#but also i wanna see my family . idk

[glitter-stained]

In which I am perfectly normal about the Todd Family

One thing I really really love about the Todds (their og post-crisis introduction, not the flying todds or whatever bs recent comics have pushed through) is how they challenge us to question not only our classist prejudice and the way it frames our judgment, but also the moral weight we put behind concepts of abuse, neglect or crime.

Look. The Todds weren't "good parents". Maybe they used to be, when he was little; but there was a point after which Willis Todd didn't take care of his son because he simply was not there, and Catherine didn't take care of little Jason, instead parentifying him and putting an extraordinary pressure onto him as her caregiver. They both criminally neglected Jason and Catherine's death under Jason's care must have been pretty traumatic, after which he found himself completely abandoned.

But what does it mean to be a good parent? Is it to be a good person who is also a parent? Is it to be good at parenting skills? Is it to not abuse or neglect your children and provide enrichment and a good environment to grow in? Is it to try your best with what you have, and hope it's enough? Willis became a criminal because he needed money to feed his family and that landed him in jail, unable to care for Jason. Catherine, whether she died of overdose due to her substance use disorder or cancer or ODed as an attempt to self-medicate the cancer pains with heroin, was unable to care for Jason because of an illness (in the US, which has a horrifying medical system which is systematically violent to everyone but the ultra-rich) and had to rely on him for caregiving until her death. Does that mean they were bad people? Bad parents? Was Catherine a bad mom who tried her best, a good mom in an impossible situation, a good person who was neglectful and/or abusive but never wished to be? Does the concept of good parenting even make sense? Here's a secret about abuse: abusive parents very rarely wish to be. They often don't consider themselves so, explain their actions with justifications regarding their intent to give their child the weapons for a better life, or explain away the responsibility. But they're not wrong: if you're raised in a culture that tells you that beating your children is the way to help them get a better future, it's justified to blame and criticise the culture that told you this, and can you really be called a bad parent when you were only trying to help? Neglect is more frequent amongst the working class, and that statistics is neither a moral judgement nor a classist stereotype: it's merely the logical consequence of a system that fabricates scarcity. Of course you're not gonna feed your child if you don't have the money to feed them -and if you need to feed them and steal the money (or earn it by working as a gangster) to do so, it's a crime, and then you get caught and get sent to jail and can't feed your child anymore. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Jason, upon his introduction, is a stereotypical "bad boy", a young criminal, who steals and doesn't go to school. And tiny baby Jason, from his twelve years and three apple tall, sneers in the face of anticipated moral judgement and says fuck that you don't get to say that, I'm only doing what I need to survive and there's nothing wrong with it, I didn't have any other option that wasn't degrading and dehumanizing. And this is why I like Batman #408 so much: this character, who is so young and funny and cute and goddamn sweet, is introduced committing a crime against Batman; as an alternative to doing crime, Bruce puts him in a school/group home that teaches its students to do crime. How perfectly cool that is as an origin story? It's a literal school that makes criminals (and punishes you violently when you refuse to comply). Bruce was completely well-intentioned, he just wanted to help a wayward child, but when the system itself is fucked up, when the system is actively trying to produce crime, what option does Jason have but to escape again, and go right back to committing the same literal crime? And of course, Jason's trust in Batman-the system-the adults- is broken, to the point where he doesn't expect Batman to believe him and intervenes at the robbery himself.

So is Jason a criminal? Are the Todds neglectful? Yes. Does that make him a bad kid? Does that make them bad people? What about bad parents? How much easier is it to be a good parent, when you have the money to do so?

Anyway I love the Todd family I love the themes and critique they pose I love Ma'Gunn both as Batman's foil and Jason's introductory antagonist I wish Jason's Robin Run carried on exploring these themes I love you Catherine and Willis and Jason Todd I love you Batman #408.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

chat i think im gonna be sick

(Powers of X #6)

[fluffypotatey]

If SWK and MK come from the same stone, does that mean they are brothers? I don't know how others would see it though.

i think that all depends on the audience (and if i’m being honest, i hope that canon doesn’t clarify it precisely bc the fandom discourse will be insufferable 🙄 and i am so sick of THAT type of discourse)

are they brothers? if that fits with how their dynamic works for you, then sure! it makes sense when they do share the same egg, but also can we really place that as the distinction?

