Negativity Sucks

This is now Overanalyzing Bart Allen: The Blog.

All this Impulse talk has put me in the mood for fanfiction.

I wonder if I could get away with a really long fancomic…?

iris-wiane:

Would it be Spitfire 2.0 with Impulse?

Excuse me if I’m not making a lick of sense. I’m basically running on coffee and grilled cheese at the moment, but…

No. No it would not. And here’s just one reason why: His characterization in the cartoons is consistent with the way Mark Waid and Peter David wrote him in the comics (with adaptations to the show of course).

Reason number two: Spitfire was all about the taming of Wally West’s primary sexual attraction.

Bart Allen does not express his primary sexual attraction in the same way that Wally does. He does not need the sexual development that a relationship like that would bring him. In fact, I’d cite the Impulse comics and go as far to say that he’s demisexual; that is, he doesn’t have primary sexual attraction and only secondary sexual attraction is a thing for him—just look at his interactions with White Lightning and Carol. The only time that’s ever not been the case is when he was written by authors who didn’t get him or when he was with the guys in Young Justice and likely aping Kon’s behavior as a way to act out when he was not under the watchful eyes of Max (he was more of a natural ladies man than Kon ever was but that’s neither here nor there).

Impulse is not and has never been the shallow butthead that Wally was in season one. Therefore he has no need for a Spitfire. Swapping out the complexities of Bart’s and Cissie’s relationship for a rehash of a previous character arc is both untrue to the character and bad writing.

If they were going to draw a parallel to Wally’s character arc (and it really wasn’t much of one at all) in the first season with the second season’s speedster involved then it would be truer to his character for him to be in Artemis’ past role, as he often was in the comics. In fact, White Lightning called him Spitfire in the comics! There’s an idea. Bring in an aged down White Lightning and have him try to reform her like in the comics. Bam! Spitfire 2.0, right there. But then, that seems like a story that would never fit in the show. If they really wanted Bart to be the one calming down then Carol Bucklen would be the comics character for it. But then, she wouldn’t work for a number of reasons similar to the White Lightning example above.

My point in this digression filled, scatterbrained response is this; Bart doesn’t need a spitfire. All he needs is some positive experiences and some friends and some genuine experiences with those friends. He needs to realize the good that he can do for other people beyond his future-saving efforts and fighting bad guys. His character has far more interesting places to go than the taming of a primary sexual attraction that we are not yet sure even exists in this incarnation.

I’m not saying that Bart/Cissie is invalid, or that it should not happen. I’m all for it.

I just want people to realize that it is a different story entirely from Spitfire and that comparisons between the two would only serve to the detriment of Bart’s and Cissie’s relationship.

kingburu:

juniperjazz:

kingburu:

tigerseye-1:

Bart has green/blue eyes instead of gold ones.

He had gold eyes that represented his connection to the Speed Force. 

There’s no Speed Force, so there’s no gold eyes, and no way to explain that in the show. Barry and Iris both have green eyes, so he’d inherit those? 

His eyes weren’t yellow because of the Speed Force. Barry’s and Wally’s, as well as Don’s, Dawn’s, Jai’s, and Irey’s eyes weren’t yellow either.

They’re yellow because his mother was a Thawne, and the Thawnes’ signature trait is yellow eyes. The Thawnes (Reverse-Flashes) and Allens (Flashes) basically had a war going on between them for hundreds of years.

His yellow eyes were a dramatic symbol for the Thawne blood in him and his connection to both of those legacies.

That’s my bad then. But according to the story, it’s only forty years into the future, there has yet to be a mention of the Thawnes, and there’s a slim chance for that to be mentioned? It’s Earth-16, so things are most likely different in that sense? Not saying Bart’s father didn’t marry Meloni, but…yeah. At least it’s not some random color of the spectrum, and Barry’s eyes in the comics, for a majority, are blue. So they’re green, like his grandpa’s? 

Certainly. I’m not saying that his eyes should not be a different color in Earth 16. If they’re not adapting the Thawnes—and I see no real reason to in the context of this series—I have no problem with them changing his eye color to match Barry’s or Iris’. It makes sense given the focus, tone, and timeline of the series.

kingburu:

tigerseye-1:

Bart has green/blue eyes instead of gold ones.

He had gold eyes that represented his connection to the Speed Force. 

There’s no Speed Force, so there’s no gold eyes, and no way to explain that in the show. Barry and Iris both have green eyes, so he’d inherit those? 

His eyes weren’t yellow because of the Speed Force. Barry’s and Wally’s, as well as Don’s, Dawn’s, Jai’s, and Irey’s eyes weren’t yellow either.

They were yellow because his mother was a Thawne, and the Thawnes’ signature trait is yellow eyes. The Thawnes (Reverse-Flashes) and Allens (Flashes) basically had a war going on between them for hundreds of years.

His yellow eyes were a dramatic symbol for the Thawne blood in him and his connection to both of those legacies.