#but i mean i've only read the comics that are as recent as the early '00s maybe they diluted val's personality a bit

[spaceorphan18]

How an animated series saved Remy LeBeau (again)

It's a bit of a hyperbolic title, but catchy, non?

I was looking over my comic collection as I've decided to reread X-Men's 60 year history over the course of the summer. And it got me thinking about a dead period of 616 canon that I've never actually read. Around the time Rogue hooked up with Magneto and scooted off to the Avengers, I decided I'd be done with comics for a while. And didn't start again until Rogue (and Gambit) came back to the X-books in 2017's Astonishing X-Men. But it made me wonder -- What happened to Gambit in that time??

Well, after his solo ended, he flitted around to X-Factor and hung out with X-23 and then kind of went 'poof' for a good long while.

Why? I can only guess the same reason this is a running motif with Gambit. There's something about him that drives the X-Office crazy. I'm not here to speculate what or how or who of it all. I don't know enough about the back end of Marvel to give concrete answers. But I think what has surprised me (recently) is that he's definitely a fan favorite character.

[Yes, I know he can be a divisive character. Yes, I know elements of his character from the 90s have not aged well. Yes, I know there are those of you who can't stand him. Don't really care - you can get off my lawn, thank you.]

Which got me thinking -- Gambit's original popularity, I believe, stemmed from the original X-Men Animated Series. He had just started showing up in the comics at the time, and had barely any kind of page time. And the X-Men TAS swung and was a hit. And so was Gambit.

I don't really know that Gambit would be around today if TAS hadn't done its thing. Would the X-Office have kept him around? I really have no idea.

But they did try to get rid of him. That was the point of leaving him in Antarctica. And things were just never the same after that. Claremont tried his best in the early 2000s. And then Deathbit happened. Carey's run wasn't bad. But Carey clearly had an agenda for other things... And then, Gambit just kind of faded into the background. (I hear his run as a side character for Laura (X-23) was good - but I haven't read that.)

Bless Kelly Thompson (always) for sparking life back into him with (and his relationship with Rogue). And bless the fact that she actually married him to Rogue. Yes, I understand comics -- my god look what they did to Peter and MJ, no one really gets to be happily married except Sue and Reed. He and Rogue are now really tied together in a way that I don't think is going to be undone any time soon.

Even if the X-Office still isn't thrilled with the guy. Krakoa era has been less than ideal. (I can't comment on it fully - I haven't read much of it, as I'm behind on my comic reading.) But I've heard rumors that one reason Thompson was let go was that she didn't want Gambit killed off. And she didn't like the direction they wanted to take the character.

Which leads me to X-Men 97. Killing him off sucked. Really. As a fan, it really sucked. But - my god, the reaction to it. Gambit was amazing. And all I've heard lately is good things about the character. There's been a Gambit resurgence in the best way. He may have went out -- but he went out with a bang. X-Men 97 made an emotional impact with people. And that changes things.

Gambit is cool again.

And I love it.

What's even more exciting is the fact that the X-Office has changed hands again and Gail Simone on Uncanny who (if her Twitter/X feed is to be believed) is really enjoying writing the character. Which means (hopefully) at least another year or two in the comics of some (hopefully) great Gambit stuff.

And maybe there will be some changing of hearts and minds in the X-Office.

It's actually very exciting.

And, guys, I really (really, really) doubt he'll be completely gone from X-Men 97, too.

Because Remy LeBeau never stays down for long.

But as a fan, it's nice to see him be on top again. And I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon.

[tizeline]

Hi! So. I’ve been reading your Sep Au, (IVE BEEN FANNING OVER IT LIKE CRAZY YOU HAVE NO IDEA, ahem) and have a bit of a small question. (Side note, this is sort of a ramble of possibilities and questions so bare with me 😅)

Big Mama. Does she ever interact with Draxum or the turtles? (Not including Donnie yet haha) Knowing her and Draxum, they don’t really get along, BUT she might have made a deal at some point with Draxum and let’s say he might’ve sent the boys to collect it at some point or just overall do her a favor or something like that, what do they think of her?

Do they hate her or have mutual respect for what she does? I mean it is said that she doesn’t really like humans as much and she does run a pretty successful business with her Battle Nexus.

Speaking of Big Mama too, Venus.

Do the boys ever end up meeting her early on with Draxum? Or is it similar to the canon version of how they met. (The recent comic)

Anyways, feel free to answer but if you already have feel free to ignore this ask. Have a nice day (or night) and remember to drink water and get some sleep! 👍🏼

I'm so glad you like the AU! :D

So Draxum is very aware that Big Mama can and will kidnap his sons and put them in the Battle Nexus if she gets the chance considering how capable fighters they are. And GOD FORBID she finds out that they're related to LOU JITSU, that's just asking for trouble! Point is, Draxum makes sure to keep the turtles far away from her because he knows how dangerous she can be. They do, on occasion, conduct some business (like with that mystic train in the season 1 finale) so it's possible the turtles have met Big Mama on those occasions. But Draxum never sends them to do any business with her on their own, he's always the one doing the negotiating and the turtles will at most only accompany him.

Big Mama is essentially a mafia boss, and she's well known to be manipulative and shady, so the turtles don't exactly have the highest opinion of her. They don't hate her really, but they also don't like her. They definitely don't trust her.

But when it comes to the secret siblings, I was never planning on including them in the AU, and as excited as the Big Mama's Assistant face-reveal made me, I'm not planning on changing my mind on that. So uh. Venus or Frida or Jennika or whoever don't exist in this particular AU lol. I feel a bit bad about it because, again, I relaly like Mystery Sister even if we barely know anything about her. But I've been constructing this story around her or any other secret siblings not existing, so I'd have to change too much of the current story to make them fit into the narrative and like ughhhh. So sorry, no Mystery Sister :/

[distort-opia]

Hello! So I recently got into batman, and I’ve been slowly climbing my way up my reading list while also browsing through tumblr in search for metas about him, which is how I found your blog, and I really enjoy your metas!

I have a question though that won’t leave my mind, yet I also don’t want to stop my current reading list to jump into another series (JL), so I hope you don’t mind me asking this question to you instead 🙏

Basically, I’ve been wondering whether Bruce has opinions about Clark in relation to his self—Bruce’s self? So far from what I’ve read, Dick is (excuse me if the wording isnt exactly accurate, but just as a sums up) “the one that brings the light to Bruce’s darkness & the ideal self—the best of him”, whereas Joker is “the mirror to his self—the him that ‘what could have been’, the him who took different route”, and I wonder if there is a similar thinking/opinion about this self thing from him @ Clark too (like some sort of parallels)? I’m sorry if it sounds confusing 😅 Thank you!

Welcome to the fandom! Thank you for the kind words, glad you've enjoyed what meta I've put out. Hope you're having a fun time with Batman comics.

Oh Bruce definitely has opinions on Clark and Superman in general, in relation to himself. Though I have to make the note that in no way was Superman intended or built as a narrative foil for Batman's character, a "mirror self". Dick and Joker are characters who populated Batman's world from early on and were always meant to say something about the protagonist. Superman is a protagonist onto himself; he was created before Batman, and his popularity was actually a big factor contributing to Batman's creation. But that doesn't mean these two characters haven't grown together and influenced each other in a myriad of ways.

On a surface level, you've got the... grumpy one/sunshine one dichotomy. Superman is brightly colored and more emotional and fights in the light to bring people hope. Batman is enshrouded in darkness and stoically represses his emotions and fights in the night for justice and vengeance. One in the light, one in the shadows, one alien, one human, the "boy scout" and the "bad boy"... Even though they work together and are both on the side of good, these contrasts between Bruce and Clark are easily noticed by both others and themselves, and have led to conflicts on more than one occasion. But the way this translates in Bruce's head, to approach it from the angle you mentioned, is probably best summed up by the following pages... which I'm putting under a cut since this gets a bit long. Spoilers too I guess, for the Rebirth Batman run (if you haven't gotten to it yet).

Batman (2016) #36

"He's a better man than I am. [...] Who am I, compared to him?" And this is no way a new sentiment for Bruce:

Batman: Hush

Bruce doesn't see himself as a good person. He's capable of risking people's lives, of blackmail, lying, torture and manipulation, of unbelievable brutality and violence in the service of what he believes is his Mission. But he sees Clark as an inherently good person; as an ideal that he himself is not capable of ever reaching, of ever being. If I were to summarize only the projection aspect when it comes to Batman and Superman's dynamic, I'd say it's this one-- Superman is the hero Batman wishes he could be, but not one he'd ever try to become, because he believes himself fundamentally incapable of it. If as you said Dick is someone Bruce relates to and sees parts of himself in, but better (in trying to help Dick he retrospectively tries to help his child self), Clark isn't that. Superman is less of a mirror Bruce actively acts on, and more of a... negative. Clark is technically an alien, and yet in many ways he's more "human" than Bruce, having grown up with a loving family that Bruce wishes he had. Where Bruce tries to rise above the humanity he sometimes sees as weakness, both in emotional and physical terms, Clark is someone who's already "above" humanity, and yet yearns to be part of it. Moreso, Bruce envies Clark's sheer god-like power, but he knows that he doesn't have Clark's good character; that if he had this kind of unstoppable power, his need for complete control would drive him mad. Which actually happened one time, in Superman/Batman (2003) #53-56.

That being said, as is noticeable even in the pages above, this can result in Bruce putting Clark up on a pedestal, and idealizing him a bit too much, to the point of forgetting that Clark is a person too, with flaws and weaknesses. And not just that... the more ruthless and calculated side of Bruce never truly stops seeing Clark's power, both as something he can wield and something that can be turned against him (hence the hoarding of kryptonite and the contingency plans, in case Superman went bad). Perhaps Bruce's attitude more generally is illustrated best in this very recent moment:

Batman (2016) #128

Superman as Earth's greatest hero, and its greatest weapon. And Bruce is willing to risk his life to preserve that, because by comparison, he isn't these things. (And because Clark is his friend.)

[jariten]

MAY-JUNE 2024 ROUNDUP!

No intro as I've got nothing to say aside from, well everything I want to say about these titles so lets get to it

Baby Blue Heaven by Nao Tsutsumitani is the story of Shouko who had to take the place of her late mother in the household, meaning she is day in and day out doing thankless jobs for thankless people. Like her shut-in father who takes her presence for granted, and her runaway sister who suddenly reappears highly pregnant. At the brink of her sanity Shouko must make a decision between the comfort of her family members who refuse to take care of themselves, and freedom and agency for herself. While a short read that imo could've worked and been even more engaging long form (and it's messaging could've been even harsher!) I found its conclusion to be very effective. Not to mention I also find it very satisfying to experience works like this that allow women to reject the familial structures that they involuntarily have to participate in.

Ball and Chain is Minami Qta's most recent work and currently serialized on the website Shuro. Ball and Chain follows two different people. One is a middle aged housewife contemplating divorce from her husband who acts like she doesn't even exist. But how can she pursue divorce when she is unable to work to support herself after a bout of severe illness? The second is Kei, a gender nonconforming woman engaged to a man who becomes even less and less supportive as their wedding approaches. Feeling more conflict with who she is, as opposed to how she's perceived Kei questions her sexuality as well as gender identity. While I'm still only on the first volume I am so looking forward to reading the rest of this story. Kei's storyline I am especially looking forward to as Minami Qta are tapping into their own gender journey as a nonbinary person which they've been very open about on social media. Not to mention it made me really want to go back and explore their whole manga catalogue, yet another project I can't wait to get to! (soon?🥲)

I also finally got to read the works of Fumiko Okada. One of the very young breakout stars of Osamu Tezuka's manga magazine COM, and is several of my favorite manga artists' favorite manga artist. ODESSEY 1966-2005 compiles most her works from the COM era as well as some of her doujinshi work from the late 1960's. The way she played with not just style but also form and technique is to this day still no other comic read from anywhere really. I don't know how else to describe it other than the stories are unquestionably dreamlike but with a tangible form to them. While her legacy from COM is talked about by some like that of legends today, the rest of her career is rather sad. She unfortunately retired from manga very early, had a brief comeback in the late 1970's on the encouragement of Moto Hagio and her editor, but soon after put away her pen again. She attempted one more comeback in the 1990's but was this time actively discouraged from returning to manga when she was told by Keiko Takemiya that she no longer understood the industry. She then passed away in 2005 only 55 years old. Some of her one-shots I know have been scanlated here and there but I hope a collection like this become licensed in english in the near future esp as this collection excluded her comeback works.

Last I just want to highlight Kefuzo Kataku wo: Kasuga no Tsubone by Riyoko Ikeda. A fictionalized account of the life of Lady Kasuga no Tsubone who was a key figure in the Tokugawa Shogunate when she became the wetnurse of Iemitsu. I really liked how it had the time to tell a story that highlighted the tensions of a country moving from a period of constant war and conflict to a peaceful one and how the internal politics had to be navigated to keep this new government from immediately collapsing on itself. And I loved seeing that Ikeda can totally pull off a Japanese historical setting as well. The art is lush and detailed, we aren't spared on the grisly details either and went down way easier than other works made explicitly on commission as "learn history/litterature from manga" that I've read. (though in most of those cases the fault lies in me not having the basic education on Japanese history that high schoolers in Japan have gone through.)

