#idk this is just why I think Tim is a really interesting character. I'm probably not being as articulate as I could be but it's tumblr so

[cluescorner]

Tim Drake has a weird fucking function

The thing about Tim that I find unique is that his life became SO MUCH WORSE after joining the heroing thing. Everybody else had a mid-to-shit life before becoming a hero/living with Bruce and mostly everybody (except Jason who LITERALLY DIED) had their life improved by being a hero/being Bruce's kid (or at least it is typically portrayed as such.

Tim had the exact opposite trajectory. His life wasn't perfect before he became Robin, but like...multi-millionaire/billionaire (canon is unclear, but he's within Gotham's upper-strata) kid with both natural intelligence + charisma and a bright future ahead of him and parents who were emotionally neglectful but nothing really beyond that (which is also a form of trauma, but all of the info we have indicates that the Drakes were no Arthur Brown or David Cain) and he still had other people he could rely on outside of them. He went to boarding school, which could be something horrible OR something amazing depending on your own thoughts/experiences. I grew up having a commute where we'd drive past a really pretty and rich af boarding school that literally everybody in our area DREAMED of going to, so to me the idea of going to boarding school sounds incredible but mileage may vary. Tim seems like the type of kid who would thrive in that though. Based on what we know in canon atm, his pre-robin life was fucking amazing.

And then he starts being the sidekick and working towards becoming Robin. His parents immediately get kidnapped and poison themselves through drinking tainted water; his mom dies and his dad is in a coma. This is not the fault of Robin, but Tim himself muses about the idea that Robin and dead parents are linked: to become Robin completely, you must lose your parents. And with how fate/destiny/canon events can operate in comics universes, maybe he isn't that far off. Once his dad wakes up, their relationship becomes strained as the man grieves the loss of his wife and realizes that his son has been doing vigilantism as a hobby. It is unclear exactly how good of a parent Jack was before the incident, but the results of Tim's involvement with the Robin mantle has definitely made things worse between father and son. Jack will also die within quick succession of 2 of Tim's best friends, his girlfriend, and his other father. He will also effectively lose like 1/2 his loved ones in the fallout of all of that mess including: his older brother, his other friends (both civilian and superhero), and the stepmother with whom he shared what I would argue is his best parent-child relationship (Dana also may have died, but it's left unclear). He has stopped pursuing higher education (the moment he even applied for college he 'died', and it seems he hasn't made another attempt since) and if he wasn’t a major focus of the media before he sure is now. He tries to quit briefly (in fact he initially was planning on quitting once someone more suited came along) and cannot bring himself to do so. Even when he does manage to get away for a while, his superhero life impacts the pre-robin life he is trying to go back to. Leaving is an impossibility, this is all there is for him now. He also isn’t allowed to make mistakes anymore, not when lives hang in the balance. The one who enforces that impossible standard the most (besides Bruce depending on who's writing) is himself. He’s got TRAUMA now and people want to hurt him constantly. He is constantly questioning his own sanity and morality and place in the world. He almost dies like every month. Tim grows colder and less grounded, he is becoming both a better and a worse version of himself at the same time. He’s saving lives in the same few issues as he’s setting up a Saw movie plot for the man who killed his father. He is haunted by the ghosts of his past and the looming figure of his future. His life becomes SO MUCH FUCKING WORSE after he becomes Robin. Some of it is the fault of others, some is the fault of circumstance, and some of it is due to his own actions. But basically all of Tim's worst traumas and life-changing moments are either tied to or caused by Robin. Dick's parents would still be dead, Jason would still be living on the streets, Stephanie would still have Arthur Brown for a father and a lot of other things that deserve their own posts/IDK if they've been retconned, and Damian would still have been raised in the eco-cult where death is a constant. Those are life circumstances that occur without the involvement of Robin, the only one who even needs Bruce involved at all in their series of events is Damian. But Tim? All of what is considered his 'worst' moments occur after he assumes the role.

This idea is what I find the coolest and most fascinating about Tim as a character. Being a hero is usually portrayed as either an outright awesome thing or a righteous duty that one must fulfill or (maybe in a grimmer and/or more grounded story) a sacrifice to your interpersonal relationships/mental health that is made for the greater good. For Tim, being a superhero actively ruined his life (both because of the general circumstances surrounding being a kid vigilante and the choices he made as part of that role). It's never portrayed that way in canon because we need to come out of issues going 'wow being a superhero is so cool! I'm gonna buy the next issue!', but when you just look at Tim's life literally everything really bad that we know of occurred after he became Robin.

[cuephrase]

Of the DC comics you've read so far, what would be your top recommendations for people to check out/what have you enjoyed the most?

when i tell you i have been thinking about this all day- i have been thinking about this. all. day.

so disclaimer, as of writing this, i have only read 31 runs from start to finish and 18 arcs/events outside of those runs. on top of, everything i've read so far has been strictly robin-centric, so dick, jason, tim, and damian. (i have read all of steph's robin appearances lol, but i haven't gotten to reading material for her, like say batgirl 2009, yet.) i've also decided not to rec from any run i'm currently reading, so for example, you won't see any batman: gotham knights recs here. because i'm most well-read on the robins, i'm only going to rec for them.

also, i'm going to operate under the following assumption: you've got a basic knowledge of the robins. none of these are where i would necessarily recommend anyone start reading about the boys, but i do think they'd be pretty interesting if you're already somewhat familiar with them and don't want to commit to reading whole character backlogs. does that make sense? i hope that makes sense.

alright, let's do this!

DICK GRAYSON

oh god. this one is actually so hard because he has so much great stuff, but then also i have like a love/frustrate relationship with so much of it. like for instance, i really enjoyed The New Teen Titans, but also lowkey can't stand space adventures so whenever that went down i was like 😀👍. but okay. hmmmm.

i have two preboot recs, with explanations + caveats.

devin grayson's mob!dick arc, so Nightwing 1996 #99-100, 107-117. caveats: it doesn't really get to finish playing out/wraps up weird because of editorial changes/infinite crisis. but!! it's a super interesting look at how dick handles...failure. how he values himself in light of that failure.

tomasi's run, but specifically #147-153. (listen, i love the dick and tim moments in 'freefall' but the whole eternally pregnant lady thing was too weird.) this is classic, hyper-competent dick, okay? he's such a bad-ass. and an idiot- bro literally flops his severely injured ass over the bars of his glider and rides it UNCONSCIOUS back to the batcave. i can't with him. poor alfred. anyways, he deals with two-face, always a good time. and then at the end, as a treat, he cries because bruce is dead. so fun!! what was my caveat here? oh yeah, he has a girlfriend. i don't remember her name, she serves like...very little purpose, the whole relationship is very minor/background okay, but like it was so unnecessary. he can be single, dc, it's okay.

for post re-boot, just read tom taylor's run!! it's the best thing ever!! zero complaints!!

HA. yeah, just kidding. that run is very like/frustrate for me lol. oh man i'm struggling here. it's not all bad okay, i'm just really picky, and i haven't re-read any nightwing n52 and onwards since my first foray into comics (8 months ago) so my memories of these are the foggiest and i'm not sure how i feel about all of it in light of what i've read now. yk what, i'm just going to...not rec anything. sorry!!

JASON TODD

his comics either go so hard or they're absolute ass, why is there no in between. istg, i can't figure out why writers struggle with him so much?? well. i mean, i do have theories. but you didn't ask for those!

pre-boot:

detective comics #569-574. robin!jason in the hands of writers who like him is so much fun. which, don't get me wrong, i don't flat-out hate how starlin writes him, but i think you get a more well-rounded view of jason as robin when you also see him in 'tec. jason and bruce tangle with the joker, scarecrow, + mad hatter, and all of those adventures are...idk if they were intentional foreshadowing okay, but reading those and knowing where the story goes? oof. especialllllly #574. caveat: #572 is pretty light on jason, but he is great when he's on panel!

reboot:

probably a very basic answer but rhato rebirth (2016) #1-13, annual #1. i abhorred n52 rhato so i almost skipped rhato rebirth since it was still written by lobdell, but i'm really glad i didn't. i really enjoy jason's relationship with bizarro + artemis, but especially with bizarro because i think jason struggles a lot with feeling like a doomed creation, so yk, parallels. i want to say more but i know i'll get too wrapped up in discussing jason so i'm just going to stop myself.

i actually really enjoyed task force z, too. i think about tfz #8 so much, jason is such a manipulative little shit and i love it. he's so- i can't. i can't get into this rn, it deserves its own post(s).

overall for jay, i need people to read something other than utrh/lost days/b:ul 1-6. i love those, i do, but they aren't the only good pieces of jason content!!

TIM DRAKE

MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!! in my heart of hearts, i just want to rec his whole robin run lmao. dick was my intro, okay, he is why i decided to start reading comics, but tim, specifically his robin solo is why i'm still reading comics. hooked me fr. and young justice 1998, ugh love. but it has been a minute since i read these as well, so hmm. okay okay okay

pre-boot:

batman: prodigal. short version, tim is robin to dick's batman. super fun. there's a solid amount of dick and bruce angsting too, which, love. tim is honestly just thrilled that jpv is out of the batsuit and even happier to working with dick. very cute.

robin #46. listen. they're all superheroes okay, they all feel pressure to save people. but tim...losses get to him. the amount of times that he gets shoved to a breaking point and then...gets back up. keeps going. *screams*. anyways!! this is not tim getting back up, okay? this is him being shoved way, way down. it's so good.

teen titans 2003 #20. tim's dad has died. he shows up for his weekend at the tower anyways. he is not okay. that's it, that's the pitch. i did not like...mmm at least 80% of this run okay, but a few of the issues HIT and this was one imo.

reboot:

*deep sigh*. look. tim is not tim for like basically all of n52, although there are moments here and there were he feels like himself. i did not like his 2023 solo, the best parts of young justice 2019 imo are the character designs, (except for his drake costume, what was that omg), and i haven't read any rebirth batman/'tec yet. except for zdarsky's run. which. tim is good there! but yeah, not really a whole lot of material to work with + very limited reading experience atm.

DAMIAN WAYNE

god, i love this kid. nature vs. nurture fascinates me, and so much of his story digs into that on top of trying to figure out who he is apart from all of that. i will say, i'm not a huge talia fan and by that i mean, i have no idea who she is "supposed" to be, like i have no frame of reference for that atm, so if you are a huge talia fan these recs might not hit for you because from what i've observed from her fans she is not well portrayed a whole lot since becoming his mother? i think one of the things that is normal is dick absolutely disliking her though, which cracks me up. there's this older batman story (batman #322-335) where bruce works with talia and dick goes running to selina and i was so entertained. what were we talking about? oh! damian!

preboot:

batman and robin 2009 #10-12. damian is struggling, with a lot of things. the fact that bruce might be alive, what that means for him and dick, and his mother's puppeteering. there's this line that kills me: "can't you just love me for who i am? not what you want me to be?" and the thing that gets me, is the use of who vs. what. because he could have said, "not who you want me to be", but he doesn't

reboot:

batman: shadow war. this is post-alfred's death, and honestly, most damian stuff post city of bane is pretty juicy, but there's this specific moment in shadow war: alpha #1 that had me speechless. just like 😧 i love bruce, but that man has some of the most chronic foot-in-mouth disease. oh but fair warning, for whatever reason they don't draw dami's mask connecting?? it's so- it drives me nuts.

