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overobsessedfanboy23 · 2 years

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My Biggest Problem With VRAINS

Spoilers: It’s this guy:

And I know that’s not a particularly popular take but I’m sorry, Revolver pisses me off. I don’t know if I’d quite call him the worst character in all of Yugioh (he certainly has his moments) but he is the most frustrating. Because there was a good character buried somewhere in there that just… never came to fruition for me.

(This ended up being very long, as I expected. Honestly steer clear of this one if racism/bigotry/homophobia/transphobia or anything of that vein are triggering topics for you. The Ignis are a race and Revolver hates them all for existing, so I think my use of the word “racist” is justified and necessary for my explanations but I understand it’s a triggering topic.)

At first, Revolver was perfectly fine.

(As a character that is. That first avatar design was ugly as shit.)

He’s an effective first villain of the show, the leader of the Knights of Hanoi who were straight up terrorizing Link VRAINS, which only Playmaker had the strength/courage to fight against. He’s aided by Ai, a rare AI with free will (or an Ignis) that we learn later was created by Douchebag Kogami- oh, I mean Ryoken’s father to be the successor to humanity. Blah blah blah you guys know the history. This is where my problems with Revolver start. His father is clearly clearly in the wrong. He kidnapped and tortured six children for six months to create the six Ignis…

And then he fears that humanity will resent the Ignis and go to war with them. AND THEN GET THIS.

HE RESENTS THE IGNIS AND GOES TO WAR WITH THEM.

He’s evil and bad, no one in the show tries to say otherwise. Except Revolver.

He doesn’t justify torturing the kids thankfully. He was the one who put a stop to that and that landed his father in jail which… admittedly yes that would weigh on an eight year old and possibly screw them up for life. It doesn’t surprise me that Revolver ended up so messed up. It doesn’t excuse it but it does make sense and could’ve been really interesting if they’d bothered to explore that.

No, what pisses me off to no end with this character is that not only does he believe his father’s shitty “all the Ignis should die” rhetoric but how he never bends on that belief throughout the rest of the show, not once. It’s fine in season one, because he’s the villain. His actions against Link VRAINS and humanity are very clearly put in the wrong in that season, and by extension, so is his visceral hatred of the Ignis. It’s in season two when this becomes a problem. Because he didn't come back as a villain, he came back as an anti hero, or morally grey, whichever. So… he’s at least partially in the right now so him retaining this visceral hatred of the Ignis throughout every appearance he has in the show is presented as… a debatable topic. And this is the thing that makes me hate him. Because to put it simply, Revolver is a racist. He hates the entire Ignis race because of what they are and what he thinks they could do. It’s the very definition of bigotry:

Imagine some of Revolver’s quotes about how all Ignis are terrible and will lead to the end of humanity if they aren’t stopped only with the word “Ignis” were replaced by “gays” or something to that extent and you now have the slightest idea of the white hot rage that boils within me when I see this pathetic excuse for a man.

With all that being said, Revolver’s stubborn refusal to change his beliefs on the Ignis would honestly work.

IF HE WERE DEPICTED IN THE WRONG FOR IT.

The other characters (mainly Yusaku and Takeru) argue with him about it but the very narrative of the show itself only ever reinforces Revolver’s horrible backwards racist beliefs. There are plenty of moments throughout season two where his beliefs about the Ignis are proven wrong, moments that I thought were setting up him coming to realise he was wrong to generalise the Ignis as a species.

The moments:

-Ai, Flame, and Aqua vowing to fight for humanity at Revolver’s side despite Revolver saying to their faces that he would kill them all after

-Flame and Aqua straight up dying protecting humanity (which he definitely saw, they all did)

-HIM LEARNING THAT THOSE FUTURES HIS FATHER SAW WHERE THE IGNIS KILLED THEM ALL WERE ONLY CAUSED BY LIGHTNING. SOMETHING HE NOT ONLY FULLY UNDERSTANDS BUT WAS THE ONE TO EXPLAIN.

BUT WE JUST CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS CAN WE?! Because the very next time we see him after he comes back from being fucking dead, (BEFORE AI’S ATTACKS ON HUMANITY NEED I ADD) he says this insulting shit:

(This is right after the Bohman duel by the way. Poor Takeru basically just lost Flame and is having to deal with this shit)

And this is the scene that broke my fucking patience. He’s been given reason after reason to stop believing this crap but instead, he doubles down on it and refuses to change. Ever. And then what is this scene followed by?!

