#and Bruce was in the same forums

[nelkcats]

Almost Parent Material

When Dan and Ellie decided to change the titles from "cousin" and "acquaintance from another reality" to "father," Danny could honestly say he panicked. He wasn't a teenager anymore but he wasn't sure if he wanted kids; well, it's not like he had much of a choice.

Maybe it was a ghost thing but the moment Dan and Ellie (kids, his kids) said those words, something inside his core froze, in a good way, it was a comfortable, comforting cold, like a Christmas morning.

The problem was that while the situation made him extremely happy, Danny didn't know how to be a father, and the Fentons were horrible references. So he made the most logical leap: online forums.

He found himself chatting with an online user named KNight quite frequently, he seemed to have also been thrown into early parenthood a couple of years ago and was still struggling with it, but overall he had a couple of good tips.

KNight soon transitioned to Bather and then just Bruce, every time Danny talked to him it felt like they were a couple of little old ladies gossiping. Between the random chatter and the parenting advice he was actually having fun.

So, when Bruce invited him over to his house two years later to officially meet, Danny naturally panicked. Dan and Ellie were laughing at him in the background, the little shits.

[sideeve]

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐃𝐘

⸝⸝⸝ ࿔ how the bats ( bruce and jason ) leave you ᵎᵎ

⸝⸝⸝ ࿔ disclaimer !! these are not accurate depictions of the characters. please do not let this influence your view on the selected characters written and/or mentioned.

BRUCE WAYNE ᵎᵎ

the newspaper rolled up at your feet gifted you a present you feared. the picture of bruce and selina walking out of a fancy restaurant made your swell up. but what was worse was the headline.

'POTENTIAL MRS. WAYNE ?!'

you drop the paper, gasping.

a tear slips through your water line, rolling down the apple of your cheek. the memories of bruce and you sharing intimate moments rolls in your mind as your body stands still in shock. the possibility that he could've been with her the day before and after baffles you. the sweet promises he whispered in your ears were now recycled and given to her.

that's why he kept you a secret...he didn't want any controversies.

maybe it was your fault. maybe you were at fault for thinking that bruce wayne, the prince of gotham would actually stoop to your level of notoriety and become a 'normal person'. someone of his stature shouldn't be caught dead with you, you told yourself.

for the next few days, you brainstormed your next move. you also took into consideration how you'd be in the aftermath. you'd be lying to yourself if you said bruce wasn't your love. you poured yourself into him. the detachment process would be a battle.

move from gotham? no, you're not that much of a loser to run away from your problems. but could you bare seeing his face everywhere after this? what if you got word that she was pregnant? or the extravagant wedding he hosted just for her. seeing her dolled up like a princess on the day you dreamed of with him.

you made your plan.

bruce was out doing his duties at Wayne Enterprises and wasn't expected to return back to the Manor for a few hours. you could buy plenty of time.

JASON TODD ᵎᵎ

"do you not understand how your words contradict the shit you do?" you argue, trying to get him to look at you. every time you moved into his line of sight, he turned away; like he was ashamed to see you.

his anger from being revived grew and grew. it was taking a toll on your relationship. the benign robin you knew from your teenage years was gone. his face was always contorted into a scowl at any given moment. he was never happy.

his eyes screwed shut as he heard the same words he heard every single time. yes, he did feel pain every time you cried due to his lack of compassion and his absence of love. but could he change? he didn’t know. nor did he try.

“you keep stay after it happens again and again. just fucking leave. you keep wasting your breath on the thing you don’t like knowing i won’t change. i’m not changing so you can experience your little fantasy you want with me.”

his blunt words make the crease in your brows relax. your jaws goes slack in…shock? pain? realization?

you didn’t know. but his words made your cheeks burn and your eyes gloss.

“it’s your fault that you keep staying. i don’t have to change.” he sneers, finally turning to you. for the first time since this conversation started again, his first look at you is in anger.

“that’s it?” you manage to choke out.

“that’s it.”

happy thanksgiving, y’all! my inbox is open for requests and i’m on a dc high rn ( especially for adrian chase! ) and if you want a follow up or add characters, ask! so send em ! request forum.

[stillwaterinc]

i have nowhere to put my batman thoughts so they’re going here

jason comes back as the red hood, planning to take out his little replacement or at least hurt him bad enough that he drops the suit and lets robin die but suddenly, a month before his plan is to start, robin disappears. and so does the joker.

what? jason looks, he scours security cameras and internet forums, even weasels his was into the gcpd’s files and…

nothing. there’s nothing.

no bodies reported, joker’s not in arkham or black gate or any other prison, he hasn’t finally been given the death penalty he just. disappeared.

he can’t find anything on robin either, or tim drake, for months until he stumbles upon a nearly perfect patient file in some hospital records.

nearly. it’d be perfect to anyone else but jason, even years later, can recognize bruce and barbara’s finger prints all over it. it’s a cover. a cover for what though? he reads through the file, tim drake’s file, presumably and finds… well.

someone clearly tortured the kid, and with the meds he was being prescribed it got to him. it would’ve gotten to anyone.

jason shudders reading the initial injury report. electric burns, lots of them, are what catches his eye the most but there’s all kinds of stuff. what catches his eye the most though is the lacerations that had to be stitched either side of the kid’s mouth. shit.

he doesn’t get the full picture, not yet, but pieces are starting to come together. the joker has been missing for a while, just a little longer than jason’s replacement has been in the hospital for some violent injuries.

the joker is missing.

tim drake is in the hospital.

something happened, clearly. the joker did something to tim, something awful, something bad enough that the joker disappeared and the kid’s been in the hospital for weeks.

bruce didn’t make it in time, only this time robin wasn’t dead, he’d been broken.

someone had gotten to robin, to tim drake, before jason could, had gotten to him so badly that even after he was released he wasn’t robin anymore.

not because he didn’t want to be, a few bugs here and there in the manor let him know that much, but because bruce wouldn’t let him.

it comes out, in one of these arguments, that time killed the joker. shot him dead. and jason almost wants to congratulate the kid for it, or wants to strangle bruce and ask him how the hell he let robin, who’s just a kid, tim, who’s just a fucking kid, get anywhere near a position where he had the means and desire to fatally shoot the joker.

because that’s it, isn’t it? the reason jason’s like this, doing this, is because of the joker. jason knows how to use guns because of the joker. he’ll never go to college like a normal kid because of the joker. and now tim.

tim wants to be robin, asks for it, begs bruce to let him back out in the suit and jason nearly finds himself agreeing with bruce. the joker’s gone sure but what if someone else tries the same thing? what if someone tries worse? being in the suit’s already gotten tim this much pain, why risk more?

it hits jason, one night, that he stopped being angry at tim a while ago. a long while. he can’t be angry at bruce either, because the joker is dead. there’s no one to enact vengeance for his death on anymore.

anyways most of my posts are about incest please don’t follow me for batman content

[olailamajnoon]

The idea that Bruce Wayne might be Batman persists, despite countless videos of them standing side by side. Ironically, the footage only fuels conspiracy nuts into greater nutness.

“Why would Bruce Wayne and Batman be seen together so often unless they’re the same person trying way too hard to convince us otherwise?” one blog theorized. Another chimed in, “The ‘Bruce Body Double’ theory is a classic misdirection tactic. Follow the money, people!”

In the Batcave, Bruce stared at the latest trending thread titled "BatWayneGate Uncovered". His head sank into his hands.

“I hired a body double. I paid him six figures.”

Alfred, pouring tea with impeccable grace: “Perhaps if you paid him seven, sir, he might look less like you and more like someone who eats carbs.”

Bruce glared at him. “There’s no pleasing these people.”

Alfred raised an eyebrow. “And yet you keep trying, sir. Truly, your optimism is your greatest curse.”

Bruce folded his sleeves, his tone shifting. “Time for Plan B.”

Alfred froze mid-pour. “Oh dear.”

Bruce cracked his knuckles and began typing furiously. “Conspiracy nut named Matches Malone just drifted into their forums. He has opinions.”

Alfred stared into the teapot, his expression a portrait of quiet despair. “Sometimes, sir, I swear you enjoy your bizarre existence.”

Bruce didn’t look up. “Don’t be ridiculous. I—wait, what’s the hot key for posting GIFs?”

“You’re incorrigible, sir,” Alfred muttered, walking away. “Next, you’ll be making TikToks.”

Bruce paused. “…That’s not a bad idea.”

