#also i'll be making a comic based on where i left off here

[internetgiraffekid1673]

Ramblings About Batfam Comics I Read This Week

So. I spent this week reading unhealthy amounts of batfam comics, and I have thoughts!

I have now read the entirety of the Red Robin solo comic, all of Batgirl Volume 3 (Stephanie Brown's batgirl run), Batman: the Road Home because I kinda had to for context, about half of the currently running Batgirls comic (Cass and Steph share the Batgirl role with Barbara as their mentor and also sometimes Batgirl), and The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller.

Why these? Simple, I wanted to read Batgirls, I wanted Red Robin Tim, and I wanted Carrie Kelley's existence. So, without further ado, here are my major thoughts!

You know me, my ramblings turn into long essays, so it all goes under a cut and subsections! As per usual, TL;DR at the bottom!

Multiple Comics:

1. Comics are funnier than we give them credit for. Even the edgiest ones I was reading left me cracking up every once in a while.

2. I have maintained this since I first started learning about the BatFam, and I will maintain it till I die---Batman has partners, not sidekicks. They don't follow his orders. He doesn't LET them do anything. He runs around doing damage control while a bunch of absolutely feral children fight crime. Batman doesn't make heroes. He finds heroes and makes sure they have access to a decent first aid kit, training, and some morals.

3. Stephanie Brown is a BAMF who does NOT get the love she deserves. Not only is she smart, determined, and awesome in a fight, she's got something that many batfam characters lack: kindness. Stephanie is sweet and adorkable and nice to everyone while still managing to be a chaotic, hypercompetent, sarcastic menace to society. I'll go into more details under the Batgirl v. 3 section, but I am now a massive Stephanie Brown stan, and I will not tolerate slander! Put some respect on the name of Stephanie f*cking Brown!

4. I am now both a shipper of TimSteph and CassSteph. With occasional HarperSteph. This is unsurprising. I have multiple characters I like together in most mediums, and I don't give a crap about canon, so I can ship whichever one I'm in the mood for! :)

5. In a similar vein, reading the comics very much stoked my already strong DickBabs fire. I love me so Birdflash, RobStar, and Babs/Kara, but I'm beginning to think DickBabs is my favorite combo.

6. Stephanie's OG spoiler costume is her best one, but she's at her best characterization as v. 3 Batgirl.

7. F*CK YOU NEW 52! Nobody likes you, and you ruin everything! You robbed me of my favorite incarnations of these characters! DEATH TO THE NEW 52! BURN, YOU DISGUSTING INSULT TO NARRATIVE CONSISTENCY!

8. Damian and Dick as Batman and Robin are honestly precious together. I only got bits and pieces viewed through Batgirl and Red Robin's eyes, but I really like them and their dynamic with both each other and everyone else. I think my favorite thing is definitely that they have named combo moves where they complete each other's quips. It's adorable.

9. Bruce is a well-meaning a**hole. He really does care about his family, but he needs to trust them more and get MUCH better at communicating.

10. Did you know everybody has a cool base outside of the Batcave? Damian and Dick are based in Wayne Tower, Tim has his Nest, Babs has the Clocktower, and Steph's Team Batgirl has the Firewall which is below Oracle's apartment.

Red Robin Solo Run

1. Tim is one cool BAMF. Man fought the whole Court of Spiders at once---who were killing League of Assasins members for fun BTW---and won and got the civilian bystander out safely. He blew up ALL of Ra's Al Ghul's bases, then fought off Ra's double threat of a hostile takeover on Wayne Enterprises and attempts to assasinate all of Batman's loved ones. He took down the evil, corruptive, hive-mind dark-net that supervillains use to communicate (yes this is a thing that exists). He successfully got evidence that Batman was alive when NOBODY else believed him and then was one of the first to actually know he was back and easily pass Bruce's tests (yes, Bruce tested people instead of telling them he was alive, because he is a well-meaning a**hole).

3. Tim is an edgy teenager. He does at least as much brooding as Batman, but with this sarcasm and dry wit behind everything that Batman doesn't really have. Tim has a consistent "Well f*ck my life, I guess," mentality that is FASCINATING to read, and is the source of a lot of his humor. He has a habit of reacting to really dramatic and serious situations with a deadpan "Welp. That ain't good. Guess I'll either figure it out or die trying."

2. Tim is apparently a chick-magnet. Just in Red Robin, he's got a thing going with Tam Fox and Lynx, Prudence Wood thinks he's sexy, he almost gets raped by Ra's Al Ghul's half-sister, and he and Steph still have feelings about each other that primarily consist of "why does my ex have to be so hot?" I am now incorporating this fact into ALL of my headcanons. It also makes for some fun drama, because all of these ladies (except maybe Steph) are way more into Red Robin than they are Tim Drake, even if they're aware of his identity. I find this objectively hilarious.

3. Tim's cowl is stupid. Apparently, the artist got the memo about halfway through the comic since tim has a pretty cool, uniquely shaped domino mask when he's in the Ünternet. This should be his mask in all appearances. Clearly unique to Red Robin, but not the stupid earless cowl.

4. Tim has SOME sort of neurodivergence going on because my man hyperfixates like nobody's business. He literally has a page where he rambles about how something'll catch his attention and he'll get sucked into it and give it his whole focus and be unable to stop thinking about it, to the detriment of his other commitments.

5. Tim somehow manages to have a thriving social life and no social life at all, and the comic agrees with me. He regularly teams up with the Teen Titans and other Gotham Weirdos TM. He's got a civilian ally/life companion in the form of Tam Fox. He has his guy in the chair, Money Spider a.k.a. Anarky a.k.a Lonnie Machin. He's got Prudence Wood and a couple of other folks with questionable morals on his payroll. And of course, he's got Bruce. He even tells Ra's at some point, "I'm not Batman. I have friends." But he also seems to do a really good job at not telling people things and thus being isolated anyway. He doesn't really doesn't share much of his personal stuff with anyone, especially not initially, so they can't really help him with stuff or provide him with the right companionship. This is perhaps most evident in his relationship with Tam Fox, which he effectively destroys by not telling her that her father Lucius isn't actually dead, and Tim just faked it for one of his plans. He didn't even forget, he just deemed not telling her the best course of action. Both he and Batman are concerned about this.

6. Tim has MASSIVE supervillain vibes. Like, Tim would make the BEST supervillain if he hadn't decided to be so heroic. Lemme. Lemme just give you a list.

Tim has a hit list. And those aren't my words. He calls it a hit list. It's mostly supervillains, and he specifically designs his schemes so that one arrest leads directly into the next. But it also has Robin as a contingency plan and a couple of other people who are decidely not bad guys.

He's a schemer. Bruce's whole test for him involves testing how he does at improvising because Tim has a penchant for creating carefully crafted plans like some sort of maniacal supervillain. And they work pretty much every time.

Tim's subconscious mind manifests as The Riddler. Lemme explain. While Tim is in the virtual reality, Ready-Player-One-esque dark net that the supervillains have set up, his attempt to puzzle out what's going on manifests as The Riddler giving him cryptic clues. The Riddler. THE RIDDLER! This is decidedly his own doing, not the Ünternet's.

Tim keeps his morals because he promised Batman, not because he actually has those morals himself. This sounds worse than it is. It's not like he actively wishes to break his moral code, he just comments multiple times in sticky situations that he would do X thing if it wouldn't be so disappointing to Batman and other people. On multiple occassions (see, blowing up the LoA bases), he actually does X thing because he thinks it's more important than approval.

Tim has ambitions to make Gotham the leader of the world. He specifically starts a number of international outreach programs for Wayne Enterprises with making Gotham the World Hub in mind. He has other altruistic reasons, but this is the one he's most focused on. This scheme also inspires Bruce to start Batman Inc., a.k.a. the thing Bruce has been doing since his return from his vacation in the time stream. Tim acknowledges that he's the inspiration and also that Bruce does not consciously know he was inspired by Tim.

He's manipulative and will work with all kinds of people if it serves his goals. This includes unpredictable people like Anarky, dangerous people like Man Bat, and morally questionable people like Lynx and Prudence Wood. His manipulation tactics mostly come in the form of cutting off other people's options until helping him is their best choice and withholding information until sharing it suits him. Batman in the making.

You see what I mean? Kid would make a GREAT criminal mastermind. Definitely got them villain vibes.

7. F*CK YOU NEW 52. The comic ended really abruptly on an ominous note with an unfinished plot because suddenly we had to do a whole reboot of the universe. Because the New 52 SUCKS!

Batgirl Volume 3

1. *ahem* STEPHANIE BROWN IS THE BEST CHARACTER! STEPH STANS UNITE! WE RIDE AT DAWN!

2. No, but seriously. I mentioned in the general section that Stephanie is a total BAMF who also has SO much heart! I think something really unique about her is her ability to be kind to and befriend literally anyone.

She becomes tentative friends with this absolute jerk girl Jordanna who's really mean to Steph because she's possesive of her friends, who all think Steph is cool. Steph doesn't judge, presses on, and manages to get Jordanna to at least accept her, if not be actively kind to her.

It's due to Steph's efforts that Wendy Harris a.k.a. Proxy a.k.a. Oracle in Training really feels accepted in her new hero role.

Steph looked at Damian in the height of his brat era and said, "You know what this kid needs? A bouncy house! Yeah, I'mma teach him how to have fun and be a kid by forcibly taking him to a bouncy castle!"

Batgirl is noted as. . .not as legal as Batman, but she still manages to make her own police force connection.

She's helpful and chill to Klarion the Witch Boy even though, as usual, all their problems in that issue are his fault.

She beats up a dude who's trying to blow up a train, and her ability and tenacity impress him so much that he becomes the Grey Ghost and tries to help her out. She thinks it's annoying and is worried about him (rightfully so, since he gets shot), but she does listen to him.

Steph will look at almost anyone with kindness and without judgement and has an astounding capability to befriend people because of this.

3. Steph is FREAKING HILARIOUS! Steph is probably the chattiest hero, especially when she's fighting bad guys, and it is both so effective and SO funny! She'll just start totally random conversations about WHATEVER while she's busy beating people up, and it makes me cackle every time. She also literally teaches people banter and gives them turns! It's amazing! Like, I'm not sure I'd call her quippy since she's not actually usually insulting people. She's just making casual, friendly conversation at really inappropriate times for it.

4. That's not the only way she's funny, either. Steph also has "inner monologue problems" where she'll say her thoughts out loud. This becomes a running gag to the point that Babs'll continually have to tell her she's using her "outside voice." It's funny and awkward every time! And then there's her habit of paraphrasing stuff that culminates when she tells Wendy the entire batfamily history in chibi doodles with absolutely zero respect. Never fear, Stephanie is here to make you laugh!

5. Steph is a GRADE A BAD-A**! My girl will challenge anyone, get in over her head, make decisions on the fly, and still win! Technically, this is a Batman Road Home Moment, but when Batman pulls his "I'm testing people instead of telling them I'm back" BS on Steph, she b*tch slaps him and then runs away while saying "I'm glad you're not dead." Bruce's only response is Bruce-speak for "I deerved that." When literally all of Gotham turns into mind controlled zombies that are after her, she outruns them by hijacking an equally mind-controlled ManBat, wrangling him until they crash into the airport, and then hitching a ride with Proxy in the T-Jet that they barely know how to fly. This works. Even when she's getting knocked around, Steph is kicking butt, taking names, and refusing to let her frankly awful lot in life get her down.

6. Steph is an improviser. My girl almost never has a plan. She thrives on the chaos. She's far more likely to disobey orders and go in guns blazing and figure it out on the fly than waste time trying to meticulously plan out something that'll probably go wrong anyway. Like, she knows the value of planning and does it every once in a while, but I feel like Steph would win almost any fight where both parties have 0 prep time simply because she's so much better at thinking on the fly and getting herself out of scrapes than anyone else.

7. Steph doesn't follow ANYONE'S orders because she is an independent adult, dammit! At the beginning of the issue, Cassandra Cain runs off to Hong Kong and hands off the Batgirl mantle to Steph. Literally everyone she comes across gives her crap for not being Cass, tells her to stop, and thinks that she shouldn't be doing that job. Everyone from random street level goons to Barbara and Dick. Steph doesn't listen and keeps going until she finally shows off enough determination that Babs gets her head out of her ass. Even after that, Steph'll happily disregard orders from Oracle, Batman, Red Robin, her mom, the cops and anyone else who tries to boss her around if she thinks it'll help. And the best part is, she's right almost every time. Steph has good judgement. She knows when she's right, and she won't let anyone tell her different.

8. I absolutely loved the dynamics between all the members of Team Batgirl. Babs taking Steph under her wing and helping her come into her own as Batgirl is amazing. One of the sweetest moments in the whole thing is when Babs gifts Steph the original Batgirl costume (she'd been using Cass's up until that point). In turn, Steph helps Babs open up and find joy and purpose in her life again, when she'd mostly been running on spite at that point. They also are so in sync with each other that it's hilarious. My favorite example is, in a situation that is getting progressively worse, Babs and Steph have the exact same inner monologue: "Crap. DOUBLE crap." It only gets better when Wendy's around, with Steph and Babs connecting to her issues each in their own way. It's beautiful and really helps Wendy grow as a person and heal her heart.

9. Steph needs to do more team ups with people. Yes, she's fantastic and compelling by herself, but she becomes downright marvelous when she's got someone to bounce off of, and her natural friendliness makes her a good pick for team ups. One of my favorite issues was definitely the one where she hung out with Kara and they beat up vampires together. It was adorable.

10. F*CK YOU NEW 52! WHY DID YOU TAKE THIS FROM ME?! WTF!

Batman: The Road Home

1. I only really read this one for context on what was going on in Batgirl and Red Robin, but I do have a couple thoughts.

2. Alfred and Co. have basically kidnapped Hush a.k.a. Thomas Elliot and are holding him hostage in a penthouse. They force him to do appearances as Bruce Wayne while Bruce is still missing, and he is soooooooo salty about this. This is objectively funny.

