#roys been mischaracterized so much

[nightwngobssd]

Coming out as jayroy hater <3

[crazychaoticizzy]

Just the Tip

CONTENT: 18+, MDNI, smut, unprotected sex, morning sex, dom/sub/switch reader and character depending on which one you’re reading, my knowledge on some of these characters is limited since i’m new to the fandom so they may be mischaracterized, the most basic concept but it’s something ✨

WORD COUNT: 573

MASTERLIST

“C’mon, baby… Just the tip, I swear.”

You both knew he was lying. He didn’t do just the tip. You knew that, and yet you still obliged him in the early morning.

“Just for a bit. I have a meeting today,” you mumble. You bury your face further into your pillow as he climbs on top of you. Now that you’d said it, you realized how much you didn’t want to go to that business meeting.

“I know, baby. I swear this time it’ll really be just the tip.”

You hum as he pushes your panties aside. His fingers briefly glide against your folds before he replaces them with his cock.

For a moment, he abides by his promise and only puts in the tip. He ruts into you and moans in your ear before pushing more of himself in. You’re too tired to notice entirely, although you can feel it. You don’t comment on it, though, even knowing that you should. You excuse it by convincing yourself just a little bit of indulgence wouldn’t hurt anyone.

It isn’t long until his hips meet yours. Your mouth falls open in a surprises moan when he pulls out almost completely and shoved himself back inside. Your eyes shoot open, and you look up at him with a questioning gaze.

“Oops.” The stupid smirk on his face tells you this is definitely not and oops situation, but you can’t find it in yourself to argue. Especially not after he begins a fast pace.

It looks like that meeting will have to wait. What a shame…

Jean Kirstein, Eren Yeager, Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, Toji Fushiguro, Ryoumen Sukuna, Roy Mustang, Portgas D. Ace

There was no sound prettier than the sound of your boyfriend’s voice, still groggy with sleep as he holds onto your hips for dear life.

Just the tip. That’s what he’d promised you. But Jesus Christ, the way your walls stretched and squeezed around just the tip made him delirious. You’d barely given him anything and his eyes were already rolled to the back of his head.

He whines and whimpers in your ear, pleading, begging for you to let him put more of himself inside.

“Baby… Baby, please… I know you’re busy today but I need-”

With the way he moans in your ear, his hands twisted in the sheets and leaving bruises on your hips, it would just be cruel to say no, wouldn’t it?

Armin Arlert, Reiner Braun, Choso Kamo, Sanji Vinsmoke

Sometimes you find yourself hating how coy he can be. How fucking clever he is infuriates you, especially when it’s early in the morning and the only thing you want is for him to not follow what you said.

You moaned his name, long and drawn out, as you tried moving your hips back to push more of him inside you.

But he keeps his hands on your hips, preventing you from moving any further. He tuts and shakes his head, barely moving the tip in and out.

“We can’t get too carried away. We both have things to do today,” he whispered, his voice still raspy and thick with sleep.

You groan, attempting to move your hips again. When he resists, you give up. “Please,” you beg.

He chuckles. You think for a moment that he’ll give in to your pleas and screw you until you’re a mess beneath him, but he only kisses your cheek and pulls away.

It leaves you feeling empty and upset, even with the promise of a proper fucking when the two of you return to work.

Erwin Smith, Levi Ackerman, Kento Nanami

this has been in the drafts since at least February sorry about that guys hope y’all enjoyed 💜

[celaenaeiln]

Dick isn't a cheater or a womanizer. He can't stand the idea of it.

I don't know what was going on with the wedding scene and him sleeping with Barbara but that is a blatant mischaracterization of him.

There's countless examples in the comics where he talks about only being able to be with one person.

When Kori gets married to Karras under the force of her father, Dick needs to go home but she begs him to stay. But Dick can't do it.

The New Teen Titans (1984) Issue #26

He can't bear to cheat or be used as the object of cheating. His moral standards are too high for that. He also tells Kori afterwards that love should be between two people.

It's impossible for him to just sleep around.

Action Comics Issue #614

"I gotta be honest, Roy-I couldn't make love to someone I didn't really love."

He can't even sleep in the same bed as another woman when he's in love with someone else.

Batgirl (2016) Issue #17

"You could've shared the bed."

"I'm-I'm just not over Shawn yet."

To Helena he talks about how he can't sleep with just anyone and to Roy in Outsiders he scolds him for wanting to sleep with every female hero.

It's literally impossible for Dick to cheat or sleep around. He can't be romantic with people he knows he's not dating. The guy's rock solid.

Dick's morals exist for himself. He's intrinsically the most upstanding character in the DC community.

I really REALLY REALLY hate how DC dashed literally decades of characterization just so they could promote a ship.

It's SO out of character that there's scene in direct contradiction to this.

In the New Teen Titans (1984) comic, Dick has a dream about kissing Raven and he wakes up panicked next to Kory because he's dating her.

Kori tells him she sees the way Raven looks at him, in love, but Dick doesn't believe it for a second.

But this has been going on for a while and Dick is sick of it because he knows he loves Kory and no one else. He's scared and tired so Kory offers to talk to Raven for him which he gladly accepts.

The New Teen Titans (1984) Issue #39

With a little kissing of course <3

So Kori meets Raven and they hang out together where Kori explains the difference between friendship love and romantic love

Raven subconsciously influenced Dick to kiss her with her powers because she was in love with him. But Kori doesn't get mad at her,

I love Kori so much.

Anyways, they have their chat and Dick meets Raven again after Kori and her three week vacation sister-bonding.

HE'S LITERALLY HAVING A MELTDOWN BECAUSE RAVEN KISSED HIM

He's full on panicking that her chat with Kori didn't work. His first thought is "where's Kory?". At this point the poor boy is scared to even be in the same room as her despite Kory giving her explicit permission to date Raven.

That's how much Dick emphasizes monogamy, love, and his partner.

He's only relieved that it turned out to be a prank. Not too pleased with the kissing prank but ig it is what it is.

You can't have all these scenes and then do that DC. It doesn't work that way. He doesn't work that way.

[sokoneedsagun]

Some dc hot takes because I’m feeling brave

(These are all opinions if you disagree it’s fine)

- modern portrayals and especially ones from the 2010’s of Harley Quinn fucking disgust me. Harley didn’t originate in the comics, she originated in a show for children. And for some fucking reason dc turned her into a weird sex symbol. “but oh it’s empowering to her” please shut up.

- Jade and Roy should have more interactions, they’ve been getting some recently especially in the absolute power tie in’s but Jades character has just been so fucked for so long that she deserves more

- dc needs to stop forgetting their characters fucking origins. Because did you guys know Zatanna was Romani and Jewish? because I didn’t till I looked it up, because dc has a horrible habit of saying a character is from a culture but never showing it

- Red hood and the outlaws was a disgusting over-sexualization and completely mischaracterized Starfire. ESPECIALLY HAVING HER FORGET ABOUT DICK SO SHE COULD FUCK HIS BROTHER.

