#metropolis vs gotham

[mistress-of-vos]

Gotham Pride: So many WE sponsored posts that are bland and tacky. A bunch of cops with night sticks. Very boring. Bi Robin and lesbian Batwoman aren't even there. People are literally getting maced in the crowd. Police warned Catwoman not to go.

Metropolis Pride: There's a whole ass LOD float. Lex Luthor was in drag, got kissed by Superman AND Lois Lane. It lasts for a solid 4 days. No crimes are committed because no one wants to be called homophobic by the Superboys. Dreamer and Supergirl lead the parade. Everyone is having the time of their lives. Bi Robin was found dancing with Superboy and Impulse.

[bruciemilf]

Lol, I just read the 'cigarette mom! Thomas' and now I suggest to you....

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....

Rebellious daughter! Bruce as a consequence of Thomas and Martha's odd ways of parenting...Bruce may have un(he very much did)intentionally made a harem for himself(every single person you see him with)

PLS!! It’s such a shame Thomas died before he could meet Clark :(( Because that boy would’ve melted from one look lmao. Even better if Pa Kent used to be Thomas’ number one enemy at Metropolis vs Gotham games :)))

let’s imagine for a second that Thomas and Martha didn’t die and Bruce still became Batman. He definitely brings all the boys to their yard and it’s TIRING.

“…Wait a goddam second…That accent ain’t no Metropolis. Boy, where you from?”

“Oh, I’m from Kansas, sir :D”

“…Who’s your daddy?”

“Joseph Philip Kent The Second, sir ^^ I believe he mentioned you a couple of times! Boy, you sound like a fun loving guy—“

“GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!”

[tesalicious2]

Because of the rivalry between Gotham and Metropolis, there arose a saying in Gotham, ‘don’t be like a Metropolis citizen’. It basically translates to ‘don’t be a little bitch’.

Superman was not happy to hear about this. Especially from Red Hood trying to talk to a guy causing problems.

[soonamisapphire]

Rabid Dogs Bite, Especially When those Dogs are Thirty Foot Long Fire Breathing Lizards - Conartist170 - Batman - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

Gothams people are not human

[nfcomics]

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS GODZILLA VS KONG no.2 (of 7) • cover art • David Nakayama [Nov 2023]

Legendary's Monsterverse has been unleashed on the DC Universe, and cities are threatened across the globe! From Metropolis to Gotham City to Themyscira, the Justice League scrambles to protect the citizens from these raging titans!

What role has the Legion of Doom played in all this monster madness, and how will the tide of battle change…when a hero falls?!

(W) Brian Buccellato (A) Christian Duce (CA) David Nakayama

[memento-mori-twilight]

A single cough is heard from me as I sit back on the sofa reading the latest Action Comics issue.

Batman AU in which his dissociation from Bruce Wayne is so extreme that he starts forgetting what he does as Batman while Bruce Wayne, and vice versa, and winds up becoming his own hidden arch nemesis without realizing it as Bruce Wayne's persona becomes corrupt and merciless.

[dcxdpdabbles]

Jason texting: I'm at a basketball game, and the guy in front of me literally googled: " How many endings are in basketball?" LMFAO

Dick: Why are you reading another person's private screen?

Jason: Can you not be a cop for like two minutes?

Tim: Jason, we both know you were likely reading on your phone instead of paying attention to the game

Jason: There was an update to one of my favorite fics!

Steph: Omg! I think we're at the same game. Gotham Knights vs. Metropolis Dragons?

Jason: Yeah that's the one. Where are you?

Steph: I'm across from you! Also, that guy is Danny Fenton, the one I was trying to get you a date with. He writes pride and prejudice fanfiction

Jason: SET IT UP

Damian: Todd, have some dignity

Jason: No.

[insertcoolusernamehereee]

You've all seen the "Metropolis vs Gotham" stereotype ALOT right? And yeah, its funny, but i propose to you...

Metropolis and Gotham constantly odds, but its because Metropolis wants Batman, and Gotham wants Superman. Like, the people go OFF.

