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byrdblood · 10 months

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hey just want to say YOUR ART IS SO GOOD!!! your painting style and your chibis for your utmv toyhouse project are so so pretty QQ

Also i want to ask more about your oc Abaddon Byrd? i am so invested already just from his toyhouse preview like?? i am eyeing the project so much!! YOUR WRITING IS SO GOOD TOO!!!

i love how you wrote everyone's descriptions so much... Im so curious on Abbadon's background and his powers and how he is with nightmare's group even further on other situations, like my gods their nicknames for him are great and the fact that he was just a painter at beginning by chance.. haha

i hope these werent too many questions or thoughts, i am just so excited haha, hope you have a nice day or night!!

thank you so much!! it really brightened my day finding this in my askbox omg LHDSDASHGADS don't worry at all so, im not actually sure if i want to do some kind of written story with abaddon, yet, but just in case, i'll try not to get too deep into what i'd call "spoiler" territory. HOWEVER, i can dig into some basics of his backstory for you since you didn't ask anything super specific? xD

basically, yes, abaddon was originally a mundane (that is, nonmagical) human painter living in a neutral post-pacifist au. nightmare only came across his work by chance during a raid, and, yanno, basically having had the world's shittiest year in terms of his work, he decided "fuck it, i deserve a treat", except art version. (what kind of god doesn't have an imposing self portrait in his front hall?)

given that abaddon was kidnapped coerced "hired" to actually complete a job (as opposed to, like, being hunted for sport) he had some level of immunity his first few weeks staying in the castle -- at least as long as nightmare was around to enforce it. but Abaddon's not a dumb guy, especially when it comes to people, so he figured early on that the second he delivered a passable finished project, he was gonna be killed. so, naturally, he drug it out a little, dug his heels in. and the longer he stayed there, the more the others -- especially dust and nightmare, arguably the most sensitive to these sorts of things -- came to suspect the strange properties of abaddon's soul, which, strangely enough, he himself seemed completely unaware of. this made him an interesting bauble at best, something to be picked apart and understood... but most importantly, it did buy him time.

...but, eventually, something finally happened. certain situations came to a head and abaddon was caught in the crossfire.

understandably, the situation put abaddon under a great deal of stress, not only bringing to a boiling point the family disease he didn't even know he had, but throwing him into a series of unfortunate events that would corrupt his code entirely, leading him to develop the markedly inhuman features he carries today ;) now, nightmare is no fool, of course, and if you present him with a living weapon -- especially one who seems to be holding so much resentment and misanthropism just behind their teeth -- he's going to try to capitalize on it. so regardless of abaddon's lack of LV or their piss poor physical health, apparently this new ability he developed was valuable enough for nightmare to offer him a permanent contract anyway. so now he's a permanent member all the sudden as opposed to a mildly interesting trinket the others could fuck around with for a few weeks, and to make things worse, he's human. for a group that originally called themself the bad sanses, it's just weird as shit (if nothing else!) to suddenly be incorporating this random guy. so, understandably, the guys are varying levels of chill with that.

aaaand that's the basics! if you want to know more though you're more than welcome to ask something else xD

#utmv #nightmare's pantheon #multiverse tau #abaddon byrd #ask #fair warning ill avoid going too deep into details for things i consider possible spoilers (again just in case)#but lots of surface level details should be free game #including like relationship stuff!#again youll just have to be more specific in your questions cuz otherwise i dont know what to cover

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ale-arro · 7 months

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been going a little bit insane about this sentence from Ace by Angela Chen for the past week

#replace this with any other type of significant relationship too #also! this book actually rules btw i really recommend it #i didnt read it when it first cane out bc i was like. well i am already pretty familiar with asexuality and not rly interested in 101 stuff #but it turns out it doesnt feel 101-y at all its a super awesome piece of queer theory and also chen has Good opinions #and not weird watered down ones that i am sometimes wary of in aspec communities (frankly especially ace ones)#i think maybe if more people approached asexuality the way chen does (including and maybe even especially ace people)#i would be more inclined to still ID as ace #but anyways!#aro #aromantic #<- tag selections that reflect how i personally engage with this quote #also #described in alt text #also also #j tag #:/#aro media

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hadesknockedupintheunderworld · 2 months

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The "wow this relationship was so compelling and/or queer I'm sure that there is much fan stuff" to "Oh yeah I forgot the fandom branded these characters as having a familial relationship such as siblings or parent/child and harassed people who said otherwise" pipeline

#fandom wank #this post is the simplified version of my thoughts #the more detailed version includes the fact that people do make stuff for a ship but get harassed for it or did make stuff but it was purged #And the fact that nowadays the moment a creator or the loud fandom people say 'this relationship is familial' everyone draws a big fat red #line and it seems to be accepted that you shouldn't like it in any way (even if you read into their relationship differently) or you're a #filthy degenerate #This is the kind of stuff that makes me want to fill these tags with my own posts #If not to encourage people against that behavior and show people that it's okay to like a fictional relationship or whatever #i just be ramblin

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milolovesbmc · 11 days

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The "I do too" from Marvin after "Do you take this man to be your husband?" in In Trousers absolutely destroyed me so here's this!!!

