#his original plan WAS zorro

[mazzystar24]

I’ve done the math guys

The reason for Eddie’s ugly wolf costume is that he’s doing it in solidarity for buck feeling ugly with the boil on his face 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

[acmoorereadsandwrites]

Books to Try if You Loved the Grishaverse

If you liked the magical heists but you wanted more werewolves, vampires, nine-tailed foxes, and fae, try:

Zodiac Rising by Katie Zhao, a YA heist inspired by Chinese folklore.

The fountainheads of the zodiac families have been taken and Evangeline’s older brother has been found dead, with all signs leading to the fae being responsible for both. Evangeline gathers a team of three other students to help her get the statues back, but things are never that simple when you’re on a heist with your ex or enter the fae world.

If you wanted to spend more time inside The Fold and liked the complicated romances, try:

The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart, the first in an epic fantasy trilogy

Two sisters forced on opposite sides of a war when Hakara escapes a godly force that either kills or transforms anyone trapped in it and the younger sister, Rasha, is changed into the god’s image. One sister will never give up hope of reuniting and the other learns the world is a lot more cruel than she originally believed.

If you wanted more Queer stories about destroying your monstrous ex, try:

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin, a standalone MM fantasy inspired by Ashkenazi Jewish folklore

Dimitri was the Tzar, once, before his estranged husband took his place and forced him into hiding with what’s left of his court. With his new lover, Dimitri will destroy Alexey if it’s the last thing he’ll do. But Alexey is not ready ready to left Dimitri go and will do whatever he can to get him back.

You want the heist and the found family and addictive romance, but you wanted a contemporary with no magical elements, try:

Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan, a contemporary set in Shanghai

Best friends Lulu, Jane, and Rina plan a heist to steal the money gifted to Lulu and her fiancee on Lulu’s wedding day to fund their dreams. But as they plan, obstacles pop up and some parts of their lives are maybe not as bad as they originally thought.

If you wanted more time in The Fold, destroying your monstrous ex, and you loved the Eastern European-inspired setting but you wanted more witches and dragons, try:

Foul Days Genoveva Dimova, the first in a Bulgarian fantasy duology inspired by the Iron Curtain

Kosara is a witch who willingly gave up her shadow, and her magic, to escape her home and her ex, the zmey. But she’s dying without her shadow. The only way to save herself is to go back and face her past.

If you loved the complicated relationship, you really love the enemies-to-lovers witch x witch hunter romance found in Nina and Matthias’ story, but you wanted a fantasy romance, try:

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli, the first in a YA/New Adult Romantasy duology

Rune is a witch in hiding who has been doing everything she can to save her fellow witches from the witch hunters. Gideon is the brother of Rune’s childhood best friend and a witch hunter out to kill every witch and was traumatized by one of the former witch queens. When the two agree to pretend to court, this cat-and-mouse game will reignite old attractions and heavy prices will be paid

If you loved what Netflix’s Shadow and Bone did with casting Alina and Mal as biracial but wanted more conversations around the complexities of being biracial during colonization and war, try:

Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares, a YA historical fantasy first in a planned series inspired by Zorro and Mesoamerican mythology

Leonora has taken the manacle of Pantera, fighting the colonizers every chance she gets to free her people from their oppression while also reconciling with her own identity as a biracial woman in a world where she has to be one or the other.

If you loved the elemental magic and found family but you also love fairy tale retellings, try

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, the first of a four book YA fantasy series

Princess Anidori is engaged to marry a man she has never met, Prince Geric. Her maid forcibly takes her place and sends Ani to become the new goose girl of the king. What the maid wasn’t aware of was that Ani has growing magical powers and that her kindness would win her allies to help get her throne back.

If you loved the angst of Kaz and Inej’s love story but want more tragedy, more poetic language, and less fantasy, try:

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang, a standalone romantic historical retelling the legend of one of the Four Beauties of Ancient China

Xishi is one of the most beautiful women Fanli, an advisor to the emperor, has ever seen, prompting him to ask her to distract the king so a coup can come and overthrow him. Xishi agrees but wanted neither expected was to fall for each other as they prepare to be separated.

[harlivycentral]

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy in Batman: Joker War - Summary & Excerpts (Part 1)

A continuation of my series of collecting summaries and excerpts of all the relevant comics leading up to the new solo run of Poison Ivy

The basic premise of "Joker War" is that Joker has gotten ahold of all of Batman's wealth and is using it to control the city. He's paid all the other gangs of Gotham to join him, and they're running around in clown masks terrorizing everyone in Gotham. Meanwhile, Batman's been doused with a new and improved joker toxin.

In Batman (2016) #96, Batman comes to, still dosed with the toxin. Harley found him and is filling him in on what's been going on/trying to give him an antidote and get him to get his shit together, but he's still hallucinating and runs away.

In Batman (2016) #97, Bruce makes his way to the movie theater where his parents were killed. Joker's bought it, fixed it up, and tells Batman about his plan to lure everyone in Gotham to the theater. He's offering $10,000 per person for them to come watch Zorro, the movie Batman saw the night his parents were killed. Then Joker is going to reveal Batman's origins and dose everyone in the theaters with his new toxin. Batman fights off the Joker's minions and stumbles out onto the street, still hallucinating, and Harley finds him.

In Batman (2016) #97, Joker and his new accomplice Punchline discuss Clownhunter, a new vigilante who's killing joker's minions. Joker then decides it's time to take out Harley. We cut to Harley & Batman.

Click here for part 2 of the Joker War arc

Click here for my master list of posts excerpting Harley & Ivy's cameos in various Batman comics leading up to the current Poison Ivy run

[quibbs126]

hear me out on a potential rare pair: knight cookie X raspberry mousse fankid. the raspberry family seems to be super into attempting to restore the house raspberry,and while knight cookie is a retainer (a paid servant who has been employed for a long time) and bodyguard,we dont actually know a lot about him or his family. heck we dont even know what type of berry he is despite him being a hollyberrian. apologiese for the infodump

Nah, you’re good on the infodump, here’s Raspberry Cheesecake Cookie

I know what I said earlier, and I’m considering taking a break, but I was already drawing him when I posted that, and I do still have a few others I had done some half sketches for that I want to finish first, so I finished him anyways. I was going to finish the Dark Choco/Raspberry kid first, but I couldn’t figure out a design for the sword hilt, so I did him first instead

