Chains

Celestial had a series of prophecies relating to how many Americans will find themselves enslaved by their enemies, particularly as a comeuppance for flaunting their bodies a lot that they will be made to do these things against their will. It’s the dictum of people like Christina Aguilera given logical consequences in that the tendency to flaunt their bodies as to empower themselves sexually is something that one would ever do in spiritual bondage, somebody who’s actually free wouldn’t do those things anymore though they may struggle and stumble from time to time. Celestial said that America was like a bride or wife to the Lord, but over the years it turned out to be a massive cheater.

Being the mother of all abominations, God will get rid of the nation when he sees fit. Some of the things that are truly abominable to the Lord do have their origins in America, words like polyamory originated in America and polyamory is this practise where somebody can be in more than one sexual/romantic relationship despite being married, especially when there’s another romantic partner in the house. People could easily do that without doing polyamory, but that would mean it’s adultery. David learnt his lesson the hard way when he did this, no wonder he had to own up his actions and ask for repentance. In all honesty, I prayed to God to help a writer stop their character from committing adultery.

It’s not always easy being honest to God at times but at least when you talk to him with a sincere heart, he could give you the desires of the heart or something greater than you imagined. Said character would end up married with a husband, having learnt her lesson on cheating before. But for every author who has the audacity to stop their characters from living in sin, even if it’s not the word that usually comes to their minds, there are those that kind of glorify sin (including sexual sin) in that the actions the characters do leave no negative consequences. The characters don’t learn from it, so they don’t grow and mature. It could be almost any book that’s like this.

But if America is Mystery Babylon, mother of all abominations, then it exports a lot of its filth to the world and even to countries that should know better like the Philippines, then it’s on us for following America’s dark path a lot. Even if Saudi Arabia isn’t any better in some regards, it’s not as immensely influential as America is. Which is the bad part about America because as a superpower, this only magnifies its ability to corrupt everything and everybody else. It is utterly and irredeemably corrupt, the way God would see it as it really is. It’s home to almost anything that’s abominable to him, whether if it’s ‘flaunting’ oneself sexually in order to be empowering, erotica books, so on and so forth.

Even if countries like Britain and Canada may have their own whorish celebrities every now and then, but America is far more influential in this day and age with more well-known whorish celebrities. These women think they’re empowering themselves by whoring themselves a lot, not knowing that one day they’ll end up as actual prostitutes who’ll be made to do sex acts that they will never enjoy nor consent to. Which is the gist of her prophecy because many Americans believe in a form of female empowerment that involves being female chauvinist pigs (which is the name of a real book), instead of being godly and holy women for the Lord. Pardon if I’m slut-shaming, but it really has to be said.

It’s not wrong to be into female empowerment, however in theory and practise, but the way Americans do it is the wrong way. This involves feeling the need to sexually express themselves in whatever way is possible, not just dressing sexily but also indulging in sex acts outside of marriage. One day these same Americans will be put into a situation where they’ll do sex acts against their volition, I even imagine this would also be true for men who resort to sexting and the like that they will become gigolos who don’t even enjoy the sex they’re made to do. I guess if God’s not fine with immodesty, especially if done for the sake of sexually attracting somebody, then he’s not fine with sexting.

I don’t think skintight clothing is necessarily bad in and of itself, especially if it’s something some people wear to do things like diving, swimming, sprinting or ice skating and I even think these are the things God would be fine with since they’re not done to seduce people with. Though at times one would still have to draw the line between this and doing it to be sexually attractive, the latter is where God’s not okay with in any way. People like Christina Aguilera and her ilk would not like this advice, if because it points out how whorish they really are even in the name of ’empowerment’. While it’s not wrong to dress skimpily, sometimes it might be condoned in things like sprinting, it’s another to deliberately seduce somebody.

Especially when outside of marriage that at any point, even celebrities who when they do these things they’ll be in a position where they’ll be prostituted to people they don’t even like. If there’s a line between athletic justification and sexual attention, then one would really know what the latter’s like to the Lord.

