writergeek

nerd. gamer. writer. geek. AO3 | KOFI Mostly DC's Nightwing/Batfam with a smattering of StarWars and reblogs of random stuff. I also post about writing and my fanfics. And random things. Did I mention the random things?

[frownyalfred]

I want to thank @staff and @changes for actually listening to users. I am so happy to say that I will be staying on this platform moving forward. I genuinely believe this can be something to build on for future changes exchanged between Staff and users.

I am so so damn grateful this was reverted. Likewise, I am so fucking proud of everyone who made their voices clear and advocated for a better Tumblr.

This is an incredible day. Thank you all, and I’ll see you in my reblogs!

[tatooineknights]

Academy Award winner Marcia Lucas has died. While winning major awards for her work as an editor for Star Wars (alongside a team of editors, including Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew; some of her contributions outside of her work with George Lucas include Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver, and New York, New York), she mostly disappeared from the public eye following her divorce and essentially retired.

While Marcia dispelled the belief that she singlehandedly saved Star Wars in the edit (and very passionately defended George's craftmanship and ideas, which she felt were undercredited, as well as the work of their team in general), there was a lot of work she specifically did and I thought it would be good to highlight just how much she did and give her credit where it is due. There is a lot that came from her that most don't know about. Most of those examples are from Howard Kazanjian's biography, A Producer's Life, published in 2021.

On some of the uncredited dialogue and story revisions for Star Wars:

On some of her work in Star Wars:

On having the iconic trench run on the Death Star as her biggest work while working on Star Wars:

On her uncredited work in The Empire Strikes Back:

On how her input changed the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark:

On her joining the Return of the Jedi crew, an emphasis in finding the right cut for actors, cutting together footage of Luke in ROTJ after she and George disagreed with the characterization the director had given to Mark Hamill and unable to reshoot footage:

On editing the climactic ending in the Throne Room in ROTJ:

[samcormac]

what’s the rush?

[rainwasheseverythingaway]

The time will pass anyway

[softieskywalker]

i think the key difference between george lucas’s star wars and disney’s star wars is that lucas is a man with an ideology. someone with a point of view, and all that entails. which comes with ideas of revolution, anti-imperialism, challenging the status quo, cultural appropriation and racist stereotypes. complex and contradictory ideas because that’s how artists are: complex and complicated people. disney is not. disney is a corporation. a corporation can’t have ideology, because ideology defeats the purpose of profit. and when the only thing you do is to turn on the movie manufacturing machine before you sit down and plan what ideas are you trying to convey to the audience, then your results are going to be washed out corporate garbage. and because when you’re a giant corporation who only cares about selling to the widest audience possible, you can’t take sides. you can’t decide on an idea. because you want to sell your product to people who are on the entire political spectrum. which results in movies without ideology, without purpose, without soul.

[david-talks-sw]

I have been looking for this post for years after I came across it and it’s finally here and I need to reblog this because it is absolutely and entirely accurate.

[comebackali]

#as I always say: lucas was making a samurai film and a ww2 flying ace film and a western film and adding laser swords#because he fundamentally LIKED samurai films and dambusters films and westerns and 40’s adventure serials#but disney are making a ‘star wars film’ and adding nothing because it already had laser swords and they have nothing else to say#xerox of a xerox baybeeeee (via harrietvane)

[loveridden1999]

starting a collection

[writergeek]

or the tumblr version: not my circus and not my monkeys, but thanks to my mutuals, i am familiar with the lore

[molabuddy]

does anyone else think about how the sky can literally rock any colour it wants to

[molabuddy]

red, orange, yellow? sunset/sunrise

green? the rarest and not one ive seen personally but it can happen

blue? classics of sky

indigo? violet? twilight babyyy

pink? also shows up at sunrise/sets

black? night. get goth with it

white? grey? her clouds

[molabuddy]

do you love the Fucking colour of the sky. bitch

[rebelwhodoesntknow]

Green and pink sky from when the auroras went nuts a few months ago!!

[joy-and-whimsy-official]

Joy and whimsy detected! The sky is joyful and whimsical!

[hawt-me33]

Coming into a fandom late

[baxterdamus-deactivated20130513]

Coming into a fandom early and watching it become an angry clusterfuck

[valorious]

Being in a dormant fandom that suddenly comes alive again after a new book/movie

[leatherpatches-deactivated20150]

Don’t forget about those who come in the midst of a fandom war. 

[fauxmoux]

Accuracy at its best

[street-of-mercy]

Being in a fandom and not even knowing there’s a war going on…

[my-reylo]

all of this shit…lol

[nerdsagainstfandomracism]

When You’re Not In The Fandom But You’re Nosy AF

[not-so-secret-nerd]

When you get into a fandom only to discover it’s dead

[jupiter235]

This gets better every time I see it. 

