#reformed joker junior

[mellowdiplomattrashpsychic]

I dont like how he can't stay with him :(((

It's like- so bittersweet or just plain sad.

So let's just- have Damian change that.

Just like JJ bonded with Damian, Damian has bobded with him. Damian was not only protected but also taken care of. JJ stole parenting books and thought about Harley (who im making into a villain to sort of proper mother. Maybe it's like split custody sorta with Ivy and Harley kidnapping him every so often and Joker just going along with it because he doesn't want to be responsible for a kid).

JJ was a genuinely good parent aside from the times Joker would hurt him and he'd end up having an episode that Damian helped him through. JJ was hesitant to give affection, feeling buzzing on his skin and remembering the nails digging into his arms or shoulders, but he dealt with it because he needed to be a good mama bird to the baby bat.

It started like a bit.

Joker had made up little background stages to act like they were on a picnic or fishing or enjoying a nice sunny day as a family.

Junior tried to do something similar, but more genuine and without all the horror and pain he had gone through.

Being a parent who came from a bad family taught you to be better. So he was better. Plenty of times, better meant not having a kid at all. He didn't have that option, so he had to do better in taking care of the kid.

So they went outside, Junior gave Damian proper affection and not too much of it.

Damian had gotten used to it. He got used to hearing words of affirmation, the clear cut "I love you", and the "I'd do anything for you, baby bat."

He tried to use the last one to get Junior away from Joker. He tried to remind him that he was Tim Drake. But Junior only smiled sadly at him.

"I'm not Tim anymore, Baby Bat. I don't want to be. Think of me like your Harley. Never like before, but reformed with a little crazy."

And Damian did. He did because he couldn't recognize Tim in him at all. And thinking of it, he probably shouldn't try to get him back. The way he'd act would be devastating. He killed bats; he killed the people he tried to restrain and save.

So Damian focused on reforming him. And Junior had really stopped thinking it was some kind of game a long time ago. They both knew it. And when it was time to prove it, Junior delivered.

"No, he's not going to be like me or the fun little bird! He's mine, and I'm not letting you take him from me!"

BANG

That wasn't it. There were plenty more gunshots that went off. But Damian could only focus on being held by Junior soon afterwards. Held tightly as Junior moved them to a bathroom to clean off the blood Damian hadn't noticed.

Junior hummed all while long. A little nursery rhyme or maybe an actual song of some kind that Damian didn't recognize. It was an episode, but it was different. He acted like everything was normal and treated Damian like a toddler. Damian recognized this as Harley's influence on him. That he was acting like this world's version of her by using her coping mechanism.

Then the batfam came. Damian's family. His real one. And Junior tried to let go of the kid. How could he join a family when he killed them? How could he not do it again? He could relapse, he could have some episode that ended badly. Because while he was insane, he still kept a good amount of intelligence from before. He had even gained some from the Joker, who was much smarter than he was given credit for.

Damian wasn't happy about that.

Damian had built a life with Junior and had seen him as a guardian figure. He got so used to Juniors unconditional love that was similar to Dick's, just not as over the top but also definitely more so.

Junior had killed his vile father figure for Damian. Junior had looked into parenting books and taught him about who Damian was allowed to take down without major consequences for enrichment. Junior had taken them outside and taught him "better" versions of childish games (playing freeze tag with ice bombs that froze people was fun, especially when Junior was kind enough to give a target list full of really bad criminals).

So Damian refused to part ways with him in that dystopia. And he convinced Junior the only way he knew how.

By committing to the bit as a baby bat.

"NO!"

Everyone one jumped and turned to him. Damian, in which, forced tears to come forward, but not letting them fall.

He threw himself forward and onto Junior, grabbing onto his stupid tail coat that was once used to comfort him during a small anxiety attack. Junior staggered backward but kept standing.

"I'm not leaving without papa! I'm not going anywhere!"

And the batfam was in complete shock. Did they have the right dimension??? Did another Damian get kidnapped?? Was that their Damian?

And Junior had froze up, eyes wide as he owlishly blinked, completely confused.

Cause wtf?

