#I do like geoff and the gun thing

[commonpigeon]

where is mrs levinson please show me my wife. im dying out here

[fecklesheckleshacklesschmeckles]

SPOILERS for Inside No 9: Stage/Fright!

I was lucky enough to attend the matinee performance on 25th Jan, and now I'm going to ramble about it :D

I'm given to understand that y'all who want them are already adequately furnished with plot summaries etc (excited to read them! waiting to do so until after I've got all this down) - so I won't worry about deep-diving. This'll be a mix of things that particularly struck me, and details that would have been unique to the performance I saw :)

I sneakily secretly got front row tickets (!!) for me and @toosicktopray, and I didn't tell them where we were going until we got there (I didn't even tell them we were going anywhere until that morning!) :D Then afterwards we got to meet up with @silverview and @unreesonable, and we ended up just chatting shit for hours! The boys didn't come to the stage door (apparently because "they're old men" :P) but that was better, frankly <3

Opening "theatre" skit/front-of-curtain prologue:

oh, this has Reece's fingerprints all over it! Getting to sit and simmer with comic rage over literally the exact same things that he's frothed with comic rage about on podcasts? Having no lines to need to learn, and then getting to do a bunch of revenge-fantasy murders? And get spattered with stage blood? Go off :3

aaaa one of Reece's secretly-poppers quick-change shirt buttons had popped open when he came front-of-curtain (probably got overenthusiastic doing his murdering) - maybe the third one down, at his upper stomach - and all I saw underneath was what I presumed to be a white undershirt, so I went back to staring at his face - but toosicktopray caught a little glimpse of his fluffy tummy above it!! (so it was probably actually his mic belt or something)

BCDR:

When they knocked down the wall during Brown Bottles, there was this great WHOMPH of air (and bits of dust and stuff, according to toosicktopray :P) right into the front row :O

Also it took Reece/Tommy two goes to actually smash the brown bottle over Steve/Len's head :P (the first time it just went "boink" XD)

Credit where it's due, Steve's very good at doing the not-actually-his-own-hand stuff :D (love me some of that shit). I'd say not all of the routines necessarily worked as well live as they do with the camera angles in the ep, but imo honestly that one was better :)

Kidnappers Sketch:

Wheelie bin with an 18 (1+8 = 9, or two 9s) on it in the background scenery!

toosicktopray saw the hare. Where? There, on the stair!

I'm not the biggest Quiet Night In enjoyer, but I liked the characters better with dialogue, tbh :)

It took Reece/Tommy(/Geoff or whoever the fuck he's being) two goes to fire the gun XD "It's not even loaded. [gun doesn't go off] I'll try that again."

Our special celebrity guest was Gary Kemp! He really went for it, to the extent that I think Reece was breaking character (smirking) a bit while e.g. waiting for him to finish a much longer flamenco than expected XD The charade (as has been documented) was "Car Reek Hemp", and it was quite funny watching Reece frantically yell out lots of synonyms for hemp, which Steve was miming as you might expect ("dope! skunk! uh, weed!"). Couldn't help thinking about "The Quiet Ones! The Quiet Things! Be Quiet...!" The way Len incensed him was to keep singing "I know this much is true" except substituting in e.g. "glue", "poo". Missed opportunity to callback it in Tears of Laughter ("laughter is my memory of poo" "it's you!"), which would have been overambitious/flow-breaking, but amusing. Also jokes about mistaking him for his brother :P ("I loved you in Eastenders!" "That was Martin!" "I thought your brother was called Reggie?" "That's the Krays!")

Briefly glimpsed Reece's trademark cartoonist block lettering on the pad they hold up for the celeb to read off! <3 I feel like the bit of paper with '9'/'6' on it might have been his handiwork too?? The attention to detail <3

Terreur de l'Asile

Pahahaha well now it's getting bonkers :D

Ticked off my bingo card: Reece going boink boink boink :3 (in the Elements Song)

Ticked off Reece's bingo card: getting forcibly restrained with one arm bent up behind his back :P If you had complete creative co-control over what you had to do once a day for the next ten weeks (and twice on Saturdays)...

ohoho speaking of which how about Steve taking control of your mind and forcing you to do his bidding o.O

I like Hugo's character design :) Always a fan of braces! I think I used to have a pair that was quite similar, actually, which was distracting :P And his floofy curls :D

I like Marcus too! With his wig that's kind of just a younger Reece's hair :P wandering around in his bloodstained sawn-off pyjamas XD Very here for both the ludicrous melodrama and the arch meta reveal :P

Kooky popstar woman was so good! They were all great, but her especially :) doing her "dead face" and her hammy audition tape :D

Ahh the conceit with her taking the camera backstage was so imaginative and super creepy! Shades of Dead Line. Christ, when the person unseen picks the camera back up again D:

Oh no, poor Reece, having to get choked to death every night and twice on Saturdays :3 (but also, having to embody any degree of sexual energy just beforehand, which... not really his forte?! :P)

Curtain call, and beyond:

Ahhh that was a fun show. Wait, what? WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK, STEVE? STEVE! YOU'RE MAKING ME FEEL INSANE! Oh my god there's MORE, what NOW?! :D

Hahhh omg he killed him again XD

"Reece Shearsmith, 1969-2025" now that's fucking ballsy to do in January X'D

Hahhh omg he killed him again!!

Aaaah Reece in his pretty white Marty Hopkirk getup! <3

Ticked off Reece's bingo card: be a ghost :3 god he'd fucking love that... "if nobody can see me, then nobody can notice me, then I can't do anything wrong" D:

"All I get is fucking Little Toby!" okay FIRST OF ALL: Toby's real name is Toby :D and SECOND OF ALL: Reece calling his own understudy little?! :D

The idea of Reece falling to his death through a trapdoor shouldn't be as weirdly delightful as it is XD

For the James Acaster enjoyers: "Every ghost story is a love story when you love ghosts" :P (- toosicktopray)

Good gracious, they have never been so Morecambe and Wise as suddenly appearing in top hat and tails stage left while all the chorus folks are vigorously waving fans stage right :P

Awww, they finally found another Nine to be Inside, and it was Cloud! :3

Loose change thoughts:

Bloody lovely use of lighting throughout - subverting things by turning it on the audience, using bright light to mask what's happening in darkness (e.g. suddenly fucking Little Toby!!) - and I didn't know using onstage cameras/screens was becoming a theatre trope, but I enjoyed how they messed with it :)

OK, so, some of Reece's characters wear glasses (including "himself", wearing his "own" "everyday" glasses), and some don't - fascinated to know whether he's got prescription costume glasses and is just pushing through the blur the rest of the time (seems both unlikely and unsafe!), OR whether he's wearing contacts and all the glasses are fake including his "own" "everyday" glasses <3

A perfectly entertaining show all round but dear god when they pulled us into Steve's shared hallucination that fucking Little Toby had been Reece all along it felt like a crackfic unfolding before my very eyes XD Utterly deranged behaviour and it tickled me so much!! The canon-typical meta nonsense and fridge uncanniness of it all! The implication that we too are so obsessed with Reece that we hallucinate him along with Steve (uhh don't @ me)! The way it retroactively both completely centres Reece in the narrative (even when he's playing a character) (me staring at every Reece character going "mmm, Reece": justified) and simultaneously completely erases him from it!... GO OFF, LADS XD

And the fucking audacity of them to position themselves as in the Morecambe and Wise mould! People will hate it and I bloody love it XD I mean, yes, to us, the fans, the comparison is perfectly apt - silly fluffy adorably-close Northern comic geniuses - but imagine, for the casual viewer/journo - it's those two ghoulish twisted fuckers from that thing in the 90s with the nosebleeds, what's their names again, that write those gory bleak plays full of death and tragedy and then slap the "BBC Comedy" logo on them, and they're playing at being the most famous, beloved and wholesome comedy double act in the history of British television?! Oh my fucking god I can't wait for press night ;)

Similarly, the way it was basically wall-to-wall vaudeville and knob gags, which, sure, we expect (and frankly makes the most entertaining use of their talents in a live setting - it's well-executed vaudeville and knob gags), but, uh, probably has more Actual JokesTM total than the entire TV series put together (and about 300% less horror and heartbreak than your average ep). Again, I was utterly down for it! Some folks... will be less so XD

Is there anything they can't do?... uh, write a single coherent two-hour plot-line, apparently XD (hey, man, I get it! I'm a one-shot guy too! ;) )

All in all, a very fun and silly time! By all means Ask Me AnythingTM, unless possibly it's about Steve, bc he could have had his fly open the whole time and I wouldn't have noticed XD

[shoot-i-messed-up]

Isn’t Hal jordan life just filled with propaganda? Grew up in a military household, joined the usaf, was a pilot for Ferris air(believe they tests military aircraft) and then joined the gl corps that’s basically just military propaganda in itself

Whew. Must suck to be him, buddy can’t catch a break

I don’t really think myself qualified to speak on this, but I’ve been thinking about this ask since I saw it.

To be fair, I think it could be argued that while Hal’s life is chock-full of military service, sometimes it can be interpreted as deconstruction rather than propaganda--although the hotshot Top Gun way he’s written post-Johns can totally feel propagandistic at times.

Like, look at this variant cover. I feel more patriotic already.

Post-Johns, Hal’s father Martin Jordan was portrayed more positively than he had been previously, (notably, that he wasn’t either physically abusive or particularly dismissive of Hal versus his brothers). Another thing: Emerald Dawn suggests--and it is also emphasized in Green Lantern: Sleepers book three--that Martin purposefully did not eject from the test plane because he would rather die a pilot than eject, leaving his wife a widow and his three sons orphans. So, arguably, the Top Gun bravado that Hal is so infamous for now, has been criticized from the beginning of Hal’s life.

