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cinnamunspice · 2 years ago

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THE STATS:

physical appearance

5' 8", 175lbs, she has muscle definition in her arms and legs, but is very curvy and healthy looking in her overall appearance. Medium blonde, wavy hair that is sometimes ironed straight. She looks like she gives great hugs. Has multiple healed/faded gun wounds, knife markings, and what appears to be burnt skin areas (either by fire or electricity). Also still visible (but faded) stretch marks across her belly and thighs that can be visible if wearing a crop top/short shorts!

gender / sexuality/ birthday /age

✨️girl.✨️ bisexual. august 11th. she is played usually around 21 years old on this blog.

✨️ click for: spoiler!tag

✨️click for: batgirl!tag

FOR THE RECORD:

(credits to DC Comics Encyclopedia All-New Edition - 2016)

Before the Flashpoint event, Stephanie Brown was the only character to serve as both Robin and Batgirl. She debuted in the pages of Detective Comics, but soon became romantically involved with Tim Drake in his Robin title.

Having had a tumultuous life, including giving her baby up for adoption and troubles with her single mom, Spoiler eventually worked her way into Batman's good graces, briefly replacing Tim as Robin. Fired by the Dark Knight for not following his directions, she continued her crime-fighting career - with Barbara Gordon's blessing - adopting the name and costume of Batgirl.

Hero by Proxy: As Batgirl, Stephanie fought crime on her college campus at Gotham University with the help of her own Oracle of sorts - computer expert Proxy. Thanks to a grant from Batman, Inc., Batgirl set up shop in her own Batcave-like hideout she called Firewall.

AN ORIGIN STORY

(credits going to essential batman encyclopedia - 2008)

Stephanie Brown was the daughter of Arthur Brown, the costumed criminal known as Cluemaster. He and his wife, Crystal, enjoyed a middle-class life until Arthur's television series was canceled. They then spiraled toward poverty until he adopted a costume and gimmicks to begin a crime spree to provide for his family. He was not very successful and was repeatedly imprisoned, leaving Crystal to raise their daughter Stephanie mostly on her own. (Detective Comics #647, August 1992)

She came to resent her loser of a father and his constant return to crime when it was clearly not something he was good at. In her mind the only way to stop him was through an intervention - although the approach she chose was unique. She designed and wore a purple cloaked outfit and showed up to interfere with his crimes as the Spoiler. With clues she left for the police, it was easy for Batman and Robin to apprehend him one more time, although Spoiler joined in the process.

A curious thing happened, though: Stephanie came to enjoy the life of a costumed adventurer. Soon she was donning her outfit regularly to run the Gotham City rooftops alongside Robin (Timothy Drake), on whom she developed a crush. Her nascent crime-fighting career got derailed when she discovered she was pregnant, carrying the child she'd conceived with a fellow teen whose family had abandoned Gotham after its devastating earthquake. When she chose to carry the child to term and then give it up for adoption, Robin supported her, going so far as to create the civilian guise of Alvin Draper so he could take her to Lamaze classes. (Robin [second series] #65, June 1999)

Their time together ignited a romance that survived his being sent to study for a year at the nearby Brentwood Academy. As with most teen romances, they had their ups and downs, misunderstandings, and rounds of jealousy. It was all complicated by their crime-fighting careers, with Robin splitting his time at school with Batman, the Teen Titans, and finally with her. (Robin [second series] #98, March 2002) Stephanie, though, was an untrained fighter who had more spirit than skill and no other friends in costume, until she and Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) began spending time together. Batgirl liked Stephanie a lot but protected her by frequently giving her a mild concussion to prevent her from endangering herself in critical situations.

At one point, while Robin was out of town, Batman - who normally kept his distance from her - surprised Spoiler with an invitation to train together. He went farther, revealing Robin's real name to her, something Tim Drake had kept to himself. She also received training for a time from Black Canary as a favor to Oracle, a fellow Bird of Prey. That all came to an end when the Dark Knight determined that Spoiler did not have what it took for their dangerous careers and asked the Birds to end their help.

Cluemaster never did give up his criminal ways. While he was in jail, he accepted a mission with the Suicide Squad, hoping to survive and earn parole. Instead, he was thought dead on the mission. Spoiler was angered upon learning the news. She distanced herself from Robin and went out into the city, seeking someone to hit. As a result, she brought down the Riddler and eventually reconciled with Tim.

Stephanie continued to show more heart than skill, getting injured more than once, breaking her leg during a fight against Johnny Warlock. Undaunted, when she learned that Tim had hung up his cape at his father's insistence, she crafted her own Robin outfit and accessed the Batcave. She begged the Caped Crusader for a chance to be the fourth Teen Wonder. He agreed to train her and see if she could improve but warned her that if she disobeyed an order even once, she was through.

For seventy-one days she trained hard and patrolled with Batman, absorbing more than she thought possible. In addition to her successes, she also did as he expected, saving his life by disobeying an order. When the mission was done, she was fired and banned from the Batcave. (Robin [second series] #126-128 , July-September 2004)

In shock and desperate to show what she was capable of, Stephanie accessed the Batcomputer, found one of Batman's myriad War Games plans, and activated it. The plan, though, hinged on Matches Malone being available to fill a power vacuum in Gotham's underworld. Stephanie was unaware at the time that Malone was an alias for Batman, so the plan pretty quickly derailed. During the gang war her actions ignited, she sought out Orpheus, the man Batman tapped to fill the gap created by Malone's absence. She was present when the agent was killed by Black Mask, who then captured and tortured Stephanie, Despite her pain, she wouldn't tell him anything and was eventually rescued by Catwoman. The feline took the dying girl to Dr. Leslie Thompkins for treatment but her injuries were too severe and she died, the Dark Knight at her side. (Batman #633, December 2004)

||| SLIGHT ALTERATION FROM CANON AHEAD: |||

Or so it was believed. Stephanie had died for a few minutes, that was true: but her 'death' was the story they pushed, orchestrated by Dr. Leslie Thompkins to allow Stephanie the time she desperately needed to heal from her wounds. She’d since been living under an alias in Africa, but was unable to fight the urge to return to being a full-time Super Hero. She returned to Gotham to take up the mantle of Spoiler.

(the following is credited by DC Universe Encyclopedia Entry - 2018)

Following the massive shake-up in the wake of Bruce Wayne’s “death” (FINAL CRISIS, 2008-2009) and the resulting BATTLE FOR THE COWL(2009), Stephanie found herself taking on a new role in Gotham City. When the second Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, gave up her mantle, Stephanie stepped in and became the third Batgirl.

She worked closely with Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl. She maintained her new role until the events of FLASHPOINT(2011) rebooted the continuity of the DC universe-- into the "NEW 52".

IMPORTANT EVENTS

( written by the amazing wikia writer: Nevermore999 at the stephanie brown wiki )

Stopping her fathers first heist as Spoiler (Detective Comics 647--649)

Stopping her fathers second heist and receiving a kiss from Robin (Robin 3-5)

Becoming Tim's girlfriend (Robin (56))

First team up with Batgirl (Batgirl(20))

Discovering her pregnancy (Robin (57))

Having her baby and giving it up for adoption (Robin (65))

Meeting Dinah Lance and becoming her apprentice (Robin 80 Page Giant)

Training with Batgirl (Batgirl (28))

Discovering Tim's true identity and becoming apprentice to Batman (Robin (84))

Becoming Robin in an alternate reality in "World Without Young Justice" (Robin (102))

Her father's "death" (Robin (109))

Batman tells her to stop being Spoiler (Gotham Knights (37))

Becoming Robin IV (Robin (126))

Teaming up with Batgirl as Robin (Batgirl (53))

Fired by Batman (Robin (128))

Her death (War Games-Batman (633))

Saves Batgirl's life as a ghost (Batgirl (62))

More near death experiences with Steph for Cass! (Batgirl 72-73)

Person dressed in a Spoiler costume makes an appearance after Stephanie's death (Gotham Underground (2))