Papa?

When the fuck did that start up?

Junior placed his hands on the back of Damian's head and his back, rubbing his back awkwardly before looking up at the flock.

"Well? Do something!"

And they're still hung up about it all.

Dick and Bruce were shattered by the fact they were his parents (Dick raised the kid more than Bruce, I will die on that grave), and yet he called Junior Papa? Choosing to give him that title?

Jason and Duker were concerned. Very concerned. What happened that Damian had attached himself to the makeshift son of a much worse version of a clown that looked like a mini him? But also, they felt like this was more like a Harley situation with Junior, so they wanted to help the kid out, take him under their wings. Encourage the adoption habit.

Cass and Tim knew that act was fake instantly. Steph took a bit to realize that and then sat back, ready to use it as blackmail. Babs had to take a moment to confirm that this was fake. All 4 were more than ready to keep the charade up. Tim felt weird that this was him (I'm making it so that he didn't deal with this, sort of leaning towards canon), but he also wasn't. They knew that Junior wasn't coming back unscathed, that he'd be more like Harley. And that was more than fine. What's wrong with having another morally gray family member? Jason passed that point, Dick got there but it was reversed, Tim hid that, Damian pulled away but he was one bad unsupervised incident away from getting rid of their Joker. What's wrong with another?

So yeah. Tim was the one who took the reign and moved that along quicker. He made direct eye contact with a panicking Junior and shrugged.

"You honestly should've expected this. I mean..." Tim looked over to the conveniently placed stack of parenting books and DIY storybooks Junior and Damian had fun making.

Junior glared at him, only to jump at another fake cry from Damian and focus his attention on the teen.

"Hey, it's ok. They'll take great care of you-"

"Y-you're going to abandon m-me?!"

"No! No, of course not." He looked up with a pleading look that only Dick responded to.

"Dami... If he doesn't want to come with us, then we shouldn't force him."

"If papa isn't coming with me, then I'm not leaving! I won't leave papa! I won't!"

Cass went up to Junior and Damian, offering a small smile, one that gave him a small apology. He wasn't going to get out of this easily. Not without hurting Damian. Junior knew that too and hung his head forward in defeat.

"Well, we can't have that." Junior forced a small giggle. "I hope you guys are ok with a plus one?"

Junior looked up for any sign of outright denial, but he saw the fist pump Steph made and the fist bump that Tim and Cass shared. The traitors. Bruce stiffly nodded his head and Dick and Duke sighed in relief.

Damian looked up "hesitantly" with his teary eyes. And that sealed the deal instantly.

"You're coming with us? Really?"

Junior only smiled gently with a nod.

"Great, then lets hit the road." Jason interrupted. "Alfred's been stress cooking lately, so let's not let him stress any longer. It's not good for his age."

And with that, Damian and Junior came home.

Ok so ive had this idea stuck in my head for WEEKS at this point and i need to tell someone about it so im invading your asks

(ages for this au, id imagine Damians around like- 12 or 13 and Tim/JJ's like- 17)

What if a version of Damian (like from ine of the good happy batfam universes) was sent to to a universe with Joker Junior where the rest of the bats were killed by the Joker and JJ was never reacued and brought back to being Tim?

And Damian is like- terrified because he doesnt know where he is or how to get back home and then hes found by JJ.

And like- at first JJ would probably try to leave Damian but once he gets a good look at this kid baby brother, thats his baby brother- he would realize that he recognizes this kid. So he keeps him!

The only problem with that is the Joker. Now the bats are all dead (or theres circumstances preventing them from doing anything) in this universe so theres nobody around to stop the Jokers shit. And we all know that the Joker isnt above murdering or tourturing kids. (Id imagine the JJ of this universe has done stuff like that once or twice, but he doesnt like to. He's a smaller equally manical yet WAY less bloodthirsty version of the joker)

So JJ keeps Damian hidden from his "Papa" until the bats of Damians universe are able to find a way to bring him back home. In the meantime tho, Damians under JJ's care, and its terrifying, but at least he tries!

