#yj friendships 1/?

[rainkays]

you never asked once,

no, you never asked why

if i was putting things off

if i was drinking too much of that red wine

no, you’d wear yourself thin

and accept every sin

and if i glued myself shut

you would find your way in.

[gnomewithalaptop]

I'm still too distracted to write so here have a list of YJ-cast centric fics that make me froth at the mouth

Kon-centric recs:

I Want It That Way (1990s Tim/Kon) by WynterSky / @wynterstars -- A revamped, 90s-style Superboy origin story with added Lex Luthor AND a lil bit of 90s Robin for spice and flavor. Honestly, this whole series is so elite -- goes hard with the Superboy mythos + angst PLUS the third fic leans hard into the secret identity shenanigans in a way that'd make Miraculous Ladybug jealous. The first fic splits its attention between Tim and Kon, but the latter two are solidly Kon-centric

one plus one (easy math) by connerdrakewayne / @comphetkoncass -- Cassandra Cain and Kon go to a gala together. I'm always a sucker for a good Cass + Kon friendship. This one's very short and sweet, and it gets the job done -- 10/10 would read again

a timeline can be a haunted house by connerdrakewayne -- post-universal reset Kon angst + terrible coping mechanisms! This one goes so hard I read it three times. Tbh this author has an excellent handle on Kon as a character in general, so I honestly recommend just checking out their whole fic stash

Tim-centric recs:

Top 10 Secret Identity Fails by @havendance -- Tim's new English teacher is his on-again-off-again superhero teamup Helena Bertinelli (aka the Huntress). This one's just fun, okay -- the whole thing reads like it could be straight out of Tim's 1993 solo run, plus I love the dynamic between him and Helena. Overall just a very cool vibe

only the dead stay 17 forever by Sky_Dust (couldn't find their tumblr sorry) -- Listen, I've really been restraining myself here, because I realize my love for time-travel bullshit is not universal, but I genuinely couldn't not include this one. This bad boy is a Tim-centric time-loop featuring a seriously unhinged Tim -- definitely a darker tone, but I can't stop rereading it

Bart-centric recs:

reflections on respawning: a gamer's uncertainty by merils / @mamawasatesttube -- Bart has a hard conversation about his death and subsequent resurrection (feat. Kon) man, I just vibe with this one so hard. It's such a thoughtful take on Bart's more contemplative side, while still managing to keep his personality intact

the backlash to the backlash to the thing that's just begun by @kermit-coded -- trans/gnc impulse my beloved <3 also we get some funky Max & Bart bonding, made much rawer and more real by the fact that it's the 90s and nobody knows what they're doing. Again, feels like it's straight out of Bart's solo series

Cassie-centric recs:

you and I, we are more than just this armor by @suzukiblu -- KonCassie bonding + gender feels. They're both so trans in this, and the author does a great job of really digging deep into their complicated feelings (both about gender and about each other)

(also PLEASE somebody give me more Cassie-centric fic recs I'm literally begging you)

Team recs

I'm all yours but you're all mine by suzukiblu -- Poly Core 4 Soulmates AU! Essentially, everybody gets their 'soulmark'/soulmate-identifier (not really, but the best word) right when Kon wakes up in his pod, and because Superboy hasn't really made his big splash yet, they misidentify their soulmate as Superman; this is an issue mainly because 1) they're all 14-15 and Superman is roughly 30-ish, and 2) by the time this fic takes place, Superman is pretty verifiably dead. Currently in-progress, but this is such an interesting and fun take on the usual soulmates trope. I pinky promise you won't regret reading it

Love, Not Loved series by @popsunner -- hoooomygod this series makes me cry literally every time I read it, it's genuinely one of the most realistic representations of grief I've seen on AO3. Basically explores the general fucked-up-edness of pretty much the whole YJ Core 4 Squad dying one by one, with each fic focusing on a different funeral (complete with survivor's guilt, regular guilt, and just plain old complicated feelings). We get Cassie feels, we get Tim feels, we get Bart + Kon feels -- it's the whole shebang. Don't worry -- there's a happy ending eventually, but you def gotta work for it. This series beat me up and stole my lunch money and I'd happily do it all over again

Lost the Last Piece of Me by InsaneTrollLogic / @last01standing -- YJ Core 4 Animorphs AU! I'm sad to say I've never read the original Animorphs series, but every single Animorphs AU I've ever read has been such high quality. Unsurprisingly (I love this author, okay), this fic is no exception to that rule. Solid alien-invasion plot, character driven, and the world-building is explained well enough that even a newbie like me can understand (feat. some TimKon, but it's not the main focus)

Ikonoclast by anantipodean (couldn't find a tumblr) -- Tim and Kon get sent to an alternate reality that's almost (but not quite) like their own. This one's just fun for me -- I love the TimBart buildup and the worldbuilding on the other Earth is a funky time. Also, the other universe's Tim is goth and absolutely cannot stand mainstream-reality Tim, and I find that extremely funny for some reason

[mzminola]

On the idea of Jason showing up to confront Tim at the Justice Cave instead of Titans Tower, I actually really wanna see Jason and Cissie having a talk. Because like...she nearly did what he wants Bruce to do. Someone extremely important to her was murdered and she immediately tracked down the killer for revenge. The only two reasons the murderer is still breathing is 1) Superboy's one-off intervention, 2) Cissie deciding, after she's taken the first shot and given the choice of a second, that this is not the right thing to do.

