I really should think up a title

Home of the Three Kingdoms Fantasy Draft, and not much else at the moment.

[filipinoizukuu]

im so sad there aren't more romance anime out there with a masc fl that gets mistaken for a guy a lot. ESPECIALLY ones that don't treat the main female character's masculinity as a "flaw" or thing she has to get over in order to get with the guy (looking at you in the clear moonlit dusk).

it really is just ouran high school host club and tomo chan is a girl, huh. nozaki kun is close but doesnt quite count for me bc yuu isnt the main character.

[grazztthedark]

Just going to recommend Shikimori Is Not Just A Cutie, and How I Attended An All Guy's Mixer.

[prokopetz]

I can't believe it took me until just now to put together that Ghidorah is called that because "hidora" is what "hydra" works out to when you spell it in katakana.

[prokopetz]

The Guydra.

[grazztthedark]

This reminds me of when I found out that all of the monsters in early Power Rangers were riffs on Western creatures, and Rita Repulsa was supposed to be Pandora.

[thejediexile]

Anno is a machine that turns afternoons into

[grazztthedark]

This reminded me of how the original Age of Wonders added a real world clock to the game when you were in full screen mode. I didn't realize why it was there, until it struck me that this meant I didn't need to have a watch on hand or minimize the game to check the time. Very responsible UI design.

[three-semicolons]

I see. Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson, is the “only real man” Kori has encountered while on Earth.

(Keep in mind that this is in the context of her gazing at a seven-foot, ripped, ancient god of the Sun.)

The man in question:

Conclusion: A real man, to Kori, is someone who is squishy and very holdable. I can respect that.

[iconuk01]

Squishy, portable and confident enough in their masculinity to have no superpowers and still wear an outfit like that, in public, aged 18, without fear of ridicule.

[grazztthedark]

I mean, who was going to make fun of him at the time? Men whose shorts have two inches more leg than what Robin is wearing?

(Crossreference: Peter Parker's "Animal" crop top and short shorts)

[bob-artist]

The actual worst part of when a post blows up is that I get to bear witness to all the most stellar tumblr usernames in my notes, but I respect people's privacy too much to screenshot and share them all, so now I just have to sit here, suffering, cursed with the forbidden knowledge.

[grazztthedark]

Do what Dickens did, and incorporate them into your stories.

[three-semicolons]

Okay so, I know everyone and their mother has seen this panel. And it is very funny.

BUT. Now that I’ve just come off the original Teen Titans run, they all seemed quite progressive (for the time), Wally included.

This could be gleaned from:

Opposition to war during the Vietnam war era

Opposition to anti-immigrant rhetoric

Aiding the reclaiming of stolen land from native peoples

And even the less plot-relevant but still pervasive themes of tolerance and acceptance, both of then-modern culture and the hippie movement. Silly, I know, but genuinely contentious.

So I’m not quite sure why it was established that Wally was some hard conservative. Maybe this was always a thing? While I’ve read a lot of Wally in the context of team books, in Titans and later in the 90s JLA run, I’ve never read much in the way of his solos. It just doesn’t strike me as consistent.

[iconuk01]

There had been a bit of friction between Kid Flash and Red Star in his only previous appearance. Kid Flash made it clear he didn't trust a Communist "superhero".

So I think they're just amping that up a bit, to add a little depth to Wally, who had never really had that much done to develop his character in the past. (NTT #21 is the first time I think any Titans discuss their religious beliefs. When asked if he's religious, Wally replies "I guess so. I don't go all the time, but I believe." and Dick says that "I haven't thought about it much")

His conservative phase didn't last long but then, it was something like 1982 and Reagan was on the ascendant, so perhaps Wolfman felt a less liberal POV was an interesting way to go?

[grazztthedark]

The only other time I can remember Wally's conservative characterization coming up is to contrast with the liberal Pied Piper in his solo book. Especially when the latter came out of the closet, right while Wally was in the middle of a homophobic diatribe.