Tim is reminded of Stephanie when he meets rogue vigilante "Violet" in her purple costume, mentions Stephanie's lack of memorial, and believes he sees Stephanie in the hall at his high school (Robin (170))

Spoiler unmasks and reveals herself to be Stephanie (Robin (172))

Spoiler finally talks to Tim to warn him he's been led into a trap. Enraged and believing her to be an impersonator of his dead loved one, he attacks her, only letting up slightly when she says his real name. Before she can reveal who she is though, they are interrupted by Sin Fang. (Robin (173))

Spoiler reveals herself to both Robin and Batman as Stephanie Brown, and is welcomed back into the Bat Family. She has apparently also finally learned Batman's true identity as Bruce Wayne. She reunites with her mother as well. Robin (174)

Spoiler teams up with Tim again for the first time since her absence, and a story about her time in Africa is told. (Robin/Spoiler Special)

Stephanie accompanies Tim to Titans Tower, and gets to interact with several of the Titans. (Teen Titans (third series)(66)

Stephanie decides to keep being Spoiler, despite the fact Tim wishes her not to. The two of them reach an agreement, and Stephanie reveals she has managed to procure technology that lets her turn invisible when she wants to. (GOTHAM GAZETTE: BATMAN ALIVE?)

Stephanie becomes Batgirl (Batgirl (third series) (1))

Stephanie receives Barbara's vow of support and guidance in her new role as Batgirl and gets her own Batgirl costume. (Batgirl (third series) (3))

Stephanie has her first team up with Supergirl and the two become friends. (World's Finest (3))

Stephanie saves Batman and is accepted as Batgirl by Batman and Robin. (Batgirl (third series) (7))

Stephanie teams up and reconciles with Tim. He tells her he's proud of her and they go to save those she loves. (Batgirl (third series) (8) - Red Robin (10))

Stephanie teams up with Wonder Woman and several other superheroines to rescue a senator! (Wonder Woman (600)

Stephanie saves the city and rescues her mentor Barbara from the Calculator Batgirl (third series) (12)

Stephanie passes a test thrust upon her by a recently-returned Bruce. When she finds out, she tells Bruce off for always manipulating her and treating her like a tool, and even slaps him in the face. Bruce gives his approval for Steph being Batgirl, and even say privately that he thinks she's grown into a capable crimefighter. Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl (1)

#›› PINNED POST .#›› STEPHANIE . ❝ all I got is these broken clocks. ❞#updated 4/11/24

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cloysterbell · 4 years ago

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okay WHAT is leverage about, because i see you posting about it a lot and i can’t even work out what genre of show it is

Leverage is essentially a modern day Robin Hood show where 5 criminals who each offer up a distinct skill steal from the rich and give back to the people they've wronged. "The rich and powerful take what they want, we steal it back for you. Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys. We provide... Leverage" is what Nate says in the title sequence for every episode

So tl;dr this lil ragtag group of criminals take down huge companies and CEOs who do shitty things/do people dirty and they do so in ways that'll zag on you and it's INCREDIBLY satisfying. Like for example in The Studio Job, they send Eliot undercover as a country singer so they can take down a corrupt record producer/CEO who is stealing music and passing it off as his own. A lot of the stories are ripped directly from the headlines too which like.... this isn't a spoiler but the 2008 financial crisis is basically the reason why this show exists in the first place

The main 5 are Nate (Timothy Hutton), the mastermind; Sophie (Gina Bellman), the grifter; Parker (Beth Riesgraf), the thief; Hardison (Aldis Hodge), the hacker; and Eliot (Christian Kane), the hitter/retrieval expert. They 100% embody the found family trope and by the end of episode 1 they're already shucking off their loner "I only work alone" personas to become a fambly and it SLAPS

In terms of what genre Leverage is and the things you see me posting, it's essentially a procedural where each episode roughly follows the same format. They meet the client, they partake in hijinks, and then they solve the puzzle and get the thing, usually zagging on you the viewer in the process. Sometimes things go wrong and they have to improvise. But since I think you're referring in particular to that The Office Job gifset, sometimes they break that format. That episode is a spoof on The Office and the single camera mockumentary. There are two historical-esque episodes told through flashback (one about DB Cooper, the other about chasing a Van Gogh painting through WWII). There's a Rashomon style episode where everyone tells their unreliable narrator side of the same story. So usually you know what to expect but that's not always what you get

Leverage is trope city (and I mean this in the BEST way possible), it's competency porn, it's written by a team that geniunely cares for not just the characters but the fans, it's hilarious, it's heartbreaking, it's smart as hell, it's got an all-star cast, and it's so much fun. But at the end of the day, Leverage is a story about 5 unconventional criminals who come together to steal the one thing they never knew they needed: a family

#questionbell #anonymous #anon this is the funniest ask i've ever gotten #it's like when caroline asked me what haikyuu was and i had to physically restrain myself from infodumping

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tfrohock · 3 years ago

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The Batman 2022 [movie review]

Last week, I promised to share my thoughts about The Batman with you. It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a movie, so it’s probably wise to let you know that, as with all my movie reviews, there may be spoilers ahead. It quite frankly depends on what you consider a spoiler. If you haven’t seen The Batman and you hate spoilers, you’re welcome to come back later.

If you’re still here, come closer. It’s time for me to share my thoughts with you about The Batman.

There have been so many Batman movies, the titles are getting a bit thin, so just to be clear, I’m talking about The Batman [2022] with Robert Pattinson. Frankly I had to search it like that, too: “the batman” “robert pattinson” 2022, because holy batman the batman franchise is endless.

I grew up watching Adam West’s Batman, who was a very nice altruistic gentleman who seemed like a genuinely good person. He was a hero to me growing up, primarily because children don’t generally question the ambiguous nature of vigilantes. In my eyes, he was a really cool, rich guy with lots of money and cool toys and adopted Robin while championing people who needed help.

Fast forward to the 1980s and Michael Keaton, whose characterization of Bruce Wayne in Batman (1989) was very much like the Adam West of old and was directed by Tim Burton. The end result was a movie that took the character and his origin story seriously, which was exceptionally novel at that time for a superhero movie, but even so we see a Bruce Wayne who is very much comfortable in his own skin. Then we had Batman Returns, also with Keaton, and with an added bonus of Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Danny Devito as Penguin, likewise directed by Burton. Both Batman and Batman Returns had a Gothic feel to the stories, and though they were dark in tone, both had a certain amount of camp to them that made them fun.

Truth be told, I totally skipped the 1990s (Batman Forever and Batman and Robin). Based on most reviews, I think I’ll continue to pass on those two. So many Batmen, so little time.

In 2005, we have Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, because everyone loves a comeback story. I didn’t see that one either. I don’t know. After the debacle of the 1990s franchise, I decided to take a break.

But then … then came The Dark Knight (2008) with Heath Ledger’s magnificent take on the Joker. Honestly, I don’t have much to say about Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, because Nolan’s films seemed to be less about Bruce Wayne and more about Batman. Bale didn’t detract from either the Bruce Wayne or Batman character, but then again, I don’t feel he added much to it, either.

West and Keaton played both Bruce Wayne and Batman with camp, but Bale didn’t make much of an impression on me, which is probably why I skipped The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Completely unimpressed with the meandering plot and horrible reviews, I likewise skipped Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). After that, Batman moves into the Justice League franchise (Suicide Squad [2016] and Justice League [2017]), which I haven’t seen, because I was frankly getting a little burned out on Batman again—not Bruce Wayne.

All of which brings me to The Batman directed by Matt Reeves and staring Robert Pattinson as yes you guessed it The Batman. The title is something of a misnomer though, because this is one of the few movies in the Batman franchise that I’ve seen focus almost relentlessly on Bruce Wayne. Pattinson carries the role with all the angst and conflict that I’ve always wanted to see in the character but never knew it until The Batman opened the raw wound that is Bruce Wayne and his grief. It’s evident in scene after scene that Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is using Batman’s mask to hide more than his face. He doesn’t want to deal with the grief of his parents’ deaths, so he channels his energy into being the Batman, who personates vengeance.

