#and reduce her to some kid’s sidekick

[lenakluthor]

i’m actually so mad about the agatha finale like why would you turn around and make a show that was supposedly centered on a lesbian character all about a gay man. why would you make a big deal about the darkhold and then NOT SHOW US ANYTHING ABOUT IT. why would you title it agatha all along and then in the finale reveal that actually, it should’ve been called billy all along. why would you show us literally none of the backstory that was built up and hinted at about agatha. you’re telling me she DESPISED rio for what? giving her more time with her son? THE MATH AINT MATHING!!!! WHY WOULD YOU SPEND SO MUCH TIME HINTING AT HISTORY BETWEEN AGATHA AND RIO AND A BIG MYSTERIOUS DARKHOLD AND GIVE US NOTHING!!!!! WHY THE FUCK DID THEY HAVE TO MAKE IT ALL ABOUT BILLY!!! I SIGNED UP FOR A SHOW ABOUT WOMEN!!! WHY DID IT HAVE TO BECOME A SHOW CENTERED ON THE ONLY MALE CHARACTER!!!!!

[amourningcrow]

Late game spoilers, particulary about Varric! I wasn't able to put this into words before, but now that I've had some time, I think I can actually talk about it. It's a little long though.

I tried to start a new playthrough three times now, but I can't even make it to the ritual side without breaking down. It is, frankly, embarrassing.

But Varric means so, so much to me. I knew deep down that he wouldn't make it out of this alive - that he even survived past DA2 was a surprise to me. The man's got tragic death written all over him! But I still wish we had gotten some more out of him. Some more interactions with the companions, more banter, more relationship dynamics. We never even found out what he would have called the others! (Aside from Neve, who was 'Slick', apparently.)

This isn't even a criticism of the writing! I think it makes sense and fits his character, sadly. (Though it's also the first time they actually managed to make me hate Solas, which is quite a feat.) It's just me being heartbroken about one of - or maybe even my ultimate - comfort character. I played DA2 (and the others, too, but DA2 holds a special place in my heart in this regard) during a time in my life where I was very much just... lost, I guess. God. I think I actually felt physical fucking grief when I went through the Fade prison scene? I was shaking and sobbing the whole time and I don't know if I have it in me again.

I'm a bookseller by trade and Varric loving stories always resonated with me. He's often reduced to being the sarcastic sidekick, but I love all his aspects and complexities so very dearly.

The son who didn't ever quite fit in with the society he grew up in, who couldn't hold up to his parents expectations and so instead refused to be tied down by them, but still had a deep love for his family.

The man who was so tragically in love with a woman he couldn't have that he made her his little secret, keeping Bianca's identity even from his best friends. Who probably still didn't let go of his yearning all those years later, maybe because it was easier than opening up and getting hurt again.

The one who was always bickering with Cassandra, this steely woman he was always at odds with, but still wrote her a continuation for his romance series he didn't even think was good because beneath all of his veneer, he still cared.

Who was presented with this half-spirit half-boy and saw just a squirrely kid who needed some help to find his place in the world. (And yeah, this is special to me. Because god damn it, I never had someone like that growing up, and I would have given all my limbs and a kidney for it.)

Who was so, so full of compassion himself, despite all the shit the world had already thrown at him.

I don't know. Maybe I just have a thing for people who try to lock their hurt away so not even they, themselves, have to confront it. (Maybe because I'm a little like that myself and maybe that's why I like Lucanis so much, as well. Damn you, Mary Kirby.)

But anyway. Sorry for the vent. I just needed someplace to share this, I guess. I don't know what to do with this hole in my chest, but props to Bioware (and damn you again, Mary Kirby) for putting it there, because it's definitely not normal for me to care this much. I wasn't even this sad when I had to leave my Hawke in the Fade. Maybe they'll finally find each other again, wherever they are now 💔

[wxnderlustfandoms]

sparks fly [yj! robin x reader]

[not my gif]

pairing: [yj!robin x reader] (romantic), [yj team x reader] (platonic) 

description: You and Robin have known each other since you both became sidekicks at roughly the same time. And when you joined the team, you realized that you felt different with him than you did with anyone else. Maybe this mission will finally help you both confess your feelings

word count: 3799

warnings: robin, sb, and aqualad being overprotective, reader getting hurt, prolly like 2 cursewords

a/n: This is during the 5 year gap between season 1 and 2 so reader and dick (still robin) are both 16. Flora is your hero name

“Recently we’ve been getting reports of people going into the Forest of Eld and not coming out. A recent flyover by Captain Marvel confirms that there seems to be scorch marks in the trees, and some parts of the forest burnt away and reduced to ash.”

“I guess they named the forest correctly*,” You whispered to Superboy next to you and he smirked a little. 

“Your mission is, as always, recon. Go in, don’t get noticed, gather intel, get out. We don’t need 4 members of the team turned into char,” Batman explained the mission assignment you’d been called in for. 

Next to you, listening as well, were Superboy, Aqualad, and Robin. Miss Martian had taken a small squad in her bioship on another small assignment, meaning the four of you would have to take the Super Cycle. 

“Flora, Aqualad, you two especially need to be careful,” Batman turned to you both as he wrapped up. You both nodded and started to walk over to the S-Cycle as she folded out into the bike form. 

“You sure you’re both up for a mission that’s potentially throwing you into your weaknesses?” Robin asked, climbing into the seat right next to you.

“Of course. We can handle ourselves. It’s not like we can avoid any mission that could potentially expose us to our weaknesses. Risk like that comes with the job,” Kaldur explained. 

You nodded, agreeing. “Plus, I’ll just throw Superboy in front of the fire if it comes to it,” You joked, causing him to grunt. You knew he thought it was funny too. Ever since you helped Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad rescue him at Kadmus, he became like a brother to you. Of course, the entire team was very close and most of them were very protective of you, but Superboy was definitely the closest to real family to you. When Robin added to the joke, causing you all to laugh, you looked over at him. 

Now, with him, it was different. You didn’t feel as though he was your family. You felt strong emotions for him, and have since you met as sidekicks. You only recently figured those emotions out to be love. But you were stuck as friends. He had only just recently (2 months ago) broken up with Zatanna. And you didn’t want to compromise your position as his best friend (sorry Wally) and obviously didn’t want to make working with him on the team awkward, because you were sure he didn’t feel the same way. 

You all started to get your game faces on when you arrived at the forest. It was a good thing you all started to focus, because as soon as Superboy started bringing the S-Cycle down to land, a giant ball of fire came from the forest and hit the Cycle dead on, causing her to start falling. You took a hold of Robin and jumped out of the Cycle. Causing your descent to the ground to slow, as you controlled the air currents around you both to carry some of the weight. As you all reached the ground, Superboy and Kaldur being able to get themselves down, you all immediately went on guard.

“Well, that was a nice warm welcome,” You joked.

“Stay on guard,” Kaldur ordered as you all started moving into the thick of the trees. Eventually getting to a point where the thicket was so dense it was dark enough to barely be able to see two feet ahead of you. 

“Superboy, can you see anything with infrared?” Kaldur whispered.

“No,” Connor replied after he scanned the area. You, however, were not convinced. You closed your eyes and felt the earth around you with your powers and were able to see a group of people surrounding you, raising their hands in what you assumed would be an attack. You immediately reached out to hold as much of the surrounding air as possible and cause a large dome of rushing winds to surround you and your friends. Just in time too, as all of the people started cascading the dome with fire. It was like they all had flamethrowers. You stomped on the ground and caused vines to come up and catch every assailant you could feel just as your dome started to dissipate. The flames had all but stopped, but you didn’t have time to react when another person dropped from the trees and punched his fist out at you, a puff of flames coming directly at you and making contact with your upper arm. You let out a scream of pain and your teammates were immediately by your side, turning towards the attackers to protect you.

“Wait!” The attacker who burnt you, took a step closer, holding his flame out to provide light. Kaldur held his water sword towards him, telling him to not step any closer. “Robin, Superboy, Aqualad, and Flora! You guys are heroes!” He said, his voice filled with shock. 

“We do our best,” Superboy replied, still on guard.

“I am beyond sorry for attacking you, and for burning you,” He directed the last part of the statement to you, bowing slightly out of respect. You, who was still holding your scolding arm in pain, looked up to him in confusion, not completely believing his apology. Robin was the closest to you, holding an eskrima stick in one hand, and keeping his other one on your shoulder as a reminder that he was right there. While the man - well, he seemed to be no older than 18, so he wasn’t necessarily a full-grown man -  ordered his fighters to stand down, you all were still holding fighting stances, not letting your guards down. “There's no need to be on guard, we are on your side,” The teen boy in front of you said. 

“You have to realize how hard that is to believe. People have been disappearing in this forest, and there are scorch marks and ash everywhere.” You defended your team's actions.

“And you did just burn our teammate,” Robin added, keeping his arm pressed against yours. It was comforting to feel his touch, even in such a high-stress situation.

 “We can explain everything, but first we need to treat your friend’s burn,” The leader said. 

You all looked at each other. Being able to communicate without speaking would’ve been easier if Miss Martian was here, but none of you needed her telepathy to be able to come to a conclusion.

 “I can handle my burn myself, thank you. We would like the explanation,” You stated, crouching down to grow the plant you needed to treat your burn. Again, he bowed slightly to show he respected your wishes and began to explain the culture and nature of the people in his village.

“1000 years ago, the sun-blessed the leader of my village with a gift. The gift was to produce and control fire,” The man showed a small spark from the palm of his hand to emphasize the point. “The gift ended up being hereditary and now there is scarcely a person in the village who isn’t able to control fire.” While the man was explaining, Robin helped cover your wound and tie a leaf wrap around your upper arm. You whispered a small thanks and focused on the story he was telling.“The thing is, 30 years ago, our village was attacked and destroyed. Many of the villagers managed to escape. My father, who was 14 at the time, promised to rebuild the village and bring back any villagers who remained alive so that our village would thrive again. He has only just now finished the village completely, and the last few villagers are finally returning. The reason there have been reports of people disappearing is because the few people that have waited this long to return created lives for themselves outside the forest in order to survive before they could return, but they always meant to come back. I promise, no one is here that hasn’t decided of their free will.” 

You all looked at each other as the man finished his story. You four excused yourself to be able to discuss what you heard. 

“He was being sincere,” You told them, as you were able to feel his heartbeat stay steady and his breathing was normal while he spoke. “Or he’s just a really good liar.”

“Okay, so, we got our intel, should we go back?” Superboy asked.

“How? S-Cycle is still folded up to heal from the attack. We’re kind of stuck for a while. Besides, shouldn’t we, you know, check out the village to double-check their story?” You responded. Kaldur nodded, agreeing with you. 

