#Then he shows up as Batman and the romantic tension is still there

[majorxmaggiexboy]

Personally i think battinson is absolutely perfect but also i need like a one-off Batman movie with Mr Charlie Cox as Batman and it should come out right before daredevil reborn and it should have an ambiguous Did Batman Just Die ending bc that would be the funniest possible way to kick off daredevil reborn and also we already know Mr Cox could kill it as Batman bc he's been playing essentially the same character for years and also his Brucie Wayne would be incredible and also he should fight Bane @dc pls I have the movie ready to go let me have this

[pbjelly90]

I haven’t really gotten into the swing of blogging here and I probably have like 2 followers who aren’t bots 😆 but I’m rewatching BBC Sherlock and feeling an inkling to reread the original stories and it just has me thinking and wanting to ramble about Sherlock media and put it somewhere. What I’ve really grown to appreciate all these 20ish years of being a Sherlock fan is seeing every new adaptation put their own spin on Sherlock and all the characters in the canon. Some I’ve loved, some I’ve been displeased with, but it’s always fun to analyze and revisit and see what parts delight and what disappoints or leaves me wanting more. More thoughts below because apparently I had a lot to ramble about on this topic lol.

BBC Sherlock probably has one of my favorite Watsons, and he gets more focus here then a lot of other adaptations, and feels truer to the character to me than many others. Old adaptations like Basil Rathbone with Nigel Bruce used to have him be a bumbling fool type and I’m glad that’s in the past now. I also enjoy Lestrade in the BBC version and tend to prefer adaptations that get him along this vein, a trusted person on the force, exasperated with Sherlock and his methods a lot of the time, but also one of the most willing to put faith in him and believe in his abilities (and his integrity when it matters.)

Irene Adler adaptations like the BBC show or Robert Downey Jr movies are usually hit or miss for me, and generally I find they put too much emphasis on making her have romantic feelings for Sherlock for my liking. I applaud how they want to make her a more prominent character than one who only appears on page in one story, but romantic tension/interest feels so limiting as the way they choose to do it. There’s some merit to showing how she has to weaponize her beauty/sexuality in that time period at times, but they rarely dig deeper than that or give her more of her own storyline.

I’ve also found most Moriarty adaptations pretty lacking. BBC Sherlock’s became very popular, and Andrew Scott is a wonderful actor, but he always came off as far too gleefully chaotic and evil for evil’s sake to be that interesting to me as Sherlock’s foil. I feel like they went with a Batman versus Joker sort of dynamic there, emphasizing shock value, and I much preferred the mystery of him throughout the early seasons versus the reality post reveal.

Moriarty in the original canon only gets hinted at very late when Conan Doyle is setting up what he believed to be the end of the stories (before public demand and personal debts changed those plans), and therefore he’s always been more a mystery figure than an actual developed character in the original stories. But the building blocks are there for adaptations to take and mold and I hope we get to see more creativity here. Robert Downey Jr faces off against a version of Moriarty in the movies that I’d call Moriarty classic. Serviceable, but nothing new there really. Math teacher, formidable, crime lord, older, genius, check, more or less straight from the books.

BBC Sherlock was also missing Moran who I’d been highly anticipating, and fans kept speculating some unnamed sniper was him, but we never got confirmation. To me that was such a huge missed opportunity, for an adaptation that really highlighted the bond between Sherlock and Watson, how could you ignore the bond between Moriarty and his own “dark” version of Watson?

So cue Moriarty the Patriot, which felt like a series made just for me to fangirl over. It nails Sherlock and John, even if they’re not as much the main focus here as other series, and that’s just clearing the bar for me, my first criteria for any Sherlock media being “do they get John right?” They introduce a younger version of Miss Hudson, whom I also loved in BBC Sherlock, but this brings a fun new dynamic where she feels more like a loving sister to our boys rather than a favorite aunt like in the classic take. Still long-suffering, still the heart who keeps them in check and cares for them, and until John comes along, the only person really in Sherlock’s confidence. I hope we see more of her backstory in MtP (BBC nails this quickly with the mention of Sherlock helping to put her shitty husband in prison.)

Then there’s the MtP version of Irene, who’s the most creative take on the character I’ve ever seen. Is there some potential romantic tension with Sherlock still? Sure if you’d like to ship it, but thats far from her main storyline, she has so much MORE going on. Her own wants, her own goals, her own mistakes, her own plans, that whole first plot of hers is still one of my favorite arcs in the manga and a time when it truly differentiated itself for me from any other adaptation. And that’s not even getting into the Bond material yet, which as a Bond movie and book fangirl as well, was this series actually custom made for me?!?? Ya’ll really were deep into my brain for this one, combining M with Albert, bringing in Moneypenny, all of it. The manga blew me away with all of this and how it was handled. Moran, you better never betray Bond as agent 006 Alex Trevelyan a la Goldeneye. 😆

Before the meat of this, I want to take an aside to also say I love MtP’s take on Mycroft. BBC gives us our first more active Mycroft on-screen that I can recall, not just lounging in the Diogenes Club per canon, orchestrating everything at a remove, but more involved in looking after his brother and meddling when he feels necessary. He’s a huge drama queen in the first episode and I’m looking forward to rewatching the seasons again and seeing the brothers’ dynamic grow. But MtP takes this and instead of having our first encounter with Mycroft be with John alone, more removed from his brother still, we see the two fighting and squabbling and I just love them, your honor. I would like to see someone handle their parents better than the BBC version did, and idk if we’ll ever see them in MtP, but I do enjoy the tidbits we’ve gotten like Sherlock’s working class accent. They already used the name Sherringford/Sherrinford for their ancestor, so curious where they’d go with this. But Mycroft in general, his parallels with Albert, his guilt over their ancestor and role in the government? His relationship with his brother? Nailed it, more please.

Brief shoutout to Enola Holmes, she’s a bit Mary Sue/wish fulfillmenty, but I enjoyed her and her dynamics with her brothers vastly more than the sibling they shoehorned into the last season of BBC Sherlock. If you’re going to give the boys a sibling, that was a fun way to do it. Henry Cavill looks NOTHING like Sherlock is usually described, but he was fun and quite nice to look at lol.

Now onto the main thing I want to ramble about: MtP has the single best adaptation of James Moriarty that I have ever seen in writing or on screen. It’s no coincidence that this is the first adaptation I’ve seen try to dive into his backstory, figure out what’s the deal with his brother(s), which was a genius move taking that inconsistency with Doyle’s descriptions to make there be three James Moriartys total, and to give us a compelling reason as to WHY he does the whole lord of crime thing. Like fine if it’s just for money, control or power, and I can read/watch that story if well done, but this is the first time I’ve really seen a series take the building blocks Doyle laid out and really turn them into something more, to create something original and compelling. William and his brothers 100% deserve their main focus in the series, and its all the better for that perspective flip, as much as I love Sherlock and John. Sherlock and John are fleshed out already, most modern adaptations can get them right, but the Moriartys? That was brand new.

Not to mention, they gave William James Moriarty his Sebastian Moran, and nailed that dynamic as well. Normally I’d think if we finally got Moran he’d be my main ship for Moriarty, just as John was always my main ship for Sherlock, but somehow MtP gets me shipping them, but also William x Sherlock, Mycroft x Albert, Moneypenny x Moran, Irene x Hudson aaand I could digress for way too long here so I’ll leave it at that. Note to anyone writing future adaptations, GIVE MORIARTY HIS MORAN.

All of these MtP versions of the characters are so good that now they’ve ruined me for other Sherlock related media, I’ve found. I watched Ron Kamanohashi and loved it, but as soon as elements of Sherlock and Moriarty were introduced, I found myself badly wanting MtP to be the original canon they were drawing from and see those storylines reflected in the modern day setting of Ron’s story. That is now 1000000% my headcanon. Can we somehow get future Sherlock media to adapt some of the new ideas MtP introduced moving forward, and keep expanding on those concepts? Be inspired by them to keep exploring more of the characters once you’ve gotten the mains right? Maybe not, but a girl can dream. It’s a fun time to be a fan of Sherlock related media.

With all that rambling said, has anyone got any recommendations for other Sherlock books, shows, manga, etc? I remember The Seven-Per-Cent Solution was a very influential AU book back in the day for Sherlock fans and is supposed to present an alternate telling of the Holmes and Moriarty dynamic, so I may read that. Sometimes I branch off into Lupin media and I’ve read some of Arsene Lupin vs Herlock Sholmes as well. 😆 I enjoy silly Herlock in The Great Ace Attorney games although he definitely feels like a goofy AU version.

—

TLDR: If anyone has skimmed this giant post and has any other Sherlock media suggestions, let me know! Looking for some more unique takes on the characters and story.

[lady-of-the-puddle]

Welcome Back

Today I will be rating Beck's

Potential Partners?

The question mark is because some of them were definitely his partners, others will not admit it, and some came to...circumstances preventing a declaration of their love...anyway.

1. Bodhi

Literally on screen for 30 seconds max

We all clocked that shit instantly

Never brought him up again (thx to retroactive backstory oops)

Beck was actually visibly sad about him tho to the point his boss/dad had to ask if he was ok

Absolute cute couple though

8/10 I knew him for five seconds and now I have to kill everyone in this room and then myself

2. Paige

Y'all already know. Everyone knows. The whole grid knows.

The sexual tension is palpable

Which brings me to some difficult questions about the nature of programs and what physical functions they may or may not have.

Ugh I'm a sucker for the rivals to lovers thing tho

12/10 top ten hottest bi power couple if they don't kill each other first

3. Tron

I went over this in my tron's exes list but I must reiterate cause reasons

Can you imagine meeting your hero, your icon, your savior and he's....a bit of a bitch??

But you learn and get to know him and he opens up to you and comes to trust you with his life UGH my heart

9/10 I rated this 7/10 before but I'm not scared anymore they're GOOD

4. Cyrus

Look, he gets in with his bffs and the first thing they say to Beck is "you didn't tell us you had a new bf!" (Totally NOT paraphrasing that).

The fucked up stalker/victim pairing is SUCH good tea

And then he tries to kill him later? Delicious.

