#boys planet discourse

[ominous-horse-noises]

oh man, if i thought eps 9-10 made me mad..... this was easily the worst episode in the entire season. 

i knew these eliminations would hurt no matter what bc i grew so attached to most of the trainees left, but haruto not even being a candidate for p0.18... im a jaystar first and foremost, but i voted for haruto every. single. day. my other picks rotated, but haruto was my no.2 pick the whole time

Chen Kuanjui, Haruto, Wang Zihao, Woongki, Seowon, i'll be following you from now on, wherever you end up!! stars like you are impossible to hide- you were born to shine for everyone to see! 

i'm actually relieved Zhang Hao was second- the last thing we need now is knetz to turn on the one g trainee they allow to thrive. If he was 1st, no doubt korean voters would have dropped him, and he'd get Xiaoting'd. Also, as a jaystar.... I'll just say this episode was rough for me and leave it at that. Honestly, Sung Hanbin has nothing left to prove (he's done different concepts, had multiple main vocal and killing parts and never even come close to losing his 1st rank), so I do wish he'd share the spotlight even slightly- but in the end, it's a competition. I do wish they’d stop angel editing him though when he’s proven to be the single most ruthless trainee on the show. Every other trainee who’s in a more precarious position has been more compassionate with parts distribution at one point or another. Anyway, congrats to Ricky on breaking into the top 9!!! 

[kpoptraaassh]

Sometimes you write an entire rant on a topic and then you choose to water your crops and erase it

[verysium]

I’ve been seeing some discourse around twitter about the blue lock boys and whether they’d be a loyal bf or not 😭 Curious to know who do you think would be more inclined to cheat or who just wouldn’t at all!!!

I saw someone say sae would 100% cheat like whattt I feel like he wouldn’t even bother looking at anyone else if he already has someone (Cuz I mean dating him would likely mean you actually mean something to him) but I digress

ok anon you had me pulling up a whole argumentative essay here cus WHO TF SAID SAE WOULD 100% CHEAT??? 😔 that mischaracterization is so painfully inaccurate. twitter really took the whole emotionally unavailable itoshi archetype and ran with it. let me just clear the air here because my man deserves some explanation.

sae itoshi would not cheat. as in capital N and capital O. he took nearly an entire decade off his life just to work on his own issues and finally form a functional and healthy relationship with another human being. and you're telling me he's just going to let all that wash down the drain for someone else? 😒 twitter logic really be showing its illogical side here. apparently a man can be loyal to a professional sports career for eighteen years, but he can't be loyal to his significant other.

i think this misunderstanding probably happened cus of shidou. people read the manga and saw that sae dropped rin for a bug-eyed freak and automatically assumed he was disloyal. 😑 let me just say two things here:

(1) sae and shidou's relationship is strictly professional. imagine being stuck in an god awful corporate office with coworkers who bore you with their weaponized incompetence and a boss who annoys the living shit out of you. and then one day, the company hires a new recruit who is probably the most unhinged and debauched creature known to man. you're probably left wondering how he even got hired in the first place. but then you find out...he's useful. he takes risks and gets a high return on what he invests. it's impulsive and stupid, really. but at least it's unconventional and outside-the-box. he has your interest piqued. that's basically sae and shidou in a nutshell.

(2) just because sae gave shidou his number after the u-20 game does NOT mean he would do the same to any other person who would try to encroach on your relationship. and let's be real here. sae would get one text from shidou and block his contact.

anyways, here is my analysis on the bllk boys in general. introducing the anti-cheating to pro-cheating spectrum:

(A) cannot cheat under any circumstance (as in they already hate the fact that they live on a planet with 8.1 billion other people who are not you):

itoshi brothers (atp they don't even have the physical or mental capacity to entertain a third party), ness, reo

(B) cannot cheat due to physical incapability (literally cannot pull anyone within a five-meter radius to cheat with):

ego, igarashi, raichi, bachira (not that he's in any way unattractive...it's just...i feel like he would purposefully act weird to drive off people who aren't you)

(C) could not cheat (basically option A and B but less problematic version)

yukimiya, barou, kunigami, noa, loki, gagamaru, chigiri, niko, hiori, karasu (baby boy literally felt inferior cus his crush was the cutest in his class), kurona (head empty, just you)

(D) would not cheat (on you but everyone else is not included)

isagi (unintentionally a homewrecker to others but would never let anyone homewreck his relationship with you), leonardo (idk why but i just don't trust him entirely)

(E) could cheat (depends on what they get out of it):

kaiser, shidou (honestly what did you expect when you willingly dated a blonde man...)

(F) would cheat (either proven by canon or they accidentally fucked up somehow):

otoya, oliver, nagi

[genderqueerdykes]

Aight I’m gonna say it: I hate the divide in trans spaces. I hate trans infighting. The discourse is fucking ridiculous. I’m a non binary person who’s commonly mistaken as a trans woman by trans people and transphobes alike despite the fact I was not born Amab. Shit like “theyfab” makes me roll my eyes. The constant dismissal of intersex and people of colour and disabled people’s thoughts and experiences is horrendous. Trans women don’t hold power over transmascs, but you have to be delusional to pretend trans men at large are treated like cis men are and hold the same power. I’m baffled some people sincerely believe that skyler, the 14 years old black they/he with purple hair is treated the same and holds the same power over fellow trans people as any upper-middle class white guy. Be so fr. We need to stay together instead of playing oppression olympics.

agreed, holy shit. for the future, i'm psychotic, i have schizophrenia & experience delusions and just wanted to explain that 'delusional' is not a good word to use in this scenario as it can come across as demonizing psychotic people, but i understand what you meant & i can tell that you mean no harm. just wanted to point that out for the future! :) however, i get the message that you're saying, and that's way more important!

agreed. this infighting is dumb, petty, and pointless. all it does is waste time and give conservatives and terfs what they want.

