#Eobard is disappointed in you | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

givemewallywestorgivemedeath · 1 year

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Wally was getting beaten within an inch of his life by mind controlled speedsters and all he could think was "Oh god, get up before Barry finds out!"

Because Barry had been dead for years. Wally took up his legacy but he didn't think he was worthy of the mantle. He didn't think he was good enough to fill Barry's shoes. There was time travel involved so Wally knew that Barry could show up at any moment and see him, half dead in a Flash suit. Wally was more terrified of Barry's disappointment than he was of death.

Of course Barry did show up. Didn't even blink an eye when he saw the future version of his kid. He just jumped in to help. You want to hurt Barry's kid? You have to go through him first.

Wally was devastated. He was a failure. Barry knew he was a failure. Worst of all, he was a failure while he was parading around in a Flash costume. Wally already considered himself the worst Flash but Barry had been dead. To Wally it was a mercy that Barry was spared the pain of watching Wally screw up his legacy. Until now.

Barry, of course, did not think Wally was a failure for not being able to singlehandedly fight 25 speedsters. He was incredibly confused why Wally seemed so... dejected and snippy.

Barry tried to compliment him, "you've come so far", but Wally took that literally, "yeah I came from the 20th century". Then Barry was worried that he had embarrassed Wally because Barry is an eternal dad.

The final straw was Barry commenting on the suit which was.... a sore spot. For multiple reasons. A) Wally changed the suit which would imply that Wally didn't like Barry's suit, b) Wally was altering Barry's legacy and, probably the most important part, c) when Eobard had pretended to be Barry he had used the suit change against Wally. Obviously Wally knew now that Eobard wasn't Barry but clearly the comments stuck.

Anyway, Barry was a smart guy and he knew Wally like he knew a chemistry set. He figured it out and set Wally straight. He was proud of Wally. He liked the suit. It was Wally's legacy too and he could do what he wants. Just classic best dad/mentor stuff.

And then he gave Wally a killer pep talk:

(sidenote: Jay is also the best dad/grandfather/mentor. Additionally I love that Barry talked about surpassing Jay in an attempt to make Wally feel better.

Barry saw Wally in action as the Flash and he thought Wally was worried that Barry would be mad that Wally surpassed him. The idea that he would ever be disappointed in Wally, even the idea that Wally would think that, didn't even cross Barry's mind. To him, Wally was the best Flash.

The faith Barry has in Wally is unwavering. It's so wholesome. Of course Barry was not wrong, Wally literally absorbed kinetic energy during the fight and stopped several speedsters dead in their tracks, a move that absolutely floored Barry, and then Wally violently exploded the ground with his vibrations to knock the rest of them down. Which again, made Barry go 'Holy shit what the fuck was that move??!?". So yeah, Wally had some serious skills and an advanced understanding of their powers that was way beyond Barry and Barry saw that. But Wally's a dumbass with imposter syndrome, so he was completely oblivious to it all and had an angst filled meltdown over disappointing Barry for being a 'failure'.)

#dc #dc comics #the flash #kid flash #wally west #barry allen #jay garrick

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tacagen · 9 months

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Healthy Eobarry AU

(yes its just called that. no there is no actual romance, the word eobarry is here only so i dont have to write 'barry and eobard' all the time im talking about them. some things are very close to that tho but thats just the way it always is with thawne.)

the core idea: eobard is still a flash fan from the 25th century with a huge crush but he never wanted to be a hero like barry. he always wanted to go back in time and become flash's archnemesis instead, so there is no rejection abandonment and disappointment drama at all. not a single trace of canon hatred, thawne just wants to have some good time with his favorite hero in a weird way. barry, on the other hand, has no idea what the fuck is even going on. the vibe is most reminiscent of silver age eobarry. their dynamic:

ALSO their dynamic: this jla short

the lore:

they first meet in 21st century. eobard just finds barry, comes up to him like 'omg hi flash!! im your fan from the future and i just synthesized myself the speedforce connection to go back in time and meet you irl :)', waits exactly until barry believes and starts marveling at that fact, goes 'BUT THERE'S ALSO THIS LITTLE THING YOU SHOULD KNOW :)))) youre probably wondering why these colors. well, i call myself the reverse-flash and actually im here to cause problems for you on purpose. NOW CATCH ME IF YOU CAN :D', runs off to break the brakes of a bus carrying children or something like that while barry stands for a few seconds like 'huh. reverse? where are you going?'

