#she will die for no reason

[feralpodcastlistener]

yeah as hard of a dyhard shipper I am it’s literally not that deep. Also I don’t want to make the kids cry but there’s like a really good chance Gwen gets killed. I’m just saying. *hangs head in shame as I am booed off the stage*

tiktok fandom culture is so wild bc why can't people ship things for fun anymore why's it gotta be a canon competition 😭😭😭

like to see someone in the tma/tmagp fan space say THIS ,,,

"just going to end up with sam and alice" JUST GOING ????

not to be the friend that is too woke but a story about a transwoman and a brown man being codependently linked across timelines is actually a very interesting story???? so what if alice and sam are hashtag forever in the end ???? would that be so awful ??????

like don't get me wrong i love dyhard but if you're not picking up that the relationship between sam and alice is driving the plot then i fear you need to turn up the podcast a little louder

[humming-fly]

I love how Gerald was trying to keep Shadow from spoiling anything about the future meanwhile literally everything Shadow says and does around Maria is the biggest death flag ever

[protoctist]

i know ryoko kui is a real one because she wrote 97+ chapters of a manga about fantasy ecosystems and food chains and not once did she write the phrase "survival of the fittest" (it's a bad phrase) (it's a social darwinist phrase even) (hated amongst biologists) (doesn't make sense) (darwin didn't use it) (coined by an business major) (one of the worst phrases in pop science) (no good)

[rasoyas]

when ur kid's dad is a literal robot and he still says "dada" first...

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bonus 12: Beware the Grapes of Wrath.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[aingeal98]

More Jason and Cass thoughts (sorry but also not sorry) but if I was magically given full control over DC and could write what I'd want obviously I'd make Cass Batman but I've been thinking of what sort of reaction and role Jason would have in response. I think I'd write his version of "Congrats on the new job!" as a test, involving the Joker and civilians and gangs and Red Hood and a ton of explosives. Bruce failed me, and now he's given up. You're his successor, let's see how you handle this dilemma that freaked him out so badly he threw a batarang into my throat rather than let me avenge my own death in front of him.

So obviously Cass will overcome the traps and the puzzles. That's the fun part to show how competent both of them are and sprinkle in little character moments as we go. But then we reach the emotional crux of the matter, probably laid out as some sort of saw trap because it's Jason. Here I am, a victim of murder. You say nobody dies tonight but I did, and I want the man who did it dead. Not only did Batman fail to avenge me but he failed to stop the Joker from going on to create even more victims. What right do you have to stop me from getting justice for myself? What right does this man have to life after what he's taken from me and from countless others? I'm not trying to kill a random stranger, I'm specifically demanding justice for my own death that I never got while I was gone.

There are two ways this could go. The straightforward route if I knew my time on this run was limited would probably be a pyrrhic victory like the ones Cass's og series was so fond of. Just like Bruce in utrh, she acts on instinct and saves the Joker (and Jason this time) . A win technically, but she fails the test. Jason is once again vindicated but with nothing to show for it. The story ends with Cass sending the Joker back to jail and going back to the batcave, where the old Robin costume looms judgementally, highlighting her failure. It would be the most fitting end given their character molds, all tragedy and conviction and unstoppable force meets immovable object etc.

However... I think the option I prefer would be a little different. Cass levelling with Jason, a killer talking to a murder victim. She has no right to stop Jason from getting justice, she has no love for the Joker but she knows any death she allows to happen like this would devastate her, just like that death row inmate long ago she tried to break out but ended up letting go once the family of the victim talked to her and demanded justice. I think... In this specific situation, she'd just be honest. Morally she has no right sure. Personally she just really really doesn't want anyone to die. Give her one chance, please. Let her try it her way. Not demanding, not lecturing or insisting, just... Please. Don't do this. Let me try another way.

And then what? Jason asks.

