#anti Joshua Williamson

[shyjusticewarrior]

Tom King is so full of shit

[sjbattleangel]

Special thanks to @agramuglia for inspiring this awful joke.

Everyone: "Steven Universe/She-Ra/Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend Of Korra/Star Wars: The Last Jedi/The Last Of Us/The Last Of Us Part II/The MCU/G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel run/Gail Simone's Birds Of Prey run/The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance/The Persona games/The Sandman/X-Men/The Simpsons/Everything by Dan Slott/Everything by Tom Taylor/Everything by Jason Aaron/Everything by Donny Cates/Everything by Brian Michael Bendis/Everything by Devin Grayson/Everything by Jonathan Hickman/Everything by Scott Snyder/Everything by James Tynion IV/Everything by Joshua Williamson, etc are anti-intellectual, regressive, pro-status quo, far-right Trojan Horses pretending to be "diverse and progressive" just so they can take advantage of naïve leftists."

Me: "No. That's Velma".

[dynared]

New York Comic Con 2023 and the Energon Universe panel is in the books

And while the room wasn't COMPLETELY full, there was a big crowd for said Energon Universe panel. Daniel Warren Johnson, Robert Kirkman, Joshua Williamson, and others came to the panel to announce that their plan involved making all these disparate parts work together as a series, including Void Rivals, which Kirkman specifically said was aiming to feel like it could have been a sister line with the Joes and Transformers (and considering Hasbro owns the property, probably means if it is successful they'll get toys of their own).

Some highlights and spoilers -

Daniel Warren Johnson knows people are upset at Bumblebee dying and frankly, does not care. "I feed on your tears", was his quote, which got a big laugh. Specifically, he didn't want to draw Bumblebee, hence his death in Issue 1, a death that he and Kirkman have confirmed will stick and Hasbro was totally cool with. With Bee dead, the panel concluded that there's more freedom to work with other characters and a lot more tension about who will live and who will die, since plot armor due to Hasbro demands is not a thing in the Energon Universe.

There was a big focus on GI Joe and how it will connect with the Transformers since the idea is that the Transformers' appearance causes the world to shift in a major way. The Duke miniseries will focus on how a traumatized Duke deals with the fallout of his fight with Starscream in the upcoming Transformers #2, and how Joe is founded specifically to combat them. Rebranding the Joes as an anti-alien strike force/international crisis team also seems to be a way to deal with getting away from the "jingoistic army toys" stigma that hasn't played as well since the Reagan years (even if most Joe fiction like Larry Hama's comics condemn blind jingoism). Interestingly, the initial lineup includes the Baroness, who's traditionally a high-ranking Cobra member and romantically entangled with Destro.

3. Cobra meanwhile is shown to be what is specifically described as a horror comic about Cobra Commander using the discovery of the Cybertronians to fuel his plans for world domination, and how Cobra Commander brings together a lot of disparate elements that otherwise would never have worked together to join his quest for world domination. More fuel is thrown on the "Cobra Commander's Luger is actually Megatron" fire, but of course, nothing is confirmed.

Another surprise for the initial lineup is the big guy in the back is Mercer, a character introduced in the GI Joe movie as an ex-Cobra officer who had "seen the light". Whether he does this time is another matter.

4. Back to the Transformers. The running idea (besides a minor but notable undercurrent of "Screw IDW") was that this is using the cartoons as gospel rather than the comics, but it will eventually expand beyond that initial concept using other characters. Specifically, during a quick Q&A at the end, someone asked about the Japanese characters, and Kirkman said while he had no immediate plans for them, he was actually a big fan of Star Saber, while Johnson mentioned liking the Japanese openings. A far cry from IDW making them all villains and losers.

5. Johnson is a big fan of wrestling. Kirkman, not so much. This led to some funny banter on stage about Johnson's tendency to fill fight scenes from the initial script (which will often just say "Character A and Character B fight") with wrestling moves like Optimus Prime introducing himself to Starscream with a Rainmaker Lariat before giving him a German Suplex. Despite Kirkman not being a fan, everyone on stage and the crowd seemed to agree that it gave the fight scenes a dynamic look that is new to the Transformers.

6. Void Rivals has not been forgotten in all this. While after Issue #6 it will be taking a five-month break, the series will continue to serve as the backbone of what's going out outside of Earth.

Including the teased appearance of the Quintesson Judge. Kirkman also promised more backstory, like possibly getting to see the Skuxxoid's family and other species that are part of the cartoon lore as part of his efforts to build out the universe while still making Void Rivals its own thing that is engaging without the other series.