right after barry, utterly confused and shocked, averts the situation thawne caused, he goes 'WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL WAS THAT?? DIDNT YOU JUST SAY YOU WERE MY FAN??' which thawne answers with 'wow. you really thought i was one of these boring "my favourite person of all time inspired me to become a hero like them" rip-offs with no imagination, didnt you? tsk tsk, i am so disappointed'

secrecy of their identities to each other isnt a thing since the very first fight. 'by the way, my name is eobard thawne! and i know you're barry allen, i actually know most of the 21st century heroes' identities but i promise you can trust me with that!'. indeed, he doesnt reveal this to anyone or threaten to do so but trust isnt exactly the right word either as thawne fucking loves visiting barry while they're both in their civil clothes at times + itwasmebarry still becomes a thing (elaborated on further below).

thawne is faster than barry here from the very beginning on pure theory and little to no speedster experience but only because barry just desperatly tries to process all the information he recieves from thawne every time they fight along with handling whatever endangering civilians shit eo does and he isnt doing well. at all. like, it does require a lot of hard effort not to lose your mind while constantly being hit with stuff like 'OOOHH DID I MENTION THAT I WORK AS THE CURATOR OF THE FLASH MUSEUM IN THE 25TH CENTURY?!? BTW WE STUDY YOUR HISTORY IN SCHOOL IN COMICS FORM, ISNT THAT AMAZING?!!'

thawne never shuts up. thawne genuinely enjoys the whole thing and admires barry an impossible amount and he's always fascinated by every aspect of the speed force, especially seeing and using it in action. thawne never acts like a normal villain as in 'commit crime->run away/fight the hero/watch the chaos'. he does something that endangeres people's lives (ALWAYS in front of barry because that is the whole point) then runs alongside barry as he saves everyone, never initiating the fight and ENDLESSLY commenting on everything barry does with consideration of flash facts, speed force and other physics stuff and even barry's personal background. it always goes like 'must do this and this to get everyone to safety!-' and thawne, instantly from somwhere behind barry's left shoulder: 'YES you DO, because this this and this and of course you could try that but-' and it goes on for 5 minutes on superspeed at the very least. from a non-speedster perspective, it looks like two blurs with lightnings, red and yellow, are saving people and going with some kind of weird squeaking high-pitched sound, which is never there if there is only flash around.

by the way, the rule that it is Very important for thawne to touch barry at any given chance and prolong it by going faster than him is still present. the same goes for becoming a speedster partially to have an opportunity to get away from 25th century and its mildly or not so dystopian shit and boringness. doesnt really realize the first part tho, sometimes casually drops some crazy ass facts about his future as something totally normal (like that one good-bad detection chair from silver age that gets a cameo in rs) and gets confused when the reaction is something like '.....i am so sorry.'

THE SAME ALSO GOES FOR 'IT WAS ME BARRY', its just way more lighthearted and has the purpose only of annoying and messing with barry through slight inconveniences in his life and it is a whole another part of their enemyship outside of the usual tag games. examples: 1. barry in his lab, extremely tired and almost exhausted, stumbles on air, says 'dammit eobard, this again??'. thawne unphases nearby with an offended look, goes 'HEY. THAT WASNT ME.', demonstratively pushes barry's mug with coffee off the table like a cat, 'now this was me, barry', grins and runs off before barry can do anything; 2. imagine thawne's excitement when he plays chess in iron heights, looks away, notices yellow lightnings with the corner of his eye and turns to the board again only to find that his queen is gone. the very next encounter starts with thawne running around barry in circles like 'it was you. it was you. IT WAS YOU! ITWASYOUWASNTIT!!'

this thawne is incapable of murdering anyone close to barry or ever hurt him at all. the best he can do is threaten anyone's life in barry's sight (and he knows barry will save everyone. more, he never arranges the events with the chance of barry not being fast enough to save every single life threatened so it isnt a big deal) because in other case he just wont come out to play with him :( ((i dont think thawne's generally capable of murder here? he feels too silly for that to me))

following important things: 1. barry obviously never killed thawne because he never did anything that extreme. 2. nora allen is alive and well and probably met thawne personally. he visits her in his civil clothes and acts in the nicest way possible, barry hears about the mysterious friend from work he never mentioned later and chokes on tea as nora recalls 'what did he say his name was? edward taurine?' 3. BARRY'S DOG IS STILL DEAD THO but it actually was an accident. he still blames himself for not shutting the back door that day in the way he blames himself for the not emotional enough postcard for his grandma in dc superhero girls. (see also: this vid but its about the dog instead of nora) ((ALSO thawne is most likely actively empathetic about it because he cant stand seeing barry sad or hurt. unfortunately he is also actively neurodivergent so that turns out to be awkward))

they team up often but barry is never aware of that as it happens out of his control. thawne has every single event that threatened barry marked in his calendar and an alarm set for it and he just shows up there like 'fuck you, this is MY archnemesis/idol/inspiration and nobody is going to fucking hurt him'

barry is generally always in the state of confusion when it comes to thawne. he doesnt understand what's going on like 80% of the time. as thawne never gets any clearer to him, barry just accepts that this, at some point, is now a part of his life.

