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imma-lil-teapot · 4 years

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TMNT 2003/2k3 Headcanon: Crying - (Leonardo)

Feel free to scroll past this first part if you’re not interested in my silly rambling and nonsense. I won’t mind. Promise. ;)

Okey-dokey then, with the global epidemic that is the Coronavirus well in action and most of the world stuck in lockdown (starting this Friday for us too), felt like getting the ‘ol creative juices flowing with a little headcanon-y thingy in preparation for -possibly- more fandom writings to keep myself busy during the house arrest (well... it kinda is!) and hopefully my mind off all the bad news. :(

Also, this is totally my first one on the blog! WOOT! Please bear in mind that I’m SUPER rusty! Haven’t written in ages so there are bound to be typos and all matter of general errors scattered throughout the post. Don’t pet them! They bite!

Anyhoo~ Despite attempting to create and share with the goal in mind to uplift spirits, I decided to start on a rather upsetting subject (PLEASE DON’T LEAVE! They end on happy notes ;) ) because, Imma just come and say it, I enjoy seeing my favourite characters shed tears (not for just any old reason -their personality plays a huge role in this- and CERTAINLY not for sadistic reasons, land sakes no! But... well, you’ll see~ ;) ) It makes me all gooey and fuzzy inside to see them display such raw emotion and I just wanna leap into the TV screen to hug and console them. I dunno why. Maybe I’m nuts like that. (Remembers Raph crying at the farm when Leo was badly injured and wishes she could just hug them all and take away the pain) Oh well, if you enjoy visualizing the same, then *High Fives*. :)

So yeah, if you read the title, you’ll know this is based on the 2003/2k3 series (my favs). Hope you all enjoy~ :D Grab tissues cause sad turts ahead! :’(

Jibber jabber stops here~

TURTLES~

LEONARDO - You are here

RAPHAEL

DONATELLO - Coming soon

MICHELANGELO - Coming soon

WARNING(S): Because of the subject, Angst and Hurt/Comfort will be present.

RATING: G (General)

WORD COUNT: Don’t have the foggiest.

ANYTHING ELSE TO ADD:

And apparently gifs too, so without further ado: (Completely unintentional but in actuality, totally intentional rhyming)...

TO THE HEADCANONS~~~~

~LEONARDO~

-- It’s no easy feat to make the leader in blue turn on the waterworks. Leo won’t cry for any old reason. It’s not because he has no emotions, far from it, but being the leader of a small ninja clan -who happen to be family as well- is no easy task in itself: he has a lot on his young shoulders and deals with many issues on a daily basis few his age ever have to.

-- It’s because of these reasons that Leo doesn’t cry often. One of the lesser likely to out of the four brothers. But when he does, it’s an emotionally distressing sight to behold.

-- Leo tends to cry whenever those closest to him -namely his brothers, his father/master and truest friends- are severely injured or are in a dire situation. Remember his angry/moody arc? The thought of losing any of them causes him great pain and distress, especially if he were the cause of any of it, and when that happens, he can’t stop the dampness that forms around his eyes and soaks into his mask.

-- He’s not fond of crying, especially in front of others, even though he fully comprehends its normalcy. He feels he needs to be everyone’s rock, their fortress of physical and emotional stability to turn to for strength when things get rough... So when the tears start to fall, he feels he can’t show them, can’t allow them to watch him crumble under the gripling weight of helplessness and anguish.

-- He frantically wipes at his eyes and desperately attempts not to sniffle, but it’s a hopeless battle, for his tears are already a steady stream.

-- He’ll try to hide when possible, usually retreating to his room to allow the worst of the emotions to spill over before returning to the others... Though he may be in there a while: when Leo lets his emotions go, it can be just as powerful as his red-banded brother’s rage.

-- He spares no time in making sure the coast is clear for the tears are already streaming by the time he reaches his futon, and there’s no stopping them now as he lets himself drop to his knees, only halfway onto the mattress. He purposefully leaves the room unlit, cloaking his form in the darkness.

-- He sniffs a few times as he shuffles up against the wall, sitting upright against it, bringing his legs up and hugging them loosely and droops his head against a single knee pad.

-- His voice desperately wishes to escape. To express its misery. But he won’t allow it to, often placing one hand over his face in a bid to quell the sadness and remain silent in the battle against his own inner turmoil. He refuses to let anyone see him in that state of utter sorrow and vulnerability.

-- He whimpers ever so slightly and coughs a few times as breathing becomes difficult. He knows this episode won’t be over any time soon. Fortunately, he keeps some tissues next to his bed for such rare occasions and tries not to blow too loudly. He thinks back to the last time he cried so hard... It’s been a while. It felt like a build up.

-- Time has been forgotten as he’s lost in deep thought. By the time he slips a hand across his eyes, only the material of his mask is still slightly damp. He clears his nostrils a couple of times before considering whether he was ready to return to his family. He’d of course straighten up his bedding beforehand, and would also require a trip to the bathroom to wash his face. A true ninja leaves no evidence.

-- Leo tries to put the horrifying images out of head before leaving his quarters. He doesn’t wish to be weighed down again and thus maybe cause his emotions to come out a second time. He knew someone would catch on that time. Instead, he holds his head up high, focusing on the there and now to carry him forward.

BONUS EXTRA~

-- Failure is also one of his greatest foes. Leo despises it, but not in the irrational sense; he fully comprehends that in order to grow, one has to lose in order to learn and thus, succeed in turn, and while it can frustrate him when he’s unsuccessful at mastering a martial arts technique for example, he understanders it’s part of the process and that no one’s perfect.

-- It’s when his slipups could spell casualties or death to his family and/or friends is when it weighs down on him like a boulder strapped to his shell.

-- A really big one.

-- And it hurts. So much so that it causes him to become despondent and often teary-eyed when no one’s looking.

-- Boi Bloo might also cry from especially sad movie scenes. He gets seriously into the story, and when the scene is just right -perfect music, perfect timing etc.- you may just catch Fearless with watery eyes.

-- He can’t help it. After all, he’s a leader, and very caring and kind-hearted individual, so movies showing children or anyone/anything defenceless getting hurt has him not only visibly upset, but also angry at the cause. He’s a softie like that.

-- He won’t have a meltdown, of course, but the tears are definitely there. Just don’t tease him too much; he’s easily embarrassed by it. ;)

BONUS EXTRA EXTRA FEMALE READER OR S/O EDITION~ (Can also use an OC/FC insert if you wish, up to you)

You had figured something was up by the time you’d finished greeting everyone in the Splinterson household except for the Turtle you’d long to see most and he hadn’t made his presence yet known.

The idea that he must’ve been practicing or meditating swiftly vanished when Mikey told you he’d been in his room in the dark for the past few hours. “The guy hardly ever naps, and even so, never this long.” He’d told you. “I dunno, (Y/N), we were about to check on ‘im when you arrived, but maybe you should be the one to. Think he’d really appreciate it.” And there was absolutely no argument from your side as you were already making your way up to the room.

You didn’t know what to expect as you neared the doorway. Could he possibly still just be sleeping? Meditating in the dark instead of his usual spot by the training area? Or... was he sick? The latter now had you concerned and you picked up your pace... Only to pause mid step when an unmistakable sound reached your ears: a sniffle.

Had it come from within his room? It was the only logical explanation as everyone else was downstairs. You were truly perturbed now as you stood outside the doorway and called out the ‘eldest’ Turtle’s name.

There was some shuffling to be heard but you were unable to tell for sure what he was doing -probably trying to neaten up his bed- “(Y/N)? Just a second, okay?” he responded in a rather awkward verging on frantic tone, and you were certain you heard another sniffle escape him.

That, along with the way he’d replied really didn’t help to put your mind at ease. “Leo, are you alright?” Nor was the pitch blackness in which he remained concealed in.

“Yeah, just... l-looking for something.” There was some more shuffling as if to prove his point, but you were having none of it.

“Then maybe this,” you began, turning around to flick the light switch, “will help?”

“No! Wait!” But it was a split second too late for as soon the brightness illuminated the entire room, you had caught the telltale signs of an emotional meltdown in progress plastered on his face before he quickly turned away and briskly wiped an arm across his face, attempting to hide the shame... or perhaps embarrassment?

“Leo...?” your heart and voice softened, “Hey, what’s wrong?” You automatically walked to him, closing the gap he was now trying to form.

“Nothing,” he lied, and acknowledged it was a fruitless attempt but still couldn’t stop himself. Autopilot panic mode was enabled now. “It’s nothing.”

Unfortunately for him, autopilot mother hen mode was activated for you as you reached with both hands to his carapace and shoulder, gently turning him to face you. “I can see that it’s something.” Your words were gentle, and you wanted nothing more than to take away his pain. “Look at me, Honey.” His body was turned but his head remained to the side. It was clear he didn’t want his obvious distress on display, even to you. “Please, Leo?” You tried again, and slowly but surely, his eyes met yours, and you felt your heart sink further.

The fabric of his mask was wet and eyes were still red with fresh tears that threatened to fall. He appeared so broken and helpless as he stared at you, and even though he uttered no words, you could practically hear him despairingly ask “Is this what you wanted? To see me at my lowest?” from his expression alone.

Never had you witnessed the leader of this band of mutant brothers cry. At times you had wondered if he ever did, and yet here he was; the incredible pillar of strength and dignity you had come to know and adore, in tears and so dejected that you couldn’t stop your own eyes from becoming damp the more you gazed at him. “Oh, Sweety...” You whispered as you felt your soul shatter. It was too much to bear. You slowly wrapped your arms around him, one around the midsection and the other over his shoulder, and buried your face into his leathery neck, offering every ounce of comfort you could muster.

It didn’t take him long at all to sink into the embrace and return the action. Beyond the point of concerning himself with showing the pain he felt -or the wetness now soaking into your shoulder when he placed his forehead against it- he sniffed and finally allowed the tears to fall once again as fresh waves of emotion surged throughout his body.

And this time, he couldn’t keep the whimpering to himself.

“Shh~ It’s okay, it’s okay,” you soothed, lightly patting and rubbing along the scutes of his shell as he weakly sobbed, finally letting go of all the sadness that gripped him.

You weren’t even aware of what was wrong, and you most likely wouldn’t find out til later once he calmed down, but right now, he just needed you to hold him. Hold him until the hurt was gone... And so you would.

AND THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE!

ALL THE FEELS!! I EMBARRASS!!

OMGosh, this turned into a monster! The mother of all HCs!! :O No seriously, this wasn’t meant to be this long! I was suppose to squish all four into one itty bitty little post, but then it just grew... and grew... and GREW! Personally, I blame the Reader Bonus but I’d be damned if I didn’t enjoy writing it! ;P You guys here on Tumblr got me slightly addicted to them and have wanted to attempt some myself so... Anyhoo~ I can’t really say if I’m entirely content with the whole thing, I dunno. I feel some parts are better than others (writing style-wise) but yeah, I really need to get back into the swing of things...

Speaking of which, I DO plan on adding my two cents on the other bois as well, but judging by how this one turned out, they’ll most likely all be this length, more or less, so each Turt will get his own post so I can really jot down those details with all the freedom in the world! That being said, I can’t say when they’ll be added but hopefully soon-ish. :) Raph's next on the list!

Thank you all so much for the read and hope you enjoyed~ :D

~Drag0n Mistr3ss’ Random Fandoms*

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theangrypokemaniac · 4 years

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Ma and Pa James's Second Biggest Fan (we plough a lonely furrow) continues to find Ma Jess's appeal mystifying, since everything about her is negative:

1. Signing up for Team Rocket suggests someone of a morally dubious character to start with, but the truth lies in the clothing, and she's in black!

Black!

It's code for her personality:

• Jessie wears white:

Pure, beautiful, innocent, sweet-natured, not really bad, dealt a severe hand in life but a fighter.

• Cassidy wears black:

EVIL!!! EVIL, EVIL, EEEEEEVUL!!! FOUL SIRENIC TEMPTRESS!!! EVIL HEARTLESS BITCH STEALING JAMES'S NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN WEEPINBELL!!!

Speaking of which:

2. She was Madame Boss's best agent.

You don't get there being kind.

To reach that standing requires hundreds of successful heists, and we aren't talking nicking gold bars. It's living things.

How many Pokémon do you imagine she stole with merciless efficiency?

How many children did she set upon, pinching every animal they had?

How many innocent lives did she ruin by depriving kids of the pets they loved, never to see them again, eaten away with the not-knowing and the false hope?

The glory of her reign ran on the fuel of blood and tears.

What fate do you envision awaited those Pokémon? It's not exchanging one master for another, it's entering slavery.

Jessie and James aren't the epitome of Team Rocket. They are minnows on the outskirts, despised and mocked by most of their fellow members. The actual group isn't particularly famous for prioritizing Pokémon welfare.

The preferable outcome is being handed out to agents to help catch other victims. Otherwise it's transformation into a war machine, forced to fight on and on to the point of exhaustion and death, no doubt tortured and tested on to boot.

What happens if they don't come up to scratch or are pushed for years until too aged and broken to be of any use? Are Team Rocket ready to pension them off to animal sanctuary?

As if. It's euthanasia or on to the streets to waste away, if not fed to the strongest first.

Ma Jess knew this and worse occurred thanks to her, yet paid it no mind, and felt not a single twinge of guilt in that time of service, then met her end trying to draw another Pokémon into imprisonment.

Some might say it was a case of what goes around, comes around. As her behaviour led to God knows how many Pokémon dying alone, leaving their loved ones to wonder and grieve, so in turn did she die alone in the snow, and Jessie had to carry on without her.

I'm not against Ma Jess, I neither feel like or dislike, but I don't understand how so many fans can happily overlook her murky past of inflicting pain, instead elevating her to a semi-divine tragic heroine, yet apparently Ma and Pa's heinous offences of not stealing and treating Pokémon well are beyond forgiveness.

3. It's the Red Ribbon Army! Save yourselves!

Jessie joined Team Rocket to follow in Ma's footsteps. James went with her. Both moved (upwardly in scale, downwardly in morals) from Sunny Town's gang of petty thief kids to a complex Mafia organisation stretching its wriggling tentacles around the world to crush the air from its lungs.

Why? Ma Jess's baleful influence led the two down that path.

Of course Jessie wants to copy Ma, how and where else can she feel close to her?

There's not even a grave to visit!

Rising in the ranks and Giovanni's favour is both to strike it rich and take her place, becoming Ma in essence. That would make her proud, which is all Jessie ever wanted.

What alternative is there? Stay with Chopper and Tyra forever, ekeing an existence pickpocketing and shoplifting, until mortality comes calling sooner than is welcome, or get loaded quickly and retire early?

James theoretically could've gone home at this point, but when it came to which angry redhead he preferred to beat him up, he chose Jessie.

He was henceforth obliged to go whenever she led, even if it meant following the ghost of her mother into the jaws of evil.

They have an excuse, but what was Ma's for getting involved?

However much they boast and revel in their wickedness, the motto proves the couple still believe themselves on a noble quest, despite everything to the contrary, and why?

Jessie isn't about to accept that Ma Jess, whom she's probably idolized as one of few people to love her and a role model of how a woman should be, was nasty or unpleasant. If she was in Team Rocket, it must be good, whatever the outer appearance.

Except Jessie and James are bad at being bad. They are not master criminals. All their plans fail, rendering them poor and starving in consequence. The inner circle of Team Rocket will always be barred to them because they lack the inner darkness it requires.

The joke is they flourish in any other occupation, whether that be Salon Rocquet, reporters, or flogging merchandise and food at the League. If employed elsewhere they'd be better off, but they have to stay because Jessie can't let go, or bear the thought she might be a disappointment to her mother's name. A different career looks unworthy by comparison.

What, so Ma and Pa have got no son because of Ma Jess? They just wanted him to be a gentleman!

If she hadn't set such a terrible example to her daughter she might have an increased quality of life, but then had she done so Ma wouldn't be dead in the first place.

4. Can't pick 'em can she?

What was it that first attracted Ma to Windy Miller? Does she go for the rustic charm, or the promise of a lifetime's supply of bread to feed the abundance of babies planned?

Don't do it, Ma! He's an alky!

Some birds are like that you see. It's the maternal instinct gone haywire. They find a local reprobate and somehow decide he's really a damaged soul crying out for love, the scapegoat of a cruel society.

He's not evil, he's just misunderstood!

This is why you get nutters wanting to marry the Yorkshire Ripper: they put his 'mischief' down to bad women mistreating his gentle heart, but they of course are devoted to his happiness. They can change him.

You don't know him like I do!

In their fantasy, under the influence of a 'proper' woman he'll transform in to a flower-picking hippie, but not too much, they still like him to be dangerously 'manly' (keeps 'em on their toes), then they can feel smugly superior and more truly female than the 'lesser' breed who failed to tame his sexy pashuns.

And if there's one thing Windy has in abundance, it's raw animal magnetism.

Stop it, Ma! You can't help those who don't want helping!

She put up with the boozing, the flour dust and his somewhat limited communication skills, but what really let him down was the company he kept.

Ever after she would insist Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub led him astray. That's firemen for yer.

Cuthbert? That name's died out.

Sure enough, some point after Ma Jess was stuffed up the spout, old Windy legged it back to Camberwick Green, like the rascal he is, and not a sweet penny piece did she receive in maintenance, the bastard.

At least Ma James got pregnant by a man who stood by her.

She wasn't married to Windy Miller!

Oh, you mean they were living over the brush? I see.

It's all in your head!

Do it my way, and we have Pa Jess. Do it yours, and we're back to a cavernous emptiness. Unless you can supply a picture of the 'real' (pffft) Pa Jess, this is the best available.

Anyway, 'Jessie Miller' just sounds right.

Coincidence? I think not.

5. She went to look for Mew dressed like this.

I could forgive it had she gone in her normal uniform, that's just whimsy, but to have made some effort emphasises that it's not enough!

Some part of her understood a mountain might be a bit parky out, but this was deemed sufficient coverage!

What happened?

She bloody died didn't she?!

6. Ma Boss points the way to doom.

Ma Jess was at least loyal to the mistress she served, but it was a wasted dedication. She squandered her life obeying a heartless virago who could cast aside apparently valued staff without a qualm, whatever thanks she owed them.

The millions Ma Jess accumulated for Madame are probably uncountable, yet she was so worthless that, when dispatched to the mountain, on her own, expected to catch a Legendary Pokémon, by herself, which many doubted even existed, and wasn't likely to come quietly, or put up with orders, but then didn't come back, Madame Boss allowed her only child to sink into poverty and the infamous 'care' of the State.

Everyone knows what goes on there. Entering a home has replaced the workhouse as the place of dread.

Jessie might have been killed or attacked and it didn't remotely concern Madame Boss, unwilling to spare a meagre fraction of her massive fortune to give the girl she made an orphan any comfort or security.

What did she matter? Her mother failed. Why reward that?

In her turn, Jessie became just as obsequious to an undeserving master, who went further than his mama and actively tried to murder her, and still she suffers to please him.

Team Rocket devoured her mother, and now it's swallowed her.

Oh, and Madame Boss got her way upon discovering Mew's fossil, so Ma Jess died for nothing.

7. This.

I'm not surprised Mew wouldn't go with Ma. She probably sensed the vivisection awaiting, and didn't give a toss about the avalanche in revenge.

Mew hasn't got where she is today falling for any old shallow promises from a stranger, thank you.

Suppose the mission had worked, with Mew caught and gift wrapped for Madame's delectation: what then?

Perhaps Mew's power, proving so impressive, would've pushed any cloning scheme aside, leaving Mewtwo unborn and Mew as the mightiest weapon. Or in greed Madame Boss demands more, and in arrogance the scientists promise the earth, the seas and the heavens.

Mew I could see subjected to some non-lethal form of dissection, just to understand how she ticked, that is if they could build the cage to hold her.

As they couldn't, and catching Mew was never a possibility, then Ma Jess's sacrificed herself on a fool's errand, which was obviously one from the outset. If Mew was easy to handle she'd have been captured long before now.

Either Ma dies, Mew's safe, but Madame Boss starts the cloning scheme anyway, or Ma's victorious, Mew is a tool of Team Rocket and the scientists have more sample to experiment upon. Mewtwo is still made, alongside short-lived creations and dozens of unseen freakish abominations preceding.

Now Mewtwo isn't what you call at peace with himself, nor has he received a particularly wholesome experience. One could think Ma indirectly caused that. Her branch of the project may have fizzled to cinders but she still played her role.

What would her legacy have been but to help bring forth the being that wiped out mankind? Where's the future for Jessie when there isn't one?

It's not her fault, but she died in the name of cloning a biological disaster, the creation of synthetic life leading to the destruction of it all.

8. Let's have a gander at Ma in the anime:

• Can afford rent.

• Can afford a tray.

• Can afford crockery.

• Can afford condiments to add flavour to food.

• Can't afford any actual food.

Something's wrong there.

I intended to include affording clothes too, but now I'm not so sure.

I never took Ma to be a brown-all-over kind of woman. At least she gave the fancy stuff to Jessie.

