VID: Apple Candy [DC Trinity OT3]

[beccatoria]

Title: Apple Candy
Video: DC Animated
Audio: Apple Candy // Ben Lee
Summary: I want you, and I want him. [Wonder Woman/Superman/Batman OT3]
Vidder's Notes: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, chaila. I'M SORRY IT'S LATE BUT NOW THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS YOUR our SECRET SHAME.

PASSWORD: vidses

Apple Candy

Direct download available here. RightClickSaveAs. 70 megs approx.

Cross-posted to vidding and vidding

Other vids available here.

Comments

[lilly_the_kid]

Awww, this is wonderful in every way!!! :)

[beccatoria]

Awww thank you! :D

[alwaystheocean]

I HAVEN'T EVEN WATCHED IT YET AND I NEED TO SCREAM SOME MORE ABOUT THE SONG CHOICE OMG BECKA ILU

[alwaystheocean]

OK I HAVE WATCHED IT NOW

It's BEAUTIFUL

NO REALLY

I kind of can't do anything but scream with delight at its existence though, can I try again tomorrow?!

I do have a lot of feelings about the way you've used such a ...cutesy? song and then it's all about how they throw buildings and wrestle lightning to alleviate their feelings.

Also of course it's Diana's POV and it's LOVELY.

Ughhhh.

Sorry.

More later.

But it's really great.

(Tomorrow I might be embarrassed I hit send on this comment.)

[beccatoria]

DO NOT BE EMBARRASSED OR PUT OFF BY HOW LONG I TOOK TO REPLY IT WAS ONLY BECAUSE I HAD A HORRIBLE COLD BUT AWESOME RESPONSES LIKE THIS HELPED ME THROUGH THE TRAGEDY OF BAD SINUSES. <3

Ugh, I'm so happy you liked the song cus that was sort of why it turned into something so...terribly TERRIBLY earnest instead of the shorter, less embarrassing vidlet it was originally conceived as. I was gonna use something different but then I heard this and I was like, no, no Becka, you can't. You can't do that. Unless you cannnnn....

I think part of what charms be about the song itself is the way it's so innocent and honest and simple - it's so accepting and loving, but also about something traditionally looked at with suspicion, or spoken of in metaphor - with awkwardness. But the song is just, no, triad relationship, no misunderstandings about what I mean, or that it's appropriate to use it in a love song as if it were any other sort of relationship.

Which, if I'm being suuuuuuuuuper pretentious I'd say maybe fits with the lightning and building wrestling in some way. It's about subverting expectations, but not with snarky superiority, just with acceptance and simplicity. Of course you can have a sweet and innocent love song about a threesome and of course a cutesey adorable love song is applicable to lightning wrestling gods...?

But uh, yeah. I'm sort of fundamentally untrustworthy when it comes to my objectivity with regards to this OT3. *cries into a pillow*

(But also, awww, thank you, I am so happy you like it.)

[alwaystheocean]

I'M SORRY I ALSO TOOK SO LONG TO REPLY BUT I HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER NOW <3!!

I'm SO GLAD you did do that! I DEFINITELY love the song. I think of it as the OT3 song so I'm glad the Trinity get to have it too. <3

And YES, agree, I love that triads get to have a sweet, honest love song, because that type of song is overwhelmingly reserved for monogamy, when the sentiment is universal.

But yes, EXACTLY!!

Seriously, I love this OT3 SO MUCH and I'm so glad you and chaila have this problem cuz it produces stuff like this!!

(I do, I DO like it so much. I'm SO GLAD it exists. :D :D <3)

[chaila]

I am now devoid of all self-respect, but in exchange I am full of feelings and joy, so I consider it a more than fair exchange. <3

LOOK I DID WHOLE SENTENCE WITHOUT CAPSLOCK.

