#there's stuff I've probably forgotten about

[rmbunnie]

Red Hood Characterization

This is really long so I'm putting a cut here, I've been thinking about Jason Todd's character motivations and the question of whether or not his actions are based in a Moral Code (I don't think so, not to say he's without any morality) and I talk about that in more depth here.

I saw someone say on here that Titans: Beast World: Gotham City was some of the best Jason Todd internal writing they'd seen in a while, and I've been a Red Hood fan for 8 years or so now? pretty much since I read comics for the first time, so I went and checked out and I thought it was good! The way the person I saw talking about it as if it was rare and unusual made me wonder though, because as well-written as i thought his stances on crime were, there wasn't really anything in it that went against the way I conceptualize Jason?

This kinda plays into a larger question I've been thinking about for a while with Jason though, which is that, do people think that the killing is part of a fundamental worldview that motivates him a la batman, and that worldview is the reason he does the things he does?? Because 8 years ago i was a middle schooler engaging with fiction on the level that a middle schooler does, so I simply did not put much thought into it beyond "poor guy :(" but ever since I actually started trying to understand consistent characterization, I don't really see Jason as someone who's motivated by a moral code in his actions the way batman or superman is!

tbh my personal read is that he's a very socially-motivated guy, his actions from resurrection to his Joker-Batman ultimatum in utrh always seemed to me like every choice made leading up to his identity reveal was either a. to give him the leverage and skill necessary to pull off his identity reveal successfully, or b. to twist the knife that little bit more when he does let Bruce find out who he is. Like iirc there's a Judd Winick tweet like "yeah tldr he chose Red Hood as his identity because it's the lowest blow he could think of." And I think that's awesome, I think character motivations rooted so deeply in character's relationships and emotions are really fun to read! I also think it's where the stagnation/flatness of his character comes from in certain comics, because if his main motivation is one event in one relationship that passes, and he is not particularly attached to anything in his life or the world by the time that comes to pass, it's a little harder to come up with a direction to go with the character after that, because there isn't much of a direction that aligns with something the character would reasonably want? But I do think solving this by saying "all of the morally-off emotionally driven cruelty he did on his way to spite Batman was actually reflective of his own version of Batman's stance that's exactly the same except he thinks it's GOOD to kill people" isn't ideal. To be fully honest, it seems to me like he never particularly cared one way or the other about killing people to "clean Gotham of crime," he just did everything he could to get the power necessary to pull off his personal plans, and took out any particularly heinous people he encountered along the way (like in Lost Days.) Not to say I think the fact he killed people keeps him up at night anymore than everything else in his life events, I just never really thought he was out there wholeheartedly kneecapping some dude selling weed or random guy robbing a tv store for justice.

Looping wayyy back to my question, Is this (^) contradictory to the way he's written/the overall average perception of the character? Because like I enjoyed his writing in Beast World i have zero significant issue with anything there, I just didn't believe it would be a hot take, like yeah, that is Jason. It's been a while since I've read utrh and lost days, but I don't think my takeaway directly contradicts either of those too bad iirc. Idk all this to say I think Jason killing and being alright with killing is an obvious and objective fact, but i guess i've always seen it as more of a practical tactic than a moral belief, and I think taking the actions made during the lowest points of a character's life where he is obsessively focused on this ONEEEE thing and trying to apply it as a Motivating Stance to everything he's done after that, doesn't really follow logically for me.

[navree]

i say this with all due respect, and so much love, cuz i do actually like him, but on what planet is martin an important name at the magnus institute? like, jonah created the place and stuck around for the entire time as its head over and over, jonathan is the lynchpin of the ritual/the archivist/the literal archive itself, martin is just A Guy!

[ayara-resara]

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[storfulsten]

eaouuugh

[brittlebutch]

it's actually so fascinating to me that Brennan has created a character that maintains a pretty relaxed and mild-mannered demeanor and has said multiple times that the absolute Core of her is "FEAR" and how often we see this Fear manifest specifically in Avoidance; it really nails a relationship to that mentality where your brain fully Stops recognizing the emotion properly out of like, sheer self-defense from the stress of having to carry it all the time

I think this is also perfectly showcased in the way we tend to see Tula swing so suddenly from 'level and steady' to 'snarling Panic' and then back again - Just because your brain has detached itself from the Conscious Recognition of the emotion doesn't mean it can Actually stop itself from experiencing it. So the Fear is always there and always acting as a stressor, but because of that inability to Identify it there's no way to recognize or address it before that final straw hits and your bodymind jumps Straight into Full Meltdown Mode; but then once again, once you drop even a Little bit below that Peak Terror your brain ceases to process the emotion; it's like the most exhausting form of Poor Object Permanence in the world

