#like the stuff that kills speedsters for real

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

Now that I think about it, the Dark Crisis Young Justice book also implied that Bart, when running low on speedforce energy, had to siphon energy off of Red Tornado and Superboy to function

Now, they don't say what kind of energy Bart took from them, just that they gave him energy and it was enough for Bart to do what he needed to do.

But realistically Kon can only give one kind of energy. Solar energy. And Red Tornado could be giving electricity from his battery or Bart could be siphoning off the kinetic energy from RT's tornadoes.

So I guess Wally isn't the only one who isn't picky about what he eats. Bart will take anything in a pinch as well.

Wally "I don't care where the energy comes from, I'll take it" West

Sure, he prefers speedforce energy but he'll take whatever you have to offer. Kinetic, electric, godly, he'll honestly take anything.

[miss-eli-starfleet]

Okay. This post is gonna be about Bart Allen, and all the Thawne-Allen stuff.

Tagged bc we both love Bart’s Thawne Allen problem: @themaybewoman

This is what I’ve gathered so far about his existence is hopefully comic accurate, but maybe not continuity accurate:

It starts with Iris West. Apparently, it’s recently revealed to me (today) that this girl is actually from the 31st century. Because of the semi-dystopian era of her birth, her real parents sent her back in time to the 21st century to keep her safe. She was adopted by the Wests, but she doesn’t know her future origins until later on.

She meets Barry as a news reporter, and they marry. When they were thinking about having kids, Reverse Flash/Eobard Thawne comes along and murders her because his likes to make Barry’s life as miserable as possible. But because she’s from the future, her parents found some magic comic book science to “revive” her, thus placing her in the 31st century to live her life.

Barry finds out she’s alive in the future, and basically goes into retirement to live with her in the 31st century. He passes the mantle of The Flash to Wally West. Why he doesn’t just get her and bring her back to the 21st century, I’ll never know. Or he just wanted her to be with her real parents (which i would assume she barely knows lol).

I was trying so hard to find out why Barry decided to raise their children in the 31st century, but we have our answer there. Iris is future girl. Their children, Don and Dawn Allen, later operates as the Tornado Twins much like Barry did as the Flash. In Central City, I’m assuming. There was some clashing with the Legion of Superheroes, basically the 31st century’s version of the Justice League, but whatever. Not really important to Bart’s existence.

Dawn Allen marries Jeven Ognats. They have a daughter named Jenni Ognats, who later joins the Legion of Superheroes as XS. Jenni is Bart’s cousin.

Don Allen marries Meloni Thawne, and that’s where this gets more complicated.

Meloni Thawne is the daughter of Earthgov President Thaddeus Thawne, who irrc is a direct descendant of Eobard Thawne. When President Thawne learned of this marriage, the dude’s pissed because the Thawne-Allen feud is still on in his mind. He disowns his daughter, indirectly has the Tornado Twins killed via Dominators, and then kidnaps Bart.

Idk where Barry is in all this, maybe he went into the Speedforce and just chilled there through all this?

Now Bart had this hyper-accelerated aging thing going on as a side effect of being born a speedster (I think). Like nearly a teen by two yrs I think. Thawne grandfather stuck him in this VR so he can grow up “normally”, intending to make him a living weapon against the Flashfam. I’m pretty sure Meloni was locked up or something during that period of time too? Otherwise she would’ve done something about this.

Iris kidnaps Bart, and takes him to the 21st century via the Flash Museum’s Cosmic Treadmill (how they used that idk), hoping that Bart would have Wally West as a mentor. Instead, Wally ditches him to Max Mercury to be trained, and it plays on his low self esteem. Wally was pretty mean to him at some times, like when he gets recruited for the Teen Titans as Kid Flash.

But, hey, Wally did run him around the world fast enough to fix his accelerated aging problem.

Anyways, he gets some visits from his other cousin, Jenni, and his mom in the Impulse 1995 series, which was so fun to read. It was so cool to read them talking to each other in Interlac he Max being all confused.

This all makes me wonder: was Meloni ever Don’s lightning rod? As to Iris is Barry’s lightning rod?

[ynbabe]

I need more young justice x pot head reader I cant get enough lmao,

Theyer just Like me FRFR

Ignore this if your request and stuff is off tho and have a good day :p

Thank you for another request 🍃 anon!! Glad to see you again!!

If you asked anyone in YJ who the instigators, enablers and experimenters were, they'd simultaneously say Dick, Y/N and Wally, and start weeping.

Last time one of you had an 'idea', Mount Justice had to be locked down because a paranoid Nightwing believed his shadow had gained sentience Peter Pan style and was now spying on him. Which later turned into a manhunt, when the dark-haired man realised it was his partner and best friend screwing with him.

This time you had the ingenious of asking the question- "What do you think a blunt would do to speedsters?" You thought out loud making the other members snap their heads at you.

Wally was already ready and Dick was preparing the first aid unit. You ran to your room to get your stash and as soon as you came back the hall was empty and a jumping Wally and a sighing Dick stood in the room.

"Pussies" you laughed, making the redhead laugh with you.

"M'gann actually ran out, I think she forgot she could fly!" He cried out, eyes wide, holding his stomach. Next to him, your boyfriend stood unamused, a blank expression on his face.

"If this opens up a wormhole into a world where I'm evil, I'm allowing myself to kill you," he joked and set up the camera. The first time you'd 'experimented' you'd jokingly set up a camera and it had stuck.

You lit the blunt and passed it to Wally, who stood in front of the camera like a 2016's youtuber would.

You wrapped your arms around your boyfriend's shoulder, nuzzling your face in his neck, "Aww, come on, you know you love us."

"I know, it's becoming a real problem." He chuckled.

Lost in your little world, you forgot about Wally and your experiment... That was until you heard a scream from above you.

"WHOOOOOOO-" the yellow blur screamed as it ran around the mountain. You could barely see him as little sparks of lightning showed up all around you and your boyfriend.

You lit your own blunt and fell back onto the sofa, "Well, now we gotta- actually I don't know what we have to do." You shut your eyes, putting your legs up on the coffee table.

"Sorry sweetheart, that's your problem," his voice came distantly, making you sigh as he stepped into a zeta tube.

"I love you too, babe."