I am so glad you emailed me this already, so I could do all my embarrassing freaking out to you in private. I LOVE IT ALL. I love that it's all about the big, amazing things they do, and little things like Kal's capacity for showing actual affection to his adopted baby heroes, and Diana loving EVERYONE , and Batman riding a motorcycle away from his feelings, and respect and admiration and looooonging. Superheroes in love, I ACCEPT IT.

Parts I am never over:

THE EDGE IN YOUR AFFECTION BROKE MY SKIN, Diana totally picking up Kal while he holds up a plane (I FEEL YOU, DIANA), sad Batman in the water when Diana and Kal's boots land behind him THAT IS ALL MY TRINITY FEELINGS IN ONE CLIP, Kal's hero shot at 1:58 BLESS HIM; lulz Batman's apply candy is BROODING AT A WINDOW ilu, allll the swordfighting Diana and being a badass and wiping away blood, and alllll the flying syncing up. Also everything else, for it is a perfectly sincere and PAINFULLY ACCURATE meditation on my OT3 problem and it is just what I would have wanted, had I ever even dared to hope for such a thing. :D

THANK YOU YOU'RE THE BEST WORST BEST. I am now going to go watch it so many more times that all my friends will be even more ashamed of me than they are already. <33333

[beccatoria]

I am indeed mightily impressed by your ability to maintain an even, non-capslock tone for an entire sentence. Watch as I do it for two, just to prove a point.

THANK GOD THAT'S OVER.

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY THIS RESPONSE IS SO GREAT.

Seriously just, all the bits I want you to like, you like, and I'm just so damn happy you love the vid in exactly the way I hoped you would.

I don't even know why this OT3 means I can handle Batman but it does and that more than anything else convinces me it's too powerful to fight. SUPERHEROES IN LOVE. WHAT IF DIANA WAS THE AGELESS AND THE OLDEST, AND BRUCE WAS OLD AND CRANKY AND KAL WAS THE OPTIMISTIC BABY OF THE GROUP. I don't even.

*drowns in feelings and relief that I'm not alone drowning in feelings*

[chaila]

I don't even know why this OT3 means I can handle Batman but it does and that more than anything else convinces me it's too powerful to fight.

ATHENA HELP ME I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS.

I think this is probably super obvious and only retreading what you already know, but I think the reason I usually hate Batman isn't actually because he's all manpainy and falsely noble in ways that I think are actually selfish, it's because the narratives he's usually in AGREE WITH HIM that those traits are strengths of the character, instead of kind of sad character flaws resulting from trauma and the way he chooses to respond to situations. Like I wouldn't actually hate most of these manpainy dudes that are everywhere, if they weren't the main hero of every story, if we didn't have to spend time in a narrative that props them up and praises them more than it should. So I haaaaaaate Batman in his own comic, or Batman with the Batfamily, when he's the central hero, and the writers are a little too in love with him and think the sad things about him are a strength. HIS PARENTS ARE DEEEEAD, so he has to be ALOOOONE and the NIIIIIIGHT because of his great strength and resolve and commitment, isn't he self-sacrificing and heroic. Ugh. [Which isn't to say there aren't Batman stories that complicate him, I'm sure there are! But the sort of synthesized cultural understanding of him is one I find deeply obnoxious and selfish]

Whereas with the Trinity, he's necessarily among equals. In the good stories, Batman reacts like Batman, Superman reacts like Superman, and Wonder Woman reacts like Wonder Woman, and the result is an interesting tension among their world views and perspectives and characters, and the narrative doesn't constantly privilege any over the others. When he's with Kal and Diana, who can do all the things he can do and MORE, his Darkness and coldness don't get held up as a superhero strength or necessity or nobility; it's just Bruce, unable to be anything but Bruce. When he rides a motorcycle away from his feelings, I can smile affectionately, because the existence of Kal and Diana show he doesn't have to be that way to be heroic, he's just that way because of himself and his experiences. So when he's playing the third point on this triad, with conflicts and comparisons, pushing and pulling back and forth with both of them, who are more than equal to pushing and pulling back, the things that result can be actual interesting character studies and emotional depths, and FEEEEEEEELINGS, instead of me having to constantly be angry at the lack of critique of Batman the Noble.

tl;dr I still hate Batman when the narrative privileges his POV and character traits and constantly props him up, but when he's among equals, apparently I can find him to be an interesting character, at least in connection to other characters I like more.

