#and Tim meeting the Core Four of Young Justice

[chiyana]

hi so I'm not dead but also my brain has been ???? full of bees, so, so many bees

I'm still working on the next installment for The Knight and Crest but I am an idiot with no sense of moderation so I ended up with two relatively plot-heavy ideas that are happening roughly simultaneously so I'm writing them roughly simultaneously wwhy have I done this? to myself???

and then I keep getting ideas for later segments and getting distracted and wanting to write those so now I'm kind of writing several different installments at once because BEES

anyway the point is I'm not dead and also I maybe have a plan where the Riddler clones himself to make his own perfect minion except his clone hates him and wants to make real puzzles so he's trying to come up with a new (civilian) name for himself (he's just going to call himself the Riddler and refer to original!Riddler as Puzzler or something until it sticks) and the E. Nygma name is too good to pass up so anyone have any 'E' name suggestions that aren't Edward or start with 'Ed' for him?

[suzukiblu]

btw when you said that maybe you should've given Tim a pocket Bernard in the Damian Gets a Pocket fic, to more clearly distinguish the two storylines, my brain absolutely did not interpret that as "Bernard instead of Core Four Polyamory" but as "Tim with FOUR pockets"

I cannot IMAGINE how the rest of the Core Four would SEETHE over just NOT GETTING TO MEET TIM'S NEW SOULMATE. 🤣

Cassie, Bart, and Kon: TIM. TIM, WE DON'T CARE ABOUT STUPID SECRET BAT-RULES, WE WANT TO MEET OUR NEW BOYFRIEND.

Tim: listen, we don't even know if the rest of you ARE soulmates, that's really jumping the gun--

Cassie, Bart, and Kon: you are sleeping on the couch forever, actually, boyfriend-hogger.

meanwhile, somewhere in Gotham:

Bernard, carefully preparing his Tim-Pocket a sampling of tiny desserts to figure out which ones to "accidentally" make a quadruple batch of: So anyway how long do you think Big You's gonna keep trying to hide three super-powered Pockets in his camera bag every time he sees us like he thinks he's slick? And also keeping Mini-Me stuck in his utility belt when he's on-duty instead of just getting the poor little guy a mask already. Also that. Like, rough estimate. I need to know when I need to be prepared to trot out my oblivious civilian face, that's all.

Pocket!Tim: /chirpchirpsqueak

Bernard, reasonably: You're right, I should just start stalking Young Justice until I can trick them into meeting me with weaponized pastry. Good plan, Clicker.

[kaidatheghostdragon]

That trope where danny and jason meet during jason's six months dead? That, but with good fenton parents.

Jason is either the same age or a year or two younger than danny (between danny'and ellie's age). The fentons know danny is a ghost and have already adopted ellie. Team phantom includes the entire fenton family and valerie (and obv sam and tucker), maybe even valerie's dad.

Vlad is either reformed (post agit with teen dan?), blackmailed into submission, ran out of town, or "dealt with." The giw have been run out of town, and may or may not still exist somewhere licking their wounds. Peaceful ghosts are openly welcomed in the town, which is phantom's haunt, the fentons plus red huntress deal with the troublemakers, and the phantom siblings handle the biggest threats. May or may not be an everyone knows au.

Anyways, danny runs into the ghost of robin and is all, holy shit, a teen vigilante died, and immediately drags robin home to get all the overbearing comfort and love the fenton family can provide.

Somehow, that transformed into the fentons adopting the ghost of robin as one of their own. Jason even starts going to caspar high. Everyone knows that jason is a ghost of a kid who died too young and may be considered an honorary phantom, only team phantom knows that he's robin, and may have learned a concerning amount about batman from jason, depending on how open he is.

The joker disappears a month after jason joins the fentons and the fenton parents have solid alibis to prove they werent involved (having access to phantom's ghost allies is a large boon).

After six months of living (excuse the term) with the fentons, its as if jason has always been part of the family. So his sudden disappearance is a shock. Its treated as a ghostnapping, and the fentons are quick to use the boomerang to track him down.

They find a near-catatonic, but very much living, jason either wandering gotham, or just as he's being carted off by talia. If the latter, wrecking the league of assassins probably becomes an entire team phantom affair.

Jason is brought back home, and between the fentons and frostbite, they find a way to treat jason, learning that his living body is developing into a halfa in a similar slow manner that vlad did, but with jason's ghost core already fully developed.

That's four different halfas created in four different ways (five for five if teen dan exists), plus the increasingly liminal population of amity park, and the human members of team phantom so strongly liminal that they all have protocores and will probably become halfas when they die.

At this point, the story can go multiple directions.

If the fentons wrecked the league of assassins, either they discovered damian or talia dropped him off with bruce a few years early, when tim is just starting out as robin. If the fentons have damian, serious discussions about informing bruce of his biokid ensue, and the fact that theyve also adopted his undead son will inevitably come up and whether jason wants to deal with that mess of emotions.

