#idk this is just a generic superhero cartoon to me

[cessmaga]

I feel like danny phantom would be just as popular as avatar if they actually try to be a little dark

I wouldn't say it would be completely pg-13 ultra gritty it would be just like generator rex, it has some body horror and deep topics while still maintaining to be kids show

i think of this because it still has a fanbase to this day, and when you look at the fandom, it seems like they like the show's concept a lot more than the show itself, and they all brainstorm some story ideas based on the show's concept

[ritartistside]

While I was reading some of the negative reviews of Deadpool&Wolverine I have realized something

D&W might not be a good movie on a technical basis (I don’t even try to question that), and that still doesn’t stop it from being a great experience and an authentic Deadpool story

Like, is the plot lacking and are there holes in the story and could the emotional parts have been handled better? Yes, obviously

I keep seeing people writing “demand better” and “expect more from the writers/production”

I am quite far from defending Disney, but like, honestly, I don’t need any of that from a Deadpool movie (or a Deadpool anything)

Plot wise, the first two movies weren’t great, you could say that they were better than D&W, but still idk why people are now acting like the writing was anywhere near being "good" and this one was a huge drop in quality

The first one literally followed the most generic superhero story plotline ever. You could say “well that’s his origin story” but like only kinda true and it could have been done better and from a completely different angle (I can admit that and I still love it)

The later half of the second movie is on the same level in being disjointed as the third movie. It's a hot mess, with objectively bad writing (and one of my all time favorite movies)

Now, I am thinking of some of the Deadpool comics I read

I might just haven’t read enough, but I don’t really think they have "great plots". I remember reading Suicide Kings, some stories from Udon studios, along with other short stories, parts of the Deadpool kills XYZ stuff and “Isn’t it Bromantic”, plus many more where he was a side character)

The videogame had the best portrayal of Yellow and White but basically everything in there was questionable (plot, jokes, characterization, everything), I enjoyed it, but good God

His smaller parts in cartoons were cool but again, nothing major

Now, back to the newest film

I personally am content with the plot being bad, the emotional parts lacking and the whole thing being basically a disjointed mess

If I want any of those things done well, I look for it elsewhere

All this is to say that I feel like people are wanting to get something from a Deadpool story that wasn’t even there in the first place, is not there currently and will most likely never be there

I am not saying that people shouldn’t expect more or even that they are in the wrong for saying that the movie was bad and they wanted more, I just don’t think it’s a reasonable expectation

I know am repeating myself, but for me the authentic Deadpool experience can be described as “subjectively, I had fun, objectively, oh boy..”

I guess I am kinda preaching to the choir here, with D&W being the highest grossing R rated film ever, but still

[lulu24784]

🖸 ──» south park tattoo artist au headcanons :

main 4 + butters headcanons for an upcoming fic

stan 🖸 specializes in: blackwork tattoos 🖸 hates sitting for too long 🖸 frequent smoke breaks 🖸 needs to be listening to his music when tattooing 🖸 refuses to do any color 🖸 definitely acts like a rockstar and thinks he'd kick ass at inkmaster 🖸 not always the nicest when he's frustrated; like if his client isn't sitting still. he will definitely tell them they need to or he'll stop and won't finish the session that day 🖸 rotary machine usually 🖸 his station is sleek; black and grey themed. almost empty looking, he doesn't have much hanging up. feels very medical

portfolio: preferences to skulls, abstract, blackout sleeves

kyle 🖸 specializes in: neo traditional 🖸 asks if you're okay every 5 minutes 🖸 "do you need more pillows? water? sugar??" 🖸 "if you need me to stop for any reason at all, don't hesitate to let me know, okay?" 🖸 other than that, he doesn't talk too much during the session. he's too focused 🖸 very detail oriented 🖸 wireless rotary machine all the way 🖸 stencils you like 2-3 times; "hmm i dunno the placement is weird?" "dude i said i liked it, it's fine. am i paying your hourly for this??" 🖸 walks you through literally every step of the tattoo process. goes to wipe with soap: "okay, so this is gonna be cold okay?" 🖸 he just wants you to be happy in the end 🖸 his station is a bit cluttered, but it's organized clutter. artwork hung up in matching regal frames and plants on his storage shelves and in hanging baskets.

portfolio: preferences to lady faces, botanicals, animals

kenny 🖸 specializes in: neo traditional + but is an all-rounder can literally do anything 🖸 studio owner 🖸 always smokes weed before a session 🖸 pretty chill; he's a laid back boss. as long as you're clean and professional he doesn't care what you do 🖸 likes to take his time and do good work, he did work hard for this career after all 🖸 loves getting to do stupid tattoo ideas but is usually stuck doing bigger piece work; he gives the fun stuff to his apprentice 🖸 CHATTERBOX. literally does not shut up during the session, always cracking jokes 🖸 definitely the life of the studio; makes everyone feel comfortable and welcome 🖸 rotary or coil depending on what he's doing 🖸 generally keeps the main studio area organized; has plants that he gets kyle to take care of. his own station though... oml. it's chaos. random mismatching frames with prints of dicks and memes all over the walls. his shelves probably have random knick-knacks he thrifted, like... idk a furby, some random porcelain horse?? just the most weirdest shit. his ink wall is very organized though somehow..

portfolio: preferences to peonies, irezumi style, ignorant style

eric 🖸 specializes in piercings 🖸 definitely gets a kick out of hurting people 🖸 has a big ego because of what he does 🖸 surprisingly very professional when it comes down to it 🖸 makes his clients comfortable and sometimes jokes around with them 🖸 gets nervous before every appointment; always a little afraid he's gonna fuck up 🖸 always keeps the a/c cranked so his clients are less likely to pass out but it makes everyone miserable with how cold it always is in the studio 🖸 thinks he's hot shit because he's the best piercer in town; it definitely fuels his already massive ego 🖸 definitely the type to bitch about problem clients 🖸 has superhero prints hung up in his station and funko pops on his storage shelves; but his station is fucking spotless otherwise.

portfolio: preference to cartilage, septums, nostrils

butters 🖸 specializes in: kawaii style, anime, cartoons 🖸 kenny's apprentice 🖸 the most nervous wreck of a tattoo artist, cries after almost every tattoo 🖸 runs the social media for everyone and manages the front desk 🖸 basically the "shop bitch" that has to do apprentice duties like cleaning and running errands; kenny's generally pretty easy on him though 🖸 gets all the tattoo's nobody else wants to do, but it pushes him to learn 🖸 slowly making a name for himself though as the only tattoo artist in SP that does anime tats 🖸 gets all the hello kitty girls as clients 🖸 the artist you want to go to if you need a mini therapy session. will tell you to dump your partner, move out of the city, and go travel with the $2 you have left in your bank account after the tattoo lmao 🖸 rotary only. Kenny wanted to teach him how to use a coil but figured with the times he might as well just show him the basics 🖸 pink station! stickers everywhere! he's got a heart ring light to take pictures for his portfolio. his shelves are full of plushies that clients have bought him and anime figures. also has a hello kitty water cooler that he uses for his distilled

portfolio: preference to color, sanrio, anything adorable!

[ghostsandmirrors]

MASTER WISHLIST

this is far longer than expected.

they are organised by muse, but I'm not organising them as like canons, then originals. they're just all in this together.

The Menagerie do you have a smug shithead muse? we have a zoo! pick one or two or three to bully your muse with. they're all a pain in the ass. (the menagerie are the animals. they're all canons from different sources.)

---

Bucky Bucky and general DC heroes (MCU/DC crossover) (I started writing half my muses on MCU/DC crossover forum sites, including Bucky! I'm throwing him back into his roots)

Batman I just think Bucky meeting Batman would be very funny, especially in a professional setting and especially if canon divergent post-Endgame. Bucky having war flashbacks to being chased through Bucharest by a man dressed as a cat because 'so many superheroes are furries.'

Wonder Woman Bucky and Diana based on that one fan plot where Diana was involved, in some way, with fighting during WWII and they met back then and then meet again in the modern day. bonus points if Diana thinks he's his own grandson and he doesn't correct her.

Superman idk Bucky and Superman would just be kinda wholesome? also if Superman mun comfortable, Bucky would totally have a crush on Superman. you can't convince me otherwise. also Clark and Bucky as a ship would be 'pure of heart, dumb of ass' in that order and it makes me giggle.

Other any of the Batfam would also be fun but there's every chance they get unofficially adopted. new dad! new dad! new dad!

I don't know that many DC heroes. girl help. who else is there? idk but I want them!

Bucky + ship partner post-mission shit. anything. just them being like 'thank FUCK that's over with'. snuggling. idgaf.

Bucky + Steve, Bucky + Sam pure of heart, dumb of ass. this is a never-ending want. it's not a specific want, either. I just like putting them in threads together.

Bucky + Thor I don't know why but I've always wanted to and never gotten the chance to.

Bucky/Loki 🥺👉👈 Listen...