“Okay, but you stay in between us while we walk there,” Robin said after hesitating to respond, obviously still worried about you. You gave him a look. “I know, you can handle yourself, and you did save us from being barbecued, but you still got hurt and I’m not about to let that happen again.” He replied, giving you an equally serious look. You sighed after seeing the Aqualad and Superboy felt the same and nodded. The group of fire wielders were very enthusiastic when you asked to see the village, and led you all through the forest. When you broke through the leaves to a bright clearing, it took a moment for your eyes to adjust to the light. But when they did, you couldn’t help letting your jaw slacken a little as you gaped at the sight before you. There weren’t any houses on the ground, there were stairs, ramps, and ladders up to the top part of the canopy where huge treehouses were built. Lanterns, string lights, and torches lit the way and made the village look almost magical. 

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” The man from before that was leading the group said to the team, but his gaze was focused on you. You nodded, not taking your eyes off of the treehouses and surrounding scenery. The rest of them were less focused on the scenery and were still on their guard, so they all caught the guys piercing gaze towards you, and none of them liked it. Especially not Robin, who moved closer to you, if that was even possible as he had been sticking to you like glue the whole time. “I’m Ray,” The man finally introduced himself, sticking his hand out towards you. You finally looked down and met his eye, glancing at his hand. You would feel bad if you didn’t shake his hand, but you still felt reluctant about trusting him. So when you didn’t shake his hand, his expression fell a bit, but it caused Robin to smirk next to you. Ray cleared his throat to clear the awkward air, “Well, would you like a tour of the village?” He asked, but yet again it seemed like he was only asking you. 

“Yes, we would appreciate that. Thank you,” You gave him a polite smile and motioned for him to lead the way. You caught how his expression fell slightly yet again. You were starting to feel very suspicious of the situation you and your teammates were in, but you needed to tread lightly to be able to figure it out without endangering them. As the tour concluded, you felt like you just hiked a mountain. The number of stairs you had to walk up and down was impressive. You were in shape enough to still be okay, but you definitely needed a bit of a break. 

“Flora, can I talk to you in private,” Ray asked, holding his hand out to you. 

“You can’t say it in front of my teammates?” You asked, quirking your eyebrow in suspicion. 

“It would be better to speak away from them,” He replied. 

“Fine, but somewhere they can still see us,” You answered, taking his hand and letting him lead you a bit away from the group. As you started walking, you looked at Superboy and gave him a slight movement that he knew meant to listen. 

“I think you would do well here.” Ray started. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I think you’re one of the most talented, beautiful women I’ve ever seen. I want you to stay here with me,” He said as he took both of your hands in his own.

“I’m not one of you. I don’t have fire powers. I do not belong here,” You replied, removing your hands from his grip, which was a bit hard because of how strong his grip was on you. 

“I’m disappointed to hear you say that. But I will still try to convince you that you belong here until your team decides to leave,” He said, a look of determination evident on his face, mixed with something a bit more malicious. You did not like the vibes on this guy at all. However, if you were going to find more out about the village, you needed him to trust you. 

“Hmm, I’ll think about it. Maybe you can tell me more about your village’s history, so I can become more familiar with everything,” You prompted. 

“I would love to! But unfortunately, it will have to wait until I have a meeting with our village leaders,” He explained, excusing himself with a bow. “I look forward to seeing you again.” 

You gave him a polite smile as you walked back to your team, and before you could divulge your plan to them, Superboy cut you off.

“You’ll ‘think about it’?” He asked, not amused at all. “Is this not the same man who just burnt you?” 

“What are you talking about?” You asked.

“SB told us about the convo you just had. You’re not seriously thinking about staying here, are you?” Robin asked.

“You cannot choose these people you just met over your friends,” Aqualad added.

“I ‘cannot’?” You were going to explain yourself until you heard that. “And who, exactly, said you could control what I do or do not? You may be the team leader but that does not mean you can tell me what decisions to make with my life,” You tried controlling your voice, but it started to get a bit aggressive. You understood that they were only trying to look out for you, but you were fed up with them treating you like you were breakable, someone they had to constantly baby, and you were certainly fed up with them trying to make decisions for you. 

“Flora, calm down,” Aqualad tried to get you to contain your voice, but also your powers as the wind started to pick up. You sighed and looked away from them, taking a deep breath to control yourself. 

“Flor-” Robin started to speak but you cut him off.

“I need some time by myself, to think.” You put emphasis on the last word, hoping it would get them to reflect on their choice of words while you calmed down away from them. You settled on a high platform in the middle of the village, your feet swinging off the side. You looked over the village and observed what they were doing, the buildings people were going in, and the places they avoided. You were trying to do what you originally came here to do, but you heard footsteps behind you. You had memorized the breathing pattern of the person so you didn’t even need to look over as they sat down next to you to know it was the same Boy Wonder you fell in love with years ago. You sighed, and played around with your hands, fidgeting as you started apologizing. 

“Listen, I know you guys just want to protect me and get the mission done, so I’m sorry I added more drama in the mix. I was just trying to find out more about the village,” You explained looking over at him, your cheeks flushing a little as you saw how close your faces were, and how his eyes gently looked into yours. 

“I’m the one who should apologize. You’re a powerful, talented member of the team, and you’re capable of taking care of yourself. But I just… I can’t stand seeing you in pain so when I know I can try to prevent it, I do,” He looked down, avoiding your gaze.You reached out and cupped his cheek with your hand and gently brought his gaze back to you. 

“Getting hurt comes with the job, but knowing you’re there for me makes all the difference,” You explain. “Thank you.”

You smile softly, looking at his mask-covered eyes wondering if they were filled with the same look of love and admiration that yours were. You felt the distance between your faces close and your lips press against each other delicately. You felt sparks fly in your mind and butterflies in your stomach. The wind around you started whipping around you both in a circle, and unbeknownst to you, flowers sprouted in your hair. When you separated, you kept your eyes closed for a second, lightly smiling until you heard robin chuckle, feeling the air of his laugh on your cheek because of how close you two still were. You opened your eyes and looked at him with a questioning look and he reached into your hair and picked out one of the flowers, showing it to you. Your eyes opened wide in surprise. 

“That’s new,” You said, your voice nearly above a whisper.

“For me too,” He joked, saying he’s never had a reaction to his kisses like that before. You laughed with him before pressing your lips against his again. However, this kiss was shorter as you heard someone clear their throat near the tree. You and Robin separated quickly and looked over, now on guard as you both stood up. When you saw Ray, leaning against the tree, you sensed something completely different about him. Robin caught onto it too and moved in front of you a bit. You couldn’t help but smirk ever so slightly at his over-protective nature kicking in again, but you found it so endearing about him. Focusing on Ray as he started speaking, his voice void of that obviously fake friendly manner. 

“It’s a shame, I did try to warn you, Flora. I mean, I obviously wasn’t explicit, but you’re a smart girl, I know you caught onto my little act. If only you were a bit smarter and promised to stay here with us, and be on my side. I could’ve saved you from all of the hurt you’re about to feel.” He taunted, obviously not scared at all as he was nonchalantly looking down at his nails, and still hadn’t separated from the tree. 

“So was anything you said to me true? Because I’d hate to have to figure out the truth of your village on top of kicking your ass,” You mixed the threat in, trying to get to the bottom of what was happening. 

“It's true that the legend of our village says we got our power from the sun, and it’s true that our village was attacked 30 years ago, but it wasn’t by any opposing village. It was by our own. Traitors, who opposed my grandfather’s rule. He was a great leader, making plans to expand our village and spread our gift to the rest of the world. But there were some, short-minded families who believed that it was wrong, and we needed to stay within our forest. A civil war broke out, killing my grandfather. Once he was dead, the village was abandoned. Both sides retreated. When my father returned a year later, he promised to take vengeance on any of the families that killed his grandfather. Those are the people who have been “disappearing”. They don’t deserve your pity, they're traitors.” He told the story, finally stepping towards you two, causing you to shift into a more secure fighting position.

“It’s not your place to decide who lives or dies, and it’s definitely not a welcome idea to try to force your way of life onto other people,” You explain, though you knew he was way past reason. 

“It’s disappointing to hear you say that,” He said, looking away from you for a second, before quickly turning back and fire two streams of fire directly at you two. It was your turn to move in front of Robin and quickly blast the attack away from the two of you. You quickly took his moment of blindness to your advantage and moved up to him, scratching your skin and releasing a toxic mix of plants, inducing sleep. He tried to fight it, grabbing your arm, which you quickly grabbed his and sent him flying into the tree bark. He groaned and fell on the floor, knocked out.

“All bark and no bite…” You quipped, looking at Robin with a goofy expression before pointing at the bark and then the man passed out on the ground. He rolled his eyes before grinning as well, pulling you in close with one arm. 

“And I didn’t even have to do anything,” He said.

 “Of course not, I couldn’t let you get into harm's way. I can’t stand seeing you in pain so when I knew I could try to prevent it, I did,” You quoted him from earlier and he smirked down at you. 

Once you got the violent villagers in custody, you finally went back to the cave. 

“So I heard you guys had an eventful mission,” M’gann said, flying over to you all as you arrived through zeta tube. She ran and hugged Superboy. 

“Yeah, something like that,” You looked at Robin and smiled and he smiled back at you.

“Hah! You owe me $30!” Artemis yelled at Wally. 

“What? You don’t even know if they’re official or not, are you guys… dating?” He looked at you two. You both just smiled at him.

“Aw, man! How’d you even notice?” He threw his hands up in the air as he forked over the cash to his girlfriend. 

“Just look at them, they’ve got lovey-dovey-new-couple written all over them,” Artemis explained.

“Yeah, but they’ve always been like that,” Superboy pointed out.

 “Hey! You know what that means! We can go on triple dates!” M’gann said excitedly to you six. “....Sorry Kaldur. You can come too?” 

“I will pass, but thank you for offering” He responded lightheartedly. You all laughed and you leaned over to give your new boyfriend a peck on the check.

[vindieselsfacebook-blog]

okay after seeing your poll on the unpopular GG opinions I need to hear your thoughts on lane!!! please please elaborate because on first seeing your take I don't agree but I've also never thought about it so I would love to hear your opinion if you feel like it! :))

Ahhh first of all, omg thank you for caring to hear any of my rambling. :') Second of all, pheewwww boy do I have some unpopular Lane opinions lol.

My disclaimer at the top is that I like Lane! She gets so much interesting, flawed characterization that a lot of sidekicks in fiction don't. I can sound like a hater but I think there's this fascinating effect where fans either relate so closely with Lane, they project a lot onto her - to the point of pretending her flaws and mistakes just don't exist - or they flatly reduce her to her endearing strengths and root for her so much as an underdog, they don't engage with any deeper critique and honestly kind of infantilize her and don't hold her accountable for her choices.

Lane is so relatable because her experience speaks to folks growing up in similarly religious, oppressive, and/or culturally specific family units that maybe feel more authoritarian. This is where I must acknowledge that I'm an only child in a white (eastern European mostly) household where I never really clicked with my parents in most ways and was always kind of at peace with that fact. I've always struggled with fully understanding and empathizing with people (both irl and in fiction) who clearly feel so unhappy and/or oppressed by situations, but lack the courage to really do anything about it when it would be fully possible for them.

