#dc is becoming relevant to my interests again

[mysterycitrus]

i know you've been talking about jason lately so i'll ask about smth different... robin jason (sorry)

idk idk lately i've been wanting to take a peek at his robin comics for the sake of writing fic (ofc...) but i'd like to hear what u think before that, a summary of sorts if u may (i also wanna contrast what u say with what i get out of it so yeah)

i feel like his robin days are so muddled by his identity as red hood later on, and even before that it was his death. u had people constantly blaming jason for dying in text (or else they'd have to admit bruce can make mistakes and everyone in dc is allergic to doing that) and painting him like someone reckless and violent (classist editorial u need to DIE), and then people in fanon painting him like a sweet fella who would do nothing wrong and as well as being bruce's Only Actual Son etc etc for the sake of making the situation around him all the more sadder (yeah yeah pathetic meow meow we've all seen it)

and i'm just curious bc i rlly wonder what the actual comics say about him, most likely something in the middle of this? exams are killing me but my god i'll come back to life after im done just to read jason robin's days... have a good day !!!

the difficulty with reading about jason as robin is that there are three primary periods that all differ fairly dramatically from each other — pre-crisis jason todd is a strawberry blond acrobat who’s almost adopted by dick grayson before becoming robin; post-crisis jason todd is a kid from crime alley who steals the wheels off the batmobile before becoming robin; and post-crisis, post-utrh jason todd is a very angry, very violent kid who becomes a cautionary tale after he gets himself killed (something he is often blamed for).

we can walk the line here. pre-crisis jason isn’t particularly relevant because so much of robin!jason’s stories depend on his reinvention after the reboot. all the crucial factors leading up to death in the family — growing up in the alley, both his mothers, his relationship with the robin mantle, his developing relationship with dick grayson, his slow schism from bruce, his relative isolation from other superheroes — are all crucial to who he is, especially after his death.

fanon about jason is annoying because there are valid criticisms that can be made about how he’s written with regressive, classist stereotypes, but as always it pivots way too far in one direction. jason wasn’t the “happy” or “angry” robin in the same way that dick wasn’t the happy or angry robin — they’re both characters that possess more than a single emotion. it’s true that jason was later written to be more explicitly violent (to contrast him with dick) but also like… they’re both pretty similar characters that differ in interesting ways. dick created robin to be a symbol of hope and joy. jason carried that on when he took up the mantle. they can both be angry at stuff without the world falling apart. it’s not that serious.

the dialogue about dick being a child soldier but jason being the true son makes me want to tear my hair out. jason became robin because bruce missed dick and was afraid of being alone. they’re both his gd kids. acting as though bruce wayne doesn’t love dick grayson so much that extra-dimensional beings can clock it is so fucking stupid. it once again ties into fanon’s obsession with each character only getting to be “one” thing. tim is smart, which means he’s the smartest. jason said robin made him magic, which means he’s happy all the time. dick chased after zucco in a grief spiral, which means he’s the violently angry one, with no other character traits. dick can’t have been nice to jason because he’s nice to tim, etc. seems a little silly, no?

i think i’ve only read jason’s brief run as robin once, though ive gone through a death in the family + a lonely place of dying a bunch of times, so ig my advice for reading him is to keep in mind the context in which he was created. dc comics was reeling from losing dick grayson as robin, and were really throwing anything at the wall to get something to stick. many, many negative tropes are baked into his introduction, and thanks to writers like jeph loeb and scott lobdell they have compounded over time. jason’s updated backstory is, with actual critical intent by the writer, a really good examination of how poverty and class will affect how someone views the world. his death was not his fault — and removing sheila haywood from that warehouse purposely makes his story less tragic. he was a good kid! and he was angry for a good reason. if jason had lived, i believe he would’ve carried on the robin tradition and left bruce behind once their differences became insurmountable.

#jason as robin: baby. jason as red hood: really really annoying #jason todd #red hood #batman #bruce wayne #dc comics #the ask and the answer

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PRELIMINARY ROUND - DC COMICS

PROPAGANDA

Pantha

1.) Pantha was introduced in new titans #73 as one of the many experiments the wildebeest society was performing. She joined the titans basically right after being introduced.

With her personal subplot in the book having to do with figuring out who she is, both finding her past and building her future. sadly the former wasn't resolved before she left the titans and fell into obscurity (if that was the end I'd've been so happy)

until Geoff motherfucking Johns comes into the picture. In infinite crisis Superboy prime really wants to murder the current superboy. The only thing standing in the way of that are all the previous members of the titans. Pantha's the first one to jump in and within 2 panels of her showing up in the fucking event her head's been punched off. With more attention's given to how sad her murderer is about having to kill her. SBP goes on to kill 2 more titans including Pantha's son but that's not relevant to her mistreatment. and after 3 titans have been slayed it turns out that this was for nothing as Flash pops out of the speedforce and takes SBP away. later in the event Pantha's former team leader Dick Grayson calls her (along with the titans killed and maimed in the fight against SPB) ""titans no one will remember"".

And do you wanna know why Geoff Johns decided to kill of a titan of 3 years? To make the story of her boyfriend more interesting. First of all that's textbook fridging and I shouldn't need to tell you how bad that is and secondly the way he decided to make Leonid a more interesting character is to make him a depressed jackbooted militant Russian bootlicker.

After Pantha brutal fridging another writer decides to pick up her plot.

in Booster Gold #7 (yes. Booster Gold. you know that member of the JLI who's never interacted with any titans at any time before this. this'll become a theme in the short time she's here) we're introduced to an alternate timeline Pantha who's part of the freedom fighters.

when Booster asks what their deals are Pantha tries to explain why she wants to kill Maxwell Lord; a character she previously had zero connections to, before Green Arrow, Oliver fucking Queen interjects to tell her backstory for her. so not only was her backstory given to a Pantha who might have a completely different story to ours, given in a book she had zero connections to but fucking mansplained to us by a blonde bimbo who rightfully shouldn't fucking know who she is. Only to be fucking gunned down by a mind controlled Wild Dog not 11 pages later.

Her final appearance isn't much to note. her corpse is defiled and resurrected by a black lantern ring, she fights some of her old teammates (just not her boyfriend who was shown still being depressed at the start of blackest night: titans) only to be disintegrated by the original Dove coming down from the heavens to save the second one. I like Hawk and Dove but that's one final spit in the face for Pantha.

to explain why I've spent over 500 words trying to explain why Pantha's a victim of misogyny rather a character people'll know or like. Pantha's my favorite superhero of all time no ifs, ands or buts, hands down cards on the table favorite. Pantha's been dead for longer than I've been alive and every time she's brought back it isn't her and she's only there to die again.

in February 2021 a tie in to the event that went on at the time was released where superboy-prime was redeemed. SBP was redeemed before Pantha was allowed to see the panel again. And if that doesn't make your fucking blood boil then I've failed as a propagandist.

Starfire (CW: Sex Trafficking)

1.) Her original characterization was fairly decent, however it still had her stuck in relationships with men that weren't very good for her and had overtones of racism with how she was written. Post that her characterization was slowly chipped away at, some writers with harder sledgehammers than others, culminating in current writing where she's dismissed as "just a fling" to her original counterpart (Dick Grayson) to prop up a different ship (Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon) and frequently has been used as eye candy in other comics. Simply open the first comic of Red Hood and the Outlaws, which obliterated her personality to make her associate/be subservient to the Red Hood, and you'll find plenty of panels of her appearing simply for eye candy in the boobs and butt pose for absolutely no reason. This is not the only time she's been used to cater to the male gaze (I'd argue even in her original context that was part of her appeal) but in this comic she essentially has no personality beyond "i want sex" as her memory of all past events has been erased. She's essentially just a tool for her male counterparts in the comic to bounce off of, and eye candy to bring more male readers in. She does eventually get more storylines later on, but that doesn't excuse the bad writing she was put through. Her own solo series also cashes in on her sex appeal, by infantilizing at the same time as drawing her in skimpy outfits + more boobs and butt poses galore to go for the "born sexy yesterday" misogynistic trope.

