#the jld know better and are freaking out

[kaidatheghostdragon]

If phantoms identity is public knowledge in amity park, then danny is occassionally transforming on camera.

Due to shenanigans (clockwork, sentient amity park, liminality fuckery, technus and tucker, the giw, or something else, take your pick), none of the videos showing the transformation sequence, and almost none showing phantom at all leave amity park. Outsiders arent even aware that theyre missing videos, including the jl, until danny references the name of a missing video.

Danny gets an onslaught of commenters claiming they cant find the video, danny checks on his account diagnostics to find that all videos featuring phantom except for like two have gotten zero views outside of amity park. (The two exceptions showed phantom as a seperate entity from danny because he was duplicating to multitask, phantom was doing something in the background and was caught on camera completely by chance for just a few frames.)

Okay so, Danny is a streamer. A rather small one, actually, but his viewer count is limited to Amity park due to them operating on a different server than the rest of the world.

Now, Danny has been exposed as Phantom, and the reveal went well and by extension, Vlad has been exposed as Plasmius too and they're on somewhat friendly terms.

Most of Danny's streams involves him fighting with ghosts, or exploring the zone (with a device thankfully able to survive in it with both Tucker and his parent's amazing help). Heck, some of it is even just either wandering around Amity Park or involving ghost animals of some kind.

Funny thing is, even though the reveal went good, he's doing all this as a human.

Somehow, his streams get leaked out to the wider world and some havoc is caused for a few individuals.

The Batfamily is so concerned and confused, because there was this kid? Fighting villains??? Then this same kid was also going into some place filled with what looked like some weird strain of Lazarus Water (it isn't Lazarus Water at all, actually, but they don't know that).

Meanwhile, Constantine needs the strongest alcohol available, because he's very, very certain that this kid is fighting with ghosts from the Infinite Realms and stepping into said Realms with no fear for his own life.

"And this here is where the Ghost King sleeps guys! 0/10 would not recommend waking him up, he gets cranky and I barely put him back to sleep last time!"

THIS KID HAS DONE WHAT!?

[thevoidstaredback]

Tim was curious. Maybe a little addicted to whatever the hell was in that coffee, he's still standing by the point that no other coffee will ever be enough, but that's not the point.

He wants answers. The Justice League want answers. No one has been able to get them. Because Phantom stays in the House of Mysteries, no one but the JLD can actually get time him. The Supers have tried listening out for him, but magic is something they're weak against and therefore can't hear through. Batman has tried to get into the House, but he's been sent everywhere else for his attempts. They would track him down as a civilian, but no one actually knows if he has a civilian disguise. It's very hard to hide hair that starkly white and skin pale enough to be blue.

Regardless, everyone wanted answers and Tim was determined to be the one to get them. Why does Phantom claim to be thirty-eight, fourteen, and eighteen all at the same time? Where did he come from? When did he die? How did he die? What the hell is in his coffee because damn was it good!

Off topic.

Tim had the rest of the Titans return to the tower while he stayed out. It'd be easier to track if he was the only one doing it. Besides, these guys work with Raven, they won't hurt him. Probably.

The fact that Phantom apparently smelled like death was another concern Tim had. Was it because he was dead? And what did Constantine mean that 'the smell lingers'?

More questions kept popping up like goddamn daisies, and there was no answers to clip them down. Tim was getting frustrated, to say the least.

***

Danny made an effort to at least try and help Constantine with the demon problem the building was having. Honestly, it wasn't even that bad, in Danny's humble opinion. The demon was just messing with people, not hurting anyone or stealing anything! He was, at most, planting minor inconveniences everywhere.

That's not technically his monkey, though, and it was most definitely not his circus. He figured he'd offer to be helpful, though, if only so that Constantine would owe him a favor. A favor he already knows how he's going to cash in.

"Why'd you really want to tag along?" Constantine asked Danny while they searched for the demon.

"What do you mean? You offered to bring me along."

"Yeah, but that's because you need to get out of the House more."

"Funny, coming from you."

"I spend more time outside of the House than I do inside." the Brit scoffed, "Now tell me why you agreed to come along. This is demon hunting. You only ever go ghost hunting."

Danny sighed and ran his left hand through his hair. Not that he could feel it, stupid nerve damage. "Deadman's been on my ass about my first trip to Gotham. I would've left to go find some place to crash, but the entire Justice League is also on my ass for some reason! I'd honestly rather not have to face any of them."

"You've been to Gotham?" Constantine asked, "When?"

Danny groaned, "Not you, too!"

"Whoa, okay, okay. You don't need to share with the class."

"Sorry."

"You better be."

"Hey!"

"Now tell my why the JL proper are after you?"

A sigh. "You remember at that meeting when Red Robin mistook my drink for his?"

"Yeah. Hard to forget. You freaked everyone out a little bit."

"Yeah. Turns out they all have questions that I don't want to answer. Avoiding them all has been the best way to not answer."

"You know you can't dodge them all forever."

"I know, but I really don't want to have to explain anything!" he whined, "The questions that they'll end up asking are gonna be really painful to answer."

A raised eyebrow. "How do you know what they'll ask?"

"Because everyone always asks the same things. Worded differently, but still that same."

"Then refuse to answer."

Danny met Constantine's eyes with a deadpan glare. "You're gonna look me in the eye and tell me that the Justice League and their sidekicks will leave me alone if I tell them 'no'?" He shook his head. "Lying's a bad habit, old man."

Constantine rolled his eyes as he went for his lighter, remembering they were were in a no smoke zone and retracting his hand. "Don't sass me, brat. Wonder Woman and Superman, at the very least, would back off. They'd get everyone else to, too."

"What about Batman and his brood?"

"Touche." the man said, "But you can't hide from them forever."

"I can try,"

"But you'll fail."

Another groan. "Can we just get this thing over with? I want to lock myself in the basement and wallow."

