#the writers really went all out with this reboot)

[ace-of-spaders]

Detective Weaver's iconic first appearance in season 7 episode 1 "Hyperion Heights"

[blueberry-lemon]

An introductory guide to getting into Sonic the Hedgehog...

…if you're a grown-ass adult who is busy and doesn't want to play a bunch of video games but thinks the characters look sorta cool.

If you've ever been curious about Sonic as a series but haven't known where to start, I have some recommendations! I think Sonic is a cool and still somewhat unique thing because it takes cartoony characters (like a Mickey Mouse or Felix the Cat) and lets them jump around in cool action sequences through the lens of a shonen anime. It's colorful and usually pretty light-hearted, and I think the character designs are pretty iconic.

There's two handy places you can start without prior context, to see if it's something you'd be into...

Getting Started: If You Wanna Read Something

The IDW Sonic Comics

There were years of different Sonic comics back in the '90s and early 2000's, but the franchise got a complete reboot and fresh start with IDW Publishing in 2018. If you're looking for the most straight-forward way to get into this world of characters, I think this is a great start. You don't need any prior knowledge whatsoever to crack open issue 1 and get started. All you need to know is "Sonic and his friends protect the world by fighting against an evil scientist named Dr. Eggman, who they just recently defeated after he briefly took over the world."

I love these comics and I feel that the writers and artists who work on it have a really good sense for this series. Reading issues 1 through 12 will get you the first major story arc. If you like it so far, I highly suggest reading up through issue 32, when another major story arc concludes. After that, the world's your oyster! Unlike the tangled web of Marvel or DC comics, IDW Sonic has a very simple and linear reading order. You pretty much just read the issues in order, and occasionally there are spinoff stories that are optional to read.

Getting Started: If You Wanna Watch Something

Sonic Mania Adventures

Maybe comics aren't your thing and you want something even quicker. These are a series of animated shorts that are lovely. Conveniently, they've been compiled together by Sega into one little video right here.

It's a great intro to some of the main characters, and combines cartoon slapstick with some amazing action sequences.

There's also a nice little epilogue short.

Sonic CD's intro cutscene

If I had to pick a single 1-and-a-half minute clip to embody what I like about this series, it would be this very simple intro movie that plays before Sonic CD. Check it out!

Sonic Origins/Sonic Origins Plus Cutscenes

In 2022, Sega released a compilation of the classic Genesis games on modern consoles. In it, they added a few animated cutscenes. You can watch those cutscenes, plus the Sonic CD intro and the Sonic Mania Adventures episodes, all compiled into one handy Youtube video.

Taking The Next Step: If You Wanna Read Something

The Archie Sonic Comics

You might have heard that Sonic had a comic series published by Archie Comics from 1992 to 2016. This was a vast, overarching series that wrote an original story by weaving together ideas from the different Sonic cartoons and games. It went through several different writers, many different artists, and obviously spanned over multiple eras of pop culture.

It's pretty cool! The fact that it was so long-running, and the fact that Sega wasn't very strict with what the writers could do, led to a lot of buckwild lore, new characters, and plot developments. That said, it's also pretty bizarre, complicated, corny, and cringey at times. There is a stretch in the middle that is pretty infamous among fans.

You have a few options for jumping in.

Option A: You can start at the very beginning and read all of it. If you do this, it is going to be like a One Piece / Homestuck / etc. kind of undertaking, and you're going to be pushing through the good and the bad of huge genre and tone shifts. That's your call!

Option B: You can brush up on the main characters on a wiki and then start at Issue 160, when Ian Flynn (who now does a lot of work on IDW Sonic) became the lead writer. More specifically, you can jump in at the start of a new story arc by starting at Issue 175.

Option C: You can start at Issue 252, when there is a universe-altering event that essentially retcons all of the characters and plot threads from the previous writers and starts completely fresh. Easier to keep track of and you won't have to worry about all the previous plot and lore.

If you want something you can read in a single sitting, you should instead read Sonic: Mega Drive, a short-lived miniseries published by Archie that follows "Classic Sonic" characters (aka, the same vibe and art style of Sonic Origins, Sonic Mania Adventures, etc.) It's really great!

Taking The Next Step: If You Wanna Watch Something

Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA) aka "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie" (1996)

This is, essentially, a 1-hour Sonic anime movie. You can watch it in Japanese or in English. I adore it. It makes up its own lore and continuity so you don't need to know anything before going in, besides generally knowing a one-sentence synopsis of who Sonic, Tails, and Dr. Robotnik are. It's action-packed, well-animated, and has great music. Enjoy! Sonic X If you're enjoying what you've seen so far, and you want something much, much longer...there's an official 78-episode anime adaptation of Sonic called Sonic X. It's an original story that loosely pulls together some ideas from a few of the games. It's mostly intended for a younger audience, but I hear if you watch it in the original uncut Japanese, it feels a little less "for kids."

Other Ways To Get Into Sonic

There's some great video essays on Youtube about the series!

Professional animator Dan Floyd did an in-depth video looking at the highs and lows of Sonic character animation in the games starting from Sonic 1 up through Sonic Forces.

Super Bunnyhop plays through the first level of a bunch of Sonic games to compare how the mechanics, physics, and level design feel throughout the games' history.

Liam Triforce has a great deep dive on the franchise's music.

You can play The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, a murder-mystery-party themed visual novel put out by Sega. It's nice and short, so you can finish it in an afternoon.

If you haven't seen them already, you can check out the live-action/animated hybrid films Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 featuring Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey, they're pretty good. That Sonic Prime cartoon that's currently on Netflix is pretty good too.

This may sound strange, but honestly you might enjoy poring over the sprite sheets from the old games. In particular, I really like the sprite animations from the GBA games, like Sonic Advance and Sonic Battle.

Sega is pretty lax about allowing noncommercial fan games, so there's at least a hundred different Sonic fan games out there by hobbyist developers. Check out the Sonic Amateur Games Expo and the Sonic Fan Games HQ.

You can watch LPs or cutscene compilations of the games on Youtube! If you watch Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Heroes, you'll get a crash course on most of the characters.

And finally, of course...you can play the games if you want to! There's a number of them that are available on Steam, Switch, Xbox, and Playstation if you don't have access to older consoles.

There's a lot of different angles to come at Sonic as a franchise, and lots of different entry points. Have fun!

[tenebraevesper]

Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic Prime, Character Analysis - Part 1)

Welcome to the first part of my personal elaboration on the topic of why ''Prime!Shadow is peak Shadow!'', or in other words, why Prime!Shadow is one of the best written iterations of Shadow's character.

Will I try to make proper arguments for his character writing? Of course. Will I also be biased as hell just because he's my favorite character? Absolutely!

So, if you can handle both of that, we should dive in!

Before I start, I suppose I should give a brief overview of Shadow's character and how he had been handled through the years. The general consensus seems to be that Shadow was at his peak as a character from Sonic Adventure 2 to Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) (as well as Pre-Reboot!Archie Comics during Ian Flynn's run), being someone who was deeply traumatized by the death of his sister Maria Robotnik, had his memories manipulated to get revenge on humanity, only to sacrifice his own life to save the world Maria cherished, losing his memories in the process and trying to carve out his own path, only to finally solidify his role as a protector of the world, even if his methods aren't always the most peaceful ones.

So, where does the idea of edgelord Shadow come from?

Yeaaahh... let's just say that Shadow's own game, Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), didn't do him any good in the character department, because it seems that all that people remember was that one time SEGA decided to give Shadow a gun and let him deal with an alien invasion. The confusing story routes didn't help either.

In time, Shadow's character went from a complex and layered character to something akin to Vegeta (no offense Dragon Ball fans!), much to the disappointment of everyone who understood character before he underwent this transformation. Also, I'm not counting Boom!Shadow in this because Sonic Boom is a different universe and its own thing, but I won't argue against the fact that Boom!Shadow's characterization as a complete jerkass didn't do Game!Shadow any favor either. That's not even mentioning the Sonic IDW Comics, where Shadow had many mandates tied to him that even the writers found it annoying to write him (although with the most recent arc where Shadow was shown, it seems that the mandates have loosened a little).

Of course, I might be missing out on some information, but this is the general gist of the history of his character. So, when Sonic Prime revealed that Shadow would be one of the major characters, you can bet that I was nervous about how he would be written and I decided to keep a close eye on his characterization; and honestly, I went from genuinely pleased to excited when I realized that Shadow was being written as a very compelling character. Not only that, but he also appeared to have gone through subtle character development over the course of the show.

