#and Barbara sacrificing herself so that they could

[pathetic-gamer]

WAIT WAIT WAIT CONSIDER THIS: TOM AND BARBARA AS ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE, ALAN AND ALICE AS A DOOMED RETELLING

[glisten-inthedark]

Stranger Things ships | Understanding, Love and Hope

One pattern I've noticed in all the ships of the show when it comes to what they're showing us, telling us and what's implicitly there.

Lucas and Max

Lucas and Max's relationship evolves during season 4 and we see how Lucas can now grasp the pain Max was in, he can admit that he knew something was wrong but didn't fight her on it when he should have.

He stays steady by her side, and he alongside all of the people she loves, are enough to give her hope.

Lucas doesn't make her feel more guilty, or more broken. Instead, the memories she has of him, the love she feels towards him, makes her feel like she can escape, that all she has to do is run towards the light. That she can persevere in spite of all the pain she was in.

Lucas makes Max feel seen.

Hopper and Joyce

Hop wanted Joyce to feel safe in Hawkins, he wanted her to believe that city could still be her home. He wanted to be by her side, and he could understand her grief and her pain and could listen to her without patronizing her about it.

But, he could also admit when he was wrong, when he was being stubborn and not listening to her.

And Joyce... All she had to do was get one weird doll with a message to believe Hop was alive, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. In despite how seeing things go down the way they did, she still somehow knew it was him.

Joyce didn't need any more proof, and she never stopped looking for him and hoping, knowing, she'd find him.

Jonathan and Nancy

Jonathan understood Nance's guilt over Barbara's death, he understood the weight she carried even though she never told him about it.

He never made light of it, never made her feel like she had to fake, instead he gave her the chance to do the opposite of that. He listened to her when no else would, and they understood each other without having to communicate verbally more often than not.

More than once, we see Jonathan lying so he can allow Nancy tk be happy, even if it means sacrificing his own happiness.

Mike and El

We are shown, very early on, that Mike and Eleven don't understand each other. And how could they, when she spent all of her life stuck in a lab?

But as time goes on, we learn they still don't understand each other at all. Mike doesn't understand El's deepest fears, her insecurities.

El doesn't acknowledge the bullying Mike has been a victim of most of his life.

They talk to each other, but they don't communicate and to be frank they don't seem to make an effort to understand each other.

Mike doesn't even go after El every time she's upset with him or about something else.

Mike literally makes El feel bad about herself, he makes her feel like he doesn't love her because he doesn't show he loves her. El literally talks about how she she felt like Mike was scared of her, it doesn't matter that he wasn't, what matters is that how he made her feel. Like she's a monster, a mistake.

Another point is that we are shown, also early on, that Mike has in fact stopped looking for El. He never searched for her, he called her, but he never went to freaking woods in a attempt to find her.

Mike doesn't listen to Eleven, he doesn't even make an effort to understand where she's coming from, to empathize with her.

We are not shown Mike fighting for El, or even wanting to fight for her. We are not shown him understanding El or hoping for her.

In fact, we are shown the opposite.

Mike and Will

Ok, this is me being unbiased ok? I swear.

From the onset, Mike doesn't stop looking for Will. It doesn't matter that there's a body, it doesn't matter what they say, he doesn't stop. He knows, deep in his bones, that the boy isn't his Will, and doesn't stop looking for him until he finds him.

Mike can apologize to Will without anyone demanding that from him like we see happening in season 1. He can admit to being in the wrong, to acting like an self pitying ass.

Will understands Mike's fears. He understands the core of who Mike is without Mike having to say anything.

Mike makes Will feel like he's not a mistake, like he has the strength and courage to fight. He makes Will feel good about himself, and Mike doesn't feel like Hawkins is home without Will there.

Will lies so Mike can be happy, he sacrifices his own happiness for Mike's.

Mike makes Will feel hope.

Mike can't help but hope when it comes to Will.

[raygirlramblings]

Hey so I know we have stuff and comics on Rabbid Mario and Rayman’s friendship, but what about Rabbid peach?

I kinda want to see how Rayman becomes friends with the diva. (BeSides from beep-o’s weird romance series)

.

oooooh now THIS is interesting!

Ok so originally I said a while ago that I want to se Rabbid Peach messing with Rayman and getting on his nerves, and I think that fits her personality. But having finished the dlc I think there could be way more to this relationship.

The thing about Rabbid peach is that while she gives off this diva air of only caring about herself she is also one of the best healers in the game. She’s self absorbed and prone to jealousy but she DOES care about her friends and uses her powers to heal them when they need her. At the end of the Phantom Show dlc she’s the one who presents Rayman with a surprise gift after initially seeming standoffish towards him. And despite her jealousy towards how Mario and Peach interact she clearly values Peach as a close friend and inspiration.

So what does this mean for her and Rayman’s friendship? Well the good thing about Rabbid Peach is her extrovert personality. She wears her heart on her sleeve, doesn’t hold back her opinions, and is honest to the point of rudeness. She’s not afraid to call a spade a spade. And while this might take a bit of getting used to I think Rayman would appreciate this aspect of her character.

Despite having a good number of female friends (Ly, Barbara, Betilla etc) Rayman doesn’t really have a female friend he can unload his more petty side onto. Basically have a good old fashioned bitch fest with. I imagine he holds Ly in too high regard to dump his problems on her, Barbara doesn’t strike me as the ‘girly chat’ type, and Betilla is his adoring parental figure who’d probably not be as impartial as she could be.

But Rabbid Peach? Now there is a lady he can have proper girl talk with. I can see Rayman being able to be very honest about his frustrations and anxieties with Rabbid Peach. She in turn can give him frank and blunt advice about how he’s too self sacrificing and encouraging him to follow his heart the way she does. In turn Rayman is very relaxed in his gender identity and wouldn’t mind having a make-over slumber party with Rabbid Peach once in a while. Basically they’re good stress relief to one another and a safe space where they can vent about their lives (provided Rabbid Peach promises to stay off her phone ;) )

Honestly, I got the image of that one scene in the Looney Toons show where Daffy is doing Bugs’ hair and they’re having a girl chat and I had to draw it XD

Sometimes it’s ok to just unwind, have some me time with the girls, and feel pretty. XD

So yeah, that’s basically my impressions of Rayman and Rabbid Peach’s friendship. I imagine this might take a while to develop but I could see them forming a very unique friendship with a lot of love and support between them ^_^. Almost the complete opposite of Ray’s chaotic and physical friendship with Rabbid Mario XD

[6rookie-writer0110]

Don't wait by the river

Damian Wayne x Fem Reader

Request - Could you do Damian Wayne x fem!reader where this version of Damian Wayne is from a earth where Darkseid won (similar to DC animated movie justice league akropolis war). Before Darkseid won y/n and Damian were together on this earth and they have a daughter together named Daisy. But later y/n died by sacrificing herself to save Daisy. After Damian killed Darkseid with a radian bullet (which is like kryptonite but it kills a god) he found out there is a multiverse and decided to leave his earth with his daughter (Daisy 5 years old) for a new life.

•

Older Damian Wayne-

Earth 2

Darkseid arrived on Earth and his army started to destroy the city. The heroes failed to save the city and Darkseid killed every hero. But you and Damian managed to escape and are trying to head to the bat cave.

“I’m scared” Daisy cries.

You pick up your daughter and kiss her head.

“I won't let anything happen to you, sweetie I promise. I love you” You smiled.

She hugs you tight.

“I love you, mommy,” Daisy said.

“We will protect you,” Damian said.

He gently rubbed her back then he kissed her cheek.

You and Damian hid in a shelter for protection. He looks out the window and the streets are empty.

“We can keep going but we have to be fast,” Damian said.

You follow Damian outside and you are still carrying your daughter. He saw an abandoned car and the door was semi-open. You two get inside the car and he starts to drive to the bat cave. You start to look around and make sure no one is following your family. Daisy, won't leave your side and you keep holding her and he starts to drive faster.

Before Darkseid took over Earth, you and Damian were planning a family trip. You and Damian saw close friends and family being killed. Damian wants to take you and Daisy somewhere safe. He holds back his tears because he saw his bat family die in front of him.

“Damian, we will get through this,” You said.

“I hope so. Is Daisy asleep?” Damian said.

“Yeah, she is sleeping. Do you think the bat cave will be safe?” You said.

“Yes, for us. Bruce has a special bullet called radion bullet. It can kill Darkseid and we only have one shot. The bullet is extremely rare. Just hope that Bruce didn't use it” Damian said.

“Wish this nightmare will end,” You said.

“Me too,” Damian said.

You and Damian made it to the bat cave. Damian takes Diasy to a bedroom upstairs and gently touches her hair.

“I will protect you, no matter what,” Damian said.

He gently kissed her forehead and left the bedroom. He went back to the bat cave and you helped him look for the bullet. It took a while but you found the bullet, now you and Damian start to talk about a plan. Later, he gets on the computer and starts to search for his friends.

“Hoping to find someone we know?” You asked.

