break out the teal deers!

[aloadeddie]

THE CR TL;DR MEME

HOW IT WORKS:

1. List your character(s)!
2. Others respond with "what does your character X think of my character Y?" or some variation.
3. Respond to them! Break out those teal deers!
4. Generate some discussion about your CR!
5. PROFIT!

Comments

[langsyne]

I'm sorry this took so long, I had to think about how I wanted to word this.

Contrary to what Geoff Johns wants everyone to believe, I don't believe Barry actually dislikes Bart or goes out of his way to avoid the kid. It's already been stated several times that Flashes are all about family, biological and otherwise. I do think that Barry doesn't quite know where he's supposed to fit in into Bart's life.

With Wally it was easy. Wally didn't really have anyone in his life since his family life sucked. He needed people - family, role models, friends. Iris covered the family side of things, Barry covered the more role model side of things, and the friends came later. Worked out great until Barry died but that's a whole other story.

Bart though.....he's already had so many people in his life when Barry finally shows up after being dead for so long. Max and Wally (and family) and Jay and Joan and Iris and Tim and Kon and all the other Teen Titans. He's got family, friends, some pretty awesome role models (see Bart's excellent first conversation opener of "But where's Max?"). There's not really any empty hole that needs to be filled like there was with Wally.

Barry wants to get to know Bart, both on the turtle and off. He really does. But there's this disconnect he doesn't know how to bridge, partly because he's not familiar with how society has changed while he's been gone, partly because he doesn't really get the younger generation nowadays so he can't connect there, and partly because everyone's been making such a fuss about what a great guy he is and elevating him to a level he's very uncomfortable with. Mostly it's just a thing of him not knowing where he fits in, since that Bart already has Max and Jay covers the granddad role.

To a degree he regrets missing out on so much of Bart's life. He's definitely proud. (Iris has nothing but good things to say about Bart, I refuse to believe otherwise.) Really, he just needs a push in the right direction. Also maybe some common ground that isn't "you're a speedster, I'm a speedster, let's go." Hot dogs and pizza is a good start though.



I wrote most of this in between work breaks so if it doesn't make sense that's why. Actually, rereading it now, it doesn't make any sense but I'm too lazy to rewrite.

[backinakidflash]

The following is my interpretation of their static in canon:

I never got the feeling that it was intentional on Barry's part. I think Barry was overwhelmed with trying to fit back into his own life - and that Bart was possibly taking things out on Barry. Bart had only just come back to life as well. I'm not sure when Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds fits into the time frame of Final Crisis, but that's definitely Wally hugging Bart at the end, not Barry.

And they both have a lot to deal with. Bart is pretty much failing to cope with his death in Teen Titans, and I get this sense that... no one's talked to him about it. He's even lied to Tim. Like everyone's been all "YAY YOU'RE ALIVE" and he's been all "YAY I'M ALIVE"... but once the yay wore off... he still has the memories of his death, of Valerie, of that whole lost year of adulthood... and now everyone's treating him like a kid again. So he goes along with it, like always, because he wants everyone to be happy (including himself) and he's trying to be exactly like he was the first time around at this.

Which is where Barry comes in, because Bart doesn't know where he's supposed to fit in all this either. He's trying to make things like they were because everything was easier then and his head was such a less complicated place. Barry is unfortunately the only person that wasn't around then, so Bart takes everything that he does far too personally and then uses it as a release valve for all of the stuff that he's keeping bottled up. It's not fair, and it's not intentional.

And yes, it was a terrible way to start off their first conversation, but Max was the first person he thought of. Bart was back, Wally was back... Max was next on the list, in his head. If he hadn't been so blinded by love, he would have been overjoyed to see Barry. I don't have the panel handy, but there's one of a young Bart standing in front of a statue of Barry and whispering Grandpa with this wide-eyed expression on his face. He still has that hero worship.

As for how this all applies to life on the turtle, he's had more time here. There's some distance between him and his death now, and he's had plenty of distractions that don't involve pulling on a suit and risking his life again. He's got a far better target for negative emotions (Malicant) than he did back home. He's just... unsure of what to do now. There isn't a self-help book for what to do when your grandfather comes back from the dead. Though he's read some interesting stuff about adopted kids meeting their biological parents.

If Bart knew Barry felt that way, he'd tell him that the great thing about life is that you can never have too many people to care about who care about you. Barry has a 'role' to fill: the role of Barry. If he wants to put a label on it, he's his grandfather. Jay is Uncle Jay. Even if he does take more of a grandfatherly role, Bart would point out that his other 'real' grandfather disowned him years ago. Everybody gets two.

He's not asking to get pushed on a swing and treated to an ice cream cone (okay, he wouldn't turn down ice cream). He wants... he doesn't know what he wants, he wants such fleeting vague things. He wants to be forced to watch stupid 70s shows that Barry liked. He wants to roll his eyes when Barry says 'in my day'. He wants to cajole Barry into trying video games by telling him that Wally and Jay turned out to be pretty good at them. He wants to sleep over on Christmas Eve and have breakfast the next day swapping stupid villain stories about giant typewriters and huge mousetraps and laughing. Yes, he gets all of these things from Max, but that doesn't mean he can't have them with Barry too. That's the trouble with having a big heart - it always wants to be bigger.