#and practice what you preach also

[liedownquisition]

Jason Todd's timeline and "Age"

So, there's a lot of discussion of Jason Todd's age esp as relative to other sidekick vigilantes, particularly Tim and Mia. I believe the exact words are usually something about a "grown ass man beating up/trying to kill teenagers."

DISCLAIMER: This particular post is specifically regarding the "grown ass man vs teenagers" statement, I have posts regarding the "tried to kill them" portion and other stuff like "seriously Jason Todd is like being shot by a marshmallow gun compared to what goes on directly before and after him in these incidents, also you don't bitch about the right stuff, also a lot of you prop up characters who are Objectively Worse, and no that's not hate on your fave it's just me calling out hypocrisy". It just takes time to find digital copies of the panels I'm using. NOTE I AM NOT JUSTIFYING HIS ACTIONS. I'm just saying y'all blow it out of proportion for petty character hate. Like, shit, they're superheroes. Jason's soooo fuckin' tame. He's not even framed as a big deal to the teens it's only the adults that think it's that much of a problem.

Courtesy readmore post cut:

Now, to start off, we all know Jason died at 15 & a few months off from 16 (if you want me to dig up panels, sure, but I figured at this point that wasn't in question). Tim at this point is somewhere between 12-13, and we have this panel in Lonely Place of Dying which takes place a few months later:

So that's a ballpark of 2-3 years between Jason and Tim.

But Tim's age is really fucky and they keep de-aging him tbh. We can extrapolate that his confrontation with Jason was between the ages of 16-17 bcs it's after the arc where he has his incredibly shitty 16th birthday in Robin Vol2 #116 and before Red Robin where he's stated to be 17. This would put Jason between 18-19 at the time. (If you really want me to find panel sources for Tim's birthday and his age in RR then, sure, but I don't think they're necessary. I used it more as a guidepost for Jason's age, since we have a clear idea of what the age gap is.)

At least, on paper.

Mia for her part I've had a hard time finding like, on panel mentions of her age and if anyone can direct me to it being explicitly stated I'd love that. I'm rereading old comics but it's a LOT of comics to hunt down & dig through. To my understanding she was fifteen when Ollie first met her, and there's at Minimum of about a year and a half between that to her meeting Red Hood, more likely at least two? because there's at least few months between that and her joining the Titans, the Doctor Light stuff, then One Year Later, and then returned to Star some 3 months after Ollie came back to run for mayor? And then Jason not too long after. So, two years feels safe. Puts her at 17-ish, Jason at 19-20

Once again, I specify: on paper.

People would happily point out at this point that the upward stretch of a 4 year age gap is a "huge gap in maturity." And yeah, under normal circumstances, I'd agree.

But, and this is going to get contradictory bcs I found Two different timelines (BOTH written by Winick, lmao), and depending on how you read it it could be up to three different possibilities. Let's Start with Batman Annual #25: Daedalus & Icarus.

Timestamp before Jason's resurrection, which is pretty well known at this point:

Next, him waking up from a coma afterwards, when he escapes the hospital:

Now the above could be interpreted as either 1 year after he died if we're assuming that it's using the same "start" point to count as the resurrection (unlikely), or one year after he came back (more likely).

Next, the timestamp right before a guy recognizes him and sells him out:

And, finally, the timestamp before being put in the Pit:

That is, count it up, between 3-3 1/2 years where Jason was dead, in a coma, or otherwise not particularly... cognizant of the world around him. His ass is NOT developing emotionally, socially, or mentally like this, which pretty handily bridges the gaps there. Taken at face value, Jason's maturity level is going to be, unironically, younger than Tim's in the wake of these setbacks.

Now, if we go to Lost Days issue 1, it doesn't specify how long he was dead, nor how long he was in a coma, so we'll just carry those two over, what we DO have is this from just after Talia brought him home:

This puts him as being on the streets for five months, so we're at just shy of two years so far. And then we have this:

Which is right before Talia puts him in the Pit.

So, in summary: 6 months dead, 1 year coma, 5 months on the street, and something like 1-1 1/2 years with the League which...

Actually puts us on almost the exact same timeframe either way. 3 to 3 1/2 years. It just changes whether Jason was on the streets or with the League for longer.

And is utterly incomprehensible because comic timelines are a freaking nightmare.

