#opinions and impressions

[veinsfullofstars]

“Are… they gonna be okay?” “Probably.”

(ID: Kirby series fanart comic of Shadow Kirby showing off his fighting skills to the Wave 2 gang, prompting rather… mixed reactions. Transcript in Alt Text. END ID.)

Started 11/23/24, finished 12/14/24.

[aingeal98]

No one asked so feel free to ignore this, but I think it’s a little bit reductive to view Willis as an abuser when nothing really states that in pre-flashpoint comics.

Like Cathrine getting “drug abuser” pushed onto her while her introduction just called her sick, and Willis being a criminal (working illegal street gambling), and getting painted as an abusive father/husband, paints a ugly picture on people’s bias towards poor families.

It’s kinda how people assume Steph was dirt poor like Jason when she’s stated she’s from the suburbs multiple times. (And while there are suburban ghettos it doesn’t really seem like her financial situation was ever as dire as Duke and Jason’s growing up.)

Very true! I do agree with all of this tbh. There was classism involved in how Catherine's initial illness went from just "sick" to drug use, and same for Willis. When I knew nothing about Jason except from reading wikis, batfam fics and Cass comics, I just thought Willis had always been the way Lobdell wrote him, and then when I actually read Jason's Robin comics I was like hm. That's a bit odd, maybe there's something I'm missing because he seems pretty absent but that's like. It. Jason clearly cares about him! But he can't be around because Batman and Robin need to be a thing.

Since then I've read a lot of good meta from Jason fans on the topic, most of them were along the lines of what you're saying, pointing out the classism at play that's always damned Jason since he was first rebooted from a circus kid. However I've also seen good meta about Robin Jason's anger towards abusive men, and how bitter some of his speech is, that made me a bit more open minded towards the idea of bad dad Willis. I don't really mind when fans want to explore how Willis may have contributed to that mindset Jason had, but it crosses into ick territory for me when they use it as an excuse to prop up Bruce, who's canonically a much worse father. Ultimately I think what it comes down to for me is if the headcanon is done in a way to reinforce the classism at play in the narrative, or if it's aware of what Jason's up against and not trying to paint Willis as naturally abusive due to being poor and a criminal. YMMV on whether the person writing the meta/fic manages to land the headcanon well, but whereas before I used to have a "ew" gut reaction to seeing bad dad Willis, nowadays I'm willing to wait until I've read the full meta/fic to decide if I like it or not. In the comics though? Yeah fuck that, no thank you. I don't trust them to do it in a way that doesn't glorify Bruce for "saving" Jason from a doomed destiny.

It's interesting that you brought up Steph though because I do see her, Jason and Duke as three different perspectives of growing up Not Rich in Gotham. Jason obviously had it the worst, dirt poor. I do think Steph was meant to be in a bad financial state at the start of her appearances, despite living in the suburbs. But there was a clear progression in the comics of her and Crystal getting better and more stable, which is an interesting contradiction of Dixon's. He hated women and poor people and it showed in how he wrote Steph, but he also liked Steph, as much as he could like a female character while being so misogynistic. So she was given the rare opportunity to escape from the poverty he initially wrote her in, to be one of the 'good ones' who worked hard and got out. And then DC killed her, because even if she managed to make it out of poverty, she couldn't escape from being a girl.

And then there's Duke, who's from the Narrows and who's dad was a non union worker at one point (the monologue Duke gave about the shadow crews was so good PLEASE dc give me more of that Gotham worldbuilding from Duke's pov). There's so much there that still hasn't been fully explored and I'm hungry for more because despite everything going on during Zero Year, when we first meet him he and his family seem stable. It's almost like a reverse of Steph, where location wise he's in a poor area of the city but in terms of how his house looks like it seems fine! Whereas Steph is in the suburbs but her house initially looks... not great. So I'd put him at around the same level as Steph financially just based on living in the Tracy Towers and what we know of his parents careers, but with a much less toxic family situation, which meant that they were probably more secure in their finances even when the Riddler was around pulling some fuckshit. And obviously after the Joker attack he's in the foster system and then in the Manor and then living with a cousin. I need DC to give us more on the Thomas family like we don't even know if his dad is well or still Jokerized! And he stands to be such an interesting contrast to both Steph and Jason. Robins two four and six, three different ways of growing up in Gotham when you're not rich as hell, the similarities and differences between them... I don't trust DC to write it well but I want it all the same.

This turned into a big ramble lmao but thank you for the ask!

[varlaisvea]

Markarth, 2E 582

[avanii]

The prototypes to my Geology Monsters series were these two funky guys from March 2023.

I made the sketch for the marten in the plane from Naples to home, after we'd done a full circle around Mt. Vesuvius and you could really peer into its crater and see how close it is to the metropolis. I had also visited it during my stay there (but it was cloudy all week so unfortunately the view at the summit wasn't good), as well as the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. That really sparked something in me. These two volcanic beasts were painted the same week after I got home.

Later I picked up the concept again and the monsters became more, well, monstrous. I still like these though! Both are small paintings done with ecoline inks.

