#like batman is more a symbol at this point than a person almost

[theerurishipper]

I feel like people really underestimate the importance of Dick being the first Robin. Like, reverse Robin AUs are interesting and such, but I just hope people realize that in the context of canon, they would never work. The reason Batman and Robin ever works is because the first Robin was Dick Grayson specifically. Because Bruce would never have taken in any child if Dick's tragedy hadn't specifically happened to mirror his own experience. Dick Grayson was the only one Bruce truly saw himself in first, because the fundamental event that defines them is the same. And he sees the opportunity to help someone the way he was never helped, to make sure that Dick didn't go down the dark path he did. So, my point here is that the only one Bruce actually made the choice to take in, the only one who could kickstart it all, is Dick Grayson, because he is the only one with whom Bruce could immediately empathize and connect with.

This never happened with any other Robin. He took in Jason because he missed Dick, he took in Tim because Tim forced himself into the role, he took in Steph because he was trying to make Tim come back to being Robin, and Dick made Damian Robin. Of course, he loved all of them, and they all have their unique relationships with Bruce that are very important and inform their characters, and he does need them too. But he specifically formed this connection with Dick that made Dick the only person he ever considered taking in. It took a very specific set of circumstances in Dick's backstory that made Bruce commit an impulse adoption that just isn't really present in any other Robin's story. And the reason Jason or Tim or Steph or Damian or anyone else whom Bruce has taken under his wing even got that chance is because of the work Dick Grayson put into Bruce Wayne.

Before Dick, Bruce was reckless and didn't care at all about himself, to the point of almost being borderline suicidal. He was more brutal, more violent, etc. The reason all this changed, is because of Dick Grayson specifically. He was the one with whom Bruce opened up, with whom Bruce was forced to grow up, to take responsibility and learn to take care of both Dick and himself. Dick, to Bruce was the one who brought "color to their [his and Alfred's] monochrome lives." Dick Grayson's specific brand of happiness and joy changed Bruce for the better. Dick gave Bruce hope. This is true for other Robins too, but only because they followed the precedent that Dick Grayson set, only because they slid into his role (they have their own interesting relationships with Bruce, but this specifically is from Dick that other Robins carried on. A legacy, if you will). Dick Grayson turned Bruce into the kind of man who would become a serial adopter.

Without his influence, without his precedent, there would be no Batfamily, because Bruce would never have gotten to the point where he would be able or willing to take in someone else and care for them properly (It took living through his trauma again to get him to take Dick in lmao). Hell, there would be no Batman because Bruce would have gotten himself killed a long time ago if Dick hadn't helped him learn self-care. Dick knows Bruce best, because he understands him on a fundamentally deeper level than anyone else in the world. And he's the only one who can make Bruce open up at his rawest, most downtrodden state. He is the only one who can give Bruce at his lowest that kind of hope. There is no Robin without Dick Grayson. It's literally a tribute to his parents, using their colors and the name his mother called him. He created that identity as a symbol of hope. He helped Bruce become the kind of man who could and would let other people that he had to care for into his life. Without Dick Grayson, you can simply forget about any other Robin or the Batfamily as a concept even existing.

[jokin-around]

I made a Twitter thread about this, but I've been reading early issues of Batman lately and something I've noticed is how differently the contrast between Batman and "Bruce Wayne" is depicted

obviously, in many things today, "Bruce" (ESPECIALLY in fandom) is often depicted as a happy-go-lucky himbo in order to draw contrast with a grim and "tortured" batman

so how does this hold up when you look at older depictions? the answer: it doesn't. in fact it was almost the opposite.

way back in the very first issues of the official Batman title, Bruce Wayne, no matter WHAT he's doing, isn't the one who laughs and smiles, Batman is.

and these are comics that were published BEFORE the comics code authority caused a dramatic shift in tone

Bruce Wayne (or least the cardboard cutout refered to as Bruce Wayne) isn't nessecarily described as grim, but he isn't a very happy person either, he's still a rich airhead, but not so much a "himbo" or even a dedicated businessman, he's depicted as a BORED, uninterested, aristocrat:

this Bruce seems to spend of his time smoking a pipe at home or mingling with other upperclass individuals, that in-between we tend to see MUCH more often in modern comics doesn't seem to exist yet (in part because the batcave Is non-existent which I suspect has given him a bit more privacy as a character)

MEANWHILE Batman, who's investigates murders every other night almost seems to be having the time of his life:

the early comics seem to routinely depict the burgoise as cold, snobbish & bored, in contrast to batman who seems particularly expressive and joyful, for all we know Batman may partially exist as some millionaires weird passtime, but of course Bruce Wayne (the real guy, not the facade) is written as someone who genuinely seems to care due to his own past experiences:

but , with all of that layed out, one can conclude that when ppl say Batman is the "true persona" ect. originally, it wasn't (just) because of his coping or whatever it was because when he wasn't Batman he was forced to live life as a cold, "useless" millionaire:

"what if a rich a guy gave a fuck?" is still very much the base concept here, but what's surprising is how much BITE there is to it

the concept wasn't being proposed because it's like… a plausible thing to happen or attainable on a personal level, but because the rich reliably and consitently do not care

the rich ppl in this book, "Bruce Wayne" included, are not written to be envied as people. they're written to be insufferable. ppl with endless resources who are still somehow unsatisfied with life and choose to do nothing useful or direct with the amount wealth they've accumulated

but ofc it shouldn't be ALL THAT surprising, Batman debuted in Detective Comics in 1939…. ONE year after the great depression, Bob and Bill had more than a good reason to feel a bit bitter

but rolling back to the point of this analysis, whenever I say "let batman be happy" I mean "let Batman enjoy his job" despite the pain, despite the death, despite the murder, despite the hypocritical nature of it all and how problematic it may be because it's a life he also chooses, not just out of compulsion, but because it's hands on, direct & purposeful. it gives him something to do & it gives him a chance to punch a problem in the face (which may be good or bad depending on what that problem is, but still)

that kind of depiction is what set up the groundwork for nearly every deconstruction that's come since but it's so buried in time at this point that lines from characters claiming bruce "loves being batman" seem to ring completely hollow

tbh, I think the old way of depicting Batman can be ( and as been in some media) woven into the way he's depicted today, in the past Batman was an outlet for every emotion Bruce Wayne had to hide elsewhere, a symbol of empathy, fury and passion, for modern Batman, I imagine those three things still hold true, layered on top of an alter ego that allows a modern Bruce Wayne to be weird and damaged and dark.

so uh, ln conclusion, I think batman enjoying what he does to a certain extent is a crucial aspect of his character that's been lost and withered and forgotten about, let him a have a little fun, we can discuss the ramifications of all that when discussion seems necessary

[msfcatlover]

Moonbeam Dick

I probably had too much fun with this one, but Dick's had so many iterations & costumes over the years, so much cool lore, and is one of the heroes we can actually track real-world influence on his designs! (Whoever came up with the idea to take the Doyalist reasoning of superhero costumes being based on circus performers & wrestlers, and retconning it into Dick's backstory to make the Robin costume based on the Flying Graysons' performance outfits: I see you, and I love you.) So this has been a wild, whirlwind trip through the real-world evolution of gymnastics outfits, acrobatic costuming, and comic history (paying special attention to the different costumes we've actually seen in the various flashbacks/retellings of Dick's origin over the years,) while getting way too many design ideas along the way.)

Now here's a hurdle, because Dick's not going to start with a past Moonbeam costume as his base and alter it to reflect himself. Dick Grayson is going to start with his acrobat costume, and alter it to become Moonbeam. So we're starting with a bodysuit. Skin-tight, full-sleeve, the type that loops around your middle finger to stay in place. Neckline like this fucking fantastic redesign by mabychan.

(Gods, every time I see this picture, I need to stop & stare for like... at least 3min.)

