#joined by history and their love for wally and their personalities

[turboacek-blog]

Aqualad: most underrated Young Justice story

Just wanted to kind of layout how interesting his story was as I feel of the OG team his reserved personality makes him not stand out over the rest and some only thought he was interesting when playing the bad guy in season 2

Aqualad a young adopted kid training to be the next Aquaman with his best friend, and is in love with a girl. But he takes the opportunity to be Aquaman’s sidekick which takes him away from his best friend and crush

Only for him to come back in some months just to find that his best friend got with his crush…

And he has to essentially still save the day and be the hero, come to terms that he lost her due to his “job” while not being upset at them the arguably two closest people in his life

Like this is in any other medium is a movie in itself

Add through season 1 he’s the leader of a bunch of interesting personalities and was like the calm big brother of the team

Then in the time skip, his crush joins the team meaning he can finally spend the quality time with his crush he had to sacrifice before, and it’s a bit unclear if they ever got together during this time but on the mission she dies on your watch…

Not much time later you find out that your mentor/King’s enemy is your biological father so dealing with all these emotions is again it’s own movie itself

Not even going to go into the whole double agent thing in season 2 that people already like

But then one of your best friends Wally dies and you’re thrusted back into the job as your other best friend grieves his own way leaving mostly on your own

Then in season 3 he does it he becomes Aquaman he’s another leader of the Justice league everything is going seemingly fine

But does fall too deep with the secrets again…

And between seasons 3&4 he finds a new love

But all this time his first issue keeps coming back of balancing work and life which is how he lost Tula before and how he perceives to have lost Superboy until later revealed he’s fine

Idk I think Kaldur has the sneakily best story through the show in total

Characters like Nightwing adjust with each season more to fit that season's story than something overarching, and Miss Martian will always have her identity problems and so on but I feel the others weren’t as detailed as Kaldur I feel

I’m just saying you could easily make an amazing movie animated or real life about Kaldur the secret son of a villain learning under a hero and on the way has to juggle the problem of hero and villain and work and life and love or duty

You would literally just need to adjust his hero name tbh as I don’t think general audience will wanna watch a movie called Aqualad tbf

Like Garth got the Tempest alternative when he’s not Aqualad either swap that as Garth is still kinda seen more as Aqualad due to comic history and teen titans or just give him a new name as a character like Tim Drake will probably always be Robin primarily but he still has a couple of alternate names he can go by

Random but I kinda of like Tide, from Tidal Wave or Rising Tides or a play on his comic counterpart Jackson Hyde

And for visuals Kaldur has the Atlantean magic that Aquaman doesn't have so he can water bend for a more interesting power set as Aquaman is basically just super strong with no aquatic life around

Plus can generate electricity has weapons etc. giving him a mix of Queen Mera and someone like Robin

Idk I just feel that this version of Aqualad you could make its own version of the story just about him and be well received by a majority

[thislovintime]

London, January 1968.

“[Karen] Harvey was living in the same apartment building as Tork, at 35 Bedford St., and they cemented a friendship that had started earlier. ‘We’re still very, very good friends,’ she said. Through a girlfriend at one of the art galleries, Harvey also go to know David Crosby. He and Tork were responsible for getting Harvey to move West. 'He [Crosby] fell in love with my girlfriend and took her back to California. Then Peter got this Monkees thing and moved there. Everybody was trying to get me to come to California, and so I eventually went,’ Harvey says. 'She came because I asked her to,’ Tork confirmed during a phone call from California. 'I can’t actually say she was my girlfriend. She was my roommate. She came back and forth for a while. I’m an old fan of hers from way, way back. Karen is a wonderful singer.’ Although she eventually got her own apartment, Harvey spent much of her time at Tork’s house, under the famous 'Hollywood’ sign. 'I was handling a lot of affairs of the house because he [Tork] was working like a slave,’ Harvey said. 'TV work is no picnic.’ With the increasing amount of money and fame through the Monkees’ TV show, Tork moved to a bigger house (once owned by actor Wally Cox) in Studio City. They also needed more room because Tork, Harvey and Robert Hammer, who directed the horror film 'Don’t Answer the Phone,’ had formed a film company called Breakthrough-Influence, whose work included videos for Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Steve Miller." - The News Journal, July 16, 1989 (x)

“I don’t know that it [fame] affected my ability to have friendships. Basically I don’t think I knew how to be or have a friend beforehand, and I don’t think I learned while I was in that operation [The Monkees]. I mean, I had some good buddies, you know, but that wasn’t the same thing, I didn’t really understand. There was only one person in my life that I could turn to when I was hurting who happened somehow to know what it was, what it took to stop me hurting, and that was a woman named Karen Harvey, who later joined me on the West Coast. And I thought, well, here’s a friend come to join me and this will be a real friend. And we were pretty good friends, I guess, but there wasn’t any that, you know, that — I didn’t know what a friend did in a sense of how, on a day-to-day basis, do you maintain your friendships, do you go out of your way to make sure that things are nice and right and, you know, the kind of work that a friendship takes. You don’t just have a friendship without work. And I didn’t know that. And I’m not so sure I know it now.” - Peter Tork, NPR, June 3, 1983

“The producers at one point for some reason decided to take us to Paris, right before we were doing a short tour of Britain — I think one of them had a girlfriend in France, I don’t know. And they took some cameras and they shot us being goofy on the streets of Paris, and that was a lot of fun. And then at the end of the shooting day, ‘Okay, you’re done, go home, go to your rooms, to your hotel room.’ Luxurious hotel room in Paris, who could wish for anything more? Well, I was lonely as hell. So there’s more things than luxurious. So I wrote a couple of songs, just out of, you know, loneliness. One of them will hopefully be forever confined to the dustbin of history. The other one [’Lady’s Baby’] was about the lady that I was living with at the time, and her son. That’s them, that’s my darling Karen, with whom I am still very good friends all these years later.” - Peter Tork during his My Life In The Monkees & So Much More tour, 2013 (x)

[empressofthelibrary]

💭😊 - for bailey?

what is your oc's MBTI, enneagram, and/or other personality aspects (if known/interested in)?

...One sec, lemme google somethin real quick...

Okay, so Bailey turned up as INFP-T, though I hesitate to call her a 'mediator' of any sort.

She is introverted, and she's not great at understanding people. Most of the time, she feels like she has to fit a role to meet expectations and... Get a good score in the social interaction. But there are a few people she just clicks with -- Wally and Linda, Kyle, Dick... Ironically, she wears fewer masks once she becomes a superhero.

She's also very curious and loves learning. She has insomnia and nightmares, and spent countless nights surfing Wikipedia until sunrise. She does that less these days, but her brain is still stuffed full of useless trivia that nobody but her cares about.

She was also doing a double-major in college, until she dropped out after losing her older brother. This started out as Exocultural Studies and Art History, turned into Art History and Fine Arts, then Literature and Museum Studies... She has six half-finished degrees.

Bailey struggles with understanding how people feel at a glance. She has to stop and think about things from someone else's perspective. But once she realizes someone else is in pain, her big bleeding heart takes over. She's very emotionally driven, and her feelings run deep and strong. She just doesn't get why someone would do something that would hurt someone else, and she will yell at the guy she's arrested before she hands him over to the cops

She absolutely despises being told what to do, especially when she can't see the reason for it. She has zero automatic respect for authority and even less of a problem with saying so. As far as she's concerned, if you can't tell her why she ought to do something -- and phrase it politely -- she's just not gonna do it. There are exceptions, naturally, for people she trusts. But if someone hasn't earned her respect, faith, and loyalty, she will absolutely question their authority. This goes from everything to standard social rules (eg: discomfort with high society dress codes) to superheroic matters (eg: when Batman starts to give her an order, she looks to Nightwing or one of the other Titans for confirmation).

(No she and Bruce do not get along)

She is also a walking ball of anxiety, ultimately. She's constantly afraid she isn't pulling her weight among the other heroes, afraid she isn't doing enough. She wants to know she's earned her status as a Titan, as part of this big weird, complicated family she stumbled into. Wants to know she's good enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people who save the world on a biweekly basis. Who, again and again, prove that there's a way forward. Who gave her courage, inspiration, and hope, when she didn't have any.

(She's got a little bit of imposter syndrome, yeah)

what are your oc's career/general life desires? what do they want to get the most out of life?

Bailey: "...I dunno, survive?"

Bales... Doesn't know what she wants, really. When she was in school, it seemed so clear.

Doule-major in Exocultural Studies and Art History

Join NASA

Become a Space Archeologist

Live out her "Star Trek meets Indiana Jones" fantasies

Kiss cute aliens

Then Bison City State canceled the ExoStudies program. She switched majors once, twice, three times... And then her brother passed, followed by her mom.

Bailey was pretty lost and directionless after that. And while she genuinely loves being Golden Eagle... She knows this isn't a profession people usually get old in. Jay and Ted and the senior JSA are exceptions, not the rule. And while she never really thought about it before, well...

Sometimes she sees Jay and Joan look at one another, and she starts to realize that growing old? It might not be so bad.

...Especially if she's not doing it alone.

But that means wanting something for herself, and letting herself want things for herself. It's selfish. It's greedy. It's not what she's supposed to do.

So she'll shove that hunger down until it dies. She'll keep her family and her world safe. Live in the present. That's all she has, and all she needs.

[yellowocaballero]

I love your writing but I don't read any batman comics or watch any batman shows or seen a single batman movie except like, two and a half episodes of teen titans go. I mean I do know some basics from internet osmosis but that only covers Wayne family adventures pretty much. So ummm who were all those people with dick lol

Oh yes! I like writing stuff that's really widely accessible because I like beating out my own tunes, but I've been on a big comic kick again and sometimes I will write stuff that's less accessible. The new stupid long story will also not be as accessible, sorry! I try to explain stuff for people unfamiliar with the canon plotline.

Without going into a ton of spoilers for the main plotline of the fic, but covering what I stated in the fic:

Dick Grayson AKA Nightwing is the leader of the Teen Titans, a superhero team that (in this universe) he joined when he was 18. In actual canon he was a founder with Wally and Donna (and Garth but who cares). Out of universe, the Teen Titans were invented in the 1960s. The Teen Titans listed are from the slightly later stages of the 1980s comic. The team is formed out of:

Three members from the original 1960s team: the Flash's sidekick Wally West (Kid Flash), Wonder Woman's sidekick Donna Troy (Wonder Girl, later Troia), and Dick Grayson (Robin, later Nightwing). They've all always been friends since the 60s and Donna and Dick especially are best friends, something I think people should mention more! Guy/Girl BFFs, cowards!!!

In the 1980s they were joined by the other, arguably most famous members of the cast. They're most famous because they were the cast members from the 2005 Teen Titans show, which was the cast from the Teen Titans Go show you saw. They would be Victor Stone (Cyborg, who has a serious personality in the comics), Garfield Logan (Beast Boy, jokey and fun in any incarnation), Koriand'r (Starfire, warrior alien princess), and Raven (Raven, hellspawn and #gothgirl).

More obscure dudes also listed (AKA not major characters in the TV show or around since the 60s) would be Joey Wilson (Jericho, who is Slade's son and mute, so he uses ASL). He's not that obscure. More obscure is Panthera (panther lady?) and Danny Chase (deeply fucking annoying). I admit I only know Panthera and Danny Chase from osmosis, I've only read a few comics from this run. There were other guys too but they looked boring.

All that you really needed to know is that they're his friends, Kori is his girlfriend, Dick leads the team, that they're a #ragtagbunchofmisfits, that Joey is Slade's son, and that Dick has a guilt complex. Kind of.

Slade Wilson AKA Deathstroke is like Dick's Arch Nemesis and was the first real antagonist for the series, as well as the antagonist for the most famous arc The Judas Contract (whereupon Slade planted Terra in the team as a #spy). He's probably most famous for being the main bad guy in the cartoon, and who uh kinda fucked as a bad guy. He's always canonically the "COME JOIN ME" bad guy and is always after Dick as an apprentice. There's an arc in both the comics and the show where he kidnaps Dick and forces him to work for him, which causes some pretty lasting trauma in him in both incarnations. He's also a terrible dad and a failhusband. I don't read him too much in the comics so I can't say for sure how interesting the comics get with him, but his relationship with Dick is always very fraught and complex and has a lot of history. He has a lot of respect for Dick and he takes him seriously as an adversary no matter his age but he thinks Batman is lame and that Dick should kill people and stuff and JOIN HIMMMM.

