#I'm probably wrong about this-

[alish-artie]

Side order octoling~

I don’t think it’s agent 8, which is why I took her colors from one of the pictures and not from my agent 8 ! (Plus the fact that when asked if the octoling was agent 8, they didn’t give a precise answer-)

[egophiliac]

still ruminating over Lost In the Book With Spooky Skeletons Part 1, so here's a selection of some of my favorite little bits! (...some more loosely paraphrased than others) (I just feel like Idia has no room to criticize in general, okay)

anyway, I'm sure we're just going to have a fun time celebrating Halloween and nothing bad is going to happen whatsoever! :)

[crime-scene-psychic]

It's always funny to me that Jason, Tim, and Damian all have personal beef with Ra's al Ghul and meanwhile, Dick is kinda just like

[yallstar]

The sound in the room roared even louder, but Viktor's spotted vision was filled only by the broad expanse of Jayce's back. He was faced away, though his arm remained extended backward — an unintentional invitation that had Viktor's fingers twitching around the handle of his cane.

a little awestruck viktor from chapter 5 of differential burdens

[friedricebunny]

i'm really so curious how deeply tbhx is gonna go with its whole premise of "heroes are made and gain powers based on trust" because i really wasn't anticipating that

1) moon/xiao yueqing has teleportation-based powers but because everyone wants her and nice to stick together, her teleportation leads back to nice which was INSANE to me

and

2) lin ling is becoming increasingly more worried about being clean and perfect which is a side effect of nice's image of perfection which is indicating that this whole trust system can have mental effects??? and that's horrifying to me???

we are 2 episodes in, how deep is this gonna go

[hopeinthebox]

bts + reductress headlines pt.14

[snow-calypso]

New TADC Theory: Caine's Losing Control

Warning: Contains spoilers for The Amazing Digital Circus episodes 3 and 4.

Just watched episode 4 of The Amazing Digital Circus, and going in, I honestly expected this episode to end with Gangle's abstraction, to the point that I was honestly surprised that it didn't. It honestly seemed like the whole episode was building up to this, what with her going in with hopes of finally enjoying an adventure, then gradually being whittled down both by the stressful job and the other characters demeaning her. The fact that she only seemed to get actual satisfaction from tormenting Jax like he did to her only seemed to solidify this fact. After the isekai fakeout, I was legitimately scared that she would receive the punishment she suggested for Jax, and that would be what pushed her over the edge.

But it wasn't. Caine gave her the same grade as everyone else (except Kinger) and let her go.

Then he starts glitching out.

It wasn't until I was talking to a friend about this that I had the realization.

Gangle isn't going to abstract.

Caine is.

We've seen already in his therapy session with Zooble just how fragile his mental state can be. He begins to question his existence and the environment around the circus immediately starts to glitch out. This happens just from him having to reckon with the fact that he might not be that good at making adventures.

And what happens at the beginning of this episode?

They reject the first adventure he brings up.

As soon as Gangle leaves the room, he begins to glitch unprompted. This has only ever happened to him before during his therapy session with Zooble when he began to question his purpose.

Something is eating away at his mental state, and none of the characters know.

Granted, it isn't yet clear whether or not NPCs can abstract. But what we do know about abstraction is that it happens when someone in the Digital Circus completely loses their sense of self. Personally, I'd say that Caine is close enough to sentient for this to be a legitimate risk, and his entire identity is centered around making adventures for the characters. Adventures that they hate and are gradually starting to push back against.

What truly solidified this for me was the fact that every single other character has something keeping themselves from abstracting.

Everyone else has each other.

This has already been shown with both Pomni and Gangle. After Gummigoo's death, Ragatha stepped in to comfort Pomi and invite her to Kaufmo's funeral. After Pomni was possessed, Kinger helped calm her down and offered a solution. When Gangle was cracking under the pressure of being a manager and thought nobody liked her, Pomni offered to close so she could leave, and Zooble reassured her that they'd still be there for her.

Caine has nobody.

None of the characters in the Digital Circus even like Caine enough to check in on him like they do with each other. Given how much they've gotten used to his zaniness, they might not even know something's wrong with him until he starts growing extra eyes.

I predict that at the end of the series, Caine will fully abstract, turning the Circus into a glitching hellscape, and the characters will be faced with a choice: Leave and condemn the AI to self-destruction, or find some way to calm down their tormentor.

But hey, that's just a theory!

Do you guys have any thoughts on this? I'd love to hear them!