Next: the colors. Dick likes bright colors & high contrast; you barely need to glance at even one of his costumes to realize that. I, personally, really love the version where the Robin suit was a tribute to his family, but red & green really aren't "Moonbeam" colors. Fortunately, the Flying Grayson's costumes have also been shown as potential inspiration for Dick's Nightwing suit, which seems to me like a great way to keep that tidbit in without defaulting to the Robin colors! So the new color scheme is sky blue, dark blue, and white-gold (which would probably be either more silver or gold, depending on the artist.)

So the suit is predominantly light blue, with a larger the dark blue triangle like his Lost Carnival costume on the upper chest, the shoulder-points of which partially run down his upper arms. While some artists might have them go all the way to his elbows or even the finger-loops on his hands personally I don't see them going further than about halfway down Dick's biceps (at first), where the very tips of them disappear behind golden arm-bands which can be used to store gadgets. Matching bands around his thighs, too, though those are larger, for bigger pockets.

(While I am trying to evoke how some people draw the 90s Nightwing gold stripe as separate bands lower down the arm, it's probably easiest to imagine Steph's leg-bands to explain this. Also, the bands on this absolutely delightful bedazzled Nightwing by rinpin that I cannot get out of my head are a good reference for placement.)

The triangle also does a great job of framing Dick's Moonbeam symbol: a crescent moon that covers most of his upper chest, filling the triangle from side to side.

(It's another subtle tribute to his parents. Also, the green & gold "All-Star Batman and Robin" costumes are the best look the Flying Graysons have ever worn, don't @ me.)

Like with Cass, I actually found my inspiration for this when I realized what Dick would use to hide his identity: a "colombina" masquerade mask.

(These two specifically inspired me while I was doing research.)

The legs are dark blue, cut at an angle where they meet Dick's torso to evoke Tim's original Robin costume (and, to a lesser extent, the Earth 2 grown-up Robin costume) and make the bodysuit look even more like a classic leotard. Dark blue or black gloves underneath the finger-loops to protect Dick's hands & keep his fingerprints off of things. Black boots with a lighter hem on top (either the light blue or white-gold, I don't really care which) with the V top we see on the Earth-2 Robin's boots, echoing the triangle on his chest. The soles of the boot are light blue.

(The boots will, almost certainly, end up being drawn as just part of the leg, colored the same dark blue as the legs and just having a lighter stripe around his shins as well as the band around his thighs. This is not at all the intended design, but I've been looking at comic costumes for months now, and I know how details get fudged.)

So. That's the acrobat angle with enough details to make it at least passable as Moonbeam. I feel like it needs some more armor. Looking at what I've got so far, how about something like these gauntlets I used as a reference for Shadow!Steph and some simple pauldrons, both in white-gold?

Finally, while Dick's "utility belt" is more of a waist sash with hidden pockets inside, I keep going back & forth on whether or not to give him a scale-mail skirt for the extra protection & flair. It makes sense, but I worry it might be a bit much...

(Styled much like the one on the left, but closer in length to the one on the right. Color could be either light blue to extend the line of his torso & keep the colors balanced or white-gold to keep all the metallic bits consistent.)

This one has been, despite how much fun I had brainstorming, the biggest pain pinning anything down on. I'm so glad I'm done with it now.

[its-all-greek-to-me]

Find You First Pt. 1

//What if... Tim visited Jason's grave everyday after his death, and so was the first to find him after his resurrection.//

Today, he brought daffodils with him. He'd waited a whole 10 days before allowing himself to leave flowers by the grave's headstone so as not to catch any unwanted attention. After all, he didn't know Jason personally and didn't want to appear suspicious for visiting too often.

Tim began his daily visits to Jason's grave 2 days after the funeral was held -- around 6 months ago, the same day that Batman took back to the streets to resume his crime-fighting.

That night, Tim had almost wished he'd stayed at Jason's grave and not followed the Bat on his patrol. Because the Batman that appeared through his lens that night was not the same Batman on his camera's SD card.

This Bat went against everything he'd previously stood for.

He was violent and reckless and so erratically ruthless; he threw himself into fights that could have been easily avoided and made no distinction between the severity of crimes. Mugger and murderer were beaten alike: within an inch of their lives.

Tim wasn't sure if it was the crime, which took his son from him, that Batman wanted to punish or if it was himself. Either way, every criminal and rogue in Gotham had no doubt in their minds that, from that point onwards, he was truly Vengeance.

At first, Tim's heart burned for a grieving father, but after witnessing what he had, Tim was simply scared. He worried for Gotham and its people, who were slowly but surely losing their symbol of justice; he worried about the day when Batman would come back to his senses and drown in his regret; and he feared the day he might not.

The vicarious joy he used to feel through watching Batman and Robin-- his Robin, was no more, and Tim spent the last half-year without so much as a smile. The lonely emptiness in his house felt more pronounced now that his only reprieve was stripped away from him. He woke up in the morning with nothing to look forward to and went to sleep at night with nothing to dream about. 

But today was different. Today, Tim walked into the only flower shop in Gotham and saw a bouquet of daffodils, with coronas an orange so deep it could be mistaken for red, and he knew this was it. The combination of green, yellow and almost-red was perfect. It felt like Robin was personally calling to him and comforting him. He also half-remembered reading somewhere that daffodils symbolise rebirth and vitality — two things which certainly suited Jason, the joyous and spirited second incarnation of Robin.

That's why today, for the first time since Jason’s death, Tim was reintroduced to the feeling of anticipation. He couldn’t wait to show the daffodils to Jason and talk to him about something that wasn’t the hole he left behind when he passed. He would tell him all the things he couldn’t when he was still alive because they didn’t know each other, and he would thank him for giving him hope again and again, even now, with these flowers. 

Happy with his plans, Tim stepped through the metal back gate and made down the path towards the left-back corner of the cemetery. He relied on his muscle memory to get to him to his destination as his mind continued to wander. Concrete soon turned to gravel beneath his feet, and he quickened his pace as the gravel turned to earth. The ground was slightly damp from the rain earlier that morning and the sky maintained its too-dark-for-this-time-of-day palette.

He did come a little later than usual because of the rain but it was still only 16:00 and sunsets in May aren't until 21:00. Not only should the sky have cleared up by now, but the place also felt eerily calm, like a storm had just passed by and Tim had somehow missed it. The clear silence that usually followed heavy rain rang a little too loud and Tim was starting to feel discomforted. He pushed the feeling down; today was a good day. Today, he brought daffodils with him.

Of course, it was calm in a cemetery; otherwise, how would any of the souls find rest? And the silence was only because the animals were still hidden in the places of refuge they sought from the rain. Tim was being hypersensitive because of his excitement. That was all. He needed to stop second-guessing everything any time things seemed to be going well, because even he deserved to have good things sometimes. He's sure Robin would've told him as much.

As Tim drew closer to where Jason's grave was, his heart eagerly beat faster. Robin really was the only one who could make him feel so alive and elated (well, Robin and his camera but his camera wasn't a person) and his steps sped up even as the ground turned muddier. By the time he came to a still in front of Jason's grave, his hands were on his knees and he paused to catch his breath.

Trudging through mud that was quick-sand in all but name proved to be more exhausting than jumping across rooftops on Batman's tail. Wasn't Bruce Wayne supposed to be a billionaire? He should have made sure Jason was buried in nothing short of comfort. He'd probably have to get rid of his shoes now, but no matter, it would all be worth it because today was a good day. And it was only going to get better!

Tim raised his head and stepped towards the grave, only to stop dead in his tracks. Where an even bed of dirt should have been, a claggy mound was protruding, causing the headstone to tilt forward. He drew in a sharp breath in shock, then blew out an enraged one. Who had dared to desecrate his hero's resting place in this way?

Tim balled his hands into fists and closed his eyes in a long, unbelieving blink, hoping against all odds that he had mistook the sight before him. When he reopened his eyes, it was with a renewed rage at the evident tunnel running from the engraved headstone to where Jason's coffin must have been laid.

