#oracle arcs training

[bispsolutions]

Oracle ARCS Support Activities

[grogumaximus]

Hihi!! is this article new? it has a paywall :( https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Flife%2Fwish%2Fmax-verstappen-has-his-eyes-on-the-prize-at-f1-melbourne-with-new-lvmh-partnership%2Fnews-story%2F7632ff3144b64fb64330355b54844985&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&BT=Newspass

Max Verstappen has his eyes on the prize at F1 Melbourne with new LVMH partnership

He is the pre-eminent driver of his generation, already considered an all-time great by many. We meet the father-to-be ahead of Formula One powering into Melbourne next week.

A billion pounds is a lot of money in anyone’s language – indeed it’s nudging two billion in ours – and yet that’s how much is reportedly being dangled in front of Formula One driver, and four-time world champion, Max Verstappen, like a particularly shiny and tempting carrot.

But how can he be worth that much, I hear you splutter? Sure, you can’t manage a 160km/h baseball pitch, or nail most of your shots from behind the three-point arc in the NBA, but most of us can drive a car. He’s just got to sit there, right? One steering wheel, two pedals, and $2 billion?

Here’s the thing, you quite simply could not physically drive a Formula One car, let alone race one. It’s not just the speed – hitting 200km/h from a standing start in four seconds before maxing out at 375km/h – it’s the physical punishment.

To drive his Oracle Red Bull race car, Verstappen has to literally lie down, as if he’s in a particularly fast bathtub, with the pedals where the taps would be. While the G-forces, which can exceed six times gravity under braking, apply brutal pressure to his whole body, during long corners his head is out there in the rushing air, pulling five Gs, which means it effectively weighs approximately 25 kilograms, or the same as an eight-year-old boy.

This is why Formula One drivers have necks like sequoia trunks. When Lewis Hamilton started racing he had a 14-inch collar; it’s now 18 inches.

That notional bath that Verstappen is in is also full of very hot water, because his carbon-fibre sarcophagus can reach 50°C (at one scorching event in Qatar in 2023, drivers reported vomiting in their helmets from the heat) and during the course of the race he can lose as much as five per cent of his body weight in fluids. That loss also affects mental function, according to Formula One experts, with each kilogram you sweat costing you, temporarily, as much as 10 per cent of your brain power.

Which brings us to that steering wheel, which is not only covered in two dozen buttons also but features dials that allow the drivers to shift the brake balance in and out of the corners they are approaching at more than 300km/hour.

Verstappen, 27, describes it as being, “Like a rollercoaster that shoots off, but faster than you think, whilst having a steering wheel in your hands with all the buttons,” before mentioning that “the weather conditions massively affect driving the car”. His vehicle has more than 1000 horsepower, but no traction control at all other than his right foot, so in the rain it’s like strapping a whirring chainsaw to each boot and attempting to ice skate.

“Of course, it would be nice if the weather was always good, but that is what makes F1 exciting and fun as a driver: to adapt and push to the limits,” he explains following the shoot, captured at The Maybourne Riviera hotel above his home in Monaco. “It can be tough to train for such extreme conditions, especially for a race like Qatar a few years ago, but it is definitely something you try to get used to.”

I was once unfortunate enough to be a passenger in a Formula One car for a few laps of the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, where this year’s season will kick off with the Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix 2025 from March 13 to 16 (and where Verstappen became the youngest F1 debutant ever, aged 17, at his first race in 2015).

The G-forces in the middle of a long corner felt like I was being hit hard, sideways, by an angry rhinoceros and I seriously thought about taking my finger off the Dead Man’s Button they make you hold; because if you pass out you will let go and that will notify the driver to slow down. Staying conscious is tough; thinking about actual racing and tactics on top of that sounds impossible. I was unwell for hours afterwards.

Verstappen’s job, then, is not easy, but he’s already been well compensated for risking life and limb, with an estimated net worth north of $300 million. Last year he bought himself a $22 million superyacht, and he recently added a new $80 million private jet to his collection of toys.

Fortunately, he doesn’t have to buy his own watches, courtesy of being a friend of TAG Heuer, adding that he wears his statement timepiece, a TAG Heuer Monaco, “both on and away from track”.

“Of course, it would be nice if the weather was always good but that is what makes F1 exciting and fun as a driver: to adapt and push to the limits.” – Max Verstappen

“It is customised with my name and has the years of my first three championships engraved, which is extra special. They are engraving the fourth at the moment,” adds Verstappen who is expecting a child with his partner, Brazilian model Kelly Piquet.

Antoine Pin, chief executive of TAG Heuer, recognises the synergies between driver and brand, but also what it takes to achieve a champion’s mindset such as Verstappen’s.

“[TAG Heuer] has been with Formula One for almost 60 years now … because from the very beginning, Jack Heuer [the last member of the brand’s founding Swiss family to manage the manufacture] realised this intensity. These Formula One drivers, they are the knights of modern times in a way. They’re going for fight, they’re going in duels, they’re ready to face death.”

And so, we come to what makes Verstappen so special that a rival team, Aston Martin, is reportedly negotiating a $2 billion deal to lure him away from Oracle Red Bull for the 2026 season. It sounds fantastical, except that Aston already poached Red Bull’s brilliant race-car designer Adrian Newey who – alongside charismatic team boss and Mr Ginger Spice, Christian Horner – engineered much of his success and is paying him a rumoured $60 million a year.

Formula One cars are ground-bound fighter jets – they have so much downforce that they could drive upside down on the roof of a tunnel above a certain speed – which means designing them to maximise the flow of air, and thus their speed, is vital. Which is one of the things that will make this year’s season so interesting.

With Newey gone, and thus the chance his Red Bull will not be the fastest car on the grid, will Verstappen be able to maintain the utter dominance that has seen him win the past four Formula One World Drivers’ Championships?

What is undeniable is that he is the driver of his generation, and some would suggest he is already an all-time great, but his seemingly unrelenting will to win has been known to tip over into conflict. In boxing terms, Verstappen is a combination of Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, or to put it in more local parlance, he’s the Tony Lockett of Formula One – fantastically talented, but likely to flatten you if you annoy him.

His fans, which include much of his native Holland, would say he simply hates being overtaken and will go a lot further than most drivers to stop it from happening. In last year’s Mexican Grand Prix he was hit with two penalties after tangling with McLaren driver Lando Norris (the teammate of Aussie hopeful Oscar Piastri, who nine-time Formula One Grand Prix winner Mark Webber describes as our best chance in decades of being a world champion).

Norris went so far as to call Verstappen “dangerous” after the race, former world champion Damon Hill accused him of driving like Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races, and respected commentator Martin Brundle also lashed out.

“I know that Max doesn’t care what anybody thinks, but it saddens me when he drives like that,” Brundle said. “He’s a multiple champion, has more driving talent in his little finger than most of us ever had, but his legacy will be tainted by this sporting attitude, and that’s a shame.”

A few races later, Verstappen reportedly had a fiery encounter out of the car with another rival, Mercedes driver George Russell, who said the champion threatened to deliberately crash into him and to “put me on my f***ing head in the wall”. Verstappen’s response to the ensuing media firestorm was to tell Dutch television that Russell could “get lost” and that “I meant everything I said”.

Despite this, Norris has previously described Verstappen – often seen sharing private jets between races with other drivers – as a good friend.

“Of course, at times it can get a bit tense on track but off the track, that shouldn’t matter at the end of the day,” Verstappen explains. “I have good relationships with the drivers on the grid. We always try to do the best we can on track to get the best possible result, but the main thing is that we can talk about it afterwards.”