If damian is dropped off with bruce, bruce is gonna hear stories of an orange man that can bust through walls, his teal assassin wife, their fiery daughter, and pair/trio of loyal white haired pit demons (assuming jason's ghost is white haired, and whether or not he's well enough to join), that wrecked ra's shit and sealed away the pits. He *will* investigate. Also, damian and tim will probably have to be kept separated, probably by having tim patrol with dick while bruce wrangles the feral child. This is smack dab in the middle of the worst period of the batfams social dynamics, but otoh, damian being younger will ultimately be better for him as he'll probably be deprogrammed a lot easier.

If the fentons never cross paths with the loa, another avenue is still open with the giw. If they've been run out of amity, but the anti ecto acts still exist, the justice league still have a chance to encounter them. Perhaps after amity ran the giw out, a formal complaint was filed to the justice league (they finally broke through the giw's blackout), but it was labelled a non-emergency (because the complaint described how the town couldnt get the message out until *after* they dealt with the problem) and was never investigated for being labelled a low priority. Baby robin tim found the file while exploring the bat computer and asked bruce about it, kicking off an investigation.

On the flipside, the giw try to convince the justice league that hostile entities have taken control of a small midwestern city, maybe the league is convinced right up until batman comes face to face with jason and is willing to hear him out.

If none of the above, jason could start talking about how he wants to return home to help crime alley, and the fentons support him all the way. You could even have jason still become red hood the crime lord, minus the family drama and joker ultimatum, and the training he would have gotten from the league is covered by ghost hunting, halfa powers, and the fenton parents' ecclectic skillset. Cue gotham being slowly invaded by team phantom as each child in turn goes to gotham U for college to be near and support jason.

Or jason is perfectly happy to stay in amity forever, but jazz goes to gotham U for its psychology program. She tries to keep her head low, but batman at this point runs a background check on every psychology major in gotham U (maybe bruce wayne funded a reform of the program - the reason why its now lauded as one of the best in the nation - to try to prevent more rogues being created.) Jazz pings a few warning criteria because her parents match a handful of mad scientist traits, so batman is now doing a full investigation on her family and finds a picture of jason.

Ignoring all of that, maybe jason keeps tabs on batman and is extremely upset that he's taken on another robin after the last one died. He's emotionally stable enough, and the fentons emotionally competent enough, to get him to talk and work through his emotions, but everyone agrees a wellness check for the new robin is in order. They go to gotham and confront batman, realize he's an emotional mess and that tim forced his way into the role and decide that the bats are all fentons now, no batman, you cannot escape. Assimilation is inevitable. We *will* get you to work through your grief and make you a better vigilante because of it. And tim has been abandoned by his parents and is living alone? That wont do. We're going to assume for your benefit that you were too grief-stricken to notice bruce, but you will not be making any more oversights like that under our watch.

There are probably a dozen other directions this could go, but mostly i just wanted to provide some prompts/ideas with ghost/halfa jason as a fenton. I need more fluffy fenton dynamics and jason fluff.

[a-deck-of-cards]

timkon (fluff) hcs !! (pt. 1)

bc i can’t find enough timkon content (+ autistic tim)

kon constantly borrows tim’s shirts when he goes out as conner kent since he doesn’t have a shirt without an ‘S’ on it but it’s quite tight on him and it shows his abs. tim gladly lets kon borrow his shirts.

kon memorised tim’s heartbeats, footsteps, breathing and voice.

when they’re taking a break or they have a slow patrol night tim would cuddle under kon and they would watch about tim’s special interests.

yes tim is autistic

when bart, tim and kon first created the yj, tim mentioned that kon would be the mom if they were bart’s parents and kon haven’t stopped thinking about it ever since.

when dick found out that his baby brother had a boyfriend, he pulled kon away and threatened him to not ever hurt tim.

needless to say, kon started climbing through the windows of the wayne manor instead of using the door.

whenever tim’s having a meltdown, kon immediately comes to comfort because of his superboyfriend senses™ (superhearing) and makes terrible hot chocolate in an attempt to give tim a sense of comfort.

tim settled for coffee.

tim has dimples and he doesn’t like them, hates them in fact. so kon makes sure to compliment them every time tim smiles.

if the core four were a family: tim would be the protective, scared to death dad, kon would be the cool, somewhat irresponsible dad, bart would be the child that gives tim four heart attacks a day and cassie would be the cool but responsible (unlike kon) aunt.

kon doesn’t like it when tim falls asleep in the middle of a meeting or patrol bc that means he hasn’t been sleeping. tim told kon to wake him up if he falls asleep.

of course, kon being kon, he bring tim to the wayne manor every time he falls asleep. and brings him back to his original place before tim wakes up.

until one night when kon was bring tim to his room and dick caught them entering and he thought kon drugged his baby brother or something.

long story short, kon got hit in the face and tim realised that kon was letting him sleep.

the first time tim confessed didn’t go as planned.

kon was carrying him to a villains hideout along with the young justice and their faces were so close that tim couldn’t help but slip up.

