Someone

[annaliearts]

First post here! Still trying to work my way around this app, but here’s an animatic I did celebrating TMNT Mutant Mayhem!🤎

[forgetful-nerd]

The funny thing about 2012! Leo’s window treatment is that he probably can’t describe it without feeling like he’s trying to one-up the other turtles’ trauma.

I mean he:

Gets his home invaded by the Kraang

Has to abandon his Master Splinter to lead his brothers away from danger

Gets separated from his brothers during an alien invasion

Gets jumped by the footbots, Shredder’s henchmen men, and the Shredder himself while separated from his brothers.

Fights tooth and nail to get away, ends up slipping and taking a plunge into cold water, and then gets shredded by the shredder

Is finally flung through the window and is knocked out cold

Is in a coma for THREE MONTHS because of this incident

Wakes up with NYC effectively taken over by aliens, Master Splinter is MIA (possibly dead in his mind), has an absolutely shattered knee (F- the ‘it’s all in my head’ crap), and he can’t even recognize his own voice.

AND on top of ALL THAT. He has to go through all the creepy/weird stuff (which was basically just horror movie plot after horror movie plot) that happened during the farm arc while recovering from his injuries.

But I mean this is kinda assuming he’d actually willingly talk about this stuff and (let’s be real here) he probably wouldn’t. As in true Leo fashion he’d just dismiss his own situation as “not that bad.”

[vintagerobin]

I really dislike a lot of the attempts to absolve Barry of all blame for Flashpoint in large part because to begin with here... it was never actually entirely his fault? Eobard had already traveled back in time and changed the timeline by killing his mother (and tampering with his childhood in a multitude of other ways, to quote him "I've hurt Barry in ways you can't even imagine.") Barry had no reason to know at that point that going back and changing that event again (again!) would have any effect beyond making the timeline more like it was before. It was always obviously Eobard's actions which precipitated all of this, and so all of the attempts to "absolve" Barry feel both redundant and like a very pointless attempt to rebut members of the audience who either weren't following the Flash very much and didn't know the full circumstances or else were playing into somewhat victim blamey rhetoric because I guess they wanted a face to pin all of the horrors of N52 on.

Besides being pointless, "absolving" Barry of what amounts to an unforeseeable accident also undermines a lot of the themes that had been built up for years in Wally's run - that sometimes Barry's actions had negative consequences that he never intended simply because he happened to be terrifyingly powerful in a way that he himself didn't fully understand (and to some extent could not have understood before his death because it was his death itself that retroactively gave him his powers).

[sapphiretanto]

(CW: Ranting/Venting; the fic I am talking about will not be named, nor will I give the author’s name away. Please send me a message if you want to know)

Did we even watch the same show? He’s not a caring, big brother? He’s a stick in the mud?

The only thing I’ll give you is that he’s full of himself… because he’s an idiot teenager with badass fighting skills and weapons. Of course he’s gonna be a cocky little shit. Most people with Leo’s skill would be.

I’m going to assume that you mean part of the time he’s full of himself. But if you mean all the time, then I’ll correct you there. More often than not, he is actually very insecure— a very common trait among the Leonardo’s.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be leading the team?”

“It’s all my fault. I let the guys down!”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again”

“I’d just hold you back. You guys train, I’ll watch. It’s all I’m good for anyway…”

“I’m a liability to the whole team”

“I won’t be much help out there anyway”

Leo is a perfectionist and this shows in the way he leads— coming across as bossy or arrogant— and how he treats himself. The guy just got out of a three-month coma after he had the shit kicked out of him and what does he say when he’s by himself after everyone else went to look for Raph in the woods?

He holds himself to impossibly high standards— both placed by himself and some of the misguided lessons he was taught.

Alright, now for the stick in the mud part. Leo is a fucking dork (I mean this in the most affectionate sense). He loves Space Heroes to the point where he quotes it during missions. He likes puns, is fascinated by Japan culture, martial arts, meditation, etc. He trains very hard to excel at ninjutsu/martial arts— both so he can help his brothers in combat and because it’s a passion of his. That doesn’t make him boring in the slightest. He has some of the most ridiculous dialogue throughout the series:

“Alright guys. Let’s put Old Mother Hubbard back in her cupboard!”