[sageblackrose95]

@fuboos-mess

[inverted-mind-inc-sideblog-deac]

Being in a dead fandom…

[illogicalarchive]

Or being in such a tiny fandom that it feels like youre the only one

[erilias]

The accuracy hurts.

[fanfic-yes-please]

Being in a fandom that had a shit ending.

[it-is-bugs]

When you’ve been fangirling long enough, you’ve experienced all of the above.

[sweetferalbaby]

Being in a fandom meant for kids.

[teaganvamp]

This just gets better..

[hamboj2]

@mi-kleos

[thatcrazysonicchick]

When you realize that joining the fandom has ruined you

[knightofbloodcancer]

Fandom hell in general

[morathavictoria]

Yes.

[marvelanimelover]

This^^^ just… ALL OF THIS.

[stop-talking-babe-deactivated20]

Being in so many fandoms that you don’t even know what’s going on

[raise-cain-archived]

THIS IS THE SKULDUGGERY FUCKING PLEASANT FANDOM IN ONE POST!!

[crochanblackbeak]

Trying to recruit people to your fandom

[kateriverameliawolfe]

Annnnnnndddd it’s back

[ishipwhatiship247]

Being in a fandom which has so many antis

[ravenhilarious]

I’ve probably reblogged this before, but that was before these great additions.

[swanqueen-author]

Being in a fandom that actually works together

[commanderunhingedmongoose]

Why is this so true? All of it.

[pillowprincesslexa]

being in a fanbase but all your mutuals suddenly turn into Kpop blogs

[hangingfire]

I always enjoy it when a good post comes around again and has been improved by the reblogs like the years for a fine wine.

[priory-of-stars]

Being in a fandom when shit goes down and everyone has different opinions

[marianagmt]

When you are in a fandom and don’t care for others people opinion…..even if they are right…(believe me, I have met several of those)

[batbyte-alghul]

Being in a fandom you never meant to join

[tirnel-sutcliff-spears]

I love this. and it’s gotten better

[cartoonjessie]

After abandoning a fandom you’re still a little bit emotionally invested in….

[brit-is-bookish]

All of these are me. Lol

[thehikingastronomer]

Being in a fandom on Tumblr

[julietsemophase]

And it reached its epic conclusion

[isa-ghost]

I CHOKED ON FUNDIP

[van-arts]

HISTORY HAS BEEN ENGRAVED INTO THIS POST

[oze250]

Ever since I was a little girl I knew I didn't wanna waste my time shaving my body

[sparrowlucero]

genuinely find it fascinating how much fantasy writing discussion/advice online is centered around the struggle of making a dndish/tolkien rip off fantasy world stand out and feel different than the others, and regularly comes to the conclusion that to succeed at this you should focus even harder on realistically detailing the cultures of the elves/humans/orcs/dwarves/whatever random group of fantasy races are hanging around (the thing most of these projects already massively focus on) in the hopes that yours is simply the most vivid and evocative ever, as opposed to, like, just writing anything else

[raemanzu]

sorry @tearlessrain I have to share your tags they're just so good

#look the whole reason tolkien and other fantasy writers of his caliber are so well received is that they were doing something they loved#tolkien had multiple detailed conlangs because he was really into linguistics#he wrote about the themes he did because they were important to him#so find something you love and write that instead of trying to write like someone else#if you want to build a complicated fantasy world build it around your interests#if you're into astronomy than draw up star charts and write a whole history of your world that highlights the significance of them#if you're really into the history of textiles then use that to add flavor to the cultures and characters#you gotta fall in love with the thing you're making at least a little bit that's the key

[pcos-and-endo-awareness]

If you haven’t heard, today PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome has been renamed to Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome. This change reflects that this is not a reproductive “problem” but a whole body disease.

[leahstuff]

For reference, from the WHO website:

(Text: PCOS affects an estimated 10-13% of reproductive-aged women. It is estimated that up to 70% of women with PCOS worldwide do not know they have this condition.)

