#it's almost as if I didn't go scouting on the wiki to see who in Sunset Valley has the same traits lol

[simsreaper]

Oh would you look at that, they share the same trait. Pandora has some luck on her side.

Pandora said her goodbyes and continued on with what she needed to do for the day. Besides produce, she needed some plasma packs and luckily the supermarket had a supply.

[fallen-goldfishcracker]

I've been thinking obsessively about my gladiator!Hunter au for the past 24 hours straight- so take some random plot drabbles!

Hunter is sixteen/seventeen ish at the start of the story, although he doesn't know his exact birthdate or age. He has been a professional gladiator for at least a year, training at a ludus gladiatorius (a gladiator training school- currently unnamed) in a province countryside near Rome/

He was abandoned by his mother at the age of seven or eight, and was picked up a few years later by a group of slavers, and sold to very small gladiator trainer/manager- called a lanista- to compete as essentially canon fodder in small provinces.

He survived somehow, and began getting more skill and kinda-sorta-almost fame, and around the age of 13 was sold to the ludas gladiatorius just outside of Rome.

What type of gladiator was he? I'm glad you asked! but this answer is gonna get a little long, so I'm putting it under the partition.

There were several types of gladiators, all of which had different fighting styles and armament, and were suited to different opponents. At the moment, I am unsure which type of gladiator he was. His combat style in canon is very light and agile, and he is semi-lightly armored; I want to represent that in this au with giving him those same traits and abilities.

-the lightest and most agile gladiators were the Retiarius; these guys:

They wore next to no armor besides a manica (arm guard) on one arm and a galerus (shoulder-guard) on the other. They fought with a trident, weighted net, and dagger, and were largely looked down upon, even more than already sub-human gladiators, especially if they belonged to the specific subset of retiarius, called: retiarius tunicatus, who were especially "shameful" and "effeminate" because they wore (can you believe it??) clothes. For shame.

Their main paring in the arena was the more heavily armored: secutor

However, I'm not sure if I like the look for my boy, Hunter- and the fighting style doesn't super call to me, so I'm not sure.

The second option is a rarer type of gladiator called a veles, or velites (skirmishers, in English). Because they are so rare, information on them is a little lean, and most mentions of them are from the Total War Wiki, soooo. I'm going to do my best with what I know.

They fought with a small, round shield and a six ft long spear (hasta in Latin), and were lightly armored. They were also given a sword as a backup, should the spear fail or be lost. They were a latter addition to the gladiator games, based off of a subset of the Roman infantry of the same name. In contests, they would be paired against other velietes.

Like I said, there's not a lot of information on them, which is definitely a con, as it makes design a lot more difficult. But-

Look! Wolf Boy! That is definitely a plus.

As I mentioned, the velietes are based off of an actual subclass of soldier in the Republic, pictured above on the left. We can see the spear, sword, and shield, and he also has a tunic and the wolf cap thing which slays. The right one is a warhammer figurine, but listen, supplies are thin. I can assume, using my very limited historical knowledge, that, as gladiators were, essentially performers of the likes of the despicable actors, they would dress as some sort of caricature of the actual soldiers, with the same weapons, and I propose keeping the wolf beanie as it slaps, but the tunic probably would have been ditched for something more revealing, like on the right.

(gosh that was long why didn't a make this a separate post good heavens why)

Whichever type of gladiator Hunter was, over the course of one or two years he would have sparred 5-7 times in an arena, as well as several times at private functions/ banquets depending on his popularity (spoiler: he is pretty popular). He's also the youngest (scout to be made-) professional gladiator, which is very appealing for a lot of people. Everyone likes an underdog, right?

When not sparring, he endures a harsh training regiment at his ludas gladitorius (still unnamed) under his lanista- who I think should be a character from the show but I do not know who at the moment. Although popular and well-liked, he's a very high flight risk, so his freedom is extremely limited. He basically lives and works and exists at the school, except for when he is rented out for contents and arenas 3-4 times a year.

Sometime during the story he gets spotted at a contest by Belos, (that's right lads you knew he was going to show up. You knew it). Belos is a affluent, high-ranking general in the Roman Army, and attends the contest, and becomes very interested in Hunter.

A few months later, Belos celebrates the ten year anniversary of his brother's death with a gladitoral munera, three days of gladitoral combat and feasts, and rents out gladiators from Hunter's ludas gladitorius, mainly because Hunter looks very similar to his dead brother,(wink wink) and Belos is the emperor(ha) of healthy coping. At the end of the munera, Belos buys Hunter from the lanista to become his personal guard, and boom- we have the Golden Guard dynamic from the show!

Small baby headcanon's that don't really relate:

Hunter is a pretty good pickpocket, from those few years on the streets, but if he got caught he was royally screwed because he can't lie for the life of him.

His favorite color used to be red, but since his time as a gladiator he doesn't know his favorite color anymore. During his time under Belos, it becomes yellow.

When he was younger, he tried to run away twice, and because of that was branded on his arm or neck (maybe with the letters FVG, for fugitive??). With Belos's permission, he cut off/hacks it off after he's bought.

His favorite foods are those little honey cakes sometimes served at the banquets the night before gladiatorial contents. The first time he was important enough to go to a public banquet, he ate so much food he got himself sick, and now at banquets he doesn't eat much, to give himself a better chance the next day, but he does have a honey cake if they are provided.