Alfred groaned audibly, but Bruce was already muttering to himself, brainstorming.

“Your father has just had a minor mental snap,” Alfred informed Tim as the boy wandered into the cave. “Nothing too serious. He should recover. Eventually.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “What happened this time?”

A voice called out: “Tim! I need help with a TikTok username!”

Tim froze, then turned to Alfred with wide eyes. “You weren’t kidding.”

Alfred sighed. “I rarely do.”

Tim shrugged and smirked. “Oh well. It’s not like I can make things worse.” He strode forward and raised his voice. “Coming, B! I’ve got amazing ideas!”

“Traitor,” muttered Alfred under his breath, pouring himself a stronger cup of tea.

[hanihazeljade]

TikTok Tim

TikTok has been a blast and of course, Richard has been bothering Tim to make an account for siblings bonding. But Tim got himself a newfound confidence and a new way to irritate the people around him.

(CW: thirst traps, TikTok, possible femboy content, swearing)

"Can we just talk about Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne?" A TikToker with million followers said, "Like this dude is seventeen turning eighteen in like 3 months and what he done in his almost 18 years of existence?" It showed a screenshot of a headline way back when he was attending grade school that he skipped two grades, "He skipped 2 years in school and even though he dropped for two years, because some tragedy happen in his life, he still managed to graduate high school the same year in his age range." Which is true, but with all hacking the school systems, he graduated.

"And I also discovered that he is emancipated from his foster parent, Bruce Wayne. Like at first it was insane because you got the Wayne to finance you but look at him, he is one of the biggest shareholder in the Wayne Enterprise and he already got so many praise especially from Lex Luthor," and then screen showed a clip of Lex saying, "I commend the young Drake-Wayne, even he doesn't have any degree in business, he knows how to handle one unlike some people that I know that have bachelors degree. But if you think about it, it must be in his blood after all his mother is Janet Drake, that woman is the scariest socialite in Gotham." And the screen turned back to the TikToker, "Dude doesn't have any degree yet get a praise from Lex Luthor? He is a genius I tell you." and with that the TikTok video ended.

It all started with that one video on how perfect and genius Timothy Jackson Drake. And it snowballed to edits, a thirst trap if you will, of Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne. One TikTok video and the whole internet has been sleuthing every single picture, video of the new most eligible bachelor of Gotham City. And with that, #tim drake on TikTok have millions of views in span of 2 days. And it also doesn't help that Tim's life has been exposed in the different tabloids since he was a kid, being a member of a elite society especially in Gotham. He doesn't really know and care but with so many people doing a deep dives in his life, it kind of unsettling.

He scrolled again and it was a thirst trap edit. And he decided to exit the app, enough internet for the day.

"Timmmyy." Dick whined as he was begging Tim to make a TikTok account for 1, he can do those trends with Tim and two, he wants Tim to see those thirst traps edit of himself and it has been seven days straight. And Tim's patience has been wearing thin.

"I will, once I finished these reports." he said with no intention of doing it and gonna said that he forgot about it.

"No, do it now. I know your schemes, Timmy." Tim sighed with the insistence, "Then come back here later for you to remind me then."

++++++

"So, my brother Richard has been keep bothering me to make one of this account and apparently, many people tried to make a little clout so I am going to make one to gather all the clout." Tim said with a blank stare but let out a snort at the last part. "I will probably never upload anything again but yep, hope you are happy, Richard." and with that the video ended. 2 hours later after that video got uploaded, his account boomed to 2.3 million and his first video got featured in some internet forums and articles were being published online.

++++++

"And he finally succumbed to the Tiktok." Jason said as soon as he walked to his penthouse and Tim rolled his eyes.

"What are you doing here, oh mighty Jason?" Tim rolled his eyes, sarcasm is dripping to those words.

"I thought you are better than Dick but it seems like I was mistaken."

"Pot. Kettle. Just because I was on the side of edit Tiktok and you are in booktok doesn't make you the top. You are giving pick-me vibes, ngl."

"Did you really just said ngl instead of not gonna lie?"

"Did I stutter?"

++++++

Tim thought it will be cool if he just upload another Tiktok video after months of abandoning his account. He look at the trends and some old trends and he particularly got stuck in the transition videos and he took liking on the one audio edit of Jade West saying, "What's the prob, dog?", and he is a gremlin for a reason.

So, he was there chuckling at himself with the thought of the internet will never know what's gonna hit them.

+++++++

Tim likes to do a little bit of thirst traps in his content but he also like just to gave his audience what he does in his free time whenever he is done reading and signing the needed papers, like typing in his computer or solving a rubiks cube. And he keeps getting millions of views every time and it is such a ego boost for him.

But he also likes the videos with prominent people in United States, most is just him and Lex Luthor doing stupid shits and every time it will happen, both the stocks of WE and Lex Corp is going up and somehow that made both Tim and Lex being close yet hating each other so much.

The Justice League, specifically Superman, is very much annoyed and not happy about Tim's association to one of the prominent villains in the existence. But all Tim does is send them a lip sync video of him with the audio of, "Do I give a fuck? No, not one. How many fucks do I give? Zero. Exactly, so therefore your comment is irrelevant." And he called it a day. He is still fucking salty of about his worst year of his fucking life. He will not going to forgive those assholes when they didn't even apologise.

But somehow the limit of his TikTok freedom is having him doing a thirst trap in a form of being a femboy. Listen. Tim knows he will never be a brickhouse like Jason and Bruce but god forbid his BMI doesn't go up to 20 even in his peak body mass. He was always has been a twink and he also doesn't like that but apparently, that type of body is a perfect "bottom/submissive" material based on the different manhuas he having been indulge himself the past month.

++++++++

Dick was scrolling at his fyp page that was full of animals, gymnastics and Justice League edits - because, and he got in a video of a guy sitting on a red couch doing a simple transition of throwing his black shoe and then changing his casual fit to a more formal attire and it was a smooth transition on Dick's observation and he subconsciously goes to the comments because he wants a laugh at the thirsty comments.

Did anyone notice how smooth that transition is?

Lol, that is a big ass shoes

He is a mighty fine fella

WHY DOES NOBODY IS COMMENTING THAT THE ACCOUNT IS TIMOTHY JACKSON DRAKE-WAYNE?

Dick blinked once at that comment. And he blinked again. He closed the comments and swipe left. And the comment is right, it take him on Tim's verified account with now two videos.

When did Tim had a 5.6 million followers?!

Tim already on the same following count as him and he was still definitely gonna get more. Dick is now kind off regretting his decision if putting Tim in TikTok.

+++++++

The next month was shown that Tim doesn't have any schedule that follows his uploading, it seems like he upload wether he like. But the ones that broke the internet is the one thirst trap that Tim posted.

Ashley, look at me

Tim made the hand movements for the transition and from the Saint Laurent sweater, it is Jason's, Dick knows because he just saw Jason wear it like two days ago and it was paired with a black slacks and it turns into a oversized silk dress shirt and it looks like nothing underneath and Dick hopes that there is a boxers underneath because God forbids, he will delete Tim's TikTok account. In that video, it showcases Tim's long, pale, scarless legs, which is a fucking lie, he doesn't how Tim did it but that is a fucking lie. And oh boy was the comments are wild.

He is a sugar baby with the money of a sugar daddy

I'm straight but damn

yeah that's it, I'm bi now

I can hit that any time if he hit me up

Wait! I AM CONFUSED

Am I.. into this?

bottom vibes ngl

Dick stops reading the comments. TIM IS HIS LITTLE BROTHER! Sure he's nineteen but Dick felt uncomfortable looking at his brother's thirst trap, that he made himself. He immediately message Tim to stop posting thirst traps and Tim just reply with, 'Well, you have to face the consequences of forcing me to this damn app'.

He will be damned, he thought.

[erinwantstowrite]

Erin I have a question ⁉️

How did you start writing LoF? Like,.not writing it in general, I mean like how did you get—or learned—or studied—all the information regarding the Batfam and their backgrounds, and also about Peter and the Avengers, etc.

Currently, I'm honestly planning on writing a small fiction about Peter ending up in Gotham (You must know your words hold a very dangerous power to inspire) but unfortunately, I don't have the right information to actually START writing it TT_TT. Do you have any tips on how I can start?