Part 5 Part 7

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[starkandthewaynes]

Ghost From the Past pt. 6

"Danny, why did you bring us to Gotham?" Tucker asks as Danny's trying to show his friends some of his toys, ignoring Tucker's question completely. "Danny?" Sam asks, as he looks to the ground. "Plan J." He whispers as Tucker gets out his phone. "Plan J? How in the hell did you get a meeting with the Justice League?" Sam asks, obviously having no problems swearing in front of a little kid. "JJ." Is all Danny says, as Sam and Tucker stare at him. "Hello, My name's Jason, some people know me better as Red Hood." Jason says as the two friends nod. "Yeah, okay, makes sense." Sam says as Tucker nods. "You guys are awfully calm about all this." Jason says as Sam shrugs. "When you're best friend gets turned half-ghost at 14, and then gets turned back into a baby at 15, you get used to the weird pretty quickly." Sam says as Tucker nods. "When's the meeting?" Tucker asks, as jazz checks her watch. "We're supposed to be to Wayne Mannor in thirty minutes." Jazz says as Tucker nods. "Cool." He says, as Danny crawls into Sam's lap. "Can you guys come?" He whispers as she nods. "Of course, we're coming Danny." Sam says, bouncing him on her knee. 

"Miss Nightengale, Mr. Nightengale, Master Jason, and guests, welcome. Master Bruce is in the sitting room." Alfred says as the group comes into the house. "Alfie, this is Tucker and Sam, Danny's friends." Jason says as the group is led to the kids' living room. "Jason, I thought I was just going to be you, Jazz, and Danny." Bruce says as Sam and Tucker look at Bruce Wayne. "He's batman?" Sam asks, as everyone freezes. "Nah that makes sense, remember we had bets." Tucker says as the two look at Danny, he won, and by his smirk he knows it. "Did you have help in placing your bet?" Sam asks as Danny shakes his work. "Pawpaw wouldn't help even if I asked him." Danny says, as he pouts. "Does that mean they bet on all the bats?" Jason asks Jazz as she groans. "I take it you lost?" He asks her as the three turn to Jazz. "No Jazz won at least one of them." Tucker says as Danny looks to Dick. "It is an iconic Ass, for a cheater." Danny says as everyone else laughs as Dick's face becomes red. "What?" He shrieks as Jazz shakes her head. "I'm so sorry." She mumbles as the bats laugh. "Oh my god." Steph weezes as Danny smiles at Jason, who smiles back. "Can he even call you a cheater?" Tim asks, as Danny turns to him. "I was born in Gotham." He says, as he looks a little older then he had a few minutes prior. "Fair, alright, so shall we get to the meeting?" Dick asks, as everyone nods, following the boys down to the cave.

"I am not going in there." Danny says, as he holds Jazz's leg. "Danny, it's the safest way to get to the watchtower." Jason says, as he looks up at Sam and Tucker. "We'll be okay." Sam says, as he nods, holding her hand. "Why'd he freak out at the zetatube?" Tim asks, as Jazz watches the three kids go through the tube. "It looks like the machine that my parents built." She says, as she holds her head up high and walks through. 

"Uncle John!" Danny shouts as Constatine turns around to see his niece and nephew. "Danny? Jazz?" He asks, as Danny hugs him. "I didn't know you'd be here." Danny says as John holds him. "You're the reason all hands on deck were called for the JLD?" He asks, as Jazz nods. "I see, so you found your brother, huh, little tyke?" John asks, tickling Danny. "Yeah!" Danny says, as the rest of the justice league is shocked to see John so caring. "I see." John says, as the rest of the bats come through. "Constantine?" Red Hood asks, as John smirks. "Hey there, brother of the ghost king." John says, as Danny is put down, going to Sam and Tucker who are getting the presentation set up. "What do you need me to do?" Danny asks, as sam smiles sadly. "We need you to tell them what the fentons and GIW did to you, Danny." She says, as he nods. "I don wanna." he huffs, as Sam bends down to his hight. "We know you don't wanna talk about it, Danny, and I'm sure the other evidence we have will be enough for them to get started on shutting down the GIW and getting rid of the anti ecto acts, but, if they have a first hand account of what they did to another dimension's ruling monarch, then it'll speed up the process." Sam says, as Danny crosses his arms. "Hey, Danny, you know how you love Martian Manhunter?" Tucker asks, joining their circle. "Yeah?" Danny asks, as Tucker nods. "Do you remember how brave you said he was for telling the world what happened to him?" Tucker asks, as Danny nods slowly. "This is your chance to be brave like him, to tell the world what's happened to you. To get justice and protection for your people." Tucker says, as Danny takes a deep breath and nods. "Otay, I'll tell 'em."

last next

@blacksea21090 | @ashenfairytale | @pastalavistamf | @runoverghost

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Halloween prompts no. 14

Danny gets thrown into the Blue Exorcist universe, saw how Rin was being treated and straight up kidnapped him when no one was looking and took him to another dimension/reality/whatever to keep him safe.

Rin, as you can imagine, doesn't take kindly to being kidnapped and tries to roast Phantom. The fact neither understands the others language did not help. Danny, taking a gamble, dropped his phantom form and raised his hands in surrender.

Rinse eyebrow twitched and he asked wtf he thought he was doing. Danny got an idea and raised a finger ask if asking one moment please before bringing out his phone and typing into Google Translate.

Things go better after that, Rins still kinda mad and demanded to be taken home but Danny refused, saying he wasn't going to send him back to a place that would treat him like that! The fight escalated until Danny confessed he died because people ignored the abuse and neglect from his home situation and he terrified Rin will face a similar fate. This finally took the wind out of Rins sails. Rin comforts Danny who may or may not be crying.

This is when the local heros show up because it turns out they landed in the dc universe. They realize they've pretty much melted part of the city they were in during thier fight and scram before anyone can get a good look at them. They're branded as mysterious villains almost immediately.

Danny and Rin take to stealing in order to survive and start teaching eachother thier language so they don't have to keep relying of the translation app. (Also they can't reliably recharge the phone) They're bonding and building up eachothers self esteem. Rin enjoys having someone who let's him protect them as a big brother should and Danny enjoys feeling safe and protected for once in his afterlife. They both start wearing masks and start stealing bigger marks as supervillians in order to survive.

The Justice League Dark is absolutely freaking out because why is a Gahena demon and some kind of Lazarus Pit child working together?? Demons from Gahena never come here cause they shouldn't even be able to and they had no idea Pit People even existed up until now. And why are they stealing such strange things? The bank robberies they understood but the baby food incident? (They stole a bunch of baby food to help the homeless and low income population) The lab thiefts? (Danny recognized the type of machine they were making was designed to be a portal when the press conference about it said nothing about portals. So he stole it and destroyed it cause it was sus.) The JLD knew they were missing something.