instead of love letters, thawne writes and sends barry personally discovered speed force equations like 'look!! this is how it all works there!!' and occasionally mentions other science things discovered after 21st century. barry reads all that, understands and sometimes uses those against thawne who is completely delighted by that.

one day thawne manages to lock barry up in anti-meta cell and spends the following 3 hours on MATHEMATICALLY PROVING THE EXISTENCE OF THE SPEEDFORCE TO HIM STEP BY STEP, reciting his dissertation verbatim which was written in the context of no one knowing and caring about the concept.

thawne participates in the legion of doom and other supercriminal associations out of 'is flash gonna be there?? whatever youre planning im in, just leave him to me and me alone'. probably doesnt even listen to the scheme details and learns about it directly from barry in the final fight when he asks him 'eobard?? what?? the?? fuck?? why are you participating in something that's ultimate goal is DESTROYING THE FUTURE??'. (or others just stopped telling him the details, OR he doesnt listen on purpose after that one time he edited the whole plan like 'oh cmon do you actually think you could succeed with THIS?? let me show you how its actually done' only for them to lose epically. whats worse is that thawne saw it as something obvious. 'wait you really thought it would work?? cmon the whole point of being a supervillain is that the good guys always stop you no matter what you come up with.' they naturally never let him speak on the plans again which he responded with 'WHATEVER. YOU DO YOU IG. NOT GONNA INTERFERE AGAIN :/') unironically protects barry in group fights if any other villain is trying to aid him against the flash and attacks his own allies for that (barry once uses that to his advantage to take out the whole legion one by one lmfao. thawne genuinely doesnt notice that he is the only one standing until barry mentions it. he takes a moment to look around and that's when barry takes him out, too). as you can figure, he doesnt get invited into villain associations often, and if he does its usually the last resort bc he is a Genius Even By Future's Standards and therefore one of the most competent scientists out there.

nobody wants to sit at the same table with thawne in iron heights or interact at all because he instantly starts infodumping about the flash and their relationship. you accidentally get closer than like 2m to him and after a few seconds he just goes 'me and flash are best enemies, you know? we even always wear matching suits, oh and did you know-'

thawne gets mad if you compare his suit with kid flash because his suit has a Deep Idea and acktually he got to 21st century before wally was also struck by lightning and therefore was here first (yep, he did that on purpose and it gets revealed the very same moment he mentions it)

speaking of kid flash. thawne argues with him at any given chance because fighting a literal child on who is the biggest flash fan is something he would do on a daily basis. it just feels right (and it shouldve happened in canon at this point at least once. fucking Come On dc. almost 60 years of thawne's existence and for what!!). his points are that: he is the flash's Equal (even in height. thawne is very fucking proud of that fact) and not a pathetic sidekick; he got powers after years of hard scientific work and not by coming to barry's lab at the right moment; he is an Expert, a Professor, a Curator of the flash museum and knows everything about flashes, including the things they dont know themselves yet (he accidentally reveals that wally is also gonna be the flash but is quick to claim that he was the slowest and dumbest of them all and actually fuck you ima erase that from the timeline later), 'therefore l + ratio + IM his biggest fan and there is nothing you can do about it' 'lmaoooo who the heck taught you these words?? dude you sound so cringe. like do you even know what ratio means??' '*thinking it's just a figure of speech from 21st century literature classics or something like that for his whole life* well i- h- wh- DONT CHANGE THE SUBJECT.' wally doesnt care at all and just trolls him, harshly at times. he doesnt take thawne even a little bit seriously, which eo tragically doesnt realize.

thawne's comedically jealous of barry to iris between the lines and is completely unaware of that. the same thing going on with the rogues about emenyship with barry but that one is direct and on purpose. probably fucking jumps in their fights with flash like 'hi i just took out cap cold for you no need to thank me <3 now, can WE dance?? :|' every now and then. probably it gets super awkward when they inevitably end up in iron heights together that same day. honestly i think every supervillain who met thawne wants to kill him at this point. he's extremely annoying, both on purpose and not

thawne finds and starts nitpicking the first curators and architects of the flash museum in 21st century from the very project stage like 'NO it should stand THE OTHER WAY everyone shut up im from the future i Know Better'. it continues right until barry comes to pick him up and apologise for the inconvenience. 'eobard, i know this place means... a lot to you but please let history run its course. i mean, arent you risking your whole existence by trying to make these changes?' 'BUT THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG >:('