7 The main goal of everyone is that while all the various series are part of a big story that is the Energon Universe, the reader can read just one and get a full experience. That being said, it's clear that the ultimate goal is for them all to work together.

And those are the highlights of the panel. Fun times are ahead if you're a Transformers fan, and after years of mismanagement and neglect, it sounds like the GI Joe-related stuff will be very interesting to see. Still, the focus right now is the comics, so my pie-in-the-sky theory about this being a dry run for a big animated show in the vein of Invincible will have to wait for another year.

[ceristhefallen]

I think what gives away Flatline being somewhat a Mary Sue is her lack of growth and meaningful contribution to the plot, which is a factor of the Mary Sue rule. I saw her win against Damian rather unfair to both characters cause a) it devalues Damian's experiences as a long-established formidable fighter and b) I don't really see Flatline actually learning from the experience. Or at least Willaimson gave me a difficult time seeing it.

There were two moments I personally believe take the cake:

1) Flatline taking over Lord Deathman's empire wasn't all that impressive when she faces no set backs to reach that goal. I don't get to see her struggles or her overall perspective. It makes Flatline's transition from sidekick to a boss less genuine, let alone, completely fell off-screen. Maybe it was to align with her unpredictability?

2) Flatline's betrayal was done in a way that makes it feel lifeless and... a bit problematic? One of Mary Sue's traits is they never suffer any repercussion for their actions, which heavily aligns with Flatline using Damian; her intentions were revealed, Lord Deathman is "killed", and they go have fun at the beach. That's all.

It feels like Joshua Williamson was trying to do more with Flatline that ended up making her character look worse...

What are your thoughts on Flatline? I think her power is nice but it gives me mary sue vibes lol also shes being paired up with Damian even though they have negative chemistry

I have few thoughts on Flatline because sadly Williamson just is not a very good writer, and he was her primary writer, so she's not super interesting to me. There also isn't a concept that can grab my attention like other female characters who were written weakly in their titles, like Helena Kosmatos getting powers from her rage. Maybe if I was younger and in the target audience I'd be more interested in her character on vibes alone? I think she has a design I thought looked cool when I was a teenager.

However, I'm not sure how she has Mary Sue vibes except beating a fan-favorite male character, which... isn't a bad thing? I will never call a female character a mary sue for winning against a fan favorite male character. Even with that in mind, the context of the story clearly was williamson's cringe "Look damian needs to be humbled and then he wins when he's 'learned his lesson'" or whatever thing which... I'd rather have had her just straight up be treated as a better fighter than the whole 'uwu damian needs to be humbled' stuff that williamson used to make him super boring and miss the point of his character.

I dont' have many thoughts on the characters' chemistry or lack thereof, I did explain why I thought them being friends wasn't OOC here (link)

[gorogues]

So I asked this question elsewhere but I’d thought I’d ask you and any other Rogues fan that wants too. I’m not sure if you’re aware but Raven dealt with Neron in Nightwing’s comic. He has been dethroned and I was wondering what this meant for the Rogues and Especially James Jesse. Seeing as the reason he became a good guy was out of fear of Neron.🧐

Sadly, I suspect DC has mostly forgotten about Neron's connection to the Rogues, because there have been a bunch of times we thought/hoped it would come up but it never did. I remember the fandom was so hyped when the Reign In Hell miniseries came out because it was about a power struggle in Hell during a time James was dead, but he wasn't even mentioned. On the other hand, the James and Neron thing was Mark Waid's idea and he's now back at DC again, so maybe we really will see it again.

James had generally been trending towards anti-heroism even before the Neron thing (it just gave him a REALLY good reason to behave) and there have been a variety of reasons given for that, some satisfactory and some not. Most people don't like the 'Roscoe made the Rogues reform' retcon, and yet it's probably still canon…I say "probably" because Joshua Williamson made that arc a key part of his 'James is an evil mastermind' story, but at least he didn't directly reference it in the actual story. So maybe there's still hope it'll be forgotten? But what I'm getting at is that plot makes it convenient for DC to ignore James' Neron connection and leave Neron mostly a villain for magic-based characters. I think Waid is probably people's only hope for getting that story brought back.

[zooterchet]

The ATF File (Dropped to "Null")

Deathguy: SNES CIA Cadet Civilization 1.

Nil: MSN Chat, MSN Services ISP.

Damn-Yankee: Quake, Quakeworld, Quake 2, Battlezone, Armageddon MUD, Halo LAN.

Qua'lor: SW1 MUSH, Elendor, SW2 MUSH.