2.) 2011 reboot, in RHATO she was turned into a walking fetish by retconning most parts of her character and erasing all personality displayed in the past 30 years of comics. in that iteration she is only interested in sex and is dehumanised and ‘exotic’. she ‘forgot’ all her past relationships because she doesn’t care about them only sex. her only purpose in that book is as a powerhouse and a sex/love interest for one of the male characters who view her as a trophy because she used to date someone he dislikes (in this continuity) let’s also not forget that she was first created just to be a love interest and although she did grow into a hood character at some point, she is treated horribly time and time again by writers because of conflicting ships. she’s written as a ‘vixen’ as opposed to another ‘good girl’ female character who is shipped with the same guy in canon

3.) Kory’s oversexualization and the dehumanization associated with it is especially egregious in the context of her backstory as a survivor of sexual trafficking AND her black/indigenous coding— both demographics who are at especially increased at risk for experiencing sexual abuse in real life. Especially when it’s done in service of the narrative of a white man (Jason Todd) and in parallel with the similar character assassination of a Navajo man (Roy Harper). It’s so fucking bad, free my girl.

#polls #preliminary round #cw sex trafficking

[fantastic-nonsense]

Okay so....there was a post about Barbara Gordon and visible vs. invisible disability floating around on here awhile back. And someone wrote an excellent response already (thanks so much to @dilfdoctordoom for pointing everything out that they did), but I wanted to add my own two cents onto it because I felt there were some unaddressed issues...only when I finally got around to actually responding to it, I found out I was blocked by the OP (because tumblr is a hellsite that doesn't actively tell you you're blocked until you try to hit "post"). That's all a preface to say: this is a response to that post, and it's largely responding to the OP's comments about how the current depiction of Babs' disability is "great, actually!" because it provides representation to people with invisible disabilities.

Which...first it needs to be said that the OP is using "invisible disabilities need rep!" to excuse visible disabilities being erased and minimized. Because this isn't a situation where people are looking at a character who's always had invisible disabilities and going "they don't count." This is a character who for thirty years was disabled in a highly visible way and promoted as DC's most prominent physically disabled character...and a character whose existing physical disability (complete spinal cord injury leading to paralysis) was then erased, changed, and continuously minimized to justify making her a walking Batgirl again. DC also did this while erasing two other female characters (one of whom, Cassandra Cain, was disabled herself and actually is an example of someone with an invisible disability).

Barbara's disability, by its nature, is not one that should be portrayed as invisible. She was shot in a way that completely severed her spinal cord and shattered the surrounding bone structure. That was always her disability and despite the spinal chip magi-cure it technically remains her disability. Even if she can walk, she should still either be an ambulatory wheelchair user or using a cane/forearm braces, on the page, consistently. Her disability should be visible; that was the intention of her creators (one of whom was a disabled woman) and that was the representation she provides. She's also worn glasses since her introduction as a character, a disability that was also erased in the New 52/Burnside era via editorial mandate (and one that we have only recently won back post-Infinite Frontier). I find it interesting that OP chose not to comment on that.

Cassandra's disability, however, is invisible and always has been. Her struggles with speech and language are not ones that can be seen just by looking at her. She's been an incredible avenue of representation for people with learning, speech, and language processing issues for 22 years. And yet she got first character assassinated, then pushed to the sidelines, and then erased from the universe entirely because DC couldn't bear to have a disabled Asian woman wearing the Batgirl mantle instead of Barbara Gordon.

And while Stephanie isn't relevant in a conversation surrounding disability, I would like to point out that she became Batgirl largely by accident due to being resurrected at a time when 'who should be the new Batgirl?' was a topic being hotly debated. Babs was as close to being magi-cured and Batgirl again in 2009 as Dick was to being killed in Infinite Crisis (which is to say, pretty damn close). Steph becoming Batgirl only delayed the inevitable, which was a coordinated multi-year editorial effort to push Cass out of the cowl and Babs back into it.

So if people like OP want to talk about the representation of visible vs. invisible disability, I think we should talk about how making Babs a walking Batgirl again erased representation of both types of disability in the process. Because it was not a decision made to give representation to people with invisible disabilities. It was a decision made because Dan Didio and a small group of similarly powerful old, white, male, able-bodied managers wanted the Batgirl from their childhoods to be on the pages again, and if they had to erase two disabled characters and multiple female characters entirely to make it work, they were willing to do so.

Nearly all subsequent writers have effectively erased her disability by omission via giving occasional lip service to it-occasional comments about the chip, the back brace, the cane-and then disregarding it entirely whenever it suits them to do so (repeatedly showing Babs in inaccessible living and working environments, having her continually suit up as Batgirl despite saying it should be an "emergency only" thing, constantly showing her standing/with her legs crossed/in weird positions when she is sitting like there's an editorial mandate on artists to remind people 'she's not paralyzed! she can walk now!', etc).

And those creative and editorial decisions need to be talked about when discussing the treatment of Babs and frankly all of the Batgirls since 2011, because it's objectively ableist writing and it's frankly incredibly tiring to have to continually point this out despite the well-sourced and thorough discussions Babs fans (both abled and disabled) have written on the subject over the past 11 years.

#barbara gordon #long post #ableism #batgirl #oracle #barbara gordon meta #cassandra cain #clearing out my drafts #we deserve to have Babs' disability accurately and consistently depicted on panel actually #we also deserve to have Cass's disability accurately and consistently depicted on panel #and both of those things are currently directly at odds with DC's creative decision-making staff #and have been for over a decade

[just-otter-thoughts]

Okay this might be missing details but let's go.

Quick American comic book history lesson. Batman is one of the first ever superheroes. Superman invented the superhero comic book, but Batman popped up a short time afterwards. He starts as a serious grim detective/superhero combo but acquires a sidekick (an orphan named Dick Grayson, AKA Robin. He adopts him. Keep him in mind) and the stories get more light hearted and campy. After WWII, the public gets obsessed with horror comics, which children get their hands on. This upsets parents. A psychologist named Fredric Wertham writes a paper called "Seduction of the Innocent" about how comics are evil and corrupting children.

He says a lot of stuff but most relevant is he SPECIFICALLY cites Batman as being homosexual propaganda due to Batman and Robin apparently being coded as an older man and younger boy couple (keep in mind Robin is a child so. Ew. But again it's the 50s and the Lavender Scare is in full swing so this is common rhetoric at the time). This paper leads to the creation of the Comics Code Authority, which is basically the Hays Code for comic books (good must triumph evil, women must act feminine and men must act masculine, basically must be "child appropriate" aka not break the white cishet nuclear family standard!). DC follows this by trying to make Batman straight by creating Batwoman and Batgirl to be love interests for Batman and Robin respectively (quick aside, the modern version of Batwoman is now Bruce Wayne's lesbian cousin). And you know how the Hays Code led to villains becoming queercoded? Guess what happens to our Batman villains!

