#i just want exposure

[valeriapryanikova]

This season, on Hermitcraft...

(speedpaint)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

In the world of heavy metals, love is denser than hate!

[tsuutarr]

Perfect. Pristine. Pure.

That is what angels are. That is what Finley should be – what he is.

So, it’s really no surprise that he’s chosen as a guardian angel – your guardian angel. After all, only those who are the most pristine, the most perfect, the most pure can be a guardian angel. Anything less and corruption will be too easy. But Finley will be fine – he’s the pinnacle of what an angel should be, after all.

And now, he’s so excited to watch over you, to ensure that your life goes a little smoother than it has been.

As he watches over you, making sure you’re safe, he can’t help the affection that blooms inside of him. You’re someone he’s taking care of, which means that you’re his. You’re safe right now because he’s helping you. An umbrella on a rainy day, a pencil on exam days, a timely bus on busy days… he’s making your life so much easier! He can’t help the surge of pride that lights his heart.

He’s always so vigilant, watching out for you in any way that he possibly can. Whether you’re eating properly or sleeping properly concerns him greatly. It won’t do if you don’t take care of yourself.

But that doesn’t mean he wants other people to take care of you. Bitter vines of envy crawl up his throat whenever you thank someone else. He’s the one that’s doing most of the work, you know. Those thorns of envy only continue to bloom as he watches you laugh and talk and interact with other people.

Why can’t he interact with you? He’s the one that’s always watching you and taking care of you. Greed floods inside him as his desires fester. More and more and more – he’s greedy for your attention. For you. 

So, really, it’s no wonder that his thoughts become so twisted and wrathful. You can’t see him even though he gives you all of him, so why should those pesky flies around you get to bask in your presence? It’s not fair. It’s not fair. 

And it’s really not fair that you’re so pretty, so lovely. You always shine so bright, the epitome of everything Finley loves and adores. Watching you makes his skin flush with so much desire.

But he shouldn’t be feeling this way – oh, no. No pure, perfect, pristine angel should be feeling this way. Only those that have been corrupted by the world succumb to their desires. By the time Finley realizes this, he’s already in too deep. He’s already been colored by all shades of you.

So, there’s really only one answer, right?

Now, he’ll live only for you. He’ll make sure you realize just how devoted he is to you – just how much he belongs to you. Just how much you belong to him. You’re the one who taught him all these new emotions, after all. You’re the one who made him the way he is.

To him, you are his everything.

For you, he will kneel.

For him, for you, he will worship you and only you.

[mikesbasementbeets]

Behind the Scenes | Stranger Things 5 | On the Set of the Final Season [x]

[phoenixcatch7]

Dp x dc twin au where Danny and Damian were in fact conjoined/siamese twins, but the most dangerous type - one head, two bodies.

Their early removal from talia being because their shape would not have allowed for natural birth, they were written off but talia begged for the chance to send them off in the lazarus pit.

By some bizarre miracle, before she turned to leave, two small bodies bobbed to the surface - identical in every way, except for the eyes. The previous blue eyes now split in two, one left, one right, and the new eyes, pit created, a bright green.

She took her child, her two children, and together, they survived.

Being removed prematurely, their early years were tough, but soon they blossomed into promising heirs for the league. In sync with every step, the closest of brothers, the league was certain the old fairy tale of twins being telepathic had been granted by the pit that separated them, the remnants of being born as one mind, one brain, one skull.

But then Danny had to flee, and leave his other half behind. Stretched by distance for the first time, the bond grew thin and stretched, and Damian grieved his brother as dead. When he started being sent on public missions, he hid his distinctive heterochromia, choosing the green in memory of the pit that had given him and his brother life.

Danny, hiding his pit aura in the ocean's worth that was Amity park, took to blue, the colour that he and Damian were born with.

Damian moves to Gotham, and continues to mourn his brother as dead, right until one day when he is twelve, when he learns what the death of your other half truly feels like.

