#rewatch Batman beyond now

[flaccid-rats]

If I had a nickel for every time I had a favorite character who lived in a future capitalist driven society where superheroes are a thing of the past and more legend and myth than reality, take up the mantle of their city’s “patron saint” superhero sort of on accident but then just say ‘fuck it we ball’ and roll with it, dismantle corrupt corporations from the inside out while also working to help the ‘bad part of town’ fight off the gangs with themes of the original villains that the original superhero used to fight, have a little brother who eventually helps them in their superheroing business, learn that the guy who they thought was their father isn’t their father and instead it’s some rich guy in charge/owner of the corporation they’re trying to take down, are snarky ass little shits with a gallows sense of humor, and have a significant other named Dana, I’d have two nickels.

Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

[campfiretaxidriver]

I’ve been watching Batman:the animated series while knitting/crocheting, mostly because I watched this all growing up so a lot of it isn’t new to me so I don’t mind spending 90% of an episode staring at my hands on accident, but it really has reminded me just how much I loved Batman growing up, and WHY.

I love Bruce Wayne being a good, thicc, KIND man. Like the man is built like a refrigerator, but he is so soft for so much of it?? Offering to pay for a man’s legal fees, just so he can hear stories about his father??? Like he just wants to help people, so much, and if he can’t do it as Bruce he will try as Batman, like come hell or high water he’s going to try goddamnit!

Batman was just so…good. And maybe I’m just being hit by a freight train called nostalgia but it’s really nice to watch a man just be kind, be kind, be kind

[cluepoke-archive]

OK new life plan: listening to batman audio adventures and then Binge rewatching teen titans in between murder she wrote

[k-s-morgan]

Recently checked back up on ATLWETD to see if it had updated and followed the tumblr thread here. Imagine my surprise seeing all of the wonderful snippets and asks you answered. Tom using the mood stone? I almost forgot that was a thing. And finding out that Tom was just being a possesive/calculating bastard when he took Harrys food is embarassing to me since my guess was so far off. I thought that Tom inferred that Harry suspected him of poisoning/ truth seruming his food when he told Tom "Happy Poisoning".

Anyways, I decided it was finally my time to step up and praise you like the glorious writer you are. How on earth you could ever believe that your works arent as creative or as plot heavy as other tomarry works is beyond me. To me, your fics have lovely foreshadowing that makes me pay very close attention to anything that is mentioned offhandedly by a character because in your works everything means something. (Like seriously, one detail I missed in WHGTB on the first read was Harry reading the description of the book Tom was going to use to bond him and you stuffing permanent bonding inbetween fertility and necromancy. You had Harry misdirect us by having him muse about necromancy so we wouldn't notice. And you're right, I didn't)

And the humanity and characterization that you give to any character you write? Hell, i'd say you give them more layers than the origional authors. I always know that you won't make the characters make stupid and out of character actions just to advance the plot.

My experience with your writing started with WHGTB (my first convincing tomarry fic btw, you were the one who snagged me). After that, I trailed after your content like a lost puppy. I consumed your hannigram fics without having a spec of knowledge other than "haha cannibal eats the rude". I have now watched the telltale John Doe/Bruce Wayne playthroughs on youtube and rewatched the lego batman movie for the first time since i saw it in theaters when it came out. A Rule for a Rule is shaping up to be the best thing that happened to batjokes (outside of Half Way Across). I've even tenatively read through your Black Butler work, which I was hesitant to look at given the age gap and having never watched the anime. Should have never doubted that your approach to their relationship would make sense. You make an anime which could be categorized as ridiculous (I apologize, I have no nostalgic memories of this anime holding me back. I read your fic first, the anime can't compare) into something psychological and beautiful. Just so so real.

Anywho, there's my small (because I could genuinely write an analytical essay on your works and enjoy it) love letter to your writing.

Stay safe angel, it's unfortunate that I can't do anything to help you or your country. Even more disgusting that my country could help if they gave half a shit but won't. I would say I'm praying for you, but given that I'm not religious that goes nowhere. So, pathetically, my 11:11 wishes will be used for your continuted health.

Hope your writing continues to bring you joy <3

Hi! Thank you so much for such a lengthy, wonderful ask - I have a few more unanswered ones in my ask box, and I'm so delighted that my stories evoke so many thoughts and feelings in my readers!

Funnily, quite a few people thought that Tom sharing Harry's food and drinking from his cup is related to Harry's 'happy poisoning'! This never occured to me. I admit I love when such stuff happens because it proves how a text is its own thing, a living organism, something that the author and every reader can have vastly different interpretations of. In this case, yes, I intended for Tom to keep testing the intimate boundaries and to see how much Harry would allow, to gauge what exact type of relationship they used to share. Slowly turning him into a possessive, obsessed monster in love is such a delight.

I'm so gratified that you enjoy the foreshadowing I'm trying to build! I do love it, and I can tell that in ATLWETD, the seeds of the largest plot twists and the ending have already been planted. It's difficult to recognize them without knowing the rest, but if someone re-reads the whole story after it's done, these little hints should become obvious.

Also, it's so flattering that WHGTB became the first Tomarry story you really liked! Really, it's an honor, considering how big this part of fandom is and how many brilliant stories fill it. And knowing that you followed my fics across the fandoms despite not being a part of them - wow! I'm speechless! You honestly made me blush, I'm so happy to hear all this.

I appreciate every word you wrote - this means so much to me, I re-read your ask a couple of times because of how happy it made me. I hope you continue to enjoy my stories and discovering new great fandoms :D Thank you!

[aroacephotographer]

Star Trek Nerding Out Time

I've been watching a lot of Star Trek recently. And it's been a full force ADHD mega marathon of my favorite franchise right now. A lot of this for the first full time.