Bucky + Spider-Muses I once joked about Bucky adopting various Spider-characters and I still want it. Bucky is the ancient, morally ambiguous MCU Batman on this blog, in that he will not stop fucking adopting people, but at least Bruce usually adopts children. Bucky'll adopt a 30 year old. they're still 70 years younger than him so they're fair game.

Bucky + Nebula the sheer comedy value of these two being friends is worth the gymnastics to figure out how they'd spend enough time together to become friends.

---

Joker Joker + Batman <3 Joker is obsessed with Batman. ofc I want to thread them. I want every possible thread in any verse that's most comfortable. Joker is my comfort villain.

Joker + Batman characters in general (focused on villains/rogues gallery) I have no specifics, I just realised he talks to the Rogues Gallery a lot in comics/cartoons and my Joker… hasn't. ever. I can fix that.

---

Dylan Dylan and Heroes (any DC) I also want Dylan and Gotham heroes, Gordon, etc.. Dylan needs more screentime 'cause her ass is overshadowed by the fuckin owl at this point. lbr who isn't.

Dylan and Heroes (any MCU) also Dylan plus marvel heroes since she has an MCU verse. do I have icons? fuck no. am I asking for Dylan threads regardless? fuck yes.

---

Jameson Jameson and Heroes (any) Mortitaint is a masked murderer. that's it. that's the pitch. you want your muse hit with a shovel? I can help with that! also if any men want a boyfriend who is sweaty and dirty every day and surprisingly strong……………. im just saying……………… and then they can one day find out the other is a hero/villain……………………….. drama. 👀 (this includes anti-heroes)

Jameson and Villains (any) I just think it'd be interesting, y'know? Jameson doesn't tend to play well with others, in general, but there's a chance it doesn't go horribly wrong!

---

Wag Wag and X-Men Characters Wagner Himura is an X-Men oc that, in his entire time on my blog, has never threaded with an X-Men character. it can be any character and any verse. I don't care. I just want him to speak to other mutants, man.

Logan specifically, I would like Wag and Logan threads. I always picture Wag as a general pest when he starts working at the school, like throwing water balloons filled with speed potions at people that annoy him kind of pest, and I get the feeling Logan would either hate his guts, like him because he does not discriminate between students and teachers, or be very cautious because he doesn't know Wag's limits while Wag's just like 'hey ;D I don't actually find you attractive but if flirting means I don't get stabbed, I'll flirt. ;D I'm high as a fuckin kite rn lmao ;D'

Charles Xavier Wag and Charles would also be funny because of the aforementioned 'high as a kite'.

Brotherhood any brotherhood muse in his brotherhood verse would be nice, too. Idk how he got into the brotherhood in that verse and I want to explore it. I just miss writing Wag, lbr.

OCs tbh any OC. let's yeet our x-men OCs together and see what bad ideas they come out with. it'll be funny. I'm willing to make up places that they can go through a portal to, as well.

---

Bam and X-Men Characters Bam has an X-Men verse in which he vibrates particles when angry and I just… I miss Bam being chaotic. I miss Bam being a mess. she's gotten too collected and I want disaster Bam back. I don't have specific preferences for this one.

---

Wag and Bam Basically, both Wag and Bam (in his X-Men verse) have abilities that can/are activated by emotions. With Wag, he has more control over his abilities and thus the chances of anger doing anything is low but not zero. If his anger is doing anything, it's a silent, 'scorched Earth' kind of anger that mostly shows in things moving telekinetically. With Bam, his power is exclusively activated by anger.

I just want that in a(nother, in Bam's case) thread or plot. It'd be fun.

---

Mattie and Avengers/SHIELD/HYDRA Mattie worked for both SHIELD and HYDRA so I would like to establish some kind of relations with SHIELD and HYDRA muses, but she also sent records to the Avengers after the fall of HYDRA and began torturing/murdering HYDRA agents who survived The Snap so like……….. 👀

also Avengers meeting her after The Blip or whatever dumb bitch shit The Snap 2: Electric Boogaloo is canonically called would be… like she a gremlin in the swamplands. she's a whole fuckin cryptid by that point. I want her ex-coworkers to meet the cryptid she's become and be like, '... ayo? you good?' and her to be knee-deep in swamp water, dragging a body, like, '... yup!'

---

Arnulf Arnulf and Steve's Friends arnulf needs to meet non-Steve avengers (or others who know him). it would be funny. 'hey you kinda look like Steve Rogers..' '[subtle german accent] a lot of people say that! it's so strange. I don't see it.'

Past - HYDRA threads between like 2012-2014 would be interesting? idk. I feel like I've forgotten how to write serious threads.

---

Ultron + MCU? I'm sure i've mentioned this before but I just really want Ultron to reunite with the avengers through like idk texts? e-mails? something technology based so the urge to blow his ass up is reduced.

this is not limited to just the avengers. you have an MCU hero muse? a child of a canon? I'll take 'em. give me any muse who may know Ultron or his reputation.

---

Dick + Heroes (MCU) LET HIM BITCH AT AN AVENGER ABOUT THAT ALIEN THAT GOT THROWN THROUGH THE WINDOW OF HIS WORK. he deserves this.

---

Ai and Tony Stark I always imagine that they know each other due to being rich and fundraisers and shit like that. Ai might be an assassin but she gives to charity and does all the Very Good Things she's meant to which means attending Stark fundraisers and drinking his booze x

they do not have to like each other. I don't think Ai has met a single person she likes since she killed her husband, I'll be honest.

---

Villains generally I do want more villain threads where my villain muses are being villains and doing villainous things. like, I have Joker and Ultron who deserve some attention but also Jameson, Ai, Mattie, Jesse, I have a verse where Bam's a villain (he's doing it for the vibes. that'd hold up in court /s), I have the brotherhood verse with Wag… like… plz. I want my muses to go apeshit.

---

Fandomless OCs (Liaxee, the Bringer, Lieat) also I would like to do more with supernatural/fantasy/generally fandomless OCs and Liaxee or the Bringer or Lieat. Liaxee is a joy to write, the Bringer is my dumb bitch, and Lieat's the cutest muse I have. I love them all, your honour.

I think Supernatural (the show) muses and any of these three would be fun, too. especially Lieat, because idk if there's anything like them in the Supernatural universe?

I know I have two doctor who blogs following me so I'm lumping them in with supernatural/fantasy/fandomless oc/Superrnatural (the show). yous wanna meet a void creature?

---

Special Requests have you ever seen a Crazy Quilt RPer? he's my favourite Batman villain. please. (this is mostly a joke but if there actually is a Crazy Quilt RPer, I want to know.)

Egghead is another DC special request because I love Batman villains.

also Typeface and Spellcheck. Idk them that well, but I want to and I have Spider-Man.

[strawberrytalia]

People have made posts before about how each Green Lantern reflects their own time period and are basically time capsules (btw Red i love that post <3) and I think that’s the coolest thing, but that also reminds me of how sweet it is that GL is one of the few superhero titles that fans of sooo many different generations connect with in different ways. I know some Kyle fans on this site got to know him through his 90’s run, so he’s very nostalgic to them. Many people, like myself, would say John Stewart is our GL because we grew up watching the justice league cartoon. Off this site, there are tons of Alan, Hal and Guy fans who loved them through their own runs too. Simon and Jess too, the millennial of the GLC lmao, have fans who love them thanks to GL 2016. And we have younger heroes like Tai and Keli who are gonna grow up to represent their own times as well. Idk I just think this is sweet, bc characters like Superman and Batman have remained one man mostly, but GL is a classic moniker that has been given to a diverse myriad of people that we all connect with in so many unique ways.

[thedvilsinthedetails]

assigning the cartoon shows that raised me to the marauders and skittles

ok so. Don’t judge me I watched a LOT of cartoons.

Pandora - Ever After High. Day and night on repeat and her favourite character was Maddie (mad hatter’s daughter for those of you that did not have this beacon of light in ur lives)

Dorcas - ok so hear me out: puss in boots. He’s so sassy she would have loved it I think

Reggie - Hilda. Ok so I only watched like a little bit of the show bc it came later but I LOVED the books. I still have some of them on my shelf just to look at the pretty art and from what I remember the show did it justice. He would have loved Hilda. It would have been his absolute comfort show.

James - Gravity Falls. Kinned Mabel always and forever and yes this is projecting but like who can’t imagine James yapping constantly about Gravity Falls??

Barty - my little pony. I will not be accepting questions. He watched it religiously because he bloody COULD and any time anyone said the show was for girl’s he probs beat the crap out of them and then skipped away singing the theme tune

Evan - Sofia the first. Just is.

Sirius - Asterix and Obelix. He would have lovedddd it idk why. Also it’s French so he’d watch it with his friends being all smug bc he’d be the only one that didn’t have to read the subtitles to understand.

Remus - Avatar the last airbender. And he had a crush on post redemption arc Zuko (I don’t make the rules I just enforce them) and looked up to Iroh as his mentor.

Lily - the powerpuff girls. She was raised on the superhero girl genre in general and would have loved this show probs even more than I did (which was a lot)

Marlene - Scooby Doo. I don’t even know how to explain this but she just would have loved scooby doo like an insane amount.