And the possibly military propaganda of the Green Lantern Corps is something I’ve been thinking about since I became a GL fan. It’s either a highly militarized police force or a policing military force, which...does not feel good either way. And where do the Guardians get the authority to police the universe anyway? Power should come to rulers from those they rule, right?

Honestly, I kinda liked that the Corps was shown as corrupt for a while in iirc Geoff Johns’ run, with the Guardians allowing lethal force against the Sinestro Corps and later any enemy of the Corps, and then altogether scheming to get rid of the Corps from the inside out? I thought it was really, really interesting. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, right? We kinda saw that with Sinestro, and with Parallax, etc.

But, because this is superhero comics and we tend to want our superheroes to be good guys, I do think about possible ways the Corps can be characterized as less of a police force. For one thing, I think we should get rid of the Guardians and reinstate John Stewart as Corps leader. The Guardians literally cause, like, half of the Corps’ problems, either directly or indirectly. For another thing, I would love for the Corps to perhaps be more akin to firefighters than police, if that makes sense? Put more emphasis on saving people from natural disasters or, like, space pirates, or traffickers, I don’t know. 

I’ve heard it said that the Corps could just be a really big team of superheroes instead of a military, but I do think if we get rid of the military aspect entirely, we’re...kinda losing out on some of the aesthetic appeal? And, yeah, I know I know, the whole “you are not immune to propaganda” meme. Military is all about discipline (at least, the ideal of it), and the willpower of a Green Lantern is very closely related to discipline.

So...this answer got out of hand. Yeah Hal cannot catch a break, sorry buddy.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PRELIMINARY ROUND - DC COMICS

PROPAGANDA

Pantha

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Starfire (CW: Sex Trafficking)

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

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

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

[willows-adventures-in-words]

First off, I'd like to formally apologize for what happens in this prompt. I added a Read More bonus to try to make up for it because I felt bad and couldn't just leave it as was. (readers on AO3 aren't lucky enough to get the bonus scene.) I used this prompt as an excuse to write something I've been wanting to try for a while. Unfortunately, Geoff and Layne got caught in the cross-fire of my creative needs.

Whumptober prompts Alt. no.5: Friendly Fire word count: 867 content warning: gun usage and character death(s)

(not gonna lie I'm a little nervous to post this last prompt...)

~-~-~

“Why would you shoot it!?” Geoff demanded as he ran alongside his friend.

“I thought it would kill it!” Layne exclaimed. He risked a glance back. The black furred creature, that looked like some kind of demonic dire wolf, which he'd shot multiple times, was still chasing them. “Uh, it's catching up.”

Geoff threw a glance back and cursed under his breath. “Over there!” He pointed out a building. An old gas station. The back door was open. It was probably their only option.

Layne pushed his legs harder. He made it inside just seconds before Geoff, who threw the door closed as he made it in. As Geoff quickly looked around for something to barricade the door with, Layne searched his backpack, desperate to find more bullets for the handgun. There was a noise behind them and they spun around to see another open door with three zombies making their way over. Layne took the couple steps it took to get to the door and threw it closed. At this point it was far too late to be concerned about noise.

The creature slammed against the door causing it shake on its hinges. Geoff spun around. The zombies started banging on the other door. He looked around, searching for another exit. There was none. They were trapped. He shifted his grip on his bat. They might have a chance if they faced off against the zombies. But if he was the only one armed…

One bullet. That was it. A lot of good that would do them. He tossed the backpack aside. Layne looked over as the creature hit against the door again. It wasn't a matter of if but when it was going to break it down. And from the sound of it, it wasn't going to take long. He glanced back to the other door. There were at least three zombies there. Another bang against the door. They wouldn't have time to get past them. It was going to get in. If not the next hit then definitely one of the next two. Layne looked at Geoff, and swallowed. He couldn't let him die like this. Not by that thing. Not by that thing…

“Geoff, I'm sorry.” Geoff looked over, about to ask what, exactly, he was apologizing for, but froze. Layne, with a look of distress, had the gun pointed at his head. The creature banged against the door. They could hear the hinges and frame bend. “I'm sorry,” Layne repeated, his voice thick with guilt.

“Lay-”

Layne flinched away as he pulled the trigger. Geoff dropped the bat as he crumpled to floor. He was shaking. Heart pounding. His arm fell to his side and the gun dropped to the floor. A pool of blood was already starting to form. Look away, he tried to tell himself, but he couldn't. Fear and regret built up. What if he was wrong? What if he just-

Bang! Layne jumped and looked to the door. It was denting in. One more hit and it will probably be in. He could hear it growling loudly on the other side. Turning he looked back down towards Geoff, only to find his body gone. Just the pool of blood remained. Layne let out a shaky breath of relief. But it was quickly overcome by panic as the creature burst through the door. He grabbed the bat as he tried to get out of the way of the incoming beast but slipped on the blood. Searing white pain erupted as the beast slashed its claws across his back and he staggered. Every movement hurt as he went to turn. He wanted to get one good hit with the bat. Just one. But he didn't manage to fully turn around before he was thrown to the floor, the bat slipping from his fingers and a strained gasp falling from his lips as he landed on his back. His senses were overwhelmed by the pain. Layne blinked a few times, trying to focus through the pain. He was able to for just a second before the creature jumped on him and he screamed as it tore into him.

Again.

Geoff woke with a gasp. He was alive. How? He'd looked down the barrel of a gun. Layne shot him. Why would he-? Geoff shouldn't be alive. He couldn't have survived a point black shot to the head. Realizations started to settle. But if Layne killed him how was he here. Alive. He blinked up at the evening sky between the tree branches. Wait… Slowly, he sat up. He's laying under a tree. But… he was just at a gas station. With Layne. How was he suddenly here? And where was here? What the hell was happening?

With a bit of a headache, Geoff looked around. He spotted a backpack sitting against the tree. He frowned as he noticed something. There was a patch on the top half of the backpack that had his name on it. That's weird. Layne had one exactly like it, just with his name on it instead. Geoff stared at the bag, trying to work out what was going on…

[blorb-el]

What is :dhosurro? I saw it in a fic and your post was the only thing that came up with a Google search lol. Also, I'm trying to get into Superman, so do you have any good starting places, or is it better to just bounce around? Anyways, I think you're really cool, and I love your blog. have a splendid day!!!

Anonymous asked: my bad that was YOUR fic please ignore me while I die of shame

OH NO DON'T DIE OF SHAME! it is indeed a word I made up, but the plant itself is canonical - you can read the story in the second story in Superman 236. I suppose I could have just called the flowers surrus, but I liked the idea of there being different species of this flower and this being the most aesthetically pleasing, so I appended the prefix for beautiful, which is :dhoia, to create :dhosurro (pronounced n-doh-surr-oh).

(^ that lady's jumpsuit is sick as hell. Also when I came across this story I immediately went, oh, opioids metaphor. Then like a year later I was like.... weed metaphor??? And then now I'm back to thinking it's an opioid/general addiction metaphor considering denny o'neil (who wrote the story) was pro legalization of weed but apparently struggled with alcohol addiction. Art by Dick Giordano.)

As for starting places! It really depends on how you like to read comics, if you want proper story arcs and context to things or if you're okay with a random dude showing up on the page for whom you have like 6 words of context in an editor's box. I distinctly remember the first four Superman comics I read in high school, on the advice of Some Random List Online: Birthright, All-Star, Superman For All Seasons, and Matt Wagner's Trinity oneshot. When I started getting back into Superman, I initially started with jumping around, and then pretty quickly found out that I loved the older precrisis interpretation of the character the most.

Birthright is top goddamn tier. Best origin story in my opinion. There's a moment about halfway through with a gun that made me understand not just Superman but, like, all superheroes. Mark Waid gets Superman in a way that very few writers do. I liked the art, but it isn't for everyone. If you liked Birthright, I highly recommend the current World's Finest 2022 run, with Mark Waid and Dan Mora. If you thought it was a little out there, the most 'standard' origin story is Geoff John's/Gary Frank's Superman: Secret Origins, and while I personally am a Huge Hater of John Byrne's Man of Steel it was the canonical origin story for a huge chunk of time that many comic fans love (post-Crisis, pre-Flashpoint), has admittedly good art, and is probably worth reading just for the context it gives to the era.

On a similar 'origin story' note I think that all Superman fans should read the first few issues of Action Comics, 1-10 or so. They're amazingly snappy - you can tell Siegel and Schuster assembled the story of Action 1 out of proposed newspaper strips, with the result that said action comes fast and furious. I also adore Action 12, wonderful wish fulfillment where Superman goes after irresponsible driving.

Superman: For All Seasons is a good story, I'm just not a huge Tim Sale fan. If you liked it, especially the art, Superman: Kryptonite is also a great story if kind of tricky to track down. It's in Superman: Confidential.

All Star Superman is a fantastic story and I don't regret reading it as one of my first four comics at all, but I think it works better the more you love Superman - every time I come back to it I get more out of it, and it's out of continuity so you can fit it in whenever. Morrison's stated goal was to write the version of Superman you see on a cereal box, and they get to break down the psychology behind the icon. It's a great book to show you the flawed, fascinating 'man' behind the super. If you liked ASS' (lol) general 'anything can happen' vibe, check out Morrison's N52 Action Comics run for another take on an origin story told out of linear time that has a lower powered, T-shirt clad Superman start with facing down corrupt bankers and end by facing down a cosmic bully. If you were eh on the writing style but liked the examination of how Clark balances being Superman and Clark Kent, the storyline 'Who Took the Super Out of Superman?' is an interesting Bronze Age look at the balance.

