#because hes just that good and most comics post new 52 have been garbage

[lesser-mook]

DC HATES And Disrespects Superman

In contrast, they really REALLY want Supergirl to be relevant, to supplant him. Despite her just being a gimmick, a seasonal DLC. Every attempt to try to push her ends in a wet fizzle. Everytime.She's one of the most underwhelming characters in DC but WB can't keep her out of their mouths like she's deep or some shit. They'd sooner give us a "woman of tomorrow" movie than give Cassandra Cain or Jason, or Sodam Yat any time of the day.WE STILL haven't gotten Superboy Prime in a show, or a Starfire movie. Make that make sense to me. So on top of all of that, yea, they're going to neglect a superhero who represents the best of humanity, in an era where humanity is going to shit. And try their damnest to push the knockoff who in theory represents the same thing, just minus any authenticity because again, she's sloppy seconds, badly coped homework that the teacher wouldn't grade because it's so shitty. MOS was a mess, My Adventures with Lois-Chan was a fucking embarrassment. A rushed, wholesome piece of shit, New 52 with a side of Tumblr,  & some cameos because it can't stand on it's own two feet for obvious reasons, it's incompetent and it's garbage. *Just watch The Animated Series.* Superman & Lois, Smallville were decent. Red Son was trash. Injustice was a wet blanket. Somehow, the movie in some ways less insufferable than the comics. DCAMU had so much potential, and ended too soon. This new DC animated movie verse was basically non-existent for me, i don't give two shits. That man of tomorrow movie was a feverdream, the script had 3 things going on, didn't know what it wanted to be. Superman Returns is tricky, him leaving like that is out of character but the movie itself is more Superman than anything we've gotten since. As of 2024 *The most solid depiction of Superman in post 2000 DC, on-screen is the DCAU version.* The biggest issues there are the nerfs, but as for characterization? DCAU Timmverse pulled it off. Cause they definitely amped up his powerlevels as the seasons went on. Superman FOR TOMORROW by Lee & Azzarello. Good read. Also deals with Supes in a modern world where the old school boyscout shit doesn't always work. DC doesn't know what to do with Superman atm, because they forgot the point of Superman. Superboy prime was one of the earlier evil superman takes that worked because he was supposed to be a contradiction, a hypocrite, a glitch in the matrix. He should've been gotten a role as a game boss or something, surprised DCUO hasn't already done it, they're pushing Supergirl because they forgot that they have Superman already, you literally do not need her when Superman exists. They're trying to trivialize him by making him evil 24/7 and replace him with Kara BORE-EL or PowerTits, and no matter how hard they try and have been trying the past 10 years to do it. She'll never replace him. Never. She doesn't have the ability, and never will. She's a party trick. He's the ideal, the blueprint of modern superheroes. DC needs to remember that, they need to remember that they have THE Ultimate Superhero in their possession (until he's public domain & they might buy him again) So they need to put her lame ass to rest, and give love to better characters. Some of them queer, some of them not even humanoid. All they need to do to make Superman work, is just put him in a situation (like war world) where he's deprived of every reason to hope and through sheer will provide hope to the prisoners by never giving up. Like Gladiator but with Superpowers, Superman fighting his way back home, intergalactic action. OR? Just adapting the recent "UP IN THE SKY" story, that as a movie would be a narrative masterpiece for Supes, because that book perfectly embodies Superman. Perfectly. A race with Flash, time travel, inter-galactic battles, Superman going through hell to save one little girl, a serious question of how much one child's life is worth vs the rest of humanity- it's a good story. That is what should be a movie, that movie would fix the DC Superman problem, not entirely but it would be a reset, a needed reset.

#youtube #superman #dccomics #superman up in the sky #recommended #kara bore el

[stxleslyds]

MY THOUGHTS ON TITANS’ RED HOOD,

BEFORE WATCHING THE LAST EPISODE.

I will start by saying that I haven’t been able to watch the show, these are my thoughts after reading a very well-written and detailed review of the last episode. The review is also written by someone that enjoys the show, this is important because my thoughts don’t align with theirs.

I understand that Titans is known for being garbage, I know their writing is messed up, and I had no hope whatsoever for them to actually write a good Jason Todd/Red Hood story. I would also like to make clear that this post is in no way hate towards the actor playing Jason, this post is just my thoughts on Jason’s characterization.

What I really don’t like is these shows/movies taking the names of loved characters and making an “original character” out of them. Yes, there are different takes of the character and you can build their story differently but I do feel that what they did with Jason is beyond all that. They twisted every concept from his origin and his story, nothing really fits, but someway, somehow, they still managed to push all the wrong narratives when it comes to Robin Jason.

Two of the most horrible narratives that DC has decided to push are “Robin Jason was reckless and a troubled kid that never did what he was told” and “Jason Todd is to blame for his death”.

The show does push the one where Jason is reckless. Jason is consumed by fear, and Bruce Wayne pays attention to that but he doesn’t only do that, he also offers comfort and help, he tries to make Robin Jason go to therapy.

This is huge, they build up the perfect scenario for Jason to not become the Red Hood. But for some reason, they decided to make Jason reckless and too eager to prove that he didn’t need that kind of help. And then they didn’t help Jason’s case because they wrote their Bruce as a caring father that does not want to see his son get hurt or end up dead.

This Bruce Wayne is doing everything that comics Bruce Wayne didn’t. This Bruce cares, so once more, one would think that this Jason wouldn’t become the Red Hood. But, surprise! Jason Todd doesn’t take well the news of him not being able to be Robin anymore.

Here is the thing, if you were Bruce in this situation, would you let this Jason continue to be Robin when he is a danger to himself? I know I wouldn’t.

Here is where Titans’ terrible writing reaches its peak. They have a vulnerable and reckless Jason try to prove that he can still be Robin by working on *something* that can take his fears away. Jason Todd wants to make a drug, let that one sink in.

Jason Todd wants to make something that is basically a drug. Did Titans really erase the fact that Jason’s mother overdosed? Because that’s one of the most important things in Jason’s life and that built up his hate for drugs and what they do to people. His mother was in an abusive relationship and that led her to do drugs and later led her to her own death.

This might not sound too important to other people but to me, it’s something that has always been important to Jason’s character before and after his death.

Going back to the actual show, Jason goes to Scarecrow, willingly, and asks him to make him a drug that will make him don’t feel fear. I know that this Jason is vulnerable and that he probably thinks that therapy isn’t working for him, but why on earth would Jason think that making Scarecrow make a drug for him would be a good idea?

How does that make sense? The show is basically telling us that Jason had a support system and that he was going to therapy because Bruce wouldn’t want to lose his SON. Why does this show go far and beyond to make Jason look reckless and dumb?

This is not me comparing Comics Jason to Titans Jason anymore, this is me finding Titans’ logic unnecessarily stupid, they really went out of their way to write pure stupidity.

Why would they write Bruce as a caring father and as actively working so Jason can be in a better mental state so he won’t lose him as his son if they are also going to write Jason as an incredibly reckless man? Are we supposed to be on Bruce’s side? Because as of now, Bruce is the only one with brain cells.

There is absolutely no way to compare that to comics because in comics Bruce neglected Jason’s needs and refused to see that Jason had different morals even back then, and that neglect was key in Jason jumping onto the idea that he needed someone that he could call family and actually care for him. He wanted love and attention from a parental figure because he didn’t feel like he had one. Robin wasn’t everything that Jason was, he was also a kid with normal needs.

So, you build that completely different and actually give Jason the support that he also wanted in the show but for some reason, he is fiercely attached to Robin even though his fear comes from the fact that he almost died for being Robin. There is no logic to this Jason’s actions and that isn’t on Jason it's on the writers’ incredibly garbage writing. It is like they come up with ten different ideas and they put all of them but none of them are actually solid and well-developed concepts.

And you can’t tell me to get over it because “Titans has always had bad writing, there were two seasons of bad writing”. Listen, if you are happy to consume media that is badly written then that’s on you, Jason is one of my favorite characters, I don’t want him to be written badly just because that’s the show’s style. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with me wanting writers to actually care about the characters they are writing for, all three seasons have had different writers, is it really so far-fetched for me to want one of these people to write something that makes sense?

Jason's death was tragic in both comics and the show, and he was a victim in both of them, yes. But the show really pushes the limits of that, Jason wanted to take something to make him not fear, he looked for Scarecrow (not Dr. Jonathan Crane, Scarecrow, and he was an already established villain) to make him this drug when he couldn’t make it himself. He trusted Scarecrow (for some weird reason) and then as a test he went to fight Joker? It’s tragic because it ended with Jason dying but it's also tragic because the writing is just bad. It just is, and that is a problem for me.

