#it's giving todd from not me

[whisperedfate]

Dangerous Romance: The Curious Case of Kang's Shirts

Or how I can prove that he's not into Pimfah using the law of buttons.

It's 11 PM on Thursday in the desert and, as always, I can't stop thinking about Dangerous Romance. Now, I'm sure most folks are pretty confident that Episode 5 showing a somewhat infatuated with Pimfah Kang is the result of gay panic/confused feelings/compulsory heterosexuality. But one thing I haven't seen mentioned is how Kang is dressing (or undressing, or dressing down) for different people in his life.

My sweet baby Kang has been dressing for the job he wants: Sailom's boo. School uniforms are, in a word, hella lame--and the first interaction we get with Sailom and Kang in the 'real world' Kang rolls up in this stunner of an outfit.

Date outfit number 1

We've got leather pants that won't quit--they're shiny, they're stylish, and they are paired with an impressively blousey blouse.

He's fully accessorized: watch? check. Bracelet? you betcha. Ring? Absolutely. Necklace? never leaves the house without it. Sailom has to pay attention to him when he's looking this good, right? Right?

Date Outfit Number 2

And here is angry kitten Kang on his way to commit a crime. The crime being his passion for Sailom of course...

and bringing a gun Sailom's house (unloaded guys! it's perfectly fine!--Kang's defense). He took a cab to his midnight rendevouz; Now we know Kang has a scooter. Did he not want to mess up his hair on the ride over? His neckline has gotten progressively lower and buddy boy did he also accessorize. Is silver too matchy-matchy with gun metal? Kang doesn't think so.

Date outfit number 3

My wayward boys next out-of-school encounter is their Khaosan Road adventure. Now here Kang explicitly states that if he would have known they were going to a bar he would have gone home to change. They end up in some fabulous tourist threads--note here that Kang just can't stop himself from a low button shirt & classic pukkha shell necklace. (shout out to fashion police Nawa for his burn)

Pimfah's Birthday Lunch:

Kang celebrates Pimfah's birthday and this is where they interrupt Sailom's escorting date. Is Kang looking slick? Yes of course he is.

And yeah, it wouldn't be Kang without showing some skin... But that neckline has inched its way upwards. Top button and a high one at that.

Date outfit number 4

But what do you wear to welcome your totally just platonic, I don't even like him grandma I despise him, secret crush tutor Sailom? Obviously the shirt with the most cleavage.

If the wind blew I could see his nipples (ahem...Sailom).

Date with Pimfah:

And for the open house open heart Kang is in date mode, but for the first time ever covering up. He is advertising the fact He is in fact totally okay with this, in a crewneck sweatshirt. The face of a man okay with everything happening, right?

You can fool yourself for a while Kang, but you can't fool your excellent taste in low cut shirts. Or me.

[llmsos]

Feeling ass so the only solution is to draw Jason

[lygma-nygma]

Honest to god Titans Tower is probably the funniest thing that's ever happened in comics to me? Like, there's so much to unpack here it's insane?? The tear-away stripper Red Hood costume? The knock-off Robin costume with the stupid ass yellow tights that somehow looks worse than if Jason just rocked the bare thighs? The way Jason is drawn like he is fully 35 with two stepkids and a mortgage? Jason inventing fanfiction about Tim and Bruce's relationship in his head because he refuses to believe Tim actually stalked his way into being Robin?? Trying to mimic his crowbar death by beating Tim with his own staff but I as a reader am entirely unable to take it seriously because of those stupid fucking tights-

And then you get to Tim's side of things and he says like, all of 5 things the entire time and three of them are a coded 'fuck you'. He has absolutely no time or respect for Jason's pity party and it's actually hysterical because Jason cannot stop yapping. Meanwhile, Tim is like, definitely losing the fight which makes it funnier?? Then the ending?? Jason scrawling "Jason Todd was here" on the wall in blood (or red paint meant to look like blood, up in the air) and signing it with a handprint like he's a middle schooler who just discovered Creepypasta???? Ripping the 'R' off Tim's costume when he's literally already unconscious?? Zipping away from the scene thinking "damn I actually like that kid, wish I had friends tbh"??

And then it's literally never brought up again.

[aingeal98]

More Jason and Cass thoughts (sorry but also not sorry) but if I was magically given full control over DC and could write what I'd want obviously I'd make Cass Batman but I've been thinking of what sort of reaction and role Jason would have in response. I think I'd write his version of "Congrats on the new job!" as a test, involving the Joker and civilians and gangs and Red Hood and a ton of explosives. Bruce failed me, and now he's given up. You're his successor, let's see how you handle this dilemma that freaked him out so badly he threw a batarang into my throat rather than let me avenge my own death in front of him.

