#but i'll leave this here as a start!

[localapparently]

fake ass idgafer i saw you caring

[roberrtphilip]

Beauty and the Beast (1991) // Enchanted (2007)

[moonwoodhollow]

soon...

[oceans-beloved]

Meme dump yayyy🥳✨️

(off to make more now muhahaha >:3)

[humanmorph]

this scene makes me feel like i hit my head really hard

[welcometogrouchland]

Batman #149 by chip zdarsky is mostly unremarkable, but I'm really fascinated by how it makes a great case for 'good' endings not saving 'bad' stories*. Because there's a lot of interesting concepts in this issue (bruce having to deal with his rapidly aging and decaying clone making him think about his own life, re-establishing a 'nest' so to speak for his family after pushing them away, etc) but bc of the OOC slog that came before it, almost every moment w/ the batfamily comes off as unearned and disingenuous imo.

Like, everything with Damian is the perfect example in this. Because in isolation it's...fine. admittedly it's a missed opportunity to not go deeper into how Damian would feel about a clone of his dad who tried to kill considering Damian's relationships with clones of himself (the heretic rejects and respawn) or with former enemies who wanted him dead but who were manipulated and/or brainwashed (like suren and maya).

Zdarsky doesn't go into any of this but you could maybe excuse it as the issue not being about Damian. However, coupled with the previous bizarre characterizations of Damian in 147 and 148, it ends up not being fine- instead it starts to feel...icky how Damian (who, despite often being drawn and written as white, will never have his connection to the non-white al ghuls forgotten and will always be effected by racism even when not portrayed as a poc) is constantly written as overly violent, uncaring and narrow minded in this run. Coupled w/ trying to recanonize the morrison origin for Damian it's like. OH this is badly written and laden with subtle bigotry, sick**

That's me going into detail on it with Damian but it's applicable to other things in this issue- the way Cass, Steph and Duke have all been ignored or turned into jobbers makes their inclusion in the 'family' here feel hollow instead of satisfying. Bruce proclaiming that Zur was still a part of him and he needs to accept responsibility for his actions (when it means taking in clone son) wrings hollow when just last issue zdarsky was bending over backwards to separate Bruce and Zur bc otherwise the Jason thing would get really awkward. Ends are achieved through means that feel hollow or strange. I'm at my destination but damn why'd the bus have to do all that???

I only really have opinions on this latest arc of zdarskys Batman bc it's the one I've read the closest (bc I'm a hater, masochist and avid follower of even the bad damian storylines) but it's not saying great things.

Bc zdarsky can do one thing good in this book, and it's write Bruce and Tim. And yet this entire story, whether of his own volition or editorial mandate, includes other characters who aren't Bruce and Tim, the fabric starts to unravel in very telling ways.

(p.s, I think pennyworth manor is an interesting idea but I feel like in execution it's just gonna be 'bruce living in a house haunted by the memory of the people he couldn't save' but with a different dead guy this time. Illusion of change and whatnot)

*whether or not the ending is good is up to you ofc, as is your opinion on the proceeding arc! I saw some ppl complain that the ending was too "WFA" for them, which I get even if I dont think it'll literally be the same premise. If anything it's probably a lead into the new tec run. Likewise many ppl who aren't in the weeds of Damian and Jason characterization liked the previous arc! But I have my opinions and rest my case before the bench

**disclaimer, I'm white and portrayals of bigotry in comics are complicated and subjective, but I am basing my point here off what other poc comic fans on socmed have been saying about 149. Also the "sick" is sarcasm incase that wasn't obvious

[aingeal98]

Love and compassion are core elements of Batman but unfortunately Bruce's flaws that create conflict frequently do not come down to writers deliberately showing the battle between his love and compassion and how it can bleed over into smothering paranoia and fear of loss, or even how other traits such as his difficulties communicating effectively and his egocentric mentality can harm him. It instead comes down to the writers being conservatives and projecting their love for fascism on to Batman. And then one normal writer will come along and remind everyone that Bruce doesn't just go around snarling about wars on crime and his soldiers and being condescending to women and creates a story that would earn the tag "Bruce Wayne Has a Heart" on ao3 and then another writer is like hmm nah here he is beating his son bloody because he broke one of Bruce's rules. And then another writer is like OK what if women were evil temptresses lol wouldn't that be crazy for Batman to have to resist that like the Alpha Chad he is. And finally there comes a string of writers who hit the happy medium where they don't care about what Batman stands for they just want to write about the fun villains he fights and supporting cast he has. Who cares about Bruce Wayne, look at Batman being a detective and taking on impossible odds and winning! Look at these characters he gets to bounce off of without really reflecting anything about him other than He's Batman!

