I’d say it’s reasonable to think that maybe Jason feels rage-hate for Tim in this “kicked in the dick while Dick grins smugly” moment.

Lets go now to Robin #177 at the tail end of the 1993 to 2003 run - Bruce has “died” and Tim hasn’t yet gone on his epic quest to find him. Tim finds Jason unifying street gangs with the intent to bring them under control and solve the current crisis. He appeals to Tim for help with this, in fact he comes off as almost puppy dog eager to work with him, and seems really sad when he says fuck no.

This is one of the first fights in which Tim really holds his own against Jason, and I am very proud of him, yes :3

This gets Jason arrested. Then Tim actually goes through with a heavily modified, less violent version of Jason’s plan that Jason didn’t think could work. A few issues later, when Tim decides that he’s going to try to honor what Bruce would have wanted by springing Jason out of jail, Jason makes note of that.

Jason is pretty damned civil at their next meeting, even though Tim makes it pretty damned clear he doesn’t want him around.

And now... we have to talk about Battle for the Cowl.

I’ve seen it described as a masterclass in how NOT to write Jason Todd, due to it portraying him as being an absolutely off his rocker anger murder violence man. I am inclined to agree.

In this three issue comic Jason Todd has been dRiVeN mAd (in the most bullshit comic sense of that word) by Bruce’s will... telling him to go to therapy. Yeah. So uh, he dons a Batman suit to shoot people in AND pretends to be Black Mask so he can enslave a bunch of villains Amanda Waller style, and like it gets weird from there. It is an extremely jarring transition from that last scene to GUNS BAT HATE MAN.

He still does not hate Tim in it. I really, seriously thought I was going to have to make a lot of excuses for this portion but then the more I read of it the more vindicated I was cause let me repeat: One of the most unhinged with Bat hate and crazy juice versions of Jason ever put to print does not hate Tim at all.

Hell, he likes Tim! He compliments him!

And on top of that, even though he is MUCH more lethal against his fellow robins when they attack him - Jason straight up shoots a ten year old Damian in the chest. It’s fucked. - There is still evidence to suggest that Jason deliberately didn’t kill Tim when he had ample opportunity.

Jason first of all never hunts Tim down. I’ve heard Battle for the Cowl described as Jason tracking Tim down or kidnapping him or going after him to force him to Be His Robin, but that’s just not how it goes.

Instead he waits for Tim to come find his Batcave, disorients him, and goes for a ton of surface cuts. He only actually goes for a real body blow after Tim picks up a crowbar and beats Jason across the face with it a few times.

(Again, proud of you Timmy)

After the stabbing, Jason doesn’t just leave Tim there; this isn’t a matter of hurrying on before he could check. He’s seen dragging Tim off. When Nightwing later comes to rescue him, Dick is downright certain Jason is lying to him about Tim being dead because Jason is refusing to show him the body and Dick figures it’s because he knows there’s no body to show (if in part because he can’t let himself believe Tim is dead without hard proof).

Tim himself wonders about this, noting that the batterang was rusted and shattered on his armor.

Sure, Tim used playing possum to make his pulse slow to a near stop for a while, maybe that fooled Jason, but keep in mind that BRUCE taught Tim that skill, and if there’s one thing these comics have established, it’s that Jason is dangerous precisely because he is so intimately familiar with the techniques of the Bat. Jason even makes specific note of the fact that Tim being trained like Bruce and fighting like Bruce would be his downfall at the beginning of their fight.

The whole comic leaves me wondering just how much of what happened went completely according to Jason’s plan. I really would not put it passed him to engineer a ‘death in the family’ recreation for the next Batman in line! As much as I agree that this is garbage characterization for him in many many ways, I do think Jason makes a fantastic villain. I love to see him run rings around the Bats in some places, and make lemonade out of getting his ass kicked in others.