Batman himself eventually tracks them down and finds out

1. They are 14 and 15 year olds.

2. Both are traumatized

3. Black hair blue eyes

4. Both have supernatural abilities they can't fully control

5. Both are very sweet and are being more vigilante than villain

Bruce has already mentally signed the adoption papers.

Unfortunately, Danny has bad memories of another billionaire who kept trying to adopt him and is avoiding both him both as Batman and as Bruce Wayne. The boys run in to Harley Quinn and she figured out these kids needed help. She aids in thier language endeavors and if the only reason she knows Japanese as well as she does is from her binging anime for a few months during a quarantine caused by Scarecrow then thats her business.

Anyway, she gives them not-therapy since she can't ethically give them therapy therapy and in exchange they pay her with cash they stole. Neato. Rin eventually gets onto an ADHD medication that suits him and he's doing so much better. He uses a lot of the coping skills aunt harley taught him and its like hes a totally different person. Granted Rin has to take an ungodly high dose for it to work due to his demonic heritage but they make due. They already rob banks, whats a few pharmaceutical companies?

Ivy and Harley pseudo adopt Rin and Danny and sometimes the boys would just come over to Gotham to hang out or play with the pets. Rin loves cooking and has taken over the kitchen in his and dannys safe houses. He does most of the cooking and keeps the kitchen spotless. Danny does the laundry and dusting and they share most other chores. Rins used to having Yukio sleeping in the same room as him so sometimes he sneaks into Dannys room in the middle of the night to sleep on the floor.

Danny keeps waking up and moving him to the bed. Neither say anything about it and Rin assumes he slept walked into the bed and flees before Danny can be woken up and weirded out. Miscommunication! Yay!

Meanwhile the birdie brigade are on thier tails and watching/spying on them every chance they get. They're already making preparations in the manor for two more people.

[currentfandomkick]

Bonus of if Tim asks Danny if something like that ever happened before and he just shudders and says “circus gothica” and pater mentions a few of his minor possessions back home but “i learned how to stop up to five people trying to overshadow me to make sure it couldn’t happen again. This doesn’t make sense—I let Clocky try and still managed to stop him from getting in, and he’s the overseer of time! This just, this doesn’t make any sense!”

And Tim slowly working out that Danny is not only from a family of supernatural hunters while refusing to join the family business, but befriended and helped hide a lot of them in exchange for them living more harmoniously with the locals.

Tim is now convinced Danny’s taken on a role of helping to various entities in exchange for peaceful co-existence and helped enforced the co-existence on both ends… but somehow was off the JL and JLD’s radar when it was happening, doing the mental math and realizing it very well could predate the JLD’s exostence and Hating That.

Especially if we go with Danny and Tim in their early twenties, as offically JLD formed in 2011 comics-wise and JL formed in the 60s at their earliest iteration.

So.

JLD could be something that formed around the time Tim’s life was falling apart (16 yrs old in Tim’s Horrible Year Where Everyone He Loved Died or May As Well Have To Him) while Danny got his powers and everything at hand before that, stabilizing amity in two years/creating its new normal to the point its treated like Fawcett’s time weirdness—a known oddity but normal for the locals, with a bonus of Amity’s locals despise outside interference as collective GIW trauma response.

So this gives a perfect storm of JLD genuinely not knowing about the issues in Amity as ‘predates the group, and their weirdness is just. Accepted. Will try to kill you if you bother them though—more the humans than the ghosts. Unless you mess with their grave or obsession. Or try to exorcise them, but that’s suicidal there since they like being a hellmouth connected to another dimension permanently instead of getting a new one every few months. Hell if any of us know why, it just is.’

And that contrasted to Danny not knowing how he could be possessed when he’s gotten used to fending off overshadowing with no prior notice for years now (his rogues like keeping him on his feet as part of their playdates. Most they do is make him dance badly or something mildly embarrassing)

Naturally Tim is now with Danny A Lot at this freaked them both out.

Bonus for Jason feeling calmer all of the sudden, if you want his Pitt Madness to be Angry God Hoarde stuffed into Jason ‘Robin Made Me Magic’ Todd and Red Hood’s actions still his, but the obsessive need to have Joker killed (100% understandable, and Same dude.) be in part as result of his truama, knowing what Joker did to Babs a few months prior And his soul semi-merging with joker’s personal “Fuck You In Particular” ghost hoarde.

Do i find the idea of Jason highfiving Danny on meeting him and saying, “thanks for ending the clown.”

Only for danny to reflexively say, “shitty ringmaster. And i didn’t, but thanks?”

Danny is now convinced Tim’s ‘its complicated legally, but he’s my brother, yes the dead one—no we didnt do necromancy—well they didnt i tried as a baby version of me and it failed epically and—danny stop poking my face i was 11.’ Is now a big supporter of Danny who just. Keeps dropping off food and demanding he gets to teach Danny (and by extension Tim) how to cook better meals for himself. Tim does know how and is good at it (mastered low effort high yield healthy snacks and meals) but he’s there for Danny… not because he doesn’t want Jason to steal his friend like he does all of Dick’s.

Danny is firmly Tim’s friend, but gave up stopping after Jason barged in the fifth time to explain making another dish and make it together with him and Tim.

Dick feels left out as do the others, but Tim is Firm against them spooking his civilian friend who dealt with a crapton of supernatural shenanigans that he’s not letting them ignite again if he can stop it. He doesnt want round two of Danny possessed by a vengeful ghost hoarde. Alfred discourages attempts to drop in on the lessons and Tim’s ‘not-dates’ with Danny. They can loom from a few rooftops away without consequences from Alfred.

Tim and Jason’s retaliatory pranks are not a consequence they can escape from easily.

To soothe myself from my last post where it’s non-Joker hate *shudders* here have this.

————————————————————————

The first three months of Danny’s stay in Gotham had been mostly quiet. No big Rogue attacks since most of them were in Arkham. Unfortunately that had come to an end. There was a mass breakout and among them was the Joker.