"theyfab" is one of the most embarrassing things i've seen come out of online discourse. like i don't know how anyone says that and doesn't feel like the most embarrassing person on planet earth. like if you use that term, how do you not feel like an absolute loser for saying that knowing the entire reason you misgendered another person was for haha funnie internet points? i don't like calling things cringe, but if i had to assign that word to anything, it would be "theyfab". literally one of the most embarrassing things i've ever heard in my life. THAT is "cringe". like you should genuinely be embarrassed if you think that calling another person that is okay. you should genuinely be embarrassed of proudly misgendering another person for likes on a post.

i swear people are acting like toddlers and they second they're near an AFAB person they're like "omg don't give me your GIRL COOTIES!!!" how do you think you're cool when you're saying shit like this? how do you wake up in the morning and think you're cool and right and smart when you're literally just terrified of an AGAB?

also since when was misgendering people cool? like i'm sorry, did i fall asleep for too long and wake up to a completely new society? why do you get your head ripped off if you accidentally they/them a she/her trans woman, but people literally post tiktoks and instagram reels bragging about how they misgender trans men and AFAB nonbinary people and they get thousands of likes and comments? what a dogshit double standard!

people love to proudly discredit AFAB people due to their rampant misogyny. like can we just call a spade a spade here? hating on AFAB people is very painfully, blatantly misogynistic. people are being mean as hell specifically because of that "F"- that's why the word "whiny" comes up so much. we know what you're doing. we know that you see all AFAB trans people as "weird cis women". we know. your verbiage says it all. we get it that you don't think that AFAB people can be trans. we get it that you think AFAB people are annoying for drawing a breath and daring to speak. please work on your misogyny. it's through the fucking roof

I’m baffled some people sincerely believe that skyler, the 14 years old black they/he with purple hair is treated the same and holds the same power over fellow trans people as any upper-middle class white guy. Be so fr. We need to stay together instead of playing oppression olympics.

you're right and you should say it. people NEVER care about or consider that there are trans boys, mascs and men of color. nobody gives a fuck about how transmascs and men of color struggle. nobody gives a shit or listens when transmascs of color talk about the extreme violence and isolation we face. like do you seriously think a black trans boy has the exact same amount of power and privilege as an abled cishet white man in a position of power? really? come on, now. NOBODY gives a fuck about the trans men, boys and mascs of color. nobody gives a shit that this affects men of color, and that's just fucked.

and agreed. let's stop this oppression olympics thing once and for all. that's what we're doing at this stage and it's fucking embarrassing. queer identities are not legitimized by how oppressed they are. we are ALL oppressed. every single one of us. but our identities themselves are not about oppression. our identities are about ourselves, our lives, our passions, our bodies, and who we do or don't love. they're about ourselves. we have to stop depersonalizing the queer experience. we're taking the individuals out of it and turning it into "whoever's the most oppressed gets to talk the entire time and everyone else needs to shut the hell up." this is ridiculous. it's time to stop.

live your life. love your queer siblings. they have your back, you gotta have theirs.

[ultfreakme]

"It'd make more sense if he was a villain" : Jay Nakamura, The Yellow Peril and Orientalism in the Comics Community

That quote above is speculating the potential of Jay Nakamura as a villain, specifically in the context of arguing for the incompatibility of Jon and Jay as a romantic couple due to the ideological differences that may arise from being a villain. Such speculations about fictional characters aren't uncommon and have been demonstrated in the canon of comics itself with stories like Injustice. But these statements should be regarded with caution, and with consideration for the context of a character.

This quote was said in service of comparing Jay Nakamura and Ash, a character introduced in Lazarus Planet, and to emphasize his potential as a love interest despite him being a villain.

There’s more but the general consensus seemed to be, that there was excitement in the potential for romantic tension between Jon and Ash due to Ash’s villainy, but the same was the reason for separating Jon and Jay. Many others stated Jay had to have manipulated Jon to an extent, which ‘corrupts’ Jon. This argument is not a concern when it comes to Ash although textually, Ash is the ‘homme fatale’ as defined by C.S.Pacat and is thus intentionally manipulating Jon throughout his appearance by looking down on his attitude as a hero, whereas there is no evidence of manipulation between Jon and Jay.

Why would one see a potential for "villainy" in certain characters? Is it story-based? Is it a personal preference for certain themes? Is it for entertainment? Or perhaps, something much deeper than all of this that you may not even be aware of?

What is the difference between Jay and Ash, and why does the villainy of one elicit enthusiasm and the perceived villainy of the other bring out irritation? While there is audience reception, writing quality, and subjective opinion which readers are free to express, these large-scale reactions warrant examination. Jon and Jay’s relationship had caused waves in international news. The story of Superman is inherently political and that of ‘Superman: Son of Kal-El’, ties itself back to these roots. Thus, the immediate aversion to Jay must be addressed and examined, since his character and his relationship with Superman can impact queer representation in media by virtue of carrying the brand of Superman.

DC Comics and The Depiction of Asian Culture

With characters such as Black Lightning, Steel, and New Super-Man getting new runs, and newer characters such as Xanthe Zhou and Cameron Kim(City Boy) being introduced, recent years have seen a push in diversifying the cast of superheroes. But American Comics as a medium have always idealized the image of the White Man and has been a means to define American Values, thereby alienating people of color(POC). Comics often reflected the anxieties of the Western World, with Captain America from Marvel Comics punching Nazis, and Superman fighting the Ku Klux Klan. While it has pushed for the message of freedom, community and rebellion with an emphasis on righteousness, the reflected anxieties are confined to those of the White Man.

World War 2 had given rise to anti-Chinese and Japanese propaganda, with American-Asian individuals being suspected for treason. Japanese immigrants in the 40s were accused of being spies for Japan. A quote from the article, ‘The "Yellow Peril" Mystique: Origins and Vicissitudes of a Racist Discourse’ states:

“Anyone who accepts an invitation to visit China or to entertain visitors to America from China are to be regarded either as dupes, as potential victims of cleverly trained agents of the People's Republic of China, who, during the course of an ordinary conversation, are able to extract secrets from them, or as spies working for a foreign government.”

Tensions from World War 2 and the perception of China as a Communist hellscape threatening American Capitalistic freedoms has led to such accusations. The idea of those of “the Orient” but specifically East Asians being experts in espionage to gather data, and leak it to the Chinese or Japanese governments has transferred over into fiction. 

Colonialism, and the racial hierarchies proposed by evolutionary theories of the nineteenth century placed the ambiguously Eastward individuals as subservient to the White Man. The concept of evolution had been co-opted by colonizers, upper class Western political circles, to expand upon eugenics to justify that POC fell into a hierarchy, where the white people were always on top. Asian and specifically East Asian people were defined by inferiority and a lack of advancement, but also as a marked threat with their supposed shrewdness as we’ve established.

The most prominent Asian characters in DC have been Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia Al Ghul, Lady Shiva, Cheshire, and Katana. They have long histories within the comics and are deeply influential, but the characters listed are typically in antagonistic roles, primarily using espionage-based techniques, expertise in weaponry, and membership among shadowed organizations to execute their goals. For the sake of brevity, we’ll be examining the portrayal of the Al Ghuls with a focus on Talia Al Ghul. Talia, much like Jay, is introduced first as a love interest and thus relevant for further discussion on the perception of Jay.