"WHOOOOO"

[melonlthawne]

I’m laying down cause I have a killer migraine but here’s some baby!thad raised by Mel thoughts :

When they’re very little, Bart and Thad actually get along just fine. It isn’t until they’re around 5-7 that they develop their own personalities and stuff that they begin to bicker but in a normal sibling way not in a “kill each other way” and just like most siblings although they bicker back and forth both of them are willing to go out of their way to defend the other because they’re still family and deep down they care about each other

Bart and Thad love don of course but both kids definitely prefer Mel. It’s not even like for a real good reason it’s just probably because Mel smothers them with love and support and although don does the same Mel’s love is just so contagious to people

When the boys are first learning how to walk it’s an actual nightmare for Mel and don. Having speedster toddlers who have no idea how powerful or fast they can be ends up creating a lot of chaos. Don tries to keep up as best he can since Mel doesn’t have super speed but typically Bart goes in one direction and Thad goes in another. Eventually they use child leashes for them both cause it’s the only way to keep them from getting into trouble or possibly getting hurt

In this verse, I think that Don is the current flash since he didn’t die/wasn’t killed and takes over at least for their own time. Bart especially idolizes him and gets upset when he goes out fighting crime cause that’s his papa and he doesn’t want him getting hurt. SO SOMEHOW, Bart manages to tag along with don, wearing a cute little replica of the flash suit but for a kid and tries to help don out. Most villains get completely distracted and baffled about a 5 year old trying to fight them that they don’t even know how to handle it. Of course every time this happens don rushes to deal with the criminal and then scoop Bart up, take him home, and have a heartfelt conversation about how he appreciates Barts love and concern for him he just doesn’t want to get Bart hurt.

Similar to that other point, Bart and Thad are both mamas boys. They’ll still listen to don but sometimes he has to finagle it and plan in order to get Bart and Thad to listen to him

From the day Meloni brought home thad til he’s old enough to dress/style himself, Bart and Thad typically wear those precious matching clothes/outfits with maybe the color scheme being red and green for each boy

Thad is a late bloomer when it comes to talking. The way he was genetically engineered makes it hard for him to experience a normal life without all these expectations President Thawne basically programmed into him. He’s quiet a lot with a resting bitch face but he talks a lot for consistency around the family.

Baby Bart n Thad wear the cutest matchufn Halloween costumes ever and every single person in the flashfam us sent like 30 pictures of them becusde Meloni could NOT let people miss out on how cute her little babies are

DONT ASK ABOUT THE UNICORN TUMVLR MOVILE ID HARBAFE IT WONT LEF ME DLETR IT

[kitkatt0430]

For the AU headcanon game, AU in which Savitar is someone other than Barry? 👀

So I do remember various theories about Savitar's identity and one of them was Eddie. Which... I did not like that theory, so I'm not gonna go that way.

If it was someone the team knew already, then Eobard is the obvious candidate. In the comics, he's made himself look like Barry a few different ways and so there could be a convoluted plot going on that way, but... they've had enough Eobard Thawne as the bad guy on the show, I wanna speculate on someone new.

So the comics Savitar - New Earth version - was a Cold War pilot whose real identity was never discovered. While at top speed in his fighter plane, he was struck by lightning and survived the crash in hostile territory. This could be updated to him being an air force test pilot for an experimental craft using Dominator tech - foreshadowing the Dominator attack xover event later that season - that gets struck by lightning mid test. The test is classed a failure and the craft is unrecoverable - the man who becomes Savitar is assumed dead but of course he isn't.

Savitar therefor isn't obsessed with killing Iris - his existence doesn't depend on her. Instead perhaps Iris' investigation into Savitar's origins puts her in danger as he doesn't want anyone to know who he used to be - maybe he doesn't even remember and having his identity revealed would detract from the story he's selling the cult he's been creating.

Perhaps Alchemy as a stage one/first half of season boss with Savitar being hinted at until he's revealed at the mid season finale. Savitar could still be the man behind Alchemy, with Julian being unaware that he's been brainwashed to take on the persona of Alchemy under specific triggers. To de brainwash Julian, they bring in Hartley who - in this timeline - used a hypnotic flute in addition to his gloves. Julian thus has to come to terms both with what he did under the brainwashing and with the fact that he is a meta... that it was his rejection and self-hatred over being a meta that gave Savitar the in he needed to control Julian in the first place.

Part of the season's focus is on Barry having to accept that he has no idea how much the changes to the timeline are his fault and how much is stuff that was already gonna happen and he just... didn't know things were leading that way behind the scenes.

Revealing Frost's real origins in this season. Caitlin, panicking, goes to her mom for help and things with Carla eventually unravel to the reveal of Icicle. Frost has to choose between teaming up with Icicle or siding with Caitlin's friends... and chooses Icicle. Only to quickly realize she's in over her head and she turns to Caitlin for advice. The two of them form a truce to defeat Icicle and rejoin Team Flash by surprise!!! during the final Savitar vs Flash fight at the end of the season, which would also include Jesse and Wally as well as Savitar's cult.

Savitar would definitely try to recruit Icicle and Frost into his cult, but I don't see them having any of it. Icicle has his own god complex of a sort going on and Killer Frost just doesn't like him or trust him after Caitlin's experiences with Zoom and the Reverse Flash. If you've met one evil Speedster, you've met them all.

One of the things I did like about show!Savitar was that he was a fallen hero - I'm a Tales game series fan, i love fallen heroes as villains, that's basically the main villain of every Tales game and I eat it up every time. So I think part of the investigation into Savitar would be the reveal that he was a highly decorated hero and he saved a lot of lives. That's why he was tapped for the project. But after being essentially left for dead and his amnesia, Savitar grew to feel he was owed the accolades and devotion and it all warped into the god complex he has now. Forcing him to face his past isn't exactly a tomato in the mirror moment but he's torn between horror over who he's become and his desire for security and safety through the power he's accumulated.

[starwalker03]

Did WMLP Wally get faster from being stuck in the speed force? He was faster then Barry when he first returned to the main world. Would this wear off or be permanent if Wally was to use his powers?

Nah he's fast now.

I mean the thing with speedsters. Is they're just so... Fast.

And I know that's the point but these motherfuckers? Have canonically? Gone as fast as the speed of light? And that's not how physics works.

In my head the speed force is basically a physical representation of energy, and speedsters basically have access to this "plane" that allows them their superspeed without all the things that should kill/harm you from going that fast. And the speed force kinda exists outside time and space so when speedsters travel in time and universes it's through that plane. But when you start absorbing too much of the energy that's when you get sucked in cause it's like 'oh no you are going Too Fast and that's Not Good come here until you slow down' but it doesn't always go well.

So basically speedsters can all go super fast to me but that's not canon. In the show Wally is slower than Barry because of *waves hands around making vague noises* but uhhh. Yeah. He's spent so much time in the speed force that, if he could control his shit, he'd be able to go zoom zoom real good and Barry wouldn't be able to lap him anymore.

But yeah. I haven't read a bunch of flash stuff and I don't want to honestly cause I like my version of the speed force and I just. Don't have the brain RAM for the canon explainations.

[zydrateacademy]

My List O' Frames

I'm going down my "Usage" stat, though Warframe's tracking for most used items is... odd, to say the least. My Bolter Prime is still third on my most used weapons despite having not touched it in years. Bolter Prime was just... my first prime, if memory serves and it served well for a while.

The frames are kind of the same, with Ember Prime still locking down my "second", again, despite not having used it for years. As I use them they shift around so they'll be dethroned eventually.

I actually own -most- frames with several exceptions. I won't list them all here, like stuff I never play. Banshee, Nyx, Zephyr, etc. I just wanted to compile a list of frames I actually use and sort of document what kind of "mood" I am in when to play them.