Danny had made friends with a couple people, during his classes, and had met his new crush Tim at a coffee shop. He was actually with Tim when they got the news about the breakout. They had been walking out to Tim’s car so he could be driven home when it happened.

Tim’s POV

He had been talking with Danny when he saw him shudder and stop walking.

He frowned, turning towards him. “Danny? What’s wrong?” He watched as Danny paled, full body twitched, then his eyes turned a glowing red that took over his entire eyes. He snarled, face almost inhuman as he turned and booked it down the street at inhuman speeds (though nowhere near Flash speed).

Scrambling Tim jumped in his car and chased after Danny, though he quickly lost him. He grabbed his com and turned it on. “Oracle, I need you to track someone.” He quickly rattled out along with the street information and Danny’s description.

“Red Robin, report.” Batman growled out.

“I was walking with my friend back to my car after we heard the news of the breakout. On the way there he froze and then… I’m not quite sure but whatever it was I don’t think he was in control anymore.”

There was silence for a few moments on the coms. Oracle spoke, “I think I found his location. The cameras are fritzing out big time in a decent area near your location.”

When he managed to get there he was honestly a little sickened. There was body parts and blood everywhere. Joker goons, from the occasional mask lying around. Swallowing he ventured deeper into the zone, having to turn off his coms due to the screeching interference.

When he finally set his eyes on Danny it was to see him arm deep into the Joker’s chest. He paused, watching as the Joker’s body fell to the floor, his heart still in Danny’s hand. He watched as Danny’s eyes stopped glowing red and he swayed, dropping the heart to bring a hand to his head.

“Danny?” He asked hesitantly.

Danny turned, a hazy expression on his face. “Tim?” He slurred out.

Quickly making his way over he managed to prevent Danny from toppling over, grimacing at the blood now coating his hand. He noticed the other bats and birds arriving on scene out of the corner of his eye, but stayed focused on Danny. “Let’s get you out of here.” He said gently as he guided Danny out of the area.

Later, after he had managed to get Danny some water and a bit of food, he asked, “Do you remember what happened, Danny?” His friend looked down at his blood covered hands. “I remember walking to your car when it was like I was being grabbed by a bunch of hands and I couldn’t move. Then… it almost felt like I was being stuffed into a box or something and everything was hazy and indistinct after that. I tried fighting it but it like catching smoke. Then I was being released but it was like I had no energy. I know you called my name but I don’t recall much until after you gave me the energy bar.”

Tim frowned, glancing at Black Bat. He saw her sign “true” and nodded. Looks like they might have to call the JLD on this one.

[gilbirda]

Just a little thing that the DPxDC community doesn't explore much is the Cass x Danny. By the way they are portrayed, she is quiet and reserved introvert girl, that keeps to herself, and he is an explosive extrovert when you get to know him.

Since I'm a sucker for dynamics that are not used as much as the others, I think this is something fun to explore (maybe I'm just dumb and I'm missing a ton of content).

I can imagine it going like this: he is a regional manager for Nasty Burger as a harmless way to satiate Vlad's obsession with him (Nasty Burger belongs to Vlad in canon, and sometimes, Danny deserves to not have a fucked up life anymore), he meets with Cass and the two hook up (both can't explain, but can use the Lazarus pit = ectoplasm head canon).

These are the reactions of the members of the batfamily:

Barbara: she is protective of both Steph and Cass, and does a background check on Danny, but doesn't find any dirty on him (thanks Tucker), after that, she relax and observes the cute couple from her network;

Bruce and Alfred: both are relieved after Barbara's report, and are happy that Cass is now openly smiling and laughing more, it's not like she was unhappy with them, but seeing her in love is reassuring;

Selina and Tim: both are making fun of Bruce, since Danny has black hair and blue eyes, and is dating a member of the batfamily, they are saying to not make Danny the Steph 2.0;

Damian: he liked Danny because all the animals in the manor loved him at first sight, so he can't be a bad guy, but he starts to respect Danny when he discovered that he helped a gorilla species in the brink of extinction to survive;

Duke: he knows that there is SOMETHING with Danny, but he knows that metas in Gotham have to hide themselves from the wrong assumption that Batman hates metas;

Dick and Jason: they thought of doing a good cop/bad cop routine in order see what are the intentions of this guy with their younger sister, but seeing that he has MORE puns than Dick, MORE dead jokes than Jason, and is MORE SASSIER than Steph, Jason is like "fuck this shit I'm out", and Dick is best buddies with the guy

Steph: she hates his guts, not because his is dating Cass, but because he has the audacity of saying that the Nasty Burger is BETTER than the Batburger, her favorite fast food chain, she can't believe that Cass has fallen in love with the enemy.

Other thing: he can't hide forever his powers, so someday, maybe, they are on a date and a random villain attacks, and not wanting his cute and shy girlfriend to be hurt, Danny beat the shit out of this guy, and Cassandra sees her boyfriend tanking several bullets unharmed, punching people away to ridiculous distances, and maybe FLY a little bit?

Danny is freaked out, because he thinks Batman hates metas, but Cass says that her father knows Batman, and can help clear him.

Now Bruce asks Clark if he is aware of this black hair, blue eyes dude, with some powers really similar to Kryptonians that it is currently dating his daughter (all of the JLD knows that Danny is the Ghost King, but understand why the guy is frightened of Batman, so it is kinda funny when they meet, Constantine can't hold his laughter at the image of a Bruce being the father in law of the powerful monarch of the infinite realms, using ridiculous nobility titles to refer to him)

-------------------

Wow, what a long ramble, hope you like this little contribution the community

No words from my part, anon!

Putting this out there so people can add to it!!

🤗

[venus-of-the-hrdsell]

1, 4, and 39 for the salt asks?👀🍿

Omg thank u for the asks 💗 Okay so buckle up because I'm channeling my inner hater right now.

1. How has DC/Marvel/publishing company wronged you, specifically?

Okay, first spot: closing Vertigo. Black Label doesn't have the range this imprint used to have in regards to their books, the content, the topics. You can't tell Black Label belongs to DC because of the 10 batbooks it has, but Vertigo? People would be surprised to find out they were part of DC. Second, choosing certain writers to write Constantine on his Vertigo comic (Azzarello and Milligan should burn in hell, for all I know, Ennis is on thin ice. Never ever let white edgy men touch Constantine again, it's a crime against me specifically).

