#Duke Manpain

[navree]

i can think of a hundred million bazillion better ways to end a joker-centric arc than a fucking batman/catwoman teamup

[aingeal98]

Cass will get to be a part of two good runs that let her show off why people love her but she'll also get dragged into a Bruce event where the whole family are just badly written props for Bruce's manpain and we have to suffer through another Thomas Wayne or Gotham War situation

Bruce will have wildly varying characterisation between writers and there will be no attempt to tie it together. In one comic he'll help Damian prepare for the school play and in another he'll choke him and accuse him of being a spy for his grandfather. Editorial says they're happening at the same time.

Babs goes four months without the batgirl costume showing up but in every panel of her being oracle they make sure to show her sitting with her legs crossed.

Zdarsky writes Tim saving Bruce from his inner darkness manifested as an actual monster. All the other Robins agree that he's the best to ever do it and Tim's like nahh that's Dick Grayson obviously. A new writer comes in and acts like Tim doesn't exist. He gets a few cameo appearances and dc pride does a story on him and Bernard.

Tom Taylor continues writing Nightwing. They start planning a Nightwing cartoon based on the run. Nightwing fans contemplate egging the dc hq.

Steph gets a new costume design. There's an elseworld story where she and Cass are married but then for Pride they show up in Tim's story and call themselves proud straight allies.

Duke gets a new power.

Everyone drop their random predictions for what the batfams gonna have happen to them in 2024:

[spite-and-waffles]

Controversial opinion #678:

The mantle of Batman should not be passed on but instead die with Bruce Wayne.

I mean, who should it go to? Nightwing is who Dick Grayson is, and a completely different brand from Batman. He has the kind of trust and respect as a leader within the superhero community that Batman just doesn't. He should lead the JLA one day as Nightwing. It's insulting to him to think that the Batman mantle is a promotion. Few other people can carry the name of Batman but no one else is worthy of Nightwing.

Jason? The day he wears the Bat's cowl is the day he loses everything that makes him Jason Todd, whether or not he gives up killing. He's supposed to be a renegade of the mission, a counterbalance in values and methods to the Bat, not become him.

Tim? It would consume him completely. Dick is at his best when he's surrounded by a diverse team of people, but Tim straight up needs it. Preferably outgoing, expressive, extroverted and sunny ones that are as unlike him as possible. Being Batman would make him lose himself inside his own head. The last thing this kid needs is more incentive to be manipulative and self-sacrificing.

Cass is honestly the best contender, not least because the cowl wouldn't weigh her down but emancipate and uplift her. The only reason I don't think she should be Batman is because I personally feel she supercedes Bruce in everything his emblem stands for. She should be The Bat - all the essence of guardianship and protection and terror of the night and none of the (let's face it - manpaining) martyrdom. As for the cerebral and leadership aspects of the Batman mantle, I think Cass would be a good leader when the situation calls for it, but I don't know whether she'd thrive in the role. She's a deeply intuitive and empathetic person; the emotional distance and hard choices for the greater good she'd have to make would eat at her more than it would the others. Doing anything "for the greater good" feels anathema to Cass's nature. Her profound and unfettered compassion is her strongest virtue.

Stephanie–what. No. Lmao. She's Hope at the bottom of Pandora's Box. Never that.

Becoming Batman would be the worst for Damian, because the true actualisation of his character is in freeing himself of his parental mold. He only wants to be Batman to prove himself good enough, to be accepted and chosen and trusted, his existence validated. But that's just chasing a mirage, because those insecurities exist chiefly within himself. If he was Batman they would just be exacerbated, condemned to operate forever in his father's shadow, always trying to live up to the legacy of his blood and a mission he never chose for himself.

I don't follow the reboot comics at all so I don't know much about Duke, but it seems the whole point of him is that he's the one who is expressly not supposed to be Batman. The only one of Gotham's heroes that lives in the light of day, never condemned to the shadows.