“I don't think we will find anyone. Bruce is gone, Harley, Tim, Barbara and everyone is dead” Damian said.

“I thought you didn't like Harley,” You said.

“She did get on my nerves all the time. But there were times she did help me stop bad guys when I didn't need her help” Damian said.

“She did babysit Daisy for us one time,” You said.

“It was our anniversary and she was teaching our daughter how to gamble,” Damian said.

You couldn't help to smile about it. Damian couldn't find anyone he knew alive, he stood up and you gave him a hug. You gently rub his back then he stares into your eyes and you kiss him.

“We will get through this,” You said.

“I love you, Y/n,” Damian said.

You kissed him on the lips and said those three words.

Darkseid found the bat cave, he wants everything that Bruce owns. Darkseid and his army head to the mansion but Damian gets an alert. He quickly starts to search for how to go to another earth and Bruce has a portal bracelet for that.

“Y/n, we have to get Daisy now! Darkseid is on his way” Damian said.

He grabbed the gun and you two ran to get Daisy. Darkseid arrived and his army started to attack the mansion. Damian starts to fight then you follow him to the bat cave.

“What should we do?” You asked.

You are holding Daisy and she starts to cry.

“We will get in the car and get away from them. I -”

There was a loud explosion. Daisy starts to cry even louder but the exit in the bat cave is blocked.

“There is no point fighting me. Everyone is dead and your so-called heroes are dead. Give up or I will kill your family” Darkseid said.

“We won't give up and you will lose,” Damian said.

“Fine, you will be the reason why your family will die,” Darkseid said.

You and Damian start to run but Darkseid starts to chase you two. There is a small exit of the Batmobile entrance ramp, you and Damian ran towards it. You give Daisy to Damian then she snatched the gun from his waist.

“Y/n, what are you doing!?” Damian yelled.

“We need a distraction. Take Daisy and I will keep him busy” You said.

“No… Y/n, you can't do this!” Damian said.

You kiss him on the lips then you kiss your daughter on her head.

“I love you, Daisy. I will always love you don't ever forget that. Damian please keep her safe” You said.

“Mommy, don't go please” Daisy cries.

You run towards Darkseid and you aim the gun at him. Damian covered Daisy’s eyes with his hand and he started towards outside. But he heard a loud bang and he turned around, the bullet hit Darkseid’s chest. Then one of his soldiers threw a spear toward your chest and you fell down. You start to bleed out fast, you start to remember the good times with your family.

“Y/n!” Damian yelled.

You bleed out fast. The soldiers start to run towards Damian and he has to think fast. He turns on the bracelet and picks a random earth and the portal starts to open. He runs inside but he falls and hits his head on the ground. Daisy gets up and she tries to shake him

“Dad? Wake up” Daisy cries.

She starts to touch his face and she starts to cry even more. Bruce and Harley were working together before they went their separate ways they saw Daisy and Damian.

“Bats, I thought you said Damian left town,” Harley said.

Harley bends down and Daisy runs towards her and hugs her.

“Harley!” She cries.

“I don't know this kid” Harley said

“He did leave. This must be a doppelganger from another earth. She probably knows you from another earth and doesn't know she is on a different earth” Bruce said.

“We can't leave them here”’ Harley said.

“We won't,” Bruce said.

✫ ✯ ✬ ✫

Earth 49. The Injustice universe.

Damian starts to wake up and he sits up. Bruce walks in and for a moment Damian thinks he is dreaming.

“Bruce, you are alive,” Damian said.

“No. You are not from this earth, we found out passed out, and your daughter is fine she is with Harley” Bruce said.

“Oh. I'm from Earth 2, but it got destroyed by Darkseid. I managed to escape with my daughter Daisy but my wife Y/n didn't make it. What earth I'm on” Damian said.

“You are on earth 49,” Bruce said.

Bruce gives him a cup of water and he starts to drink it. After they talked, he followed Bruce to the living room and Diasy ran towards him. Damian picks up his daughter and hugs her tight and she starts to smile.

“Mommy!” Daisy said with joy.

You walk into the living room and you are confused as to why, the kid said that to you.

“What is going on?” You asked.

“The little girl thinks you are her mom,” Harley said.

Your heart starts to race when you see Damian.

“I can't be here,” You said.

You leave. Damian starts to explain the multiverse simplest way he can so that Diasy can understand. Daisy starts to cry because she doesn't have a mom anymore. Damian hugs her and starts to comfort her.

“Watching this Damian is strange,” Harley said.

“Why?” Damian asked.

“Because on this earth you are toxic and treated Y/n horribly,” Harley said.

“She is right. Our Damian used to follow a code then he changed, he started to kill and worked alone. He left and said that he won't come back. Him and Y/n were toxic to each other and it was hard for them to leave each other. You and Daisy can stay here, Alfred will take you to the guest rooms” Bruce said.

“Thank you,” Damian said.

———-

Damian is in the kitchen making breakfast for his daughter. You walk into the kitchen and you are surprised to see him, you thought he left.

“Oh, I didn't know you were still here,” You said.

“Bruce is letting us stay here for a while. Are you hungry? I can make something for you to eat” Damian said.

Daisy is staring at you and she wants to call you ‘mom’

“No, I will eat later,” You said.

You leave the kitchen and you sigh. You seeing him, reminds you of the toxic moments you have been through with Damian. Bruce told you what happened with Damian from Earth 2. But you are not happy that he will stay in the mansion for a while.

Later, Damian takes Daisy to the park. She starts to have fun then he starts to push her on the swing.

———

You were out all day. Daisy saw you go upstairs and she started to follow you. You left your door open and she sneaks into your room. You turned around and you noticed her

“You scared me,” You said.

“I’m Daisy,” Daisy said.

“Okay. Are you lost?” You said.

“No. Can I stay?” Daisy said.

Before you can answer, she climbs onto your bed. She sits in the middle and smiles at you.

“I didn't say you can get on my bed,” You said.

“I want to the park and Harley took me to the zoo. I like Harley, she is funny” Daisy said.

You let her stay and she kept talking about the zoo.

“I like tigers. Do you like tigers?” Daisy said.

You sit on the bed and she moves closer to you.

“Tigers… are cool and smart,” You said.

“My mom likes elephants and dad likes snakes,” Daisy said.

“Go play with your dad,” You said.

“I want to stay,” Daisy said.

She stands up on the bed and she starts to jump.

“You should stop jumping before you get hurt,” You said.

“I like jumping” Daisy giggled.

She keeps jumping and you try to grab her. She giggled again and she thinks you are playing a game with her. She starts to move away but still jumps on the bed

“Daisy, stop jumping,” You said.

“No!” Daisy laughed.

You did grab her and you started to tickle her, then she started to laugh. Damian walks in but doesn't have a day word, he can see how Daisy is having fun. But you noticed him and you stopped tickling Daisy.

“Hey,” You said.

“Hey,” Damian said.

Daisy is smiling at you and Damian.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to let Daisy into your room. She got away when I wasn't looking” Damian said.

“It’s okay. She was telling me about her day at the zoo” You said.

“Yeah, we had fun. Daisy, let's go” Damian said.

She gets off the bed.

“I want to play,” Daisy said.

“Next time,” you said.

“Okay,” Daisy” said.

They leave the room and you close the door.

✫ ✯ ✬ ✫

Damian has noticed more that you are avoiding him. During dinner time, you eat in your bedroom, and you avoid him in public. You avoid Daisy but sometimes she sneaks into your bedroom and she always wants to play with you.

You are in a coffee shop and you see Damian walk in.

“Hey Y/n,” Damian said.

You didn't say anything, you just walked away fast. He wanted to go after you but he didn't, he just stood there for a few seconds. You went to the park and sat on the bench and you started to remember the bad stuff about your ex.

“Puddin?” Harley asked.

“Oh hey, Harley. I thought you called Ivy ‘puddin’” You said.

“I call you and Ivy puddin’. Why the long face?” Harley asked.

“Seeing Damian from earth two, brings back bad memories of my Damian,” You said.

“Maybe just talk to him. You don't know how long the new Damian will be around” Harley said.

“And if I don't want to?” You asked.

“Then stay in the park all day and avoid him,” Harley said.

“Wish it wasn't hard,” You said.

“We live in Gotham, everything is hard” Harley smiled.

“Yeah,” You sighed.

Much Later, you went home and straight to your bedroom. Daisy is in your bedroom, she has on your leather jacket.

“Daisy” You sighed.

“Do you like it?” Daisy smiled.

“It doesn't fit you. Take it off, please” You said.

“Okay,” Daisy said.

You help take off the jacket. But suddenly she hugged you and you were speechless, and she tightened her grip. You gently rub her back then she lets go of you, and then she goes to look for her dad.

———

You are alone in the backyard and Damian stands next to you.

“Can we talk?” Damian asked.

“About what?” You asked.

“I’m not the Damian, you know. I'm not telling you to get over it like it's nothing. What I'm trying to say is that I want to get to know you. I want to help you heal but only if you want my help. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable in your own home with Bruce. I want us to be friends and get to know each other and Daisy really likes you a lot” Damian said.