In the end a deal is struck. Cass will take the Joker and lock him up, ensuring he never harms anyone again while also trying to rehabilitate him. But the second she fails and he gets free, Jason kills him and she won't stand in his way. It's the kind of deal that leaves both of them mildly disgusted and dissatisfied with themselves, neither of them naturally creatures of compromise when it comes to this specific topic. But Cass is willing to do anything to avoid death and Jason did not expect the new Bat to be so... Flexible? Kind of? Of course maybe she won't actually hold up her end of the deal and when the Joker gets loose she'll try and stop Jason from killing him and he'll get his miserable vindication, but right now this is something strange and new and he's mildly confused and curious about where it will go. He doesn't believe in her ability to contain the Joker forever but he's willing to let her try because her reaction to that future failure interests him. She's given him a sword of damocles to hang above her head and he didn't ask for it or expect it. It's the type of power he never thought the Bat would just... Hand to him.

The conflict ends with neither of them fully winning or losing. They both don't really know what to feel about this.

The thing is, the second Cass let's Jason kill the Joker she's hanging up the mantle. She's staking the Bat on this, because it's always go big or go home with her when it comes to saving others, even someone like the Joker. In this magical universe where I have unlimited power, Cass would lock the Joker in a secret bunker and have Leslie Thompkins talk to him daily, mostly because I think her pacifism speeches and debates in the comics would make a fun contrast to the Joker's evil sadism. (But what about his rights? Doesn't he deserve a trial and to be held in a regular prison? I'm going to be honest I think Cass would be very comfortable bending the rules on this specific situation. Morally questionable but I'd have fun with it. She's going to let Leslie treat Joker like her personal pet project to save his soul because yes she wants him to change but also she's got a city to save every night so go crazy Leslie, have fun.)

And the Batman series would continue with Cass as the lead, new challenges and new antagonists and every twenty issues or so for the first hundred we'll cut back to the Joker briefly if his chats with Leslie can help highlight some thematic element of the current arc. But bit by bit he'd slowly fade away onto oblivion, maybe getting referenced every hundred issues or so until eventually no one remembers or cares about him because there's so much else going on. Meanwhile Jason's got a good thing going as Red Hood, primarily based in Park Row and a tentative ally on the occasion when their vigilante work aligns. Unlike Joker he's a much more frequent character in the comics, and after say 10 years (this is my magical fantasy universe Cass's batman run is going to last for a very long time alright) when people think of DC characters they think of Red Hood long before they think of the Joker.

Is any of this realistic? Right now of course not. It's why I'd go with the pyrrhic victory if I actually got the chance, because it would be the best way to tell the story in the larger context of the Bat narrative. But it's my fantasy DC editor and writer daydream and I'm going to dream big. They're never going to be normal happy siblings, their personal demons will never fully let them be free and the looming possibility of losing everything they currently have narrative wise if Bruce comes back as Batman will always be there. But it's maybe the closest to peace they'll ever get. Unsatisfying and tame compromise that probably violates several laws and ethical codes but whatever. Cass has never read the Geneva convention and Jason's not going to shed tears over the Joker. Let him die relevancy wise if not physically.

[rbvcdeluxe]

something something max's main color being red with blue highlights something something grace's main color being blue with red highlights something something motivations something something alive and dead something something

[swan2swan]

Consider: Rumi is not the first woman with markings to protect the Honmoon. But something terrible happened to her predecessors, and Celine never told Huntr/x about their fates, afraid that Rumi would end up the same way.

Did they become fully demon? Did their partners kill them? Were they consumed by despair and killed in battle? It doesn't really matter. It's simply a matter of "a half-demon can join the crew, but they always die". Maybe Celine didn't even know the truth. Maybe they were purged as soon as they were discovered.

The point is, Rumi was the first one to be discovered and accepted by her partners...and herself.

And that, of course, is what created the Rainbow Honmoon.

[dead-meat]

Has for sure been done but I just wanted to doodle her like that :3

[phoenixcatch7]

Okay but it's super interesting how

Din = Power = Ganondorf

Naryu = Wisdom = Zelda

Farore = Courage = Link.

Because Din, in the hylian creation myth, created the physical world. Naryu then created the laws - gravity, time, etc. And Farore finally created life - plants and people.

