#i kind of hate her too

[gaysforbyler]

My therapist hates me

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

HOT, SINGLE, UNSTUDIED SPONGES. 3000 NAUTICAL MILES AWAY. Come sail the distance and read Tiger Tiger!

[shittybundaskenyer]

And they ask me // Is it going good in the garden? // I say I'm lost but I beg no pardon

[autisticrosewilson]

"Oh Steph wouldn't like Jason just because they have similar backgrounds because he kills people/is a criminal/fights the bats!!"

This is in the 90's BEFORE he even tortured her. She doesn't go through with it, but she sees the evil he's capable of and its enough for her to justify it. She only doesn't because it "goes against what Batman taught her" but well.

That's the same man who would let her dad's friends infest her house for MONTHS until BLACK CANARY came to Gotham and handled it

A grown man who would go on to verbally degrade her, withhold the tools he gave everyone else, keep her intentionally isolated and then use her lack of resources against her.

So yeah. I'm sure Steph's faith in Batman and his teachings have wavered plenty. Just because DC casually discarded the way she was treated so she could play happy family with the boys, but she has NO REASON TO. Before she was aged down there was definite tension between her and Tim, and while Babs worked to get that relationship back, Bruce did no such thing. "Oh I'm just as proud of you as I was with the boys" when he thought she was dying doesn't fucking change how he treated her.

And of course, there's her own forray into betraying the family and being a criminal in The Next Batman series.

That's without getting into how she was compared to Jason, the way she watched a murdered east end kid be toted as another violent, reckless, idiot who didn't think and got himself killed.

"Oh but he tried to kill Tim!" First of all, you didn't read that comic. Jason was TESTING him, they were 2 years apart MAXIMUM, and Tim FOUGHT BACK. Jason gave him a little cut and a nose bleed that he slapped a bandage on and was fine. Damian also started his first meeting with Tim antagonistically and even though he was actively hostile to her, Steph still formed a close sibling bond. Her first meeting with Tim she threw a brick at him. He spent a not significant amount of time belittling her and telling her she wasn't cut out for hero work when she came back. This is the same guy who hallucinated Jason just so Jason could be like "Oh I got myself killed don't be like me!" Can we be real she doesn't give a shit. I guess you could count Hush but. I know they retconned it so that was Jason but when the fuck would he have had the time to do that between death, catanoia, the All-caste, and his murder tour.

Stephanie understands better than anyone that desperate circumstances lead to desperate people who do bad things. Stephanie understands being belittled and compared to a rich white boy who never had to fight to survive like you did. She understands being isolated from the hero community. She understands the evil that exists and the ways the system is corrupt, and that the bad guy never STAYS caught. And it's not like she has any big problem with people who kill, Babs said in 90's she would fucking LOVE Joker to drop dead and Dinah has killed multiple times. She literally switched places with Lady Shiva? These are both women Steph looks up to. You don't think Steph would feel any admiration at all for someone who gave Bruce a taste of what it feels like to be shown up? Someone who made Roman's life hell? Someone who made Tim put action behind his shit talking? An alley kid who came back and refused to be another statistic, who showed everyone who spent the last decade calling him stupid and reckless EXACTLY how cunning he can be? None? At all?

I just find it a little hard to believe.

[stemiwithme]

langdon and santos are both right about each other. langdon is right when he calls santos out for her mean streak while speaking to robby and santos is right when she brings her own concerns abt langdon’s suspected drug abuse to robby. like they’re both 100% right and valid in those moments. and i think it gives them this rly interesting dynamic where they’re just…transparent to each other. not WITH but to. as in they see right through the other’s mask even when other people don’t. and they mirror each other like crazy!!! they’re both extremely ambitious, cocky, restless, full of false bravado. but they’re also kind and gentle and sensitive and funny. they’re so alike but they also HATE each other and it is SO fun and entertaining while also speaking to a deeper level of their characters. something something self hatred subconsciously projected outward something something. idk i just think they’re neat and it’d be cool to see an enemies to coworkers who can actually tolerate being in the same room together arc. i need santos to be mean to him and for him to laugh and say something stupid and it’s all good bc the beef has been squashed and santos just shakes her head and walks away

[jayktoralldaylong]

"MelJayVik can never work."

Just say you're weak and you hate challenges. 🙄

Also, what challenge? The SECOND Mel understood just how much Jayce cared about Viktor, she was LOCKED IN. My girl had no hesitation.