“superboy, after landing we can go into your.. ey…” “my eyes?”

tim was lucky that kon was as oblivious as a koala.

tim stims a lot, more than he wants sometimes.

he cracks his knuckles as a stim most of the time.

tim takes kon’s superboy shirts and use them as pjs all the time even before they started dating. (this is canon i think)

according to him its bc he thought it was some knockoff shirt he bought.

we totally believe you timothy

the batfam are the only ones who knows about this and somehow kon still havent figured it out.

pt. 2 over here <3

[s-c-g-s-c-g]

Friday Fic Recs

Young Justice (1998) was an absolute favorite comic of mine as a teenager. I'm planning to re-read it soon so here's some fic recs featuring platonic core four and their relationships! Arranged in order of wordcount.

promise me (we'll never grow up) by popsunner

The core four have nightmares. I really love the atmosphere of this fic, there's something almost nostalgic about it. I really enjoy the care and quiet comfort they all share. This is a wonderful and slightly bittersweet fic.

a study by bernard dowd by cv_angels - Timberkon

Bernard figures out his boyfriend's a superhero. This isn't quite as core four-centric as the other recs on this list but I really enjoy them here! Bernard is fun and I really enjoyed his interactions with everyone! Bart is a delight and Kon is pining. There's some genuinely funny moments and I love how excited everyone is to meet Tim's boyfriend.

The Case of the Missing Kryptonite by Mouse_in_this_house

The Kryptonite ring in the Batcave has gone missing. I love some teenager shenanigans, especially with these characters! I really enjoyed the parallel storylines as the bats investigate the nefarious plot while the young justice crew remains oblivious. The joy and energy of the ear piercing squad is infectious! The whole fic is a fun time!

[necrotic-nephilim]

in the tags of that one fab five poly post you mentioned that you are a core four enthusiast and I’d love to hear if you have any Kon headcanons or just any yj headcanons in general, I love those little guys

!!! i love Kon so much, he's one of my fave guys. i actually got into the 90s era of comics to read his solo run, YJ(98), and then i just spiralled from there. i've got lots of headcanons about both Kon and YJ

for Kon specifically, i'm really attached to the headcanon of him and Power Girl being friends. i think the idea of them bonding over imposter syndrome over feeling like Kryptonians who don't neatly fit into the Superfam would be very crunchy. it's my Kara Zor-L stan showing, but i've got a lot of fic ideas where they end up close. similarly: i also think a friendship between Kon and Bizarro could be fun, both being clones of Superman made by Lex.

for a YJ headcanon: i hold FIRMLY to the belief that Bart knew TIm's secret identity before YJ even formed he just. never mentioned it bc no one asked him. the way they meet in Robin Plus Impulse, i see no world where Bart doesn't figure it out. i think it makes for a hilarious concept that Tim's identity real is a big deal and he uses the whole fake name Alvin Draper and Bart just blurts out that he's Tim Drake. i know we all love TimKon, but I'm a bit of a TimBart truther and i think it could be a fun little moment for them.

back to Kon: this is less of a headcanon and more of just a thought: but i wish we had more content about the Ravers, Kon's team before YJ. i won't everytime i think about Superboy & the Ravers i have to look it up to convince myself i didn't hallucinate that entire comic. but it was so fun. there was a road trip arc. a canon queer character who's arc was handled shockingly well for the 90s. (and the homophobic character was the one who got the unhappy ending while the gay man got to be happy with a bf?? revolutionary.) i personally believe Hero Cruz was Kon's gay awakening. i won't elaborate on this. anyway i wish we saw more of Kon thinking about this team after YJ formed and maybe missing some of his old party friend losers.

also on the note of Kon, i love any exploration of his canon experiences with being groomed by just about every woman he "dated" in the 90s. i'm such a fan of when a character becomes hypersexual to cope with their trauma that they haven't realized even is trauma. and i think Kon fits that bar perfectly. the first real attention he got outside of being attached to Superman's legacy was sexual attention from women, so of course he would lean into that and not realize how fucked up it was until years later. i love when it shapes his relationships in fanfiction, especially if he doesn't realize it. whether it's Tana Moon or Knockout or just about any other woman, there's a lot of material to explore.

Kon is one of the few characters i will venture out of pre-Flashpoint for because i think his complex over Jon Kent has the potential to be really complex and fun. i think everyone misunderstands Kon and Clark's relationship (i blame the Young Justice cartoon. i've had arguments you wouldn't believe over Kon on TikTok-) as father/son and that Clark is constantly pushing Kon away in favor of Jon, and that's just not true. the issue is that Kon was *forgotten* by the timeline shifting without him bc he was off on Gemworld. and to me, that's more interesting than making Clark some kind of absent father to him. it's an issue of the world he remembers not existing anymore and most of the world not remembering him either, and now there's a new Superboy replacing him. idk man that's fun. i have a lot of thoughts about the feelings Kon would have about Jon, wondering if the timeline shift was meant to "correct" Superboy to make a version of Superboy that was meant to exist and Kon wasn't. this very much ties into my thoughts on how he and Power Girl would have a lot to bond over, feeling displaced in a world that doesn't need them. that's where Kon's identity issues stem from. that said, i always prefer a Kon who actually gets along pretty well with the Superfam, including Clark and Jon. most of his conflict is internal, not external. it's what makes him crunchy.

