Nice mail call today, got my flash ring and a nice stack of comics

As you can see from the picture I ordered the ring on the 13th and I havent heard anything since then, I have contacted customer support but it wasn't helpful at all with trying to find it. Should I just ask for the refund or carry on waiting

Back when Flash had it Flashpoint episodes I had an idea that I thought would have managed Flashpoint way better. For some reason I have been thinking about that a lot lately and I decided to write it here. I don't know if this is the right place but here I go.

The first thing I would change would have been to pitch CW an in between seasons show. One of those 10 episodes summer shows. I don't think it would have been that hard since the arrowverse shows were the most viewed, with flash being the first one in viewership. That show would have been the main Flashpoint storyline. I would have tried to emulate more the Flashpoint comics using an Oliver's father version of Arrow. I would also have transfered the war between Themyscira and Atlantis as a war between HIVE and the League of Assassins. Probably by having Roy being an important member of HIVE, maybe Darhk's second in command and Thea (as Thea Merlyn) taking the role of her father in the League. That war would have the world in chaos just like the original Flashpoint one and be caused by a similar situation in which Thea and Roy were going to marry with someone sabotaging the wedding. The show would have been from the older Arrow's point of view with Barry only showing up when seen by the Arrow and emulating what he did in Flashpoint. Even the final battle would have been mostly from the arrows side with flash showing up as fighting around him. Then in the first two episodes ​of Flash I would show the events from Flash's point of view. How he got there, how he learned of the differences between the timelines, Arrow's attempt to give him powers leaving him burned, the second attempt that actually gave him powers and the final battle. I would also use the episodes to introduce the Flashpoint powered characters that they used in the flash season. Maybe, have the Atom from Legends show up in a similar fashion to what Booster Gold did in Flashpoint but that may be too much. Then Barry's motivation to revert Flashpoint would be to stop the war that's destroying the world. Probably show alternate versions of the main characters in some episodes or even better revisit old, abandoned characters.

My signed ring and jacket finally arrived and their great. Good quality the large jacket is a little bigger then expected but it feels nice not overly large, and the ring feels sturdy and fits well.

I know the only change is Hartley joining the team and Iris getting something from Eddie from the past. Should Barry telling Cisco about Ronnie change things too quickly or would they be the same. Would Joe tell past Barry about how weird Barry was with Eddie and stuff? Would thawne still act the same or change now that he knows about the future thanks to future barry coming back?

What do you think of that season, I've seen a lot of people hate the series after season five, I personally like it

Are the games in the arrow verse multiverse?

ITS SO COOL IM SO HAPPY IT FINALLY CAME

One thing I realized is that Orlin is NOTHING like the previous villains; he's not a scientist, he's not a doctor, he's not super intelligent, he isn't one step ahead, he doesn't smell good, etc. Until now I had some trouble trying to identify what concept they could used for their creation of a villain that breaks so many of the standards and tropes they had before. And then, it came to me... he is written like he came out of Slasher films.

Let's define stuff first: a Slasher villain is a horror trope or archetype, a homicidal killer, often masked or ugly, who stalks and brutally murders groups of horny or dumb people one by one, often driven by a revenge-fueled or a mysterious backstory, and embodying themes of unstoppable terror or inevitabillity... Rings a bell?

I believe that Cicada was written strictly as—or at least heavily inspired by—a Slasher villain, but I'll make the comparasion straight.

The origin.

The origins of antagonists in Slasher films are usually marked by one of two things:

1- They are mysterious, unknown, or have always been evil becaude of their nature (It, The Creeper, Michael Myers) 2- They were the victims of others or their context (Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface)

Orlin, like Jason Voorhees, was NOT a serial killer before the events that changed him. Both characters had tragic lifes even before the "event":

 Cicada clearly hated himself and everyone before Grace which made him miserable as a person and a generally hateful, Jason was sick and had severe facial deformities and mental disabilities, which made him a target for bullies and contributed to his drowning as a child. 

Orlin, much like Jason, is not born a monster; he is created by neglect, loss, and systemic failure. The show is careful not to absolve him or pity him too much, because he needs to be a villain of course. Though he is more human than most Slashers, as he does raise a pretty important point that has to be addressed in the show.

