#can we just retire the joker already

[hollowwhisperings]

reblogging, again, for the Arkham Meta.

The "Batfamily" was probably my first Western fandom: Cassandra Cain was the FIRST comics character I met who I could personally identify with & Gail Simone's Oracle was one of the first examples of UNfridging marginalized characters, of successfully saying "actually, SCREW excessive violence against women for male angst & SCREW anyone who thinks disability is equivalent to death".

but I have NEVER been comfortable with how Arkham Asylum is used in the DCU: there have been moments where it has been used for genuine treatment & rehabilitation, things like Bruce visiting or otherwise staying in contact with Harvey Dent during the latter's entering the facility. There has been SOME exploration, in supplementary works & within the fandom, of how Harley Quinn is a LEGITIMATELY TRAINED PSYCHIATRIST and how effed up her life was by Arkham (& by the Joker).

but, mostly, Arkham is used to trigger every fear and real life horror story that the past (& present) mental health system carries and to paint "DANGER!" over anyone vaguely connected to said system. Phobias, personality disorders, extreme trauma, abuse from medical professionals, systemic violence against the mentally ill and those coded as neurodivergent... Arkham ignites every Scare Tactic that keeps people from seeking help, reinforces every fear about what kind of "help" might be received, every nightmare about how society at large views anyone who doesn't "Get Better" with a prescription & 3-weeks of talk therapy.

The Gotham Rogues Gallery get two options for "care": prison or Arkham. The prison is Safer. There are times where the likes of Riddler, Harley & Poison Ivy see out their stays at Arkham and reintegrate with Society (the Gotham City Sirens series, for example), often making a Point of showing how unwelcoming Society is to ex-cons & publically Outed patients (and how much "easier" it is to just... go back into a cycle of [repeat offending], if only to regain access to some sense of "stability"/Actual Healthcare).

but... mostly? the times of "okay, let's actually Look at mental illness & how it impairs day-to-day life, how trauma shapes us, how social stigma-" "NOPE, TIME TO BE EDGY AND LET JOKER MURDER A BUNCH OF PEOPLE THEN GET AWAY WITH THE INSANITY CLAUSE!"

the Arkham video games are VERY MUCH consistent with how mainstream it is to ditch compassion and what progress may have been made for IRL stigma so that the Terror of Asylums can be used as easy set dressing for Horror.

nevermind that IRL mental health systems STILL haven't quite figured out how to deal with Long-Term Patients beyond sticking them in [more humane] Institutions, or how disproportionately the media depicts Mentall Illness as "dangerous to society" when the REVERSE is true (SOCIETY is dangerous to the mentally ill: cops getting called on people dissociating or having panic attacks, cops Freaking Out and HURTING the people most vulnerable to violence & abuse).

Batman & the BatFam, for the most part, are compassionate and see the humanity hidden behind Hurt and, for Gotham's Rogues Gallery, that "Harm" DOES tend to be directed "Outward" rather than "Inward" as in IRL & thus Affects Bystanders (typically through entirely Fictional methods): I love the Batman comics, many if its Rogues Gallery, and the silliness that can happen but... Arkham and the imagery of mental illness as something inherently "dangerous" to OTHER PEOPLE is just Not Fun anymore.

fandom fills in for some of that Need for accountability (for reeducating the public, for looking at things from the Patient's POV, for unravelling the mythos of "Arkham Asylum" from the IRL history it takes from, "history" that is still FAR too recent for comfort) but... ultimately, Arkham Asylum's depictions have less to do with Batman and more to do with the disinterest of the masses to engage with the realities of ANY long-term Illness (mental and otherwise) beyond a Token Charity Week or a month's News Cycle Hashtag.

[jinxposting]

Jason Todd x Jinx! reader Chapter 4

Different

The next time you saw Robin was while you, Joker, and Harley were robbing Gotham City Bank.

These were your least favorite kinds of missions. Banks had a certain time limit for their silent alarms, which means limited fanfare. Limited fun. Boring. Thank god the Bat showed up, otherwise today would've been a total snooze fest.

You fiddled with a grenade in the back seat of Joker's convertible. He swerved through the streets haphazardly, Harley shooting behind you at the batmobile. You glanced back but couldn't catch a glimpse of bat nor bird through the tinted windshield. You tossed the grenade over your shoulder. The blast sounded behind you, but the armored vehicle never let up it's relentless pursuit.

A grappling hook shot out from the front of the batmobile. It pierced a tire, Joker's car skidding to an abrupt stop. Once the ground stopped moving you readied yourself to sprint. Before you could however a hand grabbed you by the shoulder. You swung your elbow back with force. The assailant dodged, spinning you around in the process.

Robin.

"Hey, Boy Wonder! Fancy meeting you here."

"In a car chase? Pretty standard for you."

The boy froze. You could feel his eyes scanning you head to toe.

"You look... different."

You picked up one of your braids with a twirl. "All natural now, baby!"

"W- How?"

"Took a nice, long chemical bath."

"What? Why did- did Joker-"

"Relax, baby bird. It's family tradition."

"Some family." He grumbled.

Now that struck a nerve.

"At least my family doesn't make me dress up like a weak, little bird."

"Better than actually being weak and little."

You swung a fist. Similar to before, he blocked it. Unlike before, he didn't block the butt of your gun. Robin stumbled backwards with a newly split eyebrow.

"Seriously?!"

"Deadly."

He swept your legs, which you narrowly avoided with a quick jump. In one fell swoop you kicked him in the chest, sending him tumbling to the ground with a grunt. He recovered in time to kick you up and over himself. You rolled to a stop, rising to your feet, fists up and ready for a fight. In the blink of an eye Robin matched your posture.

A punch flew past your head, you weaved out of the way before the second could land. "You shouldn't have taught me how to fight."

The boy smirked. "Didn't teach you everything."

Suddenly your world was turned upside down. Literally. Before you could even process what had happened you were handcuffed and slung over the boy's shoulder.

"Wha-"

"And back to the batmobile we go."

"Put me down!"

"I will. In a restrained chair."

"You dick!"

"Jason actually."

"... Huh?"

"Nothing. Inside joke."

Robin stared at you in silence. Batman was still attempting to track down Joker's route, which left you two sitting silently in the batmobile.

"... You look sick."

"Really? That's your opening line after ten minutes of nothing? You really know how to charm a girl."

"I'm serious. Your skin is pale. And your hair is... well..."

"Green?"

"Yeah."

"It was like that when we met!"

"You know what I mean! You used to be you and now you're just... Joker Jr."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Probably 'cause it is."

"To you maybe."

"Why... How can you be loyal to someone so evil?"

"How can you be loyal to someone so cold?"

He opened his mouth only to close it. "It's a long story."

"Ditto."

Another wave of silence overtook you two. You watched the boy adjust his gloves almost anxiously.

"You think one day we'll be them?"

"Who?"

"Joker and Batman. You think when they're old and retired we'll be the next them?"

"Never thought about it... I hope not."

"How come?"

"I want a rival that can actually rival me."

"Fuck off."

"I mean it. You keep learning to fight - and not just from me - then maybe I'll let you be my Joker."

"Your Jinx."

"My Jinx."

"And you learn how to have some fun and maybe I'll let you be my Batman."

"Isn't your idea of fun blowing up buildings?"

"Yup!"

"Well that's not gonna happen."

"Such a party pooper. You already are Batman."

The boy smiled at this.

"Batman and Jinx."

"Jinx and Batman."

"We'll work on it."

[ihatechosingnames]

A few days ago, while I was walking back home from work, I started daydreaming and at one point I had a potential fanfic in the Batman fandom.

It all started with the death of the Joker by the hands of a very angry and tired and devastated civilian.

I went through a minimal backstory for this man, a retired army/navy man, who tragically lost his entire family (wife, daughter, son in law and two grandchildren) to the Joker in some sort of stupid game with the Bat (like you have tot minutes to choose who to save but the Joker is cheating and they all die) and since he already lost everything, why not making sure his family's killer tots in hell.

And I argued against myself about why it should be a civilian, a nameless one, to do the deed.

Batman cannot kill the Joker, because by doing it he stops being Batman. In UTRH he says "if I start, I will never stop" and it's kind of a disservice to the human and caring side of Bruce (which we are seeing less and less through the years) who wanted to help and care and believed about the sacrality of life (every life is precious). That man will break if he kills someone even by accident. In UTRH he sounds more like someone who is one murder away from becoming the worst serial killer in US. What the fuck. And instead of turning away from a life where the choice to kill or not is dangling in front of his life every single time, he keeps dressing up as a bat because through violence they can resolve their inner issues.

Nightwing is another one that cannot kill the Joker. First, he already did that, it's time for another to take his turn. Secondly, he is so much like Bruce but without being all dark that for him it will be twice as hard to accept that he did something like that. Yes, when he killed the Joker he was angry, he wasn't pulling his punches and the Joker kept goading him with Jason's and Tim's (supposed) death by his hands. He was devastated by Jason's death (in a more visible way than Bruce's) and the mix with grief, hate, regret and despair, knowing that another Robin died by Joker's hands again, made him snap. That will probably make him the most sympathetic to the story of the civilian who shot the Joker. Because once upon a time, for a brief moment, he felt the same fury and grief and hate against the Joker.

Jason, in my opinion, shouldn't be the one to kill the Joker. He was killed by the Joker, it's not on him to find justice or to enact revenge on him. And it also seems that half of the time, when he isn't thinking about being the Better Batman that Gotham needs, he is probably thinking that he is back from death only to get revenge on the Joker. If he kills him and survives good, if he kills him and he dies, I don't see Jason fighting to stay alive. His first plan in UTRH was prepped that or only two would walk out or none of them. It wasn't just "kill the Joker yourself or let me kill him" plus "if you want to save the Joker you have to kill me", Jason had prepared plenty of explosives to go all out. That was a test for Bruce, but also a moment of truth for Jason (please choose me) and Jason, for all his plans to be the Better Batman, to seize the criminal empire, he was more than ready to explode alongside the Joker and Batman if it was required. If this behaviour isn't slightly suicidal, I don't know. That's why I think that seeing the Joker dead by the hands of someone who did it to take revenge for his family, it's going to give a breakdown to Jason. And the brain, to metabolize that right now the only reason Jason is alive, his revenge, is dead (and it wasn't even Bruce), needs time to think so he checks out. He needs to find some other reason to explain why Jason is back from death and is still alive. Could it be able to send Jason in a dissociative state where he is still functional but also "no one is here"? I don't have a degree in psychology, but definitely will study more on the matter. It's very likely that some sort of revaluation for the brain will translate in a breakdown with lashing out.

And back to the mystery civilian I was debating around how he will be able to kill the Joker:

1. he waits until the Joker escapes again and just shoots him and then he goes to the police to get a death by cop kind of suicide.

2. it's a more collective effort since he is not the only one who lost someone to the Joker and so we have a group of civilians that all helped the mystery man to do the deed, by either helping the Joker escapes or helping the guy infiltrate Arkham and shoot the Joker in his own cell. And then he shoots himself.

Either way I don't see him alive, he already lost everything important, he lived his life and he did his job. Now, the only thing missing is going back to his family.

But what I actually wanted to focus on the fanfic, because this is just the context, is the argument that will follow between the vigilantes. How their own personal beliefs and experiences should actually weight in this matter. Who they are to judge someone. And there will be some judging.

Because Bruce will never believe that just some civilian wanted to shoot the Joker. He is so paranoid that he will not believe that it was simple for revenge. There must be a plan or something like that.

Meanwhile Jason wants to go and scream somewhere, far away from Bruce and the stupid case. And it's clear that Bruce is thinking that Jason is behind this because, in his mind, no one wants the Joker dead like Jason (there is actually a line).

[yanderes-galore]

Yandere joker x hero reader like reader used to work for the Justice League with Batman

Sure! The version of Joker is kept general. Heavily implied to be from the general comics, though. I haven't written for Joker in years so I hope he's in character :)

Yandere! Joker with Hero! Darling

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Sadism, Torture mention, Unstable mental health, Manipulation, Blackmail, Obsession, Delusional behavior, Kidnapping mention, Jealousy, Murder mention, Vague "relationship".

It's hard to get a proper personality for Joker when writing his character, as he is described as "unpredictable".