And then she quits being Arrowette! She decides the fact she came that close means she needs to step down from the hero/vigilante life. Like I think whether or not she'd agree with Jason's reasoning for Bruce to kill the Joker, she would think that if Bruce goes through with it, he should stop being Batman.

On a related note I love that Tim is the teammate who doesn't try to talk Cissie into staying? He likes her on the team, they've got things in common as the non-powered heroes, and he's always happy when she comes back for a bit, but he respects her decision to step down. He became Robin to pull Batman back from the edge and he sees Cissie pull herself back and he has so much respect for her and aaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuugh I love the YJ kids and their friendships so much!!!

[aboutzatanna]

Not sure why this myth of 'Zatanna was a teen originally in the 60's' persist. Even in her introductory arc she states "I saw my father! For the first time in twenty long and lonely years'. That puts her in her mid-20's at best (same age as Babs prior to her de aging) and the Teen Titans were very much teens during that period.

Source: Justice League of America Vol 1 #51

Only change that happened was that later on, her Whos Who was updated so her father disappeared when she was 18 then she spent an unspecified number of years looking for him.

Even before the childhood friendship with Batman was incorporated into comics, she was treated as an older woman.

Source: Green Arrow Vol 3 #19

I mean, enjoy your AU's, adaptations, fanfics and fan art. But this claim that Zee was always a teenager like in YJ is just false.

[if-i-hate-the-headline]

wayne family adventures moments from the most recent episode that made my week (pt. idek?)

I LOVE WALLY - recently finished season 1 of young justice and i just love him so much

loooook at them!! i was hiding in a bathroom when i read this and i like audibly gasped - THEM IN YOUNG JUSTICE WAS MY FAVORITE FRIENDSHIP EVER (im a birdflash shipper sue me its cute ok)

WALLY JUST LOOKS SO BOTHERED

they were boyfriends your honor ok ok

LOOK AT THEIR LITTLE HEADS BRO - we all know bruce put him up this (i think it said that at the beginning but its so obvious)

love the colorings bro

I LOVE THEM - SEASON ONE OF YJ NEEDS TO COME BACK RIGHT NOW PLEASE

I LOVE D!CK SO MUCH - HE JUST WANTS TO BE SUPERMAN OK

[bluerosefox]

[2023 Prompt List 1][Here] [2023 Prompt List 2][Next] [2023 Prompt List 3][Next]

|Why Ra’s Would Summon the Ghost King (Also Twins AU) [Part 1] |Danyal, Danny, Phantom [Part 2] |WIP [Part 3] |Bio!Dad Jason and Bio!Mom Jazz (With Oc!Kid or Son!Danny) |Ghost Gotham (With Bonus Ghosts Martha and Thomas) |Danny Says Clone Rights |Robin’s Haunted Halloween (Feat. Ghost King Danny and Ghostly grandparents Martha and Thomas) |Library Cryptid Danny |Twins to Trio? (Dani mistakes Damian as Danny, and Damian learns his twin might not be dead) |Twins AU BUT WITH ANGST! |Mom!Dani (Square up Superman) |Free Flying Graysons (Feat. Ghostly John and Mary Grayson) |Comes in Twos (Twins! Jason and Danny die on the same day) |Foreboding Words of Warnings (Feat. Competent Ghost King Danny) |Across My Memories (Feat. Ghost King Danny, Ghost!Prince Jason) |Consorthood Via Combat (Feat. Ghost King Danny, and Danny dating any Bat of your choosing) |Wrong Number Au (Danny sends a rant text to Tucker... Only its not Tucker) |Todd and Phantom, Mostly Ghostly Shenanigans (Danny and Jason try to get out of the GZ together and bond) |Ellie “I WILL bite you” and Danny “He’s just a baby” Fenton (Deaged Danny and caretaker (and tiny bit feral) Dani (Ellie) watch out Gotham, she’ll bite.) |Double Troubles (another Damian and Danny twin au but they wanna see how long their families notice they switch places) |Everything, including the bride. WAIT, BRIDE?! (Dead Tired pairing, Tim now regrets being a smart cookie as a kid and solving a magical puzzle box while Danny regrets beating Pariah Dark cause he got the old King’s bride now as his own) |CAT Ghost INSTINCTS (Damian brings home a... interesting new acquaintance who has some interesting... quirks) |Peek-A-Boo Champ! (Jazz and her baby being taken by a cult. Jason coming to save them. And Uncle Danny being the best at peek-a-boo) |Teeny-Tiny Kitten (Danielle ‘Ellie’ makes a wish and later gets found by a certain cat and bat) |Same As The Day I Lost You (Mix de-aged Danny, and siblings!Damian and Danny, add in some teleporting/portaling when the bats are fighting the League and you get this idea.) |Cuckoo Clocks (Clockwork sends a certain RR a sticky note during his solo run to come find Phantom and later find him) |The (Not) Normal One... (a reborn/reincarnted Danny idea where he’s the normal one in the batfam... only he’s really not.) |Dip and Kiss (Jason totally would kiss the person who ended the Joker in an Oscar worthy movie moment) |The Trouble With Time Travel Guilt (Danny starts an AITA thread due to his guilt over the future that will never be, he trauma bonds with fellow heroes and time travelers over it) |Friendships Between Realms (YJ and Danny Shenanigans Being Peek Friendship) |Misunderstandings and Miscommunications (Danny panics and runs, good Fenton parents want their son home, well meaning but not knowing the full picture best friends, on a war path Jazz and the maybe wooing of RH, and the DCverse getting caught in the middle of the chaos) |A Little Robin (Danny gets stuck in a Robin doll/plush and winds up in Gotham) |Kid's y'know? (Youngblood wants to be an astronaut this time, and Danny... Has to stop him from running amok the JL Watchtower) |Gothamites Never Really Rest (Johnny was a crime alley kid, Kitty was the daughter of a mob boss, and Jason was a kid they pseudo raised before their deaths. They meet again when Kitty and Johnny return to Gotham and find budding crime lord named Red Hood)

