#and leslie was done dirty in war games

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Kristen Kringle in my Rogues Headcannon Au:

- She is from Metropolis (ew) and since my version of Riddler lived in Metropolis from age six to sixteen the two happened to go to the same middle school.

- She is a bissexual trans woman and while Metropolis by itself is a progressive city there's still a lot of assholes there. Her parents were actually very supportive and at 11 she had already socially transitioned.

- Unfortunally when news spread that she was trans a lot of parents and students alike were opposed to her and tried to banish her from competing in sports and using the right bathroom.

- That was when the bathroom brigade was formed by Lisa Jerkins (my unimportant OC who's main fuction is give Ed extra trauma later) and Eddie Nasthon, they would scoult her to the bathroom, even if it meant just getting up in the middle of class and getting detention, to protect her from being attacked by biggots.

- They were inseparable during middle school.

- She was the first person Edward came out as transmasc for and also his first kiss.

- Unfortunally after two years of suffering attacks from classmates, parents and even some teafhers, her parents decided it was better to her to move schools.

- They keept contact at first, but after his dad broke Edward's phone during a beating, they stopped talking.

- They later meet again in the Iceberg, Kristen was hanging with her new work friends on the Iceberg. One of the girls went to the bar to flirt and grab some drinks and came back crying because some douche she had tried to flirt with had called her "easy, boring and stupid". It was Edward. He wasn't even being purposifully rude, he just has low emphaty and was understimulated and feeling ignored by Oswald witch makes for a very cranky Riddler.

- Kristen of course went to confront the guy and got even more angry when she found him talking with Penguin's underage secretary. Until she realized it was Eddie and he was helping the girl do her homework of all things (in my AUverse Miss Tuesday is Oswald secretary and she bullies/manipulates Ed into doing her homework a lot). So instead they catched up.

- They rekindling their friendship may had resulted in Edward mudering her abusive boyfriend during the most akward double date on history (Edward brough Selina - who was already his ex - because she had shown interest on Kristen and Ed has no common sense or understanding of social norms and is just lucky he was born with a huge charisma status anyway). But hey, he is a known criminal, he is one of the less murderous members of the Dark Knigth Rogue Gallery, but he is a known criminal.

- Selina had the time of her life. No one else did. But Selina enjoyed herself. She got to pet Kristens cat, made a pretty woman blush, stoled a gourgeus astray, helped in the murder of an abusive asshole, she and Ed showed their sick dance moves. It was great.

- To everyone else it was a really bad night. And it almost ended Ed's and Kristen's friendship forever (and Tom was literaly dead by the end of it). But Selina had fun. And that is what really matters.

- No but really. Edward did not murder Kristen, because he isn't a misoginistic creep here and was not trying to convince her to not be mad. He was actually trying to convice himself that he didn't mind she was mad because he was right and is great and fuck her.

- They did slowly recovered their friendship though. With some meedling for Selina, because she cared about the fact other people didn't had a great night.

- Kristen did had a one night stand with Selina at some point.

- She somehow ends dating Doctor Joan Leland who in my AU is - personality wise - closer to Gotham's Lee than this version of Leslie Thompkins.

- The fact Leland is Jonathan Crane's psychiatrist (and the only member of the Arkham staff Jon - bregrundgly - respects, witch is what made her survive being Jon's psychiatrist because Crane is famous for making them became suicidal and quit) is not really important, but I'm briggin it up anyway.

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Batman: War Games - Worst Comic Event Ever? Probably!

I had so many fucking thoughts about this trash fire of an event comic, guys.

War Games might genuinely be one of the worst things that have ever happened to comics. It's riddled with horrific art, bad writing, bad treatment of beloved characters. The few attempts at brevity, goodness, or even relief are frequently undercut by homophobia, rape jokes, transphobia, and sexism.

As a fan of multiple of the storylines which were interrupted to produce this all-time low in comic event storytelling, and a fan of characters who were fridged, character assassinated, or otherwise shoved aside in favor of a narrative where Batman shoves aside his family and is more convinced than ever that he is right and blameless in the events that happen... it was awful.

Detective Comics #796 might just be one of the only worthy reads in the entire book: Stephanie Brown comes to blows with Zsasz in her time as Robin, and the art is good, Bruce expresses concern and care for her, and in that issue, we can almost see what could have been a better story, where the two of them learned and grew together.

(More below the cut)

A highlight that I did not expect, however, was the Batman 12 Cent Adventure by Devin Grayson, which was probably one of the most empathetic perspectives into Steph’s mind at the time, and clearly showing how she had been set up to fail. Through this book, we see the set up for the War Game, in a much more detailed way than we saw pretty much anywhere else throughout the book, and we also got a brief history of the Bat Family told two ways—the way that Steph knows it, and the way that we, the reader, know it actually happened, because Steph doesn’t know most of the family’s secret identities, and is in the dark about some of the fundamentals.

