#JOKER REALLY WANTS TO MAKE AMENDS

[bl-bam-beyond]

JACK & JOKER: U STEAL MY HEART (2024, THAILAND)

Episode 4

Joker (WANARAT RATSAMEERAT aka WAR) enters the heart of Jack's Grandmother (SUPORN SANGKAPHIBAL aka NUI) when he happens to help her stop two scammers with a counterfeit bill.

Grandma shows that she's not to be messed with by taking down the male crook, while Joke deals with his female counterpart.

@pose4photoml @just-another-boyslove-blog

[gothamite-rambler]

Nightwing finally got his hit back

Taking place during the Jason Todd redemption arc, Nightwing and Jason Todd (going by Red Hood) have made semi-amends and Nightwing wants his Batman (their adopted father) to talk and make amends as well, but he can only take that man's stubbornness for so long.

Nightwing along with Donna Troy enters the Justice League headquarters, spotting Batman talking to Wonder Woman.

Nightwing: Hey Batman, can you put your ego aside and talk to Jason?

Wonder Woman (perking up): Oh, the small warrior is alive! Fantastic!

Batman glared at Wonder Woman, but she rolled her eyes and put her hand up.

Batman (to Nightwing): About what? Is he apologizing to me?

Nightwing: You know that is not what needs to be done.

Batman: I'm not discussing this then.

Batman walked off. Nightwing clenched his fist, following behind Batman to call him out on how he's been acting.

Nightwing: You can disagree with his whole killing bad people rule, you have a right to not want to kill the Joker, that's your opinion, but you threw a Batarang at him and it pierced his neck!

Wonder Woman woman and Donna Troy have been following the two, both gasp in shock.

Donna: You left that part out!

WW: Batman, that's wrong with you!

Batman faced away from the group, but he stopped walking. He tried to keep his anger buried, but this was too much stress.

Batman: He was supposed to DODGE!

Nightwing (shouting): HE IS NOT MIND READER!

Batman: I'm not apologizing I said what I said to him and I will not take that back!

Nightwing (gritted teeth): I'm not telling you to! You already showed you'd rather let the Joker walk, over avenging him and while Jason is rightfully mad at that, I have always agreed with your no-kill rule, but you have to see how you're acting is making things worse. TALK TO HIM!

Batman stayed silent for a second then turned to Nightwing.

Batman: Or Jason doesn't want to own up to the fact that I am right and he is a killer. Now, I might forgive him when he admits he was wrong.

Wonder Woman clenched her fist aggravated.

Wonder Woman (scolding the man): Really thought you'd say the right thing.

Batman: What do you want me to do lie to him? Tell him he was right? I'm not doing that, I'm not going against my principles to appease his petty revenge.

Nightwing (gritted teeth): Maybe don't tell him you regret... adopting him!

Donna (to Wonder Woman): He said that but the context kind of makes what he said less awful.

Batman: See she gets it!

Donna: Oh my Goddess I don't!

Batman: The context is that I didn't want to adopt him because of what he has become! The former Robin is a malicious murderer!

Nightwing (shaking with rage): Who is coming around to not being that, no thanks to you ... ASS!

Batman: Take that back!

Nightwing: Sure, you're not an ass. You are being a shitty person! You can't just talk to him for five minutes?!

Batman: No! Because I didn't do anything wrong!

Nightwing: You let the man's murderer walk, you threw a Batarang at him under the ridiculous assumption that he would read your mind or instinct or whatever you want to call it and dodge that over just killing his murderer! And again while I don't fully agree with killing someone... Jason has brought up a lot of good points-

Batman: He hasn't!

Wonder Woman: Hey let's just calm down. Things are getting a little heated now.

Nightwing (ignoring the woman): You're just going to ignore the fact that Jason may have a point? I'm not saying become a killer or anything, I know how you are! He has every right to be mad that the Joker hasn't been killed yet! He told you to his face he forgives you for not saving him but he doesn't get why you kept the Joker alive or at least did not try to kill him once! I killed him once, but you couldn't try. Oh wait, because Superman beat the shit out of you.

Batman: That is not why. I don't kill, because I'm not weak you!

Donna covered her mouth in shock.

Nightwing (taking a deep breath to calm himself): You're angry, I'm just gonna let that go. Joker has no remorse for what he does. Jason still has emotions yet you're acting like he's on par with the Joker. I tried to put up with the Joker's "lol random, chaos, look at me!" But the whole clown schtick stopped being a schtick when he shot-

Batman: Finish the sentence and I will bitch slap you!

Nightwing: Oh so Barbara getting shot in the stomach and paralyzed isn't something you want to talk about?

Batman: Don't you bring her into this.

Donna: Hey, let's just take a breather. Step back and-

Nightwing: No, Donna, Diana let me say this. Barbara is wheelchair bound because of that... that sick bastard! So don't you give me some bullcrap speech about how "criminals should serve time over getting killed" because the Joker is the one who deserves the death penalty!

Nightwing chuckled angrily losing his patience with the man he saw as his father.

Nightwing: Who's next, who will he go after in this family of ours? Who will he kill or maim before you wake the hell up-

Batman back hand slapped Nightwing nearly knocking the man to the ground. Donna and Diana gasp again. Nightwing blinked, his heart raced with rage. His clenched fist, as he glared at Batman.

Nightwing: Yup.

Nightwing punched Batman in the nose, knocking the man to the ground. Donna walks over to Nightwing as Wonder Woman looks down at Batman (she's not on his side here). Nightwing breathes heavy.

Nightwing: Whoops, I forgot the shout dodge. Why don't you get up and I'll do it five more times!

Donna (lowering Nightwing's arm.: Relax, bluebird. He's not worth it.

Nightwing: You're right Donna. Bruce, I'm calling you that because you don't deserve to be called Batman right now, we're both heated at the moment, so I'm going to go. You will change your tone, I believe you will, and I won't turn my back on you, but if you hit me like that again I won't hold back and I will use a lot more than my fists.

Nightwing leaved, walking with a calm, steadiness even though his heart was still racing

Donna: That was badass!

