#so called villain

[arkangelo-7]

I need Battison to have a Robin.

I need him to carry around a little bundle of joy in his arms. I need him to risk his life saving him from the movie’s big bad. I need him to hold his tiny hands or cradle his tiny face. I need him to crack the smallest of smiles when Robin makes a pun.

I need him to walk into the penthouse, tired and angry and sad, and see his little Robin sprawled across the floor, giggling as his crayons draw him and Alfie and B—their little family.

I him to crawl out of the darkness with Robin. His Robin.

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

hey guys can you watch over these critters for me thanks

[casscainmainly]

Every Time Duke Thomas Is Snarky Towards or Insults Jason Todd (So Far)

Batman & The Signal TPB // Batman (2016) #33 // Detective Comics (2016) #1000 // DC Rise of the Power Company

[bishy437]

more of my moshang x inuyasha/isekai thing bc im still stupid as hell

[hekxate]

an au where they got to be boys together. (but even then goro’s laugh is ugly and his teeth are sharp. even then, ren loves it.)

[azu1as]

i adore all those aus where shen qingqiu ends up bringing a baby back into the sect and i want that for yue qingyuan.

maybe he ends up stumbling on one of airplane's weird flora and fauna that gives him a plant baby with features that match the victim's true love. in yqy's case, shen jiu, of course.

He hurries back to the sect, keeping close tabs on the baby and refusing to let anyone see the child other than mu qingfang just in case, his beautiful, tiny, she's so small in his arms, daughter ends up being recognized as xiao jiu's especially with her adorable pucker that reminds him of a younger xiao jiu's when he eats something particularly bitter and her brown-green eyes that yue qingyuan quietly hopes turns greener as she gets older.

quite obviously, no one else would recognize these features on such a cute baby and attribute it to the less cute (although yqy would beg to differ) qing jing peak lord.

rumors fly around about yqy's lovechild. the ones who saw him come back from the mission only recall seeing a child in his arms as he quickly flew back to his residence before locking himself in for nearly a week.

when shen qingqiu hears of the rumors, he scoffs. he punishes the disciples who dared utter those baseless accusations towards their sect leader.

it isn't until the next month's peak lord meeting that they're finally introduced to yue qingyuan's daughter.

she looks just like him, shen jiu thinks when he catches a close glimpse.

who was the mother? the next thought follows, filling him with a strong wave of vitriol and an odd sense of betrayal.

"maaaa..." the baby gurgles. she was propped on yue qingyuan's desk, his hands supporting her body weight. the baby giggles as it wiggles around before reaching out towards...shen jiu?

shen jiu clenches the fan in his hand as he uncomfortably watches the baby grunt in an effort to reach him, garbling babyspeak at yue qingyuan as she tried to pull away from his hold towards him instead.

"ma!" the baby yells out, eyes turning glossy in the same way yue qingyuan's often does. the baby stops her attempts at reaching him, and shen jiu almost thanks the heavens that the baby has stopped acting foolishly before she tilts her head up and ear-piercingly wails,

"MAMAAAAAA!"

Qi Qingqi grimances and tells him, "Just take the baby already, Shen Qingqiu!"

Shen Qingqiu didn't like being told what to do, but he disliked the annoying baby's crying more. He takes the baby away from Yue Qingyuan's hands ("Ah! Support her head, Shen-shixiong.") and holds her out in front of himself like an unruly cat.

The baby's cries thanfully die down, but she stretches out her hands as if she wanted to be held towards his chest. A glance towards the other peak lords, who were watching the both of them warily, made him realize that it would be less of a pain to simply do as the baby wanted and have it over with.

"You are as terrible as your father." Shen Qingqiu tells the baby.

He ignores the noises the other peak lords made at his declaration, his eyes caught in the way the baby tilts her head, her entire body almost following suit, at him and giggles.

"Don't laugh, you hellion." he tells off the child finally resting her weight on his chest. It's strangely soothing.