“Hello!? Space Heroes!? Captain Ryan! Didn’t you see the episode where they fought the Cortexecons?!”

“Awesome! Oh, this is so rad! I feel like Van Helsing, but way cooler than him, actually. Way more rad than Van Helsing”

“Alright guys, prepare to dish out the mighty wrath of justice!”

“We don’t know he’s gonna do anything bad. He could be on his way… to… church!”

“I… don’t really have a pinky?”

He can’t lie for shit which leads to him saying silly things:

“Be cool. Be cool.” *answers phone* “uh.. hey man! What’s… what’s going down? *Raph says the better have not watched the Crognard finale without him and Leo laughs nervously* W-who, us?! Of course not! But I bet if we did watch it, we would have found it anti-climate… climactic!”

*gets asked by Chloe if there’s other turtles like him* “Nope! Uh-uh! Just me! Mr. Imaginary Talking Turtle!”

“He’s just kidding, Mrs. O’Neil. Kirby’s…uh.. on a.. safari! In Puerto Rico! And he won’t be back for a while.”

And he’s not the goody-two shoes and suck up people think of him as. He has gone behind Splinter’s back on several occasions, snuck out both willingly and unwillingly. The guy dressed and black and caused petty crime with his sister and her girlfriend Shinigami because he was pissed off at Shredder.

As for not being a caring brother. You mean this guy?! This Leo?! ⬇️

Couldn’t be this Leo, right? There’s no way he’s a mother hen— being both doting and getting after his brothers.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full!”

“Mikey, you never cease to amaze me”

“Leo never left your side” — April when Raph was reduced to a mere plant by The Creep

“I’m sorry about Spike, Raphael.”

“Donnie, don’t lose sight of who you are!”

“Nice job, D”

“Donnie, the go karts worked great. Nice job!”

“Mikey, come on! It’s not that bad! And Raph promises not to make fun of you anymore.”

Not the Leo that uses all his strength and stays behind in the Technodrome holding Kraang Prime so his brothers and April can escape. Not that Leo who while just barely awake after a coma goes after a mutated monster in the woods to get his family back. Not that Leo who forced himself to stay calm so the others can be calm while they go through the most insane shit, or cannot grieve in the moment because he has to ensure the rest of their safety, so his focus during missions and battle is scattered in different places. Because he couldn’t possibly help bandage their wounds, worry when they’re hurt and not give up on a family member. Not Leo preventing Donnie from straight up unaliving Don Vizioso because Leo doesn’t want his younger brother to do what he did and change him like it changed him. He doesn’t sacrifice himself over and over because he loves his brothers, right? Right??

[disastertwins9000]

immediately reblogs

[tmntquotesshowdown]

This! All of this.

[vintagerobin]

"Barry should've stayed dead" is very frustrating to me on multiple levels because like... first there's usually an underlying belief that his return in itself caused the New 52 reboot, which was just not at all the case even before Rebirth established that the Flashpoint didn't directly cause it. Like to be very clear here the possibility of him returning was being teased almost from the very moment he "died", and we had a pretty good idea of what really happened to him and that it was possible to bring him back from it well before he actually returned. This is superhero comics, that was always inevitable, it was always a mystery plotline that was going to be solved, the surprising thing is how long it got played out for.

Secondly, regarding the Flashpoint itself... idk, I just like when characters are nuanced and flawed. I like when they crash out catastrophically over the catastrophic things happening to them, and I don't think it's out of character for Barry to do that - it's not like it was the first time he reacted to his life unraveling horribly around him by running away to a different time. Imo there's nothing inherently wrong with the base concept of the story, and the idea of there being serious consequences for this that impact the rest of the universe (given the years of lore establishing just how powerful and influential speedsters are which really ramped up during Wally's run) is really fascinating. That AFTER all of this, the New 52 was such an incredible clusterfuck... doesn't actually have very much if anything to do with Barry as a character. That's on DC editorial, primarily DiDio.

[funky-meymey]

Forgetting what that warmth felt like

[guy-wtf]

It just occurred to me that after his death in the Silver Age, Barry Allen didn’t come back — he died for good. The Speed Force simply absorbed him along with all his memories, copied them, and convinced itself that it is Barry Allen.

