#the reason you don't see Jason getting ‘called out for his actions’ by his fans is because his fans don't call him out for his actions.

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

No, I was not disappointed by how Jason was written in the comics in post crisis. Even when written by authors who just could not grasp the depth of his character (let alone a consistent plot), I can’t say I disagreed with him! He’s compelling and has the kind of magnetism and self-awareness most other characters lack.

What I do find mildly disappointing however (tbh Idc, it’s not my brain), is the ever-increasing number of self-appointed social justice warriors of fiction with a prominent lack of critical thinking skills casually wandering into the tag acting like they have some grandiose point to make that will sway us misguided Jason fans into seeing the ultimate truth; that we actually should not enjoy the canon version of our favorite fictional character because of xyz sins, and that any characteristic he had was actually made up.

[littlemissclandestine]

Why I think Russell Adler is going to make a comeback in COD 2024

WARNING⚠️: Contains spoilers for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Disclaimer: This is all just speculation on my behalf of course. I've just tried piecing stuff together for fun because Russ is one of my fave BO characters even though he's a bitch but i need more Adler content stat. <33

Let's get into it peeps. HEAR ME OUT.

Buckle up. Gonna be one hell of a ride folks 🤪

We'll start off with some random/background info.

Russ was born on February 12th 1937 so that would make him 53/54 in the Gulf War era. This actually isn't that old because if you think about it, Woods was about to turn 51 in 1981 during the Cold War campaign. What's a few more years?

We last saw Adler in action post-campaign in Warzone 1.0 cinematics but we've been kept in the dark about Adler's whereabouts post-1984 (after being brainwashed and killing Stitch LOL).

This meanie in a beanie wasn't forgotten about, oh no. He appears in the new cinematic intros on startup for both MWII (2022) and MWIII (2023). See below:

He was also featured twice in the 20 year anniversary video for Call of Duty whereas COD Ghosts didn't even get an appearance (ouch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_w5HmxsPI

I personally believe Adler was a great addition to the Black Ops roster and is essentially the new Black Ops 'cover boy' now. Would be such a shame and a missed opportunity not to include a character like him in the upcoming COD. One who is morally grey, does whatever he deems necessary to get the job done - a bit like Cpt. Price in MW. Got the COD fans riled up about him brainwashing and pulling the trigger on Bell too - he's already got the spotlight in both a good and bad way.

Now, let's explore my main reasoning as to why I think Mr Shades 2.0 is most likely coming back in late 2024...

🎖️First up: Gulf War mission list 🔫

Here are some of the campaign missions that will be featured in Black Ops Gulf War. Obviously, this is subject to change, however, going off what we have, look closely...

Credit: @MWIIINTEL on Twitter/X

Safehouse guys...SAFEHOUSE. Takes you right back to Cold War, doesn't it? Ugh the potential.

🕵️ Next up: The campaign for COD 2024 will dive into the CIA's role/the Black Ops timeline 🕘

I took the following snippet from this official article.

From this, we know there will be a huge focus on the CIA and who's a CIA clandestine special officer? Mhm, you guessed it - Russell Adler.

Now, according to the events of BO2, it's evident which characters have the possibility of returning out of our original BO trio - Jason Hudson, Frank Woods and Alex Mason.

💫 Alex is presumed dead after Frank shot him so he's out the picture in '90/91 until 2025 when they canonically meet again.

🪵 Woods would be in his 60s during this time too so I'll let you decide whether that's too old for him to be in GW.

Edit: Woods got SPAS-12'd in the kneecaps on Dec 20th 1989 by Raul Menendez so uh...yeah

🧊 Hudson died on Dec 20th 1989 at the hands of Raul Menendez.

Feel free to check out this website (Call of Duty Wiki) for an outline of the events after CW to remind yourself. Here's a link to the Black Ops timeline from there.

➡️ Gulf War being a direct sequel to Cold War and what that could mean 💉

That brings me onto the rest of the safehouse crew. Since GW is a direct sequel to CW, it would make sense for some characters to carry over if possible:

We, as the player/Bell, get to choose whether Park or Lazar die (or both lovebirds) in 'End of the Line'. It's highly unlikely they'll return unless the devs make one decision canon maybe.

There could be a chance we see Sims again given his bond with Adler (Da Nang etc.), his age (late 40s in GW) and his status (alive).

That leaves the man himself, Russ. Everything from his age to the fact he's CIA and was the deuteragonist in COD 2020's campaign just makes sense for him to have at least a lil cameo or even a larger role, don't you think?

📱Finally: Hints from official posts 🔎

This post from Call of duty's official Instagram account kind of sealed the deal for me.

Oh lookie - they dropped syringe-lover's famous line in a zombies post. Why would COD just drop it so casually like that without a reason and years after CW came out? They could've said absolutely anything else but no, this was purposeful.

And that's all for this episode guys and gals!

Thank you for reading!! 🫂

Do what you will with all this information but I have concluded in my silly little brain that scarface is coming back.

How he's only in one game is beyond me. Won't get a character like him ever again. Seems like a cliché war dude at first glance but dig a little deeper into the details of the CW campaign, peel back the layers and get into his psychology and WOWZERS.

Am I delusional? Most definitely.

But the possibility he might be returning...that little bit of hope is enough for me and i won't shut up about it.

This will age horribly if he isn't in GW. Forgive me for feeding your delusions too in that case. Please?

What are your thoughts? Feel free to share them! 😊

------

EDIT: Y'ALL IT'S HAPPENING 😭😭

[raspberry-gloaming]

I'm currently at a point where because I've got into Gallifrey, I follow or have at least browsed people's blogs who love other dweu stuff. And I thought it might be fun to say what I currently think and know about eu characters/companions so when I have in the future delved deeper into the eu I can look back and compare and laugh and see how much is accurate! There's gonna be a "read more" here because this gonna get Long.

Also please let me know what I've got right and not and also tell me more about these characters if you are fans of them!

Benny: starting off strong i know some stuff about her! she's an archeologist from the future (wonder if she ever met River) and she travelled with... one of the doctor(s)? Possibly Seven? She is besties with Brax and sometimes works for him and his collection. Probably must be able to put up with bullshit because of those last two points. Has a husband called Jason and at least one kid, which, iconic, female adventure and action protagonists should get to be mums more often its always the childfree so big up Benny for that. made a cameo at the end of Gallifrey IV.

Evelyn: I have heard her. A little. I basically skipped through the apocalypse element because I wanted to understand some of the reasons that Romana is the way she is in Gallifrey, but didn't listen properly because I got bored. Is an old lady, which is great - its great to see ages mixing it up a bit, instead of the 19-25 year old girl primary companions we consistently get in nu-who. Travelled with Six and is/was a professor at a university. Not sure for which subject though.

Fitz: Canonically bisexual and wears a leather jacket. I've seen A Lot of shipping him and Eight, and these shippers seem to have a similar vibe to Two/Jamie shippers. I don't know much else, except that his time with the doctor is probably fucked up because from what I have gleaned, Eight's companions Go Through It like big time.

Compassion: Faction Paradox which I believe is in an alternate universe (also the faction paradox timelines seem to have have a different vibe of names to the main universe ones, every time I'm on the "Individual Time Lords" category on the wiki and see a name that seems out of place it turns out to be a character from Faction Paradox.) Is a person (human i think?) but is also a TARDIS? Like you can go into her and travel? Where tf is the door this is very cursed. Also used as a breeding machine to make more TARDISes as well? By Romana? Idk but this seems pretty fucked up in an icky way. And fucked up in a non-icky way too. I'm just confused tbh. Not sure which doctor is involved in this one.

C'rizz - Possibly people can't say his name right? Is that him? Alien boy, travelled with Eight and Charley. That's about all I know.

Chris Cwej: I know even less about him, hes the other possibility for people mixing up his name or something. Think he travelled with Seven. Idk why but he gives me dick vibes.

Hex Schofield: Travelled with Ace and Seven. Is from 2021 or something and says "sus." Which yh that was a thing but he was made before among us existed that's a cool coincidence that it turned out like that.

Liv and Helen: They exist. That's it I know nothing more.

Molly O'Sullivan: Also exists. Travelled with eight?

Charley Pollard: Has a Nazi for a sister - Blind Eye my beloved. Calls herself Edwardian even though she's from the 1930s, idk if its like a character point or an accidental fuck up by the writers. Has a romance with the doctor in some form. And also a pretty messed up relationship with him i think. Actually just a pretty messed up time. Especially because I think she was in Scherzo which I hear Wild Blue Yonder was inspired by. So good luck girl you're gonna need it.

[hirik0]

Catch me if you can part 2

Ghost/Roach

If there are scenes that Simon Riley hates to act in, it's the one that involve getting soaking weat, clothes sticking to your skin and your boddie starting to cool out, becauseyou need to do them over and over again. Today is such a day, he always trys to act extra professional in them so they end as fast as possible. Today everyone is fuckig up so they are on take 55 already. He looks at Farah Karim who joined the cast after he left, playing Sara Al-Katib and is an excellent addition to the cast. Her hair is sticking to her face falling in her eyes constantly what causes her to constantly cover her face in important moments, being the main reason they have to take so many takes. They could give her a fucking beanie to stop that problem.

"I forget how it is to be dry at this point", Ghost jokes dryly, while the director is talking with some of the camara crew members and Yuri Volkov about something. Farah huff amused at this.

"Pretty sure they have enough to work with to cut it together." The other cast members make sounds of agreement at this. They are all done being wet at this point.

"But your fans will love it, the longer the better. The edits they will make, they need thinks to work with", Phillip Graves, playing Jason Summers, comments in a tone Ghost don't care to think about. Not to forget they won't see the deleted scenes.

"As if you dont get these edits. Some of them are quite talented too." Farah points out, getting an eye roll from Graves for it, usally they get along well, but they are wet, cold and miserable. Kyle Garrick walk towards them a displeased face when he realises that they are still fillming the rain storm scene. Kyle is the star of the show playing the brilliant Detective, Lance May, that is so brilliant they call him the new Holmes. Hence the title of the show.

"I see today is a bad day, huh", Kyle ask the groupe. The three make sounds of agreement at this, when the call to get in positions again. The three make a sound of displeasure before they leave only the puddles behind with Kyle.

Show down on the roof, take 56 and Action!

Graves kicks the door open and the three are rushing out into the rain on a roof of a tall building where they will shoot down the suspect. The wind made by the gigantic ventilaors make the rain hit their face directly and Ghost cant supress the annoyed sound at this, next to him Farah nearly slips and Graves has a displeased look on his face. They swiftly move towards the goal postion where the target waits. Yuri Volkov, playing a suspected mob boss Noviki, is pulling his gun towards them. A big chunk of water is going down his back, as the rain system is mafuntioning a bit and he trys his best to stay in roll.

"It's over, put the gun down", Farah orders ignoring the hair that is stucked over her nose, in hope that this time they can finish the scene.

"Oh is it really?", Yuri answers a grin on his face while he watches between the three pretending to think about who to shoot. Holding the gun a strong grip, because its wet and slippery and the last think anyone wants is the gun falling to early causing another rerecord.

"Yes, put the gun down Noviki", Ghost orders making Yuri chuckel before he trys to shot Farah missing her because Ghost is pushing her head down the fake bullet going over there heads hitting the wall. Giving Graves the chance to aim and shoot himself. The fake blood packet explodes indicating that the shoulder is injured and Yuri drops the gun, stumbling back wards to warts the 'edge' of the bulding. Farah dashes forward and prevent the deadly fall, pushing him to the ground in one smoth motion. Taking the handcuff Ghost is giving her, them nearly falling to the ground becasue they slip out of Ghost fingers.

Cut!

All four actors look towards the director hoping they finally are finished with the scene. Shepard has mercy with them and gives a nod of approval. The reliefe of the whole crew is visible.

"Thank fuck", Yuri says, while standing up, who is also done with this scene, speaking his colleagues mind. While the rain system and the ventilators are shut down and the light is turned up so every body can see.