Third place could be choosing Scott Lobdell to butcher Jason Todd's character in New52, giving him zero significant development and therefore causing hundreds of Batfam Stans building up a new canon on Tumblr.

Fourth? Pushing the "happy batfamily" as a concept drawn from the depths of this website into the comics. I want to see being dysfunctional again, it's so boring to read those comics nowadays. I don't even touch them anymore. Giving Tumblr stans power has been the worst thing DC has ever done.

Okay I swear I'm done now but I could be giving a full list!

4. Worst decision for [x]’s “new direction”?

I've also got a few options here

-Making Zatanna a full time superhero ever since JLD. The appeal of her character is that she has different facets of her life (including the celebrity part) and I think the team book milks too much on the tragedy on her life. We've seen writers use the "dead father Zatara" card EVERY TIME as if we haven't seen that plot for each major story Zatanna has ever had.

- New52 Constantine...do I need to say more? What's with DC oversimplifying a three dimensional character into a simple irredeemable asshole who happens to be an edgy/sarcastic Doctor Strange? Like, DC strips him out from his humanity, from how political his comics used to be and to make him the go-to- main magic user on DC, when Zatanna is right there! He works better on his own, not on Cape shit team books

- Whatever the hell was Grant Morrison's Talia Al Ghul.

- Making Elektra Daredevil. I know that for plot reasons it was a natural progression, but to want her to stay as that for her status quo? She should stay as an Assassin, that's her character. And I say this as someone who loved the new suit.

- I should shut up about him already but making Jason Todd not to kill and to drop the guns forever ...man, the editorial has turned him into "red Nightwing" at this point.

- Why do they keep wanting to shiver Harley Quinn as part of the bat flock? 😭

39. Which character do you get the most defensive of?

... Constantine, yeah 😭 Danny Ketch, Emma Frost, Elektra and Matt Murdock as well, actually.

I would say Zatanna as well but don't let anyone hear it because some of her fans freak me out. 🥴🥴 I want her to be free.

Thank you for the ask! I feel like I've perhaps overexplained myself.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

Oh NO!

There’s a MEETING on the fifth! HECK.

As soon as I got the message saying “May 5th”, I was like “huh, that sounds familiar, why”. And then I looked in my calendar. And saw the blank square. And stared at it.....

And then I realized THAT’S WHEN APOKOLIPS WAR COMES OUT.

HHHFFFFFF

Highest priority for me about seeing it is seeing is AS SOON as possible so I don’t get ANYTHING else spoiled! I don’t even want to see a single gif before I see the movie for myself! I’m really genuinely excited about how Constantine and Raven are going to be in this whole situation, and how the HELL they’re going to get out of it with their two strongest on the meta and mystical side nerfed so hard!

So, I’m starting my new job on Monday. Which means I’ll have worked on Tuesday, May 5th. And I was planning to get home, get food, and get watching...

And then I was thinking, okay. The meeting doesn’t start until 8pm. Maybe I can do what I did with the SU finale, where I watched until IMMEDIATELY before the meeting began, spent two minutes putting on my business jacket+foundation, used the bathroom, and slid right onto Zoom. Then did all my Post-Viewing Celebration and Liveblog Posting and fan-content consumption after the meeting. until like 3am, as is my custom.

So, maybe I could get home, watch the movie Immediately, and go right to the meeting after?

But here’s the thing. The bus ride home is an hour long. (It’s not even from transfers or anything, it just takes an hour for the bus to make a fifteen-minute drive down the street.) My work schedule is until 5:30pm. With current events, the buses are on a reduced schedule, so the first bus home doesn’t leave until 5:50... Best case scenario, I don’t get home until 6:50. 

Amazon won’t tell me HOW LONG the movie’s RUNTIME IS.

But by the time the meeting is over, after the training and everything, it’ll be like 11. Sometimes it goes until midnight. And I’m not gonna want to start watching a movie that’s going to utterly FUCK me up emotionally at midnight. Especially not when I’ll have work in the morning.......

...Mmmmmmaybe... I could dip into the post-emergency-fund-savings stimulus check leftovers, and take a Lyft home? That’s a fifteen minute drive, I could be home by 6. I have bags of popcorn in my room, I could just grab a carrot and some hummus for dinner and get right to watching when I get home, and theoretically watch the movie by 7:45, though that would depend entirely on its runtime, how often I pause to take notes on commentary, and how the internet connection is.... nyyyygggghhhhh, for a full-length movie, that’s super risky, though. And even if I do get through the movie by 7:55, if the meeting miraculously only goes until 10:30, I’ll still have to get up for work in the morning and won’t be able to spent HOURS seeking fan content... Heck.

I’d hate to watch the movie and not have time to Process it before I have to go to bed-- I won’t be able to sleep after an emotional high without Processing it. And I really don’t want to be a zombie the next day, if I stay up late consuming fancontent... (Besides, sleep deprivation is really bad for your immune system. And I’m going to be on public transportation with gloves and no access to masks.)

So I guess, while I could theoretically watch the movie, I’m also going to need time to RECOVER from the movie. And that’s going to be a multi-hour process..... so as much as it pains me to realize, I’m going to have to avoid Tumblr on Tuesday (in order to avoid spoilers because people don’t tag reliably in this fandom-- plus there are so many different ways people phrase that movie’s tags).... and so, I just have to resign myself to wait until Wednesday evening to watch.

Damn it.

But really, that’s only one more day. And I’ve been agonizing over this movie since like February fricking 25th. Another singular day won’t kill me....

I’ll probably hop on Tuesday to make a brief LOA announcement, writing it from my blog’s page instead of the dash so there is Zero Risk of being spoiled, and just... Try Really Hard to get through the day without going on Tumblr. That’ll be interesting, but I can take a walk, browse new music, search for my muses’ music tastes. Generally just fill in the time before the movie.

And then let the entirety of my Wednesday evening be completely dedicated to JLD:AW!