What can I even say about Steph’s treatment in this comic that hasn’t already been said, that isn’t part of the narrative of War Games? Maybe I could mention the horrifically porn traced torture drawings. The way that the torture is clearly stylized as sexual assault. The way that Steph is insulted, belittled, and poorly treated, even beyond the torture and fridging. The way that this was supposed to be how her story ended. As a fan of Steph, it was horrible to read. I cannot emphasize enough how new fans seeking Steph content, should avoid this series. Reading Detective Comics 796 and her issues as Robin in Robin and Batgirl… and just… never pick up War Games properly. Don’t be like me.

The Robin issues by Willingham were… fine, if frequently sexist, and continuing the comics tradition of treating male sexual assault as harmless or a joke (Tim is forcibly kissed by a fellow student, and is cheered on for it, despite having made clear to Darla that he is already in a relationship. Later, he ends up taking her on a pseudo-date for hot cocoa. There were a few nice moments squeezed in; Tim at one point says that Stephanie and Bruce had a good relationship and brought a levity to the role that was good for Bruce… right before claiming that her making Bruce joke wasn’t that big of a deal because the joke was “rudimentary.”

Catwoman was decent enough; I’m a fan of Brubaker in general, and the bits where Selina got to bond with Steph, do her own thing, and protect the East End were lovely… but so many of the infamous torture panels occur in this book that it’s hard for me to say that these issues were worth reading.

Orpheus and Onyx though… hoo boy. Onyx had some fun moments throughout the series, being battle buddies with Cass, chatting casually with Deadshot, and things like that. But in the end, the overwhelming awfulness of Batman coercing a black vigilante into becoming a gang leader, and then the vigilante being murdered, and his face literally worn as a mask, was bad. Bruce getting Orpheus to become the leader of the Hill Gang also undercuts his own argument that he had never intended to implement the War Game to give himself control over all of Gotham’s organized Crime… because he had put Orpheus where he was specifically to control one gang already. Orpheus was done so dirty, and he and Onyx deserve to get to come back and be treated better.

Batgirl had some nice individual moments when the story focused on Steph and Cass’s relationship: Cass desperately searching for her best friend and the last time the two of them met was absolutely heartbreaking, but the rest of it was generally just more of the same, constant fighting, and it’s her sections that get to feature the transphobic joke, on top of the sexism that permeates this entire event. Cass doesn’t get too much to do in this story, which is a real pity, since I think her book was one of the strongest from this era.

Nightwing was infuriating for the simple fact of when in the Nightwing the story takes place: barely after Nightwing’s assault at the hands of Tarantula. Tarantula is given a heroic story here, protecting young children who had been recruited into gangs, and even being appointed one of Batman’s top lieutenants in the crisis. She’s referred to as Dick’s stalker, but this is treated as a joke, and she touches him and flirts with him constantly, and the only negative consequences are that Oracle becomes jealous and insults both her and Dick.

Oracle is treated generally pretty poorly in this story, snapping at everyone, insulting Cass and Dick, and while some of it could be understandable given the situation, it’s kind of annoying that so many of her early appearances in the series are playing her up as a jerk. But in the end, Babs comes through in what would be, in any other story, a brilliant ending concept, but instead ends up being undercut by the rest of the story. Trapped in the Clocktower by the Black Mask, with Batman coming to her rescue, Batman is so furious about the War that he no longer cares if he lives or dies, and is even willing to kill the Mask. To pull him out of it, Babs activates the Clocktower’s self-destruct sequences, forcing Batman to chose between vengeance and his purpose as a hero, saving her life rather than killing the Black Mask. What undercuts it, though, is that Bruce’s rage is made out to be not about the destruction that the Mask has caused, or even about Stephanie Brown, who was tortured and is dying in the hospital, but instead, about the failure of his plan. So… nearly good, I suppose.

And Leslie. Leslie is right up there with Steph and Orpheus in terms of horrible treatment. DC has never been good at understanding pacifism. Leslie yells at Cass for saving her life, constantly claims that superheroes do more harm than good, and denies Steph life-saving treatment. The character ends the series exiled to Africa, with Bruce telling her never to come back, a character who was functionally his foster-mother, and one of the most important older women in the Batman books.