More than anything, though, the point of Batman's mission is for his role to become obsolete. If the world still needs a Batman by the time Bruce is forced to hang up his cape, then it means that he's failed.

[inqorporeal]

hi! i just read through your mandalore theory, and it's FASCINATING, i love it! any thoughts on Satine herself?

(The Mandalore Theory)

I have a LOT of thoughts about Satine, both meta and in-universe. If she were a real person, I can pretty much guarantee we would never be friends, but as a character she’s fascinatingly complex. I’mma put this under a cut, cus it’s going to be long.

Satine is a wealthy, privileged member of Kalevalan nobility, born and raised on Kalevala and educated on Coruscant. Her father, then-Duke of Mandalore, was likely rarely home when she and her siblings were younger, since he would have had to be resident in Sundari; the rest of the family remained on Kalevala for their safety, because the Mandalorian clan wars kicked off in 60 BBY when a number of Mandalorian clans rejected then-Mand’alor Jaster Mereel’s proposed social reformations and formed the Death Watch (the Wookieepedia says the clan wars started about 44 BBY, but if we examine the larger series of events, it’s pretty clear that things started much, much earlier). Satine hadn’t even been born at that time; due to the growing conflict, it’s understandable that the Duke’s family would have been housed elsewhere for their safety.

Satine’s mother and older sibling (the canonical parent of Korkie) are both unnamed but they’re also both presumed dead, likely victims of the Clan Wars. Eventually the Duke was also killed, prompting Satine’s involvement under the guard of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

At this point, Satine is a complete outsider to Mandalore. Kalevala effectively owns Mandalore -- it has its own king/queen, and provides political support to the New Mandalorian faction (it can be debated as to whether Kalevala originated as a Mandalorian settlement which eventually severed ties, or if it began as its own sovereign world and later adopted some Mandalorian social structures such as the clan system). Satine is not from Mandalore, has never lived on Mandalore, was not educated on Mandalore, and has only the barest, most watered-down connection to Mandalorian culture. Canon and Legends offer slightly different stories, but the important part is that the Republic backed the New Mandalorian faction and helped them to win the Clan Wars. Satine then effectively outlawed traditional Mandalorian society within the parts of Mandalore controlled by the New Mandalorians.

There’s something to be said for the way people react to childhood trauma, the way they deal with healing, and how it affects their relationship with the world as adults. Satine was a child when she lost two members of her family, and a teenager when she lost her father to the same, seemingly unending conflict. Her family has been caught up in this war since before she was born, and it’s entirely understandable that she would have a vested interest in ending the conflict for good, preferably forever.

But as a result, her policies are authoritarian, albeit with the blessing of the people who consider her their leader. The people who stay in New Mandalorian-held territory approve of her work -- everyone is probably sick to death from nearly 20 years of fighting by that point. It’s notable that, during TCW, the only New Mandalorians who actively fight back against Death Watch are the Sundari guard: New Mandalorian civilians never give any indication of owning weapons, armour, or the means for self-defense, and without the Republic’s support -- which Satine refused! -- are utterly steam-rolled by Death Watch over the course of the Clone Wars. Traditional Mandalorian culture has been completely wiped out of their society, and whether this was the ultimate goal of the New Mandalorian faction or if Satine’s own policies led to this point, the fact of the matter is that she was the nominated leader of the movement and approved if not encouraged the sundering of Mandalorian martial tradition. The factions that wanted to continue the conflict -- who refused to surrender their culture -- were banished to what are effectively penal colonies: if they wouldn’t follow the New Mandalorian way of life, they would lose their ancestral homes.

These are not the policies of a leader who seeks reconciliation and social progress; these are the policies of a colonizing force. This is the quintessence of cultural genocide, and Satine is depicted at the forefront of the movement.

