#i've already seen this you say

[kageroughoul]

I'm still stuck in this rabbit hole

#everymanhybrid #evan emh #habit emh #habit everymanhybrid #habit #twelve art #i've already seen this you say #no you haven't #okay so #i changed the pose at the last second last time and it's been gnawing on me ever since #and also the earlier version didn't even look like habit?? #so here we go again #i've now watched marble hornets as well #a little of mlanderson #emh is by far my favorite slenderverse series #i just love it so much

[karda]

gentle reminder that if situations like these are affecting you mentally and you genuinely feel like your world is ending, you need to take a step back. parasocial relationships can be so dangerous for your well-being.

17yo me would be having a mental breakdown right now over this, and it took a while for me to realize that was a problem. its ok to be upset, but content creators are not your friends, and you don't know them. you can't let them have that kind of control over your mental health.

#i think most of my followers know this already but still. ive talked abt parasocial stuff before but witht he wilbur stuff I wanted t #wanted to say it again #I've seen a lot of people talk about the importance of his music to them and how thatd emotionally affecting them #and I've felt that with a lot of bands before to that get exposed for being shit #but at the end of the day you Have to step back. #find different music . take a step back. #rambling #discourse #wilbur situation #if my stance isnt already crystal clear #fuck wilbur and fuck abusers. fuck anyone who supports him 👍 #tw abuse

[nightwings-robin]

Some of y'all act like Tim hated Jason when Tim was Robin and Jason was still dead but I disagree.

Not a lot of people do this but I've seen it enough times that it's gotten to bother me a little bit.

Let's take a look at some early Tim opinions on Jason.

Detective Comics (1937) #618

"Just a boy like me... One day I'll be as good as Jason."

This issue came out in 1990, so it's rather soon after Jason died and Tim was introduced (which happened in 1988 and 1989 respectfully). This is what Tim thinks about Jason very early one. This doesn't read as even remotely like hatred to me.

But wait, there's more!

The very next issue shows Tim having sympathy for Jason.

Detective Comics (1937) #619

Tim is noting the similarities between Dick, Jason, and himself. This issue is in the same arc when Tim's parents get kidnapped and his mom is killed. He has sympathy for Dick AND Jason, who both lost their parents. Tim is faced with the same pain and it shows his compassion for Jason.

Now this isn't to say that Tim was unaware of some of Jason's problems and maybe did blame him for his own death a bit, as shown with this panel:

Batman (1940) #455

Tim knew that Jason had times of anger and says he won't let that happen to himself. I don't think Tim is being quite fair here in claiming that he won't let his anger get the better of him like Jason's did, but Tim is hardly the only character to think this way about Jason and, again, this doesn't read as hatred to me. If anything, to me this reads as a character with preconceived notions about how another person died and not wanting to make the same preconceived mistakes as that person.

Is he being a bit harsh and 'holier-than-thou' here? Yes. Do I think this is hatred or some other malicious view of Jason? No.

There is also that time Tim hallucinated Dick and Jason, and they gave a sort of "pep-talk" to him about being Robin.

Batman (1940) #456

These are Tim's own thoughts manifesting through Dick and Jason. I do dislike that he imagines Jason blaming himself for his own death but think about why Tim would think this about Jason. Tim never met Jason. Wasn't there when he died. He only knows what he read and what he was told about Jason from other people. People like Bruce, Dick, and Alfred. And while those three loved and cared for Jason, they also unfortunately reinforced the belief that Jason was responsible for the Joker murdering him. It's not great but it does stand to reason that Tim would think this about Jason.

But it's not all bad stuff. Tim imagines Jason cheering him on alongside Dick:

Batman (1940) #456

Tim imagines not just Dick but also Jason telling him he can do it. That he can figure it out and be a good Robin. I feel like if Tim really did hate Jason, he wouldn't imagine Jason rooting for him.

Tim goes on to imagine Dick and Jason later helping him out with a fight:

Batman (1940) #457

Again, Tim imagines both Dick AND Jason encouraging him during a battle. He imagines that they both want him to succeed as a hero. Why would Tim want Jason's approval if he dislikes Jason? Because he doesn't dislike Jason. Tim respects him enough as Robin to think that he wants Jason's encouragement.

and then at the end when he officially becomes Robin:

Batman (1940) #457

"Dick made it a symbol... Jason gave his life for it. Failing them... what they fought so hard to build... worries me."