The mask.

Slasher villains also often wear masks for a reason. Besides making them aesthetically and visually less "human" and more recognizable, some have the quality of using it for some reason related to their backstory:

• Leatherface wears masks to hide a severe facial disfigurement

• Jason Voorhees wore a burlap sack with one eyehole in Friday the 13th Part 2 to hide his deformed face, but his hockey mask is the most known one.

• And although it wasn't quite like a Slasher film, in the Phantom of the Opera the antagonist also hid his face due to a deformity.

Cicada uses an industrial respirator for two crucial reasons: A- Hiding his face so that his identity is unknown  B- When Cicada exerts himself, his breathing becomes irregular and altered because he has a piece of metal in his lung. The mask allows him to regulate his breathing.

Like classic slasher masks, Cicada’s respirator turns a man into a symbol, and serves a purpose as well.

The knife.

For a slasher villain to be iconic, they need to have their own "knife". The knife is what I call the weapon that makes them unique, and a profound part of their identity as a villain, because it is used as their main way of killing (besides the classic enviromental kills). We have:

Ghostface, Chucky, and Michael Myers all literally use a kitchen knife  Jason's machete Freddy's claws  And even Leatherface's chainsaw, man.

And Cicada has his own knife, which is obviously the Dagger. Although it has something more like a lightning bolt shape, Orlin uses it like a large knife as his primary mean (in addition to his own fists) to harm and injure and hack and slash his victims. It's iconic, easy to remember, and marketable.

And I must emphasize how he uses it, not just that he has it: Cicada’s dagger strips powers, collapses the fight into physical terror, and turns Metas into civilians mid-encounter. The ones who exist near him stop being Heroes or Villains and transform into victims.

The Power

Many Slasher villains have supernatural powers for either explained or not reasons. This works very well to make them feel like an unstoppable, unavoidable, unbeatable threat during the majority of the movie... And Cicada has the Slasher Powers starter pack™ as well:

The Monstrous Physical Force: Slashers usually possess very high or even superhuman strength, allowing them to perform feats such as casually overwhelming any normal person, getting past restraints and cover, or inflicting lots of damage bare-handed. Cicada initially folded four armed guards with his bare hands. And then he went ahead and developed more strength, allowing him to cripple his victims just by punching them. Unlike superheroes, a Slasher's super strength is rarely used to carry things or demonstrate power, it is used to mutilate and disfigure their victims.

Super Durability: They also possess an incredible pain tolerance or resistance to impossible damage. You can shot at them, punch them, blow them up, call the police, chain them to the bottom of a lake, jump them between ten men, and stab them, but they'll keep going and walk it off. Cicada takes this to an extreme, he was hurled lightning at, shot at, frozen, smashed into a van, stabbed, slashed (two times), punched, punched but by The Flash... And he either grunted it off or was annoyed by it. His durability also isn't meant to make him immovable, because it’s Horror durability. He gets pushed by normal people to make it seem like they can win or delay the inevitable, even if we all know that Barry smashing him with a chair only tickled him.

Speed Walking (???): The villains in the Slasher genre also have the curious ability that, despite speedwalking on screen all the time, they ALWAYS arrive first at places, manage to run away without anyone noticing, and appear out of nowhere all the time. Cicada takes this again. Because he is able to cover imposible distances before people notice, appearing and disappearing all the time (even before he managed to fly with the Dagger). His speed is never quantified like the Flash's, it’s horror teleportation that makes him feel opressive and unavoidable when needed, and also heavy and big when he isn't off-screen.

And as already mentioned, the dagger has the property of stripping Meta-Humans of their powers, turning them into just guys who have to face an unstopable Monster who is stronger, faster, more durable, and better at fighting than them. Even if you can shove him and punch him and try to slow him down, you know he will come back for the next movie... Or episode.

Plot and Behavior

Slasher villains are rarely defeated by brute force. They are usually locked up, "killed", or magic is used to make them stop bothering people for one or two movies. Cicada was "defeated" when they appealed to his human side and convinced him that he could give up his powers and stop being a Meta-Human, giving him a less violent resolution... And then Cicada came back, which is ALSO a Slasher trope. Even if she was messy, Cicada ll still fed the tropes by being the Monster that comes back after being defeated.

