#I feel like I haven't posted enough Batman stuff lately

[sunnycanwrite]

Things the Batfamily has used instead of ice packs:

A head of broccoli

A whole cabbage

A frozen spoon

Fish

An attempt was made to use a freeze ray, it was stopped in time

An attempt was used to convince super man to use his freeze breath, stories vary on the result

Milkshake that Steph had left in the freezer

a chunk of ice from the side walk in the middle of January

Laid on the cave floor, and claimed it was cold enough to fix them

[david-talks-sw]

any new Star Wars essays in the making, or are you moving on?

I don't know, honestly.

Part of it is "life gets in the way," I'm working a lot and so whatever time I have left is spent just messing around or meeting with my loved ones.

I've got a bunch of stuff in my drafts. I don't mind sharing it here, most recent to oldest:

Sort of a joke post of me pointing out how stressful being George Lucas' producer must've been, like this guy really DIDN'T WANT to write his fucking scripts, did he? Poor Rick McCallum. Abandoned because who gives a crap.

'Ask' reply on how EU-fueled fandom perception of the Jedi was flipped by the prequels.

'Ask' reply about the themes in Ahsoka and why the show doesn't know what it's about. Problem is, I go about it starting from the basics, so nobody's gonna sit through reading a tematic breakdown of the first Pirates of the Carribean movie, The Batman and the original six Star Wars films before I even get to the show at hand.

"Part II" post about what Ahsoka, Rebels and TCW get right about lightsaber duels, which the Prequels never did.

Quote collection & analysis on just how complex the Prequels were meant to be (in the late 80s, Lucas intimated that the Sequels were the story that was supposed to have gray morality, not the Prequels)

Quote collection on how the themes and principles of Star Wars align with Lucas' own opinions and philosophies.

Quote collection on Lucas defining Anakin's flaws.

Quote collection on Lucas talking about the fact that we need to be more proactive, which aligns with what Lumi points out sometimes about the Jedi: they should've been more politically engaged because we all should be.

Why I approach Lucas as "word of god".

Personal life/joke-y post dating from the time of the WGA strike about how Jack Black's School of Rock lyrics "In his heart he knew, the artist must be true, but the legend of the rent was way past due!" applied to me. Abandoned because I didn't wanna bum everyone out.

Correcting the notion that Dark Times-era Jedi such as Kanan or Ezra or Ahsoka represent what Jedi were supposed to be.

A comprehensive end-all outlook on how Anakin's flaws all tie together. I've written this one twice and I don't know how to differentiate it from my other posts.

A secret "Part 3" to my TLJ Luke post, in which I point out that RJ's being too "indie", while being a strong point for a big chunk of the film, hampers the film's ability to make Luke feel as badass as he does on paper. I want to illustrate a storyboard for this one, but that takes time.

The evolution of Star Wars' approach to transmedia.

Debunking Star Wars myths: a (very) comprehensive outlook on children in the Jedi Order.

Problem is that only like 2/3rds of these are fully-written... and I still need to find the relevant clips, turn them into GIFs, etc etc.

There's many other interesting Asks in my inbox btw. But I'm already behind on all these, so I haven't begun to touch them.

Then there's the drawings.

I wanna draw a comic of the meeting between Yoda and Dooku in Dark Rendezvous. I wanna finish the comic fight between Maul and Ben. I wanna draw Mace, Shaak Ti, I've got a Luminara fan-art that was supposed to be ready for Jedi June 2022 and an Anakin drawing that looks weird. No time, nor am I skilled enough. (Like, I trace, that's what I do, it's not a secret I've said so before... but it takes me a long while to do so. I'm not fast at drawing, let alone coloring.) I could commission some of these, but there are obvious obstacles there.

There's fun tidbits I've discovered here and there but nobody will care about them and I usually try to not drown my blog with bs posts.

Then there's the bigger problem.

All the things I've listed above? I'm not 100% motivated to finish. But a lot of the new stuff I wanna write about is hella negative.

I had a lot of stuff I wanted to say about Ahsoka. But it wasn't all good. It was mostly me bitching, be it about the show or the fandom's reactions to it.

I've also got more stuff to say about Filoni's take on Star Wars, but I've talked about why it's inaccurate like 8 times already, and I don't actually dislike the guy, like there's plenty of things he knows and does that I think are awesome but also people won't stop putting him and his takes on a pedestal and--

oh shit, there's Acolyte too, I forgot about that, gray morality galore, here we come. But here too, like... I've talked a couple of times about why this entire gray morality thing is actually just the gen X-ers trying to make the prequels "cool" and "complex". but I've never explored properly, with quotes and research and shit. but i've talked about it so many times that at this point it'd end up like the Filoni rants, redundant. "we get it already." as if this show didn't have haters lined round the block for absolutely sexist reasons.

Don't get me started on the mountain of lies and/or idiocy that is the YouTuber Star Wars Theory.