more YJ headcanon: i think the shift from the Teen Titans to YJ from the perspective of the mentors is fascinating. YJ got a lot more freedom and less supervision, it's like how parents don't try as hard when they have more kids. so i love the headcanon that half the time the League has no damn clue what YJ is up to. they played baseball to save the universe? yeah they never mentioned it to their mentors. no one asked. the lack of supervision, sans a robot, makes them incredibly creative with how they solve problems. they don't approach anything traditionally because no one is properly guiding them. since they're a new generation of sidekicks, most of them holding a mantle that was passed down to them (or at the very least they're a new generation of a superhero family) it holds a bit of imposter syndrome. all of them are internally panicking 90% of the time while trying to appear collected around each other. they're actively a collective disaster because of it.

personally, i view the Core Four as more of a queerplatonic polycule than a romantic one? like i think it's fun to explore polycule dynamics where it's not actually everyone dating everyone, but far more complex of some people dating, some people are familial, some people are fucking, and we don't even know what those two have going on. it's complicated, you know? messy and codependent. i don't see them as a neat polycule whatsoever. it's like an on and off again relationship but with four people that also occasionally includes others. i'm personally a fan of the potential of the Young Justice (2019) team being a polycule except none of them have any clue who's dating who. every single one of them *will* give you a different answer. half of them aren't even aware of the other's sexualities. Jinny has come out as a lesbian like four times to her own polycule. i'm a big fan of this team and i wish there was more fan content for it.

random smaller headcanon: i do think Kon can cook and i think no one believes him when he tells them. bc the issue isn't he can't cook, it's that he never has food in his fridge or pantry to cook with. that boy was raised with Ma and Pa Kent, he can make a *mean* hotdish with whatever he finds. just don't expect him to ever repeat a recipe bc he will never have that exact combination of ingredients in his kitchen again. he is however, horrible at baking bc cooking is an art and baking is a science and you will never catch him following a recipe in his life.

i think Kon regularly uses his TTK to save his teammates during fights and just. never mentions it. like in small ways, such as slightly moving flying debris that's about to hit them, making a villain's punch have more resistance so it doesn't hit as hard, slightly pulling them out of the way. no one knows for like. *years*. i'm very obsessed with pushing TTK to the limits and exploring how it makes Kon hyperaware of his surroundings. it's a literal sixth sense and i think he's passively always aware of everything, even when he's relaxing. no one realizes just how much control he exerts over a fight. which means he's holding himself back most of the time, and in my opinion for the reasons of being afraid of himself, and afraid of the Luthor parts of him. so he just. balances a fight in little, unnoticeable ways.

it's one of my headcanons that if Kon started openly dating Tim Drake, Lex would immediately try to get closer to Kon bc not only would he approve of Kon dating someone from high society, but he'd want to try to use Tim's power within his family's company and Bruce's company as leverage. of course it wouldn't work, but it'd be a fun mind game if Lex vs Tim with Kon just stuck in the middle. i have a vague fanfic idea for this I'll probably never write.

this is a cursed headcanon: but i believe Kon has an incest kink. the number of times he's canonically expressed incestual feelings (both on purpose and on accident) is not on purpose in the text, but the fact it keeps happening means i'm personally just going to run with it. i think KonJayTim is fun bc even if Tim and Jason don't see each other as siblings, Kon would make it a kink anyway. i will leave you on that cursed note.

[gretahayes]

ive only gotten to know dc through tim centric fanfics and I have no idea where to start comic wise, any recommendations? please and thank you

Oof. Okay so I think I'm the wrong person to ask here but I'll try my best. (I won't rec you anything post-reboot because I personally dislike post-reboot. It isn't my friend. Also I haven't read any post-reboot stuff that I'd rec for Tim.)

Disclaimer: the Tim in the fanfics you've read is probably going to be wildly different from comics!Tim. Be ready for some culture shock. And many 90s comics are very 90s, but incredibly good otherwise.

A Lonely Place of Dying (1989) — Tim's intro! Vv important.

Robin (1993) — Tim’s solo. It's definitely a Ride and very long, but like all solos, it's essential to understanding him.

Robin Plus Impulse (1996) — Bart and Tim’s first meeting! I adore this, it's fun and light and sweet.

Superboy/Robin: World's Finest Three (1996) — Kon and Tim’s first meeting! I'm currently reading this.

Young Justice (1998) — The only downside to reading this is that you’ll forever mourn what was taken from us. But I'll rec this forever. It's an amazing comic, fun and good. You'll adore these kids.

Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day (2003) — The beginning of the end, anon. The beginning of the end.

Teen Titans (2003) — Oh, anon. This is important for comic history but if you like any of the core four (Tim, Kon, Cassie and Bart) this will make you want to kill yourself. I personally struggle with reading this and would never put anyone through this. However it was so fucking long and had so many people in it that it’s important, if not good. So sorry anon. Feel free to only read when required, but be prepared to be confused.

Infinite Crisis (2006) — I mean. This is pretty important overall? But the core four especially have important roles in this.

Red Robin (2009) — Anon. Anon listen to me. Read this after Tim’s solo, okay? This isn't what Tim is usually like. He's having a shitty fucking year and is struggling. I repeat: This isn't what Tim is usually like. That out of the way, I read this recently and really really enjoyed it.