[vinelark]

hey hey! i love bbts so much, it makes me so happy whenever i reread it✌️one of the (many) things i love about it is the core four friendship! so i was wondering, do you have any recs for fics with fun yj dynamics?! no pressure ofc, either way i hope you have a lovely day ☺️✨

hello! so sorry this took forever! also so glad bbts makes you happy on the reread 🥰

first, some of my absolute fav core four content: coralreefskim's comics and cryptocism's comics. great art, great dialogue, great codependent friendship nightmare polycule genuinely endearing "would kill for you would live for you would save the world with you but more importantly would never let you live down that typo you made in the groupchat that one time" vibes all around.

and a few fics:

Into the Brighter Night by shoalsea

when a past enemy comes back for tim, the batfam learn a lot about tim and his young justice adventures in the fallout. this one's long and plotty and has that super compelling trope of the POV character watching an interaction where the reader is in on the jokes but the POV character isn't--basically a great sort-of-outsider POV on the core four, plus, from what i could tell, almost every other yj character at some point.

a study by bernard dowd by cv_angels

a short, hilarious fic with timber and implied future timberkon, in which tim (sort of) reveals his identity and that leads to kon and bart and cassie meeting bernard.

Lipstick on the glass by kerosceene

i'm a broken record with this one, but it's just. 🤌🤌 it starts out focused on timkon but part 2 has college-age core four halloween shenanigans. cassie has a civilian gf. bart dresses up as a meme that doesn't exist yet. kon is in the dragriculture club. tim loves his friends (and boyfriend) so much. it's just so heartwarming and good.

The Mystery of the Superboy Shirts by Aviatricks

silly oneshot with tim going full obsessive detective mode about everything but his own feelings, good yj squad dynamics, bart being a passable liar, and some timkon.

Detours by miyaji_08

i've also rec'd this one before (twice, even) but once again it fits the bill, because the core four scenes in this are so good. it's a reverse robins au where tim becomes roommates with kon and bart and cassie, who are superboy, impulse, and wonder girl but have no idea (yet) that tim has his own secret identity, too. so there's identity shenanigans with all four of them, classic reverse robins tim angst, some enemies-to-lovers and oh-my-god-they-were-roommates timkon, and a really fun final action sequence. it's part 2 of a series and i highly recommend reading part 1 first, but if you want to dive right into the core four aspects you can probably piece together the context as you go.

[bluelotuswrites]

i love ask games!!! is three asks excessive? three might be excessive… pick and choose if you don’t want to answer all of them!

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you l

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairing

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

hope you’re having a good day and your wips aren’t giving you trouble <3

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

I'm gonna link a couple because I have lots.

butcherbird, fly away home One of Jason's instructors kidnaps Bruce fucking Wayne. This changes nothing, or at least that's what Jason keeps telling himself.

Six Degrees of Separation by @oliocelottafanfics Catatonic Jason is picked up by Penelope Garcia from Criminal Minds. It changes many things. Very good and fun

Melodyverse by @rainymeadows If you like Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright, then this is a fun continuation fic.

The Wayward Boy Instead of Jason going after his mother in Ethiopia, he instead enlists in the military.

Ed Elric/Marvel Fem!Ed gets transported to the MCU during Capitain America First Avenger movie. It's actually really good and I hope the author is doing well since it's been a few years since they updated.

The Volatile Verse Comics Jason crosses dimensions to YJ season 1 and becomes a big brother figure to Dick. It's locked so you'll need an AO3 account to see it.

Batman: Arkham Compendium Listen to me. When I tell you this is the best Arkhamverse fic, I mean it. It follows Jason's life in Arkhamverse from before and after Arkham Knight. The author left the fandom a long time ago, but I will forever love the worldbuilding that was put into it.

Not that big a distance really Bucky and Jason meet after Bucky goes to Jason's apartment address in NJ instead of NY. Bucky and Steve becomes kinda like a pseudo-dad figure to Jason.

Remnant Michael Afton is on the YJ Season 1 team and has super powers after the incident at Sister Location. He's 15-16 in this, and William Afton is one fucked up dude. It sounds like a concept that is so out there but it's actually really fucking good.

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairing

Okayyyy so. I'm not really an active fandom shipper? I guess the only one I really am open about is Laywright. For them, I headcanon that during the 7 years that Phoenix was disbarred, he had met up with Hershel and was the person he knew in London. Also, Hershel helped him back on his feet and was a soundboard for Phoenix's idea for revamping the justice system in America.

