#and sheila is a very interesting character

[wortsandall]

jason isnt even angry at bruce for the way that he died, hes mad at bruce for everything after his death. so saying that jason's anger at bruce is misdirected anger at sheila is just wrong on so many fronts. because first of all-jason was never mad at sheila. yes she sold him out to the joker and got him and herself killed and jason knows that and tried to save her anyway. i think hes aware of where the blame falls but that again leads into the second thing wrong with saying that. jason is not mad about the circumstances of his death-hes mad at the lack of change his death caused. because if bruce had died, jason would've done whatever he could to avenge that. that's a part of jason's love language. so to have bruce basically do nothing and let joker continue to hurt others grates on jason. im not even mentioning the massive victim blaming that bruce does as well. but its the aftermath that jason has a problem with not the before.

so no, jason's anger towards bruce is NOT misdirected anger at sheila. again because jason's anger has nothing to do with the circumstances around his death but everything following it. which sheila had no part in due to y'know. also being dead.

[glitter-stained]

I always feel like a little sad seeing posts about how Jason's character is inherently tragic and that's what makes it good, how him being unloved, a tragic consequence of his own actions, is inevitable, and how that shouldn't change because any change on that regard is a fundamental misunderstanding of his character. Yes, Under the Hood is a tragedy. Yes, Jason survived and for a long time people have been pretty confused at what to do with the character that survives the tragic ending. That doesn't mean he should continue to be trapped in the tragedy, that there's only value in him as long as he's unloved. And maybe that's me preaching and being a party pooper again but the idea that the teenage-to-young adult character with a mental illness that has damaged all his relationships is doomed to be lonely and have bad/upended relationships forever, that he's only good as a character as long as he's hurting others and/or himself (and usually both) and isolated because of this... It's sad, at the very least. I refuse the presumption that tragedies are the only stories wise and worth telling.

Also I personally really dislike the idea that Jason isn't and shouldn't be anyone's favourite, because he made himself nobody's favourite on purpose. Did he make himself a villain on purpose? Fuck yeah. Does any of his early attempts at reaching out to people hurt them? Indubitably. I maintain that this is because he wants to be someone's favourite as he is, at his worst, with his hands covered in blood. And I think he should be. (Without contradicting or damaging, by comparison, the relationships between other characters, that's the tightrope we need to be weary of when making such things, of course.)

It's like this: love, in most relationships, is conditional: you don't owe your friend or your partner to continue to love them if the relationship changes, if you change, if you become violent etc. If my girlfriend started murdering puppies, I would stop loving her. Ideally, however a parent's love for their child is unconditional. That's very often unfortunately not the case, but ideally it'd be, it's really not great for a kid to have zero parents that love them unconditionally. And most importantly, it's not just about actual unconditional love, it's about it being perceived. So it doesn't matter in the debate if Bruce actually loves Jason in spite of the murder, it matters that Jason asks for confirmation of it at the end of UTH and receives a negative answer. (similar arguments to be made about Catherine loving Jason and dying of drug overdose and Willis going to jail and dying - it's the potential perceived abandonment of it that would matter, not their agency and actual love. And it's not a question of whether he would be angry at it so much as that he'd yearn and hurt for it. And of course Sheila didn't love him at all.) That's why he, upon learning about Mia and reaching previously unknown to man levels of projection*, tries to rally her with the hope that, because she's "so similar to him" she would understand him. That's why upon learning about Dick "killing" Blockbuster Jason, again projecting more violently than a bullet, Jason makes Dick into his new favourite person (god, the concept behind BiB has so much potential why did it have to suck so bad...) Anyway, Jason to me is a character with a very intense, very overwhelming conception of love both in who he loves and how, who struggles to understand that other people love and show it differently, and it makes so much sense for him to keep looking for a person who will love him unconditionally (something that's both very rare and not necessarily healthy since, again, most relationships aside from parent-child relationships do not and probably should not include unconditional love). This is particularly interesting in the context of him having bpd (again, using bpd because i'm focusing on the interpersonal dimension that's been mostly studied within that frame) because BPD often functions around a vicious circle of "is afraid of rejection/abandonment -> does maladaptive behaviour in attempt to prevent rejection/abandonment OR protect oneself by being the one to leave first" which is what leads to the instability in relationships. It's a doomed prophecy: i have maladaptive patterns that make me think my girlfriend is gonna leave me at any time, I keep demanding to see her phone, assuming she's cheating everytime she leaves and thus demonizing her even though I was glorifying her five minutes earlier" then she's going to leave me, which is gonna reinforce my thought pattern that everyone always leaves me. But that also means that in rare instances in which the other person in the interact, for whichever reason, sticks around through that, then these incorrect thought patterns begin to change through the sheet logic of extinction: if i think that people always leave me because of something fundamentally wrong with me and people don't leave then eventually the idea that people are doomed to abandon/reject me is going to lose its power. That's, btw, an important part of why therapy works.

(*that one's a joke, btw. He's not projecting onto mia and dick to levels impossible to mankind, just pretty intensely. Very human levels of projection, might I add'. Just to clarify.)

Now, be mindful: I'm not saying make Jason an abusive boyfriend. I'm not saying put him in a relationship where the other stays because they're afraid of him, that's not unconditional love or acceptance that's just fear. Of course, the ideal version of it would be Jason goes to therapy but because dc hates me specifically this is never gonna happen, but imagine him being in a relationship, romantic or otherwise, with someone who is as intense and "unwell" about him as he is about them. I'm not saying it would fix him (again, get him so goddamn therapy jfc) but it would change him. And just as it doesn't have to be healthy it doesn't have to be tragic.

I was asked a while ago my thoughts on Jason's current stagnancy as a character and if I thought he could become interesting again, and I said yes and talked about the directions I dream would be explored with his character and their potential. My answer hasn't changed, and it's completely compatible with this, but I will add: I think Jason as a character has largely and for long enough been defined through his yearning to be somebody's favourite, and that if you want his mode of interacting with others and dynamic with different characters to change then this is a very logical way to do it. And it would make a lot of sense for it to be the catalyst for other changes in his character (ie in his name or philosophy).

Get that boy into a super intense long-term codependent situationship, is what I'm saying. Please.

[samdeanjohn]

i understand why "female coding" is controversial and i even understand to an extent why people choose to make it an "everyone is equally wrong and ridiculous" problem. however, dean's atypical position in the narrative, especially considering what he may seem like aesthetically when we first meet him, has been a topic of discussion since 2005. dean enjoyers (including critic sheila o'malley) have for the most part always approached this with the nuance it deserves and alongside discussion of his (and the show's) masculinity. it's not treated as some forever get-out-of-jail card, but as a legitimate analysis of his character and his relationship with gender.

but as with many things about dean that make him fascinating and anything but a caricature that neatly fits into tropes, it inspires a certain insecurity from some fans who prefer sam. part of it comes from the belief that supernatural has one main character and therefore only one of them can be a complex individual, which of course would not apply even if jensen really was a supporting player and not a co-lead. still, the idea that purely by existing and being popular dean "steals" things from sam persists. under the guise of "reclaiming sam's main character status" dean's traits and relationships are frequently appropriated and given to sam in a way that distorts both characters beyond recognition. since the motivation is really contrarianism, the reasons why some things are interesting and resonant with dean get lost in the copy/paste process.

as to not derail with other examples, i will focus on the gender thing. it's really not a coincidence that with the post-spn finale fandom renaissance, along with dean appreciation there was a new push to diminish him in every possible way. i'm sympathetic about the disrespect and misplaced aggression shippers were exhibiting toward sam and jared. but the answer isn't to tear down dean to elevate sam who is awesome as he already is. especially from the side of fandom that mainly focuses on the brothers (plural!) and is theoretically supposed to like both of them. after dean's death , we got new waves of posts about his gender, sexuality and trauma and instead of simply contributing to the conversation or ignoring it, some people got mad. and we got endless gender essentialism in the form of "actually, sam is female coded. no, sam is a woman. every woman in the horror genre is sam. sam outliving dean who died young and beautiful to give him a heteronormative "happy" ending is sam being the final girl. she/her pronouns for sam in casual conversation. claiming sam textually suffered misogyny from dean who is the most cishet man on tv and nothing but a amalgamation of every "toxic male" trait ever", etc. all incredibly childish, exhausting and self righteous. it's unforgivable to watch 15 seasons of a show and come away thinking either brother was that simple.

when people discuss dean and femininity, they don't seek to cast dean as the one and only victim and everyone around him as a patriarchal abuser, it's not about guilting anyone into liking dean better, it's certainly not about female coding making dean incapable of having flaws or causing harm. and as horror is a primarily female genre, it's not about how no other male character in the show can occupy a female trope. this whole thing is misunderstanding why people are drawn to dean in the first place. it was never about wanting a perfect person to put on a pedestal as an example but about appreciating the complicated whole, thorns and all.

what's troubling about the "sam is a woman" rebuttal is that the word woman really becomes a synonym for perfect victim. it becomes all about being infantilized, having zero autonomy and never making a single choice. when it comes to actual female characters, audiences have always valued their agency even when a narrative has afforded them very little. at least the deer/lamb/rabbit sam trend is more honest about what it's attempting to twist him into. the more i see this phenomenon in whatever form it takes, the more i'm convinced it's really just about creating the blandest least dynamic character possible. and sam deserves so much better than that.