"We will find Viktor." "Don't worry Jayce, he will come back to us."

Don't play with my girl Mel, her mother is Ambessa, the flexibility was built into her genes. 💀🔥

[deoidesign]

when your main characters start dating after years of writing so they finally get to be like this

[bethanydelleman]

So let's say there is a character and I like them right away when I encounter them. I find them compelling and interesting, but I'm not obsessed, not yet. Then I go into the fandom and I find out that everyone hates this character for a very dumb reason or maybe for a good reason but the hatred is wildly disproportionate...

This character is my #1 Precious Little Baby now and I will defend them with my life

[welcometogrouchland]

my Stephanie Brown hot take is that she should get mad bitches now that she's single in comics. Yes yes shipping BUT the one time she had sex she was punished by the narrative via teen pregnancy. I think she should be allowed to have as much sex as she wants with zero consequences. Could be a lot of sex, could be a little. Point is she should get to do it without getting narratively baby trapped this time. she should get them pregnant, actually.

[stars-and-darkness]

why does so much of mel discourse on this site centre on to what measure she did or did not manipulate jayce like that's the extent of her complexity and grey morality, as if she has not directly and indirectly been contributing to the opression of zaun not because she's prejudiced or hates them but simply because she profits from it, like i am so sorry my queen that they don't get you like i get you

[haedoll]

im back losing my mind about her but i will NEVER shut up about how much respect and trust tp zelda has for link who is essentially just some guy she just met (as a wolf at that) and how she always makes it a point to kneel to be at his level while he’s in wolf form and then bowing to him at the end like. ugh my girl

[ninjasmudge]

ezra right after death, before becoming a vessel

experimenting a bit with styles, not completely happy but it was good practice

[stellophile]

mel isn’t manipulative. she didn’t manipulate jayce. she didn’t seduce him for political gain (and let’s be real, what would the most powerful woman in the most progressive city have to gain by seducing the tech bro who built the equivalent of a high speed railway? (sorry jayce XD)).

mel is kind. she went out of her way to ensure that jayce and viktor’s dream wasn’t corrupted. jayce was the one to break that promise. she did her level best to try and convince her mother to leave piltover out of her desire for conquest, going even so far as to offer herself up as a sacrifice.

mel is intelligent. she knows what buttons to push, sure. she knows how to navigate a party bc she’s been in politics all her life. she was able to predict her mother’s (an experienced war general) moves before she made them. but she never used that for her own gain. she genuinely believed she was doing and did her best to use that political prowess to do what she believed was right.

mel is loving. i mean, do you see the way she looks at jayce? even when , after the ravine and the black rose, and she and jayce aren’t together or are at least choosing not to focus on anything relating to their relationship (from my personal interpretation), she still very clearly held love for him. it’s clear that despite how much she and her mother have been through, she still loves her mother.

she is privileged. she’s a counselor, and she doesn’t spend much time in or focusing on the undercity. it’s unclear whether she knew about the state of the undercity, but it’s safe to assume the council new something. she believes she is doing good but because of her status she likely didn’t know or realize how to actually make a true difference. however, she was the first to garner support for jayce and viktor and their brokered peace agreement with silco. she was the voice of reason needed to lead the council to side with jayce. if jinx hadn’t dropped the bomb, there very well would have been peace and independence for zaun, and it would have been in great thanks to mel.

she is complex and interesting and such a wonderful character. i wish she was treated better in this fandom. i wish i could go back and treat her better. i own up to the fact that my very first fic leaned into some of the questionable fandom characterizations of her. i look back and deeply regret many of the choices i made regarding her characterization and i am actively working to change that within myself. i will never write another fic where i villainize her, ever again.

if you think that perpetuating harmful stereotypes and archetypes in relation to mel is ok or not a big deal, you should leave. this is not a safe space for mel haters.

[laurmaus]

DO NOT LET. HER COOK

[ilikerosesalot]

I think chapter 21 of Jambound shot up to like, my fav chapters. I still am not sure if it beats out chap 10 and 11 but its ITS THAT LEVEL YK. MY GOD. FUCK. I AM THAT ONE LIVE REACTOR IN THE COMMENTS AND I LIKE TO PAUSE MY TYPING MULTIPLE TIMES BECAUSE. I COULDNT. I COULDNT EVEN. WORDS. HARD. TOO STUNNED AND INVESTED. GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[mizzical]

the people on twitter really liked my Mai sketch