“You are definitely not my Damian, he hates talking about his feelings or caring about anyone. Seeing your face does remind me of him and that's why I have been avoiding you. We had a toxic relationship and it was hard for me to get out of it. Last time, we went on a mission together and we had to fight the Joker, I got hurt badly… *sighed* he left me in an abandoned warehouse and I was slowly bleeding out and I thought I was going die, but Ivy saved me” You said.

“I’m not like that. I will prove it to you, Y/n. What you have been through is traumatic, but I know you are strong because you are here and you didn't give up” Damian said.

“I guess we can be friends,” You said.

“Whatever you need, I will be here for you. And I'm sorry about Daisy putting on your jacket. Oh and here is your wallet, she took it” Damian said

He gave you back the wallet.

“Thanks,” You said.

“I’m starting to see it now. I have had an effect here... But not the one I intended. Vengeance won’t change the past, mine or anyone else’s. I have to become more. People need hope. To know someone’s out there for them. This city’s angry, scarred, like me. Our scars can destroy us. Even after the physical wounds have healed. But if we survive them, they can transform us. They can give us the power to endure, and the strength to fight." Damian said.

“Sometimes it's hard to keep going,” You said.

———-

Damian started to be there for you slowly. Daisy hasn't stopped sneaking into your bedroom. You and Damian went to a coffee shop and started to talk about hobbies. There some days, you would avoid him and he didn't force you to talk to him. He gives you space and makes sure that you will eat something.

“I’m guessing in Earth Two, you are Robin?” You asked.

“Yes. My Y/n used to help stop bad guys but when she got pregnant, she stopped I kept being Robin” Damian said.

“Oh,” You said.

“I was going to take Daisy out to eat, do you want to join us? She really wants you to go?” Damian said.

“Sure, I will go,” You said.

You go with them to a restaurant. Daisy sits next to you and she wraps her arm around your arm. You and Damian started to talk about movies and food. Daisy tells you about her favorite animals and cartoons.

After dinner… Damian took you and Daisy to see a movie. But on the way back home, Daisy fell asleep. You carry Daisy to Damian’s bedroom and gently lay her on the bed. Then he walks you back to your bedroom.

“Thanks for dinner, Damian,” You said.

“It was nice getting to know you,” Damian said.

You and Damian stare into each other’s eyes. You kiss him close to his lips then you go inside your bedroom. Damian did want to kiss you and he went back to his bedroom.

[h4lcyonism]

between the clouds and the ropes, it’s clear that all of these screenshots from the teaser + official trailer are from the same scene.

i get the feeling that whatever this scene is, it’s the scene with the line that barbara mentioned she’d never be happy with the delivery of because it’s so important to yang’s character.

we know that the island responds to emotions in terms of the weather. and while we don’t have the context of this scene in full, the storm clouds and the lightning seem to imply that yang is going through something emotionally throughout this part.

which begs the question… why does blake’s background look so calm and serene where yang’s doesn’t, despite the fact that they’re both clearly in the same place??

i think this is gonna be the big “yang faces the reality of her self-sacrificial tendencies” scene, paired with something big for the bees and their development.

the summary for the volume describes es the girls as facing the struggle of their own identities, and with the way volume 8 left off in regards to yang, it’s clear that’s gonna be a big part of what she goes through during volume 9.

i think, whether blake is physically present or not (because i’ve seen some compelling theories, and we’re not 100% sure of anything in this crazy new world), her background represents yang getting closure and calming herself, possibly in the form of coming to grips with the harm that she causes her teammates by always sacrificing herself and in turn also possibly fully coming to terms with her feelings for blake.

i could see the order of the scene going something like this:

whatever the context may be, i feel like it’s gonna be a big scene and i’m so excited to see if i’m at all close to being right with this idea.

[robinrequiems]

stephanie stuff.

they forgot about me, didn’t they?

the Robin pushed deep into the shadows of Bruce’s mind. the second failure. the one he craves to take back. the one he regrets accepting as Robin. he knew she wasn’t ready. he already lost one, and he saw signs in her that he saw in Jason.

yet she wasn’t like Jason. sure she was reckless. sure her lineage isn’t great. but she wasn’t given a chance. not like Jason was. It was always stephanie making the mistakes and messing up. he didn’t care that she was a girl, he cared that she was reckless and that she makes mistake over mistake, but that’s not fair. they called her childish, naive. but she wasn’t. she knew, she experienced the cruel truths of the world. she wasn’t naive. was she stupid? yeah. but she was still growing up. she has a long list of regrets. she just wished people would stop reminding her.

she can’t grow if people keep holding her back. she deserves more than that. she’s better than what they think.

so why do they look at her, remember her, as someone who never deserve the Robin name? she deserved it. she did. she helped. she was good.

even if she didn’t follow the rules all the time. but she tried to help. even when she messed up big time. she didn’t know. batman didn’t tel her anything. he kept secrets upon secrets. even though she was his sidekick. she deserved to know the secrets. she did. maybe if he told her—

there’s no point in thinking about that because stephanie as Robin never got a happy ending. it was predetermined in every. single. universe. her run as Robin was always limited. she was made to die. she wasn’t meant to be Robin. not like they were.

but god she wanted to be Robin. the light to Batman’s darkness. the sidekick people looked up to. she fell in love with this idea to the point where she sacrificed it all. she gave it her all, she grew up. she realized that Robin wasn’t fun and games. yet she still wasn’t given a chance.

maybe she wasn’t meant to be Robin because she wasn’t meant to be a sidekick.

maybe that’s why batgirl worked and Robin didn’t. yet the thought of what could have became of her if she kept being Robin is a thought that haunts her.

maybe she’d be the one to give Tim the mantle back. or maybe she would give it to Damian. maybe she would turn Robin into something entirely new.

but. she couldn’t, but it’s okay. because she can do it with batgirl. she’ll be the best batgirl the world will see. her journey won’t be stopped. This is who she is meant to be.

she’s not gonna let anyone take it away. not this time.

++ WIP

“i get it.” | s. brown.

she knew dick went through a difficult time when he was Batman. because of Damian. becoming Batman. having to take up a mantle he never wanted. she knew that. that’s why she didn’t let his distrust of her sway her.

because she would prove that she was better than everyone thought. which led to her gaining his respect. he saw himself in her. because she was someone who wanted to inspire joy. she didn’t live in the darkness like everyone else. and he was happy that she was batgirl when he was Batman. he needed that joy. it was important to him because it reminded himself of who he was. she helped with Damian in ways he couldn’t. dealt with him when he had episodes of anger. or when he almost goes off the deepend. she gave him a chance. so it was only fair for dick to give her one.

barbara was jealous. seeing stephanie in her former moniker. a title held dear to her chest. And seeing how free she was. it reminded her of herself and it hurt. it hurt to see stephanie using the batgirl name. and she wouldn’t be able to deal with if the name became haunted by death. Z which is why she didn’t want stephanie to have it. she knew her track record. her history. yet stephanie was stubborn. that stubbornness was annoying at first. yet she .. warmed Barbara up. and Barbara accepted her.

tim and stephanie had a lot of history. they both like to reminisce, but they hate how much there is. because it leaves unspoken words, arguments, and feelings. they learn to let those feelings go because they aren’t right for each other. b it doesn’t mean they aren’t friends. he didn’t want her to die. he didn’t want her to be a hero. stephanie did though. she was meant to be a hero. she tried the civilian life. she wasn’t meant for it. this is who she was meant to be, and tim knows that. but it doesn’t mean he isn’t concerned, or hurt that she’s back. he doesn’t want to see her die. not again.

[tornrose24]

I don't know how much of that CU fantasy AU I’m going to actually draw, so I made a list of who gets to be who/what.

George–regular human child. Loves adventure stories and was the one who first proposed to try to stop the dragon. Uses a sword. 

Harold–half elf thanks to his dad (who left his mom before Heidi was even born) and was befriended by George. Still an artist and into illustrations. Uses a bow and arrows. Was hesitant about going after the dragon, but George convinced him to do it.

The other kids–

Erica–Maybe a paladin or a knight in training. Is actually the crown princess of the lands and is off exploring/checking on the people.

Melvin– human, but might later get briefly turned into a slime monster (Huh, I wonder what that’s referencing). Is from the boys’ hometown.

Bo–initially I was going to have him be an ogre, but I’m now leaning towards him being a giant who can magically change his size (lke Glogor from Star vs the forces of Evil). Is good friends with Gooch.

Gooch–probably a bard. (Not sure if I’ll keep the elven design from the original drawings or not). Has some misfortune wherever he goes with his pan flute.

Dressy–I originally had her as a fairy, but I think some sort of dryad or siren might be more appropriate.

Stanley–Probably human, because I can’t think of anything else he could be at the moment. Family would still grow stuff, and of course they suffer a lot financially given how a chunk of their produce is sacrificed to the dragon.

Jessica and the Sophies–I’m torn between having all three girls be fairies or have each one be something different. Definitely not human though. (And I admit it would be amusing if later on Other Sophie here IS actually queen of the Croco-bats, but never said anything about it to anyone).

