#i was going somewhere and lost it

[visenyaism]

I don’t care if it snowed in your neighborhood and you got to go on a quiet nighttime walk looking up into the purple-grey sky marveling at the snowflakes coming down with the streetlights glowing warm all around you that should have happened to ME instead

[starscream-is-my-wife]

Pt 2 and the final part of LL Megatrons conversation with an aware G1 Starscream

this one wasn’t as dramatic as the first part but there’s only so much emotional vulnerability Screamer can do with his new free will heheh, thanks for all of the comments encouraging me! I’ve never drawn longer comics like these before and it’s pretty fun so hopefully I can improve with the next comic I make!

[demigod-shenanigans]

Anyway have some Leo and Esperanza thoughts set in a universe where she’s alive:

-Definitely knew Leo was bi before he told her. This kid is not able to be subtle about his crushes ever 

-She was the first person Leo ever came out to. Just hugged him for ages and kissed his head and told him he’s perfect exactly how he is and she’s always going to love him no matter what 

-They Iris message almost daily when Leo first gets to camp. He’s so excited when he makes his first friend and gets to introduce her to Piper. Leo and Piper met in this universe because they were the oldest out of the kids claimed right after the Titan war and arrived at camp at the same time and they just clicked immediately 

-Let’s say in this universe Gaia doesn’t wake and Leo and Piper just sort of find an injured Jason on a mission by coincidence (make that “coincidence” because someone (Juno) decided it was time to mend the rift between camps and having CHB nurse one of the Camp Jupiter praetors then return him to his own camp unharmed was a good starting point)

-Jason stays at CHB for a while for diplomatic reasons and they properly become friends

-Esperanza definitely side-eyes Jason when he visits them for the first time because at first glance he gives off similar vibes to some of the football player kids who’ve bullied Leo before and she is Concerned but Jason withers so fast under her gaze that she ends up concerned for a completely different reason 

-Jason scrambles to try and tell her all the reasons why he thinks Leo is the most incredible person ever actually and yeah it turns out she really likes this kid (though she’s starting to get increasingly worried about what his home life looks like if some light glaring has him this rattled)

-He loves her cooking (but not as much as Leo’s. He’d never tell her that though)

-She doesn’t push Jason to talk about his home life or family but makes it very clear that he’s free to stay over whenever he wants. Fundamental mom instinct to wrap that boy in a blanket and make him hot cocoa.

-Esperanza is Jason’s first encounter with an adult that’s genuinely kind and caring towards him and he’s really really shocked about it. Like worrying amounts. He needs her to like him or he Will Die actually, especially because that’s Leo’s mom

-Esperanza definitely picks up on the vibes between Jason and Leo before Jason and Leo do. This isn’t even her being especially perceptive they’re just incredibly obvious and also idiots (I say this with affection)

-One summer Leo Iris messages his mom randomly in the middle of the day beaming but will not tell her what’s up. For like fifteen minutes he’s just smiling and fidgeting away talking about a whole bunch of nothing at all until she grins and asks “did you finally ask Jason out” and Leo just looks at her gobsmacked because he has no idea how she could have possibly figured that one out

-Jason tries to learn Spanish in parts to impress her and he is So Bad At It at first. She thinks it’s really sweet and is very encouraging (unlike Leo who just makes fun of his boyfriend for his shit pronunciation)

[grimalkinscribbles]

A meager offering 🤲

[necrotic-nephilim]

I think what I love the most about Reverse Robin AU TimJay is the absolute potential for hero worship with Jason toward Tim. In canon we often forget that Tim didn't really care for Jason as Robin, meanwhile as I never shut up about, Jason has been weirdly respecting and obsessed with Tim since finding out about Tim's existence. So if you flip their order, make Tim Red Hood and make Jason Red Robin, there's so much room for hero worship from Jason.