Saryn's my main girl and has been for a long time, even in her non-prime days. Generally my go-to for most missions with the exception of Spy/Capture/Assassinate. She has a very low sprint speed with no real mobility skills. She can handle pretty much everything else. I've recently rebuilt her into range so I can hit more of the map.

Ember, as I said I haven't played her in years and don't see a lot of them running around. I wonder if her firestorm just doesn't scale well, but it's usually pretty fun to use.

Titania is my "let me not waste my teammates time" frame. I bring her notably on Sorties and various steel path missions, specifically stuff like Spy and Capture because there's always some speedster Gauss or Volt just speedrunning the whole map because nobody wants to waste their time burning down bullet sponge enemies. Titania is third on my list not because of kills likely, but from missions completed AS her. She's basically my speedrun frame. Does almost no damage in her pixie form, despite having forma'd her special weapons a couple times and modded them as much as I really can. They're dual pistols that fire fairly slowly which can chunk some enemies but she really exists just so I can keep up with the pros and not take five minutes getting to extraction.

She can also cheese the treasure hunts and several mastery tests.

Mesa is my "fuck around with lowbies/friends/low level missions" frame. I wish her Peacemaker scaled better because on 70+ missions, they can't seem to handle Eximus shields and domes very well (as they become more and more common). She mostly has to rely on the 3 and whatever primary weapon I'm using at the time. She's as built as I can feasibly get her, so I generally switch to fairly basic automatic/ballistic weapons on her to play into the gunslinger archetype. Sometimes I just want to Call of Duty this shit.

Mirage, like Mesa, I wish scaled better. I have the explosive item augment on her which makes her great fun to play on defensive missions but it's immensely boring, and just recently bought the augment that increases her clone's damage so I may need to rebuild and forma her more towards that style of play. One or two of her skills are situational depending on if you're in light or shadow and that's a level if micromanagement I don't care for.

I remember playing a lot of Protea, I tried to build into the Artillery turret in hopes to get it to last longer but even at the highest I can get it, it only stays up for 6 seconds at 201% duration. I think I can do better with mods now but haven't bothered. I like tossing grenades around but she joins some of the others in "play in low level missions" pile.

Wisp will some day be second to Saryn. As she's both powerful, useful, and is along the same lines of Titania as my "let me not waste my team's time". Health regen and huge speed, I drop her motes down with 300% strength (raw, not counting various procs and perks). I generally play her on some of the hardest missions due to the health mote alone, and her passive to where she's invisible while flying through the air... She only really dies if I'm being stupid and trying to find a corner to cower in when I really should just be bullet jumping across the map with the speed mote. Not as fast to fly through the map as Titania but they both fulfill the same function.

In addition, her 4 remains fairly functional in high-ish level missions, up to 70 or 80. It's one of the most fun 4's to use, and at 300% strength why the fuck not drop it sometime?

I built Nova to speed up defense missions and to look pretty damn awesome while doing it. I never use her for anything else. If I have no frames to level but I need to level 2-3 weapons, she's my go-to to get that shit over with.

We'll now be getting into two off-categories. One is; "I'd play these more if they were better" territory, with a couple of exceptions (like Hildryn and Garuda). The second is "I wish I really understood what their kit really did".

For a very long time, despite reading abilities over and over again it took me a long time to truly comprehend what a frame's kit actually does.

Take this ability for example;

This is Mesa's 1. What the fuck does it mean that it "stores damage". What the fuck is a buffer limit. What do you mean "channeled" through the next gunshot. Is that for, a single shot? Is it just an ability for snipers? I have no idea, and many MANY frame abilities are worded like this. For a player who's just getting into the game you could read through entire kits and not fucking understand what's going on. That was my problem for a long time, and I'll explain more on this most as I run into them.

Octavia is a Category 1. I wish she was better. She's fairly well modded, 3 or 4 forma, baseline energy costs but everything else is in the positives. Yet it seems like my Skyrim-tune thumping rollewheel only does like 300 damage per tick. She's basically along the same lines as Mesa and Protea in the sense that she's great fun to take on under-50 missions. Otherwise most of her damage comes from whatever primary weapon I'm using. At that point, what's the use of the frame itself?

Ivara is Category 2, "I wish I knew what her kit was for". Her 4 is completely pointless because I have my own better bows I could use in place of it. Her 1 is a cycling of various arrow types. Making my own ziplines is cute but who cares? Her 2 does an Assassin's Creed style arrow control through the air but just equip some aoe primary and that fulfills the job ten times faster. Her 3, an invisibility and extra loot goblin type ability is the only real selling point, so she can be useful in spy missions. So much of what she is can be done with better tools.

She looks GREAT on a design standpoint.

I've got Mag in some of the sickest drip but she's stuck in another Category 2 of "I don't really understand her kit". Her 4 is like a big aoe crush but my Saryn's 4 essentially does the same thing.

Hildryn is the first of the exceptions to the two above categories. I want to play her a lot more and she has a purpose. She synergizes well with my brother's Nidus main (who needs energy to fuel his constant growth and damage potential). And at ~3700 shields with the adaptation mod on her (which puts her 'effective' health in the tens of thousands), she's a great go-to tank for when I just don't want to die. The problem is, Wisp also fulfills this task just as well. Wisp has a fraction of the health pool but a constant on demand regenerative ability. Hildryn can strip shields but what if the enemy doesn't have them, or what if they wander out of range of the ability. Various other drawbacks. Wisp is my "alright I won't die at all" frame, but I still understand and enjoy Hildryn's kit and I want to play her more.

Xaku is another "I wish I understood what the fuck they do despite having read all their abilities multiple times".

Let me save some time here and name a few others that are in the same camp that I won't even bother screenshotting: Gara, Gyre, Equinox, Nyx, Valkyr, Citrine, and Khora.

Voruna is awesome looking but her kit just feels like Garuda's with extra steps. But honestly I kind of want to play/forma her some more. I'm just not too hot on melee based stuff.

I am actually surprised to see Garuda on the bottom of the list except I then remembered this is the prime variant. I played her standard form a bit more, whom has long since been eaten by my ship. She's generally my go-to when I actually feel like taking melee seriously, or for a melee based Nightwave. I do not yet know how well she performs on high level content and I haven't even forma'd her yet.

And that's it! I own several others that I never plan to play much. Excal Umbra, Loki, several other male-coded ones. I want Caliban some day. Maybe Revenant.

[antrunner]

RE: your tags about body type variation in comics:

100%, a lot of comic artists know how to draw mmmmaybe 4 body types and about 5 faces and anything outside that becomes borderline or actual caricature. Most can't even draw kids that look like kids, and drawing children comes up A LOT so that particular oversight doesn't even make sense.

A lot of the reason for it comes down to muscle memory and expedience--you draw faster if you're drawing the same thing you've drawn several thousand times before. (Personally? I try to make sure my characters all have unique faces at a minimum.) That's one of the reasons I was like 'godDAMNIT, GODSPEED!' when he killed off the other speedsters/made them not feel safe to have powers. We had a pretty diverse range of ages and body types going with the Central City Speed Crew there, and I was low key hoping we'd see them show up more.