If you want to win in Formula One, you need the best – and perhaps the most ruthless – driver. And clearly Aston Martin wants to win, but $2 billion still sounds like a lot until you consider the global financial clout of the sport. Formula One received a huge boost from the success of brilliant Netflix series, Drive to Survive, which turned each season since 2019 into a highly watchable sporting soap opera (Verstappen refuses to take part in the show directly, and won’t answer questions about it).

The ratings hit has driven the popularity of F1 in the US – which had previously been the one global holdout – through the roof and led to the adding of two new American races, in Miami and Las Vegas, to the circuit. It also drove an increase in income from the many acres of advertising splashed all over the cars and the drivers. As of this year, the Formula One Group has a market cap of $39.6 billion, an impressive rise from when the sport was bought by Liberty Media in 2014 for $7.3 billion.

With new drivers on the grid this year, including Australian Jack Doohan, the son of motorcycling legend Mick, and New Zealand’s Liam Lawson, there will be thrills and spills aplenty. But one driver remains the hot favourite and the hot-headed man to beat. Put your billions on Max Verstappen.

[northlt03]

Rick is known to mirror myths a lot (Silena-Clarisse and Patroclus-Achilles, Polyphemus' cave, Hercules' labors, etc) He could and SHOULD have mirrored the Trojan war in HOO.

Let me set the scene. Gaea doesn't pop up until the last couple books. It's easy to be scared of something that is mentioned but not seen, which in my opinion, is why Gaea in the HOO books just wasn't scary enough.

So the antagonists in the first few books are the Giants working under Gaea's orders. Percy is kidnapped by them and given to the Romans in the hope that the Greeks and the Romans will go batshit crazy in a fight and forget all about the prophecy of the seven and destroying Gaea or whatever.

Camp Halfblood is fully ready for war. As soon as they find out (through an oracle or smth idk) that the Romans exist and they have Percy, not even Chiron can stop them. Percy is the hero of the Battle of Manhattan, of course, and the hero mentioned in the last great prophecy. He's like their modern Aristos Achaion.

Meanwhile, the Romans have no clue what's going on. There's this guy he's funny, he has no memories, he just shows up at their wolf goddess and trains and gets sent to them. Cool.

Juno can't stand to see New Rome be attacked. Whether or not they would win is a whole different story. So she plucks Jason from CJ and brings them to the Greeks just for some sort of a balance.

This mirrors the Trojan war in the sense that Troy was a fortified city, so is New Rome with tons of forts and walls. Aeneas' lineage went on to be Remus and Romulus, the founders of Rome. And Helen of Troy was stolen from the Greeks.

Anyway so there's that conflict, but at the same time Camp Halfblood is getting ready to attack, Jason, Piper and Leo get sent on a quest to rescue Hera who has been captured by Porphyrion and Enceladus.

On the way, Jason starts to regain his memory a little bit, though he doesn't know everything yet. He's still super conflicted with everything. A pretty girl thinks they were dating, Leo says they were best friends, Annabeth says the Romans are enemies. But whom should he really believe?

Piper's whole arc through the first book could be about how she's the daughter of the goddess of beauty, she wrongly assumes her fake crush on Jason was her mom's fault. And she's learned so much bad stuff about her mom from myths, she outright rejects feminity and anything remotely girly at first but then slowly she gets to know Aphrodite isn't as bad as some myths make her out to be. Bonding and shit bc why should Poseidon be the only present godly parent?

Leo, meanwhile, has no idea he can essentially fire bend in the first book. His arc could be about discovering his mother's death was his fault, slightly and coming to terms with it with the help of his friends.

Reyna on the Roman's side is freaking out bc Octavian wants to go to war with the Greeks who are close to attacking them, there's a strange dude who keeps trying to pick fights with gods, a horse girl and not to mention monsters won't fucking DIE.

SON trio go on their quest to Alaska to kill Alcyoneus/ release Thanatos and things are getting clearer to them as well. Just when the Greeks are about to attack on CJ, Polybotes and the monsters attack as well. Somehow, both sides end up fighting the monsters together.

They're not friends, but they're not enemies either, bc Percy is reunited with his gf and Jason is returned to his home.

The Roman senate and the Greeks somehow come to the same conclusions- that a quest needs to go to their ancient lands. Over the next few months the work of the Argo II commences.

Things seem smooth for a while. But Gaea grows restless. She poisons Octavian and manipulates him through dreams and stuff like Kronos did to Luke. As is the nature of most Roman emperors, Octavian overthrows Reyna and declares himself the leader of New Rome like his namesake Octavius Caesar. (HAHA! HISTORY PARALLEL BITCHES)

This puts the actual quest on hold bc the seven now need to find the Athena Parthenos to bring together the Greeks and the Romans and to stop Octavian's plan of trying to fuck as much shit up as possible.

Reyna, Nico and say idk, Grover, are the ones to deviate from the quest and bring the statue to USA again. But the Seven are still very much in Europe after rescuing Nico.

Percy and Annabeth fall into Tartarus which helps close the Doors of Death, except this time since Nico isn't there, Hazel has to take on control over ghosts and the dead in the House of Hades and leading up to it. The powers of mist, in my opinion, should have gone to Piper since charmspeaking is a lot like bending the mist verbally.

Piper's arc through the third and fourth book is starting to discover herself and with the help of her mother, figuring out she doesn't like Jason romantically like she thought she did.

Hazel's arc is gaining control over what she once was (dead). She's jealous her dad was there more for Nico than her, but she pushes past it and never lets her anger and grudges get the better of her which is like breaking boundaries for children of Hades/Pluto.

Frank's arc in HOH was really cool, I like that. So no change to that.

Jason, poor guy is still very much confused about everything really. He's used to being the leader, he feels lost in the large group. He has his moments to shine ofc (please take away his excess amounts of head injuries), but he starts to feel inferior, which is where Leo helps him bc the guy knows what that's like.

Anyway, in the absence of Percy and Annabeth, Jason has to take charge. He discovers he doesn't really like it. That's not what he was meant for even though he had greatness thrust upon him at a very young age.

His BOO arc is earlier this time and takes place throughout HOH and BOO. He's content with himself, even if he isn't with anyone. HE'S THE ONE THAT GETS SENT TO OGYGIA!!!

And Calypso eventually does fall for him bc he's smart, nice, and just an overall swell guy. But he helps her to realize that she can be content in herself as well. And he promises her that he'll help her.

Show me Leo, Jason and Percy trying to think of ways of helping the goddess.

In any case. BOO could have been like Iliad pt 2 also known as the Odyssey. It takes them the whole book just to get to Athens. Meanwhile, they've understood that Gaea is the main main villain. She's even raised some of the other primordials against them.

Percy and Annabeth already saw Tartarus, and then there's Oceanus who makes their travel much harder than necessary. Something something about how they get tossed all over the place and somehow manage to gather all the correct ingredients for the potion (i forgot the name lol) on their small adventures in the different places. In the end they finally make it to Athens. Except this time, there's only a few giants there bc they killed the rest before.

Annabeth and Percy are taken hostage, like it happens in the books, but PERCY WILLINGLY GIVES UP HIS BLOOD TO RAISE GAEA RATHER THAN LETTING ANNABETH GET HURT BC OF HIS FATAL FLAW LIKE ATHENA TOLD HIM WOULD HAPPEN EVENTUALLY!!

The Gods DON'T SHOW UP PLEASE!! That was so lameee. Why even do the whole quest if their mommies and daddies were going to show up to help them????

So while Percy and Annabeth are battling the remaining few Giants, Leo, Piper, Hazel and Frank go up against Gaia herself. In the old myths four titans held Ouranos down while Kronos chopped his essence up. In the same way, they battle Gaia away from her turf in the air, keeping her distracted enough. All these demigods are needed because she's a primordial dammit!

