#why do bills exist

[pixiemage]

Oh would that I had like 94 more dollars 😔 would that I could save my friends from hearing my weird scuffed vr mic setup and give them better sound...sadge

[karskilledme]

Getting a caregiving job when I don’t currently have the capacity to give care to another human and myself at the same time was a really smart decision. Unfortunately, the capatiism machine demands I make monies. 

[internetgiraffekid1673]

ThePandaRedd Appreciation Post: Bill and Ted

This is me screaming into the void that I think my two favorite characters in the comic scene are Ted and Bill from the Pandaverse (the comics universe created by ThePandaRedd's tiktok skits). I freaking love these two because they are hilarious and I gotta say it somewhere.

Consider this a ThePandaRedd appreciation post.

Bill is a very long running Pandaverse character and is a professional henchman in Gotham City. He has been henching long enough to see the formation of the goonion, have batman steal so many of his bones that they're kept ground up in a jar, see the rise and graduation of every robin, batgirl, or other, and become so tired that he can backtalk his most consistent employer---the Joker.

Bill is a jaded henchman, mostly in the job because it's the easiest way to get money in Gotham, and because he's kinda in too deep to quit now. He's one of the best advertisers the goonion has, strongly discourages other people from henching in Gotham, and has so many residual medical issues from getting brutally beaten up by the batfam that he just doesn't care anymore. While he is regularly employed by the Joker, he has also been seen working for the likes of Penguin, Black Mask, and Bane, presumably when the Joker is in Arkham. Most other characters treat him with some instinctive respect for having stayed in the Gotham henching game this long, and he could absolutely go toe to toe with Superman if not just easily secure some Kryptonite and whoop his ass. Fortunately for Superman, Bill sticks to the Gotham scene.

Ted, meanwhile, is a relatively new character, and he has recently moved to Gotham from Coast City (where the Green Lantern lives). Suffice it to say, he is not aware of all of Gotham's idiosyncrasies and is still learning the wheel. If Bill the henchman is to be believed, Ted dropped out of the high school they both attended and may or may not have moved to Gotham for ease of employment.

One of his first appearances was when he'd just joined the GCPD and was trying to covertly get some info on the villain scene by asking Bill about how to start a career in henching. While Bill did not discover that Ted was working for the GCPD, he also gave away pretty much no valuable information since he instead launched into a rant about why anybody would be so suicidal as to try to START henching in Gotham City. His most recent appearance has him presumably out of a job again and noting some of his findings about Gotham as a Coast City Transplant (batburger's overrated, gang territories are gerrymandered, Robins are scarier than Batman, you'll be gifted with a water filter a gas mask and a gun upon moving houses if you send advance notice, etc.)

So, why are these two gag characters from a comic book tik-tok creator my favorite comic book/comic adjacent characters? Because they do exactly what they are designed to and narrow in on the every day.

Comic Books are a sci-fi/fantasy genre that focus on impossible stuff happening, frequently at a pretty grand scale. And while it is super cool to read or hear about stuff like Batman and his adoption problem or Superman being a basically god while still being the most human ray of sunshine ever, that's not even close to my favorite stuff.

No, my favorite type of media to consume is the kind where we get a peek into the everyday of someone in a vastly different circumstance from ours, and feel just how normal they are. I find a lot of comfort and humor in recognizing that even in very unfamiliar circumstances, there will still be simple, everyday things that persist.

Bill might be a goon in a city with some of the most insane and terrifying vigilantes ever, working for some of the most insane and terrifying villains ever, and the city is explicitly a commentary on the general shittiness of urban environments like New York, but that's not what he cares about most of the time. Instead he's busy explaining why you shouldn't smoke to his fellow goons, or dealing with the fact that his employer won't keep a reliable schedule, or having a crisis that he regularly has to run away from a 12 year old dressed like a traffic light or else die trying, or trying to convince people to mask up during quarantine, or promoting that fellow goons "do bad shit safely." And I like to think that if I somehow ended up as an evil goon in someplace as nonsensical and dramatic as Gotham City, I might respond similar to Bill after a while. And that level of normalcy and sanity persisting in such a fantastical environment is both very funny and very comforting. Human nature will persist.

Ted is similar. Everybody who has experienced moving cities knows that it can be disorienting and confusing and even a little scary as you try to figure out how things work, but you'll figure it out regardless and probably have a fun(ish) time doing so. Ted shows that the same principle applies even when those differences get cranked up to 11 and include superpowered and/or impossibly determined and crazy people. He makes my own experience moving cities where I joke and complain about the differences feel validated and it's just so funny to see someone react so normally to such an abnormal situation.

Ted's experience is something that can actually he applied to my own life, like when I learned about Rural vs. Urban stupid zoning laws or trying fry sauce after moving to the mountain west and having to defend my stance that it is an abomination. So seeing someone like yourself doing the EXACT same thing in such an insane circumstance both strikes a chord of truth and makes me laugh myself to the floor.

