#Jason who always died!

[flowerflamestars]

Robin fic snippet

“C’mere,” he murmured, rough.   Held out his arms, and it was just as easy as it had ever been. Breathing, touching Elle. His heart was beating, and so he was here with her.   Elle, who looped her arms and around his neck and pressed her face into his shoulder. “Still sorry I scared you.”   Jason was sorry he’d wasted so much fucking time.   Reeled her in by the waist in degrees, a hesitance that had nothing to do with how badly he wanted to be close to her and everything to do with her comfort. Elle fell forward with a sigh, briefly squeezing his sides with her knees before settling, sprawl easy.   “Tell me,” he said, turning to catch her eye, ignoring his own acidic, corrosive dread, “About the Pit.”   She touched his jaw. Made a gentle, featherlight line down toward his chin.   “It’s magic,” Elle whispered, like a secret, hushed, “Just magic. Not good or evil.”   Jason tried not to think about how much it had hurt. Sometimes the years strung together in one long chain- his ribs breaking, his bones cracking, his lungs seizing, his hands torn, his whole body burning from the inside out. He’d died ugly, more than once, been reborn what seemed like much the same.   “It’s something,” he told her.   Elle nodded. “The oldest magic- most powerful magic, is always simple. Lazarus is a miracle so old it predates the name. A source so potent it works even on nonmagical people.”   A miracle? No. But it had led him to miracles. Let Jason Todd live long enough to be here, arms full of magic.   “That’s why,” she let go of his face to gesture toward her own eyes. “Rituals are exchanges. You give it your death, and it gives you life. You come to it bloody, it makes you whole. You’re alive, and so it lives through you.”   Talia, with the calm she used to deliver all terrible truths, every warning, it will live through you. It will be with you, forever. Harder to regret than usual in this second- the heart of the story, the secret he told no one that never stopped being at least partially true: Jason had always wanted to live. Always wanted his life to matter, the way he’d come back to Gotham and realized it hadn’t, not in the way he thought.

[ghostbsuter]

Danny had been around Gotham for a while.

The crime was never ending, but since Batman's arrival, it had gotten better.

The unmistakably CLANK! From around the corner had him jump, wary now. The man walks around the wall, eyes on the black car with— with Batman's symbol at the front.

A child sitting on the ground with a car tire next to him, the Bat Symbol a stark contrast to the shadows.

"Shit, kid. You're bold to rob Batman." Danny didn't really realise he was speaking until the kid looks up, spooked.

"What the fuck?" The kid was clearly of Gotham breed, yelps with a glare.

"I'm impressed," Danny doesn't give the kid the chance to talk, not with the way the tiny terror seems to be glaring and holding his wrench.

"You're quick, got eyes for details and know how to work around cars."

The suspicion in the kids eyes didn't lessen, having gotten up to press himself against the wall, eyes never leaving Danny.

"Here," Our local spook threw a card on the hood of the car. It was his business card.

"If you need income with far fewer risks than stealing from Batman, call me."

He didn't really wait to see the kids reaction, just leaving, bot before shooting a look into the sky the kid clearly caught.

As danny left, the kid looked at the entrance of the alleyway, back to the car, and then to the card.

They had talked for too long. Jason had to leave now, lest Batman actually caught him.

With one last look to the tires and the car, he leaves eith a scowl.

Just barely missing the man with the cape.

[linipik]

Jason Grace from the old sketchbook for @somewhereincairparavel. Thank you, really.

I always thought he was one of the fandom sweethearts bc he has always been one of my faves.

[lily-belle-art]

Dick Grayson costume evolution

[mikakuna]

are we ready to face the truth that is bruce did not love jason as much as jason loved bruce?

[rmbunnie]

sometimes i remember the three issue Jason miniseries of Batman and Robin (2009) by Judd Winick and laugh. The guy got one last chance to write Jason before n52 and went "I just HAVE to make Jason wish out loud he was getting strip searched manual-style by the team of furries in this one." what the fuck.

[rusomnia]

just saying jason todd probably wrote batman fanfic as both a form of therapy and karma

my evidence:

- he's a lit nerd. every lit nerd has written fanfiction at somepoint. if you're a lit nerd and you haven't, you're a liar or you will be writing fanfiction soon. be ready.