Starting from the very beginning, I'm certain that you remember how Shadow's first appearance was basically him punching Sonic at the end of Episode 01: Shattered, a very impactful first impression that left us with more questions and headaches. The following episode, Episode 02: The Yoke's On You, gives us more details in regards to why he punched Sonic, seemingly out of the blue.

Shadow's proper introduction kicks off with him searching for the Chaos Emerald... and I have to ask, when was the last time we even saw Shadow genuinely smile? Was in the Mario & Sonic at The Olympic Games franchise? I don't really remember.

In any case, being clearly happy about finding the Chaos Emerald, he speeds off, only to suddenly sense that something is wrong and is met with a giant blue pulse of energy (released during Sonic's fight with Dr. Eggman) and a vision of Sonic using the Paradox Prism energy.

''Sonic!''

This expression just screams ''Something bad is going to happen and it's Sonic's fault! I'm going to kick his ass before he does anything stupid!''

We then follow Shadow as he searches for Sonic, clocking him square in the face for something he hasn't done yet. Eh, I'd say that this one wasn't really deserved.

Even before Sonic starts explaining his relationship with Shadow, we immediately get an understanding of Shadow's character. He is serious, works alone, quite fast and powerful, prefers to fight over talking things out, is willing to do anything to protect his home and clearly has a history with Sonic. Sonic proceeds to add how Shadow is his biggest rival, a buzzkill and that he totally roller-skates.

''They're air shoes!''

Did... Did Shadow just break the 4th wall? Did he just make a joke? Dude, not even Boom!Shadow got to do that and Sonic Boom was the epitome of wall breaking!

Yeah, let's just say that my jaw dropped when I heard this, realizing that Shadow's character in Sonic Prime will be different than what we got used to see.

So, after knocking the Rings out of Sonic (I mean that literally), Shadow questions him about what he has done, with Sonic pointing out how Eggman is the bad guy, clearly confused about why Shadow is attacking him.

''You literally shook the world!'' ''That's because I'm good! And powerful apparently! Jealous?''

After a bit of teasing from Sonic, he and Shadow get into a race, during which I had noticed something. While Sonic keeps teasing Shadow (and also having fun fighting him), Shadow tells him to stop and listen for once.

''Clearly you're angry, which is normal,... but I'm supposed to be on a bit of a mission here, Shadow!'' ''What mission?'' ''None of your business.''

Sooooo, have you noticed it too? Because there is something very telling in this interaction. If you haven't, I'll let it play out until the end. Anyways, to continue, Shadow knocks Sonic into a rock, with Sonic confirming another aspect of their relationship.

''Ughh, I know, we're fighting again. Don't worry guys, I'll calm him down.''

We now know that this certainly wasn't the first time they had a fight and it won't be the last time. Sonic points out that, whatever beef they have, they aren't going to settle it this way. While Sonic is right, I will admit, I had to gush over the excellent animation and fight choreography. X3

Sonic then hears an explosion from the cave where the Paradox Prism is and tells Shadow that he needs to get to his friends, only to get punched for his troubles.

''Learn to focus!''

Now that the flashback is over, what exactly is going on between the two?

First of all, the main thing I have noticed is that both Shadow and Sonic seriously have a problem with communication. Shadow knows Sonic is about to do something stupid, and from his actions (aka choosing violence over talking) he is trying to prevent Sonic from doing whatever he was about to do. It does paint Shadow as a bit of a jerk, but Sonic isn't completely innocent here either.

An observation I had made was that Shadow probably knows that if he tried to just talk to Sonic, Sonic would either blow him off and run away or just tease him back, which was confirmed when Shadow asks him on what kind of mission he is with Sonic responding that it's none of his business. I imagine that there were previous events where Sonic was doing something stupid and Shadow tried to stop him from making things worse, and that violence was indeed the answer to Sonic's antics.

If Sonic had explained to Shadow what the deal is, I'm certain that Shadow would help him out. Perhaps Shadow could've told him about his vision, but going by Sonic's behavior, Sonic would probably not listen to him.

This brings me to my second point - this moment establishes that, if there will be character development for Shadow, it will be mainly through his interactions with Sonic and them learning to work together and listen to each other, something I'm really excited to talk about in later episodes.

The flashback continues in Episode 03: Escape From New Yoke, where Sonic does the old ''Hey, look behind you!'' trick and Shadow falls for it, hook, line and sinker. Sonic knocks him into a wall and speeds off to where his friends are fighting Eggman, leaving Shadow to recover and follow him.

I do like how Shadow just shakes his head here. Even if he doesn't say much, you can clearly see what it is going through his mind. He's angry at Sonic, but acknowledges that this is just typical for his blue rival.

in Episode 07: It Takes One to No Place, we see that Shadow manages to reach the Paradox Prism cave, just as Sonic is about to shatter it.

''Chaos Control!''

Unlike Sonic's friends and Dr. Eggman, Shadow manages to use Chaos Control, preventing him from being shattered just like the others.

''Sonic!''

Instead, he finds himself floating in The Void. I'll leave what happened to him in The Void for the next part, but what is important to note is that he cannot enter the individual Shatterspaces, but he can communicate with Sonic every time the latter gains enough speed to use the Paradox Prism Energy.

''Sonic, it's broken! It's all broken!''

Sonic is at first freaked out, thinking he's just hallucinating. I suppose that explains why Sonic keeps ignoring him in any subsequent appearances, despite Shadow trying his best to contact him and trying to explain him what to do, like telling him how he's lost in The Void and for Sonic to keep moving and to not stop (which also leads Sonic to find out how he can travel between Shatterspaces).

I suppose this can also be interpreted as ''Sonic leaves Shadow on read''. X3

Once Sonic accidentally gets out of No Place in Episode 08: There Is No Arrgh In Team, he is confronted by Shadow, who is absolutely furious. Not that Sonic notices, given how he had a really rough day himself.

''Shadow? Ugh, I don't have time to deal with whoever you are. I just wanna go home.''

''Home? Home doesn't exist anymore BECAUSE OF YOU!''

Considering what Sonic had done, yeah, this punch was definitely deserved.

As I said above, the first eight episodes are here to establish Shadow's character, his relationship/rivalry with Sonic and his own flaws (mainly the lack of communication on his part, choosing to fight Sonic instead) and it is clear that in order to overcome those flaws, he will have to work with Sonic (calm down Sonadow shippers, we didn't get there yet), something I'm excited to explore in the second part of this analysis.

#Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic Prime, Character Analysis - Part 2)

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

[leverage-ot3]

Is leverage redemption worth watching? I love Leverage but idk if i could enjoy the show if hardison isn't in most episodes or if the reboot sells out in some way.

okay so I showed up to this ask like four months late with a smoothie so I'm sorry about that BUT

does redemption have it's flaws? yes, I will be the first to admit that!

however, as someone who deeply loves leverage, the characters and what the show stands for, I still can find myself enjoying redemption.

there's one post that's in my drafts talking about the differences between the og and redemption and the so-called universe physics (how logic works in both shows and how they are the same/differ) and there are definitely some differences. there are some really good posts comparing them in the tags and I'll try to tag them as watch redemption when they come up!

