#A SCHOOLBUS FULL OF KIDS

[hazard-symbols-that-fuck-hard]

Okay time for the PBS Kids essay

Read it under the cut!

:readmore:

In 1968, before there was PBS Kids proper, there was Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. While it came several decades before the children’s block, it laid the foundation for the themes and values present in every facet of the network’s history.

Mr. Roger famously hated children’s programming at the time. To him, it all was droll and useless. But he didn’t dissuade the medium entirely— he saw potential. Potential that led to a few smaller television jobs, and eventually the creation of Mr. Roger’s neighborhood.

Rogers didn’t invent educational TV for children, but he did perfect it. He poured real heart and soul into probably the most sincere, heartfelt program in history.

Honestly, he could have his own essay. The more things you learn about the real man of Mr. Rogers, the more you’ll like him.

Anyway, the biggest thing that makes PBS different is the fact that it earns money through grants, fundraisers, and private donors— not through sponsorships and merchandise sales. This way, PBS Kids can push programming that it feels is important, rather than programming that merely sells well.

This also means PBS is less afraid of pushing social boundaries. Money doesn’t go away when their shows become subjects of debate— and Mr. Rogers took full advantage of this.

For context, this was 1969. The Jim Crow era had just barely, barely ended. Pool segregation was still very much legal.

Mr. Rogers sharing a pool and a towel with the Black Mr. Clemmons was a pretty big deal at the time— especially on a show made for children.

Rogers was far from the untouchable sacred cow of today. When he was alive, he had a large number of detractors. Let’s just say that scene didn’t fly nicely by everyone.

Just one year after the debut of Mr. Roger’s came Sesame Street.

While Mr. Roger’s was made for all children, Sesame Street had the explicit goal of supplementing the education of underserved communities— especially inner-city Black (and later Latino) children.

While it was made to be accessible to children of all races and income levels, they definitely went the extra mile to make it something special for inner-city Black and Brown kids. (Why do you think it it’s “Sesame Street” and not “Sesame Cul-de-Sac”?)

At the time, a wholesome, sweet show set in a brownstone street was practically unheard of.

Jon Stone, the casting director, deliberately sought to make the cast as rich with color as he possibly could, bringing on a huge amount of Black talent such as Loretta Long, Matt Robinson, and Kevin Clash, as well as featuring Black celebrities as guest stars. Later, the show would expand its horizons, bringing on actors from Latino, Asian, Native American, and many more backgrounds.

White actors were and still are a minority on show.

In addition to letters and numbers, the purpose of Sesame Street is clear: make kids of color know that they’re smart, beautiful, and loved.

It doesn’t get more explicit than this.

I want to point out this comment because it’s funny

You’re telling me this bitch isn’t Hispanic???

Anyway, these two were followed up by Reading Rainbow in 1983. And guess what?

That’s right. Non-white focus.

These three shows, (along with other, lesser-known programs like Lamb-Chops Play Along, Newton’s Apple, and Shining Times Station (who featured Ringo Starr himself?? seriously how did that happen and why does no one talk about it) and some other nostalgic favorites like Bill Nye the Science guy, The Magic Schoolbus, Arthur, and Thomas the Tank Engine) aired on the new PTV block, which evolved into PBS Kids in 1999, bringing along Between the Lions, Dragon Tales, and many more.

Arthur is another stand-out that I’d like to talk about— it doesn’t have the same racial focus of Sesame Street, but it does focus on different income levels. The characters have various housing situations, from apartments to mansions to no home at all.

It also takes cues from Sesame Street and Mr. Roger’s in regards to talking about tough topics, though as Arthur has a slightly older target audience, it discusses things through stories rather than talking directly to the audience.

Cancer, religion, workplace discrimination, along with current (at the time) events such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina are all discussed on the show.

Another big focus on Arthur is disability. For once, they don’t stick a character in a wheelchair and then pretend he’s not in a wheelchair. A striking number of major characters either develop or get diagnosed with physical disabilities and/or neurodivergences, such as asthma, severe food allergies, and dyslexia, and they deal with them in very realistic ways.

A handful of minor characters have more obvious disabilities, and THANK GOD they go beyond the trite messaging of “disabled people can do everything abled people can do! everyone clap now!”