- you're a liar if you think the batfam didn't have a giant fandom in gotham city (and other cities that had batman shipped with their hero (metropolis im looking at you))

- he'd get to tear the shit out of batman with well thought out arguments against stuff without actually having to try and make bruce listen

- the authors notes.

- 'sorry i haven't updated in two years, i got blown up resurrected and turned into an assassin by my step-mum. here's some fluff as an apology'

- i feel like i could go on for a while but I'll leave it there

[autisticrosewilson]

So do you guys actually think that Jason's entire story, relationship to the others, and philosophy amounts to him being a rebellious teen who wants his dad's attention? Like are you 100% serious? I thought you were joking about that but too many of you are saying it with your whole chest.

And what the fuck is this "Bruce antagonizing Jason is fanon!" Shit I've been seeing? You guys are aware that a parent can love their kid and still be a shit parent right? I know you guys don't want to fathom the thought that maybe your blorbo might also occasionally have to face responsibility for consistently endangering children but let's not start being delusional now.

Bruce does love his kids, that doesn't mean that he hasn't hurt them. And I'd also argue that for the most part he feels in the right for it, and he's said multiple times that he believes it's for their own good, so you can't even argue that he's sorry about it. It's okay for you guys to admit that your PERSONAL INTERPRETATION of the character wouldn't do that but don't sit here and pretend that it's not a facet of the source.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 116

Give Battinson robins but it’s DCxDP style with ghosts. 

His kids are… technically not from his world and technically not alive either, but that doesn’t stop him from adopting them. Even if he wasn’t aware of them being literal ghosts for the first few hours of encountering them. 

How did they get here? Well, you see, sometimes child ghosts will run into each other, and they’ll form their own little friend groups. Or family groups. Especially if they lack a guardian. Who would tell them not to mess with natural portals. 

Or to kidnap a phantom to play with them, but hey he’s enjoying himself too and has a puppy! The bestest boy!

Bruce was not prepared for some sort of energy-thing to open and spit out a good half a dozen children. Nor was he prepared for these children to all have powers, or for another child (thankfully a teen) to fall into the cave a few weeks later. 

[ragnarokhound]

For the au ask game!

OKAY I wanted specifically to get to the pokemon au from the ask you sent, it's been cooking a bit so it's time to see what comes out of the oven, so... @azol-otl ty for the ask!

Crossover au's are all about the fused worldbuilding for me and speculating on how characters from universe A would fit into universe B heehee hoohoo - and for Batfam especially it's fun to think about the equivalent of their roles as vigilantes! What kind of people have the same level of celebrity, the same sideways seeking of justice?

Naturally this leads you to the gym leaders because a) it's the most fun and b) they are like. Quasi-law enforcement/educators/professional athletes depending on how you try to translate the innate child's perspective on the pokemon universe into something that makes sense as an adult lol ilu pokemon. [insert 'compels me though' gif here]

SO with this in mind, here's 5 fun facts (that are mostly backstory lmao) from a jaytim pokemon au I would write

I'm deeply ill about pokemon so this one goes under the cut lol:

Jason Todd used to be the Champion. He won the role after Dick Grayson quit a year or two before (Dick had been getting older and chafing under the League rules - meaning he'd been chafing under how Bruce ran the League) and was a fierce competitor who didn't believe in going easy on anyone. His Houndoom was a force to be reckoned with, and despite running a mostly Dark-type team, his Honchkrow cleaned up anyone thinking their Fighting-types could sweep. He looked after the League and Gotham with a cocky, self-assured attitude and the win record to back it up. .

Jason disappeared suddenly at the age of 15. Many assumed him dead, after a Rocket (Or whatever Gotham themed gang name we want to go with lol could be Team Joker) bombing in the area he'd last been seen, but he's officially declared missing. Bruce Wayne took back the duties of interim Champion as he once did for Dick Grayson, but he's not quite the mentor he once was. It's obvious he's grieving, and that he doesn't want to mentor any more twelve year olds. Dick signed up to be a Gym Leader shortly after this, returning from his trip about a year early to help out in the chaos following Jason's disappearance. .