Wonder Woman stared at Donna for a second then nods.

WW: Good retaliation when someone slaps you as well. That precious blue bird has grown to be a great hero.

Donna nodded with a smile.

Donna: All right, aunt Diana, we're headed back to the tower. The team and I are going to calm to him. You... you handle... That.

WW: The pitiful man on the ground? My pleasure.

Donna ran out while calling out to Nightwing.

Donna: Bluebird, you can't go punching the guy, you promised you'd hold back!

Wonder Woman sighed, rubbing her forehead.

WW: I swear, Bruce you are ridiculous.

Batman touched his bleeding nose.

Batman (serious): Huh, this is a new feeling... pride for someone else.

Wonder Woman held up her hand to countdown from three.

Batman (after three seconds): Unfortunately it's overshadowed by all this unyielding RAGE!

Wonder Woman pressed her foot on Batman's chest to keep him down.

Batman: Diana, move your boot!

Wonder Woman: Oh Brucie, you think I'm going to let you go after that precious man after all you said, after you pimp slapped him? Nah, you need a moment to collect your thoughts and calm your testosterone.

Batman (frazzled): It wasn't a pimp slap... it was a disciplinary backhanded slap.

WW (rolling her eyes): And I guess his was a self-defense punch.

Batman (mumbling): He- He caught me off guard.

WW: What ever helps you rationalize slapping him. I will remove my boot and you get your apology prepared for him and that precious young warrior who was a fan of me. Many awful things were said and done to both of them by you, but you can fix this.

Batman: I'm not apologizing because I'm not wrong.

WW: That does make things harder. Thanks for that.

Batman: No problem. Move your boot please.

WW (moving her boot and walking off): Grown ass man acting worse than Ares when the delivery man forgot his straw.

Batman: I heard that!

WW: Wanted you to, Bruce.

[spidernuggets]

Oh my gosh! THANK YOU! Fics of Jason Todd, Jason Freakin Todd using the readers body as no more than a slab of meat, saying horrendous things to her, her being no more than a hole for him to spill into. Some of the fics-like firstly are y'all okay!? And secondly you could offer him the Jokers head or a million dollars he's not going to disgrace your body if he's with you he values you, sorry lol

I'm not a maniac I understand the concept of fiction, write what you wanna write but for some characters that just doesn't make sense

On another note and in all seriousness some smut fics make me genuinely concerned and perplexed, writer will be like 16/17/18 saying things about themselves that sound like they came straight out of the mouth of a porn-addicted-woman hating-misogynistic who believes all females are the devil and need to be lobotomised via his penis. Like miss girl I understand your brain isn't fully developed yet but yikes

ABSOLUTELY FACTS ANON!!!

I had this sorta general convo with a friend, not necessarily on Jason Todd, but where I draw the line at dark fics.

But knowing Jason Todd, he would NOT participate in any of these dark fics. Like no the fuck he would NOT plant cameras in your bathroom without you knowing or put his cock in your mouth while youre sleeping??

like if you're into that shit, i dont really care, you do you. And ik this sounds like gatekeeping, and jason is a fictional character bUT PLS. Even ooc asshole HBO live action Red Hood Jason Todd wouldn't do fucked up shit like that.

and ive seen like a misogynistic Jason Todd?? Like no hate to the writer, yous have like really good writing skills!! but Jason would have like an immense amount of respect to women. Like idm the degration kink that people write for him, but sometimes it could be taken a little too far...

But even when he was in a romantic relationship, like Artemis or Rose, he's shown to actually value them as a person.

Seeing as he's spent so long making amends wjth Bruce, even when they still domt see eye to eye, if he were to be in a relationship, mans would be fucking paranoid that he's still the crime lord he was resurrected as. He'd be doing more than the bare minimum to make sure you're comfortable in a relationship. And i think if you were into that dark shit, he'd be uncomfortable with it, knowing he doesn't have your verbal consent to do anything to you because he wouldn't want to hurt you

idk, again, I know jason todd isnt a real person, and I may be gatekeeping n shit, but it is kind of fucked up in my view that people would hc Jason doing dark things when he's someone who has experienced dark things...

[forwards-beckon-rebound]

just finished watching under the red hood and oh boy i have some thoughts.

warning: spoilers for utrh the movie obviously, a very long and not particularly coherent rant, i have not read the comic yet because i heard jason gets treated even worse in it but i’ll probably get around to it soon

first of all, i didn’t realize how violent it was, especially considering it’s a kids show. not only that but how callously jason just kills people. like i was aware but i kind of assumed that he did it when it was necessary. but sometimes he kills people when he could just incapacitate them. i think it adds another layer of complexity to his character, like i see why he’s an anti-hero bordering on villain to some people and not just a misunderstood hero.

not that i don’t stand by his points about killing the joker, but i do understand why bruce wasn’t exactly eager to welcome him back with open arms (i still think he could be a better father though).

ON THE SUBJECT OF BRUCE AS A FATHER. it physically pains me to hear him never acknowledge jason as his son. jason’s always his soldier, his partner, his fault. thank god jason never heard the shit bruce said because i would rage if i were him. you can’t call somebody your partner if you don’t see them as your equal. and how could jason be his equal? he was a child. at best he is his son. at worst he is his ward. either way, no child wants to hear that they’re a mistake. not their death, not the way they were raised or trained. just their whole existence. like thanks bruce, you really know how to make amends with your children.

and on that topic, there’s this theme of like oh was jason always destined to be a criminal? like was there truly nothing bruce could’ve done to stop him? it literally broke my heart when jason said maybe he was always the monster under the mask, like to hear him give up on himself like that made me want to cry. i hate this idea of this life being his fate. especially since bruce was like oh yeah he was stealing my car tires, he was raised to be a criminal and all that. i don’t think the writers meant it in that way but for a billionaire who also breaks the law to say that a child who grew up poor was always meant to be a criminal rubs me the wrong way. like i don’t think he has the moral high ground to say some of the things he says because jason did make a point when he talked about how joker has killed way too many people for batman to let him go.

anyways, do i think murder is wrong and what jason did was reprehensible? yes, although the becoming crime lord thing to control it in gotham was very smart. but is it so bad that he couldn’t have just come home? gotten therapy and had a semi normal life again? gotten to kill the joker as a little treat? no. he was like, what, 18 or 19 during the movie? and also traumatized and in desperate need of therapy? i’m not excusing his actions but when you grow up fighting these violent criminals and also being tortured and killed by one, it certainly blurs the lines. so i understand, and i think there is still redemption for him.

and the real villain of the story is the gotham criminal justice system for never doing anything about crime alley or keeping people like the joker from breaking out of arkham every week.