[vintagerobin]

You shouldn't trust any DC artist who doesn't draw Barry Allen as just the prettiest guy. Not just handsome!! Pretty!! They're betraying Infantino's vision.

[vintagerobin]

(Absolute Flash #9)

Barry simultaneously creates and damns Wally in every universe and they're tied together forever and ever yippeee yayy

[somewherefornow]

YOUNG! BARRY ALLEN & YOUNG! WALLY WEST + DRESSING like THEIR HEROES in THE LIFE STORY OF THE FLASH (2011)

[tacagen]

so, i've finally read hg wells' the time machine! pt 3

previous part

6 weena... weena. god. the time traveller saves her from drowning while her own people completely ignored that, then she develops a fascination with him, gifts him with a special garland, overall constantly puts flowers in his pockets as she decides thats what the pockets are made for, and follows him literally everywhere (with a small exception of morlocks' factories) which ultimately gets her killed. first, THIS. IS EXACTLY WHAT SHAPED THAWNE'S IDEA OF A DEFINITELY SUCCESSFUL INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP START. THIS IS EXACTLY WHY HE MAKES THE DECISION TO CAUSE DANGER TO PEOPLE'S LIVES SO THEY SEE HIM AS THEIR HERO WHEN HE SAVES THEM AND HE GETS THIS EXACT ADMIRATION. second.. barry in thawne's mind IS that exact savior from the past who carries long forgotten morals and hope. nobody cared about him and his struggles in his own time, just like none of eloi gave a fuck about weena drowning, so naturally the devotion and following everywhere. because weena feels safe with the time traveller and knows that he would protect her while no one else would. because barry is the only comfort source for thawne, bringing him the same feeling of security and hope through every struggle and mistreatment in his life, even though he hasnt actually met him. yeah i cannot even begin to imagine how many times he daydreamed something like that with barry. and the fact that one day He appears in 25th century for real?? and it goes THAT wrong in the end?? and then in rs when he goes to 21st century and just follows barry around and suddenly witnesses everysecondisagift scene, which gets him as a fan 'killed' too?? sidenote: the entire relationship, as much as it can even be said about eloi and their perception and intellegence (it is explicitly stated countless times by the time traveller that they are literally children in that way (and even more often when talking about weena), even when he gets to know them better beyond the sun pointing, whatever the FUCK movie authors thought and saw in the book, i presume fucking nothing, making weena his full on love interest is beyond any of my understanding), so reads as queerplatonic. the time traveller overall also reads to me as aroace rep, having only one single love of his life - the time itself. ALSO. I BELIEVE IT IS ENTIRELY FUCKING POSSIBLE HE DIDNT GET WEENA'S GENDER RIGHT TO BEGIN WITH BECAUSE THERE IS NO CLEAR GENDER DISTINCTION IN ELOI'S APPEARANCE OR VOICE AND JUST ASSUMED ITS FEMALE BECAUSE OF THE HAND KISSING THING AS QUEER RELATIONSHIPS ARE SO VERY STIGMATIZED AND BARELY ACKNOWLEDGED IN HIS TIME THE IDEA NEVER CROSSES HIS MIND. time traveller's unreliable and inevitably biased narration my beloved!!

and THIS, THIS SEGMENT, IN PARTICULAR, IS EXACTLY WHERE THAWNE GOT HIS IDEA OF WHAT TRUE ATTACHMENT AND LOVE AND DEVOTION LOOKS LIKE. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. THE ENTIRE DESCRIPTION IS LITERALLY WHAT HE DREAMS OF HAVING WITH BARRY AND SO DESPERATELY TRIES TO ACHIEVE IN REALITY. THE EXACT HOPE THAT BARRY WOULD SEE IN THE END, REALIZE EVERYTHING ABOUT HIS OWN ACTIONS HARMING THAWNE AND HOW MUCH THEY BOTH MEAN TO EACH OTHER AND ALL THE REASONS WHY, JUST LIKE THE TIME TRAVELLER ADMITS TO DOING HERE. AND ALL BECAUSE HE THINKS THIS IS WHAT SHAPED BARRY TOO!!!! BRB, KILLING MYSELF.