As Robin, Jason has always teetered that edge of being pro-murder or not. Whether you believe he killed Felipe or not, even in his Post-Crisis introduction as Robin, he almost kills Two Face. Those concepts of lethal justice have always been brewing inside him, just reigned in by Bruce. So if you have Robin!Jason witnessing Red Hood!Tim start killing people and quickly making noticeable change in the landscape of gangs in Gotham, Jason would take quick notice. I think Tim as Red Hood would still be lethal, but there'd be a different application than Jason's Red Hood. Heads in duffle bags isn't Tim's style, even if he kills. I think you'd see something much more akin to that time Tim almost killed Boomerang, where it's such an elaborately thought out set up, it realistically doesn't even look like Tim killed anyone. It'd take months for Bruce to connect this string of deaths as anything other than coincidental, let alone link them to Red Hood. And Jason is wickedly smart, even as Robin. Jason, putting those pieces together before Bruce does and witnessing the undeniable positive change for Gotham it's enacting? Robin!Jason would be incredibly drawn in by that, and then even more-so, a Red Robin!Jason who has to grapple with being replaced to make room for the next Robin would I think, in anger, turn to Red Hood. And Tim would push him away at first, his plans don't have room for a scorned teenager who's trying to get back at Bruce and Nightwing!Damian like this- but I think Jason would wear him down. Prove to Tim that Jason can think on his wavelength.

Slightly related, what interests me about Red Hood!Tim is how it'd implicate his closeness to Ra's. Jason is taken into the League by Talia in Lost Days and Ra's doesn't necessarily approve of Jason's presence, especially not of Talia dunking him in the Pit, but Ra's has always canonically been A Little Weird about Tim. I think in a world Tim dies as the second Robin, it would be Ra's who dunks Tim to preserve his mind that Ra's thinks shouldn't be wasted, and you have the potential for 'apprentice of Ra's' Tim wrapped up in it all, even without him experience the Red Robin arc. So when it's Jason as Red Robin, instead of him going to Ra's when he's scorned by the Batfamily, he goes to Tim. The person he once idolized, because I think Tim would've been Jason's Robin. Smart, competent, a strong legacy to live up to. And now he's back, and he's pro-killing, an edge that Jason has always teetered on and would feel even closer to when he's replaced by a young Dick. I think Tim wouldn't ever be able to get rid of Jason.

Then on Tim's side, I think his reaction to being replaced after his death would be a complicated one. Objectively, being the Robin who believes Batman needs a Robin, he'd respect the logic and know Bruce was always going to replace him eventually. But still, there's always going to be that instinctual emotional reaction of betrayal and replacement. I think he'd view Jason at first with anger and distance, but then, seeing Jason as this street kid with begrudging potential, I could see Red Hood!Tim testing Jason. Constantly throwing things at Jason, seeing how he reacts, if he lives up to being Robin. Tim has a need for analyzing people, understanding their strengths and weaknesses. And he seems the Robin mantle very uniquely, he'd need to have it proven to him that Jason can handle it.

So you would have this dynamic of Jason hero worshipping Tim, slowly believing in Tim's methodology. While Tim is at first dismissive of him, but then starts to test him, see what makes this kid tick. And I think the TimJay potential of Jason trying to prove himself to Tim could be Neat.

[thevoidstaredback]

Bruce and Harley are friends. Bruce and Harvey are friends.

May I present: All three grew up together.

They met at a park one day, or even on the first day of first grade, and decided that they were gonna be friends forever.

They all probably kissed once just to see what it would be like. They also made a promise to marry each other/move in together if they weren't in a committed relationship by a certain age.

They definitely planned to work together in the future, all having to do something with the law. They were gonna be the good guys, kicking ass together because there's no way they'd ever stop being friends.

And then Bruce's parents were killed.

And then they couldn't all go to the same high school because Harley lived in Park Row and Harvey lived in Old Gotham and Bruce lived in Bristol.

And then Bruce disappeared.

And then Harley went insane.

And suddenly, Harvey was the only one left.

But Bruce came back! And Batman appeared. And Harvey was busting his ass trying to keep the city safe while also reconnecting with Bruce and telling him what happened to Harley. Harley joins The Joker, entering a relationship with him.

Batman has to keep locking Harley away in the very place she wanted to help people, and Bruce dies a bit every time because that's his friend he keeps putting there.

