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ijustthinkhesneat · 6 months

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I am about to be so real.

I fucking hate DC comics.

Like have they given us Dick Graysons butt? Yes. Jason Todd’s thunder thighs? Yes. Damian being teeny tiny? Yes. Tim being a bi gremlin? Yes.

But you know the fuck what. I simply cannot get over their aversion to men having problems and like dealing with it in a healthy way. Why is modern Bruce literally the worst person ever?

And I don’t mean in WFA or fanfic or cute little cartoons. Why in the Batman Comic series is Bruce one of the worst people ever? Bruce “I care about kids who were hurt like me and want to try and give them a better life” Wayne has fully morphed into Bruce “Teehee I beat my children and blame them when sociopaths that I enable hurt them” Wayne.

Like literally fuck off. It’s not even just that. The whole Red Robin arc when Dick is just “wow my brother is having a really hard time. I’m gonna call him crazy, take away the thing that’s been helping him to stabilize and give it to someone who tried to kill him multiple times and is consistently verbally abusive towards him. That will be really good for him.”

Literally what the fuck. Don’t even get me started about tarantula or Damian dying or any interaction between Bruce and Jason.

Like I’m just so fucking tired of this company peddling media about how it’s normal and right to forgive people who habitually abuse you. How it normalizes unsafe and unstable relationships between men.

And a huge part of this is because they just write this shit for shock value. Like what horrible thing can we run these characters through and never talk about ever again just so people will talk about it. Remember that like 3 comic long shit show of Dick getting brainwashed by the fucking Joker? Like it’s literally Dick beating the shit out of his brothers and being like I don’t know you and I don’t care and then it’s just like haha back to normal everything is great now.

I fucking hate it. It’s bad writing, it’s an irresponsible narrative about how trauma effects men and I’m just tired.

I really do like the fandom too. I think DC fans have created a lot of safe spaces for queer people, people of color and people with disabilities. But so much of what the fandom runs on is just so far from canon. I know tons of people irl who have never read a release post new 52. And I know some people who have never read a DC comic period cause they saw a glimpse of the toxic waste in there and noped out.

Like I know I’m just some guy on the internet but seriously if your canon comic material is so bad that a very large portion of you fanbase feel they can’t read it or would rather write there own story that just completely changed your characters you need to take a long look at what you are producing. Dick maybe being bi in Gotham Knights is cool. The rep for a character that has been coded as queer for a very long time is cool. But representation is in fact second to writing a good story and having good characters and DC is failing spectacularly at both right now.

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alastorgould · 2 months

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Rocket's Backstory

*deep breath* God help me

This is the most inconsistent Marvel backstory and I, the top expert on Halfworld, am here to clear it up.

I'm going to split the variants into the following catagories: 1985, 2014, modern comics, show, and mcu. (the show is simply called Guardians of the Galaxy and is on disney+ and i highly recommend).

I have compiled a spreadsheet to go over the main points

As you can see, it's a shit show.

(As i go over the stories as best I can, please note that i am not a comic buff i am a 15 yo with Asperger's and an obsession with Halfworld and if i get something wrong plz don't be mad at me just tell me and I'll fix it :3)

1985 Rocket Raccoon- Rocket is a genetically modified caretaker on Halfworld, a mental asylum used to hold the insane of the galaxy, known as loonies/shrinks (extremely offence things to call mentally ill ppl but it was the 80'ssss). They have a book called the Halfworld Bible, which holds the secrets of the planets and it's people. The planet is ruled by Mayhem Mechaniks and Dyvynicies Inc; rival toy companies owened by Judson Jakes and Lord Dyvyne respectively. Jakes killed Lylla's parents to steal the company and it's... horrifying robot clowns. Pyko steals the Halfworld Bible for it's instructions on how to escape the planet in a giant human-shaped ship. Jakes and Dyvyne find out about this plot and team up to crash a party and there's a big battle and Rocket, Lylla, Pyko, Wal, Blackjack, and possibly Pyko escape Halfworld on the ship, leaving it in shambles as the loonies are left to the own devices to rebuilt the planet with their newfound wisdom (Pyko manages to 'cure' them)

2014 Rocket Raccoon (my fav series :3)- This one doesn't have much in the way of backstory, all we know is what Captain Sale gives us in the last book. Throughout the series it is shown that Rocket has no memory of his creation and believes he is the last of his kind. Until he ends up on Captain Sale's ship. She gives he the key to the Book of Halfworld and he takes 4 hours to read it. He is shown to be disgusted and horrified at the contents, leaving it with Sale and going home. (Clowns and the toy factory etc are mentioned, implying it is a sequel to the 1985 version.

Modern Comics- This section is specifically about v5 GotG #8 as I don't recall any other comics going into much detail. Here, there are loonies and robots, but no clowns. They must have thought it was too silly. Rocket is a therapy animal turned sentient with cruel experimentation. This is the first version of Rocket's backstory to show him sustaining significant and lasting trauma from his past. Not to mention the debilitating physical effects of having a metal skeleton and countless other weird things he doesn't understand. After his transformation, he is shown with the 1985 gang and other past team ups in a montage. It seems there is also an attempt at continuity here but it misses the mark a bit.

GotG Show 2015- This is by far the worst adaptation in my opinion, as it completely overhauls the story. So note that I have bias here. Here, Rocket is a simple Earth raccoon that has been transformed with the purpose of being a living weapon. His purpose was more 'artificial genius' than 'genetic marvel'. Immediately after being let into a more open enclosure, he meets Groot and effortlessly destroys the robots and steals a ravanger ship. After freeing all the creatures, of course.

(i am unable to provide images for this section as disney is a pussy ass company and won't let me screenshot but just imagine it sucking)

MCU- Anyone reading this has already seen the movies but I'll go over it anyway. The High Evolutionary is a man trying to recreate a sentient Earth-like planet by modifying creatures. Rocket is one of these poor souls. He lives his early years in a cage with Floor, Lylla, and Teefs. Rocket manages to open the cage one day, only to have his friends shot in front of him by the High Evolutionary. He then escapes. He meets Groot later in a well, not shown but confirmed by James Gunn.

Wow this took long to write. Time for the conclusion. Here i will 'average out' all the stories and throw in my personal theories.

My version- Halfworld is an insane asylum built by the Kree where they experiment on mentally ill people to try to cure them(we used to do this here on earth until the 60's). The 'toy factory' is a cover-up for this operation. The robot 'doctors' use clown faces to put the patients at ease. But what do psycho robot doctors do when the asylum is abandoned and not longer supplied with patients? They turn to the animal inhabitants on the planet. The Halfworld Bible/ Book of Halfworld is an engineering manual documenting the disgusting progress of making an innocent creature sentient. Pyko frees his people after decades of slavery in a grand rebellion and Lylla becomes the Priestess and guardian of the book like in 1985. Unfortunately, during the rebellion, 89P13 and Groot get stuck in an escape pod and sent away from the Keystone Quadrent, leading him to believe all of his people are dead or re-enslaved.

I think this version harnesses the soul and vibe of all the backstories while making it make more sense in the long run.

I had a lot of fun putting this together and I hope y'all appreciate it :D (Follow for more Halfworld content <3)

#artists on tumblr #anime and manga #autism #gotg #guardians of the galaxy #rocket raccoon #lylla otter #pyko tortoise #halfworld #uno duo trey #marvel #mcu #comics

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batmanisagatewaydrug · 2 months

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out of curiosity, do you have any preferred headcanons for how tall the members of the Batfam are? who's the tallest to shortest?

listen I don't have exact measurements but I do have vibes. I'm going to say right out of the gate that I simply do not hold with DC artists and their habit of Russian nesting dolling the Robins so they're each a little bit shorter with age, it's a useful visual shorthand but it's also not my truth even if I sometimes agree with portions.

for instance: I do have to concede that Bruce needs to be the tallest of the Batboys in order to enable a lot of his whole schtick, especially your modern era Batmans who are built to be tanks as opposed to the sleeker, more acrobatically-oriented Batman of earlier ages. Batfleck honestly had a great build for it, 6'4 and built to loom.

on the other hand, I Know what male gymnasts look like and Dick came from a whole family of them; he doesn't need to be SHORT short but brother he is not the tallest Robin by any stretch. he's 5'8 if he's Lucky, likely shorter. and he's fine with it! he isn't insecure about being a compact king!