The biggest one for this to happen to is Joker. Batman's most iconic villain, he's colorful, loud, ridiculous, and depending on the writer, either just a silly jokester or the most cruel man you can imagine. We've got the ingredients for a queercoded villain right here, and writers took it. The white face and bright red grin was originally from his acid bath, but now our guy applies powder and lipstick for his clownly look. He takes to calling Batman nicknames such as "Batsy". His motivation mostly boils down to "how can I get Batman's attention". He adopts feminine mannerisms and cross dresses. He may even yse Joker use euphisms for how in love he is (Lego Batman's "I hate you. I hate you more" scene) or STRAIGHT UP SAY HE'S IN LOVE WITH BATMAN (looking at you, Batman Audio Adventures Joker, with your nefarious plan to dunk Batman in a LOVE POTION ON VALENTINE'S DAY SO HE WOULD ALSO BECOME OBSESSED WITH HIM)

I have not read the story myself yet, but that post that prompted this, the copy of "Arkham Asylum, House of Madness". That story is written by Grant Morrison (who I should mention a. Is queer and uses they/them, and b. Has said Batman could be inherently gay due to him dressing in tight leather) and I need to find his post again but my good buddy jokeryuri has also done a compilation of material related to that story and Joker's queercoding present in it. I just remember something about Joker trying to seduce Batman

Speaking of "Batman could be gay", there are a few other people who work on various Batman versions that acknowledge that elements of Batman are gay. Frank Miller calls Joker and Batman's relationship a "homophobic nightmare" and that "it would be healthier if Batman was gay". George Clooney, playing Batman in the movie Batman and Robin, says he played Batman as gay. Batman and Robin was also directed by Joel Schumacher, a gay man, and is SO FUCKING CAMPY GOD I LOVE IT. I actually like Batman Forever (also directed by him) more because that one has Riddler and Two Face's earth shattering homosexual relationship (they cling to each other so so much and are very flamboyant) but yeah that version is very gay

There's also a LOT of accidental queercoding in general. First example I can think of is classic Dick Grayson himself actually! He "grew up" in the 80s and became his own hero, and during the 90s he all but says he's demisexual (saying he can't imagine having sex unless he has an established connection with whoever). Modern DC plays up his sex appeal though and turned him into a flirty playboy which sucks because it's in direct defiance of those panels but it's fine :) (gritting teeth).

The other big example is my special guy Hugo Strange, Batman's first villain to get a reappearance (Joker came first but he died and didn't reappear until THIRTY OR SO YEARS LATER, while Hugo was just like one year between appearances). I have a whole post that are just images of him being gay for Batman that I can grab in a bit but the gist is he's obsessed with the Batman identity and is constantly trying to prove he's better than him. There's also that time he kept a sex doll that he started dressing up as Batman and in one issue is implied to have slept with it so. Make of that as you will.

Also it's kind of a joke at this point that every Batman villain is in love with him. The Arkham Knight game having Mad Hatter (an Alice in Wonderland themed villain known for trying to find "his Alice" AKA a girl to love) calling Batman Alice and inviting him into his cell. The time Killer Croc was at a strip club and Batman confronted him there and Killer Croc first assumed he was a stripper and told him to start stripping. Riddler (canonically bisexual in the comics!) leading Batman on a riddle hunt showing him all his past loves and concluding with a date with him

I could go on but TL;DR? Batman yaoi. Maybe he's technically a bara due to the muscles and usually written by a man as opposed to pretty boy written by a woman but he can be yaoi

Most of this is covered on the Wikipedia page "Homosexuality in the Batman Franchise, but I also learned the opening comic history from my comic book history class I took a couple years ago, and the specific cited instances are from my own reading and panels posted around Tumblr. Thank you for reading my messy thoughts, I hope you enjoyed

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_Batman_franchise

Thank you for this!!! I took so long to answer this because I went to honk mimimiland. This is all very interesting history to be honest, and I did think it could be a little gay but I could not imagine it would be this gay lmao.

And also you are so based for saying Batman would be bara. WAIT IS THERE BARA ART OF BATMAN.

THIS IS JUST REGULAR BATMAN HSNFHDJDHDHSJ

Also it's interesting how the foebidding of gay stuff leads to more gay stuff.

#ask #skyllion-uwu #batman #gay

[ectonurites]

people on my dash are already going on about how it would be "in character" for tim to cheat on bernard with kon... we got a cute timkon moment but At What Cost

oh nooooooo.........

i am once again begging people to acknowledge that the last time Tim actually cheated on a partner was when he was like 14 around 1996 (so literally 20+ years ago) with Jubilee during the DC vs Marvel crossover. anything after that point really wasn't Tim cheating for one of several reasons.

[more ranting about this under the cut, mostly me repeating things i've said before about this subject]

right. so. a short list of reasons anything post-DC vs Marvel & DC/Marvel: All Access wasn't actually Tim cheating:

The characters were not in an actually established relationship at the time- this is like the stuff during Red Robin era where Tim had moments with Tam and Lynx in a similar timeframe. Because yes Tim was in the early stages of getting with Tam then, but they definitely did not get to a 'we are exclusively together now' point during the book! She was absolutely his main love interest, and if the book hadn't ended bc of the New 52 they probably would have made up from their fight towards the end and gotten more formally together... but we didn't actually get there. Totally fine to think he handled those situations with each girl poorly- he definitely did imo- but it wasn't cheating.

There was messed up timing between books when Tim's solo changed writers- stuff with Zo and Cassie slightly overlapped due to this... but also not even as much as people seem to think. [I made a whole timeline about this a while ago, yellow is Teen Titans/Cassie and pink is Robin/Zo]

Most panels of 'Tim kissing another girl while he was dating x!!' being shown as proof of him cheating are taken entirely out of context and the girl kissed Tim without his consent (at least 9 unique women that I could name off the top of my head have kissed Tim without his consent. several of them do become his love interests but they were not together at the time these kisses happened). Especially relevant info imo is that any and all cheating happened while he was dating Ariana (he kissed Steph early in his solo while dating Ari, and then also the earlier mentioned thing with Jubilee. Those are the instances of cheating), he never cheated on Steph (she mistakenly thinks he's cheating on her twice, with Star and then Darla, but he wasn't actually).

Then also for that messy thing in the New 52 with Cassie and Kiran on the boat the same night.... first of all New 52 Tim is barely Tim, but even so he wasn't dating either of them, like nothing was formal there. If anything the bigger problem is he was the person Kiran cheated on Bart with... but that's not to mention uhhhh Tim was literally under Trigon's influence for ALL of that.

Soooo yeah! Having modern day Tim actually cheat on Bernard is not something I think would be in character at all.

What I do think could be in character in regards to Timkon stuff at this moment (obviously all of this is unlikely, but just in terms of 'hypothetical situation') would be Tim coming to the realization of 'wait... did I like Kon... do I still like Kon?' and then having internal struggle over what to do with that information since he also likes and is dating Bernard. Tim is the kind of person to end up with feelings for more than one person at the same time, leaving him feeling torn between them. I think there's been plenty of time in his books devoted to that sort of thing over the years.

But him just deciding to cheat on the person he's in a committed relationship with isn't even really what happened in the canon instances of him cheating- the time he kissed Steph was because he'd almost died and she was the person there to save him, it was a 'holy fuck im ALIVE' heat of the moment thing... and then with Jubilee it was him stranded in the Marvel Universe as they were all told they needed to fight for the survival of their worlds and mostly a 'hey I don't know if i'm gonna survive or ever see my friends and family again but this girl is into me so lets make the most of it' situation that he promptly no longer wanted to be part of once he was back on his own world and the danger was gone. I think the context behind those two situations matters a lot when discussing Tim and the idea of cheating/how in character it is for him, but lots of people love to just gloss over it.

Like, if someone was more specifically saying "Tim and Kon ending up in a super dangerous 'one of them almost dies' situation and having a heat of the moment kiss" would be in character, I at least definitely get where that's coming from based on past canon. But saying it'd be in character for Tim to just choose to cheat on Bernard with Kon under normal circumstances? No way, man.