Harvey goes insane, calling himself Two-Face.

And suddenly, Bruce is the only one left.

None of them are doing what they set out to do.

Harley - in nice terms - is no longer with Joker. Harvey is still in and out of Arkham. Bruce now has three two kids.

Harley reforms, getting the help she needed, but she doesn't go back to what she'd grown up wanting to do. Harvey keeps going through the revolving door that is Arkham Asylum, but he knows Batman won't hurt him because Bruce would never hurt his friends on purpose. Bruce now has 7 kids, two of which he can't officially adopt because one still has living family and the other doesn't want that. Bruce and Harley reconnect.

[n4c9s]

"I'm sorry." "There's nothing to be sorry for."

~

Some post-Mazarin Stone thoughts

[blighted-lights]

thinking about them again,,

(this post by @weapon-up-wallflower had me thinking about rodimus' apology towards drift in dying of the light again, and,,, yea. not Fully related to the original post but it got me thinking)

ive always thought drift accepting the apology was one last form of appeasement towards rodimus- or at least less of a genuine acceptance and more of a, "we're probably going to die soon, do i really want rodimus to die thinking i hate him?"

but then they both lived 🤷‍♂️ and it was just easier for drift to fall back into his old role than try to change things. surely this will not cause a build up of resentment in the long run. surely.

[vaguely-concerned]

that banter lucanis has with davrin where he tells him he shouldn't be letting assan go soft, because when you let that happen to 'predators like us' you turn them into sheepdogs. all anxiety all the time. ...lucanis baby is there something you want to talk about. I mean I know you'd literally rather die but well if you need it the offer is on the table lol

[monkiinart]

bios drabbles.. i miss him so much

[caeslxys]

Something I think is extremely interesting thematically when it comes to connecting what Downfall and the ideas it tackled to the overarching narrative of campaign three is that the things Downfall made a point to showcase of Aeor—Cassida, Hallis, the visual of an aeormaton proposing to her partner, the specific and intentional decision to shed light on a far from insignificant amount of the population being civilians or refugees—is that it plays in perfect parallel across from what is happening (and, really, has been happening) to the ruidusborn on Exandria in present.

Bear with me for a moment. Aeor is ultimately a city that was collectively punished for the decisions of its leadership. We could (and, judging by the amount of discourse around this particular topic already, probably will) argue about what the Gods’ motivation for all of this was—whether it be that they could not, in the end, bear to kill their siblings or that they were terrified at the prospect of mortality—for me it is a very healthy dose of both—but for this I am much more interested in the latter. They were scared. That, really, is the driving force behind both this arc and their role in c3 as a whole.

Why I point this out is: It is far more interesting to me, especially as we go back to Bells Hells this week, to dissect the Gods and their decisions not purely on sympathetic motivation alone but as beings in the highest seat of power in the highest social class in Exandria.

So, having established that the Gods (in relation to mortals) are more a higher social class than anything we could compare to our real life understanding of divinity and that Aeor was eviscerated largely because of their fear—what is the difference between those innocents in Aeor caught in the trappings of their autocratic government leadership and a divine war on the ground, and those of the ruidusborn being manipulated both by Ludinus and by the very thing that inspired such visceral fear in the Gods to start with. I would argue very little.

I think of Cassida, doing what she genuinely thought was right and good and would save people, her son, and the object of her worship—and how that did not matter enough to any of them to spare her because of the fear they held at the very concept of mortality. I think of Liliana and Imogen, one of which we know begged for the gods to help her or send her a sign for years on years, and how every single one of their largest struggles could have been avoided had the gods loved them, their supposed children, as much as they feared what they could be. I think of how the thing that did save Imogen, in the end, was a woman who herself existed in direct defiance of the gods will. I think of that young boy, sixteen years old, that Laudna exalted on Ruidus.

I think it’s completely fair to judge Aeor’s overall society as deeply corrupt—it was!—but its leadership and police force are not a reflection of every one of its citizens. Similarly, it is fair to judge the Ruby Vanguard as corrupt—it is!—but its multiple heads of leadership and even the god-eater further are not a reflection of every one of its members.

