#god forbid anyone do something that challenges those characters or makes them uncomfortable

[brjeauregard]

The reaction to FCG casting turn undead and it affecting Laudna is wild to me. They were on an island surrounded by undead, it would have been absurd for him to not cast it.

The discourse has also made me realize that a lot of people watch the show for very different reasons than me. I love interparty conflict. Some of my favorite moments from every campaign has been when an argument or fight breaks out between the characters. The cast is so good at embracing the tension and staying true to their character's stance even if they're wrong or escalating the situation and I eat it up every time. These characters can't grow without conflict and, especially in campaign 3, will walk on eggshells around each other unless everyone knows how the party feels about something.

It seems like a lot of people only watch the show for their favorite characters or for the romance (which to clear is completely fine. I'm not saying that people are enjoying the show wrong or that I'm watching it the right way). The cast have said before that they also love conflict and have made it clear that they will stay true to their character in tense moments. Some fans have a tendency to purposefully misinterpret actions and motivations or disregard any trauma that a character has experienced that might explain their behavior. Laudna is allowed to hate the gods and has every reason to, but the first decision FCG ever made for themself was to follow the Changebringer. It makes perfect sense that hearing her, and some other characters to a lesser extent, talk negatively about the Changebringer is frustrating after they've been constantly FCG that he needs to make choices for himself. That doesn't mean that FCG is right or the Laudna is wrong, but their actions and beliefs make sense.

It's also wild how no one is talking about how Fearne almost didn't heal FCG because of turn undead. There's been a lot of talk about how pettiness is her love language but putting your friend's life at risk because he made Laudna run into ocean is more than petty. She ultimately healed them so it's not a huge deal but she established that she values Laudna more than FCG.

I hope they talk about the fight next episode so everyone is on the same page about turn undead and what's going to happen next time they encounter undead.

[cosmicjoke]

Castlevania and people’s issues with Season 3

I’ve been seeing some criticism of Netflix’s “Castlevania” show, particularly season 3, and I have to say I really don’t get it, at all.

Well, first of all, objectively, “Castlevania” is an excellent show.  It has excellent writing, direction, animation, voice acting.  Everything.  It’s an incredibly good show which deals with extremely mature themes in a powerful, emotional way.

The main criticism I see regarding this last season of course is how it ends for Alucard and Hector, and I just seriously am confused.  It always seems to be the same sorts of complaints too whenever it comes to any sort of show, or story that deals with dark, or tragic themes.  People go off on some sort of rampage when the story and the characters in the story have to face some dark or painful situation, as if they don’t understand that, in order for ANY story to work, there has to be obstacles, and there has to be challenges and conflict.  And in order for the characters to grow and change, and end up in some place different then where they began, they have to go through something which would serve as the catalyst for that change.  But these people seem to get upset when the characters, in this case Alucard and Hector, have to experience something awful, as if they won’t be satisfied unless the only scenario’s in the show are idyllic ones depicting nothing but rainbows and sunshine, and where everyone absolutely has to live happily ever after.  I mean, if you’re looking for that kind of vapid, vacuous story telling which gives you nothing but some idealized fantasy that results in nothing but surface satisfaction, and which you promptly forget about immediately after viewing it, go watch a Disney movie or something.  But a show like “Castlevania” isn’t afraid to depict real world themes in a very mature and captivating way.  Which isn’t afraid to depict dark and frightening and heartbreaking scenario’s which leave us reeling precisely because they’re so real and hit so close to home, and are so sincere and relateable to the human condition.  If a film, or a story, makes you feel something on a deep level, if it stirs genuine emotion in you, then you know it’s a piece of art.

But I swear, it’s like the people who are ragging on this last season are angry because all they want to feel is a substanceless warm and fuzzy feeling, and god forbid they should be made to feel anything else, like anger, sadness, or heartbreak.  But those are the cornerstones of good story telling.  Actual DRAMA.  It’s not remotely relateable or interesting to anyone if all you have is sugar and sweetness and everyone’s happy and alright all the time.  That would be unbearably boring and stale, and you wouldn’t feel anything real for anyone in the show, or find yourself still thinking about it even an hour later if that was all the show had.  But I bet you find yourself thinking about “Castlevania” hours and even days after having viewed it, right?  That’s because the show has real substance, real emotion, real life, even within the context of it’s fantasy setting.  That’s because you care about the characters because they contain within them real, human qualities, like sorrow and sadness and pain, and we can relate to them and understand them on that level.  They hurt, and we can empathize with that.  I just don’t see how people can rag on it for having the courage to be real art, for having the courage to show uncomfortable, painful, and tragic situations, when that’s what art is supposed to do.  It’s supposed to be a reflection of what it means to be human, and to be alive.  It’s not supposed to be some easy to consume, candy floss bullshit.  Again, if you want to watch that, go watch a Disney movie where there’s exactly zero tension or drama, because you know, without question, that everything’s going to turn out great for everyone.  Again, that’s the most boring and useless form of story telling there is.  