In this AU, basically because Dick's life before Nightwing was kept under absolute wraps, and Slade was so obsessed with the apprentice stuff, I think Slade thought it was funny/satisfying to make up this whole shared backstory between them that Dick just couldn't disagree with jkalsdjf. Because Dick is much more of a spy than in canon he also has a lot of juicy blackmail (from his ex-wife, I think lol) on him. So they have bother a closer relationship and a more M.A.D. one than in canon. I think Slade finds it delightful that Dick isn't as good of a person as he pretends, and I think Dick lost most of his family at once, including his very drill sergeant and hard-edged father and must have, even unwillingly, reacted to somebody who was actually trying to parent him. Well. "Parent".

Wow, that was long and I didn't even digress. I'm always stunned by how y'all will read something no matter the fandom if it's by me, thank you so much! It makes me very happy to give you guys stuff like the Steph thing, where I love the idea of it being an introduction to Batman. Unfortunately internet Batman and comics Batman have. uhhhhh. drifted. apart. and. harder to click into if you aren't as into the comics, but thank you brave soldiers!

[welcomehomenewneighborsocblog]

Chesney Chipmunk (Welcome Home Oc)

Name: Chesney Chipmunk Species: Chipmunk Headcannon Voice Actor: Michael Kovach Occupation: Musician Residence: Home ; Chestnutvale Sexuality: Pansexual Personality: He is very dramatic and foppish with a great love for music. However, he isn't a snob and very much tries to get along with his other neighbors. He can get very focused on his work and often tries to keep things quiet when he needs to finish a piece. He can often get frustrated when making mistakes due to writing his stuff incorrectly but manages to get through with the help of his friends. He also is a fairly good music critic who often gives stern, but honest opinions. He also tries to help those who need it improve. He gets also offended if someone plays bad music and refuses to improve and insists they are some underlooked genius. He is also very poetic and can often use elegant words in his songs. He also has great love for fellow pracitioners of the art and tries to support them. Background: He originally lived in the town of Chestnutvale where he had a great passion for music and was always inspired to create work despite his shortcomings being dyslexic. He eventually left his town to find more inspiration. He eventually went to Home where he met everyone and got inspired by a play that Sally made and decided to stay there. * He is also dyslexic which can at times be a problem for him but he has help from his friends especially when reading sheet music. * He is close with Sally, Vinnie, Doli, Lennie, Wally, Sylvie, Barkely, Frank, and Dr. Henrie. * Vinnie, Dr. Henrie, Sally, and Frank often help him. * He and Henrie have a lot of ship tease and eventually start dating. * Due to being a chipmunk, he has a great love for nuts. * His segments would focus on music and sometimes joining with Sally. Some of his segments is also helping him fix language mistakes he might have or helping him read. He also sometimes teaches music history. * He does like reading but he often gets frustrated when his dyslexia kicks in. * He tends to like being out in nature in order to get inspired. * He is a reboot character. Created through picrew.me/en/image_maker/18369…

[sparklyicecube]

Some references to what I'm talking about: (I haven't read all her comics so I'm limited but it is what it is)

Titans (1999) is what I recommend for anyone who loves the fab five titans and anyone in the fab five. It characterises everyone beautifully and Donna is so sweet and kind and we see her deal with identity issues like who she is, her being born of Wally's memories and blowing up at the other Titans for trying to make her play therapist too much. The entire run is great and I recommend all chapters tbh.

The New Titans issue 50 is where she meets Phoebe, the dying Titan of the moon who is sort of her bio mom but also not. This kickstarts her whole "I'm actually a Titan child that is more divine than Diana" backstory but doesn't tell it in its entirety. I don't know exact chapter numbers but before this arc Dick did her a solid and went detective digging to find her birth mother and adoptive mother (who had adopted her for a month before giving her up) and found out that a lot of her earthly memories (from this iteration of earth) before she joined the teen titans was a lie.

Tales of the Teen Titans issue 50!!! I cannot stress this enough but chapters 49 and 50 is her wedding prep and her wedding respectively! Yes she is marrying a not worthy guy but also the entire thing isn't about him. It's about her. Everyone is praising her, the entire superhero community comes in their secret identities, Terry's family is telling him how lucky he is because Donna is clearly the catch in their relationship, etc etc. Also! We see my love Jenny as the flower girl and Donna's foster sister!

The Return of Donna Troy. This is after Donna has died died. Like, after Dick is in Outsiders and Young Justice have had to become Teen Titans and everyone is super upset about her death. (Donna's wedding and death are some of the biggest events in supehrero history). As a Greek mythology fan, I greatly enjoyed it. Not because it was accurate (bc it's a multiverse of course this multiverse's titans of myth are different) but because the titans??? Are being manipulative assholes and Donna has basically been reborn as a nepo baby forced to watch and participate in their genocidal colonialism and all her friends come to snap her out of it and she reels from the horror of what she's done. This is the best place to discover her origins personally and is where she is married to creepy Coeus.

The New Titans (1988) issue 89-92! She gives birth to Robbie (after carrying him wayyyy under term) and he immediately gets kidnapped by his future self and Donna goes full mama bear (full unfeeling giant god actually) to get him back. Robbie was super great to see here as well! (And her giving up her powers was bs and misogynist bullshit)

In New Titans (1988) Annual 2, Donna sees Terry and Robbie presumably for the last time because they get the restraining order and she loses loses custody (which was a government plot!!! And she should be there to protect her son because he'll be hunted whether with her or not!)

Side note, I enjoyed reading Green Lantern Volume 3 (1990), especially chapters 58,59, and 88-90 where she is with Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern)! Kyle has grown on me so much and she has some really cute domestic scenes with him, meeting him, flirting with him, (post divorce) and even going to his mom's house with him! In chapters 89 and 90 we get the scenes where Donna finds out that Terry and ROBBIE HER SON died!

There are so many more, I sort of like the current Titans 2023 run for Donna, and I'm not super following the current Wonder Woman series but I love Donna in it (and her relationship with Diana is so interesting I might do a whole post on it at another time) and I actually like the Mark Waid Teen Titans run and think that he should continue it to at least 50 chapters to let all the storylines he set up actually see fruition (like Wally's parents reveal to be not great because it's Mark Waid he knows what he's doing).

Hope that helps!

Titan experts - specifically for titan dynamics and Garth and Donna - help!

I’m writing a story about Duck Grayson raising Mar’i Grayson and I want to heavily feature the Titans. I’m trying to gather info on them and it’s been hard to really grasp their characters.

[amillionsmiles]

I have a craving for a Very Specific Brand of Traught and until I get that fix my brain won’t shut up so uhhh goodbye productivity I guess

[hintofelation99]

Whenever they get mad at Bruce they all go to Jason’s house and end up building a pillow fort just to make him jealous. This totally happens

Oh totally, and they make a show of checking IDs at the the door. If Bruce tries to come they check his ID and turn him away giving him one off two answers:

Not on the list

Too old

They love giving him this one when he knows that Alfred’s already in the fort.

This tradition started when Dick was a kid. One day he was really upset with Bruce so he made a pillow fort in the foyer and banned Bruce from entering. Surprisingly Alfred backed him up on it and didn’t let Bruce into the foyer. Because of this Bruce could only use the back/side door(s). Which isn’t bad, but it is a constant reminder that there’s a vengeful little gremlin in the house just itching to ruin your day. While Dick was executing a militant occupation of the foyer he started to invite others to join him. First he invited Alfred, then he invited Wally, then he invited Clark, then Diana, then Oliver, and so on until the entire Justice League was camped out in the foyer of Wayne Manor. Eventually Alfred put an end to this. The pillow fort was put away, Bruce apologized, and the JL thanked Dick for being a good host. And that was that.

Until it wasn’t.

A few months later there was another fight and another fort, this time in a guest room. It becomes a cycle that continued until Dick moved out and made Blüdhaven his new pillow fort (except instead of pillows and blankets he had a barren, desolate apartment). And that’s the, no more passive aggressive pillow forts. Right? Well… no.

One day Jason accidentally breaks an expensive vase, he’s terrified that Bruce will be mad, that he’ll act like Willis. So he runs. He runs away to the only person he knows who can keep him safe from Batman, he runs to Dick. In typical Jason fashion he tries to play tough, act like he’s not scared, but Dick sees through the act. Of course Dick doesn’t say anything, he lets Jason keep his mask of bravery. And he does this the only way he knows how, by making a fort. Together he Jason build a safe space where no one can hurt them and they spend the entire night there. Eventually Dick texts Bruce and Alfred and tells them what’s going on. The next morning Bruce is asleep on the floor outside Dick’s apartment. Waiting for Jason to feel safe enough to come home. After a long talk and a lot of encouragement Jason feels safe again. It’s an eye opening experience but it brings them all closer together, especially Jason and Dick. Jason will always think of it as the night that he and Dick became brothers. But more importantly it was the night that Jason learned the art of the pillow fort.

After Jason died Dick stopped making pillow forts. He was an adult with an apartment to escape to he didn’t need to build an escape anymore. And besides, the one person he wanted to build with was gone. It was pointless. Then one day he met the kid without a childhood, he met the independent and much too mature Tim Drake. At first Dick would just do silly and childish things, encourage Tim to act his age.

One day Tim seems upset. His parents extended their trip, he screwed up a case, and he fell asleep during a history test. Bruce is pissed about the case and test so he benches Robin, aka Tim’s one escape from his empty house. As Tim’s leaving to go spend another night alone he passes Dick, instantly Dick picks up on Tim’s mood. So, instead of going to help Bruce, he goes to his brother. He and Tim go back to Drake Manor and build a huge pillow fort. They spend the entire night talking, sharing stories, eating snacks, etc. By the next morning the two feel much closer and Tim feels lighter. Once again pillow forts become a tradition.

Later Tim will introduce Cass to pillow forts, Steph excitedly helps. Then Steph and Dick teach Damian. Then Tim reintroduces Jason to pillow forts. One day Dick even sees Damian teaching Duke the best fort building techniques. And suddenly Bruce had a gaggle of children who build passive aggressive pillow forts instead of actually addressing their emotional issues.

[kitewithfish]

Wednesday reading meme

What I've Read

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik - Oh, this is how you end a trilogy. This books took the relationships and themes and even the monsters that have followed the main character from the very first book, and hunted them all down to pull the last thematic dregs from their depths. I didn't quite cry when I found out what really happened to Orion, but man, it hurt. It hurt so good. El Higgins will always live in my heart. 

Mutually-Assured Destruction by Sineala -  Bucky/Tony 616 Marvel comics in the 1960s - Identity porn! 1960's Tony Stark is Iron Man and nobody knows. So when the Winter Soldier comes out of the Soviet Union to ask to join the Avengers on the condition that he doesn't ever tell anyone his name or reveal his face, even to Captain America.... Tony thinks, oh, maybe we could be friends? Maybe I can be a little bit myself with this one? And things snowball from there. This is a great fic by an author that loves the 1960s comics version of the Avengers, and honestly, the tone fits those comics so well. This fic was slipping into a warm bath - angsty just in measure to the comfort. I was following updates from Sineala's Patreon while she was writing it and I was so glad to see if come out!

a simple thing- Chapter 47-  by iridan - Star Wars, Mandalorian, Boba Fett/Din Djarin. - Chapter 47 just hit this week, which means we are ONE CHAPTER FROM THE ENDING OF THE FIC,this is not a drill. This fic is 765K words and Chapter 47 alone was 27K words, and I heartily recommend it if you want to watch someone really live into their tags that say " Din 'I Can't Talk Right Now I'm Doing Queer Person With Religious Trauma Shit' Djarin" and "rebuilding a culture is hard." Honestly, great work on the cultural stuff about how there's been tons of contradictory ways of portraying Mandalorians in Star wars, and this fic makes them all feel like people who have been out in the world, trying their best. 

Fic Rec based on Scholomance series: If you want a smaller, single person version of the themes in The Scholomance Trilogy, I heartily recommend two other works by Astolat (aka, Naomi Novik in her fic writing persona) -

-Heal Thyself a Draco post-canon character study about what damage using Dark Magic does to a person, and what it takes for Draco to really come out of it the other side. (Technically Harry/Draco, but only towards the end, well after Draco has done the work of fixing himself.)    

