#and while im not completely over her

[erinwantstowrite]

bear with me here because i'm gonna ramble about something i've been thinking about for a while... and i'm not complaining, i'm just noticing

sometimes i think we've leaned so far into the vigilante side of the batfam that we miss out on what really makes their characters: detective work. we need more mysteries in their lives that don't lead up to some big bad "we already know who's doing it" or an "end of the world" or "yet again: this fucking guy." we need more stuff where spy movie music plays in the background and dumb adventures that don't lead up to some huge grand event with a big name villain. the shock factor stops being shocking or interesting in any capacity if we're like "Gah! the Joker! ... Again!" or whatever

does that even make sense? like "yeah sure they're blowing up a building again and there's hostages. oh look they're gonna poison the water supply." these aren't bad and that's not what i'm getting at because obviously this is a classic for comics. you need to have characters/antagonists that show up more than once and who can make a story better by being in it. and i did say to bear with me- that's because im tired. so like i hope im getting this across the right way? it's just that sometimes i don't wanna see a huge explosion, i want these motherfuckers solving a regular murder or a disappearance or regular corruption in a local office without it being tied to a grand reveal like "actually this person knows you as a long lost relative" or "they were at that circus can you guess which night they went?" that kind of thing? if you get me? like... more of the small time stuff makes the big stuff important, it makes it stand out more. at some point, the format gets repetitive even if you're switching up the villains. you can make these situations/mysteries still fun to solve for the characters and fun to read for the audience if you do it right

the concept of a detective dressed as a bat and having a sidekick in traffic light colors is inherently goofy as hell??? but that is what is so charming about it??? i think we have lost the balance between them being silly while also being intelligent with important conversations that criticize the world as we see it and teach lessons and can go over dark topics. nowadays it's always end of the world problems or just straight up the most gruesome true crime you can think of?? or they can ONLY do the dark stuff and the criticism without offering a balance of the good in the world. or we keep coming back to the FUCKING JOKER-

like yes they are vigilantes and with that comes a different level of their work, but their brand should be a mix between a black and white detective film that can get very nitty gritty and a classic spy movie, that kind of thing. at the end of the day, it's what makes them so different from the superheroes. that's what appeals to me.

seeing them in the big superhero groups is fun, don't get me wrong. it's always funny to see them standing next to people who are so powerful they never really fit in with anyone but each other, who chose to step up and use their powers for good. the Bats' specialty is Gotham and yet here they are stopping a god or whatever. and they do stop the god or whatever, all the while being an important leader and strategist to their teammates. they're important to have in these cases. but if there's a world ending event every time i pick something up, it's not as fun

the fact that they are so very human and not fantastical is why i like reading them. it's what makes the joke of people, even Gotham citizens, theorizing about them being cryptids, funny. they're fucking weird but that's because they're detectives. people who love to solve mysteries usually have a fatal flaw of curiosity. they forget the bounds between social interactions sometimes because they're used to working through problems or being intertwined with partners that understand them. but they're very much human. so human that it hurts them in many ways. and idk i've just been thinking about it lately and idk what point i'm trying to get across actually

it's just that in my eyes that's how it really is for Batman- a black and white movie narrated by a very serious man who took up a job to help people, one that has a deeper commentary on the world and viewed outwardly as pessimistic but actually has a deep hope for his city and who tries to help even the people who have wronged others. He's a stationary man in the belief that him being a constant can serve to soothe others and help them move forward. He stays in the middle of the path so he can tell everyone what is up ahead. he blends into the Gotham rainy night to serve justice but in a way that saves both the victim and the perpetrator. (the way he tucks a Robin into his cape is the same he does for Gotham with his mere presence.) and his background is actually so important to his story and yet people still somehow gloss over the lesson from it? he lost his parents because of a man who was on the opposite end of the spectrum to where he was in life. and yet he chose to help the people like the man that killed his parents. he could have done anything else with his power and money, but he instead is choosing to bring as many people up with him as he can. He's Mr. Serious that no one else can get a read on. and yet he walks into a room and he's already piecing together your life and what you're going through because he thinks it matters. he comforts people who have lost something or someone or themselves. I picture Batman and I don't picture a man trying to save the world, I picture a detective walking around a crime scene and trying to save at least one person every time he puts on the cape. and he put on the cape and became a vigilante because then he could go out of the bounds of what laws have been set up- and specifically, Gotham has other people in power who are corrupt, keeping the system that way. that's why Batman being a billionare and throwing himself into helping people at the risk of his own life is so important. he knows that if you are alive, you have something or someone to lose, no matter who you are. the dude is a bleeding heart but he doesn't know how to express it, in fear that if he gets too close, if he moves down the path with them, he'll be lost again

