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ask-anyone-from-the-tick · 6 years ago

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Bellow the cut are my spoilery thoughts after watching season 2 of the Tick

I’m kind of glad Dot turned out to have a super power because being the only hero with no powers is sort of Arthur’s whole thing. I also like that she didn’t outshine Overkill and just step over him, but still looks up to him a bit and appreciates his approval. They feel like equals, and he’s still an awkward turtle socially.

THEY WERE SO CUDDLY AND AWKWARD ON THE COUCH, Overkill is def the kind of guy who can’t move if there’s a pet on his lap. He’s so soft I can’t...

I LOVE that we get to see more of Joan and her relationship to her family, she’s awesome and I love and support her. She’s just doing her best, and I hope those lobster babies come to visit.

Superian and Larry’s relationship continues to baffle me just a bit. Larry seems to just be a willing servant to cater to his whims I guess. I kinda hoped they were more buddy buddy than that. Apparently it makes Superian feel better to toss him way up and catch him lawl

The way Hobbs reacted when Tick broke the arm wrestling machine thing makes me wonder if Tick is actually the strongest superhero in the world, maybe second only to Superian ??? Or at least the strongest ever registered with AEGIS.

I really, REALLY like Sage. He’s fantastic. He’s also really attractive, is it just me? DAT VOICE THO. [take me on a wild nipple ride! jk omg I’m sorry]

That twin woman who was impressed with Arthur’s nerdy organization came off as REALLY OBVIOUSLY flirting with him, and his reaction was to just shrug it off like he wasn’t in to her, even though she was gorgeous, and Tick immediately picked up on it that she was flirting and got DEFENSIVE AS HELL like she was taking Arthur away and I just-- that’s pretty gay guys. That’s really... wow. And then she comes back and continues to hit on Arthur and he never once acts like he’s in to her, I don’t... I don’t know what to say but if Arthur suddenly starts pining over her in season 3 out of no where I’m gonna kms [not because he’s not gay but because it’s pretty clear he’s not interested in this woman. Don’t establish this and then force romance after we’ve seen there’s none.] Also when Arthur was picking out fancy clothes Tick had REALLY specific fashion descriptions and opinions on what looked good on him. He was like enjoying Arthur modeling clothes ajdlfdjas

Someone needs to draw Overkill being lovingly rescued by dolphins STAT

I honestly, unironically, think Edgelord’s entire look is cool and he’s very handsome. I think he looks like if Johnny Depp and Adam Driver had a baby.

SUPERIAN FEARS THE TUMBLRS. We’re his kryptonite.

Dangerboat... plane... whatever he is, kinda deserved a little more attention toward the last half of the season. The episode centered around him was the most emotional and it brought everyone together more, I really dug that. It made me cry. ALSO WE STAN MICHAEL, HE WAS TOO GOOD FOR THIS WORLD. I’m so proud of Arthur for seeing Dangerboat more as a person and making an effort to connect to him as a friend. <3 good job Arthur-- at the same time--

I HATE they way Arthur acted like Dot has a specific thing she should or shouldn’t be that was out of character. It’s like the writers wanted the female character to undergo some sort of oppression to rise up against, some form of misogyny from her male family member that she had to point out. You shouldn’t have to tear down a good character because he’s male, to make the female look good. If misogyny was gonna come out of Arthur, let it come out another way other than “this isn’t want you’re supposed to do” like mother fucker, she’s been taking care of you your whole life, she’s done martial arts training, she’s a paramedic, she is way more qualified than you. He’s the last person to talk that way to anyone and it’s pissing me the fuck off. He’s the one struggling with mental illness and no phyical ability to fight anyone, it makes no sense.

Arthur’s actor Griffin Newman, he just does such a fantastic job. The whole undercover scene was so perfectly on pitch, like... just the right level of second hand embarrassment and pride came outta me. He was so close to blowing it because he’s an anxious person by nature, but he pulled it off and came off more as just an awkward criminal with tons of money that was just believably nerdy. I loved it, it was so funny. Please give him all the awards. And that scene where Tick is on one side of Lint, way too close to her, and Arthur is on the other, and they just work her forking nerves was so hysterical. I died. I think they need to play up that comedic chemistry more often because Tick and Arthur bounce off each other really well when they’re not busy trying to solve serious problems.

Ok so the whole human furniture thing caught my eye immediately. The pose we are first introduced to is an infamaously disturbing pose by a real life serial killer who ate people and posed their bodies in weird positions and used them for sex and I forget what else. Anyway I tried to brush that off as coincidence, but then later on Dot and Overkill go to where they think this Duke guy’s lair is, and his house looks exactly like John Podesta’s house that had a statue of that EXACT same serial killer’s victim in that pose, and podesta’s walls were covered in creepy pedo art of little girls and drowning women. And the walls of Duke’s lair were covered in creepy human furniture art. I mean there are all kinds of parodies this season that are in your face, but I don’t think anyone who didn’t follow pizzagate carefully would catch this one.

Speaking of parodies OMFG I lost it when Superian reenacted that Superman scene where he’s like “Can you read my mind?” as he’s dragging the screaming guy across the night sky.

Ugh, I’m so sad that Tick and Arthur don’t get to keep those precious baby lobsters, and where did they get all the cute toys?? I wanna think Joan picked those up for them. Kawaii lobster voice: “Joaaan!” Tick is such a good dad... A family can be a giant Tick man, a moth boy, a hobo, a mimaw, and a bunch of singing lobsters. "SHE'S THE MOTHER OF OUR CHILDREN!" Tick drinks respect woman lobster mom juice.

I think I don’t know what to make of the reverse Green Goblin twist going on with Ms. Lint. The creepy voice is telling her to become a hero I guess, but not really? I think the joke is we think it’s telling her to be a hero, but really it’s teaching her to be a better villain LMAO

I’m glad kevin has a power and he was welcomed to come help even before said power was revealed.-- woah wait where tf is Karamozov?? I gotta tweet his actor he loves this show and he wasn’t in this season ???

I don’t blame Dot for being upset they want to defrost The Terror, but at the same time due process is a thing. I don’t know how that would work in a society full of super powers though. Because the moment you defrost him he’s going to find a way to escape. He’s the oldest, and the worst super villain of all time. This is why I’m ok with the death penalty and killing villains lol

I was expecting Walter to be some sort of MK Ultra sleeper agent, but the plot twist was, that’s what Overkill would become I guess. And Lobstercules. OH BTW I think she’s voiced by the same actress who played Captain Liberty in the old Tick sitcom! “Walter isn’t Walter? My feet don’t feel so good.” Aw Tick

Ty Rathbone drinks respect mothers juice.

Acting agent commander doctor agent Hobbs, honestly I suspected he was the main villain like the moment he was headed toward Lobstercules because something about the lighting and the camera work seemed to telegraph that.

I bet the reason Ty Rathbone feeds his black hole heart monster mice, is because it requires frequent blood sacrifice and that's the smallest sacrifice he can think of that he can quickly just put in there and placate it and go on with his day. I don’t know if he’ll be season 3′s villain or if it’s the aliens that just came back to reclaim Superian.

Which btw, I called that shit from season 1 episode 1. Superian showed up crash landing inside Big Bismuth which is the only thing that could trap him. He was a prisoner, probably because he did some bad shit, and he told Arthur he helps humanity because he just wants to be a good person. Like he wasn’t one before and now he wants to try to be one.

I want to talk about these, nearly involuntary dance parties Overkill rewards himself with... but I uh... I still can’t compute that that’s actual canon. That that’s a thing Overkill and Dangerboat enjoy together and he... he can’t seem to control himself when the music plays... And also that Dot AND Overkill both know how to floss dance... I just... wow...

Oh and that hug with Overkill made me an emotional mess, he just... he really needed that, thank you Dot.

This concludes my rant and ramble.

#the tick #the tick s2 spoilers #the tick 2017 #season 2 #ooc #thoughts

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its-just-a-fayz · 6 years ago

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Heartbeat On Air:Chapter 8

read on ao3

chapter 7/chapter 9

masterpost

taglist: @emilybarger @lordcheesy @sheeswee @tayuya3 @sweetlialia @thesickeststupidestcreep lmk if you want to be added!

***

Sam you are not going to believe what just happened

Diana and i are gfs

It’s official

She’s coming over to my house sunday to hang out

Is hang out code for make out

Sammmmmmmmmm

Astrid turned off her phone. Sam probably had bigger and better things to do than listen to her talk about Diana, but she hadn’t known who else to text. Astrid had told a few of her friends that there was a girl she had a massive crush on. Sam was the only person she’d told all the details, so she let him know first.

She couldn’t wait, and she couldn’t believe it. Her and Diana had seemed like a one in a million chance, but now they were in a relationship, and Astrid was really excited about it. About an hour after the date, Diana had texted asking if she could come over on Sunday, her off day. Astrid, being the lovestruck idiot she was, had said yes.

The main problem facing her right now was that there really wasn’t anything she could think of to do for a date. There was nothing interesting to do at her house. Or in Perdido, actually. Diana lived here too, but she had a job, and used to go to high school in another town. She’d probably already seen all of the attractions Perdido had to offer.

They could watch something on the TV, but that was capital-B boring. There were a few restaurants in town, but Astrid knew that with Caine around, going to one of those was a bad idea. Movies could work, but she didn’t know what Diana was into, and it was going to be expensive as hell. As someone facing future student loan debt, that wasn’t a good idea. Astrid didn’t want to set a precedent of paying a lot on dates.

After spending a solid half hour wondering what she was going to do, it occured to Astrid to ask Sam. He had loads of practice sneaking around with Quinn, and Astrid knew they went on dates. Opening up her phone again to see that Sam had not texted back, Astrid typed out another message.

I don’t just wanna hang out at my house though. Do you know any good places for a date that are...private? Bc Caine could still be an issue.

Finally, the little gray dots showed up on the screen. Sam was typing.

Lucky you. I have to deal w her ex tomorrow night for “family time.” There’s this cool little diner called the healing place near the beach. I know the person who runs it she’s totally awesome and has a gf herself so she’s cool w everyone.

Hold on lemme send you the website.

thehealingplaceofperdido.com/manager

Thank u for finally responding.

I’ll look into that place

Bc i don’t have any better ideas

Astrid clicked on the link to find a cheekily written profile of a Lana Arwen Lazar.

Named for Superman’s girlfriend and the elf from the Lord of the Rings, Lana Arwen Lazar runs the sad place near the beach known as The Healing Place. While the name suggests otherwise, no, we do not sell weed or offer bogus spiritual treatments. It’s a diner, in an old 50s style, run by Lana and staffed by many people, most of which are gay. Since it’s Lana’s favorite(read:easy to make), we serve typical American fare with enough cholesterol and sugar to give you a heart attack. Enjoy burgers, hot dogs, and salad (for the freaks), and loads of onion rings and french fries. If you would like healthier options, we can accommodate dietary restrictions in general, but if you’re on some weird supermodel diet go somewhere else. Lana primarily works with her girlfriend (Dekka), her boyfriend (Sanjit), and her dog (Patrick) to keep the restaurant running. Unfortunately, Patrick cannot be in the restaurant as he is a health hazard, but he supports from home just fine. Lana is 21, and considers herself a fourteen-year-old with a driver’s license and a drinking permit. She has kept the restaurant running for three years and intends to keep it from running away from her.

Well, Astrid could certainly see why Sam liked going there. It looked cool, and quite proudly a safe space for everyone. She plugged the restaurant name into Google and found three articles about it being a great place to go if you were gay (one calling it “a piece of accepting Los Angeles in a small California town), and many posts and tweets about how good of a place it was.

As one reviewer said, “The food is shit, but it’s the only place I can go on a date with my partner and not get stares.”

It was Astrid’s best bet for a place to take her girlfriend on a date, since she didn’t want to try and find someplace out of town like Diana had. Also, she trusted Sam’s recommendation.

Ok healing place looks rlly good i think i’ll take her there

Good luck w the evil twin (caine)

She should probably run this past Diana too. Maybe she would just want to hang around and talk at her house, not go out to eat again. She should probably ask. Astrid sent another text, this one to Diana.

Hey, do you wanna get dinner together this sunday? I know a cool place.

Diana texted back in seconds.

Yeah sure I’m down

It’s private tho right

Yeah dw. Owner is gay.

Thank god for gays

I’m really excited now

Brb i gotta go on air ya girl is still technically a dj

Astrid smiled down at her phone. She was excited too.

***

Never in his life did Sam think he would be protecting his friend’s safety by looking at reviews for dating apps. He’d checked the obvious-tinder, okcupid, match-but had decided that, unfortunately, Caine probably already used those.

Caine couldn’t just be a regular bitch, he had to be a horny bitch. Sam focused on apps that were for the general area, and for a younger audience. So far, it was a lot of people either saying they had met the love of their life on the app and had amazing sex, or that they had been harassed horribly by middle-aged men sending excessive dick pics. There was no middle ground in sight.

It really didn’t matter what app it was, the reviews were basically the same. There were a few that were romance and relationship centered, and several that matched people up based on various attributes. They were all kind of the same, so Sam moved on to IRL dating.