-

Their reunion is a thing of family legend. Violence runs hot in both bloodlines, ghosts are highly emotional and prone to fighting a the drop of a hat for bonding, playing, testing, every reason under the green sun. Their training and play often consisted of friendly spars, competitive spars, furious spars, venting spars. Both have been exposed to unhealthy amounts of ecto since before their birth.

There is a long, long minute of staring, before they rip themselves away and lunge at each other like wolves.

The bat family are horrified by their brutally efficient youngest suddenly barreling towards a clone (?) and trying to claw his throat open with his bare hands while openly sobbing.

It ends with them wrapped around each other crying into the others shoulder as their minds finally meet again and relax from the painful stretch for the first time in years.

But nobody else has any idea what to do.

[yourhighness6]

Me, screaming into the void: I DON'T HATE MAI I JUST FEEL LIKE SHE NEEDED MORE DEVELOPMENT OUTSIDE OF ZUKO AND HER ARC SHOULDN'T REVOLVE AROUND HER LOVE INTEREST

Also me, still screaming into the void: I DON'T HATE AANG I JUST QUESTION WHETHER HIS ROMANTIC INTEREST IN KATARA BRINGS OUT THE BEST SIDES OF HIM AND FEEL AS THOUGH HE AND HIS DEVELOPMENT IS NOT ABOVE NECESSARY CRITICISM

[squeakadeeks]

lucky for me i have a natural screen time deterrent because everytime someone mentions an insane ED dieting trend on tiktok, which these days has been within less than 5 minutes from opening the app, im compelled to calmly set my phone down, walk outside barefoot until i reach the nearest body of water, stand in it, and then scream until my throat is so hoarse it wins the kentucky derby and eventually has to be shot after breaking its leg

[galaghiel]

what remnant does to a mf

[skunkes]

i like them together....

[delicatepointofview]

gonna have to deal with people missing the point of louis singing 1d songs in festivals... don't get me started on the other covers

[quaranmine]

it is kind of crazy to me that we live in such a polarized, absurdly nationalistic, patriotic country and yet when evidence that nearly 50% of bald eagles, our national bird and icon of America, suffer from chronic lead poisoning and one third from acute lead poisoning there is not some massive outcry to fix this instantly. people are just like nooooooo but i wanna keep using lead fishing weights :((((( and the NRA is like over my dead body will you take our lead ammunition

like obviously this affects other types of animals too but i would've thought that the bald eagle would be THE charismatic species for the USA to take action on behalf of but. nope

[cacaocheri]

this is something I've been debating about posting because the likelihood of me actually finishing this project is kind of up in the air (just because I get distracted easily). but if I started posting more about my Personal Project on this account would that be something y'all would be into. would that be chill. should I make a different account for it. who's to say

[perelka-l]

*slaps Drayton's ass* this boy can fit so much Plasma trauma behind that smile!!!!

[aquamarinebling]

pen sketch :yippie!!!!!:

[casscainmainly]

An Analysis of Duke Thomas in Wayne Family Adventures

I've been seeing a lot of posts and comments recently concerning Duke Thomas in WFA. I know WFA discourse has been done to death, but these comments were about how they'd only read WFA, felt Duke lacked a personality, his powers weren't distinctive, etc. Out of the main WFA characters, I think Duke has the least-read comics and the least understood canon history. This post is going to dissect WFA!Duke, compare it with canon!Duke, and address whether WFA is a fair representation of Duke or not.

This is not a WFA hate post. A lot of comics readers love WFA and vice versa, and I'm not going to dictate what people should like or dislike. Check out this post I made yesterday about the origins of WFA, which really aren't ill-intentioned. However, judging by the comments/posts I've seen, a lot of people don't know the difference between WFA!Duke and canon!Duke. This post exists to clarify those discrepancies and hopefully encourage more people to read Duke's comics.

The Positives

Let's cover the pros of WFA!Duke first! The sheer fact that he's one of the main characters and present throughout is amazing, allowing more people to learn and get interested in Duke. Since he doesn't have his own ongoing, WFA is about the only place to get consistent Duke content.

Plus look at how cute he is:

His presence also means we get fun interactions with other characters that Duke doesn't get to interact with in canon, such as Steph and Dick. As a diehard Duke-is-Dick's-successor believer, I appreciate any page-time they get together, even if it's not substantial.