"Fuck Batman, he stopped a crime that i helped him with and he didn't even say HI. @Batman bet Superman would even invite me for coffee."

<Commissioner Gordon and 167 others have liked this post>

"Istg Superman needs to gets a new outfit. Like okay, blue and red is so yesterday. @Superman havent you heard black is in? #BatmanInMetropolis"

<Batman and 200 others have liked this post>

"Metropolis is so ungrateful, like if your kid goes 'Mom! i want to be like Superman' then obv, we all go 'Thats great billy!' but today my nine year old daughter told me she wants to be Batman and I- does anyone know any good therapist?"

<Damian Wayne and 654 others have liked this post>

"I was late to hanging out with my friends because Superman kept TALKING TO ME. BET I WOULD BE ABLE TO GO ON THE ROLLER-COASTER I WANTED TO GO TO IF BATMAN WAS THE ONE WHO SAVED THE DAY."

<Tim Drake and 321 others have liked this post>

I'm sorry, this idea was stuck in my head and I had to get it out loll

[vigil-antes]

Do you like have any good comics recommendations or anything to do with the bat fam, I don't have many DC friends so idk where to start

hiii omg ive been WAITING for this. you didnt give me any kind of parameters for what kind of fics you want so im going to list some of those i like most. its going to be a long one so buckle up:

My DC Fic Best Pics:

Short & Sweet (Oneshots/Less than 10k words)

Send to All: Crack, the bats have a sex pollen release form

glucose guardian: Funny, Tim being the caped community's accidental sugar daddy

A Brief Interview: Sweet, Damian & Tim Ageswap

curiosity and the cat: Cute, Timbern Catlad AU

Dead Meme: Crack, Jason centric, Jason keeps referencing dead memes

Have I Told You About Minnie?: Sweet, Bruce&Steph

Multi Media Marketing Mistakes: Crack, Social Media AU

an inappropriate explosion: Funny, Superman calls Batman to reel in his unruly son (Red Hood)

though your eyes will need some time to adjust: so sweet GAH, Bruce&Steph

Girl what were YOU doing at the devil's sacrament?: Funny, Timbern after the disaster with the chaos cult

Tim Drake: Bisexual Awakener Extraordinaire: Funny, YJ experiencing the mandated Robin-Induced sexuality crisis

Brotherhood: Tim&Damian, Damian Time travels right into Jason's attack on Titans Tower

Priceless: Crack, Nightwing&The Bats messing with Bane

User SuperRob: TImBerKon. Need I say more?

The Mystery of the Superboy Shirts: TimKon, Tim keeps stealing Kon's SB Shirts

Thicker Than Water: Funny, Batbros slice of life-ish

Big Bird, Commence Attack!: Crack, Jason's revenge plan involves dressing up as Big Bird

World’s Saddest Breakfast Club: Sweet, Batkids Bonding

red chrome: Funny, Tim's health is concerning enough to stop Jason from attacking him in Titans Tower

Hot Dog, French Fries: Tim&Damian, Damian gets dosed with truth serum

#SoftRobin: Funny. Damian-centric Social Media AU

Hurry Up Don't Take So Long: Sweet, DamiJon through the years

Paris vs Gotham: Crack, Social Media AU Ladybug crossover (no ships)

Can I tempt you?: TimKon, Light angst, Sweet

Bedtime Stories (15-50k Words)

Baby Birds and Bat Caves: SO funny, genuinely one of the best fics ive read, Tim-Centric, Meta(?)/Cryptid Tim, inspired by Welcome to Nightvale

Gotham Knockoff: Tim-Centric, Alley Kid Tim pretends to be the Drakes' kid to get closer to the Bats

In This or Any Other Universe: Nightwing ends up in the The Batman (2022) Universe

Dangerous and Noble Things: Kid Tim gets kidnapped by the League of Shadows. No one realizes until, four years later, the Bats notices something wrong

In this Town We Call Home: Kid Tim attracts Batman's attention to get adopted

With Violet Light: Jason finds a ring of power and becomes a Star Sapphire

Little Birds’ Wings: Jason&Other Batkids, Jason comes back from the League to a drastically different Gotham

the pact of our youth: Reverse Robins Au, TimBerKon after Tim dies (and comes back different)