He made up a list of people he knew that could possibly enter a relationship with Caine. Sam felt a little guilty for wanting to put another girl through what happened to Diana, but he also knew that there had to be a perfect match for Caine somewhere. Even someone as soulless as Caine had to have a soulmate.

Also, knowing Caine’s track record, he would break up with them in a few months anyways. Maybe even go to college to get a girlfriend. Somehow, Caine had finessed himself an all-expenses-paid scholarship to any college of his choice. He was still looking for a college, and didn’t look set on deciding anytime soon. Sam was slightly jealous, since he was still looking for a job to support Connie.

Maybe if Sam pissed Caine off enough he would leave for a college across the country and they would never see each other again. But Sam doubted it would actually happen, Caine liked the little hold of power he had over Perdido.

The wild card at tomorrow night’s family dinner was going to be Connie Temple. She was always nice to Caine, fussing over him and asking him all sorts of questions about his life and how things were going. The perfect estranged mother, but she also became strange with Caine in the house, telling him he looked like his father. Oftentimes, she left the dinner table crying.

Caine knew how he affected the family dynamic in that house, and he was pleased with it, Sam knew. The more distraught Connie was, the more she blamed Sam. And the less happy Sam was, the happier Caine became.

This was going to be hard.

#gone #gone series #ladrison #diana ladris #astrid ellison #sam temple #caine soren #starredwrites #wip #1k #gone fanfiction #sinn

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argyle-s · 7 years ago

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THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME CHAPTER 11/38

Rating: Mature

Read at Ao3

Start at the Beginning

Supergirl gets some hero time in preparation for her interview with Cat. Kara, Alex and J'onn work out their issues, and Susan gets a new job.

Thanks to @ifourmindbeso for her great work as a beta. Any remaining mistakes are entirely my own.

Chapter 11 - Shining Light, Show and Tell

“You look like hell,” Cat said as Kara sat her Sushi tray down on the coffee table.

“Thank you, Ms. Grant,” Kara said. “It didn’t really sink in when the fifty people before you told me the same thing.” Kara leaned over, picking up the edited copy for the afternoon update of the Tribune website.

“My, aren’t we just little miss sassy-pants today.”

Kara sighed. “Sorry,” she said. “I had a bad allergy attack last night and I’m still trying to shake it.”

“I didn’t realize you had allergies,” Cat said, and Kara was surprised at the level of concern in her voice.

“I didn’t either until fairly recently,” she said.

“It’s nothing here at CatCo, is it?” Cat asked.

“No. It’s this stuff they use where my sister works,” Kara said, trying to wave off Cat’s concern. She looked down at the copy and smiled. “Supergirl’s Super Week?”

“Yes,” Cat said. “I thought it was rather catchy. For someone new at the Superhero thing, she’s doing an excellent job.”

Kara scanned the rest of the article and smiled when she found a number of small critiques. “Not cutting her any slack, are you?”

“Well, why should I? No one else will. She’s going to have to be better than Superman, just to keep up.”

“Work twice as hard, to be thought of as half as good,” Kara said. “Just like any other woman.”

Cat smiled. “Good to see you’ve been listening to me, Keira.”

“Always, Ms. Grant,” Kara said with a smile.

“So, how goes the quest for the interview with our Maid of Might?”

“Oh,” Kara said. “About that…”

“Get a little too big for our britches, did we?”

Kara laughed. “No. It’s just… Well, I did talk to her, and she has a list of conditions. It’s short, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable, but she won’t do the interview unless you agree.”

Cat nodded as she sat aside the proof she’d been editing and picked up her lunch tray, walking over to her desk. “Alright then, let’s hear them.”

“No questions about her day job. How she pays her bills. Where she lives. No questions about her secret identity, or anything that could lead back to people who are close to her when she’s not wearing the suit. Any questions regarding any relationship she might have with the government will be answered with a firm ‘no comment’. You agree not to publish her secret identity if anything in the interview gives you a clue to who she is.”

“She wants me to agree not to publish her secret identity if I find it?” Cat asked as she took out her collection of chopsticks and went about selecting a pair.

Kara nodded. “She was very clear that the restriction would only be in force if information in the interview revealed who she was. She didn’t expect you to hold back if you found the information through an outside source, though she did ask if you could give her some warning if you do ever decide to go public with that so she could get certain people to safety.”

“Those seem reasonable,” Cat said. “I do hope she understands that I will be reporting facts, not writing some little puff piece.”

Kara laughed. “Ms. Grant, I think she would be disappointed if you did anything else.”

Cat narrowed her eyes. “You seem to know an awful lot about her, Keira.”

“She was excited,” Kara said. “I think she admires you, Ms. Grant. I think she looks up to you.”

Kara wasn’t quite sure what to make of the look on Cat’s face, and she didn’t get very long to analyze it, before it was replaced with Cat’s usual mask.

“Well, of course she does,” Cat said. “I’m me.”

“Yes,” Kara said, not able to keep the smile off her face. “Yes, you are. So, how does Thursday evening sound?”

“Hmm… That will work. Headlines to carry us through the weekend, and a big article for Monday. Any idea where she wants to do the interview?”

“She said she’d come to you.”

Cat smiled. “Well, then, I’ll look forward to it.”

Winn didn’t really like to think of himself as a small person. Metaphorically small. Because physically, yeah, he was tiny, but that was beside the point. He didn’t like to think of himself as the jealous type. He knew he could be. He knew, when he loved something, he was terrified of having it taken away, because so much in his life had been. His mother. His father.

He also knew he had a terrible crush on Kara. It was hopeless, because Kara told him she was gay the first time they’d really talked. It was so casual, that he might have even missed it, if he hadn’t been so enamored of her that he was hanging on every word, but she’d mentioned the toughest part of adjusting wasn’t the new apartment or new job, it was that she’d just lost her girlfriend. In a way, it was kind of a relief because he knew there was no chance, so he didn’t feel pressure to perform. They were better friends because he could be more relaxed, more himself. The crush was still sort of there, but it was dull, muted. The kind of thing you never, ever act on. And he’d never been jealous of Kara’s relationship with anyone.

Okay, maybe he’d been a little bit jealous when he found out she’d told Maggie about the Supergirl thing too, but that had been fleeting and momentary, because Maggie Sawyer was freaking awesome, and aside from a little ribbing over some of his costume designs, they’d actually become fast friends. A lot of that was because Maggie had taken one look at the Alien Conspiracy Website he contributed to and dove in head first. He’d listened to her rant for hours about all the details that were wrong, and learned more about the weird shit that happened in National City in one night than he had in all the years he’d live there.

But James Olsen was not Maggie Sawyer and Winn did not like the way he looked at Kara. Not one little bit. Because James Olsen looked at Kara like she belonged to him. Which is why, when he found James standing in the alley where he was supposed to be meeting Kara, he had to bite his tongue to avoid saying something he’d probably regret.

“Hey,” James said, “what’s up?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Winn said, casting around for some reason he’d be in the alley. “I… like to come out here to smoke. Which I like to do in private.”

“Actually, I’m meeting someone out here, so…”

“Yeah, you can meet them inside the building.”

“No, uh, my friend likes to make an entrance.”

“So does his,” a voice said from behind them. Winn smiled as he turned around to find Maggie walking down the alley towards them. “Also, you’re outvoted.” She lifted her hand, gesturing back towards the entrance to the alley with her thumb. “So, do us a favor, and take a walk.”

James looked back and forth between them, slightly panicked, and Winn couldn’t help feeling a little smug, right up until he heard the tell-tale swoosh of the cape. He looked up, just in time to see Kara turn and drop down for a landing.

Winn looked over at James, expecting to see surprise, but he moment he saw the look on James’s face he knew, and he turned back to Kara.

“You told him?” Winn asked.

“You told them?” James asked at the exact same time.

“My cousin told James,” Kara said, “and we’ve had some words about that.” Then she looked at James. “I told them, because they’re my friends and they deserve to know what that means. They’re here because they’ve already proven themselves.”

Winn felt himself stand up just a little taller at that. Something about the idea that someone like Kara respected him made him feel better about himself and a little less frightened of the shadow looming over him.

James held up his hands, a little defensively.

“Sorry,” he said.

Kara nodded. “Okay, this thing is off to a good start. The plane, the bank robbery, the fire, but right now, it’s important that I be seen out there, helping people.”

“Is this about your interview with Cat?” James asked.

Winn looked at James, then back at Kara. “You’re giving Ms. Grant an interview?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Kara said.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Maggie asked. Which Winn was happy about because it meant he didn’t have to.

“I know it seems a bit weird but right now, Supergirl needs as much public exposure and as much positive press exposure as she can get. So yes, in a way, this is about my interview with Cat, but it’s also about convincing Astra that there are better ways to help this planet that what she’s planning.”

“Who’s Astra?” James asked, and Winn felt that smug feeling come back, because here was something he knew, something Kara had trusted him and Maggie with, that James didn’t know.

“Long story,” Kara said. “I’ll fill you in later. The point is, right now, I need to be out there, helping people, and to do that, I need your help.”

“I’m in,” all three of them said at once.

“Next time, can you stop a robbery at a salad bar,” Maggie said as she grabbed another slice of pizza and dropped down onto the couch. “If I keep eating like this, I’m going to have to get bigger pants.”

Kara laughed as she put her feet up on the coffee table. “Maggie, we both know you’re too butch not to have at least one pair of pants at home with some extra room in them.”

“Okay, I would like to say that I am not comfortable with the direction this conversation is heading,” Winn said. He shifted a little closer to the table as he worked on unhooking the laptop from the police scanner. “It’s a little too close to hearing things like that about my sister.”

“And I feel like I’m missing something,” James said.

Kara looked over her shoulder to here James was leaning against the counter, a bottle of water in his hand. The last two days had been good. It had taken a little time, but Maggie and Winn had both eventually warmed up to him, and Kara had started to settle into a relationship with him that didn’t revolve around pining or guilt.

She turned back to Maggie. “You explain it,” she said.

“Oh, no, Danvers. You told the joke, you gotta explain it.”

Kara thought about it for a moment, and decided right then and there she’d rather fight Darkseid, Doomsday and a dozen White Martians at once, than explain packing to James Olsen.

“Sorry, James,” she said. “You’re gonna have to figure that one out on your own, or get Winn to explain it.”

“That will happen right around the heat death of the universe,” Winn said. “Sorry, James, you’ll have to figure out the mysteries of lesbian humor on your own.”

“Lesbian... Oh,” James said.

Kara turned around again, and saw a look of shock on James’ face. A small part of her wanted to jump up and do a victory dance, but there was another part that wanted to make sure to drive the point home.

“He didn’t know,” she said, turning back to Maggie. “Maybe I should have gone with a flannel suit and a rainbow cape.”

Maggie snorted, choking a little on a bite of pizza before she managed to swallow it. “I’d suggest a tattoo, but trust me, guys will completely ignore it.”

“Noted,” Kara said. “Seriously, though, I want to thank you guys. The last couple of days have been amazing, and I think the city is really starting to believe in Supergirl.”

“That’s all you,” Maggie said.

“She’s right,” James said. “You’ve been amazing out there.”

“Especially with Fluffy,” Winn said.

Kara turned around and glared at him. “It was a snake, Winn.”

Whatever Winn’s reply would have been was lost to the knock on the door. Kara looked through the door, and saw Alex standing there, looking like a kicked puppy. The only thing about it that surprised her was that it had taken this long.

“Maggie, would you get the door?”

“Why me?” Maggie asked, suspicion dripping from her voice. “James and Winn are closer. And you might want to change first.”

Kara smiled, “Because I’ve been waiting for this for months, and I’m pretty sure my sister knows I’m from Krypton.”

“You know, your obsession with pimping me out to your straight sister is a little disturbing.”

The knock came again, and James stood up. “I’ll get it,” he said.

“I will melt your face if you open that door,” Kara said. She gave Maggie a small push. “Go.”

“Kara, I know you’re in there!” Alex shouted through the door.”

Maggie stood up. “Fine,” she grumbled. “But if she’s not hot, I’m kicking your ass.”

Kara watched as Maggie walked across the room, and it was all she could do to keep from bouncing excitedly on the couch, when Maggie unlocked the door and swung it open. Alex looked up and stopped dead for just a moment, before her jaw dropped. Kara wasn’t entirely sure she would have needed her super hearing to hear the small pop of Alex’s jaw when it happened.

“Um…” was all Alex could seem to get out, and Kara had to fight not to squeal at the look on her face.

“You must be Kara’s sister,” Maggie said. “I’m Maggie.”

“Oh,” Alex said. “Uh… Hi.”

The sound of Winn and Kara both bursting into laughter seemed to break the spell, and Alex looked past Maggie, into the apartment, and the vaguely punch-drunk expression shifted into pure, annoyed big sister the second Alex spotted Kara in the Supergirl uniform.

Maggie turned around, following Alex’s line of sight to care, and laughed. “Oh, somebody’s in trouble.”

