#i think this is why i prefer cartoons geared to children to comics

[vikingpoteto]

do you ever think about how comics kinda wrote themselves into a corner? I keep thinking about the DBZ problem in universes that are supposed to be taken seriously - like DC Comics.

It was fine when they were about silly men in colourful costumes that could jump really high instead of flying but now we’re supposed to believe that it’s a very serious issue in a very serious universe and that ruins the suspension of disbelief.

If we take the Flash, who can both run and process information at the speed of light, there is no way to believe he’s going to lose a fight against anyone that isn’t a Speedster. If we take Wonder Woman, a being that has been alive for centuries and has fought the gods, how you justify her losing against some alien that just showed up randomly? I’m not saying that there aren’t ways, it’s just that the universe and these heroes have existed for so long that almost every possible way has been explored and their power grew and now they’re supposed to be powerful for anything to be a threat anymore.

And then you have fucking Batman everywhere because of course the normal human dude can solve every problem.

[dajokahhh]

some qs, pls donut be offended if i ask things that might be obvious. but. are there any lines your joker will not cross? does he have a specific m.o. to his crimes? what's the farthest he's gone? personally i LOVE the l/go batman version of joker AND the telltale version of him & think that a lot of the canon that portrays joker is both completely ableist and completely homophobic so i was SUPER excited to see ur blog, i just want to make sure i got this all right in my head B )

no worries, and I’ll answer this publicly since it’s prob a good idea to do so anyways :y since there’s things I won’t write, I would generally say that anything including r*pe (of anyone, honestly), abuse of children (though in a practical sense he isn’t above killing a child that’s not his m.o., nor would he be interested in torturing or abusing a kid — more like if there’s collateral damage in the pursuit of some larger target), domestic abuse (ie why I don’t write or ship canon versions of joker and Harley), or like animal abuse but beyond that it’s pretty situational. he’s not above or against killing, maiming or torturing but that’s also at the darker end of things in terms of my writing spectrum

but i would say he’s more controlled and careful than a lot of people would assume? i personally prefer most of his crimes to be the kind that are meant to disrupt hierarchy and the dominant classes/castes of society, so things that would generally be anti establishment like bank robberies, disrupting government activities/destroying property, impeding or killing police, but these are yet again on the more intense end of the spectrum. and although I’d say his violence is politically informed just bc his entire existence is; it’s not necessarily done in the name of any beliefs, but it wouldn’t take long to figure out his general ideas about things like class and authority to see why he tends to target government institutions, officials, and corporate entities. a good way to explain this imo would be that he’s the type to release all the people in Arkham bc he thinks that pathologizing people and labelling them, incarcerating them against their will, is fucked but he would have no plan or regard for what happens afterwards — shaped by his experiences, beliefs, and politics but not a well thought out revolution by any means. I also don’t pretend when he does violent things they’re righteous, just that it isn’t as indiscriminate and ~edgy~ as some sources portray. but since I also love the campy and more goofy portrayals we get of joker in things like lego batman there’s some range for sure in things I’d write or see him doing that go as soft as cartoon villainy and about as far as I’ve outlined above.

for an m.o. id say he sort of reflects the historical role of a jester, the imagery of the joker playing card and the origin of modern clowns. the court jester could speak truth to power and mock the king bc of his position as a jester. the role, the position, allowed the court jester to reflect ~society~ back to the ruling class. I think he sees himself as a thorn in the side of Gotham’s elite. that’s why his crimes are things like bank robberies, attacks on law enforcement, and fighting batman, a symbol of the elite (he works w the police to beat up poor people and Arkham patients, and he’s a literal billionaire????). whether it’s something the characters themselves acknowledge or not, in terms of the actual symbolism the joker works best imo as a foil to Batman when he’s emphasized as his opposite. Batman is dark (the suit, the gear, the brooding), joker is colourful, Batman is wealthy and uses his resources, joker is slapdash and resourceful rather than full of cash/resources, Batman is tacitly if not explicitly endorsed by Gordon (and as commissioner, by the police), the joker is 100% an outlaw, and as far as my portrayal goes, Batman is a hyper masculine cishet dudes power fantasy (billionaire playboy by day and badass crime fighter by night? yeah that’s what it is) and joker is a queer rage fever dream of face paint and pure anarachy (rejection of hierarchy and authority, aside from the more nuanced descriptions on actual anarchist political theory).