and then he's met with someone who should be a complete opposite, but isn't at all, because they're two sides of the same coin. his partner in crime, his son, a boy that is nothing like the black and white world that he sees. and that's the point in his life where he first sees that potentially getting lost is worth the risk. Robin is color and passion that needs guidance to move forward, but can not do so unless the stationary man learns to move with him. the kid is loud and reckless and you'd think he's from a different genre from the detective but they aren't so different, really. not when you look close enough. Dick grew up moving from place to place and seeing the world, knowing so many different people from different cultures. He's been learning to fly and jump and embrace the free fall his entire life. He's clever and he's sharp, and he thrives in the action and adventure. it's that perspective that compliments the stationary man. one is steady and the other pushes. he's the same genre but a different generation. and Batman introducing him to the way of life he chose for himself was another way he could save someone. because let's be real for a second? Dick would have gone down a very dark path had he not had Bruce, who understood, who saw not just himself in the kid but also saw who the kid has been his entire life until now. he saw Dick's parents, he saw the family he had in the circus, he saw the joy he had in what his family was doing. he saw the grief and the fire and the color that Dick's world was made of. because to Bruce, it always matters. Dick had to come to terms with Bruce's perspective to help anyone who they come across, to always give more chances, and it kept Dick from losing his color

what gets me is that the man who lives in the black and white world can actually see many different shades of gray (because black and white always needs the medium), whereas the boy in a world of color and light can get so focused on the bright that he can become single minded. and yet the boy sees a world of color and delves deeper into the lives of the peolle they come across and can be much more open minded, and the man in the black and white world sometimes forgets the shades of grey are right there. they are just like each other. they can exist without the other, but do they want to? because the black and white can be built up into the colored image, like the inking and shadows drawn on a comic book page before the colors are added in. they meet in the middle to complete each other. Bruce has been passing the story over to the next generation for a long, long time, even before his story was complete. and just like with the first Robin, it was so for every Robin afterwards. they each color in the lines differently, but that's what makes Robin so special, so unique. they are an art style that branches into their own life, but can not forget where they started: tucked into Batman's cape and the inky black of his world

and so detective work really frames their hunanity to me. the mysteries they get their hands on, the glimpses into the lives of Gotham citizens that they swore to protect, it's fascinating. it's what makes their story stand out compared to the people who can lift trucks or cast spells or run around the world in seconds. so yeah ig that's what i'm trying to say? that i want to read more of that? in both canon and fanon. cause even the small time villains we see can be like. AWFUL people and it takes out the fun of their gimmicks. and if it were any other day this would be a more coherent post but alas, it is not any other day

[moeblob]

Because his inner monologues really are just. So long. And I think it's important to show how much this guy thinks in order to say "not quite".

[simcardiac-arrested]

never volunteer for anything university related man. also go listen to this

[numberonetacostan]

Taco would sit by Mepad's body until it was moved away. At first, she'd find it and stay there still, in shock. And then she'd cry for a while. And by a while, I mean hours. This isn't a friend she's lost because she hurt them, this is a friend who is dead, for good. I don't think she could bring herself to leave him after that. He stayed with her, out in the woods, because she still needed his help. She still needs him. She can't just leave him lying out in a field. She has to keep bugs from crawling on his screen. Surely, that must be uncomfortable for him.

She'd only move once Test Tube is ready to try and repair him. Even then, she checks in as often as she can. She can't give up on him after all he did for her.