So as for this guy’s name, so I know I was originally having some trouble with it. I don’t believe Knight is a berry, even if he grew up in the Hollyberry Kingdom, since I doubt every Cookie living in a kingdom of a particular flavor is of that flavor. If that makes sense. But I wasn’t sure what he was, so I was guessing around. I eventually came to Raspberry Tart, but it was still a bit before I’d get to this one. But recently I learned his dough contains at least some white chocolate, given White Choco’s Jelly description, so I worked with that for coming up with a better name. Also I wasn’t sure how to incorporate the distinct look of a raspberry tart. An idea was to name him after white chocolate filled raspberries, but also I feel like that’d be a better thing for a potential White Choco/Raspberry Mousse kid. But in that search, I found white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, so I ultimately decided to name him after that

White chocolate raspberry cheesecake:

With his design, I’ll be honest, I was kind of making things up as I went. I know I wanted his hair to be long-ish and to have pink and yellow, and I wanted him to have a rapier, but everything else just sort of happened. I think when I originally drew this, I had planned him to have a completely different outfit, likely one closer to Raspberry, but I got what I got. I like the asymmetrical cape, which I again did by accident. I realize it should probably be on the arm opposite of the one he uses, and I fixed that in the little sketch, but I thought it looked cool on that side instead. Also with the boots, I had originally intended them to be a normal length, but doing the lineart, I decided “screw it, make them higher” and yeah. Could I have made them higher? I feel like he doesn’t look much like Knight. I had intended more blue, but I just thought the reds/pinks with the yellows worked better. Actually maybe the yellow covers it. As for the feather, in my head it’d be like, behind the ear, but since Cookies don’t have ears, it’s just like, a hair clip or something, I dunno. Also I I don’t like the color of the mouth. I don’t like the red, it doesn’t look right. But that’s what Knight and Raspberry Mousse have. But overall, I generally like how his design turned out

So as for him, I’ll admit I don’t have much. Something I should admit first, but I always think Raspberry Mousse is Spanish, despite him almost certainly being French. I think it’s because around the time I discovered him, we recently saw the Puss in Boots sequel, as well as the first movie, and I think RM and Puss look kind of similar, as well as Raspberry Mousse’s skill theme having similar instruments to him. Actually I don’t know why I mentioned this, I think I just wanted to say it

Anyways, so I guess Raspberry Cheesecake is something like what I understand Zorro or Puss in Boots to be, basically a guy who travels around the land helping those in need, but without the massive ego. He probably also has a horse

Also, in reference to the little sketch, so while Raspberry Cheesecake may appear a suave and confident fighter, he’s internally a bit of an anxious mess, constantly worrying about if he’s doing things right. He’s internally always shouting. One thing I’m thinking of is that he got made into a knight of the Hollyberry Kingdom, or at least made a proper warrior, but he got too nervous about all the pressure and just decided to instead travel Earthbread. The dude needs to get a better grasp on his confidence

Also I mentioned a Dark Choco/Raspberry kid before; while I don’t think most of the kids exist in the same timeline as each other (Panela and Turtle Fudge especially), these two do, and while they’re second cousins, they’re pretty close. I haven’t gotten much around to Black Forest Cookie (I’ll give you a spoiler and tell you their name), but I do know this. I’ll probably elaborate more there

But yeah, that’s Raspberry Cheesecake. Hope you like him!

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

The unmade PUSS IN BOOTS sequel...

In an alternate timeline, the 2nd PUSS IN BOOTS movie would've been released during the holiday season of 2018... It would've been a significantly different movie, too.

It would not have been directed by Joel Crawford, but rather Chris Miller, who directed the first PUSS IN BOOTS movie, and SHREK THE THIRD as well. He's not *that* Chris Miller of the Phil Lord-Chris Miller duo, but a long-time DreamWorks Animation veteran whose work goes all the way back to their debut feature ANTZ.

The title was PUSS IN BOOTS: NINE LIVES & 40 THIEVES.

It had, you may have guessed it, a 1001 Arabian Nights setting.

The concept art for this picture suggested something pretty damn cool. I absolutely love PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH, in fact it is my favorite film in the entire SHREK franchise and just a new favorite movie of mine, period.

But... I'm not gonna lie, I would really love to see what *this* movie would've been like. I'm sure it would've had a tone and directing style similar to that of the first PUSS IN BOOTS, and the visual style for it would've been about the same: Much more hyper-detailed with ornate textures everywhere (look at Puss' sword in that movie and the other SHREKs, and look at his much simplified sword in THE LAST WISH), no framerate fluctuations, etc.

The SHREK series had often covered European fairy tales, and the first PUSS IN BOOTS movie married such fairy tales like Jack and the Beanstalk, and the Golden Goose, to a more old-school adventure genre: Think Zorro, Three Musketeers, etc. Threw in spaghetti westerns for good measure. It was a sandier side of the SHREK world, deserts, and Spanish and Latin American-inspired towns. THE LAST WISH retains all of that, the magical "Dark Forest" being not too far removed from the European fairy tale aesthetic. That whole storybook-inspired look they were going for put it firmly in the European fairy tale, I feel. Again, best of both worlds... But there's other worlds, right?

NINE LIVES & 40 THIEVES would've taken us more East, and I'd really love to see that in the fairy tale universe of SHREK. Who's to say they can't... take that idea off the shelf again? After all, THE LAST WISH ends with a direct lead-in to a fifth SHREK movie. Perhaps SHREK 5 can incorporate the Arabian Nights setting? Or a third PUSS IN BOOTS movie where we only follow "Team Friendship" on a new adventure?

About that... Very few Western animated movies spawn ongoing spin-off feature film series. DESPICABLE ME scored with the MINIONS movie in 2015, and that got an equally ginormous sequel this past summer. That was the inverse of LIGHTYEAR to the TOY STORY franchise, LIGHTYEAR could've been a big hit and could've spawned more space adventures with the human/actual space ranger Buzz... But alas, no cigar. (I'm honestly bummed about that, I was ready for more!) THE LEGO MOVIE tried to do this, but I feel Warner Bros. made the mistake of having the studio make two spin-off movies - unrelated to one another, LEGO BATMAN and LEGO NINJAGO - *before* THE LEGO MOVIE 2 proper. Maybe if LEGO MOVIE 2 opened in 2017 as originally planned, with BATMAN and NINJAGO afterwards, we could've had plenty of different theatrical LEGO stories to choose from. DreamWorks' own MADAGASCAR franchise couldn't have a side series of PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR movies, the first one - released back in 2014 - was deemed a box office disappointment. Its "flopping" actually lead to a big restructuring month at DreamWorks, which took NINE LIVES & 40 THIEVES off their schedule...