Now in my mind Joker Jr. is kinda like Jinx from Arcane with mood swings, visual and audio halucinations, so so smart but so so crazy and confused and SCARED and oh so close to finally snapping until he actually does.

And this boy that he kiddnaped rescued confuses the fuck out of him. Because Junior recognizes him from somewhere and he doesnt know why.

(I hope this all makes sense its kinda just like a word vomit lmao my lizard brain just want crazy older brother Joker Jr. [Also there isnt enough JJ content out there and that is a crime])

(Older brother JJ content??? Fuck yeah)

TW: JJ, torture, child abuse

JJ... Recognizes those glaring emerald eyes and scowling face. He doesn't know why, but it causes reality around him to pulse with uncertainty as it teters between JJ's world and someone else's. Someone Papa doesn't like.

JJ won't talk to them. He knows he's not supposed to. Papa will become angry. So Junior tears his eyes from the bird kid baby bat and turns to leave. A tsk stops him.

Another wave of familiarity crashes over JJ, but he doesn't know that child. He doesn't. He really really doesn't know him.

So, Junior should move. Papa won't he happy if JJ can't move.

Well, unless Papa is teaching JJ a lesson.

His nerves light up at the memory of cold metal tables, electric probes, and buzzing.

JJ needs to go, but that kid. He can't leave him. He also can't take him with either. He knows what happens to the kids Joker meets.

Junior would never disobey his papa, but the ever-present buzzing noise isn't a deterrent for bad behavior. With how often he's punished, it hardly matters whether JJ is being a good child or not. He's always in trouble. Instead, that buzz is a reminder that he can't be caught.

JJ is smart. He's clever and sneaky. He's also great at lying, even to bats. While he may not know why lying to the nocturnal creatures is important, he knows it's an accomplishment he's proud of.

He can hide the child from Papa! It'll be a fun game! Junior's little surprise.

Junior isn't sure what he's winning, but he knows what will happen when he loses.

Death to the bird and punishment to JJ! A great joke!

Though Junior doesn't know why the kid is a bird.

Oh well! JJ will take great care of the little bird. All he has to do is feed him and keep him hidden! It will be like all the other things JJ hides from Papa. He'll never admit it, but Junior thinks Papa is a little dumb. As long as JJ plays pretend with the older man, he'll remain unsupervised.

Anyways, JJ has more of a demented, childish voice while Tim is more analytical and serious.

Damian, to start with, doesn't recognize Tim. JJ has green hair, bleached skin, cut cheeks, and way less muscle mass. The behavior is drastically different as well (also, we're not gonna speculate any specific mental disorders for these AUs. JJ and Tim are considered different due to their characterizstions, but I don't want to put harmful connotations out there [especially since I don't have any relevant conditions to insert accurate and mindful interpretations]).

In this AU, the Bats are all dead. JJ did kill some of them, which drastically reduced his ability to recover and remember that he's Tim.

He didn't kill Damian, though. Tim also feels extremely protective of his younger siblings (Duke included). Unfortunately, they're dead in this AU :/

JJ oscillates between being terrified, peppy, silent, crying, and content at rapid rates. It takes several days for Damian to feel out some of the triggers.

The Bats from Damian's universe are trying their damned best to get there as soon as possible. Sadly, Joker finds out about Damian before then.

JJ, by this point, has bonded with the kid. That kid is HIS. He may have some slightly fucked up notions on how to show care, but he will not let anyone harm the bird (not even Papa).

So, JJ does his best joke yet. He kills Joker.

Only after killing the Joker do the other Bats show up. They offer to take JJ with them (particularly because that's Tim!!!), but he refuses. He doesn't want to go with his family. He doesn't remember them and he killed some of them.

He can't stay with them.