One episode in particular has the awesome message of “holy shit stop trying to help me all the time— it’s patronizing as fuck. I can get around just fine without you stepping on eggshells and trying to be the hero all the fucking time”

There are sooo many other shows I could talk about, but I can’t write about them all. I’m definitely gonna point out some more standout ones, though.

Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat

Created by Chinese-American woman Amy Tang

Dragonfly TV

Features a multitude of female and non-white scientists to foster an interest in science with kids in those groups

Maya & Miguel

One of the network’s first Hispanic-led shows

SciGirls

I shouldn’t have to explain what the goal of this one was.

Molly of Denali

When was the last time you saw a show that treated Native Americans as people? Much less a children’s show? 90% of the cast is Athabascan, and the show revolves around Athabascan culture, not shying away from topics like boarding schools and modern-day racism. Most of the writers are also Athabascan, and the show even has an official Gwich’in dub!

It’s this commitment to real, authentic social justice that makes PBS Kids so much different from its competitors. Could you imagine the Paw Patrol dog looking at the camera and earnestly discussing what happened to George Floyd? I don’t think so— but Arthur talked specifically about it, Sesame Street did an hour long special about race in general, and the network itself made a 30 minute special.

Disney Jr. could never. (Other than trying to teach colorblindness, of course.)

I’m gonna have to cut this into two parts, since I just hit the image limit

[creature-wizard]

Fascism thrives on ignorance and anti-intellectualism. Here are some ways you can combat it:

There is an ongoing literacy crisis. Teach kids how to read phonetically (other methods produce poor literacy) and introduce them to fun books, both fiction and educational non-fiction.

Teach kids about critical thinking and the scientific method.

You can also introduce kids to edutainment like Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, The Magic Schoolbus, Bill Nye The Science Guy, Beakman's World, etc.

Help kids develop media literacy skills by asking them literary analysis questions about the media they engage with. Even very young children can begin learning literary analysis if the questions are phrased in words they can understand.

Learn and help other people learn information literacy, ie, how to locate and evaluate information.

Learn the red flags of pseudoscience, and educate other people about them.

Educate people and share media on real science and real history, because fascist narratives are full of pseudoscience and pseudohistory. (Miniminuteman, Gutsick Gibbon and Bart D. Ehrman's YouTube channel are great, by the way!)

Make learning a joyful experience, and show people the beauty and wonder of what's real. Being a discouraging killjoy will spoil your efforts.

[simspaghetti]

As I'm doing a rags-to-riches challenge atm for gen 3 of my Random Legacy, I've been looking into mods that make the off-grid experience in TS3 a bit more realistic

I hope this list will be especially useful as a resource for anyone doing rags-to-riches, runaway teen, midnight sun, zombie apocalypse or any other similar challenge which requires your sim to live off the land - I personally love this gameplay style, and I hope this is useful for others too!

As always, if anyone has any suggestions of mods / CC I should add to this list, let me know and I'll update it - it's definitely not exhaustive by any means :)

Mods:

Moar Interactions by Buzzler on MTS

I recommend this mod regardless of if you're playing off-the-grid because it adds a bunch of great stuff, but the interactions particularly useful for this gameplay style are 'work overtime' at the small businesses around town, allowing your sim to earn a bit of extra cash without being officially employed, and also the ability to 'cancel the carpool / schoolbus' (because a carpool wouldn't agree to pick your sim up from their camp in the middle of the woods)

Nraas Careers via Nraas Industries

This mod allows your teen / child sims to be enrolled in home-schooling, which makes much more sense if they're living as a runaway - tutorial for how to assign them to homeschooling is here - I also reccomend using storyprogression to disable curfew for your teen sims if you're playing them as a runaway (tutorial here)

Nraas GoHere via Nraas Industries

This might be a bit random - but this mod is an abseloute lifesaver if your sim doesn't have a car, you can force them to walk long distances without automatically getting in a taxi (best used when combined with the taxi charge mod - linked below)

One with Nature by Spherefish on MTS

This mod is basically the GOAT for off-grid gameplay - it adds the ability to sleep on the floor, pee on the floor, have sponge baths in the ocean / swimming pool and also to relax / daydream on the ground

Pay for the gym by ani on MTS

Some people won't like this one as it definitely makes runaway / rags-to-riches challenges a lot more challenging, but in combination with the other mods I think it makes sense to charge for hot showers when your sim could just go for a wild swim instead!