Never mind Robin, every Gothamite and their dog knew that Jason Todd-Wayne was the much mourned son of Brucie "loves-his-children-more-than-anything" Wayne. Sure, his dad was rich, but there was no way this horrid violation was worth whatever valuables they found (and knowing Robin, there probably wasn't much). They hadn't even bothered to hide the evidence!

Did they think that no one was going to visit the sweet boy who suffered a tragic and early death? Anyone who looked at the grave would be able to tell at a single glance that it looked burrowed through as though by a mole! Tim paused at that thought. Looking at it again, the upturned dirt circling the little tunnel didn't seem like the work of a shovel. In fact, upon closer inspection, it looked like it was dug up from the inside, perhaps by an animal who was hiding from the rain or looking for a home in the worst place possible.

Feeling a lot calmer, Tim crouched down by the mound to inspect the extent of the damage. He would probably have to find a way to let Mr. Wayne know without giving away his daily visits.

Peering through the hole, it was clear that the tunnel ran deeper than a shovel could manage, given its narrow width. As a matter of fact, when Tim squinted hard enough, he could even see the purple velvet of the coffin, so it must reach all the way 6 feet down. All of a sudden, Tim stilled, then abruptly scrambled to his feet and swung his backpack off of his shoulders to hang it on the gravestone. He took out his camera, threw the strap over his head, then rushed back down to the hole.

In his haste, he slammed his knees into the ground, forgetting the mud and sludge, until he felt himself sink down with a squelch. He chanced a glance at his now-soiled jeans, then, with a grimace, shook his head to clear out his thoughts and quickly turned back to his camera. After powering it on, he switched on the flash function and turned the zoom up to its strongest setting. Then, after a test shot of the headstone, he leaned over the mound and lined up his lens with the hole.

He waited a couple of seconds for his hands to stop trembling, then pressed and held the capture button, taking a few burst shots. After blinking out the light spots from his vision, Tim straightened up on his knees. Immediately, he went to the playback and flicked through the photos he just took. Each and every one of them showed the same thing.

The purple velvet, lining the inside of Jason's coffin. Jason's coffin, which was definitely open. Jason's coffin, which was very empty.

[syntia13treeman]

Case files 02.01

what I think happened in:

Case 02.01, the case of "Portrait of Daria Gray" or "The artist becomes the canvas."

Daria's story is pretty straightforward. What we know about Daria: she's a struggling left-handed artist who used to wear a lot of hand-me-down clothes from her sister, and she doesn't like the way she looks. At some point she decides to get a bit of a makeover and, among more mundane things, she starts shopping for a new tattoo. She finds a deal too good to be true (it is) offered by one 'Ink5oul'.

Ink5oul is sketchy as hell, and definitely has something supernatural going on. The tattoo they gives Daria (with no input from her, WTF! - paintbrush, floral patterns and glittering symbols) hurts much more than it should, but also heals almost instantly.

Looking at the tattoo (which is 'perfect') fills Daria with sudden desire to paint an autoportrait (which comes out 'perfect'). And once that is done, looking at it again makes her realize she can adjust herself (and make herself perfect).

So she takes her painting tools, most notably a pallet knife, right to her own face (and soon pretty much every other body part) and gives herself an impromptu plastic surgery. Which goes on uninterrupted for several days (???!?!!?!) until her room-mate Sarah comes home. Poor Sarah walks in on Daria while she has a knife stuck in her jaw, understandably freaks out and punches Daria, at which point half of Daria's face collapses under her hand like putty.

Having no idea that her room-mate has been touched by the spooky, Sarah comes up with the only rational explanation she can think of, which is that Daria poured some acid on her own face (which is very comic-book logic, but maybe Sarah paid more attention to Batman than chemistry and biology class as a teen).

So now Daria has severely disfigured face, and also is officially considered suicidal and a danger to herself and must go to therapy. (Honestly, she needs therapy).

There are two things, aside from the obvious, that grabbed my attention here:

The voice. Narration in the first case was that of a pretty normal email - a little bit rambly, a little bit disjointed, referencing things that the recipient would know about that we can only infer. The second case had a perfectly average forum thread. This case... also starts out with pretty realistic voice - right until the moment Daria stats talking about the tattoo. Then suddenly this story gets ridiculously verbose. The way she describes the studio, the tattooing process, the tattoo itself, the painting process and finally the 'adjustments' - the details, the wording - there's no way a regular person talks that way. Not in real time, not about a traumatic event that they very much don't want to talk about at all. So where is this coming from? I think it's the ink. Until proven otherwise, I'm going to assume that Ink5soul's tattoo somehow infused Daria with power to 'express herself' perfectly in whatever medium she's using - be it words, paint, or her own flesh.

Invasion of privacy issues all over the place. First Daria's tattooing session is streamed for who knows how many Ink5oul's fans without her say-so, and then her be-damned therapy session gets intercepted by some weird basement government branch. Daria glosses over the former and doesn't know about the latter, but they are there. And there was that private email in case of 'Not-Arthur' too. I wonder how present this theme will be in rest of the show. One thing I can bet on: if one of the cases doesn't deal with a conspiracy theorist yelling about government spying on them, I'm gonna eat my hat. (And the poor paranoid guy will be 100% right, just not in the way they think).

[distort-opia]

Fascinated by your tags about the superficial similarities between Bruce & Joker (sweet tooths, jazz lovers, etc. I think they both like black and white films too, iirc) Could you elaborate, please? It's really interesting to me how two opposites can still end up enjoying so many of the same things.

Thank you! I don't know how much more I can elaborate on that, but it's fascinating to me as well-- these more personal similarities between characters like Batman and Joker. They're so larger-than-life, since they're cultural icons and basically modern myths at this point, to us readers. But even within their own Universe, they're such feared and powerful figures, perceived almost as forces of nature and symbols of order and chaos, forever locked in a war. But the thing is, at the end of the day, they are people. Human beings. And it's very interesting to see them share likes and dislikes, or relate to the other in these simple ways that signify connection.

At least in my view, Bruce and Joker are very... autistic4ADHD :)) They share traits belonging to these spectrums, especially how obsessive they can both be about certain things. They're both the type to feel the need to write, draw, sketch what's on their mind. Bruce's penchant for keeping journals is well-known, and Joker has been shown to write down his plans and his thoughts many times as well. It's something Bruce even knows about him and uses (more than once he's uncovered Joker's plans because he was like "guys wait there's gotta be some paper around here where Joker scribbled"). They both like solving puzzles, keep their minds occupied... it always amused me how in The Long Halloween, Joker's motivation is basically curiosity and needing to find out Holiday's identity just like Bruce, except his methods of uncovering it are a lot more murderous. Also, depending on the bits of canon you prefer to believe, both of them generally abstain from drinking alcohol.

But the thing is, what would make it work is that they have many more differences than similarities, but in a complementary way. Joker's a freaking chatterbox and Bruce prefers not to speak that much, and would be content with just listening and cutting in when he needs to. Bruce has a habit of repressing his emotions and denying them, Joker is a hedonist and always put his own wants first; he'd be goading Bruce and badgering him with questions until he admitted to things he was burying (much like he already does in canon, except... less mean, lol). Bruce has a control streak the size of a planet, and Joker has one too, but in a very different way-- so, when Bruce would inevitably try to manipulate him or get him to listen to him, Joker would fight back in a way Bruce wouldn't be able to overlook. That might mean Joker destroying and/or threatening to maim people, but efficiency is what's at play here. And so on... even Joker's tendency to cycle through interests and be obsessed with one thing today, something else tomorrow, would work out well; because Bruce likes to give people things. He's not good with words or physical affection, but God knows he's got a lot of money and willingness to spend it.

Hah, I said I don't have that much to elaborate on, but this still ended up quite long. Hope you enjoyed reading through my rambles!