Mary - so I was stumped by Mary for a bit but I actually think this is so fitting, she would have loved Glitter force (one of the millions of iterations I can’t tell them apart in my brain they all just sort of jumbled together)

Peter - Pokémon and he would know all the lyrics to the pokérap, it’s probably his top song on Spotify wrapped and who can actually blame him it’s such a bop.

I don’t know where the inspiration hit me for this but here please enjoy my monstrous creation.

[tenpintsofsundrop]

i know that this is such a random question, but...

for the Titans show, do you think all of the cast for the show fit their characters? or do you think there could've been someone else to play their role?

(tbh I love random questions like this omg. I love any chance to discuss Titans at length)

And genuinely, I wouldn't change any of the casting.

It's actually so interesting, because Titans is the first piece of live action DC media that I have gotten really sentimentally attached to. I was always a bigger fan of DC than Marvel because I always enjoyed the Batman films, and I did watch episodes of the Justice League cartoon in passing, or I watched other random animated Batman movies or Justice League movies and really enjoyed them - and I have always enjoyed how DC has so many different styles and tones across each piece of media, rather than the homogeneous boring schlock that Marvel puts out.

Young Justice was the first piece of DC media in general that I got really, really personally attached to, because @nctzenkane is a huge DC fan (and when we first met, it was one of the first things we ever talked about that made me start falling for him) - and he really sparked my interest in certain things and caused me to convert my casual enjoyment of it to a very hardcore nerdom. And him encouragining me to watch Young Justice was definitely the first step in me becoming a full blown DC nerd.

And he also encouraged me to watch Titans - just because Ryan Potter is hot in it - and it's so funny because Jaycen is not even the biggest Titans fan, but I developed such a distinct emotional attachment to it. So in my mind, all of the actors for those characters in Titans - they just are the live action versions. Whenever I am reading fanfiction of those characters, no matter what version the writing is talking about - I always picture the Titans cast in my head.

I know there has been a lot of (idk how to phrase it) controversy? Around Curran Walters as Jason Todd because people think that he's not bulky enough to be Jason and people think he somehow should have shredded and bulked up to become Red Hood?

Honestly, I am fucking relieved that the show didn't pressure him to make major changes to his body just because in the comic books he magically went from a skinny fifteen year old kid to the hulking body of a 6.4" shredded pro wrestler (for those of you who don't know, I have described it as: The Pit makes comic Jason go from looking like Titans Jericho to looking like Titans Hank in five minutes) - like there is already so many gross unrealistic body standards when it comes to men in superhero roles. There doesn't need to be more

And in terms of emotions, and the actual acting, Curran is literally the best fit for Jason possible in my opinion. He brings so much power and depth to Jason's scenes, he makes the character eager and excitable yet worn and jaded at the same time, and he makes Jason's mental illness and struggles so layered and relatable.

One thing about Titans, is that they have some of the most phenomenal actors ever. They might not have the best special effects, or storylines/writing that makes the most sense - but the actors take the material and elevate it so fucking much.

Ryan Potter brought so much depth to Gar (which is something I could rant about for hours), Brenton balances Dick's hardened outer shell and his tender moments so fucking well, Anna makes Kory such a pensive and thoughtful character beyond being just intensely powerful and 'badass' (not to mention, casting a black woman in that role was a risk with whiny fanboys complaining about POC on screen and I am sure she puts up with way too much bullying and hate because of it), and Tegan was so young when she started as Rachel, but she brought an intensity and professionalism that carried Rachel so well (especially during the first season, where her character was the focus) that not many other young actors could have pulled off.

And that is just the core four - I could also go into how Joshua Orpin balances Conner's anger, inner turmoil, and troubled mind with his naive optimism of seeing the world for the first time so well.

And genuinely, I don't think Hawk and Dove could have been played by anyone else than who was cast.

And not only that, but from what we do see of the behind the scenes, it feels like Titans is a true passion project for all of them, and that's why they put so much care into these characters (even if the writers sometimes neglect the details). I think the actors bring so much to the show.

I think possibly my only 'what if' - would have been Tim Drake being an Asian character as originally planned?

And this is absolutely no hate to Jay Lycurgo, I think he did end up being fantastic in the role. He plays the character wonderfully, balancing Tim's bright optimism, gentle fears/insecurities and heroic confidence well.

But I think a visibly Asian character who is clearly connected to their heritage would have been really great to have on screen, and it would have only added to the amazing array of representation in the show. And as far as Asian actors go, I don't know who I would replace him with. (Especially because I think it's interesting when lesser known/up and coming actors play these roles, and all the ones I can think of are popular from other things, or too old to play this role???)

But I do think that it's really cool how he was also in The Batman, so there could be headcanons of him also being Tim Drake in that universe (which I haven't seen anyone mention?)

But overall, I wouldn't change anything fundamental about the cast of Titans. I think they are amazing and I think they did their job so well. They made the show what it truly is for me. They made it close to my heart.

[lastoneout]

It's always interesting when I see posts about vtubers from an outside perspective 'cuz they remind me that to a lot of people vtuber exclusively means those generic anime girl models when to me it's like, damn I don't think I've ever seen such a diverse mess of character designs/concepts?

I mean it def has to do with the types of vtuber communities that you're in, and yeah there are a lot of those anime girls and they do tend to get SUPER popular(especially the ones who are like sponsored and shit), but when you get down into the trenches of small-time vtubers and pngtubers, especially ones where the streamers are doing most, if not all, of their own art, it really has more of a...idk vr chat/halloween costume/old forum pfp vibe to me?

Even the furries all have pretty unique art styles, and they range from like classic anthro furries to more human-looking ones to ones that are basically just animals(and they break down farther into anime-inspired or western style or realistic), I've seen stuffed animals, tons of chibis, muppets, one old school comic book style superhero, skeletons, old rubber hose lookin' cartoons, spiders, pokemon, star trek ocs, mythological creatures I've never even heard of, zombies, non-anime style monsters, slime...creatures, everything from static 2D images to a bajillion different styles of live 2D and 3D that look nothing alike, there very much is diversity.

So I dunno...I think there are a lot of those Anime Vtubers for sure and I can understand not vibing with what a lot of them have going on or even critiquing the trends and standards the like...industry, I guess, sets, but I think it's disingenuous to assume vtuber always means anime girl vtuber, bcs that's just not the case. When you go looking for them there are a LOT of fantastic, creative, diverse, and unique vtubers out there doing great work and they deserve recognition.

(And hell, there are a decent hunk of anime girl vtubers doing fun and unique stuff too, or at least having a lot of fun, and I'm not gonna shit on people who are just having fun.)

Or maybe that's just me, I'm kinda obsessed/in love with what people choose to represent themselves with when the sky's the limit and yeah sure, there's always gonna be generic anime girls, but there's also always gonna be those mad bastards running around dressed as cabbages too and I don't want them to be forgotten.

[dr-jem-nutcase]

MvA: The M Files take-a-peek, pt. 4

Two chapters today. First one's rather small so it's not exactly a double feature

Chapter 4

Is it "shh" or "sshh"? You tell me. Artbook says "ssh"

And like that, slight panic starts not in the streets but in the White House

Maaaaan, someone sure let the White House front lawn go

Mr. President of the 1960s/70s, even though you definitely don't look one bit like John Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson, you've described a handful of times in America between your time & now (2023, in case some reads this in 2024 and beyond)

That is one heck of a color scheme for Monger's hair. Just about as mysterious as the president's hair: like how does that combover work? Or what is that supposed to be?

So there's a basic map of the facility we all came to know and love...or loathe...whatever. The artbook has a much bigger description of it, a LOT more detail. But you can kinda figure out where everything is in this picture in comparison with the movie, kinda maybe sort of. Hm

So, I guess Link is no longer on dry ice or whatever. Yay, I think

Chapter 5

Welp, so much for that mushroom cloud footage. Explosions were almost a comedy staple in 2000s cartoons, like the cooler & wagon crash landing on top of the SUV in Over the Hedge or the chain reaction explosions of the hunters' trucks courtesy of a propane tank in Open Season. Why Insecto's origin story was changed to exclude that...idk

First off, you wouldn't want any amount of radiation exposure in that close amount of space, especially with little aeration holes...in front of kids, no less

What does the kid second from the left have in his mouth? Definitely does NOT look like gum

I'm getting major bridal Thumbelina vibes from the girl in pink, that hair

Hey, is this a parody of Spiderman's origin story? Imma say yes! Japan's own superhero, Grubman!

No, I think we ended up with Spiderman meets Bruce Wayne. Or just a rich guy who had to undergo a good amount of medical treatment for a very abnormal bug bite. Boo hoo. But moving on!