[payaso-pop]

Little notebook update for the keychains lmao

Nothing grand but i am interested in the idea of hand drawing the designs and scanning them, but i don't know if that will really work. Manufactures ask you to send the files in cmyk and i can't quite convert my colored pencils into that format lmao. If nothing else its fun for figuring out colors

The current plan is to do 6 characters:

Dean

Hank

Doc

Brock

Sheila

Monarch

24

Also debating on doing on helper and 21... Ghost 21 concept my beloved,,, the interest form would help figure out certain designs for characters, especially sheila who has 3 very different and iconic designs (and frankly doing a cheerleader one would be delightful-). Dean and hank's differ a lot across the series too!

If these sell well, maybe we can do more characters! A season 2 of sorts. A set of the order of the triad would be very good

[mordredisacoolname]

Could you do FEAR STREET characters reacting to male! Reader being a badass in front of others but soft and shy with them?

Love Your contento btw <3

Hey, sorry it took so long, I'm very busy but I try to dedicate as much time as I can to writing, hope you like it

FEAR STREET HEADCANONS - BEING BADASS WITH OTHERS BUT SOFT WITH THEM

MALE READER

Characters: Kate, Simon, Ziggy, Cindy, Nick

Sorry I ran out of inspiration for tommy and alice

CW: maybe some curse words here and there

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kate

-what made her interested in you in the first place was your strong personality

-she loves how you always stand up for yourself and others and never let anyone walk over you

-you became friends with simon, and sometimes hang out with the rest of the group

-you became close with Deena, which was hard to do

-kate decided to find out why does her friends like you so much

-she invited you to babysit with her, which was odd, but you didn't complain

-she saw how sweet you were with the kids

-it surprised her, given how you act in public

-she decided she likes that part if you too

-when you started dating everyone saw you as a power couple

-never daring to mess with you

-when the two of you hang out alone you were always gentle with her

-wraping your hand around her when cuddling

-playing with her hand

-always complimenting her

-she liked that she was the only one who gets to see this part of you

Simon

-you were the new worker at the pharmacy

-at first he thought you were scary, having resting bitch face

-never tolerating any bullshit from costumers

-of someone made a scene you stayed unphased, answering passive aggressively so said costumers would know how you feel but won't get you fired

-her was attracted to this, to you

-one of the many shifts you worked together were obnoxiously slow

-so he decided to chat you up

-finally

-two his surprise you had a great humor, and laughed at all of his jokes

-you were soft spoken with him

-next shift you even complimented him

-you started hanging out outside of work, and one day you just kissed

-you were high, but after you sobered up you told him you still wanted to explore things with him

-you stroked his hair, or gave him a gentle kiss, and he was surprised every single time

-he felt proud, that you felt comfortable enough with him to be yourself

Ziggy

-you became best friends the second you both stepped in the camp

-she Sunnyvales were mocking you

-you opened you mouth and so many insults flew out of it

-even Ziggy was flabbergasted

-she instantly took liking to you

-the same day she approached you and asked you if you want to help her with a prank

-of course you said yes

-you were inseparable

-doing everything together

-even sheila was scared to touch you when you were together

-you were both comfortable with each other, but it took you both a little time to complete open up

-ziggy thought that if she'll show her softness you would laugh at her

-but what she didn't expect was you making soft gestures at her first

-you sat in her cabin on the floor, backs leaning on the bed

-she was still eating the pastry you stall from the kitchen, and her hair stuck to her mouth

-so you gently wiped it away and tucked it behind her ear

-she looked at you shocked, but than smiled and continued eating

-later that night you somehow ended up laying on the floor, opposite to each other

-there was a comfortable silence

-ziggy sat up, scooching closer to you

-you made eye contact for a minute

-and than she kissed you

-its was quick, and Ziggy had a questioning waiting look on her face, waiting to see how you react

-you also sat up, touching your palm to her cheek and kissing her

-you decided to keep it casual on the outside

-no body had to know what you do behind closed doors

-of course Cindy picked up the moment you stepped out of the cabin

-oh how much more trouble will be coming to the camp

Cindy

-the first time she noticed you was at breakfast

-the Sunnyvale leaders were announcing something and you boo'd them

-they insulted you, but you didn't stay silent

-you made a snarky comment

-making shadyside laugh

-not just then, but every time you had a comeback

-you didn't let yourself get bullied

-you were strong and witty

-so Cindy had a hate love opinion on you

-she admired how you were never scared

-but also thought you were reckless

-you didn't talk much, but one night you had to do chores together

-she barley spoke to you

-when a younger shadysider came in to ask something

-you were so gentle with them

-you asked them what's wrong and reassured them that's ok

-after helping them you went back to work

-after that Cindy decided she misjudged you

-when made effort to talk to you more, and even defended you sometimes

-one night someone insulted her, and you defended her, making the person look stupid and just plain mean

-she later came to your cabin, thanking you

-you offered her to come in and hang out for a bit

-despite what she thought she actually really enjoyed your time together

-you started hanging out a lot, and after two weeks you decided you were tired of waiting and just confessed to her

-she was silent, and you were afraid you overstepped

-before you had the chance to apologize she leaned forward and kissed you

-a sweet and soft kiss

-she encouraged you to be more "soft" on the outside

-but she secretly enjoys every comeback of yours

-she's proud of you for standing up for yourself and your people

-she would never admit it but it turned her on

Nick

-you were in trouble again

-arguing with his younger brother

-so he tried handling it

-"I don't need your help thank you very much"

-after he came to tell you to behave, or you'll be thrown out

-you just blankly stared at him and walked away, leaving him confused

-he thought you were emotionless

-but than he saw you playing water war with the younger kids, laughing about "losing"

-after a particularly messy dinner, caused by Sunnyvales they forced you to clean it all up by yourself

-so he came to help you

-he were an asshole sure, but he was fair

-you silently cleaned the floor

-"thanks" you said

-not ashamed to accept help this time

-"why do you always get in trouble with my brother, you know if something happens they'll believe him"

-"I can't let you win, you already think we're weak losers, I gotta stand up for myself"

-the next few days you had brief interactions

- acknowledging each other and saying hi

-while you were playing a game, Sunnyvales vs shadysiders, you caught him hiding

-"c'mon sunny boy let's get you to jail"

-he stood up from his hiding place

-you stared at each other, not moving

-you though he's going to attempt to escape but instead he just kissed you hard

-you leaned into the kiss, who slowly turned slow and soft

-he pulled away "you know, I don't think they'll notice us missing for a bit" he smiled at you

-you ended up spending the whole night together

-trying to explain in the morning that you're both just that good at hiding

-you both knew that wasn't true

-you spend almost all the time together

-hiding from others

-snicking glances and touches

-at day you pretended to hate each other, lightly insulting each other

-but at night, when you were all alone, you say together quietly talking

-you were the first person nick could open up to, and he was yours

-you became each other's comfort

-he decided he can never lose you, and he'll do anything to keep you with him

[fanfic-obsessed]

Time of His life

These last few weeks I have been drawn to strange reel apps where they appear to be taking hour to two hour long Korean dramas, breaking them up into 1-3 minute chunks and charging way too much after the first sevenish free reel (14-21 minutes). I have been drawn in because the Facebook Algorithm has apparently been paid to show these apps to me and I am a sucker for drama. 

There was one that I watched last week where I thought, after it was done, ‘What if this…but Jaytim’.  All the normal warnings about how this is not canon apply.  Also I honestly don’t remember what the drama was called and everytime I watched clips the name of the characters was different. 

Let's start off with a synopsis of the drama. We start with the death of the Heroine who had an arranged marriage to a man that is both very rich/powerful and has some kind of supernatural affliction that causes madness filled fits.  Before her death, the Heroine did not like her husband. She considered him cold, controlling, and somewhat monstrous.  The Heroine is then killed by her uncle, who had raised her but all he and his family wanted from her was her money.  As a ghost the Heroine watches as her husband killed the people who killed her and her uncle, who paid for her to be killed. Then the husband surrounded her body with her favorite flowers and committed suicide by fire to join her in death.  Watching as a ghost, the Heroine realized that her husband truly loved her and felt regret for how she treated him. As the fire burns the Heroine wakes up years earlier, on the day she was meant to marry her husband. She vows to treat her husband better and cut off the greedy family that would kill her. As the drama goes on she falls in love with her husband and they navigate life with the schemes of the greedy family members as well as an ex of the husband who wants to get back together with him (the husband is not interested). There is a twist toward the end where it is revealed the Ex’s family was the one who poisoned the husband with a poison that caused the supernatural powers and the fit of madness.  At the end the husband also remembers what happened in the previous timeline, and the Heroine gets to apologize properly for her behavior and they live happily ever after.

Now Picture this: Jason is in the role of the heroine, Tim as the husband. I know what you are all thinking because I initially thought of Tim as the heroine as well. Bear with me a moment and let me set up how this works. 

In the initial timeline Jason does not go searching for his mother. Between suspecting Jason of murder, though Bruce does eventually clear him, and the normal growing pains of teenagehood Jason and Bruce relationship is damaged but his birth certificate is just a little bit more damaged. When Jason is 16 Willis Todd gets out of prison, he and Sheila reconnect and realize that their son is now part of the Wayne family.  At the same time Damian, aged up a few years (to be 10 years old when he arrived) to work for this timeline, arrives at Wayne manor and directs all of his aggression on the current Robin (Jason). Damian also, as it seems to Jason, replaces Jason in the entire family’s affection. 

