#i love you young justice 2019

[catmanbowser]

Im dedicating my life to him

[the-quiet-fire-of-defiance]

The Māori tino rangatiratanga [sovereignty, self-determination] flag flying alongside Palestinian flags. The tino rangatiratanga flag is black at the top and red at the bottom, the two colours separated by white lines forming a koru (spiral). The Palestinian flag has three horizontal stripes (black, white and green) with a red triangle on the left.

"Pro-Palestine protest at Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Rarotonga"

A young child holding an ili (Samoan woven fan) that says Samoa for Palestine

A young boy holds a sign reading Justice the seed, peace the flower / Ko te mana whakaaiko hei kākano, kia puawai mai te maungarongo. Beneath is artwork of a fist breaking free from chains below blooming flowers.

Left: the 1975 Māori Land March. Right: the 2018-2019 Palestinian Great March of Return.

If we want to free Hawai'i... [Hawaiian flag] we must also free Palestine [Palestinian flag]. Credit to @ainamomona

A young Māori boy holding a sign that reads MANA MOTUHAKE [independence/autonomy] 4 PALESTINE

A Fijian woman holding a sign that reads Food is not a weapon of war! Stop starving Palestinians! Behind are two more signs. One says CEASEFIRE NOW and the other says DON'T STOP TALKING ABOUT GAZA

A group of Fijians holding candles and wearing shirts that read STOP THE GENOCIDE

Left: a diagram of Palestinian land loss between 1946 and 2009. Right: a diagram of Māori land loss in the North Island of Aotearoa between 1860 and 2000.

A sign reading TANGATA WHENUA [indigenous people] FOR PALESTINE [tino rangatiratanga symbol, Palestine flag symbol]

Three Pasifika people holding signs. The first says MAI LE VAITAFE AGA'I I LE SAMI! [Samoan: from the river to the sea] FREE PALESTINE! The second sign says FROM OUR PASIFIKA OCEAN TO THE RIVER TO THE SEA FREE PALESTINE. The final sign shows the Palestinian and Tongan flags and says 'OFA KI PALESITAINE [Tongan: Love to Palestine]

A group of Pasifika holding signs and banners. They say "HOW MANY MORE KILLINGS IS ENOUGH FOR YOU?" "KŪ'E! KŪ'E! [Hawaiian: Resist! Resist!] PASIFIKA STANDS WITH PALESTINE" "'OFA KI PALESTINE" "FROM THE PACIFIC TO THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE" "WHERE IS YOUR HUMANITY?" "SAMOANS FOR PALESTINE" "FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA" "KŪ'E KŪ'E KANAKA WITH PALESTINE" "FREE PALESTINE CEASEFIRE NOW"

A West Papuan man holding two signs. The first says WEST PAPUA STAND WITH MYANMAR. The second says WEST PAPUA STAND WITH PALESTINE

Two signs. The first says PACIFIC ISLANDERS FOR PALESTINE. The second says #FREE PALESTINE #FREE WEST PAPUA #FREE CONGO #FREE SUDAN

A Palestinian flag decorated with Samoan patterns. Words say 'AGA'I MAI LE VAITAFE E O'O ATU I LE SAMI FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA #Sāmoans4Palestine

A tweet from Tamatha Paul (Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Awa) on 29 June 2023. Another big win this week, courtesy of @Just4Pal and @nikau4poneke, we [Pōneke Wellington] will be Sister Cities with the Palestinian city of Ramallah 😍 Free Palestine!!!

A Pasifika woman holding two signs. The first says FREE PALESTINE FREE PALESTINE END THE APARTHEID! END THE BLOCKADE! END THE ETHNIC CLEANSING! CEASE STATE SANCTIONED VIOLENCE! CEASE COLONIALISM! BOYCOTT ISRAEL! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! The second sign has pictures of Palestinian and West Papuan flags. It says pacific islanders stand in solidarity with Palestine! #FREEWESTPAPUA #FREEPALESTINE CEASE COLONIALISM

A sign that has the tino rangatiratanga flag at the top and Palestinian flag at the bottom. It says Mai te awa ki te moana [from the river to the sea] MĀORI LAW STUDENTS For a FREE PALESTINE

A Pasifika woman holding a sign decorated with Pacific symbols. It says LONG LIVE PALESTINE - PASIFIKA 4 PALESTINE - FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA PALESTINE WILL BE FREE

Another Samoan fan. This one says PALESTINE WILL BE FREE

[flor4zul]

Free Sal Khan from ICE

i'm making this post on behalf of a friend's friend who's been detained by ICE and is facing torturous treatment in solitary confinement.

if you're in America, please sign the petition:

copy-pasted from the page:

Muhammad Salman Khan, known by their community as Sal, was unjustly detained by ICE in early May. Sal is an openly queer journalist and political refugee from Pakistan who is seeking asylum in the U.S. for their human rights activism. We are calling on our community to help us demand Sal's release from Plymouth County Correctional Facility, and an end to all detainments by ICE!  Sal is a LGBTQ activist and journalist from Pakistan.  Sal (he/they pronouns) was born and raised in Abu Dhabi, UAE, moved to Karachi, Pakistan at a young age and lived there for the majority of their adult life.  He came to the United States in 2019, and applied for political asylum in fear of persecution and torture in Pakistan for being an openly gay activist and journalist. He is also part of the politically persecuted, Urdu speaking, Mahajir community. "As a transgender person in Pakistan, embracing my identity has been incredibly challenging. I am profoundly thankful for Sal's unwavering motivation and empowerment from a very young age. I vividly remember his exact words: 'You can get your rights here; that's why I always support you, but I am not celebrated here.' His support has been a cornerstone of my journey, and now I am reaching out to support him in return. A brother who has been there for his sister equally deserves protection, security, and justice. Please help us and support me in this call to get justice for my brother. Your support matters."- Aradhiya Khan, Sal's sister

Sal has always given back to his community. Sal is an active community member belonging to many organizations, including the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW) in Boston. Over the past two years, Sal's involvement with AARW has included participating in the Activist Training Institute, Podcast team, and the Queer & Trans Asian Pacific Islander caregiving workshop series. He is a past twice elected member of Massachusetts Commission on LGBT Youth, and before his detention he was doing community service work in Boston. Sal is an asylum seeker, but ICE still considers Sal “illegal” in the U.S. Sal was detained on May 7. They are currently incarcerated at Plymouth County Correctional facility with little access to the outside world and under increasingly debilitating conditions.  After being detained, Sal was placed in solitary confinement, a cruel and traumatic punishment. ICE often places queer detainees in solitary confinement under the guise of “safety” but we know that this is a way to compound and escalate the violence of detention. Sal was released from solitary but we are deeply concerned for Sal's mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. We need to move for them now!  Their first important immigration court hearing is June 10.  Please help us show Sal that their community loves them and are with them, and we will fight for their release along with all others suffering from the violence of our criminal legal and immigration systems!  Sign this petition to show your support and demand Sal's freedom from detention!

[jewishcissiekj]

WHY WOULD YOU SHIT ON THE YJ (2019) ART (specifically post Gleason leaving stuff) THAT WAS LITERALLY THE ONE GOOD THING ABOUT THAT BOOK

[yizhansnoona]

Dramas I would like to force people to watch with me

(but can't since kidnapping is illegal)

part 1

Since I managed to lure one of my best friends into watching the masterpiece that is The Untamed with satisfying results, my urge to force people to watch other asian dramas has spiralled out of control. Come, we have queers and magic.

The Untamed (2019)

fantasy/censored bl/chinese drama

The ever-smiling whirlwind Wei Wuxian shows up in Lan Wangji's life and turns everything on it's head with his carefree and wild personality. Along with a dislike for rules he has unwavering courage and a strong sense of justice. A new world opens for the sheltered and uptight Lan Wangji as he realises he's willing to do pretty much anything to keep his soulmate safe. Even going against the 3000+ rules of his clan. Wei Wuxian is willing to put his life on the line to protect what he loves and to uphold justice. He has to fight a brutal, uphill battle to stay on the path he has chosen, but he never wavers.

This absolute masterpiece of a story is about two young men trying to stay true to their principles through hardships and losses. It's also a story about unconditional love. Though this is a censored adaption of a boys love novel (because in china the gays are very scary), the censors has been thoroughly deceived by the brilliant cast and crew. The attention to detail is cunning and captivating.

The people, the places, the music, the clothes; everything is so beautiful you wanna cry. Every single one of the actors clearly love their characters and portrays them in a way that makes your heart ache. The slow burn and subtle romance is a piece of art and gives a big middle finger to the censors. Everyone knows this is a love story, and they take every opportunity to show it to the audience. The chemistry between the lead actors will burn holes in your screen and you'll never be the same again.

Please, for the love of everything queer and pretty, watch The Untamed and feel your brain chemistry be altered in the best of ways.

[intersectionalpraxis]

Where do I even begin? I have yet to watch the full BBC exclusive report/documentary on the Burning Sun scandal -and I will make time for it soon, but I wanted to share some highlights because it's important to talk about. Here is link for those interested in tuning in.

⚠️TW for sexual violence (there are graphic details in the below posts I attached as well), assault, abuse, exploitation, mentions of miscarriage⚠️

I wanted to say, first and foremost that Goo Hara, the South Korean singer/artist of popular kpop group KARA, responsible for bringing forth evidence to help these journalists unveil these hideous and violent crimes against women -I hope you will always be remembered as a brilliantly talented and beautiful human being who was always courageous/brave -and who sought to expose the evil men involved in these sex crimes.