[possamble]

Going back to work after this but

[lilcathsmith]

Greg in every episode of CSI (266/328) • It Was A Very Good Year pt1 •

[phobiaexists]

Your version of John Doe is my life force

AWAAAA

AWAWAWAWAWAAAA THANYKG YOUUUUUUUUU 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

IM HAPPY TO HEAR WE LIKE HIM HBDJDHDHDHEHDHE EEEE

I just think it’d be neat for him to be a big violent feral creature while also very much silly and tameable and cuddleable but also still very much a big creature 👉👈

[asterbats]

i think for the shitty scorpion family, their entire dynamic is definitely toxic (heh) but also neither dusk nor bruno is an inherently terrible person? its just that they’re a) horrible together longterm as they are and b) people who should not have had kids.

[chryblossomjjk]

…

[mossy-covered-bones]

I am scheming something delightfully fun in the way of homebrew oneshots

[divaythfyr]

i think hayakk gets cuteness zoomies with kirsie cause shes very holdable and small and he cant resist picking her up or rolling around with her while shes just :3 in his arms letting him have his 5 minutes to get it out of his system also because this is how she looks at him from his pov most of the time and it drives him crazy in a good way

[monards]

i know i joke about it a lot. but i want to make sure its known i dont hate people who want to say rhine is still a good person in some capacity. i feel like im notvery clear on it but it is okay to interpret her howver you want (as long as its like. something you can rationalize. even then go crazy!!!!) >> (also. as long as it isn't *completely* erasing her character. )

[bmpmp3]

ive mentioned before how ive always thought it was a little bizarre that so many white people's first assumption when they see a white-looking person with a culturally unexpected surname is "oh they're adopted" despite how much more common a person being multiracial is compared to being the white adopted child of non-white parents - although of course it does happen, its just yknow. the people saying this are usually not thinking about the racial dynamics in the adoption industry so much as they are just assuming mixed race people don't exist LOL

but on that end, in my own mixed race bias I usually assume multiracialness first so i did completely forget about another decently common situation where a white-looking adult (often a woman) might have a last name from a non-white culture: i forgot that um. sometimes people (particularly women) change their last names when they get married? neither my mom nor any of my aunties did so you have to forgive me orz

[morninkim]

Rise of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - "Mask of the Masked Rider"

Prince Dex of Edenoi was given the powers of the Masked Rider by his dying grandfather, King Lexian, following a devastating final assault on Edenoi's capital by the evil Count Dregon. With Edenoi's defenses crippled, Dregon set his sights on Earth. Dex soon followed, teaming up with the Power Rangers and forming a strong alliance with them, counting them as some of his first and closest friends.

Dex's past is riddled in tragedy, Edenoi having been under constant siege since before he was born. His planet made for an easy target, as most of the population were pacifists, save for the Masked Rider Warriors that stood guard against incursions. Sadly, they were all wiped out in Dregon's final attack, leaving only Dex and his Ectophase Activator as the last remnants of the Rider Warriors.

Around the Rangers, Dex says everything extremely deadpan, making it hard to tell whether or not he's joking, but he will soon clarify with an equally deadpan "That was a joke." or "Was that not funny?"

He comes into inadvertant conflict with Tommy as she starts to worry about him replacing her on the team, threatened by the "newer and cooler green guy". The two soon reconcile as Tommy apologises for projecting onto him, with Dex saying that, as someone who also had never had friends before now, it's understandable that she would be worried about losing them again.

[guinevereslancelot]

being moved to a different classroom for my last week while the head of the program pretends she's doing me a favor but she's really doing my supervisor a favor 🙃

[bottlecapping]

@alphateamsfinest words buzz, distorted by the mask.

Explosions concuss the air. A hydraulic hiss from the stimpak. It's all faint to Boone, but he hears it.

His knee jerks; it's as close as he can get to telling her "message received" and "P.S. I'm not dead. Yet." This isn't the most flattering way to be found, slumped atop his rifle. And out of his shoulder like an errant weed: one big fuck-off dose of short acting analgesic that make his limbs lead. A dart. Got enough fight left in him to lift a wobbly finger pointing it out.

"Two coming," half smothered words. Too far away for dynamite, he wants to say. Instead, nudges into his gun. "...use mine."