[iconuk01]

I'm not quite sure I'd call it particularly homophobic, especially for 1988, and the first actual coming out as gay said out loud in a Big Two mainstream comic We'd had subtext and hints all over the place of course (Byrne with Maggie Sawyer, Claremont with... well.. everyone) , but even Marvel's Northstar wouldn't publicly describe himself as gay until 1992 in a far more laboured and tortuous story than this one.

So Wally is being a bit of an asshole definitely, but more out of outdated assumptions, than actual ingrained homophobia (at least the way I read it, YMMV of course)

Wally's discombobulated reaction is hilarious (and one I think many people who come out get from at least one person), and it's clear Piper knows that Wally isn't being homophobic,, juts a little surprised and he'll get over it, but that doesn't mean Piper didn't LOVE being able to blow Wally's mind like that.

[grazztthedark]

Oh yeah, for its time it isn't that bad. They were going to include the f-slur in children's movies for the next few years, so Wally's little bit about gay supervillains isn't really going that far.

That said, I think it's still fair to call it homophobic. Even by the standards of the time: Wally clearly realizes the things he's said are pretty insulting to his friend, which is most of the reason why he's so eager to get out of there. So even Wally, at this moment, understands that he's crossed a line. Hartley, for his part, has probably dealt with worse.

Honestly, the word I regret using is "diatribe". A diatribe is more of a monologue, and Wally is clearly trying to include Hartley in his little "Which supervillains are gay?" game. The fact that he doesn't take the hint that Hartley doesn't want to play this particular game is part of what makes the whole scene so fun when Hartley decides to change the script on him.

[three-semicolons]

Okay so, I know everyone and their mother has seen this panel. And it is very funny.

BUT. Now that I’ve just come off the original Teen Titans run, they all seemed quite progressive (for the time), Wally included.

This could be gleaned from:

Opposition to war during the Vietnam war era

Opposition to anti-immigrant rhetoric

Aiding the reclaiming of stolen land from native peoples

And even the less plot-relevant but still pervasive themes of tolerance and acceptance, both of then-modern culture and the hippie movement. Silly, I know, but genuinely contentious.

So I’m not quite sure why it was established that Wally was some hard conservative. Maybe this was always a thing? While I’ve read a lot of Wally in the context of team books, in Titans and later in the 90s JLA run, I’ve never read much in the way of his solos. It just doesn’t strike me as consistent.

[iconuk01]

There had been a bit of friction between Kid Flash and Red Star in his only previous appearance. Kid Flash made it clear he didn't trust a Communist "superhero".

So I think they're just amping that up a bit, to add a little depth to Wally, who had never really had that much done to develop his character in the past. (NTT #21 is the first time I think any Titans discuss their religious beliefs. When asked if he's religious, Wally replies "I guess so. I don't go all the time, but I believe." and Dick says that "I haven't thought about it much")

His conservative phase didn't last long but then, it was something like 1982 and Reagan was on the ascendant, so perhaps Wolfman felt a less liberal POV was an interesting way to go?

[grazztthedark]

The only other time I can remember Wally's conservative characterization coming up is to contrast with the liberal Pied Piper in his solo book. Especially when the latter came out of the closet, right while Wally was in the middle of a homophobic diatribe.

[onion-souls]

As I suspected, "the Borg will be black because black is the bad guy color" won out

Though on a more positive note, our first appearance of Worf in the spoiled cards depicts him getting his shit wrecked, absolutely on brand

[grazztthedark]

Responding to your tags, white/blue is an interesting choice. Why wouldn't they be all colours, like the Phrexians that are basically Borg knock offs?

That said, I think Borg should be colourless. What can I say? I'm an oldhead and just preferred the days of artifacts all being colourless.

[byjove]

limping away from the battlefield all by yourself, handsome?