Goo Hara, who was a victim of blackmail -of revenge pornography by a previous partner back in 2019 and for those who aren't aware this shit excuse of a man who did this to her only served a year in prison. I hope people continue to remember her not just as an 'idol,' but as a fighter/someone who care deeply about those around her and for justice for all the women exploited, abused, and violated by the Korean celebrities involved in Burning Sun.

To those Korean idols, actors, and any man in a position of power and privilege involved in Burning Sun -which includes Seungri of prolific kpop group BIGBANG, Jung Joon Young (a popular actor/singer and radio host), and ALL those part of the Kakao group chat: former member of popular kpop group BEAST [now known as Highlight) Yong Jun Hyung [who is also dating Hyuna, disgustingly so], Lee Jong-hyun of CNBLUE (a well-known Korean rock band), Choi Jong-hoon of FT Island (another well-known Korean rock band), as well as popular Korean singers Roy Kim and Eddy Kim. I hope ya'll rot.

I sincerely hope real systemic changes are made and the people involved in heinous violent sexual violence crimes are held accountable. My solidarity is ALWAYS with victims/survivors of violence.

I also wanted to take a moment to also remind folks who love kpop to always be critical of/not disillusioned by the idols you love. Anyone can be violently misogynistic, racist, ableist, a rapist or rape apologist. And yes, I know there are exceptions -I have seen a handful of artists I believe are genuine, but even then I just don't know because we don't know them personally.

I think it's important not to forget that there are RAMPANT systemic injustices that many women in South Korea face (for instance, harsher sentences are given to people who are caught smoking weed compared to men accused of rape) and that the Burning Sun scandal is one of many that the public may or may not know about because of how insidious the kpop industry is, just like any music industry in the world.

[justmeandmyships]

Things that lLittle Women 2019 got wrong (Ofc Amy and Laurie related):

First of all, let me clarify that I LOVE Little Women 2019. It's my favorite version of all time, specially bc it's the first time someone tried to give justice to Amy and Laurie storyline, however this version still fell short in some ways, that I hate and just help to perpetuate the long false story of "Laurie settled down with Amy":

Laurie and Amy meeting in Europe: In the movie Amy is the one who sees Laurie and jumps after him. She is the one who was hoping for him to find her at the hotel.Also after they stop talking Laurie returns to his sad walking.

In the book this never happened. Actually It's Laurie the one who comes back to life after he sees Amy. He is the one who starts waving his hat aggressively hoping for Amy to notice him:

"The quick trot of ponies' feet made him look up, as one of the little carriages, containing a single lady, came rapidly down the street. The lady was young, blonde, and dressed in blue. He stared a minute, then his whole face woke up, and, waving his hat like a boy, he hurried forward to meet her."

He is the one who claims that he couldn't find them and care about it, because Amy never asked and he started talking about it:

Amy: "How is your grandfather? When did you come? Where are you staying?"

Laurie: "Very well—last night—at the Chauvain. I called at your hotel, but you were all out."

(Like my boy nobody cares and she didn't ask you if you looked for her or not 😭😭😭)

In fact He stayed with her that afternoon helping her with everything she had to do that day meanwhile thinking how much she changed and how gorgeous she is:

"Laurie did not read all this while he watched her feed the peacocks, but he saw enough to satisfy and interest him, and carried away a pretty little picture of a bright-faced girl standing in the sunshine, which brought out the soft hue of her dress, the fresh color of her cheeks, the golden gloss of her hair, and made her a prominent figure in the pleasant scene"

So there wasn't no coming back to sad moment after he saw her. My boy was too intrigued for that. Please and thank you.

[mamawasatesttube]

hi do you have any kon comics recs?

oh boy do i!!!!! ♥

for his origins, you'll want to read "reign of the supermen" (probably easiest to read it as a tpb, because the individual issues are all over the place). this details his creation and escape from cadmus, his relationships with clark and john henry irons, and his early attitudes!

after that, of course. well. superboy (1994). i love this comic. it is deeply flawed. it's 100 issues long, so it's a bit of an undertaking, but in my opinion it's essential reading to actually understand kon as a character. he gets groomed and exploited in many ways in this book, and it is not handled well because it's treated as acceptable as the fantasy of any teenage boy (the grooming and sexual abuse), or played for comedic effect (the financial exploitation). but understanding those facets of kon's backstory are vital to get a read on him as a character. sb94 also does a really great job of establishing him as someone kind, creative, and incredibly lonely and depressed. he's passively suicidal for pretty much the entire run. he's a really good boy. and some of his relationships with his supporting cast (roxy, serling, dubbilex, guardian) are just sooo <333

next up: young justice (1998)! this is the fun one with a lot of shenanigans. the depth here is mostly understated for characters like kon, tim, and bart (who have their own solos outside of it) and i'd say the kon experience here is enhanced by having read sb94 first, because there are certain arcs that follow up on things going on at cadmus and stuff. after yj98 is teen titans/young justice: graduation day, which basically shows how yj disbands after donna troy's death.

after that is the unfortunate mess that is teen titans (2003). this comic is not good, but it is important. this is where the lex retcon happens, the mind control arc happens, and the tie-ins to infinite crisis all happen. kon dies in infinite crisis, returns in final crisis, and rejoins the team towards the end of tt03.

next up is adventure comics (2009), the first six issues of which get into what kon does in the wake of his resurrection. superboy (2011) (i) (not to be confused with the n52 superboy solo) follows up on some of these themes and shows his adventures in smallville! both are pretty solid.

if you Really wanna dig into everything going on towards the end of postcrisis continuity, i'd rec getting into a tpb of the new krypton arcs! kon isn't around for everything there (he's dead for the first parts), but by last stand of new krypton, he's back and running around with the legion (this includes the last few issues of adventure comics '09, too).

in n52 kon is just. not there. the "kon-el" in n52 is just straight up an entirely different guy. (incidentally, this guy is where the edgy "kon means abomination" thing comes from. this is a retcon. kon's name originally is the name of a dead cousin of clark's that clark says he would be honored if superboy would accept.)

if you want to read anything post flashpoint, he gets reintroduced to continuity in young justice (2019). then the house of kent arc in action comics sort of explains his situation in prime earth continuity. stuff like yjdc (which i have not and will not be reading, so i certainly can't recommend it) takes place after this, and kon appears some in various other action comics arcs going on lately, but none of those are major appearances really. he did have his recent mini solo superboy: man of tomorrow, which was... fine. nothing spectacular imo, but the covers are cute and i have all six issues sitting on my desk because kon <3!

i know this is kind of long. my bad i love to ramble about kon kjsdhf but!! if you have any questions or anything i'm happy to elaborate or clarify further!! but in the meantime. go forth, and happy kon reading ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷💖

[suzukiblu]

As someone who's super into Superboy, do you have any reccs for curious beginners about what to watch/read to check that out?

( GOD I'M SO SORRY HOW LONG I TOOK TO ANSWER THIS, I LEFT IT HALF-FINISHED IN MY DRAFTS BECAUSE I MEANT TO LOOK UP SOME FIC RECS LATER AND THEN TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT IT, hahasob. Dangit, self! I don't know if this is even still a relevant question for you but screw it, forget both that concern and the recs-research, I am ANSWERING IT NOW. )

So as far as actual canon goes, in the comics I mostly read his original solo title from issue fifty to cancellation, which was about another fifty issues, and also all of Young Justice's original run and both the World Without Grownups and Sins of Youth events, as well as a few other YJ-related one-shots and specifically Young Justice: The Secret, which is I beeelieve only one issue and was the comic that first got me interested in YJ as a team to begin with. I went back and read some earlier issues later, but issue fifty of Superboy's first solo is actually a really good jumping-on point for him imo, it's the start of an arc about him being stranded on an island of beast-men with amnesia and repressed powers and it sets up a new status-quo for him after. There's also a later arc in the series about interdimensional travel through Hypertime where he meets a lot of other versions of himself, including the grown-adult version who's trying to invade half the multiverse, which I thought was especially good too. And like, just it was a real good run in general, I thought, I really dug it.

Also, he was originally introduced as a character after (or during?) the Death of Superman arc and featured reasonably heavily in the Reign of the Supermen event as one of the four replacements trying to become the new Superman, though I haven't personally read much of those. If I started anywhere as a newcomer, I'd probably start with either his original solo run or the original Young Justice. Or both! Both is good! Young Justice is especially choice, though, and also tells a full and pretty well-developed story over the run of the comic without anything in particular getting cut off prematurely. Like, I remember it wrapping up really well, especially for an ongoing American comic from the Big Two.

Other comics I know Kon's been prominent/important in but either haven't read or haven't read much of: Superboy and the Ravers, Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, Teen Titans (2003), another solo Superboy title set in Smallville, Young Justice (2019), Dark Crisis: Young Justice, and Superboy: Man of Tomorrow.

There's also the Young Justice cartoon, which has a VERY different take on his personality, though I still really liked what I saw of the character and have written fic about that version of him, and then there's the animated Reign of the Supermen movie, which I still haven't seen but looks real good and seems to be more comics-accurate, personality-wise. And like, I absolutely LOVE his design in it, haha. He's just a lil' brat, it's great! In live-action there's both Titans and later seasons of Smallville, but I wasn't very interested in either of those myself and don't know much about them.

There's . . . there's a lot out there, haha, the character is like a good thirty years old now. And honestly I kinda play fast and loose with some of the canon, this is VERY much the kind of fandom where I just go for what I think works best for the story I wanna tell. It's comics, okay, canon is BARELY EVEN GUIDELINES AT THIS POINT, hahaha.