I think that’s the better choice, anyways, because for a whole movie with Such a cast and So Many Things promised to happen, there’s probably going to be a lot to comment on.

i gotta know what the FUCK raven and damian are talking about in the freaking med room though! I gotta! I GOTTA. knowing them it’s going to be murderously vulnerable and force me to Feel Things. I’m definitely gonna need time for my damirae heart to heal over when I finally know what they’re talking about. And if, you know, Something Shippy happens. Because I was a hard sell on that ship, but once I fell for them, I completely PLUNGED.

So anyways, waiting ‘til Wednesday, final verdict.

My new Countdown Date for JLD: Apokolips War is Wednesday, May 6th.

[dapperfvck-arc]

🔥 The TV show... (Because I really want to know exactly why you don't like it [or hate it?] because i'm so freaking curious. Also I think in general a Constantine TV show would do best on AMC rather than NBC... FEEL FREE TO COMPLETELY RANT. I WANT TO KNOW. Please.)

Unpopular Opinion Time!

Oh boy. Hooooo boy. I’m still going to be relatively gentle, because honestly, I’m saving my true vitriol for the times that I must defend my choice not to RP it or for the hysterical consensus opinion from the fandom that TV show was an improvement over the film (lol nope, aside from Matt Ryan “looking the part” but that’s a whole other can of worms). 

Note: Cut for length and maybe a bit of brutality in my honesty.

*sighs* Ok, I’ll first preface this with that I still have like four episodes to go. Obviously, I have massive issues in the needless changes made to the adaption of comic canon. It was unnecessary to make Chas American while retaining the fact that he’s John’s oldest and best of friends. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but who knows. Maybe it’s explained a little better in one of the last few episodes, but you know. My hopes aren’t high. I don’t like Chas’s virtual invulnerability, not just because it takes away the stakes of the danger he’s putting himself in, but also? It’s a plot device scarcely used? So why make that choice if it’s not going to be capitalized on with meaningful frequency? I hated that Zed was portrayed as a novice, and that the teeth were taken out from the Newcastle Incident. Now obviously, I understand why they’d have to alter a bit of it due to Network censorship, but at the same??? I mean child abuse and sexual violence are nothing new on shows like Law and Order: SVU and Criminal minds so…Idek, it kind of comes off as an excuse. It’s not a child’s show. Maybe it could be argued that it was marketed toward teenagers, but it’s not like they’re ignorant to those horrors in the world. I’m not asking them to show Astra’s rape, just to acknowledge the true horror of the situation instead of making it all about John’s failure. So yeah, I was annoyed by the occasional attempt to adapt source material and completely mucking it all up.

Now to begin with, I completely get the SP/N’s fandom bitterness more than ever. Before watching it I thought they were just trying to be like “whaaaat, another show about magic and exorcism? Of course it’s a ripoff because don’t you know our fandom invented those things?” I honestly believe the crux of the issue is that NBC clearly wanted their own SP/N as well as to cash in the popularity of comic book based media, so there’s that. To me, it comes off as a shameless cash grab. I honestly believe if I felt like there was some kind of passion from its creators, I could have dealt with some of those changes, but I don’t get that. It’s been a soulless experience overall. Like it’s not been a matter of me nitpicking like “oh this is wrong, this has been changed, boo hoo, it’s not all existential horror and fucking and drugs.”

Because frankly...I just think it’s a bad show. It’s poorly written, poorly made, poorly researched, poorly acted, it’s just bad. The main issue I have with it is that it’s a lot of telling and not showing. There’s not a lot of tension or foreshadowing, just “boom this is how it is” and so much exposition. John, for example, about half of his dialogue in any given show is verbal exposition. It’s frustrating, tbh. Like, it doesn’t make sense for me in this day and age for a TV show, even on a network channel, to be this bad. Over the past several years, television series have improved exponentially in content and writing. It’s not shameful anymore to start off on TV anymore. We’re in a very exciting time that television and cinema are almost completely on equal par of perceived quality. So yeah, it’s been an even greater disappointment for me because it’s not just that they fuck with the source material but because on top of that it’s literally a bad show. I’m not one bit surprised that it wasn’t renewed because there just...Isn’t enough to like about it. It’s not faithful enough to the comic to secure that base of fans and it’s not good enough to be taken for face value. 

The other massive issue I have is the portrayal of magic, which honestly extends to DC’s handling of Hellblazer and John as well. See, what you have to understand is that predominately, throughout the Vertigo series, it’s clear to me that most of its writers either have some awareness of how magic works or at least have done their research. I can follow the logic and ritual in what he’s doing. ​Let me tell you a little something about magic. It's all about focus and will. You can do and say whatever the hell you want as long as you're putting your intent behind it. The ritual of spell work, use of candles, crystals, incense, chanting, incantations, etc. are meant to be the focus of a magician's energy and will on a particular result, but it could be attempted without as well. To explain it in more fantastical terms, in Harry Potter casting without a wand is considered impressive. This implies that the wizard's focus and will is so strong that they no longer need a wand to draw out their intent. Now I get it. By this understanding magic doesn't make good TV viewing (I guess...), but my main concern with this series is there's no attempt to portray an iota of witchcraft's reality along with the fantastical. Now part of this problem is that they've removed a great deal of John's innate ability. He can no longer see spirits/ghosts and there is no mention to his connection to synchronicity (as far I’ve seen, mind). Instead of happening to end up where he needs to be or what have you, he's following a map, and he uses a lot of artifacts and other implementation to get the job done. Which bothers me on a few levels. For one, it imbues the focus, not the caster with the power, which is not how magic works (at least in the sense of portraying gritty urban fantasy), and for two, it's very much against character. Let me give you an example: In the two part story Newcastle Calling, at the end of it, John hands a dying man a twig, telling him it's the finger bone of St. Cavartigan and that it's known to bring relief to those in need. He tells him to squeeze it tightly and focus on the pain going away. Near the end of the scene, the young man tells John that it's working. A couple things can be taken away from this scene: John's will was that the dying man would believe as he was told and his instructions were rote ritual. By contrast, in the series, John would probably had actually given him a Saint's fingerbone. You see the comparison takes the power of the scene away, as well as the mystery. Is the power of John's suggestion so strong that he could make the guy believe by holding that twig his pain would do away? Or was he so desperate to believe in order to not die in pain? You can interpret it either way. Hell, I could invent other interpretations, but going by what I believe would happen in the show, it can only be interpreted in the most literal sense. Now, to be honest, most television shows portray magic poorly. Even movies do a better job while keeping fantastical elements. The Craft, for all it’s 90s cheese, is a great example of this. So I suppose I could be blamed for getting my hopes up to be dashed because it’s just following the formula of 95% of all TV shows that feature a magical element or theme, but I mean...it’s not like Buffy or Charmed that was working without a script, so to speak. The TV series had a ready made blueprint and still chose to take the mumbo-jumbo bullshit route. Now, I have a lot of theories on the why for this, but that’s another post altogether and this has already gone on for way too long and I still have more to say.