No Fridge Shopping via Nraas Industries

No more magically buying ingredients from the fridge - your off-grid sim has to grow the produce themselves or go to the supermarket if they want to cook!

Taxi Charge & Subway Charge on MTS

Challenges such as runaway teen require you to buy a flamingo every time your sim takes a taxi - this removes that requirement as your sim gets automatically charged 6-20 simoleons depending on their age - Subway Charge does the same for your Bridgeport sims

No Stretch Children Can Series by Kapaer on MTS

I always recommend this mod for general gameplay anyway, but it's especially useful if you've got kids in your household for offgrid living, they're no longer completely useless!

Attend University online by TwinSimming on Tumblr

Similar to the homeschooling option from nraas careers (linked above), this allows your sim to attend university entirely from the comfort of their computer - they do still have to pay for the degree though!

Off-Grid Inventing Overhaul by SimState on MTS

Allows your inventor sims to create household objects through the inventing table - so you don't have to save up to buy them if your sim is crafty enough!

Ani's Various Mods

I particularly recommend the 'mountain bike' mod which allows your sims to ride a bike around without roads, as well as the 'ration box' mod & 'consignment'

Sleep on Sofa / Bench by Sammonsim on MTS

Scroll down to post #22 in this thread to get the link to this mod - it basically allows your sims to get a full nights sleep on a sofa / bench without having to queue up 50 'nap' interactions

Functional Wells / Off Grid Plumbing & Functional Washboard

This makes your sim have to collect buckets of water from a well if they want to shower / wash the dishes etc. The functional washboard allows them to wash their clothes in a less mechanical way, I reccomend using Danjaley's functional well cc in addition to the plumbing mod as it adds a few more options for your style of lot

Custom Content:

Pallet bed set on tumblr

BionicZombie's Basement Treasures TS4 conversio

Travel Items by Everlasting Garden

Working Futon on MTS

Hollow bee tree on MTS

Camping time set by Toreno

Around The Sims 3:

Camping Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 Eco Living TS4 Conversion Into The Wild Trashes & Bonfires / Part 2 Stray Life City / Stray Life Woods Beer Keg / Wine Barrel Squat Bedroom

Twinsimming:

Into the wild set TS4 Werewolves conversion

Simzoo:

All-In-One Bush / Toilet bush Rock / Bucket sink Log Bench / Bench 2 / Rock Stool / Wood Box Cushioned Seat Tree Dresser Haystack bed / Log bed Single table-style counter Raft pool lounger Firepit set

TheSimsResource:

Disclaimer: I do not endorse or condone using this website, unfortunately a lot of great CC for TS3 is locked behind it due to the age of the game - so I've linked some of it here, but I recommend using a reliable adblocker (personally I use Ublock Origin for firefox) before visiting it / downloading anything

Hayloft bunk-bed More Mailboxes (These are a lot less space-consuming than the default mailbox, and I like to either attach them to trees or just hide them in bushes on my off-grid lots lol) The homeless pet set Trapper Bedroom All of cyclonesue's stuff for urban environments

[pampanope]

“OK HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BELL.”—Adler, probably

Graves: quietly climbs out through a window

Just what nobody asked for

More Russell blurbs

Russell didn't scream for a whole day and shadow company immediately knew something was wrong. That, and he was a little bloated. Well, it turns out opossum pregnancy only lasts 10-13 days with litters of 4-25.

After it came to the conclusion that Russell was actually a lady, a few shadows had a debate on changing his name, although the mass agreement was that Russell was transgender.

[insert mpreg joke]

They found the dad a few days later and named him Bell. Adler didn't take that news well

Borders by @cafekitsune

If you have any name ideas for the babies, let me know! My comments, DMs, and ask boxes are always open. :)

[gamerwoman3d]

Old Person Rant:

I want to apologize to the kids today who are growing up in the misinformation era. I truly hope your generation learns to differentiate the honest from the cozen.

Anyways today I ended up buying a buncha this shit because I like yogurt, I love protein and I love cherries. I figured they added whey powder to cherry yogurt.

Mean ol' bitch rant under the cut

Nope. Not a single cherry in the ingredients list. It's sweetened with Sucralose which is an artificial sweetener that makes me gag. So instead of cherry flavor, I get "Rather be giving a blowie" flavor.