Din created the body, naryu the mind, Farore the soul.

And the triforce and its wielders so perfectly reflect that.

Ganon is physical power, he is big and intimidating and he breaks things. He is cunning and determined, but that's not what he focuses on. He is might makes right.

Zelda is wisdom and cleverness. She is stall tactics and information and team work. She is a powerful mage with a spine of steel, but that's not how she'll win. She is the pen being mightier than the sword.

Link is courage and persistence. He is the wild card sneaking behind enemy ranks, always moving, plunging into terrifying situations head first. He's a phenomenal fighter with a keen wit, but that's not what will get him through his challenges. He is bravery not being the absence of fear but the triumph over it.

They sit in perfect parallels to each other.

And ganon is reborn through his body - his resurrection is immortality. No matter how low he is cast, as long as he has a body he can claw his way back. He can cling to his power, build it ever higher.

Zelda is reborn through the magic of her bloodline. It's the accumulated knowledge handed down for generations, the unique power she must master, the skills she must develop to survive and get her kingdom out the other side intact. Even her name, the knowledge of herself, is handed down from all the way from the very first. Her ancestors knowledge of her future presence, her stability, is what gives her the edge.

Link is reborn in spirit. He is not bound by flesh or blood. Just like his wanderlust soul he can reappear in any time or place. His variation, his unpredictability, is exactly how he fights. It's what makes him so hard to pin down.

Ganons need to build strength means he can't chase after link. Links impulsiveness means zelda can outwit him. Zeldas stationary predictability means she's an easy target for ganon.

But the other direction?

Fire melts ice, ice redirects lightning, lightning burns fire.

And that's the very essence of the triforce.

[pipperoo]

one of my favorite things about steph is that she pulled the trigger. when it really came down to it, she shot the bullet. i don’t think she’ll ever forget that, that she did what pete couldn’t .

like pete is who she loves more than anyone, yet she was willing to put the town first, the world first.

like a true lauter

[kaiju-krew]

...........yeah

[gothamite-rambler]

Jason drove around town, close to JLA Headquarters. Roy and Harley sat in the car with him while Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" blasted until Jason made an abrupt stop.

Harley nearly dropped her lipstick while reapplying it.

Harley: I told ya to stop doin' that!

Jason (slowly getting angry): Sorry... You know what, fuck Superman on some real shit! I have to do this now or I won't sleep tonight.

Jason backed up the car and drove to the JLA headquarters.

Roy (looking up from his phone): What's happening?

Harley: Did Superman give ya a goody two shoes speech? I hate those.

Jason: Nope. I shouldn't tell you, but I have this forever grudge against him since he stopped B from killing Joker.

Roy (surprised): He did?

Harley: Oh, that's why he backed out.

Jason: Yep, and enough time passed that Batman eventually went, 'I won't kill anyone, at all. Which includes Joker, who killed my damn son!'

Harley and Roy: That sounds about Batman.

Jason: Yep, yep, yep. I have moved past that resentment because to be honest he'd go insane and kill crazy if he killed Joker. Which I hate to admit, that shitty clown wants that.

Harley: He totally does. I have a plan for whenever I want to kill him myself.

Jason: I do too. Now a bigger man would let all this go. Bury this anger. I am not a bigger man minus my height and weight. Superman, isn't my father in any way, shape, or form.

Roy: I don't like where this is going.

Jason: Yeah, you're not stopping me either. I will never forgive Superman for beating the sense out of my father. I don't care about the context, whether a war was about to happen if Batman did kill Joker or that he had to beat him up because B was determined to kill the Joker. No matter what, I’ll never stop messing with him!

Harley: Hm... Ya know old Harleen would tell you violence won't fix this. Current street therapist Harley says release that rage the best way ya know how since Superman is basically unkillable for us. Then we can get pizza afterwards.

Jason: I feel like chicken is a better meal for this.

Roy: I'm going to agree with that, but what war was going to start if Bruce killed the Joker?

Harley: Joker was an Iran Ambassador for a time after Jason died. Batman killing him in that context would cause a world war.