[liedownquisition]

Every time someone, whether in-universe or in meta tries to say that Jason's a "loner" I think about two things:

First of all, the fact that Bruce is frequently referred to as a loner, both in universe and out, as if he doesn't literally constantly have his emotional support child and a rotating cast of lovers (sometimes multiple in any given story at once). In this instance, it's used to try and make Bruce seem "cool," which whatever ig.

Batman #359, which, is so fucking funny to me because this is before Batgirl and Talia showed up in this story. Catwoman too. It was a real fucking ensemble. He's berating himself for snapping at Dick, and sending some civilians (The Todds btw) to die, against Dick's advice, because he's being bitchy about Catwoman. Like, my man, you have a mental breakdown every time you're truly alone. You're not a loner but maybe you should be.

Secondly, is Jason a loner or is he just always alone and isolated? Is he a loner or does he just not know how to be any other way? Jason consistently through both pre- and post-crisis express a lot of desire to be around other people/build connections, as well as referencing factors that isolate him from them. (I'm not sourcing every incident here but here's Jay trying to bond with Bruce right after he gets taken in, and some stuff wrt Jason at school)

Detective #527 (Pre-Crisis)

Batman#395 (Pre-Crisis. This is him being jealous of Catwoman, sure, but given how often in this arc it's referenced that he's isolated from the other kids in school- despite being on some kind of presumably sports team. I think it's baseball? I'm trying to find the exact issue that it actually SHOWS him on said team but it is referenced in the issues leading up to when they switch over the histories.)

Batman Annual #12 (This is Post-Crisis)

In Brothers in Blood Jason's trying to reach out to Dick. I'm not saying he did it the right way or that Dick was wrong for rejecting that, but he did literally expressly say that he was trying to reach out to him. in his brief period that he worked with the Titans, it's explicitly stated that he'd had to sneak out from under Batman's nose to join up with them. Jason has a sparse few interactions with mostly adult heroes in Pre-Crisis and the only hero his age he gets to meet is Kid Devil/Eddie Bloomberg and that's nebulously canon or not since Pre/Post-Crisis was a soft, slowly rolled out reboot where they changed a lot of things in retrospect but also implicitly kept others. (N52 was also like this but I get the impression Crisis was marginally more organized.)

UtH was Jason reaching out to Bruce for connection. Again, not really the right way to go about it but he pretty obviously/expressly wanted affirmation that his relationship with Bruce DID matter to someone other than himself because he felt it had been stripped from him and false.

Someone who keeps reaching out to other people, but gets rejected because they did it wrong, is not a loner.

When those attempts fail and he reaches out less and less, that's not loner behavior, that's lonely behavior, maybe even a dash of self-loathing. When he starts sabotaging his relationships further he thinks they're already fucked, that's not loner behavior, that's bad coping mechanisms for childhood trauma. I don't care that they state it exactly that he's some kind of "loner," his actions don't agree with that statement.

Is his status something of a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point? Yeah. I keep seeing people refer to him this way and, jesus. y'all wanna ostracize him so badly sometimes. You don't want him here you don't want him there. You use the "loner" rhetoric to enforce the idea that his isolation is a good thing that he wants. They use it IN UNIVERSE from the mouths of characters who have biased views about him.

If he's such a loner why does he keep going back? Why does he answer every call? Like a beaten, but unfortunately faithful dog that can't help but return to their abusive master.

[thefreakandthehair]

first line.

rating: teen & up | wc: 1.8k | tags: alternate universe- hockey, pov eddie munson, hockey player!eddie munson, hockey player!steve harrington, linemates to friends to lovers, idoit4idiot, slight pining, getting together | written for week one of @steddiesportsau

All Eddie’s ever wanted is to play hockey. 

Sports have never really been his thing, not in the general sense that they seem to be for most athletes, but hockey? 

Yeah, hockey’s definitely his thing. 

Maybe it’s the sense of belonging, maybe it’s the fighting, maybe it’s just the fun of strapping blades to his feet and zipping around the ice like he’s still ten years old again with Wayne telling him to slow the fuck down. 

Or, maybe it’s the chemistry that he’s never seen anywhere else, specifically his chemistry with Steve Harrington. 

Okay, that can’t be the reason he’s always wanted to play hockey because he only meets Steve during their time together on the Saginaw Spirit, but it certainly doesn’t help sway him to other avenues. He doesn't expect for them to hit it off the way they do— Steve is a certified Sports Guy, a multi-sport athlete who had his pick of the pros and chose hockey over both baseball and basketball— but then Steve cracks the glass off of Eddie’s pass at their first practice together and breaks the ice, so to speak. 

There’s a running joke that the OHL is a little bit of a cult and Eddie can’t deny that claim,  so when he and Steve end up attached at the hip, no one questions them for a full two seasons. 