So obviously Cass will overcome the traps and the puzzles. That's the fun part to show how competent both of them are and sprinkle in little character moments as we go. But then we reach the emotional crux of the matter, probably laid out as some sort of saw trap because it's Jason. Here I am, a victim of murder. You say nobody dies tonight but I did, and I want the man who did it dead. Not only did Batman fail to avenge me but he failed to stop the Joker from going on to create even more victims. What right do you have to stop me from getting justice for myself? What right does this man have to life after what he's taken from me and from countless others? I'm not trying to kill a random stranger, I'm specifically demanding justice for my own death that I never got while I was gone.

There are two ways this could go. The straightforward route if I knew my time on this run was limited would probably be a pyrrhic victory like the ones Cass's og series was so fond of. Just like Bruce in utrh, she acts on instinct and saves the Joker (and Jason this time) . A win technically, but she fails the test. Jason is once again vindicated but with nothing to show for it. The story ends with Cass sending the Joker back to jail and going back to the batcave, where the old Robin costume looms judgementally, highlighting her failure. It would be the most fitting end given their character molds, all tragedy and conviction and unstoppable force meets immovable object etc.

However... I think the option I prefer would be a little different. Cass levelling with Jason, a killer talking to a murder victim. She has no right to stop Jason from getting justice, she has no love for the Joker but she knows any death she allows to happen like this would devastate her, just like that death row inmate long ago she tried to break out but ended up letting go once the family of the victim talked to her and demanded justice. I think... In this specific situation, she'd just be honest. Morally she has no right sure. Personally she just really really doesn't want anyone to die. Give her one chance, please. Let her try it her way. Not demanding, not lecturing or insisting, just... Please. Don't do this. Let me try another way.

And then what? Jason asks.

In the end a deal is struck. Cass will take the Joker and lock him up, ensuring he never harms anyone again while also trying to rehabilitate him. But the second she fails and he gets free, Jason kills him and she won't stand in his way. It's the kind of deal that leaves both of them mildly disgusted and dissatisfied with themselves, neither of them naturally creatures of compromise when it comes to this specific topic. But Cass is willing to do anything to avoid death and Jason did not expect the new Bat to be so... Flexible? Kind of? Of course maybe she won't actually hold up her end of the deal and when the Joker gets loose she'll try and stop Jason from killing him and he'll get his miserable vindication, but right now this is something strange and new and he's mildly confused and curious about where it will go. He doesn't believe in her ability to contain the Joker forever but he's willing to let her try because her reaction to that future failure interests him. She's given him a sword of damocles to hang above her head and he didn't ask for it or expect it. It's the type of power he never thought the Bat would just... Hand to him.

The conflict ends with neither of them fully winning or losing. They both don't really know what to feel about this.

The thing is, the second Cass let's Jason kill the Joker she's hanging up the mantle. She's staking the Bat on this, because it's always go big or go home with her when it comes to saving others, even someone like the Joker. In this magical universe where I have unlimited power, Cass would lock the Joker in a secret bunker and have Leslie Thompkins talk to him daily, mostly because I think her pacifism speeches and debates in the comics would make a fun contrast to the Joker's evil sadism. (But what about his rights? Doesn't he deserve a trial and to be held in a regular prison? I'm going to be honest I think Cass would be very comfortable bending the rules on this specific situation. Morally questionable but I'd have fun with it. She's going to let Leslie treat Joker like her personal pet project to save his soul because yes she wants him to change but also she's got a city to save every night so go crazy Leslie, have fun.)

And the Batman series would continue with Cass as the lead, new challenges and new antagonists and every twenty issues or so for the first hundred we'll cut back to the Joker briefly if his chats with Leslie can help highlight some thematic element of the current arc. But bit by bit he'd slowly fade away onto oblivion, maybe getting referenced every hundred issues or so until eventually no one remembers or cares about him because there's so much else going on. Meanwhile Jason's got a good thing going as Red Hood, primarily based in Park Row and a tentative ally on the occasion when their vigilante work aligns. Unlike Joker he's a much more frequent character in the comics, and after say 10 years (this is my magical fantasy universe Cass's batman run is going to last for a very long time alright) when people think of DC characters they think of Red Hood long before they think of the Joker.