[fairymascot]

also, another question (sorry for being annoying) but, how would you make harley a villain again? dc is being so dense with making her a hero and it's so boring 😭 like, what kind of plot do you think could be done to turn her into a villain?

this is a really interesting question! and not annoying at all. :) (you're more than welcome to message me off anon as well, if you'd like! always enjoy making new comic nerd friends.)

anyhoo! one thought i had when i started reading harley's 2021 solo series (which i no longer follow, so don't expect any kind of congruence with it here), is that it's actually really uncomfortable to watch harley bend over backwards to impress batman. to me, it looked less like an honest shift in her character and more just... perpetuating her same old patterns. think about it. she met joker when she was in a rough place in life (if you look at sejic's take in 'harleen'), working a job that eats away at her soul and bottling her issues up for years on end. he makes her believe things can be different. offers her an alternative. she's utterly enamored with the world he promises. throws out everything that's made her her, and takes on a new persona to win his approval and earn her place by his side.

years pass, she emerges from the abusive relationship with joker. various nonsensical dc universe shit goes down. she loses ivy (temporarily), loses her sense of direction in life, feels alone and desperate. batman makes her believe things can be different. she takes on a new persona to win his approval and earn her place by his side.

i don't believe stephanie philips ever acknowledged this in the series, but it's so easy to read harley as someone with a pattern of molding herself to please influential male figures in her life, in the hopes it'll grant her fulfillment and a purpose. if we follow that logic, her decision to redeem herself and become part of the batfam is less her 'finding her true self' and more just, harley being harley and having an incredibly flimsy sense of personal identity. if they ever choose to go down this route, the natural conclusion would be that harley needs a break from deranged men in tacky costumes defining her life for her, and that she should break away and find her own path, which would probably lead her in a more chaotic, muddled, morally gray direction. that would be ideal for her, in my opinion.

(i have a bunch more to say about this, actually, so i’m just gonna stash the remainder of this text behemoth under a cut.)

even setting that particular interpretation of mine aside, though, it would be incredibly easy to de-redeem harley, because she honestly sucks at staying on the straight and narrow. there have been countless instances of her turning good for like twenty minutes before flipping right back -- in older comics and btas, for example, she'd cooperate with batman under specific circumstances, but ditch his ass the second joker was threatened. in gotham city sirens, she was content to live with selina and ivy in their considerably healthier and more functional threeway arrangement for months on end, but the second joker reentered her life, she turned her back on them.

even without joker in the picture-- as he's hardly relevant anymore-- you can see in the harley's holiday episode of btas, for example, that she could barely spend 6 hours outside of arkham without relapsing into her old habits. it's not even out of malice or criminal intent, it's just that she's been living as a villain for a very long time, she has an innate distrust of law enforcement, she's used to using violence to get her way and resorts to it as a kneejerk reaction. she's flighty and has a hair trigger temper and doesn't think before she acts. it's incredibly difficult for her to break the cycle and act 'correctly', even when she's making a conscious effort to. her characterization in the harley quinn animated series is consistent with this, as well-- even when she's trying to do the right thing, her idea of 'the right thing' is often warped by her skewed perception of reality and loose morals. she decides to 'save' nora from mr freeze because she assumes he's lying about keeping her frozen to protect her, which ultimately results in his death and horrible heartache for nora. and on a similar but lighter note, in her 2014 series she decides to take on a day job as a therapist at a senior center, basically trying to 'go straight', and ends up kidnapping and threatening the family of one of her patients, a sweet elderly grandma who told her stories of their heartbreaking neglect. harley thought she was delivering justice and teaching them a lesson for abandoning grandma. turns out she didn't read through her file, and grandma is suffering from dementia, and doesn't remember her family has been visiting twice a week for years. even when harley is trying to do good, she's uh, not great at it.

and let's also just take into account that a lot of aspects of her personality, are, like... bad? straight up terrible? don't get me wrong, i mean this lovingly. her current run tends to ignore this, but there's a REASON she spent years as the joker's lover-slash-sidekick, and it's not because she's a pure baby bean who had been brainwashed by him. she has dark, violent tendencies. she's sick of abiding by society's rules. she's manipulative. she's selfish and greedy. in her 2000 comic run, there's an entire arc where she has to act as a bodyguard for an elementary school girl with a rare ability who's being hunted by very rich men for nefarious purposes-- and even though they form a connection, and harley comes to care for her, she ends up selling her out for the money. this is a very similar trajectory to her relationship with cass in the birds of prey film, where she ends up selling cass out despite their developing bond. she regrets it later, of course. but she still made that choice.

with all that in mind, i think the real question is, how on earth would you keep harley a hero? the answer to which being: through extremely shallow and forced characterization dictated by crappy executive decisions. the dc higher ups saw that harley has become incredibly popular, that she's seen as something of a feminist icon and role model for girls, and went 'oh shit... she's too problematic... gotta make her a hero to justify her fanbase', never mind the fact that her fanbase formed AROUND her flawed, morally complex character.

realistically, harley wouldn't last a week as a hero. put her around the batfam or the justice league for more than an hour and they'd all want to kill each other. it would become exceedingly clear she is not cut out for the role. she does not have the moral compass or the self-discipline to be a proper 'good guy'. i don't think it even makes sense for her to WANT to be one. that's not to say her only choice is to be a villain-- but like i said before, carving out her own path, trying to do good in her own well-intentioned but messed up way, without giving up her selfish, chaotic, law-breaking side... that's the harley i want to see.

#askbox #text #dc comics #harley quinn #meta #long post

[detshin]

tbh I'd still take a kid case over a normal filler case bc the normal filler cases are just SO boring. like back in the day there were even filler episodes in the anime which were more interesting than the manga cases nowadays. - - - but tbh kid cases also start to annoy by now bc of a) amouro. like wtf has a bo member/undercover agent to do w kid cases?? and b) HOW HAS NO ONE MENTIONED SONOKO'S UNCLR SO FAR? bc boyyyy I dislike him and it has become a pain in the ass to always have this old fart included in every damn kid case. like he's way too old to be that obsessed and be involved all the time. give me a break.

so overall, i prefer kid cases over the normal boring cases nowadays (since let's be honest even if it wasn't a kid case, we wouldn't have got an actual plot relevant case. we'd have just got a normal filler case again) but only if they are as good as the old kid cases again. I mean no honesty, remember all the old iconic kid cases? or even the cases that weren't really a kid case but he randomly appeared (like that amateur magician meeting or the gathering of all top detectives??) iconic.

but I guess kid cases could only become good again if the overall manga (cases) became good again - - which I don't see happening as long as gosho only does fanservice and follows what his label tells him. or perhaps it's also him just struggling coming up w anything good by now since having to come up w great cases for 26 years must be difficult, creativity wise. whatever it is, it sucks and he should rather finish it than ruining my fave manga/anime of all time.

(like they show the episodes up to 480 here on tv and I never get tired to rewatch them over and over again bc of how amazing they were. even the filler episodes!! the manga/anime nowadays can't relate... also bc of the anime's ugly style by now let's be honest)

I would prefer it if he actually decided to draw Magic Kaito cases and continue HIS story rather than having him appear in Conan him being... Not himself.

Because you have to admit. The Kid we see in Conan is not the Kaito we want to see. Kid in Conan is just this empty facade that gives us absolutely nothing. And I'm not talking about the dc plot like I was before. I'm not referring to the fact that Kid cases don't give us plot. I'm referring to how we don't even really get development for Kaito either as a character. Which makes sense! I mean, how can he develop as a character when he's not in his own manga/story/plot? It's impossible. Or it would suck if it happened. That's why I always say that I would rather put Conan in stand by for a month and get something juicy even if it's for MK, than have whatever the f it is we're getting. Because with this.. No one wins. Shinichi doesn't get anything because it's just a chapter meant for filler and fun and giggles (although the fun and giggles are not happening as much now... Because as you said, Kid cases are ALSO becoming boring, idc what anyone says. They are. They are boring. Just like the rest of fillers). Kaito doesn't get anything because his character keeps getting mixed up and confused with Kid, which is his main problem in fanon and why I find it difficult to enjoy fanon stuff with him (Kaito's personality is not Kid's peopleee), and every time his disguises, his heists, his personality get reduced to boring or repetitive things. And of course no one else gets anything either. No one.

So yeah. Imo, kid cases should go to the mk manga, let's get ittttt

#dcmk #detective conan #ask me!