And even if Tula is aware of this happening to her, that doesn't really make it any easier to deal with / address. Even if you're able to spot the symptoms Around the emotion -- chest pain, irritation, nausea, whatever -- because the Emotion Itself is basically impossible to find, you can't really Successfully Pin Down what the problem is OR a way to cope with it. If you can't figure out That You Are Anxious, then figuring out What Is Making You Anxious is impossible, which makes Find A Way To Make Peace With That incomprehensible. That's where the Avoidance comes in: you can no longer identify what might be a Dangerous Situation, which means that Anything New has a big potential to be Really Bad in a variety of ways (ranging "I don't Feel Good" to "Fully Lashing Out bc you've entered Fight/Flight and can't get out of it" to "Actual Outside Danger This Time") and that means the Only Way you know how to be Safe is to just Avoid Doing Anything New and Only stick to Familiar Situations, because anything unfamiliar is a monster of a gamble you don't know how to prepare for or cope with

[old-long-john]

Hi Leo! Only if you welcome the opportunity to gush, but what did you love about Conclave?

Hi! I'm not sure I have anything wildly insightful or original to say about Conclave (I really need to watch it again for that), but it was just really fucking good! It was one of those films that completely drew me in and didn't lose my attention for a single second.

The performances were all so perfectly understated and I love when films or tv shows aren't afraid to sit with silences or ambiguities and just let them take up space. It felt like we as the audience were often either uncomfortably close to characters, or frustratingly removed from them, and that made us participants in this cliquey, claustrophobic political game where we couldn't see all the moving parts or inner machinations any more than Ralph Fiennes' character could.

Something else I loved about the characters was that they all felt so real. Flawed people with sympathies and egos, some bigger than others, all vying for the power to influence based on their own personal certainties. Ralph Fiennes' character was one of the most sympathetic, but also one of the most naive, and there's always something fascinating to me about naivety in characters being both a blessing and a curse.

It also looked beautiful. The cinematography was stunning and it added so much to the storytelling and world building. That's part of what I mean about the film not being afraid to sit in silences and let them take up space, because those long establishing shots or framing choices often said more than a few lines of clunky expositional dialogue ever could. And I could see the temptation in a relatively sedate story like that to want to speed things up in the edit to add some artificial energy and make sure you're not losing your audience's focus, but they didn't do that. They respected the type of story they were telling and the audience's willingness to go along with them.

The whole thing was just well made from top to bottom and it felt like everyone involved in it understood what they were doing, individually and collectively, and so the final result was more than the sum of its parts. Poetic cinema, I guess!

[explorersaremadeofhope]

What's your favorite Sherlock Holmes story?

oh no this is so hard!! i apologise in advance for how long this will get

in terms of like, craft and a good story and what i'm maybe most likely to pick up for a reread, cliché answer, but probably hound of the baskervilles. i think doyle was an occasionally really good horror writer, i'd happily have read more stories where he combined horror and sherlock holmes. i love the setting and the spooky descriptions of the moor. and it's got some of my favourite things, like watson getting to play a large role and be a hero in his own right (even if holmes does humiliate him a bit halfway through).

study in scarlet also, because it's so wonderfully character-driven and focused on holmes and watson's relationship (and how focused they are on each other), even though i gotta admit i tend to skip the middle flashback section lmao.

when it comes to the short stories they're so uneven. i think some of them are genuinely good, redheaded league is a good mystery plot and also hilarious; milverton and illustrious client are similar but both great (and feature another of my fav things: Holmes And Watson Sneak Around). musgrave ritual too, i love the riddle and the historical background, and the framing device of watson scolding holmes for not tidying up and holmes bringing out a box of old cases (did you see this comic? it's so good). final problem and empty house are kind of shoe-ins just because [gestures at their everything], but i actually especially like empt for how it shows us watson still being involved in cases on his own! solitary cyclist is solid too (and has the incongruously metal exchange 'she's my wife!' 'no -- she's your widow.')

but SH is a bit like star trek tos for me - some of the plots are thin as hell, but they have good character moments! so e.g. 3 garridebs is just redheaded league recycled, but it has the infamous 'worth the wound' moment which is incredible. blanched soldier and lion's mane are very mid (okay, lion is just bad lmfao) as mysteries go, but they have holmes being extremely dramatique about how watson has Abandoned Him. reigate squires isn't a favourite case of mine but shows holmes having had a literal breakdown and watson looking after him... i'll stop there because this is way too long but tldr, Many of them are Good for Different Reasons

[awfydreich]

Had been thinking I'd be back here all adrift and fandomless, as I haven't been watching a whole lot of stuff lately and nothing that I've really latched onto. However I am currently catching up with season 2 of IWTV on iplayer and this new season has me slightly but increasingly flaily? So am preparing to be entirely consumed by the time I'm done and having a new fandom to land in

[pokimoko]

@pizzee Thank you for the tagging me to join in on the TV show tag game! I have the exact opposite problem to you in that I watch way too many shows. There's so many I've watched in the last few months alone that I've absolutely loved (Andor, Severance, Poker Face, The Sandman, The Last of Us, Vox Machina, etc etc) but for this I think I'll stick with the ones that I've connected to and cherished the most of the years. It wasn't required or even asked for but all of you are getting Backstory™ for these whether you like it or not. Anyway, in no particular order, here they are:

Moon Knight: Wow, I like the show that is now my defining personality trait? Shocker. But, no, seriously, I don't think I've latched onto a show or group of characters so quickly in my life, or so intensely before. This show has (as of posting this) made me write almost 200k worth of fic about it. I got bloody Discord because of this show because the brainrot was so intense. I am part of a fandom community for really the first time in my life because of this show. It's no exaggeration to say that this show has had a huge impact on me; the dinosaurs got off easy in comparison.

