#LMAO I don't even know what's going on with dick in the comics at this point

[partycatty]

Johnny cage and mayB some others being mind numbingly in love

Like they talk to reader and everytime just feel so stupid afterwards because theyre so in love and do stupid shit to impress

i love stupid men anon this works so well for me

johnny, raiden, kung lao, syzoth > stupid in love

warnings: big stupid hot sexy men (what else is new?), bojack horseman minor spoiler?? LMFOAMOF

+ bonus surprise character at the very end

masterlist

johnny >

• have you guys LMAO have you guys seen the. DLGHSDKJ the episode of bojack horseman where bojack gives diane the D in from the hollywood sign?? johnny is SO extra like that and for WHAT.

• OR YOU GUYS KNOW WHEN TODDLERS LIKE REALLY WANT TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING AND THEY JUST KEEP SAYING "LOOKIT" LMFAFOIFMOA

• "reader, reader are you watching - reader, reader watch -" as he's like about to absolutely FUCK UP a nerds rope or some stupid shit

• okay i'll be fr. johnny is by far the most concerningly extra of the entire group. he will put himself in stupid danger just to impress you.

• "watch me take on all these guys at once!" he'll call out to you during your time at the academy, surrounded by a dozen monks. he's in a sling and bandages the next day.

• "kenshi, i bet you sento that i can jump from the roof like bi-han did!" BAM.

• he'd randomly give you expensive gifts out of absolutely nowhere. or he'd give his one of many glasses away to you because he "has no use for them" or they're "out of style" (he's lying, he just wants to see you wear something that's his).

• oh? you briefly mention you're a tad chilly during training? oh no, johnny's top fell off, i guess he has to give it to you now. you know, to stay warm. oh, you don't want his top? okay, here's a comically fluffy, expensive coat! and it just so happens to be your size...!

• lowkey i headcanon johnny as, despite being an actor, pretty blushy if someone matches his energy or really gets under his skin. you'll pass by him with a witty comment about his fighting style, or even just to tell him he cleaned up nice after getting his ass kicked by raiden. johnny just stands there with steam spitting from his red ears, hand on his chest as he fights a stupid grin.

• he is down ASTRONOMICALLY. not even the elder gods can stop this man from being so drunk in love when you're around. he makes it everyone's problem.

raiden >

• we see how flustered he gets when he's called out by kitana. he's a grown man with dick and balls but he's also flustered very easily! he'll be decently vocal about his affection for you, but then word trickles down to your ear, at which point it's so over for him.

• walks into walls when he's so entranced by you training. like face first into a wall, his hat fluttering to the ground. kung lao loses it.

• he can't even hear what you're saying when you speak to him, it sounds like an angel muffled by the clouds of heaven. raiden's also not the greatest with his powers granted by the amulet. if you go in to touch his arm playfully, a jolt of electricity pricks your palm and you yelp. raiden can only sputter apologies as he bows down, his cheeks tinted.

• he's the type to do little favors for you, ones you barely notice. your spot at the table is tidied, the training dummy is prepped for your fighting style, or he's the first one to bring you something if you forget it. that, and tiny favors to butter you up to him.

• "reader, you said you were nauseous last training. i prepared you some tea," he'd slide the small cup over to you, fighting a goofy smile. he rehearsed his script a few times, so he sounded more static than intended.

• will ask you questions about training or the weather just to hear your voice. he couldn't even recall what you were saying, he just loved the way your lips moved.

• kung lao pokes at him for this often, nudging him or making comments about you being his partner when you're not. raiden will stomp on his foot to keep him from talking about his infatuation if you're around. as if you don't already know.

kung lao >

• he's totally the bouncing on his heels type of man. he'll stare at you with a stupid grin, like a kid in a candy store.

• "was there something you needed, kung lao?" you'd ask as you tended to your own duties, organizing various equipment into baskets.

• "ah, no, not at all," he'd wave you off with a grin. "just enjoying... the view."

• you cringe at his words, chuckling to yourself as he speaks you in a daze. his mouth runs off before his brain can stop it from happening, so his biggest downfall with his crush is yapping. he'll sit there and explain his family history to you, or how much he hated farming cabbage, or his favorite meal at madam bo's just to keep you around long enough.

• kung lao always has this desire to keep you close by, so he continuously does stupid shit to keep you by his side. including but not limited to accidentally slicing his hands on his hat, one that he swore was a genius idea. in concept, probably.

• he wants to impress you so bad. SO BAD. anything he does is deserving of a bragging right if he's the one to do it. lao would totally try to shrug it off so you could gas him up more. any compliment, forced or not, was music to his ears.

• "yeah, i totally beat raiden," he'll check his nails nonchalantly as he leans against the wall, telling you the story of the cabbage competition for dinner against his best friend. "really swept him."

• "that's just not true," raiden would try to interject when he heard lao's version of the story. kung lao just holds eye contact with you, grinning, as he shoves raiden aside by his face.

syzoth >

• im sorry IM SORRY BUT I JUST LOVE THE HC THAT HIS TAIL WAGS I KNOW THATS NOT HOW THAT WORKS JUST- JUST BEAR WITH ME.

• you hear thumping when you're around, though you're never able to find out where it's coming from, so you chalk it up to the monks landing blows against the wooden dummies.

• but the sound lingers when you're at dinner. the table is... rattling.

• you look up to see if anyone else notices or if you were hit too hard during training. but, you see everyone staring past you. just down the table, syzoth is sitting with a pile of bugs on his plate, his tail thumping in and out of view.

• "syzoth," kenshi will gently say, leaning into his ear to whisper something. syzoth flushes a green tint and tries to resume to his meal, the bugs scurrying out of his chopsticks as he struggles to keep it together.

• out of respect for his dignity, you hold your tongue at his obvious affection. syzoth tries to keep it under wraps but he can't help it when you're just so cute!

• he'll stand close by you, inching closer and closer until you notice. he'll slip you little trinkets and flora with a small smile. anything from a rock that matches the shades of your eye, to a flower he picked by the gardens, to a stick. a nice stick, to be fair! you wonder if this is zaterran courtship.

• "it reminded me of you," he'd lean into your ear. your bedside table is decorated with various... outside decor.

BONUS! kitana >

• kitana knew she couldn't get entangled with the umgadi after seeing how risky mileena is with tanya, but my god were you breathtaking.

• you would often accompany her in the carriages as she waved to her people, eyes transfixed on her. you're devoted to her protection. it is your god-given duty. your eye contact was too much at times, and kitana would often catch herself staring at you, her hand suspended in the air. she'd forget to wave.

• "is everything alright, my princess?" you would ask innocently, in a low tone to avoid raising suspicion. kitana's mind short circuits when you call her... yours. even if you're referring to the umgadi's worship. she shakes her head and clears her throat, pulling her mask up higher to conceal her blush.

• if she were to give speeches on her mother's behalf or otherwise, she'd find herself forgetting what the rehearsed, or hell, struggling to rehearse. you were the one she'd come to for help with speeches, yet you made things ten times harder when you'd lean in to listen to her better. it makes her mind absolutely numb.

• "and you tell me to steer away from the umgadi," mileena would rasp into her ear as the sister sat on their thrones, you positioned by her side and eyes forward. "it seems you picked a favorite, sister."

• "i'm not the only guilty one," she'd hiss back to her sister, nodding at tanya. "it won't get in the way of duties, as long as mother doesn't know."

• you'd fight to netherrealm and back for your princess. as you fight off intruders or threats, kitana forgets to escape, instead transfixed on the way your muscles would contract and flex with each blow.

• she wants to be the one to care for your wounds. the power imbalance means nothing to her, you're her equal.

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat x reader #johnny cage #mk1 #johnny cage x reader #syzoth x reader #syzoth #syzoth mk1 #kung lao #kung lao x reader #raiden mk1 #raiden #raiden x reader #kitana #mk1 kitana #kitana x reader #mortal kombat x you #marley writes ☆

[spite-and-waffles]

I always wonder whether Batfam fans really get just how fucking rich the Waynes are. Like of course we shy away from thinking about the fact that we're talking Musk and Bezos money, and focus on how Bruce funds the freaking Watchtower and has what is functionally a high-tech military base and lab and the world's most expensive vehicles. But this is the one time you don't have to factor in the implications of wealth-hoarding, so there's nothing preventing y'all from understanding exactly how much money we're talking about here.

For instance, there doesn't seem to be any concept of how palatial Wayne Manor is, simply going by the outer facades of it that appear in the comics and movies. Or how decadent the lifestyles that accompany that kind of ancestral home. Alfred couldn't run that place on his own even if he had super powers, which is why even the movies occasionally show a rotating probably-temporary staff in the background. The house probably has like 3 hundred-foot pools. Their garden is a protected heritage park.

The Waynes are 10x richer than Crazy Rich Asians. They buy and wear the jewelry worth hundreds of millions that belonged to royalty. They own private islands. The art in the house alone is worth more than the GDP of a small country. They went to school with like every US President since Teddy Roosevelt and still think the Rockefellers are new money. They're personal friends with Beyonce and can get her to perform at private parties. They can rent out an entire three-star Michelin restaurant and fly out to one for every date. They have top-line penthouse apartments in every major city in the world. They can buy a luxury sportscar instead of hiring a vehicle anywhere they visit and then just toss the keys to the nearest person on their way out (Arab royalty is known for this appearently. There's been some very lucky parking valets in the UAE iirc).

Bruce is as rich as Ra's Al Ghul, regularly make social calls to heads of state and his family has a history of being king-makers. Every one of Bruce's children, from Dick to Jason to Cass, is poised to inherit one of the largest and most powerful empires in the world. That means every time Bruce adopts an orphan off god-knows-where, the entire global elite is thrown into consternation and horror. Even Tim is barely acceptable to these people because he doesn't have the pedigree. I don't follow the reboot comics so Idk if Duke is adopted, but it would be so fucking funny if he was because they'd react a lot like the British establishment did to Meghan Markle (except the family and WE would have Duke's back completely). As for Damian, the fact that he's not white would get him snubbed if everyone who's anyone didn't 100% know who Ra's Al Ghul is. And they're fucking terrified because, for maximum hilarity, they probably figure that Bruce doesn't.

I just find it incredibly fucking funny when I'm reading fics that the writers can only imagine Bruce and the kids's civilian privileges extend only to "big house", "a lot of cars" and "Gotham famous". Lol. Lmao even.

...

