#this was a reading experience for sure

[mintchocochipsposts]

I just finished up reading New 52 and Rebirth Green Arrow (and finally caught up on the 2023 run), because I am a slave to completionism. Thoughts under the cut.

Obviously ten years late to the party and I usually hate to complain about runs but oh my goodness I don't know what they did to all the characters in New 52 and Rebirth. Just took a hatchet to everyone's backstories. Dinah didn't need a different backstory, the Earth 2 version was already more than complicated enough, and I can't bring myself to read New 52 Birds of Prey, but the allusions to her new backstory were also just so boring. Let her be the JSA's niece. Mia of all people didn't need a different backstory for the five issues she showed up. Cringed every time we did flashbacks to Roy. How do you make every reference to snowbirds worse and worse and worse while also changing the substances? (How was the narrative improved by completely erasing Ollie's decades-old relationships with Roy and Dinah? The Green Arrow-Speedy relationship is integral to both their characters! Axe that and they are completely different people. And the narrative truly suffers without Dinah!) Connor can't exist because Ollie has inexplicably been deaged from like 50 to 25. There's like 5 different versions of Ollie in the 52 run, which is impressive given it's only 52 issues. None of them are at all similar to preboot Ollie. None of them capture the ethos of Green Arrow either. Also the complications the retcons make to all his relationships just get worse and worse the longer I think about them. I like Emiko! Her backstory is like...unsquareable with preboot canon. Couldn't she have just been Komodo and Shado's kid that Ollie decided to adopt? This way when we rebooted we wouldn't have to try and square Grandpa Ollie having a teenage sister? Who's mother he had a kid with preboot? It's terribly convoluted and they could have just...picked a slightly different backstory for her. And the inane amount of magic cult lore. Green Arrow is supposed to be just some quixotic guy with a bow and arrow! He's (affectionately) a weirdo obsessed with Robin Hood. How do you manage to lose that aspect of the character? And the resurrected from the dead evil parents plots. Oh my goodness do I prefer the mauled by lions story.

Winnick got like one issue in New 52 and it was the most in-character Ollie got the entire run. But such obvious obvious editorial meddling. Boy oh boy was 52 a slog.

I've read a couple of New 52 runs so far that weren't completely egregious (Catwoman (the Valentine portion), Nightwing, Batwoman) where it's like...modifications but not to the point the character isn't recognizable. This makes all the retcons done to the Wonderfam characters post-COIE look mild. It makes Chuck Dixon's Ollie characterization look fabulous. At least I was rooting for Dixon Ollie not to die. New 52 Ollie failed at even being sympathetic, and the stakes were not there to make me care. I am again reminded why I've been putting off touching these for so so long and why I distrust so many post-Flashpoint runs.

And it really feels like such a waste because there really were interesting stories you could have done with a luddite Ollie running around modern Seattle dealing with the effects that tech money has had in the region (or Star City). I was not prepared. I mean I knew the broad strokes but the CW-ification of everything.

And the 2016 run...like, better but missed the mark? At least we get Dinah back! But it's a Dinah who's meeting Ollie for the first time ever. While they still try and pull on the contentious break-up and make-up dynamic between her and Ollie that is lacking tension because it's lacking history. Ollie is too rich but spends most of the series on the run and definitely not enough time focused on smaller-scale issues. And the same issues with Roy and Ollie persist and the run makes Ollie constantly seem like a giant asshole. (Which he can be, but usually he's not so douchey.) Kate Spencer was the most in-character player in a Green Arrow comic. (And the politics-poor Denny O'Neill.)