If we're being generous, then that would put Jason at a minimum of 19, maybe toeing the line of 20 for UTRH, again, on paper, because like hell are you convincing me he did less than a year's worth of training abroad throughout Lost Days. Yeah maybe they trained him in fighting while he was catatonic, muscle memory and all that. But the other teachers that we KNOW of? The bombs, guns, probably something to get him up to date on handling all that tech we see him using, Egon, potentially arguably All-Caste if you want to draw from n52...

but you'd have to knock at least a year and a half off of his internal/personal development from death & coma, at minimum. Maybe you could argue he was somewhat developing while in his "the lights are on, but nobody's home" phase, you can't say it's at the same level as a normal person might when going about their day to day life, and it's difficult to measure. But he's not hitting the kind of milestones that he should be for his age. I wouldn't put him at anything less than two years behind. So if we use our upper estimates on Jason, and lower estimates on both the developmental setbacks and Tim/Mia's ages that gives us:

Jason toeing 20, mentally 18, fighting Tim at 16. 2 year gap, kind of stretching the physical age gap if we assume Tim had just barely turned 13 when he showed up to be Robin. - OR LESS

Jason maybe 21, mentally 19, fighting Mia at 17, two year age gap again. Honestly, still not that big of a difference - OR LESS

And, to be frank, that's not even counting the mental development issues that come from the intense physical trauma from dying - and I swear to fuck don't give me the "He's not the only one who died he's not special" speech.

HOW MANY OF THE OTHERS YOU'RE USING AS A GOTCHA LOST, *GESTURING AGGRESSIVELY ABOVE*, LITERALLY MULTIPLE YEARS OF THEIR LIFE.

Not counting adults, of course. Barry lost years, Hal lost years, Ollie I think also lost a couple years? but A) they came back still adults, bodies pretty much the same. B) While Jason's body didn't go through a magic growth spurt in canon, it did still grow esp while with the League.

I'll eventually get around to Titan's Tower & GA#72 (tbh, there are other people who've already done Titan's Tower and it'd probably be better than what I do, so I'm more going to focus on the latter, but there IS a specific part of the former that drives me nuts that I don't see brought up a lot), and maybe if we're feeling spicy all my issues with UTRH starting with how Winick is just as guilty of retroactively writing Jason as being inherently a bad penny since his Robin days as any of the other "modern" writers. Like, bud, Severe enough Head Trauma is legitimately enough to change someone's personality, not to mention trauma. It wouldn't hurt your narrative for that eerie difference, the Shade of What Once Was if you're really going for RH being Like that.

Final addition: I swear to god if you use my post to start up some kind of petty-ass ship war or flame other characters I will immediately turn off reblogs and replies I am Not Dealing With That Shit, please and thank you.

Anyways, @glitter-stained, your interest made me decide to actually put the work in now to pull it up rather than passively gather stuff to dump whenever discourse pushes me over the edge so, here ya are. Looks like you did have it closer on the mark than I did.

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

Ngl, reading the words "we'll continue to support workplace whistleblowers" is a buckwild thing to hear any political party say in a world where the current Dark Capitalism Joke is "well, I'm not a Boeing whistleblower, so my survival rates look great"

[meichenxi]

life update!!

hello my friends!

as ever, not active - life happened! I probably will continue not being active, so let's count this blog as on semi-hiatus. BUT. I have big news!

I am!!!! going to china!!!! in august!!! for ten months!!! to work as a volunteer interpreter in a martial arts academy!!!! in a buddhist temple!!!!

I get to train with the foreign students 8+ hours a day, and translate when needed!!!!

ok that's the announcement, love and peace <3

I will be getting up at stupid o'clock (5:45am), eating in silence, wearing uniform / robes at all times, teach a beginners' chinese class, and also. crucially. do really HUGE amounts of Kung Fu!!!!

on a serious note, I have been trying SO hard for SO long during and after covid to get back to china. but now I actually HAVE THE VISA, as of today, the ticket is booked, all - praise be - will be well. I am so afraid to jinx it further, and so very happy :)