Ten minutes later, Winn, James and Maggie were gone, and Kara was in civvies, pouring both of them a cup of tea.

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to tell your friends who you are?” Alex asked.

“You know what,” Kara said, “after that stunt at the DEO two nights ago, I don’t think you get to question how *I* am handling this.” She reached over and grabbed the sugar bowl, taking out three cubes and dropping them into her tea.

Alex winced. “Okay, sorry. I didn’t come here to fight. I came to apologize. What happened at the DEO was a mistake.”

Kara nodded. “Mine,” she said. “I shouldn’t have told you about Jeremiah or I should have trusted you and J’onn with everything. Fuck if I know what I’m doing.”

Alex flinched at the sound of Kara swearing. “Why didn’t you?”

Kara sighed and looked down at her tea. “I couldn’t,” she said. “There are so many moving parts, so many dangers and threats and I absolutely could not take certain risks. When we were setting this up, the entire plan, the entire strategy centered on preventing Myriad from ever being deployed. In order to do that, I have to convince Astra to give it up. The thing is, I didn’t know where Astra would be up until a week ago, and in order to preserve that knowledge, I had to make sure everything, or as much of it as possible, played out the exact same way as in the original timeline.”

“Original timeline?” Alex asked. “Kara, are you saying you’re from the future? Because that’s what it sounded like you were saying at the DEO and that’s what it sounds like you’re saying now.”

Kara took a drink of her tea, then looked up at Alex. “Sort of,” she said. “It’s complicated, and I’m not a Time Master, so…” she shrugged.

“Time Master?” Alex asked.

Kara reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m too sober to have this conversation,” she said. “Where’s J’onn?”

“Back at the DEO,” Alex said. “He’s… Vasquez quit. The moment you cleared the base’s radar envelope, she stormed into the training room and ripped into him. Her girlfriend tried to defend him, and Susan told her, ‘You can pack your shit and get your ungrateful ass out of my apartment.’ Then she threw her badge in Hank’s face and just stormed out.”

“/.,rao, i dovrrosh/” Kara said, and reached into her pocket, digging out her phone. “Konex.”

“Yes, Lady Kara,” the robot replied as it decloaked.

“Hack the DEO’s computer and pull the personnel record for Susan Vasquez, then add her to my phone as a contact.”

“Kara! You can’t-“ Alex started.

“Done, Lady Kara,” Konex said, cutting Alex off.

“Thank you,” Kara replied, tapping the contacts icon on her screen and calling Susan.

“Hello,” Susan said.

“Hey, Susan, this is Kara.”

“Um… Hello, ma’am,” Susan said.

“Anyone who quits their job for me gets to call me Kara,” she said, “especially if they toss their girlfriend out in the process.”

“You heard about that?” Susan asked.

“Just now,” Kara said, “or I would have called sooner.”

“I appreciate that. Um… Don’t take this the wrong way, but how did you get my number?”

“Probably not a conversation for an unsecure line, but I want to ask you a favor.”

There was an annoyed sigh on the other end of the line. “What would that be, ma’am?”

“Go back to work,” Kara said. “I’m going to go back eventually, once my sister and Hank have finished removing their heads from their asses and finished apologizing and maybe done a bit of groveling. I could really use someone there I trust.”

“I… I appreciate the compliment, Kara, but I’m not really sure I’d be welcome back and honestly, I’m not sure I want to go back.”

Kara nodded. “Okay. I suppose that’s fair. Tell you what. I live in Hammersmith Tower, apartment 4-A. Do you know where that is?”

“Yeah,” Susan said. “I used to drop your sister off on nights when she was too beat up from training to drive herself home. I only live about ten minutes away.”

“Cool. Tell you what, I will phone in a pizza order at Antony’s. You know it?”

“You have to ask?”

“Not really, but I wanted to be polite. I’ll pay for it. Swing by, listen to what I have to say. If you don’t want to go back to your old job once I’m done, I’ll make a few calls. I might not be able to find you anything in National City, but I know people in Gotham and in Gateway city who will let you name your price.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Susan said, but Kara could hear the gratitude in her voice.

“I feel like I do,” Kara said. “And once I’ve explained why, you might too. Antony’s will probably take their usual thirty minutes. I’ll expect you in forty-five. Fair warning though, Hank and my sister will be here.”

There was a moment of silence on the line, before Susan asked, “Are you sure that’s a good idea, Kara?”

“No,” Kara said. “But honestly, I don’t trust my judgement on a lot of things right now, which is why it’s necessary. I just want you here because clearly, the three of us need some fucking adult supervision.” The sound of bright, happy laughter came through the phone, and Kara couldn’t help but smile.

“See you soon,” Susan said, before the line went dead.

Kara looked over at Alex. “Call J’onn. Tell him I said to get his green ass over here. I’m going to order pizza.”

“I’d ask how you know my favorite kind of pizza,” J’onn said, looking down at the pie in front of him, “but I’d probably just get some cryptic bullshit and I’m not in the mood.”

“No more cryptic answers,” Kara said as she sat a bottle of root beer on the table for him. “I think all of us have had enough secrets to last a lifetime.” She sat handed Susan a bottle of coke. “Sorry I don’t have the sugar sweetened kind but I wasn’t really expecting you.”

“That’s okay,” Susan said. “I drink this stuff at work, anyway.”

Kara dropped into her chair next to Alex. All four of them were sitting around Kara’s dinner table. Alex looked nervous. J’onn looked angry. Susan looked nervous, angry, and a little like she felt out of place.

“So, here’s the deal. I suck at keeping secrets. Not as much as I used to, but I hate them. I’ve only been keeping the secrets I have because there are lives at stake. Not a few lives, or a few dozen, or even a few million. When I say lives are at stake, I mean there are literally hundreds of trillions of lives hanging in the balance, across dozens of universes.”

She watched both Alex and Susan flinch at that, but J’onn leaned back, looking at her and there was a considering look on his face.

“Susan, before I go any further, you deserve to be on the same footing here as Alex and… Hank.”

Susan gave a small nod. “Okay.”

“I have knowledge of how a number of future events are going to play out, because I’ve already lived through the next eleven years. I’m making an attempt to change the outcome of those events in order to prevent a series of disastrous outcomes for Earth and millions of other worlds. Honestly, Susan, I hadn’t intended to read anyone other than Alex and Hank in on this, because I didn’t want to put the weight of this on anyone else’s shoulders. The thing is, I honestly think after what happened the other night, we need someone who’s going to be a *lot* more objective than any of the three of us will ever be capable of to yank the choke chain when we get out of line. Since you are the person I trust the most at the DEO after Alex and Hank and since you’re apparently perfectly willing to call any of us when we have our heads up our asses, I think you should have the job. But if you don’t want it or don’t think you can handle it, tell me now, and I will make those calls about alternate employment.”

Susan rolled her eyes. “Hey, Susan, do you want a job babysitting the immature brats who are responsible for saving the universe? You don’t have to take it, but if you don’t, they might be too busy having a hissy fit to stop the apocalypse. No fucking pressure.” She picked up her coke and twisted the top off, taking a swig before setting it back down. “Please tell me you have rum to go in this?”

Kara shook her head. “I can’t get drunk, so the only thing I keep in the house is Alex’s Scotch and some beer and tequila for Maggie.”

“Think Maggie would mind if I stole one of her beers?” Susan asked.

Kara got up and walked over to the fridge, fishing out one of the Blue Moons from the back. She carried it over to Susan, and used her thumb to pop the bottle cap off. Susan took it and took a long pull from it before she sat the bottle on the table in front of her.

“I’m in,” she said. “I may hate myself in the morning but I didn’t take the job at the DEO for the pay.”

Kara smiled, and turned to J’onn.

“I’ve been calling the tune for the better part of thirteen months, but I don’t want to dictate terms anymore. No more spilling each other’s secrets. If we do this, I need you to make the decision. I need you to be all in.”

“Okay,” he said. He slid back a bit, then stood up, looking down at Susan. “Are you armed?”

Susan shook her head. “No,” she said. “I don’t have a civilian carry permit.”

“Well, at least I won’t get shot,” he said. Then he shifted, gaining height, turning green. “I am J’onn J’onzz.”

Kara rolled her eyes and muttered, “/:zhaolium zw rroskilahres :dhiviao/”

Susan picked up her beer and downed the rest of the bottle.

J’onn shifted back into his human form and sat back down.

“I feel like I forgot to do a presentation for class,” Alex said.

Kara laughed.

“So,” Susan said, looking at J’onn, “I take it you’re not from around here?”

“Mars,” J’onn said. “I’m the last of my people. We were slaughtered by the White Martians. Monsters from the planet’s core.”

“Yeah,” Kara said. “About that…”

J’onn looked over at her. “What?”

“This all starts about twenty thousand years ago,” she said. “The history is long, and I’m not going to go through all of it because most of it’s not terribly relevant, but twenty thousand years ago, Krypton, Mars and Tamaran were allies. Together, the three worlds held dominion over a sphere of space almost fifty thousand light years across, and we were expanding. At the time, Kryptonians had powers even under the light of a red sun. Then the Guardians and their Green Lanterns came. They broke the alliance, smashed our civilizations, and drove all three of us, Krypton, Mars and Tamaran back to pre-space flight technology. They infected Kryptonians and Tamarans with a plague. Kryptonians were left unable to fully process the less energetic light of Red Stars, while Tamarans were left unable to process anything less than ultraviolet light to fuel their powers. Martians though, didn’t use light to power their abilities, so the Guardians split the race, dividing them into Green Martians, which were as they were before, and White Martians.”

“It took thousands of years of being trapped on our world, but Kryptonians eventually began to branch out, and spread through the galaxy again. This time, not as conquerors or as empire builders, but as diplomats, scholars, and when necessary, as enforcers of the law. This was fine, except the Guardians noticed that Kryptonian physiology, already highly adaptive, was starting to overcome the plague. Another four or five generations, and my people’s power would have been restored.”

“The Guardians wouldn’t allow that to happen. Almost a century back, they contacted the Coluans of the Brainiac clan who Krypton had been employing for centuries as cybernetic administrators. They are beings who can exist within the cybernetic realm and mold it to their will, and who can also take physical form which is very nearly a match for a Kryptonian in yellow sunlight. The Guardians hired them to murder Krypton, and to make it look like a suicide.”

“Minor changes here and there to mining plans, the introduction of slightly corrupted mining technology. The core chain reaction was carefully planned and calculated. My world was Murdered.

“At the same time, knowing that Earth was progressing rapidly and would likely reintroduce interstellar travel to Mars within a couple of centuries or so, the Guardians provoked the White Martians into a genocide of the Green Martians.

“The Tamarans, the least powerful of the three allies, have been kept tied up for centuries in never-ending civil wars, many provoked by the Guardians’ agents.

“The Guardians knew there might be a handful of survivors, but what they failed to take into account was how desperate some of us would be to save our planet and they certainly didn’t count on my Aunt Astra discovering a portion of the Anti-Life equation.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex said, “the what?”

“The Anti-Life equation is a mathematical formula which robs all sentient life of the seven primal emotions. Rage, greed, fear, will, hope, compassion and love. Myriad is the anti-hope function. Hope is a wellspring. You cannot have will without hope. Deprive a being of hope, and they become a mindless slave, devoid of any drive. The Anti-Hope function is at the core of the Anti-life equation. But Myriad can be broken, because it is just one of the seven functions. If someone were to possess all seven, then they would have absolute control over all sentient life in the universe.”

“Your aunt has this?” Susan asked.

“Only part of it and without the other six functions, the Anti-Hope function is easily defeated. Especially since it has to be constantly repeated into the minds of the victims to keep it fixed there. Block the signal transmitting it, and you defeat Myriad, make people feel hope and you burn away Myriad’s ability to affect them.”

“The only way to protect against the full Anti-Life equation is to have its opposite, the life equation, permanently imprinted on your mind.”

“In the timeline that I’m from, J’onn died to protect my and Superman’s minds. He used his telepathic abilities to imprint us, but the strain of the effort killed him. Fortunately, I still carry that protection, and I’ve since found a way to imprint Superman without requiring a Martian to do so.”

“Well, that’s certainly good news,” J’onn said.

“You have no idea,” Kara said. “Thirteen years ago, I went on a blind date. The guy ditched me after about fifteen minutes, but I heard that a flight to Geneva, the flight Alex was on, was having engine trouble. I left the bar and barely managed to catch the plane. It was sloppy. Otto Bender bridge was damaged and had to be closed for nearly three weeks while it was resurfaced and recertified for traffic. An engine fell off and the debris crashed through the roof of a store, causing a fire that burned a strip mall to the ground, and it took them nearly a month to fish the plane out of the middle of National City Bay. Two days later, the DEO shot me out of the sky, and I woke up locked in Kryptonite handcuffs, and found out Alex was a member of the DEO and met ‘Hank Henshaw’ for the first time.”

