Nightwing As A Flying Fish Mermaid, In Honour Of Mermay, Because I Am Every Shade Of Nerdy

no see the thing about jason & dick is that they have too much between them. they have too many complications for people who never really had the chance to know each other. that's your little brother, one of your biggest regrets. that's your big brother, the most unfamiliar warmth you have ever experienced. that's your little wing. that's the boy you saw swinging around once and thought "he's the most amazing thing I have ever seen". do you understand. do you. realise. there's miles upon miles of unspeakable grief and they have no way to go about it because they carry their blood in their mouth and yearning in their ribcages and they're too stubborn to say anything or reach out and yet too attached to what could have been to let go and they don't want to admit it but they keep coming back because that's my brother that's my brother that's my brother that's my brother

Mayhaps you've already taken a shot at answering this. Why do you think people in fandom get Dick Grayson so wrong?

to be totally honest i don’t know? like, i’d say a significant part of it is because the two icebreaker comics people seem to read when they’re getting into dc are red robin and under the red hood.

rr2009 is about a complex grief spiral that challenges dick and tims relationship before they ultimately reconcile, but if ur not interested w engaging w the story it’s very easy to villianise dick (and damian) for tim whump.

utrh also relies on a lot of context from other comics at the time, and i think a lot of people conflate bruce’s actions to dick, particularly with the movie, to make jason the victim rather than actually considering the actions he takes. idk. we fear complexity, ig

it’s weird because many of dicks most important and foundational traits — community, his relationships with his neighbours, his status as a big brother and mentor to young heroes, his kindness, his abrasive but ultimately loving relationship w bruce, his propensity to pick arguments, and his role as a beacon of light in gotham — evidently are popular because they’re consistently lifted to give to other characters. in return, dick is flattened to either an absolute enabling asshole or a total idiot with no friends who can’t even defend himself. it sucks

even in regards to angst…. a lot of what people write fic about has happened to dick rather than other characters. in modern canon he was fired during an argument with bruce. he was homeless and isolated during the latter half of grayson’s 96 run. he’s consistently hurt by bruce and his other family members when they throw hands at him outside of combat. like…… *smacks him* this bad boy can fit every fanon trope in him np

itd be nice for people to engage more with his character, but same with damian or cass it would require that other characters not be trapped in permanent victimhood or actually meet dick on his level. dick is the most emotionally intelligent person in that family and uses his powers to say the most heinous things imaginable. he’s the second best detective. after cass he’s probably the most dangerous physical combatant. he doesn’t need tim drake to show him how to reset his wifi password

The full comic is finally over!!! Thank you for following it ~

i think it’s important to remember with shen yuan that while he is ultimately a loving person (he cares… so much…), he is also a terminally online otaku that gets into flame wars and harasses people online, and on top of that even by the end of the novel he is still dealing with multiple layers of repression disavowal and performativity that make it so the stars have to align just right for him to be openly kind. i’m not saying he is mean but actually yeah he kinda is a bit of a bitch and that aspect of his character should not be forgotten. like he is kind but not nice yk

To understand how everyone feels about shen yuan you have to think of him as a beloved neighbourhood cat. Everyone loves him. If you can get him to sit next to you for a few minutes, you have the right to tell everyone around while they glare at you in jealousy. If he scratches someone, everyone will agree they must have done something wrong to deserve that, because our cat is so sweet and lovely. If you say you don't like him, everyone hates you because what sick fuck doesn't like cute cats?

So you can imagine when someone (binghe) takes the cat that should belong to everyone and decides its going to be HIS own now. The entire neighbourhood would be up in arms. Shen Yuan is EVERYONES cat and they demand he's let back out so they can occasionally get ten seconds to pet it.

But then something terrible happens: the cat decides it likes binghe and wants to stay inside his house. Even when everyone holds the door wide open and tries to lure him out with treats, he ignores it and jumps onto binghes lap. Everyone is devastated. Their cat CHOSE to be with the guy who stole him away from them.

There's nothing they can do other than randomly barge into the cats new home every now and then, pathetically hoping for a bit of his attention while annoying the cats new owner.

That's shen yuan.

Headcanon that Shen Yuan was hotter than Shen Qingqiu, actually.

Like yeah SQQ being a cultivator gave him a boost to enough attributes + being in a stallion novel where everyone is either unrealistic hot or dog's butt ugly got the Shen Qingqiu body extra points, and he wasn't bad looking to begin with. Plus not being ill is vastly more important to the new Shen Qingqiu than those extra hotness points (Without a Cure notwithstanding). But part of the reason why he's kind of like, meh, at least I'm not hideous or anything, is because Shen Yuan's original body was a knock out.

I also like him as chronically ill, and, as many people know, beauty standards and sustained suffering are not as incompatible as they should be. Shen Yuan was conventionally attractive in part because conventional beauty standards seem to want everyone slowly dying all the time. But even setting that aside, the man had flawless bone structure, an appealing figure, captivating eyes, and the kind of voice that stopped people in their tracks.