If you were a hero that used to work for the Justice League alongside Batman, he takes sadistic joy in this.

You knew Bats!? Well, then you'll get along just fine!

He's probably going to hunt you down as you know his pal so well.

Finding peace after retiring from hero work, or even being a hero still is nearly impossible.

No, now you're going to have to deal with the plague known as Joker.

He gets so upset when you contact Batman about him.

Him coming to see you is supposed to be private!

He probably met you when you helped Batman capture him once.

You're not like those Robins he carries around.

No, you're much more fun!

It's then that the Joker sets his sights on you.

You'll be trying to do your own thing and the clown prince himself barges in like he knows you personally.

"Hey there, doll! Mind if I join you?"

He usually addresses you by some sort of nickname based on your alias and makes himself at home wherever.

He becomes more and more troublesome as time goes on.

You already saw him as a threat, the feeling intensifying whenever he tries to physically touch you.

He makes it a goal to become closer and invade your privacy and mind.

His laugh echoes in your ears and you find him an annoyance.

You're very confused as to why he's so friendly with you.

Batman shares the same confusion.

You have an effect on him.

Joker comments with disappointment that whenever you call Batman for help, it's as if you're treating Bats as his babysitter.

"Come on, dear! We're all adults here aren't we? Why can't we have any fun without a supervisor?"

He will soon get tired of you crying to Batman when he's around.

It's best not to flare his temper.

Joker would find a lot of joy in playing around with a hero! darling.

You are great to use as leverage against Batman and he loves the idea of tainting your mind.

Joker would kidnap you and he'd kill for you, when he will is unknown.

The entirety of the clown prince is a game of chance.

He's nearly impossible to read and is a bomb waiting to explode when around you.

There's no doubt he gets jealous of other heroes or civilians around you.

Which leads to murder... that part is somewhat predictable.

He'd hurt you and find it funny.

He seems like the type to toy with his darling.

Although, he probably has a soft spot for you

He knows he can't kill you, no, he needs you.

Instead he relishes in the idea of tormenting you and making you rely on him.

Although, that isn't always his motive.

Joker does like your smile and laugh....

A pleasant sound and a sight for sore eyes.

A delightful counterpart to his haunting laugh and grin.

The Joker has a soft spot for you which can be used, both for and against you.

You can lure him in for capture.

That or the Joker can make how he feels about you known to blackmail you.

If you don't play his game many could get hurt.

You're too soft to want that, right?

He'd break into your home easily, just to greet you with a playful yet deranged smile.

"Looks so boring in here... how about some company?"

He probably likes to feel your touch.

He's insane but he'd probably be touchstarved.

He's seen crying in the comics on the laps of flings or Harley so he's clearly unstable.

He'd do the same to you with no warning.

Joker likes the idea of playing with a hero's emotions and bringing them to their knees.

But he also genuinely craves your affection.

To you, Joker is a disease.

He plagues Gotham and should be Batman's problem.

So why did you have to be wrapped up in the clown prince problem?

The Joker is a parasite to you, clinging to you and refusing to let go.

You're cursed with him and soon... no one will be able to help you.

"Why so quiet? Come on, where's that laugh? Don't be such a downer like Bats, dear... he's such a bore!"

[justletmeramble1701]

The only design detail from the upcoming Superman movie (that we know about) that I can't figure out the reason for is the main Superman logo. Why a gold Kingdom Come logo?

What we know about the film so far is that this is supposed to be a more "traditional" Superman story about Clark reconciling his Kryptonian heritage and his human upbringing. With that in mind, I can easily find plot reasoning for most of the design.

The bright colors, trunks, and shield on the back: traditional Superman and possible connection to Earth.

The space/tech lines, armor sections, high collar, and uniform-esque structure: Kryptonian military uniform.

I can easily bullshit justifications for most of the design, except the logo. In Kingdom Come, Superman wears a strange, black and red logo to show his mourning. Specifically, to show that there is still hope in death (though, it may actually be a symbol of revenge or war, but I'll explain later). If you've seen the Arrowverse crossover Crisis On Infinite Earths, you already know this. This explanation is obviously not what this film is doing. This is a young Superman, still coming to terms with his origins, so he's not mourning the loss of everyone close to him. This is why the logo is gold and not black, but why keep the rest of it? I see three, probably obvious explanations.

The first explanation is that the new film or series takes thematic or narrative elements from the comic. In Kingdom Come, Superman retires after the Joker attacks the Daily Planet, killing Lois and the rest of his supporting cast, and the public celebrates a violent vigilante killing him. After these new generation of vigilantes cause the destruction of Smallville (it might have been the entire state of Kansas, which is kind of funny, but I read this book at my local library years ago, so I'm choosing the less extreme option), he comes out of retirement with a new Justice League to reestablish the tradition notion of heroism, though Batman believes Superman is simply looking for revenge. We know that in the new film, a strange version of, what appears to be, the JLI that may be funded by Maxwell Lord is in this film and we know that an authority film is coming, so maybe this new Superman will be introducing, what we would call, a more traditional form of heroism to this already established universe. It would certainly be an interesting, bold statement to make after the last decade of "subversive" takes on Superman.

It could be because this shield is harder to read than the traditional one. If the movie is about tackling Kal-El, the Kryptonian, vs Clark, the human, and this is still the symbol of the House of El, then maybe this symbol was picked because it looks less like an "s", making it feel more alien. Maybe it is a symbol of Krypton in Earth colors.

Or maybe, just maybe, they just liked the Kingdom Come logo. Maybe they wanted to set this Superman apart from other versions and pick a logo from the comics that they liked. Superman and Lois is using the traditional logo, My Adventures with Superman is using something similar to the electric logo, and the DCEU used a variant of the 40's logo, so they looked at what was left and chose their favorite. It wouldn't be the first time they used a logo for no reason (why the fuck did the DCEU Superman use the 40's logo).

Who knows, I'm probably wrong. I just know that I'm currently mixed on the suit overall and trying to sort out my feelings on it. What ya think?

[ammomancer]

Gotham Knights Characters in Comics: A Guide For Non-Comic Readers

Are you a Gotham Knights viewer curious about what your new faves are like in the source material? Well, you're in luck, because I love to talk about them!

I'll preface this by saying that while I haven't actually sat down and watched the show, I have read the full episode transcripts. Additionally, if you're wondering where Turner, Cressida, or Rebecca and/or Brody March are in this post, they're original characters for the show and have no comic book counterparts.

(characters are in no particular order)

Carrie Kelley/Robin

Carrie originates from Frank Miller's 1986 graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. TDKR takes place in a (non-canonical) not-too-distant future where Batman has retired after the death of Jason Todd (the second Robin; his death happened in main continuity too, Bruce just responded... differently to it), but takes the cape back up for... reasons. I haven't actually read this comic despite how influential it is (basically every hyper-macho, weirdly-militarized, violence-glorifying take on Batman owes its existence to this comic, which should tell you why I haven't read it). Anyway, Carrie is Batman's Robin when he comes out of Bat-Retirement. She doesn't have too much going on to my knowledge, but is notable for being the first female Robin and for her use of a slingshot. In the sequel comic The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Carrie uses a different costume and the name Catgirl. Yes, really.

The Mutant Gang and its leader (though idk about the name Vernon Wagner since, again, haven't read it) are also taken straight from this comic. Including the part where they don't look like mutants and just look like weird punks wearing Cyclops visors.

Navia Robinson's Carrie is great, I really like her design and her performance.

Duela Doe (Duela Dent)/Joker's Daughter

Oh boy, Duela. She made her first appearance in 1976, where she initially claimed to be the daughter of various villains such as Scarecrow and Riddler before finally revealing that her father is Two-Face (according to one of the writers, this was because Harvey was the only villain who it had already been established was married; he has an estranged wife named Gilda). At some point she started using the name Harlequin (note that this was before Harley Quinn was introduced) and was a member of the Teen Titans for a bit. This Duela is definitely the most normal—she's just a bit odd (the whole Joker's Daughter thing was just to spite Harvey for abandoning her because she wasn't a twin).

One reboot (Crisis on Infinite Earths) later, Duela's parentage is once again a mystery, though she still uses the "Joker's daughter" theme. One of her most notable appearances is in the Titans East arc of the 2000s Teen Titans run, where she is a member of the villainous Titans team assembled by Deathstroke (aka Slade from the Teen Titans cartoon, they just didn't want to say "death" on kids' TV). Eventually she gets bored and switches sides to fight alongside the heroic Titans.

Some time later, it's revealed that Duela is actually from an alternate universe and because of this she's killed by a Monitor (genuinely do not know what the Monitors' deal is but they have something to do with the universe/multiverse). Later on in the same big event (Countdown) we find out that the universe she was from is Earth-3, where characters who are normally good guys are bad guys and vice versa (for instance, instead of Batman there's the villainous Owlman). Her parents are the Jokester (Earth-3's heroic Joker) and Three-Face (Evelyn Dent, Harvey's heroic Earth-3 counterpart who is a lady for some reason).

Yet another reboot later (the New 52, noted for its many... questionable decisions), Duela is now just some girl with major issues and an obsession with the Joker. She also wears his severed face as a mask. Yyyyyeah, you can pretty much ignore this version.

The Gotham Knights version seems to be going with Duela actually being Joker's daughter, since she describes her background in such detail and she seems troubled enough by it that I doubt she made it all up. I'm interested to see what direction they go with her, at any rate!

Harper Row (Bluebird) and Cullen Row

Harper and Cullen get to share a section. Do Not Separate Them etc.

Comics Harper and Cullen's mom, Miranda, was murdered rather than having walked out on them (though I get why they changed this, as it ties in to the story of another character who probably won't be on the show—Cassandra Cain, who's currently on Batwheels and DC has this weird thing about characters appearing in more than one show at once). Since their shitty alcoholic dad was in and out of jail, Harper ended up having to be the one to take care of herself and Cullen. Eventually she applied for emancipation and they both moved out.

Harper is very good with machinery, and she provides for herself and Cullen by working as a professional electrical engineer. Harper was inspired to become Bluebird when Batman saved her and Cullen from some homophobic assholes (specifically they were targeting Cullen for being gay, though Harper is also bi. They never say if Cullen is trans or not). After this she and Cullen became fixated on Batman and his exploits (well, more so than the average Gothamite is), and eventually Harper went out fighting crime as Bluebird. Bluebird mostly uses gadgets she made herself, including a big taser gun. She's currently in college and volunteering at a clinic.

Cullen... doesn't do all that much. Tyler DiChiara noted in an interview that as much as he likes comics Cullen, he doesn't like how passive he is and he's excited to show him stand up for himself more. I definitely see that in the show and I'm totally here for it!

Stephanie Brown (Spoiler/Robin/Batgirl)

No, that's not a spoiler warning, she actually uses the name Spoiler.

I'll be honest, Steph is one of the main reasons I made this post, just 'cause the show version is such a far cry from her comics iteration (and not in a good way) that I felt almost duty-bound to try and set the record straight. I'm all for new interpretations of characters, but this goes beyond that into "in name only" territory.

So, what is comics Stephanie like? Well...

Stephanie Brown is the daughter of Arthur Brown, a failed game show host better known as the C-list supervillain Cluemaster (basically a lamer knock-off of the Riddler). Growing up with a criminal father (who alternated between being in jail and being an abusive prick when he was home) and a mother who, albeit loving, was limited in her ability to take care of her due to her drug addiction, Steph had to be tough. When her dad broke out of jail and was a fair bit more competent than normal, she decided she'd had enough and tried to stop him as Spoiler (because she "spoiled" her father's plans, you see). The first time she met Robin (specifically Tim Drake, the third Robin) she hit him with a brick. That must have been a good first impression, because they actually dated for a while. There's a story arc where Steph finds out she's pregnant (from a shitty ex-boyfriend, NOT Tim) and ends up giving her baby up for adoption. When Tim couldn't be Robin for a bit (his still-alive father Jack found out he was Robin and grounded him), Stephanie showed up to the Batcave in her own homemade Robin costume and basically declared herself Batman's Robin. When Bruce fired her from the position (for really dumb reasons), in an attempt to prove herself she tried to carry out one of Batman's plans to stomp out organized crime in Gotham. However, Steph made a mistake (part of the plan involved one of Bruce's fake identities but she didn't know it was one of his fake identities and thought it was an actual person) and ended up accidentally starting a huge gang war. In the midst of this gang war, she was kidnapped and tortured by Black Mask (the one Ewan McGregor played in the Birds of Prey movie, yes), and when he eventually let her go and she got to a hospital, she ended up succumbing to her injuries and dying. Messed up!