Willis and Sheila use this, playing Jason’s insecurities to draw him just far away from the Waynes that they can use him to access the Wayne family fortune (a lot of ‘oh they must pity you’ or ‘you are not really family to them’ kinda things).  Shelia is good at maintaining that careful balance that would not see Jason break ties completely, and thus lose their access to the money, but also having Jason distrustful of the Wayne family and their motives, and likewise extremely trusting of Willis and Sheila. Jason even gives up Robin to Damian without being asked. 

The Batfam do realize something is going on for Jason to be pulling away, but they are trying to be respectful. By the time they realize how far he has pulled it seems impossible to bridge the gap.  In desperation Bruce arranges for Jason (age 20) to marry Tim Drake (let's pretend that this is considered a reasonable thing for Gotham Elite), hoping to tie him closer to the family. Willis and Sheila, realizing Tim Drake's net worth, encourage Jason to go through with it with the same disdain for Tims motives. 

In this one Tim never becomes a Robin, but instead his hacking skills get the attention of Oracle whom he apprentices as Apollo.  He is closer to the Birds of Prey than the Bat family in this but his character and skills are very well regarded by Batman and his brood. He has also been in love with Jason Todd since Tim was fifteen (Tim is two years younger than Jason). Jason is displeased and distrustful, borderline cruel to his new husband, encouraged by Willis and Sheila.  Tim continues to treat Jason well but Jason is predisposed to taking the worst possible interpretation of everything Tim, the batfam (now including Cass and Steph), and particularly Bruce ever does. 

This goes on until Jason is about 23 when he starts to lose trust in Willis and Sheila. Neither are stupid and realize that their gravy train is coming to an end. They decide to make one final score and drug Jason, selling him to a gang. The gang, in turn, sells Jason to the Joker (who was looking for someone to kill to blow off steam). The Joker beats him to death and is gone by the time that Apollo (Tim) finds Jason’s body. The entire process takes less than four hours. Unseen by the living Jason’s ghost is standing next to his corpse and gets to watch first hand as Apollo crumples at sight of Jaosn’s corpse and how carefully Tim picks up his body to bring him back to the manor. 

Jason gets a front row seat to how the Batfam grieves him, and how his death destroyed them. 

Though they all spread out to track down his murderers, it is Dick that finds the Joker. Dick beats the Joker to death with his bare hands but the Joker gets a few good hits in and Dick succumbs to his injuries moments after the Joker stops breathing. 

Cass, Steph, and Damian (who had grown to love Jason as his brother) hunt down the gang that had sold Jason to the Joker, even Cass has no intention of abiding by the no kill rule. In their grief they are reckless. Between the three of them they kill 90% of the Gang, but there are just too many and all three die with a wish to join their dead brother. Unseen Jason’s ghost is sobbing in the corner. 

It is Bruce Wayne, in the Batman suit but missing the cowl, that tracks down Willis and Sheila. It is Bruce and Batman together that breaks his no killing rule to slaughter the two people who had betrayed and hurt his son. The killing does the damage he always feared it would and sparked off a 12 hour rampage that ended with Commissioner Gordon having put Batman/Bruce down, permanently. 

Back at the manor Babs had been coordinating when needed between Tim, who had only left Jason’s body long enough to collect Jason’s favorite flowers, and the hunting teams. She listened while everyone fell. She was the one to report the successes and deaths. When everything else was done, Tim very calmly hired Deathstroke to kill the remainder of the gang, and gave both Barbara and Alfred a final out before his end game.  Neither left, there was no one left for them. 

Tim went to the room where Jason’s body was, unaware that Jason’s ghost was following behind.  He laid down with Jason’s corpse, and without flinching set the flowers, and subsequently Wayne manor, on fire, intent on joining Jason. Alfred and Barbara waiting on the floor below for the end. 

Jason, now outright sobbing, vowed that if he met any of them in the afterlife he would treat the mall so much better, seeing how much they loved him. 

Then Jason woke up. He was back at the morning of his Wedding to Tim Drake, and he remembered everything. He does not confront Willis or Sheila right away, knowing that ‘it came to me in a dream’ would not be accepted. However he decides that he will not be alone with either of his birth parents again. 

He still goes to marry Tim, but instead of seeing Tim as a cold, monstrous man trying to trap him, Jason realizes that his new husband is both smitten and shy, coming off as cold to hide his awkwardness. Frankly it is endearing. Since Tim stated in both timelines that he would not touch Jason without his consent, Jason decides to treat this as if they were dating, for all that they were married. Jason had to admit, there was something powerful in the fact that Jason could make this nearly all powerful man’s (at least in Gotham) brain ground to a halt with just a few teasing words and a smile. Even better was the times when Tim, rather than getting flustered, responded in kind with his own teasing smile. 

It turned out that, now that Jason was not up in arms, Tim was exceedingly easy to fall in love with. 

Jason also began to rebond with the family he had left behind. The first time he showed up for a family dinner, Tim in tow, it seemed like Dick would vibrate out of his seat, he was so excited. It was nice to know that, even beyond the grief of death he had been missed.  He even found himself mentioning that he was looking to go to college, though he was not sure for what yet. In the previous timeline he had brought the idea up to his biological parents who had shattered his confidence that he was capable. This time he got an overwhelmingly positive response and enthusiasm, with Dick teasing Bruce about dropping out of medical school.  Damian, 13 years old and approximately four apples tall, tells Jason that it is good that Jason is going to college so that Damian will have an actual respectable source for how good whatever college Jason goes to when the time comes.  Steph is cheering about possibly having a friend on campus, or someone to complain about classes with, while Bruce and Tim get into a play argument about who ‘gets’ to pay for Jason’s schooling (as in both are claiming that it is their privilege).

The B plot is, behind the scenes, Jason is working to distance himself from his bio parents without letting on that he knows they are using him or to let them do something that is so obvious that he can cut ties without having to explain (because he does not want to deal with I have memories of a future). He is careful not to meet with them alone any longer, but is also aware that, as Tims husband, his reputation and how he is viewed is somewhat more important than it used to be (No that Tim would care, but Jason had already hurt Tim enough in the other timeline, he didn’t want to do anything to cause him harm in this one).

If we wanted to lean fully into the source Drama, we could cast Ra’s Al Ghul as the ‘Ex’ (they were never together in anything but Ra’s delusions) trying to harm or humiliate Jason to clear the place at Tim’s side, to Tim’s obvious disgust.  

In this one Jason never picks up a mask again, having found he likes civilian life. But he bonds with his family and uses both Tim and Bruce’s money (with their full approval) to improve life in Crime Alley and the Bowery, notably doing it without gentrification.  Jason also discovers Duke and brings him home for Bruce to adopt (‘Get the batdoption papers, old man’ ‘I told Dick we were not calling them that...’). So any attempt by Willis and Sheila, or by Ra’s, to slander/humiliate Jason fails badly and keeps failing, because Jason is well liked at every level of society. Jason also gets to go to college, accidentally ending up on a watch list because he got into a PHD program in Gotham (In Theatre Arts, which is second only to Psychiatry  in ‘Degrees likely to result in a rogue, why do we keep offering these programs?’). 

On the day that Jason would have died in the original timeline, Tim and the rest of the Batfam (barring Duke) do get their memories of the original timeline. This results in a cuddle pile at the Manor where everyone needs to reassure themselves that Jason was still there. By that time Ra’s has been soundly removed from the picture (Possibly killed by Talia, no one knows). Willis and Sheila are back in jail for life for their crimes against Jason Drake-Wayne.

Then they get their happy ending.

[psychopathseraphim]

Hi! I love your tf2 fics. Can I request a sniper x reader where he and the reader casually talk in the base and turns out they have similar hobbies? Like when sniper used to be a big game hunter, so he has to have survival skills and know the nature well. The reader fishes, knows nature (plants, animals, mushrooms) but has never hunted so sniper invites her to teach her hunting over the weekend. They hunt a hare or something. I want this to be fluffy and sniper being genuinely impressed with the reader knowledge and her way around nature. I think he puts the character and brains way over looks and similarities between him and the reader are much more important, so they start to feel different about each other, sniper especially

Sniper x Reader | Hunting

Hello! So sorry this came out so late… nearly a week late, in fact. It’s midterms week at the moment and i figured i needed to focus on reviewing etc. still midterms so im still gonna be busy, but have this!! Hope you enjoy, anon. :)

Tbh, at first, i see sniper acting indifferent…towards you; he wouldnt particularly care about you— well, it’s not that he doesn’t care (if you were dying he’d try his best to help) you just werent anything special/different to him compared to the others

It wasnt until he overheard you talking with the rest about fishing, nature; particularly telling Engineer facts about nature, stories of what youve stumbled upon, that he realized you two shared similarities

He starts to approach you more often, asking about your experiences, if you camp, and you answer with confidence to everything—

“Gone fishin’?” He asked, “yep. Pretty good at it, actually,”

“Do campin’ trips?” He asked, “duh. That’s where I experienced most of those stories i told you,”

“I see… how about huntin’? Ever hunted before?”

“…”

Is shy about it, but would definitely invite you to a camping trip (including a lesson taught by him about hunting!)