Jason, my guy, comes in a clutch, chops her to pieces and sends her essence to Tartarus!!

The world is saved, the end!

[seilnakyle]

Do you think DC is doing a good enough job with Barbara

NO in fact I don’t think we’ve had someone who truly understands her write her since Gail Simone. It took awhile for all the bat title writers to understand that Oracle isn’t just Batgirl doing hacking occasionally, Kelly Thompson seems to think she’s just a superhero secretary, and the only place DC is currently letting her disability be used proudly is wfa.

But, We’ve been worse off before. Babs currently is at least written like an adult woman in her late 20s, a senior member of the batfam, and an equal to Nightwing and Batman, who’s help is invaluable to organizations like the Titans, the GL and the JL. I’m excited to see what role she’ll play in the new JL series, and definitely love the way Dan Watters has been hyping her up!!

I think something she really needs right now to keep her character arc on track is a proper “batgirl retirement” or “Passing of the torch” moment now that Cass has her own Batgirl solo and (one can hope) will now be the one mainly promoted as “the Batgirl” while Babs has been receiving so much Oracle emphasis. As for her disability? I’m not sure what dc wants to do there, there was so much about the “chip” not being a permanent solution in her 2016 batgirl run only for nothing to really come of it.

Of course I want Babs to be a wheelchair user again, I just don’t trust dc to do it well…or at all...I’m very thankful for wfa Babs, though I wish they’d let Cass ditch the “Orphan” thing entirely.

If I were running shit, we’d be getting an Oracle mini about her retirement from Batgirl (heavily Babs and Cass centric), and about reckoning with her disability.

In true Oracle fashion, the future would be a big theme. Maybe Babs is frustrated. She was just having so much fun standing still in time with Dick. Fighting crime together…Batgirl and Robin. The transition isn’t without its tears and grief, but this is Barbara Gordon, and if this is her future? She’s not afraid of it!

Maybe we get another moment similar to her training with Richard Dragon like in Oracle year one but this time it’s Shiva to bring a kind of full circle moment to the cass/shiva/babs dynamic, and she ends the mini by fully kicking the ass of some chump underestimating her or maybe a villain that the bop/Nightwing/Gcpd have been fighting, proving to herself that she is still able to protect those she loves, and that there will always be a need for an Oracle, her role is important, and it’s so much more than she could ever do in a cape…

But anyway yeah I’m trying to get Oracle renaissance 2024 going

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Mark of Cain (Story #16)

No Man's Land continues by introducing the hot new Bat character of 1999! It is Cassandra Cain time!

The arc opens on Batman digging the graves for the gang members that died when Two-Face invaded his territory. Batgirl tries to watch over him to apologize, but Bruce is angry that she let Two-Face kill so many people.

Meanwhile, Barbara is waiting for one of her couriers to come back from a mission. And she comes bringing Oracle an apple. This charming moment is the introduction of Cassandra Cain, future Batgirl.

One thing to note is that Cass does not speak English, so Barbara is taking time to teach her the language. But then Commissioner Gordon shows up ending the pair's little bonding moment.

But as Cass leaves, her instincts let her notice that a man is bringing a rifle up a building. The assassin takes aim at Commissioner Gordon, but when Cass stands in the way of the commissioner, the killer stops and flees.

Elsewhere, Batman is putting the fear of the bat in Two-Face. Bruce threatens Harvey telling him that the consequences will huge if he continues criming.

Gordon and Barbara are interrogating Cass, but they are having trouble cause Cass can't talk. However, our mute hero uses a drawing to let them know that David Cain was the one who did the attempted hit. She uses more signals to let everyone that she is Cain's daughter.

Gordon tries to lock Cassandra in a room, but Cass turns it around and locks them up for their own safety. The rest of the issue relies on Daimon Scott's art to communicate the story. The artwork conveys that Cass was raised and taught David's fighting style. It's sad and shows that Cass has some beef with David.

Cass says her first word, "Stop", in an effort to him from killing Gordon, but they have a fight instead. Batman saves the two when they jump out a window, to fall several stories down. David drops Cassandra in order to get away from Bruce.

Cass and Batman then go to a graveyard to exchange notes. Batman reveals that it was Two-Face who hired David Cain to go after Gordon. Bruce learns Cass's backstory and the fact that she only knows the language of violence.

Batman then tells Cassandra that he trained under David Cain (in his world tour of mentors to learn the skills to become Batman) and says that it is his responsibility to stop Cain. They have a nice fight to speak their issues.

Batman goes to confront David, and the two have a nice fight. But while Bruce is dealing with her father, Cassandra is attacking Two-Face to see if she can stop the hit through the money man.

Cass interrupts the evenly matched fighter with two bags. One contains the payment for hit on Gordon, while the other contains every silver dollar that Two-Face had! And we get to see the panic that Two-Face feels when he can't rely on the coin flips to make decisions. Just A+ work from Kelley Puckerr.

Anyway, David leaves with his sack money saving Gordon's life. Cassandra accepts praise from Barbara for saving her dad's life, and has a reward for her heroism, Cass gets a picture of Babs being Batgirl. Batman smirks at this moment and admits that it is time to ask the rest of the Bat-Family to help him take back Gotham!

This is one kick-ass story. Cassandra Cain is fully formed out of the book, and you can see why people love her so much. Kelley Puckett's writing and Daimon Scott's art allow for one outstanding told comic, and it just a fun story overall. An essential tale for the Bat-Books.

8.5/10

[mysecret02]

Hello lovelies!

Jason Todd idea.

He had been „dead” at the beginning of 2000’s. I like to think he was the kind who still used phoneboots to call Alfred ont he landline once he accidentally left his phone home.   

With this information and with the knowledge that most proggrames like Word or PowerPoint got new updates around the end of 80’s, beginning of 90’s or so I can imagine Little!Jay writing period-drama fanfiction on a REALLY old wersion of Word.

And I just see him needing to juggle studying, social-life and being Robin, sometimes even going to places with Bruce and being „kidnapped” for a weekend by an overly affectionate Dick who wanted to show off his little brother even if he wasn’t sure of their bond yet and sometimes felt resentful towards him. On those occcasions specially he took him for a weekend, just plucked him up from the pavement in fron of Gotham Academy and even though Jay protested because he „still has homework to do”, he actually found it so cool that his big brother came for him on a motorbike.

So because of these circumstances he started to record himself reading his favourite books or songs he liked ont he radio and put them on casettas. If he had left some at Dick’s place and Dick had found them and couldn’t stop listening to his dead baby brother’s voice articulatedly telling him about handsome ladies and gentlemen falling in love and he was crying with his little brother at the happy end, well nobody needed to know.

Time went by, Jay came back to life, got thrown into the pit, started training with the All-Caste, than with different teachers all around the world. He didn’t really have time nor did he pay any attention to the new things. Obviously Talia sent him to study about programming and stealing information but that didn’t really include mobility aid programms or „how to download music”.

After his bloddy Red Hood arc and with the truce with the Bats he started to look back into his old hobbies. It’s around 2010’s by this point . He went to an electronics shop and the guy at the counter could’t even give him a walkman OR a disckman for that metter. Everybody was trying to sell him USB drives because „that’s the future”. It had been so awkward he gave up, until he saw his old walkman at Dick’s bedside table. The evil thief even put blue batstickers on it! Naturally he took it back because that was rightfully his, he got it as a present from B for his secound Christmas at the manor.

All hell broke loose.

Dick yelled at Slade and Bruce, accused the old Titans of cruelly pranking him, sobbed to Clark over the phone until he came over ehrn Dick worked himself into an anxiety/panic attack.