"You four get dry, break till Garrick is ready for filming." Shepard announces. And they quickly give the weapon to the set armourer so they can get dry. Farah is splitting of first, so that the stylist can help with her long hair. Graves is holt up by one of the writters leaving Yuri and Ghost alone in the wardrobe, where they are already waited for, given big towls to wrapp around themsleves, and smaler one to get their hair dry. They quickly strip out the wet clothes putting them in the plastic basket that was put in front of them. Yuri do to his very short buzz cut is already dropping the smaler towel in the basket and amused glint in his eyes when he turns to his co star.

"You have intressting fans, Simon", Yuri says while trying to get out the wet pants that are sticking to his legs, getting a annoyed sound from Ghost why does everyone talk about the god forsaken edits.

"Not you too, I can't." Ghost groans, stripping out his jacket and shirt.

"They are thirsty, I think its called, for you." Ghost burries his face in the towel he uses to get his blond hair dry to muffel his groan, for fucks sake can they all stop, please?

"Do I want to know?" Ghost ask sceptical he honestly don't want to know what he mean with 'thirsty' while drying his legs after he got out of his pants and underwear. Yuri grabbed his phone out of his back thats standing in a corner, already having dry underwear on, when hes back next to Ghost he's opening tiktok and tips in 🪳 BugBoy 🪳 in the search bar. Ghost frowns what a odd name, but its the internet so what are you expecting. Yuri chosses the newest upload of the profile and 'Talk dirty' from Jason Derulo starts playing. Then the song is interupped by I said sit followed by John MacTavish who sits down on a chair covert in fur, clearly from the last movie they played in together, then the song continues. Yuri opens the comments and it is something. Ghost reads one and feels his cheeks heating up the next one is just three emojis and he honestly don't even want to know but a lot of people think the same. He ready a yes daddy and a I want to be called a good girl for how i followed the order just like Brian, Johns character.

"He should sit on his lap because where else should you sit when Richard is ordering you?", Yuri reads one out, this coments has ten thousands of likes. The heat is now spreading towards Ghost ears, these people have no shame. It got so much worse since YouTube Music Video edits. He still can't listen to sertain songs because of it.

"Are they all like that?", Ghost has the feeling he will regret asking, while putting on a dry shirt.

"From this account yes, others are just scenes from movies or episodes with special sounds or they cut scenes together for a new narrative. Honestly they are very talented and often do something that is called 'shipping the characters'." Yuri explains while getting in his pants phone on the ground next to him. Ghost feels how hes cringing he knows about shipping in his last movie as a teenage actor the fan base split over if he should have ended up with the girl or the rival love intresstof said girl. This nearly made him quite acting, because the floud on social media notification and the DMs he got were scary. Made him take this very long break and thinging about quiting acting intierely, but Price got him in to theater acting for a while and thats where he learend he really loves acting still hestiant if he wants to return to television and movies but he could not say no to the Ghost series.

Yuri gives him the phone and he looks at a few more of the edits, seeing that a popular ship of the series is Martin with either Lance or Jason and he hates that every one is right and the edits are very good. He accidental looks in the comment of one with him shirtless and he neraly drops the phone and in his haste to not drop it accidently likes a comment that says 'need to hydrate myself'. He curses getting first a confused and then ammused look from Yuri when he notices what happend.

"Dont worry, this is just a burner account", Yuri says after checking if this is really not his offical account with blue checkmark and everythink. Graves is entering the room gladly taking the towle given to him and looks at the two.

"Shown Simon some of his fans work", Yuri expalins getting a laught out of Graves.

"As long as they dont try to involve me in this again they can do as they want." Ghost says before going towards the make up to get it reapiled, hearing Yuri and Graves laught out amused. They have no idea that some fans are feral gremlins with no understanding of boundaries.

He sits down in a chair and Kleo is starting to reapply what the water wasched away. She is sencing his bad mood and is working in silence and hes is very grateful for it. He normaly has no problem talking wiht her but for some reason everybody and their grandmother decided that these god damm edits are what talk about today. The worst is the is now acctully intressted at the edit that they make about the movies and series hes playing in. Kyle is sitting down, wearing the signatur outfit of Lance, a tweek jacket with jeans and the nerd glasses. Hes sitting down next to him scrolling through his instagram.

"The fans are getting out of hand", Kyle is mumbeling to himself shaking his head, getting Ghost and Kleos attention with it. Kyle looks at them through the mirror giving them his best piss of imitation of Ghost.

"No, Kyle everyone is talking about my fans its only fair if we also talk about yours", Ghost says amused that he is not the only one.

"I was out to grap coffee with Alex and Farah yesterday and now some fans are like look at their cute coffee date", Kyle eplains getting a sound of reconition from Kleo and a neutral face from Ghost. Alex Keller is their other main star on the show, the gloomy coroner, Niguel Hamilton, they see on every crime scene.

"Lance, Sara and Niguel is a up an coming ship in the fandom, but I think Lance and Martin is still the top ship", Kleo comments her best friend Nova is one of the biggest fanfiction writters of the fandom and she is her beta reader, at this point against her will because she has to work with these people. Ghost gives her a please no look while she puts on the last pit of fundation. Kyle gives her a what the fuck look while Calisto is starting with his make up.

"Mance and Lantin are still terrible ship names, but I think its SaNaGuel is even worse", Calisto comments, she started later to work on hte show and was a fan before and was over the moon when she god a chance to work on the set. Ghost is cringing very aware of the rools of shipping names, before he picks up on SaLaGuel.

"Sara is the most dominante in the ship?", he asks getting a confused look from Kyle and a smirk from Kleo and Calisto.

"Jup, Lance is a rather new addition but in the Sara and Niguel ship, Niguel is the absolute simp for her and well, you dont need to know much more about it. But since the last season finale there is kind of a agrremnet under the fans that these three are in love with each other. Jason is deffently the least likely to get shipped, but since Simon is back he finally also gets some dick", Calisto give a bit more break down of the fandom. Kyle give Ghost a horrified look, who is a surviver of this behaivor and he just shrucks at this, everythink sounds normal for fandom terms.

"But why?", Kyle asks despreadly the three characters can barely be called friends in the show, getting a first time look from the other three in the room, thats when Graves and Yuri are also entering the room.

"Oh, Kyle its because some fans think they would be also good as couple or enemies with benefits", Kleo is answering getting to laugh before she starts to work on Graves.

"Niguel and Lance dont even like each other. They try to ruin eachother careers every god dam season", Kyle protests the explanation. They are arguing everytime they are in the same room for a good 8 seasons for now.

"So much tension you can interpretate as sexual, Kyle", Ghost states, as if that's rhe most logical conclusion of 2 guys fighting all the time.

"Thats why Martin and Jason is exploding ever since Simon came back to the show at the last season finale, they fight and stare angrly at each other all the time and the people are getting abolute feral over it", Calisto explains way to amused about it. Graves gives her a WTF look and Yuri a cough laught as reaction.

"The only think they go more feral is a bromance turning romance", Kleo quips in giving Yuri a look. Yuri recently was the co star in a movie about two childhood friends fighting in World War II. They even found some of the other stars theater performances for their edits. He didn't touch his burner account for nearly two months. His cheeks are turning pink at this reminder, because some of these edits left nothing for the imagination, where did they even got the underwear modeling shots from? He will never be able to work with this man ever again.

"Please never use the word feral in this context ever again", Kyle is pleading getting a slap on his shoulder from Ghost.

"Feral is very accurate." With that Ghsot leaves the mask to return to the set.

[electricprincess96]

What do you make of the change the New52 made with Catherine and Sheila in Jason's Death storyline?

Despise it. And I've argued with plenty of other so called Jason fans on this one. They all hated Sheila and were happy to see her removed from canon but the fact is all they did was give her story to Catherine thus tainting the one good person Jason had in his early childhood. Jason fans need to realise you're meant to hate Sheila, she sold a young boy, her own son out to the Joker. They also need to realise just cause someone is bad to Jason doesn't mean they shouldn't exist for the purposes of the story. Sheila being an awful mother, an awful person, is necessary for Jason's story while tainting Catherine with that storyline removes the one adult figure in Jason's life that he felt didn't actively seek to hurt him even if she still let him down in another way.

Jason feeling ostracised in Bruce's family, finding out Catherine wasn't his birth mother and realising he had a chance at a parental connection with someone who might appreciate him only for that woman to turn him over to the Joker is heartbreaking and contributes to Jason's later unwillingness to trust people (unless you're Talia cause for some reason DC and some Jason fans think that woman is a saint when she used Jason just as much as everyone else, if not worse in many ways and is no better than many of Batman's other Rogues). However, despite this betrayal Jason still tries to save Sheila in the end showing that despite what DC want us to think nowadays about Jason as Robin, he was good at heart, he died a hero, trying to save a woman who sold him out and watched as he was beaten bloody with a crowbar. This is integral of Jason's character, it shows that he was more than the cautionary tale that Batman and modern DC want to turn him into. He was a hero.

Also easily the worst part about the change in the New52 is it makes Jason's entire life the product of some scheme by the Joker. I hate that. Not everything in comic books needs to be some massive conspiracy. Sometimes things can just happen coincidentally. Jason was not the only orphan (or in this case fake orphan since Catherine was not dead in this scenario) on the streets, Batman could have stumbled across any of them, the fact he takes Jason in is entirely because of actions Jason chose to take, no one manipulated Jason into stealing the Batmobiles tyres.

For people who don't know basically in New52 Sheila was replaced with Catherine. Catherine was originally Jason's step mother in Post Crisis Canon but was changed here to be his biological mother. In original canon Jason's father was killed by Two-Face and Catherine died of an "illness" speculated to either be a drug overdose or some form of cancer that she took drugs to try and dull the pain. Regardless Jason ends up orphaned on the streets and then found by Batman when he steals the wheels off the Batmobile to try and sell them for money. Then Jason finds out Catherine is not his real mother and goes searching for Sheila and finds her in Ethiopia where she's working with the Joker (admittedly unwillingly but she's being blackmailed due to her stealing charity funds so honestly I don't feel bad for her in that situation) and Jason tells her he's Robin and can help her with the Joker and instead of taking him up on that offer she sells him out to the Joker.

In New52 the Joker meets Jason pre death of his parents and orchestrates everything. Willis Todd's death, he fakes Catherine's death to leave Jason "orphaned" so that he'll be taken in by Batman and made into Robin, he then threatens Jason by revealing Catherine is alive and that's how he gets Jason to the warehouse where he beats and kills him.

I just hate that. I hate the idea that the Joker basically controlled every part of Jason's life even BEFORE he killed him. Newer DC writers seem obsessed with Jason being a puppet to the Joker due to him being Red Hood, constantly tied to the clown rather than acknowledging Jason taking the name Red Hood is his way of regaining some agency in his own life by taking from the man who took from him. But to a degree I can understand thinking post resurrection Jason is in a way controlled by the Joker, his existence affects Jason. Having the young boy who thought being Robin made him magic also just turn out to be one of the Jokers sick pet projects is just callous, cruel and ultimately adds nothing substantial to Jason's character arc. It was poor writing and I'm thankful for the most part more modern comics seem to have tried to distance themselves from this god awful retcon and that fans seem to have never accepted it as canon to begin with.

The New52 Outlaws run had its moments but I'll he honestly I'm not a huge fan of Lobdell's storylines, overall characterisation wise i think he normally nailed Jason decently well but some of those plots were.... just not good. This is absolutely, 100% one of the worst ones.

[wesavegotham]

Honestly. In main continuity, I feel Bruce shouldn't get married at all or even have a biological kid like Damian or Helena. Cuz marriage & fathering kids bring unnecessary soap opera elements to a grounded pulpy crime detective fiction format. Yeah, Damian had a cool arc with Dick in the Morrison run, but his continuing presence had sidelined other characters like Tim & Cass. Sigh...Im gonna get so much pushback.