Nowhere on this bitch does it say sugarfree.

Nowhere on this bitch does it say "Does not contain cherries."

The texture kinda sucks too but I was expecting that - with 15g protein and 100 calories I expecting that (even though it doesn't say non-fat anywhere on it, I can do the math and figure there's no-to-low-fat at 100 cals.)

How the fuck are you claiming that there are no artificial flavors when 1) CHERRY IS NOT IN THE INGREDIENTS LIST FOR A FUCKING CHERRY YOGURT AND 2) Sucralose is literally an artificial flavor.

And don't get me started on using BEET. JUICE. Just use a fucking cherry. Using beet juice (for color) is LITERALLY THE DEFINITION of an artificial color when you're advertising the bullshit with a PHOTO OF A FUCKIN CHERRY ON THE FRONT. Just because you didn't use Red 40 does not mean this isn't an act of pure fucking artifice.

I hate products today, man. I fucking hate em. I hate shopping online, I hate shopping in stores, I hate being offered bullshit that has ZERO ACTUAL VALUE that's put in a pretty package with a buncha lies in fine print and sold as if it's something else.

I hate that nothing on the shelf today can be taken at face value because of the big fuckin' hardon that General Mills has for duping people into overpaying for shit that they couldn't GIVE AWAY unless they FORCE the real thing to be unavailable.

If I could give every kid a magic schoolbus trip to go grocery shopping in other countries, and even in the USA but in earlier decades, I would.

My trust in these products are so broken that I even wonder if there's ACTUALLY 15g of protein in this cup or if that math is just a creative interpretation as well.

Sorry kids. I wish we had done better at nipping deceptive marketing in the bud, but there's no consequences for these types of practice. I'm only hoping if you're seeing these products on the shelf that you get critical, and don't buy them if

1) There's too much print on the package and it ain't worth my time to read. [Fewer words means fewer ingredients and less bullshit.]

2) The package doesn't give you full confidence that the product inside is actually the thing that you want or need.

Not buying the shit at all is the only way to get it off the shelf. I'm sorry I bought as many of these as I did and I'll probably be taking the rest to a Free Fridge. At least that way the homeless will know not to let GM give this shit to them and claim it as a tax writeoff.

[eraserheadbabyfever]

u have got to be kidding me a schoolbus full of children just fell off a bridge into the ocean in baywatch

[webtoon-related-tournaments]

OK i m having fun so far doing this disabled webtoon characters bracket so once the finals are over I'll change the pfp, banner and url and start a kids in webtoon bracket.

You'll see the questions but basically here are the rules of submission:

The child cannot be older than 18. If they grow up over the course of the stories it's different. In the case of an immortal child, just submit and give all the precisions you can, I'll rule on case by case.

The child has to be named or to be recurring enough that the fandom/comment section has a nickname for them.

If they're from a high school story or a story where the main cast is full of less than 18 kids I'll only pick one or two from that series (looking at you, Jackson's Diary, Lookism, Questism, Surviving Romance, To Be Ordinary!, UnOrdinary, Cursed Princess Club, Schoolbus Graveyard...) but please do submit any you can think about.

Do not hesitate to reblog or tag people you know who like webtoons.

The following are in it by default but you can submit them anyway for funsies or an opportunity to infodump:

Pierta from Tricked into becoming the heroine's stepmother

Jinsei and Vivi from Fictional Skin

Celphius from My In-Laws are obsessed with me

Young Medea and Young Helio from Your Throne.

Posting this now so people can start submitting now. For anyone who doesn't know, the disabled characters is still on round 2 out of what? 7? for now, so there's plenty of time.

[haveihitanerve]

guys.

im sitting in my room. at my desk. my window is open behind me.

and then a schoolbus drives past the window, i hear children wailing- like full on shrieks, turn around-

and spot this one kid full blown sprinting after the bus like he was in one of those trashy high school movies where the nerd misses the bus

complete with his arms flailing out infront of him as he tried to catch up

[svtskneecaps]

catching up on Vicky Tungle Drama (TM), and assuming no one's given you an answer yet: nope, no one's thought to fill the Jason Grace Arrives Early niche afaik, and the fandom now's just defaulted to Camp Half-Blood... least, that's what the main subreddit's called lol

yknow what camp half blood kinda makes sense. i'm incredibly biased tho i don't think i'm ever quite gonna stop calling it the percy jackson fandom lmfao. and how has NO ONE cracked that niche there is so much untapped potential. like, take high school drama and mix it with demigod magic and a prison break movie. like CMON GUYS. like, maybe jason starts remembering enough weird stuff about gods and myths that the kids realize huh maybe this is connected to LEO HAVING PYROKINESIS AND PIPER GETTING A GUY TO HAND A BMW TO A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD. individually.