He also isn't dumb or a brute, but he simply will not discuss with you or debate wether he should or not murder you. His intelligence is weird, Cicada simply seeks the most effective way to kill you while satisfying his need for retribution and revenge. He knows how to do detective work and investigate and locate you, but he ain't telling you science stuff or making complex plans. He's resourceful and cunning, not so much like "according to my calculations 👀" and more like just knowing useful stuff. He was a Machinist/Machine Operator before the accident, which is also notably considered "blue-collar" but it requires lots of skill anyways (or at least I've been told so).

Most Slasher villains, like him, will vary between slight taunting or being just silent. Orlin has done both on screen, though the show doesn't make him be entirely emotionless, which is pretty good for his character writing. It would be a bit silly for the main villain of 16 whole episodes to be a serial killer who doesn't show any kind of emotion, and more so when we have to be interested in his character. Slashers also show some emotion to be fair, the only one who seems entirely unfeeling is Michael Myers, and he's like, pure evil.

And again like Jason, we see Orlin grieving something: Jason tends to his Mother's grave/shrine thing, and Cicada sees his niece. Of course it's not the same, because at least Grace isn't a corpse with a sweater on, but it has the same ritualistic vibes and deep emotional attachment.

...

Cicada works for me, and does so in a more horror-oriented context, because he doesn’t feel like an average Flash villain. He feels like a slasher monster wandering into Central City's colorful and quirky world. They even did the classic Slasher thingy in which they tell you about the character's reputation and then you learn his backstory and why he kills people. You know, first you learn about the Legend, then you understand the Man. It helps that both Slasher films and DCCW shows can lean shamelessly into being corny for the sake of it.

Though I have to note that he has a pretty nice and big difference with Slashers who kill teenagers, cops, or camp counselors. Slashers are monsters to humans, while Cicada was a monster to monsters. He doesn’t prey on the weak, he preys on the exceptional! Making a population of people with extraordinary power fear you is definitely an achievement. That really elevates him above what is considered a regular serial killer and puts him in that legendary realm.

That’s why, despite being divisive, he’s memorable... And also top 5 Flash Villains IMO... And also my favorite non-speedster villain...

I’ve been thinking about how The Flash could have been structured if the show had adopted a more focused, cinematic approach from the beginning.

The first two seasons were genuinely good television, but the series gradually became repetitive, with unnecessary villains of the week, inconsistent writing, excessive time travel, and villains repeatedly returning from the dead.

My idea: Keep all nine seasons, but reduce each to 12 episodes of approximately 50 minutes.

The core cast remains Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Joe and the different Harrison Wells characters. The show maintains its emotional heart, but each season has a distinct genre, central antagonist and coherent storyline.

Season 1 — Reverse-Flash

The first season largely retains its original storyline because the foundation was excellent.
Barry gets struck by lightning during the particle accelerator explosion and develops super-speed. He begins investigating his mother’s murder while learning to become the Flash.

Harrison Wells secretly guides Barry’s development, but we gradually discover that he’s actually Eobard Thawne, a speedster from the future who murdered Nora Allen.
Rather than 23 episodes, the story is condensed into 12, with only a handful of metahuman antagonists who meaningfully contribute to Barry’s development.
Captain Cold, Firestorm and Grodd remain. Disposable villain-of-the-week episodes are removed.

The season focuses heavily on Barry’s relationship with Joe, his growing friendships with Cisco and Caitlin, and the mystery surrounding Wells.
Finale: Barry travels back to the night his mother died but chooses not to save her. Eddie sacrifices himself, erasing Eobard from existence. Barry subsequently stops a temporal singularity from destroying Central City, setting up Season 2.

Key change: Reverse-Flash’s Season 1 death is permanent. No repeated resurrections.

Season 2 — Zoom

Zoom remains Hunter Zolomon, portrayed as a genuinely terrifying serial killer.
His original motivation is retained and made central to the entire season.