Two seasons of carpools to the rink, alternating playlists, and memorizing each others’ coffee orders. Two seasons of being seatmates on the plane, of weird little rituals, of pregame naps with Eddie as the little spoon that Eddie maybe enjoys a bit too much. Two seasons of being roommates in just about every hotel across the OHL, of being actual roommates who celebrate every win and suffer every loss together just hoping for their chance. 

It all comes to a screeching halt when Steve’s selected second overall in a loaded draft class, and the only surprise as far as Eddie's concerned is that Steve doesn't go first overall.

↳ read the rest of first line. here on ao3!

[baddybaddyadardaddy]

Okay, I'm going to make a wild prediction about Adar and Galadriel in Episode 8, so strap in.

An overarching the/major motif of the Rings of Power from the very first episode has been, obviously, the interplay between darkness/light.

"To find the light, we must first touch the darkness." / "Before light, darkness must flee, etc."

Adar and Galadriel together are a manifestation of that duality between light and dark and accordingly, I think there's a compelling case for them to team up against Sauron at the end of Season 2.

Here's my attempt at this argument:

PARALLELS BETWEEN ADAR AND GALADRIEL

The show has established a few strong visual parallels between the two of them.

Mourning ritual. Galadriel mourning for Finrod in S1Ep1 is echoed by Adar's mourning of the Uruks in S2Ep7. They even mirror the single tear.

What's more, Galadriel bears WITNESS to Adar's funeral ritual, enforcing the connection of this moment.

Seed planting. Frankly, my jaw hit the floor when S2Ep2 had Galadriel planting seeds in the memorial garden in Lindon, because the shots/framing were almost IDENTICAL to the seed planting Adar does at the beginning of S1Ep6. The sentiments of both instances are the same "life over death," though the words do differ.

Flip sides of the same coin/mirror to one another. The show has also presented us with many instances where they function as mirrors to one another. If not signficant, why do?

Barn scene. The barn scene in S1Ep6 is a PRIME example, when Adar literally calls Galadriel out for the hypocrisy of her hatred of the orcs.

The dinner scene. Adar once again holds up a mirror to Galadriel, pushing back against her notion that "you yielded to him. I resisted." Then they have the shared acknowledgement that without Sauron, the world seems a "dull grey" (GREY, interestingly, a halfway point between dark and light). Adar's face in response to her admission will live rent-free in my mind forever-- it's like he's been SEEN for the first time in his life.

So while Galadriel sees herself as a warrior of light, and views Adar as a creature of darkness, the show does a pretty superb job of showing that both of these characters have light and dark within them in equal measure.

They were both tempted by Sauron and succumbed.

So there is a clear, thematic link between these two from that standpoint.

ADAR'S JOURNEY TOWARD THE LIGHT

Next, I think it is clear Adar on a path toward light/redemption as an elf, and it tracks in a VERY LITERAL SENSE.

First time we see Adar, he is bathed in an angelic light. As he performs the funeral ritual for Magrot, light streams into the Uruk tent.

The shot at the end of S2 Ep1, when the camera lingers on Adar as Gil-Galad's call to the Eldalie commences. Adar feels the undeniable call to his elven past. That camera shot was NOT A COINCIDENCE, and I'm FOREVER FERAL ABOUT IT.

Cavalry charge at the siege of Eregion. Adar is OBVIOUSLY backlit:

There is a dividing line between light and shadow an Adar is RIGHT on the border of it.

When he steps up to take possession of Nenya, the sky behind him is split between a darker side and a lighter side. (You can argue that it's a CREEPY light, but it's still light. There is almost no all-black coloring on him in that second frame when he actually has the ring. For a character that's been head to toe in black the entire series, this is Significant.)

So where does that leave us for the big Sauron smackdown?

My first wild prediction: In an INSANE reversal, Galadriel will be the one to bring Morgoth's dark crown to the confrontation, while Adar will wield Nenya, a symbol of light.

It's not inconceivable that Gal could have smuggled it out of Adar's camp somehow under her oversized Uruk cloak. And Adar, OBVIOUSLY now possesses Nenya at the end of S2Ep7.