Superheroes, sports and bodybuilding

This isn’t always the case for all superhero media, as there are some cartoonists who base them after actual athletes, but it did show up at some point. Especially when it comes to superhero comics having adverts featuring the late bodybuilder Charles Atlas, so much so that the writer Grant Morrison based Flex Metallo after him. When it comes to portraying superheroes (and supervillains), actors would have to work out a lot to play the part. Some would go so far to bulk up, even if they don’t always like it. Well in the case of Christian Bale for the film American Psycho, prior to portraying Batman, he had to work out a lot to play Patrick Bates.

He didn’t like the experience but had to anyways, which sets the tone for subsequent portrayals such as Batman in due time. Then again, there are actors with prior athletic experience which makes it easier to portray superheroes at all as with one of the Superman actors in the 1990s. I suppose these actors are the really lucky ones, not only do they have the genes for muscle building but also have enough athletic skill and talent to easily pull off superhero activities like lifting and running real fast.

In all honesty, Usain Bolt could be a better Barry Allen than Grant Gustin is if because he’s the real world’s fastest man. But he would also get a lot of flack for being black, far more than what Gustin got which is saying. Even if he’s not as fast as the Flash is, being a sprinter and full of fast-twitch muscles he’ll be faster than most people are. Same thing would happen if Barry Allen were played by Su Bingtian, who’s also a real sprinter and thus faster than Gustin will ever be. I guess this will unsettle certain people a lot.

As for Batman, in some portrayals he’s portrayed as really burly even though early on and even in the earliest live action productions he wasn’t that bulky, and still isn’t when portrayed by Robert Pattinson in The Batman. Nonetheless, there’s a tendency for some cartoonists to portray him as really burly compared to other Bat characters, though to be fair Nightwing has also been portrayed as burly at some point. But I still have no idea why would Batman be portrayed as really burly.

Reasons I will not get about Batman’s portrayals in any way, I also think it gets funnier when you realise that Nightwing does acrobatics a lot and judging by this video clip he could (or ought to have) big biceps as well. But when making Batman burly becomes a commonplace practice, regardless of what else he does which wouldn’t give him much time for bodybuilding in any way. It’s not that he lacks genetics for developing such muscles, I pretty much have no idea why he’s portrayed as this burly in some portrayals.

Moving on from that, I think more superhero cartoonists need to take more cues from actual sports. Maybe they already do to some extent, but when some cartoonists habitually base characters after bodybuilders in physique it’s about time they actually vary the physiques. Well to an extent, when it comes to fitting the characters’ skills to actual bodies indulging in sports.

Wouldn’t that be ignorant?

When it comes to women wearing trousers, keep in mind there’s already a tradition of such in South Asia, Iran and Turkey where women do wear trousers for possibly centuries and do so for practical reasons like farming. These kinds of trousers are known as salvar or shalwar depending on the country and these are worn by women for possibly centuries, so keep in mind that in some countries there’s already a tradition of women wearing trousers.

While it would be fine if women didn’t wear men’s clothing for most of the time, bear in mind that in several other countries where women were already wearing trousers for possibly centuries that risks being both culturally insensitive and ignorant given wearing trousers is already something of a time-honoured tradition. Not to mention wearing trousers is necessary for women in some contexts such as jogging and running where it would be impractical if they did it in a skirt.

It’s not necessarily wrong for women to wear trousers and in some countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey it’s already part of the culture for women to do so that it would be culturally insensitive and ignorant to insist that they should only wear skirts without taking context into consideration where it may even be fine or necessary for them to wear shorts and trousers as with some sports such as sprinting, jogging and football.

Not to mention some women may even wear trousers and shorts for practical reasons like providing more modesty by avoiding unnecessary panty shots so that has to be taken into consideration.

They look awful

I realised why some costume designers make changes to superhero outfits is because they look awful in live action, not to mention perverted and kinky as to give the source material a bad reputation and name. It’s like how some of those cartoonists who work on superhero comics base those outfits off of porn magazines, whereas the move to an armoured look’s the more sensible direction and why some costume designers make their characters dress normally’s that they look less ridiculous this way.

It’s possible to do a flamboyant outfit that’s practical and doable to be pulled off in real life, but I suspect for every pop star’s outfit as well as those of wrestlers and dancers (where flamboyance meets practicality) there’s the case of wardrobe malfunction which makes me think a good number of superhero outfits are impractical in this regard. Wearing fishnets with leotards is practical, pop stars do it all the time. But wearing a thong leotard seems cut out from porn.