Pretty Boys and Identity Problems: Sweet, TimKon, To get away from his crush on Robin, Superboy gets entangled with Gotham pretty boy Tim Drake

let's get mischievous: TimBern, during the chaos cult ritual, Bernard gets possessed by Dyonisus

It Wouldn't Be Make Believe (If You Believed In Me): DamiJon fake dating AU where they don't know each other and meet while Robin is investigating a case in Metropolis (they're uni aged btw)

I’m Pretty Sure Tim Steals Clothes: An Elaboration In The Form Of A Long Fic: Cute, TimKon, Tim keeps stealing Kon's SB shirts

Into the Deep Dark Night: Tim-centric, Tim&Jason, Tim dies as a kid and loses a bit of his humanity

Alcatraz, But On Hardmode: Sweet, Tim-Centric, A YJ mission goes wrong and Tim has to rely on Jason to get him and his team out.

His Head is Bloody, but Unbowed: Jason-centric AU where he never stole the batmobile tires, but ends up meeting the Bats anyways after he saves Robin

A Good Place: Very soft, Damian&Bruce, Damian time travels to Batman's first year of activity.

Fairy Godbrother: Sweet, The batboys time travel to each others' pasts and help their brothers when they were younger

best laid plans: Tim&Jason, Tim finds Jason after he crawls out of his grave, bt they get goth taken by the league

Mystery Man: Cute, BirdFlash, The bats aren't known to the JL, Different first meeting

One Eternal Round: Super original, Bruce&Robins, My Hero Academia crossover where Aizawa, Midoriya, Kirishima, Todoroki and Bakugo remember their past lives as Gotham vigilantes

A Meditation on Railroading: Tim-Centric, Tim's dad leaves him stranded away from Gotham with no way back. Jason finds him and brings him home

the ship of theseus: Jason-Centric, Percy Jackson crossover, Jason and Percy are secretly twins

Why They Shouldn't Have Social Media: Crack, Social media AU

Cracked Foundation:Soft, Jason&Damian, They get stuck under a collapsed building together

Monolith: Bruce&The Batfamily, The birds aren't known to the JL, The JL meeting each member of the Batfam for the first time

Loading and Aspect Ratio: SO GOOOOOOD, Batfamily, The bats use wing prothesis but everyone think they're metas

Three’s a Crowd (But I’m Here if You Are): Cute, Funny, TimBerKon

A Softer Gotham: Steph&Bruce, Steph-Centric, Steph time travels to a time before Batman, becoming Gotham's first vigilante

greatest of ease: Dick-Centric, POV Outsider, Dick Grayson as seen in the eyes of the people surrounding him

Yesterday's Voices: Bruce&Batkids, Bruce's memory of the past five years gets erased leaving behind a softer man, one who doesn't remember Jason's death

show me yesterday, for i can’t find today: Jason-Centric, Jason&The Batfam, Robin!Jason and Red Hood switch places

Eat Your Heart Out, Social Life (50k+ words)

Vultures, Squirrels, and Other Flying Menaces: So good, AU where instead of becoming Robin, Tim hires Deathstroke to kill Joker, leading to the assassin adopting him and the other Batkids.

I’m alone here, I think: TimKon, Witch Tim, Tim is erased from everyone's memories and leaves Gotham. Kon finds him anyways.

You, Me, and the Humanity in Between: Soft and sweet, Bruce&His kids, Non-Human Batkids

cards on the table: Tim-Centric, Tim&Batfam, Tim's parents fake their death and leave Tim behind. He uses his stalking skills to become a fortuneteller scammer. Against his will, he ends up befriending the Waynes

Roasted: Funny, Cute, Dick-Centric, Talon AU, Dick&Batfam, Recovered Talon Dick opens a coffee shop that ends up becoming Rogue-Vigilante neutral grounds

Code Bat: Batfam, The bats aren't known, they have an emergency code to only be used in emergency case when revealing affiliation is inevitable (idk how to explain but its good trust me)

Minimum Height Requirement: SOFT, Bruce&His kids, Batfam, Batman doesn't let his kids become vigilantes before they turn eighteen

Running Headlong into My Arms: Soft, No Capes AU, even without Batman, Bruce finds his family

Liminal Space: Tim-Centric, Tim&Bruce, Tim&Batfam, Tim ends up in a softer and kinder version of his world

Robins and Other Flightless Birds: Bruce-Centric, Bruce&His kids, A Batman without kids is visited by another version of himself. He finds tha he, too, wants kids.