[itgr]

ITGR and the Aromantic and Asexual Spectrum

aka a long, pretentious, non coherent, semi analytical ramble I took a month to make about ITGR and how aspec coded it feels to me. Brought to you by someone who re read the series three times in the last nine months

I was originally going to write about how aspec coded every character feels individually in reference to this post but then I realised, I've always found that ITGR as a general narrative and comic had aspec vibes and I couldn't pin point why until recently. So I wrote this analysis (?) dissecting different patterns I noticed with characters and the general narrative themes and why it just feels aspec to me.

Obligatory disclaimers and preface: I will be using "aspec" as a shorthand term for both the aromantic and asexual spectrums (I will use "acespec" when talking about the asexual spectrum and "arospec" when talking about the aromantic spectrum specifically). I'm not trying to claim any of this was intentional on the part of Grave or trying to speculate that Grave is secretly aspec. I know a lot of the things I view as aspec coding could be explained away by a character's trauma or implied mental illness but I'm going to be largely viewing things through an aspec specific lens for the sake of this specific analysis (also aspec people can have mental illnesses or trauma that can feed into eachother and that doesn't take away from the fact they're aspec or vice versa).

This is all just a very aspec centered interpretation of ITGR and I'm not trying to claim it's the "correct" or "only" way to interpret the comic (also i will be sprinkling in aspec headcanons here and there and you will just have to deal with that, sorry <- some characters dont have specific orientations that come to mind for me. they're just somewhere on the ace/aro spectrums/hj). Some of this is based on 'evidence' in the text or like narrative implications and framing and the other half is based on vibes/hj and, I can not stress this enough, just because I headcanon a character with a specific label doesn't mean I think the character would ever use that label or even know what that label is. It's more about finding a term I think generally describes how I interpret that character as experiencing attraction

Word count: 4869

Part 1 : ITGR and the Performative Nature of Love and Attraction

Idk, there's just something about the way love and attraction are represented in this comic that feels aspec? Unlike a lot of other stories, I've read, ITGR kind of portrays love and attraction in such a detached manner I can't quite describe, especially early on. Love's ironically not romanticised and is either portrayed as something fucked up or as something performative with some exceptions (more on those later). Let's start with the examples in which attraction is portrayed as performative, starting with the most obvious example: Satan.

Satan spends most of his time, taunting and toying with his reapers in a number of ways with various levels of flirtation, with Scarlet being the one he flirts with the most. He makes a lot of passes and allusions to love with her because he likes toying with her and is really possessive over her. In some scenes, especially early on, he comes across more like a jealous ex-boyfriend than he does a boss. The way Satan acts around Scarlet and Brook is so interesting because I honestly dont believe Satan actually wants to be worshipped or that he has any attraction to Scarlet. He's just a bored million year old being who's trying to have fun, and he's doing whatever he thinks will make them uncomfortable because that's fun to him. This becomes more apparent with the fact that the only time we ever see him be uncomfortable is in Episode 94 when he's meeting with Ashe. Ashe (at this point) is someone who practically worships him and treats Satan how he implies he wants Scarlet or Brook to treat him. And he hates it.

Its so interesting that when Satan's given something he has been implied to "want" this whole time, he absolutely hates it and is uncomfortable. Which signals to me that he doesn’t flirt with Scarlet or mess around with Brook because he genuinely wants them to submit or because he actually wants Scarlet to fall for him. He does it because he enjoys the fun of getting reactions out of people and he likes being entertained. He likes the chase but I don't think he'd be happy long term if they ever actually completely submitted and did everything he claims he wanted. Something about the way Satan does sexual and romantic coded things in a performative way without actually wanting anything feels so aspec coded to me (diversity loses! the worst person you know is acespec and aromantic coded!).

The other most obvious example to me is Azrael (I have a separate already semi written ramble about the general queer coding in Azrael's character, but that's for another day). He's probably the other only character in ITGR that is as openly flirty as Satan and despite that, all of his scenes flirting with people just convinces me he's not interested in the people he flirts with😭. All his scenes flirting with Celeste and Bernadette feel performative and hollow because of the fact that he doesn't seem to be genuinely interested in them romantically or sexually. He knows how and when Celeste and Bernadette are going to die and I think flirting with them is either a way for him to either please them and make them happy before they die or a way for him to entertain himself or both. Like his interactions don't read to me as "Oh guy flirting with women because he wants to date them/have sex with them because he thinks they're hot." They read to me as "guy who wants to have such much fun as he can and explore as many possibilities as he can with people he knows are going to die." His entire date with Celeste was essentially a way for him to learn more about her and almost 'test' the extent of her loyalty to God because he was curious. When Bernadette dies, there's no romantic element to him comforting her at all, despite the fact he spent so much of their interactions flirting with her.

The only other person we ever see him 'flirt' with is the princess from his time being alive and even there, at no point do we get any narration of how he feels about her or any comments about having feelings for her. It's heavily implied he was only being romantic with her by agreeing to marry her because he wanted her to have one good thing before she died so her death wouldn't be as painful. I have a theory/interpretation that to Azrael, there's an inherent relation between flirting and death and that he only flirts with people if he knows when they'll die (even if the flirting isn't genuine on his part). This idea is supported by the fact that post season 4 and Nyra destroying his ability to see the future and how she'll die, he doesn't flirt with her at all (which also more evidence that his interest in her was never genuine). Anyways, because of the performative nature of his flirtation with different characters, he's aspec coded to me (and he likes men but that's for another ramble).

I think the other example of a character expressing attraction only to reveal romance/sex isn't what they're after is surprisingly Wrynn? I have less compelling case for her compared to the others but I find it interesting that it would have been very easy to just make her in love with Ashe in a conventional romantic and sexual way but no. She doesn't want to date him. She wants to go back to being one with him (something something love as consumption but we don't have time for that). Episode 182 sets them in such a specific way (by giving them a lot of romantic and sexual tension and also an almost kiss) but even then, the reason she's doing all of that is so he can eat her and they go back to sharing a body because that's probably what an ideal relationship is like to her. I guess to me, having a character have so many signifiers of conventional allo (aka not aspec) attraction only to reveal they're actually not after sex or conventional romance and more into their own unconventional form of romance (if you can call it that) feels very aspec to me.

I've just noticed this consistent pattern with characters performing acts to signify attraction only to subvert that but either implicitly or explicitly showing that sex or romance isn't what they're after and it'd be one thing if it was one character (i'd still argue that this hypothetically character would be aspec but it'd be an isolated case) but the consistent pattern is borderline fascinating to me? It just creates such an interesting narrative and almost world? In a lot of media, romance and sex are just considered normal or expected but here, in ITGR, they're really not. Characters can perform attraction but that doesn't take away from the fact that more often than not, they're usually interested in something else and I dont know, I've always found it interesting.

Part 2: ITGR and the Horror of Attraction

I feel like a lot of media treats romantic relationships and attraction as generally good things that can be fucked up but usually when it is, it's framed an isolated event and I find it interesting how ITGR highlights a lot of the more fucked up aspects in romance and relationships. ITGR doesn't frame love as something inherently good or benevolent and I think there's something about that just feels aspec to me. I'm not trying to say romance or sex are inherently bad or fucked up. I just think that, like with anything, there is a certain amount of horror that can be drawn from and created from the concepts of attraction and I feel like the potential horror of romantic relationships (not necessarily even abusive relationships. Just the horror that can be drawn from the concept of being in a romantic/sexual relationship or being in love), or the ways love can be warped and turned into something terrifying is something that stands out more to aspec people than allo people if that makes sense.

I feel like ITGR frames love and attraction as something capable of being bad and hurting people as much as anything else. Jordan, the first sinner Scarlet ever kills, uses romantic flirtation as a weapon to lure women and kill them. It highlights the darker flipside of flirting and how flirting, something very common in romantic and sexual situations which is usually seen as positive or alluring, can be used to lower someone's guard and commit harm and violence. The reversal of using something romantic/sexual that is usually used to make characters look cool or charismatic only to use it highlights how dangerous it can be in a specific context has aspec undertones to me.

Another example is how ITGR deconstructs parts of the tsundere trope in Chase's past in Episode 15 and showcases the darker aspects of being in love. Here, love isn't framed as a good and positive emotion, it's framed as something fucked up that can leave you vulnerable to abusive and harmful situations because of the ways it can make you idealise someone which can make you blind to their abusive behaviour. I find it interesting how ITGR deconstructs some parts of the tsundere trope (aka a trope where a character acts cold and hostile to their love interest but gradually opens up) by showing how someone who is constantly mean and demeaning and physically abusive to you can be harmful. I find it interesting specifically because I feel like tsundere characters' hostile actions are sometimes justified by people using the fact they're in love, which implies that just because they're in love, it justifies them hurting someone, therefore framing love as a benevolent force that can excuse certain bad actions as long as they're for the sake of love. (BTW I feel like saying: I don't think the tsundere trope is a bad character trope. I think it depends on the execution and just find the way ITGR handles it to be interesting T-T). In this episode, ITGR instead implicitly claims that love can't justify bad actions, which further its grander treatment of viewing love as an emotion as any other, instead of putting it on a pedestal or treating it with extra importance like a lot of other media.

I think the other main example of ITGR highlighting a fucked up side to the concept of love is Liam's entire character. Liam's spiral after he realises Ana is dead is both terrifying and tragic. Liam killing an innocent man so he can be with her takes something that in some contexts would be seen as romantic (the fact that someone would be willing to go to such great lengths for someone they love) and twists it to an extreme to highlight how terrifying it is that love can be so all consuming that it warps someone's values and makes them do terrible things in the name of love. I feel less strongly about this but I also feel like there's something mildly horrifying about the fact that he's willing to do this for someone might not returns his feelings. Something about him assuming they were meant to be, despite never asking her, kinda also hits that "love as something horrific" horror spot but I feel like that's a weaker point.

ITGR just consistently frames love like another other emotion that has the capacity to do harm and in contrast to the way most media places extra importance or goodness on love and relationships, ITGR views it in a very detached perspective that feels very aspec to me and I hoped I managed to express that idea with these examples.

Part 3: ITGR and OOPS! THE MAIN COUPLE'S REALLY QUEERPLATONIC AND ASPEC (coded)!

Okay so up to this point, you might be thinking "Wait, what about Scarlet and Chase? They're the main characters and they're in love and are explicitly sexually attracted to each other" and to that, I say "Well yes, but no, but yes"/lh. I'm going to preface this by saying that this is probably going to be the most incomprehensible and hard to explain part of this analysis (?). When I said there's a few exceptions to ITGR framing love as something performative or fucked up, they're one of the main examples (I WROTE THIS BEFORE VER AND EVERETTE OOPS). Chase and Scarlet's romantic and sexual feelings for eachother are framed positively and tragically, you're supposed to be rooting for these two little doomed by the narrative dorks. That being said, they're both aspec as fuck 😭 sorry, not sorry, the aspec agenda doesn't end I'm afraid. I'll start with Scarlet because my interpretation of her is a lot more based on tangible evidence (while Chase is half based on vibes tbh/hj). She reads to me as demisexual and some flavour of arospec (greyromantic or even demiromantic). I think it's largely the fact she doesnt really seem to experience sexual attraction towards anyone, including Chase, until way later on. You could argue it didn't even start appearing until after she left the 9th layer (so it took her 25+ years to start experiencing sexual attraction towards someone she has romantic (?) feelings for). I know that you could probably argue that it's a trauma thing but that doesn't take away from the interpretation (demisexual people can have trauma and still be demisexual).

I feel less strongly about her being greyromantic but I still feel like that's another possible interpretation. It's mostly because I can't really see her being attracted to anyone? I think I know why scarlets orientation is hard for me to pin down. I think it's because I can't really imagine her being interested in men or women?? Like, I'd make sapphic jokes about her but I honestly just don't think she'd be interested in women. Or men. Honestly I feel like she's not attracted to any gender. If she ever is "attracted" to someone it's because they're someone who gets close to her and she's grown an attachment to them. Like she'd still be in love with chase if he was a girl. But also, I don't think she's attracted to any specific gender or any gender in general but also has the capacity to like any gender and I feel like calling her pan just doesn't fit so. Um. Yeah, I hope you enjoyed my unlabelled Scarlet side tangent. All of that being said, her not really feeling attraction for anyone except one person and it has to be someone she's formed a pre existing strong bond with…. Yeah. Need I say more/hj. (The unlabelled demisexual arospec Scarlet agenda is real)

Now onto Chase, also known as the vibe check. I'm going to be honest, something about him screams aromantic allosexual to me in a way I can barely convey. I think it's maybe the way when he talks about his ex, he talks about how hot she is, instead of talking about what parts of her personality attracted him to her. Also, I might be projecting but something about him canonically having a lot of failed relationships also just kind of contributes to the aroallo vibes I get (I'm not saying every aroallo person is going to inherently have dysfunctional relationships but I am saying it's not an uncommon experience for aromantic people to have a lot of past relationships that didn't work out due to "something" feeling off. Gestures). There's also the fact that while Scarlet takes a while to show any overt signs of physical or sexual attraction towards him (I was gonna say, this is except for her blushing when she sees him shirtless in Episode 13 but I went back and no she doesn't so demi Scarlet is so real), he does it a lot sooner than her and I don't know, there's something about how his feelings for her derive more from the fact he sees her as his equal or even above him while he struggles with human connection and attachment with most people and how his expression of romantic love isn't really conventional which feels very aromantic and queerplatonic to me. I guess I've always interpreted Chase having queerplatonic feelings for Scarlet that are romantic adjacent (Not saying all queerplatonic relationships are the same as romantic relationships, it heavily depends on the people in the relationship and how they feel and I just think Chase seems like a romance favourable aromantic person who'd label their queerplatonic feelings as romantic <- I don't think any of these characters know what the aromantic spectrum is, much less what queerplatonic relationships are. I just feel like, if we wanted to be technically, Chase's feelings for Scarlet, to me, aren't really romantic but I think he'd feel comfortable labelling them as such. I hope that made sense). To be fair, in a comic where like, over the half the main cast is heavily coded with at least one cluster b personality disorder/hj (I might make a post of how many characters in this comic have cluster b coded traits or symptoms as someone with two cluster b disorder but that's for another day), it makes sense that a lot of the connections and attachments characters make feel unconventional because a lot of these characters have issues related to attachment but even that, I'd argue that doesn't take away from the aspec reading.