All of which was a contributing factor to his antisocial lifestyle, actually. Despite the fact that Shen Yuan does enjoy company and requires a certain baseline of social enrichment for his enclosure, his internalized homophobia and closeting did not play well with overtures from interested parties (regardless of gender). The only way to minimize the odds of him being asked out on dates was to essentially become a shut-in, especially since even Shen Yuan can only make so many excuses before he himself starts to notice that he's going to a lot of effort to avoid specifically that avenue of socialization. Far better to just remove himself from any risk of it, and then vocally lament that oh no he's just too much of a nerd to get anywhere with women!

Anyway this largely doesn't matter much outside of sheer comedy potential for any situation where SY gets his old body/life back. Like imagine a reveal scenario where the System is going to transport them back to their old lives.

Shang Qinghua: well bro I guess this is gonna be the ultimate test of love, right?

Shen Yuan: what do you mean?

Shang Qinghua: our husbands are gonna see what we looked like back before we were glorious cultivators! they're going to have to track us down in our mundane, kinda shitty pre-transmigration lives! it's gonna be at least a little embarrassing, right?

Shen Yuan: *gets his old body back*

Shang Qinghua, normal human with average looks: ...

Shen Yuan, exemplary 11/10: ?

Shang Qinghua: what. the fuck?? bro what the fuck why are you hot???

Shen Yuan: don't make it weird

Shang Qinghua: make it weird??? why were you sitting at home reading my shitty novel when you could have been out there building your own harem???

Shen Yuan: stop exaggerating

Shang Qinghua: oh my god you've always been like this. this is it, isn't it? it wasn't even brain damage from the transmigration or something--

Shen Yuan: hey

Shang Qinghua: --you've just always been completely unaware, haven't you? every time I wrote a beautiful woman who didn't know her own appeal you'd be jumping down my throat--

Shen Yuan: because that's a stupid trope--!

Shang Qinghua: --JUMPING DOWN MY THROAT EXACTLY LIKE THAT but this whole time THIS WHOLE TIME it wasn't even a glow-up issue, you've just been that, personified, yourself--

Shen Yuan: look I know I'm not ugly but I'm not I'm hardly that good-looking

Shang Qinghua: YOU ARE NEVER ALLOWED TO CRITICIZE THAT TROPE AGAIN! oh my god. how many broken hearts did you leave behind when you died?!

Shen Yuan: none, I wasn't even seeing anyone--

Shang Qinghua: yeah full offense but I am nottt taking your word for that. I bet you had a harem you didn't know about in this lifetime too. I bet you had a fan club, like an anime prince

Shen Yuan: *mumbling*

Shang Qinghua: what was that?

Shen Yuan: I said... only in high school...

Shang Qinghua: oh my god

Shen Yuan: it wasn't a big deal!

Shang Qinghua: *frantically trying to see if he can find any trace of it on the internet now*

bruce and dick are both emotionally repressed but in kind of different but parallel ways. like, the repression that bruce experiences stems from never confronting trauma or any negative emotion, whereas dick's repression stems from needing to be the emotional support for an emotionally repressed man at the ripe age of 9 and so never being able to process any emotions associated with that responsibility

da capo al coda.

50 Cliché Tropes and Prompts: 47. “I’ve been in love with you for years”

Pairing: Ben Hargreeves x Reader

Word Count: 4,806 words

Warnings: Swearing, severe awkwardness

Ben Hargreeves is fifteen years old when he first lays eyes on you.

The black leather jacket that his siblings had gotten for him is still new, with that nice new-leather smell still running through the seams, and it makes him feel older and cooler as he slinks into the Icarus Theater with Vanya and Allison.

The Amphion Symphony Orchestra is performing tonight. Vanya had all but begged them to go with her; Five had always accompanied her before he left, and it’s been a long time since she had last been to a concert. Ben is glad that he’d finally agreed to go. The guilt would’ve eaten at him if he had refused again.

Besides, since Dad is away on a trip for the weekend and Pogo and Mom tend to let things slide whenever he’s gone, Ben figures he could risk it.

“I heard a rumor that you already checked our tickets,” Allison whispers to the woman at the ticket table, and the three siblings proceed down to the auditorium after grabbing some programs.

Vanya selects the middle-left section of seats five rows from the front. Ben sits down between her and Allison, getting comfortable on the squeaky cushion, and opens his program with mild interest. His eyes catch onto the first two pieces.

Keep reading

Is there a difference between the Garu of jetix series and love’s recipe?

Oh absolutely Nony!! TLDR: Jetix!Garu and LR!Garu and fundamentally different. The portrayal of pucca and garu’s relationship is one of the key factors in Garu’s characterization. 