I strongly dislike the recent development towards drawing adult Jason as a brute, but I have long enjoyed the headcanon that he would have had a hard growth spurt after Bruce took him in and he didn't have to worry about food insecurity. he is absolutely taller than Dick but, HOT TAKE, I don't think he's a Lot taller. as Red Hood he's definitely exaggerating the difference with chunky boots + his stupid full-face mask for extra height, + his jacket and all his gear make him look taller and broader than Nightwing in his little skintight getup. out of costume they physically look much more similar.

I also super hate when Tim is drawn as a skinny short little waif, genuinely there's no reason for that. that's a little American rich boy who grew up on milk and white bread, there's no reason for him to look like he has Victorian urchin wasting disease. fuck this, Tim is taller than both Dick and Jason. same energy as the improv kid I went to high school with who was 5'11 but cool about it.

completing the circle and fully reversing the Robins, I know that other fans have pointed out that Damian's Asian heritage conspires against him being hugelarge as an adult, but genetics are a grab bag and I think he deserves to be Bruce-sized. adult Damian can pick Dick up and put him in the fridge if he wants. at present though his growth spurt is really taking its sweet time and he's hovering around Cass-height (see below).

Duke is hovering in a zone right between Jason and Tim but everyone forgets that and imagines him being taller because the little bat ears on his helmet give him a couple extra inches.

a lot of older comics, especially the Dixon run, frequently have Selina drawn like she's tall as all hell, and I honestly love that for her. 5'11, Megan Thee Stallion kind of build for her.

Cass is frequently drawn as tiny to an extent that is, frankly, implausible and borderline upsetting (if memory serves she literally got folded up and carried in a backpack once?) but listen: she's certainly not tall. I'm willing to offer her 5'3 as an absolute maximum. also literally no one asked but Michelle Yeoh is the Lady Shiva of my heart and shes 5'4, so that's canon To Me.

however tall Dick is in your head I want you to add one (1) inch and that's Barbara. this is so crucial to me.

Steph is like a deeply average 5'4 and a half, and I realize this Does mean that I've Russian nesting dolled the Batgirls (at least in order of appearance in comics, not the actual order they Batgirls) and I am Fine with that. throw Harper Row in here too, she and Steph are just chilling being average height gal pals.

Helena is freakishly tall by Italian woman standards, by which I mean like 5'7.

this is vile and I'm sorry to the Robins but unfortunately Jean Paul is a genetically engineered freak bred to kill so he's probably taller than all of them save for an adult Damian. 6'2 to my miserable boy. beginning to think I was lying when I said I didn't have exact numbers.

so I think in descending order the lineup I've created is Bruce, JP, Selina and Tim, Duke, Jason and Babs, Dick, Helena, Steph and Harper, Damian, Cass.

did I skip anyone vital you want to know about?

#batblogging

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co-mixed · 8 months

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Why Boom Still Can’t Get Buffy Right

My love for the Buffyverse is concrete but it has its limits. Yesterday I had a very unpleasant experience finishing yet another unimpressive Buffy run, courtesy of Boom Comics. It’s always disappointing to me because Buffyverse has so much potential and untold stories. It’s a goldmine that is constantly held back and simply can’t find its footing in the comics medium. Why is that?

Boom’s been rather relentless in trying to make Buffy work. Several years and runs later, there’s still no big WOW story that can attract readers and viewers alike. Not just that, but even seasoned buffy fans don’t seem very interested in continuous attempts at rebooting the Slayer tale. You can blame the word reboot (it does tend to scare people) but the real reason is still Boom’s inability to deliver a good captivating story.

Boom had tried reinventing Buffy, sending her back to school, developing alternate realities and futures. But in every iteration, Buffy and the Scooby Gang were plagued with the same mistakes over and over again.

Hey, I’m not sure what I am, so bear with me here

The characters from Buffy are some of the most well-developed characters out there. Each one has a point of origin, a story, and a final form. We love them because we know them. And we know them extremely well.

Let’s take the fan-favorite, Spike. We’ve seen his whole afterlife and even bits of his life. We know how he became William the Bloody, then Spike, a neutered vampire, and finally, an ensouled champion. We know how, and more importantly, we know why.

I’d hate to throw in one more why but there is a reason Spike exists in the show, and we know it.

When you read Boom comics, it feels like writers stick him into every arc just because they like him. He brings nothing to the story, he has no soul or chip yet chooses to join the scoobies. That does not look like the Spike we know. That guy was in s2-s4, not s5-s7. That’s the guy from School Hard or the one who got the Gem of Amara and happily marched to kill Buffy.

But there’s nothing stronger than the author’s desire to make things ‘right’. Hence this spike lookalike joining the team every time.

The funny part is, I can very well imagine a soulless chipless Spike who’s not a monster. If Dru sires him and never sees him again, if she never introduces him to Angelus, if he keeps on writing his bloody awful poetry only forever. He probably would’ve turned out like that poor librarian guy whose glasses Dru broke or like Harmony who still tried to be decent. But it’s the writer’s job to explain it, to write it into the story, not just throw a character into a book and see whether they swim or go down. They will always go down.

Spike is only one of the issues here. In the show, both Kendra and Faith exist to show us the perfect (according to the council) and the fallen slayer. Two possible realities for Buffy. They have their own arcs (well, Faith does) but the show is strong because supporting characters serve a purpose. Just like the people we meet in real life always serve a purpose for us. You might believe that one character pushing the development of another is cruel, but that’s still how good stories are made. That’s still why Buffy is popular 20 years after the show’s finale.

Kendra and Faith did that for Buffy in the show. In the Boom comics they just exist. They show up for no reason and they just hang around. You can take them out of the story and nothing will change. At one point in the initial reboot there were three slayers at the same time, and that felt more like a fix-it fanfic than a quality comic book. Unfortunately, some slayers have to die and some have to turn evil. Besides, without her rebellious personality, Faith is meaningless.

I have one more bone to pick. I know that Buffy and Angel (still the OTP of the show!) are a complicated matter to many modern writers. And readers, and viewers. There’s no place to hide from the creep factor and even though I will defend this ship till the day everyone finally agrees with me, I can’t deny its presence. But that doesn’t mean you get to discard this ship and separate Buffy and Angel into different books. One doesn’t exist or grow without the other. There is no Buffy in love with a vampire without Angel. There is only Vampire. Slayer. Dead vampire.

Without Buffy, Angel is not in LA helping the helpless. He’s in New York eating low rats. Before trying to launch two separate books, how about Boom launches one good one, that provides background, even if revised and adapted to the modern days?

I always worried what would happen when that b*tch got some funding

All this chaotic mess with the characters determines the stories Boom puts out. They tend to have an interesting start but by the time issue 3 comes out, it’s either Camazotz flying around Sunnydale, a giant crab taking over the main street, or whatever the hell Silas was (a soul eater?) Didn’t care for him much. Not even when we were evil.

More often than not Boom writers suffer from the same disease that plagued Dark Horse comics – scale. Just because you can do anything doesn’t mean you should. Comics allow you to draw literally any kind of baddie but you are playing within a specific world, and suspense of disbelief only goes so far. Besides, in the show, it all grows gradually. You go from the Master to the First evil. In the comics… seriously, what the hell was Silas?

From what I’ve read so far, Boom knows how to ask interesting questions:

What if Buffy went to school today?

What if Willow took over as the slayer?

What if Buffy was older?

Those are all good what ifs but Boom has a problem following through. They don’t know the answer to this question and it feels like they’re making it up as they go along. If I’m being honest, it even feels like they wrote random ideas on pieces of paper, through them in a hat, and started pulling each time they hit a wall.