How quickly did Insecto grow? And that would probably determine how she got from a museum to a marketplace. (Yes, Insecto is female. Confirmed by the artbook)

Whitewashing some of the locals or just tourists? You tell me

That's some lazy Kanji right there

So Japan already had experiences with giant monsters AND robots? I mean, there was Godzilla (who got blown up in the B&W OG movie), but still. My curiosity is P-I-Q-U-E-D. If Japan had this sort of problem before 1950, good luck convincing the Japanese public that monsters are just stuff of myth & legend. Japan must've been the chillest place in the world when the monsters made their debut

Indestructible. But not for an alien robot

RIP, pilot. We thank you for your service. You are forever in our hearts

Ooh, W. R. Monger-- "CAPTAIN! Captain W. R. Monger." If you don't know what this reference is, I'm very sorry for you

I know English is becoming more & more of an international language, but I'm not sure that it was THAT international in the 1960s/70s. So a Japanese general that was fluent in English back then was a miracle

So, was Insecto just there for that one night or was she just sitting there in downtown Tokyo for more than a day?

I just realized Monger's hair turned gray really quickly in between BOB's story and this one...and now it's brown again

For the record, his eyes aren't blue

Bright lights...like stadium lights, movie premiere searchlights, interrogation spotlights, tell me more

Oh! Christmas lights. I'm disappointed in you, Tokyo. Wait, there's stage lights...and a disco ball!! Lol! I stand corrected

I guess Monger names his monsters on the fly. As is shown in the movie, "Escar...gantua"

"We saved the city!"

"At what cost?"

"Ummmm...the city"

Goodbye, downtown Tokyo

Those lights must've bleached the fur on Insecto's back

And so...there they go, about to tow a 350-foot colossus across the world's biggest ocean and a few hundred miles inland through Cali and into Nevada

I just realized...how does Insectosaurus almost always stand upright if most, if not all insect species are invertebrates? A lot of invertebrates have exoskeletons, so hers is probably underneath all that fur. Pardon this quack/wannabe entomologist

I think there's two more posts after this, which both should be coming this week. Whoopee!!!

FYI: yes, I have been the proud owner of a hardcover copy of The Art of MvA since the early 2010s. You will have to hunt me down for it if you want it for yourself

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to mourn the end of Phantom of the Opera 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[pumpkinstrawbrew]

how do you feel about nolan’s batman/scarecrow?

i’m not fully sure what you mean here. like, as in how i feel about the characters in that movie or that version of the pairing? 

but either way, i don’t hate it! i don’t hate any of batman movies tbh. no matter, how different or hella campy they are compared to source material, i still can see smth redeeming in them. i’m generally somewhat lax n’ chill with superhero movies/games. in most cases, i’d be more nitpicky toward cartoons/newer comics, than i’ll ever be toward cinema or video games. nolan’s batman falls into that category too. it’s not my fav batman movie by any means, but it has its moments.

besides, i believe that it was the first dc’s newer *2000 era* cinematic project back then, n’ i happen to watch it as a kid, so i have somewhat nostalgic memories about it as well. i also must say, that the tone of nolan's dark knight was very different compared to more campy, playful batman movies till that point. so it was nice change too. very unexpected turn in a way.

personally, for me it was hit in some places n' a fairly big miss in the others. for one, i get why a lot of people were annoyed with who nolan chose to play the scarecrow, since yes, it is strange to see a character, who canonically was considered to be far from pretty *to put it mildly* suddenly becoming basically an opposite of it. but tbh, i usually not very sold on who they pick to play characters in those movies. so it’s not like i tend to be 100% pleased in that aspect. n’ i do find it somewhat amusing, that for once, jonathan can be a real ‘princess’, both in manners n’ looks. it took some getting used to for sure, but i’m not super-duper upset about that change! i feel like i would have more inner dissonance if that batman movie, where nicolas cage was about to play crane had actually happened lol. i mean, it could have been interesting tbh, bc i cannot imagine cage being tame in his performance, esp back then. so maybe it's actually too bad that it didn't happened, bc we might have gotten the most over the top jonathan crane, who ever existed. like, you see jim carrey's riddler n' there is still no riddler to this day to top his exaggerated, campy performance lol. n' i have this vibe here too. i can bet 10$, that nick would have improvised in some scenes, n' like licked batman's face or smth. .... ah man, now i kinda wish that it had happened, dang.

but uh err, back to nolan's movies. if i’m being completely honest here, my main pet-peeve with nolan’s scarecrow wasn’t his looks per say, but rather how little he was presented in those movies in itself, and how nothing was really going on there for him. it really rubs me the wrong way, that he wasn’t even his own thing, just a pawn for another batman villain to use. he was never allowed to play a major role in anything, despite *might be wrong here tho* how nolan said that he considers the scarecrow to be batman’s real arch-nemesis not the joker, so this is why he used the scarecrow first. the scarecrow being batman's real fuel is smth i’m 100% sold on, and it all considering, that i actually love the joker as character. but like, the clown gimmick is basically antipod to literally everything lol. him being batman's 'fuel' always felt kinda idk, a bit lazy to me. at least, make the black mask or two-face his arch-enemy, this would be way more nuanced vs the clown, who's just hella insane n' have zero morals. so if nolan was also one of those people, who felt that the joker can be put aside for a moment or two, n' let another old batman's rogue shine, welp, he didn't implemented said sentiment very well in his movies.

there was a lot of room to do smth with crane’s character. to flash him out in newer ways or craft him more specifically for the setting, that they had going on. batman 2022 actually got this bit right. their edward was still very riddler-like, while also possessing enough ‘original’ elements to make him exist within the movie’s narrative/tone perfectly. he felt like that movie's main villain specifically n’ he played the part. n’ it all considering how he also was on the screen for idk, 20 minutes at max. but his presence was important n’ left an impact. not hannibal lector from silence of the lamb level, of course, *you cannot beat a suspense masterpiece after all* but still, it was smth. n' it was one of those things, that made me like the movie way more, than i expected.

with this in mind, now compare it to how we had to sit through a long ass movie, where we were teased with the scarecrow being the main antagonist. only for it to turn out to be a lie. instead, crane was taking the back seat to ra al ghul. just degist this sentence. he wasn't even bested by the joker or bane. but by ra flipping al ghul. like out of curiosity, i asked a couple of people, who have very limited n' slight knowlege of batman's media as whole, but who watched nolan's movies, n' i asked them who was the villain in the first movie. and they all were like 'the scarecrow'. no one even remembers ghul. an' it's not bc crane did smth big in the movie, but it's bc no one really cares about that past lore, where ghul was bruce's teacher. everyone only remember, that he kinda died or smth, when the cave/building collapsed lol. granted, i’m also bias here, bc ra al ghul is one of those batman’s villains, who personally bore me. and naturally, him stealing the spotlight from crane doesn’t win him any brownie points with me. but like, idk. this is just so unfair to the scarecrow. i mean, his iconic fear toxin wasn’t even released by him or on purpuse, which had me like ??? as a kid. bc it just made zero sense. it would have been the same, if i dunno, a clock king in btas had released joker’s laughing gas, all while the joker himself was just sorta/kinda there. just idling in the background without any proper input, aside from being the one who created the said gas lol. this is what had happened there. so yeah, it was a very awkward way to make bruce's old asshole teacher revelant again. also jonathan being a drug dealer *kind of* an' having a 'business plan' is so hiliriously opposite of what he usually did in the comics/btas. maybe, he could have shared his knowlege of how to make money with other cranes, who are usually broke as hell lol.

n’ well, if i had to be nitpicky here, i also was disappointed with how little thought they put into crane’s scarecrow costume. the excuse of ‘they tried to make it more realistic’ doesn’t work on me, bc catwoman in burton’s batman was designed with the same idea in mind, n’ her costume was freaking awesome n’ creative. but oh well…it is what it is.

as for nolan’s scarebat version, well, i don’t mind it. i love comic/btas crane n’ bruce the most. love jon as that socially inept, unsightly, closeted gremlin, n’ bruce as a low-key emotionally stunted, but still sympathetic hero. but aside from that, i can see an appeal in a good-looking scarecrow, who might have the power to sway batman with one smokey look. granted, jonathan already acted all whorish around the bat in the movie, so it’s not hard to picture him trying to seduce his way out of an encounter with batman just bc he feels that he can do it. so just this one time, crane can have it ‘easy’, when it comes to wooing the big bad bat. there is also smth funny about people expecting the fearsome scarecrow to look literally anything, but how nolan’s one looks. an' i also must add, that i've read a few of nolanverse scarebat fics an' usually the authors doing a better job at flashing out crane, than the movie did lol. so props to them for that!

[snugglyporos]

// what? Me? thinking that what Disney has been doing with their marvel movies is bad? Because they're making bad movies and wasting good actors and actresses? Me? Never.

I'll be honest, it's amazing how much better the cartoons for most superhero stuff is. Like since forever.

But I genuinely think that the executives and nerds at large haven't grasped that the boom is pretty much over, the A-list properties are all pretty much over, and you can't get it back.

Even IF you were writing A-game stories, you'd still struggle to make people care about Captain Marvel, and they're not giving her A-game stories.

It's really hard to make people care when the writers clearly don't care.

Idk. I think I always knew there was a limit to how much you could make people care, and generally that limit is 'how many a-list stars do we still have around?' Absent a spiderverse animated situation, you're kinda stuck.