JUST FOR FUN

these are just two issues that i enjoy for the brother content!

nightwing 1996 #25. dick and tim's relationship makes me ILL. *ahem*. this issue is mostly just super cute and fun, (there's like 0.2 seconds of angst when tim asks dick if he ever thinks about jason 😭) and i adore it sm. fun fact, it's actually one of the first comics i ever bought!

batman 2016 #16. unfortunately, tim is not here for this, but duke is! jason and damian's interactions in the background of bruce's Very Serious Speech are excellent. bruce is so dramatic and his kids are so unserious.

what i've most enjoyed

i've enjoyed the majority of what i've read, even titles/events i wasn't particularly looking forward to but had on my tbr for whichever character. i'm going to break down most enjoyed into two catergories, arcs that i loved top to bottom and then the guilty pleasures. this is not an exhaustive list, just what immediately came to mind.

top to bottom

bruce wayne: murderer?/fugitive. shocker, ik. but it's just, it's just so frickin good. i've said before, and i'll say it again, gotham war could NEVER. this right here is peak batfamily drama. the tension? the mystery? the angst? i knew nothing going into this okay, and truth be told, when i started it i was like "oh joy. another event." because i was just trying to read the 1996 nightwing run, but i'd committed to reading in full all the events it crossed over with. but i was invested so quickly. and like, i loved how the narrative supported the possibility that bruce was the murderer, because like, you know there's no way, but the more that comes out the more damning it is, and so you're like really dying to know what actually happened and i feel like the reveal was satisfying.

batman: city of bane. i'm going to cautiously put this here, because there might have been something i didn't like but i cannot recall it for the life of me right now. something about me is i love when the heroes lose. infinity war, empire strikes back? love. and ik bruce takes back gotham, but they lose alfred, okay, they lost. i also didn't expect to like this arc, i decided to read it because i wanted to know how alfred died. and first of all, i was shocked, even though i knew it was coming because i expected it to like happen towards the end. but nope. just *snap*. and then later when bruce is back in the manor and is confronted with alfred's body and his good-bye message? oh. my. god. i was bawling. despite my penchant for sad narratives, i don't tend to cry that much, but this got to me so bad. like i had to pause because i couldn't see. amazing.

red robin. his cowl is so ugly, but i really do love the run. i see a lot of discourse about it and also a lot of...interesting fanfic takes, so i don't really talk about it a lot here because it feels like most people are kind of tired of hearing about this run, which fair. i really enjoyed it as a sequel to his solo robin run. tbh, i almost put this in the guilty pleasure catergory, because there are a couple things i don't totally love, but like if the others are 10/10, this is 9/10.

young justice 1998. i love this comic so, so much. i don't even know what to say, i get so overwhelmed with joy when i think about this comic. nothing has hit the same way with this group since either, which is a crime. i need a title with this team so badly.

guilty pleasures

these are all runs/events i know some/most? people cannot stand and i totally get why, and i have problems with them, so i'm probably never going to rec them in good conscience but also like i can't lie and say i don't like them. these are not recs, okay? okay.

robin war. is it a hot mess? yes. but there is not a whole lot of canon content out there with all the boys working together, okay? so much of that event had me banging my head into a wall, but for me, there were a handful of pearls in there. i mean honestly, if i listed out pros and cons the cons list would be way longer but those pros are very precious to me.

batman and robin: eternal. very similar reasoning overall to robin war. plus cass finally came back!! i missed her. i love robin!dick and batman content, and the kids working together. this is probably my least favorite guilty pleasure though, okay, it's on thin ice.

grayson. listen, i love janin's art sm. i'm pretty neutral about spy stuff, so like i don't engage with it a whole lot. meaning, although i've heard it's tropey af in regards to the genre, i'm not familiar enough with the genre to be like trying to dig my eyeballs out with blunt spoons at the cliche of it all. the constant sexualization of dick got old super fast, and her name may have been helena but she wasn't- my list of dislikes is lengthy. but idk, i had fun with it. and imo it does have some genuinely great moments, i love dick in the desert with the baby, the ache i felt when dick wanted to come home and couldn't get ahold of bruce, issue #12 stabs me in the heart- the dick and dami reunion? stoppppp. i feel like this run and the ric grayson era are dick's most out there lmao

so yeah!! thank you so much for this ask, i had sm fun answering it. if you have any recs for me, feel free to drop them :)

[pain-is-too-tired]

Spoilers for The Magnus Protocol Season 1 finale

I-wow.

Sam no 😭

Sam did not deserve that. Oh my gods. Idk if Alice is gonna get told the full thing but If so she's 100% not gonna forgive Ceila if she does.

I try not to over compare them to the Tma gang cause they're they own character

But Alice not forgiving Ciela would be a actually clearer minded/reasonable reason of not forgiving someone than most of the "we don't forgive you Jon for stuff mostly out of your control or even partly our fault-" that tma had and I'd be so down for that

Like, tma kinda over did it with characters putting all the blame on Jon. Like it made sense in tiny bits, they couldn't really do anything against Elias or the eye and Jon took the brunt of that. But it became annoying after awhile especially in s5. Tim was the only one that at least had a big reason to hate Jon, stalking and all that. And they wrote him really making it clear the reasons for his hatred and distrust.

So- if Alive goes a similar route, with even more reason to hate Ciela if she finds out what Ciela wanted to do, I'm so down for that as long as it isn't annoying.

Also, speaking of that. Oh my gods. This made me realize... did she switch to Tmp universe before or right at the world going back to normal? Like, we don't knew how she got to tmp universe. But I do wonder, maybe some people got sucked in with the fears? The specifics of that I'm not sure of, but it's kinda interesting. Assuming she IS from tma universe which I'm pretty sure she is. She says there's nothing to go back to, might be because she doesn't know things were reset.

Also. The Archivst... what was that? Why did it want it? It said "finally it's mine". Why did it want the tear? And. If it ends up back in tma universe... jeez.

Like, lot of people talk about the choice of how to end the eyepoclpse/fears in tma. The job vs everyone else thing. But if the fears could just..come back through? Just like that? Literally all that "let's just make it other universe's problem" was for nought. Obviously killing everyone was wild, and probably the Archivst/fears here are their own thing(probably very likely.) But,as mentioned by Ceila, something being displaced makes things unbalanced.

Does that apply to the fears? Is that also why it became a center piece for shops/other fears to be pulled to? Because it was trying to bring equallibruim to the universes?

Like...did they fuck up the other universes more then just giving them the fears? Did they cause an cosmic unbalanced they could come back to haunt them???

Also back to the Archivst. I saw some mention Jon(which unlikely,they seem to have a more feminine voice iirc) and another mention Tma Gertrude which I can see. Either way they do say an Archivst and it could be anyone. We know it seems be like the Archivsts in season 5 they came across. At least I think.

Anyway. Gods help Teddy and Colin. Part of me feels like they might be more part of the cast next season. That's gonna be something.

[feelingpure]

Fellow Travelers | The Orange Elephant in the Room

Alright, let's talk about it.

For those who've watched the available episodes of FT so far; I'm sure we've all noticed the citrus haze they all seem to be living in.

Especially if you've attempted to edit/GIF any portion of it. The struggle is real and I'm sure has inspired many colouring dilemmas.

And we're all asking "WHY?!".

Now, I'm writing this having not looked up anything about it. So I dunno if anyone responsible has made a formal confession.

One of my initial thoughts around it was; okay... so is this just a 1950s thing? But after watching (and rewatching) episode 2, I feel like it's part of the story in a different way; It's clearly a stylistic choice, yes (I should hope that doesn't just happen by accident). But it also seems to double as a narrative choice.

Putting the rest, with image examples, under a cut because it's kinda long.

Warm vs Cool

The conclusion I've come to is pretty simply, one that we've seen used across media in a lot of movies and shows. Warm tones used to colour scenes that are meant to literally be 'warm'; a loving environment or somewhere where the character(s) feel like they can be themselves. Cool tones used for scenes where it's quite the opposite; a cold hostile environment where the character(s) does not feel welcome. Gradients in between for all the neutral/'greyarea' spaces.

Consider

Cool/neutral outdoor bench scene (with park spies around):

Maybe it's an indoor/outdoor thing? No...

Indoors (even with the mandatory orange lamps nearby) they stay pretty neutral:

Night time/day time thing? No...

Night time vs day time in Tim's apartment:

Compare it to day time neutral alone Tim in the same room before. The difference is that he's with Hawk, out of sight of any would be naysayers.

So yeah, while I am mad about the colouring for giffing needs, I do think what they're doing is pretty neat, and the POC in the show look glorious in the warm tones.

The warm/cool motif is dialled up even more in episode 2, with the contrast of Mary's warm welcoming party and Hawk's cold af family gathering (even though they still have the orange lamps/sconces around, they add nothing to the warmth):

🥺 Ugh, Tim at Mary's party. Might be my favourite part of the episode, alongside the kissing n spooning. Anyway...

The transition of Mary from the same living room where she hosted that party, to the kitchen they were just questioned in:

That transition made me start paying more attention and go back to rewatch previous scenes just for colour themes.

Interestingly Hawk's apartment seems to live in this neutral/warmish space. It was more warm earlier in the episode, especially when they were in the bedroom the morning Tim left his glasses. But in general it's a lot less warm than Tim's apartment when compared; still their skin glows with a hint of tangerine:

Of course, not only the lighting/colouring but their outfit choices say a lot. Tim is usually in the warm browns with his dress, while Hawk pretty much sticks to black, white, grey (hints of a cool toned blues and reds in his ties). This coupled with the differences in their own living space probably reflects a lot about the character and how 'welcoming' they are to others. Idk... or I could just be thinking too much about it.

This is another really interesting transition in episode 2. As Hawk hangs up the phone in that cool toned side room, opens the door to the main room of a gay bar, the warm tones literally seem to absorb him in. Which makes sense, this is obviously a gay friendly place in San Francisco. He doesn't have to try to hide any part of himself, like he probably was still trying to do on that voicemail to Lucy just before.

Now, I could go through and screenshot a load more examples (some scenes with Lucy are interesting, and that lounge/club), but you probably get the gist, you see the pattern. If not before, on your next watch, you'll certainly see it.

This has got longer than intended; I'd be surprised if anyone got this far, I did NOT fully organise my thoughts before I started this, I just began rambling and I feel like it could've been more organised and laid out better. But if you have thoughts about the colouring, I'd really like to see those too. 🤗

[zeroducks-2]

Let’s talk Helena Wayne bc like it’s criminal that we barely get anything about her and that they completely changed her origin and family (the bertinelli mafia family) to add her into the main comic book line.

im torn bc I love both versions of her :(

But I wanted Dick to share some older siblings trauma with her and for Damian to have that “blood” sibling bc I think that would have completely rocked early Damian’s shit. All his life, he was told to be the true heir of Bruce Wayne, but it turns out he has an OLDER SISTER BRUCE HID FROM TALIA AND RA. Idk I just think that would have crushed his lil murder ego and made for some interesting sibling moments and an interesting dynamic.

