#wonderful supporting cast

[mysterycitrus]

where are the supporting casts in batman fic. why is everyone just hanging out at the manor. why are the only leaguers mentioned clark and diana and maaaaaybe ollie if his parenting is getting slammed. where is everyone. why does no one have any friends. why do the friends they do have no rich inner lives outside of batangst. is gotham city trapped under the gd simpsons movie dome. dick grayson blink twice if ur being held hostage

[cyanbeetle]

My Wonder Woman and friends

[2manyflannels]

can't believe Jay got his mom to voice Anticlea that's so sweet.

[nachosncheezies]

In defense of late-canon x files (including the revivals)

I was thinking about this poll after I commented on it, and I kinda want to be brave and say more.

Short answer to the poll's question before I go any further: If you're a new fan and a sensitive sort who thinks you'll struggle with your blorbos Really Going Through It and you really need a happy ending, I suggest you stop at the end of season 8. Do not pass go, do not look at spoilers. Disregard this post entirely, close the internet, and go look at something that makes you happy. (Also fuck every part of society that characterizes sensitivity as inherently weak and bad and some kind of personal failing, you are valid.)

That said, "quality" as a concept is entirely subjective, and the question of whether or not there's a decline in quality for any story is wholly subjective, too. In the case of x files? I'm not convinced there is a decline. I am going to be upfront that I haven't yet watched past season 8, though I am almost completely spoiled on events after that - and the reason I haven't watched yet is not because of how I know events are going to unfold, but simply because I don't want it to end!!! Ohh, the tension between "I CAN'T WAIT!!!" and "Nooo don't be over D:"

When I first came to txf fandom on tumblr and gradually became spoiled about what happens in late canon though, I was often left uncomfortable and tbh kinda queasy about it. As I said in my comment on the poll, the hate for especially the revival and IWTB, or to a lesser extent even seasons 8 & 9, is very well documented. But! There are other takes to be found here on tumblr if you figure out where to look, and my feelings have changed!

The thing is, I have yet to find myself in any fandom where there isn't a vocal subset of fans who dislike the story after a certain point. I am not joking when I say that no one hates the things they love as passionately as sci-fi and fantasy fans. In my experience, it often hinges on the extent to which a viewer has strong notions on where they would like the characters to end up. In particular with series where shipping is a dominant component for the bulk of a fandom, I have almost universally found that there comes some turning point in the story where "let them be happy you cowards" is the dominant view, and things that compromise the attainment of a degree of romantic stability and/or domesticity are, to many fans, annoying at best and despicable at worst. But! As one tagset on the linked poll said:

and I think for any fandom, that last tag especially is so so so important. (I think that's harder for people watching a weekly series live, bc you have so much time to analyze and speculate and dream before the next breadcrumb drops, but I digress.)

So why am I saying this and how do I apply it to x files? Well, I eventually found that there are also a subset of fans who find redeeming things right up to the very end and actually quite like the whole thing! The things that I had seen people rage and ventpost so much about honestly never quite sounded to me as "out of character" or "untrue to the story" etc as those same ventposts made them sound. And I've discovered I'm not the only one who felt that way. Do I love that the spooky squad had to go through all of those things? No, those poor guys D: Life is hard and they have been through so much trauma. But do those events and their choices make sense to me in light of everything that came before? Yes! And I honestly can't wait to see them fight to overcome those things, breaking, healing, always learning, always growing, always getting better.

So if you're wondering "where does it go wrong"... well, I'm a completionist, as many people who've answered that post are, but also my personal opinion is that I don't think it does go wrong. If you're new and interested in exploring why I've gone from "vaguely queasy" to "excited" about the whole thing, or want to maybe balance out the impressions you're getting about the later seasons before deciding whether or not you want to see the whole thing, I'll put a few blog names in the comments.

Final admission: even once I started feeling a little more confident in the possibility that "actually ok maybe I'm not crazy, maybe this all kind of is in character and does make sense", there was one big plot point that I was NOT looking forward to and I thought I would never be comfortable about. In hindsight, I think my discomfort came from the negative responses being SO seemingly universal that I hadn't stopped to let myself truly consider other possible interpretations on that point. (I mean my initial instinct when I first read about it was, why are we mad about this?? CSM is literally the most unreliable narrator in history???? it's obviously fake news?????? this must be either a fever dream someone's having or it's a misdirection ploy against whatever shadowy forces might still be lurking?????????????? but for whatever reason I guess I had halfway written that off.) Happily, just last month there's a new post-s11 novel out, and although reviews for the book as a whole are mixed, it seems to have laid the groundwork for resolving that plot issue in a way I think most fans would be broadly happy with. If you're interested in being spoiled about that and seeing how, I recommend searching #perihelion on @agent-troi who liveblogged reading it with receipts, scroll back chronological-style to the first post on the subject and see how it unfolded. (And never forget that Dana Katherine Scully is the queen of denial as a coping mechanism lol)

Everyone's mileage will vary. Each person can feel however they want! But for anyone new, I wanted you to know that the very many ventposts you might be seeing are not all there is to this show or its fandom. Some of us love it despite - or even because of - all the things that went "wrong". I think we just don't talk about it as much.