For years I've assumed she wore a brightly coloured jacket, but now I suspect it's a red one heavily patched up, because buying a replacement isn't an option.

Really old clothes are being mended with whatever can be salvaged from even more worn-out clobber.

Best agent Madame Boss has and she's practically living in her own filth.

Team Rocket takes care of its own, eh?

Oh no, let's not get a proper job, one that allows me to provide for my daughter and doesn't ask for my life. Let's stay in this one!

9. Look at Jessie's face!

By her own admission, being tricked into eating snow is the best thing that ever happened to her during an 'otherwise wretched childhood', to the extent she doesn't know it was wrong!

I don't hear Ma and Pa doing that. The only ice James got was an ice-cream sandwich.

What kind of infancy did Ma Jess give the girl for her to be nostalgic about almost dying of malnutrition?

If we say that's a foster mother as in the sub, it means Jessie's fondest memory is after Ma died, which is too brutal for me.

Yeah, thank goodness she's snuffed it.

You think Ma might have taught her not to eat snow! She left her so ill-prepared!

Consequently the sub version makes Ma Jess an awful creature, although I don't see why that Jessie would so desire to mimic a mom she apparently doesn't care about.

10. She's not even bloody here!

I have no picture to signify absence, therefore I must show whom she left behind.

Ma Jess is Pokémon's answer to Bobba Fett: background figure, barely involved, no information, dies early, yet became a fan favourite nevertheless.

If nothing really exists, what is there to like? Why are you contented weaving smoke?

When Rocketshippers put forward the manga as proof, the Anti-Ships used to insist that it 'didn't count' for being set in a 'separate universe'.

If that still goes, and only the contents of the anime apply to the anime, well then it's bye-bye to Ma Jess and Madame Boss, because they aren't real either.

I sometimes think that's true. However traumatic, would Jessie not have acknowledged her mother by now otherwise?

We grasp the characters all had two parents in a nebulous fashion, although not being real people means they don't 'technically' need them, but Ma Jess is the only one who vanished to be granted a face. Why is she then ignored?

She's briefly glimpsed in a passing scene of a single episode of the first series and is never seen or referenced again. The sub doesn't even have that. Where was the use in creating her if only to leave that thread of the tale billowing in the breeze?

We may decide her actions affect Jessie's but we're only imprinting assumptions. She might as well have remained unwritten for all that's made of her.

What we can glean doesn't bode well, irrespective of things left unmentioned.

Her one redeeming deed was dying, thus at least she didn't choose to abandon Jessie. We may presume she'd have stayed with her girl given the chance.

By my reckoning that puts her as Fifth-Best Mother Of Pokémon, behind Ma Brock, Ma James, Dame Ketchum and Ma Boss, in that order.

Then they're those who claim she never died, so she just pissed off like everyone else, rendering her devoid of a single positive quality.

This is the woman you sigh and agonise over for decades.

Ma and Pa are right there, man! Show 'em some love!

#team rocket #ma jessie #jessie's mom #jessie #jessie's dad #madame boss #mewtwo #kanto #snow way out!#the birth of mewtwo

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weirdanecdotes · 4 years

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Too Many Roosters

From a very early age, I always wanted a small cottage with a big garden and a small flock of hens. I had no special love for chickens as a species; they weren’t up there with kittens, puppies, pandas and koala bears on my list of cute animals. I wanted them for fresh eggs and aged manure to re-activate my garden beds. My desire was strictly practical.

A flock of four to eight layers could easily provide what an old couple needed but Dear Husband (DH) had higher ambitions including breeding his own. Consequently, we ordered two Partridge Rock roosters, two Easter Egg-types along with twenty-one hens in those two breeds and Silver-Laced Wyandottes because they looked pretty in the hatchery’s online catalog. We expected a bonus “exotic” chick for a total of twenty-six. What we got was twenty-nine balls of fluff. Not being the types that would complain about getting more than we paid for, we considered ourselves lucky. We ordered an excess of chickens in the first place because DH expected 50% losses along the way. He was wrong.

I discovered baby chicks are quite adorable little balls of furry fluff that sit in the palm of your hand. They cheep and emit tiny whistling noises and blink at you anxiously. Among themselves they huddled together for warmth and comfort, making an effort to recover from the trauma of their short lives. They had gone from an egg to a box, gotten jostled thru the US Postal Service, roared down a highway, and been spilled into a Rubbermaid bin with an infrared lamp instead of a hen to keep them warm. At intervals during the day, a giantess came and, at random, plucked them up, checked their butts for pasting and terrified the heck out of them.

With twenty-nine of them, it was impossible for me to develop any kind of one-on-one relationship with any of them and they all seemed very much alike in their reactions. A couple of them weren’t as terrified of me but generally I didn’t feel an empathetic connection to the little critters. They were a means to an end and not intended to be pets. Eventually, I expected to eat them so becoming emotionally attached seemed counter-productive.

By the time they were two months old and let outside, the roosters were clearly identifiable by being larger and more aggressive. We ended up with two Golden Red Araucanas, one white Easter Egger and four Partridge Rocks for a total of seven obvious roosters. We went back and forth on the sex of the “exotic” who early on got named Odd Chick on account of being so different from all the rest. Odd was much bigger than the obvious roosters but had a round female body and a very passive disposition. We thought it might be a Silver Laced Cochin because of its feathery feet and black and white markings but we never sure.

I got into the habit of going out every evening after dinner and sat on a garden stool in the middle of their grazing yard to observe their behavior. It was relaxing to do so and amusing. My first feelings were that they were vaguely reptilian. They reminded me of characters in the Jim Henson movie Dark Crystal. I couldn’t see how anyone could develop affection for these last remaining links to the dinosaurs with their b-b-sized brains and robotic responses. I didn’t see any thoughts or feelings behind their eyes, only genetically-programmed instincts.

I started giving them names just to be able to talk about them to DH. The two red roosters got named Big Red and Lil’ Red.

The white one became Whitey. The biggest Rock was Mister Big.

The three lesser Rock roosters and all of the hens went unnamed for weeks because of a lack of distinguishing behavior. It wasn’t necessary to refer to them because they didn’t do anything remarkable.

The roosters, on the other hand, engaged in daily battles for dominance. A pair of them would lock eyes across the yard and rush at each other at top speed until they crashed chest-to-chest and knocked each other backwards. Standing a foot or so apart, they would then spread their legs in a wrestler’s stance, crane their heads forward on elongated, fluffed-out necks and have themselves a stare-down. The first one to blink lost the game and would run away, cowering. Some evenings, the yard looked like a Mosh Pit with the males careening at each other and knocking each other silly. Since Odd didn’t play these games and hung with the hens, I became convinced it was a she.

As time passed, Big Red and Mister Big got so much larger than the others that the game ended at the beginning with the smaller rooster getting bumped so hard he scrambled to get away. Oddly, the big guys didn’t confront each other. The lessor Rock roosters stopped wanting to play at all, cowered at a glance from another male, and hid among the hens.

Only Whitey and Lil’ Red continued to challenge the hierarchy and the game evolved to the next level. Instead of letting the loser of the bump-and-stare retreat, the larger rooster would then pursue him and snatch his tail feathers. This would bring me off my stool, yelling. I couldn’t sit there and watch physical harm being done. Even so, the saddle of Whitey’s back ended up bald before he gave up and took to slouching down behind the hens to make himself invisible.

Now, I suppose Whitey brought this upon himself by constantly picking fights with the bigger roosters and, as DH explained, it was the law of the barnyard in action but I felt sorry for him. DH, who grew up on a farm, told me that one day one of the roosters might kill another one and that’s the way it worked. The biggest, baddest rooster got to rule the flock and pass his genes unto the next generation.

From my point of view, Lil’ Red’s behavior became pathological. He sought out confrontations with the bigger roosters like he had delusions of grandeur. Being sneaky and quicker was his advantage. He always got away before his tail feathers could be snatched and acted like that was a victory. He would strut about, nodding his head on an elongated neck like he was the boss of the block and to prove it he’d attack a hen or two. Viciously, he darted up behind an unsuspecting hen and stabbed her in the back with his beak or raked her head with his talons.

I decided I really didn’t like Lil’ Red very much. He wasn’t as pretty as Big Red and didn’t have the thick neck and whiskers that distinguish the breed. In fact, his head looked too small for his body. His eyes were rimmed with red flesh and he started to look demon-possessed to me. He’d get up in my face while I was sitting on my stool, take the stance and lay a stare on me. I thought he was surely crazy if he thought he could fight me and win no matter how fast he was.

One evening, Big Red was grazing in the grass and Lil’ Red snuck up behind him, bit into his neck, and did not let go. Big Red twitched and ran with Lil’ Red hanging from his neck. He slung his burden left and right, against fence posts and walls, and still Lil’ Red held on. Exhausted and screaming with pain, Big Red crouched down and shivered. Suddenly every rooster in the yard was on top of him, stabbing and stomping to finish him off.

I was already on my feet, yelling, running across the yard, and when the pile-on occurred I was there to slap and kick away the attackers. The roosters scattered from my wrath and Big Red lay still on the ground. As I stooped to pick him up, Lil’ Red came at me and I backhanded him across the yard. I scooped up Big Red and took him in the house.

We put him in our “hospital” bin, gave him massive doses of vitamins, and kept him in for a couple of nights. I was all for killing Lil’ Red right then. As I saw it, he had violated some kind of chicken code of honor by sneaking up on Big Red from behind. He didn’t deserve to be king of the flock for being devious. DH thought Lil’ Red showed intelligence and didn’t think we should do more than give Big Red another chance to fight for his status.

By the third morning, Big Red was frisky and pressing to get out of the bin so I carried him back to the yard, let the other chickens out of the coop, and watched to see what would happen. He puffed himself up to his full height and stood his ground as some of the hens came around him and made cooing noises. Mister Big nodded but didn’t challenge him. Lil’ Red came out, saw Big Red, and darted around the yard hiding behind hens and smaller roosters. I stood watch for a couple of hours as Big Red went about his business, feeding and drinking, and Lil’ Red kept as much distance as possible in a fenced yard. When it appeared that Big Red had no concept of revenge but had learned constant vigilance and Lil’ Red shied from a re-match, I left them for the day.

That evening Little Red went on a rampage of hen attacks and Whitey was doing it, too. It appeared to me that knowing they couldn’t win against the alpha males, these two malcontents were determined to boss over anyone they could. DH explained that biting hens on the neck is the rooster equivalent of foreplay but I found it very disturbing.

As the days passed, all four of the dominant roosters began biting the hens. They showed no signs of knowing what to do next but they seemed to be having a competition to see who could bite the most necks. The two biggest, dominant roosters – Big Red and Mister Big -- were paradoxically the most gentle; they’d nip, get a squawk and let go. Little Red and Whitey were downright vicious. They’d grab onto a hen’s neck and wouldn’t let go. The poor hen would flap her wings, shriek in pain and wrench her body away at the cost of a few feathers. Lil’ Red made a big mistake trying to bite Odd’s neck. S/he whipped around, Ninja-fashion, jumped up and stomped on his back.

The three lesser Rock roosters just watched; they appeared to have given up their maleness weeks before. The reward for their lack of competitiveness was getting bitten in the neck by Lil’ Red or Whitey. Lil’ Red went beyond that, of course. He’d bite the smaller Rock in the neck then use his foot to bring their head down on the ground and stomp their beaks in the dirt.

So one morning, I wasn’t surprised when the smallest Rock rooster had his left eye swollen shut. I took him into the house and put him in the hospital bin. When DH got home, we gave him antibiotics and vitamins. I wondered out-loud why we were investing effort in the weakest link in the flock. But, instead of putting the pathetic creature out of his misery, DH jokingly named him One-eyed Jack. After a couple of days, it became clear the eye was damaged beyond repair but still DH couldn’t find the will to kill the poor creature. Jack was such a timid, pathetic critter that after a couple more days neither could I.

I admired many of the other chickens for their beauty but this was the first one for whom I felt any affection. He didn’t instinctively jerk away from me; that was the difference. He seemed to like my attentions. I tried to return him to the flock but it didn’t work. Within minutes, the hens were pecking at him and I had to scoop him up. Perhaps, he smelled too human or they all just immediately knew he would never be of any use to them. I let him roam outside of the yard and watched as he ran around the perimeter of the fence trying to find a way back into the flock. It wasn’t going to happen; Big Red and Mister Big prowled the fence beside him, trying to peck him thru the wire. After a while, he took shelter in the compost shed beside the grazing yard and just watched the other chickens from a distance. I brought him feed and water and let him be.

That night when I went out to close up the coop, there was Jack roosting on the handle of my watering can by the backdoor. I brought him back in and put him in the bin. DH laughed, “We’ve got a house chicken now!”

Meanwhile, my evening visits to the chicken yard had become quite upsetting. The place was a frenzy of pain and misery as Lil’ Red and Whitey attacked everything smaller than they were. So I presented the problem of too many roosters to DH. Having the rooster population inside the chicken yard reduced by one seemed to accelerate the competition. Could we just get rid of the main offenders?

Perhaps he thought I was exaggerating and came out to see for himself. After witnessing repeated attacks on the hens in less than ten minutes, he became irate, chased down, grabbed and tossed the excess roosters out of the yard. Lil’ Red, Whitey, and even the two smaller Rocks found themselves on the outside with Jack. Like a pathetic puppy, Jack greeted them happily only to be rebuffed with pecks and nips. Having a better knowledge of the lay of the land, he avoided them after that. I protested the ejection of the two smaller Rocks; they were blameless. But, DH was too angry to hear reason. He swore that he regretted ever getting roosters at all and even Big Red and Mister Big were on probation. If he saw them mistreating the hens, they’d be out, too.

By nightfall, Whitey and Lil’ Red had figured out how to get back into the yard by climbing atop the compost heap and then flapping over the fence. They celebrated their return by attacking any hens that got within two feet of them. DH didn’t feel up to chasing them down again and decided to see if the yard would settle down. So for a couple of nights, Jack came inside and the two hapless Rocks who continued to shun him were left to find shelter under the compost shed. And Lil’ Red and Whitey continued their reign of terror.

On the third morning when I went to let the chickens out of their coop, I discovered three explosions of feathers across the lawn and one Rock cowering alone behind the feed can in the compost shed. DH said it was a dog that did the deed. I worried the dog would return for the remaining outside Rock. Or worse, come again to dig under the fence and find some way into the coop. Leaving it to Nature to cull the flock might have brought unintended consequences…

That evening as I sat on the patio at dusk, Jack loped up to me and clucked with anxiety. I assured him that I would take him inside again. Not contented by the sound of my voice, he hopped up into my lap, scurried up my chest and took roost on my shoulder. I slowly stood up and went over to the kitchen window to call DH to look out. “Aaarg,” I said, “I’m a barnyard pirate with me one-eyed roo.”

The following morning, DH arose at 5am and sat with his shotgun across his lap to wait for the return of whatever had killed the deceased and never-named rooster. Whatever it was did not return that day.

All day the remaining free-ranging rooster kept company with Jack deciding, in the absence of others, that he wasn’t such a bad fellow after all. I named him Curly for his corkscrew tail feathers. It seemed like it would be a good arrangement but the problems with Lil’ Red and Whitey remained unresolved.

The next day DH decided to chase them down and clip their wing feathers so they couldn’t get back into the yard. It took sweaty effort to chase them down and even with half of their left wings cut off the demon roosters flapped back over the fence. Lil’ Red immediately grabbed Odd by the neck and started to claw his/her head. That was it for DH; Odd was the prettiest chicken we had. He ran into the yard, grabbed Lil’ Red off Odd, and broke his neck with a quick jerk. Still in a fury, he started to chase Whitey then said, “Hell, I’m not wasting my breath,” went into the house and came back out with his rifle. That solved that.

By evening, tranquility settled upon the chicken yard. Big Red and Mister Big strutted with unchallenged superiority and felt no need to bite necks. Both of them crowed to let everyone in the neighborhood know they were the Bosses in our yard. Then, Odd made this noise, not a crow at all, more like the cry of a wild loon and still we wondered if he was a stealth rooster or whether she was announcing she was Queen of the Hens. Curly was cozy with Jack in the compost shed. Instead of digging a hole, DH strode off to the woods and made an offering of the dead demon roosters to the buzzards. That night I was all for putting Curly inside with Jack but he wouldn’t let me catch him. He made it thru that night and all seemed, as it should be.

The next day after dinner, we went out to the garden and discovered another explosion of feathers by the compost shed. In broad daylight, something had come and taken Curly. Jack had wedged himself between the fence and the feed can and only lost part of his tail feathers. When I called for him, he jumped out of his hiding place and flapped up into my arms. I took him inside immediately and the next morning he resisted when I tried to take him out of the bin. I decided to let him stay inside. I stayed outside all day in horrid heat, waiting and watching, then all of the next day until I had to go inside to fix dinner.

When DH got home, he hammered on the kitchen window yelling that there were dogs in the yard. I ran out and there was a golden retriever and a black mixed-breed strolling toward the chicken yard. The retriever got to the fence first and the chickens looked at him curiously. When the black dog came into view, they jumped up, made frantic cries of alarm, and ran into the coop. The black dog had a collar so DH told me to run and get the camera while he called the dogs to him. When I returned moments later, the black dog had already gone into the compost shed, returning to the scene of the second hit. The retriever showed no interest in the chicken yard; he was far more interested in having DH scratch his head. I took pictures of the black dog in the shed. It even went over to Jack’s hiding place and nosed around. It then went to the first explosion of feathers it had made and nosed around there. Not finding any easy pickings, it scouted around the fence trying to find a way into the yard.

I was yelling at the dog while I took pictures, telling it to get away but it was focused on its quest for more chicken meat. DH had gone into the house to get his gun. A fat little boy roared up on his four-wheeler and demanded to know why I was yelling at his dog. I told him his dog had killed two of our chickens and my husband was getting a gun so he’d better get his dog and lock it up while he could. Strangely, he said, “I’ll tell my Daddy,” and roared off across the cotton field toward a man on a tractor.

When DH came out, I told him about the boy and pointed to the man out in the field. We waited and watched the dog continue to test our fence. The boy did not return. The man continued to drive his tractor thru the fields away from us. Maybe fifteen minutes passed. The black dog proceeded to dig under the fence and got halfway under it before DH said, “Damn,” and shot it dead.

We chained up the retriever thinking that if no one claimed it, we would keep it and train it to protect our chickens from other dogs. Eventually, the farmer drove up on his tractor and demanded, “Why’d you kill my dog?”

We told him; showed him the paw prints inside the yard where the dog had started to dig under the fence, showed him the feather explosions, showed him the photos I’d taken of the dog’s behavior.

“Damn,” the man said, “I’m not getting any more black dogs. Last one I had did the same thing and I had to put him down. Glad I didn’t have to do it this time. Least, my kids’ll be mad at you instead of me. I know you had to do it. Once a dog tastes chicken there’s no going back. Hellava way to meet a new neighbor, ain’t it? I’m sorry ‘bout this. What do I owe you for the chickens?”

Of course, we professed our genuine sorrow and thanked him so much for understanding. That’s the way it is in the country: You just don’t mess with a man’s stuff and everyone understands the consequences of dogs killing chickens. He told us the owners of the other dog and said he’d let them know we had it. They came later and were so grateful we hadn’t shot their dog, too. We explained how her dog hadn’t shown any interest in the chickens or acted guilty. All the same, she said she’d pen the dog up and not let him roam around anymore.

When it was all over, DH put his head in his hands and grieved. “When I left Vietnam, I swore to myself I’d never kill another living thing. Now I’ve killed two chickens and a dog all because I insisted on having roosters.”

I felt guilty, too. I ran the whole sequence of events thru my mind. I go back to the point where I began to feel that Little Red was evil. After he attacked Big Red, I shouldn’t have waited to discuss the situation and expected my husband to do the killing. I should have followed my impulse, gone back out and chopped him up with a hoe. Then, maybe Whitey wouldn’t have gotten bad habits and Jack might not have lost his eye. The two blameless Rocks would still be sitting with the hens. And the kid’s dog would still be alive, feeding undetected on the large flocks that roam free on the other side of the road. But, it really does start back at the beginning with too many roosters.

#Too Many Roosters #roosters #chickens #hens #dominance games

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chibimyumi · 5 years

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Alan’s Crossdressing & Laughing Stock

Dear @aurorashenanigans,

First of all, thank you for your interesting prompt and your permission to use a screenshot of your comment.

Your question is very worthy of discussion in my opinion, because in theatre, even with the exact same script, one could still be watching an entirely different show if an actor has a different interpretation, and manages to express their interpretation.

This ⇊ post is an expansion to this post wherein I discussed the strikingly transphobic script and performance in ‘The Most Beautiful Death in the World’ (MBD).

Note: Please do read the post I referred to beforehand for a better and more complete understanding of this post, though this post will also contain a lot of overlapping information. If you are only interested in the conclusion of this post, please scroll all the way down to the 4th header ‘4. In Conclusion’.

