Re: what followers want to see from you, I really like the stuff you put out! I know there's a lot more than I see here, so when I make more money I hope to also support you on patreon :) I love your character designs and color choices.

That's very kind! I think you've maybe conflated me with my wife, though, as I almost never color things, haha. The stuff I post here under my art tag (usually photos of traditional lineart) is mine; all of the work on our comic and all the images on our Patreon are theirs.

There's a round-up post of Ryan's miscellaneous art usually done monthly on Patreon and it's actually public, so you only have to follow the account to see those posts.

Ryan also has a Tumblr ("othersharkss" with the double S)!

I don’t think it’s very fair for you to try and knock others from reading Miguel’s OG run because truthfully that’s the only place you’re going to get his full character since every run after that is just “Let’s place him in different time scenarios to fix other people’s problems”. I’ve read ur reasonings and some of the issues I just don’t see and that’s coming from someone who’s ALSO half Hispanic and had similar family experiences. Idk I guess comic Miguel is rlly important and relatable to me and you shouldn’t turn others away from having that potential connection too. :/

NAH LOL it is *not* the only place to get his character truthfully -- his character is not consistent between runs, or between comic and movie! Not even Pdavid's runs have an unified version of Miguel since he just becomes an author self-insert after one point. The way Pdavid writes '92 Miguel - Gabriel is also shamelessly almost the same as he wrote Bruce Banner - Rick Jones. (another series where he ended up being pushed off the book after he started making really weird decisions; and notice these last two are white guys, which is how pdavid depicts Miguel all the time.)

I haven't even told people to not read them. In multiple posts i say 'read the first ones to see how it is, stop when you get annoyed, look up summaries, don't feel obligated to treat it as canon because it isn't.' If anyone feels threatened by this they should examine where that defensiveness is coming from.

I'm gonna be real with you that's like saying "the only way to REALLY understand Miles Morales is to read his ultimates run." You know, the one where his mother gets eaten alive by Venom, his dad thinks he's at fault for killing her and nearly beats him with a cane, where the closest thing he has to peter is a clone named jessica drew, and that eventually gets completely retconned in a universe explosion so main universe Miles can be rewritten. Do you remember seeing any of the things above in ITSV? Would you call them *the only real way to fundamentally understand Miles as a character?*

I keep seeing the rhetoric that 'real fans' have to subscribe to the very first script of these characters and that somehow enjoying their ATSV versions is fake-stanning and that is just... not true. That's not how comics work. Our most iconic, definitive, memorable traits for MANY of these superheroes have come from subsequent comic runs, rewrites, feats of adaptation and the interaction between fanwork-becoming-canon. Even uncle Ben's 'power and responsibility' schtick is NOT an original part of Peter's first draft. That came from re-imaginings and rewrites.

I'm really, truly not a fan of the argument that 'relating to parts of a character' completely absolves the text from criticism. It's not a good comic. It barely tries to be latino rep and frankly, I'm not going to praise it for just placing a label on him and doing nothing with it. I don't care for this white man's truth. It's racist and creepy and I should be paid reparations for having to read a storyline where the same girl gets paired up with two different brothers and then their father just to end up getting killed for a sexier token love interest. I am constantly frustrated by the argument that new fans should be forced to read it and potentially get turned away from comics forever; it's one of the worst offerings you could give them. 90's Marvel and DC are a public fandom joke and nearly led the market into bankruptcy!!!!! (Marvel filled for loss in 1996. IT WAS BAD. That's part of why the whole 2099 line went up in flames! The money was going down the drain.)

I've been a comic reader for a long time and I just can't give them blissful innocence passes like that. The current editor-in-chief at Marvel did yellowface and pretended to be a japanese man for years to write some shitty superhero weeb comics with no accountability whatsoever. He still has a job. RUNNING the company!

And here's the thing: I like Miguel too. I have a shitty family and I empathize with that but I KNOW he deserves much better than to be confined by white people's scripts and fetishes. I *want* him to have a chance, multiple chances even, to be completely rewritten and remolded by latine voices without the need for them to constantly refer or tie back into that white man's work; It is our right just as any other.

ATSV throws away most of Miguel's baggage, and straight up refuses to refer to the weird indepth sludge pdavid had going on; the artbook doesn't mention these first comics or most of his runs, they actually talk about other groundbreaking sci-fi concept work and the idea of basically rebuilding the landscape from scratch, and I am deeply thankful they do that. One of the biggest themes of the movie *is* that the idea of comic canon is fraught and full of holes, and that we should subvert it into joyful and honest expressions of these characters' cultures. These are movies that begin with the Comics Code Authority stamp, a censorship marker that among other things explicitly prohibited the positive depiction of pro-civil rights narratives and homosexual relationships, and actively turned their nose at protagonist black characters — & proceed to rip it to shreds. That's what we should be doing!

So any word of Coupon Kids or are you unsure/trying to keep quiet about it for right now? I like quat's redesign. It's more visually distinct than the original.

tldr: I am trying to pick back up on Coupon Kids, reworking the story (yeah , the actual story) with a lot more intention! Idk how long it will take, but just know that I'm taking it seriously.

If you want the LONNGGG story of it, here it is!

Last time we left off in the comic, I was in quarantine with my niece and sister! I was helping to raise my niece so my sister could get out of a horribly abusive relationship. I was a full time nanny which was tough! Cause I had to still make rent from home on commissions, but no one was buying them because we all became RLY RLY poor all at once.... go figure.

I turned to Coupon Kids for support because umm I was kinda fucked tbh 6_6. I had run out of money and had no time to make more, but I SQUEEEZED out the last of the Halibut Jones arc! (which, even at the time of completion, I knew it was an underwhelming piece of work, but I finished it and I'm proud I did!) Thanks to everyone's support, I had enough financial padding that I could rely on Patreon's passive income and refocus on supporting my sister/niece as well as plan to make the move down south to continue my schooling once the quarantine let up. So thats where I had left the comic for the time being in terms of story, with a sprinkle of short strips here and there, but nothing plot related, because the plot was horribly fucked right from the get-go.

I had to take multiple severe hiatuses with Coupon Kids because I got my ass handed to me on several accounts through ought. Horrible breakup, friend break up, severe mental illness, best friend got cancer, best friend died, quarantine, unexpected parenthood, gallbladder disease, then school. All the while Coupon Kids was something I made in the deepest pits of my depression.

I absolutely hated my self, my work, and my art. That all looped back to being a strange source of peace for me to make stuff w/o fear of judgement. No one could hate Coupon Kids as much as I did. I was the #1 Coupon Kids hater and I ruined it by making it. (this is a retrospective pov obv... I dont think my work is worthless anymore thx wellbutrin lol)

Coupon Kids was very liberating to write in that I had no standards, but the lack of structure kinda eventually lead to its own downfall once I started to get better. I had a very loose idea of what I wanted the story to be, but I was so disoriented by chemical imbalance and weed (I smoked SOOO much weed) I didn't rly care about the ending because tbh I thought I was gonna be dead before I got anywhere near the ending. But then Kira died, So I officially abstained myself from death's sexy loins and committed myself to giving life another go.

Sorry for the autobio dump: its kinda hard to convey Coupon Kids development w/o getting into the nitty gritty of what I was going through at the time of making it. The point is this: I made Coupon Kids with the intention of it being a stain on my legacy- but then I ended up loving the stain and it's inhabitants. Its made coming back to it difficult, because I want to put genuine effort in it but that clashes with it's overall tone. Instead of creating in spite, I'd like to create it in celebration of my artistic short comings and to do that is to completely rework the entire moral of the story and all of the characters. If I'm gonna do it right, I'd like to take my time.

Not sure how many people made it to the end of this one! Sorry I'm so quiet about my process. tbh the last 4 years have been the best of my life despite holding a lot of dread. I'm doing a lot better now and am really excited to work on what I love and be grateful I have the power to do so ! So thank you for reading if you are still interested, it means a lot!

Today, I caused chaos on Twitter and Mobox and friends didn't like it lol Part 3

I went all out with my new account.

