#funniest thing about me is that i can write essays on babs & she's not even in my top 50 dc characters.

[darkpoisonouslove]

Erendor/Samara because I’m interested 👀

And Marion/Oritel purely for self-indulgence 😇

Lmao sticking to canon is going to be a challenge considering how little screen time they have. And I mean both couples here.

Erendor x Samara:

1) I'm going to go with an educated guess here and say that they probably had an arranged marriage considering their stance on Sky's engagement to Diaspro and the fact that arranged marriages are totally still a thing as we've seen. I like that about them because they're clearly not head-over-heels in love but they seem very compatible (both in 2x14 and later in s5). Arranged marriage is one of my fave tropes and I think all iterations are interesting. Usually, though, my ships fall into the "hate at first sight that grows into begrudging love later" but they are a more middle-ground version. They're not bursting at the seams with love but aren't also particularly uncomfortable with each other which works very well for them as characters, I think. That would tie perfectly into their insistence on the marriage between Sky and Diaspro because they've grown to feel content in their marriage (so Sky should too) while at the same time they don't understand his passionate feelings for Bloom (because their situation is different).

2) Honestly, I've kind of grown to find how horrible they are funny. Like, Brandon and Bloom (in particular) don't deserve the dismissal and downright resentment that they get from Erendor and Samara but their intolerance and entitlement can also be quite funny. Especially since they've both had a couple more graceful moments which just means that they choose to completely suck about 98% of the time. Those better moments in particular are what makes them work as awful people for me because it feels like it was a deliberate choice made for their characterization. I am aware that it most definitely was not. Their characters specifically are literally just what works for the plot but the show of positive traits makes them feel more nuanced. It feels like there's something that could be explored with their characters instead of them just being hostile to Bloom simply to amp up the drama with Sky's arranged marriage. With good writing you can actually make them feel like complex people.

3) I LOVE the implication in Magical Adventure that Erendor just felt so guilty for betraying his alliance with Domino and the consequences this would have for the relationship between him and Samara. In 2x14 she's actually the one who's more antagonistic towards Bloom so I don't imagine she is fond of anyone from the Domino family. Having Erendor walking around like he's a ghost himself just because of his broken promise to Oritel would have probably annoyed her heavily to say the least. But then on the other hand, there's the fact that Samara is pretty much the only sane person in s5 (which was certainly A Choice) and she's the one who's more understanding of Sky and Bloom's relationship. It doesn't lead to tension between her and Erendor but I love the idea that it could. That is to say, their good character traits seem to be in total disharmony which leads to the funniest fucking implication that the only way they can remain compatible is to be on their worst behavior, always. Which, in turn, supports the idea that they are in love because, as I already pointed out, they are totally awful at least 98% of the time.

Did you expect all three points to come together in an essay-like meta because I did not?

Marion x Oritel:

I'll try to be short here because I put too many brain cells into the previous ship.

1) Love that Marion is the one with the Dragon Fire while Oritel is barely implied to have any magic. Extremely sexy of them. (Also, when the maids referred to them as "Your Majesty" and "Your Highness" in SotLK, they were talking to Marion first and she's who they referred to as "Your Majesty" because Oritel is just a consort even if they call him a king; you can't change my mind.)

2) Having a baby during a magical war? Iconic. On a serious note, though, I'm 100 000% certain that that was extremely hard on them both from an emotional and tactical point of view. It adds a lot of depth to their characters (or would if they had fucking bothered to give them any attention whatsoever) to know that they weathered the stress and dangers during the pregnancy only to then sacrifice themselves to save the Magic Dimension. Like I said, iconic.

3) Okay, this actually pretty directly goes against canon (5x12) but who can tell me that they aren't totally in sync in battle and practically know what the other one is thinking? Just try to convince me that that's not the case. They are totally battle mates and a power couple and their teamwork is pretty much unmatched. They are absolutely NOT each other's weak spot; in fact, the only way to defeat them is to separate them because their love for each other just gives them too much power.