7/10 this one's for the toxicity 😏

5. Lux (I had to look up her name)

okay this one loses points because they WANTED me to ship this when we already knew Paige existed

I don't like to be told what to do

I mean, it's ok Beck has two hands(more like eight at this point) I can work with it

loved her jaded perspective turning into hope before she was fridged for male pai- I mean derezzed for reasons relevant to the plot 👀 that was definitely neat

Consider: she is pretty though

4/10 they're both a ten but I'm a bitter bitch so sue me

6. Mara

tbh she's such a cutie and deserves way better than whatever incel shit Zed has going on

no wonder she's in love with Tron/the Renegade (I mean, same) I would beg a superhero to save me from him too

she and Beck have such a good dynamic

would be such a cute friends to lovers pair

can you imagine if she found out her bestie was the renegade she's been visibly/audibly thirsting after? Queen shit.

8/10 This one is actually the least toxic here

7. The rebellion leader whose name escapes me (it's Bartik)

so this guy appears in legacy as the rebel leader at Castor's before getting derezzed five minutes later (shocker there)

this one just kinda leaped into my brain when I binged the show directly after watching Legacy

can you imagine inspiring someone to change sides completely and then become the leader of the very fire you sparked long after you're probably gone? Endlessly romantic.

6/10 I have yet to have a really bad ship tbh

8. Pavel

I hate it, you hate it, we all hate it

But it's still pretty hot

8/10 bitch on bitch violence

9. Zed

Ahaha I hate it

he's way too comfortable with the evil bad guy shit happening around him.

honestly I have no idea why Beck is even friends with him

HOWEVER

jock/loser pairing

Beck CAN AND WILL fix him

3/10 I don't think we can save this one boys

BONUS ROUND:

10. Tesler

LMAO I just thought of this

Why do I love it tho

Something about the Darkseid omega beam hands that make me think weird thoughts

Now I wish I had put this on my tron list

1/10 or 9/10 depending on the day

I really do love that Beck is just the most specialest boy, he's the grid's next top model, he's batman, he's everything. Istg this is a harem anime in disguise and I ship him with everyone.

I can think of at least two programs off the top of my head that I didn't include because I forgot until now, so tell me about your rare pairs, etc. I was thinking about rating Clu's crushes that he handles in a completely normal way next but that might be too much. This is what happens when we have no new content for 10 years.

[k-s-morgan]

For batjoke is it on every version of Batman or a special version ?

Ooh, this is actually a very complex question! In most versions where Batman and Joker appear together, they share a complex relationship complete with flirtation, tension, and subtext. The really unhinged things take place in comics and in games, but there is some good stuff in the movies and a TV show, too, so I'll cover everything briefly.

In comics, it's repeatedly stated that Joker is in love with Batman; Batman is also said to love Joker. They are married in one of AU universes; they lose any purpose when they think the other is dead; everyone criticizes them for their unhealthy, destructive obsession with each other, but they can't stop. The problem is that there is like a million comics, many of which take place in different continuity, and it's impossible to cover them all even if you want.

The Batjokes-heavy games are Arkham Origins, Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight (chronologically). If you don't want to play them, you could watch the excerpts on YouTube. Here's a great example, 3 minutes that basically reflect the essence of Batjokes:

Another game is Batman: Telltale, which also has Batjokes.

Now, as for movies… If you want to get a feel of the dynamic between Batman and Joker, you could watch the 5-minute ending of the animated film The Killing Joke.

It struck me deeply because Batman went through the movie being cold and serious, not smiling once. Joker did horrifying things to his friends here, yet in the end, Batman urges Joker to let him help him. Joker considers it and refuses, but with obvious regret, and then he tells a joke, and Batman bursts out laughing. He then leans close and touches Joker as he keeps laughing with abandon. This is a beautiful scene, it underlines the complexity of their dynamic, and the joke itself speaks volumes.

The Dark Knight movie is the most well-known and it inspired tons of Batjokes. I wouldn't say it has much of it, but it still teases a fascinating dynamic, and it's a brilliant movie by itself. Here's a scene of Batman and Joker having their first lengthy conversation.

There is Gotham TV show. It features young Bruce and young Joker who is called Jeremiah. Their relationship starts out late, at the end of S4, and everything is rushed because the show was cancelled prematurely, but it still wraps everything up and it has brilliant moments. A great fan-edit about that version of Joker, with some Batjokes teasing (Joker is presented both as pretty and as disfigured after the acid bath - it's the same person).

There is a Batjokes-focused fan-edit here, but it has some spoilers.

The latest Batman movie of 2022 teased a great Batjokes dynamic. Here's the scene:

From more light-hearted stuff, there is a Lego Batman movie. I was hesitant to watch it at first, but I liked it and it has probably the most explicit romantic Batjokes :D

Harley Quinn animated series (2019) has some great Batjokes moments, too. Like, in E1 alone, Joker has to choose between saving Batman and his own girlfriend, and he chooses Batman; in E2, he's jealous and keeps claiming Batman is his, and so on.

This has gotten much longer than I expected :D

[spooky-space-kook]

Things I have questions about.

Does Bowie is gay. For real, is this character an active participant in the tension between him and Yonoi or is it one sided desire? Given how worried he was about reputation, would he have ever even said? Or would he have said because his character was trying to grow from that one great regret from childhood?

Why was there so much focus on the flower cigarette that went unsmoked and stashed in Hara's pocket. I feel like I missed something there. What does the flower symbolize? Did I miss it showing up again later? What's the symbolism, if any, behind Yonoi smoking immediately and Hana choosing to save it for later?

Yonoi's punishment for Hara. It was either very light or very harsh. Light because it was just isolation and no physical beating. But harsh because it separated Hara from his friend and maaaybe sent him to guaranteed death? (Maybe? I don't understand military scenarios.) I wonder if it was a punishment for getting too close to Lawrence OR to prevent him from protecting Lawrence in future?

When the Extremely British POW leader (whose name I can't remember) asked what school Lawrence went to, he walked away without response after hearing the answer. Was the school poor? Was he doing a classism? There's cultural context I'm not getting here.

AND SPEAKING OF CULTURAL CONTEXT I did NOT get the schoolboy days in Africa (England?) In Cellier's backstory. I just don't understand anything to do with the school or the hazing that was happening at all.

When Cellier first wakes up he looks into Hara's eyes and calls them beautiful. This is meant to say something about Cellier but I can't tell what. That he can see beauty in the Japanese people (and possibly implying the culture in saying that?) Is it to imply he's attracted to men? Or that he's maybe a romantic sort of man?

Circling back to the extremely British fellow, I' assuming he's meant to be the avatar of English/Ally views on Japanese culture at the time. He's an ignorant boob but he's well intentioned. He thinks he knows everything but he actually knows fuck all amd his attitude is part of why he knows fuck all. It feels like commentary and I wish I understood the context and culture of the time to better understand this character's message. Mostly because Cellier choosing to protect HIM of all people could carry a lot of meaning.

What is a Batman. Not the millionaire. The other guy. The fella who died for trying to kill Cellier. What was his deal.

The men at the beginning of the movie. I get that they're meant to play out the consequences for fraternization between a solider and POW, and that they set the stakes for our mains (all four of them.) But I still don't understand. Was there romantic feeling there or was that Dutch man actually assaulted as the accusations claimed. I genuinely can't tell. He seemed to have PTSD but I wonder if it's more as a consequence of being fucking gay bashed by the other POWs every goddamn night. (Before anyone who's definitely not reading calls me stupid, I'm pretty fucking sure it was consensual given the Dutch man bit his entire fucking tongue off when the Korean (???) soldier committed seppuku but there are a couple weird signals that again make me wonder if there's a thing I'm not getting here.)

[1n-bl0om]

Hello!!

I don't know if you are still into the batman, but if you have something left for it, may i ask you some brucetinez or martinez headcanons? 👀 i'm starving and i've always loved your thoughts on them <3

Hope you are having a nice day!! <3

oh anon you have open the depths of my mind. i recently rewatched the movie and have been ranting about them in dms with my friends… SO YES I WILL BE SHARING HCS MWUAHAHA

and thank you :D

- bruce is about 27 during his second year as batman while martinez is 28 (i like to think he is older)

- martinez was rebellious from 17-24. he had multiple piercings and tattoos (the tattoos are covered by his uniform now). martinez still wears his piercings but not on the clock.

- martinez has spider bites (two lower lip piercings on the same side), nostril, eyebrow, and tongue! and an array of lobe piercings

- bruce can play the acoustic guitar, piano, harp, viola, and cello

- martinez can play electric guitar and the bass. he personally likes the bass more

- martinez used to be in a garage band, playing house shows in the small part of gotham and parks

- bruce likes the idea of doing something romantic for his partner but has no idea how to go about it

- martinez wears crop tops and his sister pokes fun at him for it. she says no guy has worn crop tops since the 80s

- martinez is trilingual! he knows italian, spanish, and english. sometimes he’ll forget a word in spanish but remember it in italian. when he is tired his sentences sound jumbled

- martinez’s italian grandma babies and spoils him like nobodies business

- bruce knows latin and english

- bruce had a pet bearded dragon as a kid named scout

- bruce surprisingly is the first one to make a move! he asks martinez out for lunch (which is at the manor ofc, alfred and dory serve them snd give them knowing smiles)

- bruce feels safe with martinez, his walls slowly break down around him. he finds himself resting his head on martinez’s lap more often than not

- martinez likes to run his hand through bruce’s hair and massage his neck. it helps relax him and relief tension for the both of them

- lots of tender kisses throughout the day. i think some days they would argue about the whole batman thing. martinez knows bruce is perfectly capable of handling himself and others but tells him that he needs to take breaks and rest and be human and not a savior. so they spend days watching movies and daniel cooks

- bruce doesnt like tattoos or facial piercings on himself but thinks they are quite alright on martinez

- one time martinez got blackout drunk, he woke up the next day with the most embarrassing tramp stamp. he’s learned to hold his alcohol better since then. and its too much to cover it up or remove it

- he has at least one tattoo drawn by a family member

- sometimes bruce forgets to take off his eyeshadow and eyeliner, getting into bed in a tired haste. so martinez speeds his time removing it for him

- martinez got arrested a lot as a teenager

- bruce enjoys asmr videos, they help soothe his mind. martinez thinks its oddly cute

- martinez is 5’9” and bruce is 6’1”. their height difference isnt that big but martinez likes it when they hug

- after they start dating, the press catch word of a gcpd officer entering the wayne tower almost everyday. soon enough photos of martinez and bruce holding hands are released

- bruce is annoyed because he enjoys his privacy

- martinez fell first but bruce fell harder

- bruce currently owns a hairless cat named violet. she’s practically his child. he buys her little sweaters because the tower can get quite cold

- martinez introduces bruce to a lot of pop culture

- martinez definitely smoked weed during his rebellious phase

- bruce used to sneak out and tag buildings

- bruce spending thanksgiving with martinez’s family and being “forced” to help make tamales (they come out a little lumpy)

- the aunties tell bruce how strong and tall he is, they force him to move things around for them

- martinez’s mom tells bruce all of his embarrassing stories

- bruce is allergic to most animals

- bruce was home schooled for a majority of his life. he longed for some sort of public school he could attend but he knew it wasnt possible

- the first time they kiss its a little awkward but not for long. it’s soft and tender and after a date, martinez lets out anxious and bubbly giggles afterwards. bruce is completely smitten

- alfred enjoys martinez’s company, he thinks he is a good influence on bruce and will help heal him.