AN IGNIS ATTACKING HUMANITY AND PROVING HIS BELIEFS RIGHT. This show basically made a character racist, gave him plenty of reasons to stop being racist, had him refuse to stop being racist, and then proved that he was right to be racist all along. WHY THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS GUY A FAN FAVOURITE?!

Also, he repeatedly refers to the Ignis as “its”:

Even when the other characters start to use he/him pronouns (or she/her for Aqua) and it feels like he’s calling them objects or god forbid doing that thing trasphobes do to transgender people and OH MY GOD I WANT TO PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE.

So… as you can tell, my annoyance of this character is… very personal and emotionally charged. But there’s more. Oh boy there’s more. Because Revolver being a fucking piece of shit doesn’t just fuck with his character, it fucks with the very themes of this show. It doesn't completely ruin them but hear me out: Yusaku, our beloved main character, believes that there can be peace between AI and humans, that they can coexist. This show ends… with every AI with complete free will dead, which was Ryoken’s goal. Ryoken isn’t even punished in the end for all that he did (guarding Link VRAINS isn’t a punishment). He got exactly what he wanted and his bigoted views were never called into question or presented in the wrong after season one which is AWFUL.

I mentioned a while ago that if they permanently killed Ai, this is the message they would be sending:

And… yeah, they still kinda did. Not completely (Blood Shepherd, Queen, and Go Onizuka were never justified, that still stands) and I still absolutely love Ai’s villain arc and Yusaku and Ai’s final duel and all the emotions between them. Ai only ever fell to villainy because he was terrified he would eventually become the monster horrible fucks like Ryoken believed he would. Well, that and wanting to prevent Yusaku’s death. The show doesn’t say that all AI with free will are evil and want to take over humanity but it doesn’t say Ryoken is wrong to believe that either which is where my main problem arises. And this could’ve been fixed. Like I said, Ryoken seemed to be coming around a bit during his death. Why not just cut that scene in the season 3 premiere where he goes back on what little growth he showed? It wouldn’t completely fix everything but it would at least help.

So… Ryoken makes some of the themes of VRAINS a complete mess. Not all of them. For some reason, I really like some of his more… philosophical quotes. I don’t know why, I just think they’re cool:

That’s kind of a VRAINS thing in general but Revolver in particular has quite a few of these quotes. He’s even a character archetype I like. Trust me when I say I wanted to like this character, I was actually excited for his return in season 2 at first and gave him plenty of chances to be a developed character. And… yeah he did develop but… not in a way that mattered if I’m being honest. I have no idea why Yusaku cuts him as much slack as he does. I have never once understood their “bond,” Ryoken will not bend on his hatred of Yusaku’s partner and told Yusaku to his face he regretted saving his life and giving him hope. So by the time season 3 came along I just… fucking snapped.

But Ryoken had potential. I mentioned a while ago that I’m writing a post-VRAINS story and Ryoken’s in it… well… it’s not done yet, so I’ll just say now that hope I’m able to do this character justice.

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luxaofhesperides · 5 months

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We Are Robins meeting to Signal apprehending Danny ; requested by @zylev-blog!

“Hey, Danny. How are you feeling?”

Danny gives Duke a tired smile, his head falling back against the wall. He’s sitting up today, which is good. It’s definitely an improvement from the many days Danny was unable to do much but lie down and grit his teeth through the pain as Duke checked on the gunshot wound. It’s a good thing Danny’s a meta with a healing factor, or nothing Duke could have done would have saved him.

As it is, the wound was severe enough to keep Danny vulnerable and unable to move on his own without making it worse. Though Duke has looked, he hasn’t had any luck in finding whoever did this to Danny. He hasn’t brought it up to the rest of the We Are Robin gang, but only because Danny only let him help if he kept it between the two of them.

What’s another secret? If it lets him stay close to Danny and make sure he’s healing well, then he’ll keep quiet and carry on the search by himself. He’s got plenty of practice in doing things on his own.

“Busy out there?” Danny asks as Duke sits down next to him, dropping his backpack onto the ground.

“Yeah, it’s tough with the cops after us, but someone needs to help Gotham and with Batman gone…”

A pained expression crossed Danny’s face. Eyeing him carefully, Duke opened his backpack and pulled out a few protein bars and sports drinks for him. Once Danny takes them and began eating one, Duke takes out the first aid kit, always kept at the bottom of the backpack, and sets it in front of Danny.

The most he can do is offer supplies and company at this stage of Danny’s healing. He gets twitchy and tense when Duke tries to tend to his wound, and seems to have plenty of practice in patching himself up.