Dick should be the one that gets married. I really wished that his wedding with Starfire wasn't derailed last minute. It would make more sense cuz Dick is more involved with the soap opera drama due to his time in the New Teen Titans.

just make know so when out there

Er...did you send this to the wrong blog perhaps?

Because while I agree Bruce shouldn't get married it's for different reasons than you. Batman's story is written to go on forever (like a classic soap opera) and even if Bruce got married to idk Catwoman, sooner or later it would only end in divorce, death or retcon anyway and then the batcat fans would whine even louder that the two people with huge committment issues and incompatible lifestyles aren't together forever. As if all of Bruce's romances (including Catwoman) weren't designed on purpose to have an expiration date and not work out. Like most relationships in soap operas.

But why are you writing to a Damian fan's blog that you don't think Damian should exist?😅 I don't even get why you lump Damian and Helena together, while Helena was implied to have grown up in a rather domesticated way on Earth 2, Damian is a completely different case?

I don't see how Damian brings "soap opera drama" to Batman that Bruce didn't also have with his adopted kids. My impression from older comics is that they were even more soap opera like because they had a stronger focus on relationship troubles and stuff like "might Bruce lose custody of Dick/Jason?" Getting a story in which Bruce and Damian's relationship is the A plot and not the C,D or E plot of an arc is damn rare.

Also, grounded pulpy crime detective format? Pulpy, okay, but I wouldn't call Batman grounded or even a detective format most of the time. Only a small amount of Batman stories are actual detective stories and he's dealing with aliens, magic or gods all the time and has done so for several decades now. Let's be honest, it's more an action/adventure story with soap opera like relationship drama that borrows some noir detective aesthetics.

Also, yeah, you're going to get pushback for saying stuff like Damian caused characters like Cass and Tim to be sidelined. Because you're wrong. DC has never sidelined Tim, they just started treating him more like everyone else. That's not the same🤦‍♀️

The evil Cassandra arc started before Damian's introduction (during a time when DC wasn't even planning to make Damian into recurring character, he was supposed to be dead after the Batman and Son arc) in Tim's Robin book. Damian had nothing to do with that storyline, if anything Cass was treated badly to give Tim a story.

Or are you talking about stuff like Steph and Cass getting erased in New 52 and believe that it had something to do with Damian? You, know, the character DC killed off two years into the reboot like they had planned to do since the start? And who has since been kept far away from the batfamily? During DC Rebirth Damian wasn't even under the control of the Batman office, the Superman office had him. And the Robin solo DC gave Damian that started with a tournament arc that some whiny Cass stans thought should have belonged to Cass? Guys, Robin 2021 is a book that only existed to do some damage control after DC absolutely destroyed the character in Teen Titans and to launch two events, Shadow Wars, which was more a Deathstroke Inc vs League of assassins story than a Damian one and Batman vs Robin, which so far is pretty much just a Batman focused story.

No idea why you talk to me about what to do with Dick, I never cared that much about him.

No idea what you're even trying to tell me with that last sentence.

Anyway, if you really feel the need to blame a character (and not simply DC) for how Cass was treated you should probably look more towards Tim or even more likely Barbara. Since it was DC deciding that Barbara should be batgirl again that probably got Cass erased in New 52. People who seriously think Tim is being sidelined in favor of Damian are simply delusional and entitled, sorry. Like how spoiled do you have to be not to see how many damn chances DC has given Tim time and time again. DC loves Tim.

[boldlyvoid]

Intro to Criminal Minds: Why They Did It

Criminal Minds x MINDHUNTER AU

Spencer Reid x Margaret Carr (OC)

Part 1: Ed Kemper.

Summary: Spencer is teaching a 7-week seminar on the most interesting criminal cases, explaining their actions to understand why they took place. Only, not everyone in the audience is a student.

warnings: graphic details of a real rape and murder case, like every trigger in the book, applies to this fic so read with caution (if you watch either show you're used to it, however), it's all real and did actually happen and I don't support any of it. strangers to lovers, mutual pining, flirting, fluff, eventual smut, idiots in love, OC is Wendy Carr's daughter, her bio father is Jason Gideon

word count: 3.9K

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't having fun teaching.

He started with guest speaking, moving to special seminars a few times a year. But he wanted something more, settling for a 7-week criminal justice elective of his choosing.

Intro to Criminal Minds: why they did it. Giving Spencer an excuse to share the most intimate facts about serial offenders in a setting where no one could tell him to shut up.

14 students total signed up for the two-hour Seminar, taking place every Thursday at 11 am from September until Halloween. Over the 7 weeks, he would explain the fascinating insights of the most successful killers in the United States. Only asking that his students write about a prolific crime they find interesting by the end of term, for their full grade.

All he wanted was to read about obscure killers from around the world, from the perspective of aspiring profilers.

The first Thursday, he came prepared with his coffee a half hour before the class. He wanted to write the main points on the whiteboard in advance, nice and neatly.

To his surprise, a student was already there waiting for him. "Oh, hello,” he smiled softly.

She was sitting with a book in her hands, she pushed her glasses up her nose to look at him as he walked in. She was older than his typical student, around 35. Probably finishing up a degree or adding something to what she already had.

"Hi," she smiled at him. “Sorry, I’m early, I was visiting my mom at Quantico earlier.” She explained. "I'm not a teacher's pet or anything. Promise, I’m not even a student.”

It made him laugh slightly, correcting him like she read his mind. "It's okay, I'm Doctor Reid," he introduced himself softly.

“Margaret Carr, Peggy is also fine.”

"Pleasure to meet you," he said quickly before focusing his attention on the whiteboard.

He could feel her eyes on him the whole time he wrote, not wanting to turn around and catch her. "That's so interesting," he heard her mumble under her breath.

"Hmm?" He turned around.

"It's just that, everyday occurrences that never phase the regular person somehow cause psychopaths to kill," she read the board back to him.

"I was reading a study a while back about how psycho killers medulla oblongata is approximately 19% smaller than the average human’s. Based on the way they're nurtured as children affects if they grow up to kill. The ones that don't often end up in law enforcement and other positions of power where their psychopathic tendencies can come to play."

He was taken aback for a moment. He had never experienced a student who was like him before. Someone who just pulled facts into conversations like it was nothing.

"I read that as well," he smiled. "It is fascinating. The smallest amount of bullying and abuse from a mother or disappearance of a father figure can set them off."

"Or, on the other hand, there are people like Ted Bundy," she added. "He was well-loved and taken care of, but it went to his head. His god complex and affinity for lying led him to be incredibly charismatic and enabled his killing."

"You're very educated on this already; are you just interested in hearing me speak today?" He asked, not wanting her to leave, finding it interesting that she was there.

"Oh," she blushed. "I was going to talk to you more about it after the seminar actually."

“Okay, I’ll be waiting for you,” he felt a little giddy at the prospect.

"Thanks," she laughed. "Seriously though, I'm a big fan of your teaching style, I saw a few of your classes when my dad was teaching at the academy in 2005. It's a lot easier to remember facts if the lecturer genuinely loves what they're talking about."

"You're going to like this Seminar then. It’s basically just a way for me to get paid while unloading all the random facts I have,” he warned her with a smile.

"I know." She smiled back at him.

The rest of his students filed in slowly. By 11 am, 14 faces were staring back at him.

"Hello," he waved awkwardly. "I'm dr. Spencer Reid. For the last 12 years, I've worked with the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit. Catching serial offenders across the country."

He took a deep breath, letting the nerves find their way out of him. "I've been asked time and time again who my favourite serial killer is, which is a peculiar way to phrase the question. It feels morally wrong to have a favourite in the way people do with baseball players.

"I am, however, fascinated with several serial offenders' reasoning and explanation for why they did what they did. Every single killer is different, but it all comes back to 1 thing. Do you know what that is?"

They all shook their heads. “What is your relationship with your parents like?" He asked. 

Everyone in the room reacted; some students sighed, some rolled their eyes as they recalled their parents and childhoods to memory.

"When a person decides to kill, it's often never in the moment. It's in childhood. The majority of serial offender's stories start the same; their mother didn't love them, their father left. Someone at home abused them or put them down repeatedly."

"Thus, causing a hatred so primal to bubble. No matter how hard they try and fight it, the bubble always bursts. They go from fantasizing to killing in retaliation for their abuse, taking the anger out in stages."

He referred to the board. "Every killer has a stressor and a trigger—something that causes the urge to bubble and the event that causes the bubble to rupture.”

"Edmund Kemper is a fascinating example of this. He grew up with a family for the first few years of his life before his father fully abandoned them. His mother handled the situation by turning her anger onto her son; it was his fault his father left, he looked just like him, Ed was just another useless man who would never amount to anything," he emphasized the words. Hoping the class sees the effects words have on children.

"He started by cutting up dolls, stealing his sister's barbies and cutting their heads off. In his mind, he was getting out his anger and hatred for how his mother saw him. She hated men, causing him to mature with a warped idea of what women are truly like."

"His attraction to killing worsened his mother's hatred; she could tell something was wrong with him, that he didn't react to everyday situations the way he should. By the time he was ten, she was locking him in the basement for days on end, telling him he was a monster and her biggest regret."

"The change in her rage amplified his own. He hated hearing her speak. He hated the way she walked around, thinking she was better than him. That just because she was a mother and a working woman, she deserved respect and submissive’s. All he could see was a woman with a big head who needed to be humbled. This is the moment when the psychotic side of his brain blended his hatred of his mother with how good it felt to kill."

"Is that why he, you know?" Peggy cut in, running her finger along her neck as she pretended to cut her head off.

He pressed his lips together in an awkward smile, nodding. "His signature, as it's called, was decapitation. But more specifically necrophiling the severed head of his victims."

The whole class let out a disgusted noise, Peggy and Spencer making eye contact while they shrugged, it wasn't news to them.

"At age ten, he moved from barbies to cats and dogs, never leaving them around for his mother to see. While he hated her, he was also absolutely terrified of her. Breading a special type of killer. When you think of school shooters or preferential predators, what do they have in common?" He asked.

He pointed at a student in the back. "They have a specific type of victim they’re after?"

"Exactly. Most serial offenders want to go after the cause of their pain or attraction. However, Ed wasn't able to kill the source of his rage for a long time. His mother mentally abused him so intensely that he believed she was in control of him and that her opinion of him mattered. He saw her as his God, he loved her, but he also knew that he disappointed her.

"He ran away soon after to find his father. Travelling to California, only to be told he was unwanted there as well. It wasn't just his mother that his father was escaping; it was the fundamental aspect of family that he didn't want. Ed defiantly didn't want to go back to his mother after that, so he moved in with his paternal grandparents."

He kept catching the looks on Peggy's face. She knew the story already, waiting patiently to hear the words he chose to make the horrific acts seem a little more conversational.

"His grandmother was exactly like his mother. If I had to guess, his father most likely had a distaste for his own mother and thus divorced Ed's mom. Only he never grew up to be a killer, just an absent father—his absence doing to Ed what never happened to him."

"Ed killed his grandparents when he was 15. Telling the police and his therapists that they had beaten him constantly, they refused to feed him and called him names. He said he snapped from the trauma; it was self-defence."

Peggy laughed to herself, making him smile softly. "Sending him to a mental hospital instead of a juvenile facility was the worst thing they could've done for him," Spencer added.

"Why?" A student asked.

"Ed is a psychopath." He reminded them. "He doesn't feel empathy the way we do. You can admit that you feel bad for him, yes? If you understand why he killed people, it doesn't make you sick, like him, it makes you human. You see a hurt person hurting others; Ed Kemper sees himself as a new sort of God, choosing who dies, how and when."

"He was brilliant, having the exact IQ as I do," just a humblebrag, "the staff trusted him. He looked like an innocent boy, smart enough to take matters into his own hands for the betterment of his life. They gave him computer privileges, they let him work the front desk and file patient information. Giving him all the resources to learn about who he was inside and how to get away with it perfectly."

"Damn," another kid added. "When did he get out?"