Ever since I started reading ITGR back when season one and two were coming out, I'll never forget just. Not seeing the romance between Scarlet and Chase at all and being jumpscared when it became overtly canon because there was always something about their romance that felt, for lack of a better word, empty (NOT IN A BAD WAY) to me? And I just couldn't articulate what it was about their interactions and romance that felt so off and unconventional to me until now. I think it's partially also because of the way all their romantic scenes pre the season three finale focus more on affirming how much they care about and are attached to eachother as people, rather than how "in love" they are? And also the way their main forms of affection is hugs or physical touch and there's not really any "OMG O////O ARE WE ABOUT TO KISS???/!??@?@?" moment. Even in Episode 42, when we get a bit of a kiss tease, there's not blushing on either of their ends and Chase is talking more about how much he cares about her as a person and how much he's come to respect her and how even he, someone who in a way views himself as superior to most people and tries to position himself as someone worthy of deciding what's just and what isn't, has come to view her the ultimate judgement and he respects that (THAT WAS MORE INTIMATE THAN ANY LOVE CONFESSION BUT WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT). And even when he says he wants to see her in the eyes when she kills him, it's more about wanting to see her as a person before she dies. There's love there but it feels different than romantic love to me. Like, it's so intimate and unconventional and something about how we're four seasons in and they haven't kissed yet and the way their entire relationship is written and the way they express love and attachment to eachother has major queerplatonic undertones to me.

There's just something about how the main romance in this comic has a surprising lack of emphasis on romance. Anyways, I love my little murderous aspec people in a romantic QPR/lh.

Part 4: ITGR and The Aromantic One and the One That Wasn't (aka ITGR and the Devastation of Amatanormativity)

Amatanormativity is the common belief and societal assumption that everyone desires to be in a monogamous romantic and sexual relationship and marriage and it has caused a lot of pain to a lot of people but aspec people specifically (it's similar to heteronormativity and gay people). There are two examples of ITGR critiquing amatanormativity and highlighting how much pain it can cause, one indirect and one direct. Critiques and depictions of the harm amatanormativity causes are generally hard to find in most media and are mostly confined to media explicitly centered around aspec people and that's why it's actually surprising to me that (while I don't think it was intentional at all), on top of all the aspec undertones ITGR has, it also directly and indirectly critiques a societal expectation that inherently hurts and deeply affects aspec people.

I'm actually surprised I made it this long without talking about Brook at all. That being said, there's actually one character I need to talk about before I talk about him: Ana. Despite Brook being the explicit and more blatantly canon example of an aromantic character, Ana's backstory indirectly represents a common issue aspec people face. I know it's later revealed by Liam in Episode 48 that the man Ana married was a man she hadn't met prior but I still think there's a way to interpret her backstory through an aspec lense (Misogyny definitely has a part to play in Ana's backstory but I don't think misogyny being a factor takes away from an aspec interpretation of it and vice versa). There's just something quintessentially aspec to me about Ana's horrified face in episode 11 when we see her and her fiance as she remarks that she "didn't feel anything".

Her entire life fell apart because her abusive parents pushed amatanormativity onto her. It's the way she literally tries to tell them she doesn't want to get married or have children (implying she was happy being single and pursing her writing career) and they dismiss her and call her stupid and tell her that every woman wants to get married. They dismiss the notation anyone (any woman specifically) could be happy without marriage, or a relationship. Ana decides to do what they say and I know it's never explicitly shown but I think she wanted to believe they were right and that she'd develop feelings for her husband and be happy eventually if she just conformed and did what they said. It's possible she could have felt like she was wrong (or. broken/hj) and that she wanted to believe that marriage would "fix" her and make her happy (because society and amatanormativity consistently pushes the idea that marriage = happiness) and that would explain the horror in her face when she realised she didn't feel anything. It's also further supported by her line "Where was that happiness I was promised?". Her parents, society and amatanormativity literally kept telling her that she couldn't be happy if she stayed single and childless and sold her the idea that getting married would fix her and make her happy and that destroyed her life and, regardless of if Ana was supposed to represent an aspec struggle, it still stands as indirect commentary on how amatanormativity can hurt people who don't want to be married (or in relationships) (semi related but I personally headcanon Ana as aroace or arospec asexual ^^).

And with that said, let's move onto the only actually canonically aspec character in this comic: Brook, who's canonically aromantic. Also Brook being aromantic is canon regardless of it's explicitly said or not. I could go on a whole tangent about queer representation and the double standards between other queer rep and aspec rep when it comes to needing authorial intent to be seen as "real" rep but the short of it is that Brook's aromantic, not only because he said he's not interested in romantic relationships but because, on a fundamental level, he doesn't understand what romantic feelings are like and how they work. He's confused by the concept of romantic feelings, because he doesn't feel them. I don't think there's another way to interpret that. He's literally textbook aromantic. I'm not saying that trauma hasn't maybe influenced that and vice versa but you can be aromantic and have cptsd. I also feel the need to debunk the idea that Brook's time as reaper "made him detached from romantic love so he's not really aromantic" because that doesn't make sense. Yes, Brook's time as a reaper probably made him even more detached from human connections than he already was but there is no indication that he felt romantic feelings before being a reaper. He quite literally shows no interest in romance at any point in the comic, even before he died (also, again, while his lack of general ambition in anything could be interpreted as the product of some kind of neurodivergency or mental disorder, but that doesn't mean he can't also be aromantic). The fact he doesn't understand romance to begin with heavily implies he's never experienced it and doesn't experience romantic feelings in general, hence that he's aromantic.

Now that that's established, I want to talk about how ITGR depicts the feeling of isolation that can sometimes come with being aromantic, which in itself is kind of caused by amatanormativity. There's several scenes in the comic (Episode 176 being the most obvious example) where Brook laments getting attached to Chase and Scarlet because they're in love (well. Wellllllll, adajcent anyway/hj) and he feels like he'll never mean as much to them as they mean to eachother. He feels like because he's not romantically with either of them, he'll never the first priority to them (I personally headcanon as Brook having mild queerplatonic feelings for Scarlet but its not relevant right now and we don't have time for that). I feel like it's very common for aromantic people to feel isolated as a lot of their friends gets into relationships and because of how romantic relationships are seen as "superior" and it's nice of ITGR to represent that in a way. I feel like we do sometimes get canonically aspec characters in media but usually, if they're not the main main character, we don't really get much about how being aspec affects their lives and relationships? Or what their specific relationship to being aspec is? I feel like a lot of media ignores the complexities of being aspec which is why I really love Brook as a canonically aromantic character. While in most media, the aspecness of a character is more of a footnote and is usually treated as a label that's simply slapped onto a character, Brook's aromanticism doesn't exist in isolation and it directly ties back to several parts of his characters. It informs some of his feelings and thoughts. It feels like something tangible. I think it says a lot about how the writing that Brook is written so much like an aromantic character and his struggles with not feeling romantic attraction are treated with complexity that I genuinely forgot it's not explicitly ever said he is aromantic. I don't know, I really like him as aromantic rep.

Part 5: Bonus Headcanons + Conclusion

I didn't have any specific sections to put these headcanons in so I'm just going to through a bunch out there. Ashe is so greyromantic and greysexual to me. Like he definitely had feelings for the wife he's implied to have had when he was alive but I like to think he doesn't really feel attraction outside of that one specific person. Nyra screams arospec asexual lesbian to me. That's it. Send post. Need I say more? (I'm never getting over how her date with Azrael just convinced me that neither of them are attracted to the other's gender/lh). Oddly enough, I don't have that many headcanons about Bernadette. I'd say she could be ace? Vibes anyway. Scarlet's unnamed childhood best friend is so aroallo to me (vibe checked). I wrote a lot of this before Ver and Everette's interactions were revealed so you can either interpret them as the token allos or they can be acespec as a treat/hj.

With all of that done, thank you to anyone who actually read this whole thing. I am so sorry I'm insane/lh. I hope you enjoyed hearing out this interpretation. I feel like this analysis (?) has finally allowed me to be able to articulate why ITGR has always read to me as an aspec heavy piece of media despite only one character being canonically aspec, it's a combination of several things but mostly just the way the comic views love in such a detached and unglamourised way compared to a lot of other media. Love and attraction are still in the comic but the forms of love we see are unconventional. It kind of creates a world where genuine love and attraction aren't really the default, like out of the most openly flirty characters in the comic, most of them have ulterior motive and their flirty is performative and I find that so interesting. I don't think this is necessarily the only way to interpret a lot of the characters and themes but I hope I've opened your eyes to the aspec ITGR reading ^^

[radioactive-earthshine]

Hello

Could you explain what you mean by Bart and Brainaic's friendship? I admit I never read any bit of LOSH and the only thing I remember of them interacting is when Brian told Bart he drank to forget him. It doesn't seem like they are friends but IDK

Teen Titans/Legion Special (2004)

This is actually something fairly on brand for Querl to say given his crassness inherited from the long line of Dox-Bitchiness. Querl is one of those great examples of a character who is a good person but he's not necessarily polite and nice all of the time. Although in more recent comics and media he has gotten significantly nicer.

His loose "blink and you miss it" friendship with Bart in the 90s comics comes as a little bit of a surprise considering the types of characters they are but it works as their dynamic evolves around mutually started chaos and working to get out of said chaos. The start of their connection also shows a surprising side of Post-Zero Hour Querl when he elects to show Bart some compassion after he had a very bad day.

This is not to say that their friendship was without a lot of frustrations as Bart did inflict himself upon the Legionnaires in ways that left... an impact.

Bart's first encounter with Querl can be found in his own comic when recently stranded Legionnaires specifically sought Bart out for help in getting back to their own time.

It ended disastrously when Bart while in the midst of an extreme case of the zoomies attempted to use the Cosmic Treadmill to take them home, but he had absolutely no ability to control it, and instead just flung everyone around through varying intervals of time (and gave Imra a migraine and Querl, Koko).

Impulse #21

Bart was even more hyper-active in this issue than normal, and I think it had something to do with the Slurpee he was drinking at the start of it.

Regardless if the zoomies were a result of Mark Waid deciding to go full ham for the chaos in this issue, or if the slurpee did something, the day did not end well and the Legionnaires left hoping to find another way home.

Querl did not expect to see Bart again for a long, long time, if ever.

They were all wrong.

Because like the One Ring he resurfaced as he inflicted himself upon them again about a day later at S.T.A.R. Labs in Legion of Super-Heroes (1989) Issue #88.

But not before the issue opens up reminding everyone that while Bart does have his chaotic moments, Querl is no less guilty of chaos and is his own unique brand of mayhem.

They are in fact, kindred.

LMFAO @ Rokk's "I've asked him NOT to." in regards to blowing up S.T.A.R. Labs because Rokk has about as much control over Querl as Max or any authority figure over Bart when he has an inkling.

S.T.A.R. Labs' solution to dealing with Querl was to put him under watch and surveillance, much to his extreme foul-mouthed displeasure, another trait he shares with Bart.

"What could possibly go awry?" is early Bart Allen's famous summoning incantation.

With Bart back in proximity of the Legionnaires things begin to unfold again chaotically, this time however it is Querl's fault for trying coopt Bart into helping him operate under the radar put on him.

This is their first instance working together, and it is the incident that brings them together and what likely prompts Querl to drink.

With the telepathic ear plugs, Querl directs Bart and gives him what he believes are clear instructions, but he didn't count on Bart's own brand of logic and instead helps initiate a countdown towards nuclear meltdown.

Fortunately, everyone is able to work together to stop catastrophe and all it takes is a Coluan finger subjected to speed force.

"Well. THAT went all right, then, didn't it?" you're a grenade in a barrel full of oatmeal, sir.

The day's events leads to the Legionnaires being kicked out of S.T.A.R. Labs, and out of a home, until they can find a solution to get back to their time.

It also leads to the heartbreaking scene at the diner where Bart is very bluntly and firmly told that he was absolutely not accepted as a Legionnaire. But not only that, he was the first ever hero to be turned down. Superboy at this time is an honorary member so it's a poignant gut-punch and it's hard to read.

