It just makes me unhappy. Rose and Apple are very different people and I enjoy Rose much more than I’ve ever enjoyed Apple.
Pink was raised in an abusive environment. They would lock her in her room for misbehavior and never treated her like an equal. White Diamond was controlling, Blue was infantilizing, and Yellow was neglectful and saw Pink as annoying. Pink’s actions were similar to those of Uncle Iroh from avatar.
Then at one point the diamonds discovered Earth. Pink saw the beauty of the Earth and became Rose Quartz to defend it. Rose asked Pearl to join her and Pearl accepted. They faked Pink Diamond’s death at the hands of Rose Quartz to try and get the diamonds to surrender. Due to the way the diamonds treated her Rose was surprised when they were saddened by her (fake) death. Rose and her allies (the crystal gems) fought for the protection of Earth and ended up victorious.
After the war Rose lived on Earth peacefully. Then she fell in love with Greg Universe and sacrificed her life to give birth to Steven. (Rose didn’t expect Home World to attack Earth because it had been thousands of years of peace. She did NOT create Steven to pawn of her problems on.) Rose thought the most beautiful thing about Earth was its ability to grow. She didn’t see this ability in herself and died so she could create a creature that could.
Apple is a selfish person. That trait is incredibly dominant and static. Apple had a mother that cared a lot about appearances. Apple’s mother wanted Apple to be perfect. She represented those with privilege. Have you seen the short “The Place Where Nothing Bad Happens.” Apple is kind of like the person in the pink dress in that short.
If you want more of me complaining about Apple I have separate post talking about why I dislike her. It’s mostly that she’s never punished and the fans don’t hold her accountable.
I like Rose because when other characters learn everything about her they’re conflicted. Rose is a morally gray character. Apple is an Anti-Villain at best. Apple was never forced into any of her choices. While she may have been manipulated, helping someone that throughout her life she was always taught was evil is stupid. And Apple is shown to be intelligent. This either means the writers just wanted Apple to help the Evil Queen for plot or she’s a pretty bad person. Rose made her decisions to protect an entire planet from a nation it had no way to face.
(The little sketch thing below Billy is a kind of watermark thing that looks kind of like me)
(i gave billy thick eyebrows because i thought it would be cute. also i wanted mary to look tomboyish and like she’s not really trying today and freddy's trying to look fancy to sell more newspapers)
This is a bit old.
She’s awful. I don’t like Apple for a series of reasons. Her design is lovely and I like her voice but that’s all I really enjoy about her. By the way this is only about the show. I don’t know anything about the books but I heard they were good.
Apple represents the privileged while Raven represents the underprivileged. I get that. It’s just, she doesn’t seem to change much, if at all. The whole story it just feels like she’s just being kind and sweet for her image. She seems to love her friends but not nearly as much as she loves herself. Apple was willing to have her supposed best friend live a horrible life just so she could live a life of perfection. Apple never felt like she got less selfish to me.
Literally all Apple did was apologize and she was instantly forgiven. No one was apprehensive or upset after that. It’s one of my least favorite things when someone (fictional character or otherwise) does something awful says “I’m sorry” and is instantly forgiven. An example of where this was better handled was in Avatar: The Last Air Bender. Zuko apologized to the gaang and they didn’t forgive immediately. It took him proving that he was trustworthy and on their side for them to trust him. And even after that they still had individual episodes where they form a bond with him. And what Apple did was on a similar scale to what Zuko did. Apple freed the evil queen (basically a terrorist(which was an accident I’ll give her that)) and then aided her afterwards. The school didn’t punish her neither did the government.
They woobify her to hell and back. Yes her mom is bad. No that does not justify her actions. It’s like people believe that just because someone has trauma or family issues that they can’t be held accountable. They take away all of Apple’s agency and act like she was mind controlled into doing everything she did. Apple had free choice. While she was manipulated, she wasn’t forced. They’re just like “She’s just a sad misunderstood lesbian!” Or “Apple has a tough home life! She was just guided by what she was taught!” While the second argument is true. It doesn’t excuse her behavior in any way. An appropriate punishment would be suspension or even expulsion.
Apple seems to have trouble seeing any perspective but her own. She doesn’t seem to understand Briar issue. Apple equates her destiny (to sleep for a few days before being woken up by her true love) to Briar’s (to sleep for a hundred years before being woken up by her true love)
Apple seems to care way more about her image and winning than her friends. She injured Darling playing the sport in Dragon Games. Apple likely got this from her mother.
I don’t think Apple should date anyone until she works on herself for a while (Two or three years)
My family is still staying in half of the church that wasn’t affected by the bombing because there is nowhere else to stay other than tents. They are limited to one small meal a day and one shower a week. They are sleeping on the floors, but no one can sleep since there is bombing everywhere around them. Even when there is no bombing, they can still hear the loud buzzing sound of the military planes above them, which would keep anyone who hears it awake. Along with everything, My grandma has diabetes and osteoporosis, so she can’t walk. She has to take her insulin medication along with many others; however, she has run out of many of her medications.” Am on my knees requesting for donation. Target $450
Please donate to this person.