CANONICALLY ALMOST DROWNS 3M AWAY FROM A BRIDGE WHILE TRYING TO RUN ON WATER WITHOUT KNOWING HOW TO DO THAT YET OR AT LEAST HOW TO SWIM. every time barry mentions that incident thawne blushes like hell out of shame. imagine being saved from the lake by your crush/nemesis/everything who is actually Worried that you almost drowned out of your own stupidity which kind of covers the cringefail at first so youre enjoying the Moment but then you hear 'why did you even decide to run across the lake, there was a bridge nearby?'. thawne BEGS barry not to tell anyone (and especially wally). that probably was the first time thawne actually stayed in iron heights for longer than half an hour without getting out the very second everyone looks away on barry's condition of secrecy. now, the funniest part? if thawne hadnt shown that it was cringe even to him, barry wouldnt even say a single thing any further. to him it was a usual impossible to grasp shit thawne does every single encounter.

thawne considers heroes and their morals objectively dumb but his thoughts on barry having the same mindset are 'god he is SO adorably naive. so pure. so innocent. havent done anything wrong in his life. sweetest cinnamon roll of all times'. occasionally tells him that out loud because he has no fucking shame except when it comes to the lake incident

his own set of morals is just 'be gay do crime' where be gay stands for teaming up with barry on practically everything that isnt their one on one fights.

following: other villains are dumb to him as well. sometimes complains to barry about how nobody Understands him and his superior taste in being a supervillain, especially in the legion. poor barry just tries to get some rest between work and superheroing and then thawne casually comes running out of fucking nowhere, lies down on his lap and starts venting about how barry is the only one that Gets him on superspeed.

#eobard thawne #professor zoom #reverse flash #the flash #barry allen #eobarry ig?#healthy eobarry au #wanna know how i came up with such brilliant concept? I FUCKING DREAMED IT.#my ass has gotten so focused on canon shit that this wasnt even a conscious idea. i had to have my brain randomly pull this out on me #anyway it was a comic with dcau drawing style. thawne was having the best time possible and barry could barely keep up with his wordflow #the point that starts with 'thawne never shuts up' comes directly from how it was in the dream #they are so precious to me

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mxacegrey · 11 months

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Sitting at your desk, you wrote in the case files before you. Suddenly a bright red light buzzed from your computer, reading 'Timeline fracture -- Alternate timeline detected'. Frantically, you accessed the system to reveal the location of such an anomaly. Sighing in annoyance, you collected the case files, letters that had sat on the corner of your desk, and your bag before opening a time portal to the location.

Alarms rang as you walked into the cortex, scrolling through documents on your tablet. You sat down on a chair you had dragged out from the med bay, facing the door when the suspects in question arrived.

"Who the hell are you?" A man in a tight red suit asked, the rest of the group holding a weapon in your direction.

"Please put the weapons down. I'm here for a Mr. Allen. Mr. Bartholomew Henry Allen." You explained calmly before pointing at the man in the red suit. "Which, I take it, is you, sir. I also assume that your friends here are Francisco Ramon, Dr Caitilin Snow, Joe, Wally, and Iris West."

"What do you want?" Mr. Allen asked, removing the mask from his face, and glaring at you.

"I am simply here to hand you this letter and to tell you that you and your compatriots are due for a trial for your crimes against the timeline." You stated, taking out a small stack of letters from your bag and attempting to hand it to the group. As you attempted to hand the papers, the group moved away from you. Raising an eyebrow, you simply placed the documents on the table before moving back.

"Who are you?" Cisco asked cautiously, watching you step back.

"My name is Y/N. Y/N Thawne." You replied, causing the group to step back from you in shock. Joe raised his gun at your head, shooting a bullet straight at you. Within a split second, you caught the bullet between your thumb and index finger. Moving your hand down to your side, you looked at the group in disappointment and veiled annoyance.

"W...What are you doing?" Wally asked as he watched you take out your tablet and start typing.

"None of you seem to be very receptive to me being here so I am calling in my partner. Perhaps he will have better luck." You replied, looking up at the group sharply.

"Your husband is a psychopath, who killed my mother!" Barry iterated for the seventh time since you revealed your name. You shook your head and rolled your eyes in annoyance. You noticed a time portal opening from behind the group and called out to your partner,

"E. I had no idea you were a psychopath or that you killed Nora Allen."

"I had no idea either." Your partner replied, causing the group to turn around in shock at the familiar voice.

"Eddie?!" Iris called out, walking towards Eddie, who walked past the group and wrapped an arm around your waist. A streak of red lightning followed Eddie as a man in yellow stopped next to him.

"Oh, Crap." The man in yellow exclaimed as he took his mask off.

"Hold it right there, Eobard." You and Eddie scolded the man, as he was about to run off once more.

"... Hello." Eobard smiled, waving mockingly at Team Flash.

"He's a murderer!" Barry yelled, his eyes tearing up as he pointed at Eobard. "Why would you let him out?!"