3. Vicki Vale is actually a really cool character who deserves better. A bit lacking in the common sense and self-preservation departments, but cool nonetheless. She's pushy and invasive and catty, but she is good at her job and I would be just as irritated as her if I had fallen as far from grace as her.

3. Bruce, you're an a**hole. You wanna tell people you're home instead of putting them through insane tests of skill and character while disguised as some random and possibly malevolent vigilante? They GRIEVED you! Some of them are probably STILL grieving! Give Dick a hug dammit!

4. Ra's, you're a creepy weirdo. Go back to brooding in your vampire box now please!

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

1. These books are REALLY FREAKING GOOD. I know, who woulda thought, seeing as how it's one of the most popular and talked about Batman comics ever. But seriously. You should read these. I was reluctant to do so, since a lot of people were like "Oh it's Frank Miller, he's edgy, and his Batman has all the tired edgy Batman tropes." I'm sorry, you don't see him using guns, you don't see him killing anyone, you don't see him being a terrible person. This Batman NEEDS a therapist. Desperately. But he's also still a good person. This is ACTUALLY cool edgy Batman, where his issues are used to create a more compelling narrative, not the "cool" edgy Batman that operates under the "grimdark is cool" principle.

2. I almost cried a couple times! This comic has an overwhelming melancholy feel that I just really enjoyed. Everything and everyone feels tired and sad. Everyone. The best part is that this comic is told primarily from Bruce's perspective and Bruce is SO empathetic and caring, that he feels not only his own melancholy, but everybody else's too, and it's so effective! I think the best example is when Two-Face, recently released from Arkham, goes full relapse and Batman is forced to tie him up and leave him for the cops. He looks at Harvey and just goes "That's a kindred spirit, and I feel for him."

3. The story is told interspersed with TV stations and news radio fighting and bickering and reporting. Nobody is quite sure what to make of the Batman situation, and almost all of them feel negatively about it. The only reporter who actually seems in support of Batman is Lana Lang, and she's also one of the few people who feels RATIONAL during the comic. Like, everybody is reacting very poorly and with panic and contempt towards Batman's return, and it really really isn't helpful. You get this feeling of "it's us against the world," and it really contributes to the vibes.

4. Bruce is an old man. He's technically only 55, but a lifetime of fighting crime, trying (and failing to quit), and becoming dependent on alcohol to keep away the nightmares and the call to dress up as The Rodent of Vengeance will seriously mess up your body. Every time he gets in a fight, he is extremely conscious of how slow he is, how much more he can feel each hit, how much of an advantage all of the youngsters he's fighting have on him. It's to the point that he literally has to plan around his old age and failing body.

5. Alfred is PEAK SASSY in here, and it's beautiful! I actually think this might have the best characterization of Alfred, like, ever. He loves Bruce. That's his kid. Not his master. His kid. He's not gonna leave him alone. But, he also has too much dedication to his role as "butler" to actually stop him from doing anything STUPID, so he resorts to just sassing the man RUTHLESSLY instead. And for all the sass he gives Bruce about being Batman, he's also just as deep into this weird lifestyle. The highlight is definitely Alfred telling Bruce after the first night out that if it's suicide he's after, Alfred has an old family recipe that will be just as slow and excruciating, but less illegal.

6. Commissioner Gordon does not, never has, and never will get paid enough for dealing with this. Commissioner Yindel has no idea what steaming pile of sh*t she's just stepped into, and Gordon tried to warn her. Gordon, even though he continues to not particularly approve, remains one of Batman's staunchest allies through the whole thing. It's actually really heartwarming to see their "brothers in arms" thing they've got going.

7. OHMIGOSH CARRIE KELLEY! That is one AMAZING Robin right there!

Do you know how she becomes Robin? She sees Gordon turn on the batsignal, and she's ✨inspired✨ She saves up two weeks of lunch money, buys a Robin costume, grabs a slingshot and some fireworks, and starts fighting criminals and discreetly following Batman around. Like, that's just some sheer tenacity right there! My girl has moxie! She has grit! She has heart! She's the perfect Robin!

Anytime I do stuff with Carrie Kelley, I will be including the fireworks. Her first act as Robin is to stick a firecracker in a mugger's back pocket. Seriously.

Her first thing she does with Batman is to follow him to a really dangerous fight, find him at the end, drag his unconscious, broken body back to the batmobile, splints his arm with her girl scout training, and get him back to Alfred so he doesn't DIE! Batman, already feeling extremely sad because he misses Dick, decides to train her and take her on.

Poor Carrie! Her parents are awful! Like, they don't remember they have a kid level awful! Being with Bruce might be child endangerment, and he might be a quiet stoic bastard who keeps threatening to fire her, but at least he acknowledges her existence!

Carrie, my darling, my dear, my sweet baby girl, I don't understand HALF the stuff that comes out of your mouth! You and your 80s slang. Sweet mercy.

8. I think this universe had a. . .um. . . Marvel Civil War thing. Like, the whole thing is that Superman works for the government, invisibly, instead of publicly. He has to follow their orders, and he doesn't like it, but it does mean he still gets to save people. Oliver/Green Arrow apparently didn't listen and is rotting in jail (Bruce has to bust him out in the last issue). It's implied to be, along with the death of Jason, the thing that made Batman quit. Now that he's back, the whole government is NOT HAPPY about it. They mostly just try to ignore him with "not my circus, not my monkeys," but, the president does sic Clark on him to try to talk him down. Clark predicts that this'll go badly, but tries anyway. His prediction is correct.

9. Poor Selina! You didn't deserve that. TBH, nobody except Joker deserves what happens to them in this book. It's all just really tragic and sad.

10. Bruce is a deeply unwell man in this comic. Like, he definitely seems at his most emotionally healthy and lucid while he's being Batman, but that kind of obsessive drive clearly isn't good for him, mentally or physically. He's kind of just, purposeless and slipping away before he takes up the cowl, and afterwards, he is so so sad and feels like he's succumbed to his worst impulses. It's a lose lose lose situation for him. Poor dude.

11. F*ck you Joker. 'Nuff said. Stay dead this time please.

12. Batman, you've emotionally adopted Carrie. I know you're actively doing child endangerment and stuff, but you care about this little girl. You can stop referring to her as "good soldier."

13. The shot of Batman on the horse makes me want to write a Wild West AU of Batman, because that was a vibe and a half!

14. Just go read this one, seriously, it's good.

TL;DR

I know I didn't put in a segment on Batgirls, but I wanna finish that one first! It'll probably get it's own post!

Basically, this post boils down to:

Batfam comics are really great. I like reading the comics. At least the outdated ones that I was reading.

Steph is the best, put some respect on her name.

Comic books are funny.

Comics are heartwarming.

Tim has supervillain vibes and sad wet cat vibes at the same time.

The Dark Knight Returns is really sad and really good.

F*CK THE NEW 52!

That's all I've got for you! I still gonna be stewing on these for DAYS, but this at least helped get it out of my system. Now go read some comic books!

[journen]

Okay!! Because I'm not a huge fan of the format of long twitter threads, and this whole thing got kinda long 😅 I figured it could be best to post these story idea ramblings to Tumblr! So lol, prepare for some ramblings sabout my Ghost and Soap AU that's post MW2 campaign where Simon leaves the army to raise his nephew after his fam are killed.

This is all based off the au from this fic I wrote 🙈 if you want more context, you can find some here!

I just have a lot of ideas for this au and wanted to share some that I'll probably never be able to write, but yeah. Lmk if you guys have any thoughts! 😊

I guess TW too for: mentioned child injury, mentioned murder, references to Ghost's past from the comics. There's nothing graphic tho!

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

Price swears to Simon, in that hospital room a few days after the attack on Simon's fam, where Jo is lying injured and unconscious, but stable, that he will track down Roba and his men to get justice. He makes it a vow.

Theres not much development on the case for years tho. Maybe, after it initially happened, there was a brief investigation into it, but they ran into a lot of issues getting jurisdiction to operate in Mexico so the case went dry.

So, Simon has to learn to live with the fact that the people who did this to his family, and who tortured him, are still alive out there somewhere. But his nephew is his first priority, and he's accepted that too. He's not going to carelessly risk his life so he can't be there to raise his orphaned nephew in the name of revenge.

I don't think Simon, at this stage of his life, would be a violent revenge seeker? Perhaps if he is pushed too far, but let's not go there yet hahhaha.

Also, he's with Soap too, who helps ground him and keep him level headed.

Anyways, years later, Price calls Simon up, telling him of their update on the case. Maybe Roba has been located, and they only have a few day window to act. 

Price shows him the layout of the compound. Simon recognizes it. It's where he was kept captive for months all those years ago. Price offers that, if he wants, there's a spot on the squad for him. His Intel could be valuable. And he's cleared it with a lot of the other high ups to bring Simon along, or just didn't give them a choice, lol. (I have no idea if this would actually be possible irl, to have an SAS soldier who left the ranks, rejoin for a covert mission, but bare with me. Price can make it happen in this AU 🤣)

Simon has been out of active service for 5/6 years at this point though. And Price is asking him if he wants back in for one final op. Joseph is now around 10 years old maybe. He and Soap have been in a steady relationship for 5, Soap still serving in the military.

Anyways, cue big moment of Ghost picking up his old skull mask again. One he hasn't worn in 6 years. Holding the fabric brings back a lot of old memories for him. It feels heavy in his hands. He had changed so much since when he was the man who wore this mask...

but he still had it in him. He knew he did, deep down.

But did he want to *go* there, was he ready? Was it appropriate?

Would he be letting down Joseph though, if he agreed to this op?

What would Soap's feelings on the matter be?

But ultimately, Ghost agrees to it. I think he would need to take some time to consider it though. Maybe talk it through with the bf, Soap. But I think Simon would come to the conclusion that the team would be safest with him on the squad because of his existing knowledge of the compound. And he'd maybe feel safer being there himself, there to try to help the others if they run into trouble fighting his demons.

He does tell Price he has one condition about the op though, is that nobody dies. And he doesn't plan on dying either. He has to live for Joseph, and for Soap, too.

Jo is maybe 9 or 10 at this point. When Simon and Soap go away, I don't think Simon would tell Jo the real nature of his mission. He wouldn't lie to him, but the truth is a lot for a 10 year old to take in right? Maybe he says the mission is going to be scary, but that he's going to do his best to make sure they all make it back okay.

Maybe Joseph stays with one of Soap's sisters.

Ghost feels terrible to do this to Jo but he has to stop Roba from doing this again.

And blabkabla stuff happens and Simon makes it back okay tho yayyyyy 🤣

[izunias-meme-hole]

Since you’ve been doing a fair amount of Batman posting, mind if you list your favorite members of the Gotham Rouges?

Okay. I’ll list about 10 of my faves, though we’ll be counting backwards here.

Also I'll be listing the variations of my faves whom I like the most to make things clearer.

Number 10. Poison Ivy (B:TAS) - If we're talking about character alone, this is the blueprint for literally every present day version of Poison Ivy, however this specific incarnation of the character has aged pretty well. She's every bit the dangerous eco-warrior that she makes herself out to be and will gladly turn someone into a tree for bulldozing a forest, but there is still a level of humanity to her character much like half the villains in the show.

Number 9. Mr. Freeze (B:TAS & Batman Beyond) - I feel like this is a "to the surprise of absolutely nobody" moment, but come on! Mr. Freeze here not only was made into a more tragic character compared to his early comic counterpart, but he actually had a whole arc across the entirety of B:TAS which ended at Batman Beyond. Victor Fries was a scientist trying to save his wife, Nora, from a rare disease, so he put her into a cryopod to preserve her until he found a cure. Then he and Nora were almost killed, but Nora was still kept on ice, while Victor got turned into a literal cold hearted monster. Even after Nora was finally cured, Victor was forever unable to be with her due to his own condition worsening to the point where he was just a head in a jar, angry with the world. A couple of decades later, and he is given a new body by the Wayne Powers CEO, Derek Powers, and while things were finally going well at first and Victor was reforming as soon as he had the chance, things went horribly wrong again, resulting in Victor dying as Mr. Freeze. I may have missed some details here, but yeah that's a summary of this sad ice man.

Number 8. Dr. Crane/Scarecrow (Nolan Trilogy) - Crane wasn't a big villain in the grand scheme of the trilogy, but my god Cillian Murphy does a great job with the character. Like I wish that his supervillain outfit wasn't just a bag over his face, but Scarecrow manages to be quite the dangerous loon with a mask of sanity in Batman Begins, an active member of the underworld in The Dark Knight, and the guy actively sending folks to their deaths in The Dark Knight Rises. Could we have had more of him? Yes. Did he use up his screen time well? Absolutely. Though his fear toxin could've been infinitely wilder.

Number 7. The Phantasm (B:TAS but movie) - The Phantasm is the literal best darker counterpart to Batman a lot of levels.

Number 6. Harley Quinn (B:TAS yet again) - The minor side villainess turned breakout character of the show. If anyone has seen B:TAS and then seen the rest of the media she's in, then you know why this is the best version of her. A good amount of things about the character being based around her actress (R.I.P Arleen Sorkin), her interactions with half the cast, Peak HarIvy content, the best representation of how bad her situation with her abusive ex was, and the perfect mixture between being a not-so-great-person and a precious lil' thing who deserves better.

Number 5. Harvey Dent, Two-Face, & The Judge (B:TAS) - The first well developed Two-Face, and the definitive. I mean he was never a bad villain, but the character was never utilized to the fullest like he was in B:TAS. Harvey Dent was a good guy with an other half that was the literal manifestation of his bottled up anger, an anger that turned into something else entirely after the left side of his face got blown off. Now Harvey and his other half start their own crusade to eradicate organized crime by taking it over from within. In other words, Two-Face here wanted to originally wanted to achieve something good through something bad, and yes a lot of it is due to a fair coin flip. However Harvey began to disagree with some of the shit his other half was getting up to, and as a result developed a third personality that was so separate from both himself and Two-Face that it tried killing both of them and, by extension, himself. This third entity would end up being The Judge, a ruthless, wraith-like vigilante with a judge's attire. So after being detained in Arkham for good, all three Harvey's are literally stuck with each other, and in a spin-off comic set directly after that whole situation with The Judge, Two-Face was given another double headed coin that would constantly come up on the "good side," and spent a lot of time dismantling his criminal enterprise, before doing (another) suicide attempt. This take on Two-Face was something else.