The Matt Wagner Trinity is just a really good look at the Trinity and a fun three-issue short story, Superman in particular comes across as really great in it. If you like the idea of short, character driven, self-contained stories, Superman has some excellent Elseworlds/one shot stories. Some of my favorites are Superman: Speeding Bullets (what if Thomas and Martha Wayne had no biological children but baby Kal-El fell in their backyard?), Up In the Sky by Tom King (6 issues: a little girl gets kidnapped by aliens, superman tracks her down), Superman Smashes the Klan, and Faster than a Speeding Bullet in Superman Adventures (2013) by Matt Kindt.

If you liked the focus on interpersonal dynamics in the Trinity oneshot, one of my favorite Superman titles is DC Comics Presents, which is about 100 issues of the Pre-Crisis Superman (my favorite incarnation of the character), where every issue is a team-up. I'd recommend almost all of them, but my particular favorites are #85 with Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, the 3-part arc beginning with #27 with J'onn, Kara, and the Spectre which is Clark's first encounter with Mongul, #41 with the Joker, and #50, where Superman teams up with...Clark Kent? And of course, if you also like Batman, pretty much any run of World's Finest is worth picking up, my ultimate favorite WF issue is the original run's #289, the infamous Kryll Way of Dying. If you like lois, my favorite story with that relationship is the 2-parter Is There a Doctor in the House/Under Enemy Fire from Superman Adventures #11-12 (1996), nominally set in the DCAU continuity but very readable as a standalone. This entire run is pretty great. And if you like the Justice League, the 2000s series is justly famous, also starting with a long Morrison run, and later on including the famous Tower of Babel storyline by Mark Waid.

As for non comics, I have a rec list of STAS episodes here and a rec list of radio show episodes here! If I had to pick just one, for the radio show I'd suggest listening to Clan of the Fiery Cross for its historical value or The Headless Indian for character dynamics. For STAS I would watch the origin if you're not tired of origin stories by now, or the best standalone episode IMO is The Late Mr. Kent. btw in the superbat server we might be starting a DCAU superbat themed curated watchthrough soonish if you might be into that pspsps

The Elliot S! Maggin novels Last Son of Krypton and Miracle Monday deserve a separate bullet point because they are so fucking good. Miracle Monday is one of my two favorite Superman stories. Maggin's interpretation of Superman isn't to everyone's taste but it sure is to mine.

For other Superman media, with the understanding they all have their own flaws, I'd recommend the first Christopher Reeve movie, Justice League: Action shorts, the DCAMU's Death and Return of Superman movies, SOME episodes of DCAU's Justice League (hereafter and for the man who has everything), the 50's George Reeves show's Panic in the Sky and The Dog Who Knew Superman as well as the Reeve movie The Mole Men, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman's pilot and further episodes if you like the clois romcom vibe, and Henry Cavill in Man of Steel, again with the understanding that all of these are more or less controversial in their own ways.

A note of caution about a few pieces of Superman media in particular: you'll see American Alien recced around. The author has been accused of being a serial rapist and has admitted to being a serial abuser at the point in his life he wrote it. I believe in the general principle of separating the artist from the art, but since this particular story is very self-expressive to the point of almost coming across as self-insert pseudo wish fulfillment, this inextricably stains the story to me. Your mileage may vary, and the author has made a public apology (which I find rather insincere, but again YMMV).

On a similar note the movie Superman Returns was directed by Bryan Singer and stars Kevin Spacey, both of whom have been credibly accused of child molestation. Even before I knew this I had some qualifications about it, but other fans like it. The plot will make much more sense if you watch the first two Reeve movies, as it's supposed to be a sequel to Superman II.

[chrswlls]

Off-topic question, but I'm very interested. Do you have any headcanons for the NFB characters? :')

Ok i swear I'll get to the requests but for now thank you for asking this anon because I have a ton. But im kinda embarrassed so I'll only share the ones I have for the popular chatacters lol

(some of these are gonna sound shippy so im gonna remind you now most of these are platonic lmao)

Post-heatwave Jeremy hates dealing with hotter temperatures and prefers to keep himself in cold/neutral places. During the summer he can't keep his composure as much as he wants to.

^^ post-game where he's alive and living with Jenny, she usually helps him cool down during the summers. It's one of the ways they support eachother while recovering from everything that has ever happened

Megan does feel a genuine friendship with Julia sometimes. Even sympathizing with her when it comes to some things. This only really applies during the path where Jeremy is dead and Alan is alive but I'll keep it short

Julia admires Megan in a way. Even if she does end up taking her job after a long time

Robyn wins most games of Uno or whatever funny card game the Nightly Show thinks of. A lot of people say it's luck but it's either she's just good at the game or she can cheese/cheat the game well enough.

Patrick is disliked by his coworkers but is most disliked by Alex. I made a separate post about it once xd

Alex sneezing would be quiet and discreet. Sam on the other hand sneezes like a gun going off and you can hear it across the house

^ Alex pinches their nose for them when theyre about to sneeze XDXDXD

Julia makes jewelry in her free time. Sometimes they're themed after the peoplr around her. Peter wears one of her bracelets.

^ Peter wore the bracelet to his grave. Julia sees it during the funeral and Peter's death haunted her even more from then

Chris and Dave met eachother while fleeing the country. They could either be great friends or cant stand the other. But eitherway they keep seeing eachother and it's kinda funny

Alan writes a few books about his experiences post-game Path D. They're not very popular amongst the youth Advance raised but they're pretty loved by everyone else who bothered to listen and read

Geoff likes pineapple on pizza. See this is because I hate pineapple on pizza.

^^ so does Alex. Them and Boseman jokingly argue about it because Boseman doesn't like pineapple on pizza

Boseman loves Snoopy or whatever the in-universe version of Snoopy is. During early mornings when Channel 1 plays cartoons, Snoopy is always being broadcasted unlike other cartoons that only show up during weekends.

Pro-Advance Suzie canonically marries Zach anyway. I like to think they got married way later though which is some time after the Uprising and Disrupt's "downfall". Zach is the one head over heels for Suzie in this scenario

that's all im willing to share :PP if you wanna hear more you can ask for a patt two. Or maybe headcanons for specific characters/relationships too but you'll be able to tell who are my favs and who i dont mind as much LMAOO

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Midnight Gaming: 3rd Rock from the Galactic (or how I learned to stop worrying and love group-orientated alcoholism)

So I last night I played Deep Rock Galactic past midnight, looked at socials later and found....

Y'know what, this is kinda topical but the Game Awards is coming up real soon and I've heard some grumblings on some places over it and I gonna say it... do people actually treat the Game Awards with some level of respect and prestige? Because I honestly considered it as nothing more than the game industry's official event fot self-congratulatory arrogance. A masturbatory ceremony where they give out awards to developers and actors and feel good about themselves despite all the mass layoffs, consumer-unfriendly practices and horseshit?

Honestly, the only reason I'm even interested in the game awards is for the game announcements and reveals that show up in the event. If the awards didnt have any of that, if it was played entirely straight like the baftas? I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't even care about the game awards. What is there to get up in arms? That they arent jacking it the same way they used to? That your game didnt win the title of "Game of the Year"? Listen, plenty of games get a bundled version released called a Game of the Year edition regardless of whether they actually won that award. Its the same way that a restaurant says their pizza is the best pizza in the world or a coffee shop claims to have the best cup of coffee. Its just a form of marketing. And thats ultimately in my opinion what the Game Awards is at the end of the day: Marketing.

Of course, having your game shown on an event like that is a good way to get attention onto your project and Geoff knows that too, thats why its so goddamn expensive to have your game shown at all. Its for that reason that some folks have decided to start their own event for folks who dont wanna shell out a fortune just to get some eyeballs on their game.

The Game Awards for Games who can't afford the Game Awards is an event headed up by several people as a parody of the Game Awards but also serving as a means for smaller indie devs to present their games, kinda like steam nextfest or alphabetagamers "games to get excited about" fest. This isnt really a news thing but i'm happy to talk about this if it gets maybe a couple of people to learn about this.

So Deep Rock Galactic is a game I enjoy quite a lot. Its your everyday 4-player coop shooter but taking place in destructible cave enviroments with hordes of bugs to squash. And you play as Dwarves.

DRG's main gameplay loop starts with picking one of several missions that are available in several biomes and dropping down onto Hoxxes. Once there you complete your objectives while collecting any materials and gold you find as well as fighting off the local threats, then call for a ride home and get on before it leaves again.

The classes you play have their strengths and unique gear to bring to the team with the Scout having a grappling hook for traversal and a flare launcher to help light caves up. Engineers have their required-by-law turret item to place in various areas to routinely shoot enemies as well as a platform gun which shoots platforms, naturally. Gunner is your go-to for rapid heavy firepower along with a placeable bubble shield and a zipline launcher. And Driller, my beloved, is the dwarf who treats the earth of hoxxes as his canvas, cutting through the soil with his power drills and blasting chunks with his c4. The four classes play well with their weapons, each having 3 primary and 3 secondaries, being punchy and effective.