“I made mistakes,” Kara said, closing her eyes. “So many mistakes.” She started talking, telling them everything, from her first fight with Vartox, through the moment she woke up after carrying Fort Rozz into space. Somewhere around the Black Mercy, she felt Alex take her hand, squeezing it gently as the tears flowed down Kara’s face as she described the life slipping from Astra’s body. Then there was Red Kryptonite, and Cadmus, and Non deploying Myriad, and her carrying Fort Rozz into space. She’d barely covered a year of the future, and she could see the exhaustion on everyone’s face.

“Cadmus was bad,” she said, “but it was almost a distraction. We spent all that time fighting it, fighting to protect the alien refugees, not knowing Fort Rozz was still the real danger.”

“What about dad?” Alex asked.

Kara shook her head. “I… I killed him.” She ignored the soft gasp from Alex. “Cadmus has done things to him, turned him into a cyborg, twisted his mind. He showed up with a lump of Kryptonite embedded in his chest, and destroyed the CatCo building. He killed James and Cat. Winn survived because he was working at the DEO as an agent by that point. I tried Alex, I tried everything, but after he killed Eliza… I knew he wouldn’t want to live like that, and when he started for you, I ended it.”

She took her hand out of Alex’s and picked up a napkin, wiping the tears off her face. “I don’t think you ever forgave me,” she said. “I know you tried, but I think it was just too much, and there wasn’t time. We’d barely finished burying the dead when the Guardians arrived.” She shook her head. “They got here while we were literally still putting out the fires from Cadmus. We didn’t know they were here at first, but then the Third Army appeared, and everything just went straight to hell.”

“They decided that humans would be the basis for the Third Army. It was like an infection. One of them would touch a human, and the conversion would take seconds. By the time it was over, nearly two thirds of the population was just gone. India was empty, most of China, huge swaths of the rest of the world. When we broke the power source of the Third Army, everyone who’d been converted just crumbled to dust.”

“That’s when Darkseid hit us,” she said. “He’d been sitting out there, waiting at the edge of the Solar system. The fights were fast, hard, brutal. Alex and Maggie took down Granny Goodness, which… Be impressed. She’s the one who killed Superman.” Kara turned and looked at Alex. “You didn’t make it though. Either of you.”

She turned to Susan. “You held the DEO longer than anyone thought possible. They had to send Kalibak himself to break down the doors.”

“In the end, we lost. Darkseid had found Fort Rozz and Myriad. That had given him everything he needed to finish deriving the Anti-Life equation. Sara, Barry, and I, along with a dozen others, spent the next nine years doing everything we could to stop them, but in the end, we knew the only way to stop the war was to prevent the war from ever happening, and the only way to do that, was to prevent Myriad from ever being deployed.”

“Sara was the captain of a Time Ship called the Waverider. The original Captain had died in the war. We had a White Martian on our side. It was enough. They brought me back to last September, the night I moved into this apartment. The Martian used a telepathic booster to allow her to tear my consciousness from my future self’s body and force it to merge with my younger self.”

“That’s… quite a story, Ms. Danvers,” J’onn said.

“You don’t believe it,” Kara said.

“You have to admit, it’s a lot to swallow,” J’onn said.

“It’s the part about the White Martian, isn’t it?” Kara asked.

“That and the part about the Guardians of the Universe.”

Kara nodded.

“What if I could provide you with proof?” Kara asked.

“That would be a good start,” J’onn said.

“Konex,” Kara said.

“Yes, Lady Kara,” the robot said as it decloaked.

“Contact Kolex. I need the caskets.”

“Yes, Lady Kara.”

A moment later, there was a bright glow in the empty corner where Konex usually hovered when in stealth mode, and the robot drifted over and picked up a large featureless white case off the floor, and carried it over to the table, setting it down in the middle. Kara reached up and pressed her hand to the top, and the surface glowed briefly where she touched it, then the top split lengthwise down the case, and the upper half of the case folded down, half on each side of the bottom, revealing three smaller cases. Each of them was hexagonal, with solid end caps connected by a translucent center section. Inside each was what looked like an old-style lantern, and an ornately-carved signet ring. One of them was a deep, angry red, another was the bright, brilliant blue of the sky on a new day, and the last was a soft, warm violet that felt like safety and home.

J’onn, one moment, was sitting at the table, and the next he was standing five feet back from his chair, eyes fixed on the red case as if it might explode at any moment.

“What are you doing with that?” he asked.

Kara looked up at him. “My best to never take it out of the case,” she said.

“You shouldn’t have it on this planet,” he said.

“I agree,” Kara said, “but we’ve both done things we aren’t proud of J’onn. That’s one of mine.”

“Um…" Susan said, “either of you care to fill in the unenlightened?”

Kara nodded. “Sit down, J’onn.”

Slowly, reluctantly, he returned to his seat.

“The Green Lantern Corps is one of nine different factions that have similar abilities,” Kara said. “Eight of those factions use rings as the focus for their powers. The ninth uses a staff. These are power rings and their power batteries.”

“The violet one is one of the Star Sapphire rings, created by the Zamarons and bears no connection to the Guardians of the Universe. The Blue Lantern Rings were created by Ganthet and Sayd, who had broken away from the Guardians and lack the back doors and other traps built into the Green Lantern Rings. The Red Rings were created by the demon Atrocitus, forged from pure rage and christened in blood.”

Kara took a deep breath, tearing her eyes away from the red case. “There are seven base emotions common to all sentient life. Anger, desire, fear, will, hope, compassion and love. Each emotion is connected with a color. Red for anger and rage, orange for desire or avarice, yellow for fear, green for willpower, blue for hope, indigo for compassion, and violet for love. Hope is the strongest of them all, but impossible to wield without will. Red rage, and the violet light of love are the extreme ends of the spectrum. The further you move from the center, from green, the more the rings can influence the person who wields them.”

“I have these, because I can wield them. Red, Blue, Violet.” She looked up, right at J’onn. “If I put on one of these rings and I use the telepathic link to show you what I’ve seen, will you believe me?”

“And if I say no?”

Kara looks over at Alex. “If I open the violet case, that ring will not even hesitate,” she says, before turning back to J’onn. “That would be on your head.”

“Wait,” Alex said, “what do you mean?”

“The rings,” Kara said. “They chose the person who best embodies the emotion they channel. If I open that violet case, that ring will go straight for you.”

“Me?” Alex said.

Kara nodded. “I have seen you on the edge of destruction, seen you fighting as you were literally torn apart and in all that, the one thing that never faltered was your love.” She reached up, putting her hands on the violet cask. “But I wouldn’t wish that on you.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“The further you get from the center of the spectrum, the greater the influence the ring can have on you. Love is a powerful emotion. It can overwhelm you, consume you just as easily as rage, if you let it.”

“You’ve worn one?” Alex asked.

“A violet ring? Yes.” Kara said. “It was no more pleasant than the red ring. Not for me.”

“No,” J’onn said. “No. If you wear the ring, Kara, that’s enough.”

“Now wait a minute,” Alex said. “If that thing hurts her-“

Kara reached over and put her hand on Alex’s. “I’m not going to wear the violet ring,” she said. Alex relaxed, and Kara reached up, touching the Blue Lantern Emblem on the blue case. The top slid off, and the blue ring lifted up out of the case, hovering for a moment until Kara reached up and took it gently, sliding it on her finger.

“Kara Zor-El Danvers of Krypton and Earth,” a loud voice echoed through the room, “you have the ability to instill great hope.”

Blue light poured out of the ring, quickly covering Kara from the neck down. The outfit was not so different from her regular Supergirl costume. The parts of the suit that were normally red were replaced with white, the yellow trim on the El coat of arms was black, the blue was brighter, more vivid, and the Blue Lantern emblem sat above and to the right of the El coat of arms.

Kara pointed the ring at the Blue Power Battery.

“In fearful day. In raging night. With strong hearts full, our souls ignite. When all seems lost in the war of light, look to the stars, for hope burns bright.”

It was close to 2 AM by the time the rings and their power batteries were safely back at Sanctuary and Alex and Susan left. J’onn lingered, still sitting at her table, holding a mug of coffee and staring into the black liquid as if it held the answers to all his questions. Kara walked from the door back over to the cupboard, and dug out a pack of Chocos from behind a box of vanilla wafers.

“You going to sit there all night?” she asked as she sat the cookies on the table and slid them over to him.

He sighed. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay,” she replied.

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. I... I’ve gotten so used to mistrusting people, to having to hide who and what I am. I hurt you after I promised Jeremiah-“

“J’onn,” Kara said, “it’s okay.” She reached out and covered his wrist with her hand. “You and Alex… Look, I loved my father. Zor-El was wonderful, he really was, and Jeremiah was too, but in the time I knew you in that other timeline, you were more of a father to me than either of them. Watching you die sent me to some really dark places. Before that, I’d only killed six people. None of them gave me a choice. After you died, I walked into the armory and I put on that fucking ring and I let my rage out. I lost it. I tore through entire divisions of Apokoliptians and Parademons and I didn’t leave anyone alive. I did things, horrible, horrible things. It was like the Red Kryptonite all over again, only I was stronger, more powerful, and I was able to direct my rage at the people I *wanted* to hurt.”

“I did it because it was easier to hold on to the rage than to live through the grief of losing another father. I did it because I was afraid that if I let myself feel *that*, I would never come back from it. Alex, before she died, she talked me into taking off the ring. Talked me into letting one of the Blue Lanterns cleanse me of its power. But even the blue ring couldn’t take away my anger, my fear, and my grief.”

“You have known Alex for two years. You’re closer to her than you want to admit. You already care about her like she’s your daughter. But me, I deliberately held you at arm’s distance, refused to tell you things that could have helped. I did this. I gave you reason not to trust me. I thought it was for the best, but I was wrong.”

“The thing I’m having a hard time with, is you knew about the bomb,” he said.

“I did, and I was scared. What if I’d done enough to make them decide to use a larger bomb, to make them not care if it looked like an accident? I was terrified. But everything hinged on being able to make contact with Astra, with convincing her not to deploy Myriad. And I knew I’d been able to catch the plane before. It was a risk, but I honestly believed it was less of a risk than sending Alex out into the field on any given mission. And Supergirl is important. That she’s out there helping, doing good. If Myriad does get deployed, Supergirl and the hope she will inspire are the surest ways to protect this world.”

J’onn sat his coffee down, and tore open the pack of Choco’s, eating one of the cookies slowly. “I really got to live out in the open?”

“As much as you wanted too,” Kara said. “Honestly, you mostly stuck to your human form, but you were out there with me, J’onn J’onzz, flying through the skies of National City helping people.” Kara smiled as she reached over and took one of the cookies. “They called you ‘The Martian Manhunter’.”

J’onn smiled. “I like that,” he said.

“I know. I swear I never told Cat that though.”

He laughed. “She does like naming Superheroes, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Kara said. “I-“ she stopped when she felt a faint vibration in her pocket. She reached down, and pulled out the spy beacon.

“I’ve got to go,” she said.

J’onn nodded. “Kara…”

“Yes?”

“Be safe.”

Translated from the Kryptonian

,rao, i dovrrosh

Literal: Rao's Shadow

Semantic: Oh, hell

:zhaolium zw rroskilahres :dhiviao

Literal: Fucker who habitually seeks glory

Semantic: Fucking Drama Queen

#supergirl #supercat #supercanary #sanvers #fanfiction #the shape of things to come #kara danvers #alex danvers #cat grant #maggie sawyer #sara lance #j'onn j'onzz #susan vasquez #lois lane #clark kent #james olsen #winn schott jr.#future shock

22 notes · View notes

bibliomorgan · 7 years ago

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the 1th season was my season

[the notorious ranting about season of Supergirl and how i don’t know why i’m still watching]

There’s this thing about Supergirl, first season, when I started to watch like a year later (I guess they were going to 2th season and all the “Who’s gonna be Superman???” stuff). Lemme explain: I don’t like superheroes, I have no respect for Superman or Batman and anyone who wears different underpants on the uniform pants (Makes no sense! Why superheroes? Why?!), my favorite character of comic books is Daredevil (Far from a usual hero) and the one who get me at DC is the Martian Manhunter (Or how we used to call here in Brazil: Ajax, o Marciano).

And there was Supergirl, the brand new series of DCU to save our geek lives.

I’ve always watched the 1th season as a story about an immigrant. Someone who lost every reference of living and part of her story while escaping, we see this kind of stories at news everyday, Syria (nowadays), here in my country there’s a lot of those who left the place they used to call Home and goes anywhere where they can find for many reasons (Most for trying to make money and escape from poverty). Immigrant story, right? That’s Kara from 1th season.

She’s not homeless, but kinda lost of her doings, her belongings, her story. Fragments of a destroyed world and tales of super awesome stuff her cousin did and still doing, must be hard to step out of shadow of someone for so long. And then there’s Alex. She’s Kara big sister, the best sister if you ask me about sisters relationships, still overshadowing since she came to Earth: Kara needs to fit, to be low profile, to understand that all what she lived once it’s over. Not going back, nope, forget it. Alex is there to reminder her every single episode that she can be more of it, more than the regular adults expectations. She can be Kara Zor-El, but most of all, she can be herself. And that's beautiful to watch.