Howie: BWTF MUSH, BW2 MUSH, Beast Wars Mars MUSH, BW:TMet MUSH.

Seatcushion: Fetish.Com, Bondage.Com, Alt.Com, FetLife.Com.

Mini-Peebo: M3, MotM MUCK, M3:DP.

Quint: Tapestries, Buffy and Angel, Heroes Dreams, SPR MUCK, LeJardin, MUCK, Armageddon MUD.

Graye: Furry MUCK, Shangrila MUX.

Ghul: Shangrila MUX.

Betty: SPR MUCK.

Gianna: Tapestries.

Petula: Shangrila MUX.

al-Saffah: Halo 1 LAN, Halo 2 LAN.

Chet: M3, Videoland MUSH, Heroes Dreams, United Heroes, MCM, MotM MUCK.

Mundo: Shangrila MUX.

Trogg: Shangrila MUX.

Halloween: Shangrila MUX.

Booker: Shangrila MUX.

Cracker Jack: MotM MUCK.

Apoc: Reddit.

Riddler120: Reddit.

Cheater120: Northeaston Savings Bank, Able2Know.

Zooterchet: Tumblr.

First year projection ("freshman"): 15 years old.  Political science, CIA, Bush administration.

Fourth year projection ("freshman"): 19 years old.  Counter espionage, MI-6, anti-FRG.

Contingency of axis: Matthew Lennox gaining dominance over online mate, Allison Haimes.

2001: Hook, Jewel, Furry MUCK and Taps, Cilicia, Furry MUCK.

2003: Parlay, prevention of shooting at Hopkinton Highschool.  Option choice, Heston or Yeltsin.

2004: SIgn-up, CIA Prosecutor's agent, marijuana dealer; recommended, to Matthew Lennox.

2005: Switch. Appraised of beef poisoning in notice, given Abilify; helicopter rotary g-spin, removed.  Combat infantry, able.  Drop, RGIS, on Yeltsin.  Numbers perfect, Taunton Behavioral Ward MI-6, FBI Freedom of Information, UMass-Amherst Campus AFROTC, CIA unit.  Yeltsin, running MI-6, as German.  Heston, removed to Bush, safe.

2006: Snitch.  Hell's Angels and Freemasons of Canada, dropped through AIM.  Identifier, John Washburne, Marvel Comics.  Double play, Wiesel and Stan Lee.  Divorce, Carrie Carr and Anthony Parziale, Wiesel.  Back bend, Stan Lee, writer's contract, long play.  Plant, Michael Charlebois, Scarecrow's father, FOX.  Tie, Marvel Comics and Holocaust History Museum.

2008: Scoop, ATF contract, through Salib Law.  Appointed, Joshua Moen; "Toad", as doctor, slipped.  Twist and pull, Ivan Tomasic in CIA, through father, AF NRO.  Haze for unit, granted.  Agent, placed.  Midnight's Children, played to insider, Jessica "Maus" Bailey.  Cake, for Jew, placed in Queen's care.  Charles, pulled, as Adolf Hitler.  Jewish Gold, removed from firm.  Fort Knox and Bank of England, separated.  Strangle, George W. Bush.

2011: Snitch, MI-6.  Pulled out, returned to community.

Casino Royale: 

007: DEA Sanctioned Kills: Carlin Sarkesian, Alan Laverdiere the First.

Felix Leiter: Reagan's Lipitor Medication; Bromide, for a heavy mense.

Le Chiffre: Boris Yeltsin, taken through a bank heist on the Bank of England.

Quantum of Solace:

007: DEA Sanctioned Kills: Luke Stetson, Calvin Williams.

Felix Leiter: Print of "The Last Witch Hunter", Kaulder, "The Nolan Trilogy", Scarecrow, Joker, and Bane, "Wolfram and Hart", Israeli intelligence services.

Mister White: Elie Wiesel, taken through Johnny Cochrane's law, downfalls of Hunter S. Thompson, OJ Simpson, and Osama Bin Laden.

Skyfall:

007: DEA Sanctioned Kills: Richard Coughlin, Jenna Williamson.

Felix Leiter: Print of "Assassin's Creed", basic combat tactical theory of modern US Army, given to USMC; non-hegemon source of hierarchy logic, battlefield.

Raoul Silva: Stan Lee, major writer, scened as pornography actor, in "Batman" print of pornography; recovery of nursing sector, through cop spouses, Frank Miller ruled away in "Sin City" and "Sin City 2", "That Yellow Bastard" as cop's posture.  Film films interdicted, by United States Fraternal Order of Police.