7. THERE IS A FUCKING 8028 CENTURY MUSEUM HE FINDS ANOTHER BOX OF MATCHES IN, YALL. I WAS NOT KIDDING WHEN I SAID LITERAL PROPHECY OF EOBARD THAWNE. and if you want to, you can even stretch this one out to the jurassic league death lmao

8 this scene is SO very dear to me. first of all, according to this, THAWNE'S COSPLAY IN RS IS MORE BOOK-ACCURATE THAN THE FUCKING 2002 MOVIE HIS OUTFIT IS MOSTLY BASED OFF, AND IN FACT MORE ACCURATE THAN BOTH OF THE MOVIES (with the small exception of thawne's futuristically merged boots and pants). BECAUSE IN THE SOURCE MATERIAL THE TIME TRAVELLER IS WEARING A FUCKING TAILCOAT.

AND THE WAY THAWNE PROBABLY CONSIDERED WHICH ADAPTATION AND DESIGN WOULD BE KNOWN TO BARRY THE MOST?? THE WAY HE MUST HAVE EXPECTED BARRY TO SEE AND APPRECIATE THE BOOK ACCURACY BUT AT THAT ALSO MADE IT HARDER TO RECOGNIZE RIGHT AWAY WITH REPLACING HARTDEGEN'S JACKET/COAT AND MENTIONING ONLY THE TEACHER THEME BUT NOT THE TIME MACHINE IN ADDITION TO ALL OTHER PROBLEMS BARRY HAS ON HIS MIND WITH THE EVENTS OF RS?? i have officially finished my life. second oh my fucking god. the way this guy is written SO alive and silly and emotionally rich. hes definitely my blorbo even outside of all the parallels too. third. THE LAST FUCKING SENTENCE?? INSANE. MY ALL TIME FAVORITE LINE OF ANY MEDIA. ALSO AGAIN, HOW HAS THAWNE NEVER QUOTED THAT

9 playing with fire arent we. certified loser at that too

yeah GUESS WHO ELSE DID?? AND GUESS THE CONTEXT, GIVEN WHERE HE GETS THE IDEA OF THE BRILLIANT LIFE THREAT->RESQUE->PRAISE AND GRATITUDE SCHEME FROM?? AND GIVEN WHERE IT ACTUALLY LEADS HIM INSTEAD TOO, SINCE THE TIME TRAVELLER LOST WEENA IN THAT FOREST FIRE??

out of that, i am positively convinced that thawne had an nd fascination with matches because of this book. while living in a time they are likely pretty hard to find because they would be completely useless in everyday life with all the tech advancement for the past 4 centuries. probably asking for some on some of his birthdays too. and i can vividly see the accident above being set up using a match with a glowing face expression ('im just like barry AND like the time traveller. so what if that fire was accidental. mine also 'is'. ')

10 yeah. most amazing time, yall. definitely coming back for more!

(sigh. THAWNECORE with how he loves barry and being a speedster even through all the suffering of rejections fights and deaths. also obviously chronic loneliness theme and loss of idealized image of barry bc of everysecondisagift also CONTINUED POINT OF HOPE THAT BARRY SOMEDAY WILL REALIZE EVERYTHING AND HOW MUCH HE NEEDED THAWNE IN RETURN THE ENTIRE TIME AFTER LOSING HIM AND THROUGH ALL THE PAIN AND TORMENT HE CAUSED HIM AS REVERSE-FLASH. dear fucking god, we really can squint and see the completely fucked up cosmic timeless codependency thawne thinks he has with barry in this)

11 post-reset feverdream continuation foreshadowing too.... what DOESNT this fucking book have, at this point.

12 and then he proceeds to disappear forever (die.). pov usual tuesday at the flash museum in 25th century and ALSO barry dying in that one crisis.

i really have to wonder if thawne projected his own desire to save barry from the crisis onto. barry and the time traveller due to thinking he had the same obsession with him and hence the same tragedy of his death perception. while the time traveller is still at the same time thawne's literally_me.jpg thought obvious to barry by him at the very least after rs.