[ectonurites]

why did cissie retire? would you want her to become a hero again?

Cissie retired because after seeing something very traumatic (her high school guidance counselor being shot and killed) her strong emotional reaction led to her attempting to kill the person responsible. She didn’t trust herself to be a hero anymore after nearly crossing that line, if Kon hadn’t intervened and caught the arrow then she would have taken the guy’s life.

(Young Justice Vol. 1 #16)

That’s the primary reason but two additional factors are the weight of the responsibility—when she pulls out some moves in a public setting she sees some children who seem to want to imitate her, which she finds concerning.

(Young Justice Vol. 1 #16)

And her motivations for being Arrowette in the first place. Initially she was just doing what her mother told her to—Bonnie King being basically a superhero stage mom living vicariously through her daughter:

(Secret Origins 80-Page Giant)

And then when child services had intervened and separated Cissie from her mom for child endangerment… after talking to her guidance counselor (yes the same one who was later shot) she decided to throw herself into being Arrowette on her own specifically to spite her mom:

(Secret Origins 80-Page Giant)

Her guidance counselor’s death and her reaction to it were reality checks about how life isn’t a… a game, actions have consequences, playing Superhero to get back at her mom isn’t a responsible choice.

So it’s sort of all those factors together which lead to her decision:

(Young Justice Vol. 1 #17)

Now, I love this story arc and think it’s very well done and that’s why Cissie being back in hero work is such a complicated subject for me. While the main YJ book had been running she got to live her life as a civilian that still had ties to the team/hung out with them all the time, and really that’s the ideal. But when there isn’t an ongoing YJ book, that’s just not a feasible status quo if you want her to show up.

Cassie’s Wonder Girl mini introduced the idea that after Cissie got some distance from hero work/after YJ as a team had dissolved, that she was willing to come out of retirement on occasion to help out her friends in need:

(Wonder Girl Vol. 1 #3)

and that’s more or less what also happened during YJ 2019:

(Young Justice Vol. 3 #14)

And even DC: YJ despite my gripes with Cissie’s portrayal especially in the first few issues feels relatively consistent with that:

(Dark Crisis: Young Justice #5)

Her being in this ‘mostly retired but because the DC Universe is an insane place, there are occasions where she’ll break out her bow and arrow to help the people she loves’ is what I consider my realistic ideal for the character. Because hoping for a 100% civilian Cissie basically means she’d almost never show up again.

And, considering she’s on the main cover in Arrowette garb for the upcoming Green Arrow mini:

(Cover for Green Arrow Vol. 7 #1)

It definitely looks like she’ll be hero-ing again, and honestly I’m just so happy that we’re maybe finally gonna get a connection between her and the Arrowfam that i’m willing to roll with it—opinions on her retirement be damned

[radioactive-earthshine]

Why Bart/Kon Shouldn't Be A Rare-Pair: The Konbart Manifesto and Friendship Deep-Dive.

This is a long post with a read more cut further down.

Trigger Words: Death, Depression

I feel like during the time Kon and Bart were both out of comic continuity a lot of comic enjoyers 1.) forgot that these two were intensely close and 2.) in the case of newer fans never even realized the depths of their friendship even prior to Young Justice 2019.

This post is going to primarily focus on Bart and Kon's friendship and how they work together both presented in the comics, and what is implied through dialog and circumstantial events.

Even if you are not looking at what is presented below through the shipping lens, what I am going to compile here at the very least showcases that they have an intense friendship and solidifies that Kon is one of Bart's lightening rods and these two are relevant to each other in ways that I rarely see explored in fan works.

Bart in fanworks with Kon is frequently more or less there as a backdrop to another ship, is there for light moments or just is glazed over as "not a best friend" when the comics make it blatant that Bart and Kon are intensely close.

So let me explain their history and why they work so well together as friends first, and how the ship makes sense and should not be considered rare or a "crack-ship" as they are mutually affectionate.

1.) Kon and Bart share a ridiculous amount of things in common.

I talk about this frequently on this blog and others have pointed this out before in separate posts, but their similarities and sense of belonging to their respective worlds are factors that absolutely bind them closer and in special ways that others do not.

Unfortunately, this is (mostly) an indirect example of their dynamic because DC either sees no value in exploring these commonalities, or writers just have not recognized these details to explore them to fulfil deeper connections between Kon and Bart.

The exception to this was when Bart acknowledged their own sense of isolation and 'weirdness' in Young Justice 2019 The Emancipation of Bartholomew.

"I don't know who to talk to about any of this. No one can relate. Not even the other Flashes. I think that's what you and I always kind of had in common, Conner. We are not like everyone else. Even in our Superman and Flash columns... We are the most different." - Bart

Bart is ultimately correct here as both he and Kon share that when it comes to their family columns they stand out and have history and abilities that is isolating to the point where others in their families might not be able to connect to or relate to them in specific ways, but that doesn't stop their respective families from trying and loving them regardless.

Other than their isolation, they also share in common some key things that happened to them in their lives and some traits that a writer could absolutely capitalize on to make a strong story and it binds them closer together.

Here's a non-exhaustive list of past formative events that both Kon and Bart share.

They both were victims of dubiously moral scientists at the orders of cruel men.

They both do not have proper childhoods due to their unique births, younger life situations, and weird aging (see #4).

Both have genius level intellects, but no one really acknowledges it or takes it seriously.

They both had weird aging outside of Sins of Youth.

Both were cloned by cruel people and their clones replace them so successfully they fooled their friends and family that the imposter was them.

Both at varying times had members of their respective families not believe in them and questioned their integrity, morality and ability to be a hero.

Both mutually shared trauma associated with Bart's first "death" on Apokolips that others in their team did not.

Both had their mentors 'die' while they were not present and had to have the news delivered to them after it already happened. For Bart this was Max, and for Kon it was Jim Harper.

Both were raised by elderly people.

Both for a good period of time lived in the same state just hours from each other.

Both essentially 'grew up' and changed their entire identities overnight which can be fairly read as an expression of deep depression.

They both died just within months of each other.

To counterpoint #5 they were both part of Tim's cloning adventures in present time and in a hypothetical future.

They were both erased from existence in the reboot, and both remembered each other and everything about the world before it rebooted.

As I mentioned before, the list above is not really mentioned between Kon and Bart in the comics, and they do not have any real conversations about how they share various trauma as comic narration tends to avoid characters hashing out feelings unless it is to serve growth that a writer wants to develop. However in a realistic scenario there is a strong likelihood that Kon and Bart would realize their commonality and feel kindred and comforted to know that there is someone else out there in the world that understands what they went through on a deep, personal level.

2.) Kon and Bart are FRIENDS outside of Young Justice and Teen Titans.

This is a bullet point that is a 'no duh' for all of them as each member of Young Justice/Teen Titans has been shown to be friends outside of beating the daylights out of bad guys, and many others have been shown to have deep bonds outside of 'work', but this point goes back to the introduction in that I feel a lot of people just have neglected to understand their friendship.

In their Young Justice days especially their friendship is unique and it is implied it started before the formation of team as Kon knew Bart's secret identity prior to the JLA: World Without Grown-Ups special.

Pre Young Justice/Early Friendship

Kon encourages Bart by name during the climax of their battle.

Throughout this special Kon refers to Bart casually by his first name and there is nowhere within this issue that seems to imply that Bart reveals this information during their team up. Kon knew his name beforehand which suggests either Bart told him, or he learned it second-hand from within the hero community.

Tim knows his name because of Batman.

This shows that there was a level of TRUST they had in each other even before the formation of Young Justice. To note, Kon does not learn Bart's name at all in Superboy and the Ravers #7 either when they first meet, so somewhere between then and the JLA: WWGU event Kon discovered or was told Bart's name.

Within this issue we see small crumbs that suggest Kon and Bart got to know a little bit about each other beforehand as there was some friendly teasing, banter and encouragement exchanged between them (even picking on Tim together).

Kon teases Bart and Bart remembers this for years afterwards, flipping it on Wally in his own series later.

Kon and Bart work together to win and are obnoxious about it, as they should be.

Also, when it came to Bedlam devising ways to defeat Tim, Kon and Bart by having each other imagine ways to kill one another, Kon was close enough by then to devise a way that was very specific and effective - by trapping Bart in a contraption that prevented him from moving at all.

Kon apologizes for imagining putting Bart into a restraining bench as his way to defeat him.

This again implies that Kon got to know enough about Bart to know what would cripple him in a fight; you can make an argument that he just thought it up on the spot basing it on first impressions, but if you read the issue entirely the implication still directs that they were friendly beforehand even if in the comics they had not interacted except for in Superboy and the Ravers #7.

The logical assumption is that Bart and Kon knew each other before this and were friendly.

Young Justice

Kon and Bart yet again tease and frustrate Tim together. This is reoccurring.

While they were in Young Justice we get to finally see their friendship really pick up because they finally had a comic series that they shared which meant they could grow and develop. Within this series we get to see them interact with each other in ways that are unique to them.

Young Justice #9.

Kon and Bart will often play games together during down-time in Young Justice (also in Teen Titans), such as Chess where Bart proves to be more calm and collected about it than Kon is as a counterbalance.

Young Justice #31

By the middle part of Young Justice it is well established that Kon is Bart's go-to person for entertainment within their team as depicted in the above issue where Bart desperately tries to convince Kon to break from his television program to be with him. We can assume Bart's suggestions are things that they have done together before. What is also interesting to note is Bart is asking to do things with him as Bart Allen, not as Impulse.