No matter how we interpret the stabbing here though, what does seem very clear to me is that Jason makes the Be My Robin offer to Tim first and foremost because he thinks pretty highly of Tim! He’s been rejected by Tim at least three times over but keeps holding a hand out for him. This does not seem like Tim hater reaction hours here!

Also that whole thing about kids being dragged into this vigilante life irresponsibly? Yeah that’s still there!

I have TRIED to find evidence that Jason hates Tim at like literally any point here. I have gone through the shit people point to. I have looked at the context around those and dug up more obscure interactions for second and third views. Everywhere I look I just see more instances of Jason complimenting Tim!! It’s driving me nuts!

The only conclusion that I can come to is that people read this stuff and just trust that Tim is right about Jason. Tim’s internal view waaay more closely resembles fandom interpretation. Tim assumes that Clayson Toddface would absolutely have killed him in cold blood, that Jason beat the shit out of him purely to prove he was stronger, that he’s a brute, a moron, an active danger to society, and that every bit of leniency given to him will result in betrayal and death.

I don’t have clearer proof for it, but I also don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Tim probably believes Jason has it out for him and holds him responsible for his replacement.

So yeah. As a fascinating reversal of my expectations going in: I don’t think Jason has ever hated Tim, but boy fuckin howdy has Tim HATED Jason.

[zahri-melitor]

Okay because I am setting my expectations as low as possible in the hopes I get to be pleasantly surprised, here is the history of Black Canary as a solo title at DC:

Black Canary 1991: 4 issue miniseries. Probably best described as 'mediocre'. Dinah discovers Ollie's being an unemployed dropkick who has been stealing/borrowing money from the Sherwood Florist till and not accounting for it; out of her frustration at him she goes and beats up a drug cartel and white supremacists with the help of her new friend Gan Ngyuen, who would be a better boyfriend to Dinah than Ollie is being right now. In conversation with her Grell appearances, but seriously underestimates Dinah's actual skillset.

Black Canary 1993: 12 issue ongoing. Dinah's basically broken up with Ollie for the whole of this, which is completely fine by me, as Ollie uses some of his appearances in this book to accuse Dinah of sleeping with Ray Terrill. Who is 18 and was trying to look after the injured superhero who turned up on his doorstep. Time to go die in a firey helicopter crash, Ollie, you are terrible in the early 90s. Anyway, this is an incredibly uneven run that covers topics like Dinah's backstory, why Ray Terrill develops the biggest puppy crush on Dinah, and also the very first Nightwing-Oracle-Huntress-Black Canary team up. Tragically despite the compelling characterisation going on in this title between the four of them, the story they are in is a white slavery plot, rendering it almost impossible to recommend to people who aren't the sort to read every single appearance of a character.

Black Canary 2007: 4 issue miniseries. This would actually have been a compelling story apart from its intent and outcome. Dinah and Ollie, in the lead up to their wedding, grapple with combining their families and Dinah works with integrating Sin into the US educational system. Unfortunately, Sin is abducted and then Ollie fakes her death and doesn't tell Dinah what he's done, as he makes Connor take her off to one of the Himalayan monasteries various Arrows and companions have spent time at. Sin does not get to attend their wedding, and for some reason Dinah does not tell Ollie it's off even though he just faked Sin's death and lied to her about it.

Black Canary and Zatanna: Bloodspell 2014: Graphic novel. Paul Dini's pet project that he spent the best part of a decade trying to get DC to publish. The only decent Dinah solo on this list, it's not actually a Dinah solo because it's co-starring Zee. Dinah and Zatanna met each other as teens trying to live up to the expectations of their families, then reunite in Vegas after some of Dinah's friends tell her that someone's made them swear a magic oath to take part in a heist, and it's killing them. Hijinks ensue! This is the only title of any of them on this list that's actually full of joy. Please read it.