So, let us unpack the differences between the scenes of MBD 2010 and 2013 wherein the characters prepare for the crossdressing-infiltration.

1. Premise of the Plot

The mystery around which the plot of the musical is based has its setting in the Crystal Palace where a masquerade is held which only permits the attendance of adult men - if - one is accompanied by a woman.

With most of the main characters being male, the key to solving this problem became ‘crossdressing’.

Grell in this musical was given the role as ‘a professional at crossdressing’ by making her criticise Ciel’s crossdresssing, which was given some weight (more or less) by making her use jargon such as ‘Clothes Language’. Herewith, the scriptwrights put Grell’s transgender identity on the same level as simple ‘crossdressing’.

2. Comparing Performances - 2010

In the 2010 of MBD, Alan makes his entrance in crossdress, starting with a traditionally feminine performative which is met with a roar of laughter from the audience. Only after having ‘successfully’ induced laughter from the audience, he drops the femininity and assumes a more neutral performative. Alan speaks the following line with a neutral voice:

皆さん、準備は整いましたね　行きましょう！

Mina-san, junbi wa totonoimashita ne, ikimashou!

Everyone, all the preparations are ready right? Let us go!

Grell is absolutely enraged, and challenges Alan as follows:

“なんでアンタまで女装する必要あるのヨ?”

“Nande anta made josou suru hitsuyou aru no yo?”

“Why do even you need to cross-dress as a woman?”

By saying this, Grell sends two messages: 1. that Alan does not acknowledge her femaleness as sufficient to get Alan through the security’s screening, and 2. herewith the script equates Grell’s dress to Alan’s crossdress.

Then, Alan explains why he resorted to crossdressing and speaks the following line with a deeper voice:

“俺エリックと話さなければ　そのためなら… どんな屈辱でも甘んじてうけてみせる！”

“Ore, Eric to hanasanakereba. Sono tame nara… donna kutsujoku demo amanjite ukete miseru!”

“I need to speak to Eric. For that sake… I will resign myself to any humiliation!”

Instead of just walking down the stairs, Alan jumps down in an incredibly unrefined and masculine manner. However, is is entirely unnecessary to jump because the stairs connect to the ground normally. As such, it is safe to assume that Alan is trying to “compensate” for his crossdress with more pronounced masculinity. This is further confirmed by the line “resign myself to any humiliation”, which makes it explicit that Alan considers wearing a dress something a man should be ashamed of.

3. Comparing Performances - 2013

This script for the same scene in the rerun of BMD remains mostly unchanged. Just like in 2010, Alan enters the scene in crossdress. Unlike the previous however, 2013Alan speaks the line “everyone, all the preparations are ready right? Let us go!” in a high pitched voice. Instead of a slightly raised pitch however, he uses the type of exaggerated high pitch men conventionally use to mock women. Not unlike in 2010, Alan’s feminine performative is welcomed by a wave of laughter from the audience. This performative is so ‘funny’, that even Sebastian - who according to canon doesn’t give a damn about human gender norms - finds it hard to suppress the urge to laugh. Really, Sebastian, really?

After Crossdress!Alan’s introduction, both Grell and Alan are given a new line in the 2013 version before the scene proceeds like before.

Upon seeing Alan’s dress, Grell challenges as follows:

ちょっとアンタ！何を、それ！？

Chotto anta! Nani wo, sore!?

Hey you! What (the hell) is this about!?

“One roar of laughter at men in dresses was not enough, let’s get an encore!” thought however came up with the following line:

Alan:

巻いたほうがよかったかしらっ？

Maita hou ga yokatta kashira?

Should I have curled my hair instead?

Grell: “No! Why do even you need to cross-dress as a woman?”

Then, instead of jumping down the stairs, Alan walks down normally, but strikes a dominant stance wherein he shows off his triangular MANLY chest and muscular arms. Not unlike 2010!Alan, 2013!Alan also feels the need to ‘compensate’ for the dress as he speaks the line “I will resign myself to any humiliation!”

In both versions of the musical, Grell responds with the following line:

“だからそんな屈辱受ける必要ないわよ!”

“Dakara sonna kutsujoku ukeru hitsuyou nai wa yo!”

“But there is no need for you to endure that humiliation!”

Using Grell’s reply the script reconfirms that what Alan said is right. By making Grell echo Alan’s opinion, the script effectively makes her agree that ‘a man wearing a dress is indeed a humiliation’.

After some petty-fighting, Sebastian decides to put an end to this fight, and says:

Sebastian: “まぁ女性は何人いても良いでしょう。それに　グレルさんよりもお似合いですし。”

“Maa, josei wa nannin ite mo ii deshou. Sore ni, Grell-san yori mo oniai desu shi.”

“Well, it does not matter how many women there are. And moreover, [the crossdressing] suits [Alan] better than Grell-san.”

Here, Sebastian acknowledges how there is no such thing as ‘too many women’. Herewith, he effectively confirms how a man can be turned into a woman using a mere dress. By having Sebastian say: “the crossdressing SUITS Alan better”, Sebastian invalidates Grell’s gender identity by reducing her to ‘a lesser crossdresser’ than Alan.

4. In conclusion

In conclusion, in both versions of BDM, Grell’s dress as well as EVERYONE’s crossdress is a joke and a source of ‘humiliation’, and EVERYONE’s crossdress except maybe Ciel’s is a laughing stock.

Alan‘s crossdress is, as extensively explained above ⇈, the script’s tool to shame ‘men’ in dresses, and delegitimise transgender identity. Alan’s character is normally rather neutral and certainly does not ooze with toxic masculinity. The moment he put on a dress however, he plays his masculinity up, as though to assure both the audience and himself that his ‘precious male identity’ is unharmed, despiiittee wearing a dress that’s not for men!

Likewise, Aberline and Hanks are established comic reliefs in the Kuromyu universe, so it is not hard to see how their crossdressing is also the laughing stock of the show. The moment they are crossdressed, the jokes they make suddenly all surround their failure to ‘pass as women’. Just like Alan, they are “proper men whose masculinity remains unthreatened.”

Only Ciel’s dress does not seem to be something that the writers wrote as a active shaming-tool. Ciel is still a child, and unlike adult men’s masculinity, a boy’s masculinity does not need to be protected at all cost. As boys are ‘lesser men’ or ‘not men yet’ anyway, gender-nonconforming behaviour by them are not considered a threat to society’s gendered order, and do not need to be punished immediately. However, I could still argue the pink dress to be a laughing-stock, albeit a smaller one. While the audience is still supposed to find Ciel in a dress funny, this joke is supposed to appeal to a sense of endearment, and maybe even from a type of pity because Ciel obviously hates wearing the dress.

Finally, we can conclude that even though 2010!Alan is slightly less demeaning towards transgender women and men in dresses, his small-dick-energy/fragile masculinity is still very obvious.

Soooo,

🥇 The gold medal goes to 2013!Alan for being 1. transphobic, 2. demeaning towards women, 3. playing the cross-dress-joke up to 11, and 4, not even having bothered trying to be respectful about it!

🥈 The silver medal goes to 2010!Alan for first making us think that despite being a bit transphobic, you were somewhat respectful towards men in dresses... and only THEN backstabbing us.

🥉 The bronze medal goes to Sebastian for being complacent in reinforcing transphobia and laughing at men in dresses, even though you really should know better after 3000+ years history of laughing at humans and their ridiculous social standards.

🎖️🎖️Aberline and Hanks get honourary mentions for their participation in the Small-Dick-Energy Cup🏆.

5. Epilogue

I am very aware that this musical is very dear to many people. But I beg you. Please do not wilfully unsee the problematic aspects just because you like something. One can like the musical for what it is, namely a show with flaws that some people enjoy.

Liking a problematic thing does not automatically make you look bad, justifying the problematic aspects does!

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whetstonefires · 5 years

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Hey so random ask but, I see a lot of people calling Tim drake sexist, I personally don't think he is but what are your thoughts on that.

Oof. Okay.

Technically I can’t just say he’s not, because as the product of a sexist society he, like any other dude and to a lesser extent any person, has got some passive sexist attitudes baked in there.

It tends to surface in things like, when he went on that first big solo adventure when the Robin comic launched, that started in Paris? And he wound up hunting King Snake with Lady Shiva and this one rogue federal agent, a black man, and he got very decisive. Shiva says something cutting about white men, and she has a point, in that if either of his adult companions of the moment were also white men Tim would probably have been somewhat more conscious of the fact that he was thirteen.

That unconscious prioritization that DC’s sexist narrative tends to favor? That is sexism, and also racism, and it’s valuable to draw attention to it, though not, I feel, to blame it all on Tim because quite often he hasn’t actually done anything, the universe around him has just colluded to make him look good.

(Of course this doesn’t happen much anymore, but back when he was the Main Character it did. Comics is a sexist community in a sexist culture, so of course Tim got some of that muck on him.)

But most of the accusations you see going around are about tearing him down on Steph’s behalf, and that’s...murkier.

Because honestly Tim is less sexist than most of the men in his profession. Significantly less so than Bruce or Dick. I literally cannot imagine Tim talking about a loved one the way Dick used to talk about Kori, or a new acquaintance the way Dick did a lot of the one-episode women from his ‘90s Nightwing solo series. He wasn’t bad to them exactly, he was honestly very normal and probably above average, but the incredible, controlling arrogance and casual sexualization is still hard to get through, sometimes. Almost more so for how much more it comes out when he’s talking behind their backs. And Bruce...well, Bruce and gender is an entire deal I’m not going to try to unpack here.

And I cannot see Tim ever using ‘girl’ as an insult, the way Damian does.

Tim’s interactions with the ladies on Young Justice, for example, tended to be a lot less emphatically gendered than Dick’s interactions with the ladies of the Teen Titans, or even Bruce’s in the Justice League, though there are fewer women there and less casual interaction.

And to a considerable extent this was because the passage of ten years had modernized writing norms, and to a considerable extent this was because his demographic was younger than the Titans and therefore less sexualization was expected of the writers. Young Justice built on some stuff Marvel had been doing with young teams and broke some ground that Marvel has built on even further lately. (Seriously what is with Marvel’s young team books lately they’re incredible.) But there was also that Tim as an individual cares less about gender than most of his family.

(In some ways Jason may care even less, but he also leans really hard into performative masculinity and thought flirting was a reasonable way to interact with older women as a teenager, and he’s been being written by Scott Lobdell for ten years even if I have a hard time thinking of that as canon, so his data is mixed.)

Or take the case of this young freedom fighter (/terrorist) who happens to wear Robin colors, who Tim meets at one point in Europe. Dava. The story creates situations where Tim gets a weird mind-altering stimulant transferred orally to him by Dava, and then from him to Shiva when he’s giving her CPR, and Tim rather notably doesn’t have a single narration box or speech bubble that treats these as ‘kisses’ that he has somehow benefited from obtaining.

Later he crawl-drags Dava’s knocked-out-by-Shiva body out of the middle of the bloodbath Shiva is now staging, because he’s in no state to do anything to stop it, which he hates, and while this is certainly the comic arranging things to put Dava in a damsel status relative to Tim, Tim does not at any point frame it that way.

He is really good about not disrespecting Dava, honestly. It’s an interesting storyline partly for that reason, though it’s not the only time it comes up.

Tim was constantly meeting Troubled Young Women who could kick his ass and whom he respected considerably in most senses, but whom he was able to convince that their particular approach to violence was somehow flawed and needed to be re-thought. Thereby allowing there to be Strong Female Characters but keep the balance of the world in order and not worry the readership, by placing the male lead in a subtle power position even if he had gotten his ass kicked.

It was like. An entire genre. Tied to the way Shiva kept popping in as Incredibly Terrifying Supporting Cast.

This was a major way DC was using female characters in and immediately after the 90s and tbh in some ways it was more progressive than what they tend to do now, even as certain parts of the framing set my teeth on edge.

(Compare ‘Tim on drugs manages to hit Shiva hard enough to take her down because she didn’t expect lethal force from him so he has to do CPR’ to the more recent Red Robin story where we spend a couple of pages with him laying out to her face how she came to town to fulfill a contract on him but he brilliantly out-thought her and she ate the drugged chocolates he sent her so He Wins. Bleh.)

Steph stands out for hanging around instead of being a one-off appearance, and for not really rethinking her life in response to Tim much at all, while also not being a villain.

The crux of the issue is, Tim slid into talking down to Steph on a semi-regular basis, especially when trying to get her to stop vigilante-ing, which he’s getting backlash for some twenty-odd years later, mostly by people blaming him for her narrative deprioritization because it’s more satisfying than blaming DC.

And a major form this takes is declaring him generally sexist.

And the thing is, I’m sure his unconscious view of himself as more competent to make judgment calls because Main Character Demographic did play into the way he approached those conversations! I have never met a dude with any self-confidence whatsoever for whom that wasn’t a factor. Sexism, like racism, is the air we breathe, you have to actively extricate yourself from it and even then it will crop up at odd moments.

Classism played into it, too--especially once he knew she was a C-list villain’s daughter; there was that sense that often crops up in Batman properties that not only does greater access to resources make it safer and less self-destructive for the moneyed class to go vigilante-ing, noblesse oblige means it’s also somehow more just. The old ‘the outsider has a more objective approach’ canard. This was even more subtextual than the gender stuff, but I’m sure it was there.

Intellectual elitism is sort of a subset of both that and gender issues--Tim knows he’s smart, it’s the core of his pride, and Steph is not as smart in the same ways and has not had the same educational opportunites, and there are definitely moments of high-handedness tied to this.

And then there was the territorial aspect; it was official Bat policy to discourage all other Gotham vigilantes, usually in a much more absolute and commanding way than Tim ever tried, not to take them in and train them.

That might have been an option for Bruce if he’d wanted to, but it wasn’t really on the table for Tim unless he wanted to stage an intense campaign to totally disrupt his own life in order to bring this person who introduced herself by hitting him in the face with a brick after he mistook her for a villain into private Bat training and spaces. They’d known each other for a while and been having this argument in various forms most of that time, before they ever dated.

Please also remember that the last time Tim wanted to take a troubled blond under his and Bruce’s wings and show them the ropes and make sure they could do this safely as part of a personal healing process that would help everyone, that person took less than a week after starting to show signs of instability to have a complete psychotic break, beat him into the ground, build a brick wall in the Batcave to keep him out, lock down the computers, and start killing criminals with the knife-hands he added to the Batsuit, while failing to prioritize civilian safety.

This was not that long before Steph’s debut. If I were Tim I would not trust myself to sponsor further new team members either!

All of these things besides the Azrael trauma are directly from Bruce, who is often way more emphatic and more of an ass about them. Robin was mirroring Batman (consider the way he talks to Selina sometimes egad, sometimes it only doesn’t look awful because she’s playing along) and following Bat-policy; it is totally nonsensical to hold Tim accountable for this and not Bruce.

It’s also important to note that Tim wasn’t significantly less condescending to Anarky or the General, who were white guys around his age with roughly his class background whom he was trying to talk out of villainy, and honestly Lonnie’s motives were baller. (The original Anarky was a hacktivist based on a design somebody drew up for the third Robin, but Tim got made instead.) Tim’s entire character design back to his first appearance holds that when he’s trying to talk someone into something he tends to fall into a lecturing approach.

This can be very annoying! The first time he did it to Nightwing he got grabbed and shaken and snarled at. And of course it’s worse when he’s talking down a demographic slope, rather than up one.

I am very aware of how fucking annoying it is when guys do this, even if it is their normal mode of interaction. I have come very near to punching faces over it, when it’s really bad.

Tim doesn’t usually approach that line, but the problem is his writers didn’t seem to know the line was there, so if you’re reading some of his interactions with Steph from the perspective of having that chip on your shoulder already, especially if you’re not immersed in the narrative’s assumption that he is The Main Character, especially now that language norms have shifted slightly so wording that was considered neutral in the 90s is now obnoxious, it can ironically make a deeper impression than the much more blatant and decided sexism going on all around him.

So that’s my take on the situation. Tim has some mild passive gender prejudice which he has never taken enough notice of to seriously compensate for, made more visible by being in a deeply sexist world and by being kind of an annoying person sometimes, and this has been blown wildly out of proportion by people who feel that he and Steph are in competition to be The One Who Was Not An Asshole in that relationship.

This is not a winnable competition. They were both assholes sometimes, and even if you could prove Tim was a terrible boyfriend/person it wouldn’t validate all of Steph’s behavior--she was often forced to behave very badly or stupidly, because back then one of her major narrative functions was as a stick for the writers to hit Tim with.

And the thing is. If you’re going to exculpate Steph of awful behavior because it was ‘just’ the writers being sexist, let alone let Dick off the hook on similar grounds, I think it’s really unfair and messed up to then turn around and hold Tim-the-individual accountable for sexism that mostly wasn’t even situated in him so much as baked into the narrative, though to his benefit.

Like. When sexism (or other -ism) benefits people in real life it can be useful to draw their attention to their systemic advantages if they seem not to get it, but drawing Tim’s attention to his narrative prioritization would be extraordinarily meta (lol somebody write that fic). And in neither situation is it productive or fair (though I do know it is so so tempting) to treat the very existence of someone’s privilege as an offense they have personally committed.

They literally cannot help that. That’s how systemic works.

#tim drake #sexism #comics #robin #batfam #ask #i have spent a ridiculous amount of time on this ask yikes #posting as-is without further revision #hoc est meum #calypsosposts

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daesofthepen · 5 years

Text

So I really like KHR fics that make Namimori into a tightknit community of retired assassins, mafioso, etc. I would like to write a fic like that at some point.

Current ideas I’ve picked up from a variety of fic:

The idea that flames can be infused into items (I.E. rain flames into someone’s tea to calm them down or knock them out)

Like mentioned above, that Namimori is full of retired trained professionals. Added to this: You have to be Really Good in these professions to make it to retirement, so they’re all Pros in their fields.

Skies being able to harmonize with each other. I like the idea of each Sky being a “solar system” in a larger galaxy. Or at least, Skies harmonizing means everyone in both Sets gets a boost. They get even more boost if there are more than two Sky sets harmonized.

Kawahira and the Arcobaleno Curse isn’t the final boss antagonist of the fic. It could be aliens that arrive on Earth a la sci-fi movie, I just want it to have a different endgame fight. Not to mention, it would be cool if all that harmonizing-among-Skies power boosts had a proper antagonist to go against. Mafia-Earth vs Some-Aliens ftw! (Could also be, like, deep ocean species or underground species, but then I could feel bad cuz they already lived on Earth too...)

The girls of KHR getting more screentime. I’m tempted to have one of them be the protagonist of the fic tbh. I know some people do fem!Tsuna when they want a female protagonist, but there are perfectly canon female characters that already exist and don’t get enough screentime in both canon and fanfiction? I like Tsuna well enough, but I kinda want to write about someone else.

I like Haru, so it’ll probably be her. Plus some noncanon Sky Flames bc I want to experiment some with that.

Okay but like, consider a Sky in Namimori. They are young and civilian-raised, so they don’t realize they’re putting their Flames into the objects and locations they visit often. This means that when they visit the park, the playground emits Sky Flames for hours afterward. If they lay in the grass for long enough, the grass remains stained in Sky Flames for days. You could even go as far to say that their bathwater has Sky Flames, so it’s even in the plumbing of Namimori. Namimori becomes a town full of remnants of Sky Flames. The “harmony” element works to calm residents, similar to Rain Flames but less effective since it’s not what they’re for, and also increase their patriotism(?) for the town.

Consider: With Tsuna’s Sky Flames sealed, another Sky unknowingly gets claim for the town of Namimori without any other Sky contesting it. This is Namimori’s Sky.

Tsuna unlocks his Flames later on in life and -- even though he has stronger Sky Flames -- he doesn’t challenge for the claim. Tsuna’s personality always felt like someone who would enjoy following someone else’s lead more than leading himself. I can see him bowing to someone else’s leadership if that person wasn’t a murderous psycho out to kill him and his friends. Why fix what isn’t broken, after all.

Some thoughts on Flames and the quantity a person has: If a person has a parent who had active Rain Flames, that not only increases their chances of Rain Flames, but they would grow up to have more Rain Flames than some random schmuck without Flame active parents who just happened to unlock Rain Flames. And two parents with active Rain Flames would almost guarantee Rain Flames in their offspring AND their kids would have more of it. Yes, I’m taking the Naruto-chakra route.

So Haru, born of two civilian parents, would have less Sky Flames than Tsuna. To reverse on that whole only-follow-the-strong-and-”pure.” Sometimes the best guy for the job isn’t the strongest.

It’s also been forever since I’ve read KHR so I’m going by the wiki, which says Haru did gymnastics and went to the private all-girls school in Namimori. Probably will include some original characters to fill in as teachers and students to flesh out the town more. And -- of course -- the girls’ parents will all have backgrounds in all kinds of illegal activities.

Imagine: Haru goes to compete with another school from another town and most of the town shows up bc hell yeah that’s our Sky.