Gates of Gotham (2011) — Dick, Tim, Cass and Damian team up! There's some gems in this. Haven't read it and am still debating it, but it's definitely worth checking out.

Okay, so. Tim Drake: Robin is Tim’s most recent solo, and I personally dislike it, but hey, it's up to you anon.

(Psst. This is out of order, but Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood is a Cass and Tim team up that ties into their respective solos.)

And here's a proper reading list if you want to get into specifics, because this is a mess. Happy reading anon!

[vinelark]

hey hey! i love bbts so much, it makes me so happy whenever i reread it✌️one of the (many) things i love about it is the core four friendship! so i was wondering, do you have any recs for fics with fun yj dynamics?! no pressure ofc, either way i hope you have a lovely day ☺️✨

hello! so sorry this took forever! also so glad bbts makes you happy on the reread 🥰

first, some of my absolute fav core four content: coralreefskim's comics and cryptocism's comics. great art, great dialogue, great codependent friendship nightmare polycule genuinely endearing "would kill for you would live for you would save the world with you but more importantly would never let you live down that typo you made in the groupchat that one time" vibes all around.

and a few fics:

Into the Brighter Night by shoalsea

when a past enemy comes back for tim, the batfam learn a lot about tim and his young justice adventures in the fallout. this one's long and plotty and has that super compelling trope of the POV character watching an interaction where the reader is in on the jokes but the POV character isn't--basically a great sort-of-outsider POV on the core four, plus, from what i could tell, almost every other yj character at some point.

a study by bernard dowd by cv_angels

a short, hilarious fic with timber and implied future timberkon, in which tim (sort of) reveals his identity and that leads to kon and bart and cassie meeting bernard.

Lipstick on the glass by kerosceene

i'm a broken record with this one, but it's just. 🤌🤌 it starts out focused on timkon but part 2 has college-age core four halloween shenanigans. cassie has a civilian gf. bart dresses up as a meme that doesn't exist yet. kon is in the dragriculture club. tim loves his friends (and boyfriend) so much. it's just so heartwarming and good.

The Mystery of the Superboy Shirts by Aviatricks

silly oneshot with tim going full obsessive detective mode about everything but his own feelings, good yj squad dynamics, bart being a passable liar, and some timkon.

Detours by miyaji_08

i've also rec'd this one before (twice, even) but once again it fits the bill, because the core four scenes in this are so good. it's a reverse robins au where tim becomes roommates with kon and bart and cassie, who are superboy, impulse, and wonder girl but have no idea (yet) that tim has his own secret identity, too. so there's identity shenanigans with all four of them, classic reverse robins tim angst, some enemies-to-lovers and oh-my-god-they-were-roommates timkon, and a really fun final action sequence. it's part 2 of a series and i highly recommend reading part 1 first, but if you want to dive right into the core four aspects you can probably piece together the context as you go.

[secretsocietyxmen]

Was watching some retrospectives on the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games, and then remembered my old idea for a Young Justice game based on the Ultimate Alliance series.

Felt like fleshing it out.

Opening level is Happy Harbor, where the Core Four (Tim, Kon, Bart, and Cassie) are meeting up for lunch to catch up. Then, villain attack. The tutorial boss is The Mighty Endowed (someone minor and easy to beat, but could make for a fun fight with her mind control powers), causing the group to suit up to take her out.

This level is more or less disconnected from the main plot, where Bedlam returns to get his revenge. His plan? Teleporting away all of the adult heroes, controlling all of the villains of Earth, and trying to wear down Young Justice. So, they get the gang back together, along with some loose heroes they pick up along the way, and make their way to beat up Bedlam one more time.

Playable Young Justice members:

Robin (Tim Drake)

Superboy (Kon El/Conner Kent)

Impulse (Bart Allen)

Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark)

Secret (Greta Hayes)

Arrowette (Cissie King-Jones)

Empress (Anita Fite)

Amethyst (Amaya/Amy Winston)

Jinny Hex

Teen Lantern (Keli Quintela)

Powerhouse (Naomi McDuffie)

Additional Heroes (so far):

Sideways (Derek James)

Aqualad (Jackson Hyde)

Static (Virgil Hawkins)

Bunker (Miguel Barragan)

Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)

Crush (Xiomara Rojas)

Djinn

Equinox (Miiyahbin Marten)

[isfjmel-phleg]

#I apologize for using wiki as a supporting evidence #But anyway #Greta’a been there since day 1 #greta hayes #yj98 #dc #young justice #do i need to tag cissie too #The wiki is lwk wrong cuz I always thought that core 4 r the ones that stayed heroes #Then where’s Anita #Did they js get rid of her after the graduation #Or did she start to take care of her parents

You are so right, Greta has been on the team almost from the beginning! The very first Young Justice story is Young Justice: The Secret #1, in which the boys meet her, and the series ends with the completion of her arc when she is restored to life. She is crucial to the team.

And honestly, the whole "Core Four" dynamic is something that never existed in Young Justice 1998. Cassie and the boys are never a unit or an inner circle. And most of the time, the team has an equal boy-to-girl ratio, which was not common for the 1990s.