War Games is emblematic of some of the worst Batman writing: the character is pig headed, cruel, and even abusive, but we are told by the narrative that he's smarter than everyone, so they should just deal with it. Repeatedly characters try to call him out on his behavior, but he tells them to stop whining and deal with it, and even when his actions backfire, it’s portrayed as a tragic inevitability that he is not held accountable for.

And the ending goes out of the way to explain that it's not his fault that beloved character Stephanie Brown died, not really, it was because mean old pacifist Leslie Thompkins was overtaken by the "Batman is blameless" virus and decided to deny a girl medical treatment. Batman declares that what happened was a war crime, and there must be war trials, but in the end, he fails to take any responsibility for his own actions, and inflicts massive amounts of trauma on the entire city.

In short? Don’t read War Games!

[mechagalaxy]

Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184: My Clan war `46 - Second opponents: Black Star Knights

(By Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184)

My Clan war `46

Second opponents: Black Star Knights

Some Commanders prefer the solitude of fighting for themselves. Having none to tell you what to do, or having to follow some underling with the eyes of argus to check that they follow orders is after all quite liberating. You are of course free to play in the lottery, as everyone else. You can fight in the KotM events and the Wave Challenges, and once you get a two-digit licence you can trash others in the Circuits as well. Then there is the sheer mayhem involved in hitting other Commanders to see which one have the strongest formation. If that is the way they prefer to fight, who am I to tell them they are wrong?

Then you have those who form a clan, or join one. As they well understand; If a leader is to bossy you can just leave the clan again, and if some member refuses to follow directions and sound advice he can be removed from the clan. Being part of a clan when it comes to lotto wins will because of the smaller prizes given to the winners clanmates effectively increase your take by 100% for each five other member, up to four times what a single Commander can expect if the clan grows to 16 Commanders. The other things you can do as a solitary Commander is still there to do, but now you have brothers in arms who might give you advice and answer questions. Then comes the Clan Wars.

In a normal War, any clan having enough members (8 minimum) where the discrepancy between licences is not to big, can sign up for the war. In general, Specialists might be assigned to members,-or not. But from time to time it might be one mandatory specialty. The Gaming authorities will then place clans in divisions according to their average piloting licences, and they will over the course of three battle days face a trio of different opponents. If your clan defeats all opponents, good prices will be had by everyone. That is, everyone who managed to get a set number of attack wins Defeating two, or only one opposing clan will get you lesser prizes, but even if you lost to all the opponents you will still get something. (provided you got the mandated wins)

After the war, some villain might appear. If the clan chooses to oppose said villains hordes, and manages to defeat all of them within a given time, prizes will be given to each Commander. Partly by performance and partly by luck. (but no kills equals no prizes. To be lucky, you have to perform first) -----

As for us in the Star League....

We had joined up in the war, and our first opponents had (figuratively) handed us our heads. Mind you, they took them fair and square on the field of battle, and kept them until the fighting was over.

As we returned to what had been our headquarter, Tony`s eyes flickered over the area.

Nothing was left standing. The remains of the ammo bunkers gaped empty toward the cloudy sky, the repair facilities had been burned by fires so hot that not even a trace of POL, spare parts or tools were left and the many wounded lay on the bare earth where a few overworked corpse men ripped pieces from their dirty, tattered uniforms to use as makeshift bandages.

In a dejected tone he muttered "It will take a miracle to get us ready for tomorrow. Right now I would make up to the devil himself if he could get us what we need to get operative in time" I looked at my timepiece. Bruno should be arriving any moment now, bringing the personnel and items I had neglected to bring in the first place. "Well,boss, as to that I have to...." The rest of the sentence was drowned by the roar of descending shuttles.

The Pakothe IV-B shuttles are quite enormous, and if you spend some mega credits at a good yard they can be configured pretty much as you like. These shuttles were mostly mobile repair bays, but a couple of them were fully equipped field hospitals, a trio were ammo carriers and one was a mobile mess.

Tony took in the sight and when he turned toward me what looked suspiciously like a tear was forming in his right eye. "Your work?" I nodded "Good man. Anything I can do for you?" I held out a clipboard and said "just sign here , here and here." After he numbly, still with an expression of wonder on his face had done so, I continued "I did not have the authority to release so much cash from our accounts, so the work was done on credit until you signed." Tony grabbed the clipboard and looked at the numbers. Then, white in the face, he grabbed me and threw me over the farthest shuttle. I noticed the ground getting closer at a breakneck speed and did my best to tuck into a roll. Then, blackness...

I came slowly back to consciousness, and immediately wished I hadn’t. There might have been some parts of my body that did not send pain signals to my brain, but the odds were that was because the nerves from them had been ripped loose.

