#faire of champions

[easternwoods]

OSHA approved can opener

[justgarb]

Soon

I'm so freakin excited. I only work one faire a year for a reason - staff, cast, owners, and regulars are wonderful people and the afterparties are always lit!

It's been three soft openings but now it's time!

[casscainmainly]

A Deep Dive Into Why Cass Threw Dick Out A Window

If you've been here long enough you've probably seen or heard of this moment, which is super hilarious and iconic. It's mostly discussed in reference to Dick and Cass' relationship. However, in my opinion Cass throwing Dick out a window had very little to do with her opinion of him, or even of Barbara; it has more to do with her understanding of romance and love. I briefly touched on this in my gender/sexuality post, but I'm going to explain more in depth my interpretation of how Dick functions in Batgirl (2000) as a whole. (This moment is very open to interpretation though, this is just my opinion!). So let's try to answer Dick's question: what was that all about?

Love, Language, and DickBabs

While Puckett's run is notable for not having Cass date anyone, romantic love does play a role in Cass' early understanding of the world. It's the impetus that spurs her to write: in issue 2, she sees a wife read a letter from her deceased husband, and her reaction affects Cass so strongly she immediately starts trying to write. (She also kisses the husband on the cheek earlier, which may or may not be a crush). Romance, and the ability to communicate your love, is a fundamental part of Cass' desire to learn language.

So we have Cass, who has experienced neither love nor language, living with Babs, who's in a relationship with Dick. This telephone conversation in #4 (the issue where a metahuman changes Cass' brain into understanding language) again links romance to communication. Dick and Babs are talking on the phone, unable to see each other but understanding each other perfectly; Cass and Babs, on the other hand, live together and can't understand each other at all.

"She can't talk, so it's not all that different [to living alone]." Babs is telling an eavesdropping Cass that her inability to speak prevents her from love and connection - a love and connection symbolised by one of the first romantic relationships Cass is consistently around, Dick and Barbara.

Dick as an Ideal

There's a debate whether Cass likes Dick or not because half the time they're friendly, and half the time she's punching him or throwing him out windows. This disparity makes sense if you consider that Cass strongly associates DickBabs with communication, understanding, love - very idealised notions - but she does not associate Dick as a person with them. Her interactions with Dick (sans Babs) are cute and normal - Batgirl #29 and Nightwing #81 feature some very adorable Dick-Cass moments, with no real tension whatsoever.

It's only when Cass sees Dick in a romantic light (as in associated with Babs) that she makes him into a symbol.

Cass often tries to copy Babs, thinking it's the 'correct' thing to do - in DC First: Batgirl/Joker, she goes after Joker because that's what Barbara did; later in Horrocks' run she'll wear Barbara's outfit. In a way, Cass' affairs with Tai'Darshan and Kon - as much as I do think Tai'Darshan was genuine attraction - is another way to 'copy' Barbara. In #42, Cass stares at a picture of Dick and Babs while asking if Babs likes boys. Obviously Cass knows the answer is yes, but see what she asks next, and how Barbara responds:

She shifts from 'like' to 'love', and Babs responds that she 'care[s]' about him. For Cass, whose arc in Horrocks' run is about parsing out the nuances of attraction, understanding the difference between like, love, and care is incredibly difficult. She struggles to separate familial from romantic (Bruce in #50) or romantic from platonic (Kon, and in somewhat the reverse way Steph). In this conversation, Cass comes to associate Dick with like, love, and care - DickBabs becomes not just a symbol of romantic love, but of any connection whatsoever.

The Old Costume

I've discussed elsewhere that Cass wearing Babs' old costume in #45 is a representation of her desire to be 'girly', and how she associates girlhood with someone other than herself, discarding her own costume for Babs'. But putting on a costume is not the only prerequisite for being a 'girl'. In Babs' speech to Cass, she emphasises being sexually attractive to men, with her final comment being about this "particular look Dick used to give [her]". For Cass, visual language is incredibly important; putting on Babs' costume is not about being or feeling like a girl, but about being perceived as one. Dick is symbolic of the perceiver: the one who can essentially 'grant' women their femininity.

But Cass is disgusted when Tim calls her hot, which adds to her confusion - why should Dick being attracted to Babs make Babs happy, but Tim (who's not a sibling at this time) perceiving her like that grosses her out? Cass' inability to feel good - to feel 'feminine' - through the male gaze is another sign, to her, of her failure to be a woman.

Which finally brings us to issue 46...

That Ableist Kon Comment

Cass finds out Dick breaks Babs' heart and then starts hallucinating on a drug. One of the things she hallucinates is Kon saying "who wants to date a cripple? Ain't that right, Nightwing?" and Nightwing responding "not me--at least, not anymore."

For the first time, we get to the heart of why DickBabs mattered to Cass: it was an example of a disabled person in a loving, romantic relationship. It goes back to that phone call in #4, where Babs implies that Cass is hard to care about because she can't speak. The Kon comment suggests Cass has carried that with her all this time, trying to find proof that she can be loved, no matter her disability. DickBabs showed her it could be done - the break-up shows her now that it can't be done.

Dick's hallucination mocks her disability: "look at her--she can't even read!" Attributing this mockery to Dick (whose real-life counterpart, unlike the other hallucinations, has never said anything remotely like this) shows that this 'Dick-as-ideal' is intrinsically tied to Cass' self-worth.

Honestly this whole post stemmed from me thinking about this one panel. There is no real reason, from Cass' view of Dick as a person, for her to think he's brave and noble and kind (more so than anyone else). But it's in the DickBabs context - that Dick seemed to love, wholeheartedly, a disabled woman - that makes Cass think this way. And now that DickBabs is broken up, it shows that she, too, is rotten to the core; that someone like her cannot be loved.