#Christian Borle as Marvin because he's the only Marvin I've drawn before #also I just really like his face #the clothes are nothing like what he wears in the college production In Trousers #(which I based this on)#but that's cause i wanted to try giving him traditional Jewish wedding clothes and stuff #they just gave him a normal ass suit in the college production/j #AND THEY DIDN'T INCLUDE THE BREAKING GLASS BIT FROM THE 1985 SCRIPT??#which I understand why they wouldn't yk #but still. something about Marvin trying to break it and missing #before Trina does it instead #insert essay about how that reflects their marriage/relationship #I'm insane about this guy #marvin falsettos #in trousers marvin #the marvin trilogy #in trousers #falsettos #christian borle #MILO ART #he looks kinda goofy help :(

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yuridovewing · 4 months

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i know we’ve all ragged on this scene but i really can’t get enough of ivypool openly admitting she shut down the patrol over dovewing and twigpaw’s immediately gotta look directly into the camera to say “remember kids! marrying outsiders is WRONG! ivypool didn’t totally fuck up here, she had good intentions so let’s not hold this against her! everything should be forgiven now :)”

#it sucks cause if they didnt include that id actually like this scene a lot #i like ivypool torpedoing her relationships over her own hangups. i like her causing conflict with it #but so many of her actions are immediately followed by the pov character going ‘’yes ivypool youre right ivypool’’#like the authors dont actually want to commit to her being complicated and messy #and like after all the exhausting stuff from book 3 i dont even think its weird that twigpaw isnt angry with her or anything #i can totally see her being tired and just feeling relieved it wasnt about her #its the tirade there about how actually ivy is right and you should agree with her intentions’’#avos liveread #and i can see ivypool apologizing earnestly when she realizes how bad she screwed up

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not-poignant · 3 months

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Can I ask, why do you love BL romance better than het romance? What makes them better? I did not mean anything negative, and I know everyone have their own like and dislike but I want to know your thoughts....

Also what do you think that made Asian MLM (BL manga/manhwa/manhua/ danmei) romances better than western MLM romances?

Can I ask, why do you love BL romance better than het romance?

Because I had no choice for many years.

Because that choice was taken away from me by a homophobic, transphobic, queerphobic, acephobic society. So all the romances I read had to be heterosexual, all the romances I watched had to be heterosexual, all the romances I heard of had to be heterosexual.

Because I'm not heterosexual.

Because I never saw myself represented in any stories ever, for over about 20 years (queer stuff existed, but where I was situated in Perth, Western Australia, meant that I was not seeing it).

Because I was force-fed allonormative, heteronormative, heterosexual tropes, bullshit, toxicity, misogyny, patriarchal culture, rape culture and more, and because everyone assumed that was normal, which made me feel isolated, marginalised, alone, and bereft, and cut me out of knowing what a life could look like for myself, and made relationships harder, when you don't have the words or stories to latch onto.

People like me couldn't even be erased out of the media, we hardly existed in the media, and if we did, almost never under our real identities, and almost always having to pretend to be something we weren't, for many people who hated us, or wished we were dead, or simply didn't care about us at all.

So, when I finally got a choice, I made a choice.

And I do not want to read heterosexual content anymore, unless it's queer (like T4T). The only place I actually willingly consume heterosexual romantic content these days is like 80s and 90s and early 00s romantic comedies. It's the only thing I allow through my filter, because so many of them have a really strong bent of hurt/comfort in them, and it's rare to find movies that have this in general.

But yeah otherwise het is just not a thing I look for in fiction. Literally a squick. Literally reminds me of 20 years of oppression in the mass media. It's not inherently bad, it just wasn't good for me personally, to never have a choice.

So I made one :D And my life has been so much better for it. I'm never going back.

Also what do you think that made Asian MLM (BL manga/manhwa/manhua/ danmei) romances better than western MLM romances?

It's just better for me, anon! I find a lot of western published m/m (so not like m/m fanfiction which I still read) often feels stifled and too short for me, and the characterisation doesn't get as deep as I want it to get. I often can feel the rigidity of the novel structure on authors who are trying to rapid release, and the depth I'm looking for is rarely there. Sometimes that's what people want! Sometimes they don't know there's other options!

Sometimes that's true of some BL manga/manhua/manhwa etc. as well. Tbh it's probably true of a lot of it! Serial format doesn't always allow for depth either. But I find the visual format easier to read as well. If I reread western m/m it's almost always fanfiction. And tbh, I'm sure some amazing m/m was published last year, I just get tired of having to wade through it all to find something I like. It got to the point where I was reading like 60+ titles just to find one average read, and I gave up.

The recommendation systems for BL tend to be better and more on point for me, I find most people who recommend published m/m to me generally always miss the mark (which isn't their fault - I'm particular, there's a reason I write what I write - because I can't find it to read!!), but close friends like @morbidlizard who recommend BL to me almost always hit the mark!

I don't actually read much danmei, but mostly because I haven't had time to really sink my teeth into it. Aside from MXTX, I haven't explored much further.