"At 21.” He answered the student quickly. “Ed was interviewed by my mentor Jason Gideon, in the 70s. Where he explained that being locked up during his sexual prime, as well as the access to information, is what truly set him off more than his mother.

"He moved back in with her and his sister when he came out of the institution, immediately returning to the constant ridicule. He went from being told all the time that he was a smart and charming young man, capable of rehabilitation to a useless, no-good son, who would have been better off collecting in a condom or running down her leg."

The whole class laughed, shocked at his repetition of Ed's mother's words.

"He got his licence when he was released. And remember, this was prime time for hitchhiking in California; everyone and their mother walked the roads with a thumb in the air. It was the birth of free love and recreational marijuana usage. It was also the best hunting ground for a learning serial killer."

"He was able to pick women up, but like I said, missing his sexual prime while in an institution made him almost impotent. He didn't know how to speak to women; he had to create a fantasy in his mind every time, one that involved killing, before he could look at a woman."

"How did he get them in his car then?" A voice asked from the back.

"He was 6'9, 300lbs; he looked like a big teddy bear. And his mother was the local college administrative assistant, so the whole town knew him anyway. If Ed offered to give them a ride, it wouldn't be that bad, right?" Peggy turned around to face the class as she explained for Spencer, who just shook his head.

"He only wanted to rape the victims, originally," Spencer added. "But he couldn't. There was no release of the tension. The bubble that had been growing inside him was at its breaking point; he needed to just do it. Get it over with and move on."

"He killed 6 women in succession after that. Gaining the name "The Co-Ed Killer," well before anyone even suspected Ed Kemper," Spencer took a sip of coffee, feeling his throat start to dry as they reached the insane part.

"He was overly friendly with the cops; he wanted to get his record expunged and join the force.” Spencer finally continued. “Being told, "don't worry about your record, worry about your weight.""

"Most killers enjoy wearing a uniform for the power and talking to the police about their cases, in the hopes of gauging how smart they really are—taking pride in the fact that they are getting away with it for so long."

"He watched all the cop shows, and he read all the books. He knew that in order to get away with it, he had to do it where no one could trace it back to him. He knew he had to keep his cool and avoid looking obsessed with the case, but just curious enough to gain insight into how they thought he was doing it. It went on for years, and they had absolutely zero leads, finding headless bodies every few months before they finally received a call." He left them hanging, walking over to his sheet of paper and pretending to read it while they anticipated the catch.

"Ed always knew that he wanted to kill his mother. He just never knew when,” Spencer teased the story along. Noticing as the students fidgeted in their seats as they wondered what happened next.

“In his interview with Gideon, Ed said that he knew she would die 7 days before he killed her. He walked into her room that night to find her reading, with the audacity to ask if he wanted to come in and chat all night. Teasing him for the way he rambled to her. It was the last time she ever did that."

"It's hard to imagine his signature with the fact his second last victim was his mother," Peggy added, cringing at the thought.

"Wait," another student interjected. "Who was his last kill then if he only really wanted to kill her?"

"Remember how I said he lacked empathy?" Spencer asked. "He loved his mother in the same way a prisoner can end up loving their captor."

Peggy nods at the comparison, looking like she's never thought of it that way before, then smiling at him.

"You grow a bond through the trauma and when the only thing you've ever known is violence and hate, you don't know what to do when that's gone, it's hard to cope."

"He said he killed his mother so that she never had to know what he did. She'd never have to sit at his court hearings or be able to tell the media that she always knew he was a killer."

"His last kill was his mother's best friend," He finally answered the question.

"He didn't want his mother to be even more disappointed in him, but he also didn't want his mother's best friend to find her like that and be upset. So the obvious answer to him was to kill her too."

"What the fuck?" He heard a couple of kids say under their breath.

"Yeah," he agreed with an almost chuckle. "This is what I mean by their answers are fascinating. It makes so much sense to them; clearly, if I kill my mother, her friend will be upset, so the best answer would be to put her out of her misery as well. He sees them as objects, like a matching set. One would lose value without the other."

Everyone was silent then. The students took in all the information they had just received, staring up at him with a look of disgust mixed with wonder.

"Any questions?"

Peggy raised her hand for a change; he pointed towards her in approval. "You missed the part where he specifically took the heads from the three women before his mother and brought them back home with him. He buried them in the yard outside her bedroom window, making sure they were always looking up to her."

Spencer was amazed that she knew the details. "Yes, I guess I did."

"I always found that part particularly interesting in this case," Peggy added. "Her opinion mattered so much to him. He knew how much she loved her co-ed's and how they looked up to her so much. They'd be exactly like her. He felt trapped in a town of women who were exactly like his nightmare, and his response was to make them physically look up to her for the rest of her life."

"Exactly." Spencer smiled. "understanding how he sees the situation and how the events played out in his mind is the key in figuring out who he is."

"If you were on the case in '72 when the first victims were discovered, how would you have handled it, Dr. Reid?" A male student in the back asked in the silence between answers, taking his shot before Peggy and Spencer went any further in their discussion.

“That's a hard thing to answer, connecting evidence back then was a lot harder than it is today, if it wasn’t for men like Ed there wouldn’t really be this many answers,” Spencer said honestly.

Another student put her hand up, “what’s the worst thing he did in your opinion?”

That racked his brain, there was a handful of horrific things he did that were particularly horrific, “probably his mother's entire murder.”

“What did he do?”

Before Spencer could answer he saw Peggy open her mouth and start explaining. “He not only cut off her head and fucked her neck, but he also took her vocal cords out and shoved them down the garbage disposal. And before he called the cops, he cleaned everything up and made her look presentable because he said his mother wouldn’t want guests to see the mess.”

The class all cringed, sinking into their seats with disgust. But that didn’t stop Peggy from explaining it all further.

“He used to go to a bar all the cops went to and he would talk about his case. They would always one-up themselves and say they were close which gave him this false idea that they were on his tail and they’d find his mother soon. But when they didn’t, he called it in from a payphone and said he’d come over and explain it all. And boy did he ever, the cops said he wouldn’t shut up. And then when they put him in the cop car finally, a woman walked past him and he threw up.”

Spencer watched her with awe, the way she could call information to memory like that was beautiful. He listened to her like he’s never heard a fact before, she was so intriguing.

“Thank you for the detail,” he teased her lightly. “Sometimes I get so caught up that the really gross parts get swept aside.”

The class smiled at him, he had gained their trust and attention within only 1 hour of class.

“I know you said you don’t have a favourite,” another student asked from the back. “I agree it’s weird, but who is the one you gravitate towards the most?”

“I’ve met hundreds of serial killers, I’ve read about thousands,” he explained. “I think Ed Kemper is the one I gravitate the most around because he was so willing and open to explaining why he is the way he is. Going as far as to say that the only way they could keep women safe is to give him a lobotomy. He didn’t believe there was any correcting to be done, only removal of the evil within him.”

He heard slight mumbles as everyone took in what he said. “Does anyone here have a killer or a case that interested them in learning more, or just introduced you to the chase of justice?”

Peggy put her hand up, “I personally think BTK is the scariest, most tactical, and just downright evil man to ever exist. He scares me to no end but he’s so interesting to learn about.”

“Ahh,” Spencer agreed. “Too bad you won't be here for week 3. But with that I think I’ll end the class, next week we’ll be discussing the difference between Ted Bundy and Richard Speck.” He nodded lightly, watching the majority of them close their books and had on out.

“I really enjoyed the class,” she said softly. Holding her purse in one hand, a collection of files in the other.

Spencer turned to look at her then, smiling right back. “It was a pleasure to teach alongside you.”

“What do you mean?” She teased, “it’s not like my mom and dad were the ones who did all the interviews."

“Carr,” he repeats her last name. The gears turning in his mind as he brings all the information forth.

“Your mother is Wendy Carr, she was recruited after the BTK case with Bill Tench, she’s who was behind that study you mentioned.”

“I know,” she smiled.

“Who’s your father?”

“Guess,” she looked at him with an unimpressed look on her face, pushing her glasses up slightly.

“You’re kidding? Gideon never said he had a daughter let alone a,” he stops himself before he can embarrass himself any further.

She smiled at the implication of his words, “but he’s told me all about you Dr. Reid, that’s why I'm here.”

“You need help with a case and I’m the only agent in Virginia currently,” he pressed his lips together awkwardly. Knowing it was too good to be true that she would have any interest in him in the slightest.

“No actually, I have a case I’ve been working on privately and I need some help. I asked my dad but he said you’d be able to help me the best. I agree,” she corrected him softly. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I was a big fan of yours. When I would sit in and watch his lectures, before he knew I was his kid, you would always step in at the best parts, adding the smallest details to the story that the average person would forget. It’s magnificent.”

He laughed slightly, tugging at his collar as she complimented him. “Thank you, you’re quite magnificent as well,” he replied with a blush and a smile

She didn’t look like Gideon, probably because she smiled so much. Like sunshine on legs, she beamed, all but blinding him with her smile as she stared at him, “do you want to get lunch and go over this case with me?”

“I’d love to.”

taglist: (message me if you want to be added or removed)

@shemarmooresfedora @spencers-dria @spookyspence @reidsfish @manuosorioh @mochionly @samuel-de-champagne-problems @jswessie187 @k-k0129 @calm-and-doctor @blanchardsbk

[me4ml]

Why don't you like Maribat? Why do you think it's a spite or salt ship?

This is presumably because of my Adrigaminette post or the whole Maribat being on the ship list thing.

Quick disclaimer: if you read/ship/write/like Maribat, cool! This is not an attack. This is me answering why I, personally, do not like it. It’s tagged anti, and salt, so it should be filtered. Please don’t harass me over it.

Another note before we start: a lot of what I’m about to write is based on what I’ve read, fic wise or meta, and I blocked off the Maribat tag and fandom a long time ago. It may have changed over there-I doubt it, and I have zero desire to go and look-but this is based on what I’ve seen and read about.

There are, principally, three reasons I can’t stand Maribat, why I think it’s a spite/salt ship.

1). I don’t like Damian Wayne.

2). I don’t like how Damian and the DCU are written in Maribat.

3). Maribat is a mutated salt fic.

If you want to see my reasons why, the rest is under the read more.

1). I don’t like Damian Wayne.

Damian’s not just my least favorite Robin, ranking behind any of the others who have born the name. He’s my least favorite Batfam sidekick overall.

Part of this is his introduction, where he’s a violent, murderous, arrogant, entitled, snotty little brat of a thug. Lest we forget, one of his first acts is to go out, kill a guy, cut off his head, stuff a grenade into the decapitated head’s mouth, and try to blow up Tim. This is his introduction! There are a number of other occasions, including how he treats Jon, his best friend, and the rest of his siblings.

Another part is that he believes that he deserves to be Robin simply because he’s Bruce’s son, and therefore has the blood right to be Robin, to become Batman, and damn anyone else, who are all pretenders. Doesn’t matter that those characters might have a right to become Robin, or the future Batman, he’s the bio son, he deserves it!

Additionally, Damian feels.....not unnecessary, but repetitive, in his actions/characterization. There are other characters who can perform pretty much the same way for whatever storyline is necessary, without including Damian.

Trained by an abusive family to be the best, as an assassin and warrior? Cassandra.

A killer who breaks the main rule of his mentor, which causes tension and strain in the family? Jason.

Incredibly intelligent and talented? Tim.

Damian isn’t unique in what he does, and while that can make him an interesting character, it can also make the focus on him unnecessary.

As well, so much of Damian’s actions and motivations feels like he gets away with stuff, in-universe, because he’s Bruce’s biological son, and so Bruce gives him too much slack, and out-universe, because the writers let him/the fans will defend him. He gets woobified, or leather pantsed. Which leads to:

2). I don’t like how Damian and the DCU are written for Maribat.

For all his (numerous) faults, when written well, Damian can be an interesting character. For example: How does he deal with being deeply insecure? By putting on a mask of arrogance and overconfidence.