Pattinson is perfect in this role. He is the kind of actor who works to get into his character’s skin, and he pulled off the one thing I’ve never seen in a Batman movie: the adult-child behind the mask. The pain of his parents’ murder shadows his every action, and he is so obsessed with crime and bringing down the various gangsters, he is also completely neglecting his fortune. Alfred is the sole reason Bruce Wayne isn’t living on the street, and Andy Serkis doesn’t play the role of Alfred as a subservient butler but as one part surrogate parent/one part estate administrator.

Which leads me to another thing that I enjoyed about Reeves’ take on the franchise: he knows this movie is an action adventure, but he is not afraid to develop layers of characterization so he peel them off one at a time. Bruce Wayne isn’t the only one under the microscope here, and a stellar cast pulls off a deeply layered movie that still manages to pack the action into one neat sequence after another. The story is about the masks the various characters wear and how they often delude themselves of their true motives. Reeves pulls it all together brilliantly.

The pièce de résistance comes when the Riddler tells Batman that the Batman’s vigilante methods were what inspired him. It is a magnificent scene and Pattinson’s horror at the revelation that he and the Riddler are more alike than different digs deep at the truth behind Batman’s mask, burrowing straight into the soul of Bruce Wayne. If Batman is a good person for taking out gangsters, how is the Riddler an evil person for destroying governmental corruption? What separates them?

Wisely, Reeves leaves the answer with the audience, but he uses the entire film to draw stark black and white lines between class and privilege. Bruce Wayne is clearly someone who wants to be a good person, a helpful person, someone who can make a difference in other people’s lives, but in this movie, he only seems able to reach out while masked and in his persona as the Batman. Unmasked, Bruce Wayne is merely struggling to heal, unlike Paul Dano’s haunting performance as the Riddler, who wields his pain like a hammer to destroy those he hates.

This is, by far, the most brutal Batman movie in terms of violence, but that’s because Reeves holds up a mirror to our own world and reflects the darkest parts of our society back at us: the governmental corruption, the Trumpian followers cultivated by the Riddler, and the ineptitude of a police force corrupted by its own mythology. Watch The Batman carefully and you will know the enemy—it is us.

The Batman [2022] — Highly Recommended

#Batman #Robert Pattinson #Zoë Kravitz #Paul Dano #The Batman 2022

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sailorbadger · 4 years ago

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The Fandom’s Least Favorite Character - an analysis on Kate

Kate is probably the most hated character in the Robin Hood fandom. Not even probably, she is the one who consistently gets the most hate. So, what has she done? Did she commit several murders? Did she kill off a beloved character? Did she do something so problematic that she deserves to burn in hell? Did she do war crimes? No, her biggest sin is existing among unfair circumstances.

The title of this post is kind of a lie. This analysis is not really about Kate as a character, but about how she is written, how the narrative presents her and how this all affects the fandom’s treatment of her. I started writing this because I am sick of seeing so much unnecessary hate for Kate. This is just me commenting on larger trends I have witnessed and a decade’s worth of frustrations finally being written out. If you do recognize yourself from some of my descriptions, I hope that this post will give you something to think about, but just know that this is not meant for any one person in particular.

I’m not going to try to convince anyone to think of Kate as their favorite character. I’m not even trying to make anyone like her. I’m just trying to see why she is so hated within the fandom. So, let’s start off with how it all began. Grab some snacks, you’re going to need them; this is a long one.

Introduction: Is it all Merlin’s fault?

To understand the context in which Kate was introduced to the show, let’s first look at where we left off at the end of season 2. I’ll start with the in-universe changes first. The biggest change obviously is that Gisborne murdered Marian. This altered the whole course of the show. Marian was such a central part of not only the show but also the Robin Hood legends, that at that point it was obvious that things were going to change. Will and Djaq left the show as well. Them leaving is not as dramatic of a change for the show’s narrative since they were not as central as Marian, but they did make up one third of the gang. This meant that there was a need for new characters to be introduced in season 3.

In our world, things changed between seasons 2 and 3 as well. There was a larger gap in production than before (with seasons 1 and 2 coming out in consecutive years and there being a gap year between seasons 2 and 3), and some of the people working on the show left or were replaced. Robin Hood’s spot on the BBC schedule was taken over by Merlin for 2008 so I guess we could blame that show for everything that went wrong in season 3. (I’m obviously joking here but conspiracy theories are welcome.)

The most important change in my opinion – and I think this is even more important to how season 3 turned out than anything that happened in-universe in season 2 – is the fact that Dominic Minghella was no longer writing or producing the show. It’s surprising to me that the fandom as a whole doesn’t ever really talk about this, when in many other fandoms creators or showrunners leaving the show are usually a big deal and mark the end of an era. I myself only found out about Minghella’s departure from the show before season 3 this year, but it seems to explain a lot on why season 3 felt so different from seasons 1 and 2.

With all that out of the way, the stage is set, and it is time to look at how exactly Kate came into the show.

Six boots, two feet

Season 3 starts off with my least favorite episode of the whole show (see my episode ranking for more details). It tries its best to address the events of the season 2 finale, but in a way that will let it quickly get to the season 3 storylines. Unfortunately, the things that happened at the end of the previous season were so important that they would have needed several episodes to cover the full impact of the events.

Kate herself is introduced in episode 2. She is immediately given a reason to hate the villains and join the fight when her brother dies. She doesn’t join the outlaws right away, but when she does, she essentially has to take over three roles at once. I do not think it’s a coincidence that I think episode 4 is Kate’s best episode and that she’s at her best before she actually joins the gang. That is the point in the show when she is allowed to be her own character rather than someone who is trying to fill a void.

Like I said, Kate has three roles to take over; she gets Djaq’s spot in the gang as “the girl one”, Will’s role as “the peasant with personal connections to the people’s suffering” (and interestingly, since Kate’s family is around, her connection could have been even stronger than Will’s) and Marian’s as “the love interest”. Since the season 2 finale got rid of both of the only female characters in the show, it was inevitable that they would eventually be replaced if the show wanted to include any romantic storylines (it was, after all, 2009, so queer representation was out of the question). With three pairs of boots to fill, and only two feet, it should not come as a surprise to anyone that Kate can’t possibly do it all alone. The show does introduce Tuck and Isabella as well to help fill the gaps, but I think Kate gets labeled as “the replacement” far more often than the other two.

A triangle without a base is just an angle

Kate had all the potential for a good plotline. Her brother died, making her hungry for revenge, yet this part of her is only sprinkled in every now and then instead of being a part of her character arc. Instead, she is made a part of not one, not two, but three love triangles.

I’ll start with the Much/Kate/Allan one. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t actually exist. All sides of this “triangle” are… weird. The writers try to frame it as a legitimate love triangle, when only one person in it seems to have any real feelings for another character. Much is shown to be interested in Kate, but we as the audience are never given a reason for why he likes her or even how he fell for her. I guess we’ll just have to take his “I fall in love very easily” (from 2x4) quite literally. Kate does not seem to have any romantic feelings for Much, and she seems oblivious to his feelings as well.

To be honest, I don’t think Kate ever really saw Allan as an option either. At best I could admit that maybe she had a slight attraction to him, but I never got the impression that it was something she would seriously pursue. I don’t think Allan was seriously interested in Kate either. His flirting with her is quite similar to his joke-y flirting with Marian and Djaq. My friend and I talked at length about this, but Allan doesn’t seem like the type of person to flirt for real. This could be a whole analysis on its own, so I won’t go too deep into it here. But I don’t think Allan considers Kate a legitimate romantic option.

So, this “love triangle” only exists in Much’s head and in the narrative the writers try to force on the audience. The Kate/Allan side of it is practically dropped the minute Kate/Robin becomes a thing.

Then there is the Much/Kate/Robin/Isabella triangle that is not a triangle either. I already covered Much/Kate for the most part, so I won’t go into it. Since the Robin/Isabella relationship is not that central to Kate’s character, I won’t bore you and myself by going through it that deeply. The buildup for that relationship is practically nonexistent, and so is the end of it. The whole Robin/Isabella relationship feels forced, because the writers didn’t know how to properly replace Marian while coming up with something new.