Lane's mom is cartoonishly restrictive of her and often downright cruel, but at the end of the day, Lane still cares too much what her mother thinks. She still wants to make her happy and internalizes those teachings instead of really pushing beyond them and rebelling like she acts like she wants to. She folds in on herself with a victim mentality constantly that frustrates me. As a kid, I totally get it, but once adulthood looms and she goes along with her mom's college choices for her, tries to make every friend and romantic interest delight in ridiculous charades to keep peace, and doesn't want to have sex before marriage, I get less sympathetic. Grow up, girl! Maybe it's because Lorelai's story is the 180 degree opposite of Lane's. I have so much love and admiration for Lorelai's bold choices, perhaps that's the root of my disconnect with Lane. Again - I totally get that this is shaped by my personal cultural upbringing.

Besides finding it hard to respect this desire to still be mommy's little girl when I don't think her mother has earned that OR that it's a personally satisfying pursuit for Lane, I find her boy-crazy obsessions dull and shallow. In she and Rory's brief S1 conflict where Lane feels ignored by Rory, I kind of can't help but take Rory's side because girl, I'm sorry, I'd be bored as shit hearing you ramble on and on about some dumb dude you don't even know because his hair is cute.

Although I resent the term so much these days, Lane fits the stereotype of "I'm not like other girls" MUCH more than either Rory or Lorelai in my opinion. She's always talking about dumb girls she doesn't like, girls in bands being her competition, etc. I get that's an easy coping mechanism for a girl like her who only has her taste as something she can feel superior to others about because her life is otherwise small, but still. The main characters get that critique but she's always exempt.

So many fans paint with a broad brush claiming Lane's a better friend to Rory than Rory is to her when I feel it's the reverse - Lane requires A LOT of emotional labor. I've heard folks claim she's just as smart - why couldn't she get into an Ivy, too? Well, to start, Lane wouldn't even go if she had the chance because she's too scared to be truly ambitious, she's not the main character of the show, and honestly, why do people think she's so smart? She's no dummy, but she's never portrayed as being especially good at school or interested in academics. That's where I see the projection creep in. People who relate to Lane are angry on behalf of her perceived wasted potential because they feel it about themselves or others they love.

Then of course, we all get mad about her quick marriage and pregnancy, but those are both fully Lane's choices. She's allegedly disagreed with her mom her entire life, but again chooses victimhood in refusing to have sex until marriage and still valuing the oppressive heteronormative life she's always been obsessed with. She was already making progress choosing her independent starving artist life at that point so she can't blame that choice on mommy. You're an adult - learn about contraception if you don't want to get pregnant! Or get an abortion! But no - Lane is a career self-saboteur. Like pushing Henry Cho away, Lane is addicted to struggling and hiding and keeps creating these circumstances for herself long after her childhood under her mom's thumb. She even needed her mom to plan a tour for her and her band.

AND ANOTHER THING (lol sorry, full drunk-uncle-ing now) but I don't think Dave Rygalski's willingness to lie, hide, and change himself for a girl's attention is healthy and gets waayyy too romanticized. Lane would be a nightmare girlfriend.

When fans share dreams of Lane moving to a bigger city, starting an all-girl band, or being successful in the music industry, I can't help but think those aspirations are far more out-of-character than people seem to think. She's just not that girl - and that's ok! Not everyone is. She ends up seemingly happy with her community and family and walks that line having a good relationship with her mom. We maybe hoped for more, but unfortunately she didn't. And just as with so many other things in Gilmore Girls, that rings so bittersweetly true to real life.

[somegrumpynerd]

Okay so. Little introduction course to (all I know about) TMNT

There are a few characters which show up in most iterations, that being the four turtle brothers:

Leonardo, he's usually the most disciplined, usually the leader (usually is a word you will see often just because every version has their own way of portraying these characters) One thing that stays the same is that he may not show it but he is a huge dork

Raphael, he's the more hot headed of all of them, resorts to punching before anything else. (There's a lot to all these characters but these are the attributes they are most often reduced to.)

Michelangelo or Mikeyyyyy, he's the fun guy. He's a joker and he's the ray of sunshine in the group

Donatello or Donnie, he's the smarts of the group, huge nerd. He's a scientist though in which field depends a lot on the iteration

They were transformed from normal turtles to mutant anthropomorphic turtles through a green goop. Most often created by a company called TCRI and sometimes called mutagen.

After that you have Splinter, their father and or ninja master. That's the most I can say about him just because he changes so much from iteration to iteration. (From best dad to huge gaslighting bitch) He is also!! In some instances he's a man named Hamato Yoshi who was turned into a rat by the mutagen and in others he was a rat to begin with.

Other recurring characters are the two humans, April O'Neil and Casey Jones, who are sidekicks and friends of the turtles, with April being generally helpful (her attitude changes a lot so that's all I can say that overlaps in all the versions) and Casey being reckless.

And then, you have the two most common enemies which are the Shredder, he leads the army of the foot and is the main antagonist for most of the turtles, as well as sometimes being an old friend turned enemy of Hamato Yoshi.

The other is the Kraang who are an evil Alien race who want to take over earth, most of the time they are the creators of the mutagen that changed the turtles and Splinter.

Now for the different iterations:

*You have the og TV series in 1987 (WAS THAT THE BITE OF- no. It wasn't) Which I don't know much about because I couldn't get past the first episode, it's generally sillier and goofier than the others. Art style wise it's... old....

*Then came the 2003 TV series, the artstyle is old but not unbearable you learn to love it, their donnie and mikey are delightfully snarky, their raph is trying his best despite his anger issues and their leo is very disciplined, self sacrificial and A FUCKING EMO. HE GETS LIKE HALF A SEASON ALL TO HIMSELF FUCKING MOPING BC HE FEELS GUILTY ABOUT 'ALMOST GETTING HIS BROTHERS KILLED' WHEN THERE WAS LITERALLY NO OTHER OPTION AND HE DIDN'T EVEN TELL THEM HE JUST GOT HARSH AND SHITTY AND GET THIS MAN OFF MY SCREEN I WANT TO SEE DONNIE.

*Cough cough* sorry. Don't know what that was. The series often prioritizes Leo. Their Splinter is an awesome dad who was the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi. They also have very cool lore about the Kraang, where the Kraang is the evil half of species and the good ones are called Utrom and the turtles work with them. Also their shredder lasts like four seasons and dies three times but not actually. He's fucking unkillable.

*Next was the 2012 TV series and we have got a 3D animated show on our hands! (This was the one I watched when it came on TV as a kid so it's one of my favorites despite the.... Questionable writing....) It's a lot darker and grittier than any of the others, even the palette is desaturated. Their Leo is again, self sacrificial, kind of forced into the position of the leader by Splinter (who is stricter than most. He cares for his turtle children but he has some questionable actions throughout the series), their raph is much the same as always, aggressive, he has trouble managing his anger and often questions Leo's place as leader of the Team. Their mikey is fun and he skateboards, he's got big youngest sibling energy. Their Donnie is lovely. Nothing wrong with him. At all. Well okay he's a big creep and like a total incel towards April but likeeeee he's funnnn. He does mechanics but you see him do chemistry a lot in the series. I also love this series's Casey just because he's a reckless teen hockey player and he likes to annoy Donnie. It's got some episodes that border on horror those being Parasitica and Attack of the Squirrelenoids which are just traumatizing. This series references and uses a lot of elements from a lot of different iterations and it's kind of like pulling every aspect from other iterations together into one

*In 2014 and 2016 Micheal Bay released two movies that were CGI and had megan Fox in the as April, they're fun, feel good movies, pretty funny. But like. They're Micheal Bay movies it was never gonna be revolutionary. Despite the fact that they called red eared sliders which are semi aquatic and very very recognizable 'box turtles' and that they made Casey who's one of the most anti-establishment characters in he series a cop. It's not horrible.

*Then in 2018 Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles came out (Rottmnt) and it took every established Idea that was followed in the previous iterations and flipped it over its head. A breath of fresh air that was much needed as most of the established concepts had been pushed as far as they could go. Their Leo's an arrogant dumbass, their Raph is the leader and he's a softie that still operates on punch first think later, their Mikey is artistic, sassy and fun and their Donnie is a super genius with an ego the size of his autism. It's great. Their Casey works for the foot. They were created by a completely new character called Baron Draxum using 'Empyrean' and the DNA of a action Movie actor called Lou Jitsu who's power move included yelling 'hot soup' who's actually just the fucking rat too. It's crazy on all sides packed into hilarious 11 minute episodes that we got a season and a half of instead of the SEVEN SEAONS WE WERE PROMISED!!!!!! BECAUSE THE FUCK ASS UGLY TOYS THEY MADE DIDN'T SELL. I'm mad. Anyway they got a movie in 2020 which was like 200% more serious and gut wrenching. It's on Netflix.

You said you asked!! So!! You got the infodump... Forgive me for the length of this.. ^^;

^Me furiously taking notes as I read this trying to memorise it lol

I didn't realise there were so many tmnt series!! I think I've only ever heard of the old 80s one and the new one that everybody on here likes :o That's so wild that there's so much variation too, like even in one character's personality or backstory

Thank you for the crash course in turtles!! This was fun to read :D Once I'm home from work tomorrow I need to look up turtles now lol

[ronanceautistic]

1 and 7 for the choose violence ask game

character everyone gets wrong

Difficult to answer bc i feel like there’s always some part of the fandom that gets every character right, but maybe im taking the question too literally. I feel like a lot of people get Robin wrong though. Like either by reducing her to goofy comedic sidekick, Steve’s right hand man, or even just, like, putting her on a pedestal where she’s done nothing wrong ever (and Nancy has to prove herself to her because she’s the mean girl who hurt Robins besties feelings)

what character did i begin to hate because of the way the fandom acts around them

Eddie. I don’t hate him by any means, but in order to not hate him I can’t engage with any of his fans because they either make his whole thing about Steve, make everything about him sexual, or make him into this bad boy loner cool kid and like? did we watch the same show? That man is a canonical loser nerd and that’s what I love about him. I guess that also answers the first question as well.

Fuck you! *asexuals your Eddie Munson*

[the-girl-in-the-high-castle]

These have always been some of the most ridiculous takes. No, she is not too good for him. And even if she was, people have learned nothing about the lack of choice on who you love in this story. She has her own faults, her own black and white world view, before she gets a reality check thanks to Jaime. Idiots who hold on to dumb and dumber's shitshow that dared to even put Brienne and Tormund in the same scene together will cheer him on, forgetting he's a Wildling who burned villages, killed children and raped women before he became Jon's lovable sidekick, while they bash on Jaime throughout the entire story for pushing one kid from a towar. He needs to repent for his sins that are far fewer than most of the other characters they love so much and think faultless. I mean, are people forgetting they actually shipped Daenerys with Drogo after everything she suffered next to him? It's almost like shipping Sansa with Ramsey.