Tim sees being Robin as not just carrying on Dick's legacy, but also Jason's. He wants to live up to Jason just as much as he wants to live up to Dick. He wants to be a Robin that both of them can be proud of.

Like none of this says to me that Tim hated Jason. Did he look up to and idolize Jason the way he did with Dick? No, but that also doesn't mean that Tim hated him.

I get the feeling that Tim viewed Jason's death as a tragedy but since they never met, he didn't have any personal feelings about him, only wanting to live up to the Robin name that Jason left behind.

Now I DO think that Tim did eventually end up hating Jason after Jason came back and tried to kill Tim and others multiple times but this post is specifically referring to the time before Jason returned from the grave.

And I guess I should make it clear that I've not read every single comic issue of Tim Drake ever so maybe there are moments that refute my claim that I just don't know about. I'm simply going off of issues that I have read and I've only read Tim's very early days as Robin.

Feel free to disagree and add on if you want.

#tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #bruce wayne #batman and robin #dc comics #I just get annoyed when I see people say that tim always hated jason even back before jason came back. like... no he didn't #likewise I've also seen people say that jason was tim's robin more than dick was and... that ain't it either #but I didn't touch on that in this post because it was already getting long #I want to know other people's opinions though so feel free to add anything if you want!

[agreatandhonorablesoldier]

incorrect quotes 4/?

#bradley rooster bradshaw #jake hangman seresin #hangster #sereshaw #jake seresin #*Bradley Bradshaw #*My gifs #*OTP: You look good #(I've already laughed myself silly over this and caused injury) #(Quote from The Bo.ys) #(Glen sweetie you can try to say Jake's a top all you want but you channeled so much bottom energy into this man #that even my friend who hasn't seen it yet agrees to the bottomness) #*Incorrect Quotes #1k

[acursedhalo]

Stargazers & Moongazers Yours is the light by which my spirit's born - you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars.

#halo's edits #cloti #cloud x tifa #warrose #warfield #cliji #clive x jill #gifs #apparently some people get real mad when you #point out the very obvious similarities between these two couples #and to that i say take it up with god #and by god i mean yoshi-p #and the rest of cbu3 #i've seen a photoset of this parallel #on twitter #but no gifset yet #i apologize if it's already been done!

[sergle]

I don’t fucking know WHY but my reduction sketch of me looking haggard absolutely blowd up on twitter. girl I don’t think my regular art has gotten traction like this since At All. also it’s attracting some amount of freaks 

#look at the fucking likes. HUH. #I've already seen some terfs going wah wah you shouldn't get rid of them because (static noise) #and I can't say it on twitter but I'm just reading that and being like mm. you should kill yourself #sergle.txt

[gregoftom]

TO ME, THAT’S CINEMA

#tomgreg #so i've seen this around a lot and ppl have already made points but like holy fuck. hoooly fuck lmao where do i begin #TOM THOUGHT THE ROOM WAS EMPTY FOR UH ... FOR WHAT BITCH?? #empty for what. you two just going in there ALONE. what for. strategizing? ok but then why was greg showing you tonight's selection. #even if it was girls it's still sus bc like who tf goes specifically to a room to show that shit. #oh by the way i listened again and tom says first ''why do we have to...'' so GREG asked for the room? #greg asked them to go to an empty room. slut. #anD THEN AFTER SAID ''I WANNA GIVE YOU'' BITCH!!!!!!!!1 #are we sure it's girls though...... like does it say later. i'll keep watching but Christ. LIKE. WHAT THE FUCK #how am i supposed to read this other than an affair lmfao and then he says ''go on'' and sends greg off away like a little pet #sick to bastard death of them god #so it's like. greg says can we go somewhere private and tom says why do we have to #greg says i wanna give you... and tom says what do you wanna give me annoyed like #girl we are at work and we are trying to stay alive can't you wait til we are at home for me to clap them cheeks #and then greg says a preview of tonight's selection... of what? could be alcohol could be sexy stuff could be mf. clothes idk #and then they look up like O FUCK the room is in use and it's fucking SH*V and immediately tom is like GO ON and greg #doesn't even stutter or say anything like usual he's just like SORRY and leaves immediately bc he KNOWS he gotta gtfo #sorry i'm just. poetic cinema indeed

[onaperduamedee]

I don't know if it's show bias, but I struggle to understand the reading of Moiraine as someone who is so driven by her mission that she doesn't care.

