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pluckyredhead · 7 months

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hi! i'm new to comics and i got in through reading your fics and wayne family adventures. i've since started reading more of the mainstream verse and i realized that most comic fans consider wfa to be totally fanon. you're one of the few i saw that disagrees. would you mind elaborating a lil on why? i'm too new to really form an opinion either way but i'd like to know your's!

(also yes i really did stalk your blog back years worth of posts i'm sorry! 😭😭)

Aw I love this! Welcome!

So I think it's really important to be clear on definitions here:

Canon means it's part of an official text. It's literally in a comic (or book or movie or other property) published or licensed by DC.

Fanon means it's made up by fans. That doesn't mean bad or good, it just means that it comes from fandom and is not part of the official text.

Wayne Family Adventures is an official licensed comic by DC, so by definition, it cannot be fanon. That doesn't mean everyone has to like it, but it's not a fan comic. It's an official DC product. It's not fanon.

Now, WFA isn't part of the main DCU canon. It takes place in a separate universe. The Jason in Batman #138 and the Jason in WFA are not the same and they are having very different experiences. (And I'm sure the Jason in WFA would be grateful if he knew.)

But that's no different than a comic that takes place in an alternate universe, like Dark Knights of Steel or DCeased, or a movie like Blue Beetle or a show like My Adventures with Superman. They all take place in their own universes, but all of those universes are canon. None of them are fanon.

What I think most people mean when they say WFA is fanon is that WFA draws on tropes and characterizations that are popular in fandom. Which...yes, absolutely. This is on purpose, and honestly, it pisses me off when people complain about it. (Not you, anon! Your question was lovely, you just triggered my unskippable cut scene of dialogue. Sorry lol.)

Wayne Family Adventures is probably the single best idea DC has had in the 20 years I've been reading comics. (The second best was the kids and YA graphic novel lines.)

I just checked, and WFA has 1.3 MILLION subscribers. That's more than every floppy comic starring Batman sells in a month, combined. It's more than literally any superhero comic has sold in decades - in this century! The combined strips have over A HUNDRED MILLION VIEWS. That is bonkerstown. That is a readership like DC hasn't seen since the 1970s. That is unparalleled success, and it's introducing characters like Kate Kane and Duke Thomas to a whole new audience.

Now, WFA was clearly designed to appeal to Batfans who were active on social media and fanfic sites like AO3 and Wattpad, and Webtoon readers. The readership of Webtoon is mostly young and female. Fandom as a whole is mostly female. The writer of WFA is female.

And maybe I'm not being fair here, but when I see people dismiss WFA as "just fanon," I always catch a whiff of "It's not a real Batman comic. It's a girl comic for girls."

I have spent the past 20 years begging DC (and Marvel, DC is not alone in this) to see women as a viable audience - as their largest potential growth audience! I have watched in dumbfounded frustration as they ignored the juggernaut success of Raina Telgemeier and Ngozi Ukazu and Alice Oseman running rings around the NY Times bestseller list and counted a 50k shipment here and there as a resounding triumph. I have literally seen them throw out survey responses from women because "those women had an agenda." (This is a true story. 2011 was rough, y'all.)

And all of a sudden, they gave us a comic actually catering to women and young people and fandom, and they put it on the most popular, current, modern platform for comics availably - and it's brilliant. It's smart and funny and stunningly drawn and every episode makes clever, inventive use of the scrolling format. They FINALLY gave us a girl comic for girls, and it's a masterpiece.

And yes, it riffs on fanon concepts. It also has its roots firmly in mainstream DCU canon. It references deep cuts. CRC Payne and StarBite know their shit. Jason Todd being a bookworm may be a fanon staple, but he does plenty of reading - including Jane Austen - in the 100% canon mainstream DCU comics.

It's not going to be for everything, because nothing is. It's completely fine if you don't like WFA. No one has to read it or enjoy it. If you're into Batman for the darkness and the crime and the ongoing plotlines and the angst, WFA won't be for you, and that's totally fine!

But to finally, finally be valued as a reader by DC, to have them do something smart and innovative and so, so well executed, and have the exact people they made it for dismiss it out of hand because Bruce has a "World's Okayest Dad" mug or whatever? Yeah, that chafes.

#wayne family adventures #this one's gonna get me in trouble

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invisibletoothpasteman · 8 months

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Batman Day Comic Recommendation List

In honour of this day, I've compiled a list of 9 batman, or batman adjacent comics that I think everyone should check out (specifically fans who aren't super familiar with the comics yet). They're my "Batman Necessities" so to speak:

Batman by Grant Morrison: While there are certain some interesting things in this book that aren't really my favourite (a consequence of Morrison writing it), overall it captures such, for lack of a better word, camp. It's has the kind of creativity that makes silver age comics so fun while still remaining modern and serious. There are some great stories, it introduces Damian, and overall is just such a compelling run. In the same vein we get to...

Batman and Robin by Grant Morrison: Ok yeah this pretty similar to the above but I had to include both. I actual prefer this short series to Morrison's run on the main Batman book. It features Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne as Robin and is a great role reversal of the traditional Batman and Robin. The two of them have such a great dynamic and it takes place during such an interesting time in the Batman mythos with Bruces "death" (which I'll admit I wished lasted for longer. Honestly, any book from this era is a blast because of the brief change in the status quo.

Batman Vol. 1 #408-416, #421-425: If you're new to comics don't be intimidated by all the numbers! Batman 408 introduces Jason Todd's Post Crisis backstory and then the issues roll right up to his death. It's a pretty self contained story, and super easy to fly through. I think these are some of the most painfully underrated batman issues. Speaking of Jason's death, my next recommendation is...

Death in the Family + A Lonely Place of Dying: I won't say much because these are just classics and probably the most impactful comics for the Batman mythos ever. Read them.

Batman: Year One: If you want a good ol' Bruce Wayne Batman comic, this is the one. Beautiful art, timeless story, what's not to enjoy? It's also very influential for other Batman media(like The Batman movie) so if you liked that and want a good entrance into comics, this is a great place to start. It's a contained story too, which is really nice if you don't want to have to piece together stuff you missed from other comics. Definitly my favourite Frank Miller Batman story.

Nightwing Vol. 4 #78-: Sure, it's not Batman, but like it or not, Dick Grayson will always be an essential Batman character. Tom Taylor's and Bruno Redondo's run is a big hit for a reason. It's simultaneously fun, heartfelt, and impactful and the writing and art work so well together. It's such a treat to read every month and while it starts great, I feel like as it goes along it starts ironing out and issues I had with it. Great if you want to get into something ongoing (or even if you don't, read it anyways)!

Scott Snyder's Batman (specifically Batman vol 2. #1-12): New 52 was a tumultuous time in DC comics. On the bright side we got the court of owls out of it! Another really good Bruce Wayne Batman story that doesn't need any outside knowledge. I'm in love with Greg Capullo's art, it suits the series so well. The court of owls is such an interesting addition to batman, and honestly it feels like it's a much older part of the batman mythos it was added so seamlessly. If you want a taste of just a solid, simply batman story, this is it.

Batman and Robin by Peter J. Tomasi: This is some of the best New 52 has to offer. I love how Tomasi writes Damian, and I'm a sucker for his dynamic with Bruce. It's a just gives off the best, action packed comic fun vibes. When it's written well it's written WELL and even when it's not quite as perfect it's still solid. Lots of sweet moments too, which I am such a sucker for. And finally we get to the last rec on my list...

Robin: Son of Batman by Gleason (especially issues 1-6): Ok, yes yes I know it's not really a batman book. But just like Nightwing, Robin is an essential part of Batman and how could I leave out my favourite comic ever. Seriously, this book fundamentally changed me when I first read it. Gleason writing, Gray's art, and Kalisz's colouring all combine and complement each other so well. Honestly it's such a joy to look at, and get's even better when you read it. They get Damian, and he shines in this book. The story is tight and impactful and after only 6 issues you'll have such a deep appreciation for the character (and feel like you've been punched in the gut). I recommend everyone take a little bit of time to sit down and give this a read.

And so concludes my great batman recommendation post! Honestly, there's so many more that could be on here that aren't that the best piece of advice I have is pick up any Batman comic that looks interesting to you and give it a go. In all his years, Batman has had such range in his books that there really is something for everyone. Please feel free to add any necessities of your own!

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signalwatch · 5 months

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Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Watched: 11/29/2023

Format: AMC IMAX

Viewing: First

Director: Takashi Yamazaki

Where to start?

Over the years, Godzilla has been many things. Like Batman, he's been a children's character while also being a thing adults could appreciate. But he's also been cast as a walking analogy in two very, very good films (Gojira and Shin Godzilla), a villain in others (Godzilla Returns and Raids Again), a dad (Son of Godzilla) a hero (most of the Shōwa era), a goof, a buddy, a ruffian...

The American-produced Godzilla movies have done well financially, but, to me, struggled with an actual story until Kong vs. Godzilla. But it would be misleading to say the Toho Studios produced films didn't struggle with same. The Toho movies responded to the challenge by getting progressively crazier as the need to fill screen time with something other than expensive monster fights (models and custom 7' rubber suits are not cheap) became a clear necessity.

To fill that run time*, both US and Toho films needed a story for humans - humans that Godzilla likely will not even be aware of during the course of the film - that is compelling and meaningful. But, man , have the results been mixed. You get aliens, faeries, conspiracies, what-have-you. And some of that is great! Final Wars is like a party of a movie. Watch it sometime.

Meanwhile, Toho seems to have taken the licensing of Godzilla to Legendary and the US produced releases since 2014 to take a step outside of themselves and think about what would make a kick-ass Godzilla film. Heck, what would make a *film* rather than an entertaining outing for the kiddies (and, let's be honest, me). Thus, a few years ago, we got Shin Godzilla, which was absolutely terrific, in my opinion. Harkening back to 1954, it was a modern solo Godzilla outing, and more about how the humans on the ground deal with a huge analogy for recent world events (at minimum for the Fukushima disaster and Japan's official response) wandering through their backyard .

Sure, the Godzilla in it seemed like a mindless engine of destruction and looked weird as hell, but that movie just works. I dug the leads, the story, the analogies, the whole ball of wax. The human story was compelling and frightening, Godzilla a force of nature.

I figured we'd get a direct sequel, but that isn't what happened. Instead, Toho took a step back, and said "eh, let's just do it fresh again". Which - respect, man. Do whatever you want.

So, Wednesday, I made The Admiral go to the movies with me, and we saw an IMAX screening of Godzilla Minus One (2023).

I'd seen good, early reviews, but these were mostly die-hard G-fans, and I didn't particularly expect to get a straight answer. There's a difference between "a good movie" and "man, I like watching monsters on a screen", and that differentiation isn't always made in the Godzilla-sphere (and, often, the genre-media-sphere in general).

What I can say is that at the end of this year, Godzilla Minus One will be in my top 5 movies seen in 2023. Which - no shock, Shin Godzilla got similar high marks. But, it's also true that I'm not sure I didn't like Godzilla Minus One (2023) a slight bit better than Shin Godzilla.

As trailers would suggest, G-1 is a period piece. The movie takes place roughly between late 1944 and end of 1947, I think. The "Minus One" of the name is that, hey, Tokyo is already devastated, or at zero. And then G shows up, and, well... it just got worse. We're now at -1.

The movie centers on a Kamikaze pilot who chooses not to fulfill his mission, whether it's fear or a sense this is a waste of his own life here at the end of the war (both, really) he heads into a small island airstrip/ repair hut where he's violently introduced to much smaller version of Godzilla than what we're used to. This is Godzilla's original, dino-sized form.

As one of two survivors of the incident, and a survivor of the war (and one tapped to explicitly *not* survive and protect Nippon), Shikishima is dealing with PTSD and Survivor's Guilt, mixed with his uncertainty of who he is in this post-war world. Stumbling across a young (let's be honest, beautiful) woman. Noriko, who has picked up a loose baby in the wreckage of Tokyo, the three form a sort of family unit, building a shack and then home as Shikishima finds work on a boat clearing the sea of mines laid by both Japan and the US.

Shikishima forms a bond with his boat-mates, and life is beginning to turn around, even if he can't let go of the war and his need for closure. That trauma is preventing him from pursuing his feelings for Noriko and rejecting the baby as a surrogate daughter.

Meanwhile, unknown to all, Godzilla was hanging out at Bikini Atoll when the US thought to test a bomb, and we get our now Jumbo Sized Godzilla - going from T-Rex size to G 1954 size.

Anyhoo... Godzilla does show up.

