#finally i can experience the story of my favorite name for joker

[raven]

Whatever... Persona 5 manga time. its still ongoing so its the only additional media to do royal ive heard, which is wild i wonder how theyre dealing with maruki. they could add in sumire later and still make sense and akechi was popular enough that they couldve seen the signs and put in more scenes with him early on, but maruki is definitely someone who needed to be there asap

[rboooks]

Can you write a dead on main? Something with a bookstore au please!

Now that I know the ship names, you bet I can! I'll try my best to get through the ones I got requested in the past few days.

Jason liked bookstores.

They were a safe haven for him as a child, even when the fancier ones chased him off when he became a street kid. He adores the various series, the smell of books, and the quiet of stores. Often he thought that they were a small pocket to escape reality.

He had always known he could escape between the pages when everything had been terrible.

Maybe that's what lead him to this store even if it was a bit odd.

It was out of the way by the old docks that Joker used to run, thus making it condemned to the rest of the populace.

An old warehouse turned into a three-story bookstore. The entire first floor was aisles placed in side-way lines with the main counter as its center. The second floor had cozy reading nocks, plush futon couches, pillows, and blankets, complete with a small cafe. The rule was that anyone could take a book off the second-floor walls to read for free.

Employees asked to be informed if any food or damage was done to the second floor since the second book only had one copy of each. The owner would pull one off the bottom floor shelves to replace it.

The final floor had various reading rooms, but Jason loved that each room was based on a book. The room was professionally decorated to the point it left visitors feeling like they actually stepped into the world of the book.

Sculptures, playable settings, phenomenal little details the hard die fans could spot, and even sound systems playing sounds that sounded like the world. Jason could only compare it to Disney World or universal studios. The fact that people could rent the rooms for an hour for only fifteen dollars made them much more popular.

The third-floor rooms- ten in total- would rotate between series after a few months. Hence, the rooms were always different, but inside them were recommended books with the same kind of theme that was always the perfect recommendation, or maybe people just wanted to explore a room of their favorites.

Jason had visited the strange little bookstore with Tim after his brother had gone on a date with Bernard there.

Tim and Barnard had rented the "Hogwarts common rooms" room for three hours. Jason had been amazed by how real the four standard rooms looked, how there were even dragons spitting fire in one corner, moving portraits, a sorting hat ceremony, a small teddy bear decorating corner, and even a wand building second. All for only fifteen dollars. Tim had practically been glowing when he came home with his Ravenclaw bear and his own wand.

And maybe Jason is a huge Harry Potter fan; perhaps it was one of the first things he boned with Tim over, so maybe his brother had taken him to have an experience that he compared to the first time Bruce took him to Universal Studios.

Then he ran into the owner while one of the employees had been helping him pick runes to have burned into his wand.

Jason started to come back for an entirely different reason.

"Hi, Jason!" Elle says when she sees him climbing the stairs toward the third floor. She's the store's co-owner and has gotten to know him on a first-name basis due to how often Jason has visited the store in the past year. If they made a reward points system, Jason knows he be the highest one on the chart.

She's sitting at a table that is decorated like a galaxy. The books for these quarters' room themes are on the table's surface, all with a door key under them and a clipboard for the various hours.

Jason's eyes land on Pride and Prejudice, and his heart leaps.

"Hi, Elle. What's the wait time for door seven?"

She smiles, flipping the clipboard to the time slots. "The Ball at Netherfield Park has a lot of openings today. I got a three, four, six, or seven. When shall I fit thee dance card in milord?"

Jason laughs and checks his phone, ensuring he doesn't need to do anything for a while before saying. "Three will be fine. It's only thirty minutes. I'll go get a coffee while I wait."

She nods, writing his name down for three. She then passes him some disclosure forms he has to sign, forgoes the long-winded explanation of the rules, and sends him on his way, promising to send him a reminder text.

"Just so you know, Ball at Netherfield Park comes with a unique costume option. Five extra dollars to go through our costume section, and you can dress up like Mr. Darcy for a full hour."

Jason shakes his head though it's a very tempting offer. "Thanks, Elle but I'm okay with my street clothes today."

The other shrugs and checks her nails- their asexual theme today, he notes- before nonchalantly commenting. "Too bad. Danny really wanted someone to cosplay with him. Jane Austin's books are less prevalent in Gotham than we thought, and he's been dying to wear his Mr. Bingley outfit. I thought you like to, so I told him to come over when you arrive, but I can text him to cancel-"

"Five dollars, you said? For the full outfit or just like a coat?" Jason ignores her smug expression and quickly places a twenty on the table.

"Full outfit. What do you take us for?"

He glares at her just as the man of the hour himself runs up the stairs. Danny Fenton, founder, and co-owner of Ghost Zone Reads. He's in a light blue Regency period man coat that makes his eyes pop. A pair of white pants that hug his hips and thighs in all the right places, black knee boots, and a black gentle top hat.

Jason's knees go weak at the sight of him.

Danny's face is flush from the run, but his whole face lights up when he sees his sister and her guest. "Jason! I'm so glad you choose the Ball at Netherfield Park experience. I can't wait for our dance."

"Dance?" Jason chocks. Elle chuckles.

"You can't experience a Ball at Netherfield without the ball part dingus." She waves a hand at her brother. "Told him Dick canceled on you, so he offered to step in."

Jason never even mentions Dick to her but he's not about to call her out on her lie. She's doing him such a big favor.

"I always wanted to go to a Jane Austin ball!" He says instead, mentally wincing at how lame he sounds. Thankfully Danny's eyes only light up even more as the other man starts explaining the instructional videos installed in the ballroom mirrors so they can learn the real moves of Contra Dancing.

Jason falls just a tad bit more.

(Elle watches with a fond smile as Jason and Danny get lost in Austin's most significant works. She quickly texts her allies in Wayne Manor under the table. This is a big step in the "Make us in-laws" operation; the Fenton and Wayne children started a few months back. They were all tired of watching Danny and Jason dance around each other. Damian's idea to use Jason's favorite author was working fabulously.)

[disillusioneddanny]

Red Hood Tim Ask

@thegayonthemoon

hello! i'm so sorry, tumblr ate your ask :((( I saw it in my email but didn't se it in my ask box.

To answer your question, it's turning into a very long fic lol. I also got two different asks about my red hood tim fic so I'm going to share the backstory details in this one and in the other one I'll share some of my favorite parts I have planned :3

Basically it's a reverse Robin's au where Damian is the eldest and he becomes Shadow. but Tim? Tim becomes Robin.

TW for torture, Joker Jr. and Tim's inevitable death.

This fic is also all @castrian-amore's fault because he has an amazing Red Hood Tim cosplay and I got inspired. i may have sent them the tim drake art first but still shhhh

At twelve years old he's running the streets taking pictures of his favorite duo, Batman and Shadow when he gets snatched up by Joker who in a bid to get Harley Quinn to take him back, tortures him for two months in an attempt to turn him into Joker Junior.

He kidnaps Harley and shows him his newest creation and she's horrified. But she has no clue how she can save this poor kid from the maniac. So she plots a way to save Tim and agrees to stay with Joker.

While they're together, Harley tries to help Tim as much as she can and she tells him stories to distract him from everything that's happening. She tells him about the little bird, Robin and how it's associated with life changing experiences and that it teaches you that even in the harshest of winters, the light of spring will appear.

Finally, Harley gets Tim out of the Joker's clutches and to Batman who takes on look at Tim and is like adoption bait. He learns that the Drakes didn't even know that their son was missing for two months and gets custody of Tim. But the problem is that it's not the only reason Bruce wants Tim. Bruce wants him because Tim managed to endure two months of torture with Joker and knows Bruce's secret identity and never once gave it away, not only that but he's concerned that Tim still might turn into Joker Jr and it's better if he just keeps Tim with him so he can keep an eye on him.

He encourages Tim to become a vigilante in an effort to make sure that the kid doesn't become a villain. Not that Tim really plans to? He's getting to live with his hero and be a vigilante and that's all that matters to him. So he takes on the name Robin as a symbol of his own rebirth after everything that has happened to him. And Batman raises him to be a soldier because that's the only way Bruce can convince himself that Tim won't become Joker Junior.

Anyway, years go by and it's miserable for Tim because he's taught to be a soldier and Bruce continually treats him like he's a threat. And he makes friends with this little kid in Crime Alley named Jason who thinks Robin is a hero.

Then the fight with Darkseid happens and Bruce is thrown into the timestream and Tim is desperate to save him. Because Bruce is all Tim knows and he doesn't know what to do without getting orders because that's all he's used to and Damian treats him like total shit.

So Tim goes on his Brucequest and dies against the Widower. Ra's sends back the information that Tim found about Bruce along with his Robin suit and tells Damian that he's dead. Only, Ra's has brought Tim back to life and has decided to make the kid his own personal soldier.

This is all the backstory for the story.

The fic itself takes place with Jason as Robin and wanting to know more about the Robin who used to come visit him in Crime Alley and bought him chili dogs. Especially because the plaque hanging in front of Tim's Robin suit doesn't say "a good soldier." no you see, it says "a precious son" something that Tim never saw himself as because Bruce never treated him that way.

Jason eventually meets the new Gotham crime lord named Red Hood who is a little too angry at Batman and Nightwing (Damian)

[rmmcdermott]

Pre-Writing: Creating Your Character’s Overveiw

For more informational blogs follow me on my website @https://rmmcdermott.com/

Congratulations! You’ve continued forward to the next step of creating your characters.

The next step we will take is creating a basic overview of your characters. We will talk about your character’s role, which side they are on, their name, and their gender.

Alright, let’s get to first step one of outlining your characters.

READY! SET! WRITE!

The primary tool that I use to create my characters:

The primary tool I use to keep all my world-building references together and straight is Notebook.ai.

Notebook.ai is a website that is a virtual writer’s notebook. It was created for writers by other writers. This virtual notebook acts as a continuously growing reference page with the information about your story that allows you to plug in information as you go along. They have pages for your characters, locations, magics, governments, and many others. You can use the limited version of the program for free or pay for the unlimited version which costs $84 yearly. This is personally my favorite tool.

I am not paid or compensated for mentioning them in this blog. Notebook.ai is just a tool that I have used for almost five years and love!

What is your character’s stance in your story?

Two things you must have in every story is a protagonist and an antagonist to create the conflict which your story will follow.

Protagonist:

The protagonist is the main character, often the hero of the story that your reader will follow throughout the book.

Antagonist:

The antagonist is someone who is going to be an opposing force against your protagonist. When looking at your antagonist, one thing to remember is that they are not necessarily villains in the comic book sense.

Side or Supporting Characters:

Once you know who your main protagonist and antagonist are, you will need to fill up your story with supporting characters.

Side characters will follow either the protagonist, or the antagonist along their journey through the book.

What is your character’s role in the story?

Characters Archetypes:

Archetypes are a grouping of characters’ behaviors that are readily identifiable to the readers as a specific type of character. For example – The hero, the best friend, the mentor, the teacher, etc.

It’s easier to have in mind what your character’s basic role in the story is and build on top of that to make a round, detailed character.

Note – You can mix multiple archetypes to make a multi-faceted character that encourages your reader to dig deeper into your characters to learn more.

The “Chosen One”

This archetype is the most common hero character in stories. Some wise one, item, or prophecies choose an individual out of everyone else and will be the only person who will break a curse or fight an evil.

The Explorer

This archetype is known for the characters that aren’t happy staying in one place, so they seek new worlds, experiences, and adventures.

These people are great travel companions to your main characters who will help guide them on their journey.

Another archetype that can be combined with this kind of character is a guide.

The Good Guy and/or Traditional Hero

This archetype is a hero that is the person who is going to fight evil with good and save the people from the villain.

Jester and/or Jokers.

This archetype is the character that acts as comic relief in your story. They are the characters that are the lighthearted, fun-loving characters that lighten a darker scene.

These characters might even be the ones that point out the other character’s flaws and insecurities.

The Leader

This character is the person that commands respect from the people around them and does their best to make decisions based on other’s best interests.

The Love Interest

This character stands beside another character with the hope of wooing the other character by the end of the story.

The Mentor

This character is an older character that acts as a person who teaches, inspires, and encourages the main character through their journey in the story.

Evil Incarnate

This archetype is one of the characters under the villain archetypes.

This kind of character is the kind of person that is an evil personification. This archetype has very little development or backstory that comes out through the story.

The Outcast

This character is the character that doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere in particular.

The interesting thing about this archetype is that they can be on the good, bad, or neutral side.

The Warrior

These characters are the fighters and protectors known for their strengths, skill, courage, and integrity.

The kind of character that can come from this archetype is a knight, soldier, etc.

These are sampling of the archetypes I love to use in my own stories, there are many others, and I’ll link to additional websites with lists of archetypes in the sources below.

Build onto Your Archetypes to Fit Your Story

Once you have a general idea of your character’s archetype or archetypes, build upon it in a way that connects their role into your personal story.

For example –

Archetypes: The Warrior

The Character’s Personal Role in the Story:

Rebert is a knight, one of the personal guards of the royal family, and is charged with protecting the king’s daughter, who is setting out on a journey to another kingdom to meet her new suitor.

This brief bio that you have created of your story can help you understand where your character may go throughout the story. It can also help you brainstorm the plot lines for your story that your characters will be a part of.

Your Character’s Name

Name them whatever you want. Please don’t listen to people who say that your names have to be easy or that it has to match your genre.

Just name your character.

If you want to name your character Sally, name her Sally.

If you want to name your character Azriel, name him Azriel.

If you want to use a cool-looking typo as a name, use the typo as a name (I speak from experience on this one).

You’re the writer; you get to create the final truth.

Choose Your Character’s Gender

It is your choice to decide what gender you want your main character to be; antagonist, protagonist, or side character.

Some genres prefer a particular gender for the main character.

Honestly, I have never paid much attention to what gender was more popular in a genre. I just write the character that will best do the story justice.

This Week’s Action Steps.

Decide which side your characters are on: Protagonist, Antagonist, Side Characters?

What is your character’s gender?

What archetypes does your character fall into? Here are some links that you can use to help you.

Create a bio for your characters based on the archetypes you have chosen for your characters.

Name your characters. Pinterest has a great list for that.

Good Luck, and I will see you next week.

Next Week… Breaking Down a Character’s Description

Sources

https://lonerwolf.com/archetypes-ultimate-guide/#h-what-is-an-archetype

https://self-publishingschool.com/character-archetypes/

https://industrialscripts.com/archetypes-of-characters/

https://blog.reedsy.com/12-common-character-archetypes-every-writer-should-already-know/

http://susannacarr.com/2019/08/28/hero-heroine-archetypes-the-best-friend/

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-different-types-of-villains#8-villain-archetypes

[winterwolf0916]

𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿

Jason Todd x Tamaran! Reader

Requested by anon: Hiya! I love your blog so much, and I just was wondering, if you're taking requests right now, could I request some Jason Todd x a Tamaranean reader? Like maybe she stowed away to earth when Kory made a trip to Tamaran and she's really cute and sweet and enthusiastic and fun and she had no family back home so Kory's like yeah alright you can be my sidekick and she has to get used to life on earth and meets Jason as Robin and they become friends to lovers to oh no he fuckin dead to lovers again?

Warning: Fluff, Angst, Language, Mentions of Death, Slow Burn & oh! did I mention fluff?