Lastly, can we talk about how the Batfam fandom completely stole all of Helena (Bertinelli)’s character traits and gave them to Jason??? Im sorry but when in the material source has Jason ever been super devout and catholic? Helena is the religious one, why am I reading about Jason’s apparent Catholicism in fics and HC dumps? Also Jason (besides his Robin days) has never been this savour and protector of the woman and children of Gotham, that’s very very veryyyyyy clearly a trait from Helena and strongly ties into her backstory as a child who suffered coming from a rich bloodline of syndicate crime. And don’t think this is me bashing on Jason, bc it’s not!! I love Jason Todd - but for who he is. Not for this weird fandom version of him who is either still suffering from the craze the lazarus pit puts you through, or this Joan of Arc of Gotham character either.

I'm gonna be honest with you, this character confuses me a bit. I know that Bruce and Selina got married and had a daughter in their Earth-Two incarnations, and this daughter is Helena Wayne, who's Dick best buddy and a vigilante in her own right called Huntress.

Then I know Helena Bertinelli, daughter of a mafia lord who was introduced in the late 80s in the preboot comic continuity, and was a quite murdery vigilante called Huntress who Bruce didn't accept because she "reminded him of Barbara" (you gotta love DC's excuses for sexism and ableism lol it's not like Barbara was dead just paralyzed. Also it did not look like Bruce gave a shit about it at the end of TKJ that Joker had crippled her - "she reminds him or Barbara". LMAO Bruce).

Then post reboot the title Huntress was given back to Helena Wayne, however Helena Bertinelli is ALSO there and she's ALSO called Huntress? She appears in the Grayson run where Dick is an agent of Spyral, and she seems to be Italian-American but I don't think her origin is the same as in preboot? Also I have no idea about Helena Wayne's continuity post reboot - when she was conceived, who raised her, how did she become a vigilante, neither I have any idea where to find this info.

I agree that if she had been raised by Bruce it could have made for an interesting dynamic amongst the bats and birds. It did in Earth 2 even if only Dick is just there - they're not siblings but they also aren't not siblings? The dynamic is murky and I love murky. Pretty sure it would have changed everything for Damian as well, especially the fact that she would have most likely been the first object of Damian's need to prove himself worthy, instead of Tim.

That being said, not much of what you mentioned is fanon about Jason.

Jason had an arc in which he's a priest. Pretty normal that fans HC him as devout or anyway catholic.

Father Todd in Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint Vol. 1 - this is an AU in which Jason was never taken in by Bruce and was never Robin.

As for the whole "protector of women and children" thing, you probably know that Jason was born in extreme poverty, his father was in and out of prison and his mother died of overdose. He is very much a child who suffered because of a broken system, and given how harshly he reacts when women and children are the recipient of violence "in his Robin days", is it really that strange that fans assume he carried these traits in adulthood?

We see him being sweet and protective to kids many times, or anyway losing his mcfucking shit when children are being harmed (like in Brothers in Blood). Imo that of Jason caring about vulnerable people is barely a headcanon, and I don't see how this would make him the Joan of Arc of Gotham either - if I'm being honest ALL vigilantes should care about minorities and vulnerable people, it's the other way around that is weird as fuck (like that arc in which Dick almost dies to prevent this guy from shutting down Bludhaven's casinos, like what the hell was Tim Seeley thinking exactly).

That being said, I understand your frustration if the character you like doesn't have recognition. Trust me I do! There's a lot of them for me too, especially female and/or non white characters who had maybe 1 run ages ago and then got forgotten by DC, and I would REALLY LIKE to see them more, and to see them acknowledged more by the fans (from the top of my mind, Jenni Ognats or Patricia Trayce).

But this isn't fandom's fault. As I mentioned before, Helena Bertinelli as a fleshed out character was a thing between 20 and 30 years ago, and most of tumblr's userbase was either very young or not born yet. DC forgot about her, stripped Huntress from her to give it to Helena Wayne, then brought her back but as an agent of Spyral and it really doesn't look like they care. Fans can't be held accountable for the fact that she's simply not there. They didn't "steal" Helena's traits to give them to Jason; this implies a willful and malicious intent from people who saw this character and decided her features fit another character better, and it's obviously not what happened - people barely know Helena Bertinelli exists if at all.

Also - I said this about Jason already and I will repeat it a million times: Jason wasn't picked at random from the sea of DC characters to be people's blorbo, he resonates with fans for a reason. Under the Red Hood is a deeply emotional and relatable arc for many people because it's the story of how a child was failed by every single person who was supposed to protect and guide him, and then was failed again as an adult victim who demanded to be seen and heard and acknowledged, and instead was silenced again. It's heartbreaking to see how many people see this and say "this is me, this is what happened to me", but it is what it is, and most of all there is no taking this away from Jason's fans. DC tried to villainize him, to make him look and sound like a madman, to make him unhinged and deranged and they had Tim suggest that "maybe it's the Lazarus Pit that drove him mad", but it didn't work and fans still love him and still consider him a symbol of how "bad victims" are treated worse than their abusers, and keep being retraumatized by a society that prefers turning a blind eye to violence than deal with the issue at its root.

And lastly, bitching won't get you anywhere. I am the living proof that the right way to make people interested in something is to be passionate about that something. You want more folks to pay attention to Helena Bertinelli, then since DC won't do anything with her, the most effective thing you can do is post about her - write essays, draw her, write fics with her, create webweavings and moodboards, commission this stuff if you don't have the skills. Complaining that she should be the recipient of fandom love won't make anyone more interested in her.

[theflyindutchwoman]

I’m piggy backing off our 5x20 anon cause I read your answer and I had thoughts and I was gonna comment on the post but I thought it might be too long 😂

Anyway, I’m really interested to see what they do with Lucy’s UC (long term ops) but on one hand I can see that she really does love UC, but I don’t necessarily believe her when she says she’ll be fine being gone for 6months to a year. She’ll absolutely be good at the work aspect of it, but emotionally being away for that long I don’t think she could handle. She was like almost devastated at the thought of not seeing Tim every day and their shifts not syncing up when she was going to transfer and again when they were discussing the detective vs metro hours. You could see how much she hated the idea of being away from him, and yet she’s gonna be okay not seeing or speaking to him while under for a long time? Idk it just doesn’t sit with me. It doesn’t seem in her character.

And then with Tim — I firmly believe when he asked her out, he already knew she was going UC and probably was already mentally preparing. He knew from the jump what being with Lucy would entail. So I do believe him when he says he’ll be fine. Cause knowing Tim, he thought it all before asking her out and taking that chance with her.

So how interesting would it be if it ends up being flipped. She’s not okay with it but he is, in a way — cause he really won’t be fine fine but he’ll manage cause he loves her.

You know what I mean?

Also I have a feeling it’ll go something like — she does a semi long op between 6a and 6b and comes back realizing she doesn’t like long term and just stays doing short term for a while and then stopping when her and Tim get married and eventually have kids. Cause that’s also what she wants and I highly doubt she’d want to still be doing UC like that once they’re married and have tiny humans and all that.

But also I want Lucy to have whatever career she wants lol she’s a badass.

Disclaimer : this is going to be a very long post… So hopefully Tumblr doesn't eat the 'keep reading' line. Also, I know how polarising the undercover discourse can be, so remember, those are just my two cents.

This is exactly why I hope we get to see Lucy on a long term assignment soon. So that she can find out if UC is truly something she enjoys doing and something she can handle. With all its ups and downs. Not just the part of playing a different character for a few days/weeks : this, she manages without trouble. I'm talking about the separation, the anxiety, always being on edge, the lies and deception, leaving the people you love behind (including the ones she might get attached to while undercover)… All the things she has been told about but hasn't really get to live yet. She needs to experience this to determine if that can be compatible with what she wants in life. The catch is she has to be a full-time undercover agent first. But she deserves to give it a try. Actually, more than that : she owes it to herself to try. Maybe she will decide that it's not for her (at least not long term UC)… Or maybe she will love it...

I think part of the reason why this seems out of character is because we don't really know why Lucy loves undercover work so much, what really attracted her to this line of work in the first place… The fact that the show has often portrayed it in an unflattering light doesn't help at all… It just creates a bigger dissonance. However, we need to remember that she is just starting her career, she's still figuring things out… Up until she joined the Academy, she didn't know what to do with her life. These are her words on the topic : Being a cop is the first thing I've ever been serious about… (1.04) I've been adrift since college, trying on different hats and different personalities, and nothing's felt right, until… Until this. (3.10) That's her whole driving force here : she finally found something she loves, that has meaning to her. That is so important. Even better : she is fully supported in that endeavor, including by people whose very lives got turned upside down by undercover work. We saw how much she loves the danger. It's not a coincidence that she asked Tim if he ever wished he had a normal job. Both of them can't fathom being anything else. Playing different roles is something she clearly likes and so far, only undercover work can give that to her. It's also the only department that showed an interest to her… At the end of the day, this is what makes her feel fulfilled, so I understand why she wants to pursue it and thinks she can handle it.

And maybe she can! Lucy is often underestimated, but she always proves herself. Don't get me wrong, I agree with your assessment : she did look rather devastated at the idea of spending less time with Tim… And yet, that didn't deter her one bit. She was still ready to move to another station. She still went along with the five-player trade despite Nyla's warning that the Metro hours were brutal. She was still studying for the detective's exam. Obviously there's a big difference between seeing less of each other and being completely separated for months. But my point is, she was still ready to make the sacrifice for Tim and she doesn't seem to regret it. She may not like the idea of being away, of not talking to him (and her friends) for months but that doesn't necessarily mean she can't handle it. Those are quite two different things. Wanting a family and a job that takes you away from your loves ones might seem contradictory, but she's not the first woman who finds herself in this conundrum. And notice how in the first two cases (moving in another station + Metro), she was fine with the trade-off (spending less time with Tim) because it meant that he would get to do something he loves, something he would find rewarding. If UC is that for her, then she deserves the same support.

As you mentioned, Tim absolutely knew about all of this and still decided that it was worth the risk. He was aware of her choice of career long before he even realised his feelings for her. From the moment she graduated, he's been nothing but supportive towards her goal. He was the one to convince her to go to the UC Academy. He asked her out mere days/weeks after she last went under (seriously, that was the episode right before). Undercover work is even the reason why they got together in the first place… which is so ironic when you think about it. When he said they were worth taking the risk, he meant it. Just like when he told Isabel that Lucy was different, I have no doubt he also meant it. He has some experience in the matter, he has some inklings as to what being separated for months truly means. Now it can be a hindrance, since it could trigger some bad memories - like we saw during her last undercover op. But it can also be an asset : he can learn from the past and avoid to make the same mistakes. I'd like to think that having both Tim and Nyla as her 'guardian angel' when she goes undercover is not just a happy happenstance. They both know the pitfalls of this job in a very different way and can guide Lucy on how to avoid them, to succeed where they previously failed. And let's not forget that he knows what's it like not to be supported… Ashley was trying to make him quit his job - I can't see him doing it to Lucy. I believe that Tim's biggest challenge will be to express his feelings, since he tends to internalise them. That's why I'm glad that he and Lucy were able to set things straight, to set their boundaries. Like you, I also think he is going to be fine (under the circumstances), but it was an important step for them. They can only make it work if they're both honest and communicate with each other.