Number 4. Oswald Cobblepot (Gotham) - If I were to list everything that this smug snake has done, along with some of the shit that happened to him, we'd be here all day. However, this is the most well characterized iteration of The Penguin that we've ever had, in my humble opinion.

Number 3. Catwoman (Batman Returns) - I'm dying on this hill gentlemen. Despite not being... anything like her comic counterpart, outside of name, confidence, etc, Michelle Pfeiffer's Selina is something great in her own right.

Number 2. The Riddler (The Batman 2022) - Turning the Riddler into a a catholic, terrorist, cult leader that looked up to a young and angry Year-Two Batman, while also keeping the core elements of his character the same is something I'll never stop praising. He's still intelligent, he's still creative, he's still on the verge of breakdowns when his ego is badly damaged, etc.

Number 1. The Joker (B:TAS & Batman Beyond) - This is a "to the surprise to absolutely nobody" moment, though in this case I cannot be blamed. B:TAS understood the assignment and provided the definitive iteration of The Joker, completely inspired by his early comic appearances and some elements from Jack Nicholson's take on the character. An ex-mafiosi turned Clown Prince of Crime that lives to only spread misery across Gotham in the most creative way possible with a smile on his face. That was the idea that Paul Dini and Bruce Timm ran with when conceptualizing this bastard, and they just explored the concept for all its worth. Not only that, but this was the first time that Mark Hamill ever voiced this bastard, and it was just perfect casting. Overall, nostalgia got me to re-examine this take on the character, and I can easily say that without a doubt, this is the best Joker.

[mincedpeaches]

Man.... earthspark 2A episodes post

*shaking Earthspark by the shoulders* I want to like you so bad but you are making it so HARD.

Nothing I have been complaining about has changed, and not only that, the things that make the show the most interesting have been removed.

I am absolutely baffled by with what happened with Ghost. They "disbanded"? And now the Autobots just get all their stuff, no questions asked? And when the Decepticons made their huge super-villain style lair in the timeskip AND then later in this season a huge fuck-off sized transformer bursts from the ground, the collective of humanity and the U.S. military was doing what exactly? Sitting around with their thumbs in their asses? Like okay sure Ghost disbanding - but what is alternative? Because it shouldn't be nothing.

The thing about Ghost was that not only were they handling the transformers "threat" in terms of keeping Decepticons locked up, they were doing PR for the Transformers that were left. Because of that entire war in the 80s. In the previous season, secrecy mattered because dealing with humanity in the form of Ghost was a consequence. Which was interesting. Now the Maltos are the ONLY ONES fighting the baddies. Why?

Like I get it, the kids are the protagonists and we're here to sell toys. But its so BIZARRE when the new framework of the season is operating more like a TFP-style "these kids are the only one that can help because they're the only ones that know" when, hello, all of humanity knows. And what's more, now they (by which I mean other humans) seemingly have NOTHING to say about it. The first episode there's a highway chase with cars whizzing by and when one of the Malto kids deflects one of the baddies, they crash into another baddie, which EXPLODES while pedestrian cars dodge it. Hello. What. The Maltos go to a carnival and the Terrans are just there among humans. Okay. Considering the history of TFs in this show, I would at least think this should be some kind of public spectacle. (Side note, the whole "there was a war in the 80s and the transformers have comics in universe" was already such an off thing that just felt like weird and bad "fan service" in S1, and it feels even more off here where it has even less of an impact to the plot and more of a hindrance to a coherent plot.)

At minimum if they just let Schloder be the kids' "Fowler", where Schloder is their liaison to the U.S. government. SOMETHING. Come on. WHY WAS SCHLODER JUST A CAMEO AT THE CARNIVAL. And then maybe also have the Decepticons NOT in some incredibly obvious looking base that the army could missile strike from the sky. Is all I'm saying. Aforementioned giant transformer comes from the ground and humans understandably interacting with panic and maybe also like. A fighter jet or two whizzing by and taking ineffective pot shots. SOMETHING. Please.

Not to mention the weird side affect this has where since there are no other human groups dealing with TFs, the Malto parents now look inconsistent with any "no kids its too dangerous" bits. Fighting three Deceptions on a freeway? Fine. But a Quint Executioner? Too dangerous.

Also on that topic the Quint lore drop and lack of follow up for episodes on end like WHAT are we doing here Earthspark. Mo just stumbling into the plot not ONCE, but TWICE in the form of these random ass ruins. WHY IS NO ONE INVESTIGATING ANYTHING. THIS IS LIKE THAT DAMN COCAINE BEAR ALL OVER AGAIN. The only thing even semi-interesting with all that was the implication that Quintus might be kind of a dick. I hope they follow up on that, though my hopes are not high...

I'll say the best episode was without a doubt the one where Robbie and Hashtag lose Optimus's trailer. In a show where you have the PRIVILEGE of 20+ episodes a season, these are the kind of fun slot-in-anywhere one offs we should be getting. The second best episode was the carnival episode but ONLY because of the villain. He was giving tfa-villain to me and I loved it. *bangs fist on table* More monsters of week! More villains of the week! More fun one-off episodes!

The third best episode would have been the one with Jawbreaker and Aftermath, EXCEPT for the ending, because IT DIDNT HAVE CONSEQUENCES. Aftermath stole all the cave water, oh no! What will the Terrans do for fuel now? Will the Maltos be reassuring Jawbreaker that his choice to try and befriend Aftermath was the right one, even though it resulted in them not having fuel, and that they will work together as a family to find some alternate solution? No! It never comes up again!

It was the same thing for the one little "character" bit that carries from the first episode to the last: the whole "family comes first" line. In the first episode of the season, Robbie reaches for the ember stone but Twitch says the line family comes first and gives up the stone to save him. Then later in the episode he says the same thing and gives up the stone again. Wouldn't it have had more impact if the first time someone made the selfish choice instead, sees the consequences of that, and then later in the episode choose family? Like you know, they learned something? And then later in the finale of these episodes, it would be a callback to the lesson that Robbie felt he learned in the first episode when Robbie chooses to save Alex, rather than just the Malto's ridiculously on-the-nose family motto being hammered home constantly. I know its for kids, but come on, we love putting in lessons for kids right.

ALSO, not the ending to this batch of episodes being basically the same as the S1 finale 😭(All the OG bots being incapacitated, Robbie and Mo holding the stone and feeling their feelings to save the day.) I'll say too while the idea of the Autobots running their own base and mission while the kids and Terrans are doing their sidestuff sounds good in theory, the way they intersect here with the trident weapon (I forget its name) make the Autobots look like CHUMPS. They lose it so easily.

Speaking of the Autobots doing their own thing. The lack of OG bots. Oh my goddd. The worst its been. Did Bumblebee even have a single significant line. MEGATRON HAD LIKE. SIX LINES AT MOST. PLEASE. I WANT TO BE HEARING HIS BEAUTIFUL SCOTTISH TWANG. SO BADLY. The OG bots should ALSO be getting fun one off episodes! For a balance. (Again I point to the trailer episode.) Bumblebee and Breakdown start fighting once and they don't say a SINGLE word to each other. My heart hurts. Them seemingly not actually hitting each other if you look real close is NOT THE SAME AS CHARACTERS TALKING. rip. (I'm not even gone get into how Megatron is starting to fall into the same pitfalls as mtmte!Megatron. You can deduce my implication there.)

Also on the topic of Breakdown and all the other Decepticons. What HAPPENED. With the nuance. Bruh. Opening the season with Breakdown as a lackey and eager to smash shit. WHY are all these bots following Starscream. It's SUCH a jarring pivot from last season. And then the new Chaos bots were so whatever. They served their purpose. But didn't do anything exciting for me.

Finally, the show didn't even LOOK as good. The Quint Executioner was UGLY AS SIN. Ugh. RIP.

One other positive thing I'll note as a P.S. is that I think I laughed more than any other batch of episodes. Like I don't remember the show being particularly funny in S1. But there were some solid chortles and guffaws here. Some of them might have been more baffled guffaws at the things the shows writing was doing, and some of it might have been that I was watching the episodes while on an airplane with only four hours of sleep. But. Guffaws were had. Like good example the oddball Aftermath and Breakdown father son gag. Out of place and weird but hell if I didn't laugh.

Tl;dr: Much potential from S1 blown away by removing unique plot elements and character development from the first season. Problems from the first season still here, and many of those problems even worse. Earthspark. What happened.

[lord-squiggletits]

I wish to love and appreciate idw optimus more too. But I also don’t want to read through the entirety of IDW 1.0. Can you please recommend me any specific issues/parts?

My best friend and fellow IDW Optimus lover made a post compiling all the comics with major story beats involving Optimus. Her list has a lot of the same things mine does, but also a lot more specific issues because she actually knows which specific issues of which series you can read specifically for ones focused on IDW Optimus. We don't agree on everything (I love some comics she dislikes and vice versa), but I would recommend her list simply because it's the most well-documented and thorough. Link I also have a lot of far less coherent but still genuine posts about IDW OP on my #idw op love tag.

As for specific parts I would recommend... since you don't want to read through all of IDW1, I'll go ahead and recommend you things based on in-universe chronological order rather than story release order, but if anything here interests you then I would recommend reading IDW1 in release order so that you get a better grasp of the story's context and how new lore was given out over time:

Chaos Theory and Police Action by James Roberts (The Transformers 2009 issues 22-23): I love love LOVE the way JRO writes Optimus talking to Megatron during the present day, it's very IDW-Optimus flavored because of how blunt, abrasive, and snappy Optimus is. There's a part in the comic where Megatron claims that he "knows [Optimus] better than anyone else," and he's right, but it's also true that Optimus knows Megatron well enough to see that he's bullshitting and it's very entertaining watching Optimus slowly lose his patience with him. I love the dialogue especially, no one (canon or fandom) has ever quite written the same IDW OP who's in this set of comics. It's also the most MegOP comic of all time because the sexual tension and the subliminal imagery of them doing BDSM together is unreal, plus it really captures their dynamic of two old soldiers who snap together with chemistry despite (or perhaps because of) being such long-time enemies. They just UNDERSTAND each other so well. Also, as a bonus point, Chaos Theory is where the pre-war lore for IDW1 began being published, so if you read Chaos Theory then the context for future pre-war lore makes a little more sense.

Shadowplay by James Roberts (More Than Meets the Eye issues 10-11): More pre-war lore that picks up where Chaos Theory/Police action left off. Important because it establishes a lot of IDW OP's character relationships, especially with "the Senator," Roller, and to a degree Ratchet and some minor side characters. I don't really know what to say about this besides it's just really fucking fun to read and features IDW OP getting to do cool shit like fight bad guys, investigate conspiracies, and do heists while also establishing one of his key character traits: being disastrously gay for suspicious men that he places entirely too much trust in to tell him what the right thing to do is.

Spotlight: Orion Pax by James Roberts: Okay, I'm really sorry for recommending JRO's stuff because it feels like favoritism and I don't even think JRO does the best version of IDW OP, it's just going in in-universe chronological order means that a lot of JRO stuff ends up first on the list. This one doesn't really have much of consequence in it and is honestly one of the weaker Spotlight issues, but like Shadowplay, it involves Orion Pax doing fun action shit and having way too much trust in a suspicious man (a new one from the suspicious man in Shadowplay).

The Autocracy Trilogy (Autocracy, Monstrosity, Primacy) by Chris Metzen: Oh my fucking god this is THE IDW Optimus to me, this trilogy is literally what made my ears perk up to even start liking IDW OP because it's what took me from "Optimus Prime, that's the guy who's the super awesome leader that everyone likes and is a paragron to everyone, yeah I know him" to "Oh.... holy shit this is such a good plot/worldbuilding, Optimus has so much CONFLICT and DRAMA with other people." It covers one of my favorite periods of the general Transformers formula, namely pre-war and early war plot events as conflicts come to a boiling point, there's political conflicts and personal conflicts, the planet is falling to shit and everyone is trying to escape and things are as depressing and scary as you would expect for a war that's literally about to consume a whole planet. I found the general plotlines to be gripping and intense (Autocracy is the weakest in this regard, but the writing gets better with each book) and I really like seeing how Optimus grapples with leadership. Especially the negative parts where people hate/fear him because of his association with Zeta's regime (the previous Prime, who Orion worked for), call his judgment into question, refuse his calls to action or waver in their faith in him, and so forth. I found it to be a really nuanced yet sympathetic view of IDW Optimus that made me fall in love with him. Because really, the thing that humanizes a character the most is making them flawed, and Autocracy trilogy Optimus is so incredibly flawed and conflicted. And also it shows him being shit on by other characters in a way that's well written in a plot that makes sense and doesn't feel like the entire plot is conspiring to shit all over him.

The Death of Optimus Prime by James Roberts and John Barber: This comic is basically the transition from phase 1 to phase 2, it establishes the branching plotlines of MTMTE and exRID, so this is another one of those comics that will help you understand IDW1 better if you want to read for more than just Optimus. Anyways, DoOP is great because it has a similar vibe to the Autocracy trilogy in that society is chaos and full of people who fucking hate Optimus' guts for the role he played in the war. You can also compare/contrast the way OP was before the war and early in the war versus the way he is after the war and see how much the war changed him (Chaos Theory also kind of is like this but it more shows bitchy Optimus specifically in his dynamic with Megatron). It also features a fair amount of Optimus Heroic Moments, Optimus Brooding, and Optimus being so fucking depressed he's literally sad when he wakes up and realizes he's not dead dude get some fucking therapy please I'm begging you--

Punishment by John Barber: This skips ahead quite a bit in the story but I think stands decently well on its own without having to understand the wider context. It's one of Barber's best-written stories and one of the only ones I've come back to reread for its own sake. It features Optimus trying to solve the murder-mystery of a bunch of Decepticons, featuring really cool plot conflicts like Optimus trying to navigate post-war society and the tensions that still linger from the Autobot-Decepticon war. I really like this one because it has that whole "not everyone loves OP and a lot of people hate him for justified reasons" thing that makes IDW OP a much more 3D character, PLUS it has some politics with the way Decepticons are treated post war. And I think it does really interesting things with Optimus in terms of showing how he DOES have this idealistic, merciful side that wants people to choose peace and letting go of vengeance, but of course it's not so easy to expect that of people after a 4 million year war. So when people inevitably choose violence, Optimus gets frustrated and angry and lashes out in a way that feels very real and understandable. It's a really good example of a comic that shows IDW OP in a nuanced way, showcasing both his virtues and flaws in a complicated situation that shows that there's no easy solution to these problems and no way for Optimus to escape without getting his hands dirty. Unlike future comics which involve OP being in complicated situations but instead the plot is super contrived and seems to overwhelmingly shit on OP without ever mentioning the very obvious ways that he could be defended, creating a story that's conceptually fascinating but incredibly mediocre in execution.