The 1th season i’ve watched called me out for my own story, me and my family have moved of houses so many times we lost count, my big sister often tells me we never gonna settle as the other families because of it, sometimes I desperately wonder when I’ll fit to somewhere, for someone, I don’t know, maybe be normal, you know? Just like Kara from 1th season. That’s what we call somehow representation.

I’ve watched while I was very upset about how my life were going, how to fit, be the average seems so better than outstanding (and getting riled up for it),to be normal was a quiet and nice place to be. And every episode of 1th season gives us the completely opposite, empowerment, full knowlegment of our habilities, and ffs gawd Cat Grant and her weird motivational speeches! Every single episode hooked me so deeply cause i've saw something I was missing: I could be myself and be happy for it.

The Danvers's sisters relationship got me good too, I have a big sister, we don't get along so much since I was 13, I missed her so badly, but when we grow up we're trying to figuring things out. I still don't know how to get along with her, and seeing how supportative Alex and Kara are with each other goes to my soft spot. The 1th season was that mostly, their relationship, their trust about each other, their struggle to be as a family even with all the worse odds (The House of El dysfunctional family, hello?). It remind me I also can be better too. I loved Alex Danvers character at the first sign, I want to be like her someday.

And all this 1th season was like a blast to me, as a viewer and as a storyteller, as a person. That season means a lot to me, for real. Because I've grow up watching television shows that never gave too much attention to these particular topics (And match with my own living): how to be the outsider, having the most wonderful sister support ever and not get lost. And includind the space dad J'onn J'onzz? My favorite League of Justice character EVER?! That plot twist was amazing, right at the solar plexus feelings for good!

Aaaaaaand the season 2 comes.

The writers just... i really don't know what happened right there, it's just... The 2th season it's a completely different show. I can't relate anymore to anyone, I can't see anything as a nice way to keep the hopes up, I definitely can't stand the way how Kara's development was subsided by some misogynist plot ever (FFS of Rao! We are talking about the Girl of Steel, she should not bend like that!) and well here we goes Alex Danvers, my true hero, get out of the closet. Oh well... We've seen this situation before, I finally related to that too, i was pretty older when I finally got the nerve and say out loud I was gay, so been there, done that Alex! All the hugs for ya honey! I hope they didn't fuck your coming out story with cliches. It was the best I could ask for them (writers), do not fuck with this plot. Because this plot it's already doomed since ever, we don't wanna go there again. Make a change, please?

We saw how it ends, right? And I don't know where exactly the writers and producers wanna go with this mess of plot they invented. I just want to say I miss 1th season Supergirl, because that was the truly storytelling of someone trying to figuring out to be human, as we normal boring humans do everyday, even not realizing it, but we do. That's the power of some of media does to us everyday, shows like Supergirl has all the potential of bringing nice messages and bring people together not only for the fun of watching, but because maybe the story that is telling is about them, about us, everybody, somehow.

(BTW thank you Kate McGrath and Odette Annable for saving the plot, I wish Krys Marshall was there since the very beginning - that would be a A+ of dramatic background for the Worldkillers)

#supergirl #season 1 #the ranting #danvers sisters #wtf the writers are doing?

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 7 years ago

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Michael After Midnight: Xanadu & Why the Razzies Suck

The Razzies are probably the worst awards show out there for determining the quality of a film or performance. Mommie Dearest won for worst film of the 80s, Ben Affleck was nominated for worst actor for his role as Batman, The Shining and The Thing were both nominated, the people selecting the movies aren’t required to see them and go for the blandest, easiest targets… It’s safe to say the Razzies are a giant steaming turd of determining quality, and they are rightfully despised by just about every sort of legitimate critic and cinephile; notably, Brad Jones AKA the Cinema Snob has bashed them several times for their shitty qualifications for what is ‘bad.’ And if you don’t think their shitty judge of quality has been there from the start, here’s a look at one of the films that inspired the show: Xanadu.

Xanadu is a campy, glitzy musical made in the dying days of disco… but this isn’t just any musical. This is a musical where the soundtrack was done by Electric Light Orchestra and Olivia Newton-John in her heyday. With a combo like that, how the fuck could this fail? Well, I do have a theory, but let’s take a look at the plot first…

Xanadu is the tale of a struggling, frustrated artist named Sonny who paints album covers for a living… which is something he hates doing. In frustration he tosses some of his drawings to the wind, and through the power of early 80s disco light special effects, a drawing of nine girls comes to life; one of the girls, Kira, a rollerskating disco muse, finds and kisses him, and after being kissed by a muse Sonny’s whole life starts looking up. He meets Danny McGuire (played by Gene Kelly), a former big band leader, and soon with the encouragement of Kira the two new friends decide to convert on old abandoned building into a roller disco: Xanadu. Sonny and Kira also start to fall in love, but is their love doomed? I mean, she’s a muse after all. You know how human/divine being relations go, especially when said divine beings are Greek.

There is absolutely no denying that this movie is ridiculously campy and cheesy. The corny special effects with their glowing disco lights, the ridiculous styles, the very premise… it’s just so delightfully goofy. But see, I think this might be the main issue, and why this movie failed in the first place: it was, weirdly, too ahead of its time. Campy disco musicals weren’t really something people wanted when disco was on the way out the door, and who could have predicted disco would make a big comeback years later and that young woman and gay men would latch on to this glitzy musical with its hopeful message down the line? This is the same problem Batman & Robin would have years later; it is a film that came out at the wrong time, a time when people weren’t demanding what the film was offering. If this movie had come out later, sure, maybe it would have been ‘better,’ but it may not have had the same level of charm.

But even with understanding how one could find it bad… is it really so bad that it deserved to inspire an awful awards show that awarded bad movies? Fuck no. Gene Kelly is in here, and even at his age he is still as fleet on his feet; that guy had the fucking fire in his legs and was dancing like a madman. The story, while rather simple, is incredibly relatable and even timeless in a way; artists have always and will always feel the pain of struggling to find joy in their work, hoping they find the muse that will strike them with a grand idea that will set them free. There’s also an animated interlude in here courtesy of Don Bluth, in his first post-Disney animation work, and it is as fantastic as you’d expect from 80s Don Bluth. And then there’s the soundtrack… oh lord, the soundtrack.

We have one of my all time favorite bands combining with the charming Aussie songstress Olivia Newton-John, and by the gods this combination is like peanut butter and jelly. They work so well together. My favorite tracks are probably “All Around the World,” “I’m Alive,” “Magic,” and of course the title track, “Xanadu.” Some of the tracks even combine different genres, such as “Dancin’” combining big band music and glam rock together. The soundtrack itself also runs through tons of genres; there’s disco, rock, pop, and big band on here, there’s a genre for anyone to enjoy. I DO wish that they had the two songs the later stage adaptation added - “Strange Magic” and “Evil Woman” - but that’s only because those two songs are my favorite Electric Light Orchestra songs. Overall, this soundtrack is fun and fantastic, and though I can’t say I love every single song, the music certainly helps carry the movie.

Is this a perfect film? No way, but honestly, its imperfections are what make it so damn charming. It’s not a masterpiece or anything like that, but man is it a sweet, charming, fun little movie with a relatable plot and an awesome soundtrack. If anything about this movie sounds interesting to you, I’d say check this out. It’s worth a watch, and it definitely feels like the kind of movie I’d put on in the background while I’d work and occasionally glance up at for a smile.

Even understanding why people would dislike this in the 80s, come on, there HAD to have been worse movies that year than this. But this all does make sense. The Razzies have always been an institution that picks on the absolute easiest targets; Batman V Superman won quite a few, and while we could debate for days on whether it deserved “Worst Screenplay,” winning Worst Screen Combo for Affleck and Cavill is laughable when most people agree they at least did good jobs with what they were given, with Affleck being cited as a plus by most. Affleck and Cavill were also both nominated for worst actor, which they did not win,but the movie did win Worst Remake, Sequel, Rip-Off, or Prequel… in the same year that Fifty Shades of Black, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Zoolander 2, and Independence Day: Resurgence came out. Interestingly, Gal Gadot is not among the nominations… hmm, wonder why that is? It couldn’t be because she’s not an easy target like Affleck is, riggggggghhhhht?

Even looking back to the original Razzie awards in 1981, they nominated Friday the 13th for worst picture as well as the movie I just reviewed, and also named “Suspended in Time” from Xanadu as one of the worst songs of the year, though it didn’t win, likely because this is laughable. This was also the year Stanley Kubrick was nominated for The Shining under worst director. 1983’s awards were no better; Arnold Schwarzenegger was nominated for worst actor… for Conan the Barbarian. The Thing was nominated for WORST MUSICAL SCORE.

Look, I would love to rant on how much the Razzies suck all day, but let me wrap up with their anniversary awards. Mommie Dearest was named the worst picture of the 80s… up against Howard the Duck, and in a decade Friday the 13th V and Super Monster both came out. In the 90s, Sylvester Stallone was named worst actor of the century… which is… one of the absolute stupidest things I’ve ever heard. And Showgirls won worst picture of the decade, despite the infinitely worse Psycho remake, crappy dino shitfest Carnosaur, and zero-budget lesbian killer movie Girlfriends were all released in the 90s, among many other turds. And finally, we have the worst picture of the 2000s, Battlefield Earth, a film it is baffling I have not reviewed, and a film that came out in the same decade as Chicken Little, Disaster Movie (and Seltzerbergs other works), The Master of Disguise, Eragon, Doogal, The Love Guru, Christmas with the Kranks, The Human Centipede, Crash, Teeth, Hounddog, The Golden Compass, Inkheart, Shark Tale, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Taintlight, and the Yu-Gi-Oh movie.

The Razzies fucking blow. Plain and simple. They’re basically a clickbait institution that chooses the most obvious choices, goes only after what’s big and will generate the most attention, and really makes it obvious that they don’t require the people on the nomination panel to actually watch the movies. Oh yeah. They don’t require the judges to watch the films.

But let’s bring it all back to Xanadu for one final tidbit: the guy who made the Razzies has admitted he occasionally pops in Xanadu to watch it. I think that says a lot about a lot of things. I’ll leave you all with that.

#Michael After Midnight #Review #Movie review #Xanadu #ELO #Electric Light Orchestra #Olivia Newton-John #disco #Gene Kelly #The Razzies #Razzies #Golden Raspberry Awards

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 7 years ago

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A theory.

Wacky comic book theory but here we go.

One way or another we all talk about representation these days and the ways in which it can be done well or badly, etc.

And when those discussions happen more broadly usually they boil down to representing 4 groups.

Females, People of Colour and queer/non-homosexual people, and trans people. Of course there are others too. Gender fluid could be counted as it’s own thing and frankly I see not much talk as far as disabled representation is concerned, be it physical or mental. But for the sake of argument let’s stick to those four.

As far as comic books are concerned female and characters and poc (especially black and Asian) characters are comparatively the best covered whereas queer characters ain’t. It doesn’t help that sometimes creators forget some characters aren’t straight or else the fact that they aren’t is such a minor point that people honestly don’t know (see Felicia Hardy).

But as poorly represented as queer characters are (off the top of my head, and I’m sure I’m forgetting people, Harley Quinn, Deadpool, Ice Man and America Chavez are just about the only queer characters headlining their own series right now), trans characters really are non-existent.

Which brings me to those pictures of Superman, Wonder Woman and Black Panther up there.

See I have a theory that for certain under represented groups in comic books (at least superhero comic books) what is needed is a sort of ambassador character, specifically one in the form of a stone cold power fantasy.

Now you could argue ALL superheroes are power fantasies to one degree or another, but if you think about those three characters they are taking the notion of being power fantasies almost as their core concepts.

I don’t buy Superman or most superheroes as on some level inherently MALE power fantasies for various reasons, but Superman was certainly a potent HUMANIST power fantasy.

Human beings are animals and as such we innately have a drive to survive which takes the form of self preservation and preservation of our species. Preservation mostly boils down to ensuring our bodies can function properly and also avoiding injury.

If you look at the myths and legends of cultures across the world and all eras of history you find figures that speak to these innate instincts. You find human or human like figures who have abilities beyond those of mere mortals. In Western culture the most famous examples of these types of figures are of course the Greco-Roman Heroes like Herakles/Hercules. A man with God’s blood in his veins who’s strength, stamina and resistance to injury dwarfs normal people. And he uses that to slay monsters to plague the land or perform feats that kick the natural order of nature in the ass like descending into the Underworld and emerging unscathed, or surviving terrible poisonous injuries for days and days or moving mountains, fighting off Titans from the Realm of the Gods themselves.

Superman though maybe not intentionally came from EXACTLY the same innate human instincts to be more powerful than we are s we can survive threats and protect our fellow species. He’s faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall building in a single bound, he can survive ten exploding shells and later he can even defy gravity itself. And he uses those powers to protect the innocent and take down the bad guys who’d hurt them. Replace gangsters and citizens with the Hydra and the village folks and you essentially have the same thing as Hercules.

And we all know how Superman consequently ushered in...well literally the entire superhero genre.