I grew up with TNG as a kid, seeing random episodes here and there. But I never followed the storyline.

Lower Decks is one of the best shows right now. And I LOVE the fifth/final season going on. If I had any complaints, it would be that they should have 7 seasons like the 90s shows. But I digress.

I have to nerd out about this connection I just made.

Seeing Lower Decks earlier this year introduced me to Kayshon, a Tamarian who joins the Cerritos in season 2. But it's not the first time a Tamarian has been in the franchise. Kayshon is a continuation of the first episode the Tamarians were in.

Star Trek: TNG S5:E2 "Darmok" shows Picard trying to find a way to speak to the Tamarian race. This is something that's been tried before, but the other two or three captains failed. Picard found a way to communicate with them; which btw is a very poetic episode. The Tamarians joined Starfleet after that.

The star dates for this episode are 45047.2-45048.8. Because I wanted to know the dates.

Paul Winfield

So here's the behind the scenes thing that makes me so interested in this episode: The actor who played Captain Dathon was Paul Winfield.

Winfield is one of those actors that's been in quite a few movies and some childhood TV shows that I enjoyed. HERE'S his IMDB page so you can peruse it for yourself.

But some notable cartoon shows he's been a part of are: Batman The Animated Series, Gargoyles, Spider-Man The Animated Series, and Batman Beyond.

He also starred in The Wrath of Khan!

Huckleberry Finn was a huge deal to read when I was a kid. And I'm pretty sure I was shown the film adaptation from 1974. I'm from the South, so my parents wanted me to read or at least watch it. But I vaguely remember seeing Winfield's rendition of Jim from that movie. I bring this up because (and I cannot prove this speculation) I believe this was one of those roles that made people pay more attention to him as an actor.

Thinking back on this was wild. Anyway, back to in-universe stuff...

Kayshon, His Eyes Open

By the time of Lower Decks comes around, we see Kayshon join Starfleet.

If you haven't seen the TNG episode before the LD episode like I did, the whole concept feels random. But (and spoilers I guess) Tamarians speak in metaphor. Which causes quite a bit of understandable confusion.

When I first saw Kayshon in LD what he said seemed really random. But Commander Jack Ransom points out in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment that the Tamarians speak in metaphor. Over the course of several episodes (I'd have to track down the precise episode again) the Commander starts speaking in metaphor around Kayshon. To which he responds happily.

The attention to detail between TNG and LD is phenomenal. I want to rewatch LD in general, but now I have yet another reference to look out for.

Seeing the TNG episode had me make the connection after seeing the Tamarians for the first time. And it felt like a Canon Event.

[cabezadeperro]

My first batman media was batman beyond (formative tbh), i'm rewatching the show now, and wow. I am enjoying bruce's everything and his relationship with terry way more than i expected

[blorb-el]

Don’t know if you made a post on this but what’s your opinion on DCAU Clark and how unapproachable(?) they made him in the later JL/JLU series without ever resolving it? Like I know the Cadmus arc hinges on him never considering himself a possible threat but it seems there was room for no much introspection outside a couple moments (that were later backtracked).

I've had like 6 half finished posts about this buried deep in the drafts for a year because I have capital B Brain Rot about this, but every time I tried to write it out I got six sentences in and wanted to rewatch the entire DCAU in order to get my facts straight. This time I'm resisting the urge, so forgive me if I forget specific episodes

Also, unfortunately for you, it’s nanowrimo, which means my brain is in Type All The Words Mode, and not Communicate Effectively and Succinctly Mode, and also I need a break from WSBF chapter 8, so. You’re getting a 3.5k essay sort of answering this question but not really. you will see

Thank you to my fellow lawyer for the defense of Rectangle Clark @januariat for helping to put this together

I do rewatch STAS and JL a fair amount, but much less JLU, so I actually don’t have much to say about the specific execution there. I’m planning on rewatching it soon. But for now…

To me it boils down to two answers. The Doylist answer, and what I think the writers really did have in mind, is that they came up with the Cadmus plot, knew it was an absolute banger of a storyline, and decided that it was worth compromising Superman's personality in order to write a good story. which is not something I can fault them for - as a fanfic writer, I make the same calculated tradeoffs every time I set out to write a fic. Characters are tools for narrative, even if these particular characters come with an additional weight of the tradition of collaborative storytelling that their most effective stories honor.

However, I do think it’s possible to, post-hoc, cobble together a Watsonian, narratively satisfying (if fucked up and sad) character arc for DCAU Clark if you also take STAS and JL into account. I think the key to understanding his character arc is his relationship with control. Throughout STAS, JL, and JLU, and then one more time in Batman Beyond for good measure, over and over again, he's manipulated and his powers and body are used as resources for other people. Obviously that’s not much of an excuse for becoming more authoritarian/overbearing/etc, Fascism Is Bad and I personally think a more IC superman would retreat more than double down (as in Kingdom Come), but looking at the totality of things that have happened to him before Cadmus, it's a little more understandable why he'd get close to snapping under the strain. Here's my personal reading of his arc, and the events that might have led to Clark behaving so irrationally in JLU.

cut for sheer length, but also mentions of manipulation, sexual assault, victim blaming, that sort of thing

One of the recurring themes in the DCAU is villains dehumanizing, depowering, and/or manipulating Clark. In STAS, Parasite, Lex via Bizarro, Talia and Ra’s al Ghul use him as a source for their own power. The Preserver and Maxima treat him like some exotic prize, disregarding his wishes. Jax-Ur and Mala use him and then betray him. But the most impactful, by far, is Darkseid.