-Victory Condition: A Tranformers fic in which Megatron and Optimus Prime have to actually talk thru their world views, and Optimus Prime has to face that the Golden Age he remembered was built on the suffering of people he didn't see. (Honestly, I kind of recommended The Scholomance series to someone based on the idea that El Higgins is a Megatron with a bit more support and Orion the human is pretty clearly based on Orion Pax aka Optimus Prime, but with some complicated history.) 

Honorable mentions to fic that didn't quite make the novel-length cut: Don’t be afraid. by spqr -Star Wars, Anakin/Obi-Wan, ages reversed. I... I find this pairing normally not for me, and I am aware that this is working on me because I love fic where a traumatized character is confronted with love and care, and well, this did the job. 

What I'm Reading

Homeworld Elegy - Ashcroft Writes - Star Wars AU - Obi-Wan/ Cad Bane - 138K words -Once I got some momentum on this fic, I'm just flying thru it. I'm in a section that creates a whole history for Cad Bane and Duros and their world and his childhood romance with a friend, and I'm like, I thought this was just a mean blue man in a big hat, and now you are making my feel emotions??? It's just working for me really well. 

Two Old Women by Velma Wallis - I'm just not finishing this very quickly, dunno why. The voice just feels like listening to someone telling a story. 

What I'll Read Next:

Library books are on hold for this week because I'm going to be traveling, unless I get finished with them before I go. 

Darth Maul: Lockdown

Whale Rider

Thrawn -Heir to the Empire 

Maybe Spinning Silver 

Tiger's Daughter

Things I own:

Might re-read City of Lies in order to get back on the page for the sequel book. 

Hunting Towards Heartstill -blackkat

Think of England - KJ charles

[andrxsmarty]

Meli smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "As a child I thought it was weird but growing older I think it's pretty fun. Like telling people I'm actually not adopted and my siblings aren't step siblings." It was always the way it went when they went out. People saw the major difference in features and assumed. "Do you have any funny quirks besides your English accent." She asked smiling a little bit enjoying the small teasing. "You have a twinge of an Essex accent."

She had to admit Charlie was a wildly different than Liz. While she seemed more guarded he seemed open which was fascinating to her. Still she listened to him talk and smiled hearing a bit of his history. "Arent those tiny miracles just insane when you think about it. People drag on hope a lot but sometimes it's the only thing that carries you through. Alyssa was meant to come join your family. I am truly happy for you. Have you felt a little unbalanced having to do the baby thing again? I say this because after having our Annie, I swear I reset when we brought our newborn son home." She smiled and placed a hand on her heart. "That means a lot. Thank you. We're insane but we will take alright in your book. Bedsides, your best friend is now part of the pack. She gets looked after too." She knew her brother was fiercely loyal and protective and even more when it came down to Liz.

"Okay, fair. I see your point. Though I could never explain why Richard became dick shortened. I've known a few of them in my life. Maybe it's their personality." She gasped and shook her head. "No. You tried setting her up?" A giggle escaped her. "You should have known." To be fair she and her sisters didn't have a clue until they sat on Wally and made him spit it out that he had fallen in love. "Served you right. That sounds embarrassing!"

Meli made a one moment gesture with her finger as she took out her phone and speed dialed Andy. Getting him on the first ring made her smile when she heard Diana's voice on the other line and swiftly passed the phone over to her husband. "Hey, I've got Charlie here. So is the land surrounding the property running through both sides or just one?" Andy's voice came through and had spoken briefly about how the house stood on a line that could be broken up into two but getting the deed would be easy enough once the offer was taken up. Then said she show him the back side and the sides that would give Charlie a better view of the land. Meli thanked Andy and put her phone away. "Want to see the land out back?"

[loyalshipper]

May I introduce the Tumblr DC community to one of my two favorite Batfam AUs I have created. Bruce Wayne owns a hotel/museum near an ocean cliff and still has a chronic adoption problem but doesn’t fight crime. (If anyone writes this you can make it to where heroes still exist, the Batfam are the inly no capes)

WE still exists but it isn’t run by Bruce it is run by Lucius because back in the 60s Thomas and Martha bought the hotel and wanted that to be their legacy. They still die the same way but Bruce puts all his efforts into running and blossoming the hotel which was his parent’s dream project.

I’ll get back into the hotel in a minute I’m taking about the kids now

Dick is gotten a similar way, he visits the Cape with Haly’s Circus, his parents die because of faulty wiring sold to the circus by Zucco and Dick becomes an orphan. Bruce just so happened to use his one night off in a while to go see the circus. He keeps thinking about Dick and ends up adopting him. He helps Dick and the Circus bring Zucco to justice and sues the hell out of him and shuts down his business. (Adopted at 8))

Jason was found living in one of the shut down rooms of the hotel. Because his dad left and was in prison and his mom od. So Bruce treats him like a wild animal and starts to leave food out on a regular schedule until Jason gets comfortable with him and he adopts Jason. (five years younger than Dick)

Tim was the son of two wealthy archaeologists who were gone 11 out of the 12 months. Bruce met Tim because he liked to come into the museum and take pictures of the museum exhibits and hotel architecture and shoreline which he would develop and give copies to Bruce. So he opens his house to this little boy with a penchant for photography. Until one day Tim’e parents call Tim telling him that they are staying in Egypt permanently because the archeological dig is producing wonderous results and they’ll be hiring him an around the clock sitter. Only for Tim to wait three weeks and no one shows up. They went so far as to fire Ms. Mac but never hired a sitter for their son. So he goes to Bruce in tears and explains everything, because this is it-his parents finally did abandon him, and Bruce sues them for custody of Tim. (Three years younger than Jason, adopted at 7)

Damian was the result of a relationship Bruce had in college while studying hotel management and hospitality. Talia is the daughter of a hotel conglomerate owner who is currently trying to buy Bruce’s hotel so it can be torn down and Ra’s can built a new hyper expensive hotel in its place. Damian was sent to live with Bruce to try and get Bruce to have Damian inherit the hotel so Ra’s can get it and destroy it, but that backfired because instead Damian falls in love with the hotel and his new family (reluctantly) and wants to see the hotel and museum flourish, not tear down this historical piece of architecture to replace it with a soulless hotel only available to the wealthy elite. But something available to everyone that families vacation to because there is so much history and beauty in a thing that has stood for centuries. So Damian turns against Ra’s. Due not that while Damian and Tim do have a sibling rivalry it is not as vicious and cutting as it is in canon. They love each other they just don’t mesh well while in the same room. And yes, Damian still has his variety of pets (7 years younger than Tim)

Cass came to the hotel with her “father,” David Cain, who went to the Cape for business, and just ended up leaving and forgetting Cass at the hotel. He was still abusive and Cass had trouble speaking but he wasn’t “turn Cass into the world’s greatest assassin” abusive. After Bruce finds Cass, he sues Cain for parental custody and then ruins his life unrepentantly. (Couple of months older than Jason)

After Martha and Thomas died, Alfred took over managing the hotel while Bruce was still growing up and while he was getting his degrees, now he is the grandfather to Bruce’s many kids and helps to keep them running and cared for while they run and care for the hotel. He’s also the one that helps the new kids transfer into the life of running a hotel.

Barbara is the daughter of the Police Comissioner still who became friends with Dick and works, first part time at the museum/hotel and then full time. Same with Steph and Tim (1 year older than Dick)

Cullen and Harper work at the museum, Helena works at the hotel. Carrie does both. Duke is the newest acquisition. Only, his parents disappeared and no one has been able to find them yet. So Bruce currently had temporary custody of Duke who lives at the hotel with everyone. (Harper is a year older than Tim, Cullen is a year younger than Tim, Carrie is the same age as Jason, Duke is a few months younger than Tim)

Each person has different jobs. (Dick is concierge/check-in, Jason does guided history tours of the hotel/museum/grounds, Tim works in financials because he deals with the least amount of people, Helena, Carrie and Steph are both maids, Carrie also does janitorial stuff with Cullen, Barbara works hotel check-in with Dick, Barbara and Harper work cashier at the gift shop, Duke doesn’t have a job yet because he is still dealing with the disappearance of his parents, Damian does every job to see where he fits in best.

JARRO IS THE FAMILY PET STARFISH THAT TIM ADOPTED WHEN HE FIRST JOINED THE FAMILY AND RESCUED FROM BEING EATEN OFF THE BEACH

The hotel is still fully staffed with not-batkids, like grounds keepers and other hotel cleaners and janitors.

Location time!

I’m turning Gotham nicer and changing the geography of the city.

The hotel Museum rests about 200 yds from a cliff that overlooks a beach. There is a well maintained stair case put into the cliff for people to walk down, as well as a longer gravel path that follows the cliff edge down to the shoreline. It is frequented by seals, sea lions, and in the distance, dolphins and whales. The hotel it’s self has about 100 or so acres of land and a long drive but it is technically within walking distance to the city. And it’s a normal coastal town with a port and touristic areas. Kinda eerie at night when the fog rolls in but that’s part of the charm of the NorthEast.

Selina is just Bruce’s friend in this. She is Helena’s mother and Bruce was a surrogate for her. She decided she wanted a baby and Bruce offered to be a donor. So Selina had Helena and Bruce is part of her life but not as her dad, which was the agreement. Selina takes care of the stray animals on the grounds and favors the cats.

Clark is a reporter that was tasked to right an article on the hotel and it’s history, became good friends with Bruce and brings his family (Lois, Jon, Bizarro, Kon, Kara, Lena, Chris, Ma, Pa, and Lex) on vacation to it every year. Lex and Clark are divorced husbands that left on good terms and are friendly enough to coparent their son, Connor, who was made the same way as canon but less hush hush and illegally, Kara is Clark’s cousin and Lena is her fiancée, Lois is his wife, Jon and Bizarro are their two biological sons (Bizarro has autism), Chris is their foster son. Bizarro latches onto Jason in a way that he hasn’t before and always loves coming to the hotel, Jon and Chris are best friends with Damian, Connor and Tim are long distance dating.

Collin, Maya, and Maps are Damian’s best friends from school (Damian has a crush on Collin) and he’s trying to convince them to join the hotel staff like his siblings’ friends but they are a) too young and b) not interested.

Roy has all of his problems as in canon and gets help for it, so as a way to try and bring the family closer, Oliver and Dinah arrange a vacation to the hotel for them Roy and Lian. As a stepping stone kind of thing. Get away from daily stress. Roy is resistant at first until he and Jason hit it off and start talking and Jason talks sense into him and they strike up a friendship turned romance.

The Flashfam visit the museum diring a countrywide roadtrip and mad the stop because Bart is a history buff and wouldn’t stop talking about it the entire trip. He becomes fast friends with Tim and is the only person to ever get a Tim Wayne history tour. No matter what Kon tells you he is super salty about it. Wally and Dick were internet friends and used the roadtrip as a way to be able to meet up.

Thad is the obligatory complainer who doesn’t want to stay in a musty old hotel.

Ivy is the main grounds keeper and is in charge of the native wildlife sanctuary most of the land is used for, as well as taking care of the native plantlife and lives in town with her girlfriend, Harley. Harley helps the kids prank Bruce.

Harley is a children’s psychiatrist hired by Bruce to help the kids deal with their various traumas. Her coming to the hotel for sessions is how she and Ivy met.

They started dating between Dick and Jason and Dick talks up each of them to the other, but each individual kid that comes in think they’d be cute together (since they are both professional while working there isn’t immediate proof that they are dating. But they will flirt with each other if they see each other) and it’s basically a right if passage to try and convince their siblings to help them get together and then try and set them up on their own and find out the hard way that they’re already together. They love seeing all the different way the kids try and set them up. They tend to go along with it until either the kids realise or they take pity on them.

Their favorite was Damian’s where he set up an entire romantic dinner at the hotel restaurant and Dick managed to slyly convince him to set it on a certain day that turned out to be Harley and Ivy’s anniversary.

Alfred is the head chef for the hotel, making room service meals and the breakfast buffet line up. Jason will help him out if he isn’t busy with other things.

Victor Fries and his wife hold an ice cream social ever summer at the hotel with all the ice cream flavors they came up with over the last year.

Edward Nygma, famous escape room designer, is hired to make an escape room themed on the hotel and museum that is built on the grounds near the main building.