- dc and the fandom have forgotten so much about Stephanie Brown, especially the plot arks about her baby, when she died due to black mask, and nearly her entire Robin run

- de-aging Connor hawke and Rose Wilson for the Damian Wayne Robin series made no sense. Rose is Jason’s age and Connor is closer to Tim or Jason’s

- changing rose’s backstory was complete bullshit, making her have both eyes again but still wear the eyepatch (mostly in fanart) is just weird

- we all forgot about the riddlers brain tumor way too fast

- Selina Kyle has been diminished to nothing more then a love interest for Bruce Wayne, it’s very rare that she gets an interaction where it isn’t with him or talking about him, and dc needs to bring the Gotham city sirens back (not that one Harley Quinn book though, I read that, it was fucking disgusting.)

- speaking of that book! Stop dressing Harley like a literal fucking school girl. If you’re into that and mention it in your comic, you’re a fucking creep. And stop treating Harley like she’s an idiot just because she’s mentally ill.

- female dc characters are constantly used just to push men’s storylines further and it’s been such a long time since a woman got something just about her for once. (I will say, the new poison ivy/swamp thing feral trees comic does such a good job with ivy)

[royboyfanpage]

Pops up in your inbox like a clown in a box. Do u have any Roy mischaracterization pet peeves? Like smth that doesnt actually matter but still drives u insane

I have a lot of mischaracterisations that I feel *do* actually matter (most probably don't but I am Normal about Roy Harper and am Completely Fine with misunderstandings of his character), but one thing that I know for a fact doesn't matter that much but still drives me insane is less of a mischaracterisation and more of a misconception, which is the idea that Roy joined the Titans at the same time as the rest of the Fab Five. And I kinda hate it because yeah, it's not THAT big of a deal, but also Roy being the last of the original Titans is so important to me because Roy was the second of the Fab Five to be created just after Dick, he was a teen sidekick at the same time the Teen Titans were founded, and yet he was just a recurring guest until issue 19 and that is SO important to me because a character who's massively characterised by his fears of being unwanted being the last of the time's sidekicks to be welcomed into the team of sidekicks? Yeah. It's also pretty key for his relationship with Garth, they didn't actually spend all that much time together until they were adults because Garth wasn't there much after Roy joined, and that absolutely has a part to play in how their relationship developed as adults; they didn't spend all that much time together, and they didn't get to know and understand one another in a way that might have resolved their issues far sooner if they had both been around from the beginning. But also yeah it's definitely most important for the feeling of inadequacy because he was quite literally the last picked for the original Titans.

Another thing that I do see a lot is... well, again, it's not exactly a mischaracterisation but more of an overcharacterisation, I guess, is oversexualisation. Don't get me wrong, Roy's absolutely a sexual person, and there's nothing wrong with that! But at the same time I feel like there's a bit of a tendency to prioritise Roy's sexual attraction over his romantic attraction or platonic attraction to his partners, which I don't think is the case. Like he absolutely values the romantic and platonic over sexual. Particularly with Jade and Donna, he's sexually attracted to them sure but he also loves them romantically with his whole heart, he's absolutely the kind of guy who'll love someone once and then for the rest of his life which is definitely most obvious with Jade and Donna. And even with his non-romantic sexual relationships, like his FWB relationship with Grace Choi it definitely felt like there was a greater emphasis on the "friends" than the "benefits". I dunno, obviously there's absolutely nothing wrong with valuing sexual attraction over romantic and/or platonic but I don't think that fits Roy.

Anyway I'm rambling now and I'm not sure I've explained my thoughts correctly but yeah, that's what I think :)

[hyperch1ptune]

yk i’ve talked about spooky month on here before,,once I think showcasing my first gadgetini art of the year (or since 2022)

it’s actually the webseries that had me reminded of gatg from it having a duo I felt were similar 2 the main robo-twins

THE THIEVES 💪💪

These guys have been my favorite since 2020, and it wasn’t until the beginning of the year where I felt I was improving on both my art & writing skills where I’d interfere without feeling i’m mischaracterizing the 2

(I actually uploaded some of my recent SM thief stuff 2 tumblr one time,,,buut that was before I decided to restart & delete the 5 year old blog entirety)

(cuz my old stuff from them,,,additionally from 2021 & 2022 where I had a really bad “edgy” phase was NOT good i’ll say that)

most of the headcanons I have written for them are archived somewhere in my now fidget-focused rp account, but I can try & paraphrase most of what I have to present other than roleplay

—

Barton “Barry” Gómez (Fat Thief), and Eugene “Euan” Gómez (Thin Thief) are the duo thieves of the neighborhood; Barry being 32 and Eugene being 34. They’re both brothers, close ones at that. Even with the 2 year difference it’s always been as if they were the closest friends they could have.

They both were the previous son’s of Richard, 20 years before Roy came along (more than likely in his 50’s now). Richard had another partner before Carmen, but they never got along as well as he hoped..he took it upon himself to take care of both of the boys whenever him & his old girlfriend partner. Barton doesn’t remember much of his mother besides playing with her whenever he was young; Euan only remembers her consistent fighting with Richard most of the time now.

The thieves are unaware of Richard’s new life, having both moving out for collage (and independency mostly) at that early adult age (18/20 respectively for the both of them) they’re both been they’re only source of family sense, being roomies for as long as they can remember with each house/area they move/hide into. The only thing that is known is that Richard’s been having a better life with his new wife..additionally with them not knowing it’s Carmen (more than likely they’ve tried robbing her before) AND not knowing that makes them related to some kid named “Roy” in some way.

It was Eugene who first got into the habit of thievery; with him thinking it would be good financial help for the 2 of them, and just liking the thrill in general. With Barry being the youngest, he ended up picking up that habit alongside him. With how long they’ve been doing it around the neighborhood, it was surprising to hear them both getting relatively popular under local news reports..only having full realization after someone deliberately order a heist for them to hit off. AKA: the RUMORED CULT hiring them to rummage through the attic of a house they’ve already failed stealing from. They already had good enough of a grip of how dangerous the group could be; given how they escaped jail in the first place with help from famous Bob Velseb; the reanimated cannibal that was ALIVE because of the cult (they didn’t have that great of a relationship with him in-and-out of the prison..) Barry was more unsure on the deal, not wanting to be wrapped deep under more garbage for the future. Eugene? They were paying good, he couldn’t let go of that offer (it would’ve payed off they’re apartment bills🎉🎉) Alongside the duo they were hired with the Candydealer, him acting more as some information giver-mentor hybrid for the two. Trying to keep them in order from fear or hesitation so they don’t ���run out of luck”

Barton is a Gay man, & Euan is Bisexual as well btw 🫡🫡

ADDITIONALLY THEYRE BOTH MEXICAN WHICH MAKES RICHARD MEXICAN WHICH MAKES ROY MIXED HEHEJAHAHAHA I LOVE SELF INDULGENT HEADCANONS 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽

—

thank u 4 ur time I just wanted 2 get on here & say i’ve loved these guys 4 so long & they mean so much 2 me and with the power of tumblr & how much words u can write on here I can announce that 2 everyone else

anyways here’s the full art dump I have w them ur welcome chat

[destinationtoast]

first thoughts on Ted Lasso s03e05

(I had to watch it without captions, so I missed a lot. hoping to watch again with captions later.)