Black Canary 2015: 12 issue ongoing. 'What if Dinah decided to make Black Canary be the stage name of a musician in a band rather than a superhero?' Does this have any connections to previous Dinah characterisation? Not really, no. Does it sound like the premise of an Elseworlds rather than main continuity, even for n52? Yes. Dinah decides being a superhero is just too much work, so she'll be in a band instead, aside from all those times she needs to stop singing to fight crime in the audience. Contains a time travel plot involving Kurt Lance, aka the worst decision DC has ever made in regards to Dinah's love life, and I'm including Ra's al Ghul and marrying Ollie on that list. I think they made Kurt Lance save the universe but I admit I was hatereading at that point. The final issue has Dinah have her life flash before her eyes while retconning out most of the n52 changes to her characterisation and also suggesting she got pregnant with Ollie's baby at age 53 before dying of a mystery disease at age 69.

EDIT: Reminded of the Teen Book

Black Canary: Ignite 2019: DC teen graphic novel. Written by Meg Cabot, this is one of their teen alternate continuity rewrites set around the awkward period when Dinah was a teen and wanting to be a superhero like her mother, but Dinah Drake was firmly refusing to train her. Contains Larry Lance and is actually set in Gotham! (this is a good thing) On the other hand, maintains the 'was in a band' concept from Black Canary 2015, which personally I would rather stuff into a black hole never to be seen again, but angry teens singing in bands is a genre conceit for a reason. It's cute.

So really. Why would I let myself get my hopes up over Black Canary Volume 5?

[old-habitz-die-hard]

We need to talk about the EMH fandom

tldr; long rant on how the emh fandom has a lot of not-so great people in it. Also overlaps with the tribetwelve fandom hence the tags

Recently, being in this fandom, I’ve been seeing a massive influx of discourse over nazis and nazi art. Artists have been putting hate symbols in their HABIT art and EMH art in general. specifically the drawing of one specific artist.

However, I’d like to remind many that this has been going on for a while with many different people in the fandom. So many people in the EMH fandom have admitted to being neo-nazis, and have obsessed over the part of Tribetwelve where HABIT admits he worked with them (which, by the way, was pretty much retconned.) Many say they’ve seen fans of it who have Nazi symbols on their profile, and I’ll admit I’ve seen it as well. Many who do this also do not take it seriously, acting like the Nazis and their symbolism are just some funny cute thing that they can identify with or spread around. In relation to that, users have gotten harassed off servers for even having HABIT or Evan pfps, one stating they were repeatedly called a nazi and people lying and saying their pfp was art by Fvcksnuff, a problematic artist in the fandom. The user was eventually banned after being ridiculed, just for their profile picture being a character. The funny thing is, it wasn’t even HABIT as their profile, it was art of Evan.

Another thing is the romanticism of necrophilia, from specific people headcanoning HABIT as a necrophile and people in the fandom saying they’ve been getting anons asking what they think of the headcanon. The fandom has had a very long history of paraphilia romanticism (necrophilia and zoophilia, mainly), such as the disrespect towards the boundaries of the literal creators and actors, one of them who has specifically stated they DO NOT want rape fanfics of them on ao3. Many people fandom ignore these boundaries, by the way.

Lastly, in relation to that, there’s the sexualization of the actors, which they’ve admitted makes them very uncomfortable, specifically Evan. Please stop sexualizing HABIT or Evan. They may be characters, but a real person plays said characters. Many have acknowledged this and ignored it completely, especially people on Pinterest or tiktok. One of my mutuals has been one to witness and experience this, getting increasingly sexual and creepy comments on his HABIT pins. He’s told people to stop, but people didn’t listen and continued to make him uncomfortable. He admitted that it got so bad he started turning off all comments on his posts since he didn’t want to see those comments anymore. this has also happened on tiktok, where if you go into the comments of any video about habit, they will be overly sexual and explicit, even if the topic of the video isnt inherently sexual.

It’s not just a vocal minority. This fandom has a LOT of awful people just hiding around in it.