Would you look at that? I can actually keep things short!

send me a ship and I’ll tell you three things I like about it

[dilfdoctordoom]

🔥 Babs Gordon :>

I think all of my Babs opinions are controversial so let's just go under the cut for a moment

We are absolutely at the point where support of certain titles is a massive indication of, at the very least, passive ableism and I don't think fandom has the right to be mad at disabled fans for being pissed about that. This is about Nightwing but it's also about every fucking Batgirl book we've had since the New 52 started

The way Young Justice adapted her story was shit. I understand wanting to give Babs more agency -- but we know there are ways to do that without sacrificing the character of an Asian woman

Actually, on stories that give Babs agency in becoming disabled -- I don't like it. Now I know that sounds bad, but let me explain: Babs lack of agency is part of her origin story as Oracle. And I think that the Oracle Code dealt with this the best, because Babs... isn't given much agency in how she became disabled, but it isn't the shitshow of TKJ. Like, IDK how to explain to able-bodied people that most of the time, disabled people don't have agency in how they become disabled... and that such a big part of Oracle was Barbara reclaiming her agency. Casting that aside means reevaluating what Oracle is and no writer has ever actually done that

I'm not excited for the Batgirl movie. I think it'll be a Batgirl: Year One adaptation, which is great! Year One is probably the best Babs Batgirl story, but... Officer Barbara Gordon. Racist directors. It being a Babs Batgirl movie, when it could've been about Cass instead (look, I don't like her BOP characterization, so let's give her a movie where she has an accurate personality/backstory/etc)

I think one of the worst 'fanon' aspect of Barbara Gordon is this steadfast belief that the Joker shot her because she was Batgirl/she was Batgirl at the time of TKJ. Like... I think the fact that Babs decided to stop being Batgirl is infinitely more compelling. It also makes her one of the most interesting Batfamily members -- because she gave it up. She gave it up and she didn't need a tragedy to do that and god, I wish people'd remember that

Ted Kord is probably one of her better love interests and thanks to modern comics, I genuinely prefer him to Dick Grayson

Babs is kind of a bitch and I think that should stay! It's a flaw that makes her an interesting, dynamic character

And continuing from that! People need to remember that Babs was never a perfect mentor for Cass or Steph or even Charlie. Barbara is a very flawed person and so are all those characters and seeing how their flaws mix together and contradict each other and how their strengths combine to make those duos significantly better and more interesting to read

Dick/Babs did more harm than good to both characters and has actually done irreparable damage to them (and Kory)

Batgirl should always be a part of Babs story... provided they keep it so that she quit before TKJ. Actually should stay either way. Like how Dick should always be Robin before Nightwing, Babs should always be Batgirl before Oracle. And neither should ever return to those roles.

If a competent writer took a stab at it, I think I would enjoy LukeBabs? Hm especially with Jace I think there's something there for them, in how they fit with their families, expectations, the hero life AND HOW IT IMPACTED THEIR FAMILY, like genuinely... these two are a duo with endless potential and it makes me kinda mad that we only got to see them together in Burnside (AKA Babs has no character time)

I'm not excited for Batgirls at all, even if I exclude the ableism and the ongoing character assassination of Cass and Steph. I just think there's this push to make the mantle of Batgirl more important to Babs than it actually is. That's not to say it's not important to her -- it certainly is -- but recent comics have kind of pushed this idea that it's the most important thing to her, rather than something from her past that she's cherished and moved past. I also think that this book would've been somewhat tolerable if it actually explored what Batgirl meant to all three characters -- and had it end with them all leaving the mantle behind. Maybe handing it over to Tiffany Fox/Nell Little?

Nissa and Babs had a really fun, underrated dynamic and honestly, it feels more like what fanon thinks Babs and Steph were like

Acting like Babs has more 'power' as Batgirl than she ever did as Oracle is just so blatantly incorrect and one of the most infuriating things to read

The Burnside design. It's kinda ugly. I'm sorry but it is like Babs... Babs what trashcan did you fish that out of oh my god just steal Bruce's credit card and fix this mess

Within the next ten years, we are going to get some form of media where Barbara is Damian Wayne's love interest. Will not elaborate.

Savannah Welch is one of the best comic book casting decisions ever and I actually hope we get to see her again, hopefully as Oracle