Heidi–half elf like her brother. Absolute sweetheart.

Those from Harold and George’s town/nearby–

Barbara and Moses– Mom’s a scholar and dad is probably a blacksmith (instead of a mechanic).

Grace–the town’s artist. (There’s probably no fantasy version of a real estate agent, though I’d love to see a book about that). Has a thing for guys who aren’t human apparently.

Mayor–Same as in canon. Allowed the residents to vote on a human sacrifice to the dragon out of desperation.

Moxxie–a famous, daring knight. Teacher and protector to Erica. The only human the dragon genuinely fears, but she’s unable to fight him herself due to an injury.

Edith–was the town’s baker. To her horror, she was voted as the sacrifice since she has no family (and also… err…. There was another reason, but the adults would just tell the kids that she was an ‘unmarried woman.’) Does end up getting the dragon to stop terrorizing the town, but not in the way people had assumed.

Adults who are now obstacles or random encounters during the quest–

Ree–either a human or an ogre who is a well known fighter (and maybe an alchemist). Whatever he is would also apply to his brother. One of the few nice adult beings the boys run into on their quest.

Meaner–I’m thinking either a troll or ogre (which would also apply to his sister). Grace might show an interest in him (much to Harold’s horror).

Jerry–probably a fawn or stayr. Mainly because they are one of the chillest mythological beings ever and Jerry isn’t, so that combo would be hilarious.

Professor Poopypants–perhaps a gnome wizard. New Swissland is now a land of gnomes. You can guess how this encounter would go.

Ribble–a gorgon (as a reference to Wicked Wedgie Woman) but without being able to turn anyone to stone.

Anthrope–IDK on this one yet. It’d be funny if she was the most monotonous witch ever.

Fyde–a tree monster. Not a serious threat compared to the others.

Krupp–the dragon that terrorized the boys’ hometown by demanding sacrifices of food and money four times a year or else. Though that soon changed when Edith was dropped on his doorstep instead. (As for the dragon-man form, I’m torn between him being the result of a dragon and a man relationship, but he can’t become fully human like his brother can or it was alternatively the result of getting mixed up with a spell).

CU–Well if Krupp is a dragon then CU is a dragon. Takes an instant liking to the boys and helps them out once in awhile, while accidentally giving them hints on what direction they need to take on their quest. Definately on the boys’ side.

[differentkindoflife-dc]

ADKOL: Helena Wayne

Helena Alfreda May Wayne is the daughter of Bruce Wayne, Batman, and Selina Kyle, Catwoman. The two costumed vigilantes met during Bruce's first year as Batman, and despite them being on opposite sides (Bruce as a crime fighter, Selina as a burglar), there was an undeniable attraction between them. This attraction resulted in a seemingly inconsequential night of passion on a rooftop one night. 9 months afterwards, Helena was born.

Helena's life was never a stable one. Despite both her parents love and best efforts, it took a long time for them to actually reconcile their differences. Further complicating matters was the fact that they were also vigilantes, and the end result was that Helena was closer to her grandfather figure, Alfred Pennyworth, then she was her parents. Even when she was young, she knew that her parents were too stubborn to comprise. She decided the best course of action would be to introduce a rogue element that would force them to genuinely work together. In secret, she began training with any and all teachers she could find, ranging from the legendary Ted Grant to the deadly Lady Shiva. Not even Talia al Ghul, another romantic partner of her father's that she despised at the time, was off limits for learning how to fight. Once she was satisfied, Helena used some of her parents equipment to put together a costume, and she became Batgirl.

Bruce and Selina were horrified when they found out Helena was Batgirl. They tried to forbid her from her nightly activities, even taking drastic measures to do so, but every night, Helena would be out there, fighting crime the likes of which she had only ever heard about. Ultimately, her plan worked: Helena's parents began working together to keep her as far away from their lives as possible, then to further her training when they realized it was fruitless to try and stop her. This brought Helena to Barbara Gordon, the Oracle. Helena had been recruited into the Birds of Prey, an all female group of warriors also consisting of Dinah Lance, the Black Canary, and a woman who coincidentally shared her name, Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress. She got along well enough with her team, and took well to their training, but tragedy struck when Huntress sacrificed her life to save Helena's life. To honor her and her sacrifice, Helena became the new Huntress, even training herself how to use a crossbow.

Helena's life was turned upside down when two separate events occurred at very nearly the same time. The first event was the discovery that Talia al Ghul had birthed two children from her brief romantic affair with Bruce, Damian and Athanasia. The second was that an invasion by Darkseid had resulted in the death of her father. Helena's life had been shattered, but she was tough. In order to move past her grief and help her younger half siblings, she created a team of heroes, recruiting all sorts of people from various other hero circles. Helena is now the protector of Gotham, alongside her siblings, Batboy and the second Batgirl, her mother, and her father's cousin, Kate Kane, also known as Batwoman.

Notes

It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about not posting in a while, this AU fell on the backburner. The one post I do have, about Stephanie, has become severely outdated, so I'm making an update to that soon.

For those who don't know, this AU, named A Different Kind Of Life, or ADKOL for short, explores a world where most of Batman's sidekicks and partners belonged to different hero families instead. I'll make posts detailing the others soon, but just to give one example that I've already shared, Stephanie Brown here is actually Stephanie Allen, adopted daughter of Barry Allen and Iris West, and the second Kid Flash. This is why Helena was mentioned to be the first Batgirl, despite a mention of Barbara as Oracle the very next paragraph, and why Athanasia is the second Batgirl.

For those of you who have questions about this AU, my asks are open.

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Manor (2021)

I’ll grant The Manor some points. At its core, it showcases a relatable fear. Its focus on an older actress as the main character makes it stand out, as does the ending. What’s not so good are the complete lack of scares, some sloppy bits of writing and certain character motivations that don’t quite add up. For me, this lands it smack-down in the middle. It’s ok.

After suffering a stroke, 70-year-old Judith Albright (Barbara Hershey) is moved into a nursing home and soon after, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. There, she is confronted by another resident, who insists something sinister is happening before dying. Though her 17-year-old grandson, Josh (Nicholas Alexander), wants to believe her, Judith’s stories of a strange tree-like demon appearing at night sound exactly like the symptoms of dementia.

It’s nice to see Barbara Hershey in a starring role. She may be 75 but there’s no reason she shouldn’t still be performing and The Manor is an ideal film for her. The doctor may have diagnosed Judith with an incurable brain disease, but she doesn’t seem ill at all. She’s sharp, likable and perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She might need someone to check up on her occasionally but she’s not like those residents who can’t even tell what day of the week it is and are waiting for people who are long dead to visit them. This is what makes her suspicions frightening. Try as she might, Judith will never convince anyone she isn't hallucinating. The idea of being stuck at the manor is similar to the nightmare scenario of being mistakenly incarcerated in a mental asylum. This is an area where the movie could have been improved. If Judith was a little less stable, a little more frail, we might question whether the creature that appears at night is real. As is, you know something shady is going on in this place. More than that, you can probably tell who is behind it as well - the movie isn’t hard to figure out.

I’m being nice to The Manor because there are some good ideas at its core. In execution, however, this movie isn’t all there. The first problem is that it just isn’t frightening. There are plenty of shots late at night that might make you jump when something scary suddenly appears, but what is actually happening at the manor is pretty obvious, which dissipates your interest in the plot significantly. 

What’s going on, exactly? Turns out Ruth (Fran Bennett), Roland (Bruce Davison) and Annette (Nancy Linehan Charles) are actually much older than everyone else at the manor. At night, they revert to their younger selves so they can live it up and transform back to normal when the sun rises. To keep this magic going, they’ve been sacrificing the other residents to a tree-like demon. After Judith and her grandson manage to dispatch Roland, the remaining witches tempt her with an offer: “Why not join us?” Shockingly, she and Josh agree! It’s an unsettling turn of events, but I’m not sure it’s in character for them to go along with it. Even if it is, this revelation raises several questions. At one point, Judith finds a list of the residents who’ve just had their lives drained away by the demon and her name is next. Where did this piece of paper come from? If it lists all the nefarious trio’s victims, shouldn’t it be way, way longer? It’s just a clumsy way to keep the plot moving, is what it is. Going back to that “Join us!” proposition, you can easily see how this could’ve been an enticing prospect for Judith if the film was written a little better; if we saw her genuinely worried about getting old and having her mind fall apart, or if we saw some residents die for non-magical reasons.

The Manor features a different protagonist than we’re used to seeing in a horror movie and the ending is memorable but the lack of scares, predictable story and clunky writing make it hard to get too excited about it. You could do much worse if you’re looking for something to watch “for free” from home, but there are many other movies I’d point you toward first. (December 4, 2023)

[crownshattered]

|| Jean’s childhood is mostly hidden behind a veil. As part of a prominent family in Mondstadt, she grew up knowing a lot of people (Diluc and Kaeya in particular, and she even considers them as childhood friends) but everything she did was very professional, even as a child. Jean wasn’t allowed a normal childhood. Her mother wanted her to constantly train so she could uphold the Gunnhildr name.