Young Justice #53

To further solidify that they are close friends and interact in ways specific to them, Kon and Bart not only play traditional games, but they took the time to joke with each other to come up with a whole new game that has no winner, it's just interaction and fun. This sort of interaction is unique specifically to them as the others are not part of this behavior.

Teen Titans/2003-2011

By the time the Teen Titan years roll around they both have assumed new identities, one where Kon takes a step back into Conner Kent as an attempt to live more normally (something he's always wanted to do), and one where Bart takes up the Kid Flash mantle. They both experience changes in drastic (and sudden) ways, and even through some offensive writing and general character assassinations, they still are shown having a unique and intense bond specific to each other.

For the sake of pacing I am only going to explore a couple moments that stood out to me (this series is 100 issues long!) that show both of them being close emotionally as by now they are emotionally bound friends.

When Kon discovers that half his DNA came directly from Lex Luthor and was mind controlled to attack his friends, naturally everyone was trying their best to stop him.

Bart was ordered to "take him down" being the person in the best place to do so, and instead of going heavy handed Bart decided to try to reason with Kon instead.

Bart doesn't want to hurt Kon. And he refuses to do so at personal sacrifice to himself.

Teen Titans Volume 3 #25

Unfortunately Bart was not successful here but he tried very hard to reach him and appealed to who he knew Kon was at a deep level.

The important thing to note is during this wretched time in their tenure a lot of things happen; one of the main ones being them both dying within months of each other (one of their shared commonalities). Kon died first, and then Bart followed.

During Bart's funeral during Countdown #43 they play a video Bart recorded of himself basically wishing everyone well and encouraging them to not be sad that he was dead. However there are a couple moments that stand out...

In Bart's speech he is addressing everyone in his team, but he specifically mentions Kon in two key moments; he is addressing and speaking directly to Kon as if everything is well even though at this time Kon is dead.

Kon never got to hear this.

Bart and Kon by this point have solidified a strong bond where perhaps when Bart was thinking about making this recording he knew that Kon deserved a special acknowledgement to help him in his grieving process, which in the past Kon did not handle well in regards to Bart (I will explain below.) After Kon died Bart either didn't have the time to make a new video or just didn't want to revisit it again and left it as it was mentioning Kon regardless that he was not going to hear it.

Bart and Kon did not stay dead for long and eventually came back, once they did they had to deal with the aftermath of being dead together...

One of those aftermaths being Kon's relationship with Cassie had started to shift in ways that neither knew how to deal with, nor did they know why it was changing as both were dealing with personal stuff at the time. They are teenagers, after all.

In an attempt to try to get advice, Kon went specifically to Bart for help; not Tim, Gar, Cyborg or Clark or any other 'guy'. He saw Bart as someone he trusted and someone whose input he valued. There is a great level of trust they both have for each other as talking about relationships is a vulnerable and personal step.

Teen Titans Volume 3 #83

Ignore the bad writing on Cassie's part who in this for whatever reason thinks Bart won't respect her if he knows there are relationship issues, and implies that Kon is not allowed to ask for advice from one of their closest friends. Kon breaks up with Cassie a few issues later citing that he wants to give her space to focus on being a leader, and that he wants to retreat (further) into Conner Kent. This is a decision he made himself and it is unknown if he reached out to Bart again for advice.

While the outrageous events of TTv3 kept Kon and Bart extremely busy, we do still get hints that they still do things together outside of being heroes and Kon still reaches out to Bart for help.

Superboy 2011 #3

During this time in comics canon (2003-2011), Bart and Kon live only 4 hours away in the same state (Kansas). Bart being a speedster obviously can be right there with him nearly instantly no matter where he lives, but the closeness also opens more doors of familiarity between them and more relatability.

Kon reaches out to Bart for yet more help when he suggests to Bart to race him for charity so he can help the farmers in Smallville that lost a substantial amount of revenue. Bart gladly accepts and their race has some great FUN moments as they banter and talk about current events.

Kid Flash Lost #1

In one of the final comics of the pre-boot world Bart still references that he watches movies with Kon casually, specifically showcasing that even in a dystopian future where The Matrix is realized, Bart is thinking about Kon and everything they do together.

Bart and Kon are friends, and their friendship has been unwavering without a lapse in trust as both have been anchors for each other; no matter what happens, if the other is alive then it is a good day and they are likely going to be gravitating towards one another.

3.) Kon's breakdown over Bart's "death" and coma.

I don't really see a lot of people talk about this part of Kon's history (even from hardcore Kon fans) unless it is specifically from a Konbart shipping lens and I am not sure why, because everything about the two issue mental breakdown is heartbreaking just on its own with no shipping element added.

Also in one of the issues it implies that Kon has (while subconsciously) bi-curious feelings towards Bart.

The start of Kon's breakdown begins on Apokolips where they were stranded because he got in a fight with Tim and they crashed there. Because of that fight it led to all of them getting traumatized by Granny Goodness, but Bart suffered the worst when his own scout was killed in front of Cassie, Cissie, Kon and himself.

Impulse #77

As a result, Bart was comatose for weeks and up until he woke up no one knew if he would survive.

Kon took it extremely badly. Not only is he himself traumatized from having witnessed it viscerally, but he also blamed himself for it happening in the first place.

Superboy #91

Kon is writing a letter to Dr. Serling back home while he is still in space and the entire letter is... heartbreaking as he pens out his own grief and trauma in a personal way.

At this point in time, Kon has accepted that Bart is going to die. Kon has essentially lost all hope that Bart will recover and he blames himself entirely for it.

Even when he gets back to Earth in Superboy #92 he still is having PTSD symptoms from everything that happened on Apokolips and Bart is still at the forefront of his thoughts along with everything else that happened there...

(Please remember the title of this issue it is important)

Below is Kon's personal dialog that shows he has intrusive and frequent thoughts about Apokolips, in particular Bart dying and the Lobo clones dying.

"Now Bart's dead. Ba-dump-bump."

"Apokolips. Satan's top choice for vacation spots, after Suicide Slum and Binghampton in winter." "Us. Young Justice. Stranded. Forgotten, unwashed P.O.W.S." "Impulse, a piece of him. All of him. I don't get it, anymore." "He died badly. The smell -- My fault." "The legion of naked Lobos. If there is one grain of comedy in any of this, it's the legion of naked Lobos..." "...'Cept they all died, too. "The aftermath, you don't have to see "A.I." to believe a robot can get very, very, upset." "Just try breaking the news to Red Tornado."

"Ah. Yes, and there's Impulse again. The rest of him. None of him. So whacked out on having watched and felt his own death..." "Cut to: the smell of Impulse frying." "Dead Lobos." "Torture." "Death." "Torture." "..." "Death."

"I am so out of here." - Kon-El

The first two pages alone set the tone for the rest of the issue even if it takes a manic tone with a theme of Alice in Wonderland as a fever dream from hell. Before we get there though we are hit with two panels that are... interesting.

"Hey. Mrs. K., Got any apple pie in the fridge? Oh, one piece is fine. Impulse is in a stupid coma, so he won't -- Hold me? Tell me the war never happened? Pet my head?" - Kon-El

When you look at these two panels the first interpretation is that Kon is implying that Bart won't be around to hold him and pet his head.

The second interpretation is that Kon was going to say that Bart wasn't there to enjoy the pie (thus one piece was fine) and that he had a break in thought and was directing his desire for Martha to hold him and comfort him.

Either way you look at these panels and choose to interpret them it could go either way considering Kon's fragile mental state and how close of friends they were, and where his TWENTY HOUR dream takes him, it could really have been that he was wishing Bart would hold him.

That Kon wants Bart to be alive to comfort and balm the terror that he faced while on Apokolips.

Hm. Hmmm. Okay.

So Bart's dressed as the White Rabbit (remember the title?) but not only that in Kon's own dream he has him make a reference to it being a Playboy Bunny Suit.

I'm just going to leave that there because nothing else can be said about it.

These particular panels have been floating around for ages without context and you don't need much other than to know that the other two are Cherub and Kon's dead girlfriend Tana Moon.

Tana was killed in the Sins of Youth arc by Amanda Spence specifically to hurt Kon.

Cherub was a clone created by Amanda Spence using Bart and Tana Moon's DNA. Amanda shot her in the head while Kon was having a heart-to-heart conversation with her, and as far as he knows she is dead at this point.

And then there is Bart who Kon has resigned multiple times is already dead despite the fact he is in a coma.

Two of the above were direct love interests that were hurt specifically because of Kon, to hurt him, and in his own dream Kon is placing Bart in with them as a person he loves who he is responsible for getting hurt.

The line that Kon might "secretly think of Impulse as a chick" is definitely skirting some lines of bi-coding, or at least getting as close to it as possible for a comic that was released in 2001 which was an incredibly homophobic era. Also it is fun to note that entire dream sequence is colored in bi-flag colors which was adopted in 1998, it was likely unintentional but you can take that as you will.

Kon's fever dream lasted twenty hours and after this issue he was back to "normal" and this breakdown is never mentioned again.

However considering that Bart's own "Death Video" in Countdown #43 had him talking specifically to Kon a couple of times, the two of them might have discussed what happened on Apokolips which led Bart to have the foresight to try to make things easier in a "Death is nothing at all, I'm only in the other room" sort of way. Because by then Bart knew that if he died, people would be upset. Kon extremely so.

4.) Kon helps Bart overcome his fear of using his scouts just by existing.

After the trauma-inducing terror that happened on Apokolips Bart himself was dealing with a bout of PTSD and he took a temporary absence from being Impulse and being a part of Young Justice.