13 oh thawne DEFINITELY ate concrete repeatedly over that closing line in different phases of his fan life. i just know it.

also, thawne leaving flowers of his time to barry along with ruining his life as he stalks him and does his itwasmebarry things in the period when barry knows and is aware of that.. barry (initially) not seeing Why Exactly those flowers on his desk, in his pockets, at his doorstep, thinking its usual incomprehensible weirdness of thawne's crush..... grhgghrggrhrghhhh

overall. given all of the above. i confirm that 1 thawne and the time traveller have WAY more in common than the time traveller and barry and are in fact almost the same person. 2 thawne definitely thinks barry was as obsessed with the time traveller as he is obsessed with barry himself. HENCE. thinking he is exact barry's type in men. AFTER CONSCIOUSLY AND NOT SO MODELING HIMSELF AFTER THE TIME TRAVELLER OUT OF THAT. and at one point deciding that a part of their problem is that barry somehow cant see it, hence rs cosplay to make things even more obvious. 'i know every bit of your history and every corner of your mind, i AM everything you could possibly want. LOOK. EVERY SINGLE THING checks out. why cant YOU see that?' 3 if we take thawne=the time traveller thesis even further. IN A WAY, HES ALWAYS BEEN WITH BARRY, ON HIS MIND, IN HIS LIFE AS A MAIN CHARACTER OF ONE HIS FAVORITE BOOKS EVEN BEFORE ALL THE TIMELINE CHANGES AND STALKING. JUST LIKE BARRY HAS WITH THAWNE, ONLY NOT DIRECTLY. additionally, 4, FUCKING CW, where thawne takes identity of a dude with the last name wells who CANONICALLY AND DIRECTLY WAS BARRY'S ROLE MODEL AND INSPIRATION?? who they build a SPHERICAL TIME MACHINE, THE EXACT FORM ITS DESCRIBED IN THE NOVEL, at the end of s1?? yea kiIling myself. and we havent even touched the subject of the time machine movie adaptations yet. dear fucking god help me. long story short they are fucking horrible (both directing teams SO clearly read only the first 3-4 chapters, if any, and decided that was fucking enough to make the time machine movie. makes me wonder if there are any decent adaptations past 21st century till 25th, considering such luck. @ eo if you are reading this we SO need to talk. is the situation any better!! i need to know!!) but at the same time add so many more thawne parallels. including 60's time traveller's name george, implying he is hg wells himself referred to by his second name, since we're talking cw. and so much more to come and be highlighted in a proper movie review post(s). idk when, ive been writing this instead of the fucking paper i promised to send jan 8-12 for the past three days.

[tehcherrya]

LOTR Fool's Gold AU

Okay hear me out on this one, because my natural inclination towards alternate timelines is running full speed with this one and I just needed to share it somewhere.

Ignoring all prospects of Frodo "being the only one to who could have beared the Ring"-- What if Pippin was the Ringbearer? (Hence where the AU gets it's name)

It's akin to a swap AU where instead of Frodo & Sam taking the Ring, it's Pippin, whom, not wanting to go alone, took Merry. Assuming that Sam & Frodo still came-- Frodo wanting adventure, and wanting to accommodate his cousins, and Sam tagging along if not to see the elves and out of the same sort of loyalty for Frodo.

How Pippin would actually receive the Ring is a bit of a work around-- as Bilbo still would have adopted Frodo. So either Bilbo was more generous and sociable in this AU, gifting a number of things to other relatives other than Frodo, OR more fittingly, if Bilbo had lost the Ring by some riverbank, unable to find it again, and long after Bilbo's retirement to Rivendell, Pippin unknowingly finds it, takes a liking to it, though with no strong desire to use it's power, but is only told later by Gandalf that it needs to be destroyed. And much to Gandalf's chagrin-- it has to be Pippin.

Anyway, there's so much narrative potential! Especially when you think about the parallels between this and Sméagol's timeline-- where Sméagol killed his cousin for the Ring at the riverbank, and now a similar duo is working to destroy it together.