If I had to recommend any single one of these to read, I would recommend the Autocracy trilogy the most because it's literally the story that made me love IDW Optimus and made me realize "whoa, this guy is super nuanced and not what I expected of him." That's not to say that no other Optimi have depth and nuance, but I think the Autocracy trilogy was great for me personally as one of the first IDW1 comics I read. It struck a really good balance between "uh Optimus was part of some bad things that warrant being shit on" and "Optimus is struggling to overcome those bad associations he did, succeeding with some people and failing with others" and "Optimus is an optimist who has faith in others even when they don't have faith in themselves." Also, as a bonus, the Autocracy trilogy also features cunty murder-husband Megatron, an interesting character arc for Hot Rod, and the Dinobots as really interesting supporting characters (including their leader, Grimlock, having a cute veteran-rookie dynamic with Hot Rod that I wish we got more of).

[marenwithanm]

Oh!! What headcanons/plans do you have about Wood's family? And/or Who was the hardest to design?

Hi thanks for the ask! I don't really plan on going into Wood's family and such during the actual comic, so I'm happy to lore dump it all right now 🤣 he's probably the one who I've thought the most about for this question, because there's literally nothing to go off of. Also I got another ask for question 9 (which is asking about all of the links families) so I'll go into my thoughts on the other Link's families there.

So Wood was a normal kid you could find anywhere, living in a small village. (I can't decide if I want that to be on the outskirts of Hyrule or not even in Hyrule in the first place). He had parents who worked hard to provide for him and his little baby sister. His dad was a wood worker, and made the little play sword he still carries around (so Wood is quite attached to it. Sure would be a shame if it were to, oh I don't know, snap in half one day 😈) One day, while he was out playing, Ganon's armies raided the town. It went a little something like this:

Wood survived, of course, but the head trauma combined with the emotional trauma left him with spotty memories. He's been wandering around since, mostly just trying to stay alive in the monster infested wilderness. Until one day, he runs into the Princess's nursemaid, Impa, and is tasked with saving the land of Hyrule.

So basically Wood did have a family, but he can't really remember that fact beyond some blurry faces and a feeling of warmth. In between the first game and Adventure of Link, I think he spends some time trying to remember where he came from, and maybe even finds the ruins of that village, but that's a story for another time. It does make his fight against Ganon a bit more... personal than he first realized 🤣

Aaaaanyways, onto who was the hardest to design. I tend to stick pretty closely to the base designs of the Links (which is part of why I think other ppl's links meet aus are so cool how do y'all come up with such neat designs????) but if I had to chose someone it would probably be our ✨Mysterious Figure✨. But I can't talk about him yet so second hardest would probably be Rock. There are two toon links in Little Links (wind waker and minish cap), and I didn't want either to just look like the stock toon link design.

(plot twist, this one is neither minish cap or wind waker link, its spirit tracks link! and unless you're a mega nerd and notice that the line art being colored is a spirit tracks thing (and maybe the belt being grey and the shield design, there's really no way to tell lol. So, you can see why I wanted to stay away from that)

Ocean was easy, just put him in his outset outfit and you're done. But Rock was a bit harder since he doesn't have any alternate outfits in game. I ended up going with a blacksmith apron and long sleeved shirt and pants in the toon link colors. I like his design, but I do sometimes worry he isn't recognizable as Minish Cap Link on his own. But to be fair to me, the only way you can recognize Minish Cap Link even in offical art is with Ezlo on his head and I can't exactly do that here since its before everyone's adventures, so I think I did just fine. As for everyone else's designs I really just took their offical art and in game designs into account. Like Pinkie's red shoes are just from alttp Link's sprite

Ocean has a bracelet because he has one in wind waker and I extrapolated from there.

I do kind of wish I had done something fun with Wood's eyes, since his loz 1 sprite has dual colored green and brown eyes, but oh well its too late now.

Also, sorry this answer took so long, I wanted to include a bit of art but its my spring break right now so its been a hectic (but fun) week

[xryosakeyx]

Anyways, here's some random sketches related to the fic I finally can get around to posting 'cause it's a bunch! (These span from about three months, so yeah...) They don't really lean into heavy spoiler territory, so I thought it'd be safe to post them!

^Blawsth's champ (name's Lucille, if anyone cares...). First sketch is from earlier today and it's supposed to be of him in his youth. If you've read chapter one already, a specific detail that was made was that the Pokémon Ash is looking for pops up every thirty years or so, and let me tell you, a whole bunch of stuff happened within that time lol. The rest of the sketches were made in June, so I haven't drawn him in a good while. His whole thing was that I based him on shock-rockers and his backstory does take influence from that subset of performers. That comic in the last pic kind of gives ypu the idea of it, and that is if you can even read my stupidly tiny handwrit–

Okay, y'know what? Let me decipher it:

JAKE: You don't get it Ash, Lucille was banned from performing 'cause he went overboard!

ASH: Oh, really?

JAKE: That and he's the champ!

PIKACHU, as a tiny blob thing on Ash's shoulder, turning his back away from the camera as he sees a weird goth-thing from the distance: Pi.

JAKE: Ah! There he is, great eyes Pikachu! Lu-cille! Sign my autograph, please!!!

Alright, satisfied?

^Some gym leader stuff. First sketch is supposed to be of a double-battle gym where one specializes in water and the other with fire. Their main motif is that they're supposed to be treasure hunters, so their Pokémon are very agile in combat as they bounce back from one another. I'm still trying to work on their outfits a little, but their masks are supposed to be based on their aces which are (of course) more fakmons! Their names (right to left) are Lenny and Hans.

Second was two sketches I did of the grass specialist, Vendanna, who is an actor known for her stunts. The main challenge in her gym is the various status effects her Pokémon can create (mostly poison), so trainers should watch out!

Third is Lizzie who is supposed to be a ghost specialist. She tends to be very introverted, only popping up whenever the supernatural bells ring, but her Pokémon are the complete opposite and love getting other's nerves. I based her off trad-goth stereotypes because I feel like they're very underespresented in media, but yeah, she's basically Blawsth's personal "witch" and has more knowledge about the card game than most people (still unsatisfied with her boots though...). Also, her ears are pointed 'cause I felt like making them pointy :P

Also, BTW, these won't be the exact order of gym leaders Ash and co. have to deal with, I just felt like sharing them for now!

^Rivals. I unfortunately can't really share much of their story with you guys as their role leans into spoiler territory, so I'll keep it as brief as possible. First is named Cianna and seriously wants to be the The Very Best Like No One Ever Was™. Out of Blawsth of course. Alright, in all seriousness, as a childhood friend who had to move upstate years ago, she hoped to reunite with Miley, who is oddly very evasive towards her, which is quite sad because she never got around to say goodbye to her...And that is as much info I can actually share on the both of them as characters! Alright, onto the next one...

The second is named Urie and oh boy I seriously can not wait to finally introduce him to the story. If you can recognize who I nabbed his color pallete from, congratulations, you're still not really going any relevent story info until I actually write about it. Anyways, all you gotta know about this guy is that he has this smirk you just want to punch and he's annoyling very friendly, surprsingly enough. To an extent (I could only post this single sketch of him though as (A.) I was only going for the color pallet when it came to this set so I couldn't care less about the face... and (B.) I do have an entire page just dedicated to him because he's so absurd of a character to me, but unfortunately it's behind another page filled with sharpie sketches and if you guess anything from the third pic, it likes to bleed through a lot).

Third is Luka and not only is she a coordinator hailing from Unova but she also participates in gym matches as well! She also oddly wants Ash to step away from his companions, for some reason...Yeah, gotta keep things hush-hush, lol. Other than that, she's a very snarky individual, some might even compare her to an Ekans. Others...a more sinister Pokémon...(anyways, say hi to Lizzie again at the bottom corner! She's selling her a doll that doesn't even work, LOL!) (Also, I imagine this one with a Joisey accent!)

Anyways, that's as much as Tumblr will let me post without going over the image limit, so I'll go follow up with this post tomorrow! Your SOTD has been brought to you by, once again, Specimen! I keep thinking of this song in paticular when it comes to contest ideas, especially considering Blawsth's whole culture going a little bit overboard with it ever since Lucille was banned from performing.

[magicalgirlmindcrank]

Miku Wrap-up 2022

Another year comes to an end and it's time to look back and reflect, so here's my top 10 favorite Mikus of the year!

#10:

While this has a few janky bits that keep it from being higher up I can't help but adore her smarmy ass look, the foot up on an unoccupied chair and the little details with the dice and the cards.

#9:

This one, inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, is just so ridiculous I can't help but love it. It's somewhat a spiritual successor to the Goya inspired Miku and emulating the style/appearance of such old art was a joy, as was filling in the gaps with a few Miku related references.

#8:

Speaking of the ridiculous, this Loss meme parody I titled Gain.png still gets me. Doing the Gumi for the body pillow was also fun and Miku is very cute in this.

#7:

I have no idea why I drew this even then but fuck me is it good. Don't think I've drawn a pony since a few poor attempts over a decade before this. I love how AJ came out and the idea of like, Applejack carrying home a drunk Miku while chiding her for having too much cider is so fucking good to me.

#6:

This one is rather simple honestly, but I just love how clear the silhouette is and the highlights from the back lighting. This was inspired by an AURORA concert my sister invited me to.

#5:

Im still very happy with how this came out, especially in regards to the lighting. I feel like I made a lot of headway here as an artist, even if parts of it could stand to be cleaner.

#4:

Hatslimey Migoo looks so relaxed here, the details I was able to include for the room such as the water under the door are great and the small bit of landscape outside the window is something I'm extremely proud of. Had I just a bit more time with this piece I think it could have placed even higher.

#3

This one's a bit special cuz uh, it's fucking me lmao. Not only is this my high school duds, the location is also based off the liquor store I used to bum around at after school senior year. I still have the pants (they're more shredded now) and the black and white sleeve (actually leg warmers). The only real anachronism is the black nails- my dad wouldn't let me do that cuz he said I'd look like a fag lmao. Looking at this piece brings me just immense amounts of joy and soothes that part of me still in highschool and mad about it.

#2:

Honestly this and the #1 spot are really tough to decide which goes where but I think I'm happy with this. Based off some AI generated text (no doubt written by Miku herself) Not only is this the most successful piece I've done notes-wise it's also my first one where I drew more akin to painting then to coloring cleaned up lines, a process I made a ton of progress with over the year. There's very few things about this I would change (namely a few details in the final panel) but the way this comic is laid out was and is excellent. I feel this piece is the biggest jump in overall quality I had during the year.

Honorable mention:

While i do adore these, especially the top left and bottom one, there are a few issues that keep it from being in the top 10 properly. I also wanted to avoid this list being just every Hatslimey Migoo piece which actually brings me to the final entry and my favorite Miku of the year 2022-

#1:

The original Hatslimey Migoo, before she even had that name. This piece is very interesting because I had pissed away most of time and couldn't do the Miku I had thought about doing up to that point. Unwilling to do proper anatomy either, because again, I had gotten too wrapped up in runescape and was low on time, It popped in my head that I could make her a slime girl. I can't mess up getting bodily structure right if there is no proper bodily structure after all. The result couldn't have been better. She's so cute and adorable and this is easily the best original design I've yet to do for Miku. I doubt I'll top it for some time. The pieces came together naturally- her color had to be green to give her that Miku color, she had a few spots to give some detail, her arms were bulky to be reminiscent of her sleeves the headset was to help push visually that this was, indeed, Hatsune Miku and her eyes were pink to stand out and draw attention to them. Created in haste, Hatslimey Migoo has gone on to fill my heart with joy (and slime) and if I could pick any of my Mikus to be adopted by the wider vocaloid fan base it would have to be Migoo.

Thats my top 10 for 2022, I'll see you next year to wrap up this year- I'm sure I'll make even better Mikus! If you like these and wish to support me, I have a Patreon where I upload the full PSD, PNG and a 60 second time lapse of the Miku being drawn. It's only 2$ a month and it means a lot to me.

[thattimdrakeguy]

Hey, I've been lurking on your posts, definetly agree with a lot of your takes, but one thing that always bother me is your depiction of Tim Drake's skills. Like, making him out to be really weak and downplaying his strengths. That's not saying he's this super awesome dude who can do anything. He was described as not as natural at combat stuff as Dick and Jason, but he worked hard to overcome that and became someone that stands as an equal to them. He wasn't the weakest Robin, he was equal to them because he put in the work. That's what makes him relatable. The talk of forever weak Tim, like Damian saying he could never lose to Tim, and Tim agreeing and using trickery to take the win, it stinks of genetic superiority. Considering Post-Crisis, where he was depicted as pretty buff actually. He was about as big at 13 as Jaso was when he died at 15. It was only after flashpoint that you see talk like this. And I agree, that sometimes fandom exaggerates his intelligence, but his Robin and Red-Robin runs show that he is pretty equal to Bruce and Dick as a detective, that in Gotham he is second only to Barbara in computer work. It's not that Tim's weaker and less skilled than everyone, and it's not that he's so much smarter than everyone either. I'd take 15 year old Tim and put him equal to 15 year old Dick and Jason. I'd put Red Robin as close to an equal to Nightwing, and equal to Red Hood. People do forget he's also won against Red Hood in canon, as well as lost. They've fought a couple of times. So yeah, I don't vibe with Tim being considered the weakest Gotham vigilante, and with 14 year old Damian being considered top 3, with Cass and Bruce. I'd buy it when he's older. Sorry for being long-winded, I was kinda venting. I'd love to hear your opinion. No hate either way, reply to this or not, it's your choice.