[vveakfish]

junior

[official-impravidus]

IMPRAVIDUS DC/WHITE COLLAR WORKS MASTERLIST

Last Updated: August 5, 2024

Always Starting Over - Damian Wayne is Neal Caffrey

that feel when people from your secret real life come to your sorta secret fake life - Tim Drake is Neal Caffrey POV Outsider

ouch! - Tim Drake is Neal Caffrey JayTimKon Shared Pain Soulmates

back in the spotlight - Actor!Alfred, Tim!Neal, and Exasperated!Elizabeth

Disappearing Act - Damian Wayne is Neal Caffrey (featuring Good Dad Bruce Wayne)

relapses and regrets - Jason!Neal and a Lazarus Pit Madness relapse

couldn’t decide if i should name this after “bring me back to life” by evanescence or “back to life” by rascal flatts. i know it’s the exact same phrase but i know the difference in my heart. - Talon!Dick!Neal

flirtations and (in?)fidelity - JayTimKon, Tim!Neal flirting at a gala

Dick’s Darkest iDentities (as witnessed by the FBI) - Dick!Neal gets de-aged to Talon, Renegade, and Batman 

when the past comes back - Nyssa!Elizabeth, Jason!Neal, and surprise visitor!Talia

Grandma Ruthie - Dick!Neal and Elizabeth’s aunt AKA Wally’s grandma

That's not funny. - Joker Junior!Tim!Neal

What'd I Miss? - Bart Allen!Neal

Richie Grayson, Gotham's Ditzy Darling. - Vicki Vale runs into Dick!Neal

Dick’s Darkest iDentities (as witnessed by the FBI) - Dick!Neal gets de-aged to Talon, Renegade, and Batman

domino - Dick!Neal

ready to fly again - Dick!Neal goes back to Haly's Circus

from fedora to red hood - Jason!Neal runs into an old Red Hood lackie

a stroll through the mind - Peter gets sent into Dick!Neal's memories

reunion - Jason!Neal and recently resurrected Roy

a zombie mother and son - Jason!Neal and Catherine!Elizabeth

go lucky, change the world grayson - Amy Rohrbach & Dick!Neal

Bring Your Kid to Work Day - Dick!Neal & Damian

Alvin Draper - somehow the savior of Tim Drake himself - Tim!Neal has amnesia and alerts the batfam when using Alvin Draper

does korean bbq have eggplant? - Steph!El and Tim!Neal

stranded and starting over - Jason Dimension Travels to White Collar Universe (in progress)

So, a reformed teenage crime lord turned conman walks into a bar... - Jason!Neal Returns to a Bar Red Hood is Banned From

5 Times Neal Might Be A Disney Princess + the 1 time he absolutely is - Damian!Neal and animals

Underestimated - Richie Grayson!Dick!Neal Amnesia

Bad First Impressions (not a first impression at all) - Birdflash Wally!Neal and Officer Grayson

#1 Daddy - Bruce!Neal and his kids POV Outsider

Neal Caffrey and the Duffel Bag of Doom - Jason!Neal and Red Hood Time Travel

i've fallen from up high (how did life become a disaster?) - Kon!Neal

Not Laughing Anymore - Jason!Neal, Joker!Peter, and Harley!El

uncovered undercover - Roy!Neal

Neal’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - Bart!Neal

Zoom - Tim!Neal and Quarantine

barbie - Barbara!Neal

accountability for past mistakes, atonement for past sins - Jason!Neal and Gotham Rogue Presentation

new phone who dis - Kon!Neal TimKon

the benefits of being hit by a tomato truck - Injured Dick!Neal 

threat of bodily harm is my love language - Damian!Neal and Steph!El

Metahumans & Aliens & Superheroes, oh my! - Barry Allen!Neal and Captain Singh

third time's the charm - Ray Palmer!Neal

[duhragonball]

Variations on a Theme

My fanfic is long enough that I start to worry that I may be repeating myself in places.   In particular, I feel like the villains sort of run together, although that’s arguably true for any long-running story.   Lots of people get the Joker and the Riddler mixed up, for example.   Your standard Batman villains are all going to play off the same themes: fear, chaos, power, dual-identity, genius, etc.   Some of them are bound to overlap eventually.  

I thought about how this works with Dragon Ball’s villains.   In general, I feel like the major bad guys manage to be pretty distinct from each other, even though they’re basically all doing the same things.  I guess I should make a list.  Note that I don’t really have a firm definition of “major bad guy,” so if your fave didn’t make the cut, I wouldn’t read too much into that.