My AI injected enough painkillers to knock out a tribe of Snavrums, and slowly the world came into focus. My timepiece informed me the second battle day would start in a few minutes. Looking around, I found myself in the cockpit of my ride, and pinned on the battle board was a note. It was from Tony and explained the battle plan and my part in it.

Jorge was covering one of the bridges, rated for no more than 1200 tons, Rob`s 30s was in the broken hills to the north. As for the opponents: Christopher Wallace held the other bridge, a Dual Rainbow one, and Brian Leslie King was supposed to hold the swamps to the south in his 20s. A long winding canyon was another connection between our two clans, My 70s held the eastern part, Joey Goldez 70s held the western part. Then my blood turned cold. "I have placed most of our ammo with you. Guard it with your life, because it is placed in such a way that if it explodes it will bring the whole canyon down on your defeated formation and your opponent" Talk about a do or die mission!!

Then the channels started cracking, the battle was upon us.

The Knights landed the first blows.

Led by Ales Tomasek, Brian Leslie King and Joey Goldez had for the moment brought their main formations along to do some mayhem. Able brought his formation into the fray as fast as he could and went onto the offensive. Despite a couple failed attacks and the appearance of Darryl Proctor in an offensive role, he managed to stabilize the front with us slightly ahead. 10-9 to us.

King returned, this time accompanying Philip Power. They got some unopposed wins, then Mark went on a rampage along their front. Not all his strikes was successful, but it caused them to withdraw, at least for the moment. 15-14 to them.

David Buchanan got a couple wins. In response Mark was once more called into the breach, this time having Jorge as wingman. Again our offensive had mixed success, but at least it pushed the Knights back. 22-17 to them.

It seemed there was only a matter of time before some enterprising Knight would come waltzing down the canyon, so I started to back slowly toward our lines. As the canyon started to widen I drew a deep breath of relief. Really bad idea. The painkillers could only mask so much pain, and the sudden expansion of my chest made my bruised and broken ribs send frantic emergency signals to my brain. After what seemed like an eternity of pain, I finally realized that holding my breath was the worst thing I could do. Letting it out in a wordless scream, slowly reduced the pain level from unbearable to just very unpleasant. When the stars finally stopped dancing in front of my eyes and the monitors once more informed me of my surroundings, I discovered we were surrounded by a superior formation.

"Ah, how good of you to show up. Would you care to join me for a stroll along the front? After some unexpected expidentures we need every commander to earn his keep" Tony`s cold voice belied the bantering tone, so what choice did I have?

"Come along and watch me closely, I will point out a few opponents you might be capable of handling"

I have to say Tony really know how to handle his Mechs. Opponent after opponent fell before him, and under his tutelage I managed to score a few wins as well. When he called off the offensive we had gained quite a bit of ground. 35-22 to us.

Tony escorted me back into the canyon and ordered me to stay there this time. While we were out of the picture, Bob Schlomer made an appearance. Blowing our formations up. Right, front and center. There seemed little we could do to halt his advance. Tony threw himself into the frontline, hoping to make Schlomer break off his one-formation rampage, but to little avail. Then David Buchanan joined Schlomer, and most of the advantage we had held disappeared 36-34 to us.

Rob rushed over to reinforce Tony`s drive, but lady luck was on the Knights side here, and after several fumbled attacks the Knights had the advantage again. 38-37 to them.

As the main action took place elsewhere, Drake Hunter had been left to cover quite a stretch of the front by himself. Now he suddenly found himself face to face with Joey Goldez, and not in a puny 70 ton formation either. Despite being outmassed by a noticable margin, Drake stood his ground, knowing none else was between Goldez and our HQ.

Goldez frontline, a Humbaba, a Reaper, a Cameron and a Boreas, shielded by a Regis met Drakes Cavalier and Guardian, supported by two Nakshi`s and a Drednought.

The first telling blow came from Goldez Cameron. A solid hit on the Cavalier with a Rednose Laser turned into a minor disaster as it both splashed and generated a Wide Fork. The Cavalier weathered the storm, but the Guardians armor disappeared and it was a lifeless husk. Then Goldez Humbaba sent the Nakshi to the scrapyard using a Heartbreaker. Drakes Dreadnought took out first the Humbaba and then the Reaper by crits. The Cameron finally put paid to the Cavalier after lots of hits, and Drakes Dreadnought finished off the Boreas. The Cameron dispatched the shutdown Guardian, and used an overpowered Vadhar to kill off the Dreadnought. Drakes Nakshi fought grimly on, but were killed by the Cameron

Drakes second line, consisting of a Fext, an Anubis and a Boreas supported by an Ignis and a Regis advanced. Drakes Regis blew up Goldez Regis and the Ignis put paid to the Boreas.