Kate’s crush on Robin seems to develop out of nowhere as well. It looks like a pattern when it comes to romances this season. Robin himself doesn’t appear to have any romantic interest towards Kate until he and Isabella “break up”. After that point, their relationship progresses way too fast. It doesn’t help that they seem to have no chemistry between them, and Robin treats Kate like a child and then five seconds later proceeds to make out with her.

Honestly, if Kate had to have a romance with a character on the show (and with it being 2009 obviously they could not fulfil my dreams of Kate being bi but that’s beside the point), it should have been with Archer. The two of them had more chemistry in the 30 seconds they worked together in 3x12 than Robin and Kate had the entire season. It would have also made me far less uncomfortable, since the characters would have been closer in age. Which brings me to my next point.

“There is only one thing worse than a rapist – a child”

How old is Kate supposed to be? Seriously, this show can’t seem to make its mind about her. In general, I do not trust anyone’s age on this show unless it’s been stated somewhere. I know some people try to base the characters’ ages on the actors’ real ages, but to that I say, “fuck that”. Archer is the best example of the fact that this show did not even try to cast people who are the right age, or even look the part. (Seriously, he does not look even close to being 20.)

That being said, Kate is written like she is both 15 and 25 at the same time. I don’t know if the writers had a specific age in mind when they were writing her, but there is a huge difference between those ages. I think it’s the most reasonable thing to assume that she’s in her late teens, maybe at most in her very early twenties. She is still living with her family (I know that most women at the time married in their 20s but it’s not like this show is concerned with historical accuracy) and her behavior is a little immature at times. With all that said, I hope it doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone that I find it incredibly uncomfortable that all the men that are presented as possible love interests to her are fully grown men.

It is the most obvious in Robin and Kate’s scenes. Like I said earlier, Robin treats Kate like a child and speaks to her in a condescending way, only to then make out with her in the same scene. I must wonder why the writers didn’t just age up Kate. I think it would have been more interesting to make her someone who is already married, and instead of losing her brother, it would be her husband that dies. Of course, I would prefer it if Kate didn’t have to be a part of any of these love triangles to begin with but aging her up would have made the dynamics far less uncomfortable. (I do have to also point out the fact that Meg is also written like she is a teen girl. The show then tries to pair her off with Gisborne, who is even older than the men Kate is being forced into love triangles with. So… yikes.)

Let’s take a break, drink some water

Let’s take a moment to recap what we’ve learned here. First of all, Kate entered the show in unfair circumstances and with only two feet to fill three pairs of boots. She was only ever allowed to be a part romance plots, and she didn’t get a proper character arc of her own. In general, the women in this season were not written well (not that seasons 1 and 2 were the height of feminist television either), and they were reduced to being love interests or tools to further the male character’s plotlines. Without Dominic Minghella involved and with a full year between seasons 2 and 3, the show lost some of its charm. Unfortunately, this meant that Kate was not the best written character. But I do not think she deserves all the hate the fandom has given her over the years.

Interlude: Doctor Death

Before I get too much into how the fandom has reacted to Kate over the years, I feel like I should explain my own history with this show and the fandom surrounding it.

I started watching the show when it was first airing here on TV. It was some time during season 2, and once I had seen my very first episode, I watched all the following ones as well. With the finale, there was a problem. I had seen 2x12 and knew that the final episode of the season would air the next week. I was so excited for it, but then my mother decided that we would all go out and have dinner. I kept looking at the clock all day, hoping I would make it home in time. I got home just to see the credits rolling. I’m still a little bitter about it.

After this, I was desperate to see how the season ended. I’ll remind you that this was before it was common for shows to be put online officially. Streaming wasn’t really a thing yet. I did the only thing I knew what to do; I went to YouTube. The thing is, I did not know that what I had been watching was the second season of the show. So, you can imagine my confusion, when I find the very grainy version of 1x13 on YouTube and start watching it. Eventually I figured out my mistake and watched 2x13. At some point I watched season 1 as well, but I honestly don’t have that many memories of when I first watched this show. My clearest memory is being betrayed by my own mother when she forced me to go out for dinner.

Since I do not remember what year this all happened in, I did some googling and if I’m correct, season 2 aired here for the first time in the summer of 2009, with reruns in the summer of 2010. Because I have no other memories for context, I can’t say whether or not season 3 was even out in the UK at the time. Anyway, I did not watch season 3 for a few years. I also didn’t engage with the fandom until 2012, when I joined Tumblr. (A side note: while trying to find out when season 2 aired, I found the episode titles and descriptions. Apparently 2x4’s Finnish title was Doctor Death. There were some real gems on that list but this one was my favorite.)

Over the years, I had read bits and pieces about season 3 on the internet. I was still upset about the end of season 2, and the things I read did not make me want to watch season 3. Sometime in 2012-2013 I finally gave in and watched season 3. I was mostly disappointed by the season as a whole, and as for Kate specifically, I found her annoying. In the fandom, I went along with the Kate-hate that was popular in the fandom at the time.

I did a full rewatch of the show with my friend in 2016–2017. During that time, I didn’t hate Kate as much as I did before. Maybe it was that I had a fresh perspective, maybe it was that I had matured in those few years. Who knows? I was mostly disappointed by the bad writing. Even back then, I wished that Kate had been given a proper chance.

The next proper rewatch of the whole series I did was this past winter. I watched the show in a non-chronological order with someone who had never seen it before. This time, I was angry at the writers and found myself half-ironically becoming a Kate-stan. I also began to really pay attention to how the fandom has talked about her over the years and was unnerved by the hate has she gotten.

So, here we are. Time to take a look at how the fandom has treated Kate. Most of this will be based on my own experiences and memories, so if someone else has a different point of view to offer (especially from the early days of the fandom while the show was still ongoing), feel free to comment! I just wanted to give you my own history with the fandom to show that I have indeed been around for most of the fandom’s history.

The hate-train for Kate-town leaves from platform 4

It seems that from the very beginning, Kate was disliked. I remember reading negative comments about her way back in the early 2010s (I would try to look for examples, but I just spent 30 minutes trying to find out when season 2 first aired here and it’s currently 1am so I am not spending any more time googling right now). There are fics that make fun of her and how badly she was written, and most of the jokes and dislike about season 3 seem to always come back to her. This attitude has been present in the fandom in other contexts as well. Over the years, the hate towards Kate has come and gone along with the popularity of the fandom.

Every once in a while, someone has tried to either write Kate better or even see her as a character that was let down by the writers. Mostly this has not led to any significant change in the fandom’s attitudes. I feel like whenever some of the older fans outgrow their Kate-hate by either just maturing and realizing it’s pointless or just not wanting to waste their time making fun of her, new fans come in and start the whole thing all over again.

I am grateful, however, that the general consensus in the fandom seems to be (at least in the year 2021) that the actress is not to blame for Kate’s faults. It still does make me uncomfortable that people go so far as to cross out her face on pictured etc. just to show how much they hate the character. This hate that Kate gets feels very misogynistic at times and is at least partially the result of the show’s misogynistic writing, but the actress deserves no negativity for playing Kate.

What about Isabella?

One thing that is very interesting to note is that while both Kate and Isabella were newcomers in season 3 and were both replacements for Marian in the sense that they were love interests for Robin, only Kate has received a significant amount of hate over the years. So why does the fandom not hate Isabella?

I think that a big reason for why Isabella is tolerated – not necessarily liked, I haven’t seen too many people genuinely enjoying her character – better than Kate is the way the narrative treats them. Kate is essentially forced down our throats. The show is so desperate for us to like her that they end up making her unlikeable. Isabella, on the other hand, is eventually made into a villain, and thus we’re not meant to sympathize with her in the end anyway. (I could write a whole rant about how Isabella’s treatment in the narrative is bad but let’s not do it here.) Isabella also has the advantage of being Gisborne’s sister, so her backstory ties better into already existing characters. I think it’s reasonable to say that Gisborne being a fan-favorite in certain parts of the fandom doesn’t hurt Isabella’s case either.