Some more examples: How does Damian act like an actual child, when he’s never had a childhood? How can he be a hero, if he’s been trained to be a killer? Can he ever catch up to his siblings, or will he feel like they’re always better than him?

Damian’s sense of being Batman’s son, of being the heir to the Cowl, slams right up against the idea of the Batfam: that there are people who have just as much of a right to call Batman their father/father figure, people who are just as talented and skilled and capable as Damian himself is, if not more. Watching Damian develop, when he’s written right, is actually enjoyable; mainly because when it’s done right, it shows Damian actually progressing and growing, becoming more of a person, with friends and interests. Most times, seeing Damian with his pets can be adorable, same with when he hangs out with Jon.

Is he still a brat? Still sometimes a bit too much of a Demon, an al-Ghul? Yes, but that’s always going to be part of him, and as long as he’s shown to try and grow, or gets called out on that, it’s less of an issue (There’s a completely different rant to be written about how DC likes to chuck character development or backstory into the trash when it suits them for a new run. Damian gets hit with this, as does Tim, or they get handed the idiot/conflict ball, but not the space for it).

Maribat hurls this all out the window. Damian’s bad traits are all “fixed” offscreen-he’s developed, matured, gotten better, whatever you want to call it. It’s basically a writer’s hand wave to make Damian into the character who will be the lead of the story, perfectly suited for his main role of being Marinette’s boyfriend and utterly devoted to her every whim and will. He’s enchanted by her at first glimpse, and defends her against everyone who hates her, because no one can understand her like he can!

Uh, what? This is not Damian Wayne. Even at his best, he’s no broody boy, pulled from his “dark path” by the love of a gentle girl. He’s a Jerk with a Heart of Gold-emphasis on the Jerk. There’s a reason his nickname usually involves “Demon.” Is Damian trying to get better? Yes. But even then, he’s not the type to immediately fall in love. He takes a while to warm up to people, for them to earn his trust, and Marinette would not be like that?

Let’s say that Robin is in Paris for a case, he runs into Ladybug and Chat, and after they explains what’s going on, Robin gives them a stare over his mask, and goes “TT! What a worthless hero, I would have caught him already.” LB and Chat would probably want to deck him, and that’s before he keeps talking.

Same with if Damian transfers to the class, or they meet on a field trip to Gotham. Damian’s not gonna care about some random French teenagers on a tour, or if he was transferred he’s gonna be trying to figure out why his father sent him to Paris, and be focused on the mission, not making friends.

Of all of the Robins, the ones that would be the most likely to capture Marinette’s interest would be Dick or Tim, not Damian. He would remind her too much of Chloe, as Damian, and as Robin, he would be dismissive of Ladybug’s abilities, which would absolutely piss her, and Chat Noir, off.

In characters that aren’t Damian, no one seems to be written properly over in Maribatland. One huge example is that Marinette is so beloved, so pure, that she can make any character fall in love with her, and reform by her pure goodness, including a fic where the Joker-THE JOKER!-becomes her “Uncle J,” and pranks Lila on her behalf.

Uh-huh. Sure. Completely and totally something that one of the biggest, most sadistic twisted, notorious villains in pop culture would do. Maribat winds up worshipping the ground that Marinette walks on, cause she’s “Teh best evar!”

Which then leads to my third and final point:

3). The whole Maribat concept is a mutated salt fic.

Most of the themes you’ll find in Maribat? You will find in nearly every salt fic.

Maybe my biggest issue with the whole Maribat idea is that it doesn’t feel like a proper crossover, which, at their best, explore how characters from one universe and their rules would interact with characters from another universe, and the rules of that one. Putting ML and DC together is a rich opportunity to play with concepts in both worlds!

And yet, it’s mainly used to bash ML characters who the writers despise, predominantly Adrien, Alya, and Lila, with members of the class thrown in depending on feeling, and potentially even Marinette’s parents! The only “good” ML characters are the ones who are on Marinette’s side, usually Luka, Kagami, a Chloe who for some reason has been redeemed and is now Marinette’s best friend, and whatever members of the class the writer decides to throw in there.

You’ll notice it’s not called “MiracuBat”, or LadyBat and Bat Noir-it’s MariBat. It’s meant as a focus on Marinette, making her-the hero of the Miraculous Ladybug franchise, someone in-story in story who is incredibly smart and talented and the leader of her team, future Guardian-even more awesome.....by beating down everyone else around her.

Marinette is simultaneously treated as an beaten-up, beaten-down walked-on carpet, and the best person to ever exist ever, go who only needs a group of new, different, better people to recognize that and save her from the clutches of those greedy and ungrateful assholes! That doesn’t include the fics where she’s the unknown child of a superhero or supervillain, making her even more special.

It’s Chameleon salt, class salt, with pointy ears and a cape on.

Some specific examples.

Adrien: Adrien is a spineless doormat who prioritizes Lila over Marinette, or an entitled bastard sexual harasser, only fixated on Ladybug, or even both. Sometimes it’ll get worse, as Adrien will threaten or abandon Marinette if she steps off of his “high road,” and Chat will be a budding rapist, stalking or capturing Marinette after he’s learned she’s Ladybug, while ignoring her prior to that. He will, of course, have his ring stripped and handed off to Damian, who is the “true” soul of Destruction and so therefore a “perfect match” to Marinette’s Creation soul. Occasionally it will be Jason, or Tim, or Dick, but the key thing is that it’s not Adrien!

While Damian’s issues are magically fixed, Adrien gets no such courtesy. Adrien has been abused, just like Damian, and while Damian’s abuse is more extensive and extreme, abuse is abuse. If anything, if Damian met Adrien, he would probably see another abused kid, and want to be his friend/have his “adopt stray person!” Instincts go off. I can much more imagine Damian dragging a bewildered Adrien into the Batcave and yelling “Father I’ve found another one for you to adopt!” than I can Damian immediately hating Adrien, or Chat, simply for breathing.

We never see Clark taking Adrien under his wing, or Bruce, or any of the other Batfam; nor any of the other Justice Leaguers. We never see Selina try to fight Bruce over the kid, because he’s cat-themed, and Selina can train him, this one’s hers Bat, get off!

Adrien’s never treated as a kid, or given actual development. A major complaint among salters is that Adrien is treated as perfect and never develops, and in fic, rather than developing him, Adrien either remains static, with his flaws narratively exploded, or is developed negatively. He’s there to be beaten up on and punished by the writers, if not actually physically beaten up by characters in the fic.

Alya: the not-so-good friend, the cheap excuse for a journalist, the awful person who abandons Marinette for Lila and her “connections.” Never mind that Alya was Marinette’s friend from the beginning, or that Marinette’s chosen her multiple times for a Miraculous. One instance of questioning Marinette about Lila, and Alya’s a backstabbing bitch.

Maribat treats Alya as neglectful, bossy, domineering and submissive at the same time to Marinette and Lila respectively, and as a journalist, the worst of the worst. She’s played as a two-bit paparazzo, and once again, the DCU is used to punish her. We don’t see Alya get mentored by Lois or Clark-indeed, if they notice her, it’s with disdain or disappointment. Often, they’re crushing her under their heel, calling her not only a bad journalist, but a bad friend/person. This forgetting, of course, that Alya runs her blog as a hobby so far, she’s only a teenager, and that she’s had Marinette’s back against Chloe and Lila.

The Class: the dupes or allies as needed. Class salt levels depend on what the writer needs. If they’re pro-class, they’re all on Marinette’s side, aside from Alya Adrien and Lila. Chloe, for some ungodly reason, is “redeemed” nigh instantaneously, and often will become Marinette’s best friend, if that isn’t Kagami already. Kagami will drop Adrien like a wet tissue, never trying to reconcile him with the clas, or encourage him to stand up for himself, or if she does, Adrien, of course, will not listen.

If the writer is anti-class, whoo boy. Openly mentally, emotionally, physically abusive to Marinette, the worst gang of people you would ever have the displeasure of meeting, they all need to be in Arkham.

We never see any of the class make friends with the Batfam, the Titans, Young Justice-unless they’re on Marinette’s side, of course. There’s no Alix stopping Selina at the Louvre, for instance, or Max hanging out with Babs. It’s all based on how Marinette is treated as to whether or not the class is portrayed as being worse than the worst of the Rogues Gallery.

Wrapping it all up, Maribat has made me dislike the entire concept of a DC/ML crossover.

Even if someone had written an non-salt, in-character crossover, I don’t know if I would read it, simply because the well has been that poisoned.

[aros001]

Going in blind: Watching season 1 for the first time. Random thoughts.

This show is kind of nice because I have no memories of the original She-Ra show, or even any of He-Man, honestly. I'm not sure if I ever watched the original, so I have no frame of reference for how the series is "supposed" to be. I can just take it and judge it as is.

Of the bat, all I know is that supposedly She-Ra and Catra get together as a romantic couple later, but I'm also a huge My Hero Academia fan and the fandom around me ships every character with every other character, so for all I know that might just be shipper wishful thinking I've been seeing and hearing. Given fandoms for Gravity Falls, Thor, and Supernatural ship even siblings together, I've learned not to trust anything except for what I see in the series for myself.

By the way, this isn't a review, just random thoughts and comments I'm having as I'm going through season 1 for the first time.

Episodes 1 and 2: Right off, I really like Catra's "No duh" response to Adora about the truth of the horde. She knows they've been lying to them and have been doing terrible things, she just doesn't care. If she and Adora play their cards right they could end up being the ones in charge and then they'd have all that power. Not necessarily to make things better but enough to where they could do whatever and live however they want. That's a good build for an antagonist. Not ignorant to the fact what they're doing is wrong, just simply so selfish that they don't care.

Episode 3: It really feels like there was no good reason why Glimmer didn't just outright introduce Adora to her mother and every reason she should have known it was a bad idea to try and hide her for a surprise. Being a former horde soldier she'd probably get treated with hostility if Glimmer brought her to the front gate but you'd almost guarantee Adora would get arrested or outright killed if she got caught while no one else knew she was there.

On the other side, we have Hordak being pretty intelligent in promoting Catra. He probably knows Shadow Weaver already doesn't like him, so it's not like he's losing anything making her upset with him, and it's clear she favors Adora way more than Catra, so that little bit of advancement towards Catra probably goes a long way in earning her loyalty to him and a person on the inside with Shadow Weaver.

Also, I'm not the only one who saw Madam Razz and immediately thought Adora had found her Yoda, right?

Episode 4: I don't know how it was in the original She-Ra and He-Man series but I kind of like She-Ra being this title from legend. Adora is not the first She-Ra, given what Razz was talking about with a Mara, so instead of being something new, impressing everyone with abilities they've never seen before, and creating the legend, Adora is placed in a position WAY over her head where she's having to live up to what came before her.

Episode 5: Calling it now, as long as her personality is genuine I think Scorpia is going to be one of my favorite characters in this show. She's...endearing, I think is the best word. She's like a mix of Kronk and a nicer Shego.

For a little bit I thought Mermista was voiced by the same actress who played Poison Ivy in the Harley Quinn animated series. She's not but they do have the same kind of Daria-ish inflections, thus by confusion. Given the prom episode, Sea Hawk feels kind of like her Kite Man.

Episode 6: Okay, now it's between Scorpia and Entrapta who are likely to be my favorites by the end of this. She's fun and quirky.

Episode 7: Quite the lore drop. Shadow Weaver was once a Mystacor sorceress known as Light Spinner. I like to imagine we'll get more on that later. Her haunting Adora reminded me of the Teen Titans' episode where Robin was similarly haunted by Slade. This didn't go as far as that but that's probably for the best, since TT had two and a half seasons to build that dynamic up with Robin and Slade while we're only now halfway through the first season.

Episode 8: Well dang. Again, I don't know for sure if Adora and Catra do end up together but boy do I buy why they're shipped together after that dance. Also, good on Bow for standing up for himself. It's clear that he'll always be Glimmer's friend and this won't change that but that doesn't mean he has to just accommodate her. I understand where her issues stem from but I am still glad he gave her a reality check. It helps him feel a little more like his own character.