This is where the "chaos" began. I went all out. I didn't think or care on wtf I was saying or did (as you can see in some of the tweets, there's a lot of misspellings because I was just speed running them). It was just slander. Some of the things I said were very ridiculous, most were just saying shit to mobox instead of Nikolai, and only like 2 or 3 tweets were logical and not just ridiculous shit. I was making fucking so much slander that it felt I was running through a field of flowers lol. Of course I'm joking around about that but god damn it, it felt so just entertaining to just constantly tweeting non stop. It was so ridiculous. First Nikolai blocked me instantly and later mobox followed. I have done it. I got what I wanted once again. I was so over joy and also just shocked to see a huge amount of tweets I have made. Seeing them be the first thing you see when you search up "mobox87" on Twitter is so funny to me. Also it's another common L on mobox because thanks to her new attention to me, she is making herself look more bad on Twitter than she already is. Like my tweets has never gotten into huge numbers of views before this happened. The only reason why I made that gimmick account is to fool and get more stupid people into not liking mobox87. I mean it's mobox's fault for me to get a chance at spreading pretty ridiculous misinformation about her to a somewhat shit ton of people to witness it. Remember I didn't got some much attention and attraction from people before this happened and so mobox was just helping me out with this goal in mind. I mean hundreds of people viewing my tweets doesn't seem like a lot but to me it's a big deal for me since I only get like 7 or 10 views out of my tweets so yeah, thanks mobox. I truly think people would believe the shit from my mobox gimmick because nowadays people are fucking stupid. I'm fully convinced that's the case and especially the case for the small and not that popular mobox and mobox related community. Making people have a reaction out of my bullshit has been one of my goals. Especially delusional people with insecurities who try to defend themselves from the shit I say. At the end of the day, bad publicity is good publicity for me if my goals can be reached from it. I want to be mobox's very own inconvenience as possible and also getting a reaction out of it. that is what has happened here

Man such a mobox-like response. Seeing this makes me smile. Like I did that. I'm now part of mobox's ops. She treating me like I'm some kind of villain in her poorly written comics about sexual abuse. Exaggerating everything to make things look more bad than they seem. Huh making people look more bad now huh? I wonder who else is doing the same thin- IT'S ME! Maybe I was right, I am the real mobox87 after all. Btw not the first time mobox has done something like this but I guess she doesn't like it when someone else is doing the same thing to her, especially if that someone is actually kinda speaking facts with their gimmick account that tends to joke and poke fun about her and her wrong doings and now getting attraction. "Oh It's very hard for me to start conversations blah blah blah I don't talk like this 🙁", OF COURSE YOU DON'T FUCKING TALK LIKE THIS 💀

This is why I'm fully convinced that people are fucking stupid here. Like honestly I don't fucking get how people would get fooled by this. Like it's so fucking obvious. Like why bothered making an awareness posts about me? Maybe it isn't about the people, maybe she really wants me to be taken down because I have bothered her or maybe hurt her feelings in some way? Have I caused harm to anyone like Nikolai or something? I have become such a bad inconvenience and problem to her that it's enough for her to make post about me and criminalize me to stop me? Am I really such a bad problem to her now? If that's the case then I have won. Of course she would've done this just for the sake of spreading awareness but still it doesn't make sense to me because I really wasn't getting many attraction to my posts that is worthy enough to get a awareness posts about me. Like literally no one saw them. Is it because to protect her image on the internet or something? Idk pretty uncertain but still see it as a win either way. I guess people really are stupid enough to believe that mobox said, "let me rub my smile and unmatched coolness on your face like a fucking load of cum". If so then who??? You?

I'm sorry if you've been asked this before but what are your thoughts about Arcane potentially being canon? I do not like it.

And if you don't mind answering another question, how do you feel about the way people sort of interpret Jayce and Viktor?

I don't think it's a good idea and it strips away many of the interesting things about these characters and the *universe's story as a whole* to exclusively represent the simplified, time-limited version of events that could fit the runtime of a TV show.

I've been asked this before and I always say this: Arcane is the MCU version of league lore; with the same strengths (improved visuals, the fast pacing of a cinematographic adaptation) and same biggest weaknesses (flimsy story summarizations that sacrifice a lot of the compelling narrative and kill entire characters)

I've been a comic fan for nearly as long as the MCU has been viral and I can tell you every attempt to retcon MCU events into the estabilished comic universe has not worked. It has the opposite effect of interrupting character arcs and stories people actually like and undoing pre-estabilished facts about the magic of the universe, driving away fans of the original medium while failing to attract the new movie/tv-show audience to check out the original, because those are completely different demographics.

It's even worse with Arcane, as we already KNOW one big joke in the fanbase is "even if you like the show, dont play the game. It's stupid bigoted redditor shit and it sucks" - there's an entire genre of arcane fan accounts who are militant about not playing the game and encourage others to never play the game. I don't think league's execs understand this, though, which is why we are seeing this current trend of a DRASTIC pullback in any and all lore-related content for league coming from higher-ups, and some of the old estabilished writers leaving the company while CEOs promise they're trying to find "an unified version of the narrative experience."

To stay on topic here and also answer your second question; ive rambled at length about jayce viktor interpretations in my meta tag. I reccomend you to look there! You'll notice i havent gone into specifics about what in arcane's narrative is weaker since its included on those.

I'd like to finish this post in another way though. In the long run, I don't think it matters that execs are trying to force narrative retcons despite the internal and external negative response to it. Fans will always like the specific thing they like, and in this scenario, start to define what versions of the universe/character they're talking about by release year or authorship, which is already happening in league. This is why the vikjayce codex exists and will not change, and this is why you see people using "2011/2016 lore" and "jayce giopara", etc.

Remember all these MCU retcons I mentioned? Whenever a movie is past its expiration date and the story element they tried to fit into original canon is considered a fad, it's just rewritten back to what it used to be. The newest marvel news this month is that CEOs decided to kill kamala khan ahead of her upcoming movie, as the MCU couldn't fit her signature elastigirl powers and they want to swap those out for the dumb purple magic the movies gave her instead. This will not last, as these never do. In 4 years she'll be back to normal, and in the meantime, elastigirl kamala will continue to exist in all her source books and videogames. The same way league's original bios are preserved and spin-off game content like the LOR comics or Convergence will continue to exist; I can't change any shortsighted decision from the CEOs, but fans as a whole have systems to define different universes and pick the version they like best.

Arcane has been called an AU by people who've worked in LoL's narrative, and is just the newest shiny thing. It is not "canon", as it never fit any part of the current game universe, and any future attempt to "make it canon" is just another permutation of an AU. I would encourage anyone who's nervous or anxious about retcons to not give a shit and disregard it altogether. If it doesn't work, you can always change it back.

Introduction Post

Hello, my name is CJ Nightingale, and this is my blog dedicated to my OCs, their story, and the development of said story!! I'm making this blog for the sake of having a designated place to talk about my OCs, and so that I have some people to hold me accountable for actually making story progress, since I've been struggling a bit to actually sit down and make progress on getting the comic going. I think having a blog about it will help me stay motivated. Hopefully. Lol

A little bit of story related information:

This story has over 36 very important characters, not including antagonists and "true" side characters. This story takes place over the course of about 7 or 8 years, in 5 acts, taking the characters from middle school into early college. It's based in what I believe would be described as an "urban fantasy" setting, which looks similar to our world but is quite different. The story is meant to be mostly lighthearted, but there will be very intense moments and emotional damage (and a little blood sometimes too, as there will be fantasy violence).

I will make proper posts describing things in more detail as I go, but for the time being here's a brief introduction to each of the main characters:

Skylar: Acts 1-5, sarcastic, takes no BS, a bit of an enigma, Lukas' twin

Jesse: Acts 1-5, scatterbrained, just out here doing his best

Rin: Acts 1-5, mischievous, enjoys trying new things

Zander: Acts 1-5, smart, unbothered, designated "responsible dude"

Tabitha: Acts 1-5, bubbly, arguably too much faith in humanity

Lukas: Acts 1-5, looks more chill than he actually is, emotionally intelligent (most of the time), Skylar's twin

Lydia: Acts 1-5, too smart for her own good, very good with power tools

Marcus: Acts 1-5, quiet, listens a lot and knows more than he should, arguably drinks too much caffeine

Jules: Acts 2-5, highly approachable and talkative, likes poofy dresses

Dillon: Acts 2-5, skeptical of people, likes roller derby, hates group projects

Takuma: Acts 2-5, Ambitious, sarcastic, has doodled on every piece of clothing they own

Mariah Mae: (Kind of a side character) Acts 2-5, wildly peppy, a bit of a nerd, highly authentic person

Rea: Acts 2-5, perpetually has her head in the clouds, bewildered by humans

Dani: Acts 2-5, highly intuitive, knows all the things, likes music and their service dog

Booker: Acts 2-5, tends to accidentally run his mouth, likes basketball, bass guitar, and his friends

Ollie: Acts (1) 3-5, a little bit reactive, closed off, terrifyingly good at sleight of hand and at lying (do not play poker with him)

Meklit: Acts (1) 3-5, levelheaded, blunt, likes people and dislikes shoes

Gavin: Acts 3-5, both lawyer smart and a bit naïve, cellist, keeps putting himself in situations by accident