This was a big thing her parents argued about, and that made her feel like their conflict–and inevitable separation–was partially her fault. She wanted to satisfy everyone but felt disappointed in herself when she couldn’t. However, she hid all of that behind a gentle smile. She never told Diluc or Kaeya about her family problems. Even to this day, I doubt they know just how deep it runs.

She knew each of her parents would take a child in their separation, and Jean knew her father was the gentlest. She didn’t want Barbara to grow up under their mother’s strict version of care. So, Jean stayed with their mother and grew up to be a strong leader, even though she wasn’t given the type of love she needed. To this day, this desire to please everyone is part of why she has so much stress and is always doing so much work. She wants to do everything, even if that means sacrificing her own happiness. Typical oldest sister syndrome.

[ace-disaster-weeb]

I've created another horror movie concept inspired by Koomaxx's "Genshin characters in a horror movie" video, this time starring the Mondstadt characters! I took way more creative liberties with this plot, which includes the creation of some original concepts! Welcome to...

"Let Us Adore You"

Here's a rough plot outline before we get into the details:

Razor is the protagonist of this story, in which he and several of the other Mondstadt characters work together to solve a series of murders and disappearances.

The real antagonist of this story is an original character who I've just been calling The Mother. My whole concept for this character (pictured in the concept sketches below) is a desperate attempt to get back whatever you've lost to make your life "perfect," taken uhealthily too far.

Basically, her story is that many years before the main plot happened, she lost her son in some horrible accident, and she proceeded to handle it not very well. She throws herself wholly into anything that could possibly bring her son back, but it's just never enough. And then...she meets Razor. And he's the spitting image of her dead son.

Initially, she just tries to befriend him, and it works-kind of. By the start of the movie, the two of them are on good terms, but it's still not enough for her, because no matter what The Mother wants, Razor is not her son. And so, as she applies the knowledge she's gathered over the years, a plan forms...

TBH, I knew since the early stages of my development process that Bennett would die first. Once I considered that him and Razor are good friends, though, my overall response was, "Oh my FUCK that's so sad, but it would also be a really good inciting incident and the angst potential is off the charts!" So, what happens here is: Razor and Bennett are hanging out together in the forest, and they accidentally set off a trap, which seriously injures Bennett. Razor runs off to get help, but when he comes back, Bennett is nowhere to be found. Shortly after this incident, The Mother gives Razor an invitation to her home. He initially declines, wanting to figure out what happened to his friend, but he keeps her address with him.

Once again, the characters under the "dies in the first hour" tier aren't necessarily in a specific order, and being in the "red herring killer" tier doesn't confirm nor deny a character's survival, but I still have some ideas for what happens with some of the characters.

I feel like Albedo gets dismissed as a suspect pretty quickly after Sucrose dies, and he's the only character in the "red herring killer" tier where I'm pretty confident he survives. The other 2, I'm much more uncertain about.

Kaeya ends up sacrificing himself to protect Klee (I made myself very sad thinking this). However, there is one thing about this event that I'm really hung up on: how this affects everyone's perception of Diluc. I can't decide whether this event would prove Diluc's innocence or make everyone really suspicious of him...

Whatever happens, during the late stages of the movie, the then surviving characters consult Mona to see if she can use her abilities to figure something out...only for "Lisa" to kill Mona in the middle of her reading. This understandably freaks everyone out, and it leads to a small chase and/or fight sequence. At the end of this, the characters discover that this Lisa is no longer their friend, and is now a creation of The Mother's used to spy on them.

At this point, everyone is pretty sure that The Mother is involved with what's been happening. So, while Albedo, Barbara, and Klee stay behind in Mondstadt, Razor, Jean, Eula, and whoever is left under the "red herring killer" tier all confront The Mother in her home-a mansion on a small isolated island. It's during this confrontation that her true intentions are revealed.

Basically, she's been trying to make Razor's normal life as unappealing as possible, so he'll see no other option than to stay with her forever. And part of that is killing off people around him, taking their bodies, and using them to create "friends" for Razor. I have some concept sketches for them down here.

So, in this climactic finale, the characters must fight off the "friends" and The Mother and escape back home. In the end, our heroes succeed in escaping, The Mother and the "friends" are defeated, and her house is destroyed...though not without casualties.

Soo, yeah, that's my newest Genshin horror movie concept. It's probably also the one I've thought through the most. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts about it!

[crownshattered-arch]

|| Jean's childhood is mostly hidden behind a veil. As part of a prominent family in Mondstadt, she grew up knowing a lot of people (Diluc and Kaeya in particular, and she even considers them as childhood friends) but everything she did was very professional, even as a child. Jean wasn't allowed a normal childhood. Her mother wanted her to constantly train so she could uphold the Gunnhildr name.

This was a big thing her parents argued about, and that made her feel like their conflict--and inevitable separation--was partially her fault. She wanted to satisfy everyone but felt disappointed in herself when she couldn't. However, she hid all of that behind a gentle smile. She never told Diluc or Kaeya about her family problems. Even to this day, I doubt they know just how deep it runs.

She knew each of her parents would take a child in their separation, and Jean knew her father was the gentlest. She didn't want Barbara to grow up under their mother's strict version of care. So, Jean stayed with their mother and grew up to be a strong leader, even though she wasn't given the type of love she needed. To this day, this desire to please everyone is part of why she has so much stress and is always doing so much work. She wants to do everything, even if that means sacrificing her own happiness. Typical oldest sister syndrome.

[albentelisa]

May I give some additions? As I feel that initial post misses some points.

Barbara is the sole provider for the family (not even the primary one, as Jim has no part-time job), meaning that she deals with mortgage, food and medical expenses and household bills. From the very beginning it was established that she overworked herself to the bone - and Jim worried because of that enough to mention it to Strickler. But it's not like the overworking was fully Barbara's choice - later we see that her true passion is painting (which is hidden in the basement, most likely simply because of the lack of time for it) yet she works the job which provides more money.

It's also not like she ditches the household entirely as we see several cooking attempts (disastrous ones and both Jim and Barbara are aware of it). It's more like circumstances of James leaving made both Jim and Barbara take over new roles. I assume that James was the one who dealt with cooking while having a job of his own and Barbara had her own job and dealt with some chores of her own, which was balanced household. Now, James left (and I feel like he sends no money to them) and someone has to do work of two adults and do household chores worth two adults. I imagine that initially Barbara focused on the job aspect and simply had no energy to deal with the household (as someone who works double shifts - you simply don't want to live after those let alone do a thing). I can imagine there were only take outs for a while and not that clean house.

That was where Jim took the role of the housekeeper. Was it the right thing? Honestly, every child deserves a childhood but the world sucks and there was no other choice. Because of that Jim matured faster in certain aspects.

The status quo didn't change and wouldn't change until there is another one provider (or Barbara finds the job which takes less time and pays more which is nearly impossible). And if Jim goes to the college, it'll mean more expenses, so yeah, they stuck like this.

The initial post frames it like it's solely Barbara's fault, but I feel it's more like the society as a whole is one to blame because a lone mother cannot live with her child without sacrificing something, which is a tragedy.

As for Strickler, I feel like it's tricky thing. Sure thing, Barbara gets selfish when it comes to her relationship with Strickler, but let's remember that initially Jim likes Strickler a lot, enough to treat him like a confidante, and Barbara only meets Strickler for the first time because he comes to discuss Jim's issues. We mostly see Jim's point of view, but if we consider Barbara's, we have the man who clearly worries about her son and whom her son likes and trusts a lot. Dating when you have a child is often a mess when you need to balance love and family and try to incorporate new person into your life.

And as Barbara knows nothing about the trollhunting, from her point of view Jim's change of attitude towards Strickler happens because of her dating him.I imagine she thought it was a simple jealousy (and it could be that Strickler told her so too). Of course, the main mistake was the lack of talk to Jim (though, would Jim tell her his real reasoning for disliking Strickler?).

I'm rewatching Trollhunters in the background right now, and the disfunctional mother son relationship between Jim and his mom is making me crazy.

Like, he's taking care of the household and his mother for years as a teenager and before probably. She is sometimes giving half hearted comments about him not having to do so much, but very obviously she's not gonna make him stop do all the cooking and cleaning. Y'know. Both because they've been living like this for years, and because it's obviously also very comfortable to have someone do all the house work.

Then Strickler comes into the picture, and if we ignore the whole Troll and changeling side of the story, Barabara gets very offended cause Jim doesn't want her to meet him privately. Again, ignoring the whole magic and trolls stuff, STRICKLER IS JIMS TEACHER. If Jim hadn't figured out that Strickler was a changeling he probably wouldn't have a problem with it, but the fact that he does, no matter the reason, should be enough for Barbara to put a stop to the relationship. Her child is clearly uncomfortable with her seeing/dating that guy, for whatever reason, and even clearly vocalized it. But she doesn't care about, or rather, she tells Jim that she "wouldn't expect something like that" from him. Obviously not, cause she may see him like her child/teenager he is, BUT DOESN'T TREAT HIM LIKE ONE.