In Apokolips Now, Darkseid defeats Clark, puts his bleeding body into public stocks, and drags him through the middle of Metropolis. Clark’s only rescued by the last minute intervention of the New Gods, and as a parting shot Darkseid murders Clark’s friend in front of everyone. Even though Clark prevents Earth from turning into Apokolips, it’s a huge emotional loss, and they don’t shy away from showing his rage and helplessness. But it’s when Darkseid returns in Legacy, the finale of STAS, that Clark’s life truly takes a turn for the worse.

Forgive me if this is all plot recap to you, anon, but I feel like a lot of people don’t know that STAS ends with Clark being mind controlled, heavily implied to be sexually assaulted, and forced to try to take over the Earth, killing god knows how many people in the process. When the military finally brings him down with a Kryptonite warhead and imprisons him, they nearly kill Supergirl in the process. Then Lex almost gives him a lethal injection, with a US general looking on, implying that the government approves of killing him. Lois breaks him out, he tries to get help for Kara from Dr. Hamilton, and then goes to Apokolips. Most fights in STAS have him shrug off blows. He ends this one bleeding from his mouth, looking almost dead. When he finally casts down Darkseid, tells the Hunger Dogs (the slaves on Apokolips) that they’re free… they turn away from Superman. They cluster around Darkseid to protect and heal him.

Those universal truths of a lot of Superman stories, that goodness and liberty and the American Way* always win? They don't in STAS. A representative of the US government (as far as he knows) has tried to kill him. He lost his temper and spoke in a harsh tone of voice once, because Kara was dying and he was hurt and desperate, and now his friend Dr. Hamilton, the man he trusted to repair the Kryptonian ship, study his body and his powers, one of the people who knew him best in STAS, is afraid of him - and, as we find out later, takes immediate, drastic, and violating action against Kara and against him. The series ends with the small town man standing on the roof of the Planet, hearing people hate and fear him, wondering how people will ever trust him again.

*I hate this phrase personally when used as a Superman Motto, but it's used here as a contrast to the fascistic imagery of Apokolips Now and Legacy (as well as Brave New World, which, hoo boy, we aren’t even getting into that one).

Six months (iirc) after the STAS finale, in Secret Origins, the US government has agreed to let a visibly older and wearier Superman help disarm the nuclear stockpile - only for this to backfire on him because it was a Plot by the White Martians. Clark’s let down the country again. He’s helped aliens invade again, and to make matters worse, he sped away in the middle of an attack to break into an official government facility to free J'onn. Clark founds the Justice League beginning from a place of personal failure, as a check on himself. Clark has power and wants to help people with it, but he’s been turned against people he cares about, and has twice now failed to protect the world. It’s worth noting that Legacy put him into the world stage; before, in STAS, I can’t think of any true worldwide threats besides maybe Jax-Ur and Mala.

Most of the rest of season 1 of JL isn’t particularly Clark-focused, although he does appear in a lot of episodes, but the themes of some of these episodes are potentially relevant to understanding his character later, so: brief bullet point summaries.

During In Blackest Night, Clark sees his respected colleague turn himself into an authority that turns out to be incompetent investigators looking for a scapegoat. Interesting. Surrendering to governmental authority/oversight didn’t turn out too well here. 

During The Enemy Below, on Clark’s advice, Aquaman tries to solve his problems peacefully with diplomacy and is immediately shot in a life threatening assassination attempt.  Peaceful diplomacy doesn't work so well for him.

During Injustice for All, Lex is dying of cancer. Clark tries to reach out and is rebuffed, with Lex going on to try to found a team to kill him and the rest of the League.

During Paradise Lost, Clark sees his respected colleague turn herself into the authorities and immediately get banished from her home for the crime of trying to save it with all the resources she had at her disposal. Interesting. Surrendering to governmental authority/oversight didn’t turn out too well here, again. 

During War World, Clark’s again captured for exploitation. This is essentially a retread of The Main Man from STAS, doubling down on how some people see him as a thing to be exploited.

During Fury, Clark’s completely ineffective at preventing an attempted genocide of half the world’s population.

Season 2 opens with Twilight, one of the most important episodes for understanding Clark’s mindset during the Cadmus arc. Imagine, if you will, the above happening to you. Darkseid shows up at your workplace. And the man you’ve worked with the longest, your friend, your ally, tells you to cry him a river, build him a bridge, and get over it. Tells you to get over being brainwashed, manipulated, and humiliated. Tells you to get over having your broken and bleeding body paraded around the streets of Metropolis, tells you to get over having your friend killed in front of you for trying to defend you, tells you to get over almost getting your cousin killed. Sure, Brainiac is a planetary-scale threat; Darkseid and Apokolips are in real trouble. Clark was wrong to write off Apokolips and its people, and the League should absolutely have intervened in the situation. But the way Bruce went about it was… one of the harshest things DCAU Bruce has ever done, and one of the only times the narrative seems to actually agree that he was an asshole about it. And even then, you really need the context of STAS to understand why Clark is so furious and hurt in this scene.

Clark relents and goes along with Bruce’s plan to trust Darkseid, only to end up betrayed again, the whole ruse just another ploy for Brainiac to gain control of Clark, torture him, and use Clark’s body to upgrade himself. Clark had spared Darkseid back on Apokolips at the end of Legacy, on Kara’s advice. But now Darkseid’s come after him, again. Used him again to put not only Earth but who knows how many other worlds at risk, now that Brainiac’s even more powerful. It’s the downfall of Krypton, over and over again. And when Clark goes to end it, I think he doesn’t care that the base is about to go, as long as Darkseid goes down with it. That isn’t a price Bruce is willing to pay, so he teleports Clark out. And he’s wrong, again. “No one could have survived that.” Well… no, Bruce. Darkseid does, and Clark knows it.

During Tabula Rasa, Lex manipulates Amazo the exact way he tried to use Bizarro. Clark once again fails to guard against a terrible, potentially world-ending threat, and in fact makes the situation worse by his very presence.