It's also narratively relevant for a Took to go on a journey such as this, seeing as Bilbo was also half-Took! I originally debated the possibility of Merry as a Ringbearer, and while that is another interesting thing to think about, I grew attached to this version because of this reason. (That and I feel as if Merry would be a better bodyguard than Pippin would be tbh, he'd try to keep Pippin out of trouble)

It would be heartbreaking to see Pippin's spirit slowly crushed by the end of the story, but that's sort of the point. The Ring could break the spirits of even ones most spirited. I imagine there would be a small arch in the beginning (probably the time of the Fellowship) where Merry has to remind Pippin constantly of the seriousness of his own mission, and that this is no time to be reckless. Scolding him sometimes in an almost big brotherly way. But by the time they are at Mount Doom, Merry's heart breaks. As he would have done anything if not to see Pippin smile again.

Merry and Pippin going on the journey together is a different path, for sure, but is powerful in a different way, considering how close they've been since they were boys.

If you also wanted to go a little deeper into it and discuss the possibilities of Frodo and Sam being the ones to meet Treebeard, and become Knights of Gondor and Esquires of Rohan respectively, be my guest. I personally have the awesome image in my mind of Sam riding in with Eowyn to kill the Witch King to be honest!

But yes, anyways, I will more than likely do more with this, but I just wanted to put this out here because I have been thinking about this A LOT

[wallylinda]

genuinely i think that the only reason i don't like flashpoint was because the inciting incident was with barry's mom dying. i can forgive all other annoyances but a minor character becoming the abrupt focus of barry's noted inability to process or deal with his grief in a way that doesn't further ruin his life instead of literally anyone else he actually has a strong connection to? by and large the biggest spit in the face imaginable. idgaf about nora it should've been iris. it should’ve been WALLY.

[wallylinda]

imagine if flashpoint happened because wally died and after all of that suffering he doesn't even make an appearance in the new52. first of all, i would've been put on suicide watch. secondly, i cannot think of a better or more fucked up opening to flash 2011 than with the glaring absense of the one person barry moved literal worlds for. hoooolyyyy shiittttttttt. somone get on this.

[zeroducks-2]

I understand that it might seem out of left field that they pulled Nora Allen in the equation to make Barry "do something crazy", but to me it makes perfect sense in the way they presented it.

When Barry died in the Silver Age, Nora was alive and well. When Barry was in the speed force, Eobard went back in time and altered everything about his life, including killing Nora, and then dragged Barry out of the speed force (against Barry's own will), and placed him in a timeline where he suddenly (amongst other things) had to grieve his mother's death. She was alive and well before, and suddenly Barry is back and so much about his old life got ripped away, his mother was murdered and his father died in prison because of this.

He's back from having been gone for over 20 years and the world is entirely different, the people he loves have grown and changed, but most importantly, the Reverse Flash has a personal vendetta against him so strong he destroyed his childhood, his adolescence, his confidence and ruined his whole life in every way he could, and to achieve this he killed his mother.

The reason why Barry can't cope with this and goes back in time isn't because Nora was more important than Iris or Wally or whoever else, it's because of the circumstances of how she was killed. Barry needs to go back in time and save her because he's trying to fix his own life, and undo what Eobard did to fuck it over. If Nora wasn't killed, Henry wouldn't have been arrested and ultimately died in prison. Barry wouldn't have been in foster care and then got adopted by Daryl. He wouldn't have had to grow up so isolated and lonely, and in Road To Flashpoint he's shown having a hard time coping with all of this because it's A LOT. He wants his old life back, the one he had when he died, not just his mother. He's not just grieving Nora, he's grieving what his life used to be before he died.

Also they couldn't do this with Iris because it had happened already. Iris dies in the Silver Age and was brought back by her parents from the future, and they couldn't do it with Wally either because Nora's death needs to be a fixed point in time, something unchangeable which if tampered with creates a Flashpoint, and they can't do that with a recurring hero such as Wally. Also it needed to have happened in Barry's childhood for Eobard's plan to make sense, so neither Iris or Wally would have worked.

And besides, there is no indication that Barry has any idea that going back in time to save Nora will cause a Flashpoint. Speedsters traveling through time is something that happens all the time, and if Reverse Flash did it without causing any particular issue, Barry assumes it's going to be the same for him.

