#starts school and finds one kid with Jason's special interest as a button on his backpack and before you know it Jason is rizzing a friend

[azol-otl]

Just a silly little jaytim involving never died! Jason's big fat crush on his new friend.

Jason twirls in front of Babs again in case her Oracle eyes see something that he's missed. He worked hard on this, and he'd die of mortification if he there was a mistake he hadn't seen. He won't lie, he's kind of nervous about tonight. It's been...awhile since he's gone to do something social beyond school (and boy doesn't that make him sound like a loser) and he thinks he might have gotten a little too overenthusiastic about it. Well, Dick said it was fine but even after the coma Dick's only here every once in a blue moon and Jason isn't sure if he should take Dick's advice to heart when the man's been running around in tights since the day he was born. Plus Jason still remembers that Dick is a lying liar who lies when he thinks something would be funny or was trying to cover his ass. (Yes, he still holds that mask acne incident against him! Barbie laughed at him, Dick! Sure he now has photo evidence of Pizza Face Grayson, but still!) Everything fits him perfectly despite that last second growth spurt that finally started showing up. A tiny thing, barely an inch but it was enough to finally push him past 5ft so he's happy. His tunic fits perfectly and the stitching has an Alfred seal of approval. His armor is light, the leather looks good despite being made from old scraps of Bruce and Dick's outgrown clothes that have too much wear and tear to pass down. The cape swishes just the way he remembers, though a deep red instead of canary yellow. He decided against only tights by wearing some sturdy shorts over them, like an adventurer would, everything color matched for the time period. He looks up at Babs who's giving him a bemused look and he puffs out his chest indigently. "What?" he says tersely. "Nothing nothing," comes the amused sing song, the kind she gets when she's teasing Dick. "I just didn't expect this to be the result of introducing you to online gaming." Jason's cheeks warm but he has nothing to be ashamed of. Sure he's become...a geek after the accident. But he has friends, like actual friends close to his age that go to his school and not just co-workers six years older than him or a penpal from across the country. Plus Jason can admit he was a nerd before becoming a combo nerd/geek so it's not like his reputation took a hit. "Nothing wrong with immersion," he says. Babs gives him a wry grin. "Nothing wrong with impressing Tim you mean?"

And Jason couldn't even be mad at Barbie about that because she's absolutely right. Tabletop was Tim's thing, and Jason was excited to try it out, but it was absolutely a new thing for him. All of this was new to Jason. After being stuck with nothing but a computer for months on end any social skills Jason might have had have atrophied and what little that remains has made Jason the picture perfect geek. And he really didn't want to screw up this friendship when it was the lifeline that Jason used to actually talk to people in real life and not in front of a screen. Well, people that aren't maladjusted larpers punching criminals. "Seriously Barbie, does it look good? I don't wanna embarrass myself," Jason mumbles. This time Barbara does laugh and its just as embarrassing as the last time. "Ah, what's the world come to. Robin, the boy wonder himself, worried that he's going to embarrass his best friend in front of his Wizards and Warlocks group," she says wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. "It's Trailblazer," Jason says automatically, already having corrected Bruce, Dick, and Alfred about this for weeks. Barbara starts laughing again and Jason resists the urge to stomp out like a child. It wouldn't be dramatic anyhow, he isn't wearing shoes and he refuses to stomp in his fantasy footwear that's basically just a metal band around his arch for support. Once she stops laughing she finally takes pity on Jason. "You look fine Little Bird. I don't see anything sticking out, and the outfit looks amazing. Your little fey prince character is gonna knock it out of the park," she says and Jason feels warm enough that he doesn't even correct her that he's a halfling-changeling and not a fey anything, much less a prince.

 That warmth stays with him until he's in front of Tim's door. It's then that he thinks that maybe going all out was a terrible idea. He knows that some people dress up, but it isn't like a mandatory thing. And Tim didn't say anything about needing to dress up for Jason's first tabletop night. But Jason had been so excited. Tim didn't even finish his invitation before Jason already had a dozen designs scrambling in his head and started creating a character piece by piece. He was dragging out knowledge he hasn't touched since he was Robin. Fashion design, historical trends, and how to use them to create something tangible with the sewing lessons he had begged Alfred for back when he wanted to learn every practical skill he could. In case he got dropped like a sack of steaming shit. Crap what if they think Jason's a nerd? He had read that Traiblazer book cover to cover and made notes like it was a reading assignment! To be authentic to the setting! In case Tim's friend Ives wanted to "Um actually" Jason's meticulously created backstory and full lineage and npcs he built and sent to Tim weeks ago. Shit, maybe Jason's more of a loser than he thought if he thinks a wizards and warlocks group is too cool for him.

 He thinks about calling Alfred to pick him up and make a lie about the campaign being cancelled. Maybe he can persuade Bruce to send him back to public school instead of Gotham Academy. Then he can forget all about Tim and his goofy smile and how he puts his foot in his mouth and how cute he looked when he asked Jason to join in this game because he wanted to share something about himself with— Jason's thoughts are cut off when the door opens. He looks up, eyes wide with anxiety in his stupid changeling halfling outfit without any shoes because he wanted to be authentic. The guy across the doorway was tall, taller than Jason (but who isn't) and taller than Tim (also not an accomplishment), blonde with glasses. "Are you sure this guy's a senior, Tim," he says and Jason has to stop himself from punching out Tim's other friend.

Tim's head then pokes out of the door, funny wizard hat and all and just stares at Jason. For a full minute. It gets awkward fast but neither Jason or the other guy know what to say before Jason takes the plunge. "Hey, I'm Jason, you must be Ives?" he says forcing all his nerves as deep down as he can. Ives nods, "Sebastian Ives, don't call me by my first name." It isn't until introductions are done that Tim comes back online. "Hey! Jason! Wow! Your costume is really good! A changeling right?!" he says loudly, cheeks and ears a bright pink.

[popolitiko]

Enemies, a Love Story: Inside the 36-year Biden and McConnell Relationship

The two 78-year-old deal-makers have been parties to the collapse of Capitol culture. Now they’ll need to make Washington work again.

By ALEX THOMPSON    01/22/2021

The last time Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell faced off, Biden blinked first.

It was the winter of 2012. Then, as now, Democrats had just won a presidential election, had a narrow Senate majority, and Biden was earnestly proclaiming that the election would break the Republican “fever” of opposing the Democratic agenda.

The first test came immediately.

A cascade of deadlines on December 31, 2012, set up a world economy-level battle known as the “fiscal cliff.” Without any action by Congress, the next year would bring about $700 billion in combined tax hikes and budget cuts—extreme austerity measures that could cripple the recovering economy.

The Democratic Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, was willing to go over the cliff if McConnell didn’t agree to tax increases for the highest earners, one of Democrats’ signature campaign promises. Reid reasoned that if taxes were to rise automatically, McConnell would have to negotiate from a weakened position. Obama and Biden, however, feared an adverse reaction from the markets and a potential recession.

In a move that angered Reid, Biden took over the negotiations with Obama’s blessing. The outcome—a continuation of the Bush-era tax cuts with a relatively modest hike of 1.8 percent, weighted toward higher earners—was the kind of deal both negotiators could celebrate.

McConnell did, crowing to his fellow Republicans that “in a government controlled two-thirds by the Democrats, we got permanency for 99 percent of the Bush tax cuts.”

Biden did, boasting in a June 2019 debate that “I got Mitch McConnell to raise taxes $600 billion by raising the top rate.”