Notably, and what I think the Hells will latch onto, this did not matter to the Gods. It did not matter that Cassida was trying to help. She was still too much of a risk. Will it matter, what Imogen does? Will it matter, if that young boy is in the blast radius when they decide to take no further chances?

I’ve seen a lot of people say that the Hells will side with the gods and I don’t think I agree. Especially as Imogen has been scolded and villainized over and over for daring to try and save her mother—who herself has been seen by some as an irredeemable evil in spite of her drive being the exact same—her family—but when it’s the Gods it’s justified? When it’s the Gods, it’s sympathetic? Too sympathetic to criticize further than “they’re family”?

I obviously do not think the Gods should die or be eaten or what have you, and I certainly don’t agree with Ludinus (though I find him much more compelling than just a variation of hubris wizard), but when talking about the Gods in Aeor and in present it isn’t really at all about their motivation or their family. It can’t be. Too many people, including our active protagonists, lives have been effected for it to be as cut and dry as “they’re family”. These are your children. They are your family, too.

[ghostlyarchaeologist]

Eliot in glasses compendium.

(Jake)

(Alex)

[jimmygibbs-jr]

no zombie au where ellis hits nick with his truck

[arlathen]

it's funny that andrastianism was right but like a thousand years too early. like no a god and his (once?) mortal beloved didn't inhabit the golden city but. they do now.

[slutdge]

I get where you are coming from on some level but sexualizing your tattoo artist is REALLY weird. They were just doing their job, don't be fucking weird about it

I wasn't weird about it, I barely spoke 2 words to him while he tattooed me cause im pretty shy in settings like that, I paid him, I left, then I made a one sentence silly tumblr post saying "yeah I thought the dude that tattooed me today was kinda hot" when i got home, i was never sexualizing or demeaning towards him in any way. ive also thought construction workers are hot while walking past construction sites. i thought my senior year english teacher was hot. i think the singer for my favorite band is hot. are yall not attracted to real people or is it only cartoon characters? the call is coming from inside the house, yall are the fucking weird ones lmao what even is this ask. why is every dweeb on tumblr so adverse to being attracted to real life people. just delete your account and become a catholic monk at this point.

[wajjs]

I am always thinking about how Morrison planned on explicitly (as in, leaving no doubt about it) writing Hal as pansexual. And considering the character, it makes so much sense.

Partly because of his close contact with aliens who have so many different definitions and understandings of gender, and also because when it comes to his relationships with fellow humans he has romantic/sexual tension with a lot of people regardless of their gender.

I think it would've been cool to explore that, and would've also helped modernize the character. Writing him as pansexual isn't a stretch at all, since, well, there is proof everywhere (and across different universes/earths/and canons).

The way I see it, having him directly confront his sexuality and sexual attraction can also lead to him confronting his attachment issues. Hal is a very sexual, and also very romantic, person, and the type to show his feelings in a grand romantic gesture kind of way. I mean. The whole plane thing. C'mon.

But also, when someone has a part of themselves they're blind to, that directly affects their relationships. And I think that, ultimately, that's what affects Hal's ability to stay with someone (except, funnily enough, for the DKR earth, where he's happily married with a kid) without sabotaging it himself.

On that same vein, I do also think fandom tends to misinterpret Hal's relationship with gender. I think part of the blame has to do with the fact that those Spectre panels have been reposted to infinity and beyond without any sort of context, and that mixes well with the fact that unfortunately a lot of people just don't read comics at all.

I do not think those panels are meant to be taken as Hal being secretly transfem, though it is definitely interesting and heartwarming to think/write what ifs in which that is true.

What we see is that the feminine version is just one part of Hal, but not THE part. She doesn't have dominance over the others whatsoever. There are other versions of himself that also cannot be exactly tied down to any binary gender whatsoever.

It's my opinion that, if anything, Hal is genderfluid, but is somewhat unaware of it since he thinks that's the natural state of things. (And I also think he would only use he/him pronouns even if he becomes fully aware of his genderfluidness.)