And hear me out : maybe they could be the ones to make it work! So far, with the exception of her first solo op, Tim has always been involved… and even then, he managed to insert himself in the equation. So maybe that could be an alternative : having Tim as her case officer. It's not like it's impossible : her last assignment was supposed to last weeks or months, and Grey didn't have an issue with Tim being Lucy's handler. It would also solve a lot of issues : they would still be in direct contact, he would be able to immediately know if something was wrong and raise the alarm if necessary and she has complete faith in him, so knowing he's the one who has her back would probably make her feel more comfortable. And apparently they are not against the casual hookup during their debriefing ;).

You know, sometimes I wonder if we are just over thinking it… The writers have been teasing us with this long term UC mission since s3 and so far, the longest period was the 2-week op she did in 3.14. That and the month away at the Academy if we want to make it count… So who knows if we are ever going to get one. Maybe the writers are just going to follow what NCIS LA did. I don't know if you are familiar with the show, but basically the agents had to often go undercover to solve a case… it ended up being mostly short assignments so the mission would fit in one episode - two in rare cases. A bit like Lucy has done until now. Also, her getting married or having kids doesn't have to mean the end of her career. She could still work undercover. She could be a case officer herself. Or coordinate/supervise UC missions. Or mentor new officers… You know, be in a leadership position, which would be perfect if that happens in a couple of years. Or maybe she can be recruited by another division like Porter suggested in 5.02.

I want Lucy to have whatever career she wants lol she’s a badass. YES! I couldn't agree more! That's why I'm a bit sad at the idea that she has to change her dream… All the other main characters got their dream job. Sure, that job doesn't take them away for a long period of time but hey, it's a show, they can find a way to make it work. In the end, I don't know if she'd enjoy long term UC… I understand why you think she won't : that definitely wouldn't have been my first choice of career for her. But regardless of my opinion on the matter, I just want her to be able to make that choice for herself, you know? To determine what's best for her, whether it's going forward with UC or doing something else. The only scenario I would completely hate is if that decision is taken away from her… That Primm blocks her. Like they did with Nolan and that Union guy… Because unlike with John, I doubt there would be a Golden Ticket waiting for her...

[iowriteswords]

Hi Io! I was looking at your Tumblr and saw this post:

https://iowriteswords.tumblr.com/post/758746805347532800/fanfic-author-ask-meme

I wanted to ask you some of the questions! Actually all of the questions if you have time, but if you don't, I'm most interested in your answers to 3, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 31, 34, 36, and 38 (you can answer any or all of them).

Alternatively, you could just answer the questions you most want to answer. XD

Got this ask by email! Answered all of them, because I was bored last night, and I think I bolded all the questions you mentioned specifically.

Thank you for asking!

1. What was your first fic and could you stand to reread it today?

My first was Homecoming, and I’m still pretty happy with it. I reread it fairly recently when someone left a specific comment, and I had to go back and see what they were talking about. It was my first fanfic, but I’d already been writing for several years and had gotten a degree in literature and writing, so it certainly wasn’t any kind of early writing project. I’ve improved since then, but I already had a decent grasp on what I was doing.

2. What’s your most recent fic and how far do you think you’ve come?

I have one called Voice that I’ll be publishing on November 19. I don’t know that this is the best demonstration of how far I’ve come; it’s a short piece that doesn’t necessarily show off a lot of my strengths. But I do think I’ve come pretty far. I have a better understanding of my characters, I’m better at writing more complex characters, I can juggle a large cast better.

3. In your opinion, what’s your best fic?

Probably Robins and Other Flightless Birds.

4. In your opinion and without looking at any numbers, what’s your most popular fic?

Definitely Robins and Other Flightless Birds.

5. Is there any fic that makes you super happy to reread and remember you wrote that?

The Most Important Thing. I just like it.

6. Is there any fic that makes you super embarrassed to reread and remember you wrote that?

Nope. Occasionally I’ll read back, like, a certain line or scene and be embarrassed, but not a full work.

7. What’s the fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

Right now what I really want to do is the sequel to Who Shall Make the Clown Laugh? I mean, excluding my current project; it doesn’t seem right to talk about plans to continue when I’m, like, actively working on it. (15 chapters written, 0 posted.)

8. What’s the oldest (longest since last update) fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

I guess the Flightless Birds series? I mean, it hasn’t been long at all yet, but I know it will be a while, and I don’t really have very many other things I’m planning to go back to? It has been way longer since I worked on Ozma, but idk if I’ll even post the next bit on ao3; it’s in the public domain, so eventually I’m going to heavily edit and what I have posted now will be the first 2 chapters in a book.

9. Have you ever written for a fandom without watching/reading/playing the source material?

No, though I’ve definitely read a lot more of the source material since I started. There is just so much Batman to read and watch.

10. Have you ever written for a fandom without reading other fanfic for it?

Nope.

11. Have you ever written a fic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting?

Not really, although someone else did start posting a Tim and Jason in Arkham fic after I started mine but before I started posting it. I just avoided reading it so I wouldn’t be influenced, although I do intend to read it now, if it ever finishes.

12. Have you ever written a fic and decided never to publish it? Why?

Not a complete fic. Before I started Batman I tried both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but only got a couple hundred words into each.

13. What’s the biggest change between your style when you started in fandom and today?

I don’t think my style has changed much. I’ve matured and become a better writer, but I think the core of what I do and how is basically the same.

14. What’s the biggest change in your taste between when you started in fandom and today?

I don’t think it’s really changed very much. I’m more inclined toward Redemption for Everyone, probably, and much more reluctantly to let anyone die. I have less tolerance for anything tragic or unhappy. I read a wider range of things, in terms of both fandom and subject matter.

15. Have you ever purposefully written one fandom/fic idea over another because you knew it’d be more popular?

I’ve only ever posted fic for Batman and Oz, and I definitely prioritize Batman because people actually read it.

16. Have you ever stopped writing a fic/for a fandom because it wasn’t receiving enough attention?

I will eventually finish my Oz stories, hopefully soon, but for now, yeah.

17. In your opinion, what’s your most overrated fic?

I don’t want to say any of them are overrated? Like, I do not want people to like any of them any less. I’m always surprised by how much people like them, but also I don’t want to be like, no, that one’s not as good as they think it is - I worked really hard on all of them.

18. What’s your most underrated fic?

The Oz ones. For Batman, probably Maybe Someday We’ll Laugh again? It has the fewest views out of the ones that weren’t posted pretty recently.

19. If you had to pick one fic/scene/chapter of your work to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick?

Fic, scene, and chapter are, like, wildly different options to choose from. I generally point people toward The Most Important Thing, as a good representation of my work that isn’t a major time commitment. For one scene I’d say the one in Robins and Other Flightless Birds where Bruce and Kate are talking about the kids on patrol, which contains one of my favorite lines I’ve written: “Mine is a pity bat theme, so you don’t have to be a dork on the streets of Gotham alone.” I think it’s a good summary of the kind of Batman I like to write. I do not remember individual chapters clearly enough to answer for that.

20. Have/Would you ever rewrite a fic? If yes, would you take the original down?

I’ll rewrite the Ozma ones as I turn them into the start of a book. Otherwise no. And I don’t plan to take them down.

21. If someone starts kudosing and commenting your fics in a spree and has a few works of their own, would you go look through theirs?

Yes, I’ve done that several times.

22. Has there ever been anyone who’s made you freak out because they read your work and followed/favorited/reviewed?

I remember on my first or second fic someone whose work I’d read a lot of commented, and that was exciting. But I don’t remember who it was - that was like 6 years ago.

23. What’s the nicest review you’ve ever gotten?

Most of them are so nice. Like, I don’t know how to single out one review. Raberba girl leaves a long, amazing comment on every chapter of everything. I got a review I loved on We’re All Mad Here that I didn’t answer for like a year and felt horribly guilty about; I think the commenter was seaofserendipity.

24. What’s the meanest review you’ve ever gotten? Do you think the reviewer intended it?

I don’t know. I try not to think about them. Something from Rewind, Reset, I’m sure.

25. What constructive criticism, however well-meaning, always makes you feel bad when you see it in a review?

I can’t think of any, like, genuinely constructive criticism that I’ve felt bad about.

26. What aspect of your writing do you most enjoy to see praised?

I’m not sure. Maybe when people think it’s funny? Or maybe when they like how I handle complex issues around mental illness and trauma. Which are two very different aspects.

27. If you could only ever write crossovers or single-fandom fics ever again, which would you pick?

Single fandom.

28. if you could only ever write for a single crossover or a single fandom again, which would you pick?

Batman.

29. Does the division of your writing across fandoms line up with your reading? What’s the biggest discrepancy?

No. I really only write Batman. I read Batman, other DC, Buffy, Veronica Mars, and Star Wars pretty often, and Marvel, Harry Potter, and Supernatural if I’m in the right mood. I love Oz fic, but don’t read a lot of it because there’s not a lot currently being written.

30. Do you continue to write for a fandom after you’ve moved on or do you focus solely on the new one?

Not really applicable to me with my single fandom writing.

31. Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right?

Idk. I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten anyone completely perfectly right. I definitely struggle with Damian. Yeah, my answer’s gonna be Damian. I have gotten around the difficulty of writing him by making him younger twice (and have a 3rd story planned where I’m also doing that), and since he’s younger/newer to the family/newer to existence as a character, he often just doesn’t show up at all because I’m starting from a pre-Damian point in the timeline.

32. Who’s the one character who shines without you even trying?

Probably Tim. I have a Tim thing.

33. Is there any particular character whose scenes always wind up being longer/more frequent than you expected? Does the quality hold up?

Tim. Always Tim, in every fic. And I think so, for the most part.

34. Was there any fic that you wrote that really surprised you in the fandom reaction? Was it just by the numbers or did they take it an entirely different way?

How upset people got about Rewind, Reset, definitely.

35. Have you ever written a ship into a fic without meaning to?

I almost never mean to. It just happens. When I wrote my 2nd novel, the first scene I wrote was one from the middle of the book where they had a conversation about how Definitely There Is No Romance Here, specifically so that the platonic were locked in and it couldn’t happen to them.

36. Have you ever sincerely written a ship you do not support into a fic?

Nope. My fics aren’t, like, super ship heavy, and I don’t have really strong feelings about any Batman related ships. I just go with whatever feels right for the story.

37. Have you ever purposefully bashed a character/ship in a fic?

I don’t think so? I definitely portrayed some characters as worse people in earlier stories than later ones, like Harley and Talia, but that wasn’t, like, bashing - I just hadn’t read as much about them yet and didn’t have a very nuanced understanding of their characters.

38. Have you ever purposefully written something you know your readers would find uncomfortable/would not enjoy? If yes, why?

The scene where Bruce shoots Black Mask in Rewind, Reset, and the scene where Barbara lets aliens get tortured in Pinioned. Although no one was really unhappy with the alien situation like I worried they would be. They just felt like the right moves for the story.

39. Do you consider yourself to have a readership?

Yes. I have a good sized group of people who read all the bat-fic I write.

40. Do you feel like you put out enough content?

Yes.

41. If you cross-post your fics on multiple sites, do you have a favorite? Are there certain fics you would only post on certain site?

I only post on ao3, except occasionally snippets on tumblr.