- martinez mentions how cherries are his favorite fruit, the next time he sees bruce he gives him three boxes of cherries

- bruce has a habit of just breaking into martinez’s house after a night out as batman. martinez helps clean him up and they spend the night watching movies and cuddling.

- martinez finds himself spending more time at the tower then at home

- it took a while for martinez to warm up to batman, even after the flood he was a bit skeptical but batmans constant help and “warmth” was enough to win him over.

- warmth meaning kindess although batman is painfully awkward and hard to read

[hunterwritesstuff]

Ooh! Can you talk about nightbolt plz?

So, for context for the following infodump: Bluebolt's real name is Gideon, so if I alternate between using Bluebolt and Gideon, that's why! :D I'm gonna alternate between them to show civvie stuff versus vigilante stuff! Another thing is that Gideon moved to Gotham to try to help make it a better place(and get away from home, but that's besides the point-)! That being said, it's going under a read more because I have. many thoughts about them! Also like, implied not-so-good childhood under the cut, read carefully! More stuff happens in the story, but like, I'm just gonna focus on them rn lol

TL;DR:

Friends to lovers, I am so normal about them. :)

So, Gideon and Dick first met on complete accident. It was a routine robbery, Bluebolt was hurrying to try to help with dealing with it, running into Robin on the way there, in the literal sense. After a few moments to recover, the two quickly got up, apologizing to one another.

Before Robin can get another word in, Bluebolt rushes off to go help deal with the robbery without saying goodbye, Robin hurrying to follow him to help as well.

The robbery gets dealt with as smoothly as usual, Bluebolt helping the store owner clean up a bit. Robin nudges Batman in the side, telling him to go say thank you for helping them deal with the whole thing.

Batman sends Robin to go do it, as Bruce has to get the Batmobile up and running. Robin nods, jogging over to give Bluebolt his thanks. Robin taps him on the shoulder, getting swept off his feet literally as Bluebolt knocks his legs out from under him with a broom.

Bluebolt apologizes, helping Robin back up, Robin giving the blue-hoodie-wearing-hero his thanks for the help up and the help with the robbery, flashing him a warm, happy smile.

This causes Bluebolt to sorta have a bit of a crisis, zoning out for a few moments. He gets pulled back to reality, telling Robin it was his pleasure to help and that he'd hopefully see him again, quickly adding "platonically" to the end of the sentence.

Timeskip a while, Bluebolt has continued to help Batman and Robin whenever he can, and overtime, the tension between Bluebolt and Robin has gotten less platonic and more, y'know, romantic! Hell, Robin even sorta helped Bluebolt get over how badly his parents treated him in some ways!(Alfred could tell no matter how hard Bluebolt tried to hide it, that Butler knows all lmao)

Robin helps Bluebolt heal in both physical and mental ways, and Bluebolt is forever grateful to him for that.

In the story with him, Dick still went out with Barb, and Gideon sorta kept his feelings to himself the whole time because he didn't wanna ruin a good thing that Dick had going for himself, despite how much he wanted to tell him.

Then comes the fated incident where Dick leaves Batman. The one mission Gideon didn't help with because he thought Batman and Robin could handle it and he just waited at the Batcave, eager for the gang to come back.

He was excited for them to come back! He was gonna finally tell Robin how he felt! He could finally do it! Alfred finally gave him the confidence to tell him!

He started dozing off when he heard the Batmobile driving in. He quickly jumped up, running over to go greet Robin as he came out.

He waited a while. And a while longer. And a while longer. "Hey, uh, Bats...? Is...Is Robin coming out?"

Batman, being the blunt motherfucker he is, says nothing and just continues walking into the batcave. This worries Gideon. Did the mission go wrong? Did Robin get hurt?

"Barb? Is Dick okay?" He asks, very obviously worried. Barbara sighs, explaining everything that happened, Gideon's eyes widen as his face goes pure white.

Gideon fidgets with his hands a bit, trying to form shapes with them before stopping. Dick was one of the few people that Gideon knew would understand what he was trying to say when he went nonverbal.

After a while, Gideon calms down, sighing for a moment, speaking in short sentences. "...He's not coming back...is he...?" Barbara shakes her head no, causing Gideon to groan in frustration.

At this point, half of his spark has died out pretty much. Flash forward a while, Gideon is still a vigilante, just not as optimistic as he used to be.

Then comes a mission with Mr. Freeze. Bluebolt still wants to try to help the villains get better by trying to talk them down, but he accidentally lets Nora's name slip out and this causes shit to go south really quick.

Mr. Freeze overcharges his freeze-ray and causes Bluebolt's legs to get frozen with what might as well be dry ice.

Everything after that is a blur to Bluebolt, he just knows he wakes up and has lost his legs due to how badly his legs got frozen, causing them to get such bad nerve damage that his lower legs had to get amputated. That is when almost the rest of his spark dies out.

It takes Bluebolt a while to get used to his prosthetics, but after he gets used to them, he's back on his feet as soon as Batman allows him to be.

A while afterwards, Bluebolt notices someone swinging through Gotham while he's on patrol. Confused, Bluebolt follows them to see who they are.

He follows them to the Gotham docks, confused as to where they went. To which he gets his answer, in the form of said person tackling him to the ground, pinning him down.

Bluebolt tries to escape their grip, but is rendered pretty much immobile. Eventually, they speak, Bluebolt vaguely recognizing the voice, despite the amount of time that's passed.

Bluebolt quickly pushes up as hard as he could, shoving the person off, pinning them to the ground. "Who are you?!"

"Nightwing." He responds. Bluebolt narrows his eyes. "Your ACTUAL name."

Then he narrows his eyes. "From the look on your face, you know that already." A few punches get thrown at Nightwing before they start to slow, Bluebolt slowly starting to tear up.

Nightwing is confused. "What're you-"

"Why did you leave? No goodbyes, no see you laters, just...gone." Nightwing's eyes widen.

Nightwing thought Bluebolt was asleep by the time Batman and Batgirl would've gotten home. He thought he wouldn't have noticed.

After a bit of calming down, Dick, for the first time in years, pulls Gideon into a hug. Normally, Gideon initiated them, but this time, Dick felt he owed Gideon the initiation.

After all these years, they were finally together again. Gideon melted into the hug as Dick had so many times in the past.

"...Dick...?" Dick tilts his head as if to express confusion. "...I love you..."

"How long?"

Gideon explains, Dick chuckling. "Been blind this whole time, huh?"

"As a bat." Gideon retorts, laughing shakily.

The two basically pick up where they left off(as best they can), and Dick informs Gideon of his time in Blüdhaven.

Even then, Gideon still calls Dick every night to make sure he hasn't left again without saying goodbye, even making jokes about that being a tendency of his, even if it's on accident.

Gideon even removed the alarms on his windows for if he gets nightmares about his family trying to get him to come back home so if he's still awake, Dick can come over to try to help him recover, most likely staying the night.

In other words? I want them to kiss.

Post writing Hunter here: Dick helps Gideon get his spark back a bit, too! :D

[uncharted-constellations]

The BTAS batfam, minus Terry cuz i already drew him with the other group, but yeah my sort've interpretation of the whole, dick, bruce, barb situation and the tim drake/jason todd thing under the cut because bruce timm is weird

-But yeah I'm not really a fan of much from the comics but im taking a little bit from them- So... Bruce and Babs never dated... because no

I'm imagining that in this universe the Drake family fell from prestige and went bankrupt not too long before the Wayne's were murdered. Jason may or may not have ever existed, or maybe him and his mom are just better off, and therefor never runs into batman. Tim never had money in this timeline. He also probably has/had a different mother due to the different life of his father

The Joker Jr situation still happens the same originally, Barbara partially retired from batgirl and Dick moved back to the manor to try and help with Tim, occasionally helping as Nightwing. After a year or two Tim and Bruce are fighting constantly and Tim ends up moving to Bludhaven with Dick and Barb stays in Gotham to help Bruce and her father.

When Tim turns 18 he tries to move back to the manor but finds his relationship with Bruce extremely strained especially with batman taking over bruces life and bruce refusing to let tim back into that part of his life, and ends up moving in with a girl he meets in his college classes (might be this universe's Stephanie, I'm undecided, we do know his wife is blonde tho)

When Jim retires from being the commissioner Barb decides to try and rekindle her relationship with Dick and moves in with him, with her eventually becoming pregnant. Her and Dick begin to fight however when he insists she stops being Batgirl immediately, while he himself refuses to put Nightwing to rest. Barbara ends up going on one last mission, but ends up miscarrying later in the night.

Dick becomes even more infuriated at Bruce blaming him for the loss of their child, and after weeks of the fighting Barbara breaks up with Dick, citing that he cared more about fighting Bruce than making sure she was okay, and claiming that Dick was just like him.

Dick continues as Nightwing in Bludhaven, and ends up picking up a job in social work, mostly helping with foster kids. While the work is very fulfilling for him it further drives a wedge between dick and bruce especially when dick retires nightwing but bruce stays as batman. the last real time they interact is at Tim’s wedding, and maybe a few of bruces first health scares. I would say at the point of Bb that dick is less bitter and more just exhausted with bruce. He doesnt have the energy to be mad at him anymore but he also doesnt have the energy to be the first to reach out. I get the feeling hes had closer relationships with a few foster kids, maybe even taken in a few at some point but i do think one of the major themes should still be that dick and bruce are still two sides of the same coin, in this verse especially.