Also, another nice little bit of lore and worldbuilding. Scorpia's a princess, the horde landed where her people lived, and they seemed to join them willingly.

Episode 9: Surprisingly don't have a lot to say about this other than I don't buy for a second that Entrapta is dead (EDIT: She's not). This was mostly action.

Episode 10: Not going to lie, this one kind of annoyed me a little, at least the first half. The conversation between Glimmer and her mother saved it a bit. It was a bit of a trifecta. You have the alliance breaking apart, saying that the loss of Entrapta only happened because they were all together...even though Entrapta only "died" because of her own machine obsession that caused her to deliberately walk back into the purging chamber. You have Entrapta who might be turning to the horde's side because she feels abandoned by the other princesses...even though they thought she was dead, and again it was her fault they got separated. And you have Glimmer refusing to tell her mother that Shadow Weaver's dark magic has caused her powers to go on the fritz and is causing her great pain. It just feels like none of this would be an issue if most of these people would stop being self-absorbed for three seconds and talk like any normal person would. It feels very CW drama, like something I'd see in a bad season of Arrow or The Flash. The only person whose issues I buy is Adora, who is basically a soldier who was never properly raised to deal with emotion or loss and is already struggling with the burden of being She-Ra, the legendary savior. I get why she's beating down on herself for not being able to do more even if nothing that happened was her fault.

Episode 11: JEEEEEEEEEZZZZ, that was such a good episode! Focused entirely on Adora and Catra and their past together. Like, just showing someone this episode alone could probably get them to want to watch the series. That was everything you needed to know about their dynamic and history together.

Also, that moment when Catra and her past self are looking at each other, while obviously Catra takes the opposite lesson, it reminded me of this fanart I'd once seen of Jason Todd, the Red Hood, looking at his past self as Robin. The past says to the future "You ruined everything". Catra could be happy but, ironically for someone who hates Shadow Weaver, she's probably going to be a lot like her, sacrificing everything for power and ambition.

Given the way she looked, I'm guessing Shadow Weaver is either addicted to the power of the Black Garnet or she suffered some kind of past injury and its power is the only thing keeping her going. Or both.

Episode 12: I'll be honest, Swiftwind being able to talk kind of gobsmacked and I needed a moment to recover. What a great voice they chose for that character.

So She-Ra is kind of like the legendary heroes from Rising of the Shield Hero, coming from a long line of people chosen to wield the sword. I tend to dislike chosen one types of stories because I think prophecy takes a lot of weight out of the character's actions, so this and Avatar are more what I like. The MC is special but not the only one who's ever been special and they can still easily fail. Their destiny was only to be able to use the weapon, not that they would succeed in any specific purpose.

And dang, Catra's turn against Shadow Weaver happened faster than I thought it would but I'm not complaining. That great "This is what you've really been preparing me for" speech and Hordak, again, being an intelligent villain. "Oh, this experiment could net me a MASSIVE gain and all it could potentially cost me is this rock I already gave away to someone who lately hasn't been producing any results and has been consistently disobeying me. Yeah, I'm going to let this play out."

Episode 13: That was kind of a brutal fight between Adora and Catra. Not the worst I've ever seen even in other shows for this age range (Samurai Jack, for example) but those punches are connecting and those claws are leaving marks.

Also, maybe I'm just misunderstanding the exact situation but shouldn't the good guys' side be called the Resistance instead of the Rebellion? Being a rebellion would imply they are rebelling against an established power or rule over them, but the actual conflict we are shown is the established power and rule that is the kingdoms of Eternia resisting an outside force that wishes to establish a new order over them.

Season 1 verdict: I'm into it. I'm definitely more invested in the villains' side of things but that's not a fault of the series, that stuff is just way more geared towards me than the current princess stuff. I actively am at attention whenever the horde main characters are on screen. For the good guys it's mostly Adora and the She-Ra stuff I'm invested it. That isn't to say I have any real dislikes for that side. Bow especially I'm liking much more than I thought I might. He has kind of this gravitational pull around him. You will be his friend regardless of how much you might want to resist. He's definitely the rock for everyone else to hold onto.

Minor side note, kind of like Korra in Legend of Korra, I love how even when her powers aren't active Adora is shown to still be pretty strong physically with how easily she was lifting people up at the prom.

And I was right, Scorpia is my favorite side character.

On to season 2!

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrincessesOfPower/comments/nyll2e/going_in_blind_watching_season_1_for_the_first/

[seekingxanadu]

Let's get to this one by one, shall we?!

Jason's circus heritage in pre-crisis canon was "stolen" from Dick.

Jason being killed by Joker was "stolen" from Dick. You know that, right?! That the Joker almost killed Dick, so Bruce fired him. And when the new Robin didn't take with the readers (because he was too similar to Dick!) DC used the same plot device as was used on Dick. DC even ran a poll to decide if Jason lived/died. If the 'lives' poll had won, Jason's Joker storyline would have remained EXACTLY the same as Dick. But you are right, dying IS Jason's one big storyline. Isn't that why the actor playing Jason's first live action appearance and his fans can't wait to see a teenager be brutalised onscreen? At least, he is 19 in the show and not 14-15 as in canon. Small mercies.

You won't find me disagreeing that Kon shouldn't be on a team with Dick. Kon is Tim's gen; there is Garth, someone who can take Superman, in Dick's team. Kon is a downgrade for Dick's Titans🤷

COURT OF OWLS? Now, you are embarrassing yourself. It was Dick's storyline. Just do your research, dude. Snyder had to reconfigure it for Bruce 🙄

Hush?! When has Hush been a Dick villain?! Hush is a Gotham villain. If Dick is in Gotham, Dick gets involved. While we are on the topic of Gotham's villains, Dick has a more antagonistic relationship with Two-Face and Joker (until Jason's death which, come to think of, still didn't make Joker someone Batman actively tried to get rid of; unlike Dick, who actually killed him once😁) than any other Batfam; you know, because these two villains almost killed Dick. We can have a whole day's conversation about Dick's villains being appropriated for the Batfam.

"faking his death"? Dick died. Simple. Bruce "faked" his death. Don't be like Jason, Tim and Babs, yeah. Tim didn't even know something that happened in front of the whole world. Stan them, but be better than them. Such a selfish lot.

"stealing being an assassin from Cass and Damian"? Don't know about Renegade, do ya? Well, that has been established before, so yeah. Also, Dick's Robin was being called and written as an absolute "ninja" decades before Cass and Damian were even a thought in some DC creator's mind.

Dick stole the Titans being a team from Justice League? Oh sweet child! The Justice League was built on the lines of the original Dynamic Duo - Bruce's Batman and Dick's Robin. You really think Bruce is the team building sort?! Good one, mate. There is a reason why Dick's Robin is a constant presence in Justice League missions 😉

Batman stole his everything from Zorro and Phantom😂 Dick's Robin borrows from classical literature😉 The differences and similarity in imagery itself speaks so much to both their origins.

Dick's parents being shot was first used by Miller. You can fight it out with him- but you will have to join the line at the very end, Dick's fans have first dibs, and we have far too many issues with Miller's take. As for its use in the Nightwing Annual, the Court of Owls is reconfiguring Dick's memories. Or did you not read and jumped to conclusions at the images? 🤔

Dick has never dated a villain. That IS Bruce's department. He can have it. Vicki Vale and Selina Kyle are Bruce's contemporaries. Bruce was dating them when Dick was 10. If DC writes Dick with Bruce's women, send your "ewww" to DC. Dick's fans AND Selina's fans will join you.

As for "stealing legacies", can we play like kindergarten kids? Okay. Then, Bruce did it first, my Lord. Robin was never Bruce's. It was not Bruce's to fire Dick from. It was not Bruce's to give it away to another kid. AT LEAST, Dick didn't wear the Cowl to thumb his nose at Bruce. Dick put on the Cowl because BOTH times, the guys who put it on first turned out to be murderous. In Jason's case, Dick knew first hand how it felt when someone put on another's mantle and killed just to taint their legacy, didn't he, as Jason had once worn the Nightwing Blue and murdered and triggered a police hunt for Nightwing.

The Batfam fandom needs to look beyond the Batman book, beyond the last few years. If you don't read the actual comics, it's fine - I live in a country where I can hardly ever find DC and if I do get, they are 4x the US price. But Google is free and so are the DC sites. Happy Reading. Cheers!!!

Nah @scandalsavagefanfic and mates. Just knowing that some more folks know about the original Batman and Robin than before is thanks enough for me😁 Thanks so much for coming to my TED Talk 🙏

[m00nslippers]

You just hit the nail on the head for the main reasons I don't read JayTim. I don't care for Tim on a good day. I have no opinion on him and don't want to. But I will read anything that prominently features Jason. I just don't like Jason's characterization in most JayTim fics

Yeah, most JayTim have this thing where Tim needs to be right and the best at everything all the time (except cooking and house chores, Jason is allowed to be better than Tim at that). I know some good ones where that isn’t the case, but some otherwise lovely JayTim have me sighing and shaking my head because the whole thing paints Jason as incompetent or less competent than Tim, which is so backwards to me. Fanfic writers also feminize Tim a lot which I’m not really into. But power to you, if it makes you happy, I just personally don’t enjoy it.

I’m on the fence about Tim, himself. I have tried to read his stuff a few times and I just can’t get into it, so I’m not super knowledgeable except for reading meta and seeing panels. I want to like him, but it’s honestly just hard for me to figure out who he is supposed to be? He feels like someone’s self-insert character a lot of the time, to be honest. Both in fic and in canon. He’s not a perfect person, but he feels like he’s been written in a way that is…manipulative, I guess? The writers are trying so hard to make me think he’s so great and that just makes me want to dislike him. The few flaws he has are ‘positive flaws’ (overworks himself, doesn’t take care of his health, he’s stubborn and a know-it-all but he’s always right so it’s fine, apparently, these ‘flaws’ just serve as a way to get you to sympathize with him) they pretty much never provide a situation where he’s required to apologize for his actions. Rather the opposite, he was right all along so other characters have to apologize to him.

He does have some minor flaws (he’s a bit sexist, for example, and he just decides things for people and if they disagree he just dismisses them as stupid) but almost no one ever calls him out on them in canon in a satisfying way. Basically Tim is just always right all the time. Bad things happen to him, it’s never his fault, he can do no wrong. The CEO-Tim thing pretty much smacks of Gary-Stuness–even though I’m pretty sure Tim never actually was a CEO he was just responsible for Bruce’s voting shares on the board and it drives me crazy that this Tim being the CEO of WE myth is so widely perpetuated even though the idea of anyone making a 17 year old a CEO of a major company is stupid on every level and wouldn’t even happen in the comic world. Also he dropped out of school and then later they changed it that now he wants to go to go to college in Rebirth and now I’m just confused about what his personality is supposed to be. Tim is constantly billed to me as the ‘relatable’ Robin but I can’t relate to him at all. Which is fine…I guess. Apparently some people like him, I don’t want to take away from that, but I think these are just the reasons why his character is struggling to find an audience lately. I just don’t find him very interesting, myself.

Jason and Dick and Damian have really obvious issues where their flaws come back to shoot them in the foot time and again. Dick has a temper and holds grudges, and when he’s angry he unfairly takes it out on the people around him and cuts people out of his life at the drop of a hat to the point it’s a little ridiculous. Damian is so insecure that he tries to assert his superiority over everyone he meets, especially his ‘brothers’, and he jumps to bad conclusions because he lacks experience and is too self-assured. Jason is so distrustful of others he has almost no friends and frequently tests those around him to see if they are still loyal, and he is such a practical-thinker that he comes off as callous or lacking empathy. People give me/Jason-fans shit for liking someone who has made some choices that hurt people and make him seem like a bad person but I don’t get it because I like that about him. I don’t bitch about it or rag on him for it because I find those ‘issues’ to actually be positive things about him. These flaws make the other Robins interesting to me, that actually gives them somewhere to grow, and a place for me to look back at and say, wow look how far my baby has come!