42. How many views has your most popular fic gotten?

250,247 (Robins and Other Flightless Birds)

43. Your least popular?

680 (Ozma: Part II)

44. Do you follow/favorite/kudos/comment/review more stories than you have received?

I don’t comment as much as I should. I kudos everything I read. Sometimes even if I don’t finish reading it. I don’t really keep track of numbers.

45. If you had to call yourself an author of a single genre (besides fanfic) what label would you give yourself?

Outside of fanfic, I’m definitely a fantasy author. But in terms of, like, what genre my fanfic falls in besides just fanfic - idk. Is Trauma Recovery a genre?

46. Do you consider yourself a diverse author?

Does this mean do I have a diverse range of stories? If so, not really. I always write for the same fandom, I do the same things with characters again and again (JJ!Tim), and in non-fic work I almost exclusively retell fairy tales.

47. If someone you know in real life who isn’t involved in fandoms asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first?

Depends on the person, and probably The Most Important Thing. It’s short, it doesn’t get into complicated multiverse stuff, and I like it.

48. Does anyone you know from outside of fandom know you write fanfic? Are they involved in the same fandom too?

My parents know and a few friends, and none of them are particularly interested in Batman.

49. Has anyone in your life ever read your fanfic just because you wrote it?

I think my ex boyfriend started one, but he wasn’t a very fast reader and didn’t have much time, so I don’t think he ever finished. My former roommate read my first fic and part of my second before I posted it, mostly as sort of a critique partner.

50. Has writing fanfic had a significant impact on your life? Would you say it’s entirely positive?

Yes, and yes. I’ve gotten so much better at writing male characters, at writing large casts, at maintaining a schedule, at finishing projects. I’ve become a better and more confident writer. I’ve build up a small audience for my original work that I know came over from the fanfic.

[simplylove101]

2024 Horror Challenge: [42/?]

↳“The juice is loose!" Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) dir. Tim Burton

Plot: After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.

Starring: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti, Jenna Ortega & Willem Dafoe

I feel bad I'm only just now reviewing this movie because I definitely had watched it twice before its release on digital and had more than plenty of things to say about it but oh well. lol I think it's because sometimes I forget to think of the original movie as a horror since it doesn't scare me at all but I adore it just the way it is. That said, while this one didn't scare me too much either, the horror aspect gets a little more heightened with the assistance of Monica Bellucci's character & her powers since it was a little like, whoa dark. lol I kept going back and forth about whether to go see it in theaters or not because people kept being negative about it and saying it'd be a shitty sequel but I decided to let nostalgia win that battle. I was mostly glad I did in a way??? lol As I said, I later watched it again in theaters about two weeks later since my dad really wanted to go see it since he's a big fan of Michael Keaton and I enjoyed parts of it enough to be willing for a round 2. The truth is, yes, it's not as classic as the original movie for a good number of people, myself included (I have seen that some people prefer it though so that's interesting), but I wouldn't say that makes it awful or a waste of time. There were still moments I really liked and I didn't mind paying to see it in the theater at all. As my dad declared at the end of movie, "Well, now that was rather mildly entertaining... But I was a little disappointed. Hmm." I feel like that sums up perfectly what my initial thoughts were. lol I think my core issue with it is the pacing. It feels like it takes a good while to really get going since they certainly take the time to have us play catch-up with Lydia and her family, which didn't really feel needed the way they chose to go about it. Meanwhile, once it does get going, there's like multiple plots going on (Beetlejuice trying to get Lydia to free him, Astrid having her own major storyline, Monica Belluci's character looking for Beetlejuice, etc.) but none of them feel like they're getting the proper time to cook right since it took so long with the exposition, the other characters, and then there's the filler stuff. Now, I love fun filler stuff. I don't hate fun. lol This is a Beetlejuice movie, so you gotta have that. And I know Tim Burton loves a music moment, I do too. You knew there'd at least be one after the first one had the truly classic scene with "Day-O" but it felt like there was too much of that kinda thing in this sequel for me, at least the length of time dedicated to that stuff over plot. I just wish the editor had been able to trim some things down a bit because it managed to feel a lot longer than a basically 90 minutes movie. Anyway, I'm gonna stop being so negative and go back to how there were things I liked about it, despite my complaints. The cast was wonderful, Michael Keaton once again killing it as the iconic Beetlejuice. It did feel like they could have used Jenna Ortega a little better but maybe it's just cuz it kinda felt like they wrote Astrid a little one-note at times. Idk. lol I still laughed plenty and the music choices themselves were fun (Though my dad kept saying "Why did they have to use 'MacArthur Park' for the big moment?? That song sucks" XD) It was nice to be in this wacky world again even with different characters included. Also, no spoilers, but that nightmare sequence at the end was classic horror comedy goodness and I dug it so much. lol There's probably more I could say but I think I'll stop here by saying that even though I wanted to like it so much more than I actually did, I still had fun. It is hardly the worst sequel ever and is deserving of its blockbuster success. I'm glad it didn't get the streaming treatment.

[transsexualhamlet]

I’ve never been part of an ask game before and cannot currently remember what any I’ve seen looked like — probably because that information would be useful rn, do I just type the emojis out like this? Can I do multiple? Idk, but uh — thank you for this, I like your questions they’re really nice, and also here

💔👁️🏛️👋

Thank you again, sorry if I’m doing it wrong, or if this was for a specific group of people and I missed that (I’m just gonna stop typing now, bye ^^ thanks again)

No worries at all! Ask games are for anyone who wants to participate. If you want to receive asks about these as well as asking them, all you have to do is reblog the post so people know you're interested.

tma ask game !!

💔- I have already answered this one, but my answer as to which fear would create the most datable avatars I would say either the vast or the buried, depending on if you prefer heights or small spaces. They don't have any traits that would immediately make them immediately unbearable and I sort of see the romance in both. Maybe I am a little bonkers but yk...

👋- What characters that don't meet in canon would you like to see interact?

Obviously Jon and Gerry did technically meet, but not while Gerry was alive. I've seen people say this before of course but it's such a shame, I think they could have been a really good really supportive duo for each other.

In seriousness though, Alice and Tim. This is the answer for me, because the problem is neither Tim nor Alice have anyone in the office that can match their freak to the slightest. My god they would have gotten on so well. They would have been insufferably catty besties, why do they have to live in different universes...

🏛️- How do you think you would fare as the Archivist?

I honestly think I'm more qualified for the position than Jon, at least I have job, volunteer, and college experience with libraries and archival. However the problem is that it has very little bearing on the actual job because your actual job is trying not to die hardcore all the time.

I think I would make... similar decisions to Jon for the most part, other than not being as much of an asshole to Martin. Jon's not much less of a wimp than me, so at least I wouldn't do *worse* physically. However because of the fact that I am largely tiny and powerless, I would... hesitate a lot less to take on avatarhood, because to me the moral quandry just goes out the window when the other option is "people are trying to kill me and everyone else painfully". So what if I get a little nosy. Admittedly I would also think it's cool as fuck.

👁️- Do you have any experiences you'd like to make a statement about?

I've had several low-key encounters that have baffled me over time, and if I had to place them into TMA categories most of them would have been spiral aligned, but the one that comes to mind first is... weird?

This was back last year, either during Thanksgiving or Winter break, I was out on a walk in the woods with my brother on a vacation up north and we kept hearing these extremely faint repeating strings of circus like music. I know, I know, however this occured before I had listened to TMA or had any associations with circus music. Looking back on it, though, if I had to correlate it, it felt almost more in tune with music related to the slaughter than the stranger. But so at first, only I could hear it and my brother was like... you're crazy, and then it sort of trickled away after a little bit and I was like yeah I must have just imagined it because we were in the MIDDLE of the WOODS. But then it came back again and it was the exact same like, four measure sequence but slightly different? That time my brother did hear it, but it disappeared again. We continued to walk quite a ways thru the woods on the path we had already planned on going, and we forgot about it for a while, but eventually it came back, no easier or harder to hear despite the fact that we were quite far away from where we had originally heard it. It came back a couple more times, always just slightly fucking Wrong in a really weird way, never exactly the same but never part of any like, real conceivable song, just a string of notes that most definitely came from instruments and not natural phenomena, and as soon as we left the woods we didn't hear it again. The only thing we could think it might have been was like, the college band practicing, since we were like... kind of closeish to a state school campus, but it was during a holiday when college was most definitely not in session, and the only part of campus we were even remotely close to was the science and medical sector which would obviously not have a band practicing, not to mention outside and loud enough to be heard a mile away. Even if for some reason there was a band practicing there, there were unreasonably long periods of silence in between the repeating music (I know how band practices go, they don't sound like that) and neither does it explain why the music couldn't be tracked to any location and sounded the same nearly a mile apart.

Not terribly *frightening*, really, especially since I was not alone and it was like, 4 PM, so it wouldn't make very good Archivist food, but certainly something that I keep thinking about.

Thank you for asking again!!

[bi-bats]

im procrastinating so hard rn so c, i, o, z?

Waffle hELLO!!!!! THANK YOU FOR WAITING LIKE TWO WEEKS FOR ME TO GET TO THIS LMAOOOO 💖💖💖

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

oh that's tough actually, especially in DC. there really aren't any that I abhor wholeheartedly-

wait no wait. Supermartian. Sorry, both Kon and M'gann are a thousand times more interesting without each other in literally every instance I've seen them (for the record, I'm talking exclusively about canon because I don't consume fan content for this pairing, so there are probably people who are doing it justice out there but the canon content has put me so far off of it that I just. don't want it).

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

Oh interesting! See, I've been on here since like. 2011? not on this particular blog (though I do still have access to my old account) so. uh. I've been here since before superwholock. I was in and out, so thankfully I wasn't around much for Steven Universe, though I did watch that whole series and heard things about the fandom. I think it'd be more accurate to say it wasn't Tumblr specifically, but certain fandoms have put me off, though I am reluctant to admit my shame.

homestuck

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

Je te laisserai des mots - reminds me of DamiTim, possibly because I'm in that brainspace rn? but also I hc that Damian plays violin and Tim plays piano and the way that the two intertwine throughout the song is beautiful. Also the lyrics remind me of Damian, who I think is definitely one to hide his feelings and wait for someone else to make the first move!

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

Okay I'm gonna hit you with a take I see all the time but feel like talking about anyways. I read a lot of comics (not just for batfam, I'm actually a major flashfam enthusiast (esp Wally and Bart) and a MASSIVE Kyle Rayner and Jo Mullein fan, and I read plenty of superfam stuff bc I love Kon, and also Young Justice my belOVED) but like. if I could just. read a run that doesn't have Batman or the batfam in it, you know. Sometimes I just. It'd be nice! that's all! It'd be nice if I could just read a Kyle run that doesn't have any bats in it! Or Wally! Like, don't get me wrong, I actually love his relationship with Dick (they're in love actually but that's a story for another time) but like. HE DOESN'T REALLY NEED TO BE HERE IDK. or like the new run of Titans!! Sure, I want Dick to be in it but like. He's the main character!! Idk!!! I get that they're making him like, the face of DC or whatever but like. idk sometimes I want my other faves to get the spotlight.

Sorry if you weren't looking for me to whine about this 😂 and for the record I don't always hate it, I just want more of my other faves who have kind of been forgotten in favor of the bats again

[havendance]

Okay your ask meme question is 3 if you feel like being spicy, and 13 otherwise.