A/n: My heart... Also, I pray and hope you enjoy this one, love. This took me a while to finish but I got it done and I got carried away it. I wont lie, my writing isn’t the best but I hope this is something you what wanted or close to it.

Word Count: 3K 

Kori loves your company

You were like the little sister she never had

A better sister than Blackfire of course 

When she brought you to earth you were so amazed at everything

It looks so lively and green.

Flying around and feeling the cool waters from the ocean, the beautiful smell of the flowers and pines from the trees, and the shiny reflection on the buildings.

As Kori was going to take a visit to the cave to see Dick for a mission, she brought you along for an introduction.

He looked scary once you were brought inside.

“Kori! So nice to see you again. Oh, who’s this?” Dick glanced at your direction as you hid behind her like a scared kitten. 

“Ah, this is Y/n L/n. A Tamaranean like me.”

“Hello y/n. I’m Nightwing.” You were mostly afraid of the masks because you haven’t seen anyone like him with that sort. 

Dick noticed your fear then he took it off, causing you to relax a little, and shook your hand. “It’s so nice to have you on Earth.” You only nodded your head with a small smile. But there was a large slam of a door and stomping onto the stairs.

“Son of a bitch! Son a crusty no good bitch!” 

“Jason. We have guests.” This… ‘Jason’ took a glance at their direction before giving a frown. Once again, you hid your figure behind Kori’s, scared onto the boy

Dick apologized to the two of you and went off to lecture his younger brother. 

Kori only sighed and notified you that this was normal of him before Dick came back.

“Don’t worry about him, he’s just having another rough day with our dad. Jason please come greet them!” He rounded a corner with his mask on and his suit with an imprinted R. 

“Robin. Pleased to meet you.” He sounded so irritated that he wanted this introduction to be over with.

Still in uneasiness with the mask, Dick quickly nudged his younger brother urging him to take it off.

Jason didn’t. 

He just walked past you guys and left the cave on his motorbike.

Oh how much ass whopping he’s gonna get from Dick.

The second encounter happened at the Titans tower.

You finally learned how to control your powers and perform such combat ability that you never knew you could do.

Dick and Kori were like parents in the Tower.

You really loved the Titans

Raven may be dark but you both have such a strong friendship due to your trauma back in Tamaran and hers with her father

You suffered from a torturous experiment that left you with very similar yet slightly different powers than Kori. 

Also you both love books

Garth always makes you laugh. 

When training he turns into a gorilla to lift a good 3000 pounds while you could lift a good 70 tons making him go EEK!

He would make very disappointing puns but it always amuses you while everyone cringes at the dinner table.

Cyborg is like an older brother to you. 

You would sometimes help him with the mechanics and lift heavy parts around while he rants about his day and he would also cheer for you when you’re sparring

They were the closest friends while the rest of the members adore you and your sweet personality

But when Jason came along with Dick for a small mission for a few weeks, you immediately locked yourself in your room.

The Titans were concerned 

You were so marvelous and bubbly to all guests. Even to the infamous Batman!

Did the small bastard do something to make you like this?

Planning murder

But Dick and Kori knew why

After a lecture with the boy, Jason came by your dorm at night, still in uniform, knocking on your door, you didn’t open up, only listened from the inside

“I’m sorry.” It wasn’t sincere really. “I know we started off on the wrong foot, um…” his hand went through his hair in frustration that he needed to do this. “Since we're working together, we’re going to need to become trusting of one another….I’ll...see you tomorrow I guess.” That was awkward of him.

As footsteps faded down the hallway, you started to give a small smile.

You start to warm up to him.

But when he starts doing the little things, the two of you grew a bond. 

By little things, I mean correcting your moves when sparring, telling you stories of his previous missions, listening to you, exposing embarrassing stories about Dick, bringing you your favorite meals in a large amount because you’re a big eater, and lots of others.

When you first saw him without his mask, you were floating above him, pulling his face closer to yours while admiring the beautiful color of his eyes. 

“Your eyes are the most gorgeous color I’ve seen here on Earth.” 

Oh how your face fell when he had to leave. 

Don’t get me started with Jason, he began to be more hostile when sparring with others

There was a time when he took out his feelings on a sand bag while Garth and Cyborg were questioning what that bag ever did to him.

Of course the ‘parents’ took notice of this and Dick would purposely bring you to the cave or Jason to the tower.

The two of you have such a friendship that you would sometimes prank one another yet enjoy each other's silence.

Carnivals or nights out in the city were always a blast.

Whenever the two of you would see each other, you would fly to him in a swift manner that he would sometimes stumble back to regain balance from the impact. 

Soon, a single touch from him exchanging a book to you, caused you to feel such an electric current.

His smile and laughter made your heart paced faster than the speed of light

His cocky attitude and sweet side made your nine stomachs filled with butterflies.

You panicked and told Kori about it while she was sitting on her couch smiling as you explained.

“You like him y/n.” “Well of course! He’s my friend isn’t he?” “Oh dear, you’ll need to sit down for this.”

Wait, there is a different emotion called attraction?

AND IT DOESN’T STOP?

The more time you’ve spent with Jason, the more your ‘attraction’ feels stronger.

You would sometimes daydream the two of you blossoming into a relationship like Dick and Kori.

“Did you hear that Kori and Dick broke up again?” Raven stated before taking a sip of her tea. “What is this, ‘breaking up’ ?” you asked with curiosity yet wonder about this new term

When Raven sighed and gave details about it, you were 100x more terrified about the idea of a relationship

What if you and Jason will experience the same if you both ever become a couple?

You tried to distract the feeling of disheartenment with your enthusiasm

But of course, the feeling always returns

Your legs were pressed to your chest as you gaze at the ocean and it’s crystal shimmers of the moonlight, still in thought about your feelings. Jason found you on the rooftop of the tower since he figured something was wrong for the past week

As he questioned it, you asked, “Jason have you ever liked a girl that is a friend?” His foot on the edge of the building nearly slipped once you asked.

“I mean...yeah, there are times when I really liked her.” 

“Do you still have feelings for one?”

“Very.” 

“Really!? Who?” You were excited but felt such pain in your heart.

This boy choked onto her request. But he spoke, spoke about this ‘mystery’ girl. How adorable she is and brightening everyone’s day when it has been horrid, including his own. How he admires her caring behavior whenever someone was hurt. He really likes her and would like to take her out one day. 

“Her name is Y/n.” 

“What a wonderful name she has.”

“You do know I was talking about you, right?” 

“Yes yes, she does have- wait what?” 

Dreamy sigh

Ah yes

Young love

Kori wasn’t all surprised as she and Dick saw the two of you were walking in the streets of the city, hand in hand. She was delighted.

Dick was thrilled to see the two together yet gave Jason, the talk, if he ever does something stupid to you

The Titans congratulated the two and some exchanged money with one another after losing a bet

After a couple of months, Jason had to leave for a classified mission that’ll last a couple of weeks. 

As he said his goodbyes, you gave a kiss to his cheek before rushing back inside and leaving him smiling to himself.

It was lonely for the past couple of weeks but the worst part was when it turned to a few months.

Dick headed to Gotham four weeks after Jason left.

You were frightened about your boyfriend’s well being

As Dick returns to the tower, he doesn’t look the same.

You thought he was acting in such a behavior to surprise you that Jason is back.

“Y/n...we need to talk.”

 “Ok?” Kori gave a concerned glance at Dick’s direction, clearly unsure of how you’ll take the announcements. “What? Why are you both so silent? Please tell me.” You have had such a glowing smile, ready to hear it. The prank.

“Look, I know you and Jason are in a relationship but I have some...news.” 

“I’m listening.” Your foot tapped in excitement while Dick grew uneasy.

“Four...four weeks ago, we located Jason in an abandoned warehouse. He was held captive there for God knows how long by the Joker. And, as Bruce headed to rescue him…” you wanted to laugh at how far Dick was taking this. 

Except, he wasn’t pretending

“...He was too late. The warehouse exploded and my... Jason...passed away. I’m so sorry Y/n.” He added. You clapped your hands and giggled

“Amazing job! Brava! What an incredible and creative prank Dick. Very impressive. Now where is he so I can finally owe him a real kiss.”

The adults were silent. You took their silence as part of the prank and rushed to the bottom of the tower to find him.

But he wasn’t there. 

“Ok I checked the 50 floors below us but don’t worry, I bet he’s on the roof. He’s always there.” You returned to the room where Kori and Dick sat you in.

“This isn’t made up.” Raven and a few others entered the room, you could see it in their eyes they weren’t faking but you still denied it. “He passed away y/n.”

“No he didn't...He isn’t...Jason! You can come out now! Jason?” You flew to the roof. 

As you searched and it was empty that was when your stomach dropped. 

“Jason!” You flew around the area. The more you searched, the heavier your heart became. As you landed on the roof and heard the doors open, you glided to Dick. “Where is he?”

“I’m sorry.”

“No…no no... this is a game, right? When I check the floors again he’ll be there, right?... Dick?” He pulled your hand and placed something on your palm.

“He’s gone Y/n. I’m so...so sorry.” Glancing to the object placed on your palm, your entire being froze at the sight. 

From what you’re told, the R emblem is one of the only parts that are the easiest to clean and the least damaged on Jason’s suit after all of his missions.

What Dick gave you was the exact emblem but it was badly dented, burnt marks covered the R, scratch marks on the front and back while most of the edges are chipped.

Your legs gave weight as you fell to the floor, holding his badge close to your chest, and screamed your lungs out. Your vocals were so powerful that they made half of the windows on the Tower shatter. Tears made their way down from your cheeks to the floor as your eyes turned in a y/f/c glow. 

You flew off, for time alone to grieve it all. When Kori found you, you broke down even harder in her arms

You weren’t going to turn to revenge.

Even though you saw it in Dick and a few others, you couldn’t.

Kori taught you revenge isn’t the answer along with the new Robin or better known as Tim drake

You weren’t happy Jason was replaced but continued with your bright personality.

But during the nights, you felt so empty and numb. 

Why 

Out of all people, why did Jason leave you

Your family and friends died due to the violence of the leaders that experimented on you.

But now the person you loved most?

More pain was placed on your shoulders.

You grieved and mourned whenever you’re alone or with Kori. 

Two months later, you decided to explore the world on your own. 

Saving Earth, countries, and other planets from danger. 

Yet discovering the beauty onto nearly every destination

This continued for four years before you were called to Gotham for a meeting.

You greeted the Titans, other heroes you’ve met during your travels, and the bat family before the meeting starts

When it was over, you felt someone’s eyes on you.

As you located the orbs burning on your figure, you found a man with extreme built, a red helmet covering his entire head, a scarlet colored bat emblem imprinted on his black suit, and a coffee leather jacket.

You were confused as to why his eyes were wide and his body leaned forward as if he had found gold.

“Kori, why is he staring over here? Do I have something in my hair?” As your beloved best friend glanced at the man you were referring to, she let out a pearly smile.

“I think he likes you.” She snickered as you rolled your eyes. 

In the past, some of your friends tried to set you up with many men. Key word: tried. It’s not that you didn’t want to, it just didn’t feel right. You did try to fall for them but it just doesn’t last. 

“Very funny.”

“I’m not joking. He’s looking at you like, in slang terms, a ‘snack’.” You chuckled at her before returning your gaze to the mystery man. But the color of his helmet was not present to your sight, instead, the sight of an exit door closing.

You saw him once again during a mission on a tropical island.

Someone was making hybrids based on DNA from different heroes around the world.

So here you were… 

Approaching the scene as the infamous Red Hood was getting choked by a 9 foot tall creature before you scared it off with a blast of your powers.

“Need a hand, big boy?” You reached out your arm, waiting for him to take it. He was hesitant.

“...Sure.” He took it and you couldn’t help but feel slightly surprised of how tall he was

As you found Kori and gave her a hug, you joined the team till the mission finished.

You really loved being in the group. 

But mostly enjoyed the company of Red Hood.

There was something about him that made you smile warmly as he progressed with his idiotic plan

Kori and Roy offered for you to be an Outlaw and you gladly accepted

But the third member wasn’t all too happy about it.

The four of you all reserved an Overwater Bungalow resort on the island

A week later, you heard arguing from Kori’s home while you and Roy brought food.

“I don’t understand you, why won’t you tell her already?” Her voice muffled by the walls of the hut.

“She’s not ready.” His voice in the room as well

“Y/n has been far too ready to know who you really are.” You haven’t heard Kori this angry in ages and what did they mean about you knowing?

“You don’t understand.”

“Oh I understand plenty,” You and the red head’s eyes widen at her sass. “How long can you keep this act up? This, I want to hide this because I want to protect her, act? Your brother used that on me a few times, hmph, always knows when to make a woman angry.”

Brother? But the only brother you know she dated was-

“Don’t compare me to Dick, Kori.”

Oh...Shit…

Roy put two and two together and oh shit! He remembered his best friend mentioning a girl before his sudden death. Roy glanced at you as your eyes were wide and glossy at the truth. He kicked the door open causing the two heads to turn while you were hidden outside of the hut with your head down.

How could you not notice it before… Red Hood not revealing himself under the helmet when he was in legit trunks, constantly putting distance between the two of you, displeased when you joined the outlaws, and the worried glances between him and Kori!

“Got the food!” As Roy set the meals down and you entered the room, the air was so intense you could cut it with a knife.

“I’m not that hungry so I’m going to my room.” Kori glared at the helmet man, causing him to release a sigh.

“Do you-”

“Perfect! Now take these,” Roy gave a bag of two take outs to him and led the unresolved pair outside. “Have a good night.” He shut the door closed leaving you and the vigilante in silence.

“I can take the bag.”

“You sure?” 

“Yes.”

It was so awkward the walk back to your huts.

He tries to make the situation lighter but it was no use.

All of that pain you felt years ago, returned and after realizing who he is...It felt so much worse.

“Hey y/n, do you want to know the story of my first kiss?” What is he trying to do now?

“That's pretty sweet! Random but sweet! Go on.” He paused in place under a shadow of a hut as a thick cloud covered the sun. His hand traveled to the back of his helmet and a sudden click was heard before steam escaped from the open cracks of his mask. It was dark and you couldn’t see his full features.

“It was a normal day, I was carrying some groceries with my butler but got lost in the crowd due to my sleep deprivation. And the craziest thing happened when I was struggling to find him, a cute y/h/c girl with bright y/e/c eyes came up to me and spoke a language I’ve never heard in my life. So I tried to understand her words but I was so clueless before she pulled my face and gave me a smooch.” Your stomach did a flip as you realized why the story was so familiar to you. “She apologized when she was done but spoke english. As she left me there completely bamboozled… I wondered, ‘I don’t know what the hell that was about but will I see her again?’ then my butler found me.”

It's a memory. Your memory and his. You dropped the bag.

“Jason.” As the darkness unsheathed and the sun’s light was visible, he took a couple of steps towards you and gosh… You didn’t realize how much you missed him when your eyes began to sting, shoulders dropped, and your bottom lip shaking.

You took flight and bolted in his arms. 

“It’s you… it's really...you asshole.” you shoved him lightly while Jason expected the worst. “Asshole. Asshole. Asshole!” Every curse is a light punch on his chest. 

“Easy...Easy!” He held your two hands by the wrists. “When did you learn how to curse?!”

“When you were dead!” Your eyes were covered by your signature y/f/c glow and tears streamed down your face.

“Calm down.”