Roy (taken back by this revelation): ... He was a fucking what?

Harley: It was a crazy time, um were you in space durin' that time or goin' through addiction?

Roy (rubbing his forehead): I'm not sure, those years are a blur. Why didn't someone kill him after he stopped being an ambassador... He's not still an ambassador is he?

Jason (tightening his grip around the steering wheel): He's not.

Roy: What the fuck? Why is he alive?!

Harley: Batman doesn't kill at all and he's made it clear no other heroes will kill a Gotham rogue. He sent out a newsletter and everything.

Roy: Wow... Jason, do you need any tips to attack Superman and it actually hurt him?

Jason: Yes. If I don't I will start shooting wildly again and accidentally shoot Wonder Woman.

Roy: I know a few facts and insults you can use against him that will emotionally and mentally hurt him.

Harley: I can give you some psychiatric text book insults too.

Jason: Write them down and text them to me. I'm too angry to remember them.

To be continued (as soon as I Google good superman insults lol)

[spooky-activity]

Practicing my comic paneling and action poses with some Firefly/Stelle angst. Set immediately after the end of patch 2.1, where we find out Firefly is still alive!

+ bonus

[trappedinafantasy37]

Cults & Crisis: The Exiled Drow

As I go through these cult dissections, one of the hardest things to realize is that just because someone left a cult does not mean they cannot find themselves in another cult. It also does not mean they won't walk back to the cult they left. One of the people that I am following to learn more about cults says, "You cannot reason someone out of what they did not reason themselves into." Cults do not operate on logic, they avoid it like a plague. Cults latch onto emotion and they twist it to placate their members, to make them dependent on the cult and The Idol. For some, they were born into cults and molded by it, and the cult is all they know. This applies to Minthara, Lae'zel, Orin, and I will consider Shadowheart as well since she was dragged into one as a child and her life before the cult was wiped from her memory.

Cults take advantage of those in crisis, and sometimes generate crisis to keep their members dependent on the cult. Cults provide community, a sense of belonging, a home, a family, answers, and a higher/divine purpose. Cults figure out whatever the person is missing and they fill the void, they find whatever is wrong and promise to solve it. They present themselves as a panacea, the cure to someone's every ailment. Once you're in, cults fracture your emotional regulation to keep you in. They put you through constant ups and downs. They create a problem, freak you the hell out, and then give you a solution. Whenever there is pain, the cult is there to alleviate it. They quite literally reshape your brain and manipulate how you see the world, where the only thing that is the truth is the cult, and The Idol.

Viconia was a Sharran in the previous games after having left the Underdark and Lolth. On the surface, it seems strange. Why would someone who rejected and defied Lolth go to Shar? She should know better! Well, no, she doesn't, thank Lolth for that. For some back story, Viconia was once given an order to sacrifice a child (not her child, but someone's in House DeVir). She refused the order. This caused quite the kerfuffle which resulted in Viconia needing to flee the Underdark.

All of this put Viconia into crisis. She lost her entire family, lost her house, lost her home, lost her god, lost her purpose, lost everything she has ever known (sound familiar?). It isn't as if the surface has been kind to her either. She has been harassed, prosecuted, hunted, and assaulted. The surface isn't kind to drow. She understandably would have been filled with fear, grief, despair. Those are all Shar's brand. Viconia being a former Lolthite already has a poor relationship with her own emotions. She was prime for manipulation from Shar, and Shar sure did have a field day with Viconia. That's how Shar gets people. She comes to them while they are in crisis, promising that "all this pain, all this loss, I can fix it all for you. Don't you want the pain to go away?" And for some, Shar does steal their memories and so they do not recall their crisis. But for the rest, Shar gives purpose to their pain. In Viconia's case, Shar twisted Viconia's pain so she would do Shar's bidding. Shar did the same thing to Ketheric.