Like I say, Godzilla has been many things over the years. Here, he's a raging, atomic-fueled engine of fury, not the hauntingly eye-dead monster of Shin Godzilla. He's well aware of what he's doing and why you need to get the @#$% out of his way as a large creature claiming new territory and not liking all these little humans who are in his way with their stupid buildings. It's not personal, but that doesn't mean he has a passive bone in him - this Godzilla is not to be crossed.

The design is closer to the 1990's style than Shin or Monsterverse Godzilla, and that's a good thing. There are definitely unique characteristics - plate placement, head size, scaliness - but most noticeable to me was the eyes. The suit Godzillas began having more expressive eyes in the Hesei and Millenium era, but here, there's a deadliness to his stare His eyes track the humans or any perceived annoyance or threat, and they are red/ gold eyes of a very pissed off creature.

For what this movie is about - the melodrama/ drama of the survivors, fallout of war, and the need to now combat a legitimate threat to all of Japan (this is an oversimplification, but bear with me) - this depiction of Godzilla is perfect. The monster is a product of the war and man's folly - mutated by the bomb, he reflects some of the 1990's take on Godzilla's WWII origins. But as a character, he's really a weapon of mass destruction with an agenda, and that agenda does not care about humans. If he is a "god", he's not concerned with us, and much like bugs living in your house, he's going to get rid of these humans.

The break to the third act occurs after Godzilla's Tokyo debut, reminiscent of the 1954 film and directly referencing it in visual, audial and musical queues. With modern CGI, it's not a suit actor stepping through sets, it's a living being wandering through Ginza as the locals, truly rampaging rather than clumsily knocking stuff over.

And, his atomic breath in this film may not be the spectacular laser-light show of Shin Godzilla, but it's an extension of his mutation coming from the bomb, and - narratively - an extension of the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I won't go into detail here, but it's *scary* when you see G charging up (with a really innovative charge-up sequence) and cut loose.

He also seems, by all counts, invulnerable. It's not just his sheer size, but that he seems to heal from wounds with no trouble. So, do all the damage you want, he's going to come back from it and be pissed as hell you even tried.

All of this feeds into the actual plot of the film, which is really about dealing with the loss of WWII and the damage the war (which this movie freely indicates Japan started) did to the country and to the people. Survivors of the war come home to find their homes gone, their relatives dead. And for what?

I've spoken with my fellow Godzilla fan, Stuart, who has a better grip on Japan than I do (he resided there for a bit), and his feeling was this was a surprising take - and perhaps a very modern/ recent one. Centering the film on a "failed" kamikaze was not something he felt Japan would have done 30 years ago, but I think - narratively - it's an amazing choice. The Imperial dreams of Japan now long in the past, Toho can reframe the story to be about choosing to fight when the fight is a good one, even if seemingly hopeless.

And, man, when Godzilla is done with Ginza, it sure does feel hopeless, and any plan you put on the table is bound to fail.

I don't know a ton about Japan's feelings about how its government selectively issues information, or how they feel about the US as an occupational force in the MacArthur or modern era, but the film sidelines both. The Japanese government seems frozen by the attack, and the US is concerned large-scale naval maneuvers will trigger a war with Russia (not an unreasonable concern). While a US version might be about bringing all three together to fight Godzilla, this film is about the veterans overcoming their grief and shame to fight again.

Oh, and there's a very real semi-experimental plane that I was vaguely aware of, but thought was a German design, that appears in the back 1/3rd of the film that got my aviation-buff dad to make an audible "wow!" when it showed up.

Anyway, the movie drew a thunderous round of applause from my audience, which was - I will say - an audience of surefire Godzilla fans and their friends dragged to the movie. Lots of Godzilla shirts and whatnot. But it was also the 5:00 PM show on the day of the movie's release.

SPOILERS

Look, sometimes we outsmart ourselves and think we're too clever for the emotional levers that can get pulled in a movie, and if a movie has too much of a feel-good ending, it doesn't feed our desire to feel like film fans who can't be duped by emotional manipulation. But... gang, that's emotional manipulation, too.

I won't say I openly wept during the movie, but I did get choked up a few times. In a Godzilla movie! Because it's really about dealing with trauma, so seeing Shikishima deal with his, receive forgiveness and a path to happiness when I was 90% sure this movie was about to show a noble sacrifice... man. It really says a lot about what the movie-makers wanted to convey. And stuff that at the end of the day I personally want to believe.

END SPOILERS

I've watched a *lot* of Godzilla movies - probably all but one or two of the overall output of 30-odd movies over 70 years. At the end of the day, why I liked Godzilla Minus One this much was simple: story and character.

Call it melodrama, but the drama of this movie is really taking place inside a tiny house and on a boat, the cast has issues that understandable, is a solid mix, and I cared about everyone on screen. The performances are heightened a bit, perhaps, but the characters are likable and feel believable. And, much like Jaws or other movies that work despite the sci-fi, horror or other elements, you can both draw in your audience and sell something wild if the audience is pulling for these people on screen. And that's something Gojira understood in spades. As does this movie.

Anyway, this is now my second favorite Godzilla film. If it's better - to me - than Shin Godzilla, it's that the movie works so well not just as analogy, but as a deep character film while also providing genuine thrills with the Godzilla sequences.

I've tried to spoil all that as little as possible, because I'd encourage you to go see it. It's just a solid movie all around.

* we also have to ask the realistic question of "how exciting would it really be to watch two rubber monsters fight for 90 minutes?".

The Signal Watch blog posts regularly!

#godzilla #gojira #godzilla minus one #godzilla minus 1 #toho #toho monsters #movie review

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thevindicativevordan · 7 months

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What do you think about these rumors about Scott Snyder launching some sort of ''Ultimate DC''? And also, if you were tasked with such a job, what would you do?

Alright so for those of you not obsessing over DC rumors, Bleeding Cool claims that the word going around NYCC was that Scott Snyder has signed on to curate an "Ultimate DC" line of books. Quoting them:

Whatever this DC Ultimate Universe-style publishing line is, it is expected to be bigger and more comprehensive than Marvel's Ultimate line was – or will be. And it will also encapsulate a lot of classic DC Comics continuity, reshaped and refigured for the modern day, and emphasising creative freedom. Earlier attempts to mirror the Ultimate Universe with the Earth One graphic novel didn't go entirely as planned. But this… whatever it is… is meant to be very different.

Do I think there's merit to these rumors? Surprisingly yes. Now I have two other things to add to what BC shared: First off, I think Scott Snyder seeded the base for this at the end of Death Metal.

Remember "Earth Alpha", the Elseworld introduced at the end of Death Metal? Set up as the replacement for Earth 0 as the center of the Multiverse? It had a twin, Earth Omega, which became Darkseid's prison and was followed up on in Infinite Frontier. Earth Alpha however was seemingly forgotten and never touched on again. Apparently Williamson was asked about that and all he could say is that it was another creator's story to tell. Given Williamson is the one who brought back the Parallax Hal from Convergence when everyone else had forgotten the guy, he's not one to just ignore huge loose ends like there being another Earth which is at the center of the Multiverse. Snyder probably left this as a backdoor for him to do his "Ultimate DC" line if he ever came back, which is why Williamson never brought it up.

Second, someone on reddit shared that they had talked to Snyder around the time Death Metal was wrapping up, the two of them went to the same LCS, and he shared that Snyder told him he was pitching this. Seems Snyder was talking about his plans for Superman under this initiative, which that person thought sounded cool. Rando making unverifiable claims for attention? Maybe, but Snyder has always been bad at keeping secrets. I stopped reading his interviews because he would spoil entire lines of dialogue word for word. Doesn't feel at all unbelievable that he would share something like this.

I bet Snyder pitched a "Alpha Universe" starring the classic heroes while Didio did 5G with the main guys. We know Snyder was not on board with the 5G plans, to the point he asked Morrison to help him stage an "intervention". This likely was envisioned by him as an alternative: Didio could do his radical reboot, while Snyder and co reimagined the classic heroes on a new Earth. Understandable why Didio would reject that - if all your big names are working on the classic heroes, who would want to read the 5G guys? Who would read Luke/Jace Fox Batman while there's a new Bruce Wayne ongoing? Much like Earth One got rendered pointless via the New 52, 5G would have been overshadowed by the "Alpha DC".

Now though, I could see something like this happening. It's a chance to do the New 52 right, the mainline continuity is all fucked up, DC needs an easy way in for new fans. Gunn is about to reboot DC in theaters, perfect time to roll out a new onboarding for casuals that everyone hopes are going to check out Superman: Legacy. And just like how Gunn is going to start his new universe with Superman, I bet Snyder is going to be writing the "Alpha Superman" book. Towards the end of his tenure at DC, he was on something of a Superman kick: Supes and Lex both had very key roles in Last Knight on Earth, Lex was obviously a big part of his JL run, he gave Supes a lot of cool moments in Death Metal, etc. I think he finally clicked with the character and had an idea for what to do with him. Might be he is finally coming back to do his shot. I noticed he was taking lots of pics with other DC creators at NYCC this year: King, Taylor, Aaron, Kaminski, Williamson. Perhaps those were the guys he was talking to about this line? Hope he brings in some new blood, confident he will since in the past he either directly brought in creators like Tynion, or mentored those who eventually found their way to DC like Rosenberg and PKJ.

TL:DR I do believe this is happening, I think it will be called Alpha DC, I think Snyder will be writing the Alpha Superman book, and I expect we will get an announcement at SDCC 2024 if I'm right.

As for what I would do, part of why the original Ultimate Marvel line succeeded was that they kept the line small. Four books at most: USM, Ultimates, UXM, and UF4 with the occasional mini here or there. Hickman's new line seems set to maintain that number. BC claims that this will be much larger in scope, which frankly I think is a mistake. Copy the number of Ultimate Marvel books at 4, and here's the lineup I would do:

Alpha Superman - Do the basic concept of the New 52 Superman as envisioned by Morrison again. Clark Kent is just starting out in his career, around six months in. He's wearing an outfit with a Fleschier style symbol, it can be either the t-shirt and jeans or a proper suit, I don't care. He can't even fly yet merely leap, he's working at the Daily Star not the Planet, he's roommates with Jimmy Olsen, and he's not dating Lois yet. Do not pair Clark with Lois or with Diana, do something else. I'd pair him with Leslie Williams, they both co-host a podcast for the Daily Star and are dating, with the relationship going south after Leslie becomes Livewire. Since they're alive on Earth 0, kill the Kents here. Pa is likely going to be dead in Superman: Legacy anyway. First year should focus on Superman fighting Ultra-Humanite, Intergang, Toyman, and Bloodsport. Brainiac and Lobo show up for Year 2. Scott Snyder writing and Miguel Mendonca on art.

Alpha Batman - Don't envy anyone trying to launch yet another Batman reboot, but I guess the appeal of this could be seeing Bruce actually start off alone, recruit Dick Grayson for Robin, and get to grow from there? It's Batman there's nothing new left to do with him, but a gritty realistic Batman book could compliment the over the top nature of the main Bat book. Get Christopher Priest to write and Ivan Reis to draw.

The Alpha Authority - The big twist of this universe under me is that Superman does inaugurate the age of superheroes - but not the age of superhumans. Those have been around for a while, but metahumans are forced to serve their governments as WMDs. A new kind of war has covered the globe - the Super War. Everyone is racing to create the most powerful metahuman, and the Authority serve as America's metahuman defense under the umbrella of Stormwatch. Their current mission: retrieving the Century Baby Jenny Quantum, reincarnation of Jenny Sparks, who has just manifested her powers in Singapore, before rival nations can acquire her. Si Spurrier writing, Jorge Jimenez on art.

Alpha Shadowpact - Our magic team composed of Zatanna, Swamp Thing, Constantine, Dr. Fate (Khalid), Deadman, Detective Chimp, and Etrigan. Khalid is the new guy and point of view character for the audience. He just recently finished training with his grandfather Kent Nelson, and has inherited the mantle. For ages magic has slumbered, but the birth of Tim Hunter has changed all that. The Books of Magic have manifested and every magician and sorcerer across the world is seeking them out, for they hold secrets of magic long forgotten, as well as the way to unlock new magical sources of power. And of course Tim himself has drawn the attention of everyone, for he is fated to be magic's brightest hero or it's darkest villain. PKJ writing and Rafa Sandoval on art.

In this new world, Superman and Batman are the first of a new kind of breed: superheroes. Outlaws with powers or tech who refuse to bow to governments. Ultimately I would have the World's Finest first team-up come about to bring down the Authority and Stormwatch, which threatens to turn the Super War hot as now America no longer has it's metahuman protectors. A new team must form to replace the Authortiy - a Justice League Alpha. The Authority book would last for about three years, and then give way to the Justice League book. I could see a Wonder Woman book happening later if the sales are good, but everyone else would just get minis. You would have to read JLA to get updates on Aquaman, GL, The Flash, Vixen, and Martian Manhunter. Is that would Snyder is going to do? Probably not. I expect he will have all seven of the Leaguers get books, but I hope he holds off on a JL book for a while. Build the universe up first, then do the big team up.