I think the fight between Galadriel and Sauron is ACTUALLY a three-person fight; we just haven't seen Adar in the promos because

1. Obvious plot spoilers and

2. HE WILL BE FIGHTING IN A FAIR FORM BECAUSE NENYA WILL HEAL HIS CORRUPTION.

My second wild prediction: This three-person fight is telegraphed in The Last Temptation. There's a new motif (not musical, so unclear if this is the correct term??) that starts around 1:07. It sounds like an aggressive children's choir. Interspersed, we get some of Gal's themes and Sauron-flavored music. I think this new bit could be either a combined theme for Gal/Adar fighting side by side, OR a new motif for a changed/elven Adar. It's aggressive, which to me tracks with Adar's fighting style that we saw through S2Ep7, and it builds and gets more voices added to it as the song progresses. At one point, it blends perfectly with Gal's theme.

Third wild prediction that I hope I'm wrong about: Adar will likely get fatally stabbed during this fight. I could see him giving Galadriel the ring at a crucial moment, in as a redemptive act, which would forfeit any protection it might have offered him, and I think he'll receive a fatal blow from Sauron, but not before we get a much clearer picture of EXACTLY who Adar is. IF they do it this way, it will be a deeply satisying end to Adar's story arc, IMHO.

Last thoroughly unhinged thing I will leave you with:

Nolwa Mahtar translation (from S1), according to Bear's blog:

Finish the war, the darkness, end this suffering

Impossible to pursue, deep in shadow, follow light

Finish the war, the darkness, end this suffering

Bright warrior against darkness.

Obviously this theme plays a HUGE role in S2. I believe the lyrics are different; we don't know what they say yet.

But I have contended all along that this piece has always applied in some way to BOTH Adar and Galadriel.

Galadriel is the bright warrior standing against Sauron's darkness, yes, that image is obvious.

But Adar, a figure who lived deep in shadow, follows light, ultimately finishing his own war and ending his own suffering.

[artemismoorea03]

DPxDC Prompt: I Got You Brother

Danny has been in Gotham for a while after things went south with his parents. But that's what happens when one's parents are convinced by the G.I.W. that Phantom killed "Real Danny" and took his place as a way to fill his sick obsession of "being alive" which - they couldn't be further from the truth - but his parents were so convinced by the evidence that they refused to listen. Vlad expected Danny to go with him and when Danny refused it made part of him snap.

Danny fled from his parents, the GIW and Vlad in the dead of the night. No family, no friends, nobody knew where he was and that was how he liked it.

He lived at the cave with the bats but refused their offer to come upstairs. He knew who they were and that they were safe but he also knew that if he took one step onto that elevator they would be his family. They would be his family and he couldn't risk losing another family.

He thought that living in the cave would prevent any of them from getting attached. So quickly his schedule turned into a cycle of patrols. Start patrols, stop in for lunch, patrol until dinner, patrol until breakfast, patrol again until lunch. Repeat day in and day out.

He told the team he didn't need to sleep and told them that he was fully a 'Ghost' from another dimension. As many details as he could keep from them the better.

Or so he thought.

Until after nearly a week of these endless patrol things changed. A fight with a particularly powerful ghost had wiped him out and while he managed to stay on his feet when he tried to continue patrol his vision blurred and his transformation dropped.

And so did Danny.

Danny wasn't even aware somebody was tailing him until a thick rope wrapped around his wrist and stopped his fall. Danny swung, hitting the side of a building with a tired grunt as he looked up.

Orphan.

"New brother! Got you!" Orphan called down to him as Danny tried to get his powers to respond, desperate to do anything to protect Orphan who was sliding closer to the edge.

Spoiler showed up within seconds, grabbing Orphan's ankles just as Orphan went over the edge and Red Robin grabbed Spoiler around her ankles. Frantic shouting echoed as Nightwing grabbed Red Robin around his ribs, the weight threatening to pull them all over before Red Hood grabbed Nightwing.

Danny reached up, trying to grab the rope when another wrapped around his free wrist from next to them. Batman was there and by his side was Robin, also there to help Danny and the others up.

He hadn't wanted a family.

He had run from who he was and the ones he loved.

But he found more people to love him.

It wasn't until Signal showed up - having been alerted to the situation and called to the scene - that Danny let the tears drip down his face.

He was home.

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

not enough discussion about the gavins' complicated relationship with feminine-coded/beauty products, i don't think.

[joyfulhottubfuntik]

While I don't mind it when Caryn is portrayed as a very affectionate and caring mother or when Shermie (if he's older) is portrayed as present in the twins' lives and trying to help them, I don't really like either of these interpretations.

Cause to me a huge part of the Stan twins' conflict, the thing that separates them a lot from Dipper and Mabel, is that they only had each other. It was just them against the world, defending each other and leaning on each other.

Like, not only were they not raised to be two separate people, they didn't even have an opportunity to escape that. And a part of why their fall out hurt both of the brothers so terribly is that it left them both completely alone, stripped of the only support system they had known

[shamera]

chapter 190s slight spoilers

The fandom being mad at Braun the last several chapters has been the highlight of my week so far. Every reaction of 'throw him in the trash' or 'he's sleeping on the couch' is so funny to me.