And then Jim, unknowingly to Barbara, becomes the Trollhunter, and his behavior changes. He's suddenly doing reckless stuff, sneaking out, getting bruises, landing in detention and even at the police station, barely avoiding a police report. What does she do? Asking him what's going on? If everything's alright at school? If he has any other problems? Maybe trying to lower his workload around the house, which again, he's doing most of that as a teenager and longer probably.

Nah. She doesn't do anything until he lands in the hospital. Except for again, dismissing him rather negatively at the one topic he's openly expressing any negative opinions about (Strickler). And after he lands in the hospital she now starts not asking questions, but demanding answers. Demanding answers from a teenager in a difficult situation who is also now acting much more like a teenager than he ever did before, from her point of view at least. Except she obviously doesn't know how to deal with a teenager, cause she has never had to raise or live with a teenager. She instead lived with a child pretending to be an adult for years, that was partly much more of an adult than she was, who did way to much work even before Jim became the Trollhunter. So she throws punishments at him and grounds him, but does he listen?

No. Cause why should he? Not only is he dealing with things much more important than being grounded, yknow, saving the world, he's trying to protect her from the sheer knowledge of the supernatural and physically protecting her from getting harmed. And again, for the majority of the time since his dad left he pretended to be an adult. He was and is the main adult in the household, dealing with important things she doesn't even know about.

The only one's treating Jim like a teenager are teachers, other children and Blinky and Aaargh sort of when they're not in the middle of Troll business. Strickler, in the first episodes where Jim doesn't know about his true identity, is much more of a parental figure to Jim (also after his redemption later on tbh) than his mother.

In summary: Barbara is treating her son like an adult, almost like a partner, instead of a child/teenager. And when that isn't possible anymore she doesn't know how to properly treat him. She also doesn't really care that her son is uncomfortable with her being around Strickler, or Strickler in general. And it takes Blinky telling her (when Jim is 16) that Jim might be affected by his father leaving when he was five years old.

Jim meanwhile is treating his mother more like a child/teenager instead of the adult and MOTHER that she is. Seeing her as his responsibility. Cooking for her. Cleaning for her. Telling her to rest and take breaks.

They obviously love each other other. And their relationship might not be toxic, but it's very much disfunctional. In a way that is mostly negative for Jim.

[daydreamerdrew]

The Defenders (1972) #68

[inamindfarfaraway]

Dark Oracle AU

Okay, I need to expand on this concept. I present my personal idea of a timeline from the canon state of affairs (or, well, my interpretation of them because comics are so inconsistent and full of crap, basically pre-New 52 with Duke) to Big Sister dictatorship!

The Batfamily is battling a really serious threat, like Ra’s al Ghul or the Court of Owls or a supervillain alliance or something. It’s a big deal. Very high stakes. The only reason they’re even attempting a mission this risky is because, thanks in large part to their resident information-finding specialist Barbara, they have a great deal of knowledge in advance and are sure they’ve planned for every possible outcome, as Bats tend to do. Except the villain has a secret advantage, another trick up their sleeve. There’s no way Babs could have found out about this, but of course she doesn’t believe that and blames herself, as Bats tend to do. The heroes aren’t prepared and in the chaos none of the contingency plans they’re able to execute work. By the time they defeat the threat… Black Bat and Batgirl are dead. Steph is killed first, heroically sacrificing herself, and Cass, the nearest to her, is caught off-guard in her shock.

I’m sorry! I am! But I truly think that Babs could not properly turn evil if she had Team Batgirl to remind her of her definition of heroism, of her own lingering inner Batgirl. She needs to just be Oracle. Cass is buried in the Wayne Manor cemetery; Steph in a public one the closest to the same distance from the Manor and Crystal’s house. They both get memorials in the Batcave.

Babs shuts down in depressed and self-hatred. She watched her daughter figures, her protégés, her Batgirls die because of (in her mind) her inadequacy. She feels like she’ll similarly fail at anything she tries to do now. She quits being Oracle and withdraws from the Batfam and her father. Remember, she has an eidetic memory, and watched and heard Steph and Cass’s deaths via the family’s mask cameras. They’re all she can see when she closes her eyes. Those screams are always ringing in her ears.

Meanwhile, Bruce takes this about as well as he took losing a child/young vigilante he inspired and mentored the last two times, but doubled. Although he and Alfred have enough experience that he doesn’t get quite as bad as fast as when Jason died, he’s still significantly more antisocial, aggressive, reckless and self-destructive and isolates himself more over the first months afterward. Jim notices the disappearance of Black Bat and Batgirl and the sadly familiar changes in Batman’s behaviour and puts the pieces together. He offers Batman what comfort he can, but is simultaneously worrying about Babs on top of his job. Crime rates go up whenever the Batfam’s numbers decrease.

The remaining Batkids are distraught. Other than Jason, they grow closer in their shared grief. Jason is off on his own turning his pain into violence even more savagely than normal. He recognizes that he’s falling back on his terrible coping mechanisms and doesn’t want to hurt his family this time, so he just doesn’t interact with them. Tim is hit especially hard due to being the closest to Cass and Steph - not to mention that he in particular so fucking sick and tired of his loved ones dying across his teenage years. He’s very unstable. Steph was one of the key people who taught Damian how to have fun and be a kid, and how important it was, so without her he’s more liable to forget that and backslide into acting cold, aloof, violently temperamental, etc.. Duke is made acutely aware of how short life is and that anyone he cares about could die at any time, so he actually strengthens his friendships with the We Are Robin kids. They can break down and be vulnerable with each other in private, but mostly push themselves harder because they each feel that it’s their duty to both keep Gotham safe and prevent Bruce and their siblings going off the rails. Dick is probably the least emotionally vulnerable because he has the most practice bottling up intense grief effectively and, with Bruce’s psychological decline and constant busyness, steps up more as the Responsible Adult alongside Alfred.

Bruce forbids Tim, Duke and Damian to go into the field and Dick agrees, because can they stop losing family for five minutes? A number of restrictions are implemented to uphold this. It’s Tim, Duke and Damian, though, of course they get out anyway. Helping people directly is one of the only sources of serotonin they have.

This is when things really start to go to hell: Bruce is killed. Because of his recklessness and accelerated by his poor health due to neglecting self-care. Because he charged into a dangerous fight alone, Alfred in the chair occupied with the Batkids. Because, Babs can’t convince herself otherwise, he didn’t have Oracle watching his back. The Batkids really could not stop losing family for five minutes. He’s buried right next to his daughter, the death dates just three months apart. Memorial in the cave, natch. But they don’t pretend he isn’t dead this time, so the whole city must mourn its Dark Knight. There are huge memorial services, statues made of him. Jim cries a lot. He already lost Harvey, now Bats?

Oh yeah, and - released a little later to throw people off and let them form a convincing cover story - Bruce Wayne is dead too. A massive blow to Gotham’s morale and even greater surges in crime follow. Their inspirational ray of sunshine and hope and belief in humanity is suddenly gone forever, and so soon after their original and most accomplished superhero. Who are they going to believe in now? Well… at least they still have the rest of the vigilantes.

Babs returns to work. Throws herself into it the way other people throw themselves off bridges. She stays on more formal terms with the Batfam at first, but does reconnect with them over time. She moves Cass and Steph’s memorials to the Clocktower “for motivation”, and this is evidently effective, seeing how she goes into overdrive and is soon leading and coordinating everyone alongside Dick. Gotham is floundering without Bruce and Batman and she refuses to let it fall into anarchy. She’ll be its Oracle, guiding it to a brighter future. She’ll never not know or foresee something ever again. She can’t. Jim is getting extremely worried.

If she’s doing badly, Bruce’s own children’s mental states can be summarised as deep shit. Everyone embraces the family’s classic coping mechanisms, workaholism and emotional repression, harder to try to cope with the chaos. Tim takes over more Wayne Enterprises responsibilities. You know, ‘cause he doesn’t have enough on his plate. Unlike last time, Bruce is definitely permanently dead and he doesn’t take that well. Alfred… is going through it. Sorry, Alfred. A small comfort is that Jason is inspired to treasure his remaining family and he and his siblings and grandad work on repairing their relationships.

Things don’t go Gotham meets Oceania overnight. Babs eroding her code of ethics to the point of evil dictatorship is a slow process, the kind you may not even register until it’s happened. One year after Bruce’s death she’s composed enough to run for mayor, still cripplingly afraid and resentful of Oracle’s limitations. She needs political control over Gotham to make it a better place in the long run. Who are the people going to believe in now? Barbara Gordon! Her loved ones are proud and supportive of her, having been reconnecting with her lately, if concerned that she isn’t processing her grief that much even compared to the rest of them. Her policies are focused on security and reforms to the police force and legal system that aim to reduce crime and corruption, which in the context of the soaring crime rates and spiralling despair of the Gotham public all seem wonderful to many. Surely, things at least can’t possibly get worse than they have been. She wins in a landslide.