From then on, we have the “big connection” to comics, the Lazarus Pit! Wow, you guys did it, yeah, everyone loves the Lazarus Pit, every time I think about Jason, I only think about that one time in which he was thrown in a Lazarus Pit to recover his mental injuries or all of his injuries after he came back from the dead.

This Jason has no training, there is no Talia, no League of Assassins, no Ducra or All-Castle, there is only Scarecrow and his new puppet, the Red Hood.

It changes everything and I don’t like it. Once again, I understand and know the concept of the multiverse, the various earths, and the Elseworlds, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like this take on Jason Todd/Red Hood along with its horrendous writing.

I don’t have to like it, just like I understand that others do like it because it is their first contact with the character or because they are fine, as fans of the character, with a new take. I am not gatekeeping Jason Todd or Red Hood; I am just saying that my being angry at this version and absolutely hating it is just as valid as liking this version of Jason.

Red Hood in Titans is just Scarecrow’s puppet, that’s how things are, and I just think that it is too big of a change from the original reasons for Jason to become Red Hood. And I will never get tired of saying this, Red Hood wasn’t only all about the Joker killing him and Batman not killing the Joker. The Red Hood was Jason’s way to make things work, to prove to Bruce that Batman wasn’t enough for Gotham. Red Hood came back to Gotham to stop bad people from introducing children to drugs and to make Gotham’s people feel safe.

He thought that Red Hood was the better version of Batman for Gotham and its people.

But I am not blind, I can see how Titans can twist it again to give us Red Hood as a protector of children and Gotham in general. I can see the “I used to do drugs and now I will fight so no other person goes through the same”, I see it and I am aware of it but it does also bring me to my other problem with Titans and DC in general: story swapping.

Story Swapping is something that DC loves to do, they thrive when they make change people’s origins for others and when they take character traits from one character to another.

And Titans’ Jason Todd is just that, he has characteristics and plot concepts from Dick Grayson and if what I just predicted happens then he will have some of Roy Harper's characteristics. And that is exactly what Lobdell did, but somehow, they managed to get different results. I cannot praise Titans for giving us a new Red Hood origin because they made his characterization with the help of other character’s origins and/or stories.

This is the first time that we see a live-action Jason Todd/Red Hood, was it really that hard to just stick to his origins as both Robin and Red Hood? There is so much to explore from Jason, there is so much between his death and him becoming Red Hood, from both before and after New 52.

Jason becoming Red Hood under the influence of Scarecrow in moths is lazy, bland and an insult to Jason’s character. They could have done things by the book and then explore things that we have never seen before in a show or movie.

Jason has had so much training outside of Gotham, why did Titans think that they could do acceptable work at bringing this amazingly complex character in a show that has nothing to do with him.

They could have had him killed in the Titans show and then wait and make a Red Hood show to actually tell a good story. What is Jason Todd doing in a show that is called Titans? Where are the Titans? They chose the most recognizable Titans’ line-up and they are not using it. They butchered Garth and Donna and for what?

DC gets away way too much with selling their stupid shows and movies by telling us that x character will appear but then when you watch the thing for that x character, they are nowhere to be seen. That’s exactly what they did with Cassandra Cain and what they are doing with Red Hood.

I don’t know how this tv show is doing, I only know that as a non-American that pays the same money for an HBO Max subscription, I don’t get to see any Titans content, not even a miserable trailer.

But I know that if non-comic readers are watching it, they will love it and if they actually were to start reading comics because of the show, then they wouldn’t find that Jason there. So, either that leads to Jason’s characterization being messed up even more within comics or it does nothing for Jason or comics.

To end this post, I just want to bring up the animated movie Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010).

That movie was widely praised and loved by critics, comic readers, and non-comic readers. It was fantastic, the story was amazing (even though it had differences with the comic, one might say that the differences improved the story), the voice acting was phenomenal, everything was done beautifully. Do you know what made it that way? The writing.

And you know who wrote the animated movie? The same person who wrote the comic the movie is based on, Judd Winick.

With that I am not saying that Titans should have had Judd write for them, what I am saying is that given the fact that they are using a pre-existing character they should chat with the Red Hood’s creator or even the writer that wrote for him for ten years after the character came back to comics.

This show obviously didn’t do that though, they preferred to write Jason Todd/Red Hood as if he were a Titans original character, but the thing is, from where I see it Titans didn’t give us an OC, they gave us an OOC.

-

So, to sum it all up, I hate Titans’ version of Jason Todd/Red Hood, I think that it is not only badly written but there is also no real logic to what they are trying to do so far. I am also tired of their bad and lazy writing in general. And I would have liked the Titans’ writers to actually respect the Red Hood lore because if they had I would have actually been excited about a Red Hood spin-off show.

Using the material that is available to you isn’t a crime, building from that material is the best thing that they could have done, but all they really wanted to do was use Red Hood’s name to get more money from a dying show.

It makes the show look cheap and actually not interested in giving us good stories, and no, I wasn’t expecting Captain America: The Winter Soldier levels of good writing or good changes to a very loved story/characters, I was actually expecting some Lobdell writing level and the way I see it we ended up getting something worse.

These are all my opinions. You can like, love, or dislike this version of Jason and the show as much as you want but you won’t find any form of love towards the show in this blog, at least not right now.

-

MY THOUGHTS ON TITANS’ RED HOOD,

AFTER WATCHING THE LAST EPISODE.

Well, I will start this part by saying: Sorry. I am sorry that I believed that Titans’ Red Hood was bad, it is actually worse than bad.

I was so wrong on many things, that review really made me think that things weren’t that bad but I still hated what I read. Now that I have watched the episode because I wanted this post to be extra honest and to stop myself from saying stupid stuff, I can also say that I hated what I watched.

This show really validates the two most horrible narratives that DC has been pushing for Jason: “he was a reckless Robin that didn’t think about his actions” and “he was to blame for his own death”

Jason Todd wasn’t a victim of Scarecrow, this Jason Todd took every single bad decision that he could, and those decisions led him to his death. No sympathy for this man.

Also, this Jason is like 19? He doesn’t look younger than that, but that’s not the point, what I am trying to point out is that this Robin is extremely underprepared, he lacks training and the mental capacity to stop acting like an edge lord every time he opens his mouth. He is annoying.

And I was wrong about Titans erasing the plotline of Jason’s mother dying of an overdose, she did die that way and this Jason spoke of her as if he hated her. What is going on? This Jason really doesn’t make me feel an ounce of sympathy for him. This attitude of “no one understands my pain” when everybody is trying to help you doesn’t make you look cool or anything of the sort, it makes you look annoying.

It is even worse because this Jason is so immature and reckless that he made his friend Molly (that is just a normal teen with no training) go after a thug with him, while he was not mentally well. He made that decision for them and put himself and her in danger. If that scene had gone any other way, then Jason could have been guilty of getting his friend injured or killed.

Jason Todd is so incredibly dumb; he is not a child but he acts like one every step of the way.

Nothing makes sense in his whole ass interaction with Bruce in front of the theatre, it’s like Jason refuses to listen to what Bruce tells him, well not that he refuses to listen it is more like a “Telefono descompuesto” I don’t know if you guys have that game but you basically have to tell something in someone’s ear and then the person repeats what they understood to the next and so on, what you said is heavily distorted by the end of the game. In this scene that is exactly what happens but it’s between two people.

When Jason accuses Bruce of not taking away Robin from Dick, Bruce says something along the lines of “I learned from my mistakes” and Jason says “so, I am a mistake now?”. Jason, use your ears, if Bruce says that he learned from his mistakes when talking about Dick, then his mistake was what he did with Dick. The writing is so bad, it's actually painful and it is even worse because the acting is bad, but I can’t blame the actors, it must really be hard to make a scene work when the writing is that bad. (Also, the unnecessary pauses, and the sounds that they play after they say something stupid, it is too funny).

Do you know what made me cringe? When they were having the chat in the theatre, in my mind all I could hear was “if you are nothing without the suit then you shouldn’t have it”, not me quoting Tony Stark in my head! I haven’t even watched that movie! But it fits perfectly for that scene.

The interaction with Scarecrow was more than dumb, if Jason was already acting like a child, now, he is basically acting like a toddler. Scarecrow saw right through him in seconds and just as fast decided that he was going to have fun with his new toy. He gave him a formula that wasn’t quite correct even though it looked like he knew exactly how to make the reverse version of his fear gas. This Jason has zero detective or survival skills but we already knew that when he made himself get captured and tortured by Deathstroke.

