Tag: survivingrealitywithoutnormality

So the Batfam is totally a fandom, for the purposes of that ask-meme, right?

One of my ‘secret fandoms’ that I finally decided to go ‘fuckit, hold onto your dash and prepare for a ton of reblogs’ And because its comics fandom I don’t feel shame in admitting that my exposure to ‘canon’ is mostly online fandom, the animated shows (and some of them I only saw in bits and pieces two decades ago), and slowly reading what volumes I can find that sound interesting to me. (I read Morrison’s Batman Inc and only liked a few individual issues and am beginning to think he’s that ‘overrated author a la how Frank Millar used to be’). And it’s DC comics, so reboot after reboot and editorial and writer shifts – I’ve been spoiled by manga where there’s mostly one writer/one vision. Or that writers that don’t like or only shallowly understand the characters have them, and that only certain things are ignored or retconed out and that the format is inherently soap opera so it’s one fight/crisis to the next with no closure.

Off the top of my head answers:

  • the character i least understand

Aside from Bombshells (rec!) I haven’t read things with Kate Kane, canon or fanfic, so my understanding for her is limited and I want to fix that. Same with some of the other side/fringe characters. What I’ve seen of Nu52 has changed Barbra Gordon so much that I really wonder why another character wasn’t used and idk she doesn’t interest me that way she normally should/would.

Thank god for the growing backlash against Crazy Steve! Batman. Why is grim miserable loner Batman seen as cool?

Joker’s Daughter except for Bombshells. Why does this character exist?

  • interactions i enjoyed the most

Bruce/Selina (I love Hush among other reasons for the Mr and Mrs Kent-Lane and BatCat – do I hate the editorial mandate against happy relationships and marriage? yes, yes I do.) Anything brotherly between the boys (Daddy Dick raising Damian, Jason part of the family Morrison writing him is mostly dismissed by the fandom thank god, stalker affection-starved Tim suddenly the middle-child), expand that to family interactions with everyone. Cass with anyone. Again, Batfam you come and stay for what characterization and interactions the fandom gives, not canon.

  • the character who scares me the most

The editors.

  • the character who is mostly like me

I hate questions like these. I wish I could say Alfred, especially as there’s this snarky enabler in me, plus I’m not daring enough for daredevil crime-fighting.

  • hottest looks character

One of those really depends on the artist thing. The joke that Bruce’s Robin program is Wayne’s Next Top Model is true though. Dick is hot and not just his ass. Jason, especially Lost Days, is so pretty like dayum son and I appreciate guys a little more ripped (Arkham Knight unf) so that he’s usually drawn a bit bulkier and muscled than Dick thank you. Tim as drawn by Marcus To has the best hair. Lumberjack beard Bruce I admit does more for me than regular Bruce, even if it makes me confuse him for Convergence Superman. (On the ladies side: Selina, Matron!Helena B., Cass, Steph, and most everyone when drawn in the Bombshells universe but that’s also because the retro victory curls and fashion adds to the hotness)

  • one thing i dislike about my fave character

Y’all need therapy. (dodging which is the favorite. Okay right now it’s probably Jason and boy if it wasn’t the anger and abandonment issues manifesting too violently it’s the dehumanizing judgement to take lives due to over-identifying with victims … and that’s when he’s written well)

  • one thing i like about my hated character

Who do I hate the most? ummm, Joker has a nice iconic color scheme, Thomas Elliot gives character interaction as a peer for Young!Bruce

The Court of Owls gives a great Crime Syndicate or Evil AU Grayson origin/costume power set, even if it’s ridiculous in the sense of ancient conspiracy Illuminati in regular canon ‘verse.

  • a quote or scene that haunts me

In Under the Red Hood the quote that slayed me the most in an uncomfortable way wasn’t from the painful final scene (which oh gods, the delivery in the animated version: all the tears) but Alfred’s reminiscence (emphasis mine): 

“Master Jason’s had a condescending practice of referring to the costumed criminal elements as “dress ups”. He also noted that such individuals did not fear the Batman the way the street toughs and mafioso did. The “dress ups” did not believe that he was a monster. I explained to Jason that he was correct, but only to a certain degree … Some believe he is just a man. Others believe he is an army. Some think he can’t be injured. Others believe he can’t die. But the boy did say something to me that chilled me to the bone..even then. “They all know he won’t kill them.” I’m not sure what frightened me more. the observation by one as young as Jason that power could but levied with the threat of murder. Or the fact that he was most likely correct.”