From the get-go, she flees the White Tower for fear of ending up Queen of Cairhien and as cruel a leader as the rulers in her family, although it would have meant control and power;

Getting knocked down and unable to channel, she stabs a former teacher to stop her from killing innocents who have little to do with her mission;

She rushes to the Blight to bond Lan and keep him from basically killing himself, even if again it is a gamble, and later on, the bond transfer is about saving him, albeit cruelly;

She uses her body as a shield to hold off a Forsaken in order to help Rand, sustaining serious injuries in the fight, although her sacrifice is mostly useless considering how overpowered she is;

Many times, she heals villagers, soldiers, Aiel, wolves, sometimes until she is on the brink of passing out;

She fights Shadowspawns in Tear, in the Waste just as bravely as Lan, despite not being battle Ajah and often being surrounded by Aiel who can do the job by themselves;

She tackles Lanfear, toppling with her inside a collapsing ter'angreal, effectively dooming herself and cutting herself from the narrative, to help Rand, Egwene and Aviendha.

Obviously, you could argue that each of these actions would bring her an advantage and in acting so, she was only playing her part in the pattern, without a care for the people she was helping, but that's such an ungenerous reading of the character given what the text provides.

Her mindset is utilitarian and pragmatic, but to see her ever-present doubts, her growing despair and raging hope in Rand and still interpret her as uncaring is mind-boggling to me.

Her whole speech in TSR regarding "People [fighting] for you who do not know it, any more than you know them" tells of someone who believes saving the world will require a lot of collaboration and awareness of each other, not merely machinations and control.

She is a hard woman, but uncaring she is not.

#Wot book spoilers #moiraine damodred #The wheel of time #Remblai #Wot book journey #Saw someone commenting they don't think Moiraine really cared whether Lan lived or die #Look... #I think some people are wilfully misreading the text because if women are obviously evil it justifies their treatment by other characters #They're not #They are complex characters and you can point out a lot of flaws in Moiraine #From the way she tends to treat people as tools/objects to her distrust and secrecy #But to say she doesn't care about the people around her makes me growl #I've seen fans argue that her telling she would kill the boys before they turned to the Dark means she doesn't care #What it says about her is that turning to the Dark is worse than death to her #(which is pretty much Lan's motto) #What it says is that Moiraine will always do the maths and save the most people possible #And if saving more people means killing the Dragon Reborn if they turn to the Dark she will do it #What it doesn't say is that she doesn't care #I already noticed there's a tendency in fandom to be far more generous in interpretation toward male characters #Especially when they share narratives and themes #Tepid take but her mentality is the same as Lan's #But the story spends more time on her so we get more nuance while Lan is afforded a lot more Doylist leeway

[andthebeanstalk]

the average person doesn't expect you to be a perfect ethical consumer, that's not possible for the vast majority of us. but what youre saying is it's better to do nothing at all and choose the worst possible options (sweat shops, overseas shipping waste, idea/product theft, all wrapped up in SHEIN) than to put even the tiniest effort in where you can.

[they are referring to this post]

What I said was "some people are doing literally everything they can to survive and have no extra bandwidth to spend extra time and money on their purchases, and it is cruel and therefore un-punk to gatekeep punkness and add additional shame to these people's lives based on that fact."

I think it's still a good thing to try to ethically consume; I literally never said it wasn't. I had never even heard of SHEIN before. Rather, I am much more concerned about what I saw as arbitrary gatekeeping based on ability and income.

And frankly how dare you claim that I am supporting sweatshops and abuse by saying that this additional work you are demanding (in this case, presumably, vetting every clothing company you buy from) is not always possible for people. It is not a light accusation to accuse me of supporting abuse.

"How dare you say we piss on the poor", Etc. 🙄 this isn't Twitter. You are determined to enforce moral purity, but you are failing to see the nuance.

Because when I say "no extra bandwidth," I mean no extra bandwidth. This is not the "car shows it's on E but actually secretly it has a lot of gas left" situation that abled people constantly assume disabled people mean when they say they are at their limit.

This is "the car has stopped moving, and to move it I'd have to break my body pushing it." This is "at a certain point, people will hit a wall in terms of money and time and energy, and any energy spent after that comes directly out of their life force."

So the argument "okay but just spend a little more time money and energy actually" is not a valid one.