And yet he said one thing a few months ago which struck a chord within me and it's the fact that Andor is awesome, excels on all levels because it's treated seriously, like a proper show, not a Disney Plus one... why wasn't Obi-Wan Kenobi? Why wasn't Book of Boba Fett? And I've already established multiple times that I enjoyed Kenobi (yes, including the Reva parts) and I've established that I know what they were going for in Fett and I've established that this is mainly a "Disney Plus didn't know how to structure a fucking show pre-WGA strike" issue more than anything else... but when I think about how these could've been treated instead? When I look at the characterizations and emotional stakes of like Fargo Season 5? It's infuriating. Because it's not bad (talking about Kenobi, BOBF is awful)... but it could've been EXCELLENT and instead it was just "okay" to "good".

I just miss live action lightsaber duels, man. Like, good ones.

and i dunno. maybe I should just let it rip on all this. "go off, king!"

but I think there's so much negativity re: Star Wars that adding my thoughts on these subjects, no matter how structured and reason, will just blend into a wave of needless, un-constructive hate.

maybe I should finish the writings in the drafts and just post them with no gifs, maybe just still images?

but doing any of that feels like a step back.

So that's where I'm at right now.

[gwydionsart]

I feel like I've barely drawn at all the past few years. My sketchbook reflects this, having started drawing in it Jan 2018 with about a third of it still blank as of last summer. So I have been making genuine attempts to sit down and draw more. Feeling out of practice, a lot of the time I would copy images instead of freehanding (collages 1 and 3), but I tried not to rely solely on that (collage 2), and lately I've been feeling more confident. So I'm just gonna post my progress here. Because that's kinda what this sideblog is for, lol.

I used to be able to say "if you wanna know what I'm into at the moment, just open my sketchbook". For the past year, that's been true for the first time in quite a long time. It feels nice.

Thorfinn showed up first, working on him while on vacation last year. Meant to draw him more, but it took me quite a while just to finish the one (gosh I'd drawn, like, one, small picture in the two years prior?).

But then my One Piece phase hit, and I realized that I had only ever attempted to draw Sanji maaaaaybe once about 15 years ago? lol So I practiced until I felt comfortable enough to try it without copying. Not all the final results made it into this post, and I'm still not super satisfied, but all the random headshots really helped get me back into the groove.

The random guy in the middle of the second one is an old OC named Xander that I was never fully happy with his design (the drawing was an attempt to update it, though I'm not sure I was successful, lol). And we've got a couple very boring Zukos - I hadn't drawn him in like a decade so I went as simple as possible.

Characters I haven't had a lot of practice with, though, are superheroes in general - I drew Spider-Man a fair amount, like, 30 years ago, and I'd attempted some version or other of Robin a couple times, but I tend to find all the details a bit intimidating. So I finally sat down and practiced drawing some of my favorite comic heroes. X-Men '97 got me to finally draw Gambit for the first time and that lead to me rereading some of my Batman/Robin/Nightwing comics and drawing Dick and Damian as well. Pretty far outside my comfort zone, but I quite enjoyed it.

Lately I've been filling the pages with some King's Quest, but I'll save that for a future post (maybe lol). I've got maybe only a fifth of my sketchbook left, which is especially great seeing as how it is completely falling apart and being held together by duct tape and a prayer. XD It'll be nice to finally be able to move on to the new one I've had sitting around for a couple years now, waiting to finally be opened. If you for some reason decided to read all my ramblings, kudos to you! lol It's just nice having somewhere I can get this kind of stuff out on occasion.

(References taken from the Vinland Saga anime, One Piece anime/manga, X-Men: The Animated Series, Batman and Robin comics, and Nightwing comics.)

[tzigone]

What age first comes to mind when you think of each of the original NTT?

I've asked this previously with the JLI. It's not about how canonically old they are or you think they should be (absent de-agings, universe reboots, etc.). But when you first think of each of these characters, how old do you think of them as? So much depends on the eras you read with them, and what of that sticks with you, and which eras and aspects and relationships you most value. Not to mention how fast in-universe time was moving in your favorite eras.

Wally, of course, got married and had kids. They never let Dick do so in main timeline, but he has associations with younger Batfam members that make me think of him as older. Poor Raven and Gar were deaged and kept on younger teams even before the universe reboot. And we have Vic and Kory after.

For me, so much depends on the era I read them in. All have eras I just don't read them in, either because I don't like what's going on with them or because of general disinterest in what's going on with DC at the time (that especially covers recent times, as I kept waiting for continuity to settle, then the constant Events, which aren't my thing).

Speed-aging Wally's kids throws him off to me, too, as I'm not fond of speed-aging kids at all (or skip-timing as with Jon Kent). So in my head he ends up a new dad in his mid twenties.

Dick ends up late 20s in my head. Relative ages of other Bats play in, but I sort of cut off for him before New 52 (and I honestly never think of him as Batman) because I've never really gotten into anything of his after that (hate the de-aging). He should be older, of course, but I don't first think of him that way, again probably due to not reading later stuff much.