and PERHAPS they actually CONFESS these powers to each other bc as far as they know this is localized to just the three of them; jason discovers wind somehow--maybe defending piper from the mean girls???? HELLO??--and immediately informs the others because they're his only support system rn and their literal modus operandi is "figure out who jason was before wilderness school", and maybe piper suddenly realizes that even fame and pretty privilege shouldn't be able to get her an ILLICIT BMW on their own, MAYBE there's something to that like jason's thing so she says something, and LEO LITERALLY HAS PYROKINESIS and no reason to believe his fire powers are uniquely weird or inherently evil (bc in canon he walks into the hephaestus cabin hours after learning he's not the only one with superhuman abilities and everyone's instantly like no we don't have fire and fire bad, so he hides it, but if he DOESN'T get this info immediately, then they're just weird fire powers like piper's weird speech magic and jason's weird wind and lightning control; not uniquely weird, just weird)

THEREFORE, they all go into whatever the lost hero turns out being with full knowledge of the others' skill sets, full trust in each other, and while they're still thrown for a loop by basically everything, they can also look at it and go "yeah ok fine my month was weird even before this"

like hell maybe piper TELLS THEM ABOUT THE DREAM WITH THE ONE GIANT THAT COMES ~THREE DAYS BEFORE THE GRAND CANYON TRIP. like "hey guys this is super weird and probably unrelated but with all the weird shit going on the chances of jason knowing something related is nonzero?" like hell maybe they decide to jump ship early and straight steal the schoolbus and go fucking BLASTING for the mountain to save her dad and probably find jason's memories along the way. LIKE COME ON PEOPLE. 💳💥💳💥💳💥💳💥. CANON DIVERGENCE ENSUES. NO FESTUS, NO WEAPONS, NO PLAN, NO CLUE. DOES ANNABETH TRY TO CHASE THEM DOWN CROSS-COUNTRY, resulting in "AH FUCK IT'S THAT BLONDE GIRL AGAIN"???? do they EVER discover the demigod thing?? WHEN AND HOW. THEY COULD MEET COMPLETELY NEW ENEMIES. COMPLETELY NEW QUEST. I AM SCREAMING. THERE IS SO MUCH POTENTIAL.

[somewhat-sanguine]

secret whispers

I walk to school with the frost nipping my face, towards the bus stop to catch the death-trap that is the Three Rivers High schoolbus. It's January -- still in the midst of winter, so the sugar maple trees are completely barren. There is still some soggy orange leaves in the icy snow. The only way you could make out that they were ever leaves in the first place is their colour. Suddenly, I hear rustling. I look around for a small pine tree to see if there are any critters running around looking for some sort of sustenance in this frozen wasteland. Nothing. Whatever, I think nothing of it and continue on my way. It was probably just some snow falling and knocking a branch down.

I finally arrive to my stop, and there's only a few other kids standing around waiting. I've forgotten my gloves for the second time this week and it's a Tuesday. Whatever. I tuck my hands into my coat pockets and wait. I stand away from the other kids -- I don't really get along with anyone else. I'm a loner. The weird kid. The odd one out. Plus, they're always snickering or whispering about something. Someone. I can't stand it. If you have something to say, especially to me, just come say it out loud. Cowards.

Finally the bus arrives. The wheels look like they're about to fall off, they're all warped and bumpy looking. When the vehicle comes to a screeching halt, it almost sounds like someone screaming. I just find it amazing how the school considers this machine a perfectly valid way of transporting children. As soon as I climb the steps and peer over the front seat to find a place to sit, I notice something is extremely off. The bus is twice as full as usual. It's going to be almost impossible to find an actual seat to sit in. I guess they must have added another stop to the route, which is stupid. We were already almost full and now we're over max capacity. Whatever. I'll just sit in the aisle towards the back.