Superman was a gateway character who opened the door to everything else and he did it in large part because he inherently embodied an indulgent wish fulfillment fantasy.

And Wonder Woman did the same thing except instead of being a humanist power fantasy she was an indulgent FEMALE power fantasy. Put aside how its a matter of record that her creator was deliberately aiming for that end goal, just look at her character. She comes from an island exclusively of women. That society is morally and technologically superior to the rest of the world, the rest of the world labelled as ‘man’s world’ which by default makes Paradise Island ‘woman’s world’ if you like. The Amazons were created and guided by the GodDESS Aphrodite, who is associated with (rightly or wrongly) stereo typically female qualities like love and beauty and elegance, traits she then gives to her Amazons. There’s a lot more to dive into but I won’t for now.

Wonder Woman opened the door to ALL consequent female characters after her. But it wasn’t MERELY because she happened to be female and come first. She did it an managed to endure into the silver age revival of superheroes when most of her peers didn’t BECAUSE she had substance to her and that substance stemmed from her being explicitly a power fantasy for a specific group of people.

And then Black Panther did the same thing, except instead of being a humanist or a female power fantasy he was an indulgent BLACK power fantasy. Sure he didn’t get launched as a headliner but that wound up working in his favour as he showed up and kicked the asses of (at the time) THE premiere Marvel superheroes. Obviously that will that automatically convey this guy as powerful just in general, but that isn’t really what made T’Challa resonate, nor was it merely the fact that he happened to be black.

For T’Challa being black was as vital to his character as being female was to Diana’s. He was someone ethnically native to the AFRICAN continent. He came from a country in Africa that had NEVER been colonized by anyone and was 100% autonomous, not answering to any larger organization nor in a submissive alliance with a more powerful nation. He drew his powers from traditions native to his African nation, which were tied up with an animal that was literally black and also native to the African continent. Shit, he even had BLACK in his name.

Those traditions co-existed with a civilized and technologically proficient society. In fact it was MORE technologically advanced than America and the citizens (at first glance anyway) seemed far more content and at well provided for than America with it’s variety of social problems. It’s technological advancement came from a special natural resource EXCLUSIVE to T’Challa’s nation, no one else had it or had managed to take it from them. In fact when one evil white guy (dressed in stereotypically colonial clothes) TRIED to take it he was defeated. And if all that wasn’t enough Black Panther was not just a superhero who could own the F4 and came from this fantastic African nation...he was straight up it’s KING.

As much of a black power fantasy as Luke Cage was/is...T’Challa was on a whole other level pretty much from day one.

And whilst there had been black characters before him, T’Challa was the guy who really cemented the idea of black (and other poc) superheroes as being legitimately a thing. No T’Challa no Luke Cage, Miles Morales, Blade, Jon Stewart, Storm, etc.

So what’s my overall point with this?

If Marvel and DC really want to make queer and trans heroes a thing like female and poc heroes are then they NEED to present a legitimate queer and trans power fantasy.

I’m not saying introduce a new gay hero or trans hero who can instantely own all the Avengers or anything. Even the Fantastic Four rallies around and managed to defeat T’Challa, and he was shown to have to really plan ahead to get as far as he did.

But I am saying introduce for example a trans character who exudes physical power and confidence and is a formidable fighter, not a hero in training learning the ropes. Somone who shows up on the scene already knowing how to kick ass. Then in ways I am not really qualified to speak to, make being trans inherent to not just their general life and personality, but their core concept, the source of their awesome powers. Make them someone who comes from a fantastical advanced, society where being trans isn’t merely accepted it’s the inherent norm and part of the societal structure.

But do it in a way that isn’t on the nose condemnatory towards cis people. Black Panther wasn’t ever implying white people are inherently bad or inferior to black people, hence why the Fantastic Four and Black Panther quickly become close friends and allies. Wonder Woman wasn’t explicitly saying men are bad or American society was bad. Steve Trevor and other male characters were portrayed as good guys and Diana herself as a patriotic ally to America, in fact in the stories America was held up as a bastion for women and their rights. Now...that was bullshit of course and I’m saying you have to go that far at all. But I guess make the story and series celebrate being trans without playing it as a put down to cis people or else something intended to directly challenge their thoughts about society.

That’s something to be done down the line once the wider audience has accepted a trans superhero character. If this hypothetical trans character is T’Challa then down the line you can pull out a Luke Cage type of character who does more directly challenge that sort of stuff and critically is FROM America, not a black power fantasy country.

Whilst you can say we already have queer characters, their success rate is spotty at best and a lot of them were originally intended to be straight. So I think gay, bisexual, etc characters would benefit from this approach as well.

And the best part (especially as far as trans characters are concerned) is that this is legitimately untapped potential. Marvel and DC can both grab the the MASSIVE historic claim of creating the first (major) trans superhero ever and make some real money off of it. Everyone’s a winner.

Bottomline: Create ambassador power fantasy characters for various groups if you want to make them stick around.

#Superman #Wonder Woman #Black Panther #T'Challa #Diana Prince #Clark Kent #DC #DC Comics #Marvel #marvel comics #fantastic four #fantastic 4

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aeranethwrites · 8 years ago

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To all the new followers and people who liked/read my superbat drabble: You are awesome <3

Anyway, have a continuation? I’m a sucker for reactions

“Clark Joseph Kent, I cannot believe you bothered to show up to work!!”

“Um. H-Hi, Lois.”

“Gah!! I could just-!” While Lois pantomimed strangling the soul right out of his body, Clark adjusted his glasses and tried to not listen too much to the whispering.

Who was he kidding, he was both ‘curious and obscenely nosy’, as Bruce liked to put it.

“Braver than he looks, if that’s real-”

“Actually sleeping with Batman, holy shit-”

“How did Batman pick that up? I’m surprised Clark didn’t faint at the sight of the Bat.”

“-cannot believe we spent all these years one cubicle from each other, and you have the audacity to keep something like this from me- hello? Clark?!” Lois snapped her fingers impatiently, and Clark blinked several times.

“Sorry. Spaced out.” Lois pinched the bridge of her nose. She breathed very slowly.

“Smallville,” she growled. “You have one- just one- chance to tell me that this was a hoax. That Jimmy saw something completely fake, that some other weirdo in a bat costume was hanging out on the rooftop, and you gave him the friendliest hug on this side of the Atlantic.” The whole floor was quiet, everyone holding their breaths. While also trying very hard to pretend they weren’t listening.

Clark sighed very quietly. “It’s my fault,” he admitted. Lois sucked in a breath- “If I was going to kiss my boyfriend, I probably shouldn’t have done it on a building full of photographers.” Her jaw hung slack, and the whispers exploded back in. Then Lois snapped out of it and began shaking him back and forth, spluttering incoherently.

“Enough!!” The floor quieted. “Kent!” Perry snapped. “Office! Now!”

“Yes, sir,” Clark said meekly, gingerly squirming out of Lois’ hold. She sputtered quietly as he shuffled into the open door, eyes still huge.

Perry walked stiffly to his desk, indicating Clark sit. Clark sat, watching him pace for a few moments. After a long while, he turned around, eyes sharp.

“I almost told Jimmy to hell with that picture,” he finally said. “If that kid wasn’t so damned positive that he was the real thing. If it were anyone else, Kent- anyone, I would have thrown them out on their asses.” Clark winced.

“I wouldn’t do something like that.”

“That’s just the thing. I know you wouldn’t. You never have before, and if you were about to start, it damn well wouldn’t be with Batman. He may not do PR, but he’s still the kind of person that gets the message across.” Clark nodded absently. He really was. “Still, all exclusives aside…” The editor sighed, rubbing at his forehead. “Seriously, kid? Batman?” Clark shrugged awkwardly. “How long has this been going on?”

“... Some years, now.”

“How the hell did that happen?” I met a man in Taiwanese prison, then followed him across Asia and fell in love. Clark coughed, adjusting his glasses.

“Through Superman.”

“That’s it?”

“It’s… a long story. Essentially, through Superman.” Perry eyeballed him for a long moment, then harrumphed.

“I guess asking for an interview is too much.”

“Batman wants his privacy, and I won’t break that.”

“Uh-huh. I don’t suppose you talked with him about this mess.”

“We did.” Clark grimaced. “I think he’s more upset with himself for not noticing Jimmy sooner. But he doesn’t want me to retract anything.” Perry raised an eyebrow. Clark sighed. “He… knows my career is important to me. He respects that. Said if nothing else, exposing him as a gay superhero will be beneficial.”

“I didn’t think he cared about that sort of thing.”

“He cares a lot more than you’d think, sir. Believe me, if you knew him, you’d wonder what he ever saw in me.” Perry scoffed, leaning against his desk.

“No, I wouldn’t.” He shook his head to himself. “You’re not allowed anywhere near this story. Neither is Lois, for that matter.”

“She’s going to strangle you.”

“Probably. It’s too late to take back either way.”

“I understand. Batman does, too.”

“Good. Go find Jimmy when you can escape the mob. He’s probably still hiding in a closet and having a crisis. Like you do sometimes, only more dramatic.” Clark snorted very quietly.

“I’ll find him.”

“And- Clark,” Perry called, before Clark could go out the door. “... Be careful, kid.”

“I’m always careful.” Perry’s expression bordered scathing.

“No, you’re not.” Clark could only shrug sheepishly. He went out the door anyway. “... Batman,” Clark heard him mutter to himself. “The goddamned Batman.”

Lois peered at him over the top of their shared cubicle wall as he returned to his desk. He sighed. “Neither of us is allowed near the story,” he recited.

“What?!”

“Sorry, Lois.”

“If I could just get five minutes alone with-”

“Lois.” Clark frowned. “Please respect his privacy. He’s not a story, he’s someone that’s important to me.”

“Clark-”

“Please,” Clark repeated, softening his voice. “As a friend.” The reporter faltered, visibly wavering. Clark almost felt bad, but there was very little else that would throw Lois Lane off the scent of a good story.

“... The second you break it off, he’s mine,” Lois finally growled.

“We’re not going to break it off.”

“Oh? Long-term, then?”

“Lois.”

“Fine, fine.” Lois waved him off. “Fine.” She still didn’t leave. “... So is your boyfriend a good kisser? Just out of friendly curiosity.”

Clark sighed.

Bruce was the center of attention the moment he stepped foot on the Watchtower. He expected it, but it didn’t make it any less irritating.

The main hall immediately went quiet as he walked through. Mostly because Flash had switched off the main monitor so quickly along with the conversation dying off. He ignored it, along with the stares that followed him. Everyone was gathered around the blank screen, watching him intensely.

“... Hey, Bats!” Flash attempted. “Hey! Buddy. Pal. W-What’s happening?”

“Probably crime,” Batman replied flatly. “Where’s my monitor view?”

“Oh, that’s- that’s a bit on the fritz. There’s, uh, some weird connection that keeps popping up, best to not mess with it-” Bruce pulled a remote from his pocket and switched it back on. The show continued playing.

“-right here in Smallville, where Clark Kent was raised. How did you two know each other, Miss Suzanne?”

“Oh, you know, we’ve been best friends throughout our childhoods. That’s just how small towns are, though, you know? He’s basically my brother.”

“You dumped milk in his lap in sixth grade and called him a stupid dork.”

“Shut up, Pete!”

“Annnd back to you, Jeff!”

“The Daily Planet reporter that’s been sweeping the headlines as a topic himself, Clark Kent, has so far declined comment on his relationship with the world-famous hero Batman-” Another click and the monitor switched back to his crime watch. Bruce rolled his eyes as he went up the walkway to his station. He settled in to get some actual work done.

The League followed him to the computer.

“Sooo… on the topic,” Lantern began. “Is it true?”

“Yes.” Bruce frowned at the screen. “There’s definitely crime happening.”

“... No, Batman. We mean-”

“We mean,” Hawkgirl cut in, “that we are only curious if this ‘Clark Kent’ is spreading false rumors in an attempt to damage your public image.” Batman paused. He’d been planning on ignoring them, but the question rankled.

“And just how would me having a boyfriend damage my public image?” he challenged, bristling.

“Whoa, whoa, that’s definitely not what she meant,” Flash insisted hastily. “Not what she meant at all. Look, we just know Kent is close to Superman, and he does a lot of coverage for the Justice League. She was just asking if he might be going rogue on us.”

“What else would I mean?” Hawkgirl muttered. Green Lantern raised an eyebrow. “... Oh.”

“... No,” Brucefinally grumbled, turning away his glare. “He’s not going ‘rogue’ on us.”

“So he’s not lying?” Wonder Woman confirmed. Bruce had the feeling of being tricked, though he couldn’t say why.

“... He’s not lying.”

“Oh-ho, Bats!” Flash cheered, clapping his shoulder. “Good on you! Rooftop makeout and everything!”

“Congratulations,” J’onn offered. “He seems very nice.”

“He’s pretty cute,” Hawkgirl acknowledged. “In a dorky way. I wouldn’t have guessed that was your type.”

“So how long have you been dating?” Flash asked eagerly, leaning into his space. “Is he dating Batman, or does he know your secret identity?? How’d you guys meet? Did Superman hook you up? Wait, does Superman know about you two? I mean, I guess he knows now, but did he before?” Bruce sighed harshly.