Characters show up for now reason (hi, Tara from the latest run), they don’t feel like themselves, and the saddest part – none of it feels like you are getting your favorite show back.

These characters deserve better than that.

And there’s not a one who can say this ended well

At this point, I don’t know if Boom wants Buffy comics to succeed. I don’t mean to be this dramatic but every time someone mentions comics, fans think Dark Horse. Not because they are still considered canon, but because they had a connection to the beloved show. Boom comics don’t give you that, so you can’t look the other way when writers don’t deliver. It’s just how it works.

I keep thinking what Boom can do to get out of this vicious circle. And I do believe there If they want to successfully play in the Buffyverse, they have to seriously up their game. It’s not impossible either. I mean, Something is Killing the Children is being released by the same studio. And what is that if not a more gruesome version of Buffy? So it’s not exactly magic. It’s doable.

Personally, I still hold out hope that someone would dare explore the terrifying bloody past of the Whirlwind. Wouldn’t that be fun and gory? I’d like to see deep well-thought-through stories of past slayers. I’d happily read a well-illustrated comic run based on In Every Generation. And if we have to go back to Buffy variants, why not reinvent her story? But before we get to that, we’d have to work through every step of every character. Get them to where we want them, and start with a story that we want to tell, from start to finish. From her first day as a slayer to her last one (she didn’t have to empower the potentials after all).

That, of course, requires a lot of work. And if Boom isn’t ready to put in that kinda effort, they could just move from season 5, introduce a new slayer, and watch how her adventures unravel.

Buffyverse is a hell of a property and there are too many stories waiting to be written. I’m probably still gonna give it a shot whenever Boom comes up with something new. I just hope I won’t have to write yet another long read complaining about it.

#buffy comics #buffy x angel #buffy summers #buffy the vampire slayer #buffyverse #buffy x spike #buffysource #comics #comic books #long reads #boom buffy #boom comics #btvs #btvs comics #kendra young #faith lehane

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mandatory-blog-stop-asking · 1 month

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Weird thing, but I miss Alfred.

It's shaping up to be one of the longest "deaths" of a famous, legacy secondary character, at least in modern DC history. And in that way, it served the narrative pretty well, subverting the usual problems with death in comics. Sure, it was all over an ego trip some bad former Editor in Chief decided to have on a whim; King didn't really plan to kill off Alfred so nonchalantly and it wasn't meant to stick. People know that, it's well documented and they even had foreshadowing that he was Clayface being a part of the plan. So the fact that it sticks should be lauded, right? This is, after all, how death works.

And, sure, it made some characters grow. Bruce, specifically, moving to a brownstone and taking care of his son all by himself is a genuinely cool idea and I'm enjoying seeing him bond with Damian in ways he never bonded with the others. Dick as a billionaire philanthropist dedicating his newfound fortune to Alfred, his late sponsor, is a genuine stroke of genius. Actual change and progress in comic books, holy shit. A feast Spider-Man fans don't even remember how it tastes!

Yet it sometimes feels like you're reading a Batman book in an empty house, because Alfred is gone, and it was over nothing. An unplanned death that took him suddenly with no real gravitas or preparation. Not exactly the same -- okay, not the same by a wide margin, -- but it kinda reminds me of how Buffy fans reacted to The Body.

The character was here, and now they're not, and it genuinely feels empty and real in a way you're not really expecting popcorn media to feel. There's no power fantasy or melodrama or anything. Someone broke his neck and threw his body on the floor, and that's the end of Alfred Pennyworth.

And like, yeah, man, people obviously write stories about other versions that are alive and flashbacks. Nobody is literally gone from comics, things don't move forward *exclusively*, Alfred is a brand unto himself and will never be truly gone. It's the same reason why aging up Jon Kent isn't that big a deal; Super Sons will release as long as someone gets the approval, it's just going to be a flashback. It's fine. But to see the world having to move forward without him has been quite something, you know? People have had big personal moments that he's not there for.

Dick and Barbara got back together, Jason moved to the Hill, Tim got a boyfriend -- it's the kind of stuff these kids could rely on Alfred to talk about, or to help out with, or to simply Be There as a zealous figure for them, and he's just. Not. And the story moves on all the same, yet now it feels like there's a panel missing, somewhere.

Albeit they had like two or three individual times when the actual fucking ghost of Alfred Pennyworth came to say goodbye and peace out to Bruce, I still think it's a pretty solid guess that he'll come back before the end of the decade. The nature of comics means sometimes you need a back from the dead story to keep things fresh, and those can be done extremely well -- Resurrection of Magneto might be the best thing released in the Krakoa era, as far as fully realized minis go. But...

Shit, Alfred missed Damian going to school, you know? That's really sad. I miss Alfred. In a way I'll never miss Uncle Ben or the Wayne couple, I really miss opening a monthly and reading the latest wit out of Alfred's mouth at his silly son and his funny crusade. The nature of comic books being infinite until they're cancelled means this sort of relationship just doesn't get cut like this very often, and I can't recall the last time I *cared* when they tried cutting it.

It will be an awkward day when he comes back and it's back to normal business again, honestly. There's now an understanding of what Batman is without Alfred that I feel they don't have a great way of addressing. Don't really envy the writer who gets the job.

#alfred pennyworth #batman #dc comics #damian wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #bruce wayne #comics #comic books #barbara gordon #i mean ultimately it's just another era but it's still bizarre how we got here #nothing quite says emerging storylines like some guy who pays you saying he liked the fan reaction to your fakeout #so the fakeout is real now actually #king's Batman is such a mess

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ghost-bxrd · 4 months

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Ok so I’ve seen your thoughts on Talia being a good mom to both Jason and Damian and generally being a better person vs when she’s morally gray and really only good to Damian, but how do you feel about Bruce being a bad dad? Like personally I don’t like him being abusive but unfortunately…canon does not disprove it 😕🫠. Like do you have hcs or prompts where he switches from one interpretation to the other? Genuinely curious bc my thoughts on him going between these two have me conflicted bc I don’t LIKE him being a bad father, specifically in regards to Jason, but it does kinda fuel some ‘Jason leaves the batfam to go find himself’ stories I’ve seen, but you could argue that Bruce doesn’t NEED to be terrible for that to happen. Idk maybe modern comics have poisoned my ability to ignore Bruce’s history of abusing his children in some way by cranking up that abuse to a solid 20/10 (I’m sure I don’t have to mention what I’m referencing lmao), but it just makes me think. So much would be nicer if he was just a flawed father, but that’s not what his character fully is y’know (this is why I brought up Talia, just realized I was rambling without making that clear lol)

Phew ok, I’ll try to answer this to the best of my abilities!

So keep in mind that these are my personal thoughts and I’m actually not that well versed in comic lore (the comics I’ve read can be counted on one hand sadly but I’m trying to get my hands on more ksksks), and majority of my knowledge comes from research and fanfic.

Okay back to the topic at hand!

Generally I write/read fanfic for some fluffy family feels (and angst) and the occasional romance, hence why I prefer to write Talia and Bruce as being good parents and likable characters in general. I enjoy reading about it, so I enjoy writing it that way.

In regards to Bruce and his canon actions… well, that’s a tough one to answer ngl.

On one hand he’s displayed as a loving adoptive father who absolutely adores is children, on the other hand he’s shown to be ruthless when they violate his no-kill rules (reference to the Batarang incident).

To me this kind of juxtaposition makes little sense, but I’m afraid there are quite a number of character inconsistencies in the franchise from what I’ve seen so…. I don’t know. It’s just such a 180 turnaround to the early concept of the Batman who considers everyone to be redeemable regardless of their crime. Why would that suddenly not apply to his child?

I don’t think I could ever stomach writing him as a genuinely bad father, most I could do to mix it up a little and have him struggle to reach an understanding with Jason regarding his rule over Crime Alley and dealing with his own inability to communicate properly.

Batman was always supposed to be a protector, the “good guy”, but he’s also human. A human with significant trauma that he’s never properly worked through which… can screw with your people skills significantly.