#ultimate dc #alpha dc #scott snyder #nycc 2023 #5g

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radioactive-earthshine · 8 months

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I loved the concept of the teleporting space rave from Superboy And The Ravers, and I think it has potential for a book, maybe about the ravers team themselves, or about the people who run the place, or even an anthology of the stories that you could tell in such a cool and versatile setting, with all the diverse characters that could show up.

Absolutely, I would be 100% all for that for a book. I feel like with the success of Batman Urban Legends which showcased many different stories and focused on varying characters all within the same bubble this would be something comic fans would be receptive too. Also having anthology with more 'episodic' stories is a GREAT way to introduce new readers because it doesn't necessarily follow a 'plot' so it's easier for them to just jump in (think many many issues of Bart's solo).

Honestly doing an anthology for The Ravers updated to modern times would be fantastic, and we all would love to see more of Hero.

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allgremlinart · 2 years

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Batman Comic + Animation Rec List

courtesy of me

These are just some of my personal recommendations. There are a lot of Batman comics and movies out there. A lot of them are good!! A lot of them are really bad too. So Ive selected some which I think would be good for new Batman fans/anyone wanting to get more into Batman.

I’m not gonna include a lot of stuff that I’ve already seen recommended a bunch (like year one, long halloween, etc) so its not an exhaustive/comprehensive list, but its a good place to start imo.

Batman: The Imposter

If you recently got into Batman after watching the new movie this comic will be great for you, as the tone and style are pretty reminiscent of Battinson. The art is gorgeous, its three issues so its not too long of a read, and it actually does some interesting things with Batman’s character/lore. Also if you’re a fan of autistic/nd Bruce this is the most canon representation you’ll get.

CW: blood + violence, implied child abuse, awkward and forced heterosexual romance :/

Gothic

This was a five issue run from the 90′s. If you’re looking for a good old fashioned ooky-spooky Batman story this is for you. It’s just a nice standalone arc that's unsettling without using edge/shock value, and it nicely marries the gothic horror Batman elements with your classic gritty organized crime stuff. The main villain isn’t popular or recognizable at all, which is a shame, because they’re genuinely creepy. Bruce is suitably dramatic in this, as always.

CW: blood + violence, gore, child abuse, brief homophobia, non-graphic SA, implied (? its really iffy and up to interpretation) CSA, church

Batman Zero Year (Secret City + Dark City)

Kind of a modern reinterpretation of Bruce’s first year as Batman. The art is good, I love how bright and maximalist it is without being overly campy, and its a good way to get familiar with a lot of different Batman characters. It's a longer read than the other ones on this list. While not inspiring The Batman very much visually, the movie certainly took story elements from it.

CW: its pretty much just pg-13 comic book violence

Batman: Universe

Tired of the edge? Then read this delightful story about Batman being led into a situation that becomes increasingly above his pay-grade. Its fun, we get to see Batman being Batman (and also a cowboy), and you’ll get introduced to a lot of other DC locations + characters without really having to know everything about them.

CW: n/a

Batman VS Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This movie was a trip. I loved it. I know nothing about the TMNT but they somehow fit so well with Batman, who knew. Good animation, good action scenes, funny, and good characterization. I loved Batgirl and Robin in this. I’d put this in the same vein as Lego Batman, just a bit more comic accurate.

CW: pg-13 comic book violence

Batman: The Animated Series

Yeah you’ve probably seen this recommended like a million times but that's cus its, like, arguably the definitive Batman. Tone oscillates from “campy-and-obviously-for-kids” to “serious-psychological-noir-thriller.” This Batman taught me what human trafficking, gentrification, and deforestation was and then was like “lol what if Batman fought a werewolf?” It’s good. Watch it.

CW: n/a

Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm

God this movie is a classic. I almost screamed and cried and threw up when Robert Pattinson mentioned watching it. Just a fantastic noir Batman story. The animation is the same as BTAS (but with a higher budget) and the soundtrack goes crazy.

CW: n/a

#batman #the batman #bruce wayne #dc #comic recs #long post

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justasimplesinner · 3 years

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YEEAAAH REQUESTS OPEN do you have any hcs of ak Eddie and year one Jon with an artistic s/o? Bonus if they do graffiti 😎

Arkham Knight!Eddie with an artist hcs:

when he was younger, Edward kind of enjoyed art. but independent art. art with a hidden meaning. art that made you think when you looked at it, that entranced you and made you wonder what was the reason for making this piece, what's the message that the artist wanted to convey. he knew a lot of classical art and the greatest artists of all time but that doesn't mean he enjoyed their art. finding out about all the things the "greatest painters to ever live" did really prevented him from enjoying their works. there's not many people that know about the shit Picasso has done, but he's one of them and it always makes him research the artists he stumbles upon. only Van Gogh was legit. and he's not fond of most modern art either. even if it has no meaning, it'd be great if the art depicted at least something. he doesn't really like people painting a few dots and lines and calling it spiritual art, he thinks it's lazy and clashes with his logic

he's on the fence when it comes to graffiti. if it's for sending a message and making a difference, he's able to appreciate it, but if it's just mindless spray-painting, he isn't the biggest fan. sometimes, it doesn't look half-bad, but there are buildings ruined by bad graffiti and he hates looking at it. however, he's kind of an graffit artist himself, even if he doesn't realise it/doesn't wanna admit it. i mean, c'mon, he painted half the city with green paint and most of it was question marks or insults towards Batman. but your spray-painting skills really came in handy when it comes to that. you've offered to help him with painting his locations and at first, he was neutral towards it, just letting you do whatever you want, but soon enough, it turned out ot be the most fun he had in years. he would've never thought that running around and spraying walls with his partner would be so enjoyable. you were so creative too! it was amazing. and he loved when you climbed up onto his shoulders to spray paint higher points because you refused to use a ladder when he was right there. he genuinely hasn't laughed this hard with anyone ever, it's honestly one of his favourite memories with you

he doesn't mind going to art galleries with you if you like it, but just so you know, he's doing it just to shit on most artists. not because of their art, but because of the kind of person they were. no, he's definitely not doing this to make you happy and spend some quality time with you while showing off his knowledge. no, why would you think that

he fucking loves sculpting though. he loved it since he was a kid and laid his hands on plasticine for the first time. if you like to play around with clay, he's fucking got you. there's so many possibilities! he could do anything! shaping clay or making pots or whatever with you makes him so incredibly happy it's ricidulous. he enjoys it way too much. no one should be this happy about having their arms in clay up to the elbows, and yet here he is

he's honestly willing to try a lot of things with you. despite being very critical, he does enjoy art now and then. he enjoys spending time with you while doing something creative. it allows him to let his mind loose and just create shit. his hands are really skilled and steady, so he's not half-bad at it either! and maybe he won't admit that out loud, but he wouldn't mind you teaching him more things or new techniques. every time you two make art together, it's like he turns into a child again. he can't explain it, but it makes him so happy. he lacked such entertainment and encouragement as a child, and now you're making up for it and he couldn't've been happier

Year One!Jon with an artist hcs:

Jon's relationship with art is complicated. as a kid, the only paintings he's seen were the ones in Granny's house, and he hated them. they either depicted biblical scenes or Granny and her ancestors, and he had to learn all about them. Granny had a lot of morbid art hung in the corridor leading to his room and it always reminded him how sinners go to hell. he wasn't allowed to make art himself outside of school either. he kind of enjoyed it, but other kids often ruined his works and that's where his distaste started. when he grew up and was finally free of the horrible woman, Jon wanted to try a lot of new things and one of them was visiting an art gallery, but it all felt... pompous. the people there were vain and shallow, and he didn't quite see the art for it's meaning but for it's worth. he saw art galleries as places people went to to show off their wealth, and that art was an entertainment only for the upper class. that made his distaste grow

you made him realised that he didn't really hate art, he just had bad experiences with it. it's not about the art but the way it's showcased and the way people treat it. and that's when he started truly appreciating it. when he watched you work, he didn't see all the pompous people. when you explained your works to him, he didn't feel the same dread and disgust he felt at the paintings in his childhood home. when you encouraged him to paint, you let him go wild, didn't give him strict instructions like his school's art teacher and didn't criticise what he did like his classmates. you made him realise that he didn't need experience and skill because art isn't supposed to look nice, it's supposed to mean something, make you feel something. he still doesn't indulge too often, but you made him see why people made art and even showed him how therapeutic it can be

he enjoys listening to you talk about art, and is amazed when you specifically look for things that'd suit his own tastes and introduce him to new artists. he likes sculptures and paintings that fuck with your mind, sometimes even straight out gore and horror, and you always go out of your way to make sure he has a chance to interact with such art, be it an art show or a book about a certain artist. you acknowledge what he likes and you don't criticize him for it, instead encouraging him to pursue it

when it comes to graffiti, he always associated it with the bad kids. the ones that steal lunch money and fuck shit up. as he grew, he realised it was actually more of social rejects, the rebels, the people he always wanted to hang out with because he thought they'd understand him. he's on the fence, because on one hand, it's just kids letting loose, but on the other, it sometimes ruins the architecture and he hates how some buildings look. but he understands the need to disrespect your surroundings when you're constantly disrespected by your environment too. so he certainly won't stop you from doing it. and he maybe kinda sorta dreamed of spray painting an abandoned building as a kid. and you maybe kinda sorta can make those childish dreams come true. he won't ask though. you gotta offer that yourself

he may not be an art conessieur, but you taught him how to appreciate art, you taught him how to make art. he doesn't indulge you often, he'd prefer it if you just worked on your thing while he worked on his/read a book in the same room, but sometimes he gets the weird urge to just... paint with you. one time you made him paint with his hands and maybe he didn't enjoy it as much as his younger self would have, but he did feel his inner child come to life at that moment. he honestly got more paint on himself and you than the canvas, but he had fun. he genuinely had fun. he was allowed to have fun now. he could let loose. nobody held him back. you only encouraged him, and it made him fall in love with you more every day

#edward nigma #edward nygma #riddle #the riddler #arkhamverse #batman arkham knight #jonathan crane #scarecrow #the scarecrow #batman year one #year one #my writing #headcannons #i guess some fluff #maybe a sprinkle of angst #its mostly just me rambling incoherently #anonymous #i hate this and love it at the same time

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theramseyloft · 4 years

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i read your long pigeon poop post, and after some poking around online i saw that a loft in melbourne australia failed. do you have any idea why that is?

Oh... my fucking God. I am so furious.

Look at this thing!

$70,000 went into this monstrosity?

It looks like they converted a fucking water tower by punching holes in it and welding on entryways shaped like the stereotypical toddler’s first house drawing!

Who fucking researched this?!

Was it designed by a committee purely by aesthetic?!

Here is an article I found on it’s decomission and removal.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-city-councils-70000-pigeon-loft-turned-into-scrap-metal-20160724-gqcmsc.html

According to the pigeon expert quoted in this article:

“Frank Hayes is the president of the Australian National Pigeon Association. While his group is mostly interested in show pigeons, a different breed to the city pests, he says it was fairly predictable the coop idea was never going to work.”

“ "The nature of the pigeon is that they find a home and they stick with it. So finding them somewhere else to go is a bit of a dream," said Mr Hayes.”

“ "Trying to shift them is one big headache. It's a worldwide problem and no one has ever figured out how to deal with it." ”

LOOK at this structure!!!

It’s made of fucking METAL!!!

In AUSTRAILIA!!!

In the fucking OPEN!!!!

From this charming article:

http://melbournedailyphotodaily.blogspot.com/2011/03/pigeon-loft-batman-park.html

“The loft is painted with light coloured corrosion resistant to reflect the heat and minimise internal over-heating. It houses two hundred nesting boxes for pigeon breeding. Eggs laid will be replaced with artificial eggs intended as a humane way to control and reduce pigeon numbers.”

That is a metal structure in the Melbourne sun...

No amount of Paint is gonna make that less an oven.

And I can’t imagine you can add anything to paint to make it corrosion resistant that isn’t noxious in a small space when the metal under it heats up.

“Bird feeding around the loft base is permitted to attract birds out of the CBD to this area. Bird feeding is not permitted in any other area around the CBD.”

But the city council is not actually providing the birds with good quality fed...

“... and no one has ever figured out how to deal with it."

No one, you ignorant twit?

