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phoenixkaptain · 1 year ago

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The comics always have Tim comment on how normal his childhood was, and I just don’t believe them.

Like, the name “Drake” was set up in comics for years beforehand. Tim Drake is a rich kid. His parents did own an entire industry and Tim’s introductory comic tells us flat out that he spends most of the time his parents aren’t home at boarding and private schools. His parents were gone a lot!

Tim Drake is stated to be so normal. This kid can still clearly remember watching Dick’s parents die, he was traumatized and had nightmares about the scene. Especially if you believe Tim’s never taken a picture of Batman before the events of his introduction, Tim is extra strange because why was his first instinct to take pictures of Batman getting beaten up?! Is that normal child behaviour?? Am I the weird one for not knowing where Dick Grayson’s girlfriend lived when I was thirteen?? How on earth is Tim Drake the normal one?

He’s a stilted talker, absolutely terrible at speaking about important things. He is the Robin who called the most alike to Batman more than once, Ra’s al Ghul calls him a detective on Batman’s level, are you REALLY normal if you’re similar to Batman??

Like yeah, sure. Tim didn’t grow up in a circus. Tim didn’t grow up raised on the streets. Tim wasn’t trained from birth to be an assassin.

I would argue that this makes him MORE abnormal! He doesn’t have Dick’s background or flexibility! He doesn’t have either of Jason’s backgrounds nor his grudge. He doesn’t have Batman to live up to for a father. And yet, he still decides to put his life on the line to fight crime! His parents weren’t even dead!! He just decided that “If Batman and Nightwing aren’t going to take care of themselves, I have no choice but to do it for them.” Sure, he tries to get Dick to help Bruce, but he realizes pretty quickly that that isn’t going to work out.

Tim Drake tried to fight Superboy. You know, Superman’s clone? Invulnerable? Boy of steel? Literally only had one weakness that Tim didn’t have on him at the time??

Tim Drake is absolutely not the normal Robin. The comics really, really want me to believe that the kid who grew up in boarding school while his parents were off on business, the kid who took to being a Robin akin to Batman (ie. invisible, unnoticeable, unknown, a myth), the kid who got beat up by Jason Todd and then went “whoa, Jason Todd is back :),” the kid who Ra’s al Ghul is obsessed with, the kid who built his own vehicle; this kid is normal.

Yeah, okay. He’s perfectly normal. His dad being hinted at as being neglectful and literally abusive with how he breaks his kid’s things? Normal. Tim Drake knowing how to photograph the most paranoid man this side of the Rockies? Normal. Tim Drake deciding that it would actually be neat-o to don a suit that another kid died in to fight against people and beings that could and would absolutely kill him in a heartbeat? Completely. Normal.

Okay, DC. Whatever you say…

#the inane ramblings of a madman #dc #batman #robin #red robin #tim drake #long post #it just kind of amuses me #the amount of times time claims to be normal #but the comics also seem to want us to believe he is???#like red tornado called robin the normal one #tim saying his childhood was normal is glossed right tf over #it’s like the comics really honestly truly believe he is an average kid #which is absolutely bonkers #have you seen this kid???#he is introduced in a way akin to a villain #he is literally a stalker #he knows not only where dick’s girlfriend lives #but also where dick’s circus troupe was at #he also knew where dick’s apartment was #and furthermore #he broke into dick’s false wall that is actually a safe #but yeah sure #he’s sooo normal #we’ve all been there #13yo and knowing who alfred pennyworth is but by alfred opening the door #all this #in 1989 #the normal one yeah right

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fancygremlin · 22 days ago

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I am starting to believe that both Warren and Gordon have dealt with a lot of childhood trauma, but they developed different responses as a way to try and protect themselves. In terms of emotional responses, I think Warren's instinctual reaction to potential danger is a freeze response, while Gordon's is a flight response.

This is going to be a long one, so the full analysis goes under the cut.

Warren and the freeze response

A freeze response involves the person not responding, reacting or acting against a perceived danger or threat until it passes. Sometimes it precedes a fight or flight response.