I'm pretty displeased with the Shandy storyline. I had so many fun backstories in mind for the two of them from back when they were roommates, and so many directions their current relationship could go... but that was far more boring and annoying an outcome than anything I'd considered.

Roy's description of breaking into a bedroom and beating someone seems way too premeditated for how we've ever seen Roy's anger work. (It's also very dark, but I have no problem with dark. it just doesn't seem like the right kind of dark for Roy, imo.)

bullying doesn't usually happen when one kid loses his temper at another... that's two kids getting in a fight. maybe his teachers mischaracterized the incident, but if Henry's actually bullying, it's going to take more to get past it.

kind of weird that Richmond was all wins two episodes ago thanks to Zava, then all losses this episode in spite of Zava (but with no explanation of what changed, unless I missed it)... maybe it would have made more sense from a writing perspective to have him suddenly quit at the beginning of the episode, leading to their string of losses? The quitting was also so abrupt... I hope we find out later that Rupert bribed him to quit, or something -- but since they'd been losing anyway, it's not like that seemed necessary.

It was entertaining to see the coaches begging for Trent to give advice, but I wish he'd been able to actually join in a little more then instead of just immediately getting shot down.

I didn't buy the turnaround of Jade starting to feel sympathy toward Nate. She never stopped smirking at him (and her boss offering him the best service made no difference to how she treated him), so I fully expected her to keep smirking when his date walked out on him.

I still hate the psychic storyline. I am happy for more time spent on Rebecca, but not this. (I'm also allergic to fertility storylines, but i don't object to that in the same way as the dumb psychic storyline.) Less staring at green matchbooks and running into exes just so someone can say a random line from the psychic, please... more interactions with other characters we care about!

omg Man City... I'm gonna need SO MUCH more fic about young Beard and Ted!! :D

I'm super into Keeley and Jack, and the way that they hooked up. I still am going to fantastize about Keeley getting her footballer threesomes, but now she has a girlfriend, too. XD (Can't see Jack hooking up with either Roy or Jamie, lol)

I'm going to be annoyed if we never get any further discussion of what exactly went down between Roy and Keeley when they broke up.

definitely my least favorite episode of this season, but it had a couple very bright spots.

[pelos-left-eyeball]

wow i did not expect to be tagged in this (/pos i think you’re all really cool) (also this is the only thing i’m ever gonna post/reblog on here lol)

okay hmmmm

this fandom is so so so bad about mischaracterization, an obvious example being streber, bob, etc. but also, ROY. i’ve seen people being like “oh the other hatzgang members are getting nicer that means he will too” y’all if anything he’s getting more aggressive :,) (i love him tho)

2. BOB SUCKS!!!!! (that’s already pretty much been said, so i’ll make another one) this is less of a hot take and more of a… weird fact, but if lila is 29 and she and jaune are the same age, give or take a couple years…. well…. ross is 14-15, so that means she had him at like,, what, 14? 15? i need to know how old aaron is because if it’s more than a year or two older, HEADS ARE GONNA ROLL (also this fact made me squirm in my flesh)

3. streber’s just some guy 🧍

@eatyourmaker @itsnotmourn @gooberdrawz +anyone else who wants to join :D

SM hot take tag game

The rules are simple, put 3 SM opinions that will have you like this

And then tag 3 people

I'll start:

Susie is a much bigger jerk in canon than in fanon, most people don't notice it because of her short screen time

Not enough people seriously acknowledge the possibility that Skid's dad may be centuries old

Tender Treats is a better viewing experience than Hollow Sorrows on the first watch

@crossover-enthusiast, @interdimensionalvoid, @spookyscaryskidnpump

[hood-ex]

Do you think people get weird about acknowledging that Dick died because they've reduced the characters into tropes and it's important to them that Jason was the Robin who died? If that's what makes him special, then he's not so special anymore if they've all died. So now it's important that he died the *most* because that's his role. Maybe it's okay that Damian and Steph have died, because Damian is just a kid and Steph is an afterthought, so now they can write fic about Jason and Damian bonding over it and either ignore Steph as a past Robin or have her bond with Jason too. Dick is a problem though. Because a big part of Jason being special is that he has had it worse than Dick. Tim is on thin ice, depending on whether we buy into the decision to ignore all previous canon and suddenly make him Jason's favorite, but Dick is a nonstarter. He cannot have his suffering acknowledged. He is the happy golden boy favorite popular perfect one, the cheerleader to Jason's underappreciated bad boy--whose trauma is *very* important to his appeal to some people, so much so that they cling to the merest hint of it in his past and make it central to his fanon character. In a better world, maybe canon would have shown Jason try to commiserate with Dick over the experience of realizing you were being murdered and feeling your life slip away, or at least he'd think to himself how much he hated that he was too mad to do that. Instead we got Jason trying to joke with Tim about how good it must have felt to punch Dick in the face? I was disgusted. Even worse, canon never saw this as a problem, because Dick's death was just about shuffling pieces around and moving to the next story. Part of why it's so easy for fans to argue that Dick didn't really did is because canon acted as if he didn't really die. The man got nothing. Every time this topic comes up I think about that funeral issue that was scrapped and how impactful it would have been.

Ohhh for sure. I think that just like how some iterations of Jason see Dick as his competition, some of Jason’s stans also see Dick as Jason’s competition. Like when the Titans trailer came out and Dick said, “Fuck Batman!” everyone started freaking out saying, “Dick would never say that! That’s something Jason would say! Why are they giving Dick Jason’s personality?” And it’s like LOL I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but Jason is gonna have to wait in line behind Dick and all the other people who would say, “Fuck Batman.”

I think some stans start to get a little twitchy when they start to make connections like:

Jason: “I died.”

Dick: “Me too.” 

Jason: “I was buried underground. I had to dig my way out.”

Dick: “Did you go up? I dug sideways.”

Jason: “I use guns!” 

Dick: “I have before. Not in the same way.”

Jason: “I’ve killed people.”

Dick: “I wish I hadn’t but I have.”

Jason: “I have issues with Bruce.”

Dick: “Who doesn’t?”

Jason: “Bruce replaced me.”

Dick: “Hurts, doesn’t it?” 

Jason: “Bruce didn’t kill the Joker for me.”

Dick: “No, but I did.”

Jason: “The system failed me.”