[grazztthedark]

Way of the Househusband

[annotated-dc]

DC Officially Just Undid Wonder Woman’s Worst Retcon

Wonder Woman's best origin is back once and for all, and the worst one can finally go in the dumps where it belongs.

Pretty sure the Zeus thing was already undone way back in the Greg Rucka Rebirth series, I distinctly remember there was a whole plotline of how a Lie had reframed the world (in this case, the New 52 WW retcons) and she had an entire story reclaiming fragments of her preboot status quo (clay origin, minotaur friend etc.).

...Admittedly in the ILL-ADVISED James Robinson run that followed Rucka's (which Rucka said Robinson never talked to him about prior to the change over) just ignored Rucka's work and doubled down on Diana being Zeus' kid by her having a secret biological twin brother who was promptly shoved in a space hole a short while later so everyone could pretend he never existed.

THEN Tom King retconned that back to the classic/Rucka version, with his doubling down once more in this new storyline.

Personally I'd like to know who was it in DC Editorial* who seemed so deadset on not just bringing back the origin the character had had for like half a century prior to that in favour of her just being another in a long-line of Zeus' heroic kids. Hell, that's even the Cassie Sandsmark version of Wonder Girl's origin story so it's not even unique within the context of the Wonder Woman comics either!

*I've a suspicion it was Geoff Johns, even though Brian Azzarello is credited with the idea in his WW run, it seemed to stick around in some form until Johns left the company, and that guy loved his retcons.

[espanolbot2]

I do remember that the next writer coming along and metaphorically tossing your work in the garbage may have been one of the things that led to Ed Brubaker and DC not working together for a good while.

What with how Darwyn Cooke and Brubaker's Catwoman run having a full story arc of Selina developing a sense of social responsibility after having a profound identity crisis, with her deciding to use her crime skills to protect and help the Gotham slum she grew up in...

Only for all of that to be tossed out by the decision to say that her character development wasn't due to her growing as a person, but was instead because Hawkman didn't think that she could be trusted to be Batman's love interest as a criminal, so he had Zatanna rewrite her brain to make her more heroic and altruistic (ie had her magically lobotomised to make her a better girlfriend for Batman). This was itself (thankfully) retconned, but was a baffling decision in the first place and if that was what made Brubaker leave DC I wouldn't really blame him personally.

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

It certainly sounds like the braindead dogshit work of Geoff Johns given that its nauseating moronic crap that tries to force tedious heteronormative drivel on the franchise

And Geoff Johns is and always has been a talentless oxygen thieving bigoted little cunt

[confusedguytoo]

Johns seems to think some sort of tragedy is needed to make a character iconic, to make them stick.

Not in like the Hunter Zolomon Zoom schtick of making better heroes, but like Superman has Krypton blowing up, Batman has his parents dying that's why they're iconic and the lack of that was why Hal Jordan was just part of a corp, and Barry Allen was easily replacable in the Flash family, and Diana could be subbed out for Artemis or Donna etc,

[iconuk01]

Also criminality/evil are genetic and cannot be overcome except, possibly with "good genes"

See Capt Boomerang Jr's desire to become a hero to make up for his shitty dad, ending up with him feeding corpses to his Black Lantern'd father because.. evil gotta evil I guess.

Kon-El being predisposed to evil because Lex is his genetic donor, but his other genetic donor was Superman so he's on the edge...

That also explains Selina's going back to crime I guess.

[grazztthedark]

I'm surprised Brad Meltzer and Dan Didio's names haven't come up yet, since the former was the one who actually wrote Identity Crisis (which included the Zatanna stuff) and the latter was the Editor-In-Chief of DC at that time.

And, like, Johns definitely had Didio's ear at this point, the idea could have totally originated with him. But Meltzer, as a popular prose author, was being treated like a big get. It's entirely possible that Meltzer suggested this (not considering any of the larger ramifications beyond what they meant to the story he was writing) and Didio bent over backwards to find him every heel-face turn in DC to accommodate the story idea.