But many Democrats weren’t celebrating at all and still haven’t gotten over it. At the same 2019 debate, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado called it “a complete victory for the Tea Party. It extended the Bush tax cuts permanently. The Democratic Party had been running against that for 10 years.”

Now, eight years later, Biden and McConnell are entering a new phase of their 36-year relationship, and the Democratic left fears a repeat of the 2012 dynamic. Once again, their party wields most of the levers of government. They control the White House and Senate, albeit by the slimmest possible margin. Unlike 2012, they have a slim majority in the House, as well. Nonetheless, they seem destined to be bargaining for half a loaf, at best, for anything that requires 60 votes in the Senate, the level necessary to defeat a filibuster.

That’s because between them and their agenda stands McConnell, an acknowledged master of Senate procedures, famed for his ability to block presidential agendas.

Even as McConnell has seen some of his power ebb away—losing his Senate majority on the clay fields of Georgia, breaking with Donald Trump in the final days of his presidency—he still finds himself an essential figure in Biden’s Washington.

He is the key to the new president’s ability to turn the page from the Trump years. After years of legislative stasis, Biden is betting big that the Senate can return to the deal-making body he and McConnell came of age in. He hopes that he and his 2012 negotiating partner can plumb their shared history to locate a workable middle in a hyperpolarized time.

That’s a special challenge for McConnell, who is already at odds with the Trumpian wing of the Republican Party after defying Trump on Biden’s victory and even privately being open to impeaching him. Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday called for a new leader in the Senate and said McConnell had revealed himself to be the “king of the establishment Republicans.”

Even if McConnell wanted to cut deals with Biden, any compromise could further undermine his and his members’ position with the Republican base ahead of the 2022 midterms and the next presidential election. Several Republican senators eyeing their own runs in 2024 are already signaling unapologetic opposition to the entire Biden agenda.

Meanwhile, Biden’s allies are loudly insisting that finding common ground is possible and exactly what the American people want after the past decade of partisan warfare. The Biden team is aware that many in their own party are rolling their eyes but argue that it’s just the latest instance of the Democratic establishment underestimating Joe Biden.

“People said it was naive, you know, 18, 19 months ago as he was running, he was criticized for it. But you know what? It's one of the reasons he won,” said a senior Biden White House adviser. Other Biden allies argue that voters will punish Republicans in 2022 if they look like they are being obstructionist in the middle of a crisis.

“A majority of senators have never served in a functional Senate,” said Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a close Biden ally and friend. “This is the best chance the Senate will have in our lifetimes to get more functional, because we have an incoming president who knows and respects the Senate.”

But what constitutes functionality may be considerably less than Biden’s ambitious campaign promises.

“There are many examples of things that are just really beyond partisanship,” the senior adviser said. Asked for examples, the adviser pointed to second-tier issues like infrastructure spending and broadband internet access.

Jason Furman, who chaired President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers and is an occasional outside adviser to the Biden team, lowered expectations. “I’m not sure they can accomplish big things together, [but] I do think they can work together to keep the wheels on the bus,” he said.

McConnell, Furman believes, could be a willing partner in the basics—getting budgets passed in a timely manner, not playing chicken with the debt ceiling, and other incremental, good government measures.

Most skeptical of all is Obama himself, no fan of McConnell and someone who has chafed at the idea that his vice president might be able to achieve things that he himself could not.

“I’m enjoying reading now about how Joe Biden and Mitch have been friends for a long time,” the former president quipped to the Atlantic shortly after the 2020 election. “They’ve known each other for a long time.”

Washington friends aren’t normal friends. While some outliers like Ted Kennedy or John McCain genuinely relished their personal relationships across the aisle, the more enduring bond between long-serving senators is having belonged to such an exclusive club, and respect for its unwritten rules. Among these institutionalists, outsiders just don’t get it, whether they’re an earnest reformer like Obama or an imperious novice like Trump.

Biden, who joined the Senate in 1973, won his third term in the same year a former Senate staffer named Mitch McConnell won his first.

Like Biden, who began his Senate career by surprising the pundits with a razor-thin, upset win over two-term Republican Sen. J. Caleb Boggs, McConnell surprised much of the political world by edging out two-term Democrat Walter “Dee” Huddleston in the 1984 Senate race in Kentucky.

Despite being born nine months apart and sharing an interest in Senate history, the two men weren’t initially close during the 24 years they overlapped in the chamber, according to aides to both men.

“They are both good politicians, but they couldn't be more different as politicians and that was from the get go,” said Janet Mullins Grissom, who managed McConnell’s 1984 race against Huddleston and was one of the Senate’s first female chiefs of staff when McConnell appointed her in 1985.

Biden was loquacious, while McConnell was a man of few words. Biden had the grip and grin of a salesman, while McConnell displayed a tactician’s discipline climbing up the leadership ladder. Biden was a people pleaser, while McConnell at times reveled in criticism, even decorating an entire wall of his office with negative newspaper cartoons about himself.

In high school and college, Biden had been a popular kid, a jock and senior class president. McConnell was more of a nerd—he wore an “I Like Ike” button in his 5th-grade school picture—but with an enormous drive to figure out how to win over his peers in elections.

When facing off against a popular kid to be his school’s senior-class president, McConnell outmaneuvered him by courting the endorsement of other popular students. “I was prepared to ask for their vote using the only tool in my arsenal, the one thing teenagers most desire. Flattery,” he wrote in his memoir.

But there are some similarities, too.

Both have clan loyalties. Biden’s are mainly to members of his family, such as his sister Val, who managed all seven of his political campaigns before 2020. In later years, his sons joined his inner circle, as well, along with longtime aides like Ted Kaufman and Mike Donilon.

McConnell regards his political team as family. “He has a posse,” said Mullins Grissom. “It’s like the opposite of Donald Trump, but I think that that speaks to the person, and that he is an incredibly, incredibly loyal person.” Aides say that, for decades after they have left his office, they still refer to him as “boss.” And while McConnell’s daughters seem to be liberals like their mother and shun his politics, his second wife, two-time GOP Cabinet member Elaine Chao, is a Washington power broker and a political partner as well as a romantic one.

“When I picked Elaine up at her apartment at the Watergate, I was taken by her beauty, and proud to have her on my arm that evening,” McConnell wrote of their first date, a party for then-Vice President George H.W. Bush hosted by Saudi Arabia’s ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

Former aides note that Biden and McConnell are also similar in that they are ideologically flexible: Each started off as a moderate and then moved left and right with their parties.

KEEP READING.....

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/22/joe-biden-mitch-mcconnell-relationship-460385?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[sobdasha]

Speaking of clothing and timelines

I have, apparently, been misunderstanding Yuki's childhood for a long time lol.

(I assumed Akito like, literally painted a room black somewhere adjacent to Akito's rooms and just, y'know, kept Yuki in there, a Rat Room, and I couldn't figure out when or why Yuki at some point might have been moved back home???)

But hey now I know so much more all because I said "I don't even understand Yuki's clothes" and decided, "Takaya probably had it all figured out and I just need it written down to find the pattern."

Anyway here are the results of my research! I have divided Yuki's life into 4 distinct clothing periods.

Living with Akito

Yuki's mom dresses him in a suit to go meet Akito. After that, Yuki wears either kimono or what I'm choosing to call "Kyou clothes," on account of they look like the things Kyou (or young Haru) wears. I'm not sure there's a rhyme or reason for why Yuki is dressed traditional or western clothes on any given day. I also assume the Souma maids were responsible for acquiring Yuki's clothes, what else are maids for clearly.