I would never have thought when I started this blog back in 2020 that I'd be able to use what I've learnt, all the 'useless' martial arts knowledge from copious amounts of trash wuxia, in an actually useful context. more long term, I also get to see if interpreting is right for me, improve my chinese, and get very fit - all for free :D

hope everyone is well! - meichenxi

[douglasfeiffel]

i am really enjoying impact winter but yet I find myself wondering the same thing I wonder when consuming most vampire media: if the vampires can control how much they drink from someone, why don't they? It's hard to see the vampires we're supposed to see as good people as good people when they're murdering non-vampires left and right when they could. according to the story itself. just not do that

[tentacle-therapissed]

SvS is great because Janus's argument is simultaneously so well crafted and also so deceptive and manipulative. Look at him go. He really fits the lawyer role to a tee

[thelastsaiyanprincess]

y'all be like "minors DNI/DNF" and then...... constantly reblog posts written by minors lmfao

[katyspersonal]

I find it very ironic how the same cultish looser that shuns people based on who they're friends with because she genuinely thinks if you believe something you can't have human interactions or treatment to those who believes otherwise..... will preach hard and proud against harassment for people's headcanons, ships and takes whereas being friends with the person who did harass people's headcanons, ships and takes. But why rules are always only for their victims and never for them? What's so hard about following what you preach? Go ahead, disown this person and be mean to everyone who still likes them and want to give them a chance, you SHOULD by the terms that YOU'VE chosen! But you won't, you'll rather cover their ass and pretend you haven't seen the evidence, to save the face, because should you ever admit a mistake you'll explode from the notion of not being so "holy". PEAK L0garius and Alfred behavior.

[writingwhilecaffeinated]

Writers of anything and everything.

Let me tell you, as an educator, an English teacher to be exact (in a state in the USA that gives no shits about our children’s education but whatever) I’m not proud of much I teach. I’m super hypercritical and I never think I do right by the kids.

But one thing I DO believe in, for students who are having to learn how to write within restrictive parameters and for any KIND of writer, is the power of word vomiting.

Most of my students come to me having already been taught “essays look like this, you need this five paragraph format, you need to format a thesis with this formula, etc.” and they’ve been convinced that whatever they type or scribble onto the page has to be right on the first try.

They freeze. They’re paralyzed. And suddenly come due date, NOTHING is written. And when you ask why, you’ll get a shrug, a mumble, “nothing sounded right.”

The thing is they don’t know what sounded right cause they were too afraid to write anything that wasn’t a finished project from the first go.

So every year I teach the concept of “word vomiting.” That there is nothing wrong or shameful about a steady stream of consciousness coming out onto the page, and maybe 3/4 will have no place. But it’s that one 1/4, that little bit you read out loud to yourself and go, “I can work with that,” then you keep that and word vomit AGAIN. And soon you have SOMETHING.

It’s not perfect on the first try, but you let your brain speak its piece before losing everything. I promise, you’ll find your nugget of gold, your shining diamond, your perfect argument, or that one line you needed for that confession scene.

[lulu2992]

Ask meme!

I was tagged by @glowwormsmith! Thank you :)

Rules: Spell out your URL using song titles that can describe your muse/OC/pairings, then tag as many people as there are letters in your URL!

My URL isn’t the best for this game because it simply consists of the same two letters twice (I didn’t take the numbers into account), but I still scoured my entire music library to find titles that worked! I chose my OC Taylor Rook, John Seed, and the couple they form in my heart because of course I did. There are four letters in my username so I’m tagging four people: @cassietrn, @laindtt, @simplegenius042, and @strafethesesinners (only if you feel like doing this, of course)!

(Not all the tracks I wanted have lyrics, so I did this a little differently than you did and wrote a little “story” instead):

In Hope County, Taylor really became a “Lurking Danger” [Yoko Shimomura - Final Fantasy XV] and had to walk along many “Unfamiliar Paths” [Cliff Martinez - Far Cry 4]. John kept telling her, “Let The Water Wash Away Your Sins” [Dan Romer - Far Cry 5], but she remained “Untouchable” [Niels Bye Nielsen - HITMAN 2]. As for the Baptist, deep down, he was just a “Lost Child” [Brian Tyler - Far Cry 3], but on the outside, the thing most people noticed and talked about was his “Unsettling Aura” [Yoko Shimomura - Final Fantasy XV]. I wish he had had time to “Learn To Let Go” [Kesha - Rainbow]*, but all he did in the game was try to be “Unstoppable” [Sia - This Is Acting]*. Their story didn’t end well, so in another world, one that only exists in my head, they decide to “Let It Go” [Demi Lovato - Frozen] and stop being “Under The Gun” [Motörhead - Kiss of Death] all the time because I just want them to sing “Love Me Forever” [Motörhead - 1916]* and “Underneath Your Clothes” [Shakira - Laundry Service]* to each other instead!