They killed Jason off because he knew this was a comic book universe

  • a death that left me indifferent

I haven’t read the issues in the new 52 with the deaths (or faked deaths). That it’s comics and only dead if the editors and writers don’t want to deal with your character or story anyone lessens the pain. But Dick Grayson’s faked death for bad storytelling (and Injustice’s death by rock is so absurd). 

Probably any villain deaths, if they happen.

  • a character i wish died but didn’t

Joker. Over-exposed. Agent of chaos to the well-ordered Bat yes, which could be a gimmick picked up by other villains. Enough with the Joker. he has become such a crutch to writers; I’m sooo tired of stories using him. Batman has other big-name villains to market and I don’t find the Joker himself interesting. ‘One Bad Day’ could be Dent’s theme as well as Mister Napier.

  • my ship that never sailed

Even Robins. The rare pair of writers’ missed opportunities (look she “died” right before he came back, her retcon’ed healing trip to Africa was one easy additional retcon to ‘dumped in a Lazarus pit by Jason’ and the mob boss he went after was the one that tortured her – the whole under the red hood thing could have easily been expanded to involve her conflicted feelings of revenge as well. Similar backgrounds and personalities – there’s the same rage there. Dead robins, bad robins were the ones that weren’t rich boys? Fuck you, DC. The reactions from the rest of the Batfam, especially Tim – and that Jason would be petty enough/ totally in-character for and be used for revenge!sex. Steph smacking some sense into him and providing some support structure, Jason’s adoration for strong women giving Steph needed support and validation. but mostly because it’d be hot, break Bruce’s brain, connect the resurrections, and yeah here’s my guilty pleasure rare-pair give me the AUs or what the hell let’s write some)

survivingrealitywithoutnormality replied to your post:Wha’cha Gonna Call It?

Oh this is great!

Thanks! I was trying to just write the name debate, but got side-tracked going into all the set-up of the concerns and debates over how mortal/elf marriages are a big thing without the guidelines of it will work and there is a choice offered and ugh, it was supposed to gleefully ignore all the angst issues. 

Anárwen in this AU likes her uncle’s nickname, though she might go by Anáriel or Anárían or something (this AU is old of my old ones, so I can’t remember everything). I know she does like cooking most of all, which is a tomboy thing to do for Elves while being a womanly thing for mortals (whee! culture clash!) and she is sent to Nargothrond for safely and schooling. Finrod she doesn’t dislike, but he is her least favorite uncle, which upsets him and makes him desperate to win her over. She experiments with culinary dishes and discovers that Celebrimbor, the distracted-by-his-projects student/guest makes the perfect lab rat, as he’ll eat whatever’s left by his work station. Later on Curufin will try to use this to marry his son off for the political advantage the same way he supports Celegorm’s imprisonment and forced wooing of Lúthien. (An’ and ‘Brimbor both think the idea ridiculous)

survivingrealitywithoutnormality:

squirrelwrangler:

end of the novella – neat twist. pity Baela died (edit: lived. huh.). how long did Aegon II live afterwards? (and how did his kids die to leave Aegon III as king- or did Aegon III marry his cousin Aegon’s surviving daughter?) What dragons were left at the end of this anyway- that Ulf White’s dragon survived, I think…? (the poison scene was cool, way to go out impressing us, unimpressive Hightower lord) 

Annoyed the Tully lords weren’t named (I wanted by Elmo, darn it) and interesting that Manderly and Dustin got page notice but their liege-lord Stark did not. And only one mention of the Greyjoys.

But so many dead dragons. And smallfolk having a proper peasants’ revolt and hearkening to London’s Bands and mobbing those dragons to death.

Also, Alys Rivers seems very intriguing, but Aemond Targ wins the bastard medal.

Lastly, the dragons = allegory for nuclear weapons was almost ‘beat you with a stone club’ obvious.

IIRC, Maelor is killed by a mob when a plan to sneak him out of Kings Landing to safety backfires horrifically. 

That only leaves Jaehaera.

Aegon II is poisoned (possibly be his own men) after the Tully victory for the Blacks. The Blacks then place Aegon III on the throne and he’s married to Jaehaera as part of peace agreements but I get the impression that he’s supposed to be claiming in his own right rather than through her. I’d assume part of the reason the Greens don’t rally around Jaehaera before the marriage is that men who fought because they wanted a male claimant to the throne wouldn’t support her. That and who knows if they got concessions in terms of who Aegon’s seven regents were…

That might be why Aegon III allows the new custom of Targ inheritance following agnatic primogeniture to be established rather than following male-preference primogeniture like the rest of Westoros.