But yeah, hope that helps! :D

#asks and answers #personal #can't even put inadvertent recs on this #honestly 'rapid release' was kind of the death of it being easy to find a lot of good #m/m fiction being published #it's still out there it's just way more 'needle in a haystack'-y than it used to be #also there's way more fandom tropes like hurt/comfort etc. in manhwa and manga in particular #so it speaks a language i prefer #like Define the Relationship has SO many moments of hurt/comfort #just over and over again #i find published novel-format m/m just really kind of misses the mark on this #and honestly i include my own stuff in that #the novel format isn't super friendly to it #compared to the serial format #i'm sure that's not true across the board #it's just true 'so far'

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up-in-flames-writing · 4 months

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In lieu of Stuff Your Kindle day, can we talk about the issue of how the m/m genre of books, romance or not, is almost entirely dominated by women? Can we talk about how the most recognisable gay couples in media are written by women? Can we talk about how queer men can't even write about ourselves, how we are only allowed to exist when it's from the point of view of a straight woman sexualising us?

Can we talk about that? Or am I going to get called misogynistic for pointing out the disparity between who gets the writing deals, & who gets their books turned into movies, & whose shit gets popular versus whose doesn't? Can we talk about how m/m fiction is only allowed when it appeals to a cishet gaze, or is that too much for tumblr to take?

Can we also talk about how trans queer men are even more hated by publishing? Can we talk about how we get shit from both sides? Can we talk about how books about the experiences of being a queer man, written by queer men, never get the same recognition as books written by women on this subject (barring academia which has its own problems)?

Can we talk about that? Can we?

#booker speaks #no bloody clue how to tag this #this is for the tags only but #people would get up in arms if the f/f book scene was dominated by cismen only #why are we not extending this same energy to ciswomen writers of m/m?#why did we forget about the original meaning of own voices?#why are queer men pushed out of publishing in the way that we are?#& im not just talking about romance here #like there are fantasy & scifi & contemporary novels about men loving men that are written by ciswomen who have a very narrow view of what #m/m relationships are like. & this extends towards stuff like manga too but im not gonna get into that cause i dont read mangs/comics #can we talk about how hard it is to find queer masc authors nowadays?#saying this both as a reader & as a writer #can we also talk about how lists of queer & especially trans novels almost always forget to include anything by transmascs & gay transmascs #or if they do include us its 1 transmasc book to 1 enby book to 8 transfem books or books about the 'trans experience' in nebulous terms #can we stop reccing detransition baby & start reccing the spirit bares its teeth?#can we look at works written by queer masc people that arent just red white royal blue & stone butch blues?#go read cemetary boys #read alexis hall & max turner #read bloom if you like comics. or nimona #read my shit too!#im gonna be focusing on my writing blog way more this year #& im working on some projects that may or may not end up being published in physical form #read more queer masc stories by queer masc authors!

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ruurat · 5 months

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Sigzai week 2023 - Day 3 - Children - Braiding Hair

[Image ID: An illustration of Sigma and Dazai Osamu from the series Bungo Stray Dogs with a warm orange background. They are both depicted as toddlers in matching school uniforms. The uniform is a dark blue sweater vest on top of a white collared long-sleeved shirt. Dazai is seen braiding Sigma's hair with a focused face. Meanwhile, Sigma is happily humming as she waits for him to finish. Along with the illustration, there is a two-page comic about the continuation of the scene. The first panel of the comic shows Dazai when he's finally finished braiding Sigma's hair, slightly tired but happy. The next panel shows that the braid is actually very messy. The first page ends there. On the next page, it shows Dazai disappointed and on the verge of tears. He seems upset that he did not braid Sigma's hair well. Sigma sends a questioning glance. On the last panel, it shows Dazai shoving Sigma's hair in his mouth, attempting to get rid of Sigma's messy braid. Sigma stares in shock and concern, silently judging him.\.End ID]

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adjit · 11 months

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So what really happened in Red Robin between Dick and Tim?

Because I am constantly seeing misrepresentations of it, I want to talk about the actual events of Red Robin, and Dick and Tim's relationship during it. It's a favorite storyline for fandom to use and riff on, and so for people who haven't read the source, it's hard to know what is canon and what is fanon.

Honestly? It might be easier to just go read the issues. The majority of what I'm going to discuss here all happens in the first 4 issues of Red Robin (though I cover some stuff through the first 12), and I enjoyed that entire run, but if you'd rather hear a random internet user tell ya their take on it, read on.

This is going under a cut because it's long. But TLDR? Dick is not the bad guy in this situation. No one is the bad guy in this situation. If we had to name one... poor coping skills? And though they do fight, they ultimately reconcile because Tim and Dick are brothers who love each other.

Damian

First things first, let's talk about Damian. Did Dick give Robin to Damian without even informing Tim, so Tim had to find out by Damian showing up in the Robin costume? Not exactly.

So, some technicalities. Damian had worn the costume before the infamous Batcave scene. In Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3, he's given it by Alfred and goes with Squire to save Tim. So, not only has Damian worn the costume before, Tim has seen it.

However, arguably this is also before Dick has accepted the mantle, so the scene in the cave is still notable as it is Dick specifically informing Tim that Damian will be his Robin. And Tim had also worn the costume out for a one-time rescue months before he officially became Robin (also enabled by Alfred), so I'm still of the idea that the cave scene is The Scene about the Robin mantle being passed down.