--

Isolation

This is the start of the "pitch dark room" which is, ah, more metaphorical than literal. When Yuki was Akito's live-in playmate, Akito talked about how they were both special and together and awesome. After the rooster hecked things up, when Akito snapped, Akito specifically talks about how Yuki is different and unimportant. Akito separates and isolates Yuki both with those words and also, I think, by literally kicking Yuki back home. I, uh, am now realizing that this is Akito's bedroom, Akito probably didn't do an entire redecorating job with a little pot of ink, and the darkness of Yuki's bedroom back in his parents' house is, y'know, less literal in nature. The reboot anime makes it pretty clear that the "pitch dark room" of Yuki's childhood is identical to Yuki's bedroom at his parents' house, so. Yeah.

(Hey, at least I'm not like the first anime who took one look at the black paint and said "that's a whip right????")

Anyway, this same time marks a shift in Yuki's clothing. He's still got a lot of the "Kyou clothes," and he still occasionally wears kimono, but his wardrobe also now contains more preppy, formal clothes that I'm sure his mom was picking out with Yuki's future status in mind.

Also, now that I'm writing these things down, I suspect this is why Yuki's mom slaps him so hard at New Year's for "embarrassing her" by ditching Akito. I mean, she's terrible, but it seemed a bit over the top for someone who was pretty content to ignore Yuki while things were going her way, and how does she know Akito didn't give Yuki permission to ditch??? But it would make sense if she's still absolutely pissed that Yuki's living with her again, clearly he fell out of favor with Akito, he fucked up his (and her) chances, Yuki should just be so lucky that at least Akito's still interested enough to visit on the regular (for verbal and emotional abuse) but that's not gonna continue if you ruin this by upsetting Akito even further!

I believe we don't really see Yuki in the years between 2nd grade and 9th grade, but all the stuff from 9th grade is the preppier, more formal clothes. I assume once he outgrew the "Kyou" things after being moved back home, he didn't get any more hoodies and cargo-pocket shorts and etc. No clue if Yuki still occasionally had kimono.

--

Shigure's house

This is the only period that Yuki wears Chinese-style shirts, in addition to his nice dress shirts.

Also I'm so sad I had this idea in my head that Yuki didn't start wearing sweaters and sweater vests with his uniform until he started copying off Kakeru, but no, he wore them right in like the first or second volume, he just wears them when it's really cold. GDI I thought that was super cute...I'm so sad…

Also tangent like. I'm pretty sure there's a great fic in here somewhere about the time of moving Yuki into Shigure's house. At this point, as far as we know, the only place Yuki goes to is school. In elementary school we saw him get driven; I wouldn't put it past his mom (who wanted him in a better school district, where maybe he couldn't walk to like is supposed to be the norm) to have him be driven to school all the time, to better keep an eye on him. So here comes Yuki to Shigure's house, does that kid even have any furniture, this is a serious question, and he's going to determinedly go to a co-ed school when he doesn't even have practice walking down the street without running into women.

I'm sure it could only help Shigure's interests of ~emotionally distancing Yuki from Akito~ by being like "Haha okay school starts in like, 2 days, son it's time for a crash-course in existing in public and we'll kill two nailing-ur-girlfriend birds with one stone by shopping for furniture and clothes and whatever as well!"

The point being that Yuki, like Machi, presumably has no idea what he likes at this point but he sees some Chinese-style clothes and they are 1) not like what that jerkface Kyou wears and 2) not like the dress shirts his mom/the household staff buy him 3) probably good enough right?? While Shigure has to stand there with, like, a totally straight face, although if he slips up a bit it's probably fine because Yuki's not been exposed to him nearly enough yet to realize what Shigure's like. Because Yuki's seen Ayame like, a handful of times, while Shigure knows full-well that Chinese-inspired-style is Ayame's absolute personal fave, and he's dying. He's dying. This is exactly the sort of entertainment he hoped to be blessed with when he signed up for this. Everything's amazing. Eh yeah I'm sure it's fine, Shigure shrugs, not wanting to appear too eager so that Yuki realizes what's up.

(And then Shigure gives him a whirlwind schooling on pop culture, so that Yuki can be like "Ugh Kyou you uneducated peon, you don't even know who Jason is" while also being "…I've literally never heard of the Power Rangers, is that, like, a thing??")

--

Kakeru

This period starts sometime after Sorta Cinderella, and is in play when the whole student council goes out together to that cafe. It's the time that Yuki begins to keep his nails shorter, his clothes change, and Machi notes that Yuki's somehow managed to get character development.

Yuki never wears his Chinese-style shirts again. Instead he wears things that are similar to his preppy/dressy clothes, but more casual. He starts leaving the top button undone. He wears a t shirt under a button front. Yuki used to wear preppy sweaters over dress shirts, but they were always crew neck--now, he wears v-neck sweaters over them. (He does once wear one of his old preppy sweaters one more time and I cringe every time I read that scene, it's so tight, it's so cringy the way the collar sticks out, it's so ill-fitting, I wonder if that's on purpose or if that's because I just don't fashion. It might be on purpose to show he's outgrown it. Oh snap, wait, was that right after the New Year's where he had another big character development?? Is that why??? SYMBOLISM?????)

--

Anyway, that's our Takaya-sensei, folks.

[thelittleredheadedmusician]

To Roast or Not to Roast

It’s been a hot sec since I wrote a DC fic but I got an idea about the batkids being asked to participate in a schwanky roast of Bruce and it turned into this! Some light internal angst with a happy ending.  Gen Rating: PG Words: 1856 AO3

Dick frowned down at the invitation. The thick envelope made of paper that cost more than most kids in Gotham paid for their notebooks had fallen out of the pile of bills and magazines and postcards when he’d grabbed his mail. It was heavier than anything else in the stack with the cardstock it contained and slipped right out when he’d grabbed everything. He had carried it as though it were likely to explode at any moment or contained deadly poison or was a carrier of smallpox and living in Blüdhaven and having a return address of Gotham those weren’t wholly out of the realm of possibility.

When he’d finally reached his kitchen Dick dumped the rest on the counter and just held the cream envelope in his hands, studying it with narrowed eyed suspicion that only increased as he read and reread “Gotham City Chamber of Commerce” in the upper left corner.

Finally, Dick opened a drawer, pulling a steak knife from within it and tore through the top of the paper. He slipped the invitation out and carefully read the script.

You are cordially invited to a night honoring Gotham’s great businessman and philanthropist Bruce Wayne

The night will feature a four-course meal and conclude with a roast of our guest of honor.

Please RSVP with the card enclosed.

Dick felt his eyebrows raise as he read the invitation again. A roast. Bruce was getting a roast. Bruce agreed to a roast. Bruce agreed to a roast after Alfred pressuring him into it and making the Chamber of Commerce agree to donate a rather large sum of money was more likely. And running his own investigation to make sure he wouldn’t wind up literally on a spit Dick was sure.

He chuckled and shifted the cards to find the RSVP and hope they hadn’t skimped on return postage when he noticed something odd. There was another piece of paper, nicer still than anything he had in his printer but not the same thick cardstock of the invitation. He unfolded it curiously and frowned as he read.

Dear Mr. Grayson,

We hope that you are well and hope to see you in attendance. We are writing to ask if you might consider being one of our special guest speakers for the night. As Mr. Wayne’s eldest son we thought that you might bring a unique and entertaining perspective to the stage. We have also reached out to Mr. Drake-Wayne and Miss Cain-Wayne and greatly hope the three of you would consider speaking.