"Technically yes. But his actions are the ones that we told him to take." You explained before turning to Eobard. "And Eo, take that damn illusion off."

"Fine." He replied, before pressing a button on his watch. Team Flash watched in shock as Eobard seemed to get younger until he was a teenager. "Better, Mum? Dad?"

"Much." You and Eddie replied before opening a time portal back to your offices.

"She was my mother! And your son murdered her!" Barry yelled at the trio, causing you to turn with a slightly sympathetic look on your face.

"I mean this in the nicest way possible but your mother was essentially timeline collateral. Her death is a fixed point in time. As you can tell, messing with such events can have devasting effects." You replied before speeding away with Eobard, leaving behind purple lightning.

"Try not to mess with the timeline anymore, Allen. You've already created masses of paperwork." Eddie replied before leaving in blue lightning.

Upon entering your office, Eobard looked at you and Eddie in mock innocence.

"Love you, Mum and Dad."

"You're grounded... And no Barty." You told Eobard, exchanging a smirk with Eddie.

"What, no Barty?!" Eobard exclaimed, shocked.

"No Barty." Eddie repeated. Eobard left the room, his red lightning following him. Eddie pulled you into his arms and pressed his lips to yours. His left hand held yours, your matching golden wedding rings glistening in the light.

Months went by until you were interrupted once more by a bright red light buzzing from your computer. Your desk was cluttered with paperwork regarding Flashpoint and the new changes to the timeline that had to be recorded and analyzed.

"What?" You called out, bemused as you looked at the computer.

'Timeline fracture -- Death of individual too early'

'Location: Infantino Street'

"What?!" You exclaimed as you read the notice. Eddie walked up behind you, his chin on your shoulder.

'Harrison "HR" Wells (Earth 19) - Deceased May 23, 2017'

"WHAT?!" You and Eddie yelled, eyes wide in shock.

#eddie thawne x fem! reader #eddie thawne x reader #team flash x reader #team flash #cw the flash #platonic eobard thawne x reader #fem reader #eddie thawne #eddie thawne x you #second person narration #fluff #minimal angst #consquences #timelines #post-flashpoint

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ftl-faster-than-life · 5 months

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just say you're disappointed that the villain isn't fuckable enough for you and go

To quote a friend: Eobard Thawne "could look like a toe and his craziness would make him hot." Like I clearly am not in any way put off or we wouldn't be here.

If you read the post you'd maybe understand why I think Eobard, specifically, should be conventionally attractive.

Len can continue to look like Just Some Guy. Barry can stay looking "ordinary". Eobard Thawne should look like the meticulously over-engineered designer baby he is.

#eobard thawne #reverse flash #professor zoom

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lovevalley45 · 7 months

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#fictober23 day twenty-five

"Is it over? Is it really over?"

fandom: dc's legends of tomorrow

word count: 581

Zari never thought she’d be so disappointed to be back in her 45 million dollar mansion. Especially after suffering the Waverider’s one bathroom for three years.

But as she walked through the echoing entry, she found herself missing that stupid small, cramped bathroom.

“So, am I going to the guest house, or do I have to crash on one of your couches that cost more than rent near Wharton?”

She turned around to look at Behrad, standing awkwardly in the doorway. “No, you can go to the guest house.” Zari took a deep breath, then raised her hand. “Actually, no. Is it over? Like, is it really over? We’re just- done?”

“We signed a contract. I know I didn’t drop out of law school, but that’s kinda binding,” he reminded her.

“We’re time travelers!” Her voice was amplified by the tall walls. “We didn’t even have a notary there! What would be breaking, the time law?”

Behrad held out his hand, listing out, “Well, there was the Time Masters, then the Time Bureau, then whoever rehabilitated Eobard Thawne and made him ensure Archduke Ferninand gets assassinated-”

“Okay, so maybe there was,” Zari snapped. “Or is.” She huffed and plopped down on the first step of her sprawling staircase. “We’re just expected to back to our normal lives and act like we didn’t spend a chunk of our lives time traveling.”

With a heavy breath, Behrad joined her. “It’s certainly an adjustment.” He bumped his shoulder against hers. “I mean, I’m dating a girl who’s a quarter-century behind us right now.”

“Not just that. You all get to do cool things. You become a musician - a successful one, I mean. Astra becomes the president. Sara and Ava become parents, I guess. And I just go back where I started.” Zari looked down at her hands, resting in her lap. “It feels regressive.”

“Not completely. Just- look at us.” Behrad threw an arm around her shoulders. “Two, three years ago, we never would have been talking like this. We would’ve just been fighting.”

“And frankly, I still think we need some therapy,” she commented.