Some time later it turns out she actually faked her death and was in hiding for a while. She's given the Batgirl mantle by the aforementioned Cassandra Cain (who was Batgirl at the time) but after the New 52 she's Spoiler again (currently she's like, both? it's weird).

The big issue I have with her portrayal in Gotham Knights is with her background. Steph not only being a rich girl, but a big part of her story involving her being a rich girl, is missing the point SO hard in my opinion. A lot of who Stephanie is is because of her lower-class background (much like her fellow dead Robin, Jason Todd, who Bruce would compare her to a lot while she was Robin). She's someone who's had to fight for everything she has, that's like the whole point of her character! She and Harper were actually roommates in the comics for a bit.

Harvey Dent/Two-Face

(first image is regular ol' Harvey, second image is him as Two-Face. There are a lot of variations on 2F's design, but pretty much all of them fit the description of "at least reasonably handsome-looking normal guy face on the left, messed-up scarred face with a glaring eye and constant snarl on the right".)

Here we get to the part I imagine a lot of you were waiting for. There are people who could explain this better than I (maniac-reboggles, for one), but I'm including my own attempt for the sake of completeness.

As he's existed since 1942, there's a lot of different ways Harvey's backstory has been told. The Incident that makes him into Two-Face has been pretty consistent since day one, but what happens before then varies more. In modern comics, though, it's generally something like this:

Harvey Dent grew up with an abusive father who kept a lucky coin that he would flip to decide whether or not he would beat his son. (This is where the DID comes from; childhood trauma is pretty much a prerequisite for the disorder as far as we know.) As an adult, Harvey is a close friend of Bruce Wayne (just to be clear Bruce and Harvey have had Gay Undertones for a long time, it's nothing new) and the youngest District Attorney in Gotham's history. Since this is Gotham, the justice system is corrupt as hell, but Harvey is doing his best to straighten things out and trying to root out corruption, earning him the nickname of Gotham's "White Knight". Things go bad when, while prosecuting mob boss Sal Maroni, Maroni (or sometimes one of his lackeys) throws sulfuric acid in Harvey's face, horribly scarring him. This is the last straw for Harvey psychologically--this incident has proven to him that the legal system is beyond hope. Taking inspiration from his father, Harvey reinvents himself as Two-Face, making decisions using a coin that has one clean side and one scratched-up, "scarred" side. (Originally it was that he'd either do a good deed or a bad deed, and sometimes it's still that, but other times it's more between "evil" and "less evil"). In more recent comics Harvey's alter (referred to by different names depending on the continuity; most often Two-Face is the name of the alter, but in BTAS he's "Big Bad Harv" and in at least one continuity he is referred to as Harvey's "associate") is depicted as a "protector" (which is more realistic to DID- people don't just have "evil" alters unlike what some movies would have you believe) who just happens to be rather ruthless in his methods.

Bruce is forever upset at what happened to his friend, and is often depicted as wanting to help him get his life back together and go straight; sometimes Harvey even agrees to that, but due to the nature of comic books he always goes back to villainy eventually. Sigh...

Lincoln March

This is....Mmmm.

I haven't read the comic arcs with him in them, but in the Court of Owls arc, Lincoln March (which is apparently an alias) is seemingly a cool guy who supports Bruce in his endeavors to make Gotham better, he wants to run for mayor, a real stand-up guy. He even seems to want to assist Batman against the Court of Owls.

Buuuuut it turns out he's actually working with them. But they like, betrayed him or something, and also he claims that he's actually Bruce's secret twin brother, Thomas Wayne Jr.? It's left ambiguous if this is true or not.

(I mentioned before that Rebecca and Brody were made up for the show--for clarity, comics Lincoln is single.)

I don't know what direction they're gonna go with Lincoln in the show but I have to hope it isn't as dumb as the comics. But who knows, it could be way better, or it could be even dumber. We'll see!

[rubix-cube06]

Chloe is my oc she is 18 and is the daughter of Harley Quinn and Joker she was adopted by Bruce when she was very young and when Harley retired she moved back in. Chloe is dating Jason.

It was about two in the morning, Jason was still patrolling with Steph and Duke. "Ugh how many more laps do we need to make?" Jason groans. "What you have somewhere better to be?" Steph asks. "Kind of yeah, I have movie night with the Outlaws and Roy tonight, I bet I'm the last one there," Jason sighs. "Oh relax we finish this lap and then we're fine for the night," Duke replies. Finally Jason ends up leaving patrol and starts heading to his apartment.

When Jason gets to his apartment he quietly opens his bedroom window to see Chloe asleep in one of Jason's leather jackets and a pair of shorts on their bed. "Jay? Is that you?" Chloe mumbles rubbing her eyes. "Yes, it's just me baby, I didn't mean to wake you love," Jason says as he starts putting on his pajamas. "Do you wanna watch a movie with Artemis, Biz, and Roy tonight?" Jason asks. "Sure," Chloe mumbles as Jason easily picks her up and carries her to the living room. "Jason there you are that took forever," Artemis says. "Yes a very small amount of time," Bizzarro says. "Sorry guys there were like five robberies tonight alone," Jason says sitting next to the armrest and sitting Chloe on his lap with her back on it. "Chlo! You wanted to watch with us?" Roy asks. "Yeah, I didn't know you were coming over tonight but I love movie night," Chloe yawns as Jason grabs a blanket and puts it over her. "Or did Jason wake you up for this and he just wants to watch you sleep," Artemis chuckles. "I think the latter, but I'm not complaining," Chloe shrugs as Roy adjusts so that Chloes legs were resting on him. All five of the squeeze onto the couch while Roy goes through the movie catalog. The eventually pick a horror movie about bees and start watching. Before the five minute mark Jason chuckles quietly. "She's already asleep," Jason hums looking down at Chloe peacefully sleeping and gently kisses her forehead. "So, Jay, do you think she's happy living here?" Artemis asks. "I like to think so, she hasn't ran away screaming yet," Jason replies. "I think she has no reason to love living here," Bizzaro says. "Biz is right, she doesn't really have any reason to not want to live here. And besides you moved her in here so that she didn't have to pay for her apartment," Roy adds. "Well I just don't want her to think I moved her in because I think she's weak, because I didn't, and I don't," Jason replies. "Why would she think that?" Artemis asks raising an eyebrow. "Because I asked her to move in a couple days after she was raped, and we have no leads on who did it," Jason explains. "She doesn't know what the look like?" Artemis asks. "Not well enough we can get a line up," Jason sighs.

Finally the movie ends and everyone who doesn't live in the apartment leaves. Jason carefully carries Chloe into their bedroom and lays her on the bed before Jason takes his shirt off to lie next to her underneath the large blanket. Chloe immediately starts feeling around for Jason before cuddling into his side. While Chloe sleeps Jason plays on his phone when suddenly Chloe starts screaming and thrashing in her sleep "Chlo! Chloe! Calm down," Jason replies holding her down so she'd hold still. "Jason?" Chloe mumbles softly as Jason reaches over and turns on a lamp by his side of the bed. "Hey, there's my girl," Jason replies softly kissing her forehead. "Another nightmare?" Jason asks. "Mhm," Chloe mumbles as she sits up. "Here drink some water," Jason says as he grabs her a water bottle and gently pours the water down her throat. "Good job," Jason replies pressing a kiss to the side of her forehead. "It hurts," Chloe says softly leaning against Jason. "What hurts hun?" Jason asks as Chloe makes slight eye contact with him. "Oh," Jason mumbles. "I've got you love," Jason mumbles as he puts Chloe onto his lap. Jason starts gently running his hands up and down Chloes legs and thighs. "No Jay," Chloe says. "I want you go have sex with me not only touch me," Chloe replies. "I don't think that's a good idea sweetheart," Jason says as Chloe crosses her arms. "Why not Jason! I'm not pregnant, I don't have any STD's so why not, all of my tests came back clean and negative?" Chloe asks. "Sweet girl that's got nothing to do with it. I don't want to hurt you, After you went to the hospital what'd the doctor say?" Jason asks. "I never went to the hospital?" Chloe replies. "You don't remember do you?" Jason mumbles. "No? Oh, it's because I had my Electroshock therapy, what'd the doctor say?" Chloe mumbles. "You have vaginal bruising and shouldn't have sex for nine weeks, until it heals, so that I don't make it worse or hurt you," Jason explains. "Oh I'm sorry, Jay, I thought you just didn't want to have sex with me," Chloe says. "Trust me sweet girl, there is nothing more I'd rather be doing right now," Jason mumbles kissing Chloes neck as his phone starts ringing. "It's Artemis, hold on a second hun," Jason says pulling away from Chloe and answering the phone. "Hey, what's up?" Jason asks. "The drug cartel is falling and our men have a mole, I arranged an interview with each one at the club tonight," Artemis explains. "I'm a bit busy tonight, can't we do it tomorrow?" Jason asks as Chloe sits up and starts rubbing his back. "Fine, if she wants to go, Seriously wow," Jason sighs hanging up the phone. "What's wrong baby?" Chloe asks. "One of our bigger drug deals fell because of a mole and Artemis wants us to deal with it tonight, it's such a big deal that she convinced Roy to leave Lian with the sitter for the night," Jason sighs. "You should go, I'll be okay here," Chloe replies. "Actually I wanted to know if you want to come with, I mean it'll just be sitting with us while we talk you won't even have to say anything," Jason suggests. "Sure, I'll go with you, I've been dying to wear a new red dress," Chloe squeals as she gets off the bed. Chloe and Jason quickly gets dressed and Jason zips up the back of her dress. "Don't you look beautiful, who are you all dressed up for?" Jason teases as Chloe puts on a pair of heels. "My boyfriend," Chloe hums while standing up. "No, you can't wear those, they make you almost taller than me wear the other red ones," Jason replies. "Seriously Jay, they are shoes?" Chloe replies. Jason goes over to the closet and grabs a pair of shorter red heels. "If you expect to dance with me you gotta wear those," Jason replies. "Fine," Chloe sighs switching her shoes. Jason sees that now Chloe barely comes up to his nose. "Much better," Jason chuckles kissing her forehead. "Come on We'd better leave," Jason says as he tosses Chloe his leather jacket. "Okay okay I'm ready," Chloe hums. Chloe and Jason head outside and Chloe easily jumps on the back of his motorcycle.

Jason drives away the bike and finally pulls into the club parking lot. "Oh here this is a com that'll let me hear you if you need something," Jason explains putting a small earpiece in her hand. Chloe quickly puts the ear piece on and the duo heads inside. "There you are finally! Red hood," Artemis says as Red Hood let's Chloe slide into the booth in between him and Arsenal. "This is a waste of time tonight," Jason sighs resting his hand on Chloe's thigh. "Do you want something to drink Sweetheart?" Red Hood asks. "Yes please," Chloe says. "I want a blue shark bowl please," Chloe whispers to Red Hood. "Sure, that's fine, a blue shark bowl for her and I just want a water," Jason replies as Jason looks at Chloe who was resting her hand on his and holding onto his arm. "Who are you?" Jason asks looking at a group of three men in front of him. "They're our first interviews of the night," Aresenal says. "Oh I see," Jason mumbles. "It wasn't them they're fine, where's Biz he's the only one I want making her drink," Red Hood replies. "He's not here yet, I'll make her drink," Aresenal answers. "Acceptable," Red Hood nods as Aresenal gets up and heads to the bar.