Goldie: Acts (1) 3-5, a bit shy, puts a lot of pressure on himself but looks really really chill at all times, chronic doodler

Blake: Acts 1-5, very antsy, very tired, very full of nervous energy, makes some poor decisions

Zaahira: Acts 4-5, genuinely nice person, cares about people, prefers plants

Wulf: Acts (3???) 4-5, impulsive, giggly, just happy to be here, on the run from the government

Akachi: Acts (1) 3-5, extremely ambitious, aesthetically inclined, color coordinated at all times

Selene: Acts 4-5, high tolerance for shenanigans, very bubbly, just out here having a good time

Sakura: Acts 4-5, detail oriented, loves stickers, can borderline read minds/hj

Remi: Acts 4-5 (probably??? gonna have to figure that out a bit more), very smart, very sarcastic, very giggly, very happy to be here

Leah: Acts 1-5, insomniac, a bit pretentious, makes some poor decisions

Sylvi: Acts (1) 3-5, borderline annoying theatre kid in the best way possible, very good singer

Karim: (Arguably a side character) Acts 4-5 (maybe idk), arguably too much faith in humanity, enjoys puns

Jono: Acts (3) 5, loves music, loses his train of thought frequently, looks more nervous than he is

Ivanna: Acts (3) 5, tough, good at water polo, believes in doing the right thing

Sovanna: Acts (3) 4-5, super chill, loves stickers, loves travelling, detail oriented

Ash: Act 5, under a ton of pressure, a bit reactive, out here trying his best

Coral: Act 5, can be hard to talk to, big listener, takes herself very seriously

Sib: (arguably a side character) Act 5, way too much energy at all times, good sense of humor, Ari's twin

Ari: (arguably a side character) Act 5, tired, quiet, talks more to animals than he does people

So that's a brief introduction to the non-antagonist characters, I'll make actual introduction posts for them later, but also if y'all want to ask questions about any of them before I get to that lmk!! Also feel free to ask questions about anything related to this story, I'd be happy to talk about it, and it might motivate me to help get stuff done.

If you found this blog just randomly and not from my fanart page, you can find that at @cj-the-random-artist , and you can find my website which has more art of my OCs at the link down here:

If / when I start uploading this story as a comic, I'll update this post with that information as well. That's all for this long introductory post, and I hope y'all enjoy this long winded thing and enjoy this little blog here!! Have good day lovelies :D

hey as someone who has very basic knowledge about superman and dc world can you tell me more about jon kent in your words - reading your posts make me interested in him lol

oh dear 😂😂😂

im glad you think my shitposts are interesting lmao. jon is probably my favorite character in this season of dc comics. he’s not being treated too well by dc editorial at the moment, but he has quite a few years of content following him if you are interested.

how do i describe jon? in my humble opinion, he’s like two steps down from full on crackhead. i think there’s something seriously wrong with him on account of all the unresolved trauma he’s packing, BUT critics will say that’s just bad writing. i don’t think so. i think a lot that’s wrong with jon is related to some very sensitive topics that many writers these days are simply not knowledgable enough to write about, especially those who aren’t invested in genre-specific writing, and don’t really want to take a leap of faith and just write bc they don’t want to come off as problematic or insensitive. but at the same time, BECAUSE they refuse to address The Many Things Wrong With Jon……. the lack of exploration of the traumas he’s suffered and the variety of mental illnesses he’s picked off largely comes off as insensitive 😂

on that note, i think jon has a ton of potential to be one of the most interesting characters to come out of the post-new 52 drama. new 52 is essentially one of the many dc reboot/relaunches, i will admit, i myself dropped dc comics shortly after the new 52 was established, so like…. 10ish years ago? i consider this my homecoming as i have not really read a dc mainstream comic since college. for reference, i am in my thirties rn 😂

i started reading dc comics during the heyday of smallville, so think 2003-2012ish, which is now referred to as the last legs of the pre-flashpoint era. not to say that there wasn’t some serious dogshit being published at the time….. but there was some serious dogshit being published at the time. there is some jon content pre flashpoint, but its mostly non-main timeline stuff if you want to read it. current!jon’s story really begins with the super sons chronicles. i myself actually started with his last main stream run, superman: son of kal el. im the type to read stuff backwards and go off on tangents bc that’s just how i read my comic books 😂 if you want a reading list to help get you started, comic book treasury has a jon kent reading order to help you get started.

as for jonno…. he’e my problematic nephew. somethin wrong with him, but he funny. i want him to get written by a horror writer bc i feel like he’d be so wild in a story meant to spook the shit outta you. i also think he’s like one bad day away from breaking batman’s jaw, which i love. super mentally ill, also love that. also a bisexual! we love to see messy bisexuals. his boyfriend’s normal tho.

happy reading!!!!

Something happy for this blog.

I remember as a kid I liked fighting games. One of my first games that I played in my life was Pocket Fighter on the PSX. I remember also enjoying the Marvel VS Capcom games, like 1 and especially 3. (I remember Zero being playable being one of the reasons I got into Mega Man again and sticking with it as THE my biggest special interest to this day)

But I haven't played that much fighting games after that. I was casual about it.

Never played KoF even if one of my DA friends, Ridley, did really funny KoF comics. But I remember being embarassed by my interpretations of Kyo and Iori. (But I was on puberty, early teens, at that time. So, eh) I couldn't think well of KoF without remembering those embarassing first ideas.

2016, thanks to a currently-former friend, I learned about Fightcade on it's first version. We played games like the one of Capcom's D&D games and Puzzle Bobble.

And at a Discord server related to a group of Spanish-Speaking Youtubers, I played against someone on Fightcade who was more into fighting games. It was my first time playing Garou and KoF 2003, as well as other games. In Garou, I remember loving playing as Hotaru, and my opponent hating her. (Lol)

While in KoF 2003, I don't remember my teams, I think I remember one of the characters that I played being as Hinako. (I wish to meet that guy again, but I got kicked by the server due to my inactivity, which is understandable)

I didn't remember those plays until I checked my account's record and... Yeah! But I lost all of those games. (Lol)

It was this year that I watched Thorgi's Arcade's videos. I think the first video was between the Mega Man Fighters one or the Unused Street Fighter characters. And I really loved those videos. They're fun, interesting ideas, and I'll admit, I want to create a Battle Network fighting game. I even choose some characters for it.

Then I binge-watched his SNK retrospesctive videos, Fatal Fury and ESPECIALLY the King of Fighters retrospective videos. I loved those videos. Now my inner shame towards KoF left, now I think about KoF positively. I know more about the games, the characters... I think I should play those games. (And Return to Garou. Rock is SO cool!)

Then I watched more of his Build the Roster videos, and then his first part about Street Fighter Retrospective. I LOVED the video.

And I'll admit, I initially fell for Vega. But, this is a funny anecdote in retrospective. I saw fanart of him with Remy. I was like "Huh? Remy? I need to check about him" and I was mesmerized by this angry edgy frenchboi. I prefer Remy over Vega, I think that's cool... And It kinda sucks because Remy's is a "Either you love him or you hate him" character, as well as being forgotten by Capcom and the SF fans. Oof... But yeah! I said it! I love this angy frenchboi! If you have a problem with me, then fight me! In Fightcade (?

But yeah. After that, I waited and even showed up on the next parts since premiere. And yes, I was SO happy when the III's part was about to premiere, that I RUSHED to buy snacks and go back to enjoy the video on premiere.

Yes. I became fixated on Street Fighter at that level. I love the characters, I love me some fun characters.

I tried 3rd Strike. Played the Arcade run offline. I wanted to play as Remy, but I thought Makoto would be a easy entry. I was wrong. But eh, Makoto's cool. I like Makoto.

Then I had the inner confidence to play as Remy. I needed to get used to the controls (And configure the best position. Did I mention that I play with a KEYBOARD? Thankfully not the laptop one) and yeah. I love playing as Remy! Not only because of my Comfort Character/Husbando bias. But because he's just fun and I like his playstyle. I completed the arcade run better with him compared to my previous run as Makoto.

And accidentally I played as Alex with remaining credit. He was fun to play, and I fought him against Remy, which is poetic-ly ironic and funny. But didn't completed the run because I wanted to stop playing.

When my friend visited my house, I decided to show the game, and I decided to play as Elena SA1. He choose which character I should fight against. And damn, I was good with Elena! And I'm okay with, because I love Elena! She's so cute and motivating!

So yeah, I'll be maining Remy and Elena! And I think that's funny as well, because both characters are complete opposites of each other. Really worthy of memes.