Barbara moves back to Gotham and enrolls in the police academy a year later, taking law classes at a nearby college on the side where she meets Sam Young, her future husband. After the two begin to date seriously, Barbara finds that she's infertile, and the doctor informs her that this was due to a birth defect, and not anything that could have been helped. She informs both Bruce and Dick of the fact, hoping it could at the least resolve some of the tension between them, but gets no response. When her and Sam marry, only Tim and his girlfriend show up, however Dick later shows up that night, and formally apologizes, wishing her and Sam the best before leaving again. Bruce later sends her a letter, doing similar, however rarely reaches out.

In terms of bruce the dcau timeline is a bit scrambled due to the years certain things aired but i imagine his last real romantic relationship he had wouldve been with Diana, partially because she mostly interacted with batman and not bruce which we know to be a cornerstone of this verses issues, wheras characters like selina tend to make him try and be both. I imagine it wouldve ended for the same reasons as to why he tried the lazarus pit in BB, not to mention his unrelenting need to push others away.

Also personally im not a huge fan of the cadmus reveal but its important to me that terry does at least Look like bruce either way, just because its funny and i know itd cause drama. On the other hand if he is half bruce then id be suprised if they didnt swap marys dna with someone elses (probably diana) either, why go half way. There is also notably no other wonder people in this verse altho its more due to those old licensing issues than anything else. Plus terry is sometimes confusingly strong outside the suit (yes im talking about him kicking over the lava lamp in rotj, that thing was fucking huge)

[nitewrighter]

Headcanons for Robin/Nightwing and Starfire’s future in the animated series?

>If we're assuming they got together after "Trouble In Tokyo" I imagine they'd be together for about... two to three years. During this time Robin finally has the confidence to put on the mantle of Nightwing and move away from being Robin, but also something's still off.

>Like the thing about 03 Robin/Nightwing, at least in my interpretation, is that he's going to continue to be a hot-headed over-competitive asshole consumed by their hero work until Starfire's like, "Okay but do you actually see yourself having a life outside of this. Do you see yourself as a whole person outside of this." And Robin doesn't actually have an answer for that. So... she dumps him. She loves him, and she knows he loves her, but like... she also knows that the Dick she knows now will just keep throwing himself at a wall until he falls apart if it means getting the mission done, and she knows that's not healthy for either of them. She knows she's not helping him get past that.

>So Starfire goes into space for a time to get some perspective--and it hurts, but like... also Earth is a planet she got really attached to because she essentially crashed onto it after a series of really traumatic events, so she kind of needs to see how big the universe is because she let her world get so small so fast. She loves her friends, but she also needs to see what's out there, you know? So she goes among the stars, nearly gets recruited into the Star Sapphire corps, helps Razer find Aya (because goddammit I need closure there), has long philosophical sessions with The Android, hangs out with the Wonder Twins, kicks some Apokolips butt, hooks up with a Thanagarian hottie, gets fuckin' blasted with Lobo, gets in a bar fight with Lobo, has a long weird bonding session with Lobo, and drunkenly cries to Space Cabbie about how much she misses the Titans (and Dick) while Lobo's like, "You don't NEED them, you are a strong, beautiful, independent Tamaranean!" Helps Lobo patch things up with his own daughter, does her best to patch things up with Blackfire (Things are still really awkward between them but there are fewer coups involved, at least.) Does a whole bunch of humanitarian (tamaranean-tarian?) work on Tamaran, and honestly just kind of gets a great sense of like, "Okay, you know... I actually feel like a whole person now." Like she's seen enough of the universe that like... she doesn't feel like a fish out of water back on earth. But ultimately... she misses earth, and she misses her friends, and that's her home, so she returns. It's been like... 3 years, but she finally feels comfortable saying that's her home.

>Now in that three years, Dick's been going through it, too, but this is not a "Getting Your Groove Back In Space" situation. He's doing a lot of work in Blüdhaven. He has a kind of intense relationship with Barbara Gordon. Like the whole thing there was that Babs was hardcore a childhood crush for him, so it's like, "Yeah! This is what I've actually wanted the whole time! Guess I just have a thing for redheads!" But... nah. It's... not quite like that. Like Babs thinks he's cute but it's also like Dick represents her trying to get emotional fulfillment out of the whole cape life and everything's all tangled up in them trying to prove themselves to Bruce and why the fuck are they still trying to prove themselves to Bruce?! It's that situation where you think it's what you want and you convinced yourself its what you want for so long that you don't want to admit how hollow it feels when you finally have it... Dick's still willing to try for it, but Babs was always the brains between them and she breaks it off.... then she gets paralyzed and that fucks both of them up and Dick is like, "Hey let me be here for you" but she pushes him away. She's done. (Don't worry give her like a year and a half and she'll be kicking ass as Oracle--it'll all work out.)

>So Dick is like, "Fine. I can give up the cape life too. All it's ever done is fuck me up anyway." So he does. But it's not like he can sit around and do nothing. And that's where all of the fucking "Spyral" shit starts. Spyral sucks. He feels like a goddamn idiot with Spyral. But then everything starts funneling back toward Gotham again and uh oh it turns out Gotham has gone to shit--like way more to shit than usual. And that's when Damian pops up in Dick's life like "Bruce disappeared. You have to be Batman now. Also you suck and you'll never be Batman. Now put on the cowl. Fuck you." And Dick is like, "Wow. I cannot stress how much this is the last thing I want." And just to rub his nose in it further Tim Drake is just absolutely vibing as Red Robin so it's like, "Huh I guess all your Robin hangups were a you problem." But... somehow chasing Damian's freaky little sword-wielding-ass around and getting the shit kicked out of him by Jason and then kicking the shit out of Jason helps him work through a bunch of stuff? Like it's ugly. It's an ugly situation from all angles. But it's also Dick confronting literally everything that fucked him up about being Robin, while also trying to steer Damian to a healthier mindset as the new Robin.

>Eventually Bruce returns from the Phantom Zone or whatever, takes up the mantle of Batman again like, "Oh god I'm so sorry I never meant to put that on you and I realize I put a lot of shit on you" and Dick comes out of it finally being able to say, "I'm never going to be Batman. But if I'm going to be a symbol, and I know I want to be a symbol, I'm Nightwing." And Bruce is like, "Hey, that's great. So like... this is totally optional... but the league is putting together a kind of junior team. It's gonna be run a lot more cleanly that the first iteration of the Titans, but we can't be babysitting them the whole time... what do you say." And honestly being a mentor has like... really grown on Dick, so he's like, "yeah totally." And Hal fucking Jordan cuts in like, "Great! You'll be co-leading with Kory!" and Dick's like "What."

>Oh my god working as co-leaders is so fucking awkward. Like basically each sees the other like, "Oh fuck. They've gotten so much hotter and they seem so much more mature and together and I've just been a hot mess for the past three years." But then they start catching up more and more, and they start talking about their adventures, and god, they are such good co-mentors to the new Titans. They become really good friends and that whole guardedness about not wanting to hurt each other actually lets them develop a really deep and respectful non-romantic relationship. But also there's still that "Oh no they're hot" tension going on.

>To their credit it takes about like... a year and a half for them to finally hook up again, and then shit gets gross. They're just making out all the time, having cutesy little inside jokes during briefings, walking around the tower with shit-eating grins, it's unbearable. But also good for them. They are absolutely the team Mom and Dad and their shit is together.

>Eventually they get married and have Mar'i and they keep showing goddamn baby pictures to the league and the Titans when no one asked. The End. :)

[obsessivelycapricious]

Got an idea for a reader insert fic for the DC universe. I'm probably not going to write it so I'm putting it out there like this instead. Hell if anyone wants to run with this then brilliant. Just shoot me a message and we can talk. Its female reader insert and can be for many different pairings. Male/female/platonic. Mostly with villains.

Shes an artist and her paintings aren't really very popular as they tend to depict the underbelly of Gotham and usually feature a villain or two. the Elite don't like to dwell on such things so theres a bunch of canvases in her apartment unsold.

Shes also got a dark past and made some dumb romantic choices when she was younger. Sionis almost ran her out of town but Gotham is her home and she has nowhere else to go. Batman had to save her. It was a whole thing. She's still terrified of the black mask.

But then we reach an anniversary of Batman and his fight to protect the poor defenseless citizens of the city and someone picks one of her paintings to be on display at the gala. Its not even her favourite painting because to her it just isn't quite finished yet.

So she attends, rather reluctantly putting on a dress and everything. any interested potential buyers decide not to after hearing her describe the rest of her collection which is predictable but disappointing but at least she can admire the pretty people.

Just as things get interesting and she meets the one and only Bruce Wayne - did he just flirt with her? - disaster strikes as the joker and his goons interrupt the event with some typical scheme. Joker throws one of his blades into the heart of her painting during his dramatic monologue and she stares at the painting. Realising its finally complete.

She gets home safe from the gala after batman swoops in and saves her again. But at least this time its by proxy so she can keep some of her dignity. But when she gets home all of her paintings are gone and her apartment has been turned over. She finds out days later that the painting in the gala has also been taken.

A few weeks later she is walking home from work and is kidnapped and bundled into the back of a van. She's terrified its Sionis catching up to her again but they drag her into the basement of a seemingly random club and when they take the bag off her head she is sat at a table with Gotham's infamy elite. Cobblepot, the riddler, two face, mr. freeze, the list goes on. It could also include ivy and Selena kyle maybe harley too? At the top end of the table in command position sits the joker.

They explain, through no small amount of bickering and insults thrown between each other, that they have a proposition for her. They want to give her the opportunity to deal her paintings exclusively to them. First refusal goes to the villain that features in the painting and after that they'll arrange an auction. If no one wants the painting then it can be sold elsewhere.

Our reader is no meek and mild wallflower and can hold her own in the room negotiating a fee for herself for the paintings already stolen and future installments for exclusivity and convincing them to offer her protection. They laugh at first and wonder why she would need protection when the worse gotham has to offer is in the room with her now but she shudders and suggests that if Sionis is no match for them then they won't mind making sure he doesn't get near her again. Her one caveat to the deal is that if the batman shows an interest he gets first dibs. He did save her life after all.

And so begins an unlikely partnership with Gotham's criminal underbelly. Because they arent house trained and dont seem to understand how to use a door properly, her appartment keeps getting broken into when a new batch of paintings is ready to go. Johnny frost is usually the one who drops off her pay.