I think the "Core Four" thing has its roots in the 2003 Titans series, with Tim, Kon, Bart, and Cassie being the only members of Young Justice to join the Titans (Anita did stay a hero, but no one was writing about her after YJ 1998, so she went into permanent comic-book limbo). They're also the only ones of the group with direct ties to big-name JLA heroes, which might be part of why they're the ones the fandom prefers to concentrate on.

But if Young Justice 1998 ever had anything even remotely comparable to a "Core Four," it would be Tim, Kon, Bart, and Greta! Some early promo material for the series included a set of four stickers, one for each of them. Cassie and Cissie were the newcomers by comparison at the start. I'd love to see more recognition in the fandom of the actual dynamics of the comics, which would mean featuring Greta much more prominently (and Cissie! and Anita! and Lobo/Slo-bo! and maybe remembering that Ray exists once in a while). She absolutely should get more love; it is, after all, perhaps more her story than anyone else's.

Whenever people add a 5th member to core 4 they usually do Cissie and DON’T GET ME WRONG!!! I LOVE Cissie. But when core 4 was being explained in its wiki it said “The six then formed a team with many rotating members, but with one of the four always being on the team.” But Greta was ALWAYS on the team too, she was the one who convinced Cassie to join, she was the one there before Cissie and Cassie, she was ALWAYS in the team. Idk why I’m thinking so much abt this. But pls give my girl Greta more love 💔💔

[burritowitch]

really random headcanon/scenario that i couldn't get out of my head:

at least once, the entirety of Young Justice core four has shown up to a meeting with the exact same haircut. like no planning for it or anything, it just happened. like maybe Kon hasn't gotten around to redoing his undercut and was too lazy to style it before going to the meeting, Bart's having a bad hair day and its all flat and laying straight for once, Cassie chopped most of her hair off in a mirror with kitchen scissors in the middle of the night the week before, and Tim's just been letting his hair grow out.

so when they show up and they all look the same they just. stop. and they then take the rest of the day away from whatever emergency brought them together again to discuss why they all look the same.

[clambuoyance]

I want to read the dc comics, but I have no idea where to start. Which one do I read first?

I gave recs for what I started over here and they’re mainly what I started with so you can understand what I draw, but here are some more :) when I first started reading comics I went for shorter ones but as you read you get exposed to characters and you’re like “I wanna read more of them” and then it all spirals from there. I think it helped me get used to reading comic bullshit lol. I only started reading this year so there’s a lot I haven’t read out there.

1. Supersons 2016 (very cute and more lighthearted, three series, finished so it’s about 30 ish issues in total i think, Damian Wayne/Robin and Jonathan Kent/Superboy are the sons of Batman and Superman and they get into shenanigans and have a cute friendship. I really like these ones😊)

2. Young Justice 1998 (older so dunno if you wanna start with it, but it’s fun and wacky and I love it, 55 issues plus some crossover/tie in issues so probably like 60 ish issues, features Tim drake/robin, superboy/Conner kent, impulse/Bart Allen, wonder girl/Cassandra sandsmark, greta Hayes/secret, arrowette/cissie king jones, plus more like empress/anita fite, slobo, and red tornado.)

3. Graduation day (mini comic that is 2 or 3 issues about breaking up yj and the titans smh smh) then the core four (Tim, Bart, kon, cassie) join the teen titans

Teen titans 2003 (grittier and edgier than yj but has it’s nice character moments here n there, about 100 issues, but I’m not gonna lie if Conner isn’t in the issue I kinda zoned out or skimmed it ummm >_>)

4. Batman urban legends. ( ongoing, anthology of several stories and characters, good if you wanna meet a lot of Gotham based characters. This was like my first legit exposure to dc comics specifically so I’m putting it here)

5. World’s Finest 2022 (ongoing, Um I think there’s 5 or 6 issues out rn. It’s revisiting Batman, Robin (Dick grayson), and Superman’s first years together and it’s reallyyyyy cooooooool. I love the vibes and art. Feels very authentically comic book-y. Dan mora is my favorite dc artist Honestly . Lots of others show up too like Supergirl and Doom Patrol 😊Actually this is Probably my fave out of the new comics)

6. Batgirls 2022 (ongoing but there’s like 9 issues out I think??, features Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, and Barbara Gordon, who have all held the mantle of batgirl. Also the art slaps.)