SPECTRE:

007: DEA Sanctioned Kills: John Washburne, Gwenn Pratt.

Felix Leiter: Print of "Gotham", COINTELPRO dossier on MI-6 Bellevue, Irish Resistance to German print houses; revealed to British, as German and Israeli complicity.

Ernst Stavro Blofeld: Priests as revealed as spies, for Kingdom of Italy; cake, wine, and architecture, the three points of a heterosexual child; having refused Catechism, as having admitted to homosexual; rapist, pedophile, homeless, and in different combinations, the lackluster of the Synagogue, the rackets.

No Time to Die:

007: DEA Sanctioned Kills: Christine Warren, Michael Fargnoli.

Felix Leiter: Arranged method of "John Wick", "The Matrix" and "John Wick" arranged to provoke Wachowskis as "bastards", illicit cooperation in underground bondage parlors, intended for "Crime Council" of Connacht, Ireland, the five government membership of proper assassins; CIA, IDF, MI-6, ExSec, and MSS, through major scandal.

Safin Lucypher: Shutdown of "Saint's Row" and related publication studios, as against FBI, Rockstar Games; "all crime is now gay", users of the GTA 3 camera as having admitted the deaths of police officers through theft from "Arkham Asylum" writers, out of DC Comics, the CIA. 

[buriedalienfma]

Deconstructing Action Comics #775 

2023 has been an exciting year for Superman fans. This was the year saw the release of 'My Adventures with Superman', and while that series received the usual complaints from the die-hard comic purists and DCEU fans, it was otherwise very warmly received by the general public. On the comic side of things we have had excellent writers like Mark Waid, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Gene Luen Yang and Joshua Williamson working on the Superman books and the results have been fairly positive. And on the movie side of things, we received word that James Gunn is working on a brand new Superman movie called "Superman: Legacy", which is slated to come out in 2025. Considering that the last time that we got a standalone Superman movie was in 2013 - more than a decade ago at this point - this is pretty big news. Naturally, Superman fans have been grasping for any new bit of information that might tell us what the movie might look like. So far we know that the actors who are going to be playing the main characters are David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan as Superman and Lois Lane respectively. We know that the movie is going to be about Superman balancing his human upbringing with his alien upbringing. And we also know that the movie is going to involve other superheroes. For a while, there was a rumor that the movie was going to involve Superman going up against the Authority, a team of anti-heroic superheroes that were originally part of the DC Comics Wildstorm imprint. However, those rumors appear to be somewhat untrue, as seen in the recent casting details which confirm that the characters Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Metamorpho and Mr Terrific are going to be part of the movie - all characters who have no real connection to the Authority.  

When I first heard those rumors, I was...not happy. In general I dislike the idea of Superman having to share screentime with other superheroes in his own movie, and I would have preferred it if Superman Legacy was just a standalone movie. However, the thing that concerned me the most was the supposed source of inspiration for this movie. When these original rumors were flying around, there seemed to be a strong indication that Superman Legacy was going to be a loose adaptation of the Action Comics #775 story "What's so funny about Truth, Justice and the American Way", which was later adapted into a DC Animated movie, "Superman vs the Elite".

I do NOT like this story. As a matter of fact, I think that its a terrible Superman story and that the creators behind the movie would have been extremely misguided if they decided to make an adaptation of it. That is a very unpopular opinion, by the way, as Action Comics #775 is highly regarded by many Superman fans. So, I wanted to discuss the original story, and explain why I dislike it so much. 

Firstly, let's get some context out of the way. Action Comics #775 was meant to be a direct response to the comic series "The Authority". The Authority was a popular comic series that was notable for being a much darker and edgier take on superheroes. The protagonists of " The Authority" were fundamentally anti-heroic and had a habit of solving their problems through hyper-violence and other extreme methods. At least, that is the impression I get from second hand sources. I freely admit that I have not read the Authority comic but I don't think that's going to be too much of an issues when it comes to my discussion of Action Comics #775. 

The success of The Authority raised the question : is Superman and his traditional brand of heroics still relevant in the modern age ? Action Comics #775 is meant to address that question by creating a pastiche of The Authority in "The Elite", a fictional group of super-powered anti-heroes led by Manchester Black.

When the story begins, Superman learns of The Elite when he comes across the dead bodies of the supervillains they have killed. Since Superman has a code against killing, he is naturally opposed to their destructive methods. However, the in-universe public disagree with him, with some people championing the Elite while at the same time calling out Superman's no-kill policy for being 'outdated'.

So yeah, this story isn't very subtle when it comes to addressing the real life criticisms that people have of the character. 