Anyway, all the interactions with Scarecrow were allowed to happen because this Jason can’t put two and two together. He convinces himself that everyone is out to get him, dude, Bruce is a detective and he also has eyes, Leslie didn’t tell him anything. If I were Bruce, you wouldn’t be able to be Robin anymore either.

I understand that Jason is not in a good mental place and that he wants to make his fears go away, but he had support, people around him were trying to get him help, trying to make him understand that he was hurting himself. His over-the-top anger and recklessness are unjustified when you refuse to take the help that is being offered to you.

He made terrible decisions for selfish purposes and that got him killed.

This is one of the last things I want to say, Scarecrow either didn’t need Jason at all to get out of Arkham or the writers made an oopsie because at the end of the episode he had someone helping him put Jason in the Lazarus Pit and then he was out of Arkham and he had a suit ready for Jason and everything. How did he manage all that? No idea.

The Lazarus Pit, yeah, I am sorry to be that person but the Pit can’t bring back people from the dead, it can only restore or heal physical and mental injuries (however grave they were), but Lobdell messed that one up already and Titans really didn’t have time to write a single good scene so what was I expecting?

Anyway, the last thing I wanted to say is that I know why Jason or Red Hood seems to not be affected by the drug when he sees Molly at the end of the episode, it is because the executive producer of the show is Geoff Johns! He loves making Jason fall for girls and get all mushy and dumb, do you guys remember how dumb he got when he left with Rose?

Jason being written as the kind of guy that acts like a love-sick puppy with a girl but also screams at her when he gets mad is peak Geoff Johns. So, if you were wondering where that came from, well, there it is.

Yeah, that is all I had to say, honestly if you have read this whole post then you are one strong individual, I am sorry I put you through all my thinking and rambling. You didn’t really deserve that.

I didn’t want to delete the first part of the post because I talked about so much more than the show and my thoughts before watching the episode still stand. I hope this post isn’t too confusing. As always you can think the complete opposite of me about the show or anything, I am just writing my thoughts.

Having said all that, I hope all of you, Titans’ lovers, haters, and people that simply do not care, have a wonderful week!

#jason todd #red hood #titans s3 #titans #anti titans

[thattimdrakeguy]

Weirdly enough Red Robin is the series I’d be most scared to review, because for obvious reasons I imagine more than any other character it’s the Tim fan base (I won’t say fandom, because I feel like that gives a different connotation nowadays. and it’s a bunch of chill, un-interactive but very passionate, chaps) that follow me.

And I’d just get sooo many people giving me nit-picks, and telling me stuff I already know.

Cause I can say anything against Teen Titans 2003, New 52, Rebirth, and Wonder Comics stuff cause that’s the generally agreed upon stuff that you can complain against for Tim. Cause like, to not play dumb to it, this whole Bat-Family fandom acts like there’s freaking laws to abide by if you don’t want a bunch of batty (not a pun, not even saying not a pun in sarcasm lol) fans and stans down your neck. Normally involving certain characterizations or comics that, honestly, aren’t even usually the more accurate ones, but the contradicting ones that don’t make a lick of sense, and that’s not even talking about the straight up fanon ones.

Not to say I wouldn’t get why it’s the Red Robin series that’d get people to give me crap out of all the Tim stuff, because I do. It’s a lot of peoples entry to Tim, and it’s pretty heavy implications of suicidal ideation, and more so obvious mental breakdown journey across continents means a lot to people. I can get why, and if it wasn’t those characters in it, I’d think it was great too.

Also I know for a fact people would act like I’m just bias for 90s Tim, and point out Timmy’s in a teddy bear hoodie in my header. Cause it’s the most weakest defense someone could possibly make cause they’re lacking an actual point. Like they know everything a fucking ‘bout me, when they don’t, I’m just allowed to think my own stuff, and I’m allowed my dang comfort art, so blah blah blah. I’ve proved myself enough. I don’t need some random dismissive guys random approval or not, but man can it be annoying when someone thinks they’re smart about it.

Like basically put, it would be very exhausting to go through the many different series and years of comic book content to explain why I think the way I do, when all the other person has to say is “I like this series a lot, and it means a lot to me, it’s story about depression, and plus it’s Tim being at the button of his sanity so-- And I think this person is stuck on 90s Tim” cause like I freaking get it, and acting like cause I prefer a different Tim comic means my opinion isn’t valid, is the most childish thing ya can really do. Like I love 90s Tim the most for a reason, and I started reading Tim as Red Robin first, ya ninny.

But to just be honest, it is an incredibly flawed series that has overall, in the long game, soiled the character of Tim Drake, and directly influenced the New 52 and beyond depiction of him. Not to give Lobdell an excuse, I just find it really odd that people getting praising it as the peak of Tim content when it’s even caused some really freaking toxic fandom beliefs.

When some of the most important scenes in the series are so botched that it has genuinely made people despise other characters when I don’t even think they were portrayed well for that to make sense. The messy inconsistent writing as it went between two different writers causing some absolutely terrible characterization for Tim that isn’t even always consistent within the series itself because FabNic is just awful, and how forgettable most stuff after the first story is.

That first story I can understand the love for it. But people treating the whole series as a whole like it’s a great journey of long-term story development just feels like a real bad describer for it. Because to me by the end of it’s run it caused Tim to be put in the terrible spot that he’s only now escaping from little under a decade later. As well as only really starting cause people in the company didn’t like Tim and the characters around them as much as you’d hope.

In total, I honestly feel like if it wasn’t released during a time were the common tastes were very edgy and emo-esque, as well as around the time the online fandom spaces were only really then being formed in a way that was practical for casual interaction and discussion, and being the only series titled “Red Robin” therefore people seem to think it’s Tim’s variation of “Nightwing”, when it’s honestly not, it wouldn’t be a series that highly regarded.

I’m not saying the whole thing is a pile of shit, cause it’s also frankly not. There’s some powerful stuff in there, and some moments that really do hit super hard in ways that don’t feel superficial. Cause another thing people don’t seem to understand that when I say his characterization isn’t good in it, does not equal me saying “He is not the same exact character he was 15 years before the series came out”, it legitimately just means I feel they took the character to places that felt more forced than genuine, or just had him stuff that goes against what he’d do for the sake of just being edgy as if it’s deep, even during his circumstances and it created people having a false understanding of who Tim is at his heart, that made it incredibly difficult for Tim to get a good story for basically a freaking decade.

It’s a series I want to review because I have genuine things to say about it, but when ever I do say anything about it I feel like I see several sub-posts that are almost undeniably about me (hasn’t happened for a while cause I don’t really bother talking about stuff I don’t like anymore, cause life's hard enough, and I’ve seen the worst end of a lot of people from it) trying to downplay me, because they got defensive about it, rather than actually trying to process what I meant by things instead of just assuming it cause it’s touchy for them.

Like I’ve openly shit on Damian’s most popular series’, and accepted fandom malarkey, because I legitimately think they’re overhyped as could be, not that great, and only have the popularity they do through bandwagoning and going along with things. And I did that while knowing how defensive the Damian fandom is, and how quick they are to just leak out nasty assumptions or outright suicide bait you (yes I remember someone tried to defend me by suicide baiting someone else, but fuck them too, I never defended them or asked them to. idgaf which fandom does it. i’m clearly not on anyone's team. this isn’t a fucking sports game).

I’ve even straight up shit on pretty much every single Jason story except Under the Red Hood, while defending some Robin Jason stories, and I haven’t even got crap on me for that, which is honestly strange. Surprisingly just got told “Ya know what. Fair point. I can accept that. I don’t agree, but I can accept it.”. Which given what I have been shown of the Jason fandom I expected much worse, but they’ve honestly been really chill with me. Me and the Jason fandom has been actually some of the most pleasant interactions I’ve had outside my own bubble.

The majority of Steph’s existence as a character I’ve criticized and gotten crap on it, but honestly I found the response of countless anons going “YEAH MAN I AGREE WITH YOU” and going way harder on her than I ever did to be pretty dang annoying, and even more annoying cause people kept thinking I said stuff I freaking didn’t out of it. So every now and again people will just straight up lie about me to my face. Like you try to talk to someone that’s been preparing to talk to you by fighting an imaginary version of yourself. It’s pretty difficult if I had to be honest. Talking ‘bout bias’s like I didn’t write TimSteph fan fictions before I realized they weren’t that great and didn’t work, while realizing that I honestly didn’t think Tim was into girls in-general.

But, to get back on topic, with the Tim fandom it’s less like, open faced attempts to make you feel like a garbage human being, and more just straight up rudely dismissive as quite often the ones I’ve seen do it try to portray themselves as some calm knowledgeable unbias source of Tim knowledge.

And there’s a different sensation of annoyance at that.