Shen Qingqiu settles back into his seat and raises an eyebrow at the staring peak lords. "Well? Are we going to finish this meeting or are all of you content with wasting an hour staring at this one like some sort of spectacle?"

The baby, finally quiet and comfortable on Shen Qingqiu, falls asleep midway through the meeting. It's a surprise when Shen Qingqiu also finds his eyes almost drooping at one point.

Shen Qingqiu doesn't want to read into his hesitation when Yue Qingyuan finally comes over to take the baby from him. He tucks his hands away into his robes, ignoring the odd emptiness he feels.

[thecursedcreator]

The absolute audacity of him to say this after my 4 hour, 616 doors endless run

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

Danny Fenton, aka Phantom, has been given a new task!

In short, literally no one in the Ghost Zone/Infinite Realms wants their mostly peaceful afterlife to be rocked by a certain Gotham rogue named Joker. Which, when he dies, is almost sure to happen because of whatever the hell was in that vat he dropped in included ectoplasm. So, yay, he’s also a little ghostly too, meaning he *is* pretty hard to kill. Unfortunately, there’s also a certain vigilante that is quite keen to murder him in recent years.

So now Danny has to keep the mass murderer trauma clown alive for as long as he possibly can while attempting to keep the Joker from. Well. Being the Joker.

Oh, and naturally, Danny got this assignment AFTER Joker got out of Arkham. Again. And entirely blew up the asylum. Time to join the Goonion, he is NOT doing this without getting PAID, thank you.

[feeltheillinois]

adam parrish + the potential for villainy

maggie stiefvater, the dream thieves⎮interview with bugs by @nutnoce⎮unknown source⎮maggie stiefvater, the raven boys⎮@veniennes on tiktok⎮maggie stiefvater, call down the hawk⎮warsan shire, souvenir⎮unknown source⎮art by @gender0bender⎮maggie stiefvater, blue lily, lily blue⎮clarice lispector, the hour of the star⎮art by @heavensghost⎮maggie stiefvater, call down the hawk

[turtleblogatlast]

I love Raph and haven’t said that enough so to be more specific I love that Raph is a soft boy who loves bear plushies, a gross boy who eats an assortment of things that are definitely better left alone, a smart boy who is more than capable of taking down villains through planning and fortitude alike, a strong boy who is dedicated to training his muscles and fighting prowess, a teenage boy who loves his brothers but is more than happy to tease and roughhouse with them, an angry boy who sometimes lets his anger take a hold of him to cover the fear, a gentle boy who is generous with hugs and affirmations to those he loves, a capable boy who takes on more than should ever be expected of a teenager, a good boy who just wants to be a hero and slowly comes to realize the cost of that duty, a good boy who has no reservations about putting himself in the way of harm coming to his family, a good boy who’s a great brother and son and person and deserves only the best the world has to offer.

[kidrunaway]

People dislike Markus because apparently he "doesn't care about his friends" "he barely expresses emotions" "his story was boring" "his story was useless and rushed"

Dude. All of these things have an EXPLANATION AND THEYRE NOT A STRONG REASON TO DISLIKE MARKUS. You can be neutral about him, but if you genuinely hate him, give me good reasons. If you're black or Jewish and you're uncomfortable with his story, THATS what I can understand. That's absolutely understandable and a good reason to be uncomfortable with him.

But Markus does care about his friends. Maybe you just didn't MAKE him care about his friends as much but, if he didn't care, why would he ever even become a leader. His story isn't useless and it takes a big part of the game. Yes it is rushed, but that's NOT his fault. That's David cages fault and his inability to write. Him not being able to express emotions very well is not his fault. I can't quite do that either. He's clearly fucking traumatized and numb especially after the junkyard scene. Have you ever seen Markus catch a break??? Ever??? If anything it's ONE chapter he had with north on the roof top building. Markus story also wasn't useless or boring that's quite....ignorant to say. Considering the fact that what's happening in his story are mostly based off of actual events irl.