I'm going to be really honest right now and say that (no shade) I feel like redemption s1-2 were lacking because john rogers was not a main writer for them. devlin and the others are great and know their stuff, but redemption was missing some of the grit (balanced with everything else) that the original run had. redemption is more fun and lighthearted (where the og was still fun and had comedic elements but also had a more jaded perspective). I think part of that change is the absence of nate as a character and what he brought to the table, but the other part of that is very much the way the show is written overall

I have seen some criticism about parker being a caricature of what she was in the original run (ex: how she goes to a child's psychologist and uses puppets sometimes, is overtly weird, more loud about stuff, etc) BUT I will say that I think there's some nuance to that

I don't think the child psychiatrist thing is infantalizing- some methods of therapy work for people more than others and that is me speaking as someone who works in mental health. if play therapy and stuff like that work for you as an adult, good for you! whatever works for you is more than enough the overtly and loudly being weird thing I really do think can be taken either way. in the original run part of parker's character progression was that she was learning how to interact with people normally (or at least more efficiently), but her being more out about that now can be taken as she is more comfortable in her skin and acting like she wants because she is surrounded by people who love and support her. maybe she doesn't want to (or have to!) mask all the time and I don't see a problem with that

HOWEVER! there are certain criticisms that are related to her characterizations and overlaps with her autism and I don't want to speak over the autism community about those aspects and how they have manifested in her character in redemption so I'm leaving it there

as for the hardison being absent aspect- I was REALLY afraid of that at first BUT the loss isn't so deeply impactful when you have characters like breanna and harry added to the mix. I went in ambivalent about harry and excited to have breanna (a canon queer) joining the team, but I have come to love and cherish both of them dearly and wouldn't want to replace them or lose them as characters in this found family ensemble. I think the writers handled aldis' packed schedule really well and even though he isn't there in most episodes, his presence is still very much around. parker and eliot talk about him and reference him when he's gone. so do sophie and breanna, even harry. he isn't on the screen but the relationships he's formed with the other characters and the impact he's had on them is very evident.

there are some takes from users about whether or not the ot3 was queerbait, un-canoned, etc in redemption. I have a lot of thoughts about it and a lot of them are incomprehensible but what I can say is that I have renewed hopes for the progression and canon development of their relationship now that john rogers is back as the main writer for s3

[cuephrase]

Of the DC comics you've read so far, what would be your top recommendations for people to check out/what have you enjoyed the most?

when i tell you i have been thinking about this all day- i have been thinking about this. all. day.

so disclaimer, as of writing this, i have only read 31 runs from start to finish and 18 arcs/events outside of those runs. on top of, everything i've read so far has been strictly robin-centric, so dick, jason, tim, and damian. (i have read all of steph's robin appearances lol, but i haven't gotten to reading material for her, like say batgirl 2009, yet.) i've also decided not to rec from any run i'm currently reading, so for example, you won't see any batman: gotham knights recs here. because i'm most well-read on the robins, i'm only going to rec for them.

also, i'm going to operate under the following assumption: you've got a basic knowledge of the robins. none of these are where i would necessarily recommend anyone start reading about the boys, but i do think they'd be pretty interesting if you're already somewhat familiar with them and don't want to commit to reading whole character backlogs. does that make sense? i hope that makes sense.

alright, let's do this!

DICK GRAYSON

oh god. this one is actually so hard because he has so much great stuff, but then also i have like a love/frustrate relationship with so much of it. like for instance, i really enjoyed The New Teen Titans, but also lowkey can't stand space adventures so whenever that went down i was like 😀👍. but okay. hmmmm.

i have two preboot recs, with explanations + caveats.

devin grayson's mob!dick arc, so Nightwing 1996 #99-100, 107-117. caveats: it doesn't really get to finish playing out/wraps up weird because of editorial changes/infinite crisis. but!! it's a super interesting look at how dick handles...failure. how he values himself in light of that failure.

tomasi's run, but specifically #147-153. (listen, i love the dick and tim moments in 'freefall' but the whole eternally pregnant lady thing was too weird.) this is classic, hyper-competent dick, okay? he's such a bad-ass. and an idiot- bro literally flops his severely injured ass over the bars of his glider and rides it UNCONSCIOUS back to the batcave. i can't with him. poor alfred. anyways, he deals with two-face, always a good time. and then at the end, as a treat, he cries because bruce is dead. so fun!! what was my caveat here? oh yeah, he has a girlfriend. i don't remember her name, she serves like...very little purpose, the whole relationship is very minor/background okay, but like it was so unnecessary. he can be single, dc, it's okay.

for post re-boot, just read tom taylor's run!! it's the best thing ever!! zero complaints!!

HA. yeah, just kidding. that run is very like/frustrate for me lol. oh man i'm struggling here. it's not all bad okay, i'm just really picky, and i haven't re-read any nightwing n52 and onwards since my first foray into comics (8 months ago) so my memories of these are the foggiest and i'm not sure how i feel about all of it in light of what i've read now. yk what, i'm just going to...not rec anything. sorry!!

JASON TODD

his comics either go so hard or they're absolute ass, why is there no in between. istg, i can't figure out why writers struggle with him so much?? well. i mean, i do have theories. but you didn't ask for those!

pre-boot:

detective comics #569-574. robin!jason in the hands of writers who like him is so much fun. which, don't get me wrong, i don't flat-out hate how starlin writes him, but i think you get a more well-rounded view of jason as robin when you also see him in 'tec. jason and bruce tangle with the joker, scarecrow, + mad hatter, and all of those adventures are...idk if they were intentional foreshadowing okay, but reading those and knowing where the story goes? oof. especialllllly #574. caveat: #572 is pretty light on jason, but he is great when he's on panel!

reboot:

probably a very basic answer but rhato rebirth (2016) #1-13, annual #1. i abhorred n52 rhato so i almost skipped rhato rebirth since it was still written by lobdell, but i'm really glad i didn't. i really enjoy jason's relationship with bizarro + artemis, but especially with bizarro because i think jason struggles a lot with feeling like a doomed creation, so yk, parallels. i want to say more but i know i'll get too wrapped up in discussing jason so i'm just going to stop myself.

i actually really enjoyed task force z, too. i think about tfz #8 so much, jason is such a manipulative little shit and i love it. he's so- i can't. i can't get into this rn, it deserves its own post(s).

overall for jay, i need people to read something other than utrh/lost days/b:ul 1-6. i love those, i do, but they aren't the only good pieces of jason content!!

TIM DRAKE

MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!! in my heart of hearts, i just want to rec his whole robin run lmao. dick was my intro, okay, he is why i decided to start reading comics, but tim, specifically his robin solo is why i'm still reading comics. hooked me fr. and young justice 1998, ugh love. but it has been a minute since i read these as well, so hmm. okay okay okay

pre-boot:

batman: prodigal. short version, tim is robin to dick's batman. super fun. there's a solid amount of dick and bruce angsting too, which, love. tim is honestly just thrilled that jpv is out of the batsuit and even happier to working with dick. very cute.

robin #46. listen. they're all superheroes okay, they all feel pressure to save people. but tim...losses get to him. the amount of times that he gets shoved to a breaking point and then...gets back up. keeps going. *screams*. anyways!! this is not tim getting back up, okay? this is him being shoved way, way down. it's so good.

teen titans 2003 #20. tim's dad has died. he shows up for his weekend at the tower anyways. he is not okay. that's it, that's the pitch. i did not like...mmm at least 80% of this run okay, but a few of the issues HIT and this was one imo.

reboot:

*deep sigh*. look. tim is not tim for like basically all of n52, although there are moments here and there were he feels like himself. i did not like his 2023 solo, the best parts of young justice 2019 imo are the character designs, (except for his drake costume, what was that omg), and i haven't read any rebirth batman/'tec yet. except for zdarsky's run. which. tim is good there! but yeah, not really a whole lot of material to work with + very limited reading experience atm.

DAMIAN WAYNE

god, i love this kid. nature vs. nurture fascinates me, and so much of his story digs into that on top of trying to figure out who he is apart from all of that. i will say, i'm not a huge talia fan and by that i mean, i have no idea who she is "supposed" to be, like i have no frame of reference for that atm, so if you are a huge talia fan these recs might not hit for you because from what i've observed from her fans she is not well portrayed a whole lot since becoming his mother? i think one of the things that is normal is dick absolutely disliking her though, which cracks me up. there's this older batman story (batman #322-335) where bruce works with talia and dick goes running to selina and i was so entertained. what were we talking about? oh! damian!

preboot:

batman and robin 2009 #10-12. damian is struggling, with a lot of things. the fact that bruce might be alive, what that means for him and dick, and his mother's puppeteering. there's this line that kills me: "can't you just love me for who i am? not what you want me to be?" and the thing that gets me, is the use of who vs. what. because he could have said, "not who you want me to be", but he doesn't

reboot:

batman: shadow war. this is post-alfred's death, and honestly, most damian stuff post city of bane is pretty juicy, but there's this specific moment in shadow war: alpha #1 that had me speechless. just like 😧 i love bruce, but that man has some of the most chronic foot-in-mouth disease. oh but fair warning, for whatever reason they don't draw dami's mask connecting?? it's so- it drives me nuts.

