#the fiddler

[fnck-fac3]

Do you guys think Edward is dateable?????? Or he’s more kinda…

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[much-vexed-glowy-mimic]

It's me again, that person, and I'm going to talk about this man again.

Music Meister, specifically the one seen in the Speed Force comics, because goddamn it, this man is the most interesting character in it.

Something I have to mention right of the bat:

Music Meister is a massive control freak. You put him in charge of a project and he will take over completely. If he sees an opportunity, he's going to go get things rolling because he wants it to and if it crashes, it's because he's determined the project is no longer viable.

He loves control and the type of control he's able to exert on people is honestly extreme and absolute. The DC universe is lucky he's not remotely interested in world domination and JUST wants to start musicals to make people steal for him. Personally I take his mind control powers be telepathic in nature (this might be blindingly obvious and you're likely going "Well yes duh?", but I've never seen it mentioned ANYWHERE?) In my mind, he's a telepath, but he's only able to connect to people when he sings high enough. To me, that explains how he's able to what he does. It might not obvious with the original Meister, but I'm certain it applies to Speed Force Meister.

That man is in your brain and he can do everything to it. Just to touch on the TB&TB cartoon, Meister's level of control is shown to be absolute and limit of people he can control at the same time is realistically, in the billions. The only downside his powers has, is it seems likely his mobility becomes limited once he's in control of that many people. The power suit he wears isn't for show, it's likely to help him move?

Now, where do we start? Oh, I know.

This man is RIDICULOUS, I don't know if you noticed? This the scientists he has Mas y Menos abduct. They're really stylish, the colors are clean, cool. Black, white and red, you can't go wrong with these. 10/10.

They're also wearing headphones with cat ears. Presumably because Meister has to look at them the whole day and that makes them adorable to him. I wouldn't be surprised if he calls them his "little kittens". This actually brings up a few other points:

Mas y Menos and Superboy's suits and the uniforms, they are Meister's creations, not Mad Mod's despite the fact he's a designer.

Mod seems to be in charge of how their day-to-day clothes look and so on. I imagine Meister would start running after him while making aggressive cello noises if he starts messing Mas' suit.

Creating/manipulating clothes is a subset of Meister's powers. The TB&TB Meister has this power too and is able to change them at will.

I always thought it's really funny that Meister just even remakes Superboy's jacket in the next issue. Like, the second you stop thinking about the artist drawing this, you have to realize Meister went and MADE that for him.

Just imagine them getting back to the HQ? Fiddle says he wants to humiliate whoever Meister captures, but he never gets to because Meister is fussing over Superboy and his jacket.

Fiddler: I- Meister: No. Mine. Fiddler: But- Meister: -warning shriek-

(Also, what are Lex and Superman doing? Meister basically took control of him on live tv. Batman, Meister is in charge of music app, STOP HIM.)

Another point is Symphonee's logo.

Symphonee was originally Fiddler's idea. We see him build it, we see him teach himself how to build apps. He meets Mod on the during a Stagg course and they join forces. It's cute, we see them working together! We also see Symphonee's logo getting made.

Now, we see it's Mod who designs it.

The thing is, Symphonee's logo looks just like Meister's symbol. It's what his powers look like when they manifest.

Now, if Symphonee was Meister's idea, there wouldn't be anything really weird about this. But it's Fiddler's. Fiddler thought up the app. Mod supposedly designed the logo, by himself.

Mod is friends with Meister, as he says later in a flashback, so he could just be thinking music logo=music note. I personally think Meister and Mod are lairmates and he's likely sitting in on all their chats, likely not THAT interested in it and just gives Mod an idea. He's not interested until Mod mentions the one thing thing Meister loves more than music and mind control. Money. (Do you think he like the letter m too? Does he get kick out of alliteration? Is that why he likes Mod? Music Meister, Mad Mod?) Most of the Meister's we've seen so far love money. TB&TB Meister: Temporarily takes over the world to make the world's biggest musical so he can make the world's population steal for him.

Batwheels' Meister: Robbing a bank. (And stealing voices.)

Speed Force Meister: In charge of an music app that makes money.

Pride Meister: I think he really just wants to perform Phantom of the Opera, but he would most likely rob all the rich people there.

Harley Quinn's Meister: I don't know anything about him, besides the fact he's a very aggressive therapist, BUT I need to point out the fact wears red, a color Meisters' REALLY like and appears fond of money, going by the gold chain. (And he still has shades!)

Anyway.

MONEY. Meister loves money. That's actually what makes him so odd. He LOVES money. That's what brings him fully into Symphonee. We see how they all meet in the Key Code club in a flashback.

But here's the thing. Both Meister and Mod come off as rather manipulative here. Mod defers to Fiddler as the boss while Meister just announces Fiddler is the CEO.

This might not set off alarm bells, but it should. He's not really deferring to Fiddler as the leader. He is giving Fiddler that position because Meister already considers himself the leader of Symphonee.

It has his symbol after all. If Batman showed up and saw it, he'd bypass Fiddler completely and go right for Meister, because clearly, this all Meister's doing.

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but I'd worried if Meister's going LA LA LA at me. Meister is likely pushing Fiddler to through with Symphonee here be HE wants part of the money it brings in. Fiddler is the one who first mentions injecting his own hypnosis powers into the app, but Meister follows it up instantly and positions himself as the one in charge of brainwashing people, neatly pushing Fiddler's own powers out of the way.