The fandom recently has been a dumpster fire of discourse upon discourse, and it’s disheartening to see. Harassment, threats, and general discord. II’d like to say that instead of arguing and arguing, we drive the people who do this out of the fandom. If you want a better community in this fanbase, you need to do something to MAKE it better.

If you have anything other problem about this fandom you think I should research and add to the post, please share.

[mareastrorum]

I think Zemniaz fell before Aeor. I can't prove it, but I can throw massive doubt on the information we've been relying on to conclude that Aeor fell first.

Brennan's said twice now that Aeor was the last flying city to fall. At first I thought maybe Brennan was leaning on qualifiers like "last great city." I wanted to sort out whether Brennan was retconning this, but considering that he's worked SO closely with Matt to prepare Downfall, I couldn't help but feel like we must have missed something.

Zemniaz has been discussed very few times in the stream. In C2E110, the Nein discussed the city after the dinner with Trent Ikithon (Beau's conspiracy board scene):

Other than that it fell sometime during the Calamity, Matt didn't specify when Zemniaz crashed into the Zemni Fields.

Then In C2E125, the Nein interrogated Halas in an effort to learn more about Cognouza and Aeor. He's not very cooperative given that the Nein didn't help him out of the gem when they first found him.

At the beginning of the conversation, Halas claims that Aeor fell "before my time." Straightforward information that no one did an insight check on. After that, Caleb suggests that if Halas answers three questions, he'll see about answering more questions in "different circumstances," implying that he'll help Halas out of the soul gem he's trapped in.

Halas said that he's from Zemniaz, he grew into the belief that he could only rely on himself, and then he abandoned Exandria -- presumably to live in his Heirloom Sphere. He also makes no mention of the city's destruction, but that makes sense given that the Nein were asking about Aeor.

Now, if we stopped there, then we could conclude that Zemniaz fell during the calamity after Aeor. But you know what?

Halas is a fucking liar.

In Episode 125, Matt responded to Caleb's 19 insight check:

Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, Chapter 1: Story of Wildemount, Section 1: History of Wildemount, Subsection: Age of Arcanum, Page 12:

Powerful Archmages such as Vecna the Whispered One and Halas Lutagran began to carve their paths into history during this era of unbridled magical experimentation.

"Before my time" my ass. He was already a prominent mage in the Age of Arcanum, before the Calamity even started, and certainly before Aeor fell. This fucking fucker lied to us and we all took him at his word.

I don't have an answer whether Matt intended for that to be misinformation or if it was an unintentional contradiction. The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount came out on March 17, 2020 and Episode 125 aired on February 11, 2021 -- nearly a year later. Episode 83 (when the Nein met Halas) aired on October 31, 2019. I don't think that Matt would make that mistake given that he had been done or nearly done writing EGtW when Halas first showed up. I'm leaning on the side that it was probably intentional misinformation. After all, Halas was exceptionally distrusting, and he couldn't know why anyone would ask him about Aeor. He knew Aeor had been destroyed by the gods; do you think a hermit archmage is going to trust random bozos who found his gem and started pestering him about it?

Information from Halas can't be trusted, so it doesn't inform us one way or the other. Thus, I wouldn't say that Brennan is retconning so much as clarifying an unknown. And giving us more reason to realize Halas is a fucking liar.

In conclusion, if any of the lore you're relying on came from Halas, maybe add an asterisk to it.

[dragonfoxandfound]

I would respect Zutara shippers more if they stopped whining about canon.

No alt shipper wants Bryke's crusty ass canon, not even Zutara shippers. Not after we all saw how they lobotomized Kataang - well, mostly Katara - in those comics.

And those retcons? They make me want to retch. How good is canon if you need to rewrite history to make people like it?

Your canon isn't nearly as coveted as you think so, we're begging you, please keep it. Because let's be real, you had no intentions of respecting anyone in the first place.

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

Unhinged or generally weird shit I read on the warriors wiki trivia tabs part 1

Crookedstar:

What do you mean by this??? She was listed as his mom in Prophecy and switched to Rainflower in Promise? Are you implying they wrote Lilystem the entire time, made a mistake, and then instead of fixing the mistake, just... Retconned Rainflower into the already written scenes?