We await your reply on the matter.

The Gotham City Chamber of Commerce Lucy Plumber Events Chair

As he finished reading Dick let the paper fall onto the counter. He went to collapse on his couch, fishing his phone out of his pocket. They wanted him to speak at Bruce’s roast. They wanted him to roast Bruce. Not that he couldn’t, he did all the time it was quiet easy after all these years and well brooding in a dark cave while dressed as a bat kind of made you an easy target. The question was did he want to roast Bruce in front of these people?

It was one thing to tease Bruce and make fun of him when they were in their masks because that wasn’t Bruce, that was Batman. Batman deserved it more often than not and had bigger things to worry about than Nightwing making fun of him in front of a gang of would be arsonists. Batman was used to having his protegee complain about him with various members of the Justice League and Titans, most of them had just about as much right to complain.

It was another thing to tease Bruce to his friends and family. They got it. They either grew up with the guy too or had been sidekicks themselves. There was a something that came from growing up in the shadow of heroes and really only people who had done that understood it. So yeah, him and Babs or Tim or Cass ragging on Bruce in the cave was allowed. They’d earned that right. Bitching about him with Wally or Roy or even Jason and Steph – when they were on speaking terms – was allowed too.

Standing up in front of a room full of Gotham’s elite and making fun of the man that, to them, saved Dick? Yeah, no. Ok, yeah he did save Dick that was true but he didn’t need a bunch of rich snobs thinking he was some ungrateful circus brat, he’d dealt with enough of that those first couple years after high school thanks. Besides, they didn’t deserve to hear Dick’s jokes. Not the ones about Bruce. They wouldn’t understand. He didn’t want them to understand. Those were personal.

Besides, what was he going to say? “You know how you grow up and people tell you you’re ‘one of a kind!’ and all? Yeah, Bruce never said that and for proof please let me point to the three others who are apparently just like me and even with changes to the costume some still think we’re a singular person!” Or, “People always tell me ‘you’re so well adjusted!’ and yeah I am for a kid who watched their parents die. For a kid who was raised and trained to fight crime by a man in a Kevlar furry suit? Well the verdict’s still out.”

Dick could just say no, he wouldn’t do it. Hell, Dick should just say no. It just… He didn’t know. It bothered him. Everything about being asked bothered him.

He kept playing with his phone, spinning it around in his hand, as he thought when he finally remembered why he’d gotten it out in the first place. He checked the time as he unlocked it and yup, Tim should definitely be awake by now. He hit the call button, lifted it to his ear, and waited.

“Nnngh. Whu?” Tim’s voice was muffled when he picked up and maybe Dick underestimated how late the kid could sleep in on a weekend.

“Good afternoon Timbers,” he couldn’t keep the tease out of his voice, not that Dick tried.

“’M on the west coast. ‘S still mornin’,” he protested. Dick winced a bit, he hadn’t realized it was a Titans weekend so yeah maybe Tim got some slack.

“Sorry.”

“’S fine. What’s up?”

“Well I was going to ask you about something interesting I got in the mail-”

“If Steph sent you a live bat it you should blame Jason,” Tim interrupted quickly and Dick paused.

“Um. No. What?”

The younger boy sighed and Dick could just see him scrubbing his hand down his face before pushing it back up to push his long hair back. It was a movement he did often and one that often prompted a remark about haircuts from Alfred. “I dunno. Harper got her and Cass really into Les Mis and then she and Jason ran into each other on patrol the other night and he caught her belting out One Day More or something? I really don’t know. She was talking really fast, you know how Steph gets. Anyways, they started talking and Jason told her something about how Victor Hugo sent his fiancée a live bat in the mail and she thought it was hilarious and well we all remember what happened when she found those websites were you could send people glitter and gummy dicks and poop.”

Dick had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. He did remember that, vividly. Tim and Cass both had a fine coating of glitter over their apartments for weeks after that, though with all the pranks and Cass being Cass there was normally glitter coating their apartments. Dick had gotten the gummy dicks sent to him and work and truth be told they’d been pretty good. Bruce had received the elephant poop. At the office. And Tim had seen and told Kon who’d told Clark and then there was an article in The Daily Planet and Bruce had been forced to give an interview to a very amused Viki Vale about the whole thing when she made a very compelling argument about the failings of a Gotham paper not being able to report on Gotham news and the importance of the press and well there’s a reason she and Lois go toe-to-toe on scoops.

“There was no live animals, though that would have been preferable,” Dick admitted once he was sure he wouldn’t burst out laughing if he opened his mouth.

“What did you get then? A dead bat?”

Dick snorted. “No. At least not today. I got an invitation to a roast for Bruce. And to roast Bruce.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Apparently, you did too.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“Neither do I,” Dick admitted. “I don’t know what I’d say. I don’t know what I’d want to say.”

“You could say no,” Tim said levelly. “I haven’t even seen it yet but I’m probably going to. Too bad they can’t ask Jason since he’s legally dead and all, he’d love this. Or Barbara. Let her roast him, she’s good at that.”

Dick smiled and shook his head, imagining those two tag-teaming. It wasn’t hard, they did it on the comms some nights and it was some of the most vicious and scathing remarks he’d ever heard. Thankfully, it was rare they were levelled at him. There had been times though and those had been rough.

“I don’t think any of what they’d say is fit for the general public,” he said dryly.

Tim gave a noncommittal hum. “Steph and Harper. They’d just rip into him for being a rich white guy.”

Dick sat up straight. “That’s not a bad idea Tim.”

“What? Have Harper and Steph do it? Um, I still haven’t seen this thing but I’m fairly certain they asked us cause we’re his kids but not like an actual child like Damian.”

“No, I know exactly who it should be. Thanks. Have fun with your friends this weekend, I’ll come to the Manor for dinner sometime this week.”

“Um ok? Bye?”

“Bye!” Dick hung up with a smile.

He pushed himself up over the back of the couch and grabbed the letter off the counter. There was an office number under the signature and while there was a chance she wasn’t in today Dick figured that being Events Chair meant you worked weekends. Besides, it’s not like he couldn’t just leave a message.

She picked up on the second ring and Dick’s smile grew. “Hi Lucy,” he pushed as much charm as he could muster into his voice, “this is Dick Grayson. I just got your invitation to Bruce’s roast and while I’m honored that you invited me to speak I just don’t think I’m the right person for the job. However, I do think I could put you in contact with someone who is. Have you reached out to Bruce’s cousin? Kate Kane? She’s a delight and if her barbs at holidays are anything to go by I think she would be perfect.”

[hennessy-jacen]

Jacen Hennessy (Pre-Henneson)

Basic Facts.

What is Your Character’s Name?

Jacen with a "c", Denver like the city, Hennessy like the brandy.

How does the character feel about his or her name?

I like it well enough. It's a great conversation starter.

How did he or she get this name? Was it passed on from a family member, or did the parents read it on the side of a cereal box the day the child was born?

My parents wanted to be unique? Just swapped an "s" for a "c", an "o" for an "e"? They met in Denver and my dad is super

Irish

. Like embarrassingly Irish.

What is the meaning of the name?

It comes from a Gaelic name that sounds similar but is spelled with more vowels than I can fit in my mouth.

What culture did the name originate from?

Irish.

Super

Irish.

What regions of the world did the name come from?

Ireland. Like many Irish things.

What connotations or stereotypes does the name have?