You oblige, and the two of you immediately set a date— the day after! It was your week off anyways; you could do whatever you wanted

Car ride to the area’s fine; sniper likes to stay quiet and just play music. If he sees something interesting, like an animal in the wild or if he has a fact he was able to dig up, he’d speak up about it— otherwise he’d just let you sleep

You help him with setting up camp, and so the hunting begins: definitely very sweet about teaching you how to do things, what items to use. Appreciates your own input on things, LOVES when you ask questions and he gets to nerd about it and explain it

“So ya just gotta hold it like this, sheila,” — his favorite nickname for you! But he loves calling you by your first name too

“Mm… things a bit too heavy,” you were holding a sniper rifle—HIS. ‘Course it was going to be heavy

Then he goes up behind you, presses his chest against your back and helps you aim, helps you support the damn thing

By the end of this whole ordeal, you two go home content with a catch of one rabbit! One that sniper was definitely gonna teach you how to cook later into the day

He does get comfier with you after this, telling you his name and a bit of his backstory

He’s still so curious about you — wants to go on more trips or know more ‘bout you before considering confessing to you, but the man definitely has a crush on you!

[honeyspawn]

Real talk, I think Frank Pricely is a genuinely really interesting character.

So when we meet him in Black Friday, he is basically a cartoon capitalist supervillain. He's obsessing over money, he is condescending to Lex, and we get the impression that he's Mr. Krabs level of money-grubbing shitty boss. He gets a whole song where he revels in how much money he's going to make, and shows ambivalence to how dangerous black friday shopping can be. Then Feast or Famine happens, and something... changes. There's a visible shift on stage when he and the audience realize that he is no longer in control that's genuinely really eerie. Put a pin in that, cuz I'm gonna come back to it.

When when we're introduced to him in "Daddy", we get a much more complete image of who he is as a character. It's not that he's not a greedy and condescending person, because he definitely is, but that's not the foundation of his character. When we see Toy Zone outside of Black Friday, we see that it's a struggling small business, and a genuine passion project for Frank. It's not that Toy Zone is a means for financial success, but financial success is a means to keep Toy Zone operational.

Then there's his relationship with Lex. He's definitely snarky and condescending, but he also actually cares about her, and sees himself as a parental figure to her. He gives her advice that he feels is in her best interest, and shows her a lot of the "tough love" that he thinks Sheila should be showing Sherman. Lex is even one of the people he says sorry too when he's about to die, because he worries that he failed her. While I do think Lex has some level of respect for him, I never really get the vibe that she sees him this way; she seems to think of him as more of a hard ass, and she would absolutely leave Toy Zone the minute a better opportunity comes up. Her job at Toy Zone for her is more about her need to take care of her family. And this is significant, because Frank is a very lonely person. After his dog Buddy dies, he has no family left. He reminisces on his parents, who didn't support his passions. He thinks of himself as a father figure to Lex, because he has nobody else left in his life. I'm not necessarily saying that he's a good parental figure to Lex, he can be pretty selfish, and even denied her for a raise once he could afford it, knowing she damn well needs the money. It's clear though, that he's trying to look out for her more than her actual mother (low bar as it may be), and on some level, he does think he's helping her. Because she's all he has. Her and Toy Zone, and he's about to lose that too.

This is why Sheila is so appealing to him. She represents not only financial stability, but a chance to not be alone. He doesn't love her, and I think he knows it, but he could learn to love her. He could have love and money, and if that doesn't work out, at least he'd have money. That's what he thinks anyway. But again, he's not the one with the power.

When we first see him in Black Friday, we initially think Frank represents the corporations, but he doesn't. He's a small business owner, and can only support his passion by participating in capitalism. He is a retailer, not a CEO. And that's what puts him in so much danger in Black Friday. Capitalism treats him as disposable. And that's how he dies. Frank was just as much under Wiggly's influence as anyone else. He lived a lonely life, and the business he's prioritized over forming any lasting bonds with other people is about to go down the toilet. Then this little green doll comes along that's supposed to fix everything. He doesn't want to keep the Wiggly dolls, but he still thinks they're going to fix the holes. And once he's served his purpose, Wiggly disposes of him. And that's what Sheila tries to do, too. The only reason he survives in Daddy is that Sherman decides he still has value. It's honestly really haunting how these stories mirror each other.

[coraniaid]

20-22 for Buffy?

20) part of canon you found tedious or boring

Not sure how unpopular a take this is but I think the run of episodes starting from Season 4's Beer Bad and continuing up through Goodbye Iowa contains, with the obvious exception of Hush, some of the dullest episodes the show ever aired. Not all these episodes are necessarily bad -- the infamous Beer Bad itself is actually solid enough, for instance, though I think it's a clear step down from the first episodes of the season -- but regardless of quality they are all just kind of boring. And, well, many of them are bad: Wild at Heart and Pangs and Doomed are all worse than any Season 3 episode.

The general impression I had of Season 4 until last year was that, even if it didn't have the best overall arc, it was a very strong collection of individual episodes, but honestly now I'm not sure that's true. There certainly are some very good episodes in this season: The Freshman, Fear Itself, Hush, This Year's Girl, Who Are You?, Restless but I think there are an awful lot of duds too.

I simply don't care about Riley, or the Initiative, or the mystery of what's in room 314, and so much of this era of the show is predicated on the assumption that I do. And what's particularly frustrating is that I would have liked to see so much more of Buffy and Willow in college. The show had previously mined the experience of being in high school to pretty good effect, after all. But as the season progresses you can practically feel the writers' lose all interest in the fact that the show is now meant to be set in a place of learning. Other than Professor Walsh are there even any recurring professors? Are there any other named professors? (There are, but good luck remembering them.)

21) part of canon you think is overhyped

Once More With Feeling isn't bad by any means -- if nothing else, it's incredibly impressive on a technical level that they were even able to make something like this working on the show's budget and time scales -- but it's baffling that it regularly gets suggested as the show's best episode. It's at most the third best episode of Season 6 -- after Bargaining and Dead Things and probably three or four other episodes -- and it doesn't come close to my own top twenty for the show overall. The plot is paper thin, the lyrics can be painfully literal in a way that prevents any interestingly nuanced character work and I'm sorry but at least a third of the songs just aren't very good.

22) your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Could name a few characters here: Amy Madison. Kendra. Gwendolyn Post. And whatever happened to Sheila Martini? But I'll go with Buffy's actual canon relationship with her mother. Not the boring reductionism of 'is Joyce a good mom?' or the meek what-can-we-do? surrender that says that Joyce is just underwritten (because the show's writers were men! except for the ones who weren't, I guess), but a reading that takes Joyce seriously as a character and fills in the gaps and omissions in the text when necessary with the same sympathy and creativity that people have no trouble doing for the show's many, many underwritten male characters. I genuinely think Buffy's relationship with her mother is one of the show's three or four most important relationships when it comes to understanding who Buffy herself is as a person, and it baffles me that so few other people seem to appreciate it.

[southangel]

Hi! How's it going?

Can I get some headcanons about the main four with a twin sibling!reader? How would the dynamic between them and people around them look.

You can choose if they're identical or fraternal twins. 

Main 4 Being their Twin Sibling

Warnings: none

Notes: Platonic, gender-neutral as well! Will be fraternal twins, since identical twins are typically the same gender. A little rushed, wrote most of this late at night.

Stan Marsh

Being Stan’s twin would be fun, I think.

You’ll obviously look similar, but not so similar to the point where people bombard you guys with questions.

You would be the older one, by about a minute, and you would definitely tell all his friends about it.

He hates you for it.

Since you’re related to Stan, you’re also related to Shelley, meaning you both get attacked by her.

Luckily she’s a bit nicer on you, only because you’re friends aren’t as annoying as Stan’s.

You don’t really hangout with Stan and his friends unless they need you as a backround character for a game, otherwise you would be with your own friend group.

Your personalities are very similar, people could probably tell that you’re related by just that.

I feel like Stan would be the type to scam you out of favors, but quickly feel bad then do something in return for you.

You used to both walk into school together, but after moving onto the farm and having to wear those Hemp shirts, it was embarrassing.

You both agreed that two people with Hemp shirts walking together was more embarrassing than one, so you split up.

You would be friends with Wendy, since gossiping about Stan is so fun for you both.

Imagine you and Stan both doing homework together, staring at the worksheet before eventually giving up.

You guys played Terrance and Philip on the TV afterwards, so it was okay.

“Tell me if Wendy says anything bad about me, please?”

Kyle Broflovski

Being Kyle’s twin sibling would be interesting.

Kyle would be the older one by about 3 minutes, but he isn’t obnoxious about it and doesn’t care.

Kyle tends to be the smarter one, so he wouldn’t mind tutoring or explaining every bit of work to you, you steal his answers when he isn’t looking.

You used to hang out with Kyle and his friends, then Cartman started going after you as well even though he hasn’t before.

If you ever get a partner with a stable relationship, Kyle would be happy for you, but I feel like he would be a little jealous since his romantic luck is absolute shit.

You guys are the types of twins where everyone can tell that you’re siblings, and it’s super annoying getting asked the same questions everyday.

Sheila would probably make you guys share a room, and you both hate it.

I know she would be the type of mom to dress you guys up in matching outfits when you guys were younger as well.

You and Kyle would be the type of twins that talk at the same time, doesn’t matter if you say the same things or not.

It’s so bad that some people swear you can mind communicate, you wish.

