as soon as I start writing shit longer than 200 words...
Hartley Rathaway, the Pied Piper, is an unusual character in that he
This characterization extends into Countdown, where time and time again we see him respond to Trickster's bait, then calm down and act almost like it hadn't happened. Countdown also underlined one of his biggest character faults: Piper needs people. He needs to belong to something, to be needed in turn. That doesn't have to be a fault, but returning to the Rogues was a pretty crappy idea, even if he had been planning to spy on them. And despite Trickster's Countdown portrayal as a fucking moron, I like to think that as a conman he's good at reading people -- and if, during their little evening chat outside, he'd twigged to any tell that Piper was lying, he very likely would've said so to better his reputation with the other rogues. And Piper was, intellectually, lying, but emotionally, it might've hit closer to home than he would've liked to admit.
Because where's James? Answer: Countdown doesn't DO this "continuity" you speak of, and if they're getting it wrong for BIG characters, no way are they gonna remember that Piper actually had a pretty steady relationship with some dude. Shit, they can't even remember whether he's wearing sunglasses or has a goatee. Pretending the absence is at all meaningful, however, James would've been Piper's last Person Who Needs Me. Wally and Linda had disappeared. Bart was all over the fucking place, and they hadn't worked together much anyway. "Wally trust(ed) me" isn't a very strong recommendation. Who else knew him at all? Jay Garrick, Iris Allen (though she was busy being foreboding and confusing about the future)...
But he's never been one to brood or sit around and cry about these things. When he hated his parents and the snotty rich kid lifestyle, he left, and found something better. Their rejection always hurt him, but he got by -- kept busy, started a band, became a rogue, invented sonic shit that he REALLY SHOULD'VE PATENTED OR WHATEVER (congratulations, Rogues!). Until the prison got rebuilt, he was the only one who had ever escaped from Iron Heights.
Later on, the death of his parents -- coming right after they'd reconciled! -- effectively crippled him. Until they figured out he WASN'T the killer at all. Then he was up and going (new uniform X3!) and... he and Trickster were two of the rogues for whom Top's "miiiiiind stealing" had the most ambiguous effect. First of all, neither of them had ever been especially homicidal -- just weird and annoying. What Trickster lacked was the ability to wholly settle down, though you do see him working his way towards it during the period when he had the long hair and hideous pants. Accountability. What Piper lacked... uh, fuck, I don't know, I'm pretty sure he would've quit being a rogue sooner or later. So they were NUDGED, at best.
By the time Top comes BACK to undo stuff, it already looked like James was getting bored with his FBI gig (acting frustrated, ordering the costume), not to mention annoyed with poor Axel. He seemed to still have restraint, but I'm pretty sure if he'd been left alone with Axel and a baseball bat, he probably would've clubbed the kid at LEAST once. As it is, with the good "undone", what's the worst that he does? Boots Axel into a dumpster, and threatens him with a... um, unconventional metaphor. So what the hell DID Top do? ... at most, he undid Trickster's self-control. And what did Piper do? He attacked Wally, but Piper is even less of a killer than Trickster. At most, Top made him angry again, took him back to a place where he hadn't come to terms with how society treated skinny redheaded gay musicians who were actually rich.
And not to quibble with the stated plot here, but how can you simply "undo" things that have been changing for years? No matter what emotional wires get snipped and reattached elsewhere, they have their own memories, their experiences: development and progress that had really happened, on their own, no matter who forced them in a certain direction. Piper had already been heading there. Trickster was never really bad. And even with his "help", some of the other rogues were already regressing, which I don't think was the Top's doing at all. As Identity Crisis proved (to our INFINITE OUTRAGE), even mindwiping doesn't undo what's happened. The brain changes as we live, as we come into contact with chemicals, stimuli, and in the DCU, magic and *SCIENCE!* and god knows what else. We change the way we think. Certain things we learn stay with us, NOT with our memories. Fuck the Top. He was also fucking NUTS by the time he came back to mess with people's heads. What did he do to the rogues' characterizations? Hardly a damn thing. Like he said, he gave them a nudge. He turned them a few degrees, and, newly oriented, the rogues just kept walking.