That being the case, I'm still going to defend Dick anyway.

Firstly, he told Tim before Damian showed up. But it's true that he didn't give Tim a choice, and that Tim was NOT okay with it.

Damian shows up and talks some shit, Tim punches him in the face, and then storms out.

Overall, it went pretty terribly! But I'm of the opinion that there was no good ending here. Damian needs the family connection that the mantle of Robin would give him in order to feel accepted, not to mention the close supervision that the duo of Batman and Robin would provide. But Tim is extremely attached to Robin 14 years after this comic and he still hasn't given it up and would never be happy being asked to give it up, especially when he's already lost so many things. One of them was going to end up unhappy. (Fwiw, I'm of the opinion that Dick is right, and Damian needs Robin a lot more than Tim does. But that doesn't mean that that decision wouldn't hurt Tim, too.)

Arguably, Dick could have been a bit nicer when doing this, but let's be fair to Dick: his father figure has just died, and suddenly he has to be Batman, and he now has a young child he is partly in charge of. That's a lot to be dumped on his lap, not to mention that he didn't want to be Batman (he initially refused despite Bruce's wishes, and only took it on after basically being forced to after Jason tried to take on the mantle, killed a bunch of people, and injured both Damian and Tim), and said child is a highly traumatized child who is still in the process of basically cult de-conditioning! So Tim could also be asked to be a lot more understanding than he's being. But Tim's too wrapped up in his own grief to see that. Just like Dick's too wrapped up in his own issues to properly deal with Tim.

He has a lot of shit going on and he can't juggle it all. Tim is coping incredibly poorly with his own circumstances. They clash and neither comes out happy. It sucked. But to say that Dick is the bad guy here... He made the best decision he could when given no right options. I do think that he made a mistake here in his approach, but to call his entire relationship with Tim into question due to it... doesn't make as much sense to me (especially because of the events which follow!)

Self-isolation

So, did everyone abandon Tim? Did his family forget him and leave him out to dry?

Absolutely not. The opposite, really. Tim pushed everyone away, despite them repeatedly reaching out to him.

One thing to note about Tim here is that he is self-isolating extremely hard. Even after their argument about Robin, Dick keeps trying to reach out to Tim. Tim pushes him away. Tim pushes everyone away. And this is not even subtle- it's shown in the text very clearly.

Multiple people try to talk to Tim, and Tim absolutely refuses them.

Tim is pissed even at the idea that Dick might be checking up on him. And Tim and Steph's relationship is super rocky right now, and he takes her concern for him poorly. Part of that can be attributed to an ongoing fight between them, a lack of trust implicit there, but combined with everything else it's also clearly Tim pushing away all of his lifelines.

Cassie also comes to try to check on him- after he dodges her attempts to contact him, she flies all the way to Gotham. But when told that a man who everyone knows as dead, and whose body was recovered and buried, is still alive, she doesn't believe him. (And considering Cassie has already dealt with Tim's grief regarding Conner and his suuuuuper rational reaction there, one might understand even more why she doesn't believe him right away.) And Tim immediately pushes her away for it. He doesn't try to give her any explanation, doesn't respond to her concern, he just immediately cuts the cord.

(And just a note that when Cassie doesn't know who else to turn to about Tim? She turns to Dick! Because she knows how important Dick is to Tim. And yes, right now Tim is mad at Dick and resents that Steph and Cassie go to him, but that doesn't change the fact that when people think about caring for Tim, Dick is the first person they go to.)

Dick and Tim's argument

Did Dick refuse to believe Tim, despite Tim having evidence, call him crazy and threaten to throw him in Arkham? NOPE.

That is entirely fanon. And one of the more pervasive, and annoying, misrepresentations of Dick's character, as it causes people to talk shit about him.

So. What actually happened? (We're getting into full pages here because I am not letting anyone get this conversation twisted.)

Dick shows up and speaks to Tim compassionately, though decisively, about the fact that Bruce is dead and they need to learn to move on and deal with that grief in a healthy manner. He then offers help to Tim once more, and is rejected, Tim instead opting to start a fight in classic emotionally-repressed Bat tradition. (Which, sidenote, do you think they do this just so that panels during a long conversation are more dynamic instead of two people standing there talking to each other?)

Tim pleads his case to Dick....to an extent. Notice, however, that he never mentions that he has any reason to believe what he does. Doesn't even try to convince Dick to believe him, really. Just insists that he's right after he makes a good case on why he does in fact sound crazy.

And then, Dick offers help. He suggests that Tim talk to a therapist. This person is, notably, NOT ARKHAM ASYLUM. Isn't even secretly Arkham, because they're in Metropolis!

And, frankly, the idea that someone suggesting therapy to his brother who is dealing poorly with grief has been equated to "calling him crazy and trying to get him thrown in jail/committed" is absolutely bonkers to me. I know that it's more likely that someone escalated the stakes for drama in their fanfic or something, and for some reason that's the version that circulated, but from here to there is a LEAP. And for people to claim it's canon is frustrating to say the least.

And finally. Tim tells Dick to let him leave. And Dick does. Dick stops trying to stop Tim, and lets him go. He trusts in Tim enough to let him do what he thinks is right, even if Dick himself disagrees. He does it because Tim asks him to.

