robintherobiner

[robintherobiner]

wrote big post & deleted

So I'm a male victim of sexual violence and I've been kind of dreading getting to this storyline as a result of the fandom conversations around it, specifically because there's a weird vibe with a lot of fans of Talia al Ghul that this is bad and shouldn't have happened, Grant Morrison is a klansman, he hates Muslim women, blah blah blah.

The thing that I find bothersome isn't so much whether X or Y actually happened within the comics. My read of the Demon Trilogy (Birth, Bride and Son), is that it absolutely did, but Bruce was written according to these outmoded, toxically masculine standards of manhood at the time that characterise being assaulted as "getting lucky," or "who cares, she's hot." The reality is if the genders in that narrative were reversed we simply would not be having conversations like these, and that makes me deeply uncomfortable because I often see, both in comic book writing and in fandoms surrounding comic books, this downplay of how sexual violence affects men and whether those effects should even be considered, especially if they get in the way of conventional heteronormative sitcom-style relationship trajectories.

Nightwing incidentally has the worst of it. DC never seems to acknowledge or want to really explore that Tarantula raped him during Devin Grayson's run, something that never really has a meaningful resolution -- that storyline comes to a point where Dick is about to marry the bitch before War Games conveniently pulls him away. Tarantula ends up in prison but the sexual violence aspect seems minor compared to her breaking the Batman code and killing Blockbuster, and although Dick is upset and everything, it has more to do with the murder than the fact that he was raped. It's all extremely mishandled. Devin Grayson in interviews has also been uncertain whether she wrote a rape scene, saying shit like, "it wasn't rape, it was non-consensual sex."

But that's not what I want to bitch about. I don't really care about whether X or Y or Z happened or whether it's a retcon or whatever because when you place Batman & Son within its context after "Infinite Crisis," "One Year Later," and Talia within her context of "Death & The Maidens," this all actually fits really well as just where the characters are. Talia was Lazarus'd back into being a major villain and only a few years later we see her cordially discussing murdering children in Simone's Birds of Prey run. Bruce is now on the path to mental wellness, he's respecting himself, he's appearing in public as Brucie Wayne again, and it makes sense that he would now recontextualise what happened to him as, wait, they DID drug me and drag me overseas, try to force me to marry Talia, and then attempted to kill me when I wanted to leave -- gosh, there's a word for that, isn't there.

What I'm annoyed about is that often when this debate comes up in fandom the idea of exploring Batman as a survivor of sexual violence, something that Devin Grayson failed to do with Nightwing so spectacularly that her run is a meme in certain male survivor circles (not kidding; if you know you know), is rejected so thoroughly and dismissively. The last time I had this conversation (not a callout, ilu tumblr blogger who's username I don't remember) the person referred to it as "sexual weirdness." I see downplaying of the concept of sexual violence in forms like polite euphemisms or "it wasn't rape, it was non-consensual sex," or all kinds of other insane nonsense, all the time specifically in this conversation where the victim is male and it reflects the treatment of the issue outside of fandom and in real life.

It's like, people who want to relate to or discuss or understand the media through this lens, where Dick Grayson or Bruce Wayne are victims of sexual violence processing their thoughts and emotions regarding that in interesting, complex ways are sidelined in favour of people who really want the characters to fuck, marry and play happy families -- and this sometimes hits the point that involves outright hostility and petty, stupid reddit fights over shipping these characters. It's just a very exhausting, hostile space to inhabit.

fwiw I desire peace with the Brutalia nation and want to point out that these people do not fetishise the sexual assault of Bruce Wayne and usually ignore it instead. They are shipping a very different version of Talia with a very different version of Bruce, and I have no beef with that. James Bond Bruce Wayne and Bond Girl Talia IS cute and they are right to enjoy that.

My beef is with people who show up in the DMs to fight with you about Talia being a rapist or whatever when like, let people enjoy the canon Grant Morrison read of the storyline, Shiloh Connor. Chances are it wasn't written for you and means something important to someone else.