Eventually Superman gets into a proper confrontation with the Elite, and it is at this point that The Elite inform Superman about the big Problem at the heart of the story. The Problem is as follows : Superman's methods of dealing with supervillains were proving to be ineffectual. He has a habit of simply carting them off to prison after defeating them. Inevitably, those same supervillains simply break out of prison only to cause more damage and destruction, before being stopped by Superman again.

Essentially, by refusing to kill his enemies, Superman is causing more harm than good by perpetuating a cycle of violence. The Elite claim to be a solution to The Problem. They are more than willing to kill their enemies and using extreme methods such as punishing the families of those enemies to keep them in line. 

Now, we as the readers are not meant to sympathize with the Elite. The story goes out of it's way to depict the Elite as a bunch of pompous, politically incorrect, egotistical assholes. However, one can't help but think that perhaps...the Elite might have a good point ? Now, let's be clear, I do not want to see Superman killing his enemies. I like it when Superman is above such things. I like it when Superman tries to solve problems without resorting to those easy solutions. On the other hand, there are obvious consequences to the no-kill policy as described in the Problem above. 

What is Superman's response to the Problem ? If he doesn't want to kill his enemies, does he have any other solution that would break that cycle of violence that he is unintentionally perpetuating?

Well, apparently the answer is no. The story simply has Superman proclaiming that he is going to continue doing the same thing that he has always done, and hoping that eventually things will work out. Let's not pull any punches, that is a WEAK argument, but the story never really seems to realize that. 

And THAT is the fundamental problem with this story. We're meant to see the Elite as being in the wrong for their extreme methods and they are, but at the same time, Superman himself doesn't exactly have the best argument in favor of his own methods. As a matter of fact, the story simply doubles down on that weak argument as seen in the ending of the story. 

This speech is often championed by Superman fans as the one scene that summarizes everything great about Superman. I say that it is the best encapsulation of the problem with this story. In recent times, more and more people are making thinkpieces that criticize MCU superheroes or just superheroes in general for perpetuating the status quo within their various stories. And yet, those very people will praise this story which ends with Superman directly and proudly stating his intentions to continue to be a protector of the status quo. It's the ultimate cop-out ending, and the big Problem that is raised in the story is ultimately unaddressed. 

The story has a bunch of other problems, namely in how the Elite are essentially just a bunch of strawmen (something that seems rather childish for a story that is trying to be complex and mature), or how seemingly and fundamentally insecure the story is about Superman as a character, especially with how it incorporates real life arguments that people have had about him. I could point out that the best way to show that Superman is still relevant in the modern age is by simply telling good Superman stories, rather than doing the story equivalent of jumping up and down and screaming "He's still relevant ! He's still relevant !". But ultimately, the failure of the story to address the Problem is my biggest gripe. 

Now, you may be wondering what I thought of the animated adaptation of this story. Does it fix any of the problems I described ?

Unfortunately the answer is no. The movie does a good job expanding the original story and fleshing out the backstories of the antagonists. But since it's still using the original story as a base, it ends up having the same problems. The way I see it, it is a very good adaptation of a very flawed Superman story. 

And that's why I balked at the idea of James Gunn taking inspiration from this story for his big Superman movie. Simply put, it wouldn't have made for a good Superman movie unless Gunn significantly reworked the story. 

Off Course, there are plenty of other better Superman stories that tackles similar themes. 'Superman : Peace On Earth', 'Superman: Camelot Falls', 'Superman and the Authority' and 'Superman Adventures: The War Within' are all good stories that put Superman's values and morals under question and do so in a much more graceful and tactful manner. None of those stories are perfect, but they're at least better than Action Comics #775. For all the reasons I laid out above, that story just doesn't work for me.

[ceristhedivine]

Just gonna add onto this: Good Damian stories are when he is actually in character and not shoved into the high school/anime phase of a stereotypical insecure, meek, gullible, disorganized, emo boy.

(YES. I'M GLARING POINTS AT JOSHUA WILLIAMSON TOO ✌️🫵).

writers seeing a kind-hearted boy who just had a rough childhood: is this a brat?

[thedynamicsofprejudice]

Nazis Outside of Drag Shows in Ohio

Just about a week ago, a group of white supremacists were filmed waiting outside a drag show brunch in Ohio. Land Grant Brewing Co. hosted a drag show brunch to gain proceeds for LGBT+ youth recently affected by anti-LGBT laws being passed across the states, where white supremacists waited outside chanting over the performances. The white supremacists were seen wearing red shirts and black ski masks and gloves while carrying black flags with swatstikas. 