The Threat of The Lover from The Orient

The Al Ghuls originate from an undefined part of the Arab world. Talia is Arab and Chinese, but she is not allowed to be fluid, she is not allowed both. Depending on the creative team’s intentions, she is portrayed both as a temptress and a romantic interest, oscillating between these identities depending on her loyalty to her father and her love for Batman. When she is meant to be a victim of her father, imposing stereotypical morals assigned to the Arab world through orientalism, she wears ‘harem’ robes, she is darker, she is distinctly Arab. When she is a sly temptress, she wears a qipao or a kimono, leaning into Asian stereotypes. 

While Orientalism portrays Asian women as sexual beings, who are seen as particularly dangerous because of their influence on the libidos of White Men, it veers towards a lack of desirability in Asian men. The sexual interest of Asian men is portrayed as inherently predatory of white women, a danger from which white women must be rescued.

What would this mean, then, for an Asian Queer Man, who is a romantic interest of Superman?

Jay Nakamura and “The Pink Hair Connundrum”

Talia’s former fluidity in her design and clothing is contrasted starkly by the clear definition of Jay’s design. Much like Lois Lane, whose assigned color is purple, Jay has been assigned a specific set of colors to make him identifiable; these being pink, orange, greens and teals.

Many of the recently introduced Asian characters have strong silhouettes and stylization. Kong Kenan is primarily red with accents of yellow and black, Xanthe Zhou’s is blue and yellow, City Boy is Black and Red. Identifiable and concretized designs are necessary to the superhero genre, where the design is essential towards cementing identity. This is in direct contrast to long-term portrayals of Talia, whose skin tone, color scheme and styling varied with great frequency. 

Jay’s design competes in vibrance with the primary colors of the Superman suit. This raises issues because the Asian Love interest is visually not subservient to the White Hero. The muted colors expected of any romantic interest is not present here, which immediately creates tension.

His design adheres to typical fashion choices in queer culture. The stereotype of a ‘pronoun haver with dyed’ hair has run rampant in recent years. While queerphobic individuals denigrate these features as something lesser, the queer community gravitates towards alternative design choices which turn eyes for a purpose. The LGBTQIA+ community uses alternate clothing, colors, and fashion pieces to mark themselves and their identity within the community, mainly to signal to other LGBTQIA+ individuals of their presence (Flags and Fashion: Expressions of Solidarity through Lesbian Clothing, Eleanor Medhurst). It is a form of solidarity.

Heteronormativity is defined by a set of social rules imposed on varying aspects of culture, from language to clothes, and the replication of these enforces what is ‘normal’. The fashion choices of the LGBTQIA+ community defy these rules despite efforts by these imposed social norms to police them. The heteronormative majority see it as their duty to correct these transgressions in hair color, clothing, speech, etc.

But, following these normative rules means the marginalized individual would have to put in extra labour to conform– to not be judged and refused. The queer person is expected to do this additional labour, and it falls to the marginalized people to negotiate within themselves the extent of compromise they must make for their own identity to fit into their environment (A gay reflection on microaggressions, symbolic normativities, and pink hair Aleksi Soini). The normative people are never challenged.

It is up to the LGBTQIA+ individual to prove themselves as ‘normal’. 

Solini’s article recounts a moment where a coworker of his stated, “‘You're okay; you're not one of those over-the-top faggots with bleached hair”. Heteronormativity functions in binaries. You are male or female. Similarly, you are straight or gay. There is of course, in the name of inclusion, a “normal” gay, and an “abnormal” gay.

Jay Nakamura would be considered the latter, because his character design is a representation of someone who takes no efforts to conform to heteronormativity. 

In the context of Superman: Son of Kal-El, he is a reporter who wants attention so that he may redirect it to protect refugees. He purposefully stands out with his chosen orange and green hoodies. His ability to stand out is a direct attack against the narrative created by the colonizer of his country, Henry Bendix.

Henry Bendix kidnapped Jay and his mother, Sara, to silence them. Sara was the former president of Gamorra, and ran against Henry Bendix in the previous elections. Bendix abducts these two in an effort to silence the call for the freedom of Gamorra. Jay is one among hundreds who are experimented on, essentially enslaved under Bendix’s command— a clear effort to erase their identities. It is implied his hair turned pink due to the experiments, since he has black hair in an alternate universe where Bendix did not colonize Gamorra.

His hair is a symbol of resistance within the story itself, since he gained it after surviving long periods of experimentation. On a metatextual level as a queer character, he represents the LGBTQIA+ tendency to transgress heternormativity. Subversion is an act of resistance. 

The aesthetic of “Superman and Lois Lane” appeals to conservative values, and this is often used to push the image of a perfect American Nuclear Family, leaning towards the stereotypes of yesteryears where ‘traditional values’ reigned supreme. Superman 2016 leans into this, the setting is an idyllic countryside village known as Hamilton. Lois Lane, defined as a career woman and intrepid journalist is confined to the home, and Clark is seen primarily around the farm. They are both removed from their profession meant to symbolize the protection and distribution of truth. Their clothing abides by these as well. Lois wears athleisure, tight tops and leggings, found in muted pinks and purples, as opposed to her rumpled office formals. Clark is often seen in flannel tops, jeans, and jackets, primarily in reds and muted blues and browns. Visually, they are meant to conform to the binary established by heteronormativity. The primary colors of the Superman suit are shown in tandem with the American Flag. There is space made for color, but only as long as it conforms.

Jon and Jay’s story is firmly set in the city of Metropolis and constantly circles the idea of truth, journalistic integrity, and propaganda. His unnatural hair and bright clothing stand in stark contrast to Superman 2016, disrupting the aesthetic rules of heteronormativity in the fabric of the Superman story.

The clear definition of his color story, as an Asian man, a queer man, and a love interest, creates tension within the world of comics.

Espionage and Distrust of Asian Characters.

As established previously, the World Wars, colonialism and the eugenicist taken on evolution embraced by the Western world in the 19th century led to a deep suspicion of anyone of East Asian descent. 