Now, I guess I should, at least briefly, touch on the elephant in the room: Matt Ryan as John. What did I think? Because a lot of people have told me that he’s the shining beacon of this show, even literally admitting that yeah, it’s a poor representation of Hellblazer but that Matt Ryan man, he’s great! The problem that I have is that it’s not a good a show, and so no, I don’t like him in the role. I’m not going to compare him to Keanu because that’s not fair for a number of reasons, and maybe I’m a little biased because I adore Keanu (there’s also that can of worms I mentioned earlier, which is honestly yet another separate post lol). The way John’s written for this show, he’s positively insufferable. He’s not charming at all, which is find the most offensive, because one thing that can be said across all series and iterations of the character is that John is magnetic even despite xyz (he’s dangerous, he can be an asshole, he’s unreliable, etc.). Here he’s just a know-it-all, condescending prick. Now I do think with better writing, in a better representation of John’s character and Hellblazer in general (and maybe with a voice coach or director to discourage that Welshy intonation because yeah, his accent does irritate the shit out of me, but I’ve been very vocal about that before and honestly, at this point, I’ve come to realize that Ryan’s vowels are the least of this show’s problem), I think he has potential to be a fine John. As it stands in the media he’s portrayed John in so far (idk, maybe he was good on Arrow, but I’m talking the TV Series here and the JLD animation, which I’ve admittedly not seen, but I hated the comic so I’m not real likely to give that a chance considering my disposition toward the source material), I’m not entirely sold on him. Like if they tried another TV series for Hellblazer and didn’t cast him in the role, I wouldn’t be upset over it. 

I do agree that it probably could have been better on another channel, but here’s the rub, all the blood and gore and sex and loose censorship in the world could not save that show without better writing and direction. It could have been a fine show even on network if it had been crafted with some degree of caring. Let me give you an example off the top of head, namely the handling of the Newcastle incident. It was laid out pretty plainly within a few episodes. Alterations from canon aside, it doesn’t portray the horror of it at all and is one of the show’s many missed opportunities to really play up the scarier, more mysterious elements of John’s backstory. For example, instead of laying it out in a sloppy flashback with a laughable puppet, picture this scene instead: ​John is having a chat with someone, maybe Zed or Chas or some b-plot character. Something reminds him of the Newcastle incident and he gets a far off look in his eyes. The folly drops away to an eerie silence as the camera comes in tight on John's expression. Filling up the silence is a little girl's scream, then the voices of his friends, perhaps some sounds of violence, an inhuman sound or voice, it all blends together to become a hellish cacophony of sound as John's expression becomes more strained. Then suddenly the other person calling his name snaps him out of his reverie. The screams stop, the folly returns, and the scene appears jarringly normal. John shakes his head, makes a joke, and they move on. Yeah, that kind of scene has been done before, but the reason for that is it’s effective without giving away the whole story. It shows that this is a man haunted by something horrible. It’s also cheap and doesn’t necessitate straining the no doubt thin budget of a TV show that has yet to prove itself worthy of having more money thrown at it. 

Honestly, the issues I have with this show are innumerable and I’m just scratching the surface here and laying out my biggest problems. I could nitpick for days, and that’s the reason I’ve stayed mum about my opinions. There are people that follow me and that I write with that really like and care about the show, and I don’t want to make them feel...you know, bad about it or that they can’t talk to me or whatever. You know, if they found it enjoyable more power to them. I just didn’t and that’s maybe on me. By no means am I trying to bash the show here (because lord if I wanted to, I could), but to offer up what was requested, and that’s my undiluted opinions and feelings about the series. Of course I’m sorry that I couldn’t share the joy and that I couldn’t even like it on a similar level that I do the film (as a very solid AU, which people have tried to sell the show as to me, knowing my previous understanding of some of the changes made that deviate strongly from canon. As I said, maybe if it had been better made and written, I could, but as it stands currently, I can’t and unless real changes are made in the future, I’m unlikely to alter my opinion of it).

So yeah that’s it. Apologies that this got so very long, but as you can tell, there’s been a lot that I’ve been holding back.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

Okay! So! Thoughts!!

I have too many to put in the tags.

“I will kill you, boy!”

...OH. Fuck, you hear Trigon AND Raven's voice in that line. That's even more unsettling than his alone...

Probably really sucked for Raven to hear herself making that threat. To him.

Fuck.

"who have diminished powers at this point"

I'm sorry, WHAT? How? I mean, Kryptonite Tattoo obviously for Clark, but RAVEN?

(she's such a canonically op character, they probably had to nerf her to keep the movie Balanced tbh)

CONSTANTINE JUST.

*DECKS* CLARK

And it's GLORIOUS.

(i have to invoke the laugh rule on that. i laughed.)

ZATANNA being DROWNED IN PARADEMONS has ME (and JOHN CLEARLY) so CONCERNED.

"We took iconic elements from that story..."

Wait, which story? What on earth was THIS movie based on?

"Oh, you should do that story from high school."

Are you telling me this movie was based on a FAN FICTION? (Because I am absolutely DELIGHTED by the idea!)

Or was the thing with Supergirl getting a tattoo of kryptonite actually CANON? (Even if it was some Alternate Earth canon.)

There's not a lot of Damian in this trailer, but dear gods, it's Important.

--Who...??

That wouldn’t be Damian, would it? I don’t think they animate him that dark. Someone from the League of Assassins?

...fuck

hearing Raven say her iconic "No!" like that.... Shatter me.

"Only a matter of time."

Yeah. Yeah, I'm definitely convinced that shot of Raven and Trigon “in Azarath” is a mindscape scene.

“Even awful parents care about their kids... I should know.”