Is it a mistake? Maybe. Does it make Tim forgive Dick for choosing Damian as his Robin? Definitely not. But it's very clearly not because he doesn't care, not because he's too busy to pay attention to Tim. It's an act of respect, of treating Tim as an equal who is capable of making his own decisions. In that way, it's showing his trust to Tim.

I have an entirely separate post on the subject of why Dick not believing Tim is narratively supported to make later (EDIT: posted here!), so I'm gonna go on a little Tim rant here instead. Because this post isn't long enough.

During this time, Tim is consistently begging for people to believe in him, while also refusing to play all his cards. The picture that started his hunch is never brought up. Frankly, I'm not sure that even if he did show it to everyone that people would believe him, but I think it's telling that he doesn't.

First, I kind of see it as Tim engaging in a "relationship test". They're the kind of thing that only people who are deeply insecure or in a bad place think to do- if I stop talking to all my friends, how long will it take people to notice? Who's going to notice that I'm upset without me saying anything, who really cares about me? If I share an insane theory, who is going to believe me point blank?

They're the kind of thing that is....not healthy in any way, shape, or form, and really aren't fair to the people you're testing. Sure, someone "passing" the test may show that they care for you (and, ultimately, the only person who believes Tim without reservation is Kon, once he comes back- and that unquestioning belief and loyalty is meaningful), but "failing" the test doesn't mean that they don't care. And they're ultimately a sort of self-sabotage, because you know that most people are going to fail because you know the test is unfair.

And that's exactly what it is: self-sabotage. As previously mentioned, Tim is massively self-isolating during this part of the arc, and pushing people away because they "don't believe him" is just one facet of that self-isolation. But he also doesn't try to get them to believe him, doesn't even give them that chance, because his ultimate goal is not to actually get anyone on his side, but to push everyone away. That's not to say that he secretly doesn't want people to believe him, but... he's acting mostly irrationally. He wants people to believe him but won't let them close enough to meaningfully give them the chance to do so.

Second, as much as Tim says that he's positive he's right and he's going to prove it, he's straight up lying, and he's actually not that sure at this point. And he's probably terrified that if he does show his proof, that someone will see it and still not believe him, and he'll have to face the fact that his only piece of evidence is extremely flimsy and that his conviction is based much more on grief than it actually is on logic.

So. Yeah, no one believes him. And that does suck, and it's a hit to him. But he didn't exactly give them a chance. He's preemptively cutting people out before they have a chance to hurt him or point out where he's wrong.

Tim is still a pitiable character here. He's a disaster and a wet puddle of a man who is living through the worst time in his entire life. But he's not a poor victim, scorned by his family and the world at large, thought to be crazy for no reason at all! Instead, he's (much more interestingly, imo) a kid dealing with his grief incredibly poorly, self-isolating and refusing every outstretched hand, clinging desperately on to his last hope that maybe his world hasn't changed as much as it seems like it has.

Blackest Night

Blackest Night is a huge crossover event that happened during the Red Robin run; technically speaking, you can skip it without missing anything in the plot of Red Robin, but it does have some good moments that highlight Tim's mental state and his relationship with Dick.

So, Tim leaves Gotham, but when Black Lantern Rings start bringing a bunch of people back from the dead in the form of zombies, including Dick and Tim's parents, Dick calls him back to Gotham. And Tim, looking at the decaying zombie corpse of his parents, is also arguing that he can save them.

When faced with an evil zombie that is trying to kill him, Tim still says "I can still fix this, I can save him". And Dick, as compassionately as ever, tries to talk sense into him. It's the exact same situation as with Bruce, but this time Tim is absolutely wrong.

And with this situation as a parallel, I think it's a lot clearer how unreasonable Tim's mental state is. He might seem like he's just a misunderstood genius in Bruce's case because he happened to be right, but the fact of the matter is, he's not thinking clearly. And he'd cling onto the same hopes even when he's wrong. With Bruce's case, he got lucky.

Also! This panel.

Even with all of this between them, Tim still answers Dick that he trusts him, with no hesitation. Of course.

Reconciliation

So, does Tim come back to Gotham, replaced and forgotten, and become isolated from the rest of the Bats?

Nope! There is, actually, a reconciliation of sorts between Dick and Tim. Admittedly, there is no scene where Dick outright says he's sorry, and Tim says he forgives him. But in my reading, there are interactions that serve a similar purpose, if you read between the lines.

After Tim finds proof of what's been going on with Batman, had a whole thing with the League and the Council of Spiders, and blown up a bunch of League bases, he returns to Gotham where Ra's is enacting a plan to get revenge for Tim acting against him: destroying Batman's legacy. Everything he loved and everything he built is in the crosshairs.

And when he's trying to figure out what Ra's is planning, he meets back up with Dick.

Tim is spewing crazy theories, and with absolutely no proof or explanation, he turns to Dick and asks him to trust him. And this time, Dick tells him, Of course. The fraction between them that preceded Tim's departure from Gotham is repeated, and this time Dick tells Tim he trusts him, and asks what he can do to help.

(This time, Dick does call Tim crazy, while he's muttering to himself. And then he chooses to trust him anyway.)