(P.S Apologies if this sounds a little confusing, I am not entirely the best at explaining 😞🤞)

There's one person to blame for getting me into DC, and it's @alighterwood

I've always been a fan of Spider-Man. He was my first hero, I wanted to be him soooo bad. I had gotten around to sort of writing my own fic for it with my own version of Peter around last year? (Very much inspired by ITSV, LoF Peter came about because he's his own universe and is based on Spider-Man lore from multiple media versions). I had never thought about writing a Spider-Man fic until ATSV, but at the time I was pretty much dead set on rewriting VLD. I got inspired after rewatching ITSV and then watching ATSV.

But it wasn't until alighterwood got me reading their favorite Batfam fics (specifically Tim) that I started to enjoy Batfam or DC in general.

(My favorite Batfam fic is "The Lone Ranger Never Had to Deal with Bruce Wayne" )

From there I started branching out into learning more about Batfam, what is and isn't fanon, and forming my own opinions. It was a natural progression into "I want my favorite characters to meet each other" and alighterwood's evil genius plan ended up working.

I've read a few comics (mostly the Red Robin series, because Tim was my intro to Batfam so I figured I'd start there) but most of my information?

Wikis, reddits, forums from years (a few of them from decades) ago, my father (who was a Batman fan as a kid) and his friends (my uncles, who were all DC and Marvel nerds), my own friends- basically anything I can get my hands on. If I had a question, it was (probably) answered somewhere, or there was someone else with the same question that made me feel better for not getting it. The internet has a BOATLOAD of information about both Marvel and DC.

It's a LOT of research and note taking, to be honest. I have a physical notebook where I take notes on lore so I don't forget it. I comb through fanon AND canon and I decide from there what I want and what I don't want/what doesn't work and what does work for what I'm writing.

But here's something to keep in mind: at the end of the day, you're not writing FOR anyone else. You're not out to please people who are 100% canon, all the time, nor are you trying to accommodate people who only read fanon material. You're writing for YOU. This part is fun for me, but could be very tedious for other people. I'm a little weird like that (I started writing essays for fun since I learned about them in school).

I like doing research. Like a lot of writers, I go down multiple rabbit holes a day. I start by googling a simple question that should take five minutes and then I see something and go "oh! What's this!?" and pick it up, and the cycle continues when I see something else and eventually remember that I was writing.

I enjoy the research and figuring out the balance. Because DC and Marvel do the same shit with their own works! Shit gets retconned, or they bring characters back from the dead, blah blah blah. The fun part for me IS going insane trying to figure out the Flash Family and their STUPID family tree, or learning about characters that were basically forgotten by everyone- even the writers. The best part is that since it's my fic I'm writing, I can go: "What's the most entertaining way I can use this?" And no one can stop me.

But if YOU don't enjoy that part, and you try to do it, you might lose your spark!! Your inspiration!! You might not have fun, and that's what writing is all about!! My thing is, is that basically every fan interpretation, whether they try to stick to the original source as closely as they can or not, IS FANON. And fanon is fun!!

Basically it all stems down to: it's your sandbox and you can play in there however you want to. And sometimes, people see what you're doing and they're like "Can I play too?" and you're like "Yes that'd be awesome!!"

If you find that you do enjoy the research, I think it's well worth it. It's very satisfying to put together all that work and then get a comment from someone where they say "OMG!! I know that reference!" or "I love this interpretation of this very obscure thing!!"

My advice for writing a Peter in Gotham fic is to know where YOU are starting at, before you start writing your fic. If you're a Spider-Man fan and you don't know much about the Batfam, try reading a comic about them, or find some favorite fics and base your information on that. It works vice-versa, if you know more about Batfam and not a lot about Peter.

Imagine there are two people sitting in front of you. One is a Marvel fan, the other is a DC fan, and they know NOTHING about the other comics. But they both want to hear your story where you have combined them. It's important that you don't lean too much into either side: you keep both of their interest by appreciating the details from both DC and Marvel.

The Marvel fan will be happy to see Peter reacting to a new world and situations, even if they don't know everything you're referencing. But the DC fan will be excited because you care about the place that Peter is interacting with enough to make a joke that maybe only they would get.

So: have fun, explore everywhere you want to, and get a little crazy. Don't worry too much about not knowing everything there is to know. I don't know everything about DC or Marvel either!

[crow-in-gotham]

BLOG POST NO. 12 - WTF IS A BATMAN

If there is one thing that I have learned about the people of this city, it is the fact that literally everyone here loves to gossip. Like seriously, you see it everywhere, from people of all ages, young or old. I’m not complaining about it by any means (I’m Filipino, being a marites is kinda in my blood) but it’s just a little bit jarring to be on the bus, just peacefully minding my own business, then suddenly overhear someone gossiping in the seats behind me.

Which is exactly what happened to me today on my ride to school.

The apparent topic of the day? The identity of the ever mysterious Batman.

I know, I know, the topic has been talked about so much that if you compiled all the conspiracy theories regarding this and printed it out, the amount of paper you’d fill up might just be enough to reach the halfway point between the Earth and the Moon.

But regardless of how overdone this topic is, it’s still a pretty interesting thing to talk about. After all, absolutely no one knows who Batman is, or if he’s even a man in the first place. For all we know, the “man” in his name might be a red herring and he’s actually some eldritch alien sent from beyond the Milky Way to lull the world into a false sense of security so he can open a portal into the Dark Dimension and take over the entire world as an evil overlord.

Too much? Yeah, I think so too— but hey, what else am I supposed to do during my Differential Equations class, actually listen to the lecture? Pssh, nahhh— my attention span is way too short to sit through an entire 3 hours of just constantly being bombarded by numbers (I am so fucked).

Anyway, back to the topic at hand— Batman’s identity.

I’ve seen so many theories floating around about this, but only two in particular are that memorable for me personally. Well, three if you count the last one (we’ll get to that).

The first theory was that it might be this dude named Harvey Dent (had to look him up— and man, all I can say is that I’m sorry), but uh certain events have completely debunked that. If you live in Gotham then you know exactly what I’m talking about, and if you don’t then uh go do a quick internet search, I’m too lazy to spoon feed you all the information you need (you gotta learn how to do your own research somehow).

Then there’s the whole “Batman is Bruce Wayne” thing which is like, okay, I know where they’re going with this but at the same time I’m kinda ehh on it, you know? For one, Bruce Wayne looks too much like a personified teddy bear (I have said this once and I’ve said it again) to be the civilian identity of the literal definition of darkness and “it’s not a phase” but bat furry coded. I just don’t think the dude that flirts with women and men (istg the amount of times the tabloids just conveniently skip past this— I know for a fact I’m not the only one who’s seen that photo of this dude grab the waist of that male reporter from the Daily Planet— I see them) every chance he gets is the same guy who puts on a bat costume (am I allowed to make another furry joke?) to beat up bad guys in the middle of the night.

So what I’m trying to get at here is that I see the point being made, and I acknowledge it, but I just feel like we need more concrete evidence, you know?

I hope to fuck that I did not just summon an entire mob to come after me for that last bit.

Anyhow, onto my final theory, which is the fact that Batman might just be a cryptid born from the shadows of Gotham herself. This connects to the whole “Gotham is alive” conspiracy that started circulating around a few years ago. I don’t know how popularized it is, but it ended up reaching me when I was browsing through some forums a couple weeks back and honestly, even if it’s not true, it makes for an interesting thought. Because hey, what if cities are alive? That’d be interesting (and is also mildly terrifying).

The basic idea of this theory is the fact that Batman, thanks to being a cryptid and all that, isn’t actually human and therefore doesn’t have a human identity. He’s just Batman. As for why Gotham made him in the form of a human, not many people really answer this question (or more like no one really bothers to ask), but here’s my thoughts: I think Gotham made Batman into a humanoid because we as humans are often more inclined to be comfortable with something if it’s in the form of something familiar to us (hence, human). Like, imagine if Batman wasn’t human and was something like a massive blur of shadow and tendrils— wouldn’t that freak you the fuck out? Regardless of whether or not it saved you, you’ll still feel fucking terrified of it. But if it’s someone that just looks like a dude in a costume, then doesn’t that make you a little less scared? (I say “a little less” because let’s be real, human or not, Batman excels in being terrifying)

Well, that’s all under the assumption that the whole “Batman is a Cryptid” and “Gotham is Alive” are true.

Or that Batman even exists.