Emperor Pilaf: Wants to use the Dragon Balls to wish for world domination.   He seems kind of lazy and unfocused at first glance, but when you think about it, he puts a lot of time and effort into his goals.   It’s like he thinks Dragon Ball hunting is the quickest, easiest way to get what he wants, but it never actually works out that way, and he never seems to notice.  

Red Ribbon Army: I’m sort of lumping General Blue and the other RR officers into this one.   They’re all cruel and ruthless in their search for the Dragon Balls, but they’re only doing it in service to a larger cause.   For most of the Red Ribbon Saga, it’s assumed that the Army wants to wish for world domination, just like Pilaf, because what else could they possibly want?    But you have to figure that a guy like General White wouldn’t be much better off before or after that kind of a wish.    He’d still be assigned to some Red Ribbon outpost, carrying out the will of his superiors.   He’d probably be richer and more powerful in a world ruled by the Red Ribbon Army, but in the end he’s doing it all for espirit de corps. 

Mercenary Tao: He’s just in it for the money, and I suspect the money is really just a way for him to keep score, since his rates are so high that he’s he’s probably already a rich man.   Besides, he never pays for anything, so what does he need with money anyway?  Tao’s the first bad guy who’s so strong that he can just do whatever he wants.    He’s like a one-man Red Ribbon Army in that sense.   As an individual, he doesn’t have to worry about angry superiors or unruly subordinates.   I suppose his only real overriding motivation is his pride, as he refuses to accept defeat at the hands of Goku, even though he has no particular reason to keep fighting him.

Commander Red: The big twist of the Red Ribbon arc is when Staff Officer Black finds out that Red only wanted the Dragon Balls to become taller.   You’d think he’d rather have his right eye healed, but nope.   This is where we find out all the RR guys have been fighting for a completely meaningless objective.   The Army is already rich and powerful, and one could argue that they practically rule the world anyway, since they can more or less do as they please.   I think Red’s quest to become taller demonstrates that they’ve already peaked as a world power.   With nothing else to accomplish, Red’s applying his accumulated power on selfish desires.  

Tien Shinhan: Essentially, he’s just a patsy for the Crane Hermit, who in turn is out to avenge the death of Mercenary Tao, who in fact isn’t even dead.   I suppose Tien’s character arc in the 22nd Budokai is really just him waking up to the fact that his whole life is pointless.    He’s just stealing and killing for other people’s benefit, not unlike Tao’s mercenary career.    His power was impressive, but his victories over Yamcha and Jackie Chun were empty, and his victory over Goku would have been empty as well if he hadn’t repudiated the Crane school during the fight.  

King Piccolo/Piccolo Junior: I guess the big difference with King Piccolo is that he already ruled the world fifty years ago, and now that he’s been unsealed, he’s going to pick up where he left off.   Also, we eventually learn that he’s the evil side of Kami, and if one dies the other will cease to exist.   That puts an interesting spin on his villainy, since his greatest enemy can never truly be defeated.  Not unlike the Biblical Satan, his plan is to just to defile creation as much as he can until his inevitable end.   Like Tien, there’s a certain pointlessness to his brand of evil, which probably contributed to his reform.   I like to think that when Piccolo Junior became a martial artist, he began to appreciate the discipline and sportsmanship of it, to the point where he began to think of Goku an company as peers to be respected, instead of enemies to be destroyed.   And, as Kami observed, training Gohan was a way for Piccolo to leave a legacy behind, something he could never do as a Demon King.

Raditz: Really, Raditz only came to Earth to recruit Goku for a battle on some other planet.  What sets the DBZ villains apart is that they don’t even care about the Earth at all, and only see it as a stepping stone to some larger goal.  Upon learning about the Dragon Balls, he believed that his comrades would use them to bring him back to life.

Nappa: Not unlike Raditz, in the sense that he probably would have used the Dragon Balls to wish him back to life.  Nappa’s thought of breeding a race of Saiyan-Earthling hybrids suggests that he had some lofty dreams of his own for the future, but he was happy to put them aside when Vegeta suggested something more selfish. 