YEAH EXACTLY! Which, all of that second paragraph leads me into an even bigger issue in comics that i've noticed: quantity over quality. It feels like with a lot of newer ones (rebirth ones......) a lot of things have been disregarded in favor of just. producing things. and it sucks because we lose a lot of good stuff like diversity, personality, pre-set character growth. on top of all of this i feel like it's... alarming. that most of the fat characters we see are villains. not heroes. but from what we DO see from heroes, their body types are quickly retconned to fit in with the norm of skinny muscled people.

two examples of this that really pisses me off is ted kord: who became just another skinny muscle guy (he should be CHUBBY IMO) and kyle rayner. at the start of his run kyle had a sort of soft body with a rounder face. of course he wasnt always drawn like this, but looking at him in rebirth its like looking at a completely different person altogether. (this is also why i personally hate the omega men comics too. that is NOT kyle.)

Here's him in GL: 3D (1998) and Ion: Guardian of the Universe (2006).

He has rounder features. Muscled but not INSANELY so. He has a soft body type and... while not FAT. I think its important to recognize changes like this. He's actually seen a lot in early comics trying to work out with people like Donna or the titans and genuinely struggling to keep up because he isn't in shape. which MAKES SENSE FOR HIM!!!!!!!

SERIOUSLY WHO IS THIS LOL. (dont come at me with "hes AGED" i do NOT care... theres a way to age up characters while still keeping their body types and features the same. come on his eyes are BROWN. not terrifying blue.)

im going a bit off topic here. but i agree that it can also be seen with speedsters. they should, at the very least, be lean rather than heavily muscled. too often people hear "superhero" and assume massive, defined muscles like wwe wrestlers. no...... no. i think that heroes' bodies should be reflective of their lifestyles and powers. speedsters run. lanterns fly. superman is naturally large and should look like an ACTUAL body builder. wonder woman should be huge and muscled too rather than rib-less and thin.

there just needs to be more fat heroes. im not a skinny person, and actually lean more towards the fat side of the bmi scale (which isnt real btw. its bullshit lies used to fuel the diet industry and the public school system xoxo) but i hate this weird idea in comics that every hero is SKINNY. because more often than not... origin stories are like "this is just some random dude who got powers". that shouldnt mean he was already fit as fuck with an 8 pack and shoulders the size of manhattan...

i think its a conversation that isnt had enough is all. and im happy to talk about this more. as someone who struggles with weight issues and always have, it's harmful to a lot of people to see this sort of thing go unnoticed. and i hope with the semi-recent surge of diversity recognition we can also get some recognition for different body types :)

[brown-little-robin]

Character asks: 5, 7, and 8 for Nine? (I've been listening to his playlist and thinking about him recently.)

👀 ooh, fun! I love Nine's playlist; it's so dramatic!

5. What was the last time they cried, and under what circumstances? (Good way to get some *emotional* backstory in.)

I'll pick a random moment in Nine's timeline, shall I? And take note—on this particular answer, this is not necessarily canon to Strange Redemption. I'm still figuring out Nine's brain and story, so this is subject to change. That said:

Nine last cried inside Five's virtual reality setup. Five kept Nine there for a long time, and Nine lost a chunk of his memories while he was in there. Five stuck him in virtual reality in a setup meant to mimic Bart's day-to-day life. With no memory of how he got there, that was... incredibly confusing.

Nine tried, at first, to be Bart. He thought he'd been finally sent on a mission, sent back in time to rewrite the timeline and fix Two's mistakes. He figured out it was virtual reality when, after going through one week, the program cycled back to the beginning.

So Nine had no opportunity to change the past. No opportunity to win, to kill Bart. And to add insult to injury, the people whose praise he'd been soaking up... weren't even real.

It sucked. He cried about it. And then he went to the fake school again, because what else was there to do?

7. Describe the shoes they’re wearing. (This is a big catch all, gets into money, taste, practicality, level of wear, level of repair, literally what kind of shoes they require to live their life.)

Later on, when he leaves the Inertia uniform behind, he gets a slick pair of neon green Nike sneakers! Childishly, he picks Nike because he likes the swish—it looks like a lightning bolt, or the dust cloud behind a speedster. Joseph Wilson pays for them. They're new. But not for long! Nine uses them to run literally all over the world.

8. Describe the place where they sleep. (ie what does their safe space look like. How much (or how little) care / decoration / personal touch goes into it.)

Nine has a funny sleeping situation too!! He claims he sleeps in the Scarlett Room (the rooms in the second floor of the mansion are color-coded based on Clue characters), but he actually sleeps in the Plum Room, right next to Two's bedroom (the Peacock Room). Nine claimed the Scarlett Room as his territory because it seemed intimidating to have the blood-red room, plus it was a kind of slap in the face to his superhero rival, Impulse (both Bart and Seven)—Impulse wears red!

But the Scarlett Room actually made him anxious; red is Seven's color and Nine, deep down, is terrified of Seven. So Nine leaves his stuff in the Scarlett Room and actually sleeps and hangs out in the empty purple Plum Room. ......he is not as subtle about it as he thinks he is.

Thanks for the ask! Asks are open here!

[universalzones]

"I'm not talking about some petty thief's or two bit chumps. I'm talking about the worst of the worst who clearly aren't doing anything to change, and that's a small fucking list. Eggman, Mimic, and Clutch, that's three people. I want a fucking line Sonic. A line of when enough is enough. You want to try and loop me in with them? How many people have I killed? How many times have I ACTUALLY ruled the world? How many illegal operations do I run? HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE I FUCKED OVER, KIDNAPPED, AND TURNED THEM IN SOME CYBORG FREAKs?!" Surge was clearly done trying to be calm.

"Where's the fucking line Sonic?! When do you say enough is enough and STOP trying to save the people who just keep hurting everyone and the world over and over?! How many times does someone like me or Kit have to happen before you realize not everyone can fucking change?! No, you always act like there's nothing wrong and that everything is fine! IT'S NOT!" The tenrec couldn't keep her cool, though didn't want to punch Sonic. So she dash's over to the nearest wall and punch's full force, making a hole bigger than her. The speedster breathing was rapid, though slowly calmed down.

"I know I already said that, though I don't think you understand how it really feels. You're trying to do it because you think it's helpful, though it ain't. All it does is make it feel like you're just ignoring the problem, which is me." Surge could say her issues were all from Starline, though they weren't. Maybe a good chunk of them, though the tenrec couldn't blame it all on him. "I'm not asking for a fucking pity party, though do something that crack a joke or smile. Be fucking angry or upset, shit maybe even be a bit sad at what's happened. I don't fucking know." The tenrec felt like she was losing her mind.

"Just, stop ignoring the fucking problem. Can you honestly say you don't feel some sort of way about me? Yeah, I know you put most of it on Starline, though the whole Eggman tech Wisp stuff was me. Working with Clutch was me. Shit, it was me that ended up making your gear go all weird at the start of the Grand Prix. Give me something, anything." Surge wasn't sure where she was going with this. There was much more important shit to do, yet the tenrec couldn't let it go.