(from this list)

3. Who’s your third-favorite Robin? Tell us one thing you like or dislike about them.

Okay, I thought this one would be easy but then I started overthinking it. Going off of the 5 post-crisis Robins who typicaly make the lists. Initial Answer: Damian. Dick and Tim ranked above, Jason and Steph ranked below (not necessarily in that order.) But that's in terms of generally how interested in their character I am. (I haven't gotten as in depth for Damian yet, but I want to like him.) (I am sorry Steph fans, but she's just never a character who really clicked for me. I get why people like her, but she's just not for me.

But then! I started thinking well, what about the character *as* Robin and then I think it might be Dick. Because look, I am an unrepentant Tim fan. I like Tim as Robin. Damian as Robin has got a lot of juicy story potential and I enjoy reading him when I stick my nose into other eras of comics other than the one I'm reading. Robin: Year One for Dick was excellent, but I think I'm just more interested in stories where he's Nightwing.

Ummm, likes/dislikes I guess.

Damian: Because I just read Robin War, I like him trying to pull the sacrifice play like his dad! He is trying and he is like 12 and he is being a bit of stubborn ass of it like his dad and it's sweet even as Duke's got to knock some sense into him.

Dick: I guess to contrast the other answer, I'll go with a dislike, but I'm having trouble articulating why I don't like Robin!Dick content as much other than it just doesn't compel me as much. I think maybe the more golden/silver age tone. Less on the drama side, more on the flashback-y ness in the eras I've read. Idk if that makes sense.

13. Is it okay to make detailed contingency plans to take down your teammates? (see: Tower of Babel and a million other storylines) Why or why not?

Look! That's important Bat-enrichment! He gets sad if he can't make elaborate contigency plans to take down all his friends and allies :(

Okay, but more serious answer: yeah. It's Batman's job to be paranoid and they live in a world with earth-3 alternate evil versions and mind control and stuff. He should probably spend more time coming up with contingencies for the contingencies though.

[endofthe1980s]

the informers. pretty good

don't want to spoil too much (but maybe that's a spoiler in and of itself) but reading it makes you wonder why ellis has to make the stylistic choices he does… it's just short stories, but it's obvious he put care into it

speaking of stylistic choices, he once again begins us in a talking stage (reminiscent of AP and glam), aka confusing dialogue that makes it hard to care

it picks up around the 4th story (in the islands) which also has tim!!! i love the depiction of the relationship he has with his father and how different he is here vs american psycho

it's Very Real to me tbh how tim would retract even further everytime his father handled his son's embarrassment poorly. also enjoyed the fish facts and the callback to the "chances are looking good" line

5 and 6 were eh to me

7 (discovering japan).. oh wow. here it stands out that the best short stories are probably going to be the ones with interesting relationship dynamics (as with 4). the tension between roger and bryan is craaaazy good. the long sleeves line … the "rearrange my dreams for me" … the way they're so intertwined together is good and i hope the movie did them justice

8 (letters from LA) was sad and honestly the most horrifying for me. this was one immediately interesting because the letters' recipient is sean! anyway, not much to say other than that it kept reminding me of this image except reversed

9 is okay. great dialogue and enjoyed the descriptions of the narrator meandering around

10 (the secrets of summer) is my favorite lmaoo. i checked the wikipedia summaries of the stories and for some reason they think the narrator is lying when he says he's a vampire? idk it confused me considering the implications from the 2nd story and also the freaky shit that he does in this story

really funny, really fucked up. he makes this shitty racist joke and laughs at himself everytime. idk what to say about the story itself (still digesting) but the ending..? ??? <- that's what i'm saying about it (i liked it but oh okay!)

11 (the fifth wheel) is strange even though it has Normal People (as opposed to 10), but that's what makes it stranger imo. probably has my favorite flow and diction choices. the narrator is just so done with all the bs and it's great

12 (on the beach) has the same mysterious vibes as 11, though i couldn't get into it as much. if i think about the description of the girlfriend it might scare me i think. very much the horror convention of only letting you see a peek of the scary thing and getting the imagination to run wild

13 (at the zoo with bruce) is the last story. yet another ??? one for me. i did like spending the day at the zoo with the characters (though it sucks the animals were mistreated) it had a quaint feeling i could relate to

[purplerose244]

My thoughts on Ninjago the Island!!! 🏝🏝🏝

So, gotta be honest... this is not a Blind reaction thing, I actually watched it in French first so I know most of the stuff already 😅 It's entertaining, it got great animation, but nothing more than that in my opinion 🤷‍♀️

Still there is stuff I liked or I want to point out, and finally I'm seeing the English version so I can actually understand what the HECK they are saying 🤩

Alright, nothing else to say, here we go!

UNCHARTED

I haven't actually seen anything Clutch Powers related before Ninjago, is he always like this? I love that he is a jerk honestly, just wondering 😂

Press F for respect for intern Dwaine (at least he seems to like being... used?)

Clutch: It's just a bunch of rocks! It's not alive!

Totem: I'm about to end this man's whole career

Wait, Misako is part of the explorers club? ... that would have come in handy in season 11 to get the scroll of Forbitten Spinjitzu from the club instead of begging uncle Powers for it... *sighs* I don't mind plot holes in Ninjago like most fans I think, but if you wanna make Misako relevant again at least pay attention to the details 😅

Wow, after the end of season 13 I would've thought Wu was going to go through a midlife crisis, not Misako 😂😂

Oww, everytime I hear I get 😢 Bless your soul Kirby, always in our hearts 🖤🖤🖤

Well hello Brian

Always nice to see you 😊

Twitchy Tim must have been pretty interesting to voice 🤔 I like him enough, he's fun and all, maybe not at the level of the characters we got last season

Okay, the place is called the STORM belt, there are LIGHTNINGS, and the sand of the beach is BLUE. Are we gonna address any of these similarities to our Bluebell here or not? 😅

Wait, Tim was giving a hot air balloon tour, does that mean other people where with him? What of them? Are they dead? Did he let them die on the island?... am I reading too much into this? Probably 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Alright, the part of the boats? SO COOL 🤩🤩 I literally can't say anything bad about the animation at this point

Why did they think leaving Kai, Jay and Cole on one boat was going to be a good idea 😂 Also Zane just randomly doing sick tricks on his vehicle, love that nindroid

I'm guessing Nya is keeping her water abilities for her season 🤷‍♀️

Yep, yep, this is why the creators try to keep Pixal out of the adventures, with her everything is way too cool and easy to access to 😎😎

Twitchy Tim: There are statues that become alive!!

Lloyd:... so it's a season 2 stone army ripoff, we've seen worse

It's a cute episode overall 👍

THE KEEPERS OF THE AMULET

OKAY THE INTRO IS SO FREAKING COOL 🤩🤩🤩🤩

So Twitchy Tim has temporarily taken over Jay's role of spazzing out and complain about worse case scenarios... in another occasion they might have bonded over this, maybe 😂

Okay, survival position? MOOD

Nya: DRAGOOON 😱

Me: DRAGOOOOOOON 😍😍😍

Why am I not surprised that Jay was the one that named him Zippy? 💙 Also HE'S SO CUTE 💕💕💕 Love how in every adventure, we always get very different types of dragon in this show 👌 I'm a simple person, I see a dragon... 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

Oh-oh, it's the "Lloyd's done with this crap"'s face

This means serious business... am I that used to LEGO characters that this way of crossing arms on the chest looks almost normal to me? 😅

Soooo, Master of the Mountain clearly gave Cole too much development... because now he got demoted to "the one who is always hungry" 🤦‍♀️ I'm all for Cole's endearing love for cakes, which is super relatable, but if you're gonna push it on his fun side, at least be coherent 🙃

Is it just me or it feels like the writing of this special was made by someone different from the one of season 13? Like, it's not bad, just less engaging and witty. For now. Maybe I'm being premature 🤷‍♀️

New way of nerfing powers, we got... weird, sucking power totem thingies... OKAY

My gosh I really can't say anything about the animation, look at that! It's all cinematic with such a light! YES!! 🤩

I'M SORRY

WHY ARE WE LOOKING OVER THIS??? IT LOOKS LIKE COLE'S LAVA PUNCHES BUT THEY ARE JAY LIGHTNING FEET??? IT'S A GREAT IDEA AND I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT AGAIN??? WHY ARE WE IGNORING THIS??? 💙💙💙💙

So they at least addressed that lightning isn't a Jay's thing only anymore 😅

Alright, Jay having a mental breakdown because of a bridge because it always breaks, that's the Bluebell I know and love 😂😂 Nya telling him to keep moving was cute too 💙❤💙❤

Okay, I'm sorry but this really bothers me, what kind of lightning can instantly knock out the MASTER OF LIGHTNING??? Like, my gosh, really??? I hope they give us an explanation, like it's some sort of special lightning, because this really doesn't sit right with me. Jay is lightning proof, we've seen it in Skybound, we've seen it in Sons of Garmadon, I DON'T BELIEVE HE WOULD JUST BE KNOCKED OUT LIKE THAT 😡😡😡

Soooooo, storm amulet? Being one with the lightning? Is that the reason why Jay got to be the sacrifice? 😅

THE GIFT OF JAY

Alright, I am kinda looking forward for this one, what did Bluebell actually say or do to get him into trouble this time 😂😂

Oh, he just... introduced himself... well that was underwhelming

SENSEI👏YOU👏ARE👏A👏FREAKING👏GOD👏STOP👏GETTING👏KIDNAPPED👏BY👏RANDOM👏VILLAINS👏

Bring ooooon Lloyd Grills 💪

Okay I did like the little speech, definitely resonates with how Lloyd survived this long even though everything wanted him to give up, even his father... I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING 😭

Jay out there making the real questions 😂

Awwww Edna used to call him gift of Jay? I can totally see it, so cute 💙💙 Makes even more sense if Libber actually left Jay at the Walkers' door...

Pff, Jay made the connection I would've done honestly 🤷‍♀️ Like, him being the master of lightning really didn't give these dudes any impression or inspiration? Any cool idea, full Road of El Dorado style? 🙃🙃

Lloyd out there abusing of the animation budget 💚💚💚

Somehow these ninja never actual sneak in, it's always a huge mess everyone knows about beforehand 😂 It's familiar though, I'm used to it and happy with it 👍

I might not be the biggest Misako fan, but you know what I am a fan of?

LEGO HUGS 😍😍😍😍😍

Dang it uncle Powers, you just got here to make a mess did you 😅

Not the first person of the fandom to say this, but Jay looks absolutely lovely with that flower crown 🌺🌺🌺

Oh poor greenie

Lloyd just has the worst luck 😓

Jay: Why would I be the gift?

Kai: Yeah who would want Jay?