The others haven't had the same degree of solo work after the team, and I abandoned NTT shortly after Titans Hunt. I've read stuff with them here and there since, but never consistently read a Titans title since.

Raven and Kory pretty much stop for me then. It's hugely important from a storytelling perspective, but I simply dislike the whole concept of Dark Raven or Rachel Roth or the goth-y influences from the cartoon (which I liked when I watched it, but didn't want to influence the comics I didn't read comics then and now resent character being largely remade from it), and even though I know they exist, they don't enter my headspace. So Raven ends up in her early twenties.

Kory, as I said, is in a similar headspace to me. I know other storylines happened, but I'm even vaguer on those than Raven's. Another dead husband, more pain for Tamaran - sounds like basically story on repeat to me, though I didn't read it, so can't speak authoritatively. Don't get me started on having her and Jason (or Roy as Jason) as a team or even worse on putting her on Damian's Teen Titans. Anyway, I always think of her as early twenties, too.

Gar, interestingly enough, I tend to think of in his slightly older, more mature fashion. Not making his obnoxious jokes and sexually harassing female teammates. And operating in a time when Dayton simply isn't around (and Rita is dead). I'm not at all sure it isn't some not just amalgamated, but constructed version of him built out from what I wanted him to grow up to be. Anyway, he sits in his early twenties for me.

Now Vic - I kinda feel in some aspects like I do with Gar and in some aspects like Raven and Kory. Certainly the post Titans Hunt events don't factor in at all (I didn't like storyline even a bit before like, quit reading a few issues after, and forget a lot of what happened after that era with Vic even happened). More like Raven and Kory and less like like Gar, he was older and more mature. I think of him early or mid twenties and having found peace with himself and belief in his own humanity (which happened a couple times before he'd reset on it), but don't think of that as having just happened, so ending up adding a couple years.

Donna is the wonky one. I tend to stick her in two categories - recently married early twenties or recently separated mid twenties. While I think motherhood and her son were extremely important to her in-universe, I didn't read that era, so it doesn't stick with me. I have the before, when I was reading NTT. And I have some of the time during the separation (when she showed up in other comics I was reading) and cutoff before Robert dying, as that was really part of a soft reboot of the character/origins that didn't work for me. I mean, her origin has always been a mess, and moreso since COIE, but another changeup was not the solution.

[saltjam]

My Tmnt Oc: June (aka, i wanna ramble)

So, i just realized, this is tumblr and nothing is stopping me from yelling into the void about my and how much i love her and how much i love the turtles.

Now in order to not make this post a super long wall post like the "do you like the color of the sky" post, will put the line thing to make this part small and bite sized. you can skip if you want and not read that is fine, this is mainly so i can ramble about her and all the lore i thought of her. i will be ordering this post in order of when the different series came out and i will be sticking with the main four

which are as follows: 1987, 2003, 2012, and rise

these are my main focus since i've seen each and i feel comfortable molding June to each. i haven't seen the new movie yet but i don't think she'd work, same goes for other versions like the 2014 movies and that one batman movie (i wanna watch it so fucking bad)

with that covered, the read more line

so before i start i would like to give some background on who/june is, for starters she is a robot and not an actual human. in the lore for '87, '03, and '12 she is created and referred to as the Juniper or Jupiter project (for '87) thus the name June, for Rise it's different as she is actually made as a child for a big Dragon milf and her lil nerd husband; still made in a lab but she's more organic made as she is they're baby.

another thing i would like to state is that June originally a self insert for my persona Jam (this also why the J names) but i liked her enough to make her, her own oc. as well originally she was going to be giving Mikey kisses across the bored but then i thought "well i love all of them, and there are four of em, and i'm making four versions of the oc. so no one is really gonna stope me" and this each june is with a different brother so they all can get some kisses

a constant for all June is that they are all some type of robot/cybernetic

now let's start diving into each June!

June (1987): The Big Sister

Full name: June Lynn

So June for 1987 i thought it would be cute if she was like another older sister for the turtle (Since April also takes an older sister role) so she is shipped with Leo as he is the oldest brother. seeing as i am rather young i haven't watched that much of the 1987 series but i have developed her a little bit

she would be very protective of not only leo but the others as well, when it comes to inspiration for how i would want her robot form to look, i thought a more Transformers like look would fit since they came out around the same time (i'm also just a huge fan of Transformers)

when it comes to how she met the turtles, i imagine she helped them from a few mousers.

the few images i have of her (1 drawing i did in style, a picrew i edited, the original picrew, and the link) (also two older drawings of when i first her, plus a bonus mikey of when she was with him)(oh, and some extra stuff with height charts. note i did these late at night so please don't mind the mistakes in spelling or forgetting to label things right) Also i kept messing up on the drawing so please have mercy qwq

Pbelt Witchsona｜Picrew

June (2003): The Material Girl

Full name: June Splinterdottir

Ah 2003, the year i popped out. obviously i hold this series is very close seeing as we grew up together. so when it comes to lore and development for June this version has the most meat on it's bone.

