Starlight Express Appreciation Month Day 17: Caboose
Favorite Actor(s): TODD LESTER my beloved. but also shout out to Michael Eborall, Andrew Prosser and Kapa Kitchen <3333
Favorite Song/Scene(s): Wide Smile ofc!!! Terrorizing Rusty, Freight, and One Rock N Roll Too Many also have very large places in my heart
Favorite Costume: The costumes in bway and the us tours where he has the Big Bandana and the Shiny pants. love the suspenders n makeup he has in bochum tho.
Favorite Ship(s): ELECTRABOOSE (pan over to me, frothing at the mouth and shaking)
Headcanon: Cb has very sensitive ears and gets sensory overload really easily!! it’s one of the reasons he almost always wears his headphones (along with, yknow,listening to his radio).
Unpopular Opinion: Caboose is friends with the freight. idk i see a lot of content where like. the other freight trucks dont like caboose and i just. i think theyre all buddies sorry
Actually going insane over the implications of Jason asking Dick to be the Robin to his Batman in Battle for the Cowl.
Like I initially took it at the purely surface-level of Jason wanting a partner in the general sense. Which made sense, it's a huge responsibility and a lonely one so an assistant/sidekick/partner seems a no-brainer if you can get one.
But then I really thought about it, because Jason is not asking Dick to be his partner in the general sense; he's not even asking Dick to be his Nightwing. He's asking Dick to be his Robin.
And they both know exactly what Jason means: "Be the light to my darkness. Be the smile to my scowl. Be the hope to my fear. "
He's saying "Be 'Robin'; be the embodiment of Love and Justice and Goodness. Be the exceptional person that you have always been. Be the slightly-less exceptional person that I was when I wore your colors. Be the person that I was in the process of becoming and might have been (or might still be), if only Joker hadn't clipped my wings."
He's saying "I am prepared to become vengeance, become the Night. And I will go further than Bruce ever dared to, because it is what is needed. I will be the necessary evil. But you don't have to be. If Batman is Gotham's curse, Robin has always been its blessing. I will be the brutal punishment to our world, and I am asking you to be its incandescent gift."
He's saying, "Be for me, what we were for Him. Be my anchor, my comfort, my hope. Remind me what it's all for, why it's all worth it. And remind yourself as well."
He's saying "Be 'Robin' again--for both of our sakes."
You know you’ve hit rock bottom when you’re standing naked in front of a monument meant to honor a dead version of yourself while you’re alive, holding the Nightwing suit in one hand and the pill helmet in the other
*Game Night for the older kids a.k.a. No Damian Allowed*
Duke: Tim, your turn
Tim, who had been using the time to take a nap on Cass: Huh? Two truths and a lie right?
Cass: Yep
Tim: Okay then. Uhhh, I have the highest body count out of everyone in this family, Lady Shiva hates me, and I made a deal with Klarion to stop aging so I don’t become Batman
Jason: You really think you’ve slept with more people then B? Well it’s obviously the last on- wait. Tim, I need you answer this seriously, how old are you?
Tim: 17
Dick: That’s no possible, you were 17 when Damian was 10, and he’s 14 now
Tim: I am aware of that. I am also 17 years old at this moment.
Jason: Why the fuck would you make a deal with Klarion?!
Tim: I can’t become an evil Batman if I never become a legal adult
Steph: Putting that aside, You and Lady Shiva have causal sparring matches like once a month
Duke: Can we go back to the fact that Tim doesn't age?
Tim: No we can not
Dick: I will skip over the fact that you keep making friends with people who have tried to kill you fo now, but we are going back to that later
Steph: Does that means you’ve actually slept with more people then Bruce? The "Brucie" Wayne?
Tim: I never said I’ve slept with more people
Jason: Then what do you mean by body count- Tim. Have you killed people?
Tim, now fully awake and panicking: Okay I was briefly out of employment with Bruce and the League has a very different company policy-
Dick: The League? like the League of Assassins- TIM WHO DID YOU KILL?