It was very possible that the movie was no more, much like other DreamWorks pictures that got the axe at the time: BOLLYWOOD SUPERSTAR MONKEY, B.O.O.: BUREAU OF OTHERWORLDLY OPERATIONS, etc. Thankfully, PUSS Dos remained in limbo rather than being outright cancelled.

But NINE LIVES & 40 THIEVES didn't make it, we got THE LAST WISH instead.

But now... THE LAST WISH has been a leggy box office success, a record-breaking one at that, too. It's actually the first post-1999 wide-release animated movie since THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE to make more than 10x its opening weekend gross... EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE came out in 2000... So that makes **two**, **two** animated movies released in the domestic market since 1999 that scored 10x their opening weekend grosses... WOW!

So yes, I'd imagine the PUSS IN BOOTS train won't be stopping. I think it's a strong possibility that we get *both* new SHREK sequels *and* new PUSS IN BOOTS sequels. Puss showed with both movies that he can more than hold his own and have his own long-form adventures w/ Kitty Softpaws and Perrito. The original made over $500m worldwide back in 2011/12, and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars much like this film, which looks to finish up with over $450m worldwide. Hey, is it possible somebody else gets a new movie, too? I feel there's a lot of ground to cover in Shrek's fairy tale world that goes beyond Shrek's swamp, Far Far Away, San Ricardo, Del Mar, the lands inbetween, etc.... A magic carpet that's reminiscent of the one in most ALADDIN interpretations appears in THE LAST WISH as part of Big Jack Horner's collection, so maybe that Arabian Nights-style world is still out there and might be featured in a future SHREK/PUSS IN BOOTS movie?

I'd love to see that, honestly. Since the world of SHREK is back in business, I say go explore and expand that world!

[urbaneturtle]

DCAU Rewatch: Batman the Animated Series 18: Beware the Gray Ghost

When a series of mysterious bombings remind Bruce Wayne of his favorite childhood TVv show, Batman recruits out of work actor and star of the series, Simon Trent, to help find the perpetrator.

Credits:

Story: D. O'Flaherty & T. Ruegger

Teleplay: G. Wolf & T. Ruegger

Directed by: B. Kirkland

Supervising Composer: Shirley Walker

Music Composed by: Carl Johnson

Animation Services by: Spectrum Animation Studio

This one is a beloved classic in no small part because it features the voice of the original  television Batman, Adam West. The former Batman guest stars as washed-up actor Simon Trent, who is doomed to be typecast for his performance as a pulp hero. It works mostly because of that metatextual reference, combined with some of the best animation of the series.

Bruce being inspired in part by Gray Ghost to become a hero is a cute idea and that many of his gadgets and setup are directly lifted from that series is a fun addition to the backstory. In the comics, Batman is similarly inspired by Zorro, having seen one of those films the night his parents die. (A nod to that is shown in the JLU episode Epilogue, where Amanda Waller and Phantasm plan to kill Terry McGinnis’s parents after seeing a new Gray Ghost film). There’s something humanizing about Batman modeling a part of his dark persona after a childhood fantasy.

I remember renting a VHS of this episode and a couple of Scarecrow stories including Dreams in Darkness a few times in my teens before the complete DVDs came out. As a result, I have a particular fondness for it. The episode is very much a love letter to Batman as a childhood hero. I suppose we all have our heroes we created mythologies about in our lives because they meant something to us as a child. It’s nice to get a glimpse of Bruce’s childhood before his parents died.

Read the full recap and commentary on Patreon.

[donfadrique]

I've decided to re-watch “The Mark of Zorro” (1940) to cheer myself up. 

I have sort of a plan: 1) watch the black and white version (in the old Soviet dubbing) and write down an emotional brief review in the process of watching it; 2) watch the colorized version; 3) watch the movie in the original dubbing; 4) perhaps write a full review.

I watched this movie a long time ago for the first time (I wanted to watch famous films with Basil Rathbone). But unfortunately, I didn't get to watch the movie properly, and all I remembered were a few scenes. I didn’t like Tyrone Power then, and only this year, after taking a closer look at him, I changed my mind. So this is the first time I'm watching Zorro'40 carefully.

Before we start, a few words need to be said. (However, the film has my full attention from the very first frame, and I'll have a very hard time pausing and writing down these notes!)

First of all, I am not a native English speaker, so I apologize for any mistakes.

Secondly, after watching the movie I want to give my assessment of a) screenplay, b) cast and director’s work, c) posters, costumes, locations, camera work, soundtrack etc. Also, I wanna find the answer to the question, what makes the movie a masterpiece for me.

A separate topic is the homoeroticism of "The Mark of Zorro". We know that Diego's flirtation with Captain Pasquale was part of his plan to eliminate his enemies, but was there a "gay message" in the film, as some movie reviewers claim? Perhaps it was ambiguous humor or an analogue of modern fan service for those viewers who positively evaluate same-sex relationships? Let's try to figure it out.

So, let's start.

1/🗡️

Wow, Diego receives his military education (!) in Madrid (judging by his uniform, he is a hussar), he has a reputation as a duelist (he was nicknamed "Californian cockerel") and, probably, a womanizer. It is not yet known how old Diego is, but the actor (Tyrone Power) is 26, which means the screenwriters were most likely focusing on the canonical novel by Johnston McCulley.

I also really like the design of the credits, the preface and the first lines of the characters, as well as the costumes and the balance between realism and spectacularity of the movie (and this spectacularity is the result of the work of the film crew and fencing skill of actors, and not modern computer graphics etc).

2/🗡️

Aha, "Cadet Vega".

And, saying goodbye to his comrades, Diego thrusts his saber into the ceiling.

"Leave it there. And when you see it think of me in the land of gentle missions, happy peons, sleepy caballeros, and everlasting boredom. Wine! A toast, señores! To California! Where a man can only marry, raise fat children, and watch his vineyards grow."

The most amazing thing is that Diego gives the impression of a very mature and strong-willed person. Like a military general, not a young cadet :) I have three explanations: 1) Tyrone Power himself was like that, 2) he played Cadet Vega like that so viewers would later see the contrast between true Diego and his dandy mask, 3) both factors. But, of course, Power was not just a talented and good-looking actor, he was a charismatic person. A fine choice of an actor to play Zorro. Moreover, Power had a Spanish-like appearance, which is important, for my taste. And his slim body would allow him to convincingly play both a dandy and the "elusive ghost" El Zorro.

3/🗡️

Before I continue watching the movie and taking notes, here are a few interesting facts about actors and my thoughts out loud.