“All of you have better things to do.”

“Yeah, but we wanna talk about you and your cute boyfriend!”

“I have a question, too,” Lantern added. “If you two were a secret, why’d you end up making out on top of the Daily Planet? You know, the building full of reporters with cameras on hand?”

“Oh, let him live a little,” Hawkgirl scoffed. “Some people like showing off.”

“Yeah, sure, but not Batman.”

“What not Batman?” Kal wondered, entering the hall. Batman felt somewhat vengeful as Lantern turned around.

“We were just asking the Bat about his voyeurism.” Kal choked for a moment.

“Excuse me??”

“What else do you call him making out with his boyfriend on a building of reporters?” Hawkgirl returned.

“W-Well, that- I mean-”

“It’s your fault,” Bruce informed him. There was a moment of silence as everyone stared between them. Kal’s mouth moved silently for a moment.

“M-Me? What did I do?”

“Suddenly he’s upset about some Watchtower gossip you shared with him. Something about supervillains constantly flirting with me and other women.” Wonder Woman’s face twitched violently. Kal coughed awkwardly as Flash and Lantern looked busy studying anything else.

“Well, I just- You know how often we talk-”

“You know he’s sensitive.”

“Yes,” Kal ground out, groaning. “Yes, I- do.”

“He took risks he wouldn’t normally and we got caught.”

“And you’re mad at me for it, I get it.”

“I’m not mad, Superman,” Bruce replied patiently. “I don’t blame either of you. You’re a weak man for gossip and he’s prone to bouts of jealousy. Do you really blame him?” Kal rolled his eyes to the heavens while Flash muffled a snort.

“No, Batman,” he intoned. “I don’t blame him. You’re a wonderful man and anyone would be lucky to have you. How can he stand not having you to himself twenty-four hours a day?” Bruce waved him off, returning to his work.

“That’ll do.”

“So you’re done?”

“For today.”

“For the month.” Bruce hmmed.

“The week.”

“Fine.”

“Then I’m going back to work.”

“So am I.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.” There was a long silence. Kal cleared his throat, then finally left. Bruce shook his head to himself as the League quietly dispersed. Flash lingered, leaning against the console.

“... You two really are close, aren’t you?”

“We’ve known each other too long,” Bruce replied. Flash chuckled.

“I guess he really did introduce you two, then? How long ago was that, anyway?”

“Why do all of you care so much about me having a relationship?” Bruce frowned at him, baffled.

“Well, it’s- I don’t know. You’re just… You’re always such a hardass. John was in the Marines and even he thinks you’re over the top.” The speedster shrugged. “It’s just nice knowing you’re human, I guess. You never seemed to notice anyone or show how much you care about things. It’s nice to know there’s a soft, squishy heart under all those layers of darkness.”

“He’s the squishy one,” Bruce denied immediately. “He’s composed of eighty-seven percent sunlight and rainbows.” Flash grinned hugely.

“Awww. And you love him just like that, don’t you?” Bruce muttered some Kryptonian swears under his breath. He hoped Kal was enjoying himself.

“... I like my privacy,” he finally said, when Flash still wouldn’t go away. “And it’s for his safety. Along with his family’s.”

“Yeah, but everyone knows he’s Superman’s BFF.”

“People like the Joker didn’t have a reason to care about that before.”

“... Point. Hey, so did Superman introduce you? Can I at least get the footnotes on that story?” Bruce held back a sigh. Still, of the rest of the League, Flash was… least suspicious. Just overly friendly. (He seemed to attract the type.)

“Superman didn’t introduce us,” he admitted at length. “We met before him.”

“Whoa- seriously??”

“It was a long time ago, we were still teenagers.” He shook his head to himself. “We had a habit of getting into trouble together, diving headfirst into mysteries. He wanted to take on the world through writing, I wanted to take on Gotham with my fists. We were together long before Superman came into the picture.”

“... You’ve known Superman for a long time,” Flash finally said. “Wow. You don’t have to answer, but have you ever considered getting married?”

“You ever consider not gossiping about the number of people that want to get into my pants?” Bruce retorted. Flash coughed awkwardly, but didn’t retreat. Bruce sighed his troubles to himself, but leaned back in his chair. He pulled off his left glove to give a lazy wave with it, flashing gold in front of the speedster.

Flash choked. Bruce slipped his glove back on. So he’d been feeling a little sentimental that morning, was all.

“Tell Wonder Woman that no, we’re not breaking it off anytime soon,” he said. “Even so, she really isn’t my type.” With that, he returned to work. He could feel Flash staring.

“... So how did you guys meet Supes, anyway?”

“It’s a long story,” Bruce answered pointedly. Flash got the hint at least, holding up his hands. He left with that, probably to gossip more.

Bruce’s handheld buzzed a moment after, and he glanced down.

Fine. You’re not sleeping on the couch tonight.

“I love you, too,” Bruce muttered in Kryptonian, rolling his eyes. He still sighed softly after a long moment, absently rubbing at the hidden ring. So, maybe it wasn’t so bad, letting the world know that Clark Kent belonged to him.

They’d deal with the consequences together.

#superbat #drabble #definitely some version of animated verse #I'll probably post more of this verse later I have a lot of it written

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evilpixiea · 8 years ago

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I want to talk very quickly about the sexualisation of women in comics. Yep. It’s my turn to be that person. That person who interrupts all the perfectly good smutty fanart and fanfic to talk about something serious.

But I want to do it mainly because I find myself of a different opinion to many people who I would otherwise normally agree with.

The thing is... I don’t mind the sexualisation of women in comics. Heck, I think it can be fun. Catwoman’s whole sexy and owning it shtick is awesome, I love the way Ivy uses her sexual appeal as a weapon (of mass destruction), and then there is Starfire who a lot of people love to criticise because, yeah, she likes to fly around almost-kinda-pretty-much naked... and who I like because she is a kickarse character who (among other things) scoffs at modern culture’s quite ridiculous concepts of modesty and sexual fixation.

These are all powerful female characters who own and embody their sexuality. They also - depending on the reader - can titillate the audience. I personally don’t see anything wrong with this. There is nothing wrong with sexy, sexualised, and even over sexualised characters in comics.

The thing is... it has to be equal opportunity.

Just as there are sexualised women in comics there should also be sexualised men. They don’t have to be in the same comic (though as a bisexual I can’t say I wouldn’t mind if they were) but they really should be out there. And, with the amount of gay guys and straight girls I know who are in comics I don’t think they would be badly received.

AND there has to be non sexualised women out there too. The Harper Rows, the Renee Montoyas, the Amanda Wallers... the ladies who have different themes and stories and who are portrayed in different ways.

We also need to take a leaf out of Starfire’s book and not assume skin means sex. I don’t think of Wonder Woman as a sexualised character. She doesn’t act like Catwoman or Posion Ivy or even Starfire. Her character isn’t about seduction or sexual commentary. She doesn’t play that game. That doesn’t mean you can’t find her sexy. She is like Superman. You can be sexually attracted to her if you want but she’s not inherently sexualised (unless she is drawn by an idiot). Her costume shows off her muscle... yet she was removed by the UN as an ambassador for women in part because she wore revealing clothes.

That kind of blanket thinking really disappoints me.

It subscribes to a point of view which paints women’s body’s as somehow more vulgar than a man’s and kinda says that female characters can only be valuable or inspirational if they cover up. In fact, it doesn’t kinda say that... it does say it. In black and white.

By the same token, female characters who do show off their bodies and do portray themselves sexually (like Catwoman, Ivy, and Starfire) aren’t seen as powerful female characters or worthy of respect by many in the feminist community despite the fact those ladies own their sexuality and rock it of their own accord and under their own rules.

And are fun.

That’s what comics are. Fun. And sometimes a sexy character can be fun. We shouldn’t shut them out. We should embrace them and the fun they bring... as long as we also embrace the value all the other characters bring and the don’t forget to let the boys have fun too once in a while.

#comics #personal opinion

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jaggedwolf · 8 years ago

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The 2016(*) Queer Recs List

Thought I’d just throw up a list of the works I’ve consumed this past year that had queer themes/characters and I thought were decent to awesome. Includes 1 work from 2015 because that’s how I roll. Probably will be dominated by queer women because biases, man.

* Read: As in consumed in 2016, not necessarily produced then.

Games

Birdland : Interactive text fiction, more than a game I would say. The protagonist, Bridget, is a very anxious 14 year old at summer camp. Somehow made me nostalgic for summer camp despite never attending such a thing, the bird dreams made me so gleeful in their ridiculousness, and I really like mechanics for keeping track of your various statistics (Guile, Melancholy, etc.) Still has replay value even though there aren’t different endings, imo. Has a prequel and a very short sequel.

Undertale: A really fun game that gets meta on the notion of RPG’s, with a very lovable cast of characters to boot. Somehow is ridiculously meme-y without making reference to actual memes. I care about all the characters, but I particularly appreciate the presence of Alphys, the nerdy queer scientist lizard that she is. The main game combat mechanic is bullet hell, fyi.

We Know The Devil: Visual Novel where you follow three teenagers at a vaguely-religious camp, only in this world God sends messages through sirens and sometimes you’re the Devil. The main mechanic is that every hour, you get to choose which two characters do something together (fix a siren, find a charm, etc), and so, which character is left out. Haunting, with excellent background choices and pretty ending visuals. I finished run-throughs of all endings in 2.2 hours or so.

TV Shows

Wynonna Earp: Feels a little like a successor to Buffy. Plot isn’t very rigorous but it hits so many of my narrative ids that I don’t even care - tight sibling relationships, fucked up childhood dynamics following people to the present, dorky gay female character. I am not irritated by either of the main male characters which is an Achievement for television most of the time.

Supergirl: I mean, do you want to see a golden retreiver puppy of an alien beat up bad guys? Her protective older sister realising very late how gay she is? A superhero show with heart? Then watch Supergirl. Something I recently realised I appreciate about the show is how distinct Supergirl’s relationship to Krypton is from Superman’s. Clark landed on Earth a baby - he never knew what he lost. Kara landed on Earth a 13-year old - she knows she is going to be the last person to remember what Krypton is like, and for all her joy, you can see that knowledge in her too.

Steven Universe: What an extraordinarily kind show, which isn’t what I expected from it tbh. I went in expecting a smol child and his gay alien space rock moms, and in return I got a cast of characters flawed in a variety of damaging ways and show letting them improve themselves. Also some A+ loyalty kink re: all of Pearl’s Rose issues.

Movies

Big Eden: Honestly, this was just a sweet, slow movie. A love triangle between three dudes that isn’t really a love triangle, just people unsure how/if to make space for others in their lives.

The Way He Looks: A very cute Portuguese film about a blind teenage boy trying to get more independence from his protective parents, and along the way getting a crush on the new guy at school.

Books - Nonfiction

Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges: Really awesome biography that covers the entirety of Turing’s life, going into all the little details that made the man who he is. I loved that it wasn’t afraid to go a little in depth into the actual math Turing was working on. The book is very clearly the better for being a book about a gay English mathematician that is written by another gay English mathematician.

Fic

...tbh do I read fic that isn’t gay in some way?? Have recs scraped from my bookmarks anyway.

Steven Universe

The Birds and the Battlefields by DrJekyl: Literally just Pearl explaining to Mystery Girl how extraordinarily fucked the Crystal Gems are re:the Homeworld situations, but holy fuck what a good Pearl PoV - nervous and trying to change old habits even as she’s terrified of it.

Haikyuu

OUT! by TheHaruWhoCanRead : Oikawa comes out as gay in a magazine, changing the course of closeted Yamaguchi’s first year at Karasuno. The author makes it very clear that it's a Western take on coming out using Haikyuu characters as a vehicle, and thus not representative of gay life in Japan - with that caveat, I can say this is my favourite Haikyuu longfic I've read. The way it weaves Yamaguchi's and Oikawa's narratives in with canon, how it handles the Karasuno team and managing to create a believable OC worthy of the main character all should be praised. Also, excellent Yamaguchi narrative voice, I think a few paragraphs in I was already here for it.

#i'm laughing because this list was pretty short in the summer #and somehow despite dying the past semester (and getting my first non-A grade)#i found the time to add a bunch to it #mine #recs #fic recs

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lindyhunt · 6 years ago

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Does Bryan Singer’s Film Bohemian Rhapsody Deserve to Get Awards Love?

The ranks here at FASHION are not filled with men. Shocking, right? But there are one or two (there are actually, literally, two). Naturally, when a question about male/female dynamics arises it’s only fair that one of them stand in for the members of his gender and provide some insight. Our last topic of conversation was about controversial Christmas song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and today we’re discussing whether Bryan Singer-directed Bohemian Rhapsody should be snapping up any prizes this awards season. Two of our staffers—from the men’s corner, Greg Hudson, and from the women’s, Pahull Bains—talk it out.