Querl lurks outside for reasons unknown.

In true Bart Allen fashion all he wanted to do was help and he did act earnestly it just was not a good day. Six to One rejected him and the comics do not reveal who voted to allow him in.

It is likely that Querl voted to allow him membership, but we never find out, but it is my personal interpretation due to how the final page goes and this is where we see Querl lean into compassion for someone kindred. Maybe he saw a little bit of himself in him.

Querl opens up to Bart literal direct communication and this is the start of a positive friendship between them. Bart has this link with Querl for an impressively long time in comic continuity, at least 11 issues, however the comics do not show them actively communicating until later when Bart is needed to help save the world from C.O.M.P.U.T.O.

We see them again in Legion of Super-Heroes (1989) #99 when Querl reveals to his team that he shares a link with Bart and summons him. Much to the Legionnaires' bemoaning.

Querl isn't wrong, they really are up against time and a threat that is literally world-ending. He trusts Bart is capable and reliable enough to efficiently help them at this point and Bart does.

We also get a humorous snippet showing Querl trying to translate Bart's pictograms. If anything, communicating with Bart sometimes had to have been a mental exercise that he either appreciated or attained a migraine from.

After this point, we do not see them interact much except for in the Teen Titans/Legion Special, and then the next time they are seen even in the same proximity is during Final Crisis when another Brainiac 5 entirely bottles Bart's 'youth' and leads to his resurrection.

They had an interesting and unexpected dynamic/friendship and it is one I feel people generally neglect to notice or consider unless you happen to be a fan of both comics.

We do see some hints in other media that is a throw-back to this old friendship and dynamic such as in The Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century Issue #15 when an alternative history to Bart Allen lands him working with Querl in his birth time.

In this particular version of Bart he has not evacuated to the past (if he ever does) and he is still in VR, however he still works with Querl in harmony and manages to impress them enough to get an invite to the team immediately. The entire issue is like a little love-letter to Bart and is a delight to read and stands on its own.

So there's Bart's interesting relationship/friendship to Earth 247's Brainiac 5 that maybe some in the Flashfam fandom or LOSH fandom may have overlooked.

It's fun, it's unexpected and it's interesting, and it would have been nice to see it a little more fleshed out but 1000 years of time displacement just makes this impossible.

[genericpuff]

Let me preface this: I'm an architecture major

I used to be a big LO fan but obviously fell out of love of it like a lot of us did, and I know LO uses SketchUp for backgrounds. That is not an issue I have with the comic or any comic, I want artists to have an easier time in any way they can. I was always under the impression Rachel imported the models into Photoshop and drew over them like you can see in the early episodes with the sketchy lines. Well, school just started recently for me and I now have access to SketchUp for my coursework, and I made a few discoveries: 1. Photoshop cannot read SketchUp files, and while you can import them into Clip Studio through some configuring, they can be finicky and will lose parts in the importing process, so they are best used into the original SketchUp program to export as PNGs. 2. Many of the models Rachel uses are incredibly easy to find, especially if you put "modern", "luxury", or "classy" before the main part of the search. Many of the houses and rooms for example are first page results. 3. The biggest discovery: You know how we all assumed Rachel was hand-drawing all the lines over the SketchUp models and how she gave up the longer LO went on? Well, it's actually worse. It turns out SketchUp has a thing called "Styles" in it, which means you can mess with the lines and look of the model, such as making it look more like a blueprint or playing with the colors. Well, they have a lot of styles on SketchUp known as "sketchy lines", which are the exact ones Rachel used early in the comic to fit with her style, and it takes a literal click of a button to do. All she would do is pose the model, click the sketchy line style, and export the PNG. That's it. So, yeah, Rachel is so checked out of the comic that she can't even bother to click a single button to make the models fit into the comic's style anymore. Use that information however you like.

Ouhhh sorry OP, I'm about to like, undo all the work you just put into that ask. We've already known about the 3D background problem for a long while now.

First off, it's more likely LO doesn't use SketchUp but actually Acon3D, which is a website that offers 3D models both for free and at cost, which are actually compatible with software like Clip Studio. As soon as you open it up you'll likely see a lot of very familiar backgrounds that are often used in romances, isekais, and period pieces. It's literally the go-to spot for Webtoon Originals creators. Like, to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if Naver was partnered with them because of how many of their creators use it.

Second, there's plenty of up-to-date evidence to support the fact that Rachel doesn't exclusively stick to one software, sometimes she's drawing in Photoshop, sometimes she's drawing in Clip Studio Paint, sometimes she's drawing in Procreate. She's undoubtedly using Clip Studio for her paneling, speech bubbles, and backgrounds, as there are built in tools to utilize and convert 3D materials into lineart, among other features that are recognizable as coming from CSP because they're not available in PS or Procreate.

Third, yes, she just uses filters to turn her backgrounds into lineart, this has been apparent since S1. The only backgrounds she's ever 'hand drawn' were the ones involving lots of nature and even those are mostly just Photoshop brushes stamped on.

Like I realize I'm probably bursting your bubble here and I apologize for that lmao but these buildings were never hand-drawn, this is not new information (￣﹏￣；) I appreciate you mentioning your own experiences with it as you're learning it though, I find once you start to learn the process yourself you really start to notice what others are doing. Even I've gone through that over the past couple years as I started to use 3D models and more advanced tools specifically for drawing webtoons.

I will mention btw, there's nothing wrong with using 3D models for your character drawing and backgrounds. The only time it tends to get frustrating is when you're reading a comic that isn't making any attempts to blend the background in with the art style.

Like, The Kiss Bet probably uses 3D models to help with perspective and laying out scenes quickly without second-guessing, but you can tell they still hand-draw over the models because they look natural and like they belong to the comic's stylization. The characters don't look out of place sitting in a living room and the living room doesn't look distracting.

But then you get stuff like Lore Olympus, Let's Play, and Midnight Poppy Land, and it becomes a bit more obvious they're not giving a shit about backgrounds lmao

I get it, WT's deadlines are cutthroat as fuck, but if it's getting to the point that you have an entire team behind you and you're literally just copy pasting video game models from Phantom Hourglass, then it's probably time to re-focus your priorities a bit. There are comics with as few as 1-2 assistants (and even in some cases no assistants at all!!) pulling off backgrounds better than this, even when they're taking shortcuts.

(Nevermore and City of Blank)

But a lot of that does come down to how WT manages its expectations as well as support for their creators. The deadlines and requirements WT puts their creators under are insane and awful in the long-term, and they're not acting with the amount of professionalism they ought to be for a platform that's trying to breakout as a major publisher here in the West. I feel like it comes down to WT loosening the choke chain around their creators, but also creating a standardized level of quality to ensure it's not suffering for the sake of quantity. The traditional literature industry has real editors and stages of quality control for a reason, whereas WT is more interested in just throwing as many series at the wall and dumping all their stock into the ones that stick.

[tranakin-skywalker]

Wait you're making a fic for your torgruta au?? Tell me more please

Yeah, I've been thinking about writing a fic about it for a while now. Most likely it's going to be a series of oneshots so I can hop around to different parts of the story I find interesting.

A lot of the ideas are coming from the hyena discord, so I can't claim them as my own. But they are just too good to pass up. Like togruta making infrasound with their montrals and constantly projecting their moods. So when Anakin first gets to the Temple he's constantly screaming for him mom at a pitch that only other togruta can hear.

I've decided that that's actually how he first meets Ahsoka. She hears him making his lost, scared, where's mom, where's family sounds and seeks him out to comfort him. Ahsoka would be about four here, and would have left Shili recently enough that she could still remember what those noises mean, even if Tatooine togruta sound different from Shili togruta. (to a Shili tog Anakin's distressed noises sound like he's being maimed, but that's just because of the generational trauma and general awfulness of being a togruta on Tatooine. What they would think of the vocalizations he makes when actually being maimed we will not think about)

So Anakin and Ahsoka end up growing up together right from the start, and the main reason Anakin is so insistent on being knighted early is so that Ahsoka can be his padawan. It's a private thought he has to himself at first, but as Ahsoka gets older and no masters are showing any interest in taking her on she starts to panic. Anakin tells her that he'll just have to get knighted before she ages out so that he can be her master. And then the Clone War starts and he realizes that keeping his promise means bringing her onto the battlefield with him where she could die and he's not sure if he'll be enough to keep her alive :)

Because Shmi is a togruta too she does not get bought by Cleigg Lars. I am just. not dealing with the implications of that. (Listen. I want to read Shmi's marriage to him as a good thing, but I have a very hard time doing that.)

Now, there's actually a comic (Legands, I think, not Disney canon) where Gardulla goes to Watto and tries to buy Anakin back after he wins the Boonta Eve Classic. So have some fun thoughts about what would have happened to Anakin if he hadn't gone with Qui-Gon.

In the fic, Gardulla goes to buy Anakin but of course he left with the Jedi, so Gardulla decides she'll take Shmi as payment for Watto's debts. After all, if Shmi already had one child who turned out to be a talented podracer, well, she might have more. Hence the younger sibling that comes about shortly after Anakin leaves.

When Anakin goes back to Tatooine because of the nightmares about his mom he finds out that Watto sold his mom back to Gardulla and has to go to her to buy his mom's freedom. Which would be traumatic, on multiple levels. Anakin finds out that a month before he arrived, Shmi tried to escape with the sister Anakin didn't know he had, and Gardulla had their chips detonated. Gardulla even gives him their triggered remotes as proof.

(Of course unbeknownst to Anakin, Shmi and the sister survived and are living with a village of other escaped togruta.)

A lot of canon still happens the same, including Anakin's fall, Order 66, Mustafar, etc. But when Bail Organa sees Ahsoka at Padme's funeral he tells her that he can take her to a mutual friend of theirs. Ahsoka thinks (hopes) it's Anakin at first, and is devastated when she realizes it's Obi-Wan (and then hates herself for feeling disappointment because she should be happy that Obi-Wan is still alive, but he's not Anakin, and this means that Anakin must be dead).

There's no Lars family and the Organas would have a harder time explaining a non-human daughter, so Ahsoka and Obi-Wan end up taking care of the twins. They eventually find their way to Tatooine because it's out of the Empire's notice and, well, because it's a connection to Anakin (Ahsoka's trying to hold onto anything she can that connects her to her brother and Obi-Wan is in his self-harming phase.)

And it's there that they eventually run into a little community of togruta and a woman who looks suspiciously like Anakin who has the last name Skywalker. But hey, Shmi gets to meet her grandkids at least. Even if it happens at the same time that she finds out that son she thought she'd sent away to a better life and hasn't seen in 13 years is dead. (Obi-Wan sees how much Anakin's death destroys Shmi and decides to never, ever tell her what he became. Vader will be his burden and it's a secret he will take to his grave. Anakin Vader is dead, and he'll save them from ever finding out how it really happened)

Of course, 15 years later Ahsoka goes to rescue some rebels from a walking death omen in black when she realizes the infrasound calls he's shrieking out of his mangled montrals is devastatingly familiar.

[velvetvexations]

That sounds a lot like my interpretation of Boys Will Be Bugs~!

I bent over backwards and crafted an elaborate theory as to why Eminem's Abracadabra isn't too terribly transphobic, I can't judge anyone for making excuses for the media that's important to them.

I don't think characters just being heroic and sympathetic necessarily covers getting something like this badly wrong, but a lot of other Velveteers also chimed in, including this anon:

(Just realized this is pretty silly, feel free to ignore me/not answer this, I just saw One Piece mentioned and the hyperfixation jumped out.) But just to go to bat for One Piece a smidge as someone who is trans and read all of it, while yeah Okama(Queen Ivan) leaned very transmisognistc(which was made worse in the anime for some reason??) the intention for him, his subjects, and the other gender fluid character, Bon Clay, was meant to be good. It fell HELLA short, but there was an attempt at least. However!! I did want to add, the comic has been going on for a long time, and by one of the more recent arcs with two new, very clearly openly trans characters, things are MUCH better! The transfem one, Kiku, says outright when asked that she's a woman at heart which is accepted by everyone, and her story was really sweet and made me tear up(her anger is never treated as predatory or masculine, she's allowed to just be a woman who is also a samurai), and the other transmasc one, Yamato, is referred to as a boy by everyone despite him not changing his presentation at all, which is pretty rad imo given how hostile people can be to transmasc people with breasts, and both characters are allowed to bathe in the baths that match their genders at the end of the arc. They were still a little messy in the "yeah this wasn't written by a trans person" way, and certain misogynistic/transphobic parts of of the fandom on reddit get a little weird about Yamato, but I didn't see anything glaringly wrong with the way either of them was written like with Okama or Bon Clay. The vibe I got from the comic was that early on Oda meant well and included some characters who were intended to be positive rep but were messy and fell very short, but as time passed he figured it out and the more recent ones are genuinely phenomenal rep. Ofc that doesn't mean you need to read/watch OP(especially since again the transmisogny is worse in the anime?? still don't understand what happened there but Oda had no control over it) like god I would never tell anyone to do that lol, but I did want to just chime in and offer a perspective from someone who read it and felt like the more recent rep was really good and worth mentioning. Oda has his issues for sure, and has a lot to make up for, but based on what I've read he IS making up for it.