JUST FOR FUN

these are just two issues that i enjoy for the brother content!

nightwing 1996 #25. dick and tim's relationship makes me ILL. *ahem*. this issue is mostly just super cute and fun, (there's like 0.2 seconds of angst when tim asks dick if he ever thinks about jason 😭) and i adore it sm. fun fact, it's actually one of the first comics i ever bought!

batman 2016 #16. unfortunately, tim is not here for this, but duke is! jason and damian's interactions in the background of bruce's Very Serious Speech are excellent. bruce is so dramatic and his kids are so unserious.

what i've most enjoyed

i've enjoyed the majority of what i've read, even titles/events i wasn't particularly looking forward to but had on my tbr for whichever character. i'm going to break down most enjoyed into two catergories, arcs that i loved top to bottom and then the guilty pleasures. this is not an exhaustive list, just what immediately came to mind.

top to bottom

bruce wayne: murderer?/fugitive. shocker, ik. but it's just, it's just so frickin good. i've said before, and i'll say it again, gotham war could NEVER. this right here is peak batfamily drama. the tension? the mystery? the angst? i knew nothing going into this okay, and truth be told, when i started it i was like "oh joy. another event." because i was just trying to read the 1996 nightwing run, but i'd committed to reading in full all the events it crossed over with. but i was invested so quickly. and like, i loved how the narrative supported the possibility that bruce was the murderer, because like, you know there's no way, but the more that comes out the more damning it is, and so you're like really dying to know what actually happened and i feel like the reveal was satisfying.

batman: city of bane. i'm going to cautiously put this here, because there might have been something i didn't like but i cannot recall it for the life of me right now. something about me is i love when the heroes lose. infinity war, empire strikes back? love. and ik bruce takes back gotham, but they lose alfred, okay, they lost. i also didn't expect to like this arc, i decided to read it because i wanted to know how alfred died. and first of all, i was shocked, even though i knew it was coming because i expected it to like happen towards the end. but nope. just *snap*. and then later when bruce is back in the manor and is confronted with alfred's body and his good-bye message? oh. my. god. i was bawling. despite my penchant for sad narratives, i don't tend to cry that much, but this got to me so bad. like i had to pause because i couldn't see. amazing.

red robin. his cowl is so ugly, but i really do love the run. i see a lot of discourse about it and also a lot of...interesting fanfic takes, so i don't really talk about it a lot here because it feels like most people are kind of tired of hearing about this run, which fair. i really enjoyed it as a sequel to his solo robin run. tbh, i almost put this in the guilty pleasure catergory, because there are a couple things i don't totally love, but like if the others are 10/10, this is 9/10.

young justice 1998. i love this comic so, so much. i don't even know what to say, i get so overwhelmed with joy when i think about this comic. nothing has hit the same way with this group since either, which is a crime. i need a title with this team so badly.

guilty pleasures

these are all runs/events i know some/most? people cannot stand and i totally get why, and i have problems with them, so i'm probably never going to rec them in good conscience but also like i can't lie and say i don't like them. these are not recs, okay? okay.

robin war. is it a hot mess? yes. but there is not a whole lot of canon content out there with all the boys working together, okay? so much of that event had me banging my head into a wall, but for me, there were a handful of pearls in there. i mean honestly, if i listed out pros and cons the cons list would be way longer but those pros are very precious to me.

batman and robin: eternal. very similar reasoning overall to robin war. plus cass finally came back!! i missed her. i love robin!dick and batman content, and the kids working together. this is probably my least favorite guilty pleasure though, okay, it's on thin ice.

grayson. listen, i love janin's art sm. i'm pretty neutral about spy stuff, so like i don't engage with it a whole lot. meaning, although i've heard it's tropey af in regards to the genre, i'm not familiar enough with the genre to be like trying to dig my eyeballs out with blunt spoons at the cliche of it all. the constant sexualization of dick got old super fast, and her name may have been helena but she wasn't- my list of dislikes is lengthy. but idk, i had fun with it. and imo it does have some genuinely great moments, i love dick in the desert with the baby, the ache i felt when dick wanted to come home and couldn't get ahold of bruce, issue #12 stabs me in the heart- the dick and dami reunion? stoppppp. i feel like this run and the ric grayson era are dick's most out there lmao

so yeah!! thank you so much for this ask, i had sm fun answering it. if you have any recs for me, feel free to drop them :)

[cf56]

A Different Perspective on the Warners' Ages

The actual age of the Warners has long been a topic of debate. Are they more children or are they more 90-year-olds? Some mixture of the two? My actual opinion has always been some mixture. They are physically and mentally children, but with 90+ years of life experience in their children brains.

But then I got thinking about it. Do they have 90+ years of life experience? For the vast majority of that time, they were either locked in a tower or in suspended animation. Is time spent in a possibly dark and empty tower really valuable as a life experience? Are they gaining any practical knowledge, are they learning anything, are they developing? Or are they just static?

Even if the tower has fun stuff in it, they're not really gaining much from riding a rollercoaster over and over again. They're not experiencing the world. They're not building up the experience that any other 90-year-old would have. If you take three human children and lock them up in a room until they're adults, they're not gonna come out of there acting like adults. They will still be children for all intents and purposes in their heads. They didn't develop.

If you only count the time the Warners were out of the tower, as far as them getting practical life experience and "aging" in a mental sense, then the picture changes significantly. They were created in 1929 and locked in the tower in 1934. That means they had 5 years of true life experience when they were locked away. They escaped for brief periods over the next 60 years, for a couple of weeks at a time at most. Maybe we can add a year for all those experiences total?

So, by the time they escaped from the tower in 1993, they were mentally 6. They were out and about until 1998 or 1999 if you go up to the time Wakko's Wish was released. That's 6 more years at most. When they were put in suspended animation, they were mentally 12.

They came back in 2020 and were around for 3 more years. This means that, at the beginning of the reboot, they were mentally 12, and by the end, they were mentally 15.

I think these numbers actually line up pretty well with how the Warners act in the reboot and how they seemed to develop both in the original series and the 2020 series. They were more like crazy children in the first episodes in the early 90's, became a little more grounded and cynical as that series went on, and act more like adults or teens in the reboot than they did before.

I'm not saying this was some intentional deep worldbuilding on the part of the writers. I'm just saying it makes sense.

[bonjas]

blf: la historia continua

having been one of the fans that was counting down the seconds until the new series started, i have a lot of thoughts on the show now that 4 episodes have aired. i've seen each one a few times now but my thoughts will still be a little scattered!

first of all, i LOVE the production quality, and the stylistic choice they took with the aesthetics of this series. it's sharp, artsy, quick, colorful, and very much giving Mode magazine vibes from Ugly Betty! the on screen graphics are a cute touch, Mila's are a little bit extra, but so is she so it's okay. i especially loved the comedic timing of the graphic from the bathroom scene (XL 😆).

for being 20 years later, everyone is FANTASTIC at getting right back into character. having witnessed other shows that were rebooted years and years later and seeing some people not being able to get back into the swing of things, the ability of this cast just really goes to show the caliber of actors they cast in the original. everyone effortlessly slid back into character, mannerisms, voice inflection, chemistry between characters, honestly i have no complaints. i know some people think don hermes wasn't tough enough on mila in his scenes with her, but do yall have grandparents that love to spoil you and let you get away with things they wouldnt let their kids get away with? i'm not surprised at all he's softer with her than he would have been with betty.

so after all that, my problems with the reboot...

episodes 1&2 are bad. just straight up bad, and it's unfortunate that it took 2 out of the precious little 10 we have to find their footing. episode 1 is filled with "dramatic pauses" which honestly just feel awkward, and having come from Gaitan's never ending monologues, it felt like empty air that should have been filled. Gaitan's silences were strategic and emphasized the emotions of the scenes, and actually set up to be pregnant pauses, where this series feels like they just dont know what the character would say, and not heavy with drama like they think it comes across as.

the writing, ohh the writing...

betty's diary was always used as a tool to give us background, give us insight into what betty was feeling/thinking, and give us context or extra info we didnt see on screen. with so little episodes and so little time to explain things, HUH.....WOULDA BEEN HANDY.....

good writing shows and doesn't tell, and what these early episodes do are NEITHER. something mysterious and bad is happening at ecomoda....too bad you dont get to know! camila and betty's relationship is in tatters, betty abandoned them, camily went to ???? for five??? years!! nahhhh, dont tell us anything about it, just jump right to the resentment!??

