#showing shaft

[padmestrilogy]

^ rare clip of a youtuber talking about the acolyte worth unmuting

[casscainmainly]

POC Batfam Members Reading Guides + Starter Comics

The Batfamily has a lot of excellent POC characters, but I know comics can be hard to navigate. This list compiles the main POC Batfam members, their reading guides, and recommended runs to start out with. Not including Dick, but if you want a reading guide for him check out this one from @fantastic-nonsense (it actually covers all the Batfam members, it's a great one-stop resource!). This is not an exhaustive list by any means, so feel free to comment/add on with any additions!

Damian Wayne / Robin

The biological son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, Damian Wayne's character growth, complex relationships with his family, and general adorableness has endeared him to the hearts of many.

Reading list from @dailydamianwayne

Recommended starter run: Batman and Robin (2009)

Cassandra Cain / Batgirl

Raised to be an assassin, chose to become a hero. Cassandra Cain's unique abilities, stubborn personality, and amazing character journey make her one of the Batfam's most lovable characters.

Reading list from @dailycass-cain Recommended starter run: Batgirl (2000)

Duke Thomas / Signal

After his parents succumb to Joker gas and disappear, Duke Thomas throws himself into the world of vigilantism. He is beloved for his dedication to his family, unique connection to Gotham, and headstrong personality.

Reading list from @duketectivecomics

Recommended starter run: We Are Robin

Helena Bertinelli / Huntress

A child of Gotham's most powerful mafia family, Helena Bertinelli seeks vengeance after an assassin murders them. Her passion for the people she cares about, her Catholic background, and her sometimes volatile personality make her an interesting and unique beloved character.

Note: Helena was originally portrayed as White, but was retconned in Tim Seeley and Tom King's N52 Grayson run to be mixed race and/or Black. She also has an extremely messy publication history, and it's debatable whether N52/Rebirth is even the same character. She is not to be confused with Helena Wayne.

Reading list from @purpleladyofthenight

Recommended starter run: not a comic, but Justice League Unlimited's episodes "Double Date," "Grudge Match," and "Question Authority" are a great introduction. Then Huntress (1989).

Luke Fox / Batwing

The son of Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox, Luke Fox inherits the mantle of Batwing from David Zavimbe. Inducted into the Batfam during Rebirth, Luke is known and loved for his genius-level intellect, his complicated relationship with his father, and his unwavering dedication to the cause.

Reading list from @lornahs (includes David Zavimbe)

Recommended starter run: Batwing (Luke shows up in #19 onwards, but the rest is worth it too!)

Maps Mizoguchi / Robin

A student at Gotham Academy, Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi is the newest Robin on the scene! Energetic, ever-curious, and a huge Batman and Robin fan, she's a fan-favourite for a very good reason.

Reading list from @emilyarmadillo

Recommended starter run: Gotham Academy

Other characters who are Batfam adjacent include Talia Al Ghul, who I would recommend using fantastic-nonsense's reading list again, and Jace Fox, for whom you should read The Next Batman: Second Son.

POC characters are still few and far between in comics, and it's important to support the characters we already have to show DC that there is a demand for diversity. All of these characters have truly interesting stories, personalities, and character arcs, and deserve our love and support!

[uniiiquehecrt]

Voice actors are NOT the same as actors.

It takes a specific kind of skill-set and training to be able to warp and meld the voice. It takes a certain kind of talent and dedication to hone that talent into the ability to meld the voice and invoke emotion with one's voice alone. Actors are used to using their voice secondarily to their body language and their facial expressions. It's all mirrored back on camera. They do have nuance. But it's a different kind of nuance and a different kind of training to produce that nuance.

Voice actors might get their likeness transposed on their character's design, and maybe their mannerisms might seep into the character's animation. But when it's all said and done: their presence is in their voice. They are bringing a character to life, showing that emotion in their voice, trying to keep a specific accent, drawl, pitch, tone in that voice and keep it consistent for their recording sessions.

The voice actor is like a classically trained musician who can play first chair in a competitive, world-renown orchestra. The actor (who fills the voice actor's role) is like a moot who played violin in beginner and intermediate high school orchestra and thinks they can get into Juilliard with that 2-4 years of experience.

This doesn't mean that the HS orchestra moot can't play. They can even be really good at it. Maybe they won competitions and sat first chair. But they are not in the same league as the person who's been training their whole lives and lives and breathes to hone their craft using the instrument and all of the training they've ever acquired to perfect it. They are not meant for the same roles. They are not in the same caliber. You do not hire the HS equivalent when you want to play complex music in a competitive orchestra.

Actors are not the same as voice actors.