DRG works well as an enjoyable coop shooter for a couple of reason, one because of the focus on creating enough of a variety in the gameplay to ensure you dont start to feel bored. Different missions from simple mining jobs, protecting a large drilldozer, scouting out morkite wells and pipes to extract them and hunting giant bugs. These missions also take place across several unique biomes from salt caves, swamp dens, sandy delves, radioactive wastes and arctic caverns to name a few. Procedural generation is used to create every mission area you get dropped into with the enviroments being destructible with either weapon shots, explosions or even using your pickaxe to break the enviroment, giving you and your team an option to do some light terraforming around important areas to better suit your needs.

Now since its a coop game, cooperating with your fellow dwarf coworkers is a necessity to complete your objective and thankfully the game is able to cultivate that naturally with a pointer item to allow for pinging of essential items or priority threats, a single emote that ends up conveying several messages depending on the context such as a welcoming salute, a battlecry or a celebration, as well an overall welcoming vibe in how the dwarfs respond to each other. After most missions, I end up joining my fellow players at the abyss bar, downing several mugs of beer and dancing our hearts out until we collapse, before we all type "gg" and leave the lobby. And if working with others aint your thing (or you dont have an active internet connection) then you can go on missions with a robot helper buddy who you can direct with your pointer to carve out material, fight off enemies and can even revive you a limited number of times.

Ghost Ship Games has done a grand job on their game and have done well by the community, to the point where they are able to publish some indie titles by themselves, helping other devs thanks to how well DRG has done, with it becoming a franchise now with a survivor-like game and a board game along with the upcoming Rogue Core game. If you havent picked it up yet, please do, its a fantastic game with a lot to offer, more than most triple A games do these days.

On that note, what was the last AAA game you payed full price for and not just picked up when it was on sale? The last game I can recall is Cyberpunk 2077 and that was only because I wanted something to test my new computer on.

Y'know Ghost Ship announced recently a selection of real mugs based on the same mugs from the ingame abyss bar. I would love to get those mugs, they look real damn good.

Thats all for tonight. Thank you for reading this post on Midnight Gaming. Feel free to leave feedback and game suggestions. See you all another time. Rock and Stone!

[fallingblueroses]

Supervillain Geoff AU. Date night at Kathy's. Dialogue heavy.

Cesar is...well, he's just Cesar. He works for Geoff, but the relationship is more like big brother/little brother.

Accidentally posted when I went to edit...oh well. Enjoy.

***

Cesar burst into Geoff's suite at just after six o'clock, flowers and wine in hand. "Are you ready for you date?"

"Don't you ever knock?" Geoff snapped, then sighed. "Almost."

"Good." He set down the vase and wine and appraised Geoff. "...You're not wearing that."

Geoff looked down at his black turtleneck and slacks. "Why not?"

"Because you're not going to a funeral, that's why not. I said you should wear your blue plaid."

"I refuse to go on a date looking like a country bumpkin."

"All right, we'll compromise." Cesar went for Geoff's closet. "You can keep the slacks, but you need something bright to go with it. Why are almost all your clothes black?"

"It's what I look best in."

Cesar snorted as he rummaged through Geoff's clothes. Geoff sighed inwardly and looked at the vase--purple roses and purple lilacs, arranged with fern fronds. "Uh, Cesar? What's with the purple flowers?"

Cesar came out with an emerald green button up shirt. "Here. Put this on. Purple roses mean 'you enchant me'. And purple lilacs signify blossoming love."

"I'm not--"

"Sure you are. Or you wouldn't be going. Now change." Geoff sighed and pulled the turtleneck over his head, and Cesar frowned as he saw the pistol in its holster on Geoff's hip. "You're taking your gun?"

"Of course."

"You're expecting her to do something?"

Geoff slipped the shirt over his shoulders and began to button it up. "Not her. Jacobson."

"You really need to stop letting that guy live rent-free in your head."

"Then he needs to let me stop living in his." Geoff left the shirt untucked to cover the pistol. "There. Better?"

"Yeah. One more thing." Cesar quickly mussed Geoff's hair.

Geoff pulled back, but the damage was done. "What are you doing?!"

"Giving you a more relaxed look." Cesar smiled at him. "There you go. All ready. Now. Flowers and wine." He handed the items to Geoff. "Have a good time, turn your phone off, and stay out late."

Geoff shook his head, but couldn't help the small smile on his face. "All right. Don't let the place fall apart in my absence."

"You can count on me, sir."

"I should hope so." Geoff walked out of his suite and headed for the elevators. He hoped the evening would go well; it would be a shame to let Cesar's effort go to waste.

He purposely ignored the twinge of nervousness that was growing in his stomach.

***

Kathy looked at herself in the mirror and hoped she looked all right. Her hair was drawn back in a ponytail, and she was wearing denim pants and a light gray sleeveless button-up shirt. She'd decided to go light on the makeup for tonight to go for a neat but casual look.

She'd spent the day wondering if Geoff would actually show up, but at seven on the dot her doorbell rang. He smiled at her, flowers and wine in hand, when she opened the door. "Good evening."

Kathy smiled back. "Good evening. Come in." She stepped aside to let him enter.

He walked in, then turned and handed her the flowers. "Courtesy of Cesar."

"Oh. They're lovely." She gently pet a rose petal. "Tell him I said thank you."

"Of course." His eyes looked around as if appraising her house.

Kathy suddenly felt shabby despite the fact that her house was solidly middle-class. What must her little place look like to a man used to living in five-star luxury? She cleared her throat. "Dinner's ready."

"I've been looking forward to it."

She set the vase down on an endtable and led him to the dining room. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll be right back." Her mind scolded her as she hurried to the kitchen. Idiot. Two days ago he was your captor and now you've cooked him dinner? He's probably laughing at what a fool you are. She quickly plated the food she'd made. He took you to a French restaurant and you made spaghetti. You could have at least made something a little fancier.

Well, there was nothing to do for it now except keep going. She carried the plates into the dining room and set one down in front of him. "Here you are."

He thanked her as she sat down at the table. "...This is the first home-cooked meal I've had in years."

Cesar's words about her being the first to cook for him came back to her. "I hope you like it."

Geoff twirled his fork in the noodles and took a bite. Kathy watched as a satisfied look came over his face. "It's good."

She relaxed a little. "Thank you." They ate in silence for a few minutes as she tried to think of something to start a conversation.

[longitudinalwaveme]

Some thoughts:

Killer Frost is not a Flash villain. She's a Firestorm villain. Not that she couldn't fight the Flash, but she wouldn't logically be part of a Sinister Six for him. That would be like having Lex Luthor be part of Batman's Sinister Six. I blame the Flash TV show for this one.

Is this Mirror Master Sam or Evan? Which one it is could drastically change the team dynamics; Evan is a lot less reliable in a group setting than Sam, but Sam has more of an ego.

I suspect that the person who made the video has not read any stories about Golden Glider that were written prior to Geoff Johns' run. Pegging Golden Glider as being the nice one or the most likely to help the Flash only makes sense if you don't know anything about her Bronze Age history. Although I certainly don't blame the video maker for getting confused about this, given the way that DC has been writing Lisa lately. It's a frustrating sign of the way in which her character has been misunderstood since...well...basically since Messner-Loebs' third or fourth issue with her.

Captain Boomerang always gets the short end of the stick. He's way more dangerous than most people assume he is.

With the exception of Killer Frost, who shouldn't even be here since she's not a Flash villain, none of these guys would need a reason to come together, seeing as all of them are already part of the Rogues. You don't need an excuse for characters to team up when they're already allies.

I'm kind of surprised DC hasn't attempted to do an all-Speedster team-up already. It's exactly the sort of thing that you'd expect them to dream up.

If anyone on the Speedster team switches sides, my money would be on Zoom (Hunter Zolomon) or Godspeed. They were both friends with the Flash at one point and seem like they might get uncomfortable with Savitar and Eobard's more pointless acts of violence. Johnny Quick in the comics is usually a pretty nasty son of a gun, so I doubt he'd help the Flash.

Team #3 is interesting. Though I can't see it lasting very long unless Grodd is using some sort of mental control over the others to keep them in line, since none of the others like him. A power struggle between him and Thinker would also be interesting, although Roscoe would also assuredly be vying for control over the group.

Hurrah, he didn't laugh at the Top! Usually everyone makes fun of him, so it's nice to see that not happen here. And he even knew that spinning increases Roscoe's brainpower!

Pied Piper would absolutely be the one to switch sides here (unless we were dealing with pre-2000s Al, in which case he would also be a candidate).

I'm not sure that this team-up would work logistically. Even if they all agreed to work together, it would be very difficult to find a time when all of these guys were around---and evil--simultaneously. The only time it could have happened was very early in Barry's career, since Al reformed in 1964 and stayed reformed, more or less, until around 2001. This would also mean that the story would feature a Barry who hadn't married Iris, a very young Wally, and a group of comparatively inexperienced villains...and if the story was during Barry's term as the Flash, the villain who would be most likely to switch sides would be Al, not Hartley. From 1964 to 1988 (or, in-universe, during the remainder of Barry's initial career as the Flash), Albert was reformed, and, while it is possible that his evil personalities might have emerged at some point to facilitate this team-up, it does seem a bit on the unlikely side. After Wally becomes the Flash, Hartley reforms, and then he can't be part of the group. The Top being intermittently dead only makes things even more difficult to handle logistically---especially since his telekinetic powers first manifested right before he died. Even saying that this Dr. Alchemy is Alvin doesn't help a whole lot, since Alvin didn't debut until after Roscoe's first death (and only a few years before Hartley reformed).

Dr. Alchemy is far more powerful than this video would imply. I can't blame the person who made the video for not knowing a whole lot about him, given how comparatively obscure he is, but it is nevertheless true that Dr. Alchemy can do far more than create chemicals. He can, quite literally, turn anything into anything else, without even needing technology to do it. He's powerful enough to give Grodd a run for his money.