Dick: “I went to juvie instead of the foster care system.”

Jason: “I lived in a shitty house.”

Dick: “I lived in a trailer with my parents and a performer named Tombo.”

Jason: “Roy and Kory are my best friends.”

Dick: “Ditto.” 

Jason: “I ran away from home.”

Dick: “Yup. Been there, done that.”

Jason: “I cuss a lot.”

Dick: “Yesterday Alfred told me I had to put more money in the swear jar.”

Jason: “...I wear leather jackets.”

Dick: “I ripped my favorite one while trying to get away from Slade.” 

And instead of people using all this shit to have Dick and Jason relate to each other, they try to mischaracterize Dick or brush him off in order to make Jason seem more special or superior. Tis annoying. 

[stxleslyds]

Robin Jason, a friend and ally of the Titans.

PART 2.

Hi! Welcome to Part 2 of this post, as I said in the last one, I will be talking about Robin Jason’s moments and not reviewing the issues from a story point of view but I think I will have to give a little more context in this one because honestly I am a little lost with this particular storyline, there is too much going on and Jason isn't part of many pages so yeah, I hope this post isn't too boring or bad though.

I will link part 1 Here!

Let’s begin!

·         NTT (1884) #26-28

In my last post I talked about how Jason would be called by Donna to help the Titans save Dick and Raven from Brother Blood’s people. We start #26 with Mother Mayhem giving a public speech on television. What you have to get from this is that this cult is using the image of the two Titans/Heroes (Nightwing and Raven) that they captured as propaganda for their intentions, their intentions being resurrecting Brother Blood and making the world believe that they are good people. Obviously, Dick and Raven are not there because they are supportive of their cause, they were both brainwashed.

In this issue the Titans team that had fallen apart in issue #19 is back, so we find Donna, Beast boy, Cyborg, Joey and Wally together once more and they are trying to figure out what to do because they have two problems, on one hand Beast Boy’s father is killing people and captured Garth and on the other a whole ass cult is doing cult-y shit and captured Dick and Raven. In the end they choose to go save Dick and Raven first but they do it because Beast Boy says this “I…don’t know. I can’t say what we should do. We need Dick here…he’s a tactician. We need him as out leader”. Never in my life would I have thought that I would agree with beast boy but yeah…hard agree.

Donna understands that even though the team is (mostly) back on its feet they still need more firepower and that’s why she calls Jason. While it was kinda rude of Cyborg to say that Jason is not all that (in terms of firepower) any kind of tension is quicky gone because Starfire comes back (talk about firepower).

We have various moments of Beast Boy being a perv towards Kory (thanks a lot Marv) but that’s not important, what’s important is that now the Titans have to tell Kory that Dick has been captured and they are on their way to save him.

They all leave to Zandia (where Brother Blood’s Church is located) and a fight ensues as soon as they arrive, they fight but their goal is to get to the Church as fast as possible. Jason doesn’t say anything in these panels but he is fighting alongside the others. When things get a bit more complicated Jason starts to feel that maybe he isn’t that capable of handling himself but he doesn’t have to do anything by himself because this time he has a team that can back him up. Kory gives him a lift as soon as Jason is surrounded, he is of course thankful and a little bit pervy (thanks a lot Marv).

Kory is shot just after she gets him out of trouble and Jason as the adorable kid that he is becomes worried for her well-being. After Beast Boy is also injured in the fight the Titans decide to leave back to camp. Thankfully both Kory and BB are okay but they are all still worried about how they will get to the Church. We see here once more Donna being a bit overwhelmed with leading the Titans and beating herself up over what happened in Switzerland (#20 and #21) but Jason reassures her instantly that she did a good job and she doesn’t need to be so hard on herself.

This interaction here is particularly nice because Jason reassures Donna without her asking for it. In my last post Donna looked for reassurance in Robin several times but she didn’t do it because she actually wanted Jason to give his thoughts, she did it because she was hoping Jason would act like Dick and eventually take over the team’s leadership. Here that isn’t the case, Jason just tells her what he thinks.

After Donna talks about her doubts Kory says that she is impatient and worried about Dick but also expresses being unsure because the last time that she saw Dick they kinda left things off on “bad terms”. I say this because just like it happened with Jason and Roy, Jason and Kory also have differences, she is a grown and experienced woman that is going through adult problems and Jason is a kid that is just happy that he was called to join them on another adventure.

If we back a few panels to when Jason said that Kory “was a sight for sore eyes” Kory responds saying “first Changeling, now you. It’s got to be puberty”, she is obviously not pleased about Jason making that comment about her and it’s also made clear that he is just a teenager.

This is where I rant about how different what we see here is from what we get later in New 52. Just like Roy (in New 52) Kory is also seemingly very close or the same age as Jason and she is the one that is written as wanting to take Jason to bed or, at the very least, attracted to him. Kory being an adult in comparison with Jason is taken away from her and she is just transformed into something to fit Jason’s new beginning as the Red Hood. Lobdell didn’t do Kory any favours, he annihilated her character and made her out to be just eye candy that can come off as stupid and way too reckless just to prop Jason up, believe it or not Jason sometimes was the voice of reason to both Roy and Kory’s antics.

It’s even worse when you consider the fact that in this issue Kory is feeling better and more confident because she finally understands what she wants and has accepted Earth as her real home, all of that is gone in New 52, Kory is lost, insecure, she even depends on Jason a bit too much at the start (because she “didn’t remember” her time on earth or Dick) and goes back to killing. All in all, Lobdell’s version of Kory was very damaging and a disservice to her past history.

Back to the issue, as Donna and the others are going to start coming up with a plan (with only two days until resurrection day) we move scenes and find ourselves in a meeting where people are complaining about the Titans messing up their plans, but that is not what matters, apparently the people in that meeting wanted to “summon the Brotherhood” and here is where we are introduced to the person who will make the Titans’ lives a little more complicated…Twister. She is one of the people that were victims to Brother Blood’s brainwashing and experiments.

In the next page we see the Titans resting but Cyborg is awake so thanks to that he hears someone coming straight to them, here Kory takes the lead and she says once more that she will not kill whoever that is, that she can’t and won’t do that anymore…I wonder if Lobdell ever read these issues, maybe not.

The attacker was Twister and in seconds she twists the Titans’ reality and leaves them all incapacitated. She then goes to look for and recruit the Brotherhood of Evil. While she did that though the Titans slowly made their way back to the city and are now getting ready to attack. Donnas plans as we soon find out don’t include Jason as one of their front line fighters, in fact he has to be left behind as back up.

Jason is not very happy about this; he is the boy wonder! But because it’s the plan and the Titans are experienced, he decided to stay put (at least for now). Its funny to me that even Beast Boy calls Jason a kid. What is sad from these panels is obviously the last thing that Jason says “I can’t wait until I am sixteen!”. I mean, this issue came out exactly two years before Jason’s death, there was no way they could have seen that coming but yeah, it’s just sad. Jason really was in a better and happier place around this time, little did he know everything would turn upside down after a while.  