Then we come to Only a Dream, another key episode in understanding this version of Superman. Clark’s deepest fear is that his powers will keep on growing beyond his ability to control them, eventually destroying everything around him. In his nightmare He kills Lois and Jimmy, destroys the Daily Planet, and grows into a brutish, hulking, clumsy figure, first crying out for someone to help him, and then losing hope. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He goes back to the Kent farm and curls up in the spaceship in the fetal position, convinced that he’s only going to hurt anyone who tries to help. Is it any wonder, since that’s literally what’s happened to him in Legacy? Is it any wonder that he’d want to give up, to retreat? If we’re to take the World of Cardboard speech literally, he’s already having to focus on this restraint every day, in every interaction. This is my personal explanation/hc as to why in every single fight he lets himself get knocked around a bit first; he’s calibrating how hard he can hit back without doing irrevocable damage. Anyway. Deeply fucked up 2 minutes of horror. Wish they’d explored this a little bit more in later seasons.

Then, directly after this, it’s A Better World. After we’ve just seen that his worst nightmare is hurting people by being unable to control his powers, we come face to face with a world where he’s hurt people by the precise and controlled application of his powers. Justice Lord Clark uses the same Superman Robots we saw Kara use in Legacy. He’s become quite adept at his lobotomization techniques. Later on in JLU, we see ‘our’ universe’s Clark attempt to lobotomize Doomsday the exact same way Justice Lord Superman did. Again, Clark fails to protect the world from himself, and to make matters worse, the guy to save the day is Lex Luthor. I’d be a little miffed if the maniac who wants to kill me so so bad turned out to be instrumental in saving the world and now I owe him some unspecified favor in the future. Clark’s met with failure and distrust trying to fix things his way, now he tries to do things in an uncharacteristically sneaky way and… gets met with more dislike and distrust.

Eclipsed continues this trend of hurting his friends; he’s temporarily mind controlled and hurts Wally.

In The Terror Beyond, he fucks up and puts the world in danger again, all because from his point of view, he tried to prevent Solomon Grundy being manipulated and used (like he himself has been used over and over again).

In Secret Society, his frustration comes to a peak, amplified by Grodd’s telepathic manipulation. He’s been trying to do his best, but he snaps that he’s had better luck fighting armies alone (dubious plural there, but he did pretty much evaporate an army in Legacy, so at least once, ok) and that he’s had to hold back his abilities in order to be on the League. Again if we take the World of Cardboard speech at face value, this is true, and we see it in the episode when he accidentally hurts Shayera with heat vision despite shouting a warning beforehand. It’s also telling how other members of the League have the ability to constantly voice doubts about its usefulness and cohesiveness as an organization (hi Bruce) but when he expresses the same doubts everyone gasps. When he expresses his doubt and frustration, when he steps away, the organization that’s collectively saved the world several times falls apart; they’re reliant on him, and he has to be aware of the entire existence of the League as an extra burden of responsibility.

Since both this episode and the Cadmus arc as a whole are meant to show his flaws as a leader, it’s worth examining the foundations of that leadership as established in the DCAU. Clark’s the leader of the League, but narratively, Bruce is its brains and its ethics and Wally is its heart. As a result, Clark is filling the role of leader of the League without the narrative scaffolding that gives him the respect comics incarnations of the character are generally accorded. (I’m admittedly only drawing here from the JLA runs I’ve personally read, Morrison/Porter 90’s JLA and the early Fox/Sekowsky 60’s JLA). Superman might not technically be the First Superhero according to these continuities, but he is respected as though he is (and as we comic book nerds know him to be). The League in these comics treat him as something of an ethical standard bearer, a primus inter pares, as well as being the muscle. In the DCAU, Batman, having founded the DCAU with BTAS, is the First Superhero, and the entire plotline of the Justice Lords centers Wally as the emotional anchor of the team. Clark doesn’t have that pre-established stature. What really qualifies him to be the leader, besides the fact that Bruce doesn’t want to do it? His position seems precarious, relying more on Superman’s pre-established reputation than his actual onscreen characterization. Centering Bruce and Wally are legitimate creative choices I don’t even necessarily disagree with, but it means Clark-as-leader functions quite differently than more traditional JL structures.

Hereafter is something of a healing point for him. It’s a little fucked up that Superman almost bashes Vandal Savage’s head in with a rock, but you take what you can get at this point. He comes out of it fine, but everyone else is forced to reckon with what he means to them. Hereafter coming directly after Secret Society is a very good reunification for the League. Shame about what’s gonna happen in three episodes.

In Wild Cards, he’s useful to address the immediate threat but ineffective to stop the real, countrywide (worldwide?) threat. (I should note that of course I don’t expect every episode’s threat to be solved by Clark; I’m just pointing out a trend that I think his character would perceive as failures on his part. If the writers ever let him reflect.)

JL ends as it began, with another massive alien invasion that Clark helped facilitate in Starcrossed, by working with the Thanagarians during the first part of their plan. As a fellow exile, a fellow alien, he’s hurt and angry with Shayera’s betrayal… even though, in the end, in probably one of his best moments, he votes to allow her to stay in the League.

(Sidenote: almost every interaction Clark has had with other aliens have been despotic societies or individuals: Jax-Ur and Mala, Apokolips, Maxima’s planet, War World, and now Thanagar. The Guardians built robotic police/foot soldiers to enforce their will. Even New Genesis is ruled by a benevolent dictator. Martian society is nearly extinct, overrun by… more alien despots, surviving only with J'onn. Argoan society is nearly extinct, surviving only with Kara. At least Lobo isn’t a fascist? Small consolation.)