But yeah, I haven't fought someone on Fightcade because I don't feel ready yet. Also again, I'm more of a casual player.

Meanwhile, Remy helped me to get better on drawing anatomy, more variation on it. Like muscles, head shape, I need to get better on drawing. I want to learn more about muscles and more dimensions, so that I can draw more characters with varied body forms. Remy's a good start, because his body is like the usuals that I mostly draw. Then I'll try to progress with other characters. I want to draw Alex eventually.

So yeah! Fighting games can be useful for me to get better!

I love fighting game characters! I REALLY love characters and their varied ways they can express themselves!

I love the variaty in fighting games! I mean, Street Fighter's fun! KoF is fun!

I wish to get more into fighting games! I wish to draw more fanart of fighting games! Or at least the ones that I like. Like Street Fighter and Cyberbots. I love Cyberbots.

So yeah! Positivity!

If you want to get into fighting games, go ahead!

Check for games that you're interested to try! Check those games, select a character that looks cool for you, and try to play. Initially it's confusing. But then you learn how to experiment and play with your character. After a while, your gameplay will make sense. Or just have fun, which is the most important part, after all.

Fighting games can be intimidating, especially if you watch FGC footage done by people who are so good on their plays. But, take it as motivation! Like "Woah. I want to try that.".

If a game is not for you, that's okay! Try to check another one!

If fighting games in general are not for you, that's also okay!

The most important part of playing, is to have fun! Don't pressure yourself to get better. Get better because you want to be better.

...That's surprisingly motivational. Huh.

But yeah. Fighting games are cool. And I want to play more. (But I need to get my life together first)

What is the relation between ghosts and magic in CiM? Or does it depend on the universe?

For between universes, for the sake of my sanity, magic is fairly one-to-one. The exceptions would be in the cases of those who continuously get powers directly from specific entities that are native to a specific universe (though there certainly is some overlap). For example, Poison Ivy's abilities would be much more limited in the DP universe on account of her getting her power from the Green--which doesn't exist in the same way there, if that makes sense. Her power has precedence in the DP-verse with entities like Undergrowth, but I can't see her powers working the same way there as opposed to the DCU. I'm thinking that at the very least, Ivy would have a much harder time getting the plants to do what she wants because the plants of this universe haven't been commanded like that before and aren't inclined to intrinsically respect Ivy.

As for ghosts, I think of ectoplasm as energy and emotion given substance, and magic is essentially energy that can be influenced and shaped by emotion, so magic can effect ectoplasm--and by extension, ghosts--in ways that other substances can't. It's why Freakshow was such a threat to Danny and other ghosts. He has access to magical knowledge and resources that have otherwise been forgotten or lost (i.e. his staff and the Reality Gauntlet) and as such can use it to strike further past a ghost's defenses.

The Fentons get by because they've taken a very "fight fire with fire" approach by powering all their weapons with ectoplasm. It's like if two people got into a bare-knuckle fist fight, more or less. It can still effect ghosts, but the range of effects are more limited; those effects being "touch" and "contain" which is really more than enough for the Fentons.

Fighting ectoplasm with magic is like bringing a sword to a fist fight. There's still a chance for the bare-knuckle fighter to win, but there's higher chance for them to take a lot of damage and the fight is more stacked against them. That metaphor is a bit reductive though since with magic, there's a wider range of effects the wielder can have on ectoplasm and ectoplasmic entities like "control," "bind," "banish," or "reshape" to name a few off the top of my head.

Basically what I'm saying is that if one Danny's rogues decided to pick a fight with a DC magic user, the fight wouldn't be too unbalanced. Of course, my thinking is that there are several magic systems in the DCU that are all layered on top of each other and have their own sets of rules and abilities. From a meta perspective, it can almost be viewed as something akin to the comic canon in how every run is has a different tone, theming, and rulebook. You have to keep in mind the era, writer, and general place in the Gordian Knot that is comic continuity to know fully what you're looking at.

Point is, DCU magic is a tedious mess of technicalities and rules layered on top of each other that can run the full spectrum from "whimsical fairyland" to "unadulterated nightmare fuel" and it's not always easy to tell the difference between them.

It's why Batman dislikes dealing with magic so much lol.

Fowl Senior

2, 4, 6, 8, 10

Yesss Timmy time-

2. (do they have any daily rituals?)

Tim has a very strict morning routine-

- wake up an hour or so after sunrise (the actual hours aren’t entirely important, more so the structure)

- get his leg on/assess whether or not he’ll use it or another mobility aid instead

- a short exercise typically consisting of a run, but occasionally of simple stretches/weights if his leg is sore

- get a shower and get tidied up for the day

- go grab breakfast

- start on work for the day

This routine is his most structured portion of his day, and it’s something he values highly! When he’s unable to follow through with it, due to having a bad day injuries/brain-wise or due to scheduling, it annoys him immensely.

4. (what would they need to do if they need to make dinner, but the kitchen is busy?)

Hmm… If he can’t cook something small for himself, and can’t access the cabinets (if he could, he’ll just eat whatever’s in there that doesn’t need cooking), he just orders something and sends someone to pick it up, or just doesn’t bother eating.

6. (eating habits)

(I’m not gonna do a sample menu thing because I don’t know enough fancy rich foods to do so, but I HC Tim, like Artemis, enjoys a lot of fish or fowl- lol- protein-wise, and he really likes soup/stew or similar foods. Easy to make, easy to eat).

Tim’s eating habits could be a lot better- when Butler isn’t cooking, Tim either makes extremely simple food, or just makes do with whatever’s in the pantry, meal-worthy or not. This man, left to his own devices, will eat a pack of crackers and a glass of water and consider that ‘good enough’ to call lunch. Oftentimes he forgets to eat at all. To get around this, Butler will often make him protein shakes or the like, or label a set-aside amount of leftovers for Tim specifically, because this helps remind him to actually eat something.

8. (favorite indulgences and feelings surrounding indulgences)

Two things- collecting (mostly comic- especially Batman- related items) and comfy, casual clothing! Tim has always loved old comics, with a particular passion for the Batman franchise. He has several little collections, from comics themselves to various toys, posters and DVD sets relative to them, even if he never watches them. Putting himself in a world of superheroes- and more importantly, supervillains- that is wacky and outlandish, like comics back in the day, help take him out of the dangerous world he lives in for a bit.

Comfy and casual clothes is an indulgence that was originally born of necessity. After his hospital stay and during the time he was relearning to walk and recovering his strength, Tim often was in a lot of pain and really struggled moving around. Wearing his usual outfits seemed beyond him for the time- once-frostbitten fingers ached too badly for the buttons, and with how painful his leg was, he didn’t want to wear his dress pants either, the fabric uncomfortable against his still-sore scars. So, reluctantly, he made the decision to switch to sweats and the like… and liked them so much he continued to wear them at home when able, because it was comfy.

Tim lived a childhood that, while provided for on account of wealth, featured few indulgences- those Tim garnered for himself were scorned or at times treated as a reason for punishment. He was a Fowl, a future heir- what business did he have, wasting time with his own wants? The family comes first. This was a hard mindset to break, and Tim still grapples at times with a sense that he doesn’t need or deserve the things he has, though Angeline does her best to convince him otherwise.

10. (neuroses? do they recognize them as such?)

Tim has PTSD from his time in the Arctic- and from before, his childhood, though he wouldn’t admit it if asked. He is aware that he has it and is in therapy, though at times he struggles more than others. He is also prone to bouts of severe fatigue, sleeplessness and depression that he can’t quite place or name- most assume when these occur that it’s a matter of pain from previous injuries, though in truth they have occurred long before his ill-fated journey. Paranoia strikes him at times, particularly when he’s reminded of the Arctic and his captivity.

under construction

JBAB is just a simple lil post-game AU but all the characters are partially shapeshifting robots, made this mostly for fun but i'll try expanding it more down the line!

A year has passed since the events of the original game, Paradise has been safer than ever! Not counting the giant pink monster casually living with its most recent line of defense of course, what could go wrong?