Also, WFA season 3 confirmed that Duke can turn invisible without his suit, which is just fun!

Framing

Duke is introduced in the very first episode, and in some ways is the framing device for the entire webtoon. He is "Gotham's Newest Vigilante," learning about the family and the manor.

Many episodes of WFA have Duke asking a question that the others respond to. You can see this in Episode 2 ("The Last Cookie," he asks about their tradition), Episode 7 ("Vigilante Bingo"), Episode 30 ("Driving Lessons"), Episode 39 ("Secret Identity"), all the way to one of the latest minisodes (Mini Episode 3 - Super Friends).

This framing is not completely incorrect, since Duke is the newest addition to the family. The problem with this framing, though, is that Duke's personality and problems are never the focus - in these episodes we learn a lot about the other Batfam, and nothing about Duke.

Take "Vigilante Bingo". We learn so much canon stuff about Dick, Jay, Tim, and Cass, including who's died/come back (Cass and Tim chime in here, which is not very well known in fanon). However, because Duke is the one asking the question, he doesn't get to participate in the answers. This framing makes WFA-only readers learn shockingly little about Duke's prior activities, and they only cover his backstory in episode 76.

Personality

Because of his perpetual outsider status, WFA!Duke's most prominent traits are confusion, timidity, and insecurity.

(I found all these by literally clicking on any thumbnail with Duke in it. He exhibits confusion/timidity/insecurity all the time).

The first two traits - confusion and timidity - is completely antithetical to Duke in canon. Just compare these panels from We Are Robin #6 to a panel from WFA:

Canon!Duke gets shot and thinks to himself: "how baller is that?!". WFA!Duke hears about a booby-trapped lawn and makes that face. This reaction is basically the opposite of the way WAR!Duke would react. I have legitimately no clue how anyone could read We Are Robin or The Cursed Wheel and come away with Duke being timid.

More examples of how canon!Duke acts when confronted with dangerous situations, just for fun:

From We Are Robin #2, we have Duke mouthing off to people he's just met; from Robin War, we have the iconic jumping-out-of-cop-car scene; from Robin War again, we have Duke standing up for one more battle against Damian with absolutely no hesitation.

Duke in canon is headstrong, stubborn to a fault, outspoken, and brave. These qualities just don't come through in WFA.

Insecurity

The third component of WFA!Duke's personality, insecurity, is the only one with some canon basis. Check out this panel from Batman & The Signal #1:

Here, he's struggling with his place in the family, something WFA!Duke also deals with in Episode 75 + 76 ("Worthy"). But I think WFA misconstrued where this insecurity comes from.

Duke's problem is not that he's a meta, it's that he's a meta with "powers no one understands yet". A "walking detective case," so to speak. His insecurity stems from his lack of understanding around his powers, because at this point he doesn't know about Gnomon. WFA somehow turns this into a problem with the powers itself:

This is simply not supported in canon. Duke has no problems using his powers; even in Batman & The Signal, the peak of his canon insecurities, he literally says "go, go ghost vision" (god I love him). Moreover, his powers come from his mom. Saying that Duke feels he needs to prove he's worthy "in spite of" his powers is a complete misreading of Duke's canon feelings. Which leads to my next point:

Family

"Worthy" positions Duke's powers in opposition to Bruce's approval, and though the episode ends with Duke accepting himself, it's clear throughout WFA that his biggest parental figure/source of approval is Bruce.

WFA!Duke talks and thinks about Bruce more than he does his mom and dad, which is genuinely mind-boggling. Canon!Duke talks about his parents basically every single page. It's one of the most consistent aspects of his character!

From We Are Robin #2, Batman & The Signal #1, The Cursed Wheel Part 1, and Batman: Urban Legends #19. Duke's parents are only mentioned in "Worthy" as part of his traumatic backstory, but Duke's parents aren't backstory - they're alive. By neglecting the importance of Duke's parents, WFA is ignoring a fundamental aspect of Duke's character and making him seem like just another orphan.