Like what is the point of trying to pretend to be some source of knowledge and for a few comradery, while also being a dismissive person that first has to make others seem lesser.

And there’s some that I’ve seen do it that I don’t even think are dicks honestly, and have no problem with it, cause it’s just so innocently “I just really like the series and still think it’s good”. That I’d be confused why people would think I have a vendetta against everyone else. I’ve never been like, straight up offended more than once over the specific topic of Red Robin. But it is a thing that makes me like “I’ll get so many people giving me crap over having a different opinion for this won’t I”. And get some people trying to validate just being a bit of a fucker to me for no good reason.

So like, may or may not write a Red Robin review, but I might not cause despite quite a few people in the Tim fandom being quite chill about it, there’s quite a lot of people that are low-key toxic about it, and a lot of bad fandom things came out of it as well.

[lananiscorner]

I'm more of a Spiderman+Marvel person, but I ended up reading yours and a couple other people's Batfam fics out of curiosity, which led me to go through yours and a couple other Tumblrs after realizing how differently a lot of people tend to write Jason Todd. Is the problem with DC's handling of his character less that they write him as violent, impulsive, temperamental, etc. etc. and moreso that they use those traits as his entirety in liu of giving him proper motivation, growth, etc? (1/2)

(2/2) Since I haven’t been around as long, I might not have the entire picture, but. I’ve seen here and there and agree w/ the thought that Jason’s death does provide good possibilities for discussion, a lot of good concepts that could be brought up and dealt with in a narrative if done right. But also I agree that if DC can’t handle such things properly then they should just do him without the dying.  Though, please tell me if there’s something important that I’m not getting in this.             

Thank you very much for your ask, Anon.

Oh dear… where do I start? I think there are three problems to DC’s handling of Jason’s character:

1) As you said, many of his writers focus entirely on him as violent, impulsive and temperamental. I honestly doubt any of them have read his original material.

To understand why, a quick history lesson: Jason was written as a very dedicated, empathic, smart Robin in his initial appearances (both in pre and post Crisis continuities). Then Starlin started writing Batman & Robin and he hated the idea of Robin, which was… not a good premise. Add O’Neil, who really hated Jason for his street kid origins, and you get A Death In The Family, a storyline with enormous logic failures and a ridiculous premise, which ended with Jason’s death, which DC tried to justify with a gross phone poll on whether Robin should live or die (which is currently being redone for the Titans show and ugh it makes me mad).

Anyway, following the bad publicity about DC killing off a child character and having a phone poll over it, DC started ignoring pretty much all of Jason’s good character traits and most flashbacks–of which there were many, because it formed the backbone of darker and edgier Batman and the contrast of white rich kid Tim as the better Robin–instead describe Jason as violent, temperamental, rash, and generally headed for either delinquency or death. For 20 years, that was pretty much the only Jason Todd comic book readers were presented with.

Then Judd Winick resurrected him for his Hush storyline. Winick is probably the best writer of Jason in post Crisis and I still hate much of what he did with his character. That should tell you how bad it is. For most people, Judd Winick’s Red Hood Jason–which, again, is very different from original Jason, who hated drugs, lost a mother to drugs, and was a genuinely good kid–was the first introduction to Jason and not everyone bothers to go back and read Jason’s Robin run.

2) DC has little idea what to do with Jason or why people even like him.

This was especially noticeable in post Crisis continuity, where they figured “Judd brought him back as a villain, so apparently people like villainous Red Hood Jason” and they went HARD in that direction. Seriously, outside of Jason’s appearances in Countdown and Winick’s Red Hood: Lost Days, every post Crisis comic with Jason in it was absolute garbage that tried to paint him as the worst of the worst. And that is saying a lot, since Countdown itself is a massive pile of meandering dog poop.

And to be clear, there are a lot of people who explicitly like Jason because he uses guns and does not stick to the no killing rule, but without his emotional attachment to the rest of the family it just robs him off what makes him interesting. It makes him just another villain.

New 52/Rebirth doubled down on the cluelessness by convoluting his storyline and warping his character even more, but never actually doing much with it. Mostly because Rebirth retcons half of what happened in New 52, but not all, and maybe not entirely and goddammit, this was exactly what was wrong with New 52! If you’re gonna make a cut, make a cut and start over fresh, but don’t do this wishy-washy half-baked game of “maybe canon, maybe not”. For example, New 52 explained that Jason ahad been trained by a mythical warrior organization called the All-Caste post resurrection, who prophecized that he would save the world one day, but fuck us if that was ever picked up again in Rebirth. To add insult to injury, neither New 52 nor Rebirth gave us much information about his time as Robin.

3) DC is absolutely terrible at achieving emotional continuity, much less handling trauma in an emotionally satisfying way.

To give you an idea, here’s a list of things that happened to Jason that were mentioned once or possibly twice and then never addressed again by any of the characters (combining all continuities here), much less resolved in an emotionally satisfying way:

Jason pretty much yelling all his gripes with how he came back at Tim and Tim just… not doing anything with that information.

Bruce throwing a batarang into Jason’s neck, potentially lethally injuring him, to save the Joker, Jason’s murderer.

Dick calling Jason a delusional crackhead.

Dick leaving Jason to potentially die in an explosion (for the second time).

Bruce’s will describing Jason as “[his] biggest failure”.

Bruce’s will insinuating that Jason had been sexually abused as a child and Bruce just never… doing anything about that, like sending him to therapy or anything.

Dick trying to use a recording of this disaster of a will “to get through to Jason”.

Dick locking Jason up in Arkham Asylum and Bruce deciding to keep him there.

Bruce taking Jason back to the site of his death in a deliberate attempt to re-traumatize him to have even a chance of bringing Damian back from the dead and then flat-out telling Jason that his feelings in this don’t matter.

There was probably more, but typing out this list always makes me angry. And even when they address Jason’s trauma, they don’t usually do it in a satisfying way. For example, in Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol 2, Bruce beat the shit out of Jason after he just watched his teammates die and banished him from Gotham forever, because Jason had shot the Penguin in the head (non-lethal, btw). He kept on beating him even though Jason didn’t even try to fight back, to the point where Jason required alien healing technology to get back on his feet quickly. The next time they met, Bruce told Jason that one of his former teammates had been murdered, gave him a hug, and basically said “well, occasionally you deserve to be beaten up, but I will always be here for you”.

Like, FUCK YOU, DC, WHAT?! WHAT?!!!! WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

*takes a deep breath*

I’m ok now. I’m ok.

No. Actually. Fuck it. I’m not. There has been so much abuse-excusing, so much victim-blaming in how DC has handled Jason over the years that it makes me sick.

Anyway, what this eventually boils down to is that people’s interpretation of Jason depends a lot on which version of the character they were introduced to. For example, @cerusee is a big fan of Robin!Jason and was around for the first phone poll. Most of what she writes follows his Robin characterization and tries to give him happier, more satisfying endings. I was introduced to Jason through the Batman: Arkham Knight game, which imo managed to balance Jason’s backstory, trauma, and fall from grace + redemption really well, even without killing Jason. Hence, my Jason is someone who was a very troubled child, but also a genuinely good person and a good Robin, who was turned into something incredibly destructive through massive trauma, but who is also capable of redemption and healing, provided his family does not give up on him.

So… I’m not sure if this is a satisfying answer. Feel free to send me another ask if you have any more questions about any of this.

#asks #Anon #Jason Todd #Red Hood #characterization #DC is a giant mess #and they really don't know how to handle trauma well

[smolgreenboi]

Is/Was BB rich like it's implied in the comics? What about now that he's with the Titans? Does anyone know? Does he like to spend money? On what?

[ EDIT: apologies for terrible formatting, tumblr asks are apparently having a glitch that i didn’t know about when i posted this. i’ll clean it up once this whole garbage can is resolved! ]

----------------------------------

tl;dr answers: yep. yep. debatable to no. ehh kinda. gifts.

idk where he is comic-wise as far as new 52 & rebirth go ( because to be blunt, i don’t care lmao ), but from what i do pull out of the comics pre-reboot for my own writing gar being rich is something i include. that’s basically the only reason nicholas galtry wanted custody of him after he was rediscovered... he was gonna wait around until gar was old enough to inherit his parents’s estate and then kill him. because, you know. gotta get that sweet, sweet cheddar ( you can’t see me but i am rolling my eyes, using hella sarcastic tones and overall wanting to strangle an asshole with my stringy hands ). 

