The Other Side By Zhipei Fu

Jon Kent and Damian Wayne in the Young Justice Animated Series

It’s been a good long while since Young Justice: Outsiders came out, so I feel like I can finally write about this without worrying about tagging spoilers and ruining lives or something. This is something I thought about the second this episode aired, and I’ve been waiting to write it. So here it goes!

Young Justice: Outsiders was obviously exciting for many reasons, but some of the most excitement came from introductions of well beloved characters, such as Jason Todd and Damian Wayne (seen in Episode 6) and Jon Kent (seen in Episode 9). Anyone who follows Super Sons already knows that this is a massive deal, because it establishes that Damian and Jon both exist in the same animated timeline for the very first time, as well as it being Jon’s animated debut.

While I’m obviously extremely excited for the possibility of a Super Sons animated moment, it got me thinking. The screen shots above show that Damian and Jon are both infants, likely somewhere around one (1) year old. This is completely different from the three (3) year age difference we’re used to, and while this difference might not seem like that big of a deal to some people, it has the capacity to completely change their character dynamics.

Let’s start by looking at Damian:

We all know Damian’s backstory by now; raised in the League of Assassins by Ra’s and Talia Al Ghul, until he was ten (10) years old, when he moved to Gotham to live with Bruce Wayne. It was at this point that he became Robin. This is a pretty concrete point in Damian’s character, and is very unlikely to change. At some point in the YJ series, he needs to become Robin. But lets take a minute to think about what kind of person he was at that age: arrogant, violent, stubborn, and desperately trying to prove his worth to a father he just met. At this point, he was a killer, and regularly fought with just about every member of the Batfam, Bruce and Dick in particular, as he tried to break the habits he’d been brought up with. 

In the context of YJ, we can assume that Dick would at some point bring Damian along to join the Team, but the question is, at what age? Damian joining almost immediately fits pretty well with how quickly he was introduced to the Teen Titans. But, at that age, he was hardly a team player. It wasn’t until he was about thirteen (13) that he really started developing actual friendships. However, the age Damian joins the Team - in my opinion at least - would depend very heavily on when the other “Next Generation” heroes join. 

This brings us to Jon:

Jon is known for being the complete antithesis to Damian. Rather than being raised to be a loyal machine, he was raised to be a loyal friend. Jon is a character who puts family first, and thinks of his friends as family. He’s truly a breath of childish fresh air in an industry that loves feeding us doom and gloom. While he is beloved by the majority of the fanbase, other characters were very apprehensive about him when he first got into the hero business at ten (10) years old; not-so-coincidentally, the same age as Damian. 

However, Jon is also the character in DC comics with the most amount of pressure on him. You imagine being the son of Superman for a moment, and growing up knowing that every single person you meet expects you to one day take over that title. Do you think you’d be able to handle that? Let alone at ten years old? I certainly can’t. Yet it seems like Jon doesn’t actually realize just how heavy that weight on his shoulders is.

While Supers are known for being power houses, and every team seems to want one, Jon was a kid, and very new to his abilities. He was unpolished; constantly making mistakes, misjudging his own strength, overshooting his speed and flight, and who could possibly forget when he lost control Manchester Black, or when he went full Super Nova and nearly killed the Teen Titans? It became very clear at the end of the first Super Sons run that Damian was actually the only other young hero that trusted Jon, which is why they continued to function as the newest take on a dynamic duo. 

How does this all come back to Young Justice: Outsiders? Well it’s actually very simple. All of that mistrust that characters were going to have in Jon was immediately erased the second the series did this:

Right here is the next generation of the Team. We all know it, and unlike previous heroes, this is the first generation that’s growing up together. Unlike every other iteration of the Justice League, Teen Titans, Young Justice, and literally every other team you can think of, these kids are all going to grow up watching each other’s powers come in. They’re going to know each other’s weaknesses and flaws, from weekly play dates, birthday parties, and any other hero-family get-together; some of them might even end up going to the same schools in this universe. Yes, Jon is the youngest out of them, but that just means that every single one of these kiddos is going to watch him grow up, knowing that S on his chest will always be there.

Let’s think about what we know about Jon again. He’s charismatic, funny, loyal and true, and has this uncanny ability to be able to talk to literally anyone, regardless of who the are, where they’re from, or what circumstance he’s in. You know what those traits line up perfectly with? A natural born leader. 