I believe Warren 'freezes' when he has to deal with physical and/or emotional threats. This seems to be a behaviour that persists with the character since his early childhood:

If we look at how he talks about this, two thing immediately jump out: firstly, he says he "would always do everything [he] could to avoid being hit" and, secondly the emotional response he associates with being confronted or challenged is fear. Both of the aforementioned points seem to suggest that he prefers to keep himself apart and invisible/ unseen (hence, immobile, silent and difficult to notice) from people or situations in an attempt to not provoke or generate reactions or situations that could cause him hurt or distress. When he fails to do that, he does not respond to aggression, but maintains a passive demeanour until danger passes. We have seen that when confronted, he never matches the anger of the other person, never responds to provoke an emotional response. He doesn't match the tone, emotion or energy of the situation. He doesn't empathise, or try to appease the other person either (that's more akin to a fawn response). Instead he stays very still and silent... turning himself into a punching bag until the moment, distressing situation or danger has passed.

This is seen on multiple occasions throughout the podcast... like when he has a confrontation with his sister at their father's grave, he doesn't react aggressively. And again, he doesn't react much when he is called by a very (reasonably) angry Karen while he is on his impromptu road trip with Gordon. This specific behaviour is particularly evident during the Season 1 finale (ep.5 and 6).

In episode 5, Warren seems almost catatonic, despondent and lifeless from the moment he listened to the tape and all the way to the Red Valley research facility. He clearly had not talked or reacted to stimuli from the moment the cassette ended:

Throughout the rest of the next episode, his tone remains flat and measured, and his demeanour dejected and almost mechanical... despite his whole life falling apart he is doing nothing to ensure his safety. He is just passively taking everything in and letting people do and say to him anything they want and treat him in whatever way they want.

Even when Clive berates, ridicules and taunts him, Warren remains still and, for the most part, silent. He just asks to talk to his wife Karen Bryony repeatedly, always in a flat and measured tone of voice. It does take Clive a while, but he does get a violent reaction out of Warren in the end.

Warren therefore, seems to switch from a freeze to a fight response if everything becomes too overwhelming or difficult to bear. I think it is possible that this switch from freeze to fight mode is what caused Warren to land himself in prison. I can't begin to speculate what or who caused such distress that Warren had to resort to this to protect himself... but I am leaning towards something revolving either around his dad or his family.

Returning to ep.6, Warren doesn't fight back or react much or at all after being apprehended and sent to the cryogenic pod:

I also think that his disinterest, defeat and lack of reaction when Gordon visits him and suggests they could try to escape is a freezing response (but he is hooked up on morphine, so maybe his calmness is due to that).

The freeze response was most certainly a learnt behaviour that Warren learnt would keep him safe when dealing with the turbulent family situation at home. I feel like the main things Warren got out of his childhood trauma are a freeze response to danger, an inferiority complex, and probably a lot of issues with self esteem and self worth. All of these are definitely going to affect him and the way he behaves, his choices and actions throughout the rest of this podcast.

I think that this childhood experience impacted Warren so much that even in adulthood he will never (or at least, he will find it very hard to) fight back. Even when the people closest to him are going to hurt him, and even when he truly thinks he doesn’t deserve it. No matter what, he will always feel like the little kid that had to face off his own dad: too small and too powerless to really do anything to protect himself.

[As a side note: it is such a cruel irony that the character that gets cryogenically frozen twice (as far as I know, I have just listened to Season 1) developed a freeze response to danger.]

Gordon and the flight response

The flight response involves a person removing themselves from the perceived threat. This can be done by either physically or emotionally distancing themselves.

Gordon was a bit trickier to figure out, but one part of the last episode of the 'While You Were Hypersleeping' made it click for me: his instinct is to put physical and/or emotional distance between him and the perceived threat.