I'm not even gonna talk about Brienne's arc "being ruined" for wanting to be a woman? It just pisses me off every damn time. That is how douche and dipshit managed to make that dumpster fire of a season. They did exactly that, reduced every female character to one thing and one thing alone. Like, I may understand people who haven't read the books claim this, but those who have and still think Brienne doesn't want to be a woman, a wife, a mother and doesn't want to have someone to love, definitely need to check their comprehension ability. Brienne never hated the idea of being a woman in the traditional sense of the word. She never hated the idea of having a husband and children, she was just made to believe she wasn't good enough for any of it. People need to understand Brienne isn't Arya, she is a lot more like Sansa than she will ever be like Arya.

Getting a bit fed up with the take “I don’t ship Jaime with Brienne because she’s too good for him”, sometimes paired with “romance would ruin Brienne’s arc” because. Have you considered that Brienne WANTS those things (Jaime and romance), craves them even

Bibliography

MARTIN, George R.R., A Feast for Crows, Bantam Spectra 2005

[donotalwaysbebatman]

Knight Terrors: Shazam

This is a stupid concept. Not this issue specifically, the idea of Billy and Shazam having different nightmares is actually very interesting, although that's a terrible summary because the entire issue is actually about Mary and her nightmares. But just oh ho ho all the superheroes in the world are asleep! So what. There are so many nightmare villains anyway, it's not like it's new.

Now, I do like Mary, but I feel like this leans too heavily into the problems with her character and her story. Her nightmare is all about not being a good enough caretaker to her family? Her nightmare is about not being stronger than Billy, about not having a right to his powers? It's a nightmare. It doesn't have to be consistent. Throw in some things about how she feels stupid because she dropped out of school. Something about the hobbies she's neglecting, the friends she's neglecting in order to be a superhero. Even just stuff about being catcalled or mansplained at.

Obviously this is a problem with women in comics in general, and obviously it's hard to get around when you're trying to write Billy and Mary as the same nightmare, but reducing her to just a mother figure and sidekick to Billy is... reductive. It's everyone's complaint with her story arc in general! And yeah she could have eldest daughter syndrome, but at least show that instead of just having her be like 'bad things happened to the kids it's my fault!' because the whole point of eldest daughter syndrome is that it's other people imposing that view on her, not Mary herself thinking the only thing she's good for is to be a nurturing caretaker.

I did like some of the dream logic details which were fun. I don't think Mary's greatest fear would be Billy turning evil, though. That's his business. Herself turning evil, maybe (pretty boring, though). Most likely only ever being thought of as secondary to Billy or as a mother figure. Importantly, not being those things, which does not bother her, but not being respected enough that people know she's a person also. Overall the story also didn't make a lot of sense or really go anywhere. Is she lucid dreaming or not? Who cares anyway!

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 19

Warnings: Weird creepyish guy cause I had to fill Shinsou's spot Word count: 2526

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts Masterlist

Volt 18 | Volt 20

We all fell silent when my dad walked into the classroom, fully bandaged in white dressings.

"Morning, class." Everyone asked what he was doing there, I knew he got home last night but I didn't expect him to come in today.

"Mr. Aizawa. I'm glad you're okay." Iida said as he shot his hand up.

"My well being is irrelevant."

"Mr. Aizawa, is it true that Tsukare is your kid!" Hagakure popped up and I wanted to bury my head in the sand.

I already told him about my slip up yesterday when he got home. He wasn't mad but he was worried since I'd always been more cautious then he was. However, Hagakure's question sparked everyone else's interest, while the four loud friends I had made sent me sympathetic looks.

"Quiet down." Everyone went silent with wide eyes. "Onryo and Hitoshi are my children, I adopted them years ago. However, that knowledge is not allowed to leave this classroom. Other teachers know as well, but no students do. We decided not to tell anyone as a safety precaution. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Most chided together while I saw gears turning in Bakugou's head and I felt myself get sick to my stomach.

"What's more important is that your fight isn't over yet." Always one for theatrics. "The UA sports festival is about to start." A few cheered but many were disgruntled with how he dramatized it.

"Let's go kick some ass!" Kiri cheered, Kaminari followed suit by silencing him. Putting a hand on his face and guiding him back to his seat.

"Wait a second." The electric blond said hesitantly, keeping his hand in place as Jirou spoke from behind me.

"Is it really such a good idea to hold the sports festival so soon after the villains snuck inside?"

"They could attack once we're all in the same place." Ojiro continued.

"Kami, you can move your hand now." I whispered and watched as he looked at Kirishima before pulling his hand back.

"Apparently, the administration thinks this is a good way to show that the threat has been handled and our school is safer than ever. Plus they're beefing up security compared to past years. This event is a huge opportunity for all students at UA. It's not something we can cancel because of a few villains."

"Why is that?" Hagakure asked.

"Hagakure, do you know how important this competition is?" I asked with a hesitant tone, not wanting to sound rude.

"Well duh! But I don't wanna die because of it."

"Hagakure, you're least likely to get injured let alone killed because you are quite literally invisible and the perfect candidate for stealth."

"Our sports festival is one of the most watched events in the entire world. In the past, everyone obsessed over the Olympic games. But then quirks started appearing. Now, the Olympics have been drastically reduced in terms of scale and viewership. For anyone who cares about competition, there's only one tournament that matters. The UA sports festival." I nodded along with his words, having seen first hand how important this is.

"That's right!" Yaoyorozu spoke up. "And top heroes everywhere will be watching. This is where you get scouted!"

"She's right. After graduating, a lot of people join pro agencies as a sidekick." I turned to Kaminari as he spoke, already feeling slightly mesmerized by his excitement.

"Yeah, but that's as far as some people go. They miss their chance to go indie and stay eternal sidekicks." We turned to Jirou and I sent her a pout.

"But what if they want to go punk rock instead?" She covered her smile with a hand as she giggled, thankfully catching onto what I meant.

"It's true that joining a famous hero agency can garner you greater experience and popularity. That's why the festival matters. If you wanna go pro one day, then this event could open the path for you. One chance a year. Three chances in a lifetime. No aspiring hero can afford to miss this festival. That means you better not slack off on your training." Many responded in agreement. "Class is dismissed."

"Toshi, train after school today?" He smirked, sending me a nod.

"Hey Shinsou, is it okay if I join you two? I wanna try and see what it would be like to go against you two." I looked between my brother and Kirishima, not knowing what to do.

"Uh, maybe another day. You still have to get clearance through the school to stay after and train." He nodded with a wide smile while Toshi sent me a thankful look.

After modern literature, it was finally time for lunch.

"That villain stuff sucked, sure, but I'm pumped for these games!" I was still sat at my seat, not really rolling with social interaction today and silently hoping they would leave soon so I could have a quiet lunch.

While trying not to fidget, I rummaged through my bag to find my earbuds, thankfully not taking too much time before popping them in. The noise cancelling turned on and immediately my music started playing. Rock music blasting through the wireless bits and into my ears. I should probably be careful with sound exposure because of my quirk but right now, I didn't really care about that. A hand tapped on my desk, snapping me out of the stare I had on my phone.

You okay?

Yeah I'm fine, Toshi. Just don't really have the energy for people, so I'll probably just have lunch in here.

We'll talk later then, I can tell somethings on your mind. And turn your music down, I could hear it from ten feet away.

I rolled my eyes and turned down my music by two notches.

Happy?

You'll be the one to talk to dad after he hears it from his desk in here.

My eyes widened slightly and I turned it down a bit more.

You're welcome. And make sure you actually eat.

I plopped my head down and gave him a thumbs up, already feeling my eyelids droop.

I woke up with a start to a hand shaking my shoulder, I jumped up in shock, looking around and taking my earbuds out to hear. Hitoshi shook me awake while dad stood in front of me.

"We'll talk about this later, class is going to start in about ten minutes. You're eating more at dinner tonight." I lazily nodded, putting my earbuds away and pulling out an energy drink. I knew it would have little to no effect or just make me more tired, but I was desperate for any sort of potential pick me up.

"Did I take my meds this morning? I don't remember if you gave them to me." He gave me a deadpan stare, very slightly raising his arms. "Well duh, you know what I mean."

Pops gave me my meds this morning, right?

"Yes, he told me he did. Why?" I ran a hand through my hair and glanced around at who was in the room.

I lived independently for quite some time until seven years ago, I know Nedzu and probably you and Pops are starting to think somethings up with the villains getting in, getting plans and jamming our comms. Or at the very least, a loophole in the security placed. After the USJ, I don't know, I've been more on edge and paranoid. With the festival, I don't know Dad, sorry I've just been scattered.

"That's okay. We'll talk more about it at home, alright?" I nodded and got ready for my next class.

We went to leave for the day but found another class standing at the door, effectively blocking the entrance.

"U-Um, why the heck are you all here?" I felt bad for Uraraka, knowing how hard it can be to confront a crowd.

"Do you students have some sort of business with our class?" Very class rep like.

"They're scouting out the competition." Bakugou and I glared at each other as we spoke at the same time.

"We're the class that survived a real villain attack. They wanna see us with their own eyes." For once, I couldn't disagree with Bakugou. He walked up to the door way, a kid with a buzzed head was sweating at the sight of him. "At least now you know what a future pro looks like. Now move it, extras."

"You can't walk around calling people 'extras' just because you don't know who they are!" I narrowly dodged Iida's hand chopping motions as I walked up towards the doorway. A kid walked up through the crowd and went to face off to Bakugou.

"So this is class 1-A. I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like an ass." I bit back my laughter as a kid with grey hair stared unamused. "Is everyone in the hero course delusional, or just you? How sad to come here and find a bunch of ego maniacs. Consider this a declaration of war." I pushed Bakugou back some and told him to move, the blond glaring daggers in my head as I stared at the guy. He was easily around five eleven (180 cm) and had a snarky vibe about him.

"You guys wanna move?" He propped against the doorway and loomed over me, cocking an eyebrow when I didn't cower back.

"And why should we, short stack? You gonna make us?" I stared up at him with the same deadpan expression, he seemed off put for a moment before he collected himself.

"You don't wanna fuck around and find out." He leaned in a little closer, still trying to be intimidating.

"And if I do, sweetheart?"

"Then I'm sure you know who our homeroom teacher is, which also tells me that you know he has the right to expel students. So let's see, harassment, wrongful and unprovoked intimidation, physically blocking an emergency exit and preventing students from leaving a public place. You sure you wanna fuck around and find out, sweetheart?" He paled and covered it with a smirked before backing up.

"Let's head out." He turned around and I watched as the students left. Kirishima came over and slung an arm around my shoulders.

"That was so manly, Tsukabro!" I let out a weak laugh, my skin crawling from how that guy acted.

"I hate guys like that." Hitoshi came over and patted my back, his own way of consoling me.

"Let's go train." I groaned but followed my brother out.

"Onryo, you can't be skipping meals, little listener." I hung my head as Pops put more food on my plate then normal before he opened a protein pouch for Dad.