JLU begins after a short time skip. I’m not as familiar with JLU episodes since it’s been a while since I’ve watched them, so I’m not going to attempt an episode-by-episode breakdown. Also this post is already way too long. But the point of this post is to look at Clark’s overall arc until this point, and see how it informs his decisions in JLU. For a more JLU-specific informed point of view check this post by januariat!

What we have is a man who naturally wants to take responsibility on his own shoulders, a doer and a fixer who wants to get into the ring and solve problems, who wants to use his abilities to help, being confronted over and over again with a string of personal failures, manipulation, and betrayal. When he tries to set a boundary about not being willing to help the man who took over his body and forced him against his home in Twilight, he’s told to get over it by his most trusted ally. When his deepest fears are revealed in Only a Dream, we see them having been already realized in Legacy. And when he’s presented with his dream of a peaceful life farming, a family that loves him, and no responsibility to save the world, it’s ripped away from him in For The Man Who Has Everything.

Ultimately, I don’t have a good answer for exactly how he doubles down in JLU S2, because I need to rewatch all of it with this understanding of the character. But I think you can see the shape of a traditional Superman character in there, trying and trying again and again to do the right thing, putting himself on the line - only instead of learning from his experiences and letting them inform his actions, he’s carrying the weight of years of suppressed trauma while trying to hold up the entire Justice League. This long, long run of failure, manipulation, betrayal, and distrust adds up. And there’s only so much weight one person can hold on their shoulders, even if they are a Superman.

(And then as the nice little capstone to his story, in Batman Beyond's The Call, he’s kept under alien mind control for years! With the way Starro clings to his chest, he probably hasn’t been touched in years! Trapped in his own mind, forced to watch as yet another alien species uses him as a tool to hurt his own teammates and invade the Earth! And that’s the last we see of DCAU Clark! What a fun little ending to his character arc that doesn’t make me go insane whenever I think about it. Very very very normal about this.)

[petramoth]

Hi! This a is a bit random but I was looking about dc and the animated series and I found your account.

Recently I've been getting more and more into the dc universe and the batfamily and now tiktok is giving me so much clips from animated series. I'd like to know if there is an order to watch them and if they are officially related and with crossovers... I remember watching some justice league and teen titan episodes when I was a kid but I really want to rewatch everything and really get into it. So if you can help me with that I'd be glad! thanks ❣️

Of course I can help! I love talking about this stuff. So the main two animated universes that we have are the DCAU (DC Animated Universe), otherwise known as the Timmverse, and the DCAMU (DC Animated Movie Universe). The DCAU is, mainly, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited. All of those shows share the same universe and have crossovers and references to each other and can generally be watched in that order. The DCAMU is the last completed series of movies sharing the same universe and the watch order for that is as follows:

Now, Teen Titans was, I believe, originally intended to be a part of the DCAU but ultimately wasn’t so that can be watched as a standalone. Another standalone series, which I love, is the show Young Justice which exists in its own universe more focused on teenage and young adult heroes. If you have any further questions I’d love to answer them but hopefully this helps!

[chocolatehouse]

i’m rewatching the witchfinder because of course i am and i have thoughts

-- arthur knows about merlin’s magic. period. done deal. did you see him when the woman confessed? (for one he was standing BEHIND his throne in shadows like batman which is hilarious) he IMMEDIATELY says how it might’ve been a truck of light, arthur would’ve known merlin’s with whatever group he was with and knew and wanted to stop the whole deal before it begun (also even if he didn’t know of it he definitely doesn’t agree with uther’s laws and isn’t afraid of magic)

— also uther??? that man is biased against magic(and grudgingly likes merlin). when aredian said it was merlin and he would need to search his room, if that were ANYONE else uther would’ve just killed them. no room searching necessary and uther trusts aredian (“he’s a trusted ally”) so why would he need any more than his word? yet he asks MERLIN, or at least looks towards him, and doesn’t say anything to aredian until merlin gives his consent to his rooms being SEARCHED NOT FUCKING RANSACKED (i’m still mad about that) then tells aredian to do so

— aredian walks into the room “i smell it, uther, the magic, i smell” 👃🏻🪄🪄 arthur “that’s definitely NOT because i fuck magic in my spare time” like seriously WHY did they make that scene so weird i mean yes aredian’s trying to be intimating but magic having a smell is a bit suspicious (of what i don’t know it just is)

— arthur was WATCHING merlin and saw THE moment when merlin snapped and i love that like yes pay attention to your boyfriend then him bringing him to see gaius? yes arthur break the law for your boyfriend (but seriously arthur wouldn’t have left merlin and gaius alone so was he just standing right outside listening to their whole conversation about magic?? if he didn’t know about the magic he certainly does now)

— gwen KNOWS morgana has magic. when aredian goes to question morgana then gwen goes to merlin saying “i’m worried, merlin, she’s close to breaking point” that’s vague enough to make merlin think she’s talking in general but ummm that’s sounds an awful lot like gwen knows because THEY ARE GIRLFRIENDS

— we deserved more gwen and merlin being badass besties and solving crime and breaking laws

— like father like son, apologies are like toads in their throats. remember way back when when merlin arthur’s like “i’m umm sorry that wasn’t fair of me to sack you” then uther trying to apologize to gaius whew it was hard to watch like you are the KING you are FEARED and your stuttering over an apology?? and gaius did NOT hold back

— this episode was super interesting because it’s the first time we see uther falter with magic. i know he’s not a good person by a long shot but he’s always just ruthlessly and without hesitation condemned people with magic but now it’s worse. because now we know that uther knows what he’s doing is wrong but he still condemned gaius to death. he’s too stubborn to change and when the laws become biased to people close are when they become so much more dangerous and yeah uther could’ve tried to change like he told gaius that something would change

— gaius and merlin making fun of aredians face when he puked up the road was amazing and i love them so much

anyway if you read this whole thing, why? and here’s a picture of our favorite gays because look at their smug little faces

last thing THE TENSION in the photo below whew damn how the entirety of Camelot didn't know they were fucking is beyond me

[xx-sketchy-xx]

Hey! Did you know that there is a creepy moment in Danny Phantom? It's the special 'The Ultimate Enemy'. If you don't know, then watch '30 Creepy Moments in Kid Shows' from 'blameitonjorge' on YouTube. You might have some nostalgia shows, who knows?