This is not the only case of recent white supremacists gathering in protests. One of the most infamous recent encounters was the Charlottesville 2017 incident that became known as the “Unite the Right” protest. However, many people think this type of thing is a thing of the past, so why is it happening now, especially in huge waves? One of the largest reasons is due to recent laws against LGBT+ rights and racist comments made by politicians, especially during and after the era of Donald Trump. After his presidency, there has been a huge wave of anti-LGBT laws due to his homophobic and transphobic rhetoric. During his presidency, he ran with an openly-homophobic vice president (Mike Pence) and appointed homophobic/transphobic supreme court justices like Amy Cohen Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. He also implemented various anti-trans laws, leading up to the raising rates of transphobia in the recent years. When it comes to the racist aspect, lots of anti-immigrant laws and cracking down on building walls were also implemented during his presidency, creating one of the largest waves of xenophobia and Hispanic/Latinx hate recorded in the country. In regions where Trump had more votes during the election, rates of hate crimes spiked in those areas. Not only that, but anti-Asian hate also largely increased after Trump blamed the COVID-19 on China, including anti-Asian hate crimes committed. So, why does it matter? Well, as anti-trans and homophobic laws increase and racial discrimination is further preached by politicians, these white supremacists marches will only increase, and these will not only affect the marginalized groups experiencing the hate, the violence encouraged and committed will affect all the communities involved. That is why it is important to speak out against hateful politicians and harmful hate groups in any way possible, whether it’s voting for more supportive politicians or protesting against hateful bills and laws. 

Citations: 

Filby, Max. “Nazis protest at Land-Grant drag brunch: Here’s what you need to know now”. May 2023. The Columbus Dispatch. https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2023/05/01/heres-what-we-know-about-the-nazis-protesting-a-columbus-drag-brunch/70169948007/ 

Williamson, Vanessa. “Trump and racism: what do the data say?” August 2019. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2019/08/14/trump-and-racism-what-do-the-data-say/ 

Inwood, Joshua. “White supremacy, white counter-revolutionary politics, and the rise of Donald Trump”. 2019. Pennsylvania State University. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2399654418789949 

[lafayetteworld]

I cannot express how relieved I am Williamson is finally leaving the Robin series. For me, the entire run was a sh*t sandwich.

As in : "Something highly undesirable made more palatable by attempting to surround it with more tolerable things."

Its true and I will credit the fact that Williamson gave us a renewed connection between Damian and his parents (particularly Talia) but it feels like a tool he used to distract people from everything else that was poor. The tournament, the unnecessary OC and romance, the poor characterization of Damian and ignoring the 99% brilliant work that was R:SoB. Just please, enough with Connor and Flatline and all the other shallow plots of "bEcaUse wE aRe friENds now". I cannot believe now we will have to have an arc in which Damian has relationship drama with a character that has about as much depth as a cardboard cutout and might as well be a fanfic self insert. All these articles that talk about his growth feel are so quick to dismiss other works that have had offered more emotional and character depth than Robin 2021 ever will. What's worse is people who praise Williamsons work because Damian is now less of a 'brat'. Yeah, because his personality was diluted not because of growth.

There is a fine line between changing a character to please the audience and having a character grow into their flaws, not remove or downplay them.

Damian already had his growth in a far better series and it could have been used in so much better ways in this new series.

[reverseflashes]

i JUST got back into the rogues and hearing williamson is gonna write them again almost makes me wanna leave 😭

and i can't blame you for it nonnie :'(

I don't know who looked at these...

these character assasinations, murders butcherings massacre idk which word you’d use, but these absolute hideous stupid writings and equally stupid stories written by JW and said "yeah he did a really good job writing the rogues so let's give him A MINI SERIES SO HE COULD RUIN THEM EVEN MORE!!!" like.... DSLGJLGJALKJA are you kidding me?'?'?'?!?!?!?!

And I know "Black Label" doesn't mean it's canon i think it’s the opposite of that i’m not sure but i feel like that's actually even worse bc it means that he can basically have a field day

yeah I’m actually angry about this lol

[ceristhefallen]

I can't believe I haven't seen this post till now but let me start with this—I'm very sorry this happened to you. I may not have the full length of what you experienced but I can tell you this-

It is BEYOND insane how RABID fans get.

I warned myself not to go on Twitter. I've watched videos and read commentaries on how toxic that space is. But did I know better? Nope. Instead, I entered the cite as a silent observer.