[ Notes ]

may go on long hiatuses or periods of silence- remember its one guy running this purely on fixation power

please dont send nsfw asks. im okay with mildly suggestive stuff but i am a minor and these characters are robots

interactions with other aus, ocs n askblogs are a-okay :)

these are just my personal interpretations and silly headcanons, idc if you see 2 characters a different way just dont bitch about it

only jbab lore stuff or asks will be posted here, i'll still be posting jsab/jbab on my main account

[ Comics // Info ]

References [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Apricity [COMIC/PREQUEL]

[ Tag Info ]

JBAB = all au posts are tagged with this, just the main acronym for the au

silly = what most asks or just silly stuff will be categorized under, also sometimes tagged with serious

serious = for lore dumps and more well- serious answers, sometimes also tagged with silly

important = mostly non jbab-related, reserved for important posts (announcements, callouts/psas, etc, hopefully i dont need to use this one much lol)

any character that appears in an ask will be tagged as "jsab [NAME]"

i tag possibly triggering things as "cw [THING]", i tag cw blood, cw neon colors, cw gore and cw body horror

insert some ominous message here idk

Favorite 2023 reads pt 2

Cus I said I'd come back and finish after making this post. I've been super busy + exhausted lately though so this will be less detailed lol (maybe, we'll see how much I ramble)

Once again, links to places I already discussed the book are added if they exist.

Fiction

Helen House by Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya: This is a VERY short book, barely I novella I feel, but it has so so so so much packed into it. I'm just gonna copy what I wrote on DW:

It's a story that opens with our unnamed narrator realizing she is a terrible girlfriend, as her girlfriend Amber shares that her sister died years ago. Our narrator also has dead sister trauma, and she is coping with her grief in fun and exciting ways aka sex addiction. A ghost story steadily unfolds, but what really got to me was how this book delved into sex addiction, codependence and objectifying not just your partner(s) but also yourself. Really plunges the depths of how far someone can fall in their grief and how it radiates outward to affect others.

Idol, Burning by Usami Rin, tl Asa Yoneda: A story about Akari, a high schooler deeply obsessed with a particular male idol, deeply involved in fandom for her oshi, has her world upended when rumors circulate that he hit a woman who may be his girlfriend. This was a beautiful, amazing novel (and wonderfully translated) about a teenage girl spiraling into depression, the failures of the education system to provide meaningful support, and the fractures in a family where everyone is coping so badly with the struggles life throws at them. I found this a very, very thoughtful book on depression, social isolation, eating disorders, and living with undiagnosed learning disabilities and dyslexia. It's also a beautiful exploration of all the ways fandom can offer a lifeline in one's darkest moments, and also contribute to spiraling further and further into a depressive and self-loathing rut.

I still have complicated feelings about the ending, but I think I also still appreciate the realism of it all, and how much more relatable it made it. Even as someone who has never been involved in oshi/idol fandom, let alone Japanese fandom, it resonated a lot as a man who was a disabled, undiagnosed teen girl desperately seeking connection and purpose with online fan communities.

I read some of the original Japanese novel too and I think the language is perfect for someone still intermediate with their Japanese literacy!

A Man of Lies by Ben Crane; A former enforcer for the local mob boss fucks up big-time when he and his boyfriend (that mob boss' accountant) are caught trying to steal money to run away together. Now his boyfriend's dead and the enforcer will be too, if he doesn't pay his boss back. But he's got a much better idea what to do with the money he gets from his last big heist.

I wasn't expecting to be as into this as I was, but the writing pulled me in and didn't let go- the prose is quick and easy and never loses its pace; this would really make a perfect action film. And the plot was a lot less predictable than I was expecting; the cast was genuinely fun and endearing barring a few characters, which helps cus there are SO MANY PoVs. It's just a very fun trope-y genre romp and a good break from much heavier stories lol. I'm excited for the sequel after the damn cliffhanger this ends on.

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll: an absolutely GORGEOUS comic (as all Carroll's comics are) about a woman struggling to fit herself into the life of her new husband and his daughter, with the ghost of his former wife ever present in the background... more literally than she wants to accept. Really good terrifying and beautiful F/F horror exploring sexuality and relationships and mental health and domestic abuse.

Poetry:

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes on by Franny Choi

Yin Mountain: The Immortal Poetry of Three Daoist Women by Rebecca Nie and Peter Levitt

Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz

Hello! Welcome to HAROLIGHT!

RULES + INFORMATION

Just some notes before sending asks and questions:

No NSFW/innuendos. This blog has been agreed to be mutually and strictly SFW from both owners.

Romantic situations are alright! Both owners have discussed that this was okay!

AU-related topics may have various answers/or not be answered at all. This is to avoid major spoilers for the comic, although some answers may be hinted toward it if it’s discussed.

Don’t ask us to draw your character. This is not a request blog sadly, and we do not accept random OC requests. This is exclusively Harolight and Harolight only. Otherwise if you want a character interaction, feel free to ask involving the two.

There are exceptions if we ever need background characters to show up in the comic. We we let you know if needed via official announcement post, so please don’t ask us when it’s not scheduled.

You can see if OC submissions are open/available by seeing the status below.

OC SUBMISSIONS: CLOSED

No troll/hate/spam accounts should be subjected to asks. You will be banned immediately. Note that this doesn’t just apply to this blog, but you will be blocked from ALL of blogs associated to ArtistiaCons due to her dashboard setup. Thank you.

And most of all, have fun!

FAQ

Q: Who runs this blog?

A: The runners of this blog are @artistiacons​/ArtistiaCons and The Ultimate Voice Actor! However, ArtistiaCons is the one who truly hosts the blog.

Q: Who are Harold and Midnight?

A: The two are Sonic fan characters, otherwise known as our OCs! Harold is owned by The Ultimate Voice Actor! Midnight is owned by me, the main runner of this blog, ArtistiaCons.

Q: What is the schedule of this blog?

A: Times vary, although the schedule jumps every now and then due to IRL priorities from both owners. Due to ArtistiaCons being the one having the blog under her name, she is solely responsible for posting the content.

Q: Can my OC be drawn/featured?

A: Again, please read up on that in the rules and info section.

Q: How do you format the AU’s name?

A: ArtistiaCons: I personally always formatted it to either “Harolight” or “HAROLIGHT”, though often the first. Either way, it really never crossed my mind on how it’s branded. Ultimate would have to help me decide on that one lol.

This may be added onto at a later date without followers’ notice, so please ensure to check in on this every now and then to remain up to date.

-ArtistiaCons

spoilers for what if...?

some quick thoughts on the first Marvel What If...? episode that are almost all Bucky related big surprise:

i froth at the mouth at any small moment of pre-ws!Bucky like a stranded survivor of a shipwreck. yes pls all of it, i need more. my desire to know who traumatized characters were pre-trauma is like an un-quenchable thirst.

that being said, i'm loving the idea the Bucky was just...a big fucking himbo. a nerdy silly himbo. there's nothing more satisfying than a super pretty competent person wowing you with some big time dork energy.

his lines were so groan worthy which is why i loved them. looking back it's a pretty obvious choice to make Bucky Barnes pre-Winter Soldier just Bucky Barnes from the comic books. he tells bad jokes, he's a damsel in distress, he's there for a reaction shot or two, and best of all he's got the worst one-liners.

my kingdom for Bucky of today going back to his bad one liners, honestly i would pay marvel to have Bucky throw a knife in someone's face, blood is everywhere, and he just goes, "knife to meet you." (Sam is floored. he goes through the 5 stages of grief in ten seconds and ends up laughing so hard his lungs hurt. redwing has it recorded and sam revisits it when he needs to)

the part where Steve gets back into the Hydra Smasher and falls on his face is peak stevebucky tho. Bucky is unconcerned, makes light of it, and there's even some light teasing. i have to highlight this for the purpose of Bucky's characterization in fanfic in terms of how he treats Steve, especially pre-serum Steve: he doesn't baby him. he doesn't mother-hen or overprotect Steve. he knows Steve is tough, he's spent years picking him up off of alleyway pavements, he's not going to act like a helicopter mom.

which i really appreciate because i'm tired of the treatment of Bucky as not also being a reckless kid in this war. Steve and Bucky don't have the dynamic of the Reasonable Adult and their Troublesome Kid i've seen sometimes in fic. they're both hooligans. Bucky comes off as the more cautious one sure, but it's just slightly. and that very slight difference gets overblown sometimes which feels disingenuous to a character that's in his 20s (like do you know bros in their 20s,,,do you?? they're still trying to run up walls and do backflips. they still think they're invincible. 20 year old men are the stupidest people on the planet. and i can say that as a man almost 30) and, by all accounts, ran mayhem in Brooklyn right next to his best friend.

just. don't forget Bucky Barnes is a young stupid pretty himbo okay?

speaking of disingenuous characterizations: what was that hetero bullshit with Peggy being more distraught over Steve's 'death' than Bucky????

are.you.kidding.me.

i feel this righteous anger burning over this, which i'm sure will come to a bigger rant at some point but really? fucking really?

this is it. this is what straight people do. this is the straight agenda.

this isn't even just about Steve and Bucky they do this kind of bullshit all the time in media: character 1 has a long-lasting deep friendship with character 2. character 1 has a romantic subplot with character 3. character 1 and 3 barely know each other. character 1 dies and character 3 is somehow more distraught about this than character 2.

i fully expected Bucky to start trying to climb down the mountain to find Steve but nope!

he's just 'oh nooo~ he ded. whelp lets go hoes'

while the woman who knew Steve for maybe a few months is doing the Darth Vader 'noooo' moment

this does not make any character, story, or emotional logical sense. there's no fucking reason for this bullshit than blatant homophobia.

like fucking fine, lets not see Steve and Bucky interact in any way because I WONDER WHY

but even better

lets have Bucky not really emote over Steve's death, because a. that's gay, we don't want people to think we write gay characters (don't worry marvel we don't) so two men can't care or mourn for each other onscreen. and b. we've got our hetero romance to sell

Peggy Carter is a professional military woman. with experience.