*actually for these the lyrics also work

[thegetdownrebooter]

t*yl*r sw*ft getting dragged every 5 business days... i used to pray for times like these.

[scramblema-am]

Didn't want to derail a post so I'm making my own.

I came across a post talking about how we're not gonna get rid of the radfems until we give up "all cis men are evil" because gender essentialism is brain rot. Which is completely and totally true.

AND ALSO

I can't believe I have to fucking say this, but we need to give up "all cis men are evil" because cis men are... also people??? I understand that the people who have hurt women and the LGBTQIA+ community are white straight cis men, but that doesn't make them inherently evil or inhuman. It is dehumanizing to label an entire category of people as evil. I don't care if they have privilege, they still deserve to be treated as human beings. Cuz surprise, ALL PEOPLE should be treated like people and have the right to not be told that they're scum constantly.

And fuck it, hot take: it fucking sucks to be told you're evil for shit you can't change, no matter who you are. It's not ok to call all gays evil, or all black people evil, or all trans people evil, or all women evil. It's NOT OK to call all straight white cis men evil either.

And you know what? If I was called evil all day every day online and out in the real world by people who claim to be "liberal" and "feminist," I might get angry, or at the very least depressed. When you are in a heightened state of emotion, you are vulnerable to manipulation. If some asshole is like "hey I get it, *those people* hates me too, they're all stupid," men, especially young men who are depressed and angry, might follow them into whatever stupid shit they're doing. That's how Andrew Tate has as big a following as he has.

TLDR: Men need to do better, AND communities that push for acceptance and change NEED to drop the "all cis men" are evil thing. Those things aren't mutually exclusive!

We need to treat men like real human people.

Otherwise what the fuck are we even doing here.

[gardenerian]

me: i am a little mel made of pure love today, the world is so gorgeous and i am so happy to be here.

me: *thinks about HOS in the year 2023*

me: nope. evil.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

already thinking "and by 'religious' really i mean 'christian'" re: how the term "religion" is not really useful when it's largely like, from a christian perspective, what is considered "equivalent" of christianity, see: perhaps a "rival"/obstacle to some person or group being considered christian....and even if not thinking about converting anyone, resulting in some at best misinterpretation / misrepresentation based on framing it through/as [element of christianity] and limiting of any more accurate language

like how tumblr recommends me a post about someone thinking about "religion" in general and concluding that it's Weird and perhaps Wrong for anyone who is a "true believer" in their religion(tm) to Not be proselytizing / trying to Convert everyone. like yeah why isn't everyone being an evangelical christian, they ought to be, benevolently informing all those around them that they're going to hell, otherwise. don't see any problem with this conclusion, or that someone's getting antisemitic in the notes already in agreement, or that That's Not How This Works and you don't just know how All "Religion" works based on considering it to be an alternate version of christianity (which in itself doesn't All work like that either)

[scarlettfevor]

Finding out that the dunmeshi fandom ships Senshi with Chilchuck when Laios is right there reminds me of when I found out that Jojo fans ship Avdol with fuck ass Polnareff when Joseph was right there

[markoliphant]

It’s taken four years but I’ve really fucked report time this time around. I’ve still got three classes to go and I need to have them finished by 12 tomorrow.

And even with all the work I’ve marked and had my students do it’s hard to work out comments for them all that don’t just sound like I’ve copied and pasted from previous years

[thebirdsareafterme]

It’s actually crazy how this particular poll has double the engagement of every other poll and also the only one with propaganda. Everyone is so passionate about these two ships specifically and that makes me so happy. I love seeing all the artists come together to make funky lil posters!

However!! Some of y’all are taking this way too seriously. Accusing people of cheating in a fandom poll for racecar drivers, or in turn, accusing the other side of “crying because they’re losing” and just generally being disrespectful is seriously not good sportsmanship. Grow up a little bit and just enjoy it for what it is: a fun activity that someone put together out of the goodness of their heart. It literally does not matter who wins. Chill.

Group A: Semifinal