ANYWAY

the way i write gar, specifically, he IS rich but he definitely doesn’t flaunt it. this is partially due to not... really knowing what the hell to DO with all this money he just finds himself sitting on for no other reason than his parents are dead ( *bruce wayne voice* awesome ) and also i think it comes from wanting actual friendships instead of surface level bullshit. y’know? he’s already a freak by society standards, a bit socially inept due to years of being isolated and/or abused, and he knows it. i think he has a string of underlying suspicion with a lot of first impressions buuuuuut his eagerness to befriend people and desire to believe in the good of humanity rather than the bad overrides that string. flaunting or making it publicly known that he’s rich would just add to that because when you got money, suddenly everyone wants to be your friend and shit’s shallow and it’s probably exhausting and he just... no thanks. he’s already got a lot of internal hatred whispering in his ear and he doesn’t need another voice muttering “they only hang out with you for your cash”.

i would say that the doom patrol knows if not just because rita and steve are his parents/legal guardians, and larry and cliff would know through them. steve’s also richer than bruce wayne, apparently, so lmfao amazing. 

as far as his friends/the titans, i don’t think anyone KNOWS outright, but i would say those closest to him and who are observant might have suspicions ( or if you’re a bat-family member, you may have done some digging and found all the legal paperwork and whatever and do know outright but just don’t think it’s important to bring up in conversation, idk ). 

for the most part, i would say gar isn’t much of a spender. the animated series can fucking fight me on this ( miss me with that “my goal is maximum couch time” bull ), but i think he WOULD want to get himself a job and earn a modest living on his own whilst setting aside all that money for emergencies, donations, or a Treat Yo’ Self sort of day when you’re like “fuck, i just got through a garbage can of a week and life is short, i’m buying that video game i’ve been staring at for the past two months”. i know that he’s cool with not being ‘normal’ and that being weird is something he’s not only accepted but is very proud of, but i also think he would want SOME sense of normality when it comes to just... day to day living, you know? having a day job, having a little apartment or something, and earning his own money would provide some of that.

( unrelated: i know gar wants to be an actor in the comics and i know/understand/respect why that’s important to him but... i’m also super sick and tired of shapeshifting being synonymous with acting as a profession, so i don’t really write him with having any desire to be an actor; instead i write him working at various animal sanctuaries NOT due to his powers but due to animals providing him a source of comfort and wanting to give back to them/teach other people about conservation and welfare and all that jazz )

when gar DOES spend money for the sake of spending money, it’s usually on friends. HEY, you guys want pizza? it’s on me! (uuuh don’t ask how or whyyyy i just uuuh--foUND THIS random $20 in the park after Dr. Light knocked me into a bush! weird, huh??). HEY, VIC, it’s your birthday, check this COOL NEW GADGET I GOT YOU (i’ve been totally saving... stuff for MONTHS, yeah, definitely didn’t just waltz into the store and grab it because i saw it and immediately thought of you or anything??). yo, raven, LOOK, i found that third book in that series you’ve been reading, you want it???

... this answer has gotten stupid long and i need to go get dell some ingredients for her dinners this week so i’mma end it here BUT IF I NEED TO ELABORATE ON ANYTHING, LEMMIE KNOW?? thank c: 

#;silly bird lady (mun answers) #;a garbage can. but it's pretty cute. ( SPECIFIC HEADCANON ) #[ i have a LOT of thoughts/feelings on how gar handles his finances and his 'professional' journey ] #[ like job-wise and all that jazz ] #[ maybe it's because i'm an adult myself but i think about it a lot xDD ] #[ WOOO ADULTHOOD AND SHIT. ] #nvertoolate

[coolgirl]

Im just so sad because pre n52 Jason really got brutally murdered for trying to save his mom and even when that bitch sold him out and like watched him get beat up completely detached of the situation he wanted to save her!! And he didn't fucking blame her like WHO DOESSS THAT (that one Yuri on ice post voice) HOW CAN HE BE REAL. and like then he fucking comes back to life on his goddamn fucking coffin and he has to crawl out while still being injured for the ass beating the joker gave him AND ON TOP OF THAT he gets fucking RUN OVER and it's in a coma and whatever and HE ONLY WANTS BRUCE ALL THIS HAPPENING TO HIM AND HE WANTS HIS FUCKING DAD and then he like. Fucking lives in the street for like weeks months I don't even wanna think about it and it fucking SUCKS ASS HES FIFTEENNNNNNN HES A KID and then Talia takes him and you know what's sad that's probably the most peaceful moments he has since he died with him like in a "safe" place with a roof over his head and food and talia who came to care about him whatever BUT SIKE HE'S STILL SUFFERING BECAUSE HE MISSES BRUCE! And shit only gets worse because after he gets thrown into the pit he remmebers everything and BOY! Didn't he just get the rug pulled from under his feet! Everything he knew! Has changed! Everyone moved on! He feels replaced and like his death meant nothing! And when you think about it he's right because the mom he gave his life for also died! And to top it all the man who took everything from him! His mom! His life! His future! Everything! Is still alive and kicking! Like bitch! His life sucks! His life really does fucking suck! And like literally not a single character, NOT A SINGLE FAMILY MEMBER, stops for a second like oh man this dude died when he was 14/15 and then went through even more traumatic experiences afterwards (LIKE HELLO??? IMAGINE THAT), shouldn't we like help him or smth? HM nah leave him deal with it by himself clearly he's a balanced person who can take care of it alright kek! Let's go celebrate Christmas or smth 🤑🤑 and one would thing oh gee he went through all that but at least things must have started looking up at some point right? NO THE ANSWER IS NO! THE BOOK THAT WAS LIKE EVERYTHING IS LOOKING UP TODD, COUNTDOWN, REALLY SET ALL HIS DEVELOPMENT ON FIRE ON HIS LAST APPEARANCE! BECAUSE HE WASN'T ALLOWED TO GROW! And now you must be like well at least there's some elseworld where his life isn't shit right? THIS IS WHERE I HAVE TO LAUGH. NO! EVERY SINGLE ELSEWORLD TREATS HIM WORSE! HES TORTURED OR KILLED YOUNGER OR HES EVIL FOR DUMB REASONS OR DIDNT EVEN EXIST TO BEGIN WITH.

And like canon events aside! He never got closure over fucking anything! Not a single one writer explored any of his feelings towards literally anything related to his death besides small dick winick! Like man! It sucks! Oh yeah Jason's introductory comic and genesis has him thinking the only reason he came back to life was to kill the joker but guess what.. we're never bringing that up! Jasons feelings towards his mom? Who cares we're throwing all that shit to the garbage in a couple years anyways! His ptsd? FUCK THAT NOISE he's FINE he's just a psychopath because he was the bad robin duh! His relationship with Bruce? PLEASE who cares about in character Bruce let's just make him leave Jason on his own instead of like actually trying to help him and bring him back home, it isn't like Bruce almost made a deal with a demon to have Jason back before or like it's been referenced multiple times Bruce would've done anything to have him back right? All his characterization before he died? DELETE THAT SHIIT! We know every single fucking character out there gets a life outside of their vigilante career but Jason isn't getting any of that and you know why? Because who cares about Jason! He's just there for the development of others! As villain #3 of the week for Dick or Tim!

Anyways! New 52 fucks Jason up all the time but at least they don't throw him completely under the bus 24/7! And that's so sad! The bar is set so fucking low! So fucking low! And I don't even wanna get into the issues with new 52 because then I really might lose my marbles thinking Jason gets treated like shit all the damn fucking time in all continuities! If you read all this call 1-900-720-2660 to donate to your nearest oppressed Jason stan thank you and good night!

#immm on my feelings also that number is #what you had to call for jason to live #jason todd #as you can see. im on my period. #comics.txt #jason.txt

[jewishlensnart]

So it’s the holiday season, which in a lot of households means presents. You know who has more merch than almost any other Flash villain (1. being Reverse Flash as of my last count)? Captain Cold!

Have a Len lover in your life? Need to give your family gift ideas? Peep this list, y’all!

I used to own...basically everything with Len on it. I had the largest Flash collection in the southern US until about 3 years ago, when I sold the vast majority of it, and gave away even more. These reviews come from in-hand experience. Let’s start with the Original Lad:

DC Direct Captain Cold

Holy macaroni, was this figure terrible. Yes it was comic-accurate at the time, but you could not pose it, you could not keep it standing, and the face when you removed the glasses? Nightmare fuel. Still, it was a figure from 2001, and they really were doing their best, so I’d have to rate this guy a 2 out of 5.