So yeah. Pls pay more attention to Kara, Markus, and other characters.

It's pretty damn obvious that no character was given as much effort and consideration as Connor was (gee I wonder why) but the fact that people really think Kara and Markus are undeveloped/underdeveloped is actually astounding to me, and just further proves to me that Connor stans Don't Pay Attention to any other characters. Kara is the most developed and steady character in the entire game. Markus is the most obviously affected by the events of the game at the end. I could go into an endless discussion of their development as characters but that's the most basic way I could put it. To me it's so obvious I can't believe it still needs explained. Characters don't have to do a complete 180 like Connor does when he deviates in order to be developed. Don't be silly.

[tea-cat-arts]

Shen Yuan getting transported into pidw isn't "the system punishing him for being a lazy internet hater," but instead representative of "step 1 of the creative process: getting so mad at something you decide to go write your own fucking book" in this essay I will

[kurohaai]

can't believe he just yoinked her like a literal kitten like that

[novicedraws]

Have to feed my own AU needs 🥲🥲🥲

Continuing off of villain Lao au

Bonus ~

Which was 50% inspired by @helsensm and 50% inspired by the MMA post 🤣😅

[duusheen]

It’s been a while since Pandora last heard from her family, and suddenly, her mom texted her. Her mom… someone Pandora knows doesn’t care about her at all. A part of her is disappointed it wasn’t her dad, but on the other hand… Pandora didn’t expect Hope to be the one inviting her to the wedding, and that small gesture alone was enough to make her heart ache 💔

[tritoch]

one thing I find neat about Emet-Selch is that his chauvinism is so intense that it actually prevents him from making the strongest possible case for the unique moral goodness of the ancients, and that this same mental distortion ties into his classic final fantasy need to turn into a Horrible Final Form Monstrosity for your final fight

(for my part I think any minor unique moral goodness the ancients possess they have due to their status as demigods living in eden before the fall. even if they really are morally/intellectually/spiritually/magically/etc. superior to every modern eorzean on a 1:1 level it still doesn't change anything because 1) they are mythical and impossible, that's the whole point and 2) even if they weren't, they still have no particular claim to existence that is superior to anyone else's, no matter how good they are. but the point here is the case Emet-Selch is trying to make, which is that they are more "worthy" of life.)

when he's setting you up for the final amaurot sequence, Emet-Selch hits you with this one:

it's a solid line! stops the party cold for a second.

it's also...not that impressive. do I think if we called a big world meeting that half of everyone would just jump up to be chosen? maybe, maybe not. but, sorry: we're having a big world meeting? are we also demigods with their every material need fulfilled in this version? do we have a one world government that almost everyone seems to fully trust telling us that it knows for real a way to stop the meteor heading towards earth? because honestly i think as soon as we start creating structural similarities like that, it becomes a lot more likely. and every step you take towards making the comparison happen on level ground makes the idea that the ancients were possessed of some unique moral fiber that made them capable of this sacrifice (as opposed to the undeniable abilities in magic and global governance that actually enabled it) seem less and less likely.

and especially if you consider it in the context of what actual people are like. human (and presumably eorzean) history is replete with examples of people sacrificing themselves to save others, even though none of us are immortal wizard philosophers. i don't know how the white-room thought-experiment "will half of you die to save the others???" turns out. but do i think, across a grand rolling catastrophe, that half our population would sacrifice itself to save the other half in a million individual acts of sacrifice to save a parent, a child, a lover, a friend, a stranger? that seems significantly more plausible. altruism and sacrifice for others is even pretty frequent in animals! it's not a very unique moral behavior!

(stanford encyclopedia of philosophy on biological altruism)

but that's not the only sacrifice the ancients made. roll the tape, hythlodaeus!