==========================================================

To saw Rowan was caught off guard was an understatement, barely enough focus and time to kick Mimic off from the noise. The lemur's eardrums felt like they were going to burst if this kept going on, though he did notice all the normal sized Wisp back off, looking at each other confused. At least they seemed to grab the Wisp Mimic had in his hand.

The large Wisp would wrap a tentacle around both of them and finally stopped the noise now that she had them both to where they couldn't run. Then it began looking between them, not seeming very amused about this. "🕈︎♒︎♓︎♍︎♒︎ □︎■︎♏︎ □︎♐︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ♓︎⬧︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ □︎■︎♏︎ ♒︎◆︎❒︎⧫︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ⧫︎♒︎□︎⬧︎♏︎ ♍︎♒︎♓︎●︎♎︎❒︎♏︎■︎✍︎" This was getting tiresome.

"Look, I'm sure you just asked who's who, though I don't think the other guy is going to be very willing to give himself up. I have one of the shadow Wisp's that's been traveling with me though, I'm sure they can tell I'm the real one." Rowan knew just saying he wasn't Mimic wouldn't cut it.

The Wisp raised a brow, seeming not to completely believe Rowan, though began looking around yet none of the Wisp came up. That's when she noticed one was missing, looking out of the Shadow Void, seeing them trying to open a portal with other Wisp and two Mobians. "🕈︎♋︎♓︎⧫︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ♓︎⬧︎ ⧫︎♒︎♋︎⧫︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ♒︎♏︎♎︎♑︎♏︎♒︎□︎♑︎ ✋︎🕯︎❖︎♏︎ ♒︎♏︎♋︎❒︎♎︎ ♋︎♌︎□︎◆︎⧫︎✍︎" She'd open a portal up to allow the Wisp as well as Sonic and Surge to enter.

Sonic's body tensed up as Surge laid a ton on him, and on some level He didn't even completely disagree with her. Some people wouldn't change no matter how badly you walloped them. He never thought Eggman would change and the two tried to kill one another all the time. the only thing that kept him from offing Tinker was because deep down he wanted to believe he'd reformed even if it was amnesia. Tinker was not Eggman and he couldn't bring himself to do it. His eyes closed as he turned to lock his eyes on Surge a moment later. His stance more defensive and as a whole he dropped the joking antics for a more serious talk with her.

" Alright... let's assume i agreed to your way of thinking. Ok I kill Eggman, he's an enemy i get that. Say we off Mimic he'll never change either right? Clutch is no better... he's a criminal war lord right? What about Rough and Tumble? held some folks hostage... idiots maybe but guess we off those two... Gmerl... Shadow... Chaos.... all of them did bad things in the past... so they get killed to. "

her dropped his arms and looked her dead in the eyes with a serious look in them.

" What about you and kit? you hurt people to... better get rid of you both just in case. You see that's the issue with killing Surge where does it end? and the more you do it the easier it gets. That's the real problem with killing--- It's not that it's hard to do Surge. it's just to damn easy... and then when you stand on that mountain of bodies, all alone... with the world cowering in fear! can you still look yourself in the eyes and say it was worth it? "

Sonic took a deep breath and run his hand down his face, having to let his anger go. Cause he was mad, he was angry because he knew deep down Surge was better then this. He knew she was. he'd seen it during the grand Prix. Her smile, her drive to do the right thing! But here she was falling back down and giving into Starlines program.

" ... I can't let you do it Surge... even if he's the worst. We don't get to make that judgement. We can't... no matter how much you think this is the answer... It's not. Don't do this... and please don't make me fight you again not over this... I don't want to fight over this... but i will if i have to ..."

================================================

Mimic didn't like the way that Giant wisp was looking at him! the closer it got the more worried he got. His eyes shifted to Rowan and he realized what was about to happen! in an act of utter desperation! Mimic bolted across the platform toward Rowan and TACKLED him! Rolling across the platform! as his body shifted into Rowan! a second before the room was filled with that horrific scream!

He stopped dead in his tracks and held his ears! taking every once of his will power to hold his shape! his only and last hope was to confuse the Wisps over which one of them was the real Rowan! If he could just convince them he was the real deal, maybe he could escape!

Truthfully? It was an act of desperation! He had no other options and the Wisp mother seemed furious!

[bi4bihankking]

Can I get the scary ask meme for shieldant pls and also Jay Garrick vs uhhhh That Jen girl

Shieldant

Which one is more fond of scary movies: I feel like Steve is more fond of them but he also prefers monster movies to anything made in the modern era. Slasher and jumpscares are not it. Hank probably ends up with weird mental illness feels about modern horror movies, in the "oh, this is what society thinks of me" way, which way more scary than the actual horror

Which one gets the most excited about Halloween: Avengers should let trick or treaters into their tower like the JSA do, and Hank and Steve should be in costume handing candy out to the kids, I have decided.

Which one would be more likely to survive the apocalypse: ...Steve

Which one would literally kill for the other: Unfortunately I think that Avengers don't kill is way too much of a thing for both of them.

Which one likes to scare or startle the other: I feel that it's unlikely unless it's little things in which case they both do.

Which one is more likely to need comforting when they get spooked: lol Hank probably

Which one always puts on a brave face: Steve but that is because he's Captain America.

Which one would be more dangerous if they suddenly became violent: Hmmmmm... you know what, I think I wanna rep our boy. There was that one issue where he took the other Avengers out (the Egghead story)

Which one would be more likely to commit a crime: Also the man who SHIELD told not to build advanced AIs but he had already built an advanced AI and had to hide it... Steve feels like you have to really push him to commit a crime

Which one believes in ghosts: ...Steve

Which one likes to watch spooky show on television: Also Steve

Which one would propose the idea of holding a seance: So I feel like I could see Hank suggest one so that he could prove that Seances weren't real, and then he would accidentally summon a demon or something, this feels like a plot to an Avengers comic.

Which one has nightmares more often: Hank... especially if it's after all this current stuff with Ultron.

Which one would want to explore a real haunted house: Also Hank, he would also somehow summon a demon, no he would not learn anything.

Jay vs Jen

Okay so... Speedsters vs Green Lanterns, I am going to get yelled at for saying I feel like it could be a tossup, but also Jen is not Alan, who is the Green Lantern matched to Jay, and I don't think she's as experienced even if she's as powerful, so I think Jay would win.

ESPECIALLY since I don't think she's lost her weakness so he could just like... run off, and grab a tree, and hit her with the tree, like...