[butchsophiewalten]

03/03/2024 Twitter Space Recap (1/2)

Martin & Kyle did a twitter space (with a late appearance of Eva) in the earliest hours of the day on the 3rd, here's a recap of what they talked about then:

-Kyle brings up that he wants to do a charity stream for the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund! He says Him, Martin, Coral, and Eva would be there playing Lethal Company. He says he plans to do this "sometime this month".

-Martin describes the 'Walten Dog Saga', saying that first the family got Carlitos, who was Sophie's dog, and everybody loved him, but then one day in 1968, they're playing and then Carlitos gets run over. And it's so tragic that they're like, 'no more dogs!', until one day in 1973 Jack runs into this homeless street dog and brings him home, and names him Jaimito, and they have him for a few months before he bites Edd's arm and "almost gives him rabies", so Jack just gives the dog to Susan, and the one week that she has this dog is like the worst week of her life. He pees everywhere, he tears up her furniture, and after a week of that he just peacefully dies while Susan is out of the house.

-Martin says that aspects of episode 5 are inspired by some of the leaked stuff he's seen from Joker 2. "It's a very fairy-tale, unreliable narrator kind of episode."

-Martin spitballs his "perfect idea for a Walten Files game", a PS1-style game where you work as a Bon's Burger's employee, "in the kitchen at 3am making burgers", fixing up orders to be delivered (by another employee, I'm assuming? He mentions 'a guy with a motorcycle', so I think this is what he means. Like pizza delivery.) He talks about how the supply closet would be on the other side of the restaurant, so whenever you run out of ingredients you'd have to walk all the way over there and back in the dark. He says it'd be really funny if there wasn't even anything supernatural in it.

-Martin talks about how it really bothers him when people say or imply that, because The Walten Files takes place in the time period it does, it would be more accurate or make more sense for his characters to be bigoted. He brings up a specific instance where someone asked him how the other BSI employees would treat Chris. "The point that this person was making is that it would make sense for the team to be racist, and I was like 'No, it doesn't make sense! That shouldn't happen, it shouldn't be a thing!'" He goes on to say... "And then it was shit like, [mockingly] 'Why are Sophie and Jenny a couple if it was the 1980s?' and it's like, gay people existed in the 1980s!"

"It's just like, just because something was the thing back then, doesn't mean the characters should do a very bad and harmful thing, y'know? It's a really stupid mindset, in my opinion."

-Kyle talks about this genuinely really funny Showstoppers Halloween special idea he had a long time ago, where the Showstoppers are really excited for the holiday, but for some reason Bon has never heard of Halloween before, and the other Showstoppers have to explain it to him, telling him about costumes and trick-or-treating and everything. And it culminates with them going up to somebody's doorstep to trick-or-treat, and all the Showstoppers are telling Bon that he should go first since he's the newbie, and when he knocks on the door some lady answers, going "Hello! How are-" and then she looks up in horror. And the shot reverses to show like a full, "hyper-realistic" Scary Animatronic Bon looming over to her, with a Text-To-Speech voice going "Trick.... Or.... Treat."

-Martin talks about his own funny showstoppers idea, where Bon, for some inexplicable reason, has the feeling that he is dying. and he spends the whole episode trying to make amends with people and be nice to his friends, like 'I don't hate you, Banny, I really care about you,' 'Boozoo, you can have Bon's Burgers when I'm gone, because you're my friend and I trust you,' etc. And at the end of the episode you find out he just had a tummy ache, and he was being really dramatic about it.

-After some related banter, Martin jokes that it'd be funny if Jack was at a table eating with the rest of the 'Bunny Smiles family', and out of the blue he goes, like, 'I've got a tummy ache! :(' in a really high-pitched voice. Eva, who had joined the space a while earlier, jokes that his normal voice is just him faking it, and the high-pitched voice is what he actually sounds like.

-They talk about various Godzilla movies for a while, and Martin brings up how he really enjoyed the way Minus One managed to connect the narrative between its human and its monster characters, and how that's something he thinks a lot of other monster movies and horror films fail to do.

"Y'know, it's funny, because when I wrote The Walten Files, I always had the idea that like, there are two parts of the story? Part one, which is like, the human drama, and Edd and Molly, and the crash. And then part two, which has more to do with the animatronics and the place itself. And you have this feeling where there's going to be a moment where those two parts connect and link to each other, and I think that's something you gotta have in, like, horror movies, where- it- you can't just like, make up characters, and just put them in the existing world and have them exist, and then just sit around waiting for the killer to appear, y'know?"

-Eva brings up an incident that's been happening in the Walten Files community on Twitter, where some people have been getting some flack over headcanoning members of The Showstoppers as Black. Martin gets really incensed talked about how much this bothers him, saying "I saw that, it's so fucking stupid. If you- It's just common sense! If you look at someone going 'Hey, I think this character would be Black, I headcanon this character as black,' and you go, like 'I'm not comfortable with that,' what the fuck do you mean? How? That's so weird! And that's what I'm saying, it's like, how does it effect the story in any way that would be negative to you? Like, the only way you would be against that, is if you were like, racist. And it's like, huh? And I think, a lot of people bring up the argument that, 'Ah, but this character is clearly intended to be White,' and it's like, who cares! Who gives a shit? Like, that's not, like a valid argument to go against someone for doing something like that. It would be very different if, for example, someone looked at Chris and went, like, 'What if he was White?', it's very different. The context of that is very different, than just headcanoning a character as Black, y'know? That's completely fine and normal. Why would you be against that, that's so weird."