Anyways actual point to this rant is I saved all of Williamson's run to read in one go because I wanted to get through the other titles first. And what a breath of fresh air! I literally had a smile on my face for the whole first 13 issues. A writer who likes Ollie and appreciates that he has a personality and actually gets the ethos of Green Arrow and writes with the heart that you need for a good Green Arrow run. Showing Ollie actually caring about people and his family! I know some people were a little less than thrilled as the run went on but it reads pretty good if you read it all in one chunk; the only iffy spot is when you get to the Absolute Power crossover bits. The multiversal time-travel shenanigans that had to be pulled in to fix Ollie's history and also the history of all the surrounding cast are a little wonky, but you do need space as a corrective for all the previous reboots. Evil villain who goes in and specifically targets Ollie's timeline to ruin his life is not my favorite Green Arrow plot, but definitely a necessary one to fix things. What a love letter to his comics history! And the art! You know it's going to be a good Green Arrow comic when the art is gorgeous! The Izaakse art was fabulous, and I loved loved loved how they pulled in Phil Hester to do all the flashback scenes! It really really reestablished 'okay, this is what canon is now'. And the emphasis on the whole family being together was needed after literally erasing half of them from comics for like a decade. I don't even care that they didn't all have a ton to do, we're literally just real establishing that they exist. Emiko and Diggle are from an alternate universe, I guess I'll swallow it with all the time-travel nonsense that gave us teenage Lian back. But everyone being back to their history and their characters! Ollie ranting and fighting the government and having his flaws back! Connor having his memories back and suiting up as Green Arrow! Mia being back! (Connor and Mia being back in a Green Arrow book!) Dinah acting like Dinah again and the narrative not holding her so hostage that she can't go be in Birds of Prey! Roy having his history and his relationship with Ollie restored, and also Roy and Dinah and Roy and Lian finally being reunited!

Uh so anyways, if anyone was ever contemplating about reading the 2011 or 2016 Green Arrow runs, spare yourself and just jump ahead to 2023.

[cryptocism]

"just as I did, in 1983."

you'd never know my favourite parts of the show are the fucked up insane bits when my first instinct is to draw the cheesiest thing imaginable

[inkskinned]

you know, you know. no gods, no masters, no kings on pedestals. everyone is fallible. death of the author. you know! you are balanced about your intake of media - you allow the wiggle room, the grace, the gratitude, the skepticism. nobody above criticism.

but still. a weird gut-punch feeling, something akin to betrayal. you read the article. surprise! an author you love is actually: a serial fucking predator.

well, shit. what now. no, you knew he was a person (all people are), but now you're wondering - what have i overlooked by accident? what messages have i internalized that are strange and cruel? and also, like, what the fuck?

his actions lay a thick glaze on top of everything. like each place is now ruined, opaque in a new way. but okay, fine, you've done this before. you knew better, right? you've been betrayed by many a cherished childhood author.

still, this stickiness. fuck. can you pick up that book again. will you read it to your children. you've recommended it to others - will you ever do that again? and of course, of course, no parasocial relationships. you were theoretically above this kind of sentiment. but the artist informs the art, right.

so it's not something as clear-cut as feeling he owed you, specifically (a stranger) better behavior - just that you kind of, in a distant and odd way... sort of trusted him to do better. it's not like a real trust or something speakable, just the faint hope that the product (good books) was a thin representation of the soul. now it feels like the product (good? books?) was a mask. in some small or insignificant way, your previous support of this person lent them power. your money and your time and your laughter.

and the thing is - you have this terrible, echoing sensation. how many times will this happen? over and over. you find out that the singer you love is actually a predator. you learn over drinks that your favorite high school english teacher is in jail for what he did to her. you listen to the news idly and suddenly discover that a woman you used to idolize has been abusing her kids for an actual eon.

what can you touch without the static melting off. you can't even really complain about it too much (you were supposed to know better, and besides, you don't want the same re-split "it's not your fault, love what you love" basic advice), but now it's here. somehow, it feels like - you let him into your life.

it's not that things need to be pure or an artist has to be like, endlessly perfect, mindful. demure. it's more just this terrible truth that has been replayed through your veins so often it feels criminally vain. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. did you want any one person to be worth that power?

it's just that he wrote books where he seemed to understand that. he seemed to know about hierarchies and unfair systems and bigotry and privilege. you thought they were books about what it means to struggle. you thought they were about having power and still using it for good rather than for control. he spooned you a narrative of being a good guy, a kind soul. you fucking bought what that fucking monster sold.

maybe that's why they were fantasies, after all.

