#taomun

[titansandothers]

BBRae Ship AMV Compilation

Here are some Beast Boy/Raven ship videos I’ve made. They aren’t all complete and some are obviously older than others, but I figured I’d share anyway. (Not in chronological order.) Enjoy!

(Turns out I can only upload five videos per post.)

[titansandothers]

Self Image

Indeed they do! Neil is quite aware that he is not considered the most attractive. He was mocked as a child for his appearance, among other things, and that’s stuck with him for life. (Even after his adoration in the sixties.) His teeth are crooked, his physique is incredibly thin and bony, his ears are big, and his nose strikes him as poorly shaped. He compensates with his sense of fashion.

[titansandothers]

About Terra

I hope this won’t disappoint, but I’m going back to my initial stance on Terra. I tried to make myself like them for the sake of my friends. I will tag any Terra posts that show her in a more negative light as “Terra negativity”. I know there are people who adore her, but I simply don’t. I have nothing against those who like Terra, of course, and I don’t plan to just plain bash her, I just wanted to give a heads up. My writing of her will be less excusing of what she did, but my interactions with other Terra rpers will be based on their interpretations of Terra and not my own. I will still interact with Terra(s), even positive interactions, but I will consider these more like AUs.

[titansandothers]

A New Mad Mod and a Request

I’ve come up with new headcanons and backstory for Mad Mod that contradict what I have so far. I will still use both Mad Mods in their own respective verses and I will tag them separately. The Mad Mod written so far will be MadMod1 and my new one will be MadModA. What is different about this Mad Mod? Well, I plan to keep that a mystery, to start. I will give you bits and pieces to work with, as well as answer asks, but won’t spell it out until later. I do have plenty of his history worked out, I just need to work on his future. What I ask of you is to remember that this is an ask blog, among other things. I would like you to send questions to this new Mad Mod for me to answer/draw for. I’d appreciate it if you specify which Mod you want answers for from now on; MadMod1 or MadModA. (Also, I have roleplays going with this new Mad Mod, if you’d like to see ideas emerge through them. The rps are not canon to this blog, but there are canon elements in them. My rp blog is over here.)

[titansandothers]

Beast Boy Thoughts

I came to a realization about Beast Boy from the 2003 animated Teen Titans series and how people view him and his relationships. Anyone who knows me, (If you don’t know me; hi! I’m Robyn!) knows that Beast Boy is my all time favorite character in anything ever. He is a comfort character, of sorts. I can fall back on writing or drawing him to make me feel content. It always baffled me how people could dislike Beast Boy as a character. I know people have different tastes, but the way some describe him felt to me as though they didn’t even know who he was. It only recently hit me as to why some people see him the way they do. Teen Titans, as a show, was great. That being said, it wasn’t flawless. I think its biggest flaw, while intentional, was little character development. They wanted the show to be one you could tune into at nearly any episode and not be lost. To have a character act too differently from one episode to the next risked losing the casual viewer. We see bits and pieces of development here and there, the occasional callback to another episode, but major growth is not seen. I think the biggest victim of this flaw is Beast Boy. While he did have his own arc in season five, we don’t really see him grow. He basically acts the same from episode to episode, despite what happened in previous episodes. He managed to lead his own team to free the other Titans and defeat the Brotherhood of Evil, but he was no different the next episode. He was never allowed to grow. This extends to his relationships with others. His relationship with each Titan remained the same throughout the entire series. His relationships with the main Titans were rarely delved into, save for Raven, whose interactions were immediately forgotten by the next episode. Beast Boy got the short end of the stick when it came to writing in general. More often than not, he was written solely as comic relief and even a punching bag, often the target of slapstick. He got the occasional moment to shine, but this was often downplayed with a joke of some sort. Things Change, despite what happened the episode prior, had the Titans all looking down on Beast Boy. They scolded him for leaving the battle, refused to believe he saw Terra, and insisted he was wrong, even after telling them her statue was gone. Keep in mind, almost all the team sympathized with Cyborg when his CAR was stolen and they didn’t scold him for abandoning the team to find it. There is so much we don’t get to see of Beast Boy, so much we have to dig for. And that’s why Beast Boy can be thought so little of; we have to dig for more of his character and growth. We have to read between the lines and speculate. It’s not given to us in strict canon terms. He can be a deep and troubled character who covers his insecurities and pain with jokes and false bravado. He can have a great potential for growth. He can have deep and meaningful interactions with his family and friends. But we almost never see that. Beast Boy can be a really good character. We just have to look a little harder.

[titansandothers]

Announcement

It’s looking like I’m going to be rewriting some stories. The old stories won’t be going anywhere, but they will likely be considered a separate continuity from the rewritten and new stories. I may alter the titles to indicate they are old writing. The reason I am rewriting my stories is due to my new writing style. Previously, I have been completely winging my writing. Now, I’m actually planning out what I want to happen in advance. I think I will be able to write better stories with a better sense of flow this way. I hope you’ll stick with me, even with rereading the same concepts.

[titansandothers]

(I really hope you guys are enjoying my stories here on @titansandothers. I doubt I’m writing the way I’m supposed to. I am basically winging it with a basic idea and letting the events progress on their own with the occasional snippet planned in advance. I’m not sure they qualify as stories, honestly. At least I have character development, I suppose. I can’t decide if my non-linear writing is a good or bad thing. Like, it’s not a single storyline. I’m writing various ideas with various characters that overlap with themselves. I hope this makes things feel more real, rather than just messy. I dunno. I just hope you like my writing, guys.)