So that’s usually the way I try to look at it whenever I want to write a Bruce who isn’t the World’s Best Dad at the moment. He’s trying, he just doesn’t know how to show it in a way that others can understand, especially his kids. (Yes tho I take full liberty with the more heinous stuff Bruce pulls/pulled in the comics and discard them as if they’re expired candy >.<)

To sum it up, I’m afraid you won’t ever find a fic where either Talia and/or Bruce are genuinely, irredeemably bad. Simply because I personally don’t think that’s how people work in general and because… well, I’m soft and I need some soft parenting in there somewhere. Sorry dear 🥺

Phew ok I think I was rambling a bit here, but I hope that answers your question somewhat? But if you’d like I could totally cook up a prompt for you that deals with Jason and Bruce struggling to come to an understanding and making compromises to be a family again. Feel free to let me know or send another ask if you’d like to stay anonymous 💚💚💚💚

#I’m not sure if this was the answer you were looking for anon but I. tried 💚💚💚💚💚#look I’m soft and I WILL cry if I read/write bat dad Bruce #I just—- can’t #I’m weak #🥺🥺🥺🥺#jason todd #batfamily #batfam #bruce wayne #batdad #Talia #fic #prompts #ask and answers #musings #rambling #dcu #Batman

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gffa · 5 months

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Can I ask your opinion on something? It's about Jason and the way hes written in a lot of batfamily comics, because I can't shake the feeling that in a lot of stories he's in theres is this rather... condescending attitude towards Jason. They are always writing him as this angry impulsive idiot who can't deal with a case or have plan of his own and basically needs Bruce and the others to save him.

For example, take Cheer, a lot of people been calling the best story Jason had, but it still repeats so much of the annoying tropes that Jason gets: He's written tob e really impulsive and dumb and prone to mistakes that the others would never make, and who Bruce to explain him to not attack drug addicts, and them you have to flashbacks that are there to retroactively insert instances of him being a "bad robin" who would torture a random person for no reason and killed someone before he even became robin. And whole story gives the idea that the only reason Jason can be good in anyway is because Bruce stopped from going bad.

then In the failsafe arc when Bruce is praising Tim he has to make a mention about how Jason hated training as a robin, which is not the first time Bruce has compared Jason negatively to prop Tim.

And now in The Gotham War, Jason gets brainwashed by Bruce with that failsafe thing. And it's treated as this big awful thing... until one issue has passed, and then Jason's already resisting the symptons long enough to try to save someone but not enough to actually succeed at by himself, and Bruce saves him by giving him a piggyback ride that treats Jason like child. And Bruce leaves without fixing what he did.

Like compare Jason now with the way he was before the New52 in stories like Under the Hood or the Lost Days. Jason back them as more often than not a villain, but he was a good villain, he was intelligent and competent in a way he is simply not anymore, and makes so mad that nonee these modern stories seem to actually respect him as a character and just make really made and it just ruins most Batfam media for me.

Take this for what it is--someone who is not as deeply into Jason's character as others are and who is more of a general fan (and specifically a fan of my own Blorbo)--but my feeling with Jason's character is that DC doesn't really know what they want to do with his character and so he gets written as incredibly inconsistently by various comics because of it. So often when I look at the bigger scope of his appearances, it's not clear if he's supposed to be a villain, a villain on the way to being reformed, an antihero, a misunderstood hero, or what. And that also tends to influence his relationship with Bruce on a narrative level, how much Bruce is "right" or "wrong" about Jason or even often how he acts around the other Batfam members, especially if he gets an author who is a fan or if he's just there to be the impulsive hothead who needs others to step in. To some degree, that's just how comics are--every character is written as the dumb idiot sometimes when they're not in their own book. I often Suffer as a Dick Grayson fan or a Tim Drake fan or a Barbara Gordon fan, when I pick up another character's book for them. There can be great appearances in non-titular characters' books! But a lot of the time, when I'm reading, I have to look at the title and go, okay, Blorbo's not going to be treated as well as they should because this isn't their book. And I think that's a big chunk of what happens with Jason, one that gets exacerbated because it's not really clear what his role in the group is meant to be.

(Like, there is a VERY noticeable difference in the way Jason is written in Task Force Z--a book designed to center around him--versus when he shows up in a cameo in another book. Or there is a VERY noticeable difference in the way Dick is written when he cameos in a Batgirls book versus who he's written in his own central title. Comics, you know?) So, you're not wrong that Jason gets written weirdly a lot, but I don't see it as totally unique to his character, because it's somewhat just kind of part of the landscape of comics and somewhat just that Jason gets it more intensely than other characters because he never really had the solidification of who/what he was supposed to be in the comics, like even when Tim is written really badly and they refuse to let him evolve, at least you understand what his role is in the family, so a lot of authors have a baseline for how he should be treated. (And I don't know how well he actually does/doesn't sell comics, which is often a big influence in how a character will get treated in stories they appear in, like Bruce is probably DC's single biggest seller, so he's always going to have a baseline of being intended to be cool and heroic--mileages vary on how that comes off, but I think the intention is there, even when writing him as fucking up sometimes--like Jason is tremendously popular in fandom, but does that actually translate to selling comics? I have no idea.) I think it's fair to say that, look at almost any character in the Batfam, and they'll have a period where a lot of fans feel like they're being written the way you're describing Jason being written right now--I could probably find you people who would say similar things about Dick, Tim, Damian, and Babs right now, too, that they're being written as incompetent and like they need someone to hold their hand just to cross the street without messing it up. But also that you're not wrong that Jason is probably getting the worst of it and it's one of those things that I often have just had to learn to roll with when it comes to comics or else just walk away. (Sooooo many times I had to nearly walk away from comics because I dislike what's happening at a certain point and, often times, I have had to walk away. I walked away from DC because of it. I walked away from X-Men comics because of it. I walked away from Thor comics because of it. It's only recently that I came back to DC to give them another chance and, honestly, I'm only staying because I'm getting what I want for my Blorbo. That's kinda how comics often are, if you're here for a Blorbo, rather than here for the entire roster. /says without judgement, as I know what I am too)

#lumi.txt #dc #batfam #jason todd

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where-does-the-heart-lie · 10 months

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I love your Modern AU and I can’t wait to see just go they ruin the family’s wedding! ✨ I just have one itty bitty tiny question… since Ace made it to 22 it means he’s not gonna die, right? Cause it seems a lot of the stuff from canon like Sabo’s amnesia got brushed aside already, so!

Unless he got in some kind of accident when he was 20? Cause Sabo still has his scar so obviously not everything was avoided

Regardless, I love the comic! And Merry and Sunny’s design too, they cute and cool!!

Ah thanks so much! Yes.. i cant, wait either… mwah hah hah hah haaaaaaa MWAHHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!

This is correct, Ace will live on.

I did have two thoughts, though.

A) that maybe when he was 20 he got in a scuffle with the police when he was with luffy and he got shot in his torso a couple times, but he was taken to a hospital and he survived. But like, i think that this event is kinda just a liiittle too much, ya know? Like its a little too on-the-nose. Not enough of a seamless translation into my au, me thinks.

B) he has a big ol birth mark across his torso, and luffy told him one day (he got the idea from usopp) that birthmarks are actually the injury that killed you from your previous life! And ace is just like “haha youre weird” and they simply carry about their day. But ive drawn this whore (affectionate) in so many crop tops and i just havent added that detail yet, so ive decided to move on from this thought. (Of course the same can be said about bullet wounds in his torso)

The point is though, i dont have anything set in stone. Plus, im not really trying to put original universe plot points into this au, ya know what i mean? Like at first i didnt even sabo his scar. This universe is just kinda just everyone hangin out and being happy (for the most part) and alive

Thanks for the kind words and the ask!

#ask reply #@cryoud

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batrogers · 3 months

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Twilight Princess: the Resistance

In the game Twilight Princess, there is a group that meets in Telma’s bar, one that clearly knows each other very well and has for a long time. The bar they meet in has a connection to the castle, the group has clear and obvious disdain for the Hylian soldiers, and most notably of all, is willing and able to break into castle grounds with fairly elaborate weapons in order to aid Link in the end-game.