And, honestly, that makes me really happy! Oda always seemed like a cool guy and it's great to know he is in fact a real cool guy. According to @changelingfangs in the replies, he's friends with people in the subculture he based a lot of those characters on.

They're now just openly accusing me of not being a trans woman because trans women don't identify as AMAB and I'm apparently hostile to every trans woman that talks about transmisogyny.

...no?

It's a good theory and I think that plays a part in it for sure, but I think mostly it's just thinking it's the worse thing because it's their group's oppression. It again kinna goes back to that Lennon/Ono song with the n-word in the title, that's just how radical feminism works, trans/misogyny is the only thing that really matters.

Still, interesting thread to have spotted here and I think it's in that soup somewhere.

imagine thinking using a meme format is asserting a cultural claim to it

like seriously, has any Black person ever said that there was something wrong with "deracializing" either or even both characters in the Dis _ Look So Mad meme by substituting them with white characters?

[nyhti]

What are you currently reading? Any suggestions for someone who is trying to indulge in some older batman runs?

Thank you for the ask!

I recently read Under the Hood for the first time! Then that inspired me to read A Death in the Family again. I wrote a little tag essay about these stories actually, but then didn't post it lol. And then I randomly read Detective Comics #388 ”Public Luna-Tic Number One” (1969) again, which I did post about. Oh, and before that I was reading random Alan Grant issues from the 80s/90s. And also I'm still trying to get through every single Pre-Crisis Lex Luthor issue in chronological order lol xDDD I'm currently in the year 1983. I've also been meaning to read Steve Englehart's run again, because my Hugo fic heavily references it and I wanted to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything about it.

Alright! Now, I don't know exactly what does ”old” mean to you. I mean, some people could consider comics from the 90s old, but to me those are very modern. I'm just gonna talk about Pre-Crisis (1938-1986), because that's what I'm most familiar with. I don't really know nor care about Post-Crisis that much. Aaaaaaaaaaand. I have actually made a list before for Pre-Crisis issues that I'd consider essential right here. It's not a definitive list, I've left out a lot of big issues and put in quite a few personal indulgences, but over all I still think it's an ok list. But you asked about runs so...

Actual runs, at least how we've come to know them, didn't really start until the 70s, I think. Continuity did start somewhere in the 60s though and from then on we do have longer stories like the Outsider saga and Dick leaving. Steve Englehart's run (Detective Comics #469-476 (1977-1978) is the first story that I see people calling a ”run”. It's on my previous list and I'm definitely going to recommend it again lol xDDD It's classic for a reason. And after that the only ones that that I'm personally familiar with are Gerry Conway's and Doug Moench's runs. Gerry Conway's run I'd 100% recommend! I'm not entirely sure what issue could you consider the run starting from, but to me Detective Comics #503 "Six Days of Scarecrow" (1981) is the first issue and Detective Comics #526 "All My Enemies Against Me!" (1983) is the last. It's all collected in Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway. I loved it personally. It's my favorite Batman run there is <3 And a lot of it is illustrated by Don Newton, who's my favorite Batman artist! And Dough Moench's run? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh. I'll admit, I didn't finish it. It was just so boring DDDx I wouldn't say it was bad, but Moench is not one of my favorite writers lol. I'm going to try and finish it at some point though, because I do want to see how Hamilton Hill's story ends. The run picks up right after Conway's run in Batman #360 ”When Slays The Savage Skull...” (1983) and ends in Batman #400 "Resurrection Night!" (1986). It's the last Pre-Crisis Batman run. It doesn't seem to be collected anywhere, though.

Anyhow, I felt like adding some fun individual Pre-Crisis stories that I really enjoy that I couldn't really put on that older list of mine :333 These are not in anyway big or important stories, just stories that had that special something in my opinion :3

Detective Comics #76 (1943) "Slay 'em with Flowers" Joker being Poison Ivy before Poison Ivy was created <3 This is something that I really like about early Batman. They had so few villains they had to give them themed capers that would've later been given to villains with that actual theme. Kinda like how Hugo was being Scarecrow before Scarecrow was created (Detective Comics #46 (1940)). Also I just really love the art in this <3 It's so lively and flowy. You can see raw scans of the inks of this story in a book called Jerry and the Joker: Adventures and Comic Art. I wouldn't say the colors ruin the inks, but I do think they look nicer without the colors.

Detective Comics #180 (1952) "The Joker's Millions" From since around the 70s every time a writer decides to write a Joker story, they seem to think it has to be BIG. He has to do something HUGE and EPIC. ”The Joker's Millions” continues to be one of the best Joker stories of all time, because all he tries to do in this issue is just pay his damn taxes.

Batman #74 (1952) "The Crazy Crime Clown!" Interesting Joker issue, because this is the first time he's ever in a mental hospital. Golden Age Joker was perfectly sane and it wasn't until the 70s when they made him officially mentally ill, but it's interesting to already see them toying with the idea this early on.

Batman #179/2 "The Riddle-Less Robberies of the Riddler" (1966) First time Eddie's riddle obsession is looked at as anything other than just a silly quirk.

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #70-71 (1966-1967) Selina turns Superman into a fukcing kittyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Penguin is here too, I guess.

Batman #200 ”The Man Who Radiated Fear” (1968) Super cute Scarecrow story that includes a couple other villains as well <333 Nothing much more to say. Just a good time!!!!

Detective Comics #377 (1968) ”The Riddler's Prison-Puzzle Problem” A very classic Riddler story <333 I also base my Riddler's psychical appearance on this issue. If they still did stories like this at DC today, I might actually start reading current issues again. Like truly when was the last time we got an actually classic Riddler story? Just a one issue long story where he sends Batman a riddle he's going to rob a bank and then Batman stops him? I miss it when stories were allowed to be small and the characters were just allowed to be themselves, instead of some grimdarktwistedthis'llknockyoursocksoff re-imagining. I love how Eddie gets thrown around in this one <333 His ass looks amazing in this issue <3 Also his hair looks very cute when it's messy <33

Wolrd's Finest Comics #177 (1968) "The Duel of the Crime-Kings!" One of my favorite Joker stories <333 I really think Joker peaked in the late 60s. Really, I think most characters peaked around then. You can probably tell by how many late 60s stories I put on this list.

Batman #210 "The Case of the Purr-Loined Pearl" (1969) I am obsessed with this girl group. All of them iconic. All of them stars. They exist in my verse, too.

Detective Comics #388 (1969) ”Public Luna-Tic Number One” Another one of my favorite Joker stories. They are toying with the mental illness one in this as well with Batman's ”the problem will be whether to put you in prison -- or in an asylum!” quote. Also my Joker's psychical appearance is based on this issue.

Batman #258 "Threat of the Two-Headed Coin" (1974) Fist appearance of Arkham Asylum - or Arkham Hospital as it was called then. I don't know why I didn't put this on my previous list. It should definitely be on there. A Two-Face story.

Batman #291-294 ”Where were you on the night Batman was Killed?” (1977) Here's a slightly longer story. All of my boys and girls are so cute in this <3333 I love it when they are able to get along and also when no-one is above anyone. Yes, some are more popular than other's but they still all feel equal.

Batman #326-327 "This Way Lies Madness", "Asylum Sinister" (1980) Professor Milo story!!!! Yippeeeeeeee!!! I love that you can see day to day life at Arkham!!! Also this is the issue where Milo becomes an Arkham patient.

Detective Comics #503 ”Six Days of the Scarecrow” (1981) A good Scarecrow story. Also the first time he's admitted to Arkham and it's not because of mental illness, but because he suffered an overdose. The overdose saga continues in Detective Comics #526 (1982) where he is still very ill and Jervis takes advantage of his vulnerable state. And then in Batman #373 "The Frequency of Fear" (1984) and Detective Comics #540 "Something Scary" (1984) he's finally recovered. I don't think it's mentioned in these issues whether he was taken back to prison or Arkham once he was captured, so it seems unclear whether or not Pre-Crisis Scarecrow ever became a permanent Arkham patient.

Detective Comics #510 ”Head-Hunt by Mad Hatter” (1982) Technically the second appearance of Jervis, because this is the issue where imposter Mad Hatter and the Jervis we know and love today were split into two characters. Also my favorite Jervis story :333 I base my version's physical appearance on this story :333

The Brave and the Bold #183 ”Let's play... The Death of Batman” (1982) Riddebat shipper's dream comic lol. Just an all around good story!! Love how Eddie is written!! It's so fun. The art is not very good though. The artist had no clue how he wanted to draw Riddler so in some panels he's literally Bruce's identical twin and then in other panels he'll have a completely new face.

Batman #356 ”Double life of Hugo Strange” (1983) My favorite Hugo story <3333 ((((Actually I admit Engelhart's run has kinda started to rival this tbh)))))))) But this one is illustrated by Don Newton so there's that. First time ever we see him without the beard btw! And more importantly this is the issue where he starts wanting to be Batman.

[paluis-log]

I'm going to make it short so you don't have to read my usual -too long-talk about life, haha! Early this year, I applied for a government grant, and they recently announced the list of people who will receive it: I'm part of it, which means... I will get 3k to finally finishing my personal comic project Bibi! 

I'm very excited about it, this is something I've been waiting all this year and of course, I'm very excited to finally make the final volume of Bibi. Sadly, this next year 2024 will be my busiest one, as I only have one year to redraw and finish this project besides a comic contract I've with a US publisher, still, I hope to find the strength to keep drawing for fun ToT

I will be using my Newsletter to keep you updated so feel free to subscribe to it too, this is free, don't worry! It's over here: Newsletter 

Thank you so much for helping me get where I am now <3

[thefirstknife]

This question just randomly popped up in my mind, do Ana Brays face markings mean anything? If they do, would you please tell me?

Also would you please, give some interesting facts about Ana Bray? Or any lore including the involvement of Ana Bray?

Thank you!

Nothing in particular on her face markings, as far as I'm aware. We know that she didn't have them before becoming a Guardian, which means she put them on at some point after being rezed.

Her comic (part 3) also further specifies by showing her without the markings during Twilight Gap:

But the next time we see her in the same comic, when she's hiding after faking her death, she has them:

Possibly something to help her hide her identity? She also changed her hair style in the meantime. But we don't really know if they have any additional meaning.

One of my favourite Ana Bray facts was the stuff she was doing before she became a Guardian. I love her talking about her profession:

You can lead a machine to language, but you can't make it think. Well, you can't. But I can. My name is Ana Bray. If you want to insult me, call me a neurolinguist.

Not that it isn't a fine and noble profession, but neurolinguistics is about encoding language. I'm a psycholinguist. I study how language can lead to independent thought.

People don't really see her as a scholar and I've even seen people saying she's not smart, but she is absolutely incredibly smart and educated. Her profession is what led her to teaching Rasputin everything she did, in an effort to teach him not just how to speak, but essentially how to feel and think independently by using language as a base.

These are some older lore tabs that were recently reinforced with some extra details in Season of the Seraph. It's a fascinating read into Ana's expertise and thinking and her work that I've rarely, if ever, seen people mention. I linked the first bit up there, the rest in order: 2, 3, 4 and 5. Favourite part:

Military history, he's been fed by the truckload. But then I started in with operas and symphonies. I don't want him just to think about things.

Humans don't communicate strictly through data. We also communicate through art, through expression. If Rasputin is to be the most effective communications device in the Sol system, I want him to feel things.

Ana was incredible as a scientist and once you know how smart and innovative she is, you can kinda see why she always wanted to return to that passion and learn more about her pre-Guardian life. She even says it in the same comic I linked above:

At Twilight Gap, that Fallen gave me the opening I needed to let the world believe Guardian Ana Bray was dead, so that Doctor Anastasia Bray could finally do what needed to be done.

Another interesting and peculiar less known fact is that Ana was very likely a member of the Future War Cult. I kept seeing that being said, but couldn't figure out where it came from so I went to do a little research. Now for start, Future War Cult wasn't all just bad stuff we remember from Splicer; they were founded by Maya Sundaresh herself and have long lasting ties to Golden Age science and experiments. It might be that Ana joined or cooperated with FWC with that connection to the Golden Age in mind; Ana always knew who she used to be and always wanted to learn more about it. FWC could've been an early attempt to find out.

Back in Destiny 1, there was a mission that had Lakshmi sending you to Twilight Gap as part of the quest to get the exotic No Time To Explain. The quest involved a lot of different missions and included artifacts from Praedyth and Pujari, but also Ana Bray; they were artifacts manipulated by the Vex and time, with links to death. The artifact found at Twilight Gap was Ana's bracelet:

Upon returning to Lakshmi with it, she says:

Interesting! She is not only familiar with this, but she also says that the FWC inner circle will be grateful that the artifact has been "returned," sort of implying that it has been there before, with Ana. I wouldn't say it conclusively proves that Ana was a member, as the FWC may have been interested in the artifact purely for research purposes; the quest itself delves into researching artifacts that were pulled from time; Ana's bracelet may have been pulled because of the connection to No Time To Explain and Elsie. It's an interesting quest, if anyone wants to see it in its entirety, link to the only full playlist I could find is here.

Either way, it's a neat little tidbit from the past. I can definitely see Ana exploring FWC for potential links to not just her personal past, but also for the Golden Age in general.