"mystery is an intellectual process, like in a 'whodunnit'. but suspense is essentially an emotional process. you can only get suspense going by giving the audience information."-alfred hitchcock

the writers made many VERY strange choices in not telling us more about:

what armando and mario did

who exactly is marcela's dude and what he gets out of helping marcela (idfk his name)

giving us background on armando and that lawyer

giving us more background on betty and mila other than just "you abandoned us!" "she's so distant now" where tf was mila and why was she out of the country for 5 years???

why are mila and marce so close??

think back to OG blf...when things were mentioned in passing like the "horrible thing that happened to betty", those werent things that were of importance for that scene/storyline/moment, thats why they were in passing, they just added to the layers of complexity of betty, but it was gratifying when we later found out what it actually was. or think about all the important events that happened because we knew what was going on! imagine if we didnt know what armando's evil plan was, and we saw betty read The Letter and we're not told what it says, and we see betty go through all her trauma and emotions and never finding anything out until she tells armando she knows. there would be no pay off because we didnt know what was happening in the first place so we're not invested! whereas in this series they are just leaving out huge gaps of information needed to feel the anxieties the people we're watching are feeling. we finally find out what armando did during his second time as president at ecomoda in episode 4, and knowing that information from the beginning would have been so much more impactful! we'd be stressed knowing armando fucked up AGAIN, is lying to betty AGAIN, put the company in financial ruin AGAIN, then we would feel the emotion of him finally coming clean to her and telling her he's planning to take full responsibility! there's not as much pay off when learning at the exact same time as betty.

with mila and betty, yeah we can fill in the blanks with what happened to them, but without hearing betty's thoughts or seeing through her eyes how their relationship fell apart, the (majority) of the audience went straight to hating mila and resenting her for their shitty relationship. if we had context around it, the audience would understand her and how everything turned out that way.

episodes 3&4 really found their footing, the humor was back, armando's characterization and development was so nice to see! callbacks to the OG show were awesome, i DIED at sandra yelling at freddy "you're disrespecting the community!!!". i'm worried that mila is manipulating betty with their happy reunion but idk! there's not enough context/foreshadowing/knowledge of mila's character so idk that one's a wild card. but if the rest of the show continues like episode 3&4 i'll be a happy camper, because 1&2 honestly had me really worried.

i wanna know what everyone else thinks! i have tons of thoughts that i already forgot because i dont write things down in the moment lol so i'm sure i'll be back to write some more down the line maybe after a couple more episodes! (new thought i just remembered���why tf is patricia in HR, let alone working? is her old man not rich enough to support her lifestyle? if that's the case, why aren't we told this to have more background on why she's back at a place she very dramatically quit from so we can invest more feelings when she's being "bullied" for having an old husband etc? it's the little things...i dont think i'm asking too much of the writers because other shows do more and more effectively with the same exact run time as this show)

[kanohirren]

rwby fans really are a different breed huh

imply the show could be improved in any way and they'll get on your case telling you that you're actually a hater if you don't just swallow whole the hot garbage mess that shawcross and luna pull out of their butts when writing a season because they didn't plan out the show from the start and just make it up as they go.

and to all the people who say "whaaat of course they planned it out from the start you just don't understand their vision" you're right about one thing, I don't understand their vision but I don't think they do either. In the Volume 3 Commentary video, it's said that Monty only came up with the Maidens after Volume 2. The Maidens that proceeded to become the driving plot point for the rest of the series to this day didn't exist in anyone's plans when writing the show at the start. Not satisfied? How about the fact that Neo wasn't written in until volume 2 because Monty decided that Torchwick needed a henchman. Neo had like ten minutes of screentime pre-volume 6 but became one of the most popular characters so they decided to make her a major antagonist, even the main antagonist of volume 9. That DEFINITELY wasn't planned before the show started.

I think the show could have been so much better if the plot was planned out from the start and honestly a reboot feels like the way to go to me. Too many times, the writers feel like they're not writing to actually tell a good story but instead they're writing to try and get a reaction out of people. Looking at you, bumblebee. Blake and Yang had one (1) interaction in Volume 2. In Volume 3, Blake runs away at the end as isn't reunited with team rwby until the end of volume 5... but somehow by volume 6 they've somehow become a thing? Literally just shawcross and luna seeing bumblebee being a popular ship in the fndm and going "here you go guys! enjoy!"

It seems like their goal when writing is just to make the audience do this meme

"Whoa, bumblebee! These two characters are canon now and they totally interacted beforehand!"

or alternatively, "Whoa, Neo/Penny is back!"

I could make an entire other post about all the lost potential they had with the plot points that had been set up. Penny the robot girl is killed in volume 3 but surprise she's back in volume 7! That's not an issue per se but imagine the juicy angst steak if Penny's memory had to be wiped or rebooted because they essentially made a new Penny (being a destroyed robot and all) and so she'd forgotted Ruby, her only friend and Ruby thinks she knows Penny but this Penny is essentially a different person. But nope, Penny remembers everything and is a superhero now or something.

Oh and don't even get me started on World of Remnant. If your show can't explain your own lore in a way that isn't making separate lore videos to try and make your world make sense, there's a problem there.

I think this post is long enough though so I'm just gonna leave it at this: I used to really enjoy the show but as it went on the bad writing became harder and harder to ignore and I think the show would greatly benefit from a reboot because nothing of great value would be lost if they never finished the current series. The show had some really good ingredients but the cooks tried too hard to make something unique and ended up with something "technically edible" but not really all that tasty (and fans will insist it was perfect how dare you say anything bad about it but oops there I go looping back round)

[dreamweaversfavsandthoughs]

Rick and Morty S7 Ep. 10: Fear No Mort

(A bittersweet end to a great season)

If you are not ready to conquer your fear of spoilers, go no further…

My Favs

Diane!

Overall, I’m pleased with how the writers handled the character of Diane and Rick’s interaction with her. They don’t portray either Diane or their marriage as flawless. There is definitely a bite to her personality and we see them have conflict like any married couple but there is still a lot of love and affection there, assuming Morty’s version of the relationship is accurate. It is certainly open to interpretation. In my mind, the only thing that was inaccurate is Diane’s disdain for her grandson. In actuality, I think she would have loved Morty to death and have absolutely spoiled him rotten as a grandmother should.

I also love that the writers confirmed that she was a scientist or was on the path to become one. She was definitely some sort of biologist, maybe a zoologist or a ornithologist. I don’t know about you but my heart went pitter-patter when Rick said her master’s thesis inspired him to create a ray to hear duck’s talk.

Lastly, I’d like to say that while I thought we might have somehow had the real Rick interact with the real Diane through some sort of sci-fi resurrection or afterlife break-in, I’m ultimately glad this is the work around the writers came up with. Anything else would have cheapened Diane’s death and Rick’s grief.

Rod Serling/Twilight Zone homage

Confession time. I’ve never seen the original Twilight Zone or the reboot, but I’m aware of the premise of the show and how it ties with this episode. I know I’m missing out and it’s on my list of shows to watch. Sometimes, I wish I could get a Night Person to watch all the television shows I don’t have time for in my waking hours.

Tide and Time

Really enjoy the newest Ryan Elder song. He is incredibly skilled at finding or creating the perfect soundtrack to convey the emotion we need for a particular episode.

Morty’s fear of relying on Rick

I will expound on this further in “My Thoughts”

Rick choosing Morty

Not only does he do it once, but twice. Once in Morty’s fear simulation and once in the real world.

Not my Fav

Product Placement

I know capitalism has got to capitalism, but could we please leave ads for shitty restaurants out of my story of a grandfather and his grandson navigating the human condition in a infinite, nihilistic universe that is incapable of caring! Thanks.

Besides, the fear hole should have been at a Shoney’s

My Thoughts

Morty’s codependency, fear of change, and learning to not live for the dead but to live for the living.

Seasons 6 and 7 has seen a gradual shift from Rick being a drunk asshole who is incapable of creating any real attachments because there are infinite versions of everyone (except for the one person he most cares about) to someone who is less drunk, ever so slightly less of an asshole, but a little more willing to open his heart to the version of his family he has chosen to live with. Unmortricken closed the chapter on Rick’s life purpose of getting revenge on Rick Prime and now with Fear No Mort we see Rick resist the temptation of clinging to the past and choose the grandson living in the present. The finale doesn’t give us much to chew on in regards to what is in store next for Rick, but in some way, I think the show is taking a bit of a pause on Rick as it shifts to Morty.