Is any of this realistic? Right now of course not. It's why I'd go with the pyrrhic victory if I actually got the chance, because it would be the best way to tell the story in the larger context of the Bat narrative. But it's my fantasy DC editor and writer daydream and I'm going to dream big. They're never going to be normal happy siblings, their personal demons will never fully let them be free and the looming possibility of losing everything they currently have narrative wise if Bruce comes back as Batman will always be there. But it's maybe the closest to peace they'll ever get. Unsatisfying and tame compromise that probably violates several laws and ethical codes but whatever. Cass has never read the Geneva convention and Jason's not going to shed tears over the Joker. Let him die relevancy wise if not physically.

[dismas-n-dismay]

I'm not fucking joking when I tell you I saw this panel and literally started sobbing and crying over seeing my babygirl buying chocolate with just fucking quarters. This is the people's jason todd for real, thank you Juni Ba

[erinwantstowrite]

i think im not a fan of what dc keeps doing with jason because they keep having him, the abused, become an abuser in some way shape or form. and the classism they don't want to talk about (i am being so for real there is a genuine problem of both writers and readers who do not understand jason's background and it pissed me off so bad because it always shapes their opinion of him in the wrong way and they don't care to even try to listen). and how if they were going to have him come back they should have had delved into his identity crisis and the inherent horror of coming back but not knowing how or why or what to do about it and not knowing what you were doing while dead and having to deal with time jumping forward on you and the fact that you will never get the time back and no one will he the same as they were before you died and how isolating and lonely that would be. and they also definitely weren't prepared for the fact that jason was grieving his life and his death and his hopes for his mother and his dad who didn't get there in time and the dc writers are fucking cowards. which brings me to my next point: why do we keep listening to them about shit because they are quite literally always fighting with each other and projecting their own personal biases into characters (i.e. making them worse than they are/2 dimensional/trying to make them iredeemable so their favorite character gets to shine) and also they are all freaks of nature with a consistent problem of being God Awful People who why would we trust them with these characters. jason todd they don't get you like i do

[mikakuna]

anyone ever notice that mainly the only way that bruce and jason mend their relationship, both in canon and fics, is by jason realizing bruce actually feels bad for everything he did or is shouldering too much and it guilt trips jason into trying to fix his relationship with bruce? this isn't all cases but it definitely is the case with most popular fics. bruce apologizes sometimes yeah but it's usually just someone telling jason or him realizing just how heartbroken and depressed bruce is. jason then internalizes out of guilt that he needs to lay off bruce and realize that maybe bruce is trying his best

in fact most relationships jason has with the bats in fanon is like this. jason calls tim replacement until oh nooo the poor baby is so sleepy and running on coffee and awww he's just a little boy i need to stop being a menace, meanwhile tim or alfred never apologized for every nasty thing they said or imagined about jason when he was robin. enemy to caretaker makes me barf. do not make my boy who has been a caretaker to adults since birth take care of this rich boy who's been taken care of extraordinarily since day one. tim having this supposed childhood trauma fans talk about doesn't take away from the fact that he was taken care of as a child

[notfeelingthyaster]

"oh jason almost murdered tim in titan's tower" well he might have carved him up a little, but tim absolutely send him back to his grave. tim looked at that fresh zombie ass and went "well guess who's back, the failure!"

[necrotic-nephilim]

i personally have very complicated feelings on the Gotham Knights video game and the routes it takes with characterization. i think it has a charm to it and it goes in an interesting direction with everyone (especially within the confides of the plot of the game) but it does have certain moments that veer painfully fanon for me. (such as: the dialogue where Tim drinks too much coffee) it's an interesting story for what it is but i don't view it comics-based for characterization and therefore don't care to interact with it much for like. fanfic purposes.

that *said* though. i do have to give the game some kind of credit for giving one of the top five JayTim moments that lives rent free in my mind. every since i played the game, the cutscene lives in my mind daily. it's the specific cutscene where Jason and Tim are arguing about whether or not Jason's non-lethal bullets are too dangerous for the field, and the argument leads to TIm *standing in front of the target* Jason is shooting and telling Jason to shoot him. it lives rent free for me. i never stop thinking about this.

the absolute certainty Tim has that he is in no danger standing in front of Jason, who has a loaded gun pointed at his face. the way Jason *hesitates* for just a moment before lowering the gun. he thinks about it for just a second. Gotham Knights JayTim seem to get along very well and can rely on each other, but Jason still clearly holds a bitterness about his death and Tim that flickers through in some lines of dialogue under the guise of jokes. especially since this game deals *heavily* with concepts of Pit Madness causing an altered state of consciousness, i think it's believable that occasionally, Jason fights the urge to fight and hurt Tim for the feeling of being replaced.