I find it hard to picture Albert joining any group. Alvin would, but Albert generally works alone, and has become downright anti-social since Geoff Johns got ahold of him. They'd have to offer something pretty impressive to get him to join them instead of just wandering off to go read. He's so powerful that they couldn't force him into it against his will. And from the picture being used and the fact that it seems unlikely that most people who aren't super-huge Rogue nerds know about Alvin anyway, I think it's a fair bet to assume we're talking about Albert here.

The last team is also the one that seems most unlikely to me---unless, again, Grodd is using his mental powers in some capacity to control people. Captain Cold, Mirror Master, and Weather Wizard would be very, very wary of being anywhere near Grodd and would almost assuredly not agree to any plan he masterminded, and they outright hate Eobard. Also, Turbine would probably be reluctant to work with any of them unless manipulation was involved. And then there's the minor detail that Grodd and Eobard probably couldn't be in the same room with each other for a minute before their competing egos caused the group to collapse.

If you have one spinning, green-uniform-wearing villain named Roscoe on your Sinister Six team for the Flash, it should probably be the Top, not Turbine. Dillon's been around for over sixty years at this point and is still haunting the edges of the DC Universe. Hynes lasted less than 10 years. I feel kind of bad for not liking Turbine, since he has some interesting character ideas behind him, but I hold a slightly irrational grudge against him for being created to be a replacement for the Top, a character I am inexplicably but very fond of (and not as a legacy character in the vein of Axel or Evan). Also, Top is frankly scarier than Turbine.

Heat Wave is absent because the video maker inexplicably doesn't like Mick (as he stated in another video where he ranked a lot of DC villains). I have no idea why. Mick is great.

Obviously, this is not intended in a mean-spirited light. This video is more impressive than any video I could make, and people are allowed to have opinions that are different from mine.

[joyfulsoda]

Interview With Geoff Packard

Hi! It’s been about a week or so since I’ve posted about the fact that I had an interview I had with Mr. Packard, and I figured I would write up a transcript of the whole thing just because! I would post the audio, but the quality is not the best and also I do not like the sound of my voice on recordings. The entire interview was about 16 minutes long and both he and I speak pretty fast (there are a lot of words), so there will be a td;lr at the bottom.

For context, this interview was for a music class I’m currently in, where we had to present on a song that we like - specifically on how the music was written to make us feel, and how it actually made us feel. We could only play two minutes’ worth of whatever piece we chose, so I chose Proud Riff because it’s under two minutes and I figured I could put the clip from the show into my presentation. The idea to ask about an interview came later!

Before I begin, he was an incredibly nice man to talk to and I was super, super nervous but that went away a few minutes in! He asked if I planned on recording it and that he would be okay with it, I said I was, and then we got right into it!

-------------

Me: “So, to begin, obviously because you portrayed Wayne on Broadway, I thought it would be interesting to ask how the music influenced your performance. So, as an actor, how did the music of Proud Riff make you feel?

Him: “How did it make me feel..? Um, well, I think the music is sort of optimistic, I feel like it sort of bops and it’s sort of a swing tune and it’s sort of lighter than what is going on in Wayne Wright’s world. Although, the sort of genesis of that song was a conversation Andy Blankenbuehler and I had - Andy Blankenbuehler, the director, choreographer- (laughs) Tony Award-winning choreographer... We had a conversation about what their day-to-day lives may have looked like, and how we don’t really represent a lot of that for the rest of the guys, we see sort of what Donny goes through, but the rest of the guys that came back from the war, we didn’t get to see what their day-to-day was.

“And so, there was a couple iterations of what that Proud Riff would be, and we decided it was how Wayne would be spending his time at home, getting his kids ready for pre-school or school or something, and how he... sort of locks into a habit, or locked into a habit, y’know, he was obsessive-compulsive and he... really used his habits to sort of survive during war time. And we talked about how he probably gained that sort of germaphobia that he has in the play in his trench warfare, because of the necessity to keep everything clean and to have a clean, firing weapon, and all that stuff. So... We talked about that. On an otherwise normal, sunny day, what he might be doing during the day, and that’s where that came from. And so I think the music is sort of sunny, cheerful, and he’s... slowly, y’know, through the habit of cleaning his gun, is trying to stay sunny, and just simply can’t. And I think that’s where the minor changes come towards the end of the song, if I remember correctly. And all the rhythmic hits at the end that are physicalized through tap, and the sort of twitches that Wayne would have- that’s sort of a manifestation of his memory coming back, or him not being able to control those memories.”

Me: “That, actually, was really insightful. And y’know, like... you can kind of see that on stage, but to hear that directly coming from you, it’s like “oh, so that wasn’t just up to interpretation, that was actually what was happening.”

Him: “Yeah! You know, I think- so, for anybody that might be listening to this, I teach at the University of Michigan now, and so, the next generation of theater artists are what I care deeply about, and certainly when I was training, or when I was a young person sort of experiencing shows or reading a play for the first time, I often thought: “Wow! How do they come up with this? This is, y’know, Arthur Miller just writes a play and just, hands it in, and this is the thing?” And what I’ve learned over time is that it’s much more of a collaboration from all parties involved, so, it’s not that Richard Oberacker and Rob Taylor wrote everything you saw on stage in one sitting and then shared it with us- they wrote a lot of it and had a first draft, then we all collaborated and had different ideas that helped them have other ideas. It did not occur until previews, I think, of the Broadway production. We had done a production at the Paper Mill Playhouse that did not have that piece in the show at all, but through conversation and through an idea of how to give a little more insight in their lives, they created that.

“And I should mention, a large part of that creation came from Greg Anthony Rassen and Bill Elliott, who were the orchestrators of the piece. They wrote all the dance pieces and orchestrations, too, so they were very involved in that sort of collaborative process, and y’know, that’s what you got to see on stage.”

Me: “That’s really cool! Well, um... With that last question, you kind of answered the other questions I was going to ask, um...”

Him: “Sorry.” (imagine someone saying sorry in all lowercase).

Me: “No, no, that’s totally fine! I was just going to ask like, how the music influenced what Wayne was doing on the stage, and you answered that with him twitching and, y’know, him having his physical manifestations of trying to stay sunny, and how some of the stuff he did towards the end of the piece coincides with the minor tones and all the hits and stuff, so thank you so much for that.”

Him: “Mhm.”

Me: “So, because I wanted to keep this short, I didn’t have many questions to ask you- relating to Proud Riff; can I ask just, like, one personal question that doesn’t relate to it at all?”

Him: “Sure!”

Me: “Just because I was curious, uh, because Wayne is a Lieutenant in the show, I was doing some research and I found out that most Officers have college degrees, and I just wanted to ask what you think he might’ve gotten his degree in, because- well, I don’t know, it was just something I kind of wanted to know.”

Him: “Yeah! Oh my god, I’d have to go back to my original, sort of, research journal... Um... For that. I feel like at one point in time, I knew where he went to college, and I knew what he studied, but I don’t- I mean, y’know, in my mind what he studied, and it’s not in the script, and I don’t remember really talking about that- I know we talked about him being a Lieutenant a lot, and how that would have led to him being a leader, and not being very content under Donny as the leader of the band (laughs). But what would he study..? The thing that comes to my mind is something mathematical, so I wanna say an engineer of some kind.”

Me: “Oh, that’s interesting!”

Him: “Well, I feel like he, of all of the musicians in the band, he was obviously the most strict and maybe square of everybody? Y’know, I wouldn’t call him an improvisor, y’know, he has that famous line “If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.”

Me: “I was actually gonna mention that when you said what you did about him and Donny not gelling well at first.”

Him: “Yeah! Well, you know, he is the only officer in the group, and what that would mean for these gentlemen, y’know, they know that more than- oh, what would they be called, I wanna say muggles and it’s not- civilians! They would know that more than civilians, so we talked about the relationships in that way, but yeah, I think he would be- I forget what it was, but I think it’s sort of engineering, or something that involves something that can be accomplished through math, and that has a specific answer and an end to it.”

Me: “That makes a lot of sense for him. Well, that all I really wanted to ask.”

Him: “Do you still have some time? Do you have any more questions? I mean, we’ve got three more minutes.”

Me: “Well, let me see if I can think of something, uhhhhh..!”

Him: “Oh, remind me, did you see the show- did you see it live, or did you see the Fathom Events recording?”

Me: “I really wish I could have seen it live; however, in 2017 I was only 14, and going from [REDACTED LOCATION] to New York was... Well, that wouldn’t have been possible, unfortunately, so I’ve only been able to see the professional recording, and- and I love it, I need to rewatch it again. But yeah, y’know, I do really love the show, I like going back and looking at all the little details that happen, like not necessarily what the focus is on the stage, but also looking at all the side interactions- like, there was one time I went back and watched, and I noticed that in Breathe, right after Davy makes his comment about Nick, the “choreography” bit, you walked over to Mr. Ellis, and y’know, Davy just gave Wayne a salute, and it was the funniest thing to me for forever. And these aren’t things that you notice on the first watch-through, but going back and looking at all of it is just- it’s just fun.”