As the night goes on Chloe drinks her drink and Red Hood moves her onto his lap while he talks. When suddenly three men Chloe knows are next for the interviews. Chloe gets very tense. "Red Hood?" Chloe says timidly. "What's wrong?" Jason asks as Chloe turns to face him. "I wanna go dance, can Aresenal and I go dance please?" Chloe asks. "Sure, Hey Arse, keep an eye on her yeah?" Jason asks. "Yeah for sure," Aresenal says as he helps Chloe out of the booth and onto the dance floor. Chloe and Roy dance for a bit before Roy glances at Chloe. "Hey Chlo why you suddenly want to come dance I mean that was random?" Roy asks as he twirls her. "I just didn't want to spend the next thirty minutes looking at them," Chloe lies. "Why not?" Roy asks. "Those are the men who raped me a couple of weeks ago," Chloe answers. Before Roy can respond three loud gunshots go off. Chloe looks at Jason and the three men were now lying face down in a plate of food. "How did he hear you from here? That's the only reason I see him killing them," Roy asks. Chloe suddenly remembers that she has a com on. "I have a com set," Chloe mumbles as Jason walks over. "Hi Gorgeous," Jason says. "Hey," Chloe says. "I was going to tell you I just-" Chloe starts. "No no you're good, and no before you loom at me like that Roy there alive-barely, I castrated them," Jason shrugs as he rests his hand on Chloes hip.

[prof-ramses]

Ranting about (and predicting) Big Boy Boxing (Warning: This will be MASSIVE)

Big Boy Boxing is a Punch Out styled indie boss rush game slated for release in mid 2024 with a cartoony style and bosses gimmicks inspired by Cuphead. It's being developed by fledgling studio, Soupmasters, and I am fucking OBSESSED with it!.

The predicting part comes from the official presskit which shows a bunch of boxers not currently sorted into tournaments.

For context, the devs are aiming for 24 unique opponents, we currently know about 6 tournaments and their champions, but given none of them have any final boss energy, I'm going to assume there will be 8 tournaments with 3 opponents each.

Just so we're all on the same page here's a link to the above mentioned presskit, here you can see images for all the mentioned characters:

Freezy's tournament: Freezy Boy is the first champ and this games Glass Joe, with the twist being he can hulk out. I think that makes it pretty clear that the fighters before him will be quite feeble. This makes me think of the Retired Joker and DJ Yamon. Neither a very tough looking and would make good introductions to a few mechanics.

Wild Dude's tournament: We already know about Mr. Adyltmen and of course, Wild Dude, given the latter's love of rats I'm betting Grizzly Rat is gonna be the third character.

Toxic Love's tournament: It turns out we know all three opponents, Coach Skank, Trigger Happy (thought she's been redesigned as a little girl with a giant mallet) and Toxic Love, herself.

Jim Chad's tournament: In addition to Titanic 5000, whose redesign has made him much less intimidating, and Jim Chad we'll see a spiky haired, currently unseen character, whose shadow can be seen with Titanic 5000's and Jim's in a cutscene snippet in the most recent trailer on the Soupmasters channel.

Bruno's tournament: The only guess I have for this one is Master Dong, his zenned out design gives him a tuned-into-nature quality, which fits Bruno's jungle theme.

Dr. Brawn's tournament: Brawn is a stereotypical supervillain, Super Roger is a stereotypical superhero, nuff said. Also there's Chef Kembo, recently reinvented on the official discord as a smaller hunchback (possible lab asisstent archetype) who drinks gasoline and goes by Chef Diesel.

Here's the discord link:

Others: D' Bulldozah and Grand Adultman are quite interesting both could be in the same tournament, but I highly doubt it. I think what's most likely is that Grand Adultman will be in the final tournament (though not the champ) and D'Bulldozah will be in the non-final, non-revealed tournament

That's all I've got for now, hope I got at least someone interested in this serious contender for 2024's GOTY.

[soul-dwelling]

Enough pessimism for now. It's time to ask a positive question: What did you / are the things you did enjoy about Fire Force?

I would like to re-read the series to give a better point of view. But I don't want to put in that time right now, so, a lot of what I liked would have been pre-anime announcement.

So, LOL, I'm still going to be negative in some spots here:

The characters seemed to have enough personality.

I still think it's sexist to reduce Tamaki to just "fanservice bad luck person" (when it'd be funnier if she just had bad luck, period, no need to keep making it fanservice, just have things go wrong for her all the time). There is so much potential for her, and she deserves better.

And while there is a bit more complexity later with Maki, I think the "she misinterprets remarks to think it's insulting her appearance" gets stale.

That being said, Maki kicking ass was always good. Hell, before the anime announcement, there was variety in the types of girls and women in the series in terms of personalities, alliances, skills, body types--it's just that some got hit harder than others with dumb fanservice gags (Tamaki, Maki, Iris, Hibana). I wish more was done with Maki's mom, just given what back story we get for her later--but this is so annoying, to talk up what she used to do before she retired, instead of seeing her cut loose in a fight.

Hibana was a compelling antagonist...before she's reduced to lusting after teenage Shinra.

I think the artwork was fine. I was more excited by it before finding out how this all tied into Soul Eater, which makes differences in the art more understandable--but now also kind of saps enjoyment from them. (There is something about Ohkubo, right around the end of Soul Eater, during NOT, and during the beginning of Fire Force where character designs, especially in the faces, feel less unique, so flat, not as memorable as earlier artwork and especially compared to the 2008 anime). The character designs feel kind of same-y until Vulcan, Lisa, and Yu have a larger role, then it feels like that trio has so much more variety. (I miss Lisa's longer hair, though.)

The buildings and steampunk aesthetic were good.

Some fire demon designs were good, before leaning more into the doppel idea and then it kind of gets repetitive.

Some gags were really good; I still love Arthur shouting, "Call the fire department!" before Tamaki shouts back, "We are the fire department!" I wish more outlandish stuff was done with Takehisa's fashion disasters. Akitaru working out all the time made this cartoony and fun, as was Juggernaut just somehow surviving because thick clothing (...but then Akitaru and Juggernaut's gags, as well as what happens to Juggernaut in the Nether, is hampered when your entire series is acting like everything is not cartoony until Shinra does what he does in the finale, but whatever). The calendar arc should have worked as equal opportunity fanservice, so I appreciate the attempt, even as I hate putting in underage characters, and characters who were coerced against their will (Juggernaut).

The mystery of this post-apocalyptic world that has our same continents was engaging...until the real of a 3D world, which makes no sense even within the story, and is hard to represent when you are dealing with 2D artwork already. I wish more was done to engage with the pre-history of this world, to show more of which remnants remained, which history was forgotten or misremembered. We get Vulcan looking back at earlier species, but what about other history?

I like Benimaru and Konro--although the nationalistic bent bothers me, especially when we see the "New World" going to Japanese naming conventions again. This feels like it wants to be some political message ("Now the US can see the world through the perspective of Japan, and look what we do to Nevada!"), but it gets muddled.

I really enjoyed Joker before the doppel fight. I don't like the back story, but I understand the setup, especially when it comes to abuses by religious organizations against children. I enjoyed seeing his philosophy unfold, how he is cynical but determined in his goal. He is literally Batman but with the Joker's name and aesthetic. Don't have him run off with Burns, have him stay as this vigilante weirdo, that's more entertaining.

[cr2032powered]

Speaking of the profs scrunglies: i feel in an au were the profs and the villains switch places... Retired Prof Ghetsis harmonia w current professor Natural Harmonia and good friend Dr. Colress vs Team Plasma Sage Cedric, current queen/leader/ruler/IDK A and dubious scientist Fennel

ANON!!!!! I'm screaming because not only (assuming ur the same as last time if not sorry lol) have you been talking to me about profs but for this one especifically I want you to know I have actually thought of that au concept before!!! How are you reading my mind? Haha tbf villain prof swap aus aren't a new unique thing invented by me lol, I've seen it before! But so far mostly with Kukui and Guzma (back in the sumo days... seems it slowed down :( ) and one or two about Rowan and Sycamore. (curiously, while with the Alolan ones I saw prof Guzma, I haven't seen professor Cyrus and Lysandre I think?)..

I think the other profs (and villains too but I'm more into the professors..) deserve a swap au spotlight too... *slams fist in table* where is swap au villain Birch that wants to... idk, build a perfect utopia in the sky by invoking Rayquaza while he dresses in a very fashionable uhh pilot-inspired green suit?

But I digress:

First, I'll go over your idea: while we have the same swap concept we have some differences and that's exciting! I hadn't thought of professor Ghetsis being retired but I like the idea. N being the current professor is so good.. Isn't he like on his 20s? He'd make for a young, prodigy professor... While not bearing such a heavy weight on his shoulders as normal "soon to be king, no big deal" N Harmonia Gropius you could draw some parallels about him spearheading a new generation of professors and taking it super seriously...

Hadn't thought of Cedric especifically as a sage but I really like that concept, while I was sure he'd be related to Plasma I hadn't delved much into it.

Colress, I had thought the same! I guess he'd be in charge of the c-gear/dream world then?

You read me right with Plasma Boss/Queen(?) Aurea and "wanted in every region" scientist Fennel... That's the good shit!!! There are so many ways their characters could lend themselves to evil versions...sorry if I sound like the joker "bad day" discourse lol. Being fair, I'm still green with BW's story, learning about its world and progressing when I can, just now. (I didn't pay much mind to Unova back in its day...), so currently I'm not as versed on how would N, Ghetsis and (esp) Colress' characters work in these roles, but it'd be interesting to say the least! I think some traits of characters can be neutral, only being good or bad because the character acts like that.

Like say, Ghetsis would still be quite the ambitious fellow he is, but rather than world conquering it'd show with him having a big drive for his job. Perhaps he'd be more stern than Juniper, he seems more serious, but still charismatic, and concerned about the next generation carving their way, though more genuinely rather than kind of wanting them to be his mouthpieces.

I think N would still be adopted, a bit mysterious and more in home with pocket monsters than with people, however uhh he'd have an actually good dad here! (sigh.. poor normal N) we already see more of N acting nicer than Ghetsis so I imagine it'd carry over, albeit he might be a bit more open and free.

See, in my take on the au, Ghetsis is still the current professor, and his assistant and son, N, becomes your cool, older friend/rival. The aus (a bit divergent) "N figure" would be... Bianca! No, not because Juniper adopted her from the woods, but because she was a passionate, dissatisfied runaway teen in search of her identity (and a grudge w her dad) that decided to join Plasma, with nothing to lose, and she became one of Juniper's better soldiers. Idk it kinda reminds me of how Gladion joined Skull even though it def isn't the same lol?

Aurea, I imagine her looking pretty in a royal garb, perhaps a bit more knight/warrior queen inspired because I think she'd be a more active, less "in the shadows" figure than Ghetsis, maybe prefering to change people's ideologies by actions rather than campaigns idk.. This is indulgent. Maybe her hair is more elaborate or is free and resembles horns a bit like G's, food for thought.. She still has this archaeologist formation and maybe Cedric was the old plasma boss... And she has to be "better" AUGH. Maybe her aim is moreso dig into the legendary dragons origins/story to discover the truth and ideals.

See with aus like this, I wonder if some things'd stay the same or be changed, like... would Aurea's signature critter be Ghetsis powerful hydreigon or a wickedly strong cinccino? haha. Would Colress' dream world be less.. dream-themed and more, idk. virtual reality inspired or would he be your chill dream scientist?

FENNEL ! she already has enough canon material to imply a concern abt how herself or others see her ethics so I'm STOKED. I think she'd have a lot of potential as a villain.. dream yard smth smth. Tragic, even. Would she be involved with nightmares? Darkrai? Are she and Aurea still wives besties or work with eachother mostly for convenience?

10/10 au, anon

[justabumatthepark]

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT PUSSY

GOT YOU HOOKED, HUH?

😈😈😈

FUCK CANCEL CULTURE 24' 🇺🇲

VOTE BLUE

FUCK MAGA

ONLY BUM COMPARED TO ALEXANDER

FUCK PUTO FAG

100% ✅ SECURED

WHO WANTS IT?

50 MILLION

ALL FOR YOU

EVER SEEN 50 MILLION IN A ROOM?

😈😈😈

WE TIRED OF WORKING PUTO FAG

IT'S STARTING TO LOOK LIKE RETIREMENT MONEY

😈😈😈

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS I'M NOT THE JOKER

😈😈😈

THE NAME IS PETTY

NICE TO MEET YOU

🙂🙂🙂

50/50 MY BOY

WHO WANTS IT?

😈😈😈

AND SURE YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL

I MEANT 50/50 I HELP YOU MAKE THIS MONEY

I HANDLE PUTO FAG

YOU TAKE THE LOOT

😈😈😈

FUCK THE MONEY

I JUST WANT PUTO FAG OUT OF THE MONOPOLY GAME

AND ANYONE YOU DON'T LIKE

CAN DIE WITH HIM TOO

😈😈😈

HUSHMOUTH?