[helenaheissner]

Comic Review: Green Arrow by Joshua Williamson Volume 1: Reunion

As a longtime Green Arrow fan, I had been looking forward to reading the first trade paperback of the current ongoing series by Joshua Williamson for a few months now. Williamson's been having something of a moment lately- his also ongoing run on Superman has been widely-lauded and very much enjoyed by me personally, and while I've not yet read his Batman & Robin series, the snippets I've seen online make it look very much up my alley.

In the wake of a recent event storyline titled Dark Crisis (also written by Williamson, and which I've not read either), Oliver Queen, rich brat turned hardcore survivalist turned bow-wielding man of the people superhero, is missing, stranded on an alien world for reasons he knows not why. So he does what he does best: survive.

The drive to survive is something I consider an inherent part of Ollie's character: he's motivated not by a desire for justice, vengeance, or familial obligations like many other DC heroes, but by an iron will to survive implanted by his being stranded on the not-so deserted island of Lian Yu for several years. He wants to survive, by any means, and he wants that for everyone around him as well. That is both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness, because sometimes by choosing survival over all else, he neglects to let himself truly live the life he wants with the family he has built, or otherwise cross moral lines for the sake of his (admittedly very noble) concept of a greater good. That dissonance is a huge part of what drives this six-issue opening act. Because while Oliver is doing what he does on the other end of universe, his family- specifically his adoptive son and former sidekick Roy Harper/Arsenal; the on/off love of his life and mainstay of the JLA, JSA, and Birds of Prey, Dinah Lance/Black Canary; and his illegitimate biological son, former Buddhist Monk turned co-Green Arrow, Connor Hawke.

It's on their hunt that they find trace of Roy's presumed-dead daughter by an unrepentant supervillain, Lian, and a touching father-daughter reunion happens... Only for Lian to suddenly vanish in a rush of light, and rematerialize on the same world where Oliver has been stranded.

Let's talk about the Arrow Family for a moment, shall we? The Arrow Family is freaking great! Oliver and Dinah are genuinely one of my favorite ships in all of comics, Roy is a Teen Titans mainstay who's undergone some of the best character development in all of comics, Connor is a brilliant example of a legacy superhero done well, and Oliver's adoptive daughter and other sidekick, Mia Dearden/Speedy, as well as his other-other sidekick and much younger half-sister Emiko Queen/Red Arrow, are two of the most criminally underrated heroines in the DCU. But due to several questionable editorial mandates and a few baffling writing choices over the past twenty or so years, the family has been scattered. Lian was straight-up dead for over a decade in real time, Connor and Mia were stranded in the proverbial comic book limbo after a continuity reboot in the early 2010s (long story), Roy and Dinah were on the outs with Ollie at various points in the past two decades, and while Emiko has gotten to hang around pretty consistently, the character wasn't created until 2013 and didn't became her big brother's sidekick until 2017. And this is without even getting into all the instances of Oliver being an idiot about his personal life and isolating himself from his family in the process.

This comic makes that a driving tension in a very literal sense- something is causing the members of the Arrow Family to teleport away from each other when they're near each other, causing Oliver to conclude that the only way they can all survive is to be apart.

He's wrong, of course. And he realizes he's wrong. And I won't spoil why, other than a very clever reveal of just who from Oliver's personal history would want to mess with him, as well as setting up a new potential archnemesis for the entire Arrow Family going forward in Amanda Waller (which, frankly, is a move that makes so much sense thematically it's surprising it took so long for someone to try it, given the potential contrast between Oliver's humanistic progressivism and Waller's authoritarian patriotism). What I will say that when truly pushed, when truly forced to choose between survival and family, Oliver sticks to his guns (so to speak) and chooses his family, chooses to take a chance on all of them being together no matter what risk there is for something to go wrong. Because when you're hardwired for survival above all else, the idea of letting someone, anyone, let alone a whole family of someones, into your heart is TERRIFYING. But Oliver Queen is not a coward, and he wants very much to be able to prove wrong all the many, MANY people who think that he is a bad man. He wants to be able to look in them in the face and tell the unblinking truth when he says 'no, I am a good man. Fuck you.'

And he does. And it is GLORIOUSLY CATHARTIC.

This book also does emotional beats very well. We get two parent-child reunions in this story, between Roy and Lian and then later Ollie and Connor, and both of them bring on the warm and fuzzies something fierce as these people who have been through so much together put aside all the hurt feelings and bad memories and are just thrilled to see each other once more. And then there's Ollie and Dinah's reunion... Let's just say I swooned. I swooned something fierce when my OTP got a spectacular (and rather hot) kiss scene.

This book also does banter and superhero lunacy very well (Roy and Peacemaker getting into a shoot-off becomes a plot point, and Oliver fights literal alien corporate fat-cats while in space) while still balancing it all in real emotion and a compelling personal story with personal stakes. It's aided by superb artwork from Sean Izaaske, who not only provides fantastic panel layouts, action scenes, and facial expressions, but also does several fun stylistic shifts when representing different periods in Ollie's history. It builds on established lore and character arcs without actually requiring you to know the storylines they originally came from (which is not always easy in superhero comics). Basically, it's very, VERY good, and I recommend it highly.

***

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[s10127470]

X-Men: The Next Mutation (Revised)

I'm sure some of you reading know by now, almost a year ago, as one of my earliest posts on this site, I shared an idea I had for an new cartoon based around the X-Men titled "X-Men: The Next Mutation"

And people really seemed to like it.

But looking back at it, while I don't think its bad by any means, I do feel like I could've gone into more detail on a few things.

So in honor of the recent release of the long-anticipated X-Men '97, I've decided to revised the concept and make it a little more fleshed-out.

So without further ado, let's get started!

A lot of my previous points from my original post still stand, but just to recap....

This series would essentially be a spiritual successor to Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Just like that series, it feature will an all-new take on the X-Men. Though they wouldn’t nearly as drastically changed. Along with that, the series will make the X-Men more powerful than most of their other iterations through Secondary and Tertiary mutations.

In the comics, from what I’ve read, additional Mutations are rather rare, only happening to few mutants.

Essentially this series will be expanding on the concept of Secondary Mutations, as in this universe, they’re far more common among mutants, with about 90% of the population often experiencing them during early adulthood.

Tertiary Mutations, however, are a lot rarer, with only some mutants experiencing them in their lives.

Though on this case on Mutations, they would be categorized and labeled in a similar fashion to the Quirks from My Hero Academia.

The animation for this series would be done by Flying Bark Studios, the same studio that not only did the animation for Rise, but also other shows like Glitch Techs and Monkie Kid.

And I mean….you seriously wouldn’t want a Marvel cartoon with animation like this?!

I can already feel the whiplash people would have after seeing something like this (and X-Men '97) after having spent a decade with Marvel cartoons with stiff and cheap animation.

As for the art-style, in contrast to the more realistic (and obviously MCU adjacent) style that Marvel’s previous cartoons had used during most of the 2010s, X-Men will have a far more stylized and exaggerated.

Originally, I choose ArtFrenzyBoris as the one do the art-style for this show.

But after thinking about it, I feel like fellow Deviantart artist Garth2The2ndPower would be a perfect choice as well.

Her art-style just screams that it would translate well to animation.

The best way I could describe her style is like a perfect fusion between Japanese anime and Western cartoons.

Its look is quite reminiscent of anime, but you can clearly tell hat it was made in the West.

Plus, it looks like it came straight out of an action cartoon from the mid-to-late 2000s/early 2010s.

Another awesome thing about her style is just how incredibly expressive it. I love when animated characters are allowed to actually feel, well, animated.

It just makes them feel more alive in my opinion.

And given the animation studio Garth would be working it, that’s a must.

Anyway, here’s just some of the art she's done….

Similar to Rise of the TMNT, the series will sport a more comedic, light-hearted tone than its previous iterations and be more episodic with some story arcs sprinkled about. I know some people are gonna have a problem with the first detail thanks to one particular show that I’m not gonna mention making people think that anything remotely comedic involving long-existing superheroes is automatically bad. But similar to Rise, despite being more light-hearted and comedy focused, it won’t shy away from dramatic or emotional moments. As for the latter, that won’t be problem since the 90s show and X-Men Evolution did the same thing as well.

Also, might be a bit controversial, but the way mutants are viewed in this universe is a bit more neutral than most iterations. While some of humanity still hates and fears them, others are actually fine and even like them. I’ve always liked it when the X-Men actually had human supporters (or at least humans who actually appreciate what they do), which most adaptations almost never really explore.

The series will also feature various romantic relationships. Some iconic, some rare, some that were set up but never explored, some popular with the fans, and even some that have never really been considered. Also, there will be no relationship drama (or at least drama that isn’t melodramatic or shit). Yes…that does mean you-know-what will be not featured in the series in any kind of way…..and I think we will all be better off for it. 

As for the X-Men themselves, the roster is a little smaller than I initially shared for the first post.

And unlike the first post, I'll actually be diving into their characters apart from their powers.

But before I do that, I do want to bring up this cool detail.

The X-Men in this series (at first), will be wearing team uniforms similar to their teen years.

And this is what they'll look like.....

Done by TheScarletMercenary, I've always felt these outfits were a perfect modernization of the classic X-Men outfits from the 60s.

Also, there will be some variations on these outfits for some of the X-Men.

Anyway, let's go ahead and actually talk about the team themselves, starting off with the leader himself and the first X-Men, Scott Summers, codename: Cyclops.

This Scott is quite similar to his Evolution counterpart, being far more confident, outgoing and optimistic than most of his other iterations. But he does still have that great sense of discipline and responsibility (which could be the result of his father being an Air Force veteran), that made him the perfect person to be the leader of the team.

Scott himself hails from Anchorage, Alaska, is 18-years old, stands at 6’0 and weighs 187 lbs, has fair skin, a slim (almost gangly-like) but fairly lean build, shaggy brown hair in a curtains style and his eyes are usually covered by either his trademark yellow visor with red lenses or his pair of ruby-quartz sunglasses.

As for his backstory, it's largely the same as in the comics, with only two notable differences.

His younger brother Alex (who I'll touch more on a little later), wasn't separated from him and they actually got to grow up together.

His childhood wasn't tampered/monitored by "you-know-who".

As for what he's capable of....

Scott's Primary Mutation is Optic Blast, which grants him the ability to shoot powerful beams of ruby-colored concussive force from his eyes. However (like in every other iteration), he can’t exactly control them due to a childhood injury. So he has to always wear either his visor or sunglasses in order to keep them at bay. But he does have enough control over them to control the trajectory, size and even density of his beams. From being wide enough to demolish a wall, to light enough to bounce off surfaces. He’s also a surprisingly skilled tactician for someone his age, possesses an uncanny sense of spatial awareness and is trained in hand-to-hand combat.

His Secondary Mutation is Energy Channel, which grants him the ability to harness the energy of his optic beams throughout his body. As you would expect, this grants him new abilities. These including being capable of augmenting his speed and strength to superhuman levels, granting himself the power of flight, and shooting his concussive beams from other parts of his body beside his eyes like his hands and feets.

As for his voice actor, Scott will be voiced once again by his recurring VA, the ironically named Scott Porter.

Next we come to the second member of the X-Men, Jean Grey, codename: Psyche.

Jean is what would expect from any version of the character: spunky, outgoing and caring, she’s sort of like the big sister of the team.

Jean herself hails from Trenton, New Jersey, is 18-years old, stands at 5'5 and weighs 130 lbs, has fair skin, an hourglass figure with a bottom heavy build, red hair in a bob-cut, green eyes and red lips.

As for her backstory, it's largely the same as in the comics and other iterations of the character.

Jean's Mutation is Psionic, which grants her various telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Apart from the obvious reading the thoughts of others and moving things with her mind, she can also project psionic energy (which is colored pink) in the form of concussive blasts, use said energy to also create various constructs and use telekinesis to grant herself the power of flight.

The reason I didn't put down her Primary (which was Telepath) and Secondary Mutations (which was Telekine) is because Psionic is essentially a combination of the two.

Yep! Jean is one of the only two members of the X-Men at the start of the series that already has their Secondary Mutation, since just like in the comics, she was an early bloomer.

As for her voice actor, Jean will be voiced once again by her recurring VA, Jennifer Hale.

Now we come to the third member of the X-Men Henry McCoy, codename: The Beast.

This Henry (along with the 90s animated Henry) is a true return to the Beast we know and love.

He's intelligent, well-mannered, and one of the most mature and level-headed members of the X-Men, due to him being one of the oldest members. But he still has the wit, playfulness and wisecracking nature of a teenager.

Henry hails from San Diego, California, is 19-years old, stands at 6'2 and weighs 302 lbs, has fair skin, a broad and muscular build with a posture and figure akin to that of an ape, abnormally large hands and feet, long blue hair that was tied up in a ponytail and blue eyes.

We also have the first X-Men with some difference to their uniform!

Henry's wouldn't wear any gloves or boots and his uniform wouldn't have any sleeves.

As for his backstory: Henry’s Mutation awakened the earliest out of all the X-Men, with him having it since the day he was born. This unfortunately led Henry to have a rather sheltered childhood. But during his teen years, he would start sneaking out and secretly playing as a star quarterback for the football team of the local high school. But once he joined the X-Men, he finally got the chance to experience life outside his home without having to do it in secret.