He unlooped his arm. “Even if you go back to doing the same things, you’re not the same person you were before you stepped on that ship. None of us are. And it’s not great in some ways - I died and learned I was supposed to be dead in another time - but we’ve grown. You’ve grown.”

“I don’t feel like it,” Zari muttered. “When I stepped onto the set of Da Throne, I had to step right back into the Zari everyone knows and loves. My fans don’t want me to grow.”

“Maybe it’s time for a rebrand,” Behrad said.

“Rebranding takes work, B. I mean, I have to hire a PR firm, I need to come up with a new aesthetic, new- everything.”

“Yeah, there’s a reason I didn’t want to do the marketing route,” he replied. “But, if I’ve learned anything with the Legends, the best rebrand starts-” He put his hand against his chest. “Here.”

Zari raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think a boob job is what I need, B, but thanks.”

He shut his eyes and attempted to flatten himself against the stairs. “Don’t make me think about that!”

She chuckled, standing up. “I know what you meant.”

“Thank God,” Behrad said weakly, not moving.

“My Dragon Girl era is over,” Zari declared. “Screw Computer Gidget, I’m doing more with my life than audible lipstick.”

#alli writes shit #fictober23 #legends of tomorrow #zari tarazi #behrad tarazi #god i missed writing abt them lol

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kitkatt0430 · 9 months

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If no one has sent him yet, Hartley Rathaway for the blorbo bingo 🐀🎶

I must admit, it is a repeated refrained with me that the show dropped the ball with Hartley. First in cutting him from the pilot, meaning there was no canon gay character on the main cast from the start. Second in largely ignoring his comics characterization, which is why so many people wanted him on the show in the first place. Third, they retconned his introduction to the show too many times - honestly I was shocked when they brought him back in S9 and proceeded to not rehash The Sound and the Fury again. Fourth was giving him a boyfriend who started off as the sexy lamp trope (if you can replace a character with a sexy lamp and have no change to the plot...) and then became largely window dressing. Not to say I dislike Roderick, but compared to Hartley's canon love interest from the comics - David Singh - Roderick is an extremely flat character and it's disappointing to have so little idea about his personality. There are more things they did wrong by him, but I think I'll stop counting here.

But at the same time I do enjoy the show Hartley. He's bitchy and bitter and struggles with doing the right thing after being burned for doing exactly that too many times before. Which makes him all the more adorable when he's actually happy and has things going his way. The heavily implied ex-boyfriend thing he had going on with Eobard was a great touch for his introduction and helped emphasize that all Hartley really wants is to feel loved and appreciated, which was how Eobard manipulated him before he found the accelerator's flaws. He's got a dry sense of humor that I tend to enjoy a lot. He knows sign language!!! He's a very strategic thinker - nothing will convince me he didn't provoke his fellow rogues specifically to unite them in the face of Barry's inevitable condescending response to their bickering in S9. I've put waaaaay too much thought into his backstory with his parents and sister from the comics and his theoretical dating history and how much time he spends volunteering (and where) and... so on.

#kitkatt0430 answers #kitkatt0430 rambles #blorbo bingo #the flash #hartley rathaway #fandom meta #the flash meta

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thefinalboss387 · 2 years

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For a very long time, I LOVED Eobard Thawne in The CW’s Flash TV series. I mean, I still love him, but... hoo boy his characterization has been shaky over the show’s 8 seasons. Excuse me for a minute while I rant about the downfall of one of my favorite characters ever under the cut. Watch out for spoilers.

In season 1, he was arguably at his peak. He was the big bad of the season, hiding in plain sight as the mentor helping and growing not only the Flash, but his entire team. Despite being a good guy 95% of his screentime, his whole character was shrouded in mystery... why is he pretending to be in a wheelchair? Why is this nice mentor killing people when the Flash isn’t looking? Why do so many people have murderous grudges against him? How many secrets is this guy holding onto? Why does he seem so unhealthily obsessed with the Flash? What is it he’s after? Who exactly is Harrison Wells?

And as we got the answers to those questions... they didn’t disappoint! Thawne was a complex, compelling character. He traveled back in time and got stuck in the present, and in order to return to his own time, he had to be the one to give his greatest enemy the Flash his powers and get him fast enough for the task. In the process, he actually grew to love and respect his enemy, despite holding onto so much hatred and contempt for his future self. It created a fascinating dynamic between Flash and Reverse-Flash. Both sides loved each other as friends, as mentor/student, as teammates, but they also hated each other, and all the conflict and hesitation that came with holding those two extremes for one another.

And that dynamic didn’t even just stop with Barry/Flash... He had an almost-familial relationship with Cisco and Caitlin, with Joe... he was one of the team, even though he was secretly plotting to destroy the people he was growing to love.