For Tim, as far as I am concerned, he doesn’t actually grow in anything except maybe confidence or cynicism. Growing in confidence is alright, but he was pretty damn confident before to be honest, and he never really failed either (as far as I can think of), he had the guts to call out Batman and demand he get a new Robin in his earliest appearances and it worked, his confidence has basically never backfired to my knowledge. It never effected anyone but himself. The confidence storyline pretty much peaked in YJ and Teen Titans, I would say, and then it switched over to the edgey stuff after all his friends were killed off and Robin was given to Damian. After that he got more cynical. When you grow in cynicism, that is actually a downfall-storyline, that’s a villain-creation storyarc, but that didn’t happen either. They have been dabbling in it with various storylines, but if they ever went for it that would give Tim some actual flaws so the writers won’t commit.

I think Tim has potential to be interesting, but they just need to start making him wrong every once in a while. They need to stop making him the woobie in all of his stories. And they need to let him be bad at something or mess up in a way that is his fault. I feel like he has a sympathetic, interesting origin story. When I think of the person Tim should be based on his origins and upbringing I get a more satisfying picture than what the comics paint to me.

I think a lot of people are going to read this and disagree with me, or think I’m being unfair to Tim. I welcome that. If you have some points or comics that you think could change my mind, I’d like to read what you’ve got to say. But give actual evidence, okay? Comics panels, not just feelings. I would especially like to see people calling Tim out or Tim messing up big time in a way that is clearly his fault, because those are the kinds of things that might actually change my mind about him.

[heroicadventurists]

Batgirls: The Legacy and Discord among fans

My journey into comics started in the 90s, thanks in large part to the X-Men cartoon. I loved everything about The X-Men; their powers, their fight for equality and their strong female characters. I started reading X-Men comics religiously until I graduated from college and started working at a bank.

Fast forward 9 years, and I go to my first comic book convention and I'm sucked in again. This time around, I'm interested in the Batfamily. I start buying bat related comics and my favorite character changes from Gambit to Red Hood. I actually love all of the Robins; and of course the only Batgirl I have ever known, Barbara Gordon, from the 90s cartoon.

I joined Tumblr to engage with the fandom and to my surprise, there is discord among Batgirl fans (specifically Babs, Cass and Steph). Some fans refuse to call the current Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, her vigilante name; and instead refer to her as Babsgirl?!?! Some Cass fans think Stephanie didn't deserve the mantle; and Stephanie fans don't think she gets the respect she deserves. I'm blown away, and slightly entertained by all of this. The rivalry is real among the Batgirls, moreso than what I've seen with the Robins. Let's talk about it.

Transitions of Power

When I think of Batgirls, I think of Robins. They are both equally important to the Batman mythos. At some point, for whatever reason, a Robin or Batgirl has transitioned out of the role. The transitions between the two groups have been slightly different.

Robins do not give up their mantle readily. They become jealous, angry and downright scary when they are "replaced".

Dick wrestling Robin Jason after a mission; Tim defeating Robin Damian in a fight; Damian defeating Robin Duke and the entire We are Robin crew; Jason defeating Robin Tim.

Now let's compare the Batgirl transitions.

In both Batgirl situations, the predecessor supports the transition of power (even if begrudgingly). There is no violence. The Batgirls handle the situation with more dignity and respect than the Robins. In the Robin's defense, their mantles were either forcibly taken from them or they were not aware they were replaced. The bitterness with The Robins is real.

You Deserve It 👏🏽..👏🏼.. 👏🏻👏🏾 ..👏🏿

I have been seeing several posts lately saying Stephanie didn't deserve the Batgirl mantle, and I wholeheartedly disagree. Again, let's compare the Batgirls to their male counterparts. Robin was created by Dick Grayson, however he outgrew the mantle and Batman's control. Missing Dick, Bruce made Jason his Robin after catching him trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile. That's all it took.

Tim truly put in the work to get the mantle of Robin, so it was probably a slap in the face when Dick took it from him and gave it to Damian. At this point in Damian's arc, he was insufferable. He was violent, arrogant and full of rage (not his fault). He did not deserve Robin; but to stop him from leaving Gotham, Dick handed it to him.

So we have 2 Robins who deserved it and 2 who did not, but by the end of their runs, all 4 made the mantle their own and are dynamic characters to this day.

Stephanie 100% deserved Batgirl. Before becoming Batgirl, Stephanie was already in the batfamily and operated as Spoiler. She even had a brief (and disastrous) stint as Robin. Stephanie was an ally to the bats, and "promoting" her to Batgirl was Bruce's way of saying he recognized her efforts and growth. This was a way to show Stephanie that she truly belonged in their ranks. It was well deserved.

The Batgirls love each other

Another difference between the Batgirls and Robins is their love for one another. These girls support each other, which cannot be said for the Robins. While the relationships with the Robins has vastly approved in New 52 and Rebirth, they still have their moments of discord. I say this because it's ironic that the Batgirl characters get along extremely well and have a sisterhood but the different fandoms have issues.

Babsgirl

When I first saw the phrase "Babsgirl", I didn't understand what it meant. It was only recently that I discovered it was a way to not acknowledge Barbara as the current Batgirl. What a slap in the face to her legacy and history. That's like calling Batman "Bruceman" because you preferred Dick's run better.

Barbara first appeared on the 1960s show Batman and eventually made her way into comics in 1967 (52 years). Barbara helped popularize Batgirl in mainstream media by appearing in animated movies, cartoons, live action shows and video games.

Barbara may not have been the first Batgirl to have a solo series but she laid the foundation for the modern day Batgirl (respect also to Bette Kane).

The Real Issue

The real issue isn't who carries the Batgirl mantle but what they are doing with Barbara, Cassandra and Stephanie. Again let's take it back to the Robins. All of the Robins have had their mantles removed but they continued to utilize Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian very strongly in comics and across media platforms.

Dick as Nightwing, Jason as Red Hood, Tim with Young Justice and Damian with the Teen Titans

All of the boys, except Damian right now, actually have personas that are better than Robin. The Robins have been allowed to headline their own comics, lead teams and interact with the larger DC Universe as a whole.

The only Batgirl who has been afforded this luxury is Barbara, which I attitribute to the strong foundation she has built in mainstream media. She has her own comic, she has created and led her own team, and she participates in DC crossover events as a main player.

I believe the divide between Batgirl fans is because the same is not afforded to Cassandra and Stephanie.

After Stephanie stopped being Batgirl, she became Spoiler once again (which is a great character) but she took a supporting role. As far as I know, she has not been on a team outside of a Bat related group. She just showed up in 2 episodes of Young Justice Outsiders that were cameos at best. I haven't seen any plans for her character at the moment, with Tim (her only storyline) being lost in the multiverse.

After Cassandra stopped being Batgirl, she took up the Black Bat mantle (awesome name) but due to legal reasons, DC couldn't continue using the name. Cass dissappeared for a while and returned as Orphan. This name is truly disrespectful because her adoption has been retconned, so it's a constant reminder, in my opinion, that she is not truly family. Things are looking up for Cassandra as she is on a new Bat sanctioned team and is getting a graphic novel. Her live action movie debut is also around the corner.

I think if Spoiler and Black Bat had been priority characters and participated in DC events, and joined teams outside of the batfamily, the discussion of who should be Batgirl wouldn't be a topic. Cass not getting a push isn't a Stephanie or Barbara issue and vice versa. Sometimes characters, no matter how great, don't get the pushes they deserve. There are tons of characters who fit this mold (Stargirl, Vixen, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Firestorm etc...). And this is not to minimize the situation. I can't imagine how it would feel to have your favorite character missued (Wally West, Roy Harper).

The Batgirl mantle has been held by 5 amazing women. The three in discussion have all brought something unique and special to the mantle. They have all deserved that mantle and represented it with dignity and respect. When I think of the Batgirls, I think of strong women who support one another. Role Models. Instead of creating dissension, fans of the Batgirls need to unite and push for better opportunities for both Stephanie and Cassandra outside of that mantle. Batgirl does not have to be the highlight of their career.

**I know this does not apply to all Batgirl fans

Much respect to the Batgirls

[lokaneiscanon]

Mighty Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder rant

Seeing Natalie Portman returning to reprise her role as Jane Foster, nevertheless wielding Mjolnir, finally getting the treatment this character deserves, was surreal to say the least. I had just started reading Lords of Midgard, the 8th issue of Mighty Thor (2015 - 2018), and had fallen in love already. But I didn't suspect at all that Taika Waititi would pull this card in Thor: Love and Thunder, considering Jane was barely mentioned in Ragnarok. The news about my favorite actress portraying one of my favorite characters coming out of the blue - you can imagine the excitement. Alas, I quickly remembered what the fandom thought of that comic (at least on tumblr) and imagined it now growing tenfold, cuz not everyone in the MCU fandom reads comics but pretty much everyone wants to watch another Thor movie. And yes, many fans weren't ready for this step, still recovering from Sam Wilson getting the shield in Endgame. Which is completely fine. We're not obligated to like everything Marvel throws in our faces, we're allowed to criticize and express our opinion on the internet or wherever. What is not okay is mindlessly hating, and even worse - using false facts to support said opinion.

I have seen some people using the argument that it is one of Marvel's worst selling comics. Which has already been proven wrong by multiple sites, including Comichron, just Google it, as I did myself. I read multiple posts, ones saying how good Jane is doing as Thor in sales, others disproving this, so I checked for myself the numbers at the site mentioned above month by month to be sure. The comic truly had its downfalls as the story progressed but in my opinion it's normal for the 1st issue to have more sales than the 21st. If we compare it to Unworthy Thor, which started running a bit later and followed the now unworthy Odinson, the data shows the latter had more sales. But then again, while Might Thor was at its 17th issue, Unworthy Thor was at its 2nd. Also, they later crossed paths, shared comic issues, it's fair to say they go hand in hand and Jason Aaron, the author, probably doesn't want us to compare them, as they complete and compliment each other's stories. Still I decided to check the comic that made Thor unworthy in the first place - Thor: God of Thunder (2012 - 2014), which seemed to me more "comparable" to Might Thor (2015 - 2018). *I keep putting the years it was being released so as to not be confused with previous Mighty Thor issues, whole Odinson was still Thor, please bear with me* So yes, the numbers were pretty close, but from what I saw, Mighty Thor had the upper hand if we compare first issue to first issue and so on. (In defense of Odinson, we have to take into account that this data is only from the US and does not include digital sales. Also, he's been around since the 50s. We could argue Jane was a breath of fresh air that some Marvel fans were indeed ready for. As a non-American, and also a person without a hint of knowledge in economics I cannot take into account inflation and whatever else has prevented or enabled Americans to get their hands on the comics or has affected prizes through the years. Bear that in mind.) Moreover, from what I saw on Comichron, both comics had much competition - God of thunder was released along with Avengers vs the X-men, the Uncanny X-men, pretty popular at the time, and the Goddess of Thunder faced Civil War 2 and DC Universe Rebirth (yes, DC is in the game too), also dominating with tremendous sales for the longest time. Yet I stick with my original statement - both Thors are valid and shouldn't be put against one another regardless of profit. Because at the end of the day what will matter the most is the story. And boy, what a story it is.