🎭 Everyone knows that Basil Rathbone was one of the best swordsmen in Hollywood. But perhaps not everyone knows that he was twice the British Army Fencing Champion, a skill that served him well in movies and allowed him to even teach actors Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power swordsmanship. (By the way, Rathbone was awarded the Military Cross in 1918.) And! He said about Tyrone Power, "Power was the most agile man with a sword I've ever faced before a camera. Tyrone could have fenced Errol Flynn into a cocked hat." Rathbone's opinion was worth a lot, because he was not only famous for his fencing and acting skills—he was a mega-celebrity (well, years ago I became interested in "The Mark of Zorro" precisely because Rathbone starred there; I had never even heard of Power xD). And yup, as we already know, the movie became a hit, and 20th Century-Fox often cast Power in other swashbucklers in the years that followed.

🎭 The fact that Flynn and Power were lovers can only be of interest to us because Power, due to his bisexuality and communication with homosexuals, was able to play ideally a man who pretended (?) to be interested in the same sex. But since Power's Diego was flirting with Rathbone's Captain Pasquale, I was interested in his views on same-sex relationships. Rathbone probably had a positive attitude towards them, since in 1926 he was very angry about the censorship because he believed that homosexuality needed to be brought into the open (Rathbone was arrested along with every other member of the cast of "The Captive", a play in which his character's wife left him for another woman).

🎭 So far, I like everything about "The Mark of Zorro", except that the screen image is reminiscent of "Captain Blood" (1935), not "Gone with the Wind" (1939), filmed in Technicolor. Perhaps modern viewers often underestimate Zorro'40 precisely because both versions of the movie, black-and-white and colorized, seem "old-fashioned" to them.

An interesting fact. According to Hollywood legend, Rathbone was Margaret Mitchell's first choice to play Rhett Butler in the film version of her novel "Gone with the Wind".

🔥References (if you need them)🔥

Rathbone, Basil (1962). In and Out of Character (Ebook ed.). Lanham, MD: Limelight Publishers.

Higham, Charles (1980). Errol Flynn: The Untold Story. New York City: Doubleday.

[nnschneider]

Tagged by @wurzelbertzwerg to share my WIP folder.

You've been warned.

Focusing on Jane Austen fanfic, I have

Note that I write for my own sake, and at the pleasure of my muse. I tend to pick something up and play with it for a bit then put it down, forget about it after a couple months, etc. And then think of it again, have to read thru what I've previously written, and maybe decide to add to it. Point being, I have a bunch of WIPs in various states of completion and in a few fandoms.

Bro (short for Brogency): Mr. and Mrs. Bennett decided to pass off their third (and final) child as a son. I'm like 24 chapters in and the main romance is better Ryan (aka Mary Bennett) and an OC.

12Days (short for the 12 Days of Christmas): Modern NA AU in which the Morland family has a rotating curse every Christmas (affecting one family member per year) related to the items in the annoying Xmas song.

C-Oz (short for Catherine In Oz): The night after Gen Tilney tells Catherine she needs to leave, there's a big storm at the abbey. Insert Wizard of Oz dream in which Catherine is trying to get home.

Baby 3 (short for And Baby Makes Three): Henry Tilney is a paleontologist and Catherine Morland gets a leopard. Bringing Up Baby for NA. I'm 14 chapters in and I think I'll be able to wrap it up in another chapter.

Beanstalk. Persuasion as Jack & the Beanstalk with Frederick as Jack and Anne as the harpist who gets the goose to lay golden eggs.

Extremes in Dating: A modern S&S AU in which Edward Ferrars just wants a quiet night alone and his girlfriend Lucy has other plans. (Related to Drynuary For Hookups and based on an abysmal date my brother told me about.)

Fox (short for The Mark of the Fox): A Zorro AU for S&S.

Gingerbread. S&S as Hansel & Gretel. Pairs nicely with Beanstalk.

GoodPlace (short for The Good NA-borhood): NA as the Good Place with Henry Tilney, John Thorpe, Mrs. Allen, and Isabella as dead people, Gen Tilney as the architect, and Catherine as the neighborhood's Janet.

L+A (short for Love and Agriculture): Greek-ish/Roman-y pantheistic version of Emma with Emma as the goddess of love.

Luna. A P&P covid allegory with werewolves instead of covid, centered on Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her circle of correspondence. (They don't really care if the mysterious illness is eviscerating poor people in Town so long as it doesn't threaten their country estates, etc). Probably too preachy for me to finish.

MBDE (short for Mr. Bennett Dies Early): Mr. Bennett sneaks to Netherfield to meet his new neighbor, has an accident on the way home, and dies. Mr. Collins shows up to inherit and decides to marry Jane who has fallen in love-at-first-sight with Bingley. Elizabeth tries to protect Jane from Collins' unwelcome regard. Darcy tries to protect Elizabeth from the same.

Anyway, I set myself a goal to get Brogency, Extremes in Dating, and And Baby Makes Three into peer review this year. So far (it's still January) I like my odds.

Mega Abbey 2. Sequel to Origin Story, a hero/villain AU for NA. Henry's dad shows up unexpectedly so Henry has to pretend he isn't dating Catherine to protect her from his supervillain father and Catherine wants to rescue Henry from his supervillain legacy. I'm about 8 chapters in, trying to figure a few plot points out.

Reindeer: I try to repurpose Christmas carols into JAFF poems and this is me slowly adapting "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" into "Lizzy the Leading Lady" about how Elizabeth Bennett is clearly superior to all other Austen heroines.

Sabrina. MP as Sabrina except Fanny won't end up with either Bertram brother.

[thealmightyemprex]

Sci Fi Month Review 8: Lost in Space Follow the Leader

For this review we are going to look at a classic of TV Sci Fi ,Lost In Space ,in particalur one I saw on a few forums considered the best

So before I go into what the episode is about,I'm gonna talk about the series

The series premise is that the Jupiter 2 ,due to machinations of saboteur Dr Smith (Johnathan Harris ) is marooned on an alien planet.Now the Robinson family ,Smith ,the pilot Don West (Mark Goddard ) and their robot (Physically played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld ) encounter many strange things as they try to fix their ship and get back home

Now while I am familiar with Lost in Space .....I have only seen a handful of episodes of the show .My biggest knowledge of the franchise is I grew up on the 1998 movie ,which to this day is a guilty pleasure (In fact according to my dad it was the first film he took me to cinema to see ).I have always wanted to check out more of the series but it hasnt happened ,so am delighted to check out this episode

The plot of this episode the spirit of an alien warrior Canto (voiced by Gregory Morton ) possesses Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams) planning to steal the ship