Enter Tim Drake. Tim's gym challenge wasn't all that interesting in the circuit at first; he had a rocky start and had to retake a few gym challenges. He wasn't exactly sweeping on his first try every time like Jason had done. He didn't have the meteoric rise that caught the Champion's attention early, didn't get one-on-one mentorship or face-to-face meetings, cautionary advice and congratulations all rolled into one from Bruce Wayne himself - but Tim had patience and grit, and he paid attention. He was gunning for the Championship, and it wasn't just so he could prove himself. Team Rocket/Joker was still out there, and Bruce needed all the help he could get. He was always better for Gotham when he had a Robin. .

Dick had been nicknamed Robin for his all-Flying-type team and especially his Natu-then-Xatu; Jason followed up with his Murkrow-then-Honchkrow; Tim's Rookidee was one among many (Robin-esque pokemon were popularized by Dick and the trend remains through Tim's day) so he wasn't considered a possible Robin successor until it was a Corvisquire and he was about to face Dick Grayson himself, a badge away from Victory Road. By then, Tim and his team were a well-oiled machine (he runs mostly Steel-types lol but also Normal-types for the unexpected adaptability and the 'underestimate my rattata i dare you it's in the top peRCENTAGE--' of it all. FEAR.), and his loss-record had all but frozen while his win-record ticked higher and higher. .

Shit finally goes down about three years after Tim has become Champion and all but bullied Bruce into mentoring him (he basically said 'if you don't watch me, i'll go find Team Rocket/Joker on my own' and triggers all of Bruce's child endangerment traumas simultaneously) and the mysterious Rocket/Joker leader Red Hood shows up, bringing the gang out of the shadows in pursuit of a hidden agenda. Identity shenanigans and "wait is that a Houndoom? But he's only been using Ghost-types, it CAN'T be..." and heel-face turns abound. .

(BONUS FACT: Something something, Jason went into deep cover with Looker or whoever he is, that Interpol guy from X & Y (WAIT. LOOKER MIGHT ACTUALLY BE TALIA AL GHUL IN THIS AU HOHOHO), infiltrating the Rocket/Joker gang and going public as Red Hood is the first step in the last phase of the sting. Cue a million tense Jaytim interactions in which Tim is legitimately trying to take Red Hood down and Jason desperately tries to shake him so that he doesn't do anything that forces Jason to blow his cover. There is at least one 'tugged into a tight space to hide them both from the actual bad guys, "wait, did you just HELP me...?" "Think whatever you want, babybird"' interaction because I am a slut for the first sprinkles of a redemption arc that is rife with UST fufufu)

[enby-mori]

"man, why does jason and bruce's relationship compel me" *remembers touya and enji* "oh"

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

BFTC isn’t really a case of terrible characterization for Jason so much as it was a terrible case of victim blaming. Like yeah, some of the things Jason did were a bit extreme compared to his “better” appearances, but that’s nothing new and pretty much true of many stories that aren’t utrh or lost days. The bad parts are are also definitely exaggerated by fans.

The story isn’t centered on Jason. Of course every other character’s description of Jason would be knee-jerk dismissive and misunderstanding, since (again) the intention was to make Jason out to be the cartoony bad guy villain. But if you look past the layers of grime they added, the bare bones of his characterization are not entirely incorrect. It’s a biased story in which their intended criticisms of Jason’s morals often fell short, so to compensate they deliberately cranked up his motivations to be more extreme and unrealistic (but one which, nonetheless got Jason’s overall thoughts and goals relatively consistent with stories that portrayed him accurately).

Yes, him shooting Damian was out of character, but granted we’re all in agreement that it was a true case of “bad writing decision”, I don’t think it’s hard to look past. The only other bit people probably complain about (which felt iffy at worst) was him being “a bit enthusiastic” at times in trying to convince Dick to become another lethal Batman (you can just as easily say Jason wouldn’t have been personally invested enough to have acted in the way he did). I don’t care though because he was probably doing it for shits and giggles, and it was funny watching him push their buttons on his spare time while being excellent at his job. Same old ‘none of them deny that he’s effective, they just can’t get behind the killing’ conflict.