The only bad apart about being Kyle’s twin is that you’re practically engaged in everything he does, which is really annoying.

“Mom, do we really have to be matching?”

Kenny Mccormick

I think having Kenny as your twin sibling would be really nice.

Although your household and environment at home really isn’t great, you both still make the most of it.

You guys might share clothes, not often though.

Kenny is older than you by 5 minutes, bigger gap than the rest, but he genuinely doesn’t care.

You guys don’t really look alike that much, so it’s only when they realize the last names are the same that they notice you guys are siblings.

It’s a good thing nobody notices though, or else the questions would be a hassle.

You and Kenny would definitely each take turns taking care of Karen, hanging out with her or getting her small things from time to time.

I feel like Kenny sees you as the other half of him in some way, not because you’re his twin, it’s because you’re his twin.

He would take you down to work at City Wok, so that you guys could make some extra money.

You and Kenny both payed half and half for that Sony PSP, using your saved money from City Wok.

You guys fight over the PSP daily, not bothering to make some actual working time distribution on the device.

You would definitely find Kenny cheesing all the time, in the act.

All you do is walk away because you don’t really care, you just hope he doesn’t get into too much trouble.

“Do you like it, Karen? Me and Y/N saved up for it.”

Eric Cartman

Cartman definitely hates you, partially.

You’re his twin, and he sees that as a terrible thing because of how he exaggerates having to be stuck to you all the time.

You DEFINITELY don’t look like Cartman, at all.

Maybe there’s only some similar features, but you should be glad to not look the slightest similar to him:

Cartman would make fun of you for being to nice, than start screaming at you once you become annoying like him.

He can’t make up his mind over anything, and it only makes him angrier when he thinks about how you’re older, only by a minute.

You’re embarrassed about being related to him, but at least you kind of secret information to blackmail him with if he ever gets too annoying.

Liane let’s you guys do whatever you want, as long as you and Cartman are together most of the time.

You guys are forced to become partners all the time in projects and school assignments, and you almost always are the loudest ones in the room because of your arguments.

You genuinely feel that living with Cartman is like hell on earth, and you can only assume he feels the same but with amplified hatred.

Sometimes it seems like he likes you though, it’s weird.

One time you were coming back from a sleepover and he came to hug you, talking about how he missed you sooo much, he made you do his homework in return for being affectionate.

If you ever get a love interest or partner, Cartman is already on his way to asking everything about them.

It’s not like he cares, he does, he just wants to know who you’re really talking with.

He’ll probably be really weird about it for the first week, then get over it and start being annoying once more.

“You took a really long time at that sleepover, now go do my homework.”

[foggyinphx]

Jumble of thoughts - Huh???? Edition

We live in the worst timeline, y'all... let me get some thoughts out of the way before I get to that elephant in the room:

I will say this is the most interesting the side characters have been all season. Sheila's guilty betrayal of the commissioner. Daniel going full Fisk Jr evil. Heather officially joining the dark side.

On-purpose blackout leading to martial law leading to Matt and his band of merry vigilantes sets up a good premise for season 2

Kirsten gets to take the legal reins on the Red Hook loophole. Hopefully that will actually come to fruition and not happen entirely off-screen

Hated the slo-mo in the apartment fight. Liked the banter/arguing between Matt and Frank.

I dooo nooot care about Karedevil/Kastle and am high key annoyed at how much those scenes kept circling back to it. And frankly I'm not sorry if that hurts anyones feelings.

I'm glad Matt flat out said he didn't know who he was without Foggy. It's exactly how Foggy felt in season 3. They are two halves of one whole. Nelson and Murdock. Avocados at Law.

Ok... back to the elephant:

WHAT THE FUCK YOU GUYS. I knew it was a bad sign when he wasn't in the credits and then.... aaaaaagghhhhhhhh!!

There are two things keeping me going right now. (Although I totally don't blame anyone who rage quits at this point and nopes out of watching season 2.) Point One: Elden is confirmed for season 2. That's a flat out fact. I'll take him no matter what the context is, I genuinely don't care at this point. Pont Two: I do enjoy watching Charlie. He's very good.

But back to point one: if it's just for flashbacks, flashbacks to WHAT???? What part of this narrative would be served by flashbacks? None of it that I can tell. If it's for dreams, Matt has faced head first his issues at the end of this episode, again, what narrative purpose would it serve? Finally, if it's hallucinations, half of that theory hinges on Matthew Lillard being cast as Mr Fear, which is still completely unknown 🙄. Get back to me when factual information supports it, good grief.

One more thing: Vanessa asked Dex to kill Benny AND Foggy. DEX DIDN'T KILL BENNY. Why? And we still don't know why Dex shot Foggy in the chest! If the answer is genuinely "because the writers needed to create tension for the fight", that's literally the laziest, stupidest writing decision they could have made. I HAVE to believe this many professional writers wouldn't be that stupid and couldn't write their way out of a situation literally ALL OF THEM DIDN'T WANT.

Sorry, I need to go scream into a pillow...

[spiritsglade]

hi hi helloooo the promised ditf ask

i would like to know your thoughts on!!

 “All life’s a game” (if you have any, its not as popular or iconic of a line but it means very much to me)

bruce and the choices he makes throughout the comic

sheila haywood. anything about sheila. her relationship with jason, the story she told, her actions before/during death literally anything

this

and anything else you want to talk about!!

HI HELLO DON'T WORRY ABOUT HOW LONG THIS TOOK ME TO RESPOND TO. eventually i will dig up the utrh discussion reblog chain and add to that too. it'll happen (trust).

ANYWAY. lets dive in.

All life's a game

unfortunately i do not have many thoughts but i bet i could synthesize something from scratch really quick. okay from a doylist perspective i could see this being starlin's way of trying to make jason more hateable. like oh this kid doesn't get that things are serious. idiot.

in general it's a line that implies that... y'know. life doesn't matter?? like there's a level of dismissiveness to it. it's not that serious/that deep/just a game. this can be read as jason thinking that he's invincible. like the main character in a video game he's destined to win. a callousness towards death. some sort of apathy or nihilism thing.

jason is getting more reckless at this point. more uncaring of his own life. we're a little bit out from the impact of diplomat's son + consequences. he is exhibiting suicidal behavior right now. in that passive way where you'll drive without a seatbelt or take more risks because you don't really care if you bite it.

so i think that attitude makes sense perhaps!! why he'd be like that. perhaps some way of trying to cope? esp since at this point jaybin might be just like. too jaded by everything. between judy n gloria n batman the cult.

idk i'm just spitballing here. remember when he made a lot of references to it all being a game in hush also. i don't think there's actually any worthwhile parallel there but woah same thing happening twice !! notice it.

bruce & choices

OKAY THIS IS INTERESTING. i'm gesturing at PROVE YOU LOVE ME right now. that's like my thesis on bruce & choices, at least in terms of jason. bruce chooses mission over jason every time. the one time he didn't was that cherished memory from rhato in which he did choose to take care of sick jason over patrolling gotham (aw). and also this other time we'll discuss shortly.

i'm not pulling out citations for this but i do find it really really interesting how starlin specifically highlights that bruce is making a choice between the mission and jason like. multiple times. stop the joker's nuke or go after that kid of yours that ran away. prioritize that medical convoy about to unknowing joker venom entire villages or saving your son's mother. except the last time.

does he go after the joker & co or does he go to the warehouse to check on jason? he checks on jason!!! but it's too fucking late. L.

anyway i don't think bruce is like ever. necessarily wrong in making these choices. yes i would also choose to stop the guy who kills people for fun when he has a nuke. i would also prioritize that over my hypercompetent child who will probably be okay with me not supervising him for a while. but it DOES speak to this general pattern of bruce choosing the mission over his kids, which is something he does over and over and over and--

anyway bruce choosing jason comes too little too late not because he was wrong for prioritizing the medical convoys, not because he was wrong for stopping the nuke, but because the way he has failed jason is a deeper underlying rot that cannot be so easily cured.

he went wrong when he created an environment where jason would rather run halfway across the world for a woman he's never met than stay with bruce. aditf is a tragedy and the dominoes were already in place by the time it started.

sheila haywood

girl this prompt is too broad okay.

sheila chooses herself over jason when she invites him into the warehouse & when she lies to him & when she pulls a gun on him & when she pulled out that cigarette to smoke instead of looking at him & in the end ends up choosing trying to save him too over her self preservation but it's too little too late <3 wow that's crazy a parent choosing parent over their own priorities at the last minute when it's already too late that's crazy where have i heard this before. bruce & sheila parallels I SEE YOU.

um. ossification is my sheila haywood manifesto. at least regarding how jason feels about her. tl;dr he could never hate her. how did sheila feel about jason? i think her dying words summed it up. he's a good kid and she doesn't deserve him. and he must've loved his mom (catherine) so much.

idc what everyone else is out there theorizing about sheila gave birth to jason. and catherine is jason's mom. but jason will always think of sheila as his mom despite her really not deserving the title.

i do not care at all for the implication that she had to leave gotham because she fucked up an illegal abortion starlin i am killing you. HOWEVER. i LOVE that she is a selfish bitch (i say bitch affectionately) who puts herself and her self-preservation first <3 embezzling from a FAMINE RELIEF CAMP. GIRL WHY. she's so awful. i love her.