That’s-- okay. Sighs. That’s not “caring” about their kids, that’s “caring” about the fact that they’re your progeny and nothing more. That’s “caring” about what YOU want them to be, what YOU want them to do; that’s “caring” about YOUR OWN ambitions.

Being an empath in an abusive situation, I can confirm that they THINK they love you, but that’s not the same as LOVING you. It’s not the same as “caring about their kids”.

I could absolutely Go Off on this, but I just don’t have the energy right now.

“Raven is a character where as tormented as she is, she wakes up every day having to sort of choose to hope and choose to do better...”

.....I Know the Feel, Soul Sister...

LOIS LANE. Lois and Clark is canon again! And I am LOVING how much of a badass they're planning to play her as.

"With... a group you wouldn't expect?"

I've heard rumors of the Suicide Squad. Don’t know why they’re being so cagey about This Particular Plot Detail when they’re also literally showing characters dying or going evil in other previews, but okay! Sure?

Also: 

“We need to blow up Apopkolips.”

Okay, that’s hella ambitious. 

I’m down for a hella ambitious mission!

then the preview just...

.................

...ouch

Ow. That shot with Raven. The one that destroys me. I don’t want to screencap it, so take this one instead. She's on Titans Island. And the Tower is absolutely decimated.

I still want to know why/how Clark is there, but by Azar, I'm glad he was.

"What can I say? I had issues."

Implying you DON'T anymore, Lex?

BLACK ORCHID.

Makes me wonder if/what they’re going to do with the House of Mystery?~

"The best you could ever hope for"

Are you SURE? Better than (the original) Crisis on Infinite Earths?

I mean it's going to have JOHN CONSTANTINE, so you've got a shot. But how the HELL are you going to be better than a year-long run like that with only NINETY FREAKING MINUTES. The HELL? I'm BAFFLED. I'm CONCERNED, I'm CONFUSED, I'm HOPEFUL, and I am ABSOLUTELY entirely too eager to SEE how this all PLAYS OUT!

"I don't think there's any way to prepare yourself for how 'out there' the climax of this movie is."

Oh trust me. I believe you. I hardcore believe you guys.

I don’t even know what’s happening and I know I am very Not Prepared.

[kizzer55555]

Don’t mind me, going through all the reblogs and adding all the ones I like into one thing. This contains reblogs from @bet-on-me-13, @beesarekindaswag, and @zylev-blog 

What if the different Videos are basically Themed differently?

The Fight Videos are all themed like Found Footage, having been recorded by a Human Duplicate of Danny as the Original Body did the actual fights. Danny would chase around his Original as he and the Rogue fought to their hearts content.

...

The Amity Exploration Videos are themed like normal Vlogs, just Danny walking around, talking about Amity and the different Locations he has been to. Sometimes he complains about his Life, or just gives Normal life updates. But in the background you can always see something crazy happening, because it's Amity.

You'll see Trash Cans floating, before someone just smacks them with a Broom as they fall to the ground.

You'll see Blobs casually perched on Power Lines and on Buildings just chilling like Birds.

You'll see a normal Human walking their 4 ft tall Cat down the Street as if it's a completely normal occurrence.

...

The Realms Exploration Videos are themed like Steve Irwin/Bear Grills type documentary videos, with Danny doing a fake but fun Imitation of their voices as he explains the intricacies of the Realms Wilderness and Beasts.

"And this is the rare Blood Blossom. It's a Magical Flower and one of the few things that can harm a Realms Being, but it's also Invasive, so..." *lights it on green fire* *the flower seems to scream and cry out as it is buring away*

"Now let's be quiet for a second. You are now witnessing one of the Realms most dangerous Beasts. The Hill Crabs ate giant crabs that can eat anything! And their Armor is hard enough to withstand practically anything as well. Thankfully this one is small, but let's be careful to not attract the adults to the location" *points to the 'baby' which is the size of a mountain already*

"Now don't worry, these kind of Ecto-Pi are non-hostile normally. It's okay for them to wrap around my neck like this, but be sure to give them a good thump on the side if they start squeezing a bit too tight. They will understand and loosen their grip...unless it's an Ecto-Pi of the Asphyxia Family, which is practically indistinguishable from the normal variety and will tighten their gri-" *starts choking as the ecto-pi tightens its grip* "cut the feed! Cut the feed!"

(The next video is a Cooking video dedicated to Realms Dishes. The main dish? Calimary.)

Due to Amity shenanigans, none of the League can get in contact with Danny through regular means; emails won’t reach, phone calls won’t go through and don’t even get started on the weird barriers keeping them physically out…

Long story short - they resort to the most dignified of communications… Danny’s twitch chat.

“Hey, thanks ‘theJusticeLeague�� for the follow - really appreciate it”

Yeah, it wasn’t the best plan

Danny: so like, theJusticeLeague is really adamant about getting me to leave Amity??? Like no?? That’s just a recipe for disaster

Tucker; stranger danger, dude.

Sam: I mean, what’s the chances that it’s the actual Justice League anyway?

Okay so, Danny is a streamer. A rather small one, actually, but his viewer count is limited to Amity park due to them operating on a different server than the rest of the world.

Now, Danny has been exposed as Phantom, and the reveal went well and by extension, Vlad has been exposed as Plasmius too and they're on somewhat friendly terms.

Most of Danny's streams involves him fighting with ghosts, or exploring the zone (with a device thankfully able to survive in it with both Tucker and his parent's amazing help). Heck, some of it is even just either wandering around Amity Park or involving ghost animals of some kind.

Funny thing is, even though the reveal went good, he's doing all this as a human.

Somehow, his streams get leaked out to the wider world and some havoc is caused for a few individuals.

The Batfamily is so concerned and confused, because there was this kid? Fighting villains??? Then this same kid was also going into some place filled with what looked like some weird strain of Lazarus Water (it isn't Lazarus Water at all, actually, but they don't know that).

Meanwhile, Constantine needs the strongest alcohol available, because he's very, very certain that this kid is fighting with ghosts from the Infinite Realms and stepping into said Realms with no fear for his own life.

"And this here is where the Ghost King sleeps guys! 0/10 would not recommend waking him up, he gets cranky and I barely put him back to sleep last time!"

THIS KID HAS DONE WHAT!?