Growing up in this environment, where all these super kids play all the time, it’s so easy to imagine Jon growing up and being this larger than life personality that everyone just naturally seems to listen to. Jon would be the kid coming up with new games to play, and teaching them to everyone else. He would be one of the team captains when they play kickball, soccer, or any other sport. He would be genuinely interested in everyone’s hobbies and skills. He would be the one everyone turns to when they need someone to talk to. If someone’s unsure about him, chances are they’ll just do what everyone does; take one look at that S on his chest and just start listening. 

The series progresses. There’s another time skip, and Damian and Jon are now both ten years old, taking on their respective superhero mantels for the first time. As all young heroes in this series eventually do, they join the Team. Perhaps around the same time, perhaps Damian joins a few months before hand, or vice versa. But that doesn’t matter, because the effect will be exactly the same.

Damian is harsh. He’s vindictive, and unemphatic; the exact opposite of what everyone expects a Robin to be. He refuses to take orders, and is very clearly trying to fight his was to the top of the food chain. Plus, he comes right in and kicks Tim Drake out of the Robin title, someone who could very likely be the current leader. Chances are, everyone would hate Damian from the get-go. Meanwhile, everyone would be looking forward to the day Jon joins. They all knew he would. It was just a matter of time. 

Rather than being introduced to each other with a clear difference in experience like in the comics, Jon and Damian are now on relatively even playing fields because they’re the same age. Damian would have more combat skills, but Jon’s already an integral part of the group, and he’s a fast learner. Obviously they would but heads, likely even more than they did in Supers Sons. 

One of the biggest debates we see in every single season of YJ is “Ok, but who’s in charge?” This would undoubtedly come up as Damian flat out refuses that listen to any leadership if he doesn’t deem them worthy. Even at ten (10) years old, he would likely be fighting for that position of head honcho, because at this point in his life, Damian’s driving forces are his ego and his ambition. Unfortunately for him, at ten (10) years old, with that personality, and after having just left the League of Assassins, he’s completely untrustworthy. 

Jon on the other hand is a perfect candidate for eventual leader. Everyone would have followed Kon, the Superboy before him, to the ends of the Earth. Superman led the Justice League at one point, plus he’s, you know, Superman. Here we’ve got that legend’s kid, with all the makings to eventually take over the whole operation. He’s young, and pretty green, but chances are every single person on the team would have it in the back of their minds that this kid was born to lead. 

The biggest problem? Jon has a tendency to crack under pressure, and second guess himself. There is a chance that Damian rushing to be in charge would force Jon to be pushed forward far too quickly, long before he’s ready. Meanwhile, Damian’s smart as sin. No one on the Team would be able to deny that Damian’s a perfect strategist, who analyses and memorizes every skill set and strength of the people he has to work with. He can come up with a flawless plan at the drop of a hat. Meanwhile, Jon would be the kind of person to lead with his heart, and build morale on a foundation of morals and trust.

That’s going to be the conflict between Damian and Jon in Young Justice because of how they were introduced in the series, and with their lack of age gap. Damian doesn’t have the time to grow and gain everyone’s trust before Jon becomes Superboy, where as Jon wouldn’t have the chance to learn before getting pushed into leadership positions he isn’t ready for. They’re likely going to but heads even more than before, and right now, there’s no way to tell if they will ever be able to achieve the friendship they have in the comics, or if they’ll be stuck as rivals.

Is it too early to make assumptions? Yeah. Probably. Who knows what the writers have planned. But I don’t think there’s any way to doubt the conflict they just created for themselves.

The stylish and surreal sci-fi themed creations of Darius Bartsy - https://www.this-is-cool.co.uk/the-digital-sci-fi-artworks-of-darius-bartsy/

+40 Pixel Art Tutorials

A growing collection of animated Pixel Art Tutorials by Pedro Medeiros (@saint11) of Studio Miniboss (they previously worked on TowerFall and are currently working on Celeste and Skytorn)

All +40 Pixel Art Tutorials can be found on blog.studiominiboss.com/pixelart (10 Pixel Art Tutorials are posted below)

read the full comic!

i have watched approximately 54535624664534 of these so here is my Ode to Hallmark Christmas Movies

Way of Echo | part 1

A small introduction: due to the fact that there was a story with Echo and she was announced as a hero, I wanted to share the full my story, which during these months I came up with based on facts known up to this point. This is a headcanon, but I always try very hard to get into the original. I only slightly changed my original story - in the old version, Dexter really had a wife engineer who died due to the implicit fault of Overwatch, and it seems now she has a name and personality.