Edit: Explanation for people justifiably skeptical that Bruce could be rich as Ra's (scroll down)

#dcu #dc comics #batfamily #the wayne family #bruce wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #cassandra cain #duke thomas #batfamily meta #bat meta #dc meta #only in gotham #spite waffle #capitalism #colonialism #white supremacy #ra's al ghul

[genericpuff]

Not related to lore Olympus but this discussion seems a bit uhh strange. Some of the comments are calling Mattie bites a right woman hater. If you don't believe me,check this out.

https://www.reddit.com/r/webtoons/s/4zaDi6fWos

god okay I feel like I'm opening Pandora's Box with this shit but I have lots to say about it so... yeah fuck it, let's do this, I'm brave-

So I can absolutely agree with OP's sentiment that BlackLightJack's content has become uh... more aggressive and mean-spirited , and don't get me wrong, that was always sort of his vibe, but now it feels like he's straight up just weaponizing his fanbase and like... y'all know how curt I get about LO here, I can be a real asshole about it, even I think what BLJ is doing feels really shitty, immature, and frankly just uninformed? Because most of his videos are just him pout-screaming profanities into the microphone, like I know this is gonna sound nitpicky and petty but I can literally hear it in his voice that he's enunciating his words the same way an 8 year old would so that spit would land on the person they're yelling at ("STOOOOOOOOO-PPP-UHHHHH") and lately his content just feels like what it used to feel like being in CoD lobbies back in the day. Him having the name 'webtoon killer' just gives me such a sour taste in my mouth. Like... this feels like some kind of Batman villain in the making LMAO

But maybe no one wants to hear that opinion from someone like me who's literally called themselves the "far superior off brand" as a gag LMAO and that's fine honestly if you think I'm full of shit, this is also just my opinion!

But like... and I know I'm being an asshole going 'b-but-!' but... BLJ is also building an entire ass monetized platform off his vibe and using that platform to specifically go after Canvas series and creators. And let me tell you, while many would argue "well it's just the webtoons that are grossly negligent / breaking Webtoons' ToS / etc.", his fanbase is also constantly just sending him new comics to read and trash on and I feel like it's only a matter of time before he goes after a completely innocent creator whose only crime was being not great at webcomics which... shouldn't be viewed as a default crime punishable by pitchforks. That sorta already happened with the Fulcagay situation, I don't know Fulcagay and he almost definitely wouldn't know me, but he's a fellow Canvas creator who I've run into and shared a space with, and BLJ's original comments about him just felt incredibly off-base and volatile without giving even a shred of benefit of the doubt. I get the sense BLJ doesn't know about Hanlon's razor ("Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity") because EVERY video he does about every comic and creator he's addressing assumes maliciousness always.

This is the same shit we got with Youtube creators like Leafy who became infamous for just taking the piss out of everyone until they took it too far. Like, take it from me, it can be VERY easy to get so entrenched in being an asshole and taking the piss out of everything that completely innocent people get hit with splash damage, and if you're not willing to take responsibility for that, then you're gonna look like a bigger dick than the people you were aiming for. This pee analogy working for y'all? 😆

As for what Matty Bites has to do with that, I don't really get it? Like maybe I'm just misinformed here, maybe I haven't watched enough of her stuff, but she's never given me anywhere near the amount of red flags I get off listening to even one episode of BLJ. Matty feels like someone who actually reads and analyzes and researches the stuff she's criticizing in a way that's relatively harmless with her own flair sprinkled in (and her humor is hilarious btw, her opening skits are great LOL); BLJ meanwhile feels like he's constantly one opinion away from starting a #victimofcancelculture campaign because he's just trying to be as edgy and angry as possible LMAO (and ironically they're both often criticizing the same thing, but it goes to show how delivery makes a hell of a difference when it comes to dishing out criticism)

All that said, if there is something with Matty Bites that I'm missing here, I'm fully open to being informed because I haven't watched many of her videos and there could just as well be something that I've missed. But I don't think she's anywhere near as hostile as BLJ tends to be, I don't think Matty Bites' comedic video editing and sassy commentary has ever resulted in creators actually being attacked and bullied like BLJ's have.

Overall I think anyone who builds a platform or audience off criticizing content (and this includes me!) needs to practice responsibility and accountability in what they put out and what they choose to focus on and criticize. It can be really easy to accidentally use "criticism" as a get-out-of-jail-free card to just be a bully. It can be really easy to wind up leaving your criticism so unrefined and surface level without any deeper reflection that you never actually open your mind to anything and you just end up echoing out hate speech without even intending to. And it can be really, really easy to ruin your own palate from willingly consuming nothing but shit all day.

Just to quote some very famous words from a fictional character that absolutely apply here:

#ask me anything #ama #anon ama #anon ask me anything #webtoon critical

[silverwhittlingknife]

I noticed something in a lot of your Dick and Tim fics. It's probably so obvious, but you always write that Tim is watching Dick. In your newest one, Tim's watching Dick, in The Return Tim's watching Dick, and you even write that Tim is always watching him. Is Tim trying to read Dick? Trying to understand? Or does he understand him by watching? What is he trying to figure out by watching Dick? What does that say about Tim? I really hope this is intentional lmao because I would be embarrassed. Maybe this is just something so obvious that I'm just getting now.

YES IT’S ON PURPOSE <333 Anon. Anon. I'm so sorry this answer took forever, but listen, this was a really delightful ask <333 I think about this a lot.  I really love origin stories—I like stories that resonate through a character’s history. 

And for me, a whole lot of what interests me about Dick and Tim is that theme of watching and being watched. Seeing and being seen.

"Watch me on the trapeze, Tim. I'm going to do my act...'specially for you." | "Timmy, don't look." | "I turned away... I couldn't watch. Then I heard you crying and I turned back... I'm sorry, Dick. I didn't want to hurt you by telling you all this." Dick's watching me. Gauging my reactions. (Tim watching Dick watching Tim!) | "I'm taking off the blindfold." "No!" | "I can't see him. You can't see him. But I know Robin. And Robin's always there when you need him." | I love that kid. Too much to let him see me like this. (But Tim spots him anyway.)

Spotlights and lighthouses and cameras and photographs. Blindness and vision and masks and detective work and trust.

I'm going to try to be coherent about this but it's gonna be incoherent sdfsf BUT I'M GOING TO TRY so. Below the cut, a really long grab-bag of my rambling on vision and watchers and watching.

Tim + watching / Dick + being watched / different dynamics

Tim's origin story

Being watched goes with vulnerability/exposure

Incomplete list of moments with Dick and Tim and vision

Tim + watching

The first time we see Tim's face in LPoD: a close-up on his eyes looking for Dick, a close-up on his eyes at the moment that he sees Dick, a pullback to his face at the moment of recognition, a pullback to his face + his camera (you could maybe even argue that Tim comes into existence at the moment that he sees Dick, like, conceptually. the act of seeing is his defining characteristic. it is the thing that makes his character happen. he is the kid who's watching.)

Tim's a very vision-centric character: he's first introduced as a camera, then as a pair of binoculars, then as a pair of eyes. His whole backstory is about watching: watching Dick's parents die, watching Dick on TV, watching Batman and Robin. I've grabbed a few panels above with Tim watching Dick but there are so many more. His major deductions are all vision-based: he sees Dick-the-acrobat and later recognizes Dick-as-Robin; he sees Bruce-in-the-past and recognizes him as Bruce-of-our-time; the climactic moment in Red Robin is about going into a dark cave with a torch so he can see what's there.

And he's a detective. He pries into secrets. He analyzes people. He's a worrywart and a fusser who always wants to understand what's going on with other people. In a lot of those panels where Tim's watching Dick, his inner monologue is busy deducing Dick's emotions and trying to psychoanalyze him. Tim's caring and watchful and intuitive... but all those qualities also make him very very intrusive.

Dick + being watched

Dick performing acrobatics for Bruce, Donna, and Tim in Detective Comics 38 (his first appearance), New Teen Titans 16, Batman 441, and Nightwing 88 (where he reflects he's glad to be back in the hot glare of the spotlight)

Dick's a detective too, of course - Tim deliberately mirrors Dick, both in-universe and out-of-universe. But also Dick's a performer who loves being watched and also wants to control how he's seen. He gets a kick out of showing off, making puns, kicking ass, taking names, and he gets a kick out of having an appreciative audience. And he's got a kind of yearning for recognition - it hurts, when Bruce won't look at him, and in fights with Bruce, Babs, Roy, he'll often bring up the past, trying to get them to acknowledge a shared history.

At the same time, he's a very private person who withdraws and hides and pushes people away when he's upset. Right before Tim shows up, Dick's just ghosted the Titans because he's having emotional turmoil and doesn't want to have it in front of them, and they're trying to respect his wishes... but that solitude doesn't last long, because then Tim tracks him down. Tim will do this again when Dick's having an emotional crisis and trying to avoid everybody in Nightwing 110.

Possible dynamics

Tim watches Dick in Robin 11, while silently analyzing Dick's anxieties about Two-Face

"The watcher and the person being watched" is a dynamic that really interests me, partly because it can be so complicated?

You can see in Dick and Tim their very first roles: enthusiastic performer and the enthusiastic audience member. Dick likes to perform and show off and entertain; Tim likes to watch; those are roles they both easily slide into and they have a lot of fun together! But also you can look at the harsher side: the crime victim and the voyeur, the amateur photographer and the guy who hates being photographed. Dick's intensely private about his vulnerabilities; Tim's intrusive and watchful and constantly trying to figure out how other people tick. Sometimes Tim's the caring friend who watches Dick closely, reads him well, understands him; sometimes he's the nosy mini-detective who pries into Dick's secrets. And that's just two different ways of describing the same thing!

One of the things that kinda fascinates me about Dick and Tim's relationship is that in a lot of ways it's built on a bunch of low-key boundary violations. A lot of their early relationship is driven by Tim's desire to know more about Dick vs. Dick's reluctance to get close to anyone from Gotham; Tim's often out-of-line, but without his pushiness, it's hard to see how they would've developed a relationship at all. Later on, their friendlier relationship is marked by Dick teasing and low-key bullying Tim; it's pretty obvious that Tim isn't actually bothered by this, but it does involve Dick ignoring whatever Tim's claiming he doesn't like ("Quit it!" "Shh").

And one of the aspects of those boundary-violations is that Tim has a habit of witnessing things that Dick would prefer that nobody see. Tim's a witness to Dick's first and most miserable tragedy; he sees the aftermath of some of Dick's fights with Bruce; he's there when Donna dies. And he's sharp and observant and analytical, and I like to imagine this as being something Dick's not entirely comfortable with.

When Dick first meets Tim, it's before he's learned to wear a mask. And Tim spends a lot of time trying to see through Dick's masks, and he's pretty good at it, and a lot of that prying comes from love and care, because one of the ways that Tim shows love and respect and admiration is by trying to absorb absolutely everything about you, like a little sponge. But there's also something unsparing and even threatening about the search for the truth of someone else. It can be comforting or threatening, to know someone's watching you.

And I love how all that complexity is wrapped up in Tim's origin story? Both the giddy childish "Watch me on the trapeze" and then the awful grim reality of what Tim actually sees as a result and then the difficult connection when Dick and Alfred finally get Tim to explain how he knows their secret identities.

Tim's origin story

Tim (recounting his origin story in LPoD): My parents held me back as the thing moved to you. I cried out to warn you. (Two panels where we see just Tim's eyes, as he watches a crying Dick. He sees Batman approach and start trying to comfort Dick.)

I think fiction sometimes presents "being understood / seen / known" as an uncomplicatedly good thing, and there's nothing wrong with that! But I like complications, and I like the way Tim's origin story frames that moment of witnessing as difficult and fraught. Tim doesn't want to tell Dick how he knows their secret identities because he thinks it'll hurt Dick to know it: I don't want to hurt you, Dick, and I'm really afraid I might. And he's not wrong. It is painful; it does hurt; it's not something Dick's happy to know.