This is standard video game fare, but I want to go into a few other details about the storytelling that have always leaned me towards the group having a much more active past in which the resistance they had to the Twilight threat is a footnote on a much greater accomplishment: that of regicide.

[Note: I am discounting all comics canon in this analysis, as I do not have easy access to it, nor familiarity. This is based off in-game dialogue and visuals only, with some reference to Ocarina of Time.]

Also this is stupidly long and I'm about to post something even longer, so I guess uh, get yourself a drink. (1400 words)

The first necessary detail for that is this: Princess Zelda is the only member of her family we ever see. When Zant invades the throne room, Zelda is standing at the thrones alone, surrounded by guards, dressed in her formal regalia and wielding a sword. Nobody ever speaks of her parents, or questions her right to speak for the people of Hyrule. By every signal present, she is sole ruler and has been for long enough nobody questions it.

She is also very young: this isn’t usual either unless there has been recent, violent conflict or plague, and there’s no real evidence of there being a large war with an outside party or expensive civil unrest. Therefore, if something did kill her parents, it was likely targeted against them alone, or she had extraordinarily bad luck.

The second massive detail is the behaviour of the Resistance group in general. Notably, most group members are much older than Link or Zelda. Rusl has young kids, but he looks much older – more like 40-50 than 20-30. Telma and Auru are in that age range too. While Shad looks young, he talks old, so he could simply be a well-preserved 40 rather than merely a scholarly 20. Ashei definitely appears to be closer to Link’s age, but she speaks openly of her father as though he was involved before her, so perhaps she is here in his stead.

Notably, while there has clearly been time passing while the Twilight overlay the population and people were capable of moving around and doing things, there’s no real sense of it being a long time. Queen Rutela sent her son away, and he became suddenly and violently ill but none of the Zora are worried in a way that implies an absence of more than a few days. Impaz was secluded in the town but not long enough she reacted afraid for her life from lack of food or water. Others, again, are worried for lost family but not convinced of their deaths – a sentiment that, especially about children, would escalate quite quickly even in pre-modern times.

If that’s the case, how long has the Resistance had to set things in motion? If it was a new thing, in the face of the Twilight, the people involved would not be reacting so smoothly. But if it’s simply reconnecting with old allies, then that re-connection would be rapid. Rusl left Ordon village to look for the children: he appears to have gone straight to the Resistance rather than deviate from his path to follow likely leads. Why would he prioritize that? Only if he knew that was his best chance to chase multiple leads at once.

Only if he knew and expected them to be there, reachable quickly from Telma’s bar.

The Resistance does appear to have extremely rapid communication, especially for this time period. The group is already not only reintegrated but aware of current events and actively investigating them per expertise. They act as though they’ve never actually disbanded, in fact. Telma instantly tries to recruit Link upon his arrival, almost as if she was expecting him...

Almost as if Rusl might’ve told her to expect the boy’s arrival in Castletown in the recent future, possibly before this all began...? He was planning to send Link to the Castle in his stead after all.

I have another post about taxation that will likely be posted after this, but its stated that Rusl “made” the sword that’s going to be presented to the Royal Family from Ordon, the Village. This is not what a village would normally send in taxes, but it might be something they might send specially if the castle wants an extra gesture of good will from the village, possibly from a specific villager.

Possibly from someone they suspected was involved in recent activity they wanted to keep an eye on. A man who can make swords and armour (he’s the only one with a solid, defensive helmet we see, after all) is quite valuable in arming a small group of vigilantes, after all.

There is mention of “prolonged wars” that destroyed the guardians of the royal family to which Impaz belonged. That does not sound like a history of a royal family that has historically been kind or well-liked. We never get any specific sense of what caused these conflicts, but some things can just become entrenched power struggles over time. The Resistance are all incredibly disparaging towards the guards, who are useless within the city but around the castle are quite persistent and very solid. (Especially if you include that they are even proof against speedrun strats...)

In addition, Zelda’s royal garb skews incredibly militant. She is obviously trained in sword-fighting, or she’d have never grabbed a weapon when the throne room was invaded; the walls may be open but that offers as much opportunity for her to flee as it does defence, especially at the height at which this room is placed in the castle. While we do see two large cannons in use, and one hand-held cannon among the resistance after the fact, she is still so very high that’s not a real threat.

(Would this absolutely require magic to make the castle stable? Yes. Is that plausible in this context? Also yes.)

Lorewise, the previous game (Ocarina of Time) also has intense implications of prolonged conflicts: a civil war ten years before the story begins, evidence of torture by the Sheikah at the King's command, another war that ended in Ganondorf’s imprisonment by sages. Sages, who were clearly deeply distressed by everything going on, which implies the war had gone horribly for Hyrule and they were acting out of desperation. The Ocarina of Time script is an isolated language that never repeats which has its own implications of invasion and attempts to wipe out the history before it... (Changing a script on people has the “benefit” of forcibly making the literate population suddenly illiterate towards documentation you don’t want them to have access to, after all.)

If the people had become used to distrusting their rulers, and their rulers became used to suppressing dissent with violence, the cycle can continue for quite some time with periods of ebb and flow. And if the people have become used to the idea that you have to simply kill the King before things will change... Well, you’d have reason to keep a very close eye on them in the future, now wouldn’t you? You'd have reason to keep a group prepared to address matters quickly and finally when required.

In brief, there are a great many things that push me towards reading the Resistance as something that formed not in response to Zant, but in response to the government under which they lived.

Twilight Princess is a very settled era in the Zelda timeline. There are wide fields that clearly see a great deal of travel, elaborate and well-maintained bridges, multiple small villages in close proximity to each other that have walls but not elaborately defended ones. This world is not currently in serious distress. The Twilight War appears to be the worst thing to happen to the villages in some time.

It is not, however, particularly disruptive to the city. The people there are defensive, and strange, and alive in wonderful and interesting ways. We have a cursed rich man, a questionably ethical preacher, guards of both the poorly behaved and well-behaved variety, in which the well-behaved are strongly concentrated on the castle... As if the royal family expects to need strictly monitored guards at the castle.

As if there was perhaps something recent that caused it.

As if this isn't the first time the Resistance has broken into castle grounds in the recent past.

Perhaps Rusl had reasons to want someone who wasn’t him to present the sword to the young Queen, after all.

#Twilight Princess #story analysis #this is so stupidly long #LOZ: TP #Zelda lore #I'm sure this is somewhere else too but #I haven't found it #so have my take #Game analysis #Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess #Twilight

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spilledmilkfkdies · 27 days

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Hi! First off, thank you very much for answering my earlier asks; I really appreciate that you put in the time and thought to answer my questions. Secondly, I wanted to ask, how do you think the wizards would take it if they had been sentenced to Lightrock rather than Omega? (I think I have also asked this question of another blog, but I’m kinda hooked on the idea.) Thank you very much!

Hiii again!! You're so welcome too! I love answering asks and putting some energy into them, even if that means they take me a sec sometimes djskshsj I get to it eventually stinkyexhaust if you're out there-

And to answer the second part; Honestly I kinda vibe with the idea, I think about it sometimes, briefly. But that's because I'm bias and I simply don't want them to be frozen for eternity. Or for however long the comics kept them there before making them work for some guy and eventually imprisoning them in Solaria boo boo tomato. Absolutely YOINKED them from their planet, which ig Lightrock would also do. But like. That's different.

How would they take it though? Hmmmm yeah probably beats Omega, if only because they're together and able to talk to each other. Hopefully. Unless they're separated. I think Ogron would struggle the most, he's still experiencing some very strong emotions of the angry sort- but I feel like he'd eventually be fine as long as he's with Gantlos and Anagan who are TIRED. And in mourning. Ogron will get there too. Is Lightrock the absolute perfect solution for them that will fix all their problems though? Will they straight up vibe there without any issues? No!! But I really don't think they're as kill kill destroy as modern Winx writing is trying to sneak in there, they can be civil! At least for as long as it would take to get the "yeah lol they're fine now" stamp of approval so they can be on their way, which I think is the end goal? It's a rehabilitation thing right, those aren't permanent usually, I don't think.