Am I mad over what he did in the chapter 190s? Oh gods, yeah. And Soleum is very rightfully mad!

But did I expect any better from him?

Honestly, not at all. I think this was a missed chance for him to shine in the eyes of the readers, but like. I expected this behaviour, lol. In fact, we could possibly see in later chapters that Braun wasn't actually being malicious in the least!

Spoilers below--

Braun did say that he wasn't going to be Good Friend anymore when they parted after the Midnight Talk Show, but they did agree to still be friends.

Braun is also not human and therefore should not be judged by human standards, especially human standards of friendship. This is, of course, unfair to Soleum who is human and therefore it makes sense that he expects Braun to be at least a little bit like what humans would consider a friend.

We know that while Braun is still somewhat constrained by the ritual of the Good Friend summoning, that restraint is very, very weak. He's just humouring it. Lee Jaheon has warned Soleum-- Braun could break out of those restraints at any time, easily. He just chooses not to, which when you think about it, is quite the thing!!

He chooses to stay with Soleum. He chooses the stuffy and difficult to move little bunny plush in order to watch over his friend.

But that doesn't mean he's obligated to help Soleum. In fact, the moment when Soleum needed help-- when faced with Choi and when he was being sucked into the Glass Prison, Soleum's life wasn't what was in danger.

His freedom was. His future (on his current path) was. The people around Soleum was in danger.

But Soleum himself, his life, was never in any real danger.

And therefore Braun chose not to help. It's not to see his friend suffer, per se, but Braun does want to see what Soleum would do. That's what interested him about Soleum in the first place! That out of the box thinking, that way of worming his way out of situations!

I think that Braun would have intervened had Soleum's life truly been in danger, even if he might claim that if Soleum couldn't get himself out of such a simple thing, then maybe he wasn't entertaining enough for Braun's attention-- but we all know from that moment at the end of the Midnight Show arc that Braun, should Soleum really be in danger, really would be distraught if Soleum were to die forever.

Then there's the part where I do think Braun is a little bit irritated with Soleum-- Braun has been considerate enough to watch over Soleum even while they were apart, offer help when Soleum was faced with the taxi ghost and offer advice during the amusement park crisis, yet Soleum still went and did his own thing instead. And when Braun was irritated with Lee Jaheon, Soleum also did not take his side.

Was Braun a bad friend for just watching the situation around Soleum devolve into something terrible? Oh, yeah, definitely.

But there could be various reasons for that. In a more human aspect, you could say that maybe their friendship felt a little unfair-- Braun gave up quite a lot of freedom to (willingly) stay with Soleum, and he seems isolated from everyone else while he's nothing more than a stuffed bunny while Soleum gets to interact with everyone else and then seems embarrassed by Braun's very presence. Sure, Soleum provides entertainment and Braun provides help, but... despite everything, it does seem a little one sided for a grand being who thrives under the spotlight to limit himself to such a small role.

Or you can take a grander approach. Braun Does Not Like where Soleum is at in his life right now. He feels that Soleum is settling for a terrible place when he deserves better, and he's going to push Soleum out of this hell hole even if it means Soleum is not happy with him for the moment.

Think about it-- Soleum is staying a atrocious motel, his workplace seems rather shabby, and Braun doesn't even approve of his teammates (at least Daydream was entertaining with all the workplace drama and employees willing to backstab each other in a moment). Maybe he could see that Soleum was getting attached, and with the spy issue, things would only get worse if he let it brew. The Bureau's not going to like Soleum any better than they do now, but Soleum might hurt worse if he grows more attached. Best to rip the band-aid off, so to speak. Get the worst out of the way.

But do I think that Soleum is justified in his cold shoulder to Braun now? Oh, yeah.

But I also think that Braun isn't just planning for the moment where everything fell apart. He's planning a bit longer than that. And if worst comes to worst, well, Soleum could always join Braun again! It may seem like his inactions are closing a door on a part of Soleum's life, but Braun is always here to remind Soleum that he is providing another option in case all else fails.

...Even if it seems like Soleum never listens to him.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

you are so whimsical i qant to check out this mdzs (..??) because of your whimsical nature thank you sorry im very high and your art moved me emotionally

This is simultaneously the sweetest and funniest thing someone has sent me, thank you.

[arttsuka]

Based on somewhat real events

I spent way too much time drawing this...

But yeah, Ford finally saying thank you

A continuation (kinda)