[roobylavender]

do you also disagree with murderer/fugitive’s assertion that batman is the mask and “bruce” is the true humanity? me personally i feel like they are intrinsically connected and you cannot have created batman without bruce’s ideals, morals, love and compassion first. i also feel like comics like this that portray the divide in this way also paved way for an interpretation of bruce that inadvertently (or purposefully) paints the batman as a negative, dark, dominant figure “his darker side” (this is also a problem with the new failsafe thing i feel) that i really dont like seeing anymore because writers always take it way too far to the point whete it makes audiences almost question batmans rep as a hero. which is never something that should be a debate.

i’m sort of in the middle on it. batman is an extension of bruce’s own person but at the same time i think you could argue batman is a mask in that bruce does not necessarily need it to effect change. i think that’s something earlier comics actually understood better bc of the parallel emphasis on the work bruce did in his civilian life, and that’s why certain conversations criticizing vigilantism as a whole—like the ones bruce had with leslie where he contemplated a day he would no longer have to be batman—were actually possible. so i somewhat agree with murderer/fugitive’s assertion on its face but disagree in context of how it’s ultimately used (which is exactly what leads to the kind of storytelling you mentioned wherein the focus is on a mental bruce-batman dichotomy, rather than any big picture questions that go beyond the mask as a mental entity and recognize it as a material one). batman shouldn’t be criticized for its function as a mask to mete out some “right” way to be batman instead. the criticisms of self-isolation, martyrdom, and secrecy should be aimed at bruce bc regardless of whether or not he wears the mask those tendencies will always be there. what batman and the mask should be criticized for are their futility as long-term solutions to crime. at some point the mask can only function within very specific parameters which threaten to ignore everything else wrong with gotham or any other city. and these are things bruce almost started to recognize in the 90s, but now no longer even addresses bc continued sales are more important than narrative integrity. hence the focus on a fantastical, latent batman personality to drum up drama, rather than any acknowledgment of batman as a symbol of an inherently stagnant methodology that may draw bruce further and further away from the real changes he can help create

[adrianfridge]

The Nogitsune and Renfield

I’m currently in a Dracula Daily hyperfixation, so what better way to tie things back to Teen Wolf lmao

The Teen Wolf writer’s room is not known to go very deep into the pop culture references they utilize. This is a writer’s room where we got the derogatory line “Why's it starting to feel like you're Batman and I'm Robin? I don't want to be Robin all the time” meant to illustrate Stiles feeling like a lowly sidekick. This of course ignores the status of Dick Grayson… Nightwing… the sex symbol Robin. Stiles would be SO INTO THAT.

In the same vein, we get a Dracula reference in the form of the Nogitsune saying “Every Dracula needs a Renfield.” The scope of the line is about a big bad villain needing an obedient underling. That’s the meaning, open and shut case. Right?

Well, I have FEELINGS about original canon Renfield now, so you have to suffer through them too. 

Pop culture Renfield is this dutiful and disgusting slave to Dracula, who’s often also overly zealous of anyone else getting close to his Master. He is timid and weak. And his madness—eating flies—is linked to the compulsion to serve. 

If we assume a superficial reading from the writer’s room, this is the Renfield that the Nogitsune is meant to be directly referencing. Oliver is weak and timid, and with flies stuck in his throat, he becomes a dutiful slave. 

But this is not the Renfield of someone who’s read the original novel… which unintentionally implies the Nogitsune knows Renfield through pop culture. It’s a thought that tickles me greatly because now I need to know this 1,000yo dark kitsune’s hot take on modern cinema.

In any case, Renfield from the original novel is a former boxer (muscular brawler) who has this preexisting mania with consuming life to extend his own (ie eating flies). He escapes the asylum a few times while exhibiting stalker fangirl tendencies towards Dracula, who promptly rejects him. 

When Renfield meets Mina, she treats him not as a madman but as a fellow person, and Renfield is well-mannered and considerate towards her in return. Then he learns Mina is spending the night. And he knows Dracula is coming. 

Renfield begs, to no avail, to be taken out of the asylum by any means necessary so that he’s not coerced into inviting Dracula inside. Let me in. Dracula only wants things when he can force himself on them, and he only acknowledges Renfield after Renfield’s become reluctant. 

The night after inviting Dracula inside, when Renfield realizes Dracula fed on (raped) Mina, he becomes resolute. Dracula comes again, but this time Renfield fights him. With his bare hands. He almost wins. But Dracula is a trickster who mortally wounds Renfield. 

When Renfield is discovered that night, there’s a dent in his skull that requires trephination (hole drilled into his head!) in order to make him conscious enough to speak his side of the story. Ultimately, Renfield is meant to be a sympathetic, albeit morally complex, character.

Returning back to Teen Wolf…

STILES: You did this. You got into his head NOGITSUNE: Every Dracula needs a Renfield

Renfield from the original novel is nothing like how Oliver is portrayed. Yet within Renfield’s story there’s very clear parallels between Dracula and the Nogitsune. And while it makes me wonder if any of it was intentional, I have my doubts; even a broken clock can be right twice a day. 

I want to analyze the parallels anyway.

While the Nogitsune’s line is meant to be interpreted as about Oliver, what if that’s a misdirect by a trickster? What if the line is about Stiles?

- The Nogitsune could be poking at Stiles’s Robin complex. [Edited to add: In hindsight, this is just a parallel between Stiles’s perception of himself and pop culture Renfield that I wanted to point out.] If every monster needs a stooge, and if Scott is the monster, then Stiles is nothing more than his obedient underling. This would hit at Stiles’s self-esteem, weakening his resolve and making it easier to get inside his head.

- Stiles is Renfield as a hinderance to Dracula’s plans. The Nogitsune had taken Stiles to mess up the power supply at the hospital, but then Stiles struggled against it and ended up at the coyote den on the coldest night of the year—the one place where Scott wouldn’t be able to track him by scent. It’s possible Stiles was trying to kill himself in order to prevent the Nogitsune from hurting anyone else. Stiles fought this elusive creature trying to get in… and he failed.

- Malia is Mina. In the novel, Renfield only meets Mina once, but she leaves a big enough impression on him that he changes his mind about wanting to serve Dracula. Similarly, Stiles has only just met Malia in her human form. And when Oliver goes to drill Stiles first, the Nogitsune redirects him to start with Malia. In a dramatic moment of selflessness, Stiles gives himself up to the Nogitsune to save Malia. Renfield’s desire to save Mina is used against him.

This all brings me back to how Dracula only “needed” Renfield as a means to an end. A doorway left ajar. The same way the Nogitsune needed Stiles, not as a slave but as a foothold. Someone with preexisting dark desires that it could then twist like a knife. 

...And with the same hubris as Dracula, the Nogitsune would be undone by careful planning and the power of friendship.