...Yet oh how the star had suffered. So many species lost. The land was blighted, the waters poisoned, and even the wind had ceased to blow. Once more did our people give of themselves to Zodiark. Another half of our race sacrificed to cleanse the world; to ensure that trees and grasses and myriad tiny lives would sprout and grow and flourish.

(every time I read this speech and hit the ff1/3/5 ref about the land and waters and wind i become mylongestyeahboyever.avi)

this is the step beyond, and it's what separates the ancients from modern humans. they viewed themselves as stewards of the star and really meant it; whatever other criticisms you might level, you can't doubt the depths of their commitment. and this i think really does make them morally distinct from modern people, or at least raises that possibility in a much more compelling way than the first sacrifice. half of the living population sacrificing itself not in a moment of duress and apocalypse but in a moment of calm? when the sacrifice isn't for anything but plants and animals and some tiny proto-eorzeans? that kind of cold, calculated, long-term altruism, aimed at people and living beings that are nothing like you...that does feel like something a little more unique, more worth preserving. even in just the text of the game, we can say with real certainty that the ancients were at least more capable of facing their problems and had greater moral integrity and care for the world than, say, the people who made ra-la.

but emet-selch can't ever say that because rejecting and dishonoring the decision the ancients made as stewards of the star is his primary goal.

like, "my people were uniquely morally good. half the living population sacrificed themselves not for their loved ones or for the survival of their people but simply for the world. for the trees and grasses and the wind and the water. for the humblest insects and for the summer breeze and the tides." that fucks! damn, you got me there! i watch enough people throw aluminum cans in the trash on a weekly basis that i find this sincerely moving and beyond the seeming abilities of my own brethren! oh no, i'm being persuaded by the fascist immortal space wizard!

"and therefore, because they are uniquely morally good, we are going to sacrifice and kill the very things they gave their lives to save, so we can have them back :)" well, shit. i'm experiencing some dissonance here.

but you can't actually lie to yourself as long as emet-selch without distorting your understanding of the truth. you cannot choose to see the world falsely half the time and clearly the other half. in committing to self-deceit and willful ignorance regarding the value of the modern world, emet-selch blinds himself not just to the world as it is but to the ancients as they were. if he could describe accurately the ways in which the ancients were genuinely noble and benevolent, he would also have to able to see clearly how he has entirely deviated from that ideal. and he cannot do that and stay on the path he has chosen, so he simply chooses not to see things accurately.

i cannot help but link this blindness of his to his trial. here, at what seems to emet-selch to be the last stand of the ancients, he says to you "to be clear this fight IS a metaphor, and in that metaphor i stand in for the Entire Unsundered World."

and yet, in standing against you, he betrays both the customs of the ancients and his very title, itself a direct signifier of the mission he was charged with as one of the convocation of fourteen: "to ensure that all is right in creation, that our star may know a brighter future." contra elidibus, for whom remembering his duty to the ancients is one and the same act as remembering his name, emet-selch declares his own to be mere pretense. and that's before we even reach the matter of his transformation.

emet-selch believes the only way he can save the ancients is to betray their principles, forget their greatest triumphs, and abandon their trappings. he renounces almost everything of the ancients, save for his pale and sad and faceless amaurot, in the hopes of bringing them back.

i am reminded a little of borges's three versions of judas, a short story which uses the lens of fictional literary criticism (appropriate for a story as interested in competing narrative interpretations as shadowbringers is) to recast the betrayal of christ by judas not as the greatest of sins but as the greatest of sacrifices.

The ascetic, for the greater glory of God, vilifies and mortifies his flesh; Judas did the same with his spirit. He renounced honor, morality, peace and the kingdom of heaven, just as others, less heroically, renounce pleasure. With terrible lucidity he premeditated his sins.

and, in turn, the sardonic footnote to that very same line, which unsettles that sentiment as soon as it has been presented:

Borelius inquires mockingly: “Why didn’t he renounce his renunciation? Or renounce the idea of renouncing his renunciation?”