Bucky Barnes is some kid from Brooklyn whose been fighting in a war he's been drafted in for maybe some handful of months.

but sure. yeah. his childhood best friend dying. he's the one whose going to have the professional cool head in this moment.

and it's the PROFESSIONAL MILITARY WOMAN whose going to forget her job and training and need to be pulled from grieving BY THE MAN WHO'S BEST FRIEND JUST 'DIED'

SURE JAN SURE

it's the homophobia that betrays the logic of the characters that really fucks me up y'know?

if you're betraying the honest emotional reactions of story and character because you're afraid of those things being perceived as gay: you're homophobic.

it's really that simple.

'i'm in. for Steve' lol. like god. i'm as tired as seb sounds i swear

and i know Sebastian '~the truth of the character~' Stan probably felt like his teeth were being pulled out with hot pliers reading these. how many times did the voice director have to say, 'ok. can we try it like you're not slowly decaying from the inside, hunny?'

barely any howling commandos and none of them had any lines other than Dum Dum. ok. yeah. ok.

so some high notes:

return of my favorite Stark: 1940's Howard!

i would die twenty times just to be able to see more of Dominic Cooper's Howard Stark. he's just the fucking best. earnest and cute and a bit of a mad scientist and i fucking adore him

i need the Howard Stark + Bucky Barnes sitcom now. pls and thank you.

i'll even take 5 minute vinaigrettes of the antics they'd be up to. two playboy nerds together is just a magical event, don't waste it! i can't believe i've been sleeping on this dynamic it's too good.

"BARNES STOLE A CAR"

i will be replaying this single moment for years. the serotonin it gives me.

stark is just. the most excited man ever to have seen someone hotwire a car??? how did this scene go i need to knoooooowwww

all frustrations aside, it was really cool to see Peggy Carter as Captain Britain. she's a great character and i love her so much. every moment she was legit thrashing n*zis with her big butch arms was thrilling and satisfying.

that truck shield flip is still doing things to me...

honestly upset that the sword Peggy was wielding wasn't a Zemo easter egg like i was hoping it was 😩

If you were editor of Nightwing's book ever since at least the start of Rebirth to today and you were given free reign, what would your story mandates?

Oh no, this is dangerous. LOL. Hmm, I have no idea what to shoot for here, so I'll try to keep it to ten. That's reasonable right? Ten is good. Yeah. Is fine.

Okay, so, in no particular order:

1) Let Dick be competent 101. None of this him having to play hype man for every other character to pop up in HIS title bullshit. Nope. That's not what they're there for. He's the lead man, LET HIM BE THE LEADING MAN. Like sure, everyone has their areas of expertise, he doesn't need or have to be the best at everything, blah blah blah.....but its about the nuance. All of that is kinda lip service because the thing is, you don't go into MOST comic books and NEED to be reminded of that because the lead characters of those books are all constantly getting saved or shown up or chastised by every guest star in their books, you know? This is a very weird, very niche phenomenon very specific to Dick's character, and I'm super over it. I'm here to read about the guy who has literally been doing this longer than most superheroes twice his age. The guy who's been doing this since before he hit double digits. The born acrobat. The destined ultimate warrior or whatever of Gotham's Ornithological Society Of Murder and Pretentiousness. Gimme that guy. And that guy doesn't need to be 'humbled' every other page, because the thing is, he's not some egomaniac to begin with so the everpresent need to humble him doesn't actually come off as humbling! It just comes off as pandering and not even to actual fans of the actual character, so its like.....wyd DC.

2) Let other people take responsibility for their own crap with Dick rather than always just expecting a mea culpa from him. I'm so unbelievably tired of the words I'm sorry from Dick. I love personal accountability, so I never thought I'd have to say this about a character, but enoooooough. They have made it completely in character for this dude to apologize to everyone ELSE for being brainwashed, getting amnesia, being KILLED, like.....the amount of things he's groveled for forgiveness for when he didn't actually do a damn thing wrong or worse yet, was the ACTUAL victim of is like....pretty damn staggering. And meanwhile, there's nary a peep of apology from the people who regularly insult or belittle him, get physically violent with him, take advantage of him or take him for granted, etc, etc, etc. Its entirely too one-sided and imbalanced, and the pendulum needs to swing the other direction, like YESTERDAY, and in a fairly big way, IMO.

3) None of this Baby's First Social Justice Awakening 101 crap. I'm sorry, but no. Especially not when you go out of your way to acknowledge that Dick is Romani, only to then turn around and act like he's only JUST had his eyes opened to an awareness of like, classism and poverty and the real struggles people face day to day? Sorry not sorry, but especially for other white writers out there, do not use people of color as self-inserts for dipping a toe into Learning To See Past Privilege. And especially when talking about a character who has a history of being actively abused and hurt by the system and institutions of power, or hell, even leaving out that particular origin story, who has still been out on the streets helping people since he was a literal child. You can not tell me that this is his first face to face experience with social issues, or the first time he's had the inclination to try and address those head on. (And its also particularly egregious that the people second-guessing Dick in his own title and giving him reality checks or acting like they have more of an awareness of all this than he does like, happen to all be white? OPTICS. LEARN ABOUT THEM. COMMON SENSE. GET SOME.)

Know what would actually be a better way to approach this? Flashbacks. Show us Dick running into situations that make him think back to a case when he was still Robin, when he and Batman had started fighting over their approaches to things, actually SHOW us those conflicts and how their viewpoints had started diverging, and how much of that was due to Dick not having the same experiences as Bruce, or the same standing in society, no matter what house he lived in. THEN you can jump BACK to the present, with the reminder/awareness that this is something that isn't NEWS to Dick, but that he in the past felt he was forced to make his peace with as something he wasn't in a position to do that much about....only NOW, he's in a very DIFFERENT position, and suddenly it just hits him how he's still acting like he did when he was limited in resources or in having to be part of a chain in command or having to factor other responsibilities into things....now he ACTUALLY has the power and the resources to make meaningful change in the ways he ALWAYS wanted to, but maybe just needed time to figure out HOW.

Like you know what would have made Shawn Tsang's story arc so much better? If Dick didn't just remember her as the Pigeon's one time teenage sidekick he'd briefly fought as a kid, but like.....if he remembered her as someone he and Bruce had FOUGHT about. Because he didn't agree with sending someone to juvie for defacing public property as a form of political protest, when it was someone's LIFE who was going to be irrevocably damaged by that while the damage to the city could be fixed with a check, and what made Dick any more deserving of Bruce's leniency and faith in his potential or underlying goodness than Shawn?

But he was still a kid himself back then, and when Bruce responded with his usual conviction, talking about the importance about rule of law and etc etc, Dick just didn't have the words to get through to him then, to get him to understand that this wasn't just Dick not getting it because he was too young, it was BRUCE not getting it, that Dick was literally just saying well he wasn't too young to have been in juvie himself, and of the two of them, he's the one who has experience there so why was Bruce's opinion on whether this was the punishment that fit the crime the one that got to hold more weight here? When Dick's the one who knows what that punishment actually LOOKS like beyond the abstract, for whom it was a reality that still haunts him in ways that even defacing a few statues of some rich old fucks doesn't deserve?

Or hell, go back FURTHER than when he was Robin. Idk where any of those posts are, but I've always wanted to see something where Dick maybe runs into someone he remembers from his time in juvie, maybe a guard who is like, the source of the reasons Dick mistrusts figures of authority and is so hung up on independence and not being under anyone's thumb, or maybe someone who was in there with him, another kid who looked out for him when he didn't have to, etc. Gimme Dick tackling head-on his firsthand awareness that there's no rehabilitation to be found in a jail for kids, when most of those kids don't even need rehabilitation in the first place and only did what they did in order to survive or escape from worse situations or like, were there purely because of racist cops, etc. Let him go after THAT system, driven by personal experiences and memories that maybe only hit him in full after recovering his memories from the Ric Grayson arc, like they're things that he put in a box in his mind a long, long time ago because he didn't have the spoons or reserves to deal with them when he was a kid still so traumatized in so many ways, like, something had to give and so he put all those memories away for another day and just....never got back to them because life kept hitting him with new and fresh trauma every week.