I think this is again, a learnt behaviour that stemmed from an unstable and emotionally charged family situation. It is alluded that Gordon does not like confrontations or people raising their voices around him. This behavioural response is observed when Gordon was listening to some of Warren's tapes. The latter was expressing his strong disappointment about a movie he watched, when Blue Sky begins to speak over it to refer information about an actor that was mentioned in passing. The cacophony of overlapping voices (that almost seemed to be aggressively arguing or disagreeing about something) caused Gordon to feel in emotional distress, to the point that he had to shut both the recordings and Blue down:

Gordon definitely has carried this coping mechanism into his adulthood too.

Let's begin with some examples of how Gordon has physically distanced himself from danger. In the Season 1 finale, he is incredibly insistent on running away and proposes this option at any chance he gets from the moment he and Warren find the research facility. Furthermore, as Clive is interviewing Warren and things start to get heated, Gordon offers to make that tea for everyone. Making tea was a good excuse as any for Gordon to physically distance and remove himself from the emotionally charged situation.

Gordon also routinely distances himself emotionally from distressing situations by wedging pop culture references between himself and the perceived danger of threat.

One of the most prominent moments in which he uses this coping mechanism is throughout the whole segment that leads to the Red Valley research facility. During this, he keeps making references to common and well known horror movies. For example, when he finally finds Warren at the entrance of the research facility, he makes this comment:

He continues to make several horror movie references as he continues to work at the research facility... probably as a way to cope with the loneliness and distress caused by his exceptional circumstances. For example, in episode 2, Gordon finds another of Warren's tapes and after listening to it, it dawns on him that the cohort of subjects used for the cryogenic research are all convicted felons. That includes Warren... and Gordon is stuck in the same building as him. Alone. In the middle of nowhere.

Gordon, understandably feels distress feels the need to flee and nearly takes off with his car, never to be seen again... but then he reconsiders and stays. In episode 3, Gordon makes a very big reference to The Shining movie:

This comment demonstrates the amount of distress Gordon is in, and how he is still using media to distract himself from the distressing situation.

Interestingly, it seems that this coping mechanism works a little too well sometimes… In the last episode of the 'While You Were Hypersleeping' miniseries, Gordon makes a comment that shows his complete emotional detachment from the situation at hand, going so far as considering the facility as not part of "the real world":

The reason why Gordon displays this behaviour is stated in one of the recordings he makes in the 'While You Were Hypersleeping' miniseries:

Gordon does not feel safe in expressing distress, anxiety or any negative reaction in front of people and requires physical distance from a dangerous situation and solitude in order to properly process these 'unwanted' emotions. He confesses all this in front of Warren's pod, knowing that his friend cannot hear him and will never know anything about this.

I don't know if I am assuming too much from too little, but it seems that Gordon grew up in an environment where he was never quite safe to let his emotions and feelings be expressed, accepted or heard. As a defence mechanism, Gordon has learnt to use his interests and passions as shields, or layers between himself and the outside world, when he perceives it to be dangerous or hostile. He only allows himself to be vulnerable when he knows he is alone and no one can hear him.

That's why he flew under Clive and the company's radar and was considered a "stillwater"... because no one cared to look too closely to understand or know him. I think that the only possibility for Warren to get to know his new friend is to comb through all the recordings and tapes Gordon has made over the years and peel each of the carefully constructed layers back until he gets to see the real Gordon.

To conclude this analysis on a sweeter and nicer note...

I like how just before Warren was about to go under cryogenic sleep, Gordon (while being under a lot of stress and anxiety and worry himself) doesn't hesitate to try and distract him from the distressing situation by bringing up a tv show they both of them happened to watch as little kids:

It was a very neat moment where they truly connected.

BUT ALSO!!! I see what you did there!!! Warren being a name for a rabbit's burrow, and rabbits being animals that go for the flight response when facing danger... I see what you did there and I am crying about it!

#feeling a normal and healthy amount of emotions about these two characters #red valley #red valley podcast #warren godby #gordon porlock #clive schill #bryony halbech #and now... i am off to start season 2!!!#wish me luck guys i feel like i am going to need it

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