Jetix emphasizes the physical humor of the chase, and as a result, heightens the bad qualities of the two. Pucca is more obsessive, which drives  Garu to become cold towards her and the villagers. He values his honor to a selfish degree and his fixation on being the best ninja makes him estranged to the village. He’s sassy, prideful, moody (like watch the episode y’all, he’s just a bomb waiting to go off holy-), and surprisingly, outspoken. He’s a lot more expressive, which I do miss when I watch LR. 

LR is more endearing, there’s a childish innocence to the chase. Pucca is more considerate of Garu’s boundaries and Garu is more receptive to Pucca’s affections. Garu in this version is polite, reserved, poised, gentlemanly, boyish, and regards his honor with dignity instead of pride. 

so for the long version: Jetix!Garu is so selfish. Like… he’s fixated on his honor and duty as a ninja that he comes across as cold, rude and uncaring towards the villagers, especially pucca. Jetix!Garu is completely uninterested in pucca and truly just wants to be left alone. Even if it comes at the expense of others, like in Feud Fight, Garu values being kept to himself. It kinda makes me wonder how he became friends with ching and abyo in the first place. 

  Garu never seems to do good for the sake of doing good, or because he cares for the village. He’s always motivated to go on a laborious quest because it will give him great “honor”, and it doesn’t help that this great honor is so vague and elusive in the show. uhhh winning the valley ping pong competition will bring honor! Dragging a wet noodle around the world will bring honor! Buying a moon night light inside a volcano can only be done by a great warrior because…. the story needs a serious try-hard character for Pucca to outshine and bounce off of. That’s the real oof in Garu’s character. His genuine efforts at greatness are constantly undermined by outside forces ( he takes Tobe way too seriously… like. Garu. He’s hopelessly incompetent, chill.)  and especially Pucca. It makes his motivation seem desperate to the audience and harder to sympathize with. Speaking of pucca….

   Jetix!Garu really doesn’t like Pucca. Not as a friend, and especially not as a crush. When she pursues him, his face is either red in embarrassment,  blue-tinted in anxiousness, or he violently struggles against her hugs, yet the supporting characters treat this cat and mouse chase as endearing. It shocks me when I rewatch my favorite episodes; I end up feeling so sorry for Garu and a bit creeped out how normalized pucca’s obsession is. I get frustrated that Pucca is never aware of Garu’s discomfort, and everyone enables her by assuring that Garu is just shy! He’ll come around one day. Maybe. I mean, there are a few bones the writers throw us here and there, but Garu’s reciprocation is just too inconsistent to validate. 

I think the worst their depiction has ever gotten is the intro to Season 1x19 “Oh the Bells!” Garu visibly shakes, his eyes shrink, he sweats in disgust after Pucca kisses him and leaves. Abyo literally says right after, “How can you let her do that to you?”Like bruh. This is not the relationship 8 yr old me should have been rooting for. 

Anyways, Garu’s more extreme reactions to Pucca’s antics are a direct consequence of their cat and mouse chase being depicted as humorous instead of endearing, as the original flash shorts intended. buuuuut Love’s Recipe thankfully decided to go back to the flash’s roots and bring out the best in the chase. 

I commented on LR’s dynamic when things get pushed too far, and I’m so happy that Pucca is now just a young girl filled with infatuation and innocent young love that she just wants to express it all in the open, and poor Garu is so overwhelmed but never too exasperated. He willingly hangs out with Pucca, he values his time with her and knows he doesn’t need to protect her because she can take care of herself. The strongest Garu ever reacts at pucca’s antics are small sighs or nervous sweat and blush. 

Garu is incredibly polite and poised towards everyone. I thought it smart that Garu’s residency in the outskirts of Sooga forest made him knowledgable about the fauna, and as a result gave him a reason to stay close to the village; He’s the produce runner for the Village’s most esteemed restaurant. It’s a humble yet important job. Garu wants to be a warrior because he truly wants to be good (maybe also because he wants to live up to his lost heritage?? the season finale kinda touched on that?? LR writers give us the forbidden Garu family lore) and his importance in the village validates his need for honor. He just wants to uphold the image everyone has of him and deliver justice. 

 Fittingly, Garu finds Tobe out of place and obnoxious bc he doesn’t fit in w/ his priorities. Tobe doesn’t threaten Garu’s way of life, he’s just some random laky Don-King restaurant’s manager hired. Garu never wants to deal with him and never takes him seriously, he realizes how weak of a rival Tobe is. I’m gonna miss the super serious and over the top clash Jetix! Garu and Tobe had, ngl. It made for great banter on Jetix’s end. Garu can still be pretty sassy towards him, and others. I appreciate the writers left that in. 

If I didn’t make sense y’all are free to drag me bc my dudes it is 3 am my time I am only functioning on 1 braincell rn. goodnight 

[ The constellation 'Demon King of Salvation' is looking at you ]