I'm an alcoholic from Colorado named Jason?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

How old is your character?

25

When was he or she born?

October 5, 1991

What events were happening locally, nationally and globally the year your character was born?

Terminator came out. My parents got into a fight cause my mom insisted on watching it in theaters six months pregnant. So basically Arnold Schwarzenegger is to blame for everything that's wrong with me.

What is the zodiac sign?

Libra

Does his or her zodiac sign have any bearing on their personality traits?

My mom says I have great patience like all good Libras.

What Chinese Horoscope year were they born in?

The year of the great goat lol

How does this influence their personality traits?

I make b-a-a-a-a-a-ad jokes?

How does your character like to celebrate his or her birthday?

Like it was any other day. It's a treat to be busy and have consistency in my day to day life. I'm fine if no one knows or cares.

What does your character look like?

Like a pasty hobbit?

Is your character Athletic or Overweight? Tall or Short?

I'm 5'9 so reaching for things is a struggle but they made sure I could lift three times my weight if push came to shove during paramedic training so I guess I have that going for me.

Hair color and length?

I used to have blonde hair when I was a kid but it got darker real quick. It's pretty brown now and I like keeping it short-ish. Just as long as it's out of my way, I'm good.

Eye color?

Bl...ue? I think that's what my license says.

Any scars or birth marks?

A couple of scars here and there just from getting scraped up on the job. Nothing serious.

Does your character have a physical disability?

No, thankfully and luckily, considering how easy it is to get bent out of shape in my job.

What actress or actor would you have play the role of your character if it was a movie?

Haha, maybe if I was more photogenic, tall, and muscular, Ryan Gosling. Basically, if I wasn't a pasty hobbit then Ryan Gosling.

What style of clothes does your character wear?

I like being comfortable. But I also like looking good when I don't

have

to be comfortable. I own a lot of flannel plaid, a couple of leather-ish jackets, a ton of jeans, a lot of t-shirts and a lot of sweatpants. Not very inventive.

What clothes would he or she wear every day on a casual basis?

All the plaid in the world. And then some.

For a night out on the town?

I own slacks. Somewhere. And some button-downs that aren't plaid. And cologne.

To bed?

Shorts or just my boxers.

Does he or she wear any special jewelry or accessories?

Can't really wear jewelry to work at the risk of it ending up on the ambulance floor and at that point it's gone forever.

What type of shoes does your character wear?

Sneakers for days. All the Dr. Scholl's you can handle is under my feet, day in, day out.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Where does your character live?

Girard Estates, South Philly.

Is it an Apartment? House? In the backseat of his car?

It's the second floor of a house so it's pretty comfortable.

How does your character feel about the current living arrangements?

Pretty comfortable lol I've been there for a while, I like it, it's home.

Does your character live with anyone else? Who are those people?

Not anymore.

How does your character get along with his or her neighbors?

My downstairs neighbors are pretty cool. Their dog shows up on my doorstep sometimes so that's cute, I guess? Who has a dog door on their front door and not the door leading into the backyard? Anyway, they're a couple, they're cool.

What is the view outside of your character's window?

Trees, hedges, sidewalk, some cars. Most people park in their garages or driveways though.

What items do they keep next to their bed?

My phone, my Fitbit, a lamp. A chapstick when it decides not to roll off on its own accord.

What is your character's most valuable possession?

I value all of my material things with the same amount of indifference lol I don't have anything crazy valuable. I guess I'd be mad if someone stole my TV or laptop or headphones but that's just cause they were expensive, not cause they're sentimental valuable. Unless you meant monetarily valuable cause then definitely my TV. The thing cost an arm and a leg.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What does the character do for a living?

I'm a paramedic.

Do they find this work enjoyable?

Yeah, it's rewarding even though it's like 80% organized chaos and 20% escorting highly inebriated people to the drunk tank to sleep it off.

What is your character's dream job?

I guess I'd like to properly go to medical school someday, get my degree and all...but I also feel like I procrastinated it for too long. I'm 25, by the time I go to school and get into the practice I'll be ancient...I dunno. Maybe one day. I love it where I am though and I don't know if I'd miss the energy if being a paramedic if I was confined to a building all day.

What is your character's financial situation?

I'm doing good, I'm comfortable. I can get nice things that I want without having to think too hard about it so it's a luxury I feel like I'm lucky to have.

What does your character spend most of his/her money on?

I spend a lot of money on food. It's dumb, I like to treat myself to nice meals. That and recreation, I like new experiences a lot so I don't mind paying for like scuba diving lessons and stuff.

What would your character do if he or she won the lottery?

I'd probably help some people out, like pay some medical school bills for some friends. I know some really good people who help others out a lot that are drowning in crippling debt cause they made the decision to help others out and that's not fair. And then I'd probably get myself a really good steak.

W

hat is your character's highest level of education?

I have a bachelor's in health science.

What things do they wish were different about their current profession?

I wish there was a little better support from administration sometimes. I wish equipment wasn't updated once in a century. My hospital isn't one wealthy or high enough on the radar to get trial equipment so we have to wait the years it takes for licenses, patents, and mass production to roll out things to us that could save lives today. It's frustrating to know there's knowledge and equipment out there that's reserved for the richest, the best in politics, and so forth.

...Is it too late to say don't get me started?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Who are his or her parents?

My dad is Caden and my mom is Angie. Hennessy.

Does he or she have any siblings?

Nope, they decided I was trouble enough. Kidding, I think they tried but it just didn't pan out before or after me.

A spouse or other romantic partner or love interest?

Not at the moment.

How about children?

The only person I figured I'd have children with left me so...no.

Other family? Aunts? Uncles? Second Cousins Twice Removed?

I have like 15 cousins. My parents both have a lot of siblings and a lot of them have kids who also have kids. Family reunions are kind of nutso.

How does your character feel about family functions and events?

Speaking of... lol They're okay, really. It's a lot of people but we usually rent out big parks or places where we can all exist without getting on too many nerves and there are ample hiding spots. The kids are cute and there's always good food and my parents always spoil me a bit hoping I don't get annoyed and stop showing up one year so that's nice too.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Who are your character's closest friends?

Mostly people I work with. I spend a lot of time with my squad so they really know me better than anyone else.

How did your character meet his or her best friend?

Work. I guess if I really had to pick someone I'm closest to on the squad it would be Jackson. I've known him since my first day on the squad, we started together.

What do they value most in friendship?

Fun, good naturedness. I like being able to relax, it's really important that I can just be myself around the people I hang out with.

Does your character make friends easily?

I guess. I don't get on people's shit list easily, I don't think.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What was your character's first romantic encounter like?

Um embarrassing and in college? Also not totally sober? I went away for college so being away from home for the first time was an experience lol

How does your character display affection?

Uh...I like being close I guess? Like in proximity, I just like having people close and comfortable with me. I like holding hands and stuff. I dunno, just your generic stuff.

What is your character's idea of a perfect romantic date?

Something that makes us both really happy. Something meaningful. I like having a purpose when I go places, discovering things is so much more worthwhile with another person.

Has your character ever had his or her heart broken?

I mean, yeah.

What qualities does your character look for in a romantic partner?

The same stuff I look for in a good friend, I guess. I just want someone I can really be myself around. Someone that can make me smile and someone that I can make smile.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Does your character have any pets? What type?

Nope, I'm really not home enough to have a pet.

What are your characters favorite animals?

I like cats and dogs. I think it'd be kind of neat to have a ferret or a bearded dragon but I think I'd feel bad about keeping a bearded dragon in literally a tank all day.