I also really appreciate that the PandaVerse in general has connected lore for what is basically a gag series used to affectionately parody comics. Something about people actually caring about their jokes enough to make connected lore makes me so so happy.

So thank you ThePandaRedd for creating Ted and Bill, continuing along with them, and making me smile.

Seriously, all this was to say that ThePandaRedd is cool, you should go watch his stuff, and that Bill and Ted are hilarious.

[snzluv3r]

i love my girlfriend i love my girlfriend i love my girlfriend not to be a lesbian but i would marry her and move in with her and have her babies rn if i could

[saturnvs]

considering open september horse comms soon-ish :-) middle of the month is always tough when it comes to money, but i also have the making-art-itch and i really enjoy painting other horsies that i wouldn't normally do! keep an eye out in case you're interested.

[melonmortis]

“The denarius (silver), which bears an image of a younger Caesar on the obverse and Caesar, Joshua Graham and Bill Calhoun on the reverse…”

Your like actually lying to me

[godsfavoritescientist]

Its funny how brutally honest the axolotl poem is. Imagine being the most feared triangle in the multiverse and some giant space lizard tells your twelve year old sworn enemies about the time you saw your own dimension burn and then tells them "[bill] says he's happy, he's a liar." I think if I was Bill Cipher I would put the axolotl at the top of my enemies list for that one

[saetoru]

ppl who consider 30s to be old are wild to me bc realistically most people spend up until roughly 24-26 in college and so you’re basically saying you can rly only live your life for about 4-6 years freely before you’re considered “too old” to enjoy anything. wtf are ppl supposed to do for the next 30 years after that jackass ?? you tell me 🤨 are they supposed to just buy curtains and a new blender and be content with that 🤨

[moe-broey]

GIRL......................... suspension of disbelief I know but.

Obviously you can pick out a BUNCH of the dragons as that Is an ongoing trope (dragons aging differently than humans, so they can look younger than they "actually are") (also while I did try to avoid including them to make them more comparable to Nino, I think Flayn can fit in either category for the purposes of The Context -- esp cause her dragon blood is meant to be secret)

Not only do we have Heroes skewing younger (a lot fitting into another trope of What If There Was A Baby Sister) we also have Baby Banner. Where the whole point is they are baby.

LIKE....... maybe I'm speaking way too soon and maybe the whole point IS this will backfire LMFAO, but it IS absurd to be presented with her art (which, def still looks youthful!) and having her say yeah I can pass as a kidnapped child. Which COULD be true! But also what do you mean no one is going to know you're a part of the Heroes. Why is no one fighting her on this. Not even including the dragons there are like a handful of Heroes who fit into her exact vibe. Some even MORE baby than her.

[dockaspbrak]

Tips on being less anxious??? Perhaps a lobotomy?

[takamoris]

Money, the lack of money, and the requirement to have money in order to survive are the sources of literally all of my deepest problems. I need America to burn, and I need capitalism to burn as well.

[thrilling-oneway]

man who the fuck let me be mod project-sekai-facts i'm not even a vocaloid fan

[iguessitsjustme]

Unpopular Opinions Ask Game

Rules: Don’t be rude, don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to, don't argue with people for sharing their opinion, don't answer questions you're not comfortable answering. Breaking the rules could potentially result in you getting blocked. Let’s begin!

What’s a popular show that you didn’t enjoy?

What’s a popular ship that you didn’t enjoy?

What’s a common trope that you don’t enjoy?

What’s a common character archetype that you don’t enjoy?

What’s an unpopular show that you enjoyed when you shouldn’t have?

Have you ever dropped a popular show because you didn’t like it?

Pick a show, I will tell you something I think the show didn’t do well.

Pick a ship, I will tell you one thing I think wasn’t executed well.

Pick a trope, I’ll tell you a show that didn’t execute it well.

Pick a character archetype, I’ll tell you a show that didn’t execute it well.

[thelovelyblark-barg]

I'm so tired of having a body that has never liked me

the corkscrewing spine, the tonsils the constant size of ping pong balls, the cyclical vomiting syndrome, the chronic migraines, the periods that go for anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months,

[eldragon-x]

forgive me for talking about the triangle again but I love how vague bill's post-canon presence is. I love that yes, he still gets to live, he is expected to make up for his actions in exchange, but we don't know anything beyond that. he gets a second chance as did other characters who messed up in the past (though to a much less terrible extend) but we dont know if he ever matures and improves through it or if he stays a selfish, terrible, destructive person. he is stubborn and has been like this for longer than a human person can comprehend after all, but his situation also never changed in all this time. but now it is different considering the "a different form, a different time". and maybe being put in a different situation can kickstart something. or it doesnt and he continues to be miserable to himself and others. either way that line also opens up so much potential for theories from him being revived to reincarnated ect ect. like theres so much potential.

[freakpit]

being in your 20’s sucks cause it’s like oh boohoo i have bills and pressure to make permanent life plans. guess i’ll get so stressed i want to kill myself about it