After season 1, though... it feels like a lot of the complexities and nuance of the character just kind of... fizzled out.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, there are still some noticeable glimpses of it. In season 2, he left a video will where he gave all of his belongings, the laboratory, etc to Barry, and even confessed to his mother’s murder to get his father out of prison. When a different world’s Harrison Wells comes around, it takes Barry a minute to come to terms with someone wearing his greatest enemy’s face, and he needs to let go and forgive Thawne before he can move on.

In season 5, Thawne ends up being the big plot-twist villain of the season, secretly pulling the strings behind Nora, Barry’s time-traveling future daughter. Similarly, he was using her to achieve his own ends, but grew to actually love her and care about her. He still didn’t feel as complex as he used to... but there was something there, and it was appreciated.

Beyond that, though... Thawne kind of just became a typical, mustache-twirling hate machine. He kept coming back, time and time again, looking to destroy the Flash’s life. All of the conflicted emotion and love is gone - not just from Thawne’s side, but all of the heroes see him just as a villain they need to stop.

In Legends of Tomorrow, Thawne becomes the main antagonist of season 2, and creates an entirely new reality that is shaped in his image -- and none of the Flash team is present in it. The Legends are all in subservient minion-type roles to him, Thawne is even at STAR Labs again, but the Flash is dead and his team is nowhere to be found. After all the love he had for Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, etc., you mean to tell me they have no place in his “perfect” world?? He mentions his work with Team Flash in passing at one point, so this version of Thawne did experience that, but has none of the emotion attached to it anymore. My personal headcanon is that he still kept them all onboard as doting lab assistants or something, because I refuse to believe he wouldn’t want them back in his life after openly saying how much he cared for them all only a few seasons ago.

There is a storyline where a version of Thawne stops being a supervillain and settles down. But it also comes with amnesia and pretty much becoming a whole other character, so that was kind of disappointing. We’ve seen firsthand that Thawne has good qualities and is capable of love and friendship... but apparently he needs amnesia to really embrace it at all... with brand new characters we’ve never seen before.

By the time season 8 comes around, Thawne becomes an avatar of the negative forces and essentially loses all of his humanity and becomes a big beast of a final boss for the Flash to take down. Which, for a big final battle to settle the score once and for all, is kind of cool, but it’s disappointing that the road leading to this final confrontation was so generic. Thawne had lost his humanity a long time ago, and was just an obstacle to take down now.

I want the Thawne that actually loved Barry and his team, who still battled them and tortured them, but had to stop and wince in hesitation and conflict before doing so. The Thawne who complimented how smart Cisco was and called him a son before killing him. The Thawne who constantly told Barry he loved him and tried to emotionally manipulate him out of fighting. The Thawne that Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin looked up to and saw as a mentor and an idol, despite the evil he’d done.

Sorry for the rant. Eobard Thawne, the show version of him, was - and is - one of my favorite characters of all time. But I feel like, as the show went on, they moved away from the fascinating new take they created and moved closer to the generic, spiteful villain of the comics. And that is truly a shame. It wasn’t how much he hated the Flash, or how many times he kept coming back, that made him a great character. It was the history he had with the heroes, the relationships, the conflict. How he came off as so caring and kind, and lifted them up while secretly stabbing them all in the back. I realize that there is only so much they could’ve done with that dynamic once the facade was lifted, but... the show hardly even tried to capitalize on that past and add depth to their conflict moving forward. It was just.... hatred. On both sides.

The show started right out the gate with Flash’s biggest enemy. And while his initial arc was great, I feel the show overall suffered for it. Of COURSE the Reverse-Flash was going to end up coming back again and again - anyone who has read a Flash comic knows that that’s his thing. But, in season 1, his story was already fully completed and satisfying. It felt like his return in future seasons (with the possible exception of season 5′s Nora arc) was just checking off a checklist of necessary things to do, not so much doing any actual service to his character or storyline.

#Eobard Thawne #Harrison Wells #The Flash #Reverse Flash

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negative-speedforce · 7 months

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ship fics #s 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 14, 20 for any ships :)

Prompt 10: things you said that made me feel like shit

With: My OC Rania and Eobard Thawne

"Hey, Eo." Rania walked up to her lab partner.

"Don't call me that." Eobard responded curtly.

"Anyway, a bunch of us are going out to get drinks later." Rania said, trying to sound as casual as possible. "You wanna come?"

"No." Eobard replied. "I'd prefer not to waste my time like that."

Rania cringed. "Sorry." Damn it. She thought. I thought I'd finally get my shot with him.

"I'm not offended." Eobard replied, not once looking up at her. "I'd prefer it if you didn't invite me to any silly social obligations, though."

Rania's face fell. So much for that.

"Furthermore, I'd prefer it if you called me Professor Thawne, rather than making up any more ridiculous nicknames. Do you understand?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Remember- we're associates, not friends."