“Calm down? I may be an alien and I may be nice, but I have feelings too. Feelings when we shared that first kiss, held hands, waiting for you to come back...hearing that awful news about you…” Your arms dropped and your head lowered. “And I’m feeling angry at you right now for not saying anything!” 

In all honesty, he really wanted to tell you. But he didn’t know how you would take it. He's not the exactly the same when he was a teenager and he’s been through so much as Red Hood that he doesn’t want the bad guys to target you and your superhuman abilities. But his feelings for you didn’t shrink a single centimeter. It grew. Grew that he was so close to return to you and kiss you like there is no tomorrow. 

“Didn’t...Haven’t you felt the same of how I felt for you, Jason? Did you hate me that much to leave me and start a new life? To get away from me?” You questioned as the glow in your eyes dimmed down to your y/c/e orbs but your water works didn’t stop. You were still shaking, thinking of how Jason never loved you. How he made you feel pain for years. 

He made you feel like a human. Being an alien on Earth was quite lonely. But Kori was there with you through it all. But when Jason, a human, made you feel like you’re a human… You didn’t care about the negativity as much, you focused onto the positives. You discovered things about yourself from a different perspective. You learned how to love.

A warm embrace and the sun falling behind the horizon made your entire being warmer than the heat of the light beams. Your fingers trailed under his jacket to feel his body heat.

“Not even close.” He pulled a little before resting his forehead on yours. “It was the opposite and more. I just didn’t want you to see me in my dark life. I died and came back from the dead, every minute feeling empty. But once I learned more about myself, I wanted to change for the better. But I made so many rough decisions, that I couldn’t come back to you yet until I fixed them. I didn’t want you to love a mistake.”

“Shhh.” You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer, running your fingers through his hair. “You’re never a mistake, only a good man who tried his best. The only thing that matters now, is that you’re here.” His teal orbs flickered to yours, your heart skipping a beat by the sight of your favorite colored eyes once again.

The sun was engulfed, the light dimmed till the sky was navy, and the stars were sprinkled all around the two silhouettes under the moon. The lock of your lips to his were the answer to your reunion.

[coffeestainedcamera]

Batman (the spoiler-laden talk)

This Saturday, friends and I watched it at a local theater and then went to a Nando's next door. Never had anything of theirs before, but those chicken skewers and fries are good, I can see the hype. In terms of actual movie talk, it's under the cut.

I was told this was a noir detective story, but it definitely owes a lot to horror films as well and indeed, Matt Reeves has some experience on them, given his Cloverfield experience. It would be wrong not to have horror influences in a Gotham story, between the fact that you can't spell the town name without "Goth" and the fact that some of Batman's rogues seemingly owe a lot to the genre. It is most blatant with Joker's killer clown schtick, but we also had a number of creature feature moments and Ivy possibly drawing some inspiration from vampires. Riddler's turn from mob adjacency in the comics to a serial killer originally felt off, but Paul Dano's portrayal was perfect.

Part of this Riddler's intimidation factor was in the unpredictability factor of Dano's take. You don't know when he'll be screaming, but his calm state is so polite and vaguely childish. That sharply contrasts with the violence his character inflicts on people who are admittedly horrible but also have relatives that aren't knowingly in on their corruption. It works, even with the cut-aways from the worst of it to avoid the R rating. Honestly, letting my brain fill in the blanks made it even more horrifying. Also, some excellent mouth breathing there.

I think focusing on that was the sound design decision that made his introduction so terrifying. There is one guy doing mundane things at home, and just dead silence for a while. Then, I hear the mouth breathing from the theater speakers. Nothing yet, but he is not alone, so where's the source? Then, something stirs in the shadows and next thing we see is him getting jumped with the carpet tool. I nearly dropped my water bottle at that point.

His character's radicalization of only 500 people online is also pretty terrifying. Sure, he isn't a mega influencer crank like Joe Rogan. But there were still followers rabid enough to literally dress up as him and shoot people after he blows up an entire seawall to trap them in a cramped space. Given the potential shooting scare we had in high school, I was actually sweating a little at that part. It was also a major turning moment for this movie's Bruce Wayne, coming to think of it.

Robert Pattison's take on Bruce is a mess of a human being. He speaks in a very quiet and monotone manner and doesn't really emote until later in the film, which makes sense with his nocturnal loner ways. In the bat gear, it is all about intimidation, as there's a note of gravel to the few words he speaks at the crime scenes. It goes away during Bruce's more emotionally open moments with Selina, and I haven't really noticed it during the Alfred scenes. Perhaps it is a sign of trust, even when they are not on good terms in the beginning. Also nice to see the writers portray the character as very fallible, between his failure to notice the mob money swirling in the revitalization project and not always getting riddles right.

Gradually, emotion begins to sneak into the performance. At first, just the increasingly obvious strain as he keeps trying his darndest to catch Riddler. Then some rage. And then something resembling emotional availability, as we see with his farewell to Selina and the moment when Bruce takes Alfred's hand.

I also loved Kravitz's portrayal of Selina, and wish she got more screentime. Part of it was just the fact that I like the character, but I also just think that her performance had range here. I think my favorite scene was the one where her character finally confronts her father. It starts off with quiet rage, as Selina is about to descend on the man who killed Annika, then a "naive girl" portrayal that we as an audience can see through, and all of that rage exploding when she is alone with him. It's such a drastic difference from when we see her calming down Annika and talking about taking in strays.

The arc where she chases Annika is also one of my favorite parts of the movie, as it first and foremost her own criminal drama (as seen when she tells Bruce to sod off in the club sting and chooses to chase after her lead, rather than a Riddler one). We see her character grow increasingly desperate to find her, and in the process learn more about Gotham's mob scene. Additionally, while it at first doesn't seem directly relevant, the tie before Falcone, Waynes, and Riddler's dirt on Thomas Wayne was an interesting plot twist.

Also vaguely obsessed with the costume design decisions here. Like, this portrayal of Selina is just trying to survive and probably steals for it. It makes sense that her mask is literally just a modified balaclava. The Batman suit features likely off-the-rack combat boots, as it is year two. Plus, a more traditional look like from the King/Janin era would look out of place in a movie that blatantly owes a lot to horror flicks. Riddler's mask is blatantly homemade and reminds me of slasher villains.

So, in short, I loved this to bits. Like, there were no weak links in the cast and the writing is there for them. As a fan of the more horror-adjacent portrayals of Gotham, the wait for a sequel will be a bit of a pain. In the meantime, I really need to see Lighthouse and Kimi.

[aggressive-positivity-network]

Whoever your three favorite Batman villains are, following your "Henchman shared custody" thing (Because I need headcanons to fix my shitty day): Say there's this one henchperson who just... even these villains know something is wrong, they're so clingy and desperate to please. Eventually Joker calls them and says "Oh yeah, they have anxiety and PTSD from years of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse" because let's face it he knows this shit

Oooh, I wanna get right into this! However, I’m afraid I can only do one right now. Mr. Freeze is my ABSOLUTE favorite, though.

Mr. Freeze:

He was already kind of socially awkward to begin with - a lot of academics generally are - but now that he’s been pretty much without strong emotion and the general public for so long, he treats the henchman as independent people that need little support.

This can cause a bluntness that most tolerate, some appreciate, and others are put off by.

This henchperson in question is glad that they don’t have to explain their unwillingness to go home at night or their overwhelming need to be perfect, but a small part of them wishes that they’d ask.

Finally, it all comes to a head when the assistant accidentally knocks over a set of beakers, which shatter on the hard floor.

Mr. Freeze, without turning from his current project, asks them to sweep it up and get a new set. He isn’t happy about the delay or the money that will have to be spent on new beakers, but he isn’t too angry. After all, they’re just beakers.

The villain hears shards of glass being swept, but not very fast or with much effort, which is very odd for this particular henchman.

He turns around to find them on their knees, their shoulders shaking, too distraught to sweep the glass. Their hands were covered by the ski mask they were required to wear, but it was clear they were trying to keep back sobs.

Mr. Freeze didn’t question the behavior at the time - he assumed it was a normal emotional reaction - but as time went on, these events started to happen more and more frequently. Soon, Mr. Freeze could barely get through the day without seeing the henchperson in the midst of a stifled breakdown.

The work got done, but at what cost?

So, without any knowledge on the only subject he was ignorant in (emotions), he called Joker.

“Howdy! This is the Funny Farm, Old McJoker speaking. What can I do for you, pardner?”

“I don’t have time for your antics, clown.”

“Ouch. Cold shouldered again by Frosty the Snowman. I thought you were supposed to be some happy, jolly soul! Where’s your Christmas spirit, french fry?”

“Firstly, it’s August. Secondly, and I cannot stress this enough, my last name is pronounced freeze. Thirdly, I require your assistance, not a half-baked pun.”

“You’re getting a little nippy on more than my nose, Jack. Either you can get rid of that bad attitude, or you can make like snow and flake, got it? Today hasn’t really given me much reason to smile, Fry. And if you push my buttons, it’ll be out of the grease and into the fire for you.”

Mr. Freeze checked himself, took a deep breath, then described his issue with the henchperson.

“From my experience and research, humans don’t usually experience such reactions. Was I too harsh? Was my brusqueness unacceptable? Have I really been away from my own kind for so long...?”

There was a brief silence on the other end, but Joker eventually spoke. There was no humor in his voice.

“You mean Emma? That bright-eyed, bushy-tailed blonde? She’s what Wall Street would call unfortunate, but what the rest of us call crazy. And not the fun sort of crazy, either - mostly just pathetic. Like a dog on one of those activism commercials. On one hand, awwww, but on the other, what can you do? The damage has already been done.”

“What...happened to her?”

“What hasn’t, Jack? Parents kicked the bucket, she got bounced around a few foster homes, landed on one that had some sort of pageant dream she lived vicariously through her, a car crash killed daddy number six, and mommy soon after with a few too many special pills. She won a big pageant the night after the funeral and used the money to get herself an apartment in the bad part of Gotham, but ran dry a few weeks later. Signed up for the Henchman Program, bada-bing, bada-boom, there’s Emma.”

“How do you know so much?”

Another silence, then a half-hearted laugh.

“Some mixture of morbid curiosity and a love for tragedy. Isn’t that funny, Freeze? The King of Clowns being a sucker for sad endings and bitter tears? For dead parents and freak accidents and runny mascara? What can I say? I’m a gossip.”

Mr. Freeze felt what little rage he could welling up in his chest.

“She isn’t for your entertainment. Her unfortunate circumstances aren’t a punchline for your pathetic charade - the only true tragedy is your failed attempt at dark humor.”

Joker snarled. “Bye bye, Fry. Say hi to Nora for me, won’t you? I’ve heard she isn’t feeling too well...I’ve heard there has been a chill going around...”

Mr. Freeze gritted his teeth and slammed the phone back on the receiver. He had had enough.

However, his conversation with Joker made him take initiative and make the work environment better for Emma.

Freeze started with giving the henchwoman a place to stay. He disguised the repurposed rooms as a commute issue, so he encouraged anyone who would rather stay in the workplace to use them if their shift lasted more than a day.

Emma snatched the opportunity up like a starving dog, as did a few others. The group became fast friends, and Mr. Freeze could frequently hear them in the guest bedrooms playing board games or sharing stories.

Her mental health steadily improved, as did her work ethic and physical health. After a while, she had made such a recovery that Mr. Freeze asked her to be one of his permanent henchmen.

She accepted ecstatically, taking the martial arts and survival courses with unquenchable determination.

After a few weeks as an official Fractal, she was promoted to team leader, which Mr. Freeze bestowed with great satisfaction.

It was almost like having a daughter of his own...

[jazinerambles]

Persona 2 Innocent Sin Review

I wanted to have some time in between playing the game and writing my thoughts for Persona 2 Innocent Sin. I will be referencing it and other Persona games so there may be some light spoilers for games 2-5. 

I played the psp version of the game on a Playstation TV. I beat the game at 76 hours on the dot. I have not completed most of the theater missions, but I have completed the main story of the game and did do a few sidequests.

My review will be organized in several sections-gameplay, story, music, characters, LGBTQ representation, extra content, wishlist and recommendation.

Gameplay:

Persona 2 Innocent Sin was released in 1999. Therefore plays as a game from 1999. The PSP rerelease updated menus, changed the difficulty, and added all out attack art similar to P3-P5 for the fusion spells. I love the all out attack animation and although the menus got a little cumbersome, it didn’t really impact gameplay for me. 

The biggest complaint about Persona 2 IS is how easy and repetitive it is and the high encounter rate. The battles for the most part are easy and if you set up all your attacks in the first round, you can basically use autoplay until an emergency occurs or you encounter an enemy in which you must change it up. 

I never saw the gameplay as repetitive as others do and I feel those who do only just battle and that’s it. I was constantly trying to get all the fusion spells, max up my personas to trade them for items, try different combinations for the demon negotiations and spread demon rumors to get items, spells, and cards (you need cards to summon new personas in the velvet room.) Demon negotiations also allow you a better look into each of the characters’ personalities and relationships. Events in the game will change how the characters react in these negotiations so it is always nice to go back to them throughout the course of the game. 

The demons you encounter have emotions. I believe they are intrigued, happy, angry and fearsome. Make them happy and they will offer a pact with you and give you free stuff and willing to spread rumors for you. Make them angry they will fight you. Make them fear you they will run away. Make them intrigued and you get the cards needed to summon personas and even more if you already have a pact with them. 

I wanted to return to the big complaint though, the high encounter rate. This was something that I felt hot and cold about. Most of the time this didn’t bother me, because I needed to level up my personas anyway. But when I needed to backtrack and explore further, it did get a little bothersome. 

You can use estoma to avoid enemies weaker than you. It is not a passive skill, so once you have a persona that has it, you have to cast it every time it wears off. At the Mu casino, you can also purchase a disguise kit that does the same thing, but it effects last about the same amount of time and it is ridiculously expensive. Just use estoma. 

As briefly mentioned above, unlike Persona 5 in which you can just catch Personas, in P2IS there are only two ways to get them. You get cards from demon negations, take those cards to the velvet room and then trade them in for a Persona. But you have to enough cards to summon it and the persona has to be 5 cards within your character level. 

You can also talk to the demon painter, for him to make you cards for the specific arcana you want by using blank cards. These are also given through demon negotiations that you have a pact with. 

In P2, ALL your characters are capable of changing out Personas, but their compatibility with different personas varies with their Arcana. 

The other way to get personas is through the story. There are certain actions that you must take to get the prime personas and then the final personas. These personas are character specific and you can’t give them to other characters. 

I wanted to talk about three more things before I move on to the story: rumormongers, fusion spells, and dungeons. 

Persona 2IS is based around rumors. Just like P3 is for the dark hour, P4 the midnight channel, P5 around palaces and so on...

To get certain items and progress the story, you MUST gather and spread rumors. There are five characters throughout the game called rumormongers. They will give you information in exchange for receiving information. You then share this information to the detective agency, pay a fee for them to spread them for you, and there you go. rumor spread. As mentioned earlier, there are also demon specific rumors. 

Fusion spells were something I really enjoyed in this game. Although hearing “Are you ready? Here goes” and “Let’s go everybody” will be stuck in my head for the rest of eternity...

Basically, to create a fusion spell, members in your party require a requisite spell and then that party member is placed in a specific order when taking turns. Once that spell is unlocked, it will let you know if you have the requisite spells and you no longer have to adjust the order of party members. Some of the spells you need to unlock fusion spells are persona specific. The fusion spells are elemental. 