Granted, this is not an actual apology. But it feels like a second chance. One more bid for connection, and this time Dick meets him in the middle and reciprocates.

Anyway, since when do siblings actually verbally say "I'm sorry"?

And then... quick summary, in case you want the real details for the following events:

Ra's sends assassins after all the people Batman cares about to distract Tim from the fact that he's getting Hush (who is impersonating Bruce Wayne) to sign over Wayne Enterprises. But Tim wins because he finally stops self-isolating and gets his many friends to protect everyone who needs protecting while Tim faces off against Ra's. (Which is, ultimately, a climax of his character arc for this story- reaching out and trusting people again. Team up guy back in action!)

Tim's able to keep Ra's busy long enough that Lucius can file the paperwork to make him the majority shareholder of Wayne Enterprises, thwarting Ra's' attempt at a takeover. However, Ra's wins the fight, and Tim ends up plummeting to his death out of the window.

And then Dick catches him.

Later, Dick asks Tim how he could have planned for Dick to be there to save him.

And Tim says "You're my brother, Dick. You'll always be there for me."

This scene has been talked to death, because most people are at a consensus: this is a fucking lie. Tim didn't know that Dick would be there, and was fully prepared to die.

However! I'm not here to rehash this. I just want to add my take. It's a lie, but. Tim is a good liar. And every good liar knows that the best lies have a grain of truth in them.

I do believe that Tim didn't know that anyone would be there to save him. But I also believe that he fully means what he says here, that it's not just to placate Dick. Tim is telling Dick that he trusts him, that he believes in him, that they're brothers. It's forgiveness.

I could keep citing all the places where Tim shows an unconditional belief in Dick that happen after this arc, to prove that their relationship is truly mended after this and that they don't continue fighting, but that happens often enough that you could just read any comic including Tim and Dick and I'm sure Tim will say some fanboy shit eventually.

So, that's it! If you take nothing else from this post, take this at least: Tim and Dick LOVE each other, and they might fight, but they forgive each other, and if you try to talk shit about Dick Grayson, Tim will be one of the first to fight you, guaranteed. Suffice to say:

#Tim Drake #Dick Grayson #Batman #Red Robin #dc comics #batfandom #this post is half Dick defense half I can't shut up about Tim #actually half of this is just summarizing red robin and then a fourth is dick defense and a fourth is me rambling about tim #and like...fandom is transformative and ultimately if you want to make Dick your bad guy you Can #but at least know what the original was and where you're differing so that is a Choice and not just something you do bc it's what's done #I originally was going to delve into Dick and Tim's relationship in general #including first meeting and Tim's Robin tenure #(parts of it at least there's a lot of Robin time)#(and I haven't finished the Robin comics oop)#but this post got out of hand. So now it's just a recounting of what happened in Red Robin with my analysis of the text and their relations #and it's still a Lot #also I haven't read ALL the batman comics leading up to this arc so if I'm missing any context I'd love to hear about it!#mostly I know I'm missing some stuff with his beef with steph

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spiritshaydra · 5 months

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Hot take, Megasound is an ace (possibly aroace) power couple situation and in this essay I will-

#OKAY BUT FOR REAL #WHERES THE ASEXUAL PAIRING REP AT #HELL WHERES THE AROMANTIC PAIRING AT??#Just because someone’s asexual or aromantic DOESNT MEAN that they can’t or wouldn’t be in a relationship???#Like… not all close relationships HAVE to include sex or stereotypical romantic stuff.#Sometimes love is just being a fucking cryptid that hangs out in close proximity with a person who you vibe with on a whole different leve #Also it’s ace aro and aroace erasure #IM JUST SAYING fuckarms mcMike Soundwave gives total ace vibes #ESPECIALLY TFP #Also Tfp Megasound is ace flag colors so /j #Also in fanfic I’d absolutely rather read about two characters vibing than doing the hanky panky #maccadams #maccadam #tfp #megasound #tfp megasound #Spit takes

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alevolpe · 2 months

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the relationships between each member of the sailor team seems so interesting in your hc! I always love it when people depict that not all the girls get along perfectly with each other.

What does Michiru think about the inner senshi in your version? If it's not too long, what do they think about her?

Thank you! And I really love that too!

I love that some of the girls might have stronger bonds with each other or even others not being that close friendship wise and just happening to be a part of the same team, it makes their team dynamics way more believable and organic!

I’ll make a compromise (since I’m p busy) and share my “ranking” of how the girls see each other. Thank you again :)

Also small note, but these relationships are accounted for after they spent years together as a team. So obv not say like mid season S where the outers hate everyone and vice versa, but say into their 20s, after letting their bonds simmer during a period of relative calm, Earth-threatening-evil-conflict free time.

#sailor moon #Ask me stuff #I bet some ppl are going to be confused by Makoami and let me make clear that I do want them in a romantic relationship in my hc #But they are not an absolute must like Reinako and harumichi #Even if they don’t get together their bond is still incredibly strong. Past best friends and with elements of attraction #Also I didn’t include Hotaru and Pluto cause in my hc they are not really a part of the team #Pluto comes and goes and does her own thing #While Hotaru does not get revived #This is my core team :)

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aro-culture-is · 1 year

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Aro culture is having not a single fucking clue what to say when your coworkers start talking about relationships. Like how am I supposed to contribute to this conversation. I can’t tell you about my nonexistent partner. I can’t whine about how I haven’t found anybody I don’t want. I can only say “oh that’s cool” and “damn sorry about that” so many times. And now I look awkward and standoffish.