He didn't want to be spoon fed by Pops so he insisted on propping up his protein pouch in his scarf. However I think it's just for show, I could see how much he loves Pops when he offered to spoon feed him.

"I know, I didn't mean to. I just fell asleep before I got hungry." He nodded, understanding that I haven't been sleeping much.

"What else was going on in your head today?" I felt my stomach drop a bit, already knowing my parents were under enough stress as is and I didn't want to make it worse.

"It's about my birth mom." Everyone looked up in shock, not expecting me to talk about her. "I feel like I've been being watched again but I haven't seen her. A-And she got ahold of our address and information so easily, what if the League does the same? And if she sees me at the sports festival, then what if she tries to come here and take me away again?" My stomach churned at the thought alone, I didn't want to know what would happen if that came true but I couldn't ignore the possibility anymore.

"We have a restraining order against her, so if she breaks that then we'll be able to put her away. However, I can see why you're concerned with the League of Villains." I solemnly nodded, my mind still racing as I ate.

"I also half threatened a student in another class with Dad." Pops almost spit out his drink while laughing, Hitoshi smirked and Dad's eyes went wide.

"I'm scared to ask, but how and why?"

"At the end of the day, another class was blocking the door and not letting us through to 'scope out competition for the festival' and I told them to move. He called me short stack and asked if I was going to make him move, I told him he didn't wanna find out. He called me sweetheart of all things and I used rational deception and told him that you had the right to expel any student you deemed necessary and with him using wrongful intimidation, harassment and physically blocking minors in a public place at an emergency exit, I asked if he wanted to test his luck and he left. After getting in my personal bubble and checking me out, but he left." Dad stared at me with wide eyes, Pops was trying not to laugh.

"Correction, you asked him if he wanted to fuck around and find out." I glared at Hitoshi and Pops did a spit take.

"SHO. OUR KIDS ARE AMAZING!" I laughed at Pops' amusement, all of us joining in.

"Sunshine, quiet down a little before you set off your quirk on accident." Pops nodded, still laughing hysterically. "Onryo, did you actually say that?" I nodded and took a bite of my food. He sighed and finished off his protein pouch. "I don't know whether to scold you for your language or be proud." I chuckled and sent him a wide smile. "However, we do have to talk about your quirk progressing like it did." We all grew serious again.

"I used it like Pops." He hummed since he couldn't nod.

"I know, but it was still on a select scale. While you sounded a bit like Sunshine, you still used it primarily on the villains. It didn't touch me, but it touched inanimate objects as well. He may have to start training you more with me supervising in case you overdo it, but I think we can worry about that after the sports festival." I gave him a thumbs up and continued to eat, my appetite resurfacing at full force. "I also think you've been able to do that all along. I believe you may have just been subconsciously blocking it out." I thought about it for a moment.

"I think that might be why. I wanna talk to Nedzu about it at some point because he knows everything about everything because of his quirk." Dad hummed again, knowing exactly where I was coming from after having dealt with Nedzu for so many years. "I take it we're going to start doing intense training tomorrow, huh?" I could practically see the smirk in his eyes.

[geekgirles]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm sort of hoping that at some point in the series (not Phantoms, of course) they introduce Raven as both her own character and Gar's next love interest (but with her actually being relevant to the plot; my girl is too great to be reduced to being a satellite love interest, thank you very much).

This is in no way Gar/Perdita criticism because, while they don't exactly pull at my heartstrings, I literally have nothing against the pairing or its shippers. Maybe Perdita doesn't have much characterisation aside from being Queen and Gar's (ex) girlfriend—that I have seen of, I must admit I don't watch the show as actively as others or even as I did back in the first two seasons—, but I in no way dislike her.

I just think it'd be interesting to see the two interact under the show's more serious circumstances where Gar is allowed to be goofy and chill but also has a lot of emotional baggage to deal with. Not to mention Raven's an empath with her own fair share of issues *cough, demonic daddy issues, cough, cough!*—I just think that'd make their interactions and way to relating to each deeper and more meaningful.

And, let's face it, Raven's character has enough lore to fit in about any Teen Titans/Sidekick/Young Heroes focused DC show. And it's about damn time these kids (yeah, I know they're in their late teens to early-mid adulthood now—I don't care; they'll always be our kids) faced their very first apocalypse in the classical sense of the word ;)

But seriously, this is pretty much wistful thinking. If the sneak peeks from Targets are anything to go by, Gar will be getting back together with Perdita at some point. And honestly, good for them.

But a girl can dream, right?

[thestrangestthing89]

Love everything you said. Joyce is a single mom in a working class family. She spends most of her time just trying to pay the bills and take care of her kids. The fact that she was able to find healthy, happy relationships after an abusive one is so good for her. Not that she couldn't be happy single, but like you said, it's nice to see her get something for herself. She does everything for everyone else. This isn't taking over her entire storyline. She has always be family-focused and it's not a bad thing. It's realistic for the time period that a single mom would spend this much time on her family (and also realistic now). If Joyce DIDN'T go through hell and back to save the people she loves she would be getting criticized. I hate how much attention Steve gets for babysitting. His actual storyline doesn't warrant this attention. Especially when it's at the expense of characters like Jonathan, Joyce, and Karen who we see doing a lot more parenting than him.

I think people get confused sometimes when there are complaints about women in caretaking roles or romantic roles. The reason why people used to complain about this a lot is because those were the ONLY roles women played - both on screen and IRL. That one thing is reductive and insulting. However, those roles when combined with other traits are totally fine because they aren't inherently a problem. They are only a problem when they force women in the background and put them in a position of supporting role for a male character. Caretaking or being in a romantic relationship aren't bad things when characters are also doing other things as well. If someone has a full range of emotions and a whole storyline of their own, this isn't a problem. Nancy wants to get justice for Barb and she has college and life plans in addition to her romantic relationship. She's a leader and someone the group relies on for protection. She's a well-rounded character who isn't being reduced to something just because she has feelings for a male character or because she was unsure of her relationship status this season. This was a normal doubt to have for someone in a long-distance relationship, especially a teen. There was nothing in this story to me that was a problem or in any way unrealistic. El has a whole arc about finding herself and figuring out her place in the world. Finding her family and friends and establishing a normal life. There is so much going on here that goes beyond her relationship with Mike and it's a good thing. It's good that she won't save the day in the end. Because all she ever wanted was to be a normal kid and not a superhero. She is getting what she wants and needs to feel fulfilled and whole. It's not reductive if those things don't include being a hero. Because this role was actually harmful for her. This doesn't set some kind of precedent that girls should never be heroes. What it does say is that for El specifically, she deserves to not have so much responsibility put on her because she was abused her whole life and should get to be a kid.

To elaborate on my point about Erica - I like that she is interested in D&D. This is something typically associated with white men and seeing her being nerdy and fitting in with this group is a positive thing. I like that she was on the poster with the party recently and would like to see more of this. But she is still a stereotype. Her storyline serves the white characters and she doesn't have one of her own - She's off on her own briefly in S3 at the mall with her friends but this is more of an implied point and not a main plot point.

I think the thing for me that is the most frustrating about this is that they overturn a lot of stereotypes on this show. Will is a character who could have fallen into the sassy gay kid stereotype that is a somewhat close comparison here. Will in no way fits this stereotype which is a good thing. He has his own story and isn't a sidekick. And at times he does have a bit of a smart-ass attitude but it never veers into cringey, stereotype territory. I.e. when he's asking Jonathan why he doesn't have any friends in S2 and when he does a similar thing to El this season. He's being a smart-ass sibling and it never felt like they crossed a line here.

Erica has moments like this mixed with moments that I wish were written better. Her and Lucas have some great moments where you can see how close they are and how much they love and protect each other (I like the moment this season where they are putting weapons together and talking). She's had some smart-ass comments with Lucas - i.e. the moment at the mall when they first see each other and start shouting insults. It was an immature sibling moment that I can picture Mike and Nancy also having. Also love her giving Lucas crap for what was under his bed. It was very much a little sister moment. But then there are moments like her insulting Murray in S3 that go too far imo. I didn't really love the whole moment with Eddie this season either where she had to earn her place (Eddie's attitude is a problem here as well for different reasons - it's not a writing issue but a character flaw so it doesn't need to be fixed). Sometimes her comments are just rude and inappropriate, but like I said above, she has to be what the white audience is comfortable seeing. I wish her interactions with her mother were better. Her getting incredibly angry at having to answer the door was something I feel like they focused more on her age with. Middle schoolers have an attitude yes, but with her it ends up coming across like the sassy black girl trope and I don't think they always realize this. I would like to see her having more emotionally complex moments with her family next season. She can be funny and a bit of a smart-ass without it crossing a line into a stereotype IF they don't take the sass too far and they give her other things to say and do. She can be strong and independent and a tiny bit sassy but also have some depth and emotional complexity.

And I hope that we get to see some kind of a reaction to the fact that her and Lucas were attacked by the basketball team. I hate this moment and wish they had realized the implications of it. But it would make it even worse if those characters don't even have a moment where they get to process all of this. She's 11 years old (and he's 14) and she got attacked by a kid twice as big as her. IRL this would have a big impact on her emotional well-being and I hope that isn't something that is dismissed. Yes, she is strong but she isn't invincible. She is still a child who shouldn't be responsible for just getting over this kind of an attack to make people comfortable (same with Lucas but I'm focusing on the female characters here). It's not a moment that should be brushed aside.

It's interesting to me how many people claim that Nancy's storyline is being reduced to a love triangle but then go and reduce her to that themselves. Her story is not about which boyfriend she has. It's always been about Barb. But the people upset over Jonathan and Steve always, always ignore Barb and her role in Nancy's story.

I wrote about this more here because I was getting frustrated by the amount of people who were saying this and claiming that Steve and her are endgame simply because they interacted a bit this season when that wasn't the point in this story at all. Nancy had multiple flashbacks to Barb this season (and in the past). It should have been very clear that that was what was motivating her to do what she was doing.

That fact that there is a subplot where she wasn't sure which boyfriend she wanted hardly reduces her to a love triangle. She's allowed to be unsure of what's going on with her and Jonathan. She's allowed to care about Jonathan (I have seriously seen people complaining that when they are getting attacked in the hospital in S3 it was sexist for her to yell for Jonathan. It wasn't. She's scared and upset and not one person was bothered by him yelling for her. She's allowed to have a full range of feelings.)

If people actually want her to be a 3 dimensional character, she is going to have life experiences and emotions that reflect this. And part of that is going to involve her feelings for her boyfriend. It's not a bad thing. It's hardly the only point of her character. But if that's what you are reducing her to, then maybe the sexist biases are coming from you and not the narrative.