The belief in the shrewdness of Asian characters is reflected in the characterization of those like Talia. Talia is portrayed as having deeper meaning in all her actions. She leaks information to the heroes in ‘Tower of Babel’. In her time as the CEO of LexCorp, she sold all the assets to Bruce Wayne though she was portrayed as a villain. Her character is frequently presented as untrustworthy, and readers are made to question her every move. This is further reinforced by these double-crosses and information sharing. Similarly, Cheshire and Catman’s relationship in Secret Six is defined by deep distrust, Cheshire toys with Catman by hiding information and shifting loyalties depending on what is advantageous to her. Simone often comments on her sexual appeal being dangerous, and the ways in which she uses a character’s unwillingness to trust her to further intrigue and disseminate information.

As an Asian journalist, a refugee, and a recently-introduced love interest, Jay is in a position which raises anxieties in the common American comic reader who has been trained to distrust the idea of information in the hands of such an individual. The established tension arising from his character design motivates readers to uphold such suspicion.

The text of the story makes it explicit that he admires Lois Lane, and his position as the journalist love interest of Superman calls for parallels with Lois. His monicker, The Truth, is directly derived from the Superman slogan, ‘Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow’. Yet, there is fear that he is manipulating Jon.

The fight between the Axis and Allied powers led to a deep mistrust from the American against Japanese immigrants and American-Japanese citizens. General John L. DeWitt’s statement regarding the Japanese immigrant population summarizes the sentiments in this time:

Sinophobia continued to flourish, and was worsened with the accusation and trial of Wen Ho Lee, a naturalized American Citizen from Taiwan, who confessed to reporting classified information regarding nuclear weapons in America to Chinese scientists while visiting Beijing. The truth of this accusation remains contested, but the confession and sentencing led to the intensification of distrust in Chinese people.

The country of Gamorra is located in Asia, and is located south of Japan. It was created initially by Korean writers Brandon Choi and Jim Lee. Gamorra was colonized by those of Japanese descent, and it can be surmised it is an allegory for the colonization of Korea by the Japanese Empire. This history is not reflected in Superman: Son of Kal-El, and readers would identify Gamorra as vaguely Asian.

Though the Yellow Peril targeted various countries in different manners, xenohpobia and orientalism affected Asian populations on a similar scale. It was specifically, “the Whites” against “the Others”. The ambiguity of Jay’s Asian origin makes him a potential target for a combined imposition of stereotypes from varying Asian cultures.

The overall effect, is that in fiction, the Asian Lover cannot be trusted with information.

Seduction, Hypnotization and the threat of Sexuality

Morality Panic around the sexuality of Asian bodies has existed for centuries. The British population characterized Chinese immigrants as morally depraved, defining them as opium smoking individuals who indulged in gambling and prostitution. Setting aside the fact that the cause of the opium distribution in China was due to the British, and the first of the Opium Wars were fought because the Chinese government took measures to get rid of opium, the presence of Chinese populations in Britian was in defiance of the colonial mindset.

An increase in immigration occurred during the World Wars, and White Women grew more independent through the job opportunities created during this period. The reluctance of White Women to conform to the patriarchy and the increase in immigration, led to rumours of helpless white women being lost in the Limehouse streets, victim to the “moral depravity” of the Asian Man.

Sexuality has always been a source of control in the heteronormative patriarchy. The binary of male and female is defined by the subservience of women, sexually, to men. Specifically, white men. A loss of control in this sexuality for the White Man is a threat.

Cheshire, Lady Shiva, and Talia are portrayed as using their sexuality to weaken their White Male opponents. She is a threat because she results in a loss of control over libido, she weaponizes it against the White Hero. He falls victim to his sexuality, and is seen as helpless to these ‘charms’ and a hapless victim. Grant Morrison takes this much farther with Talia and Bruce, wherein she is implied to have sexually assaulted Bruce Wayne. The metaphor of sexuality as a weapon becomes that of overt assault, the stereotype stretched to its extreme. Cheshire’s seduction is shown as dangerous, and Thomas Blake is weakened drastically around her purely due to his attraction towards her. It seems her mere existence is a devastating blow. 

While the Asian Woman is a sexual object, one who seduces, a temptation which cannot be refuted, the Asian Man is portrayed as deeply undesirable and sexless. Anti-immigration laws, exclusion, and the deep history of Orientalism and Xenophobia ostracizes the Asian Man from American Masculinity, creating the “American male” and the “other”, thus stripping Asian Men of their masculinity. Due to masculinity being defined by sexuality, the othering of the Asian Man leads to an assignation of sexlessness (Park, M. (2012). Asian American masculinity eclipsed: A legal and historical perspective of emasculation through US immigration practices. Mod. Am., 8, 5).

They are feminized, portrayed as undesirable. Which leads to the stereotype of The Seducer, a byproduct of the Yellow Peril. Due to the perceived lack of desirability in Asian Men, their sexuality is instead portrayed as inherently predatory. Shanghai Express(1936) and The Cheat(1915) portray Asian Men as sexual predators victimizing white women, who must be rescued by the White Heroes. The Limehouse district of London were fear mongered as places where the Triad Gangsters would kidnap White Women and force them into sexual slavery (Witchard, Anne (4 February 2015). "Yellow Peril: Sinophobia and the Great War: a Q&A with Dr. Anne Witchard".).

Jay is a queer man, desired by a white man. On many occasions, Jon has initiated physical intimacy with Jay. White men, as we’ve seen before, are seen as victims of their libidos. But Asian men are sexless. A white man could not possibly truly desire for the Asian body, especially not for the Asian male body. The impositions of the aforementioned stereotypes in fiction have led to a disbelief in the existence of such a relationship configuration. Jay does not conform to the aesthetic of the Asian seductress, or of a feminization of any sort. Rather, he has glasses, fitting more into the Asian Nerd stereotype, which emerged from the demasculinization of Asian Men.

It is difficult for a comic reader, who has been hammered down with the idea of seduction, temptation and subterfuge around the Asian sexuality, to see Superman fall for an Asian boy with glasses, free of external manipulation. Jay with pink hair and a distinct lack of revealing outfits or overt sexual advances must then, therefore, be using some unseen and undetectable force, more sinister than can be imagined, shifting into the realm of the magical.

Whatever the explanation, it surely cannot be an honest desire.