Laughter Lines: JayRoy, Soft, Jason helps raise Lian, before and after his death

Stars of the Forgotten: Bruce-Centric, Meta!Batkids, Bruce&His kids, on the search for a missing Barbara Gordon, Batman stumbles upon five metahuman kids in need of a home

Latchkey: Sweet, Tim-Centric, Robin!Jason, BatWatch!Tim, The Waynes get concerned with their lonely neighbor, Tim Drake

Ain't No Compass, Ain't No Map: Funny, Tim&Jason, Borderline abandoned Tim Drake gets taken in by Crime Lord Red Hood. CPS tries investigating, with little results

And that's it for today. If you're still here, thank you so much and seriously, some of these are so good, so read them, trust me!

Sorry i took so long to get back to you, i had to organize the mess in my AO3 bookmarks and compiling this took me ages.

Let me know what you all think, and if you ever want more!!!! (Yes i have more. It's a problem)

[satoshy12]

Medic Danny + DC

Danny doesn't to Phantom , as it would stand out that while Fenton is gone Phantom is at same place. And he doesn't want to fight.

While on a vacation in the States, Danny utilized his ghost ice to freeze his parents' portal, ensuring the safety of Amity Park during his absence. Just to make sure Amity Park is okay while he is gone.

With the help of Wulf's teachings, he traveled around the world using a portal, eliminating the need for a plane or expensive travel costs.

However, his travels were interrupted by the constant need to provide first aid to injured individuals in cities such as Gotham, Metropolis, Star City, Coast City, and Detroit.

Danny had to perform first aid on many people while visiting the cities.

He could say he had helped more than 200 people already. He stopped to count after helping so many people that it kind of happen so many times while the summer vacation. But was happy to be able to help them all.

Upon returning to the border of Amity Park using his portal, Danny discovered that the entire town was at peace, as the ghosts had stopped causing trouble.

As he returned home, he noticed the whole town was doing a Ba Sing Se.

Although his parents were irritated with their frozen portal, Amity Park was happier. And while his parents were angry and didn't give up trying to melt the ice. Amity Park was happier, and Danny could use his own portal to visit the zone. So he left the portal and lab on ghost ice.

However, when Danny suddenly vanished, people began to search for the small but skilled first-aid provider.

+++

After Danny was suddenly out of the radar, people noticed and started to search for the tiny, thin boy.

The people who had met Danny were really distressed by the amount of first-aid skill he possessed. It spoke of experience that someone so young shouldn't have.

Amanda Waller was pretty interested in him. After all, the boy had helped her and her daughter when they almost became casualties of a Superman vs. Brainiac fight. So she called her agents to search for the boy.

JL meeting

Green Arrow called DIBS on him, and he would sponsor him for the future when he wants to study.

Bruce himself said the same as he noticed they all talked about the same boy. Superman wanted to thank Danny because he saved many lives while Kal was busy fighting against Brainiac.

Flash only met him once, and because of how fast Barry was, he just brought the wounded to the hospital because it was much faster.

The few heroes who didn't meet him listened to them argue.

Having no idea that few villains who Danny helped too, as civilians were having a similar moment.

[arjudy224]

Gamedays in Gotham City

Gotham City would absolutely go WILD during Gamedays. Harley Quinn, Jonathan Crane, Poison Ivy, Bruce Wayne, and Harvey Dent are all notable alumni of the school.

The Gotham Nighthawks vs the Metropolis Bulldogs homecoming game is the EVENT OF THE SEASON. Every year, the sold-out stadium erupts in chaos no matter who wins. There is nothing that can get a group of villains to team up faster than Gotham losing to Metropolis.