"I find it even funnier, because, from what it looked like, it was because someone said they headcanon Sha as Black, and it's like, that makes so much sense! I mean, like, I think that if Sha had a human design, she'd definitely not- she wouldn't be white... again, if you're against headcanons like that, you- you're not welcome here."

-"We end this stream saying these few words: Headcanoning characters as people of color is great, supporting Palestine is great, uh, being a Zionist is Bad! Being a racist is bad! And if you like Godzilla: I will give you a kiss on the head. Muah!"

___ They ended up holding another Space much later the same day, which I've decided to cover in a separate post, because it's twice as long as this one, and a lot more of the conversation in it was Walten Files-Centric, so the recap will take way longer to write.

[wanderingmind867]

Honestly, I somehow do trust Batman's villians more than Batman. Batman scares me, but his villians...well, I think I can feel for them. Gotham is a hellish city where a violent mentally ill rich man can go around beating up other mentally ill people, brutalizing innocents and being a menace, only for the cops to give him medals. Also, Arkham is literally an ancient sanitarium. I bet they use electroshock and stuff. No wonder this city has so many killers and people with unchecked mental illnesses.

And if batman is allowed to be needlessly brutal on criminals, then the criminals are allowed to kill in retaliation. It's a cycle that'll probably only end when batman dies. Because he's always going to be fawned over, and he's too rich to have anything but yes men telling him his unchecked paranoia and excessive violence is totally fine. At least people like The Joker, Two-Face, The Riddler, etc usually acknowledge they have issues! Batman has made paranoid plans to defeat all of his friends, he's apparently microchipped one of his kids (something i only learned about on accident online), he's brutalized so many, he's a wretched human being. And then he tries to take the high ground? Really? Screw him.

All I want is a storyline where Batman's paranoia leads him to become a supervillian, get kicked off the justice league, lose his reputation in gotham, and then have to try to make amends for all the messed up stuff he's pulled over many, many years of comics. We can't just pretend he's a good guy. That all went out the window after the 60s. 60s Batman wouldn't brutalize people. But by the 70s, it's a regular occurrence. These comics are horrible.

[vashtijoy]

If Akechi's story were to continue, how would you want it to go ideally?

Ohh, anon, where to start.

First off, I want to know what's happening in the true ending. Why is he with that team at the station? Because there are two almost-identical groups there—one is in the car chasing down the Phantom Thieves and Joker, but one is walking past at the station with Akechi. And he doesn't look like he's there voluntarily. So is he working with them against his will? Have they captured him? Is he pretending to cooperate and playing traitor again? Is he actually cooperating? Is he the guy the car suits are talking to on the mic? Is he looking down like that because he knows Joker's on the train and doesn't want to see him? Does Joker know he's alive, are they in contact or even conspiring? I WANT TO KNOW GODDAMMIT TELL ME

Some people say the guys in the suits are part of the continuity conspiracy (which will pop up later in Strikers). I like the idea that they're some faction or other of the Kirijo Group. One thing's for sure, though: they aren't the police.

Once we get that plot out of the way—assuming Akechi survives it, because he's a good candidate for an actual onscreen death—we really get into fanfic territory, shit that doesn't make good video games. How does he develop, given who he's been and what he's done? How does he live with that as he grows and changes? What happens as he slowly connects to others, as he forms confidants of his own? How does he do better? How does he make amends—does he make amends? He wants to leave it in the past and live in the present, but life's not like that; he's not like that. Akechi is his past. His whole life he's been fixated on his past, on the wrongs done to him, on the revenge he wanted. And we're meant to believe that in the third semester, when he's got absolutely nothing left, he just goes yep, not thinking about the past any more? Of course he thinks about it all the damn time. He's going to obsess about it despite himself.

What about the police? What about Sae? If he's going to have a story, he can't just turn himself in—but does he try? Does he believe it's the end of his path? Why isn't he executed? Why isn't he in jail? What about justice for his victims? How culpable is he, overall? He believes he's entirely culpable, that he chose his path all along. But did he?

What about the Metaverse being gone? How does he feel about it, deep down? For years it's a place only he can go. It's his place. Does he think of it as his only real home? As his domain, his place of power? The one place he's truly safe, even as shit attacks him from all sides? Like, never mind that it's obviously the place he goes to be himself as best he can, to vent all the shit that builds up in his day-to-day life. What does it do to him, not having that outlet? Is he homesick for it? Does he crack?—I'd be amazed if he didn't. So what does that look like?

And what does he do? Don't forget, Akechi is a murderer. That's his preferred skillset; that's what he wants to do, what he enjoys doing. What he really brings to the team in the third semester appears to be pure ruthlessness and a will to be the one who kills when it's necessary. So if he somehow gets to have a life, how does he avoid living with anticlimax for the rest of his days? What does he even offer the world?—or a society in which people like him can have no place?

He's done everything interesting he will ever do. He's been as interesting as he'll ever be. Does he miss what he was? Does he miss what he did? Does he miss Shido, even, who was his only family, who praised him and needed him so completely? Does he get mixed up with Mitsuru somehow, just to keep him out of jail, to give him some kind of place and purpose? How would he view that? Another rich, powerful asshole trying to control him?—very much nty, he'll rot in jail first.

And what about Joker? What about the Phantom Thieves? Does he have a place with them? Or will he always be an outcast, tolerated at best, unable to connect? How do those relationships play out over years, over a lifetime?

Akechi has made a lot of mistakes and a lot of bad choices. In the third semester he's pretty much broken as a person, after what seems to have close to a change of heart. I'd really like to see him slowly develop and learn and change. I'd like to see him find something to live for besides killing. So to really answer your original question—I want him to live. I want him to slowly learn that there can be things in the world for him, and people who want him for himself. I want him to come to a place where he can start to do better because he's chosen to—likely still in a ruthless and mercenary way, that's just who he'll always be, but still doing better. Because punitive justice doesn't put anything right, not really. And it makes for boring fanfic, too.

tl;dr: Atlus, return my child.