Y'know who really could've used Lightrock. When we give it a minute of thought.

HE. HIM. THAT THING.

You're telling me this SICK man, who had been feverishly yapping away on your couch just minutes prior, DARES to speak the words "Who says I want to recover?", proceeds to reveals big evil plan (it actually being true aside for a moment) and you decide to KILL him where he stands as he BEGS for his life?? Bit overkill tbh. Yeah imprison the other ones but just explode the dying one, kill him faster! The medical bills just weren't worth it huh

Also?? Imagine there was no evil plan, and he really was just delusional and saying shit again. Could we perhaps say? Medical malpractice? Hm?

Really if any of the 4 were to be put in Lightrock, realistically it should be him?? This was him canonically going insane fam, please get him some therapy or something he'll be fine. Probably. BONUS POINTS if they'd let him stay in the bat form, I'd really like that and I'm not getting into the logistics of it. Just make sure his wings have room to move :(( I pinky promise he won't try to fly away pls :(( I don't think he even could pls pls :(( Y'all have security measures in place :((

#shout out to the french fic that teleported him to therapy land #real af for that fr #they gave him a room and everything #it's so silly but i appreciate things like that #this one feels very rambly #i didn't sleep well sjsksk #been out and about today!!#winx club #winx season 4 #winx villains #wizards of the black circle #winx ogron #winx gantlos #winx anagan #winx duman #answered ask

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newx-menfan · 1 year

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Fav X-23 artists!!

In celebration of Laura’s new mini (🍾🥂), here’s a countdown of some of my FAVORITE Laura Kinney art!

Mike Choi

Let’s be honest- Choi is pretty much *THE X-23* artist! From “Target X” to “X-Force vol. 3”, there’s just something about his art that always manages to capture Laura’s essence perfectly!

2) Joshua Middleton

I KNOW Middleton is a controversial choice…but there’s just something sad and tragic about his rendition of Laura that I really love. He’s one of the X-23 artists that I really wish would return on another X-23 book!

3) Will Conrad

It might be because of the Hellion and Laura “Killing Dream” scene, but Conrad is one of my favorite X-23 artists! While definitely not the strongest X-23 artist listed…I just really like his rendition of Laura!

(I think part of it is that I just like Laura with pouty lips!) 😂🤣

4) Billy Tan

Tan probably SHOULD be higher, simply because he did such a wonderful job with conveying a wide variety of emotions despite Laura being completely silent!!… Tan really makes “Innocence Lost” the power house book that it is and if it wasn’t for Choi and Middleton, I would probably say he is the most iconic X-23 artist!

5) Skottie Young

While I do weirdly enjoy Mark Brooks 90’s style chibi art…Young is definitely *THE New X-Men artist!* While I wasn’t much of a fan of his version of Julian…I deeply LOVE his Laura, Surge, Pixie, and Anole and appreciate how much Young IS the Bill Sienkiewicz of NXM!

6) Sana Takeda

Takeda is kind of a “hit or miss” for me…if I am being honest, I like Takeda’s rendition of Hellion better than I like her Laura.

Some of Takeda’s panels are really gorgeous and really fit the scene perfectly (like the panel of her with Jubilee!), and some just feel kind of out of place in an X-23 book; I would kind of compare it to “Batman: Gotham Knight” with bishie Bruce Wayne… sometimes it’s just a little bit jarring and it kind of takes me out of the moment.

7) Kalman Andrasofszky

While Andrasofszky has ONLY done covers…I tend to think they have all been pretty memorable! I especially LOVE his Hellion and Laura cover and I wish Andrasofszky was doing the main art for the new Schultz book!

8) Marcio Takara

I really enjoy Takara and how fun his art is; my only wish is that he had drawn Laura during her X-23 days, because I think his commission work of her is a bit better than his work on ANW. That being said- his Gabby is positively ADORABLE, as is his Jonathan!

9) Sara Pichelli

I REALLY love Pichelli’s art despite it being a Bendis book, focusing on Laura and O5 Angel, and Laura’s eye color being totally wrong!

Pichelli’s “goth Laura” is just absolutely beautiful! She’s another artist that I would love to see return to X-23, because her art is just Joelle Jones levels of beauty!

The nightclub ANXM issue is hands down some of the best Laura art out there and if it wasn’t for the coloring mistake, she’d probably be higher on the list for me!

10) Juann Cabal

While I don’t always love how Cabal does faces, he is definitely one of the most creative comic artists out there! The detail he puts in and how he stylizes the onomatopoeia is just really engaging! I especially LOVED his work in the “OWL” arc!

11) David Finch

While I am not always a big Finch fan, nor do I always think his art suits every character, I do really like his rendition of Laura. The excess of lines and grittiness just work really nicely with Laura and remind me of Jim Lee or Andy Kubert’s 90’s X-Men, but with a more modern color palette.

12) David Lopez

I really loved Lopez’s art when it first came out but have kind of cooled on it a bit since then. I think part of it is it just doesn’t really “look” like Laura to me. Compared to all the other artists, I just don’t feel like Lopez captures Laura’s “essence” as well as the others.

That being said, Lopez did a great job on “Four Sisters” and the panels in Paris are especially beautiful!

13) Phil Noto

Noto is that artist a LOT of people dislike because all his faces look more or less the same. I will give Noto this- I think his “face” works well for Laura in this instance; there’s just something kind of innocent about it that I like. I also like how Laura is a little more “plain” and “awkward” in his work; she looks like a genuine teenager here. She blends in to the background more.

I know Laura is SUPPOSED to be very attractive, but in some ways I enjoy Noto’s plainer rendition and I often think Noto’s work is in general, better suited for teen books than drawing characters like Emma or Black Widow.

14) Clayton Crain

While I like Crain’s work and think it was a good choice for X-Force…it does sometimes bug me how “CGI”- lite it looks…it definitely hasn’t aged well.

Some panels are absolutely amazing…others…not so much!

While I do think Crain had improved over time, his old work is, for lack of a better word, sometimes kind of clunky!

Those are some of my personal favorites- Let me know if you agree…? Or disagree…?

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ultra-kek · 6 months

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Is it true you don't like anything from Grant Morrison, or just the man himself at all?

I don't think I've mentioned my thoughts on Grant Morrison here but I do really love Grant Morrison's early DC work, in particular Animal Man being one of my favorite comics of all time, but I find their later work to be so terrible that I consider it my least favorite comics of all time. I blame this on the running themes of Metatextuality and a sort of reconstructivist ideology in Morrison's work that has ended up completely antithetical to what i desire from comics.

While the absurdist ruminations on the nature of fiction in Animal Man made for an amazing and radical sort of comic that deconstructed a lot about both superheroes and the relationship between fiction and reality, over time their work fell into what to me feels like just very shallow and uninteresting narratives that frequently fall into the same traps as like, redditors and youtube theorists, where it doesn't really have that much to say beyond "woah... this is a work of fiction and we're breaking the fourth wall!!!!!1111" and "superheroes are actually super cool and should never be criticized". The top examples i can think of are their Batman run, which brought back several concepts but in ways that felt shallow (was it really that necessary to bring back the Batman of Zurr-En-Arrh as an edgy violent alternate personality?), meanspirited (Son of the Demon being brought into canon, but retconning Bruce and Talia's loving relationship to... that.), or even offensive (if you're going to make a modern version of the Batmen of all Nations, even if you're going to be rewriting them to attempt to make more realistic and progressive incarnations of them is it really necessary to keep the more offensive designs, and redesign others to be even more offensive? I don't think they had people of color on hand for that stuff...). Meanwhile there's the multiverse stuff that I just really can't bring myself to care about, that kind of thing is already really boring for me personally and though Morrison tries to make more meaningful narrative in them that narrative is just "Aren't superheroes really epic and cool?"