For 03 June, the turtles actually found her abandoned in an old decaying lab left there to rot and slowly die. that was until they saved her, she grew up with them seeing as she didn't have a home or family of her own. and slowly through the years she got closer to Donatello, seeing as he was the smartest of the family and she is a super charged weapon. until they ended up confessing and soon dating.

April and Casey help teach her about more humans things with Casey taking on an older brother like figure in her life and April acting as more of a teacher.

for her more robot form i though something more interesting would fit her, so her more robot form is/will be based on the xenomorphs from Alien (because i thought it would fit 2003's more gritter look)

for her drawings i actually have a good few, but she has changed through my development of her, there are a few drawings i wanna redraw and change to fit her current lore

the first few drawings are her in the lab, 1 with edits and 1 unedited, Mikey finding her (again pre-kissing donnie era), and her taking a nap while they drive her to the base, a drawing of her in the 2003 style (did my best), plus a picrew edited and unedited /w link, and some height charts.

Faelions Avatar Creator｜Picrew

June (2012): The Baby

Full Name: June Lyn

2012, the baby, the lil guys, and the one i've thought of most second to 2003. she is the youngest i think of all of the variations. now her lore is similar to 2003 except instead of being left to rot, she caused a black out in the lab she was held in and managed to escape making a fake identity for herself so now he's lived a bit in fear they'll find her and force her back.

This june in lore was made less as a weapon and more as a tool, she is power source that is greater then the sun. so she was used to power things in the lab, but she isn't defenseless as she can assimilate organic and non organic matter into her body (i.e: if she grabs a gun she can use it to make her arm a bigger gun)

when it comes to her robot form, i've decided (with the help of my friend) that i wanna use My life as a teenage robot for inspo, She also kisses mikey as i feel like he really needs someone who's on the same page as him. like they are so mean to him he is just a lil guy, he needs a hug hella bad

when it comes to art, i actually don't have too much i'm pleased with. since 2012 is 3D and i don't really wanna try my hand at 3d modelling, so trying to draw in style is not really an option so if i drew her i'll just do it in my own style. what i do have is a picrew of what i'd imagine she'd look like older and the height charts

Girl Maker｜Picrew

June (Rise): The Working Girl

Full Name: June Harper-Lyn

Rise, the series i did hella dirty and feel so bad for missing but i'm making up my crime.

now this June is a bit more unique as she actually has parents, her Father is a micro scientist and micro biologist, and her mom is a big yokai dragon (She's a kaiju, because godzilla is cool) So this June is half robot, half human and half yokai, she works with her parents in the diner they own called the "Dragon bite diner" with her mom being the main cook and her dad running as mechanic of the building. the diner itself is suppose to be an place for humans, yokais and mutant to feel safe and have a nice home cooked style meal, they cater to a variety of tastes and it's a conflicted free zone (It's helps when the owner is a huge dragon)

her robot form is more simple, as it's just a more dragon style robot, and of course she is with Raph. big man needs his kisses too, plus he just needs a break from being the eldest sibling and get cuddled up with.

sadly, i don't know what picrew i used to make her. and trust me i looked through 100 pages on picrew, so if anyone could find it that would be nice as i'm a little worried it may have been deleted. i also have a drawing of her in style plus some more simple cute doodles of her and Raph being sweet. she is the most non human looking of the bunch.

another thing just for my oc in general is that i wanted her to be like besties with another brother, since i didn't want her to be Soley around her bf. i want her to be like a legit character and not just 'girlfriend' if that makes sense.

so for 1987 who is with Leo i thought it would be cute if she was besties with Mikey, ya know oldest sibling getting along with youngest (rare i know, but still)

for 2003 she's friends with Leo, since i imagine she has a lot of stress with 1, being left abandoned, 2, knowing she was only made as a weapon and 3. her boyfriend is too busy being a nerd to cuddle. plus he's the eldest so she looks up to him

for 2012, i imagine she's friends with Raph. main reason so he would stop picking on Mikey so much, two because he would love being a bad influence on her and they'd be menaces together

and finally Rise, for her i've decided Donnie. one because he's the last and two because this June's dad is a super smart scientist and because this June is more open to the fact she's not human. so them talking tech and analytics sounds nice

but yeah, that's my oc. i love her and i love the tmnt so much, if anyone wants to know more about her feel free to ask because my brain is absolutely buzzing about tmnt and i don't wanna bother my friends about it

to those who took they're time actually reading my nonsense, thank you!!!