NO ONE?!?!

Here is the site of a successful branch of the German Stadttauben Projekt, translated:

https://stadttauben-stuttgart.de/

“The Stuttgart pigeon project

Dear prospective customers,

nice that you found our homepage. We would like to introduce our project to you on the following pages:

The Stuttgart City Pigeon Project is an animal welfare-friendly concept for regulating and reducing city pigeons for the benefit of people and animals. We operate several supervised pigeon shots in the Stuttgart city area, in which the pigeons are cared for and their eggs are exchanged for dummies so that no offspring hatch. By the end of 2019, there had been well over 45,000 eggs. By feeding grain mixtures in our shots, the animals are no longer forced to look for food on the streets and squares in the area. They spend 80% of the day and the entire night in the dovecote. Ergo - your droppings also stay there and no longer land on roofs or balconies.

We were awarded the Baden-Württemberg State Animal Protection Award 2015 for our commitment .

The city pigeon is one of the most successful residents of the urban living space and today populates all major cities worldwide. It is the free-living descendant of the wild rock pigeons from the coastal and mountain areas in Africa and Eurasia. Long ago, the rock pigeons were domesticated by humans primarily for the purpose of meat production and thus also carried to our latitudes and cities. In modern times, the stock of the archetypal rock pigeon increasingly mixed with breeding, racing and sports pigeons that either escaped, were abandoned or, exhausted by exhausting competitive flights, ran aground in the cities. Today's city pigeons are the overgrown children and children's children of these rock, breeding and sports pigeons.

In cooperation with the state capital of Stuttgart, the Tierschutzverein Stuttgart und Umgebung eV launched the pigeon project in 2008. The cooperation was formed with the aim of bringing about a permanent and humane solution to the city pigeon problem.

The concept of the Federal Working Group for City Pigeons or the so-called * Augsburg Model * was helpful. It is based on scientific publications, practical experience and has already been successfully recommended by several federal states such as Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg. Today it is implemented in more than 80 German cities and towns. For example, there are pigeon houses looked after in Aachen, Augsburg, Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Saarbrücken and Wuppertal.

We aim for a small, supervised and healthy pigeon population in Stuttgart. Then the image of the city pigeon may rise again. Because healthy animals, which have a permanent home and receive animal feed, do not bother anyone!”

https://stadttauben-stuttgart.de/?page=1,0,0,Chronik+%26+Fakten

“Care instead of fighting: our chronicle

2008:The first step was a dovecote at platform 1 in Stuttgart main station

2009:The second blow was made in the roof of the Leonhardskirche

2009:The third pigeon house was on the Mühlgrün parking garage in Bad-Cannstatt, which has since been demolished and replaced by the pigeon tower in the rope

2010:The fourth facility was the pigeon tower in the city garden on Max-Kade-Weg

2011:The fifth pigeon house stood on the roof of the town hall garage until February 2016. Reconstruction on the roof of the city comb in April 2016.

2011:The sixth dovecote was a second stroke on the roof of the Leonhardskirche (other roof side)

2013:The seventh dovecote was built in the roof of the Fairkauf building in Stuttgart-Feuerbach

2014:The eighth pigeon loft was built (as a replacement for the location at the main station) on a flat roof in the Kriegsbergstrasse

2016:Dovecote number 9 was inaugurated in July 2016 at the Marienplatz in Stuttgart in the roof structure of the imperial building

2017:

On Landhausstrasse in the east of Stuttgart, we were able to set up dovecote No. 10 in the attic of a residential building. It was opened in June 2017

2018:In summer, an indoor pigeon tower was opened at Seilerwasen in Bad Cannstatt as a replacement for the Mühlgrün pigeon house

2019In autumn a new pigeon facility was inaugurated at the station in Zuffenhausen and the first egg was laid in December.

In addition, a dovecote (trailer) on the grounds of the shelter Stuttgart and Nistwand for about 30 pigeons on the will of the ASPCA Stuttgart House Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn in Stuttgart Zuffenhausen care.

... more dovecotes are to follow!

Health hazard facts

A health hazard due to pigeons flying around, running and sitting can be largely excluded. New scientific studies have shown (again) that pathogens that may be contained in the pigeon droppings are usually bird-specific and are therefore not transmitted to humans. This was confirmed in 1995 by the Federal Ministry of Health.

The general classification of the pigeon as a pest was withdrawn by the Federal Institute for Consumer Health Protection back in 1989 on the basis of research results at the time and the opinion from 2001.

Feed facts about pigeons

Feeding pigeons in Stuttgart is prohibited on public land. Well-meaning pigeon friends increase the population density of the city pigeons by regular feeding in the same place, without offering the additionally attracted animals sleeping and nesting places where they are tolerated or the clutch can be exchanged. This creates people who work there or often live more pigeon hate and more pigeon misery.

Above all, too many food scraps are thrown away on the streets and squares of the city! This waste is mostly not compatible with pigeons. They lead to illnesses, shortages and thus, among other things, to the unsightly liquid starvation. Nevertheless, due to the scarcity of bird-friendly feed in cities, these human foods are usually the main basis for the feeding of city pigeons, but their organism is designed for pure hard grain feed. So this means sick pigeon populations that nonetheless reproduce disproportionately due to their (pet) genes raised by humans.

If you would like to help sustainably, please contact us. Only other supervised dovecotes in the city area (including food and egg exchange) start at the root of the "problem". We welcome any support!”

From their gallery:

Here is a loft.

Small, wooden, well insulated from heat and cold.

Those openings are not the nests. They are just doorways with a landing ledge designed around the comfort of pigeons, which are social birds.

Here is the inside.

Lots of comfortable nest boxes, perches in the back, food, water, comfortable socialization space...

Here is an entry into another loft currently in use.

Here is the inside.

Water and feed are provided by the care takers. You can see feed and drinking stations all over the floor.

And this is the inside of a huge new loft in Frankfurt.

These German Taubbenhauses are designed around meeting the birds’ needs for food, comfort, safety from the elements, and socialization with their flock mates.

None of these birds had to be coerced or forcibly relocated.

Because their needs were better met, they came on their own.

Look at the $70,000 Melbourne monstronsity again!

More specifically, look at the bridge behind it.

And tell me where you would rather me.

Compact metal tower designed exclusively around convenient human access, metal nest boxes, 0 landing platforms, no socialization space, no protection from the elements, still no choice but to forage for what ever garbage people toss you...

or the comfortably Cool space under a concrete bridge with a convenient water source.

Three guesses what’s more comfortable for the pigeons.

Now, would you rather live under a bridge with constant noise from traffic, open to predators,

A well insulated apartment building with comfortable suites, a spacious common area, and a nutritious free meal plan with clean water included by default.

"It's a worldwide problem and no one has ever figured out how to deal with it."

My ass, Mr. Hayes!

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tortilla-of-courage · 3 years

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Yeah, kind of insane that the Adoption AU started with a 3am Taco Bell run.

I do actually have a few one shots already written for this AU! There's the Taco Bell story, the time Sky got arrested, the time Twilight got shot, a funny story I wrote based on real events with Twi, Wars and Wind trying to cook, and something based on that one picture of the boys playing the floor is lava by cherypaii(? I think that's the url?). And I have a half finished fic about Lullaby reacting to Time's increase in kids I call "Lullaby reacts to Time's Batman-Level Adoption Bullshit", and a half finished fic introducing Wild's twin. So if anyone is interested in reading some of the fun bits for the AU, since I'm still writing for the plot part (although this conversation has given me inspiration and motivation to write the bit where they find Twi after he was kidnapped, so,) then I'd be happy to post them.

And since you mentioned hoping more info would magically appear, consider this magic.

Midna is a mafia princess, and her family immigrated to get away from it. Zant is her cousin, and his parents followed to make sure Midna's parents didn't embarrass the family. She briefly had to move away after the incident where Twi got shot, but she's back before the plot happens.

Twi and Time both have their face markings in this AU. Time had his tattooed on after the FD incident as a reminder of what he's capable of and what he's lost (considering this plot beat's connection to his family and the Order), for better or worse. Twilight was gifted his by Midna after he fought Zant to try and protect her and Dusk from Zant. The markings are traditional Twili tattoos, painted on with some kind of something that acts as a mix of tattoing and henna, and have to be earned. Twilight's represent courage, boldness and sacrifice.

Warriors has a whole plot I've done nothing with involving Cia being, well, creepy as all get out. Basically I read somewhere that a victim of abuse is more likely to end up in other abusive relationships when looking at how Warriors' bio parents being abusive would effect him and then I remembered Cia and decided to be mean to him.

The underground hospital that took care of Wild after the wreck is called the Shrine of Resurrection because I thought that was a cool way to connect that.

I had this stupid idea once that Midna writes purposefully terrible fanfic and a few people suspected she wrote 'My Immortal' for a while, and when she comes back everyone is like "The Chaos Corner guy's brother is dating the lady who wrote My Immortal???" and Midna decides to set the record straight by doing a small livestream on like, Instagram or something where she explains she's actually dating Dusk. She's reapplying Twi's markings as she says this, and is basically in his lap. Twilight spends the whole thing looking like he wants the floor to swallow him.

Rottla is informed by a therapist that she should try and do something since her kids don't feel safe (which, considering Time got stabbed in their living room, not feeling safe is understandable), and decides the best way to fix this is to teach them how to fight. Time and Lullaby are both black belts in several martial arts and can use most weapons well as a result. To Rottla's credit, this does actually work.

The sorority Warriors befriends is made up of the fairies I saved in his game. Because I love those fairies. They're my favorite part of his game. Also, Proxi is here.

Navi lives! She's rescued by the Order, like how the rest of Deku's kids were. She plays the role of a Great Fairy for the order. Her fairies are actually Warriors' sorority. And Tatl, actually.

Saria is a strong contender to become leader of the Order eventually.

Majora is here and I can't tell based on my outline if I have Time kill Majora or not. So, Time potentially kills a man.

Wind has a boat with an old radio connected to a lighthouse where an old man lives. This old man is Daphnese Nohanssen, but Wind always calls him Red. They talk a lot, and Daphnese is glad he has someone who will talk to him because he is very lonely.

Wild has a motorbike (Master Cycle) that it is honestly a miracle he hasn't wrecked yet. He breaks himself but never the bike. Wars has an older car that he's put some elbow grease in and you'd never know it wasn't new. Twilight has a beat up old pickup truck everyone is just waiting to die, but it hasn't yet. This is impressive, considering Twi does drag racing.

Also, Warriors has a tendency to get in fist fights, and between them and Legend (who is never arrested for the same thing twice), Time happens to be on a first name basis with most of the police in the city. The chief has his number on speed dial for when he needs to go pick up a kid.

Wild's friends are all alive and they love him. Flora is laser focused on helping him with his memory issues. And feeding him weird things. For science.

Wild's twin, Knight, is mute. He speaks in sign. He's also a bit blindsided by how chaotic the house is, but he fits in very well. They buy a roomba that Knight tapes a knife to and blames Wild.

At some point I'll write the fic where someone modifies a nerf gun and things escalate until Time shows up with one of those machine gun nerf guns hooked up to a car battery (a modification he did with help from Sheik and Ruto). Who needs depth perception who you can shoot 60 darts per second? It's chaos and when Malon gets back from a trip she takes this week she finds the house in disarray and a hockey puck in the wall. Clean up takes three days, and they are still finding nerf darts in weird places.

This is off the top of my head. I am certain I am missing something.

Forgive the weird formatting, I don't know what happened there.

-Attllhak

honestly i’d love if you ever posted any of the one shots you have already - and i think i saw one or two other people say they wanted to read the story too in the post where you explained most of the plot, so i’m not alone on this aha

Can i say i love how you somehow connected a lot of their games’ original details and made them make sense in a modern setting???? like it can be a hard thing to accomplish but with wat you just told us here it sounds like you did it amazingly and it makes me all the more excited to see what other connections there are!!!

#if you ever post any of these i'll reblog them here SO hard #warriors' sorority friends being the fairies from his game..... that was SUCH a clever thing omg #everything in here is honestly #no idea what happened to the formatting either #tortilla asks #linked universe #tw injury #injury mention #ask to tag #linkeduniverse #long post #i've reread htis post so many times i love it #finally posting it for everyone to see sorry i was selfish aha

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maxwell-grant · 3 years

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So, any thoughts on The Green Lama (who unexpectedly became one of my faves), the Pulp Hero who is also a Superhero?