People examine female characters in a way they never would with male characters. It ends up coming across hyper-critical and like those characters are always wrong or written badly. This helps no one and is hardly a feminist critique. It's the same sexism that drives people to be hyper-critical of women in real life. Women and female characters need to be perfect. The need to be everyone's ideal of what a woman is supposed to be. Which is going to be different for everyone and is what leads people to feel like they are always wrong. To me, a lot of the criticism of Nancy comes from people who can't relate to her. Which is fine. She doesn't have to be relatable to everyone. But people seem to get annoyed whenever she isn't behaving like them and isn't acting like how they view a role model to act. She isn't perfect, she makes mistakes - ie her plan this season was reckless (and again driven by her flashbacks to Barb). She's allowed to make these mistakes. She's never been written as this flawless hero who always saves the day. And she shouldn't be.

The same thing happens with Joyce. I have seen people complain that her character has been reduced to her romance with Hopper when she is doing the same thing she's done since the beginning of the series. She has done nothing but go through hell and back to save the people she loves. Usually it's Will. And I don't think I've ever seen anyone complain when she was protecting her child. But the second a male adult needs that same help suddenly she's being reduced to something. But this is just what her character does for the people she loves. And it isn't a bad thing.

Anytime a male character gets put into a caretaking role they never receive any criticism. Care taking isn't inherently problematic or sexist. Hopper does everything he can to save the people he loves too an no one complains. And don't even get me started on Steve who does a fraction of what Joyce does and gets called a mom even though there is a an actual mom doing all the work and getting ignored. No one is allowed to criticize Steve. I have never gotten more hate than when I criticized Steve. Even though in the narrative, he isn't doing nearly as much as someone like Joyce is.

Again, female characters are allowed to care about the male characters. This isn't reducing them to a romance role or a caretaking role. But again, I feel like people's own sexist biases are what is causing them to oversimplify the female characters on the show and not anything from the narrative. I also want to point out here that we don't know a lot of Joyce's backstory but will likely get a lot more of it with the stage production. She is tied to the supernatural plot in some way. We don't know the whole story here or why her and Hopper interact with each other the way that they do.

El is another character that tends get misinterpreted. I have written about this several times, but people tend to have a worshipful attitude towards her. Mike and El's relationship in particular is either reduced to people who want them to get get married and have babies or people who think she needs to dump him because he's a bad boyfriend and she's a girlboss. Mike's character arch is complex and while he has made mistakes, so has El and their entire relationship didn't fall apart because of him. She treats him badly, but criticizing her seems to be off limits. Anytime I have, I have gotten a lot of hate.

This isn't helping anyone. She is a complex character who has flaws and it's a good thing. She has also never been reduced to her relationship with Mike and has an entire backstory involving the supernatural plot. But she isn't going to be the one to save the day in the end. This story was always about Will. And when this happens that doesn't mean the writers sidelined a female character in favor of a male one. It means a lot of the audience simply decided El was the main character because she has superpowers and misinterpreted the fact that this was about Will from the start.

And for the record this is not anti-feminist. The gay kid getting to save the day in the end isn't something we've seen before. It's good that this is happening and hardly means that El has no role at all. I'm sure she will still be there helping. But seriously, I have seen so many white women being superheroes and badasses who save everyone. There may not be as many of them as there are white men, but I have never once seen a gay kid get to play this role. It's ok if she takes a step back here. Especially since, again, I don't think the narrative has ever centered her. I think it's the audience that's done this.

The only time I have felt like the critique of female characters is valid is when looking at the characters of color. Erica often gets reduced to the stereotype of a sassy black girl. Not all the time - I do think she has great moments with Dustin and Lucas in particular that show she is a complex character and I hope we get to see more of this. But I really wish she would stop saying "just the facts" every few minutes and sometimes her attitude is flat out rude and not funny or cute. Not to mention the fact that her mother seems to only every say her name over and over again. I would like to see the Sinclair family interacting more next season. They have less parent-child interactions than the other kids and their parents.

There is a lot more to be said for the way the show writes characters of color in general and this isn't the place for it. But the fact that I haven't seen a lot of criticism over this tells me that the white female characters are held to a different standard than the black female characters (which is hardly surprising or new information. This usually happens).

The white female characters need to be flawless - desirable by the male characters but not reduced to a romance role, kick ass and never make a mistake, be the "strong female lead" (notice how we never use the term "strong male lead"), and basically be something that is completely unattainable. But the black female characters need to be what the white audience is comfortable seeing. And even though this show doesn't just have a white audience, the fact that most of the cast is white shows that they are being catered to however subconsciously.

My point is this - while it's totally fine to critique the show and the characters on it (and people should do this), I feel like a lot of the time this is done at the expense of women and not in any way that is actually helpful. I think if people took a step back and recognized their own biases (which everyone has for the record, we are taught them) they would realize sometimes those critiques don't add up. But overall, with regard to the white female characters anyway, I have felt like the show does a pretty good job making them well rounded and complex without making them unrealistic. It's the audience interpretations that I have found very problematic sometimes.

[tanjirou-no-au]

BNHA Rewrite: The Circle of Trust

Beyond Bakugo and Uraraka, Izuku ends up revealing the truth of OFA to the Kamino Rescue Squad, as they are close enough to AFO to hear him mention “Successor” and several other terms, which Izuku reluctantly clarifies following his fight with Bakugo and manifestation of one of OFA’s stored quirks.

They tend to hide their meetings under the guise of group therapy.

Tenya Iida - Ingenium.

Trans, named himself after Tensei.

Greater emphasis on anger issues, channels it through rigorous routine.

Uninterested in romance, but would like to have kids or teach one day.

Father is Quirkless, Iida is his mom’s surname, and where the Ingenium line & Engine Quirk is passed down.

Finds himself chafing under the responsibility of being Class Rep & the Ingenium legacy. Genuinely just wants to intern with Manual

Hates bullies with a passion, tolerates Bakugo more than likes him. Platonic love-hate relationship with Mei.

Besides Izuku & Ochako, his best friends are probably Yuuga or Tsuyu.

Shoto Todoroki - Kelvin

Even after going through character development, he’s a spiteful little shit. During Work Studies, he acquiesces to working at his father’s agency, but specifically under Burnin and the sidekicks.

Autistic. Ends up developing a hyperfixation on video games and lore theories.

Ace & some variation of Not Straight, but doesn’t know.

Reduced sight in his right eye, could probably benefit from glasses.

Stands by his hero name choice.

Pretty anti-social, but surprisingly good friends with Bakugo.

Has an ordered best friend list, that goes Izuku, Bakugo, Momo, Sero, Iida for top five. Ochako’s mad she’s not in the top five.

Momo Yaoyorozu - Creati

Actual leader here, 1A’s main strategist & idea woman (takes a much greater lead on the Kamino rescue).

Is also a little bit more unhinged, and one of the few people who can keep up with Mei Hatsume.

Struggles with weight, but becomes more comfortable.

Interns with Fatgum alongside Kirishima, and Fatgum & Midnight are her main mentors.

Her suit incorporates a layer of body covering mesh that her Creation can pass through, and can intercept wounds. Zipper in back for larger projects.

Expert staff combatant, learns how to use a whip.

Jirou, Sato & Mei are her best friends, but also gets along with Shoto & Bakugo.

Has an entire fanclub, which her Pan heart can’t handle.

Her parents are connected to the MLA.

Eijirou Kirishima - Red Riot

Trans, proud of his top scars.

Lesbian moms, probably related to Tetsutetsu via sperm donor.

Peacekeeper, gets along with everyone. Heart of the class.

Provides an alternative to Deku’s “thinking before moving philosophy”, with his own, through great effort, one foot in front of the other approach.

Still looks up to Mina, she and Bakugo are his best friends.

One of 1A’s better hand to hand combatants.

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

When I first played Mass Effect 3 many years ago, I enjoyed it despite the flaws I could see. But when I replayed the trilogy with Legendary Edition this year, my opinion of the game has gone way down.

The writing has such a huge drop in quality from the first two games (which make sense because a lot of the writers left before ME2 was released, and the drop in quality is even present in some of ME2's DLC). The dialogue system was extremely simplified (every option is either "good" or "bad"), and morally grey issues were also reduced to good or bad (the Genophage, the quarian/geth conflict). I felt like I had way less control over my Shepard, too, partially because of the dialogue simplification and partially because of story elements that just don't fit the way I roleplayed her in the fist two games. (returning to the Alliance, being overly concerned with a random kid, etc.) I have a lot of other complaints (plot points from 2 being dropped, the ending,  Kai Leng), but I feel like those are talked about more and I don't want to make this longer than it should be.

But I think the absolute worst part is how the ensemble cast was treated. Mass Effect 2 was able to give you 10 squadmates with extensive dialogue trees, all with their own unique personality and relationship with Shepard, and for the most part I felt like all the companions were treated equally. ME3, however, put all of its effort into Liara and Garrus (but mostly Liara), while turning most of the other companions into glorified cameos with only one quest or singular purpose. Jack had huge character development but only had a role in one quest, Miranda's quest was just rehashed from her loyalty mission in 2, and Grunt and Samara were barely in the game. I romanced Thane, and he's easily my favorite character, and I honestly thought it was insulting that his only purpose in the game was to die and instantly be forgotten about. Meanwhile, the game heavily tries to push a Liara romance on you, and even if you don't romance her, the game treats her like your best friend and sidekick even if you actively try to avoid her.

This opinion has alienated me from a lot of the ME fandom, who constantly praise 3 and in some cases even act like it's the pinnacle of the franchise. I've been called entitled for simply expressing that I wish the game hadn't almost forgotten about some of my favorite characters. (and I feel like the fandom always neglects the characters that didn't have a huge part in 3) Don't get me wrong, I don't hate everything about the game. The combat is solid, the music is beautiful, and I'm happy with the development of some characters like Kaidan. But I really wish I could somehow go back in time, convince all the old writers to stay, and let the game have a proper development time, because now all I can see when I play ME3 is a rushed mess that has little resemblance to the series I fell in love with.

[heavencasteel420]

Okay, so these are the worst endings I can think of for each character (within the universe of what I think is even slightly probable—there’s some characters I don’t think they’ll kill, and some character assassination they won’t stoop to):

Joyce: She continues to act as a sidekick to Hopper, but she doesn’t even have comedic material to work with because it’s the last season and everything’s serious. We continue to learn nothing about her past or her interests. She has minimal interaction with Will, and somehow none with El or Jonathan. One or two of her kids die and she seems only a little sad. She goes out on the note of making a New Start with Hopper and the remaining kid(s). They also make her more of Traditional Good Housewife for some reason.

Hopper: They really double down on making him a renegade cop who solves all problems with violence. He has not learned shit since Season 3. His interactions with Joyce and El are underwritten, and no one ever really acknowledges that he’s close to being Will and Jonathan’s stepfather. He has some interaction with Mike but spends more time validating Dustin or Steve, which is nice but why is that the focus?

Murray: he shows up, flails around yelling at people to kiss, shares a very heteronormative and not very revealing back story (college girlfriend killed by a wheat thresher?) that we don’t really have time for, and dies.