That was very difficult to read. So I'm gonna briefly write, what I think is a summarized version of it, and I'll answer what I gathered out of it, and if I'm wrong, I want you to send me another ask so I can answer this right.

"Why do you make out Tim to be really weak? Art depicts something different from what you said. Comics have said he's better in this and that."

Basically, the answer is, the art style in the 90s made everyone really big and buff, look at the Marvel cartoons at the time, most action figures, and it even went for most comics. BUT, the way Tim was written, and shown in his brief time before the 80s and that bit of time when that fad ended shown Tim wasn't meant to look like a steroid abuser.

Tim was constantly talked about as being skinny, and small. Well, skinny in what he seemed like when he had civilian clothes anyways. He was lean.

So, yeah, what he looked like a lot didn't match up.

In the 90s and I'm sure other eras, and art styles. You gotta learn to accept the sensibilities at the time, and not let it trick you into thinking something the intention wasn't.

Also 13-year-old Tim definitely isn't meant to be seen as the same size as 15-year-old Jason.

Here's how they're depicted by the same artist in the same story:

While Jim Aparo does have a same face problem, there's a lot of panels where Tim looks entirely generic, and does make Tim more buff in the costume compare to civilian clothes, which is an inconsistency. Not counting how his sizing of Tim is off compared to how George Perez, the guy to draw the proper first appearance of Tim as we know him. He still makes sure Tim is seen as softer, smaller, and far 'cuter' compared to how he depicts Jason on a regular enough bases, that you can tell what Tim is actually meant to look like, when he's trying harder.

(Ignore the Robin in the upper left corner, that is Dick not Jason.)

Jim Aparo was also the artist for most of Jason's Robin run on Batman (The Jason we know, not the Dick Grayson copy.) Which includes Death of the Family, where he's still depicted as being larger than Tim.

While Jim has a clear love for the ever large, imposing Batman. Jason is still taller than Tim, and has quite the mature look to him.

While a bit inconsistent. Jason is just under Bruce's shoulder. While Tim is basically at Bruce's belly button. And Jason is consistently buff while in costume and not. There was even a panel (that I don't have now, but I did once. I have a large Jason post you may be able to find) that showed Jason working out with bar bells. The intention clearly being that he's meant to be a more of a brawler compared to Dick, and later Tim.

So within the art, and the writing, no, Tim is meant to be quite small, and Jason is meant to be quite large. Jason just wasn't allowed to make Batman seem less imposing when around him, as it'd look silly. Certainly in that ridiculous original Robin costume.

Also I just don't care for Red Robin. I think it just wrote in stuff that felt more like sudden changes to validate a sudden decision, more than it did depict Tim in a new chapter of his existence. Therefore I don't like it, nor do I care for what it says.

Chris Yost is more often than not a great writer.

Red Robin to me, is not one of those comics where he is a great writer.

Lot of great ideas, but more executions I don't think work than anything else.

I don't think all comics are equal.

Canon is very weak even when they tried to maintain it.

So for my sake I go purely off of what I interpret to be the intention, and only care for stories that I personally think do a good job at continuing, and developing narratives that feel in-line with the intention.

Because a writer can write what ever they want as long as the editors, and publisher, and who ever else allows it to be released.

If I were to treat every comic as equal these character's personalities and skills would be so inconsistent you'd have to be a world class mental gymnast champion to bother finding reason for it.

I don't personally bother with it, because why would I? If I don't think a story is well written, then I simply don't think it's well written. I don't get anything out of forcing myself to think I like something I don't.

Also I never said Tim is very weak. I don't think he should be very weak. And if I have said something like that, I likely meant it within a context.

I just like it when writers remember that his way of winning fights, is his wits, not his brawn.

You can be talented, and a winner, without being great at everything. Tim isn't relatable when he's great at everything. Do most people practice so much they become great at everything? No, because that isn't realistic. Not that Batman characters are realistic. It tends to go against Tim's point is all, in my eyes at least.

Tim somehow becoming Dick's equal within 3 and a half years, when Dick has been at it for a decade or more, is insanely hard to believe. Especially when Dick is a natural talent, and Tim is not.

If everyone is depicted as talented in the same exact ways, that is extremely boring to me. So I don't care for it.

Why bring up a character being this, this, and that, to never use it? That's pretty lazy, boring writing to me. So when a writer acknowledges how Tim is supposed to win fights, and actually puts the effort into depicting that, I give it praise, because I think it deserves it.

Also, within the specific example you gave: Damian is a genetically altered super warrior, trained from birth, with (I don't know if this is canon anymore, or was ever much of a thing past one story) enhancements grafted into him.

It's way more interesting to me, to have Damian be able to best Tim at normal combat, 'cause of their immensely different upbringings. Rather than simply saying "Tim is older, so he should win". That's not very clever, or fun to think about.

Although proper power scaling in comics is nonsense as well, in my personal opinion, because really, who ever wins is up to the writer. Any writer can have a character can find a way to beat another character. What makes it well-written or not, is if the writer goes through the effort to make it believable within what's established.

Which is why I liked Zdarsky writing Tim to use his wits to best someone who has far more experience and natural talent in one on one combat. It let's Tim beat someone, he probably shouldn't be able to, in a way that's interesting, and true to character.

However you are entirely free to enjoy buff, Red Robin, as talented as the rest of them Tim. I'm not meaning this as anything in the form of disrespect, or anything like that. You're entirely free to enjoy whatever you want.

All I'm saying is, I don't buy it, and I don't think it SHOULD be how Tim is depicted, because it makes him a lot more generic and typical, when I think he's a lot more interesting when writers follow the intentions of him.

I'm not asking for him to be identical to how he is before he even properly starts being Robin.

I ask for consistency, and writing that cares about maintaining what was the charm, and likability, and uniqueness of a character, even through out their developments, so they don't become lost, or lose their identity, a fate that can infect a lot of characters that get writers without those sensibilities.

'Cause a LOT of stuff is considered canon that doesn't match.

And I'm not one of those people that tries to act like "Oh you can't ignore that just because you don't like it' because everyone does. I've never seen someone say that, and not have some complaint about it. I'm a man of honesty, even in times of disagreements.

All respect to you, though.

I'm mainly hoping this doesn't read like a strongly worded letter. When really I'm casually saying all of this. I'm just insanely Autistic and long winded in my own right.

[spiritelectric3]

My journey through Homestuck: Act 1

The gods have chosen me to experience the horrors of Homestuck. I have chosen to do so via comic dub (specifically the Void Over Nexus dub). Here are my takes:

-Okay, I'm still in the kid's bedroom and they are already introducing such complicated mechanics. -16 minutes in and he's finally left his room. I'm so glad I didn't read this or it would have taken forever -I'll admit, so far, this does make me feel kinda nostalgic for my childhood. It has an attitude that was common for comic books and cartoons of the 2000s, but has gone away. Reminds me a lot of picking up random comic books from the library as a kid and reading them over and over. -With some deeper thought, too, this is a pretty accurate description of what it's like to have free time as a kid, how you kind of just goof off doing whatever, but somehow it all feels important. Sort of like how the Lord of the Rings dedicates a lot of pages to walking so that the reader gets a similar feeling to the characters. -Plus, from what I know from the plot, this is kind of an actually good way to set up a story like this. John's home is important, so the work spends time on it. It's annoying that it takes awhile, but that's why we have comic book dubs. -okay, tbh, this is a pretty accurate depiction of what (neurodivergent?) childhood thinking is like, at least for my own childhood -okay, so more on the neurodivergent thinking thing: I love how well the comic integrates strange system but shifts the reader's mindset towards the world of the series well. It reminds me of how I end up seeing the world differently based on my current hyperfixation -also unrelated, but I thought Stacks were first in first out and Queues were first in last out -wait, how is this inventory system different!? -thought on the language: I think the descriptions thus far are kind of hit or miss. It's a hit when we get detailed poetic descriptions of childhood mentality. It's a miss when it becomes so long and pedantic that I can't make heads nor tails of it. -Is TT… psychic!?

-I love how no one in this series can handle simply having a human body so they need inventories and the ability to move things long distance. Honestly same (oh god I'm beginning to think like the writing style) -okay, this is just what it's like to play an overly complicated video game for the first time, just in semi-literary form -I'm kind of terrified of what's gonna happen to the second person narrator later on -Why are John's eyes shaped like glasses lenses if he doesn't wear them? -I love how ominous Sberb is quickly becoming -…OH. I think I'm beginning to realize how this became a massive influence on all media in the 2010s+ -This is the moment where I am wondering if I should turn back, already realizing that it is too late -Honestly, I can already see how someone could write a paper on how this series fundamentally redefines thought, in and of itself -why does this series make me want to play Run 2 on coolmathgames.com? -this is legitimately like non-cyperpunk cyberpunk -I'll admit that for all that's been happening the meteor is kind of a weird uptick in stakes -Ah, that's what happens to the second person voice -I love how the narrator's personality shifts to match Rose's -Seeing Rose get introduced this late feels like during a first dnd session when your the last character to be introduced at the end of the session -Rose's captchalogue is pretty based -okay, I'm gonna say it. Rose is a much more entertaining character than john. She's like if Susie Derkins had a wilder imagination -Wait… WHAT THE FUCK!?

Overrall I'd say, yeah this is pretty slow. In this format it's honestly worse when they're playing the game than when John is just doing stuff in his house. Those earlier sections almost made me tear up. They didn't, but they got close. I think there is a childlike joythat encapsulates this series thus far, and has been the majority of the charm

[plumteaa-remus]

Mini comic of Ghost dreaming of Christmas

Hi everyone ! For the past few weeks I've been working on those three little comic pages. I'm trying very hard to go towards a more "better done than perfect" mindset, so those pages are very self indulgent and far from perfect but I'm proud that I could get them done.

I have so much to say about those three stupid pages so here is a little rent about everything that was going through my mind while drawing those pages !

So first let's establish the context just in case. There is a 6 issues comic called « Modern warfare 2 : Ghost » which tells us everything about Ghost’s childhood, what lead him to go from Simon Riley to Ghost, and how he joined the task force 141.

In this comic we also see that Simon’s entire family got murdered on Christmas. He came home, and found his mother, his brother Tommy, his sister in law, and his nephew Joseph, all dead in the living room.

That’s for the canon, everything that follows is purely headcanons from my part, about how I would imagine Ghost to grief and stuff. 

So I imagine Ghost’s childhood to be pretty blurry, his mind managed to bury the worst very deep, the months he spent getting tortured and broken apart are foggy as well, but the image of his family slaughtered in the living room is simply engraved in his mind. He relives the moment in his sleep too often, it always goes on the same way, he stands before the front door, he sees it’s already open, he enters, and sees the same atrocious scene each time. 

There is one time though where it was different and it somehow managed to be even more painful than his usual nightmares.

This time again he stands before the open front door and enters, he is calm, he is prepared, but ends up being caught totally off guard at the sight of his mother alive and well, welcoming him. He stands there, absolutely static as his mother comes to hug him, totally unable to understand what happens. Her face seems off tho, it’s inconsistent. It’s been too long since he last saw her so his mind makes a sort of patchwork based on souvenirs and fills the blanks with assumptions (it's something I really wanted to draw but it was a bit of a struggle.But my initial plan was for Simon's mother to have different features in each panels to show he struggles to remember what her face was like.) But one thing that is for sure accurate with reality, and something he just can't forget, is the warmth of her embrace. For just a moment he feels like a little kid again, melting into his mother’s arms for comfort. He lets himself sink into the heat and the solace of this vision, but he is stripped away from it before he could even begin to say anything that really mattered which hurted more than he could have imagined. 

When he wakes up, he shivers, because as he opens his eyes he realizes that all that is left is the immeasurable coldness of her absence. Thankfully he is not totally alone, he got his dog Riley! (Yes it’s supposed to be the same Riley from call of duty : ghosts, my idea was that Simon was looking to adopt a retired military dog and adopted Riley who could have retire for any reason idk)

I have so much ideas about Ghost grieving his mother so expect more little pages like this in the future. I want to get better at drawing comics so little pages like this are a perfect practice ! And grief is my favorite subject in fiction ever, and after Ghost lost so many people he is the perfect material to work around this theme. I'll focus on his grieving his mother because I'm an idiot who loves to project on fictional character lmao.

I think that's it ! I said everything that was on my mind for now !

[davekat-sucks]

After reading your recent posts about wanting to distance yourself from homestuck eventually makes me feel bad too send asks because it means more homestuck is being streamlined to you

About a year ago i dropped homestuck after losing interest once again (this happens on and off) and only got into it recently because i currently can't really play video games at the moment so i ended up returning to homestuck. I think a big reason why i can get back into it so easily is because its FREE all you need is an internet connection and you get the massive amount of content from the comic and fandom, there's just soo much too engaged with even if it's not all good. Despite all my problems with Homestuck i still do like it but one thing i wish is What Pumpkin would just let it go, HS2 and Hiveswap are dumpster fires. It feels like they're milking a dead cow, this series would be better off if the poor decision making stopped at the comic itself. I just want it to be left untouched by a company and have it be supported by the love of the fanbase. I'm homestucked out but i like the character enough and shipping them as well will probably keep me hooked for awhile.