#Anonymous #aro culture is #aro #aromantic #actually aro #actually aromantic #ask #mod kee #honestly i think the best way to add to that #is like... ask about plans and things they like to do together #talk about details #like... say ur coworkers are talking about a date night #you can ask where they went for food and respond with stuff about like. oh have you been to such-and-such place - they've got the best #[similar food style]#or like. just... find a point of connection to the topics that aren't just the relationships #though i'd generally advise leading with a question that includes the relationship so it feels less like an intentional topic change #and for the 'damn i'm sorry about that' types of convos #consider if you've ever had a similar situation in some way.#like... 'wow ngl if i were doing a project with him i'd be losing my damn mind. is he always like this?'#also sometimes it helps to create a topic #like... bring in homemade food and talk about how you found the recipe and thought they'd like it #or like... if u have some sort of hobby you can talk about how you've been working on a project or w/e with that recently #you can also redirect to that stuff! like ur coworker is talking about having a date night -> oh that's neat! personally i'm really excited #to work on my embroidery project - have i shown you any pictures?#or say they're talking about a fight in their relationship - 'that's so stressful! you should do something for yourself - do you read?#i've been reading xyz book - maybe you'd like it?'#overall like. acknowledge their topic and validate their emotions -> handshake it to a similar but more relatable topic

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waystarresourceco · 7 months

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Kieran Culkin on the boathouse scene and the Roy siblings’ dynamics (with a focus on Kendall and Roman and expectations on them in childhood). (x)

From an interview with Kieran Culkin with Vanity Fair - June 19, 2019

#Kieran has spoken a few times about the golden trio’s/Ken and Roman's relationship #and I think Kieran understands all of dynamic as being somewhere in the vicinity of “normal” sibling relationships #meaning I don’t think he considered Roman's relationship with his siblings (including Kendall) abusive or damaging to Roman #Kieran's mentioned Roman bullying Kendall but I think he really means “younger sibling bullying”#where a younger brother bugs an older brother until the whole thing devolves #or like the verbal stuff we see Roman sling in the show (most often at Kendall but kind of at everyone)#and all of that exists for Kieran within the realm of just normal sibling stuff #this is just my understanding of Kieran’s view though and folks are welcome to take or leave any interpretation of anything posted #roman roy #kendall roy #shiv roy #hbo succession #cast interviews #succession #kieran culkin

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strrwbrrryjam · 4 months

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this is a dutch van der linde and micah bell hate club - dutch and micah defenders are not welcome here

#also dutch defenders does not equal dutch likers. you can still like hin as a character n stuff #i underrstand he's cool to think about and one of the most conplex characters in the game #but if you come to me and say “dutch is a good guy” or “molly deserved it” or stuff like that. immediate block fuck off #micah though. eh. like. choose better bestie #the writing for micah isnt bad per say but there are better written more complex characters than him #i mean. micah isnt complex at all. hes a bad guy who enjoys doing bad things n it all dates back into his childhood #theres nothing more to that really. bad and malicious people exist and hes one of them #sure there might be more to that but thats all the analysis i will ever do of him. he makes me so mad #also. like. i like vandermatthews. heckbi love vandermatthews because their relationship is so interesting to think about.#but i often feel that in the case of vandermatthews dutch's canon treatment of his partners including hosea gets ignored a lot #im glad they divorced. hosea deserves better. molly deserves better. susan deserves better. everyone deserves better.#rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 dutch van der linde #dutch van der linde #rdr2 micah bell #micah bell #strawberry speaks

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seaweedstarshine · 9 days

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Hi! Long time no yap but I've been really bothered by this thing and I know you're just the person I can go to with this (even if we don't always end up agreeing at times).

I got into a tiff with someone in a comments section of a post that was about Amy (Which character do you think deserved to become a villain? or something similar). They brought up Amy's abuse of her boyfriend. I may have tried to defend Amy (key word is tried. I am officially rubbish at debating) but then I may have said something? Because they said that I (and apparently a lot of other fans) was excusing Amy's abuse because of her trauma. It got me stumped because isn't young Amy's treatment of Rory rooted in her trauma? Did I miss the memo where we separate trauma and abuse? Am I missing something?

That statement bothered me a lot because if there's one thing I never want to do it's defend an abuser. So here I am, humbly asking and hoping to clear the muddy waters.

Your really confused and disturbed moot, Tia 💌

TIA!!!!! Thanks for the ask 💌 , and I send you all the hugs.

Discussion of abuse, trauma, ableism, infidelity, and unhealthy relationship dynamics beneath the cut.

(First off… while I really appreciate your faith in my explaining skills <3 <3 <3 my passion for traumatized characters and mentally ill+neurodivergent rights doesn't make me especially qualified to fully clear muddy waters especially not knowing the full context, but I feel you, and what follows is my informed perspective!)