[beccatoria]

AND NOW THAT I DON'T HAVE A COLD I STILL DON'T HAVE ANYTHING INTELLIGENT TO SAY BECAUSE OMFG YES ALL THAT.

No, but really, I don't think I'd find Batman fascinating even without all the social bullshit around him, but a lot of what I find actively awful about him is down to the way his perspective is privileged and the way the fact the narrative isn't allowed to fail him is used to vindicate his shitty behaviour. It's a weird ends-justifies-the-means mentality for a character who is supposedly all about immutable principles because the ends never justify the means. (NO GUNS. YOU CAN NEVER, EVER USE GUNS. EXCEPT FOR ON THE BATMOBILE. THEN IT'S OKAY I GUESS.)

But when you put him in a trinity of characters where the point are these contrasting viewpoints, it makes it clear he's not always right. And sometimes I'm still frustrated by the way his truly bizarre ideas are held up like legitimate counterpoints to Kal and Diana but not...not always and he's only a third of the whole. Which I think is why I like him more as part of the Trinity even than as part of a team-up. I mean, for sure, the Superman/Batman comic doesn't have my FAVOURITE character? And there's the reflexive annoyance of "Oh, of course, the BOYS," but setting that aside - presenting his views as an equal alternative of Kal's isn't as appealing as making his views an abberant angsty minority in a Trinity that essentially views the world as full of love and worthy of the same.

BLESS HIS LONELY ORPHANED LITTLE SOCKS HE'S SO CRANKY. *pats him*

[frayadjacent]

Aw, I don't know this ship much, but this was so wonderfully earnestly shippy and sincere and awesome. I really enjoyed it!

[beccatoria]

Yay, thank you! It was indeed earnestly shippy and sincere and I'm really glad that came across as a good, fun thing!

[garrideb]

I love OT3 vids, and I love Wonder Woman and Superman (and okay, Batman's pretty cool too) so this was really awesome even though I'd not considered them as an OT3 before. I was surprised to recognize some of the clips in the vid from a comic book I read ten years ago called Batman/Superman: Supergirl, so I guess they made an animated version of it?!? I'll have to look into that!

I loved your song and clip choice! The beginning with the origin stories worked really well, and I love the bit where WW and Supes descend into the frame where Batman is standing by his lonesome. I imagine that sums up the OT3 pretty well.

[beccatoria]

Aww, yay thank you! That clip really IS the summation of the OT3, I feel. ;)

(Also lolllll, Batman, yeah, I have...complicated Batman feelings, but I do like him as part of this OT3). And I'm super happy to have introduced you to the concept, because it's like the ultimate OT3! They're officially a Trinity! HOW CAN YOU NOT SHIP THAT! :p

The animated movie in question is "Superman/Batman: Apocalypse". It is based on that Supergirl arc and was supposed to be called, "Superman/Batman: Supergirl," but then they panicked because it had the word "girl" in it, so they changed it. But yeah, it's one of my favourites of the DC standalone animated movies.

[goodbyebird]

Very cute! I am mostly sitting her ein the corner by myself, loling at just how much more of a sulky baby Batman comes off as in this :D

[beccatoria]

Awwww, yay than you. That is ALWAYS an appropriate reaction to Batman and I'm sad I haven't got an icon as brilliant as yours to respond with. ♥

[metatxt]

YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO GIVE ME OT3 FEELS. what the fuck. ok FIRST -- FIRST: THEY ARE ALL BABIES. AND THEN I HAD FEELS ABOUT THEM BEING BABIES ALONE IN THE WORLD. AND THEN THEY HAD EACH OTHER...i never had a chance...BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL LIKE, BABIES AND NEW AND ALONE AND CONFUSED AND STUFF. BUT NOW THEY AREN'T! BECAUSE THEY ALL LOVE EACH OTHER AND FEEL UNDERSTOOD AND LOVED. *sigh*