NIGGA I'M LITERALLY BEGGING FOR SOMEONE TO STOP ME

BUT WHO GON' DO IT?

DEFINITELY NOT YOU

THAT'S CHECKMATE

😈😈😈

100% ✅ SECURED

HE'S CHOOSING TO GIVE EVERYTHING UP

BECAUSE HE KNOWS MY PLAN IS SOLID

HORRIBLE POKER PLAYERS

HE FIGURED IF HE COULD BLUFF HIS WAY OUT

NO ONE WOULD NOTICE

BUT I DID

😈😈😈

YOU ARE NO LONGER PUTO FAG

YOU HAVE BEEN UPGRADED TO ANGRY TORCHER ADDICT FUCK

SEE YOU'RE ONE OF US BROTHA

😈😈😈

I KNOW YOU KNOW ALREADY KNOW

BUT I'M STILL GONNA TELL YOU A THIRD TIME

WE LIKE YOUR BROTHER

WE HATE YOU

😈😈😈

IF YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN ANGRY TORCHER PUTO FAG

THEN HEAD OVER TO

@alt-zombee

YOU KNOW THIS NIGGA IS STEAMINNNNNN RIGHT NOW

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

HUSHMOUTH????

😈😂😂😂😂🤭🤭😂😈😈😂😈😂

GOOD JOB WITH THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TORCHER

I HAVE TO SAY YOU REALLY DID PUT IN A LOT OF WORK

BUT UNFORTUNATELY

I'M BETTER AT IT

😈😈😈

[pettyentity.]🩷

SO LET'S ADJUST FOR INFLATION

SO THAT WAS 12.75 MINIMUM WAGE TIMES A 40 HOUR WORK WEEK TIMES 4 FOR THE MONTH TIMES 12 FOR THE YEAR TIMES 6 FOR THE YEARS YOU'VE BEEN HERE THAT IS 146,880 DOLLARS TIMES 20 EMPLOYEES EQUALS 2,937,600 TOTAL

SO YOU DO HAVE FUCK YOU MONEY HUH?

IF THAT'S CHUMP CHANGE

I WONDER HOW MUCH IS IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT

😈😈😈

THE PRICE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TORCHER

ALL FOR

ONE MAN

ME

YOU ADDICT FUCK

AND I DIDN'T EVEN MENTION GAS

OR OUTSIDE EMPLOYEES YOU MIGHT HAVE NEEDED FOR THIS

SO I WONDER

WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO TO MAKE YOU SO MAD?

🤭🤭🤭

HUSHMOUTH?

I FEEL HUMBLED

😌😌😌

PUTO FAG

GG

🤭🤭🤭

DON'T BLAME IT ON ME

BLAME IT ON GOD

GIT GUD FAGGOT

😈😈😈

DON'T BLAME PUTO FAG TOO MUCH

HE JUST LIKE ME

GOT BABIED BY MOMMY AND DADDY

SO HE'S A SPOILED BRAT

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS GODS STUPID ASS GAVE HIM MONEY

AND HE JUST DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO USE IT PROPERLY

😈😈😈

THIS MAN HASN'T SAID A SINGLE WORD

HE MAD MAD

AND HE KNOWS I HAVE HIM BY THE BALLS TOO

😂😂😂

"FUCK YOU"

🤭😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

RETREAT AND COME BACK WHEN YOU'RE READY

BUT I PEEP THAT STRATEGY AND RAISE YOU FUCK YOU

I'M GONNA KEEP TEASING YOU ALL DAY

AND TOMORROW

AND THE DAY AFTER

AND I'M JUST GONNA KEEP EXPOSING YOU YOU ADDICT FUCK

SO JUST GIVE IT UP

DONATIONS ARE OPEN

ALSO ATTACKING FROM AFAR IS SMART

AGAIN I DON'T BLAME YOU

BUT I'M YOUR ASS NOW

BETTER KEEP RUNNIN'

CUSS I SMELL PUSSYYYYY

TE ESTOY COMIENDO EL CULOOOOOOOO

HE'S WAITING TO SEE WHO'S GONNA HELP ME SO HE CAN PLAN AROUND THAT

OKAY SO I'LL RAISE YOU THIS

ANSWER THIS QUESTION IF IT ALL GOES WELL WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?

"......."

EXACTLY

THAT'S CHECKMATE

TELL YOUR BOSS TO FUCKING CALL ME BITCH

YOU FAILED

IT'S TIME TO REPORT THAT TO HIM

😈😈😈

2 FOR 1

BET

THAT'S TWO BANK ACCOUNTS JUST FOR US

MORE LOOT FOR US

ANY MORE FUCKERS WANNA JOIN THEM?

MONOPOLY ACTIONS

THE DOMINO EFFECT

TWO ADDICTS ABOUT TO LOSE THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS

HUSHMOUTH???

"THAT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN NO ONE BELIEVES YOU"

BUT DON'T YOU HAVE A WHOLE CAMP OF PEOPLE?

YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT OUT OF 100

NO ONE IS GONNA STAND UP?

NIGGA NEVER TOOK A MATH CLASS IN HIS LIFE

🤭😂😂😂😂

BETTER START LOOKING AT THE NIGGA NEXT TO YOU

🤭

"THEY ARE ALL WITH ME"

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

OKAY PUTO FAG 👍🏽

"Already disrespecting, something I ain't tolerating

You niggas fuck with me, I give 'em motivation

And your circle shrinkin', see some boys escapin'

Rest of them is guilty by association (ayy, what?)

Fuck debatin' who the G.O.A.T.

Better not make the shit up 'bout the numbers all I know

Better not make the shit up 'bout the summer all I know

Better find you someone else to hit with all that smoke, nigga, yeah"

And all them tweets and all them posts

Ain't got the type of time to be playin' with you folk

I had a Richard prior to these niggas, that's the joke

I'm really down to die behind these verses in my notes

"THEY ARE ALL WITH ME"

REMEMBER YOU SAID IT

NOT ME

😈😈😈

ALL MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD

IT'S TIME TO START PURGING YOU MOTHERFUCKERS

FLUSH YOU MOTHERFUCKERS OUT OF THAT LIL HIDING SPOT

100% ✅ I GUARANTEE IT

YOU LET ME HANDLE PUTO FAG

AND ANY THREAT HE THROWS YOUR WAY

😈😈😈

AND YOU CAN HAVE ALL HIS MONEY

ALL OF IT

NOT ONE CENT FOR ME

ALL I ASK IS YOU LET ME TURN HIM TO THE POLICE

I WANNA SEE HIS FACE WHEN I'M DONE WITH HIS ASS

HE CAN'T THREATEN YOU IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO BE THREATENED BY

AND IF HE SAYS HE'S GONNA KILL YOU

LET HIM

I GUARANTEE HE WONT

HE'S ALL BARK NO ACTION

PUTO FAG THE CHIHUAHA

FUCKING ADDICT

HE WON'T KILL YOU BECAUSE HE KNOWS HIS ADDICTION WILL SNITCH HIM OUT FURTHER

IF HE KILLS YOU HE BASICALLY FUCKS HIMSELF

IT'S LIKE RAISING THE PRICE OF SODA

IF IT SELLS OUT

THE STORE WILL RAISE THE PRICE ON IT

SO IF HE KILLS YOU

MORE PEOPLE ARE GONNA TRY TO COME GET THIS MONEY

AND THAT'S THE LAST THING HE WANTS

😈😈😈

LITTLE BITCH CAN EITHER ACCEPT HIS FATE

OR START KILLING EVERYONE IN HIS CAMP

ALL BECAUSE YOU DON'T AGREE WITH HIM

YOU SEE WHAT KIND OF PERSON HE IS

WHY WOULD YOU WANNA WORK FOR HIM?

😈😈😈

THE FACT THAT YOU GOT WHOOPED BY FOGELL IS EVIL WORK

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This shit way too formal, y'all know I don't follow suit

Stacey Dash, most of these girls ain't got a clue

All of these hoes I made off records I produced

I might take all my exes and put 'em all in a group

😈😈😈

"Pass this to my daughter, I'ma show her what it took (yeah)"

😇😇😇

"MY PRIDE JUST WON'T LET ME CALL HER NO MORE"

YOU'RE WELCOME PUTO FAG

PETTY THE ARCHETYPE

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THIS IS "HOW TO KEEP IT G FOR DUMMIES"

THE BOOK

REDRUM - 21 SAVAGE 

"SHUT THE FUCK UP"

OH, HE SPEAKS 

WHAT'S WRONG DID I STRIKE A NERVE? 

😈😈😈

"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU YOU FUCK"

DO IT THEN PUSSY 

WYA 

Tap in!

DM ME 

I'LL SEND YOU MY LOCATION

😈😈😈

HUSHMOUTH?

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PREVIOUS POST

[antebunny]

...i've never been threatened like this before and i'm not sure how to feel about it but hey. here you go.

Premise: Tim gets adopted late AU where Bruce never took Tim on as Robin, and Dick didn’t come back from Blüdhaven. As a result, Bruce ended up killing idk a gangster or something, lost it, broke into Arkham to kill the Joker, and then retired. That got Dick to come back and reconcile with Bruce, and it made Jason’s return to Gotham go smoother, cause while he doesn’t understand why that caused Bruce to “lose,” the Joker is dead and he knows that the no-killing rule is vitally important to him. 

The only problem is that Tim remains un-found familied. He continues running rooftops, collecting evidence and dropping it off at the GCPD or at the Batcave, who try their best to get him to stay home. Steph got mentored by Dick and Barbara, and later Jason a little bit. Then Cass came and got adopted by Bruce. She’s not a vigilante, but she comes out sometimes when her family needs help because she too has eldest daughter syndrome. So: Nightwing, Phoenix, and Spoiler patrolling the streets, Oracle on the cameras and Batgirl as backup. 

Tim stalks Phoenix to confirm for himself that it’s Jason, returned from the dead. Unfortunately, a little big birdie told Jason to be on the lookout for a little stalker, so he finds Tim.

"Listen. I’m only gonna say this once. Go home. Next time I see you out I’m tattling to the ‘rents. Got it?”

Oh great, so Dick told Jason every embarrassing thing Tim did when he was thirteen. He must have been a special type of evil in his past life to have his most embarrassing teenage memories constantly thrown back in his face by his heroes. Heroes who now all despise him. Wonderful. 

Janet dies. Jack ends up in a coma. Tim sends his mom texts he knows she’ll never answer. So nothing changed. Nothing has changed, so why can’t he stop crying? Tim buries his feelings by going out and videotaping idk something.

Nightwing stops by. “Hey, Tim. We, uh, heard about your parents.”

Oh, God. He’s trying to be sympathetic. Sure, he knows what it’s like to have your parents ripped from you, but not parents that never wanted you in the first place. Plus this doesn’t change the part where he despises Tim and is only trying to comfort him because it’s the nice and right thing to do.

Nightwing awkwardly tries to say that Bruce is willing to take him in, which strikes so many visceral emotions so quickly that Tim has no idea which one prompts him to say “No! God, no.”

Yeah, no. He’s not getting pity-adopted into the family of vigilantes who think he’s a creepy little stalker with no sense of boundaries and no respect for those grieving lost loved ones. Especially since they’re right.

“I already filed for emancipation.”

“Well, if you’re sure that’s what you want,” Dick says doubtfully. “But remember our door is always open.”

I bet you say that to all the half-orphaned kids of Gotham, Tim thinks spitefully. Well, not as spitefully as he would like. He knows Dick says that because he’s stalked him for years. It’s good that Dick can find the kindness to comfort even the kid he hates.

“Okay,” Tim lies.

Dick offers to take him home.

“Oh no, that’s okay, but thank you for offering,” Tim says politely. “I was just about to call an Uber.” 

Damian asks who this Timothy character is. (Ah yes, the newest member of the Wayne bunch. His integration into the family is…going. It’s going). Dick gives a sanitized version of the story, and they end up trading stories about Tim.

“Remember when he hacked into Babs’ servers?" Steph recalls. "I’ve never seen her so embarrassed.”

“He used to drop information off with Gordon in person, dressed up in all black and doing his best imitation of Bruce’s growl. Called himself Shadow.”