To compliment Kon's own letter from Superboy #91 Bart claims that being Impulse "Isn't fun anymore" in mirrored trauma.

Bart eventually got to a point mentally where he found purpose being Impulse again, but he was extremely weary of using his scouts for obvious reasons.

Then the World Without Young Justice arc came and Bart was face-to-face with Matthew Stuart (Bedlam) who had been in a coma for two years and was out for revenge.

Using his own magical power he had found a way to force Bart into making scouts and he had them flung through time altering the timestream to a point where nothing looked familiar and Young Justice was... gone; the girls converted into villains, the boys were stripped of their powers and training as Kon was just a human teenager and Tim was just Tim Drake.

Bart was the only one who remembered them and it was up to him to stop Matt.

The problem was, he was petrified of absorbing his scouts back into himself because the last time one of his scouts died, he nearly died. Bart wasn't sure what would happen if he re-absorbed a dying scout, because he regains everything that scout experienced and felt while it was operating.

Superboy #99

"That'll keep him... busy while... we make our escape..." - Bart

"'Escape?' You can barely stand and your other selves..." - Kon

"... Are dying. I've made too many... Their only chance... is to take 'em back into me. It's just... dunno what'll happen if I absorb a dying scout..." - Bart

"Look... Don't worry. You'll be okay. Why, you're one of the good guys." - Kon while touching Bart's shoulder.

"Uh... ...Here goes everythnnngghh!!" - Bart

"Wow... You okay?" - Kon

"No... But it's no biggie. We better head for Bedlam's Castle, back to Tim..." - Bart

At first glance this might seem inconsequential but Bart really was absolutely petrified of absorbing those scouts back, and he did so because Kon encouraged him, and because Kon in that moment was vulnerable and could be killed with almost no effort.

Bart overcame his fear and absorbed his scouts which had a consequence that wasn't outright shown but if you're well-read in The Flash you know what is going on.

Bart is pushing his own limits here, he is hurt, badly, and is dying himself but because he is a Speedster they never reveal this when it is happening. A speedster admitting something is wrong, but is 'no big deal' is code speak for "I'm going to die, so let's hurry up and save the day."

Bart's exhausted here and is likely going through some sort of molecular and emotional trauma as a result of absorbing his dying scouts, but Kon and all of Young Justice is worth it.

In the end, Bart recovers, saves the day and everything returns to normal... almost.

5.) The Emancipation of Bart Allen AKA Bart "broke reality" for Kon.

Kon was erased from existence with the N52 reboot and with Rebirth he was still no where to be found and no one seemed concerned about where Kon was despite the fact that the multiverse/reboots were very common knowledge among the heroes by then.

Bart (retroactively) was the only one who was shown to actively remember Kon due to his own imperviousness to time shifts and due to the fact that he was able to avoid being rebooted himself. Cassie mentioned remembering "everything about Young Justice" thus implying that she too likely remembered Kon, but Tim didn't remember him (or Young Justice) and needed Zatanna to help unlock the memories of his dear friend. Bart remembered Kon and actively took it upon himself to find him, and by extension Young Justice.

The entirety of Young Justice 2019 has a lot of great moments between Kon and Bart (Bart was relentless in his effort to find Kon, both times he went missing) but there is one key moment that sticks out.

Bart's explanation for what happened leading up to him "breaking things" to find Kon is a little mushy when it comes to continuity placement (Bendis tends to have mushy writing) but his desire to find Kon over everyone else is blatant.

Please tell us Kon, what do you plan on doing? We'll never know bc Tim interjected.

Everything about this issue is charged with emotional depth between both Kon and Bart; from Bart's deep desire to find Kon and Kon's desire to help take care of Bart while he was vulnerable after passing out.

Extremely popular ships were started over less than this ^

After passing out, Kon takes Bart to the woods and builds a fire for them. Kon also remembers that Bart loves Chocos (DC's version of Oreos) and nicked a whole pack from S.T.A.R. Labs for Bart specifically.

6.) Lightening Rod

As mentioned above Young Justice 2019 offered us a lot of moments between Kon and Bart that were suggestive and showcased that Bart is relentless when it comes to making sure Kon is safe, and that Young Justice is intact.

Each member of Young Justice is clearly a lightening rod for Bart as Speedsters can have more than one however there is evidence to suggest that Kon just may have a pull on him more than the others.

Young Justice 2019 #1

When Bart is zapped to Gemworld at the same time as everyone else he alone appears next to Kon, suggesting he is a lightening rod. Tim, Cassie, Jinny and Kelly were separated to other locations entirely.

The working theory building from what we know of Speedsters and their lighting rods, is that when Bart was finally put in proximity to Kon, Bart was immediately attracted to him like lightning strike to a tall building.

Once Bart was reunited with Kon, well, we get the famous hug scene under the backdrop of the bi-flag.

Young Justice 2019 #2 again, popular ships were started over much less.

Knowing what we know now of the depth Bart went through to find Kon and reunite Young Justice can you really blame him for not wanting to let him go?

The rest of YJ2019 has multiple other instances of them hugging, touching and Bart getting very persistent about making sure Kon is safe, which contributed to him passing out.

In Closing

When it comes to shipping, either as just friends or as romantic partners in some fashion, the evidence provided above gives groundwork for a ship that is based on trust, compassion for the other, emotional vulnerability through shared experiences and protectiveness of the other all with an air of playfulness.

Their affection is mutual and their desire to help each other, mourn each other and support each other is not one-sided as we see both of them do things for the other.

There is a lot of angst there, and there also is a lot playfulness with willingness to listen to each other if in the hands of a writer that understands their past history.

Kon and Bart are friends, first and foremost, and Konbart should not be a rare-pair or considered a ship with no basis as the basis has roots going back to 1995.

8/5/23: edited for more concise phrasing and removed some misleading word choice, sorry about that it WAS unintentional.

[pluckyredhead]

I want to get into DC comics, but there's so any of them that I have no idea where to start. Specifically I want to read about Kon (from origin and then dying and then how that affected YJ). Do you have any recommendations on what to read?

Absolutely! So you're in luck with Kon because he got his own series almost immediately after his debut, Superboy (1994), so his story is pretty easy to follow. I would recommend starting there rather than his very first appearances. Kon debuted during the Death of Superman storyline and that was a big storyline that ran across multiple books so it's hard to follow, but his solo series will catch you up on the important information pretty quickly.

Overall I would say Kon's series is a solid B; it's fun to read but not great. But he's very lovable in it and it's a great introduction to who he is as a person. Also, it's like the 90s threw up all over everything and I love that for him.

When you finish Superboy or get sick of it, whichever comes first, I recommend reading Young Justice (1998). You could even start here, honestly, but Kon had already been around for five years at that point so he's not quite a baby anymore. YJ is a better comic than Superboy, a solid A, and obviously showcases his relationships with the rest of the team.

(Just to be clear, I am giving you a lot of homework here: Superboy is 100 issues long and Young Justice is 55. You don't have to read all of either series if you aren't enjoying them, but I didn't want you to be surprised when you saw how many issues there were!)

In 2003, Kon (and Tim, Bart, and Cassie) joined the Teen Titans. Teen Titans (2003) is a pretty OOC and bland portrayal of Kon and the others, but if you're interested in his death and the aftermath (or if you're a TimKon shipper and want to see Tim grieving), you should read it. Kon is only in it up to #33, because he's dead after that. His actual death is in Infinite Crisis which is an incredibly stupid comic but, like. It's there if you absolutely must put yourself through it.

Kon came back to life in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds which I've never read so I can't vouch for it. He rejoined the Titans with Teen Titans #81 and stayed with the team through the end of the series, but like...those comics are really bad. If you want to read post-resurrection Kon, I recommend Adventure Comics (2009) instead. Kon stars in the first 10 issues or so and they're lovely. He also had another very short lived Superboy series in 2010 which I've read but remember nothing about.

Do not read anything from the New 52 (September 2011-June 2016); that Kon is technically a different character and all of the books he appears in are unreadably bad.

Our Kon returned in Young Justice (2019), which is...fine? It's fine. Superboy: Man of Tomorrow is a recent 6-issue miniseries and it's also fine.

Don't read Superboy and the Ravers, it is 10000% not worth it.

The TL;DR for recommended/key reads:

Read Superboy 1994

Then Young Justice 1998 (or the other way around if you don't care about going in order)

If you are really committed, you can go back and read Reign of the Superman to see Kon's debut and very early appearances, but you don't have to

Then Teen Titans 2003; you can stop after #33 unless you want to see Tim having a mental breakdown

Read Infinite Crisis if you want to read Kon's death, and honestly you can just skim everything that isn't his death scene

Adventure Comics 2009 until it becomes a Legion book

YJ 2018 and Superboy: Man of Tomorrow

I will end with my usual caveat that if you are very new to comics, you will occasionally be confused by what you're reading. There will be references to comics you haven't read and occasional crossovers with other books that will cause unavoidable gaps in your reading. Please just try to roll with it, or look at those moments as interesting new paths to wander down. It's okay if you don't know everything right away. That's what makes it fun!

[vveakfish]

do you have any thoughts about the core four whose gender(s) are basically just a trans fruit cocktail that you would like to talk about? because I would love to listen

oh boy DO I !!!

I have So Many thoughts about them Anon, so thank you for giving me an excuse to try and put it into words beyond “Damn, these bitches trans! Good for them.”