I will not go into weaknesses of elemental spells, I am just going to say that you aren’t “down”’ed like you are in 3-5. 

Finally, my first real pet peeve with this game-the dungeons.

Oh boy. Air raid, AeroSpace and one of the four Zodiac dungeons (I am pretty sure its Eikichi’s) gets ALL my hate. There are cheap gimmicks that make the game artificially hard but only for these dungeons and more so, frustrating. 

But I am not going to go into detail why, and the other dungeons are not bad at all. But play the game and experience these dungeons for yourself. That is all I am going to say about that.

Story:

This section will be nowhere was long as gameplay. The story did not go where I thought it would, but that’s a good thing. I would go in completely blind if you can. The ending definitely surprised me a bit. I think it has one of the best stories of the persona games.

It does not follow a calendar like the later Persona games and time just blends together. By the end of the game, you won't know if a day, week or month passed from the beginning to the end.

Music:

The music is actually really good. It is the reason why I played the game in the first place. Just don’t look at the soundtracks names. Spotify has it available if you live in the US. You are better off listening to the soundtrack because I promise you that most dungeons songs will be cut off due to the frequency of battles. 

Some of my favorite songs are Smile Hirasaka, Unbreakable Tie, Kurosu’s theme, Joker and the Taurus dungeon’s theme.

Characters:

Despite Persona 2 not having social links, I feel like I know these characters better than some of the persona games that do have social links. It is also the only Persona game that I can say without any hesitation that I like the entire main cast. 

I truly love them all, but my favorite would probably be Yukino or Maya. 

Unlike other Personas, the dynamics for Persona 2 IS are different, because not all of your party members are high school students. The adult characters have adult problems, the high school students have high school problems, and all of them have deep psychological problems and abandonment issues that will take years of intense therapy (or Philemeon) to forget.

One of the biggest themes of Persona 2 is confronting your past and learning from the mistakes of your childhood. And the characters do! And by the end of the game you are so proud of how far they have come. And then things happen...

LGBTQ representation

Let me say that I started P2IS off on the wrong foot, but I am still absolutely justified at being upset by it. One of the very first interactions you can have with a NPC is through a very uncomfortable exchange between you, Eikichi and a transman that is pretty transphobic. And to add the icing on the cake, Atlus refers to him as a “weird woman.” 

I was literally going to just stop playing the game like an hour in because of that, but I decided to continue.

What I discovered was a game that has highs and lows when it comes to LGBTQ representation. 

You can play as a bi character who can confess his feelings to men and women. *Stares hard at Persona 4 and Persona 5*

You have a gay character that has an interesting story, character development, is unabashedly gay and isn’t a walking stereotype. Nor is his entire arc centered around gay panic. 

From what I understand the dialogue from the NPC does get better, but I am not holding my breath. 

And the one sapphic kiss scene we get in a Persona game is a kiss of manipulation and not love. So that is a little sad. 

But overall, P2IS does try to make an effort. And it definitely makes a better effort than its successor released almost 2 decades later.

Extra content:

Again, Persona 2 doesn’t have social links or a calendar. Please don’t approach it like the other games where you have to fill up your time between dungeons. It is not a necessity, but there are things you can do. 

Mu is a casino that you can visit that allows you to play mini games to gain coins that you can use to get weapons, rare items, and even unlock personas. I spent a little too much time at Mu....

You can also talk to NPCs to do side missions. Be careful though. You have to do the side missions in a given amount of time or you may not get rewarded for it. Also P2IS is very much like Final Fantasy 9 where it is much better to go to a place sooner than later, because there may not be a later...

You also have the factory which is an optional dungeon that opens up more and more as you progress through the game. 

There is the theater which is a PSP exclusive which has side missions unrelated to the main story that you can play. They are okay.

Wishlist

I hear so many people wanting a remake of P2IS so the game can be more accessible. I am very torn about this. Besides the difficulty and maaybe tweaking the encounter rate a bit, I wouldn’t change a thing. However, I also know that I couldn’t enjoy Shadow of Colossus until the controls were updated. Like I tried and then just gave up. 

I honestly don’t want a remake. I don’t trust the Atlus of today with this game.

I do want it to be acknowledged and more accessible though. 

But if I had to make a wish list, this is what it would be. Again, this would be a “it would be nice list.”

Make the battles harder.

Update cut scenes? I really like the art for the cut scenes already, but would like some more. Maybe keep the drawings but update the CG?

Social side quests. I do not want social links in Persona 2. However, side quests that allow you to learn more about your character like a social link would, would be something I would be very interested in. 

Make the portraits consistent. The art from the original game and the new art put in the PSP game (I am talking about you climax lady) clash so much. Pick one style and stick to it.

I want to fight Ms. Ideal. Let me do it for reasons. Give me a chance to battle her.

I want the option to switch out characters. I love both Jun and Yukki, but I want to be able to play with both. 

Let me skip the animation when I create a new Persona. 

*EDIT*  I can’t believe I forgot this and feel awful I did, but I do think they should keep the trans NPC, but change the dialogue and the the name. It isn’t the NPC that is the problem but the dialogue and actions. Otherwise, I think it would be ok. 

I think that’s it.

Recommendation:

So should you play Persona 2 IS? Short answer, yes. Long answer is that it is complicated. In a few months the game will no longer be accessible for psp consoles. The physical version of the game is ridiculously expensive. You will have to accept the fact this game is on psp and its sequel’s psp version never came to English speaking markets.

You may not like the graphics, gameplay, or that it doesn’t feel like the later persona games. And as much as I love this game, that is alright. You do you. But I truly do think you are missing out on a great game. So if you have the opportunity to do so, yeah absolutely give it a shot. 

[redantsunderneath]

DC COMICS: Incoherence as Not-a-Bug-but-a-Feature (Spoilers for Batman 89-100)

Due to the emergence of the new Batman villain character Punchline, I wound up buying the last 12 issues of Batman and reading them in a single sitting. I’ve had trouble following DC comics for a while, constantly feeling that they were in trouble since back in the mid 2000s (with a glimmer of hope here and there). The act of reading DC comics has been a frustrating experience, where individual good stories and runs were laying around in the context of a lot of things that didn’t make sense while the company’s thrust felt chaotic and ideas not well blended. Every status quo change seemed hard to figure out the rules of enough to parse the context.  We’ll get into the background of this, but my reading today of this extended stretch of comics that keeps losing the plot in favor of a fever dream of what’s happening at the moment with specific characters that refuse to cohere, it became obvious that what I had been looking at as subtext or critique was actually the text. I could see the messed up trees but was missing the the forest the universe was trying to describe.

What happens in these issues (Batman current series 89-100, I missed the beginning of the first of 2 arcs) is rolling war between the major Batman villains and the heroes (plus Harley Quinn and Catwoman), which shifts into a Joker and Joker adjacent vs. all as the Joker double crosses everyone then manages to steal Bruce Wayne’s fortune.  We meet 3 new baddies – Underbroker, whose schtick is putting ill-gotten gains beyond the reach of the legal system (with an explicit line to rich globalists drawn), the Designer, who back in the day offered the four A list Batman villains plans to achieve what they most wanted, and Punchline, who is your toxic ex’s new millennial GF who really has it in for you (there is also a new good guy Clownhunter, which is a whole different thing, and a new costumed detective that predates Batman).  This doesn’t convey the chaotic nature of what is happening issue to issue, but there’s more than one Batman hallucinogenic spirit quest, dead characters ostensibly walking around, a plan revolving around the Bat’s origin story that tells some version of it several times, and a no-nonsense declaration that the Joker, as the Devil of the Batman spiritual system, cannot die.   The whole thing has the effect of convincing you there is no definitive sequence of events, only versions.

Alan Moore’s Killing Joke is not a favorite of mine, for a number of reasons.  But the ending holds up.  The Joker has done terrible things there is no antecedent for, and Batman wonders aloud if this never-ending dance they do ends in anything but both of their deaths; can they uncouple from the unhealthy duality the cycle of which simply repeats.  The Joker responds, well, with a joke about two lunatics trying to escape an asylum.  One jumps the roof to the next building, while the other is too scared to try.  The escapee offers to hold a light while the other crosses on a beam but he says no, no you’ll just cut the light while I’m half way across.  This not very funny joke nonetheless has a bunch of resonances – BM and Joker as conspiring co inmates, BM wanting to break out, a commentary about their natures (almost a reversal of the frog and scorpion story where the scorpion won’t go because he knows how this ends), but mostly it implicates BM as the one who is enabling the cycle, the reason why it won’t end.  They both laugh uproariously, and the ambiguous final panels can be read as the fundamental realization of his complicity causing BM to kill J.  A lethal joke indeed… except, next month, we see the both of them again.  In broader context, the ceaseless cycle of the diad is reaffirmed.  This has been hellaciously sticky as an idea in the Batmen universe.

My realization of what DC has been doing is pretty banal in its pieces. Marvel has “ground level” heroes while DC has a mythos, a pantheon.  Their archetypal makeup is strong, the seven JLA members lining up with the pantheon of Greek gods and the Chakras weirdly closely.  DC has big characters that are somewhat flat which they can use tell big bold individual stories that are cool the way legends and fables are cool. But these stories require bold strokes that a bit incompatible with each other. People get attached to these iterations. Meanwhile, Marvel trucks in soap operas where the characters give you an empathetic stand in and are narratively flexible. Marvel events are usually about the writer vs. the company, asking you to sympathize or deconstruct the creative impulse amid efforts to impose control or order.  DC’s events are about editorial vs. the audience, the shapers vs. the forces of the world.  It may seem obvious, given this description, that DC’s focus is on an archetypal tableau though it may be less obvious that this tableau is under extreme pressure from expectations when trying to tell ongoing tales month in, month out (or semi-monthly in some cases). The stories are constantly compared against the big stories that have gone before, and the audience’s ideas of the characters exert pressure to push them in directions that capture “the” version they believe in.  This circle is not possible to square.

DC and Marvel both have a multiverse of sorts.  DC used to tell “Elseworlds” stories which were later tucked into pocket universes.  DC invented crossing over between “realities.”  DC’s continuity is heavy baggage and they began to have “Crises” to resolve the narrative incompatibilities.  These only made things worse as you can’t get rid of the past people have a relationship with – it will come back.  Now you have to explain that away too.  Marvel just lets it lay – forget about the iffy stories, they count, sure, just no one is ever going to talk about them unless they have an angle.  Marvel continuity is all angles and amnesia. This is just easier to do with dating and rent and your ancient aunt’s medical bills than with Gods. Marvel’s multiverse is about sandboxes that you can always dump into the mainframe if they work (and never really mention the sandbox again).

There is a shift that occurred in the industry in the 2004 to 2005 era that is less remarked upon than many upheavals in comic’s history. Marvel had gone through a period of incredible new idea generation in the early 2000s after a late 90s creative cratering but had just fired the pro wrestling inflected soul of that moment (Bill Jemas).  DC was coming off of a period of trying to do moderately updated versions of what they basically been doing all along. The attitude was “yeah we’re under stress from the combined history of these characters, but we got to keep telling the stories.” Geoff Johns was one voice of DC over the 99-04 period that showed potential - he seemed to get how to find the core of characters and push them into a new in sync directions if they over the years have lost a clear identity.  But mostly he had internalized a basic schism between something mean that the audience wanted, and something good and wholesome about the characters themselves, and figured out how to mess around with this in a equilibrating fashion.

Interestingly, the ignition point of the main forces that were going to blow DC over the next decade and a half was a comic that had virtually nothing to do with any of those main forces. Brad Meltzer, a novelist, was hired to do a comic called Infinity Crisis, which sold extremely well and was, justifiably or not, recognized as an event.  At the same time, everyone also kind of hated it because the dark desires of some DC fans were pushed forward just a bit too much for comfort and for a comic with Crisis in the name it didn’t do a whole lot other than “darken” things.  Nonetheless, this lit an “event” fire at both companies.  Marvel chose a shake up the status quo for a year, then do it again, pattern and was off to the races (I have written about this, and more, here) while continuing its Randian framing of beleaguered do-gooders opposed by rule making freedom haters.

As this was playing out, Dan Didio quietly took power in DC Editorial.  His outlook was more Bloomian – he seemed to spark off of writers who exhibited anxiety of influence. He recognized Johns was the one person they had could be promoted into something of a universe architect, starting work on two key projects from which the rest would evolve. The first, was bringing back Hal Jordan as Green Lantern and diffracting the GL universe into its own symbolic system, with parts frisson-ing other parts, and almost a Magic the Gathering color scheme of ideas. The other was to build up to Infinite Crisis, which would become the model for most of their universe changing events until the present day.

The basic frame is this: DC heroes want to be good (in a sense of their inherent nature) but forces outside form a context that makes them fall.  It’s a very gnostic universe, DC.  They  examine reflections of the concepts, invent scapegoats for certain tendencies (see Superboy Prime as entitled fanboy, Dr. Manhattan as editors that try and fail to mend things, etc), make characters violate principles, rehabilitate them, then show that the world if anything is more broken than before.  This is kind of Johns’ thing and it fits Didio’s narrative as historicval tension fetish.  But then came Scott Snyder (not to be confused with Zack) who began to work on Batman in 2011.  Since then, as much as Justice League is pushed as the central title and Lex Luthor has been pimped, Batman has been the core of the universe and the Joker the core villain.

Snyder had the same continuity conflict wavelength but was significantly more meta and able to contain multitudes than Johns.  He was the first to make an explicit mystery of how there could be several Jokers around at one time (who are the same but not, he posited 3 – man, Christians!) that seems prescient given the near future coexistence of filmic Jokers that are not able to be resolved.  I believe he was the first to begin to tease out an idea – that different versions of things in comics are not a diffraction or filter effect, a using the set of things that work best for that story and leaving the rest, but are a matter of the archetypal system of the audience coming apart. From an in story perspective what appears to happen is that multiple versions of incompatible things exist in the collective unconscious of the continuing narrative, and this is something that the characters may become conscious of.  

The run I just read is written by James Tynion IV building on the above trends.  The trick seems to be going all in on the Jungian aspect (at Jung’s most religiously epiphanic).  The Designer was a progenitor and adversary to Batman’s predecessor and his intellectual approach eventually defeated the detective… broke him.  At some point in early Batman history, the Designer brought the top four Bat-baddies together and offered each, in turn, a plan to achieve what they most desired: the Riddler, a way to achieve an empire of the mind; the Penguin, power; and Catwoman, money.  They are all elated as they await the Joker to come out.  The Joker emerges with a furious Designer on his heals and promptly shoots him dead.  He explains that he didn’t like his joke in the form of a fable – the devil offered four people the path to their greatest desire: the three chose earthly things, but the Joker’s wish was to be him, to become the devil.  The story proceeds to suggest that the Joker just exists, he is present as a necessary component in the system.   You can kill him, yet he is alive.

DC has been using physics metaphors for the nature of their reality since Flash of Two Worlds in 1963.  The multiverse as a continuity concept was their idea and the holographic universe of the hypertime was a thing.  It seems like since Dan Didio took over, they’ve been heading towards a concept of broad superimposition, of measurement effect being weak, of the universe being like a quantum computer with all possibilities coexisting and the story instantiating not one reality but a path through all the possible ones.  By making Batman trip balls through quite a few issues and relive his origin from different angles, the story is one of its own instability and the heroic task that confronts our hero is attempting to actualize the world.  The Joker is the Devil in the sense of lack of fixed meaning, of relativistic chaos, of the world not making sense because it’s unmoored nature with ultimately no knowability.  Batman, in this story, functions as a postmodern knight crusading against the impossibility of epistemological grounding.