Dick's a very private person, and there's a painful intimacy to Tim's origin story - it's not Tim's fault he was there, but at the same time, it's not like Dick chose to have the most traumatic moment of his life on stage in front of an audience of strangers, you know? It's kind of a violation. In NTT/NT/Nightwing, Dick's pretty violently hostile to photographers, and he's intensely private about trauma in general, and I like to imagine this as partly a reaction to that foundational trauma of losing the most important people in his life and also doing it publicly.

And Tim's part of that audience. And he sees the worst part, the part that Dick can't talk about. He sees the bodies and the blood. He has nightmares about it for years. He hears Dick crying and sees him holding onto his parents' bodies. Not at all the kind of first impression Dick would want to make. Not at all the kind of person he wants to be seen as. And that understanding can be painful, because it's so close to the bone, and when Tim's just a stranger, it's upsetting, because Tim knows things that Dick would never have chosen for him to know. Their few conversations about it are awkward partly because Tim's thirteen and awkward... but at the same time, it's not Tim's fault so much as the situation! There's no way for Tim to talk about what he saw that wouldn't be uncomfortable for Dick.

... And yet, and yet. Tim's also one of the last people to see the Graysons alive. He sees Dick and his parents together; he even takes a picture with them. He remembers the whole thing so vividly he'll recognize Dick's somersault years later. He sees the grief. And so I think of that connection as kind of a metaphor for witnessing. Tim sees these things and they become real; Dick can't hide from them; in the act of being seen he's caught, he's in a spotlight, all the grief made real. You can't hide, that way. And Tim's got this unforgiving memory; he won't ever forget; he won't ever stop knowing.

But then, too: Dick's seen, he's known. Even at the very beginning, when Tim doesn't know enough to understand what he knows, he knows the important things.

So that shared memory is a barrier and a bond between them. It can be a source of discomfort or a source of comfort. And that's how I think about Tim watching Dick in general - it's complicated, and sometimes Dick's glad of it, and sometimes he resents it, and also it just is, it's a fact of Tim, that Tim watches. It's notable when he's not watching, when he's turned away.

Being watched goes with vulnerability/exposure

So I'm going to talk about the fraught feeling of being watched more in a little bit, but first: I think it's fascinating that Dick likes screwing around with games where Tim can't see!

Here's Nightwing 25 - Dick's come up with the idea of trainsurfing while blindfolded:

Tim: Are you sure this is such a good idea? Dick: Shh! Listen. Tune into the changing sounds and - Tim: I'm not so - Dick: JUMP!

Here's Robin 49 - clambering through a tunnel into No Man's Land:

Dick: Hard not to think about the river. All the water above us. And bugs. This tunnels' probably full of 'em. And rats. Big ones. Big blind rats with teeth as long as -

Here's Gotham Knights 9 - ambushing Tim in a sorta game of hide-and-seek:

Dick: Gotcha! Tim: Augh!

I feel like mmm I don't want to emphasize power dynamics too much because it's easy to overplay it BUT when I think about headcanons it's interesting to me to think about how maybe when Tim can't see, Dick's more in charge / in control, and so he feels more comfortable and less vulnerable, and that's often when he's most relaxed and playing around the most?

Whereas the moments when Tim's looking at him are often a bit more fraught, as here in Lonely Place of Dying:

Tim: I'm sorry, Dick. I really am. I didn't want to hurt you by telling you all this. Dick... Dick: It's all right, Tim. No matter how old you are, there are some things you never forget. Or get over. (Silent panel: Tim's watching Dick as Dick turns away and stares into the window.)

Or here in Nightwing 6, when Tim wakes him up from a nightmare:

Dick (internally, imagining a kid falling): He shouts to me. He always shouts to me. I never hear what he says. Tim: Nightwing! Wake up!

Or here in Gotham Knights 26, when Bruce is accused of murder:

(Silent panel where Tim's watching Dick.) Tim: I'm sorry. This must be hard for you. Dick: Me? Why? Tim: Well, I mean, it'd be one thing if we really knew he was innocent, but as it is - Dick: Wait, what? Stop right there. What are you saying, Tim?

Here's Tim spotting him before he can get away in Nightwing 110:

Dick (watching Tim from a distance, internally): Still, Timmy played it through nice and clean. Disarmed the perps, protected and avoided the cops. Kept any civilians from getting shot. God, I love that kid. Too much to let him see me like this. Tim: Hey! (appearing on the roof above him, fake-cheerful) You weren't gonna leave without saying hi, were you? Dick (looking away, very quietly): Hey, Timmy. Tim: Look at you, man! Back on both feet! Think you're done stopping bullets with your body for a while? Dick: Hope springs eternal. (Silent panel with Tim watching Dick, who's turned away.) Tim: You okay, Dick? Dick: I'm fine. Tim: Well, where're you staying these days? Dick: With some people.

Of course, sometimes Tim's watchfulness is frustrating but also a comfort, as in Detective Comics 874:

Tim (watching Dick, who's looking away): Are you listening to me, Batman? I'm saying the gas the Dealer used on you was powerful stuff. Dick: I'm fine, Red Robin. Besides...you're here now. Tim: You're not fine. And with or without me, you shouldn't be out on patrol ye - Dick: Sshhh. Here they come.

(Later in the comic, Dick mentally concedes that Tim's right that he hasn't really recovered from the gas, and Tim saves him from drowning when he's hallucinating. So Dick feels kind of exposed by the scrutiny, but also... he invited Tim along, so there's trust there, too - Tim's perceptiveness can be a good thing, too, when things are serious.)

Incomplete summary of moments with Dick and Tim and vision

I think I already mentioned a lot of these but here is my LIST

almost the first thing that Dick says to Tim is "watch me on the trapeze, Tim" and then Tim does and he basically never stops watching;

Tim watches Dick's parents die and watches Dick sobbing on-stage and watches him on TV and recognizes him by seeing a particular trick because he's dreamed about Dick doing the trick in his recurring nightmares about that night;

in New Titans 65 which is their very first team-up comic after Tim's origin, Dick's training pre-Robin Tim and gives him a test about watching for details and later Tim's takeaway is "I saw how [the Titans] listened to you";

there's a moment in Showcase '93 12 which is just Tim watching Dick and analyzing what's going on with him and there's another moment in Prodigal which is the same thing;

in Nightwing 6 Tim sneaks into Dick's apartment and hides in the dark and Dick spots him and tackles him; one of their most important bonding comics is Nightwing 25, where Dick insists on blindfolding him to get him to rely less on vision; when they sneak into No Man's Land they're in the dark and Tim can't see again and Dick's teasing him;

there are multiple moments when Tim can't see Dick for a bit and panics about his safety, in Nightwing 25, in No Man's Land, in Transference, in Bruce Wayne: Murderer;

Tim's there watching when Dick's wedding to Kory falls apart and he's there watching when Bruce and Dick fight and he's there watching when Donna dies and he's watching when Dick and Bruce swing together on the night before Infinite Crisis, and when Dick goes down and almost dies in Infinite Crisis we cut to Tim watching and seeing it happen and screaming;

there are multiple moments which are just silent panels of them staring at each other trying to figure out what's going on with each other or having a stand-off - in Bruce Wayne: Murderer, in Resurrection, in Red Robin;

in the aftermath of Donna's death there's a panel where Dick's watching Tim from a distance and not approaching;

in the aftermath of Blockbuster Dick spends half the comic just staring at Tim from a distance and hiding himself because "I love that kid - too much to let him see me like this," but Tim sees him anyway and chases him down and then they lie to each other and *ranting* LISTEN TO ME the whole comic is about Dick trying to AVOID being SEEN both literally but also METAPHORICALLY AND --!!!

(the only thing i'm even as halfway obsessive about for them is the heights thing because also there are a bunch of moments involving falling or Tim being anxious about heights and worried that he'll fall or Dick will fall)

In conclusion

Consider the progression in all these moments where Tim's watching an upset Dick and worrying about him!! From reaching out instinctively-but-pointlessly when he's too far away in the LPoD flashback, to almost reaching out in LPoD but hesitating, to putting a hand on Dick's back to walk him back to the Cave in Gotham Knights 10, to physically dragging him clear of the water in Batman: Black Mirror!

In conclusion I don't have a conclusion but basically YES, "watching Dick" is a core Tim characteristic as far as I'm concerned, and Tim watches Dick a lot and that can mean all kinds of things from admiration to nosy intrusiveness to worry to care to gratitude to trying-to-figure-out-what's-going-on-with-him, and sometimes Dick's resentful and sometimes he's relieved and sometimes he's playful and sometimes it's a mix of all those feelings.

And at first it's always Tim watching Dick, but later you've got Dick watching Tim too, and there's that moment where Dick's secretly watching him fight but Tim spots him in Nightwing 110 and there's a silent panel where Dick's watching him in Resurrection and at the very end of Robin there's a scene where Dick's secretly watching him fight but Tim spots him and in the very last issue of Red Robin Dick's watching the end of the confrontation with Boomerang and in Prodigal Dick's the one who notices his face is bruised and aaaaaaah

Anyway I think they're neat <3

#ask tag #hi anon this is SO old i'm so sorry sdfsfs #if you're still here hi!! <333 #this was such a validating ask to get because as you can probably tell i think about the vision thing constantly #also this is SO long oh man. sorry i just started typing and it went on and on sdfdsf #dick grayson #tim drake #dick & tim #it's like. it's just endlessly fascinating to me because the paparazzi/photography stuff is one of dick's biggest triggers #and tim's introduced as a surreptitious amateur photographer #so there's no WAY they will ever get along #but then there's the Meaningful Photo from before the show #that low-key shows that tim's freaky obsessiveness comes from a place of genuine caring & this moment of real connection #so you have early days!dick kinda vibrating back and forth between 'I DON'T WANT HIM MAKE HIM GO AWAY' #vs. those moments when he IS getting attached to tim kinda against his will sdfsdf #and just. the dichotomy between paying attention as a form of love vs. being watched as a kind of violation and exposure #and that both are kinda the same thing?? and dick deeply craves the first and deeply hates the second #tim shows up being all I REMEMBER and what he remembers is exactly what dick was demanding bruce remember in b416 #but /also/ he remembers /everything/ 'i remember it all' he remembers the graysons dying in incredibly painful detail #and like. kid!tim is very tactless & has only two switches of 'TELL HIM NOTHING' and 'if forced to speak then overshare' #but the tactlessness is a fixable problem and the remembering is /not/ #it's not like it's any better for tim to keep his mouth shut & dick to just be painfully /aware/ that he's thinking abt the graysons dying #bc ofc /tim/ remembering forces /dick/ to remember #but!! but also. you know. maybe that remembering /isn't/ entirely a bad thing #and dick's feelings about it can change over time #anyway tim's not the only person that dick has this kind of conflict with - wally & roy sometimes chase him down when he's withdrawing too #and he often doesn't really appreciate it from them either #and dick's not the only person who gets subjected to tim's particular brand of intrusive caring #conner's not thrilled about the dna thing & ives would be within his rights to resent the stalking even though he doesn't #but i am obviously personally most fond of the ways this plays out with dick & tim

[laufire]

And you know I always want to hear more about the YJ WIP, so Young Justice: Fenix

I'm going to switch things up a bit here. For those who might not know, that's how I call a Jason-centric, longfic WIP of mine set in the Young Justice (cartoon) universe. It takes all four seasons as canon (it cherry picks re: the tie-in comics), and mixes some of my headcanons regarding Jason's character in it with some mainline comics canon that I don't think would apply to the show, but that serve my purposes. AND it throws in some dcau canon (but making it my own) for good measure.