Unbeknowns to this Jay tried to get clean casettes so he could record the new books he found while travelling. And where did he know they had those things? In the cave, he remembered hiding some behind a stack of files so he went to get them.

The next night when he thought nobody would be there he went tot he cave and run into a sad moping Dick who has been told by Bruce he must have misplaced his walkman and he will not be let out on patir in his near frantic condition.

They run into each other and „OMG why would you scratch up my sticker!? I got that from Wally” „ME? Excuse me you FUCKING THIEF!” They start arguing and fighting for it, when Oracle checks the Cave cameras she sees two angry vigilantes yelling at each other while wrestling ont he floor:

D: Give it BACK!

J: These are MINE! Record your own you filthy thief!

D: I’m not a thief, you LEFT it at my place!

J: OH YEAH! Then now I’m taking it BACK!

D: NO! Bruce said I could keep it!

J: Bruce can SUCK MY-

O: Guy, what are you doing?

At the same time: „He took away my walkman!”

J: Of course I took it BACK! Do you know how long it takes to record these???

D: But you can just download the audiobooks! Why do you act as if you didn’t have the money for it!

J: BECAUSE I- what? What are you talking about?

O: *long sigh* You two are both idiot.

The three of them spend the night at the Watchtower. They bicker and yell and there’s popcorn everywhere while they try to teach Jason how to use smartphones in the smart way. They show him how to use text-to-audio converters, QCR programmes and how to download audiobooks. Jay is very pleased with his new knowledge and Dick gets to keep the old casettes with the walkman in exchange for Dick and Barbara’s help with no laughing at him if he needs something with technology.

By the time the Sun comes up they all passed out, Babs being ont he couch and Dick and Jason sleeping ont he foor with the couch pillows. Jason started hogging the blanket and Dick is hogging Jason’s right arm.

It doesn’t solve everything, Jason negotiates Dick with the casettes he still has at the manor when he wants something and Babs blackmails Jason with the photos of him and Dick sleeping together while Jason periodically bothers Barbara for new updates for his book-programmes(there’s a folder on his phone with this name). But it’s nice, the dynamic between the three of them has changed but they know now for sure they can still count on each other.

[zahri-melitor]

Have now met Minhkhoa Khan.

I honestly think he's the most interesting addition to the wider Bat lore since probably Damian's introduction, in terms of the fact he's actually filling an unoccupied gap in the setting and lore.

Part of the issue with the proliferation of new characters over the last 10-15 years has been that a lot of them are effectively redundant on arrival: they're not providing new storytelling opportunities. Characters like Harper Row (Bluebird) and Mary Turner (Strix) and Claire Clover (Gotham Girl) and Bao Pham (Clownhunter) and Francine Charles (Operator) and so on aren't really designed to have a long term existence or take-up. You know once a writer leaves a book that character is probably done, and going to fade into the annals of 'hey do you remember'.

They exist because a writer can't use the character they clearly wanted to use instead, or they wanted to run a trope in a story arc (the characters listed above are: 2x 'we actually wanted to use Cass'; 1x 'we wanted to use Oracle'; 2x 'we wanted a troubled kid for Bruce to help deal with their trauma').

And I personally don't have a problem with creating short term characters to tell the story you want to tell, though I do prefer it if writers actually check if there's a pre-existing character that fits what is wanted, especially if that character is well known. (We shouldn't have the 'this is just Cass, but the writers weren't allowed to use Cass' situation).

But what makes Khoa instantly compelling to me is that he fits straight into continuity without causing any issues, because he's a character that makes sense to exist, and could have existed in the background for decades.

He's part of Bruce's past training journey, but unlike Henri Ducard or David Cain or the O-Sensei, he's not one of Bruce's teachers; he's a fellow student and rival.

Unlike Thomas Elliot, he's someone Bruce has an active rivalry with and who can instantly draw Bruce back into acting like a petulant teenager. He's not from the Gotham society Bruce left behind like Tommy is (or Roman Sionis); he's part of the development of Bruce's code of morality in his world travels. And he's someone Bruce actually has a give and take relationship with, rather than being a character developing a terrible case of one-sided rivalry watching Bruce.

It takes genuine effort to look at the Bat canon and go 'hey, there's an unoccupied gap here where I can fit in a character that will add to the story, rather than just repeat it'. And Khoa's also a character that can disappear off panel for 5-10 years then pop back up when another writer wants to use him and that would make complete sense; he's not someone who should be getting called in and isn't, or whose only use after his initial story arc is to fill out the background of crowd scenes.

I'm honestly impressed. And interested to see where this goes.

(Also I want fic about David Cain, Minhkhoa Khan and young Cass very, very badly; or a story where Cass runs into him while she's working in Hong Kong)

[cass-danny-weekend]

Cass/Danny Weekend - Fun Facts! Day 1

Hello, and welcome to our first day of Fun Facts! For the next two weeks until prompts drop, we want to share with you some interesting new tidbits about our favorites, our beloveds, Cass and Danny. You can expect to see anecdotal information, episode and comic panels, comic recommendations, and so much more!

If you have a fun fact you want to share, please feel free to drop an ask and spread the love!

For this first day, we wanted to shine a light on the beloved Cass!

Let's go back to the basics: Cassandra Cain is first introduced in 1999, during the comic arc you might know as "No Man's Land" (for a quick reminder: No Man's Land refers to the time in Batman comic history when Gotham City had been exiled from the United States in the wake of a 7.6 earthquake that killed thousands. You might see it called the "Cataclysm" in comics or fandom spaces.) You can first find her in Batman #567.

She is the daughter of David Cain, a premier assassin (who once trained Bruce Wayne!), and Sandra Wu-San, otherwise known as Lady Shiva, declared to be one of the best martial artists alive. She is raised by her father alone to become the perfect, living weapon, specifically a bodyguard to Ra's al Ghul, as his "One Who Is All". To achieve this, she was not taught how to speak or read, so that violence was her only language. You might see this manifest in fandom spaces as reading "body language", although it can be better phrased as reading muscle movement.

At eight-years-old, Cassandra killed her first man at David's behest, a businessman by the name of Faizul. However, upon watching him die, she saw the murder for what it was and knew it to be wrong. Now traumatized, she ran away and spent the next nine years homeless, before she came to work for Oracle in No Man's Land, now aged seventeen. She was given the cape and cowl of Batgirl after saving Commissioner Gordon from her father.

Of course her story doesn't end there. I could go on for hours about her relationship with the Bats, and furthermore her relationship with David Cain and Lady Shiva. However, those will have to be saved for another day.

But if you'd like to read a version of her origin story, look no further than DC's "Shadow of the Batgirl" by Sarah Kuhn and Nicole Goux!

"Shadow of the Batgirl" is an Elseworld story in which Cass struggles with her assassin instincts after running away from her father, now hunted down by his agents. She finds friends in an older woman, Jackie Yoneyama, who feeds, clothes, and houses her with no expectations, and the curious but well-intentioned librarian, Barbara Gordon. Feelings also bloom between her and a library worker by the name of Erik. I won't spoil it all for you, but I genuinely enjoyed this story and thought it was a fun, heartfelt take on her origins. So if you want a quick read that explores Cass overcoming her training, this may just be the comic for you!

We hope you enjoy! FAQ coming soon!

- Mod Halfa

[caesariawritesstuff]

Hello Caesaria!

First- I just absolutely adore your writing, and when I saw your Valentines prompts I got so excited!(just SO NERVOUS TO ASK LOL)

Anyways, this may be super dorky, but for the Valentine’s ask could I get a 🌹💋Robin!Reader x Arkham Knight!Riddler with the prompt number 7 from your jealousy 2 list? I want you to have free reign with it!