And furthermore, actors - especially big name actors - taking the roles of animated characters for big budget films or TV pilots makes no sense anyways when - at least in the case of TV pilots - there's not a point to hiring a big budget actors anyways. That money could be used elsewhere (like paying your animators), and the talent that is brought onto the screen for X character could then be hired on to voice said character no recasting required.

I wouldn't say voice acting as a profession is in danger exactly, but it's certainly being disrespected and overlooked for celebrity clout, and this has ALWAYS been an issue. Shoot, even Robin Williams knew that much - which is why he tried so hard not to be used as a marketing chess piece for Aladdin and got royally pissed off when it happened anyways. People shouldn't go to any movie (but especially not animated films) because "oh famous actor is in it". People should go because it's a good movie and the voice acting is good.

People who honest to god think that voice actors are replaceable because "oh well anyone can voice act" or "I like xyz celebrity so naturally it'll be good" ... Honestly I just wish you'd reassess your priorities because you're missing the point and are part of the problem.

Voice Actors ≠ Actors.

[rockaberryx]

Solavellan this, solavellan that. Meanwhile I’m over here wondering when BioWare can confirm the acknowledgment of the other inquisition romance options

[st-santana]

[variksel]

im in the middle of the newest dndads s3 ep2 and . its the literal second one yet will is already suffering the horrors of prepping a single very obvious next step for the players to take and them completely and utterly ignoring it thus making it so he has to start winging the story

also shoutout to anthony having to suffer the consequences of making an npc fuck freddys mom i fucking love this season and this podcast

[cybertron-smash-or-pass]

Beast Machines Thrust

[redwylde]

Forcing my two ultimate faves to interact by thinking about how Silver would definitely be interested in biology and the natural sciences because many original ecosystems wouldn't have been able to survive in a world dominated by fire.

In the future he was very interested in history and had to rely on books to learn about anything that came before, but whilst visiting the past he explores and follows field guides in his free time because now he can experience it all for real. Enter Knuckles, who is the most qualified person he knows to teach Silver all about the unique biomes of the world.

At first it just starts out as Silver visiting Angel Island every so often to ask questions and compare notes in his field guide with what Knuckles has seen, which Knuckles enjoys. An excuse to talk about his adventures with a genuinely interested party and they end up bonding really quickly over it. Until Knuckles gets tired of talking about books (and not all of them are correct) so he says fuck it, you can't learn everything from a book and starts taking Silver on forays into the world and shows him everything he dreams to see - ruins reclaimed by nature, entire ecosystems existing on a single type of tree, underwater worlds hidden by algae and sediment.

[indiiglow]

Quick tutorial for watching TEOS if you're outside the US

Get the windscribe vpn extension (I use Firefox, can't vouch that it'll work as well in Chrome), you get 10 gigs for free that refreshes every month.

Watching in the best quality eats up data like crazy BUT all you need to do is get the episode playing.

Start it and turn off the vpn and it'll keep playing, just remember to turn it back on before starting the next episode.

If you want to play it in the background

Set it to the worst quality and let it play, plenty of data for that.

Amazon sucks, so as far as I know, you can't loop a show like a playlist. Keep this in mind because it automatically rolls into something else after the last episode.

I have it playing on my second monitor so I can keep an eye on it.

Obviously this means you can't really use your browser for anything else or you'd be wasting vpn data.

You can use incognito mode and make sure the vpn is blocked from running. Or just use a different browser. From a quick google search, it looks like those are simpler options than trying to run two separate instances of one browser.

Uh. Quick note for something that literally just happened as I'm writing this post. I think I accidentally let the last episode end and as the next thing was trying to play Amazon detected the vpn. A quick browser restart & going to the show by link in Mark's vid fixed it.

Scratch that apparently it didn't fix it. But I still got a good few repeats in so it'll work for some time at least.

[galaxina-the-pyro]

HDHDJDJDHDBBDDBBDBDBDNBD PHINEAS AND FERB IS COMING BACK, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IVE BEEN HOPING FOR THIS TO HAPPEN, AND ITS THE EXACT NUMBER OF SEASONS!!!!

…oh, and also Hamster and Gretel is coming back too. I don’t actually watch Hamster and Gretel - doesn’t grab me. But I might watch some of it when season 2 comes out.

And then there’s the middle child of the Dwampyverse shows…😔

I demand justice! GIVE US ANOTHER PNF X MML CROSSOVER DISNEY YOU FRIGGING HACKS!!!

[ghostlyarchaeologist]

“All right. Agreed. We’re not committing any crimes.”

Leverage Redemption S01E05 The Paranormal Hacktivity Job.