I looked up some entries that explain what happens (only six months a king? Ha, Aegon. Let’s face it, Egg was the best of you bunch to carry that name (III  is Dragonsbane and thus will always have a soft spot, II is a jerk, I is the William the Conqueror/the Bastard that starts this whole invasion of several kingdoms just because he has giant murder weapons and have I mentioned I hate Aegon the Conqueror? and VI was without a doubt the worst of the bunch)

Jaehaera yep- married probably to solidify Aegon III’s claim but tying her claim into his, but he’s throned on his own right. And reading about her- she dies the same way as her mom -and at age ten?! Seven Hells. Jaehaera wins for most tragic character in ASoIaF. I hate you, GRRM.

But yeah, the Black&Green novella ends at this really sudden and abrupt place. I wonder if it was on purpose. idk, it needed a footnote to explain what happened next.

▼ Ingwe

(everything outlined here)

The child of Alakô and Maktâmê was the eighth born to the small tribe of the Minyar, an auspicious number. That the new generation of the tribe were not evenly split yet among genders, that the Kwendî had not a readily apparent sign of which was another’s life-mate because they did not awake in pairs beside one another, was a source of much anxiety for that first generation of parents (and it wouldn’t be until the Eldar meet the Valar and with the example of unmarried Ulmo and Nienna that this societal hetero-normative pressure to pair and beget children, coupled with the assurance that the elves are immortal and in the safety of Aman there’s no danger of the tribe’s extinction, eases off). Ingwë’s mother shared nursing duties with another hunter who gave birth a few months before her, freeing both women to join the hunting parties. This ‘milk brother’ of Ingwë was a friend and companion until his parents’ maiming, after which he shunned them like everyone in the tribe. He grew to be a typical hunter of the Minyar, gregarious smile but swift to snark at those that annoyed him. In time the relationship would be repaired, and the hunter was one of new king Ingwë’s strongest supporters (and the one to guard and keep a watchful eye on Ravennë’s older brother least the former prince try to cause trouble.)

No one remembers of speaks of Ingwë’s first name, the one before ‘Ukwendô’, not even Mahtamë, but then the Vanyar collectively haze their memories that Ingwë was known as anything but Ingwë.

Even before the accident, Ingwë was a solemn and serious little boy, wishing to make things with a gravitas that brought Alakô to tears of laughter. Ingwë thought his father too silly, too often smiling even when there didn’t seem a reason to be. The lonely boy taunted by his tribe as Ukwendô regretted any negative thoughts he once had about his father’s smiles.

Before, Ingwë wanted to be a hunter in the parties with his friend, eventually marry another Minyar hunter, as that was what one was supposed to do. His favorite part of the hunts was the painting of hunters before they left, the ceremony complete with speeches from Imin Ingweron. Young Ingwë liked to pretend to be the chieftain, sticking stray feathers in his hair and making proclamations to his follow toddlers. They would all giggle, and their mothers picked them and tickle them, Maktâmê kissing her son’s cheek and pulling out the feathers with her teeth. Imin and Iminyë would watch with bemused patronizing fondness, and Maktâmê recalled with pride how her chieftain praised her son’s powerful voice. “You are made for greatness, my son,” she told Ingwë, and she never stopped telling him this, even in the blackest despair of their lives.

anghraine said: *fistbump* everyone compliments the hair on my head, and doesn’t seem to get that the body hair goes with it 😛

THIS~ I love my hair, I truly do- sausage curls and a rich dark brown that’s nearly black- but it means if I don’t shave my legs, the hair there is thick and curly and dark. And I know what the alternative is- my younger sisters have either auburn or blonde hair (and the body hair that goes with it) and really fine texture. Some of it was a thyroid issue, but from years of struggling to do my baby sister’s fine thin straight hair that could never be pulled into any braids or ponytails but had to lay exactly so across her scalp- I would never trade my hair for anything else. But they could get away with not shaving…

survivingrealitywithoutnormality said: I share exactly your feelings on Selyse.

Ugh the author uses her a punchline to jokes and made her to be disliked, and all I can feel is she deserved so much better, some kindness, or ugh give her some trait approaching any respect, the fandom loves to just kill her off-hand.