Seriously though, this vid is not only an OT3 pimp vid, but it's like a pimp vid wrapped in a giant shippy snuggle because it's also just so sweeeeeeet. The complicated logic that sometimes accompanies ship vids (which I regularly enjoy) just doesn't exist here because you make it so plain and simple. It's like you just strip it so bare and make it so obvious that of course they're an OT3 and of course they're each others most important people. Of course their quiet vulnerable selves feel at home together and not just because of all of the saving the world stuff but because of all of their origin feelings and tbh, the constant queerness of being special and different.

I *adore* that this is in Diana's POV. TBH I've always felt like the OT3 hinges on Bruce, but this vid really highlights what Diana and Kal get in it. I mean, Diana and Kal are functional enough people to have a healthy relationship with several dozen people *pauses to think of all of those delightful ships*... but, Bruce is the guy who responds to his parents murders with *dressing up like a bat and being broody and alone in the world and pretending to be a functional adult* and his whole ego sort of depends on this idea of his necessary emotional isolation. And in this way, I sort of felt like he needed Diana and Kal more than they ever needed him?

But THIS VID! I love how you highlight Diana's delight in connecting with people. It makes it ring that much truer that she would be attracted to someone who struggles to connect or share emotional intimacy -- not in that fucked up because he's unavailable way -- but because Diana is always so generous of herself and curious and compassionate and just like pure love and she can *see him* in a way that most other people can't.

Anyhow, I feel like this vid really answers a lot of my lingering questions on the how-does-this-OT3-really-work sorta stuff and also just IT'S A GIANT SNUGGLE OF FEELINGS.

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO MENTION THAT I FOREVER ENJOY FURTHER INSTALLMENTS IN ONE OF MY FAVE RPF FRIENDSHIPS: BECCATORIA & CHAILA. <3 <3 <#

[beccatoria]

WAIT WAIT WAIT WHAT YOU COMMENTED ON THIS?

Argh, somehow I never got the notification and only just found this! And it's like the awesomest comment, too! ARGH.

But okay, now I have to reply. Which like firstly: <3 <3 <3 MWAHAHAHAHAAHAA I REGRET NOTHING.

But also yesss to all the things you said, that is exactly what I wanted to convey.

It is simple and sweet and stripped down and I think it has to be that way because Diana and Kal aren't cynical or broken enough to put up with anything else and it has to be something so innocent Bruce can't twist it up with his angst. There can't be any chinks in it. You can't let that in, or it...will just become another thing he broods over and the whole reason it's healthy is that Diana and Kal won't let him.

Because you're 100% completely and totally right that Batman is the messed up one who needs this but can't admit it.

(I totally don't have complicated OT3 headcanons about how Diana is obviously pansexual, Kal is predominantly heterosexual but has an exception when it comes to Bruce. Bruce assumes this is down to pity and angsts about it, but he's wrong, Kal's just completely at home in his own identity and of course he loves him, what even is the problem? Meanwhile Bruce is a very closeted, borderline-in-denial bisexual who is super angry about how he can't just FIX how ashamed and confused he feels about basically EVERY romantic relationship in his life regardless of gender. Diana and Kal offer him unconditional love and it freaks him the fuck out. So Diana and Kal let him pretend he's in charge of the situation and has it all under control, and him pretending he doesn't know they're all pretending is the closest he's gotten so far to accepting that terrifying concept of unconditional love. NOT THAT I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS OR ANYTHING).

Ugh, but the point is: IT IS A GIANT SNUGGLE OF FEELINGS IT ISSSS AND I'M SO GLAD I EXPLAINED THAT.

[tearful-eye.livejournal.com]

i don't even ship it & i've got hearts in my eyes ... such a wonderful vid!