[somequeerthing]

The best successor to Batman is… Harley Quinn. No wait, really. Here’s why -

If there ever comes a day where batman needs to be replaced again, it shouldn’t be Dick, or Tim, or Jason, or Steph, or even Damian.

The best 'successor' to batman... imo... is Harley Quinn. I think if DC was smart they'd set her up for it, and given how popular she's been lately I could see a world where it happens.

She's also a weird little nerdy damaged freak like Bruce, she has a similarly screwed up relationship with joker, her own anti hero love interest in Ivy, a similarly difficult relationship with heroism, and I think she'd be a great maternal figure to a new Robin.

Don't even call her batman, just put her in the same position. Here’s the elevator pitch, Harley is where shes at in the HBO show and the dceu - broken up with joker, seeing ivy, less unhinged and murderous and not really sure what her place is. She doesn’t want to be a true villain but she’s got too many ties to her old life for her to be able to commit to being a hero. Ya da ya da something happens Batman dies. Maybe the robins too, maybe not. And Harley steps up. Maybe joker does some fucked up shit to make her want to, maybe something happens with ivy or maybe in the chaos of a batmanless Gotham she finds a little orphan in danger, maybe by joker. Someone uncared for by the system that resonates with her. She rescues them. One reason or another she decides to take up the mantle. Cue her navigating a seedy underbelly she was very recently a part of, reckoning with the past harm she’s caused, being a surrogate mother, fighting for the rogues to get actual help because she can empathize with them (and is a phd board certified psych). She maintains her day job and alias as harleen quinzel, psychiatrist (in this world maybe no one knew they were the same person) You could have her taking sessions with villains she fights. A much more grounded figure than Bruce ever was, someone with true experience in both worlds but who, like Bruce, cares about the people he fights, cares about trying to be better and make amends. She’d retain her humor and her unique character we’ve all grown to love all while maturing and learning to be a hero.

[evilwickedme]

I'm only just getting into the comics and haven't read much yet, but is Pit Madness an actual thing in canon or just widespread fanon? Bc yeah, I don't like it either but there's so much of it I assumed it was rooted in the text

I've never seen it in a Jason comic, although I don't exactly have an encyclopedic knowledge of his appearances (reminder that I'm doing my best, but I've only been reading DC comics for less than a year). I understand that it's mentioned in comics related to Ra's Al Ghul, but the Pit is used rarely both in and out of text and is one of those things that works however the writer wants it to work.

I can tell you that in the comics I've read that are pre-N52 Jason is extremely angry, but he's also calm and calculated about it, and in n52 comics that I've read he's extremely angry, but mostly reads as impulsive, not sadistic. I haven't gotten to post rebirth Jason comics yet except for a few panels here and there and the Robins: Being Robin comic which was pretty bad in general don't read it, but my impression is they haven't stopped trying to retcon him into "the angry robin" (which, uh, fuck that) but have leaned more into his emotional side as a core aspect of him in recent years, which I in general approve of. Either way, I have never seen a mention of pit rage, only of him being thrown in the Pit to heal his medically impossible walking coma (but this is comics and he gets healed by green goo, so let's not take medical accuracy too seriously).

I understand the appeal of pit madness in two ways: the first is that it makes for an easy motivator. You throw him in the pit, he gets Angry™, and you can use that to tell a pretty interesting story (Red Robin Hood likens it to an addiction, for example, which I found really interesting actually).

But the second is the one I suspect is more common. I think people are uncomfortable with liking a character who is genuinely unremorseful about killing. It directly negates their values. On the one hand, it's super badass when Jason throws that duffel bag of heads onto the table of drug lords in the beginning of under the red hood - on the other hand, gross, right? This is why so many pit rage stories focus on him "getting better". Whether that means being literally magically healed from the pit's effects or if that means learning that killing is wrong, actually, the pit's influence, by the end of the fic, is gone, and the batfam forgives him for all the murder because it wasn't REALLY Jason, it was the Pit!

But like... No it isn't? Like there is zero evidence of the Pit ever influencing any of Jason's actions. Like, if anything, one of my favorite things about UTRH as a story is the fact that Jason is calm, calculated, AND IN THE RIGHT. Not that Batman is necessarily wrong - I mean, I think his particular reasoning is stupid, it's not a fucking slippery slope for most of us, but I also think that murder is, you know, wrong. But Jason is also right - he came back to life to find that nothing had changed in the batfam and Gotham, or if it had, it had changed for the worse! The Joker has done nothing but become more and more threatening as a villain and Bruce has done nothing to amend his methods of dealing with the Joker at all.

Jason's solution is simple, elegant - kill the Joker, he can no longer hurt anyone else. And in a system like Gotham's where corruption makes both rehabilitation and straight up locking someone away for good impossibilities, the genuinely most logical solution is to kill the Joker. Not necessarily the most moral from your or my point of view. But one that makes sense when you look at it through Jason's eyes as a deeply traumatized victim.

I think that if the Pit really had influenced Jason, the best way to use it as a narrative device is as another source of trauma - something that I have seen extremely occasionally in fics. Not as something that influenced his actions, necessarily, but maybe as something that was forced upon him, a kind of loss of bodily autonomy.

But at the end of the day, most of the time the point of pit madness in Jason Todd/batfam fic is to excuse extreme abusive behavior and make it all okay in the end, and I think it's because so many of the people writing him don't understand why and how he uses extreme violence in the ways he does and who feel extremely uncomfortable being fans of someone who genuinely believes that some people deserve to die.

[clownprince]

Scenes/stories where Joker is temporarily sane always hurt me deeply but this bit from Rock of Ages is particularly brutal:

Joker regaining sanity and immediately regretting his actions and trying to make amends is already emotionally devastating and the fact that Batman is watching all of this unfold makes it significantly worse! But the part that really gets me is the last panel.

To my knowledge, this is the only time Joker has outright admitted to needing help. And man it makes me want to yell and sob and roll around on the ground.

I mean, TKJ already shows that it's possible he wants things to change and he wants to get better, or at least he wants to believe that he could get better, but this really... cements that idea. And he doesn't outright say "I want help" but why else would he say this if that wasn't the implication? That at least some part of him does want to get better?