Bruce Wayne is a massive supporter of the Nighthawks. The stadium reserves a special pressbox for him and his guests. Every homecoming, Bruce Wayne invites Clark Kent, a Daily Planet Reporter, to join him and his family in the press box. Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor donate to their respective college bands, so they have a free advertisement in said halftime show. For one night, both Harvey and Two-Face enjoy themselves.

Due to the massive popularity of this game, many villains have tried to interrupt it. For example, the Joker tried interrupting halftime while the Pride of Gotham City performed. However, he completely underestimated how the band members would react to his sudden appearance. Before the Clown Prince of Crime could react, the poor thing was getting beaten into the turf by an array of wooden rifles.

Edward Nygma tried interrupting halftime a few years prior by requiring the band to answer a riddle in exchange for the bombs being deactivated in their equipment. In a surprising twist, Oswald Copplepot knocked the living daylights out of the curious man with his umbrella while his son, a trumpet in the Pride, cheered thirty feet away.

If you are a student at Gotham U, be prepared for unexpected visits from previous Professors such as Dr. Crane and Dr. Isley. If you are a band member, don't be surprised if someone puts a bomb on your instrument. It is not uncommon for Superman to catch a rogue Colorguard flag or rifle that has been tampered with. One second, you are throwing 6 rotations on a rifle. The next, you are covering your head to avoid the explosion. Supes gives a bashful grin before quickly exiting the stadium.

Would y'all be interested in a fic about Gamedays and college life in Gotham city? Let me know ;)

Tag list: @jjsmeowthie, nosyrobin, luna-zendra-star,

[ewingstan]

Worm and other media that won't just let you shoot the Joker, part 1:

Worm comments on the structure of stories, especially superhero stories, in some interesting ways. There's a lot of stuff that happen in superhero comics for no real reason than that it needs to happen for the story to be interesting; a huge amount of Worm's worldbuilding is devoted to taking these things and making the fact that they have to happen an explicit in-setting constraint. For instance, superhero stories tend to have more powerful heroes face off against much more powerful villains than their less-powerful allies, to the point where it seems like super-powerful threats are coming to earth every few weeks just because it wouldn't be interesting to read that comic otherwise. It gets weirder when you compare what villains end up visiting the cities of uber-powerful heroes vs the cities of less powerful heroes: Gotham mostly just has to deal with serial killers while Metropolis is a magnet for evil gods. Worm plays with this by having the Endbringers exist only because the big hero needed something to fight in-text: it changes "powerful heroes need powerful villains or else it wouldn't be interesting" from a Doylist justification to a Watsonian one. Then there's the fact that so much of the horrible conflict in Earth Bet is explicitly caused by Gods making sure the powers they grant people lead to increased conflict, the fact that one of the most powerful characters does what she does because the plot path to victory says she needs to, etc.

But the big one is Jack Slash, and how he's only able to get away with his bullshit because he has plot armor as a secondary power. As WB says here, "Jack's a reconstruction of the Joker type character in the sense that you can't have such a character take such a high profile position in the setting, without having there be a cheat." The Joker and similar characters are only able to keep being relevant threats in their stories because the narrative bends to let them win and stops them from being killed. Jack Slash is only able to keep being a relevant threat because his power makes the universe bend to let him win in the same way. Not only does this make for an interesting obstacle (its almost like they're fighting an authorial mandate!), but it skewers the use of similar character's plot armor and how unrealistic and unsatisfying it makes their stories.

But wait, what does it mean for a story to be "unrealistic" in the context of superpowers? Is being unrealistic in those contexts actually a problem? For that matter, what does it mean for a narrative to bend to let someone win? Its not like there's an objective way fighting the Joker would go, which the author is deviating from by letting him survive.

[Stuff under readbelow contains spoilers fo, the movie Funny Games and the book Anybody Home?]