PB: When Bohemian Rhapsody won the Best Picture (Drama) award at the Golden Globes last weekend, in addition to perplexity from critics who had largely panned the film, there was a fair bit of outrage on the internet. Evan Rachel Wood tweeted, “So we just..we are all still supposed to be pretending we don’t know about Bryan Singer? Cause it worked out really well with #Spacey and #Weinstein.” Now, I’m all for men finally getting their comeuppance but I also think it’s unfair that the entire cast and crew of a film be punished for the misdeeds of one person, whose shadiness wasn’t known until the #MeToo Flood of 2017. Or so I thought.

Yes, in 2017 Singer was fired as director of the film partway through shooting for causing “on-set chaos”: showing up late, being unavailable for days at a time, disappearing without the studio’s permission. Just a few days later, it emerged that Singer had been accused of rape by Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, who had been 17 at the time of the assault in 2003. So, I thought to myself, production on this film began before this news came out, so we can’t blame the team for working with him. I’m no fan of the movie, but let them have their moment of glory, thought I, wee innocent one.

As it turns out, allegations against Singer—who has directed films like The Usual Suspects and X-Men: First Class—go way, way back. In December 2017, IndieWire published “The Bryan Singer Timeline: a History of Allegations and Defenses, from Troubled Films to Sexual Assault Claims,” and lets just say it’s not a short list, going as far back as 1994 and ranging from allegations of sexual assault and rape to accusations of filming minor boys naked without their permission.

So, now that we’re caught up on Singer’s problematic history, what does it mean for Bohemian Rhapsody as an awards contender? No one was expecting it to win two big awards at the Globes, which has led understandably to increased scrutiny as we make our way through awards season, with the Critics’ Choice Awards, the SAGs, the BAFTAs, and of course the Oscars ahead of us. Do you think the film’s shot at these shiny statuettes should be diminished because of Singer’s involvement?

FIRST REFORMED, but about Ethan Hawke struggling to find hope in a world where Bohemian Rhapsody is probably gonna be nominated for Best Picture. pic.twitter.com/dI4D7kxfJ7

— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) January 4, 2019

GH: Before I single-handedly bring down Bryan Singer with my rhetoric and rage, I just want to point a couple of things out that are probably not all that relevant. Why do this? Because I’m a man, and we enjoy talking like experts on subjects we just did some half-assed internet research about.

Point 1: The Golden Globes matter to the Oscar race about as much as the Iowa Caucuses do to the Presidential election. You’ll recall, being the astute political observer that you are, that the Iowa Caucuses happen early in the American election cycle. That’s really the only reason they are covered so closely every four years. Sometimes they are a predictor of who the eventual nominee (and president) will be, but often not. Just ask Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Ted Cruz. And, similarly, the only reason the Golden Globes seem important is that they happen early in award season. But they are judged by such a niche group that their picks can seem downright baffling at times. Remember the 2010 flop The Tourist starring Johnny Depp? That was nominated for best picture at the Golden Globes. Have you ever seen Mozart in the Jungle? No! No one has! And yet, it’s a Golden Globe-winning television show.

So, do I think Bryan Singer’s creepiness will effect Bohemian Rhapsody’s Oscar chances? No. I think the fact that it’s a paint-by-numbers musical biopic will hurt its chances. (Seriously, the movie could have been called Walk Hard 2: This Time the Rockstar is Gay). I mean, Rami Malek and his mouthguard might still get a nod, but if you want a good Oscar predictor, the TIFF People’s Choice selection has a better track record. (So, get ready for a lot of Green Book hot takes!)

Point 2: Though she has already addressed and expressed regret about it—and she did so even before #MeToo made it a thing—Evan Rachel Wood starred in a Woody Allen movie in 2009. As with Singer, the allegations against Allen were pretty well-known even back then, but she still worked with him.

I’m not saying Wood is a hypocrite, or that her outrage is disingenuous. Not at all. I bring it up only to say that Wood clearly understands that sometimes actors work with gross directors, even if they should—or at least realistically could—know better. So maybe cut the cast a break when they celebrate what was clearly a huge surprise.

But 2009 was a very different time. And that’s good! If Bryan Singer never works again, that’s awesome. (Even if he happens to be innocent of all the many, many, many allegations–no one should be able to make the garbage Superman Returns and escape with their career). The real problem that’s complicating how we view Bohemian Rhapsody is that Singer is trying to get attention from it. If he didn’t rear his Botoxed head to claim credit for the Golden Globe, we might all be cool with forgetting he was a part of the film at all. Even if he kept the directing credit.

My question that rises from all of this is: why haven’t there been the public apologies and disavowals from actors who have worked with him in the past, the way there were for Woody Allen? So many of Allen’s former collaborators spoke out about how much they regret working with him, and how they’d never do it again. Actors who didn’t, or who expressed ambivalence toward Allen earned their own blowback. But no one is reaching out to Oscar Isaac or Jennifer Lawrence or, I don’t know, Stephen Baldwin, and asking them how they feel about having worked with an accused sex offender.

My theory: it’s because he, and his alleged victims, are gay. After all, it’s easier to ignore crimes in marginalized communities. Maybe there’s some discomfort because straight folks think they don’t understand gay sexuality in the first place—isn’t that normal for the gays—which, yes, is totally a homophobic holdover from when homosexuality was unfairly associated with pedophilia. And while I tend to think the retroactive shaming of actors is mostly performative, it’s still fucked up that we let Singer be Singer for so long.

PB: Hmm, I don’t know. Kevin Spacey’s accused of similar crimes and he’s been getting plenty of heat. I mean, he’s basically radioactive to anyone in the industry now. (Just for the record, though, Singer is married to a woman with whom he has a child, and has said publicly in interviews that he’s bisexual.)

I think maybe the reason Hollywood was slow to cool on Singer is because some of the allegations against him were dropped. As TIME notes, “he has faced two civil suits alleging sexual assault, one of which was dropped and one of which was dismissed.” In the wake of those lawsuits though, a bunch of stories began coming out about sordid “sex parties” Singer either threw or was present at but nothing was ever conclusively substantiated. A Buzzfeed story from 2014 details how Singer was brought “into regular orbit with 18- to 20-year-olds at parties sustained by large amounts of alcohol and drugs — edging precariously close to the line between legality and illegality,” but most of the sources quoted in the piece are unnamed and Singer wasn’t directly accused of misconduct. I think that sort of gave people the license to pull the whole “but nothing was ever proven” card.

Thanks to this latest lawsuit from 2017, though, which is ongoing, people are being denied an easy out. There is now a young man on the record claiming that he was raped by Singer, so there isn’t really any room for equivocating. Also, like you said, the climate has changed a lot in the past couple of years and stories that have been circulating on the whisper network for decades aren’t quite as easy to ignore anymore.

I know you brought up how Globe results aren’t a good indication of what’s coming down the pike—mainly because there’s no overlap between HFPA voters and Academy voters—but the film is still getting a lot of recognition from prestigious awards bodies. BAFTA noms came out yesterday and Bohemian Rhapsody features prominently on the list. So I’m just wondering—what’s an organization to do? I don’t think the film’s going to snag any more big prizes going forward; the backlash from the Globes has been substantial and other awards bodies probably don’t want to be tainted by a similar response on their big night. (By the way, did you see how poor 15-year-old Elsie Fisher, star of Eighth Grade, was dragged on Twitter for congratulating the team on their win?)

Why is everyone being so mean about this? I’m genuinely sorry if I did something wrong :(

— Elsie Fisher (@ElsieKFisher) January 7, 2019

Anyhow, I think what’s going to end up happening is: Malek’s going to continue getting recognition and maybe even some awards for his work, and the rest of the film is going to be shut out from any major wins. It’s the easiest way for them to award the film without really awarding the film, you know? And I don’t think anyone’s going to begrudge Malek a win. He’s got a ton of goodwill in the industry as well as critical praise for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury.

What I do hope for though—especially because we still have many, many awards shows and appearances ahead of us—is for everyone involved to get together and figure out how they want to address the elephant in the room. At the press conference after their Globes wins, the team flat-out refused to answer journalists’ questions about Singer. “That’s not something we should talk about tonight,” said producer Graham King, while Queen member Brian May quipped, “Good question though.” Malek then stepped up, saying, “I will take this one. There’s only one thing we needed to do, and that was to celebrate Freddie Mercury. Nothing was going to compromise us and giving him the love and celebration he deserves.”

They’re going to have to do a bit better than that. Don’t you think?

GH: It always baffles me when public figures don’t have thoughtful, satisfying answers to obvious questions. What are their publicists doing? Actors might not be the best at answering thorny ethical question on the spot (who is?), but they are pretty great at memorizing a script. Someone write that cast some talking points!

Having said that, I don’t really know what the satisfying answer would be. Because I realized, too, after you challenged my interpretation of the case, another reason why there hasn’t been the same retroactive hand-wringing from actors about having worked with Bryan Singer as there was about Woody Allen: It’s because it’s Bryan Singer. Woody Allen is an auteur—being in one of his films was an honour, a sign that you had arrived, or were at least arriving. Bryan Singer made some crowd-pleasing pictures, but no one is calling him an auteur.

I can’t decide whether that makes crafting an appropriate response easier or more difficult. On the one hand, because “working with Woody Allen” was such a cliche Hollywood status symbol, it was easy to understand when actors worked with him, despite credible allegations. Singer doesn’t have the same reputation. No actress has gushed about being granted the opportunity to be in an X-Men reboot. In that light, working with Singer seems less understandable.

But, that also could make it easier. And this seems to be where the cast is headed: you lean in on the Freddie Mercury Tribute and imply that, in the shadow of such an amazing performer, the director is practically immaterial. Bryan Singer? Who’s Bryan Singer? This was basically directed by the spirit of Freddie Mercury!

Also, lingering in the back of my mind, there’s that nagging concern that being fired or denied work because of an unproven allegation is a little dangerous as a precedent. After all, some of the rumours around Singer aren’t about illegal activity so much as being gross in a decadent, predatory, Hollywood way. Of course, the “nothing has been proven in court” defence is the least satisfying argument.

So maybe honesty would be best. Something that says they understand why people might feel ambivalent about the film, because of the director. That that is something, as a cast, they are dealing with, too. But, while we don’t want to shut down the conversation about how we should feel about problematic artists, the opportunity to celebrate Freddie Mercury is an unalloyed good. Then go on to talk about all the things Mercury did for human rights and the LGBTQ community.

And then just ignore the fact that the movie changes so much of Mercury’s story that it’s questionable whether it celebrates the real Freddie Mercury, or some postmodern, nostalgic construct we call Freddie Mercury.

But hating on Elsie Fisher? Let’s get some perspective people. The Oscars have a way of bringing out the darkness in people. That can be good (holding Casey Affleck to account for bad behaviour) and some can be not so good (rage-tweeting a teenager you don’t know). What should award bodies do to mitigate this? Should they vet nominees? And if so, what behaviour is disqualifying? What’s the statute of limitations? Or do problematic award winners just need to give better answers?

PB: Award bodies haven’t had to deal with a lot of scrutiny until fairly recently, so they’ve been able to skirt some of these issues without really shouldering any blame. Now though, their feet are being held to the fire and it’s not going to be as easy to just sit by and say nothing. It’s tricky; there’s certainly no one-size-fits-all solution but in my opinion, nor should there be. We’re dealing with complex issues here and I think everything needs to be addressed on a case by case basis. I really appreciate the diversity requirements the BAFTAs put in place last year: for the two awards categories specifically for British films (Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer), they’re only accepting films that meet two of the British Film Institute’s quartet of core diversity standards.

But of course, different award bodies have different nomination processes. The Academy, for instance, has over 8000 people who submit their nominees for various categories, which then cycle through some complicated process before the final nominees are selected. Because there are so many people involved, it’s easy to play the avoidance game. Who do you hold accountable? But if the final list of five or ten nominees includes some problematic faves that have been in the news for x or y reason, I think it’s the award body’s duty to call for a meeting of their board to figure out the steps forward. Interestingly, I just Googled “Who is BAFTA president” and it turns out it’s Prince William, since 2010! Obviously he can’t weigh in on this stuff but there are other people who can, namely the VPs for film, television and games (?). The Academy, meanwhile, has a Board of Governors that includes Whoopi Goldberg, Laura Dern and Steven Spielberg.

Whatever these governing bodies decide, it’s something they should be able to defend when asked about it. Because they will be asked about it. Sorry guys, changing the subject isn’t an option anymore.

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jessicakehoe · 6 years ago

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Does Bryan Singer’s Film Bohemian Rhapsody Deserve to Get Awards Love?

FIRST REFORMED, but about Ethan Hawke struggling to find hope in a world where Bohemian Rhapsody is probably gonna be nominated for Best Picture. pic.twitter.com/dI4D7kxfJ7

— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) January 4, 2019

Why is everyone being so mean about this? I’m genuinely sorry if I did something wrong :(

— Elsie Fisher (@ElsieKFisher) January 7, 2019

They’re going to have to do a bit better than that. Don’t you think?

The post Does Bryan Singer’s Film <em> Bohemian Rhapsody</em> Deserve to Get Awards Love? appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

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