[dullahandyke]

post got long whoops. tldr autism plus unmedicated adhd equals media hellscape

have recently come to the realisation that ive had a complex about art consumption for a long long time, stemming from when i was a tween watching playthroughs and reviews and never playing or watching the stuff the reviews were based on. and some of that was because i was young and didnt have a computer to play danganronpa on, but i've been pirating shows as long as i've been on the internet, yet i never watched any of the anime all the youtubers talked about because it was safer and easier to listen to them talk about it and the culture than it was to ever have to seek out something i liked, to have to have my own thoughts about it. and that's followed me for at least 7 years at this point, and like, fuck, man, i wanna get out of that, but like, it's just so easy to sink into fanon. i don't watch youtube reviews anymore, but i've gotten into more than one fandom almost solely by reading a shitton of fanfiction about it. and i (former owner of yourfavehasfewerficsthanthislamp [eimear lore, veterans discount, etc]) am well aware that fanon near-universally flattens and disregards its characters and stories, saying 'fuck canon' and often for valid reason but rarely making anything better than it, but hell, it's just something to shove down my gob. it feels like easy reading, like i don't have to have my own big thoughts about symbolism and characterisation because someone else has done it for me, and it's shitty to treat fanfiction as inherantly less meaningful, but i do it anyway because it feels like the reading equivalent of having momma bird chew my food for me, and it makes me feel guilty but it keeps me fed! and i've found that a solution for this is to get into something that i've never seen anyone talk about, that nobody knows the Right Opinions for, and blade of the immortal has been wonderful for that! it's a good manga that's so long that it deters anyone from following me down the rabbit hole on a whim, and i like having my own little pit! but then i read another manga and i post about it and someone replies with an observation on the manga, and i think to myself, 'oh god', i think, 'now the neighbours are coming over and i have to clean the living room, i have to make sure my opinions are fully-formed and my appreciation is proper and there's not any mess', and even then there's a shitty bit that feels indignant because i liked to feel special, unique, like i was the only person that knew that manga and someone else has shattered that illusion, and i know i should be happy to share it but i never quite grew out of wanting to feel cool and obscure and like things were MINE. and the thing is that the more i read only fanfiction, the more i can literally feel my braincells dwindling, and i WANT to read something more substantial, because i know that if i pick up a novel or a manga or even the base material for the fic im reading, then i'll have fun and feel intelligent, but it feels like building myself up to opening that book is a chore that opening ao3 simply isnt. i've wanted to finished batman year one, i've wanted to read the hunchback of notre dame, but what i end up reading is a 33k batfam fic that i barely even read, that i only ever skim because slowing down and appreciating things and sitting with them, even just slowing down to actually read them, feels less like the direct hit of stimulus that skimming is. and so i've decided that the logical conclusion is to 1) get into media that i have never in my life seen on tumblr, that none of you fuckers could ask me about if you tried and 2) never ever post about it or search for community around it. to allow myself to read things wrong and to not have the pressure of feeling like there's someone over my back in all this, like i'm not in fandom or criticising fandom but just existing on my lonesome. potentially even to the point of going on break from tumblr for a bit, because i love you fuckers and this is a neutral statement but fandom is unavoidable on here. and i would for sure come back to tumblr and i would maybe come back to less obscure shit once i

hold on tumblr has a text block character limit. anyway once i built up more confidence in myself and didnt feel any pressure to have the right opinions about shit, even if i never engaged in fandom again but instead just kept up with some popular stuff, like an office worker who casually watches breaking bad or whatever. and this is really what i should be doing, and maybe not now because the leaving is in *checks watch* literally a month and a half oh fuck. and i need to focus my brainpower on that (lol as if thats gonna happen) but i cant make a concerted effort towards the leaving if im working on reforming my media habits. but even in the summer i could do it and i should do it, and cut back a little now to make it easier than going cold turkey.

which is why now was THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME to get into batman via take-a-fucking-guess ding-ding-ding fanfiction osmosis, something which is both 1) undeniably mainstream enough that the odds of me meeting people in real fucking life to ask me about my Correct Opinions are higher than i would like them to be and 2) a labyrinth thats been built over the course of like 80 years, out of comics and movies and shows and games and the comics alone are a mess of timelines and reboots and crossovers and whoops-this-character-is-in-this-comic-now-better-fuck-off-over-there-if-you-want-to-find-them that wreaks absolute HELL upon my 'i wanna be sooo well informed and read all the stuff and take no shortcuts' approach that kicks in whenever i DO start actually engaging in shit instead of just the fandom.

like sigh ill muddle through it because i picture dick grayson in motivational posters nowadays to help me do shit like get out of bed and climb stairs and take out my books, and i wanna return the favour, and like im getting closer 2 figuring out how to approach it (turns out the answer is 'one step at a time'. fucking shocker) but also fucking christ. idk idk idk ill go finish batman year one and then at some point ill watch the 2022 batman movie and then ill figure out where to go from there

[kevin-day-is-bi]

Embarking on watching all the Batman movies pt 8: Superman vs. Batman: Dawn of Justice (2016):

I actually really liked this one.

In terms of plot, it’s structured very much like a comic book, and there are a lot of shorter plot points feeding into an overall plot. While I personally really loved it, it didn’t work as well as I think they hoped it would. It was also fairly long (I watched the extended version which was 3hrs), and while I didn’t get the feeling of “ugh they could’ve cut this out” that I usually do in long movies, it still dragged on in a couple places.

When it came to acting, everyone did a good job. Henry Cavill plays Superman a little more on the serious side, which is rarer to see so I enjoyed that. Ben Affleck does a really nice the-cowl-is-barely-off Bruce, and it was fun to see the detective side come through. Obviously Gal Gadot is perfect in every way. Amy Adams does a great job of showing Lois’s sincerity. The younger, slightly more psychotic Lex was really fun, and it makes the timeline make more sense with this being a Batman Year Two and Superman still being fairly new on scene.

The movie opens with Bruce comforting a newly orphaned child, and I super loved that, because I feel like that aspect is missing from all the live action Batman movies thus far. A lot of the scenes were set up in a way that made them look very comic book esque, and that was super fun. I think this was a much more effective Batman Year Two than Dark Knight for a couple reasons, mostly because we actually see him go to the brink of killing someone several times, and we get to see him decide to back away from that path. He looks scary when he’s Batman, he’s still mostly urban legend, and he’s pretty awkward in almost every non-Batman interaction we see him in.

This movie also bucks the trend which all of the others followed, and has an exactly equal main woman to main man ratio. We have Batman, Superman, Lois, Diana, Lex, and the Senator. It made me able to stop feeling like I was watching a male power play for a bit and therefore I enjoyed it a little more. Lois had agency and ultimately furthered the plot more than either Clark or Bruce, which I loved because in the comics, the big three (Clark, Bruce, and Diana) are almost solely used as symbols for most of the time (especially 90s-2010s) and their side characters drive much of the story.

My biggest overall issue is that we don’t have any of the Gotham Rogues. All the villains are Superman’s, which was definitely interesting, but I feel like with the time they were given, they could’ve fleshed out the Gotham aspect as well as the Metropolis one. However, I loved the hints we got to the Justice League (and I do like the Justice League movie), and I liked that we got hints of the Lex/Kryptonian cloning process. With that being hinted at, and Cyborg being created, it felt like it was being structured very similarly to how a Batman/Superman Year Two comic would be structured, with hints of the next generation happening very early on.

My two personal favourite parts of this were that A, all the women had agency (and there were multiple women!) and B, it felt like they put a lot of thought into the timeline and any repercussions of the changes they made. I didn’t at any point go “this doesn’t make any sense!”, or feel as though they had done something that made another future canon thing impossible.

In terms of personal enjoyment, I’m going to give this a 6.5/10. Just like Batman 1989, this type of comic isn’t usually my favourite to read, but the way they adapted it was mostly good. As always, I wish we had more Batman side characters, but it was absolutely a step in the right direction. I got chills when we heard the Wonder Woman theme, and I clapped when she saved Bruce.

In terms of comic accuracy, I’m gonna give this an 8/10. I literally cannot think of a single thing that they changed that they did not work to ensure it would still work in-universe, and the plot was accurate (sometimes to its detriment, as it didn’t always adapt to the screen well). I especially loved the allusions to Death of Superman towards the end.

[southeastasiadiary]

Day Twenty-Four, Part One: A Day in Chiang Rai

Today was devoted to a full-day trip from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai. Now, if those names seem confusing, it’s actually quite simple. Chiang simply means city. Rai or Mangrai was the first king of Lana, the predecessor to Siam/Thailand. And mai simply means big, as in the Wat Mai in Luang Prabang. So, Chiang Mai = The Big City, and Chiang Rai = Rai’s city.

Our first stop, about an hour outside of Chiang Mai, was a hot spring.

When we returned to the city late in the day, the geiser was even more active. Apparently, that tends to occur in the afternoon.

The water of the hot spring is so Hotel that people actually boil eggs in it: seven minutes for chicken eggs; two minutes for quail eggs.