Much like other pulp heroes of the time, The Green Lama had multiple secret identities and a massive supporting cast aiding him in his quest for justice. Unlike his contemporaries, The Green Lama eschewed guns in favor of radioactive salts, magic, and sleight of hand. He rarely, if ever, killed his enemies. His tales also had an advanced sense of continuity, with characters growing and changing over time, plot points introduced in one story paying off several tales later. The Green Lama is a character of contradictions, driven forward by a faith he is forced to betray. It makes him flawed and imperfect, and in that way, one of the most human of all pulp heroes - The Green Lama: Scions

While not the "only" example of a pulp hero who is a superhero, The Green Lama is arguably the one who leans the most into the superhero aspect out of all the classic 30s pulp heroes that usually get brought up. I would argue that The Green Lama is the most direct answer to the question "what happens when you combine The Shadow and Superman together", considering he was modeled extensively after both in his forays into pulp, radio and comic books, and has also grown into his own character.

He's got the unique skills bordering on superpowers (that eventually became outright superpowers). He's got pretty much The Spectre's costume, except of course he came first. He's an urban costumed crimefighter wh deals with gangsters and criminal masterminds, and yet has an extremely strong stance against killing and carrying guns under any circumstance, even saying they would make him no better than the criminals he fights, which makes him by default the pulp hero that Batman would get along best with. The comics took it way further even turning the “Om Ma-ne Pad-me Hum” chant into a Shazam! transformation cry (Shazam came first, although the two debuted in the same year).

He's got a suitably punchy and dramatic origin: guy spends 10 years in Tibet and returns to America intend on spreading Buddhism's pacifist doutrine, only to witness the murder of children at the hands of mobsters the literal second he steps off the boat, and after spending restless days in the police station to see if they would find the culprit, he sees the killer walk out of the commissioner's office free, which convinces him he needs to take up crimefighting because the police are useless, and he outright calls the police "incompetent" in a letter to the papers that he uses to introduce himself to the world, which is not something you find often in 30s/40s fiction even if's an implicit part of the pulp hero/superhero fantasy.

He had a stronger sense of continuity than most pulp heroes were usually afforded. He has a lot of the pulp hero stock and trade like the assistants and the pseudo-science and the odd radio gadgets and of course the Orientalism that we'll get into, but remixed in a pretty cool way that allows him to stand out from his inspiration. He's got incredibly weird aspects to him like the fact that he gets enhanced abilities from crystallized salt or even becoming radioactive (which could be interesting to explore considering "radiation" became the go-to origin for superpowers in the 60s). He's got an allright supporting cast and Magga, while ultimately a deus ex machina, is a very interesting addition to it and I wish her mystery was played up more often in subsequent stories past the original run. There's a lot about The Green Lama that really works, he was incredibly successful at the time and he's managed to thrive over the years lot more than most of his contemporaries

Despite all the powers he wielded he felt impotent, nothing more than a rich boy playing the games of gods. He had chosen the path of the Bodhisattva, sacrificing himself for the good of all sentient beings, but even so the weight of responsibility, the lives of so many in his hands, threatened to crush him. It was tempting to turn away, to deny his calling, but the life of a Bodhisattva demanded more; and it was only recently that he had begun to realize how much it truly required.

The main problem with The Green Lama, and by problem I mean "the character works fine for his time but this is seriously holding him back from becoming sustainable again", is the fact that he's a white rich man who fights crime by going as hard into Orientalism tropes as possible, which is inescapably baked into the premise.

Now, I will argue that The Green Lama was, for his time, a progressive character. The Buddhist aspects of his character weren't just backstory fodder or an excuse for his superpowers as they were to pretty much every other character at the time, Jethro was a practicing Buddhist, who fought crime informed by his beliefs, trying to respect them (and not exactly succeeding) and offering a wholly positive perspective of Buddhism. Nowadays, it creates a problem, but at the time, it made the character stand out from every other hero who had "traveled to Tibet" checked out, because Tibet and Buddhism were heavily incorporated into the character. The Lama may have been born merely out of a desire to cash in on The Shadow's newfound radio popularity, but Crossen took it much more seriously than his contemporaries and made it an effort to instill admiration in his readers towards what he was referencing, which he was pulling from books about the subject and the Pali language. Is research the bare minimum? Yes. But it’s a bare minimum that even today’s writers don’t do even having an infinitely bigger wealth of information at their disposal.

To further cement my point: There's a particular Green Lama comic story called The Four Freedoms, which is about the Lama receiving a letter from a fan in the army who's worried about a racist private who keeps insulting the black privates while crowing about racial superiority, and so the Lama kidnaps the private and takes him on a tour through Germany so he can witness firsthand how his talk aligns with Nazi ideology, even specifically referring to Jim Crow's laws, criticizing how easily Americans fall for racial war rhetoric, and pointing out the idea of racism as a tool of tyrants to divide and conquer. It's not my place to champion this as some great representation and that's not what I'm doing, but if this all seems passe or simplistic or even problematic to you, trust me, this was still the era of Slap-A-Jap Superman, stories like this were absolutely not the norm at the time, even in other stories where superheroes dealt with racial discrimination.

He even caps off the story by stating that punching or ending Hitler is not the solution (although he lets Jones take a couple of swings) because Hitler is just one part of a much bigger problem that needs to be fought on all of it's forms. It's all very much afterschool special/anti-racism PSA, sure, but it's easier to mock those in our time. You find me a Golden Age superhero comic that shits on Jim Crow specifically while the hero tells the reader that Hitler is not the ultimate evil but merely "a cog in the wheel", part of a problem that's deeply entrenched in America's own shores (really, do, I'm genuinely curious if more of them did anything like this).

Does any part of what I said negates the fact that, at the end of the day, he's still a white man using Orientalism mysticism to fight crime? No, it doesn't. And if Iron Fist can't get away with it, if Dr Strange only just barely does, the Green Lama sure as hell can't. And you cannot downplay those aspects either lest you end up with a completely different character. It's a bit of a conundrum that makes the character tricky to approach from a revival perspective.

I completely agree with what you said here, Green Lama would benefit from a Legacy Hero approach very strongly. And Green Lama: Scions opens up an interesting possibility of Jethro Dumont not being quite what he seems, backed up by the fact that he wore disguise make-up in the original stories:

They had a lot of names for him in the papers—the Verdant Avenger, the Mysterious Man of Strength—but Reynolds had always been partial to “Buddhist Bastard.” No one had ever seen his face or, at the very least, the same face. Seemed like everyone had a different story. The Green Lama was white, he was black, he was asian, he was old, and he was young. You could fill a room of witnesses and no two would describe the same person.

Really I think if you just got rid of that one thing that holds the Lama back the most from catching on in modern times, I think he's the kind of character that lends itself a lot to long-term sustainability. He's already fairly popular as is, definitely an indispensable inclusion of any shared pulp hero or Golden Age superhero universe and definitely one of my favorites among the 30s American pulp heroes. And there’s ways to make the concept more interesting and workable.

Maybe The Green Lama is just a title that's been going on for generations, with Jethro being one of many to fill in. Maybe Magga used to be it, maybe the tulku that instructed Jethro did, maybe there's a new character with it. Maybe Jethro is just an identity used by an Asian-American adventurer to operate safely in the US, or maybe Jethro has a sort of Lamont Cranston arrangement going on. Maybe he's part of the reason why Tibet was the superpower capital of the world in the 30s or 40s, or part of the reason why radiation started granting so many heroes superpowers in the 60s.

The character's skillset has been fairly "anything goes" ever since his author made him a flying superman for the comics, and really he already started out being able to deliver electric shocks through his fingers by guzzling radioactive salts. He's a very weird character, and I will always argue that weird is what works best for the pulp heroes.

#replies tag #pulp heroes #pulp fiction #comic books #comics #the green lama #jethro dumont #alex ross

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duketectivecomics · 4 years

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You might've answered this already and I just didn't find it, but one thing that always perplexed me about Duke was how old he was in comparison to the other Batkids. It's obvious he's younger than Dick and Babs, and I pretty sure he's younger than Jason and Cass, and older than Damian, but I cannot tell if he's meant to be Tim and Steph's ages, younger, or older. Could you help me?

You’re all kinds of good here, anon!!! I answered a similar ask abt the Order of Adoption but didn’t dive into specific ages on that post BECAUSE well they didn’t ask lmaooo but ALSO:

Comic ages are very fluid usually! While Years™️ might pass in the canon proper, or while time seems to slow to a crawl, having a character’s age outright stated is something that occurs very rarely for most characters, if at all!

Because it’s always much easier to have a floating age range to work and play around in! It’s easier to keep a character Perpetually 12 or 16 or 25 or mid-40s or- you get the idea. SO, with that in mind. Let’s do our Best to Break Down What Age Duke Might Be Currently A N D how it might interact with the Other Batkids!

(Warning for a Very Long Post, lots of issue citations, and a LOT of comics terminology regarding specific runs/events/continunity. I’m gonna try to keep it as clear/concise as possible ofc but plz keep these things in mind! If you’re not at least marginally familiar with Bat-Comics, you might find yourself feeling a little lost here!)

So from the Zero Year arc we see a common Trend that plays out pretty consistently with Batfam comics: a Life-Changing Event Occuring while the protag is Young™️.

(Batman (2011) #30)

With how Duke is drawn in these particular issues, and given the trends of the past, I’d place him in the 8-12 range. The historic precedent being ofc that that is the same range that canon usually places both Bruce and Dick at for their Tragedies™; the more benign reason being that he... just very much Looks to be drawn in that Range. He’s very clearly an Older/Prepubescent child here.

Fast Forward to his Next Appearance in the Endgame arc and-

(Batman (2011) #37)

He’s definitely older! He’s wiser! And he’s giving Batman a fistbump lmao. Again, no strict age given here BUT, since they condensed each Robin to a Year or Two tops with Bruce (its n52 and its fucked up is what it is), we can assume it’s been at least 4-5 since Zero Year (which would mean if we go off the age range I proposed for that year, then theoretically he could be anywhere from 12-16 here, and I think that tracks pretty well. Not Perfectly and Certainly Not so well with Pre52 continuity ofc, but I’ll talk about that later!)

In We Are Robin, while its not stated Directly In The Text, it IS given as an Informational Tidbit that Duke is 16 (specifically this can be found at the end of issue #4)! (Sweet sweet canon confirmation FINALLY)

We know that WAR takes place Fairly Soon after Endgame (almost immediately, give or take a month or two given that Duke’s been placed in a few foster homes at this point and has racked up Quite A File) now, again id like to remind y’all that while this is a NICE starting point to have, keep in mind that comics are fluid and this may be retconned slightly/ignored in later stories bc Keeping Duke 16-ish is in DC’s Best Interest at the moment. (Having Relatable Teen Characters afterall is a Good Marketing strategy™️. And the longer they can Keep them Young, the Better)

With that in mind let’s take a moment to Highlight the fact that Duke and Damian have crossed paths at this point AND the storylines that have occurred during this year that were meant to be in conjunction with one another!

Because Prior to Endgame, Damian had Died! And just a year (in real, meat-space time) before We Are Robin, he was resurrected and had begun his “Year of Atonement” in the Robin: Son of Batman maxiseries. Midway through both this series and WAR (and, we can assume, midway thru this “Year” for Damian) the Robin War begins/ends and we see at least one major Moment between these two boys who will soon call one another brothers:

(Robin War #2)

Given that R:SoB is followed up VERY quickly by Teen Titans Rebirth (in which Damian celebrates his 13th birthday), we can conclude that Damian would be 12 during this time (well, 12 and 1/2 to play it safe lmao). That being said, this Confirms about a 4yr gap between Duke and Damian! (One Batkid down at least! but he’s the key to the others so put a pin in him!)

As We Are Robin draws to its conclusion, DC was releasing another arc that would eventually flow into the Rebirth Era, by the end of which, Bruce would approach Duke with an Idea (which involves Bruce becoming Dukes temporary guardian & as he states Many Times “Trying Something New” with Duke).

And thus the Rebirth Era begins, and Duke began his Year of training (most directly encapsulated by the Cursed Wheel arc in the All-Star Batman run:

(All-Star Batman #1 (back-up story))

Bruce introduces Duke to a training regimen that Alfred has named “the Cursed Wheel”. It encompasses all the training Bruce and the other bats have undergone and condenses it down into color-coordinated segments that will take Duke a Year to Complete.

It can be assumed that by the End of this Year Duke will somehow miraculously still be 16, despite, again, an entire ass year passing.

There’s one story that takes place mid-year in All-Star Batman, and the Cursed Wheel is meant to be capped off by Duke’s first Official Day as the Signal (in the titular Batman & the Signal ofc) BUT, near as I can tell after this story, Dukes age is not brought up again. So until they DO bring it up either in Batman & the Outsiders or whatever future run Duke becomes involved in, we can assume DC will be working with the idea that he’s meant to be in that 16-18 range from here on out (ie still a minor).