I guess I'll throw in what i was originally going too say anyway. I think homestuck took a massive drop in writing quality after murderstuck. Like why is everyone just standing on the meteor? You guys aren't going to get more serious after all that? Was there any reason as to why no one could've texted John or Jade while separated? I genuinely don't remember there being a reason. I thought Kanaya coming back to life was stupid, the Gamzee and Terezi thing gross, Rose being an alcoholic then drunk making out with Kanaya also being gross, Karkat and Dave being bystanding asshole during all this, Wayward Vagabond being practically a stuffed animal, like what is this? After murderstuck you could definitely feel the decline but there where some decent moments spread out afterwards with Caliborn being the main one stealing the show. I think Hussie really liked Caliborn, you can tell he had so much fun writing him. I like to believe Hussie went wild with Caliborn because he could get away with all the edgy stupid stuff with him because he's a villain, Hussie had obviously gave into the demands of the fans and i think even he got tired of it, Caliborn was the perfect blank slate for him to have some real freedom in writing again, Caliborns character is really in line with Hussies older sense of humor. Despite still giving into demands every other time, Caliborn got too be want Hussie actually wanted. Oooh Caliborn how you almost saved Homestuck, at least you get to be the best character in the end.

It's fine to still send asks about Homestuck here. Moving on doesn't happen overnight and I'm often sticking around more to speak out about the flaws. From the series itself, the fandom, or the current culture that surrounds it. It can be applied to other groups like those who like anime, comics, video games, etc. Homestuck is just one niche I focus on because I'm familiar with it. There are many other people online that talk about these similar topics that do it better than I ever could. But I agree that WhatPumpkin should just let the base webcomic end just there. No need to focus more on Epilogues, Homestuck^2, or Homestuck Beyond Canon. Let people interpret their own endings. Homestuck may not have been able to leave a mark in media history like what Undertale or FNAF did, but it's better to let it end there as it is. The story really felt going down after Murderstuck. Cascade was probably the only greatest thing left behind. Then Act 6 kicked in. There are many plot holes and questions to be raised about it. From things like why can't Dave/Rose or the other living trolls on the meteor use Trollian or any of their communication devices like they had before? There's nothing said about their travel to the Alpha Session will block communication between the two parties. I hate how Dave and Karkat stood on the sidelines as Rose/Kanaya and Gamzee/Terezi go through hell with their problems. Why wasn't Wayward Vagabond doing more to try and communicate with the others? Can Town and being a mayor is his dream, but we have seen him become a leader of his own to his own people. WV had communicate with John to act as his Exile, so why not the same with Dave, Rose, and the other living trolls? Where was he when the others went into the Dream Bubbles? Carapacians are not allowed there? Is still on the meteor to 'protect' the base? Was that the only time they left him alone like he was some housepet? Wouldn't it be better to have Wayward Vagabond that's now revived, stay on the Prospitian ship that John and Jade were on so that they could be with Dave and Rose? Wayward Vagabond would have a better time to try and get all the Carapacians to be ready when they arrived in the Alpha session. Where were the Carapacians by Post Retcon and Collide? By Post Retcon, the ones on the Prospitian ship and those with Roxy should be alive by then. Casey also was there to summon undead consorts during Jake vs The Felt fight. Wouldn't that mean the other consorts were still there Prospitian ship that John and Jade were on, could have joined the battle? There are too many plot holes and vague answers still around because of Act 6 and Post Retcon that it makes people question the quality and how the story was leading up to this. I do believe as well that Caliborn was the only way for Hussie to let himself use his old edgey humor. Dave and Dirk were there, but those two had their character development and he needed another being to stand in his place. Other characters that fit would have been dead and he had to come with some bullshit reason to bring them back. So it's better to make an original OC than to reuse another character. Caliborn really was the best as he really made lots of changeups and excitement to the series. If not only in narrative standpoint, but also in meta in the sense that he was able to change the website readers would be on. You had to be there with old flash to see him banging on the console that the link and panel you were trying to read, shook with every hit and everything gets scrambled and falling apart. Calliope hasn't done anything like that despite that we are suppose to root for her as the good guy that will join the heroes. Caliborn is just that amazing. Act 6 may have been carried by people like Dirk and Roxy, but Caliborn flexed it up high like Atlas did with the World.

[tuiyla]

Thoughts on Faith in BtVS S4/AtS S1, Tara and Anya?

Oh good timing! I was just thinking about how I'm yet to note how much I enjoy Anya's character. So let's start with her. I don't have a ton to say apart form really enjoying her bluntness and the refreshing presence she brings to scenes. It felt a little strange when they started humanizing her and making her part of the group but she's charming, and though I don't think the Xander relationships bodes well for her I want good things for Anya. I vaguely remembered references to her as one of the Scoobies but then she appeared and I was like, surely this isn't the same character? It's an interesting route but I can see why they kept her on. Anya really is a delightful presence and I'm glad she's a series main now and in the opening credits.

Then, Tara. I don't think enough has happened with her so far for me to really have much to say. I like her and look forward to whatever reveal is coming about her backstory, based on the deliberate sabotage of a spell earlier on and whatnot. She might be a tiiiiny bit too bland so far but Oz wasn't the most exciting ch either. I can take or leave shy characters, now that Willow is more assertive than her high school self the balance works out. I do wish she had, just, more, but hopefully we'll get to see more of her before, well, you know. Because it would feel especially cheap if they just buried her without properly flashing her out first. I know she's a fan favourite and I understand, I just hope she gets more in the series, possibly outside of Willow. Her scene with Dawn in s5ep2 was sweet, maybe more of that.

And Faith, oh Faith. The bodyswap episode was great but I have a bit of the same problem with Faith's heel-face turn as I did with her face-heel turn. As in, the spiral there felt a little too fast and too intense with no going back, and here she descends into darkness once again when appearing on Angel before coming right back up. And look, her scene with Angel is great, the breakdown is effective, the following ep good at showing how it's gonna be a process. I do think her, sigh, sexual assault of both Riley and Buffy, coupled with her previous aggression towards Xander is very unfortunate, to say the least. I still like her and want to see her fight on the side of the good guys but it was impossible to support women's wrongs there. Still, she was hot as always and had some great scenes in Buffy s4, and finally peaked and turned back in Angel s1. I guess my main gripe is now she barely has any eps left, as IMDb might have told me, and this is just when we'd need her on Angel. The scene with her and Angel at the end of s2ep1 was very, VERY sweet and it's cruel that they're giving me that only for, what? For Faith not to return until season 4, is it? Or Buffy s7? That's just cruel.

Sigh, okay, I have more thoughts and feelings on Faith than what could be expressed here but I'll try in subsequent posts. Everyone knows I went into Buffy wanting to be obsessed with Faith and I am, I'm just also a little frustrated with how her ch was handled at times. And now that we're at the real juicy bits where she could become who she was meant to be, she'll barely have a few episodes to do so. We need a full season of Angel where Faith is an on and off presence, being sponsored by Angel and all. Goddamn. I guess I'll just have to read the comics.

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

The Galaxy Garrison sucks ass and this is why I think so Part 1

I rewatched another vf episode and got reminded of my hatred for the Galaxy Garrison, this is my OWN interpretation. Voltron as a whole never gave enough context about the GG to ever show it in a purely positive or negative light. I'll be excluding VLD, Beastking Golion, Armored Fleet Dairugger XV ,and the comics here since that's a hard reboot, the original Japanese dubs have nothing to do with each other, and the comics are their own seperate beast.

This part will be focusing on Defender of the Universe and slighty Vehicle Voltron, more parts will be added by show

Parts: 1 2 3

Rant after the cut for dash reasons, feel free to add your own opinions and/or additions to the post, I really want to hear about other interpretations of the GG!

I'll be upfront about this, some of my hatred does stem from headcanons my mutuals and I have made up so I'm going to try my best to stick to what we have in canon and why I think it portrays the GG negatively

Starting off with Voltron Defender of The Universe (dotu) with a slight Vehicle Voltron (vv) connection I don't know about the rest of you, but sending the people who, and many fans would agree, are getting positive recognition in the Academy somehow to the point where officials are WATCHING them into the deep universe isn't a good idea. You'd keep your best soldiers close to home and only send them out if necessary So tell me why the Garrison decided to ship 5 important cadets out onto The Explorer with 15 other cadets (presumably) who have similar qualifications to them It's because they're all misfits, somehow, someway, the Garrison wanted them gone, and what better way to get rid of them without a good reason than to send them off chasing a fairy tale and walk them straight into enemy territory under the guise of "looking for new habitable worlds" while also testing an experimental mech Not to mention two of these cadets were CHILDREN, yes I'm talking about Pidge and Chip, there is no reason for them to be out there FIGHTING so young

Now solely focus on DOTU In dotu we know the original team of 5 get sent out to Arus but don't make it before being enslaved by the 9th Drule Kingdom, the kingdom King Zarkon rules over I'm not going to entirely blame the GG for that one, however they WILL get blamed for SENDING THEM TO A PLANET THEY KNOW IS INFESTED WITH ENEMIES I will admit I haven't watched dotu in it's entirety or recently at all so that last part could be wrong, please correct me if so Once again I'm bringing up Pidge, WHY SEND A CHILD WHO IS COMMONLY PLACED AT 12 IN AGE TO A WAR RIDDEN PLANET, being sent on a mission like this practically alone with 4 other basically equally inexperienced cadets means they had to have graduated early to even do it! And when they finally got to Arus and Voltron, they didn't know jack shit! They were completely in the dark and forced to fight not just for their survival but for the planets and even the universes too! Just the damn 5 of them until Sven got got and couldn't fly! Now given they tried to find a new pilot and Allura immediately stepped up, not giving them much of a chance to fight, but they likely still hailed the GG for another pilot! And they never even sent one out! The one time the Garrison ever sent someone out, he almost killed the team because he was a shitty leader! Not to mention this is likely their only other attempt at helping Arus! There was no back up from them, they just left Arus and it's people to hide in tunnels and hope they werent found and enslaved by the 9th kingdom! The 5 boys were the only people that ever gave help, and that's because they went against orders to do what's right, something the GG could never convince themselves to do In following the trend of the Garrison being absolutely useless, Balto was an allied planet, who most definitely had Garrison bases on them if the Stoker twins got drafted, WAS OBLITERATED BECAUSE THE GARRISON COULDN'T BE DAMNED TO HELP THEM OUT Now I'm sure the bases that WERE there did help the people evacuate, but that doesn't clear their name since other than that there was no help to even DISTRACT the robeast I say distract because obviously regular military forces can't take a robeast down, but Voltron can, and if they at least did that then Pidge wouldn't have had to watch his home planet be destroyed by his very eyes There's another side to this in saying that the GG was too far too do anything, to which I response, oh no they werent If Balto was way out there and was an allied planet with GG bases on it, how many other nearby planets were also allied? How many GG bases were notified of a robeast and told to not engage or even go HELP a planet in need?

Next part will be about VV also with DOTU connections since they're supposed to be happening at the same time

[popculturebuffet]

Breaking Cat News Retrospective: Year 3: Bea-ginnings and Endings (Patreon Review for Emma Fici

Hello all you happy newscats to part 3 of my look at Breaking Cat News, one of the best comic strips running. Parts 1 and 2 are HERE and HERE respectively.

Last time we saw a huge wave of change for the strip after a pretty steady first year: The Station met their also in the union Spanish Equilvent, welcomed another baby into the family , got an av cat, met Tommy's distant roomate, found that there's a ghost in their home but it's bette than being alone, and dealt with a mice hostage situation, caused a mice hostage situation and learned the meaning of christmas. IT's also the year where the characters started to Crystalize, the family grew, and the strip really came into it's own. Year 3 rides this momentium and plants it's flag as both one of the strips most ambitious years and one of it's most important. There's only two major storylines this year.. but both leave an impact and are fan faviorites to this day: The first introduces a major addition to the main cats and their family in Beatrix, the second introduces the strips' first and so far only out and out villian, who brings in a LOT of lore with him. Both really up the stakes of the strip, deepn it's world, and change the status quo.

They also serve as an end of an era as 2016 is BCN"s last year as an independent project, with Andrew McMeel aka Uversal Uclick, aka jimmy the reach signed the strip to run on GoComics, a site if you haven't checked out you should as theire's veritable mountain of comics and the strip's dedicated community and wide appeal got it picked up for a newspaper run, joining similar stories like Phoebe and Her Unicorn before it and Crabgrass after it. As such the format changes after this going from fairly big strips to the standard format: 6 daily four or so panel strips, and one sunday. This isn't a bad thing as the new format allowed the strip to both do big stories on the week.. and do the relatable slice of life stuff based out of real life on sundays. We still get plenty of the later in the weekly's too, but it provides a nice ballance and allows her to flesh out some incidents or give the bigger story arcs time to breathe.

It just also means that in order to properly let new readres both print and web into this world.. she had to start the strip over from the top: While this isn't a full continuity reboot as previous storylines NOT covered in the newspaper run (the ghost arc discussed last time and the wicket arc discussed this time), the first few years take their time reintroducing everyone, adding in new storylines, so most of the cast was left on hold until ti was there turn to be reintroduced. It's not a bad thing as we'll get into next time, but it means that with the end of the Wicket arc our heroes stories take a breather for a while and it serves as a bit of a finale. A way to say goodbye so we could say hello again. So let's make the end of this era precious under the cut as we cover two fo the strips finest hours and prepare for a brave new big pink house.

The year starts off breifly with some buisness as usual. The boy is speaking now and has given the cats names

Naturally i'll be using Dad Cat and Mom Cat liberally, though Puck is obviously taken. I can't blame the kid though I got Elvis and LUpin confused name wise a LOT early on and sometimes my brain still screws it up despite being FULLY aquanted with both. We also get some more of our IX Lives, and Elvis gets into some butter with delightful results

So far so normal> But as is tradition at this point, and you don't fuck with tradition, it takes a newcomer to really shake things up. Everything's Coming Up Beatrix It's a standard winter for our heroes: the humans are all cozied up and the cats.. are reporting everything's gone outside because the windows are fogged up and it snowed everywhere. Standard news day… until

Naturally The Man and Woman figure out there's a cat outside via the usual method

The man is able to rescue the little lady whose not doing great, but thankfully Tommy's Woman is more than willing to brave the void to come help, and being an experienced animal rescue, helps get bea back to health.. but since it's really not a good idea to take her back into the cold cruel world, someone's going ot need to foster her and it's not a huge shock the lady with three cats she all fostered first gladly takes her in. Spoilers, this will not be the last time she does this. We soon get one of the sweetest moments in the entire strip: As Puck plans to stand guard and worries about their new charge..