On the meta end of things, the fact that a kids’ TV show tries to prop this up as an ideal is more than a little shocking. There was so much space to have an exploration of morality and cultural preservation in TCW’s depiction of Mandalore and Satine as its controlling authority, but they completely dropped the ball and instead went with a very two-dimensional depiction with zero critical discussion. And then showed New Mandalorian pacifism failing Satine’s people repeatedly anyway; good job, Filoni.

Satine has her reasons for her policies and her treatment towards a significant population who should, in theory, also be her subjects. But it’s important to recognise the distinction between having a reason for one’s behaviour, and having a responsibility to address that behaviour when it’s hurting others (or oneself). When one is in a position of holding power over others -- whether in a management position, leadership role, parent or teacher -- it’s even more crucial.

My thoughts on Satine are that she’s a terrible person, secure in her perceived moral superiority, who never shows any indication of ever questioning whether her personal morality is actually what’s best for the hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of lives she’s responsible for. She places personal morals above necessary diplomatic compromise; and blames the resulting conflict on the people whose lives she effectively spearheaded the ruination of. If everyone would just do things her way, everything would be better! Whilst she deplores physical violence, her noncombative policies still enact violence against people who hold different values, and in this way she is as uncompromising as her opponent, Pre Vizsla; they both lead cults of personality by sheer force of will.

(A side issue for me with regards to Satine -- which is a far more personal issue than anything objective -- is her treatment of Obi-Wan Kenobi. She displays an incredible lack of respect for his culture -- which is consistent for her established characterisation -- and the way she constantly negs him reminds me of the way my asshole ex could never say anything positive about me. They’re set up to be an ideal for how Jedi should handle attachments and love, as a contrast to Anakin and Padme’s relationship, but I can’t see anything romantic in it.)

But you know what? As a character in a piece of media, I like her. Media desperately needs more complex characters like Satine, particularly female-presenting characters, who are frequently given only two dimensions and one of them is “pretty”. She had a role in TCW that could have been very nuanced with the room to explore a very controversial topic, had the writing been up to the task.

And then the showrunners killed her off for the sake of another character’s manpain. The New Mandalorians -- her cult of personality -- doesn’t even fall apart without her in charge, the way cults of personality are wont to do in real life! The manner of her death serves no real purpose at all in the larger plotline; she could have been killed by anyone else at any other point and it would have had the same effect on Mandalore. Nothing changes there in the year -- a full year! -- between Satine’s death and the Siege of Mandalore at the end of the Clone Wars. Satine could have been kept alive in captivity; she could have gone into exile; the results would have been the same, or possibly even more interesting.

I think Satine is an awful person. I also think that -- as a complicated, contentious, controversial character -- she was underused and underdeveloped, and deserved a hell of a lot better from the storyline than how it treated her.

[renaerys]

So I beat RE:8

And overall I SUPER enjoyed this game. I loved how it was an homage to the series to date. Castle Dimitrescu made me feel like I was back in the OG Resident Evil stealth-crawling my way through dungeons and puzzles and hoping not to get caught by the enemies. Lady Dimitrescu stalking you as you scramble to gather pieces of a puzzle to escape harkened back to the Tyrant in RE:2 chasing you around RPD HQ. Her daughters’ blow fly entrances were sincerely spine-tingling, and I was on the edge of my seat with each new door opened wondering if they’d found me yet. This level was truly a standout of the game.

The Beneviento House may actually have been my favorite, seeing as it was such a departure from the rest of the game without the use of weapons and having to rely on running and hiding to survive. I was at my most terrified and unsettled in that level dissecting doll!Mia and running from the baby creature in a way I didn’t feel throughout the rest of the game. It was so creepy and so tense, and the juxtaposition with the rest of the game really made it shine imo. 

The Reservoir was probably my least favorite part. It felt too much like the action-y RE:6 against the boss, lots of cheap one-hit kill events that relied on timing, etc. It was the part where I died the most, whereas throughout the rest of the game I died maybe twice or three times. 