i like their tension so much in this canon. they get along but you can *tell* Tim is afraid of addressing Jason's trauma or even addressing Jason head-on, and Jason leans into spooking Tim about it. which isn't very comics feeling in their dynamic, but it is an interesting way to place their dynamic if you're playing with a more timid Tim who's newer to the role of Robin. (which he seems to be in-game) he really doesn't want to offend Jason, or worse, piss him off. but he'll still face Jason head on for things like this, while completely aware of what Jason could be capable of.

and Jason seems very protective of Tim and respecting Tim as a Robin in typical Jason fashion. if Tim pushes, Jason *will* relent. he knows this is a kid who's proved himself and should be treated with equal respect, sometimes even more than Dick and Babs do in-game.

so for all that to culminate in Tim stepping in front of Jason's loaded gun that he *knows* is on the edge of being too dangerous, just to force Jason to listen? it's the most unhinged way Tim could've gotten his point across in this scene. he was literally daring Jason to hurt him and playing with a very dangerous fire. but he did it anyway bc he believed he could make Jason heel just at the thought of hurting Tim. and he was *right*. they're gay and i'm feral ty.

[casscainmainly]

Have you and could you do a thought on jason chart? He and cass are my faves

The Feelings About Jason Todd Alignment Chart

Cass, Dick, and Tim versions. This is VERY contestable, Jason's canon history is inconsistent so a lot of these are subject to preferred runs/personal interpretation. So, as usual, open to change!

[mrmanbat]

In honor of me not getting a Spotify wrapped here’s what I think the the bats got as their top artist (I know shit about music):

Babs: you can’t convince me she isn’t a audiobook girly.

Dick: panic! at the disco. I can not for the life of me tell you why.

Cass: Chappell Roan. She likes to play Chappell on patrol to fuck with the villains. 

Jason: no one. He doesn’t listen to music. The emo bitch prefers the silence of his thoughts.

Steph: Hozior. Pretty self explanatory I think.

Tim: Green Day. Again- pretty self explanatory. (He lowkey gives me punk dad vibes but nepobaby?? I might be on something)

Duke: same reason as Cass but with Lady Gaga

Damian: Imagine Dragons. I’m sorry. You know it’s true.

[neurotic-sinkhole]

i just left my local comic shop. i just finished my last exam so i'm looking for the death in the family books as a little treat. there were none in this shop, so i go up to the register to pay for the couple others i picked up. when i tell the owner (he knows me a little, i'm a regular there) what i just said he just kinda smiled and nodded. i told him that i was really shocked that the whole thing with death in the family was that they let readers vote if robin should die. he laughed again, and NO JOKE said "my bad".

i asked him what he meant. he told me that he not only voted for jason robin to die, but that he campaigned in his little neighboorhood knocking door to door asking people to call in and vote. apparently it was like 50 cents per call back then so he was literally soliciting to kill robin.

when i was, might i say reasonably, surprised by this revelation, he then explained that there weren't really deaths in comic books like that yet. maybe some b or c list characters, but never someone so intergral to the story. so when he voted, he did it more to see what the writers could handle. how would they navigate the death of jason todd? how would the writers continue on writing the batman series, a heavily family infused series.

so the 72 vote margin that actually killed jason might because of my local comic book shop owner. he might have effectively been the reason jason died.

[dukeofthomas]

"They were never really that close pre-death" "Dick was mean to Jason before warming up" etc etc are the worst Dick&Jason takes possible. Why would you even say that about them

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Calvin Rose finds a catatonic teenager roaming the streets and… well, the poor kid looks dead on his feet, and it’s raining cats and dogs, he can’t just leave him there.

And, it’s fine. He’s just passing through (can’t risk more with the Court still at large) and will be back on the road come morning. And he’ll sleep easier knowing he kept the kid from certain death.

So, really, how the hell did he end up with the very same kid riding shotgun and nagging him to turn up the radio to Phoebe Bridgers?

[yuripira4e]

I love the trope of “kid without a mother/father figure discovers magical world and gains 4 of them”

[internetb3by]

i want jason todd to read to me. i want him to lay next to me in bed and read me his favorite novels. his calming voice lulling me to sleep as he reads me lines from his favorite jane austen novel. and when he senses i’m asleep he places a soft kiss to my temple.

he’s the type to only be able to sleep after you fall asleep. after he senses you’re sleep he shuts the book (bookmarking where he left off ofc), sets it aside, and pulls the string of the lamp on your bedside table before cuddling up to you.

bonus points after he finishes reading you his favorite book he gives you a personalized copy of the book as a gift. By personalized I mean he annotates the book and highlighted the parts you really seemed to enjoy.