Yellowfang:

My boyfriend has this. I use it to annoy him.

Bluestar:

But they had the time to write a Clear Sky Toe Sucking scene as well as have Bluestar be mean to Leafpool until she has to be reminded about her illegal husband and children she is later stated to SPEND TIME WITH IN THE SAME BOOK. Are you the writer or not?

Firestar:

Which I will remind you is followed by this:

Turtle Tail:

Cute name but also:

"It was so sad... Anyways she was hit by this model of car."

"Also they're polyamorous but not explicitly and only these cats despite my former insistence that 'first love always wins'"

Squirrelstar:

"He didn't have enough clout" then write more of him or write him better or stop making whatever you think 'clout' is a prerequisite for that... "Cope with" actually I'm not even gonna finish that thought it doesn't deserve my energy.

To absolutely no one's shock, Squilf is one of Kate's least favorite characters. She also said this about Crowfeather but guess who the narrative kisses the ass of harder.

Expansion of that statement. Something about this reeks of classism but I can't put my finger quite on it.

Brightheart:

Yeah, yall, Brightheart's inevitable death is looming. They will absolutely erase her wounds. Take that how you will. I personally wouldn't having my missing eyeball back in heaven but with the narrative history towards disabled characters in this fictional setting.... Yeah...

Also stop making Mega Mentors and Mega Queens if you want to stop this problem why did you highlight it in her fucking graphic novel? Why not just retcon it in? You've had no problem doing that before. Have her mentor Hollytuft, no one gives a shit about Hollytuft and you couldn't seem to pick a mentor for her anyways.

Twigbranch:

WHO IS THE AUTHOR HERE

[munchkinmarauder]

Seen this floating around twitter and I think we need to property address the MCU fans insistence that comic Wanda is only revenant because of the MCU.

Like MCU fans really double down hard on the MCU version brining wanda out of comic obscurity but

(1) Wanda had been active on comics since Children's crusade in 2010 and had her own solo which in ballsy move emphasised her Romani heritage at the time Age of Ultron and the MCU version came out. She was very much active and thriving at the time of the comics. She had also already redeemed herself for HoM in events like the children's crusade and Avengers Vs X-Men. Her redemption and the return of the mad women trope came after Axis and the MCU version which walked all this development back to coincide with MCU Scarlet Witch being more villianous and the bringing of mutants into the MCU.

(2) Wanda has been an Avenger for over 59 years of her history. She was the second ever woman to join the avengers and was on its second roster (arguably in terms of memorability the Kooky Quartet eclipses the original team and is what helped the Avengers cement themselves as one of the big leagues). At the time of the AOU movie she was a core member of the first iteration of the Uncanny Avengers team

(2) Wanda and Pietro were such significant and popular characters that two movie studios were fighting to have them in their movies. Something that they would not have bothered with if they were obscure characters. The comics themselves made fun of this in a Scotty Young illustrated comic. The twins might have actually been amongst some of the most mainstream on their debut. How many would have had even a passing knowledge of them from the cartoons or of their connection to Magneto? Certainly more than many would have to Black widow or Hawkeye or even Iron Man to an extent!

(3) the MCU is the reason she was retconned into not being a mutant and thus made her fair game to be referred to as the pretender. This if anything is an example of how the MCU really damaged her in the comics because once she stopped being part of the mutants she became one of the "oppressors" (nevermind the implications of attaching that to a Romani Jewish woman) and so was opened up to being demonised more by X writers.

(4) the character is called a real life slur by the actress and the studios which is worse

(5) the bad castings conversations were opened up about the twins race leading to more ernest attempts at representation and conversations about the twins heritage down the line but it shouldn't have happened in the first place and those conversations likely would have happened if they cast Romani actors. The MCU would have also gotten props for actually committing to it's promises of diversity.