And so it veers into speculations of seduction. Many had hilariously proposed that he had used pink kryptonite with sincerity. Plenty had examined the swirl-like pattern behind Jay in a singular panel to mean that he had used hypnosis. His joke about working with Lex Luthor to tease Jon was used as a confession of his crimes, and his plans were always to expose Jon's vulnerabilities. On and on they went

The label of ‘terrorist’, journalism, and the perception of refugees

This, is sensitive. I have often hesitated to speak about this to anyone due to how fresh the topic is, how real the violence of this can be. It is no secret, that the United States labels the populations it wishes to exploit or eradicate with the label of ‘terrorist’. The invasion of Iraq, the current unchecked occupation of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, and the dismissal of Yemeni efforts to support the aforementioned countries is due to the labelling of a fight for liberation, for freedom, as ‘terrorist activity’. Heradstveit and Pugh put it best;

One of the primary ways in which a government increases its legitimacy and induces its population to support it above and beyond what their own interests dictate is by assimilating the concepts of ‘opposition’ and ‘crime’. It goes without saying that governments are meant to act against ‘crime’, at any rate crime committed by their less powerful subjects, as this is part of the definition of a government.

They propose that the label of ‘terrorism’ can cover anything from guerilla warfare, armed resistance, any form of political opposition, even those which are non-violent and can be classified as vandalism. Any action in opposition to the locus of control, is classified as terrorist activity.

Comics reflect reality, as mentioned at the beginning. Jay does the same in his journalism. The second issue of Superman: Son of Kal-El, portrays Jay reporting on a Gamorran refugee boat, which was sinking on its way to Metropolis. These are the first bits of dialogue we hear from Jay. He is aligned with an anarachist group called ‘The Revolutionaries’, who undertake armed violence in a fight for liberation. Batman puts the label of criminality and specifically, of terrorism, into the reader’s minds.

This is meant to be refuted, and it is within a single issue. But the readership saw it as confirmation of their suspicions arising from the previously mentioned points, while ignoring the critique on the US government. Jay’s position as a disenfranchised refugee is entirely forgotten, despite the text repeating his position at varying points. 

The seeming confirmation of the Asian seductress, of subterfuge, always takes precedence.

Superman comics have often been used to empower people. Superman’s story is inspired by Jewish myths and lived experiences. His status as an illegal immigrant has been covered across multiple mediums. He has smashed the Klan, he has helped free an enslaved world, he has helped people through their trauma, he has defended immigrants trying to find safety, assured queer children that they are loved and accepted, he fights corrupt billionaires who exploit the common folk. 

Jay’s story contributes to the same values, but he is dismissed purely on aesthetics and race. 

It is important to evaluate why certain characters make us uncomfortable. What elicits this reaction? What is the source? I would never urge someone to like a character, this is subjective but it is important to analyze where our biases can come from. Sometimes it is as harmless as being unable to relate to a story. On other occasions, it can be rooted in something as insidious as this. 

If you would like to make Jay a villain, or any hero into a villain for that matter, ask why.

[this-dragon-barks]

Okay I give up, I’m still sick but I gotta say something.

Below line,

Rambling about Trans Species Discourse

I am not Trans-Species nor will I probably identify with or as Trans-Species anytime soon.

My honest thoughts are that it’s not hurting me and it’s not hurting anyone else. As long as individuals are sharing education and not misinformation In conversation and content, I don’t care, and even then it’s not really up to me to decide how someone feels about their body.

And for people out there that keep saying shit like, “this makes transgender people get taken less seriously!” I need you to think really hard about that sentence. WHO are the people you are talking about in that question? WHO isn’t gonna take transpeople seriously? Transphobes? They already don’t.

You are repeating phrases that were used against transpeople to try and justify feeling discomfort from a group you don’t understand.

Not to mention, it is ALWAYS a slippery slope with deciding what someone can and can’t say about their bodies. The moment you say “no” to anything when does it stop?

“You can’t be trans species!” Then becomes, “You can’t be transgender!” Because you have already decided for another person what they can do or not do with their bodies.

Not to mention we could get philosophical about it with Transhumanism and how in the next hundred years we could invent robotics or body modifications that could do whatever we want to these meat sacks we live in. As long as this planet doesn’t get fucking melted, we could have fully anthro cat girls and bunny boys, or cyborgs, and it be an average experience in the future.

[kisseobie]

hun i honestly cannot find anything with ppl talking shit about you. i mean it’s good to know but like where in the hell did those anons get that info 🤨 ????

i honestly think maybe people deleted whatever they were saying or most people are blocked from seeing it, not entirely sure but i’m thankful my anons made me aware of it so that i can at least attempt to address this controversy. i hope you don’t mind me using this ask as my response to whatever “shit” people have been talking about me and/or my blog 😭

1. if people are upset about me writing nsfw for seobsoul, i could honestly not care less. the argument i have seen in most kpop nsfw writing discourse for idols who have recently turned 18 is that it somehow “doesn’t matter” that the people typically writing these works about these idols are literally in the same age range, sometimes even younger than said idols, for example, seobsoul. i have never written nsfw for seobsoul before they turned 18, and i don’t even think i started writing fanfiction for p1harmony before seob was 18 😭 do these people honestly think that we don’t see that they write for intak in the same way i write for seobsoul? people started writing smut for intak when he turned 18 as well, but it’s suddenly a huge issue when someone born in the same year as seobsoul writes for them too. mind you, intak is a total of 2 years older than jongseob and shota!!

2. i have nsfw warnings on my page for a reason. if people who don’t like nsfw for seobsoul choose willingly to snoop around on my page, that’s their prerogative. i clearly have different opinions on this topic than they do and that is ok! nothing i have written towards jongseob and soul has ever been predatory so to paint me as a weirdo is silly imo. if a p1ece is attracted to a member that is the same age range as them, why do they have to wait “a year or two” to write smut about them? that doesn’t even sound genuine in the slightest 😭 waiting to write smut doesn’t equate to not having sexual fantasies about them at their current age, it just means you’re scared of how people will react. i however, am not because why the hell would i be embarrassed of natural attraction to men my age?

3. “regardless their age, you don’t know these idols so you shouldn’t be writing smut about them” .. to this i say: there are bigger issues in the world. there are real predators on this planet and you genuinely think that me writing smut about boys my own age is the end of the world? fanfiction, including smut, will always exist. fanfiction is an outlet of creativity and i have never claimed that the things i write would actually happen in real life.. that’s the whole point of writing, at least to me.. to create universes based on people you love, and to share them with others who love those people as deeply as you do. however, i do understand that fanfiction will always be seen as a morally grey topic and i won’t sit here and attempt to explain my side in a 10-page essay. i will say though, that if you don’t agree with nsfw seobsoul writers, just block them and move on lol

anyways .. p1harmony comeback soon guys who else is excited :3

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

I'm certain that Elon is full of shit at some times, but what good things has he done that deserve recognition, too? And, what are commonly-believed lies about him, that are easily dispelled?