For platonic pairing, I headcanon that Tim and Jason tend to have regular bitch sessions about the idiots in Gotham/family. Tim is a sassy little shit in canon and Jason is Jason. When their paths cross or Bruce has pissed them off again, they go to one of Jason's safehouses where Jason cooks and they bitch about whatever is on their minds. Dick is not allowed and regularly gets kicked out if he tries to butt in.

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

Oh god, my favorite piece??? You're evil. I can't have just one! Okay, okay.

So this is actually a painting the lovely @gremlinscogs did for their art class based off RitCoS. It's glorious, and it was sent to me in DMs but they gave me permission to post. It's really a beautiful piece that captured the vibes of the first fic in Red is the Color of Sinners perfectly.

(digital concept art version they did)

Also, this bad boy by @speaching back when we first started talking and I teased a small chapter bit I had written but hadn't posted yet. I went to bed and woke up to that, and thus started a chaotic friendship that has lasted for quite some time.

Speach also drew this one that never fails to make me laugh. Just the image of Matt aggressively shoveling snow sends me.

[devine-fem]

lol might get hate for this but in my opinion in terms of the ranking the SuperBat pairings….

1.) Damijon/Jondami- Yes I’m completely bias but I never felt this strong for such a pairing (regardless either platonic/romantic! ) Such an iconic (chaotic) duo! I’m glad the dynamic of Damian and Jon worked out well and is well loved!

2.) Superbat-I mean they are the OGs and I can get why fans love their dynamic and pair them! I’m more bromance for them but I do look forward to their interactions whenever the two appear together!

3.) Timkon-I’m neutral for them. I like the fanarts if I see them but otherwise I think they seem more aesthetically good together than like actually together. Hey at least Tim has Bernard now and personally Kon deserves better.

Jon + Damian have squashed potential. Their friendship would have done both their characters so much good. Eventually, as they grew Jon would have felt like he’d have to chase after Damian and keep up and Damian would seek and find in Jon when it comes to anything he can’t obtain as a hero.

Out of all the popular ships, this one is particularly rare.

Imagine a world where Jon and Damian did engage in a romantic relationship in later years. I think it would be great queer rep to show two people who knew each other as friends - grappling with the same heroic pressures and coming to terms with the fact that they might not want to be just friends anymore (a common queer experience) I also think that in stories where they are do become Batman and Superman, it’d feel very refreshing to see DC have the courage to portray an iteration of their most popular characters like that.

These characters are both fairly new and not so much engraved into the audience. They both know each other and share chemistry so there wouldn’t be a lot of room for complaint.

Superbat is meh to me. Over the years, It has done a lot regarding DC fandom, it’s a ship that’s become iconic and is popular amongst passive fans which could become quite annoying.

Superbat is realistically, never going to happen. Respectfully, I doubt DC would do anything in all seriousness when it comes to anything romantic between these two.

Especially with the obvious things like how Batman is and how Clark has a wife and kids.

Although, no ship is shipped under the ideation of becoming canon so I give this pair its flowers because honestly, it could be nice in domestic situations or maybe a workplace relationship but I don’t see it being endgame or like anything happening at all in a likable way.

Timkon, I’m very, very bias about how much I dislike Timkon. Most Timkon shippers realistically do not read comics and I know this because I was one at first for a short amount of time and realized how deluded and far off from the truth Timkon actually is.

It’s crazy to me because fandom is so intense about this ship and all for it to be… alright?

A lot of Timkon stuff is boiled down to being one-sided on Tim’s part. It really irks me that Timkon's evidence is like Tim trying to clone Conner while knowing that he has a thing about not being cloned because he’s a clone himself which irks me.

Then him dating his ex-girlfriend is a HUGE red flag to me, especially when their relationship was semi-abusive and built on grief but good thing it didn’t last.

Also, Tim and Conner are NOT as close as people pretend they are. Conner doesn’t know much about Tim beyond him being Robin, they don’t hang out outside of being heroes.

In reality, Conner doesn’t know much about Tim at all and he’s much closer with his other teammates - literally any other YJ teammate other than Tim. Conner's established friendship with Tim caused a lot of really horrible character assassinations on Bart, Cassie, and Conner. It pushed all characters aside in an attempt to emphasize their relationship.

If they were to have a relationship then people acknowledge its toxicity - see toxicity doesn’t take away from shipability but frankly, I think both these characters deserve to be happy.

If they did date, I seriously give them half a year before they break up. I’m happy Tim is with Bernard because he seems much happier than he’s ever been. I’m sorry, reading those comics it felt like Tim was just grieving his friend after having lost a family member and he was spiraling and needing help, that’s not ‘cute’ to me.

Anyway, I notice Timkon shippers use Kon more as an accessory to Tim and melt his character down for that. If they read his comics then they’d know that he is canonically attracted to Bart anyway (I say canonically because of the on-the-nose insinuation which I take as gospel because it’s crazy for a writer to just outright mention Conner might be attracted to Bart.) Which Bart is most of the reason Conner is queer coded like he is now anyway.

Anyway, not saying all Timkon shippers are horrible but I don’t like the shippers or the ship. It’s substanceless for me. If you like it I’m very happy for you. I think all of these ships are iconic and adorable. This is just me being a person with an opinion.

Anyway, my thoughts.