Vegeta: The first guy to think of wishing for immortality.   The key difference between Vegeta and past villains is that he’s not just looking for a way to conquer a particular empire, or to kill lots of people.   He’s thinking ahead to battles he wants to fight in the future (i.e. Frieza), and he wants to keep conquering and killing forever.   I don’t think Vegeta ever truly wanted to be immortal for its own sake, but he saw it as a way to hedge his bets, in case he ever bit off more than he could chew. 

All of Frieza’s henchmen: In a nutshell, they serve Frieza because they see that as the only way forward in a universe where Frieza is the strongest mortal in it.   There’s no freedom from Frieza, only freedom through Frieza, and your Zarbons and Captain Ginyus thrive in the organization by doing their jobs very well.  They think the universe is an extremely simple equation because of this, and they’re always shocked and horrified to learn that they’re mistaken. 

Frieza: Basically all of the previous bad guys rolled into one.   He already rules the universe, by virtue of being the strongest guy in it, so he’s a lot like Red, Tao, and Piccolo on Earth.  He seeks immortality like Vegeta, but it almost feels like Red’s wish to become taller.    Frieza doesn’t really have anything else to wish for, you know?   He also planned to destroy Namek after getting his wish, just as Piccolo did when he got his youth restored, and he became a revenge-obsessed cyborg like Tao. 

Garlic Junior:  Okay, he’s filler, but I still think he’s cool.    Garlic sort of doubled down on the whole “evil-for-evil’s-sake” gimmick that King Piccolo represented.   Unlike Piccolo, he’s not the evil half of anybody, and he’s not just looking to torment everyone on Earth.   Instead, his plan is to convert everyone on Earth to his cause, using the Black Water Mist.   I get the sense that none of this was really headed anywhere specific.    He spoke of resurrecting his dead father, but I have no idea what the purpose of that would be when he had already conquered the Earth and overthrown his enemies.   He reminds me a lot of Pilaf, and I almost wonder if Garlic is supposed to represent what Pilaf could have become if he’d tried a little harder, or stooped a little lower.

Dr. Gero: Revenge personified.    Akira Toriyama later established that Gero lost his son in the destruction of the Red Ribbon HQ, and that’s why he wanted revenge on Goku so badly, and that’s fine and all, though I liked the original implication that he just really, really liked the Red Ribbon Army as a concept, like a middle-aged wrestling fan who really misses WCW.   You could argue that Gero is the most nihilistic villain of the set, as his revenge plot involves multiple long term schemes, some of them arranged beyond his expected lifespan, and none of them were particularly concerned about the fate of the Earth.  

Androids 17, 18, and 19: I’m assuming that 19 had some semblance of free will here.   None of these three had any stake in Gero’s plot, but they didn’t really have anything else going for them either.   I’m pretty sure 19 stuck with Gero because he wanted to be on the winning side, and maybe because Gero was the more powerful of the two.    By contrast, 17 and 18 turned on him at the first opportunity, and wandered around for a while before turning good.   Their counterparts in the Future Trunks timeline never reformed, which I always assumed was they were driven mad by boredom.    Of course, they were always designed to be fodder for Cell, so in a sense they were trapped in Gero’s vendetta whether they wanted to be or not. 

Cell (The Best Villain): He’s a lot like Frieza if he had actually wished for immortality.   What would Frieza have done next?   Well, he’d probably sip wine and gloat for another hundred million years, so maybe this analogy doesn’t hold up.   The point is that Cell was designed to fulfil a very specific set of objectives, making him stronger than everyone, and then he just sort of had nothing else to do.    It’s very similar to Tien and Mercenary Tao’s lack of purpose, but since Cell is an inhuman monster, there’s no guarantee that he’d eventually  get sick of killing and destroying everything.  