A busload of Chinese tourists was also enjoying the hot springs by soaking their feet in the water.

I decided that I’d pass on that treat.

About two hours later, we reached Wat Rong Khun, also known as the White Temple. Now, I’d been really looking forward to this temple since yesterday, when we were walking down the steps from the mountain temple. I overheard one person tell another that he absolutely HAD to go to the White Temple because it was the single best temple anywhere, even more impressive than the mountain temple.

Well, everyone has their own taste, I suppose, but the White Temple just wasn’t my cup of tea. Nor was it what I thought it would be. First, despite incorporating the ruins of an ancient temple, the buildings I saw were no earlier than the twenty-first century. Seriously. They’re the work of an artist by the name of Chalermchai Kositpipat who comes across as having the personality of Elon Musk and the taste of Donald Trump. Nothing that can be done to make the temple gaudy, tacky, and “over the top” has been overlooked.

That’s the second point about why I was disappointed. The outside of the temple is made of concrete painted with bright white paint and inlaid with bits of mirror to make it glitter like something Elvis Presley might have worn.

Third, the comparison to Elvis Presley is not an exaggeration. The symbolism at the temple is, at times, downright weird. In addition to traditional Hindu gods, the figures that are depicted in the main temple as saving mankind include Superman, Batman, Spider Man, and … um … Michael Jackson.

Note that the photo above had to be dowloaded off of the Internet. A sign said that we couldn't take photos inside this section of the temple, and as a rule-follower …

The decor of the White Temple was so over-the-top that I refrained from calling this place “Wat Disney" … aloud, at least, but I thought it often enough.

The temple complex is nominally Buddhist, but with strong Hindu influence. It’s supposed to be a microcosm of the universe. A moat surrounding the buildings represents the ocean. The lowest zone depicts people suffering in hell.

The main temple depicts the battle of good (Michael Jackson et al.) against evil (Osama bin Laden and other terrorists). The paradise section cannot be entered, and the nirvana section is not yet complete.

Almost as a relief afterward, we stopped at the Opium Museum, which traces the rise, development, and eventual eradication of the opium trade in the area. This was actually my favorite part of the day. On display is an assortment of “pillows” that opium users would recline on while smoking the drug,

and a large array of opium pipes.

[autisticcassandracain]

ok disclaimer I’m new here and it’s completely possible that I missed some comic that refutes all I’m saying here but like. I just really cannot get over how bad of an identity Black Bat is. I just CANNOT get over it.

It’s not that I hate the idea of Cass moving on from the Batgirl mantle and going solo or anything, far from it! I think legacy mantles like Batgirl are (generally) made to be passed on, and I think that Cass realizing that she doesn’t need it anymore and is ready to strike out and create her own identity could be a really meaningful arc. It’s just. That the way that was done in canon is. Not It. I’m not gonna get into that because that’s a whole different rant I feel even less qualified to make but it sure doesn’t help me like the Black Bat identity for her.

but even separately from the way she acquired it, the Black Bat identity is bland and says little to nothing about Cass. Like, let’s do a rundown of the other major solo batfam identities (minus Red Robin bc I know precisely nothing about Tim): 

Nightwing: as stated by Dick himself in The New Teen Titans: “What’s strange is that both name and costume are based on other people... both mentors... and friends.” Nightwing is a merging of all the people who have made Dick into who he is, most prominently Batman, who trained him and helped him get the skills he needed, and Superman, who gave him his name. While he costume has changed over the years, it’s maintained a sleek, skin-tight look that’s perfect for doing acrobatics in, which is Dick’s signature. 

Oracle: created when writers tried to fridge her and the Joker shot her, Oracle is one of the few disabled superheroes and is a perfect fit for it. ‘Oracle’ as a name immediately conjures up associations with oracles from ancient Greek myth, so it works extremely well with Oracle’s focus on technology, both in the sense that it subverts the expected aesthetic, and that it accurately describes her role as mastermind and information gatherer. It shows off Barbara’s smarts and ingenuity.

Red Hood: was created after Jason came back from the dead and decided to cause problems on purpose, and it shows. Jason took a former alias of his murderer and made it his own, both reclaiming his trauma and signaling his change from morally good to morally gray/bad (depending on writer/interpretation). His main weapon is guns, specifically chosen to signal his opposition to what Batman stands for.

Spoiler: created in opposition to Stephanie’s supervillain dad, Cluemaster. The name ‘Spoiler’ makes a lot of sense when you remember its origins in ‘spoiling’ her father’s plans, and stands out for that reason. Her costume is maximized to preserve her identity, which again, ties back to her origins. 

Signal: a name that ties back to Duke’s mother’s saying that the morning is the best time to see things clearly. As Duke said in Batman & The Signal: “She considered herself the first knight on the battlefield (...) and another word for the first knight out there is... ‘Signal’.” Duke has a unique place in the batfamily as both the first meta and the first daytime hero, and everything about his solo identity reflects that, from the name tying back to the morning light to the bright yellow in his costume. 

As you can see, all of these identities tie back to at least some aspect of the character they’re embodied by. They tell us something about their goals for their superhero persona, about the character’s personality and/or backstory, etc. Even in the event that Red Robin is a garbage identity (which tbh just going by the name I think it very well might be but again, I know nothing about Tim), that still leaves the vast majority of solo identities saying something about the person who created them.

But Black Bat? What does that tell me about Cass? Her costume design isn’t bad, but it’s pretty standard and not extremely unique (except for her cool cape, I’ll give it that). All the name tells me is that 1) she’s kinda edgy, maybe and 2) she’s part of the batfamily. That’s it. That’s literally all it does. 

Black Bat is very obviously an identity that wasn’t the result of someone sitting down and honestly thinking what solo identity would fit Cass the best; it’s the result of someone haphazardly slapping a solo identity onto Cass so that Stephanie could be Batgirl. 

so yeah TL;DR I think Black Bat is a bad identity because it’s generic and tells you little to nothing about Cass. 

[darlingandmreames]

So I finally saw The Batman yesterday and as much as I love the idea of himbo!Bruce Wayne (and I do love it lol), I absolutely LOVE the idea of Bruce Wayne never really becoming any more social adept. After he realizes he needs to be a symbol of hope rather than vengeance he starts using his family’s money to help the city the same way he does in other iterations of Batman- charities, donations, funding infrastructure and public programs. He starts doing a lot of good and making a very real impact and becomes beloved by the citizens of Gotham for it, but at no point does he ever become a more Socially Normal person. He still rarely leaves the manor. He’s soft spoken to the point of almost being inaudible half the time and avoids eye contact like the plague. You can visibly see him trying to desperately escape every social interaction he’s in.

It’s the perfect cover honestly. No one would ever think that Bruce Wayne of all people is Batman. I mean, have you met the man?? Yeah he has the money to theoretically be Batman, but Batman is tough and intimidating and powerful. Bruce Wayne has the vibes of a stray cat left out in the rain. The man can barely handle a five minute conversation without looking like he’s in physical pain, and you think he’s fighting dangerous criminals every night??? What, are you insane??? Bruce Wayne and Batman are both Beloved Gotham Cryptids, but there’s absolutely no way they’re the same person

And the best part is, it’s not even really a cover. He really is just Like That, and it just so happens to be the best cover he could have asked for 

[maximoff-pan]

all roads lead (back to you) | bruce wayne

Summary: You and Bruce used to be friends, some might say more than that. But things change, shit happens. Bruce finds himself in the position of the hero, and you, the villain’s accomplice

Pairing: battinson!bruce wayne x fem!reader

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: dark(ish) themes, little to no fluff, not really edited (so maybe some grammar mistakes)

A/n: woah it’s been a minute! But I saw The Batman, and immediately knew I had to write for it. (I’d love to write some more if y’all are down…) also, I know this is short, and probably not very good (I’m fairly certain this is pretty ooc for Bruce), but oh well… I hope you guys enjoy!