[sirfrogsworth]

As a possible distraction from the stress you've had lately, I wanted to talk movies! I heard my brother and his friend discussing this conspiracy theory they have about Marvel vs DC films. His friend believes that The Suicide Squad is doing poorly in terms of earnings, despite being made by the same guy who did Guardians of the Galaxy, with a comic book group that has a roster befitting his style, allowing him to pick from a number of characters to get his style on screen without issue. Neither of them have talked to anyone who saw the movie who didn't love it as much as GOTG and they have seen a ton of glowing reviews for the movie. So they believe that reviews are all biased toward Marvel's superhero movies because people will call them great even when they have some huge flaws. They feel like people are willing to overlook things like that in Marvel movies,but not DC and this HAS to be because Disney pays all the reviewers to give DC movies bad reviews. It sounds paranoid to me, but I was curious what your take was, as someone who likes movies and posts about them a fair bit. Do you think this theory holds any water? Do you think there's some kind of conspiracy to bury DC movies under bad reviews while creating a Pro-Marvel bias? To me it seems like a lack of confidence in DC movies. I feel like IF the numbers aren't looking great for The Suicide Squad, which looks great to me, it might be because people do not have faith in a Suicide Squad movie after the last one, but I hear nothing but glowing reviews from people I see online that saw it. Sorry for the lengthy ask, also.

Don't ever apologize to me for a lengthy ask because I will drown you in words because I haven't been succinct in my life. I have written 3 paragraph emails to my parents when all they asked is what I want from McDonald's. I'll give them my philosophy on who makes the best chicken nuggets and a thesis on why air frying french fries even when they are recently cooked makes them much more tasty.

NO MORE LIMP FRIES FOR MEEE, MICKEY D'S!

So... yeah... be verbose in my inbox if you like.

I'm about to unload a bunch of superhero movie opinions. If anyone isn't into that, please feel free to skip this one.

First, I kinda think the entire debate is moot because it is impossible to compare the financial success of The Suicide Squad due to the pandemic. The emergence of the Delta variant just kept people from going to the movies as much. Plus, it got a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, so Disney must have forgotten to send the checks out this time.

So, I guess I could end it there.

NAHHHHHH.

Here's a few thousand more words! (Sorry in advance.)

Beyond that, R-rated movies always have trouble at the box office. Guardians of the Galaxy was PG-13, just like the rest of the Marvel films, so there is a bevy of teenagers who don't have to buy tickets to Paw Patrol and sneak into The Suicide Squad.

There is also the fact that James Gunn purposely chose lesser known characters that even some comic book fans were unfamiliar with. So I think some folks wanted to see how the movie was perceived before they took a chance on it. It's harder to sell tickets without Batman or Superman in the mix. Not impossible, but that is almost free marketing with more well-known characters.

As far as Marvel movies having flaws... all good movies have flaws. Flaws do not necessarily make a movie bad unless they completely ruin the experience or immersion. I think people make way too big a deal of flaws and plotholes. Much more so than in the past.

The world has started nitpicking movies to death because of social media. Some folks feel compelled to have their hot takes ready to go as soon as the movie is over. Plus, tweets about the bad stuff are much more compelling and get more attention than tweets about the good stuff.

Not enough people digest content and let it sit in their brain for a day or two.

There is also the issue of people seeking out external group opinions and having their own feelings and opinions usurped. I thought it was so damn peculiar how everyone had *exactly* the same complaints about The Last Jedi.

Like, almost word for word.

I was so scared of spoilers that I avoided any discussions of TLJ, so I watched it knowing almost nothing beforehand. I was soooo excited that Leia finally got to use the force and be a badass saving herself from the vacuum of space.

But then all of reddit was like "HOW STUPID WAS MARY POPPINS?"

After that, I realized how powerful mob opinions could be so I made an effort to wait 2 days before reading anyone else's feedback of media just to make sure my opinions were not influenced. I honestly think some people changed their minds and hated TLJ because other people convinced them otherwise.

And then there is the tragic inability of some people to just turn off their brains and absorb content. Flaws are much more apparent if you spend every second of the movie looking for them.

One side is hyperanalyzing moment by moment to make sure there isn't anything too "woke" or "political."

And, if I'm being honest, my fellow progressive friends often hyperanalyze in the moment to make sure media isn't too problematic.

Movies are usually going to have both of those things. I know from personal experience it is challenging to create content and take every single variable into consideration. Some jokes I've had to apologize for. Others I've just had to accept that some people couldn't connect with them even when I feel my intentions were clear. It's not possible to please everyone all the time.

I always try to take what I learn and do better, but I understand that is a journey that does not end. So I think forward progress is what people should be seeking rather than a bar of perfection few could ever meet.

While I think the people scared of too much "wokeness" can fuck right off, I do wish everyone would let themselves escape their brains for a bit. We need distractions from the world. We need escapism.

I mean, unless the problematic-ness is off the chart and blatant or extremely triggering without warning, I think it's best to enjoy the movie as it is in the moment and do the critical analysis of what could be better *after* viewing. Or do it on a second viewing.

I want movies to be less problematic and more inclusive. And I don't want them to make people feel uncomfortable or insulted. But the thing Anita Sarkeesian always said that many ignored was...