Thank you!<3

P.s., I am so stoked for Arc 2 of C&M!<3

Only the Beginning

Summary: A run-in with the Riddler leads to an unexpected outcome.

Word Count: 2.4k

Content Warning: Hate-fucking, smut, brief violence

A/N: Ahh this was a blast to write and I really hope you enjoy, @riddled-with-fear! PLEASE don't be nervous to ever send me a request! And I am ALSO stoked for Arc 2 of C&M!

The Gotham Merchants Bank was surrounded.

Red and blue lights flashed against the darkness, the wailing of police sirens ringing in your ears. From your post atop the adjacent building, crouched on top of a stone gargoyle, your vantage point gave you a good view of everything below: the bank was completely surrounded by GCPD officers, their guns drawn, batons out, tasers at the ready. You narrowed your eyes, peering around, studying the situation. You green-and-red costume clung tightly to your body, the smooth surface and weave of the material perfect for to protect you from oncoming attacks, both from bullets and fists – the likes of which you’d felt many times over.

Sucking in a breath, you braced yourself against the stone, your gloved fingers brushing against the hardness, as you said, “Oracle, what’s the situation inside?”

“The Riddler is robbing the bank,” she said into your earpiece. “He has six hostages. You better move fast, Robin. He’s cleaning out the vault now.”

You nodded; you didn’t need to be told twice. For the last year, you’d been training under Batman and Nightwing, taking up the mantle as a new Robin after the last had been shot in the leg, rendering him incapable of fighting for some time. He was still in recovery, and right now, they were counting on you to get in there and get the job done. You couldn’t let Edward Nigma rob this bank dry and potentially hurt everyone inside. And knowing him, you didn’t know if he’d take any of these hostages as part of his twisted games, either. The thought made your stomach roll, but there was something else, too – the strange way your heart leapt into your throat at the thought of him, a flush burning on your cheeks.

Ever since you’d begin your career as Robin, you’d run into the Riddler more often than you expected. Time and time again, you’d gone toe-to-toe with him, taking down his most intricate of traps and puzzles, before hauling him away to the GCPD. But you had to admit, there was something about him that was…strangely endearing. Was it the sound of his voice? The way he carried himself? The way he spouted riddles at you as if you were an idiot, even though you answered each one without fail and with ease? Was it the way you watched his brow furrow in frustration when he realized you’d outsmarted him? You didn’t know what it was – but just the very thought of him clouded your thoughts more than you cared to admit.

And tonight was no different.

Shaking him from your thoughts, you leapt across the building and over to the bank. Luckily, there was a rooftop vent that you managed to crawl inside and shimmy your way down. Dust brushed against your suit, the smell of must invading your nose, as you crawled your way through the vent with ease. This wasn’t the first time someone had robbed this bank, and it wouldn’t be the last – and by now, you’d memorized this route like the back of your hand. You gritted your teeth, making your way through the vent, before coming to a stop at an opening in the central part of the bank – but the sound of a familiar voice made you pause.

“Well, well,” said the Riddler, his voice oozing that classic arrogance and ego that somehow always made your stomach clench with nerves and warmth. “What do we have here?”

“Please don’t hurt us!” someone cried.

“Oh, please. I’m not going to hurt you,” the Riddler said with an exaggerated sighed. “You aren’t even worth a shred of my cerebral capacity to spare you another thought. Now, hand over the jewels. I won’t ask again.”

You paused. It must be someone wearing nice, expensive jewelry, like rings and bracelets or necklaces. But you couldn’t sit here any longer and let him torture these people into submission – you had a job to do. Bracing yourself, you rushed out of the vent. The metal grating burst open as you burst into the central lobby.

“What?” the Riddler asked, spinning around, his eyes going wide as the sound caught his attention.

You immediately locked eyes with him. He looked like a mess: greasy, mussed up hair, goggles on his forehead, a dirty wife-beater with a green button down scattered with question marks and cargo pants. Every inch of him screamed the sort of man who didn’t take proper care of himself, and yet somehow you couldn’t pull your eyes away from him all the same. Your heart leapt into your throat, and you balled your hands into fists, bracing yourself into a defensive stance.

His lips pulled back into a smirk. “Girl Wonder,” he said. “Alas, we meet again.”

“We really need to stop meeting like this, Nigma,” you said, rolling your eyes. It was a good thing the mask covered your face. The last thing you needed was him finding out your secret identity. As you spoke, your gaze shifted to the six hostages he had held at gunpoint.

“I think you enjoy meeting like this,” he said, sighing, rolling his eyes. “Does the Dark Knight really think sending you will change anything? I’m far more equipped to deal with anything you throw at me, Girl Wonder, so please. Let’s not waste time.”

His gun turned on you, but you noticed his finger barely hovered over the trigger.

“Please,” you scoffed out a broken laugh. “As if. You can barely handle me at all.”

That made his smirk grow – long enough for him to lower his guard and drop the weapon just slightly – giving you enough time to pull out your own shuriken – and you threw it right at his hand. The movement was so fast, and the gadget flew so quick through the air that he barely had time to register it as it smacked right into his hand.

“Dammit!” he cried, hissing through his teeth as the gun slipped from his grip.

It was just the chance you needed. You raced towards him, your breath coming out in short bursts – just as you raised your leg and kicked him in the chest. Riddler went down, a strangled cry escaping his own lips, as he stumbled backwards and landed onto his back. His pupils were blown wide, a look of surprise crossing his face, as you straddled on top of him – trying to get a hold of his wrists so you could pin him down and grab a pair of handcuffs from your utility belt at the same time. But as you did, he only struggled against you, limbs flailing wildly, sweat beaded on his brow and trickling into his greasy hairline.

“Get off of me!” he cried, thrashing about.

“No!” you cried. “I’m taking you in, Nigma.” Your words were spoken with much conviction, so much determination. You glanced aside at the hostage and yelled, “Go!”

The six people jumped to their feet and scrambled out of here, almost tripping over their own two feet as they went. Riddler reached out, trying to scratch at you, but the thick gloves on his hands made it impossible. You reached down, one hand on his chest to keep him pinned while the other grabbed onto his throat, your gloved fingers wrapping tight around the thick muscle – but as you did, your eyes locked with his – and for one simple moment, time seemed to standstill. Gotham faded away into nothingness, and not even the wailing of sirens could be heard. The edges of your vision clouded as warmth filled your bloodstream, spreading down to your core – and when you shifted slightly, you suddenly felt it: a firmness in his pants.

And that’s when you realized he had an erection.

You blinked, barely able to comprehend what you were feeling. Barely able to realize that he was underneath you with a hard on as your straddled legs grinded against him. Heat immediately rushed in between your legs, pulsating there, and your mouth fell agape in surprise.

“You could get off of me now,” he said, but you noticed the flush creeping up his cheeks. “Or do you like thinking you have some kind of control over me? You think you’ve overpowered me, when I’ve simply let you—”

“God, don’t you know how to shut up for one second?” you cried, the words slipping out of your mouth against your control. “You’re so annoying.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“I hate you,” you said, rolling your eyes – but you still didn’t make a move to get off him. It was like the two of you were glued together at the hip, unable to be pulled apart.

“I hate you as well, Girl Wonder,” he muttered.

“It doesn’t seem like it to me,” you replied, unable to stop yourself. The words out of your mouth were so unexpected, but the warmth and heat in your core was too much to ignore.

A shadow passed along his face as he blinked, as if uncertain what to say. He shifted again, the heat spreading even more now along his cheeks. “Then you’re fooling yourself, Girl Wonder. You—”

“Oh, shut up,” you said – and pressed your lips to his to silence him.

