#team and we're calling them

[bameme]

Why's the Ottawa Charge logo look like the Calgary Flames logo took Ozempic 😭

[pinacoladamatata]

blink and you'll miss it moments around skyhold....

[magic-worms]

my design takes for the willis family kids!

[ratatatastic]

Panthers React to NICE Tweets 🥹

[austenpoppy]

Dick and Bette Kane - part 1

I started writing this as an answer to the people who claim they love Dick's "petty" side/him not being welcoming to specific people he supposedly has a grudge against. The problem is, those same people tend to mention Helena Bertinelli or Jean-Paul Valley as examples of that happening, when it doesn't reflect at all the relationship he had with either of them in the New Earth continuity (which is generally the one being referred to).

I will do a breakdown of Dick's relationship with those two in separate posts, but it got me thinking about a "heroic" character Dick's been consistently uncomfortable around in that same continuity, and one he openly doesn't appreciate much : Bette Kane, a.k.a Flamebird. Yet people do not seem to ever list her among the characters Dick's not very fond (for very good reasons).

Bette Kane's an interesting concept as a character, because she's not a very good super-heroin, but she's extremely competent in other areas of her life. As a teenager, she began playing tennis in competitions, and she was so good at it she quickly became "a pro", and was considered something of a celebrity.

Yet Bette dreamed of something very different. She openly admired Robin (Dick) and wanted to imitate him by becoming a super-heroin of her own. She even designed her costume as a tribute to him, and chose the code name Flamebird. That's somewhat ironic considering Flamebird was originally Nightwing's partner back when Nightwing was an identity Superman had used.

Bette as Flamebird's New Earth origins are recounted in Secret Origins, vol. 2 annual 3, which is focused on a mental attack Dick suffers at the hands of the Gargoyle. Here Gargoyle narrates one of the first acts Bette did as Flamebird, which was saving Navy men hanging to lifelines attached to an air-craft carrier that was being lifted into the air. Other super-heroes helped resolve the situation, and that teamwork is what prompted the creation of Titans West.

Secret Origins, Vol. 2 Annual 3

Interestingly, you can see that Dick wasn't really aware of how much he'd inspired Bette, and this mental fight with the Gargoyle happened several years after his first meeting with Bette as leader of the Titans, and years after his first meeting with Bette at all.

At first glance, this may seem surprising, given that Bette was obsessed with Robin and wasn't remotely subtle about it. After becoming Flamebird and rescuing the Navy men, she was part of the unofficial first meeting of Titans West along with Gar, Hank, Dove, Charley, and Lilith. And her first reaction was to be delighted at the idea of seeing "Robin" again, calling him "a cute hunk". When Lilith asked her to tone it down and be serious, she instead went further by commenting on Dick's legs.

Secret Origins, Vol. 2 Annual 3

Then when it became clear the newly formed Titans West would have to seek help and go see the official Titans in New York, all Bette cared about was that she was going to work with Robin.

Secret Origins, Vol. 2 Annual 3

When the two teams finally met, it wasn't love at first sight. Once they finally started discussing the case they were working on, Dick suggested a plan of action that involved the two teams splitting up. Bette cut him off as soon as he said it to contradict him and affirm that she was going with him, which she ended up doing.

Her behaviour was honestly creepy. She cut off Dick just because she'd decided that she was going with him. She didn't refer to him by his code name, but only by the part of his body she'd commented on before, calling him "legs". She took his face between her fingers. And the sentence "I've waited too long for this", coupled with the nickname, would've made my skin crawl. It sounds like she'd fantasized about Dick for a while, was going to have what she wanted no matter what, and had no problem announcing it out loud.

Secret Origins, Vol. 2 Annual 3

After the case was over, the two teams had a fight over what team had done more to solve it, and over the legitimacy of Titans West. Wally criticized the way they'd come into the headquarters like they belonged, Bette said they did because they were Titans too, and appealed to Dick to validate her opinion - calling him "legs" again, which implies that this was the nickname she gave him the entire time they worked together.

Dick said he wasn't sure whether it was a good idea for the others to be Titans, because he wasn't sure he would be able to lead two teams, one of them long-distance. Members of Titans West were affronted by Dick's speech, including Bette. She went with the others, talking to Dick again to tell him that "[he'd] never know what [he'd] missed", making her departure partly about a romantic/sexual golden opportunity Dick didn't take. Appreciate the fact that she called him "Robin" again now that she was irritated by him.