The move to a more practical yet recognisable look’s the thing costume designers achieve in making superhero costumes look presentable and believably compromised at that. Making the Flash dress like an actual sprinter or footballer (or soccer player in US lingo) would be too radical and almost unrecognisable a silhouette to do and pull off, even if it’s more in line with what several more people actually wear to run and kick.

There’s a reason why the Flash sported a hoodie in Smallville and not a pair of shorts and a shirt even if the latter’s more practical to wear for those who run about as a sport, the long trousers for Wonder Woman is a good move but almost too unrecognisable so the shorts got swapped for a skirt. There goes the additional problem of keeping an outfit faithful to the source material whilst figuring out ways of making it more practical or hold up better in live action.

Admittedly, my own cousin said that superheroes have bad fashion sense and from a certain standpoint is the real elephant in the room: they only look good on paper and look terrible on a real life person. There’s no doubting that Superman was based off of a wrestler and there are some wrestlers who do dress like him (catsuit and underwear on the outside). But as time went on, even if there are superhero outfits still based off of a real outfit until recently, the inspiration got more insular.

Most superhero costumes are incredibly hard to pull off in real life without looking silly and ridiculous, the move to a more practical take whilst keeping the silhouette’s a commendable move made by costume designers in pleasing fan tastes and expectations. Making the Flash dress like an actual sprinter or footballer would be too radical, even if it’s something actual sprinters and footballers wear.

So we still get the same silhouette, albeit altered to look more presentable in live action and why I think it’s that hard to make superhero costumes look good in live action if because they already look ridiculous so there’s that.

Runners

Both my father and my uncle enjoy running where my father runs to the mountains and my uncle runs in UP every Saturday and Sunday, my father did get running books but they got lost and I have no idea where they went to, even though they could be safe upstairs.

I would wait long hours for my father to return, he usually brings home food every Sunday after running. He’s also into other things like boxing and basketball, but running is one of his hobbies he does every week. Same with my uncle who bought a lot of runner magazines, which I see in Cubao.

I was interested in running at some point or another, with regards to sprinting and marathon running. I sometimes ran fast, though I don’t actively practise running the same way my father does but we both have fast twitch muscles that enable us to do things quickly.

(I have a habit of cleaning the plates and utensils very quickly as well.)

At times, my father won awards for running and if it makes him happy, then power to him that running makes him relax more often and he said to me he saw a ghost. Fun story to here, but he always liked to run.

It looks daft

When it comes to Peter Bagge disparaging superheroes in terms of the way they dress, I have a feeling that he’s got a good point about it. Especially when it comes to the odd fact that they frankly don’t look good in live action. It’s possible to wear a catsuit and still not look silly in it, especially if you’re a man. But I even think costume designers would feel similarly too.

Another problem’s that of iconography. Had Barry Allen dressed up a lot like an actual sprinter or footballer (as in soccer player), it’s not too out of place within these sports but too bland a costume for him to wear. Actually and ironically, as a blog at TCJ pointed out, actual athletes can and do wear less than most superheroes do.

Sprinters, boxers, rugby players and footballers wear shorts. Weightlifters and some wrestlers show more leg than most male superheroes do. Wrestlers on average wear skimpier outfits in combat than superheroes do. Keep in mind some athletes wear skimpier outfits out of practicality as to keep cool.

(Although sports clothing isn’t above its own problems.)

I still think when it comes to men in tights, it can be harder to pull it off without looking too sexualised and partly why costume designers don’t give superheroes tight outfits much.

Be careful

I sometimes think if there’s ever a way to make superheroes dress realistically, in some cases that would involve having them dress like what actual people do for certain occasions. The problem is such superheroes become less iconic this way. If Barry Allen started dressing more like a footballer/soccer player, you’d think he plays for Manchester United or similar.

Live action productions do go for a nice compromise but the minute Barry Allen dresses like an actual athlete, he becomes somewhat unremarkable. Even though ironically, this is something athletes would actually wear and sometimes it’s not even a modest catsuit. Footballers and sprinters wear shorts. But if the Flash wears shorts, well it doesn’t iconic anymore.