[haveyoureadthisdcfic]

Authour: ClockStrikesThree

Subfandom: Young Justice

Media: Comics

Relationships: Gen (Cassie Sandsmark & Tim Drake)

Year: 2024

Summary:

When Kon died, his friends tried to bring him back. Cassie turned to a sham cult. Tim turned to science. They both failed. When Bart died, Tim and Cassie held each other back from the ledge. When Tim dies, Cassie does what she should have done the first time. She returns to her roots. She turns to the Greek gods. The Underworld. Or: Tim dies, and Cassie can’t handle it. She sets out to bring him back, Orpheus style.

Submitted by @gnomewithalaptop

Submitter's comment:

Kon's dead. Bart's dead. When Tim dies too, Cassie decides enough is enough -- it's time to Orpheus and Eurydice this shit. So so SO good -- I cannot tell you how clearly this fic is a labor of love on the author's part. The canon lore is meticulously researched, there's guest star appearances from fellow YJ albums like Anita Fite and Greta Hayes, but most importantly, this fic showcases the genuine love and friendship that exists between Cassie and Tim, which is something I only rarely see explored in fics these days

[cosmicmordecai]

I’ve said this before but just to expand what I was saying earlier regarding Zatanna’s not necessarily being “de-aged” to be with Dick Grayson in YJ. In comics, Zatanna was moreover aged up to be closer to Batman.

Dependening on the stories, Zee starts off her heroism at 18-21. Sometimes she joins the JL after years of searching for her father or around the same time.

[Secret Origins v2 #27 - Recounted through Dr. Mist, who reveals being the mastermind behind her father & her upheavals in life by force via Felix Faust. In the story, he does realize how fucking creepy and patronizing his actions were.]

[ Justice League of America #51 - This story places her at 20 years old when she finally reunited with her father and joins the JL a short time later. But this story makes it seem like she was an orphan rather than raised by her father for a chunk of her childhood.]

[ DCU Heroes Secret Files & Origins #1 - This timeline would imply that she joined the JL first at 21.]

All these sources came prior to her history with Batman, which would naturally move her timeline to make her adjacent with him prior.

[Compared that to Dick, whom she met alongside the Titans in Tales of the Teen Titans #4 in the 1980s. By then, Dick was already college bound with high school graduation [Batman #217]or a teenager depending on your context, placing him roughly 16-18 give or take. This same series in which the picture above has him retire the Robin name in #39, which modern stories typically have that done at 18 years old.]

I think it’s very important to note that Zatanna’s character has changed overtime and that there’s no definite “Justice League generation” vs other generations of heroes. There’s not this neat little box where every DCU character conveniently fits in.

The Titans might fit in the “heroes in their 20s” box and the Teen Titans feature heroes younger than 18 but even then, some TT reached 18+ [Red Devil] and there’s been a plethora of heroes in their 20s in the JL [Kyle Rayner, Khalid Nassour, Ronnie Raymond/Jason Rusch]. Just like the JSA has younger members & successors who join, the JL features membership of varying ages.

[I literally forgot the source of this.]

I understand the basis makes it seem like Zatanna is infantalized but that’s not necessarily true. The character wasn’t always Bruce’s childhood friend and at one point, only met significantly in the JL to Batman’s own recollection. & one other time where she was disguised as a witch unknown to Bruce himself long before the retcon that made them childhood friends came to be.

It’s also hard to say “Zatanna has to be around this age bc she hangs out with so-and-so” because characters like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman has had their histories altered in many ways. Barry Allen’s age has never been stated so using his interest in her as an age gauge is iffy and honestly, in real life, people have relationships, flirtations, and friendships with people older and younger than them. Part of adulthood is meshing with people & it’s not always convenient that you’ll be friends with people your own age. Interpersonal relationships are also multi-faceted and complex.

I also think it’s sets a bad precedent to not examine the character’s history and go off of the “idea” of where characters are instead of their history. Various DC characters already get this:

Billy Batson is always like 10 or 12 when people think of him but like he’s been 15 & 16 too. His relationship with Courtney Whitmore for example happened when he’s in high school himself. He is also chronologically older than Jon Kent regardless of space bullshit.

Raven & Beast Boy’s character get de-aged to the point they’ve been in Dick, Tim, and Damian’s version of the Teen Titans in media & comics.

Jaime Reyes remained eternally in high school until recently and it took a movie to budge him from that.

Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Caín are out here having Damian be closer to them in age because editorials, writers, and fanon completely forget both characters have been 18 far longer than anybody thinks.

Khalid Nassour debuted in 2015 already 23 years old & a year older than DICK GRAYSON IN THE SAME YEARS. Nowadays, he’s drawn as a teen/college age guy and his timeline either implies he’s in his 30s now or in 2023, all his 100+ appearances took place in ONE YEAR so therefore, everyone he interacted with also progressed one year overtime?

Long story short, it’s really important in my opinion to consider a character’s history and not just go off of whose their friend is, what you think their idealized version is like, and do not use the characters whose timeline DC & Didio has outright played Russian Roulette with accommodate their idealized version of the characters as a placeholder.