All this to say: Cassandra Wayne is the best Batman. She has that love and compassion in spades but she also doesn't have a hefty swathe of comics written by horrible people turning her narrative into propaganda for their hatred of oppressed groups with her as their main mouthpiece. (She does however suffer from it due to you know. Everything about her on paper being a conservative nightmare. Yet she's still here today with more consistent characterization than the men she was often used to prop up.) Instead, her strengths and flaws and contradictions are all tied together in a way that defines so sharply what it is to be Batman that I think all Batman writers should read Batgirl 2000. Not so that a version of Bruce written over 60 years after his debut should be their definitive Batman but so that they can look at Bruce and Cass and their interactions and be like "Woah." and then hopefully write good comics.

[definitelynotrhi]

omg did you hear?? the waa is using new business ads!!

[asha-mage]

I'm always here for one of your 🌶️ Wheel of Time takes.

Heh. Then I shall not disappoint!

I think that while some of the criticisms folks have of the gender stuff in WoT is valid, a lot of the things people cite as objective facts/proof of Robert Jordan being a secret misogynist, is actually a case of people conflating the views and biases of Jordan's characters with his own beliefs.

One day I want to sit down and do a longer meta on the One Power, it's mythological roots, it's place in the WoT cosmology, and it's societal impact- and what the way it's written actually says about the vision of gender and sex the series presents vs what people think it says (hint: the series is not nearly as gender essentialist as folks like to claim). But for the moment I'll confine myself to this: Jordan presents the idea that, inherently, people are people first and foremost, and no singular flaw or virtue is confined to one gender, one nation, one people group, even one side of the good vs evil conflict.

Many of the same flaws that dogged male-dominated historical institutione that emphasized a higher mission, privileged tradition and entrenched power in certain closed off ways (such as the Catholic church), also dog the White Tower. Many of the foundless prejudices the patriarchy foists onto women ('they gossip to much', 'they can't be trusted with power', 'they need someone to keep them in check and on the Right Path', 'their soft hearts can't handle rough treatment') Jordan's world foists onto men just as easily- with different justifications and reason, but still as ultimately baseless. Any time someone makes a sweeping gender based judgement- the narrative almost immediately undercuts it, when it doesn't outright draw attention to the speaker being wrong (even the qoute-on-qoute 'world wise' characters like Thom deal with this).

People in Jordan's world believe that gender matters and matters a whole lot- but that belief is a self fulfilling prophecy. Virtues and flaws, sins and triumphs, victories and defeats- their all agender in Jordan's world. It's the character's belief that these things are gendered, born of their prejudices and biases, that make it seem like Jordan is making the opposite statement, when really what he's doing is asking you to think critically of yourself, and try to suss out where a character is coloring their own narrative to suit themselves, and where they aren't.

[aro-culture-is]

Not an Aro-culture-is thing but I do have a question you might be able to answer? Is there an aromantic/asexual term for this: AroAce but if I wasn’t I would be gay? It might just be homoplatonic or homoaesthetic but idk if there was a term for it that relates to being AroAce. Thanks! <3

possibly you might vibe with oriented aroace labels, like gay aroace? i'll put this out there for other folks to consider as well, but I feel like oriented terminology sounds the most applicable from my POV.

[jonathanbyersphd]

Me @ the Duffers: GIVE ME JONATHAN PLEASE I COULD MAKE HIS S4 STORYLINE SO MUCH MORE FUCKED UP

[zebratimw]

Not finishing

[theroyalsandi]

I JUST FOUND OUT THAT MAXIMA IS IN MY COUNTRY RIGHT NOW!!! OH MY GOD!!! HOW DID I MISS THIS!!! 😭😭😭

[solaestial]

Can't see you in the dark ♫

[ragnarokhound]

For the au ask game!

OKAY I wanted specifically to get to the pokemon au from the ask you sent, it's been cooking a bit so it's time to see what comes out of the oven, so... @azol-otl ty for the ask!

Crossover au's are all about the fused worldbuilding for me and speculating on how characters from universe A would fit into universe B heehee hoohoo - and for Batfam especially it's fun to think about the equivalent of their roles as vigilantes! What kind of people have the same level of celebrity, the same sideways seeking of justice?

Naturally this leads you to the gym leaders because a) it's the most fun and b) they are like. Quasi-law enforcement/educators/professional athletes depending on how you try to translate the innate child's perspective on the pokemon universe into something that makes sense as an adult lol ilu pokemon. [insert 'compels me though' gif here]

SO with this in mind, here's 5 fun facts (that are mostly backstory lmao) from a jaytim pokemon au I would write

I'm deeply ill about pokemon so this one goes under the cut lol:

Jason Todd used to be the Champion. He won the role after Dick Grayson quit a year or two before (Dick had been getting older and chafing under the League rules - meaning he'd been chafing under how Bruce ran the League) and was a fierce competitor who didn't believe in going easy on anyone. His Houndoom was a force to be reckoned with, and despite running a mostly Dark-type team, his Honchkrow cleaned up anyone thinking their Fighting-types could sweep. He looked after the League and Gotham with a cocky, self-assured attitude and the win record to back it up. .