as for canon, I agree that a lot of canon is really ableist and homophobic/queerphobic so I don’t rely on those aspects. he is most likely mentally ill but I think the source material often confuses correlation with causation. he isn’t violent because he’s mentally ill, but the two co exist. he’s violent because he’s been the victim of violent crime (as most people w mental illnesses are more likely to be), and bc of social factors from his upbringing living in Gotham city. in my own knowledge, crime is usually the result of social and economic conditions (poverty, exploitation, learning violence from others, etc) which I think has more to do with why he’s a criminal than any mental illness he may have. Gotham city is clearly a pretty bad place to live with its massive amounts of corruption, inequality and crime, so I’m not really surprised it produces people like joker. i try to balance “sympathetic” with understandable and it’s a fine line between making sense of a character like this and “woobifying” as some might say. its difficult bc RP is also more personal than just reading a fic or a comic so boundaries tend to be tighter and what’s acceptable tends to also be a bit more restrictive for good reason. but i think the concept of the joker, the idea of the joker and the archetype he fulfills has a lot of potential for variation and interpretation

this is v long and rambly but tldr he does have some hard limits in part bc i as a writer don’t wanna do certain things. my portrayal is a mishmash of headcanon, some canon interpretations like telltale, ~sociology and criminology~, and my own Vibes as a genderweird not straight person

[frequency141-12]

“👀 + why is anime so weird?"

Hal shifts his glasses further up his nose. He's watched plenty of really strange anime, including some he wouldn't finish purely because it was really that odd. Hal preferred them to make sense, for there to be something he can theorize about and analyze later on when his mind was too occupied with important things. That or he'd watch some incredibly Moe anime that was just for...science. For some reason, the only anime he can think of at the moment is FLCL. And that was mild as weirdness goes. "Well...I would say the reason we find some of it weird is because it's not our culture. If you really think about it, American cartoons are just as odd, but they're usually meant purely for comical purposes (and are primarily geared toward children, besides a select few) whereas Japanese cartoons implement story lines, and weave in comical elements if it's not simply a comedy itself. Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. But I do think it's cultural difference."

[mikebrackett]

Great Games for Young Gamers

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I’m just going to get this out of the way upfront. I love video games! They can do so many great things, including letting us escape into other worlds and do all sorts of feats we would never be able to accomplish in real life.

Cerebral palsy has made it impossible for me to be a Major League Baseball player, but with a couple of joysticks, I can lead the Detroit Tigers to the World Series. In other games, the player has the chance to control a character with superhuman abilities and possibly even save the world.

Kids in this day and age are exposed to screens and technology earlier than ever. If you have children who are starting to get into gaming, what games should you take a look at for them?

The goal of this post is to go over several options that will jog both your child’s brain and their interests. Hopefully, we find a little something for every interest.

Level 0: Before You Shop

Before we go any further, there are a couple of things we need to go over to make sure your child has the best possible gaming experience. This section will discuss system compatibility and content ratings.

System Compatibility

The first thing you need to think about when you’re shopping for your child is what system they’ll be playing on. If they’ll be playing on an iPad, apps designed for an iPod Touch or for the iPhone may not look as good when they’re scaled up, and apps designed for the iPad may or may not work on the smaller screen common to phones.