Yeah this is a good episode.A common thing I heard said about Lost in Space is despite Guy Williams being the lead of the series ,he kind of got overshadowed by Smith ,the Robot and Bill Mummy as Will Robinson ,but I think this episode is a good showcase of Guy Williams talents .He gets a rather heartwarming monologue about regreting bringing his young son Will into space ,gets some fun action scenes ,get to protray the inner conflict between John and the evil entity and gets to be a villain when posessed by the entity (And as a huge fan of Disneys Zorro ,its fun to see Zorro go bad) .Bill Mummy is fantastic as Will Robinson ,my favorite moment being near the end where Canto lures Will into a trap.....And Will bluntly says something like "I know your not taking me to my family ,your taking me here to kill me ",thats legit good acting .Johnathan Harris is so fun as Doctor Smith .Its funny that Smith was originally concieved as a malicious villain ,and in modern protrayals that tends to be the direction they take the character (Heck in the 1998 film he is CERTAINLY a villain )....But Harris kind of moved the character away from being a villain (Mainly cause he didnt want to be killed of ) so while not a great guy and almost certainly a spinless coward ,he does have a more nobler moments,like here he is fully prepared to take care of and being a parent figure for the younger Robinsons when everyone goes missing,I dunno I found that sweet

I do have issues with the episode,the way Canto is dealt with is VERY convenient and.....The robot straight up tells the family John is posessed half way through.....But everyone acts like that scene never happened

Overall ,I had a lot of fun with this ,might check out more Lost in Space

@ariel-seagull-wings @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @angelixgutz @amalthea9 @filmcityworld1 @goodanswerfoxmonster @princesssarisa

[hopefulstarfire]

Okay this is what I'm looking at for my schedules for weekly stuff after I move into the house.

Monday -> Either Pokémon Infinite Fusion OR Randomized Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. After I finish one, I'll go to the next.

Tuesday -> Writing! This will be script writing for the podcast, along with working on original projects, i.e. Crossroads, Astrarium, and more. And also trying to work on the yugioh oc fic (though the gc and I talk about these ocs and the show daily)

Wednesday -> I'm thinking Stardew and digging deeper into the mods, i.e. the Ridgeside Village and the Expanded mod. And also my Zorro mod. Bc I love Zorro. It will be either that OR Baldurs Gate 3 bc my husband has told me I am playing it as soon as we get our desks and computers set up lol.

Thursday -> Also a writing day, but this will be the day I post up new episodes of the Court Jester of Games podcast. If I decide to get another podcast going, that podcast will update on Tuesdays.

Friday -> Haven't picked yet! I'm thinking I may do one of my switch games, I just haven't yet decided what that'll be yet. I'm debating bw Persona 5 Royal (one of my favorite games), Fire Emblem Engage, Phoenix Wright and Breath of the Wild.

Saturday/Sunday -> My off days! I may once in a blue moon do a stream but that's if like. The hubs wants to stream on his days off or if some of my friends that'll be off on weekends want to. But I plan on just relaxing and watching shows those days lmfao.

I'm expecting September to be when I start. I gotta get everything set up after we're settled in and get some hands on learning with set ups (esp since I'm starting out with just one monitor bc it's more cost effective) as well as get internet set up and all that. But I would say give me until mid September before content starts coming out!

[cryogonalsmelody]

oh hell yeah story time. tell me all about it

@zorros-arc

Alright

Sorry took so long but i had to think on how i would tell it.

Alright so, when I was 10 i received my pokemon, Zorry, who Ive already went over. I actually went through a gym travel, though it took me over 2 years of training to finish the final unovan gym. All of the gym leaders except for drayden have retired from my original gym challenge. Its quite interesting actually! Well, my final gym was drayden of course.

Well, team Gaia, funded by the cult of shaymin that once lived in pinwheel and the great chasm, was attempting to have their gods come, harrassing the people worshiping at the abundant shrine. Of course, i was high off of just beating drayden first time, i confronted the main person harrasing them, and it was... Well i believe her name was Admin Kathryn. She was maybe 20 at this point but she awoke the three male genies... im not sure how well covered it is but they recked havoc over unova for a while, and instead of the controlled storms they cause on certain routes, they caused much more damage... there was a reason a lot of cities are now very storm proof now.

But I actually met Gehtsis then. He was in his 30s, and apparently trying to 'stop' his sister. Now that i think on it after years, he was probably planning to use the chaos to take control himself but it failed. But

Im going to keep it shorter, and that eventually in order to stop the crew from going further, i had to meet Enamorous. It worked in the end, and we are still bonded to this day, but shes been resting for three decades now, but im sure she'll awake again before the end of my lifetime. Theres a reason you dont really hear about the shaymin cult or team gaia anymore. Now if only i had realized how bad of an influence ghetsis was, i probably wouldnt have ever entered team plasma. But then again, i was twelve and thought he was also there to end Admin Kathryn and Gaia leader Rosali.

[tzigone]

Building the Helm Family

It's dead fandom time again - on today's agenda is Queen of Swords.

The show was short-lived, and much of his past is shrouded in mystery. On a discussion list I was on many moons ago, someone said Wingfield could do a posh accent and wasn't, so they didn't think Helm was upper-class. So that's what I went with (I don't know accents).

So, for the sake of my background-building today, Helm's parents were shopkeepers. So, as I understand it, that makes him lower middle class.

I've had him come from a large family. Seven children, of whom two died young (there were four kids at the time - all got sick and the younger two died the older two recovered). Helm was fifth-born, and has two younger brothers.

They had four surviving sons and one daughter, and Helm's parents always planned the eldest son to take over the shop. But they want to do what they can for the other kids, too. All the kids have attended day school for several years. Anywhere from 4 to 7 years - kinda fuzzy on that.

Whatever they had planned for Robert, he decided himself to run off and join the army and fight the righteous fight. His next-youngest brother thought he was nuts - dangerous, unpleasant work for very little pay is not his style. But Helm wasn't thinking of moving up the ranks, then, just of glory, adventure, and fighting the noble fight. Helm turns out to have knack for languages, and he winds up with the spycraft and does some attention grabbing deeds. He earns a commission - which wasn't uncommon during the Peninsular wars, from what I can find. Of course, it's not as good as a purchased commission, and the other officers mostly view him as "not one of us" but he does make some connections. He'll meet Camilla, who may be lower gentry (may be better off middle class), but certainly doesn't have an ample dowry or connections that make poor-officer-Helm an unacceptable catch. Then we all know that goes south when he leaves the army. For the record, I have the character younger than the actor - partially because of original series plans and partially because I have crossover with New World Zorro, where the character is wayyy younger than the actor, and it amused me to think of them the same.