Jason disappeared suddenly at the age of 15. Many assumed him dead, after a Rocket (Or whatever Gotham themed gang name we want to go with lol could be Team Joker) bombing in the area he'd last been seen, but he's officially declared missing. Bruce Wayne took back the duties of interim Champion as he once did for Dick Grayson, but he's not quite the mentor he once was. It's obvious he's grieving, and that he doesn't want to mentor any more twelve year olds. Dick signed up to be a Gym Leader shortly after this, returning from his trip about a year early to help out in the chaos following Jason's disappearance. .

Enter Tim Drake. Tim's gym challenge wasn't all that interesting in the circuit at first; he had a rocky start and had to retake a few gym challenges. He wasn't exactly sweeping on his first try every time like Jason had done. He didn't have the meteoric rise that caught the Champion's attention early, didn't get one-on-one mentorship or face-to-face meetings, cautionary advice and congratulations all rolled into one from Bruce Wayne himself - but Tim had patience and grit, and he paid attention. He was gunning for the Championship, and it wasn't just so he could prove himself. Team Rocket/Joker was still out there, and Bruce needed all the help he could get. He was always better for Gotham when he had a Robin. .

Dick had been nicknamed Robin for his all-Flying-type team and especially his Natu-then-Xatu; Jason followed up with his Murkrow-then-Honchkrow; Tim's Rookidee was one among many (Robin-esque pokemon were popularized by Dick and the trend remains through Tim's day) so he wasn't considered a possible Robin successor until it was a Corvisquire and he was about to face Dick Grayson himself, a badge away from Victory Road. By then, Tim and his team were a well-oiled machine (he runs mostly Steel-types lol but also Normal-types for the unexpected adaptability and the 'underestimate my rattata i dare you it's in the top peRCENTAGE--' of it all. FEAR.), and his loss-record had all but frozen while his win-record ticked higher and higher. .

Shit finally goes down about three years after Tim has become Champion and all but bullied Bruce into mentoring him (he basically said 'if you don't watch me, i'll go find Team Rocket/Joker on my own' and triggers all of Bruce's child endangerment traumas simultaneously) and the mysterious Rocket/Joker leader Red Hood shows up, bringing the gang out of the shadows in pursuit of a hidden agenda. Identity shenanigans and "wait is that a Houndoom? But he's only been using Ghost-types, it CAN'T be..." and heel-face turns abound. .

(BONUS FACT: Something something, Jason went into deep cover with Looker or whoever he is, that Interpol guy from X & Y (WAIT. LOOKER MIGHT ACTUALLY BE TALIA AL GHUL IN THIS AU HOHOHO), infiltrating the Rocket/Joker gang and going public as Red Hood is the first step in the last phase of the sting. Cue a million tense Jaytim interactions in which Tim is legitimately trying to take Red Hood down and Jason desperately tries to shake him so that he doesn't do anything that forces Jason to blow his cover. There is at least one 'tugged into a tight space to hide them both from the actual bad guys, "wait, did you just HELP me...?" "Think whatever you want, babybird"' interaction because I am a slut for the first sprinkles of a redemption arc that is rife with UST fufufu)

[seventhdoctor]

Yugioh GX season 1 is so funny when you watch with the knowledge that the protag has a secondhand bodycount that only the principal knows about.

The kid with a secondhand bodycount is applying to your school? Sure, but he only gets in if he makes the grade - but oh no, his train is late and your elitist teacher is trying to reject him before he even gets a chance? Well, maybe you can grease the wheels a bit.

Your elitist teacher is openly cackling about the matched he rigged to get the kid with a secondhand bodycount expelled? Do nothing, say nothing. Make a snippy comment when the kid with a secondhand bodycount wins anyway.

Need some top-tier duelists to protect the keys to unleashing the god cards lite? Okay, maybe the kid with a secondhand bodycount does make sense here. Or it could still be a terrible idea.

...

...

...You know what? Originally I left it here for the joke but actually no, I'm gonna pull out my tinfoil hat and talk about the other kid at DA with a dueling bodycount. No, not Hell Kaiser. Not the abandoned dorm stuff. Not any of the kids who hold seances to summon duel spirits for a winter horror episode or anything. I mean:

Motegi, AKA Belowski. The season 1 opponent who's introduced for a one-off episode and then left to cameo a couple times in the rest of the series, mostly in crowd shots. He's at DA as late as the series finale, at which point he's been a student for six years (Judai's first year is his fourth). And he might be there even longer! I'm not even sure he's even allowed to graduate, as opposed to being indefinitely contained at Duel Academia.

If Judai still had Yubel around when he started at Duel Academia, and they were found to be causing problems...would Judai be isolated the same way Motegi does? It's not like DA has the resources to actually handle their spirit problems, and yet the resources it does have make it a better place than most to keep them in the meantime.

GX has a lot of weird one-off episodes whose implications are never fully explored but the Motegi episode stuck with me, so much that I wrote a whole fic as a baby GX fan trying to imagine what his deal was. Now in the year 2k23 I'm looking at this and wondering what his situation could have suggested for Judai's fate if his spirit/dueling bodycount problem hadn't taken a couple more years to rear its head...