Isabella is also only involved with Robin, while the show keeps pairing Kate off (unsuccessfully) with almost half the cast. I think she was written in a way that reminds people of Mary Sues, and considering how fandoms tend to not like characters like that, it’s no surprise that Kate got all the hate she did.

Murder and being annoying – they’re the same thing, right?

So why exactly does the fandom hate Kate so much? Obviously, the writing is a big reason. Season 3 is not written well, which means that Kate is not written well either. She doesn’t really get a storyline of her own, and instead her main purpose is to be someone else’s love interest. I would also add that Kate doesn’t really get hate for her personality. Most of the hate that she gets in terms of character traits revolves around her being annoying, but that’s not really a personality trait. So I think the issue is not her personality, but her role.

The next reason won’t surprise anyone who has spent as much time in fandoms as I have: Fandoms do not like female characters. Well, I should probably rephrase that. Fandoms tend to hate female characters more easily than male characters. I’m not going to analyze too deeply on why this is, as I’m sure someone has already done research on this with references to actual feminist theory. There is a lot of internalized misogyny in fandoms, and female characters get hate for even the slightest wrongdoing, while male characters who commit far worse crimes often have a strong fanbase that will defend them despite these flaws, especially if said male character is played by a conventionally attractive man.

Kate is also blamed for things such as breaking Much’s heart, even though she was never really aware of Much’s feelings in the first place, so it was definitely not intentional. She’s blamed for every small wrongdoing in a way other characters in the show are not. I’ve seen people criticize Kate for small things that she has not even done on purpose. Some of these people then also go on to ignore the fact that Gisborne has committed several murders, taken part in the oppression of the poor and done many many more atrocious things, and paint him as a more sympathetic character than Kate. I understand if you do not like Kate, but it feels misogynistic that the female characters are held to different standards than the male characters. I can already hear some of the Gisborne-fans saying “but I acknowledge his actions and think what he did was wrong! I just find him to be a misunderstood and/or interesting character”. To those people I will just say: Why are you not applying this same logic for Kate? Why are you making outright hateful comments about her? If you don’t like her, why not just ignore her? If you are a Gisborne-fan and have never made these comments about Kate, this obviously doesn’t apply to you. And even if you aren’t a Gisborne-fan, but you do recognize this way of thinking in yourself in regard to some other character, I encourage you to think about it critically. I just used Gisborne as an example since I know he’s perhaps the most popular male character in the fandom (at least if Ao3’s numbers are anything to go by). I’ve also seen a similar attitude from a lot of Allan-fans, though in their case the hypocrisy is often not as obvious, but I’ll return to Allan in a moment.

Many female characters end up getting hate because they get in the way of a popular (often m/m) ship. In this regard, Kate is kind of an outlier since she doesn’t exactly do that, since there isn’t really a ship to get in the way of. Sure, she’s eventually paired off with Robin, but Marian is already dead by the time she shows up, and if people were truly bothered by someone other than Marian trying to get Robin’s attention, they would also hate Isabella with the same intensity. I do think there is one “ship” Kate does come in the middle of, and here’s where we get back to Allan.

Now, the ship Kate does get in the middle of is not in fact canonical. I am of course talking about the popular Allan/OC trope. If you go on Ao3 or Fanfiction.net, you won’t have a hard time finding fics where Allan is paired with an OC. This is understandable, seeing that the show only has four main female characters to begin with, one of whom is already in a love triangle with other people, one of whom canonically ends up with someone else, one of whom is actively hated by the fandom and one of whom just does not interact with Allan.

I want to make it clear that I think it’s fine if people want to come up with their own OCs for the purpose of shipping them with existing characters, it’s just not my thing, especially when those OCs are any level of self-inserts. (I personally don’t feel the need to ship Allan romantically with anyone. I just tend to not like OCs in any fandom.) Since Kate is presented as a potential love-interest for Allan, I think many fans who would rather see Allan with their own character or even themselves view Kate as an obstacle or a threat.

As you may see, this fandom, like many others, unfortunately treats the women in the show differently from the men. Male characters like Gisborne are viewed as redeemable so long as they are attractive, but Kate is irredeemable for… breaking Much’s heart and/or getting in the way of Robin/Marian or Allan/OC? This is something that really bothers me. I don’t mind the fact that people don’t like Kate, it’s the extensive hate she gets that makes me uncomfortable.

Conclusion: Where do we go from here?

Like I said in the beginning, I am not asking anyone to say Kate is their favorite character or to even like her. I just wanted to provide some things for people to think about regarding how they treat female characters. I think it’s about time the fandom took a proper look at itself and critically thought about how it speaks about female characters. It’s 2021, let’s not hate on female characters just for being a little annoying or getting in the way of shipping.

I haven’t seen the fandom analyze that much why season 3 is the way it is. I would love to see some meta about how Dominic Minghella’s departure and other behind the scenes factors contributed to the story and aesthetics of season 3. I would also love to see some actual analysis on the season 3 characters that isn’t focused on tearing them down. If the fandom never made another post about how terrible Kate is without providing any actual reasons, I would be happy. I can sort of understand this immature hatred coming from 15-year-olds, but I’m disappointed to say that I have seen fully grown adults tearing down Kate in this quite misogynistic way. I know that many people do not intend for their dislike of Kate to come across as misogynistic, but it does not erase the fact that that is how many of those hateful comments appear.

I think Kate had a lot of potential. Season 3 had a lot of potential. It is quite a move to kill Marian in the middle of a Robin Hood story, so they had the chance to take the story to all kinds of places. Unfortunately, the season 3 we ended up with was not of the same quality as the previous seasons. Instead of just hating on the characters or story in general, I think we should focus on really analyzing the season, and even coming up with our own ways of improving it. Many people have already done this (though unfortunately many of these attempts also include thinly veiled hatred towards Kate. It’s your story, why are you not treating her any better than the actual writers of the show?), but there’s always room for more takes.

At this point I will shamelessly advertise my own “Kate should have been the new Nightwatchman” theory and my Nightwatchman-fic. I wrote the latter in a way that would let it be a part of canon if necessary. I think that by refocusing the story and shifting the way we read the text, we can find new aspects of season 3, and perhaps even enjoy it more. That is what happened to me during my latest rewatch, and all it took was watching it in a non-chronological order and talking about it with someone who had never seen the show.

I’m not trying to gatekeep the fandom and say that only thought-provoking analysis or fix-it fanfiction is allowed. I just feel like people should be more conscious of the message they are sending out when they write hateful comments about Kate, censor her name or even cross out her face from pictures. Is it actually funny? Are you contributing something to the conversation? Is it actual criticism or just hate for the sake of hate? You don’t have to start writing posts in the defense of Kate, but you can just start ignoring her. It’s not that difficult. It’s fine to make jokes, but let’s start thinking about what our jokes say about us.

I once more want to emphasize that this is not a callout post I wrote with any one person in mind. So, if you felt offended when I was talking about Gisborne-fans, Allan/OC-shippers or Kate-haters in general, I can assure you that this post was not about you personally. This is not about any individual person. I’m just commenting on trends in the fandom I have noticed over the years. I don’t think any of you have committed any sins or that you need to be cancelled. I just hope that if you did feel guilty reading this, you’ll realize that maybe this post was something you definitely needed to read. As a woman, I would love it if this fandom worked on getting rid of its internalized misogyny.

I’m not claiming to be right on all of this, in fact I have a lot of bad opinions as well. I hope this post has provided people with things to think about. Feel free to use this as a starting point for your own meta or analysis. I’ll end my rant here, and leave you with this thought:

Kate had a lot of potential to be a good character. She did not let us down. The writers did.