7. Batgirl 2000 (70 issues, about Cassandra cain’s run as batgirl, I haven’t finished it but Its like a really lauded run and is well written so go read it)

8. Batgirl 2009 (26 issues I think, this is about Stephanie brown’s run as batgirl, she is my beloved I love her so much and her jokes are so😖💜)

9. Red Robin 2009 (26 issues I think?, runs parallel to Batgirl 2009 and Batman and Robin 2009, I put this one last bc I feel like it needs a Lot of context unlike the others where you can just jump into it but it is short and It was also one of my first comics so 🧍🏻‍♀️. Basically Tim drake had a solo run (Robin 1993) but it’s over 100 issues and I haven’t even read all of em bc there’s. So much. So if u wanna read more tim drake stuff I’d suggest looking up a reading list bc he debuts in the Detective Comics issues and then gets his own solo. Anywaysss so basically a lot of shit happened lots of friends n family died or “died” leaving Tim in a pretty bad place. Bruce is assumed dead, so Dick becomes Batman and makes Damian his Robin, and Tim takes up the Red Robin mantle. okay actually you can easily pick up the context when u read so nvm😗✌️)

I was gonna put more but I’m on mobile and hit the photo limit ☹️ Kon and Bart have their solos, I started reading The New Teen Titans from the 80s, Damian has a recent robin run, and I’m planning on reading more supergirl/superfam comics and green lantern corps comics so yeaaaaah there’s a loooooot. Hopefully something here piqued your interest and I didn’t overwhelm you.

[suzukiblu]

WIP WEDNESDAY GAME

Slimmed-down post/rules, but originally taken from @kedreeva.

It’s WIP Wednesday! This week's theme is "Young Justice is straight-up feral about each other (and a little extra feral about their clone boy)".

Here’s how it works:

I will post the file names of five WIPs, and will also post a snippet of new content from one of them to get the ball rolling.

Send me an ask with the name of one of the listed WIPs and I will write you a minimum of three sentences in that WIP in response!

Multiple requests are fine, but I’d prefer if you sent them in separate asks. Just a little easier for me to fill them that way.

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

WIP names:

it's not fine anymore

a pocketful of Kons 

the Core Four gangs up on Kon’s objectification kink 

trans Clark and cis Kon

YJ packs up and gets pupped

snippet from “it's not fine anymore”:

Meaning, it's less fine that his dick doesn't work. 

Kon didn't even know it didn't, when he first got out of the vat. It didn't even occur to him to think about it, what with all the other shit that'd been going on at the time. It's been a few failed relationships since then, though, and a lot of meeting a lot of very attractive people in very tight clothes in very high-stress situations, and also there's been literal mind control and love spells and sex pollen and . . . 

Yeah, well. So his dick definitely doesn't work. 

Very, very thoroughly, does his dick not work. 

If nothing else, being in the same room as Starfire and Nightwing while they were actively flirting with each other across the briefing table had very decisively closed the door on any possible chance of Kon just being a late bloomer or having a low sex drive or . . . or whatever. Whatever else it could've been. 

Kon had really, really wanted it to be him just being a late bloomer. 

But it's definitely not him just being a late bloomer. 

This would be less of an issue if Cassie and Bart and Tim hadn't all apparently noticed that he's stopped flirting with everything that moves and have apparently all come to the conclusion that said ceasefire on his pathetic attempts at acting like a normal and functional teenager means he's like, emotionally matured or something and therefore is ready for . . . well . . . 

Them. 

Also Bart reading like sixteen different libraries and actually emotionally maturing probably didn't help either, in retrospect.

[ectonurites]

Have Steph and Cassie interacted?

Pre-reboot only very briefly, like Steph was there for the big Zandia mission in YJ while Cassie was also there but they didn't directly interact:

(Young Justice (1998) #49)

And I don't think they properly like, talk, until after Steph's whole 'death' and everything. They have like two interactions in one issue of Teen Titans, but that's really it

(Teen Titans Vol. 3 #66)

There's like multiple other places they appear in the same issue or something, but just... without actual interactions. It especially sucks that they NEVER interact when Steph's Batgirl (outside of like. theoretically bc they both helped Tim with his shit in Red Robin #12 they could have crossed paths? but not on panel), and it's especially wild to me because both of them are close with Kara??

Now after the reboot, in Young Justice, Cassie is excited to see Steph when she arrives on the scene! It kinda feels like they just... filled in the gaps of 'Steph and Cassie absolutely have to know each other at least kinda well at this point'

(Young Justice (2019) #14)

And actually even before that, when they meet the Steph of Earth-3, Cassie Kon & Bart all seem like, way more excited about Steph than they ever have seemed before which is like, a welcome change I will take LMAO

(Young Justice (2019) #10)

AND Steph was hanging with the core four during Last Stories of the DC Universe which is cool to see!

(Dark Nights: Death Metal - The Last Stories of the DC Universe)

Steph was grouped with the YJ kids multiple times especially in some older stuff (she cameos in World Without Grown-Ups, she's in the same Secret Origins issue with them, etc) because she is part of that same generation of heroes, despite getting very little actual interaction with them, which I think was a wasted opprotunity.

In general I want Cassie & Steph to be friends SO BAD it would be so good. Wonder Girl and the Girl Wonder... I want it!!! I want it. Maybe they should also even hold hands and kiss ! who knows :)

in conclusion: Steph & Cassie have only interacted a few times and I want more

[thattimdrakeguy]

I think one of the reason why Core Four fans stay (most of the time, and not by everyone, just from what I’ve seen) in the 90s, and why Bat-Family fans stay in modern times (mostly made up times):

Is because Core Four fans that have followed them since the 90s can more easily be like ‘Ah, yeah, okay, hmmm. Yeah, no. That is definitely not them anymore’ at a certain point in their series, and especially by Teen Titans 2003. And they can leave it at that, because it’s the Core Four--once you got those four there is no more. Most of the fan base didn’t take the Young Justice relaunch well, if they’re a fan of Young Justice in-general either. And it’s easier in-general in the headcanon land, to play out certain situations for the new characters to meet the old anyways.