I sure do from 'Batman and Beyond'. That moment sure traumatized me for life... But, this is not about me! It's about having nostalgia and reliving those creepy moments and that feeling when you first saw it!

I love feeling nostalgic

which is honestly the biggest reason I go back and watch shows like Danny phantom, tho I do feel their is a bit more of a plot in Danny phantom then most shows. (Not that it makes it better, just easier to watch lol) That is, during the middle of the show. but near the beginning and the end was just kinda goofy haha. I just love remembering how I saw it as a kid.

in fact, I love remembering how most things felt near the beginning, and I usually correlate songs to how I felt about a certain thing for the first time.

obviously rewatching Danny phantom, it was required to watch the entire intro song every time. sadly over time, the feeling fades, and you don’t remember what it felt like until youre randomly reminded.

kinda like welcome home! I correlated a lot of my experience with tally hall songs, so whenever I hear one, I can just feel the butterflies of nostalgia.

I even love creepy nostalgia, tho I keep remembering this one episode of rugrats where the main character dreams of his legs ripping open and stuffing spilling out like blood while he screamed for his parents, banging on the window. But he doesn’t get an answer, and he’s bleeding so fast, he’s being covered by stuffing, while everyone just stares at him.

for a long time, looking it up didn’t work, I couldn’t find it. But I found it recently, it’s real, and I thought I was going crazy. I SPENT WEEKS AND WEEKS AS A CHILD LOOKING DOWN AT MY KNEES IN FEAR. I did everything in my power to make sure I didn’t trip. I stared at my knees for hours during the night. and when I told my parents, they watched it, and they thought it was funny. I was so scared still, and I still think about it sometimes. now obviously I was tiny, and I saw things differently, but it was just too much.

but you know, everyone experiences nostalgia differently

[2ndbat]

𝐓𝐀𝐆 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐃 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑!

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑(𝐒): many different shades of green, raspberry red/pinks.

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑(𝐒): sweet, sour, salty, savory -- really the only flavor I don't love is spicy.

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂: I like a bit of every genre. My favorite song/artist changes constantly. Right now? Listening to a lot of FNAF music.

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄(𝐒): ah man... well, recently? Spider-Verse, Barbie, FNAF, Little Mermaid Live Action.... I pretty much love all of the older animated Disney movies, lots of older animated DC movies...-- I still need to see the latest Batman before I decide on that one. (edit from present Amity; I did love the newest Batman movie!) I love a lot of horror movies too.

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒: Timm Verse/DCAU anything, lots of other Animated DC things like Brave and the Bold, Danny Phantom, several older Anime, several Spider-Man series', and many more.

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆: "You Can't Hide" by Ck9c

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒: Batman Beyond (rewatching episodes slowly)

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄: Scooby Doo Goes Hollywood (was rewatching with my boyfriend) There's also that recent hbomberguy vid, i think that's long enough to be a movie tbh.

𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆: my own drafts, trying to make sure I like what I wrote and doing a tiny bit of proof reading...

𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆: various mini-docs on youtube on various subjects

𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍: drafts

Tagged by: @gnarledbite

Tagging: @rxtroskull @neonwebs @iobartach @knightbat @knightnoir @vitrumbra @the-blackened-dove @ectoplasmiic @question-marked

[larrikinisahimbo]

Thoughts on rewatch of the Batman 2022

"Ave Maria" faintly playing in the background in the beginning. Hadn't noticed that before.

Gotta look fabulous before going to beat the life out of criminals.

This movie does a perfect job of separating Batman and Bruce Wayne. How different those two people are, despite being the same person.

Another aspect I love is that this is the very beginning stages of Batman's journey. He's not the "perfect, no mistakes, flawless detective work" Batman that most movies portray. He's learning, making mistakes, still needs to improve his skills and craft. And since it's the first years and he hasn't been established as an asset to the Gotham PD yet, the officers, rightfully so, *do not* like him which makes a lot of sense than letting him run amok. (Not that that gets any better with time but you feel the difference in how they take Batman's presence.)

"The city's eating itself. Maybe it's beyond saving. But I have to try." SEE that is how you characterise Bruce, hope and endurance in the face of despair.

The narrative parallel between the death of the mayor and his son finding the body, and young Bruce watching his parents being murdered. Oh, it's so good, I'm gonna eat my hand.

Bruce saying he doesn't care what happens to his family's business and all the work they've done, equating his worth to what he does as a vigilante just goes to show how much the trauma and mental anguish has taken over his life, and now the severe depression, suicidal tendencies, even subconsciously just looking for an excuse to not live hits too close to home.

Robert Pattinson's back 😳 (I am a whore, leave me alone)

Batman fucking up the twins will never not be funny.

You've gotta be honest, our edgelord's entrance into Penguin's lair is nothing short of iconic.

I love this version of Penguin so much, he's the right amount of menacing and goofy.

THE FIRST MEETING OF BATCAT. Love-at-first-sight if I've ever seen it.

I fucking LOVE seeing Catwoman in action.

If I don't meet my S/O with us having a 1v1 and them manhandling me, what even is the point of it all.

Selina and Bruce's socio-economic background play such a big role in their reasons and aspirations to be heroes (or vigilantes). Glad this movie doesn't gloss over that.