And the argument "if you are not able to do this specific task, then it means you're not doing anything else to make the world a better place" doesn't exactly impress me either. You said yourself that it is impossible to be a perfectly ethical consumer for most people.

How do you know what else people are doing to resist oppression? How many hours per week until your standards are met?What if someone works 3 jobs? Does that mean it's harder to be a good person if you're poor?? Why do you get to decide what specific avenue of bettering the world is the most morally repugnant or acceptable? What kind of proof of goodness and effort would make you satisfied enough to lay off on the shame?? Who are you helping??

Clothing is a fundamental human need, and some of us have to buy cheap fucking clothes quickly. Billionaires are buying their seventh yacht this month. The people who own fast fashion companies are abusing their workers and putting local affordable clothing stores out of business - and this applies for basically every company with price points that low because governments are failing to regulate corporations to enforce basic human rights.

I have $300 to spend on a new wardrobe as my old clothes have fallen apart or become too small. Do you have a way for me to get a new winter coat, 3 flannels, 10 shirts, 3 dress shirts, new sandals, 10 pairs of pants, 5 bras, 12 pairs of socks, and 10 pairs of underwear within that budget and also definitely 100% ethically sourced, with free returns in case it doesn't fit? Or will I simply have to use the cheap stores?

I have about an hour to spend on this per week. Many mainstream stores doesn't make clothes in my size, and I am now in *year 5* of needing an electric wheelchair and being unable to get one; plus I live up a flight of stairs, so I can't even bring my walker out with me - so thrift shopping is not gonna cover this. Should I continue to wear small and tattered clothing until I have the time, money, and energy to meet your standards?

Did you know there are more empty homes in this country than homeless people? If I decide to splurge on only 100% ethically-produced products, and I can't make rent, and I become homeless, are YOU going to be there for me?? Or are you too busy litigating the endless tiny shames of poverty in your own community?

So I ask you again, are you SURE this is where you want to direct your punk energy?

Because there are a whole lot of rich people relying on people like us punching down and to the side instead of looking up to see where the money is going.

Because energy and time, as it turns out, are limited resources. And I would never expect you to secretly have more than you claim to have.

#original #punk #hopepunk #cripplepunk #i swear to god #reading comprehension website #how dare you say we piss on the poor #jfc 'what you're saying is we should do nothing' - what I'm saying is YOU are doing nothing by enforcing this boundary #you have to give people more credit than this. i believe you want a better world too. and it would be cool if you used your energy to #instead ask 'how do i fight for the people in my community to be clothed and have the time and income to shop ethically?' #or 'how do i support activism that pushes for regulation that could control these companies?' #monitoring how poor people spend money is a supremely Republican thing to do. as is demanding clear moral purity from every scenario. #you want a better world too. you want to demand your peers do better. - fine. good. #but you need to be asking if you have remembered and included everyone's needs when making statements like this. #capitalism is all for forgetting about poor and disabled people and refusing to believe their limits. #shame is a necessary weapon in fighting greed but it IS a weapon. be so careful where you point that shit. enough shame can kill a person #and a lot of us are already defending from it from all sides. #shaming a person who is already at their limit for not doing more is an act of cruelty. think very carefully about what that means please. #i literally don't even know what SHEIN is lol i just know classism when i see it #but I've had friends whose clothes were visibly falling apart with no income and so much so shame so deep in their hearts they were dying #and if they had seen that post it would have made them even sicker and gotten them no closer to the dignity of being properly clothed #shame is a weapon and /you need to be careful!!!!/

[front-facing-pokemon]

#celebi #i debated about whether to make this one shiny or not. but i didn't. for the integrity of the blog #which means i can't talk about pmd here and instead i have to talk more about pokémon 4ever. although i feel i've said all there is to say #about that movie. which is just that i have basically the whole thing memorized and i watched it a lot as a kid. i dunno celebi fucking dies #uh spoiler alert for that like 20 year old movie but if you're on this blog i'm sure you've already seen it. and if you haven't then you #probably weren't going to see it anytime soon. so. here's celebi um #shoutouts to the time guy. that's. the end of the sentence Well i guess i could talk about psmd bc green celebi is in that #ugh. psmd will always be my favorite pmd game even though pmd sky is kinda objectively the best game ever created #the partner character just. aghargrargaraghrahgrghragh #okay i'm not gonna talk about this right now. take celebi

[welcometogrouchland]

Stephanie Brown and Dick Grayson: I Am Going To Be A Good Parent To Pass On The Good Parts Of My Tumultuous Childhood/Give Someone Else What I Didn't Have Growing Up