Another ritual that starts, begins with Tim, where the older siblings convince the newest one that the hotel is haunted and Jason takes them on a “haunted ghost tour” of the abandoned part of the hotel (the part that is too dilapidated and run down to remodel safely) while the others are stationed at different parts of the hotel and grounds to run whatever scenario to scare the new kid. The only one that hasn’t been done to is Cass because even after several years she still jumps a little too hard at loud noises. But one time Jason accident closed a door a little too harshly while Cass and Tim were doing something and it caused her to jump so hard she knocked over Tim and started crying. They were contemplating whether she was strong enough to do it or not and that cemented that she wasn’t.

Tim and Cass are nearly inseparable and are commonly referred to as the Wayne Twins. For Halloween they decided to go as each other.

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

Maybe before cats and dogs started their bitter rivalry, there was Snake vs Mongoose. I’m not talking about Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, I mean two of the best known drag racers ever to lay it all on the starting line: Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen. Back before corporate sponsorship made some racers professionals, drag racers were innovators and possibly daredevils who no doubt, did it for love and a heaping dose of quarter mile glory. Why else would Snake and Mongoose travel the country for “grudge matches” that paid not much more than gas and beer money? It wasn’t until McEwen convinced Mattel (the first non-automotive drag racing sponsor) that “Wildlife Racing” and this “bitter�� rivalry (actually between friends) would sell scores of Hot Wheels that drag racing became both lucrative and a common household discussion.

But that’s just part of the story!  Head down to the Peterson Automotive Museum for their NHRA: Sixty Years of Thunder where Don “The Snake” Prudhomme will be joined by Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen, Roland Leong (Hawaiian funny car fame), “TV” Tommy Ivo (Actor and racer of some nasty multi-engined hot rods), Carroll Shelby (needs no intro!) and Ed Pink (engine builder for Snake and just about every winning racer back then). A once in a lifetime experience for $150 on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010.

Details of who, what, where below are courtesy of the Petersen Automotive Museum:

(LOS ANGELES, October 1, 2010) Petersen Automotive Museum is celebrating the opening of the exciting new exhibit, NHRA: Sixty Years of Thunder by paying tribute to one of the sport’s most iconic figures – Don “The Snake” Prudhomme – during their annual Tribute Night on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010.

Match Race Madness Panel Discussion

The day will begin with the 2 p.m. panel discussion, Match Race Madness, featuring drag racing’s greatest rivalry: Snake vs. Mongoose. Prudhomme will be joined by arch-rival Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen to tell the tales of their days of traveling the United States from race track to race track, their much-publicized grudge matches, the business partnership they formed called, “Wildlife Racing,” and their pioneering work in non-automotive sponsorship with Mattel’s Hot Wheels.

An Evening with Don “The Snake” Prudhomme

At 5:30 p.m., An Evening with Don “The Snake” Prudhomme will begin. A cocktail hour with Prudhomme, McEwen, and honored guests Roland Leong, Tommy Ivo, Carroll Shelby, Ed Pink and many others will be followed by a fabulous dinner buffet. Special guest Dave McClelland, the Voice of the NHRA and longtime friend of Don Prudhomme, will be the Master of Ceremonies. The evening will continue with a short film featuring The Snake’s history and several other drag racing icons will share their stories of the legend. A live auction of amazing racing memorabilia will follow with proceeds going to the Petersen’s educational programs. Guests will also be able to preview the items that will be in the Bonham’s and Butterfield’s Motorcycles and Memorabilia auction on Saturday, Nov. 13.

NHRA: Sixty Years of Thunder

If that’s not enough, guests will also be the first to see Petersen Automotive Museum’s newest exhibit, NHRA: Sixty Years of Thunder. This exciting new exhibit will cover the history of the National Hot Rod Association, from its early creation as a way to get street racing off of the public highways and on to sanctioned drag strips, through six decades of nitro, tire smoke and thunder. Guests will have an experience rich with historic photography, exciting videos, interactive displays and of course, race cars with the combined power output of 50,000 horses! This exhibit opens at the gala and runs through May 29, 2011.

Tickets

Tickets for An Evening With Don “The Snake” Prudhomme are $125 each. Tickets for the Match Race Madness panel discussion are $50 each. A combined ticket for both events is $150, a $25 savings. Special pricing is available for certain levels of Petersen Automotive Museum Membership. For more information call (323) 964-6325, or to buy your tickets on-line, go to www.Peterson.org. Event proceeds support the Petersen Automotive Museum’s educational and cultural mission.

Honoree: Don “The Snake” Prudhomme

In the early days of his drag racing career, Don Prudhomme worked as a crew member for drag racing icon “T.V.” Tommy Ivo. In 1962, Prudhomme achieved his first Top Fuel win at the Smoker’s March Meet in Bakersfield, California. From 1962 through 1964, Don teamed up with Tom Greer and legendary engine builder Keith Black, and built the famous Greer, Black & Prudhomme Top Fueler (on display in NHRA: 60 Years of Thunder) which won nearly every west coast event. Prudhomme went on to drive Roland Leong’s “Hawaiian” Top Fuel dragster, and won his first NHRA race, the 1965 Winternationals in Pomona, California. He then switched to Funny Cars in the 1970s and won four straight NHRA Funny Car World Championships between 1975 and 1978 and had seven NHRA U.S. Nationals wins. He was the first Funny Car driver to go 5 seconds in the quarter mile and the first to top 250 mph.

Don Prudhomme’s quick reaction times earned him the nickname, “The Snake.” He teamed up with his friend and rival, Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen to form the team ��Wildlife Racing,” and they were hired by track owners to race each other in grudge matches around the country. But the real money came when they were sponsored by Mattel’s “Hot Wheels,” the first non-automotive sponsor in NHRA history.

The Snake last raced on his “Final Strike Tour” in 1994, but stayed active in other areas of the sport. Until his retirement earlier this year, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme was a car owner running a Top Fuel Dragster Team and two Funny Car teams. Prudhomme has 49 career wins as a driver, and 59 career wins as an owner.

National Hot Rod Association

Nestled in the quiet community of Glendora, Calif., just minutes east of downtown Los Angeles, is the world’s largest and loudest auto racing organization, the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). Since it was founded by Wally Parks in 1951, NHRA has been dedicated to safety while providing millions of racing fans with The Extreme Motorsport: the fastest and most spectacular form of entertainment on wheels. With 80,000 members and more than 35,000 licensed competitors, NHRA is a thriving leader in the world of motorsports. Parks initially started NHRA as a means of getting hot rodders off the streets and on to legal drag strips. Since those early days, NHRA has evolved into the largest promoter of professional drag racing in the world. Today, with more than 300 dedicated employees, NHRA offers drag racing opportunities for hot rod enthusiasts of all levels, from kids ages 8-17 in the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League all the way up to the top of the Professional ranks with the organization’s NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

NHRA is moving just as fast in popularity with auto racing fans. Second to only NASCAR in terms of attendance, fan appeal, and sponsorship commitment, NHRA is moving quickly into mainstream America.

NHRA is all about diversity. With more than 20 categories of competition, including Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle at the Professional level, to a multicultural array of high-octane personalities it calls world champions; NHRA thrives on unique competitors accomplishing unique achievements. For example, in 2008, Hispanic racer Cruz Pedregon won the NHRA Funny Car world championship, and Ashley Force Hood and Melanie Troxel became the first female winners in the Funny Car class.

Participation on and off the track has made the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series one of the most popular forms of racing, reaching thousands of fans, members, and sponsors a quarter-mile at a time.

Petersen Automotive Museum

The Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity. The Museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Boulevard (at Fairfax) in Los Angeles. Admission prices are $10 for general admission adults, $5 for seniors and students with ID, and $3 for children ages 5 to 12. Museum members and children under five are admitted free. Covered parking is available for $2 per half hour with an $8 maximum for Museum visitors. Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 6pm. For general Museum information, call 323/930-CARS or visit the Museum’s Web site at: www.Peterson.org.

[marilynmonroefanfics]

Being Felix Faust's adopted son and dating Wally West...

You were an orphan, living on the streets.

Felix saw your potential and took you in.

He actually saw you as a son and felt responsable for you.

After he sold his oldest son's soul, he felt deep down that he failed as a parent.

So he spent time trying to make sure that you had a normal childhood.

He took you on a tour of Europe, for you to have a excellent education.

You studied Mathematics and Philosophy in Athens, Latin and History in Rome, Literature and Architecture in London, Painting and Drawing in Florence, you even studied Science and Meneralogy in Moscow.

It's safe to say that when you came back to America, you were a very different person.

You came out to your family weeks later.

To your surprise, they had a very positive reaction.

Your brother Sebastian, became overprotective.

"You touch my brother, I promise you will die!"

Your father became overprotective as well but he was more subtle about it.

When your father and brother told that they were villains you weren't even scared by it.

In fact when they came back from a "mission", they found out you had magical powers.

When they came back badly injured, you touched their skin and it started to heal.

Y/N, how did you do that?" asked Sebastian.

Turns out, you were born with White Magic.

Your brother and father started to train you.

Your brother taught you hand to Hand-to-hand combat and Felix had you study the Necronomicon.

You started going on missions with them.

You became sort of their "healer" and helped them a lot.

Even if they wanted to protect you, you still kicked ass.

They were very impressed.

You were in the same class as Wally, you were the new kid and people talked a lot about you in the school.

"Class this is your new classmate, Y/N Faust."

"What a cute guy." was what Wally thought when you walked in.

For the next weeks Wally wouldn't stop flerting with you.

"Hi there sweetheart, did you fell from the sky, because you're an angel."

You beat him.

"I just got my ass kicked by a guy, he was really cute though."

He didn't give up and you liked the attention he gave you.

The popular boy of the school was so in love with you.

After the 100th time declining his advances, you eventually agreed on going on a date with him.

He was so happy.

He took you to the cinema to see a horror movie.

He loved the fact that every time you were scared you grabbed his arm form dear life.

"Don't worry Y/N, I will protect you."

He asked you to be his boyfriend after your 3rd date.

Wally would randomly pick you up and kiss you.

He is really tall and strong, so he wouldn't mind give you piggyback rides.

He would kiss you form behind and kiss your neck.

After a month dating you had to tell him your secret.

"Y/N, I have something really important to tell you."

"I have to tell something too."

You ended up saying it at the same time.

"I'm a Superhero."

"I'm a Villain"

Wally talked to the Justice League and told them your story.

They actually understood where you were coming from.

You kind of "join" them and tried to convince your father to stop with his plans.

It would be a very different task but you and Wally were on it together.

Wally loves and he will love you and protect you.

[froggie-recs-fics]

Fic Roundup -- Week of 9/27/21

The fandoms in this list are as follows: DC (SuperBat, Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne), Marvel (SamBucky, WinterWidow, WinterHawk, WinterBaron, Stucky, Stony, WinterIron), Teen Wolf (Sterek)

A + signifies a re-read, and a * signifies a favorite

DCU

SuperBat

*+A Sense of Identity by DaaroMoltor (T, 21K, Identity Porn)

It was a Thursday afternoon at the end of March, and Bruce Wayne met Clark Kent in the way enterprising billionaires tended to meet investigative reporters: Through an interview. Kent had posture like cooked spaghetti and wore his plaid like the strangest camouflage in history.

Bruce was less than impressed.

+Take Care of Business by TheResurrectionist @frownyalfred (NR, 2K, Crack, Batfamily)

Bruce has a conference call with Wayne Enterprises. Having it at the Manor was, in hindsight, a really shitty idea.

“I don’t have your phone!”

The two boys began trading hits, yelling at the top of their lungs. Bruce turned back to the webcam just as Damian leapt on top of Tim’s back, a high-pitched battle cry torn from his lips.

“Mr. Hodges,” he said cheerfully, unflinching as Tim threw Damian into the wet bar sink. “Have you had a chance to examine the chart I pointed out?”

smokin' in the boys' room by TheResurrectionist (M, 6K, Identity Porn, Himbo Clark)

Bruce Wayne -- billionaire playboy, owner of, at most, three brain cells -- beaten up at his own charity gala. Bruce Wayne, CEO of Wayne Enterprises out of nepotism and dumb luck, whose business wasn’t touched by corruption purely because of incompetence -- Bruce Wayne, airheaded and still generous, still kind, bloody in a stall and trying to hide it.

His hand clenched on the stall door, crumpling it between his fingers. His eyes weren’t burning yet, but barely.

“Who did this to you?”