I’m pretty sure he does but there’s a lot of people that are saying otherwise, so I feel like I should at least acknowledge the fact that some people think he’s not real? Like, I even have classmates who say that Batman is just a tale told to kids so they don’t misbehave and stay out for too long— which, okay, that’s fair. I’ve heard my fair share of scary stories and beings throughout my childhood as well to be honest— also from adults who thought it’d be a great way to keep me obedient (mostly my titos and titas, my ma and pa never really liked scaring me or my brother)

Buut, I’m going to have to disagree with those points because I’ve heard Red Hood talk to his little earpiece thing (yes, Red Hood, I know you have one, because literally every vigilante/hero in a team should— no, I do not care if you say you’re a crime lord, you saved me from a mugger, get over it). And you know who he called out to one time? Batman.

And okay, to be fair, Red Hood could’ve just said the name to keep convincing people that Batman is real when he’s not, but honestly I don’t think Mr. Bleeding Bat Symbol over here would be that dedicated in making Gotham believe in something that isn’t real.

But I digress.

Do I actually care about Batman's real identity? Absolutely not. As long as the dude doesn’t bother me then I have nothing against his questionable life choices (I mean come on, what kind of life choices lead you to dressing up like a crime fighting bat?).

And also he keeps Gotham marginally safer, I guess, so that’s a win in my book.

As for the whole “What’s Batman’s relationship with Bruce Wayne?”— I've also given it some thought.

And honestly a part of me thinks they might be exes… or divorced.

But that’s a ramble for another time— I need to study for my next class.

[vigilvntes]

i cant stop thinking about 2022 bruce wayne becoming almost a meme in gotham city because of how Fucking Done™️ he is with everything and everyone when he's forced to leave the tower and turn up to a function. there's pictures circulating facebook of him with the deadest look behind his eyes while he's talking to some politician with top text bottom text captions. there's videos of him literally jumping out of his skin whenever someone tries to approach him making their rounds on twitter (like how he fucking jumped when bella reál approached him at the funeral). and there's clips circulating tiktok of him giving the most unhinged, out of pocket responses to interviewers because he has no filter and his mouth runs faster than the cogs in his head can turn sometimes. and i feel like he would hate it at first, and he would try his hardest to Be Normal when he's in public but because he's trying too hard to Be Normal he just ends up becoming even more of a meme. and everyone just ends up falling in love with him even more because they find him relatable.

like okay yes, he's bruce wayne. yes, he has money and wealth. but he's not one of THOSE rich assholes. he's just a guy. he's awkward and tired and unintentionally funny and he embarrasses himself sometimes and it's kinda endearing to the public.

there's also an online forum dedicated to him smiling in public. people go on there to document rare instances of a bruce wayne smile. when, why, where, etc. but everyone calls bullshit on the claims because no one ever seems to have a picture of it because let's be honest, in public it's kind of a blink and you'll miss it event. the first time someone manages to take a picture of him grinning the whole internet blows up and the pic spreads like wildfire. it gets posted on every social media platform, every newspaper plasters it on the front page, everyone in gotham has bruce wayne smiling as their twitter pfps.

i just love the idea of gotham adopting him as their own little meme and Favourite Rich Guy. like when they talk about the rich assholes that run the city they have to add "not you, bruce wayne. never you".

and like, thinking about him downloading tiktok one night just to see what people are saying about him or the batman (and to anonymously argue in batman's defence, he doesn't care what they say about bruce wayne but batman ... he's gonna defend). he's scrolling and liking the occasional video and then he stumbles across one of those 'sing if you find them attractive' videos and he sees his face. so then he finds another one. and he's on there again. and again. and again. and again. until he's throwing his phone across the room and staring at it like it's just bit him. he'd be freaked out, because WHY is he in the same video as like.... IDRIS ELBA. but he'd also he kinda flattered, and he'll take the self esteem boost.

(also thinking about him going out to the store as bruce wayne, dressed in the most hideous outfit known to man, just to see what people say about it. just to see whether it gets a smash or a pass on tiktok)

also you cant tell me people wouldn't thirst over the batman. the first time bruce sees a 'sing if you find them attractive' with a picture of the batman he deletes tiktok, turns his phone off and doesn't touch it for 3 whole weeks.

anyway. just a thought. i don't know. i just really love the idea of Public Figure Bruce Wayne.

[wingsoverlagos]

Hi, wingsoverlagos! Love your blog from The Bruce McMouse Show' Paul to your posts on magic Lewisohn. Thank you a lot! And not that it matters but I thought about you when read this comment on youtube (by @DrAnne-mc8er, who tells nice and seems truely stories about her family, especially on her unkle worked with The Beatles in 1969, and her own childhood near Paul, John, George and Ringo),

'… I've kept written diaries my whole life, which our youngest daughter is in the (necessarily) very long process of putting in date order with my help. These go way back to the early 50's, and include things which (now) seem so innocent and naive. Like when John knocked me off a swing in the local park, and when John and Paul had a real fight over a pair of £2 roller skates, both refusing to give up the one skate they each were holding on to for dear life! LOL Obviously this was when we were all still teenage kids fooling around.

Yes, I was contacted by a lady well over a year ago from "the office of" Mr Lewisohn in London, which to be quite honest, I thought was an arrogant way of him going about things, and I said so to the lady. Anyway he called back to "personally apologise". I should probably clarify that I'm now well into my seventies, and have a number of health issues. Yet rather than come up and see me at home in Liverpool, Mr Lewisohn assumed that I would be so keen to be in his book, that I would take the 3 hour train journey, to go and see him (or an assistant) in London, stay overnight if necessary, and then "hope" that anything I would say about the early days, might make it into his planned book. ALL at my own personal expense!

Needless to say I told my husband what Mr Lewisohn expected, and I also phoned Paul to tell him (in no uncertain terms) what I thought of the man. Frustratingly, our daughter who's here now, has just said I can't say what Paul said to me over the phone, here in a public forum. So that's as much as I can say. Well, other than I chose NOT to take the delightful Mr Lewisohn up on his offer! (I'm angry with him now all over again, just recalling what the arrogant sod expected me to do!) But anyway greenatom, you now know the story behind all that.

PS - Our daughter's gone home, so I'll quickly tell you that Paul said he'd talk to Richie (Ringo) about everything, and would phone me back. Anyway in the meantime, Barb phoned me and said Richie was furious with this Mark Lewisohn about what had happened, and that he should "stick his effing book where the sun don't shine!" LOL Then Paul phoned me back the same evening, and said he'd been round to Richie and Barb's (which of course I knew after chatting with Barb earlier), and said it was entirely up to me. but that he and Richie, both felt that I should tell Mark Lewisohn to "eff off". So I don't know for certain, but I think Paul and Richie might have temporarily fallen out a bit with Mr Lewisohn. Not just because of how he spoke to me, but mainly because as Paul said over the phone, the book is supposed to be about The Beatles. Not what the lads got up to as kids individually. Sorry for writing such a stupidly long reply, but take care anyway, and please stay healthy and wear a mask x' From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hv2EkzqUb8&lc=Ugy-Dnq03NdsYhh6xTB4AaABAg&ab_channel=YouCan%27tUnhearThis

Thank you so much for reading my posts, and for sending this message along! The comment thread in question is very interesting and sent me down quite the rabbithole. I wanted to believe! But I fear this person's story doesn't line up on close inspection.

The thread in question is at the top of the comment section on this video on the You Can't Unhear This Youtube channel. It's from the user "DrAnne-mc8er" who claims to be the neice of Bob Moog, of synthesizer fame. The thread is over 100 comments long with many replies by Dr. Anne. In addition to being the neice of Bob Moog, she claims to have known Paul and George as kids, being a couple of years younger than them, and to still be friends with them to this day. She says she has many handwritten journals starting in the 1950s and, most pertinently, she claims to have been contacted by the office of Mark Lewisohn. Her story goes that a research assistant of Lewisohn contacted her; Dr. Anne thought it was rudely done, and Lewisohn then conteacted her personally to apologize. She came away with the impression that he was full of himself, and then spoke to Paul & Ringo, who confirmed that Lewisohn was bad news.

Obviously, this story was like catnip to me. Having beef with Mark Lewisohn is such a specific thing to lie about, I thought, would anyone bother to add this detail if they were simply LARPing as someone celeb-adjacent? Still, there were some details that gave me pause. Dr. Anne said, for instance, that John was a devout christian at the time of the Maureen Cleave interview, which...lol. But one very wrong assumption doesn't necessarily invalidate her entire story. She also said that George Harrison had done uncredited backing vocals on London Town, which sounds improbable, but idk, you never know???