These next two came out around roughly the same time, but could not be more different in quality. First up, DC Direct Justice Captain Cold

Strictly speaking, this figure was beautiful. Yeah it was in the hyper-realistic style of Alex Ross, who I’ve never been a fan of, but it was toned down in a way that made it less uncanny valley. The figure had stubble painted on, and if you removed the hood (which you technically could but shouldn’t), he had hair under there! But still, this was a DC Direct figure from 2008, so it had all the same flaws that a figure from that time period tended to have: absolutely a bitch to pose, hard to keep upright without the base (I let mine lean against the wall whenever I needed the base for even more precarious figures), joints prone to snapping if you worked him too hard. Still, by far my favorite of the DC Direct/Collectibles Len figures, if not my favorite full-size figure. 4.5 of 5.

Meanwhile in big box stores across the nation, DC Universe Classics was releasing their best wave yet, wave 7. Man, I had that whole thing aside from Aquaman; Big Barda, Flash, Kid Flash, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, and of course, Captain Cold

This is the ugliest Len figure. Hands down, the least visually appealing. Which is a shame, because it’s also one of the best! Completely comic accurate until you hit the upper torso/head area, a ridiculous amount of articulation, with the single best cold gun of any of these figures...but jfc that expression. The weird poncho/hood always bothered me too, because while it was almost comic accurate, something just threw it off the track and made it look more ridiculous than cool. 3.5 out of 5.

After the New 52 hit, DC Collectibles released 2 Captain Cold figures in rapid succession, one that was packaged alone, and one that came as part of a 7-figure set

Can you spot the differences? There’s just one: the Len from the 7-figure set is in a dark blue suit, and doesn’t come with the ice mace and ice dagger. Like all DC Direct figures before them, these DC Collectibles figures are pretty to look at, but offer very little in the way of articulation. They could be hard to keep upright, which was annoying, as neither came with a stand, and do not try to take off the hood. Nothing under there. Still, they were very pretty depictions of a popular redesign, so I feel alright giving these guys a 3 of 5.

DC Collectibles spat out a final Len figure for the CWverse line back in 2015

As a big fan of Wentworth Miller and his face, I feel this figure could have been better. I mean, I’ve seen Arrowverse figures that are spot on, and this one just is not. Maybe it’s because the goggles obscure a good portion of the face, I don’t know. That being said, I love this figure, and it’s actually one I re-bought at a convention recently, along with the Heatwave figure from the same line, that hadn’t been released when I’d started selling off all of my toys. The costume is show-accurate, the figure comes with an extra set of hands, and the gun is just really cool. This is a solid 4 of 5 figure.

These next toys aren’t action figures per say, as they don’t do much in the way of action, but they’re cute and I like them, for the most part.

Funko took over the market and the world back in 2010 when it first introduced the Pop Vinyl figures, but it took a hit TV show to get Flash villains other than the Reverse Flash into production. There are 3 Captain Cold Funko products currently out, the two Pop Vinyls and a Re-Action figure

Now, I love the first Pop Vinyl. The round, lifeless black eyes of the Pops have freaked me out for a long time, but with Len in his sweet goggles, this Pop is perfect for me. I actually have him on a shelf in my closet. The variant...look, I like how they included the actual real-life hairline Wentworth Miller has, but those creepy eyes just kill it for me. The Re-Action figure, by the way, is garbage. They’re supposed to be based on the lines of toys that came out back in the 80s, but all that means to me is little to no articulation, weird molds that look nothing like the character they’re supposed to be, and few if any accessories. Why is he wearing a tie??? Just. The worst. 5 of 5 for Pop 1, 3 of 5 for Pop 2, and 1 of 5 for the Re-Action figure.

There are a bunch of figures that came out before Funko’s reign that have little to no articulation, and here they are:

Action League Citizen Cold, from the Batman: The Brave and the Bold line

I love a good boy??? 5 of 5, absolutely perfect. No you can’t pose him, but he already comes in a dynamic, interesting pose. This is my absolute favorite of all the non-poseable figures, and I miss mine all the time.

Imaginext, a line of toys for very young superhero fans, made a New 52 Captain Cold a few years back

Honestly, Imaginext toys are ridiculous, and I love every single one of them. They’re great toys for little kids, and yeah, Len is completely bald underneath that hoodie and ice gun backpack, but he has a snowball cannon to compensate with, so who’s the real loser?! 5 of 5, beautiful.

Did you kno w that back in 2011, McDonalds put out a line of Happy Meal Young Justice toys featuring Captain Cold??? Did you want to know? Too bad, you know now.

My dad’s dog chewed up his ice projectile, rendering the actual immobile figure completely useless...but I still really like it??? Like, it’s a toy that came with food that I sweet-talked the counter guy into giving me. It’s a worthless little nothing of a toy...but I still like it. 3 of 5.

Pocket Heroes were a weird little line of 3-inch figures that came in two-packs. One of those packs contained Flash and Captain Cold

You can basically only move their arms and legs, and while this figure comes with a cold gun and a remarkably ripped set of abs and pecs, the design never really appealed to me. 2.5 out of 5.

I collected MiniMates once upon a time. 2.5 inch figures that were basically fancy LEGOs? Deal me in! ViniMates are uh. Not that.

ViniMates are 6-inch figures and I Do Not Like Them. Being made of vinyl makes them almost completely free of articulation, so the post you get them in is the one they stay in. Also, this one is based on the show-interpretation of Len and it seems to be smoldering at me. Don’t like that. 1 out of 5.

On the other end of the vinyl spectrum, the Mini-Mezitz line from Mezco is simply delightful.

Mini-Mezitz were 2-inch figures with articulation in their arms, legs, and neck joints. I love mine, and they have been hanging out on the top of my bookcase for like 7 years now. 4 out of 5, absolutely weird-dorable.

Eaglemoss once put my blog on the front page of their website without telling me, back when I was actively snapping pictures of my Flash collection. The Eaglemoss lead figures, once you get past the fact that yes, these dudes are made of painted lead so maybe handle with care, are a good staple in any collection. Captain Cold got two

Both Eaglemoss figures came with information booklets about Captain Cold, though the chess piece New 52 version focused almost solely on his New 52 history. They’re both very detailed, and I really like them. 3.5 out of 5.

I never watched Thomas the Tank Engine as a kid...but I saw this weirdass thing in a HomeGoods one day and just kinda. Stopped and stared.

He’s a train. Len is a train now. Don’t like it. 1 out of 5.

So there’s this company called Kotobukiya. They’re most famous for their bishoujo statues, but they make guys too. I had the Flash Kotobukiya statue, back in the day. I was not collecting Flash stuff when they made a Captain Cold one.

I’m actually apparently getting this as a gift from my boyfriend for Hanukkah. He finally got access to my wishlist. This statue is based on the Francis Manapul New 52 redesign, and it is what we call Big Sexy. Frankly, I give it a 5 out of 5.

No offense to Wentworth Miller, but my favorite Captain Cold TV appearance is always going to be his role in the JLU episode, Flash and Substance.

The JLU figures were all godawful, but hell if we as a fandom didn’t gobble them up back in the day. I had all the available Rogues, Len, Heatwave, Captain Boomerang, Weather Wizard, “Justice Lords Flash” (who was really just Reverse Flash, let’s be real), Mirror Master...it’s the most complete set of Rogues you can get, actually. But they were terrible figures; the Dorito-like shape of the shoulder to waist ratio combined with the narrow feet of the figure guaranteed that these toys would not stay upright without a stand. They had no articulation, and most came without weapons. But you could get three-packs of them in Target for like $12, and they were designed with children in mind, so. 3.5 out of 5, because frankly, the Timmverse designs will always tug at my nostalgia strings.

Captain Cold is available in two official LEGO forms

The first is from the Mighty Macros line, and features Len vs the Flash in a racecar vs snowmobile race. It’s very cute and easy to build. The second is the more challenging Gorilla Grodd Goes Bananas set, which also includes Flash, Grodd, and strangely enough, Batman and Wonder Woman. I never owned that set, and it’s pretty hard to find these days, regularly running $80 and up. Both sets are a 5 out of 5, though, because LEGO does not mess around when it comes to quality fun.

I saved my favorites for last. In the 70s, there was a line of toys called MEGOs, which were plastic-bodied toys with cloth suits. Mattel, and later the Figures Toy Company, would both do their own versions of Captain Cold

The first version, by Mattel, is amazing. Mine is literally sitting next to me as I type this. I took him to Universal with me when I won a trip to Halloween Horror Nights back in 2015, I take him to the movies with me when I don’t have anyone else to go with, he’s my little buddy. My dad’s dog, again, chewed his left arm completely off at one point, but I don’t care. I love him. As for the Figures Toys version, I actually won a fairly cheap auction for him earlier this week, so we shall see! I don’t know if I like how he has the whole “Super Friends hypothermia Len” look going on, but I do like how his costume isn’t just cheap, tearable vinyl. We shall see what’s under that hood soon. I give the Mattel one a 5 out of 5 for the years of joy he’s given me. The Figures Toys one is pending, but I’m gonna give a tentative 4 out of 5, because it really does look nice.