Looking past the fact that Jason still had a valid point, the “he’s the bad guy” plot falls apart for other obvious reasons, which happen in the 3rd issue. It’s kind of hard to focus on how much of a bitch Jason’s being when the other characters are written in an infinitely more problematic way (which ends up happening in most “hate Jason” stories). Not only did they heavily imply Jason is a victim of SA, but the way Dick/the batfamily treats Jason about this is … horrible. Arguing that this was a case of character assassination for Bruce and Dick would be more realistic than using this story to claim Jason is a Bad Person™.

Even though Bruce does have a bad track record with his perspective on victims of SA.

Hey. Maybe listen to the living person begging you to turn it off.

Geez. I wonder why he never felt safe enough to confide in Bruce or any of the rest of them. Implying that enduring what he did made him “broken beyond repair”, that he needs to be “fixed”, and saying verbatim, “you are my greatest failure”, not “I failed you greatly”. Then deciding on behalf of Jason that a bunch of people who weren’t involved in what happened to him should all know about this so they can decide what should be done. And everyone agrees with this garbage. Unbelievable.

Aka, any sort of healing he may have tried to accomplish was ruined by you lot. When exactly am I supposed to see that Jason was evil all along.

The story collapses in on itself in the third issue because where Dick is supposed to be at his prime within the arc, he just sort of rambles about how Jason was a shitty victim and then awkwardly shifts to talking about personal growth and coming to accept his own heroic destiny.

I do resent this, but not because “Jason sucks here”. Jason’s “bad portrayal” pales in comparison to the problematic mindsets given to the other characters (namely Dick) which were framed as good-natured intentions and “tough love”. As for people who describe this as “vilifying Jason to prop up Dick” … I don’t really know what to make of that.

[floralovebot]

and yknow when i say that koryak should've lived and him and garth should've become besties i don't mean that they would have a perfectly healthy cute brother relationship. i mean they should've trauma bonded aldhg

garth and koryak are two very different people, who lived very different lives, and have very different opinions of arthur. if the two of them were forced to bond in any capacity, it would be messy and petty! koryak would continue to be upset that arthur wasn't there for him in his youth and jealous that he raised a kid who wasn't even his. and if koryak stuck around, we'd see more negative emotions from garth ie him being upset/jealous/worried that arthur now has another biological son. it wouldn't be rational from either side, and garth would definitely try his best to be nice, but both of them have reasons to not like or trust the other.

that being said, at the core of it, their emotions stem from the same issue. they both just want to be arthur's son. and while i do think it would take a lot of time, eventually they'd be forced to see the other's perspective and realize that the other is just as jealous as they are. koryak may have missed out on having a bio father in his life but... so did garth. garth worries that arthur doesn't see him as a true son but... so does koryak. yes, they've had very different upbringings, but they also have the same fears and worries regarding arthur. and personally, i think it would've been more interesting to see them reconcile and bond over that.

maybe koryak would be brave enough to ask garth what his childhood was like under arthur's care. maybe garth takes the time to ask about kako or his culture. maybe he even tells koryak the truth about what happened with jr. maybe koryak starts to get upset on garth's behalf that arthur raised him but didn't even see him as a son, and had the audacity to say it to his face while trying to kill him. maybe garth gets upset on koryak's behalf because arthur keeps pushing him aside and treating him like an untrustworthy stranger.

and yknow maybe they never become friends or talk to each other... but they still understand each other, they still yearn for what the other had, and they're increasingly more disappointed in how arthur treats his family. i think that would've been nice and more narratively satisfying than koryak dying.

[martyrbat]

Deaf Republic - Ilya Kaminsky

[TEXT ID: —observe this moment / how it convulses— / the body of the boy lies on the asphalt / like a paperclip. / the body of the boy lies on the asphalt / like the body of a boy.]

[yonemurishiroku]

Jason said he’d follow Nico to the Underworld if need be

and then there he went getting a permanent residency in the Underworld. Are you serious?

[wreneging]

every time i see someone misinterpret jason’s death i lose my mind a little more