What happened to both Alucard and Hector was awful and heartbreaking, but that’s also why we as viewers were so affected by it.  Because it rang with so much truth and was so relateable and real.  We felt deep compassion and sorrow because we care about Alucard and Hector, and their plights.  They’re good people who are having terrible things done to them.  That’s something that happens in real life all the time.  Being a good person doesn’t exempt you from experiencing awful things.  That’s real.  We end up thinking about what happened to them and feeling real emotion over it, hoping that they’ll be okay, because they’re characters with actual dynamism and are characters who have experienced true to life heartbreak.  Again, that’s good story telling.  That’s honest story telling. That’s dynamic story telling.  You need drama and you need conflict in order to tell a story with any value.  You can’t criticize something for no real reason other than you found it upsetting because it wasn’t the happy scenario you fantasized about, or because it went in a less than ideal direction for the characters.  That’s not even a real criticism.  That’s just a tantrum because you didn’t get what you want and you don’t like feeling anything that isn’t easy to digest feel good satsifaction.  

[musesofconstantchange]

We Have To Talk About Batman

So, I just read The Batman Who Laughs #3 and Detective Comics #998, and I can’t hold it in anymore. We need to talk about how Batman is the worst character in comics right now. 

For those unaware, the previous holder of this title was Deadpool, but previous luminaries include Cyclops, Wolverine, Hal Jordan, and many others. Rather than talk about all of them, let’s focus on Deadpool and why he held it, and you’ll likely grasp why the others did as well. 

First, Deadpool at his best is a humorous, witty character who swaps between moments of humor with striking, honest takes on serious topics. He is both comic relief and the character that points out the moral incongruities in the protagonist’s actions. As a protagonist, he is well suited to commentary on many things, because of his nature as an outsider sort of character. At his worst, he’s the signal to the reader that nothing that follows his appearance matters, because his existence is akin to throwing the stakes out the window. At his worst, he’s the character that derails anything resembling tonal consistency, and at his worst, he’s the character to whom all others are sacrificed in order to keep him from coming off as a psychotic madman that ruins everything. At his worst, he’s the character that all others must prostrate themselves before, no matter what he’s done, because to accept that this character is flawed is to call into question the writer’s ability to actually write a nuanced character, and we can’t have that. 

You can probably tell already how all of the other mentioned characters have fallen into this trap whenever they become extremely popular, as writers with more interest in being attached to a hot property than writing good stories use them. So it was when Wolverine was the hottest character in comics, so it was when Hal Jordan was the next hot shit, so it now is with Batman. 

Of course, the problem with Batman is that Batman is a character whose main flaws have been around so long that they are now parody; everyone jokes about the ‘i’m the goddamn batman’ line, and laughs at the ‘who wins in a fight, x or batman with prep time’ joke, but these hide the fact that the character of Batman himself has become the biggest mary sue in comics today. His entire character has been so flanderized, so utterly lost inside the infinite layers of parody and lack of self awareness, that all joy has been lost from the character. 

Let us be honest here: the core idea of Batman is not the problem. There is a reason that there are so many Batman cartoons, and it is in no small part because Batman as a character is an almost universal one. A child suffers a great tragedy and uses that as the moment where he begins his heroic journey towards making things better. This is neither dumb nor uninteresting. 

The problem is that writers of batman have, for a very long time, been very uncomfortable with the idea of who Batman is. Batman at his best is a detective, a man of science and reason and restraint, a man who resists his darker urges in comparison to the obsessives that make up his rogue’s gallery. He is a mortal man, a flawed man, but he is always a man, in that he is human and not a god. It is why he is a member of the “trinity” and the Justice League, because he is the mortal element. He is the perspective of the common man compared to the near godlike beings ( Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter ) and cosmic focused heroes ( Green Lantern, Hawkgirl ) that he is surrounded by. He is the one that can say ‘look, you all mean well, but remember how you look to the normal guy.’ 

But this Batman is not popular with writers. Indeed, ever since The Dark Knight Returns, the version of Batman that has become the most common is the paranoid, near psychopathic, almost godlike messiah figure who is always right, who is never wrong for taking immoral actions, whose character all others are sacrificed to in order to ensure we all know how great he is. This Batman isn’t a mere man who uses his inherited wealth and sense of right and wrong to try and make the world a better place. This Batman is someone who is the best at everything, who constantly treats friends, allies, and family members as disposable or hindrances, who sees nothing wrong with spending his time planning on how best to kill all his friends and family, and who must constantly be shown to be smarter and better than all around him. 

This Batman is a super rich mega genius who has been trained by all the world’s best people, who can never be physically defeated by anyone or mentally outwitted by them. This is Batman, invincible ninja playboy billionaire genius. 