And I've been silent since I peeked in the app. Simply put: I never made a single post or commented on others. I'm a little afraid to try. And this is ironic from ME when I once slapped back at a Daminika stan who tried to harass one of my mutuals when we formed constructive criticism about the ship and the writing involved for Robin 2021 and Batman & Robin 2023.

Do I hate Nika? No. Do I like Nika? Sorta..? Sadly, I feel like Nika is an overhyped character who Joshua Williamson shoved into Damian's stories so quickly (and assassinating parts of his character) to keep her relevant. And that she really doesn't show or face the consequences of her "flaws". Like, I get character complexity but that doesn't excuse poor writing/execution.

I also had thoughts on Damirae. I loved this pair! This was one of my first and favorites! But I grew out of it when I did research on both characters. Not only are they kinda too similar in personality but on Raven's characterization specifically- I don't see her keeping a relationship.

But Mother Nature forbid- we can't make constructive critiques or like/dislike something- without stans attacking like blood-thirsty dogs!

Like- c'mon, no one asked if you had to like it. Either take the opinion or skip it! Leave them be! And if you really want to add your own critique, just be civil about it. Why isn't that an option?? Don't you think harassing/downgrading others of different opinions will do yours less justice??

It makes you just as bad or WORSE THAN THE PERSON WHO IS HARASSING YOU.

😅 I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to sound like this is being directed at YOU but I had to express my thoughts on this (even if I previously did before on occasions-😆). You're welcome to add onto this. Again, I'm deeply sorry about what you went through and I hope even after that, you have a wonderful week. ♥️

I'm writing this because I want to vent and this is a good place to do so (for me at least).

I've never felt so unwelcomed in a fandom before and I have been in so many in my life. I'm a kpoper so I know how toxic fandoms can be. There a few I can name from the top of my head right now but the DC one is absolutely baffling to me. I've done nothing, NOTHING at all and I feel like I'm being hated just by the sole fact that I ship something.

As a fan I'm a multishipper, I can ship my fav character with 10 other character because I just find happiness in their happiness, but in this instance that seems like a big no, no. Starting with the canon shit. Damn it, I thought as fans we can agree that sometimes what authors do might not be of justice of a character, they can be shitty things and asasinate the character. We can love something but hate some parts of it. I mean critical thinking much?

Also, the aging up/down of a character discourse feels like bullshit. "If you age down a character to ship it, you're doing character assasination" or the "if you age down a character to be shipped with another you're being disgusting" ones are absolutely the most weak and disgusting ones as the canon universe have done it SO MANY TIMES it just feel like they want to hate on something. Why they can age up Jon to be with Saturn Girl or age down Barbara to be with Dick but I cannot age down Jon to the age he should be to ship it with Damian. Also the fact that Damijon shippers are called names just for the fact that they ship something is awful. I understand there are people whose awful, disgusting discourses are being loud enough to taint the name of a ship but they keep giving them voice, just for the fucking reason to hate on the whole ship.

They say one person is being disgusting but they keep looking at their tweets to hate, dude, block and ignore so you don't give the attention they are absolutely and disgustingly looking for.

I have a rule, I get far away from things I don't like and I do not criticize (something I might be doing at this very moment but the whole ordeal has been absolutely too much for me to not vent at this moment), and I hope the same actitude towards the things I like.

I'm not saying the people here on tumblr had been like that, no, of course not, I found here so much love towards the characters an the ships and respect to one another (maybe my algorithm hadn't pushed me to the ugly side and I'm glad of it) but twitter. Twitter fans are mean, angry and hateful. All of the one I have encountered have been prejudice. I ship damijon but also Daminika, I love Nika and I wish they could give her own solo title, she's an interesting character to be reduced to only Damian love interest.

So in their opinion because I ship Damijon, I hate Nika, wrong! I like her, such a fun interesting character that deserves more spotlight to be more loved. Also it seems that by proxy I hate Talia, I love her and hate the racist characterization the writers did to her (again, not all authors do right, they make mistakes and we can just pass through them because they're awful in many ways) or I hate even Jay, oh no, on the contrary I like him and his design and the relationship he has with Jon. I can also say many of that hate can come from homofobic views in relation to Daminika (it works because it is a straight couple) but also with Jon and Jay because they aged up Jon to be with Saturn Girl but it was wrong to age him down to be with Jay.

I know there are shippers that doesn't seen the characters outside their ship, I'm not one of them and the fact that I'm a shipper and they think THAT COULD BE ME, it's insulting but I've seen there's so much prejudice around it. I like the characters by itself and as an asexual person I could ship but it's not everything a character can be, I seem them outside romantic relationships, as their own person and that's why I like them, I don't like them to ship I like them for what they are. Starting with Damian, Jon, Flatline, Dick, Kory, Babs, Bruce, Talia, Selina, etc.