But, dear anon, you might be saying “okay, that’s cool, but how does that relate to my question abt how he falls in with the other Bats?” You’ll have to be a little patient with me here, but I think I may have cracked the code!

Keep in mind I’m gonna be addressing both the Post-Crisis to Flashpoint Continuity (ie mid-80s to 2010 in comics history) and the N52-slash-Rebirth Era (2010-Today). Its generally agreed by fandom and DC alike that these points of rebooting &/or Major Events constitute the era of “Modern” comics, and that everything from the 80s-on might more or less be canon on some level, even if not All of it is.

(Plus, most of fandom usually likes to borrow elements from both eras and much more rarely from stories before it, SO-)

Lets do a quick rundown of how everyone who’s Closer to Duke’s Age, Relates to each other first, age-wise:

Given that Jason was 15 when he died, in A Lonely Place of Dying its established that Bruce had become increasingly reckless since his death, and by the end of the story, Tim has stepped in to fill Robin’s shoes (he states that he’s 13 during this story btw). Pretty soon after, Stephanie Brown is introduced & established to be about a year older than Tim (wish I could pin-point a specific issue BUT, i unfortunately haven’t read any Tim OR Steph-involved comics that predate No Man’s Land... Besides the aforementioned Lonely Place and Young Justice technically, but im working on remedying that soon!)

NOW, during the No Man’s Land event, Cassandra is introduced, and pretty soon into her Batgirl run, its revealed that she’s around the same age as Jason (or at least how old he Would Have Been, had he not died.) Now, given that Jay has an August bday and Cass has a January one, fandom sometimes likes to play around with the idea of one being older than the other (OR even speculating/placing them in an AU as twins/siblings, given that Lady Shiva (Cass’ mom) was a Possible Candidate to be Jason’s biological mother but that’s a Whole Other Thing i wont get into here.)

The point being, Cass, in this era of comics, IS slightly older than Tim and Steph. At Tim’s start as Robin, their ages could either line up like: Tim-13, Steph-14, Cass-15 (being a few months ‘behind’ Jay), then Jason at 15/16 (depending on how soon Tim filled the role after Jay died in April) OR Jason-15/16, Cass-16/17 (in this case she’d be a few months ‘ahead’ now instead)

So brief detour to talk New 52, however! Because Tim, Steph & Cass all got switched around from where DC originally left them prior to the reboot! Now I haven’t read much of them in this era, other than Batman & Robin: Eternal, so my Understanding of their current ages is Spotty at Best. The general consensus seems to be that while before N52, Stephanie had been attending her first year of College (& doing VERY WELL i might add), with the reboot she was set back a few years alongside Tim to a vague Late-Teen state (so 16-18-ish, instead of a Very Clearly Established 18/19). Cass is probably the worst off for this reboot, given that B&R:E basically constitutes her new origin for the new continuity, and does nothing to confirm her age (all I really know is that she’s a Vague Late-Teen too... Probably? Maybe?), given how much they infantilize her, and subsequently how fandom in turn has taken to infantilizing her too, theres a semi-popular fanon that places her Younger that Tim and Steph. And I, for one, propose that we ignore that bc its Weak Sauce my dudes.

Some fans chose to ignore N52 continuity due to this vagueness, and will stick to the ages established before the N52/Rebirth reboots. But its something to keep in mind regardless bc we’re all obviously going to pull from what’s most familiar to us!

But WHERE could we place Duke with regards to them, then? Because them being “Late Teens” is certainly much too vague to work with!

This is Where Damian is the key!

Because Damian is one of those rare exceptions to the Reboot Rule. His story flowed almost seamlessly over from before to after. While he was made a Robin at the age of 10, he continued to grow and learn even after the universe was being rewritten to suit the whims of DC editorial.

If we choose to ignore how everyone else’s ages and origins were swapped around, and stick with the growth that was presented before the reboot, then we can draw some interesting conclusions!

Firstly, though Stephanie also had Died and subsequently Returned, she hadn’t lost much, if any time, from the Ordeal. At the start of her Batgirl run, she is enrolled at a Gotham university and making headway with a more firm foot in the Batfamily (even to the point that she and Damian spend a few issues bonding. At this point in time, Damian is definitely 11, and again, Steph can be assumed to be 18/19 during the course of her run. We’ll assume 18 for clarity’s sake.)

So, then when Damian is 11, now our line up is as Follows:

Dami - 11, Steph - 18, Tim - 17, Cass 19-21 (the range depending again, if you subscribe to Cass being either older/younger than Jason).

WHICH MEANS, If during Robin War Damian is 12 (and a half) THEN We’ve got an age line-up that Potentially looks Like This:

Dami -12(and 1/2), Duke - 16, Tim - 18, Steph - 19, Cass - 20-22 (And Obvsly Jason, Babs & Dick at their varying Older Ages than everyone here)

and im just now realizing i Didnt include Harper in this line-up, but thats bc she’d also throw a big wrench in all this. I’d personally throw her in with being Steph’s age, but I’m pretty sure she was supposed to be either that, or between Steph and Cass (again, since its N52, i believe Cass was/is assumed to be Younger than Steph, but that contradicts the assumed following of pre52 canon that we have for the above line-up, obvsly, and so we ignore that lmao)

All this to say, however, that canon and fandom is what you make of it, and if you want to wiggle these ages around a little, you’re more than allowed! God Knows i usually like to skew the Tim-Steph-Cass age group to be a tad older than this in my own fic writing, and I like to have Duke start as a Robin at 14/15 instead of 16, but that’s just bc I like the dynamic potential it could bring with them being Definitively Older that him, and thus in a more secure place to be Mentoring him right alongside Bruce & the others.

But you might see these age ranges and want to do something Different (say, making Tim, Steph, Cass, & Duke all the Same Age at 17 instead! And that very well tracks with how current comics kinda looks right now!) and you’re absolutely valid to do so! Because again, comic character’s ages are meant to be fluid, not fixed!

And at the end of the day, its all about wanting to see these teen heroes kick serious ass haha

#duke thomas #guest starring:#batfamily #damian wayne #tim drake #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #randywrites #randys meta #meta #asked and answered #anonymous asks #this was A LOT and i tried to throw some humor where i could #but uhhhh yeah!!! i hope this helps anon!!!#also just realizing its TWO AM WHERE DID THE TIME GO #ah well. Worth It

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siriusbunbryist · 4 years

Text

In defence of Abed x Annie.

Thanks to the magic of Netflix, I’ve rewatched Community at age 24, and still found Abed and Annie to have hit the heartstrings as much as I did when I was in high school watching the show for the first time.

But watching the series in its entirety just reinforces my thought that Abed and Annie had so much potential that was wasted, and it’s a shame that the writers planted all these seeds to only decide that perhaps this direction was not worth it / too risky / unfavoured by the audience. But I mean, Alison Brie herself (and I’m assuming Danny Pudi as well) endorsed them! Find here and here.

This was a pairing that with all the crumbs scattered throughout the show (I think we are all aware of these crumbs I speak of), could’ve easily played the “oh we’ve been secretly dating this whole time” trope during the last episode and it would’ve still made sense.

Naturally I did some scoping, and of course unsurprisingly the J.eff x Annie pairing takes the cake, while not a lot of love for Abed x Annie. So here are common points of contentions I see surrounding Abed and Annie, and my rationale on them.

Before I start, a note - I fully respect the J.eff x Annie ship and I don’t intend on starting a ship w.ar/debate. I understand where their support comes from! I just needed to vent because no one else in my social circle watches this show. No hate please.

1. Abed doesn’t see Annie romantically

I think on the contrary it’s been set up rather long ago that Abed at the very least is attracted to Annie.

Exhibit A: “What are you making” in Beginner Pottery

Exhibit B: “Flat B.utt and the one Abed wants to nail” in The Art of Discourse

This video basically explains it! The summary: Annie is Pierce’s favourite, Pierce constantly insults Britta, therefore Britta is flat b.utt.

Exhibit C: Not even trying to hide it in Accounting for Lawyers

But, a romantic interest has to be further built upon finding someone attractive right? There has to be intrigue to their character, such as

Exhibit D: “I can only connect to people through... movies” in English as a Second Language

youtube

It is pretty obvious here that Annie is a rare someone who has successfully broken the impartial screen that Abed filters everything through. Jeff saw it too which is why he said Annie was the ark of the covenant before Abed fell for her disney face. I can only imagine Abed to be quite struck with Annie’s infiltration.

A romantic interest should also share common interests, such as

Exhibit E: “Which makes Annie is my third favourite show” in Paranormal Parentage

I’ve said before that for Abed, a guy who lives life and communicates through comparing it with television and movies, it’s not unthinkable for him to be attracted to someone who genuinely watches his favourite shows and commits to roles during cosplay. And who, besides Troy, would fit this profile? Annie.

And finally, the biggest indicator of it all, we also see how Abed views the Jeff and Annie pairing in everyone’s favourite episode Remedial Chaos Theory. Keeping in mind that the timelines are rendered by Abed, out of all the timelines, J.eff and Annie only kis.sed when Abed left the room for pizza. As well, as conjured in Abed’s head, Evil Jeff and Evil Annie only existed as a couple in the Darkest Timeline. To me at least, it’s arguable that this alludes to Abed’s omniscient “director” standpoint that he may be the obstacle in the Jeff and Annie relationship - pointing towards him perhaps harbouring feelings for Annie.

2. Annie doesn’t see Abed romantically The general consensus on this point is that Annie is only attracted to Abed when he’s playing a character. I rather think that being attracted to someone, and being attracted to someone during role play, aren’t mutually exclusive. Let’s take a look at the different characters that Abed played.

Don Draper: serious, sophisticated, and smooth.

Han Solo: immature, flirty and a smarta.ss.

Batman: mysterious, complex, and brave.

Three different personas, yet Annie responded to all of them. Since the common denominator to all three is that they are played by Abed, I would like to offer a counterpoint that perhaps the attraction to Abed has always been there, it’s just emphasized when Abed plays a character. Who knows, role playing might even be Annie’s ki.nk. After all, during For a Few Paintballs More, it is shown that Annie is disappointed when Abed dropped the Han Solo persona after the battle ended.

Annie also loves big romantic gestures. Who’s better than doing that than Abed? Since the beginning, Abed has already been doing big romantic gestures of varying degrees for Annie. With this, it’s not ridiculous for Annie to see Abed as a romantic potential.

Exhibit F: Staying in a room for 26 hours in Social Psychology

Annie: You sat in a room for twenty-six straight hours. Didn’t that bother you? Abed: Yeah I was livid. Annie: Then why didn’t you leave? Abed: Because you asked me to stay and you said we were friends.

Exhibit G: Rescuing her from “captivity” and inviting her to move in in Remedial Chaos Theory and Studies in Modern Movement (even Troy was surprised at Abed’s invitation)

Exhibit H: Tearing down the Dreamatorium in Studies in Modern Movement

Annie: What about the Dreamatorium? Abed: Oh it's staying. The Dreamatorium is more important than any of us. But you're more important than our bedroom so we put the bunk bed in the blanket fort.

Bonus: Confirmed by Alison Brie

3. The show was about Jeff and Annie

Dan Harmon said that Community’s approach is that anything and any pairing is possible. We see this is as the series started with the classic “player vs smart snarky girl” trope with setting up Jeff and Britta as the main pairing. We also see Troy and Annie as the potential B couple in the show. The writers also threw Pierce and Shirley, Annie and Britta, Dean and Jeff, and even Chang and Britta in for a laugh.

And then the show subverted this all by introducing Jeff and Annie, and made Troy and Britta a couple, showing us that Community is a show that intends on breaking these classic sitcom stereotypes by experimenting with different pairings. Abed and Annie was no exception to this, as the writers often pair them up in different shenanigans and hint at possible grounds to explore*.

A few examples: Han and Leia in For a Few Paintballs More, Hector the Well Endowed and the Elf Maiden in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, spy partners in Modern Espionage.

No doubt that the show dabbled in and out of Jeff and Annie throughout the series. However, to say that Jeff and Annie was the primary pairing in the series would mean overlooking Jeff and Britta. Especially when Jeff and Britta have the whole love-hate dynamic, three(?) marriage close-calls, and emotional snippets such as helping Jeff reunite with his father in Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations.

Anyway, not to discredit Jeff and Annie, but knowing that the show explores the possibility of different pairings**, why write off Abed and Annie?

* Not to mention that the cop pairing in The Science of Illusion was originally written with Abed and Annie in mind! ** We also see a stray Abed and Britta during Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps.