I don't know. This scene makes me VERY sad and I think about it Often.

[turboheller]

A NOT-COMPLETELY-HEARTBREAKING ENDVERSE!DESTIEL FIC

.

EXCERPT:

Before all this end of the world fuckery, and not that long after the Angel of Thursday soared in on awesome black wings—jackknifing into Dean's jacked-up life—Dean had been so goddamn grateful at realising he had his first real friend, that his lusting over dark hair and the bluest of all baby-blues had just been an inconvenient itch, one he'd simply decided not to scratch. He had a good thing going with Cas. Didn’t want to jeopardize it. So, a mostly closeted but wholly bisexual Dean had put on a plastic jolly-joker mask and ignored the whole damn thing like a seasoned winner. After all, he was the master of pulling on his own puppet-strings to twist his mind and smash his dreams.

But that shit just wouldn't go away.

Instead, it grew. Like bluegrass down by the creek, at the edge of slow-moving water where it was muggy and warm and the mud was soft. Until that sapling became more than just lust. The hardy weed was a constant ache of want growing in Dean's gut, a burning bush that Cas smote with his storm-blue light. And those flames, they caught and licked into Dean's every thought and move. Every decision of every day had an agender that spread so fast into a raging forest wildfire of protectiveness and need and—and something he'd told himself he'd never feel again after Cassie.

Dean knew he had to stop it. Needed to pull all the weapons he owned on its ass, take it down to the boneyard, battered and bound, and kill it. Dead fucking dead. He needed to bury the corpse, salt and goddamn burn it and leave the charcoal-grey ashes to disintegrate into the dirt and the nothingness, leaving only a burned-out hole; the one that now lived in his chest. Because Dean didn't know what to do with such emotion—and he sure as sin didn't deserve a return on it.

But here? Now? It was the sky that was cold and grey and cracking at its seams.

Walking side-by-side with death

The devil mocks their every step

Yeah, like some scene from the tale Led Zeppelin told in No Quarter, it was all about to ignite, to burn down and cave in on the few sorry Joes left in this permanent Halloween party. And Cas? Dean had been treating him like one of the goddamn Croats, keeping him at more than arm's length. Except when his expertise was needed. And that was—it wasn't right. Not like it ever had been but especially not now. At The End. Not when there was nothing left but a reality of fucked up images dreamed up in the mind of a drug-addled rockstar.

Dean should at least try and make amends. Hell, even just take a bunch of stolen flowers and a forced smile to the gravestone that was his and Cas' friendship. Not like he expected to be forgiven, though, let alone be treated like fucking royalty or some shit by Cas. Like he'd just welcome Dean back with loyal, open arms and they'd kiss and make-up as long-lost lovers do. Shit. But—but even if Dean just thanked the guy, at the very fucking least. 

Some things never really die. 

It was the literal end of the God-damned world and Dean was still hiding from himself.

Here we are. 

Yeah, and Dean Winchester was still a fucking coward.

So it goes.

.

(still finding things to repost from when my main was my spn blog. originally written for jackie @winchester-reload <3)

CLICK HERE TO READ IT ON AO3

[homicidalqueeen]

@butscrewmefirst

The blonde only has $145 to her name. The Joker and his partner in crime Harley Quinn are no more. They had a nasty quarrel and this time it's over for good. Or so she thinks. She heard about a place called the Hotel Cortez and leaving Gotham behind she decides it might be a good time to turn tail and run. Run from him. Although he kicked her out of the hideout the two mad clowns once shared, he is undoubtedly looking for her and Harley Quinn is damned if she wants to return to another night of his punches and bruises. The only way he knows how to make amends and make up, really.

The blonde's eyes are red and swollen from crying (Over him) and a single tear runs down her cheek, smearing her heavy eye makeup. She just needs a decent place to lay her head for the night and the Hotel Cortez looks beautiful. Something she could definitely get used to. There is a man in an evening gown at the counter and she is about to approach them when she sees a woman, another blonde coming down the staircase but this woman is absolutely stunning, gorgeous and looks like she stepped out of the fashion couture magazines that Harley always reads in the bathtub when she is soaking after a night of terrorizing Gotham with her Mistah J or just relaxing and winding down.

She waves to her, despite her hands full of last minute items she gathered in her hands and she drops her stuffed beaver, clumsily. "Shit," he mutters a curse under her breath then bends down with an arm full of stuff to fetch him off the carpet. "Excuse me! Lady.. Miss? Uh, how much do ya charge for the night? I'd like to stay here. My boyfriend and I had a fight."

[knightwar]

info dump.

origin / pre-batman v s.uperman.

Origin follows Frank Miller’s Year One and most of canon (pre-52) leading to A death in the family. 

He has been working in Gotham for 20 years and in those 20 years have collected his own rogue gallery, effectively functioning both as an urban myth and a tool conveniently feared and favored by the Gotham Police Department. 

Thematically inspired by TDKR and heavil influenced b the Arkham Games.

during batman v superman.

He is roughly around mid-40s, still seen as part of the high elite with the party boy and play boy personality for the media, while being CEO of Wayne Enterprises. 

His connection to his mainstay allies have been tenuous at best, especially with Leslie Thompkins and Jim Gordon, while Alfred and Lucius keep guard of him still the best way they can. 

Roughly been 4 or 5 years of operating on his own, after having both cut off ties/abandoned by his ward Dick Grayson and trusted ally, Barbara Gordon since the death of Robin (Jason Todd.)

In their absence, he becomes more cynical, more violent, in the eyes of both the people he saves and the criminals he tries to put away. This is only exacerbated by the introduction of THE SUPERMAN. 

A duration of 2 years gets him invested in his own paranoia, assisted further by the machinations of a manipulative billionaire, into planning the Murder of The Superman at the risk of his potential turning after seeing so many of his trusted friends and colleagues in the last 20 years lose or be turned to the dark side. 

It is only through the clarity of Lois Lane and Clark Kent reminding him of his own trauma through his mother’s name is he awoken to the darkness he has fallen into. And in Clark Kent’s death is he brought back to the light.

post zsjl.