Honestly, there are so many different ways to explore these characters genders based on how you choose to interpret their life experiences, and their aesthetic changes, and their relationships with each other. I am of the belief that any of them could be trans in any direction

But, that said, I Do have particular gender headcanons for YJ that i am very fond of, so thats what I’ll be talking about today.

(Small disclaimer. I have not finished all of the comics referenced in this. I am using the information i have to inform these, but you know, i might come back to this post at some point in the future and look at it like “wow, i don’t agree with any of this anymore.” And i think thats okay.

I’m just here to have fun, and i thoroughly enjoy these little guys, and think abt them alot, so enjoy

(also if you dont want to read 4.1k words of blorbo gender analysis, or would like to avoid spoilers for Superboy (1993), Young Justice (1998) & (2019), and Red Robin (2009) in varying degrees of detail, or you just want to see what lables i assigned them, scroll down to the bottom <3))

lets get started.

Bart:

Bart's gender is the most complex, but his thought process about it is also the most simple. I think his view of gender would be very much influenced by the fact that he grew up in VR in the future like…

A body is just an avatar, do what ever the fuck you want with it.

That said, the lil guy has always given me transmasc vibes. These vibes, however, are by no means binary.

He understands that in the 21st century a lot of people do not have his sort of “throw things at the wall and see what sticks” approach to gender, so he’s okay with being put in the box of Boy™. But his gender is a lot more * hand waves vaguely *

Clothes don’t have gender in his eyes, they’re fabric you put on your body. Wear what ever you want forever!

Bart in skirts is something i have seen many people draw/talk about before, and its something i agree with wholeheartedly. He likes hair clips, and like, those loud (actually loud and visually loud) beaded bracelet type things that ravers wear. He like nail polish. He doesn’t grow facial hair, but he wouldn’t care if he did. He’s not on hormones, but he definitely considered it for the bit. “Gotta drink my boy juice” Kind of vibes.

For him gender has Nothing to do with performance, its all about comfort. About wearing what feels right, regardless of whether or not he’s adhering to expectations of masculinity.

Yes, he Will wear that god awful outfit out of the house, haters can die mad

Cassie:

Anon, I need you to understand how much i love early yj98 cass. She is everything to me — her process of coming to terms with herself, and being able to watch her start to feel at home in her own skin. It makes me absolutely feral.

lets see if i can explain why… succinctly

When we first meet her in yj98, her identity as “Wonder Girl” is this sort of amalgamation of What it Means To Be A Hero in her eyes. She has her party city blunt bob wig (Because Diana is who she looks up to), the gloves, leather jacket, goggles combo (that so clearly take inspiration from Kon).

At this point in her life Wonder Girl is not really her. Its very clearly a mask she’s putting on. which is what makes it the perfect avenue for her to explore gender expression without it having to actually be about her gender.

I think the part that specifically makes me feral though is her… we’ll call it admiration of Kon.

The girl is a self proclaimed Superboy stan + theres all the weird not-drama between Cassie and Cissie over wanting attention from Kon. (And i say Not Drama bc its like… Kon flirting with cissie (which like… have you met 90’s Kon?? he flirts with everything that moves) and Cassie being upset that he’s Not flirting with her. and cissie is just along for the ride. She’s not quite as much of a flirt as kon is, but she has her moments)

All of this to say i feel like its impossible to have a conversation about Cassie’s gender without also talking about her experiences with comphet and lesbianism.

At the beginning, Cassie sees Kon — this cocksure, conventionally attractive boy with powers that (at first glance) seem very similar to hers, and felt something about it. And, in the way of teen girls who have been told since grade school that they’re supposed to like boys, Cassie comes to the conclusion that what she feels for Kon must be romantic in nature, right?.

All of this, the jealousy over Kon and Cissie flirting, basing her costume off Superboy’s (intentionally or otherwise), the fact that she wont let her team see her without the wig and goggles at all for so much of yj98. To me it all reads as the tangled mix of undiscovered lesbianism and gender dysphoria that the poor girl simply doesn’t have the words to define yet.

So, then what IS cassie’s deal with gender???

i am so very glad you asked.

She, too, is a transmasc of the nonbinary variety.

I think her relationship to femininity is complex, and ever changing. She doesn’t feel comfortable performing femininity the way the world expects her to, but she is also part Amazon. And i think having a relationship with both Diana and Donna would greatly influence how she felt about femininity as a whole.

The Amazons are strong, their femininity isn’t about beauty, or being soft spoken — it isn’t about Men at all. On Themyscira, to be a Woman is about bravery, honor, skill, and in some ways, divinity. Getting closer with her Amazonian sisters would change her relationship to womanhood immensely.

But it still wouldn’t feel Right. She would be able to see that womanhood can be defined differently, but that wouldn’t change the connotations that womanhood had as she was growing up. She’d never be able to lean into it the way Diana or Donna do — they both grew up only having woman defined as strong and brave and confident. Their experiences are not analogous.

The baggage of growing up a girl under the patriarchy wouldn’t just… vanish because she sees that it Doesn’t have to be that way. In some ways, the knowledge that it didn’t have to be that way could make her dysphoria all that stronger (especially if she hasn’t quite deciphered that dysphoria is what she’s feeling).

but i think there would be a point where two things sharpen into focus for her.

fiirstly she has a big fat crush on cissie king-jones.

and second (which would only come AFTER realizing her feelings for cissie) is that what she feels for Kon is Not the same as what she feels for Ciss.

She didn’t want to be with Kon romantically, she just wanted his gender.

I could see her experimenting with wearing a binder, liking that she can get rid of her boobs if she isn’t feeling them that day.

She already has her short hair, and her leather jacket and jeans, and shes big and buff and strong (because she deserves to be butch!!! okay???).

I still think she would use she/her pronouns, but she wouldn’t be picky ab it (if she gets called sir while at the pizza place, she’s not going to correct them.)

But here’s the kicker — I think leaning hard into her masculinity would be EXACTLY what she needs in order to actually ENJOY expressing femininity again.

When putting on the mask that is ‘womanhood’ becomes something that she can Choose to do, rather than something that is being forced on her, it can be pleasant. Like playing dress up.

She has a new appreciation for it, especially since her friends respect her gender, and she knows at the end of the day, when she takes the makeup, the clothes, and the wig off, underneath it all she’s just her.

(Small addendum re: TT’03 Cassie’s fem phase. I have Many thoughts about this as well, and while they end up in roughly the same place, i exploring her experience with comphet and her decision to dress in a more traditionally feminine in that run is something id like to explore in another post (once i’ve actually read the run too.)

Cissie (bonus):

This one should be shorter than Cassies, mainly because my reasoning for it is much simpler.

YJ'98 (#11)

She lists all these names, all of them feminine except for Fucking Ralph. “One weird phase” she calls it.

To me, Cissie is a transgirl through and through. She has this huge list of femme names she tried on while she tried to find the one that fit best. She mentions ralph in this off handed way, as if its not important, and i think thats just her way of dismissing her deadname as something of little consequence.

(that said, i think there’s lots of fun to be had with transmasc cissie, or tried transing-her-gender and realized it wasn’t for her Cissie. But as a transfemme, tgirl cissie is So important to me <3)

Kon:

other people on here have made posts about Kon’s gender that are much more coherent than this will be, but i’m putting the words down anyway. bear with me.

Kon’s experience with identity (especially in his earlier years) is almost entirely about the external rather than the internal.

Kon has his whole life planned out for him from the moment he opens his eyes. It’s simple really — become Superman.

So you have this freshly hatched teenage boy, saving the world as Superman (not the Only one, but definitely the coolest one (Kon would argue)). All eyes on him, all the time. In some ways, performance is inseparable from who he is. From the very beginning, everything he does is on display.

He starts his life with a Name (Superman), a life path (…again, Superman), and all the confidence of a sixteen year old jock with nothing but wins under his belt. then it all gets taken away.

Turns out Clark ISNT dead, and the world doesn’t need its pint sized superman anymore now that its got the real thing.

enter Superboy

Kon’s entire identity, his whole purpose for being alive, was to step into the shoes of a dead man who is no longer dead. So where does that leave our genetically engineered test tube baby?

lost, and extremely confused.

But he’s good at using his charisma as a shield, and even better at keeping himself busy. His problems aren’t there if he doesn’t have the time to think about them, right?

and i think that’s true about his gender as well.

Similar to Cassie, his discovery and exploration of his gender feels incredibly tied to his sexuality (to me). If you’ve read sb93, you know Kon’s deal with women. He is cute & conventionally attractive & he's like superman with a fashion sense, so of course there are people fawning over him.

And he loves the attention. He likes that people want him, or that they are looking at him. The issue is he doesn’t have the life experience to realize that their reasons for paying attention to him are often very shallow, manipulative, or selfish.

He isn’t treated as a person very often. He’s a brand, a product, a tool, a weapon. He’s arm candy, he’s a photo op, he’s a headline, he’s a paycheck. And it takes him a long time to be able to tell the difference between someone Liking Him & someone Using Him.

For the longest Time, Superboy is all he is. He doesn’t have a name outside of that identity (except for the various pet names the women in his life give him (kid & pup, mainly)).

And even when Clark does give him his real name, Kon-El, its still Attatched to his identity as Superboy.

I dont think that he would really even be able to start dissecting how HE feels about his identity until he’s much older.

Part of this would come from the space to be someone else that gaining a civilian identity would give him. As Superboy, the goal has always been to stand out, to be seen, to shine like the sun.

As Conner Kent, he has to blend in. He doesnt want to draw attention to himself, or the Kents, or Clark. He has to fit in, which was never something he had to do as Kon. And i think it would kind of chafe at him — but he wouldn’t really know why.