So I decided to dig in to see if anything she said held water. First, I image searched her profile picture (crazy how using a basic google function makes me feel like Sherlock Holmes), and the results were somewhat encouraging: the picture was indeed of a Dr. Anne Cremona, a psychologist. Further digging showed that the real Dr. Anne and the commenter Dr. Anne both professed to have at least four children. On the flip side, Commenter Dr. Anne purports to live in Liverpool, while Actual Dr. Anne practices in London. Not a realistic commute, eh?

But the story truly fell apart once I looked into Bob Moog, who I previously knew nothing about aside from the fact that he was the Synthesizer Guy. Commenter Dr. Anne said that her mother was Bob Moog's younger sister, who had moved to the UK in 1938. She named her grandfather as Robert Sr. There are claims with all of these problems, not the least of which is the fact that Bob Moog seems to have been an only child. I read the first few chapters of a biography of Moog--(Switched On by Albert Glinsky)--which provides plenty of detail on Moog's family going several generations back, but doesn't mention any siblings.

The second issue is the timing: based on this commenter's story, she would have been born around 1944 or 1945. Bob Moog was born in 1934. If he somehow had a younger sister who went unmentioned in his biography, she would have been at most three years old in 1938, when she purportedly went to Liverpool--with a non-parent guardian, as Bob Moog lived with both his parents. This sister would have been ten at the oldest when "Dr. Anne" claims to have been born.

Then we have her grandfather, Robert Sr. Bob Moog was actually the first Robert in a long line of Georges. His dad was George, his grandfather was George, and his great-grandfather was, I think, Georg. There may have been another George thrown in there.

So it seems like this commenter is just doing some high effort LARPing. The thing I'm left wondering is whether or not this commenter is actually Dr. Anne Cremona. If it isn't, they didn't just pick a random picture for their troll account, but used her name as well, all while incorporating details that seem pulled from her life. There's the number of children for one, but the commenter also sprinkles in some psychology talk.

What's the deal? Is this an actual psychologist doing some dedicated trolling (the comment chain spanned a time period of more than a year) with her actual name and picture? Or is this a troll impersonating an actual psychologist as part of their neice-of-Bob-Moog routine?

Thank you for sending this my way, @tavolgisvist! It may not be the genuine article, but I had a lot of fun digging into it. The Mark Lewisohn Tipline (my askbox) is always open!

[jamesv-t]

Gig survey

As ever, previous years can be read at #gig-survey, and this year’s one can be found below the cut.

Normally this begins with a list of my top five gigs of the year, but as every single show has been great this year, it would be unfair to the ones which get left off, so instead of ranking them I'm just going to present them chronologically.

21st February - Zara Larsson (Roundhouse, London)

27th April - The Warning (Kentish Town Forum, London)

18th May - Olivia Rodrigo (The O2, London)

21st June - Taylor Swift (Wembley Stadium, London)

3rd July - Against The Current/Dead Pony (Lafayette, London)

18th July - Taylor Swift (Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen)

22nd July - The Warning (Crate Brewery, London)

25th July - Bruce Springsteen (Wembley Stadium, London)

3rd August - Girls Aloud (Preston Park, Brighton)

20th August - Taylor Swift (Wembley Stadium, London)

6th December - Dead Pony (The Garage, London)

Total number of shows?

Eleven.

Most surprising show?

The Warning at Crate Brewery, but only because I wasn't 100% sure it was going to be them until about an hour before doors!

Most disappointing?

Olivia Rodrigo, but that's unfair on her - she was great, but not and never having been a teenage girl, I still had trouble connecting with her.

Farthest travelled?

Veltins Area in Gelsenkirchen, Germany - 575km/350 miles from my front door.

States attended shows in?

Cheerful, grateful, euphoric, terrified, bored, knackered and achy. 

Venue most visited?

Wembley Stadium, three times.

Worst injury?

Backache after sitting on the floor for The Warning at Crate. Several bruises after moshing too much at Dead Pony.

Most expensive ticket?

Standing tickets for Taylor Swift at Wembley.

Band seen the most?

Taylor Swift, three times.

Best new discovery?

Girls Aloud, which is an odd section to put them in, considering I remember burning their debut single onto CD when it came out in 2002, but I realised watching them that I really had underappreciated them!

Bands seen this year that also broke up this year?

None!

Friends made at shows?

None at shows, but a special shoutout to some of the DPA Cult (particularly @pleasegetoutofmywalls and @tuesdayinhell) as friends I've made through music.

Band members met?

Anna from Dead Pony after their set supporting Against The Current.

Best souvenir from a show?

I have added to my wardrobe this year. Two new Warning t-shirts, two Taylor Swift tees (and a free tote bag), a wonderful Springsteen shirt that's my ideal design/colour scheme, and a really comfy ATC t-shirt!

Longest time in line?

Two hours before the first Taylor show - we were standing for this one.

Shows seen from the barricade [front row]?

Got to the barrier for Girls Aloud and stayed there all day. Weaseled my way to the front row for Against The Current, which I'm proud of considering several people who paid for M&G/early entry ended up behind me - the confidence of a man who had several stouts in the queue knows no bounds! Was second row for The Warning at Crate but still ended up in their aftermovie.

Most shows in one month?

July had three.

Most shows in one week?

July had three in the space of a week - two stadia shows sandwiching a tiny one!

Biggest crowd?

Probably Taylor at Wembley. Either time.

Any drunk encounters?

Not really - I was drinking but never drunk.

Top 5 best 2024 concert moments:

1. I know the best concert moment last year was The Warning, and this remains the same 12 months on. As well as getting to see them in their largest UK headline gig to date, at Kentish Town Forum, a few months later there were whisperings of a small secret gig in London in July. I paid £20 for it, on the off-chance, and wandered up to enjoy a nice summer's evening in the capital. If nothing else I'd get plenty of book reading done on the train there and back. Sitting in the sun outside having a pre-gig beer, I figured they would be playing when the band walked past me less than a metre away! I was lucky enough to see a stripped back, acoustic set from a band who are going to be huge, in a tiny venue, and every time I corrected my posture and sat up straight I ended up right in Dany's eyeline, so ended up getting half the set sung to me!

2. Against The Current/Dead Pony. I'd seen both bands live a couple of times in previous years so knew they'd put on a great show, and when they announced a few joint dates on mainland Europe I was very nearly booking a trip until I was gently reminded of prior commitments. When they announced a London date I was there, and there early enough to get to the front of the queue. Entering the venue security divided the queue into two lines, one upstairs and one down, and I ended at the front of the downstairs line - making a beeline for the front of the crowd as soon as doors opened. I ended up wangling myself into the second row, behind two women who were shorter than me - not that that mattered much, as there was no barrier between the crowd and the stage. I ended up not just close enough to see that ATC's singer had the label hanging out of the back of her top, but close enough to read the text on it. Both artists were as fantastic as my high expectations, but the cherry on the cake came during Dead Pony's performance of 23, Never Me. Anna got into the crowd and quickly spotted me as one of the few who was singing along, so we ended up singing the chorus to each other!

3. Around the turn of the year, in that dead zone between Christmas and New Year where time has no meaning, I used my Christmas money to get myself a book. Reach For The Stars (Reach for the Stars by Michael Cragg review – bubblegum pop’s finest hour | Music books | The Guardian) is an oral history focusing on British millennium pop – from the Spice Girls until X-Factor via Steps, S Club 7, Billie Piper, B*Witched, etc. One of the bands given the most focus, along with interviews with all 27 Sugababes, was Girls Aloud. After finishing their substantial chapter (and bemoaning the sheer extra information cut out) I remarked that it was a shame that their heyday coincided with that annoying period in my life when I foolishly thought I was too cool for pop music, so I never saw them live.

Two days later they were announced as headliners for Brighton Pride festival, which we already had tickets for, and so that took care of that. We got there in enough time to get a spot on the (plebeian) barrier and rotated positions, with Dana and Sophie in front of me when the Girls took the stage. I was transfixed, absolutely blown away. They had finished a substantial arena tour but shook up the set for Pride, rolling out some old favourites (including Watch Me Go, which featured Nicola singing about someone “thinkin’ bout her butt” and made me feel extremely seen). Sophie swapped places with me and I ended up on the barrier, a literal human version of the heart eyes emoji as this ginger goddess strutted her stuff in front of me. I am struggling to put into words just how good they were.