It has always been rather egregious on some level, but as time has gone by, successive writers have only deepened the problem, incrementally moving further and further towards the complete mary sue he is today. The fact that Batman needs a giant robot suit, the fact that Batman could put together such a thing somehow despite it requiring genius level knowledge in robotics and electrical and mechanical engineering, speaks to the levels of broken the character is. When movies are made where the concept of Batman vs. Superman is created to justify the existence and need for a giant robot suit so that Batman, a mortal man, can fight godlike beings, you are fundamentally failing to grasp the character and what that character is supposed to be. 

Example, from the recent and aforementioned Detective Comics #998: 

Ah yes, because you know what Batman needed? A giant robot suit that was put together by the Justice League with all their powers because he wasn’t awesome enough. Also, that ‘weakness’ that’s described? That’s not a weakness, which we the reader find out about it when he literally pushes it to the extreme and he’s completely fine from doing so. 

But I can understand how this might come off as just me being mad that Batman has his own Iron Man suit. It’s not. The suit itself is not the issue. It’s what the suit represents that is. Because the whole reason that this exists in this is because Batman can’t stop going to people who trained him, which is basically half the known DC universe. It’s not just that he studied under Wildcat, best fighter alive, and Zatara, best escape artist alive, and Jason Blood, best fear creator alive, and Dr. Stone, one of the greatest inventors in the DC universe. The list goes on. Batman has a staggering amount of former tutors, who apparently imparted upon him near infinite knowledge of all things. 

And it’s not just this near omniscient knowledge of everything either. He’s also physically better than everyone. He’s a master martial artist of a dozen styles who also knows every weapon style known to man. Oh, and apparently he’s also one of the best marksman on earth. From this week’s The Batman Who Laughs #3: 

Because that’s what Batman needed, more skills! 

And make no mistake, all of this makes Batman extremely boring, which is not something Batman should be. A lot of this can be chalked up to writers literally having no idea how to write a challenge for him anymore. At first, the plan was simply to make all of Batman’s villains overwhelmingly overpowered as well. This is why the Joker is somehow also a super ninja genius of everything who can conjure impossible chemicals and defeat the entire legion of doom on his own because he’s just so powerful and smart and crazy! It’s why most of Batman’s villains don’t even really fight Batman any more, it’s usually Batman fighting himself. As we saw in Kings of Fear, the entire series is nothing but Batman in his own head, the Scarecrow didn’t actually do anything. 

Speaking of Batman fighting himself, let’s talk about Batman: Metal. 

Look, I love me some multi-verse. I love Elseworlds. I think one of the greatest tragedies in comics was the decline of the multiverse concept in comics. But Batman: Metal goes from being about the return of the multiverse to being the latest in a long line of resignations that the only person who can compete with Batman is... Batman himself. 

All the villains are various versions of Batman who, you guessed it, killed all the other members of the Justice League. Now, if you were a crafty, or moderately smart writer, you might realize that having a universe where all your nightmares are real means that this is a great way to show how wrong your character is! After all, it’s made of their beliefs in what things are, not what they actually are, which is why Batman’s idea of him becoming Green Lantern involves him using a hard light ring to make darkness and the like. 

What this should do, is provide the writer with some ability to show how Batman isn’t a one-man show. That when Batman’s idea of what makes those other heroes strong runs up against the real thing, his ideas lose. But no, Batman wins, because Batman always wins, because heaven forbid Batman be wrong about other people. Apparently, Hal Jordan being the greatest Green Lantern means nothing compared to Batmans complete and utter bastardization of the concept of the ring, just as Wonder Woman being a near immortal godlike warrior who’s trained for centuries means nothing compared to Batman in what he thinks is the helmet of Ares. And it’s the same as Batman also clearly being better than the greatest Flash that ever lived because apparently Batman also has complete knowledge of the speed force now. 

But almost all of what I’ve talked about could be reasoned away or excused if the moral center of Batman’s character wasn’t utterly corrupt. Consider this mentality for why Batman has contingencies and plans for every possible outcome, and why he plans for the possibility wherein he’ll need to kill all his supposed friends. The world is a dangerous place, and those people have powers, and you never know what might happen that might cause them to go over the edge. We don’t know what might cause Superman to go rogue and kill everyone. Or what might cause Wonder Woman to destroy the world of man. Or what might cause Aquaman to flood the world in the name of Atlantis! All it could take is one bad day! 

Is that possibly true? Sure. But that’s not the mentality of Batman, that’s the mentality of the Joker. Joker is the one who believes that everyone is just one bad day from turning into a psychotic monster, who believes civility and decency are facades that people use to hide the fact that deep inside we’re all animals and monsters who will eat each other given half a chance. He’s the one who believes that people are all naturally bad, that people aren’t really decent, that anyone can be made into a monster and will give up their morality at the first opportunity. That’s the entire concept of his character and why he opposes Batman. It’s also why Batman opposes him. 