anyway i also appreciate that she's like a mundane kind of evil. like oh she's friendly she's nice she is a qualified doctor who is helping. and she agonizes over what the joker is making her do. and that one human moment she has where she tells jason we'll get out of here. together. BUT SHE STILL WENT ALONG WITH THE JOKER'S PLAN!! SHE PULLED THE GUN ON JASON. her turning around for jason is not something that absolves or redeems her. it's just another nugget of her being an awful horrible but ultimately human person!!

anyway i don't remember the entirety of what she told jason about the circumstances of his birth but from what i remember i think she believes what she's saying. even if she's omitting key information. idk the whole 'sheila was lying about being jason's bio mom' thing is a theory that makes sense i guess but never quite clicked for me.

shiva vs. bruce

wow i don't remember this part of ditf at all LMAO. anyway i think helping bruce was instinctive here because even though jason ran away from him that is still his dad. it's the same reason why jason did not blow that man up in the batmobile. jason loves cares about cherishes bruce. and he will never be able to let go of that no matter how much he hates bruce in the meantime. sad for him.

on some level i think it's also like bruce is the known ally and shiva is the unknown third party who might not even actually be jason's mom. jason knows he can talk bruce down from murder if necessary (has done this before) like the choice is so very obvious. like can you imagine any version of jason that actually assists shiva here? no. because he wouldn't do that. it's certainly interesting that he contemplated doing so though, for however short a time.

free space

jason did not fuckign die to smoke inhalation. that is all.

okay actually i do have more to talk about.

i think we need to talk more about how willis knows all these women. when did he meet lady shiva i wanna hear that story.

that entire joker superman united nations plot is so fucking dumb and should be forgotten forever and i HATE every time someone brings it up without context. but i hate acknowledging the actual comic EVEN MORE so i'm in quite the bind here. if there is one thing i could delete from dc forever i think it would be the 2nd half of 428 and the entirety of 429. ditf stopped being a relevant foundational jason todd comic after the funeral just ignore everything else i am begging you.

joker killing all his henchmen with joker toxin in batman #428 vs. lost days #1 having the loa torture and interrogate joker goons who were present at robin's beating. this is a contradiction. that i was obsessed with jason enough to notice so now i am telling you about it too.

in conclusion. sheila haywood :thumbsup:

[glitter-stained]

I keep seeing posts about how Jason should have chara development that makes sense regarding his morals and stop killing because of that rather than because Bruce told him to stop and like - it's not like I disagree. Of course, that would be great. Of course I want him to be written his age by writers that like him and have development that makes sense and work with Bruce and Dick and evolve on his own as a person.

But the thing is.

A few weeks ago I saw a critique of His Dark Materials that was so absurdly daft it made me want to peel my skin off. For context, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman is a children/young adult book set in fantasy worlds that doubles as a retelling of Paradise Lost in which Lucifer wins, and criticism of christianism is preponderant in it. (This will spoil a good part of book 1 of HDM btw). I'm far from a HDM fan, I saw a few episodes of the adaptation and read it once when I was ten and thought the characters and world was fun but the rhythm in the 2nd and 3rd books was off and I didn't like the ending, so like it was fun but I definitely not a re-read for me. But the point is, this critique clearly had a degree in not getting the fucking point, because his arguments against the books clearly stemmed from an inability to shift his viewpoint out of the christian framework (I promise this is still a Jason post). One of his most ludicrous argument was the lack of character depth in HDM. This is particularly silly because one of the main characters, Mrs Coulters, is one of the most interesting complex characters I've ever seen in fiction. Now Mrs Coulters is interesting because she is a bad guy. Like, tortures and kills children level of bad guy. She doesn't magically grow to sacrifice herself in the name of martyrdom to repent for her sins or something silly like that; but still, she sometimes does very good, helpful things for the characters, because the tension between her character is between her ambition (and her faith though that's more questionable) and her motherhood, as she truly loves and cares for her daughter, one of the protagonists, and wants a better, safer world for her. Now the critique claimed that there was no character depth because there was no concept of sin and no redemption arcs in the books- but those are utterly Christian concepts, so of course they wouldn't be endorsed by a book that challenges their validity. Just because Mrs Coulters doesn't have a redemption arc doesn't mean she isn't deep; and the fact that she does good things not out of morality but out of love is what makes her a fascinating character.

So, thinking about that asinine critique, I was suddenly struck with the realization that Jason is somehow similar to Mrs Coulters in that he is a very loving person who tends to put his personal connexions above everything else (of course, he doesn't experiment on and torture children, that's not what I'm saying). My point is, I don't think why we shouldn't have a Jason who evolves not moved by his morals (though he has them and they matter) but by his love. The point of Death in the Family is Jason wanted to be loved and have a family and trying to shield Sheila's body with his and telling her he loved her. The point of UTRH is Jason doing horrible things in the most theatrical, strategically planned mental breakdown as begging for proof of love because he can't reconcile being loved in a different way that he loves and because he can't understand someone putting their moral code over love. And as much as RHATO #25 fills me up with dread, I have to say I love Jason's behaviour in that final stint. "I am my father's son" holy shit what a line. Jason is Willis' son and because of his filial love, his loyalty demands he avenges him. Jason is Bruce's son and because of his filial love, his loyalty demands that he does not kill. Jason almost murders Willis' murderer with a blank bullet and then when Bruce beats hims halfway to death he doesn't defend himself, doesn't fight back (like, one punch but come on, we've seen him fight, he just gives up). That right there? Hate to say it with how questionable RHATO's Jason is in general, but that's peak characterization. The conflict is entirely about Jason's conception of love, family and worldview, and it's deep and interesting and has nothing to do with morality. I want Jason storylines that explore that. I want Jason to work with the batfam in stories that make sense, I want the writers to acknowledge him as a victim and trauma survivor and allow him to grow from there instead of demonizing his mental illness, I want him to stop killing out of love and I want him to allow himself to love in healthier ways and for the width of his love to spread exponentially and for that to affect his behaviour and worldview.

And that's not just because I like Mrs Coulters and dislike the idea of holier than though moral characters! The christic symbolism Jason is crystal clear (especially in Lost Days), but it's not just about Jason: Talia is associated with Mary (which makes sleeping with him that much more obviously incestuous and horrible and ooc), Joker is the Devil and Bruce, of course, is God (which begs such interesting questions about the Holy Spirit - Robin maybe? To explore at a later date). Now, everybody's experience with Christianity differs wildly, but the way I learnt it growing up in catholic culture was basically God being an Authority of Judgement and Law, strict and all about morality; while Jesus is about love, unconditional love, even and especially the sinners and the damned (and as for the devil Lucifer is a fallen angel who fell after losing to God, and Satan is the demonic incarnation of temptation ain't that interesting). So I would argue that by having Jason kill or not kill out of love for his family, Jason is already his own character with autonomous thought process, independent morals and original interesting values that are a breath of fresh air in the world of superhero which is all about moral codes. Additionally, I think it's interesting and full of potential (and hope) that that very thing is why Jason and Bruce are held in opposition so often when in christianism they are two sides of the same coin.

TLDR: Jason going through character development that doesn't involve an evolution of his moral code is a great idea and if executed properly should give us fascinating stories with one of the most interesting characters in the DC universe, I used to think he should get a sort of "redemption arc" after UTRH where he questions his moral code but now I feel like I'm stuck in the same Christian/superhero framework as the pedantic guy who didn't understand His Dark Materials and I refuse to agree with them about anything so now I'm a hardcore "love over morals" Jason girlie. Obviously I still think moral code development would be a good and interesting storyline and better than anything DC is giving us rn, but I think we could do even better without it.

(also Star Sapphire Jason ftw)

[i-heart-hxh]

kurapika anon back again!! i would love to know more about your thoughts on the troupe not being fully responsible for the death of the kurta.

personally, i see it more as they committed the actual murder, but someone was pulling the strings, whether that be through the pariston/sheila theory, or tserriednich. especially considering they seem to be under the impression that it’s some kind of revenge on the kurta, while the kurta have been peaceful for a very long time by the time they were massacred.

i saw someone on reddit make the theory that the kurta were the ones that caused meteor city to be so broken down to begin with, but that would be so long ago that i think it would be unreasonable for the troupe to still act on it. possibly chrollo was lied to about that being the case? or falsely told that the kurta were planning an attack?

Hi again!

So, I will say that my theories are all a bit vague, more like a bunch of puzzle pieces than a complete picture, but I'll share my thoughts nonetheless! If anyone else has additions or more insight, feel free to add on--there's so much to consider on this topic, and I don't feel like I've considered every single piece of evidence there is out there.

For a long time, I've felt that there's uncertainty around the Phantom Troupe's actions and the Kurta massacre. For one thing, we've never been shown any images of the Phantom Troupe being involved, nor did any characters we know of directly witness them killing the Kurta, and Uvo initially doesn't remember the Kurta when asked about them (he does when he sees Kurapika's eyes, but even then it seems a little odd). The way the Kurta massacre is set up seems intentionally vague all around, which makes me think there are pieces of the puzzle Togashi has been keeping from us.

He remembers enough where it's entirely possible they did do it or at least heard about it in depth, but also remember the Phantom Troupe started out as an acting troupe. It's possible they either a) did it after being given false information or were manipulated into it, or b) took credit for it for some reason even though they weren't involved. I lean more towards a), but b) is also possible.