[titansandothers]

Thoughts on Terra

My thoughts on Terra have varied over the years and, to be honest, I still feel myself going back and forth at times. I feel like this is fair, seeing as Terra’s arc was rather messy with how much of her content was cut in the final product. From what I understand, there were more episodes with her planned and some of her episodes were written by different people with different understandings of her character. I think how one feels about Terra generally depends on how deep one looks into things. If you look at things on a surface level, paying attention only to what was shown to us in the show and not looking past it, odds are you’ll have a less than favorable view of her. However, if you were to dig a little deeper, look into the intentions of the writers, think about what could have been happening behind the scenes, one might actually find her complex and sympathetic. I can understand either view. On one hand: It’s a cartoon. You shouldn’t have to research it to understand it. Having to seek answers outside of what is shown to us isn’t exactly the pinnacle of good story writing. Just sit down, watch the show, and what you saw is exactly what happened. On the other hand: It can be quite enjoyable to be passionate enough about something to want to understand it inside and out; to research the intentions, to build on what is known, to put a new spin on the existing material with one’s own thoughts and portrayals. It could also be a mix of both. Maybe the character of Terra just didn’t grab you as much as others, so you didn’t dig too deeply into her character as you would others. No one can be expected to like every character with equal levels of intensity. Given that I now write Terra’s character in different fan works, I’ve put a lot more thought into her than I have in the past. While I doubt what I have written is exactly what the canon writers had in mind, especially given the level of detail I delve into, I hope I’ve brought some complexity to the character that one can enjoy when reading my material and rewatching the series. Here are some of my ideas on Terra, specifically my interpretation of her on my blogs. --- Why did Terra first run away after the Teen Titans seemed perfectly fine with the issues she had controlling her powers? Terra wasn’t thinking logically in that moment. She is very emotionally driven and, in that moment, her emotions were running wild. Panic- If Slade was right about this, what else was he right about? He knew of her history and his first prediction had seemingly come true. He told her Beast Boy would tell her secret, that the team would come to hate her, that only he could help her. Hurt- Terra thought she had finally found someone who accepted her and could be trusted. In that moment, she believed that was never the case. Anger- Beast Boy had apparently lied to her, gave her false hope. He made her happy only to rip it away from her. If Terra had been in a calmer state of mind, she may have been able to come to the conclusion that Beast Boy was telling the truth; that she was found out some other way and maybe things weren’t as hopeless for her as Slade had led her to believe. Unfortunately, she was not in a calm state and instead ran away. Why didn’t Terra stop to think about it after she calmed down? She wasn’t given the opportunity to. I believe Slade approached her while she was still emotional, taking advantage of her fragile state. He offered her a chance for control and convinced her he was the only one who could help her now. She accepted his “help.” From then on, Slade made sure to keep a very close eye on her. Her interactions were limited to Slade and only Slade. A skilled manipulator, Slade knew how to keep Terra believing he was helping her while also planting toxic ideas in her mind. He was comforting when he needed to be, doing whatever it took to keep her complicit. Slade was sure to address any signs of doubt she showed, finding ways to quell her suspicions. She was barely given a thought to herself. Why did Terra wait so long to tell the truth? I believe that, behind the scenes, Slade was often in contact with Terra in some form. Terra didn’t spend every waking moment in the Tower or with the Titans. When she went somewhere else, odds are it was to see Slade. Slade was certain to address any doubts she may have had and continued to convince her that working for him was what she should be doing. Any progress Terra made towards the light, Slade was certain to force her back whenever she saw him. Slade had effectively brain washed Terra and she was incapable of fully recovering when he kept pulling her back to him. Eventually, Terra did reach the point where she wanted to reveal the truth, but she feared the repercussions she would receive from both sides. Even so, she ultimately convinced herself to tell the truth, but it was too late. How could Terra just expect Beast Boy to forgive her when his friends were likely being murdered? Terra did not believe the Titans were in danger. She had no idea that Beast Boy lost his communicator that night. She didn’t know Slade had already initiated his plan. Terra had expected Beast Boy’s communicator to go off once everything happened. She was hoping to tell the truth before everything went down, to explain herself, but Slade was certain to stop her before she could. Slade revealed Terra in the worst way possible and outright lied about her intentions and how she felt. If Terra wasn’t evil, how could she take such joy in hurting the Titans? She felt that it was the only way to survive the life she now had. On top of Slade’s manipulation, which increased greatly once she was out of the Tower, Terra forced herself to believe this life was what she wanted. She had no other choice at that point. It was villainy or death. She told the Titans she was bad all along, but she was really trying to convince herself. Wasn’t her sacrifice just her cleaning up her own mess and running away from the consequences? No. Terra did what she thought was the right thing to do; save the city, kill Slade, and make sure she would never be seen again. She wasn’t running away; she was trying to distance herself from those she hurt so she could never hurt again. Why did Terra deny her identity? At one point, Terra legitimately have amnesia. In the time it took her to recover some of her memory, she had forged a new life and made new friends. In a way, she wasn’t Terra; not anymore. She also didn’t want to return to the people she had hurt so much. She believed they could never be happy together again and decided it best to deny the idea completely. She didn’t want to hurt anyone anymore. (Feel free to reblog this/add your own thoughts. I plan to follow this post with one about my Terra in particular, such as the name she goes by and how she got her new identity. Thanks for reading!)