There’s more going on, sure.  One plot is, literally, defund Batman.  There is rioting, people brainwashed by being exposed to toxic ether, people paid to go to theaters even though they will die as a result, and questions about neoliberalism similar to that one Joker movie. Punchline has no personality yet (Tynion’s not the best at that) but she serves well as a generational foil for Harley – a rudderless ideological vacuum susceptible to Joker-as-idea-virus rather than an unfulfilled MD who felt alienated due to the structures of her life and was seeking escape into structureless possibility.  The Designer stuff is both continuity play (See why they changed from goofy villains to more “realistic” ones! Look how pulp heroes informed superheroes!), a comment on the nature of a longstanding narrative (strong intentions die out as Brownian motion overwhelms momentum), and a lawful evil/chaotic evil setup of the dualism of apocalypses (overdetermined authoritarian vs. center does not hold barbarism).  But the thing that ties this to the past decade and a half of DC is the sense that the reality is fluid and susceptible to change or outright s’cool incompatibility.

This is different than other flavors of meta in superhero comics.  Grant Morrison believes the archetypes are stronger than the forces that seek to bend them.  Alan Moore wants you to deconstruct your sacred cows and probably hates you personally.  Marvel might play with self-awareness, but effortlessly resolves inconsistencies after it’s finished playing.  DC, at this point, allows you to watch the waves solidfy into symbols and dissolve, and the constant confusion and lack of grounding is more of a choice then I thought this time yesterday.  The conflict theory of DC reality has been in full swing but this looks to be turning towards a kind of Zen historicism, holding contradictory things in your mind at once. Warren Ellis’ JLA/Authority book is the nearest comparable text I can think of. I need to call this, but I didn’t even talk about Death Metal, DC character multiplicity as meta-psychosis event extraordinaire.  Comics just keep getting weirder.

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy VI Review

Year: 1994

Original Platform: Super Nintendo (originally released as Final Fantasy III in the West)

Also available on: Playstation One (Final Fantasy Anthology), Game Boy Advance, Android, iOS, Steam

Version I Played: Game Boy Advance

Synopsis:

Terra is a slave used by the Gestahl Empire because of her magic powers. The Gestahl Empire seeks to hunt down espers (summons) and harness their powers too, effectively killing them. Terra escapes their clutches and falls into the hands of the Returners – a small band of rebels hoping to return freedom to the world.

Gameplay:

Final Fantasy VI doesn’t exactly add anything super-new to the gameplay unlike its predecessors. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong or boring with it. It has an ATB system and each character, like in Final Fantasy IV, specialize in certain jobs. Therefore, each character has a special unique ability that no other character can perform.

I find the style of the game unique for its time because you can easily split the game into two parts. There's a pivotal point in the story that changes everything. The first half is a typical story-driven RPG. The second half is actually more open world. With a huge cast of characters, you are not actually required to end the game with all of them. The second half of the game offers a unique style where you can take on the final boss with what you’ve got, or hunt down the rest of the cast members and then take on the final boss.  

 Graphics:

This is the SNES in its prime. Character sprites are much bigger, and the world looks so much more detailed and vibrant. Shadow looked weird though. Sometimes you had to squint to discern what his face actually looked like. Other than that, the game looks great! It’s notable for utilizing more graphics power from the SNES in some cutscenes, and also when you fly an airship.

The PlayStation One version again has a FMV sequence that hasn’t aged well at all. Okay, maybe it’s a tad bit better, but that’s not saying much.

Story:

One of the biggest debates in recent Final Fantasy fandom is asking whether Final Fantasy VI or Final Fantasy VII is better. While I won’t get into Final Fantasy VII much now, it was always the most popular game in the series. It seems that in recent years, gamers have retroactively judged Final Fantasy VI as the best Final Fantasy game of all time.

I wish I had appreciated more when I was a kid. When I first played it then, I actually despised it. I was much more critical about stories back then. For whatever reason, I didn't think the world building was coherent. I also wasn’t used to Final Fantasy games by then.

I finished Final Fantasy VI about four years ago, and that time I was taken by it. I became enlightened and completely changed my opinion of it from sour to sweet. I wish I could erase my memory on playing it only so that I could experience it for the first time and appreciate it for the first time. I had already known most about what happened in the story, so I really wish I could experience the shock and awe of it brand new. Final Fantasy VI does things with its story that no other Final Fantasy game has done. It has drama, it has brevity, it has an amazing cast of heroes and villains. To date, it has the most playable characters in a Final Fantasy game.

The plot even incorporates a little opera that you sit through.

 At first glance, Final Fantasy VI seems derivative. There is once again an evil empire seeking to control the world, and there is once again a rebellion. People often make the parallel to Star Wars, much like Final Fantasy II. The name “Returners” doesn’t quite stick with me personally as the name of an epic rebellion. Final Fantasy VI also created the recurring characters Biggs and Wedge, a further nod to Star Wars.

But you have to look past the simple setup of a ragtag rebellion fighting an evil empire. First of all, the steampunk setting is one of the most original in a Final Fantasy game to date, and hasn’t really been revisited. The world dabbles in late 19th century architecture, with fine arts and opera. The empire is only beginning to realize the ancient power of magic, and combines it with technology to make “Magitek”, starting a sort of “industrial revolution”. The opening scene to this game is one of the most memorable. Terra, under the empire’s mind control device, in her magitek armor with Biggs and Wedge, trudging through the snow as the opening credits roll by, comes off as a real live-action movie.

 While the official creators say that there isn’t a main character, I still say it’s Terra. If not, she’s at least the most important. She propels the plot forward. She’s one of those rare great female protagonists in a video game RPG. She’s more than just “a strong female character”. She has depth as she tries to find her place in the world, and other characters, such as the thief Locke, try to help her.

 Also, just like Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI has its own villainous goofball - Ultros.

He’s not quite as charming as Gilgamesh, but he acts in the same manner regardless.

 Each character has their own story – no matter how small or big. They’ve all lost loved ones, or suffered hardships, and the central theme about the entire game is really about grief and dealing with it even in the face of nihilism.

 Nihilism comes in the form of Kefka - Emperor Gestahl's court mage. Kefka did the whole nihilistic evil clown thing before Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. Kefka retroactively rose to popularity, rivaling longtime favorite villain Sepiroth from Final Fantasy VII as the best Final Fantasy villain.

 Final Fantasy VI deals with heavy topics. I was shocked that it even dared to show a scene of attempted suicide. Things get dark. Really dark. But Final Fantasy VI deals the darkness with such elegance. I admire its ability to treat such heavy plots for basically children.

The ending to this game is probably the most epic out of any Final Fantasy game. I can gush with details but this is meant to be a spoiler - free review. I just have to say – E P I C. But the most admirable thing I just have to say is that it treats Terra’s journey with the utmost respect and tact. It doesn’t try to define her by having some hokey romantic subplot.

Music:

Another legendary score. Given the tone and atmosphere of the story, the score reflects something darker. Right away, the opening titles before you begin is accompanied by foreboding music. With the exception of battle themes, the story demanded that Uematsu put away most of his drumming and rock undertones for a more conventional, instrumental score with pathos. It sounds most like the score to an actual fantasy movie, very operatic and Wagner-like.

Shadow’s theme sounds inspired by typical Western movie fare, being that he is a drifter. In fact, Final Fantasy VI’s score is diverse in tones with its character themes, which is obvious once you think about where all the characters come from. Cyan’s theme has Asian influences. The theme for the Veldt, a stretch of wilderness, has a jungle beat. Then of course there’s the opera music. Many Final Fantasy concerts, such as Distant Worlds, play the opera about the fictional characters Draco and Maria. Kekfa, the villain, has a jovial but sinister theme scattered throughout. Terra’s theme is practically the main theme of the game, and it too is referenced throughout.

The end credits song is a whopping 21 minutes and 36 seconds. It goes through every single character’s theme and more. The entire soundtrack is 3 hours long. I don’t think any other game at the time had a soundtrack that long.

 Notable Theme:

 “Dancing Mad”

To me, Dancing Mad is Nobuo Uematsu's magnum opus. It is a sprawling 8-minute epic for the final battle.

Verdict:

A must-play. Any RPG fan will love this game. Any RPG fan SHOULD play this game. There’s nothing obnoxious or vainglorious here. Every subsequent Final Fantasy game tried to live up to its drama and scope, but with all of them falling short ever so slightly.

Direct Sequel?

No. Thank God.

[maxwell-grant]

You've talked quite a bit about Shiwan Khan, would be OK with talking about the other villains who show up more than once, Benedict Stark and The Voodoo Master?

The Voodoo Master tends to get overshadowed by Khan by virtue of being less prominent and because, in a lot of ways, Mocquino does feel a bit like a prototype for Khan. Like Gibson was testing the waters of what kind of major supervillain he wanted the Shadow to have, and was gradually figuring details like the hypnotic traps and unique henchmen and mystic background and a fraudulent dark magician figure with Mocquino, before Khan blew it all up to bigger proportions. Twice already we’ve had instances where Mocquino was set to appear in a Shadow adaptation after Khan, and said adaptations got canned before he could show up (and I don’t think it does either character a favor if Mocquino comes after Khan). And of course Mocquino has the problem of being an ethnic supervillain whose identity and name are tied up to grotesque prejudice that twists cultures and beliefs into Hollywood boogeymen, and the novels sadly treat vodou beliefs far less charitably than how the other novels approach tibetan/asian mysticism. It’s definitely a problem, but not without it’s solutions.

Putting that aside, The Voodoo Master trilogy is very fun, the first novel in particular was the number one rated Shadow novel in a fan poll back then. Personally, my favorite is City of Doom because of it’s blend of gothic, urban and industrial settings, great battles even for a Shadow novel, and a spectacular finale, but they all have very strong points. And I do like Mocquino himself as a character. He is historically significant as the first true supervillain of Shadow Magazine (if you don’t count other odd criminals like The Black Master or The Cobra). He is different from Khan personality-wise in the sense that he is more of an old-school supervillain, who likens his conflict with The Shadow to a “game” they play, who likes to boast and brag about his powers and whose goals largely revolve around extortion. He has a vendetta against industrial society (although he himself employs industrial tactics, because he is a hypocrite), and said vendetta being largely just him trying to destroy it so he thinks people will fall in line with his cult more easily. Unlike with Khan, there’s no delusions or aspirations of grandeur and greater purpose here, it always comes down to crime and profit with Mocquino and he barely bothers to pretend otherwise.

He is resourceful and insidious and racks up a bigger body count than Khan on City of Doom alone, and there’s a real creepiness to his zombie minions as they are regular people stripped of all identity and forced into becoming walking meat shields. I think one way to make him work better on his own could be by playing up his ruthlessness and charm, and focus on the mind control/cult leader aspect. Make him the Jim Jones of Shadow villains.

Justice Inc redesigned him to look like Boris Karloff, divorced him of racist trappings, played up his dark magician persona and ballooned up his abilities into outright superpowers, all of which worked quite well as the closest he's ever had to an update And interestingly, there’s some odd Joker-esque aspects to him in his final appearence in Voodoo Trail:

Though almost silent, the explosion was forcible. The tank disgorged a greenish gas that spread like an expanding monster, filling the entire room that the trio had just left. 

There was something parched and withery in his face, particularly noticeable when The Shadow saw the Voodoo Master's profile. Mocquino bore the scars of flame, not only on his face, but upon the scrawny arm he extended from his robe. Those burns showed like livid brands: a fitting mark for a supercriminal.

That hissing sound in the zombi cave! It was gas, leaking from underground pipes that led into Manhattan. Filtering through the porous stone, it gathered other chemical elements. Mocquino must have discovered that leakage and noted its effects. He had put the discovery to his own use. 

...lips formed a grin so jagged that it was difficult to note where his mouth ended and his scar began.

Mocquino's shrill laugh told that he expected his men to overwhelm The Shadow through force of numbers.

Honestly, “Doctor Mocquino” I think is a better name for him than Voodoo Master. A Rogues Gallery isn’t complete without a major Doctor in there, and divorcing Mocquino of “Voodoo Master” and all that implies could be the better way of making this character work again. Play up the fact that he’s exploiting Caribbean religions and citizens for personal gain and roping them into his crime ring, maybe even have him use similar theatrics as The Shadow to paint himself as this great master of voodoo, but in the end, he’s always just Doctor Mocquino, an evil, rotten shyster who puts his knowledge to use for evil and evil alone. 

Responsible for the first and only cliffhanger of Shadow Magazine with the kidnapping of Rutledge Mann, Benedict Stark is easily the single worst scumbag out of all Shadow supervillains. Just this completely horrible, wretched monster who ends up being somewhat dissappointing and frustrating of a villain in my view. Despite having quite a bit going on for him, Stark is not really interesting enough to warrant the 4 novels he gets, and where as Khan and Mocquino usually escape The Shadow thanks to prior planning and last-minute escape and strokes of luck, Stark seems to get away with it only because the narrative says so, not nearly as impressive as the other two despite being far, far worse, which makes it you don’t want The Shadow to match wits with him, so much as you just want The Shadow to kill him as soon as possible. In fact, here’s what Stark gets away with in the first ten pages of The Prince of Evil alone:

He gaslights a man named John Harmon into thinking he was developing amnesia

Gets Harmon to sign away enough money to be bankrupted for life, and no one, not even his wife, believe him when he says he was conned

Causes Harmon to commit suicide. 

Then, while Cranston's talking with a friend of Harmon named Jackson who wanted to help him, the two go to Jackson's house to find it completely destroyed, his priceless belongings acid-ruined. 

Then, they find Jackson's dog dead, with it's throat slit, and a Bible scattered nearby with the story of the good Samaritan marked, making it clear that this all happened because Jackson tried to help Harmon. 

And then, as Cranston tries to stop one of Stark's goons from brutally assaulting a boy who was just paid by Cranston to watch his car, he gets attacked and knocked unconscious.

And THEN, the henchman gives the kid a brain concussion and then hauls him in front of a coming truck, with Cranston just barely saving the kid in time as the henchman escapes.

This is just the first 10 pages. Not even Spider novels usually start with this many atrocities happening all at once. Whatever problems Tinsley has as a Shadow writer, I’ll give him this: He definitely knows how to go from 0 to 100 in ways Gibson never would. The book obviously doesn’t keep this up forever (thank goodness), but The Prince of Evil is really all about building up Stark’s presence as this new ultimate Shadow villain, and I think the build up is quite solid up to a point.

He’s established as possibly the richest man in America. Where as Cranston is a millionaire, Stark is a billionaire, who owns “ailways and steamships, factories and mills all over the United States". Nobody knows what he looks like, nobody’s ever seen a picture of him, and Cranston, who knows everyone and everything, has never once laid eyes on the man. We also know in advance that he uses drugs delivered by chewing gum to turn his thugs into bloodthirsty savages who desire only terror and torture and inflict those at his beck and call, and we get a passage where Clyde Burke ingests one of these gums, experiences it’s effects, and ends up chasing down a mouse and killing it, for no reason other than it was the only living being nearby, much to his horror. And it very nearly develops into something even worse:

He could hear the snoring of a man sleeping inside a cellar apartment. Clyde halted. His fingers tightened on his iron bar. He guessed that the man asleep inside was the building janitor. He fought against a hot impulse that flared anew in his blood.