Also, DC trying to do movie things NOW is... very late. And also very dumb. Because they've yet to correctly hit the target once with their depictions (because the director they DID have is a bitter immature manchild).

DC has always kinda had this problem of in order to tell a good story, you have to tell a story that simply flies in the face of like 90% of what people are going to feel good about. ('What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, And the American Way' is the story they should make for Superman, but they won't, because it would shit on the nihilistic bitterness of most fans ).

Marvel meanwhile has the problem of having like, a small cast of guys people care about, and most of them didn't work out. Black Panther can't go forward for obvious reasons, Thor just isn't interesting enough for more movies with their characterization, and the less said about the Hulk these days, the better.

[nientedal]

The comment! Sooooo I've received many really lovely comments over the fourteenish years I've been writing fanfic, but this one stands out in my memory because uh, holy shit, somebody wrote me a literary analysis of my tentacle fic??? which I was not expecting AT ALL??? and they successfully identified a LOT of stuff that, in retrospect, was probably a lot of the reason that fic was so unexpectedly hard to write??? I continue to be delighted about it.

(also this person follows me here on tumblr but idk if they would appreciate being tagged, lol. if you see this, hi, i continue to hope you find $20 on the ground, aaaaaaa)

Oh man I really want to write a trenchant analysis of this story, because I think the story is really good, but I'm kind of stoned and also pretty emotionally unstable rn, so I'm not sure how well that's going to go, and I'm sorry, because I think an effort and a piece like this deserves a really good comment. SO. I will do my best and ask that you forgive me that this is silly and rambling. Just as a point of interest, and not really related to what I want to say about this story, I don't think I've ever had a piece of erotica hit this many of my sexual orientations and this many of my kinks all at the same time. Reading this was a unique experience for me, like unwrapping a present and finding both the gift and another present! inside like ten times in a row. We are strangers, so I know this was accidental, but it still happened, and it was kind of wonderful, so thank you so much, sincerely, for this intricate piece of nested joy that you put out into the universe for free. <3 So Megamind is a property that is squirmingly uncomfortable for me. And that squirming discomfort is GREAT; it's a huge part of what makes the movie brilliant and hilarious, and it arises in the tension between the cartoon tropes that its plot arc and aesthetic reference and the hyperrealism of the story's emotions, computer-animated textures, and ILM-level sound effects. For example: Megamind's character design has a giant cartoonish blue-domed head, but realistically textured lips and facial hair. Cartoon-green eyes, but realistic muscle fibers in the irises. Ridiculous comical lines and behavior, performed with 100% unironic unwinking commitment and sincerity. The Megamind world has cartoonish physical stakes: everyone is pals in prison, throwing people through walls never results in concussion or spinal damage, dehydrating people and/or turning them into superheroes is an easily reversible process. But its emotional stakes are hyperrealistic: shame, the endless soul-breaking hell of being bullied; embarrassment, triumph, betrayal, forgiveness, deep and true friendship, poor socialization. Falling in love.

So. Tension between the fantastic and the realistic = squirming discomfort. And so too in life! One moment we are sexy and romantic and more-than-pedestrian, the next moment toddlers of impulse and pettiness and failure; one moment beautiful eyelashes, the next moment earwax. I squirm uncomfortably at being human as well. I'm terrible at it. We all are. That's what makes Megamind a great piece of art: it gives a visual symbolism to that tension inherent to being human. And usually when I read Megamind fanfic--or escapist literature, or pornography, in general--I am very grateful that the fanfic tones down what I experience as the cringe of the canon property. That's what we come to escapism for, right? A lacquered version of reality that makes it a little more bearable. But you kind of went the other direction here: you turned up the volume on the fantastical and on the emotional realism, and correspondingly turned up the volume of both the squirming discomfort and the emotional payoff. And I just have to geek about this a little, because you did it really well and made a gorgeous piece of art. The emotional arc of the story (unlike its characters) peaks quite late. Right here in fact: [...] she's sweet with him, gentle; she touches him with so much love in her hands.[...] Megamind is not accustomed to being touched like that at all. It's the way Roxanne usually handles him, of course, but he's not sure he'll ever be used to it.

We've just spent like 20 pages reading increasingly depraved filth about a sexy fishalien who's made a machine to consentacle both himself and his girlfriend at the same time, escalating and getting messier and weirder and kinkier and more improbable/inadvisable by the paragraph, and then BOOM, the story's emotional climax is...that the fishalien's partner touches him with love. And that that's so rare in life he doesn't know if he'll ever get used to it. We can tell it's the emotional climax for three reasons: because of what Megamind does next (viz., propose); because you frame the tentacle sex with mirroring narratives of gentleness (and a bathtub) and we get to see that awe at gentleness from Roxanne's perspective beforehand, how important that is, that that's what we should be listening to throughout the story; and because it comes up again and again, reverberating as a leitmotif throughout the tentacle sex itself. I look at and read a lot of tentacle porn, and the thing about tentacle porn is that it is always extremely impersonal. The tentacles are impersonal, and the person or people being tentacled aren't characters either. Nobody in tentacle porn looks at anybody else in a moment of ecstasy and thinks about how happy they are in their relationship. Nobody wants to hold anyone. You do exactly the same thing that canon Megamind does, taking cartoon tropes and leaving it physically cartoonish but turning it into a story about real emotions. The cartoons in question were just made by Hentai Foundry instead of Dreamworks. You say this story was "incredibly difficult" for you to write, and I just want to say, it was so worth the effort. You've stitched together a piece of art out of wildly disparate properties, and it is weird and uncomfortable and beautiful and wonderful, and you make it look easy. You make it look possible, which is the dream of all art and literature: that we can be creatures of meat and divinity at the same time--of soft beautiful lips and giant ridiculous heads. Chef's kiss, hats off, and thanks for sharing.

TT^TT

For the fanfic asks: 4, 14, 16, 19, 40

:D :D :D Questions are from this ask meme!

4) Post a screenshot of one of your favorite comments

OH MAN i know EXACTLY what comment i wanna post, but it's super long, so I'm gonna put it in a reblog under a Keep Reading. It was on my fic In Tandem (which I link with the warning that it is extremely not safe for tumblr (or work)), in which Megamind and Roxanne have a very fun joint session on a machine fondly nicknamed "the fucktopus."

14) What two fandoms would you write a crossover for?

It'd be interesting to cross Megamind over with DC, but I don't know enough about DC to actually pull it off, lol.

16) What is one of your favorite words or phrases to use in writing?

As soon as I notice myself using a particular word with any frequency, I try to cut back and only use it when it's truly the best word to use, so this may be a better question to ask my readers xD

19) What headcanon do you always include in your stories?

Oh my god so many. But something I haven't really mentioned much is that Megamind has quiet borderline (or would, if he were human and could receive human diagnoses). It's something I didn't even realize I was doing until Filthy pointed it out in 2011 or 2012, and I doubt I'll ever put the actual diagnosis in a fic by name. Megamind seems to process things a little more quickly than someone in reality would (I'm chalking that up to Alien, lol), but the way he is overall really does seem to line up.

40) Pick one of your fics and share a quote to go with it (not a quote from the fic, but an outside quote that fits)

Mohabbat bahut khoobsurat hoti hai. Toh kya hua agar woh apne saath thoda sa dard laati hai. "Love is very beautiful. So what if it brings a little bit of pain with it?" It's a quote I tried to keep in mind a LOT while writing Florigenesis, because I do not enjoy writing love that is painful to the exclusion of joy. And Florigenesis is a non-lethal Hanahaki fic! The pining in that one is literally physically painful! So I wanted, so badly, to emphasize that the pain was worth it. That yes, these characters were in pain, and yes, that sucked, but being in love was still beautiful, still enjoyable, even with the pain of Hanahaki and the wishing to have that love returned. That there is joy in being in love with someone, regardless of if it is returned. Par jab hum zindagi ka saath nahi chhodte, phir mohabbat ka saath kyun chhodein? "When we do not stop living, why then should we stop loving?"

[danothan]

genuine question does my art style look like anime to you

[ectonurites]

idk how to quote tags on mobile where is the conner kent essay i NEED it

ALRIGHT OKAY! here’s 5k+ words plus panels & screenshots of me comparing and contrasting the two drastically different versions of Superboy (comics vs young justice cartoon) and going over what makes them such distinctly separate characters. someday i’ll refine this a bit more its kinda just a word dump that’s been living in my brain that i wanted to actually articulate after i read through Reign of the Supermen but here we go:

--

Pretty frequently I see the question “Why is Superboy so different in the Young Justice cartoon?” float around in DC circles. I think there are two main approaches to answering this:

Why did the writers of the cartoon decide to create a very different version of Superboy?

What factors make this Superboy so different from the comic version?