Secret Origins, Vol. 2 Annual 3

Titans and Titans West had a couple other team-ups before Titans West disbanded, during which Bette learned Dick's secret identity. From the way Bette acted during the one team-up recounted in details in New Titans #56, we can deduce that every time she met Dick she kept trying to seduce him, persistently, relentlessly, in obnoxious ways that sometimes border on sexual harassment.

It was well-known that Bette was obsessed with Dick - not like Bette was trying to be subtle about it, she had no problem making her intentions clear and that publicly. There's a panel I couldn't include in which Hank scoffs at the idea that Lilith "trusts" Dick and tells Charley that "she's got the hots for him. Just like Bette."

I'm sad I couldn't include it because there's this hilarious exchange after in which Hank bemoans "Man. That burns me. What's he got that I haven't ?" and Charley answers "Look in the mirror and weep" (lmao).

But as I was saying, Bette kept trying to hit on Dick. In the panel below she asked him whether he needed help (the "sure" implying it's not the first time she asked the question), only to say that it was "[his] loss" when he said no. Dick was very polite in his answer, thanking her for her offer, but was turning her down all the same.

New Titans #56

Not long after, Dick told off Hank and Charley who'd gone in an argument over leadership and about their association with the Titans, before having the conversation about Dick I mentioned above. Bette immediately cheered him on, calling him "handsome" as she got close to him. Dick ignored her.

New Titans #56

During a fight she called out to Dick to warn him about an assailant, and had to sneak in a comment about his butt (whoever said this kind of things was recent was lying). Dick was clearly uncomfortable, answering with an embarrassed "Uhh, thanks, Flamebird" - the "uhh" plus the two commas in a three-word sentence indicate he didn't know what to make of her comment. He also corrected her to make sure she knew he'd seen the assailant she was talking about. It was a way for him to reaffirm his skills as a crimefighter (she's not the first one he said those things to), but also a way for him to reject her attention.

New Titans #56

She was also very physical around Dick. I can't include all panels of her, but she seemed to be near Dick most of the time, would touch his shoulder for no reason when they came in a lab, or, like in the panel below, latch onto his arm. Dick wasn't shown shaking her off, but he wasn't seen reciprocating either.

New Titans #56

So in the end, it's not a surprise Dick had no idea Bette'd wanted to become a super-heroin because she'd been inspired by him. Not when most of their interactions revolved around her attraction for him, not when she kept making comments about his looks.

As an aside, this is one of the reasons I can't take seriously anyone who says it's Devin Grayson's fault if Dick's been sexualized. Hard to do that when you have an entire character who could've been one of the best tennis players in the world but decided to become a crimefighter because she was obsessed with Dick, and kept gushing over his legs and butt. Dick's been dealing with that kind of things since the 80's, guys.

Part 2

Part 3

[home-of-the-squirmle]

I'm drawing rn but I just wanna say. I feel we jayvik nation haven't truly tapped into the potential of their tickle antics being DIRECTLY correlated with them falling in love

[deepsixsquid]

Finding out that the WORLD CHAMPS are a bunch of racist scumbags is really really draining

But, it is nice to see that splat twitter, for the most part, is dragging them out into the street for it

[tsundereition]

omg guys proshipper isn't "basic dni criteria", like that list is supposed to represent actual irl issues(*), not some 2020 internet discourse. you guys are so annoying like if you're uncomfortable interacting with proshippers i understand and respect it, although you probably have a very twisted idea of what the word means (would make a separate post abt it but there are hundreds already). but please don't equate it to actual crimes. (*)also do you seriously think that a bigot troll is going to read your dni and be magically expelled from your strong aura. if anything it's going to make them want to harass you more. it's obvious that those lists are just a pose like "if i don't put racists dni they're gonna think i'm racist" NO aaagh you don't have to over-specify(?) everything about you when interacting online can we please go back to being normal istg. reject modernity embrace not writing a dni list and just blocking people like a normal person <3

[rjalker]

Writing about serious topics does not inherently make your story a serious or deep one. If you are glossing over all of the horror and refuse to linger on any of the bad things to instead focus entirely on the jokes and the cute Wholesome™ interactions and some action scenes where you describe nothing to make us take the fight seriously, where everyone's wounds get magically healed before the scene ends, with no lasting consequences at all, not even to the next fight, then, yeah, what you've written is a lighthearted story that has serious topics only as set dressing. People are gonna call that cute, because that's how you wrote it. If you wanted it to be a serious story you should have focused on the horror and the pain and the anxiety instead of brushing over them to get to the next joke.