"Don't worry about that. I'll take care of everything. I'll take charge of everything. Everything. You just look nice and stand in front of the cameras..."

And Mod is in on this. I think Meister and Mod are genuinely very good friends. To me, the background of this panel reads as "Yes, mate! I see what you're doing and I agree. Let's hijack this operation!"

Something the comic likes to do is position Meister behind Fiddler because he's the actual mastermind behind everything and is basically in charge of Symphonee.

He's usurping everything Fiddler has, even his color and style.

The first we actually see of him is, of course, this

It's really similar to Fiddler clothes.

Meister's original colors are dark purple and bright/pale greens. He wears them in the comic before Symphonee starts and after he loses control of Mas y Menos and Superboy (because he sees the project has having reached the end.)

I've said this before, but I can't get over how he's so completely usurping Fiddler's place. He's so fucking diabolical and I love him.

One thing I personally love is most of the comic series goes out of its way to obscure Meister's face and it really does a lot make sure his eyes are seen as little as possible.

And it's really obsessively doing it for the most part. The flashback to the Key Code club really beats you over the head with the idea his face shouldn't really be seen without something obscuring it or his eyes.

And like, he could have worn his shades there, but he's specifically not wearing them. The chibi version of him has shades, but that's the red ones, which go with his green set.

He wears another pair in issue 5-6.

We don't see TB&TB Meister's eyes all and I like to think it's just one of those "things" now where his eyes have to remain unseen.

Pride Meister funnily enough has a panel where his eyes fully visible, but his mouth is obscured. (I'll never get over how fucking furious he looks, I love him.)

On a side note, I think Speed Force Meister has such an odd smile? It's very flat and sinister.

Something I've mentioned both here and elsewhere is Meister instantly goes 'Weeeell that was nice run' after he loses control of Mas y Menos and Superboy. He goes back to his original colors right away. I like to imagine Mod having to stop him and has him by his coat tails and is just screaming 'think of the money! We can still get the money!' while dragging him backwards. Meanwhile, Meister's playing Subnautica's "Abandon Ship" at full volume. To him this is over.

Funny enough, it is Mod who eventually says they're abandoning Symphonee and Fiddler in the end.

I love this comic. Ignore the super teenagers. It's all really about poor old Fiddler trying to prove himself and getting betrayed by his two friends who are most likely villainous soulmates.

[minty--stars]

I seriously can't be the first person that thought of this ship... can I?

(I will be drawing them having gay sex nobody can stop me)

[bowmanblues]

people like these two now right

[infinityinc4ever]

You can really recognize Todd’s Spider-Man in that Icicle pose.

[dailyjsa]

Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #11

[gorogues]

Spoilers for Speed Force #2!

Whoever predicted that the Fiddler is the CEO of a probably-evil music app can give themselves a cookie, because I sure didn't. It seems he's the classic Flash character who's really into EDM as per the issue solicitation, and he's working with the Music Meister and appears to have Mas y Menos under his control. Considering the abilities and history of the guys who created the app, it's a good bet that it involves mind control or some kind of negative influence on its users, which is a huge problem because it's incredibly popular and a lot of heroes have installed it. Even Mr Terrific gets into it this issue, and it does seem to be addictively good.

This seems like a perfect situation for Hartley to join in the fight, but I guess we'll see if he's wrapped up in the plotline in the Flash title and is even available to appear in this book. It'd certainly feel like a missed opportunity if he doesn't help in the inevitable battle against Fiddler and Symphonee, and who doesn't want to see Hartley vs Music Meister?

[wanderingmind867]

Infinity Inc is still a good concept to me, but it always feels like so many missed opportunities. For one thing: why didn't superman and lois lane have a kid on Earth-Two? That feels like severely wasted potential. For another, why no kids of golden age villians? Golden Age Lex Luthor, The Prankster, The Toyman, The Fiddler, The Shade, even Batman villains like Scarecrow or Penguin or Harvey Kent, the Golden Age Two-Face! You mean to tell me we never explored any of their backstory!? Really!? There's so much wasted potential. It's almost sad.

Because I can see amazing things in the conceptual level. But I'd also want the book to start in 1979 or something, because there's no way a kid like Hector Hall could be an older teen in 1984 (I think he was an older teen, at least). If he was born in 1964 and Hawkman was born in 1913 or so, them his dad was 51. And Hawkgirl was probably also 51. And that makes no sense. Make the timeline work, or nothing works! Especially when this is a whole team of legacy heroes!

[hournites]

The Injustice Society of America + "Kill or be killed"

[ufonaut]

My name is Jay Garrick, and it's sometimes funny for me to realize that I'm one of the most famous men on Earth, yet only a handful of people know me by that name. It's one of the odd things about playing this superhero game, being famous and anonymous at the same time.

Speed Force (1997) #1

(John Byrne)

[onlylonelylatino]

The Flash by Joe Kubert

[much-vexed-glowy-mimic]

Ohh I have an art idea for Fiddler and Meister, but it's so sad? Fiddler honestly seems to think they're friends in Speed Force...

[allthedesiredusernamesaretaken]

The Fiddler

- Marc Chagall

[bowmanblues]

sure am excited for this real comic that is real

[infinityinc4ever]

Injustice Unlimited were arguably Infinity Inc's greatest enemies. Art by Todd McFarlane.

[dailyjsa]

The Flash v1 #201

Writer: Robert Kanigher

Artist/Inker: Murphy Anderson