He wanted to kill that janitor! He wanted to smash at him with the iron bar until the man was battered and dead! Murder seemed so exciting. And so easy! Clyde could picture the terror of his victim as he struck at him. It would be sheer delight to maim the fool before he killed him.

The thing that saved Clyde was the thought of the chewing gum. He knew that the savage whisper that urged him on to murder was not his own brain talking, but the voice of a powerful drug.

Laying the bar on the concrete floor, he ran for the cellar exit. He didn't glance back. He was afraid that if he did, he'd be tempted to pick up the bar and commit a senseless and brutal crime.

The cold bite of the breeze was like a draft of cooling water against his parched lips. He began to get a grip on himself. Once more he was Clyde Burke, a normal human being who would go out of his way to avoid hurting a fly.

Stark has weaponized and mass-produced a drug that creates an army of Mr Hydes at his beck and call, that can turn even one of the kindest and most heroic characters into the series into a sadistic maniac itching to main and murder anything that’s in front of him, and that alone is not just a much more viscerally horrifying kind of mind control than what Khan and Mocquino use, it’s also got a an edge to it more suited for gritty urban drama. It’s an idea I definitely would have liked to see used again even after Stark’s out of the picture.

And then we actually get to see Stark for this first time, and he’s described as a grotesquely deformed baboon man leering at his beautiful secretaries, who deliberately employs the most attractive people to make his own deformities stand out further, and who is cartoonishly vile everytime he opens his mouth. He never really displays exceptional cleverness, compared to other Shadow villains, except for the fact that he keeps suspecting Cranston is The Shadow, and sometimes just seems to get really lucky. Stark tends to get much, much less interesting as the build-up evaporates and he has to stand on his own feet as a character, I barely remember anything he did in the following books. At the time, I thought Stark’s characterization was weak, and I still do. 

This text blurb here was used on a promo S&S did for Prince of Evil, and it starts by talking about incredibly well-liked people who are kind and how Stark is the opposite because he's evil. Of course, as we all know, evil and well-liked are not opposites. 

Stark may have been a tad more interesting had they went with the angle of him being a horrible monster who's also incredibly popular and beloved and friendly. About 70% of The Shadow’s villains are already middle-aged to elder rich businessmen pretending to be good, so maybe Stark being young and attractive and initially sympathetic-looking, atop being the richest and cruelest of them all, could also help set him apart. Sort of an evil Harry Vincent maybe. 

But instead he's so obviously and viscerally awful all the time he shows up, so incapable of restraining himself, that it's impossible to buy him as a deceiver who’s pulled the wool over society’s eyes. At the time, I thought to myself that he was just painfully obvious of a villain and too brutish and stupid for me to buy that he’s supposed to be the richest criminal genius in America. 

But then again, nowadays I’m well aware that wealthy and respected figures of society, who are cartoonishly horrible even openly in public, is just what billionaires are like, so maybe Tinsley had a point here. 

[asagi-s-garden]

WB is the worst when it comes to DC. It's no coindence that Constantine is leaving 'Legends of Tomorrow" in the wake of the upcoming HBO Max show. And this pandemic ruined a lot of plans. As you said "BL" wasn't meant to be in the Arrowverse put when it happened they were all gung-ho for it. They had plans for Jeff to visit Central City and for Anissa and Grave to chill in Gotham. But then the pandemic and whatever BTS drama that got "BL" canned. Like *something* happened. It got an early renewal in Jan then it was cancelled in Nov. And CW didn't even bother to have proper trailers for new episodes. Don't tell me somebody on the show didn't rub the network the wrong way to result in that level of pettiness

Yeah, WB isn't just the worst with DC, but really the worst with favoritism in my personal opinion

They tried so hard to make the DC streaming service a huge success but as soon as they saw it wasn't going to be they got rid of everything like it was on fire, HBO Max is the new golden child so they're cutting their own throats in other areas to make it succeed- IE: Theaters

My poor Suicide Squad 2 ;_; no I won't say "my THE Suicide Squad" it won't roll off the tongue it was a sacrificial lamb to the damn streaming service :(

I know it's an unpopular opinion to not be all over streaming but they're really clearly cutting way more than just corners in order to feed that specific beast and try to make it compete with Disney+, that's why they're starting to draw the string on the Arrowverse :/ The same thing happened, I think, with the DC streaming service though, when they saw that the biggest success of DC was the Arrowverse, they decided to pull their dying streaming service as well as the DCEU into it to pump the Arrowverse up more, now that the Arrowverse is starting to go under- with three shows being gone, Batwoman being in questionable territory, and the two biggest successes of the year being largely disjointed from it (Superman and Stargirl), I think they're going to try to scramble it like eggs :/ They're doing the same with the DCEU to a degree though, by having loosely connected stories that do more universe hopping and tone changes (IE: Joker coming out just months before Birds Of Prey and having been preceeded by Shazam!) I think since they're seeing more promise in that approach right now for the movies, they might be trying to do the same for TV- or they're just trying to let the Arrowverse die of neglect so they can pump up HBO Max like you said

Ofcourse now that WB has been bought by Discovery, we might get some big changes to this; Discovery already said they wanted to pour seven BILLION dollars into DC properties specifically in the first year alone, and I know the rumor is that they're only going to try to gloss up DC so that they can sell the assets to the highest bidders once their "probation" period ends but like.... seven billion is a hell of alot of gloss..... and if they can start pulling in more numbers like Joker, Superman & Lois, and The Suicide Squad (wich may have not been a huge hit at the box office but wich reportedly smashed the HBO Max numbers enough that WB is circling James Gunn like a starving shark), then I have a hard time believing they'd be wanting to get rid of it, especially when, let's face it, DC is easily the most well known and most marketable asset Discovery has ever had and probably ever will have purely because of Superman alone, you can't find a person anywhere who hasn't atleast heard of Superman, regardless of how much the film properties are hit-and-miss financially, I have a hard time believing anyone would just throw that kind of name power to the wolves....

But onto Black Lightning, I actually have a pretty strong theory about that one

I'm almost certain that China Anne McClain is why the show was canned

And do not get me wrong, I don't mean that in a snippy way, but China quit Black Lightning pretty urgently- to the point that she only wanted to do limited episodes for the final season

Backing up a moment here though, let me explain why I think this was the nail-in-the-coffin

Black Lightning was very quickly becoming centered around Lightning specifically

That doesn't mean to say that it wasn't still Jefferson's story and that Anissa wasn't still important, but Jennifer was getting set up to be The Powerhouse of the show, with the bulk of the drama probably surrounding her and the thought of her potentially taking on her father's mantel

It seemed like the idea of Black Lightning retiring or atleast putting on the suit a little less was starting to become a thing, and with Jefferson firmly accepting his daughters as part of the world of Metas at that point, that would have lead to Anissa and Jennifer taking much more of the spotlight than they had in the beginning- that's a natural progression of things, and although I actually prefer Anissa's storyline (it's just more my personal cup of tea), I will readily admit that Jennifer was the one who had the ability to carry an entire season's worth of story on her shoulders.... not so much Anissa, who has her wife (so romantic subplots are pretty toned down), her powers are developed and stable (nothing quite like the learning curves Jennifer was facing), she has a stable job and a stable superhero identity- two, in fact-, so no literal schoolyard drama or issues with "Am I in my father's shadow? Is this how the world sees me and do I want them to see me this way?" much like what Jennifer was starting to experience in the end of the show either

TLDR Anissa mostly had her shit together, wich is great for her, but it doesn't lend to being able to carry the most dramatic storylines like it does with Jennifer, who's still figuring out pretty much everything

I think Jennifer was already starting to take a very large amount of the story as of the last season and even starting to steal the spotlight before that, if they were to come back for more I feel like she would have been in a place of being much more obviously groomed to take on the main charector status wile Jefferson stepped back just a little bit to be more supportive to her journey instead of the other way around

And the show could still exist very much as Jefferson's story wile that story happened to center on Jennifer

.....Buuuuuuuuuuuuut that's where the problem comes in

China said before the show was cancelled that she was going to step down from playing Lightning because she wanted to focus on her faith more and be removed from anything that wasn't "in service to God", wich is totally fine for her, but it does put Black Lightning in a bit of a difficult position because the charector they were gearing up to make their breakout star was suddenly going to either have to pull a Winn and just... be.... gone.... or have to get recast

To be entirely honest, I'm not sure why they didn't stick with the recasting instead, I thought Laura Karuki did a fantastic job as Jennifer and the "Am I Jennifer or am I JJ?" story would have been a great thing to explore for an entire season, but if I had to guess, they maybe just didn't want to mess with it?

Black Lightning had good numbers but it wasn't in the top five or anything to my recollection, not since it's premiere season anyway, and it could have been a compound decision of "We weren't going to keep this up much longer anyway so let's just take this as a sign to wrap it up", although I think that the way the recast was done could have presented a stable option for them if they had decided to give it a go for a full season, although maybe that's just my opinion and they initially made the recast so that the people behind the curtain could see if Laura would work well enough as Jennifer and when they decided that the vibe wasn't right they went on ahead and pulled the plug rather than risk getting the same um... resistance.... than Batwoman met over their recasting choices

Although I could go on for days about why that situation is different (to be clear: I do like Ryan quite alot but I don't think the Batwoman situation was nearly as seamless as Black Lightning's in terms of recasts, but that's another story for another day)

TLDR I think if China had stayed aboard they would have gone on for atleast another season or two, but there are some shows where members of an ensemble cast are so essential that their leaving is too big of a blow to stay through

It's much like when Dylan O'Brien had to bow out of Teen Wolf for a little wile, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a fan who absolutely loved season six, and even before that people were having a hard time staying with a lack of Tyler Hoechlin, with some even stepping away when Crystal Reed left, even though- at both of those points- most of the core cast was still there and at no point did the titular main ever leave, I feel like Black Lightning's situation is very similar, people were just too invested in Jennifer

[bisexualgarrus]

mass effect tag game

aaaa thank you sm @forestcreatures for the tag, this is so cool actually!!! mwua ily

I’ve been a fan since: i finished the games january this year lmfao (i’ve been a dragon age fan for years but never got into me for redacted reasons i’ve stated in the past but i’m SO glad i got my shit together and finally played them. wasn’t expecting to get SO much into it but here we are)

Favorite game of the series: mass effect 3. if only the ending would have been better.... everything about the game had me sticked to the screen. the story, the characters, the music, the gameplay. i cried, i laughed, i felt i was going insane playing it. i don’t think i’ll ever experience something like that again lol

Mshep or Fshep: FEMSHEP

Earthborn, Colonist, Spacer: earthborth 

Biotics of Tech: biotics!

Paragon or Renegade: paragon. i can’t stand to be mean. and althoug some renegade moments are badass as fuck, most renegade choices seem unecessary evil to me. 

Favorite Class: listen, i’ve only played the games once and i did as a sentinel and i really liked it but i guess i should experiment with the others. also narratively speaking after finishing the games i felt my shepard should have been a soldier, i feel like it would have fitted her more. but at the time i just chose the class that seemed the most fun (and honestly, soldier sounds boring as hell ngl, so many weapons and for what? just give me an assault riffle and we’re done here)

Favorite companion: tali and garrus (what a surprise)

Least favorite companion: uh..... honestly zaeed

My squad selection: i usually went tali and liara (me1), garrus, tali and miranda (me2) and garrus, edi and tali (me3)

Favorite in-game romance: i feel like i shouldn’t answer this considering i haven’t watched the movie of every romance (i haven’t even watched the liara romance which is a fan favorite oopsie).... but i really doubt anyone will beat garrus. although if anyone pays any attention to my posts you’ll know i’m here to push the tali x garrus x shepard agenda

Favorite NPC: anderson and joker

Favorite antagonist: sovereign

Favorite loyalty mission: TALI OH MY GOD I HAVE SOOO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS LOYALTY MISSION. besides it’s genuinely super fun to play. 

Favorite mission: gameplay wise? the suicide mission. nothing will ever beat the preassure i felt playing that shit oh my god. story wise? priority: rannoch and dossier: archangel 

Favorite DLC: CITADEL!!! GOD BEST DLC OF MY LIFE

Control, Synthesis, Destroy: synthesis. i made a post explaining why specifically i think this is the best option EVEN THOUGH i don’t think it’s a good ending or even a satisfactory one. BUT i simply can’t kill the synthetics man, i can’t. i can’t KILL EDI!! WTF!!! and narratively speaking i do think MY shepard would have chosen this, even though i understand why many prefer destroy

Favorite weapons: lol i don’t remember the specific names. i just really liked playing with assault rifles okay 

Favorite place: hmmmmm, i really love the overall atmosphere of silversun strip tbh!! i spent so many hours playing around it, it was comforting somehow

Favorite quote: brooooooo i can already feel myself TEARING UP thinking about this i swear this is embarrasing. 

if i had to choose ONE quote, it would be: “not sure if turian heaven is the same as yours but if this thing goes sideways and we both end up there... meet me at the bar” this quote changed me fundamentally as person, i mean it. 

BUT ALSO

“nobody ever fell in love without being a little brave” 

“legion, the answer to your question... was yes” (this one counts with the in-game context of course) 

“the illusive man ordered my creation years ago. jeff was the one who allowed me to think by myself. but only now do i feel alive. this is your influence”

“the reapers are repulsive. they are devoted to nothing but self-preservation. i am different. when i think of jeff, i think of the person that put his life in peril and freed me from a state of servitude. i would risk nonfunctionality for him. and my core programming should reflect that”

[insanebatty]

JASON TODD X READER

(I've always made stories, but never posted them in public before. This is the first time. So please be gentle with the criticism, if this story wasn't to your liking then I'm sorry. I want to continue posting stories on here, but I won't be able to post them right away. Please be patient with me & thank you. I was inspired by @batarella ) Y/N = your name.

CHAPTER 1

There you were sweating in a black tank top with black shorts, gloves & goggles on, you were in the bat cave working on one of your experiments.

Rob Zombie blasting in your earbuds.

You were in charge of making a small beam to fit in Batman's glove.

You were tinkering with it then made your way to your laptop.

Your laptop had wires sticking out of it & plugged in your experiment.

"Foxy foxy!" You said going with the music, nodding your head as you started typing away on your laptop.

"Okay, please work. Please work." You said with your fingers crossed for dear life.

You clicked the downward key 5 times then clicked the enter key.

You looked to your right where the experiment was, you had an empty can two feet away from it.

Just then the beam shot at the can & the can flew in the air.

"Holy shit! It worked!!" You screamed not realizing or careing how loud you were.

You went & put another can in front & went back to your laptop.

You started typing away on your keyboard, tapping on the upward key 10 times, just as the music had changed to Deftones.

"The change in you! Like you never--"

You clicked enter.

Looked again to your right & saw your second empty can fly into the abyss.

"Oh my God!!" You excitedly screamed while jumping up & down.

"Oh my God I can't wait for Batman to use you, who should he try it on first? Bane, maybe Killer Croc? Ohh, what if he's surrounded by both Bane & Killer Croc? I'm gonna need to keep tinkering with it so he can shoot 4 shots simultaneously, but what if--"

You suddenly felt like your back was against a wall, but instead of the normal hard exterior of a wall.

This wall felt odd, it felt very warm & soft to the touch, you turned to see what exactly it was pressed up against you.