#robin hood bbc #bbc robin hood #I'm not gonna tag any characters just to be polite #this is less of an analysis and more like a rant #the second half really is something #90% of this was written at night so it shows #anyway I hope every kate-hater reads this

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democracyatwrk · 6 years ago

Link

September 2018, Nation Books

Buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Hachette, Indiebound, Kobo

A new feudalism is on the rise. From the internet to service and care, more and more industries expect people to live gig to gig, while monopolistic corporations feed their spoils to the rich. But as Nathan Schneider shows through years of in-depth reporting, there is an alternative to the robber-baron economy hiding in plain sight; we just need to know where to look.

Cooperatives are jointly owned, democratically controlled enterprises that advance the economic, social, and cultural interests of their members. They often emerge during moments of crisis not unlike our own, putting people in charge of the workplaces, credit unions, grocery stores, healthcare, and utilities they depend on. Co-ops have helped to set the rules, and raise the bar, for the wider society.

Since the financial crash of 2008, the cooperative movement has been coming back with renewed vigor. Everything for Everyone chronicles this economic and social revolution—from taxi cooperatives that are keeping Uber and Lyft at bay, to an outspoken mayor transforming his city in the Deep South, to a fugitive building a fairer version of Bitcoin, to the rural electric co-op members who are propelling an aging system into the future. As these pioneers show, cooperative enterprise is poised to help us reclaim faith in our capacity for creative, powerful democracy.

Endorsements

“Everything for Everyone lives up to its title. As Nathan Schneider documents, cooperative movements are everywhere—from Barcelona to Bologna, Nairobi to New York, Jackson, Oakland, Boulder, Detroit, and points in between. And they are struggling to bring everything in common—electricity, healthcare, tech, transportation, banks, land, food, knowledge, even whole cities. Spoiler alert: this is no paean to the neoliberal ‘gig economy’ but rather an historical and contemporary tour of the radical potential of cooperative economics to disrupt capitalism as we know it. It is a book for everyone and a book for our times: read it, share it, but don’t just talk about it. Commons for all!”—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

“People have always fought to forge economies based on cooperation and creativity, rather than domination and exclusion. But that work has never looked so urgent as it does today. Charting a wealth of renewable ideas, tools, and commitments that are poised to reinvent democracy, Schneider tackles an immense subject with precision and grace.”—Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough and This Changes Everything

“The time has never been better for cooperative enterprise to change how we do business. This is a guide to how a new generation is starting to make that promise into a reality.”—Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Zero Marginal Cost Society and lecturer at the Wharton School

“Everything for Everyone proves how our vested interests are best served by addressing our common ones. In Schneider’s compelling take on the origins and future of cooperativism, working together isn’t just something we do in hard times, but the key to a future characterized by abundance and distributed prosperity. We owe ourselves, and one another, this practical wisdom.”—Douglas Rushkoff, author of Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, professor at Queens College

“Nathan Schneider is one of our era’s foremost chroniclers of social movements. Always engaging and analytically insightful, there’s simply no one I’d trust more to guide me through the latest iteration of the longstanding, international, and utterly urgent struggle to build a more cooperative world and reclaim our common wealth.”—Astra Taylor, author of The People’s Platform

“A gifted writer, chronicling the world he and his compatriots are helping to make—spiritual, technological, and communal.”—Krista Tippett, host of On Being

Press

America

Book TV (C-SPAN)

Brian Lehrer Show (WNYC)

Clearing the FOG

Commons Transition

CounterSpin (FAIR)

CU Boulder

Democracy Now!

P2P Foundation Book of the Day

Stand Up! with Pete Dominick (SiriusXM)

Tapestry (CBC Radio)

Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff

Westword‘s Five Best Literary Events This Week

Buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Hachette, Indiebound, Kobo

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coolgirl · 7 years ago

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how do i start reading about the batkids i’m really overwhelmed help

fuck it if I know… probably the smartest way to tackle it is to follow this list, which pretty much covers the vital Batman related arcs. PERSONALLY, I don’t care about reading about all the batkids, I just picked my favorite ones and just.. read everything I could about them (and lucky for me my favorite batkids don’t have thousands and thousands of comics so ! yay!) here’s some reading orders I made (except for the Damian one)

Jason Todd

Stephanie Brown

Cassandra Cain

Damian Wayne

Duke Thomas

Okay so, if u wanna read it in some kind of order, heres a bit of a general chronological-ish list thats probably innacurate bc i haven’t read all of these and the ones i did read was.. a long time ago. anyways, i hope this is useful, and again, imo its not necessary to read everything in order, but this might help to know a bit whats the timeline of some major events i guess? also i’m definitely going to be editing this post as people point out the mistakes rip!

(the batkids i added to this timeline are the ones that have active roles in rebirth atm, Dick, Barbara, Jason, Helena, Tim, Stephanie, Cass, Damian, Duke, and the basics of Azrael, Kate, and Luke because i love them)

Dick’s time as Robin (that i have no clue how it goes but uuuh read Robin Year One / The Long Halloween / Dark Victory / The New Teen Titans up until #53)

Batgirl: Year One

Birth of the Demon and Son of the Demon (here’s the original comic about Damian getting conceived)

Jason time as Robin (post crisis) stop before death in the family

Nightwing: Year One

Batgirl Special #1 - The Last Batgirl Story

unfortunately… you gotta at least know a bit of what the killing joke is about

NOW read death in the family… two blows one after the other, If you’re reading the trade that includes a lonely place of dying DON’T read that yet

now you can read the rest of the new teen titans up to #59

now A Lovely Place of Dying, which is Tim’s introduction.

rest of ntt if u wanna

NOW for oracle!barbara you can either read the suicide squad comics as a whole, which includes little hints of her coming back, or you can skip to issues #48 and #49. Then The Batman Chronicles #5.

Huntress Vol. 1 - Helena Bertinelli’s introduction

NOW! Steph’s introduction happened on Detective Comics #618

Stephanie’s list, if you’re following the whole list stop at Robin #70 (Tim’s solo is really good to know about them)

Azrael vol. 1: Fallen Angel - Azrael’s introduction

Batman: Knightfall - you know the infamous pic of bane snapping batman’s back like a stick? here it is.

Nightwing (1996)

Young Justice (1998) (NOT the one based on the tv show)

Birds of Prey i would say.. up to #7

Batman: No Man’s Land

now it’s Cass Time! Batman #567 was her introduction, and Detective Comics #734 n Legends of the Dark Knight #120 are vital to her story.

Batman & Huntress: A Cry for Blood / Huntress: Year One

Titans (1999)

Batman Gotham Knights (2000-2006) is a good comic for batfam interactions

Rest of Birds of Prey ig

Teen Titans (2003)

Batman: Hush

Batgirl Volume 1 up to #52

War Games (when Stephanie dies rip)

rest of Batgirl

Batman Lost Days / Batman: Under the Red Hood

Robin #172-174 (2008) steph comes back!!

Batman: Batman and Son He (Damian) is here babette

Batgirl volume 2 (2008-2009) and Batman and the Outsiders (2009) are good cass comics up to #14

Robin/Spoiler Special (2008)

Batman R.I.P.

Final Crisis

Batman: Last Rites

battle for the cowl SUCKS the only important thing to know is that Dick is Batman now

Batman & Robin (2011) up to #12

Batwoman: Elegy

Batgirl (2009) up to #14

The Black Mirror is a really good bats dick story.. or so i’ve been told

Red Robin

Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #1-4

Batman and robin from #13 to #14

Batman: Return of Bruce wayne #5-6

Batman and Robin #15-16

Batman:The Return

Batman INC. (2011)

everything else in Batman and Robin, and Batgirl

Gates of Gotham #1-5 (2011)

OK NOW.. N52. So new 52 was the reboot and it basically just took everything i just mentioned and threw it out of a fucking window. Changes: Barbara is Batgirl again, Cass and Stephanie didnt exist in this timeline for like four years, somehow Jason isnt such a dick, i think Damian didn’t get so fucked over, and uuuh i have no clue what happened with Dick and Tim but i think their whole story with their teams (teen titans / titans / young justice) got incredibly fucked over. Almost every single member of the Batfam (that didn’t get booted from this contuinity) got either a solo or a team book, which are. super good to start, reading order be dammed, but the batfam went through a lot of shit (court of owls, the joker, bruce kinda died, jim gordon became batman, bruce didnt remember anything, dick kinda died and got exposed but came back as a spy, damian died, bruce lost his mind, they kinda went to hell, damian came back, dozens of robins ran around, etc etc etc) so im gonna try to order it as best as i can T__T

Batman, Vol. 4 (Secret City) / DC Comics: Zero Year / Batman, Vol. 5 (Dark City)- Okay so, this wasnt the starting storyline for New 52 but its basically the basis of the batfam and co and introduces Duke and Harper so it’s kinda vital.