He tasted like salt and sweat and something metallic. Immediately, his mouth parted to join with yours, and you pushed yourself harder into him, gliding your tongue against his own. The soft brush of his tongue made a moan, a gentle sigh, escape your mouth. It had been so long since you’d been kissed, so long since you’d felt this level of warmth. The hand around his throat loosened, trailing upwards towards his face and into his slick, oily hair. The Riddler groaned into your mouth and arched into you slightly, his erection pressing against your core. Heat spread across your skin, like you were being warmed by a fire and—

“Robin, are you all right?” Oracle asked. “Your vitals have increased exponentially.”

Her voice in your ear immediately made you pull away. A flush crept along your cheeks, and you stared down at Riddler as he gazed up at you with heavy-lidded eyes, smirking.

“As I thought,” he said. “Even the Girl Wonder can’t resist me.”

“Shut up,” you muttered. “I only did that to make you be quiet.”

“What else are you going to do to make me be quiet, hm?” he asked.

The question made you pause. The heat inside of you was too much to bear, too much to handle, and a needy desperation filled your center. You locked eyes with him for just a moment – but that small moment seemed to be enough of an answer for what you both wanted. Immediately, your hands snaked down to his belt, undoing it with rapid succession. You knew the cameras were already disabled, thanks to him, and you only had a few minutes before the GCPD would come barging in here.

“Hold the GCPD off,” you said to Oracle. “I’m busy.”

The Riddler locked eyes with you again, and you immediately pulled his cock from his pants. Long and hard, dripping with precum, the veins bulging out. His shaft was warm in your hands, and you gave his cock a few lazy pumps. He hissed between his teeth as you he grabbed onto the zipper of your costume and yanked it down in one smooth, fluid motion. You didn’t have time to dawdle – you needed this. Now.

You immediately shifted your suit to the side to expose your dripping wet cunt, angling it above his cock, and you sunk down onto him. Both of you sighed in ecstasy at how he filled you to the brim, sinking yourself onto him thick inch by inch. His hands gripped your waist as his back arched, his eyes fluttering closed, as if he was lost to the sensations you provided for him. The feeling of his thick cock inside of you was like heaven, and immediately, you began to move, riding him with a fierce desperation.

You clamped your mouth shut as you slammed yourself down onto him again and again, each time his cock hitting that sweet spot inside of you that made you see stars. Soft gasps and pants escaped your lips, grunts of pleasure escaping his own. There was no time for intimacy, no time for words – just a simple hate fuck as the two of you lost yourselves to the pleasure you both desperately needed and craved. You felt his thumb stray forward, the rough edge of his glove circling your clit, and you gasped, a low cry threatening to spill from your lips. The sensation of the glove and the pressure he added only increased your stimulation, sending tiny fireworks of pleasure all throughout your core and down your thighs.

“Fuck,” he whispered, his eyes opening just enough to look at you. “Who knew the Girl Wonder could fuck so well?”

“Shut up,” you hissed. “I’m not doing this for you – I’m doing it for me.”

His smirk grew slightly. “There are so many people out there you could be doing this with, so why me? The person you despise so much?”

His question made you pause – because you knew the hidden truth. “The thing is…I don’t despise you. Not really. I never have.”

His brow quirked upwards, a curious look passing along his face – but his smile widened into something tricky and tantalizing, before he slammed his hips up into you. You cried out, clamping a hand over your mouth to keep from crying out, as he thrust wildly into you with reckless abandon, a man in the throes of a lustful frenzy. Each thrust of his length into you made your pleasure increase – tightening and tightening – until it snapped completely.

You cried out as your orgasm washed over you, lightning bolts of pleasure running up and down your body. You trembled atop him as he stilled, cum spurting from his cockhead, filling you completely. Your eyes fluttered closed as wave after wave of pleasure and ecstasy consumed you – until your climax faded away into nothingness. Gasping for air, you peeled your eyes open long enough to look down at him to find him smirking that patented, arrogant smirk of his, looking like he was a king being serviced.

A beat of silence passed. But you pulled off of him, quickly zipping up your suit as he tucked his cum-coated cock into his pants, the both of you frantically cleaning up the remnants of what just happened before the GCPD could burst inside. Just as you jumped to your feet, his hand shot out, grabbing your wrist tightly.

“We’re not finished here, Girl Wonder,” he said, a low growl deep in his voice, before he let you go. You pulled away, glaring at him with malice in your eyes – but you knew the truth: this was far from finished.

It was only the beginning.

[dailycass-cain]

I did not like the newest (paywall) episode of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures. So consider this my review of Episode 157, "Orphan" and WHY I think this is the weakest Cass-centric episode of WFA. I will not be posting pictures of the episode. Just talking about the plot (due to respect for the series).

So consider anything below...

So the current "arc" is Cass grappling with Lady Shiva showing up and telling her the only solution to end the Joker's spree of terror is for Cass to kill him. Breaking the endless waltz that Batman/Joker do.

That eventually an innocent life of the Bat Family might occur (i.e. Steph being the example used given how the free episode ended today, but Shiva generalizes it could be anyone).

When it comes to that I don't mind it at all. I'm gonna leave the Shiva stuff to a certain Talker of the Lady when they read the story itself. Me? There's a LOT to unpack in this episode.

#1 I don't like is how Barbara and Steph phrase the situation that Shiva is the one forcing Cass to kill. Shiva is just pointing out the way she's seeing it. That Batman/Joker will keep his up and eventually-- someone in the Bat Fam might pay the price.

This is something akin to near the end of Batgirl #73 where Cass is asked by Nyssa and Shiva. That she has the power to stop those who bring death and end this cycle of violence.

It's why in his very episode #73 is referenced with Cass/Shiva's death duel and Cass admitting in this episode she did kill her mom (but again there was a Laz Pit nearby to bring her back to life).

The episode goes into showing the "death" Cass did for both David Cain and Lady Shiva. Showing she wasn't ever given the choice by either in taking a life. BUUUUUUUUUUT....

The episode kind of ignores a certain OTHER chapter in Cass's life when she killed. The one that probably SHOULD'VE been mentioned...

The whole "a worthy opponent" for a duel to the death overlooks the actual themes in #73. "A worthy opponent" for a duel to the death was #25. The problem is Cass still refused to kill even when realizing she and Shiva were similar in many regards (which allowed her to win).

The theme in this episode is Cass was "forced" to kill and well.. the only real time that happened besides in David's original training was during her EVIL phase (which is something the current ongoing isn't shying away from surprisingly).

So the whole point of the episode is Cass's trying to decide should she or not kill the Joker? And here's where the story goes MORE south for me...

After posed by Babs that does she want to kill Joker? Cass admits she's tired of fighting "what I am. What I chose to be". Again, the point of the confession is to showcase she "chose" the Orphan codename because she didn't want to no follow David or Shiva's paths.

But.... While this is the writer of the series trying to define the Orphan codename akin to Young Justice did "an Orphan shunning what she was in blood and life". That COULD have worked it just doesn't BECAUSE--

-- they then bring up New 52 David Cain and that Cass chose the name to again "stand alone" from her parents. Once again you're making Cass's origins convoluted as it already is.

That is the one problem I have in explaining the origin of Cass in the current DCU because with "everything being canon" cause it is rather confusing. Because one origin happened but didn't. So a new origin took place but then the old one bled into the new one so BOTH are here.

It's a problem enough in the main comics that explaining it in WFA is more crazy. It is the grand problem that's always hovered over the series. There is no Batgirl. Steph is Spoiler. Babs is Oracle. But therein lies the problem...

Steph/Babs were given or they evolved into these identities (which felt natural). No matter how much you try, Cass becoming Orphan wasn't a natural transition identity that she grew into. It was an identity "forced" upon her because Babs was THE Batgirl.