He thought gladiators were super cool until he became one. Think like, a little kid's obsession with superheroes.

He's still sort of scrawny, especially for a gladiator, who were fed a lot of bulky food to give them some fat to cushion blows in the arena, but he has a good amount of muscle, and after he leaves the arena (and maybe after Belos???) he starts filling out more.

Lastly, at sixteen years old, he still hasn't lost all his baby teeth! (even with how many times he's been socked in the jaw)

I'm hoping to work in more characters later, right now I am frankly obssesed with gladiator!hunter and gladiator!hunter only, but I do have some ideas for Hexsquad + the CATT's, so hopefully I'll be able to expand on that.

Anndddd that's that babbbby take the my disorganized rambles for 24 hours of hyperfixation. And yes, I am writing this because if there's one thing I'm good for it's hyperspecific au's of my loveliest boy.

:D

[thattimdrakeguy]

I Can't Think Of A Good Heading.

I saw a Damian stan complain that Tim fans (In fairness I'm definitely included in this type of Tim fan, but for a reason) keep wanting Tim to be short and have a babyface.

It is literally only because (At least in my case) there's so many different times where it's referenced in some way or another. Hell, he was months way from 18-years-old, and he was specified by even a character his own age as looking like a 'cub scout'.

Asking for some consistency is a basic desire when you like a long-lasting character. If they start to lose their consistency, it's hardly the same character anymore. It's why people prefer anime, they will typically keep the same creator so it's almost always consistent. With comics, ya pretty much have to hope someone will give enough of a shit to keep a character consistent.

I'm not sure if it's a trolling effort or what, because I never see anyone really agree with the idea Tim isn't both of those things that's not a total fuck wad to the fictional character Tim Drake.

Also, I think the most annoying part of it is people saying it infantilizes Tim. Infantilizes him. How does it infantilize him? People can be short and look young. It's not about trying to keep him an infant or something, it's literally just how he fucking looks.

Fuck I am literally in my 20s, and I get confused for a 15-year-old on a regular bases. Even at places where I've seen the same people for years, genuinely assumed I been a child the entire time they've known me. They met me when I was 18-years-old, and this still happens years later.

No one is infantilizing me. It's just how I look, and I am fine with it. It's a thing that can happen with people. It's reality. Tim Drake is representing reality, and since he's a natural underdog character it also fits super freaking well for him.

It's rude to say, I am aware, but after a while I think you're just a fucking idiot who has a some kind of unexplainable hatred towards a character you hate having traits you like. While the only time your fav has them is during the era of comics that are known for having shit inconsistencies that directly contradict previously known information.

Not all of them, but the ones I see still pressing this nonexistent issue are those kind. You can always tell by how they talk. The vagueness in which they speak, while thinking they're subtle by bringing up their headcanons as actual canon, when it's obviously not the case. That sort of thing. Their attempts to provide evidence may also be purely by things based in the forever-and-probably-always inconsistent things about comics, such as the art.

Damian is 15-years-old now, has been for a while. And he's taller at this age, than Tim was also at 15-years-old. In the pre-flashpoint timeline (saying there's a difference, because even then I feel like going back on what was said here is out of character, but I'm tryna be a little less strict on what i say), he was only an inch shorter than Tim at their different ages when they met, according to official DC material, even if it didn't seem like it in the art. Damian was ten, while Tim was months away from eighteen.

Tim's just naturally like that, and Damian had his DNA modified to be a warrior. There was even an issue of Batman around that time where it was into a dark future and Damian is an incredibly massive man that was definitely more than the generic 'adult' body artists may give a character seen in the future, before one is figured out for him. Making it a distinct purposeful choice.

And I've rarely seen Damian fan art that didn't make him look eight no matter his age.

In fact Wayne Family Adventures MADE Damian eight, when he's NEVER been eight as an active character in the main universe. People literally made that up in an active effort to infantilize him.

I remember there was even attempts to change the fan wikis to make Tim taller and Damian shorter, but it was changed back because it clearly wasn't the case when you looked at the books.

When I was around more, I was around. I've seen the shit happen.

It's just hypocrisy at it's most obvious.

I've seen this sort of thing many times over the years, and it is now 2023. Why is this still a fucking talking point? There's nothing to talk about, the case has been settled long ago. That's the reason I'm rambling here.

Most of my frustration comes more from how this fandom still does this stuff. I'm a lot calmer in real life than it probably seems. I have a hard time expressing how I actually feel in text, but trust me I'm in a calm mood, that's just dumbfounded.

You're really willing to waste your time, trying to convince people you're really just not a jackass like that?

Nowadays I simply feel bad for people that do it.

And it's not only Damian stans, it's every stan. That was just the post that gave me flashbacks to stuff I seen nearly TEN YEARS AGO now.

I still see Tim stans tryna convince everyone he's a skater-boy stoner, that ran Wayne Enterprises. Given that first part is a little more recent of a debacle, the point still remains.

He has never been that. One arc he was in the skater-crowd for a specific criminal, he hates drugs like a square, and has NEVER ran Wayne Enterprises. Lucious Fox did.

What kind of a fandom wastes time complaining about stuff they do right (Which even then, a lot of art still doesn't bother drawing Tim as anything more than a generic dude), while praising stuff that breaks what there was before?

Do you really like this stuff then?

If you have to change so much stuff to suit your desires. Why are you even here?