+Detective Work by Bekkoni @bekkoni (T, 8K, Secret Relationship, Identity Porn)

Wally finds Superman and Batman's friendship odd. Naturally, he investigates and finds a lot more than he bargained for.

+A Game of Misunderstandings by JustGettingBy @snailwriter (T, 36K, Misunderstandings, Identity Porn)

Things were going well for Bruce until some hot-shot reporter learns his identity. Now, he'll have to do what he can to keep his secret quiet. Even if that means joining the game of blackmail that Clark Kent started.

+scramble by IHadHimOnTheRopes (CarterReid), rory_gone_mattie (rosetinteddays) (Soulmate AU, Gen, CNTW, Graphic Violence, One-Sided Relationship, Identity Reveal, Misunderstandings)

The words on his skin were his everything. After everything he'd seen, done and been through, they were a reminder that Bruce Wayne still existed. That somewhere there was a person who would love him despite the coldness in his chest and the scars that roped their way across his skin. A reminder that he wasn't alone - that he wasn't destined to live forever in the shadows, silent and isolated. That somewhere out there was the other half of his soul.

He just wasn't expecting the other half of his soul to be an alien.

*+Fake Empires by copperbadge @copperbadge (T, 11K, Identity Porn)

Bruce Wayne can't possibly be as dumb as he acts, and Clark Kent isn't as ordinary as he appears.

Hal/Bruce

Trouble by theLiterator (M, Identity Porn, Fuckbuddies with Feelings)

The billionaire's booty call.

Or: Hal Jordan sleeps with Bruce Wayne for awhile, and then he falls in love with Batman.

Marvel

SamBucky

Tell it to My Heart (Tell Me I’m the Only One) by jemgirl @jemgirl86 (College AU, NR, 3K, Getting Together, Misunderstandings, Jealous Bucky)

“What the hell is this?” Sam asked, setting down his plate next to Bucky.

And Bucky just about jumped out of his skin.

“You can’t be behind the counter,” he said, after he straightened up his face enough to turn around.

“Well, I am, and I want to talk.”

“Go talk to your date,” Bucky said, and started to turn back around.

“My what?”

“Your date,” he snapped, voice raised, and turned to face Sam once again.

So much for keeping his cool.

“That girl you brought up in here trying to be funny. How old is she anyway? Fourteen - Fifteen? You trollin’ high schools now, Wilson? ‘Cause she—

“Let me stop you right there,” Sam cut in, jaw clenched, “before you say something that you can’t take back and I can’t forgive.”

Or: Sarah’s just trying to have a nice visit. Sam’s just trying to get some food and introduce his sister to his newest friend. And Bucky’s just trying not to lose it. Things do not go exactly as planned.

+Just This Once by cyclogenesis (addictedkitten) @cyclogenesis (TFATWS, E, 15K, Dom/sub)

Bucky has enough to deal with given his feelings for Sam and his latent masochistic streak, so if everyone could stop treating him like some sort of murder sexbot, that would be great.

+Can You Handler This by helens78 @helens78 (TFATWS, E, CNTW, 3K, HTP adjacent)

Going into Winter Soldier mode in Madripoor set off a routine Bucky thought was out of his system: he's supposed to blow the first handler to touch him when the mission's complete. That would be Sam.

six months in winter by CapnWinghead @capnwinghead (Post-CATWS, Prison AU, M, Graphic Violence, Codependency)

In an attempt to break Bucky out of a Russian prison and bring him home, Sam gets tossed in alongside him.

WinterIron

Blockbuster by FestiveFerret @festiveferret (No Powers AU, E, 1K, Omegaverse, PWP, Glory Hole)

One of Bucky's favourite pastimes is visiting the booths at the back of a seedy video rental store in Brooklyn. One side for the omega, one side for the alpha, and everyone enjoys some anonymous fun.

But there's something different about this alpha...

Stony

Fangbait by FestiveFerret (No Powers AU, Vampire AU, E, 5K, One Night Stand, PWP)

There's only one reason Tony would go to a bar like this, dressed the way he is: fangbait.

WinterWidow

Suits and Straps by CruciatusForeplay @cruciatusforeplay (E, 3K, PWP, Bottom Bucky)

Her hand slid down the lapel of her jacket, the fingers of one hand easily undoing the buttons, the other hooked in the corner of her pocket, feigning nonchalance. The jacket fell open and the stark white of her shirt drew Bucky's eyes down her body.

"Be a sweetheart-" Natasha shrugged the jacket off easily. "- and hang this somewhere safe. I wouldn't want it to get dirty."

***

Bucky wears lingerie, Natasha wears a suit, she fucks him over a desk. That's it. That's the fic.

WinterHawk

Lost Time by Lissadiane @lissadiane (Soulmate AU, T, 10K, Canon Divergence)

Clint’s always known the universe doesn’t like him all that much. But all he knows now, as his heart beats out a rhythm and there isn’t a heartbeat to harmonize with it, is that he’s found his soulmate -- and he’s been dead for over 70 years.

It’s ironic. It burns. It shouldn’t surprise him.

Barney won’t be surprised. Barney’s been saying the universe has it out for them for Clint’s whole life. And this is just further proof.

In which soulmates exist but Clint's parents are proof that sometimes, they go terribly wrong.

Stucky

overflow by thiccbuckybarnes @thiccbuckybarnesfic (Shrunkyclunks, E, 5K, PWP)

Kinktober Day 2: hyperspermia/come inflation

Bucky is a nurse at SHIELD and freshly-thawed Cap hasn't come in literally 70 years.

Rumlow/Bucky

make the call and take it all (again) by itallstartedwithdefenestration @astralhux (TFATWS Canon Div, E, 13K, HTP adjacent, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms)

While at Selby's, Zemo told Bucky that Rumlow owns a bar in Madripoor, and that he has connections to the serum. After the showdown in the basement, Bucky heads to Rumlow's address, intending to get information. But there's a lot of unresolved history between them, and seeing him for the first time in eight years just makes it even harder to ignore.

Teen Wolf

Sterek

+I Like It When by elisera (E, 4K, Dom/sub)

They’re in the middle of fucking when Stiles really notices it for the first time. He’s got Derek on his back and Stiles is sitting on his dick, taking things slow in an attempt to see how long they can stand it, how long it’ll take either of them to cave and pick up the pace. That was the plan but when Derek gets his hands on Stiles’ hips and Stiles can feel him tensing up in preparation to move Stiles the way Derek wants him to, he grabs Derek by the wrists and pulls his hands up instead, pins them down next to his head. He has no illusions about being able to hold Derek down but he’s feeling playful.

[nanaminsonyfans]

✨Birds of a Feather✨

Masterlist ✨ Requesting Rules

Request; Could I request a YJs1 Dick x reader with the reader being new to the team and a protege of black canary? He’s my favourite 🥰

A/N; honestly, if one robin is AT LEAST one of your favorites, if they aren’t in the top three, i don’t trust you. also, i really like the way i wrote this a stuff, if anyone wants i can make this a thing. I fucking grew up on young justice i love these characters. rock and roll buckeroo!

Pairing; Dick Grayson(Robin) x Fem!Reader

Warnings; fluff, slight cursing

Your upbringing wasn’t pleasant, for a short backstory, Black Canary found you when she did a raid on an illegal Meta-Human fighting ring. Your parents sold you to the leader of the ring. Your power was similar to Canary’s, in which your voice was a power. You could mimic sounds around you like a mockingbird, but you had similarities with an owl in the fact that your neck could turn all the way around and you had night vision. Black Canary found you when you were ten, taking you in as her own. She took you under her wing. *dad jokehehuheh*

She had taken care of you for four years, you ever really made you debut as a hero, until Batman started the underground team of sidekicks. Robin of course knew of you, as did Batman because, duh. Well, Roy did too but that was mainly because Green Arrow was dating Canary. He was like a big brother, and he deeply cared for you. 

“And this is Black Canary’s protégé, Mockingbird.” You walked out from the shadows, a black hoodie and red jeans on. Your hoodie had your favorite band one it, whatever it may be. “Sup.” You nod your head at the boys, your hood covered your face since it was dark but you also had glasses on, kinda like Robin’s but they were reading glasses. The glasses could profile anyone and bring up their history, if it’s in the web or files on the cloud, you gotem.

Kid Flash was easy, he didn’t both with covering his face, everyone else was open with you, but not Robin. You glasses always got glitched out when you tried to activate them while looking at him. He knew this and did it on purpose. He didn’t know much about you, only you hero name, you also did that on purpose, it was a fun little battle. You were closer to Robin anyways, being close in age but that didn’t stop Wally from flirting. “Hey babe~ Wanna spar~?” The redhead would ask, before you could speak he would go pale. “Nevermind.” Then he’d run away, you guessed it was Robin, he had mastered the infamous bat-glare.

When Artemis joined the team, you were happy. Another human girl on the team, no offense to M’gann but you felt more comfortable with another human female around. Plus, she was funny. You lived in Star City with Diane and Oliver, and you met her first, it was awesome when you came with her to the Cave and saw all of them shocked.

“What’s up, birdy?” You smile as you trotted over to Robin, you didn’t really have a superhero suit, you kinda took after Black Canary, civilian clothes were your hero clothes. It was usually blood stained black leggings, a navy blue crop top hoodie and black paint around your eyes and bridge of your nose rather than a regular mask because those were itchy. “Do NOT call me that.” Boy Wonder grumbled and elbowed you playfully. You gave him a smirk and batted you eyelashes at him. “You love me.” “No I don’t.” He snorted.

“The Wallman is here!” A redhead yelled through the zeta-tubes as he entered, the loud noise made you yelp and grab onto the nearest person, which was Robin. When you both realized that you both turned red. “Yeesh...stay whelmed Mockingbird.” He finally got out after being frozen. You both had completely ignored the situation going on around you, until...

“Recognize: Speedy, B06.” The computer spoke, making you grinning like an idiot and turn towards the tubes. “Well for starters, he doesn’t go by speedy anymore. Call me Red Arrow.” Your eyes lit up at your brother, well not really brother but you both looked at each other as such. “Roy-” Oliver started but you cut him off. “Roy!” You yelled happily and ran towards your redhead. “Wa to ruin his moment...” Wally grumbled but you flipped him off as you hugged Roy. “Why don’t you call anymore? I’ve been worried. So was Olly, and I guess Robin, Kaldur, and Wally, but I’m your sister!” You whined and teared up, your tears mixing with the paint you used as a mask causing black tears.

“Oh birdie...you know why.” Roy soothed causing you to sniffle and rub your tears away. “Right, sorry.” You mumble and pull away, “Sorry.” You mumbled again and walked back to your spot by Robin, the taller boy put a hand on your shoulder. “Roy, you look-” Oliver started, “Replaceable.” Roy hissed and walked over. “You know it’s not like that.” “Then why bother with a sub? Can she even use that bow?” He gestured angrily to the blonde archer. “Yes she can.” Artemis hissed back. “Who are you?!” Wally whined. “I’m his niece.” “She’s his niece.” “She’s my niece.” Artemis, you, and Green Arrow stated in a matter-of-fact like tone. “Another niece?” Robin snorted, earning an elbow from you.

“But he’s not your replacement!” You chimed in, walking over to the arrows. “We have always wanted you on the team.” Aqualad said, walking over to the now, Red Arrow. “And we have no quota on archers.” The leader continued. “And if we did, you know who we’d pick!” Wally chimed, glaring over at Artemis. “Whatever Baywatch,” Artemis glared, “I’m here to stay.” You stifled a chuckle and looked away. “Baywatch...” You snorted. “But you came here for a reason, right Roy?” You asked when you finally calmed down. “Yeah, a reason named Dr. Sterling Roquette.”

Both yours and Robin’s eyes widened before you both pulled up a file with the holographic computer. “Nano-robotics genius-” Robin started as he began typing. “And claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City! I love her!” You finished and gushed the last part. “Vanished two weeks ago.” Robin continued, earning a frown on your face. “Abducted two weeks ago, by the League of Shadows.” “Woah, you want us to rescue her from The Shadows?” Boy wonder said in a hopeful tone. “Hardcore.” Wally said in awe and fist bumped the other boy. “Dumbasses.” You scoffed and hit them both in the back of the neck. “Roy probably already did that.” You pointed out and walked over to him with a big smile. Roy smiled back and ruffled your hair. “She’s right, I already rescued her. There’s only one problem, the shadows already got her to make a weapon, ‘Doc call it the Fog.” Roy pulled up an image of a dark cylinder looking object with red buttons.