This happens in real life, but it takes longer -- instead of being mind-molested by a weirdo, we do it through learning and life experiences. We're manipulated more slowly by the people around us. We are who we are through our environment as much as the stuff inside. Would Trickster have ever joined the FBI without the nudge? haw haw haw no, I don't think so. But I can still see him doing what he did with Neron, or playing that terrible trick on Catwoman. These kinds of things don't mean your life is a "lie". It means some jerk stepped in and made a huge change to your life without consulting you, kind of like Life does, only you can punch the jerk and you can't punch life (GO AWAY EMOBOY PRIME). You were there, you lived those years, you made decisions that affected others and that affected you in turn: how can that be a lie? It's what happened, and it's not just about you.
But who the fuck comes to that conclusion right away? More power to you. I don't know if I would, or even if I did, it wouldn't matter -- I would still FEEL alienated, betrayed, and lost. I imagine that's how Trickster felt. Trying to get back to the life he had before things went "wrong" was probably a lot harder than he let show. He'd be an asshole to Piper, and then he'd display an unmistakable empathy. By the time they were actually cuffed together, they'd really been "partners" for a while already -- the rogues didn't trust them, they hadn't killed Bart. They were actually pretty decent. The difference was that Trickster didn't want to be that way anymore, and he could tell (it was pretty obvious...) that Piper did.
Being chained to Piper must've been like being chained to his conscience, which was probably reasserting itself despite everything he'd tried. And though Piper never guilttripped him, never judged or asked him to act differently -- just like he never hit on him -- Trickster felt it from himself now. The comparison. who he was, who he used to be. The obnoxious gay jokes were a way of keeping distance between them when they couldn't have LITERAL distance. Except it never really worked, because Piper isn't NINE YEARS OLD; he'd get irritated for a while, then let it go. Towards the end of their "adventure" you can see him giving in. He agreed to go back to the cave, where they squished Ivy with the Joker's exploding TV; they followed the Salvation Run people back to their sekrit base to see what the fuck was going on (fhdlfhdsjhfsdjhfsjds oh my god what the crap, guys). And on the train, he just. Gave it up. Called him "Hartley", started acting like the friend he should've been from the beginning.
And then he got shot FUCK YOU, DESAAD.
And then Piper lost it. And exploded Desaad's head, which personally, I feel was awesome and righteous, but if/when Piper stops to think about what he did, I have the feeling he won't quite agree, or at least, he won't be going "FUCK YEAH \m/" like I did. Also, Queen? FUCK YEAR \m/ ...... but I think he was probably channeling his college years or something because seriously, how OLD is Piper? He has to be at least in his late twenties, early thirties by now!
Also, I think Piper is a top or switch, not a bottom. It's not something I feel STRONGLY about, to be honest, but people are always making him cry, be the sensitive one, and bottom. And you know, sure, compared to HILARIOUSLY CALLOUS TRICKSTER, Piper is the "sensitive" one. I will just point out that Trickster is more likely to whine, wear flashy clothing, and dress in drag (WHILE LICKING AN ICE CREAM CONE okay okay I said I was ignoring Silver Age.... but "you know, like in Harry Potter" -- "Okay, now that is gay" lulz); Piper is comparatively stoic and reserved. So as soon as I start writing shit longer than 200 words (THAT AREN'T THESE STUPID ENTRIES BABBLING ABOUT CHARACTER ANALYSIS IN COMICS), I uh, will be sure to do something re: those issues.
...
FUCK YOU, DESAAD
- came out in a relatively/comparatively tasteful way
- does not exhibit any gay stereotypes
- he's a ROGUE, okay, we're gonna have to look past some of his costume choices here.