[laziestgirlintown]

The Lancet link about shift to PMOS. Spread this to everyone who works in health care now. People with uteruses and ovaries are in agony - yes, the whole body suffers a crisis every fkn month - and health care should help

[wordfather]

not my circus not my monkeys but thanks to my mutuals i know some of the lore

[batfam-big-bang]

what the most insane thing/things that someone's made for the bang? Im talking one guy who went batshit one year and wrote like,,,, a 100k oneshot of introspective Jason Todd character analysis all by posting week level whats the craziest. also applies to artists too if there's any wild stories!

hello friend!

what a wonderful question! let's flex some iconic creations!

for artists, @bisexualoftheblade did 24 art submissions in 2020! what a way to start into our first ever bang!

similarly, a wild writer is @raaorqtpbpdy, who wrote seven (7) fics for the reverse bang (where artists created a piece and writers wrote fic based on it) in 2023!

and in terms of fic length, we have nine fics written for the bang with over 50,000 words each:

The Power of Family and This Stalker I Found by @jackhawksmoor

Make A Splash and Glass Shards by @writergeek

All That Life Can Offer by @raaorqtpbpdy

the echoes of scars and the unbeaten road by @fliipclaw

With a Heart of Scars by @preciousthingsareprecious

Everything goes away by @blingblandfanfic

Family You Made (Go Back, Do it Again) by @jube514

Little Robin by @gothamblackbird

those are some of the largest-scale projects!

so always and for 2026, we're so excited to see people go above and beyond again! ♡

[writergeek]

oof, yeah. i did that. over two years and two bangs, i think i wrote north of 160k of fics in a series that i'm *still* writing in.

there's a reason i call myself a "mad fiend" and dramatic when it comes to writing... and why my beta (who kindly put up with me both times) jokes with me about constantly adding chapters and being unable to stick to my estimated word count. (i think both times, i said it'd be under 50k. hah. 72k and 89k. obvsly i can't count lol.)

anyway.

if you're wondering, then go do it. do the bang. it's always a pleasure with a @batfam-big-bang team :D

[birds-and-friends]

Flying is effortless, landing can be a little bit harder, Cornell Lab / DoC (northern royal albatross) (part 1)

[taylors-a-goblin]

There’s so much about this. The tumble itself is so irredeemably funny. The child stops asking for food and just stares in silence as the adult completely beefs it. The adult, absolutely ashamed, wandering off screen, refusing to make eye contact with the baby.

Perfect 10s all round.

[suffering-and-misery]

Does Ra’s have Tim’s Speen? A Deep Dive into Fandom Racism

The whole ‘Ra’s stole Tim’s spleen!!’ debacle is a very prevalent story in DC/batfam/tim drake fan spaces, with many people assuming its canon and creating even more content surrounding this narrative. This post intends to dive into the following topics:

The inherent orientalist writing of the al Ghuls

The canon events leading to Tim losing his spleen (spoiler alert: Ra’s doesn’t have it)

Why it is racist to parrot the idea of Ra’s having stole it

Common reasons people cite to defend this narrative

The inherent orientalist writing of the al Ghuls

First of all, what is Orientalism? Orientalism is a broad term describing the Western stereotype of Eastern cultures, or the Orient (particularly Asia and North Africa), as backwards and exotic. Coined by Edward Said, it describes the way Western civilization portrays itself as superior and rational, while portraying the Orient as irrational and wrong.  Common orientalist stereotypes include the assumptions that Eastern societies are misogynistic, barbaric/violent, sexual/perverted, and inherently behind societally.

When it comes to DC, the way the al Ghuls are portrayed is inherently orientalist. They are of mixed arab/chinese descent - you can find some more details about that in this post by @/daminette-56 (the post is about Damian's Chinese heritage in particulal, but it still applies). They fit into the racist trope of the ‘Asian Assassins’ - elite East Asian ninja assassins which use traditional/ancient combat forms to kill. Ra’s is the controlling man, Talia is the Dragon lady/Femme Fatale, and their overall concept can be attributed to oriental views. This is furthered by the existence of Damian’s character, since it caused Talia to be converted to a 2-dimensional villain to facilitate Damian’s white saviour story when he is sent to live with his white father to ‘learn to live normally’, or to be civilized. 

Despite this, the al Ghuls are interesting characters. Ra’s motive as an environmental terrorist and Talia’s inner dilemma over her loyalty to her father make them complex characters. Damian’s love for animals stemming from his upbringing with the al Ghuls The fandom tends to ignore this, however, and keep them as boring background characters without much depth. 

When I analyze fandom racism surrounding the al Ghuls, it is important for me to distinguish between what is coming from DC and what is coming from the fandom. As such, it is vital to determine whether or not Ra’s having Tim’s spleen is canon.

2. Does Ra’s have Tim’s spleen?

The short answer is no.

Lets summarize the events which caused Tim to lose his spleen. Tim loses his spleen in his standalone Red Robin series. It happens in the second arc of the series (issues 5-8), called The Council of Spiders. There's a bunch of buildup, but Tim essentially teams up with Ra’s al Ghul to complete his current mission - finding Bruce, who is lost in the time stream. Tim agrees to work with Ra’s (after he kidnaps him and his coworker Tam), however he secretly plans to take down the League Of Assassins from the inside.