But had it been Wally, knowing Barry he would have stayed in the Flashpoint timeline and made it work, if that was the only way to have Wally back. Nora works for the Flashpoint story also because she is someone Barry can let go. He can also let go of Iris - he demonstrated he's able to in the Silver Age. But Wally? He was not going to accept it. And for the story to work it had to be someone Barry could ultimately grieve.

[dctrfate]

hey do y'all want some barry + wally comic recs to be unwell about.

[dctrfate]

okay this is not an exhaustive list of every time wally+barry interact but here are MY personal favorite moments of them. hope it gets some of you interested in reading their comics!!!

the flash 1959

#120 - barry reveals himself as the flash to wally

“when i think that i am now the only person in the world who knows the flash’s real identity – but i must be worthy of the trust – it’s a great responsibility!”

#135 - barry remakes wally's costume for him

“and so, this morning, before coming here, i began mentally designing a new uniform for you and when the lightning blast poured out of me toward you – it materialized the exact uniform i pictured in my mind! in other words, somehow my inner will was carried out in that split second!”

#344 - wally is subpoened to testify against barry allen in his trial

“i still can’t believe it. i’m sitting here watching kid flash being sworn in as a witness for the prosecution. after all we’ve been through together over the years…how…how could wally testify against me–his uncle…his mentor…his most trusted confidant?”

#345 - follow-up to wally getting subpoened

“flash giving me the thumbs-up sing. that means he knows i didn’t want to come here…knows i was only testifying because of the subpoena. but none of that changes how rotten i feel about what i said here today. that i’ll have to live with for a long time to come.”

the flash 1987

#9 - wally goes to therapy

“i mean, i got two dads i have to feel bad about…barry and rudy.” “come off it, wally. you don’t have to feel bad about either one, do you?” “i don’t know, doc. the truth is, i feel a lot worse about barry than about rudy. rudy tried to be a good dad—he really did. he really did. we had fun.”

#34 - wally hallucinates barry insulting him

“barry…why are…you doing this…to me? i respected you…i tried to be like you…i…really…tried…i did everything you said…” “you did nothing! you compromised with evil! you made friends with criminal scum…with my sworn enemies! defeat them if you want my love!”

#35 - contiunation of prev issues' hallucinations

“if i can’t live like barry, at least i can die like him…”

#62-65 - born to run arc; revamped origin for wally

"together, we were flash and kid flash—the fastest team alive. and to this day, i think of that summer—that partnership—as the happiest time of my life."

#74-79 - return of barry allen arc; "barry" comes back from the dead

“jealous? no! are you kidding? i owe everything to uncle barry! my powers…my identity…everything! the man is like a god to me, trust me—no one is happier to see him back!”

#215 - identity crisis tie-in where barry wrote a letter to wally

“you’re my nephew, wally, but i loved you like a son.”

annual #3 - discussion about barry 'making' wally + more of wally hallucinating barry insulting him

“what? that was an accident!” “an ‘accident’ exactly like his. which he created subconsciously to grant the wish of a lonely little boy who wanted to be just like him. and he continued to subconsciously transfer energy to you. he was the power source that enabled you to…” “stop it! i hate this! you’re saying he was a monster!”

annual #8 - kid flash!wally and barry have one of their adventures together

'he looks so angry…does he know i chickened out?' “that was very brave of you, kid flash! i’ll handle it from here.” 'right. brave.'

the flash: rebirth

#3 - barry goes into the speedforce and wally runs after him

“it’s still hard to look wally in the eyes. the last time i really spent time with him, he was a good four inches shorter. his shoulders weren’t as broad. and he wasn’t wearing the uniform. it fits him though. i knew it would.”

dc universe: rebirth / flash: rebirth

#1 - barry remembering wally brings him back into the continuity; these are essentially the same comic but flash: rebirth is obv more focused on the flashes.