For the first approach the answer is relatively straight-forward, from the start Young Justice as a cartoon was never meant to be a direct adaptation of the comics. They just used the title and a few elements so they could create their own approach to the DC universe with a focus on younger heroes. For example, Artemis Crock in their show is also COMPLETELY different from her comic counterpart, Zatanna is aged way down to be a member of the teen team, and Kaldur’ahm was created for this show (and integrated into the comics as Jackson Hyde). They were always trying to do different things than the main comics universe, so them making a different version of Conner also makes sense. Their approach to him is also very clearly influenced more by how he appeared in the Teen Titans comic run that was still coming out as Young Justice started airing (his design, and some other elements we’ll discuss along the way), as opposed to his original version from the 90′s/the Young Justice comic.

So the basic “why” is that from the start they wanted to create something unique to their universe, which they definitely did accomplish.

The much more interesting subject to dive into, though, is looking at the differences in Superboy’s story that contribute to him becoming such a different person. 

The drastic changes made to the following factors are what I view as the main source of his differences in personality/outlook/characterization:

The conditions and history of the world at the time he is introduced

The circumstances around him being introduced/leaving Cadmus

The reaction Clark has to him and how their relationship starts

The people he first interacted with & became close to, and how he interacts with the world

The timing of him finding out about his connection to Luthor

The State of the Worlds

In the comics, Superboy is first introduced in Adventures of Superman #500 by iconically saying “Don’t ever call me Superboy!” 

during a 1993 event called “Reign of the Supermen”, a follow up to the 1992 event “The Death of Superman”. Based on the title of the 1992 event, I think you can, uh, guess what one major difference in the setting here was vs. the state of the world at the time he was introduced in the cartoon. Obviously Clark didn’t stay dead forever, but Superboy first comes onto the scene as a young clone of Superman who insists he is the new Superman (one of the four characters trying to do so during the event). This is in the main DC universe in the early 90’s, which means that heroes in general, including teen heroes, aren’t a new thing! Not only has the Justice League been around for a while but so has the Teen Titans. Once Clark is alive again, Superboy goes off on his own to establish himself as an individual teen hero. 

So how is that different in the cartoon?

In the cartoon, Superboy is first introduced in the pilot episodes “Independence Day” and “Fireworks” 

on the 4th of July in (what most people consider to be) 2010. This was supposed to be the day that Robin (Dick Grayson), Speedy (Roy Harper), Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad (Kaldur’ahm) would get to see the true Justice League HQ at the Hall of Justice, which... doesn’t go exactly as planned. 

In this world, superheroes are a newer thing, this is something that the creators have talked about before. At this point, while there is an established Justice League, there are no known teams of teen superheroes. Just the fact that as of season one Dick Grayson is still Robin is a pretty good indicator that this world is early in it’s time with a Batman. Now, the sidekicks aren’t a secret, as they appear very publicly in this first episode, but they are almost always seen acting with their mentors at this point. Again, there is no Teen Titans in this setting, and there never has been. 

So when they do form the first teen hero team? It is kept covert-ops. They do not publicize that they act as a superhero team, and the members who weren’t already publicly known heroes (mainly Miss Martian and Superboy) end up being pretty… unknown to a lot of the world outside the hero/villain community! Again their existence is not strictly kept a secret, but they keep the fact that there’s a team of minors who are heroes going on independent missions VERY under the radar on purpose. Thus, those who aren’t going around doing super public hero activities just don’t have nearly as much of a presence.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy is immediately put in a spotlight (he befriends a reporter and is all over tv and literally trademarks the name Superman) becoming known to the world and establishes himself as a solo acting hero YEARS before joining any teams.

In the cartoon, Superboy is kept relatively out of the spotlight, immediately becomes part of a covert-ops team and doesn’t act solo very often. The well known teen heroes in this setting are sidekicks working under a mentor, and Superboy does not actually act as a sidekick.

What does this mean for Superboy?

Superboy in the comics gets to, right away, act on his own and get a taste of what being Superman is like. In the cartoon, he’s brought into the world at a time where there already is a Superman. I think back to this bit from the therapy episode, where he says:

“See, from the moment I first opened my eyes in that Cadmus pod, there’s been one thing I’ve wanted, and feared. To know what it is to be Superman.”

Comics Superboy started out getting to do that! He immediately got a shot at filling that role, and he then makes the choice to relinquish it back to the original once he’s alive again. He (begrudgingly at first) understood that it wasn’t yet his time to be Superman, and knows he’ll someday fill those shoes for real- but in the meantime being Superboy is gonna be his own thing and he’ll embrace it and make it work.

Cartoon Superboy is left in a shadow, not ever truly knowing what it’s like to fill those shoes (except in a doomsday scenario training exercise gone awry that he then just feels intense guilt over). This leaves him a lot more frustrated and lost, and I think is a major contributor to how angry this version of Superboy is compared to his much more ‘chill go with the flow’ attitude in the comics.

Cadmus

In the comics, in that same issue he’s introduced, we find out that Superboy broke out of his cloning tube prematurely and left Cadmus with the assistance of the second Newsboy Legion, who also gave him his first leather jacket, before the programming that would allow Cadmus to control him was implemented.

He quickly gets up to speed with the situation, that Clark is dead. So he comes on the scene starting to save people and saying he is Superman, or at least the clone of the original one. A major thing that does influence his character here is the fact that… this is the 90’s. He is designed around the idea of what is ‘cool’ back in 1993. (look, even his original character design sheets call him cool)

So right off the bat he’s got a stereotypical ‘cool teen guy in that era’ personality, which is often played for comedy to add a little lightness to some of the dark things happening during this event. 

Anyways, he has left Cadmus, he’s acting on his own, and he starts realizing that his powers aren’t exactly the same as Superman’s over the course of the Reign of the Supermen story.

After the main conflict is settled and Clark is fully alive and acting as Superman again, the two of them end up going back to Cadmus to find out what the exact deal is with him. I’ll go into this more in a later point, but they find out he’s not exactly a clone of Superman (or Lex- him being actually involved as a DNA donor is a retcon that happened a decade later). They agree to let someone from Cadmus (Dubbilex- the grey guy with the horns in this pic) leave Metropolis with him, as he sets out on a press tour to establish himself as Superboy now that he relinquished the trademark on the Superman name back to Clark. 

Let’s pause and look at how this is different in the cartoon.

In the cartoon, when the trio of Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad decide to prove themselves to their mentors they run off on their own to attend to a fire at Project Cadmus when the Justice League got called off to do something else. Upon arriving, they accidentally uncover some weird things about Cadmus, like the crazy amount of sublevels, the creatures roaming around, and the fact that it’s not on the main power grids. They eventually find Superboy, still in his cloning tube. They break him out, but then get captured themselves.

When they are then put into tubes by Cadmus personnel, they manage to convince Superboy to help free them by promising him things like getting to meet Superman, and see the moon. The group of four now working together manages to escape from the building and it topples down, where they are then greeted by the Justice League who are Not Happy.

Superman flies away shortly after, and the group of kids explain to their remaining mentors that sure, they disobeyed orders, but they accomplished something good here, and they are going to keep doing it, whether the League likes it or not. The compromise is the formation of The Team, to be covert-ops while the Justice League acts publicly, and the boys are joined by Miss Martian.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy leaves Cadmus pretty independently (with some assistance) to go act on his own as a hero immediately. He returns to Cadmus later for more information, and they reveal truths to him about his existence. After he knows his truth, he goes off to continue establishing himself as a solo hero but lets Cadmus still supervise what he’s doing through Dubbilex.

In the cartoon, Superboy is rescued from Cadmus by Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, without knowing pretty much anything about himself besides the fact that he is a clone of Superman, and is immediately put on the covert ops team. 

What it means for Superboy:

Comic Superboy goes to act on his own, even after he admits he’s not the real Superman anymore. Yes he’s not 100% alone in terms of ‘he’s got people (Rex, Roxy, Dubbilex, Tana) around him’, but as a hero he’s a solo act and ends up taking residence in Hawaii. In the cartoon, by joining a team right away, he’s taking on a very different style of being a hero, especially because the team itself is covert-ops. Rather than regularly saving the day all on his own much like Superman, which can help comic Superboy feel like he’s still living up to the name more, cartoon Superboy is working under the radar in a group setting, while still wanting to desperately fill those Superman shoes. 

He is overconfident in his abilities and wants to be the hero he was created to be, so him being put into this very different type of superhero situation is another major contributor to the frustration/anger. Even later on when comics Superboy is part of forming the Young Justice team, they were never a secret covert-ops team, they were always publicly known. (hell, a reporter is the one who gave them the team name Young Justice because he’d misheard Bart)

Superboy & Superman

In the comics, as we have established, Clark was dead at the time Superboy first came on the hero scene. Clark comes back to life, during a little bit of a lull in the middle of the huge conflict. He immediately accepts that Superboy is one of four who came forward to try to replace him, and one of the only two (Superboy & Steel) who genuinely only had good intentions in doing so. Clark, Steel, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, and Superboy then all work together in the big battle against the Cyborg Superman.