But because with the Bat-Family having so many characters arriving or re-arriving after the fact, or only getting solos after that point in the Didio era, they have to play with the ball that says for this to work you just have to accept this characterization that’s questionable at best, because pretty much every character has had to deal with a phase (some still going on) where their characterization absolutely bafflingly changed, contradicts stuff, or becomes such a mess, that it’s borderline incomprehensible why what’s happening is happening. Let alone if it should happen.

Why play with a system that’s whack with your favs, when you can just ignore it, and leave it where it was basically lmao

From my understanding a similar things happen with...the Fab Five (is that what they’re called?) the original Titans. Except for some even more so, because none of them had solos at the time to worry about ‘til Dick got one in the late ‘90s. And honestly, good for them. Happy for them. I think it’s also the same for like 80s Titans fans--idk if they have a name. Who can blame them. Ever read New 52 RHATO? Oh, it’s so bad.

Personally I live in my odd curated world that has 90s Tim, 80s Dick, late 90s and very early 00s Cass, a custom Jason meant to match UTRH but in a hypothetical where he developed in a way that matched his characterization better, and a Batman that is formed of what I comprehended Denny O’Neil to write him as.

It’s odd, but my brain just cannot play around with the random changes for characters. My brain rejects it as a natural process. So I have my own stitched together world, when I just wanna day dream random stories, or more accurately get stuck in them.

For Cassie and Bart it’s even more specific with Bryne!Cassie and Waid!Bart exclusively, since I’m not sure I seen other writers after them fully get what they were meant to be like.

And well, it’s comics: We all read them differently.

[river-bottom-nightmare]

listening to a batfam playlist and i've been thinking.

in an honestly rare occurrence for such a high profile set of characters, and unlike most other batman-eque character archetypes, romance was never,,,,part of the Batman Story. sure there are writers that prioritize it, heaps of fanfic and fanart, and more recently a lot of promotion for giving bruce a partner, but if you look at bruce's story, from the moment he was created as a character to now, romance never really was a major point in his life and in his story.

the event that shattered bruce was the death of his parents, the slaughter of his family. and despite training with the league and meeting talia, despite his complicated relationship with selina, the one thing that helped bruce start to put himself back together again was dick. the fragile glass that was his soul had fractured into sharp edges when his parents died, and the only thing that smoothed the edges was bruce becoming a parent himself.

bruce's story is about losing his family, and then finding it again. not through meeting the love of his life and settling down with them, not even through the found family trope with the justice league (which i honestly would have enjoyed.) no, the "happy ending" to bruce wayne's story came when he adopted a kid, and then adopted ten more.

and this is,,,,sort of mirrored in his children?

i'm not downplaying how important kori and babs are to dick, because they really mean a lot to him. but both of them were his friends first. dick places a lot of emphasis on friendship, and the importance of platonic relationships. the titans are the reason dick is the man he is today, and dick recognizes that.

(it's honestly probably the reason you can ship him with anyone, and why every ship with him and one of his friends works so beautifully: every single one of his friendships is so close and fulfilling and mutually loving. and we've all been conditions to only think of romantic relationships that way. but dick's story, the found family he discovers with the titans, proves that platonic relationships are just as important. but also dick and wally are gay i'm sorry that's just how it is.)

we really don't get to see jason interacting with people much before outlaws. and i'll be completely honest, i haven't actually finished all of outlaws, neither the runs with roy and kori nor the runs with artemis and biz, so this is mostly going on what i've seen from the fandom. you can ship jason with any member of the outlaws the way you can with dick and the titans, but at the end of the day, they're his friends. he trusts them, he relies on them, he depends on them, and he simply enjoys their company.

with tim, it's a bit different. he was created as a mirror for every "normal" boy in america, so they can see themselves as robin too. and what does every supposed average teenage boy want? dc comics is quick to answer: a girlfriend. steph was created literally for the sole purpose of being tim's love interest. but as tim's character evolved, and as fans began influencing him, we wound up with young justice: literally one of the most close knit hero groups in dc, with the core four even more so.

i mean, yes, tim and kon are in love. but also, tim, cassie, bart, and conner are an unstoppable team made of perfectly complimentary chaotic energies. this is titans all over again: those platonic relationships made a huge impact on tim's life. i'd argue they meant more to him than steph.

cass and damian are more similar, in a sense. both of their important relationships were not based in friendship, but in family. bruce was absolutely pivotal in cass' life, and he was a wonderful guiding presence, reliable figure, and father to her. the same with damian and dick. for the two of them, parental figures were the thing that made them whole again, the thing that saved them from their prewritten destinies. eventually, that morphed into all types of familial relationships with the rest of the batfam.

anyway, i just think it's cool that romance has never been a priority for any batfam members, both in-universe and in meta terms.

or maybe this is me just having a soft spot for found family. who knows.