If I want the KHR girls to have more screentime, I might have them go to Haru’s school, too, or have non-school-specific clubs which they all join. It could be like a book club. Or a let’s-make-the-pervert-disappear Statistics club. The retired mafioso and assassin adults of Namimori would find it adorable and sometimes help by hinting at the best way to go about a plan.

On one hand, it makes sense that the seal on Tsuna’s Flames is done very well and doesn’t leak. On the other hand, Tsuna attracting Haru’s attention? Not that Haru would realize what is grabbing her attention for a long while. She might assume it’s a crush lmao just like canon.

They also meet earlier so Haru gets her crush sooner, so she can get over her crush earlier, too. :3

You know what let’s go full indulgent on this fic and also include Verde.

Let’s say that while most of the time Haru’s father is absent, maybe he works as a mathematician for a big tech company alongside engineers, he sometimes gets to go on work trips to Expos and conferences to help promote the company. After Haru’s mother died, Mr. Miura became determined to financially provide for their daughter, so she could go to whatever school she wanted and into whatever field she would choose to devote herself to.

Mr. Miura gets permission to take Haru to a conference, so she can look around, meet people, check out if any job descriptions interest her, etc. That’s where she meets Verde, who’s there pitching some of his inventions.

They talk, find common ground in their passions, and maybe -- completely by accident -- they harmonize.

I like to imagine Verde as a very straight-to-the-point kind of person, so through him Haru eventually starts learning about Flames and (to a lesser extent) the mafia.

Verde has many labs and hideyholes around the world, but he moves his main lab to Namimori. And because he’s a professional inventor, technician, etc., he isn’t just lurking. Verde gets contract work by the town of Namimori and maybe some other richer families around Namimori. It probably doesn’t pay as well as he deserves, but he also gets a direct say in the safety of his Sky, so. Also, he probably is hired online/overseas constantly. He’s, like, a working professional you guys.

But anyway, Namimori goes through a (not so) minor technological revolution. Hospitals get upgraded, there are now cameras with face-recognizing technology which keep track of everyone who goes in and out of Namimori. Official underground bunkers, We start getting sci-fi up in here.

Close to when Verde first arrives, he notices that Namimori is protected by Mist Flames, a barrier that just makes people notice Namimori less unless they were directly heading there. With some Flame sensors, Verde manages to track down the source/core of the system to Kawahira’s shop.

Verde figures out pretty quick who Kawahira is and, as an Arcobaleno, he HATES Kawahira. But Verde doesn’t try to kick him out of town because that Mist barrier? Super useful for protecting the town.

Through the combined efforts of Haru and the gang, Verde, and Namimori citizens, Kawahira and Verde agree to work together to try to come up with an alternative solution for the Arcobaleno curse.

Both of them have YEARS of notes, so it’s easier to figure out what they would need: Flame-based perpetual motion machine. The problem would be making a machine that works not just in theory. Gotta make sure that while the Flames cycle continuously through the machine, non is being lost because of subpar conductive metals, and the entire thing would need a material that is really good at keeping Flames IN the machine instead of being lost over time because a large surface area increases heat lost, etc etc.

Adding some money problems for realism. Not including Verde and Kawahira, who have a personal investment in this project, they would need to hire an entire team of engineers, mathematicians, maybe some electricians, and at least one accountant to keep track of spending. Most of which need to know about Flames already to not break omerta. And then on top of that, a lot of their prototypes will be experimenting with different materials for Flame conductivity, etc. This stuff gets expensive over time, even if they have a lot of money saved up.

But anyway, eventually they get a working prototype. It just happens to be absolutely minuscule compared to the size it will have to be in real life to support the entire PLANET. So Verde presents the prototype to Viper to ask for funding --because this small prototype would show that it IS possible-- and afterward, they have no more money problems. Plus, all the other Arcobaleno find out through the grapevine and all are more than happy to pitch in in any way they can.

So the project has the opportunity for smooth sailing.

And then the aliens arrive.

#katekyou hitman reborn #khr #katekyo hitman reborn #Fanfic ideas #this got long and it's barely at the aliens #i actually looked up perpetual motion machines #no one has made one that actually works in RL in case u're curious as to how hard it would be to make one #speaks #Sky Haru fic

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foreaft · 4 years

Text

THE DARK CRYSTAL : AGE OF RESISTANCE [ NOTES ]

Notes taken from a Netflix original series created by The Jim Henson Company; TDC : AOR. A few of these notes quote the narrator or characters in some of the episodes, but some are also things I’ve noticed & thought worthy to make note of for future use in potential role - play. Please note : I’m only up to episode 6 ( lol ).

When some Gelfling exclaim, they say WHAT IN THRA; it’s kind of super cute.

Gelfling only have four fingers !

Thra is a planet that circles three suns, “ and at its center, the Crystal of Truth, the heart of Thra and the source of all life. ”

Aughra protected the crystal since the planet, or the crystal ?, was young; she was most favorable to Gelfling.

Seven Gelfling clans call Thra home : Vapra, Stonewood, Grottan,

Vapra, the proud Vapra, reside in the mountain city of Ha’rar ! They are the most cultured, who rule over the other clans. Ha’rar is cool, snowy; it is also the seat of the All - Maudra.

Stonewood reside in the Endless Forest; they are great warriors w / exceptional battle prowess.

The gentle Grottan ! They live beneath the ground, and they are “ in perfect harmony with all of Thra, ” but are forgotten from those living above ?

Thra was in balance for millennia, but then some beings who were not native inhabitants of Thra show up : the Skeksis.

The Skeksis “ bewitched Aughra with stories of the universe and built her an orrery, so that she might discover the mysteries of the Cosmos for herself. ”

Aughra turned her attention to the stars, and thusly, left the Crystal of Truth in the hands of the Skeksis to look after.

“ Almost 1000 trine have passed since the Skeksis declared themselves Lords of Thra. ”

The Skeksis use the Crystal of Truth to “ replenish themselves ” by stealing life from it. To cheat death. Under their reign, the Crystal of Truth is known, and turned into, the Dark Crystal.

The Gelfling do not know that the Skeksis are using the Crystal in such a way.

Due to the Crystal being corrupted, it spreads through Thra, through the creatures. Even creatures held captive.

Female Gelfling have wingies; they are like true faerie wings.

Dreamfasting is through touch. Dreamfasting seems to be like walking through memories, or recalling them so both dreamfasting can see that memory.

Armaligs are big roly - poly, armored grubs, and they attach to carriage - like carts and ball up to act like wheels.

Rian’s papa is captain of the castle guard; hero of Stone - in - the - wood !

Landstriders are hoofed, long - legged furry mount creatures. They also bellow which is cute af.

Rian, Mira, and Gurjin are soldiers of the castle guard.

Ha’rar has a huge library FULL of books and scrolls; a spiral staircase lies within it.

Brea, Tavra, and Seladon are princesses of Vapran clan.

“ Tug noot causes explosive belching ! ” — Brea

Deet is singing a song : “ Far from the brothers’ blinding light, beneath the blanket of the long night. Grottans work in the dark & deep, where the glow moss grows & the crawlies creep. ”

Eating the glow moss makes the head and face glow.

Nurlocs are big worm - looking things, with antenna sticking out the sides that have large lapis lazuli - colored eyes on the ends ? They eat glow moss.

Skeklach is the mucus oozing Skeksis lol.

Knowledge within / from the Great Library at the Castle of the Crystal is forbidden.

Chamberlain is Skeksil.

The scientist Skeksis accidentally reversed the Crystal, so now it takes life instead of giving it.

Sanctuary Tree is big chunk and it’s underground. It can speak to only those who can hear, and it knows like everything.

The Great Trees have been battling the Darkening and corruption for a long, long time, keeping it underground and they’re starting to lose the ability to do so.

Gurjin sings : “ A loyal Gelfling serves his lords and always reaps his just rewards. ”

The Gelfling clans must pay a tithe to the Skeksis, and the tithe depends on the Gelfling family’s means ? Farmers pay with produce, etc.

The library in Ha’rar is separate from the royal villa, or the throne hall, or whatever it’s called. The library has a blue, circular door, with gold trim and a golden metal pattern in the shape of a curvy, 5 - point star.

“ The Order of Lesser Service is not a punishment, it’s an opportunity to lift yourself up by performing the lowliest of deeds . . . ” — Duadran.

Some girl serving in the OoLS with Brea says that they sometimes chew up snippit root to feed the Nebries because the Nebries don’t have teeth so the OoLS have to chew it up & then spit it in the creature’s mouth.

Sweet mini - katnies is a treat or something ?

Juni was put into the OoLS because her parents didn’t like that her crush wasn’t a Vapran . . .

“ The DETERGE is an opportunity to cleanse ourselves of our mistakes by cleansing Podlings. ” — Duadran. Podlings are apparently the filthiest creature in Thra. Were they rolling around in mud ?

“ Podlings take to dirt like a Sifan takes to the sea ” — Duadran.

Sun Frenzy is a condition, sounds like it is like minor hysteria or like a bit of “ craziness ” like someone doesn’t know wtf is happening. But, it can be read about in Durken’s Deliriums, a book.

Childling is what they call little, baby / toddler Gelfling.

Folk think Rian killed Mira, a rumor made by the Skeksis to protect themselves.

Tavra was sent by All - Maudra Mayrin to seek out and capture Rian.

Claw Mountains are cold.

There are shelves lining the spiral staircase in the library that are stacked with books, scrolls, etc.

Skeksil / Chamberlain sewed the mouth shut of two Gruenaks, which were thought to have been a race eradicated.

Maudra Fara is the Maudra of the Stonewood clan of Stone - in - the - Wood.

Aughra’s wellness is connected with Thra & the crystal’s wellness.

When the Skeksis consume Gelfling, the Gelfing can’t return to Thra so Thra is becoming weakened due to it’s cycle being corrupted, abused, and altered.

An UNAMOTH is the totem animal / creature of the Vapra clan; it’s chrysalis glows and is yellow. Ask it a question, and it’ll take you where you need to go ?

There’s a secret something below the throne, activated by the unamoth transitioning into a stone key on the throne.

The Archer, is a mystic. His name Urva.

SkekVar is the General, and later the Chamberlain.

The Podlings have drums, a lute, and lyres.

Deet sings : “ So lay down, my childling, and sleep. No need to fear, and no need to weep, ” she’s interrupted by Hup crying.

The Dream Space is a spirit realm, the source of magic and prophecy; the “ world within our world. ”

It was Brea, All - Maudra Mayrin, Seladon, Deet, Rian, Naia, Gurijin, and Kylan within the dream space, deemed the heroes of Thra.

Gelfling blood is like a magenta color ?

All - Maudra Mayrin was really slain by the General SkekVar, but it was the result of Seladon telling on treachery, and whole lot of other stuff too, just the general turn of events happening.

There are Paladins that were volunteers to the Skeksis, who were saved and shown the truth. They’ve been spreading the truth all across the land.

#ooc.#series : the dark crystal ( tdc ).#spoilers /#LOOK / i'm such a nerd that i take fucking notes #but i *need* to know things #this is why i'm a hufflepuff with ravenclaw tendencies

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aro-aizawa · 5 years

Note

Tell us about your AUs!! I’m curious!!

!!!!! an interested person???? hi anon i love you know that i would die for you without hesitation. bless you for letting me gush over my aus. this might be a lil messy (and long holy shit) considering im answering from my phone but from memory here are my aus (which i aint gonna lie are mostly either angst, hurt/comfort or canon divergent, or a mix of the three) in no particular order:

edit: now that im on computer it’s all under the cut but here’s a quick table of contents:

the one where hisashi is a pro hero

the one where hisashi is a villain

underground gladiator arena kidnap fic

the one where aizawa is inko’s brother

MUTE TODOROKI

izuku is related to all for one

gamer au

the one where uraraka is the protag instead

hp au

disney aus galore

the Spite™️ fic

the one where hisashi is a pro hero

heads up in literally none of my aus is midoriya hisashi a good parent. i mean in canon we know exactly three details about him being his name, his quirk and that he works abroad. that’s it. so, i don’t really like “good parent hisashi”. this au is basically ‘hey what if izuku got a fire quirk from his dad’ combined with my own personal views on fire, and then also deciding ‘wait what if hisashi and endevor did the same shit’. so it’s basically an au where izuku is in the same situation as todoroki.

it’s….kind of complicated now that it’s written down. in my head its p straight forwards?? anyways, basically my view on fire is that it absolutely shouldn’t be demonized as much as it is. because without fire, life couldn’t exist. it’s warmth and life and beauty. i just…think that view of it is perfect for izuku, and i always wanted to try my hand at fire quirk izuku.

also one of my few aus that’s actually gonna have a ship focus?? in that it’s tododeku but honestly knowing me i might end up accidentally dropping that aspect of it like i tend to do a LOT bc of my inability to write crushes (im an aro who’s never had a crush so me writing romance is…awkward at best lol)

the one where hisashi is a villain

i have……admittedly a lot of versions of this au. it’s by far one of my favourites to think about, for several reasons actually, mostly bc of angst but also because the hurt/comfort potential there is incredible.

my most current version of this au though plays with the idea that in the mha society those with ‘villainous’ quirks get discrimated against and pushed so the only chance they do have to survive is to turn to villainy. in this au i play with hisashi and inko’s quirks a little to make them more villainous and easier to discriminate against, for example hisashi can cremate anything he touches into ashes at will, and inko can minorly manipulate the limbs of other people although she’s mainly limited to pulling them towards her or pushing them back.

in this version, izuku is quirkless and still goes through ua determined to change the way that society works and right the wrongs in how it’s set up while also proving that quirkless people aren’t useless. a lot of dadzawa in this one because it is my w e a k n e s s. there’s a few other elements thrown in there, but overall that’s the basic jist of it.

underground gladiator arena kidnap fic

one of my darker aus where a group of villains kidnap kids who took the ua exam to create an “everything goes” fight club that customers can watch and occasionally participate in.

my general idea for this was “the sports festival is pretty brutal when you think about it. it’s almost like everything but killing goes” and then i thought that in a superpowered society there is no way there isn’t any kind of underground fight club where people can go full out w their quirks.

hence this au was born! the kids who’re kidnapped w izuku have been constantly changing over the ladt year or so that i’ve had this idea but rn i decided on having shinsou, kaminari, mina, tokoyami and yaoyorozu w him. the rest would be filled w ocs bc the villains weren’t dumb enough to kidnap all of the heroics students, just a handful.

bearing in mind the kids are all taken a couple days after the entrance exam so they’re not familiar with each other and izuku is the only one familiar w a pro hero and that’s a secret. not to mention he’s only used his quirk once at this point, and he has no access to recovery girl’s quirk so he has to figure smth out IMMEDIATELY or he’s completely fucked.

the one where aizawa is inko’s brother

look if you inspect my aus carefully you’ll see a theme and that theme is i fucking love aizawa. anyways, in this one izuku has a pretty powerful nullification quirk and is trained by aizawa. aizawa and inko have like an eight or ten year age difference, so they weren’t all that close until inko reached out when izuku was eight.

i’ll admit this is one of my lesser developed aus but it’s canon divergent with a focus on izuku hoping to be an underground hero. and due to his quirk and that aspect of his personality, it kind of changes a lot of things??? potentially a short(ish) au if i ever got round to writing it out. maybs about 20k-30k words idk.

(this is mostly born bc i feel like people forget that there’s only a fifteen year age difference between aizawa and izuku for a number of reasons. also bc inko/aizawa….is kind of weird in my mind. definitely not a fan :///)

MUTE TODOROKI

look i fucking love mute aus okay, but when i was trying to apply it to the mha universe i started thinking “holy shit todoroki could definitely be mute” or smth and ever since this au is close to my heart.

basically when poor rei burned lil shouto, she mentally scarred him into mutism. ever since the kettle incident, shouto can’t speak a word. endeavor is told by the doctor that although nothing physically is wrong, shouto is mute. endeavor is a DICK and p much decides he’ll just wait it out for shouto to finally talk bc he’s just being childish (basically he’s ablist and doesn’t let todoroki learn sign. which is bullshit but doesn’t majorly effect him bc he’s homeschooled until high school anyway).

it’s sort of canon divergent but also maybe a complete au??? in that there’s no league of villains. when all might fought afo the first time he succeeded in putting a stop to the villain and killing him. izuku still gets ofa, but he’s not the protag of the story, this time it’s todoroki.

anyways, ua sees that todoroki is mute (which isn’t registered and completely unknown to the general public) and doesn’t know sign language (resorting to notes and/or charades if he needs to communicate something), and decides to investigate that shit.

endeavor eventually gets what he deserves bc the trash bag can go rot in hell, and that’s p much all i got aside from the class realising FAST they need to adopt and love todoroki so there’s a lot of wholesome bonding there.

izuku is related to all for one

admittedly this one is one of my most underdeveloped aus but i still love it all the same. basically my take on it bc the whole ‘afo is hisashi’ thing kinda weirds me out considering afo is at least 200 years old. in this au he’s izuku’s grandfather and inko is his daugther who escaped him and lives in hiding.

i haven’t decided whether i want this au to be my take on izuku having afo or if it’s another quirkless izuku au. i haven’t gotten very far into it, all i know is that afo has no emotions and he’s a heartless bastard (me hating the dad for one trope w a passion) so there’s sort of MAJOR angst potential if i decide to go down that route.

gamer au

izuku’s quirk is that his life is a game. that’s….that’s it. if you’re familiar with sword art online, it has a lot of influence from that w/o the characters or plot or pervertedness or incest because what the fuck sao was so bad with all those. still pissed bc outside that it had potential and i think abt that a lot.

anyways, so y’know how in a lot of rpgs there’s the hud w stats and an inventory system and abilities?? well apply that to izuku and he’s p much that. the world “autosaves” whenever he sleeps, but he can’t manually load a save. if he dies he starts over from his last autosave.

bc of his access to abilities and stuff, he has the potential to be powerful bc hey he can basically do magic, but at the same time he just healed his body completely by drinking this drink he made w herbs and shit last night. also he can carry a ludicrous amount of shit that couldn’t possible fit in his backpack but apparently he’s got seventeen cheese wheels in there and room for half the classroom furniture too.

izuku sees the world w a hud which would be annoying but it’s normal for izuku. in fact, he sort of hates watching tv because the hud doesn’t appear on the screen and it’s so weird and bizarre he doesn’t really like it.

i haven’t planned anything but details of the quirk bc it can get waaaay too overpowered too quickly and hhhh i sort of burnt out of different ways this would effect canon, so i didn’t think abt it. but i did figure out that izuku would have so many gaming analogies for his friends and be into like a thousand different games.

the one where uraraka is the protag instead

born when i was complaining about how shitty horikoshi is at writing his female characters i brainstormed this au in a discord server where i overhauled canon w a more badass uraraka. (and she doesn’t even get ofa!!! she’s just badass on her own!!!)

basically bc she’s a lot more confident and determined in this au she influences a lot of her classmates. the other girls are a lot more active in their actions and are more than just the background characters. uraraka’s full strength is explored and i think i planned for her to win the sports festival bc she deserved it.

also inspired by the idea i had of pro hero uraraka kicking a lamp post down on her own strength and using it to put a comet home run on a villain like she did in the battle trial. bc holy shit that’s a fantastic mental image.

basically my “mha girls fucking rule and fuck horikoshi’s shitty writing” au

hp au

ah yes, finally we get to my take on the most generic of aus. basically i just wanted todoroki in hufflepuff to piss off endeavor and basically loving it bc he befriends izuku in it. i definitely haven’t developed this au outside of worldbuilding in how i’d combine the two universes whilst fixing both jkr and horikoshi’s bad writing.

i actually wrote a snippet that’s somewhere on my blog that i can’t link to now but you could probs for search it. but this was basically born from me getting angry at people putting the kids in the wrong houses. im a firm believer that izuku fits in nearly every house but hufflepuff and slytherin suits him the most while todoroki is ABSOLUTELY a hufflepuff. i wanted some platonic tododeku bonding so i put izuku in hufflepuff. uraraka is slytherin, iida is gryffindor, and it’d be too messy to list all the kids so i won’t.

but!! what im most happy w in this au is how i incoporate mha stuff into it. like how hagakure isn’t actually invisible she just got permanently hexed by her brother to always be unnoticed so you can never know what she looks like or where she is. tokoyami has a bird head due to a failed attempt at becoming an animagi. its permanent and although he could get it fixed, theres actually a number of wizards w the same thing do there’s a lot of animal like wizards. shinhou comes from a pureblood family thats been known for their dark magic, even though the last four generations haven’t been dark wizards the wizardinv world is convinced he’ll be a dark wizard too but shinsou wants to prove them wrong. amajiki being a metamorphmagus who shifts his limbs into animals when he’s nervous. etc etc. i have too much worldbuilding and no plot lmao.

disney aus galore

one day i thought up abt three different disney aus for the mha universe but my first idea was a little mermaid au for momojirou w momo being the princess and jirou being the mermaid.

except besides the basic premise i p much scrapped the whole movie in that jirou learns sign language to talk to momo and the two play music together. jirou plays piano or w/e whilst momo sings. it’s v gay. theres a ball and they dance and then kiss. i never wrote it out bc i didn’t wanna add conflict in it but never got round to actually writing it lmao.

but i thought up a tododeku tangled au, kiribaku cinderella au, tsuocha princess and the frog au, and a couple others that i didn’t plan out fully. still close to my heart if i ever manage to get round to writing them out. each would probs either be a long shot at 7k-15k words or a short multichapter fic at 25k-30k words.

the Spite™️ fic

the fic where i get pissed at every shitty thing about horikoshi’s writing. izuku gets mad at all might for his views on quirkless people and gets into ua on his first try. izuku rightfully does not take bakugou’s shit and calls him out at every opportunity. bakugou’s actions have repercussions. all might gets punished for almost letting bakugou kill izuku in an exercise.

izuku gets pissed over a lot of shit basically. also at one point he either punts mineta into the sun or loudly and publicly makes the argument that mineta should be expelled from ua including evidence and testimonies from the girls. and he encourages nearly all of them to get better costumes.

i haven’t actually written much abt it but if there’s smth i got pissed @ horikoshi for smth in canon it’d be address in this fic bc oh boy am i never spiteful so it’s kind of theraputic to write even tho i haven’t done it in a while.

uh….i have a lot more but man i think i’ve been writing this for like an hour or two idk im gonna finish this before the app crashes or smth. thank you for letting me ramble this got long oops sorry.