Because Batman at his core is not meant to be an agent of vengeance. He’s not the Spectre. He’s not the Punisher. Batman is supposed to be someone who believes that people are ultimately good, that people are not all one step away from committing atrocities and war crimes, that people are, by virtue of their humanity, good people at heart. Not everyone is good, but people aren’t all monsters inside, and the reason Batman needs to exist is because someone has to stand up for the fact that there are still good people in the world. 

If Batman doesn’t believe that people are good, if Batman believes that everyone is one step away from committing mass murder, then Batman is no different then the Joker. When Batman does things like make spy satellites to gather information on other hero’s weaknesses and bugs the rooms of his supposed family members, he’s not just not being Batman, he’s behaving exactly counter to the very values that Batman should be representing. 

If Batman cannot trust his allies on the Justice League to be good people, then how is he any different from Amanda Waller? If Batman cannot trust his ‘family’ to the point where he feels the need to bug their homes and spy on them, why exactly did he train them? If Batman cannot believe that there is any real good in the world, then why exactly is he Batman? 

Hopefully I’ve demonstrated that the problem with Batman as a character is more than skin deep. The issue of him being an overpowered superhuman being are problematic. The issue of him being a near psychopathic figure whose mental state reads like an episode of Making a Murderer is problematic. The issue of him being completely unmoored from any sort of heroic morality is problematic. 

Taken together, the character represents the worst of mary sue writing. He is a character who routinely commits morally and ethically objectionable actions and suffers no fallout for them; he is a character that all others are constantly made to seem inferior towards; he is a character whose very nature and concept must constantly be revised and changed because the writers cannot bear to let the character whose defining trait is his humanity actually be human. 

He is a character whose jokes have become the reality; where the exaggerations are now the baseline. Batman now is little more than a patchwork of skills and gadgets, of psychosis and grimdark man pain. It would be comedic, perhaps, if Frank Millers All Star Batman and Robin, from which the iconic ‘i’m the goddamn batman’ arises, was some kind of outlier. Yet for all the jokes and derision that comic gets, and rightly so, very little distinguishes it from the mainstream depiction of Batman in comics more generally. The flanderization of Batman is complete, and this is why Batman is now the worst character in comics. 

[phantumpoftheopera]

To that wonderful anon on my other blog

You know, even if I were a bad person, a “power hungry whore,” as you so eloquently put it, “anon,” at least I have the human decency not to tell people to kill themselves. 

I am actually quite nice to everyone until they prove they are undeserving of that, in fact, not to people “who kiss my feet,” and if you actually knew me you would know that it makes me very uncomfortable when anyone looks up to me in the first place, at all. As for “minions,” I certainly do not have those; you would need to be a leader to have anyone following you, and I will never see myself as any sort of leader.

I would honestly find the message humorous, as it is a pathetic attempt at trolling, and I would not give it any sort of response at all (and I most certainly will not publish it on the blog to which you sent it, anon), but for two things:

1. You implied that my friends--people who I support, and who support me, because we actually give a shit about each other, which seems more than you are capable of doing--are minions, which is a grievous insult to their character and their relationship to me. How dare you? No, really, how dare you imply I don’t care for my friends, and that I view them as “lesser” than I am (not to mention the word “minion” will now forever be associated with yellow bean people obsessed with bananas in my mind) when I make it very, VERY clear that I view myself as the lowest scum on the planet?

So that pisses me off, because no one fucking talks about my friends in that way.

And of course...

2. You told me, and I quote, “Kill yourself bitch!” Which means, even if the rest of your fragmented, misspelled, grammatically-challenged ask had been in any way accurate or made me feel bad about being a terrible person (I think that was the point? I’m honestly not sure what your end goal was here, to make me cry? To make me quit the internet forever?) that you ruined your entire case by including those three words, because I am fairly certain that every single decent human being on this goddamn planet would agree that telling someone to kill themselves is a disgusting, horrible thing to say, and therefore nothing you say matters one bit, because you are a disgusting, worthless piece of garbage.

If you had sent this to me 3 months ago, I would have possibly taken it to heart; hell, I may have ACTED on it, since at the time it would have taken only the slightest push to knock me off that ledge. I’m not saying this for pity. I’m saying this so maybe you get it through your pathetic, tiny, ugly brain that going around telling people to kill themselves is an absolutely shitty thing to do and one day, if you keep this up, God forbid someone might actually listen to you, you absolute garbage dump. I can only hope that, if that were to happen, you would not be so far gone as to not feel guilt about that, but I have a feeling you are exactly the kind of person who would say something like “lol not my fault they were so weak they actually did it.”

So basically, in summary, go fuck yourself, go get a life, and never EVER tell anyone to kill themselves again, you fucking waste of oxygen.