The oldest child is Robert's only sister. She's beautiful, charming, and ambitious. She did not go to work when old enough, but stayed home. She was introduced to a lower level civil servant through mutual acquaintance. His dad is a clerk and they were economically similar to the Helms, but had only one child, and put all the resources into him. He makes a bit more than her own father. But advancement is all in connections, and he doesn't have them. He also isn't entirely comfortable making them. He finds dealing with the much-higher-status/wealthier difficult in social situation (fine at work). She's brilliant at that (a trait Robert shares). They're fond of each other and complement each other's life plans very well. They marry and have three surviving children. He gets a promotion or three. They save and invest (she's good at that) and work to put their children in a better circumstance than they have. By 1820 (when a married Tessa and Robert visit), her husband earns £300 a year, and they have as much again in investments (though it's only recently jumped that high) and their older son is an articled clerk on the cusp of becoming a solicitor. She's the first one I invented, and the most detailed.

Next up, we have the oldest brother. He inherited the shop and care of his mother. He's done well with the shop (and followed sister's investment advice). Has over £200 a year (twice what he dad had). He has three surviving children, aged 3-11. He and his sister are the closest of the siblings. He doesn't have the same ambition for moving up the societal ladder, but he does want his children to have at least as good a standard of living as he did. I'm planning on his oldest marrying a carriage maker. Working class, but a comfortable income and a good man.

We follow with Helm's younger brother. I'm contemplating him as a compositor. It's working class. Maybe clerk would be better? Not sure. But whatever his parents planned for him, it was something that made not more than £100 a year - they didn't mean for their oldest son to get the short end of the stick, income wise. He saved and invested until his income allowed that he could support a family decently before marrying. In 1820, he's recently married with no children. Later he will have two sons and two daughters and all will survive (I looked up infant mortality rates of the time and used a random number generator to determine which children died for Helm's siblings, but felt bad so didn't kill more than one per family).

Then there's the baby of the family. The crazy-lucky one who simply had opportunity fall in his lap. There once was a man who owned a bespoke tailoring shop and had £800 a year income. He had an only daughter. She was a young teen and kinda sweet of this fellow (who returned the sentiment). Her dad decided to apprentice him for free. A cost to himself, certainly, but the boy came from a family with good business sense and seemed to have a good head on his shoulders and if it all worked out, would make a good husband for his daughter. Of course, he still had to manage the work. But he did, and they married. Dad still owned the shop, but son in law is taking a larger and larger role. He is married with two boys in 1820 (three girls will follow, two will live). While the shop will have been good to him, as time passes and the country become more and industrialized, he decides to encourage his boys to start their own businesses (and gives the capital to do so) that are more mass-production or sales oriented (some tailors do go that way, but his didn't), and they both end up doing very well for themselves. One daughter marries similarly well, and one never marries, preferring (and being able to afford) her own independence.

And thus concludes my exercise.

[dangermousie]

Have the gorgeous OTP, whose chem is saving the writing mess.

I don’t think the show ever recovered from losing its original writer after 22. I am 27 eps in and in addition to focus switch, becoming a lot more black and white/idealized about characters, and randomly redeeming Galip and Adem without explanation (about which I ranted before so won’t repeat), some of the plot downright doesn’t make sense.

Like the whole plot by Kenan to kidnap Efnan and everything about it is WTF.

1. Kenan kidnaps Efnan to prove Aziz is masked rebel and so make Pierre happy. But how would Aziz rescuing Efnan prove anything other than he loves his wife? Hell, even if Aziz lost his mind and showed up at the hut saying “I am Turkish Zorro,” then what? It’s not like Kenan has a recording device or even military surrounding the place. Aziz shows up, Kenan confronts him and...then? Ummm

2. Pierre’s planning now makes no sense. He’s all Kenan I am gonna ruin you since you are useless except I have no other pro-French candidate so like...why? OK, Pierre is a megalomaniac who puts his own pride above everything. But then Pierre shows up to rescue Efnan, to Kenan’s surprise and...shoots Kenan. Why? Kenan wasn’t gonna spill anything to Aziz and Efnan about trying to win over Pierre but even if he did so what - they already know he’s a bad dude. But the kicker after this is he’s all and now I will support Kenan’s candidacy, Ummmm...you just shot the man, do you think he will genuinely represent your interests? And if you did think so, then why did you shoot him?

3. When Kenan kidnapped Efnan he told her he was Aziz’s half brother and wanted to ruin him. After Efnan is freed she doesn’t tell Aziz that Kenan is his brother or that Kenan was the kidnapper, lying she didn’t know who the kidnapper was. WHUT WHY!!! OK, she says she doesn’t want Aziz to kill a brother, fair enough. So I see why she didn’t tell in the hut, but why not otherwise? Does she really think Aziz is going to go shoot his half-brother down as the man lies wounded? Also, her rationale is “Kenan you can work it out” is naive, but fine whatever, but like - common sense says Aziz should know that stuff so he’d prepared; if a man is crazy enough to go for murder and kidnapping, Aziz sure should know to be prepared, let alone the sibling thing. But the main thing that annoys me about it is that it destroys 22 eps of character development. The OG writer made it very clear that Efnan learned her lesson - that Aziz can overlook most anything from her, but it’s the lying/concealment that guts him. He has an extra allergy to that due to his character and past. And it was made clear by 22 that she’s realized it; and they both were self-reflecting on their flaws. And here she is yet again lying about/hiding something important from a man who has made it crystal clear lying is the worst sin for him and every terrible fight they had was about it. And lying over something like this to boot -where it doesn’t make sense. Not to mention, if she lied twice or thrice over a major exigency (Pierre’s lessons, Pierre’s almost rape and D’s baby but because if she spilled about the baby D said she’s spill about the almost rape), it’s one thing, but if it becomes a chronic thing to a man who stll chose to trust her after all that, it’s just plain a mess - “I won’t lie again” and then she does over and over is bad writing for characters you want me to love and see as growing. (Seeing how they almost fell apart after her previous lie, this is unthinkable!) You get the sense that the new writers (who also forgot the gradual healing that was happening in 22 and just moved to “we are perfect now”) just did it for drama and screw character nuances.

Anyway, I have an ep and a half left. This show is no longer perfect, the way it was for me in 1-22, but it’s still beautiful and fun and the OTP chemistry-filled and delish (the lying insanity I am going to attribute to Efnan temporarily losing her mind from stress of kidnapping and assume she plans to tell Aziz once things calm down a little.) This said, I am so glad it ended on 28. The new writers really are not in the same class at all.