One year later.

One late evening at the bar, the team recalled this sad story. Among them was Mccree. He thought about what had happened and every time he did not leave a heavy feeling of guilt. Overwatch allowed the death of such a valuable person. Whose safety can they provide if they are not able to save themselves? But with his mind, he understood that this should not bother him and he could no longer fix anything.

When everyone dispersed beside him, a saddened man crouched, he wanted to get drunk quickly. Mccee decided to ask what happened to him. The man briefly shared his grief with him, telling about the death of his wife, today was exactly a year from that moment. Jesse sympathizes with him and lets speak out until the person who introduced himself as Dexter shows him a photo of the deceased. Not immediately, but he recognizes Liao in the photo, and listens to his interlocutor more attentively. Dexter tells the sweetest memories that come to his mind. Her nice smile, an amazing selection of films for the evening, rare days that they could spend together because of work… McCree is getting darker.

“I once worked on artificial intelligence,” Dexter began suddenly, “I thought, is it possible to transfer human consciousness to the body of a robot? Maybe… Of course she has already…” “Sorry, but I think it doesn’t work like that,” the man remarked sadly. “You don’t understand how dear she was to me… I should at least try,” he objected. Silence fell. Nobody wanted to argue and drink already. “Maybe I know someone who can help you, but don’t say anything about me,” Jesse said and they shook hands.

Dexter turns to Overwatch’s leadership, already as a specialist in robotics. He, too, was an employee of Omnic Corporation in the past. He learns about his wife’s projects and is surprised that he knew so little about them. Dexter offers to continue her business, but the management refuses to finance, then he offers this as a secret experiment, which does not carry the overwatch logo in the end. Reluctantly, he is allowed to continue work. He does not report either a resurrection or his acquaintance with Mccree and works hard.

He proves to management the importance of having an individual echo of character and refusing to limit its independence. He uses Liao’s deferred development to refine the Echo enclosure and its software.

Soon, a renewed Echo comes into the world.

But that was only the beginning.

Arthur and Clark in JL movie

“You make me nostalgic for a love that hasn’t even happened yet.”

(Image credit: Twitter@kimtomhardy)

Some thoughts I have after viewing JL for the second time solely to look at Arthur and Clark. As many who have followed me for a while know, I drew my first AquaSupes fanart back in 2015. It’s just a random rare pair that pops up in my head one day that seems hopeless from the start. Even when all the trailers of JL appeared, I never held hope that Arthur and Clark’s relationship would get explored in any ways. And it’s true. No interaction in the movie apart from the fight, Clark did not even look at Arthur once, they don’t even touch on the subject it’s Arthur who saved Clark back in MoS.

Amazing how the whole movie full of interaction and i keep being drawn to a relationship that is like shadows at noons, goings unheralded, passings unmourned…

But action speaks louder than word, doesn’t it?

Keep reading

putting this up, since my website project for university is finished and I don’t have to put it on the web anymore.

a very, very basic image guide on how your portfolio should be presented or appear, whether you’re in fine arts, graphic design or illustration, illustrated by yours truly

please do NOT remove the commentary while reblogging, do not reupload anywhere else.

Into The Spiderverse Characters As Things My Peers Have Said

RIPeter: I want to Kashoot myself

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Miles: George Washington Carver

made peanuts

Gwen: ??? He didn’t ??? Make ??? Peanuts???? He made peanut products????

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Noir: I’d love for my house to smell like a sharpie.

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Peni: I want to die

Peter B Parker, an adult that is support to enforce self love: Yeah, me too.

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Ham: the best part in the live action Scooby-Doo movie-

Peni: here he goes…

Ham: is when Scooby is on the beach or whatever and yells, “I AM. SCOOBY. DoObY. DOOOOOOOO.”

🅱️eter: fascinating.

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Miles: *listening to rap*

Noir, whispering: the modern world disgusts me.