[lingeringscars]

top 5 yj dynamics

fuck you <;3 @wilderchose also asked

shauna x tai x nat. this is the biggest cheating thing i could have ever done. their adult dynamic and scenes together are perfect and comedy genius. their scenes together in the teen timeline are petty and beautiful. and it has the added bonus of including: shauna x tai, shauna x nat, tai x nat. three of the best dynamics of the show. shaunatai i talk about in a post scheduled for tomorrow, shaunanat i also talk about there. but basically people who know each other and understand each other and love each other and also hate each other. then there is tainat which is also sooo fascinating. they stayed in (relative) contact because tai funding nat's rehab. tai throwing money at a problem and hoping it will go away but never turning her back on nat. getting her out of shit situations with travis, helping her on her feet, bailing her out every time except the last. nat calling tai not for the money but because tai is someone she knows she can go to. someone she trusts. and the one number she has still. they are the trio. and each duo is so important. they fit together and apart. they are number 1 to me.

shauna x travis. hi <3 shauna and travis not really interacting yet they live forever in my head. shauna being around and helping javi in a much more gentle approach than that by travis, only for this to switch in s2 where shauna ignores javi and travis is the one being gentle with him. shauna giving javi outlets, travis holding a piece of that. shuana losing jackie to the snow, travis losing javi to ice water. them finding and holding them in the same place. the most important person to them coming to the wilderness being lost to them because of their own actions (maybe you should leave; get lost). shauna hearing about travis' death and completley shutting down. travis starting the prayer circle. travis. starting. the. prayer. circle. travis. someone who is not as deeply connected to the wilderness as some of the others. starting. the circle. for shauna. crying. for shauna. doing this. for shauna. they are soooooooooooooooooooooo. they truly understand each other in a way no one else ever will, too.

shauna x jackie. they mess me up. there are so many misperceptions in their relationship, it's truly so juicy. shauna swallowing and never giving jackie a chance to explain or come back, just piling all this resentment. jackie loving shauna more than anyone else that she doesn't see how her comments are hurtful (making the quality you love about someone about herself; wear the boob dress, these are our dorm colors). jackie who couldn't conceive a world where her and shauna weren't together. shauna who make sure that she would never live in a world without jackie after she dies. also they have this giant, friendship ending fight, and in society they may have come back from that some day, but in the wilderness, jackie died for it, and how is that not the most fascinating thing to ever happen?

mari x akilah. this is probably number 2 but i needed to get my shuana thoughts out there while i was at it. her dynamics are, as you can see, something i rotate in my head all the time. i think they are so fascinating because they weren't close, barely knew each other, and just happened to sit next to each other on the plane, yet they became so vital to each other. they slept next to each other that first night and almost every night since. mari goes to akilah for comfort; they make decisions together because they are a team. mari wants to help akilah cheat, akilah stops clinging to return to help mari with the present. mari needs akilah's support, but she also loves her as a person. they went from never or barely speaking to being everything to each other like shut up??? some of this is developed but it's also so clear that they mean so much to each other sorry. they're always together, super close, mari goes to her all the time and looks to her when she isn't right beside her whenever something happens.

travis x javi. the fact that they were not supposed to be there, that they were not part of the team, and that they were only there because of their father who died at the very start is going to haunt travis forever and it GETS me. travis who can't show outward kindness to his brother, javi who tries to sit with travis on the plane, who is so fascinated and just wants to be let in by travis, and now he'll never be let in again (except in the very literal way). travis digging up his father for a gift for javi that he can't explain. travis pissing people off to try to care for javi the best that he knows how. javi disappearing, travis blaming himself, and travis searching every day for months, hoping, wishing, waiting, wanting. javi coming back, the relief in their hugs that they were safe only for that to be ripped away. losing his brother twice, losing his brother every day after. doomed from the start because they were never supposed to be there but also belong nowhere else. GOD!!!!

bonus for dynamics that really fascinate me but maybe are not actually top 5 and just intrigue me and i want to develop more in rp and also see more in show. also ones i do not rotate in my head as much but i do think about: van x nat. a lot of my connection to them is from the original script and i think there is so much there. mari x van. mari x laura lee. mari x tai. mari x travis. the quad of mari x akilah x van x laura lee for bg chars you see interacting and are important to me. akilah x laura lee. akilah x van. akilah x shauna. special mention to gen and melissa, a comedy duo. shauna x van. i considered really hard and ultimately decided not to place this one in there. so much that it is this far down because i had it there. i think ultimately it came off because it fell flat (to me) a little in s2. i think shauna trying to rescue van despite being in a haze and trying to go back when she realizes what happened and the conflict that sparked there with jackie is so fascinating. i also think that their hug in 1x07 is so important to me. adult van throwing shauna's keys away is a comedy. i just want More. tai x akilah. another one i was debating before putting the martinez brothers. i love their connection. i think they're so important, and i don't need to talk about how akilah influences tai because you do that for me. sadecki family almost made it because god how fascinating they are. also callie x jackie who will never meet but callie who is so influenced by who jackie was. lottie lee / lottie nat. the only 2 lottie ships i have. they are very important to me and i was actually v surprised (spoilers) that lottie/nat didn't make my top 5 ships because i was v sure it would (lottie/lee did. spoilers). nat/jackie another one that got taken off my ship lists. i think i'm just a little removed from them rn but they hooked up in my head. jackie seeing nat as someone unafraid to be herself while jackie is so petrified. they make me AHHHH. not me forgetting taivan i am a mess. they're also on my ship list. i think they have such a compelling dynamic and i DO think about them a lot but ultimately shuana dynamics win out here & i needed to include my tragic siblings help TRAV NAT WERE GONNA BE ON THIS LIST OOPS. i've written about them before and how entwined their stories are and how they need each other and also can't be around each other. javi in the center of them.