The mayor’s power plus Oracle’s power soon goes to Babs’s head. Over the next year she slips from hero to antihero to a darker shade of grey. Her level of surveillance gradually moves out of the reasonable zone. Her patience for disagreement wears thin. When the Batfam or law enforcement take down a crime organization, she will siphon off their assets and information to consolidate her power rather than redistribute all of it to the people. For the greater good, obviously!

This culminates two years after Bruce’s death when Oracle defeats the Court of Owls with a cunning scheme (if they’re the ones who killed the Batgirls, this part hits extra hard): she fakes an alliance with them to set up a double cross, her ‘downpayment’ of information to gain their trust being false and luring their high command into a massive vigilante and police ambush. But Babs doesn’t dismantle the Court like the Bats expect her to. She takes control of it and integrates its vast, rich archives and information network into her own, now essentially omniscient regarding Gotham’s criminal underworld. She also uses the Court’s under-the-table connections to manipulate political and legal proceedings. It’s great for eliminating all corruption besides her own.

This move triggers the ideological conflict that’s been brewing amongst the Batfam to spill over into a devastating fight. Babs and Dick are at the forefront. Babs is accused of tyranny and selfish ambition, Dick and his allies of holding onto a naive, obsolete ideal of protection, both sides feeling betrayed and that the other is “becoming what they fought against”. It’s very emotionally charged. Very painful and bitter for everyone involved.

In the end Alfred, Dick, Jason, Duke and Damian leave in regret and disgust. To explain why them: Alfred is never turning evil. We all know that. The fabric of the universe would unravel if he did. Dick is likewise functionally incorruptible because he’s Dick Grayson, he’s the light of the DC universe. He is utterly heartbroken though. Him and Babs being enemies is the maximum angst option, I couldn’t not take it. Jason has already been through a ‘using villainous methods to protect Gotham how Batman won’t because a) I genuinely believe the ends justify the means and b) my mental health is a train wreck’ phase and basically come out the other side. He isn’t gonna do that again, but as a subordinate. Him and Duke’s backstories make them both more down-to-earth and grounded in the reality of the average and lower-class Gotham citizens’ everyday lives than anyone else in the Batfam, so they can see most clearly how Babs’s actions are harming their people. And Damian is closer to Dick and Duke than Babs, but also similarly to Jason did the edgy ‘morals hold you back, absolute punishment and terror will fight crime more efficiently’ thing and outgrew it. He learned to value human life and rights and swore his loyalty to the mentors who taught him this and their code. He learned how to reject the toxic bullshit the League of Assassins had been feeding him his entire life; it would insult his character growth in my opinion to have him accept Barbara’s toxic bullshit.

That leaves Tim to be Babs’s primary enforcer. Sorry, Tim. Someone had to do it. Between his severe psychological vulnerability and lack of his brothers’ personal experiences with immorality and insights into the average Gothamite’s life, I think it should be him. He’s also the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and involved in the Wayne Foundation and that pairs nicely with Babs’s data collection. Any Wayne Technologies device can covertly monitor people. To sever himself from the bat and bird motifs of the lost and unenlightened and show his allegiance to Oracle, he creates a new vigilante identity called Python. This is a reference to the Greek myth of a giant serpent called Python (from the original name of Delphi, Pytho, and the namesake of the snake classification) who resided in and guarded the site of Delphi, before Apollo killed it and installed his own prophetess Pythia in his place. He’s got a green scaly jumpsuit with armour plating. Two curved swords imitating fangs. Scale throwing blades. A penchant for nonlethal gas and aerosol tools like knockout gas, tear gas and smokescreens, in allusion to the natural hallucinogenic fumes at Delphi that led to its holy reputation. It’s cool. Sinister, but cool. Snakes don’t have eyelids, matching the relentless surveillance theme. Fun fact: pythons eat bats and small birds.

Shock of the century, Babara “Heaps of Recent, Untreated PTSD From Losing Loved Ones and Compulsive Need to Always be Aware and On Top of Everything” Gordon doesn’t take being ditched by all but one of her found family in stride. She has a total breakdown, blames herself for not being able to make them see things her way and lashes out by cracking down even harder on the populace. She’s accordingly immensely grateful for Tim staying and very protective of him. Were he to leave her too, it could be enough to shatter her.

The five rebels join the Birds of Prey, who leave Barbara after hearing how she turned on them, the Gotham City Sirens, Holly Robinson, Slam Bradley, Duke’s We Are Robin friends and a number of other malcontents, including Crystal Brown, to form a resistance. This alliance is called the Shadow Guard - ‘shadow’ because they literally are largely nocturnal, but furthermore it’s a contrast and opposition to Oracle’s prying and shining a light onto things; a declaration both that they are her blind spot and that privacy, the unseen, the ability to keep people ‘in the dark’ deserves to be protected. They’re guardians in the real shadows and of the figurative ones. There’s the angle that they’re only shadows of the Batfamily at its peak and the people they were then too. The rebellion uses pre-internet technology to be safe, with the occasional exception of scavenged tech cut off from Babs’s network.

Mayor Gordon declares Nightwing, Red Hood, Robin and the Signal to be dangerous, untrustworthy public enemies, even suggesting that they’re responsible for the mysterious disappearances of Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne and Duke Thomas. This forces Jim, who’s been putting off realizing that his beloved daughter and the only family he has left is having a moral degradation arc in favour of softer appeals to her compassion, to confront that Babs is now pretty damn totalitarian and he cannot stand by any longer. He joins the Shadow Guard as a spy, and supplies resources, equipment and other employees with consciences to their ranks. His hope is that once her power is removed, Babs will have to face the consequences of her actions and come to her senses. The three year mark is when her directing of the police cycles around to be so militarized and oppressive that her initial real ethical reforms are trampled, vindicating Jim’s decision.

Why don’t external superheroes and the government officials intervene? Because Babs is still their information broker. She provides them with vital intel and has truckloads of dirt on all of them. She isn’t above passive-aggressively reminding people of her ability to ruin them to get them off her back, even demonstrating it by leaking sensitive information, causing a scandal, giving an advantage to a rival, etc. every now and then. The rest of the US is watching the events in Gotham thinking, as people so often do, “Someone should do something! …But it’s not gonna be me!” (For the sake of the plot just quietly ignore the Superfam and Wonderfam and Flashfam and so on, okay?). Besides, Gotham’s crime rates are the lowest they’ve ever been. Oracle is untouchable and none of the illicit activity can be traced back to Babs, or even proven at all most of the time.

Keep in mind, Babs still doesn’t technically directly kill anyone. Tim doesn’t either. He just arrests criminals and disturbers of the peace and hands them over to the justice system. Business as usual. When they and all records of them disappear overnight, and when nobody ever gets out of Blackgate or Arkham… well, questioning that isn’t in his job description, and Babs and his job are all he has left. He’s come too far to give them up.

Four years into Babs’s mayorship, Gotham’s settled into its continually worsening dystopian status quo under a utopian facade. The roll down the slope accelerates when Jim’s spying is discovered. Babs is horrified, furious and deeply hurt. She almost, almost backs down, but falls victim to the sunk cost fallacy and desperately reaffirms her self-righteousness. He has frustratingly durable moral integrity, so she orders him arrested to get him out of sight and out of mind because again, she cannot handle another loss. The rebel Batboys break him out, they fight Python and the police, it’s sad and dramatic. The rebels get away by the skin of their teeth, but they’re followed. A raid on their base deals harsh blows and gets a sizeable proportion of them arrested, killed or traumatized into submission. They regroup and try to find a way to take Oracle by surprise. Jim is now the Shadow Guard’s co-leader with Dick.

Gotham is peaceful. It’s orderly. Supervillains are a thing of the past. Barbara is like the oracles of legend: whatever she says will be, will be. Needless to say, she won’t have much competition in the upcoming mayoral election. From there, she plans to expand beyond Gotham. The only problem that remains is how to stop her treacherous family and lay the past to rest once and for all…

That’s the catch with oracle stories, isn’t it? In the end, you find you’ve become exactly what you most strived to avoid being. Think of King Oedipus, the archetypal Greek tragedy and ironic prophecy story: a just, wise and noble leader stubbornly seeking knowledge to protect their people from ruin in a time of great suffering, only for they themselves to be the criminal they were looking for and the cause of their city’s corruption.

I’m ending it here with a five year time difference and pretty much in the heroes’ darkest hour, because this is where I would have (my) canon Babs, Steph and Cass transported to this world to help bring dark Oracle down.

[witchy-jadda]

rott spoilers ahead

so i’ve given myself some time to think about everything and try to process it all and here are some of my thoughts on trollhunters: rise of the titans...

- straight off the bat, i loved the intro. opening with blinky telling the story of what happened up until this point was incredible. i would have loved if they had circled back to this though (i saw someone else say it should have been him telling the story to jim and claire’s kids and i loved that idea!)

- i also liked that they didn’t waste time at the start, instead they just jumped right into the action which was fun.