I cannot get my head around all the hate towards people only trying to enjoy something they like and don't get me started on how some creators are being hated because their content ain't canon and they have to state it in everything they post so they don't get insults from people.

I love headcanons, I love AUs in which you can put the character into setting outside their own world but well narrated and well characterized but also... does all comics are well characterized, absolutely not but is canon so people just accept it? It shouldn't.

I end this rant because I need to work and I don't want to keep fueling my anger.

[birdybat]

Censored version

I’m being serious pls don’t take this as me making fun of anyone.

[eobard-thawne]

this is so ugly sakdjskfja

why is jay there but not henry allen, barry’s dad? HIS OWN DAD. why???? why is wallace and even barry’s stupid kids no one cares about there but not bart? Barry’s grandson. the only family from his lineage that he’s ever known. i hate tornado twins so much it’s ridiculous. i usually don’t like it when people expresses their hate for child characters but tornado twins were adults in comics and died as adults too so i have no problem saying i hate them. i wish they were completely erased from history even staying dead or existing in an alternate dimension is more than they deserve. i hate iris and the WHOLE west family so much they’re ruining barry and the flashfam salkdjsjfsk

[dick-nightwing-grayson]

even as a tim drake fan i'm absolutely on your side in this discourse that's apparently going on. "he was the first robin to wear pants" maybe. sure. when he first showed up in the god damn comics that is. now, people look at dick and jason as robin and go yo, this dude needs some pants this is so impractical. it's 2022, we know to give superheroes pants now. so ofc they're putting them in pants. they aren't trying to take away from tim, fucking dumbasses.

and dc desperately needs to give him an identity outside of robin. don't give him another robin run. it's damian's time. let! him! be! someone! else! and let him actually age in canon he's practically fucking stuck in time

i'm rambling now a bit but honestly, some tim drake "fans" make me want to stop liking his character

I really am unbothered by Tim most of the time and enjoy him a lot in canon. Dc has annoyed me with their handling of the Robin situation and I was grieving, which I am sure I will be over shortly enough- but then the Tim fans showed up and brought Dick into this!

You can pit Tim and Damian against each other all you want, but Tim Robin versus Dick Robin is always going to be a losing battle for Tim fans. Why put yourself in that situation? Idgi

I agree Tim needs his own identity. Red robjn was a good try, but DC really mucked up the marketing when it happened and slightly made him the villain of his own story (it is far from a flattering run) Now they are left without a known identity for a character they just made massively marketable by canonizing his bisexuality. Davis has led to a huge mess and everyone loses. Even in the Christmas story by Megan Fitzmqrtin she writes that Tim needs to explore his identity outside of Robin- what they are doing makes no sense.

Lastly, there have always been a legion of Tim fans that have been overly annoying. I know many Dick stans have been fighting them (dICk sEnT tIM tO ARkHaM) for years. Most have chilled out or found their own niche, but woah- you make one post about Teen Titans GO (a crack show) having Dick be unhinged regarding Tim and some crawl out of the woodwork 😬 idk. Saying any part of Robin has been. Stolen by Dick or Jason from Tim, when they came before him, is just the largest logical fallacy. Plus as you state, canon is ALWAYS going to go against you.

And pants as Robin? Dick did it first 😉

[ceristhedivine]

😲

Me? I said it right?

🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

No, no, no! Thank YOU for helping me express my thoughts!

Something NEEDED to be said about this. And we said it.

No one asked if they will like it anyway. That's Tumblr for you.

I don't understand people trying to justify bad writing just because it's their favorite character, I love Damian and yet I can recognize when he is been bad written, I don't have to defend the mediocrity of an author just because I liked it.

Someone tried to justify the bad decision of making Nika having thia dynamic of "I betrayed you but not really" or "I betrayed but there are no consequences" saying that is alright because Damian is forgive people and is compassive and trying to compare the situation qith Suren but there is a difference between forgiving and being compassive like he was with Suren than basically ignoring the whole "I took you heart without your knowledge and gave it to a villian that later put you on a tramp" and swept it under the rug.

It was bad written, even Damian being compassive, there wasn't any actual plot that needed Nika betraying him, there wasn't any actual explanation or any plot device from it or even maybe a couple of doubts from Damian before, being compassive is not equal to be trustful.

Let's not justify this shitty writing just because you like her character. Let's just say ut was bad writing that keep coming because they obviousky trying to push a dynamic there.