Though the story is largely about Jason, the collision with his old life and the reunion with his family, it's told in multiple POVs. Mainly to advance the plot and not just write a navel-gazing Jason angst fest xDD. I thought I'd list the characters that get to have POVs, and tell you a bit of what they'll be bringing to the story. In order of appearance:

Talia al Ghul. The story opens with her! She's the main plot-mover, because she's in the thick of the actual conflict (vs. the new league of shadows + the light), preparing and moving pieces so things go the way they're supposed to. The dynamic between her and Jason is shaping up to be interesting too: it's different from how I see their comics relationship, AND different from the fanon mother-and-son dynamic. There's some of that, maybe, but due to circumstances and the large gap between him and Damian in this canon (nearly 20 years), he funcitons more as a parental figure than a brotherly one... cue spousification añsdklfjasdf. It's been fun to write.

Jason Todd. He's the main guy. He's going through it xD (also, this version of him didn't go into a pit, so he's healed the slow way and that's had an effect on him.

Dick Grayson. He's running point on The Superhero Side of things, as a leader, as a link between various sets of the plot, etc. His relationship with Jason is still forming. They are closer in age and (in my head) they actually shared time and space in the manor, as brothers, which makes some things easier and something more complicated. He also offers a counterpoint to Bruce (next one). In every instance we see into Bruce's head, we see that (although he rarely exteriorises it), he thinks about Jason. Dick doesn't, he has a mental block the size of a country. Until things come crashing down... very close to his birthday...

Bruce Wayne. He's there to suffer! I say this with affection because yj!Bruce is better than most Bruces but. I enjoy putting him through the ringer. I'm giving him angst about Jason, I'm giving him angst about Damian, I'm giving him angst about this-mysterious-red-hooded-guy... even about Alfred, and about other things I still haven't ironed out completely lmao.

Damian al Ghul. He's at the center of the conflict, what our mains are protecting above all. He's six years old. My goal is to strike a balance with his character, because otoh, yj offers a different version of the al Ghuls, which would change things, but I do love comics!Damian and the edges he comes with. His relationship with Jason tugs at my heartstrings.

Dinah Lance. She has a much smaller part than the ones above, but she has a couple of POV sections of her own. One of the first scenes I wrote for this fic was a therapy session with Bruce shortly after Jason's death, and I didn't want her to be in the fic *just* for that lol. She offers a little insight into the Senior League, into how (what in this world is) a very public child hero's death affected things, etc.

Cassandra Wu San. I simply find this (very, very different) version of Cass fascinating and wanted in her head. I wanted to show her perspective on the other bats, Barbara (who hasn't gotten a POV herself because this version of the character is simply more interesting through Cass's eyes) and Bruce in particular. And I also thought that, timeline-wise, it'd fit that she might've met Jason as the Red Hooded Ninja if they were in the League of Shadows around the same time. So that's fun.

Artemis Crock. I wanted someone on the original team to have a POV as well, and she was the immediate best choice. She can help move the plot on that side (here she's the new team leader), she has insight on the Shadows as well (Jade is also around btw!), I imagine as the teammate who Jason would've connected with the quickest, and we get to see some of her conflicting feelins re: an old teammate being resurrected... and not being the one she misses the most.

Tim Drake. He caused me a lot of headaches because a.) the show version of Tim is really... just there and b.) I started properly planning the fic at a time where I wasn't feeling particularly kind towards comics!Tim. Luckily for my peace of mind I got over that lol, but even then, that period made it so I put extra effort with this character and the result is that he has his own parcel of the plot LOL. Featuring undercover mission, archeology digs, among other treats for him. His dynamic with Jason is complicated (Jason has a lot of feelings that are really more about himself than about Tim, but Tim is sort of in the way of dealing with those lol), added with the fact that when they meet, Jason is still keeping his identity under wraps and he can't air all of that out... yet xD

So basically: the Waynes (though Tim wasn't ever adopted in this version of canon, in my head; his step-mother is still around) or inner batfam circle + Talia + one member of the team + one member of the JL.

ask me about my wips!

#replies #talking to the void #my thoughts #dc #dc thoughts #young justice #young justice wip #writing woes #jason todd #talia al ghul #dick grayson #bruce wayne #damian al ghul #damian wayne #dinah lance #cassandra wu san #cassandra cain #artemis crock #tim drake #artemis tag #ty!

[qcomicsy]

About the nicetimeline!au I'm excited to hear about Dick in the future!

me too lol

okay. okay. I'm joking

I've been planning a lot around the Nicefuture!au. Given how I stopped posting as much as in the beginig.

It started as this cute joke I thought in the beginig, this very fun concept of "What if Damian and Tim was just ended up very fond of each other over the years in the future and present Tim had to confront that?" and "What if the future was just so fucking nice that if they ever had time traveling shenanigans everyone would just start losing their minds about it?".

But I've grew very fondly of it as I was writing it and I've also grew very fondly of Damian as I was writing it (who would even though?), so I've been putting much more though on it then I previously planned lmao. I'm still working on how the future presents itself and trying to make it justice for the characters in a way that makes me satisfied.

I'm going to be very honest with y'all. I'm a casual reader, I initiate and put on hold comic runs and generally just read what seems interesting to me at the moment. Nicefuture!Au it's a mix of what I've read from the cannon and what are the best outcomes I could imagine from each character in a way that just brings me the most amount of joy. I'm still working around the edges, and what would that it mean for each character, what does a nice future holds for them?

And the best part? I don't know any of it! It's a great and entertaining work in progress.

So yeah! I'm also very excited about what future!Dick is up to. What person he became? What does he do with his life? What shenanigans he got himself in? It's all very blur yet in my mind but I'm getting there.

Also I'm going to take this ask as an opportunity to give y'all little updates. As I said I've been planning around and making little projects in this mean time that might or might not see the light of the day, so it could get a little radio silence from there but not promises!, I've got a little ideas for Tim, Terry and Jason but the others might be given me a little of work (god there's so many people in this fucking family lololol it's stressing but in the best way possible).

But as soon as I get to conclusions that makes me satisfied I will be updating in my blog and bringing more shenanigans to y'all.

#thank you for the ask anon! #also everyone feel free to give me more asks don't be shy #I love every opportunity I get to be rambling about my little au's and the silly little lives and quirks of everyone in it #nicefuture!au #future!dick #future!damian #I can't believe that the nicefuture!au turned out to be more Damian centered than anything #(who would it thought?) #but honestly? honestlyyyyy?? love that for him #shine bright my boy shine bright #q talks #q asks #damian al ghul #damian wayne

[titansontop]

i couldnt reply before but here it is. Long asf.

@raven-harlot

What a convenient way to forget Nightwing's arc with the Titans, written by Taylor a few months ago, the beginning of his Titans. Where raven wasn't at all "just Gar's gf", right? Raven did things on her own, she wasn't there just to be with Gar, she had moments, she had a leading role, she had a role in the arc that was much more than just being Gar's girlfriend, did you forget all that? Raven having action, Raven showing her best qualities with Olivia…She was the best and more interesting character of that arc without doubts. And even though she was with Gar there, it was never like she was stuck to him, was it?… While Raven had a second leader role in this arc, what happened with Gar? Nothing (he wasnt there just as Raven's boyfriend tho).

Do you remember TT Academy? Where Gar was doing exactly what Raven is doing now? Being a moral support for her partner? (oh no! A couple that helps and supports each other!😨😟) I bet at that moment you didn't think that Gar was "just Raven's bf", no, I bet you were saying something like "they made Raven Weak! Raven doesn't need a man!" Blah, blah, blah.

Traumas? What traumas? You know damn well that the only reason we're seeing Gar's trauma is because of what happened in Dark Crisis; otherwise we wouldn't see shit about his trauma, just like we won't see the other Titans' traumas.

Do you know what character progression is? Something Raven went through under Wolfman's writing? Do you remember how she tried to have relationships back then? how she tried to love, right? Raven has been free of Trigon for years, stop the cap, she can express her emotions without problems since the 80s.

Stop the cycle, do you want Raven to be some kind of Redhood going through the same arc over and over again?

Do you want Raven to be exactly like she was 40 years ago in the damn 80s, when she debuted as an 18-year-old woman who didn't even have friends and couldn't express her emotions?? Holy character regression!

If you say that Raven is unrecognizable and a totally different character (if that makes you feel better, keep pretending that, I guess) then just stop reading the comics…easy, that easy.

Did you start reading a Gar comic, where Raven was only going to be a character in a supporting role because the comic focuses on Gar and only Gar, hoping that she wouldn't be a character in a supporting role? The joke tells itself. Did you want her to be the protagonist of Gar's comic? And don't say she's just Gar's girlfriend and nothing more when she literally had her own comic where Gar WASN'T there, no matter how bad it was, it was a comic of her, about her, with a story for her, Gar wasn't there(i bet you got maddd when Raven talked about him tho{1 line in a 30 pages comic, before you even say anything lmao}).

Before this new Titans comic what did Gar have? Nothing at all. Raven instead? She had the storyline of Unkindness, she had some small roles in that same storyline in TTA and Shazam(where she was also given some respect), she had an important role in Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green, and it didn't end there, she also had a big fight with The Spectre. Gar at the event, meanwhile, was only being used as motivation for Dick and nothing else (0 scenes of Gar with Raven or Cyborg even when they are the characters that should have been with him). (And not to mention the Titans United comics, those are not from the main earth, but Raven had a big role in the second one, and in none of them was she "just Gar's gf", i wasnt a big fan tho).

Oh and let's not forget the comic where once again Raven crossed paths with Trigon, and it wasn't the best thing in the world, but Gar wasn't there… she literally got a mini story for herself there in that Lazarus Planet tie-in, while Gar at that time only had the back up from Action Comics with Power Girl, where they once again ignored Raven and Victor and used Dick.

And there was also Knight Terrors: Titans, where once again, Raven wasnt there as "just Gar's gf".

Umm, no, just because a writer doesn't give focus to the character you want it means it is misogyny😂. There are 4 issues that don't focus on Raven, so he hates women? 😂, let's completely forget how he even put Donna in the role of leader in that mission(not much but is more than what she got in the last 3 years). They are setting up Beast World, of course they will focus on Gar. And even then, let's look at who's been focused on so far: Dick(who is Taylor's favorite and is being pushed by editorial as a super leader), Gar(who is being set up for something bigger) and Wally(who is part of a semi-plot from the comic). Vic isn't getting that much focus either, I guess that makes Taylor racist, right?… Don't worry, more moments will come for them, I repeat, ITS 4 ISSUES IN. Even Taylor has said that Kori will have more prominence in the next issues.