I know I'm a broken record on this, but Lolth and Shar are similar gods and fond of the same things: darkness, death, treachery. So as a cleric of Shar, Viconia easily falls into old habits as Shar filled the void left behind by Lolth. Shar gave her a purpose, a place to belong, a home, family. Unfortunately, Shar also tasked her with destroying her enclave in Waterdeep, claiming they were all full of traitors. A rough, but easy task for Viconia to accomplish. In an old life, she would have been expected to slaughter her own family on a moment's notice. The drow like to play it off, like murdering your family is just a normal day. She even says that she had doubts about their treason because they had always shown loyalty to her. She put her faith in Shar, and believed that what she had to say was the truth. But there is no way it didn't fling Viconia back into another crisis and looking for answers. But it's okay, all she has to do is go to Baldur's Gate and do it again. She'll get her home back, her family back, her purpose back.

One day, Viconia is tasked with retrieving a young Selunite who is going through her own rite of passage. The father of the young child found out that Viconia and her Sharrans were in the woods, ready to snatch his daughter. So he goes full lycanthrope to protect her. But the girl doesn't know her father is a lycanthrope and thinks it to be a wolf chasing after her. She is scared and running for her life, thinking she is going to be mauled to death. The young Selunite trips to the ground, blood tricking from the new wound on her face. The wolf approaches, trying to warn his daughter, but all she sees are sharp teeth primed at her throat. And who swoops in at just the last second? Viconia and her Sharrans, saving the frightened little girl from the big bad wolf. Telling her she and Shar will keep her safe, that the dark is nothing to be afraid of, and that others (Selune) were leading her astray and into danger. Only she and Shar can protect her, and they will show her the way.

Viconia invented a crisis to trick a young Shadowheart into going with her and joining Shar. And no matter how many times her memory was wiped, this is the one memory that remained. This crisis is the foundation of Shadowheart's Sharran worship. Her first memory is one of Viconia and Shar coming to her when she needed help, solved her crisis, gave her a place to belong. They gave her a family where she forgotten she had one. The cult, Shar, Mother Superior, they became her family and all she had ever known. Viconia made it so that Shadowheart felt that she owed her life to Shar.

Unlike Viconia, Minthara did not choose to reject Lolth, but she was exiled all the same. She lost her entire family, lost her house, lost her home, lost her god, lost her purpose, lost everything she has ever known. Twice. Once with Lolth, and then again with the Absolute. The Absolute was ripping her brain apart, targeting her emotional core. She thought she was going to die. She was in a crisis. She prayed and begged for someone to come save her because she knew she couldn't save herself. And who swooped in and saved her? You did. You came in while she was in crisis and you promised her, "I will save you from all that troubles you, and I can keep you safe from the biggest threat of your life." I used to say in previous posts that Minthara sees you as a "god figure" to replace Lolth. Now, I am sure that is exactly what is happening in her head. You and the vagabonds become her family, her home, her purpose. You are The Idol. And if you're Durge, your existence as a demigod reaffirms her faith in you as a god-figure. Babygurl still thinks she's in a cult, but it's centered around you.

Yes, Minthara is actively in the process of deconstructing things, but still engages in cult like behavior with you. She has an undying loyalty and devotion to you, literally willing to die for you, and her oath keeps her to it. Her oath is literally a divine vow to you. She does not believe you would ever hurt her because she has faith in you, and you as The Idol promised that you never would. That, and she has no reason to believe that you ever would hurt her, she has no reason to believe you would ever lie to her, use her, or manipulate her. She is very selective of genuine criticism of you to where it mutates into cognitive dissonance if you do something she doesn't agree with. She has to find reason in the things you do that she doesn't understand because The Idol cannot be wrong, so she twists her own logic so that you are right. She is pretty quick to insult the others, but she would never dare to insult you because when you're in a cult, you. do not. speak ill. of the leader. The moments where she is actually afraid of you, she either internalizes her fear, or expresses sexual arousal as if that will keep her safe from you.

This cult thinking could lead her to repeating certain habits that you would think she would have learned a thing or two about. But her previous cults literally and actually prevented her from learning these things. Ugh, why is she pushing Shadowheart towards Shar, is she stupid? She's in a cult. Ugh, why is she pushing Durge towards Bhaal, is she stupid? She's in a cult. Ugh, after everything she has been through with Lolth and the Absolute, she's such a hypocrite to want you to claim the Absolute. Yeah, SHE'S IN A CULT!