There's also the fact that regardless of being nonbinary Morrison hasn't really had the best track record when it comes to depicting minority groups. I already mentioned the Batmen of all Nations but there's them turning Talia into a misogynistic and somewhat racist stereotype, and Professor Pyg, who's Buffalo Bill-type queercoding is so offensive that I genuinely can't stomach it as a character. This is more controversial, but I feel this even about A Serious House on Serious Earth, both in the character of Mad Dog but also in the comic's general depiction of Batman's rogues' gallery not as characters of their own but as caricatures of mental illness existing primarily as foils for Batman's personal conflicts, which bled into the comics and kind of became a defining part of Batman as a franchise and its frequent usage of psychological themes.

Morrison also has a particularly unfortunate flaw in that theyre kind of... redditbrained. They're famous for their personal theory on the ending of the Killing Joke of how it actually represents Batman finally breaking his one rule and killing the Joker, despite how the comic very clearly frames the moment as the one last moment of understanding the two will ever have. There's also Morrison's idea of all Batman media being true, and justifying it as the sillier parts of Batman being caused by... him and Robin being on drugs. They've literally said that.

My main like, ideological opposition to Morrison though is in their reconstructivist themes and the way they place superheroes as like gods to be aspired to. I certainly fall closer to Moore when it comes to my perspective on comics and while I don't think they're beyond salvation Morrison simply isn't doing them any favors. I just don't want to see comics about how epic Batman and Superman are or whatever, I want to see more radical stuff that breaks down superhero comics as a whole. By all means I like seeing the weird reinvention of old concepts, but being so stuck in the past is just kind of, stupid.

#dc #txt #text #sorry this is rambly im sick as i write this and tumblr has been fucking up and blocking me from replying for like 2 days

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arabian-batboy · 8 months

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Since your mainly a dc blog, I think comics divisions of companies don’t really work with adaptators often these days. I have a running theory that dc presume Damian would stay dead after Morrison’s run and be a one note character in Batman mythos. Then WB animation came along and told them that Damian is the Robin for dcma. Thus why he still around, make sense?

Damian permanently dying in Batman Inc was fully Morrison's intentions and plan since the day they created him, however even though they were Damian's creator, they don't have full ownership to his character or a say to what will happen to him after they're done writing him.

Damian was brought back simply because he has already become a very popular character with a prevalent presence in Batman's comics, so it was foolish on their part to think that they can just treat him as a one note character after all of these years and again, killing him was solely Morrison's decision. In fact Tomasi and Gleason both said they didn't like what has been done to him and that they wanted to waste no time undoing his death, which is why he only stayed dead for 2 years before coming back.

It actually makes me wonder if the reason his death was taken so seriously in-universe and why we saw so many characters mourn him on-panel (which is rare to see in comics in modern-day) is because other writers genuinely thought he wouldn't come back and wanted to give him a proper send-off?

As for your theory......I can see why you would think that since Damian died in the comics one year before the released of the first movie with him, but I think its safe to say that WB animation don't have any type of authority over what happens in the comics, especially for the sake of the DCMU, whose movies lose all hype just a couple of months of after getting released and its not like the SoB movie was THAT much of a hit.

#I feel like I was all over the place and unorganized in my answer #but I hope the message was delivered

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frasier-crane-style · 8 months

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Blue Beetle (2023)

Blue Beetle reminds me mostly of the first Amazing Spider-Man movie. It's not capital-B bad, but it could be a lot better. Part of it is that Angel Manuel Soto, like Marc Webb, simply isn't a cinematic genius like Sam Raimi.

Another is that the adaptation changes a lot of the source material, not to make it more interesting or anything, but to make it MORE generic. The plot is almost exactly like Ant-Man, for fuck's sake.

OG hero used to run a benevolent corporation, but he's been forced out by the villain, who wants to use his tech for military purposes (wait, wouldn't that mean we'd be sending all that evil military technology over to Ukraine to help fight Putin? I guess we're not supposed to think about that.) Legacy hero stumbles into the OG hero's tech and gets help from OG hero's daughter to take back the corporation. There's similar wholesale plagiarism from the Iron Man and Spider-Man movies (how many missiles are there that have manufacturer logos on them, really?).

Another weirdness is that in the comics, Jaime actually has friends. In the movie, the only people he ever talks to are his family, his love interest, and the villains (which doesn't stop the movie from doing a THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY epilogue--yeah, where were you guys when the Reyes family was getting their shit pushed in on the front lawn?). It's odd to think nerdy loser Peter Parker was at least friends with Harry and on speaking terms with MJ, while clean-cut, handsome everyman Jaime has no social skills.

It's not saying much, but the movie is a little better at tone than modern Marvel. It plays way too many pop songs during serious moments, but it can also shut up at times. It still gets cartoony as hell with Jaime's grandma turning into John Wick--yeah, she kills people with a machine gun--and his uncle knowing how to pilot a hover-ship--which doesn't mesh well with the director dropping references to social issues like they're Green Lantern story arcs. Okay, are we a wacky cartoon or are we trying to make a statement about gentrification? I guess both!

Speaking of which, the movie keeps Jaime's no-kill rule, but lets his family blow up, blast, and even fucking IMPALE henchmen like there's no tomorrow. And it makes a point of having sympathetic villains and spelling out how desperately the disadvantaged Reyes family needs jobs. I guess none of those mooks just needed to pay for their family home. They all willingly chose to do evil by... working for a legitimate military contractor and trying to recover stolen property/guard private property.

And it's another movie where they make the villains cartoonishly racist instead of faux progressive like any real evil billionaire would be. There's a bit where a receptionist is told Jaime's name when he introduces himself (pronounced Haime) and she keeps mispronouncing it Jamie because... she knows how it's spelled and she's willingly pronouncing it the Anglo way instead of how he just told her it was pronounced? Like this sort of thing wouldn't immediately get recorded, posted on Twitter, and end up costing her her job? But, you know, I guess that's a sign of how evil Victoria Kord is, that she's carefully choosing racist receptionists who assume that a Mexican in a business suit must be a deliveryman.

That whole sequence... which is how Jaime gets his powers... is kinda a mess. Okay, he texts Jenny Kord for a job interview, but she doesn't know he's coming or set an appointment, because that's when she's stealing the Scarab. So I guess this pre-law college grad just decided to show up at Kord Industries and lie about having an appointment with a member of the board... so he could get a job interview... instead of waiting for her to text him back?

I know the movie is about alien technology and flying superheroes, but can we at least have them act like real people when it comes to things like job interviews, when everyone in the audience knows how those work?

Still, the movie stays mostly on the rails until the third act, where you get a patent example of just how bad modern blockbuster making has gotten. Everywhere Raimi's Spider-Man movies were smooth, streamlined, and organic, this movie's third act is cluttered and clumsy. Jaime himself is sidelined for an unbelievable interval, while every member of his family gets a hero moment and/or a pep talk to give to Jaime. They all blend together, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of them got more than one.

And still the climax crams in more STUFF, from a last-minute redemption arc (again, more than one!) to a teachable moment between Jaime and his AI. None of this comes across as earned or stirring. And there's an unforgivable bit where Jaime's final power-up is blended with the villain going Super Saiyan and yet more side characters setting off one in a long line of explosives.

There's some many obviously cruddy writing moments like that. There's a scene where Jaime and Jenny easily escape pursuit, right next to a scene where they have their first encounter with the villainous Carapax in the exact same circumstances... couldn't some of that be merged or dumped so we had more time to spend on the development that's shoved in willy-nilly?

I'm not saying the first Spider-Man was Shakespeare, but we got a good idea of Peter, May, Mary Jane, Harry, Norman, and how they all related to each other... even foreshadowing of where their paths would continue on in future movies. In the last five minutes of Blue Beetle, they're still explaining Carapax's motivation! His last words are basically "I just remembered my backstory!" No, director-man, you gotta weave that into the narrative. We can't care about something when we heard about it for the first time ten seconds ago!