Jonathan: he is forced to play the Romantic Comedy Fiancé in the dreaded love triangle, and is framed as and vilified for thinking that he’s better than Steve. Nancy gives a speech about how Steve has changed so much while Jonathan hasn’t. His history of trauma and poverty is either ignored or presented pretty unsympathetically as stuff he needs to get over. For maximum ill effect, his real problem is that he needs to forgive his father. He has minimal interaction with his family and none with anyone else. He dies saving Nancy and/or Steve, and is therefore redeemed for his heinous crimes of smoking pot and not fellating Steve. Will’s pretty sad; Nancy and Joyce are lightly misty.

Nancy: She ends up with Steve, and all of her character development throughout the show is framed as the misguided actions of a scared little girl. Now that she’s over her trauma, she’ll no longer need to date a person not of her social class or seriously pursue a career or pick up a gun ever again. She has “matured” enough to realize that life on the cul-de-sac is actually great if your man is good enough. This is presented as her being at peace, but it comes off as very sexist. The last shot of her has her riding beside Steve in an RV with a couple of kids in the backseat. It’s 1995 but her hair is very 2023. Steve is also a cop in this scenario. She doesn’t interact much with anyone outside the love triangle, especially not her own family.

Steve: he loses all his brain cells and devotes all his non-action screentime to mooning over Nancy, even ignoring Robin and Dustin. He gets to look badass in the action scenes from time to time, but he suffers from Late Game Jon Snow Syndrome, where he’s presented as a super-competent guy but all his plans are bad. Outside the action scenes, he’s either comically stupid or everyone acts like he is. He does not figure out anything about himself, and there’s no delving into anything psychologically interesting (is he at all fucked up from the events of past seasons? What’s his family like?). He dies saving Nancy. She, Robin, Dustin, and maybe a few others mourn him, but the way they talk about him sounds suspiciously close to the way you’d eulogize the family golden retriever.

Robin: she’s completely reduced to comic relief and cheerleading Steve, and all the characters act like she’s annoying. She’s extremely inept at all things, to the point that it seems like the show is engaging in mean-spirited mockery of a disabled young adult. She mentions Vickie once and otherwise might as well not have a sexuality. She becomes really hostile towards Nancy for “breaking Steve’s heart,” and overall is much more invested in Steve’s love life than her own. It becomes clear that Maya Hawke has opted to portray her this season by doing a Phoebe from Friends impression the whole time. Her hair is also very 2023.

Argyle: he’s just not there, and no one ever mentions him again.

Mike: he spends most of the season getting dumped on for being a bad boyfriend to El and a bad friend to Will and the rest of the party, in a way that would kind of make sense if he was a thirty-five-year-old man but is pretty ridiculous in light of him being a fifteen-year-old boy. He “redeems” himself by sacrificing his life for El’s. We never get to find out what his whole deal was; the whole thing is vague enough so that it feels sort of homophobic but we’re not exactly sure why. He does not interact with Nancy.

Will: he is tempted to join forces with Vecna, and finally succumbs specifically because he’s jealous of El’s relationship with Mike. He’s saved from himself at the last minute by El, in a way that feels pretty impersonal; she’s doing it less because she cares about him specifically and more because she’s the hero. Breaking away from Vecna costs him his life, however. Joyce pretty much tells El that she’s a replacement for Will. The other characters honor his memory but in kind of an infantilizing way; they either don’t know about or awkwardly ignore his sexuality.

Dustin: he becomes embittered and volatile following Eddie’s death, but, instead of this being a sympathetic problem for him to deal with or a generator of conflict within a group, it becomes a source of comic relief. It’s a running gag that the other characters will turn around and see that Dustin has fucked shit up in a fit of rage. He also becomes subtly crasser and more sexist. He dies fighting against Vecna, and his friends honor his memory, but also in a pretty infantilizing way.

Lucas: he’s reduced to being quietly sad about Max and acting as a bland voice of reason within the party. He apologizes to his friends onscreen for trying to do an extracurricular activity that they weren’t into last season. He gets minimal interaction with Erica, and there’s no delving into his traumas or family life or interests. Ultimately he sacrifices himself so that Max can wake up from her coma or otherwise be saved.

El: she sacrifices herself in the fight against Vecna, after expounding at length about how she’s too damaged to live a normal life or have a relationship. It’s kind of implied that she and Vecna are, in a sense, getting married on another plane of existence. Her friends and family memorialize her, but in an infantilizing way—lots of Eggo and superhero references.

Max: she survives her coma but is visually impaired and/or can’t walk, and the show doesn’t handle her disabilities well at all. In a retrograde reprise of the previous season, she pushes Lucas away because she doesn’t want to “burden” him. He protests, but no one actually points out that people with disabilities can have full, happy lives. The defeat of Vecna magically cures her, but Lucas is dead so she has to be all Titanic about it.

Erica: the show doubles down on her jingoistic streak and also makes her a fan of “enhanced interrogation techniques.” She’s basically an evil baby genius by the end of the show. More grounded moments, like her interactions with Lucas and Dustin, are nowhere to be seen.

If any of these happen, I get a treat, to console me about the awful writing.

[mcustorm]

In Defense of a Black Cyclops

In case my username didn’t make it clear, the single most anticipated visual project for me is the MCU’s interpretation of the X-Men, which hasn’t even been announced yet [officially]. And ladies and gents, I have found your Cyclops:

Good ol’ Alfred Enoch, who we all know from Harry Potter and How to Get Away With Murder. If you’re not familiar with HTGAWM, know that his character goes from the de facto leader of the ragtag (murderers) and most cherished protege of Viola Davis’ Professor X to taking more of a grimdark turn after his girlfriend’s death. Sound at least somewhat familiar?

Enoch also embodies the physicality of the character well, seeing as to how he’s “slim”, 6′4(!!), black, and notoriously lanky. Wait, one of these isn’t like the others.

In general I hate fancasting. Everyone generally picks from the same pool of about 30 actors (Peeps, neither Taron nor Daniel is a good Wolverine choice. Argue with your mother!), and most all of it is based on physicality, except when it absolutely should be (like say, choosing a ~5′10 dark-skinned black woman for Storm).

And I think there’s some malarkey afoot. I think there needs to be some serious consideration on part of fancasters and actual casting agents alike to rethink race when it comes to the [white] X-Men, especially since they’re the X-Men of all teams. So I’ll make the case for a black Cyclops: 

1. There is no quota on Black X-Men: There’s a bug in your ear that’s been whispering lies to you for years, it says something to the effect of “We need a black person on the team for diversity. How bout Storm?” And you’ve gotten complacent. Storm does not have to be the only black person on your X-Men roster.

2. The X-Men represent diversity: Iceman is gay, Cyclops and Prof. X are disabled (sorta), there are plenty of women, oh and everybody except Storm is white. Of the A-List X-Men, there is only *one* POC character. I’d argue that an MCU X-Men needs to champion diversity like never before.

3. The X-Men represent minority struggle while being mostly white: There’s a cognitive dissonance in the metaphor that has always been there, and for the most part, nobody cares. To appeal to the white readers of the 60′s, the X-Men were all initially white. That way, the message of the mutants could be related to the audience with a familiar face. We don’t need to approach the problem that way in 202?

4. Just because that’s the way it’s always been, doesn’t mean that’s the way it should be: The first line of defense. Sorry, that will never be a good justification for literally any idea. It’s time for some more critical thinking.

5. We don’t all want to be Bishop: So say you’re white and you have a kid who for his birthday having a costume party. You’ve bought some X-Men costumes and you want each kid to pick one. 9 white kids and one black kid show up to your house. As the kids deliberate who gets what costume, be it Cyke or Wolvie or whatever, you yell at everybody to “STOP!”, point to the one black kid and tell him “You’re gonna be Bishop. That’s it, end of story!” 

We don’t all want to be Bishop. The black child could have the best Cyclops interpretation within him, but you’ll never know if you don’t let him try. And that’s no different from the Black actors of Hollywood. There’s no reason why all of the black talent should *have* to compete for the role of Bishop or Storm, which I’ve discussed, while Joe Schmo can walk up and audition for literally anybody he wants.          

Jharrel Jerome is 23 and has an Emmy to his name. He needs to be in the MCU in some capacity, period. Stephan James is another. How bout Damson Idris. Ashton Sanders. But no, no, let’s fancast Dacre Montgomery or Ansel or Joe Keery again as [Human Torch, Wolverine, Iceman, Angel, I’ve literally seen it all.]

6. Nobody wants to see the B-team if it comes down to it. The next line of defense from your racebending naysayers after “That’s the way it’s always been!” is “Well, what about Psylocke, Bishop, Forge and Jubilee?” who are otherwise known as B-tier X-Men. The problem is, we’ve got limited time and limited spots.

So since the X-Men is all about wonky metaphors that make half sense, let me give you another: Let’s say somebody approaches you and says “Hey buddy, I got two free concert tickets for ya! You can either see Michael Jackson Sings the Blues, or you can go see Justin Timberlake. Free of charge!”

Now, are you used to MJ singing the blues? No! Do you have a problem with going to see Justin Timberlake? No, he’s fine on a Wednesday! He had that one little diddy we liked that one time. We’d love to see him eventually! But are you gonna say, “fuck that, I’m going to see MJ Sings the Blues” regardless? Hell yes, because that’s still Michael Jackson. He’s gonna give the same amazing performance he always does, it’s just gonna be the blues. And speaking of blues...

7. Black is not Blue, Brown is not Blue: Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard this one: “I don’t care if you’re black, white, purple, or green, I’m going to treat you all the same!” I will not say all have this intention, but some fancasters have noticed that the racial diversity is kinda low within the A-List X-Men, so they oh-so-generously give the following roles to a black or brown person: Iceman, Nightcrawler, Beast. 

Notice the pattern? It’s a microaggression, and it’s bullshit. What these fancasters are implicitly telling you is that, yes the actors will be black or brown, but when the action starts we can ignore that. They’ll be blue by then. In other words, you in fact do care if they’re purple or green. Nobody will cry foul if Dev Patel gets to play Nightcrawler (because that’s a common one I see), but should Anna Diop be Starfire or Michael B. Jordan be Human Torch, I bet there’d be backlash. Oh wait. If that’s you, please stop acting like you actually value diversity. You don’t want to see black or brown skin, period. Unless of course, it’s Storm (refer to point #1).

But wait, there’s more! When brown characters get whitewashed in these movies, it’s crickets! So eventually it’s revealed implicitly that proclaimers of point #4 only care about it one way.

8. Professor X should not be black if you’re not willing to change anyone else: The next line of defense is that some people say the professor should be black, if anybody HAS to be racebent. Something something MLK Jr., Civil Rights or some shit. Number one, I’m not reducing Professor X to being a magical negro for 9 white people (and Storm!) who for all intents and purposes get to have all the action. Number 2, the Professor X/MLK/Magneto/Malcolm X comparison is an oversimplifying disservice to ALL FOUR of those people. I hate that line whenever I see it, please watch a documentary my friends. 