Sometimes she comes across her new clients in unexpected places. She meets Edward Nigma while out to buy the paper who spent his morning coaching her through various riddles. Sometimes she finds a car waiting outside to take her to Penguins club or on the very rare occasion she finds an errant joker in her apartment, constantly keeping her on her toes with his bouts of madness. She gets to know a few of them on an almost intimate level though she is vigilant enough to never cross that line. They somehow always keep her out of the mob business they conduct so she always has plausible deniability and so they dont have a good reason to kill her.

Meanwhile, Sionis hears from Victor Zsaz that our reader is flourishing rather than hiding away scared for her life like he left her. Whats more she is painting again and for other people?? This wont do. She belongs to him and only him.

So begins our final act where sionis carries out his diabolical plan and the readers favourite villian swoops in and saves the day. This could be a choose your own ending sort of thing where the reader can pick who she wants. Including batman and a version where the villians all team up and work together. Or yknow. Writers choice if youd rather just write one. Im a fan of it being the joker or batman or nightwing/robin (if you fit some interaction in between the plot so theres enough intent there)

Then the finale to it may be romantic and may end with the reader and their fave releasing the pent up tension between the two. Or if youd rather have a more platonic non relationshipy ending you could have the reader finish off sionis and take that step into villainy herself.

Ta daaaa! The end.

Message me if you wanna use the story! I would love to read it or see stuff about it.

[jaydicksummerexchange]

2021 JDSE Reveals: Thurs, September 2

[ ❤ Works posted so far! ❤ ]

There are now over 100 works in this year’s exchange! Send a massive thank you to the artists and writers by dropping a comments and kudos.

Here are today’s posted works:

Somewhere Only We Know by Anonymous for bitterleafs [Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, 3.1k words]

Tags: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Fluff, Angst, Retirement, Family, Reminiscing

Summary: Settling into bed, Jason smiled, gently reaching out and running his fingers through Dick’s hair. From a man who had nothing to his name, no family, no home, Jason’s life had changed so drastically and it was all because of Dick. All he ever had to do was love Jason and somehow, that was more than enough to turn his life around, to make him see that there was more to the world than the darkness that he had always known.

Lying on the bed with his husband in his arms, Jason was now the happiest man in the world and he wouldn’t change it for a thing.

I linger on dear, still craving your kiss by Anonymous for epistemology [Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, 3.3k words]

Bombshells AU, Haly's Circus (DCU), Jason Todd & His Lesbian Moms, Canon-Typical Violence, Not Canon Compliant, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced World War II, Pining, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt Jason Todd, Hurt/Comfort, Dancing, POV Jason Todd, JayDick Summer Exchange 2021

Summary: “Are you okay?” his shaky voice whispered. Blood trickled down the side of his face, his cheeks were flushed and filthy from fighting the soldier off, and yet he was the prettiest boy Jason had ever seen.

Kate & Renee take Jason to the circus for some fun. Who knew that would lead him to one troublesome Dick Grayson, too?

Just the Price I Pay by Anonymous for RUNNFROMTHEAK [Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, 3.9k words]

Tags: Captured, Angst and Feels, Hurt Dick Grayson, But also, Dark Dick Grayson, Earth-3, Manipulation, Idiots in Love, Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues, Jason Todd Has Feelings, Dick Grayson Has Issues, Self-Worth Issues, all kinds of issues, Post-Spyral, Sadism, Implied Sexual Content, Rescue, Protective Jason Todd, Protective Donna Troy, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Hopeful Ending

Summary: "Damian gave me a hug," Talon says casually, with a malicious glint in his eye that is so familiar to Dick by this point. "Arms around my waist and everything. Of his own volition! Such a sweet kid, huh?"

Dick doesn't respond, doesn't let himself react, instead staring blankly at the wall. He knows Talon just wants to rile him up, and it'll only get worse if he shows that it's getting to him. But it...it is getting to him.

Or: Earth 3 Richard Grayson, the right hand of Owlman, captures Dick and takes over his life...and no one notices.

burn me up inside by Anonymous for Squishychickies [Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply, 3.9k words]

Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Reverse Robins AU, Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Dragon Dick Grayson, Fae Jason Todd, Protective Damian Wayne, Insecurity, Pining, Love at First Sight, Lack of Communication, Light Angst, Hopeful Ending, POV Dick Grayson, POV Jason Todd, JayDick Summer Exchange 2021, Worldbuilding

Summary: When Bruce had first brought the unfortunate matter of an arranged marriage to his attention, a marriage to secure the Dragon Clan’s alliance with the Fire Fae in order to stave off a potential war, Dick had reluctantly accepted that he’d be the one to fill the role of husband since Damian was already set to marry another. But upon seeing his betrothed at the altar, torches lighting the mesmerizing glow of his teal eyes, skin painted in reds and golds and oranges like a living flame, he’d fallen quite hard.

Like a secret in your throat by Anonymous for Xanthos_Samurai, spacecapes, BehindTheRobinsMask [Mature, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, 0k words]

Tags: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Human/Vampire Relationship, Vampire Jason Todd, Blood Drinking, Partial Nudity, Fanart, Beware of the nipple, …(click for more tags)

Summary: An invitation won't be necessary.

remember me, love by Anonymous for mlim8 [Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, 3.4k words]

Tags: Minor Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, kind of, Language of Flowers, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, But Platonic & Romantic & Familial, Mild Sexual Content, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Kissing, Established Relationship, Fluff, Body Worship, POV Dick Grayson

Summary: In this world, flowers bloom on your body when someone experiences strong feelings/emotions for you. These feelings can be romantic, platonic or familial as all sorts of relationships can result in strong feelings.

After a night of patrol, Dick and Jason have a heated evening exploring each other's flower tattoos. That is, until some uninvited guests decide to crash the party.

I'm not ever careful by Anonymous for whippy [Explicit, No Archive Warnings Apply, 1.1k words]

Tags: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Mutual Masturbation, Shower Sex, Hurt Dick Grayson, Getting Together, …(click for more tags)

Summary: mutual masturbation in the shower

could you love me at my worst? by Anonymous for withthekeyisking [Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, 3.4k words]

Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Dick Grayson is Crutches, Angst, Hurt Dick Grayson, Batman #640, Batman #641, Nightwing #109, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, POV Dick Grayson, Pre-Slash, JayDick Summer Exchange 2021

Summary: So Under the Red Hood happened at basically the same time as the Nightwing Mobbed Up storyline—so what about a fic where while Jason is going after Roman, he comes across Dick currently working for Black Mask? And all the angst therein because that wasn't exactly an emotionally stable time for either of them

...or something like that.

[variousqueerthings]

Tom Hardy Movies rated least to most queer

I made a list of some Tom Hardy movies and I rated them based on my own, non-specific criteria about what makes a movie queer. Results below the cut.

(Some films not included, because I haven’t watched them yet, because Mr Hardy’s only in them for a few minutes, because the subject matter doesn’t lend itself to this list, or because I just don’t want’em here. TV series also not included. The list is organised into both groups and ratings, because I’m doing The Most.)

Movies are divided into four groups and rated from 0 – 10 on the Queer-Scale, scroll down to the bottom if you want the ratings without the commentary.

Disclaimer: This list is subjective. Don’t come at me because I didn’t rate Inception higher, Nolan himself is as queer as cargo shorts. 

1. This movie would make more sense if it were queer

If this movie were queer it… might not become a perfect film all of a sudden, but it’d make a hell of a lot more sense than what’s actually going on. With an occasional dose of “are the cis-straights okay?”

This Means War (2012): So Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are ostensibly both in love with Reese Witherspoon, but say “I love you” to each other pretty much constantly throughout the movie and their friendship is often presented as a domestic partnership. Cool, cool, cooool.

Queer Rating: 2 out of 10. This movie hate-crimed me by having Tom Hardy literally spell out his relationship with Chris Pine, only for the script to then have him say… “can you imagine all that… but with a woman…” Later on the movie explicitly denies polyamory is possible. Fuck this film.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012): Batman movies should always be queer. Mr. Hardy’s the only one who acceptably camps it up, despite Nolan’s best attempts to make him “acceptably gruff.” No matter what you do, Bane is a massive daddy in a mask and thanks to Mr Hardy’s honestly iconic fucking speech pattern in this film, it goes from pretty atrociously straight to just queer enough to imagine a future where Robert Pattinson plays batman and maybe adopts a bunch of kids.

(the only truly decent mask in this franchise tbh)

Queer Rating: 3 out of 10. Mr Hardy’s back is the one that’s actually broken carrying any semblance of fun in this overly long movie all on his own.

Lawless (2012): Wow, this really was the year of the not-queer-enough, wasn’t it? Look, it’s “based on a real story,” but it’s also a movie and movies don’t need to stick to the truth, and this one certainly doesn’t. Was the guy queer in real life? I don’t know. But that doesn’t matter, what matters is that it’s just kind of an eh movie and maybe being queer would add something to it. One of those “but why make someone queer? because it’s always more interesting to do so,” movies.

Queer Rating: 3 out of 10. It’s just not queer. But Tom Hardy wears cardigans and described his character as a “mother figure,” which adds an interesting dynamic to him.

2. Actually Queer but in a homophobic way

Tom Hardy plays a canonically queer character, yaaay. The whole movie contains a strange sense of the director being too not-queer to actually engage with that and everything around him is almost aggressively straight, noooo.

RocknRolla (2008): Honestly this movie has the funniest coming out scene ever + that familiar undertone of “all these manly men secretly want to fuck each other” is only heightened by one of them actually being gay and in love with his best friend. It’s such a fucking… it’s such a movie. Personally I find Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Thandie Newton, and, of course, Tom Hardy to be really hot in it, so that’s a plus. There’s a scene in which Strong’s character teaches another gangster how to do a proper backhand. It’s really gay of him. Also slow-dancing at a gay club. Butler’s character needs to get himself together, you really don’t think 2008 Tom Hardy is hot? Mate.

(left to right: functional queer, disaster queer, distinguished queer)

Queer Rating: 6 out of 10, for having an actual gay character who is played by Tom Hardy doing a sexy phonecall voice to another guy, but then there’s that feeling you can’t shake that the whole movie is vaguely uncomfortable about it, like a family member awkwardly patting you on the shoulder after they found out you were queer second-hand, but they’ve still got 50 years of bias to unlearn. Also Thandie Newton is killed, fuck that noise. 