4. Annie is in love with Jeff To keep this short and shipper-goggle free, Annie has said on numerous occasions that she’s in love with the idea of Jeff, not Jeff himself. Specifically this scene in Virtual Systems Analysis:

Abed as Annie: "…We love Jeff…" Annie: "No we don’t, we’re just in love with the idea of being loved. And if we can teach a guy like Jeff to do it, we’ll never be unloved, so we keep running the same scenario over and over hoping for a different result."

And this scene in Conventions of Space and Time:

Annie: All right, I may have been play-acting that we were married, and then the staff thought you were cheating, and I had to save face. Jeff: Do I have to worry about this? Annie: No, I was just daydreaming. I mean, I've married you at least a half a dozen times. And Troy. And Zac Efron.

Not to mention that their conversation in the finale says it all.

Jeff: I don't wanna be fine. I wanna be 25 and heading out into the world. I wanna fall asleep on a beach and be able to walk the next day, or stay up all night on accident. I wanna wear a white t-shirt without looking like I forgot to get dressed.* I want to be terrified of AIDS, I want to have an opinion about those, boring a.ss Marvel movies. And I want those opinions to be of any concern to the people making them. Annie: Well I want to live in the same home for more than a year, order wine without feeling nervous, have a resume full of crazy mistakes instead of crazy lies. I want stories and wisdom, perspective. I wanna have so much behind me I'm not a sl.ave to what's in front of me, especially those flavourless unremarkable Marvel movies.

*Shipper-goggle on: Part of me thinks this is a reference to Abed, whose iconic style almost exclusively comprises T-shirts. What Jeff is saying is that he wishes he is 25 again with his future open before him, someone who compatible with Annie, but here he acknowledges that he isn’t, and lets her go in the end.

5. Abed and Annie wouldn’t work as a couple Another point I see is that Abed and Annie are strictly platonic and are more like brother and sister. On the basis that they have made out a couple times and are attracted to each other, I would disagree with the sibling statement.

Troy, in contrast to Abed, I think actually resembles a more sibling-like relationship with Annie. Although Troy and Annie have the strong friendship of Abed and Annie, when disregarding the high school crush stage of season 1, their storylines never dwelled further down an attraction path, nor was there any specific episode that was dedicated to a deep dive of vulnerabilities and confrontation between them. As a comparison, Troy and Britta had opportunities to explore these setups (Troy admitted to lying about his b.utt stuff story and Troy helped Britta face Blade) - an indication that Troy and Britta were heading into non-platonic territory. Jeff and Britta too, had several opportunities to confront their feelings (up till the very last season), a clear indication of a non-platonic relationship.

For Abed and Annie, what I think pulls their friendship towards actual love interest potential is best pinpointed to Virtual Systems Analysis. Annie’s participation in the Dreamatorium prompted her to not only fully submerge into the way Abed thinks and comprehends his surroundings, but she also got to understand and address Abed’s stubbornness and flaws in a vulnerable way, confronting some of her own flaws as well.

Abed as Shirley: Your hospital school, young lady, is a simulation being run through a filter of other people's needs. Abed's been filtered out because nobody needs him. Annie: I need him!

And to point out this little tidbit in VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing,

Annie: That's why Abed is like a brother to me. You guys are so alike. Abed: I can't accept that based on one time machine story.

This whole episode, instead of establishing Abed is like Annie’s brother, I would argue is rather doing the opposite. Abed and Annie’s hyper antics in the episode were basically matched by Anthony and Rachel’s blatant indifference and confusion. For lots of Abed and Annie supporters, this episode was a major setback. But I think it instead highlights how in-sync they are with each other, which is a good thing.

Another point, despite Annie trying to prove otherwise, Abed and Anthony had different vibes, and each shared different dynamics with Annie. And as Anthony pointed out in the end, who were Abed and Annie trying to replace in the apartment? Troy. The person who they are trying to fill is Troy - their roommate, their brother, their best friend. Troy was the brother role that neither Abed and Annie can fill for each other.

In Basic Sandwich, we get this exchange:

Abed: The point is, this show, Annie, it isn't just their show. This is our show, and it's not over. And the sooner we find that treasure, the faster the Jeff-Britta pilot falls apart. Annie: Got it. Thank you, Abed. Abed: You're welcome. I have a girlfriend. Annie: What? Abed: You were about to start a kiss lean. Annie: I was not.

Not only did Abed saw right through Annie’s anxiety and comforted her in his own uniquely Abed way, but he also felt the need to remind her of his girlfriend. The fact that he broke the fourth wall here is likely the writers’ way to be meta, but simply acknowledging the tension and bond there says a lot in between the lines. If tension does not exist, there would be no need for this line.

Besides, instead of thinking that they’re strictly platonic (which of course is also okay), they would rather work great as a couple. In terms of opposites attract, Annie grounds Abed with just the right amount, while Abed clearly encourages Annie to be her true self and be immature. Such as this scene in Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism,

Annie: I’m following him. Troy: You moving in here was supposed to tone us down!

Annie also doesn’t just tolerate Abed’s idiosyncrasies, she actually likes them and fully participates as multiple paintball games and cosplays would tell us. Special shoutout to the missing lovers footage in Wedding Videography, which through Britta, actually shows us that Annie is the only one who would go along with Abed’s projects - while Britta found the project extremely weird and unhealthy, Annie thought it was fun and commits well to her role.

And while others may tiptoe around Abed, Annie isn’t afraid to call Abed out when he’s out of line and makes a point to teach him about empathy in Virtual Systems Analysis. Remember that Britta tried teaching him this but it didn’t work as well.

I am Abed Nadir... And I don't know a lot of things everyone else knows. I wander the universe with my friend, Troy, doing whatever I want. Sometimes accidentally hurting innocent unremarkables. This week, however, Troy went to lunch and I adapted. I now have the ability to enter the minds of others using an elusive new technique known as "empathy".

As well as in the entire episode of Cooperative Polygraphy.

They also know each other best. Abed knew her cushion preferences, was the one who spelled out her true pas.sion for forensics, and after living together, Annie knew how to navigate Abed’s peculiarities and to soothe him whenever he had a nervous breakdown.

Annie also knows him so well that she can predict his reaction.

They are also each other’s exception. Annie was always the one who manages to pull Abed out of a trance and back to reality, usually with touch.

Abed is also very forgiving with her. An example is when Annie seemingly lost all common sense because she broke Abed’s special edition dvd in Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism.

Annie: Well, Batman, on behalf of all of us that aren't perfect, can I just say I'm sorry I broke your DVD? Abed: Apology accepted. But I wouldn't mention it to Abed. That guy's pretty ruthless. And that's coming from Batman.

And in Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas, Annie was the only claymation doll that didn’t have a weird form (except Troy as toy soldier of course). Annie was a ballerina because Abed sees her as a creature of grace. Abed was also the first one who got her “brighter tomorrow” diorama and responded with enthusiasm.

They are also in the same stage in life. As Dan Harmon explains the choice of Abed and Annie being the ones who leave the group, with Troy gone, Abed and Annie symbolize the many possibilities of the future - a possibility that makes them viable. I like to think Annie transfers to the LA FBI office after her internship and they reunite.

And as the Spice Girls said, “if you wanna be my love.r, you gotta get with my friends”. In Paleyfest, Dan Harmon says this about whoever Troy and Abed ends up dating, “I mean a woman that comes into either of their lives is either going to drive them apart or she's going to have to be really accepting of a very special relationship”.

Britta tolerated their friendship but to a point of asking Annie to distract Abed for alone time with Troy, Troy dumped the librarian as she called Abed weird, Robin disappeared, Rachel we never got to see much of, but was pretty quiet and separated from the group. From this, logically speaking, Annie would actually be the perfect match for Abed, as we all know they’re the ultimate trio within the study group and a transition from friends to more will be natural.

Oh, and, Abed is wrong. They’re not Chandler and Phoebe with little storylines together, they’re Chandler and Monica.

Anyway, that’s it for my super long rant/analysis. Community the series is done and over, so there isn’t a need for any ship war. All I want to say is, if #andamovie happens, hopefully, the writers will actually take a leap.

#abed x annie #community #annie x abed #abed nadir #annie edison #sorry if you've seen this already i'm trying to figure out why my tags won't work #mine #thoughts

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thevindicativevordan · 1 year

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thoughts on John Stewart? he’s typically called boring

You know how Hal is the one who gets accused of being the "Nostalgia Lantern"? Only sticks around because of a bunch of old timers who can't let go of the past? Hot take time: that's actually John.

He's my second favorite Lantern, and the first Lantern I was introduced to because of the DCAU. John is a cool character, an ex-Marine turned socially conscious architect whose analytical mind allows him to put together a plan as complex as a skyscraper, and his power ring finally allows him the opportunity to create on a scale he could only dream of before. Yes he lacks the swagger of Hal, the bravado of Guy, or the sensitivity of Kyle, but John is cool for the same reason as Batman: give him a little preptime and he can beat God. Unfortunately, John's popularity relies entirely on a cartoon that ended over a decade ago. Stewart fans continue to claim that he's the one true Lantern because of the DCAU, same as how Tim Drake fans claim he is the one true Robin, and both of them need to face reality. Whatever boost John got from the DCAU - to the point that yes at the time he could have laid claim to being the top GL like Jaime Reyes can for Blue Beetle - has long since worn off.

Some of the blame for that does fall on whoever at DC failed to capitalize on his popularity, whether that was Johns or Didio or whoever. John should have gotten his own solo book alongside Hal, they should have built the two of them up as equals. Instead John basically languished on the sidelines and never did more than play support during the Johns era, which was the era that redefined GL in the minds of hardcore comics readers. The best stories for John, the ones that flesh him out and define him as a character, are books from the 1980s and 90s. Mosaic is still regarded as the greatest John Stewart story with no real competition, and that is irrevocably tainted by the writer being a convicted pedophile. It's utter insanity that DC has made no real attempt to rectify that until recently.

Another hot take: I think John has been hurt more than helped by keeping all of his continuity intact. Take Katma Tui, his dead wife for example. His entire relationship with her is based on old comics from decades ago, comics nobody from the younger generations is going to read. Katma was one of the most important characters in John's life, but she's no Gwen Stacy. Average person has no clue who she is, and no reason to care, hence why most writers nowadays avoid bringing her up at all. Furthermore, Stewart lacks a clean origin retelling the way Hal got under Johns. During the New 52 they should have given Stewart a hard reboot, given he was mostly inconsequential to the Johns run with Hal, that wouldn't have upset things anymore than rebooting Superman and Wonder Woman did. They could have retold his origin, brought Katma back to life and done their romance in the modern day for a modern audience. Or tossed that relationship and put John with someone else, but it would have freed him from all the useless baggage the same way Aquaman and Mera were freed.

Since that didn't happen, I'm hoping that PKJ can be the world-builder John needs by giving him a soft reboot. Retell his origin, give John new friends outside his fellow human Lanterns, new love interests, stop calling back to Xanshi, and give him new foes that he can have to himself. DC Cosmic is big enough for John to carve out his own storytelling territory, but it requires someone who is more interested in the new than the old. Continuity only weighs John down at this point, and there's another big opportunity coming up for him that it would be a shame to waste.

With the announcement that Gunn is doing a Lanterns HBO MAX show starring John and Hal, this is another huge opportunity for Stewart. He's about to get another high profile adaption, one that could see John being a major player in the shared cinematic universe if all goes well. Right now is the time to start creating comics material for Stewart, whether for the purposes of adaption or simply because they need comics they can give to people which aren't decades old or irrevocably tainted by association with their creators. Last big break for Stewart went nowhere, I'm counting on the new management at DC not to repeat the previous regime's mistakes this time around.

#green lantern #john stewart

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incorrectbatfam · 4 years

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For the vampier au: how do they each get turned?

The year is 1000 BCE. Ra’s and Talia Al Ghul rule the Persian empires as two of the first vampires in existence, existing largely in secret. They make it their goal to turn as many people over to their side as possible, whether by battle or biting. Biologically, Damian was born a vampire and they utilize some arcane magic to make him appear as a child forever, because even back then people knew that children were far better at getting their way than adults. Honed as a weapon for literally millenia, Damian Al Ghul practically becomes a cryptid in his own right. Villagers shared stories of people who saw the child and never being the same—or worse, never returning. The Al Ghuls were responsible for the most well-known vampires in history, including the famous Count Dracula.