He didn’t answer when Duke commented on it once, so Duke let the matter drop.

Metas may have legal protection, but that doesn’t stop people from targeting them. Duke has no intention of pushing Danny into remembering unpleasant things while he’s already wounded, hiding out in the upper corner of an abandoned warehouse taken over by a group of homeless people. Most aren’t inside during the day, choosing instead to be out with the rest of the city, which leaves them alone.

Duke keeps an eye on the ground floor of the warehouse, making sure no one comes in while Danny tends to his wound. When he peeks back, he can see that it’s much smaller than it was the night Duke found him, crawling down an alley with one hand clutching his side, tears slipping down his face. There had been so much blood that Duke was sure he had just stumbled upon someone dying and froze, horrified.

And then a shout down the road prompted him to move, hauling Danny up and helping him into the warehouse to hide.

For a normal person, if it didn’t kill them, the wound would still be raw and bleeding, larger than any gunshot wound he’s seen before. But Danny’s wound is closing up quickly, no longer bleeding, the edges a healing pink.

It doesn’t look like it’s going to scar, either.

“Think it’ll be all healed up by the end of the week?”

Danny glances up, then continues covering it with new bandage, large enough to cover the entire wound. “Hopefully,” he says. “Then I’ll be out of your hair and can figure out a way to get home.”

“Your folks gonna look out for you?”

“Probably. I’m not planning on telling them, though, since they’ll get way too overprotective. The only reason they’re not tearing Gotham apart looking for me is because I came here with my godfather and he told them we’d be gone for two weeks. Can’t believe he tried to kill me on day one…”

“Your godfather tried to kill you?”

“Yeah. Not personally, or anything, but he definitely hired the guy who shot me. Though he also yelled at him for shooting me? Not sure what that’s about, but I never trusted the guy and he didn’t try to help me afterwards when I ran away, so. You know.”

Duke wants to have a conversation with Danny’s godfather. Maybe bring the other Robins along to make sure the message sinks in: Don’t touch Danny.

But Danny, acting so casual about his godfather trying to kill him, would be unhappy about it, and Duke would really rather be able to take care of him than be shut out for trying to take control of the situation.

“Shit, man, that sucks,” he offers, instead of prying for details so he can hunt down his godfather. “You want a hug or something? I can’t really do much else, but if it can make you feel better about all this…”

Danny brightens and shoves the first aid kit away, his shirt (one of Duke’s old ones he offered up to replace the bloodstained one) falling to cover the bandage. “Please. I would love a hug, dude, I don’t remember the last time I felt so lonely.”

Carefully, Duke wraps his arms around Danny, leaning back so Danny could relax fully and not worry about holding himself up. Danny sighs into the hug, going fully limp as he drops his forehead onto Duke’s shoulder.

“Thanks for this. And everything,” Danny says some time later. He doesn’t move to pull away, so Duke stays as he is, watching the weak sunlight slowly move across the warehouse as it spills in from dirty windows.

“You don’t need to thank me. I mean, I’m a Robin.” He brings up a hand to tap a finger against the R embroidered into his jacket. “It’s what we’re here for.”

It’s been years since he saw Danny. After he was fully healed, Duke helped him get to city limits, watching as he boarded a bus and disappeared down the road, leaving his life just as suddenly as he entered it.

After spending so much time together, quiet hours of stillness just looking out for each other, his life feels emptier without Danny in it. He knew it wouldn’t last, that Danny would go home eventually, but it didn’t make the parting any easier.

Even now, as Signal, taking a break from going on missions with the Outsiders to spend some time with the Bats, his thoughts drift towards Danny, wondering if he’s alright. In his darker moments, he wonders if Danny’s godfather has tried to kill him again, if he’s succeeded. In calmer, happier moments, he remembers Danny’s quiet stories about his family, his town, all his dreams and hopes for the future, remembers the easy company and how Danny didn’t look at him with pity when talked about his parents, just quiet and contemplative.

Sometimes, he can’t resist the urge to look him up, but there are so many Danny’s out there that he doesn’t know where to start. He never got Danny’s last name or learned when he came from.

It’s not like he can just ask the Bats for help finding a guy he knew for two weeks before he ever joined them. They’re all busy with their own missions, and definitely don’t have time for Duke’s reminiscing.

“Just caught sight of the truck entering city limits,” Oracle says in his ear. “It’s heading towards the Coventry.”

“On it. Any movement from the mobs?”

“None yet. I expect this to change soon. Red Hood and Black Bat are patrolling nearby if you need backup.”