Heisenberg’s factory was pretty scary and adrenaline-inducing fighting those awful chainsaw guys. Hot take: RE:5 was a great game and a lot of this level reminded me of the better parts of that game wrt the enemies and mowing them down. The layout was super cool, the fan guy was hilariously scary stalking you, and Heisenberg was as grandiose (and verbose) as Wesker once was back in the old days. I loved the molding puzzles, how the enemies would tear down walls to open new areas to explore, and the backtracking to explore it all once you had certain items in your possession. 

Lastly, the Duke was an awesome character. Thanks for that fun call-back to RE:4′s shopkeeper, and most importantly for being an actual character whose presence was plot-relevant and even integral at times. He was charming and a thoughtful addition to the experience. All the voice acting was incredible, but I think the Duke and Lady Dimitrescu and Mia were standouts. 

What I didn’t like... This game has a woman problem like whoa. When all your women exist either as damseled plot devices with no agency whatsoever, vehicles for manpain/revenge, and their main “nuance” is related to motherhood or seeking a mother-daughter relationship (because, you know, women be mothering), then you have a problem. A second hot take: Mia should have been the protagonist. She had training way before Ethan ever did, was in the know more than him, and wasn’t dead the whole time (sidebar: what the literal fuck is this plot contrivance). This game has shown us two kinds of women: either they are good mothers/daughters who eschew all else in favor of that relationship and stay in their lane (Mia and Rose, an agency-less baby and McGuffin), or they are corruptions of that role (i.e., Miranda selfishly killing everyone to get Eve back or Donna selfishly killing everyone to get a new mother a-la RE:7′s Eveline). Even the Dimitrescu ladies were almost entirely defined by their mother/daughter status, in Lady Dimitrescu’s case both. Is there truly no other motivation or nuance available to women in this universe??? 🙃🙃🙃

Mentioned before but worth repeating: Ethan was dead the whole time?! What a shitty contrivance. I mean, fine, but I didn’t like it at all. Another nit-picky thing that broke my suspension of disbelief: Alcina cuts his hand off and the magic herb chemicals that act as health in the game can reattach it... But they can’t regrow his fucking fingers??? What is consistency. 🙃

Heisenberg’s boss fight was dumb. There was no terror, very low stakes, and it felt like the worst of RE:6 action. It even had a gimmicky cinematic final shot that reminded me of those awful quick-time events. He was laughably easy to kill and held none of the dread of, say, Lady Dimitrescu’s daughers or the entirety of the Beneviento House. I don’t knock it as much because the rest of the Factory level was fabulous. The boss fight with the Fan Man was superb, scary, and tough, as well as “good” gimmicky. Unfortunately, Heisenberg’s final boss fight was the beginning of the end. 

Chris finally tells us the truth through some truly excruciating exposition scenes, and like the NPCs who question his choices, I too was questioning him. Because his logic was super dumb. Why not tell Ethan to begin with? More on this below. 

Mother Miranda was incredibly underwhelming as a boss. Chris’s part in the story was more over the top action, which is cool and fun if you like that (not really my thing, personally, but I can see why it could work for others). But Mother Miranda herself was a disappointment. I think the main reason was because we had almost no relationship with her. She was just a name who maybe is responsible for our McGuffin daughter being taken, but it never felt personal. Yeah, she can shape shift and we met her as the hag, but since we didn’t know that, the relationship aspect was never there/built upon. She felt like a random final boss with little skin in the game compared to, say, Heisenberg, who we actually did get to know more as we went along and maybe felt more complicated feelings toward in killing him. 

This game could have been better if a few changes had been made. 