I also feel like, the Phantom Troupe are clearly not morally upstanding citizens, to put it mildly, but as we've seen them are they truly capable of a full-on intentional massacre of innocent people, including children, for the sake of money/trophies? Most of the violence we've seen from them has been towards mafia and Chimera Ants. I mean, Feitan does torture people as a hobby and Chrollo kills a whole bunch of audience members in his fight with Hisoka, among other examples, so it's not like it's impossible to even consider they would ever do such a thing, but I'm just somewhat skeptical nonetheless.

The Phantom Troupe backstory threw even more uncertainty into the mix for me. Sarasa is a victim in a similar way to the Kurta, and as of yet the jump between where the Phantom Troupe left off in the flashback and the way the Kurta are killed seems strange. It's likely we'll get something more to fill that gap and explain how this development happened in the manga going forward, but, there's just something about it that seems "off" to me. How did this group of people go from wanting to find the murderers of their friend--albeit at all costs, and saying they are willing to become the villains and kill people in order to get revenge--to a group of people who may have murdered 100+ people for the sake of trophies, similar to what happened to Sarasa? That doesn't match their stated aims, and while it's possible they simply became more and more twisted by going down their road of revenge, I feel like there's more to it. It's interesting either way, so if that is the case, I'll accept it, but I feel like we're missing something major.

Note that they're trying to become so fearsome that people stay away from Meteor City and the people can be safer there/not preyed upon, so that would give them a reason to maybe take credit for what happened to the Kurta even if they weren't involved. And again, they started off as an acting troupe...

I also have had a suspicion for a long time that, with the way Kurapika's powers are set up specifically for the Phantom Troupe, he might eventually end up in a situation where, oops, the Phantom Troupe is not his target after all in order to get what he wants! It feels like a very Togashi kind of irony, and will put him in a difficult position.

Tserriednich is shown with a head above his throne in addition to the scarlet eyes, and his nen beast has a child's head inside of it that looks suspiciously like Pairo's. I think it's very possible Tserriednich or mafia surrounding him were involved in the acquisition of the scarlet eyes. It's possible either the Phantom Troupe were baited or manipulated into killing the Kurta in some way (told that the Kurta were responsible for Sarasa's death and the missing children in Meteor City, for instance), or that they took credit for it in order to bolster their own image as fearsome villains in order to reach their aims.

I also feel like Tserriednich is a direct representation of what Kurapika (and to a certain extent, the Troupe too, at least in the past) resents and abhors--the wanton murder of human beings for reasons of aesthetics, trophies, and "art." So to me, it makes sense he would be Kurapika's ultimate antagonist rather than the Troupe, who in a way are weirdly similar to Kurapika, or at the very least started out that way. If Tserriednich was somehow involved with what happened to Sarasa/the children of Meteor City as well (assuming the timeline supports such a thing, and I'm not totally certain it does), it's even possible Kurapika and the Troupe could end up on the same side, both trying to take Tserriednich down.

There's also the question of Sheila... Like I pointed out in this post, I'm very curious about this panel of her turning away from the Troupe and what it means.

I'm not totally sure I buy the Sheila = Pariston theories (though I haven't ruled it out either), but something is up with Sheila for sure, especially because of her appearance later with Kurapika and Pairo before the Kurta massacre. It's possible she lured someone there, possibly not the Phantom Troupe but maybe mafia members instead--maybe the same mafia members who murdered Sarasa? Or maybe she did pass the info to the Phantom Troupe--but it is weird that here she's shown going away from them with such a sad and complicated expression (as if maybe she were involved with what happened to Sarasa in some way), so it seems odd for her to be working with them later.

@subdee did a great post on this topic as well that has some additional thoughts and evidence as well, so I recommend checking that out!

Ultimately, I think there's a lot of doubt and mystery surrounding the Kurta Massacre, and I do feel like the series is setting up the idea of Tserriednich being the final hurdle for Kurapika to take down. There are a lot of possibilities still for exactly what happened to the Kurta and also for what will happen in the future with Kurapika and the Phantom Troupe, but I do feel like we're still missing a few puzzle pieces that will (hopefully) soon become clear. I do think this arc is going to be the end for the major plots of Kurapika, the Phantom Troupe, and Tserriednich, so I'm very curious and excited for how things will pan out!

[richea]

Tales of Hearts Worldbuilding

There's a lot of worldbuilding in Hearts that's either very obscure within its game, blatantly wasn't explained in it at all, and in a number of cases, was in DS and removed from R.

I skimmed the glossary from its guidebook and jotted down some interesting details from it that people might not know about the game. This isn't a full study on Hearts' worldbuilding, as this is only information borrowed from that specific book, and I only included things that I think people would be interested in knowing about. This excludes really obvious information that everyone probably knows or is easily found in a casual Hearts playthrough (though I did include some of it), and random pointless things like the fact that there's sheep in Layve who produce tea milk. (That stuff is fun too, but this post took me long enough to put together!)

Also, this post uses my own preferred romanizations for everything, as we can all agree that the localization was a huge mess.

If you enjoy this post and want more random Hearts trivia, check out Aera's old post too!

Characters

Side character ages: Creed (20), Fluora (21), Incarose (19), Seraph Bros (25), Corundum (10), Grossular (50), Kornerupine (44), Striegov (37), Zirconia (61), Byrox (22), Paraiba (20), Labrador (39). (Peridot is also 19.)

Shing is the youngest in the playable party at only 16. (In R he’s the youngest tied with Chalcedony)

Kohaku has such a strong, natural affinity for hugging people that this feeling was embedded in her even when she lost her emotions and ability to talk. She also gained her fear of heights from falling out a window once.

Lithia told Kohaku and Hisui to leave Norqueen “to find the Forest of Thorns”.

Kohaku and Hisui’s dad is dead. He died when Hisui was “very young” like Iola did.

Hisui can’t swim due to his upbringing in a snowy region.

Kunzite was injured in a fight with Incarose 170 years prior to the story, and then was held by the imperial army. This is the state the party meets him in. In order to reboot him, Lithia passed along this chant to Kohaku to recite: “Shape of man cast from iron’s true flame. With a solid bronze soul, and pure mercury veins. Swear on Quartz’s white moonlight, that you shall be our shield, and our sword, and our might. Platinum heart etched with a Quartz name, run so as to give life to your metal frame.”

Incarose was named by Creed after her eyes. She has 7 bodies in total but by the time Creed gets his body back she’s down to 4.

The person who made Corundum and the Seraph Bros was a famous Quartz named Eusite. Despite his genius, a lot of his mechanoids had varying defects (like Chlorseraph does) and they were scrapped a lot.

When the Seraph Bros were installed with their synthetic Spirias, they had a defect that made them assault everything around them. They were going to be disposed of but Fluora took them under her wing and made them her knights. This is why Clinoseraph feels such strong loyalty to her.

Fluora named the Seraph Bros after a famous bird known as the seraph.

Iola used to be of the Velleia faith. The details of her death are that after being injured by Creed, she fled to the land that would later be known as Norqueen, made the barrier around the area, gave birth to Kohaku, and then died shortly after. Her sister Sheila is actually the one who named (and subsequently raised) Kohaku, after the Kohakuzakura tree.

Sheila was a follower of the old Velleian teachings, but Arkham labeled her and others who follow it a heretic and denounced them when forming his “new” Velleia teachings. Due to this Sheila blames him and the church for Iola’s death and distrusts the Crystal Knights. Despite her harsh attitude in the story and as chief, she’s actually quite a nice woman who cherishes Kohaku and Hisui, and every year she treats the villagers to handmade sakura mochi.

Dona lost her emotions from the strain of transferring Creed to Shing, was brought to Seable by Zektz, and then died at some point during Shing’s early childhood. The villagers remembered her for being a quaint, kind woman but before she lost her emotions, she was very rowdy and crude, to the point that Iola once scoffed about her attitude in front of Zektz. Nobody knew who Shing’s father was, but Zektz suspected that he was a man who was likeminded to Dona and dedicated to a life of battle.

Silver was only 29 years old despite his grey hair and his high military rank. A lot of his actions (and role as Garnet) can be explained by his hatred of the military, after they forced him to have his wife and daughter present for a military Will Cannon experiment that took Pearl's life.

Despite Silver’s military ranking, Pearl was a very ordinary woman who was family-oriented.

Lapis was in a coma for 3 years.

Arago looks out for Helio “as if his own family” whenever Beryl leaves her alone in Blanche.

Helio was a famous nurse in her youth. (She doesn’t have an entry in the guides; this info is taken from an unnamed NPC text in game and felt like a shame not to include.)

The reason Chen had his eye on Beryl is that he actually used to paint himself, but he gave up on his dream and tried to support hers instead.

Sango’s unmarried and Chen has tried 99 times to get her a man to marry, but she’s just uninterested. She also can’t sleep without hugging a plushie despite her strong personality.

Ecaille was brought in to Chen by his daughter Sango. Despite choosing to stay as Chen’s secretary after getting her memories back, she does accept Ameth’s proposal.

The first emperor of the Max Empire was named Chrosite de Rais. He also sponsored the coliseum and reigned as champion for a decade, from the 1st to the 10th. The name Lion Grand Prix later came from the lion crest that was affixed to him.

Diamante is the name of the philosopher who defined what a Spiria is.

Tetsu Hagane tells the tale of his three sins: the Sin of Love (making women in his family cry by being mean to them), the Sin of Grief (making his "blood brother" sad by accidentally leaving the window open and a cat eating his pet goldfish), and the Sin of Power (flaunting his strength by telling the tale of him taking down a xerom despite not being a Somatic).