#shut up danni #mha #danni’s aus #hhhhh im passionate abt many of these aus as you can tell #this is a free pass to tell me which/if you’re interested in btw #long post

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phantom-le6 · 3 years

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Episode Reviews - Batman: The Animated Series Season 1 (3 of 10)

We’re now into our third instalment from season 1 of Batman: The Animated Series, and this one begins with the re-invention of a formerly minor character that made that character a major foe of the Batman, albeit a bit infamous in the history of the live-action films.

Episode 14: Heart of Ice

Plot (as given by me):

In the middle of the hottest August in record for the people of Gotham, a series of cold-related crimes that involve the use of a freezing gun are occurring. The crimes all involve thefts of equipment from facilities owned by GothCorp. Batman deduces that the equipment all fits together to create a larger and more powerful version of the freeze gun, and that the final component is only made by a single GothCorp manufacturing plant.

That night, the thieves strike and Batman intercepts them, learning that the thieves are led by a man calling himself Mr Freeze, and it is Freeze who uses the cold gun in committing the robberies. Batman’s efforts to stop the theft fail, and when Freeze leaves one of his men behind who was hit by the freeze gun, Batman takes him back to the batcave to thaw him out. At the same time, the dark knight begins to demonstrate that he has picked up a cold.

Batman meets with GothCorp CEO Ferris Boyle the following day in his Bruce Wayne identity to try and find out why the company has been targeted. Boyle claims the only person who would hate GothCorp so much died in an explosion when he was fired over an unauthorised experiment. Batman suspects a cover-up and returns to GothCorp that night to investigate. He finds a video tape showing that GothCorp scientist Victor Fries developed a form of cryogenics technology with GothCorp resources to save the life of his ailing wife Nora. When Boyle tried to end the experiment, Fries fought for his wife’s life, resulting in Boyle kicking Fries into vials of coolant. At that point Mr Freeze, who is in fact Victor Fries, enters and fires at Batman with his freeze gun.

Back at Mr Freeze’s hideout, Batman deduces the suit Freeze wears is a result of the coolant altering his biology. Freeze confirms he is no longer able to live outside of a sub-zero environment, compelling him to lash out at Boyle for the change. Freeze leaves with his men and the freezing canon, as well as Batman’s utility belt. However, the caped crusader is able to free himself and pursues Freeze to a building where Boyle is being given an award for being the “humanitarian industrialist of the year”. When Batman attacks and retrieves his utility belt, Freeze opts to enter and confront Boyle directly.

Inside, Freeze reveals his true identity to Boyle as he freezes him up to his waist, but Batman intervenes before he can complete his revenge. The suit that keeps Freeze cool also triples his strength, making direct combat useless, but Batman is able to stop him by cracking a thermos of chicken soup (given to him earlier by Alfred) against Freeze’s glass helmet. Batman gives a tape showing Boyle’s actions to the press and sarcastically bids the half-frozen CEO good night. Later, Freeze is incarcerated in a specially chilled jail cell.

Review:

This episode is another example of how much of an impact this series had on the Batman’s comic books and other mediums. Before this, Mr Freeze was apparently a minor rogue, simply being a guy with a freezing gun that would have been not much different from the Flash’s long-time enemy Captain Cold. The tragic backstory and Freeze’s need to remain in a sub-zero environment were created for this episode, and as a result the Mr Freeze the fans of today know and love now exist. Sadly, Joel Schumacher’s Batman and Robin film never did the whole thing justice, meaning that live-action film audiences who have never seen this episode or read any comics related to Mr Freeze from after this episode have never been given this character as he should be seen.

The episode also features what was technically the first voice role in the series for Mark Hamill; he provides the voice of Freeze’s target Ferris Boyle, and only gained the role of the Joker later when Tim Curry found he couldn’t do a Joker voice without straining his vocal cords. It’s weird to learn this given that three Joker stories were already produced by this point, and perhaps it was this sort of re-casting and re-recording that at least contributed to the episodes not airing in their intended order.

It’s a good story, and easily stands up as a fairly flawless example of the show’s quality. I especially like how Batman empathises with Freeze enough to leave Boyle frozen after exposing him to the press. A pity more unethical people in power never receive similar comeuppance. Another top scorer, 10 out of 10 for this episode.

Episode 15: The Cat and The Claw (Part 1)

Plot (as given by me):

Batman investigates a cat burglar and discovers it to be a woman; more specifically, Catwoman. Catwoman uses a trained cat named Isis to assist her in her burglaries, and upon meeting Batman, she battles and attempts to flee him while also flirting with him. There is a moment where her escape is almost ruined by the near-running over of Isis, but Batman saves the cat before losing both the cat and her owner.

Later, Bruce Wayne attends a charity auction in aid of an animal charity, where the featured lot is a date with him. The bidding initially only reaches the low thousands before wealthy animal rights activist Selina Kyle bids $10,000 for the date. Bruce is immediately attracted to Selina and insists on honouring the date, despite Selina’s protestation that she only made the bid to help the animals and has no real interest in a date. Gunfire is then heard from outside, prompting Bruce to leave so he can act as Batman.

The gunfire turns out to be a group of terrorists trying to steal a truck of US army weaponry, but Batman manages to interfere and foil the theft. Commissioner Gordon explains that a mysterious terrorist leader known only as Red Claw is in Gotham, and Batman promises to investigate. The next day, Bruce turns up for his date with Selina, but beforehand Selina confesses to her secretary Maven that she is more interested in Batman. The date is prematurely spoilt, however, when Selina learns that some land she was trying to acquire for a mountain lion reserve has been nabbed by a business cartel, Multigon International.

Bruce uses his influence to arrange for Selina to meet Stern, the chairman of Multigon, who claims they’ll be developing the land into a luxury resort. Selina is unconvinced and tells Stern she will have every environmental group putting Multigon under a microscope. Unknown to Selina, Stern and Multigon are in league with Red Claw, who orders Selina monitored so she can’t jeopardise their plans. That night, Batman grills the local mobs for intel on Red Claw, while Selina returns to Multigon in her alternate identity as Catwoman.

Catwoman and Isis manage to gain information on Multigon’s real plans, unaware that Red Claw and her men are on the premises and planning the theft of a virus from a military transport train. When Catwoman trips an alarm, Red Claw’s men try to capture her. She almost makes a clean getaway, but Red Claw foils this by firing explosive ordnance at a ledge she is clinging to. Batman manages to save Catwoman, only for her to then escape him. She returns home with Isis and reports her success to Maven, unaware that one of Red Claw’s men has followed her and seen her unmask.

Review:

As the show’s introduction to Catwoman, I’ve often felt this episode and its part 2 follow-up had one major flaw; the inclusion of another villain. Much as it’s cool to have Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek: Voyager fame voicing the TV show original villainess Red Claw, I think Catwoman should have been a featured solo villain rather just being the top-billed villain out of two. After all, she doesn’t need an additional antagonist to tip her into villainy like Two-Face did, and she’s certainly the most well-known and high-profile of Batman’s female adversaries to the general public, especially in the early 90’s. As with this show’s initial version of the Penguin, animated series Catwoman is based on the Michelle Pfieffer Selina Kyle in a grey catsuit.

The Pfieffer influence on this character is less of an issue than styling the Penguin after the one played by Danny DeVito, since it only boils down to a hair colour and not a physical deformity. However, that’s about where the influence ends, as this version isn’t just a pure cat-burglar, nor is she seeking revenge as I understand the Pfieffer version did. Instead, we’ve ended up with someone who is to cats, and to a lesser extent other wildlife, what Poison Ivy is to the plant world. In other words, an eco-warrior, albeit one that commits theft to finance activism where Ivy is more about direct eco-terrorism in most cases. On the one hand it keeps the character unique from past versions of Catwoman, but it also detracts from the simple uniqueness of her being a thief where most of Batman’s other adversaries are either criminally insane or part of organised crime.

Overall, part 1 is ok, but I feel like they should have been split into different stories so a simpler version of Catowman could have commanded the spotlight in her series intro. For me, this episode only warrants 7 out of 10.

Episode 16: The Cat and the Claw (part 2)

Plot (as given by me):

The mob boss leaned on by Batman in part 1 informs him of an impending train heist being made by someone outside the local criminal underworld. With nothing on the public schedules and no last-minute changes communicated to Commissioner Gordon, he and Batman deduce the train must be a classified military one. The train is soon raided by Red Claw and her men; they manage to secure the canister of virus before Batman can intervene, and he is forced to let them go in order to avoid them unleashing the virus.

The next day, Bruce tries to take Selina out for their re-arranged date, but they are pursued by Red Claw’s men, who try to run the couple off the road. Bruce manages to defeat the thugs by executing a series of evasive driving manoeuvres and then running them off a bridge by playing chicken. He urges Selina to let him help, having deduced the men were after her and revealing he truly cares for her. However, Selina insists she can take care of herself. Later, back at the Batcave, Batman struggles to work out why Red Claw’s men would target Selina until Alfred finds a cat hair on Bruce Wayne’s suit jacket. The colour is unique and matches cat hairs left by Catwoman’s cat Isis, causing Batman to realise Selina is Catwoman.

That night, Batman rescues Maven from one of Red Claw’s men and asks her where Selina is. Maven reveals that Selina has gone to the Multigon site on the land she’d wanted for the mountain lion refuge. Maven also reveals to Batman that Selina loves him, but if this has any impact on him, he doesn’t show it. At the site, Catwoman is caught taking photos of weapons stored in an abandoned military bunker, and has to be saved by Batman, but then both are captured. Red Claw, who is in the process of holding Gotham to ransom with the virus, opts to use it to kill Batman and Catwoman as her forces evacuate, believing a placebo will have the same effect. However, the pair of them manage to escape, and Batman quickly works to set the bunker on fire to destroy the virus while Catwoman gets out.

Batman’s efforts not only destroy the bunker and the virus, but he heads a fuel truck into the side of the transport helicopter Red Claw’s men meant to use for escape. Police helicopters then arrive to arrest the men, along with Stern as well. Red Claw, rather than flee, attempts to attack Catwoman, but is instead attacked and pinned by a mountain lion. Catwoman is then able to escape, but back at her apartment, Batman reluctantly arrests her.

Review:

This episode is mostly more of the same as what part 1 gave us, but the pay-off isn’t really any better than the build-up. In fact, if anything it’s a little anti-climactic, and in large part that’s due to everything to do with Red Claw and this version of Catwoman not just being a straight-up thief. For me, I can’t really say much more and only give this part 6 out of 10.

Episode 17: See No Evil

Plot (as given by me):

A thief with a suit that makes him invisible commits numerous robberies across Gotham, using most of it to provide money for himself, but also giving some of the stolen items to a little girl called Kimmy, who believes her invisible benefactor to be her imaginary friend Mojo. One robbery occurs while Bruce Wayne is out shopping for a new watch, and he promptly intercedes as Batman. However, the invisible thief is able to get the drop on Batman and escape, and Batman begins to investigate further.

It turns out that the suit is made from a plastic that bends light instead of absorbing it when an electrical current is supplied. In the process, however, the plastic becomes toxic; the inventor has died and one of his assistants is trying to dispose of it, but some has been stolen by the other assistant, an ex-con named Lloyd Ventrix. Kimmy is Lloyd’s estranged daughter, and he is using the invisibility suit to circumvent a court order keeping him away from Kimmy and her mother. With Kimmy believing Lloyd to be Mojo, she has informed him that she and her mother will move soon, prompting Lloyd to use Kimmy’s belief to abduct her.

Batman pursues Ventrix to a nearby empty drive-in movie theatre, where Kimmy is now recoiling from her father after learning who he truly is. With Ventrix’s head visible following his reveal, Batman is able to knock him aside, enabling Kimmy to flee to her house and her mother nearby. Batman and Ventrix then engage in a protracted battle which leads them from the drive-in theatre to the Gotham rooftops. There, Batman is able to make a water tower rain down on Ventrix, rendering him visible long enough for Batman to subdue him for the police. Later, Kimmy confides in Batman that she and her mother will soon be moving, though her mother believes she has just developed another imaginary friend to replace ‘Mojo’.

Review:

This episode seems to have elements that make it a slight homage to the H.G. Wells’ story The Invisible Man, and fans of the 2020 modernised remake film of the story may be interested to note that the film’s lead actress Elisabeth Moss actually appears in as the voice of Kimmy. Personally, I know her better as Zoe Bartlett from TV drama series the West Wing, but it’s still interesting to note that she’s twice had acting roles relating to stories about invisible men. For me, though, the greater interest lies in getting to see Batman involved in what ultimately boils down to a domestic dispute that goes sideways as badly as a show like this can allow. It’s rare to see Batman, or any superhero, deal with a situation like this, and it’s a refreshing change not just in this show, but in superhero lore as a whole.

My only real complaint with this episode is that Batman never once tries to employ an alternate mode of vision to see his invisible adversary. His first confrontation with Ventrix reveals the suit’s current could be increased to produce a heating effect, suggesting the suit would emit a thermal signature. As such, infra-red lenses designed to register thermal energy instead of light energy would have been a clear and obvious solution. The fact that Batman never even tries this feels like very poor attention to detail on the part of the show’s makers. Batman is, among other things, a highly skilled tactician, and anyone deducing they’d fought an invisible thief once should surely have gone into their second bout with a better counter-measure than ‘fight across half the city and hope to luck into something like a water tower’. For me, this episode gets 7 out of 10.

Episode 18: Beware the Gray Ghost

Plot (as given by me):

A series of bombings occur across Gotham City, and Batman finds evidence that suggests the bomber is mimicking the plot of a TV show he watched as a child, ‘The Grey Ghost’. Unfortunately, the original reels of the shows were apparently destroyed in a fire years ago, so the series has never been committed to video. This prompts Batman to track down the show’s lead actor, a man named Simon Trent. Trent is out of work because his time spent playing the Grey Ghost type-cast him, and he is forced to sell off the last of his Grey Ghost memorabilia to cover his rent.

Batman uses his wealth as Bruce Wayne to return Trent’s collection to him and enlists his aid in the case. At first, Trent is reluctant, but eventually gives Batman a copy of the relevant episode, asking to be left in peace. Batman watches the episode in his civilian attire back at Wayne Manor, and learns the bombs are being hidden in remote-control toy cars. At the next bombing, the police and Batman have more success preventing major damage, but at one point the bomb cars almost kill Batman, and only Trent’s intervention in his old Grey Ghost costume saves the dark knight.

After the two costumed crime fighters evade more of the bomb cars, they head back to the Batcave to analyse one decoy car Batman managed to retrieve. Trent is shocked when he discovers the only evidence on the car leads back to himself, but then realises that Ted, the toy collector he has sold his memorabilia to, is behind the bombings. Batman confronts Ted, who reveals he is a toy addict that has had to turn to crime in order to finance his collecting. He tries to trap Batman with some of the bomb cars, but Trent then intervenes as the Gray Ghost. The ensuing confrontation results in a fire that destroys Ted’s collection, and he is soon taken into police custody.

In the aftermath, Trent’s popularity soars and his reels of the show are turned into a video release of the old Grey Ghost series. As he autographs copies of the series, he does one for Bruce Wayne, who reveals his secret identity to Trent through a call-back to something he’d said earlier as Batman.

Review:

This episode literally has one thing going for it; the worst live-action Batman actor of all time having a guest role alongside one of the best Batman actors ever (Jason O’Mara of the DC Animated Movie Universe holds joint-top spot with Kevin Conroy in my estimation at present). While I know many people love and respect West’s version of Batman, I cannot stand it. Granted, West was forced to play the character as it was at that time, which was a horrible campy parody of what Batman originally was, and later returned to when the comics code that stemmed from 1950’s McCarthyism was relaxed, and then ultimately scrapped in favour of age-based certification similar to the film and TV industry.

However, that doesn’t change the fact that West’s Batman was simply too light and silly to be a true Batman. Frankly, I see this episode less as an homage to West’s real-life story (though it does use his struggles with being type-cast as a plot point), and more as the actor’s redemption. Here, he gets to play a role in a serious version of Batman, and he actually does it very well. It’s such a shame, however, that in the end they’re just dealing with a toy collector gone mad enough for crime, yet not mad enough to really develop the full supervillain melodrama of costumes, gadgets, etc. For once, we have an adversary so underwhelming as to prove there’s such a thing as a Batman story being too grounded. For me, the episode only warrants 5 out of 10.

Episode 19: Prophecy of Doom

Plot (as given by me):

Bruce becomes concerned when fellow businessman Ethan Clark claims that psychic fortune-teller Nostromos has been saving him a fortune by steering him clear of certain disaster. Ethan’s daughter Lisa is convinced Nostromos is a con-man, and that he makes accidents happen according to his predictions just to prove them true. Bruce attends an event with Nostromos, who claims an accident will soon befall him. Shortly after he claims this, Bruce’s glass shatters seemingly of its own accord.

Suspecting the glass was broken by a device emitting high-frequency sound, Batman later identifies Nostromos as former actor and ex-con Carl Fowler. Fowler’s associate, Lucas, is a special effects man, which suggests how the con is being pulled, but not its ultimate conclusion. The next day, Lucas tries to kill Bruce Wayne in his personal elevator at Wayne Enterprises, but Bruce manages to escape as Batman. He is unable to catch Lucas, and feigns falling for the con after the near-death experience to learn the intended conclusion.

It turns out Nostromos is predicting a massive societal collapse, and is convincing his wealthy followers to stash their funds in a single combined account so it will be unaffected by the collapse. However, Nostromos can’t touch the funds without Ethan Clark’s written authorisation. Lisa also discovers the con, but is captured by Lucas before she can tell her father. Bruce realises Nostromos will somehow try to leverage Ethan into signing his consent ahead of the supposed collapse so he and Lucas can walk away with all the money.

At the observatory where Nostromos has based himself, the fake psychic convinced Ethan to sign the papers, otherwise Lisa will be killed in the giant mechanised model of the solar system suspended from the ceiling. Batman arrives just after Nostromos and Lucas have tied Ethan up, and he manages to defeat them both and save Lisa in a battle that wrecks the solar system model in the process. The two con-men are taken to jail, and as Ethan ponders how he was easily misled, Bruce quotes a Shakespearean passage about the fault lying not in the stars, but in ourselves.

Review:

This episode is quite ‘meh’ compared to others in the series. While seeing Batman bust up a con operation is a bit of something different, the sheer ridiculousness of the whole pretence makes it almost cringeworthy to watch. I’m not quite sure where this episode’s idea came from or what its purpose was, but if it was to teach audiences not to buy into such things, I think they should have toned the con down a bit. Frankly, if anyone bought into a con as badly acted and generally blatant as this one was in real life, they’d have to be way too gullible to even live, much less accumulate enough wealth to make a worthy mark. 4 out of 10 for this one.

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televinita · 6 years

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Library Triage

Speaking of my incompetence, I managed to accidentally check out an avalanche of super-awesome-looking/hotly anticipated books with fairly restrictive deadlines toward the beginning of a 10-day hell period at work where I had no time to start them. I am almost out of it now, but they are basically all due by or before the end of June and my brain is spinning out trying to fathom how I am going to organize my reading schedule without rushing and ruining the books for myself, SO, time for project Talk It Out Concretely!

(or. you know. even more ramblingly than usual)

Starting with an achievement: Last night I finally had time to finish Fanny Fran Davis’ Everything Must Go, an absolutely delightful romp which was on its final renewal and only a week away from being due. Prior to that I was working on it in 15-minute breaks at work and 1+ minute stoplights on the commute to work. (seriously. thumbs up to its format.)