This is possibly my faviorite panel in the whole strip. We've seen Elvis nurture before with the girl .. but it was always tempered by his overprotective shouty side and natural hatred of her actual father. Here we just see him be kind, calm and nurtring. We also see a big change in his character: While Elvis will still puff out at the unknown plenty, after Bea he's a lot quicker to accept new additions to the crew. His experinces with Tommy, Fig, and Burt have had him realize his hair trigger attitude just isn't necessary any more. Will he still freak out like a drama queen at some new arrivals? Yes. He woudln't be elvis if he didn't respond to most new people and things with melodramatic outrage. That's what makes him elvis. But we now see an elvis who instead of taking months to accept someone takes maybe a few hours and who will calmly sit with his newly adopted daughter simply because she's alone in the world.

It opens up a new side to elvis and helps recontecutalize him a bit: while before his age was mostly a tool to explain how crotchety he is and why he hates the Man (being the only one adopted before they moved in together in both real life and the strip), here we see the other side: we get the real sense this isn't the first kitten he's raised (and spoilers once again, won't be the last), as he raised the other two boys. And given PUck turned out a wonderful soft boy angel and Lupin turned out mostly fine, he's good at it. He may be their older brother.. but he's the kind who raised their sibling. It lets him be more than just shouty hilarious angry man… whcih is great, but he became one of my faviorite comic strip characters becaues he got more dimensions to him. He can be old man yelling at cloud one minute, the straight man to lupin's antics the next, and a nurtrting if overprotective daddy guy the next and these are all the same guy.

It's what makes the best comics: Calvin wouldn't have been as entertaining if he weren't both extremley smart and observant… btu still weighed down by the short sightedness and priorities of a six year old. Opus wouldn't have been as great if his inherent kindness and naivety weren't paired with some slight selfishness and histornics, and Snoopy wouldn't be nearly as loveable if he was just a grandstanding weirdo in his own world, but instead also a good friend when needed who gladly tells his best friend his heart is priceless.

It's the humanity in a character that can make them truly amazing and it's what makes these characters so fantastic.

Soon in addition to a Dad Cat the little Kitty also gets a name, Beatrix, after the boy sees a cat on a collection of beatrix potters stories that looks similar. And now she has a name… it's time to tell the story of how we got here here. See…. most of Bea's story is true to life: Georgia found and fostered a kitten who had big old paws and extra didgets, was curious and kind…. but there was one part that didn't match up. Her real life counterpart.. died of pneumonia despite everything.

So you can imagine when given the chance to do this all again.. this Beatrix gets to live. She gets to have a full life, a family and everything she deserved. Georgia has a habit of using this strip as wish fufillment: not in an endulgent way, but as a way to keep pets from her past near and dear to her. As mentiond Baba was based on Georgia's longtime cat who passed. She and Bea are the first and sadly aren't the last: as of this writing Figaro, Lupin and Tommy have all passed, and it pains my heart to know that. And as you can imagine there is not even a remote chance of any of them dying anytime in the strip: the strip became among the many other wonderful thigns it is, a way to keep these good boys and girls with Georgia forever. A piece of them etched in amber. Now i'm done tearing up as I write that, eventually Bea needs to meet the neighbors, and does so at a climbing contest with all the cats in the house.. except Elvis whose reporting it and the legendary puck

He prefers the journey. Okay so it's just lupin… till a familiar face pops in and Bea handles it with style, classs and the giant paws cat gave her

Thankfully Tabitha took it with pride and while Bea beams in her victory, winning again even with tabitha joining, and while she goes to tell puck the bigger cats have a realization if they don't hire her tabhitha will.. and since Elvis can't have that BCN gets it's first intern, bounding Beatrix who immdietly takes to it with her usual enthuasim, she makes her mistakes sure

And while making her coffee rounds, this time for Tommy and Burt, Bea also introduces us to another new face… and one the rest of our heroes handle with grace and dignity

TBF Burt it'd probably be easier to you know.. educate them instead of judge them for being accidental dog racists. Either way the two are fast friends. Turns out Burt is the bookstore dog for the local lady who runs the bookstore… and bea's future owner. Yes while our little bundle has been a loved addition to the house… she can't stay. The apartment only allows two cats and while they were able to get special permission for Lupin, The Woman dosen't want to push it. And given Bea's knowledge of plants (which the bookstore also sales explaining where the Woman gets all her victims) and warm personality she's a natural fit. While the Bookstore lady resists at first, in part because she's not sure Trevor will accept a new friend given he's a shy soft boy. But while her dickering gives Bea time to get the crew on twitter despite Elvis' strong objections to telling the birds their business….. she eventually folds and Bea has a new job, a new home.. and Elvis.. well

Clearly our heroes aren't going to get out of this emotoinally in tact and needing advice they have Tommy seek out Baba , who having had lots and lots of kittens, may know what their going thorugh if only he can find her

This arc once again shows off her wise side: she tells the cats that some cats need to go, she misses all her kids but you can't keep them forever. You have to let them go and trust you raised them best you can. They'll see her again. She also cuts Elvis drama queenery short

Hr leaving does impact Trevor, whose sad he may never see her again… though in a nice touch we get his name reveal right here…. and thus find out they'll be together again in no time.

We end the arc with bea easily taking to her new home and her dads entirely proud, having realized she's better off here and happy for her...

…. Maybe not her new friend but Elvis eventually settles into it. Also love those proud parent of a bookstore cat shirts… wish that was real merch

Elvis goes through a wee bitt of a clingy phase out of empty nest syndrome...

But otherwise life returns to normal after. We get a brief check in with Sophie dealing with some critcisim I can't really show as the strip, while utterly gorgeous, is spaced out in a way I can't put it here, but shows the secret insecurity beneath her distant shell… something that will be important way later when we dig more into her character. And while we wait for that the Toddler learns a valuable lesson in personal space and stickers

But while the slice of life stuff is as usually, totally awesome… the peace eventualyl breaks in the night with a screech

The Wicked

Said screeching naturally wakes everyone the heck up and the culprit turns out to the worst thing you could possibly have show up screeching on your doorstep at 1 in the morning: an ex

Baba rebuffs his every advance,claming he left her with a turkey, and outright abandoned her… and then backstory's up her claim as we learn her origins: Turns out Baba was one of the many cats at Quinn Animal Shelter, one of Freddie's faviorites. She met Wicket one day when he came in with a broken wing and feel hard and fast for him. The internet in it's early age soon fell hard and fast for them, and they were a sensation, even becoming a children's book that in the newspaper run is read to the boy as a baby.

The reality though.. was much less cute: Winnie soon suspected that Wicket was no good, with him stalking the smaller animals and not trusting him near Baba. Baba being young, stupid and in love fled in the night with him… and not long after she was abandoned on the beach with a turkey while Wicket wasn't heard of again till now. She returned, but sadly too late to reconcile with Freddie who'd died, something that clearly still haunts Baba and one of the few times we see her expression change. She thankfully found a new way in life at least, one I highly supsect winnie would approve of

Turns out she's COMPLETELY right as while Wicket was likely trying to score some time with an ex and got shot down as he should when you abandon your ex with a turkey, as he quickly scoops up Natasha and Alice while their out one night planning some snack crimes. Natasha uses her needles to escpe at Alice's begging… and is forced to leave her closest friend behind and warn the others…

Turns out Wicket CAN somehow sink lower than conning a young lady into leaving home and then dumping her with a turkey as we find out the Mice have been carrying his story around like a legend: Alice and Natasha aren't from these fields (the other two are), but even they knew the story every mice has told to them.. and unlike the cat and the owl it's less a cute bedtime story and mor ea dire legend of an ancient evil to come back.

Wicket was once the terror of these lands, attacking the mice until one brave mouse, the Golden Mouse, stood up to him. She managed to get the bastards wing wedged in a bird cage. As it turns out Wicket's stay at Quinn Farms was simply to keep the mice from finishing the job while he was still weak. They kept informed thanks to Clover, one of the animals that Wicket was said to have harassed, but wicket eventually escaped, taking baba with him and using her to keep him safe till he was better. His return is simply some petty revenge. The Golden Mouse is long gone, but he refuses to let the mice get one over on him The Golden Mouse however was once again one step ahead and thus spread this legend through the generations so when he did return tehy'd be ready with a plan…. and Alice kicks off that plan, escaping and giving Wicket one simple sentence to bait the trap:

Their plan.. is not a very well thoguht out one past that. It's basically "fight an owl and hope we surivive" which even Elvis can see is more like 30% of a plan. Bea meanwhile plans to go interview the arch villian himself but thankfully Baba steps in to scoot her away before Wicket gets ANOTHER hostage. As Alice taunts wicket for a strip, revealing she knows the Golden Mouse's real name.. Agatha. She's a descident, as is Agnes. We also get a nice moment with Agnes and Puck and am I shippping a cat with a mouse?

eh not even in the top 10 weirdest thing's i've shippped. Pucky and Aggie for life. We also get a sweet moment as the plan draws nearer, with Baba more than confident in the mice, even nicer sine the two are reguarly at odds every day, but hey they both have a common enemy. If you can't team up with the robbers you sho away to against their satanic figure who happens your ex when CAN you?

So the fight approaches, on the Big Pink House's lawn no less (broadcast saftely since Wicket dosen't watch the news), but Puck is worried for his friends, and figures they need an extra distraction… and to get the rodent's perspective, the cats gift Agnes a little something something

The fight approaches.. and puck has a revelation of how they can turn the tide so Wicket dosen't tear those meeses to pieces

And with that the plan begins.. and is just… one of the most awesome manuverse i've seen in a comic. Yes including the giant bubbling vat of super hero comics i've read

And with that Bea has the time she needs to unscrew the lid blinding wicket as he chases after our heroines.. and with a small assist from the july bug being his annoying self.. wicket is defeated (old man And thus peace is restored. Baba suprisingly takes what Bea did well, figuring she did the right thing and that she can make up the near heart attack by helping her with some light chores, something Bea happily agrees to.. and with that our heroes bid goodbye to the july bug.. and for some time.. to us.

The Wicket Arc.. is probably the series best so far. Goldie's intro comes close and there's PLENTY of good material, but this arc is one of a kind, taking us from the usual slice of life afairs with the cosional danger to an out and out epic. It's still kept in reality despite the mice spreadin git as a legend, but it's the one time our heroes face an out an dout villian, and it ties into just about everything so far: the robber mice arc, baba, bea's intro last arc. Every character gets to show up , almost all of them get something great or small to do (Tabitha made a cameo grumbling about not being able to just go out and fight Wicket), it's one giant pile of payoffs you didn't know had setups and a grand way to close out this run. My only regret is that it gets left out of the newspaper run and while they made a new story to make up for the ghost story gettting ommitied, this one didn't mak eit. It's likely for similar reasons to said ghost arc: the various newspaper clippings, murals and other stuff just coudln't be condensed into 4 panels well enough and unlike the ghosts, Wicket hasn't needed to be reintroduced yet. As of this writing he's still at the animal shelter and has only been mentioned in a characters in character blog. Still it's one of the series best and highlyw orth your time. And while it is an ending of sorts there's still a few littl ebits sprinkled around the rest of 2016 and the start of 2017 to adress before we tune out for a day.

Oddds and Ends:

The first is a 2 week arc that feels like a tryout, done in a newspaper style (four panels for dailes, sunday every 6 days, you know the deal). It's a fun enough one as the people have a party, Elvis guards the coats, Puck searches for missing ham and Lupin gets his heart broken

It's a fun arc, nothing too heavy but after the fairly detailed and epic Wicket Arc, we needed a bit of a break. We get our final arc on the site later this year with an our IX lives christmas special. Our IX Lives is an in universe soap opera, following Kit Chase as he romances Angora, an uptown kitty whose dad is determined to marry her to local jackass brad and will fake as many illnesses as he has to to make it happen.. but suprise brad sucks even worse, a car chase insues… it's a whole thing. I'm not recapping this arc as it's not really something to analize, it's really funny and uses the kinds of sets cats would use to film a soap well: there's laundry mountains, the sets are all card board and the bad guys guns are sprayer bottles, foiled by the long lost cast member captain nimble, who naturally is a sea cat and immune to water. I highly recommend checking it out. It also dosen't have a ton of character to analyize: it's a great arc, it's just at it's heart an over the top soap opera parody. It's not the first, but the world building, the fact that unlike our main cats actions nothing about how it functions is explained and the over the top nature of it, such as Angora being about ot faint at any moment and her sister grumbling at her helplesness, makes it a treasure. It even gets Elvis into the show.

But otherwise for most of the year the site went on a station break while Georgia prepared for the newspaper run. Elvis naturally is drug into it. The only real big change that affects the future is an explination for Pucky's coloring changing from kind of grayish to full on black as intended. And so we transition to the next stage as Burt redits the old broadcasts and suprises our heroes; they'll be printedi n the newspaper, a sneaky way for georgia to have the reports be an actaual in universe thing, and with that.. our heroes celebrate the fine tradition their joining.

Year 3 is defined by it's arcs, but iwth two very strong arcs and some nice bonus stuff as the strip readies for it's next chapter, it's a good way to close things out, a satisfyign conclusion to an era… while leaving the door open for a brand new chapter. It's one of the strips best and a peak most of the strips best mateiral since aspires to.. and as we'll see many reach

For now though we bid adieu for this month. Next we take a look at said new chapter as our Cats reset the clock to reintroduce our world.. but sprinkle in a few new stories. I'll be taking a look at this era: what changed between versions, the new stories sprinkled in, the new running arcs, and the new format. It's going to be fantastic.. see you next month and thanks for reading.