Goldez second line consisted of a trio of Onyxes flanked by two Antithesises. One of the Onyxes quickly critted the Ignis, and after a flurry of nontelling blows another Onyx critted the Anubis. Drakes Regis and Boreas took out the two Onyxes, and the Regis took out the third Onyx as well by landing an overpowered blow from its Man Ò War Ray. The two Antithesises was now outnumbered and Drakes Fext and Boreas blew up one each.

Goldez third line consisted of a Frigis surrounded by four Nakshi`s. Amid a flurry of shots the Nakshis were blown up, one each by the Fext and the the Regis while the Boreas blew up the two others. Goldez Frigis managed to land a couple more blows before a Twin Grazer from the Regis ripped it apart.

Goldez fourth line, consisting of a Notos, a Guardian and a Redeemer flanked by a Dreadnought and an Antithesis marched confidently forth. They started by reducing the armor on Drakes Mechs, but when a Tri-Slagger from the Regis critted the Redeemer they understood this was serious business. And when, after another flurry of blows, the Guardian was taken out by a massive blast from the Boreas` Leviathan their confidence seemed to slip. In that tiny moment the Fext landed a massive blow from its Blue Dragon. Enough to blow up the Dreadnought, and the fork it created sent the Antithesis into an emergency shutdown. The Fext quickly put the Antithesis out of its misery, and the now outnumbered Notos was slowed to a crawl before the trio of Mechs slowly blew it into small pieces.

Goldez fifth line, a Dilophos, a Frigis, a Dreadnought and two Torrents charged forth to avenge their brethren. The Dilophos used an overpowered Ursa Strike to blow the Fext apart, and an overpowered Missile tow from one of the Torrents ripped the Boreas apart while the combined Splash/Fork ripped the remaining armor off the Regis. The Frigis gave it a mercy shot.

Drakes third line, a Ballista, a Frigis and an Antithesis flanking a Boreas and a Notos immediately made their presence known. The Ballista opened the ball by letting a Renly`s Revenge crit the Dreadnought. The Boreas followed suit. An Oppenheimer did not pack quite enough punch to take out the Torrent it hit, but the Wide Fork it generated spread lot of mayhem, and the Dilopos shut down to avoid an engine explosion. After quite a few additional shots had been exchanged, the Notos melted the Frigis by an overpowered Chimera, and the spreading cloud of hot plasma shut down one of the Torrents as well. The Boreas took out the last Torrent and the Antithesis put the disconnected Dilophos out of its misery.

Goldez sixt line consisted of a Fext and a Regis flanking a trio of Boreas. Quite a few cold blasts were exchanged, and many a target was frozen for a while. Then Goldez Fext sent an overcharged super explosive missile into the Ballista. The resulting explotion removed all traces of the Mech. In response Drakes Boreas sent another Oppenheimer downrange, killing off one Boreas and shutting down another. Another Oppenheimer blast packed to little punch to take out the Fext, but the Wide Fork shut down the Regis as well. Drakes Notos and Antithesis took out the two crippled Mechs, and the Antithesis managed to take out both the last active Boreas and the Fext as well.

Goldez last line, a Rudy, a Spitfire and a Dilophos stepped gamely forth. If they knew they were outnumbered and probably had scant seconds left, they gave no sign of that. Instead the Dilophos sent an overcharged Chidori into the Frigis, cutting it in two. The Boreas Openheimer arrived less than a heartbeat later, ripping the Dilophos apart and taking the Rudy out of the fight. Goldez last Mech, the Spitfire landed another couple of Ineffectual blows before it too was felled.

The fight was now in the Balance, an even 38 score to both sides.

Mark and Rob tried unsuccessfully to put us in front again and Christopher Wallace got involved as well. Most of the assaults failed here and when the smoke settled, the advantage had shifted to the Knights again. Schlomer put in another appearance and got some more wins. 43-38 to them.

Tony got us another win, and King got a couple. Tony failed on the following attack, but he managed blowing up Ales Tomaseks coffee maker by a stray shot. Infuriated, Tomasek went on a rampage that took a defeat at Ables hands to stop. 52-40 to them.

At this point our ammo stocks was gone, and all we had was what the Mechs carried. Tony disallowed any further offensive operations, and we waited for the light to flash. But while we might be done, the Knights had more fights in them. Michael Beagle drove a wedge deep into our rear, and called Proctor in to help finish us off. Once again Tony provided a critical defense, and in the end they were halted just outside range of the Star League HQ.

The final score stood 64-41 to them.

Yes we had been beaten, but at least we had not been crushed, so there was at least some progress from the first round.