Lucifer: I started watching this show when Season 2 premiered way back in 2016 and I was there watching it up until the end. It was silly and emotional and heartwarming and campy, and the characters were amazing (do I own shirts that Ella Lopez wore in the show? Yes, yes I do.) and the music was excellent. This show loved the heck out of metaphors, and I am not immune to that. Or Tom Ellis.

The Owl House: I used to be obsessed with owls when I was younger (the 'Owls of Ga'Hoole' movie was my jam, and—I'm sorry Zack Snyder directed that??? What the f—ahem, sorry, as I was saying:), and while that particular interest faded over the years, I do remember I was drawn to this show because of the name, and then the premise, and then the characters (Hunter gets a gold star for making me go "argh this guy is annoying" to "I would die for him" within a span of two appearances), and then so, so many things. I've loved a lot of cartoons, many of which deserve a spot on this list, but this one just hits so many of the right notes for me. I will die mad that Disney robbed us of a full season 3, but I will always cherish what we got.

Adventure Time: The first show I ever binged in full, and essentially what kickstarted my career as a Tumblrite (my logo was Marceline for many a year—if you find my *gag* Wattpad account it'll still be there). I still have doodles for this show from when I was 14 (many of which were Bubbline, which was also my first ship). I am the silly little Tumblr fool I am today because of this show.

Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes: I used to watch this show on TV as a kid, random episodes here and there, never enough to truly understand what was going on but enough to know the characters. It was how I first came to know Marvel, long before I even liked superheroes, and it was the reason I watched 'The Avengers', which in turn was the reason I went and saw 'Age of Ultron' (the first MCU movie I ever saw at the cinema) and then, well, the rest is history. But it all started here, with this show. (Also, let's be real, the theme song slaps.)

Doctor Who: specifically the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor's seasons, though I love Ten's as well (even if 'Midnight' and the following Library episodes—episodes I now adore—scared me off from the show for almost 7 years). I might have also been a little in love with Clara. This show has made me sob with true and utter grief (musical motifs that will make you cry without warning and other secrets your Doctor won't tell you!) and also made me feel like I'm taking acid. It's got the range darling.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: I've watched this whole thing three times. It's just…It's good. It's really good. The world, the characters, the animation/visuals, the god damn narrative. I'm still in awe of how masterful this anime was. I aspire to this level of multilayered, intelligent storytelling… and also the level of comedy. It too has the range. And god I love when shows can do that well.

Bee and Puppycat: I used to watch the YouTube series for this (along with 'Bravest Warriors' and a bunch of other Cartoon Hangover shorts) as a tween and it's just a very fond, cosy memory for me. And now there's the Netflix version and it's been wonderful to not only get more of what was already there, but more to the story in general. My childhood self is being tucked into bed and wrapped in a blanket, content in the knowledge that things left unfinished are not always over.

That really is the tip of the iceberg of all the shows I've loved over the years but we'd be here for a month of Sundays if I went on about all them, so I'll take my leave now and pass on the baton. I'm going to tag @yellowocaballero, @mockspector, @theophagism and @aster-o1d. Have fun! :3

[shadeswift99]

Huh. I only know you as the *waves hands* who made those cool af player theory posts. like humans are weird but for minecraft

Oh this is fascinating actually. I guess I vaguely registered that the couple posts I made like that had gotten sort of popular, but I never considered there might be people who know me only as The [REDACTED] Who Makes Those Posts. Neat!

[senkuplushie]

ehehehjf just realized I've forgotten to post a lot of my recent drawings here

[yousaytomato]

Trying my hardest not to be anxious and sad about things that have already happened and that I can't do anything about now. But How

[asouthfacingfridge]

Even though my bedroom's been plenty warm enough the last 2 mornings, my HDD is still making a lot of noise & vibrating

But if I restart it from the login screen, it's perfectly normal

[krawdad]

Switching to an old computer so I have something while I send the broken one in and oh my god suddenly I am aware of how much time has passed and I don't like it

[medicinemane]

You know, I haven't heard much news out of Iran (which worries me), but I want to say that I still firmly stand with the Iranian people

[theskoomacat]

i finally got both Blasphemous 2 endings and decided to watch the credits but with headphones off. but for some reason after they've ended, i am back at the last boss arena, standing in front of The Child who is, uh, sunbathing - instead of being dumped at the main menu. can't move or use any buttons. i wonder if this is a bug or this is like. the heaven i was promised lol