“It’s comprised of millions of microscopic robots, nanotech infiltrators, capable of disintegrating anything in their path- concrete, steel, flesh, bone.- but it’s true purpose isn’t mere destruction. It’s theft. The infiltrators eat and story raw data from any computer system and deliver the stolen data to the Shadows. Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting edge science and tech.” “Perfect for extortion, manipulation, and power broking.” Artemis starts, earning a groan from Wally, an admiring look from you, and a knowing look from Robin. “Yep. Sounds like The Shadows.” She finishes. “Oh like you know anything about The Shadows.” Wally groans and glares at the blonde, who just smirks. “Who ARE you?!” Wally yells obviously irritated, both you and Robin chuckled a little.

“Roquette’s working on a virus to render the Fog inert.” Roy says, ignoring the childish behavior. “But if The Shadows know she can do that...” Robin started quietly, you gasped softly. “They’ll target her.” You whisper in shock. “It’s okay, right now she’s off the grid. I stashed her in a local highschool computer lab.” Roy shrugs, opening his mouth to speak again. “You left her alone?” Green Arrow asks in shock and mild disappointment. ‘Oh great, here we go again.’ You think as you roll  you eyes. “She’s safe enough for now.” Roy spits and glares at Oliver. “Then let’s you and I take care of that together.” “You and I? Don’t you want to take your new protogé.” The redhead spits again, earning a groan from you. “Roy, you brought this to the team, we’ll talk care of it okay?” You say softly, putting your hand on his shoulder. “And she is part of the team. I promise nothing bad will happen. Trust me, big bro.” You smile, a child like glint in you e/c eyes. “Fine, Y/n. I trust you.” Roy whispered, kissing your forehead before leaving. “Speedy-” The computer started, “Change that to Red Arrow.” You spoke up before Roy could, you winked at him before he left.

Robin knew it was a platonic gesture, you both looked at each other like siblings, he knew that. He fucking knew but a piece of him was jealous. He didn’t know why, maybe he like you? No, he wouldn’t, doesn’t matter anyways. The team had a mission to do. But god damnit he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He wished he could be the one kissing your forehead, holding you, knowing your actual name like Roy did. Damn, being a teenager with feelings fucking SUCKS. 

All of a sudden you all were linked up by Miss Martian telepathy. “Everyone online?” Her voice rung inside your head, causing a giggle. “Mhm.”  You hummed in your head while you sat on a table between Kid Flash and Robin. “Woah, this is weird.” Artemis said, in her head of course, and you just giggled in response. “I know right? Prepare for a killer headache when Megan cuts it off!” You giggled more as you popped some of Wally’s fruit snacks in your mouth. Then the doctor started complaining. “Lady, I’m not really diggin your attitude right now.” You say while rolling your eyes. “You literally look like some random kid they got from the street!” The doctor replied earning a huff from you as you sat up straight. 

“You literally look like some random kid they got from the street.” You said, using your mocking power, you spoke in her exact voice, earning a shocked look from her. “Now shut the fuck up.” You hissed in your normal voice, earning a stern look from Aqualad. “Oh don’t judge my language fish boy.” You grumbled and crossed your arms, looking through a blind. “Do you always act like this when people try to help you?” Wally’s voice rung in your head. “Pot, kettle, you’ve met?” Artemis replied, you snickered slightly. “Great, now I want kettle corn. Thanks Art.” You whined and then ignored them arguing until Robin spoke. “You should give her some more credit. It was /her/ arrow that saved you from Amazo.” Robin said with a smirk, in which you practically swooned. “No, it was Spee-Red Arrow’s arrow, right?” “Not so much.” Robin snickered and you did as well. 

“God I love his voice.” You thought and then you realized that everyone was connected, SHIT. Your eyes widened and your face turned red. “I mean haha, I was thinking of something else.” You got up. “I’ll...I’ll go an patrol the halls...hall monitor duties.” You got up. “Oh god oh god. This is so embarrassing.” You though as you messed with your fingerless gloves. “Should we tell her?” Wally’s voice rang in your head, you could feel him smirking. “THEN DON’T LISTEN!” You screamed from the hallway and you could hear his laughs. Everyone basically knew you had a crush on Robin, it was obvious to everyone but him. He felt the same, it was also obvious to everyone but you. This was not the TIME.

You were walking down the hall, until you heard footsteps behind you. You turned around, punching the figure and wrapping you legs around the person’s waist as you pinned them down. “Woah woah, stay whelmed, Mockingbird.” You squeezes you legs tighter when you realized it was Robin. “What do you want?” You whisper-shouted. “You seemed to be distraught. You really should get traught.” He gave you a smirk that you always melted over. “Mind not squeezing me to death?” He asked and you flushed as you let him go from you thighs crushing him. 

“Your wordplay is so stupid...” You smiled softly and tucked a piece of hair behind your ear. “So what? You said you love my voice.” Robin teased. “I do.” You sighed and then covered your mouth in shock. “I-I mean...shut up!” Robin bit his lip and rubbed the back of his neck. “I have to head out with Superboy.” He mumbled in which you sighed and grabbed his wrist before he could leave. “Be safe okay?” You whisper softly, getting closer to him. His lips were inches away from your. Robin smiled and kissed your forehead. “I’ll try.” He smiled in which you turned so red you were sure you would’ve been glowing. “It’s Y/n...Y/n L/n.” You spoke up as he started to walk away. “That’s my name.” You mumble. He turned around, wide eyed. 

“Y/n L/n eh? That’s a pretty name.” Robin teased before running off.

[popculturebuffet]

Justice League: In Blackest Night Review: A Case Study in Why John Stewart is  Awesome

Hello my Green Lantern Corps and happy black history month! And happy 40th Anniversary Year to John Stewart. And let’s get this out of the way now not the one replaced by trevor noah who handed Tucker Carlson his ass on television and got his show canceled, please do it again John i’d be greatful, and has a weird obession with how Pizza should be. No i’m of course talking about the Green Lantern, the third from earth and the second to headline the book itself, John Stewart.  But to me.. he was my first Green Lantern and one that gave me a deep and abiding love of the Corps since all thanks to this very episode. It’s thanks to John I’m the green lantern loving nerd I am today and without him I probably wouldn’t of found Guy, Jessica, Simon, Alan, and Kyle not to mention got into the varoius other corps. It’s thanks to this episode I wanted to seek out these wonderful characters eventaully and in part why I got into JLI, one of my faviorite teams, among many ohter great things and books. 

So quite obviously both this episode, which I haven’t seen in probably a decade, and John have a great place in my heart. And thus it warms said heart to FINALLY see John getting the recogntion he deserves: he’s going to be one of the starring roles in the upcoming HBO Max series, he was on Scott Snyder’s justice league, and he’s now going to be headlniing the main Green Lantern book going forward under writer Geoffry Throne, who like me was VERY sick of the Hal Jordan show the Green Lantern franchise could become at times, and also like me gave out about it a LOT. The fact DC hired him despite a very public and easily accesable record of him slagging of their use of Hal instead of him ESPECAILLY in the new 52 reboot aka why Cyborg is in the Justice League movie as Geoff kinda shoved hal in there despite John being a more sensible pick and doing so not only shoving the Martain Manhunter, who this show also gave me a deep lasting love for, out of the team but forcing Cyborg onto the team despite fitting with the titans better and, AGAIN there being a black green lantern and given the New 52 kept the history of there being multiple lanterns, no reason Hal could’ve been SECOND instead other than DanDiDio’s bitchy habit of EVERYTHING WAS BETTER ON MY EARTH that poisoined the company for a good decade before recently. 

And yes I felt the need to rant about that, yes Green Lantern the animated series is still good mind you, I just got tired of bland white guy over “Really awesome, really layred especailly thanks to this series black guy”, “stubborn asshole white guy whose hilarious and has a heart underneath the layers of douchebag”, “creative and imaginative white guy who has as personality and really uses the ring in fun ways”, and more recently “A muslim superhero struggling with his past who’se also really energetic and fun and has an intresting family life” and “Latnix superheroine who struggles with anxiety and actually struggles with constructs and once she gets past that has very unique ones”. In other words, yeah I’m bitter because everyone else was more intresting than Hal, and it’s only in recent years with Jessica gaining promience and John regaining it that DC’s finally broke out of that and is actually using the intresting ones, and again without John I wouldn’t be a fan, so they had no real excuse to barely use him outside of the comics if at at all after a while. 

So yeah as you can tell by that rant and by how specific it got for each lantern, this is one of my faviorite franchises, as said this episode is responsible and so for Black History Month I felt i’d be a huge mistake on my part if I DIDN’T cover my boy John and this episode and see how it held up. The fact it’s his 40th anniversary wasn’t something I was aware of, but now I am, expect more Johncentric episodes from Justice League sprinkled throughout the year to celebrate one of my first and possibly best GL. 

Naturally before we get to the episode we have to get to the series itself. The series was launched as Batman Beyond was winding down. Bruce Timm wanted to keep the crew together, something I could empathize with since Owen Dennis and JG Quintel have ran into that same problem lately, with most of their crews drifting off during the gaps in production and Owen desperate to get the show renewed  before he lost everybody. A good crew isn’t had to find in animation but KEEPING them for multiple shows or seasons can be. And there was one project the fans wanted more than anything: The Justice League. After all BOTH Batman and Superman had had tons of guest stars, especailly the latter, with Batman having Zantana show up and Superman having the Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and Aquaman all show up. There were seeds there.. but Timm was relcutant as he had trouble ballancing 2 or 3 heroes in a fight scene, wanting to keep them al lin focus so fans didn’t wonder where they were and they didnt’ have to cut back and forth, the idea of juggling 7 was daunting.  So as Beyond was finishing production a few things happened: The first is that they did the episode The Call, focusing on a future version of the League, and while only a two parter, it showed Timm his crew might be able to juggle a team of heroes after all, and second was the pitches Timm made BEFORE justice league. Since Kids WB had been hteir partner for a while now they tried pitching both a batman anime, he did not provide many details, and in his own words a “Kidified” justice league, basically the justice leagued mashed with the titans including a female version of cyborg. It was the latter pitch, which was rejected by Kids WB, that finally convinced Timm they could do this, but if they did it couldn’t be half assed or having compromises. it had to be what it SHOULD be. So they went to somewhere new, if in the same family and asked cartoon network, who said...

And here we are. They took their time to work out the characters, apparently taking a lot of delbiration, mostly on which GL to go with, and if they were going to do a hawk wether to go for hawkman or hawkgirl. In the end the roster was the iconic big 7 one, in large part thanks to Grant Morrison taking that concept and reviving it in his run on the team, but shaking it up slightly: Barry was naturally replaced with Wally West flash as he was THE flash in the comics, gave a slightly younger member for the others to play off of, and was more popular.. something Dan DiDio plugged his ears and went LALALALALALAL about for a decade before FINALLY leaving the company so he could stop screwing with a character he hated for reasons that can be summed up as ‘MY FLASH IS BETTER. YOU’LL LIKE MY FLASH.. YOU’LL SEE I JUST HAVE TO MAKE THE OTHER ONE A MASS MURDERER.. THAT’LL SHOW YOU FOR NOT LIKING WHAT I LIKE”... I still have maybe a smidge of lingering issues over how wally was treated the last few years after his return. I do not apologize for htem or for doing a little dance when I found out Didio was gone. 

Point is it wasn’t the only subsitution as Hal Jordan was replaced by John, obviously and rather than use Aquaman, they went with Hawkgirl, though Arthur still got an episode focusing on him fairly early into the series which has the iconic moment of him cutting his hand off to save his son. I dare you to find something more badass. Bruce both liked her deisgn better and felt it helped with the gender ballance. 

So with all that set and with some growing pains to get through they had their show so join me under the cut to see how it turned out. Spoilers: It good. 

We open INNNNNN SPACCCEEEEEEE, as a coaltion of neat looking aliens wants justice and has gone to a space court lead by three weird alien faces, likely inspiried by the kryptoian tribunal in the donnerverse superman movies, with their prosecutor sending a group of mysterious robots known as the Manhunters to go fetch the accused for a trial: John Stewart. Given he’s voiced by Kurtwood “Red Forman” Smith, i’m very surpised he didn’t order them to also put their foots up his ass. Maybe he’s saving it for the trial.