Once things are settled, Clark is curious about him, and where he came from and his origin, so they end up going to Cadmus together with Guardian and learning more about him, as I previously mentioned. Once it is established that Superboy is in fact a metahuman clone who was created to mimic Superman, but is not actually a clone of him, Superman still accepts him and thinks he’s earned his right to continue using the ’S’ shield and have the name of Superboy. 

They part ways so Superboy can go on his press tour, but in general they have pretty positive interactions where they mutually respect each other! Not too much later in the comics even (I forget exaaactly when this happens but it’s definitely before the 1998 Young justice comic), Superman is the first one to give Superboy a real name, “Kon-El”, something he is so happy about he literally cries.

How is this different in the cartoon? 

When the boys first escaped, and Superboy first meets the Justice League, Clark is standoffish. Other members of the league need to nudge him over to go actually talk to Superboy, and it’s not much of a conversation before he flies off and away, leaving Superboy frustrated and alone.

This… turns into the standard for almost the entire first season. Other characters constantly telling Clark that he needs to reach out and be support for the boy (like in this iconic diner scene with Bruce and Clark), but Clark consistently being too freaked out by the fact that someone made a clone of him without his knowledge to properly accept Conner. While this does over time get better, this being the immediate reaction when Superboy is brand new in the world definitely… has an impact! 

He is rejected by the person he idolizes, and feels neglected and abandoned, and definitely kinda overcompensates with ego to try to make up for it. 

So:

In the comics, Superman and Superboy work together from the start, not falling into a hero/sidekick situation but rather acknowledging each other as individual heroes with respect for one another. They grow to see each other as family much faster, and little tension between them. A crucial difference in situations, though, is that at the time these versions first meet Superboy is not actually a clone of Superman.

In the cartoon, Superman at first avoids Superboy, and does not offer guidance or mentorship or anything the boy needs. It is clear that he wants to work with Superman and be like him, since it was what he was created to do. It takes a lot of time for Clark to accept Conner in this setting, and there is a lot of tension for the first several months Conner exists. (they seem to settle this towards the end of season 1/during the gap between season 2, but it still has it’s impact on who Conner is early in his life)

What does this mean?

I feel like this is another major factor that contributes to Conner being so angry all the time in the cartoon, he feels immediately rejected by the person he’s supposed to be someday, rather than accepted by him. Again, very different from how comics Superboy got a chance to be Superman, and a chance to then work with the real deal as equals. 

Friendships, Relationships and Identity

When Superboy is freed by the second Newsboy Legion, it’s primarily out of a ‘we’re clones who are stuck here, but you need to be out there, you’re what Metropolis needs right now!’ kind of idea. The first person he actually becomes close to is a reporter named Tana Moon.

Tana and Superboy’s relationship is… bad once it actually becomes romantic due to their huge age difference (she’s around 23, he is for all intents and purposes 16), but during the Reign of the Supermen where they’re still just friends for the most part, it’s not as bad. Tana becomes the GBS correspondent who focuses on everything Superboy (at this time still insisting he is the new Superman) is doing as a hero, and they become close friends.

GBS then also brings in Rex Leech (and his daughter Roxy) to be his agent, to promote Superboy and manage things for him. Rex is exploitative as hell, but Roxy does become another really important person to Superboy. These characters along with Dubbilex are his main supporting cast at the start of his solo comic when he’s in Hawaii.

In this whole era, Superboy is pretty much a celebrity. He’s cool, he’s a superhero, and I think it’s very notable he does not have a secret Identity. For a decent chunk of time, he is always just ‘Superboy’ (until, as I mentioned earlier, Clark gives him the name Kon-El. Even so, he doesn’t adopt a regular secret identity [Conner Kent, although he actually used a different one, Carl Grummett, before that!] until he begins living with the Kents in the early 2000s). By the time he joins any teams, Kon is pretty damn confident in who he is as a hero and has a relatively good grasp on who he is in general, if anything he’s a little too confident.

Young Justice was created in the aftermath of World Without Grown Ups when the trio of Superboy, Robin (Tim Drake) and Impulse (Bart Allen) had teamed up. After they saved the day they realized they worked well together and formed their team, utilizing the old Justice League base in Mount Justice. They were eventually joined by more members, especially relevant here is Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) who Kon later dates for a portion of the Teen Titans run that these four are in after Young Justice ends. 

The four of them become close, and when Kon dies during Infinite Crisis it rips a hole in everything they had established growing up together over the past several years (Cassie joins a cult dedicated to bringing him back, Tim tries to clone a new Kon, Bart got aged up and took on the mantle of the Flash, etc) and Bart’s death that followed similarly shook the remaining Cassie and Tim. This group eventually does get to reunite, with Kon and Bart coming back during Final Crisis, solidifying how even things like death don’t keep them apart for long. It’s hard to look at the comic book versions of these four characters and imagine how they would be without their connections to each other... until you look at the YJ cartoon and see a world where they’re not even all part of the same generation, let alone a friend group.

Now in the cartoon…

The first people Conner primarily interacts with are Dick, Wally, Kaldur, and M’gann, along with the League members who interact with The Team pretty regularly, Red Tornado, Batman, and Black Canary. He’s shown to be friends with the other memebers of the team and get along with them relatively well, but in general he’s not much of a social person. 

Much like in the comics, Superboy is considered very attractive, and immediately upon their meeting, M’gann is interested in him. Very, very interested in him.

At first it definitely does seem more just like an innocent crush, but it’s later revealed to be a little more… concerning than that. As in ‘Megan subtlety influencing Superboy to become her dream boyfriend based on a TV show she likes’ concerning. Like… she literally gives him the name ‘Conner’ after the TV show character that was the boyfriend of the character she bases her human self and entire identity on. The two date and once that becomes a thing, a lot of their plot lines in the following seasons revolve around the ups and downs of their relationship.

In general in this show, Superboy doesn’t really get much of a chance to establish himself on his own terms. Within months of him leaving his cloning pod, he and M’gann start going to high school with secret identities, so he’s already having to hide who he truly is to blend in with other people, before he even knows who he truly is. 

So to compare:

In the comics, Superboy gets to figure out who he is as Superman’s Clone/Superboy very publicly, has multiple love interests and a celebrity status, and over time becomes part of a tight-knit group of friends. He doesn’t use a regular secret identity for the first several years he’s active.

In the cartoon, Superboy has one love interest with a very large impact on him, not nearly as much focus is given to his other friendships, and he immediately adopts a secret identity meaning he needs to hide who he is from the start. 

What it means:

These factors play a big difference in his attitude, particularly highlighting how extroverted his comic version is and how introverted his cartoon version is. Comic Superboy never really needed to hide who he was until years into his career, vs being told to do so early on in his life. When you get used to needing to hide things so early, that can definitely lead to being more private/disconnected from others. Also somewhat related- in the comics, when Kon is given knowledge in his cloning tube, more pop culture got included. He mentions knowing Star Wars without having seen it, and references a ton of TV and Movies, vs the cartoon version of him that seems to have been given a lot of history of the world but not the current fun stuff. It’s the difference between knowing what’s going on in the world and what’s popular, vs only knowing the past and what’s fundamental. Not knowing pop culture like this can also really contribute to feeling alienated and lead to introversion. (I just... I think about how in the comics Kon’s favorite TV show is Wendy The Werewolf Stalker, in the cartoon Conner just... watches white noise static)

Also, having a completely different set of friends with different personalities has a big effect, people are always gonna be influenced by the people they’re close to to some extent. Bumping Conner up to Dick’s generation of heroes instead of Tim’s not only gives him completely different friends, but it also puts him in this position of being one of the ‘Original Team Members’. By this I mean, a member of the first iteration of the only teen team, one of the people that younger heroes coming onto the scene and joining the team in later seasons see as an experienced and older team member to look up to (despite the fact that cartoon Conner is permanently 16- they never fixed that for him like in the comics). That just creates a different dynamic entirely, because in the comics even when the Tim/Kon/Cassie/Bart group are more experienced on their team late in the Teen Titans run, they are still always going to have heroes like Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Wally West etc as the older generation of ‘original teen heroes’ who came before them.

Also, while I am talking mostly about in-universe reasoning here, I do wanna bring up one slightly more meta reason that might also have contributed to them choosing to go for a more ‘introverted brooding hero’ characterization with him: the fact that their version of Wally already filled the ‘flirty jokey’ archetype original Comics Kon fits into. Having two characters like that in the show from the start would definitely get... overwhelming. And at the time this show was first airing, in the comics, he was relatively devoted to Cassie and not nearly as flirty anymore anyways.

Lex Luthor / Details of Cloning

In the comics, as I have already mentioned and will now actually explain, when Superboy was first introduced he was not the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor as we know him to be today. Kon was a metahuman clone, made with the DNA of Paul Westfield who worked at Cadmus, that they genetically altered to look like Superman, and gave powers based on the energy aura they discovered to exist around Clark’s dead body. This telekinetic field gave Kon the distinct powers he had for his first decade of existence: His Tactile Telekinesis (often referred to by him as TTK)

Lex Luthor was originally not directly involved in his creation, but he was aware that it was going on as is revealed during the Reign of the Supermen arc. Kon’s TTK allowed him to mimic Superman’s flight and strength, but not all of his powers. TTK also gave him powers Superman DOESN’T have, such as his ability to dismantle machinery or mold materials he is touching into different shapes. (The reason this is called Tactile Telekinesis is because there needs to be a tactile element, he needs to be touching the things) 

It is not until 2003, a decade after Superboy was created, that writer Geoff Johns in his Teen Titans run decided to alter Superboy’s origin. He established that Lex Luthor had been the real human DNA donor and that Superman’s Kryptonian DNA was actually used in the cloning process. Around this time, Conner also begins to exhibit more of the typical Kryptonian powers, like Clark did around this age. 