Putting aside that the man is singlehandedly putting human beings on other planets, and thereby doing more to try bring about the long-term survival of the human race than every climate activist collectively throwing soup at paintings, and that he - again, near-singlehandedly - has made electric vehicles both cool and a workable alternative to the combustion engine, with close to 17,000 Tesla Superchargers in the US alone... just the single act of him buying Twitter and removing the censorship and bias has likely altered the future of the entire human world, and for the better.

Because of one man, the entire mainstream media corporate narrative now has an unavoidably public alternative, and every one of their lies now gets community noted into oblivion within minutes of them speaking them. What once was an unquestioned Democrat party line, held by all major TV companies and news sites, is now being laughed at by the entire world in real time. It cannot be overestimated how much this changes the political discourse and narrative of the time we are living through, and everyone benefits from it. Freedom of speech is something everyone should appreciate and applaud, regardless of how they vote.

Maybe the weirdest lie that went viral is that his father owned an emerald mine and so Elon grew up sitting on a golden throne wiping his arse with jewels and dollar bills. Even the woke/left-wing Snopes debunked this, but there are probably millions of people out there still believing it, and vilifying Musk because of it.

I've noticed more girls seem to have believed this nonsense than boys: both a current female friend and my ex-girlfriend would only mention his name with a sneer, but when I asked them to lay out why for me, so I could understand what they were seeing, they both trailed off to a slightly puzzled silence, because when trying to articulate it, they realized it was based on nothing, just an attitude they'd taken on from the tone of media reporting and the groupthink of their peers.

Elon is a flawed human being like the rest of us, and I'm sure there are many things I'd disagree with him on, but he's a genuinely great man in a world of mosquitoes, and we desperately need more great men with vision and courage to get us out of the mess we all agree we're in.

[ominous-horse-noises]

no bc the way mnet and twitter is trying to gaslight me into think the k team trainees have more talented members than the g team.... i know what i saw when i watched those performances!!! 

[alexluvsskittlez]

I haven't made an into in months so uhhh..

HI EVERYPONY!!! my name is Alex, you can also call me Sam, Zoe, or Binoo

I'm 14 years old, my birthday is April 23rd

i am an artist, animator, content creator, and I'm learning how to sing :3

I'm audhd and dyscalculic (idk if i spelled that right sorry)

my special interests are Paramore and my ocs

I am currently hyperfixated on Emily Armstrong

I am PARAMORE'S #1 FAN!!!!!!!

i am a PROUD SELFSHIPPER!!!!

BYI:

I am Emily Armstrong's #1 defender (sorry haters XD)

I have the worst sense of humor on this planet

i kinda fw some rpf ships some of them being people who aren't actually together sorry. I'm respectful about it tho 😓

I usually don't think before I post so if I post something wrong please let me know

idrgaf about proship discourse and it's not something that I like involving myself in. I generally don't care what people ship but I still think shipping illegal stuff is weird as hell

I get pissed really easily but I promise I'm nice

bands/artists i like (warning, its a LOT):

Paramore, pierce the veil, linkin park, mcr, Hayley Williams, pinkshift, meet me @ the altar, silverstien, fall out boy, green day, bring me the horizon, p!atd, la dispute, lemon demon, sunny day real estate, Will Wood and the tapeworms, Will Wood, asking Alexandria, not enough space, get scared, the used, Owl city, mitski, Florence + the machine, stomach book, she wants revenge, Weezer, picture me broken, rites of spring, halfnoise, isles & glaciers, dead by sunrise, black veil brides, system of a down, limp Bizkit, silly goose, dead sara, scary kids scaring kids, alesana, femtanyl, the cure, modern baseball, foxszn, 3drinkz, yellow card, vylet pony, american football, boygenius, Avril Lavigne, millionaires, Kesha, s3rl, 3oh!3, attack attack, brokencyde, and waterparks.

shows I like:

smiling friends, steven universe, gravity falls, murder drones, madoka magica, the owl house, amphibia, clone high, invader zim, eddsworld, spooky month, inside job, pelswick, tadc, toopy and binoo, mlp, and the ghost and molly mcgee.

movies i like:

the final riot, steven universe the movie, atsv, itsv, the fnaf movie, mean girls, juno, the tamagotchi movie (i think there's actually multiple but I'm specifically talking about the anime one made in 2007), toopy and binoo the movie, and mlp the movie

games i like:

splatoon 2, fnaf, minecraft, animal crossing, mario kart, castle cats, pjsekai, nintendogs, roblox, regretevator, cart ride into 17 pregnant hyenas (rip </3), baldis basics, and ddlc

youtubers i like:

Kurtis Conner, Danny Gonzalez, Drew Gooden, funkyfrogbait, bredrawz, flamingo, benoftheweek, sinjin drowning, cybernoop, dantdm, stariaat, lovely lor, juj, and penguinz0

musicals i like:

mean girls, be more chill and Hamilton (I'm still getting into musicals so if you have any recommendations please tell me!!)

titles I gave myself (probably not necessary but idgaf)

Paramore's #1 fan

Pim Pimling's spouse

professional Pim kisser

#1 tell me how listener

#1 misadventures fan

#1 Emily Armstrong defender

tamagotchi dad of 3

spinel and mars' parent

#1 laika's comet fan

#1 class of 09 the flipside hater

#1 mip hater

worst dancer in history

other stuff I like (some are fandom related some aren't):

alternative subcultures/fashion, laikas comet, homestuck, warrior cats, tamagotchis/digital pets in general, mid-late 2010s animation memes, old internet stuff, space stuff, and animals

dni:

basic dni stuff uhh, people who are 12 and under, people who harass proshippers (yeah they're weird but harassing them is no better than being one), Paramore haters, Emily Armstrong haters, and those 4chan femcel self proclaimed problematic mfs. other than that i just block freely.

other socials:

ig: alexluvsskittlez

youtube: alexluvsskittlez

sketchers united: alexluvsskittlez

newgrounds: alexluvsskittlez

deviantart: pixelisgay

spotify: Pimkisser69420👽🙏

ermm that's all BYEEE!!!

[jinx-blackout-84]

What is you being nice to me and finding me funny and interesting and hot I'm a visual learner by the way

Hi! My name is Jinx!

Fandom loser through and through, cringe as fuck and I talk about my blorbos too much. I draw sometimes, and I write fic!

Pronouns: wouldn't you like to know, weatherboy?