Him: “And the interesting thing about the filmed version of it is that, since film and TV is such a visual medium, the editors, which I think Andy (Blankenbuehler) was a part of, they sort of tell you where to look. If you think about all the things that you’re like “Oh, I missed this from the filmed version,” there’s infinitely more moments like that when you have a whole stage that you can look at. So unless it was in a wide shot on the Fathom Events version of it, you only got to see what the editor wanted you to see in those moments, so... Y’know, that’s why I was asking you if you saw the live version. I really loved the Fathom version, and I’m so grateful that it exists; there’s really no substitute for being in the room. Although you can’t, y’know, you can’t rewind, it, so... (laughs) You just get what you get, you know?”

(After this point, we have a short conversation about me! There are a few identifying details in this section that I don’t feel comfortable sharing, though, so I would rather not type them out.)

Ta-da!

Td;lr:

Proud Riff was meant to give an insight into Wayne’s everyday life.

It shows how on an average day, the sun might be shining, but Wayne is still struggling.

Wayne most likely developed his germaphobia due to being involved in trench warfare, out of the necessity to keep everything clean and working.

(Including this just because some people might not have seen interviews where it is confirmed) Wayne has OCD, cleaning his gun is a ritual.

The taps are meant to be a physical manifestation of the memories that haunt Wayne- the ones he cannot control.

Proud Riff was not in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of the show.

Wayne obtained a degree in engineering or something relating to math. He likes how they have specific answers and ends.

Wayne is the only Officer in the Donny Nova Band. He usually takes on leadership positions and does not enjoy Donny being the band leader at first.

Wayne is, in Geoff Packard’s mind, the most strict and square out of everyone in the band. 

Wayne is not an improvisor.

There were a lot of side interactions onstage that we did not get to see in the Fathom Events recording. Sad day. :(

[zozo-333]

Maybe I should just write some fic of this(mostly will be WT prompt with no context)

But right now it just more scenarios, everyone is chaotic neutral here

Alien AU, please read my previous posts for context. This contains Heatherra, Alecody and Gwortney

(Some have problems, some don't, and some created them)

Chris: So, how's you guys doing these years?

Owen: Pretty good

Geoff: Not too bad, I guess

Gwen: meh

Courtney: I hate everything

Harold: This place's microbe system almost killed me, but I survived and learned lots of things

Tyler: I still don't know how to properly operate this body

Lindsay: My life's nice, but I always say the wrong things

Noah: I hope no one else here is in the family of ten. If you do, I'm sorry

Heather: I'm high and mighty but have identity issues and don't know how to explain my problem to therapist

Izzy: I'm a wanted criminal!

Everyone:

Izzy: Oh don't worry, that have nothing to do with our identity, all I did just blew up a building

(Not literally)

Chris: What's up, Ezekiel!

Ezekiel: uh *look up* cloud, bird, sun, moon, and our hom——

Chris: Ok I need you to shut up, now

(BUSTED)

Tyler: What's the big deal of jumping into the sea? Not like it'll hurt us

DJ: My escape pod crashed on sea, that's a horrible experience and I would rather not be reminded that

Courtney: Don't want to get eaten by shark

Beth: Too much injured will bust my disguise

Noah: Speaking of injured. Chris, all the challenge are safe in human standards right?

Chris: …theoretically?

Cody: …Have you test these challenges with humans?

Chris: Yes

Cody: Did they survived?

Chris: …You know, maybe I should check on that

Noah: Yeah we're so going to be bust

(Girl wasn't even trying to hide)

Heather: Izzy, you can't transform in front of other people! Our 'gun' will run out of power!

Leshawna: And how did you change back so fast? It always took me like hour to do that!

Izzy: Oh, because I didn't make internal organs, well, not all of them were missing, but most of them are

Izzy: Just watch! *Detach her arm and revealed it's shallow inside*

Camera man appear in the wrong time: MONSTER! *get knocked down*

Trent: So why did you turn into a bear and scared us?

Izzy: Cause it's fun! Also I can eat people faster

All gophers: IZZY!

Izzy: What, I'm hungry, and you know what happened when we get hungry

(energy is energy 4, also they all win the boat trip)

Chef: You boys just fine eating this?

Duncan: What's the matter? *Eating the 'meatballs'*

Brigette: This is my first time eating animal corpse…

Heather: *stamp Brigette's feet*

Brigette: I mean meat! This is my first time eat meat!

Chef: Okay…here's the pizza with grass hopper, spicy jellyfish and——

Geoff: Just give that to us, we're hungry

Owen: *come out from kitchen* Hey look! Worms with human body part(he mean hair)…maybe I shouldn't exciting about the last part

Gwen: Did normal people eat this? Whatever *eat pizza*

Chef:

Chef: Are you guys good?

(Travel to unknown place is dangerous)

Intern: Ok, due to *insert very complicated lawsuits*, we're going to check all your belongings before we landed in Egypt

Duncan: *knifes and lighters*

Gwen: *baseball bat*

Intern: Sorry you can't bring that

Izzy: *explosive*

Intern: Not surprised

Heather: *croquet mallet x3*

Cody: *a mace*

Courtney: *a very large gavel cause why not*

Intern: Why?

Harold: *three nunchaku, bunch of throwing stars, a very realistic fake katana, nerf gun, water gun and some other stuff*

Intern:

Harold: Always prepare when invaded the unknown land

(Apple game gone…right? from the exclusive clip but Heatherra)

Sierra: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H *stem broken* Ok that's a tough one, but I'll eventually get a C

Heather: *sitting next to a pile of cores* Are you going to eat that?

Sierra: Wow Heather, I don't know you like apple so much

Heather: I'm just low on energy, and Cody ate all the candy *attempted to break the stem but struggling*

Heather: Ugh! *stem snapped* I can't believe it took me 19 time to break this

Sierra: Wait——

(interrogation gone wrong, Alecody)

Alejandro: I knew there's something wrong and you'll not fool me

Cody: Umm…

Alejandro: Silent treatment is no use, I'll find a way to make you talk

Cody: Hey we don't have to do this, buddy. Or did you prefer pal? bestie? brother?

Cody: *panicking* …babe?

Alejandro:

Cody:

Cody: Oh Whatever *mind control ready*

(Gwortney telepathy 2)

Gwen: Oh Courtney, you always there when I needed, I want to stay with you

Courtney: You know, I feel just the same…

Gwen: But we can't shown that now, so maybe after the show

Sierra: They've been holding hands and staring silently at each other for fifteen minutes now, is everything okay?

(London)

Noah: He's like a eel dipping in grease…

Owen: Sounds delicious!

Noah: And slippery, so don't let your guard down, one wrong step and he'll found out

Owen: Okie dokie! Little buddy

Tyler: Uh guys? I think you stretching me too much

Owen: Wow you look like mozzarella cheese!

Noah: *facepalm*

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals: Boy Bands In 5 Minutes (post 2/2)

Part 2! Let's get right into this! (For part 1 go here)

...There's a lot going on with the outfits here, but I'm assuming it's decade/era-appropriate? (I learned from one reaction video that apparently the poncho/jumper/hoodie thing that Geoff is wearing is something that people used to wear to the beach a lot or something?)

Geoff used to wear a bowtie a lot when he had shorter hair (apparently, though I don't watch a lot of VP's older stuff), but this is basically the only time that we see Geoff wearing a bowtie since growing his hair out (well, wearing a tied-up bowtie anyway)

I did a study/analysis thing on the varying positionings/line-up orders of the group during this video (haven't bothered to psot it though), and fun fact: Geoff spends the majority of this video on the left side of the screen!

This guy is Rek Dunn, who was a production assistant and friend of the group for many years, before he sadly passed away in 2021 (the Halo theme cover that Voiceplay did that year is in honour of him)

The only outfit change done phyiscally on camera and not via quick cuts. Pay attention to Layne!

The absolute drama. Iconic, we stan 👌😂

Backstreet Boys time! The outfits are similiar to what they started the video wearing, but with a few changes. E.g. they're wearing white pants rather than black, Eli's wearing a white fedora, and Geoff is wearing a singlet/tank top (one of the first times (if not the first time) that Geoff has been the only one with bare shoulders in a Voiceplay video, and certainly not the last (hey, if you've got it, flaunt it!))

Back to NSYNC, this time for the song "pop". And yes, if you haven't figured it out already, this section is filled with scenes relating to "pop" and all its meanings/connotations. So in this shot the guys are playing with balloons (which can pop), then they're tossing around bubble wrap (which people often enjoy popping), then they're eating bubblegum (which you can blow bubbles with, which can then pop), then dancing in bubbles/using bubble guns (see previous), and then doing a toast/cheers with cans of soda/soft drink, which Americans sometimes refer to as "pop".

This section alone must have taken a bit of time to set up and film each scene for, but I bet they had a really fun time with it (must be a ton of bloopers/outtakes)

According to commenters, Voiceplay are in fact doing the same choreography for One Direction's Best Song Ever as was used in the original music clip.

(Also I saw part of a 1D music video on a public TV screen a couple weeks ago and I was like "okay but why is Harry Styles' appearance here giving me Geoff vibes? 😅" (I think it was partially the hair, and partially the fact that Geoff lives rent-free in my head))

Geoff flossing XD (he also did it at the end of his Monster Mash video, or one of his selves did it at least)

Earl, Eli, and J are absolutely killing it with the fashion here! (I wanna know how many of the clothes used were already owned, and how many were acquired just for the video?)

Eli back at it again with the sunglasses-as-fashion-accessory (without wearing them), and also I just realized his pants are the same that he was wearing in the Pop section of the video just a bit earlier. Also J's shirt reminds me of the blazer/jacket he wore in the Queen Medley.

Also it's about time I acknowledge those light bars/poles that have been in the background the whole time and changing colours for the different scenes. Eli's the lighting whiz of the group, so they were likely his idea/doing (and he is credited with lighting in the description), and they're definitely a brilliant addition to the video!