But now something has him thinking back to those early days in Gotham, and reminding him that not everyone had a Bruce Wayne willing and able to give them an out from that place or acrobatic skills to escape it on their own, and like. You want to do something about the cycles of violence in Gotham and Bludhaven? Why not start with the places that literally MANUFACTURE cruelty on an institutional level, that teach kids that no matter what they did to get put there, even if that was nothing at all, they're all going to be treated the same way and given no reason NOT to do whatever it took to be top dog in a dog eat dog world by the time they got out.

There's SO many better approaches to social awareness in the Batbooks than what we're seeing, and like. Sheesh. The bar is way too low.

4) On a related note, if I'm editor of the Nightwing book, the FIRST thing I'm doing is making it a priority to find a writer of color for that book, ideally someone of Rom descent. Its waaaaay past time to let a Romani writer take the reins on Dick, Wanda, Pietro or Doom, aka some of the only prominent Romani characters out there? You can't tell me that there aren't talented writers who identify as Roma who would be more than willing to add their perspective to Dick's archive of narratives, and if an editor's gotta go looking for them? Go fucking look. DC and its fans have milked a lot of mileage out of the idea of Dick being Romani with very little in the way of nuanced storytelling to show for it in the past twenty years, and if DC wants to trot out little reminders that Dick is Romani every couple years, like in the form of a freaking line that has no follow up or expansion to any degree and is offset by an internal monologue that otherwise reads as incredibly privileged, the least they can do is TRY to expand on that with the narrative perspective of someone they claim to be representing via that character.

And no, this isn't gatekeeping, this is prioritizing. Its not about preventing other writers from writing this character, like just for the hell of it, its about being proactive about finding a writer who can write specific aspects of this character that have long gone unaddressed or poorly represented. And like. Okay. Its not easy breaking into the comics industry for anyone, but its particularly not easy for marginalized writers. Most every major comic book company just recites 'make your own stuff first and then show us that' but when you're a writer specifically, finding a compatible artist to partner with on creator-owned indie stuff first, when those artists are in the same position as you are and apologetically and understandably tend to have to take paying work over yours if you can't pay except on the back end, like....there are a lot of hurdles to getting your start in comic books, and while there are more and more marginalized writers in comics these days, DC and Marvel kinda fucked up, because you know what?

After being told 'make your own first, then we'll talk,' writers DID do just that....but then found out that well, due to the ease of online distribution and access these days, for any writers who CAN find an artist to partner with, its a hell of a lot easier to get their content out there these days WITHOUT a major publisher behind them.....and for a lot of marginalized writers in particular, its worth it to keep full creative control in exchange for smaller circulation. Especially when they don't have to deal with editors 'softening' their work to make it more palatable for audiences that quite frankly aren't necessarily their primary target. So yeah, marginalized voices are becoming more and more present in comics, but Marvel and DC for the most part are keeping the same voices centered they always have, and what these voices have to say is becoming less and less relevant and outdated. Because much like this arc from Taylor, even when they DO dip their toes into story matter that's of interest to wider audiences, they're doing so to a degree that still puts them years behind the conversations everyone else is having.

5) The same holds true of disability representation. I stopped reading Taylor's run for a lot of reasons but his way of responding to people unhappy with his depiction of Babs was a key one. If I'm editor on a book, and someone tweets at one of my writers that their depiction of a disabled character was hurtful because it feels like they're doubling back on everything Babs has ever said about not being defined by or ashamed of her disability and now its being treated like a dirty little secret, and that writer's response is essentially to just laugh at them and say there's nothing wrong or ableist about their writing of a disabled person, TO a concerned disabled person? That writer's ass is getting fired. Full stop.

Either you give a shit about this stuff or you don't. Don't pay your readers lip service about how important social issues are to you and how much you care about using superhero narratives to inspire people on these matters if you're gonna turn around and show your ass the second you don't feel comfortable and prioritized by the conversation, like it wouldn't exist without your oh so valuable contributions. ESPECIALLY if you don't identify as sharing the same identity of the marginalized character you're writing. You are a guest in someone else's lived experiences at that point, and you think you've got the right to belittle and talk down to the people who LIVE THERE? Fuck off, my dude.

6) Re-center Dick as someone who the superhero community RESPECTS. I love seeing Dick depicted as someone who has an awareness of his own limitations and an appreciation for what others bring to the table, and so I'm not opposed to him calling on others when he needs to.....but I also would like to see more of the opposite. But not in the way we usually see it these days, where he's asked to come help with a crisis and then usually second-guessed the whole way, and then sent back home without so much as a thank you when its done. Yawn. Sorry. I've read that story by now.

You know what story arc I freaking LOVED as a kid, back in the 90s? In Green Lantern, when Kyle Rayner first became the sole GL, one of his very early arcs, before he ever joined the JLA or anything....was him realizing how little he knew about being a superhero. He was like, my predecessors all had a full fledged CORPS to teach them everything they needed to know, but I had a few lines of exposition from a funny little blue guy in a red pillowcase and then I was off to the races. That's not good enough. There's so much I don't know about being a hero, I don't even KNOW what I still need to know.

So he went on kinda a superhero training roadtrip. He went to Metropolis to ask Superman for advice, he went to Batman to learn from Batman and Robin (Tim at the time). He went to Wonder Woman, Sentinel (Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern), etc, etc. And in the end, Kyle very much became his own kind of hero who wasn't just a pastiche of all those other heroes and the advice they gave him, but like....this put him on the road to that.

And I'd love to see something like that happen in Dick's solo title. We've seen him train in a team setting, we've seen him train the other Robins.....I'd love to see like, young superheroes from OTHER books, not ones created by the title, but like names people actually recognize from other franchises, like, guest star in Nightwing's book to learn from HIM, specifically. I wanna see something where Wally looks at the latest speedster and is like, you know what, if you really wanna be the best hero you can possibly be, then Nightwing's who you gotta go to, because there's no one I trust to make a better hero out of someone than him. I want the newest kid on the JLA block to worry that people aren't taking him seriously because of his age or experience, and he's always hearing them talk about Nightwing and how young he was when he started and so if anyone knows something about how to gain the respect of your older superhero peers, that's the guy to talk to.

Gimme Dick's couch being crashed on at various times by a half dozen new or upcoming young superheroes who all heard or figured out that if they really want to up their superhero game, Nightwing's the guy to see.

7) Bring back Bea. There's no long paragraph expansion on this, its really simply. Bring back Bea. She was one of the freshest breaths of air in Dick's supporting cast in ages, most of the current run is based off her character direction in the first place, she's literally the best suited TO help Dick in this venture, and the reasons they gave for writing her out of Dick's life were all bullshit and they just wanted to focus on his previous relationships, which would be fine if they didn't fall into the same two endless cycles of bring back up, go nowhere with, awkwardly avoid each other for years, rinse and repeat. Like. Bring back Bea, please and thank you, the end.

8) Focus on new villains. Heartless is meh, but the idea of new villains is still better IMO than rehashing Blockbuster, Zucco, etc. Like, nostaglia ain't it. If I want to read Blockbuster fucking up Dick's life, I can do that. They're called back issues. The thing is, love it or hate it, the Blockbuster arc WAS iconic. It left its mark. And anything that doesn't leave just as much of a mark, if they're going to bring him up again, is just gonna be a waste of time, you know? It'll just dilute his overall presence when like, what he was - worked fine as is. We don't need Round Two.

The trick to good villains, IMO, is they have to speak to a fight that needs fighting.

What I mean by that is....the best villains are those who resonate on a more instinctive level because they embody something that already exists in a reader's mind as a conflict that needs fighting. Like, if superheroes exist, if the embodiment of larger than life presences and forces devoted to protecting the world from various things are real....then their villains need to embody the kinds of fights or conflicts that NEED larger than life figures to combat them, at least on a one to one level.

Look at Superman and Lex Luthor. Superman at his core embodies the strength of community. He's the ultimate hero of the people, his essence is that he was the last survivor of a doomed race who was raised by two honest, hard working people to see the beauty in just being ONE of them, in using what he had on behalf of all of them and not just himself. In contrast, Lex Luthor is basically the embodiment of capitalist greed, of excess, of the entitlement of being able to have anything with a snap of your fingers and thus assuming that gives you divine mandate to make the kinds of choices that he sees as only his right to make.