Batsy is such a bastard in his early days. Selina should deck him.

He has so much to learn and grow, not just as Batman, but as a person. Yes, this is about him sending Selina as a spy.

Bruce Wayne looking like he's having the worst time of his life when he's in public. I love this socially repulsive man with all my heart.

Bruce seeing his child self in the mayor's son, but now with new responsibility of solving this mystery, just wow. A lot of movies, at least the live-action ones, tend to not prioritise portraying Bruce's childhood or the trauma he experienced with the gruesome murder of his parents, because at his core that's what led him down this path, it's just as, if not more, important, to him being the saviour, the knight of Gotham.

Him getting jealous thinking that's Selina with Falcone. Somebody's in love.

Riddler and his stupid love letters. Get a life.

Batman, you idiot, why would you stand with your face right infront for the bomb.

The police station scene is so funny. Poor Jim is losing it. "Great, now I got you on assaulting an officer." "You got me on assaulting three." Bad bitch energy.

"We gotta get you out of here buddy." "🥺" Gay behaviour.

OOOOOH. THE ESCAPE SCENE. Can't wait to see Batsy hit the ground and eat shit. THERE IT IS.

The fucking chase scene. Hell yeah. Emo Batman has some of the best entrances and chases in this movie. It's actually fun to watch and isn't cringe. What a refreshing change.

"Good cop, batshit cop." Jim shoving the pictures of the mutilated face into Penguin's face. I can't breathe.

Jim and Bats interrogating Penguin. Penguin roasting the fuck out of them. "No habla espanol, fellas?" "Shut up!" FUCKING HILARIOUS. Them leaving his tied up, and him waddling while cursing. THAT'S how you do comedy without breaking the tone of the movie, especially for dark superhero movies.

I know Alfred doesn't die but godsdammit I hate seeing him hurt.

Bruce lashing out because he feels betrayed but also reeling from getting flashbacks to his father's death while seeing Alfred in that bed, my boy was in the worst emotional state. I forgive him for being a little bitch to his dad (Alfred).

The heart to heart between Bruce and Alfred is such a tender and love-full moment. I needed that :,)

Selina should have just killed Kenzie before Bats came around. I support women's rights, but more importantly I support women's right to murder.

Carmine Falcone is such a sleazebag character. He gives me the creeps.

I love Jim Gordon. No particular scene inspired that statement, I just love him.

THE SECOND BEST HALLWAY FIGHT SCENE IN THE WORLD. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I want it injected in my veins.

When Falcone is arrested and Penguin speaks against Carmine, I love that scene because it's a subtle indication to the end of the movie, where we see Penguin will now take over the criminal underworld of Gotham. The mighty Falcon has been taken down, the city is drowned. What better opportunity for a flightless bird to takeover?

Riddler with his dumb ass jokes and reddit lives. What a clown. He's dangerous but I can't take him seriously.

Batman appears and he just [starts screaming] peak teenage boy behaviour. Cringe lord. Be better.

Starting the movie with "I am darkness", contemplating if Gotham can even be saved, and ending it with Batman lighting the way, leading Gotham out of the destruction. GODS. Him coming to the realisation that Gotham, and by extension himself, need hope and change, not clinging to the past, not vengeance. That is so poetic.

In regards to BatCat, the last meeting really signifies their love story. He loves her, he truly does, and maybe in this version of the story they end up together despite all the, but Gotham will always be his priority. She wants him to live, not just exist, but live, but Bruce gave up on that idea long ago.

"The Bat and the Cat, its got a nice ring to it. [Pause] Who am I kidding? You're already spoken for." OK, Mr. Matt Reeves, why don't you just shoot me between the eyes?

[zenlosingit]

Bit of a hot take here but I don't think Dana is a good significant other for Terry nor should be a permanent one.

AND I WISH THAT WASN'T THE CASE!!! I WANNA SEE THEY HYPE AROUND IT!!! BUT THE WRITING NEVER HELPS!!!

Near every time I pick up a Batman Beyond comic or rewatch an episode it always pins Dana against Terry and calls him out as a bad partner.

Now granted it makes sense! Terry is living a double-life and keeping it a secret from Dana and with such it does create problems in their relationship- I get it. Yet, when the writers make the decision to have Dana always mad at Terry for lying, to have Terry always be in the wrong in their relationship and for him to be the one to always repair it, it just doesn't sell to me.

Because when Terry took on the mantle of being Batman after the death of his father, he presented it to his family and friends as a demanding job he took on to help support his family. Losing his dad cost his family to be down a steady income and him having a criminal record already doesn't give much promises in finding a job to help support his family. Having this job is a literal life-saver for him, yet she doesn't seem to care.

Your gonna tell me that Terry didn't lay it out to Dana? That he didn't explain to her what the benefits he would be receiving from this job, that he is lucky to have gotten this opportunity despite his criminal background, yet he has to be on-call at all times despite it? That he didn't tell her he would do his best to prioritize their relationship and make time for her, yet that she has to understand that if he's needed he has to go, and that he has to be there for however long he is needed?

I've seen constantly Terry bending his back to make their relationship work, to making set dates with her and scrapping whatever ever free time he has to make it up to her, yet all I've seen in response of Dana is whining and indifference to his efforts in trying to keep her happy.

And I know there are moments when Dana is understanding, that she gives him leniency and lets him do him and waits for him at the end of the day- but it happens so little that I just can't get behind it.

It just frustrates to me that, with how far Terry goes in trying to maintain his relationships while still maintaining his duties as Batman, that same consideration he has for them is not returned back- or isn't often shown being returned back. He deserves happiness as much as anybody and to have support no matter how much info people know about whatever problem. Yet from what I've seen, Dana doesn't fit the bill.