SO, HIGH ON THAT:

1. A & L Do Summer - Jan Blazanin: This is a book that Goodreads has been recommending to me for 5 years. I always thought it looked cute, but maybe not substantial, so I kept putting it off because it required an ILL request. But next week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is “books to read by the beach,” and I saw this on my recs list again and went, “You know what? This is exactly that kind of book. This is exactly the right time of year to finally read it. I want juvenile cuteness that lets me vicariously be 15 (17 apparently?) again with months of freedom ahead to enjoy in a rural Midwest setting.” I’m struggling with whether to read this or the next book first, but I think this one will go quicker. Due 7/2, like the next two.

[edit: I waited until the day before it was due, for some reason, but it was everything I wanted it to be!]

2. Like Mandarin - Kirsten Hubbard. Another book GR has been recommending to me for 5 years, another one that needed an ILL request. I figured I’d send away for them both together because of sort of similar themes in girl-bonding and rural locales, though this looks much more serious. It’s always caught my eye; there’s just something about the "young high schooler latches onto/idolizes Cool Senior High Schooler" concept that appeals to me -- oh, and only JUST NOW did I realize it's by the same author as my beloved Wanderlove! Definitely loving it now. Definitely.

[edit: accurate]

3. Heart-Shaped Hack - Tracey Garvis-Graves: After rereading The Island for the first time in 6 years and remembering how much I loved that romance/had anticipated more work from her, I saw this and immediately went, “I could cast Waige in this.” I am coming to the conclusion that this is untrue, because Mr. Hacker is turning out to be way too cocky for any character I’ve ever liked, but if I re-calibrate my expectations for what is actually being offered, I still feel like I will love this. And if that’s the case...there is a sequel. (which unfortunately would have to come rather far down on this list)

[edit: really should have waited for the sequel in hand! I think it will be better; this was good but rather more, uh, adult-romance-y than I expected so I’d like to at least see them in a higher stakes plot]

4. Going Geek - Charlotte Huang: technically due first, on 6/23 and it’s an ILL so getting it back is tough. BUT I am less interested in it than any of the 3 above, so if I don’t through at least 2 of them first, I’ll let this one go with no remorse. I only requested it because it seemed similar to Life in Outer Space, but that one was wholly satisfying on its own. This does look like a solid YA novel, but it doesn’t have a special hook, and I am up to my ears in Hook Books.

[edit: I made time! Glad I did; it was better than I expected it to be]

5. The Broken Girls - Simone St. James: Not a specific craving right now, but I have been on a wait list since it was released and mentally waiting since November because I love a good thriller with a mystery from the past & an abandoned building -- and then I forgot to suspend my hold and it came in before I was ready. Also due 6/23, and still hotly requested. I am probably gonna lose my shot to read this on time and have to wait another 4-6 weeks, but at least it’s in my home system.

[edit: I made time! Barely took me 10 pages to get addicted; SO WORTH IT.]

6. Learning to Stay - Erin Celello: This popped when I was looking for novels with brain-damaged spouses. I was looking for Waige-related reasons, and with the veteran angle this isn’t going to work for them, but its premise is irresistible to me and I have a suspicion who it’s perfect for: Barbie/Julia (with begrudging thanks for season 3 of Under the Dome for actively showing me what it could look like). Not due until July 8 and will probably delay it until after #7, actually, because I’m having trouble focusing on other ships right now, even ones I adore.

[edit: well done, though I couldn’t keep my characters straight because there was an annoying lot to match up with my original pick, so I kept unintentionally running everything twice.]

7. Shine Shine Shine - Lydia Netzer: All right, full disclosure -- this one is my final, brightest and best attempt to find Walter/Paige (complete with a Ralph!) in a novel. I am setting myself up to fail, in part because the premise includes the idea that the central female character is kind of off in her own way. But like. How else* was I supposed to react to “genius engineer husband whose wife has 'taught him to feel -- helped him translate his intelligence for numbers into a language of emotion‘ + autistic son”???

(*alternate option for how else: I’ve got Happy in my back pocket: As children, the temperamental Sunny and the neglected savant Maxon found an unlikely friendship no one else could understand. Even the ironic name fits!)

This one just got here and I’ll pick it up in a few days. It’s a home system request, but we only have one copy and I already had to wrestle it away from someone who kept it 2 days overdue* so we might tussle again. (*you might be asking yourself why I did that, given the state of this post. I don’t know either. I was in a feverish delirium of reading desire by that point and every book I found online looked more imperative to get immediately than the last, but I was stuck waiting for all of them).

[edit: it was beautiful and I have so many favorite quotes and I cried a lot and it was worth it even if only one character lined up well; the pair won my heart on their own merit.]

8. 45 Pounds (More or Less) - K.A. Barson: a cute YA novel about an overweight girl trying (or at least being pestered by her mother) to lose weight. I’ve been saving it for motivation for when I actually attempt to exercise / not eat like crap this summer. This, like the remaining books, has essentially no due date since no one is likely to request them out from under me even once I return them.

[edit: tossed back unread for the time being. too many shiny new things appeared.]

9. Voracious: a hungry reader cooks her way through great books - Cara Nicoletti: this is either going to help the above plan or hurt it, but it’s such a great premise, especially as someone who once considered starting a side blog devoted to highlighting passages in books that describe great meals. I am not actually sure if I will finish it at all. But I’d like to try.

[edit: see above.]

10. Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading: this book was mentioned in a review for one of the lesser-known books in it; I forget which one, but it intrigued me because there are TONS of titles in here that aren’t usually mentioned in online lists like this, and I love when people talk about books I have actually loved instead of pretending that Catcher in the Rye and The Perks of Being a Wallflower are the best examples of universal YA literature we can find.

(What’s most likely going to happen is I’m going to read 3 chapters and then wig out about how many I haven’t read and put it back until I have, so I can enjoy the comparisons in our reactions instead of being unduly influenced, but... )

11. Sixteen: short stories by outstanding writers for young adults: Absolutely lowest priority, probably will never get to it, but if I had no other reading responsibilities right now? I would be reading it now. I spotted this when I went to pick up the above, and I don’t even usually like short stories, but this is a compilation of outstanding writers for young adults IN THE 1980S. And there is a very specific style to young adult books from the 1980s that sometimes, I just absolutely crave. Let me give you more of its description: Stories dealing with teenage concerns, written especially for this collection by well-known authors of young adult novels such as the Mazers [that would be Harry and Norma Fox], M.E. Kerr, Robert Cormier, Bette Greene, and Richard Peck. Biographical sketches for each author are included, as well as follow-up activities for the reader. Me, gesticulating wildly at basically all these names: I KNOW THEM! (as authors, I mean. Once upon a time the library’s teen section was full of their work and I devoured it as voraciously as the newer stuff)

[edit: it was short, so I read it and am glad I did.]

========

AND AS PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED: THERE ARE STILL MORE I WANT, but I can’t think about them right now.

#reading triage #library checkouts #aw crap I just realized I forgot another two I actually have checked out #but I have been checking them out since April and still haven't gotten to them so IDK if I will bother

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reading-writing-revolution · 7 years

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Shared by Laura Kiesel, whose friend wrote it. If you're a man wondering what to do after #Metoo, here are some suggestions:

CONCRETE WAYS MEN CAN HELP

Written by: Nicole Stamp

Read the whole thing. Re-read #13.

1. Practice these phrases: "That's not cool" and “That’s a shitty thing to say". Say them to other men who are saying disrespectful things to or about women.

2. Follow some feminist writers on social media. Sometimes what they write may seem "exhausting" or "too angry". Put aside that discomfort because that feeling is your male privilege allowing you to disengage from an important conversation that womxn don't get to disengage from.

(Ladies — feel free to write your favorite feminist writers in the comments)

3. Boost female voices. When there's an issue and you're going to share an article about it- especially if it's a gender issue- take a minute and try to find one written by a woman (same goes for other marginalized groups- seek articles about race written by IBPOC, articles about GLBTQ written by GLBTQ, disability by writers with disabilities*, etc. "Nothing about us, without us.”

4. Boost what women say at work. Listen for men dismissing women's contributions and make a habit of listening and saying things like "Hey Zahra has a point".

5. Be mindful of how you introduce women- particularly at work functions. Role-model respect into your introductions. So often you hear men being introduced with job titles and accolades, and women introduced as "the lovely" or "the beautiful". I guarantee that no matter how good she looks, she'd rather be introduced by her job title and accomplishments.

Doing this subtly tells the listener that the women's qualifications are lesser-than. Go out of your way to correct this by introducing women (and others from marginalized groups — racialized, disabled, young-looking, whatever) using their full job titles and accolades.

6. At work or out in the world, don't call female colleagues or strangers cutesy diminutive names like "honey, baby, darling, kiddo, young lady, sweetheart, girl, or dear". This is a subtle way of putting them down, elevating your own status over them as a man who is choosing to vote them as attractive, and reminding them and all present that they're just cute little ladies that nobody should listen to.

At work, make a special effort to speak to women using the kind of person-to-person respectful address you use when speaking with male colleagues. Hint: Use their name. If you slip up and call your colleague "young lady" or some other bullshit like that, it's cool to say something about it, like "I'm sorry I called you that — it's disrespectful."

7. Seek enthusiastic consent in your sexual encounters. If you're having sexy time and the other person stops reciprocating, gets quiet, seems tense or stiff, avoids making eye contact, pauses, or otherwise slows the tempo of the encounter, then you should.... STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

Reframe how you think of consent. You're not supposed to just "go for it" until someone yells NO and that's when you stop. That's old-fashioned and gross. And she might not be able to explicitly say no, because she has very likely been assaulted before and she might freeze when stressed- that's a side effect of all this "me too".

People shouldn't have to explicitly say no. Instead, slow down. At every step, listen with your ears (or ask with your words) for the word "yes", and then you can escalate the encounter together. Seek explicit and enthusiastic and active consent before you proceed. Proceed together. And constantly observe the other person's body language for the hesitations that mean "no". If this means you have to cut down on alcohol or substances to stay present and have self-control, please do that.

8. Don't use gendered or misogynist insults. Bitch, cunt, slut, pussy, f*g, girly, sissy, cuck, etc. Use insults that work on everyone rather than insults that specifically target the feminine as weak, lesser, and undesirable. "Asshole" is a nice multipurpose choice- we all have one. Or maybe don’t use insults at all.

9. If there are little boys, teen boys, and young men in your life, role-model that the feminine is not less-than. Challenge them on their dismissive ideas around what counts as "girl stuff". Buy them a doll. Paint your nails together. Show up wearing pink. Do something that's coded as* traditionally "feminine" in a way that embraces the feminine as a valid way of being, not in a way that mocks femininity. Buy them books and watch TV and movies that prominently feature female characters. Verbally challenge their stereotypes about what men do and how women are lesser. Seeing women as people starts in infancy.

(*Thanks to a commenter for pointing out that behaviours aren't inherently fem/masc, but rather we code them as such).

10. Be wary of constantly or only telling little girls they're pretty and cute or commenting on their hairstyle & clothing. I know, little girls often wear fun stuff and it's easy to comment on. But it tells her, and the little boys nearby, that girls should be valued first and foremost for their looks.

Instead, try things like "What kind of toy is that? That looks fun, what is it? Are you reading any good books? What's your favourite subject in school? What kind of things do you like to do? Do you have a favourite animal? May I ask your advice, should I purchase the apples or the grapes?" There are so many things to talk about.

11. When a woman is walking alone and you end up walking behind her — especially in dark or secluded areas — please slow down to increase the distance between you, or, better yet, cross the street. Literally go out of your way to help her feel that you're not following her.

12. Teach your elders to do better. Pervy Grandpa and Racist Grandma might seem harmless at Xmas dinner but as their health declines, they will largely end up being cared for by women and POC who don't deserve dehumanizing treatment. Call it out. You can teach old dogs* new tricks, and you should definitely try.

(*Someone below pointed out that this metaphor, equating the elderly to dogs, is disrespectful. I agree with them. I'm not deleting it because hiding mistakes is creepy. I'm sorry I spoke disrespectfully about elderly people- that's a proverb that I'll quit using.)

13. Don't argue so much in conversations around types of oppression that you don't personally experience. Keep an eye open for our culture's gross habit of putting the onus on the oppressed persons to dredge up their pain for inspection (only for us to then dismiss it as "just one instance which they probably either caused or misinterpreted anyway"). Instead, try this — if you don't believe something is an issue, use the Googles. Find, say, three articles *written by people in that demographic*, and read them. Look for patterns in their analyses. You'll find that these ideas aren't weird militant fringe notions — oppression is a widely-accepted and statistically-supported phenomenon and a lot of insightful people are talking about it. Avoid the hot takes and go to the source — the people who experience the issue firsthand.

14. If you feel uncomfortable during conversations about sexism (or racism, or ableism, or cultural appropriation, or whatever — because all these systems are related, google "kyriarchy" and "intersectionality" to learn more), the only correct response is to be quiet and listen and try to focus on the topic at hand rather than centre your own feelings. It's hard. It's worthwhile.

Thanks for trying to be decent men. We see you.

{Wonderful message written by Nicole Stamp}

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simplyoriginalcharacters · 6 years

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Selina Loun

Hi! Theo was the first oc I submitted so this is my second one Selina!

This takes place in the same world as Theo with fantasy mixed with a steampunk-like technology. I also forgot to mention that though the technology is steampunk the architecture of most areas doesn’t give a vibe of what people usually think when they hear steampunk which is usually a story in the Victorian era. Steampunk is only the technology not the actual architecture and look of the world. I hope that makes sense.

Hi! This is Mod D with your review. Full profile and critique are under the cut.

Name: Her name is Selina Loun though she always seems to go by aliases (so far she’s been, Cat Cane, Poppywillow, Ophelia Strauss, and Bee)

Gender: female

Age: 28

Sexual orientation: straight

Height: about 5'8

Relatives: Ramona Loun (mother, deceased) Griffin Loun (father, deceased) Aloysius Loun (brother, alive) Stephen Loun (uncle, the one who raised them)

Abilities/weapons: she has a weird steampunk-looking rusted gun that runs on crystal ammunition. Her strength is somewhat enhanced with her bionic arm but not too much.

Appearance: Selina is a slightly muscular woman with her left arm being a bronze with a few gears and bolts on it. She has slightly pale skin with wavy kinda light blonde hair that reaches to her shoulders. It’s kinda messy so she always keeps it up in a ponytail or if she’s making a sad attempt to dress nice its a messy bun. She wears a shirt with sleeves that run to her elbows with a dark blue jacket with five gold colored buttons on the right side. The jacket is somewhat burned at the bottom (she won’t get rid of it though she loves the jacket) occasionally she wears a dark forest green vest that closes with leather straps instead. She has light brown pants that are light and airy so she can move around. She has a leather belt with brown leather boots as well with metal surrounding the toe of the boot (for kicking)

Likes: Selina likes to be in open areas and likes big cities and kingdoms. She likes a competition because she always thinks she can rise up to the challenge. She likes “sweet drinks” which is pretty much soda there. She likes to relax and drink every once in a while but she’s smart enough to know not to overdo it. She also likes jewelry specifically anything gold. She really likes making risky choices and gambling which can get her into some major trouble sometimes.

Dislikes: she hates getting being the center of attention it can make her very uncomfortable but it tends to happen quite a bit since a scene gets made when she gets into trouble. She doesn’t like small spaces either she’ll start to freak out a lot. She doesn’t like iron golems. That’ll be explained later in her profile but she does not get near them at all. Change can be a problem for her sometimes she likes things how they are and she doesn’t like major change.

Fears: she has a fear of mind control she sees it as invading and she views it as the only ability that is truly evil.

Occupation: she’s an anti-hero so she’s not the most reliable when it comes to jobs. Sometimes she steals but a lot of times she’ll take jobs that require making deals and mostly the jobs she prefers are getting money from one person to another. Sometimes she does not fulfill her end of the deal and sometimes she does. Actually a lot of times she lies about and it starts conflict so that’s where the aliases come in.

Personal goals: she wants to learn how to shape shift so she can learn how to change her appearance if she’s ever on the run and it would make jobs easier but that is really powerful so you almost have to ask professionals to learn. When she asked she was basically asking how to get better at crime.

Personality: Selina is actually a good person at heart despite acting aloof and like she doesn’t really care. She’s pretty calm a lot of times and doesn’t really freak out. She thinks she can handle everything Though she lies a lot she’s never actually killed anyone. She’s a master of bluffing saying she’ll kill you then yelling “HEY LOOK AT THAT” then run away. She has fought before though and sometimes she lost sometimes she didn’t. She has quite a sense of humor too and she’s kind of an asshole not gonna lie.

She can be sarcastic and mocking a lot of times whenever she’s confronted with an opponent. She can be very arrogant at times and she thinks she can handle anything and everything and she can be very stubborn at times so she never really learns her lesson. Even though she tries to go through with taking jobs and most of the times doesn’t really think about what she’s doing, she has faced some situations where she thinks what she’s doing is too messed up even for her. She has pretty basic intelligence she’s no genius but she’s not stupid.

Backstory: Selina grew up with her brother, Aloysius, and her uncle, Stephen. Their parents died when they were younger so they both lived with their uncle. They were very close with him and he was pretty weird and antisocial. He liked art, science, and had a giant collection of books. Though he did like to explore and go on adventures. They all grew up in a small desert town named Rem. As they got older, they moved away from their uncle and starting to work with each other on missions. Selina and Aloysius were very close as well for many years and of course they would argue like siblings do but they loved each other.

Until Aloysius started to learn about magic and abnormal powers. He began to study them more and more and after learning about multiple abilities mind control stuck out to him the most. Selina did not like this because she thought it was wrong to invade someones mind. She became afraid that he would be taken over by his power and he was. He started to push boundaries and slowly stopped feeling sympathetic for people. This started to hurt Selina, because she had a great relationship with him and that was slowly dying. On missions, Aloysius was more violent and controlling and at the time, they were kinda neutral or didn’t like to fight much.

Selina finally said screw it and they split up, she wanted to be alone for a long time afterwards. She moved to a large city but she could only afford to live in the lower area of the city called underworld. This wasn’t really like a ghetto area but is sure was strange. There was more magic than technology there while the upper areas had technology the underworld had more magic involved. It was pretty big down there. There was a lot of lying and cheating down there. Selina worked at a bar at a guild but soon she started taking missions but she’s a hot mess and didn’t really stay faithful to these missions.

Extra information about her

- I didn’t really know where I could fit in the golem explanation but the reason why she doesn’t like iron golems is because during a mission the person who she was supposed to take money from did have an iron golem that nearly killed her. It took her arm so now she has a bionic.

- sometimes her aliases do not go well she once said her name was Minty Soap or Moose and that didn’t fly at all.

Questions:

So she seems kinda sloppy right now because I’ve been trying to get a solid profile and I feel like I have some unnecessary stuff in her profile do you know if there’s anything I could do to shape her up?

Is her backstory too angst-driven? Like im ok with sad stuff in back stories but is it too much with her?

What things need more information or need changing about her? Thank you for reviewing her!

From the outset, I can already see that Selina’s profile has improvements over Theo’s, given the additional sections and elaborated information. However, she still has some of the same issues his profile did – if to a lesser extent.

First things first, Selina’s capabilities need to be further explained. As written I don’t know how exactly her steampunk gun works (does it fire crystal bullets? Are the crystals charged with energy and it shoots lasers/electricity?) and the description of her bionic arm, while better, is too vague. Describing her strength as ‘somewhat enhanced’ and beyond the average human 'but not too much’ is focusing too much on what she can’t do vs what she can do. So while I understand the gist that she can’t lift a car or knock down a building, I’m still left wondering what her strength limit actually is. Try putting in some examples of what she can do with the arm – the more they align with her criminal activities the better. Can she use the arm to break locks? Easily knock out would-be pursuers? Does it have any useful tools like a grappling hook or hidden compartments for stolen items? This gives readers a much more direct idea of what Selina is capable of, in addition to giving a glimpse of how she acts on the job for a double dose of characterization. Also, I’d also suggest including any detriments from the bionic arm as well – does the arm overheat or have to run on a limited power source? Does it have a tendency to break at in-opportune times or are parts of it particularly fragile? If the bionic arm is just an overall upgrade to Selina’s flesh and blood arm then there’s really no reason she couldn’t have just gotten one of her own free will. Including any negative impacts from having to use the bionic arm makes the impact of her being an amputee much more poignant, in addition to neatly avoiding a lot of negative storytelling aspects that revolve around artificial limbs in science fiction/fantasy.