How many times has your character visited the zoo?

I used to go a lot as a kid. My parents would bring me or I'd go with my cousins. Once for school, that was cool. I bought my parents a stuffed monkey from that trip and they still have it so I guess that's kind of important to me or whatever :')

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What are his or her favorite foods to eat?

I like a lot of things, food is literally my favorite. I like ramen and lamb and a lot of roasted greens. This is a hard question, I like a lot of things a lot.

Does he or she enjoy to cook?

Yeah. I get really ambitious and it isn't always excellent but I like to try.

Any food allergies or sensitivities?

No, thankfully.

What foods can he or she not stand to be around or eat?

My dad's family has a pallet for some things I don't love. Irish baked goods are just not that great and I don't get the hype about black and white pudding I'm soRRY I SAID IT YOU CAN KICK ME OUT NOW.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

How does your character spend a lazy Sunday afternoon?

Lazily lol I don't get up too late cause I know it'll throw off my routine but I like to make myself breakfast at my own pace and watch whatever I've been meaning to catch up on for days. Maybe make a trip to the grocery store and peruse the aisles at my own leisure. Come home and play some video games? If I'm gonna have a lazy day I'm gonna commit to total leisure.

What are their favorite places to go when alone?

With friends?

I like going to the park alone. Walks are nicer with a podcast to think about. I can be a part of society without actually bothering myself, it's basically perfect. If I'm with friends I like to get a drink or go play board games at someone's house, that's pretty neat.

Where would your character like to travel?

Anywhere! It would be great to take a break and just have the incentive to go somewhere and enjoy something new.

How does he or she want to get there?

Driving, flying? By boat. I don't care. I haven't found a mode of transport I've hated yet.

Does your character have preferences on types of lodging?

Not gonna lie, I'm not a roughing it kind of guy, I don't love fending for myself. I like somewhere with running water and internet at least. And no bugs. Don't like bugs.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

What are your characters favorite movies and TV shows?

I guess I like hour-long shows that I can really get invested in. Like Peaky Blinders and X-Files and stuff. I like getting immersed in the stuff I watch, which is a lot more TV than movies.

What are their favorite actors and actresses?

I like a lot of people. Peter Dinklage, Gillian Anderson, Sam Neill. A lot of people have a lot of talent. I have a fucking huge crush on Emma Thompson. That's embarrassing but she's literally so fun.

How often do they watch movies and/or television?

I usually watch TV to turn my brain off after a long day so often. Almost every evening? I usually watch something over dinner.

What genre of music would you find your character most likely listening to?

My iTunes is mostly rock, I guess.

When do they listen to music? In the car? While working?

When I'm working out. Or we play music in the ambulance sometimes when it's empty.

What artists and bands does your character enjoy listening to?

I like the Arctic Monkeys and The National and stuff like that. Stuff that I can really appreciate on noise-canceling headphones. If it can get me in my feelings I'm there.

W

ould your character go to a concert and enjoy it?

Yeah! I used to go to concerts a lot more often before but I do enjoy the experience if it's for the right band the right atmosphere.

Does your character play any musical instruments?

No. I used to play guitar when I was a kid but I lost interest ages ago.

What are his or her favorite books?

I don't read as much as I should...but I do like reading books of movies and TV shows after I watch them. When I can't get enough of the world it built it's nice to fill in the holes with the book.

What books are on his or her bookshelf at home?

A lot of my college reading material to make myself look smart to my dust bunny house guests. Plus all those movie and TV show books.

What titles does he or she borrow from the library?

I don't really go to the library. If I'm not sure enough about a book to order it online I usually don't get it at all.

What genre of books does your character enjoy reading?

Romance Fiction? Non-fiction? Thriller Crime Novels? Historical Fiction? Self-help? Poetry?

Historical fiction, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, basically any kind of fiction really. I'm here for a good, gripping story.

What is your character's favorite quote and why?

“If not us, who? If not now, when?” ― John F. Kennedy

[oranges8hands]

It's Morphin Time! (Power Rangers review)

spoilers for Power Rangers (2017)

side note: I only watched a few episodes as a kid so I’m not going to pick up on inside jokes/won’t be pointing out comparisons. // I’m white and not autistic so when taking about representation keep that in mind  // cw (lite): rape culture, suicide

much more enjoyable than the original breakfast club.

property damage

that was... a lot

and I’m not even referring to the big battle at the end; arguably they could have played it differently (and I mean that on both a watsonian and a doylist perspective) but Big Boss Battle, I give those passes, (superhero) movies tend to think they need them. (and are only so-so wrong.) But before that (and superpowers in general) we have: a damaged school/cow, a car chase at the school, a car accident, a mine blasting, a car chase at the mine, and a car-meets-train accident.

and while we see, yanno, happy survivors at the end, I’m wondering if they are going to address the major damage done to the town.

good thing they have masks. and knew to ditch out of there while still in celebration mode.

this was small town america, dependent on mining and fishing. (which - interesting choice of location because it made the movie very compacted, and it also stressed a lot of the push-pull of teenagers and their struggles. this should definitely become a theme as the franchise goes on - the desire to leave with the duty to stay and protect)  

I know! use all that fucking spent gold Rita left behind!

I mean the jewelry store can at least provide receipts but what’s the mine gonna say? “yeah, that chunk of arm definitely came from Shaft 37″

speaking of - they are so damn reckless!

so reckless!

and I mean it’s kind of great because a) how fitting for teenagers in general, like this movie is 95% of the time going “they are teenagers!” (with all the middle finger to mortality and boneheadedness and earnestness and finding your place/friends/family that comes with it), and b) because it comes in various forms to fit the specific characters well, and c) its great tactic for skipping over the whole “wtf superpower freakout”

but also - thank bob they got some magic healing stones cause they all almost die a few times before the whole superhero gig even kicks in. that car chase at the mine (both the recklessness and the loyalty of helping each other) is an excellent establishing intro to them cause wtf power rangers

like arguably the least reckless is Billy, who is introduced as bribing a kid to drive him over so he can blow up a mine in the growing dark that almost kills another kid (how did Trini survive that fall with barely a bruise? magic). and he’s the LEAST reckless. 

the real question - did he just happen to learn how to disable the tracker before this, has he actually done this before, or did he learn how before Jason came over that night?

but I say least reckless because the majority of his recklessness comes from love/loyalty - the mine visits originally for his dad, everything else for his friends

but we have Zack - taking care of a terminal ill parent and so his things are about pushing limits, that more, more, more (or out, out, out) feeling, being wild, flirting with that “death wish” - because that’s a way to act out his fear, that’s a way to be out of control in a controlled way (he can’t control that, but he can control this), that’s a way to say fuck you to death, that’s just part of his personality of ‘I’m gonna touch it’

100% he is the person who presses the red button that says ‘do not press’

also its funny that he just hangs around the mine; full assumption on my part but it fits if his mom got sick from the mine, and he - to avoid finding out if she dies during the night, if the last of his family is gone - visits the root of it

Jason: I think there’s arguably a few ways of looking at it:

the growing pressure of familial/town obligations of being the golden boy are too much, and he‘s acting out to blow off steam

how he touches his knee made me wonder if he was getting an injury, and (sub)consciously wanted to get out of playing more football, either because he’s afraid of damaging it more or because he thinks it’s better to get kicked off on purpose than have it fail him/have to leave for something he can’t control

small town football stars are the weirdest mix of celebrity/adoration* and teenager, and some people don’t handle that well and turn to other means to get that attention, and adrenaline

* adoration that is temporary and/or dependent on their skills

some combo of the above

but anyway he’s “dumb stunts” reckless, and brings other people (and cows) into it, and his arc as leader means figuring out a balance for that, bringing them to necessary danger but not getting them killed

Trini is “outsider” - and the movie supplemented that with actual queerness (more on that below); like she runs from the group, she questions whats really bringing them together (are we friends?), Rita pinpoints that as her weakness, her character arc/turning point is when she immediately tells the others. and her recklessness is towards the self, esp her body - like she trespasses into the mine to practice stretches/meditation, the train run (IIRC she’s the one whose like “eh, hope we make it”), she uses her powers to get away (did she know she could make that jump before she did it because her powers became apparent in less the ‘destructive of an item’ way and more like Zack’s in which it was pushing physics?)