You were looking up at this 6'0 man who towered over you, short black hair almost touching his eyelids, faint scars on his face.

You couldn't even tell he had scars unless you really examined his face thoroughly.

He was wearing a white muscle shirt with grey sweatpants on & a towel around his shoulders.

Jason Todd, your ex-boyfriend of 4 years.

Last time you saw him was a few months back.

You had walked in the manor's kitchen & saw him sitting on the counter eating one of Alfred's blueberry pies.

You knew he had left because everyone wouldn't shut up about it, especially Bruce. Before Jason even had left, he somehow managed to hack in the bat computer before taking off & stealing newly found information about The Penguin.

Bruce was trying to get ahold of Jason for the information, but Jason wouldn't answer his calls.

Ex-boyfriends were supposed to be unbearable to be around, you would hate everything they did, you would ask yourself "I really found HIM attractive?!"

But this relationship was different. You were different & he was different.

After you two broke up, you two stilled worked along side each other, joked with each other & even complainted each other from time to time. You couldn't lie to yourself, you still found him attractive.

There he was standing in front of you, you could see his flexed muscles on his arms, but then he mouthed something to you.

"WHAT?!"

You could tell you were screaming because as soon as you said what, Jason moved his head away from you, he raised up his hand & pulled your earbud out of your right ear.

"Why the fuck are you yelling? You do realize you've been screaming out lyrics for hours now, right?" He said to you sounding annoyed.

"Hours? It couldn't have been that long, could it?" You asked him while taking the other earbud off.

You looked up at him confused.

"What time did you get here?" He asked you while taking off the towel from his shoulders.

"I got here at midnight."

Jason laughed, "yeah you've been here for hours, it's 5 in the morning."

You looked at him surprised "no..it can't be." you said while taking your phone out of your pocket.

"Check if you don't believe me."

You used your finger for the fingerprint on your phone. 5:45 am in a bright white shined back at you. You can feel your eyes bugging out, holy shit time really flys when your having fun.

"Told you so." He said, you can hear him smiling as he said that.

"Shut up, when did you get back? You were gone for what? 2 months now?"

"Igot back a few days ago & I was gone for a month in a half."

"So 2 months basically."

"It wasn't 2 months, it was a month in a half."

"Agree to disagree."

"Oh, shut the hell up."

You laughed, your favorite thing was to see how long it'll take for him to get annoyed.

Of course you never did that when you two were together. You would only playfully annoy him, but knew when to back off. Now that you two weren't together you took the opportunity to annoy the shit out of him.

"So why are you here so early?" You asked him, while pausing the music on your phone.

"I made a deal with Alfred. If I help him bake 2 cakes & 3 dozen cupcakes for the charity that bruce is going to, he'll let me use daddy dearest's work out equipment."

He always liked to annoy bruce that way, calling him daddy dearest, dracula or even old man.

One night on patrol, Jason had the balls to yell out "WATCH OUT DRACULA, HE'S GONNA TAKE YOUR PREY FROM YOU!!" On a rooftop across the street, as he watched Batman chase a mugger. The mugger was chasing his victim on the opposite side of the street, that street happens to be the busiest street in all of gotham. Almost everyone heard him, even a civilian on the sidewalk yelled out "BATMAN IS DRACULA, I FUCKING KNEW IT!!!"

Jason fell to his knees holding his sides from laughing so hard.

Bruce would glare at Jason for 2 weeks straight & Jason would return that glare with a shit eating grin.

"Ah, I see. It still surprises me that you know how to bake. You never baked anything when we were together."

"Yes I would, those chocolate cakes or red velvet cupcakes on your birthday."

"You made those?! I thought you bought them from the store."

"I thought you would like it more if I would bake it instead of buying it."

"How come you never told me this?"

"You never asked."

"Because I just assumed, plus you never really made a mess in the kitchen for me to hint at the facted that you baked them."

"Yeah well I do know how to clean too, unlike some people in this place."

"HEY! I so know how to clean! I would clean up all the time when we were together & now!"

"Chill the fuck out! I'm not talking about you!"

"Ohh, sorry then."

He rolled his eyes while messing with his hair & finally he looked behind you. "What are you working on?" He asked, walking towards it.

"Oh, Bruce asked me to make him a beam thingy for his glove. I like to think of it as a gun." You said following behind him.

The cave was so dark, it would have been pitched black if it weren't thanks to the lights above the gigantic bat computer & all the other lights above Batman's suits & souvenirs that he kept from his enemies.

You could already tell Jason was here to hold on his end of the deal.

This was the only place he preferred to work out at. He never liked working out in public.

He says he doesn't care if people stare at him, but you feel like he's a little self-conscious about the scars & you don't blame him.

Those scars he got from The Joker on that fatally night.

The night Jason died.

He has scars of gashes throughout his body. Memories that would keep him up at night when you two were together.

You would wake up to an empty side of the bed where Jason would sleep.

You would find him staring out the window or outside in the balcony, the moon would shine down on his body.

You would make your way to him & you wouldn't say anything.

You would just wrap your arms around him.

Your head on his bare back listening to his heat beat, but since he was so muscular & toned you couldn't clamp your hands together.

That's when he would turn to you & just stare at you. You would stare back at him, longingly.

You never wanted to stop looking at him.

He would smirk & caress your cheek.

He then would grab your chin & pull you in to kiss you.

He would hug you tight & wouldn't let go, you two would hold each other for hours without saying anything. Because there was nothing to say.

But now you wouldn't have those nights, they were just memories.

You two have been broken up for 5 months now.

You knew it was your fault that you two broke up, but you two still had each other, even if it weren't as lovers. But you two wouldn't allow yourselves to get too close to each other like before & it didn't help that you two were Leo's.

So you two are headstrong & stubborn as fuck. Waiting for the other to make the first move.

Now that you lost yourself in thought, you were facing the work out area in the bat cave.

The area was so lit up, it looked so hollow & empty.

"HEY, Y/N!" Jason yelled.

"Ah, what?" His yelling snapped you back into reality, as you turned to face him, his hand was on hip.

"Why the fuck are you standing there like an idiot?"

"I'm not! Why did you yell at me?"

"I was asking you how does it work, but you were too busy spacing out. You must be tired." He said to you as you walked towards him.

"I'm not tired, I was just lost in thought is all." You said as you put the gloves on.

" 'lost in thought, huh? Is it because I'm here with you alone & you wanted to take advantage of me, is that it?"

You stopped & turned to face him, his face was so close to yours & he had this sexy grin on his face.

He was bending over to be the same height as you.

"Oh, S-shut up. I wasn't thinking about you. You never crossed my mind."

"Oh is that so? Well that makes one of us."

What he said stopped you in your tracks, you looked up at him.

He eyed you down with his arms folded over his chest.

"Show me how this works." He said pointing to the beam thingy.

"Ah sure, but you'll need to wear these first." You said handing him a pair of goggles with your right hand, at the same time you turned to face your left side & started typing away on your laptop.

As you stared at your laptop, you noticed that your right hand was warm.

Too warm to be your own body heat alone.

You turned to see Jason holding your hand with his left hand, while putting on the goggles with his right.

You looked down to see both your hands entangled with each other, you noticed your heart racing.

It felt like it was going to burst out of your chest like an alien from the movie Alien.

You turned around, he hadn't noticed you staring.

"Okay, are you ready?" You asked him.

Pretending as if you didn't notice he was holding your hand.

You were hoping he would hold your hand the whole time, but it was too late. He let go.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"A-alright." You tried not to sound disappointed.

You grabbed an empty can from the floor & placed it where the original cans were.

You went back between Jason & the laptop.

"Alright. Here. We. Go." You said as you tapped the enter key.

The beam started up & blasted the can further than the previous cans.

Smiling from ear to ear, you faced Jason.

"So what do you think? Cool, huh?"

"It's alright."

" 'Alright'? Really?" You asked while both of you took off the goggles.

"My guns can shot further than that thing."

"You know how Bruce feels about guns."

"Why are you making this for him in the first place? Couldn't he make it himself?" He asked while tilting his head to the side.

"He can, but he asked me to make it. He's too busy with Wanye Enterprise at the moment." You said having your back towards him, turning off the beam.

"Ah, couldn't he asked Tim or Dick to help out with the "Family" business?" He said while making quotations with his fingers.

"Dick's in california right now on a mission with the Titans & Tim is already helping out with Wayne Enterprise, were you secretly hoping he'll ask you?"

"One, he wouldn't ask me & two I wouldn't do it, even if he asked."

"Okay, if you say so."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm gonna go do what I came down here for." He said turning his back towards you, giving you a peace sign.

"Alright, have fun."

"Yeah, you too." He said to you while making his way across the cave, you could never tell what he was thinking about even when you two were together.

He walked up to the weight bench, throwing his towel on the floor beside it.

He then went over to grab the weights, two 30 lbs & placed one, then went to the other side to place the other.

He was staring at a bucket on the floor, he went up to it & sticked one hand in & his hand came out covered in white. He smacked his hands together, white dust flew in front of his face.

He then noticed you standing there like a doofus, he returned your stare.

"Ah.." you muttered out & went to your experiment.

Examining & analyzing ever little piece on it. Making sure everything was a hundred percent. You made your way to the chair that was next to your laptop & sat down. You can hear the way the weights were rubbing against each other from the distance.

"One..Two..three..four..five.."

You shook your head & smacked your cheeks lightly "don't get distracted, Bruce needs you to finish this." You said to yourself.

Everything came out fine, you placed can after can god knows how many times. As you continued your work, on the opposite side of the cave, Jason continued his workout, both of you a sweating mess. You sat on the chair, typing away.

Hours later Jason finished his workout, he made his way to you, huffing & puffing, wiping the sweat off his face.

"Hey y/n, did you finally finish?" No response. Taking the towel off his face, "Hey Y/N!" No response.

"Your fucking music is too loud, your gonna go deaf-" he spinned the chair around. He was expecting a wide eyed look on your face, but instead he was staring at you peacefully sleeping. Mouth wide open, drool dripping out of it. The goggles you had on your head, was now entangled in your hair.

Jason's face softened up, he chuckled.

"God damnit y/n." He said as he started to separate your hair from the goggles.

His face was so close to yours, he felt your breath. He closed his eyes, opening them back up his eyes made their way to your lips. His heart stared racing faster than when he was working out. He stepped back. Taking a deep breath & exhaling, he started to put his arms under you. One arm under your head the other under your legs. He picked you up with no problem. Your head started to tilt backwards until he moved his arm so your head would be resting on his chest. He stood there watching you, studying every part of your face. He looked away & started walking out of the cave with you in his arms. He made his way through a brightly lit manor. The grandfather clock chimed as Jason went past it, your body twitched in his arms. He smiled.

"Good morning master Jason." Alfred said as he came out of the kitchen, his eyes went from Jason to Jason's arms.

"Oh my, is y/n alright?"

"Yeah she's fine, she just passed out. I'm gonna take her to my old room."

He said as he passed Alfred. Alfred nodded at him.

"Alright master Jason, I do wish you two would get back together. She made you so happy." Alfred said as he went back into the kitchen.

Jason smiled as he went up the stairs, "she still does."

He placed you on his bed, putting a thin sheet over you.

"Sleep tight y/n." He kissed your forehead & started for the door. He opened the door, but before he closed it, he looked back at you. Then he closed the door.

[ariainstars]

Star Wars: Fatalism Against the „I Wish” Moment

Here it goes again, the question as to why The Rise of Skywalker sucked. Sigh. It just can’t leave me alone, can it?

After the first two chapters, honestly, I was expecting the sequel trilogy to become as good (or almost) as the original one. But precisely the last chapter set the seal on one of its worst problems: the lack of agenda. 

I love musical theatre. And one of its most beautiful sides is that it teaches you so much about storytelling. Now what makes a story, a character truly compelling? The conflict. Without a conflict, something that has to shift the narrative from A to D going through B and C, nothing makes sense. And in a good story, the conflict is set up right from the start. We meet someone and we are supposed to identify with them due to their agency. 

  Heroes With An Agenda 

To name an example, there is “Into the Woods”, one of my favorite musicals which retells some classic fairy tales with own interpretations and unexpected twists; and it opens with an iconic ensemble number called “I Wish”. (If you’re unfamiliar with it, you might want to check out the 2014 film.) We get to know a bunch of people who all want something, and we follow them through the narrative as some of them get their wish (though not exactly the way they expected it); then are confronted with the backlash, the consequences, the price to pay for the things they wanted. 

With Star Wars now belonging to Disney, it is only legitimate to make a few comparisons with Disney movies.

In The Little Mermaid, Ariel’s song is “Part of That World”, setting up her character as someone who wants for something that fascinates her: the world of humans.

Quasimodo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, wants to leave his tower and live among other humans, even if only in for a day.

Belle from Beauty and the Beast is introduced to us explaining how she wishes to explore the world outside of the small village she’s living in.

A somewhat disappointing Disney heroine was Merida in Brave: despite the films’ title, the story fails at making its protagonist compelling due to her lack of agenda. Merida knows what she does not want, i.e. becoming like her mother, because she’s a different kind of girl: but she does not know what she actually wants from life. It is quite fitting that in the end she manages to restore and improve the relationship to her mother but does not really change her, or her family’s or her kingdom’s situation. Merida does not grow up. Her story is nice enough, but not really compelling.

Disney “princesses” are often criticized for wanting nothing but a partner from life, and sometimes settling down with a man even if that was not their main goal at the start. But we have e.g. Moana, a girl who wants to help her family and her people and to restore balance in nature. Not surprisingly, her story is interesting and convincing.

Antiheroes With An Agenda 

Perspective is hugely important for a narrative: authors can use it in order to manipulate the audience’s perception of a story in order to make us identify with someone although he is a negative character. Two examples I came across with lately are Joker (Arthur Fleck) and Hannah from the Girls TV series. Both these characters have personal agendas that in the end don’t get their fulfilment. 

We know from the beginning that Arthur will become the Joker, but the film follows him and his social background so closely that we watch everything from his point of view, which makes us sympathize with him despite what he becomes in the end. 

Arthur is poor, mentally ill, in charge of a sick mother, friendless; but he believes he can make a great breakthrough as a comedian. He is at the bottom of the social scale and still believes he can make it to the top; it is only all too clear that he is deluded and that none of the people he admires would move a finger to help him. Though he becomes a criminal, his story is a tragedy; he was born and raised under circumstances that hardly offered him room for a simple, satisfying life. His dreams were all he had. Which is why we feel with him, even if from a moral standpoint we know we shouldn’t. 

Hannah is a toxic personality if I ever saw one onscreen; but she officially is the protagonist, she’s female who wants a career, she has “friends”, she is “sexually independent”, so as female viewers we will automatically identify with her, or at least try. (Personally, after a while I came to the conclusion that about 75 % of the other character’s problems would quickly find an end if they simply shot Hannah and buried her without a funeral, with a few silver crosses to make sure she never comes back.) 

However, Hannah is not from a poor family, she has an education, she has friends. She has things she wants, nothing she desperately needs, like Arthur needs employment or medication. Her whole attitude is subject to her desire to become a famous writer, so her story is about exploring and observing other people’s weaknesses, often even eliciting them for the worse. I find it interesting that when we learn how she first met Adam, he caught her stealing. Apparently, Hannah never understood that you can’t simply take but also have to give something back. Their relationship is so typical for the story because it looks like Adam is using her (mostly sexually), while she is using him in order to make “experiences”, playing with his feelings instead of giving him the chance to grow and mature into a responsible man. Girls always had a bleak undertone; but by manipulating our perspective making her the pivotal character, the authors made us care about Hannah although she is someone who did not deserve it in the first place.