1. Mia should have been the protagonist/deuteragonist. If we are truly supposed to be convinced by Chris’ stupid logic that Ethan cannot handle the truth, then why not make Mia the protagonist or even a secondary protagonist? Ethan and Mia could have both been working toward their goals with different information, similar to the situation in RE:7 toward the end of that game. Chris wouldn’t know Mia is alive, but she could be working against Mother Miranda directly while being experimented on/held captive. Ethan could do the main story that we got, while Mia sees a different side of the world digging deeper into Mother Miranda’s backstory and motivations, which would serve to flesh out her character (beyond the lazy corrupted motherhood narrative), touch on the relationship to Spencer and Umbrella Corp, etc. Ethan facing Miranda at the end, thus, would have felt super personal and significant having that emotional development through Mia. And Mia herself could be fleshed out more as a character beyond her role as wife and mother. 

2. Bela, Daniela, and Cassandra deserved more, and Castle Dimitrescu should have been a longer arc. The daughters were killed pretty fast. I couldn’t name a single differentiating characteristic between them, which is a problem. And I wanted to know more! We got a little info about the experiments they endured. I wanted to feel like killing at least one of them was very personal and meant something (if we only got one of them really fleshed out, I mean. That would still be one more than we got.). This section could have been longer and benefited from it. Exploring that castle was so fun and I wanted more time there. Also, I’m gonna say it: the Reservoir could have been cut entirely and that time given to Castle Dimitrescu for three sub-bosses before Mother Miranda. Problem solved.

3. Chis could have had a more story-related role. Why not more cutscenes with Chris investigating/chasing Miranda to give us a buildup of breadcrumbs and foreshadowing to the final reveal in the end? Rather than an exposition dump?? This would be related to my point #1 in making Miranda feel more connected to the story as the big bad. We wouldn’t even have to play as Chris if we just got some cutscenes showing his team’s progress hunting Miranda, learning more about her, etc. Imagine if we got secondary protagonist Mia’s story with Chris in there alongside her, unknowing that she’s alive and yet affecting her progress or vice versa as they both hunt Miranda? So much potential there. Where is the fanfiction???

4. Sheva??? I know it’s just me but I mean... The BSAA coming in to help/fuck everything up could have been a great opportunity for a cameo from Sheva to reunite very briefly with Chris (and set up the next one??? When though.). Yeah, I’m RE:5 trash, okay. But she was a great character and I wish we could see her at ALL in any other games even as a cameo.

My final takeaway here is that I enjoyed this game immensely as a total experience. I’m already doing a New Game Plus on the Village of Shadows difficulty, so pray for me. I love the exploration and puzzling aspect, the combat is intense but not overwhelmingly action-y like RE:6 was, and I love the atmosphere of this game. I recommend it to anyone who likes survival horror. It’s not without its faults, and I really wish the RE team would hire some women for their writers’ room, but I’m still very happy with the end result overall. 

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

Just caught up on the latest BatCat news. No thanks. *Continues to ignore canon*

and it’s not even so much I’m against a ~pregnancy storyline~ even though we all know it would end with some sort of miscarriage tragic event not ending with an actual baby, it’s more that - the way Bruce is written as a father, or even father-figure, right now is...not good? Dick’s an amnesiac, so basically out of the picture. He’s beaten and disowned Jason how many times in like, the last year? I don’t know what the fuck Tim’s relationship with him is, or if he’s really even in Gotham much anyway. Damian and him are tiffing and no writer will tell us WHY, nor does it seem to matter to Bruce (and did I see they’re blaming Damian for Alfred’s death? OKAY THEN.) And Cass and Duke (whom I don’t really see as an adopted batkid, but ‘outlier’ like steph and babs) are in the outsiders with him but???? I don’t know their status.

 So why would you introduce aNOTHER child, YOUNG child, who would look to him as a father-figure, only to be neglected/abused/ignored/whatever? God, Damian’s been around like 15 years and he can’t seem to get past that stage!

It just seems like yet another stupidly dramatic storyline from Mr. King, whom I’m increasingly frustrated with, that will have no payoff, point or character growth other than more manpain and needless angst.

SIGH.

[wqintraining]

I really hope Cass, Duke, Babs and Helena beat the shit out of Bruce “My manpain makes it okay to hit my son” Wayne.