I think he’d chalk it up to how different of an experience it is. Not being loud, having to be normal™. And so i think he’d just… continue to play the part. For a while anyway.

And like, part of being Normalest Boy Conner Kent would also involve actively un-queer coding himself for the sake of fitting into the ecosystem of Smallville High. and its like…

Young Justice, as a friend group, is SOOO queerplatonic. The lines between romantic and platonic intimacy are so blurred, and Prior to Kon’s YJ days he he was also like… living with these woman who he had complicated relationships with that also blurred the lines between platonic, romantic, and sexual (…looking at you, Knockout).

So learning where the line is when it comes to how he can acceptably interact with his civilian friends (particularly the boys) would Really open his eyes to just how close he is with Bart and Tim, and how similar his feelings for them are to his feelings for… lets say, Simon Valentine.

But i dont think That is what would actually tip the scale. I think realizing that these feelings for his friends aren’t considered ‘normal’ would make him shove them down deeper. As ‘Conner’ anyway.

from here it could go two ways, right?

Either we get Teen Titans ‘03 t-shirt Kon, who sheds his GNC 90s swag in exchange for adhering closer to traditional (read; boring) masculine gender roles.

or we get a Kon who leans Harder into his punk roots, but its a conscious choice now.

(this isn’t even digging into how he would feel once Jon comes into the picture, because while Kon cares for that boy Deeply, his feelings abt the new kiddo in the family could also be very complicated. But that’s a post for another time.)

Personally i prefer the second one.

Kon has always been a curious kid, i love the way he makes pop culture references, and how he bases his behavior off of 90’s teen tropes that he Most Definitely learned from TV. In his early days this wasn’t done in a research way necessarily, but he Did want to learn what it was like to Be a Teen™, and TV was the easiest way to figure that out.

(and, playing in the space of Kon adaptations, his love of media/pop culture, and just over all thirst for knowledge, are present both in the Reign of the Supermen Movie, and in his iteration during the n52 (which is one of the few things i personally have internalized from reading n52 Superboy/Teen Titans)).

But post gay awakening, i feel liked he’d be interested not just in behaviors, but also the context of them. Digging into punk as a subculture rather than as an aesthetic. Learning about its connections to queerness, and community, and self expression. And i think this would be extremely freeing for him. (especially if this were around the time of Jon becoming Superboy v.3, but again, not the point of this post.)

this all culminates in Kon being like yk? gender just… isnt for me. Like, it takes im a long time to get to this point, but realizing that the path that was set out for him is just one of the potential paths he can take, and while he might not know where this new path will take him, its his, that that matters.

And also like, Because his friends are who they are, he’s seen different versions of queerness, and transness, but i think it would take him a bit to see himself as someone who Isn’t Cis bc like… he doesnt have dysphoria in the traditional sense.

He’s still the beefcake he’s always been, but i think he’d start playing with makeup when he realizes it makes him feel good (he shows up the the cave one day with smudgy eye liner and Cissie is immediately like a) you look so good and b) can i Please do your makeup? (and then she does it, and he looks so pretty, and he gets these weird giddy feelings that he doesn’t realize is gender euphoria until his friends start talking abt gender euphoria)

His uniform starts to get more personalized too, like the designs where he has knee patches, and all his little belts, and stuff. maybe he starts experimenting with showing skin. bc he deserves it

(’its for maximum sun exposure!!!’ is the what he tells clark… he’s not sure if clark bought it or not)

And hey, exploring gender presentation more as Superboy might help him do the same as Conner. Cassie will take him thrifting, he’ll try of a flowy skirt or a sun dress or something and then its Over. Gender euphoria part two, electric boogagloo.

In the end, its about realizing that adhering gender roles (and truthfully, any socially imposed ‘rule’ about self expression) is something he can simply Choose not to do. And i think this freedom would be something that benefits him in his civilian life as well.

His gender is: literally what ever, man.

Tim:

Ok, here’s the thing about Tim and gender, right? I think he’s kind of just comfortable as he is. He’s good at playing the roles he needs to in what ever situation hes thrown into. ‘Robin’ and ‘Tim Drake’ (and even ‘Tim Drake-Wayne’ if you want to split hairs) might be masks he wears, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less him. if that makes sense. like…

Lets look at the differences between Bruce (or Brucie) and Batman for a second. They really are different people. Batman is who bruce is at his core, ‘bruce’ is this sort of liminal space between the cowl and his public persona, and then theres Brucie™, and well, you know how he is. These are personas that Bruce puts on.

With Tim its like he just highlights different aspects of himself when a situation requires it. (oh no, the autistic!Tim head canons are being loud today.) But like, he’s Always been masking. And i think this is something he would look at as like… getting a good grade in adapting. or something. He’s comfortable, all the roles he plays are ones he’s familiar with, and he doesn’t really question who he is outside of who he needs to be.

That is, until Caroline Hill makes an appearance.

I feel that the decision to go undercover as a woman was a wholly practical decision in the moment. It’s what the mission required, and therefore tim stepped up. Its just another mask, right? Surely this wont awaken anything in him…right?

But this is an entirely new mask. And i think it might like… shift the way he looks at/thinks about the other masks he puts on. He was able to step into a role that was very foreign to him, and it Worked. (and he felt pretty, which like… woah, thats a new feeling. and he kinda liked it? file that under ‘thoughts he doesn’t have the bandwidth to process right now.’ Bruce needs him back at the cave! its time to debreif! and he has a biology test tmrw! no time for gender scaries!!!).

I think it would take a while for him to be able to admit it to himself though. Because like… hes Not uncomfortable with his body, but he also keeps thinking about how good he felt dressed up femininely, and how he felt powerful, in a way. That putting on that mask felt just as good as putting on his domino.

Personally, i think itd be funny if instead of coming out right away, Tim doing undercover missions essentially in drag becomes a recurring thing. And i imagine some people give him a hard time. (not in a transphobic way or anything, i just mean like, teasing him fondly or what ever.) (Also, i like to imagine that when cissie Did kons makeup, bart and Tim jumped in there too bc like hey why not, and hoooooo boy, if Tims egg hadn’t cracked before then, it sure would have cracked after.)

The thing about him is, i’m not sure if he’d come to the realization himself. You know, that he would like to present femme sometimes, in a situation that has Nothing to do with a mission.

I could see Tim convincing himself that its a pointless or frivolous desire, which is Why he relegates his time presenting femme to when he can prove that it’s useful.

but i have this image in my mind, right? Of him, taking his makeup and wig off, and hes chatting with whoever is in the room with him (literally anyone else mentioned above… or Dick). And Tim’s just talking about how he wishes he could present this way in situations other than missions.

and the other person in the room is just like… i mean, you literally can.

and hes just like…. shit you’re right. i Can :0

I could probably go further into depth abt this, but i think this just frees him to start playing with gender more as Tim. and start to recognize when he’s feeling more masculine, more feminine, or somewhere in between.

His gender isn’t consistent, its this thing he’s constantly listening to, and trying to understand. but in the mean time, he can paint his face, and wear pretty clothes, or dress like just Some Guy, or be a hedgehog dressed in traffic light colors, or what ever his heart desires.

As far as like… how He describes his gender, i think he’d say something corny like bi^2 (bi of both the sexual and the gendered varieties). Or shrug, handwave, generally give a non-helpful vague description. Or tell who evers asking to buzz off.

(small addendum wrt Kon and Cassie in TT’03. I haven’t read this run yet, so i didn’t really include it in this post. But i Do have thoughts about what might cause the two of them (my gnc besties from my comics books) to lean sooooo hard into traditional gender roles after being So Queercoded in their other appearences. Before i talk abt that though, i want to read the comic. So, that will have to be a post for another time)

ANYWAY, heres that TL;DR i promised.

Bart: NB Transmasc Cassie: NB Lesbian (of the transmasc variety) Kon: Agender Tim: Fluid (bi-gender) + Cissie: Transgirl

Thank you soooooo much for giving me the opporrtunity to ramble abt the silles and how Not Cis i think they are. Love you forever.

[soberscientistlife]

"No piece of art has ever emotionally affected me the way this robot arm piece has. It's programmed to try to contain the hydraulic fluid that’s constantly leaking out and required to keep itself running…if too much escapes, it will die so it's desperately trying to pull it back to continue to fight for another day. Saddest part is they gave the robot the ability to do these 'happy dances' to spectators. When the project was first launched it danced around spending most of its time interacting with the crowd since it could quickly pull back the small spillage. Many years later… (as you see it now in the video) it looks tired and hopeless as there isn't enough time to dance anymore.. It now only has enough time to try to keep itself alive as the amount of leaked hydraulic fluid became unmanageable as the spill grew over time. Living its last days in a never-ending cycle between sustaining life and simultaneously bleeding out… (Figuratively and literally as its hydraulic fluid was purposefully made to look like it's actual blood). "The robot arm finally ran out of hydraulic fluid in 2019, slowly came to a halt and died - And I am now tearing up over a friggin robot arm 😭 It was programmed to live out this fate and no matter what it did or how hard it tried, there was no escaping it. Spectators watched as it slowly bled out until the day that it ceased to move forever. Saying that 'this resonates' doesn't even do it justice imo. Created by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, they named the piece, 'Can't Help Myself'. What a masterpiece. What a message." Extended interpretations: the hydraulic fluid in relation to how we kill ourselves both mentally and physically for money just in an attempt to sustain life, how the system is set up for us to fail on purpose to essentially enslave us and to steal the best years of our lives to play the game that the richest people of the world have designed. How this robs us of our happiness, passion and our inner peace. How we are slowly drowning with more responsibilities, with more expected of us, less rewarding pay-offs and less free time to enjoy ourselves with as the years go by. How there's really no escaping the system and that we were destined at birth to follow a pretty specific path that was already laid out before us. How we can give and give and give and how easily we can be forgotten after we've gone.. How we are loved and respected when we are valuable, then one day we aren't any longer and we become a burden…and how our young, free-caring spirit gets stolen from us as we get churned out of the broken system that we are trapped inside of. Can also be seen to represent the human life cycle and the fact that none of us make it out of this world alive. But also can act as a reminder to allow yourself to heal, rest and love with all of your heart. That the endless chase for 'more' isn't necessary in finding your own inner happiness.”