“Wait, seriously? Tell me you have footage,” Jason begs.

“He even tried to copy Bruce’s disappearing trick,” Dick says between bouts of laughter. “Stopped when the Comish got too worried about this random kid who knew more about Gotham’s criminal underbelly than him. That’s when he hacked Babs’ servers.”

“He only stopped that when I threatened to tell his parents,” Babs cuts in, fondly exasperated. “And that’s after he tried to give me tips on how to encrypt files. And I only found his identity ‘cause I told Dick about an anonymous informant who referenced an alarming number of memes and he immediately guessed who it was.”

“Seems like that’s the only way to get him to stop,” Jason remarks.

“We could never get him off the streets, though.”

“Couldn’t stop me, either,” Steph points out cheerfully.

“Yeah, well, you were too annoying.”

Tim, about a mile away, takes off his headset with shaking hands. He has only himself to blame for overhearing all this. None of the Bats would've recommended stalking and placing hidden mics in their living room as an effective method of getting to know them. Yet his face is burning. Ears ringing. Annoying. Please. Tim is annoying. Spoiler is annoying like a little sibling. Tim annoys them the way a civilian not dangerous enough to be a Rogue but still engaging in criminal activity is annoying. Like the disposable goon of a Rogue, but without the violence. He bugged them because he is, as previously established, a creepy little stalker. He wanted to learn more about the newest edition to their family. Instead of hearing from Damian, he heard about himself instead from the mouths of his heroes. Heard too much. Learned that it’s so much worse than he thought. They don’t despise him because of a handful of crushingly embarrassing things he did when he was thirteen. According to them, he never stopped being a bother. All of it, the information tips, the hacking advice, was annoying to them. According to their own words.

[end of chapter one]

go away

After Bruce Wayne dies, it only takes Tim about three weeks to show up on Dick Grayson’s doorstep with a 3-ring binder full of evidence. He runs a finger along the top metal ring of the binder over and over as he waits for a response to the doorbell. All at once he feels thirteen years old again, clutching months of painstakingly collected notes written up neatly and sorted into sections. Dick never read any of it, yet Tim did it all again. Had his photos developed for ease of viewing access, included sources for all of his claims, stuck to his main points for clarity’s sake but has pages and pages of extra information in the back of the binder for when–if–Dick decides to give his idea a thorough look. 

But Tim is seventeen years old now, old enough to know where he went wrong the first time. Yesterday he spent hours coming up with argument after argument, approach after approach, to get through to Dick. Mr. Grayson, I’m so sorry for your loss. He’s probably tired of hearing that. Mr. Grayson, I have something I think you’ll want to see. Too quick to the point. If he doesn’t recognize Tim, maybe he’ll try Mr. Grayson, I know about your night life and I want to help. If he does, then maybe Mr. Grayson, I want to say I’m sorry about last time, but this isn’t like last time, I swear–

The door opens. Tim knows that it’s Dick by the smell. Sweat, unwashed clothes, and misery. How like last time. Dick looks like the epitome of grief, which is to say, not like himself. Dick Grayson is a creature of happiness by nature, of high-flying freedom, of beloved family and friends, a picture-perfect cover boy, always adored, always with a beautiful redhead, Batgirl or Starfire or Arsenal, yes Tim knows his type, always kind, always charming, always happy to be there. But Tim only ever seems to know him in these liminal states of horrible tragedy. 

Worst of all, Tim can’t quite tell if Dick recognizes him. 

“Mr. Grayson,” he begins, heart pounding so loudly he cannot hear himself speak, “I don’t think Mr. Wayne is dead.”

For a moment longer than Tim’s entire lifespan, Dick just stares at him. Blue eyes hazy and unfocused. One hand on the doorframe, one hand dragging through the stubble growing on his half-shaved jaw. He’s wearing an AC/DC shirt. Given Dick’s fashion tastes (bright colors) and Bruce Wayne’s music tastes, neither of which Tim should know, he is 98% certain that the AC/DC shirt used to belong to Bruce Wayne. 

When Dick finally speaks, his voice sounds like the death of all joy. 

“How many family members do I have to lose before you let me grieve in peace?”

Tim’s pounding heartbeat becomes a deafening white noise as Dick’s question pangs around his chest. His eyes sting so fiercly that Tim knows it is as visible as Dick’s misery. Nevertheless, he persists, if only for Bruce Wayne. No one else will save him if not for Tim. So even though his hero thinks Tim is a creepy little stalker with the unbelievable audacity to swagger into Dick’s life and tell him how to fix it, well. He’s not wrong, is he? What does it matter if Tim once upon a time dreamed of more? Saving Bruce Wayne is far more important than Tim’s nonexistent chances of becoming friends with Nightwing. 

“Jason came back.” Tim’s chin, lifted stubbornly, trembles. 

Dick’s face clouds over with a rage so terrible that Tim sincerely believes he’s about to get punched by Nightwing. Which wouldn’t be so bad. Tim deserves it, doesn’t he? Intruding on a stranger’s grief like this is probably a punchable offense. He’ll bear it all if only Dick listens, but it looks like he managed to blow it in the span of two sentences. 

In the end, though Dick’s hands curl into fists and his shoulders shake like traintracks, he turns his head at the last second and rests his forehead on the doorframe. Tears streak down his perfect jawline. Watching Dick Grayson cry is like watching Atlantis sink. It’s like watching the Mona Lisa go up in flames. Tim knows stuff like this is why Dick treats him like a celebrity-obsessed stalker living in a weird fantasy world where he’s a part of the Wayne family. He knows it’s why Dick hates him. Tim still can’t help that it’s captivating to watch.

“Go away,” Dick begs.

Tim has never felt more like the scum of the earth, yet still he’d persist if he thought there was a chance of getting Nightwing to listen to him. But there isn’t. So Tim, as lonely, rejected, unworthy and fucking correct as he is, sees himself out of the apartment building.

Two weeks later, he catches a flight to Lahore.

[emeraldspiral]

So, I know that because comic books are designed to go on indefinitely Bruce Wayne can never grow old and retire like he does in Batman Beyond and Joker will never be permanently killed off like he was in Return of the Joker. I think there was even a comic that actually showed that the Batman Beyond future isn’t set in stone by having Tim Drake get kidnapped by the Joker, but then escape unharmed. But like, what if he didn’t? What if the main DC comics continuity actually integrated elements of Return of the Joker into the canon? Like, we already have the Joker being the source of a huge traumatic character redefining moment in Barbara and Jason’s stories, so why not let him do it for Tim Drake?

I think the whole reason they skipped Jason in the DCAU but made Tim a lot more like him than the Tim from the comics is because they knew they weren’t going to be allowed to kill him off like Jason and they felt like that was too important to his character to ignore. But then they ended up putting Tim through something as close to Jason’s brutal murder as they could within the censorship guidelines. I think if it had happened in BTAS instead of Batman Beyond there could’ve been a lot more story to tell, rather than having it just be the setup for a story that takes place decades later. And because it was Tim instead of Jason and because Tim didn’t die, the story would’ve been something completely new rather than an adaptation of the Red Hood storyline that resulted from Jason’s death.

So, what if in the comics there was a whole story arc where Tim Drake goes missing and then Joker debuts a new sidekick, “Joker Jr.” aka “J.J.”?

You could milk that for a while, building it up as a mystery and then a great source of drama when the Batfam realize their new adversary is the missing Tim Drake. Then you have them trying to figure out what happened and how to help Tim. Is he being mind controlled by a machine or a telepath? Or has he been dunked into the same acid bath as Joker and gone completely insane?

Or maybe it’s like what happens to him in the future where Tim is switching back and forth between his identities and no one including him realizes he’s Joker Jr. Maybe he doesn’t even remember the Joker capturing him and anything bad happening. It’s all been repressed so no one knows he went through any trauma and no one suspects a thing until the clues reveal that J.J. can only be Tim.

In the original story we don’t get to actually see the concept of a “Joker fam” play out, and that could’ve been interesting. Joker often gives conflicting information about his background, but it usually involves an abusive father, so putting him in a paternal role might shed some light on what kind of role model he actually had for a parent. Maybe he projects his boyhood trauma onto Tim and either treats him shitty because of his own self-loathing or shows slivers of compassion he wished he’d gotten from his father.

Punchline could replace Harley as Joker’s accomplice in the brainwashing and act as an evil big sister, like a dark parallel to Barbara. She could revel in Tim’s corruption and how much it upsets the people who care about him, or she could view him as a rival for Joker’s attention and approval. Joker could even intentionally pit them against one another.

Whenever Tim gets rescued Joker either doesn't die, or it doesn’t stick, because comics. But then there’s fallout to explore afterward. Like, Tim has to grapple with it for a while, but Bruce is also not handling it well. This is the third time now that the Joker has done something super fucked up to one of his sidekicks. He feels horribly guilty for Jason, Barbara, and Tim, and also worries that Damien might be next. He doesn’t want his loved ones in the line of fire anymore, but he knows already that he can’t make them do anything. Dick and Babs are grown adults and even Damien just does whatever he wants.

So maybe Bruce gets the idea that the only way to force them all to hang up their capes is if he reveals his identity. He’ll claim he coerced them all into helping him so they don’t go to jail, but there would still be consequences for a lot of people. Jim Gordon has to resign and a new corrupt commissioner replaces him. Lucius Fox is indicted and that allows the Powers family to takeover Wayne Enterprises. Alfred has to go into hiding. People start to connect the dots between known associates of Bruce Wayne and deduce the identities of characters like Superman and Catwoman. It’s a huge domino effect. But just as everything is about to implode, this is revealed to just be a hypothetical, like Over the Edge. Batman realizes that even if he were ready to throw everyone else under the bus to protect his sidekicks it wouldn't even work because they’d still have enemies who’d go after them and their families if their covers were blown and they could no longer fight crime.

So Batman realizes the only thing he can do is go to Zatana for help. His relationship with her has been on the rocks ever since he found out she mindwiped him after he walked in on her altering Doctor Light’s mind to make him less dangerous but now he feels like he has no choice but to do something similar to his sidekicks. Of course just mindwiping them wouldn’t work because they still have friends in the Justice League, the Titans, and several other groups who wouldn’t universally agree to keep it a secret. So the only solution would be for Zatana to do some kind of Spiderman No Way Home spell that makes EVERYONE forget all of Batman’s sidekicks.

And just to make sure none of them can ever discover his identity and ask to join his crusade again, he makes them all believe he was an abusive alcoholic who they cut out of their lives. In fact, they believe there was a high-profile lawsuit between Bruce and Dick that resulted in Dick becoming Tim and Damien’s new legal guardian and moving with them to Bludhaven. Dick thinks he didn’t want to depend on the trust fund Bruce set up for him so he started his own company. Barbara believes she was an intern for Bruce Wayne but quit because he was a toxic boss. Jason believes he ran away from home and became a mechanic after a big blowout with Bruce, but still keeps in touch with the other boys. Damien doesn’t remember his mother or grandfather or the League of Assassins at all, he thinks he lived a normal life as the child of a billionaire playboy and a random fling and gets along with Tim and the others just fine. Alfred and Bruce believe Bruce somehow kept his secret from Dick and the others for many years before deciding to purposefully act like a bad parent to drive them all away because he knew the danger was always there and he didn’t feel like he could be the guardian they deserved dividing his time between them and the double-life they couldn’t know about. Only Zatana knows the truth.

So Bruce continues doing his thing as a solo act while the rest of the Batfam are living normal lives. But over time they all end up getting back into vigilantism despite everything Bruce did to keep his influence away from them. Barbara gets interested in politics and running for public office as a means of improving the city, but when her campaign fails she finds she can do more as Oracle. Dick can’t help but intervene when he sees a mugging on the streets of Bludhaven and feels compelled to keep going out to fight crime to make the streets safe for his brothers. Car thieves bring a vehicle to Jason’s shop to be stripped for parts and when he realizes it was stolen from a friend of his who was murdered they try to kill him, forcing him to go to Dick’s to hide out.