[sleepergeek42]

beyond the fact that the last thing anyone should be complaining about with the strike is "but what new shows will we watch?!".... literally TAKE YOUR PICK! maybe we won't get new shows and seasons while writers and actors are fighting for their livelihoods... deal with it?? yeah there's stuff i'm looking forward to as well. but y'know what?? there is so much media out there.

have your friends whip up lists of media you should watch!

watch all the star wars things! the movies, the shows!

how about you watch the ten star trek shows there are! it'll take a good long while. don't forget the movies as well!

rewatch your old favorites! the comfort media! rebinge that decade-long show you adore but have never found the time to sit through again beginning to end!

how about classic doctor who! twenty-six seasons! all camp and wonderful! haven't gotten in to doctor who yet? watch the thirteen seasons of the revival! already into doctor who? watch class, or the sarah jane adventures, or torchwood (although caution is advised).

hell, do you like media that isn't film or tv? READ A BOOK! READ SO MANY BOOKS! GET INTO AUDIO DRAMAS! OR PODCASTS!

doctor who has the most expansive media out there go crazy go nuts! listen to the magnus archives or welcome to night vale!

and that's just a fragment of the nerd shit i could think of let alone more mainstream stuff. go watch the stargate series or red dwarf. watch the different batman shows. i don't know!

there is literally *so much media* out there, no matter what your tastes and interests are. maybe ofmd is gonna get delayed, maybe we don't get marvel shows (beyond the things already filmed) for a while, THERE'S SO MUCH YOU CAN STILL ENGAGE WITH

i, personally, will be combing through the five-page-and-counting google doc of media i want to rewatch/reread and media i want to get around to (all while watching all the things still coming out like good omens and strange new worlds and wwdits). i've gotten through nine books in a seventy-three book series right now. yeah! it's the eighth doctor adventures (edas) from doctor who and they SLAP. and while i'm waiting for these brilliant and hard-working people to get an iota of what they're deserved, i will gladly be reading the remaining sixty-four.

(also idk who needs to tell you this but fucking pirate. media corporations don't deserve your money and ESPECIALLY don't while this travesty is happening)

[electricprincess96]

Rewatching Batman Beyond now and I don't care what anyone says Terry will always be the best Batman successor.

[bcbdrums]

Are there any Kim Possible episodes you wouldn't really consider "canon?" Some of the dumber ones like Grande Size Me or Roachie or Blush for example that don't really add to the show.

oh, snap... truthfully i was a little taken aback by anything except Grande Size Me being called dumb, but then i recalled that on my rewatch ahead of the live action i was incredibly impatient with Larry's Birthday. i have since changed my tune, but i was on a binge at the time and eager to get to Graduation, lol.

but, no.... i even consider Grande Size Me to be canon. recall if you will... in fact i think i recently mentioned this... that Kim Possible as a show is chock full of genetic mutation. it's an even more recurring theme than Drakken trying to use robots or mind control to take over the world. so while that episode was made at the direct order of the Disney execs to make a healthy eating episode, and the creators made the episode as horrible as possible on purpose so the execs would stop trying to dictate the show to them.... i still call it canon.

if DNAmy can put Rufus and Barkin in a machine, create a mutant from both of them with the flip of a switch, and then an equally simple flip of a switch brings them back to normal.... yeah. yeah, i can buy the events of Grande Size Me. it's no leap at all, really.

and... okay, Blush??? that one's got me confused. Blush is a highly important episode. first of all, the entirety of the evil plot in the episode is...Drakgo trying to kill Kim "once and for all" in Drakken's words. Disney won't use the word "kill" but Wade explaining that she'll disappear forever is pretty self explanatory. so, the point is...Drakgo are willing to go that far. as if it wasn't already clear.

secondly, the ep shows how great and devoted a friend Ron is, that he risks his life to save not just her life, but also her date. canon tells us that Kim and Ron have secretly crushed on each other all along, but here Ron is helping her date with another dude go well. so to those people who claim Ron is useless or whatever... yeahhh far from it. he's always there for Kim and this is one of those eps where it's just in your face.

important side notes about the ep... we get that delicious defeat montage, which ends with Drakgo shopping together. ahhhh domesticity for my ship! not to mention all those lairs Drakken has... including a space lair. they've all already been to space, very important to note... additionally, we see that Josh isn't necessarily the greatest guy... kissing Kim at the end there after Kim had expressed some physical boundaries. sure the boundaries were because she was busy vanishing, but he still didn't respect them. and, AND...! this is the precursor to the plot of So the Drama, where Drakken first starts researching what makes Kim, a teen girl, tick. i could go on but...yeah this episode is great.

and Roachie is one of the many delightful shorts, expanding the KP universe beyond the weekly villains. i can't think of another show to reference right now, but some of the bigger TV buffs out there can certainly name some... like...i guess like Batman fights the Joker each week, defeats him, he's hauled off to Arkham, then back again for the next episode! like...very typical cartoon stuff. or Bugs and Elmer Fudd always trying to outwit each other. Kim always fighting the same villain(s) kind of limits the show and makes it feel like an even...lesser version of 'monster of the week.' sooooo....yeah, for starters, this episode brings something fresh. it always gives Kim a very human very real flaw, for the girl who can do anything. and it gives Ron yet another unique gift and moment to shine. and personally i loved the one-off villain. a person might get impatient with the episode and want to move on to their fave villains, i totally understand that. but...not consider it canon???

i.... i hope you can send me another ask of deeper explanation, Anon? because why wouldn't any of these be canon??? not someone's fave ep, okay that's fine, people's taste is subjective and that's everyone's freedom. but not canon? they all fit in perfectly with the KP universe and i'm quite perplexed by them being called dumb and not adding to the show.