[monarchamos]

I know nothing about ur pokemon au tell me about Chuuyas team pls- i wanna know the poke-parallels between his team and Dazais

Ah!!! i'm glad you asked!!! :D

In this AU, Dazai is the strongest of Yokohama's Gym Leaders. He specializes in Ghost types! His team consists of a Dragapult, a houndstone, a spiritomb, a froslass, a mimikyu, and a lampent! here's so fun(debatable) facts about his team!

he used to be an admin for the Port Mafia, so he still has like. a big fat kill count. So that's where the Spiritomb comes from. yeah.

Dragapult is usually the one dragging dazai out of his attempts. It's been with him since even before Dazai joined the mafia, so it's his signature pokemon

His mimikyu likes playing with children. Dazai often leaves it with Kyouka and Kenji to play with whenever the gym leaders get together

Dazai found Lampent when he visited Lupin after Oda's death. It was hanging around the alleyway, and he decided to catch it.

froslass is always freezing him. yk like james in the pokemon anime with all of his pokemon. bc he's pathetic like that. Dazai caught froslass on a mission with Kunikida, shortly after becoming a Gym Leader. (yes this froslass is the nightmare of all of his challengers).

Chuuya tried so hard to convince Dazai to catch a Greavard. Dazai eventually relented, but only because he could name it chibi. eventually he got actually attached to it and evolved it to Houndstone

Chuuya, on the other hand, is still an admin for the Port Mafia

His team consists of flying types. This is because, as his brother Verlaine is French from Kalos, got Chuuya super into sky battles. he prefers sky battles, but he's obviously just as formidable in normal battles. In Chuuya's team he has a corviknight, a skarmory, a honchkrow, a mismagius, a talonflame, and an oricorio (sensu style)

Honchkrow is his signature pokemon! it's been with him since he was in the Sheep

the oricorio, believe it or not, is actually from Kouyou and not Dazai, despite the ghost typing. its usually the pokemon to drag chuuya away when he's overworking himself.

the talonflame was gift from Verlaine! yk. as an apology. for killing the flags. Chuuya raised it from an egg. Verlaine battles with it every once in a while to see how it's doing. the battle's just an excuse to spend time with his little brother though

Corviknight was a gift from Adam as well.

Mismagius used to be Dazai's, but he left Chuuya its pokeball when he left the mafia so its his now :P

Chuuya had to add skarmory to his team during the DHC but ended up bonding with it and now its a staple in his team

Back when they were in the mafia, soukoku were often paired up for double battles on missions.

[bobbinalong]

there's some discourse about the potential new team adams and mercer are teasing maybe being called young justice, and like. i get it. "young justice" isn't really a team with interchangable members, everybody who ever joined really only did so because they joined the friendgroup, but i also so genuinely couldn't care less about this because if it's a decent project with steph as some sort of lead or even just in a red-tornado-esque roll and nobody thinks she's fourteen (which we have yet to find out, i suppose lol) and "young justice" is gonna make it sell, i'm all for calling it young justice. idc

[mageofquandrix]

Raising a girl after having grown up a girl will rip your heart out.

[ratatatastic]

"We gotta stay out of the penalty box. If we get to eighteen in three games? We deserve what we get. I mean, I don't understand half the calls but that's okay. I don't get paid to understand that, I'm still trying to figure out my team."

and so... paul wall of increasing bafflement throughout the philly game at penalty calls

[ilkkawhat]

not doing a very good job at forgetting about work...especially when i'm getting texted about it on a sunday night and now having a mini panic attack about it

[freisin]

this blog holds two themes for muses:

a.) veterans b.) sasha lovers.

[judesstfrancis]

sammy and vince hours yet again. do u think when vince gets his season ending injury sammy immediately skates up to the guy that hit him on the very next play and just. throws him on the ground like it's nothing. bc I'm pretty sure he does