Maybe we could say that if characters like the Joker were real, and put in the situations they are in their stories, they would end up being killed really quickly. But is that a reasonable way to judge stories? A narrative where such a character is killed unceremoniously to satisfy a need for realism isn't any less an expression of the author's deliberate choices than a story where the character keeps showing back up to satisfy a desire for fan-favorite characters. And while Jack Slash's arcs help show why deviating from "realistic consequences" in the service of keeping a character alive can make a story exhausting and screw with an audiences' appreciation of stakes, it doesn't make a strong case against the concept of villains having plot armor in general. A story isn't necessarily worse just for being constructed to keep the villains alive—all stories are constructed, and sometimes being constructed that way makes for the best story.

That becomes more clear when you take the premise of Jack Slash as "killer who wins because the mechanics of the universe says so" and make clear just how much "the mechanics of the universe" really just means "the story". Which is how you get Peter and Paul from Funny Games.

I'd highly recommend watching Funny Games (though for the love of god check content warnings), as well as Patricia Taxxon's review of it that I'm cribbing a lot from here. But to summarize, Funny Games is a movie written and directed by Michael Haneke about a family's lakeside vacation being interrupted by the appearance of two murderous young men, who capture them in their own house and slowly torture and kill them off. At least, that's what it seems to be about initially. It marketed itself as a somewhat standard entry in the genres of torture porn and home invasion thrillers, and played itself straight as one for the majority of its runtime. But then one of the two villains of the pair, "Paul," starts talking to the audience.

It starts small: after crippling the family's father and revealing that he killed their dog, Paul has the wife look for its corpse outside. While giving her hints, he slowly turns back towards the camera and smirks, before turning back. In isolation, maybe it could be interpreted as Paul smirking at Peter, seeming to look out at the audience only because of clumsy blocking. But then it happens again. Paul tells the family, who are completely at their mercy at this point, that they're gonna bet that they'll all be dead within twelve hours. When the family refuses to take the bet, asking how they could hope to win it when he can clearly off them all whenever they wish, Paul turns towards the audience and asks "what do you think? Do you think they stand a chance? Well you're on their side aren't you. Who you betting on, eh?" The audience is being acknowledged; their role as someone invested in the story is being examined by the ones introducing the stakes.

But the biggest moment comes near the end, when the mother grabs the shotgun she's being threatened with and blasts Peter. Paul startles, grins, and then hurredly grabs a tv remote and presses rewind. The movie itself suddenly rewinds to right before the mother grabs the gun, and plays again with Paul grabbing the shotgun right before the mother reaches for it.

Its a truly incredible moment, in that its the perfect way to forcibly take away the audience's suspension of disbelief. It forces the audience to acknowledge that they're viewing a story, not something happening to a real family. After their moment of catharsis against the villains, Paul makes the confront the fact that the movie will end however the creators want it to, and if they want the villains to win they'll will regardless of how little sense it makes. Fuck you, we can go from being set in the normal world with normal rules to the villains traveling back in time with a tv remote, because a story does whatever its creators want. Haneke just decided to make that obvious in the most jarring way imaginable.

But maybe the best way to illustrate Funny Games effectiveness at this type of artful unveiling is comparing it to its less-effective imitators. I've recently finished Anybody Home?, a recently-published book by Michael J. Seidlinger. It has the conceit of being narrated by an unnamed mass-murderer, guiding a new killer in their first home invasion. I started reading it before I watched Funny Games, and even afterwards took a while to realize the unnamed narrator wasn’t just a pastiche of a Paul-like character but was actually supposed to be read as Paul himself. Seidlinger was having his book be a sort of unofficial sequel to Funny Games, narrated by its star. Once I realized, a lot of the books details suddenly clicked. The big one was the constant references to “the camera" and the idea of murder being a performance for an audience, one that needed to be fresh and original to make “the cults” enjoy it. Take these passages from page 77:

If it happened, it would perturb. It would create suspicion. It wouldn’t end up ruining the performance, and yet, it could have derailed our casing. The camera can have all it wants; either way, it’ll make it look better than it really was. It’ll strip away the cues and other planned orchestrations and it’ll show the action—the actuality of each scene, each suggestion…

This is a spectacle, above all. The craft pertains to keeping and maintaining a captive audience; behind the camera, you’ll never know how it happened—the trickery that made the impossible possible, the insanity so close to home. It is spectacle.