The year is 800 BCE. At 200 years old, Damian was still considered very young for a vampire. He is sent on a mission to turn to their side a young lady who was practically viewed as a goddess by other women, and who aspired to become one of the greatest poets of all time. Talia dropped Damian off on the island of Lesbos. Faster than lightning, the child warrior swooped down and bit the legendary Sappho. Now an immortal, Sappho dedicated her eternity of free time to her passion for writing, where she composed her famous Ode To Aphrodite. Eventually she got bored of Greece, so she changed her appearance and set off exploring the greater Asian continent.

The year is 1206. Genghis Khan had conquered much of the world. Under the Mongol empire, it was as common for women to serve in army as men. One of Khan’s most distinguished fighters came from the Manchuria region. She was a mercenary for the army, a lone wolf. And though she found thrill in battle, she was lonely. And, as fate may have it, so was Sappho. They met in a village where the army was stationed and forged a tight-knit partnership. They laughed together, they fought together. And the thought of being separated was unimaginable. So when Sappho revealed herself to be a vampire, the Mongol warrior jumped at the chance to become one too. And so she was transformed with consent, and together they roamed the world in search for adventure.

The year is 1775. The two girls had heard of this supposed New World and the colonies Britain established. They wanted to see it for themselves. Changing their names and appearances to something more Anglican, Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain boarded a ship set for what would become modern-day New Jersey. Immediately they found a stark lack of immortals there and they didn’t want to be the only ones, so they set off on a biting spree, turning men, women, children, and even a few farm animals (two dogs, a cat, a cow, and a turkey) without care. One of these victims was an elderly English nobleman named Alfred Pennyworth. Cassandra took the animals under her wing, while Stephanie felt bad for Alfred because he seemed to have nobody around. So the girls “adopted” Alfred as their grandfather so he wouldn’t be lonely either.

The year is 1871. Haly’s Circus was the most popular traveling show during Europe’s Industrial Age. Disguised as mother and child laborers working behind the scenes, Damian and Talia were on the lookout for new potential soldiers. And who would make a more perfect killer than the swift, agile Flying Graysons? Talia tried persuading John and Mary nicely, using Damian’s adorable boyish face, and they did give in. At least, at first. But within a few months of John, Mary, and Richard being turned, the parents changed their mind. They wanted nothing to do with Ra’s Al Ghul’s agenda and threatened to expose the vampires to the world. Talia had no choice but to get rid of them. She paid a lower-level mortal criminal to rig the ropes and douse the trapezes in holy water, which would lead to the downfall of John and Mary. The press reported it as a tragic accident. Alfred, who was at the circus during his holiday when it happened, couldn’t help but notice the burn marks on their hands. He chalked it up to coincidence or a prior unrelated injury in the end

The year is 1920. All that the grieving Richard Grayson wanted was to get away from the ghost of his past. He traveled to America, settling in the subpar city of Gotham, New Jersey. As much as he wanted to drink his troubles away, it was just his luck that he arrived at the beginning of Prohibition. His apartment was near a speakeasy, though, so he frequented that. The underground bar itself was owned by mob boss Jason Todd, who was notorious for brandishing guns and picking drunken fights—and winning all of them. But his streak would end when he had one too many glasses of moonshine and challenged an unwilling Richard Grayson to a fistfight. “What, you gonna back out, ya little dick?” Jason taunted. The former Flying Grayson himself wasn’t in the most sober state ever, so after some convincing and people placing betting money on the table, they took up the challenge. It was the roughest fight that bar had ever seen, and in a final act of self-defense, Richard bit Jason. (Granted, it wasn’t in the neck, but a bite was a bite). Jason becoming vampire wasn’t the worst consequence. No, it the older one being stuck with a terrible nickname: Dick.

The year was 1965. One of Ra’s fortune tellers predicted an influx of young soldiers arriving in Vietnam before war was even declared, and Ra’s sent his grandson to a rural village in the country undercover to find more recruits as the League of Assassins’ influence was diminishing. The environment of thick, bushy jungles worked in Damian’s favor as he was able to hide and strike on French and U.S. soldiers. He even managed to turn all but two members of a New Jersey infantry. Later on, the government reported one of the drafted soldiers, Duke Thomas, as missing, but in reality the young man went into hiding with two other vampire soldiers on his squad. And it was a reasonable move—mass media was on the rise and the last thing anyone needed was vampires being exposed as real to the public. Not only that, but Duke displayed abilities that the other two didn’t have, likely attributed to the combined effects of vampire magic and chemical agents like Napalm used at the time, and neither General Grayson nor Lieutenant Todd knew what to make of it.

The year was 1999. A teenage Tim Drake was out on a late-night grocery run to get more supplies, because 2000 was in just a few months and everyone was preparing for the supposed end of the world. He made the grave mistake of taking a shortcut through Crime Alley in an effort to get home on time, and was bitten in the leg by a “homeless” kid who seemed to appear out of nowhere before scurrying off. He didn’t experience anything strange for the next few years. He got plenty of sunburns, but he burned easily even before the incident. He kept his bedroom dark and stayed awake all night, but so did a lot of teenagers during that grunge/post-punk era. Silver felt weird, which he brushed off as an allergy. He avoided churches but that was because religion was never his thing. He craved red meat and avoided garlic, but hey, people had their likes and dislikes. It wasn’t until about five years later, when Tim realized he hadn’t aged a day, that he considered doing some research.

The year was 2019. Bruce Wayne was at one of his famous Wayne Enterprises gala on New Year’s when he met a stunningly beautiful woman named Talia. She slipped a little something into his drink when he wasn’t looking. Bruce couldn’t remember what happened after that, only waking up with a killer hangover and strange hickey on his neck. He had been Batman for a while now, and when he started experiencing unexplainable things he sought the help of the magician Zatanna, who found out that somebody turned him into a vampire. If he wasn’t brooding before, he definitely was now, and it didn’t help that the butler was a smartass. Alfred revealed to Bruce that he had been a vampire the whole time, looking over the Wayne family since Thomas’s father’s father, because the wealthy Waynes made easy targets for the supernatural. In an attempt to make Bruce feel less alone, Alfred invited Stephanie and Cassandra over for dinner (“Alfred, great to see you again! It’s been, like, a hundred years!”). It was over dinner that Bruce asked questions and the older vampires told their stories, and Alfred offhandedly mentioned something about Haly’s Circus that caught Bruce’s attention. Fresh burn marks from touching a trapeze? Something didn’t seem right. Though the case was over a century old, Bruce did some searching on the Batcomputer and found too many discrepancies in the Flying Grayson case for it to be just a regular accident. With Stephanie and Cassandra’s help, Bruce traced the parents’ deaths back to the League of Assassins. But one new questioned surfaced after all this: what happened to Richard? That question would be answered a few weeks later when Bruce dug up another cold case: a file about an MIA Vietnam War soldier from Gotham, Duke Thomas. He tracked down Duke’s whereabouts, and it turned out he was hiding from the League of Assassins with two other missing people from history: the circus performer Richard Grayson and mobster Jason Todd. Bruce offered him the best damn thing in their eyes: sanctuary. He took all three of them under his bat wing and they joined his immortal crusade against Gotham crime. Some time later, Talia introduced Damian to Bruce under the guise that Damian was Bruce’s son, citing the night she met Bruce at the party. Damian only agreed to Talia’s infiltration plan because he was sick of how Ra’s treated him, like an object rather than a being. So although the paternity test came out negative, Bruce still insisted that Damian was his son and kept him. As for Tim Drake? His story is pretty much the same: deducing Batman and Nightwing’s identities and demanding to join them—classic Timmers move

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papenniesandbentoboxes · 3 years

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The Music in Midnight in Salem and Why It’s Actually Good

Say what you want about the game, it’s not that great. The graphics suck, the puzzles were few and far between, and the mechanics awful. However, there was one part of the game that really stood out to me, and it was the music.

I am a huge music nerd. I first started listening and analyzing film soundtracks and scores when I was eleven years old. The first that I listened to was How To Train Your Dragon, which has one of the best film scores in my opinion (and I’d love to talk about it more but this is Nancy Drew, not Hiccup). Ever since then, I’ve always paid special attention to background music. I’ve been studying opera for about 7 years now, jazz for 5, and I am a music minor in college right now. I’d like to do individual analyses for each Nancy Drew game and pick them apart with what I know. But, before I do any of those, I’d like to do Midnight In Salem.

Keep in mind that I am not a professional in musical scores, this is just a hobby I have and something I enjoy.

One thing I appreciated in this score was the way all the soundtracks are linked together. For example, “Townsquare” and “Friendly” have the same theme woven in, same with “Feelings” and “Main Theme”, and that may be the first time I’ve seen interwoven themes in the Nancy Drew games. You’ll hear a lot of soundtrack themes and motifs throughout the game, a lot of repetition, but repetition doesn’t mean it’s bad or lazy. It isn’t done as often in video games as it is in movies, but it’s still done. I think it happens in games such as Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda. It’s a sign of “maybe these things are connected” and in certain parts, they really are. It kind of holds the story together, since MID is more linear than other games.

The game goes along with the creepy vibe, which to me sounds a lot like many Danny Elfman scores, such as the Batman theme, Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, and Alice in Wonderland. They all have a creepy, dark, yet mystical feel to them, much like this score. Just listen to the MID main theme and then listen to the main title of Edward Scissorhands. You’ll notice the similar sounds.

Now, I’m going to break down the main theme. (This is a long part of this essay so if you want to skip it, go ahead.) When it begins, the first notes you hear are the little bell sounds. From my knowledge, that’s an instrument called the celesta (pronounced with a “ch” sound). You’ll recognize it from classics like “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from it’s fantasy bell-like notes. I was so happy when I listened to it again and noticed that little detail. It’s such a good thing to use for more creepy or fantasy-like settings (*cough* Harry Potter *cough*). Next, you hear a cymbal (very suspenseful), and it brings in a bit of harp and the woodwinds, mainly the flute. The strings section plays the melody and the brass section. I will point out a very good use of dynamics (volume, essentially) with the trombones-- it adds to the suspense with every measure starting piano and going to mezzo forte, and then when they switch notes the dynamics repeat.

About halfway through the main theme, it completely switches tones, going from light and mysterious to dark and suspenseful. The percussion comes in along with higher brass and lower strings. After a few measures, it goes back to a slower, less suspenseful theme, but it keeps the darkness and becomes a bit more mysterious again. The only instruments used are the mystical celesta, the mysterious harp, and a little the suspense is kept by a tense strings section. It slows down and kind of fades out on its own. Overall, it’s a wonderful main theme for the game, setting the tone and the mood while having very familiar themes woven inside it.

Sorry, I know that was a bit much but I really loved the use of tone and all those different instruments.

Throughout the game, one sound you’ll hear a lot is strings, woodwinds, and the celesta bell sounds. I also noticed some chimes in “Townsquare” and a few others. I also loved the subtle brass in the background. I love the orchestration of these tracks and the use of all these wonderful instruments.

In the track “Friendly”, it has a light, playful feel using plucked notes on strings and staccato notes with the woodwinds and piano (I could be wrong but it sounds like a piano with the woodwinds to me). Under the woodwinds and the strings, there’s a very subtle brass section, keeping the playfulness of it all (and I know it’s a tuba because I watched a lot of VeggieTales growing up) (so I guess yeah the tuba has a playful, childlike feel to it every since VeggieTales, at least for me).

Another part of the music I want to talk about it the pop music we hear in Luminous Infusions and in the car and the party aftermath. I’m going to focus more on the pop music since Luminous Infusions isn’t really my favorite of the pop music. My favorite is the music they play at the end of the game. The bass line is amazing and it just is a bop and a groove all in one. Pretty good use of synth as well, which is a very popular pop noise that gain much of its popularity in the 1980s (sometimes too much synth back in those days). The guitar is also good and for some reason if makes me feel nostalgic, probably because it sounds like mid-2010s pop. Which makes sense for Deirdre to listen to in the game. She also says the band isn’t as good since the bassist left, suggesting that she had been following the band for a while and I’m convinced she prefers early to mid-2010s pop to more modern music.

The addition of pop music to this soundtrack was well done and fit in well with the characters. Especially with Mei also loving this music. Deirdre mentioned that she used to babysit Mei, so she probably introduced Mei to the band when they were younger and she latched onto it. It fits in with the family theme in the plot of the game.

Alright. That was a lot. But, you know, it’s some good music. it isn’t my favorite in the games, but it is very good. It complimented the game, going along with the mood and themes of the plot, and fit the setting very well. That’s a running theme I see in the games, the music always fits well with the game. If you have any requests for more music analyses, put them in my ask box! I’d love to do more.

#nancy drew #clue crew #nancy drew music #midnight in salem #mid #nancy drew soundtracks #nancy drew scores #long post #nancy drew essay #nancydrewnetwork

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