- I'm also ignoring the Silver Age because goddamnit it's the Silver Age, we have enough of our own crack without incorporating any of that.
- until Countdown, his status as a gay character had never been "exploited" --
- -- but had never been ignored, either (see: James, the non-stereotypically gay boyfriend he had during the period he was a supporting character for Wally)
This characterization extends into Countdown, where time and time again we see him respond to Trickster's bait, then calm down and act almost like it hadn't happened. Countdown also underlined one of his biggest character faults: Piper needs people. He needs to belong to something, to be needed in turn. That doesn't have to be a fault, but returning to the Rogues was a pretty crappy idea, even if he had been planning to spy on them. And despite Trickster's Countdown portrayal as a fucking moron, I like to think that as a conman he's good at reading people -- and if, during their little evening chat outside, he'd twigged to any tell that Piper was lying, he very likely would've said so to better his reputation with the other rogues. And Piper was, intellectually, lying, but emotionally, it might've hit closer to home than he would've liked to admit.
Because where's James? Answer: Countdown doesn't DO this "continuity" you speak of, and if they're getting it wrong for BIG characters, no way are they gonna remember that Piper actually had a pretty steady relationship with some dude. Shit, they can't even remember whether he's wearing sunglasses or has a goatee. Pretending the absence is at all meaningful, however, James would've been Piper's last Person Who Needs Me. Wally and Linda had disappeared. Bart was all over the fucking place, and they hadn't worked together much anyway. "Wally trust(ed) me" isn't a very strong recommendation. Who else knew him at all? Jay Garrick, Iris Allen (though she was busy being foreboding and confusing about the future)...
But he's never been one to brood or sit around and cry about these things. When he hated his parents and the snotty rich kid lifestyle, he left, and found something better. Their rejection always hurt him, but he got by -- kept busy, started a band, became a rogue, invented sonic shit that he REALLY SHOULD'VE PATENTED OR WHATEVER (congratulations, Rogues!). Until the prison got rebuilt, he was the only one who had ever escaped from Iron Heights.
Later on, the death of his parents -- coming right after they'd reconciled! -- effectively crippled him. Until they figured out he WASN'T the killer at all. Then he was up and going (new uniform X3!) and... he and Trickster were two of the rogues for whom Top's "miiiiiind stealing" had the most ambiguous effect. First of all, neither of them had ever been especially homicidal -- just weird and annoying. What Trickster lacked was the ability to wholly settle down, though you do see him working his way towards it during the period when he had the long hair and hideous pants. Accountability. What Piper lacked... uh, fuck, I don't know, I'm pretty sure he would've quit being a rogue sooner or later. So they were NUDGED, at best.
By the time Top comes BACK to undo stuff, it already looked like James was getting bored with his FBI gig (acting frustrated, ordering the costume), not to mention annoyed with poor Axel. He seemed to still have restraint, but I'm pretty sure if he'd been left alone with Axel and a baseball bat, he probably would've clubbed the kid at LEAST once. As it is, with the good "undone", what's the worst that he does? Boots Axel into a dumpster, and threatens him with a... um, unconventional metaphor. So what the hell DID Top do? ... at most, he undid Trickster's self-control. And what did Piper do? He attacked Wally, but Piper is even less of a killer than Trickster. At most, Top made him angry again, took him back to a place where he hadn't come to terms with how society treated skinny redheaded gay musicians who were actually rich.
And not to quibble with the stated plot here, but how can you simply "undo" things that have been changing for years? No matter what emotional wires get snipped and reattached elsewhere, they have their own memories, their experiences: development and progress that had really happened, on their own, no matter who forced them in a certain direction. Piper had already been heading there. Trickster was never really bad. And even with his "help", some of the other rogues were already regressing, which I don't think was the Top's doing at all. As Identity Crisis proved (to our INFINITE OUTRAGE), even mindwiping doesn't undo what's happened. The brain changes as we live, as we come into contact with chemicals, stimuli, and in the DCU, magic and *SCIENCE!* and god knows what else. We change the way we think. Certain things we learn stay with us, NOT with our memories. Fuck the Top. He was also fucking NUTS by the time he came back to mess with people's heads. What did he do to the rogues' characterizations? Hardly a damn thing. Like he said, he gave them a nudge. He turned them a few degrees, and, newly oriented, the rogues just kept walking.