#blue beetle

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616marcspector · 9 months

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P L E A S E say more about autistic marc spector you are SO RIGHT and i want to hear EVERYTHING, have already read your whole tag (the body language!!!! yes!!!!!!) and 100% want more!

i am sorry for taking So Long to reply to this ask i have been so busy with irl stuff recently 😭

i've talked a bit about body language and stims and things and today i want to talk a little bit about his brain bc it is so fascinating to me i want to pick him apart <3

we know marc has had suicidal thoughts in the past, this is canon in both the comics and the series. and in both cases his desire for death comes from guilt. but why does he want to die, specifically? often people suffering from guilt would prefer to be punished, to be put through the same pain that they have caused others. we see this in the more modern comics, where marc has very little care for himself and his well-being and actively puts himself in harm's way. he is not trying to kill himself, he is trying to torture himself. (and he is not a masochist, he is simply a very sad and lonely man.)

so we ask again, why did marc feel suicidal in the past? because he craves peace. the world is loud and big and when marc is bleeding out in the middle of the desert after witnessing a massacre or having a meltdown and ptsd flashbacks while steven is coldly egging him on, all he wants is for everything to go dark and silent. he wishes he could not feel anything at all, like he pretends to, like he was taught to, like people expect him to. he knows he has done terrible things, and most of the time he accepts the guilt and tries his very best to rectify his mistakes. but sometimes it is all so very much to bear and he wants to shut down for a long, long time.

marc barely fronts at all in the moench run, only coming out when they need someone angry and violent OR when frenchie is around. and that's important. marc loves frenchie. whether you interpret that love as platonic or romantic or something else doesn't matter, frenchie is a safe space and an emotional anchor. frenchie understands marc, understands his past and his guilt and his anger and his loneliness and most of all he understands what marc needs. when marc is with frenchie he doesn't hide who he is, and as such we end up seeing the softest version of himself. and that is so fucked up how marc does not realise that at his core he is warm and kind and capable of so much love and compassion because he has been forced to mask over and over again that he doesn't even know who he is anymore. and yes that can tie into the did because i do not think it is a coincidence that people with did are often also diagnosed with autism. but that's another subject that i don't want to get into because i am just here to talk about autism.

does any of this make sense? is it coherent? am i just babbling nonsense into the void? idk but this was therapeutic for me <3 also sorry for getting so deep on ur ask i didn't intend to get right into it so heavily straight away 😭

#asks #icehot13 #moon knight #marc spector #the autism of marc spector <3 #suicide mention #marcfrenchie

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marvelmaniac715 · 10 months

Text

My first gift to Chucky is publishing extracts from his very own guide book on child rearing. It’s his perspective on the kids he’s encountered, including his own. I warn you, it’s not to everyone’s taste, even I winced when I read what he wanted me to publish on this blog, but then he reminded me that it’s Father’s Day and that he simply wanted to share his fatherly wisdom, so… here you go.

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Why hello, my name is Chucky, welcome to my childcare guide book. I have many years of experience being around kids, I even have two of my own. In all of my years, I’ve searched desperately for a book or some sort of video guide that could help me understand the young people in my life, but nothing I found ever related to my exact situation. This is the guide that I wish I’d had back in the 1980s. If you’re somehow seeing this Andy, I blame you for everything that’s gone wrong in my life.

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Modern Teenagers:

The most important thing I can teach you about the youth of today is that you have to relate to them on their level. One thing I like to do when I’m talking to a modern day teenager is reference Instagram. Remember how exciting it was when you were a kid and grownups would reference the Batman comic you’d just read? This is the modern day equivalent. Have I ever used the app? Not really, but I did talk to a teenager (thank you Junior, RIP) who assured me that Insta followers are a very valued commodity for today’s youth.

A lot of teenagers don’t actually like me. Can’t figure out why, I’m very cool. If you experience the same issue, I can recommend that you should not aim to traumatise teenagers unless you have a goal, because some of them have the strength of full grown adults along with raging hormones, it’s like fighting the Hulk. Word of advice - it’s usually frowned upon to try and offer a teenager drugs, and many teens will decline before murdering you in a brutal fashion.

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Young Kids:

Kids under the age of ten make better stooges, but if they have good parents, it’s harder to make them do what you want. Some manipulation persuasion tactics that I’ve used in the past with young kids include:

Convincing a boy that I was sent by his deceased father to be his companion/playmate (successful for about two days, not recommended for the long term)

Convincing a girl that her mother was not her biological mother in order to fill that maternal role with my ex instead

Convincing another girl that I wanted to play a game called ‘Hide the Soul’ then possessing her body (RIP Alice Pierce)

Little kids are surprisingly easy to convince that your way is for the best, but this gift is to be used sparingly in order to avoid the risk of said kid getting wise to what’s happening and not following your leadership. Another top tip - if the child you are trying to manipulate persuade has protective older relatives that are surprisingly skilled with a variety of weapons and forms of combat, figure out at least five potential exits from the situation or else you will be killed.

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Introducing Your Biological Children To Your Interests:

As previously mentioned, I have two kids of my own. Can I tell you how old they are? …No, I’m not actually sure. I wanna say twenty? No… they were ‘born’ in 2004, so… nineteen at the most.

Anyway, my kids- twins, Glen and Glenda- are quite strange. The older one didn’t see the value of murder, and the younger one seemed kinda psychotic when I met them. But still, I tried to install a love of violence in my eldest child, because that’s how I bond with others.

What I did was I took my older child out hunting late at night when their mother was sleeping (‘recovering from addiction’, don’t ask). I even introduced the kid to a celebrity (before mercilessly killing them… oops, I did it again) as we made our way to the house of a guy I didn’t like. My intention was to have the kid watch, but they were clearly so inspired by the incident in the car that they decided to take matters into their own hands. I’ve never been more proud, and I was even prouder a day or so later when they used what I taught them to kill me.

Now, I’m not saying that this technique will work for everyone, but it was very effective for me. Of course, every child is different. I mean, take my little Glenda for example (not so little anymore really). They were in control for all of five minutes, but they used their limited time in control of the body to murder a woman with a flamethrower and then make an incredible joke about it. That’s the sort of talent that a kid has to be born with, whereas my older child Glen had to coaxed into killing, but when they did, it was absolutely glorious.

So my advice to you, dear reader, is to choose an interest of yours that you’re best at to focus on and pass on to your child. If they pick it up and have a talent for it, great! Your talent will live on. But if they don’t quite get it or like it, it’s still a much needed chance to bond with your child, especially if you don’t see them for years.

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Reaching Out To The Children You Haven’t Seen For Years As An Adult:

I have a lot of experience with this. Andy Barclay, Barbara and Nica Pierce as well as my own kids have all gone many years without seeing me, and when I reentered their lives, I did it in a big way. Murder attempts are a classic way to go, but what if you’re looking for henchmen assistants? Two words for you, my friends: compliments and persuasion. Young kids will believe almost anything you say (see above) and older kids who are starved for affection will do whatever you ask in the hopes of receiving more affection. It’s foolproof.

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Final Words:

Kids are interesting, complex tiny humans who don’t quite understand how the world works. I’m not an expert, but I did consult my childhood therapist whilst writing this, who told me the following:

‘Small children are ridiculously easy to mould and teenagers are ticking time bombs of anxiety. He or she who controls children controls the future.’

Do I think that’s a good takeaway from this guide book? Not quite, even I think that’s a tad too far. I just felt it was necessary to include it, because it’s… certainly a quote.

Before I leave you, I’d like to thank and acknowledge the following people:

Tiffany Valentine - the mother of my children

Glen and Glenda Ray - the twins who made me a father

Andy Barclay - a person who taught me how irritating children can be

Nica Pierce - an interesting adversary and an even more interesting person to possess

Kyle Simpson - for teaching me to never underestimate a woman, especially a young one

Alice Pierce - a nice girl who went too soon

Junior Wheeler - a valuable source of information on modern teenagers

Jake Wheeler - same as Junior, also a promising artist

Caroline Cross - an interesting kid who shows great promise as a killer

I hope you enjoyed my book, hopefully, with the advice I provided, you can be as great as a parent as I am.

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