"It's both possible, and even necessary, to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects."

I think if the original Star Wars trilogy came out today, people would be crapping on the Ewoks and how they defeated stormtroopers with exceptional log stratagems. Or how Luke made out with his sister. They would say that guy who was gay for the Rancor was social justice run amok. They would say Leia was too feminist and bossy. Han was too creepy. They would think the saber fight between Obi-Wan and Vader looked a bit... geriatric.

Star Wars was riddled with flaws, but people didn't care because it had lasers and spaceships and wizards and puppet wizards and it was fun as heck. No matter what age people were, that movie was seen through the eyes of a child.

Many people have forgotten how to turn off their brains and just enjoy a damn movie. I know some folks have valid reasons for that, but the rest of us need to learn how to reclaim that childhood ability or there may come a point where no content can satisfy our standards.

I love Marvel movies despite their flaws and I think a lot of others feel that way too. Not everyone—some have very valid reasons to dislike Marvel content. While I think they do make that forward progress I talked about... it is definitely *slow* progress. And I can understand if that is frustrating.

But for me, it's about the overall experience. I know when I watch a Marvel movie I'll get some laughs, some good action, a little bit of drama, and I'll have fun. They aren't trying to make masterpieces and, unlike many of the DC movies, they don't take themselves too seriously.

They are my comfort blanket movies.

They take me away from reality and distract me from the world for a bit. They are just serious enough for the drama to impact me and give me feels, but not so realistically serious that I end up in a deep depression for a week. They have made some of the best casting decisions of any franchise so that you fall in love with the characters and want to root for them. And they have been able to maintain a fairly consistent quality all while making the universe seem like an interconnected tapestry of stories. Marvel movies make me feel like I am part of something and that goes a long way to supersede most flaws. I mean, even in the lesser movies I still just enjoy spending time with these characters I have developed parasocial bonds with.

After the success of Nolan's Batman movies, DC decided to go all-in on the darkness. But Zack Snyder is not Christopher Nolan. And Superman isn't Batman. Disney did not have to pay reviewers to dislike DC movies. They just had to encourage Warner Bros. to stick with Zack Snyder's "vision." I know some people passionately enjoy his deal, but his appeal just isn't as broad as Marvel's.

All that said, I do think The Suicide Squad will have cult success in the long run. I think people will be watching and talking about this movie for years to come. It will have a legacy. (And hopefully a few sequels.) It's a different kind of success, but I think it is just as valid and possibly more special than straight-up financial success.

I'd also like to add... I really don't like the DC vs Marvel mentality.

Why does it need to be a competition?

I love superhero movies. Period.

I want *all* of them to be great.

Batman and Superman have been my favorite characters since I was a tadpole because when I came home from being bullied at school, the Batman and Superman cartoons were on the TV waiting for me. (Superman: TAS was underrated but you can watch it in 1080p on HBO MAX right now.)

So I really want to love any movies with those characters in them. I am rooting for these movies. I could give a shit about Marvel vs. DC.

I think the DC Animated movies are wonderful. Some of my favorite Batman material is from the animated stuff. Under the Red Hood was great. And The Dark Knight Returns voiced by RoboCop was a different kind of cool. They're not all winners *looks squarely at The Killing Joke* but I love how many creative risks they take with the animated stuff. I mean, they just did a Bruce Lee-style 70s Kung Fu movie with Batman. And I'm pretty sure he literally went to hell in that one.

I think because the financial stakes are lower, they aren't afraid to make a few turkeys in order to give the creators more freedom to create. And because things are animated, you can still create on a similar or greater scale than a live-action flick.

Whereas Marvel's attempt at animation has been a giant mixed bag. There was a series called The Spectacular Spider-Man that I thought was almost as good as Batman: TAS, but they cancelled it after 2 seasons. There was also a short movie called Hulk vs Wolverine that was fantastic and deserved a series, but nothing more ever happened with it.

So Marvel isn't always winning this imaginary, needless competition.

But much of the recent DC live action movies up until now have kind of broken my heart. I think they all had potential but many of them just had too much gritty, grimdark Zack Snyder juice on them.

He needs a good writer. (Perhaps one that thinks Ayn Rand is a hack.) I think if someone else took control of the narrative stuff, he'd be seen as a less divisive figure and a better director.

Man of Steel had some of the best superhero action I've ever seen. I think it is the first live action movie to do fighting while flying in an exciting way. Even Marvel has struggled with that.

But the story was just... weird.

Superman is supposed to be optimistic.

He wears hope on his chest but doesn't seem to have any in his character?

Henry Cavill is such a fun, affable, ripped-as-fuck nerd and they just had him be sad all the time. That seems like such a waste.

I literally yelled at my screen when a tornado ate Pa Kent for no good reason. I mean, one little adjustment and that could have been a powerful scene. What if Pa Kent was in a situation that Clark was unable to save him from? (Like the heart attack in 1978 Superman.) What if Clark learned that even with all his power, he still can't save everyone?