Do you remember the little arc with the Brotherhood of Evil and Madame Rogue?…who was the lead and who was in a supporting role?…oh yeah! Gar was the main character while the others were mostly sidelined… And that was by Wolfman and Pérez…

About the part of Taylor not knowing how to write women, Taylor isnt a perfect writer for sure, im not saying he is, and he isn't Gail Simone, he misses too, but yk one of his most acclaimed comics from marvel is a comic about a female character(X-23), right? Lol.

You say Taylor doesn't understand her, yet, he is probably writing the best version of Raven since Wolfman in the 80s. He clearly understand this character, and its funny that you pretend he doesnt. Cant even imagine how you reacted to Teen Titans Rebirth Raven🥴.

We both know that if Raven had these scenes she is having with Gar, with Donna or Kori instead, you wouldn't be saying shit. If Raven was saying "i love you" to Kori, or Donna, you wouldn't be saying shit…that's the funny part about this LMAO. You know your account isn't private, right? How do you expect someone to take your "raven cant express her emotions!!" seriously when we can see what you post? (And we can also read the comics...)

You aren't mad because Taylor doesn't understand Raven, you are mad here because Taylor isn't writing what YOU want.

Raven isnt the same character she was 40 years ago, just like Gar isnt, or just like Batman isnt the same character he was in the 80s or the 60s. Its called character progression(well, Bruce is in a deep whole right now lol). Raven has long passed her days of not being able to express her emotions, but you are saying she should go back to square 1?…

So yeah, I proved Raven in the past years has had more going on that just being Gar's gf. Raven by Tom Taylor has as well been more than "just Gar's supportive gf". And seriously, you were so mad about this that you made 3 posts complaining the same day lmao. You don't like it? STOP. READING. IT instead of reading it just to complain like a damn baby.

All that said, do you think i dont want more solo stuff for Raven?? Its really a shame Howard dropped the ball so hard with that story, a solo story of Raven that will barely mean anything at the end…

And…I dont know, how else would i find out about Raven's new content in this site?…

(seriously tho, you are in the tags, i could just ignore it, just as you could ignore the comics you dont like, but this time i decided i was gonna reply to such a dumb post).

#garfield logan #raven #beast boy and raven #beast boy #raven roth #dc comics #Titans

[scintillyyy]

an overview of tim drake's training period with bruce

aka

what happened between a lonely place of dying and rite of passage (detective comics #618-621)/tim officially becomes robin (batman #455-456). very long and image heavy under the cut.

listen. tim drake training my beloved <3. so here it is in all its glory <3

batman #443

listen. so right after a lonely place of dying bruce *is* a little standoffish with tim. this has nothing to do with resenting tim and entirely to do with being worried about whether or not he *should* be letting tim do this, due to the potential risk to tim. even at his most stand-offish, he clearly cares about tim's well-being. he's always like. alfred, drive tim back to school.

batman #444

tim's training is starting in earnest, and bruce is shown to be incredibly patient and kind with him. he answers questions, but also pushes him to think things through. this is also where we get introduced to the idea that something is Going On with the drakes that bruce is actually a little concerned with. what we know is that a) they're fighting a lot and b) they don't call a lot. now tim says it's because they forget, but i honestly don't think this should necessarily taken at face-value! tim says this in the context of this idea that there's something strange going on with them, so the implication is that it's something potentially more than them just forgetting (because it's also noted they're around the world--and this is a time frame when it's notoriously unreliable to do international calls. hell, in robin ii: joker's wild just a year or two later, the whole problem is that bruce is overseas and they have absolutely no way of getting in contact with him! bruce wayne is even unable to make international calls easily). now a lot of people default to potential archeology criminals, but honestly imo i don't see that--the archeology hobby was something that dixon put in well after this. at this point in time the company and their business is only ever referenced as medical supplies. so while i think potential smuggling/medical supplies criminals is a possibility, given the time period and political tensions of the time my brain tends to wonder if they maybe thought about a potential espionage angle with them and their travels--jack is noted to be notorious tight-lipped on what they're doing *and* they're awfully busy for medical supply people. alas, this storyline ended up not coming to fruition and they were eventually just downgraded to affable socialites who were maybe a little flighty in regards to their son (and were on the verge of divorce). also interestingly--they didn't know that tim was doing anything with bruce at this point in time! notably in rite of passage they send the postcard to his school, not wayne manor (the school is the one who forwards it to wayne manor) and in batman #480 tim only ever references staying with bruce while they were in/after haiti, so it's implied the drakes were never told about this arrangement until after jack wakes up from his coma, and even then he only knows that bruce took in tim during/after the kidnapping.

anyways, tangent aside, bruce is very concerned about making sure tim is trained and is very helpful and keeps an eye on him. i do love that bruce gets so focused on his task that tim is following him around like "please answer me. please. bruce. bruce. bruce. what's going on. bruce." he's never mad at him he's mad at criminals okay.

batman #445

bruce leaves for moscow and lets alfred tell tim lmao. this is tim at boarding school. tim is very upset that bruce left without a word to him. i like the kid that's wearing the batman shirt. even if bruce is gone though, tim is more than welcome to come to wayne manor on the weekend to train with alfred (which is something he has been doing since this training arc started). hilariously, this is also around the time of the new titans #65 which is when tim goes to dick and is like "bruce told you to train me" but given what's happening in the batman comics atm it definitely seems like tim pulled a "bruce is gone? then i do what i want, and what i want is to hang out with 🤩dick grayson🤩". or maybe alfred gently suggested it. seems like something he'd do. listen i'd put this in here, but this is about tim's training with bruce.

batman #448

so the arc 'the penguin affair' is when we start to see tim getting field training. by now you can tell that bruce has really started to warm up to tim. he drives tim around in the batmobile (tim doesn't get a disguise or anything), he wants tim to stay inside where it's safe, and he now trusts tim to monitor the radio for him. he also casually teases tim at the end with the "you're 13, you'll understand in a year or two." indicating that they're getting a lot closer and more comfortable around each other.

detective comics #615

the penguin affair part 2. tim immediately tries to spring into action seeing that the manor is about to be swarmed by birds, but bruce hurriedly commands tim and alfred get to safety in the closet so they don't get attacked by the killer birds. tim is also shown to be a bit more understanding and smart about understanding bruce's tactics. he knows right away that bruce used ultrasonics to stop the birds and needs less explanations from bruce.

batman #449

the last part of the penguin affair. tim and alfred are relegated to dead bird clean up duty rip. by now bruce is very open about telling tim about what he found without tim having to ask. i do like that tim's there like "will he ever tell me his plans :(" and bruce is there like "i can't let tim know...i barely have a plan :(" but by now, bruce is clearly utilizing tim as a background asset to the batman thing, clearly thinking tim is competent enough to participate. he gives tim a clear task to complete and he listens to tim's input on how to track the birds. tim sitting so cheeky in the car <3 tim being called little bat <3

detective comics #616

in general, tim didn't make any big appearances in detective comics until rite of passage, so aside from the penguin affair the only tim he shows up here is in #616. for context, something is headed towards the manor to kill the inhabitants and bruce clearly called alfred to tell him to get them both out of there for their own safety (without explanation, of course)

batman #450

the last time we see tim during his probationary/training period before his parent's kidnapping and him officially being able to call himself robin is in batman #450, but we don't really see a ton of him. bruce has found out that the joker is alive (he was presumed dead after the events of death in the family) and is notably Freaked Out, especially for tim's sake. he pays for tim's entire boarding school class to go to tokyo for a trip *and* hires someone to follow them and protect them the whole time just so tim is safe. i also find it super interesting that bruce is also very concerned about himself and what he might do--you get the impression that bruce not only sent tim across the world so he's nowhere near the joker, but also so tim doesn't have to see bruce and how bruce might react to dealing with the joker again.

anyways, tim's training is precious. he baby. you see bruce go from a bit standoffish to genuinely liking and enjoying tim's company and how patient and concerned bruce was with tim's training. i love it.

#tim drake #bruce wayne #tim and bruce #batman #dc

[gffa]

for the character ask game! dick grayson: 5, 16, 25

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them? Lmao please don't ask me this question, because I have zero musical taste--and I don't mean I have bad musical taste, I mean I have no taste whatsoever, I barely listen to music, and I have no funny suggestions! (Mostly because I don't care for most of the ~jokes~ about his physical body.) 16. What's your least favorite ship for this character? Fandom has made it extremely hard to like a lot of other Dick ships because literally half the fandom can't stop tearing down Dick/Babs to build up their ship, which means there's nothing there for me to like, all it does is make me think there's not much there, if the only content to come up with is ranting about another ship. Nobody's obligated to like Dick/Babs, nobody's even obligated to not rant about it, I know where my scroll button is, but also all it does is push me further away from the ship that was supposedly being sold in that post, because it seems like an unfun place to be. But my actual least favorite ship for Dick is probably Bruce/Dick because it's so close to what I want out of that relationship, except also a thousand miles away from it! Honestly, one of my oldest friends is a Bruce/Dick shipper and the overlap we have of views on the characters is probably like 85%, we just diverge on how that plays out and we both feel extremely strongly about how we dislike the other path, but that we respect the other person being on it. We both are really into the fucked up entanglement of the characters, the mirroring aspect they have of each other, the belief that the other is the pure version of who they're meant to be, the frustration of how much they love the other while also being mad at them for the distance between them, the co-dependent disaster relationship, etc. All of that is the same for both of us, we just diverge on the context for it. Which is fine in our friendship, we meet in the middle, but there have been times when I feel like the ship would be so delicious for me, because it would tunnel vision in on those aspects I like, but the thought of them so much as even smooching makes me look like I bit into a lemon. How dare fandom almost give me what I want and then take it away from me!!!! Like, I don't actually care that it exists as a ship, fiction is not in a 1:1 relationship with reality and I think a lot of us get blinded by how modern comics go hard on the father & son aspect, which I am into and think is fair to evolve them into, but that wasn't always true and it's not like Bruce/Dick came out of nowhere. It just denies me personally what I want and therefore it it is The Worst For Me Personally And Thus Jail For DC Fandom For One Thousand Years!!!! 25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? Dick Grayson is my longest running Blorbo, like that guy invented Blorboism for me, before I ever had such a name for the concept. Dick Grayson has been my One True Character for 20+ years, nobody has ever unseated him, not Anakin, not Obi-Wan, not Thor, not Usagi, not Duo, not Tezuka, NONE OF THEM that I've lost my mind about. Dick Grayson came on the scene for me when I first watched B:TAS and hit my tiny little baby brain with his daddy issues on display and excellent Nightwing design in later episodes and the push-and-pull relationship with Babs and my fannish life has never been the same since. "That it. That's him. That's the one. That's the character I'm going to obsess over for the rest of my life." I must have said when I first saw him and I HAVE NOT BEEN PROVEN WRONG YET.