Legend (2015): If I had a nickle for the amount of times Tom Hardy’s played a gay gangster, I’d have two nickles. Which isn’t a lot, but weird that it happened twice (looks at Peaky Blinders and thinks it ought to be three times). I’ve watched Legend three times and every time it just… loses me. And because this is a biased list, I’ll only specifically mention that it fails to make Ron’s queerness anything but a way for him to shock others. Gangsters could be gay? Gasp! On the upside Tom Hardy has so much sexual tension with everyone in this movie, including himself (why would you do that? Asks Ron, bemused. Because I can’t kill you, no matter how much I fucking want to, hisses a blood-soaked Reggie right into his ear. It’s hot).

Queer rating: 5 out of 10 because the film is just not very queer for a movie with several queer men in it.

3. Straight as a forced family dinner

It’s straight.

Locke (2013): He’s a married man who had an affair and trying to deal with the fallout of it. This isn’t a spoiler for most of the movie, it’s a pretty neat movie where we look at Tom Hardy having a bit of a mental breakdown and taking lots of phonecalls (my personal hell). Is it queer? Not in the slightest.

Queer Rating: 2 out of 10 for Hardy’s face being in almost every shot.

The Revenant (2015): Yeah, yeah, DeCaprio’s and Hardy’s characters are obsessed with each other, yeah it’s a man’s world where the only women are dead wife, kidnapped sexually assaulted native princess, or background whore, yeah, they fight each other and there’s a ton of grunting, but also… I just fucking don’t like this movie. The thin line where a storyline like this one becomes queer might be crossed for others, but not for me. Fuck these guys and their stupid  bear fights.

Queer rating: 3 out of 10 for it being about dirty men in the middle of nowhere (but you could just watch Brokeback Mountain or The Lighthouse or God’s Own Country or any Mad Max, or, or, or…)

4. Queer? Queer. Queer? … Queer…

The plots, aesthetics and/or characters played by Tom Hardy lend themselves to a queer reading, even if there is no overt intention towards queerness. Often this is because of a deliberate lack of heterosexual and/or cisgender writing, which in this day and age is still pretty uncommon not to include within a plot.

Inception (2010): Okay, I don’t even need to write about the added “darling,” or the “go to sleep Mr Eames.” I don’t need to go on about the absolutely bonkers amount of fanfiction written for Eames and Arthur, based on a few minutes of film and a boatload of chemistry. It’s queer.

Queer Rating: 7 out of 10, because the actual plot of the film isn’t very queer, but between the Arthur/Eames dynamic and Elliot Page, Nolan was really given a gift he didn’t deserve.

Warrior (2011): Okay, so first off, this might be my favourite Tom Hardy film, at least some part of my brain is fixated on it at almost all times and I’m considering watching it for the third time in two weeks. I don’t only consider it queer based on Mr. Hardy’s character, although he has no romantic or sexual interest and could be read as aroace, but because of the themes, especially those surrounding said character, who is coded as a caregiver to women and through close emotional connections to men. It’s got possibly unintentional deconstructions of masculinity and two men (brothers) who need to forgive each other and can only do so through the catharsis of violence. It speaks to me as a transmasc with several cis brothers, struggling with my own masculinity. It’s not at all written for me, but I find myself all over it. I could talk about this movie forever.

Queer Rating: 8 out of 10. I’m not allowed to say any more or I’ll never stop writing about it. I love you Tommy…

The Drop (2014): Bob’s lack of sexual and/or romantic interest in Naomi is so strange to her that she doesn’t know what he would want from her otherwise. Bob really just wants to raise a dog with her (and also forgiveness for past sins). Bob is such a rare ace and possibly aro coded character, it really throws me every time I watch this film how obvious it is. Bonus points for also being autistic-coded and not in the stereotypical ways.

(Tom Hardy’s most challenging role: pretending he doesn’t know dogs)

Queer Rating: 9 out of 10 because it’s so fucking rare to see ace and aro coded characters that aren’t, you know…. serial killers. Also Tom Hardy adopts a puppy and has a very cute, kinda lispy voice. How often does Tom Hardy play softer men like this?

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): Very deliberately no sexual or romantic writing included in Max’s and Furiosa’s relationship. Sure, there’s not a lot of time for that in the post-apocalyptic wasteland, but it was also done with a purpose! “It was always going to be two warriors on par, starting off with very little respect for each other and ending up with a massive respect for each other.” - Charlize Theron. “So of course they meet, of course there’s a relationship, an unspoken understanding. A recognition.” - Tom Hardy.

Queer Rating: 9 out of 10. It’s not just the characters, but the world and it’s apocalyptic BDSM leather scene, the questions it asks about sustainability and about people as tools, and the found family. It’s about overcoming violence through multiple kinds of love. And it’s about watching a guy playing flame-thrower guitar. What could be queerer?

Venom (2018): Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same… No, but Eddie is queer. The only question is whether the sequel will acknowledge that aspect or not, but even if not. Even if it manages to straightly bypass the reality of a symbiotic relationship with a genderless? genderfluid? being from another world that is linked to you down to your very cells and understands you more intimately than any other person possibly could… even if all that: Eddie is queer. Venom and Eddie are in a relationship. Any relationship Eddie ever enters into will automatically become a thrupple. He makes out with Venom in the movie! Eddie is queer.

(aw yeah that tongue is going down his throat)

Queer Rating: 9.5 out of 10, because it’s still coded by the creators in the language of bromance (hey, bro, is it gay if we’re physically and emotionally closer than any other people on earth?), but the movie is so, so camp and Mr Hardy’s acting choices are beautiful – the screaming? The lispy soft voice and lack of taking up space? The lobster tank? The only people who don’t know how queer this is are the people making it apparently. Fingers crossed for that sequel!

Hon. mentions:

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002): Star Trek – even at it’s worst (especially at its worst?) – is camp af + Hardy is a straight-up baby in this film.

Bronson (2008): It’s about a real person who’s still alive, so I won’t comment on the actual man. However the film seems to code the character Bronson along an ace line and also has genderqueering Vaudeville. Someone let Tom Hardy do more of whatever was going on in those stage-bits.

(this right here: this the good shit)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011): Another ensemble piece not massively about Hardy’s character, but it’s a movie that centers around queerness in a strange, depressing way. Tom Hardy’s character isn’t queer. Colin Firth and Mark Strong are though. The book makes me cry.

Peaky Blinders (2013-): Because it’s a TV series I left it out. There’s a lot of straight nonsense going on there, but Alfie Solomens is gay. There’s nothing in the series that disputes that and plenty that lends itself to the reading.

Dunkirk (2017): Tom Hardy plays an RAF pilot in a deep emotional connection with the other main RAF pilot. That’s immediately gay. However he’s not in the movie much because of the way it’s constructed, so I left it off.

Queer Ratings (least to most)

No queer to be found here traveller:

This Means War: 2 out of 10 - illegal movie, Tom Hardy swore he wouldn’t do another rom-com after

Locke: 2 out of 10 - straight Welshman and his straight problems. He pretty though

Lawless: 3 out of 10 - cardigan-Hardy being a mother-hen, but very straight for all that

The Dark Knight Rises: 3 out of 10 - a superhero movie that doesn’t deserve Mr Hardy’s camp talents (unlike Venom)

The Revenant: 3 out of 10 - doesn’t give me what I want out of a movie full of dirty, bearded men

Queer but we deserve more:

Legend: 5 out of 10 - timid homosexuality, considering the source material. 

RocknRolla: 6 out of 10 - hey bro, is it gay if we kill the only female lead in our massive ensemble cast

The queerest of Hardy’s:

Inception: 7 out of 10 - Elliot Page and JGL kissing was an all-around terrible choice that made no sense, we know the truth, Nolan

Warrior: 8 out of 10 - I’m still crying, Edgerton’s crying, Hardy’s crying, we’re all crying, and I think that’s really emotionally healthy and queer of us

Mad Max: Fury Road: 9 out of 10 - non-romantic love in the time of BDSM post-apocalyptic wastelands is something that can actually be so personal

The Drop: 9 out of 10 - “Fucking punk. Go out to dinner dressed like you're still in you living room! You wear those big hippity-hoppity clown shoes! You speak to women terribly! You treat them despicably! You hurt harmless dogs that can't defend themselves! I'm tired of you man. I'm tired of you. You embarrass me!”

Venom: 9.5 out of 10 - Sometimes a relationship is an anxious reporter, the sentient goo inhabiting his body, his kinda-ex-girlfriend and her new doctor boyfriend, and I think that’s beautiful

[ships-bynoa]

The Titans are almost back, bitches. aka 3x06

Guys, literally every time the titans are together-or even paired up-the episode gets ten times better, but in 6 episodes there is simply not enough Kory and Gar. I can easily forget that when I’m basking in the episode they are in, especially when they’re giving us family dynamics.

Kory:

“You’re not mad that I left. You’re mad I came back.” Kory’s face tells us Blackfire is right on the money, and who would know her better than her sister?

So, Kory, oh boy. Our girl is on edge. She is slowly unraveling and is super vulnerable and raw with Kom around and little sister is going to exploit it and her guilt, which I think she’s carrying a lot of. So far their dynamic has been fascinating because there’s so much to read between them and so many accusations being flung back and forth, from both. From Kory; you sense guilt and even contempt and from Kom there’s envy and resentment, but also there’s a sense of idealization for her older sister, too, which of course, with younger siblings, there always is an element of that. And as an older sibling, there is always an unspoken and sometimes spoken responsibility placed on them for their younger siblings. Parents often don’t realize it, but they can create a lot of tension within siblingships by assigning roles.

They remember home and family very differently, which is often the case, too. Kom was often thrown in the pit and to that, Kory attributes her sister’s constant rebellion as the reason, and yet, Kory herself was a bit of a rule breaker, sleeping with her guard, Fiddei.

Kory was being suffocated by the laws and customs of her home planet; one could say she rebelled by going on a mission, to escape her duties. Home did neither of them any favors because while one rebelled because she did not fit in, the one who did fit in was dying inside, surrounded by little robots and becoming one herself. Being told what to eat, wear and who to love or be friends with is yikes.

I was thinking Kom began her game of manipulation in the bunker, but she really started before that when she sent Fiddei to bring Kory home when she probably intended to kill him all along. After all she would’ve castrated him if she’d had the chance to for sleeping with Kory in the first place. Shortly after Fiddei’s death, Kory flamed out. No powers. Emotionally wrung out from the news her family was dead and now the culprit is here. These two know each other very well and know exactly how to get underneath each other’s skin. Right now Kom is getting underneath Kory’s and our girl is losing patience fast. 