Through online activity, the son made it clear that something is happening at home, yet we cannot be certain if he has noticed the camera.

These all point to the idea that the murders are being viewed by an audience rather than just by intruders, that this is a performance for said audience's benefit more than anything else. But notably, it also reinforces the idea of these characters having an existence outside of the camera: the camera shows the action and "strips away" the cues behind it, the victims have a life outside the camera such that they could plausibly sense that the camera is now here. The victims are sometimes described as playing into their role, but always metaphorically; always as if normal people start acting like characters when put in certain circumstances. Whereas Funny Games posits that characters will behave however the author wants them to, denying the claim that stories are realistic simulations of hypothetical scenarios.

The whole thing is predicated on the idea that there needs to be a guide, that the villain of a home invader movie is really in danger of something going wrong. Paul/The narrator keeps giving directions on what needs to be double checked, what needs to X, and its completely against the spirit of the role Paul served in Funny Games. If something goes wrong for the villain they should just be able to rewind and do it over, because the story was written for them to succeed. Anybody Home? throws out Funny Games theme of the story being on rails, of the winner being whoever the author wants it to be and the events following whatever the author wanted rather than what would "really" happen. It throws out the whole idea that it’s all just a story, by supporting the idea that the characters have lives not captured by the camera—or more relevantly, not captured on-page.

Because Seidlinger using the language of film in a book leads to different things going on with the fourth wall. The way Funny Games and Anybody Home? make the camera explicit are just different, and the former does it much more interestingly than the latter. Seildinger’s characters aren’t looking back at the reader, the fourth wall is never actually breached. Funny Games has Paul look into the camera to address the audience, making clear how it’s a story being set up for the audience's benefit. Anybody Home? invokes the idea of a camera tracking everything home invaders do in general, having it be a third-party force that’s itself an unseen character contained within the story, observing the intruder's crime rather than the reader. Why is it still a camera, if we're in a book rather than a movie? A character in a book talking about a camera watching them does not convey any of the same meaning as a character in a movie suddenly looking into a camera and smirking at the audience!

By the end, you realize that this is caused in part by the book's bizarro take on how horror movies exist in this world. It reveals that in its setting, all horror movies are adaptations of real home invasions, which get recorded by unseen mysterious forces. Killers enter a home and enact violence, are filmed by some supernatural camera, the footage gets leaked to the public, and then the killers sell the rights to the work to studios. The events of SAW really happened, but the movie was just an adaptation. Funny Games really happened, but the Paul in the movies was just an actor playing the Paul narrating this book. The killer's victims eventually realize that they're "victims," but not in the sense that they realize their characters in a story, only in a sense that they realize they got sucked into their world's magical realism bullshit.

Ultimately, while the book does the same trick of being all about how horror stories are “for” us, it gets rid of all the tricks that made it work for Funny Games. It even strips it's in-universe version of what made it special; Funny Games is just another adaptation of a real home invasion. All the meta stuff that makes it interesting in its genre are just gestured at as aesthetics.

So what makes Jack Slash in Worm succeed where the killers in Anybody Home? fail? Both are constructed to be entertaining for a 3rd party who stand-in for but aren't actually the audience; the entities in Worm, the cults in Anybody Home?. But Jack Slash doesn't mix his metaphors. Worm may turn various real-life factors affecting a work into in-story mechanisms of the world in the same way Anybody Home? does. But it doesn't also base itself off a text that takes in-story mechanisms and breaks them to force the audience to see the various real-life factors affecting the work. In effect, WB pulls off a trick Seidlinger tries and fails because WB wasn't taking another metatexual story and stripping it of what made it interesting.

Though that introduces the question: can such meta-moves be mixed? Can you have a text where story conceits become explicit plot mechanics the characters are aware of, while also having characters really look at the camera and tell the audience that its all just a story? Can you actually sell it and make it something interesting?