Vs

Damian Wayne and Cassandra Cain: You Could Not Pay Me To Be A Parent For Fear I Would Continue The Cycle Of Violence

#dc comics #stephanie brown #dick grayson #damian wayne #cassandra cain #ramblings of a lunatic #don't ask me about tim jason or duke idk what's going on there #Tim can't even make it to college unimpeded his ass is NOT entering fatherhood #you could do something really interesting with Jason as a father but it'd either have to go hard into the 'jason healing' route- #-or the complete opposite direction and go full on 'repeating the cycle of violence' fucked up #and either way it's gonna be divisive #i recently found out (bc i skipped batman and the outsiders) that duke's dad is some kind of immortal entity???? what in the fresh hell #I'm not saying it can't be cool I'm saying I'm. so goddman surprised it's never brought up by ANYONE #i know duke doesn't get his flowers in fandom but SERIOUSLY. WHAT? #ngl i can't say for sure that i don't like it bc i haven't seen the execution but. instinctually i prefer his og backstory #it just felt more grounded and linked to his setting? his whole thing is being the light and pushing batmans message further- #which is already hard for some writers to work w bc depending on interpretation that's the territory of like. 5 other guys in batfam #but duke does it in his own way with the whole working the dayshift angle. idk am i the only one hung up on the eldritch daddy thing? #bc i simply can't imagine the thought process behind that #anyway I've been thinking about the bit in robin 2021 where damian says he's never having kids. he's so real for that #he loves both his parents deeply and that series made that clear but MAN he is not passing on all this mental illness to anyone #and then i thought about how badly steph wanted to be a mom even as a teenager despite her own shitty parents #how she wanted to give someone else more than she had growing up (HOPE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A THEME FOR STEPH LISTEN TO ME) #and she ultimately gave her kid up bc she knew she couldn't give that to them at the time #oouughhhh. then i just figured that dick and cass are roughly the same in their estimation of parenthood #cass had a horrifically abusive upbringing and insanely isolated life til recent- #-all of which was due to/contributed by the parental figures in her life minus maybe barbara #i think I'd love to watch cass act as a mentor (she was a bit of a peer mentor to Steph and got along well w maps in Batgirls) #but it's hard to picture her as maternal. big sister yes. mother no. #dick is soooo dad shaped it's unreal. just as much as he is brother shaped. especially after everything with damian

[mintjeru]

in kuyu's historical fantasy webnovel turning, protagonist yuder aile is described to have only focused on the development of his own abilities prior to his execution and subsequent regression. in an attempt to prevent the disaster he saw in that future, he begins to build genuine connections and trust with not only his cavalry member peers but also his commander, kishiar la orr. the slow-paced and natural progression of yuder's relationship with kishiar, beginning with curiosity, progressing to mutual respect, and later encompassing loyalty and romance, is a major point of interest. however, their relationship still manages to not obscure the equally compelling plotlines, politics, and character dynamics present in the story. yuder's complex relationship with kishiar and the story's refusal to revolve solely around romance strongly mirrors the arospec experience. in this essay i will-

#yuder aile #kishiar la orr #터닝 #turning novel #that's right i'm putting this in the main tags #this is *my* turning propaganda #i'm only on chapter 275 but this novel has already rewired my brain in so many ways #yuder is demiromantic (to me) and his relationship progression w/ kishiar is the most beautiful i've seen in any story aside from t.gcf #smth about how even other characters say their relationship isn't just trust or romance but something deeper that connects their souls #and that they are the only ones who understand each other on that level. insane i tell you. #'you are the only one who can command me' 'yuder aile. whatever you're afraid of now i promise it will never happen' need i go on. #call me kim d.okja the way i willingly committed myself to a 1k+ chapter webnovel with a slowburn romance

[boyfridged]

the brilliance of jay's progression in countdown is that it gives you a promise of positive character development, and then it breaks it. and it does so intentionally, in the most diverting way, to emphasize jason's inability to escape the cycle.

or, another post breaking down the series, where i repeat myself a lot but also make a clearer argument.