I’m wondering when exactly Dick will tune into Kory’s anxiety-ridden state and step in to support.

Ultimately, I just want to see what truly happened to the girls on their planet and how we have the versions we have now. Like, Kory said to Rachel, “No one is born good or bad, we are defined by our choices.” I get the feeling Kory has given Kom so many chances to make a different choice and has become disillusioned, meanwhile Kom believes nothing she does will give her the respect she feels she deserves anyway, so she may as well blow shit up, figuratively and literally. At least then she’ll have Kory’s attention.

Gar: 

Gar losing it on Dick was so cathartic and yet he could’ve gone much further, considering Dick abandoned him last season to go jail and hallucinate Bruce. It ultimately led to Gar (and Conner) being kidnapped and experimented on by Mercy. It’s actually all the adults fault this happened, but as the leader promoting his family everywhere he goes, he needs to keep his eye on the ball. He would know if he spent five minutes at home with them that Gar is struggling. Last season Gar was #OperationSaveTitans and this season he’s #ThisFamilyIsDying. He’s doing what the adults should be doing, or at least leading the charge on it. He’s the glue, but who will hold him together?

He’s carrying too much emotional responsibility and Dick’s dismissal, because he is fully locked into Gotham and being Batman, makes me mad. Get your head in the game, Grayson. Gotham is going to eat your family while you retread the nostalgic steps of your past.

We all know Dick’s not good at expressing himself emotionally, though he’s usually forced to express something when talking to or being confronted by Kory, so I was proud of him for giving Gar the floor to speak. I just wish Gar spoke about himself, but then again, he needs more time and consistent offers to be heard. I’m happy Dick followed up the conversation up with a bonding/training session. There was definitely pride in Dick’s face because Gar really has come a long way in this group, but he needs MORE SCREEN TIME. I’d like to see the two of them out in the field together the way we’ve seen Kory this season with Gar and Conner. 

I wonder if Gar losing control is the start of all his trauma bubbling up to the surface, will being in Gotham, hunting down a friend be too much?

As a side, has the CGI tiger face gotten worse?

Kom (and Conner):

First thing’s first, what music are we thinking Kom listens to? Probably the kind of music she can break your tailbone to, like, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and Jay Z, or Prince, Jimmy Hendrix, Stevie Nicks and Led Zeppelin? Rihanna?

Kom is absolutely a villain this season and if she isn’t, what a waste that’ll be. A mastermind at mind games (see, her picking up the chess piece), who is going to drum up Kory’s paranoia and anxiety around her being there. Trying to kill her suspicion by guilt tripping her while simultaneously being a do good-er to the group, feigning interest in helping the Titans to earn her way in, a tip from our boy, Conner.

She says she wants acceptance and I believe that’s absolutely true, but she doesn’t know how to get that without using power, so she’ll continue to covet acceptance through and with power because according to Kory, she’s always been a climber. Add to that, being born the cursed child and the only royal member born without the gift of fire, something that differentiates them from the common folk, being too frail to participate in the same games as Kory, having a speech therapist be her only friend while being the object of ridicule and you have a villain origin story nicely set up.

I really enjoyed Conner and Kom’s exchange. The boy lit up when he spoke about seeing his family happy and it made me light up. He’s so genuine and has a big heart and Kom is going to take advantage of it, that’s not to say she won’t develop real feelings for him, but she can like him and still use him.

Conner’s “you have to earn your way into the family,” is perhaps an internal and personal struggle he has from sharing blood with Luthor. I think it may come from an insecure place because he was made a titan as soon as he woke up and no one questioned it, but as he’s only half of superman, he’s constantly trying to prove his usefulness for good, which losing Hank has rocked, leaving him vulnerable to Kom’s recognition for his otherness. Their otherness.

She gave us insight into her mind, but also she has likely seized an opportunity to use the vulnerability against Conner and to her favor by making him her kindred. Outcasts. Will she gain influence over him? He’s still young and learning, and trusting, too.

Her interest in him felt layered, ignoring the ugly customs of sex servants, she was also observing Kory’s relationships and ranking them in her sister’s life. Her being able to determine who may have Kory’s interest (which Kory gave away with her vulnerable display of worry over Dick’s welfare in front of Kom) will surely come into play at some point, right? After all, Kom did kill Kory’s last lover/royal guard. This may be me projecting. LOL.

Romantically, I’m waiting to see how they play it before I decide if I like it or not, but so far, they have a nice chemistry. Friendly.

Dick (and Barbara) :

What a lovable dumb ass. 

I was so happy Kory lost it on him and called him on his lone ranger shit, at least when it’s her, even when he’s being an idiot, he’s still listening. “Let’s go.” and I thought it was hilarious that he tried explaining himself, but when Gar called him out, he got all huffy with, “Excuse me, young man.”

Gar asking Kory not to have words with Barbara over Dick getting shot was so funny because Dick’s face seemed to ask the same when she asked how it happened. We love a protective Kory. I’ll be looking at him when it’s his turn to reciprocate.

I don’t like him dismissing their concerns about his personal safety and how it affects them, it’s like he’s learned nothing after running off alone to battle Trigon, or rather has unlearned his lessons of S2. I’d like to see some more permanent emotional growth from him by this season’s end. In his current state, he’s not an exuding leader. He can’t be when he’s still wrapped up in Bruce and all things Gotham. He’s not tuned into Kory’s anxiety, or Conner’s grief and insecurity, or Gar’s emotional burden. 

He’s started making it up to him, but he has much to do in taking Gar’s concerns and emotional needs seriously.

I’m not even going to try and work out the timeline between Barbara and Dick and Dick and old Titans in San Fran and S1. But it doesn’t bode well that Dick’s dream with Barbara ended in a nightmare. 

I wish they’d never did the whole Dick and Dawn relationship in S2 because they’re basically repeating some of the beats in showing us how they don’t work as a couple, only his relationship with Babs makes a lot more sense even though I don't care. Dick has unfinished business with that relationship, Bruce and Gotham and I can only hope he’s wrapped it up for good by this season’s end. I want to see relaxed, smiling and happy Dick in THE PRESENT. I still Babs will be the one to notice and point out Dick's feelings for Kory.

Barbara (outside of Dick) is being downplayed a little, no? Dismissing Dick’s suspicions about Jason when he arrived, showing no knowledge of Jason’s visits to Crane and then taking the bait and moving Crane after he got a light beat down. A commissioner who was also a very capable vigilante is tricked by a recording and goes to meet “Bruce” on her own. I really enjoyed that she could hold her own and the fight scene was really good, but it was a bit baffling that she fell for that ruse. So far, she’s not entirely good at her job.

Dick’s a distraction in his own right and her feelings clearly get in the way, which is why she keeps asking him to leave the precinct and Gotham; because she’s pining a fantasy and he’s ruining it. Lastly, I really like the way Savannah plays Barbara.

Why’d they do that to Tim?? :(

Overall, it was a better episode and I enjoyed it more than latter episodes, but they’re not quite there yet for me. I’m  still waiting for Team Titans.

[milfzatannaz]

It's so weird bc Zee is at most a supporting character in bats stories and it's always about their mutual pining crush when they were teens, and usually when John appears in Zee's stories she still have something going on with only her, you know? Like it's not always about John and she's just supporting him, it's kinda the opposite....

yeah, that's exactly it. It's not like her helping Batman work a case is some sort of fundamental understanding of who she is- she's there to prop up Bruce and provide romantic tension that makes the big bat seem desirable and cool or whatever. gimme a break.

and pre n52, johnzee only had a handful of appearances. to say she's a tool to make john seem more powerful is sorta false, bc he spends all of Everyday Magic being a fucking idiot. and her function as a side character in BOM is entirely the point; it was a book full of cameos to give the readers, and Tim, a tour of magic in DC. i don't understand how that somehow props John above zee or whatever. yeah, he saved them at the club, but it was to show how he can intimidate a crowd without magic. Zee does declare she could've taken them.

we need to stop comparing the power of the two under the guise of feminist thought. if you're mad that she and him have romantic history, whatever. but to be like "constantine can't be in this story, what about Zee's SUPERIOR POWERS!" is genuinely stupid imo. why are yall so caught up in her powers in relation to him? it doesn't liberate her as a woman to be better than this guy. that's not even what they're about as individuals.

and finally, if we're gonna bemoan that zatanna projects need to be constantine-free, batman needs the same treatment.

[ablogthatishenceforthmine]

My Thoughts On Titans Season 3 Trailer

Overall

So, the trailer was pretty much what I expected (and I don’t mean that disparagingly); mostly focusing on Red Hood and new Gotham setting, but with a fair amount of other stuff, with most character getting at least one moment that emphasized them.

The characters who I felt got the most focus were Red Hood/Jason, Dick, Babs, and Kory (in that order). No, this isn’t based on a quantitative analysis of screen time in the trailer, just a general feeling of who was emphasized that I came away with. But overall, it didn’t feel that unbalanced to me, and felt like is tried to give at least something to most of the characters.

Kory

Kory looks so good! Like so so good! I can’t get over it. I know people were hoping to see more of her (and I for one could always take more Kory), but I didn’t feel like she was sidelined. As previously stated, I felt like she got the fourth most focus/emphasis (and Titans has a lot of characters). And she got the final line of the trailer, which I don’t think is insignificant.

Blackfire

I know people are also disappointed by the amount of Blackfire in the trailer. But, I don’t think that necessarily reflects her role in the season. And I don’t necessarily mind. There are many possible reasons that she was only in a few shots. They could want to keep her role and what she is doing under wraps (if this is the case then I support it, because I kind of want to be surprised with her story). Or the trailer could only be from the first few eps, and her role in those may be smaller. Or a lot of other reasons. Based on how much she’s been filming, I’m not super worried about Blackfire’s presence in the season.