#lumi.txt #dc #batfam #dick grayson #character ask game

[creetchure]

Please tell me about your ideas for the fallout for like everyone post gotham war (if not everyone than just Jason is fine too, i am very curious about your ideas for an arc for him)

hi hello!!! my thoughts are more directed to jason because he's the one who went through the brunt of things, BUT i have thoughts on all of them. i also have sort of separate thoughts because of the detective comics anouncement, but they contain spoilers for the future issues of detective comics, so if you don't want that, i'm putting it under read more after this.

also typing this and realizing it's REALLY long, so i'm gonna put a tldr at the end of each character LMAO

first off, dick is never forgiving bruce for this. we know exactly how protective of his siblings he is -- he killed joker for implying having killed tim -- and i can't see him letting this slide, no matter how much bruce pleads the "it wasn't me i was being influenced by the personality i created as a backup". Of course, because they're bruceanddick and they're always in a cycle of coming back to each other, eventually, little by little, dick is going to start working with him again, but i don't think this is something he'll ever *forgive*. or forget for that matter. so to me, this should spark an arc of nightwing becoming more separate from batman than he's been in years.

TL;DR: Dick isn't forgiving bruce for this, but will eventually work with him again

second off. there are a lot of things i would like to see for jason, some more likely than others. ill start by what i *know* won't happen, but would be best for his character imo.

Jason is a character we've seen move forward and backwards so many times, mostly because he sells well, and so the writers keep him stuck in this red hood limbo of eing a loner and making friends, and hating bruce and forgiving him, and it's been the same arc since his resurection, and i'm tired. which is why i think what'd be best for him is an Oracle arc, for lack of a better term.

Jason will never leave Gotham for an extended period of time. it's home to him as much as it is to Bruce. he might go away for a bit (id like to see him in Blud but ill get into that later), but he'll always come back. he also will never give up trying to protect Gotham and the people in it, because he never has. But he can't be a vigilante in the same way anymore, functionally, what Bruce has done to him is profoundly disabling in day to day life, let alone doing things that are made to trigger the panic response.

I don't think that should stop him. Personally, my vision for it is to put him at the head of a spy network, to render Batman obsolete and stop major crime before it even happens (potentially also feeding batman fake info to make him look bad), but like. you could do other things. it's just the idea that i'm going with.

But I do think that unlike Dick, jason is going to forgive bruce for this (against his better sense or wishes. he does understand how fucked this is) because he understands altered states of mind (NOT talking about the pit. talking about good old fashioned brain fuckery). but it's also going to cause a rift in their relationship that i don't see them bridging anytime soon, and Jason *will* be extremely uncomfortable for a long time.

Thats only if they don't walk back the panic thing, though, which i firmly believe they will. a Red Hood solo has been in the works for ages, and is supposed to come p soon, and i doubt they'd start it off with Jason unable to *be* Red Hood. They might not fully fix it, but they'll make it much more manageable.

overall, i'd like to see Jason in Bludhaven after this for a bit. I kind of just want a focus on him and Dick for a while, though I dread what Tom Taylor might write of the two of them. I'd also like a mantle change, but that's just me dreaming.

TL;DR: if it was up to me, Jason would have an Oracle arc and be the head of a spy network. it's not, and all I can hope for is Jason moving to Bludhaven and detaching himself from Bruce for a while

third off, tim. I don't have many thoughts about him, if I'm honest, mostly because he's one of the least directly affected by Bruce's actions, imo. i'm also less of a fan of his character, making it harder for me to see all the implications that this arc will have on him. I do firmly believe that he'll stick to his siblings rather than Bruce, because he does know how to look at reality and call out Bruce's bullshit.

TL;DR: i don't know/don't care enough about Tim to have that many thoughts. he'll pick his siblings side.

fourth! Cass! She isn't really present in the event much (doesn't sell as well i assume) but this is important to me so. To me, this causes damage to her and Bruce's relationship as well, that he'll have to work to fix. She is loyal to the Bat and what the symbol represents before she is loyal to the man wearing the suit, and I think that to her, this is betrayal of the ideals Batman stands for. bruce isn't a hero in this arc, and he's not a symbol of hope like the bat stands for. What I would like for Cass is for her to keep going on the missions, keep doing good, but doing so independantly from Batman. She stops answering to him entirely up until she feels he has made amends and has worked himself back to the standard he used to be. I want her to stay in Gotham, and keep protecting it the way the Bat should, even from the bat himself.

TL;DR: cass should stay in Gotham and be batman and not return Bruce's calls.

Damian is the one i'm not exactly sure i know where the writers are leading, but i can still speculate and tell you what *id* do.

we know that him and bruce are still going to be friendly and on the same side by the end of this from Batman and Robin #1. we also know Damian in that issue is kind of distant, doesn't really stick around Bruce much. Williamson's damian always reads sort of. depressed. so idk how much of that is in reaction to Gotham war or just from the way Williamson characterizes him, but there's that.

Imo, Damian will forgive bruce, but is also internalizing a lot of the bad shit that happen in Gotham war. Bruce leaving him needs to be something that stays, because he's 14 and his dad is his hero and he left him behind *anyway* and that's bound to fuck you up.

So I think Damian is staying in Gotham, and he's staying with Bruce, but he's also going to be dealing with the aftermath of that for a while, potentially up to a boiling point, which i'd really like to see. Also i'd like to see this compound with the fact that Talia left him with his father, and how that computes together in his head etc etc.

TL;DR: Damian will stick by Bruce for better or for worse, and might have a shit time mentally dealing with the aftermath of this.

I don't have many thoughts on steph, babs, or selina, since 1) i don't know selina and babs well enough to speak on their character, and 2) steph hasn't been there much, and i don't have a Vision for her like i do for Cass.

okay. those are my thoughts. Now for those on the tec announcement

right so. forget literally all i've said about bruce, because he's going to die.

I'm not pulling this out of thin air, in issue 1080 of detective comics, it's said that Bruce is killed by the orghams, leading to the entirety of gotham city forgetting him. Now, I have no idea how this is getting implemented, so I can't say much about how the members of the Batfamily will react. But I can say that this is, in fact, the natural progression for bruce's character.

in the past year or so, both Zdarski and Ram V have been talking about how Bruce is getting too old, and putting more tangible, permanent consequences on what he does (losing a hand, zur, etc).

On top of that, he has been made to make amends with Dick, Tim, and Jason over the course of that same year (nightwing 100, cheer, failsafe arc, etc)

To me, this arc is the culmination of months of foreshadowing.

Though i'll admit, i thought they were going to just retire bruce for a little while, not fucking *kill him*. it won't last for more than a few years, he sells too well, but i genuinely thought this would be like a knightfall situation.

when it comes to the question of who gets to be batman (i swear, last paragraph and i'm done), i think that gotham war also serves to tell us that *no one* will be. I don't see Dick picking it up in those conditions, Jason won't either, Tim is scared of becoming batman, and Damian might but they won't really let him. ofc they won't let Cass take up the mantle either.

Woo. hope you're happy with this and tihs wasn't more than you bargained for. i'm a bit insane about this.

#dc comics #jason todd #dick grayson #bruce wayne #damian wayne #tim drake #cassandra cain #red hood #nightwing #robin #red robin #orphan #batgirl #batman #gotham war #so sorry for the literal essay.

[paranoidpoltergeist]

Starscream is genuinely such a tragic character because as much as he's just kinda crazy every iteration has something that just makes u feel so bad for him.

IDW Starscream is something I couldn't scrape the surface of if you gave me 107 days. G1 Starscream's is not only mainly just used for comic relief the poor guy, but he lost his partner who then turns around and in his eyes betrays him. I mean Skyfire had every right to go "what in the fuc" and dip but the fact he went with Starscream in the first place tells me that somewhere along the way something happened to make him go coocoo.

In prime he was seemingly manipulated into joining the Decepticons and then constantly talked down to. From my perspective it honestly just seemed like Starscream was after praise or recognition which he never gets, now if this is because Megatron's a dick or because of the dark energon idk. I mean he kept the Decepticons afloat the entire time Megatron was gone chasing what was by all accounts a myth and did more then we saw Megs do THE ENTIRE SERIES. He managed to kill an Autobot, we never actually see any casualties and they've got a steady flow of energon.

I mean even in RID his main goal was to just kill Megs and tbh if I'd been beat down over everything I did, even if it was wrong bc I personally thought it was the right way to go about it, I'd be majorly pissed too. Yeah he wants control of the Decepticons but(and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong it's been a very long time since I've watched prime) I only remember him actually attempting to kill Megatron once or twice. Sure he was self serving but just bc he wants respect.

Bayverse Starscream was just the saddest thing I've ever seen. He could breathe and Megatron was drop kicking him off a building, didn't even get to be the treacherous sic jeez💀

Dude the WFC Trilogy was so wild idek how to word it so kind of a take on his character as a whole here. It was weird and characterizations were way off but I actually liked Starscream. He was still the guy we know and love but with a neat twist. He still had that tragic feeling to him especially getting traumatized and all but Dinobot telling him everything he went through wasn't an excuse to hurt other people was just *chefs kiss* bc it's really not. As tragic as Stars character is it's not an excuse for him to hurt the people around him. I mean no matter how bad I can feel for Prime Screamer he still used and manipulated everyone around him(Knockout for one). This is in no way me trying to justify or make him a good guy, a character can be tragic while still being a bad person. Somebody get him in therapy lol.

Oh man and don't get me started on the Unicron Trilogy Starscream. Probably the most tragic of them all, poor guy did not deserve any of Megatrons abuse. Allow me to let him speak for himself "I tried to gain favor from you, but nothing was ever good enough. No matter how many battles I fought, you always found fault." He really just wanted recognition, he literally sacrificed himself just so Megatron could get it through his thick head he needed to team up with the Autobots, and I recently had someone point out to me Starscream probably could have done some damage to Unicron with Swindle but he knew he was gonna die and he didn't wanna drag his mini-con down with him. Just ow.

Animated Screamer was just wild idek what he was on I can't defend him lmao bro opens the show trying and almost succeeded in killing Megan. I'd comment on Cyberverse if I could but I haven't actually got to watching that yet whoops. I feel like I remember seeing a clip of him talking about wanting the respect he deserved which honestly could have been his ego talking or really sad idk, but back to what I was originally saying.

Almost every time he shows up and you pay him any attention besides comic relief he's a super tragic character and it's not only what makes him one of my favorite but it makes me sad when I see people completely disregard everything but whats on the barest of surface levels. I feel like that's all Micheal Bay did he remembered Star being comic relief and so thats all he was. He's like an onion for lack of a better analogy, got a million layers, might make u cry, and you either love him or hate him. He could be such a compelling interesting character like with IDW but no one wants to look below the surface AND I GET IT 9/10 were literal children's shows so they're forgiven but Micheal Bay is on my hit list for that one.

edit: bro if this makes absolutely zero sense I literally wrote and posted this at 3am and then just scheduled it at a normal time for reasons I'm not actually 100% on so sorry💀

#transformers #starscream #transformers prime #transformers generation one #transformers armada #transformers animated #tfp #megatron #transformers bayverse #character study #kinda #thats a good idea actually #No seriously I'd watch a tv show thats just Starscream getting therapy #They bring all the other decepticons and some autobots in💀 #AN EPISODE ABOUT HIM AND SKYFIRE #couples therapy type shit but its megatron and starscream #I'd literally watch that everyday #THEY COULD DO IT LIKE THE OFFICE AND IT RANDOMLY CUTS AWAY TO LIKE SKYWARP GIVING A DEADPAN FACE #HE JUST STARTS EXPOSING STARSCREAM EVERY TIME HE GETS DRAMATIC #hasbro hire me

[sapphire-weapon]

Ok after I played SW, seeing EagleOne from Ada's pov makes it even more obvious fr, clearly she recognizes the bond they formed unlike many of people in the fandom

And the way she encountered Ashley at the end is so interesting, this scene wasn't in the OG and it's there for a reason in this remake timeline. The framing, like you said, is very romantic like something out of an old fairytale. Ada seems to accept their relationship, even if she might not like it.