I don't suppose anyone reading this is privy to any backstage gossip as to what was actually going on around Identity Crisis?

[darklynoon-deactivated20170407]

Reblog if you’re 30 or older

This is an experiment to see if there really are as few of us as people think.You can also use this to freak out your followers who think you’re 25 or something. Yay!

[tiefighters]

Disco Star Wars

Art by Alyssa Molina || IG

[grazztthedark]

This was a Billboard Hot 100 Number One for two weeks:

[hotvampireadjacent]

[iconuk01]

Loathe though I am to defend Bezos, it would seem that this originated on a satire site

Did Jeff Bezos say human water consumption is limiting AI's potential?

The Amazon founder supposedly made the comment during a panel interview at VivaTech, a tech conference in Paris.

[grazztthedark]

Also, while we're being pedants, Marie Antoinette wasn't executed for being an out of touch wealthy person, she was executed for treason. Not figurative "All nobles have betrayed the revolution" treason, either. She and her husband had been colluding with the Austrian army, which was at war with France. The Revolution would get worse as the Terror went on, but Marie's execution seems pretty justified.

[iconuk01]

It's not pedantry though, it's differentiating between "things that happened" and "things that did not"

Nail the bastard to the wall for the things that happened which he is responsible for, all of them, every single one, and I will join the throng doing so with a song (probably from "Les Mis") in my heart.

Creating false narratives muddies the waters and creates doubts where there should be none, as in: "Well, if "this" turned out not to be true, why should I believe that "that" isn't as well"

[grazztthedark]

My apologies. I've gotten to the point on this site that posting any correction or explanation makes me feel like a pedant, whether or not I strictly am one. I shouldn't think that, and I shouldn't have lumped you in with me even if I do.

[hotvampireadjacent]

[iconuk01]

Loathe though I am to defend Bezos, it would seem that this originated on a satire site

Did Jeff Bezos say human water consumption is limiting AI's potential?

The Amazon founder supposedly made the comment during a panel interview at VivaTech, a tech conference in Paris.

[grazztthedark]

Also, while we're being pedants, Marie Antoinette wasn't executed for being an out of touch wealthy person, she was executed for treason. Not figurative "All nobles have betrayed the revolution" treason, either. She and her husband had been colluding with the Austrian army, which was at war with France. The Revolution would get worse as the Terror went on, but Marie's execution seems pretty justified.

[catigereptile]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Donald J. Trump is literally Dong Zhuo, except Dong Zhuo was actually accomplished

[nitpickrider]

He sold his soul.

As in, he literally fucked up so bad last time he sold his soul to an arch lord of the underworld.

Superman The Man of Steel 53

[iconuk01]

He sold his soul to Nero for a healthy body, but didn't even get his hair back as part of the deal?

That's just bad business Lex old boy,

[grazztthedark]

Reminds me of Lex getting turned into a gorilla in JLU, and still being completely bald. There are limits to both sorcery and super science, and returning Lex his hair seems to be beyond them.

[prokopetz]

Messing with the Babylon 5 fans by arguing that J Michael Straczynski's best work was Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future and it's all been downhill from there.

[bigscaryd]

This is The REAL Ghostbusters erasure.

[prokopetz]

That would probably be a less effective troll because in my experience a lot of Babylon 5 fans would actually agree that his episodes of The Real Ghostbusters are the better work.

[athelind]

I've long suspected that many people's nostalgic feelings for Ghostbusters in large part stem from conflating childhood memories of The Real Ghostbusters with the live-action movies.

Also, as someone who was in his 20s when Captain Power came out, your thesis has many valid points.

[prokopetz]

I don't regard the idea that The Real Ghostbusters had better writing and acting than the films it's based on as particularly controversial, but I'm admittedly deeply biased by six-year-old me's worryingly intense crush on specifically the cartoon version of Egon Spengler.