Ok so here you can start reading the first volume of.. any of the titles lol. Red Hood and the Outlaws / Batgirl / Batwing / Nightwing / Batman and Robin / Teen Titans

Batman: The Night Of The Owls

Batwoman (2011-2015)

Batman INC up to #6 - im gonna be honest this run fucking sucks but uh important stuff happens here

Nightwing / Red Hood and the Outlaws / Batgirl / Batman and Robin / Batwing / Teen Titans Vol. 2 (approx the issue #9 of all these runs were included in the Night of the Owls crossover)

Death Of The Family - this one.. bad.. but ig its important

Nightwing / Red Hood and the Outlaws / Batgirl / Batman and Robin / Batwing / Teen Titans Vol. 3

Batman INC #7-8 - okay so. Damian’s death.

Requiem / Batman and Robin: Requiem - the aftermath of Damian’s death. The first one isn’t collected afaik so i liked you to a reading order if you’re interested

Nightwing / Red Hood and the Outlaws / Batgirl / Batwing / Titans Vol. 4 (here’s Luke Fox’s introduction!)

Forever Evil - the one where shit happens to Dick that i think leads to Grayson and all that spy bs

Yeah.. Grayson now (vol 1-2) - Helena gets re-introduced here!

Red Hood and the Outlaws / Batgirl / Batwing / Teen Titans Vol. 5

Batman Eternal - where Steph gets re-introduced

Batman and Robin: Robin Rises

Batman Endgame (Batman #35 -#36, Batman Annual #3, Batman #37- #39) - Duke is back!!

Grayson Vol 3

Superheavy (Batman #41-44 / Detective Comics #41-46) - ok so Bruce is gone and now Jim Gordon is Batman.. just nod and smile

Ok so now, Red Hood and the Outlaws and Batgirl don’t get involved in any big storylines anymore, and Teen Titans started from #1 again.

Teen Titans Vol. 1-2

We are Robin Vol 1

Batman and Robin Eternal - where Cass gets re-introduced

Robin: Son of Batman Vol. 1

Red Hood/Arsenal Vol. 1

Robin War

Grayson Vol 4

Teen Titans Vol. 3-4

Red Hood/Arsenal Vol.2

We Are Robin Vol. 2

Robin Son of Batman Vol. 2

Super Heavy Part 2 (Detective Comics #47-52 / Batman #47-52 )

OKAY SO. Rebirth is a continuation of New 52, but with some changes bc almost every single damn character got.. lets say nerfed, and people didnt like it so they’re slowly bringing back some elements from pre 52. Here basically just read whatever whenever unless you wanna get into like. the metal event. then i would recommend you to start off the bat with that to get it out of the way as some comics have tie ins. Then heres where the kids appear

All-Star Batman (2016-2017): Bruce and Duke

Batgirl (2016): Barbara and sometimes Dick

Batgirl and the Birds of Prey (2016): Barbara, Dick, and Helena

Batman (2016): originally Bruce and Duke but now its the Batman and Catwoman show

(if you’re interested in Duke i would say to read those two first as it explains where his character stands on Rebirth)

Batman and the Signal (2017): pretty self explanatory

Batman/Shadow (2017): Damian appears sometimes but.. i heard Bruce is a dick to him here so fuck it

Batwoman (2017): Kate and Julia

Detective Comics (2016): Cassandra, Azrael, Kate, Tim, and Stephanie

Nightwing (2016): Dick, and sometimes Damian and Helena.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016): Just Jason except for the annual that had Dick too

Teen Titans (2016): Damian.. baby boy leads a team

Titans (2016): Dick

Super Sons (2017): Damian team sup with Jon Kent (Superman’s kid)

and finaaally.. some elseworld stories (basically aus) that have cute batkids interactions

Tiny Titans (2008-2015)

Lil’ Gotham (2013-2014)

#this is. a lot.#i added the dates to some bc theres multiple comics numbered like that #and linked the biggest arcs that have like. lots of issues #ANYWAYS THIS IS GONNA BE SO CONFUSING SORRY I DONT KNOW HOW TO LIST ANYMORE.. I lost my touch T___T #faq #??#anonymous

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sportsanimebreakdown · 8 years ago

Text

Breakdown: One Outs

I’m starting with this anime cuz this series is the one I’ve most recently finished and is the spark that’s begun this blog, despite the fact that I’m not nearly as enthusiastic about it as I am about other series. But there’s a shitton to talk about and my friends will appreciate my dumping this on the internet instead of their ears, so here we go.

SPOILER FREE ZONE

One Outs: Baseball anime (1 season by Madhouse in 2008, discontinued) and manga (finished, 98-2006).

Production: High. Madhouse does good work. The original manga wasn’t strong artistically, so it’s a too-easy pun to say that Madhouse hit this one out of the park.

Tropes: Unbeatable Hero, anti-hero, psychological manipulation, cheating, game manipulation, star player dragging team to victory

Not-Your-Wikipedia-Summary: Let’s put aside the annoying grammar mistake of the title and the fact that the protag’s design is basically a sexified Hiruma from Eyeshield 21, and move on to what it’s about: A pitcher from Okinawa, Toua Takuchi, bets on a game called One Outs with the local American soldiers, wherein if he strikes out the batters, he gets their money, but if they get even one hit off of him, they win. Naturally, he’s won 499 games (through psychological manipulation more than skill) and never lost. A pro Japanese player, whose team has been consistently last for decades, shows up and tries batting against him. He loses (his pride along with 400 grand USD) and has to do some soul-searching for like 20 minutes. Then he comes back and bets his career against Takuchi’s right arm, saying he’ll retire if he loses again, and if he wins he’ll get Takuchi’s right arm. He wins (sorta??) but instead of breaking Takuchi’s arm, he “takes” Takuchi’s arm by making him join the weak pro team.

TL;DR Review: Younger, newer fans of series like Haikyuu and Yowamushi Peda will probably scratch their heads at the slow pace, but as a longtime fan of this genre, it’s great to see a series that focuses on the more adult aspects of sports like cheating, gambling, and ruthless psychological manipulation. That said, the series suffers from a lack of relatable characters. It’s okay to have an Unbeatable Anti-Hero, but there needs to be a strong secondary cast to allow the viewer some emotional investment. I think of it as a door; relatable characters are the doors through which a viewer enters a series. This series has very weak, small doors, and not nearly enough of them. So interesting and enjoyable from its different approach to the genre, but it wasn’t strong enough to rate higher... or get a second season.

'Objective’ Score: 6/10 (4 for story, extra 2 for high production quality)

Personal Score: 7.5/10 (I can see myself watching this again.)

SPOILER ZONE

Full Thoughts:

So, like I said, fans of more popular sports anime will likely be confused. Not by the premise, despite the fact that it’s one of the very few sports anime shows NOT set in school, but by its pacing. It’s slow. It’s about the psychology of the players, and not in the usual “we can do it!” way. One Outs is about one player manipulating everyone without any qualms. He mentally destroys his opponents, uses his allies’ weaknesses, and generally gives no fucks about anything other than winning money. This is not a feel-good, ragtag-ensemble coming together to win a tournament, this is about watching one man destroy his enemies... and dragging his baffled/angered teammates to victory along the way.