Do you think she compared her relationship with Wesker and their mutual distrust to Ashley and Leon's which is the exact opposite?Maybe she reflected on that when she saw them on the jetski?

Do you think she will get a redemption arc?

Ada doesn't need a redemption arc because she's not evil. the only reason why we used to talk about a possible Ada redemption arc on here is because we were thinking about her in the context of OG, where her motivations are unclear and it seems like she defaults to working with the shittiest, scummiest, most comically evil men in the series.

but Remake Ada is Chaotic Neutral. there's nothing to redeem there. TV Tropes probably has the best description:

I would say that that is Remake Ada.

and no, I don't think that her reaction to Ashley had anything to do with her own relationship with Wesker. there was probably a lot going through her head at that moment, but I feel like both Leon and Ada project onto Ashley somewhat at different points of RE4make; they both look at her as what they could have been/become if things had been different.

Ashley has the positive change arc that was denied to Leon in RE2make, and he looks at her positive change and the strength and courage that she's found as what he could've been if only things had gone differently for him in/after Raccoon City.

and when Ada encounters her during the Saddler fight, the romantic imagery and Ashley's foremost thought being Leon's safety, I think, causes Ada to reflect on how much this was not how she, herself, was back in RE2make, and how much different her life could've turned out if it had been. if only Ada had loved and trusted Leon in RE2make the way that Ashley does in RE4make, none of this would be happening -- and, together, they probably would've had Wesker on the back foot, and his complete. global. saturation. would've been nothing more than a fever dream.

but Ada prioritized herself and her own interests and her own needs because Wesker's dick was just too bomb, apparently, and now look at what a fucking mess it's caused.

but Ada also knows that thinking that way isn't realistic. things didn't turn out the way they did for no reason. she's never been the type of person to have prioritized Leon over her own self-interest, and she never will be. at most, she would've concocted a way to let Leon escape the city with the G-sample, but there was never any version of reality in which they'd escape together -- and she certainly wasn't going to let him arrest/apprehend her like he said he was going to, either.

so instead of dwelling on that and feeling bad about it, Ada just says "On it." as a response to Ashley's order plea to help Leon, because this time around, she can have her cake and eat it, too. she can help support Leon while also looking out for herself.

I do think there's a slight element of envy/jealousy that she has towards Ashley, which is where the invitation to Leon at the end comes from. Ada doesn't have any personal resentment towards her, but at the same time, she's envious that Ashley gets to hold onto this fairytale and watch the bad guys get defeated and run off into the sunrise with her Prince Charming. Ada knows better; she knows the world doesn't really work that way, so inviting Leon to come with her at the end is her own petty way of trying to take that from Ashley/teach her that lesson, while also getting the benefit of riding Leon's dick for a night LMAO

but like. again. she's realistic. she knew she was going to get turned down.

#resident evil 4 #leon kennedy #ashley graham #ada wong #meta analysis

[pbaintthetb]

Invincibl3 s2e6 (spoilers )

spoiler spoiler watchy watchy nom nom

So like I knew Rex was gonna get shot in the head, yes it was a cliff hanger, but this is invincible and we know the stakes. Nobody was going to save him. Rip dude. Just as you were getting more tolerable.

Earth be fucked, wonder what the Lizard League want. Also like comics, so fatal injuries don't mean death, dying doesn't mean death

Immortal and Invincible's beef, but the way Immortal just crumples in acknowledgement when mark goes "I'm stronger and faster than you and you know it." like yeah, glad about this, it's not time for egos

the tension in the sequid scene though oof- and just as I thought it popped, oh no, eve and rudy adn eve's a lot more powerful and- oh there was extra juice, it's all fine

see I was originally anti "there's a duplikate prime somewhere" theory because I assumed she could only split from her original body, but thinking about the fight scene maybe that's not true. Maybe there ish hope, idk

Ummm. Rex? (~ (~ you... good?

"Perhaps you're too stupid to realise this, but you're suppposed to be dead" "SHUT UPPPPPP". lmao, deceased

bro he's punching king lizard with the jagged stump of his hand adkfalkdfjas;dklfja;sldkfjasl;dkfja;. This makes me uncomfy. Is the shard of bone like a knife?

OMG SHRINKING RAE WAS STILL ALIVE IN THERE!!!! I was hoping she'd just shrunk down again, yayayayayay. Maybe Kate prime is somewhere

Lmao, love the play back to the astronauts being executed where Mark is all, "Oh I understand" **jump cut to them runnign away**

hmm interesting, mark: you can't kill shapesmith, that would be bad, as a result I shall kill all of you. (Look I do know it's more complicated, a lot more, it was just when Mark went out and started destroying the ships and consequently dooming the martians within them made me wonder) Oh, they can happily float in space. Ok I take it back

fucking hell the room full of Kate's bodies

look I said it last time but I really like the fact that even if they don't spend a lot of time on it, Eve and Rex's history feels kinda fleshed out by all the spaces and stuff around it. This episode it's all the guardians looking at Shrinking rae's room while Eve is alone staring at Rex. he's a dick, he was a dick to her,they have an understanding of each other they can't get rid of even if they want to. Due to their work he will always be a part of her life even if he's not a friend Idk. I like it

"I loved many others before Kate. All of them died as well." -> immortality is a horror

Amber and Mark :-( the invisible wall of everything Invincible between them and they want to climb it and they can't. They can't.

I did not think Rex would be the person that Mark unloaded to, like at all. Ever. But I can see how unloading to the guy who doens't really like you and doesn't reallyl know you but still knows about you is easier than uh, Eve, his mum, or amber. still

What is it about being a superhero, where we go around saving lives, while ruining them at the same time."

Yeah yee, Debbie's sharp

see I like this other nanny, but I'm also kinda concerned as to how the GDA wants to raise Oliver

I like the cutting in Amber's and Mark's conversatins with Eve and Art respectively about their relationship issues, like how they kinda feel the same, the fact that they are really suited for each other but ultimately it doesn't work

.... the immortal can hold his breth in space? also oof rip allen, he just trying to be friendly- yay mark showed up to intervene!

also qustion how long can mark hold his breath? also also, lmao allen not knowing where mark lives

i love allen's speech patterns

.... viltrumites killing viltrumites don't kill each other much- anymore??? wdym "anymore"

appreciate mark saying he has responsibilites on earth, e.g. amber, oliver

oooooh the books

"Fucking martian, it wasn't enough that you left me to die on mars. You had to trash my place, too?" simultaneous LMAO and OOF and also oh god jeesh, yeah poor guy that's gotta be some adjustment to make on return mentally, poor Rus. Jeesh. Hope he's not gonna become evil though, pls, no one wants that

also the thing is like Shapesmith is hilarous and I love him and then I remember he fully tried to kill Rus and steal his life. That being said he is hilarious and I do love him and Rus is alive (uh, unintentionally) so uh, all's well that ends well?

actual 3rd serious question is, didn't Shapesmith move into the guardians cos he didn't know how to pay rent? How does Rus still have a place.

Oh fuck, as soon as I saw him coughing/spluttering I was like, shit he's gonna throw up a sequid isn't he. Well. Well le fuck.

poor guy :-(((, worrst luck in teh world. Which is also hilarious but jeez, Rus cannot catch a break, back on earth, thrown into a cess pit, and basically dies part way through tidying, poor dude

lmao Angstrom walking through the universes- was one of them the walking dead?. Anyway I haven't forgotten about Angstrom, but htere's been so much shit going on he'd been low on the radar and now it's all, oh god please no not now sir argghh- like i fully get his motivations but PLS NOH

i liekd this epiosde!, probably less than 5 but yeah deffo liked it

#invincible #invincible s2 #invincible season 2 #invincible s2 spoilers

[vivi-scera]

ohhhh i have so many questions to ask now that i apologize beforehand for throwing you questions instead of actually giving a response-reply to your ask 😭

1) “i like thinking about jason-robin's relationship with bruce the most but i like tim as robin best” plss if u could pls elaborate on this? this is so interesting bcs for a second i thought it would be jason robin or even dick robin since hes the first one!

2) ”i think i was mostly thinking bruce/jason since i was talking about johndean” this is interesting too bcs i was hyperfocused on comparing dean’s devotion to dick’s, hence my ask & why i bring dick robin specifically, and now im curious abt your comparison :D

3) “i'm going to be actively problematic and say that bruce sees dick as something less than his partner and something more than his son” is it like what i think it is is it more in line with smth smth owning smth smth *eyes emoji*

4) your tags!! thats interesting too that you prefer jaytim as batcest, instead of like timdick whos more like brothers or jaydick with jason’s “envy” (to simplify it) at dick’s golden boy ness (also to simplify it) which could be a source of conflict between jason & bruce

haha no worries, i did totally set you up.

1.yeah so tim is my favorite robin <3 relatively unpopular opinion to have in my immediate circle apparently. though probably not as unpopular as saying damian is your favorite. but like, tim's the underdog! the odd one out!! he understands the meta-narrative role that robin plays in batman's life and tries to fulfill it. he's such a deeply interesting character not only in how he views himself as the weakest robin/the robin batman didn't choose, but also in how the other robins, canonically, view tim as the best out of them (because he's the most like daddy). i don't mind as much when fanon obfuscates his characterization because he really can be such a blank slate, more or less. as in, meta-narratively, tim decides to be whatever/whoever is best for batman, erasing the part of himself that is tim drake in favor of coalescing with "robin". he's the only robin who really is robin. which is really very tragic if you think about it. but also makes for fantastic bruce/tim fodder :) i would expand more on my love for tim but this ask would get WAY too long. read Liminal Space by Calamityjim on ao3 if you've watched young justice and have read the red robin 2009 run (an EXCELLENT read btw) if you want the gist of the angst.

as for the others, i think jason has had the best character evolution —not just in the batman storyline but as a comic character in general. i really think his death, and to a much lesser extent his rebirth, is the best/most impactful development in all of superhero comic history. superheroes as we know them today would largely not exist without his character. dick is fine, i like him third best. just because he was the first doesn't make him special to me lmao. the fact that others came after him is what makes him interesting to me, in addition to his relationship with batman— which is currently the most interesting batman-robin romantic relationship to me rn. i've seen some insane meta about him around but mostly based on somewhat outdated runs, which really doesn't mean anything when it comes to comics i guess. i don't think he's been in anything interesting/good in over a decade. i also wish i could mail tom taylor anthrax <3 damian is... my least favorite (skipping steph, sorryy i do love her but there's not enough canon for me to have an actual opinion). i think damian's interesting but only as a source of conflict (and ofc his dynamic with dick-batman). he doesn't really stand on his own and he's annoying.