Henry's Primary Mutation is Primate Atavism, which granted him the pinnacle of human intelligence along with a body akin to that of an ape, with the physicality to go with it. His physical capabilities seem to be an amalgamation of various primates. He has the strength of a gorilla, the speed of a monkey, the dexterity of a chimpanzee, the agility of a gibbon and the flexibility of a orangutan.

His Secondary Mutation is Genetic Atavism, which allows him to switch between different animalistic forms whose capabilities are an amalgamation of the animal family they represent. These forms include a feline form, a canine form, a bovine form, a bear-like form, a boar-like form, a pachyderm-like form, and a rhino-like form. But his primary form and the look he'll be rocking for the entire series once his Secondary Mutation awaken would be a sasquatch-like form.

This form would grant Henry a muscular, sasquatch-like build, blue skin, blue fur all over his body, large clawed hands, large feet, sharp teeth, pointy ears, long messy blue hair and blue eyes.

It would also increase his height from 6'2 to 7'2 and his weight from 302 to 402 lbs.

The form would also keep the abilities of Henry's Primary Mutation, but enhanced to far greater levels.

As for his voice actor, Henry would be voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, who I've always felt would be perfect for a younger version of the character.

No offense to his recurring VA Fred Tatasciore, but I don't think he has quite the range to pull off an convincing voice for young man.

Next we come the fourth member of the X-Men and the second-in-command Ororo Munroe, codename: Storm.

This version is a mismatch between her typical portrayals and her Ultimate iteration. Being one of the oldest members of the team, Ororo is quite mature and surprisingly wise for her age. She also has a street-smart and witty side to her as well. And for someone who spent most of her life on the streets, Ororo has this odd sense of regalness and composure. These traits have made her essentially the second-in-command of the X-Men.

Ororo hails from Cairo, Egypt (but was originally born in Kenya), is 19-years old, stands at 5'11 and weighs 145 lbs, has dark skin, an hourglass figure, white shoulder-length hair in the form of braids, blue eyes, gold lips, a black headband and gold lightning bolt earrings.

As for her backstory, it's largely the same as in the comics, except she never got worshipped as a goddess among a tribal community.

Ororo's Primary Mutation is Meteorological, which grants her the ability to manipulate all forms of weather. From thunderstorms and tornadoes, to blizzards and tsunamis. She can also generate and manipulate electricity, manipulate wind, water and ice/snow, alter the temperature of an entire environment at will and her own body temperature depending on her current environment, use wind currents to fly, has an uncanny sense that allows her to predict weather patterns, and thanks to her time as a thief, is skilled in picking locks and physical combat.

Her Secondary Mutation is Element Phase, which grants her the ability to transform her entire body into either an electrical, wind, water or icy form. This not only makes her nearly invulnerable to damage (as most physical attacks would just phase right through her), but also enhance her physicality in some ways. Her electrical and wind forms would grant her superhuman speed, agility and reflexes, her water form would grant her elasticity, and her ice form would grant her superhuman strength and resilience. She can also create physical constructs out of the elements, even with her own body, the Secondary Mutation grants her much greater control over the weather than before, and she can even turn into an elemental giant by absorbing the elements (like the air and water) around her.

As for her voice actor, she would be voiced by previous recurring VA, Danielle Nicolet.

Now we come to the fifth member of the X-Men Wren Worthington, codename: The Angel.

You may have already noticed that I referred to Angel as Wren Worthington instead of his full name, Warren Worthington III.

Well that's because in this series, Angel is a female rather than a male.

The reason why I choose to do this is because seen a lot of recent fan reimaginings of the X-Men having Angel either being a female or non-binary, and I thought that would an interesting change to do for the character.

Personality-wise: she’s spirited, carefree and often has her head in the clouds (both figuratively and literally).

Wren hails from New York City, is 18-years old, stands at 5'11 and weighs 145 lbs, has fair skin, an hourglass figure with a muscular build, long blonde hair, blue eyes, sky blue lips, black bird earrings and a pair of big white wings on her back.

As for her backstory: Wren was born into a life of wealth and privilege. However, everything change when her Mutation awakened, which brought her into conflict with her father Warwick, the CEO of Worthington Industries and a hater of mutants. He desperately tried to keep the fact that his daughter was a mutant under wraps. This led to Wren having something of a sheltered life during her adolescence. Thankfully, the X-Men came along and Wren was finally able to be free.

Wren's Primary Mutation is Avian Flight, which granted her bird-like wings that allows her to fly. Her body is also naturally adapted for aerial transversal, can fly at superhuman speeds and possesses enhanced lung capacity and eyesight.

Her Secondary Mutation is Healing Light, which grants the ability to manipulate a special kind of light with healing properties. She can also use the light in an offensive manner and thanks to its properties, Wren also has an accelerated healing factor similar to another member of the X-Men.

As for her voice actor, she would be voiced by Grey Griffin, who I felt would be perfect for a female version of Angel....or any character voiced by LOB.

Next we come to the sixth member of the X-Men Kurt Wagner, codename: Nightcrawler.

He's what you would expect from any version of Kurt: kind-hearted, well-mannered, caring, and a devoted Catholic.

Kurt hails from Germany, is 17-years old, stands at 5'7 and weighs 164 lbs, has blue fur-like skin covering his entire body, a slender build, shaggy dark blue hair, full yellow eyes with no visible pupils, pointy elf-like ears, slightly fanged teeth, three fingered/toed hands and feet and a long pointy demon-like tail.

As for his backstory: Kurt always had it rough. Ever since he was born, he was cursed with the appearance of a demon. He was able to make the most of it by becoming the star of a traveling circus, which made people believe his appearance was just part of the act. However, when the public discovered that wasn’t the case….they didn't really take it well to put it lightly. Luckily, the X-Men came in time to save Kurt him from a slow and painful demise.

Kurt's Mutation is Shadow Move, which grants him the ability to teleport anywhere in a limited radius through a cloud of black brimstone. Thanks to his peculiar physiology, he’s also naturally agile and flexible, can become nearly invisible in shadows, has night vision and is a skilled swordsman.

Yep, Kurt is gonna be showing off his swashbuckling skills here! Three-Sword Style BABY!

As for his voice actor, he'll be voiced again by his recurring VA, the previously mentioned LOB, Liam O'Brien.

Now we come to the seventh member of the X-Men Piotr Rasputin, codename: Colossus.

Piotr is want you would expect from any version of the character: a gentle giant with the heart of the artist.

Piotr hails from Russian, is 17-years old, stands at 6'9 (7'4 in steel form) and weighs 260 lbs (495 lbs in steel form), has fair skin, a broad and muscular build, black hair in a flat-top almost buzz-cut like style and blue eyes (full grey when in steel form).

Also, just like Henry, he doesn't have any sleeves on his uniform.

As for his backstory: Piotr used to live a simple life as a farm boy. But after his Mutation was exposed, he and his family found themselves in great danger. But thanks to the X-Men, the Rasputins found a new home here at the Westchester District, where they could remain safe.

Piotr’s Mutation is Organic Steel, which grants him the ability to convert his flesh and skin tissue into a steel-like substance. This steel form grants Piotr incredible strength and resilience, and when matched with his use of hand-to-hand combat, makes him the team’s resident powerhouse.

As for his voice actor, he'll be voiced by his recurring voice actor, Chris Cox.

Next we come to the eighth member of the X-Men Bobby Drake, codename: Iceman.

Bobby is what would expect from any version of the character: playful, fun-loving and a bit of a prankster and show-off.

Bobby hails from Boston, Massachusetts, is 16-years old, stands at 5'4 and weighs 135 lbs, has light skin, a slim build, shaggy brown hair and light blue eyes.

He also has short sleeves and pant-legs on his uniform, wears no gloves or boots and rocks a black durag with a red X-Men symbol at the center (similar to his Ultimate counterpart).

As for his backstory: Bobby lived a fairly normal life with his family. But when his Mutation awakened, fearing that his family would be put in danger because of it, he ran away from home in order to keep them safe. But he eventually found a new home here at the Westchester District.

Bobby’s Mutation is Moisture Freeze, which grants him the ability to convert the moisture around him into ice and snow. Apart from the obvious freezing objects and creating ice and snow, Bobby also possesses a high resistance to low temperatures (so much so that he can coat himself in a flexible armor of ice) and can create various constructs out of ice. These include the likes of shards, shields, pillars, melee weapons and slides (the latter of which he uses to travel quickly across long distances).

As for his voice actor, he would be voiced by Jason Marsden. I've always felt Jason Marsden would make a great Iceman, and he did a good job as the character in X-Men: Destiny. And chances are, he could've become a recurring voice of the character if Marvel hadn't enter their "the X-Men don't matter anymore" phase because they were huffy about the move rights.

Now we come to the ninth (and the last member of the X-Men with a Secondary Mutation) James Howlett, or Logan as he prefers to be called, codename: The Wolverine.

Personality-wise, he's pretty similar to his iterations from Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men.

Where still keeps his gruff and tough nature, but he's far more responsible, level-headed and laid-back when compared to most of his other iterations.

Logan hails from Canada, stands at 5'2 and weighs 295 lbs, fair skin, a stocky and muscular build, black hair in his trademark devil horn style, a five-o'-clock shadow and blue eyes.

As for his outfit, it's practically the iconic yellow and blue suit. Mask and all!

Backstory-wise: Most of his past is completely shrouded in mystery to the characters and even himself. But they do know that he’s by far the oldest (in spite of his appearance) and most experienced member of the team, having fought in some of the biggest wars of the 20th century. Not too long ago, Logan was once their enemy, constantly trying to take us out. But after finding out that he was being forced to do so in order to save his family, the X-Men decided to help him and out of gratitude, he joined them team.

Logan's Mutation is Healing Beast, Model: Mustelidae. Similar to Jean, it's the combination of Primary and Secondary Mutation. Initially, this granted Logan an accelerated healing factor, which allows him to heal from injuries much faster than the average human, superhuman physicality, enhanced animalistic senses and a pair of razor bone claws that he can eject from his knuckles. But thanks to Weapon X, government genetic research facility project, Logan was made even stronger than before. His healing factor has made so powerful that he’s able to quickly heal from even the most fatal of injuries, his physicality and senses have enhanced to even greater levels and even his claws are now coated in the near-indestructible metal known as Adamantium. A few years later, his Secondary Mutation finally awakened, which granted him the ability to transform into a man/were-wolverine, which enhanced his physicality and animalistic senses to even greater levels. And even more so with the berserker rage the form gave him. Unfortunately, Logan barely has any control over his form, which puts everyone around him in mortal danger, so he rarely ever uses it.

As for his voice actor, you already know who I have in mind.....the one.....the only.....STEVE BLUM!

Now we've made to the tenth and final member of the X-Men Kitty Pryde, codename Shadowcat.

Kitty is what you would expect from any version of the character: an intelligent social butterfly whose also a massive lovable nerd with a passion for computers.

Kitty hails from Chicago, Illinois, is 14-years old, stands at 5'0 and weights 95 lbs, has slightly tanned skin, a slim and slightly petite build, long curly brown hair tied up in a ponytail, hazel eyes, pink lips and multicolored braces.

As for her backstory: Kitty was a near straight-A student and an expert at computers. However, this often made her the target of bullying, which only got worse after her Mutation got exposed in public. But luckily, she found a new school to attend.

Kitty's Mutation is Phase Shift, which grants the ability to make her entire body intangible, along with anything she touches.

As for her voice actor, she would voiced by Jennie Kwan, who you'll known best as Suki from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Chun Lin from Street Fighter 6.

And accompanying her is none other the little dragon himself, Lockheed!

It's actually to think that this series would mark his first major adaptation in anything.

It's weird how despite being the companion of one of the X-Men's most prominent players, they've never had him appear in anything outside of the comics and video games.

It's sort of like the case of Franklin Richards, where despite being the son of the two of the members of the Fantastic Four and a major character in the cast, he's never made an appearance outside of the comics.

Anyway, Lockheed is what you would expect from any animal companion: Playful, mischievous and loyal to the nth degree.

As you expect: He's a purple dragon with full yellow eyes similar to Kurt, and stands at 2'6 and weighs 20 lbs.

Backstory-wise, it's pretty accurate to how it was in the comics.

Being that Lockheed comes from a race of aliens that resemble dragons known as The Flocks, who've been at war with the ravenous alien race The Broods.

Lockheed end up getting stranded on the Broods' homeworld and was being hunted by the aforementioned Broods.

During that time, he would encounter Kitty, who, along with the rest of the X-Men, were brought to Broodworld by force in order to be experimented on.

And it's history ever since.....

As for his voice actor, he would be voiced by everyone's go-to for providing animalistic vocals, Dee Bradley Baker.

Well that's all I have for now.

This is gonna be a multiple-part series.

For this first part, I did want to cover the recurring characters/allies, the villains and even some potential episodes, but I felt that it would make this post a little too long for most people.

So I decided to just dedicate this first part to just introducing the X-Men of this series.

I hoped you all liked this first part and if there's anything you want to know about this version of the X-Men, let me know!

[thefinalboss387]

Roderick Kingsley Appreciation Post!