Or what if Pa told Clark to save strangers *instead* of him?

That scene was more than a flaw. More than a nitpick. And an example of why DC movies have struggled more than Marvel movies.

Disney need not pay anything to get reviewers to criticize "MARTHAAAAA!"

And then Lex Luthor went and Jar Jar'd all over the sequels.

I believe DC has earned their mixed bag reputation in live action. Wonder Woman was great (reviewers thought so too), but then they stumbled on the sequel. Shazam was decent (reviewers thought so too), but it didn't feel connected to anything else, so I don't think it helped the expanded universe. I really liked The Suicide Squad but, like Shazam, I don't know if it can lift the universe up on its own.

Perhaps if DC is committed to darker, grittier content, they should go all-in with the R-rated movies. An R-rated Batman would be great.

Quit half-assing the darkness.

So, no... I don't think there is any conspiracy. Marvel is self aware. I think people underestimate the power of self awareness. They don't try to go beyond what they promise. They don't try to win Oscars. They don't try to reinvent the superhero wheel. They just do what they do as best as they can do it. And I have found the Rotten Tomatoes scores in line with how much I enjoyed the Marvel movies.

They don't always get perfect Rotten Tomatoes scores either. My least favorite (but still enjoyable) movie was Thor: The Dark World. It got a 66%. Maybe a little high, but it has Darcy in it so I always add 10% for Kat Dennings calling the hammer Mew-Mew.

And Iron Man 2 got a 72%. Again, maybe it was a little inflated even if I still enjoyed it. I think it probably deserved a low 60%. The first Iron Man set a very high bar.

And on the flip side, I find the critics' reviews in line with how much I enjoyed Zack Snyder's efforts as well. I gave him credit for the Snyder Cut. I happily concede it was a much better movie than I expected. I was sure it would suck when people first started talking about the secret vault with the *true* version. It got a fresh rating of 71%. Which I think is very good considering it was a mulligan and people had seen a lot of the footage already and it was like 48304389 hours long.

But Zack really really thinks he's a genius and ends up making a lot of cringe because of it. He does not have the all-important self awareness that Marvel does. I'm positive he thought MARTHAAAA!!! was so goddamn clever and impactful. He was patting himself on the back for weeks after thinking of that idea—probably pestering his close friends like, "Did you ever notice Batman and Superman both have mothers with the same name? Eh? EHHH? I AM SO SMART TO HAVE NOTICED THIS COINCIDENCE!"

If I were Warner Bros, I would pay whatever it takes and hire James Gunn to be their Kevin Feige. James has said GotG 3 will be his last Marvel film. Let him make a weird, funny, R-rated DC universe.

I better stop here. I can talk about superhero movies forever.

Hopefully I have debunked this conspiracy theory enough.

And hopefully I also lobbed some interesting opinions for people to digest and disagree with completely.

All opinions are my own and it is totally cool if you have different ones.

[anondudeao3]

Fic Recs!

Since I'm on hiatus, I've finally had time to do some reading, and I thought I'd give some fic recommendations, since I won't be posting for quite a while. These are my absolute favourites!

(I'm splitting this into two posts — one for JayDick and one for JayTim — because now that I'm finished with the first half it's quite long)

JayDick

A Love Triangle With The Same Person

By: Chrystie, kate882

Word Count: 10,031

Summary: Dick might have a bit of a thing for Jason, one of Red Hood's criminal underlings. But he's also already a little in love with Red Hood.

→ Identity porn! Who doesn't love identity porn? Very cute and sweet.

Everything I Know

By: epistemology

Word Count: 12,360

Summary: Red Hood is a little bit in love with his partner, Nightwing, who has a huge crush on Jason Todd, the hot bookstore owner, who is actually the Red Hood, who is too busy being in love to notice Dick Grayson, who's actually Nightwing.

Jason and Dick fall in love with the wrong versions of each other, and things become complicated fast.

→ More identity porn, but this one is a lot more sort of missed connections, plus it has bookshop owner Jay who was never taken in by Bruce! It really has you begging SOMETHING to happen to somehow make them see that THEY ARE EACH OTHER, THEY ARE THE ONES THEY LIKE. AHHHH IT'S THE SAME PERSON. And when it finally does happen, it's so sweet and satisfying. (I recommend checking out their other fics too! Lots of sweetness.)

Lie To Me, Darling

By: Chrystie, kate882

Word Count: 19,214

Summary: Officer Dick Grayson is undercover in the infamous Red Hood's gang trying to track down the man behind the helmet. With his former partner killed for being found out, there's a new guy in the gang to take his place. Jason doesn't seem like the average new gang recruit, and Dick may be getting more than he bargained for trying to get close to him.

→ Okay, ngl I JUST now noticed that this one is by the same people as the first one, and I specifically didn't want to put multiple fics by the same people (just say I recommend checking out their other stuff, but not rec separately), but it's too late now and I don't have a 7th JayDick fic to recc that isn't also an author repeat, and I don't want it to be uneven.