[rgr-pop]

don't reblog this because it's personal and will look antisemitic from the outside lol

okay so, unfortunately it's simply true that everyone in michigan who has opposed bds in dsa publicly has been the descendent of real estate developers (and not small ones). this is like the detroit jewish evil version of DC consultant class linkedin dsa. little bit culture, could just be a coincidence, but i like to think of it as apartheid legacy when it's convenient to do so. beryl satter family properties pt ii: zionist dsa afterlives. listen--my best detroit jewish friend who grew up in zionist hell, their family is just doctors. you know? be a lawyer. whatever. anyway. sam says this is just how middle class becomes middle class. he was like my grandmother was a navy engineer... then i showed him the wikipedia of a guy that opens with "he was the largest landowner in michigan." nvm. anyway, again

so one of my least favorite antis (for the sake of this we're calling them antis, let me be), her dad was a semi public figure but he wasn't a developer (he was a regular public figure, actually kind of like my own grandfather), so i didn't realize that her grandfather was actually in fact also developer. and compared to some of the aforementioned, it's nothing too crazy. but i wanted to look more into the particular developments, partially because i'm hateful, primarily because i'm nosy, but actually really because this is one thing i always do to learn more about developments in their specificities and their legacies. housing, shopping malls, honestly not for me but this is taubman land. i'll allow you to have a shopping center grandfather

in any case there was a lot of newspaper coverage of this massive development he was a partner on in flint. outside of flint. so i dug into this because i know the place, was interested it. hilariously, if you want apartheid legacy bites, here's one from his company: "to assure the future of a new community such as this, it must be big enough to protect itself against he encroachments of undesirable elements and to set standards for future neighboring development." wow. to this anti's credit, she's not the worst yimby in the bunch.. the irony of that would be too delicious. god won't let me have it.

but i continue to read on this and i notice yet another familiar name, although named here as a designer and not a developer, of a golf course, a last name of a former anarchist friend who had lived in flint and claimed to me that their family owned a golf course. (jewish family but i'm not sure if this side was jewish. flint jews -- too rare.) looking more into this designer i'm not sure there's anything to be ashamed of (kind of neat, if money) but to make this a very "hilarious left" moment, this anarchist, i found out last year, organized a shop with the WORST guy (not relevant here - he's chicago italian), who would later become the worst dsa guy. basically that organizing set him on the course to dsa. powermap this!

anyway i was like "i hate the left" but who am i to talk, my grandfather was the kissinger of west bloomfield

b if you are ever reading this i am sorry if this is embarrassing, i accept your apologies, but i had to post this

[exitrowiron]

Solar Panels (part 2)

These are the inverters. They convert the DC power of the solar panels to AC power which can be used by us or sent back to the grid. We have three inverters which can provide a max of 24 kwatts. This is the maximum power we can produce, even if the panels are technically capable of generating more on a cool sunny day. There were many days in June/July where we hit this peak in the afternoon - in essence we were throwing away power because we didn't have the inverter capacity. Most of the time, however, the max inverter capacity isn't a limiting factor and this limitation will become even less relevant over time as the panel efficiency degrades by .5% each year (not sure why they degrade but they do). In the picture below you can see the production hitting the 24 kwh limit.

In the picture above, you can see our production in July - this is probably the most the system will ever produce in one month. PSE charges $.11KWH so the system 'earned' $580.

Our installer provided an ROI estimate as part of the proposal, taking into account the 2022 26% Federal Tax credit. The ROI calculation included very aggressive assumptions about annual energy cost inflation (4%) and the annual power production of the system. I don't think energy costs are going to go up that much every year and I know that our panels are going to be covered in snow a few months of the year. I did my own calculations with less aggressive assumptions and still get a pay-back of ~10 years.

Of course there is also the 'opportunity cost' of this investment. I could have kept this cash invested and earning some kind of return. The solar panel investment is very low/no risk however and a comparable bond investment might only earn 2-3% so here again the solar panel investment outperforms a comparable investment in approx. 10 years.

Hope you found this interesting... send me a message if you'd like to know more.

#solar panels #solar power

[brokentoys]

Do you prefer your Riddler to know Batman's secret (Like in Hush) or still be obsessed with the big riddle?

This is a very fun question because ORIGINALLY when I created this blog. My Eddie didn't know Batman's identity. This is because I actually love the idea that Eddie could easily figure it out. BUT. He refuses to because he projects his father on to Batman. He likes to think of Batman as his father so he can get "revenge" on him. Plus, Batman reminds Eddie so much of his old man. If Eddie knew what face was under the cowl, it could ruin that fantasy for him.

HOWEVER

When I created this blog nearly 3 years ago, I haven't read Hush yet. After reading it, and after thinking about how Eddie came close to figuring out Batman's identity in Ark Origins. I reconsidered it. Hush introduced a very good idea that was immediately discarded by DC because they're creatively bankrupt and only rely on already popular characters for quick bucks. That was Eddie being a mastermind like character. And you see. Many of the other rogues are also super smart. While sometimes Eddie is credited as one of the / the smartest villain. It just doesn't really... make him special compared to the other rogues who are BOTH smart AND fighters/strong. Intelligence is literally all Eddie has. I feel if Eddie knew Batman's identity, it can show you how special his brand of intelligence is compared to some of the other Super Smart Villains. It can also make Eddie into more of a mastermind character as I've stated before. This could've made for interesting comics where Eddie fucked with Bruce's personal life. (Plus it wouldn't have been too sus, given that Bruce is the richest man in Gotham - most would assume Eddie was just doing it for wealth and recognition)

In my lore, Hush is mostly canon. Just because I feel it's a big feat to give Eddie some cred as a threat in the underground. (As well as showing off his manipulation skills) and well... since I have ideas for a fancomic or something, the Hush plot will become Relevant again eventually.

So, by default - my Eddie knows Bruce is Batman. The only times I write him as not knowing is when I'm writing with a Bruce/Batman and I haven't asked them if they're cool with that yet. My Ed also won't tell anyone the Secret though just for the same reasons in Hush - doesn't wanna potentially get in trouble with Rai's and his league of assassins.

#( 🧩 ✧ INFERIOR PUPPETEER ✧ | OOC ) #( 🧩 ✧ SENT TO ARKHAM ✧ | INBOX ) #// so usually when i'm writing with most ppl - ed does indeed know it <3 #// just has Zero Reason to bring it up tho

[heroesriseandfall]

Okay so. Writing update, I did end up committing all the way to NaNoWriMo this year, but the breakdown of my miscellaneous mostly Batfam writing project is hilarious to me, so if you are interested in what my DC writing looked like in November, I did silly math.

The 50,500 words for my project this year was basically whatever writing of my own that I did in November and that I considered enough effort/part of a dedicated something (so not, like, text messages or whatever random thing) to “count” for the project. Most of it was various DC fanfics or casual comics analysis.

Out of the 50k words written for the goal (non-bolded percents are sections included within the percent group right before them):

52% was for my still in progress “miles apart” long fic (basically a canon divergent “what if a lonely place of dying but earlier and no Jason death and lots of early batbros + NTT and also stuff that I want to see more of from that era” fanfic)

But only 37% of my writing was the actual fanfic content.

15% was just me plotting that fanfic (canon divergent long fics take so much to plan ok) and also my in-text notes

Those notes include me wondering/asking future me editing questions such as “check Who’s Who on DCUI to see how tall Victor Stone is compared to Kory” (6’6” vs. 6’4” btw) and “should Gar really be sitting on people as an elephant, how much restraint does he need to have to not kill people??” (maybe he shouldn’t sit on non-invulnerable assassins when he weighs 2-7 tons?) and also “does Dick have a car in NTTv2?” (…I think so??? I would assume? but he seems to take a lot of taxis/fly with Kory instead??)

29% was just me rambling/writing analysis about some of the Batkids. Unsurprising but amusing that I was just rambling about them for 15k.

As part of that rambling, 13% was me figuring out a post-Crisis age timeline for Babs based on comics. Fun and necessary but sometimes agonizing because I have to cite comics I do not like...

More rambling, 10% was me analyzing comics for what pre-Robin Tim’s Batfam obsession looked like based on post-Crisis. It’s relevant to my fanfic, okay!