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

idk if it’s just me but the flashfam is like the only one that feels like a realistic family? idk just like oh yeah they could be people in real life. obviously minus the superheroes and weird time travel and slow aging stuff but it’s just. idk my brain is fried from school today but it just makes me happy like they’re just some family. They meet twice a year for the holidays or for a family reunion in the summer. They get into fights but love each other at the end of the day. it’s soft and it makes me happy

Yeah!! I love how they don't really have defined roles because I find that very realistic to real life. Like, yeah, Barry and Iris are Wally and Ace's uncle and aunt but they're also parental figures but sometimes they're also like their older siblings. And Jay is like everyone's dad and everyone's grandfather at the same time. Bart is Max's son, his grandson, his nephew, his mentee, and all of that and more at the same time.

They blend barriers and leap outside of their defined roles to fill the gaps and be there for each other. Jay and Joan were Wally's grandparents until Barry died and Iris left and then they stepped up and fulfilled the paternal role Wally needed. They did the same thing for Bart as well.

Max has, on multiple occasions, dropped his lone wolf act to tirelessly train young speedsters because he doesn't want to watch them get killed. He trained Jay, Johnny, Wally, Jesse, Bart and Jenni all while he kept up the attitude of 'i don't want to get emotionally attached to anyone and I'm better off alone'. Then Jay would come around with puppy dog eyes or Wally would accidentally freeze himself in time or Bart would just exist and then Max would sigh and drop everything to help them.

And even Wally pre character development, we're talking childish to the max and not at all prepared to parent, was ready and willing to change everything about his life to take in Bart. Iris didn't let him of course because that would've been a time bomb but just the fact that 21 year old Wally saw a kid with superspeed and went 'fuck I guess I'm a dad now?' it's just....

Or Barry and Iris taking Avery in with zero hesitation. She lived with them and they had family game nights together. Barry named her as his heir. And she was just a random kid with superspeed they met.

And yeah, they go off and they do their own thing but they're always there for each other and they'd do anything for each other and their love isn't perfect by any means (I mean, look no further than Wally and Bart) but it's real and it's always growing and changing

It's just all so real. The blending of traditional family roles and the imperfect love is just so human

[imperiuswrecked]

I am once again asking why Marvel never utilizes just how terrifying Pietro can be as a villain. Like he can kill people before they even BLINK and no one would be able to stop him unless they're a speedster or a really good telepath/telekinetic

I constantly struggle with: The urge to let Pietro be a badass, terrifying villain who would be a serious threat vs The reality that if this happened they would be demonizing another character of color and seeing as there is little enough Romani representation I would only accept it if it came from a Romani writer.

Like in my heart I know Pietro would be interesting as a Hero or a Villain. However Marvel just doesn't care, or hire writers who care, about him to do him real justice as a character, build up his rogues gallery, use interesting plot lines, etc.

As a Hero he could be rallying against the injustice done to him and his people, seeking a way to prove he can change the world one quick step at a time, fighting for a better future for his daughter, striving to show everyone he isn't like his father and is on equal grounds with his sisters abilities.

As a Villain he would be terrifying. Like his plot arc might run parallel to Victor Von Doom's in that he is also ostracized for being Romani (and mutant, the mutant metaphor works here), the struggles he bore as a child trying to survive with his sister, his anger at the injustice in the world. He would simply stop trying to change the world by their rules and start doing it by his own rules. He would see the heroes as an obstacle to his success of having his people free from their oppression.

Pietro is a character with SO MUCH potential, and it's not too late for a writer to have a really solid run and do new stuff with him, however what I believe hinders alot of people is how Pietro's character breaks the mold of the traditional male superhero. He isn't a macho man, he is introverted, does not make friends easily, has a sour disposition 80% of the time, however he does have a kind heart that isn't easily shown, his power set isn't hitting things or a magical tool however DC has proved time and again that Speedsters have a lot going for them.

Marvel just doesn't know what to do with Pietro so they just knock him out, damage his legs, mind control him, rather than find a interesting way to include him in their plots.

[briarmoon1015]

I can tell you about Kid Flash/ Wally!! Obviously there’s been a lot of different lore for the character so I’ll try to condense it into what is the most canon rn lol

Wally is Iris Wests nephew and son of Rudolph and Mary West. Rudolph is Iris’s brother, and to be honest, neither Mary or Rudy are good people. Both are extremely manipulative people, especially Rudy. Wally admired the Flash a ton as a kid as well.

Wally went to visit his Aunt Iris for a summer as they have a strong relationship. Barry showed up as the flash and was hanging out with Wally, showing him where he got his powers, when Wally got struck by lightning as well and got the same powers.

Wally became kid flash for a while, fighting with his uncle who he thought was the best guy ever. Wally adored Barry, and barry was very much a father figure in his life. Barry was a pretty good mentor as well, giving Wally the space he needed to grow but also being there when Wally needed him. The two often hung out with Batman and Robin, which allowed Wally and dick to become friends.

Wally was a great titan and was often the heart of the team. The original titans were him, dick, Donna, Roy Harper, and Garth. Wally did often struggle on the decision if he wanted to be a hero, and on multiple occasions chose not to follow that path.

His real arc begun after his uncles death and his split from the titans however. When his uncle died saving the universe, Wally decided to continue his uncles legacy by becoming the next flash. Wally struggled a lot during this time to live up to his uncle however, mostly because of imposter syndrome lol. He believed his uncle was pretty much perfect, and refused to let himself out shine his uncle while also putting himself down the whole time. For example, he never let himself run faster than Barry could, and then would get on himself about how he could never compare to Barry.

Over time Wally learned that he could be great while still respecting his uncle. He met the love of his life, Linda, a writer/reporter, and joined up with the league. He did fight a ton of flash villians like Savitar, the rogues, so on and so forth, but his main villian was definitely Hunter zolomon/zoom. He was Wally’s friend until he had a terrible accident involving gorilla grodd, where he basically ended up paralyzed. Mad that Wally wouldn’t go back in time For him, he got himself some time powers and decided to ruin Wally’s life to try and make him a better hero.

Wally eventually thinks he pulls Barry back from the speed force, the speedster equivalent of the after life, only for it to actually have been the reverse flash. From there, him and Barry learn to share the flash title until Barry accidentally crashes the entire time stream trying to save his mom and erases Wally out of it.

Wally eventually comes back thanks to his uncle and the titans, and after a lot of anguish of his wife and children not being around, he works super hard to try and get them back. This results in him break the source wall, locking speedsters out from time traveling, and accidentally killing some other hero’s at sanctuary, basically a super hero mental health hospital. The killing of other hero’s was retconned to not be his fault.

He did get his wife and kids back eventually, and once again took up the mantel of the flash. I know he’s been working a ton with the titans right now, but Wally’s identity very much stands outside of them. He is his own hero at this point, and I’ll say the best flash we have ever gotten. r

I did my best to try and condense stuff, even though I’ve been reading comics for like three years now I’ve undoubtedly got something wrong so if people have anything to add or correct please do! I did also leave a ton of details out so if you want more I really suggest reading Wally’s comics! Especially during the time he was trying to figure out how to be the flash.

Hey. Pst! DC Lore Masters. Got a sec?

K, so like, I’ve seen Teen Titans… and some of Young Justice… but I’m interested in the comics.