[cliffather]

A family of Protagonists by Cliffather Via Flickr: Warning! WALL OF TEXT! 

 My M.C. William & family in Dynasty Warriors8empires1040 L to R: Safire(5th child twin of Ishaq), Berney(3rd child of Wilma Sue), Kedward(2nd child), Will Jr(1st born), William(father), Wilma Sue(mother), Wilona(Will Jr's wife), youngest child Justin and Ishaq(4th child twin of Safire) They are from the royal bloodline of their Patriarch primogenitor, Wildestaar Savyer www.flickr.com/photos/cliffather/26353123024/in/dateposted/. See the their Antagonist family here: www.flickr.com/photos/cliffather/26399078564/in/dateposted/ UPDATED!

 I planned back in the '80s for Wilma Sue(mother) to have two kids, Will Jr & Kedward, after watching "Spiderman & his Amazing friends' in my 'tweens, her children's list started to get larger. 

 The reason why I decided she would have a lot of boys was because of the '80s mindset of MEN being superheroes. Please remember most '70s/'80's CARTOONS had one or no superheroine with SEVERAL male superheroes: Superfriends( not including the made for tv female characters), Silverhawks. Tarzan. The Herculoids, Dangermouse, The Flying House, Superbook, Thundarr the Barbarian, "Teen Force" of SpaceStars, SINBAD JR. AND HIS MAGIC BELT,

 Popeye - The Sailor-man(The All-New Popeye Hour), Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids(Brown Hornet), He-man ad the Masters of the Universe, Smurfs(until season5), Blue Falcon & Dynomutt, Jabberjaw (reruns limited viewing), Wacky Races(reruns limited viewing), Speed Buggy( reruns limited viewing), Batman and Robin(animated), The New Adventures of Zorro(animated), Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, the Centurions(tv), Space Ghost, Blackstar, Battle of the Planets, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, StarBlazers, The Transformers, and LIVE-ACTION: Ambassador Magma (aka SPACE GIANTS).

 First, THANKS to the '80s Jem and the Holograms, Thundercats, Scooby-Doo(re-runs), Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, Josie and the Pussycats(reruns), The Mighty Orbots, Pound Puppies, Pole Position ('84 TV series), Dungeons & Dragons('80s cartoon), The ROBOTECH series (My middle brother's quest to collect the complete series on VHS started his buying Anime in the'90s) The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show(Re-runs the inspiration for Tyra's & Wordsworth's Time travel stories), Laff-A-Lympics, Shirt Tales, Bionic Six, Tiger Sharks, GI Joe, and She-Ra was one part of my female inspiration. 

 Second, WATCHING ANIME during the '90s such as Battle Angel Alita, Nuku Nuku, Armitage III, TENCHI MUYO{started my anime collection in '95 to aid my middle brother anime collecting by getting the other anime series he couldn't get}, Hyper Police, Magic User's Club, Devil Hunter Yohko, Vampire Princess Miyu, Genocyber, Galaxy Fraulein Yuna, Gunbuster, Neo Ranga, 801 T.T.S. Airbats, Luna Varga, Maris the chojo, Sukeban Deka, Bubblegum Crisis, Battle Athletes, Battle Skipper, Wanna-Be's, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Iczer one/reborn, metal fighter Miku, Patlabor(My catgirl /AD&D character is named after the main character).

 Sailormoon(bootleg), Magical Knights Rayearth, MOLDIVER, Phantom Quest, Project A-ko, Burn Up W, Super Dimension Century Orguss, You're Under Arrest, Oh my Goddess, The Dirty Pair, Hyperdolls, Cardcaptor Sakura(bootleg), Ghost in the Shell(The ORIGINAL ANIME movie), 3x3 Eyes, GALL FORCE, Silent Möbius(series), Virgin Fleet, Key - the metal idol, Saber Marionette J, El hazard, SLAYERS, Cutey Honey, Ayane's High Kick, Sakura Wars, Sol Bianca, Dangaio and Gunsmith cats where females were the main character or main action characters despite some of these anime having "fan service" in them(Anime WAS aimed at young males btw) was the second part of female influence. www.flickr.com/photos/cliffather/1286716235/in/dateposted/ 

 Lastly, Streetfighter II's CHUN-LI, KOF's Athena Asamiya(Mai Shiranui), Soul blade/Calibur's Sophitia (Cassandra) Alexandra, Darkstalkers' Felicia, Samurai Shodown's Charlotte, Dead or alive's Kasumi, Waku Waku 7(import) Arina Makihara, Phantasy Star(series), Rival Schools' Hinata Wakaba & Kyoko Minazuki, Fighting Viper's Grace, Battle Arena Toshinden's Sofia, and World Heroes' Jeanne D'Arc were the third part & great influence (some of my OC's personalities or names comes from them)

 Note; Unlike the 2010s' SJW's influenced shows/movies/games, they didn't insult/weaken male characters or make the female characters look/act like men. Because of these shows, games & *mostly ANIME* I started creating MORE females and improving my created FEMALE characters.

[harleiquina]

If I had time to write I'll be...

Finishing Black Suit #1 (group of detectives chase an assasin's agency but one of the detectives knows one of the assasins since childhood because he was her brother's best friend and practically lived with them). 3 books in total.

Rebooting Broken Wings. 7 books in total where the Devil (Lucyan) and a rebel guardian angel (Ángela) have to work together to find the 7 Deadly Sins that escaped from Hell. (Since the Deadly Sins are a human invention, they are less cooperative with the Celestial forces, hence both sides need to work together).

The Little Princess Frog and other retellings. I have so many ideas to patch-up some plot holes in my favourite eslavic farytale that I HAVE THE NEED to turn it into a novel. I'll add (if it ever gets published) my retellings of Cinderella, Sleepy Beauty, Beauty and the Beast & Snowhite + the original version of The Little Princess Frog.

The Hunter's daughter. Fantasy book. Standalone. It was born out of the premise: yeah we all know how tempting it is for the leading lady to have a ✨️connection✨️ with the bad guy... but what if they are actually in a relationship since the very begining of the story and nobody knows about it?

Unnamed fantasy project #1: A kingdom is divided in 4 regions (the cold North, the warm South, the sunny East and dark West). Every time one of the royal children turns 6 years old, there is a tournament to welcome them into the "social royal life" and to bond with the other territories. But then something happens and the young royals have to prove in real life that they have the necessary skills and trust each other to save their land.

Unnamed fantasy book #2: what if you find out after 2 years into relationship that you've been dating a fantastical creature that was sent to our world to protect an ancient relic from Dark Forces?