The rest of the Titans fight, Donna starts to feel like she is finally in control and that she is doing a great job at keeping the Titans together, Kory is having her inner turmoil about Dick but she is doing her job and when she decides to go help Cyborg and Joey they come across the Brotherhood of Evil. This is where #26 ends.

Issue #27 starts with a very difficult fight for Kory, Cyborg and Joey, it ends with Kory injured, Joey captured and with Cyborg thrown off a window. The only one of them that Donna, Beast Boy and Jason are able to save is Kory.

The Titans that re left have to retreat and find a place to recover, Jason is very silent all the time but Donna and Kory are the ones that are having interesting talks, they have to find out where the Brotherhood has Joey and Cyborg and their time to save Dick and Raven is running out but if they don’t save the others they might die. It’s a complicated situation and they are both impatient but Donna tells Kory this “Dick would be the first to tell you to plan first, attack later”, I bring this up because nowadays its very common for fanon and current writers to think of Dick as someone that doesn’t plan, that doesn’t think before jumping. Even Beast boy called him a tactician, I know this is a Jason post but its also a post about how characterizations are also kinda destroyed. Dick has suffered a lot from mischaracterization so its nice to go back to these stories and see that what we think Dick should be now isn’t something that we once imagined but something that mas modified or taken away from him either by fanon or current writers.

After the Titans decide to wait for the storm to pass to go looking for Joey and Cyborg, we actually see that Cyborg is in the city looking for shelter, he is injured and as he falls unconscious we meet a couple that decides to save him. Back to the Titans once more we have Jason say that the storm that is forming look “like something out of Ghostbusters” its then that the Brotherhood makes itself known, they are taunting them and they have roped Joey to the top of the capitol building and they are asking the Titans to surrender or Joey dies.

Its here where Donna takes full control of the Titans and even though she and Kory have different ideas of what to do she says that she is the leader now and what she says gets done. Donna will be in charge of saving Joey while the others will make their way towards the Brother Blood Church to help Dick and Raven.

Before they go their separate ways Jason says this about Donna “Wow! I wouldn’t wanna be in her shoes for all the garbage pail kid stickers in the world.” I am going to be honest, I had to look those stickers up and all I have to say is what the hell. But I am not here to talk about stickers I am here to talk about how funny its that Jason is being so uninterested about leading a team. Now, don’t get me wrong, Jason has the ability to lead, yes, but he is better at leading himself or an operation, we have all read UtRH, we know how well the Red Hood can handle himself and his plans but a team of heroes? Controversial opinion but I think that Jason should have never been given a team and I am talking about Kory and Roy as well as Artemis and Bizarro. Was Rebirth better than New 52? Absolutely. But I just don’t see Jason as a leader of a team of heroes and it’s also incredibly repetitive, just because he was Robin doesn’t mean that he needs his own team. I know that Robin Jason and Red Hood Jason aren’t the same person and that they might think differently but if Lobdell had never come into Red Hood/Jason Todd’s life when he did we might have never seen Jason lead his own team and that to me is proof enough that it should have never happened. I quite enjoyed the Prince of Gotham storyline in Red Hood: Outlaw, he didn’t have a team but he had an operation going on and people working FOR him not WITH him. In my opinion that’s better for Jason (if you would like to see me review that storyline let me know).

There is a lot happening story wise and I am finding it more and more difficult to continue talking about Jason’s moments here without giving context so I am going to resume what happened between Donna leaving to save Joey and Jason’s next appearance in this issue. Here we go, Brain tells Monsieur Mallah that he decided to “help” Twister take down the Titans because he wants to use Brother Blood’s Blood Pool because he is dying, Twister goes back to her family’s home and we get to see how brainwashed she is, her family is shocked to see her and they are also the ones that took care of Cyborg while he was unconscious, Cyborg leaves to find the Titans but Twister sees where he left to, she tells the Brotherhood where he might have gone to but protects her family by not telling them that they were the ones that protected Cyborg in the first place and Donna was able to save Joey. I think that was everything.

We see Jason again when he is just outside Brother Blood’s Church with Kory (who is giving him a lift) and Beast Boy. But because life can’t be easy for them the Brotherhood of Evil teleports there and a fight ensues. Kory takes the lead and Jason gets to work.

Kory praises Jason for his work here not because she can’t do anything but because she is seeing that a kid is doing an excellent job. Make no mistake, she is the one with experience but she is nice and gives credit when its due.

Cyborg arrives and the fight continues. We see Beast Boy warning Jason about some of the villains’ powers and Jason being the excellent Robin that he is pays attention and escapes Plasmus’ touch.

I might not think that Red Hood is a team player but Robin Jason absolutely is, and the Titans are nice and care for his safety.

While all of this was happening, Cyborg had made his way to the Church and there he gathers all kinds of information including the location of Brother Bloods main Church in the US. He also makes the alarms sound so everyone leaves because he set up the Church to blow up. Somewhere else Monsieur Mallah is threatening to kill Brain after the later insults him again. And there is where this issue ends.

In issue #28 Jason and the rest of the Titans appear after several pages of Mother Mayhem being a creep, Azrael the angel rising and trying to resurrect Brother Blood through the power of prayers, people watching the live broadcasting of the event and Dick trying to break free from his own head but as soon as he does it Mother Mayhem brainwashes him right away.

The Titans are back in their tower where we see Wally again but that is not all, Frances Kane and Robotman come in too. After all the people who are willing to fight get together the Titans make their way to Brother Bloods Church.

It’s in the jet with Wally that we see Jason and this time he gets to talk too! Jason is talking about how much braver the Titans are compared to him but Wally calms him down by saying that even though he has been doing this for a while he is also scared.

The fact that Jason joined the Titans on another adventure without mentioning it to Bruce is funny to me, he was probably so happy that Donna called him again! Maybe Jason was more bored of being with the Bat than he let on and maybe he didn’t feel appreciated enough or heard. I also like to think that Donna got Jason’s number through Dick, like do you remember that Dick gave Jason his number if he ever wanted to talk shit about the Bat with him? What if they did talk and then Dick put Jason’s number on the Titans’ data base? That would be cool and really sweet!

Jason continues to be a team player and being useful during the fights, he has the Titans’ back as much as the Titans have his.

They fight their way in Brother Blood’s Church and once there they find a dude called the Confessor with Arella (Raven’s mother) but he tells the Titans that she is dead. Somewhere else though is where the real trouble is at, between Azrael and Raven, Brother Blood has finally been resurrected. 

It’s in the last page where Brother Blood is looking all mighty and powerful that Dick seems to have broken free from his brainwashing once more.