This panel from Episode 118 is hilarious in the context of canon!Duke waffling on about his parents 24/7. But the erasure of Duke's parents is symptomatic of another problem with WFA.

Supporting Cast

Duke's first multi-parter is Episodes 8/9/10, "Crush". In this episode, Duke asks a girl out, and then she breaks up with him.

First of all, compared to other two-parters (all of Cass', Dick's "Big Brother", Steph's "Belonging", hell even Tim's "Better and Brighter"), this two-parter is incredibly detached from Duke's character. All you learn is that he gets crushes and doesn't like break-ups, which isn't character-specific at all.

Secondly, using an OC as Duke's girlfriend is so bizarre given Duke has 1 canon love interest. Here, I googled it:

Imagine the story we could've gotten with Izzy instead; with them having canon history, this two-parter would've been a lot more impactful, and introduce We Are Robin characters to a WFA audience. I'd also like to point out the difference in how these relationships begin:

Another example of WFA introducing timidity into a scenario where canonically, Duke played it extremely cool (from We Are Robin #9).

WFA uses none of Duke's supporting cast. To be fair, Duke's supporting cast isn't well known, but isn't WFA a perfect low-stakes place to spotlight unknown characters? Harper gets appearances, and she's been neglected by canon for ages. Tim gets to have Bernard, Jason gets literally all of his Outlaws, and there's even a KonCass cameo!

There's a reason why the top comment on every single one of the Crushed eps doesn't even mention Duke.

Shouldn't Duke-centric episodes have comments about Duke? The story is so vague and widely applicable that there's nothing about Duke to comment on, so the spotlight is shifted onto the other Batfam members. If the story had included Duke's supporting cast, think about how much more we could've learned about Duke himself.

Side note: why on Earth is Luke Fox Duke's go-to mentor? They have next to no canon interactions, and while having a Black mentor is something Duke probably needs, he already has one. Batman and The Outsiders sets up the Duke and Black Lightning relationship really nicely. Not to mention in "Worthy," Duke's problem is about having powers, which makes Luke Fox's inclusion (as a non-meta) baffling. Black Lightning would've been perfect!

Conclusion + Wishlist

This is the top comment on Episode 76. I think I've demonstrated how untrue this is, because WFA!Duke doesn't even touch the worst of canon!Duke. WFA!Duke has next to no defining characteristics, which contributes to him being the 'boring' or 'sane' one. To any WFA-only readers, please don't think this is representative of Duke as a whole; reading even just the first issue of We Are Robin shows how interesting and full of personality he really is.

It's disappointing because WFA is a lot of people's only exposure to the Batfam, and portraying Duke like this has only caused them to misinterpret his character. However, there has been improvement - they're beginning to mention his backstory a lot more, which means they've read some of his comics. I still believe they can turn it around!

Here's some improvements they could make, along with some things I want expanded upon:

Stop using Duke as the outsider/newbie character. It's been over 100 eps, he doesn't need that anymore!

Mention his supporting cast, or at the very least mention his parents more

Expand on his canon relationships with Damian, Cass, and Jason, they deserve to be close!

Use his detective abilities/affinity for puzzles

Mention his dislike of heights

Involve him in more shenanigans

I don't have FastPass but please bring Duke back into the fold of S3!!

[apostaterevolutionary]

The wildest thing about veilguard opinions is I see my fellow DA2 and similar fans of taste saying ‘I really wish these characters had more bite’ and I’m like. Yes, I agree, I would really like that. The characters having bite is a huge part of why I like DA2

And then I leave my bubble and I see someone be like ‘omg it’s so bullshit that certain characters get mad at me for making a choice in a no-win situation that negatively affects them’ and it’s got over 1500 likes and it’s like

As much as I, too, wish the characters had more bite (I actually wanted them to yell at me more for the above decision! People are irrational! Let them act like it and take out their grief on me for at least a second! Yell at me! Make me feel an emotion!), I think there’s a lot of people who say that’s what the want when in reality they absolutely do not. Those of us that genuinely want that seem to be in the minority and lbr, that’s probably why the companions are so pleasant - even this is too much bite for some people