9. The Candidates for Racebending: For me, the A-List X-Men are Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel, Beast, Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Kitty Pryde. Now, who should be exempt from the racebending? Storm, she’s our designated minority. Gambit, he’s Cajun and they’re white (generally speaking, that’s a fun bit of research). Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler, because their nationality/ethnicity was the whole point of the Giant-Size premise in the first place. Angel, because his character embodies a privileged white male. Beast and Iceman, I don’t care one way or another (Point #7).

That leaves Cyclops, Rogue, Jean Grey, and Kitty Pryde. Now Jean Grey is a redhead, and we all know that every time a redhead is racebent people sharpen their pitchforks (Mary Jane, Wally West, Iris West), so I will cede the ground on Jean if only so that my ginger friends can get their rep. Kitty Pryde is Jewish, but Jews of color exist. Rogue is from the South. And Cyclops is, well, just Cyclops. That makes those three characters good options for more diversity. But allow me to make the case for Cyclops, specifically.

10. It’s not just diversity for diversity’s sake: If you had to pick who the main character of the X-Men is supposed to be, most would say Cyclops. And so in a series that highlights racial discrimination in society, it makes sense that our main character be black. While changing Cyclops’ skin color should not change who he is as a character, it *should* recontextualize it. Now, as an eventual increasingly radical leader of the X-Men, Cyclops would evoke real life figures such as Colin Kaepernick or, shall I say, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Not that most X-Men fans and writers truly think about what it means to be black anyways. Storm’s minority status is almost always put through the lens of her being a mutant and not her being a black woman. In other words, you can’t argue that making a character black will fundamentally change his or her character when you haven’t even analyzed the racial context of the black character(s) you already have. Another concept that the MCU X-Men should tackle: intersectionality.

11. Representation matters: I have to say it: Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther hit different. And now he is tragically gone. At the end of the day, the MCU moving forward is down its most prominent black male superhero. Which has implications beyond just the movies themselves.

The women are in good hands. Shuri, Okoye, and Nakia are badasses in Wakanda, Valkyrie is ruling Asgard, Storm is almost assuredly on the way, RiRi Williams has already been cast, and Monica Rambeau is here and she’s not even at her most glorious yet. That doesn’t even include variable Δ, or the number of characters who can and will be racebent. And I’ll note again that to me, Gamora doesn’t count, because she’s green (#7 really pisses me off because it’s so blatant. I hate it). Of course from a behind the camera perspective we love black women getting work.

The men are a completely different story. Imma just go out and say it, I can’t stand Falcon and War Machine [in the MCU] because they’re not characters, they’re just two of a slew of MCU minority sidekicks who have essentially been at the beck and call of Captain America and Iron Man, respectively. You cannot tell Falcon’s story without mentioning Cap. The reverse is not true. There’s a whole essay that could be and have been written on “Minorities in the MCU, pre-Black Panther”. Remember, there’s a reason BP made so much noise in the first place.

So excluding those two we have, let’s see, M’Baku, Blade, and Fury who aren’t exactly the most superheroic superheroes, Eli Bradley is proooobably coming, I doubt Miles Morales is coming (because he’s just Peter Parker in the MCU), Luke Cage(?) Bishop(??), Sunspot(???), Blue Marvel(????). Not only are they not A-List, I would not put money on any of them being in the MCU any time soon.

Cyclops is thee Captain America of the X-Men. He’s the frontman. He’s the poster boy. He’s the “boy scout”, which in other words means he’s the hero, if there has to be one. It would mean a lot right now, and specifically *right now*, if he were to be black. The MCU needs it. It NEEDS it.

12. The X-Men is the Summers Story: I’ll even make the case that if just one character needs to racebent, then it should be Cyclops, because that of course implies that other related characters need to be black because half of the X-Men universe is in fact a part of the Summers family. 

So now Cable is black. Corsair is black. Havok is black. And one of the most central stories in the X-Men mythos, the Summers family drama, is now a black family drama set in space or the future or where the fuck ever. The concept is boundary pushing. When white families have drama in the media, it gets to be Game of Thrones or Star Wars, while when black families have drama in the media, it has to be black people arguing in a kitchen or living room about their various earthly traumas (I’m @’ing you, Mr. Perry). I mean, that’s all fine and good often times, but I want my black family drama in space, dammit.

And again, this is the X-Men, the series that’s all about *minorities* and their struggle, so again, why not?

Oh, and I’ll even throw out a Havok fancast for you: How bout Jharrel Jerome?

[aalghul]

Reverse Robins Thoughts

Sorry, awhile ago I sent you an ask about a Reverse Robins AU starting with Steph and now I have some thoughts on it and figured you might be interested, sorry if not XD

Spoiler #1, Stephanie Brown, the First Sidekick; her story is similar to Elseworlds, her father, Crypto King, killed her mother when she tried to leave him and Stephanie became Spoiler to destroy his operation and kill him. Batman talked her down from murder and she became is war soon after, and quickly joined his life of crime fighting. 

This works out way more smoothly than her canon run as Batman's partner and in some ways; more smoothly than Dick did as well, at least between the two of them.

This is the case for a few reasons. 

First and foremost, Stephanie is, sadly, used to abuse and neglect, so while Bruce is not exactly equipped to be a parent, his B-grade efforts are much better than she's used to. Adding to that, while Dick was very much a child before he came to live with Bruce, Steph was used to being provider and protector to her mother, so while its not strictly a good thing it means Bruce's clumsy efforts aren't nearly as jarring. 

Given she hates Arthur and despite loving her, had a complicated relaitonship with Crystal, its not even six months before Stephanie starts calling Bruce dad and not long after that she is adopted and starts going by Stephanie Wayne, Princess of Gotham. Beyond that, she's got strong ties to the city; wants to go to college and balance it with hero life, and is downright eager to get a qualification and join Wayne Enterprises, all of which contrasts to Dick and reduces tension. 

Of course they do fight about some thing, Steph thinks Bruce is too soft on king pins and too hard to low level hoods and while kind of appreciating his protectiveness, she's very independent and finds it grating as well, but overall there's far less drama. 

Aside: Cass is the first Batgirl, but she has no "Killing Joke" as it has no narrative purpose. Her backstory is similar to canons, but she was picked up by the League of Assassins not long after escaping Cain. Talia decided rather than make a square peg go into a round hole, she'd just use the girl as a bodyguard. Things were.. OK, not abusive, but definitely arrested development.

She switched sides when in a fight with Batman & Spoiler, she saw the League trying to kill and the heroes not. However, her death with caused her to keep sabotaging things that made her happy and, well, try to die and Bruce decided he wasn't qualified and too her to Nanba Parbat. She had some adventures, recovered some & had her confrontation with Shiva which gave her a new lease on life and she returned to Gotham, bouncing between Batman, Steph and the Titans. 

Tim, the Second Spoiler, the Lost Sidekick, joins the crusade similar to canon. IE, a proximity to the heroes, a devoted fan of them and some intuitive detective work allows him to figure out their identities. SO when Stephanie goes to college and (To hide her identity) starts moving away from Spoiler, Tim jumps in so Batman has someone to watch his back.

Stephanie's OK with it (A touch irked Alfred might like him better than her, but they always had some tension) and overall likes the kid, but isn't around much due to study. Bruce goes along with it and finds he likes it and for awhile things are really solid.

However, Tim has actual parents who he has to navigate around meaning no super hero teams or the like. He's eventually discovered after skipping out on a dinner party and the ensuing argument is overheard be a member of the Court of Owls. 

They aim to take Tim in his civilian identity, but it all goes terribly wrongs, the Drakes die and they are left trying to bring Tim back with their Talon process, which is taking months. 

Enter, Jason Todd, Spoiler the third and the first son of Bruce Wayne, Found under much the same circumstances as canon, Jason is quickly adopted by Bruce after the "Ma Gunn's" school didn't work out and Jason showed a penchant for vigilantism.

Given Tim's death wasn't seemingly tied to his tragic end, Bruce is less leery of taking on a new partner, but it still takes awhile to warm up to the idea. Still, Jason soon becomes the third Spoiler, Steph and Cass are like his older sisters and secondary mentors, with Steph in particularly being helpful for when Bruce is being particularly Bruce, which ends up sparing Jason from his 'Death in the Family' fate, as they are very close and more to the point understand each other in a way Bruce can't and that Dick couldn't understand Jason. 

is first main foe is the Court of Owls who target his civilian identity; angered by "Another street rat" entering their circles and having realized Bruce wasn't just going to throe Steph away like they expected they decided to take direct action. 

During a raid on their main base, Tim is eventually awakened and freed from the Electrolyte/Talon chambers by accident and without anyone even knowing he was there. Somewhat unhinged by his death, his parents deaths and the resurrection process he flees in confusion and is likely picked up by the League. Exactly what his goals are upon returning are unclear, save for vengeance against the Court. 

Jason also goes on to form/join his own hero team. 

Richard Grayson, the fourth Spoiler and the first Robin, a child who watched one parent plummet to their death and another to crippling injury when Hale's Circus passed through Gotham. 

Bruce hears about the injury and pays for medical bills as well as lodgings for the family, feeling he failed as Batman for not predicting and stopping the attack. This helps the surviving Grayson's, but also means staying in Gotham. Unsurprisingly, Dick doesn't take one of his parents death, the others permanent injury, or being stuck in the city where it happened, all that well. So he dons a variant of his own circus uniform, arms himself and goes out to get revenge on the people responsible.

One of the reasons Bruce is a little distant with him as he was with Steph, though be it less so, (besides him already having a parent) is that Dick's original canonical temper is still in tact. So, it may have taken some real effort to talk him down from straight up mercing the people responsible and thus Bruce is a little awkward around him as he's gotten sterner on that rule since he met Steph.  Things still go better for Spoiler #4/Robin the first, than they did for Steph cos he's got a better support network available both in his personal life and amongst the heroes in Gotham who all to varying degrees try to help out.

He dons Spoiler for a bit due to Jason being injured or wanting to create his own hero identity or the like and wanting the extra training that Bruce would provide him is he was a direct mentor over the more casual arrangement they had all had up to this point. He may get seriously injured and need to recuperate, leading to Jason taking back the role while Dick travels and heals, but he eventually rejoins the community. 

NOTES:

Less sure on Damian, Duke's backstory is likely similar, but Damian would have a much more Awkward time with the family than canon, which is saying something. 

This is mostly because Bruce has three open heirs, Cass ad Blackbat (She is training Babs to be Batgirl) Stephanie as the Wayne Enterprises heir, and Jason as the Wayne Foundation heir (He's studying to be a doctor) the latter two of whom also care more about and are tied more deeply to Gotham than Damian. 

Thus, rather than the eldest being someone who is very much not interested in being Bruce's heir in anything, he has three points of "Competition" all of whom are more experienced and ingratiated than him. Not to say anyone is unpleasant to Damian, quite the opposite, but he doesn't feel like 'only' the third sidekick is his competition here, so its harder to for them to get closer.