there are three notable events that happen at the beginning: the subtle showcase of jay's internal conflict considering his approach toward killing (the very first encounter with duela and the monitor), jay reaching out to donna in crisis ("i guess I just wanted to be around someone else who might know how it feels…"), and finally – his helmet shattering. these scenes tell you: jason's direction as a character is changing, and it seems, for the better. he's about to abandon his trauma-based (no matter how ironic, it does remain tied to his trauma) identity, he is connecting with people, and he seems to be on a brink of understanding that his moral standing does not provide easy answers or solutions either.

and for the most part of the series, we see that narrative unfolding (even if a bit non-linear, still innocently convincing way). it is, in many ways, supported by bringing up features of his characterisation from the 80s. jason remains, of course, still unpleasant in ways typical for this era of writing, and is conflicted and disagreeable, which makes sense for his utrh/post-utrh personality. however, there are also details that bring us back to his original robin run and his cameos on ntt – we see him being responsible (e.g. #43 – suggesting to bring in other superheroes in crisis, even though he clearly is not keen on the idea of working with them), determined (#16: “isn’t that your super-power, stupid boy? too stupid to ever give up?” “maybe it is”), sensitive (half of the whole storyline, really), caring for gotham (gotham by gaslight) and people-oriented (as early as #51).

the issue that particularly signals that jason is an inherently good person and externalizes his internal conflicts regarding classic heroic vigilantism vs his cynical approach is #30, where we meet batman of earth-15 –  alt jason, whom our jason attempts to punch in the face.

and on topic of batman – jason is always gravitating towards batman. in gotham by gaslight jay looks delighted to see (the foreign) bruce and suggests checking with the local bat. then, earth-51 arc arrives.

earth-51 arc (#16 - #13) is a culmination of a promise of catharsis for jason. we have already seen him as batman, as a confirmation that a different life for him is possible. and here he has a chance to come to terms with his past and overcome it. he meets a version of bruce who has done exactly what he wanted him to do in utrh: killed the joker and the rest of the rogue gallery. what is most important – he is disappointed with this version of his father. we realise that jason, deep down, has an intimate and intuitive understanding of what batman stands for; and that he shares most of his values. this is a truth that you can't ignore especially since jay is the one to inspire this hollow, cynical version of batman to go out and fight in a seemingly lost battle.

and then batman dies. right in front of him.

this is a central moment of the narrative, for many reasons, most strikingly:

the symmetry:, a premise known from the lost days, becomes literal. this "the father had lost a son, and now the son had lost the father" is a cruel parallel to a death in the family and bruce's grief. jason's death created a gap between them that jay has been desperately trying to close, with no avail – because in bruce's mind, jason remains dead. now that jason is grieving bruce, the connection closes on both sides, and there's no way for either of them to reconcile the mourning with the reality of the other being truly alive. in this sense, the arc solidifies that jason can never come home.

no good deed goes unpunished. as i have mentioned before, so far jason is established as someone good at heart, but confused; and the reader intuitively assumes that his better, honest side will win. yet, the moment jason gives in to hope, it victimises and retraumatizes him. this event, again, brings to mind his own death, when he tried his best to save sheila and ended up paying the highest price for it. so, narrative-wise, jason is always punished for his kindness.

perhaps because of the nonchalant act that jason pulls off, many readers seem to miss that everything that happens after that arc is an upshot that follows logically from it.

jason's immediate determination to leave – and later a short period of indecision that ends up with his dramatic exit, pushing his team away, makes perfect sense when you consider what intense trauma he has just gone through. admittedly, i'm not a fan of the notion that he would give up at all (i think he's always ready to give up on himself, but not on the world), but then on the other hand, if there's anything that would cause it, narrative-wise, witnessing batman dying does sound like a good incentive for that. (it also has to be pointed out that jason seems to be confident that the rest of the team can go into the final battle without him anyway; it's not like he would go back to his earth not even knowing if said earth will exist tomorrow).

it's crucial to notice that following that crisis of faith (faith in fighting for the world) is followed by him raising up for the challenge again, but now... worse and even more confused. in the final confrontation with donna, jason antagonizes the superhero community, and when we see him at the end of the series (#1) his monologue indicates that he believes the capes to be naive. (significantly, he also focuses on bruce and offends the memory of 51 earth-bruce by calling him crazy; an action that can be seen as suppression of his own guilt and invoking, once again, a cruel symmetry considering bruce's engagement in victim-blaming after jason's death). this, once again, is consistent with the "no good deed" reading – jason diminishes superhero values because he has been continuously punished for living by them. (and unlike other superheroes, he doesn't have a support system nor skills in compartmentalization that would help him deal with this trauma) every leap of hope re-traumatised him. hence, it seems to be no surprise that jason decides to abandon the mask, and in the closing scene we see him without it. the promise of the shattered helmet is pushed to an extreme – jason does not get a new alt identity. he denounces the idea of superheroism completely.