Dickkory

I, like a lot of fans, were disappointed with the lack of Dickkory in the trailer, but, I didn’t really go in with any expectations of what we would see of them in the trailer. So, I’m not upset or angry; it’s just something I would have liked to see. I also think you can’t tell anything about Dickkory this season from the lack of them in the trailer. They might get together this season, they might not. This trailer doesn’t say anything in regards to that; it’s totally neutral.  I don’t think the lack of them in the trailer says that they won’t happen or that they won’t have that many scenes together. I’ve seen some people convinced that they will never happen or that they won’t have scenes this season because of this trailer, and I think that is WAYY too much to extrapolate from a trailer. A trailer only tells you a very limited of stuff, and doesn’t always mean that much. While I have no idea if we will get romantic Dickkory this season, I do really think we’ll at least get some scenes, based off things one of the writers and the Titans account said on twitter. Now many scenes they’ll be or if it will be building to a romance, I have no idea, and I don’t think anyone else can reasonably say so either based off the small amount of info about them and this season that’s been released. 

Also, on this subject, while the writer’s and Titans twitter’s account responses about Dickkory have been encouraging, I also don’t think that means we will necessarily see them in a romance this season. For one, for some people using a shipname might not necessarily using or seeing it in a romantic way. They might see Dickkory as referring to Dick and Kory and their general relationship, and not as referring to a romantic relationship. I’ve definitely seen that happen with other fandoms, where people behind TV shows would respond to or use shipnames just to refer to a dynamic between two characters. Now, I’m not saying that’s the case here (I actually lean more towards that it’s not), but it is still a possibility that I think a lot of people overlook. I’m not trying to discourage anybody or rain on anybody’s parade, I just don’t want people to feel they have been definitively promised something. I’ve seen this a lot in fandoms (people feeling they were promised something and getting angry when they don’t get it) and often it comes from a miscommunication between the creative teams and fans. That being said, I am still pretty confident we’ll get more scenes between them in season 3 than we did and season 2, and am also hopeful about their romantic future in the series; nothing in this trailer changed that.

Dick

I so a lot of people fearing that Dick will take up the Batman mantle, and again I don’t think that’s NECESSARILY the case. It might be! But it might not. For one, we didn’t see Dick’s response to Bruce’s request. And second, it’s unclear what Bruce even means by telling Dick he needs to be a better Batman. He could be referring to literally being Batman, or he could referring to “Batman” just as a superhero who protects Gotham. In the latter case, Bruce could just want Dick to protect Gotham as Nightwing. Like most things in this trailer, and most trailers, it’s unclear. Overall, despite his prominence in the trailer, I didn’t get a good feel of what Dick’s story would be this season, so I don’t really have any judgements on his character this season yet.

Babs

I’m excited to see Babs this season. I’m intrigued (although I little worried) to see her dynamic with Dick. I’m diehard Dickkory, so I hope it doesn’t turn romantic. But if it happens, it happens. While I definitely see tension between them in the trailer, I didn’t get the impression that they hate each other, like some people did. For one, there’s only like two or three scenes between them, and one is delivering exposition. And the other seems tense, but not hateful. The writer said on twitter that their relationship would be one of respect, so I don’t think they will be hating each other. I hope that their dynamic is one where they disagree and argue with each other, but there’s still that respect there and that it doesn’t turn romantic again. But we’ll have to see!

I’m also curious to see how much of the season she is in. I’ve heard it thrown around online that she is only going to be in 5 or 6 episodes. But I have no idea where this idea originated. Does anyone know? I think it might be from IMDB, in which case it might not be accurate. IMDB is very inconsistent when it comes to the accuracy of information posted there. And given that she is on the poster, it might be more than that. But again, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Trailers in General

In fandom in general, I think people really overestimate how much they can gleam about the actual show or movie from trailers and other marketing materials. First and foremost, trailers are intended to advertise a show or movie, not give an accurate representation of what the movie or season will be. Trailers can often be misleading, but even when they are not, they are only giving viewers limited information, and without context. Often, trailers aren’t even made by the writing or directing team, but by an in-house marketing team at the company that produced the show/movie or an outside.

Really, trailers are just giving viewers breadcrumbs; sometimes accurate breadcrumbs, sometimes misleading breadcrumbs. But that thing is, it’s impossible to know how accurate a trailer is until you see that actual show/movie it’s advertising. So, you can never really know ahead of time how representative what you’re seeing in a trailer is of the actual movie/show. 

Not to mention, there is very little context for the scenes, images, and lines of dialogue you are seeing. And in understanding scenes, and characters, context is EVERYTHING. And for TV shows, you also don’t know how much of the season the trailer is using. This titans trailer could only be using a few episodes, or it could be more. There is no way of knowing unless we’re told. There is just so much uncertainty with trailers.

When it comes down to it, trailers are just scenes, lines, and images completely removed from their context.

But unfortunately, I think fandom can sometimes treat trailers as a lot more than this, believing they have a better understanding of what they season/movie is going to be than they possibly could given the nature of trailers. Sometimes these impressions are right! But i just find it so hard to ever know.

[sleepymarmot]

Mad Max: Fury Road

I was in the mood for a feminist action movie. Got precisely what I expected as someone who spent all of 2015 on Tumblr.

This is the second most comic book-like movie I’ve ever seen after Spiderverse! And it’s not even based on comic books...

I’m not familiar with the franchise, but there was a lot of “Oh here comes this line/scene I’ve seen online”. Especially in the beginning, when there was so little dialogue that I’d heard half of it quoted before.

Not sure about the dialogue tbh. Some of it is just jarring to hear from real human beings’ mouths.

Why do the Buzzards speak Russian lmao. Like I know Hollywood loves Russians as warlike villains but tf are they doing in post-apocalyptic Australia

Was surprised when Max didn’t shoot Nux immediately after getting free from him at the beginning of the movie. It worked out well eventually, but what motivation did he have back then to leave an enemy alive?

So how was Furiosa planning to deal with the gang in the canyon before Max came along?

The non-stop action becomes overwhelming pretty quickly, I was ready to wrap it up after the first hour. I’d prefer more breaks between separate action scenes instead of having them right after one another — it’s tiring, and there’s no hype of a fresh action sequence starting. Though I’m not sure even that would have compensated for how monotonous the whole experience is. Yes, I know it’s an action movie, but to me action is not only chases and fights but exciting plot developments and a variety of set pieces.

I’ve seen people react to criticisms of the plot with “But don’t you understand, it’s an important message that they have to go back!” And it’s true re: the movie’s message, but it doesn’t undo the fact that the plot is light and its structure may be unsatisfying to people who expect the final part of the film to escalate the conflict, widen the scope, or use a plot twist to turn the story upside down. I’m reminded of The General — another almost wordless movie mostly consisting of a stunt-filled chase that reverses direction... Oh wait, googling shows it’s a common comparison, and the director said he was inspired by the silent cinema. Funnily enough, when I watched The General, I had the opposite complaint: I got bored whenever the chase wasn’t on...

This movie got a lot of praise for not directly showing the sexual violence against the rescued girls, that was in fact one of the reasons I wanted to watch it. The film seems to take the same approach to gory injuries and deaths during the fight scenes, which I’m normally all for... Except the camera is so polite it’s sometimes difficult to understand what just happened. Like with the pregnant girl who got run over — I sat here wondering: is Max being an unreliable narrator when he’s confirming her death? is that her corpse? oh she’s still breathing? oh i guess she dies anyway. Same with Immortan Joe’s death — from the context it seems Furiosa attached her prosthetic to the wheels and then to his mask, tearing his face apart, but I absolutely couldn’t catch her actually doing that. Also instead of the refusal to glorify violence, it feels like its own kind of making violence more palatable. It’s okay when Batman or Captain America hit people as long as they don’t immediately kill them or draw blood; it’s okay to throw people under the wheels or set them on fire as long as you don’t see what it does to their bodies. Don’t worry, the violence will look clean and cool and only make you feel elated, never disturbed.

Teared up a couple of times, the most memorable one was when Furiosa met the female bikers.

Feel bad about almost(?) all of the cool older ladies dying :( 

The romantic tension between Nux and the redhead girl felt unnecessary tbh. At first I thought her compassion for him was a precursor of a reveal that they were brother and sister, with only a small physical difference deciding their fate between being raised for a golden cage vs being raised for an early violent death.

When the bikers met the rescued girls and started touching their clean smooth bodies in disbelief and one of them said “Where did you find such creatures?”... That was a pang of hurt and disappointment, even betrayal. I had to tell myself it’s realistic with how old women sometimes treat the young ones. But in the context of the film... The whole story is about escape from objectification. And now our rescuees meet truly independent women, a new community for them and an example of living free... and are met with a kind of objectification from them too. 

I know this movie isn’t rich in characterisation in general, but the low degree of development afforded to the young women clashes with the pro-self-actualization anti-objectification message of the film. Women are not things! *spends the same amount of effort and focus on all of them put together as on a single white man who was hunting them* In terms of the narrative, basically there are 4 “good guys”: Max, Furiosa, Nux, and the young women. Another part of the problem is that they’re more static than the other three. Max starts the movie as a feral lone wolf and ends it as an articulate team player; Furiosa starts dreaming of the escape to the Green Place and ends with the reality of returning to the Citadel and reclaiming it; Nux starts hoping to sacrifice himself to capture the women and ends sacrificing himself to help them escape. The young women start hoping to be free from Joe and end... being relieved they’re free from Joe because someone else killed him? The situation has changed but the characters have not.

Me at the very end: “Ohhh so him being a universal donor/“blood bag” was a Chekhov’s gun!” Superpower: has a lot of blood to spare!

Okay but they’ll soon have to stop the water flow right. It’s still a finite resource. I know the flowing water was supposed to be a happy sight but I was like “Oh god don’t pour it all out for a symbolic gesture. When they’ll have to pause and ration it for pragmatic reasons aren’t they gonna have a riot on their hands”

Obligatory acknowledgement of the detailed dieselpunk visuals and worldbuilding, the themes of female liberation and solidarity between victims, and also everything about Furiosa in general. Curious that the power fantasy here is not only in escaping and defeating your oppressors and reclaiming the place where they kept you, but also in the possibility of convincing men to fight against the patriarchy instead of being on its side (Nux) or on their own (Max).

‘Playing Furiosa as a hard-edged warrior out for revenge was more interesting to Theron than playing her as a flawless heroine with a heart of gold. “The idea that she’s kind of saving these women to me just didn’t feel as interesting as they belong to a man who hurt her incredibly, and she’s just had enough. And she’s gonna take these women with her. She’s gonna take what matters to him the most,” Theron says.’ Well, that 1) absolutely wasn’t worked into the movie itself, where Furiosa was shown in exclusively noble and heroic light, 2) kinda ruins it for me.