There is one story that tries this. I don't know if it pulls it off, but it certainly makes a lot of interesting moves that create a fascinating whole. It even comments on the Joker in the same way Worm does, having a character who seemingly cant die because the roll they play in the story is too impor—

Ah fuck.

Continued in part 2.

[ivebeenghosting]

ok this post about the dad saying increasingly gay stuff about the Lakers but it's clark asking bruce if he wants to watch the gotham knights vs the metropolis meteors game

bruce: I would love to but im not allowed

clark: what do you mean "not allowed" you're a grown man

bruce: alfred says I'm not allowed :( you have to ask alfred

clark: ok??? alfred can bruce and I please watch the gotham knights game??

alfred: only if he promises to behave.

clark: ??? behave??

bruce: I will 🥺!!!

bruce not even ten minutes into the game: I will literally suck the whole team dry if Campbell makes this shot

clark: 😦

[gothamnewsnetwork-official]

The CIA vs Clark Kent; the mark of a journalist

Our story tonight takes us out of Gotham City and lands us in Metropolis (see related articles), nicknamed the Gilded City by many of its residents and Gothamites alike.

Recently concerns have been raised surrounding a well known reporter, Clark Kent, and the potential threats posed to his life by our own government. There have been several notable articles of his critiquing the US government as well as two notable anonymous attempts on his life as of late, this combination has led to many netizens speculating that he may be falling victim to the reporters curse (see related articles).

The reporters curse is the nickname for a well known conspiracy stating that the CIA has a tendency to eliminate investigative journalists that get to close to the ‘truth’ and/or are gaining to much sway when criticizing governmental agencies and decisions.

There have been many a case of this happening, many of which are simply speculative but the CIA has admitted to committing a fair swath of these assassinations as well (see related articles). Many of these unconfirmed incidents have enough evidence that many people believe this theory to be fact.

Mr. Kent is an investigative journalist for The Daily Planet (see related articles), a newspaper based in Metropolis and a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises. His career spans nearly two decades and his history of finding the truth regardless of danger fits the profile of those fallen to the reporters curse to a T.

Mr. Kent was the inspiration for many modern journalists, though the man not even 50. Most journalists have to live and die by their work before reaching a fraction of the influence Mr. Kent has had over the world of journalism.

Whatever the case may be for whoever is behind the two recent attacks on Mr. Kent’s life, we urge the journalist to take precautions and want to thank him for his service.

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See the post that inspired this article (here)

[darkcrownninja]

Clark Kent vs Gotham’s Rogues

Superbat Idea

Batman’s enemies find out the Bat has a thing with Metropolis’ reporter Clark Kent. So decide to try to kill him (without success)

He is either always saved by Batman, the shots never land, he survives accidents without problem, the guns used to try to kill him always break or people suffer head injuries before landing their shots.

After so many failed attempts people begin to think Clark is a meta, but with some sort of Luck manipulation ability.

Clark and Bruce catch wind of this and go: task failed successfully I guess.

[shinylittlefan]

Okay, so I don't know about anyone else, but...

City spirits.

We've seen Lady Gotham, but I haven't really seen any other City spirits?

Did I just not find any yet, is it a fandom thing to only have her or...

Anyway! So maybe only she's mentioned because she's THAT powerful or she's the only city spirit in a certain radius, but I've got an idea.

So I'm not really caught up on DC because of personal reasons, but I've seen the whole 'Gotham vs Metropolis' rivalry thing.

So the citizens have a big rivalry going on. No one really can tell you why, they just do. Who's to say it didn't start out as an instinctive 'test the new sibling' thing I assume step-/non step- siblings do.

Yes I'm asking if Ms. Metropolis and Lady Gotham are dating. Just imagine it. The preppy and sunny City Spirit and the dark and gloomy City spirit are having lunch and just:

"Have the kids settled their feud yet? It's been a few decades since this started."

"I don't know about yours, but my Gothamites are still a bit on edge. They have gotten a bit more protective, though. Star's children were very much not prepared for the consequences of verbally poking at your children."

*laughs demurely or something* "Ah, siblings."

Also:

They find Danny and just go

Ours!!