ultimately, the really beautiful thing about this show and rp in general is getting to build on connections that aren't really established that much, so there are so many dynamics that absolutely fascinate me, but i went with the ones that i rotate in my head a lot or consistently come back to. and despite this giant ass list i still feel like i am missing dynamics that live in my head.

ask me my top 5 anything // always accepting

[joeysmuttonchops]

8, 9 and 12? You don't have to answer all of them ofc

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

the ntt arent found family, the fab five arent found family, yj is not found family, the justice league ESPECIALLY isnt found family. what you are describing is friends. i swear to god im starting to worry about some of you people. do your friends not help you when you ask? do you think they dont love you? why do people have to be your sibling or your dad to pass a certain point of intimacy?

9. worst part of canon

oh interesting how do we want to read worst. bad quality? bad change of status quo? bad writing trend?

i know something thats all three: Titans Hunt. "now dd" youre asking "isnt that where joey died?" and yes, it is, but titans hunt has way worse crimes than killing my fave

First: it runs for 16 issues, includes two seperate but partially relevant arcs (so you cant skip them), and the pacing is absolutely nightmarish. long stretches with no forward motion but what feels like important set up (but isnt cuz they pull the finale out of their ass). Terrible structurally, but relevent because… 

Second: Titans Hunt is meant to introduce a new titans lineup. but doesnt because its too busy being the Deathstroke Show.  in fact id say this isnt even a titans comic: this is deathstroke -17–-1, which fucks everything up because once Deathstroke #1 comes out and he moves over there and and we try to continue reading Titans, we don't know who half of these people are!

Third: because of the above THIS is the origin of Hero!Slade. titans hunt was a soft reboot for slade wilson. wolfman had always been sympathetic to him, but this was the first time he operated as a hero, which Deathstroke shouldnt have been. it retconned his "relationship" with tara where it had only been downplayed before, it changed his relationship with Jericho which undermines all of their interactions up to this point and completely changes SLADE's character (and therefore onwards into the modern era). if you're wondering how we got from Judas Contract to fanon deathstroke, this comic is ground zero

Fourth: Completely screwed over Vic for the rest of the 90s

12. the unpopular character you like and why more people should like them

ive talked about joey and yara on this blog so id like to take this moment to introduce yall to ANIMA.

anima was created for the bloodlines crossover event but whats important is her solo: Anima 1994. it came out in the same batch as Superboy, Robin, and The Ray and they actually all appear in the Yearbook extras at the end of eachother's comics, which is cute.

Anima 1–6 are some of my favorite issues ever released, period. the second half changes course pretty radically, becoming a bit more of a traditional action comic. it remains It explores teen homelessness, drug addiction, counter-culture, and psuedoscience, gender, and a desperation for independence that you cant have, legally, as a child, and the desire for a people that respect you, and how all of that can be used as a cult recruitment tactic

its also fucking gorgeous. the art is stunning, its vibrant, it excels at expressing emotion, its not afraid to draw women with expressions (MAJOR win). the artstyle shift in issue 4 made my jaw drop the first time i saw it because of the thematic resonance.

anima herself is rude and tries to be confident and desperate and desperate to be kind. her friendship with liv and the rest of boojum is so well written (alright, to varying degrees) and i really do think about it constantly. 

it has flaws, of course, but i really love the anima the the potential she had, and im sorry she never went any further

[clambuoyance]

Favorite Superboy villain (if you have one, if not then favorite sb comic) and a plotline you think had a lot of potential but should have been written better

idk about villain (maybe black zero or he's not technically a superboy villain but his fight with cyborg superman was cool.) buttttt in terms of potential i think a lot of sb comics are filled with half-baked ideas that never get to see full fruition :P

i think my favorite is hypertime probably because 1) i liked seeing all the diff kons (into the konverse....) esp robin!kon <3 and 2) seeing him confront Paul and Black Zero and grapple with the darker aspects of himself was neat. I liked seeing the powers Kon could possibly gain in the future and he's just so <333 in that arc. It's been a long while since ive read it tho so i could probably go into more depth if i reread 3) also around this time he's been feeling very down and so seeing yj ask about his whereabouts and mickey cannon being like "i didnt realize so many people cared about him" made me go aaaaaah and later kon asking clark if he came back to the right reality was so interesting to me. i think this arc presents a really neat struggle with belonging and knowing ur place in the universe and it was like yeah <3 he belongs in this reality he is so loved <3

i think my other favorite is him in the whole apokolips arc between his solo and yj. i liked seeing him and his conflict with tim finally reach its climax and him having to deal with the fallout and consequences it has on his friendships w all of yj really, however i was pretty disappointed to not actually see an apology scene between tim and kon even if i think the yj team reuniting chaotically was very in fashion for them

and the whole sins of youth arc in general was cool :0 it gave me the "All I got is who I am!" line so <3

Some other things i liked was the whole peter pan thing ofc --there was a couple issues where he gets trapped in a place and they try to do a lost boys thing but didnt commit (but i have a fic idea thats got one page written about this).