“Got it. Signal out.”

His comline shuts with a little click, and then he’s grappling over the roof tops, keeping an eye on the roads in search of the truck. He doesn’t have time to think of Danny anymore, not when a shipment of new, experimental weapons is passing through Gotham. Spoiler had heard a few whispers of it and Red Robin helped find more solid details; the mobs are all looking to take the shipment for themselves in an attempt to get the upper hand in the nonstop fight for control of Gotham’s streets.

It’s passing through during the day, visible and a good move to keep from being ambushed at night, but it’s not enough to stop mobs hoping to take out their competition with new weapons. Duke enters the Coventry just as his comline beeps once and Oracle begins giving him specific directions, along with a brief description of what the truck looks like.

Apparently, the weapons are being moved in a U-Haul rental truck. That is… certainly a Choice™ to make for moving weapons around the country.

He follows it from the rooftops, but nothing happens. The truck passes through the Coventry without incident and takes a turn that keeps it away from Crime Alley and the Bowery. It gets to the middle of East End then pulls to a stop in the parking lot of a diner.

Two people get out and stretch, then head in to get something to eat.

It would be the perfect time for someone to break in. Duke pulls the light over himself, manipulating it to make him disappear from sight as he looks down from the edge of the rooftop, tense and prepared for anything.

He almost doesn’t see it at first. It’s just a flicker, a flash of color, a shift in the shadows across the street. But he does see it, even if he can’t find it again, and drops down from the roof, creeping towards the truck.

Duke waits, holding his breath, off to the side of the parking lot.

A minute passes. And then a figure materializes out of thin air, floating right behind the truck. All Duke can see is white hair and a black body suit; they’re either a meta or an alien, but either way, Duke is ready to take them down.

The figure lifts their hands and a bolt of neon green energy hits the truck, melting the back and leaving a large hole that gives them direct access to the weapons. And then they shoot again, destroying the weapons.

“Phantom!” someone shouts, and the truck driver comes tearing out of the restaurant, a white gun in his hand. His companion follows, her gun also out, and the begin shooting.

Phantom dodges the blasts, then vanishes from sight. He reappears behind them a moment later, tackling back of them into the side of the truck.

“No you don’t!” Duke say, rushing forward as he pulls at the shadows around him then sends them racing towards Phantom, restraining them. The driver and his companion collapse onto the ground, groaning weakly, and Duke grits his teeth. “O, send someone to look after the people moving the weapons. Apprehending an attacker now.”

He doesn’t wait to hear a response, tightening the shadow’s grip on Phantom, who struggles fiercely.

“We can do this the hard way, or the easy way,” he says, pulling Phantom closer to him.

Phantom doesn’t answer. They just scream, the force of it making Duke fall back. His shadows dissipate, and Phantom flies up.

“Get back here!”

Duke gives chase, dropping in and out of shadows, throwing some at Phantom in the hopes of catching him again. But Phantom is fast and it takes all he has to keep up as they cross Gotham.

He thought Phantom was flying around blindly, but the way they move across the roofs and then through the streets are too confident, too focused to be anything other than someone with a destination in mind. But where? Where could they be going? If they’ve been in Gotham, then Duke would have heard of them.

A flying, powerful meta with a multitude of powers? Yeah, he would have known about them.

Phantom flies through a wall and Duke curses, going onto the roof and looking around, waiting to see them fly out. But they don’t and Duke finds a broken skylight to drop in from, landing on the support beams of the warehouse, well above the ground.

He knows the warehouse, he realizes suddenly. It’s the warehouse Danny hid in while he was healing. Duke hasn’t been back in years.

“Just listen to me, please,” a voice says behind him, and Duke tense, spinning around to face Phantom, floating just out of reaching distance. “Those weapons are dangerous. No one should have them, it’s why I had to destroy them. Please, you can’t let them get those weapons out.”

Duke stares. Something about Phantom is familiar. The shape of his face, maybe. His voice. Maybe it’s just because he’s in the warehouse again, with someone pleading for his help.

Maybe it’s all in his mind.

“Danny?”

Phantom flinches, floating back a few inches. “What— How—”

“What happened? Is it your godfather again?”

“My— Duke? Is that you?!”

He definitely shouldn’t be doing this, but Danny’s here. Danny’s here in front of him, needing help, and he doesn’t need the Signal. He needs Duke.

He pulls off his helmet and lifts his bare face to Danny.

“Oh,” Danny breathes. “Well. I guess I should have known you’d be a hero. Can you help me one last time?”