Tim, backing his way out of the room: You know what we should talk about? How the height of all Death Note jokes are “kinda gay” and how it stems from the fact that Yagami spelt backwards is-
don't mind me - just some rainy day musings bc sweeney todd 2023 has rotted my brain
someone's tags on a gifset got me thinking about 2023 revival lovett and todd and the special something their dynamic has. there's something about this particular iteration of these characters and their relationship, especially as we see it evolve throughout the show (even as we've seen it evolve throughout the show's run), that just makes mrs lovett's betrayal and her death at his hands hit hard. i know, i know - she deserves it. she lies! she's a lying liar. her deceit is no small thing. any one of us would be incensed to have been misled the way she misleads sweeney. even if a small part of her may have done it, as she says, to spare him having to see what became of his lucy, the larger part was certainly to serve her own interests.
but there's something about how close mrs lovett gets to bringing sweeney around to her this time that just gets me carried away. they're not just business partners - they're lovers, they're co-conspirators, and they're sort of each other's only friend in the world. at this point, he indulges her flights of fancy. they know each other intimately. they joke with each other! he's likely had to listen to countless hours of her prattling on about her thoughts, hopes, and wishes. this is a man who, at this point in the show, is slitting people's throats without remorse. and yet he spends the evening on the sofa cleaning his pipe while he patiently listens to his girlfriend rave about a seaside wedding. when she takes his hand, he doesn't wrench himself from her grasp like he used to. he doesn't get up and walk out, which he could do. he accepts her - her presence, her company, her warmth. he may struggle to admit it to himself, but he does. he can concede that he loves her - just a little bit, though he can't quite bring himself to say the words. sweeney is fiercely loyal to lucy's memory, so much so that he clearly couldn't ever wholly give his heart to someone else, but, in that moment after "by the sea", you can see that he's softened toward lovett. they were both alone a long time before this, after all.
it's not the stuff of great love songs, but it's something. it's almost enough.
this is what ultimately makes the final living moments between them all the more heartbreaking. mrs lovett has always been a sympathetic character to me - a villain, sure, but not without her reasons. she's a woman alone in a brutal world. whether the character is an older or a younger iteration, she's been alone for a desperately long time. when sweeney returns to her after all this time, she sees her moment and she takes it. she's not letting her second chance at life get away from her without a few claw marks.
when sweeney kills her, he sheds no tears over it - but the grudging fondness we'd seen him beginning to feel toward her only serves to emphasize how monstrous of a deception it is. his "you LIED to me" comes out in an anguished roar. when he throws her in that oven, all the light goes out from the world. it takes my breath away every time. though it should, it doesn’t quite feel like justice.
i know not everyone loves annaleigh's interpretation, but i have maintained from the first time i saw this revival that the warmth she brings, the honeyed, deluded, comical sweetness that lures sweeney into believing life with her could be tolerable, if not ideal, was a brilliant choice.
that's why the leap into hell together works for me. some productions have had sweeneys that barely tolerate their lovetts, so a cold diverging of paths makes sense. these two definitely fall into a different category. it makes sense to me for this sweeney and lovett's ultimate fate to be each other. who else would it be? lucy did nothing wrong - she's not going where he's going. having made lovett pay for her lies, they can head on down (hand in unlovable hand!!!!!!!) to live out the almost-enough life they created with each other. and sure, her chirping his ear off for eternity would certainly make an appropriate punishment for his crimes.
H o w do Batfam stans say they don't include Duke because 'they don't know anything about him' but post about literally all the other Batboys just fine.Like y'all mean to tell me you managed to read the 200+ issues they're in but suddenly you're not a comics person when it comes to a black character who's barely in the triple digits of apperances tops???
(Whoops my hand slipped and started writing a Batfam Umbrella Academy AU)
From the Personal Notes of Mr. Bruce Wayne:
00.01 - Ability to manipulate gravitational fields allows for advanced gymnastic and combat capabilities. A strong leader, the others look up to him. Loyal to a fault, but needs to be watched carefully. Will choose the other children over himself or me.
00.02 - Determined, focused, strong willed. Has learned to use her ability to analyze the surroundings and formulate a plan prior to attack. Unfortunately lacks any leadership qualities and fails to communicate these plans to the team, preferring to act alone. Still has much to learn, but is eager to do so. My favorite.
00.03 - Adequate marksmanship and proficiency with ranged weapons. Can hold his own in a fight but relies to heavily on his powers. Insolent, can not take instruction or direction. His recklessness will be his undoing.
00.04 - Development of photokinesis is hindered by his unwillingness to fully commit to manipulating shadows as well as light. Charming and a neutral leader. Should Number 1 ever fail, he would be the best choice to replace him.
00.05 - Connection to animals has yet to prove useful. Fighting skills and determination on par with Number 2, but is unpredictable at best. Refuses to admit when he doesn’t know something. Has no respect for anyone but himself.
00.06 - Still fails to reach the full potential of psychometry abilities. Refuses to accept the possibility that he may be able to see into the future as well as the past. Useful for research and not much else.
00.07 - No clear talents. Some enthusiasm for puzzles and mediocre problem solving abilities. To headstrong. Irritating.