i kinda liked most of his arcs in general, from the beginning with him learning to be a hero in ROTS to him trying to make a name for himself and messing up a lot along the way but continuing to try anyways. but like i said, i think if these emotional arcs could go One step further or allowed to delve into some of the darkness of these arcs or didnt fall back onto tropes his solo would have been stronger.

for example, during the cadmus era of his life, i would have liked to see more exploration of the fact he's back in the place that made him and now have him working for them. or in the hawaii era, they could have gone into how he could have had friends his age at school but got thrown into a wack ass love triangle. in general, the hawaiian issues could have been treated with more respect as well. they also introduced silver sword, but it didn't go anywhere i feel like T-T

also for the kon in smallville plotline i think it would have been cooler to see kon struggle more to be a regular person but his rebel streak keeps taking over

sorry this was all over the place i literally could talk about it for hours which i dont have time for so i just kinda spouted random things <3

[oifaaa]

i, for one, love yj tv, but most of my issues with it come from the way certain characters are written and not made to face the consequences of their actions (cough cough m'gann cough cough). but also taking a friendship they built up so strongly in one season, knowing they'd have one of the characters be queer, and then throwing that character together with someone he had never met before romantically and not even having the balls to say that they were romantically inclined.

theres a lot of issues with the show, and i have a few very specific pieces of beef that permeate the entire show for me, but theres also countless other things i love about the little disconnected dc universe they created!

Okay so bad opinions incoming but I don't mind that m'gann didn't face too many consequences for what she did in season two (mostly bc season 2 m'gann was the most fun I had watching her) like obviously the main consequences of her actions in season two was meant to be her almost permanently damaging a good friend of hers bc she kept using her powers without thought and she almost ruined a undercover mission as well like that's the point of consequences to learn a lesson to not do the bad thing any more and m'gann learnt that lesson so I was happy enough... would have preferred if her and kon didn't get back together but thats also just me not really caring much about their relationship to begin with

I am a wee bit confused about the friendship in season 1 your talking about tho? I presume you mean Kaldur but I'm not sure who the other person is? - either way once again I liked that I like how realistic it felt, also a lot of what happens in yj we don't actually get to see we the audience are usually trusted to put the pieces together ourselves about what happens in the inbetween the bits they show and I know alot of people don't really enjoy that type of story telling but I love it its why the time skips never really bother me

[sab-teraa]

jae jun ending is harsh ??? he was the least problematic

Hey <3 Oooo, I appreciate your opinion ... but I beg to differ. Spoilers ahead: 1. For most bullying scenes, JJ was merely a bystander who observed the violence around him and chose to ignore/protect the perpetrators. As such, he was 'blind' in terms of not seeing/choosing not to see what was around him + he lacked perception/good judgement by helping them cover it up.

I think this is further evident in his relationship with the store clerk. Other than Ye-sol, sometimes YJ + Se-ra ... the only other person he spoke to somewhat 'kindly' (I'm using the word kindly loosely lol) was the store clerk ... yet, the possibility of him knowing about her s exual assault is high ... and he chose to do nothing. He was once again a mere bystander.

I also think that he was ‘blind’ on a friendship level. He was surprised by Ye-sol being his child + YJ hiding it from him … considering they shared everything … to the point that he didn’t even consider it a possibility till DE. Thus, he was blinded by his trust in YJ. He was also blindsided by Myeong-oh standing up against him + robbing him + the fact that se-ra would sleep with Myeong-oh = JJ being blinded by his social status.

DE had given the group a chance to get the easy way out ...both knowingly (aka YJ) and unknowingly (JJ). Here, JJ was given a lifeline with Ye-sol and for the first time ... he was no longer a bystander ... he stood up for what was right. He was also given a chance to redeem himself by doing right by So-hee after finding out she was pregnant with his child and killed by YJ + doing right by Ye-sol by understanding her relationship with DY. However, in these cases, he was once again blinded by his love for Ye-sol ... resulting in him making the wrong choices - using Ye-sol as a bargaining chip to protect YJ + assaulting DY and DE.

I found it extremely satisfactory that HJ had a role to play in blinding him. She tried her best to appear perfect for him, yet he was blinded bc of her status and probs the fact that she tried to hard. Hence, treating her as disposable + constantly mocking her. She probs presumed he turned a new leaf with him standing up for her + proposing to her … she thought he had finally seen her. But nope, he chose to taunt her when she needed him the most.

Given these storylines, I interpreted DE asking JJ “how do you know what’s colourful” … as a play on his colorblindness and the fact that he lacks good judgement/is a bystander/ability to see beyond his own beliefs. So, JJ literally losing his eyesight wraps up his story perfectly - now he is blind by force rather than choice. 2. With regard to losing his life ... it made the most sense. He has been fighting for custody of Ye-sol against DY - its his main character arc. DY would have never known peace bc JJ would continuously come after them. Plus, the role DE played in blinding JJ helped DY k-word JJ ... hence, it can also be seen as DE's thank to DY for always being kind to her.

Taking him away from Ye-sol and his chance to have a family was also another point of revenge. Throughout the show we see how much he craves a home and family ... so this defo hit hard.

(Side note: do you guys think the hurt So-hee? that part came across a bit open-ended ... like why didn't So-hee use this relationship to irk YJ? Maybe she knew that it would not matter bc YJ did not love him? Idk ... but that whole scene where they found out he is the father makes me think he could have hurt her)