Subsequently I’ve had several deep dives into their back catalogue, to the point that they are my most listened to artist since August! The arena tour was filmed and shown on one of the TV channels over here in mid November which sent us both down the GA rabbit hole again, watching old interviews and live performances, none of which compare to them at their current heights. While I’m annoyed I missed out on seeing them as a five piece, I would not have been this entranced by them if I hadn’t gone into the Pride set relatively cold.

Top 3 worst 2024 concert moments:

1. With fees, I paid around £100 for my ticket to Bruce Springsteen, up in the gods but facing the stage. The first half an hour of his set was soundtracked by three guys in their 40s/50s shouting over the music to catch each other up on what had been happening in their lives recently. After a piano ballad was drowned out by these dickheads a couple in front of us asked them politely to be quiet, only to be confronted by an aggressive expletive filled rant about how they'd paid their money and were entitled to have a chat.

Fortunately I was on my own and had been keeping an eye on an empty seat a few rows down as they were doing my nut in, so I moved there and had a great time, but the sheer entitled arrogance of these wankers still irks me now.

2. We had tickets to two more Olivia Rodrigo gigs in Manchester, earlier in May. Fair enough, the venue wasn't ready in time and the gigs were postponed due to bits falling off the roof. But no update was provided as to when the gigs would be rescheduled for, for another six months, leaving us in limbo if they actually would get rescheduled at all or just quietly cancelled.

3. This is a very personal one. My favourite era of Taylor's is Speak Now. That album was the first of hers I listened to; the first gig of hers I went to was on the Speak Now tour. I didn't really appreciate it as much as I should've done and was looking forward to getting to hear some of the songs from that album live again on her Eras Tour. I managed to stay largely unspoiled for the tour ahead of my first gig on the tour, the first Wembley show. (I knew that the set was broken down into each album; I knew that she'd play Shake It Off because of a lookback piece on the song that I read about a week before the gig which had the spoiler in there; and I knew that there was something involving a hat and the song 22. That was it.) When she came out to sing Enchanted I was excited to see what songs we'd get - the previous three eras in the set had had between 3 and 5 songs played.

Speak Now got one.

When she turned around and went off stage at the end of the song I was confused. When the video screens started showing that f**king snake - Reputation has never been my favourite album - I was fuming. Genuinely, the only thing stopping me from remonstrating with her over her choices was the video at the end of Enchanted referencing the advert for her Wonderstruck perfume which contained that era's defining scent.

I had just about calmed down and managed to enjoy the rest of the show (eventually) when I was informed that she used to play Long Live - my favourite track from the album - as well, cutting it to shoehorn in a set for The Tortured Poets Department (an album with which I also have issues). This set me off all over again.

It gets worse.

As well as the 43 songs which comprised the regular set - I'll say this for her, she gives value for money - she also took to playing two secret songs towards the end of the night. These two would frequently morph into three or four songs as she would mash up pairs of songs together. One which I was hoping for was Fearless deep-cut Change, which she wrote for the US coverage of the 2012 Olympics. This remained unplayed, for over 100 dates before our final gig of the tour (which was the final European date as well).

It remained unplayed until the night before our final gig, when she mashed up Change with Long Live. It was very hard not to feel attacked by her in that moment, even though the rational part of my brain tried to tell me not to take it personally.

The day before. This has got me so annoyed in reliving it for this write-up that I need to spend an hour in the angry dome again.

[batfsm]

Speaking as someone who likes both Talia and Selina -

Your post about Selina is, frankly, a pile of bullshit, and I'd be fine with that (I've got no problem with someone not liking a character I do like), except you put it in the Selina Kyle tag. Someone could just as easily make a similar bad argument tearing down Talia, and I'm guessing you wouldn't be happy about seeing that in her tag. People don't repeat the "don't tag your hate" line as often these days but it's still general courtesy for a reason.

Also, that anon had a point, despite you ridiculing them for it. When you say that a female character who goes back to the earliest days of the franchise and has a rich and complex history "only exists to provide a love interest" and is "basically just a fuckbuddy"... well, you might not actually be a misogynist but you sure sound like one. The only difference between your post and something from an early 2000s dudebro forum thread is the absence of the word "whore". And despite you saying afterwards that "Bruce is a fuckbuddy too!" you never reduced him to just that, nor did you say Bruce is a meaningless and unimportant character because he's "just a fuckbuddy."

(Also, a similar argument could be made in regards to Talia. She was literally created to be a love interest for Bruce, and I have seen people reduce her - incorrectly - to "just Batman's babymama". It's a shit argument, but your reducing Selina to "just a fuckbuddy" is pretty much on the same level.)

I'm not trying to change your mind about Selina - if you don't like her, then that's your call - but I am trying to point out how you were being kind of an asshole.

I just saw this so I apologize for the lateness.

What's wrong with putting it in the damn tag? I'll go back and put anti Selina in it if it annoys you that much but I tag everything or at least try to. (I don't think I need to.)

If someone made an argument on Talia, which they have, I either read it and think about it or I scroll on past. Or I do both, read and scroll by. It's not that hard.

Christ, so because I made an opinion, and called her a fuck buddy I'm still a misogynistic? For Ra's sake! I never reduced Selina to that only.

I literally said this:

is that if you consider Selina a member of the family for basically being a ‘fuck buddy’, which I have read comics and yes, I’m not up to date but still, she is basically there to annoy Bruce and give him a partner other than his kids (from what I have read) and give him a love life, which he doesn’t need one,

Which I am not up to date with the comics but she was there basically to annoy Bruce and give him a love interest. Another one.

Selina's around to give Bruce a love interest, which he doesn't need. I've said it before and I'll say it again, they are over done.

I like Selina. I don't like her and Bruce together. Like Dick/Babs. I like those two by themselves but not together anymore.

Give me the characters by themselves and I'll be happy to read about them. Don't make try to just make them reduced to being 'fuckbuddies' to each other. It turns people off.

I don't think I was being an asshole by stating my opinion but I guess people are to easily hurt these days.

[tonightillbeonthathill]

Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa and Leo Tolstoy: 'Struggling to do everything right' - Live in Florida

films7 on x/twitter

“I shall go on in the same way, losing my temper with Ivan the coachman, falling into angry discussions, expressing my opinions tactlessly; there will be still the same wall between the holy of holies of my soul and other people, even my wife; I shall still go on scolding her for my own terror, and being remorseful for it; I shall still be as unable to understand with my reason why I pray, and I shall still go on praying; but my life now, my whole life apart from anything that can happen to me, every minute of it is no more meaningless, as it was before, but it has the positive meaning of goodness, which I have the power to put into it.” - Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy

...

Bruce Springsteen, who is your favorite novelist of all time?

Bruce Springsteen: I like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Personal favorites: “The Brothers Karamazov” and, of course, “Anna Karenina.”

...

Video: Brilliant Disguise - Bruce Springsteen (22-04-2008 St Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida)

'Now look at me baby struggling to do everything right And then it all falls apart when out go the lights I’m just a lonely pilgrim I walk this world in wealth I want to know if it’s you I don’t trust ’cause I damn sure don’t trust myself

Now you play the loving woman I’ll play the faithful man But just don’t look too close into the palm of my hand'

[gemini-care-barr]

For Barry and Hal-

What fandoms or franchises do you think they are in or follow? Could be podcast related, Reddit forums they are a part of, movie sequels or trilogies or novels!