Yes the popularity of the MCU version gave the character a boost, opened up some conversations and brought new fans in for good and for ill. However to attribute all Wanda's success to the MCU version is a fallacy and exaggeration. Ultimately I feel the MCU did more to hurt rather than help the character.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Clawdia Koopa

Debut: Super Mario Bros.

If you’ve ever tried to take a closer look at the Mario series lore, you’ll realize one thing… it is not very consistent! Mario games are filled with little discrepancies, and of course, plenty of obscure and forgotten characters were practically retconned by the series! And of these, who has suffered a worse fate than Clawdia Koopa?

If you were a gaming fan during the 80s and 90s, you will surely remember Clawdia Koopa, the beloved and female wife of the fearsome King Koopa! She may not have shown up much, but her impact on the Mario world was felt everywhere!

Who could forget making it all the way to the end of the NES game, squaring off against the frightening Bowser himself… only to find out, he was even more scared of his wife than you were of him! As the king of the Koopas cowers before his nagging old ball & chain, Mario, who is in no committed relationship, is able to jump over their heads and grab the ax, sending them both plummeting into lava!

Though their relationship may have had a rocky start, it seems the two were still able to settle down and start a family. Just take a look at this letter Bowser sends you in Super Mario Bros. 3!

Yup, this game introduced the Koopalings, and as Nintendo made very clear, Clawdia was their mother! Not only did the game manual reiterate this fact, it also included some pretty detailed pictures of Clawdia in labor, giving birth to each of the seven! They’re a bit too graphic to reproduce here, but it’s awesome they went that far to flesh out the worldbuilding!

So, if Bowser was married, why did he keep kidnapping Princess Peach? Maybe their marriage wasn’t actually going that great? You see, if you were to 100% Super Mario World twice over, you would actually get to see a secret message written by Bowser:

It’s pretty heavy stuff, and Nintendo hid this message for only the most dedicated of Mario fans! And sure enough, things would only go downhill from here… In Hotel Mario, Bowser would build seven Koopa Hotels just to stay away from his wife, and Clawdia hasn’t been seen in any games since… All the fans who never got this message were pretty confused, wondering where Clawdia Koopa had gone… and they were even more confused with the release of Super Mario Sunshine!

This game introduced Bowser Jr., and he was supposed to be Bowser’s new child! Not only were the Koopalings not mentioned at all, but Clawdia was nowhere to be found, either! Instead, Bowser Jr. kept referring to Peach as his ‘mama’, but she turns out to not be his mother either! What’s going on? If Clawdia and Bowser really did get divorced, then where did Bowser Jr. come from?

Things got even worse when Shigeru Miyamoto was interviewed in 2012, saying “Our current story is that the seven Koopalings are not Bowser's children. Bowser's only child is Bowser Jr., and we do not know who the mother is.” When asked about Clawdia Koopa, Miyamoto ended the interview abruptly. So what’s going on here? Is there some sort of conspiracy to cover up Clawdia Koopa? Who would benefit from this, and why?

Well, it turns out the real culprit may have been right in front of us all along! Bowser actually DID remarry, and the mother of Bowser Jr. is none other than Miyamoto himself! After becoming Bowser’s wife, Miyamoto became jealous of Bowser’s ex-wife, suspecting he still had feelings for her. So Miyamoto went and changed the official story, acting like the Koopalings were never Bowser’s kids to begin with! It was quite a petty move on his part, but since Mario canon is in his hands, there was nothing we could do to stop him…

Clawdia may be gone, but I won’t let this revisionist view of history take place! Most Mario fans today have never even heard of Clawdia Koopa, and that’s sad… But I’m not afraid to say her name! This International Women’s Day, I will be changing my full legal name to Clawdia Koopa in her memory, and I hope anyone who stands with me will do the same! After all, if we let Miyamoto get away with this, who knows what he will do next? He might even try to sully the name of Morton Koopa Sr.!