This goes into the core of "Orphan" identity being a "devolution" of the character than an "evolution". Because in the end, the codename "lessens" the character of Cass.

Yes, WFA creators have "skirted" around this by throwing bones. But either throw the bone or don't entirely. Because the Orphan codename doesn't deserve the history behind it. Cass never "evolved" into the codename.

Therein lies the problem of the story. By "giving" you're really taking away what was a key component of Cass. Because she understands the nature of the bat symbol like Bruce and well... without one it makes the identity more pointless.

Again, by "choosing" family you kind of negate the purpose of the Orphan identity. Cass choses to forsake everything. That's kind of hard to turn your back stuff when she's literally all about FAMILY.

Cass deserves more. Ironically the WHOLE point of Batman & the Outsiders made by Shiva herself.

Why also when a certain someone was axed in DC, the irony that Cass (and Steph) became Batgirls again well...

Look I know the creators have restrictions when it comes to WFA. But.. the episode did a great disservice to Cass. This is the first time I'm REALLY disappointed in the series on handling the character.

But I understand the good this series does. These are just my problems with this particular episode.

[pinkiemachine]

GOTHAM FILES: SEASON 7

SO, to start off, Jason has begun to form the Outlaws in a mini series going on in the background. His new team consists of himself, Roy Harper (Arsenal), Artemis of Bana-Mighdall (Amazon warrior), and Bizarro, (botched Superman clone).

BUT FORGET ALL THAT—SEASON 7.

The opening arc issssssssssss 🥁 🥁 🥁

THE KILLING JOKE.

Joker is back, he’s out of Arkham, and this time… his scheme is particularly diabolical. He’s discovered Batgirl’s secret identity. By the end of this harrowing tale, after many ups and downs, Joker escapes… after having shot Barbara in the back and paralysing her from the waste down. This shatters Barbara’s world. So not only has her identity been leaked (eventually making its way to the public) but now she’s lost the ability to walk and she’s lost the ability to be Batgirl. Basically, everything she ever wanted to do for Gotham, for her friends and family, feels completely out of reach now, and she doesn’t know what to do.

I mean, first of all, she needs to go underground to keep her and her father safe, but after that… she needs to do some serious soul searching. The conclusion of which is this: she may not be able to use her body to its fullest extent anymore, but she still has her sharp mind. She can still help. She can be the BatFam’s “Guy in the chair.” Or in this case, “Gal in the chair.” She takes the new Codename “Oracle” and sets up her headquarters in an old, abandoned clock tower. (She can’t be seen at Wayne Manor, ever. They’d link her (Batgirl) back to Bruce and then the secret would be out.) But now she’s kinda starting to feel like she’s found her groove again. She has a purpose again.

Damian continues his training under Bruce, Dick and Star navigate married life, Jason is gallivanting off with the Outlaws, Tim has actually been chosen by Bruce to kind of become Bruce Wayne’s apprentice in a way—Bruce thinks that one day, maybe he could run Wayne Enterprises—Stephanie and Tim continue to work on their relationship, Batwoman makes another appearance, Batman and Catwoman start to date a little more seriously (much to Damian’s chagrin), things move forward, and then we meet Cassandra Cain.

Specifically, Barbara meets Cass. See, this girl is very similar to Damian in that she was raised to be an assassin. However, her twisted father’s approach was to prohibit her from speaking ever, so that she had to rely solely on body language and facial expressions. This allows her to read people exceptionally well. She can tell if someone’s going to attack her, how they’re going to attack her, and when they’re going to attack her, all before they can even blink. Thing is, she’s not a natural-born killer. After she took her first life at just eight years old, she freaked out and tired to run away. She managed to escape a few years later. Now she had popped up on Oracle’s radar, and she sent in the BatFam to sort out the kerfuffle. When Bruce meets her, he can tell that she’s not like the deranged lunatics of Gotham, she’s just a kid. A kid with no clear direction in life and a dark past. He lets her crash at the Manor until she can get a few things sorted. They also need her help to bring down her father, another known criminal. Barbara, though, recognises something within Cass that she sees in herself. A feeling… that you believe you’re broken… like something’s wrong with you. Cass has been trying to learn to speak since running away, but she’s really bad at it. The only thing she’s good for is knowing how to kill people. Even her friends. She feels like she’s a broken human being. Barbara for a while felt literally broken, due to her legs. Like she wasn’t good for anything. And even now, she sometimes feels like she’s only good for one thing: sitting behind a screen. She takes Cass under her wing and she begins to teach her all the things she learned as Batgirl. Together, they both heal and learn to move past what they both thought they were. In the end, Babs becomes much for comfortable and confident in her new role as Oracle, and Cass redeems herself by becoming the new Batgirl. Steph also adopts her as her best friend/Batsister immediately.

After that, Barbara gets the idea to start the Birds of Prey (an elite squad of girl superheroes which she manages from her chair) and everything’s going pretty well for a while.

We get introduced to Luke Fox, aka Batwing, (I need to research his story more, soorrryyy…… there’s a lot of charactersssss)

Harley Quinn has just begun her redemption arc! Well, I mean, I will have been hinting at this for several seasons, but now it’s official. Now she’s coming back to the sane side.

Damian is finally allowed to go to school at Gotham Academy (though he insists that he always arrive via helicopter. He accepts no substitutions), and while we’re talking about Damian, let’s see how he’s doing with the whole “murder” thing. He’s, uh… not as bad as he was when he first arrived… so that’s good. But at the same time… he, uh… he still has some room for improvement. He’s got a little bit of a temper, he’s still stuck-up, and although he’s able to follow Batman’s no killing rule, he does still plan to go back to his old ways as soon as his time with Bruce is over. His destiny is still to become the new Demon’s Head and rule the New World, remember? BUT THEN…

The grande finale of season 7. His name is Heretic… and he’s a bad dude. So bad, in fact, that he manages to kill Damian. HOWEVER… that is not where the finale ends… it’s only just started… no cliffhangers this time. Bruce, naturally, does not take this death well, but he’s also not going to crumble this time. This time, he knows it’s possible to bring Damian back, and he will go to the ends of the Earth to make that happen. He pursues every single conceivable avenue available to him, and he Does. Not. Rest. until he brings his son back to life! The other Batkids are there too, helping, and together, they manage to save their little brother. (I forget how they do that in the comics just now, I’ll come back and edit this later XD) Anyway, this is the second most crucial moment in Damian’s life. Now, he has experienced what it’s like to die… to be on the other end of a sword… and he’s moved by the fact that not only his father, but his entire adoptive family (who’ve famously hated him), all came together to save him. It completely redefines his definition of love and it opens up an entirely new feeling for him: empathy. From this moment on, he doesn’t even try to take another life. He’s starting to think that maybe he doesn’t want to.

Oh, and also, Starfire’s pregnant! 🎉

Part 8 👇

Part 6 👇

[queerryan]

>My< ideal Batman Cinematic Universe

Batman: Year One

Batman the Long Halloween

Batman and Robin (TV Series) Season 1 (Dick Grayson) — Establishing the villains and other heroes even

Teen Titans origin movie.

Batgirl Movie

World's Finest 1

Batman and Robin Season 2 ending with an 3 episode arc of Robin becoming Nightwing

Nightwing Solo movie, moving to Bludhaven with Titans cameos.

Batman and Robin Season 3 (Jason Todd)

Batman: the cult

Batgirl 2 (introducing the Gotham Sirens)

Batman and Robin Season 4, ending with a Death in The Family Arc

Dark World's Finest 2 (Clark trying to help Bruce deal with Jason's death as they solved a mysterious crime)

Another Batman movie introducing Cassandra Cain, but not including her as a recurring character yet.