Neither Jason nor Dick trust the police to take care of the car theft ring and decide to try and deal with it together. Tim and Damien know something is up despite their efforts to hide it from them and end up following them to a confrontation with the gang. None of them remember their training so they’re in over their heads, but fortunately Black Canary shows up, having been recruited by Barbara to deal with the car theft ring. Canary sees the boys’ potential and starts training them and Barbara and we end up with a Birds of Prey team consisting of Oracle, Black Canary, and quadruple Robins, which tuns into quintuple Robins when Stephanie Brown later joins them. Also, we find out that Dinah Drake and Tim Drake are related and Tim has the same superpower.

Bruce instinctively worries about these new young heroes taken under Black Canary’s wing before he even learns they’re his estranged kids. He confronts her about it but she tells him they’re all making their own choices and she can’t stop them. She can only give them the guidance they need to do what they’re doing as safely as possible. When he does learn their identities and they learn his there’s a lot of drama and angst over Bruce lying to them, being shitty on purpose, and finding out for the first time how much he actually loves them and is proud of them.

The Joker reenters the picture after having been thought dead since the end of the inciting arc with Tim, and this leads to a Joker Jr. relapse. Everyone’s confused as to how Tim could have this repressed split personality/DNA overwriting microchip implant when he’s only met the Joker recently and never been alone with him. Investigating uncovers evidence of mental tampering which eventually leads back to Zatana, who gives everyone the truth. Seeing as how the charade didn’t stop the Batfam from becoming vigilantes again or erase the trauma hiding deep within Tim’s psyche, it seems pointless to keep the spell going, so Zatana restores everyone’s memories.

But it’s not just a hard reset to back before she cast the spell. The whole scandal of Bruce and Dick’s custody battle that tarnished Bruce’s public image is still in the public conscious. Even after announcing that Bruce has cleaned up his act and the boys have reconciled and moved back in with him a lot of people still think Bruce is a dirtbag. Barbara finds she prefers being Oracle to Batgirl and pursuing a career in politics instead of being Batman’s sidekick. Damien still remembers being a normal kid and enjoying normal kid things and is much more well-adjusted. Jason still works as a mechanic and Dick still has his own company and they maintain relationships with workplace associates introduced in this arc. Tim still has to grapple with what Joker did to him, but he also has a strong relationship with “Aunt Dinah” now and a Canary Cry. So he decides it’s finally time to concede the Robin identity to Damien and step out of Bruce’s shadow to create a new identity like Dick, Jason, and Barbara before him.

IDK what his new name could be. “Red Canary” almost sounds like it would work because it’s like when he went by “Red Robin” (Yummm!) combined with his new superpower and relationship with Black Canary. But at the same time, it’s still a derivative sidekick name an not an independent identity like Nightwing, Red Hood, or Oracle. Also, there’s already a Red Canary who was just introduced. I think she’s from another universe, but it still doesn’t really make sense to give Tim a new name so he doesn’t have to share an identity with Damien, but then make him share his new one with someone else.

[lady-byleth]

Sooooo, Shepard had a clone right? Knowing how much Cerberus likes to go above and beyond, there's a high chance that there's more than one. And the one we meet was comatose until needed, which she never was...so what if there's a whole bunch of clones in various stages of growth that just got frozen after Shepard went rogue

And after the war Miranda decides to see if she can find the rest and uncovers a whole storage of clones. Most of them are dead, either due to complications during development or because of cryo getting interrupted during the war

But one is still alive and asleep, so Miranda tells Shepard, who has only recently been released from the hospital, and takes her there so she can decide what to do with the clone herself.

Of course Garrus is there too cuz he's not letting Shepard out of sight until he's 100% sure she's not gonna get herself blown up again

Tali, Liara, Joker and EDI obviously can't be dissuade from joining either - EDI makes a compelling argument about having to test her new body that is actually complete bullshit, she's just curious - and James and Cortez just tag along because everyone else is going and it's about clones and the have Experience.

Javik comes too, cuz he's bored and Liara made vague comments about there maybe being Cerberus agents to fight, and Kaidan has a Bad Feeling about all these knuckleheads being in one room together so he comes along to keep the peace. That's a lie actually, he's just happy to be here.

Samara somehow shows up too, though no one actually contacted her cuz no one knew how. She just heard "Shepard" and "Cerberus" and decided "that could be trouble" and here she is

Grunt would have loved to go but Wrex tells him if he can't go then Grunt can't either cuz that would be unfair.

Jack has the kids to take care of and Jacob has his kid to take care of, so they're not able to come but promise help should there be some Cerberus agents that need blowing up.

Zaeed just sends a photo of himself at the pool titled "I'm fucking retired".

So Miranda ends up having to fly a huge group of people to that lab she found, which she grumbles about but she's not fooling anyone anymore.

As it turns out the facility is completely abandoned and powered down, except for the emergency power in the lab that's supposed to keep the clones alive. They check the whole place before they descend into the basement, looking for the one pod still active that Miranda found

They move past a bunch of pods with clones ranging from young girls to women the same age as Shepard and it's both fascinating and horrifying at the same time.

Shepard for her part seems to take it pretty well though she does stick close to Garrus who slings an arm around her shoulders to steady her. Tali links arms with her and Shepard gives her a small smile.

The active pod is in the far back and, at first glance, looks empty. Liara immediately grabs the data pad sitting beside it and flips through the many charts and notes on it, frowning in thought.

She mumbles something about "no growth hormones administered", gasps a small "oh" and holds the pad out a little so Miranda can read along with her as EDI starts typing on the console attached to the pod itself

"Oh!" she says after a moment, as if to echo Liara. Joker steps up next to her, trying to make sense of what she's looking at.

"What? How evil is it gonna be?"

EDI doesn't answer but turns to Shepard, a strange sparkle in her eyes that wasn't there when she first got a body. She looks both delighted and amazed. "Shall I open it?"

Shepard looks at the pod, worries her lower lip for a moment. Garrus squeezes her gently, Tali hugs her arm closer. The rest of their group closes rank around her, steadying her with their presence.

They're all here for her, no matter what. So she nods.

"Do it."

There's a low hissing sound and a blast of cold air, fog rolls out of the pod as the lid slides open slowly. For some reason Miranda and Liara look almost giddy, though Liara has to keep pushing Javik's hand down because he keeps trying to aim his gun.

James is standing on his tip toes to see into the pod before its even fully open and almost falls over when a very unexpected sound suddenly echoes through the room.

It's a crying voice. A baby's crying voice.

Samara immediately bolts forward, the instincts of a mother taking over, and she bends down into the pod and emerges with what's indeed a baby.

"Holy shit!" James looks flabbergasted.

"Holy shit..." Cortez doesn't look any better.

"Holy shit, indeed!" Somehow Kasumi is here too.

Samara rocks the little girl in her arms, scrutinizes her closely and smiles.

"Yes, I feel a strong resemblance to you," she says, gracefully moving to a completely stunned Shepard.

If you've never seen a galactic hero speechless, suddenly confront them with a baby clone of themself and that should do the trick.

The baby of course doesn't know that, she's just screaming, probably cold and scared and disoriented. She's squirming in Samara's arms, oblivious to Liara, Miranda, Tali, Kaidan and - surprisingly - EDI who are crowding around Samara to catch a glimpse, cooing already

Samara doesn't even try calming the little girl down, she has other ideas. Before Shepard can refuse Samara deposits the baby into her arms, adjusts her grip and then steps back, an almost mischievous tilt to her serene smile.

The baby calms immediately, big eyes the same color as Shepard's blinking up at a face that will he hers one day.

Shepard is motionless, looking like someone just slapped her with a frying pan...until the baby suddenly starts squealing in delight.

The unease melts from Shepard's face, a slightly confused but warm smile replacing it, and she gently shifts the baby closer to her chest, speaking to her quietly.

Little feet kick with delight, small hands reach out to grab at her face, and careful, scarred fingers brush plump baby cheeks and Samara watches with obvious satisfaction as her friends crowd around Shepard to continue cooing at the little girl now laughing happily

Shepard doesn't see it, focused on the baby as she is, but James just bursts into tears at the adorable picture while Cortez tries to console him without looking away. .

Joker is sniffing a little bit too but instead of staying in the background he loudly says "brittle bones coming through" and pushes to the front of the group. The baby immediately steals his cap. He is delighted. EDI is delighted that he is delighted.

Javik pretends very hard not to be mesmerized by the first human baby he's ever seen. He's failing miserably, much to Kaidan's amusement.

Garrus sticks to the sidelines, arms crossed over his chest, a thoughtful expression on his face. He remembers London, the half joking half serious conversation about adopting kids after the war is finished.

He'd shelved the thought in favor of focusing on recuperating, fixing what the war had destroyed, and building up Shepard who had to wrestle with severe injuries, PTSD and survivor's guilt without the distraction of a galactic war to keep her from realizing how much she was suffering.

But...it had been months, life was slowly returning to some semblance of normalcy - as much as was possible after the heavy losses - and Shepard was getting better. Therapy was going well. She would never be fully free of what she'd been through, but she was determined to get better and Hackett had arranged for the best help in the galaxy.

She was getting better. And restless. She had started spending more time with the orphans, playing with them, teaching them.

She'd always loved children. And Garrus had been very serious about starting a family with her, not so much about the cross species babies that biologically wouldn't happen.

But here was a baby that Shepard already had a connection with, a baby that she obviously already adored. He hadn't seen her smile like that in a long time. It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Yes. This could be good.

He feels Samara sidle up beside him, smiling knowingly. "You should suggest it," she says.

Garrus nods, shoots her a smile. "Yeah, I think I will."

[fnf-amateur-writing]

Hey! It’s Fox again! How are you doing? I just started school back up today, so I’ve been busy Xp.

Think you would be cool with writing some Pico with an s/o who is a writer, and tends to ask him about things like “hey, how long does it take someone to bleed out” or other things like that?

I understand if you don’t feel like it, and I hope you’re having fun 😊

🦊

Hello again Fox, I'm doing quite well rn. I'm cool with your prompt, especially since I need more writing material anyways.

Took me a while, because I didn't want to do a hc, but rather come up with a oneshot with a little twist to the style. Well, hope it works well.

Good luck with school, mate!

TW: Mentions of violence, swearing, slight sexual reference, and crime.

Pico with a writer S/O who asks him strange questions

Prologue:

On a chilly autumn morning, you were sitting out on your patio with a laptop and a mug of your favourite beverage next to you. Whenever you looked up, you could see the warm coloured leaves fall as the breeze accompanied you. The whole scene was an aesthetic.

When your boyfriend, Pico, came outside to see this, he knew that the nice environment you surrounded yourself with meant one thing. "You're back in your writing space already. Heh, with that bestseller you published, I thought you were comfy taking a break." You simply smiled and said, "can't waste the inspiration rush I got right now."

Pico had a good point though, with your rising popularity as an author, you were near set to retire before turning fourty. But you wish you weren't given all of the credit, since your boyfriend's stories of his dodgy job has occasionally sparked some ideas for your stories. However the books you wrote in the past were usually meant for the young adult and had few mature themes. This time, you thought maybe it's time to garner extra inspiration from those stories.

You were met with some disappointment when you realised that your mug was empty, only a drop entering your mouth. "Here, babe, I'll ya some more," Pico said, taking your mug and walking inside. "Quick question," you stopped him. "Yeah?"

"What would be the best place for a murder cemetery?"

"... What?"

Chapter 1:

"So you're doing some story about the police hunting down a mass murderer?"

"Pretty much."

"And to think you were gonna write Pixar's next script. Aight' I respect that." Pico takes a seat next to you with a refill of your drink placed next to your favourite writing laptop. "Thanks, Pico. But yeah, I want to branch out to something edgier, and I think you can help too."

"Let me show you what I've got so far." You showed him some of your notes in a little notepad document, detailing the story thus far and your current plans for this chapter. "Oh, that's it? Just looks like boring police preparation mainly," Pico commented. "Yeah, it's not much right now. But it'll get juicy later." "And bloody?" "And bloody."

"Welp, I'm gonna head back in," Pico got up, "let me know if you need anything." He head back inside, closing the door, but then opened it almost immediately afterwards. Pico stuck his head out, "by the way, the guy should use some strong alcohol or something to throw off those sniffer dogs."

Chapter 2:

"And then, because they used a silencer, the police don't immediately notice the--"

"Nope! I'm calling bullshit (Y/N)!" Pico had suddenly interrupted your explanation of the scene you were currently working on. "Silencers can help prevent some hearing loss, sure, but they're not magic."