I don't know how much rehearsal time went into this whole thing, but Voiceplay did an overall fantastic job at the choreography.

(Maybe I would have been fine doing this video as just one post, but better safe than sorry imo) So yeah, amazing video, amazing arrangement, amazing performance. What more can I say? They might not be boys (anymore), but Voiceplay is definitely my favourite band! 😁

[willows-adventures-in-words]

I've been putting off posting this for literally no reason. Anyway, here's a continuation of my Friendly Fire prompt from October. I can't promise when more will be posted for this, since I'm working on 5 different stories simultaneously. But I do have the scene when Geoff and Layne meet back up for the first time since the incident in the prompt.

Title: Can You Survive 7 Days? (this one actually has a title) word count: 2,192

~-~-~

Geoff woke with a gasp. He was alive. How? He'd looked down the barrel of a gun. Layne shot him. Why would he-? Geoff shouldn't be alive. He couldn't have survived a point black shot to the head. Realizations started to settle. But if Layne killed him how was he here. Alive. He blinked up at the evening sky between the tree branches. Wait... Slowly, he sat up. He's laying under a tree. But... he was just at a gas station. With Layne. How was he suddenly here? And where was here? What the hell was happening?

With a bit of a headache, Geoff looked around. He spotted a backpack sitting against the tree. He frowned as he noticed something. There was a patch on the top half of the backpack that had his name on it. That's weird. Layne had one exactly like it, just with his name on it instead. Geoff stared at the bag, trying to work out what was going on...

~ ~ ~

He'd woke up to find that he was the only one home. Which was already strange since he'd woken up the same time he usually did. But neither Kathy or his son were there. What made the situation even stranger was that he couldn't find his phone. Geoff searched all over the house. Nothing was out of place other than his missing phone. Which meant he couldn't even call her to find out where she went since their vehicle was gone. His only option was to wait.

When he went to start up his computer, it wouldn't boot up properly. He ended up giving up on that and made some breakfast. Geoff kept an eye on the clock. When he was almost finished cooking something dawned on him. It was unusually quiet. Not a single sound from outside. No cars driving by, no people, and no animals. Even the birds had quieted. Once his breakfast was done, he looked around for his phone again, though no luck, then sat down to eat. Maybe he'll check in with the neighbors when he was done. See if they knew why it was so quiet out.

It was well after nine and he was really getting worried. There was still no sign of Kathy. Still unusually quiet outside. And he still couldn't find his phone or get his computer working. He figured it was time for that walk. Grabbing his keys, Geoff locked up as he stepped outside. As he walked down the sidewalk, he looked around. Nothing seemed strange. Just quiet. He stepped up to his neighbors door and knocked. Silence greeted him. Geoff tried once more, just for the sake of trying. Then turned and kept walking down the sidewalk. Once he'll reach the end of the block he'll turn around.

The entire walk there and back was in silence. No traffic. No sounds of people at all. Something was definitely wrong. It was like everyone just up and left. As he started up to his house, Geoff stopped. That's not right. This wasn't his home. He looked to the neighbors house. That was their house. Looking around to the other houses. Everything was right. Except his house was wrong. Hesitantly, he stepped up to the door and tried the key. It didn't work. He heart pounded. This was where he lived. Where his house was supposed to be. There was no way he could have this wrong.

Geoff walked back down the sidewalk. Then turned and walked the other way. Something was very, very wrong. What was happening? Then he stopped. Maybe nothing was wrong. What if this was some vivid, lucid dream. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. If you know you're dreaming you can just wake yourself up, right? Geoff tried to clear his head and stood quietly for a moment. Hoping that would work. Unfortunately it didn't. When he opened his eyes nothing had changed. Except one thing. A distance ahead of him someone was walking. Well, it looked more like they were dragging their feet a bit.

He started walking towards them. “Hello!? Excuse me!” Geoff called out as he got closer. The person grunted and turned around. Geoff froze. A chill ran down his back. He knew more than enough about apocalyptic scenarios to know what that was. As he took a step back, Geoff realized that, no, this wasn't a dream. It was an absolute nightmare. The zombie groaned as it approached him. Turning, Geoff ran back down the street. He sure as hell hoped he'd wake up from this soon.

~ ~ ~

It's now the evening on the second day of all this starting. And, if he assumed this was all one big, long, nightmare, it seemed dying didn't wake him from it either. And most of the time he didn't even think that it was a nightmare since it was so vivid. Felt real. But this couldn't be real... Geoff died. Was killed by his friend. But he wasn't dead. Or undead. He was just... alive again.

He had no idea where the backpack came from, but, assuming he was going to be dealing with this situation for awhile, dream or no dream, it would be useful to have. Though a bit hesitant, Geoff grabbed the backpack and opened it up. He hadn't expected anything to be in it. So, he was a little surprised to find a cooking pan and a bottle of water. Pulling the water bottle out, he tucked it into the side pouch of the backpack before closing it back up and, as he stood up, pulled it on his back. It was getting late. He'd better find somewhere to hide out for the night.

~ - ~ - ~

When Layne had woken that morning, everything seemed normal. At first. He'd assumed Cyndi had simply gotten up before him. As he went to get up he reached for his phone, only to find it not on the bedside table. Weird. He'd been sure he left it there last night when he'd gone to bed. Probably forgot it by his computer. Picking out some clothes for the day, Layne stepped into their en-suite bathroom to get washed up and dressed.

After he left his bedroom the first sign of something being wrong hit him. It was too quiet. No one was in the living room or kitchen. Layne checked out the window. Their cars were still there so no one left. “Cyndi?” he called out. There was no response. A pang of worry rose in his chest. But he tried to shove it down. Maybe she was with one of the girls? Careful not to wake anyone if his daughters were still asleep, he started to check the bedrooms. After the first two were empty of occupants, he couldn't ignore the worry any longer.

Though once he realized the bedrooms were all empty, Layne called out for his family. Each of them. Then it hit him. His phone. He could call them. Running to his home office he checked his desk, then the floor in case it fell. It wasn't there. He hurried back to his bedroom to make sure he hadn't missed it. He hadn't. The living room? Kitchen maybe? No and no.

Okay. Stop and think for a minute. Maybe he somehow left his phone at the studio? No, he was sure he'd used it after he got home. Layne shook his head. He could figure that out later. Maybe drive down to Pattycake. He was the only one home, so did they leave a note? Taking another lap around the house told him that no, they didn't. Was there some event or something that they were going to that he'd forgotten about? But weren't all their cars still here? Layne checked outside again. They were. Maybe they got picked up?

He just had to find his phone. Then he could call Cyndi. Or even one of his girls. Grabbing his keys he started to the door but stopped and went to check once more around the house in case he missed it in his panic. No luck. He scribbled out a note saying he was going to PattyCake Studios and left it by the door in case they got back before he did. Then he left, locking the door on his way out. Layne stopped when he got to his car. He walked past it and checked their backyard before heading back and getting in the drivers seat.

Before he left he searched his car but found no sign of his phone. Starting his vehicle, he pulled out of the driveway and headed towards the expressway leading to Oviedo. Normally, he would consider this sort of reaction a bit extreme. But something told him, a gut feeling, that something was very wrong. And he realized pretty quick that it was right. There were no other cars out driving. There were a few parked on the side of the road but no one was in them. Then, suddenly, his car seemed to stall and coast to a stop. Glancing down to his gas gauge, he saw it on empty. “There's no way it's empty. It was at three quarters yesterday.”

Layne let out a sigh as he rested his head on the steering wheel. He was going to have to walk all the way back home. At least he didn't turn off on the expressway yet. It was already a chaotic morning. With all the strangeness going on, to none of which he had answers, he didn't even want to think about anything else that could go wrong. Then he jumped at the sudden bang on his window. He looked over. Then froze. His heart pounding as he stared at what was there. “No way…” As he looked over toward the passenger side he unbuckled his seat belt. There were more. Shuffling towards his car.

There was no way he'd be able to clamor over to the passenger side and get out before the zombies reached his car. The sound of the window splintering brought his attention back to his side. He was running out of time. There was only one on his side. So, there was a chance at least. Reaching for the door handle, Layne prepared to open it. He took a breath, then shoved it open as hard as he could pushing the zombie back a couple steps. Scrambling out of his car, he turned to run but felt fingers grip onto his sleeve. He panicked and yanked free before running back down the road. Layne had thought he felt something graze against his ankle as he got out of his car, but he had no intention of looking back to see what it was. He just ran.

~ ~ ~

His body ached when he came to. As he opened his eyes, Layne lifted a hand and rested it on his abdomen where the worst of the pain was. He stared up at the darkening sky. It will go away soon. Or at least it did last time. But he didn't have long. It was going to be nighttime soon. And he learned the hard way that the zombies were more dangerous at night. Taking a breath, then slowly released it, Layne sat up and looked around. He was alone. In the middle of nowhere. Though he spotted his backpack a few feet away.

Geoff... He did come back. Right? If he didn't he wouldn't have disappeared. He wouldn't have... But, there was no way to know for sure. This was the first time he'd been there when someone else died so he had no idea what it looked like. How it worked. He just had to wait and see if they met up again.

But if he didn't he had himself to blame. If he didn't... that meant... Layne shut his eyes and swallowed. He didn't want to think of what that would mean. If he did he'd most definitely have a break-down. It was bad enough that he was already regretting his decision. It was just, in that moment, he couldn't let Geoff die by that thing. It is a horrible way to die. Excruciatingly painful. What he did was quick and- Layne shook his head and reached over for the backpack. He had to stop thinking about it.