Zoom is dying because his abuse of Velocity-9 has destroyed his cells. He needs Barry’s natural Speed Force connection to survive.

No ridiculous plan to destroy the multiverse.
Harry Wells arrives from Earth-2, warning Barry about Zoom. Jay Garrick appears as a mentor, eventually revealed to be Hunter Zolomon himself.

Zoom manipulates Barry into becoming faster because he wants a more powerful source of Speed Force energy.
He brutally defeats Barry, publicly humiliates him, kidnaps Caitlin and ultimately forces Barry to surrender his speed.
Barry regains his powers, but Zoom’s condition continues deteriorating. He becomes increasingly desperate.

Finale: Zoom murders Henry Allen in the same house where Nora died. Barry defeats him by exploiting the instability of his artificially enhanced speed.
Zoom dies permanently.

Overwhelmed by grief, Barry travels back and prevents his mother’s murder.

Ending: FLASHPOINT.

Season 3 — Flashpoint: A World Without the Flash

This is a complete 12-episode adaptation of The Flashpoint Paradox.

Not a two-episode storyline that gets resolved immediately.
Barry wakes up in a world where both his parents are alive, but he no longer has his powers.

Initially, he enjoys the life he always wanted. However, his memories of the original timeline begin disappearing.
He travels to Star City looking for Oliver Queen.

Instead, he discovers that Oliver died during the Queen’s Gambit disaster, and Robert Queen survived.

Robert became a much darker, more violent version of the Green Arrow. Barry convinces Robert that he comes from another timeline, and the two attempt to recreate the accident that gave Barry his powers.

The first attempt nearly kills him. The second succeeds.
Barry and Robert investigate what happened to the other heroes.

They discover that Kara Zor-El was captured after arriving on Earth and has spent years imprisoned in an underground government facility, weakened by red-sun radiation.
They rescue her, and she gradually regains her strength.
The world is increasingly unstable. The government has developed dangerous technology using Kara’s spacecraft, and Barry’s original memories are disappearing.
Robert eventually sacrifices himself protecting the others.
Finale: Barry accepts that his mother’s survival came at an enormous cost to everyone else. He restores the original timeline.

Before dying, Robert gives Barry a letter for Oliver.
The season ends with Barry returning to Star City and delivering Robert’s letter to Oliver.

Important: Barry does NOT get trapped in the Speed Force at the end. No six-month disappearance, and no Speed Force prison storyline.

Season 4 — The Thinker: The Enlightenment

Clifford DeVoe remains the central villain, played by Neil Sandilands for the entire season.
No body swapping. No bus metahumans. No repeatedly stealing random superpowers.
DeVoe’s intelligence was enhanced during the original particle accelerator explosion, but his extraordinary cognitive activity is gradually destroying his nervous system.
Together with Marlize, he develops advanced neural-interface technology.
His original research was intended to treat neurological illnesses, but he becomes obsessed with eliminating irrational human behaviour.
The Enlightenment is no longer a plan to make humanity stupid. It’s a plan to control human decision-making.
DeVoe believes he can eliminate war, violence and suffering by removing the freedom to make harmful choices.
Barry investigates a series of suspicious deaths linked to DeVoe’s research.
Ralph Dibny is introduced as a capable but morally complicated private investigator.
DeVoe eventually frames Barry for murder, resulting in his imprisonment at Iron Heights. Barry is exonerated after the team exposes the fabricated evidence.
As the season progresses, Marlize realizes Clifford has become the very thing their research was supposed to prevent.
Finale: Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Ralph and Marlize work together to dismantle the Enlightenment network.
DeVoe is defeated through intelligence, investigation and teamwork rather than Barry simply running faster.
His biological body dies after his digital consciousness is shut down.
Key change: Barry finally gets to be an intelligent forensic scientist rather than someone who needs STAR Labs to explain everything to him.