See these guys up here? These guys specifically (Robin/Nightwing, Starfire, Raven, Wonder Girl, Beast Boy, Kid Flash, and Cyborg), what’s the condensed version of each of their stories? Is there a way to condense it? Is there even a story to condense?

I’m familiar with Raven’s story—half demon, Trigon wants to use her to end the world, blah blah blah, etc etc—and I know some of Starfire’s origins on Tamaran and Beast Boy’s past with the Doom Patrol, and of course there’s Dick Grayson which I know most of the story already, but like… especially Cyborg, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl… what are their stories? Who are their arch nemeses? What journey do they go on? How do they grow as people? Am I asking the wrong questions? I am just curious, and Google isn’t helping me rn…

Thanks…

[tomcats-fandom-blog]

“So let’s circle back to my old favourite punching bag: Age Of Ultron. Specifically the bit where Quicksilver dies. See, Age Of Ultron spends basically the whole movie trying to convince us that Hawkeye's going to die. He gets injured early on, sarcastically announces that he's going to live forever, and we learn he's got a secret family with a loving pregnant wife and two adorable kids and he stares at a picture of them before heading into the final battle. Then, when he runs into danger to rescue a kid and gets attacked by a gunship, Quicksilver zips in behind a car, gets riddled with bullets, says "you didn't see that coming,” and dies.

Couple of problems, and by a couple I mean... WOW.

So, category one, "the twist makes no sense." The movie shows us that Quicksilver is fast as Hell. I have NO trouble believing he could get Hawkeye to safety. But I do have trouble believing he couldn't ALSO get himself to safety. Like, did he... Carry Hawkeye most of the way to the car and then push him while he was still in the open? That seems kind of unsafe at those speeds. It makes more sense that he carried him behind the car, but then why was Quicksilver still out in the open to get shot? The movie doesn't convince me that Quicksilver had to die, and in fact gives me reason to believe he's absolutely fast enough to NOT die in this specific situation. We've seen what bullets look like to him! And it's pretty embarrassing for him to go out like a punk when barely a year earlier Days Of Future Past showcased exactly what a speedster like Quicksilver was capable of. Not a great look.

Category two, "the twist isn't as clever as it thinks it is." When your plot twist looks directly into the camera and cheekily says "you didn't say that coming,” please just... Stop. And maybe fire your writers. More importantly, I did see it coming and so did a lot of people. See, when you give us a lot of really obvious death flags on an important character but then introduce a bunch of disposable new characters, it's not hard to assume that you're faking us out. Vision and Wanda are famous for their relationship in the comics so they were both out of the death running, which just leaves us with Quicksilver, who's arcs are mostly centred in things like Magneto and the X-Men, AKA stuff Marvel doesn't have the rights to. Yeah, it wasn't hard to see that one coming.

Category three, "the twist is less interesting than not having the twist." I want you to picture for a moment, a world where Quicksilver existed for the events of Civil War, Infinity War and Endgame. He'd already started outgrowing his angry, jaded personality and had begun recognising the Avengers as heroes, seeing them do their absolute damndest to save Sokovia from a problem he indirectly helped cause. He started off hating Tony but changed his mind to side with him instead, recognising that all Tony wanted to do was fix the problems he caused. So, if Quicksilver survives Age Of Ultron he becomes an Avenger, most likely as fiercely loyal to them as he was to Ultron, just in time for them to tear themselves apart in Civil War. Say he sides with Tony, seeing the accords as just another step in Tony's journey away from being a weapons dealer he hated. It puts him in opposition with his sister, the first time they've really fought, and would be cool to see them fight! Even if it... Probably wouldn't last very long.

Say he survives the snap in Infinity War, the first time he's separated from his sister. The way they played out Endgame, during those five years there were almost no active supers on the planet. Thor was getting drunk and Hulk was getting therapy, but I don't see Quicksilver taking armageddon lying down. He could be doing his damnedest to keep the peace Flash-style, maybe even clashing with Hawkeye's one man vigilante crusade, a narrative foil situation, each of them responding to the loss of their family in very different ways. Maybe he's doing for Earth what Captain Marvel is doing for the rest of the galaxy, desperately running around keeping things working while the rest of the team searches for a real solution because he's the only one with the powers to do it. Then Wanda comes back after the snap and suddenly there's a five year age difference between these twins. Wanda's still mourning Vision, Pietro's just happy she's alive, and- My God! The emotional baggage they could unpack there. There is SO much potential here, but Age Of Ultron wanted a death and Pietro was available so... Sucks to be him. Bad twist.

Category four, "the twist has no meaningful impact." You guys notice nobody liked Quicksilver? Literally nobody but Wanda. And his death just made her kill Ultron-bots slightly faster than she already was. Quicksilver dies, Hawkeye lives, the cast expands by two instead of three, nobody mourns, nobody gets a funeral, nobody cares. Hawkeye grimaces sadly for a couple of minutes and then everyone puts on their Dark Serious Pants for Civil War. (And I'm pretty sure they don't even mention him in Civil War.)”

-Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions on “Why The Quicksilver Twist In AOU Is Poorly Written.” (Trope Talk: Plot Twists)

[longitudinalwaveme]

Worst Flash Storylines and Plot Ideas of All Time

As you’ve probably ascertained from the general contents of this blog, the Flash is my favorite comic book series. I love the characters and most of the stories. However, just like any series that’s been around for eighty years (counting the Jay Garrick stuff), the Flash does, unfortunately, have some truly terrible stories and plot ideas. 

In terms of terrible plot ideas that didn’t completely ruin the surrounding stories: 

1. Barry Allen uses the Mirror Master’s mirrors to manipulate Iris into agreeing to start dating him again (Flash #109). Creepy, Barry. Just creepy. The story is great Silver Age fun otherwise. 

2. Iris West: meanest woman alive. Iris was, by and large, incredibly awful to Barry up until maybe about a year before their 1966 marriage. Almost every time she shows up in an early Silver Age issue, you will admire her daring and independence (this is good) and be bewildered as to why on Earth Barry would want to spend time with a woman who is constantly calling him slow, lazy, and ambition-less (this is not good). It doesn’t really affect any one issue too much, but when read in a conglomerate, she starts looking really awful. Although as bad as Early Silver Age Iris seems as a romantic interest, she’s got nothing on Silver Age Superman and Lois Lane, the most dysfunctional couple in the DCU. 

3. Wally West’s zero-effort code name and costume (Flash #110). It really could not be more obvious how little effort the writers were putting into creating this character. The duplicate origin is also pretty cheesy, but there are enough differences from Barry’s origin for it not to frustrate me. But the name “Kid Flash” and the fact that his first costume was literally identical to Barry’s just feel incredibly lazy. Barry and Wally do have an adorable dynamic in the issue, though, so it’s by no means all bad. 

4. Barry Allen waiting an entire year after his marriage to tell his wife that he’s really the Flash. Frustrating and unnecessary; especially since Joan Garrick had been in on her husband’s secret since the 1940s. 