personally, SWK and MK’s dynamic to me reads like mentor/pupil that borders the line of familial (but what are those familial lines to me??? it is so vague, bestie if i’m being honest. sometimes i view them as brothers with an age gap. sometimes it’s uncle/nephew, and sometimes it’s grandpa/grandchild). i wouldn’t call their relationship brotherly the same way i would argue for the royalty duo. it’s just an unlabeled type of found family to me, ya know?

but canon-wise? well it has the mentor/pupil but also shows how they blur the lines into a friendship by s2. and then we have s4 teasing about SWK being MK’s possible dad (and why the teasing? well, the story is playing in the same assumptions audience members made: swk is a monkey, MK has monkey powers, they share similar enemies, and then you have the stone egg). but then the season ends leaving the connection between MK and SWK still vague while re-establishing the father/son with Pigsy and MK (and strengthening it in s5 bless)

AND THEN!!! S5 begins with SWK and MK finding their stone (i believe it was SWK who said “our stone” if my context clues are working) and even after MK’s origins are revealed, there still isn’t a solid confirmation on the familial aspect between SWK and MK but there is a connection. but i have no idea what the characters were saying, idk if they made any of that clear in s5

anyway, short answer: SWK and MK coming from the same stone does not need to mean they are brothers. it can be if you want it to even after lmk canon confirms or denies it. my personal interpretation is more blurry than brothers but to each their own

[faaun]

pls i need to provide updates

[gremzon]

I might have OCD actually

[wayfinderships]

Gamers this Yakuza crush is crushing! You know it's bad when I'm already trying to make an s/i

[cerealbishh]

"Just be careful. My dad loves you but he'll stick a knife right in your back and sever your spine!"

[nervocat]

I want to delete my account.... disappear for a bit........ but I WON'T I WON'T I WON'T I PROMISE

[lieutenantselnia]

Actually I think it's a bit unfair that I can't be an astrophysicist and a historian and a game developer and a marine biologist and an archaeologist and an author and a seamstress at the same time

[roaringroa]

they should make a life where you don't have appointments, work, school and scheduled events every single day for months on end

[westmeath]

posting more on tumblr lately cus 1. it's my last bastion of social media that people i see regularly irl dont follow me and 2. trying to avoid my stupid baka life and two assignments i have due in 4 days one of which i've not even started LOL but between you and me i think that if the last two times ive had to get my flights back to wales it's made me literally want to blow myself up then maybe i should rethink staying there for another year after i finish my degree in april...

[adore-gregor]

.

[marymekpop]

Cry if you want. It’s okay.

[danielnelsen]

there’s so much i wanna do this week/month/etc but i’m just too sick, i have no energy, i can’t sleep, i’m constantly nauseous and headachey and on the verge of a migraine, i’m stressed and irritable and impatient and panicky…….how tf did i survive nearly 5 years of high school untreated if i can’t even manage this when i don’t have any major obligations rn

[thats-my-passion-right-there]

I finally saw the mean girls musical (the movie one) I have so many fucking thoughts oh my god

[psychoticwillgraham]

i’m supposed to be happy down here rn, but I’m not. I feel so homesick. not for my hometown, no. but for Rich and the boys at the shop. Rich especially needs me rn bc he just got outed and lost of all his business contacts so now he has absolutely no money coming in except for his disability payments. he didn’t even call me once during this ordeal. when I asked him why last night, he said that he didn’t wanna bother me bc I’m supposed to be on vacation and chilling and didn’t want me to worry about him. I can’t be mad bc I’d do the same thing honestly.

down here, everything seems so foreign to me. like I just stick out like a sore thumb. but nobody here knows me and I can truly be myself without judgement or preconceived notions ppl have about me. well, not really bc it’s dangerous for trans ppl down here. despite my life being shit back home, I miss it. I rlly do. and I’ve nearly drank about five different times and the rally (the big stressor) isn’t until Thursday. i’m terrified that I’ll relapse soon if I stay here, and if I do, mom and sis will scream and scream at me saying that I’ve disappointed grandma and am spitting on her memory by going back to the very thing that she fought so hard to help me beat back.

i’m just. Sad. and I feel empty inside. so very empty.