Speaking generally first, harm done in media is best examined by the impact on the audience, with a different lens than harm done to real people. While relatable experiences in media can be useful and validating and incredibly important, you can’t be “defending an abuser” when the abuse is fictional. It's actually normal for traumatized/ND/mentally ill people to project onto mentally ill villains, when villains are the only significant representation for those stigmatized symptoms in a media landscape that excludes and demonizes us simply for existing. RTD can't stop people who hallucinate from reclaiming the Master's Drums and projecting onto the Master, for example — 90% of the best Doctor Who psychosis fic by psychotic authors is about the Master, whether RTD likes it or not. It's not true crime.

(This is speaking generally. Amy Pond is very much not the Master.)

Abuse is a behavior, and there can be many reasons for it, but reasons based in trauma don’t make it not abuse (some forms of generational trauma can propagate abusive parenting styles, when the parent thinks abusive parenting is normal, or lives entirely vicariously through their child). This absolutely should not be taken to mean trauma correlates with abusive behavior; rather that abusive behaviors from traumatized people are more likely to present in specific ways.

Abuse is also a targeted behavior, based in control — not consistently displayed C-PTSD symptoms as seen in Season 5 Amy Pond through many aspects of her life. Mental health symptoms don't become abuse just because they hinder one partner from meeting the other partner's needs. Any life event can do that.

Without knowing the context of the arguments, this is the aspect of their relationship I've seen you talk about before (which I also feel strongly about), and what I assume is what you were debating? So, here I will talk specifically in regard to Season 5.

We all know Amy — she's never attached to Leadworth because she never wanted to leave Scotland, no steady therapist because none of them stick up for her, can't stick with one job yet her first choice is a job that simulates intimacy because her avoidant behavior (a known trauma response) isn't sustainable to her wellbeing. Rory knows her fears of commitment stem from her repeated abandonments, it’s why he’ll always wait for her, and it's why he blames the Doctor “You make it so they don't want to let you down.”, who apart from having caused a lot of her trauma, has actively taken advantage of her being the “Scottish girl in the English village” who's “still got that accent,” because he wants to feel important, so yeah, I think interpreting Amy's issues (and how Amy and Rory transverse them) as Amy abusing Rory indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of their relationship, as well as a misunderstanding of the (raggedy) Doctor’s role in Amy’s formative self-image (which of course she works through in Season 6, but I am sticking to Season 5).

Abuse is always based in control. That just doesn’t fit here. While Amy's detachment from her real life includes things like calling Rory her “kind of boyfriend” (which she is upfront about to his face; differing commitment levels isn't abuse, though it can be a relationship red flag for both parties IRL) — her Season 5 disregard of Rory’s feelings occurs only in response to the fairytale embodiment of her trauma. It's never a response to Rory; it's a response to the Doctor, who stole her childhood and led her by the hand to her death. She cheats on Rory with the Doctor in her bedroom full of Doctor toys, drawings, models, she made from childhood to early adulthood.

(And yes, like many repeatedly-traumatized people, Amy is prone to being sensitive and reactive. Take her “Well, shut up then!” line in The Big Bang; but given Rory responds to this by hugging her, clearly he doesn’t take it as her actually dismissing him. He knows her better than that.)

And by no means do I meant to imply this is fair to young Rory, poor Rory, who's left struggling with the feeling that his role in her life is in competition with the role of her trauma (aka the Doctor). But not every unhealthy relationship dynamic is unhealthy because of abuse. Labelling Amy's treatment of Rory in Season 5 more accurately isn't the same as excusing her harmful choices — but making mistakes is part of being human, Amy's mistakes are certainly understandable, and she works through them out of love for Rory.

If there's one thing to say about Moffat women, it's that Moffat allows his female characters the same grace that the male characters *coughTENcough* have always had, to hurt and struggle and make realistic mistakes and overcome those mistakes and to heal without being demonized.

Amy isn't perfect, but she is a fully realized character, and her story gives us a resonant depiction of childhood trauma.

#abuse #rtd critical #anti rtd #im NOT really anti rtd but im tagging it that because some people block that tag and uhhhh this post strays into rtd critique #maybe he does regret how he wrote the master! we'll never know because rtd is very anti-admitting-his-own-mistakes #words by seaweed #anyways tia i am. SO relieved you’re not upset with me about our last disagreement?#i high key jumped to conclusions after the lack of reply to the last DM? so thank you for this ask it's great to hear from you #sorry you were in a debate about this! that sounds extremely awful.#anyway i'm gonna WAIT at least a week to tag Amy and Rory to avoid this showing up in the character tags right away haha #because I am KINDA scared the anti-media-literacy ppl will find this (I had to include the first part tho its important)#(lack of distinction between harm to audience *in fiction* and irl harm *to actual ppl* leads to problematic public apologies where-#-public figures apologize to fans they let down *instead* of the people they actually hurt. no it doesn't work like that)#(parasocial relationships are not more important than real victims agency or privacy)#editing to say..... yanno what? ive come to terms with not all the posts with the following tag been about the doctor #and I am planning to make a post at some point about the nd aspects of Amy+the Doctor's connection which this stuff IS relevant to soooooo #(eleventh) doctor is neurodivergent tag

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