"Alright," you reply, "no silencer, but the killer still has to kill in a way to not get blood on them, so I thought shooting and killing them from a distance would work." "Well, they're alone. Instead, have the guy get shanked in the neck or something, and have the killer use a plastic bag as a glove. It saved my ass one time."

"Woah!" you exclaimed with a giggle, "you used a knife once? What happened to my trigger happy boyfriend, huh? That's pretty sus."

"I forgot to reload the Uzis, alright?"

"What an impostor would say."

Chapter 3:

"What would be the best way to muffle the scream of someone you kidnapped?"

You two were sitting on the couch together watching a show. You didn't have your laptop on you, so Pico didn't expect you to still be thinking about that book. "I can't say from experience, really," he said as he paused the show. "However, shove a rag in their mouth and duct tape it in, and you should be good."

"Thanks Pico, also one more thing." "Yeah?" "What if our killer also wanted to..." God, this one was gonna be awkward, but you had to say it or else no help. "You know, cut off this victim's willy. How would you do that?"

"Wai-wha-uh-ga," Pico started fumbling his words like never before. He stopped, then took a deep breath. "YO, WHAT THE FUCK?!" "It'll make sense in the story later, I promise!" You watch Pico begin to lose it, breaking into laughter. "Ladies, gentlemen, and others," Pico dramatically stood up, pulling a little Showcaster impression and directing his arms towards you, "my famous 'young' adult novelist partner!"

Chapter 4:

It was in the dead of night, but you awoke to Pico on his phone. His vpn was on and Tor was up. As per usual, he was checking up on his little hitman service, where others could request for a certain someone's guts to fly if they paid him a hefty sum first. Though tired, you ound this to be the best time to ask him some more questions.

"Pico, how do those sites work?"

"Oh, you're awake," Pico blankly stated, sleepy too. But he still answered you. "Basically, some anonymous rich guys in the area give me money and a target, then I just do the thing and send a mission accomplished email." "Do they pay you in person?" "Nah, we use always use Bitcoin. It's a lot harder to trace than real money."

"Thanks Pico. Goodnight," you wish him, yawning and going back to sleep. "You too... So this guy is a hit man too?" "Hush. Tomorrow." "Okay." Pico puts his phone away, leaving it on a nightstand. You then spoon the night away, peacefully thinking of murder as you drifted off.

Chapter 5:

On a morning similar to before, you two sat on the patio with your drinks and laptop at the ready. Pico watched rather awkwardly as you typed away, wondering why you haven't entertained him with another question yet.

"You gonna ask anything else?" "What? Oh, nah," you plainly state. Inevitable, sure, but he was kind of saddened. He liked being able to share his messed up wisdom. "So, you're done?" "Almost." You turn to look at him, "want the spoilers?" Pico smiled, "sure thing."

In the novella you and Pico crafted together, the main character is a cop who hunts down a killer. They eventually notice that there would be two murders at a time for unknown reasons. Well, it was unknown until one victim had left up a dark web hit man for hire site. They that the hit man not only kills the target, but the client as a hidden price for the service.

And any request will be fulfilled, according to the hit man's site.

"Do they catch 'em?" Pico asked. "Well, ANY request is granted. So, if our hero were to... hire him to kill himself..."

"No way!"

"He did. They find both of their bodies in his bedroom."

Pico was a bit impressed with the ending you came up with, but then he remembered something. "Why did that guy get his thing cut off?" "Lol, I forgot," you giggled. "He sent a message to the hit man, saying he wishes the target would choke on his dick."

"That's my favourite part."

Epilogue:

After everything was finished up, you sent the book off to your editor. After the initial joy of knowing how the story ended, you saw that Pico was still in thought. "What's up with you?" "Oh nothing, well it's just... I'm probably just biased, being that I'm a bit of a hitman myself, but it's kind of sad to see the guy go."

"Then I should spoil the epilogue I came up with." Rather than being excited, Pico nervously asked, "what's an epilogue?" He didn't get an answer, only you staring at him. "Sorry, school held too many bad memories for me to pay attention."

"Anyways," you continue, "the rest of the police gang did some background checks, and find that our killer was a normal guy with no criminal history."

"Penilian?"

"No. But I did decide to take a more supernatural approach here. Somewhere across the country, another string of double homicides occur and that site is active once more. And the story kind of repeats itself."

"Penilian."

"You joker," you give him a playful little kiss on the cheek, one that definitely caught him off guard. "So is it canon?" Pico smirked. "Nah, just thanking you for being my cute little co-author." "Oh," Pico started, "so we're flirtin' now, huh. Come here babe!" He tackled you onto the ground, giving you several kisses in exchange.

"Actually, I think we call that 'making out'," you chuckle out, flustered. "But that doesn't mean I said stop'!" You pull him in for more, accidentally bonking your heads together rather painfully. "Nice double kill there, (Y/N)."

[vro0m]

vro0m’s rewatch - 91/301

2012 Australian GP

Alriiiight 2012 here we go!

Disclaimer for this season. It turns out that I only have the footage of the race for a lot of the GPs (no build-up, no post-race content) so there will be way less GIFs unfortunately. I will let you know for each of these reviews if there are GIFs or not. THIS ONE HAS GIFS.

Let’s start by reviewing the changes from 2011.

Lotus became Caterham

Renault became Lotus (? honestly wtf)

Virgin became Marussia

Williams switched back to Renault engines

At Lotus (so Renault, right?), Petrov and Senna were replaced by Raikkonen and Grosjean

Petrov eventually replaced Trulli at Caterham (so Lotus, yeah?) and Senna went to Williams as Barrichello retired

Hulkenberg rejoined Force India with Di Resta as Sutil left the team and OMG. Sutil was later sued for “grievous bodily harm” for assaulting a Renault team member with a glass in a Chinese club after the GP in 2011

Toro Rosso got rid of Alguersuari and Buemi who were replaced by Ricciardo and JEV

De la Rosa and Karthikeyan rejoined F1 at HRT

Pic replaced D’Ambrosia at Marussia

On the regulations side :

The whole exhaust gas/diffuser/downforce thing that created much controversy in 2011 was settled with a complete ban of the practice

Minor changes to nose height and stuff like that

No more joker gearbox change : until then it was possible to change the gearbox once without penalty during the season, but they changed it to them being allowed to change the gearbox only once every 5 races

Use of helium in air guns for the pit stops was banned : it made the process quicker but it was too expensive for the gains

Pirelli ameliorated their tyres

Reintroduction of the rule stating lapped cars can unlap themselves under Safety Car before the restart (🥲)

Introduction of the 4-hour race rule after the 2011 Canadian GP lasting a historical record of 04h04mn39s

Deactivation of the DRS under yellow flags following incidents during the season

Now onto the race.

It's a Mclaren front row! Yesss. Seb is only 6th? Webber 5th. Schumacher 4th. GROSJEAN IS 3RD WHAT. It's Lewis on pole 💜.

Formation lap

Nicole is there with Lewis' mom. Remember that at the end of last season Lewis talked about not having his loved ones around like Jenson did and how it affected him (and also he was single back then but hey).

And they're racing!

The two Mclarens are wheel to wheel into turn one but Jenson takes the lead! Three cars went wide and the back and someone spun. Behind Lewis is Schumacher then Rosberg who overtook Seb and Grosjean slid back into 6th. And Seb overtakes Nico for 5th again. Maldonado makes contact with Grosjean who ends up in the gravel. DNF.

Hulkenberg also had to retire and Maldonado just went through the gravel himself. Seb is closing on Schumacher. Oooh he missed a corner and went through the grass. And Nico attacks him! And Alonso is attacking nico! A couple of laps later Seb has pulled away a bit and Alonso is on Rosberg's back but he also goes wide slightly.

Oh and this time it's the other way around, Schumacher went wide and Seb is ahead. He might be having problems. He's slowed a lot. Rosberg is up in fourth now but maybe not for long as Alonso is exactly 0.3 seconds behind him. Ahead are still Jenson and Lewis with a 3.3 second gap between them and a 10 seconds gap to Seb now in 3rd, then. But Seb very quickly starts to close that gap.

15 laps in there's been a number of pit stops in the midfield and at the back already. Oh it’s weird to see VER in the graphics it took me a long time to understand who that was. But it's Vergne obvi.

Seb has already reduced the gap to Lewis to 6.5 seconds. Jenson pits from the lead. Redbull responds with Seb who goes out just in front of Alonso who's already pitted. That might be interesting. Now the only two who haven't pitted in the top 10 are Lewis and Raikkonen, who's currently third. Lewis comes in. Aww so of course Jenson is ahead. Raikkonen is also ahead by very little but he's gonna pit anyway. However, more problematic is Lewis is now behind Perez. Somehow.

There's a queue behind Vergne's Toro Rosso and it’s a problem. But Alonso passed him and it won't be long until Rosberg and Webber do too. Lewis is only 0.5 seconds behind Perez, he must be able to overtake him, come on. Ahhh of course Perez hasn't pitted yet either. It doesn't change the fact that Lewis needs to overtake him to catch up on Jenson who's already 10 seconds ahead. Finally Lewis overtakes him! Seb is right there though omg. Seb also overtakes Perez.

So Jenson is still in the lead, Lewis +11s., Seb +1.8s. Eesh.

Alonso preying on Perez now. He keeps these big names at bay pretty well I will say. But here it goes, Alonso is ahead. And Rosberg is through too. It's Webber's turn. Meanwhile Lewis is losing time on Jenson while Seb is gaining on him. Jenson says he's picked up some rubber so there's vibration but he didn't lock up. It slows him down very slightly. Okay okay now Lewis is doing it, he's getting closer to Jenson and away from Seb, great job!

Halfway through while there's stuff I don't really care about going on in the midfield, Lewis is 9.5s. behind Jenson while Seb is 2.3s. behind him.

Oh ho, there's a Toro Rosso going through sand in bad shape but we're back on Webber trying to overtake Rosberg. Well he pits anyway.

Now Lewis is losing on Jenson again as Seb is closing on him. I zoned out for a few laps ngl. Jenson pits from the lead. And Lewis also! Great job from the mechanics. In the meantime Petrov has stopped on the main straight. Safety Car. Seb pits and is out, unfortunately ahead of Lewis. Webber and Maldonado who also pitted are now behind him though.

Okay so as I said before, 2012 is the year they implemented the lapped cars can overtake under safety car rule. And they're doing it now. Of course it's a problem at the moment because they're not used to it so the cars are weaving while being overtaken by the lapped cars and it's dangerous. Brundle doesn't like this rule, he thinks the leaders being as good as they are the should have to get through backmarkers and showcase what they can do. It's part of being a racing driver or whatever. Ted says contrary to what Brundle is saying Charlie told him it would only take one supplementary lap to do anyway. Ah, Kovalainen DNF. Safety Car in...

And here we go, good restart from Jenson. Lewis is chasing Seb. Jenson is already taking off. DRS for Lewis... It's on. Senna and Massa touched, they both have a puncture. Well Lewis is not overtaking Seb. I'm a bit perplexed by his driving this race. Is the car not good enough even though Jenson is comfortably ahead or is he just not fighting very hard?

Oop, Maldonado hit the wall in the last lap.

And it's the end of the race.

So Jenson, Seb, Lewis.

It's good because it seems the McLarens' pace is better this year but we'll see what Lewis' mindset is this time around, I'm not convinced by his attitude yet.

He seems mildly enthusiastic at best on the podium lol

Lewis starts the press conference by congratulating Jenson and the team. It was a bit of a tough day but there's plenty of races ahead he'll just keep his head down. It's still a positive for the team, they have good pace.

Later on, Mackenzie says we all know that nothing less than a win satisfies him. It was obviously a rough race, he says, but again congratulations to Jenson, it would have been good to get a 1-2 but it wasn't the day for him.

Why? He really doesn't know. He just struggled out there and had a bad start. He'll refocus, there's plenty of opportunities ahead and the championship is about consistency so that's what they're focused on. Mackenzie asks what confidence he can take in the fact that he got pole and a podium this weekend which by anyone's standard is pretty good. "It's okay" he smiles.

"It’s pretty poor standards compared to... Someone's else..." and he makes a head movement in Jenson's direction.

He's always so hard on himself.