#badass name too

[bottombaron]

I think we sometimes forget that Nandor was chosen by The Baron, one of the most ancient and powerful vampires, to lead an expedition with Nadja and Laszlo to conquor all of 'The New World' and subjugate its people roughly 200 years ago...

[dlartistanon]

I think they have Hallmark vibes...

[buqbite]

Halo

[chiquilines]

more.. more shokoyuki.. pleekk..

Ask and ye shall be given

[necrotic-nephilim]

Before reading the comics, thanks to sladixk fics, i genuinely thought that dick always lost to slade, now I know that most times when he's and adult he beats slade no problem but it got me wondering how you feel about this canon-fanon difference

OHH this is a good question!!

i think sometimes fanon makes Slade a little... too badass. i think something some fanon fans don't understand about Slade in the 80s/90s is that he was like... kind of a loser? like don't get me wrong he was a main villain of the Titans for a while and he was certainly meant to be a formidable villain but this reputation he has in fanon almost supersedes him. (for example with specific plots: the fandom interpretation of the Judas Contract is Slade as the mastermind, but the writers have said that Terra was supposed to be the big villain manipulating everything. which is a ridiculous thing to put on a teenage girl getting groomed but, it does depict the intention of who was supposed to be "at fault" in that story) and don't get me wrong, i definitely love playing up the reputation and aura Slade has, but he really is a general contract killer on the level of like, Deadshot. personally, i wouldn't even put him on Lady Shiva's level, i think she far outranks him.

and to be fair to some fanon, recent comics have... tried to badass-ify Slade. some of his more recent Deathstroke runs are really trying to put him as this guy with legions of men underneath him who's this *deadly* killer who can take on Batman and Superman and all the like. and i just find that... boring? like, do i enjoy him being a smarter-than-average villain with a lot of connections? yes. but i don't think anything in his backstory really lends him to being as formidable as he appears in some fanfiction that puts him on this untouchable level. i would personally go as far to say i think *most* of the Batfamily could beat him in a fight under the right circumstances. bc Slade really is just Some Guy who got a serum from the military and went AWOL. (there's certainly more to his backstory than that, but at a glance, he's really not a trained fighter from birth like other characters are) and whilst i do enjoy Slade being formidable i have to admit, it was sort of fun when he was a loser? and i've gotten a kick out of certain comics that point out he's only a terrifying villain when he's up against teenagers. (Ghost-Maker calling him out on that is one of the funniest things, to me) like could Slade give Batman a serious fight? sure, but i don't see him ever winning unless you *really* nerf Bruce. and i really don't see him ever winning against most of the Batkids once they've got some years under their belt. Slade's scare factor was always tapered by who he was against, and he was a *Teen Titans* villain. so he's a little ridiculous and sometimes just sort of a weird loser. and i say that affectionately.

furthermore, on the flipside, i think... sometimes, we woobify Dick a bit too much to my tastes. or, really any Robin who gets shipped with Slade but of course Dick is the standout in popularity and i find it's more prominent with him. it's really a general slash problem, in which one man must be the Strong Top and then other must be the Weak Bottom. and that manifests in Slade being physically larger than Dick (which in canon, ehhh i think the size difference would be largely negligible) and him being able to beat Dick. bc it makes for more fanfic scenarios where you can put Dick at Slade's mercy for porn, for angst, for whatever you'd like. Slade is a good pick if you want to really put Dick on the weaker side, bc you can play with healing factors and strength enhancements. so on a physical level, Slade will be stronger than Dick. does that mean Slade can beat Dick in a fight? historically, no. i mean, Slade trusted Dick to train his own daughter in the Renegade storyline, so i think this is a fact even Slade is aware of.

i don't think it's a bad thing fanfiction likes its big top/small bottom tropes. if you want to make Dick a submissive, pliant bottom who is going to lose in a fight to Slade for your dead dove porn, get it. i've probably written or will write the same. it's appealing and it's a very common trope for Dick. but it becoming the fandom norm does sort of nerf Dick, occasionally. i think some fans don't fully comprehend the actual level Dick is on, where he's very close to being an equal to Bruce, if not already Bruce's equal. in fandom Dick is sort of trapped in this "post-adolescence but not full adulthood" state that does not acknowledge he has been an adult running superhero teams for years. he was filling in for Bruce in the Batman mantle all the way back in the 90s. he can defeat villains like Slade, and usually without a lot of difficulty. to me the only time you can realistically make Dick lose and it be "in character" is either 1, to have Dick *very* early on in his Robin years (i think if he's past 16, he can beat Slade) or 2, very deeply wound Dick/have him in a psychologically altered state via drugs or something. otherwise yeah, i think Dick wins 99% of the time.