During this time, Tim survives an ambush by a group called the Council of Spiders. Later on, Ra’s tasks him with defeating this rival assassin group since he is the only one known to have survived an attack from them. Tim sets up a plan, however it backfires and they are attacked by the Spiders. In this attack, Tim is stabbed and resigns himself to death, however he is saved by White Ghost who stitches him up (presumably with the help of fellow assassins) and removes his spleen due to the damage it has sustained. When this happens, Ra’s is nowhere near. 

Tim’s spleen is never mentioned again. The arc concludes with Tim blowing up all LoA bases that currently exist, and Ra’s threatens to blow up Wayne Enterprises in retaliation. 

Ra’s is not shown to be nearby when Tim’s spleen is taken. He is not implied to have it. He is never shown in possession of it.

It is safe to conclude that Ra’s al Ghul is not in possession of Tim’s spleen.

3. Why is it racist to parrot the idea that Ra’s has Tim’s spleen?

The reason this fandom narrative is inherently racist is since it feeds into multiple orientalist stereotypes. As defined before, Orientalism is the idea that Western society paints itself as superior to Eastern society. Here are the two most harmful ideas it feeds into: 

Creepy Brown Man imagery: Brown men in media are often painted as inherently creepy and dangerous. This is closely linked to the ‘othered foreigner’ trope, where writers focus on the otherness of characters of colour rather than any other trait. Now, I will not deny that Ra’s is dangerous. However, the way he is portrayed by the fandom as borderline obsessed with Tim, going as far as to keep his spleen as a trophy, clearly feeds into the ‘creep’ aspect of this stereotype. It also ignores the fact that Tim was kidnapped by Ra’s for this mission purely due to the tactical advantage - Tim was the only one to have survived a Spider attack, so it was logical to have him be part of the mission. Instead, it shifts the narrative to make Ra’s seem irrationally attached to Tim. 

Sacrificing characterization for propping up a white character: Ra’s is never portrayed as anything other than an evil tyrant within the Tim Drake fan space. His characterization as an eco-terrorist whose goal is to save the Earth from ecological destruction is sacrificed, and he is instead characterized as power hungry, obsessed (see above paragraph), or plain evil with no reasoning behind it (all of which contribute to the Evil Brown Character stereotype separately. Together? It's even worse). Once again, it ignores the logic that accompanies Ra’s decision in choosing Tim, and either paints him as a poor victim attacked by Ra’s, or a fighter so powerful that even Ra’s had to acknowledge him. Any logic Ra’s applied to the decision is ignored in favour of propping up the white character.

4. Common justifications given for this narrative/storyline

It's literally canon! → as I've already broken down, it isn’t. 

But Ra’s is obsessed with Tim!! He calls him Detective and respects him and his fighting! → Ra’s also refers to both Bruce and Dick as ‘detective’. This title is not exclusive to Tim and does not prove anything. Additionally, respecting someone as a fighter and stealing their body parts as a trophy for beating them are two very different things.

It is not out of character for Ra’s to take his spleen! He’s a cult leader and taking trophies from people isn’t uncommon !!! → Ra’s is an ecoterrorist. He has no use for anyone’s spleen. Although he is sometimes depicted taking trophies, they are in the form of land or material items, not body parts. (The assumption that Ra’s takes human body parts as trophies is also orientalist, by the way. Goes back to the original ‘Asian Assassins’ trope, as well as the ‘Barbaric Brown People’ ideal.)

In short:

[northoftheroad]

Food for thought

[catasters]

[idontgettechnology]

The time of his life.

[alexseanchai]

he's helping!

[writergeek]

he's supurrrvising!!

[gif87a-com]

[flutegod]

this is the most beautiful thing i have ever heard

[dragonsateyourtoast]

Sorry all I can think about is how pissed off everyone else in this dorm must be

[quousque]

what is this song i should know this i feel like a dumbass

[prince-atom]

“Binary Sunset” from Star Wars.

And man, is this gorgeous.

[scarletjedi]

this is my favorite piece of soundtrack orchestration, hands down, in any movie, ever.

[spidey-whities]

Shit imagine going up to your dorm and suddenly you hear that from downstairs like I’d be following the sound of it ready to discover a lightsaber in a box for me to start my journey lmao

[wintergardenscribe]

the fact of the matter is that Mary Poppins could pull the sword from the stone

[writergeek]

if she could pull a stone from her bag, then why not a stone?