James Kricked Parr

[best-tv-theme-song]

Round 1 is over, full results below!

Round 2 will start on Monday.

What are your most devastating losses this round?? Mine are Milo Murphy's Law, Gilmore Girls, That 70s Show, and Reba. (No respect around here for a single mom who works too hard who loves her kids and never stops)

Group A

The Addams Family vs. Fairy Tail

Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat vs. Goosebumps

Wizards of Waverly Place (S1-3) vs. Ed, Edd n Eddy

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood vs. Only Murders in the Building

The Backyardigans vs. Downton Abbey

Naruto vs. The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

Dexter's Laboratory vs. Kenan & Kel

Parks and Recreation vs. Jujutsu Kaisen

Danny Phantom vs. Pippi Longstocking/Pippi Långstrump

My Life as a Teenage Robot vs. My Hero Academia

Sabrina the Teenage Witch vs. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (S4-7)

Little Einsteins vs. The Benny Hill Show

Teletubbies vs. Ted Lasso

VeggieTales vs. Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Lizzie McGuire vs. The Proud Family

Steven Universe (Original Theme) vs. The A-Team

Group B

Doctor Who (New S1-2) vs. Charlie's Angels

Thomas & Friends vs. Bob's Burgers

Community vs. The Brady Bunch

Adventure Time vs. Ever After High

Seinfeld vs. Ranma ½

Batman vs. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. One Piece (2023)

Friends vs. Rocko's Modern Life

Sesame Street (S1-23) vs. Saved by the Bell

Total Drama vs. Monk

Full House vs. Winx Club (We Are the Winx)

Looney Tunes vs. Murder, She Wrote

M*A*S*H vs. South Park

Pinky and the Brain vs. Happy Days

One Day at a Time (2017) vs. The Suite Life on Deck

Pokémon (Pokémon Theme) vs. The Andy Griffith Show

Group C

Gravity Falls vs. Milo Murphy's Law

Horrible Histories vs. Leverage

Neon Genesis Evangelion vs. Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

The Simpsons vs. Samurai Jack

The Golden Girls vs. Wonder Pets!

Merlin vs. El Chavo del Ocho

Victorious vs. CSI: Miami

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic vs. Smallville

Good Omens vs. Good Luck Charlie

House, M.D. vs. Pride and Prejudice

LazyTown vs. The Big Bang Theory

Bob the Builder vs. Wild Kratts

New Girl vs. Infinity Train

Arthur vs. I Love Lucy

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The X-Files vs. Pucca

Group D

The Fairly OddParents vs. X-Men: The Animated Series

Sherlock vs. Monster High

Spider-Man vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena

Orange Is the New Black vs. Hunter × Hunter

The Office vs. Angel: The Series

Law & Order (SVU) vs. Arcane: League of Legends

BoJack Horseman vs. Wonder Woman

Jeopardy! vs. Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody vs. Taskmaster

Totally Spies! vs. Yellowjackets

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia vs. Ouran High School Host Club (Japanese)

Yuri on Ice vs. Samurai Champloo

Ducktales (1987) vs. Charmed

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood vs. Shaun the Sheep

How It's Made vs. Tokyo Ghoul

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! vs. The Emperor's New School

Group E

Kim Possible vs. Once Upon a Time

The Great British Bake Off vs. The Legend of Vox Machina

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power vs. Gilmore Girls

Animaniacs vs. Pretty Little Liars

Zoboomafoo vs. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

The Umbrella Academy vs. The Muppet Show

WandaVision (A Newlywed Couple/Ep 1) vs. NCIS

Reading Rainbow (1983-1999) vs. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Hannah Montana (S1-2) vs. Gilligan's Island

The Mandalorian vs. Dragon Ball Z (Cha-La Head-Cha-La)

What We Do in the Shadows vs. Inspector Gadget

Big Time Rush vs. Barney & Friends

Power Rangers (Mighty Morphin) vs. Young Justice

Futurama vs. Spy × Family

Succession vs. Bluey

iCarly vs. Code Lyoko

Group F

The Magic School Bus vs. Jackie Chan Adventures

Digimon Adventure (Butter-Fly) vs. The Last of Us

Star Trek: The Next Generation (S3-7) vs. Soul Eater

Zoey 101 vs. Xena: Warrior Princess

Dora the Explorer vs. We Bare Bears

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend vs. Carmen Sandiego (2019)

Star Trek: Enterprise (S1-2) vs. Mr. Bean

Sailor Moon (Japanese) vs. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (S1-2) vs. Red Dwarf

Death Note vs. Phil of the Future

Yu-Gi-Oh! vs. El Chapulín Colorado

The Flintstones vs. His Dark Materials

Game of Thrones vs. Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

The Nanny vs. Haikyu!!

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends vs. Frasier

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air vs. Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji

Group G

Bill Nye the Science Guy vs. The Facts of Life

George of the Jungle (1967) vs. Veronica Mars

H2O: Just Add Water (S1) vs. Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: The Original Series (With Vocal) vs. Hawaii Five-O

Drake & Josh vs. Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman

Puella Magi Madoka Magica vs. Cowboy Bebop (1998)

Lilo & Stitch: The Series vs. Torchwood

The Twilight Zone vs. Wander Over Yonder

Rugrats vs. Columbo

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius vs. The Walking Dead

Hey Arnold! vs. Psych

Twin Peaks vs. Voltron: Legendary Defender

Dragon Tales vs. How I Met Your Mother

Stranger Things vs. Mission: Impossible (1966)

W.I.T.C.H. vs. Daredevil

What's New, Scooby-Doo? vs. Tiny Toon Adventures

Group H

SpongeBob SquarePants vs. X-Men: Evolution

Fraggle Rock vs. Stargate SG-1

Firefly vs. Scrubs

Codename: Kids Next Door vs. Inuyasha (Change the World)

That '70s Show vs. Bear in the Big Blue House

Cheers vs. American Dragon: Jake Long

A Series of Unfortunate Events vs. Black Sails

The Powerpuff Girls vs. Darkwing Duck

That's So Raven vs. Grey's Anatomy

Ben 10 vs. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Cyberchase vs. Reba

Malcolm in the Middle vs. Shake It Up

Teen Titans (2003) vs. Mob Psycho 100

The Owl House vs. I Dream of Jeannie

Assassination Classroom (Question) vs. Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake

Phineas and Ferb vs. Batman Beyond/Batman of the Future

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Not my photo or my words. But this helps to understand the speculated one.

"No piece of art has ever emotionally affected me the way this robot arm piece has. It's programmed to try to contain the hydraulic fluid that’s constantly leaking out and required to keep itself running...if too much escapes, it will die so it's desperately trying to pull it back to continue to fight for another day. Saddest part is they gave the robot the ability to do these 'happy dances' to spectators. When the project was first launched it danced around spending most of its time interacting with the crowd since it could quickly pull back the small spillage. Many years later... (as you see it now in the video) it looks tired and hopeless as there isn't enough time to dance anymore.. It now only has enough time to try to keep itself alive as the amount of leaked hydraulic fluid became unmanageable as the spill grew over time. Living its last days in a never-ending cycle between sustaining life and simultaneously bleeding out... (Figuratively and literally as its hydraulic fluid was purposefully made to look like it's actual blood).

"The robot arm finally ran out of hydraulic fluid in 2019, slowly came to a halt and died - And I am now tearing up over a friggin robot arm 😭 It was programmed to live out this fate and no matter what it did or how hard it tried, there was no escaping it. Spectators watched as it slowly bled out until the day that it ceased to move forever. Saying that 'this resonates' doesn't even do it justice imo. Created by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, they named the piece, 'Can't Help Myself'. What a masterpiece. What a message."

Extended interpretations: the hydraulic fluid in relation to how we kill ourselves both mentally and physically for money just in an attempt to sustain life, how the system is set up for us to fail on purpose to essentially enslave us and to steal the best years of our lives to play the game that the richest people of the world have designed. How this robs us of our happiness, passion and our inner peace. How we are slowly drowning with more responsibilities, with more expected of us, less rewarding pay-offs and less free time to enjoy ourselves with as the years go by. How there's really no escaping the system and that we were destined at birth to follow a pretty specific path that was already laid out before us. How we can give and give and give and how easily we can be forgotten after we've gone.. How we are loved and respected when we are valuable, then one day we aren't any longer and we become a burden...and how our young, free-caring spirit gets stolen from us as we get churned out of the broken system that we are trapped inside of. Can also be seen to represent the human life cycle and the fact that none of us make it out of this world alive. But also can act as a reminder to allow yourself to heal, rest and love with all of your heart. That the endless chase for 'more' isn't necessary in finding your own inner happiness.” )

- James Kricked Parr

[BANKSY]