8% was another (TimBern) fanfic I started because I got stuck on a plot point in the long fic and needed something less plot-heavy.

4% another (WIP) fanfic mostly about Tim & Bruce. unfinished. idk where it is going.

3% writing for college assignments. RIP finals.

2% potentially finishing up a one shot about pre-Robin Jason that I don’t know what to do with (it doesn’t feel done...).

1% possibly finishing the draft of another Dick & Tim fanfic (an angst-heavy Red Robin-era canon divergence).

1% starting a Robin Jason & Dick fanfic that I’m also not sure where to go with (pls I just want them to be cute first brothers).

I must also note that during all of this I was going slightly nuts not having any current projects to write about the women in the Batfam...downside of setting my current main fic smackdab in one of the least gender-diverse era of Batfam (in between Babs retiring Batgirl & becoming Oracle, no less!). Which is how I ended up writing 6.5k of Barbara Gordon timeline. I only lasted that long because I had Donna & Kory for the New Titans parts <3 (I need to add more of them I have another short scene planned)

Anyway. I just found it fun to look at how much I wrote of what in this jumble of a project. I have done NaNoWriMo previously but it had been a while since I really committed to it, so it was fun to actually write this much again. Even if I, uh, probably neglected some schoolwork for it. oops?

None of these fanfics are ready to be posted btw, they are a mess, but progress is progress, and if I do some editing in December, maybe a few will be :)

#nanowrimo #nanowrimo 2022 #my fanfics #batfam #heroesriseandfall #ID in alt text #fanfic #my writing #nano 2022 #fic: miles apart #fic: i will (not) always catch you #fic: rusted #dc

[mediaevalmusereads]

Not All Supermen: Sexism, Toxic Masculinity, and the Complex History of Superheroes. By Tim Hanley. Rowman and Littlefield, 2022.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Genre: non-fiction, literary criticism, comics history

Summary: Superheroes have been exciting and inspirational cultural icons for decades, dating back to the debut of Superman in the 1930s. The earliest tales have been held up as cornerstones of the genre, looked upon with nostalgic reverence. However, enshrining these tales also enshrines many outdated values that have allowed sexist gender dynamics to thrive.

In Not All Supermen: Sexism, Toxic Masculinity, and the Complex History of Superheroes, Tim Hanley examines how anger, aggression, and violence became the norm in superhero comics, paired with a disdain for women that the industry has yet to fully move beyond. The sporadic addition of new female heroes over the years proved largely ineffective, the characters often underused and objectified. Hanley also reveals how the genre's sexism has had real-world implications, with many creators being outed as sexual harassers and bigots, while intolerant fan movements are awash with misogynistic hate speech.

Superheroes can be a force for good, representing truth, justice, and courage, but the industry is laden with excessive baggage. The future of the genre depends on what elements of its past are celebrated and what is left behind. Not All Supermen unravels this complex history and shows how superheroes can become more relevant and inspiring for everyone.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: discussions of violence against women and online harrassment

Review: Since this book is non-fiction, this review is going to be structured differently than my typical posts.

I bought this book on a whim after it was recommended to me by some algorithm or another. I haven’t completely abandoned my interest in comics scholarship, and I thought this would be an intriguing read to get my lit crit juices going again. Overall, I found this book to be a very useful guide to the history of sexism in DC and Marvel; Hanley narrativizes the ups and downs in a way that is easy to follow, and I found some of his data points (percentage of letters from readers) very insightful and compelling. I also appreciated the moments when Hanley connected the sexist phenomena on the comics page to the historical and/or cultural environment at the time (which makes clear that comics didn’t exist in a vacuum) and I liked that Henley pulled no punches when talking about problems in the industry.

However, all that being said, I do not think this book will be very useful for people who A.) know a lot about comics history already, B.) are thoroughly aware of topics such as gender, toxic masculinity, and white supremacy in “nerd spaces,” and C.) are interested in superheroes outside of Marvel and DC. Don’t get me wrong - Hanley’s book is still a good resource. I can see it being a useful teaching aid, a casual non-fiction read, or a good introduction to the study of comics (especially the big publishers). All those things are good and important, and we need these kinds of books - especially written in such a clear and accessible way as Hanley writes. However, there wasn’t anything in this book that was particularly new to me - someone who has been knee-deep in the quagmire of sexist backlash over superhero comics for years. Personally, I was hoping for a little more from this book - more close readings of comics panels (the descriptions were fine, but I would have liked to see more detailed work), more use of outside sources (perhaps theorists or more psychologists/sociologists who have some good insights into the phenomena Henley discusses), and more of a takeaway (something other than simply “the industry is sexist/racist/homophobic”). Of course, I might just be wishing this book to be something it is not (and wasn’t meant to be), so take my criticism with a grain of salt.

Regardless, I think this book is beneficial to the overall conversations in comics scholarship. The fact that it is so affordable, straight-forward, and thorough helps orient readers in the (frequently complicated) history of Marvel and DC superhero publishing, and I look forward to seeing more from this author.

[theydigthecape]

eat bang kill tour .01

#eat bang kill tour #lgbtincomics #harlivy #harleen quinzel #pamela isley #harley quinn #poison ivy #wlw #dcu #dc comics #dc is becoming relevant to my interests again #wednesday spoilers #comics post

[spnasylum]

My notes while listening to Misha’s comments on the podcast: (grab a snack!)

In light of the most recent fandom drama I decided to listen to *that* podcast and take notes as I went along about what was actually said and then give my take on it as objectively as possible. This is basically an essay so strap in!

He complains about not getting a trailer on set that’s the same as Jared and Jensen’s. Even though he has one that can accommodate 3 people. This was the first point of discussion inspired by opening up the interview with a brief chat about Misha currently being in his camper van and how he’s sleeping in it even though he’s still home in Bellingham. The whole hour and 26 minutes has an undertone of complaining and ego stroking by all involved. 

 Says he’s sad he didn’t get to be there for the final days of filming.  

 Seems a little nervous about if friendships made during the shows run will last now it’s over. 

 Admits he has no plan in place or anything coming up career wise and he’s unsure of his future. This is where he brings up Walker and The Boys and says if he had shows like that to go to he wouldn’t feel SPN ending was so monumental. It is said with a slight tone of bitterness. 

 Side note: the hosts Alaina and Malik seem to be fine with running with the narrative that Misha was part of the show it’s entire 15 year run. Misha clears this up eventually by saying he joined in season 4. 

 Misha says that he realized about six years ago that SPN could run as “we”  wanted it to, implying he has any say in keeping the show going or not. He asserts that he would have been on the show up until the very end in any case. But he didn’t feel that way the first few years he was on the show. So that makes me think something or someone involved gave him the feeling he could be confident in being in the cast for however long SPN aired. Maybe this was after Sera left? Maybe this was when he agreed to a significant pay cut and demotion? Either way it seems he felt SPN = job security. 

 Misha doubts he’ll have the feeling of job security again. 

 Says from around age 11 he wanted to be a politician. 

 Says he saw “successful, untalented” actors and decided “I can do that”. He realized that was naive and it’s actually not easy to be that successful and by the time he got his career going he was basically just in it for the fame it’s not anything he took seriously. 

 We find out his wife did a doctorate in gender history... for some reason. 

 That Marilyn Monroe was some sort of baseline for him about creating a public persona (🤷🏽‍♀️) except for getting cosmetic surgery he points out. 

 Talk about how he got started. Acting classes, improve groups. Moving between Chicago, DC and LA. 

 Discussion about the differences and similarities between Hollywood and Washington. 

 States he got a consultant to help him cultivate a fan base and image to connect with an audience after getting on SPN. Admits that was a double edged sword because an anonymous public start thinking that they really know you and things start getting weird. 

 Mentions trying to find a balancing act of being authentic and having a private life but still keeping your fans. 