You could get Len in other forms, like as a game piece in the Heroclix and Dice Masters games, as a paintable figure for a Batman tabletop roleplaying game, as trading cards, as a set of guitar picks, as a card holder, as a very hard to find but still lovely statue from DC Direct, in official pin form from Funko and Fansets, on an old 7-Eleven cup, and of course, in the pages of the comics...but I’ve always liked toys, so that’s what I decided to go over. Hope y’all enjoyed this, and maybe got some ideas for your own collections.

#Len Snart #Captain Cold #Flash Rogues #toys #long post #image heavy

[tessatechaitea]

Inferior 5 #1

Hopefully this will be like when Giffen made the Legion of Super-heroes super fucking dark.

How many dicks can you find, kids?!

"How many dicks can you find, kids" is the least quotable line I've ever written. The Kamandi just out of surgery cosplayer winds up getting exploded by the kid in the canvas sack face mask. You know the kid is bad news because he can make people explode with his mind. Although if you ran into him in the desert, you wouldn't know that immediately so I should have stated the other ways you can tell he's bad news so as to maybe avoid exploding. First off, he's a kid out in the desert alone. Kids by themselves are creepy. Plus he's wearing a canvas bag on his head. Canvas is always a warning sign that you might be dealing with cannibal hillbillies, especially when it's covering an almost certainly mutilated face. Also, the kid's canvas bag mask has a big red X on it. Anybody who's been through the American educational system has a strong aversion to red X's. Also spooky: the kid recites nursery rhymes. When you hear one of those, you know you're either about to die or laugh hysterically because did you hear how the Diceman said "cock" instead of "clock"?! How did we never stop laughing in the Eighties?! Oh, one more clue that not all is right with this kid: he lives in Dangerfield, Arizona. That's almost as big a red flag as some sweaty, long-haired kid in overalls from Back Swamp, North Carolina. The story picks up with some nerdy kid (probably Merrymaker since he's the big virgin of the group) whining about how his dad died in The Invasion of Metropolis (what was that? Is that a reference to the beginning of The New 52 when Darkseid attacked Earth? Or is this a reference to the Invasion by the Dominators which was compiled in three way-too-long comics?). After the Invasion, he and his mom moved to Dangerfield, Arizona. Because who wouldn't feel safer in a place with a name that causes constant anxiety over a place where the greatest hero in the world lives?

According to the date on this calendar, the Invasion mentioned was the Dominator one which created the Meta-Gene explanation of superpowers which we recently learned was a computer jargon shortening of the term "metal-gene."

The calendar isn't the only proof that this invasion was by Dominators and not Parademons! By turning the page instead of trying to ferret out what's going on by examining every panel carefully and spending an inordinate amount of my short lifespan trying to guess what's about to happen instead of just fucking turning the Goddamned page and letting the writers explain it to me, I discover the Dominators are leading an invasion of Earth Number This Is Fucked Up. At least I think it's Earth Number This Is Fucked Up because the invasion seems to have worked. Superman is dead and most of the other heroes have been placed in a space gulag. Plus that kid in the canvas bag marking X's on houses seems to play an important role in the Dominator's invasion force.

Unless this is all just a comic book on Earth Number Main Earth?

Maybe I should turn some more pages! But first, I just need to Google "Lisa Loeb's boobs." The kid complaining about the Invasion comic book is named Lisa (no relation to Lisa Loeb's boobs) and she points out to the suspiciously bloody comic book seller with a light sensitivity named Vlad that the Invasion really happened. So I guess DC is simply profiting on everybody's pain and misery. I bet just to make the series even more painful and miserable, DC hired Scott Lobdell to write it. Justin, the whiny kid from Metropolis, is being observed by some outside observers (as opposed to inside observers which would be, I guess, parasites?). He heads downtown where he's about to make contact with Dumb Bunny and Awkwardman! Except he doesn't. Man, I should probably read more than two panels at a time before writing anything. It would save everybody a lot of wasted effort, me with writing sloppy synopses of comics and the three people reading this having to fucking read this. But then I don't have any responsibility to anybody to make these "reviews" shorter. It's not my fault if somebody wanted to Google "Lisa Loeb's boobs" but found they didn't have enough time because they were reading this shit. That's their own fault for not prioritizing their desires! Googling "Lisa Loeb's boobs" was so important to me that I did it in the middle of this review! Come on, people. It's the modern age! You can view Lisa Loeb's boobs any time you want (through clothing, that is. I'm not advocating for searching for nude pics of Lisa Loeb's boobs which probably don't exist anyway and if you think they do, it was probably just Lisa Loeb's head photoshopped onto a naked torso). Lisa has been uncovering clues to the weirdness of Dangerfield, Arizona because she dresses like Velma. Unless she dresses like Velma because she searches for clues the way her hero, Velma, searches for clues. I don't know enough about Lisa's backstory to say. It's possible Lisa isn't even aware of Velma and it's just Giffen spending some easy pop culture capital so readers associate Lisa with Velma and understand her more simply by looking at her image.

Here are a bunch of the clues she's uncovered that I didn't want to try to parse through my digressions and fascination with Lisa Loeb.

Billy Shanker, the kid with the canvas bag who says things like, "Oh! The three little kittens! They fucked their mittens! Oh! Look at the way I hold my cigarette! Boom!", murders Justin's mom and takes her corpse to some guy in a hazmat suit that might be a Dominator but also might be, seeing as how Giffen is writing this, Ambush Bug. Man I hope it's Ambush Bug! Justin returns home to find his mother gone and the interior (five?) of his house covered in red X's. Oh no. That's a really bad sign! Not one black check mark in the bunch! Some people might think Keith Giffen isn't the best artist in town because he's a writer and his art isn't for everybody. Plus he never puts any thought into his panel layout and just goes the same size boxes every time (sometimes in the six variety, sometimes in the nine). I happen to love his art so I'm not one of those people. But in keeping with a guy whose art isn't what people would call great (although those people usually love mainstream great garbage art like John Romita Jr or David Finch or Tony S. Daniel), Jeff Lemire draws the back-up story. I don't think that was an insult at Lemire's expense. If it was, I'm sorry because I was really just trying to insult John Romita, Jr and David Finch and Tony S. Daniel. The back-up story features Peacemaker whom I only remember by look. According to the Who's Who, Peacemaker is a guy who loved peace so much that he realized sometimes he'd have to use extreme violence to ensure it. Also he suffered a head injury during Crisis on Infinite Earths which seems like a weird thing to mention in the Who's Who. "Trillions of lives were extinguished during the multiversal extermination event! Billions and billions of worlds destroyed! People's pasts erased in the blink of an eye! Supergirl and Flash and some other people nobody remembers killed! And Peacemaker suffered some head trauma." I suppose it's important to the character. Maybe it was meant to make him more extreme so he'd be relevant in the post-Crisis era. Peacemaker is on a mission for Amanda Waller to find some super weapon that the Russians want. His search leads him to a bunker with a dead Dominator, a mysterious capsule, and a map leading him to Dangerfield, Arizona! Inferior 5 #1 Rating: B+. I'm a sucker for Giffen stories and Giffen art. And Giffen stories backed up by Lemire's writing are probably even better. This one was pretty good so consider it evidence that my previous statement is almost certainly correct. One thing I like about Giffen is that he doesn't mind writing things that can be confusing on their first (or even second!) read through. He tells the story, makes the jokes, slowly unveils the plot, and to hell with anybody who doesn't want to invest a little time in making it all out. Seems to me, a lot of modern comic book readers could learn to love ambiguity. But they're all so desperate for the interior monologue of the main characters so they know exactly what to think after reading something. They're so coddled that they think subtlety is when a story explicitly shows them what's happening without the main character also explaining it in a monologue as they experience it. They wouldn't recognize subtlety if it...well, I mean, it's subtlety. It should be hard to recognize so I don't know how to finish that statement. Now go read Inferior 5 and hate me for recommending it when you're finished.

#Inferior 5 #DC Comics #DC #Keith Giffen #Jeff Lemire

[detectivenightwing]

Alright numbnuts.

1)Joss Whedon has never been good for a job in his life he is a garbage man who’s idea of feminism is stuck in the 90’s.

2)Yes Barbara is white in canon so is Arthur Curry and that didn’t stop Synder.

3)Bye Bitch it’s not like you were needed or wanted.