It’s that time of the year again! 2025 marks the 85th Anniversary of Billy Batson as Captain Marvel debuting in Whiz Comics #2, the first official cover-dated issue released February 1940.*
A brief history In December of 1939, children at newsstands were picking up a particular issue with the cover of a flying man dressed in red, effortlessly lifting a car overhead. Bill Parker, senior editor at Fawcett Comics during this time, had developed a new kind of superhero: Billy Batson is a young orphan boy who transforms into a powerful champion named Captain Marvel at the drop of the word “SHAZAM!” He fights crime against notable villains together with a memorable cast of heroes he calls “family.”
A few years past their heyday, Fawcett Publications endured troubling legal problems that put their sales in jeopardy, eventually settling their dragging copyright case with National Comics Publications (predecessor of modern-day DC Comics) and putting Captain Marvel to rest indefinitely. The Captain’s return to comics happened in late 1972 under DC Comics, a run which the original artist C.C. Beck had worked on for only a year. Ever since, Billy Batson and his counterpart have appeared in many different iterations in many different comics, one of the only memories still enduring from a time already passed.
The role of an archive is to make nostalgia obsolete. [...] Every comic book page is, like a work of scholarship, an act of recovery, or at times a dream in which nothing is ever lost, as past, present, and future make room for each other and exist in harmony. Studied carefully, a fanzine or a comic book, like Billy’s Historama, might reveal several lifetimes to us, one generation after another of names, faces, and stories. The art of nostalgia is figuring out which one to tell next.
— Captain Marvel and the Art of Nostalgia, Brian Cremins
This year’s overall theme is NOSTALGIA. Take this as you might, for however you interpret nostalgia—perhaps a reflection on your own personal narrative with Billy Batson, or an exploration between him and his own massive history, be it in-universe or with real life pop culture. You might even disregard the day-to-day prompts below and dedicate yourself to nostalgia thematically for the entire week! How you’d like to work with it is up to you.
Day 1 ☆ February 23, 2025 HOLY HISTORAMA
The Historama, similar to a crystal ball, is described as Shazam the Wizard’s “super-television screen,” of which he may use to see the past, present, and future. In later iterations, it presents itself as a book or object that displays any scene through time and, possibly, space. On this day, you might center the Historama itself, or explore any scenes of Billy’s history from any time or place.
Day 2 ☆ February 24, 2025 THE BOY OF ARTHURIAN LEGEND
Bill Parker, when asked to describe his inspiration for Captain Marvel, once said, “Specifically I got it from the Stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, stories with which I had been familiar and read as a child.”
At its core, the story of Billy Batson as Captain Marvel was a story about old wizards, spells, myths, and secrets—elements which children center their greatest fantasies and perhaps still carry with them throughout adulthood. Use this day to commemorate Billy Batson as a fulfilled fantasy, maybe as a knight facing dragons in some faraway world or a space-wandering sailor, the wildest childhood dream come true.
Day 3 ☆ February 25, 2025 SWEET HOME FAWCETT
This prompt is simply Fawcett: Fawcett Comics and their previous publications, possibly outside of Captain Marvel and friends, or Fawcett the city as depicted in the DC Comics iterations, home base of Billy and Captain Marvel.
Day 4 ☆ February 26, 2025 RETURN OF THE CHAMPION
Across his storied history, Captain Marvel has faced many setbacks in his journey back to comic book stands: previous lawsuits and settlements, harried DC Comics events, logistical decisions made behind closed doors. However many times he’s put on the back burner, Captain Marvel still manages to return in a triumph. We will see him again in fleeting appearances, celebrated homecomings, maybe a long-awaited reunion...
Day 5 ☆ February 27, 2025 THE WORLD HE LIVES IN
It is of note that, while Fawcett Comics held onto its hero as long as they could for the first few years, the DC Comics universe is where Billy and the Captain have held their home—for over fifty consecutive years. Use this as a day to reflect on Billy’s past DC universe adventures, from teams he’s been on to events he’s partaken in.
Day 6 ☆ February 28, 2025 A MARVELOUS FAMILY
Billy Batson’s not the only one with a candle to blow. Mary Marvel debuted in 1942, while Captain Marvel Junior had appeared much earlier, in 1941. Their contributions to the stories of Captain Marvel have been monumental in immortalizing his place as a beloved hero with weight and history. They are also deeply adored by Billy himself. Have this day to celebrate family, for each Marvel Family member who has added to the menagerie over the years, or to simply center Mary and Freddy and their own achievements.
Day 7 ☆ March 1, 2025 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BILLY
Happy Birthday Billy Batson! Give him a cake. Give him a balloon. Give him a present. Tell him how much you appreciate him. He is eighty-five years old. He looks timeless! Is the secret the amber from the Sivana suspendium?
This is a free day, open for anything.
How to participate On Tumblr (and elsewhere, if desired), use the hashtags #billybatsonweek and #bb85week simultaneously so that others might see and engage with your work. Late entries are always, always welcome. I’ll be sure to reblog all entries inside the tags for archival reasons, so please don’t hesitate to tag my blog!
The Archive of Our Own story collection is linked here.
On previous weeks Feel free to browse entries from previous years for inspiration, or reuse the old prompts altogether!
2022 Prompts Post / 2022 Entries
2023 Prompts Post / 2023 Entries
2024 Prompts Post / 2024 Entries / AO3 Collection
*FOOTNOTE: Captain Marvel/Billy Batson celebrated his genuine 85th Anniversary December 2024, a date which acknowledges his original on-the-shelves debut in December of 1939. The cover date used in this character celebration week corresponds with what DC Comics used in their 75th Anniversary year count.
This is a redraw of an old post. Hopefully I improved :)