 He admits that the fan base he grew for himself by seeming accessible has caused him to attract people who don’t have any boundaries. This is when he claims the “dialing it back” in regard to how much he shares and mentions his kids specifically as something he doesn’t feel comfortable with putting out there. Uses the word “unhinged” to describe them. 

 Malik mentions “crazy fans” who seem to know too much about you and finding out where you are etc. Using the example of fans turning up at an airport wanting autographs and you wondering how they even knew you’d be there and what flight you taking. He asks Misha to share experiences about his own crazy fans. 

 This is when Misha uses the example about having fans who think that when he tweets something out he’s communicating with them personally. 

 Alaina then says that in the Supernatural fandom people fight each other to protect Jared, Jensen and Misha and it’s “very bizarre”. She volunteered that people think Misha secretly hates Jared and that it’s not true. Not sure why she decided to direct the conversation to a place that would cause drama and give Misha a chance to play victim. 

 And then...

 That’s when he claims that he was public enemy number one with super fans of the show because he’s taking attention away from Jared and Jensen. 

 That’s when he brings up the alleged organized attack to take down his Facebook account. He says they reported him for... *pauses... claims to not know what. But that whatever it was “Facebook bought it and took it down”. Facebook deleted/deactivated his account but he eventually got it back. 

 Side note: Facebook (like all social media) have always been bias when it comes to people with leftist views and let them have free reign on the platform. So he must have done something that they would decide to suspend him. I don’t think J2 fans can be blamed for the content he posts and if it violated any ToS. As we know he can post some inappropriate things on social media. 

 He then brings up the allegations of him taking money out of his organization. Stating it’s “categorically untrue” is all he brings forward as evidence to the contrary. 

 Side note: I don’t know why then that there’s no receipts or transparency. Why is his mother a beneficiary, why do people who mention he owns Stands get blocked, why set everything up in Delaware and have your for profit and so called non profit interests so entangled etc etc) I guess fans are just supposed to have faith and take his word for it. 

 He says that ALL of them (Jared, Jensen and himself) have people who hate them in the fandom. But overall the fandom is lovely and supportive of the cast and each other. Makes an attempt at stating there’s no kind of competition or animosity between he and Jared. I think this is like the 3rd or 4th time in the interview either he or Alaina bring up Jared but keep the focus on how Misha is the one facing “character assassination.”

 Finally says that all of them have nasty things done to them and they all have had to consult security because of threats to their families etc, doesn’t specify which faction of the fandom that’s coming from. Mentions people filing police reports in the fandom but doesn’t say regarding who or what. Alaina reacts like it’s the first time hearing of this happening. Misha just goes “yeah!” Then they move on to talking about living situations. 

 Apparently Alaina and Misha were neighbors in LA but didn’t take advantage of that. She doesn’t live in LA anyone, wants a new adventure. 

 Misha mentions Bellingham is another thing about his future he’s unsure about and how his kids flourished there. 

 Brings up not being present with his kids even when he’s home because of work and side projects and that the one thing he’s enjoying right now it spending time with them. That he used to operate from a place of guilt because his kids felt like they only have one parent. He and Malik briefly spoke on how their careers have negatively affected their love lives. 

 Misha says he’s not really involved with Random Acts or running it anymore. (Ummm... what) 

 He and Alaina discuss Haiti and Nicaragua for a while. 

 Says he may try to get into directing. Says he likes having creative control. Mentions he likes doing his art installations. 

 Admits that getting a bit of success made him very entitled and wanting of special treatment. But claims he’s trying to keep that in check (where?) and he’s just like everyone else (well duh!). But he “trades on his celebrity” to get stuff and it makes him feel dirty (I think everyone with any kind of following does that though so nbd)

 Talk of how TV/film is more diverse in telling minority stories these days. 

 Was asked by Malik if he has any kind of chip on his shoulder career wise and Misha says the chip on his shoulder is being bored. But says he needs to work on being more engaged. 

 He then abruptly wants to end the interview. Saying he has to pick up his kids. Malik wants another question. He asks how Misha has been hurt or healed by his career. 

 Misha then brings up the movie Karla. Again admitting to becoming more like Paul psychologically irl. But says knowing he has that type of evil in him somewhere (and says that we all have that in us) made him more empathetic to the human condition. 

 They then say their goodbyes. End of interview. 

 ——

 My takeaway. The worst thing he can think to say the people who don’t like him in the fandom did was trolling to get his Facebook deactivated? Also that people can see the suspicious nature of his businesses? It would be really easy to settle that with actually being transparent about the finances, which they aren’t and not having close family as benefactors though. Also, I can only speak for myself. But I never hated him. I actually loved Castiel (before his character was there just to be there in recent seasons and Cass wasn’t Cass anymore. I think Misha’s need to pander to shippers/stay on the show was a great disservice to Castiel and his arc) I was a huge Misha fan, and participated in RA and Gish a lot. I absolutely adored Misha, I led myself to believe he was the most amazing person in the world, obviously that’s the reaction he wanted to cultivate from us. Unfortunately I learned too much, experienced first hand and heard too much to be able to keep cheerleading for him. I feel bad for the people still under the spell of feeling like it’s their job to keep being defensive and unreasonably loyal to someone who you can’t and don’t really know and only have a superficial “relationship” with. Seeing the ever more unhealthy and toxic lengths people feel they need to go to to prop up his ego etc. The constant investment emotionally and financially that goes into it and the “sunk cost” if you let reality in makes it hard to let go I guess. Even he knows that what he’s done to gain and maintain relevance has attracted what he called multiple times an unhinged fan base he has to try and balance without losing his influence. I think he maybe had or has good intentions but his fame hungry drive and narcissistic personality traits win out in the end. The Heller’s seem to have, as always, taken what was said and blown it out of proportion, twisted things and created their own narrative. I do see them using key words from the interview a lot suddenly though to bully for him. So, I guess the dog whistle to the sycophants worked out. I hope that a time comes where they can have a more healthy relationship with the media and public figures they choose to gravitate towards. We can all get over zealous with things but there’s lines that shouldn’t be crossed. For some that seems sadly unlikely. I hope that Misha does indeed one day get himself in check as he calls it and I can feel comfortable to support him again. But so long as he’s being enabled and not held accountable again that seems sadly unlikely. Even though I do occasionally find myself being drawn in by the facade again a little and quickly retreating because the issues remain the same. There is a problematic dynamic in the Supernatural fandom for sure. That’s why for a long time I opted out and just watched the show separately from fandom. It’s why when I found out it was ending I had this odd sense of relief I wasn’t expecting to feel and it made me sad. I hope that now the show has aired its finale we can all reflect on things, hopefully be more self aware and objective and most importantly honest about what really has gone down and why. When things started turning sour there have been plenty of times it could have been nipped in the bud yet wasn’t. People who used this silly yet special show in selfish ways, times when walking away would have been better than sticking around trying to make things and people into something never intended to be, giving into tribalism while claiming we’re a family... for that I think we all hold a little piece of responsibility. 

  You can listen to it yourself on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0m07her5JUf0JGGtDVohtJ?si=c-RdyZzFQmSzffgNzZhkQg

#anti misha #anti misha collins #misha collins #supernatural #fandom #anti destihellers #strap in its a long one again #opinion #trying to be objective #alaina huffman #malik yoba #anti minions #misha #collins

[bigskydreaming]

With the Tom Taylor stuff, they released a new Batgirl costume for Babs again (different anon then before though so hopefully same issue). People are mad because, well, it's abelist. Especially because like it feels like they've been teasing/foreshadowing her becoming Oracle again (ie. noting that she shouldn't be hopping from roofs, I mean Dick adopted a three-legged dog for Christ's sake). It really seems like the perfect time for the magic disability curing chip to die, and instead they come out with this? Disappointing. Rude. Especially rude because the new costume was announced on the first day of disability pride month, and he's responded by saying - but oh look, here's a back brace on the part of the suit behind the cape. Not a good look imo.