Nya: Huh, me?? 😡

Got some very good Jaya for this little special, can't complain 💙❤💙❤

I mean, not matter how big of a snake Wojira might turn out to be, we've already seen the biggest and the second biggest snake of all so 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Whoa, at last... IT WAS THE FIRST SPINJITZU MASTER THAT HAD SOMETHING HE SHOULD'VE TOLD WU A LONG TIME AGO!! 😱 Wu, you got pulled a Wu, how does it feel? 😂

Again, Jay freaking out, kinda my jam it's too funny 💙💙

Wow Kai way to be hominous offscreen 👏👏 I miss talking about my flame babe, this really isn't his time 🤷‍♀️

THE TOOTH OF WOJIRA

So when I first watched this I was genuinely, really excited about knowing the truth behind all this. It turned out very different from what I first thought, but at least in this case it's okay (besides I was pushing with the lightning meaning just to see Libber again 😅😅😅)

I feel like the guys get their powers stolen or blocked so much it takes them a minute to remember "Oh wait I can literally burn my way out" 🤷‍♀️

SPINJITZU YAY 🤩

I... forgot that Misako knows how to fight 😅 She knows how to do spinjitzu too if I remember correctly...

NYA BEING LIKE "OUT OF THE WAY IMMA SAVE MY BOYFRIEND AGAIN" ❤💙❤💙

Gotta love how they were all crazy worried about Jay, like, this is something that never changes through the show. They really care so so much for each other 💕💕💕

Ooohhhh, okay, so Wojira does seem to be the main villain of next season according to the story. I remember Tommy saying that we needed to have faith and this is probably why. The special was okay, nothing too much, and hopefully that too much we will see in Nya's season 😍😍😍

What the- pff, I didn't notice this the first time 😂

At this point I can't tell if that one short with the chicken of the movie carried a hate or a love for chickens in the actual show 😂😂

Nice to see Jay standing up for himself at least for a little while 💪 Also Lloyd being "He's our trouble", aww family 💜

THERE IT IS

MY BRUISE HEART IS SOARING 🖤💙🖤💙

Gotta give props to the voice actors, voicing an explanation while fighting must be pretty hard! WE ARE BLESSED WITH AN AMAZING CAST!!! 🤩🤩🤩

And there he is, our favorite jerk... shaved Ronin 😂 He does look a little weird, but it's fair, new animation and all. Not the weirdest until now 🤷‍♀️

I genuinely had to make a mental check to see where we are with Ronin now, like, he started as a villain, then a partner, he betrayed us, became an ally, he hunted the ninja, then joined them, that timeline was erased, he was around in SoG and... wow this man is chaotic 😂😂

Yaaaay, Twitchy's last minute redemption act! Lloyd is too good at motivational speeches 👏👏

A bit of Lava OTP/BrOTP

Cause it's good for the heart ❤🖤❤🖤

Okay, Scooby doo reference, why not? Also honestly, I'm confident Ronin has seen A LOT of jails and prisons... probably won't stay behind bars for long 😅

Mammatus: sorry for imprisoning you and almost killing your friend

Kai: no biggie, that's how we make friends in this show

Alright the "And Clutch Powers" gag made me chuckle 😂 ... wait where is he- DANG IT UNCLE POWERS

Okay, this is the last time I say it I promise, but I mean. I MEAN

THE ANIMATION GUYS 😍😍😍

Aaaaand sensei you jinxed it 😅 But you apparently awakened Nya's season so I'm gonna forgive you on this one 😉

FINAL THOUGHTS

There are a few little details that bothered me a little, and it wasn't as exciting as I maybe hoped it was going to be, but it was fine. Enjoyable still. These characters make me like the show, even when it got nothing too impactful 🤷‍♀️

But I got triggered about that lightning thing with Jay 😅 I guess I'll just fanfic whatever I had in mind...

Don't have to repeat myself about the animation *chef's kiss*

The writing was really less engaging, a little normal in a way? Idk just a feeling. Nice to see Ronin again though, I really like him. And nice to see Jay freaking out, I really like that too 😂

To be honest I wanted to put down my thoughts on this one because I REALLY wanna do the same with Nya's season 🤩🤩 I already know that Maya is gonna be there and I am so HAPPY already!!! 💙💙💙

So that's it from me! Thank you for reading me ranting, see you next season! 😊

[olwolo]

Omg yes exactly. Tubbo is just so great ugh it's so nice having someone so distinct from tommy in that sense, you can see he was way more against c!tubbo dying than tubbo himself! It has always been like that, with techno, with dream, he really learnt to be the resilient one after all that. It kind of bugs me when ppl say tommy doesn't care about his trauma and the other way around. Bench trio was so supportive of each other on that stream before wilbur was revived ?? There are few thing like tubbo saying he would do anything for tommy and even going like "why are you making plans and not telling me about them?" when he was still hiding the "kill dream plan" that just shows how much tubbo is willing to be there for him no matter what u know? That last one is almost as if he was saying like,, after all they have been through, there's no way tommy needs to hide something from him now. It hurts how (probably ??) fake c!wilbur is giving him safety now using the excuse that everybody tommy loves can also be safe there. Just UGHDFJJFF I love c!tubbo man. He's so great and bench trio has like by far one of the best chemistry on the smp bc they are so alike in so many things and also so different, personality wise but still SO SUPPORTIVE. I love them!

And YES that line from tommy!! C!wilbur lost so much like, tommy has said before that he was used to following ppl and now he has to follow himself and the way c!wilbur seems to not see that just drives me crazy. He was so in awe with big q accomplish with las nevadas and even said that the only thing tommy put effort into it (the hotel) failed like KDOFKF NO MAN. He didn't saw shit that happened and it's like out there pretending he knows. But like, what do you think it's that whole "I'm your servant" thing? Reminded me so much of him talking to dream before and it just makes me think he's still wanting to stick it to the man,,, but like, a different man now bc Quackity seems the most powerful now fr him ?? Idk, and the way he totally ignored when tommy said what Quackity was doing in the prison like... idk if that was intentional but knowing cc!wilbur, I don't think he would ignore it for nothing. Idk man everything that's happening is just so interesting and I miss techno already so like can we pls PLEASE get the arsonists together for a few seconds,,, withou dream breaking out of the prison pls,,, 🧨

i feel like all the takes of 'this character doesn't care/undermines that character's trauma' and of similar variety tend to lead back to the audience metagaming? like we, watching cc!tubbo's stream, see the subtle hints of c!tubbo having trauma but bottling it up, how is c!tommy supposed to know that his best friend has been affected as much as he has been by everything that happened when c!tubbo just keeps it all to himself? of course from c!tommy's perspective c!tubbo will have 'thicker skin' when he compares it to how he himself has been reacting to all the fucked up shit he went through. even though i feel like c!clingy duo has been kinda drifting apart in s3 i don't think it's a bad thing? tommy has been really dependent on tubbo's existence at the end of s2 to an unhealthy degree - 'what am i without you?' but it's so obvious they still deeply care for each other even if they haven't shared as many moments as in s1 and s2 and i find it really sweet how ranboo is the one that kinda brought them back together when you look back at the early s3 and how rarely they interacted. i just really love the c!bench trio dynamic man. 

and that line from wilbur really rubbed me the wrong way because he's so obviously just using the promise of safety for the ones tommy cares about to keep him on his side, but they already have that safety? in snowchester and the arctic and i hope c!tommy realizes that sooner than later. also there’s just something about c!wilbur using the family card after that conversation they had in the camarvan in the museum. despite seemingly changing so much during his time in the void i feel like wilbur can’t comprehend that others had changed too? idk. the servant line did give me the vassal convo vibes!! and he’s definitely trying to ‘stick it to the man’ with the whole las nevadas thing. he’s so petty - quackity didn’t want to work with him so he creates a new ‘hq’ on the equivalent of quackity’s front lawn and it’s fucking hilarious. and i honestly can’t tell if tommy dropping the comment about the torture was intentional or not but still c!wilbur seems to just zone in and out of that whole conversation when a possibility of being able to visit dream becomes reality, only tuning back in when more info about the visitation system is dropped? so i wouldn’t be surprised if he just didn’t hear the comment c!tommy made too caught up already thinking how he can see his hero. and i too really want to see the interactions between techno and wilbur especially since both of them want to visit dream now?

[eveningdawn222]

I asked you about the last bruce/tim/Jason post

Yeah I agree, I don’t think I’d read any media of dc without Batman being Bruce Wayne actually. And ur right, it’s an easy cop out and we’d no longer have a story but I think it’s interesting that it *could* have happened because Bruce, whose always been so determined to be so broken. He swore the promise on his parents grave and to see him considering to brake it seems to tragic.

Also a lot of people want tim or cass to be the new robin which I whole heartedly disagree lmao. One of the few things I like about Tim character which has remained consistent is that he doesn’t want to be Batman. I don’t want cass to be Batman either because she already has the mantle or orphan or black bat etc. And Barbara has always been more of her mentor than Bruce despite her adoption. Idk I don’t really like her either. there’s a huge disservice of her character in dc and now she’s pretty much unlikeable (east asian girl who can’t speak well and isn’t able to communicate but is crazy good at martial arts?? Wow dc, you’ve outdone yourself). Batman is the physical form of all of Bruce’s lonliness and anger and grief and I don’t think he wants *that* particular title to be handed to anyone. Instead they should find their own path in life just like dick had done. Jason too, Tim etc. It’s why I didn’t like battle for the cowl (but Bruce was alive so it’s forgiven somewhat) or terry as Batman either

hey anon! yeah i totally understand lmao.i don't think pondering what it would be like if bruce gave up is like. uninteresting. i would probably even read a oneshot or something if it was done well. i think the problem i have with it is that(to me) batman symbolizes hope in a city of downtrodden people, and if he gives up, it's like...what hope does gotham have? like you said, ive always been super uncomfortable with people taking on the mantle of batman, who aren't bruce. cause it's like, you spend years working to develop yourself, working to behold up a reputation, to help people, and then u just give up an identity you created, to become batman? for what? the clout? and the plausibility of it - batman's suit has always been much heavier and more militarized than the rest of the vigilantes. when dick became batman, i always wondered how he pulled off his fighting style in the suit. he's a dexterity based fighter, not a tank like bruce. idk it just seems like a cheap gimmick for the comic writers to fall onto.

on the topic of cass: i haven't read much of her source material, and i'm white so i obviously have no meaningful input into her character as an east asian person. i am autistic though, and i go non-verbal when im triggered and in unfamiliar situations, so i really liked that there was someone who faced some sort of similar situations like that in the comics. like i said though, i haven't read much of her source material so i dont think i can really speak on her character that much.