The ride is bumpy, and to make matters worse, the other kids won't shut up. No one is yelling, but all the whispering makes my brain feel like it wants to explode. I can hear everyone's conversation but yet can't make out any one conversation clearly. I hear what sounds like chains clanging, I'm assuming one of the more edgy kids has some sort of chain-link key-chain which only adds to the nosiness of the bus. I think about finding him and yanking it off his backpack and throwing it out the window. No. Don't. Be good. You don't want another "situation" again.

Finally we arrive. I'm greeted by a pretty blonde lady in a completely white office outfit.

"Welcome to Three Rivers Forensic Psychiatric Unit. We understand you've just been transferred from juvenile hall? You're in good hands. You'll have all the time in the world to get better, now."

[just-creation]

Undertale AU idea

Schoolbus full of 7-8th graders miraculously falls into the underground during a field trip to Mt Ebott, all the adults die, all the children survive relatively unscathed, they all group up and commute through the underground as Flowey and literally every other monster reacts in various flavors of "Holy fucking shit"

Frisk is on the bus too, has their iconic red soul and is the only one who can SAVE/LOAD (because they're the most Determined), the other kids have varying soul colors. (Perseverance, Integrity, etc...)

[gay-otlc]

Shana tova and thank you to @the-abandoned-schoolbus for alerting me to the fact that Jewish Dizznees has actual canon basis. Without further ado, Jewish Dizznee headcanons: High Holy Days edition

I can't not start with the tashlich puns. Kesler insists on reading them out every year. At one point, Juline got sick of it and almost threw him in the river along with the bread. The ducks can eat Kesler ig

Kesler was raised Jewish, and Juline converted shortly before marrying him.

This actually adds another layer to the fact that they're a bad match- the combination of "don't marry Kesler because he's talentless" and "don't marry Kesler because he's Jewish"

But fuck that, Juline is now also Jewish and they are happily married

Kesler made the mistake of getting the kids shofars.

The triplets decided to get in a competition to see who could do the longest tekiyah gadolah

The house is very loud around the holiday season. Also all the time but especially in the holiday season.

Foxfire doesn't give off for the High Holy Days, and Dex discovered this as a level one when he missed a test for Rosh Hashanah.

Foxfire's policy is that the only excused absence is if a student is sick, they don't do excused absences for religious absences because religious elves are such a minority, so... they were Not Cool about Dex missing school.

Juline went to yell at whatever mentor gave Dex a zero on said test and since everyone is afraid of Juline they eventually agreed to not give Dex a zero. Judaism wins.

You know how the Dizznees learned skills like appetite suppression and shit that are normally just taught in Exilium? Yeah, they learned appetite suppression for Yom Kippur purposes.

When Dex was old enough to fast but the triplets weren't, they were little shits and ate food right in front of him to drive him insane. (totally not inspired by real sibling behavior)

Break fast is a game of "which Dizznee kid is the fastest and also shows the least regard for others' safety?" Dex is the fastest but occasionally the stupid protective sibling instincts kick in and he's unwilling to injure the triplets in the break fast rush. Lex has no such qualms and usually gets to the food first.

Sukkot is Dex's favorite holiday because he gets to build the sukkah and has so much fun doing it.

Sukkot is Bex's favorite holiday because she likes shaking a lemon at G-d

Anyway those are my headcanons, I saw that Kesler's name had Jewish origins and went into full Space Laser Mode while I got this typed out. I swear I'm normal now.

[peppersonironi]

DUKE THOMAS ISN’T THE SANE ONE! A guide by Pepper

So, I have seen so many people writing Duke incorrectly, and I wanted to do something about it. In fanon, he is described as the sane bat, who would rather stay home and safe, and absolutely never join in shenanigans. Now, I know there are a lot of things wrong with canon, but Duke is one of the better parts! He is an interesting character who is actually just as chaotic as the rest of the gotham vigilantes. And so it it is quite unfair to his character to say he is the 'Arnold from the Magic Schoolbus' of the group. He's really not.

So I decided to make a list of ten instances in the comics where he disobeys Bruce, acts reckless, or is just a bat! (also for a Batfam Group Chat I’m a part of, someone asked for these) I hope this helps people understand his character better, and maybe even inspire them to write more about him? Seriously, Tag me if you do. I'm starved for good Duke content!