[mando-abs]

Guys, I’ve read the Wild Robot

And let me tell you, if I hadn’t recently taken a Children’s Literature class in college, I would’ve said this was the best middle-grade book I’ve read since elementary/middle school. I almost read this book in one night (I was sleepy 😴) like I couldn’t put it down.

The heart behind this book is astounding and it never shies away from showing complex and difficult concepts. You will fall in love with Roz and her gosling son along with all of the other animal on the island.

If you’ve got younger ones, I highly recommend reading this to them or having a little book club moment with them. However, be prepared for whatever hard questions may come your way (i.e. circle of life and climate issues). You know your child and how much they can handle/understand. If you’re like me and much older, it’s a quick read and a great way to finish off a long day. It’s a part of a trilogy and you bet I’m patiently waiting for my hold on a copy at the library.

If the movie is anything like the book (which, given a rewatch of the trailer, it’s looking like so), we are in for a special treat.

[wanderingmind867]

I hate batman. A lot. I want to tear that man down, bit by bit. I want to write a story where he tries to kill the rest of the justice league in a paranoid haze, and then has to face consequences. I want him gone. Dead. Forever erased from existence. We keep the villains and maybe the supporting cast. We ditch him. We have to. He is one of my least favourite superheroes. He's always boring! So goddamn boring! I will preach until I'm dead: Get rid of batman!

Ditch the darkness! Give us more Superman and Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel/Shazam. DC should go back to their repository of old heroes, but leave batman the hell alone. Replace him with Wesley Dodds or something if we have to! But leave batman alone! Forever!

[sysig]

Anime good :) (Patreon)

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Love how because Madisyn Shipman had a good time on the set of Game Shakers, she's acting like that means Dan's a good person, even saying shit like, "If Dan was guilty of anything other then some anger moments which everyone has episodes of at given times then don't you think he would have been charged by now?!" John K basically admitted to doing all the shit he was accused of doing and he never had a day in a jail cell sadly, so don't fucking bring that excuse to the table, Madisyn, and if you were gonna just act like your good experience absolves what other actors and people who worked with Dan said about him, don't even bother trying to say you won't discrediting people's stories and trauma, because its clear you are doing exactly that. Oh and btw, using Drake Bell saying Dan was there for him during Brian Peck's trial as a way to say Dan's a good person? Fucking disgusting.

[arsenicflame]

im having feelings on polyamory in ofmd buuut theyre very bitter and i cant be bothered to do the research to figure out if what im saying is true. but there are feelings

[mzminola]

I think if we’re gonna say that the superhero genre is filling the modern folk/fairytale niche, we can reject the question of “is this in character for established canon” but we need to replace it with “does this fit this character’s archetype in established canon”.

Like... Clever Jack who solves things by tricking people. The Fool who survives and saves the day by taking everything literally. The Maiden or Youth who is kind seemingly to their own detriment and that kindness is repaid later.

For any given hero, be it the specific character or the mantle, what archetype are they filling? What kind of hero are they supposed to be? What are their key traits? How do they solve problems?

There’s too much contradictory comics canon to actually nail down detailed continuity. But we can look at a given story and criticize it for shoving the characters into the wrong archetype.

[regallibellbright]

Okay, forget “Does Komugi know she’s pink” (I’m… reasonably convinced she can see human colors as a human?)

New question. Urgent question. Does Komugi know how to read?

(I loved everything about this episode but particularly Sho Ikari’s Rivalry At First Sight with Komugi.)

[bitimdrake]

how would you describe arrowfamily in canon? Cause i have seen conflicting things ranging from "Oliver Queen is a terrible horrible person" to "canon arrowfamily is what people think batfam should be like/if you want fanon batfam you want canon arrowfam" and it is confusing

Disclaimer first. A full, proper, arrowfam read-through is next on my list once I finally catch up with the bats, but I haven't gotten there yet. I have still read a whole bunch of comics, and by virtue of how the DC universe works, I've seen a fair bit of the arrows scattered throughout. (In particular, I've read a lot of Roy via Titans and Outsiders.)

So I can give a broad strokes answer here, but I'm not going to try to claim a deep meta analysis of the arrows yet.