[monbon-sidedish]

Why Geto Could Have Been His Own Villain: Dismantling the Body-snatching

Right off the bat I'll go ahead and say that my main theory about Kenjaku existing is because Gege wanted to reuse Geto's design and power without bringing the character back. By virtue of being "all knowing" and essentially the mastermind behind the plot, Kenjaku is extremely convenient to use that way. This sort of works against the overall story though, I feel. I'll go into more detail on that a bit later.

First, let's discuss JJK's publishing:

From what I've gathered through different interviews, the high school setting was not Gege's original vision (which I'm willing to believe as that gets scrapped as fast as possible), and JJK0 had already been a compromise of the original idea, to make something a bit more marketable. I personally think 0 could have been left as a prototype and marked as non-canon when published, but I also get that it helps establish the world and several characters that the series hinges on. I understand why it was left as a prequel, especially when the main story was probably going to be scrapped but I think it being canon actually handicaps the main story.

I'll go beat by beat.

JJK0 reads well enough as a complete and standalone story because it at least sets up a goal, a villain, a stake, and resolves all of them by the end. Whether it's the most competent at doing that is not the point, but it accomplishes what it wants.

That said, Geto is a bad foil for Yuuta in the way the story plays out. Not that there's no basis for them to be good foils for each other, only that Yuuta's goal and Geto's goal don't stand in opposition to each other. Yuuta's involvement is based on his own morals, which again, isn't a plot hole or worthless as a concept, but in a narrative sense, there could be More.

It's easy for me to judge the creative decisions made throughout JJK's publishing in hindsight but I must give Gege grace in several aspects:

Writing comics is a difficult craft. Even more so planning an entire long-term series for a very demanding weekly publishing schedule. With how notoriously cutthroat Shounen Jump has been described, most new authors can't rely that their series won't be axed at some point. Neither can you be sure which of your ideas your editor(s) will deem as the one with most potential and that you'll be asked to develop or work on.

You can make a manuscript for a story that is very far removed from your original idea and have that end up being really lucrative without you having seriously developed the world enough in your head to do something too huge with it

You will make decisions in the story to get a finished draft that you will later figure out better alternatives for but may be unable to retcon as the story has now taken a different direction

JJK may be extremely successful but I understand fully that the job of planning and drawing a complete series with multiple plotlines and characters can be very daunting.

That all said, the overall writing in the series feels really half-baked and aimless even if things are constantly happening and moving. Especially with the ending, there ends up being very little semblance of an actual meaning or satisfying conclusion where it feels like character arcs were completed. So I will be critical and hopefully it makes sense.

Now, my main point here will be that Kenjaku and Geto are a huge thorn in the story because they're not a huge part of it but they result in a lot of impact. They are also extremely different personalities and goals that result in really different villain expectations and stakes. Actually, Kenjaku may be a bit too large-scale as a villain for the story JJK ends up being, especially when most of the plot is dedicated to Sukuna.

I will also say that Geto is relatively appropriate as the villain in JJK0, though, again, due to the fact that his goals are not set on Yuuta and Yuuta's are not set on stopping Geto, he feels more like the main villain of another story that Yuuta just happened to be in.

But Geto is not bad as a villain on his own, he's actually really effective, because:

He has ties to Gojo as a very pivotal part of his past that still haunts him (so this sets up the younger students surpassing Gojo as they defeat what he couldn't)

He has a lot of drive and conviction for what his goal is (regardless of how feasible his plans are, him being set on those goals makes him a proactive and emotional villain which is healthy for a battle shounen narrative)

His power is very high-level and versatile, he has experience and resources, which puts him well enough out of reach and makes him a challenge (even if Yuuta defeats him really fast, that's mostly a necessity for pacing's sake)

Most importantly, the things that make Geto a villain are actively opposed to what our main cast, and especially Yuuji, stand for. His supremacy ideals are uncomfortable but the fact that they're close to home means they elicit a lot of emotion. He has very human emotions tied to his arc/downfall and that can work really well if the end-all meaning of the series is 'every life is valuable'

In this sense, him dying in JJK0 really limits his potential as a character. From that point on, all we see of him are flashbacks or outright hallucinations/fantasies from other characters' point of view. The conclusion of Gojo killing him is not a bad nor a meaningless one. I can't fault Gege too much for going that route because hinting at his past with Gojo in the 0 volume adds more mystique to Gojo and the worldbuilding. I do wish, in hindsight, that his death didn't happen in JJK0, both so he could actually be present as himself in the main storyline, and because it's kind of lame that JJK0 is Yuuta's story yet Gojo is the one finishing the job. Again, Geto isn't Yuuta's villain and that weakens the overall impact of decisions and moments that are not bad on their own.

So, okay, JJK0 is completed and it's decided that with a little more work it can make it as a mainline WSJ series. And it's actually... not doing so hot at the start. I'm going to go a little Pepe Silvia here with my speculations about how things go down using my own experiences with creative work and what I've found from tidbits of interviews and Jump ratings over the years (which you can also view here).

The story dips in popularity relatively fast, which I would say is probably normal for a new series without a regular readership. Rankings are based on reader surveys where I believe you write down your top 3 series each week. In 2018, when JJK debuted there were a lot of established series with high-impact arcs going on at the time. Excluding One Piece, which will always take the top ranks, Demon Slayer, The Promised Neverland, Haikyuu!!, Boku no Hero Academia, and DR. STONE were all already established, extremely popular, and would all be taking up most of the top positions. Hunter X Hunter was also running for a few months at the time, from what I remember after a relatively short hiatus too, and it stuck around for a decent chunk of chapters. So the pressure on new serializations to succeed was high, I would imagine.

I don't have a source for this, though I've read a few statements that Yuuji's death would have been permanent when it happens early on. If this is true, whoever was the editor at the time was an angel for stopping that decision lol. If we take this to be true for real though, that would imply that Gege had plans for the plot to go in a very different direction only 10 chapters in. Which leads me to believe that the plot as it happens in reality was really not thought through in full detail but rather cobbled together by different plot-points that Gege wanted to make, as well as things that would create reader engagement. I am indeed implying that a lot of revelations and cliff-hangers are only there for shock-value, as it seems to have increased JJK's weekly ratings somewhat consistently.

This leads us to a tough spot very early on in a series' life cycle. And to be frank, the series starts incredibly fast. We get our hook with Sukuna immediately but then pull away to get Yuuji into the school and introduce Nobara. We get this in the span of about 7 chapters. Then, our still very fragile trio with very little in the way of an established dynamic is thrown in a mission that outclasses them greatly, ends with Sukuna taking over and Yuuji dying. That then leads us to Sukuna and Yuuji's binding vow (which I understand the setup for but actually matters very little, so it feels like a waste). The ratings at this point show a huge dip and then we're introduced to a new group of villains who seem to be in cahoots with Sukuna. The ratings spike drastically when the Jogo vs Gojo fight happens and Gojo reveals his face, power, and domain.

What I believed happened was that Gege was encouraged to add additional stakes aside from Sukuna as outside influence, and to reveal something interesting in a fight. I imagine Gojo had already been popular in the early chapters but it seems his Domain Expansion really cements his staying power. Unfortunately, this also means the story kind of gets a power cap. We don't yet have solid relationships in place between anybody (save for Gojo and Yuuji who act friendly and goof off so they have the most chemistry on screen) but we've established main antagonists as an immediate threat, and have revealed the ultimate power-up before even getting to Volume 2 of the manga. Technically, yes, the main villain is pretty much always established early, for example Shigaraki Tomura and his gang ambush the students really early in the series, but they're a manageable threat for the students. The threat is such where you feel tension because the students are inexperienced and still don't know each other well and it ends up being a good arc to establish a lot all at once - power dynamics, battle strategies, character introductions, etc. Shigaraki is hinted at in Chapter 10 but the League of Villains show up in Chapter 13. So even if the pace is fast, this is ample time for set ups.

Aside from the power creep, cap and ceiling that JJK is saddled with way too early for its own good, my next speculation is that Kenjaku wasn't fully planned to show up this early or possibly to even be in Geto's body. I could be completely wrong, of course. Perhaps Kenjaku was intended to be everything they end up being before even the first chapter was published. But I feel like Kenjaku is more of a utility rather than a real character.

Mostly because, Kenjaku is just... very convenient to use as a cop-out for any mystery or intrigue. They've been alive for 1000 years so they "planned" X, Y and Z years in advance; that sort of thing. Down to the fact that Kenjaku uses Geto's body is because Geto's power is just really convenient - even the story says it directly.

So now we have this moment where in the main story, a villain like Geto would have been a really good stepping stone, not only because of his past with Gojo but especially because of his power. There are never any limits established, you can pull out literally any kind of obstacle that you want from him and the audience will buy it. Unfortunately, he is "confirmed dead", so the next best option is apparently to retool him into a different character who will take over his body and be even more convenient. I don't at all hate the bodysnatching plot, mind you, I like the reveal quite a lot and it's sensible enough.

But I feel like, a lot of headaches could have been saved if it had turned out Geto had been spared in JJK0 so now he's back with a new plan. This doesn't negate Kenjaku existing either. My point is actually that Kenjaku and Sukuna are already extremely powerful and out of the main cast's league right from the beginning. Geto being alive and potentially being their ally would balance out the scales. Kenjaku could exist side by side with Geto even. As a shady advisor or informant.

I keep looking back at JJK and trying to reverse engineer where things went wrong, essentially. It's a favorite hobby of mine, apparently! I hate to say that it was planned poorly from the beginning because I'm a mere rando on the internet but my heart screams that there were so many things that could have been done to change things around. Because every arc is a mess that comes way too early.

Ideally, the story needed at least one arc before Yuuji was killed and resurrected, then another arc before we get to Mahito, and a training arc after Gojo is unsealed. A bare minimum of three additional arcs to add breathing room in the story. If not more.

So, let's talk about Kenjaku and why their role in the story saddens me. From the perspective of someone who actually really likes Kenjaku.

For starters, them being semi-main villain material but being killed before Sukuna deeply wastes their potential. I understand using Kenjaku as the more overwhelming, calculated and long-term evil compared to Sukuna's devastating but momentary in-your-face evil. Sukuna is the brawn but Kenjaku is the brains. I think it also makes sense metaphorically as Sukuna is likened to a calamity: he is completely uncontrollable and unpredictable but there are ways to recover and adapt around him. Kenjaku is like corruption - they're essentially immortal, unknowable, working from the shadows for centuries and hatching alliances with people to do their bidding. The issue that pokes a big ole' hole in this is that Kenjaku doesn't really have an end goal. Or rather, if the end goal is 'something interesting to happen' their actions throughout the plot don't really work cohesively. Regardless though, Kenjaku as a more eldritch villain that is actually the bigger threat makes sense. But also feels misplaced.

Before, when I talked about Yuuta and Geto not being good foils of each other - I think the same applies to Yuuji and Kenjaku. That's not even very apt as Yuuji actually has no contact with Kenjaku to consider them his own villain. Sukuna being Yuuji's villain is completely sensible and works really well, they are each other's foils. But Kenjaku is nobody's foil, basically. If you think about it, Kenjaku is more apt as a foil for Gojo: Gojo's actual main goal is nurturing his students to change the system from the inside, Kenjaku is in essence the one that can create and manipulate the system. In practice that's not really what Kenjaku represents at all, but I think it's an easy connection to make. Realistically, Kenjaku ought to have eyes and ears everywhere, they could even have spies and cohorts in the main clans and within the higher-ups. Adding allies to Kenjaku gives them credibility as a threat and mastermind, as otherwise they just know things because they know things, because they've been alive for a long time, and they win through asspulls instead of strategies and stalemates that add narrative tension.

That aside, Kenjaku is also Choso's foil, which also gets very little breathing room. But to that end, Yuuji and Kenjaku should be more tied together. Not only because of the plot relevant reasons. Not only because Yuuji is the main protagonist. But because at their core their values are in opposition. Kenjaku discards all life as a plaything, Yuuji cherishes life. It's right there, just out of reach!

Do you know who else is in direct opposition to Yuuji's ideals? Geto.

Geto is actually a perfect foil for Yuuji. I attest to this potential dynamic because despite them never meeting in canon, Geto/Yuuji is an extremely popular ship in Japan, people clocked it and ran with it. Shipping aside as not everyone cares for it (though I believe it's a very useful metric for analyzing fandom engagement), Geto actually embodies the perfect villain for Yuuji:

Their powers are very similar in their execution - absorbing curses. The shared experience of knowing what curses taste like.

The feeling of being 'trapped' as a sorcerer and being used for your power and what that means to both characters. Yuuji accepts his role as a cog in the machine, he sacrifices himself time and time again. Geto struggles against working in service to others he deems lesser. This could open up questions such as 'what if Yuuji chose to side with Sukuna?', 'what if Yuuji decided that Geto has a point?', 'what would a conversation between these two be when it comes to their positions as sorcerers?'

Geto is only second to Sukuna in the actual aggression he feels for humanity. In fact, Sukuna doesn't even hate humans, he just loves carnage, he just wants to let loose and establish control. Geto fancies himself a philosopher, in a way, he has very specific goals he wants to achieve. And Geto's goals align with Sukuna quite a lot, contrasting Yuuji even more. In fact, Yuuji would probably be capable of sympathizing with Geto to some degree, or to understand where his initial pain comes from. The fact that Yuuji starts the series incapable of using cursed energy but grows his power consciously and with effort makes him an interesting possibility for Geto's plans. He pivots to mass murder very fast, but his initial goal is inspired by the idea of figuring out how to lessen curses. If Yuuji was able to go from 'a curseless monkey' to a sorcerer, then wouldn't it be possible to replicate this with other non-sorcerers? There's a lot of potential in that

I hope with this I can convince someone else of my own agenda that there could have been a timeline where JJK had Geto and Kenjaku as separate people in separate bodies and still be entertaining. I might just be saddened by the fact that now since it's over, I know for certain that no further closure will be achieved. Which is kind of sadder than just the fact that it ended.

I will rant more in the future because I'm simply never done talking about Geto and how I wish there was More but at least I got this out of my head lol

ALSO extremely sad we never got a Kenjaku flashback, I wish we got more about their previous lives and actions, that is the biggest missed opportunity for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!