- honestly, i thought jim’s plotline throughout the movie where he basically thought he was useless without the amulet was just really not fun to watch. i understand why it was there and it played into the climax but i really did not find it one bit necessary seeing as i felt that we have grown beyond that. i felt it was overused. we’ve been there before and jim is aware that he’s the trollhunter, amulet or not.

- douxie being so soft with nari was genuinely one of the most heartwarming parts of the movie. i feel that we were really robbed of so much potential with douxie in this movie though. we didn’t see nearly enough of him. it seemed that the writers were picking and choosing when to remember how powerful he is. switching with nari and connecting to her are two examples of when they actually used his power, but aside from that they just disregarded it a lot.

- and speaking of forgetting how powerful people are... i’m genuinely so hurt and let down over what they did to claire. do they not realise how powerful she is? did they just forget about her character arc? it sure felt like it. she got to use her powers a few times (connecting to nari, portalling the titan, etc) but mostly it felt like she was saying she was spent and therefore unable to do anything. she is so strong and so powerful, and that’s just so empowering - especially for young girls. and then it kinda felt to me that rott was reducing her to basically nothing more than jim’s love interest.

- okay another quick note, it kinda felt to me that krel’s potential was also pretty wasted? he barely did anything and i just think he deserved more too.

- ew okay i don’t even want to think about it but i know i can’t discuss rott without talking about the mpreg thing. seriously, what the fuck was that? at first, i thought it was going to be a joke. i thought aja and krel were gonna wind steve up and see how far they could go with making him think he was pregnant just for a little bit of comic relief. but then he was actually pregnant. and so i laughed, because even though it was dumb it was kind of funny. weird and unexpected, but kind of funny. but by the time the movie was over it just didn’t sit right with me. looking past the fact that it was just more of them making steve’s character into a joke, i couldn’t see the logic in giving so much time to that subplot when other characters (claire, douxie) and other relationships (claire and douxie’s friendship) were sidelined. maybe if he had gotten a whole season the mpreg thing could have been included as comic relief or whatever, but with such limited time i really don’t see the point of wasting so much time on something so pointless. 

- speaking of steve, i need to talk about creepslayerz... they really deserved more :( like i get that eli literally helped steve through child birth and then named one after him which was lowkey adorable but i loved their friendship so much and i was really hoping to see more of them. i was kind of hoping they’d get to do more as well. look i gave up on hopes of a romance long ago (even though i still really wished it would happen) but i hoped that at least we’d see some more of their friendship.

* by this point my brain has decided to forget absolutely every point i wanted to make... cue the brain fog (we don’t like her) and allow me to take a moment to read back and try to find my point again *

- i don’t think i can stress enough how much i loved the visuals in this movie. holy fucking shit it was just phenomenal. like wow. the art was absolutely fantastic and i’m really hoping for another the art of... book because i love the art of trollhunters and i feel that they could do with updating it to include the newer stuff. but yep, the animation quality was incredible and i don’t have a bad thing to say about it because just wow.

- speaking of art... a moment of appreciation for character designs. just wow wow wow. we love to see such intricately designed villains. we love to see growth in our other much loved characters. and the locations too? fantastic. beautiful. amazing. loved it.

- another moment of appreciation for jim. the hair. the scars. the injuries. the winter jacket. the fact that he looked a little older.... loved it. loved it, loved it, loved it. i cannot wait to spend hours pouring over reference pictures to draw them all.

- and claire... her armor being weathered and worn. her eyes!! her hair looked great as always. i just love her...

- nari nari nari... my goodness, her magic is so beautiful. i wish we got to see more.

- also, the jlaire moments were very cute. their kisses? so soft. they literally love each other so much. i adore them.

- what happened to the babies from the darklands btw? is not enrique just chilling in the lake’s house with a ton of babies? 

- barbara deserved better. i would have liked to see her and strickler happy.

- on that note, why the actual fuck did they think a few explosives would win against magic?? literal ancient magic and these dumbasses were like huh i guess we should blow it up. i’m sorry, what?? y’all are stupid.

* currently trying to think of every possible point that isn’t to do with the ending because i really don’t want to think about that yet *

- the whole thing with archie and charlemagne felt super unnecessary. like usually characters sacrifice themselves and it’s like sad and you can see the reasoning and stuff. but they literally could have gotten out. i really did not vibe with that. it felt like they just did that to leave douxie with no one.

- that trollmarket was beautiful though.

- speaking of trollmarket... they really restored the heartstone just like that? are you joking? i was not impressed at all. the heartstone was dead and gone, could not be destroyed. did they just forget that? half the shit in wizards wouldn’t have happened if the heartstone could have been restored. very pissed off by that. it was dead, that was it.

- okay back to jim... love that he pulled the sword from the stone. it was cute that it was a group effort, kinda would have preferred if it was just him but that’s just a me thing. and maybe me and my daylight tattoo are biased here, but excalibur is not half as pretty as daylight.

- not gonna lie, jim yelling come on trollhunters! kinda got me. i was very emotional watching this.

- i think the most in character jim moment of the whole movie was when he dropped excalibur, he didn’t have his armor, he was all alone and he decided to make a fist and fight the wizard/god with literally no weapon or means of defence. i don’t think y’all understand how much i love this dumb self sacrificing selfless boy. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, he is literally one of my most favourite characters of all time. i love him with all my heart.

- the armor!! wow wow wow. that was a fucking cool scene. beautiful.

- jim getting stabbed or whatever with that fucking spear thing nearly killed me.

- okay here goes... toby. my sweet toby. jim and toby’s friendship is one of my absolute favourites ever. my goodness. and toby getting in the van and going to save jim was incredible and such a toby thing to do. of course he would think of doing that.

- but like seriously... claire and douxie are so fucking powerful and they were both just like lol i guess we can’t do anything to help jim? i’m sorry what?? don’t tell me that claire wouldn’t go full on black and purple eyes and get herself up their to him. i just... i’m so bothered by the fact that they were sidelined y’all :|

- also, do not seriously try to tell me that aaarrrgghh!!! would let toby go on his own. he would have went with him. he would have followed him.

- literally as jim was falling the first thing that went through my mind was oh aaarrrgghh!!! is gonna run up and catch him.

- and while we’re on the topic of aaarrrgghh!!! why tf did they have such a build up that something was going to happen to either him or blinky for literally no reason? wtf

- aaarrrgghh!!! would not have let toby go alone!!! if he had been there, he would have protected toby, he would have saved him and none of that mess of an ending would have happened.

* ugh here’s the bit i was dreading... the ending *

- first off, i am choosing to ignore it.

- time stone? really? we’re... we’re gonna do this? literally one of the most original things i have ever watched is now - at the literal last possible minute - rip off another movie?? really?? whyyyy???

- i literally cannot express how much i hated it. it was so fucking unnecessary.

- he didn’t need to go back that far!!!

- i’m actually trying to block this out but i suppose i have to at least touch on it. jim would never ever put that burden on to toby. he just wouldn’t. before even looking at all of the other issues with toby getting the amulet, i need to say that. it just wouldn’t happen. he struggled so much with being the trollhunter, he wouldn’t put that on toby. 

- also toby literally never wanted to be the trollhunter?? he never wanted the amulet? he wanted to be a duke and have his war hammer and go on adventures with his best friend and his wingman and eat mexican food.

- okay so um i guess they all just forgot about unbecoming? cool cool cool.

- seriously though, was it not established many times that jim literally had to be trollhunter? and if he wasn’t it would be draal and everything would go to shit? did they just forget about that??

- having jim just decide to give toby the amulet literally takes away from the entire meaning behind jim getting the amulet and becoming the trollhunter. the amulet chose jim. merlin chose him. out of all of the creatures in the world, it had to be jim. he can’t just give that to toby!!

- and as much as i love toby, he would not last a day as trollhunter.

- and that’s not even beginning to mention all that jim erased by not becoming trollhunter. no father son relationship between him and blinky. they didn’t stop steve from picking on eli so no steve redemption and no creepslayerz. is he just going to allow enrique to be taken? toby will not have the same incentive to go into the darklands to save him if that’s the case. strickler will not show any sort of sentiment towards toby either. and then the big one...

- IS THAT FUCKER REALLY GOING TO ALLOW CLAIRE TO NOT GET HER POWERS??? WHAT???

- if jim isn’t trollhunter and the whole thing with enrique doesn’t happen then claire will never get her shadowstaff. let’s be real, strickler probably wouldn’t even need angor rot with toby as trollhunter. somehow i can’t see him making it that far...

- if claire doesn’t have her shadow staff then the whole thing with morgana won’t happen. she won’t destroy the shadow staff and then she will never develop her powers. would jim really rob her of that?

- okay i can’t do anymore, it’s too much for me now...

- i touched on this already in a separate post but i gotta say it again... i did not enjoy the destiny is a gift bit at the end. first of all, jim having toby find the amulet literally takes the meaning of that speech and his destiny away instanty. and second, i just could not stand hearing emile hirsch say the words that belonged to anton yelchin. it was just uncomfortable.

aaand i think i’m done. maybe i’ll have more later but i have a headache now from all of this.