And so when Dick shows up, she throws him out the window.

Conclusion

In this moment, Cass isn't just reacting to Dick breaking up with Barbara, she's reacting to what it means to her. If Dick can't stay with Barbara, then that means Cass, as another disabled woman, is also unable to be loved. This all leads up to #50, which features another Cass punch to Dick's face, but more importantly is when Bruce and Cass reconcile through Cass' first language. It's a confirmation that though her verbal skills may not be fully developed, she still can communicate, and she can love and be loved.

I don't think a lot of the ideas I touched on here are fully developed, or conclude cleanly. For example, how does Cass' 'failure' to be a woman relate to her inability to be loved? Is she able to have a stable romantic relationship? There are lots more questions, but the role Dick specifically plays in Cass' understanding of romance is probably not going to develop further. I just think it's interesting how Horrocks uses the Dick-Babs relationship to explore Cass' identity.

[pedripics]

❤️

[championsandheroes]

No, no, it's fine Meredith. Your tactic is *clearly* working. You do you...

You know what works better than the Kirkwall strategy of dealing with mages? Patreon and society6.

[mwolf0epsilon]

I'll admit it now that I don't mind the Arcane version of Viktor (the show honestly has a lot of great potential and the ideas arent 100% the worst nor best thing I've seen in terms of LOL adjacent content, but it's still good entertainment and fun), but I honestly don't understand why this specific version couldn't be an alternate universe version of him, rather than Riot straight up rewriting him as the base character.

Alternate universes are LOL's bread and butter (the skin market) so why couldn't this be just another set of skins with a fleshed out universe, instead of once again doing Viktor's original storyline (an honestly very well written premise that originally sold me on his character) so dirty?

I just don't get the need to "fix" something that isn't broken...

[littletulsajesusfreak]

[creatively-cosmic]

i completely forgot to ever put anything abt him up here please enjoy the dragon master (as seen in missing numbers). weve been struggling to work out his design so bad but we did the last two sketches tonight so ig that's the most up to date for his hair and scars. the first one is the current colors tho

[applegreenrunnerbean]

Look, as a Max fan, do I think that move was borderline, opportunistic, dodgy even? Yes. Do I still think it was brilliant? Yes. Are these two things connected? Yes!

Here's off the top of my head some ways things could have gone after Max committed to going so wide:

- Lando doesn't react quickly enough. They crash. 0pts for everyone. We get a protracted discussion over who was at fault, but it is declared a racing incident.

- The above, but Max is found at fault and incurs a penalty for the next race.

- Lando doesn't go for the bait and doesn't overtake there, but gets Max on the next corner.

- Lando doesn't go for the bait and instead bides his time and gets Max a couple of laps later. By this point Max's tires are so worn and they've used so much time that Oscar is also able to catch and overtake Max.

- Lando overtakes, but immediately gives the position back. Max manages to somehow miraculously defend until the end of the race.

- Lando overtakes, but immediately gives the position back, and gets Max a couple of corners later.

- Lando overtakes, but immediately gives the position back. He bides his time and gets Max a couple of laps later.

- The same, plus Oscar overtakes Max too.

- The same, plus McLaren gets on to the stewards about Max forcing Lando off. Max gets a penalty so Oscar doesn't even need to overtake.

- Lando overtakes, and, anticipating the penalty, McLaren tells Lando to push. Lando puts 5 seconds between him and Max, negating the penalty.

- Lando overtakes, but the stewards say that although Lando overtook outside the limits, Max forced him off. It's declared a racing incident. Red Bull are infuriated.

- etc, etc

There's no point thinking about the what-ifs, but my point is: that move was a big risk on Max's part. Did he think through all these possible consequences and their likelihoods when he made the move? No, but he was still probably aware that what he was about to do would be controversial at the least.

And he could have easily not made the move! Lando had more pace and better tires - the chances are he would have been able to overtake at some point before the end of the race. Max could have, after having had his fun for a few laps, let Lando past and then concentrated on maintaining his tires so as to not let Oscar past too. It would have only been a 1pt gain for Lando, after all.

But of course he was never going to do that, because he's Max fucking Verstappen - and this is the first time in months he's felt like he's had the car to actually be able to put up something of a fight. Of course he's going to force the issue. Of course he's going to pull out his bag of tricks and make use of the grey areas in the rules. Of course he's going to use the fact that Lando's attack has been primarily reactive rather than aggressive.

And yes, it was questionable; yes, it was outside the spirit of the rules if not the letter. That's why I loved it, and that's why I love Max.

[maranello]

listen y’all need to have more trust in lewis and also more trust in charles. granted, ferrari is the variable we are all scared of here, but I do trust vassuer more than binotto and I don’t think either of these drivers would sign these deals with ferrari if they, or any of their trustworthy team, thought it was going to be bad for them.

[easternwoods]

Tonight we're eating Gnome Stew

(Tostin and his Fairy Cage)

[justgarb]

My lords Tostin von Leder and Maximus out at Faire of Champions weekend 1

[strryskys]

i am NOT used to being eighteen yet. i still find myself clicking away mdni blogs on instinct, it feels like i’m trespassing even just stumbling on them 😭😭😭

[pinktinselmonstrosity]

"that sense of kindness, decency, and tolerance, that has always been the british way" not sure i agree with you there rishi

[unes23]

Abby Champion for Vanity Fair Italia by Wayne Maser