[platypus-brained]

I’ve just rewatched “Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?” and it’s funny to imagine that people who didn’t watch/don’t remember this episode might see these screenshots and freak out that it looks like they found out Perry’s secret

But nope Candace and Perry accidentally switched bodies when both went through a teleportation device at the same time

I know it’s a common trope in cartoons to do this type of episode and that when it happens the characters will keep their original voices as to not confuse the viewers but I kinda wish we could’ve seen Candace in Perry’s body only able to chatter and for Perry in Candace’s body to be able to speak in her voice (but only one line)

[Edit: platypaws has drawn a little comic of this <-]

But that’s a just random thought I had and if I’m honest I do like that the show limits Perry from really “speaking” or how he’ll have only a few moments where he’ll write something down

He’s like Ferb in that sense! Both are rectangular shaped characters that only “talk” when they have something they want to say! (No wonder they’re my top 2 favorite characters)

[mumblesplash]

part 2!!!! [read part one here]

transcript below the cut arranged into stanzas to help show where the rhymes are:

“that’s why they brought gem in? as a failsafe?” as a pawn. we were told to point her at whoever we need gone

“gem won’t hurt her allies. …yet.” the curse she carries will it’s had its eye on her since she lost the other eye she was specially selected for her hunting skill it’s quite the high honor. “wow. how generous.” we try

think about it: why does almost no one fight the curse? “given how fast scott killed skizz last season, i can guess.” [“any pain you spare your friends, you’ll have to suffer worse”?] it’s designed to shut down higher reasoning with stress

[limboni]

"Children in the woods" 5/5

<- Previous

[hootyhoowoo]

A little 15 min doodle but first post of the year has to be Bingqiu!

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

"I've seen a few [films]" ...and all of them were 'Ride Him, Cowboy', apparently

[blueskittlesart]

is detcon actually good

no <3 hope this helps

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Don't ask me how I ended up down this rabbit hole the other night, but I ended up reading this interview from 2006 with Jennifer Aniston about the breakdown of her marriage and rebuilding her life afterwards and like... that is the demographic albums like TTPD are for and about. Like, there are quotes in that article that are eerily reminiscent of what we've been talking about on TTPD, and it's because it is the most painfully normal experience that so, so, so many women in their 30s go through.

Like seriously, if you want an explicit explanation of what it's like to have a partner who at one point was your best friend but then pulls away from you, who doesn't support you through a major life event because they end up prioritizing their own career/needs, who you built your life around in your late 20s/early 30s and then had to learn who you were outside of it again, and the impact of wanting to start a family with a partner who didn't feel the same pressing need as a man that you do as a woman and then dealing with the consequences of that disconnect... It's all there in that interview.

Anyway that's why TTPD is so special to me and why IMO it's going to stand the test of time because the emotions are so universal.

[mylittleredgirl]

controversial opinion, but i love second-person pov in fic. in this case, i specifically don't mean x-reader; that seems like a different kind of story that scratches another itch.

i want you to be a fully-fledged character, familiar, recognizable. the thing i love about second-person is not that it inserts me into the story as a reader, but that it inserts the narrator as this omniscient, invisible, inescapable force.

in present or future tense -- you do this; you will do this -- the repeated you becomes a back beat of inevitability. the character is being moved from page to page by the voice of god, and we can see god's shadow on the wall. the you is so bound by the constraints of their own character, their own nature, that they could never have chosen another path. it creates an undertone of horror in any genre for me. the story is that there could be no story other than the one the narrator chooses to tell.

[coolguyoninternet]

ORVtober - Day 24

Symbolism

[limboni]

"The rumour goes" 1-2/3

Next ->

[allastoredeer]

Hello, don't mind me, I just need to vent for a second.

First off, I just wanna say, as an aroace person on the ace-spectrum, feel free to ship Alastor all you want. Ship him with anyone. Have fun with it. Sex repulsed. Non-sex repulsed. Grey-ace. Demisexual. Pure unadulterated smut. Whatever, have at it. I love that shit.

Just please do it without infantilizing ace-aro people.