 That’s the end of that issue and this part of the post. This one was super difficult to write and it’s even longer than part one, I hope I didn’t make it super difficult to read. At some points I felt like I was explaining too much and in others too little. I guess it’s very difficult to show how one character participates in a story without giving context but I just didn’t want this post to be too plot heavy.

These issues had some cool Jason moments but the ones in issues #29 to #31 are even better!

[danny-chase]

Comics I’ve read, so I can actually keep track of things, don’t assume it’s good if it’s on here - aka this isn’t a list of recommendations, but do feel free to ask about any of the titles on here

Edit: A lot of these need warnings before you read if you don’t want to be surprised by racism, sexism, rape, child abuse, suicidal ideation, etc., etc. before reading, i didn’t include specific warnings in this, because it’s been a while since i read many of them, please ask before reading things you’re unsure about 💀, i’ll start adding warnings from what i remember

Team Books:

- JLA/Titans (1998)

- New Teen Titans (1980)

----pedophilia (not addressed as such), Gar sexually harasses woman sm, Terry Long - my detested (prof dating a student), racism and so much more

- The New Titans (1984) (until Dick left the team)

----rape (which isn’t addressed as such) and slut shaming, to avoid skip over issues with mirage, multiple major character deaths, there’s also bad dad Bruce kicking Dick out a few times, Terry Long - my detested

- Young Justice (1998)

----the writing around Anita is racist

- The Titans (1999)

---- a weird arc where they thought a character was autistic but turns out there         was a man in her head idk what to even tag that as

- JLA: The Obsidian Age (2002)

----been too long for me to remember but i think someone said it’s racist

- Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day (2003)

---- major character deaths

- Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files (2003)

- Teen Titans: Year One (2008)

- Outsiders (2003)

- The Return of Donna Troy

---- brainwashed mentors hitting their sidekicks

- Titans (2008) (until Dick left the team)

- Young Justice (2011) - have also watched the show (all 3 seasons)

- Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011)

---- Roy and Kory’s characterizations are obliterated by new 52

- Convergence: The Titans (2015)

- Convergence: The New Teen Titans (2015)

- Titans Hunt New 52 (2015)

----ugly as heck art

- Titans Rebirth (2016)

- Batman & The Outsiders (2018)

- Titans: Titans Together (2020)

- Titans: Titans United (2021) (ongoing)

Nightwing Titles:

- Nightwing (1995)

- Nightwing (1996)

----rape (again not being addressed as such) to avoid skip over issues with Tarantula and Liu, and copoganda (Dixon’s run it’s been a while but prolly has     more bad takes), Bruce hits Dick in the Officer Down crossover, also uh Devin     destroys Dick’s life, mischaracterizes Babs, and his entire city is nuked (i’m literally not exaggerating), passive suicide attempt, Bruce’s F- parenting

- Nightwing: The Target (2001)

- Nightwing (2011)

----domestic abuse (Bruce to Dick), skip Nightwing #30

- Grayson (2014)

----old lady being a creeper, Dick being examined naked, girls thirsting after him, Bruce’s F+ parenting (leaves Dick stranded in the middle of the mission), sibling on sibling violence

- Nightwing (2016) (up to Ric sorry i can’t do it guys, i do check in on tt stuff to rag on it)

Robin Titles:

----warnings for Dixon’s weird beliefs of how the world works (Steph’s pregnancy arc, Tim yells at an alcoholic roommate an he’s cured, ‘boys will         look’, girls kissing Tim without permission is fine apparently), major character death, sexism everywhere, Tim's personality taking a 180 after the one year later event

- Robin (1991) Volumes I and II

- Robin (1993)

- Robin: Year One (2000)

----Neglectful Bruce, enabler Alfred RIP Dick Grayson’s childhood

- Batman and Robin (2009)

----obliterates Talia’s characterization

- Red Robin (ongoing)

----I've read the first four issues ngl it kinda sucks imo

- Batman and Robin (2011)

----Bruce is literally a terrible parent for the first part of the run, regresses Damian’s character development from the 2009 run, sibling on sibling violence

- Batman & Robin Eternal (2015)

----obliterates Cass's character

- Super Sons (2017)

Batgirl Titles:

- Batgirl (2000)

----disability is magically cured, Bruce is a shotgun dad, gets Cass high to fight him to “talk to her in a way she can understand” i classify it as abuse, but absolutely a must-read despite this, made me love Cass

- Batgirl (2009)

----pushes Cass out of the role for *checks note* absolutely no reason, but is enjoyable all the same and made me really like Steph

- Batgirls (2021)

----I read the first issue and will not be continuing because it sucks ass

Birds of Prey

- Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey (1995) #1

- Birds of Prey: Revolution (1997) #1

- Birds of Prey: Wolves (1997) #1

- Birds of Prey: Batgirl (1997) #1

- Birds of Prey: The Ravens (1998) #1

- Birds of Prey (1998) - ongoing

Batman Titles:

- Birds of Prey: Batgirl (1997) #1

- Birds of Prey: Ravens (1998) #1

- Batman: A Death in the Family (1988)

----major character death

- Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying (1989)

- The Long Halloween (1996)

- Dark Victory (2011)

- Batman: Legacy (1996)

- Bruce Wayne Murderer/Fugitive (2002)

----Bruce Wayne C+ parenting, physical fight between Bruce and Dick

- Batman: War Games (2004)

----major character death, sexism

- All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder (2005)

----terrible, child abuse, r-word used, don’t read

- Batman: Battle for the Cowl (2009)

----Jason as a villain idk skip if you don't like him being an antagonist, sibling on       sibling violence

- Batman: Streets of Gotham (2009) (up to #12)

- Batman: Batman & Son (2010) 

----probably also obliterates Talia (haven't read it in forever), siblings on sibling violence

- The Black Mirror (2010)

- Batman: Gates of Gotham (2011)

- Batman (1940) #687-707 (aka Dick!bats era)

- Batman (2011) #1-17

----Bruce punches Dick in the face in one of the first issues

- Batman Eternal (2014)

----Barbara x Jason, i hate that pairing (idk for sure it's been a while)

- Detective Comics Rebirth (2016) #934-981 (plus Night of the Monster Men crossover) and #983-987

- All-Star Batman Rebirth (2016)

- Batman & The Signal (2018)

Assorted:

- Joker’s Last Laugh (2001)

----hee hee major character death but it’s a good thing <3

- Heroes in Crisis (2018) 

----tries to de-stigmatize mental health by making a depressed person a killer,           basically don’t read this it was horrid, i hate it, it’s stupid and bad

- Impulse (1995) - literally just the first 3 issues but it’s great

- Tempest (1996)

----sad, made me sad, but also you should read it because Garth <3

- Future State: Wonder Woman (2021) - just the first issue so far

- Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat. Bang. Kill Tour (2021) - just the first issue, have watched the show

- Some Dark Nights Metal stuff that i don’t really understand what was happening uh Bat is door 👍 very cool 👍

- Scooby-Doo Team-Up (ongoing)

- Huntress: Cry for Blood

[thequiver]

Regarding the tags on that "stop mischaracterizing Ollie" meme, what is wrong with Winnick's? /Gen

So my biggest issue is that his GA run is racist as hell. I'm going to point you in the direction of a character known by the name of Joanna Pierce. After reading Winnick's run you'd never know that Ollie and Jefferson were friends, or that Ollie had been the one to nominate Jefferson for membership to the JLA- and also uh.....creating a black character just to kill them by hanging because you're angry about not getting to work on Black Lightning is uh.... yeah.