Gotham Sirens Movie

Batman and Alan Scott team-up movie (because I think this would be interesting since Alan Scott was Gotham's first hero)

Batman Death of the Family

Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying (Movie)

The Oracle Movie with Black Canary (foundation of the Birds of Pray)

Batman and Robin Season 4 (Tim Drake) — in the mid season establish Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown as a recurring character. End the season with an Arc leading to No Man's Land.

A Young Justice 98 show set in between Tim's season.

Oracle and Bagirl (Cassie) movie set a few days before No Man's Land

No Man's Land 1 (Batman Focused)

No Man's Land 2 (Robin, Stephanie and Oracle Focused)

No Man's Land 3 (Batman and Batgirl Focused)

Batwoman Movie

Batman and Robin Season 5 — First 3 episodes is Tim's parents finding out he's robin and forbidden him of continuing,then the rest of the season would be Stephanie’s Robin arc, with batman training her and Cassie. Ending with Stephanie faking her death.

Batman and Robin Season 6 — Tim Drake again. Stephanie's comeback midseason.

Under the Red Hood movie

Red Hood: The lost days mini series.

World's Finest 3

Batwing Movie

Batman Solo mini series: Bruce Wayne Murderer and Fugitive.

Batman Vs the Court of Owls (Part 1)

Nightwing Vs the Court of Owls (Part 2)

Red Hood and the Outlaws 1 season. (Preferably Artemis and Bizarro, but it would be fun to include Roy too)

Batman and Red Hood Team-up movie

Robin Solo movie — Tim Drake's losing his Parents (not by Captain Boomerang but by another villain), being adopted by Bruce

Red Robin movie

Batgirl (Cassie) Solo Movie

Birds of Prey Movie (with Cassie as a member)

Batman Vs Two Face (Helping and Saving Harvey)

Batfamily final Movie Part 1

Batfamily final movie Part 2

No Damian Wayne content because I hate him.

In no particular time period but other 2 titans movie can happen in between all of this. Obviously characters aren't stuck to appear In their solo projects, they can be secondary characters or cameos in other projects. Some Characters not mentioned like the villains, Talia and the League of Assassins would appear in the Batman and Robin series.

This is MY personal ideal universe, I obviously have some preferences in characters like every fan, don't take it too seriously.

Also Cassie and Steph would date and Tim could have a mini arc in that Boarding School where he also flirts with his male classmates and even other villains. No Bernard because I think he's boring.

[dead1nyourarea]

HEY DC X DP FANS

REMEMBER CALCULATOR??? THE CALCULATOR? Whatever the fuck his nerdy ass name was???

He like, was the villain equivalent of oracle in dc-online. And he’s like a character that I don’t think dc really uses often… (Yes I still play that- shut up)

Yeah, anyways-

Boom, make him Tucker. Or make Tucker him??

Tucker = The Calculator

Get it? Got it? Good.

then do whatever the fuck with that. Like- Danny could be a villain in training (dc-online story arc???)

Or maybe no one else knows, and then the bats find out and Tucker freaks the hell out

Or I dunno- Danny is a “villain” (but in the fun way, not so murderous) and ends up being recruited as one of the villain mentors (yknow; Lex, Joker, Circe)

(Since each is a counter to a hero; Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman. What if Danny’s the counter to another hero? Or even the counter to the entire Justice League Dark. I think it’d be pretty funny if he’s the counter to Flash or something)

And now he’s gotta mentor a bunch of villains-in-training who literally busted out of test tubes and have no memories from before… and god hes just adopting kids isn’t he?

maybe somehow Klarions here, too.

I rambled in the tags a lil bit btw…

[snowberriesromanoff]

hello!!

I saw you in the tags of a Rose Wilson post saying you’d read all her comics and could give recs/talk about her dynamics with the bats and titans👀👀👀

(I know very little about her but would 100% like to know more,,,,, so, no pressure to answer this, but if you do— what d’you think are some of her most interesting dynamics/relationships with the bats?)

she intrigues me :)

She intrigues me!

Origin story/Villain arc (Teen Titans 7-12): Rose under her father's influence as an antagonist

Dick Grayson (Nightwing 112-117): Dick helps Rose get to a point where she can leave her father's influence, I think this is arguably the most influential relationship in her life because he's the person who got her out of her abusive family dynamic, he's the one who helped her, this comes up again in Deathstroke 2016 where she brags about being trained by Nightwing. He continues to mean a lot to her although she'll never admit the full extent

Cass Cain: Rose's first interaction with Cass is indirect - she and her father impersonate Batman and Batgirl in Teen Titans 22-23, they meet in Batgirl 63-64 when Rose under Slade's influence fights Cass and Cass notes explicit parallels between herself and Rose, both in their parental dynamics and in the similarities between Rose's immediate precognition and Cass's body language reading, Rose is then involved in the fallout from the "evil Cass" arc where Cass was taken by Deathstroke, drugged, and manipulated in a similar way to Rose's own trauma. This arc concludes in Batgirl 2008. They are narrative foils, they are tentative allies turned hesitant friends, they've even stabbed each other. In conclusion I ship it but they haven't interacted much outside of Elseworlds in 15 years

Jason: Jason and Rose meet in issue 47 of Teen Titans, she flirts the way she does with everyone in the run, it develops into a consistent dynamic, they'll meet again post-reboot in Red Hood and the Outlaws 38-40 which establishes that some part of that dynamic remains intact, she's working as a mercenary and he's doing his outlaw thing, they fight, they flirt, she's in contact with him as of Robin 2021, helps him out in Man Who Stopped Laughing and offers further assistance in Gotham War Red Hood. I tend to think of them as somewhere between platonic life partners and mlm wlw solidarity/hostility but they're very commonly shipped including by canon writers

Tim: in this household we do not acknowledge Teen Titans 35, we skip over it completely, Rose and Tim have a relationship built on him distrusting but tolerating her presence on the Titans, although they eventually build a good dynamic as teammates over the course of Robin/Teen Titans/Red Robin. This hasn't really been followed up on since the reboot, as Rose hasn't been on the Titans since then.

Damian: Rose meets Damian in Teen Titans 2003 88-92, when Dick sends the new Robin to the Titans to make friends, she adopts a sibling dynamic with him early on, something that is picked back up in Robin 2021, where she looks after him during the Lazarus Tournament, they also interact in Deathstroke 2016 and Shadow War. They've pretty consistently been written as understanding each other and having a sibling-ish dynamic

Steph: they've only interacted in Man Who Stopped Laughing 9-12 but it's a fun interaction and I think they should be written as friends more often.

Bruce: he primarily interacts with her in Deathstroke 2016, and all around his fairly condescending in this, but he does encourage her to choose a different life path and get away from Slade.

Selina: The Rose issue of Catwoman (62) is not great, but it does establish that Selina cares enough about Rose to check up on her after Gotham War, something no one else has done in canon.

Rose has no real canon dynamics with any of the other Bats, although she's been in issues with Oracle.

Elseworlds

Future State: Dead or Alive story, Rose and Jason are partners and sometimes lovers. Some fun moments especially for Rose's precognitive powers but shaky characterization where she's concerned.

DCeased: in post-zombie apocalypse earth, Rose, Jason, Cass, and others are teamed up to survive and protect a group of children. This series has one of my all-time favorite Cass moments, plus Jason and Rose are married and tragic. Rose gets a few good lines and her precognition shines but she and Cass don't interact as much despite sharing panels which loses some points for me.

Bonus

Roy Harper: Rose lived with Roy, Lian, and the Titans and acted as Lian's nanny in the pre-Ravager days (Titans 26-39). This is actually how she met the Titans.