He is consumed by the guilt of his failure in recognizing the goodness in Clark Kent and devotes all of his time to informing a group of people, and others like Clark, of an incoming threat. Promising, just as he had promised before his death to keep his mother safe, to keep the world safe he had nearly abandoned. 

Immediately realizing he can’t do this alone, he asks Diana for her help. It’s only when she says yes later that some progress is made to form the group that would safeguard the world from the threat of Darkseid. 

plotting assistance.

For friends and allies, post ZJL, he is both distracted by the bigger cause to the point where it might appear that he’s manic ; having little to no sleep, devoted to finding others ; making sure the world is prepared for another invasion where he wasn’t during Man of Steel, to the point where he doesn’t quite care if it costs him his life so long as he can ensure that the League or the World can go one without him. 

With this, comes also, a renewed faith in people where he will try to make amends first and foremost to his family, his closest allies, his kids for practically abandoning them in both his grief and his bitterness at the loss of Robin. So that’s really going to be his main focus as far as relationships goes. 

Basically, he would have a basic connection to most people and plotting can be specific to how much and how deep that connection goes.

For enemies and villains, where he might have turned a lot more violent in the years past, he will try to make an effort to go back to his older ways to a point. He will still use violence and fear as a means to get what he wants but his more extreme methods might be held back unless you’re a piece of shit.

As far as Arkham Asylum goes, while he’s had a hand with it through the years, he’s kind of lost touch with the methods they’ve been using in the last few years and have come back to try and do better with the treatment of the inmates held within its walls. Basically, he’s going to try harder than ever to make sure these people get the proper help they need. 

Except the Joker, he’s going to kill that bastard the next chance he gets.

Romance wise, his ex wifes are canonically Talia (first) and Selina (second.) That's it.

[astarionbae]

okay so I need aaaalllll of ur thoughts on aib rn what do you think of the other characters and the ending etc etc

AKJSDNKSDA, OKAY!

[Major spoilers for those to haven't watched and/or currently watching Alice in Borderland below the Keep Reading]

Arisu, I freaking adore him so much! He's so smart and I could relate to him so much and I think that's amazing when you can relate to the main character.

Usagi is a doll, at first she kinda rubbed me the wrong way but season 2 just had me rooting for her so much.

The moment that Hikari and Chishiya appeared on screen, I instantly fell in love with them and their dynamic. Plus with Hikari's background, I was so heartbroken for her! But the fact that she had her own found family in Borderland was just so wholesome.

I'm very mutual on Ann; I liked her but she like didn't really do much compared to what the others did, plus we never really got like a full scene with her unlike how we did with the others.

Niragi; freaking hated him I mean he tried to as*ault Usagi in season 1. Season 2, when he came back, I was like, "Alright so he's going to be a good guy to try and make up for what he did?" And I was watching, watching, starting to feel somewhat alright with him being back again then he quickly went back to his ways and tried to hurt Usagi AGAIN, and I was over it.

TATTA, OH MY GOD, TATTA. I was SO heartbroken when he died! He was a comfort character, and I was so distraught. I cried for him. He was such a golden retriever. 😭

Aguni grew on me, and by the end, when he was making amends for what he had done I wanted him to live so bad. When he got shot by the King of Spades, I was screaming at my TV then he suddenly came back to life to tackle him and help out Arisu and I cheered so loud. I was so excited that he got to live and go back to the real world! And his little ship dynamic with Akane?!?! I shipped them so hard. And when he saved her, and she saved him back? I fuckin LOVE that trope.

As for the finale, I was kind of sad that despite all of them had entered Borderland together and had all these friendships and such, that in the real world they forgotten each other. Yet, they have an inkling like Akane seeing Aguni in his hospital bed and Arisu asking Usagi if they met before.

Then I was thinking more as the finale was drawing to a close, thinking it all over and I literally asked myself, "Huh, I wonder why they never mentioned the Joker card. Or even Ace cards."

NEXT THING I KNOW? It hovers over the table with playing cards and it revealed the Joker card and I literally was in shock! PURE, DISTAINED SHOCK.

[poisonousquinzel]

"Harley Quinn is a criminal, a villain!!! she needs to pay for her crimes! she can't just have a redemption arc without being punished for her misdeeds and murders!"

oh  so  are we just forgetting the bargaining chip that the government/Waller uses for the Suicide Squad? :)

Cause news flash, Harley has done her time.

She's served her sentence in Belle Reve prison.

She worked off her years by going on actual suicidal missions for years.

She. Did. Her. Time.

And She's Cleared Her Record.

Suicide Squad: Blaze #1

“You’ve been selected for a special task. I know you’ve all served on Suicide Squads before, so--”

“So you can skip the details, bosslady-- we know the score. Go out there, face certain death, coupla creepy laughs, maybe a dance number-” 

“In return for which state-sponsored violence we gain access to certain off-list privileges-- and a bloody massive reduction in our sentences.” 

Suicide Squad: Blaze #2

“You are sitting among the Suicide Squad. They are not nice people. They’re not here for your emotional support. They’re here because--should you feel a little hesitant about my polite requests?-- 

--They will murder you before you’ve finished saying “No.” For this I will reward them handsomely.”

Harley Quinn (2021 - ) #1

“It’s time I make amends for everythin’ I did when... Back before... 

Well, you know. 

After The Joker War... I can’t help but feel responsible. I’ve hurt this city. Enabled that clown prince of ***** for a long time. 

My records are officially clean thanks to that Suicide Squad business, but I figure I got a lot to make up for.”

And a redemption arc isn't always going to look like Zuko's arc in the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

We need to stop holding every single "redemption" arc to that standard alone because characters aren't all the same, and frankly, at this point, it's getting really damn frustrating.

Character can be, and are, nuanced, multilayered people that come from vastly different circumstances & backgrounds, various forms of medias, and have differing levels of trauma that have led to their criminal actions.

They have different writers and creative teams, and depending on the company in change, those writers may or may not be equipped to probably handle the more sensitive and serious aspects of that character.