After the titles we cut to John himself whose in shades and trenchant for reasons.. I mean it looks neat, but he’s in his old neighborhood not hunting down his exes killer or trying to hide the fact he’s a ninja turtle. Why is he all disguised. I mean sure WE know people are coming from him and given what he thinks he did he knows.. but he has no intention of running from what he did. It’s just a weird stylistic choice. That said we do get a cool sequence when while casually walking he notices a robbery, and stops it simply by first stopping the wheel then levitating the car.. and while he does get a little showy shaking the guy upside down to return the money.. it’s all very controlled. It shows off how John works. While we’ve seen him at work as Green Lantern before this this small sequence says volumes about john in the span of a few minutes, showing that shilw he HAS immense power, he only uses the amount he needs, knows when to hold back, and only shows off a tiny bit, and even then he’s likely still keeping the theif absolutely safe. It also provides excellent foreshadowing for later as to why the League takes his side even when he refuses to defend himself, as it shows that John really is a professional true and true.

He runs by a basketball court and fails to make a basket when throwing a ball back to a kid before meeting his old gym teacher, who turns out to be the kids uncle or something like that, and invites John to join them as they go to the barber shop. The kid wants John’s haircut, his granpa says the usual and i’m wondering why as John’s haircut isn’t that radical: it’s a miltiary style cut, belying the fact that for this series, while it dosen’t come up in the plot here, John was a former marine instead of an architect. Honestly.. this wasn’t a bad change, giving us the deciated and measured john we know, to the point the comics gladly retconned it in. Not that it’s really a huge deal given it meelrly adds shades to the guy and dosen’t prevent him from being an architect. It just adds lairs by giving a reaosn he’s so focused and driven. He had it drilled into him and carried it with him. 

Meanwhile on the watchtower The Flash clumisly tries to get to know Hawkgirl better and maunver into asking her out, though it’s clear sh’es not intrested. Still even if he can’t help flirting, and it sometimes gets creepily obnoxious, it’s still better than I expected remembering this running subplot, as he DOES try to get to know her and what she does in her off time, even if it’s to set up asking her out, and is trying to ask her out instead of just hitting on her or doing anything far more creeptacular. It’s still not great mind you and hasn’t aged well at all.. but for the time it’s not TERRIBLE and again it goes away pretty quickly in favor of the much more intresting John and Shierya relationship. 

Flash accidently shoots himself in the foot.. conversationally though given how Wally is at this point in the series I wouldn’t be suprised, by asking the Martian Manhunter, who gives Hakwgirl an easy exit if he’s ever felt alone.. you know the guy whose entire race including his wife and child died horribly. He quickly apologizes though and John understands he just stuck his foot in his mouth at lighting speed. And it’s not the MOST insensitive he’s been about Jonn’s dead wife. 

But things are soon interupted as Jonn notes “We have an incursion!” 

But the Avengers are dealing with all of that so they can instead focus on the Manhunters shooting toward earth. I really like this as the primary reason Batman set up this station was to monitor for alien threats, it just because the Leagues base because superman had the idea to stay as a team and it was a good un, and given earth JUST had an invasion, as this likely isn’t too long after that given it’s only the second set of episodes, it’s understandable they’d  be on high alert. 

So our heroes move to intercept. As the first episode after the pilot this one also sets up a recurring part of the show and a necessary one: only a handful of Leaguers would feature in each two-parter, as the episodes for the first two seasons were essentially one hourlong story split into two episodes. The only exceptions were the three part premire, the three part finales for each season, and the sole solo episode comfort and joy which is fucking awesome and my faviorite christmas episode period. But even with the extended run time the crew simply felt i’td be unwiedly to juggle 7 characters eveyr episode, feeling it’d eventually get to original series star trek leevels of having one just manning a console or something. So rather than try and cram them all into every episode, they choose who they needed and gave valid excuses for the rest when necessary. In this case Batman and Wonder Woman have solo missions their busy with , as does Superman whose adressing an earthquake.  Our heroes try talking to the Manhunters.. who refuse to talk to them and then also say their coming for John, and aren’t explaning why. So naturally a brawl breaks out as the League SHOCKINGLY dosen’t want their friend who as far as they know has done nothing wrong taken by a brutish paramilitary force who won’t actual talk to the citzens their policing or try and be coporative. More on this in a second. The fight itself is pretty awesome as our heroes fight as evenly as they can.. but it’s clear their outgunned outplanned outnumbered and outmanned, as while their you know the justice league and do their best and Jonn is in Superman’s weight class the battle makes it VERY clear their barely holding in there and that the blast from the manhunters rods are just too potent for them to stand up against. 

But help and hope arrives and things get a bit less lopsided when Superman shows up! Unfortunately it’s season 1 superman, and something a lot of fans noticed but I as a kid didn’t and the crew themslves did not until it was too late to course correct for the season, was that Superman came off as a bit of a wimp in this series. See they had the good intention of having him struck down to show a threat’s serious, something TV Tropes calls the “The Worf effect” after the fact that Worf on Star Trek TNG would get knocked on his ass a lot for the same reason, but it has the side effect of making a character look like their made of paper mache if done too often. To the crew’s credit they realized this and not only made sure this didn’t happen as much in season 2, but dedicated the first episode of Season 2, twilight, to showing Superman as a badass by having him try and cave Darkseid’s skull in. Granted they overcompensated in places in that episode, but that’s a story for another day. Point is he had a habit of getting knocked around and it varied between really effective and overselling it. Here it works as the manhunters had already knocked Jonn around a bit, knocking him into some poor kid’s apartment whose really wondering what the fuck just happened too much to enjoy meeting the martian manhunter, so him  not being too on top of them simply sells this threat is equal, and possibly past the League. 

Meanwhile John is talking to his former teacher who says the kid reminds him of John... it’s not only a nice bit of depth to show the restrained John used to be a bit of a hellraiser before the Marines.. but also shows John’s guilt as he hopes not.. but before he can unload, he notices the fight and suits up to his old mentors shock and the kids joy, I mean I would too if a guy suddenly because a green lantern in front of me, and dashes off.. to surrender and break up the fight, handing over his ring and going with them and telling the League not to interfere. Their response can be summed up thusly. 

To John, he’s peacefully surrendering for a crime he comitted to a bruitsh and unfair police force but one who is duly deputized and as an officer himself, for the unaware the Green Lanterns are space cops and given the reason rightfuly reconing on the police I will certainly be discussing this as we go, is trying to coparate and prevent any collateral. While LIKELY Bruce pays for any that happens, as beneath his batdick demanour at times he’s a very good man and if he has the pockets for a space station, space craft, commuincators and all the good stuff a superhero team has on hand, he probably has a dedicated fund set up to paying for collateral since insurance might not cover it, and not only that would likely give any impacted extra to do any upgrades they coudln’t before because he’s a philanorphist .. one who dresses up like a bat to punch people in the face, but that itself is still philathophy in a way. 

But to the League? Their friend was taken by a bunch of shady paramilitary robots who didn’t bother talking to them, is trying to keep them out of it and for all they know only surrendered to prevent a fight, and even if he had valid reasons, as his friends-ish and teammates, they have a right to answers. So while John sits in his cell completlating his apparent crimes.. the JL have taken off in the Javelin, the spaceship I mentioned batman funding. And of course Batman has both spaceship money and had a design for one so ready it likely took a month at most for him to get it up and running, if not less, and only didn’t have one in the batcave because he hadn’t neededed it yet and likely didn’t want to embezle more money than he has to from his company. Jonn uses the stars John saw, say that three times fast I dare you, to find a location and our heroes head there.  Our heroes arrive.. and are attacked by the local security despite Superman geninely trying to hail them, the Javelin not firing back and our heros only going out to intercpet personally so they don’t die, and even then making careful certainty not to attack. So we get another thrilling battle, with our three flying heroes all pitching in, and the flash realizing he dosen’t know how to fly the thing and me cursing out bruce in my head for you know, not either forcing flash to learn the stuff, or having the forsight to put a manual on board for any members who forgot something, aka so when Wally inteivibly goofs off and eats candy instead of reading it the first time, he can speed read it and at least retain it long enough to land the thing in a crisis. If it were anyone else i’d be understanding but this is the guy who again, either had spaceship plans lying around or could get one together in the span of a month or so and while not thinking of the ship in terms of a team, still also paid for and likely created the commuincators they used, so he’d know his team well enough to know he needs this. 

My nitpicking aside, our heroes land, make quick work of the locals, and then crash in on John’s trial after he’s escorted in, passing his fellow lanterns who rightfully treat him with disdain.. but for the wrong reasons as we’ll see. John gives  groaning “oh no” , like he’s embarassed. When REALLY..

Seriously John, again you were as far as they knew kidnapped, and the way the manhunters acted, they had no reason to think they were legitamate, and you didn’t take five minutes to tell them, “They have every reason to be takning me” or “I blew up a planet I deserve this” . They still would’ve came mind you, they just might of realized this wasn’t a traditional rescue mission and actually tried to use some subtly. You also COULD have told the manhunters they might show up so the security wouldn’t attack them. They probably woudln’t o LISTEND or attacked themselves, so i’ts a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation, but you still did absolutely nothing. It’s the one mistep with John here and even then it has the justification of his self loathing at the moment being so high, he assumed they’d rightfully write him off without question.. not to mention given the team is mostly white guys, two aliens and a princess who woudln’t know better, he probably assumed like most white dumbasses they’d assume the police were correct and not give him the benifit of a doubt. To their credit, especially since you know one of them’s superman and the other one’s a professional dumbass, they didn’t think that for a second. Some would not be such a good person. 

But Prosecutor Forman and the big giant heads aren’t much better than the manhunters, so Prosecutor Forman sends some orange guys to put foots up their asses.. and since unlike the manhunters their just... some ambigiously gendered aliens with no powers, they go down quick and before the manhunters enter, superman RIGHTFULLY calls them out, as he points out they just wanted to know what the hell was going on, didn’t throw the first punch, and have been under attack since, and the heads admit this IS a public trial, and they kinda overreacted so as long as the superfriends don’t do any other antics and watch like anyone else, their good. Superman has his team play it safe for now as they really don’t know what’s going on and given they could only stalemate the manhunters on even footing, they know they can’t take them on their home turf.  

The trial is soon underway, and Prosecutor Forman calls the witnsees.. Kanjar Ro, also voiced by Smith. This is neat little bit as Ro was one of the first foes the League fought in the comics, a space pirate, and while he originally was just going to be some random asshole, someone brought up the idea of him being Ro and the crew really loved it. It’s a nice nod to the comics and honestly if you have a vast superhero universe with decades of continuity to draw from for your show, why NOT make the secondary villian of the episode be someone from the comics. 

Ro is, like the comics, a pirate and seemingly came forward because what John did was so bad even he can’t stomach it and has to say something. So we FINALLY find out what John did.. well okay the audience as a whole does I remember this from being a kid. He and Ro had a routine cop and robber interaction, Ro was smuggling shit, and John was doing his job as GL of Sector 2814 and stopping him and cut out his engine.. but seemingly said engine drifted off, and destroyed a planet as  result via chain reaction, and thus the debris right outside the planet John’s being tried on are apparently thsoe of the planet he accidently killed. The court takes a break and while the League, understandably, assume that the obviously shady man was lying John ends part one by confirming that no he did it. And this is why I put a pin in things... because the episode being about a space cop being arrested by worse space cops and dealing with his friends in the badge turning on him while some of his other friends try to prove he’s innocent, and the man in question being an african american... tackles some very loaded issues that, givent he writer and most of the staff, Dwayne McDuffie accepted, were very much white, i’m thinking they just kind of fell backward into and it only came out as good as it did either do to McDuffie or just blind luck that it didn’t turn out entirely awful in hindsight.