4)Have I read the comics?You must be new I’ve read every single comic with Barbara Gordon in it from her first appearance I even read all the god awful new 52 and am forcing myself to read rebirth to find some semblance of good characterization for Barbara.I’ve forgotten more about Barbara as a character than most people will ever know.

Also Barbara isn’t the best Batgirl both Cass and Steph are better than her at being Batgirl because she helped train them so maybe you could pick up a comic.

5)You’re right I a physically disabled person want Barbara to be Oracle because Representation Matters also how is her being in a wheelchair unrealistic. What’s unrealistic is Batman killing people but you DCEU fans loved that so what would you know.

I know people make jokes about how horrible MCU fans are but I made a throwaway post about casting rumours an hour ago and am already dealing with DCEU babies trying to make me feel like shit which just won’t happen.

Finally more than likely the people who sent these are adult virgins so I hope you get laid soon and it mellows you out,you piss babies.

#im in no mood to deal with peoples bullshit #batgirl #barbara gordon #dceu #oracle #@me again i love to laugh

[male-model-confessions]

Year in Review It is time for the Year in Review again. I want to start out by thanking all my followers. It has been a long year and I have not been on top of things like I should. I finished my MBA and have been looking for a job. I am sorry this year in review is late. I had trouble deciding how to begin. This year has been filled with so many tragedies and deaths. It seems to me, that there are way more deaths this year than I can include in this post. Everyone in the media is subjected to scrutiny and can influence the world of fashion. I have decided that I will provide a list of the names of the people that passed away. 

January 10 David Bowie, 69, Rock icon January 14 Alan Rickman, 69, Actor January 18 Glenn Frey, 67, Eagles rocker January 23 Jimmy Bain, 68, Rainbow rock star January 30 Frank Finlay, 89, Acting great January 31 Terry Wogan, 77, TV & radio legend February 3 Maurice White, 74, Earth Wind & Fire star

February 4 Katie May, 34, female model February 19 Harper Lee, 89, To Kill A Mockingbird author February 28 George Kennedy, 91, Movie great March 8 George Martin, 90, Beatles producer March 11 Keith Emerson, 71, ELP rock legend March 15 Sylvia Anderson, 88, Lady Penelope March 16 Frank Sinatra Junior, 72, Sinatra’s singer son March 17 Paul Daniels, 77, Comedy magician March 29 Patty Duke, 69, Child star March 31 Ronnie Corbett, 85, Comedy legend March 31 Denise Robertson, 83, TV agony aunt April 6 Merle Haggard, 79, Country legend April 12 David Gest, 62, TV personality April 20 Victoria Wood, 62, Comedian April 20 Joanie “Chyna” Laurer, 46, WWE wrestling legend April 21 Lonnie Mack, 74, Blues guitar great April 21 Prince, 57, Pop icon April 21 Guy Hamilton, 93, Bond director April 24 Billy Paul, 80, Chart star May 17 Guy Clark, 74, Country legend May 19 John Berry, 52, Beastie Boys star May 19 Alan Young, 96, Mister Ed TV star May 21 Nick Menza, 51, Megadeth drummer May 24 Burt Kwouk, 85, Pink Panther star May 31 Carla Lane, 87, Liver Birds writer June 3 Muhammad Ali, 74, Boxing legend June 14 Henry McCullough, 72, Wings guitarist June 19 Anton Yelchin, 27, Star Trek’s Chekov June 24 Bernie Worrell, 72, Funkadelic star

June 25 Billy Cunningham, 87, Fashion photographer June 28 Scotty Moore, 84, Elvis’s guitarist July 2 Caroline Aherne, 52, Comedy actress July 16 Alan Vega, 78, Suicide punk pioneer August 13 Kenny Baker, 81, Star Wars’ R2-D2 August 29 Gene Wilder, 83, Comic genius September 11 Alexis Arquette, 47, Transgender actress September 17 Charmian Carr, 73, Sound of Music’s Liesl September 25 Arnold Palmer, 87, Golfing legend October 14 Jean Alexander, 90, Corrie’s Hilda Ogden October 23 Pete Burns, 57, Dead or Alive chart star October 24 Bobby Vee, 73, 1960s teen idol November 7 Leonard Cohen, 82, Iconic singer & writer November 11 Robert Vaughn, 83, Veteran actor November 13 Leon Russell, 74, US rock legend November 24 Colonel Abrams, 67, 80s chart star November 25 Florence Henderson, 82, Brady Bunch star November 26 Ron Glass, 71, US TV star December 1 Andrew Sachs, 86, Fawlty Towers star December 6 Peter Vaughan, 93, Game of Thrones star December 8 John Glenn, 95, First to orbit Earth December 8 Greg Lake, 69, ELP legend December 13 Alan thicke, 69,Actor, composer, television host December 18 Zsa Zsa Gabor, 99, Actress December 24 Rick Parfitt, 68, Quo Rocker December 25 George Michael, 53, Singer December 26 George Irving, 94, Actor December 27 Richard Adams, 96, Author December 27 Carrie Fisher, 60, Actress

December 28 Debbie Renyolds, 84, Actress and mother.

December 31 William Christopher, 84, Actor

Of course, not everything is about death. Some good things happened this year. I’m going to stick to the fashion world, in this one. 

• More insight and awareness was achieved in the struggles and pressure male actors Cover Girl hired James Charles, the first male model to advertise make up. This is a big step in normalizing the use of make up, by men.

 • Several models, including Jaden Smith, stood up against gender norms and began advertising skirts and dresses

.• Colton Hayes received the visibility award from the Human Rights Campaign. This year has been amazing at highlighting gender issues and destroying gender stereotypes. 

Top five favorites confessions:

1. I think it is important to raise awareness on this matter. It is usually easy to dismiss the idea that men do not suffer from sexism but here is the unglamorous truth and the problem with the social constructs of masculinity. [I think it is important that we address this issue. Sexism is not excluded to female models.]

2. I just saw the BBC report on modelling agencies demanding to end gender pay gap in modelling. The argument is actually very fair, but in the long run male models and their agencies will never see it, because as Ty Ogunkoya (featured in the report) said; nobody wants to speak out because they will lose modelling jobs, and male models are just happy that they’re given the opportunity. [I like this one because It sheds light on a major problem in the fashion industry.]

3. I hate what that person said about Marc Schulze’s girlfriend. She’s super pretty and just because someone’s SUPER attractive (Marc) doesn’t mean that they aren’t allowed to like people who are less attractive. Which I don’t even think she is less attractive. [I love that someone stood up for a model’s girlfriend, rather than tearing them down.] 

4. It’s pretty damn sad to see people say “oh it’d be sad if” or ‘what a waste if “ Ben Allen is gay. People - it’s not a 'waste’ or 'sad’ if someone isn’t heterosexual and you are. That’s you being selfish and talking about a person as if they are 'property’ you could potentially own, and you dismissing their worth based on your personal preferences. Rude! [I agree with this statement on so many levels. It is not sad that these people have a life outside of modeling.]

5. Felix Gesnouin is not ugly at all, i like the fact that he is not dating a model…(like most of male models nowdays) and he is really a funny guy,i worked with him once in London. [I seriously love when people right in and defend the models.]

5 of my least favorite confessions:

1. No thanks. CoverGirl used James Charles as a token. Not groundbreaking…[I disagree. This was a groundbreaking move for CoverGirl.]

2. Ben Allen is so gross, honestly. I was at a small party that he was at and everyone was so uncomfortable around him and no one wanted to talk to him because he was saying some ridiculous shit and acting real fucking cocky. He is hot garbage. [I hate when people completely tear into the models.]

3. I’m so happy RJ King finally came out! I mean, it felt like everyone already knew except him. There were already so many rumors circulating back then. Much love to them both! [I love the positivity in this post, but I don’t like outing anyone.]

4. French model Paul Hameline comes off as over-sexed and lustful, but in a good way that makes you want to rip his pants off without shame. His Instagram is full of nearly naked men, sometimes engaging in sex! I think he has a fling with Jonas Gloer. [His Instagram seriously disturbed me, but I thought this confession was too judgmental on the man’s sexuality.]

5. This is a photo of Kristof Kralik taken by Nicolas Hagius (another male model) that pretty much show how pigs and misogynist some male models can actually. The “funny” thing is right after this Kristof and Nicolas stopped working for some time in the big markets, upto some time ago (Kristof walked Versace A/W 2016). I’ve always wondered what is the real reason why guys become male models, they always say because of traveling and meeting new people, it seems like some of them want to be a douchebag in as many different countries as they can be. [I think the picture was taken out of context. You cannot always judge a picture at face value.]

Well, that is another year in review. I wish everyone a Happy New Year. 

#year in review #male model confessions #fashion #opinion