[bluegreenamber]

Your Brother Was a Good Substitute

((AN: Greetings! I hereby bring to you an ancient manuscript from a time in my EW fanfiction writing career long ago. Translation: I was digging through my documents and found this and decided to post it in between stories. You guys remember TimPay, right? I do. Man, I was obsessed with it. I wrote such cringey stuff for it back then. But hopefully this one is good enough to show the world and not become completely embarrassed. You know, I've never really been good with writing Tim. Idk I just don't have his character down completely I guess. Anyways! I should probably warn that there is some suggestive humor and stuff because it is Pay after all. Just in case. This is based on the song "Gold" by Kiiara. Tim belongs to princeofmints and Pay belongs to threehairs.)) The theme was gold. That much was obvious from the second he opened the door. The whole room was filled with gold. Gold clothes, gold accessories, gold decorations, gold lights. The color was everywhere. He didn't quite know what to make of this. But the DJ was blaring music and people were dancing wildly and drinking heavily and enjoying themselves. It was a party, and he wasn't going to complain about the color scheme. His brother tugged him forward, pulling them through the sea of bodies. “He's downstairs.” He nearly had to shout to be heard. Choosing not to attempt to talk over the music and voices seemed the smartest choice, so he simply nodded even though his brother wasn't looking back at him. They finally reached the edge of the crowd and headed toward a door. It was a little quieter here, and they could speak in normal voices. He crossed his arms. “You sure you aren't setting me up with this guy, Pat? Cuz it sure seems like that's what's happening. And I know how much you love playing matchmaker for me.” His brother held up his hands defensively. “I swear it's not. I just thought I'd introduce you to a fellow alcohol connoisseur. And I don't want you to either be a bored wallflower all night or get drunk and take some random person home. Besides, he's not your type.” He raised an eyebrow. “How do you know? I mean, isn't everyone my type?” Patryk rolled his eyes. “No. As much as you may or may not wish that was so, I know you're more picky than you let on. Plus, this guy is really not your type.” “I'm sure I could win him over with my natural charm and a few drinks.” Patryk sighed and opened the door to reveal a stairway leading down to a basement, glancing at him from the corner of his eye. “I'm not sure you want to, Pay.” He gestured to the stairway. Pay shot him a confused and suspicious look but said nothing. He started his way down the stairs. “Good luck,” Pat said. “And have fun. Just not too much.” Pay winked. “No promises.” He descended, and the stairway was plunged into semi darkness as Pat shut the door behind him. ~~~ “So you must be the alcohol guy.” Pay’s voice made the man on the couch jump. He spun around in his seat and stared at the newcomer. Pay noticed his strange black or lack of eyes, light brown hair, and checkered tie. He looked nervous. Not what he was expecting. He reached the bottom of the stairs and took a moment to take in the basement. Luckily, the gold theme didn't seem to have followed him down here. The other man was sitting in a small area with several couches and chairs placed in a circle, a coffee table in the center, and everything sitting on a large shag rug. There was a bar off to the side with a lighted wall and countertop. The farthest corner was too far away from all of the lights, which made it shrouded in complete darkness. He couldn't see anything in that corner. But what really drew his attention was the back wall, the one the man had been facing before he had entered. The entire wall was basically a giant shelf. And there was what he guessed were hundreds of varieties of alcohol in bottles and several kegs of what he assumed were full of more alcohol. It was like a giant wine cellar. So this was why the man had wanted to meet here. Pay turned back to the fidgety man, intrigued. Well if he had wanted to make an interesting first impression by showing him this, he had succeeded. When the man didn't reply to his earlier question though, Pay raised an eyebrow. “Well, are you?” The man took a second to process this before he shook his head rapidly. “No, no. You must be thinking of my brother. He's supposed to be meeting someone down here.” Pay crossed his arms and leaned against the end of the banister. “Where is he then? And what're you here for? You his wingman or something? I swear if Pat really set me up like this…” The man looked alarmed at Pay’s sudden anger. He seemed to be the rather nervous type. “Um… I think Tom went upstairs for a bit to talk to some friends. And he told me to wait down here in case the person he was meeting came. I'm… I'm not his wingman or anything.” “Well then, who are you?” Pay pushed himself off the banister and tilted his head, seeming almost oppressive. The man gulped. “I'm Tim. Tom’s brother.” “You an alcohol guy too, or…?” “No, not really. That's always been Tom’s thing. I just know the basics.” He scrunched his face up. “I don't really care much for alcohol.” Pay sighed. This night wasn't turning out as he was expecting. But maybe he could still make something out of it. He strode over to the couch and plopped down next to Tim, making the already tense man stiffen. Pay lounged comfortably while Tim sat straight-backed and stock-still as if ready to jump up and sprint off at any moment. It was almost amusing. “That's okay,” Pay replied. “I honestly wasn't much looking forward to our little ‘chit-chat get-together’ or whatever anyway. No offense to your brother or anything.” He snuggled deeper into his seat. “So I guess you'll just have to entertain me then.” Tim looked much like a mouse that was being played with by the cat that was about to eat it. “I'm not very good at entertaining, I'm afraid. And I'm not quite sure what you consider ‘entertaining.’” Pay actually laughed. “Oh, so you're the comedian then? This is brilliant!” He looked over Tim’s timidly uncertain face. “It's not that hard, you know. Entertaining me. I have the attention span of a squirrel. There's not much blood up here.” He rapped his knuckles against his head. “I think it all goes--” “Please don't,” Tim interrupted. He suddenly looked tired. Pay grinned cheekily. “What? You too ‘pure’ and ‘innocent’ for a few dirty jokes?” he asked mockingly. Tim looked like he was going to say something but then ended up sighing and shrugging helplessly. “If that's what you wanna believe, then sure.” Pay felt a sliver of concern and curiosity, but he simply pushed it aside and scoffed. “Innocence is for children and fools and people too lucky to suffer in life.” “Am I a fool then?” Tim challenged. “Or am I just ‘too lucky to suffer in life’?” Pay was taken aback by the seemingly timid guy’s sudden anger, but he wasn't going to back down from an argument. “You tell me, Mr. Too Good For Dirty Jokes.” Tim made a face. “I don't think I'm either. Lewd humor is just beneath me.” Pay crawled over, hovering over Tim so that their faces were only an inch apart. “Does that mean I'm beneath you too, Mr. High and Mighty?” he practically spat. His sneer morphed into a devilish smirk. “Because I can arrange that.” Tim shoved him away, and he fell back against the opposite armrest. Tim turned away, facing forward with his arms crossed like an angry child. “Please stop,” he said in the most ticked off tone he could muster. Pay shook his head like a dog, trying to recover from being thrown back. He looked at Tim’s posture and immediately mimicked it, blatantly mocking his childlike behavior. “Would've preferred your brother,” he grumbled. “Don't bring my brother into this,” Tim snapped. “Ohhhh, defensive, are we? What? Are you the stereotypical overprotective sibling?” “Why wouldn't I be? Don't you have anyone you're overprotective of?” Pay’s mind immediately thought of Pat, but he shook that image out of his head. “This isn't about me.” Tim finally turned to look at Pay again, giving him a withering look. “But isn't it? Isn't this all about you? You playing mind games with me? You pushing all of my buttons? You making sure you leave an impression so that I can never forget you? You saying and doing all the right things so that I'll like you?” Pay’s eyebrows furrowed. “I wasn't trying to make you like me.” Quite the opposite, in fact, he thought. Tim laughed without humor. “Well if you are, it's working.” Pay blinked, and it took a moment for the meaning of those words to fully sink in. He smirked. Tim hadn't realized quite what he was saying either, so his words came back to bite him a moment after he said them. He felt like groaning in exasperation of himself, but he refused to let go of his stubborn anger-induced pride and let the other know that he had messed up big time. So he sat back with his arms crossed again. “Did you just say you liked me?” Pay asked with a smug smile. When Tim refused to reply, he continued. “You did!” He laughed triumphantly. “You actually like me!” Then, he tilted his head curiously. “Why?” Tim turned back to Pay, a confused look on his face. “What do you mean ‘why’?” “Why would you like me? I've done nothing but annoy you and be rude to you and make you uncomfortable.” “Well… Why not? You're bold and funny and clever and confident and honest. What's not to like?” “A lot, actually.” Pay stared at the sofa cushions as if they could answer all of his questions in life. Tim glanced at him, and his anger melted away into concern. He wanted to move closer and give some kind of physical comfort, but he feared that that would be overstepping his boundaries. “Look,” he started softly, “I don't know what you're going through or what kind of self-doubts are going through your head right now. But I think you're pretty cool.” “Thank you.” Pay’s voice was a little rough, as if it hadn’t been used in a while. He didn't look up. “But one opinion isn't going to change the world’s.” Tim thought over this. “Maybe not the world’s. But maybe it could change someone’s world’s.” Pay bit his lip. He hated this. He hated being this weak and vulnerable and having to have someone comfort him. He had to get out of here; he had to run from his weakness like always. He stood to go. Tim looked up at him, alarmed. “I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?” Pay laughed without humor. “No, you're fine, darling. I just gotta go. Can't keep the brother waiting too long.” Tim stood as well. “Wait. Let me… let me get you a drink at least. That's what you came down here for, right? To talk about alcohol? It'd be a waste of time if you didn't at least sample some of my family’s best.” Pay paused thoughtfully. Tim had a point. Plus, Pay would never admit it, but he didn't really want to leave Tim. He charted it up to his conscience making a sudden appearance and guilting him into not leaving the poor guy alone in a basement. He nodded to Tim’s request after a moment. Tim smiled and moved to behind the bar, gesturing for Pay to take a seat at one of the bar stools. Pay complied and watched as Tim pulled down some shot glasses. “What's tickling your fancy tonight, darling?” Pay raised an eyebrow at Tim’s not-so-subtle mocking of his earlier nickname. “I'll have a shot of Jack Daniels, handsome.” “Coming right up, beautiful.” Tim went over to the “Great Wall of Alcohol,” as Pay had deemed it, and searched through it. He came back with a bottle and tipped its contents into a shot glass, looking surprisingly at ease as an impromptu bartender. “There you go, princess.” “Much obliged, charming.” Pay downed the shot in a second, making a contented noise at the taste and the slight alcohol buzz he was already starting to feel. “So how's the taste, Cinderella?” Tim asked, pouring another shot. “Wonderful.” Pay downed this one as well. “And I think I'm more of a Sleeping Beauty.” Tim poured a third shot then raised his hands defensively. “Well, excuse me then,” he said in an exaggerated tone. Pay tipped back the third shot. “Simple mistake.” Tim put the bottle and shot glasses away, saying, “Don’t want to get you too drunk. I'm sure your… uh, brother wouldn't be too happy.” Pay was a bit disappointed that he wouldn't be able to completely drink away his problems tonight, but the part of his brain that was still thinking logically agreed with Tim. And maybe… maybe he wouldn't want to forget tonight. So he nodded and stood. “Thank you for the drinks. And… for your words.” Tim nodded acceptance, and Pay made his way to the stairway before pausing at the first step. “Don't you wanna come up and join the party? I'm sure your brother wouldn't mind at this point.” Tim hesitated. He wasn't much for parties and kinda wanted to stay down here where it was quiet and alone for the rest of the night. But one look at Pay’s kind and understanding face had him making his way to the stairs almost subconsciously. “Sure. Sounds like fun.” He flicked off the lightswitch to the basement, and they were plunged into darkness. Tim could barely see Pay’s eyes in the dark. But he could feel Pay’s hand as Pay grabbed onto his own. He squeezed Pay’s hand comfortingly, and Pay squeezed back. He set his jaw determinedly. They made their way upstairs. ~~~ “Is that… Pay? With… Tim?” Tord had sat down on one of the many gold bar stools and had immediately spotted the couple having the time of their lives in the middle of the dance floor. “Yup,” Tom and Patryk, who were sitting on either side of him, said simultaneously. Tord glanced at each other them, a bit incredulous by their calmness during the situation at hand. “And you two are… okay with this?” Both looked thoughtful for a moment before once again replying “Yup” at the same time. Tord sat back in his bar stool, baffled. He thought about saying something, but there was really nothing to say to this. So he watched the two on the dance floor and sat with their respective brothers. He noticed that one from each pair looked slightly tipsy, but he didn't comment on it.