Babidi: He’s a lot like Commander Red, Frieza, Garlic, and Dr. Gero, in that he relies on others to do his dirty work.   You know, that’s actually a pretty long list.  All five of these dudes use different forms of manipulation to control their underlings.    Babidi uses mind control, and I suppose Garlic does too, though the Black Water Mist isn’t quite so well-defined.   Gero seems to be able to program his cyborgs to varying degrees of complaince.   Frieza uses on intimidation and cult of personality, and Commander Red seems to rely on military hierarchy and a sense of “we’re all in this together”.       Babidi is more direct about it.   If he wants someone on his team, he just uses his magic and makes them join his team, whether they would have shared his objectives or not.  He also wants revenge like Dr. Gero, and he has dreams of ruling the universe like several other past villains, but all of that seems to take a back seat to reviving Majin Buu.    That seems to be what makes him stand out.   Mind control is a bit cliche, but the real hook to Babidi is what he’s trying to use it to accomplish.   Each guy he brings to his side is just cannon fodder for winning the next guy, until he can finally get Buu on his team.   I’m pretty sure he could conquer the universe and kill the Supreme Kai with Dabura and Vegeta alone, but he can’t stand the thought of not having Buu on his team.  Except Majin Buu’s the one bad guy he can’t control.   If he had just left that one go, he would have been unstoppable.  Instead, he pushed too far and lost it all.

Majin Buu: This guy gets a lot of criticism for being short on personality, but I think that’s the point.   He’s a weapon, like Cell, and he’s even more devoid of purpose than the Crane School guys, King Piccolo, or the Androids.   He’s basically a walking natural disaster, practically begging the universe to stop him.   I never really thought about it before, but he’s a lot like Tien’s run as a villain.  Like, Tien met Majin Buu in the middle of that arc, and you’d never make that connection during that encounter, but it really is a similar kind of situation.  They both needed somebody to slap some sense into ‘em.

I thought about moving on to the villains from GT and Super, but this is pretty long already, so I’ll just call it here.  I think I’ve seen what I needed to see anyway.   A lot of these guys have similar power-sets and motivations.   Babidi and Dr. Gero are very similar in the sense that their revenge plans end up summoning an unstoppable weapon and unleashing it upon a defenseless Earth.  

But the difference lies in the details.   For Gero, Perfect Cell was Plan C or D, a failsafe he never expected to live long enough to see in action.    Plan A was to tackle Goku in person by becoming an android himself, and everything else that happened was because of his initial failure to accomplish this.    Majin Buu, on the other hand, was Babidi’s first and only goal.    As much as he wanted to get revenge on the Surpreme Kai, he seemed much more fixated on Buu.   Killing the Kai was just a way to clear a path to Buu, or a fun thing to do with Buu once he got him. 

This also puts some parallels in stark contrast.   When 17 kills Dr. Gero, it’s superficially similar to Buu killing Babidi.   The difference, though, is that Gero never trusted 17, and he was only activating him out of desperation.    Babidi really thought he had Buu figured out, and then he lowered his guard for just a moment and paid the ultimate price.    Which is ironic when you think about it, because we don’t usually think of Buu as being treacherous or sneaky.    17 comes across that way sometimes, but he’s pretty up front about his intentions.   Gero wasn’t exactly surprised when 17 turned on him.

And this is why I get pissed off when people who don’t watch the show try to dismiss it as the same thing over and over.   It’s not the same thing over and over, but the only way to be convinced of that is to take the time to sit down and experience Dragon Ball in depth.    I don’t like football, but I’m not gonna buy into the tired old joke of it being a bunch of guys running around in tight pants.   I have no idea how football works, but I’m not gonna pretend that there isn’t some deeper appeal, or that there’s no tactical or athletic contest going on, simply because I don’t like it.  A lot of people enjoy it, so there must be something to it, even if it’s not for me.   I just haven’t taken the time to study it.

Anyway, I’m concluding from this that I should probably take the time to study my own work, and maybe that would help me to shake some of these confidence issues.    I can talk myself into believing that my writing is better than I think it is, but maybe I need to analyze that in detail, and actually write the analysis down instead of letting it swirl around endlessly in my head.    I’ve always resisted this sort of thing because it feels like an ego trip, but maybe it’s been the opposite all along...