5. Iris Allen is FROM THE FUTURE. I both love and hate this idea. It’s so perfectly comic-booky, but at the same time, it opened the floodgates for the Allen family being a confusing, time-displaced mess. 

6. The Trial of Barry Allen. This one’s weird. I like many of the individual issues in this arc, and I actually think the last two issues are really great as an ending for Barry Allen’s original run, but this storyline dragged on for waaaaaay too long. There’s a reason I call it the Arc that Never Ends. Also, the titular trial is actually the least interesting part of the entire storyline. His battles with the Rogues and Kadabra are far more interesting. 

7. Wally West’s borderline creepy, chauvinistic attitude towards women under Mike Baron (and, to a much lesser extent, William Messner-Loebs). There’s being a hormonal twenty-something, and then there’s going through girlfriends at the rate other people change their socks. Messner-Loebs mostly avoided this issue by making it clear that Wally was under intense psychological stress that was negatively impacting his behavior, but under Baron and in some of his JLE appearances, he comes across as a real creep around women. 

8. Kadabra overkill under Mark Waid: I like Kadabra, but when he’s the main villain in like four distinct arcs, it gets to be a bit much. It’s like modern Eobard. He is legitimately written well, though, so he doesn’t drag down any of the stories too much. 

9. Pointlessly Dead Rogues: Killing off the Rogues in Underworld Unleashed for no good reason (the rest of the story is great, especially the Trickster). 

10. Pointlessly Dead Rogues 2: Electric Boogaloo: The Golden Glider’s pointless death to build up a character who was himself killed two issues later. (The rest of the story is decent.) Also, the treatment of Lisa in general post-Crisis is frustrating, since she becomes considerably more unhinged than she was before. 

11. Any time Waid tried to write McCulloch, with the exception of Flash vol. 2 #105 (and even there, he seemed off). It’s like he forgot Evan wasn’t Sam. 

12. Apparently, the Top trying to blow up both Central City and half the world makes him a loser? Also, he suddenly hates Piper for no readily apparent reason. (At least the story had some good Piper and Wally bits.) 

13. BARRY ALLEN HAS A SECRET EVIL TWIN! DUN DUN DUN! (The rest of the story, where we get to meet a whole whack of interesting future Flashes, is actually pretty good, but whoo boy, the Malcolm reveal feels like it came straight out of a soap opera.) 

14. In order for Captain Cold to ANGST, the Golden Glider’s pointless death remained in place for over ten years. It did give us a really, really good Capt. Cold story, at least...but it’s still fridging. 

15. Rainbow Raider’s mean-spirited murder by Blacksmith. Poor Roy. 

16. Albert Desmond becomes Hannibal Lecter, only twenty times as rude, for a Gotham Central arc that would’ve been terrific without him as the main villain. 

17. Owen Mercer is an idiotic child murderer and gets killed by the Rogues. Why was this necessary? (The rest of Blackest Night: The Flash is pretty good.) 

18. Josh Jackam-Mardon’s murder. The murder of small children for shock value is pretty gross. Especially since nothing was ever really done with it. 

19. Barry’s PARENTS ARE DEEEEAAAAD! (Okay, it’s really just his mom, but still. This is a very frustrating retcon, since originally his parents were alive and well until after his own death.) 

20. Albert Desmond was Barry’s jerk coworker; which never impacted the plot or led to anything. As a result, it’s just another frustrating retcon. 

21. Sam Scudder murdered someone before becoming the Mirror Master. Yet another Johns retcon that never went anywhere and only serves to darken the Silver and Bronze Age stories after the fact. 

22. Flashpoint (a decent story) wiped out a whole bunch of characters I really liked from existence for several years. Evan McCulloch’s still not back. 

23. Giving the Rogues metahuman powers doesn’t suit them, on the whole. They work better without them. 

24. Roy’s second pointless, brutal death in (I think) Forever Evil. 

25. IT WAS MEEEEE, BARRY! After serving as the main villain for like six arcs in eight years, I’m glad that Eobard finally seems to be getting a rest. The level of bad things he was responsible for was getting ridiculous. 

26. Sam/Lisa. WHY? (The only time it even kind of worked was in Forever Evil.) 

In terms of entire storylines I didn’t like: 

1. The Flash: The Most Terribly Written Man Alive. Poor Bart is aged up with no adequate explanation, loses all the traits that made him a likeable character, fights some awful villains, and then is murdered by the badly OOC Rogues. Meanwhile, Inertia goes from an at least somewhat sympathetic villain to a complete psychopath with little explanation, a murder is retconned into one of Captain Cold’s reformed periods, the Pied Piper and the Trickster completely forget that they’re supposed to be reformed, Abra Kadabra inexplicably teams up with the Rogues despite generally being a solo operative, and all of the Rogues act like total morons, willingly following a teenage speedster for no adequately explained reason. UGH. 

2. Countdown to Infinite Crisis: Even though Piper and Trickster were probably the best part of Countdown, that isn’t saying much. Both of them are uncharacteristically stupid (especially James), and James is a grade-A jerk to Piper for no reason. Also, both of them continue to forget that they reformed, and then James gets brutally murdered and Piper almost loses his mind. Also, the other Rogues cameo, and continue to act like idiots. Countdown: it really does ruin everything it touches. 

Superboy Prime will kill you! He’ll kill you to DEATH! And after you read Countdown, you’ll wish he had killed you to death. 

3. The Identity Crisis Tie-In Retcon: So, you know all that awesome character development the Rogues have had over the years? Well, forget all that, because it was all just Roscoe brainwashing them! Which was something he could definitely do before this story! And why did he do this? Why, because Barry Allen, one of the most upstanding men in the DCU, brainwashed him! Also, apparently, the Top had a huge bodycount that we never heard about back in the Bronze Age, because we need even MORE grimdark retcons for our cheerful Silver/Bronze Age history! I like Geoff Johns’ work, I really do....but BOY HOWDY does he need to lay off on the retcons sometimes. 

4. Identity Crisis: With the exception of Owen’s introduction and the establishment of the relationship between him and Digger, this story was pretty awful all around. More specifically, as far as the Flash was concerned, it was responsible for Digger’s second pointless death. It also killed off poor Jack Drake and poor, mistreated Sue Dibney, who deserved MUCH better. And the Justice League, including Barry, are A-OK with brainwashing, apparently. Comics are fun! 

These last two stories are pretty recent, and they did have some parts I liked, but on the whole I felt they also belonged on the list. 

5. The Trickster finally returns! Hurrah! Except it turns out that he’s way more like the Joker now than he ever was before, and he mind-controls the city in a super-creepy way. A very disappointing return for the character, especially since it was set up really well. 

6. Forever Evil: Captain Cold becomes a murderous dictator with a stupid Santa Beard, all of the Rogues get horrible costumes, and Sam completes his mutation into Evan-in-all-but-name. There are some good characters bits in the story (even for Cold), but on the whole, I found the story to just be unlikeable and depressing and thought Cold was pretty out-of-character. Poor Commander Cold....

So, what are your least favorite Flash storylines and plot ideas?