and yet, what is ultimately subversive about the ending, is that jay is not truly a civilian and he does not abandon vigilante ways. he does the same thing. we see him without a mask, but he is clearly working a case. he might have rejected the symbolic dimension of the vigilante work, but he still carries the same delusional hope for bettering the world and protecting people that the superhero community does. only now, he is even more isolated and doesn't have any identity to go by (as he is still legally dead).

as such, the ending opens a new question regarding jason's understanding of himself and vigilantism, or rather the lack thereof. is it possible that vigilantism is really at the core of jay's trauma? and why, potentially, is it something that is so destructive for him as a character specifically? (and i have some answers for that, but i'm not going to get into it here, as it's already a very long post)

so, tldr; the genius of countdown is that it establishes jay as sensitive, determined, and fundamentally good (this is what the purpose of seeing him as batman is!), and then it brutally reminds the reader that jason’s tragedy is that on this specific earth, in this specific timeline, his love doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. the story goes on as it did; one way or another, jay is trapped in the cycle of his care ironically creating rifts between him and the others, and bringing him to his own downfall.

#okay i know i said a lot of it already but it's been some time since i finished the reread and i feel like my take on it has shifted a bit #and i wanted to emphasise the 'no good deed' interpretation!! #also it's just that i've seen a lot of people saying that countdown ends with jason being a civilian. #while i think the whole genius of it is that he is not really a civilian?? #have you seen civilians doing whatever the hell he is doing in the final scene? #this is arguably the element of the narrative that is by most readers missed – and i understand why #it's easy to get confused when navigating an event that spans across pretty much all of dc #fortunately for you i have worms for brain. and i have hyperanalysed it #i'm not saying overanalysed btw because i genuinely believe that this is not a case of accidental narrative brilliance #this is a pretty clear and straightforward progression once you dissect it from the rest of the series #and there are a lot of details that further cement my belief that it had to be intentional #i mean. even the recognition that donna and jason know each other is already... a lot for dc writers? #the fatal flaw #51 #no good deed #jay.zip #jay.txt #jason todd #core texts

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

what if You wanted to "post on kofi", but Kofi said "log in"

#im. Im Already Logged In. what more do you want from me #i click log in. it tells me im logged in. i click to my page. it tells me to log in #HUH???? #i act like this is new! this has been going on! for A While! #but i've just now decided to publicly bitch about because im. well i want to! who am i if not a Complainer! #LET ME POST. MY ART. THERE. #YA LIL FUCKER! #let me innnnn LET ME INNNN #absolutely unprompted #it also Bugged The Fuck Out when i tried to sign in #and it was like 'ouuuuughhhhhh your password is wronnggggg reset it' #ok. Ok. i'll reset it #and then kofi showed me my 'old' password and it was THE EXACT SAME THING I HAD BEEN TYPING IN. TIME AND TIME AGAIN. #who do i have to maim! huh! WHO! #point me at a jugular i can rip out with my teeth! #kofi: this is what you can do. log in or tip yourself #EXCEPT!!! i cant log in. bc im already logged in. but no im not #i ask kofi Am I Logged In and it says 'well yes. but actually no' #you know! this goes right in line with how my life has gone so far! this is very On Brand! #i dont know how i do it #but i manage to fuck things up in new never before seen ways! i genuinely consider it a Skill!

[bancaishi]

since there are still new people liking and reblogging my tally hall art/posts, old and new(ish), i figured i should make my stance clear. joe hawley has proven time and time again that he cannot be trusted to foster safe and appropriate interactions with his fans, especially those who are underage. and this is to say nothing of the extremely harmful and bigoted views he has repeatedly expressed surrounding race and gender.

any past art i have made of him or any appreciation i have for tally hall and their work does not include any support for him and his actions. in fact, it's more reason to condemn his behavior, for using the importance this band has to his underage audience to take advantage of them. i would advise any fans, minors or not, to take caution and avoid him, and to not put him up on a pedestal for the sake of others as well.