And some of them come from (or have later appeared in) media types that have a much, much higher rating than Avatar did. The creators are free to go to more extreme levels with that trauma and showing the audience the full extent of things like domestic abuse.

But in the end redemption is when the person themselves wants to change and realizes the wrongs they've committed. It's when they want to make amends and atone for their actions.

It doesn't necessarily mean the world forgives them. A redemption arc isn’t earned when the in universe world decides to forgive that character.

It means they've decided to try. They're putting in effort. They're putting that part of their life behind them and they're trying to be a better person.

They’re trying to change for the better.

Not all redemption arcs are clean and easy. And not of all them only have to make amends for a handful of wrongdoings. 

But it is in the very core of her character to feel guilt and remorse once she’s free from The Joker’s manipulation and love bombing.

This is still a redemption arc because she is fundamentally trying to be a better person and is putting in the effort. And it is an arc that’s been building for almost 30 years. 

It was her saying No when that voice is telling her

"You're a villain, remember? Time to nasty up and act like one."

Trying to convince her to leave one of her teammates behind to succumb to the effects of the Joker Toxin invading their system.

Suicide Squad (2016 - ) #4

She's immune to the toxin. She hears and sees him, just like she hears and sees Harleen, which makes it all the more powerful that she's working through fighting against those urges when she's got a literal devil manifested in front of her encouraging said villainous urges.

And later, it's taking accountability when confronted by a victim who was wrong by her and Joker. Going so far that she fully ready to let herself die at the hands of said victim to right that wrong.

Batman (2016) #105

“I wanted to be strong, and he was able to manipulate me and control me and make me feel loved enough that I was willing to help him do really terrible things. Because I wanted to feel strong too. 

I wanted to be the one with all the power. I wanted to be the one people were afraid of. 

And now... I’m gonna be dealing with the consequences of that for my entire life. I’m always going to be Harley Quinn. And I’m trying my damnedest to make the most of it. 

I’m gonna try to save as many people as I tried to hurt, back in the day. I want to be a better version of me. 

But if you want to kill me, you can. I deserve it.”

“Harley...”

“Stand back, Bats. It’s the kid’s choice.”

Shadow War Zone (2022 - ) #1

“...And, most shocking of all, her recent encounter with Hugo Strange indicates she genuinely wants to make amends for her past.” 

It's the dozens of little, important moments over the years that's shown she's been developing, she's been growing.

We’re just seeing it come full circle now.

And that's a fucking good thing. 

She’s saving people, she’s helping people in multiple ways. She’s making more friends, she runs a support group for people like her and Kevin, putting her therapist skills to use. 

This is good for her. She’s healing.

And that’s what we want from characters because they’re nuanced, multilayered creations that shine best when they’re not boxed into a one dimensional Bad Guy trope. 

[fatwithoutkatsudon]

pls spare some red hood steph hcs

Alright here are some more Red Hood Stephanie hcs:

- Weirdly got along ok with Damian before she died, despite how much Damian hated Tim

- Unfortunately never got the chance to be Batgirl like in canon

- Doesn’t mind that she was replaced as Robin, she expected it even, especially if it was Tim taking up the mantle again

- Buuuuut, she *hates* how Bruce is with Jason. She sees so much of herself in him but Bruce doesn’t reject him like he did her.

- Also really Bruce? One street smart lower class wrong-side-of-Gotham kid with a criminal dad wasn’t enough?

- So she still beats Jason up, sorry Jason.

- Tim. TIM! Can you imagine all the drama?? His ex girlfriend died and came back to life and blames his dad for her death?? Also like Bruce might actually be a little to blame, and Tim would realize that. *chef’s kiss*

- Tim is very happy she is not dead but also does not agree with her methods

- She lashes out at Tim every time she sees him because she feels a little betrayed that he’s still loyal to Bruce but also more honestly it’s just easier than trying to deal with her feelings

- Her “Under the Hood” is very similar to Jason’s canon one, except for y’know the Joker parts. So basically just messing with Black Mask and Batman until a confrontation happens. I’m not sure if she wants Bruce to kill him or if she wants to kill him or what her goal is but a big part of it is just venting her frustration

- Eventually she realizes how much she and Jason has in common and he keeps reaching out to her on cases because he really appreciates what she’s trying to do in the lowest parts of Gotham, he doesn’t want to kill people personally but he’s gotta admit her ways are efficient

- Ra’s and Talia definitely give her the Lazarus Pit bath as a way of fucking with Bruce, there’s no thoughts that he might be happy to see her when they do it

- Bruce is happy to see her though, until he realizes what she’s doing

- Bruce tried to put up a memorial with the Robin uniform she died in but Tim wouldn’t let him. Instead they have a case with her Spoiler uniform, since that meant more to her and isn’t as grotesque.

- Working with Jason is mostly what gets her to chill out/stop killing because she starts to worry she is giving him ideas

- After working with Jason so much she start to mend things with Tim. Despite their on again off again romantic relationship being so chaotic he always will be someone she loves and her best friend. It’s a rough start, she still wants to hold him at a distance and lash out, but eventually they have a big screaming match where they lay everything out on the table and despite it sounding angry they actually listen and afterwards it is ok

- Once she and Tim have made amends and Jason is regularly working with her Damian is just like, “Are you working with us again, Brown?” And once she confirms it he asks, “and you’re done with the lethal force?” Which gets another confirmation so he says, “acceptable” and that’s that.

- She and Bruce probably never fully trust one another and they only work together when it’s all hands on deck, but they get to the point where they tolerate each other and she gets Cave access again

- She avoids the manor like the plague until Dick gets adopted, then she’s a sucker for those puppy dog eyes and she is one of exactly two (2) people in this entire family who is capable of showing even a single emotion or physical affection (Jason being the other), so she says it’s good for his development if she hangs around

- I still really like Orpheus as her back from the dead vigilante name (As mentioned previously Red Hood doesn’t really make sense since The Joker wasn’t involved)

And, of course, everything from my original Reverse Robins post here

Other’s Red Hood Stephanie hcs are definitely welcome. I’d love to hear other people’s.