As the twist reveals, this episode focused exclusively on Morty’s psyche and his recognition and fear of his codependency with Rick. I recommend if you haven’t, to rewatch the episode a second time with this knowledge in tow. What sticks out to me is the antagonist relationship he has with Diane. They never speak to or acknowledge each other. I don’t think she even makes eye contact with him and in the scene at the school play, Diane belittles him and delivers an ultimatum to Rick. Choose her or choose Morty. Maybe the show wants us to take this literally, and it is really Diane he resents and that Rick will never choose the family in the present. Rick will never choose Morty. In my mind, I have a more metaphorical interpretation. I think Diane is symbolic of a future Rick that is, at last, happy and mentally healthy. Morty fears that if Rick gets better he will need his grandson less and that scares the shit out of him. He can’t imagine a life without Rick by his side, even envisioning a future where Rick follows him into adulthood, de-aging himself so he’s around forever. Both interpretations work and they both reveal the incredibly unhealthy mindset that Morty harbors.

We see a sort of ships passing in the night as Morty accepts that Rick will never see him as irreplaceable and he should just rely on himself at the same time Rick is finally ready to claim this Morty and only this Morty as his grandson and a legitimate part of his family on equal footing as Diane and Beth C-137.

The finale doesn’t give us much insight into what we might focus on in season 8, but I suspect it might be more Morty-focused. We have seen Morty start to develop some independence in the past, but it would be nice to see Morty develop an identity outside of Rick while also learning that Rick truly sees him as part of his family.

Also, the boy desperately needs some friends his age.

[aqua-dan]

What are your thoughts on preboot Garth vs reboot Garth? You seem to be one of the only people who like reboot Garth. What is appealiong about him?

Well, "like" might be a strong word.

It's really no surprise that I'm saying this, but Reboot Garth has NOTHING on Preboot Garth. Let's not kid ourselves and pretend that Preboot Garth isn't superior in literally every conceivable way.

Preboot Garth is such an incredible character. He is kind, gentle, smart, and powerful. He is emotionally impactful and occupies a space that is so specifically Him that no other character could fill it. He is so compelling, so relatable, and frankly he's downright adorable too! When I have been at some of my lowest points in life, he's been a character that I've grown up alongside and used as an example of emotional strength to help me stand back up and carry on despite the anxiety and sadness and pressure. Truly, he is one of my comfort characters of all time. His story and the things he can do are also extremely interesting!

Physically strong ✔️

Control over water ✔️

Magic ✔️

Eye blasts ✔️

Diplomacy ✔️

Like 50 other things that he forgot to mention that he can do, but totally can ✔️

So you may be wondering then, why I still like Reboot Garth who is… hardly at all like what I just described. And my answer to that is: I don't know.

You would certainly be right to say that for the most part*, Rebirth Garth is nothing like his pre-n52 counterpart. (*World's Finest: Teen Titans was the closest we've gotten. It was kind of nice in regards to Garth, with the exception of a few gripes I have here and there.) And you'd be right to be upset about it. I know I am. Quite often, to be honest.

But for some reason I just can't bring myself to fully condemn Rebirth Garth. At the end of the day, I'm in fandom to have fun, you know? And if I spend all my time hating something that's out of my control… well what good does that do me? At this point, I feel like I've resigned myself to the knowledge that I simply will not be getting what I want in regards to Garth, and so I've turned to becoming a bemused spectator at the things happening in current comics. I can still become excited about it when I DO manage to find a bit that I like. There was a post a while back that went something like,

"N52 and Rebirth suck except the parts that I like. And those bits I'll toss into a blender, puree, and mix in with preboot canon."

Yeah, that. Basically, when it comes to Reboot Garth, (in my own head) I ignore the reboot and then blend up the little bits I enjoy to create the utopian world of Canon+. And from my little imaginary perch, I can choose to still enjoy this character who has taken my blorbo's name, but sadly isn't really him.

With how changeable comics are as a medium though, I do also believe that there will be a writer someday who is willing to do the legwork necessary to bring Garth back around to being the blorbo I once knew. Some currently canon things will definitely have to be tossed out, but hey, that's the nature of comics!

That said tho, I think another one of the things that prevents me from disliking him is (surprisingly) the design. It's a controversial take amongst Garth fans for sure, but I honestly like it for the most part. There are a few things I'd tweak to make him look like more of an extension of Preboot Garth (CURLY HAIR, PLEASE), but there are a lot of elements that I just so happen to find aesthetically appealing and thus don't really mind. That isn't to say that Garth didn't already look fucking incredible, because he ABSOLUTELY did. I'm just not that bothered, I guess haha!

[fraudulent-cheese]

Do you think they made Dave a bit of a straw man near the end of Pahkitew? Like it always felt to me they needed someone to use as a hate buffer you know since they couldn't use any of the antagonists they had already made. And this is coming from someone who likes Dave. He was just a pathetic guy who had some charm to him if explored and used them correctly but in the end he was... Mauled by a robotic bear? The punish may fit the crime, the culprit sure doesn't.

-Pahkitew anon

Total Drama in general has a problem with over punishing it's antagonistic characters in general. I mean, Heather's head getting shaved off is fine imo? It's harsh, but also a punishment in line with her character; if her hair's the hottest thing about her, taking it is a fitting punishment (again. Really fucking harsh). Same with Justin's downfall, caused by him actually liking a girl instead of just charming one. I haven't watched the ending of Action so i can't say anything for how Courtney's elimination is treated.

However, as the series went on, the antagonist punishments started going... way too far. I think the writers just thought that making Ezekiel a weird creature was funny and the volcano erupting would've made for a dramatic finale, but making Alejandro both get burnt alive by it and then stuffing him in a robot suit for over a year is just overboard. Same thing with Scott in ROTI; the trauma chair's implications just get worse the more you think about it - at least Alejandro could speak in the machine at first!

I won't cover the Reboot in this context, but i will cover PI: mostly because this season seemingly has 2-3 antagonists, and most don't carry the plot. Scarlett's an actual antagonistic force for a single episode and doesn't get any punishment on screen outside of elimination (and being sent with Max). Sugar is who im pretty sure the writters wanted to treat as an antagonist? But she doesn't feel like an overarching vilain since she's mostly just doing her own thing all season and the show's just... really mean to her? The narrative repeatedly treats her as unattractive, annoying and dismisses her abilities (specifically in singing) when she's like. Fine. in those aspects. She's also not the smartest, but knows how to use the rules to her advantage (see Ella's elimination, probably the worst thing she does all season)

Getting to the actual topic of your ask now, Dave's heel turn to murder just... feels a little off. Oh sure if the writing insisted on the conditions on the island wearing him down and having Sky be the only positive connection he had (especially considering his attitude towards relationships), having it torn down like this could make it work? At least a little better? But by the episode he's eliminated in he seems to be doing ok.

In general the finale just seems to exacerbate Dave's worst traits for either comedy reasons or plot reasons (pre and post Sky-has-a-boyfriend reveal), but i could personally excuse it if his reaction was more akin to one he'd have before. He would not have reacted well to the reveal, hell him trying to stop Sky from winning could've worked but like??? Not like this man! Im not asking the Total Drama teenager to have a reasonnable reaction, im asking the Total Drama Writters to stick with the character they wrote, and frankly it would be funnier if he failed miserably in trying to get back at Sky or something. Out of all the seasons i feel like either TDAS or TDPI should've ended with the contestants fighting back against Chris instead of the actual endings we got.

Also, as a final clarification: Dave wasn't mauled by a bear (onscreen), Scuba bear was just standing behind him as the entire season ended. I guess my big problem is that he gets consequences for his actions during a single episode and not actions from over the course of the entire season; frankly Sky rejecting him is enough consequences, the dude's pathetic and didn't listen to her 'but', multiple times.

[brotoman-exe]

So seeing as the trailer is finally out and one of my more frequently revisited posts is about this movie let's talk the trailer. Now these are off the cuff barely put together ramblings with like an hour to think on it so don't take this as a final verdict or my hardest stance ever.

The Good

- It looks generally alright. There is some clear signs someone was flipping through the art book for the War For Cybertron games when designing a lot of this stuff. As well I'm interested to see how the 'surface' is seeming to be overgrown with plant life and the like.