#tally hall #joe hawley #it makes me sick how intent the fandom has been for years on 'debunking' the accusations that have been levied against him #i regret the amount of faith i gave him at the beginning of my appreciation for the band #i know i already had this disclaimer on my interests page #but this needs to be said somewhere more public i feel #also adding this since i've seen people in the tags questioning the veracity of the document. #i'm a relatively older tally hall fan and i can say that this is a pattern of behavior that has been documented to varying degrees #and in multiple instances #his awful views on race have even made it into tally hall's discography (see banana man) #of course you don't have to take it from me just saying this #look into things on your own. think and draw your own conclusions #but i am not trying to present an argument. i am not trying to argue whether he is personally good or bad #and neither is the document. it was created as a warning for other fans of a credible danger

[laufire]

although I've enjoyed stories that went down that route before, I can't see jason & talia's relationship in the comic as surrogate mother and son. I don't think the reading came completely out of the blue (I still have this edit of the pietà cover in lost days #2 as my background pic lol. that's some culturally ingrained imagery! although given the issue it precedes, I wonder if it was more of a hint to antichrist!jason lmfao), and can see how lost days #1 would inspire it (although the same events in batman annual #25 end with talia kissing jason after the pit... and I read that first because lost days wasn't out yet when I was catching up in my jason reading, way back when. lost days erases this moment and I do prefer it that version though. that moment, at that time, made no sense).

but after that first issue that's not what I see in the run. jason's certainly not in the market for a parental figure, and he wouldn't have responded well to talia, had she approached him as one (and at this point, talia was very much about finding the right approach to manage jason... because jason had attempted to kill bruce -the comic attributes this to temporary psychopathy but winnick and I differ on this one-. and this didn't happen only because jason decided not to go through his plan at the last moment. ymmv at to why). this reading comes from a mix of things in fanon, but one of them is literally "well she's bruce's love interest and he's bruce's kid sooooo", and I just don't vibe with that, basically.

reading talia's first appearances and realising she's meant to be close to dick's age also compounded my own interpretation of talia's dynamics, sometimes for the worse sometimes for the better, but it's a canon detail that just feels so fitting for the talia comics I've read that now I'd struggle to see her differently, when beforehand I really hadn't thought about her age. this way, they're not exactly peers (dick seems around 4-6 years older than jason in new earth, ymmv), and I usually land on talia being a couple years older than dick. but this colours how I interpret their dynamic, too. how I think they'd see it, in particular.

since I'm talking about the nature of their relationship I do have to mention That Scene. very contentious and I do get why (I do not care for any m/f/m triangle dc has ever tried to pull with the bats, especially bruce vs. dick-slash-jason). but fandom either sees this as "talia, a much older woman, statutory raped jason, a teenager" (jason in the last issue of lost days and in utrh looks very much in his twenties), OR "I've decided talia is jason's mother figure, and I'm -with good reason!- tired of how often she's villianised, so I just Don't See It" [insert mariah carey's i can't read suddenly.gif], as thought there's no other possible interpretation.

and the way I see it is. it's not a Good Thing to happen, nor is it written with that intention! the characters are NOT in a good place and they're NOT making wise, healthy choices lol. and it's something that sidetracks what could've become a really interesting, closer friendship & alliance (I want them to be friends and allies sooooo badly lol. I think they'd work so well!! there's reblogs in my queue about it!!). but I don't see it as something to completely handwave if I'm writing new earth canon; just something to tackle head on, if I ever write about them after this period beyond having it as a secondary dynamic (which I plan to do, but that's another story).

ironically, these ramblings came to me because I'm developing their dynamic in a WIP for a different canon (the young justice cartoon. for reference, the ages there are: Talia, 1984; Jason, 1999; Damian, 2018), and rn if you asked me if they have a surrogate mother-son relationship in it my answer would be a solid... maaaaaaaybe? LOL. if they end up like that, it'll be with MASSIVE ammounts of spousification, though. which is how I see any parental relationship involving jason going, outside of 80s!bruce & jason, to be honest.

#bruce already parentified one robin*. now it's talia's turn #*i've seen posts saying this about tim too but i haven't read enough about their dynamic to be completely sure #(most of what I've read with tim is with bruce very much elsewhere lol. absent deadbeat if you will) #talking to the void #my thoughts #man this post has so many parenthesis... i'm not looking through it again though. i'm tiredd #dc #dc thoughts #dc comics #red hood: the lost days #jason todd #talia al ghul #jaytalia for ts #since i mention That Scene #anyway. cancellable offense number 3192 etc.