This information is at first only known by Conner and Tim, because the email had actually been sent to Tim directly. The two keep it a secret as Conner was not ready to tell the rest of the team, because he fears the implications it has, and is afraid of becoming evil or being rejected. This revelation about Lex being one of his ‘parents’ DNA-wise coming years into his hero career changes a lot of things for Conner, and makes him begin to question who he is. Unfortunately, Lex does at one point take control of Conner and force him to break Tim’s arm and attack Cassie directly (as well as the rest of the team, but these two specifically are what Conner expresses the most guilt over after the fact). This era of Conner in the comics is where he’s definitely closest to his cartoon counterpart, because he’s very troubled and dealing with a lot of heavy stuff regarding himself as a person. Yet there’s still traces of who he has always been in there. I mean, if you’re only familiar with cartoon Conner, can you really imagine his final words as he’s dying after saving the world being “Isn’t it cool?”

Now, looking at the cartoon…

Conner finds out about his connection to Lex in November, only a few months after having existed outside of a cloning tube. He finds it out on his own, from Lex speaking to him directly, after Conner went back to investigate the remains of Cadmus and ended up having a fight with Match (another clone who is able to pass for Conner’s duplicate who they… their version of Match is another thing they drastically changed from the comic version but as we’ve established that’s something they like to do so I’m not gonna dwell on it).

In the cartoon, Conner’s powerset is, from the start, different from both Superman and comic Superboy. Here he has heightened senses and strength and the ability to leap really far, but he lacks actual flight and some of the other standard Kryptonian powers, and has no TTK. The cartoon explains these gaps in his powers as being due to his half human DNA, and they introduce these patches that are able to suppress his human DNA and give him temporary access to full powers. Lex uses these patches as a way to manipulate him. Much like in the comics, Lex has a code word programmed into Conner that effects him, although it isn’t quite used for the same amount of ‘total mind control’, and he doesn’t get fully brainwashed and turn against the team or anything. Instead, the code word (here “Red Sun” rather than “Aut vincere, aut mori” [Translated as “to conquer or die" / "victory or death”]) just leaves him stuck in a hypnotic trance.

So:

In the comics, Kon finds out after years of believing he was a metahuman clone who was given powers to mimic Superman, that he is actually a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman, which alters his entire perspective on himself! This causes him to become a lot more unsure and anxious about who he is, in stark contrast with how confident he was before. There are still traces of his old self within him, but this is a development in his character that influences him moving forward, making him a bit more serious but still at his core the same person he used to be.

In the cartoon, Conner finds out after months of thinking he was a clone of just Superman, that he has half human DNA and the donor was Lex Luthor. While he always had confidence in his abilities, he was still somewhat lost as a person in knowing who he really was outside of things other people have assigned to him (teammate, boyfriend, superhero, etc), and finding out this information about himself just adds to the uncertainty and frustration.

What it means:

Having this struggle be something Conner has to deal with so early in his existence is one of the most fundamental changes in my opinion. Finding out that Lex Luthor is one of your clone parents is something that will alter your entire perception of yourself and who you are! In the comics, Conner had already been confident in who he was so it shakes his world in a really big way, but in the cartoon he still didn’t know who he really was so it just adds to further confusion. 

I think that even with the more serious characterization Kon starts getting in the 2003 Teen TItans run, his history and past as the fun cool 90′s Metropolis Kid isn’t entirely forgotten, it’s still a part of who he is/was. Sure, maybe he’s sometimes even embarrassed by how he used to be, but it’s not treated as though it didn’t happen. All of his history comes together to create the character and who he is by the time he wears just a T shirt as a costume.

By skipping over the fun era of his life and jumping right into who he was when he started facing these huge changes, it creates such a completely different set of challenges for him and that contributes directly to how he’s characterized. 

Putting it all together

The ultimate point I am trying to reach in all of this is that, beyond just ‘they made a writing choice to make him different’ the environment that Superboy was brought into and the events that took place right when he came into the world greatly influenced the type of character he would become. Every time an adaptation is made of something like comics, there are going to be changes and alterations to fit the world the creators want to make. Sometimes these changes are minor and don’t actually change who a character is (an example for the YJ cartoon’s universe itself: In the tie-in comics [issue 6] it’s established in this universe that the Flying Graysons weren’t just Dick and his parents, but other family members were active parts of it too. One was an uncle also named Richard, who actually survived the fall that killed the rest of his family but was left paralyzed and thus unable to care for him. This uncle already used the nickname ‘Rick’ which is likely why Dick ended up using ‘Dick’ as a name in a modern setting even though it has fallen out of popularity as a nickname because uh, connotations. This is something that is mostly unique to their world and helps to explain some things, but it’s not like tragically losing a few more family members changed their version of Dick and his backstory that drastically. At his core, he still has many similarities to his comic self) but they’re still changes, and that’s okay. Superboy, though, is such an extreme case where they made so many changes that at his core he really does become a completely separate character. Sure he has the name and design, but I was able to write five thousand words about differences here and am struggling to come up with more similarities beyond that.

I think there still could be specks of the original Superboy buried inside cartoon Conner, and that maybe he could have been more like his original version under other circumstances. Looking at these differences and where they come from is, I think, a cool way to begin to understand what elements contribute to who each version of Conner Kent really is. I think it’s clear from how I wrote this that I prefer the comic version, but there are definitely things that are fun to look at and think about with both.

--

if u read all of this UH thanks for listenin to me ramble! sorry if this is incomprehensibe!

[smiledog15578]

Superhero/villain AU

Hi! Sorry for the lack of art! I’d like to share my moodboards tho of one of my new AUs to pile onto the thousand of other ones LMAO

In this au marvin along with jackaboy are superhero’s (along with others I haven’t came up with yet but in guess there will be more than just two) and HERES the villains!

Actor Mark-

the mayors that runs the city of (insert name)! He’s a very well respected person but in the shadows commits crimes. He mostly got his way to the top through hypnosis so really he’s not to be trusted. His alter villian ego is called Macbeth (thanks to a follower of mine for the name :3).

Antisepticeye-

before he was just a normal guy but after getting into an accident which resulted in his death, scientists used his body for science. Oddly enough he came back to life with the thirst for chaos. He escaped the lab and now ruled the underground to infect everyone in the city. His powers is that anything he touches turns to a rotting black and turns them into walking angry zombies! I don’t really have a villain name for him yet other than “the infection” but if you have any names please let me know!

Darkiplier-

After being corrupted by unknown causes he became a known assassin. With his shapeshifting abilities he’s allowed to get away with his murders without being caught. He has a grudge on the mayor (and most of the town does) and wants him dead the most. Jackie does understand why though since he sees Mark as a good guy. Secretly dark likes to study hero’s including Jackie for something unknown... very mysterious man. His villain name is “the shadow” or something else idk chdjjjdj

Wilford Warfstache-

I didn’t give him a board yet but I might as well include him! He’s basically a mix between the joker and the mad hatter, crazy af but also pretty clinical. He has a talk show for villians (or just people in general) where he also plays games with hostages that are also his audience. He likes to build his empire of the most evilest villians so they can rule the world >:). He likes to create hell for marvin especially since he isn’t a fan of his cockiness lol. Wilfords power is teleportation and just any cartoon physics. His name is uncertain at the moment...

[dreamsy990]

oh its not a "new" thing at all efgbngrfgr my sister got me into it a year or two ago

but tldr (im not good at actual synopses so prepare for a total disregard of the story) its this kids cartoon from 2013 about the most some guy ever maxwell mcgrath (who is just a really sweet fella whos actually very responsible) and his gremlin robot buddy steel who is wanted for treason. max generates a kind of energy energy which if he has too much of he'll fucking explode, and steel absorbs that energy and without it he'll fucking die, so theyre besties. theyre also a superhero duo or something.

uhhh what else. one of the main villains has a gay sidekick who calls him daddy in the first episode????? uhhhhh theres this agency called ntek ran by max's uncle who is actually the worst character???????? max has mommy issues???????????????????????? steel and max both have identity crisises????????????????????????????????????????

its a very complicated show to explain but its fun!!!! its genuinely really funny and wholesome and the writings really good sometimes. idk ask the person i tagged earlier if you wanna hear more its been a while since i watched the show i sorta forgot the plot.

hello max steel fando- aaaaand theres nobody else here

@wildfyrevalkyrie at least you appreciate me,,,,, (also thanks for the one (1) robot pun)