Feel free to add more in the comments, these are just what I could think of off the top of my head! (Hence the kinda weird order, sry)

1. He's a vigilante

Okay, so this is a bit obvious, but I still think it needs saying. You think that a guy who dresses in bright yellow and patrols the most crime-ridden city in the world during the day is 100% sane?

2. We Are Robin

Also obvious, but still. This guy joins a group of untrained teenage robins who just want to make a difference. And they do! It's still pretty reckless, though. 

3. He tried to take on the Riddler

In case you didn't know, in the beginning of New 52 (Zero year, specifically) the Riddler essentially held Gotham Hostage. He had some spiel about someone giving him a riddle he couldn't solve, and letting the city go. You know who decided he would be that person? Duke Thomas! He trained in brain-teasers, and puzzles, tirelessly worked. He became quite the adept riddler (not the villain). The kick? He was a child! (Look at the above panels, isn't he cute?) Duke was young, yet determined. And if that's not a bat quality, I don't know what is.

4. He escaped the cops by jumping off a bridge.

Oh no! Duke is in a police car! Oh no! He's on a bridge! What's he going to do?! Why, jump out and off the bridge while proclaiming "I am Robin" of course! Seriously, look at that panel and try to argue that he is the responsible goody-two-shoes of the family.

5. He talked down an enraged Damian

Basically, Damian was manipulated into joining the court of owls. Duke, who refused to believe that Robin genuinely joined them, fought him and talked him down. Now, this is Damian we're talking about. Sure, the kid is absolutely adorable and can be incredibly caring (Fight me on this, I dare you. Also, frick you DC), but when he's on a rampage, there is little that can stop him. So of course Duke decides to take care of it!

6. He actively tries to have a relationship with Damian.

Okay, so this one is a little weak, but I wanted an excuse to share those panels. Aren't those two great?! But seriously, Duke ignores that this tiny child could kill him in more ways than he could count, and even invites him to a movie! He also isn't afraid to tease the kid, unlike other members of the family. Knowing Damian can honestly be hard sometimes.

7. Comes back to the city when Bruce told him to get out.

During the I Am Bane arc of Tom King's Batman (I'm shuddering. So sorry for invoking his name!) Bruce tells the batboys to get out of Gotham and STAY out. the others are like 'we're not gonna listen, right?' and Duke is all 'you can't ignore BATMAN!' and walks off saying he's gonna listen to Bruce. This seems like pretty damning evidence, right? He's actually sane? The others got attacked by Bane and hung, but Duke didn't. Well, then you look at the next panel! (it takes place later in the volume) There he is, disobeying Bruce, and hanging out in Gotham. Not just that, he's out in costume! No, Duke couldn't just hunker down in an apartment, he had to go out and take down crooks, and warn Jim Gordon. I think that's pretty self-explanatory

8. Goes out while Injured

Those two panels are back-to-back in The Cursed Wheel (originally printed in All-Star Batman, later put into Batman and the Signal). As you can see, Bruce tells Duke to get rest. Duke was just attacked by Zsasz, and suffered multiple injuries. He wakes up, and the thing that would make the most sense would be for him to go to sleep, right? Well, he instead gets suited up and goes out to work on a case. Pretty much every bat has done this at some point. Not quite the smartest move, right? A touch reckless, wouldn’t you say?

9. That whole thing with Green Lantern

(sry for the weird sizing, I don’t have the comic to take screenshots) 

So there are two parts to this. First of, you have Green Lantern flying into the batcave, looking around, and there’s no Batman present. So what does Duke Do? Well, he certainly doesn’t stay back and contact Bruce! Nope, instead he attacks a member of the Justice League, a member of the Green Lantern Corp. Later on, you know what he says? He thought he would be fine because his suit is bright yellow. That’s it. A bit crazy, right?

Secondly, he gets roped into exploring the cave with Hal (I thinks it’s Hal, been a bit since I read this though). The Lantern has some thing going on about stuff in the cave, but that’s not important. What’s important is that Duke went along with it. He was curious enough to ignore what Bruce would say (Call him, yet anything remotely green out of the cave), and joins in! He does’t say “this is a bad idea” or��“we shouldn’t be doing this” nope!