You cannot reason her out of what she did not reason herself into. She will say to your face you cannot change her mind, and no amount of evidence will change her mind. Her desire for power is not driven by reason or logic, it is driven by emotion, it is driven by fear. She says it plainly, she wants to be free from the gods, she wants to be their equal, she does not want to need Idol's. She wants autonomy, she wants safety, she wants security. She is being driven by her lack of autonomy, safety, and security. It takes the emotional turmoil of killing Orin to see the first real and true cracks in her programming. Where she finally sees things for what they are and finally uses reasoning. The gods like Bhaal, Lolth, the Absolute were the reasons why she didn't have autonomy, safety, or security.

With you by her side, Minthara can safely continue to deconstruct her own cult mindset and get out of it. You are no longer The Idol, just her lover. She lives for herself because you didn't punish her like every other cult she has been in. These cults taught her to fear the world, to fear someone like you. But it was your kindness, compassion, and mercy that made her realize that all of these cults told her nothing but lies. But without you, she goes right back into crisis mode. She doesn't feel a bond or connection with the rest of the team. You do not want her around. She has no community or family, and with the destruction of the Absolute, she has no purpose. The sun burns her eyes and burns her skin and the surface doesn't want her, it can never truly be her home. So she goes back to the Underdark to fulfill the only purpose she has ever known, to look for a solution to her pain, to the one thing that can fill the void, Lolth.

< Cults & Autonomy: Lae'zel and the Gith | Cults & Love >

[rmbunnie]

I like Batman. I like Batman as a character. I like Bruce Wayne. But it is very unserious when people act like Jason Todd, or maybe Damian, the robins as a whole, or any one writer, or any specific story arc, is singlehandedly corrupting Bruce’s character into an severe and inflexible colleague and distant, emotionally-unavailable father. Because even if he hadn't consistently been a questionable, loving yet unhealthy AT BEST father figure in the majority of his appearances since the early 80s (and I do mean to Dick, to Cass (actually shaping her into his image in Batgirl 2000 at the cost of her social development and autonomy ISNT good,) a BAD mentor to Steph, not even getting into Helena, like truly it’s not all about Jason?) The first well-written book that comes to mind where his morality is at its worst imo? That’s Wonder Woman: Hiketeia. No robins, no batfamily, just Bruce putting aside Wonder Woman’s input and the context of the situation and chasing down a girl who killed the men responsible for trafficking, assaulting, and killing her baby sister, to the point where it ends with her jumping off a cliff.

And the thing is I still like reading him in Hiketeia, because he fills the role he needs to fill in that story well, his actions align with his wordview even if it’s taken to the extreme in an uncharitable way, and he keeps my attention. I just think it’s goofy how some of us on here look at the guy who’s big character trait is being a hard-to-know, stubborn, and condescending control freak who puts other people's emotions on the wayside in favor of his mission prolifically, and go “all he did was LOVE TOO MUCH! His mean kids and associates and teammates are PUNISHING HIM for LOVING with his BIG BIG HEART and it’s tainting the narrative!” And you could say “well Hiketeia doesn't count, Greg Rucka is just a hater!” (though I certainly wouldn’t.) But when the issue is Damian entertaining the idea of leaving the family business, and before that it’s Red Hood stepping on toes, and then, wait, before that it’s Green Arrow and Wonder Woman, and then Huntress, and then oh wait we can’t think about the weird patch with Nightwing where their relationship was super rocky, and then Jason but before he died, and of course the Green Lanterns are basically treated like punching bags for him to do something awesome then- Like maybe if it’s a consistent pattern spanning what, 20, 30 years now? The issue isn’t Damian or Red Hood alone, or PKJ or Greg Rucka or Judd Winick or Marv Wolfman + George Perez or even Jim Starlin being a hater, but your blorbo just having extremely well-documented character flaws?