On the same token, Selina’s Occupation needs to be embellished a bit more. I am really glad you included this aspect in her profile as it adds a lot more to her character, I don’t really feel like I understand what exactly she does. A big thing that would help here is changing 'anti-hero’ to a more specific label. Anti-hero might be a good description of Selina’s character from a storytelling perspective, but something like 'confidence trickster’ or 'pick-pocket’ gives a much better idea about what her occupation in-universe is. If she’s more of a general rogue and doesn’t have a specific area of expertise, even something like 'professional scoundrel’ would work. I understand that she lies, cheats, and steals to make a living but how Selina styles herself in the context of all of that is a big part of her identity. Continuing on, Selina preferring jobs where she 'gets money from one person to another’ is way too vague. What people? What money? Does she steal from the rich to give to the poor? Does she work for a specific client to steal from a specific target? The more specific the nature of her preferred type of work is, the better an idea readers can get of Selina’s character. Is she okay with stealing from innocent people or does she prefer targets that 'deserve it’? Are there limits on what she’ll steal from people or will she take anything and everything asked for? On the same note, does she limit herself to stealing just what was asked for or does Selina tend to take everything not nailed down regardless of if it’s an objective or not? What jobs Selina takes and who she’ll work for are just as important as how she does them in giving a clear picture of her character. As a final note on her Occupation, Selina occasionally having issues following through with a job is a great characterizing point – I just need to know why she has trouble and what the ramifications of that are. Does she just lose track of time, put too much on her plate at once, or are there times when she just has a change of heart in the middle of working and bails on a job? What does this mean for her professional reputation? Is she seen as a loose cannon only hired by the desperate, or have her actions yet to catch up with her? There are a lot of impacts here that could play out really interestingly in-story, but the profile should do more to highlight them.

Moving on to Selina’s Personality section, while the ideas here are good they don’t seem to have enough detailing or focus. In-particular the way that the section is worded is written too much like a dialogue and not enough like a straightforward explanation. Stating that she has 'quite a sense of humor’ is a great why for another character to describe Selina in-dialogue but for an objective presentation it’s far too vague. The same goes for her having 'fought before sometimes lost sometimes she didn’t.’ That doesn’t actually tell me anything about Selina’s personality – it just tells me she got into fights. What motivated her to get into the fights? What was the impact of her losing or her winning? Try taking out the non-specific parts of Selina’s Personality section and replacing them with more specific terminology. Instead of saying she has 'quite a sense of humor’ say she 'tells bad puns to lighten the mood’ or 'pulls pranks on people with her bionic arm.’ It still gets across that Selina has a sense of humor, except now that aspect actually tells specific information about her too rather than just stating it’s something she has. More touches like that would go a long way to making her Personality both accurate and distinct, instead of just accurate. As a final note on this section, Selina’s use of bluffing is not really a good example to go with. It’s great for an amusing OOC commentary about her skills at misdirection but for a profile where the examples and information is supposed to be taken directly it comes across as 'Selina is good at bluffing because she’s good at bluffing’ rather than an actual example of her skill and character. Think of the ideal tone as being more like an essay rather than a social media post and go from there. For example, saying that she’s a master at bluffing and explaining how she bluffs people – IE impersonates others, is a really convincing liar, and/or is really good at misdirection – would keep the focus directly on Selina’s capabilities rather than being an amusing assessment of them.

On the subject of Selina’s background, I think what you’ve got included works pretty well – and to address your concern it doesn’t seem at all to be angst driven (Selina herself doesn’t seem angst driven). I like the history between her and Aloysius and the attention to her childhood with her uncle covers just enough to show where Selina got a lot of her progression from without getting too overburdened with minutia. It has the same tonal/vagueness issue some of her other sections have, but not to the same degree. There are three aspects I was left wanting to know more about, though. First was Selina’s split from Aloysius. Their drifting apart due to Selina having issue with his using mind control magic is great, but the actual moment of the split seems almost too casual given all the prior paragraph did to build up Aloysius’ changes. What I want to know is if there was a particular moment where Selina had finally had enough. Did Aloysius do something particularly bad with mind-control? Did he mind control a target while he and Selina were working, or did he actually attempt to mind control Selina herself? As I said the build up is great but the mention of Selina reaching a breaking point without actually providing one makes the sudden separation fall a little flat. The second thing I wanted to know more about was Selina’s encounter with the iron golem that took her arm. As central to her character as that moment is (between necessitating Selina’s bionic arm and her intense fear of iron golems) that’s too key of a moment not to be included here. In-particular, while I already get the gist of what happened from the blurb you included, the Background section could do a lot to make the context more memorable. Did it happen while she was still with Aloysius or did this happen after Selina went her own way? Did she end up completing the job or did she have to hightail it out (or did it go so poorly that Selina had to be rescued)? Who was the person she was trying to take money from, and what role – if any – do they play now that they know Selina tried to steal from them? Filling in the context here would make this moment a lot more impactful on Selina’s character rather than it just existing as a footnote to explain why she hates iron golems, in addition to possibly providing a future antagonist for her to deal with. Lastly, the third thing I wanted to know more about was the guild Selina found herself involved in. Given the nature of her character and the description of the city of Underworld I was imagining something like a standard 'thieves guild’ but being more specific would go a long way to characterizing the current chapter of Selina’s life more (IE, what she’s involved in and the setting she’s in). What rules does the guild have, if any? Are they a legitimate, legal guild or do such things even exist in a place called 'Underworld’? Does Selina have any friends there or is she just a loner? While the details don’t need to be exhaustive here, some more information would go a long way to establishing where Selina is when the story starts.

As a final note, I’d suggest including a Relationships section as well. While the Background section did a fair job of highlighting Selina’s two main relationships between Aloysius and her uncle Stephen, those are both prior relationships. None of Selina’s current relationships – guildmates she hangs out with, that person with the iron golem she tried to steal from, the leader(s) of the guild, favorite customers she sells drinks to – are specified. Given that this point is where the active story picks up with her, these would be good relationships to go over given the role that they’ll likely play as things progress. Also any mention of Selina keeping in-contact with her uncle or her brother could be included her too, if that’s applicable at all.

All in all, I think Selina has a solid profile, even if her character seems more distinct than is actually detailed. By which I mean, I get the gist that she’s a pretty well rounded character with pros and cons and a solid backstory, but the gist is all I get back of the lack of elaboration. The improvements from Theo’s submission are great but she does have some of the same issues his profile had. Tighten up the focus, be specific instead of vague, and elaborate more on a few key character points and I think you’ll have a really great profile for Selina.

I hope this helps!

-D

#submission #SOC Critique #OC Critique #backstory help #development help

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writingbeautifullyblog · 4 years

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“15 Things You Didn’t Know About Al Capone ” by Lesley Patterson AKA Lady Opaque

May 29, 2019

15 things you didn’t know about Al Capone – by Lesley Patterson

Today I will reveal some exciting and lesser-known facts about the infamous, much loved, and most feared Prohibition Era Gangster and Crime Boss, Al Capone.

Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born to Italian immigrants Gabriele and Teresa Capone on January 17, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York City. His father was working as a Barber at that time, and his Mother Teresa took jobs as a Seamstress. Al was the fourth child out of nine, part of a large family, and a middle child among his siblings. The family was impoverished until Al was 11 years old, that’s the age he was when his father’s business started succeeding and making some profits. His father moved the family out of the dangerous slum area and into a more beautiful apartment in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn. You might say that “you can take Capone out of the city, but you couldn’t take the city out of Capone.”

Al was a promising student and good with his studies, but always the rebel, his educational years ended when he was 14 because he punched a female teacher in the face over a disagreement and was immediately expelled. Capone then works at different odd jobs around Brooklyn. Destiny called though when he meets his first mentor in crime, Johnny Torrio, and he begins associating with the local well-known smaller Gangs of the Forty Thieves, Bowery Boys, and Brooklyn Rippers. His vicious lusts had really taken root in him, and he continued to make contacts in the local Crime Organizations. His own more criminal, brutal behaviors started to blossom when he joined the well-known, most notorious Five Points Gang in lower Manhattan.

He then begins a job at a bar where he met his second mentor and fellow Racketeer, Frankie Yale. It was during his time there that he received the legendary scars on the left side of his face. He’d been working at a night club when he said something to a woman who was very displeasing to her, so her brother proceeded to take a knife and cut Capone’s face with it. People begin to call him “Scarface.” After that event, Capone would often hide the left side of his face from exposure during photographs and would talk about his “War Wounds.”

All too quickly though Al was again rising up the ranks in the Mob World and continued to make more illegal contacts. At 20 years old Al moves from New York to Chicago to become an Enforcer for James “Big Jim” Colosimo. He then works as “security” for a Brothel but ends up contracting the disease Syphilis, for which no treatment was ever sought. In 1923 he made a purchase on a cozy house in the city’s South Side for himself and his young wife, Mae Josephine Coughlin. Within just 10 years Al’s name started showing up in the Sports section of the local Newspapers where he was being hailed as a Boxing Promoter. His boss, “Big Jim” was murdered on May 11, 1920, and Al himself was once again suspected of committing the crime. His aforementioned violence had really started to rage from within, and Capone was utterly consumed by it. He was known in the Mobs for his brutality and ruthlessness, often going the extra mile to destroy a rival. During his time spent bootlegging he was said actually to blow people up in their breweries. “I have built my organization upon fear,” he’d proudly proclaim.

Johnny Torrio ran the most important organized crime group in the whole area, and he took Capone under his wing. One of his jobs was to focus on working out deals and the agreements for negotiations over Gang Territory. In January of h1925 Capone suffered an attack that left him wary and daunted, but not seriously hurt, and 12 days later Torrio was also assaulted and was shot multiple times. After he got well Torrio gave all control of the Criminal Organizations to a 26-year-old Capone. He was now the Big Boss and ran everything from the breweries to networks for transportation that stretched into other countries. He did it all with apolitical protection and the support of law enforcement. The people loved him, seeing him as a “Robin Hood” character because of his generous and frequent donations to local charities. After more murders and due to ensuing political wars, the need for protection for the bootleggers had become too, and this made Capone flee Chicago.

It had gotten out that Al allegedly gave Chicago’s Republican party William Hale Thompson $250,000 and supposedly a discussion had opened up about support for the illegal bars and breweries belonging to Capone. He bribed the politician with intentions of taking down Bugs Moran, who was the leader of a rival gang. All of this ushered in the 1929 Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre in which several people were killed when Al ordered a hit out on Bugs and his associates slaughtered seven of Bugs’ men while posing as officers of the law. The victims were ambushed, lined up against a brick wall, and shot to death. It later got out that Capone was responsible for the assassination and the local public who had once so revered Capone for his kindness and charity now saw what a monster he really was, and this resulted in the decision to try to lock him up and throw away the key, beginning Capone’s downfall.

Capone did indeed spend some time in jail for other much smaller crimes but was ultimately granted release when enough convicting evidence could not be found to persecute him. Al was excellent at not leaving traces and often used money orders instead of banks for his more significant transactions. This was so no one could tie money from the Gang’s forbidden bootlegging business in with him, as that’s where most of Al’s unlawful fortune and profits came from. Bent on catching Capone a Prohibition Agent named Eliot Ness assembled a team of trustworthy, steadfast agents who happened to be known as the “Untouchables” as they would not accept bribes and would not allow themselves to be bought off of the case. Ness and his team successfully raided several of Capone’s unlawful “businesses.” During this time Al repeatedly tried in vain to put a hit out on Ness, but it was always a fruitless failure, and Ness was never assassinated. Ultimately Ness was never able to catch Capone for his illegal activities regarding organized crime, but Ness did aid the IRS in popping him for evading his taxes, and he was sent to Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary in May of 1932. Due to suspicions and gossip of his manipulating and trying to bribe or pay off the other inmates, along with stories of him receiving special treatment, Capone was eventually transferred to the notorious Alcatraz Federal Prison. During his stay there, he was the victim of a stabbing incident and was wounded, but lucky for him, the wounds were minor and not fatal in nature.

Al was then transferred from Alcatraz and placed into custody at the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in California where he served the rest of his sentence for contempt of court charge. He spent the last year of his imprisonment in the Alcatraz Prison Hospital. Finally, he was officially released on November 16, 1939. However, by then he was in serious ill-health from the severe untreated case of paresis (or late-stage Syphilis) that he was just a shadow of his former self and became severely lacking in his mental faculties. His brain had literally begun to erode, and he was very pathetic and spent most of his time in confused, bewildered states and was utterly mentally unstable and depressed. Once finally paroled he was referred to a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore who’d examined him and concluded that Capone now only had the mental capacity of a 12-year-old boy. Despite this, Hopkins denied Al any treatment because of the notoriety and severity of his crimes. However, Union Memorial Hospital was willing to accept him, and Capone was so appreciative of their medical care and helped that he even donated two gorgeous Japanese Weeping Cherry Trees to the hospital in 1939.

Capone left the hospital on March 20, 1940, and traveled to Palm Island, Florida where his mansion was located where he spent the remaining days of his life with his wife and grandchildren. He suffered from a Stroke on January 21, 1947. He had started to come around and was recovering until catching pneumonia. He then deteriorated further and went into cardiac arrest on January 22, and just a few days later at 48 years of age Capone died on January 25, 1947, in his home, with his loved ones gathered around him.

We want to learn more about Al Capone because we are inspired by his success, talent, ambition, brute-force, and hardcore lifestyle. If anything, this was a stubborn man who survived for a long time in dangerous circumstances, even after the repeated attempts made to take his life. He may have done it in an entirely unlawful way, but Al Capone was an intelligent and accomplished, high-powered, successful businessman. He had a passion for power and pursued it to the fullest. He’d amassed a very impressive Net Worth of around $100 million as of 1929, which today with inflation considered would be approximately $1.3 billion. Capone once said, quote “I am just a businessman, giving the people what they want. So, it’s time now to take a look at the ultimate Italian Mafioso Archetypal Legend with the 15 things you didn’t know about Al Capone.

Number 1: He was expelled from school for punching a female teacher in her face.

Capone was a good student and did well in his studies, but he disagreed with the strict rules being enforced by his Catholic School. One day when he was just 14 years old he struck a female teacher in the face over a dispute they were having. He was immediately expelled and never returned to finish his education. Instead, he begins joining smaller gangs like the Bowery Boys, the Forty Thieves, and the Brooklyn Rippers. He also took on many odd jobs including working at a bowling alley and a candy sweets store. It was after joining the gangs that he started to become involved in criminal activities which peaked when he met his first mafia mentor a crime boss named, Johnny Torrio. Capone decided to join a more massive gang and teamed up with the notorious Five Points Gang of Manhattan, New York City. From there he became heavily involved in even more illegal and severe activities and began to earn his own renown amongst his criminal peers.

Number 2: He pioneered and opened the very first Soup Kitchen for the poor in Chicago during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that started in the United States and occurred in the 1920s and lasted throughout the late 1930s. It was the most far-reaching financially related epidemic of the entire 20th century. It began due to a nose-dive in stock prices that started at the end of October 1929 and was later appropriately coined as “Black Tuesday.” The effects were severe for both the rich and poor alike when finances from personal income, tax revenue. Profits and prices plummeted, along with International Trade coming in at deep under more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. alone escalated by a devastatingly, nose-bleeding high of 25%, with some countries rising up to 33%. People suffered greatly because there were not enough job sources to meet their basic needs. It was during these high-reaching, despairing times that Al Capone officially opened the first original Soup Kitchens for the poor in his city of Chicago. He was a pioneer who paid for everything to provide food to hungry and starving people who were suddenly without a source of food and rendered without any alternative income source. They literally had nothing, and Capone must have genuinely sympathized with them as he championed for his city’s people and showed an innovative, smart form of compassion and humanitarianism in a time of immense need.

Number 3: Capone grew up impoverished, but his family was law-abiding and respectable people.

Capone’s mother Teresa and his father Gabriele were Italian immigrants who came to America with hopes of making a better life for themselves and their children. They were an everyday, typical type of family and were very hard-working. His father was a barber and his mother a seamstress, and they were honest, folks who followed the law and were very devoted to their Family. Capone was not born into a life of crime, he got into it on his own and worked his way up in the world of criminal organizations. He made new contacts and with the aid of his many mentors, made it all the way to the top of the underground syndicates as a crime boss in a self-made empire that he owned and managed vivaciously.

Number 4: The Prohibition played a significant role in Capone’s amassing his fortune.

The Prohibition and the laws being enforced regarding alcohol consumption that made it so hard to obtain are a big part of how Capone made most of his money. He was so deeply involved with the illegal alcohol industry that he was known for blowing up bars, which he wouldn’t hesitate to do if they refused to buy alcohol from him. He eventually rose to power after his boss Johnny Torrio fled the country and gave control of the bootlegging to him. Capone was quoted as saying, “I am like any other man. All I do is supply a demand.” Despite all of this Capone had also stated to a journalist Howard O’Brien he was actually against Prohibition regardless of what most people thought. “It’s a lousy racket for the retailer, “he complained. “He’s got to work twenty hours a day and spend everything he makes to keep the cops off him.”

Number 5: His Net Worth today is valued at $1.3 billion.

It’s said that Capone was managing over 600 gangsters, all of whom were under his control and who helped to protect his business from rival gangs. Due to inflation, his criminal empire would be worth about $1.3 billion today. He liked to show off his fortune and loved the more beautiful things in life. When entertaining he was known to go all out on everything. He wore the most expensive, flashy clothing and jewelry that he could find and was very obsessed with it. He really enjoyed smoking fine cigars, and he has said to treat guests with experiences worthy of the book “Arabian Nights” and indulging them with silver buckets of iced Piper-Heidsieck from 1915, then platters of food, one after another. Capone’s large mansion at 93 Palm Avenue in Miami Beach, Florida just sold for $7.43 million in August of 2016. As of this date in October 2018, his collections of expensive and valuable items are being sold in an online estate sale. The collection of items for sale include Capone’s premium Diamond jewelry, his coin collection, mink coats, various valuable household items, decorative items like Persian rugs, and even his record collection are all being sold online now for very high amounts. It seems that everything bearing his name or connected to him is worth a lot of money just by the association alone.

Number 6: Capone was stabbed in prison over a haircut.

In 1934 while serving his time at Alcatraz prison, his swagger almost got him killed. After being sent transferred to the jail for being accused of receiving special treatment from the last one he was in, Capone still acted like he owned the place. Just one week after arriving at Alcatraz Capone allegedly tried to cut in line in front of about a dozen or so other inmates during prison haircuts, but one guy just wasn’t having it. A convicted bank robber, James Lucas took Capone’s disrespect and sense of entitlement badly, and he reacted by walking right up to Capone, grabbed him by the throat and told him to knock it off. When Capone boldly asked him, “Do you know who I am?” Lucas lost it and replied, “I know who you are grease ball. And if you don’t get back to the end of that fucking line, I’m gonna know who you were.” After which Lucas proceeded to stab Capone in his back and face with a broken pair of scissors. Lucky for the Capone the wounds were just superficial, not fatal, but his attitude of entitlement nearly got him killed that day.

Number 7: Capone was responsible for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago in 1929 where at least 15 were killed.

Capone couldn’t maintain his professional businessman appearance forever, and on Valentine’s Day in 1929 he ordered his men to dress as police officers and round up rival mob boss, Bugs Moran’s men against a brick wall after ambushing them, and Capone’s men did as he’d ordered and shot to death seven members of Moran’s gang. About 70 rounds or so of ammunition had been fired and ended their lives. The assassinations were discovered by the Chicago police from the 36th District investigated, and while it was said that Capone had ordered the murders, it could not be proven. However, when the story hit newspapers and media people worldwide were shocked by the brutality of the massacre and begin to see Capone for the violent killer that he actually was rather than the friendly, successful and wealthy businessman who’d started a soup kitchen and donated to charities. This marked his downfall as the public demanded justice and the law begins working on ways to get enough evidence of his criminal activities so that he could be imprisoned for his viciously vile crimes.

Number 8: He was dubbed “Public Enemy №1” by Newspapers, and a legal investigation was launched against him.

The story of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and Capone did not sit well with anyone, and the Newspapers continued to report on it. The scandal ran deep and was a popular topic in the city and even nationwide. People demanded justice, so the government acted and launched an investigation into Capone’s criminal activities. When he failed to show up for court after being subpoenaed in March 1929, a warrant was put out on him, and police arrested him on charges of Contempt of Court. Capone immediately posted bond and was released but was detained again in May for carrying concealed weapons. He served nine months in prison when he was released on good behavior. In February 1931 he was sentenced to six months in jail for the contempt of court charges. Frustrated investigators couldn’t find enough evidence to lock him up for his committed crimes and an investigation was opened against Capone by the U.S. Treasury Department who later on found enough evidence to have him charged with Tax Evasion and this resulted in him being charged with it and then sentenced to 11 years in prison in June 1931.

Number 9: His family brought out the soft spot hidden within Capone, and he was a bit of a mama’s boy.

In spite of the hard exterior, Capone had a soft center, and it was his deep love for his family. He loved his wife, his children, his grandchildren, and most of all his mother. He’d remarked to Journalist Howard O’Brien that he never wanted his own boys to get mixed up in the criminal racket that he was involved with. In his office were framed pictures of his family, and during an interview with O’Brien he was, he was overheard as referring to himself as a “kid” when he spoke to his wife on the phone. Later when his mother also called, Capone put her as a priority and began to speak Italian while he talked with her. In a letter that he wrote to his son from prison, he told him to stay strong and that he really wanted to see his son and his wife again. He signed the letter with, “Love and Kisses, Your Dear Dad Alphonse Capone, #85.”