And hey! If you're having a bad day, here's a masterpost of some links to cheer you up

Your residents tide pods georg, doorframe eating, vice president of the sad blonde boys club, cole Brookstone fanboy.

and a part of the mutuals cinematic universe (gay roleplay gang) with my husbands @glo-katt84 @felixisfruity and @swagaythor

My spotify

Some fandoms I'm in: DC, Sonic The Hedgehog, Ninjago!!!!!, my hero academia/boku no hero academia, IT, The Umbrella Academy, does liking game changer count as being part of a fandom, legend of Zelda, I'm an inniter but also a lot of Dsmp stuff is kinda covered in the goo for me, and I'm about to start Hannibal

CWs for this blog: I talk about sex, I discuss racism and homophobia and abelism, I do not support any discrimination. I talk about mcyts, I curse, and I am cringe. Don't follow if you're not okay with seeing Ninjago and sonic x shadow on your dash. I am cringe but I am free.

Fics I am working on:

You're too slow! (Title pending):

Sonic x shadow street racer AU enemies to lovers, a little crack, Amy isn't a bad guy or into sonic she's gay background rouge x knuckles, probably gonna be multichap

The IKEA fic:

Ninjago AU where the ninjas all work at IKEA and Wu is the boss. Garmadon keeps messing up displays and Morro keeps trying to pretend he's an employee.

I don't call people anything:

Sleepy boys inc. Fic where Techno just moved to a new high school and meets the rest of SBI Chaos ensues as they try and get invites to parties win class elections, win fencing tournaments, and Tech fights a kid for a plot of land in the community garden.

The Shady Kid From The Alleyway:

Obligitory SBI vigilante AU venchtrio are vigilantes and syndicate are villains.

Any discourse:

#discourse

Me just talking:

#jinx screams into the void

Talking to my friends:

#and the void screams back

Reblogs:

#Foraged from the void

Anytime I talk about fics I am writing:

#Fic stuff

Real life stories:

#jinx exists in real life D:

Song posting:

#Jinx yaps about music

Roleplaying with the mutuals:

#mcu (mutual cinematic universe)

Any posts a out a fandom will usually have that fandom's abbreviation for the media

DNI----

Don't talk to me about Dream Team or CC!Wilbur

I will use tone indicators if requested!

I am a minor so please don't send me sex things!

Thank you for reading <3

Time for my 50 billion userboxes and fanart

Flash warning below the cut

FANART TIME

⬆️ This beautiful art from the wonderful, lovely, talented, kind, and amazing @glokatt

⬆️This amazing art from my beloved friend @felixisfruity, who is so amazing and talented and I AGAHAGGAGA.

⬆️ this AMAZING fanart is also by @glokatt, who is perhaps the kindest, funniest, most chaotic person on this planet. They are so awesome and you should go check out his blog because they are the absolute coolest.

⬆️ this amazing fanart by amazing and wonderful and funny and super cool mutual @dumbartist101 whom I adore! Go check them put because they are amazing and wonderful and so cool aghggagagagag.

Sorry for being a userbox whore

[cdfreak]

i love the discourse about whether or not lesbians can be boys. lesbians are better at being boys than possibly anybody else on this planet

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

I remember seeing things that were complaining about Fallout Boy's updated version of We didn't start the fire.

For some reason I thought it was disrespectful to the source material.

But....I just listened to it for the first time and.... No???

It's a pretty good version that encapsulates my generation of America through the past two decades to now. Listing all the big political events, and biggest franchises that came to be in those years and major sports events.

So I was wondering what the problem was.

From how my friend explained it to me, it was because Trump was mentioned and his supporters got mad and that was it.

.... really?

Cus that's so dumb. He got impeached twice, I don't know what to tell them. They're saying he didn't? It's a thing that happened.

They're getting mad about a song that lists off Pokemon, Twilight, SpongeBob Captain Planet, Isis and Micheal Jackson and Elon Musk more or less in the same breath.

Unless I'm missing something critical, yeah this is just a discourse I think I don't get.

Great bonus track

[alysinscotland]

Impending doom.

It's been less than a day since tiktok was banned. and then approximately 12 hours since the app was unbanned by Donald Trump. I have to be honest, at first, i cared very little for this sensational news - I'm scottish and i didn't believe the ban was really going to happen. This news was sooo the boy who cried wolf and it felt like fear-mongering at its finest, to which i would boast, I'm not the one to get baited! But then i saw this for what it really was and it scared me. My algorithm sucked me deeper into the whirlpool of fascism, oligarchy and right-wing media creating a hole so deep that when i woke up this morning, dread filled my chest so full i felt i was going to burst. Is the world ending, or have i fallen this easily into the media trap? It's hard to truly deduce how bad the state of our world is in this era, and on TikTok it's even harder to separate the truth from the lies. But i digress, the (shortest) ban made me truly think whether i even want to be on this app when all i see is how horribly we treat each other and the planet. It's like how my parents no longer watch the news because its too depressing. I used to be appalled by this, exclaiming not everyone has the privilege to just turn the television off, making my current thoughts guilty and hypocritical. it's hard to support a cause that even in the UK feels like a minority. I can feel the politics of places like the USA reaching its claws deeper into the very vunerable politics of Britain (i'll admit also already a conservative state), escalating the rise of right wing supporters, misogynistic, racist and homophobic discourse, striking a sense of doom in me i have never felt before. It is actually mind-blowing to me how so many people i know of or know personally are travelling backwards to ideals of the past. Online I see such a disconnect from people on having empathy or even humanity, and almost worse, there are no consequences for this type of behaviour. Due to this I worry so much for the children of this time who are so vulnerable to propaganda and hateful ideas. I worry for how long our planet will last as i have to sit back knowing i cannot stop the 1% from destroying our home. I worry. Every time i open social media i am shown how desensitised and demoralised people can be and whilst this doom seems to be having a crippling effect on me, social media will every so often (not in the past 24 hours but that just might be tiktok's impressive algorithm!), show me that it is not too late and there is always hope. The people of this world and the world itself deserve so much more grace and kindness than they have been given and I believe that while there is hope out there, there is a bright future ahead. With hope, not all is lost. If there was one good thing from the past 24 hours for me, it's that my beliefs and passion have been reinforced in a way I haven't felt in a long time. Hope will keep me going. I hope love will win.