[beartes22]

jason being the only one that adapts to this Dick bc he is the dick he knows and they inmediatly have the Sibing Bond of Ride or Die (and mainly die by my hand) but only inverted bc jason would probably look sorta cool (???)(this is when dick almost changed batman for deatshtroke as mentor figure after all) to dick and also he would totally not recognize him/instantly be allies with him on hating bruce and frankly this dick is an over dramatic over agressive disaster and i am not saying that jason would be moved by that but he's like,,,,very....used to dealing???with that personality???

(considering is sorta his???)

so he kinda is on babysitting duty. he resents it. not gonna let the little ones babysit though (Bruce? who is that?? jason has not seen that man take an unwanted responsability since he was revived. maybe even before after all this is bruce "jason i am not your father i do not need your teenage rebellion" wayne himself) bc that is scarring. (damian does not need his only capable parent figure to resent him for being robin and tim??? dealing??? with this emotional burden??? hasn't he had enough??? he's bruce babysitter already he does not need to add dick to the list)

(the girls saw this and unanimously went to shangai to see how cass ruled the orphan role and also to not deal with this shit. bruce's manpain is already a leading roles in their lives -which they resnet but you cannot work with the man and not deal with his manpain it is everywhere- they do not need to add dick's too

...duke is there too bc his brain is still working and he has real life skills on how not to deal with yout shit)

also the amount of shit jason will give dick over his petty quarrels with bruce is unmeasurable. Peak older sibling behaviour here. like dick had his chance at being jason's older sibling and wasted it on teenaged angst so now jason is the older brother.

I want Dick Grayson to be de-aged to like 16-17 through some comic shenanigans.

This was Dick at peak rebellion age. Dick ran away to join a gang at this age. Dick on the Titans was feral.

Bruce was at his most over bearing at this point in Dick’s life. It’s why he went to college to get some space.

So Dick who’s frothing at the mouth looking for a reason to start a fight with Bruce gets the most fucking uncaring Bruce. And so many goddamn kids live in the house.

Like Bruce has given up. Dick couldn’t spend the weekend with the Titans but Damian just doesn’t live at the Manor.

Dick got daily lectures about grades for college and Tim dropped out a seventeen.

And none of Dick’s siblings know how to deal with their angry as fuck brother. Dick is practically vibrating with a need to fight.

Alfred didn’t miss the screaming matches, slamming doors, and blasting music.

Bruce didn’t miss Dick revving his motorcycle like a bastard all the goddamn time.

Also whenever someone calls Dick the favorite son he gets annoyed because him and Bruce were at their most tense and Dick was super unsure about his place in Bruce’s life.

Just everything about this would be such beautiful chaos.

[allitalksfandom]

M & Z

Do I ever have premises on the backburner! From Jugdral alone, there’s:

1. That modern-day FinnxBriggid fic that was inspired by a dream. Finn needs money and finds a roommate on Craigslist. Said roommate is the wife he presumed dead for eleven years. Whoops.

2. A canon-compliant FinnxBriggid story. Possibly smutty.

3. Remember that cisswap verse I had? Well, I love the concept even if I’m not as comfortable with cisswaps these days, so how about a roleswap? Deirdre, the timid but determined daughter of Chalphy’s duke, travels to Verdane to rescue her friend Aideen. You can see where this is going.

4. An AU wherein Deirdre shows up at Velthomer with only her baby and her name. Seliph is raised as Arvis’ stepchild. Note gender-neutral word usage: Seliph is afab in this verse. 

5. A modern-day happy ending AU for Jugdral. We need it.

6. Cinderella!Deirdre. Time-traveling dragon god meets an incredibly lonely teen and tells her about her secret identity. 

As for Z, I did write deathfic for Finn and for Saleh, so they’re clearly within my realm of comfortability. I do know that Altena is off-limits instinctively, though. I suppose I’ll read it if it’s not used for manpain.