Species

Powerhogs (the pigs you can find in Shing's hometown) are a medium-sized variety of rappig (popularly known from Abyss). They're kept as pets but the adult males are known to be as ferocious as monsters.

The eloi are a species that lives on an island north of Marquise. They have strong vitality and powerful Spiria. Thanks to the proto xerom Lisia, who wanted to exploit those Spiria, they're almost extinct.

Windum is an eloi who considers himself an "intellectually, culturally advanced species" of eloi. His favorite food is mabo curry. He develops the Sorcerer's Ring for the party and tasks the party with taking down Lisia and saving his brethren.

Quartzia had “mocking things” as pets. They were loyal to their masters and could breathe fire. This is a reference to Mieu from Abyss. This is one of three Abyss mascot references in the game (along with Barrelow as “Bellow” in this game, and Tokunaga.)

The DS version has a variety of monster known literally as “shadows monsters”. These are clumps of black mass that personify as monsters (birds, wolves, blobs, etc.). They’re an “embodiment of fear”. They’re similar to xerom but differ in that they vanish once their feeling of fear disappears. (As a gameplay mechanic, these are what the overworld enemies in the game are.)

Lore

Asteria (Shing’s Soma) has the same name as a flower that Lithia, Creed and Fluora planted on Quartzia, which was said to represent the bonds between people. The name means “shining star”.

Kunzite’s Soma, Vex, has the meaning of “knight of antiquity” in the ancient language. There’s a fairy tale written about it called the “Four-Armed Beast”.

The "Forest of Thorns" project was proposed by Fluora, but was mocked by other Quartz for the fact that Soma Links were never formed despite how many experiments she ran. (This is why Lithia is so in awe of the party's ability to Soma Link throughout the story.)

The Quartz knew about Volgajoz, the dragon that lives in Bamel Volcano.

Gardenia spans over 5,000km. The reason it went out of control is because its synthetic Spiria, which was based on Creed's, craved loved and absorbed everything around it instead of just the feelings of strife and war that it was intended to.

Mechanoids were made by the Quartz as their servants. They helped them in their daily lives, doing menial tasks, to researching, to protecting them; anything the Quartz could think of. Some of them were affixed with synthetic Spiria (like Kunzite) though only the special ones (likes ones intended to be personal bodyguards for special people), as most of them are just regular androids. Jacks help with daily tasks such as cooking and cleaning, Queens excel in Will Artes, Kings are non-humanoid, Jokers excel in research skills and Aces excel in combat. Kunzite is a Jack and in fact was not really intended for combat but was instead made to cook and clean, like many of his skits touch upon. (There's a sub event where he says he's actually tired of having to fight and the only reason he continues is because he wants to protect Lithia.)

Synthetic Spirias are not easy to manufacture and are only able to be installed on high-specs mechas. They're intended to give robots human-like capabilities. Mechas with synthetic Spiria are not actually intended to be able to use Soma and it's considered an abnormality that a lowly Jack type mecha like Kunzite is able to use one.

It's not just the people who were calcified on Quartzia but all remnants of life, period.

Spirmazes reflect the state of the person. If someone's life or emotional strength is running out, it'll get smaller. If it disappears entirely, this means they're dead. (In DS, there were different maps for Spirmazes which reflected the mood of the owner, instead of R's one uniform design. They also had a BGM associated with them, Sadness, Anger and Happiness respectively.)

Somas are useable by anyone, but Spirlinking itself is a grueling task, and if someone not fit to do one attempts one, they'll get ejected immediately.

The Quartz used to rule over the people of Celland, in part because their Spirias had a lot more "vitality" to them, so the Quartz wanted to exploit this.

Xerom are actually Will Arte weapons developed by the Quartz. Their intent was to absorb the Spiria of the people of Celland, which in turn would develop the xerom further. Lithia sealed them away once but as her power weakened over time, they were resurrected.

Soma were originally intended to link people's hearts together, but Fluora didn't have time to finish developing them before the Gardenia incident, so when Celland got its hands on them, they ended up finding use as weapons more than medical instruments during the Unification War.

There's a very limited edition doll called the DX Mega Tokunaga. There's only 30 in existence and Kohaku has one. Sango missed her chance to get one so she begs Kohaku to let her hold it at least once.

The incident with Zirconia (possessed by Creed) being fought off by Dona, Zektz, Tekta, Iola and Labrador is called "The Tragedy of Pransule Strait".

Norqueen was formed only 17 years prior to the story (which lines up with Kohaku's birth) as a safe haven for followers of Lithia's faith, after Arkham labeled them all heretics.

Followers of the Velleia faith are called "dolphins," as their sacred beast is the Winged Whale.

The Max Empire was restored to glory by Chrosite, first as a small country on Oldmine, and then during the Unification War, ruling over all of Celland.

[canyousonicme]

Q&A with Alex Kingston, who plays Sheila Bellowes on Steven Moffat's upcoming ITV black comedy, "Douglas Is Cancelled"

(Air date: 27 June, 2024)

What appealed to you about Douglas Is Cancelled?

I'd say what appealed first of all was that the piece was written by Steven Moffat. I would do anything that Steven wrote because he's just such a brilliant writer.

The characters he creates are such a delight to play. I've had that experience of working with him on Doctor Who. It was just a joy to read the script. I laughed out loud. I even cried with laughter in some places. It's so superbly written.

Were you also taken by the idea of playing opposite Hugh?

Absolutely. Oh my gosh, Hugh and I have worked together many times over the years. We go way back to literally when we were teenagers. And so, I was definitely attracted by the opportunity of working with Hugh again. We already have that shorthand between us. That relationship doesn't need even to be acted because we know each other so well and are so comfortable in each other's presence. It's not a new person who I've got to get to know, so that married relationship was already a given. I was thrilled to have the chance to do that.

How would you describe Sheila?

She is amoral, she is ruthless. But I'm assuming that's what the paper wants. I'm also guessing that in the world these sorts of people inhabit, in order to get a good story, they have to be prepared to throw even their best friends under the bus. To be in that position as the editor of a national newspaper, you've got to be not only incredibly ambitious, but also, I would imagine, highly-strung because you are carrying a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. It's just a joy to play somebody who's so on the front foot. Sheila is also really inappropriate. That's what's so great about the script because all the characters behave inappropriately in a world where we're supposed not to anymore. I don't feel like I'm that sort of person at all, which is why it was great fun to play!

How would you summarise the relationship between Sheila and Douglas?

I would definitely say that she wears the trousers in the household. What's so interesting is that they are this high-powered celebrity couple at the start of the story. He is the nation's favourite news broadcaster, and she's this very, very successful editor of a hugely popular newspaper. But I rather like the scene that Steven wrote for them where they are on holiday because that shows a little bit more of who they are as a family before all the stuff hits the fan. They are a unit, and they love each other. But it is an unusual marriage. She is very strong, and he just allows her to be like that. If Douglas was a similar personality to Sheila, the marriage wouldn't ever have lasted. But he just lets her sail on forward, and he's in her slipstream being dragged along.

How does Sheila get on with her daughter?

The relationship she has with her daughter Claudia is much more volatile because her daughter is actually a bit more like Sheila. She's got a bit more fight in her. In a way, Sheila is terrorised by her daughter as she can't hold her daughter down. Also, Sheila doesn't understand young people and all these words like "boomer" that drop out of their mouths. For Sheila, it's just so frustrating. She thinks, "Who is this person we brought into the world who seems like a creature from another planet?"

The drama has lots of very topical things to say about cancel culture.

Yes. It's really interesting because Steven originally conceived this as a stage play several years ago. That's what I found so brilliant and so prescient about it. Steven was working on this way before all the recent scandals involving popular broadcasters. Obviously, cancel culture was already swirling around then, but I feel like Steven has the courage to put the conversation on the table in a way that is super important. But he does it in a darkly comic way, which allows people watching to laugh, but hopefully also to be able to have conversations and ask questions such as, "Where are we going with this? And how dangerous is this becoming?"

What do you hope audiences might take away from Douglas Is Cancelled?

I hope people will be a little bit more thoughtful and a little bit more careful about how they treat people or what they say about people. We need to be more conscious and kinder and aware of other people's feelings and how they wish to be perceived in life. But I think some men of my generation struggle with having to make those changes. I certainly remember sitting in the pub as a young person and hearing jokes about women that were awful. Men would safely say horrendous stuff. But that's just how it was, and you just had to suck it up. But men cannot behave like that anymore. I think there are still elements of our generation that struggle to remember to be a little bit more thoughtful before they say something. That's not out of malice. It's because they're still trying to learn the new rules of the world.

After many years working together on Doctor Who, how did you find it being reunited with Karen?

It was a real joy. It was great just spending time with her. It was very funny because she played my mother in Doctor Who. So it was really lovely to do something different with Karen, and for us both to explore this new relationship together. In Douglas Is Cancelled, there is one big scene that we have together in the toilet. They're these two alpha females who are prowling around each other, and they both absolutely know each other's game.

Did all the cast get to hang out together on set as well?

Yes. When everybody came together for the grand finale, we ended up sitting in the studio control room between scenes, all just chatting, reminiscing, sharing, messing around. Working on Douglas Is Cancelled was just a lovely, lovely, lovely experience.