But beyond all this. He makes Mia and Connor kiss (in the same run that they're referred to as being seen as siblings). The idea of Ollie running for mayor is laughably ooc. He turned Ollie and Dinah's playful and mutual banter into something abusive where Ollie called Dinah a slut and she'd hit him and it was just all around bad.

But he also kept shoving the goddamn Bats in our faces. And while I'm the first to admit that I think there could be some really fun things to play with in the Mia and Jason parallels and I'm actually working on a fic about that, it just came completely out of left field.

He also retconned what happed in Snowbirds which has just caused so much Ollie bashing by people who have seen ONE PANEL of Snowbirds and assume that they know the whole story. And he did this retcon, of Ollie kicking Roy out, where Ollie is having a conversation with Batman, known child abuser who has actually in canon kicked Dick out twice.

There's more, but it's just SO APPARENT that Winnick didn't do any research into Green Arrow before he started writing, that he was angry about being snubbed from Black Ligtning and used his creative control of Green Arrow to do something about it. All in all a disgusting run. I like some of his Mia content, but the whole run is just incredibly tainted for me. Cannot stand the man.

[carlyraegrayson]

okay listen im pmsing super bad im in SUCH a mood but i was relistening to tallahassee just now and it is so. wild? upsetting? to me that people think no children is a roy harper song like im genuinely so deeply upset abt it bc in order to think that you literally.... have to mischaracterize his entire character and miss the point so completely. in the immortal words of hallie @kalelraejepsen "it is actually very important to roys character that yes children", but its also just... roys story is ABOUT trying to get better against all odds, BECAUSE you have ppl you love and care abt, and it is CENTRAL to roys character that he never gives up and survives against all odds and has endless reserves of resourcefulness. and ALSO like. i GET that ppl are mostly familiar with roy thru outlaws but the thing is that outlaws aside (and honestly? even within outlaws if you contextualize it within the rest of his characterization), despite the fact that roy has abandonment issues because he has been abandoned many times, often through very traumatic events, hes also ALWAYS at the last second helped--not saved but helped--by other people who love him. he never gives up on loving people and thats what gives him the strength to keep going and keep living!!! and that is SO important to me personally, and when people make no children "i hope it stays dark forever i hope the worst isnt over i hope you blink before i do and i hope i never get sober" / "and i hope you die i hope we both die" you REALLY... have to ignore all of that. and idk if ppl are making the other party in the song jason? and thats how theyre interpreting it? but like again i take issue w that bc in order for outlaws to make SENSE, both roy and korys EXTENSIVE history and their extremely complex plotlines and all the conmections theyve made throughout their lives have to be essentially erased so the story can, for the most part, focus on jason (rewriting roys entire addiction plotline/giving kory amnesia abt much of her life prior to earth) and thats just. man idk. or like. are yall trying to make that song abt jade and roy? bc that doesnt work either literally no matter what jade does and even when roy has (oh my god you guys my cat is asleep on my bed and she is SUCH a baby) even when roy HAS to stop jade because she is doing terrible things that he IDEALOGICALLY doesnt agree with, he will do everything in his power to protect her and prevent her from dying bc he has an immense love for her BECAUSE she is the mother of his child, and he literally tries as much as he can to make sure that jade can safely be a part of lians life!!! and its even MORE insulting bc john darnielle, mr mountaingoats, is LITERALLY an ex-cocaine addict from the 1980s who DID recover AND has written ENTIRE ALBUMS about this, tallahassee being ONE of them, if you want songs off tallahassee that work for roy, old college try is RIGHT there. even if u want a song that works for roy and jasons dynamic. see america right and international small arms traffic blues are RIGHT there. and to be fair ive only read a handful of issues of outlaws so far (and i HAVE enjoyed what ive read for the most part! its fun!) but i do know and talk to ppl who HAVE read all of it or most of it (and ALSO enjoyed it more than i have) and ive talked w them abt this in depth and they agree w me and backed me up and like. not to seem like im swinging a bat at a hornets nest! bc i know its not that deep! but also im right!

[didanawisgi]

Top executives are departing amidst reports of racial and sexual harassment.

by ROBBY SOAVE (2019)

“Controversy has struck the Southern Poverty Law Center, the formidable progressive law firm best known for tracking hate groups in the U.S. Co-founder Morris Dees, President Richard Cohen, and other top executives are exiting the organization amidst a staff uprising over alleged sexual and racial harassment in the work place.

The leadership shakeup, fueled by allegations that black staffers were shut out of key positions and that Dees personally harassed female staffers, has brought the SPLC considerable media scrutiny, and it's about time. Regardless of whether these specific accusations have merit, the SPLC should face a reckoning over its extremely shoddy work, which has mistakenly promoted the idea that fringe hate groups are a rising threat.

Peddling this false narrative has long been the SPLC's business model, and the Trump years have been especially profitable, since the group was almost perfectly positioned to capitalize on growing liberals fears about hate crimes, resurgent white nationalism, and the alt-right. Over the course of the Trump campaign and presidency, the SPLC has added dozens of staffers, saw its social media following rise dramatically, ramped up its fundraising, and built a $200 million endowment. Its role has been to provide intellectual support for a central narrative of the #Resistance: Hate, broadly defined, is surging across America, and Trump is to blame.

But the SPLC's hate tally is incredibly suspect, as leftist writer Nathan Robinson explained in a terrific article for Current Affairs. According to the SPLC's hate map, there were more than 1,000 hate groups in the U.S. in 2018—nearly twice as many as existed in 2000. The number has increased every year since 2014.

The map is littered with dots that provide more information on each specific group, and this is where the SPLC gives away the game. Consider a random state—Oklahoma, for example, is home to nine distinct hate groups, by the SPLC's count. Five of them, though, are black nationalist groups: the Nation of Islam, Israel United in Christ, etc. The SPLC counts each chapter of these groups separately, so the Nation of Islam counts as two separate hate groups within Oklahoma (its various chapters in other states are also tallied separately). The map makes no attempt to contextualize all of this—no information is given on the relative size or influence of each group.