Definitely something that should be mentioned more in canon comics so let’s use this as a manifesting moment by detailing it out 🤭

Right off the bat, I have to make it clear to absolutely everyone that Barry is 100% a Trekkie and Hal is most likely a Star Wars fan. And while we’re on the most heated sci-fi debate, I’ll add that once Hal and Barry became friends and Barry learned more about the Green Lantern Corps he undoubtedly introduced Hal to Star Trek and successfully convinced him that it was the superior sci-fi franchise, we stan two Trekkies 😜

Now then, I don’t think Hal would be very into book series or fantasy in general but he’d definitely have a particular interest in the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy and I think he’d try Game of Thrones and The Witcher because of everyone’s recommendations but would probably not like it very much. He’s the noble-type though and would be pretty easily convinced to read the Lord of the Rings books (including the Hobbit and Silmarillion) because of the nobility of the characters and story. Same reasoning goes for Donita K. Paul’s DragonSpell series. He’d also probably be into the writings of Henry David Thoreau, Ernest Hemingway, and Raymond Carver, not hugely into them necessarily but if he was super bored and he had access to their stuff he’d dig it haha. His favorite poem would also probably be Tennyson’s In Memoriam A.H.H.. I don’t see him being too into podcasts, but he’d definitely like rock bands like Foreigner and AC/DC. He’s also definitely into movies more so than tv shows and would love movies like The Right Stuff, Top Gun, Braveheart, The Patriot, John Wick, most blockbusters classics really, and probably anything with Bruce Lee haha. He’d probably think anime/manga was for nerds until someone pointed out that Dragon Ball Z was, in fact, an anime then he’d realize they can be pretty cool hahaha. And with video games, I’d say he absolutely doesn’t have the patience for long form RPGs but can probably be convinced to play some FPSs with friends like Call of Duty and Halo lol. Basically, this was a long way of saying that Hal is probably more sporty, not in an obsessive fan of sports way, mind you, just that he participated in mostly sports growing up and even as an adult probably prefers hanging out playing baseball with kids (Adams’ GL run has an adorable scene of just that) rather than watching/reading/listening to anything so essentially he’s just not very media-obsessed; he’s a doer! He also probably wouldn’t participate in the fandoms of any of the media he does consume because he cares more about engaging with the media itself rather than about others’ thoughts and feelings on it haha.

Onto Barry, honestly, Barry is kind of tougher for me to figure out purely because I feel like he and I are very similar so I’m inclined to list basically all my favorite things and my thought processes haha, but I’ll try to avoid doing that 😝. So, like I said, Barry is definitely a Trekkie, the Federation’s belief in preserving alien lives and lifestyles plus its dedication to exploration and science all appeals to his inner nerd. He probably loves the shows For All Mankind, The X-Files, and Bones because of their science-y natures (he definitely introduced Hal to For All Mankind and it’s one of the shows they watch together haha). We all know he’s a huge comic book fan (shout-out to Pre-Crisis that had him reading Golden Age Flash comics 😜), but I’ll also add that I think this love of Golden Age Flash, thanks to his mom, would have led to his own love of Greek and Roman mythology once he realized where the idea for Jay Garrick’s helmet and shoes came from! A love of mythology would eventually lead to a love of ancient western philosophy and writings then to Medieval romances like the Arthurian legends and the works of Chaucer. Old English stuff would’ve crept in there too starting with Beowulf. He was an old soul from a young age so all these things would’ve caught his eye on trips to the library and the old-fashioned romantic notions and chivalry has definitely stayed with him. All this appreciation for much older works would then slingshot back around to him loving and appreciating more modern works that took heavy inspiration from all this older literature like The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, the Percy Jackson series, the Harry Potter series, the Codex Alera, and the Dresden Files, oh and all the detective novels, just all, from Doyle, Christie, Poe, Hammett, etc. then when he found foreign detective fiction he’d go mental and just read them all haha. He’d also probably read the Remo Williams and Jack Reacher book series and convince Hal to do the same! I’d say he’s also into old movies and classic tv shows because they all make him feel good with their sweet morals and happy endings. He’s probably not much of a gamer except for the ones with good stories, he’s too interested in learning new things to just watch someone else play though, if a game’s story interests him then he’s definitely playing it himself. Mass Effect is probably one of his secret favorites. He’s super into podcasts, anything informational and/or scientific, probably conspiratorial and/or true crime stuff, too, if for nothing else than to help him get inspiration on how to approach his own cases, he may even try and solve some cold cases that he hears about (he’d probably stumble across Black Box Down then convince Hal to listen with him haha). He definitely grew up with both the Pokémon TCG and show and was actually aware that it was an anime so is likewise somewhat into other very popular anime/manga like Naruto. Music would be jazz (he’d try and fail to get Hal into it, too, see: New 52 Flash’s Annual #2), 60s rock like the Beatles and the Monkees, and probably 80s pop like the Culture Club, oh and Air Supply (which is also Hal’s guilty pleasure band hehe). He likes sports a lot, both playing and watching, but was still more likely to be found reading/watching/listening to something rather than playing; still, the same way Hal can be convinced to play a video game in order to hangout with friends, Barry can be easily convinced to join in some sporty endeavors if it’ll mean bonding with a friend or loved one. Finally, like Hal, I don’t see him engaging too much with fandoms, he’d probably try when he was younger but wouldn’t find too many people who were into the same things then when he did find people things would devolve into arguments instead of just joy for whatever the thing was so he eventually would resign himself to just enjoying the thing itself, our Barry is a soft boy 🥹. He likes discussion though so once he found people who were his safe space they wouldn’t be able to get him to shut up hahaha.

…I …I can’t believe I wrote this much ahahah 😅. I swear I wasn’t going to get this involved! I was just going to name a few popular franchises that each would be into, but then I started thinking about mediums and how they’d appreciate different ones and then… all this came out lmao 😅😂. I apologize for the long walls of text! Just remember: this is your fault 😜

(Note: forgot to say, Barry would 100% be into Jurassic Park (books and movies) and would convince Hal to read the books (he definitely already watched and loved the movies)!

[datshq]

Naruto fans complaining about child soldiers are so wild. They’re like if a Batman fan actually started complaining that Bruce Wayne should have gone to therapy instead of training years to fight crime and whining that it’s bad writing when he trains a few sidekicks to help him do it. Like, if you hate how battle shounen has kids fight the fights without there being a problem with that, why are you watching/reading a Shounen Jump battle shounen series?

Battle shounen is very big on having their protagonists be around the same age as the target audience and they’re going to have to be allowed/demanded to get in on the action, or else we wouldn’t have that story. It’s called Willing Suspension of Disbelief, when you acknowledge that a piece of media or genre requires you to ignore some type of logical real world consequence in order for the story to work the way both the author and fans want it to.

Like, I’m not going to complain about battle school anime like Soul Eater or Blue Exorcist having characters teach kids to fight dangerous enemies and kill monsters when that’s a genre I enjoy. I’m a teacher in real life and I chose that career because I love kids. I’m very protective of kids in real life, but I’m not going to feel moral outrage over fictional kids being in fantasy violence situations.

The point is: Naruto is the Basic Bitch of battle shounen, the new shows are copying its homework but changing it a bit. Of course it’s not going to tear down genre staples like “child soldiers”. If you want that, go watch Evangelion or go to anime forums and ask for “deconstruction of battle shounen” recommendations.

Is this how the Hero Academia fandom is going to react if it turns out Horikoshi has no intention of toppling the Pro Hero System by the end of the series? I’m just saying, his work is one of the more popular homework copyers, so we might need to get prepared for that shitstorm.

[britcision]

So it’s Bruce

He knows Green Arrow is going to be on super high alert

And he knows Green Arrow will know he knows this and is probably expecting to be left for last

He isn’t first though

No, Bruce is gonna get Hal Jordan first, from SPITE (and watch Ollie staring suspiciously at every man going for a kiss for a week or two)

(Maybe he’s given Ollie a “secret” grindr profile just to encourage a little more attention in general)

(Maybe he does a public Brucie interview about the UST between billionaires in “response” to Ollie judo throwing a hopeful hunk)

(Maybe he includes digs at Lex Luthor being the least fuckable billionaire solely and specifically because it’s funny)

Hal isn’t surprised to be invited to a gala, he’s a test pilot in fucking space, he gets a lot of speaking events

He isn’t even surprised that Brucie gives him a particularly salacious wink; Bruce sets groundwork, he is a well known ho

He’s a little surprised just how easily he’s coaxed into a quick smooch and fondle behind a pillar, but it doesn’t even register as a possible Batman event, it’s just Brucie

It’s just Brucie when he dips Clark Kent behind a bush after a press conference

It’s just Brucie who traps Ollie into a “teasing” smooch to show no hard feelings, Ollie’s totally not actually homophobic he’s just bat-hunting

It’s just Brucie who sneaks a smooch from Dinah at the same event to make it “fair”

It’s just Brucie who places a kiss on Diana’s hand in greeting like he’s swearing fealty, but he usually does that

It’s just Brucie who kisses Clark again in a closet at the next press event (definitely For The Mission and not other reasons)

It’s just Brucie who tearfully thanks John Jones with several kisses after the detective returns Dick to him (Dick a happy and willing accomplice in the smooch-ocalypse)

It’s just Brucie who makes a tour of Star Labs, chats up hot young star Barry Allen, and gets half way through a quickie before being caught specifically so that every single time Flash is mouthy in future he must know Bruce is holding in jokes about speedforce

The Batman is autistic. The Batman is EXCELLENT at scripts, patterns, and putting on all the right social cues to make people think he isn’t

The Batman even puts an updated list on the League forum, updated at the beginning of each month, and Leaguers lose their fucking minds trying to work out when he got each one

Only Clark suspects Brucie, but to be fair, that’s because his JL comm goes off during kiss number six and Bruce shuts it off with one hand

He doesn’t tell the others

Batman the Playboy

Justice League, not quite early days but before proper identity reveals, though everyone knows Batman knows theirs, bc he has Opinions™ and Constructive Criticisms™ on their secret-keeping.