I think its arguable she’s had issues with drugs. like the movie stresses three years for her (her growing distance/quiet coming with her sexuality questioning), and her mom just happens to have a pee cup on standby? that’s a long time period to keep testing a kid who never shows up as positive. I mean maybe her mom’s just reacting in more and more extreme measures and this is the latest version... also the way her dad intercedes with her mom’s questions, I wonder if that’s his natural role in the family or if that came out of therapy.

I really don’t think she’s presented as suicidal in the film, but I think there’s an underlining implication that can be read where AU this superpower thing didn’t happen she goes in that direction (she is isolated by her “other” status within her family, by being the new kid at school, and so on)

Kimberly is self-destructive; its thoughtlessness and impulsiveness (and meanness) coming out to swallow her and take who she can with her. cutting her hair, diving at night at the quarry, her “revenge porn” (and way more on that below), even breaking into Jason’s room to tell him about why she was in detention  

there’s no “is it superpowers??????” which I immensely appreciate; it’s “something weird is happening and we need to figure out what.” 

they killed Billy. and yeah, happy they bought him back, but they still killed him.

and since I hadn’t actually watched the trailer all the way through, and I feel like a Power Ranger died in the original series (no clue if that’s accurate), and Billy’s Black and on the spectrum, yeah, I thought it was going to last. 

his death was used for Zordon, Jason, and Kim’s character arc

I understand it was so each of the other four could carry him together, but the Jesus pose is still in way too many superhero and/or teenage protagonist movies

yeah yeah he was the heart of the team I get it; still could have done it without his death. or frankly Jason works, since he’s the leader (and its interesting that the heart of the group and the leader of the group are two different people) and everyone pulls together for the leader. but again, no death works

it made no sense that she killed him and left the other four alive. also I’m assuming she was powering the ropes to keep them in place but did it completely drain them of power? cause as we saw earlier, they can breathe underwater

David Christopher Bell pointed out that since The Dark Knight, villains need to a) not just kill the heroes but break their spirits and b) get caught as part of the master plan. and while the latter is the “reason” behind the scene - she needs to find the location, she somehow knows Billy knows (like she somehow knew Trini felt like an outsider) - the former ended up feeling like the motive for the scene. 

actually she hits a couple more on the list - we don’t actually know her motive for turning (beyond “feeling like an outsider”) and the narrative treats her like she’s “unhinged” for no reason.  

weirdly Zordon is not part of her motive? like him being “alive” is barely a sidenote to her

representation

well done Black Autistic Hero! like Billy uses the actual term (which is already more than a lot of characters do), he exhibits behaviors of it (speech patterns, special interests, joke recognition, touching, stimming, etc), and he’s a friggin hero (and no one questions his capability to be one)

so Jason is the main; he has more screen time, his emotional arc is devoted the most space, he & his are the the inciting incident - a. his introduction into detention is the opening change that starts the story and b. his dad brings Rita out of the water (though maybe she could only be brought out after the gems are found?) - and he’s the leader of the team. however, Billy serves as the heart of the team, and the movie (usually through Jason, non-negatively) points out several times that he is behind finding the gems, and he’s the one who brings Jason to the mine. so Jason is the main but if they had tweaked the script a little Billy would have been.

Zack is not stereotypical/usual. (first off he’s played by an actual Asian actor, ba dum tss). but he’s poor, small family, while he wasn’t given a romance he didn’t come across as desexualized, he exchanged just pure slugging it out punches with Jason (instead of the “all (East) Asian (men) know martial arts” trope), he’s not nerdy or an airhead (the two extremes for school tropes), he loves his mom and outside of caretaking we also see them enjoy each other (high five over their chess game), he’s super f-ing reckless (let me just jump on this speeding car wtf Zack you didn’t know you had powers at that point), when established they speak Chinese together they don’t suddenly switch to (accented) English because that’s too many subtitles for an American audience

Trini: queer Mexican girl. like, I’ve seen the arguments for both sides of this - on the one end: she’s questioning (and feels so alone in it) so it fits she doesn’t have a label for herself, and on the other there’s been a growing trend of movies getting points for the tiniest overt queerness. because this is an introduction into a franchise and she’s a main character and the crew/cast are vocal about it and while she didn’t have a label it was connected to her arc (outsider status/isolation -> group friendship), I felt more on the ok end of it, though I would have definitely liked at least a little more vocalization. And this is definitely dependent on how they deal with it going forward, and I also agree with people who think it was not enough, especially since they chose to have her character in the early stages of questioning her identity and while that’s a legitimate storyline it’s not the only one. 

a really good solution would have been to have Zack say he’s pan or bi.

more queer rep always

like, did you watch him? (flirting mode towards everyone: activated)

it means we see someone with a labeled identity and someone questioning, and it enriches the scene between them, and it gives more weight/overtness to her sexuality (aka the movie itself isn’t shying away from labels, this specific character is cause she’s still figuring it out) 

the start of queering them all. all of them.

Kim is played by a biracial (Indian & white) actress. I can’t really speak to how that fits into the romance trope - she’s not white (the “Girlfriend Role” works differently for WOC), but Asian women are hypersexualized (the gratuitous bra shot, with Jason looking on without her knowledge)... basically I’m not familiar with how Indian women specifically fit into this conversation and it’s really not my place to say. I personally felt they erred too much on the romance for her, because the scenes with her and Jason together felt much more tied to Jason‘s arc* than hers or both of theirs, and she felt sexualized in the movie in a way the rest of them didn’t, so overall I wish they kept it a little more subtle than they did. but again not my judgement to make in terms of representation.

* the hallway walk, the quarry scenes... those feel like the Manic Pixie Girl/Girlfriend Role (”let’s run, right now”) and since her arc was a little less clear than the others it feels like the problem with that stems from the romance, even if it didn’t necessarily.