Alys <3

[spidermanifested]

this is not my usual type of post but ive been rotating some thoughts and i guess my blogs as good a place as any to get them organized. okay so this is basically my take on the entire discourse surrounding the "feminine (presumed cis lets be honest) women are uniquely oppressed for being feminine/making female characters quote unquote Less Feminine is antifeminist" thing. which i keep seeing come up. on this internet of ours

context being im a trans guy. grew up largely seen by others as female, probably, sort of. was about as far from a cishet womans feminine as you can imagine. not in a cool tomboy way. not in a way that society had a box for. and thats the thing, is that when you fail at gender, whether youre conscious of it or not, theres this extremely profound loneliness that comes with it. part of it was the autism but i made like 6 real-life friends total from ages 4 to 18 and there were no examples of anyone with an even remotely adjacent experience i could find in the media or irl. anytime a female character skirted a little too close to actual masculinity in a tv show or movie shed get that makeover eventually. i was bullied by both boys and girls but the girls who bullied me were uniformly very feminine.

and so i see people talking about how hard feminine women and girls have it, how the world hates them for being beautiful, and on the one hand its like okay, Misogyny Exists. thats not really refutable thats just the reality of it. society hates women. and as for eurocentric femininity specifically i understand its a hard tightrope to walk!!! you have to put on all these masks BUT make them seem natural, youre forced into these narrow boxes of acceptable behavior and appearance and desires, and if you under- or over-shoot then people get reminded the whole thing is a farce and get mad (often violently!) at YOU for it

........but then my thing is, that on one side of the tightrope, the "overperforming eurocentric femininity" side, the tradwife or girlboss or blonde bimbo side, theres an entire history of structural trope-crafting to break your fall, right. like its a shitty box but its the box society WANTS you to be in. they look at you and go "yep thats a woman. we dont like those but that sure is one". there are known social niches to carve out. theres a script.

on the unfeminine side theres just. nothing. its stone cold concrete down there. and apparently twitter would have you believe its actually that the "more masculine" somebody presumed female appears the more society respects them but that to me is the wildest and most nonsense take on the planet because if people see you as a woman or girl who has not taken the needed steps to justify your place as one of those things you might as well be an alien, or even a monster. theres no script at all. and i feel like this is one of the major experiences that trans and gnc people of every gender share-- god knows trans women get the brunt of the vitriol-- and from my knowledge a lot of nonwhite people too, and also fat and disabled people, like. there are SO many things that affect your ability to achieve even a fraction of success at this aspirational femininity.

ive had to see people for real make the argument that princess peach making an angry face is masculine. i think the most masculine woman anyone on twitter can imagine right now is like a businesswoman in a form-fitting pantsuit and light mascara. maybe the struggle of succeeding at femininity under patriarchy deserves exploration, ive seen plenty of coherent and reasonable points, its not without worth as a discussion. but i do not trust the general public with the topic without immediately sliding into bog standard gender policing and transphobia, and so in closing, when the mainstream feminist take on the whole thing seems to be "the more you perform the femininity expected of you the worse you have it", i get the sensation that nobody told me it was opposite day and im about to feel real silly

[gemini-care-barr]

Interesting you say ur top three heroes are Batman, Hal and flash! I’m surprised superman (or a superman member like superhero) didn’t take place of third and Bruce did! Can you indulge as to why? X

Oof, this one is gonna be a loaded answer haha.

So, just to get it out there, my top 5 heroes, in order, are The Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Batman (Bruce Wayne), Aquaman (Arthur Curry), and Superman (Clark Kent). There have been times in the past where Bruce and Hal have switched places, but they’ve been pretty solidly in their current spots for the past few years and I expect they’ll be staying there in the foreseeable future haha.

Now, I want to kinda defend my love of Clark while I’m here too, so I’ll start by saying I do absolutely adore him. I think he’s an amazing character and I’m absolutely already planning my future PHD dissertation on him and his stories haha. He has a rich history and is so admirable and sweet and good, not unlike my absolute bestest boy Barry, but I almost feel like that’s why he isn’t in my top 3. I already have Barry! And Barry scratches some intellectual and emotional itches that Clark doesn’t, which is the perfect segue into why I love Bruce.

I was a sad kid… lol. Like really sad! Like the level of sad where you can look at a ton of my childhood photos and I’m very rarely looking at the camera because I’d much rather be moping around with my face hiding up against my mom or dad ahaha. And it was with this incredible sadness that I looked upon Bruce’s face for the first time and saw a kindred spirit. Granted, Bruce had a (very well-known) reason to be sad while I was just a very marred by unfortunate events but otherwise mostly blessed child, but Bruce’s sadness was still very raw and real and relatable to me. And still is!

But I love him for more than just his broodiness, I also love him because of his incredible capacity to love and, maybe, hopefully, at least sometimes, be happy despite that sadness. Bruce is an amazingly tortured soul who still finds the time, and puts in the effort, to keep going, keep loving, keep finding and fighting for happiness. Does he get beaten down sometimes? Does he brood a lot? Does he come across as a bit heartless or cold? Self-isolate? Yes, all of the above. But he also has the BatFamily, he created the BatFamily. The BatFamily that includes Alfred, Selina, Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian, Duke, Barbara, Cassandra, Stephanie, Kate, Lucius, Gordon, Luke, and probably several more than I’m woefully forgetting. And he fights for and loves all of them and they are his happiness and light and motivation and I just love that so much because, yeah, same. I can be incredibly sad and mopey and not want to be with anyone, but then I remember my family and friends and I want to fight for them and their happiness too and I get Bruce in those moments.

Still, Bruce is not only intensely relatable for me, he’s also hugely admirable. Because, man, do I not want to do anything for anyone sometimes haha. Yeah, I just went on a whole spiel about wanting to fight for the happiness of my loved ones, but, hey, I’m not perfect and I am very susceptible to thinking “yeah, I care, but I’m sad right now and I don’t really want to care,” but Bruce’s unending fight is the fight to care despite having no reason to. He’s literally a vigilante in the most corrupt and crime-ridden city on the planet, a place where no one cares, and yet he puts on the cape and cowl each night to show and prove that he cares even if no one else does. He cares even if he has no reason to. He cares even when he has a reason not to. He’s so sad and broken and isolated, but he cares. And that is so dang cool.

So, yeah, I’m not here to start any “Batman vs Superman: who is the cooler hero??” discourse, but I am going to point out that I think their true dichotomy isn’t that one has powers and the other is just a man. It’s that one serves as a beacon of hope for a world that wants to hope, while the other is a beacon of hope for a world that is so sick and tired of hoping. The storytelling possibilities are endless in either direction, and I, personally, just find myself extremely drawn to the latter.

Bottom line: he’ll always be my Bruce 🫶