Bonus:

[sysig]

They’re perfect for each other honestly (Patreon)

[the5n00k]

"Y'know I've always wondered, can you miss someone you never actually knew? ... Heh, that's silly... I mean of course you can't—"

If Scratch tells Molly about Adia in a way anything like this scene y'all can find me in the hospital I will not be okay for several weeks

[negativefourhundred]

Post-tan hands.

[ikuhara]

[navree]

The Velaryons siding with Team Black gets even more ridiculous when you consider that Daemon threw a tantrum (shocker) around the time of the Great Council of 101 AC when Rhaenys was even considered as a candidate opposing Viserys. This fool allegedly gathered together enough resources in preparation to rebel against the crown if it looked like Rhaenys would be selected as heir apparent instead of heir presumptive. Why she would ever forget something like that and allow Laena anywhere near Daemon is beyond my understanding.

None of the Velaryons should be on Team Black at all.

Corlys doesn't particularly like Viserys at all and has been routinely disrespected by him, not just in the matter of being purposefully led on with regards to the Laena marriage but even in how he's treated in Council. He's also absolutely got a grudge about Rhaenys not being on the throne and feeling shafted as a result, not to mention Daemon summarily executed a member of his family without trial, and the disrespect shown to his House should be enough to at least want him to remain neutral.

Rhaenys absolutely doesn't like Rhaenyra, she was deeply antagonistic towards her the second she was proclaimed heir (out of jealousy I guess????) and was also convinced that it wouldn't work out. Not to mention, even beyond how she was treated with the Great Council, look at her kids. Daemon kept Laena away from her family for a good number of years and then she died, only to behave like an ass at her funeral and get married well before was considered appropriate. Rhaenyra "disrespected" Laenor with the Harwin Strong affair and their children, which we know Rhaenys was aware of because she brings it up to Corlys. And she thinks Rhaenyra killed Laenor to marry Daemon, because Rhaenyra has deliberately made it look like she had Laenor murdered, which alone gives her every right to hate Rhaenyra until the end of time. There's no way she would agree to betrothing her granddaughters to the Strongs, there's no way she'd go to Rhaenyra's side in the civil war she predicted just because Rhaenyra hadn't burned Dragonstone down in twelve hours, honestly the character they've written likely should have agreed to Alicent's proposals because that whole "we don't rule ourselves but heavily influence those that do and wield power that way" is literally what she already does with Corlys.

Baela, again, shouldn't be on board with Team Black either. Like I said, she was shunted off to Driftmark because Daemon the Targaryen supremacist wanted to devote all his time and energy to his pureblood Targaryen marriage and subsequent pureblood Targaryen children at the expense of his daughters. And while on Driftmark, she watches Rhaenys rule it alone, act as Lord of the Tides herself. And I'm meant to think she never once thought about how Driftmark should have been Laena's by rights, as Corlys's eldest, and thus her's by rights, as Laena's eldest? She's fine being a consort, a position with considerably less power, to Jace, who she does not know at all because she's spent all her time in either Pentos or Driftmark, while her inheritance, her rights, get passed not even to her little sister, but to some kid who isn't even Laenor's? No, why should she be on board with that after her treatment and how she's been raised? Even if she doesn't have any issues with Rhaenyra herself, the disrespect shown to her and her family by Rhaenyra's faction isn't something she should look past.

Rhaena meanwhile has been treated apparently like shit by Daemon her entire life, all because she didn't have a dragon (and because Daemon is a giant flaming asshole). And like her sister, she has to settle for being a consort, but even worse, to someone who, according to the laws of their country, has absolutely no right to the inheritance he's getting, which should be either her sister's or her's. Again, even if there's no issue with Rhaenyra on Rhaena's end, the treatment from Rhaenyra's allies like Viserys and Daemon is bad enough that it should give her pause. Plus, both Rhaena and Baela were dragged to watch their father get immediately remarried to someone else after their mother just died, that doesn't engender much love towards him or his new wife, who they had only met like two days ago.

None of the Velaryons should support Team Black at all, because the treatment they've received from people who were firmly on board with Rhaenyra's succession (or at least came on board eventually) has been atrocious since Rhaenys was first denied the Iron Throne all those years ago. And you might say "but that's petty why can't they just supported Rhaenyra because of feminism", but 1) feminism does not exist in Westeros, the concept of a movement towards female empowerement and equal treatment does not exist in this country or in the minds of its people, everything is on a case by case basis which is why Rhaenyra herself keeps to male dominated primogeniture when dealing with issues of succession 2) yeah it's petty and selfish, but this is a dynastic struggle between one (1) family. None of them are in this for altruistic reasons, everyone's looking out for themselves and are motivated by their emotions and their desires, not any lofty goals or ambitions. Everyone is selfish here, the Velaryons have the right to be selfish too especially to advance their own self interests.