but fanfiction is fanfiction, and it doesn't *have* to be canon. esp if Dick losing to Slade is just a sexy prerequisite to porn. do i wish more fanon explored Slade as kind of a loser? absolutely. do i think Slade is *too* cool in most fanon? also absolutely. but those are my tastes and i don't begrudge anyone who just wants a strong, mean man to whump the shit out of their blorbos, which usually, is the purpose of Slade. i find most fanfic with Slade tends not to be exploring Slade's character. they're simply using him as an easy stand-in for a metahuman who's morally grey and very mean but has a nuanced history with Dick, or whoever else. which, very valid. not all fanfic needs to be a character study, but i do think it'd be cool to see more Slade-centric fics that *do* want to be character studies.

[thehappiestgolucky]

Listen hear me out

I am no immune to sapphic creature propaganda AND I like aspec Spearmaster (Demi Romantic Ace)

I was also mostly contemplating how to handle LttM and FP in this au and landed on “Hunter had already delivered the neuron but had a lil more cycles than in game. Met Spearmaster on her way back and saving its life so they go to their iterators together. Spearmaster learns potential friend has illness and doesn’t like that it won’t be cured so goes back out with them to find a cure.” and ended up loving them being a queer platonic couple.

It’s more of an ‘endgame’ kinda deal because Artificer needs to go through some development and therapy - but again. Not immune to murder sapphics.

[hopeworth]

no because the prophecy child/great evil as minato’s reason for sealing the kyuubi into his newborn is so much more boring compared to the other reason he gave which is that it was his duty. kushina begged him to let it die with her because she didn’t want to inflict her life on her son but minato was acting as a hokage before a father because it was (as he knows it) his duty as much as the jinchuriki’s to guard the kyuubi and if he has to sacrifice his son and martyr himself to do it then so be it.

[mistytpednaem]

man. yes my face scrunched up the first time I laid eyes on the name "eddie fender" after years of "ray shields" (which is a pretty damn good name imho) but I can't help but feel for the localisation team, being pelted with tomatoes and rotten fruit for doing more or less what they've always done

[sunnykeysmash]

Mac and the beliefs that influence his actions

[ya-killin-me-smalls]

And as he rose in fame every quick-draw outlaw came to the man they'd heard whose fists would burn when he flipped the bird

inspired by The Ballad of Smokin' Joe Rudeboy. I think I sorta remember how to paint

[suddenlymicah]

has anyone considered henry possessing glamrock freddy or am i being a little silly right now

[a-cloud-for-dreams]

"Afraid that our inner light will be extinguished, or our inner darkness exposed, we hide our true identities from each other. In the process, we become separated from our own souls. We end up living divided lives, so far removed from the truth we hold within that we cannot know the 'integrity that comes from being what you are."

Parker J. Palmer

[fallingsatellive]

My IRL actual name I've only had for a few months. My IRL legal name I've only had since 2022. Names before that lasted from 2020 to 2022 and 2017 to 2020. Those are what my family, coworkers and school friends call(ed) me. I made this blog in 2020 and picked a name on a whim. I've literally been Swift for a longer amount of time than any name I've had before and for longer than either of my "IRL" names. I didn't expect it to stick so much, I didn't even expect to still have this blog four years later, I definitely didn't expect to gain very real close friends who call me Swift even despite knowing my full legal name. Maybe there is more to a name that what's written on your license or even what you'd want to put on it. No wonder I keep shying away from changing it or adding more. It would just be wrong. I'm Swift. That's what the people who actually know me call me so why would I ever be anything else

[snowflakeeel]

I can't believe warmouth is second to last in the sunfish poll. i love those guys they were the easiest to ID in my ichthyology class (patch of teeth on tongue = warmouth)

[derpinette]

i have this "alter ego" that only exists in my head where essentially i am a fat sloppy drunk old fisherman with no loved ones living in misery & isolation & i often imagine myself as him especially in moments of patheticness

[melaniepilled]

why does sims dislike martin so much, he's just a poor little meow meow and he's trying so hard at his job ...