Number 10: Capone was very into refined fashion and collected suits and jewelry to show off his wealth.

Capone was known for buying the most expensive, lavish things that he could find. One of his favorite indulgences was his stylized appearance, so he often bought, collected, and wore expensive suits, clothing, and jewelry. He always had a very ornamented appearance, and his suits alone were imported from Italy and cost him $500 each, which now would be valued at about $6,500. He would adorn these with white pocket squares and accessorize them with precious jewelry such as Diamond pinky rings, platinum jewelry, jewel-encrusted watches, and much more. Recently in 2017, this gangster’s diamond and platinum pocket watch was sold in an auction for an astounding $84,375.

Number 11: Capone has become the Archetypal icon of a hardcore Mobster and has lived on through print and film.

In 1932 a movie loosely based around Capone was released, it was the original first version of the well-known, very popular “Scarface” films. The movie was such a hit that Director Oliver Stone later re-made it into the version that we all know and love today which was released in December of 1983. There is news going around about another, an updated version of “Scarface” coming out, but it does not currently have a solid release date though at first Universal Studios claimed that it would hit theaters in August 2018. The movie is being done by a new director and actors and is being highly anticipated by “Scarface” lovers the world over.

Number 12: Tom Hardy to Star as Al Capone in the upcoming film “Fonzo.”

Tom Hardy is so good at playing the villain that he’s been cast as Al Capone in the upcoming new movie “Fonzo” created by writer-director Josh Trank. This was announced in August 2018, just two months ago and is being highly anticipated by fans. It truly goes to show that legends never die. “Fonzo” will be focused around the icons battles with dementia after serving nearly 10 years in prison. It does not currently have a release date, but when Fandango tweeted about it, they announced that we could expect it in 2019. (The tweet was later deleted.) Regardless, the news of its release has excited and delighted “Scarface” and Al Capone fans everywhere, and people are eager to see this new portrayal of the Mob Boss Mafioso. Pictures have been released with Tom Hardy dressed in character, and they’ve become trendy.

Number 13: Capone used to get bags upon bags of fan mail, literally up to two thousand letters each week.

Capon has always been a robust popular personality, and when he was alive and at his criminal peak he used to get movie-star good-sized bags of it, receiving about two thousand letters each week. He was quite popular, plus he never shied away from the media but instead seemed to enjoy being in the spotlight. He often did photoshoots and interviews like the one he did for Variety in 1931. This edition featured the title “Capone Kids Gang Films” and was written by Lou Greenspan. The focus of the piece was the mob boss’s reaction to all of the gangster films that were being released at that time. He has a lot of fans, and they seemed enthralled by him, and that fascination has endured for decades, making him a supremely favorite gangster mob boss and an icon that is sure to live on in our hearts, minds, and culture forever.

Number 14: Capone’s long untreated case of late-stage Syphilis is eroded his brain and was what eventually majorly contributed to his death at the early age of just 48.

Capone had the disease of Syphilis, most likely contracted at a brothel that he ran. (Although he loved his wife he was still a philanderer with a hefty addition to women and sex.) The disease could have been cured with Penicillin, but he never received or sought out any type of treatment, and the condition significantly contributed to his fast detention in prison. During his last year at Alcatraz, he was staying in the prison’s hospital because he deteriorated so quickly, both in health and in mind. The severe case of late-stage Syphilis was eroding his brain, and when he was examined by a doctor it was discovered that his brain had suffered so much damage from the paresis that he was now left with the mental faculties of a 12-year-old boy and his mental health was also failing him. He spent much of his time in a confused, disoriented state of psychosis and was severely ill. Capone had a stroke in January of 1947 and was slowly recovering and regaining consciousness when he contracted pneumonia, It was downhill from there, and he died three days later, on January 25, 1947, at his mansion in Florida surrounded by his family. The official cause of death was cardiac arrest.

Number 15: Capone made the Mafia look attractive and cool which has gotten him a loyal fan-base and some major crime organizations of today are only active because of him.

Capone impacted the world by birthing a new, more refreshing image of an Italian Gangster crime boss, and thanks to him, some new major crime organizations have him to thank for them still being around. He fed the dirty underbelly of the criminal underground, and to this date, his stomping grounds in Chicago continue to suffer and have of the most considerable crime rates in the US to this very day. His legacy lives on in the hearts, minds, and fears of others. Gangs still fight over the same territories that he had done negotiations on when he was the reigning supreme king of the underground. We’ve seen groups and that particular street culture become increasingly popular, and rather than disgust its greeted with a response of ever-increasing fans who think that Capone was a sensational, bigger than life personality and actually even envy or look up to him. His memory will forever live on, in the works that he did, the violence which he committed, and the flashy executive style that he dressed in. Our culture sees him as a pop icon of sorts and idolizes him. He did one good thing for the world by creating his Soup Kitchen, as it inspired the entire United States to start offering this service to the poor and hungry in each State from then on. Capone’s memory has not even begun to fade, and he is majorly responsible for our present-day culture seeing criminals in a much more relaxed, glorious, “larger than life” light rather than as the villains, scoundrels, and thieves who break the law for their own benefit. “Scarface” was so iconic that he will never truly die, as his actions have painted and tainted history with blood, gore, and gang violence that will stick with us to the end of time. Al Capone himself said, “Once you’re in the racket, you’re always in it.”

There you have it, some interesting lesser-known facts about the Mafioso Boss, Al Capone. Now that you’ve learned more about Capone, we’d like to know: Which one of his actions or qualities stands out most to you? Do you think that Capone really sympathized with the charities that he donated to due to his poor beginnings, or do you think he did it just to present the image that he wanted to portray to the public? Let us know in the comments.

Still here? Here’s a bonus fact just for you.

Number 16: He was called “Snorky” as a nick-name by his closest friends.

Despite being renowned for his famous nickname “Scarface,” his best friends and those close to Capone actually affectionately called him “Snorky.” The definition of the word snorky is ritzy, flashy, a sharp dresser, and a fashionable, elegant person. He certainly was a very snazzy dresser and fit that description perfectly. Capone liked the term, and he wished to be known by it instead of “Scarface” as he felt that it expressed and emphasized his image as the wealthy and successful businessman that he always had wished to be seen as.

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mutantsrisingrpg · 4 years

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Congratulations DEDE! You’ve been accepted as KERBEROS.

Dede, your app blew me away! It was really all in the little details that made Lucila Luca feel like a fully fleshed-out character. From what her family thinks she does for a living to how she got involved with the mob, I really got a feel for the things in her life that showed me how much thought you put into this app. You also really showed her voice throughout all of it, so I have no doubt that you’ll bring justice to this firecracker! I really think you put it best when you wrote “What her power can’t make her, she has to make herself - if you can’t be special because of what you can, you have to make who you are stand out,” and stand out she does!

Welcome to Mutants Rising! Please read the checklist and submit your account within 24 hours.

Out of Character Information:

NAME/ALIAS: Dede.

PRONOUNS: She/her/hers.

AGE: 18.

TIMEZONE & ACTIVITY LEVEL: CET (GMT+1); school’s getting much less busy now, so I’ll be able to be on most days.

In Character Information:

DESIRED ROLE: Luca Mendoza / Kerberos.

GENDER/PRONOUNS: Cis female, she/her/hers.

DETAILS & ANALYSIS:

The power Luca Mendoza was graced with puts her in a specific position. A copycat. Never the original, the first, never unique. Always second fiddle, always mimicking, always in someone’s shadow. All she has, she gets from someone else. What her power can’t make her, she has to make herself - if you can’t be special because of what you can, you have to make who you are stand out. And make herself stand out she does - the human equivalent of a flashbang grenade, louder than those around her, more in your face, a fake explosion scaring spectators with no actual danger present, unbeknownst to them. And then, after this scare, after everyone already thinks themselves safe, there comes the actual strike - precise and deadly. Luca’s a hitman, or rather hitwoman, and she knows what she’s doing. The job itself is very satisfying to her - find target, eliminate them, quick, clean, effective. Visible, simple results. It’s not a profession that makes you liked, it’s not a lifestyle that makes you liked, it’s not an attitude that makes you liked. But does she care that much? As long as there’s fun to be had, the gang ladder to be climbed and attention to be sucked up and to get a high from, the kind of the attention isn’t that important.

But not everything in the Jem Family’s resident hitwoman’s life is so nice and rosy - and what frustrates Luca and keeps fueling the raging, scorching hot fire that she can feel burning inside her at all times is very well shown through her own gang-assigned alias. Kerberos. A three-headed dog guarding the gates of hell. Always serving someone, a master, never coming into his own. Of lesser importance. Stuck in an eternity of inertia, of arrested development. And that’s exactly what her main problem with the Jem life is. She feels as though there’s virtually no opportunities for upward mobility here - she’s stuck and trapped in her position, which although satisfying on its own, is not all it could be when faced with the opportunities given to others in the family. She wants to go up, climb the ladder, become important. Maybe then people will see just how capable she is.

BIO: tw: drugs, alcohol, murder, in no particular order.

She is the bright flash of fireworks but with a bang twice as loud. Oh-so-ordinary Chicago teenager Lucila Prudencia Mendoza is walking up the stairs to the apartment her friend Natalia along with her parents inhabit, having just finished class. She can hear Nat excitedly skipping way ahead, now on another flight of stairs and completely out of sight because of the speed difference. When they finally reach the seventh floor, while a little annoyed, Luci isn’t exhausted - guess three hours a week of soccer practice help. “Now, what did you want to show me?” she asks, significantly less grumpy and even excited now that she’s inside the other girl’s room, feeling the refreshingly cool air gently touching her, so incredibly welcome after the scorching heat of this year’s May. Instead of replying immediately, her friend sits down on the ground and gestures for her to do the same before speaking at last. “You can’t tell anyone about this, promise?” Lucila rolls her eyes. “It can’t be that serious- Okay, okay, I promise”, she corrects herself, seeing Nat’s expression. “Just spit it out, will you?” She expects a reply, but she gets something else- the other raising her hand a bit, pointing it in the opposite direction from Luci, towards the open window. After a second of stillness, just when Lucila’s about to ask what this whole ordeal is about, they appear - small, flashing sparkles, akin to fireworks or sparklers. The girl stares at them in awe for a small while, before they slowly disappear. She turns to her friend. “So… yeah”, Nat speaks, and by doing so frankly destroys the magic of the moment. Luci is touching her friend’s arm, unable to speak, and at the same time has a million questions. How? How long did Natalia know? Could she, Luci, do the same thing too? Still at a loss for words, she decides to answer that last one herself - focusing hard, she feels an itch in her hand, and here they are - sparkles all her own. They both continue sitting there for some time, speechless.

She is the scent of brimstone in the air, a sign the end of the world is to come. Luci has become an adult, Luca, by now - new year, new me, or however the bullshit motivational saying goes. No criminal with any sense of self-respect and/or dignity would ever have others refer to them as Lucila or, even more, Luci, although her parents still insisted on it even after she took the legal steps to change it. Typical. After all, the aforementioned occupational reason could not be presented to them - every, or almost every, family would rather think their daughter’s a pub bartender than that she kills people for money. But after falling into lots of debt with all the wrong people, which was frankly life-destroying, and roughly figuring out the way her mutant powers could be used to replicate the abilities of others she’s familiar with enough, she had little options to choose from. When you owe money to a gang, you don’t just sit on your ass on your mother’s sofa and hope they’ll forget about it. You take measures to make that cash. Measures that can be extremely risky and stupid, like the ones she’s taking right now - climbing a fire exit on the side of the building she’s going to be doing business in tonight. She finally reaches the right window, double-checking the number of floors above her just to be sure. Anyone else would have to smash the glass or pick the lock, but not her, thanks to a friend. She simply slips in through the window like a horror movie spectre, standing behind the man inside. “Good evening, sir”, she says in a happy tone, before raising her hand and pulling the trigger on her pistol.

She is the first bite into a spicy dish, the heat seemingly nonexistent until it hits harshly and painfully. Luca’s slender fingers, adorned with black sloppily painted nails, are rolling a dollar bill she just found in her - emptier and emptier by the second - wallet. Putting it in the proximity of a meticulously prepared, snow white, thin line of cocaine on the bar counter, she snorts with all the professionalism she could possibly have retained, being as intoxicated as she is. Raising her head, she makes eye contact with the bartender and opens her mouth, about to ask for another shot of vodka, when someone - presumably a waiter - taps her on the shoulder. Turning, she sees the waitress she expected, who, in turn rather unexpectedly, is holding some fancy schmancy colorful cocktail in her hand and clearly handing it over to Luca. “Thanks?” she says, accentuating the word like the question it undoubtedly is. “Courtesy of the gentleman in the corner”, the woman replies, pointing to a man sitting alone at a faraway table. Raising her eyebrows, Luca nods with a smirk before sampling the drink. It seems fairly bland and flavorless for a second, before hitting her with an inferno of spicy tastes that makes her eyes water. “What the hell was this supposed to be?” she muses to herself, as the waitress is long gone. Deciding to get up, she walks up to the corner table she was shown before. The man there hasn’t moved, looking at her with a slight smile. “Listen, man, I don’t sleep with people for drinks in general, but if you really wanted to try, at least make it-”she begins and is interrupted by the man’s chuckle. “You misunderstood. Wildly.” Her expression must be outright confused and suspicious, as he continues. “Damien Matthews. I’m here to present an opportunity that I think you might be interested in.” Still wary, she nonetheless slowly drops into the seat opposite him, listening carefully, especially so after she’s assured it’s not a ploy to sell her something like a household appliance she doesn’t need.

The thing that makes you strong will be your undoing - she’ll ensure it.

EXPANDED CONNECTIONS:

Angela. While Luca usually prefers to be frank and straightforward, there are some things she would never admit publicly. Among these is her, to put it in maybe a bit extreme of a way, years-long obsession with Ganymede. The Jem Family underboss is just exactly who Luca wants to be. Well-respected by most, if not all, always counting in decision-making, and above all important. Angela matters, and Luca’s itched to matter for so long. The underboss was, at first, quite the friendly presence to Kerberos, Luca would even consider her a friend to some extent, but over the years her feelings shifted dramatically as she encountered Angela, stable in her apparent weakness, and virtually unmovable, right in the way of her rise to the top among the Jems. If Luca ever manages to surpass Ganymede in power and position, it would be the achievement of her life. Maybe then she could finally take off the Angela dartboard she’s had on her bedroom wall for years, now adorned with thousands of marks left by darts thrown in (frequent in this life of hers) moments of anger and frustration.

Jackson. Less fire and ice, more yin and yang, or perhaps, if you prefer your comparisons pop culture-y, captain Kirk and mister Spock, Kerberos and Janus may be opposites, but instead of clashing, these opposites complete each other. Luca’s life is filled with rage, adrenaline and not the most positive of emotions, and she finds it oh-so-refreshing to be able to get a coffee, to just talk and be listened to, not to be diminished. It’s almost akin to putting one’s forehead up against a cold window during a migraine, the coolness soothingly easing the pain. A conversation with Jackson is just what Luca needs after a hard day of killing, or, to put it more elegantly, eliminating people. Just a nice cup of an iced beverage, a comfortable chair and the amazing feeling of not being judged.

EXTRA: mock blog / pinterest / spotify.

headcanons:

Luca prefers to be referred to as ‘hitwoman’ instead of ‘hitman’ - as she herself says, ‘what women do is already being erased from the world, at least give us proper credit when describing the profession.’ Mutant supremacy ideologies and the fight for women’s equal rights would seem to contradict, but then again, it’s not like Kerberos particularly cares anyways.

She was born under the name Lucila Mendoza, but adopted the form Luca as she considered Lucila to be somewhat infantile for her taste. Barely anyone knows about this fact, the very few exceptions being Damien and her birth family. She’s considering telling someone in the gang - but she doesn’t quite trust them enough yet. It might be a dumb secret, but a symbolic one, too.

She has one tattoo, on the inside of her left thigh, stating her mutant risk level in black uppercase letters - she counts this as her mandatory ID, and enjoys watching the policemen’s facial expressions while she’s in front of them going “oh, of course, officer, let me just pull my pants down, just a second-”.

Luca’s left-handed, but has trained herself to use both her dominant and non-dominant hand with more or less equal skill, making her an adept juggler. It’s not an ability that proves particularly useful in her daily gang life, but has time and time again proved invaluable in entertaining her companions when needed.

ANYTHING ELSE: Nope, I’m good! Hope to soon become a part of this great rp!

#accepted #accepted: kerberos

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lokgifsandmusings · 7 years

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Do you have any thoughts on Katara basically getting shafted in the comics? In AtLA, she's everything a strong female character should be, but in the comics and to a lesser extent in LoK, she's basically reduced to Aang's girlfriend/wife.

Yeah, I don’t feel very positive about it. I think in LoK a lot of her scripting had to do with someone as stately as Eva Marie Saint being the VA. It’s a complete guess on my end, but I’d just think her availability wasn’t quite so open. I also assume Bryke planned her to be the only Gaang member still alive (“my friends are gone”), so it really didn’t become a major major issue until Zuko and Toph were super active. It’s not unthinkable that a woman her age would have wanted to retire to her home, especially given its economic development and new position in the world.

Plus, her Book 4 conversation with Korra kind of framed everything, so it’s hard being too indignant. I think they could have been a bit more inventive with her story after Aang died, and it’s disappointing, but I also love the whole flawed parenting aspect, though I know that’s a little divisive.

With regards to the comics, I just think Yang never had a handle on her character at all. And I have my own thoughts too about why she feels so...desaturated. Like, she does stuff at times, but none of it feels right at all.

However, my thoughts would be viewed as ship war material. And. Idk, can we still be friends? Below the cut is going to be some stuff that is not positive when it comes to the match of Aang and Katara. I’m not interested in yelling at anyone who ships it or saying much more beyond this, but I just want to lay out my own subjective opinion, which I’ve mostly held in because like...Tenzin/Kya/Bumi are everything and I also don’t want to be a butt. But it’s been flippin’ 9 years at this point.

I’ve spoken before on why when rewatching ATLA, the relationship between Katara and Aang really doesn’t work for me. I get why it works for some! It’s ~nice~ and built on mutual affection and support. But for me, it ignores too much of Katara’s headspace (or glosses over it) to be comfortable. I also always felt, and there’s just nothing to this assertion besides subjective taste, that there was zero spark between them. Their relationship came across to me as more familial to me than anything else.

Here’s the thing though. As someone who’s been writing ATLA/LOK fic for a bit now, I’ve learned that you have to let the characters take a bit of control. You hear them, and you feel what’s right in that moment. So, for example, there is absolutely no organic way to write a Korrasami breakup. You could create a ridiculous situation (like Asami randomly cheating), but then that’s not born out of those characters either. Even when I tried to write a stupid fight in a fic I never was planning on making, I couldn’t have it be not completely affirming and nice and quickly resolved.

It’s the same reason it’s very hard to write Toph and Sokka without banter, or Mako and Asami (post Book 3) without awkwardness, Bumi without crippling guilt, or Bolin without logorrhea. The characters just drag you in a direction.

I have not found Katara+Aang to be organic. AT ALL. Like...I can’t write them without major major issues. And I have the LoK canon to go on which is helpful, because clearly that was a flawed relationship. So for Potato Sack and Kanto, I had what was clearly strains for them, and a bit of distance between them. They both want to want each other and be with each other, and Aang is conflict-avoidant enough that they could stay together on those merits alone, but it wouldn’t be particularly...easy? Or natural? Or even romantic.

My own opinion, and I’ve talked with Griffin (@progmanx) extensively about this (not to throw him under the bus too, but having another fic author to talk about this with helps so much), is that writing the comics that have Katara and Aang still only a couple years removed from the finale events at most is a really weird experience. It’s a difficult one, even. You can’t actually have them engage in any substantial way, or have any type of conflict, really, because it just... It’s so fragile. They are not characters that allow it to feel like an organically-derived romantic couple.

So the only way I see to really make it work is to have watered down personalities and lots of pet names. Katara as Katara in the show? She’d have had a lot of different reactions to the events of the comics.

The Promise was probably the most successful attempt at giving her anything, because she did challenge Aang’s views, but it was contextualized by her baby-making desire, and very like, personally motivated. Katara usually doesn’t put herself in the equation that much, and instead fights for the collective good. It’s weird; she had a point, but there was just this “oh, that’s why?” element. Though I suppose if she had sided earlier, she would have been on Zuko’s side pretty immediately, and that’s... Yeah. Keep those two characters apart if you’re trying to push Katara+Aang. Just saying.

I know plenty of people see something to the pairing that I don’t, and that’s great that they get something out of it. I never saw anything to Korra+Mako aside from hormones and teenage spirit (though at least they had that), but clearly that’s not the case for everyone. I’m just saying what feels natural. And in my opinion, Yang had an uphill battle from the start.

#ramblings #okay that's done #I promise I won't post more anti-ktng stuff now that I've said that #anonymous #asks

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