He hates Superman, ultimately, because Superman is the WRONG savior of the people. He wants their only savior to be HIM, half the time he honestly believes he's saving the world FROM Superman, but just as often he's perfectly content to be the villain and not shy about it....because Lex Luthor's ultimate motivation is he wants everyone to know when he's dead and gone that LEX LUTHOR WAS HERE. He genuinely doesn't care WHAT his impact or legacy is at the end of the day, just that it exists and it overshadows most everything else...because all that really matters to him is the irrefutable proof that HE mattered. And thus at their cores, Superman and Lex are perfectly opposed. Ideally situated to eternally be in conflict, their own forever war, because their core natures are incompatible. They CAN'T compromise, without compromising themselves and essentially ending up as someone totally other than who and what they are already.

And you can go down the list. The Joker is the chaos to Batman's order, while Mr. Freeze is the stagnancy of that order taken too far, he's what you get when you freeze everything in your grief and refuse to let anything go on, anything new grow, because that would mean having to admit once and for all that what you're mourning is really gone. Two-Face is the ultimate embodiment of Man vs Self, a once good man at war with his own worse nature, and reminding everyone who looks at him how easily they could fall to the same fate.

And so on and so on. What Dick needs, is more of the same. Like, as much as I'm not a huge fan of Talon stories, I maintain that the Court of Owls were a great foil for him - just they tend to be poorly used in canon as well. But I also think how poorly they come off in canon has a lot to do with canon not really touching on WHY they're such a perfect foil for Dick....and that's Dick's history with being outside the system, mistreated and even exploited by the system. Because the Court, their core concept, is they ARE the system. They are entrenched, enfranchised, institutional power, passed down through generations, dynastic control that is a perfect counterpart to the dynastic power of the Wayne family, embodied in its youngest generation in the form of Bruce's FOUND family, the children he adopted regardless of whether or not his peers found them deserving of that honor. The Court, and their entire....thing...about the Gray Son, is the entitled fury of those denied something they deem theirs simply because they WANT it, and who will burn the whole world down rather than admit defeat or let someone else have it instead.

And that resonates. It could resonate a lot MORE if DC would actually lean into those concepts and allow Dick to explore how the Court are nothing he's not used to, they're literally made up of the same people who have looked down on him ever since he came to Gotham, but now they're actually a face and a name put to all those attitudes, something he can literally FIGHT BACK AGAINST. The Court are literally human-sized embodiments of everything and everyone who's tried to confine Dick since his parents' deaths, tried to define him without his permission, tried to make him other or lesser than who and what he is.....and who thus now exist in a form that Dick can literally BATTLE. So that he doesn't HAVE to just take this stuff lying down.

Thanks to the Court, he doesn't HAVE to just passively accept it, that this is just how life is, that some people are going to view him this way and think this about him and there's nothing he can do about it. He CAN do something about it, in superhero stories. He can kick its ASS, in the form of the Court of Owls and everything its members think about him and intend for him. He can refuse to bow down to them, to accept their mark on him. He can say lol, no, and then blow their shit sky high, ideally with a little help from his family. He can BEAT them, in this incarnated form, and in doing so, even though he can't beat everything they stand for and represent, that victory still matters, still means something symbolic to readers it resonates with.

And that's what we need more of. Villains created specifically to embody concepts that are diametrically opposed to Dick and what he represents. The system, yes, but also villains who embody the kind of tyranny and control he fights back against in his constant battles for autonomy and self control. Villains who embody the 'new hopes' of a second generation just like Dick himself is the focal point of the hopes embodied by the second generation of heroes. I'm actually not the hugest fan of multiversal constant Dick Grayson, but I might like it more if he had an opposite number there, someone he was specifically contrasted with. Idk.

But you get it.

9) Dick having a social life. Gimme the Titans and his siblings showing up JUST to show up. We have room enough for at least a couple pages every other issue where we just get to see these characters having some breathing room, taking a beat to stop and be something other than just a superhero, to be human as well. There's more to life than 24/7 fighting, even for them, and that's largely been lost in modern superhero comics, which kinda sucks, because that was what made most of the more iconic and lasting dynamics between various characters like, STAND the test of time. The larger than life battles between good and evil might be what many of us come to superhero comics FOR, but the relatable back-and-forths and ups and downs of their private lives spent with friends and family tends to be what keeps most of us coming BACK. And lately its all just mission, mission, mission, and I'm like blah, blah, blah and its like, meh, meh, meh. Y'know? Give the guy some down time, and let his friends come spend it with him.

10) Boone. This is purely self-indulgent, but if you know anything about me, you know my obsession with Robin: Year One, Dick's brief time at Vengeance Academy, and the hate/hate relationship he has with his brief frenemy from that period, Boone aka Shrike. This character has SOOOOO much potential to be Dick's true archnemesis and rival, and like. *Sobs* I can't get into it all again. Its too much. I can't do it.

Okay, I absolutely can. And will, probably. But like. Later.

BONUS ROUND:

Other thing I would absolutely insist upon if I were Nightwing editor....

GET THAT FUCKING MEME SHIRT ABOUT BRUCE SLAPPING DICK THE FUCK OUTTA HERE.

Like. Seriously. WHAT THE HELL. Why would you double down on THAT? Why is Babs STILL wearing it? (Last I checked, like I think I saw it in a scan from last issue? I'm pretty sure its still there? If not, forget this entire rant, and I am very embarrassed. Okay not that embarrassed. I don't really care if I'm wrong here but like, in case I'm not)...

WHY. Who thought that was funny? No, seriously, on behalf of any other abuse survivors who like me are SERIOUSLY not amused, who the FUCK thinks its FUNNY to have one of Dick's best friends sporting a shirt that no matter what it represents IN universe, to readers OUT of universe, is always going to call to mind the fact that this meme only freaking EXISTS because of all the times DC has obliviously and without acknowledgment written Bruce abusing his children, including the BFF that Babs is literally wearing that right in front of.

Like omg do you hate her, DC? What other possible reason could you have for thinking that would be a cute, funny thing for her to wear around the guy getting SLAPPED, by his DAD, in your shirt's iconography.

Okay I'm done.

LOL.

Sorry, that last one was brewing for awhile. Deep breaths. Woo.

☕️ teen titans go!

This is a good one because I have an inordinate amount of thoughts on it. At first I was definitely part of the crowd that was like "grrr we wanted teen titans back but not like this grr!!!!!!!!" because I was like. 13. So for that reason I planned on having nothing to do with it. BUT my little brother was the perfect age to watch it and it became his television program of choice at some point meaning I basically had no choice but to watch it (plus the bonding of. Us both having a Teen Titans program to be enamored with in childhood) and. Well I have no idea how many seasons there are altogether now or if it's even still running but I'd say I've definitely seen every episode from at LEAST the first 3 seasons multiple times. Both actively watching and passively in the background. So a lot of it is very grating and childish and borderline unbearable which are some of the big complaints people usually have on account of it being. You know. A show for small children. But a lot of it is also genuinely fun and cute some of the jokes really do land and a lot of the (many many) songs in it have NOOOOO business being as good as they are LMAO. Plus the little obscure-ish comics references they throw in for jokes or in the background are fun to pick up on and make me feel like a Real Comics Fan or whatever. I also just like to see tiny silly versions of characters I like it's why I still play the odd Lego game from time to time LOL.

And what's even funnier is that by the time Teen Titans Go! To The Movies (2018) came out my brother had largely outgrown it and thought it was annoying but I was literally completely 100% deadset on seeing it and dragged my family out to the theatres possibly even on opening weekend I don't remember. The ticket lady or whatever was deliberately like "Enjoy the movie!" to my brother because he was you know the only actual child present in the group and he was sooo mad at me because she thought we were seeing it for him when we were really seeing it for me. Hehe. I don't even really remember it now but I do remember enjoying it LMFAO.

But yes if I think about it using my actual brain which you should never never do. I am bothered by it fundamentally for the same reasons I am bothered by the original series which I still love for nostalgia reasons but which haunts and vexes me nonetheless. It's largely responsible for the destruction of Kory's character and design as well as all the design and age related disasters that have befallen Raven over the years (also clearly the basis of all the lame Garth designs too 😭) so I can never forgive it for that. I also fully blame the phenomenon of Raven being paired off with DAMIAN of all people on the little uh "robrae" moments in the original TT. HOWEVER. Specific to teen titans go. I do enjoy the inverse dynamic between Starfire and Robin wherein he is the one desperately and borderline horrifically in love with her while she kind of does not give a fuck and swerves him on every possible occasion. Once again. Cathartic. Great. I think this is a normal length of response for the topic.