My guess: what makes these two antiheroes in the first place, from a moral perspective, is perhaps the fact that both feel entitled to their dream and won’t settle for less. Disney heroes usually get their wish fulfilment because they go through the moment of openly and innocently admitting their dreams without Arthur’s or Hannah’s latent arrogance.

Now to Star Wars... The Classics

One of the reasons why we so easily identify with Luke Skywalker in A New Hope is because he is introduced to us as someone who dreams. He has a personal wish - leaving his home planet, meeting new people, living adventures and contributing to the future of the galaxy. The “Binary Sunset” scene is not iconic without reason: in a musical, this would have been the moment where he would have broken into song. 😊

Don’t kill me, but Disney’s Hercules reminds me a little of Luke in his first grand scene: he also looks at a sunset, saying that he would go most anywhere to find where he belongs. (Maybe Lucas knew well why he sold the rights to Star Wars to the Disney studios of all places.)

This continues through his other two films: Luke always has a strong agenda. He learns the ways of the Jedi through Obi-Wan (who interestingly never actually questions whether he wants that at all) and Yoda, but his first priority always are his friends. Saving who he loves is what drives him on all of the time, even if this may seem foolish at times - like traveling all alone to Bespine where Han and Leia are kept hostage, or wanting to save his father although he is a dangerous criminal. 

  Star Wars In-Between

Rogue One and Solo are well-made, interesting films, too, because the protagonists know what they want. The Clone Wars is one long story explaining Ahsoka’s development from a Jedi to someone who relinquishes the Jedi’s ways. The Mandalorian wants to follow “The Way”, i.e. his code of honor, in order to help as many war foundlings as he can. This is what you need to do in order to make a story compelling. 

  Star Wars Prequels 

One of the weaknesses which I see to this day in the prequels is that we so rarely witness someone’s personal agenda; the stories are more driven by the plot than by the persons. A few desires are hinted at and never pursued. 

“I’m going to be the first to see all of them” (the stars). - Anakin in The Phantom Menace

“At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge.” Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace 

What became of Anakin’s desire to explore the galaxy? And revenge from what, if you please? I can understand that the Sith were a byproduct of the Jedi’s rejection of the Dark Side, their weaknesses all projected unto them: but this also is never explored. 

What did Anakin, Padmé, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon etc. want, after all? When did they ever say or show clearly what they wanted, and what they would do for the purpose? Qui-Gon wants to train Anakin by will of the Force, Obi-Wan wants to train him because Qui-Gon asked him to. The Jedi want to keep the status quo of the Republic and the Jedi Order. There is no actual heart-felt wish from their side. The only person relentlessly pursuing his aims is Palpatine, the mastermind behind the stage. 

Padmé has her political aims, but they are not a really personal agenda for her. She wants to help people who were enslaved or hungry or otherwise suffering, but she does not know such situations from own experience. Her personal wish is having a family, but in her case it is not as passionate as in Anakin’s, who had lost the only family he had with his mother. Add to this that the scene where she talks with Anakin about this desire of hers was unfortunately cut out from Attack of the Clones. 

The compassionate and protective Anakin wants to keep the ones he cares for safe. Interestingly though, the films rarely show us his perspective, we usually rather see other people reacting to him; and since the Jedi always brainwash him not to “let his personal feelings get in the way”, Anakin comes over more as a whiny brat than as a conflicted human being we can sympathize with.

Revenge of the Sith is, though a terrible story, a very well-made film and emotionally very demanding because Anakin finally takes his destiny into his own hands. But it is also not very satisfying, because he wants to prevent things from happening and doesn’t actually have a definite, positive aim in mind. Still when he speaks to Padmé on Mustafar he tells her that he would overthrow Palpatine for her and rule the galaxy according to their wishes; but even in this moment he sounds insecure and confused, and his ideas are everything but clear. 

  The Sequels

The same procedure all over again. Finn wants to get away from the First Order, but where does he want to go? It is only hinted at that he wants a girlfriend (“Do you have a boyfriend?”), and not thematized again. Poe already is a Resistance fighter from the start, no personal aim there either. Rey wants her family back: she does nothing but waiting. On Takodana, we literally see her running from her fate after her vision with the Skywalker legacy sabre. In The Last Jedi, she says she needs someone to show her her place. She says to Luke that she is afraid. Again, she has no agenda.

Kylo was pursuing Luke, but why? What exactly had happened between uncle and nephew before the fatal night at the Temple, why was Kylo’s resentment so deep? He killed his father because he was coerced; he did not actually want it. Later he wanted Rey, but why, if she was almost always aggressive towards him? 

The Last Jedi finally seemed to make up for all of these lacks. Rose was such a powerful character because while she always did everything in her power for the cause, she never forgot or let go of her personal feelings and desires, like keeping Finn safe, inspiring hope in the Canto Bight children, freeing the fathiers. 

The moment Rey ships herself on the Supremacy, Ben kills Snoke and then both team up against the Praetorian Guards is so powerful because both of them, at last, have an agenda, and they pursue it together. It’s a moment of relief for the audience, what we had been waiting for all along: finding out what all of this was about - the Force working in balance. Naively, many of us then assumed this trilogy would be about Ben and Rey finding balance and a happy ending together.

Then The Rise of Skywalker made our frustration flare up again. Rey wants to become a Jedi because Leia expects her to; she kills Palpatine because he wants her to do it; the voices of all Jedi encourage her… great. No personal agenda all over again. Ben saves her from death because he loves her, very well. Then he dies. Han, Leia and Luke all wanted him to come “home”, i.e. back to the Light Side, and they died for the purpose. It seems wanting something is dangerous in itself in this galaxy. And Rey ends up alone on Tatooine. Again, what does she want there?

So It Was All... Fate?

Han, Leia and Luke were much more compelling characters than Rey - their aims were sometimes misguided, but at least they had them and they were clearly defined. Even Palpatine has an aim: it is veiled (typically for him), but it is there. He knows that his spirit will live on in the person who manages to kill him. So, he is still more powerful than Rey. It looks like Rey defeated him, but the truth is that he used her naïve faith that she could erase him by killing him in order to reach his own aim: living on in a younger, more innocent person who believes that being a “Jedi”, she is doing the right thing. 

We may of course argue that the Force is behind all of this; but as intriguing as the Force is, it is not a person. When we follow a story, we want living persons to think and feel and suffer and be hopeful and joyful for. It is all very well if characters want different things or maybe want the wrong things; but at least, their wishes ought to be understandable, and if they don’t come true, we would like to know why, instead of being left with... “reasons”. It is hard to identify with a character if we never learn what drives them after all. I daresay it would be more satisfying to see them pursue an aim and fail, than never to understand what they’re about, what their heart’s wish is. 

I have argued over and over that the ways of the Jedi, i.e. sacrificing everything to a cause, and individual aims are naturally opposite to one another. If there will ever be Balance, future Force-sensitive creatures must find a way in between. But again, this is not openly said and the audience has to either resign to the fact that the films are badly made, or to scavenge them for months searching for messages. Of course, there is nothing wrong with using ones’ own brains. But I would like to leave a cinema after a Star Wars film feeling satisfied. The Rise of Skywalker did not only leave many questions unanswered; in many instances, it did not even start posing the questions.

“Into the Woods” is not a story with a happy ending. One of its messages is that you need to be careful about what you wish for, but I think that’s all right if the moral implications of getting one’s wish are explored. Which with the Star Wars prequels and sequels was not the case - people suffer and die for decades, and in the end, the story goes nowhere. The events of the prequels took place because “they were meant to”; same with the sequels. Anakin turned evil because it was his fate, his grandson the same because it was fate, Rey took over the Jedi mantle although she is not in the least suited for it, but it was her fate so we have to accept it. No wonder everyone is disappointed. 

Star Wars saga, what do you have in store next? After more than 30 years, I dearly hope, someone who actually has an aim and purses it this time. And doesn’t have to die in the process, thank you very much.

[cetacian]

The Fall and Rise of Orca: Monster Mash Team-Up in Gotham City Monsters Vol 1 Issues #1-6

Warning: child murder, brief mention of animal sacrifice

                                        Under Cut for Length

After Nightwing Vol 4, Prime Earth’s Orca would end up back in Gotham’s waters, though when exactly these stories take place with regard to any kind of timeline for her is anyone’s guess. The timeframe we do get for Gotham City Monsters is it takes place after the events that created Monstertown in the storyline “Night of the Monster Men” and during the events of the City of Bane arc.

Several of the future members of the team found themselves in and around the section of Gotham City known as Monstertown, each with their own personal issues and agendas. Orca, meanwhile, stalked Gotham Harbor in pursuit of a boat carrying illicit cargo to Bane at Arkham Asylum. She soon managed to destroy the ship, taking one crew member captive as the other dissipated back into living clay, later revealed to be an extension of Lady Clay (Sondra Fuller) in order to experience more of the world to make herself feel more perfect:

In the meantime, future team leader Frankenstein narrated about Orca’s current activities and her desire to make herself seem more respectable to her young nephew, who she hadn’t yet met in person:

In the first issue, Orca refers to her nephew as Daniel, but later issues will refer to him as Jonah. It seems likely that he changed names because writer Steve Orlando seemingly couldn’t pass up the obvious joke. 

In the meantime, the immortal magic user Melmoth The Wanderer staged what at first seems like a play within the Magnus Theater, trapping the building’s guardian ghost the Red Phantom (Michael Drown) inside a magical mirror to prevent his interference. Soon enough, Melmoth and his Martian Mandrill minions performed a dark magical rite that claimed the lives of all inside the theater’s auditorium, among them Orca’s nephew Jonah, Killer Croc’(Waylon Jones)’s friend Tusk and another of Lady Clay’s humanoid extensions of herself (something that was traumatic for her as it was akin to part of her soul dying):

Frankenstein, the vampire Andrew Bennett and the freed Red Phantom confronted Melmoth in the theater, who claimed to require sacrifices in order to perform a ritual that would save the Multiverse from destruction. As Melmoth escaped, Frankenstein realized he would need to gather a team of those who had connections to the victims in the theater in order to prevent more deaths. Red Phantom agreed to join him, though Andrew set off on an ill-fated mission to kill Melmoth alone. Frankenstein sought out Lady Clay first.

In Orca’s underwater cavern lair, she tied up her captive, explaining her motives and preparing to kill him. However, she soon became distracted by a news radio announcement about the explosion from the Magnus Theater and the voice of her sister Charity asking for assistance in finding her missing son. Her captive took this opportunity to cut himself loose. Orca broke down when it was revealed that her nephew was dead, unaware that her captive was attempting a sneak attack, only stopped by the good timing of Frankenstein’s sword, as he arrived to offer her vengeance as part of the newly forming team:

The team sought out their next member, Killer Croc, to inform him of his friend Tusk’s death and offer him a place on the team, though he was reluctant to join for personal reasons and due to distrust of Frankenstein, who had been created in part by use of Melmoth’s blood. Orca’s kind words changed Croc’s mind about joining and the team were soon on their way:

Orca mentions having a terrible disease that she was cured of by becoming a hybrid, which seems very different from being paraplegic due to an accident in the case of the New Earth version of the character. However, the miniseries never elaborates any further on her backstory.

The team headed to the Gotham Zoo, but were unable to prevent Melmoth from killing two night watchman, a python and the eggs inside her. However, they gained Andrew Bennett as their sixth member, realizing his previous folly which resulted in him being briefly mind controlled by Melmoth’s blood. Requiring a seventh member, they found Batwoman riding through Monstertown, with Orca being none to subtle in her method of getting her attention:

This action lead into a brief battle with Batwoman, with Croc aiding Orca before Frankenstein stepped in to break up the fight:

Croc stepping in help Orca because she was kind to him is very touching and it makes sense that another version of the characters would end up as a couple in the Injustice 2 comic series (which I’ll cover in a later post).

After explaining the situation to Batwoman and inoculating Andrew against Memoth’s influence via Frankenstein’s blood, the team set out to stop Melmoth’s next sacrifice, but failed in the attempt. A brief distraction from the Monster League of Evil forced the team to pick up Melmoth’s trail as they carefully made their way through Bane’s Gotham:

Orca KOing a mummy is awesome and I almost wish the Monster League of Evil were the book’s main villains. Maybe a story for another time.

The team were soon lead to Melmoth’s final sacrifice site: Slaughter Swamp, where Melmoth was able to bring two potential sacrifices with Solomon Grundy then currently elsewhere. Though Melmoth was able to raise an undead horde of smaller Grundys from the swamp’s countless dead.

Orca and Croc expressed their distrust of Batwoman along the way, though she stressed that their willingness to grow as people was more important than past grudges:

There’s strong themes of redemption and life improvement throughout the miniseries and it’s good to see that happening with rogues and a member of the Bat Family instead of just the usual fistfights.

As Melmoth prepared to sacrifice his latest victims, revealing that he was fighting against Perpetua (creator of the Multiverse and responsible for its many Crises), the team arrived to stop him. Several members fought their way through the horde of Grundys as Frankenstein and Croc tried a ruse to wound Melmoth:

Lady Clay turning into gauntlets for Orca is yet another badass moment in this miniseries. In general ,the issues make good use of her shapeshifting powers.

Just as the team seemed to be getting overwhelmed by sheer numbers, the Red Phantom’s quick thinking and Frankenstein’s execution of the plan, severely damaged Melmoth’s body and allowed Red Phantom to capture his soul. This caused the Grundys to fall dead once more as Orca and Lady Clay went to untie the would-be victims:

There are a few humorous bits of levity in the book that work and this won’t be the last time someone mistakes an Orca for a shark.

In the aftermath, Orca visits her nephew’s grave, accompanied by Lady Clay and Red Phantom. Lady Clay offers her condolences as she and Red Phantom promise to lend aid whenever needed:

In the meantime, Croc took over as the manager of Tusk’s hotel, as Red Phantom went back to his theater, with Melmoth trapped within the same mirror Phantom had once been imprisoned in. The team then recovieneied at the Tomb of Gotham, the place where evil first infected the city, to make their vow that they would come together again to fight whatever other evils might threaten the city and the greater Multiverse:

Summery Thoughts: You can probably tell by my enthusiastic comments that this is my favorite storyline that Orca has been a part of. Her self loathing has actual consequences this time around, as it prevented her from being there to save her nephew. Some might considered his death fridging, but given how many characters are motivated by revenge in this story, I don’t think it counts. I’m just glad they remembered her family at all and I really wish writers would remember Terry, but I’m getting off topic. Having some of Gotham and DC’s more monstrous inhabitants on a hero team paved the way for books like Justice League Dark and expanded on worldbuilding with the area of Monstertown, as well as on character development and following up on past stories. This was also a great first outing for Red Phantom/Michael Drown and I hope the character shows up again at some point. I worry though because the Joker War arc saw the destruction of much of Monstertown, along with the rest of Gotham, and put characters like Croc back at square one, just when he was finally getting a chance to do something more interesting than being a sad, sewer-dwelling thug. I don’t want to end this on a downer though, so I’m just going to hope that we’ll see more of the Gotham City Monsters somewhere down the road.

Up next, I’m going to talk about a couple of one-shots featuring Orca, before we head into a much darker universe.