Tak tak. Stand alone, with possibilities of turning into a series. A paranormal investigator has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to investigate his Holy Grail: the house of a mediocre young writer that was killed and, supposedly in every anniversary of her death you can hear her scream. But what if she's unaware that she's a ghost and she's trapped into reliving her last year of life over and over again?

And let's not forget my ideas for TV shows:

Working title Sapo (Frog. After a common saying "like a frog from a different well"). The USA Embassy in Argentina blows up and the Ambassator and his family are killed. The FBI sends and agent to investigate but he has to find a way to work with the corrupt police department and politicians in Buenos Aires. It could have 3 seasons (Buenos Aires - New York -Buenos Aires again) with 3 different stories. And it could be expanded to other latinamerican countries in other seasons, but we'll see.

Twilight: I know that they already are planning on remaking it as a TV show... but I can make it work! Using the gender-bent version of the story as a foundation, there is a chance to make something that... let's say... is less cringe.

Syn/biosis: spin-off from Broken Wings. A girl is left for dead on a road and the only way for her to live is by allowing a demon to possess her. She tries to find out who did this to her.

And let's not forget some movies I've planned:

Zorro: I love 1950's Zorro and my absolute favourite episode is that very rare time when Diego de la Vega and Monasterio work together to catch a man that is pretending to be Zorro (under Monasterio's orders at first). Sadly that is the second to last episode of Monasterio's arch... I always wanted to see more of this odd couple. So... with Monasterio under arrest and beeing taken to Spain to be judged it would make total sense for El Águila's men to try and have a hold on him and bring him to their ranks. But Monasterio might be a dictator but not a traitor to Spain and it's King, so he escapes and goes back to Los Ángeles to seek for help and warn others of what might happen. Of course no-one believes him... but El Zorro. Together they'll try to solve the mistery of El Águila.

Tales of Egypt: "Gods of Egypt" left a sour taste in my mouth. Why coming up with that story when the original myths are so good? Set kills his brother Osiris, chops him and tosses his bodyparts all over Egypt. Osiris' wife, Isis, embarks herself on a journey to put her husband's pieces together but she cannot do it alone (because Set is working with Udjat to try to kill Ra and take over his throne) so she tries to convince Sekhmet to join her (the godess of war) but she's still hurt from beeing kicked out of Ra's guards and kind of enjoying beeing a mom.

Title not decided yet, but it'll be a remake of C'era volta (Once upon a time, but I don't want to use that title since it's very related to the TV show. The English titles were "The Miracle" or "There's always a woman" or "Tje Italian Cinderella" and I don't like any of them). It's an italian movie with Sophia Loren and Omar Shariff loooooosely based on Cinderella and it screams for an update. I don't care how beautiful mr. Shariff was, his prince is a d*ck and Sophia Loren's character only has one trait: she's loud... maybe 2 traits since she fights a lot. We could use some nuance there and tell an actual love story instead of something that feels like lust at first sight?

[fantasyinvader]

I like how there's a low-key mancrush going on between the two. Superman being in awe of what Batman can accomplish without having any powers, which combined with the traditional scene of Clark realizing he can't save someone (usually his father) despite all of his powers you could see how Batman can inspire him to do better. Meanwhile, Batman views Superman as his favorite super hero and the symbol of hope he wishes he could be. Even though they may fight and this causes them to both become more bitter about it, you know they're each others biggest fan which is why they hold the other to such high standards. You just know they have a tee with the other's logo somewhere in their closet.

The fact that some artists based Bruce's appearance on Gregory Peck and how Superman loves To Kill a Mockingbird is something that more needs to be done with.

I feel like a big part of what's happened to Bats is that, at it's core, the franchise is still running away from Adam West and the campiness that doomed the later 90s movies. I mean, with Superman 1 it tried to make the audience believe a man could fly but at the same time it knew how goofy some parts of the mythos were. With Batman, they are trying to make the audience believe a man would dress up as a bat to fight crime but they want to play it as serious as they can.

Which in turn means that any idealism in Batman's character can feel out of place, leading to advocates of a super-violent Batman who kills, leading to Gotham being depicted worse so that any effect Batman does have can only be seen when he's gone, the contingency plans to explain why Batman can stand shoulder to shoulder with super-powered people, his mental state and Bruce Wayne being divorced from the Batman making him more Zorro than the Scarlet Pimpernel. Not to mention how since his conception the war on crime has normalized excessive violence against criminals to the point people forget Dirty Harry in the original film was supposed to be slightly less of a monster than Scorpio (movie was still called fascist).

They want us to treat Batman seriously in our increasingly cynical world, and because of that people ignore whatever light he does have as a character. I'm not advocating a return to the Silver Ages, but what I am championing is just keep it balanced DC. That, and Catwoman is best girl.

Deconstructions of Batman, DC Superheroes, the BatFam Dynamic etc. We're interesting once or twice. We've had near on a decade of Batman deconstructions to the point I don't know what they're deconstructing anymore, there's nothing of the original left.

"Batman is actually the problem." That's interesting the first few times. After 10 years of that message it just makes me ask ok then why are we still getting Batman comics then?

"Batman is an abusive father." Its interesting to look at Bruce's flaws as a parent every now and then. But making Bruce an abusive asshole strips some of the BatFams most iconic and impactful stories of their emotional hook. I love Jason Todd, he's my favourite DC character, his story is at its most interesting and tragic when you acknowledge that while his relationship with Bruce was flawed, Bruce loved him and his death greatly impacted him. Bruce likewise loves all his kids, the idea in modern comics (with some exceptions) that he doesn't is just stupid and fundamentally misunderstands what makes Batman interesting, the fact he embodies fear but actually does have so much capacity for love.

"Batman should kill and the fact he doesn't makes him a villain". No. Just no. Batman's complete opposite Owlman is a nihilist who believes no one can be redeemed and the world is doomed. That suggests Bruce is in fact an optimist who believes in the inherent good of people, the likes of Mr Freeze, Harley Quinn, Harvey Dent etc. They aren't inherently evil. Sure you can make an argument he should kill the likes of the Joker but Bruce feels himself if he does it once he'll keep doing it eventually to people who don't deserve it. Bruce has to believe in redemption for his rogues cause otherwise there's no redemption for himself.

Plus Batman isn't real, if he went around killing his whole rogues gallery we'd eventually run out of stories to tell.

Anyway I've been in a real DC Comics mood lately and been really annoyed with the nihilistic tropes I've seen being thrown around both by the writers and by fans when discussing Batman.