Edward had told you where you could find it, hidden in a slit in the wall, a paper with your next instructions. It’s coded, you wouldn’t expect anything less from him. Unfolding it and taking a quick glance at the symbols that litter the page, a sinister smile creeps onto your face. He always was a tricky bastard.

Reading it in awe, you realize he’d really done it, he was going to fucking flood Gotham. Once and for all. And you’d be there to relish in it. Breathe it in, fucking live to see it pass. After everything this city has put you through, this message feels like a spark, lighting the flame of your life force. An energy courses through your veins, this is really happening.

“Drop it.” A gravelly tone floods your senses. Batman, you think. The vigilante’s voice carries stoically across the room, strong, and bold. But there’s something so recognizable about it.

It’s him…

Up until this moment, you hadn’t heard his voice in so long. It sounds almost foreign to your ears, but even dressed in his Batman suit, you’d know that voice anywhere.

With your back facing him, and the coded cypher in your right hand, you release a dark chuckle. “You know I can’t do that Bruce.”

You hear his breath hitch as you angle your body to face his. All of a sudden, Edward’s science lab of a secret apartment feels much smaller than it had a moment ago.

How could you possibly know his real name….unless…

“(Y/n).” The realization hits him like a fucking truck. You’re the only person who could possibly know, the only person who could possibly figure out his identity simply from the sound of his voice.

Lips slanting upward, you raise an eyebrow menacingly at him. “Surprise.”

Bruce doesn’t like showing emotion. You know this better than anyone. He doesn’t like letting someone know that they’ve managed to get under his skin. But you’re different. He’s very aware how easily you can read him, micro expressions and all. So, he deems, there’s little to no point in trying to conceal his shock.

Glancing at the cypher in your hand, and then back up to your face, the pieces click instantly. The Riddler had mentioned something about an accomplice, taunted Bruce about having someone from his past. She belongs to me, he’d said.

He never once thought he could mean you. His best friend.

Bruce’s deep blue orbs observe. He’s watching you, you can feel it with every fibre in your being. But unlike you expected, there’s no judgement that passes through his gaze. Even worse, there’s a flicker of pity. Regret.

You take your turn to take him in. His eyes won’t meet your own, and you know he feels bad, guilty even. For what, you’re not quite sure, but whatever it is, it’s written all over his face.

Even with a mask, you can still read him like a book.

“Don’t.” Your tone is threatening, but behind the bravado is the scared child you used to be. The one that maybe you still are…

His eyes narrow in thought. “I never said anything.”

You hum, a venom seeping passed your lips. “You didn’t have to.”

A lull drags through the air, thick and poignant. Conversation was never your strong suit. Nor was it Bruce’s.

“I want to fix this.” He says finally.

“Fix it?” You question, a scoff bubbling in your throat. “Or make it go away? Isn’t that the Wayne way? Making problems disappear?”

The pitch in his voice raising ever so slightly, he says, “Jesus (Y/n). You’re not a fucking problem.”

He watches as your eyes roll in disgust, moments ticking by slowly. You’re annoyed.

You decide to challenge him. “Then what am I?”

“Not this.” He answers, ever the son of a politician.

“How vague.” You tsk, picking your nails in disinterest. “Not this.” You imitate the deep chortle of his voice, eyeing him with contempt. It almost makes you laugh. “Fucking what I am?”

Bruce decides to push it. “Not what he made you.” He pauses. “You’re my best friend.”

“Liar, Bruce,” You hum. The use of present tense is comical. “No more lies….”

“(Y/n).” His attempts are starting to wear you down, but you’re not quite ready to give in yet.

“You’re not him.” He says. “You don’t have to sound like him.”

“No,” you seethe. He’s hit a sore spot. “I’m not.”

You’d always worried that if anyone found out about you, The Riddler’s second in command, they’d accuse you of being a poser, a simple follower. But you’re much more than that.

“Come back to me,” Bruce urges. “You don’t have to be what he wants you to be. You can just be yourself.”

Be yourself? The thought sounds so ludicrous. For months you’d been at Edward’s side, being exactly who he wanted you to be. You’d lost sight of the woman you once were, too focused on the task at hand: destroying Gotham.

Bruce always made you feel sane. He never once tried to change you, making you feel safe in who you were. He was always good to you, unlike most of the people in this godforsaken city. Until he wasn’t. Until he shut you out.

He started keeping secrets, becoming more and more quiet as the days passed. You felt like you had lost him…lost the only person who made you feel whole.

Your thoughts bombard you, harshly and suddenly. Tears prick the corner of your eye. Why were you even doing this?

For Edward, you say to yourself in disgust. Is that the only reason you’re truly doing all this?

Bruce’s pleading cuts through the static of your mind. “Please (Y/n).” The look in his eyes plunges like a dagger to your soul. “You can come home.” This might just be the first time you’ve heard him beg.

Your home was never a place, you realize. It has always been him.

Tears begin to fall down your cheeks, the emotions overwhelming you. “Home.” You choke out with a nod of your head. “I want to go home.”

Knees sinking to the ground as sobs rack through your body, Bruce follows your every move, almost as if he knows what you’re going to do before you even think of doing it.

Allowing yourself to reach for him, kneeling into each other, your breathing slows to a content pace. In and out. A second passes. Two. Then three.

And all you can think is: maybe all roads do lead back to him.

Bruce Wayne.

[hellyeahheroes]

You all wanna know why Cass would hate Jason and Damian. You won’t listen because fans of these two are fucking ostriches who put their heads into the sand but fuck it, at some points you idiots will maybe stop being cowards and try to engage with arguments:

There is no place for Cass and Jason and Damian in one Batfamily.

Do you know why Cass decided to follow Batman and not any other superhero? Why she really decided that? Because he was the ONLY superhero in existence who was as determined to never let anyone die as her. Not because he was against killing but because he was determined to not even allow a possibility murder could happen that he could have stopped.Batman that Cass decided to follow would attack Huntress on sight whenever she tried to show he face in Gotham just because Huntress had no code against killing and bruce refused a possibility of someone like that setting a foot in his city. Him forcibly taking Batgirl uniform from Helena and giving it to Cass was a statement that lies at the core of Cass’ Batgirl and at the core of what the Bat means to her. Someone who wears the Bat NEVER kills. And they NEVER allow anyone else to kill. This was batman who almost fired and locked up Cass herself just because he suspected Cass may not have a code against killing. This is how strong his principles were. And this is true reason why she follows him, why she wars the Bat on her chest. He is the only one who GETS the trauma that death brings as deeply as her.

Or rather, he was. because then Jason and Damian showed up. And Jason was shooting people. And Damian was beheading and stabbing them. And time and time again bruce broke his rule. He kept them around. He did not force them to quit. He has choosen them over everything the Bat stands for. He made a room for them. And in doing so he stopped being a person that Cass would ever follow. Jason and Damian made everything the Bat stood fer her into a joke. He took all being Batgirl symbolized for her and shat on it when he allowed Jason wear the symbol on his chest and let Damian be Robin. And after them came Kate, Helena, Midnighter, finally a glorified serial-killer, Ghost-Maker. Bruce turned his principles that made Cass follow him into a mockery. He betrayed them. He stopped being a man who won’t let even a possibility anyone could kill within his city-wide reach and become someone whose no-killing rule applies only to him and once in blue moon to Harley Quinn.

Batfamily that was changed to make room for Damian and Jason is NOT a Batfamily where there is any room for Cass. She no longer has a reason to follow him. And it shows, when once she was his daughter, she is now a glorified intern, Steph’s creepy friend they let hang around out of pity. She sticks out like a sore thumb. In a way Bruce showed that he loves Damian and Jason more than her, that she is the unfavorite among his children.

And you assholes now demand she too changes to accomodate characters for which her whole place of existence was destroyed? Go fuck yourselves!