[goldensunset]

The Pokemon ZA male protagonist kinda looks like Brain.

hiatus so bad he went to pokémon france!! we found the link!!!

[bananonbinary]

as a certified Diagnosed Autist(TM) i cannot stress enough that i am not only pro- self-diagnosis, but also pretty anti- legal medical diagnosis. it is, at best, a cruel hoop we have to jump through so privileged people will deign to give us what we need. don't fucking do that shit unless you have to, it was disgustingly expensive, fucking humiliating, infantilizing, and dehumanizing, and would probably actively cause problems in my life if i didn't have some really good allistic (-passing) people in my corner and also wasn't so fucking disabled that it mostly doesn't matter.

literally get that diagnosis if you need it for job/school accessibility shit or SSI or whatever, and otherwise dont tell the government SHIT about yourself. there is zero good reason for them to want that information. that's between you and the people you want in your life.

[quibbs126]

Oh yeah, I made these attempts at human designs for the TF One cast like a week ago, but I ended up becoming extremely paranoid I did something wrong so I never posted them

I think it was because that same day I had been reviewing my lectures for my online Anthropology exam due that night, which also talked about the unfortunate history of how anthropology had been used in the past, and that combined with my general overthinking and paranoia and the fact that I don’t know much on how to draw non-white features got me scared

But it’s a week later, I think the paranoia’s gone, and they’re just sitting in my files, so might as well. I was probably overthinking it

I’d say Orion probably looks the best, and Elita’s the worst. She’s probably the most in need of a rework. But overall it isn’t horrible?

Also as mentioned, and it was a thought while I was initially drawing this, I need to learn better how to draw non-white features, though I’m mostly thinking about noses and hair right now. With Bee I realized I don’t really know black hairstyles (though I was attempting to make Bee mixed here), especially for guys. I need to learn more, I’m just not entirely sure how

But yeah, these were some attempts I made. I don’t know if these designs will stick, there’s a chance I’ll rework them, or I might not ever use them again. But I might as well show you them

[thesarcasticism]

just found out that lots of people hate ken as a character and like wow couldn't be me actually i love that murderous ten-year-old

[ballsballsbowls]

Made the mistake of reading that archived Economist article about proposed incentives for increasing the birthrate in "rich" countries

Now I am just so annoyed and have a headache.

[shyshyaaaaaa]

Jekyll and Hyde: A Gothic Musical Thriller they could never make me think you are more than average <3

[loisfreakinglane]

the cangel crumbs i got in buffy season 2 just made me more in love with them than i've been in a long time. LOOK AT THOSE TWO. THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW THEY'RE GONNA BE BEST FRIENDS THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW THEY'RE GONNA FALL IN LOVE THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW THEY'RE GONNA CHANGE EACH OTHERS LIVES FOR THE BETTER

[gothiethefairy]

as cool as they are, i lowkey can never take "scary-looking dungeon lord marcille with chimera!falin by her side" fanarts seriously because marcille was an emotional wreck during that arc and she stuck chimera!falin inside a giant ice block.

like, half of the time, marcille was grossly sobbing with snot in that arc. some of y'all need to recognize that marcille is not that cool lol

[bumblee27]

I don't want anyone saying S&co John doesn't help the cases after that flipping paragraph of knowledge he just retained and recited, dude that was awesome and so out of character??

Edit: Plus the twin towns thing!!! I'm so happy he's having so many leads he deserves it, you go girl!!!

[ryemiffie]

Stan Pines having canon struggles with addiction is my, as the kids say, Roman Empire

[lorephobic]

been thinking about how in a couple of different interviews, barry has brought up that he played five different olivers chronologically thru the movie. i've been fiddling with my theories as to where each oliver ends and a new one begins and have roughly landed here but would love to hear other ideas:

oliver 1: oxford, watching and wanting felix. an outsider, batting up against the window, just desperate to get in. begins observing everything: details of felix's life, details of farleigh's life, begins orchestrating his performance for felix, setting the stage for whatever will get him into the spotlight.

oliver 2: saltburn, pre-bathtub, the best few months of his life, living in felix's light. this is the dream. he will cling onto it and comb over it and jerk off to it and wonder how he could ever get it back.

oliver 3: saltburn, post-bathtub, post-pamela, understanding how precarious his position is, losing felix quickly, making risky, desperate moves in an attempt to regain his attention. eating holes in everything and becoming a toy that felix doesn't want to play with anymore.

oliver 4: saltburn, post-confession, post-licking-the-fucking-plate, confused by his own obsession and pivoting toward preserving and not letting anyone remove him from what he thinks is rightfully his: felix's space and felix's role and felix's memory

oliver 5: post-post-saltburn, monologuing to his final victim, justifying his actions in any way possible, an obsession that has festered for more than a decade, re-realized in his obsession with his self and his work. oliver in his most catton-like state. denying that the desire was ever there. has a complete and utter horror of the ugliness he's committed. a beautiful man in his beautiful house, surrounded by beautiful things. finally free from want.

[hoahoahoahoahoa]

Caught up with a friend yesterday and when she asked me what’s new in my life lately I had to restrain myself from saying “I’ve been dabbling as a Twilight opinion haver”