9. When he ran off with Cass to test his powers

Oh no, Duke got shadow powers! What’s he gonna go? Why, go off and have fun experiment of course! Duke and Cass head out to test and work on Duke’s newly presented abilities, and specifically don’t tell Bruce! This is information he would like to know, of course. It’s important to know if your newest protege gets more powers. But no, they go out of their way to sneakily test the extent of his powers. They get caught, of course, and then get chewed out (They get caught in costume, but the next panel they’re in civvies. I find that outrageously funny!). And here’s the kicker: they don’t really apologize! Sure, Duke gives a half-heart apology, but he doesn’t really mean it. Not even under the full extent of the Batglare™.

10. Rescuing Bruce with practically no training

I’ll skip all the plotty stuff, so just know that Bruce was out alone and in some deep doo-doo. Duke was back at the cave, working stuff out with Alfred. He realizes that what Bruce is doing is a trap. Now, just so you know, this is back when Duke was JUST taken in by Bruce. He doesn’t even have a codename yet! Barely any training. So you know what he does? He heads out anyway, and rescues Bruce. Now, check out that music he’s playing. Later on, it’s revealed to be Duke’s fave band. You know the name of that band? “Batman’s @^$&@” I’m not even joking. (I’m not sure what bleeped out, though later on it’s referred to as “Batman’s #$%” So I assume it’s ass?). So on top of being reckless, he plays a heavy metal band with a name that’s … special to say the least. He has guts, you gotta admit (Oh, and he seemed so gleeful when he told Bruce the name of the band!).

And there you have it! This list is far from complete, but I think it’s a good start. Feel free to reblog with your own, or any questions/comments! I absolutely love to talk about Duke, so don’’t be afraid to message me! Also, correct me if I wrote anything incorrect here. It’s been a while since I’ve read some of these, so I may have gotten some stuff wrong.

[bluewinnerangel]

Re: Canyon Moon and “Sky never looked so blue” being about Lou’s eyes. I always think back to H’s Vogue photo shoot when I hear that lyric and its reference to his blue eyes - in particular, the photo captioned “Splendour in the grass” in the linked article. H is lying on his back staring at the sky (almost like “staring at the ceiling”) and the sky is reflected in the bicycle wheels. And when I first saw those two wheels, I immediately thought of one thing - I think you can guess https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.vogue.com/article/harry-styles-cover-december-2020/amp

x

I'm uh I'm just going on a vogue shoot ramble. Not really part of your ask, but I really love how the theme of both the interview and the photoshoot is being a kid and being playful and just... playing around with shit. He's wearing oversized clothes, he's playing dress-up, he's on a bicycle, the siblings waiting for the schoolbus vibe, he's on a trampoline, he's on a whatever this even is

And further emphasized in the interview itself loads with that caption “Splendour in the grass” being one of them. Aaanyway. That's just one of the many parts of that makes this shoot great.

And I'm not saying full credits to Harry and only Harry to all of this, I'm not assuming he went around giving the writers phrases to caption his pictures with, or dragging childlike objects from his own backyard onto that TTS cliffside or whatever. But a theme is a theme, plus I don't think we should underestimate how much he can micromanage if he wants to. And two bigol googly eye looking bicycle wheels reflecting the blue blue sky while he's doing blue skies = blue eyes wordplays in his work and just knowing harry's blue eye obsession in general is a pretty nice observation. Also more general like reflections of things and stuff, the mirrors everywhere, the can see but can't touch or whatever, it's all just going in circles.

Also, I think ~possibly~ it's a bit of an Oasis inspo here, *coughs in oasis obsessed otp* which, Stop Crying Your Heart Out might be the most hey-you-there-you-big-star-stop-being-sad-and-try-to-enjoy-the-good-things-in-life thing you'll ever hear like the pattern on this mermaid going "don't cry everything is going to be alright just enjoy the ride" absolutely constantly in my view this once again is pretty fitting here and I wouldn't be suprised if this was an actual thing he actually thought of like I want blue skies to reflect in shit because of this, you know?

Anyway, the ramble, where is it going where did it come from we don't know.

[stupidbeecandle]

I like it installing mods in my games so my fictional dragonlady can punt fictional children all the way to hell. The same way I used to ram the plastic schoolbus full of screaming kids into the imaginary volcano when i was 5. Its just playing with toys people, calm down.

This gem has been making the rounds on my Twitter sphere today and as far as I can tell it's not a troll account... rip