It says quite a bit about the series that the biggest villain isn’t an opposing team, but rather the team’s owner. That’s right- the owner of the team Takuchi is on is the biggest villain. Talk about a fun twist for those of us who thought we’d seen all the tropes by now. Maybe in older, lesser-known, not-made-into-high-budget-animes works this isn’t unusual, but it certainly was for me.

That said, Tokuchi is what I call a “phenomenon character”. Like Batman who embodies dark broody justice and would, in real life, be a fucking psychopath, Takuchi embodies an approach to life that has been stripped of all human qualities. He will win. Ruthlessly. He’s not the kind of guy to torture small animals, but only because he doesn’t see anything to gain in it. He’s a sociopath who reads everyone around him and then wins their money.

WHICH IS FUCKING FUN. Until... I start to feel left out. In order to emotionally invest in the series, I need a way in. That’s why Batman has his Robin and Batgirl and all the oh-so-human villains. Because we mere mortals need a way into the world constructed around this force of nature.

One Outs doesn’t have that. It’s a shame. If it did, it could have been a really strong series.

Miscellaneous;:

What was with that bishounen opening? It feels like mixed marketing messages.

I’m the first to say it’s good to show men as sexually attractive (since society often tells us that men’s bodies are Gross and Unattractive, whereas women’s bodies are [only] Pure and Beautiful) but this struck me as a sort of weird opening for a psychological sports series. Was this Madhouse’s way of drawing in the ladies? If anything, I was a bit weirded out by how skinny he was, but then I also know I’m not really big on the thinness that’s considered fashionably attractive in Japanese men. So I guess if it drew in fans, that’s cool and all, but it made me squint.

Representation: While we’re on the topic of character design, can we appreciate a couple of things here?

One: The fact that there is a BLACK WOMAN. Yes, that’s right folks, she exists and actually has a SPEAKING ROLE. For like two whole episodes. Do we get her name? No, because the Japanese seem unaware that the “mammy” stereotype is a thing, they all just call her Big Mom.

Take it where you can get it, folks. If any of you know of ANY other sports anime where a black woman has a speaking role, please let me know.

In other good PoC news, there are two Black men in the series! One of them is a totally normal dude, the other one, with his eye tattoos, touches on that Dangerous Black Man stereotype a bit, but as he’s not violent and doesn’t cheat, it’s just more playing off of the intimidation factor of such a stereotype.

Unlike in high school sports, since this is pro ball, the fact that these two men are PoC isn’t even mentioned. The character designs just are what they are. They didn’t try to pull any “black athletes are naturally more talented” bullshit (looking at you, Eyeshield and Hajime). So that was a nice change.

Can we also appreciate that the Japanese players actually LOOK Japanese and the foreign players actually LOOK American/non-Japanese? This matters to me. Why should it? Why shouldn’t it? Why shouldn’t Japanese people drawn by Japanese artists look Japanese? There’s a fascinating history behind this that other bloggers have gone into and I have no authority to speak on whatsoever (since I’m not Japanese) and if I find the posts I’ll link them here later, but suffice to say that it’s unusual to see this in an anime.

Anyway, this concludes my breakdown of One Outs. I’d like to read more of the manga, see where the characters and story go, but I don’t know if I was emotionally hooked enough to stay with it. I may wait until I have that itch to see an Unbeatable Hero again.

#One Outs #baseball anime #sports anime #review #tokuchi toua #Madhouse #Unbeatable hero #anti-hero #psychological manipulation #star player #cheating #Phenomenon character #shinobu kaitani #breakdown #toa tokuchi

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cloudienews-blog · 8 years ago

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Persona 5 conveys profundity and many-sided quality to its Robin Hood story

Individuals are more essential than benefit in this snazzy Japanese RPG.Note: Light spoilers for Persona 5 take after.

You ought to know precisely how you feel about Persona 5's style and tone inside the initial 10 minutes. I absolutely did—despite the fact that it has taken me well more than 100 hours to see all the unfathomable and steady ways designer Atlus' secondary school heist RPG twists, breaks, and inclines toward its look, feel, and message.

Persona 5 took essentially no time at all to thump me against the wild and wooly universe of "shadows"— otherworldly creatures conceived from the human mind—in an excited opening scene set on ceiling fixtures hanging over a clubhouse. Apparently human gatekeepers hot on the hero's trail all of a sudden softened and transformed into legendary creatures. Similarly as the principal animal demonstrated its actual frame, the diversion's open condition easily curved into turn-based battle. I took a while to understand the amusement even changes landscape when flipping into battles; the moves are recently that consistent.

Persona 5 has a substantially speedier, more holding presentation than 2008's (likewise magnificent) Persona 4. That diversion requested players spend a decent hour or all the more floating through country life before genuinely alluding to the arrangement's crossover nature as part dating test system, part prison crawler.

Persona 5 does in the long run back off to present the amusement's beginning thrown, so I never felt the diversion was hurrying past fundamentally essential character develop. A long way from it, truth be told. This is by a wide margin the longest time I've spent on a solitary playthrough of a Persona diversion—most by far went through building associations with supporting cast individuals and investigating Japanese historic points or city regions.

Call for reinforcement

Persona 5 can escape with its ease back pace on account of a striking and viable casing story that ducks all through the plot from the earliest starting point. After the clubhouse heist turns out badly in the plot's first significant beat, the hero, codenamed Joker, is hauled away into police authority. A large portion of whatever is left of the diversion is told in flashback as a wounded, beaten Joker is investigated about his activities and those of his colleagues.

Said colleagues are called "Partners" in Persona 5, a slight rebranding of the "Social Links" from the last two Persona titles. These are the fore-and foundation characters whose associations with the fundamental character shape the foundation of the Persona arrangement these days.Joker can choose to invest his free energy with these Confidants amid most in-diversion evenings and nights, peeling without end the layers of their own history as he does. This, thus, quite often prompts some approaching issue that Joker can help them settle. Consequently, Confidants unwittingly concede the saint more prominent power while making personas—indications of Joker's mind that he and his partners use to cast spells in the heavenly world that exists behind our typical window ornament of commonality.

Almost every Confidant in Persona 5 is a casualty of individuals mishandling energy to misuse the helpless, and this subject is investigated amid each mission of the fundamental story. In my time with the diversion, I reinforced with an instructor being coerced by the gatekeepers of a previous understudy. One of my own gathering individuals, in the interim, was a workmanship wonder whose tutor and non-permanent father was benefitting off his work in return for "introduction"— also the guarantee of a rooftop over his head.

Rest and recuperation

Things get substantially darker than that very quickly. Similarly as Persona 5 squanders no time uncovering its powerful components, it likewise doesn't dither to jump headlong into medicines of rape, suicide, murder, and human trafficking.

This sort of genuine topic could have effortlessly slid into minor abuse on Persona 5's part. The amusement business is no more bizarre to shallow medications of hotly debated issues and symbolism for promoting purposes. Persona 5 could have fallen into a similar trap of utilizing mind boggling, true issues like these as just window dressing—a shorthand to raise the "stakes" for heroes without the chaos of managing the results those occasions ought to have on a story.

Rather, Persona 5 astutely waits. When one of Joker's kindred understudies is headed to mischief herself ahead of schedule in the diversion, one of the essential Confidant stories turns to concentrate on how that activity impacts her life and the life of her closest companion. Straight to the point portrayals of exercise based recuperation, a constrained change of schools, and her changing relationship to her associates all become the dominant focal point, while never feeling grisly or voyeuristic. Recuperation, as much as the inciting damage, is likewise center to the story.

Instead of simply being informed that a character bobs once again from affliction, I got the chance to learn, in personal detail, exactly how that recuperation unfolds over the long in-amusement weeks and months. So when my in-diversion craftsman companion chooses that getting paid for his work doesn't really yield his respectability, the disclosure doesn't feel like an instructive, after-school unique message from amusement to player. It is, rather, a characteristic conclusion that bodes well given his circumstance and the long grouping of choices and activities that had paved the way to it. He is a really inspired character by that point, not a cardboard set pattern or an illustration.

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