"I understand." Rania affirmed, holding back her disappointment from her tone. She really wanted Eobard to like her, even if he didn't want to be more than friends. However, he was clearly uninterested in either.

"Good. Now, can you grab me those files from my desk?"

"Yes, Professor Thawne."

#oc shit #revan writes #vexic :D

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coldtomyflash · 2 years

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Hi what was your favorite season of The Flash?

Season 1, absolutely and for sure. I've often said "season 1 is my happy place" and meant it.

It gives us Captain Cold every 6 episodes and establishes that wonderful dynamic of fascinated antagonism between him and Barry that I can't get enough of.

But it's not just about Cold.

S1, the plot with Reverse Flash has these emotional stakes that feel real, and the intense frustration (in a good way) of not knowing why Eobard hates Barry the way he does. The horror of that realization unfolding as Barry can no longer deny that Wells, his mentor, is the person who killed his mother, even if he can't explain why or necessarily how.

Cisco and Wells is honestly such an important dynamic too and when I tell you I screamed when the Reverse Flash killed Cisco before time was rewound, whew. The drama! We didn't know about time travel yet! And then it gets undone and Cisco goes off with Golden Glider and gets kidnapped and we spend the entire episode tense because is this the kind of "death is inevitable" narrative or will he escape the jaws of death so narrowly? Ahhh!!

(seriously Cisco's betrayal, figuring out Wells before anyone else, confronting him, it all hurt so good)

And season 1 Eddie and Iris! I love their romance, I love the way it feels authentic, the way they grapple with it. And Eddie's sacrifice! Later seasons each continue to introduce a new CCPD blond(e) -- Eddie, Patty, Julian, Ralph, etc., but the stakes don't feel near so important, especially not once you notice it's just a revolving cast of a new CCPD-adjacent blond character and there's no point in becoming attached. So many of the subsequent seasons try to recapture the magic of S1 and fail because they're regurgitating a formula instead of finding something new, something as Fresh as what Eddie brought to the story.

Controversial take but I also like the messy unrequited thing we get from Barry for Iris in S1, and the fact that the show actually acknowledged the sticky "we're kind of like siblings" in that season was a good thing, actually. And I get why they brushed that aside later and stopped mentioning it, but I personally enjoy the complicated uncomfortable messiness they setup there and am still a little sad they ignored it entirely on the relationship follow-through and didn't allow it to be a thing they had to actually Navigate.

On the topic of fucked-up stuff, S1 also called out the pipeline and Cecile straight up told Joe that no, that's messed up, and Joe told Barry it's messed up, and the heroes suffered consequences for their messed up actions when Len and Mick and Lisa released the pipeline Rogues and it was - chef's kiss.

Also tbh I feel pretty similarly about the first half of season 2, before they took Len and Mick off to Legends and we stopped seeing Lisa and any chance of the full/proper Rogues disappeared along with Goldenvibe (my beloved, best canon ship).

The back half of season 2 disappoints with Jay being revealed as Zoom because it's just, as I said, regurgitating season 1's plot and it's lame as hell to me, but up to that it's really enjoyable. We get great Rogues episodes with the Snart backstory and with Weather Wizard busting Len out of prison. I also like Harry's introduction and character, and I like Earth-2 and Killer Frost and the setup to our Caitlin's story on that front, and I like Patty and hate that they wrote her off so abruptly mid-season.

And Zoom was genuinely sinister and Barry's spinal injury and how Zoom dragged him around the city like a ragdoll was honestly O.O and I was here for it.

I like horror, and S1-S2 felt like they had these moments of angst and horror and good guys doing awful things without being cleanly excused by the narrative, and all these sticky and messy things that just made them more interesting.

The seasons that follow have some of this (Flashpoint, Barry going back in time to get the speed formula from Wells, Savitar being the consequence of Barry's actions, Barry going to prison) but they seem to hit less hard, possibly because the plot moves on too fast and we see less of the trauma fallout, or possibly because I just have a higher expectation for them to unpack these things and their consequences after an initial season in which they set them up?

Meaning Season 1 gets to fuck around but I expect the later seasons to find out, and am disappointed that they don't spend as much time as I would like on the emotional/character side of the "find out" piece?

#season 1 is my happy place #the flash season 1 #season 1 #canon critical #kind of #wank for ts #but also a lot of joy #it's not that there's nothing in the later seasons i enjoy #there actually is quite a lot #it's just that they don't come together as well for me #they tend to start strong and lose me in the second half?#and somewhere along the way it started to feel more like a cw family drama #than a cw monster/case of the week #and the horror became less horrifying and the stakes became a bit silly #but there's so much to love about this show #across all seasons #more than i could ever list in a single post

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