Similarly, games are only designed to work on one platform in most cases. Games for iOS won’t work on Android because the underlying code has to be different. You don’t want to get a game that will only work on the Nintendo Switch for someone that has a PlayStation 4. Unfortunately, the systems aren’t always backward compatible with the older versions of games, either. In other words, you can’t assume your new Xbox One will play every one of your old Xbox 360 games. The major console manufacturers maintain a backwards compatibility list, so be sure to check it.

Finally, lots of people play games on the computer because computers have access to the most cutting-edge components in terms of graphics and performance, etc. However, it’s important to check the system requirements on games before buying. Not only do you have to think about the operating system, you also want to be aware of your graphics card, available hard drive space and system memory. If your computer is above the minimum specifications but below the developer’s recommended guidelines, you may notice the performance leaves a little something to be desired.

Of course, if you’re like me and you notice your PC is sluggish running a kids’ game you’re researching in preparation for this article, you may make the decision to either not play on a PC or get a new computer altogether. As you can see, PC gaming can be expensive. Computers tend to have a shorter lifecycle than console hardware like the Xbox or PlayStation.

Parental Content Ratings

Games also have content ratings based around age levels to give parents guidance if they’re looking for appropriate content for their children. There are a couple of different ways this is handled.

For all games put out by the major console manufacturers – Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo – a rating is assigned by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). The ESRB is a nonprofit, self-regulatory organization started by the video game industry to assign ratings for games and apps. The ratings run from “Early Childhood” through “Adults Only.” Android also uses ESRB ratings for some of its apps and games. Content descriptors are also given so that you can see why a game was given the rating it has. You may decide, for instance, that you’re OK with cartoonish violence but not vulgar language.

Apple uses its own rating system for the age-appropriateness of iOS apps, but age recommendations can be found next to the name of the app on the download page.

Image: iOS Ratings

Whether you’re on a console, PC or mobile device, your device documentation should come with info on how to set up parental controls so you can control the type of content your children have access to as well as whether they can make in-app purchases.

Level 1: Adventure and World Building

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get to the games. We’ll start with a couple that are all about adventure and letting your children unleash their creativity by building their own creations.

Minecraft

Image: Minecraft

Platform: Too many to list (It runs on almost any PC, including Linux, as well as Mac computers, modern smartphones, and mobile and console gaming platforms

Content Rating: Everyone 10+, iOS: ages 9+

Content Descriptors: Varies by edition, but fantasy violence and some mild language

Price: $26.95 (PC and Mac), $20 – $30 (console and Apple TV editions), $6.99 (all mobile and Samsung Gear VR edition)

Minecraft is huge with kids right now. It lets the player build their own worlds and go on quests as well as compete in cartoony battles with other players. If you’re a bit tech savvy, you can help your children host their own servers with their worlds and take advantage of modifications and game content created by other players, but the game stands up well on its own, too.

Another big advantage of this game is that because it was originally coded in Java, it’s been easy for the game’s developers to make a version available on almost any platform you can think of. Linux compatibility especially is a rarity. There’s also a version for the Samsung Gear VR. If you’re on the cutting edge, your children can play in full virtual reality.

Little Big Planet 3

Image: Little Big Planet

Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3

Content Rating: Everyone

Content Descriptors: Comic mischief, mild cartoon violence, tobacco reference

Price: $19.99 (PlayStation 4 digital download), $9.99 (PlayStation 3 digital download)

Little Big Planet 3 is Sony’s latest edition of its popular platformer series. The gameplay functions similarly to other platform games, like Mario Bros. and the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The character has to hop around the levels avoiding obstacles, sometimes at a high speed, in order to accomplish their goal.

What sets the series apart is the opportunity for players to create their own levels for the character to navigate. They can then share these with other players.

Level 2: Logic Games

Video games can be powerful teachers of logic as well. The best part is that by playing these fun puzzle games, your child may not even feel like they’re learning – but they are.