2. i don't necessarily think that bruce/jason is closer to johndean than bruce/dick is (i actually think bruce/tim is closer relatively, but there's not a comparable pairing imo. i also just don't think dick is necessarily "devoted" to batman as much as tim is. his goals, like mentioned, align more with being able to call himself bruce's equal, which could be conflated with desire i.e. in bruce/dick). but there are a lot of functional aspects of the jason-robin & batman dynamic that is parallel to the relationship between dean and john as hunters imo— mostly having to do with consensual practices. is dean/jason-robin in control of his narrative purpose as a hunter/sidekick or are they doing what is necessary to survive? what does it mean for either of them when duty and pleasure are conflated? etc. i really love the headcanon that jason was a child-prostitute, which would be a functional role that carried over in being robin for another older man, so that was mostly where i was coming from. child soldiers... can't get enough of em.

3. haha i don't really know what the "something" is that i was referring to, just some vague middle ground that's gonna go undefined because where's the fun in defining the relationship that a man shares with the preteen ward in his possession who he may or may not want to be his son but who he treats like a spouse because mentally & emotionally he hasn't moved on from the day he was 9 years old and his parents died. maybe dick grows up but bruce never will :'). well, maybe he grows up a little when each robin leaves him

4. and yaaaa jaytim, favorite pairing of all time. they can be enemies to lovers. the ghost and the haunted. rebecca and the narrator. brother-rivals trying to become their father but who are held back by the lack of a quality that the other possesses (see nearmello death note). i'm gonna go the fanon route and say jason was tim's robin (even though, timeline wise, it could totally have been dick). so there is that adoration-envy (that tim would have for jason) that jason would have for dick in jaydick (which is a pairing i also like, don't get me wrong! i just maybe like it as a one-sided thing. or we could have the worst love triangle in the world with damian->tim->jason->dick->bruce all unrequited lmao). but in jaytim there's the addition of the danger element— jason at one point or another did want to kill tim. and not only was jason tim's robin, he was also his ghost story! an example of what would happen to tim if something went wrong. so adoration-envy-fear which transmutes to sexual interest. very sadomasochistic route we could take there. and for jason, tim is the kid who replaced him! who's evidently better at being daddy's favorite! he can die psychosexually mad about it. neither timdick or jaydick have that enemies/lovers edge that i really like (see kurokura hunter x hunter). they also just have some interesting canon history that writers never get into— like batman-jason trying to conscript tim as his robin during battle for the cowl. i am TRYING to write a jaytim fic but i keep getting distracted by other pairings. i thought i was gonna get to it after finishing the one i'm working on but i might just do brudick next so we'll see. send more questions/responses if you have them <3

#batman #jason todd #dick grayson #jaytim #tim drake #brudick #i think jaytim was the 1st batcest pairing that i got into years ago bc i could rationalize it and say jaytim has the least brotherly bond #but now i'm older and wiser and actively problematic #pet wife tag #since you were mad that i didn't tag you last time 🙄 #i wouldn't have tagged you this time either had i not mentioned child-prostitute jason #which is more your jurisdiction #how many other nonrelated pairings can i reference to hint that i want to be asked about them... #vivi.asks

[dailyjasontodd]

Any opinion on Red Hood: Outlaws (Webtoons)? I only read the first five chapters and kind of don't like the angry-robin-approach... Thanks in advance!

Hello! I stopped reading it a while ago so 1) my criticism for the comic isn't very fresh in my mind and 2) i don't have the full picture since i only read a handful of chapters, so i wouldnt be able to write a whole essay on it, but who doesn't love giving opinions!

From what i remember i didn't like it either, like i said disclaimer that i stopped reading halfway through and a while ago so maybe my complaints got solved down the line, my bad, etc. but the thing is that i sincerely do not want to go back and re-read it/read all the chapters which should speak for itself 🙏 I found the writing cringy and very superficial, very close to lobdell's rhato which will always leave a bad taste in my mouth. atp i don't care about jason being written as an "angry robin" as long as it has nuance and context, but i didn't get to see those two things in the webtoon so i get you (not to say it wasn't present, just that i literally didn't get there if it was expanded on later lol). What i remember pissed me off was the amount of memes and mcu style jokes in the comic, it felt lazy 🤷 i can text my friend and use 5 viral video references in it but doing the same thing on an official comic? Be serious please, i'm not asking you to become judd winick and give us the next utrh but at least dont steal funny tweets from the internet for a dialogue...

Also a thing i like about jason is that he's a dickhead but fun and charming in his own way and the jason in the webtoon was just boring sorry, if i google "action movies watch online" and picked a random title and pressed play im sure the main character would have the same feel as webtoon jason. AND ALSO! (family guy dad voice) i did not care for jason/artemis. Boring, yawning, sloppy, lazy. very predictable from the go and not even in a fun way, i was over it already and i read like only 7 chapters.  

And also a minor detail that i disliked, i hated jason's haircut KJLFG like that pissed me off so badly everytime i saw him without the helmet, put that shit back on.

Anyways, hope that was semi coherent, complaining about the way a comic is written just for the criticism so be terribly redacted is extremely ironic but well, i'm not being paid for it :P

lets hope the shawn martinbrough jason solo gets a date announcement soon jasonbits 🙏

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edit just to add that unfortunately i Have been keeping up with it (stopped paying for fast pass v early on tho lmao), and the issues jules mentions above do persist and only get worse as the comic progresses <3 it's all very superficial, doesn't make sense most of the time, pacing is so clunky and writer doesn't seem to know which canon to stick to. jason is very ooc, he's just a dick just to be a dick and not in like a fun cunty way yk ? he's portrayed as uncaring and very like,, incompetent. artemis is ooc too to an extent. like you can't even enjoy it in the way wfa can be enjoyed as a silly little webtoon it just kinda like. sucks.

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#answers #asks #was feeling chatty today sorry everyone #the art can be cute though so we will keep reblogging it unlike titans where jason is ugly so we just pretend it doesnt exist

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Hi! So first things first happy belated new year!(sorry it's my first time interacting with your blog and I thought I'd start off on a positive note) second things second I wanted you to know I am ~besotted~ with your lore rekindled content , I love the art and how it resembles rachel's old style but most importantly I love the way you depicted persephone , she seems much more feisty and spunky ,she also possesses the agency many fans of the original LO claimed the OG persephone did (but never cared to show why that was the case whenever I asked them) as it is clearly shown, a good example of this is her " "meet cute" with hades at the party where SHE'S the one who approaches HIM, in the OG webtoon it was the opposite and the way hades gawked at her physical attractiveness while she was depicted as alone and vulnerable felt extremely predatory and not at all romantic (the "actual" first time they met with 18 year old or possibly younger persephone being naked on top of a drunk hades wasn't any better sadly:( ) also I'd like to ask a question if it doesn't bother you, (I don't know if you've been asked this before or not)Is persephone still going to be 19 years old in your comic? Or is she closer in age to hades ?I'd be grateful if you answered ! Have a good one❤👋🏻

Awww this was such a nice message to wake up to! Happy belated New Year! But now I wonder what your version of starting off your interactions on my blog with a negative note would have been like? 😈 Bring me allll your salt! (if there is any, I'm also just being a dick LMAO)

Thanks so much for your kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying Rekindled! It's wild to me how people are already loving it this much when like... I've barely put anything out? I think I've mentioned this before but I'm used to putting out like, 40-60 panels worth of stuff on a weekly basis (as Rekindled isn't my main comic project) so the fact y'all have been so sweet to the handfuls of panels I've put out for Rekindled already is like... absolutely wild to me. It blows me away :' 0

As for your question, I'm definitely gonna be age'ing up Persephone, not just because of the questionable age gap but also because her being 19 in LO serves absolutely no narrative purpose. The issue with the 19 year old age gap thing isn't just the fact that the age gap exists, that alone would be fine on its own because there would still be an age gap even if she were 100 or 200 or 500 or whatever have you. The issue is that 1.) 19 is a very specific age to use that has a lot of real world equivalencies to "barely legal" and "robbing the cradle" culture, there are FAR too many real life examples of rich 40 year old men exclusively dating 19 year old girls (Leo DiCaprio, hello?) and taking advantage of them in worst case scenarios and it makes it hard not to draw those parallels with LO when Hades is literally coded as a 40 year old man and Persephone is such a 'mortal' age like 19; and 2.) Persephone is very often framed as being some innocent virgin "valley girl" archetype which is, again, very common when it comes to the May December romance. A lot of gross older man will often specifically target younger women because they can play out their fantasies of "deflowering" a young woman or whatnot.

It's hard not to take issue with the Persephone/Hades age gap when they're constantly being drawn like this:

"Art experts" will argue that it's Rachel trying to make Persephone look "small" to convey the mood but if that's the case, she's failing miserably at it, she doesn't just look 'small', she looks like a literal infant. It also always seems to be happening in real time and outside Persephone's head which makes it come across more as other people seeing her that way, not herself.

Compare it to (and I hate that I'm about to use this as a comparison because I also can't stand this webtoon for how infantalizing it is) Let's Play which does a MUCH better job showing characters' inner emotions through the literal personification of their emotions.

Point is, you can convey how a character might feel compared to those around them WITHOUT making them look ridiculous in the story's own setting and universe.

And that's not even getting to how Persephone is treated by both the people around her and the way the comic frames her, there's a LOT of exaggeration put on how "young and innocent" she is and the fact that the comic will take any opportunity it can to draw Persephone in some Vogue magazine like pose even when the scene doesn't call for it is... creepy and distracting, to say the least.

(this is not the look of a person who is 'lonely', at least not the way she's describing it LMAO)

Anyways. This got off topic. It's taken me like, 3 hours to formulate a response to this because I've had my brain split between like 4 different things today LMAO but yes, Rekindled will be ageing up Persephone, at least just to get her away from the real life touchiness of her being a literal 19 year old girl in a relationship with a 40-coded man. I don't mind or think there's much wrong with reasonable age gaps in relationships, but it's a whole other thing when you make your immortal god character an incredibly relatable age like 19 and then also proceed to overly sexualize them/objectify them/infantalize them every chance you get.

And ultimately, they're gods. Their ages really shouldn't matter as 'age' is a concept that shouldn't apply to immortal beings, Rachel's mistake was making it matter with Hecate/Hera calling out Hades for being into a 19 year old girl. If we're not supposed to raise an eyebrow at it, don't have your in-universe characters call it out either, y'know? That just establishes the rule in the story that age gaps are something even the gods would get upset over LMAO It's just not gonna be a focus in Rekindled because it serves no narrative purpose besides pushing Rachel's gross pro-shipping/DDLG fetish.

And, y'know... I kinda don't wanna encourage any more of this shit:

#lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical #ask me anything #ama #lore rekindled #rachel be like #do you really want hades to break up with his SO because of a teenage girl he talked to twice #and then proceeded to do just that