[robintherobiner]

a nosy socialite at an event, leaning down: “Oh Richard, it must be so hard for you in that house, what with Bruce’s…proclivities for nighttime guests.”

Dick Grayson, fully aware at age 13 that Bruce Wayne is a Loser™ whose only “nighttime guest” is Clark Kent, who comes over to “review cases” with Bruce before/after patrol while both of them awkwardly ignore any and all tension between them: “Something like that.”

[robintherobiner]

Thinking about that series on TikTok where canon batfamily characters meet their fanon counterparts and I think all canon characters would have a sort of disdain to borderline hate for their fanon versions EXCEPT BRUCE. Canon Bruce would be seething with jealousy

Canon Bruce: so you’re saying… most of them live with you. In Wayne manor. And it’s not burned down every week.

Fanon Bruce: yup! All of them except Jason, he and I don’t get along very well you see… he’s always angry with me so the weekly family dinners are always tense ://

Canon Bruce, through gritted teeth: you see him regularly? Must be nice.

Fanon Bruce: it is! The kids can get a bit rambunctious at times but thankfully their older brother Dick is always there being the good responsible mentally stable older brother he is so there’s not much damage except the broken vase or two

Canon Bruce, glaring daggers: is that so.

Fanon Bruce: there’s also Tim, he can’t get enough of his coffee, sometimes I have to replace it with decaf just to get him to sleep!

Canon Bruce, who has found Tim napping in places he didn’t think was humanely possible to sleep in: hnn

[robintherobiner]

I like to think the wand shrinks to be travel size and extends to be staff length but Tim won’t realize that till episode 5

reference:

[robintherobiner]

they are PROFESSIONALS!!! of course theyve never had batnaps at the batcomputer!

[robintherobiner]

I'm in my uncreative era...

Commission Info / Kofi

[robintherobiner]

he likes to be jostled it's so enriching for him

[robintherobiner]

The sequel

(this has probably been done before lol) (also I'm procrastinating on everything right now) (also also based off this drawing meme by sweepswoop_ on twitter don't know if they have a tumblr lol)

Commission Info / Kofi

[robintherobiner]

Cassie joining a cult 🤝 Tim trying to clone Connor

Them inventing new stages of grief to avoid their share grief of Connor

[robintherobiner]

Tim: Okay sex is nice and all but have you ever rediscovered a fanfic you read ten years ago and thought was lost forever?? Jason: um... no? Tim: *nervous laugh* oh haha me neither

[robintherobiner]

Tim: please you just have to distract the other guests while we investigate the house

Bernard: and how am I going to do that?

Tim: you had a lot of audacity in high school, I’m sure you can find it again and put it to good use…I’d be really grateful if you did this

Bernard:

Bernard: if this is going to work im gonna to need to borrow someone’s sunglasses

[robintherobiner]

He’s a proud dad

[robintherobiner]

I need a fic where Damian gets turned into a baby and fucking loves Tim while hating Dick. Make it so that Tim is the one to find Baby Dami so he latches onto Tim. Make it so that Dick accidentally freaks him out when he squeals at how cute he is and then Baby Dami holds a grudge. I need. Please.

[robintherobiner]

LOVE THE SUPERBABIES!!! 💖💖💖

Gonna need to see either brother Kon and Tim try to calm their little brothers down or perhaps even Lizzie getting a taste of her own medicine from a shrunken down Bat and Sups 🤭 (only if you want to though)

i imagine if they play peek-a-boo, Damian makes this expression every time Tim uncovers his face

[robintherobiner]

The "Get Along Shirt"

[robintherobiner]

Jason: you know originally I wasn’t going to attack you in titans tower, I was going to do it at the manor

Tim: yeah I didn’t really spend that much time at the manor, and never alone, is that why you changed your mind?

Jason: yeah that-that was definitely the reason

..

past Jason in the manor, unaware it was rebuilt: where the fuck am I

[robintherobiner]

wow cute handbag, bats! is it designer?