“…i’m so sorry, wally. my god…how could i ever forget you?”

titans 2016

annual #1 - mentor team-up with the titans

“stop a second. so far today you’ve been called my protege and my boy. i’m sorry. the justice league aren’t really used to you titans being grown-up.” “nah, forget it.” “no, it’s important. i don’t see it that way. i’m a flash. you’re a flash. you’ve got nothing to prove in my eyes. you’re not my protege.” “but i am your legacy.”

the flash 2016

#9 - barry gets possessed and starts insulting wally

“and you…you think you have what it takes to fill my boots? i have no legacy! i’m the flash! do you understand me, punk?! i’m the flash!” “the flash i know would never talk to anyone this way…unless something was wrong with him.”

#46 - prelude to flash war

“so you tell me…what do you want to do?” “…i just want to run.” “that i can help with.”

#48-51 - flash war arc; wally attempts to bring his kids back into existence via another flashpoint

“barry…i’ve been angry with you for so long. i know i said it wasn’t your fault, but…i did blame you. the reason i was so mad is that you mean everything to me.”

#64-65 - heroes in crisis aftermath

“what happened to the barry allen who was always hopeful and optimistic?” “he did along with wally west. you act like you have all the answers, but you’re just as clueless and playing it by ear as the rest of us. the greatest trick the batman ever pulled was making people think he always has a plan.”

#768 - wally tries to retire, gets thrown across time instead

“this shouldn’t have happened. none of it. he would be here…if we just forgave him. after what happened with—it didn’t seem to matter that he saved the universe. everyone looked at him like some sort of pariah. of course he wanted to stop being a hero. in your eyes he stopped being one the minute roy died. and now…he’s gone…tell me you wouldn’t do anything to get roy back, ollie? even if it meant putting your life on the line.”

#793 - one minute war arc; wally talks barry out of his grief

“you don’t know! you have your family. you have your kids. what do i have?” “me! us…in case you have forgotten, iris was my family, too. and believe it or not, i’ve been where you are right now. so low you can’t even lift your head. but, barry…look at me…it’s not over until it’s over. it never is.”

the flash secret files:

a run of luck - origin recap.

"wally west wanted to die. he was the fastest boy alive. and he couldn’t even put one foot in front of the other. he’d lost all direction."

speed force 1997:

burning secrets - barry asks wally if he (barry) is human.

“wally? are you…laughing at me…?” “oh no! no, sir! not at you! it’s just…your question…it’s funny! c’mon! look…i don’t know why we can run so fast! i’m not that smart! i’ll believe whatever you tell me! but i know you, uncle barry. you eat hot dogs. you like jazz. you have a crew cut. you put yourself at risk to save a busload of kids. no matter where your speed comes from, barry…you’re the most human guy i know.”

knight terrors: the flash

#1 + 2 - barry's fearscape involves wally dying and him being unable to rescue him despite multiple attempted flashpoints.

“my best friend. my ally, who’s saved my life more times than i can count. and i shatter him as recklessly as i shatter our friendship. but for wally? anything.”

[dctrfate]

one of the fundamental issues i see with post-resurrection barry allen is that both writers and fans need to elevate him to a more “powerful” position than wally to prove he’s better or equal to his flash. but like. that's not how barry functions as a character. barry is a creative problem solver who doesn't need speed because he uses his powers as a secondary tool in preference to his mind. meanwhile, wally is far more intuitive and his powers work as an extension of his own consciousness so he'll resort to speed first and a viable plan of action second. to remove this characteristic from barry and make him so reliant on speed inadvertantly proves that he can't stand on his own BECAUSE of this constant comparison. tldr; barry shouldn't be the fastest most specialist speedster to ever have been created because he has his own strengths apart from speed mcgee wally and so engages with the audience differently to begin with.

[dctrfate]

when it comes to hypothetical animal symbolism in flash comics barry is the rabbit and wally is the hare. love, pursual, trickery, resurrection, and swiftness is associated with both of these, but rabbits are born deaf and blind and hares are born to run. are you picking up what i'm putting down.

[dctrfate]

actually let's come back to this isn't super fun and quirky how a rabbit's foot is both a protection against evil and a good luck talisman. the foot being an iconography of movement, and in this case being metaphorically cut off when barry dies, only to be passed down onto wally who is self-defined as an "oddsbreaker" as well as in his newly appointed mantle as the flash. just something to think about!!!

[guy-wtf]

Young Tornado twins!