This happens in real life, but it takes longer -- instead of being mind-molested by a weirdo, we do it through learning and life experiences. We're manipulated more slowly by the people around us. We are who we are through our environment as much as the stuff inside. Would Trickster have ever joined the FBI without the nudge? haw haw haw no, I don't think so. But I can still see him doing what he did with Neron, or playing that terrible trick on Catwoman. These kinds of things don't mean your life is a "lie". It means some jerk stepped in and made a huge change to your life without consulting you, kind of like Life does, only you can punch the jerk and you can't punch life (GO AWAY EMOBOY PRIME). You were there, you lived those years, you made decisions that affected others and that affected you in turn: how can that be a lie? It's what happened, and it's not just about you.
But who the fuck comes to that conclusion right away? More power to you. I don't know if I would, or even if I did, it wouldn't matter -- I would still FEEL alienated, betrayed, and lost. I imagine that's how Trickster felt. Trying to get back to the life he had before things went "wrong" was probably a lot harder than he let show. He'd be an asshole to Piper, and then he'd display an unmistakable empathy. By the time they were actually cuffed together, they'd really been "partners" for a while already -- the rogues didn't trust them, they hadn't killed Bart. They were actually pretty decent. The difference was that Trickster didn't want to be that way anymore, and he could tell (it was pretty obvious...) that Piper did.
Being chained to Piper must've been like being chained to his conscience, which was probably reasserting itself despite everything he'd tried. And though Piper never guilttripped him, never judged or asked him to act differently -- just like he never hit on him -- Trickster felt it from himself now. The comparison. who he was, who he used to be. The obnoxious gay jokes were a way of keeping distance between them when they couldn't have LITERAL distance. Except it never really worked, because Piper isn't NINE YEARS OLD; he'd get irritated for a while, then let it go. Towards the end of their "adventure" you can see him giving in. He agreed to go back to the cave, where they squished Ivy with the Joker's exploding TV; they followed the Salvation Run people back to their sekrit base to see what the fuck was going on (fhdlfhdsjhfsdjhfsjds oh my god what the crap, guys). And on the train, he just. Gave it up. Called him "Hartley", started acting like the friend he should've been from the beginning.
And then he got shot FUCK YOU, DESAAD.
And then Piper lost it. And exploded Desaad's head, which personally, I feel was awesome and righteous, but if/when Piper stops to think about what he did, I have the feeling he won't quite agree, or at least, he won't be going "FUCK YEAH \m/" like I did. Also, Queen? FUCK YEAR \m/ ...... but I think he was probably channeling his college years or something because seriously, how OLD is Piper? He has to be at least in his late twenties, early thirties by now!
Also, I think Piper is a top or switch, not a bottom. It's not something I feel STRONGLY about, to be honest, but people are always making him cry, be the sensitive one, and bottom. And you know, sure, compared to HILARIOUSLY CALLOUS TRICKSTER, Piper is the "sensitive" one. I will just point out that Trickster is more likely to whine, wear flashy clothing, and dress in drag (WHILE LICKING AN ICE CREAM CONE okay okay I said I was ignoring Silver Age.... but "you know, like in Harry Potter" -- "Okay, now that is gay" lulz); Piper is comparatively stoic and reserved. So as soon as I start writing shit longer than 200 words (THAT AREN'T THESE STUPID ENTRIES BABBLING ABOUT CHARACTER ANALYSIS IN COMICS), I uh, will be sure to do something re: those issues.
...
FUCK YOU, DESAAD