-Admin

[linkspooky]

Do you have any thoughts on the Pro-Hero's discussion about Shigaraki and his hatred from chapter 311?

My thoughts are this, from both Jeanist and Hawks utter cluelessness to why Dabi could possibly have turned into a villain despite Dabi just telling them why, on tv, and being next to the man who pushed him into it, and from how all three of them fail to understand how Shigaraki could have been so easily groomed into hatred reflects an unacknowledged shadow for all three of them.

In Jungian psychology the concept of the shadow exists. The Shadow is an unconscious aspect of the personality which is outside of the conscious ego. While our consciousness is mainly made out of behaviors and memories, we judge as positive, and our Shadow differentiates by holding emotions, behaviors, and memories we label as adverse or painful. In a shadow, constructive perspectives might be incorporated, but most of the parts remain camouflaged under the thumb points of low self-esteem ness, anxieties, and false beliefs. "Everyone carries a shadow," stated Jung "and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. To know yourself, you must accept your dark side. To deal with others' dark hands, you must also know your dark side.

In other words, for characters like Enji and Hawks, all of their bad traits define them just as much as their good traits, to be a whole and complete person they have to recognize those bad traits instead of being in denial of them however, both of them choose to only see themselves as heroes.

Anyway, now for something completely different. Let’s talk about batman and the joker. Batman uses Jungian symbolism a lot, of all the heroes he’s the most famous for being a normal person, who dresses in a costume to fight crime specifically in shadowed alleyways, and has a rogues gallery that also consists of mostly normal people in costumes. Batman’s villains are batman. Batman plays with both the relationship between himself and his villains, and also the relatinoship between Bruce and his own Shadow, because his Shadow is part of who he is. 

Now the most iconic batman villain is obviously the joker, and he’s a character like All for One who most of the time is just written as a character who does evil for evil’s sake, but more serious looks at the Joker like The Killing Joke which My Hero Academia directly references make this comparison between the two of them. The famous One Bad Day speech is also, notably, an attempt for Joker to connect to batman, to try to explain himself to him. 

He’s not just spouting a villain speech, he’s also looking for sympathy and trying to give sympathy, because that’s just what humans do. Because deep down, both Batman and the Joker were normal people once. The connection between Batman and the Joker is that they were both normal people, but one of them became a hero, and the other one a villain, and therefore that potential exists in any normal person. 

However, the heroes in MHA still don’t acknowledge their connection to the villains. Hawks and Enji did apologize yes, but what’s also important is their actions after, which is to choose to continue fighting villains as heroes.

It’s been pointed out by Shoto before that what Enji really needs to do to heal his family, is act like a good father, rather than a good hero. However, when given the chance to reach out to his son, he chooses to fight it instead. There’s a reason that the public isn’t reassured by the actions of Hawks, Jeanist and Endeavor and that’s because they continue to keep playing heroes instead of acknowledging what’s wrong. I’m not saying they are good or bad people, both Hawks and Enji have bad sides of their personality that they are almost completely ignorant of. They, like any human being have the potential to be driven to villainy. That’s why Enji can’t reach out to his son, because his brains have still made the connection that he was what drove Toya to villainry. 

It comes across in the casualness which Enji remarks upon what AFO did to Shigaraki and the complete lack of self awareness. Enji did the same thing, he had a child for the sake of passing on his quirk, raised that child to hate all might and want to do anything to surpass him, and he even wanted to live vicariously through the success of Toya and then Shoto so everyone would know him as Endeavor’s son. He still only cares about Toya to the extent that his dreams were once resting on him. 

So when Enji makes the connection to AFO, he asserts that there must be something wrong with him to do all those bad things, because he’s unaware of the resmeblance between his own deeds and AFO’s. He sees himself as a human being with reasons for his bad actions, he didn’t mean to neglect Toya, he didn’t know what to say to him, he was too guilty and hid from his guilt for so long but he doesn’t allow his enemies to have that guilt. This is a pattern that repeats with Hawks, and Jeanist as well, they can’t understand why people like Twice and Dabi would feel like they have a right to be angry at the society that mistreated them. 

Jeanist’s defense is why can’t he just keep quiet about it. 

Twice’s last words were hating Hawks and wishing the worst for him, yet Hawks still thinks they were best friends somehow.

Hawks and Twice were not friends, because Hawks chose not to be his friend, and to hurt what was most precious to Twice which was all of his other friends. Enji chose not to be a father to Toya and not be a father. Enji and Hawks are neither heroes nor villains, they are not good or bad, they’re just humans and as humans they have the potential to be both. 

In only seeing the hatred that Shigaraki was groomed to have they’re also fundamentally misunderstanding him. The thing is Shigaraki has reasons for his hatred, and not just because AFO forced him to feel that way. It’s not just AFO, that’s what they critically misunderstand, it’s Shigaraki’s experiences with how the society around him has neglected both him and his friends.

That’s something that the heroes can never see, because Shigaraki has been assigned the role of a villain who hates society. It’s not just AFO, Shigaraki can’t be at peace with a society that is designed to reject others.

That doesn’t come from his hate either, it comes from his sympathy with the victims. Just like they only see their own good traits, they can only see the villain’s bad traits. The thing is we have witnessed Shigaraki constantly been challenged on the fact that he only has empty hatred, first by Stain, then by Chisaki, and finally be Re-Destro. We also witnessed the moment he changed. 

The conclusion Shigaraki comes to as the result of his arc is that while he himself doesn’t care about the people, he’s not alone anymore, he wants to give the future to the others around him. 

That’s why Shigaraki’s actions aren’t driven just by hatred, but also by a deeply broken sense of empathy. Not only is he a crying child himself, he’s also someone who acknowledges the feelings of others. What converted Spinner from being someone who didn’t particularly care about the goals of the league, and doubted Shigaraki in front of everyone to his most loyal follower. 

It’s because he came to recognize that this human side of Shigaraki was there. The same way that underneath his mask, Spinner was just a pathetic NEET struggling with his own feelings of inadequacy, Shigaraki gets close to broken people, he tries to protect them, he tries to give some kind of validation to their feelings. 

Shigaraki has grown from just hating all of society because it rejected him, to realizing the real reason is because it rejects everyone around him. That means while there’s hatred to his character, there’s also a very selfish and intense love that applies to a small group of people, but the potential for love is still there. Shigaraki reaches out and saves people the same way that Deku does, he tries to do all the fighting himself to protect others just like Deku, it’s just that he’s been hurt again and again and that’s twisted him to act on his worst trait. None of the heroes understand Shigaraki’s love, because they can only see his hate. 

It’s not just that he’s been victimized or that he’s a crying child. Shigaraki is constantly compared to a child both in a negative sense as a man child, and a positive sense as a child pure heartedly pursuing their dream, because there is that potential within Shigarkai, to grow up, and grow into a better person if he was given the same chance to atone that characters like Hawks and Enji have already received. 

Shigaraki and Deku just like batman and the joker both reflect that in perfectly normal people, there’s the chance for great good, or great evil. For Shigaraki there’s an added level of complexity, that you can still grow into a better person, after everyone has written you off as too far gone. You can still grow to love the people around you when you thought you were only capable of hating. 

Enji and Hawks still have the oppurtunity to grow just like that, not as heroes, but as people. 

However to truly grow as people they would have to learn to empathize with the villains, especially because they have done wrong things too, Hawks killed because he had to, Enji hurt his entire family. Defeating the villain really is not the solution, because sometimes you yourself are the villain. 

In order to fully grow as people they have to learn to see themselves as people, and not heroes. That also means admitting the villains are just as human as they are. If Endeavor is someone who can become better after realizing that he made so many mistakes in the past and the only thing he can do about it is try to do better from now on, then Endeavor’s ending point should be realizing that since he was given that chance by his family, others deserve that chance too, especially his own son.  People are not villains, or heroes, Endeavor is just Enji Todoroki and Dabi is Touya Todoroki deep down no matter how they see themselves.