The amount of art, fics, and takes I've come across that's so patronizing to Alastor and his sexuality. Thing's like Alastor venting to Rosie about his feelings for a character with the caption "Alastor feeling love for the first time." Or Alastor wanting to have sex with a character and having feelings about that, and someone commenting "That's called a boner, sweetheart. That means you like them 🤭"

Like??? Like do ya'll not see how patronizing that sounds? Being ace-aro doesn't mean you don't know your own body. It doesn't mean you don't understand the functions of your body.

It doesn't mean you've never experienced intense emotions. It doesn't mean you've never experienced love before.

And, look, I know these are meant to be jokes. I know. People are joking. I laughed at the first few I came across, too. It's not meant to be harmful or condescending; no one means it that way. But there's been so much with such...bad takes recently, and I don't know about any other ace-spec people (I don't speak for all ace-specs. Hell, there are probably other ace-spec's who don't mind, enjoy it, or are making content like it themselves. I just speak for myself) but GOD it's getting uncomfortable.

Alastor is in his late 30's-early 40's in human years. That is the established age range we have for him. Do you really think that he'd go that long without ever experiencing "love?" He went through puberty just like everyone else, do you think he doesn't understand his own body???

Being asexual, or sex-repulsed, or touch-repulsed doesn't mean you automatically don't explore these parts of yourself. It doesn't mean he's never, once in his life, touched his own dick, or pussy, or whatever genitalia you're giving him. He can still very well be a "virgin" (which in and of itself is a social construct) while also knowing his body and confidently handling any "sexual needs" he has.

Do you really think he doesn't know what a boner is? That in all the years he's been alive and dead (on Earth and in Hell), he wouldn't have experienced these things once? (And you know what? Maybe he hasn't! Perhaps there are ace's out there like that! But you're telling me he doesn't KNOW what that is??? Really???)

Ah, no, it's all because he just hasn't found the right person yet, right? It's not until Lucifer/Angel Dust/Vox, whoever found him, and they gave him these feelings, and oh no, poor Bambi is feeling twitterpated and horny for the first time, isn't that romantic!

Honestly, not really. It just sounds like the same, stupid shit ace-aro people hear from family, friends, and acquaintances about their sexuality. You know, the tried and true: "Oh, you just haven't found the right person yet. You'll want all that eventually, you'll see😊"

Do you not see how frustrating that is?

Look, I am all down for Alastor exploring parts of himself. I want him to navigate different relationships, feel them out, figure out what kind of relationship he wants and what he's okay and not okay with doing. But there are ways to do that without treating him like a little UwU silly baby boy who doesn't know his own body, or his own emotions, or his own relationships with other characters. Like he needs someone to teach him about himself.

How about instead, he finds someone he feels comfortable exploring these elements with? Instead of them "teaching" him how to fuck, or masturbate, or whatever the hell you want to call it, they're giving him the room and safe-space to explore it at his own pace??!!

It comes across as someone who isn't on the ace-spectrum "teaching" an ace-spec character about their own sexuality which puts such a gross taste in my mouth. Or, at least, that's how it comes across to me.

And the thing is, I know people aren't going to stop. I know they're going to keep infantilizing Alastor and his aro-ace identity, and I wasn't originally going to make this post, because you can't control what people do in fandom.

So this is mostly just a post to say: HEY! Hello! Ace-aro person here! I hope you all are having fun and I love that you're exploring Alastor's asexual/aromantic identity! Especially those who may not be in the ace-spectrum themselves, as you're learning about us and our experiences! That's awesome! Can we just do that while also treating Alastor like the adult he is? Can we do that without being infantilizing and patronizing about his sexual identity? Please?"

That's all I really wanted to say. I just needed to get this off my chest instead of letting it fester. This isn't an attack on anyone, this is just the perspective of an Alastor multi-shipper who loves exploring his relationships with other characters (sexually and non-sexually) and deep-diving into the dynamics of the show.

Thanks for reading.

[convallairia]

me choosing everyday to read the most fluffy batfam crack fics or the angstiest stuff possible

[theotherbuckley]

Just a reminder that people can write whatever they like! If you don’t like it don’t read it! It’s so simple. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s bad. It’s fanFICTION. Which people do for free. If you don’t like it don’t interact. You can ever block or mute them!! But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. As long as they’re tagged correctly they’re giving you the tag you need to decide if you don’t want to read it.