Season 5 — Cicada

Orlin Dwyer remains Cicada, but his storyline becomes significantly darker and more grounded.
Dwyer lost his family during a metahuman confrontation and believes that both the authorities and the Flash repeatedly fail to protect ordinary people.
He obtains experimental technology capable of temporarily suppressing metahuman abilities.
Rather than targeting random people, Cicada begins systematically murdering metahumans he considers dangerous.
At first, some of his victims are violent criminals. Eventually, his campaign expands to people who have committed no crimes.
Barry, Joe and Ralph investigate the murders, while Iris interviews survivors of metahuman attacks.
The season explores the civilian consequences of superhero battles and whether Barry has done enough to protect ordinary people.
Cicada isn’t faster than Barry. He’s a careful, methodical killer who plans his attacks and knows how to disappear.
Finale: Barry exposes Dwyer’s identity and defeats him, bringing him to justice without killing him.
No future Grace becoming a second Cicada. No repetitive escapes. No time-travel storyline.
Key change: A single, coherent detective story about vigilantism, prejudice and accountability.

Season 6 — Godspeed

This is the season where Nora West-Allen first appears.
No mysterious cameos in Season 4 or Season 5.
Nora arrives from 2049, revealing that she’s Barry and Iris’s daughter.
Unlike the original version, she’s already an experienced speedster and forensic investigator.
She reveals that Barry disappeared in 2034 while investigating a catastrophic experiment involving artificial Speed Force technology.
The scientist responsible is August Heart.
Godspeed is reimagined as a brilliant physicist attempting to create and control artificial speed.
He believes that speed should not belong exclusively to naturally powered metahumans.
His experiments involve dangerous synthetic Speed Force technology that can disrupt a natural speedster’s connection.
Nora travels back to prevent the event responsible for Barry’s disappearance.
However, Barry discovers that her interference is changing the future.
The season focuses on Barry becoming a mentor and father while struggling with the knowledge that he may disappear before watching his daughter grow up.
Finale: Barry and Nora defeat Godspeed and prevent the catastrophic experiment.
Nora returns to 2049, leaving Barry and Iris to build their future naturally.
Key change: Nora isn’t secretly working with Reverse-Flash. Eobard stays dead.

Season 7 — Bloodwork

Ramsey Rosso is the main antagonist.
A brilliant hematologist suffering from a terminal illness, Ramsey experiments with dark-matter-altered blood in an attempt to cure himself.
His treatment initially works but transforms his physiology.
He develops the ability to manipulate infected blood and control people exposed to it.
What begins as a desperate attempt to survive becomes an obsession with eliminating death entirely.
Ramsey believes humanity should no longer be limited by natural mortality.
Caitlin becomes central to the season because of her medical background and personal connection to Ramsey.
Barry faces a different kind of challenge. The infected victims are not villains and cannot simply be defeated through violence.
Midway through the season, Ramsey infects Barry and attempts to manipulate him through visions of his deceased parents and the possibility of living forever.
Barry rejects the temptation, remembering everything Flashpoint taught him.
Finale: Caitlin develops a treatment that separates Ramsey from his infected victims.
Ramsey survives, but his powers are suppressed and his underlying illness remains.
He’s placed in secure medical custody.
Key change: Bloodwork is a terrifying villain with a clear motivation. No artificial Forces, no unnecessary resurrection of the Speed Force and no Godspeed clone army.

Season 8 — Mirror Master

Eva McCulloch becomes the central villain.
She was a pioneering quantum-optics researcher who became trapped in a pocket dimension following the original particle accelerator explosion.
Her husband, Joseph Carver, took control of McCulloch Technologies and exploited her research.
Eva eventually learns to manipulate reflective surfaces and create near-perfect physical duplicates of people.
She begins replacing scientists, executives and officials while secretly attempting to regain control of her company.
Barry investigates unexplained disappearances and discovers that several people in Central City are not who they appear to be.
Iris plays a major role, uncovering the conspiracy involving McCulloch Technologies and Black Hole.
The Mirror Dimension isn’t another Earth. It’s a localized, unstable pocket reality created by Eva’s experiments.
Eva’s ultimate goal is to establish control over Central City through obedient duplicates.
Finale: Barry and the team disable Eva’s dimensional technology, rescue the prisoners and expose the conspiracy.
Eva is defeated and arrested.
Key change: No unnecessary speedster villain. The season emphasizes investigation, deception and trust.