Now, I haven't read the Thor: God of Thunder, but as I was doing research I found one very well written summary and explanation of Thor's arc and his becoming unworthy and I will post a link below, because I honestly feel I wouldn't be doing this comic a favor by describing it without having read it. Which I plan to do in the future, tbh. It's a fantastic prelude to the Mighty Thor (2015 - 2018) that I've come to love. First, I'd like to ask you all to stop hating on the comic without having read it first. It doesn't make any sense and being petty for the sake of being petty won't benefit neither you, nor anyone, really. Now, about the comic itself - the art is magnificent. It's just gorgeous. Mighty Thor isn't , thank all the gods, sexualized, she is pretty buffed and generally looks like a warrior. As it is with the other characters, I dare say. The background truly captures the essence of every world Jane finds herself on. Action scenes are just the right amount and balanced with dialogue well. On a side note, it's pretty funny to read/listen to in your head the Shakespearean English cursive in which Jane talks as Thor. The plot line branches beyond this comic, starting from Thor: God of Thunder and leading to the War of Realms. And it is elaborately built in every issue. You don't know what to expect, yet it makes sense when it happens. Which leads me to the characterizations. My God, what a treat Loki is in this. Clearly, my opinion is kinda biased, since he's my favorite character, but you never know which side he's on. What his motivations are. And it just feels so... Loki. His writing is brilliant. Almost makes me forget what the MCU did to him. Also, he gets some daddy time with Laufey (not as kinky as I make it sound). Frigga/Freyja is just as awesome as in the MCU, even more, at least in the comics she calls Odin out on his shit, who btw is I guess an asshole in every version and universe. Malekith, the main villain, is unbearably despicable, I want to tear every page he is on. He really was mishandled in the Dark World, if you want some true action with the dark elves, you are welcome to enjoy. I saved the best for the end - Jane Foster/ Might Thor. Now, if you think Dr. Foster spends her time boasting about her worthiness and how Odinson is just called Thor, but she is Mighty Thor, you are horribly wrong. She just... does her job. Because the hammer chose her. Because there's no one else to do so. That's it. If you think there's some feminism involved, yes, there sure is, but it certainly isn't the reason Jane became Thor in the first place. It was not the creators going SJW because it's trendy, as such a mindset is honestly offensive to any descent creator with any self respect, but a well thought out story arc, which, I repeat, you have to read the comic to understand. Jane is not at all whiny about the hate she gets in-universe, not only from foes like Odin and who-not, but from Shield and generally people whose asses she's saving. Her having cancer is not something they pulled to provoke sympathy and make her look like a victim - on the contrary, she is a damn hero and a victor. I don't want to give out spoilers, but her being Thor is actually a giant sacrifice that no one really appreciates (both in-universe and in the fandom). She is not Thor to prove she can be, or just to prove "women can be heroes" - she doesn't have to. She is simply needed by the realms and so she does her job, even though she is called a thief, persecuted and generally hated. All that matters is that the hammer finds her worthy - the beauty and simplicity of that fact you will find out, for the last time, if you read the comic.

I'm not making you read the comic or watch Thor: Love and Thunder. I myself don't know what to make of this film yet because there's barely any information about it. I only know it will be based on the comic so that's a reason for my hopes to be up already. On the other hand, since I didn't like Loki's characterization in Ragnarok, I'm not sure what to expect from Taika. There are valid reasons to not like the idea of Jane returning to the MCU as Thor, which you are entitled to. However, reasons such as "why does everything have to be political these days" are not. Because if I had to make a list of everything politically related in the MCU, it would take forever. Steve Rogers kills nazis is the most blatant example. Make of it what you want. But I think we're far enough into the 21st century to realize art and real life are not that separable. It's undeniable that art affects people and that is to say, people everywhere. And they all have different opinions and aren't gonna like everything media is offering to them. And I wish I could simply tell you not to watch the movie but I'm a Marvel fan too and I understand that I can't just take away Thor from you because I want Mighty Thor as well. But none of us can stop Marvel from producing it. So, to quote an image I saw recently, I don't know how to explain to you that you should care about other people. Let the rest of the fandom enjoy what they want to enjoy. Yes, ik I can play around with the tags and avoid posts that unnerve me but, for example, I'm looking up Mighty Thor fanart, which obviously isn't anti-Mighty Thor, yet I get attacked in the comics for anticipating a movie that doesn't even have a full cast yet. Ik I'm not asking for too much when I wish to get the same internet experience (not only tumblr, but also insta, YouTube, Twitter, any site) as the Thor Odison fans, for example. I'm aware I cannot stop all the toxic fans and the trolls but I hope this post has inspired those of you who simply can't envision Jane as Thor, or don't like Natalie Portman in the role, or whatever eles personal preference that doesn't involve political issues and isn't harmful to the community, not to attack every post on your dash with hate. The movie is called LOVE and Thunder, for God's sake. (on a side note, is a franchise that is too afraid to show LGBT characters for more than 1 minute so as to not lose profit from China, THAT politically correct)

Anyway, that was a veeeery long rant, sorry to whoever reads this but, like, please, I put effort into this, hoping this time around I won't be the only positive reviewer of a movie, like I was with Solo: a Star Wars story (yes, I'm still bitter about this), which was boycotted for no apparent reason but was a decent film in reality, and I'm only bringing it up because it has a similar experience to Love and Thunder for getting hate before even being released. I'm not defending a billion dollar company that flopped in box office once, I'm defending the viewer's right to media they are interested in. If you don't like the character, remember - that's your opinion, not a fact that the character sucks. Kudos.

Not very easy to navigate, I advice you to do the research month by month individually for comics you'd like to compare. Also, if you happen to find more reliable data, pls say so in the comments.

Here you have the summary and explanation of the greatness of Thor: God of Thunder, Jesus, I'll go bankrupt if I buy this one too.

Yes, I want to end the sales dispute once and for all, I'm tired of seeing it on my dash. This guy probably explains it better than I did.

@awesomejenlawrence you said you'd like to read this and I delivered

[365footballorg-blog]

Armchair Analyst: Three things I like & one I don't about the USMNT roster

March 18, 20181:31PM EDT

The US roster for the upcoming friendly against Paraguay is out, and as expected it’s both young and experimental. This is obviously a good thing, given the state of the program and — all together now — the fact that we failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup this summer in Russia.

So like last November’s friendly in Portugal and this January’s Camp Cupcake in California, this game doesn’t count for much and this group will likely never be together again. Right now there is nothing to build toward as a group.

Individually, however, this camp presents an opportunity. Whoever the next coach is will watch the tape, read some reports and get a feel for who distinguished themselves and who did not.

With that in mind, here are three things I like and one I don’t about the USMNT roster caretaker head coach Dave Sarachan called in:

What I Like

1. The European Feel

This is an international date but a good chunk of MLS teams are in action, so credit to Sarachan et al for leaving those players with their clubs. A more Euro-based group makes sense given both that, and the fact that January camps was almost entirely MLS-based (as it always is).

This will be a chance to see if the leadership bona fides that rocketed Weston McKennie through Schalke’s ranks will translate to the full national team, and if Matt Miazga can be the same kind of backline leader at the international level that he is in the Eredivisie for Vitesse. We’ll also get to see where Kenny Saief fits in and if Antonee Robinson is part of the answer at left back. In all, 13 of the 22 players called in ply their trade in Europe.

One of them is Tim Weah. Hello!

Timothy Weah still needs to adjust to pace of play and be more clinical in his finishing, but his movement is excellent for an 18 year old. He made 3 great runs in his 20 minutes in #PSGFCM, starting wide left and slashing in behind the #FCMetz defense. #PSG#Ligue1#USYNT#USMNTpic.twitter.com/FUyUmkwBee

— Jason Foster (@JogaBonito_USA) March 10, 2018

It’s been a banner month for US teenagers pretty much everywhere. Andrew Carleton’s out there getting assists, Chris Durkin’s changing games, and Auston Trusty’s helping pitch shutouts. McKennie’s playing big minutes for a big team. Even Christian Pulisic’s ongoing slump can’t take the shine off what looks like the beginning of a golden age for US youth players.

EDIT: In the first draft I straight-up forgot to mention Tyler Adams leading the Red Bulls to the CCL semifinals. The kid plays like such a vet at this point it’s difficult to remember he’s just turned 19.

Weah making his debut for PSG belongs in that same discussion. I’m not sure he’ll ever be a fully PSG-caliber player, but I love that he’s in the discussion and credit to Sarachan for bringing him in.

2. No Pulisic

If this were a real game, or if the US were prepping for the World Cup, Pulisic would be the first call-in and the first name on the team sheet. As high as I am on the likes of McKennie, Miazga, Durkin, Carleton, Weah and Adams, Pulisic is the odds-on favorite to be the best USMNT player for the next decade.

But he’s not been good lately, and he looks kind of exhausted as Borussia Dortmund make their way through a Jekyll and Hyde season. They just got knocked out of the Europa League in pretty embarrassing fashion; at the same time, they’re unbeaten in 12 in the Bundesliga and are tussling with Schalke for second place.

Pulisic’s obviously a big part of that, and given Dortmund have a huge game at Bayern Munch on March 31, four days after the Paraguay game, it makes sense to leave the kid home.

Sarachan seems to agree with this assessment.

“I’ve had conversations with the Sporting Director at Dortmund and several with Christian personally about the timing of this friendly and where he is professionally at the moment with his club,” Sarachan said. “He’s now feeling confident in playing an important role for Dortmund at a crucial time in their season where they’re trying to lock in qualification for the Champions League. They also have a huge match against Bayern Munich on the back end of our match against Paraguay, so when I factored all of those things together, as much as we wanted him here I felt it best suits the player to continue in the rhythm and form he’s currently in with his club.”

3. The Development Academy Connection

For good and obvious reasons there’s been a ton of talk about what’s wrong with U.S. Soccer over the last six months (and, for the record, I can confirm that “What’s wrong with U.S. Soccer” has been a constant discussion in some circles for the past 35 years). There’s a lot that needs fixing.

The right way to fix it is at the core of these discussions, and as an avowed incrementalist I’m a big fan of “Identify what’s already working, and then figure out a way to scale that up.”

The Development Academy is not perfect, but it’s getting results. Kids from DA programs have been the foundation of each of the last two US U-20 national teams and not at all coincidentally both of those teams made it to the World Cup quarterfinals. Fast forward to this roster release, and we’ve got 15 of the 22 from the USSDA pipeline. It’s not just the kids – “older” guys like DeAndre Yedlin, Bobby Wood and Alex Bono all come from what was then the nascent USSDA.

So that means somebody’s doing something right. Pulisic might have had the good fortune of good genes and good coaching, but Pulisic and McKennie and Adams all coming from the same age-group doesn’t happen by accident. Spread that over four or five age-groups, and it means you’re building something sustainable.

The “fix” for US soccer is making sure that kids in traditionally underserved areas – too rural, too urban, too ethnic – have the same access to top coaching and high-level opportunities that the likes of Pulisic and McKennie and Adams and so-on down the list had/have. Just in terms of pure geography it is a daunting task, and one that will take generations to realize.

But this roster is a step. It is progress. It is an indication that the initiatives put into place a decade back are beginning to bear fruit.

What I Don’t

No Keaton Parks or Jordan Siebatcheu: Have you heard of them?

Parks is 20, is a deep-lying midfielder (I haven’t seen enough of him to know whether he projects better as a d-mid or a game-controlling No. 8), is from Dallas and has been getting regular minutes for Benfica, the biggest team in Portugal. They just inked him through 2022, and he’s expected to compete for a starting job by the end of this season.

This is pure Kyle Beckerman in how he receives this pass:

Parks has that little bit of deceptiveness with a defender on his back. Nice turn here. pic.twitter.com/IHPIAn2gQ8

— Scuffed (@zlebmada) March 11, 2018

Kid’s got game sense and I would’ve liked to see him with this group. Perhaps in May.

Siebatcheu, a 21-year-old, 6-foot-3 center forward, is one of the top scorers in Ligue 2 (12g/7a in 27 games), and is a French/American dual citizen. He’s slumped recently — no goals since January 19 — and then got hurt two weeks back, the latter of which probably explains his absence.

Like Parks, I hope to see him in May.

By the way, if you think I’m going to use this space to argue for the likes of Carleton, Durkin, Trusty et al to be with the USMNT instead of their club teams, think again. The best thing for them and for U.S. Soccer will be for those guys to push through and win starting jobs outright.

Once they do that, full national team call-ups will follow.

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Armchair Analyst: Three things I like & one I don't about the USMNT roster was originally published on 365 Football