“Yeah, of course Danny. Tell me what you need.”

“Those weapons, they were first made to kill me and others like me. It’s a whole thing I don’t have time to explain. But they’ve been changed to affect humans, all types of people, as well. I can survive a few hits from those weapons, but for most people, it would kill them instantly. I need to destroy all of them and stop any further production before the rest of the world gets a hold of them.”

“That’s why you—”

“They have to be destroyed,” Danny says. “And the people making and selling them need to be stopped. I can’t do it on my own. I’ve tried, but…”

“I’ll help,” Duke says, “I’ll help. This is a big enough problem to bring the Outsiders into it. Or the Bats, but they like to stay in Gotham.”

Danny floats closer, looking painfully relieved. “Really? They’ll be able to put an end to this?”

Duke reaches for him. “Yeah. they can do it. I’ll make sure of it.”

Danny’s feet land on the support beam as his hand meets Duke’s. They balance above the rest of the warehouse, drinking in the sight of each other. Duke rubs his thumb over Danny’s knuckles in soothing circles and watches as the tension begins to fall away from Danny’s shoulders.

“Duke,” he whispers, “I’ve missed you—”

The door below is kicked open, and a gunshot rings out.

Moving on instinct, Duke tackles Danny, wrapping him up in his arms as they fall off the support beam. They hit the ground hard, rolling a bit, and Duke tucks Danny into his chest, bodily protecting him.

“Narrows!”

The Red Hood stands over him, menacing, a gun pointed at him.

“Hood?” He loosens his grip on Danny. “What the hell was that for?”

“Thought you needed back up. You chased after our guy and lost your helmet, I think I’m right to be a little worried about you. So, who’s this?” There’s a hard edge to his voice, and Duke realizes with a sinking heart that all anyone else sees is an aggressor, a meta who attacked a truck full of weapons, attacked two people, and had to be chased down by the Signal. Jason’s seeing a threat and acting accordingly, putting Duke’s safety first.

And with his helmet off, identity clear, Danny’s even more dangerous now that he has this knowledge.

“I’m sorry,” Danny whispers to Duke. He doesn’t have time to ask for what? before Danny’s shooting another beam of green energy at Jason then taking off, flying through the roof and out of sight.

“Shit,” Jason mutters, straightening up from where he ducked to avoid being hit, then puts his gun away and kneels next to Duke. “You alright? Why’d you let him go? I thought you had him.”

“I’m fine. He’s not… He wasn’t going to hurt me. He just needed help.”

“Sure. And what are you not telling me?”

“I knew him. He’s a good person, but he’s been in danger for a long time. This was him trying to protect others from what he went through.”

Jason takes off the helmet and stares at him. Then he sighs and reaches a hand down to help Duke to his feet. “Alright,” he says, “Let’s head back to the truck. You have until then to convince me that they’re the problem, and if they are, then I’ll help you blow up more of their weapons.” He claps a hand on Duke’s shoulder, then pulls his helmet back on. “Grab your helmet. We’re wasting daylight, Narrows.”

There’s nothing else he can do, no way to search for Danny when there are other leads to chase, so Duke grapples up to the catwalk where his helmet landed and grabs it.

Just before he puts it on, he sees a flicker of white just outside the window he’s facing. He ducks his head to hide a smile. It’s almost like he’s stepped back in time; Danny’s here in Gotham, needing help and asking for it in the warehouse.

And though so much has changed in those years, there’s still one thing that Duke will ensure never changes: he’s Danny’s hero. Above Robin, or Signal, or anything else, Duke is Danny’s hero.

This time, he has the power to actually help Danny. He’s going to make sure no one ever hurts Danny again.

“Let’s go,” he says, jumping back down to Jason, helmet on. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

#ghostlights #dc x dp #dp x dc #dcxdp #dpxdc #dc x dp fic #dp x dc fanfic #prompt fill #my writing #gotta be honest i do Not know much abt the We Are Robin movement. have yet to read those comics....#also this definitely deviated a bit from your prompt. sorry!! still hope i got the main things you wanted to see #duke being dannys hero is something so special to me...#also it is his parents selling weapons and blueprints and things to the giw which is then given to the military for new weapons #a truly terrible pipeline #duke and jason and whoever else joins will find the source of the weapons. break into the fenton home. and dannys just there eating toast #in his pjs like. um hi guys did u need something? (and staring at duke like DUDE HELLO WTF??)#a mess of a situation :) not gonna write it bc i know it would get away from me and get so long #thanks for the prompt!!

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