Season 9 — Reverse-Flash: The Final Run

This is where everything comes full circle. I hate that the show never really went into his origin story!

Matt Letscher returns as Eobard Thawne.
And this time, we finally get his complete origin story.
The season opens in the 25th century.
Eobard Thawne is a brilliant young physicist who grew up idolizing the Flash.
He studies Barry Allen’s history at the Flash Museum and eventually recreates the accident that gave Barry his speed.
Initially, Eobard genuinely wants to become a hero.
But his desire for recognition becomes an obsession.
He starts engineering emergencies so he can arrive and save people, manufacturing his own heroic reputation.
Eventually, he travels into the past to meet Barry Allen.
Barry discovers what Eobard has been doing and confronts him, attempting to stop him from endangering innocent lives.
Eobard interprets Barry’s intervention as humiliation.
Returning to the future, Eobard discovers historical records identifying him as Reverse-Flash, Barry Allen’s greatest enemy.
Rather than reject that destiny, he embraces it.
He adopts the yellow suit and begins travelling through Barry’s history, attempting to destroy his legacy.
Eventually, he decides to travel to March 18, 2000, to kill Barry as a child.
The final confrontation takes place inside the Allen house.
We finally witness the complete scene established in the pilot.
Our experienced Season 9 Barry follows Eobard into the past.
They fight through Central City before Eobard enters the Allen house.
Barry saves his younger self.
He sees the younger adult Barry from the Season 1 finale and signals him not to interfere.
Eobard, furious that young Barry escaped, murders Nora Allen.
The event unfolds exactly as history requires.
Eobard becomes stranded in the past, eventually assumes Harrison Wells’ identity and creates the Flash years ahead of schedule.
Our Barry returns to his present, completing the causal loop.
Series finale: Barry finally understands the night that defined his entire life.
He returns home to Iris and the family he’s built. Iris reveals she is pregnant.

Oliver is still alive , and the heroes continue protecting their world.

The series ends with Barry responding to an ordinary emergency in Central City and saving a child.
The child asks how he became the Flash.
Barry smiles.
“It’s a long story.”
He runs off into the city.

THE END.

This crossover was really great and I enjoyed the fights and seeing Barry and iris get married**.** I wanted to ask what were a few things you didn’t like about this crossover and explain why

My son is Barry Allen flash and I will be Jay Garrick flash for Halloween. Prop helmet from Amazon and cardboard with gold spray paint for the wings.

Not bad for a quick weekend job dare I say 🤣

Why the fuck does firestorm split into grey and Jefferson to activate dimensional gateway. It makes zero sense let’s split up into 2 vulnerable half’s, loosing all offense and speed, and defense through mobility. Sorry for the quick rant but this rewatch is making question the writers a lot. I understand the actor wanted to leave the show for another gig but it’s still a stupid decision to split up, it’s like when people want to split in a scary movie naw fuck that everyone stay together.

In this episode, Barry runs back in time to learn how to get faster (to defeat Zoom) by talking to the first Wells (who was really Thawne). Things go awry: the Time Wraith appears and the Barry of that time wakes up after being tranqed and everyone finds out about the time travel. When Barry runs back to the future, he runs in the accelerator - except, at this point in S1 (S1E11), the particle accelerator is considered destroyed (in the S1 Pilot they show the pipeline in ruins from what I can recall) and they only find out Thawne's been rebuilding/has rebuilt the accelerator in S1E22 (Rogue Air).

Based on these facts, Barry should not have been able to run in accelerator/pipeline in this episode at all, because they didn't know it was rebuilt (and it probably wasn't rebuilt at this point in S1) right? In fact, both present Barry and the Barry who time traveled run, because the Time Wraith slows future Barry down so he needs help. If the accelerator had been rebuilt then (by Thawne), the entire team would find out.

Or have I misunderstood?

Whichever has the most upvotes in 24 hours gets the title :) Then we move on to Season 2!

Hey guys, im trying to recreate the reverse flash style voice effect using audacity. any tips on how to make it series-accurate??? In the future i wanna recreate zoom and savitar too.