Idk how many people would have to agree on making Babs truly paraplegic again for it to happen? Like would something like this be up to editorial, or could Tom as the writer have enough sway to make it happen? I know the original decision was ten years ago, and Didio has (thank the lord) been fired since then, as has Harras, and I've heard there's been creative turnover as well. Since you've been in the fandom for a while, do you know who else we should be pressuring?

Its literally something that only editorial and higher will ever have decision-making control over.

I can tell you that while Gail Simone was the one who initially wrote the story where Babs returned to being Batgirl - and considering that a lot of Gail's own work was instrumental in fleshing out Babs as Oracle to the degree that she was - what I can say there is that Gail was not actually a fan of the decision to make Babs Batgirl again herself.

It was 100% a decision made by the higher-ups during the initial Reboot discussions, and I do know that a number of creatives, both writers and artists, voiced their protest to the decision at the time - though I can't speak to who exactly did so and who didn't.

Gail has however expressed that she went back and forth a lot on her decision to write Babs becoming Batgirl again, because she really was not comfortable with it at all, but that ultimately the reason she did decide to do it was because it was made clear to her by the higher-ups that they were asking her to write it out of respect to the work she'd done with Oracle previously - but whether she accepted or not, they were going to go forward with it, even if with another writer.

So ultimately, she's said she only decided to take on the story herself because she could at least try to make it as aware of Babs' time as Oracle and what she represented as Oracle as possible, whereas she had no control over if DC went to another writer whose approach to it was basically to magically handwave Babs being 'cured' and being ecstatically happy about it.

Please note, I'm not trying to speak to her choice there or argue for it or against it, I'm simply trying to repeat what I know of her stated perspective on it, as the writer who actually 'did it.'

My point just being that it wasn't a decision made at a creator level at all, and DC was more than ready to go around one of the writers most closely identified with Babs in her Oracle identity, as well as a number of others who were against it, though again I don't know how many or whom specifically.

I honestly don't see any guarantee they'd be more accommodating of any writers today trying to convince them to do it. So while I don't think voicing concerns over disabled representation to writers is ever a wasted effort, I don't see it accomplishing anything here in specific. If any movement is going to be made on this matter, its only going to be done through keeping the subject centered in the awareness of the higher-ups, so basically any editors with a social media presence.

Unfortunately, options are very limited there (I'm not really on twitter these days so I don't really know what editors are even around there, currently), but yeah, in the interest of prioritizing time and spoons, and concentrating efforts.....this is one of those situations where the writers themselves are simply the go-betweens and the only even potentially effective appeals are going to be those made at the editorial level and higher. (Higher being those at the publishing exec and board of directors level, but I wouldn't know where to even begin looking for those particular names).

Sorry I can't be more help!

(Also, just FYI in general on this matter:

For the record, I do try to be very....'light' about expressing my opinions when it comes to Babs' disability, because I do not trust myself to have the necessary objectivity. I have a physical disability that greatly impacts my way of living and has for five years, but in ways not remotely interchangeable with Babs. Additionally, mine does have a surgical treatment that would allow me to resume my original way of living without significant deviations from it, and its a treatment I still am working towards and hope to get in the near future. So I definitely have opinions on physical ableism in society and how I've even been impacted by such things myself, but I've also never viewed or even approached my own situation or disability through the lens of it being lifelong.

So I'm kinda 'thematically' somewhat in a position that has nuances relevant to the conversations at hand and the 'choices' being thrown around in-universe IF and only if such things were subject to 'real world rules' and self-autonomous choices rather than being ruled by the whims of editors with agendas and biases of their own. All of which makes me uncomfortable weighing in too heavily on this subject because I'm a naturally opinionated person, and I have a tendency to center my own experiences in online debates simply because they're the only ones I can actually speak to, particularly in non-monolithic situations like this one where even people with broadly shared marginalizations have opinions that differ in degrees both large and small.

My own disability really brought to light for me that I had a LOT of pre-existing ableism myself that I'm still unpacking five years in, and frankly I just don't trust myself to be able to tell the difference between opinions I express on this subject as a kind of unconscious wish fulfillment, ableism-still-in-need-of-further-unpacking, and even subconscious overcompensation for my own ableism based on addressing current issues I have born of impostor syndrome. Its a whole mess up here in terms of ableism discussions, so if you don't see me weighing in on the Babs matter much elsewhere, that's why.

Personally, I always write Babs as Oracle and physically disabled, even in Reboot-era stuff, and I’m fairly sure I always will - so don’t get me wrong, I have a very clear stance on that front because I'm never on board with erasing, mitigating or invalidating previous representation....that isn’t my issue here at all, its more just wading into arguments for and against undoing the chip storyline that I hesitate to do. I know my stance - I just don’t trust myself to argue it in the right ways or for the right reasons.

Just know its not because I'm oblivious to it, that I approve of DC's decisions here or how their various creatives reply to criticism of it, or because I don't have opinions myself......but my own view of things is too constantly shifting in my own life for me to be comfortable contributing any lasting voice to these discussions, at least where I'm at right now. I'm not good at speaking softly if I feel a need to speak up at all, but I don't believe in speaking loudly when I can't even be sure for myself that I can commit 100% to what I voice...and even more importantly in my mind, WHY I voice it).

[calchexxis]

Invincible is what The Boys wishes it was.

Blasé Invincible does in about eight episodes what The Boys has, in my opinion, still not managed to do. It tells an adult superhero story.

I’ll try to keep this spoiler-free but if any do pop up I’ll make sure to include a warning ahead of time. So, in we go.

The Boys, as most people are probably at least passingly aware, is about a non-powered person who’s life gets ruined by a cadre of oversexed, drugged up, psychopathic corporate superheroes. This isn’t a spoiler as it pretty much all gets established halfway through episode one. From the get-go we are absolute slapped in the face with the fact that the superheroes are all shit-heels. That’s... mostly fine, to be honest. It’s the story of the comic, and the story the show is telling, so fine, okay.

Whatever.

The thing is, it’s just not very interesting. A few episodes in things are so gratuitous that it’s become a bit like binge-watching the Hostel series with the Human Centipede trilogy running on your second monitor. It’s all pretty awful from word go that by the time the second season rolls around it flies right past dark-and-gritty territory and directly into Camp. It’s just ridiculous by the end. I genuinely could not take the show seriously after a certain point.

Invincible does it right.

Slight spoilers ahead for the end of Episode #1.

The start of Invincible could be the start of a new Justice League series. I’m dead serious, they did it perfectly. Even if you already know what you’re getting into with how dark the story gets, you still get lulled into a false sense of security by Ep.1 anyway, and you know why?

There’s no blood.

That’s it. It’s that simple. Go watch/rewatch it if you don’t believe me. Watch the opening fight between the Guardians and the Mauler Twins. There’s pretty much zero blood in the first episode until the final scene with the ruinous battle between Omni-Man and the Guardians when things get so catastrophically gory that it actually feels impactful. Contrast that with Hughie’s girlfriend (who I’ve legitimately forgotten the name of because she ceased to be a relevant device by episode 3) who gets absolutely pasted in the first 4 minutes, and you see the difference which is like, they start as they mean to go on.

In Invincible, there’s actually surprisingly little gut-twisting disgust. Sure, some of the heroes are kind of dickish (looking at you RexSplode) but most of them are pretty decent people. The world actually feels like the comically overwrought world of DC where there’s some kind of reality-rocking threat every twenty minutes and it’s become so consistent that everyone’s sort of blasé about it.

In the span of eight episodes, it takes that premise, throws in some hyper-realistic fight mechanics, painfully real characters, and it tells a story. It keeps its narrative clean and concise, develops meaningful relationships between the cast, and left me absolutely gripped at the end.

Once again, by contrast, I was sort of over The Boys by the fourth or fifth episode of season one. It just... wasn’t that interesting. I grew up on Garth Ennis’ comics, so I know the style, it just wasn’t as good here.

In short, if you like The Boys, watch Invincible. It’s better.

#invincible #the boys #review