- Alpha Trion and some sort of grave, of the other 13?, shows up and seems like they are going with the G1 style of him making Optimus and Elita into their present selves, just adding Megatron and Bumblebee there.

- Elita One even getting to be a major player is pretty neat. Really a rise to prominence from a time when I think people didn't even know female characters existed before Arcee.

- Also Quintessons seeming to be an oppressive class enslaving the Cybertronians is another good G1 call back.

- Also having both Orion and M-16 start as workers is nice since it means you can't accuse Optimus of not knowing just how bad the system was when he opposes Megatron going full Peace Through Tyranny.

The Bad

- The dialogue, like you know it, I know it, and everyone else knows it. Now to start not saying Transformers can't be goofy or funny, '80s film everyone has a dance party to Weird Al and fandom loves the hell out of that movie. But that felt more organic to G1s general sillier side versus this where it feels the writers looked up a bunch of posts satirizing later stage MCU diaologue and thought "yes let's do that".

- Bumblebee being there, since seems he is just being shoved in as comic relief and cause marketers love Bumblebee versus a fourth main character being needed for this story.

The Fear

This is more speculation on from what the trailer presents could be bad about the film but I can't say 100% from the trailer.

- Elita One being in the movie being reduced to other three main characters are going to spend parts of the movie having the hots for her or the plot being configured into any kind of terrible love shape. (I will barely accept a love triangle with Orion and M-16 if those two are also onto each other. Transformers made enough strides in LGBT rep to not back slide into the worst of Het writing now.)

- Bonus negative points if Elita One getting hurt or dying is used as the final straw for Optimus and Megatron's relationship breaking apart.

- The reveal of the names Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Elita One not being allowed to be good moments and instead get ruined by shitty jokes (Like how the RWBY/Justice League film had to constantly make jokes about Superman being called Superman. I get it writers are so above silly naming schemes like that in the 2020s now, but just shut up)

- Speaking or other things that are atrocious I'm worried this movie is going to pull a Devil May Cry reboot and just have Megatron swerve into "I wanna be Big Dick Dictator of the Galaxy" two seconds after they beat the Quintessons like how Fedora!Vergil went "I'm actually evil and we should now in some vague way rule the world Dante" right after the 'Kingpin From Marvel but turned into a giant made of buildings' boss fight. So no time will be given to the deteriorating state of Orptimus' and Megatron's relationship before hand. That or they sequel bait the downfall and we have to cross our fingers it was good enough to get a sequel.

- The Quintessons will have their menace damaged by bad pot shot jokes/references to the original animated movie.

- We spend all movie with MCU quips Bumblebee but Starscream never shows up.

The Hope

But that is all nerves and speculation as so far I've just seen a single trailer. So what about positive possibilities.

- The major one is the trailer is just cut by brainless add executives and a lot of the worst quips are either not in the movie or there is way more good dialogue and the stuff in the trailer was all of it.

- They actually do give some other members of the Decepticons appearances and completing backstories of their own.

- Optimus and Megatron are in unambiguous romantic love before the big break up.

- They do some really interesting stuff with the lore based on some of that cool environmental design. Perhaps a more interesting version of Megatronus for Megatron to be inspired by?

- Lastly this film just needs to clear the low bar set by most of the Bay Films to not be bad at this point. And I highly doubt this movie can do anything to hit the "Your Racist Uncle" level of some Revenge of the Fallen scenes or "Mmm I sure do love high school girls" level of the first one and especially Age of Extinction scenes.

[ohbo-ohno]

Hi Bo!! I hope you’re having a great day!

I was thinking about your writing and how you depict Simon - I’ve seen a few other artists on here give him similar characteristics which I am obsessed with, by the way. And I was just wondering:

Would you ever want to talk about how you came up with your version of Simon? I’m always a little blown away at how complex of a character you made him into. I mean, I know we all know how offensively large he is (physically, canon and all that), but the way you molded his personality to be almost tangibly unsettling and complicated is so fucking impressive. His size just makes it even better 😂

I would just love to know how you came up with the idea to make Simon this way! Like if there was anything he did/said in the comics or games that inspired you 😊

I know there are several other artists on here who have also given Simon a more sinister personality, (I’m a huge fan of their work as well) but you’re the first writer I came across who wrote him this way!

omg hi babe ilysm!!!!!!!! i'll ramble a bit beneath the cut but the short answer is honestly i just think he's hottest when he's intimidating and mean lmao

someone pointed out on twitter once that reboot simon has never said that he went through the same trauma (torture/buried alive) as 09 simon, and it kinda completely reshaped how i saw the character. there's a big difference between "man who has only known the worst kind of violence and so is only violent" and "man who is just an asshole and is violent anyway". taking away all that trauma simultaneously makes simon less complex and wayyy more intimidating, to me at least

i think simon has never once cared about playing by anybody's rules but his own. he sees no reason to - at least as like a 35+ year old man - not just do what he wants, always, regardless of the consequences. whether that's (in my fics lmao) kidnapping a pretty girl or emotionally tormenting johnny, he does it because he wants to and no other reason. doesn't care how anyone else feels, he's only working/thinking for his own gratification, anything else is incidental

also with the large thing like you said - simon probably sprouted up to six feet tall at like, 13 lmao. that man has been the tallest person in the room for like two decades. he started working out as a teenager (in my head), and he was probably the biggest cadet when he first joined the military. i think always being the biggest and most intimidating person in the room (and everyone in said room knowing it) probably gives you a massive complex. it's effortless for him to fill a room, because he doesn't really know how to not to bc he's been doing it for so long. does that make sense?

but honestly, i write mostly porn-what-plot, so pretty much every dialogue/personality choice is made because i think it's the hottest option

like in dlmliyh, i just thought the hottest version of him would be one who is in complete control of every breath being taken around him. there's absolutely no question of who's in charge when he's in the room, yk? sure johnny brought you home, but it's clear as day that he's not the person you really need to worry about

in ltts, it was more fun to focus on simon getting something for himself. dlmliyh is him with everything he wants (and dealing with what johnny wants), ltts is him not giving a single shit about what he has to do to get what he wants. he doesn't care how much he hurts johnny, doesn't care how much he destroys his life, as long as johnny is completely dependent on him, yk?

if (when, hopefully) i give plot-writing a try, i might come back to this and say a little more on how i decide on his motivations :') like conqueror!simon works on a completely different level in my head

[hawkgirlz]

Hi,

I'm a fan of DC comics and I got into it by watching justice league unlimited as a kid and always liked the character of shayera though I was always a wonder woman fan first so I don't know the lore of hawkgirl as much. I was just wondering why you dislike the shayera version of hawkgirl? or if you don't dislike that version do you just prefer kendra saunders version?

oooh we might be here for a while so prepare for a long post.

dcau shayera is to me, a fantasy that men clearly wrote because they didn't want to actually interact with her political side. i alreadyade a big post about why i hate the john/shayera pairing but when you compare her writing in the dcau to her comics, it's just really bad.

her appearing as hawkgirl even though comic shayera hated the hawkgirl name and never went by it post crisis was the real thing that agitated me. it purposely confused people who wanted to read the hawks comics and it spoiled kendra's chances of being her own character in a way that didn't mean being a dcau shayera replacement. pushing a white redhead as hawkgirl when kendra already existed and was confirmed to be latina + was clearly somewhat brown just caused insane damage. even the actresses who play kendra get racist hate for not being a white redhead when she's not even playing shayera.

another stupid thing is that shayera's last name is hol but her husband's name is hro talak. but the thing is, post crisis shayera went by shayera thal because it was a reboot and she was no longer married to katar. WHY did they keep shayera's last name hol when she's not married to katar hol???? it's like these writers were high when reading her comics. i've genuinely never seen a comic character get this badly adapted that they mess up BOTH of her names.

let's start with her beef with wonder woman pre-starcrossed. her beef with wonder woman was originally because of an arc that addressed feminism. shayera's purpose was to basically be the man obsessed woman who says the thanagarians are sexist and her reasoning for all of this is. sex. literally just sex.