In his piece, Robinson describes the map as an "outright fraud," and it's hard to argue with him:

In fact, when you actually look at the hate map, you find something interesting: Many of these "groups" barely seem to exist at all. A "Holocaust denial" group in Kerrville, Texas called "carolynyeager.net" appears to just be a woman called Carolyn Yeager. A "male supremacy" group called Return of Kings is apparently just a blog published by pick-up artist Roosh V and a couple of his friends, and the most recent post is an announcement from six months ago that the project was on indefinite hiatus. Tony Alamo, the abusive cult leader of "Tony Alamo Christian Ministries," died in prison in 2017. (Though his ministry's website still promotes "Tony Alamo's Unreleased Beatles Album.") A "black nationalist" group in Atlanta called "Luxor Couture" appears to be an African fashion boutique. "Sharkhunters International" is one guy who really likes U-boats and takes small groups of sad Nazis on tours to see ruins and relics. And good luck finding out much about the "Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology," which—if it is currently operative at all—is a tiny anti-Catholic cult based in Shawano, Wisconsin.

Sloppily tallying hate in service of a greater narrative is par for the course at the SPLC. The group's report on Trump-inspired schoolyard bullying is similarly flawed: Its survey was unscientific, and based on anecdotes reported by members of the SPLC's mailing list.

When it comes to misleading hate crime data, the SPLC is far from the only offender. Many in the media have exaggerated a finding by the Anti-Defamation League that anti-Semitic hate has increased 57 percent under Trump. (Bomb threats made by an Israeli teenager were largely responsible for the perceived increase: anti-Semitic assaults actually decreased substantially.) The FBI's hate crime data has also been widely mischaracterized.

Still, the SPLC stands out. It previously characterized Maajid Nawaz as an anti-Muslim extremist—but Nawaz is a progressive whose work is aimed at de-radicalizing Muslim extremists. To this day, the SPLC lists Charles Murray's ideology as "white nationalist."

Over at National Review, David French urges the SPLC to "rediscover its roots." The organization used to do much more work aligned with its name: representing impoverished death row inmates, for example, and battling the KKK in court. It has plenty of money, and could hire an army of lawyers to really make a difference in the lives of criminal defendants. But first, the organization needs to give up on the project of inflating the threat posed by fringe nutcases.”

[rcyharper]

it’s honestly just really upsetting how much Roy’s fanbase has died down over the years. Like honestly idk, I’ve just been looking at comments online and it’s really just disheartening how he’s kind of sweeped under the rug by most fans. He always seems to be the odd one out, that one that’s okay to be sacrificed. 

and like, I even get that sometimes because that’s what I’ve always talked about: how the New 52 basically just kind of damaged his reputation, people see him as annoying which I understand because that’s what New 52 Roy is, but it’s really demoralizing because they choose to accept that as the default version of the character rather than a big mischaracterization, and because it’s spread around so much, that just changes people’s opinions about the character so much. i just really wish he still had respect as a character among fans, but that’s just been ultimately damaged and it’s not something that’ll be easy to build back up, especially when you consider the lack of trying.

[agallimaufryofoddments]

diaryofdreamsb replied to your photo

“So Ch 20 of the manga is out. The Gandors only show up in the...”

Can someone tell me which chapter should I read? I have only finished the anime

Hey @diaryofdreamsb--I can help you out.

First thing to understand is that Baccano! is a light novel series written by Ryohgo Narita and illustrated by Enami Katsumi. The first novel, The Rolling Bootlegs, was published in 2003; there are 22 volumes and counting.

The post you replied to was about Chapter 20 of the 2015-2017 manga adaptation, as drawn by Shinta Fujimoto. That manga is three volumes long and 22 chapters total. Volume 1 introduces an entirely new mini-arc (1927 arc/San Gennaro arc), while Volumes 2-3 adapt The Rolling Bootlegs. I’d say this manga is a more faithful adaptation of The Rolling Bootlegs than the anime is.

(There is also a 2006 manga adaptation worth knowing about, but I’ll keep things simple. Basically, you need to check out the light novels for the original, full story.)

I recommend starting with Volume 1: The Rolling Bootlegs rather than trying to jump in at, say, the fifth light novel volume. The anime adapts less than a fifth of the ongoing story. 

Here are what the timelines in the anime correspond to:

Nov 1930: Volume 1 (Firo’s promotion party; Szilard Quates vs Maiza; etc)

Dec 30-31, 1931: Volumes 2-3 (Flying Pussyfoot incident)

Dec 1931-Jan 1932: Volume 4 (Runoratas-Genoards-Gandors). NOTE: The anime severely deviates from Volume 4′s contents.

January 1932/Eps 14-16: The three OVAs are linked to the first gaiden novel which accompanied the first audio drama’s boxset. That gaiden novel would eventually be turned into Volume 14 of the light novel series.

The reason I recommend you start from Volume 1 is that the anime makes some not-insignificant changes to the source material it adapts. It cuts out scenes and characters from all three main timelines, changes other scenes, and loses a lot of the internal monologues/thoughts that give you better insight into some of the characters. (I’d say Firo, Luck, and Eve undergo some mischaracterization  i.e. misrepresentation of their characters in the anime).

Like I said, the anime severely deviates from the actual contents of Volume 4. It makes the Finding Dallas B-Plot the A-Plot (completely shafting Roy and Edith’s plot-line) and decides to have Beriam & the Runoratas looking for Dallas (instead of the bag of drugs c.f. the novels), whereas Eve is the only person looking for Dallas in the volume. 

Meanwhile, the anime also condensed the chronology of Volume 1 (Nov 1930) from two days and one night to one day and one night, which shuffles/changes some things up as a consequence. FPF timeline has quite a bit of scenes cut in the anime, and other scenes are changed because several characters were cut from the train. 

So: You should pick up the light novels if you want to get into Baccano!, with me strongly encouraging you to start with Volume 1. There are various other things worth knowing about, such as: the two manga adaptations; the two audio dramas; the NDS game; and Ronny’s origin story, but I wouldn’t worry about all that until you’re caught up with the novels.

(I do suggest reading the transcription of the NDS game’s third ending after you read Volume 14, though.)

I said there are currently 22 volumes and counting earlier--note that Volume 23 was postponed due to Narita’s health, so we’re still waiting on that for the time being. For the majority of Baccano!’s printing time, the only way Anglophone readers could read the light novels was through the fan-translations--myself included. All existing novels have been fan-translated...

...However, in 2015 Yen Press announced it had licensed the Baccano! light novels (AND the 2015 manga), much to our collective shock, and has been publishing the volumes since 2016. They have officially translated the first ten volumes so far (Volume 10 they published last month), with Volume 11 scheduled for this August.

If you are financially able, I strongly encourage you to monetarily support the official release. This is the YP website’s address for the Baccano! series--the page is a bit of a mess, since it’s mixing together the light novel volumes, manga volumes, and the individual manga chapters, but still might be helpful for you. 

Here is a FAQ I wrote for the /r/Baccano subreddit, which I suggest reading as a sort of starting place. I am also available to answer questions as needed.