However let’s talk about her backstory, the biggest twist in a movie I’ve seen in years.

raise your hand if you thought she was getting the ‘sexually assaulted and fought him off and former friends/mean girls attack her for being a slut’ story. *raises hand* and instead she leaked her friend’s nude to a dude with a sex-shaming comment (who spread it to the whole school and/or besides to the dude Kim sent it to the school). PLOT TWIST.

except lemme say - this is a huge violation. HUGE. leaking nudes is not just a mistake or a bad choice, its a violation and it affects the leaked person for the rest of their life and its a well deserved criminal offense. (at least Jason’s ankle monitor suggests there’s some kind of police punishment that came with the huge amounts of damage he did - though talk about a light sentence good thing you’re a football player/white dude - but her punishment is just detention?) and I definitely need a lot more on the redemption arc beyond ‘stops being a mean girl who doesn’t recognize her actions for as damaging as they are until the consequences are shoved into her face’, esp because she’s only partly sorry. She’s sorry about what she did, yes, I believe that, but there’s also several instances (like when their cafeteria dishes melt, or the car gets smashed) where she smirks when they get in trouble. (That she’s the victim in this situation.) And with that, the narrative smirks at them too, because they’re mean girls and they cut her out; except she’s in the wrong! she completely violated Elizabeth! they’re allowed to be petty/mean back to her! It’s implied she basically leaked the nude because ‘why not,’ she deserves to get some shitty treatment back at her!

one of the main rules was “don’t use your powers for personal gain.” IDK if this is going to come up in the franchise, but if it does I’m assuming - if it’s not the whole group -  it’s going to be either her or Zack. Zack because of his sick mom (external force), her because of her personality (internal force).

eta: in a convo with clari-clyde she pointed out that Jason tells her she’s not a bad person when yeah, she was a bad person. ("i would‘ve liked it better if jason said, you chose to be a bad person, but you can also choose to be a good person. you can make poor bad choices, building on that bad choice. or you can start making good choices, and start transforming yourself.”) and I agree.   Kim didn’t do a mean thing, she is a mean person (the photos just being the latest and a REALLY BIG DEAL), and the narrative both understands that weight (her self-hatred/angst is about it) while treating it as less damaging than it is (how it somewhat tries to victimize her, and by virtue of getting the stone/superpowers.) once we learn Kim’s backstory her power walk (after cutting her hair) back into detention takes on new meaning, and not in a good way; she’s apologetic in the scene with Jason, but we don’t really see evidence of that in her treatment of her actual victims. (its the common redemption arc of tv white dudes - the idea that feeling bad is enough to redeem them, as opposed to them actually doing something to redeem themselves.) and one of the reasons her arc fell a little flat to me is because her backstory (leaked nude) and her end result (being a power ranger) are really not connected, both in context and through the group. everyone else’s arc was interwoven into them becoming a group, while her arc was interwoven with Jason only.

and in addition to that, Jason “forgiving her” gets tied back into their romantic undertones (removed kiss or not), so that it comes across more as “I like you, therefore you are not a bad person,” instead of acknowledging she was actually a bad person, but she can make actual steps into changing that.    

Zordon & Alpha 5 downloaded the English matrix and can converse fine but “teenagers” is the one word to throw them off. which a) suggests Zordon and his group/people don’t distinguish that grouping - which makes sense, the term is only like a 100yrs old, but more importantly b) is beautiful shot at Marvel. I mean, I don’t know if that’s why they did it, but after that Civil War nonsense I’m reading it as one anyway. feel free to join me. 

music - a little uneven. like for the majority of the film it was unobtrusive, with “HandClap” during the training montage brought into the narrative with Billy and Alpha 5 clapping, and then at the end there was the tv theme song (fair enough) but it cut off quick, as did the other (loud) song during those scenes too, and the one after the other nature of it was abrupt sounding.

I liked the training montage.

ok, so Jason can fight, we see that (dodge the bully’s fist), plus he’s an athlete. and Kim is an ex-cheerleader (and apparently recreational diver), aka an athlete. (athletes in football and cheerleading tend to have: body strength, quick pattern recognition, inclined towards multitasking & teamwork, can take a damn hit, etc.) we see Trini doing a stretch routine and taking out Zack in the pit and both she and Zack are suggested to have some parkouring. Billy is probably the least experienced, esp when it comes to fighting (and notable he’s the one that gets the basic boxing/punching routine), but he runs around a mine and like the others seems to be a good swimmer. so it comes across as less unbelievable that they can pick this up, esp because for the most part their fighting strategy is to hit the dirt monsters until they fall apart and we see them practicing (over and over again) the specific move that took Rita down. (also I was literally thinking ‘what, they can suddenly move as one with no training’ and then the final evolution of their robot trips. I’ll give the movie some leeway on how they can control the dino bots so well - plus handwavy they’re plugged in and figured it out - because of that trip.)   

they also show injuries.

ok except for Kim and Jason’s shirtless scene, the camera (and clothing department) treated them like teenagers, like they shouldn’t be needlessly sexualized for (adult) audiences. it’s fucked up that this is special enough to note, but its definitely special enough to note. (and they still did the ‘guy looks at half-naked woman without her permission’ thing, which is not ok, yes not even to the same girl who leaked the nudes.) there was Rita - she shows more skin the “prettier” she gets, her outfit at the jewelry store was esp “where did she get this?” - but at least she wasn’t playing a teenager. (and I don’t remember her actions towards them being sexualized, but I may just not be remembering it. eta: she definitely does have the sexualized vibe going with her adult victims though.

it was a fair job with the product placement and shoutouts (like Bumblebee and Ironman/Spiderman - those are franchises it can be assumed their audiences know).

like Jason, you fucked over your football scholarship/college options, your family probably has to pay for the school damages, you have a police (though possibly just juvenile) record... they’re allowed to question your decisions. and your dad still ends up giving you a chance to have a car again. (after you smashed two in less than a month.)

this was a mix of parental awareness and not. like Billy’s mom* is there greeting (and noticing the school social group differences) at the door, but not that the missing (smashed up) van may be his fault. Trini’s parents are aware if ineffectual/ridiculous. we just get a glimpse of Jason’s mom and sister but we spend time on his relationship with his dad (whose paying attention to his kid and tries to rescue him), but he still sneaks out of his house (with ankle bracelet) and is gone past his curfew at least twice, if not every day of training. Zack’s mom is trying to keep track (checking if he’s going to school) but (assumed) doesn’t know he sometimes spends nights away from home (assumed after giving her her pills.) unless I’m totally blanking, we don’t know about Kim’s family, though she goes swimming at the quarry at night and cuts her hair etc without recognition. and they all spend at least one night (though is bonfire night and them meeting at the bleachers the same night?) away from home. and they all spend almost two weeks coming home with bruises/etc. 

* ok I thought he said both parents died in the car accident when he first tells Jason but then later he just talks about his dead dad so was that his mom or his guardian? (I’m trying to remember if he shouted ‘her name’s Trini’ with a relationship term at the end.)

they had some really great moments but: Trini and Kim fighting over the last bite. Jason slapping the bully (that was so fucking cutting.) Billy on the spaceship. Zack and his mom hanging out over chess. Trini with her brothers. etc etc.

so the time jumps - the gems keep them alive and put them to bed, but they don’t do things like fix the van.

I’m so glad Trini immediately tells the group about Rita’s deal, and the narrative doesn’t even try to have some possible betrayal shit, and Jason’s speech (we suck, but we should do this anyways) was a good choice

all the death and injuries are close up, within the group. even with big battle the ‘helpless citizen’ was shown through Jason’s dad. the group itself receives extensive (if sometimes recklessly self-inflicted) damage.

boob armor. (Trini’s brothers could have guessed Yellow was a girl considering that.)  

the actors did a good job, esp Billy’s

??? I always forget obvious stuff when I do these.

overall, I liked the movie more than I thought I would (ok not saying too much), and it had some great moments, but Billy’s death esp was cheap, there was some incongruent scenes that affected the rest/tone of the film, and the final fighting battles - esp in the dino bots (though let’s be real: I want one) - was a little ridiculous. but the movie did a good introduction, and it felt like it recognized teenagers in all their stupidity and grace, and I’ll definitely give the next one in the franchise a try.