Opening the backpack, he looked to see what there was. If there was anything new. Other then what was in there when he dug through it earlier, he did find something new. A bottle of water and more bullets. Which he found a little annoying since the handgun was gone. “Of course I have more now,” he muttered. Layne zipped the bag back up and, pushing himself to his feet, slung the bag on his back.

So, he was once again weaponless. He'd have to be careful unless he wanted another gruesome death. Looking around, he squinted through the darkness trying to see if there were any buildings in the distance. Unfortunately, there were none. He let out a sigh. “Well, time to start hiking...” After choosing a direction, Layne started walking.

[blazehedgehog]

Thoughts on GOTY awards and the show and Geoff Keighley himself?

The awards are pretty pointless. It's definitely on the level of "The Oscars, but for Games." Which is to say... it feels kind of like a circle jerk. Big names tend to sweep most categories, and a lot of the picks are generally pretty obvious. Whenever the TGAs try to focus down on smaller names, like specific eSports teams, or commentators, or whatever, it's almost universally people I've never heard of, don't care about, or actively despise.

Like, one year they gave Boogie a "creator of the year" award. The dude built a career on flipping tables at card game conventions and being an ignorant clown. Like wasn't his whole thing was being so quote-unquote centrist that he said "maybe the nazis have good ideas"?

And Keighley gave that guy an award. He gave Doctor Disrespect an award! The same year Doc got the award, two other people were up for that award that advocate for legitimate accessibility causes. But he gave it to the guy who's gimmick is wearing a crummy wig and doing a bad Tom Cruise Top Gun impression.

I get the impression whoever picks those people didn't follow or weren't super aware of the nominees, because you could smell the chud on these guys from a mile away. I mean, heck, Pewdiepie was nominated twice. The guy who promoted actual white supremacists ("by accident", supposedly).

It's just a popularity contest. Always has been. I think Ludwig was the first person to get that award that I ever felt like "oh yeah I know who that is and he probably isn't a moral disaster." But even then I only know him via Jerma and only because he turned up on the Dollhouse stream.

As for Keighley himself, maybe I just have too much faith, but I feel like people are a little too mean to him. I see people throw jokes around about how he's tweaked out on coke while hosting or whatever and I could believe he's just very excited to be able to put on a show, even if that show is just a popularity contest. He has kind of forcibly positioned himself as the bastion of games journalism in a way that I'm not entirely comfortable with, but I also know enough people in and around the press to understand most readers/viewers/consumers don't "get" what really goes on inside the press and make up really weird, really mean, really dumb lies about who they think they are.

I want to believe Geoff Keighley is just a dumb puppy about video games and he loves the spotlight.

As for the concept of GOTY itself, I think engaging in a little creative criticism is healthy and learning to write and properly express one's opinions is good for the soul.

[lacrimosathedark]

Hard disagree on pretty much all of that.

Green Arrow 69-72 are some of my favorite comics that I've re-read over and over. The whole point is for Jason to talk to Mia because she is in the same position he was--a disadvantaged street-wise abused orphan adopted as a sidekick to an idealistic billionaire vigilante. And in his fight with her, he continually gives her advantages over him. He has her tied up, but lets her go. He fights her bow with a knife. When he pulls out the guns, which he is in that moment commenting on what a good shot he is, he never once hits Mia but manages to snap her bowstring. He then gives her two swords to fight him with, removing his helmet, dropping the guns, and again using a single blade. When he has her surely beat, he let her go. Mia even says this herself. He let her go. It isn't until she's in the clear that he blows up the school. And he blew it up because he kinda just Does That but also, Bruce was right there and he uses every opportunity to fuck with Bruce. And explosions involving Jason certainly do that.

During his entire confrontation with Mia, he's talking about how similar they are and how Bruce and Ollie don't understand that sometimes you have to do bad things just to survive. Sometimes bad deeds have good outcomes. They both lived that. He's trying to get Mia to be better than he was, in a way.

Of course none of them are obligated to be okay with Jason after that, and I never said that. And I never said Mia wouldn't hold a grudge. She absolutely would. Because Jason did get in her head if nothing else. I just think it's a silly double-standard to entirely condemn Jason when people like Jade are apparently fine sometimes.

Honestly, the only "reason" anyone is friends with anyone in comics is because writers forced them in a room together. And Scott Lobdell did a horrible job with it, but it was done. That's the canon we're given. Take it into your personal canon or not, it doesn't matter. I'm coming at it from "make the best of what we've got".

And they could be good friends. They both can be more on the morally grey side. Both of them are very protective of children. Roy is a recovered addict and Jason's mom died of an overdose. Both have been at one time or another cast out of their families. Both were taken from their roots to be brought up by a wealthy vigilante. They're both clever smartasses. There's potential. That's all.

Roy is not limited to the Titans as his friends. He's been on other teams, like the Justice League. He's allowed to be friends with people outside that group. And I'm not discounting Rose or Artemis or Dana as friends or even love interests for Jason, though maybe it was just the shitty writing but his relationship with Artemis seemed to be more like a romantic friendship or friends with benefits kind of vibe to me. Like, they love each other but wouldn't make ideal partners in a romantic way. At least as they were written in what I've read.

And I don't see how thinking Cheshire is worse than Jason is ridiculous in any way.

Yes, Jade would never hurt her daughter, but that is one single person. And she has no qualms about hurting people Lian cares about. Do you recall Chanda Madan, Lian's babysitter who was from Qurac? The country that Cheshire literally nuked?

Lian is the only person who is ever off-limits to her. She has before fought and attempted to kill Dick and Dinah, both very important people to Roy.

Jason Todd is not a killer on the scale that Jade Nguyen is, and never has been.

Jason blows shit up as a coping mechanism, but also that's just a thing that happens in comics, like, all the time. Explosions happen, casualties aren't addressed.

His confrontations with both Tim and Damian were poorly written, (Battle For the Cowl is Fucking Stupid and Geoff Jones' Teen Titans as a whole is...a mixed bag, for me at least) but also Damian had before used Jason's trauma to get the jump on him and beat the shit out of him, is a born and raised assassin child, and when Jason shot him Damian was still a piece of shit and Jason was having a psychotic mental breakdown. Not that that justifies him actually shooting a literal child, but Damian isn't an innocent party here either.

I'm not looking at him with blinders. But I recognize comics is large and varied and has many different writers, some of which make many choices I dislike. For example, the multiple instances of Bruce hitting his kids outside of training/combat. I acknowledge it happened but, "given it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it." No character is consistent in comics, so I choose what my personal primary iteration is. I personally only really accept the way Jason is written by Judd Winick, and this seems to be the standard in general. He's been passed between writers who didn't understand past writers of him, or just hated the character for some reason, resulting in very inconsistent characterization. I work with what I'm given.

As for poor writing in regards to Cheshire, I don't know where specifically she's written poorly because my introduction to her was negative from the get-go. Her taking actual joy in her job killing people is what made me hate her. I'm aware that there's probably some fucked up history with her portrayal, as there are with other POC villains like Talia al Ghul. But Cheshire is not someone I ever liked, and therefore never sought out, and I only saw her when she happened to appear alongside characters I did like, like Lian.

And hey, call me an ass if you'd like, but I think the idea of a truly loving mother also being a genuinely horrible person sounds extremely traumatizing for a child. Lian's mother loves her and would do anything for her except quit this job that she genuinely enjoys that actively hurts people, and not infrequently hurts people Lian cares about. Eventually that's going to have to be addressed beyond Lian's single "Fuck you, Mom!" And I think, for all the love Jade has for Lian, her priorities are utterly fucked if she'd actively choose killing people over being in her daughter's life.

And I don't appreciate the insinuation that I hate Jade due to her gender and ethnicity. I have a preference for Bats in general, not Jason in particular, because they were my entry point into comics. So yes, I can acknowledge Jason's instances of shitty writing easier because I know more of it. But it's also incredibly widely known that he's been written consistently poorly. But Jason isn't even my favorite Robin, let alone favorite Bat. My favorite Bat is Cassandra Cain, also female and Asian (though half Chinese rather than Vietnamese), and if you know anything about her, her history is also pretty fucky ex. that one arc where she inexplicably became evil and it had to be retconned into her being like mind control poisoned by Deathstroke. I don't know if that had anything to do with her race, it could have, but what I do know is it was out of character and Bad and seems widely accepted as such.

Jason doesn't have a history of harming children besides Robins. His re-introduction includes him specifying that he will kill anyone who deals drugs to kids. He was given a not-stupid reason for not killing through a child, Tyler. The only times I've seen him so much as consider harming kids is when he was talking to Tim about a plan that was meant to be grand scheme harm reduction (not agreeing with him, just that was his argument), and the other is when he was doing the dumb Generation Outlaw thing and was actively armed around kids who were actively trying to become supervillains. I also have seen him go out of his way to protect kids, but never go out of his way to harm them. Depending on the writing, sometimes he's okay with kids as collateral. But he never seeks out harming children aside from Tim and Damian which, while awful, are on some level understandable. And are handled poorly on all fronts.

I'm not out here saying Jason Todd is a faultless angel. He is deeply flawed, and when poorly written, often flat-out psychotic. But he is not and never has been a truly evil character, whereas Jade Nguyen HAS BEEN, and yet Roy Harper can fall in love with her and that's totally fine and reasonable, but he can't be Jason's friend? That sounds very silly to me.

hot take: roy harper wouldn’t want jason todd near his kid after the shit jason pulled with mia