And if anyone is complaning: “Wait you dont’ need to get political leave politics out of this”.. please leave my fucking blog. For one, the recknoing with the police was long overdue, I feel ashamed for not having it sink in how fundementally broken the police were and not realizing it for my whole fucking life, I knew some cops were bad but I hadn’t realized the institution was inherently racist and bad  and feel so much deep and lasting shame for that, and for another again it’s a story that at it’s core is a black police officer being arrested for doing something wrong, taking full responsiblity for his actions like a police officer SHOULD, and having friends of his try and prove he didn’t really do it, while his fellow officers, rather than find the act itself abohhrent, come out as either being loyal to john no matter what (kilowog) because fellow officer, or assholes who ONLY are upset because it makes them look bad, and are ONLY distancing themselves because of that, and not because you know JOHN MAY OF CAUSED A GENOCIDE BY INCOMPETNECE. So yeah, i’m not ignoring the real world implications, I couldn’t and wouldn’t if I wanted to, and i feel if done right ANY medium, animation, comics, what have you, for kids or not, can tackle such issues and should be able to. 

So i’m not ignoring the elephant in the room, and as we get into part 2 we get the good and bad of this in full: Superman feels something’s off about this whole thing, a hunch admitely but given an engine falling in a crater seems a bit too convinent, he has a right to investigate and takes MM to do so, while he leaves Flash and Hakwgirl to stall. Both take diffrent approaches: Flash signs on as GL’s lawyer.. and it’s an awesome scene as we find out, in your standard evil lawyer joke, that the tribunal of faces solved this by simply having the lawyer share the punishment.. but it also shows Flash’s loyalty and faith that his friend did not do this and something worse is at work, as he still agrees after learning he’ll probably die if his other friends don’t fix this. 

And now we have full context i can get into where this episode really does the issue justice for the most part: John is presented as the model of both what the GL Corps and what police should be: He’s professional, uses minimal force despite having a weapon that can do anything, and when he THINKS he did something horrible, he dosen’t run from his crime: the most he does is go back home to see it once last time, simply waiting for someone to come and get him for what it did wether it be his own brothers in arms or as we saw the manhunters and he doesn’t defend himself because he dosen’t feel he should as he screwed up, got an entire planet killed, and rightly thinks he should pay for it. He’s likely, as a black man in the early 2000′s, been falsely accused, pulueld over and fucked over by police and seen people in his community he knewe and care about die because of shit like this so when given the chance to take responsibility, even from a clearly broken system, he does. Because in the same situation a lot of officers back at home would not and would walk away clean and that’s not who John Stewart is, how he was raised, or what he or the corps stands for. 

But the episode gets to have it’s cake and eat it too, as the League does belivie John didn’t do this on purpose.. and the blind faith they especially superman did come off as wince inducing.. until I realized it’s not because of some “brotherhood of the badge” bullshit.. but because it’s Superman. He belivies in the good of most people. In this very series despite Lex Luthor having tried to kill him dozens of times at this point, he STILL shows the guy empathy when he finds out Lex is dying of cancer. Lex spits at the notion of course and dosen’t take it seroiusly.. but Superman is just that good a person, so if he has a hunch somethings’ wrong.. it probably is. And even if he and Jonn found nothing... it’s the right thing to do. A crime should ALWAYS be properly investigated to make sure someone dosen’t hang for something they did not do. This is what I meant by have it’s cake and eat it too: the episode tackles police brutality.. but the accused is also the victim, and it thus tackles the unfairness in the us courts, how black people are often assumed guilty when that’s horribly racist and biased as fuck and how Police are assumed correct. Our heroes are assuming john is right based on optisim but are not wrong for wanting him to at LEAST get a fair trial and full investigation that clearly was not done. It also covers, again probably intetioanlly, how some are often not able to get proper representatin, with this court outright getting rid of it, which is wrong and bad, and the flash being the best John can do and not very good at it, mostly stalling for time. It shows the system’s brokena nd soemtimes you have to directly fight iht and can’t just take it , and even if your convinced your guilty and want to rightfuly take the blame for something your sure you did... you still deserve a fair trial and a compitent one. 

It’s not all good: as said the gl’s are portrayed as bad for not wanting anything to do with john, and in order to make them unsympathetic they care more about their rep than the fact a friend may of comited genocide and kilowog showing up and providing character witness is seen as a good thing, even if he provides no actual character evidence other than “Johnny’s a good guy” and that’s not ideal. It’s not perfect and again it was writtne by an old white guy so of course it isn’t but the fact it gets so much right the more you dig in despitei t’s awwkardness and being written and aired 20 years ago... that is nothing to sneeze at. 

We have more to dig into here too with the manhunters but first moreof the plot: While the other stuff mentioned happens, Superman and Jonn investigate as said.. and we find out WHY superman was supscious: while it was part hunch.. he did in fact have valid reason to suspect something was off, and as we saw actually heard the case against his friend first, and only went against it because the evidence was off.. in that the MOON of the planet is still there and should’ve flown off. He and Jonn soon find a MASSIVE device that John identifies as a bigger version of a toy he had as a kid, something that created images... and again shows whya  PROPER investigation was needed. Had the court actually looked into it instead of presuming John guilty, they would’ve found this thing too. Naturally though Kanjar Ro has followed them and wants to kill them.. but with her subplot wrapped up Hawkgirl went to seei f they needed backup, stealing one of the guard ships which given they attacked people on ap lanet iwth a PUBLIC TRIAL going on without haling them yeah don’t blame her, and kicks his ass. Our heroes find out the truth as I mentioned earlier: Ro was paid to lie and be in on things for an assload of money.. byt he Manhutners.. who at the moment are plotting to strike while Oa, the home of the green lanterns is weak, as the Guardians who created them and monitor them mostly left to go to the trial.

As we catch up with them, THe guardians speak on each lantern being trusted with the ring and given little oversight.. because they pick wisely. The prosecutor just wants John to hang, calls for a sentence, which is death and John and Flash nearly die, in case you thought I was pulling those parallels out of my ass. But Superman rushes in, and in a small, subtle gag he and Jonn do so thorugh a small pain of glass put over where they enterted last time, fight off security and save them, and before prosecutor foot in the ass can harumph about it more.. Superman claims jonn’s innocent..a nd has Shiera smash the generator, showing he indeed is, getting John aquitted. John also attacks Ro, who they brought along as a witness, rightfully so, but the League get him to stop as they don’t have time for that: the Guardians are strangely leaving after that, the manhunters are clearly doing something given their asbent, so John retakes his ring, restored to who he was now knowing he truly WAS innocent and was simply set up.. and he wants to find out why. 

We soon get the why as the Guardians explain the manhunters after the League won’t let them just.. brush by after they aburbtly tried to leave. They AREN’T behind the current attack.. but did create them, feeling robots would be better policeman. They were wrong, with the manhunters lacking empathy, being far too military in their job, and generally not being up for it so they simply gave them smaller jobs as bounty hunters, court balifs that sort of thing ans assumed they were fine because they didn’t say anything. As John puts it perfectly “Not outloud. “ And this itself is the other thing that makes the episode work as an allegory, if a very unteitonal one: The Manhunters are the police as they are now, violent brutes with way too much power, no restraint in using it and no ounce of mercy or sympathy for those they protect. And the Guardians rightfully removed this system, and replaced it with the corps. And while the Corps STILL have a lot of leway and power, being free to investigate on their own provided OA dosen’t call them to do someting specific, and given a ring that can do anything within corps guidelines, which basically means “don’t kill” and “don’t be a dick with it”, the guardians still watch them, do not interfere in trials and choose very wisely. not only that ther’es only one officer per sector, each sector being galaxies wide.. but that’s because that’s only what’s NEEDED. One Lantern with the power to take on entire fleets if needed, which is a fair amount of power given the scope of the job, and come in as requested by the people themselves, honestly isn’t a bad system. Granted the corps is wonky from time to time in the comics as are the guaridans depending on the writer, but at it’s core the corps really sounds like a more responsible versoin of the police: given just the gear necessary, the men necessary, and only called in when truly needed or if they spot a crime in process. THat’s what the people protecting us should be like and that’s why this episode still works. 

Obviously though I was aware of none of this as a kid, and the real reason I loved this episode is this climax. The League arrives on Oa just in time to provide backup. Presumibly the guardians there and incoming with the league simply dont have the power to spare to call for reinforcments. Which is weird but fair enough drama wise and our heroes storm the planet , with the corpsmen from before all showing up to pitch in. But John gets there too late as the head manhunter drains the central power battery, the source of the lantern’s powers, and declares I AM THE POWER, refusing to accept he’s out of date.

 And this, folks is the moment that made me love the lanterns for life. John is outgunned, the wise old wrinkled blue men who gave him his powers drained of there, starring down a massive monster planning to subjigate the universe... and he does not blink. See lanterns are picked for their willpower, their abliity to stare down things like this, and fight anyway, their very rings controlled by this, by their own force of personhood. It’s another reason besides logistics why theires only one per sector: it’s that hard to find one. Earth is so remarkable because , even if it’s simply so we could have more stars in the books over time in real world, we produced not ONE person capable of this.. but 7.. Alan Scott whose not in the corps but whose powers stll work on will and could probably use a regular corps ring very much included. John was chosen because he simply won’t give up. He gave up before.. but it was the right thing to do and ultimately biding his timea nd accepting his trial.. gave his friends time to aquit him and prove he was framed. 

But now is not the time to back down.. now’s the time to stand.. so how does John win? By USING his will, by using the reason he was chosen coupled with ihs own personal dedication and concentration, he grabs his ring as it floats toward the guy, takes it back.. and starts reciting the lantern oath. And since the Manhunter is indeed “The power”.. it means he too can be controlled like any lantern energy. and thus with every bit of willpower he has, struggling all the while but not moving a damn inch, John recites his oath and shoves the monster that framed him, and the power he stole, back into the battery, all while saying an oath so badass it has been etched into my head since thanks to this episode. Say it with me now..

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night No Evil Shall Escape My Sight Let Those Who Worship Evil’s Might BEWARE MY POWER, GREEN LANTERN’S LIGHT!

And the credit goes to phil lamarr, who delivers the oath with all the gravitas and awesomeness it’s first delivery in this continuty it deserves. It was this that made me a lifelong fan: one man with the power of anytihng using PURE MENTAL STRENGTH AND DETERMiINATION TO SHOVE AN EVIL ENERGY BEING IN A GIANT LANTERN WHILE RECITING A BADASS AND AWE INSPIRING OATH. And if that dosen’t sell you on the Green Lantern’s being awesome I can’t help you and don’t know why your here. 

So wrapup time: The Guardians genuinely thank john, saying they choose well, and John brushes off his fellows corpspersons as they should’ve belivied him and thanks the League for having faith in him even when he didn’t. And while the former part has some.. bad implications we’ve gotten into already, I also can’t entirely blame him given they did it not because he might’ve killed someone but again, because 

Precisley. So our heroes prepare to head home, cue the credits. 

Final Thoughts:

So how does this episode hold up 20 years later? As should be obvious, damn well. It’s a good introduction for the corps, if showing them to be kinda assholes in places, and a good spotlight episdoe for John showing who he is what he stands for and again how TRULY MONUMENTALLY BADASS the man is. And lest you think the comics versoin is any LESS badass, he once got into a sniper duel in with Bedovian, a member of the Sinestro Corps and a crab person.. who was as I forgot till looking it up, THREE SECTORS, which i’ll remind you can comprise entire galaxies, away, with a ring made sniper rifle. In one shot no less. Point is even with some.. wonkier aspects, and ones that aren’t intetnional, it still works and is a shockingly relevant episode 19 years later and the fight scenes, as are standard for the series, are overwhelmingly awesome. Check this one out, and the series as a whole. With its great animation, character work and general badassery this one’s worth a few watches. And obviously given my love of this seires, and it’s 20th anniversay next year, and my love of John, check back here for more John-centric episodes throughout the year as we celebrate the guy. And I will also celebrate the green lantern NAMED guy eventually too, and jessica.. and all of them ebcause I love them all. Yes.. even Hal.  As for which John episode i’m doing next? Easy, one that intorduces me to a character I love who dosen’t get used near enough, Metamorphisis. The when I can’t say QUITE yet as my March schedule is full and most of my ongoing projects are on the backburner so I can tackle two arcs of ducktales, which coincidentally happened to be in time for the finale. That wasn’t planned AT ALL mind you, it just ended up working out really well that way.  For now though tommorow I begin my coverage of the final 4 episodes of ducktales with “Beaks in the Shell” and later this week finish up black history month with blacksad, continue my Lena retrospective with a money shark and some pr work, cover the second season of close enough, celebrate Tex Avery’s birthday and also celebrate the new Tom and Jerry movie.. with the OLD tom and jerry movie. Until then, see you next rainbow.