I guess when it comes to superheroes, even when under the pretense of practicality it still has to be showier than what actual athletes wear.

Scarlet Soccer

Like I said, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch for Barry to actually play soccer/football as a hobby and even using some techniques when combating his villains (especially if/when his powers are significantly limited) since there are already precedents for it. His own predecessor Jay Garrick was a school athlete turned scientist. (Though I also think it makes much more sense for him to gain super-speed if because he already had the conditioning for it beforehand.)

As in you need to start with something in order to eventually get better at it. Not to mention it perfectly deconstructs some of the problems with the Flash stories by offering odd possibilities. What if Barry Allen’s rather dissatisfied with his day job that he wants to pursue his true passion? Brian May used to be in the band Queen and was studying astrophysics before he got there. Then he finally pursued his goal of being a scientist.

It’s probably not unique to him but that’s still saying. There are also some science-minded people who do partake in sports in one way or another, my own relative likes science a lot and they participate in marathons every weekend. Usain Bolt’s the verified fastest man alive and he went from sprinting to playing football. It’s really not that big of a stretch.

But that necessitates much more outside influences in order for it to work as well as Barry Allen changing his tactics to something much more plausible (i.e. kicking balls at enemies to stop them or at least kicking balls to make his escape when necessary).

Playing by the new rules

I suspect should Barry Allen’s son Don end up as a footballer or if Barry himself actually played soccer/football in his spare time, it would deconstruct some of the problems with Barry’s prior characterisation. It’s not necessarily wrong to be bad at your job but the odd fact that some people end up having new jobs after finding their true calling or whatever’s telling. Brian Mays is the former guitartist for Queen and he’s currently an astrophysicist.

Not to mention it’s actually not much of a stretch for somebody who’s into science in some way or another to also be into sports. My own relative likes science a lot and they partake in running every weekend. I myself both enjoy certain sciences and sports (like football). It’s actually not much of a stretch for Barry to do weekend running himself or playing football/soccer with his children either.

Though that’ll also mean most Flash writers don’t bother thinking outside of the box to make the Flash actually believable in any way. In the sense that they never bothered to look up on sports enough to know what an actual speedster would be like. I mean Usain Bolt’s the verified world’s fastest man and he not only used to be a sprinter, he’s also playing football now.

Again not much of a stretch for Barry to be athletically inclined in some way or another or at least have an interest in sports. It would actually be realistic but because there are already science-minded people who also partake in sports and that Usain Bolt’s the verified fastest man alive who went from sprinter to footballer. Which makes it a way too logical possibility to be dismissed.

Comicsgate and Odd Standards

There are some people who suspect that Comicsgate’s about excluding diversity. In the sense that not too many Comicsgaters complain about badly written stories with white male characters in it. Let alone without devolving into childish insults. I suspect not too many Comicsgaters do it because that would mean objectively realising something, even what they like, kind of sucks.

Not so much because they don’t rob banks anymore but rather a matter of not taking characters to where they’d naturally go…often. Or making them use their powers more constructively without resorting to feats. In Barry Allen’s case, I suspect in limiting his super speed to just running and doing tasks quickly he’d seem boring.

Even though he’d end up genuinely cleverer and better suited to escapology when you think about it. He could easily escape his ordeal before it even happened and evade enemies before they get to him. Realistically, Barry would be more at home with actual athletes. That’s me knowing about sprinter Usain Bolt doing football.

And one of my relatives involved in marathons. That’s certainly attempted before but not very often because that involves rethinking Barry’s character, with the odd feeling that he’s much more athletically inclined than most would realise or intended to. That’s something most Comicsgaters don’t bother thinking about.

That certain heterosexual white male characters objectively suck because that’ll involve ways of heavily rethinking the character but to the point of changing its personality and purpose considerably. It even happened to a Marvel character before.

Nate Grey started out as a hugely overpowered youth until some writers came to salvage him by making him more altruistic. It’s like all their complaints about POCs and women characters can be said of their white male counterparts. This may not always be the case.

But I suspect by objectively looking at certain characters and why they seem boring, it’s a matter of realising that there’s something really wrong with them. Not necessarily cherry-picking. But more of a matter of having to diagnose said problems and what to do with it. Not just with female characters and POCs but also white male characters too.