I think the quickest way to explain the contradictory information is this:

batfam fans take up most of the space in DC fandom

for whatever reason, it has become highly popular bat fanon to use Oliver Queen as a scapegoat Designated Terrible Dad to show how much better and cooler and nicer Bruce is.

This is not a fair or accurate depiction of Ollie.

(Nor, for that matter, an accurate depiction of Bruce, but that fanon diversion is intentional and less like throwing shrapnel at a guy who isn't even part of this.)

People who actually read comics and like Ollie therefore try to push back on this extreme and ooc demonization of him, and also vaunt the arrows in general.

Said pushback is sometimes an exaggerated overcompensation.

Basically, no, Oliver Queen is not a terrible horrible person, nor even a terrible horrible father.

And I would say the canon arrows are a lot closer to what fans are desperately trying to find (or just make up) in the bats. There are various things that are true of the canon arrows/Ollie and of the fanon bats/Bruce that are not true of the canon bats/Bruce. [All post-crisis disclaimer.] Examples:

Ollie is outspokenly liberal and this is a well accepted piece of his canon characterization. (Meanwhile DC writers try very very hard to make Bruce Totally Apolitical and therefore acceptable to all readers. Not that anything is ever actually apolitical.)

Ollie also hates cops! And rich people! For a significant chunk of comics, he lost his fortune and was better off for it, realizing he could never be truly good if he were still a billionaire.

The common fan argument about how Bruce totally isn't abusive; he's a good dad who's just been written that way once or twice by bad writers is...actually not that far off from describing Ollie? He hit Roy once in a comic about How Not To Respond To Addiction; in another comic he was revealed to have secretly known about and abandoned Conner, despite this not lining up with previous comics showing how he really wanted to be a dad. Both of these things are canon and bad, no doubt! But he is also usually a lot better, and has shown an ability to grow and change. (Meanwhile canon Bruce just has a consistent pattern of abuse.)

Subjective, but Ollie seems to really think of himself as a father and delight in it in a way that Bruce just kinda...doesn't.

All the arrows, from what I can tell, actually like each other.

They don't try to murder each other either.

But, as you surely notice, being closer to batfanon desires doesn't mean the arrows literally are the fanon batfam. Like the bats, they are not a perfect model nuclear family (nor should they be!). They too have had conflict and dysfunction (Roy and Oliver stopped talking for a significant period of time!). And they do indeed exist in a comic book world driven by crime and superheroics and conflict, not a fluffy fanfiction world driven by comfort and interpersonal reassurances. (This is not a dunk on fanfic, which I love, just a reminder).

so tl;dr, the arrows aren't a perfectly fluffy fanon family either...but if you see a batfam fan throwing Ollie/other arrows under the bus to make their fave look better, that is definitely bullshit.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

A while back you had an ask asking how other Skyloft girls would react to being Hylia. Here's a similar question: How would the Skyloft boys (Pipit, Fledge, Groose, Cawlin, Strich, and maybe Keet) would handle being the Hylia's Chosen Hero?

Pipit would probably take it well,

Fledge would be filled with so much self doubt, and maybe have constant panic attacks. I do think he would accept it to help Skyloft

Groose & Cawlin would be egotistical about it until reality (aka Ghirahim) would hit them hard

Keet would think it would be fun, but reality would hit him as well

Strich...I'm not really sure. Probably excited to see bugs

Excited to see bugs LOL

I think your assessment is pretty accurate, Pipit would definitely take it best. It’s a blessing Groose wasn’t the hero, he grew into such a better person for not being the hero. He needed a lesson in humility :)

Poor Fledge, he would struggle so much, but I think with some pep talks he’d definitely step up.

[mariocki]

All Passion Spent: Episode 2 (1.2, BBC, 1986)

"You really must not speak as though my life has been a tragedy. I had everything that most women would envy; I had position, comfort, children, and a husband I loved. Truly loved, Mr. Fitzgeorge. I had nothing to complain of."

"Except that you were defrauded of the one thing that mattered, face it, Lady Slane: your children, your husband, your splendour... were nothing but obstacles that kept you from yourself. Perhaps you were too young to know any better, but when you chose that life, you know, you sinned against the light."

"You're right, of course."

"Course I'm right, old Fitz may be a comic figure, but he retains some sense of values."

"Don't scold me any more, Mr. Fitzgeorge. I assure you that if I did wrong, I paid for it. But you must not blame my husband."

"Oh, I don't. According to his lights, he gave you everything you could desire. He merely killed you, that's all. Men do kill women, and most women enjoy being killed - so I am told."

[outrunningthedark]

.

[yamabuki-inori]

After watching the first episode of wanpre, I’m feeling like this will be a good season! After the last two were pretty lackluster (I could barely finish hiropre and dropped delipre halfway through), this one feels more lively and fun! As long as it doesn’t end up being boring.