Number Puzzles: Threes and 2048

Platforms: iOS, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox One, Android, Windows Phone

Content Rating: Everyone

Content Descriptors: Not applicable

Price: Xbox One ($4.99), Nintendo 3DS ($1.99), free with ads on mobile platforms (can be removed by purchasing the paid version for a few bucks)

These games are incredibly similar to one another. The only difference is whether you prefer to start the game with a base of 2 or 3. For the purposes of explaining the game mechanic, I’m going to use Threes. You start with a game board like the one below.

Image: Threes

Ones and twos turn into threes when combined. From there, you’re looking to match up threes with other threes to become sixes, sixes to become 12, and so on. You keep applying until you run out of moves with a full board. It gets harder the further you get in the game. The best I’ve managed is to combine 192 and 192 to get 384, but this game is quite catchy. 2048 relies on the exact same concept and gameplay mechanics.

Circuitry

Image: Circuitry

Platforms: iPad

Content Rating: Ages 4+ (Realistically, this game seems aimed at junior high students and high schoolers, given the difficulty level)

Content Descriptors: Not applicable

Price: Free

This is a great app for teaching students about Boolean logic and the way circuitry works when wired together. It starts with basic “and” logic. “And” logic tests whether two or more things are all true. If they are, then an action is taken. In this case, circuits are connected through an “and” gate in order to turn on lights. Then it gets into “or” gates, where the circuit works if it’s properly connected to one terminal or the other. And it goes from there. It doesn’t take very long to get into complex problems that will really help to flesh out your child’s understanding of how the circuitry works. As they master the different logic gates, they can use them in a playground mode to create their own circuits.

Right now, it’s only available for iPad, although there’s a reference on the website that they’re looking for developers, so maybe there are plans to expand to other platforms. The site also says it’s available for free for a limited time only.

Level 3: Physics Puzzlers

Now it’s time for a few games that are great little physics puzzles. Your child can get the basics without having to get out paper and pencil and struggle for hours like we did.

Angry Birds

Image: Angry Birds 2

Platforms: iOS, Android, PC and Mac (varies depending on the version)

Content Rating: Ages 4+

Content Descriptors: Not applicable

Price: Free

I know, I know. This is a little played out, and there was an awful movie and 67 sequel games and spinoffs, but Angry Birds remains a great way for your child to learn about vector-based physics. I don’t care how many special powers these birds have, they won’t be able to get rid of the evil piggies (it’s a little thin on plot) unless your children launch the birds at the right angle with the right momentum.

Rube Goldberg Machines

Image: Crazy Machines 3

As a kid, did you ever put together one of those crazy Rube Goldberg machines? These were crazy contraptions that set off a chain reaction of complex events in order to accomplish a simple task, like dunking a basketball or starting the toaster.

When I was younger, there was a game called The Incredible Machine that I really enjoyed. It would challenge you to create these types of insane domino effect chain reactions on the computer. That game is no longer being made, but plenty of software developers are picking up where that game left off. One I particularly like is Crazy Machines 3. For $20, kids can solve a variety of fun challenges spanning several physics disciplines.

It’s worth noting that there are a lot of games like this. A quick search of your PC or phone app store will bring up a ton of options spanning a variety of price points. You’ll want to check out the reviews, but there are lots of awesome choices.

Level 4: Just for Fun

Image: Sonic the Hedgehog

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about how games can help your child’s development so far, but I definitely don’t want to lose the fun here. It’s important to balance your desire for something that’s both fun and educational with your child’s interests.

If your child is into sports, you might consider letting them play an NBA game. Mario and Sonic have even made their way to the phone now.

Plants vs. Zombies is an excellent series of turn-based strategy games your child will thoroughly enjoy. Pokémon GO is a really fun game that has re-energized the urge in many to “catch ‘em all.” It also has the added benefit of getting your kids off the couch and out of the house.

The video game universe is huge, and we’ve just scratched the surface. Do you have any games you like to play with your children that we haven’t mentioned? Share them with us in the comments below.

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