But ANYWAY. This one will fuck you up, I can't lie. Unhappy ending, but if you can brave that, ohhh it's so good. It's so damn sweet whilst the good times last, even though you know it's only temporary and it's all going to go to hell at some point... man. It hurts. But it hurts so good. It's beautiful, and I personally think it's worth the pain.

Two Birds on a Wire

By: empires, pentapus

Word Count: 20,565

Summary: Dick asks Jason for help on a case. Jason should have never agreed.

→ It's probably laughable that I'm reccing this, since pentapus is one of the authors and their art is like huge in the JayDick fandom, and the fic has more than 22.5k views, which seems to be quite a lot as far as JayDick fics go. But in the event that you haven't read it yet... This is actually the very first JayDick fic I EVER read, it introduced me to the ship, and I just reread it and it's still just as amazing, what a winner to start out with!

The dynamic between Jay and Dick, the way Dick gets so into his undercover role, Jay's emotional turmoil, the action — it's all just absolute chef's kiss! It's so hard to write action well, and these two made this fic so engaging!

All Soulmates Final, No Refunds

By: empires, salvadore

Word Count: 38,900

Summary: Mystic Waters Grande Hotel sells itself as a luxury soulmate retreat with all manner of couple’s activities. The cost is high, and all is not as it appears on the hotel’s grounds. Dick and Jason go undercover as newlywed soulmates to find out what’s behind the rash of missing persons. And dig up old feelings in the process.

→ (Since empires was collaborating with two different people of the different fics, I don't count that as a repeat).

Well firstly, this is a rare Batman!Dick JayDick! And secondly, yes, one of the ubiquitous soulmate AUs. But with some very interesting twists! Also, like TBOAW above, the action in this is amazing, and absolutely had me on the edge of my seat. Similarly, their undercover personas were lots of fun, and it was very fun to see them push each other further and further with them.

Secrets of the Sea

By: ParzivalHallows

Word Count: 42,711

Summary: Being a merperson was dangerous enough, but being a merperson captured by pirates? That's got to be one of the worst fates for a merman. Merman Dick Grayson is captured by a slave ship, where he meets Jason Todd, who's a slave on that ship. Together, the two plan an escape. However, they need to put aside their odds first, which is very difficult for the two stubborn men.

→ I have to give you fair warning first, this one is incomplete and hasn't been updated since 2017, so I don't think it's ever going to be finished (but it can't hurt to leave a nice comment!) BUT WAIT, DON'T SCROLL YET, hear me out. It's really good, okay. You do need to mind the warning tags because there is major character death (not Jay or Dick though, and since it's not complete I'm kind of choosing to believe that they're not really dead and later in the story it actually turns out that they managed to survive).

There are a lot of grim things in this story, it's really about survival, but the worldbuilding is fucking phenomenal, and the author drew me right in. The descriptions and the action and emotion, the unexpected magic that they have to figure out? It's all so cool and well done.

Steady On Forward

By: JayseHasNoGrace

Word Count: 96,287

Summary: Dick Grayson's life has never been easy, but he'd like to think it's been going better lately. He's been operating mainly out of Gotham again for almost a year, and has been in a steady relationship for just over. He knows where he stands with crime-fighting, and the family is all on pretty good terms, considering.

Things are really going pretty well.

Unfortunately, the balance doesn't last long, and old horrors from Dick's past end up dredged up alongside new ones.

This is a story about love and family, but equally so about trauma and healing from it. Please heed the warnings in the preface.

→ Alright, the final JayDick rec, the longest, and the darkest. But wait, again, don't scroll! It's also by far the most hopeful AND FLUFFY. Now, the author is NOT fucking around about heeding those warnings, there's a shitload of them and it's really heavy, hard shit. Do not get me wrong, this fic is going to HURT you. But by the end, it's going to have felt so cathartic, and you're going so feel soft and hopeful and whole. I don't know how they did it, but it's SUCH an emotional rollercoaster. Another commenter on AO3 (mach5plus1) said it better than I could:

I gave this fic my whole heart, it took it, smiled and said “awwww, I’ll take care of it!“

Then started putting pressure on it and I told it “ouch, that hurts”

The fic kept smiling and put more pressure until a piece broke off (last chapter)

and then another (this chapter)

The fic keeps doing it until my heart is shattered into pieces and it’s standing over each shard with a frown saying “oops” (the upcoming chapters)

Then, after finding each piece again and picking them up, the fic will slowly push each piece back into place.

By the end it’ll give my heart back a little different, but somehow better than it was when I gave it away.

It will crush your heart, but it will lovingly patch it back together by the end, I promise. If you can read it without getting triggered, I thought everything was well handled, and it's so worth it. (I recommend checking out their other JayDick fic too, they only have one, but it's a fluffy romcom, so if you need a break after this one, that's there!)