The issue is brought up on random occasions. The most notable incident- the Justice League, including Batman, being Drunk for Bonding, and Batman, in a fit of paranoid good intentions because he CARES about these idiots, damnit, why must they be so careless, starts insulting them.

Batman, leaning heavily on the table: “GL, you’re a mess, I don’t even know where to start with you. And Arrow! Your goatee is so distinctive, it’s a wonder no one has called you out on it-“

Green Arrow, also drunk: “Alright, there’s no need to insult my awesome facial hair-”

Batman, in despair: “It’s so ugly.”

Green Arrow: (offended noises)

Green Lantern: “Okay, the only reason you know our secret identities is because you’re a rude nosy bastard who needs to know everything about us like a creepy stalker who needs an ego boost! We’re not stupid, Spooky, we’re just polite. We could figure you out easily if we wanted to. Superman can see right through your mask!”

Usually, Batman would have a good response to that. Something smart and reasonable like “villains won’t care for your privacy, I’m testing you,” or something cutting like “I don’t care enough about you to go digging, I set your secret identity as a training exercise for Robin.”

However, Batman is Drunk, because for some reason imbibing drugs that dampen higher brain function is socially acceptable and often, for some reason, expected, because it’s “team bonding” and “come on just loosen up a bit.” (Also for him, drunk=Brucie)

So what Batman ends up saying is: “I could kiss you full on the lips in my secret identity and you wouldn’t know a thing.”

Superman, plucking the glass from Batman’s hand: “Aaaand that is enough alcohol for you!”

Batman nods. Thank God. He wants to go home and sleep. But first: “Superman, yours is so stupid it’s almost impressive-”

———

Of course, Green Lantern has smelled a challenge. And Green Lantern must annoy Batman. It’s his true superpower. So, the next time they meet (sober) he brings up the issue again.

GL: “So about what you said at the party… the part where you could kiss us full on the lips without us knowing. You still confident in that without liquid courage, Spooky? Bet you your real name you can’t do it.”

Batman, regretting the fact that alcohol has ever passed his lips: “I could do it, but I will not.”

Flash, curious: “Why’s that?”

Batman: “Informed Consent. I will not risk making any of you feel violated, or manipulated, for the sake of a stupid bet and my ego.”

GA, still offended by the goatee comment, trying to back Batman into a corner: “So if we give consent, we’re fair game? Try me, Batman. Even you can’t pull this off. Anyone else game?”

Some of the Justice League laughs, raising their hands.

Flash: “Come get me, hot stuff! I’ll call you out!”

Wonder Woman: “It could be amusing.”

Martian Manhunter: “I would be far too difficult a target.”

Green Arrow: “Not just you. C’mon, Spooky, flirting well enough to get a kiss from me? I’m a classy lady.”

Black Canary: “D-class, maybe.”

Superman, wants a kiss in on the fun: 🙋🏻‍♂️

“So that’s it then!” Green Lantern says smugly. “Batman, if you can kiss… how many people raised their hands? Ah yes- HALF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE, without anyone realizing it’s you, then you win.”

Batman scoffs and walks out, leaving the Justice League in stitches at their joke. Because- Batman? Being good enough at flirting to land a kiss on half the league, without it being forced or awkward, without them recognizing his body language, his voice, his build? How ridiculous!

The Batman is Autistic. The Batman does not understand jokes, especially not ones that are half truths. The Batman has consent, and something to prove.

And Bruce Wayne, billionaire, playboy, and sexy DILF, has targets.

(Please tell me how you think he gets each League member.)

[bllsbailey]

AZ Judge Recuses Himself From 'Fake Electors' Case After Emails Surface Demanding Judges Defend Kamala

Readers might recall that back in April, a grand jury in Maricopa County, Arizona, indicted nearly 20 Republicans and associates of Donald Trump, after Democrat state Attorney General Kris Mayes brought a case against 2020 "fake electors" on felony charges of fraud, forgery, and conspiracy:

A grand jury in Arizona has handed down indictments against 11 Arizona Republicans at the center of the "fake elector" controversy of 2020 - in which Republicans were attempting to nominate and send "alternate" electors to Washington D.C. - electors who supported the theory that the 2020 election was stolen. ... The 11 Republicans met at the Arizona GOP headquarters a month after the 2020 election and signed a certificate claiming to be the 11 electors from the state. They posted the letter to social media and sent it to Congress.

My colleague Joe Cunningham added that another party mentioned in the indictment is "unindicted co-conspirator 1," who is believed to be former president Donald Trump.

Read more: Arizona Grand Jury Indicts 11 Republicans, Trump Associates in 2020 'Fake Elector' Scheme

The grand total of those indicted ended up as 18, including former Trump administration chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, former Arizona GOP chairwoman Kelli Ward, and others.

On Wednesday, the judge in that case recused himself, after a sheaf of emails surfaced showing bias toward 2024 Democrat presidential nominee, Kamala Harris:

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen, the judge presiding over Arizona’s case against pro-Trump fake electors, has removed himself from the job following allegations of bias.

The Arizona Daily Independent reported on the emails, which were obtained by Arizona state Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Travis Grantham.

In the emails, "Cohen demanded that all judges and all commissioners — especially those who were white and/or male — defend Kamala Harris and other people of color":

Cohen took offense with the rhetoric surrounding the selection of Harris for the Democratic presidential candidate as the “DEI hire” and the questioning of her integrity with claims that she would be promiscuous with generals in the Situation Room.

He wrote:

“It does matter if your chromosomes are made up of ‘XY.’ It matters even more if your skin color is characterized as ‘white’ or Caucasian. We must speak out. We must tell those within our circles of influence that this s**t must stop. NOW! We cannot allow our female colleagues to feel as if they stand alone when there are those who may intimate that their ascension was anything other than based upon exceptionalism. We cannot allow our colleagues who identify as being a ‘person of color’ to stand alone when there are those may claim that their ascension was an ‘equity hire’ rather than based solely upon exceptionalism. We no longer can stay silent merely because others are exercising their right to free speech — we, too, have that same right and must exercise it.” 

Also contained in the emails was an exhortation to defend Harris against criticism by "Nazis": 

Cohen equated Harris’ critics to the Nazis, and said that those who refused to stand up for Harris as well as other females and “colleagues who identify as being a ‘person of color’” were as bad as those who allowed the evil of the Holocaust to take place.

The Daily Independent reported that the following day, Judge Cohen transmitted another email to his judicial colleagues--an apology: 

“Earlier this week I allowed my passion to cloud my judgment and sent an email using this as my forum. After reflection, I have come to realize that this was not proper use of this forum. I sincerely apologize to anyone put off or negatively impacted by my lapse of judgment.”

On Wednesday, the judge went a step futher, announcing in a court document his decision to step aside on the 2020 electors case. He wrote:

“This court is also mindful of the appearances the subject email may have created for those who have interpreted the communication differently than intended. Out of a commitment to justice, even the appearance of bias cannot be allowed to undermine the fundamental fairness that is extended by the court to all who come before it.”

Former Democrat Governor Janet Napolitano first appointed Cohen to the Arizona bench in 2005. His term ends in January 2025. 

The recusal springs from a filing with the Arizona Superior Court by David Warrington and Michael Columbo, the lawyers representing Arizona state Senator Jake Hoffman in the suit. They questioned whether Cohen could remain impartial in light of his emails, writing in part:

"While Judge Cohen is entitled to his political opinions and speech, his rhetoric and exhortation precisely mirrors the evidence of hostile partisan political zealotry at the heart of the motions to dismiss [the case] that have been languishing before the Court for months."

You can read the filing here.

The "fake electors" trial is scheduled to begin in January 2026. RedState will keep you posted on developments in this story.