It's time for me to gush over yet another of my favorite characters ever: Roderick Kingsley, AKA the Hobgoblin! He is a Spider-Man villain that was introduced in 1983 to replace the Green Goblin, who at the time was dead. (And as we all know, everyone stays dead in comic books. Cough.)

As much as I do love Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, the Hobgoblin actually managed to quickly climb the ranks into being my favorite Marvel villain, and one of my favorite characters of all time. He is the ONLY comic book character that I've gone out of my way to collect every individual issue that he appears in, and it's the piece of my physical comic collection that I am the most proud of to be honest.

The character has a bit of a messy history behind the scenes, but I truly believe he came out all the better for it. Beneath the read-more, I'll talk a bit about that complicated history, how I think it benefited the character, the direction that more recent stories have been taking him in, and just why I think he's so great!

The Hobgoblin was created by writer Roger Stern in 1983's The Amazing Spider-Man #238. A thug stumbles across one of Norman Osborn's Green Goblin lairs accidentally as he is running away from Spider-Man. Norman Osborn was thought dead at the time - later comics would reveal he was actually alive (GASP!) and hiding away in Europe - so the thug turned to a man obscured in shadows and sold him the Green Goblin equipment. The shadowy man made his own modifications to the Green Goblin costume, altered the formula that gave the Green Goblin his powers so that it wouldn't have the unfortunate side effect of insanity, and set out to make a name for himself as New York's new supervillain, the Hobgoblin. Oh - probably worth noting that he also coldly kills the thug that sold him the equipment by blowing up his truck. Good ol' Hobby.

The Hobgoblin quickly established himself as an exciting, formidable new A-list Spider-Man villain. Very early on, he was established as a behind-the-scenes manipulator that brainwashed people to wear his costume and stand in as patsies to protect himself from prosecution or harm. In one of his earliest appearances, he brainwashes small-time crook Lefty Donovan to stand in as the Hobgoblin as a way to test and monitor his modified Goblin formula and avoid giving himself any negative side effects -- he has Lefty killed by remote-controlling his glider to smash into a building when the conditioning begins to lift. He sought to become the next Kingpin of Crime, blackmailing anyone he could and seeking out any and all of Norman Osborn's equipment and journals in his various secret lairs.

All the while, the intrigue of the Hobgoblin's true identity continued to build. Just like the Green Goblin in his early days, the Hobgoblin's identity was a juicy mystery. He was frequently shown scheming by himself in his lair, concealed by shadows. A bunch of different comic covers teased that this just might be the issue where he's finally unmasked. A TON of characters were being painted as red herrings with motive and means to be the Hobgoblin. He brainwashed and framed Flash Thompson so that the public and the authorities would believe he was the Hobgoblin -- and of course, the readers knew that Flash was being set up. The Hobgoblin's shadowy secret identity is even shown talking familiarly with Mary Jane Watson in one scene to raise the anticipation even more.

I don't want to say too much more about the Hobgoblin's big identity mystery days, because truthfully that is not why I love the character. I feel like it's hard to discuss the Hobgoblin as a character without also taking about all the behind-the-scenes drama at Marvel. So, long story short, Roger Stern left the book before he was able to reveal the Hobgoblin's identity, the character was written by a few other people that all had their own idea of who the Hobgoblin should be under the mask, tensions were high and writers were openly trying to upset each other.... which led to the Hobgoblin being revealed as Ned Leeds, an investigative reporter and close friend of Peter Parker. Worse still, the Hobgoblin was unmasked as Ned Leeds after Leeds' death in another comic. No big, personal final confrontation with the unmasked Hobgoblin. No hearing from Ned Leeds himself why he was doing this. Hobgoblin was revealed to be a man that was already dead.

Ned Leeds was killed by assassins. It turned out that the assassins were hired by Jason Macendale, AKA Jack O'Lantern, a fellow Halloween-themed Spidey villain that participated in the gang war to be the next Kingpin. Jason was quick to adopt the Hobgoblin identity for himself and stayed in that role for 10 years. He was.... fine? I guess? He took on a much more scary and demonic appearance in the costume than Ned Leeds ever did. He even gets literally possessed by a demon for a bit. At one point he gets cybernetic enhancements and gets this cool robot eye thing. Problem is, he never really got taken seriously, and fell quickly down through the ranks of villain tiers. It didn't help matters that Norman Osborn returned from the dead and took his spot as #1 Goblin villain, rendering the Hobgoblin pretty unnecessary.

But then, in 1997, 10 years after Ned Leeds' reveal as the Hobgoblin, a mini-series called "Hobgoblin Lives" came out, written by original Hobgoblin creator Roger Stern. Now, I was born in 1987 - the same year Ned was killed and revealed. I grew up with the Jason Macendale Hobgoblin. So this miniseries was THE first exposure I ever got to a Hobgoblin that wasn't Jason. Jason is arrested, he reveals to the public that Ned Leeds was the Hobgoblin before he killed him and took his costume (a fact that only a few characters were aware of before), and then a man claiming to be the REAL original Hobgoblin visits him in prison and murders him for being an embarrassment and tarnishing his brand.

Uh, I'm sorry..... what?????

I get that the Hobgoblin mystery was a messy one. I get that the different writers all laid breadcrumbs to different solutions and things got extremely tangled up. I get that the Ned Leeds reveal was disappointing and anticlimactic. But as far as first impressions go, Hobgoblin Lives is damn near PERFECT.

So, basically Roger Stern jumped in to solve the Hobgoblin mystery once and for all -- by revealing him as the character he originally intended him to be way back in 1983, Roderick Kingsley. A shady fashion designer also created by Roger Stern that first appeared in 1980's Spectacular Spider-Man #43, who was known for stealing his competitor's designs and taking credit for their work. Ned Leeds, it turns out, was just another brainwashed patsy that took the fall for Roderick Kingsley, the REAL Hobgoblin. Back in the "Ned Leeds" era of comics, there were scenes where the Hobgoblin and Kingsley were in the same room together, which was explained as Daniel Kingsley, Roderick's meek and submissive brother, posing as him for corporate meetings and whatnot that Roderick didn't want to attend.

So like..... I understand the opinion that Daniel posing as Roderick is kind of cheating the audience that was invested in the mystery and keeping track of all the different clues and red herrings. I understand that the "evil twin" angle is a bit tacky. But speaking as someone whose first glimpse into this identity mystery storyline was its long-overdue conclusion, I honestly kind of LOVE the Daniel twist. Everything given to us in Hobgoblin Lives serves to cement things we already knew about the character. Roderick Kingsley was already known for stealing fashion ideas and performing shady corporate takeovers, so it's kind of perfect that he also stole and made cosmetic changes to the Green Goblin brand? We'd seen the Hobgoblin brainwash patsies multiple times already, so it makes sense that Ned Leeds was just another name on that list. We'd seen the Hobgoblin dress those brainwashed patsies in his costume and use them as stand-ins to protect himself, which is probably an escalation of what he did to Daniel their entire lives - that was where that "man behind the curtain" stuff started for him.

So, ultimately, we were given a much more satisfactory conclusion to the mystery of the Hobgoblin's identity. He wasn't a dead guy anymore - he was a charismatic, manipulative, scheming criminal mastermind (my favorite type of villain!) with a line of mind-controlled fall guys in his wake.

I mentioned earlier that I have all of Roderick Kingsley's individual issues that he appeared in - I did NOT bother to collect Macendale's appearances. I have Ned Leeds' Hobgoblin issues, because he is acting on Kingsley's behalf and it's up in the air when it is Leeds behind the mask and when it is Kingsley. I may eventually start hunting Macendale's issues down just to say I HAVE EVERY HOBGOBLIN APPEARANCE EVER, but my love for the Hobgoblin is NOT love for Jason Macendale. Even as a kid, I found him very underwhelming and lame despite LOOKING really really cool. So the fact that Hobgoblin Lives immediately starts with his death, and the original Hobgoblin saying that Jason disgraced his legacy, was a pretty cool way for 10-year-old me to be introduced to this character.

In his next appearance after Hobgoblin Lives, Roderick Kingsley goes up against Norman Osborn. As I said, Osborn's return kind of rendered the Hobgoblin obsolete. I found this story fun because it starts to show us the difference between the two supervillains as they try to outwit and outmaneuver each other, and it starts a very long-running feud between the two. Kingsley manipulates Osborn into breaking him out of prison and attempting revenge on Daniel, falsely claiming to still have an Osborn journal that reveals he is the Green Goblin. Ultimately, it's clear that Osborn is the superior villain, as he already knows Spider-Man's secret identity, and he manages to steal control of Kingsley's businesses and holdings away from him. Kingsley is shaken by these reveals but decides to retire in the Caribbean with the money he still has left. (I also want to say, in one of his most recent appearances, HE GOT HIS BUSINESSES BACK FROM OSBORN WOOOO)

Since then, Roderick Kingsley has started taking a drastically different approach, which I do believe was needed for his character to help differentiate him from Norman Osborn. Kingsley now travels the world, creating different supervillain aliases (which are all, of course, stolen and repurposed) and rents those brands out to the highest bidder. He is arming and suiting up a small army of D-list supervillains in exchange for a cut of their profits. Again, I feel that this change is perfect, and cements things we already knew about his character. Kingsley was a fashion designer that stole ideas and made them his own brand -- even his Hobgoblin persona is stolen Green Goblin gear. Now, he is taking that to the next level with his stolen supervillain fashions. Mysterion is a blatant copy of Mysterio, Devil-Spider is extremely similar to Tarantula, etc.

When Phil Urich killed Daniel, Roderick's brother in the Hobgoblin costume (because of course it was another patsy), and stole the Hobgoblin identity for himself as Macendale had done before, Kingsley is at first furious that his brand is getting stolen again and fights Urich, but eventually sees the potential in him and allows him to continue being the Hobgoblin for a cut of his profits - until Urich switches sides and starts working for Norman Osborn and kills the Hobgoblin, which is Kingsley's mind-controlled butler as yet another patsy.

Kingsley, both in and out of costume, has always been a very shady-corporate-takeover type of villain, focusing a lot on wealth and power no matter who he inconveniences or kills along the way. This becomes especially apparent in the Axis event, where Hobgoblin is given his own miniseries. Good guys are now evil, bad guys are now good, moralities are switched..... annnnnnnd Kingsley is still an awful person despite being a "good guy". He takes on a motivational speaker type of role, selling superhero franchises and Hobgoblin merchandise to make as much money as he can. (Is it bad that I WANT the Hobgoblin merchandise he was selling??) His Axis miniseries is a VERY fun time, poking a lot of fun at his history and highlighting that the man is still very much a sociopath despite his changed morality. How GREAT is this clip??

Although he's always #2 to Norman Osborn - and that is a constant source of frustration to him - Kingsley is a GREAT villain. He is always scheming, always hiding behind yet another mind-controlled patsy, always ready to profit off of his next stolen idea, and I think the convoluted mess that was his initial mystery arc only helped to cement his legacy as a behind-the-scenes mastermind who is always one step ahead, and always willing to throw other people into harm's way to save his own butt. The Hobgoblin Lives miniseries, and everything that's come since with the character, has only built on what we already knew and loved about him, and pushed him out of Norman Osborn's shadow despite having literally stolen his franchise.

The chaos and drama behind the scenes at Marvel will always be an unfortunate part of this character's history, but I still love him SO MUCH. I think everything in the story that came from it has helped form a formidable, manipulative, cold-hearted villain that will always be one of my favorite characters of all time. More than once now, he has retired to some tropical, beautiful corner of the world, comfortably sipping drinks as some poor fool dies in his place. No matter what happens, no matter how dead he seems to be, you CANNOT convince me that his canon ending will be anything less than that.

[redjaybathood]

I would argue that abuse is a pattern for Batman. He mourns Jason by beating up Dick. He brainwashes Tim as "special training". He ignores Damian for extended periods; notice that Damian builds his own torture chamber during the Ric arc. He plays favorites. And then we have taking Jason to see the site of his own death.

Yeah? I've been saying it only forever?

And it's not only the boys, it's also the girls, Cassandra and Stephanie, and with Damian it gets worse than ignoring him tbh. For Damian, certainly, check out meta by @arabian-batboy and @wesavegotham. For Cass (assuming that's not the person whose post is prompted this ask), @but-a-humble-goon. For Steph, you should go to @tumblingxelian. Other meta blogs for these characters that write on this topic exist, but the usernames escape my memory at the moment, sorry.

I did write about this too but good luck finding it. At some point, and very early in the game, I stopped using Bruce Wayne's A++ Parenting tag because isn't it basically always. One or two hugs to one or two kids in the recent comics do, like, zero to correct this impression.

I mean, there are fans that consider this breaking a character, but it's whatever for me. A great man could be a shitty parent. And whether he's all that great to begin with, is also a subject of debate by future in-universe historians. I do understand that for fans of Bruce or Batfam it could ruin the enjoyment, so if they tend to focus on the good things, more power to them. I'm yet to actually read any tho.

But most importantly, a parent you love and a parent who loves you and a parent who made you happy and who was with you through thick and thin at some point and a parent you are so alike with, and a parent who is also capable of doing the shittiest thing imaginable to you, or your siblings, - they're all could be the same parent.