now in comics, shayera was a human trafficking victim, a victim of sexual abuse, etc. and when she interacted with diana in comics, they would make fun of men together. so to portray her lime THAT, on top of her main trait being cheater is just. really not a good look at all. i mean all of her storylines revolved around men. she never even defeated the villain in starcrossed and needed a john stewart who didn't evem have a ring to save her. it's also funny to me how the male writers claimed she was masculine or not like other women because she growled or whatever and it's like. comic shayera was wearing a suit and tie to galas. dcau shayera wears crop tops when comic shayera said they made her feel naked. like what masculinity are we talking about here lol.

another thing i remembered is that during this arc, shayera was shocked when she found out arisia was an orphan and was like "oh the pain she went through must have been unimaginable" and it's treated like a joke for batman cause he's sitting right there. but the thing is..... shayera was literally an ORPHAN in comics. comics literally never make you forget she's an orphan, she's always talking about being raised in the slums. on top of never getting her actual origin in the dcau minus that super orientalist bad take on ancient egypt, we NEVER get her origin.

and on top of her writing just being so bad. comic shayera was indoctrinated into the thanagarian government and agreed to spy on katar for said facist government, yes. but like. comic shayera literally KNOWS these people aren't good. and that's what made her so complex and she later realizes she's in the wrong and gets exiled from thanagar abd becomes more progressive.

the dcau version on other hand is just so insanely watered down. even though she's ordered to find out the jl's weaknesses, she somehow didn't know they were planning on destroying earth and wanted to build some FORCEFIELD. like what???? genuinely how can you be that stupid???? especially when dcau shayera literally says her planet is about war which would obviously mean her friends would get hurt. i just can't fathom this plot, there's no way she was that dumb. it just made her look bad like atp i don't blame diana for hating her.

also in comics, it was shayera's thanagarian father behind the original thanagarian invasion, he was a military general. not an evil hawkman rip off. so once again, another interesting plot removed for cracskhip romance drama.

[ericmicael]

A few words about "Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft", there will be some spoilers.

Has it only been 3 years since the 2013 game? This anime takes place after the last game, Shadow, and the anime starts by saying that it took place three years after an adventure between her and Roth that took place before the 2013 adventure. I never really researched dates, but it seems like people agree that Shadow takes place in 2018… I don't know.

This anime is quite LGBT, huh. It starts with the girl in the village having a huge crush on Lara that is even mentioned by Jonah.

There's Lara's childhood friend (I thought they were ex-girlfriends, so she said she sees Lara as a sister and in my frustration I even deleted the screenshots of her that I took, lol) who is Roth's daughter and has some suspicious photos with women, there's the new Zip (the "Tomb Raider" reboot follows the logic of the "The Legend of Zelda" games by bringing new versions of characters, but in the case of "Tomb Raider" there are only two universes: the classic and the reboot) who has jokes about him going out with men and at the final party he's dancing with another man.

But by far the thing that most draws attention to those who played the reboot games and went after the art books and comics, heard about the kiss that Lara would give her (in the dream) and that turned into a hug, the half-Japanese: Samantha Nishimura. She only appears in flashbacks of Yamatai (2013 game) and in some hallucinations/nightmares that Lara has during the journey. I only went after the comics briefly and from what I remember after the 2013 game Himiko's spirit returned to possess Sam, there is a group of bandits involved with this and at the end of the mini-series they manage to banish the ghost for good, but Sam decides to move away to treat the traumas that this experience brought her… That's more or less it. In the art book for "Rise of the Tomb Raider", the second game in the reboot, it says that the initial plan was for her to accompany Lara in the game and not Jonah, and honestly I don't think they changed the role before giving it to the guy since all he does in the game is: be absent for about 70% of it, get kidnapped, mess around with a gun and make mistakes… Considering that Sam in the 2013 game is Princess Peach for Mario Lara to save, it seems like they would have given Nishimura that kind of storyline a lot, but maybe when they decided to swap her out for Jonah they were short on time and used the storyline she had. In "Shadow of the Tomb Raider", the third game in the reboot, Jonah is in fact a more present character and even ends up finding a sweetheart who he marries in this anime.

But Sam… Sam, although she is practically the co-protagonist of the 2013 game, only has mentions in the other two games and there is this plot from the comics that left her out until now and when she is mentioned a lot again in this anime, what happens? She is still away from Lara working abroad and it is the cliffhanger for the possible second season. I admit that I was more irritated by this than excited, damn man, why take her so far away from Lara's life? Don't you want to canonize this LGBT shipp? Don't canonize this (I would be very sad, I love Lara x Sam), but what a bummer this waste of a character and this obsession the writers have with Jonah, at least in this anime Lara has more than one friend.

[onepunchcatboi]

PATCH STORY SPOILERS

I have thoughts! They are below! Please remember that we are a DawnTrail-Critical household!

[Not in the sense that I hate it but I actually really loved a lot about it but that I think the writing was extremely mixed]

WE FINALLY. GOT TO HAVE. OUR TACOS.

!!!!

Ok for real now-first of all really loving everything going on with my beloved Dawn Throne family. Wuk Lamat is being amazing as usual. I love that we got closure about Koanas folks [cuz like, c'mon there was no way it went down as he remembered as like 2 year old LOL;;]. LOVE THAT HE REALLY STOOD BETWEEN A RONEEK AND A GIANT CHARGING DINO OF DOOM LIKE THAT WAS GOING TO STOP IT YOU WEIGHT LIKE 120LBS KOANA LOL

And I love that we've finally got something about Galool Ja and who his mom was, even if everything about it was so sad and broken from the start. I figured it would have to be, given Zoraal Ja's staunch denial of the child's presence. It still hits the right amount of tragic in the reveal of it all.

Also very excited that yes, Y'Shtola will be bothering me to examine the magical maguffin, even if I still don't like that it exists lol.

But also

You know

SO LIKE

Yo.

I can't even.

And I'm not even talking about hologram Sphene. BUT ALSO I AM 100% SURE HER ATTENDANT DID IT. OR SOMEONE CLOSE TO HER. Someone rebooted the system and then yoinked themselves back into the matrix.

ANYWAYS. I MEAN THE REAL SPHENE. THE ONE Y'SHTOLA JUST FOUND IN LIVING MEMORY.

I just. Its gotta be her, bleary eyed and confused about where the fuck she is. I'M CONFUSED TOO THE AETHER JUST SPAT HER BACK OUT FULLY FORMED. She sounds like she just woke up from dying!

At first I was just too mad about the whole thing with AI Sphene being back to think too much on it. On the extremely sus set up of it all, and what those neo regulators are *really for* bc you know Wuk Lamat is right. The AI Sphene we know was prepared to sacrifice the whole damn universe to save all her people, not just a few. Whoever this is realizes they only have so many resources to do this with.

BUT NOW WE HAVE REAL SPHENE IN THE MIX TOO. AND GUYS I UH...REALLY HOPE THIS PLAYS OFF WELL.

Because AI Sphene was a monster, cute smile and all, and I did not enjoy how hard the narrative tried to make us see her as a good person, or how inactive we were about it. Wuk Lamat is new to this, but we, and not just the WoL, but Alisae too, were right there and never said anything about how much this resembles past foes.

But guys. Real Sphene has the possibility of making all that just...a little bit less annoying. I hope. It wont fix the first half's writing issues, but it can turn it in a better direction. Especially if what it is, is that the writers decided to play the long game in terms of their two story halves more so than they have in the past.

Imagine. Queen Sphene wakes up. Finds the kingdom has lived far beyond her expectations. They survived and are wondrous and innovative...and they are also throwing the cycle of life and death out of wack. They are forgetting themselves and each other for the solace of avoiding death and pain. They are hurting others to do it. They are being lead by someone who looks like her, but has no compassion for anyone outside her own kingdom. If Sphene is even half the person the AI made her out to be...then she would be heartbroken to see what has become of her kingdom. And she has the power and authority to stop it.

The story has made a point to say "we don't know what the real Sphene would have wanted". Well shes here now, and boy wouldn't it be fucking amazing, if she said "not any of this".

It has real potential now too, to talk about the difference between the memory and actuality. How memory can distort and change over time, be a shadow of the truth. And...idk that they are going to go this route, but if Sphene is not going to be the only one to come back from Living Memory-then all the Alexandrians have to be confronted with those they forgot. Fucking imagine coming back from the dead only to find none of your loved ones even remember who you are?? What would even be the point?

I also. Really just want this to happen in the middle of the square in Solution 9:

WE COULD BE GOING PLACES PEOPLE!!!