#maximum emotional damage for bruce why not

[light-the-spark-of-dawn]

AU in which the Red Hood makes his debut by killing Joker via bombing the warehouse he was hiding in after escaping from Arkham for the umpteenth time. The autopsy shows that the clown was beaten with a heavy bludgeon before the explosion finished him off. Just like Jason was.

When Red Hood begins protecting Crime Alley, Batman figures out that it must be Jason and goes to confront him about it. Only for the crime lord to take off his helmet and reveal he's a completely random guy who apologizes for getting Bruce's hopes up.

Later on there's a scene where Red Hood is talking with Talia, who asks him if hiding his identity from his family was a mistake. Cue the montage of Jason digging himself out of his grave, getting dunked in the Lazarus Pit, training under the League of Assassins. You know, the usual sequence, except with an added panel of getting plastic surgery so he doesn't look like a dead kid.

[mysterycitrus]

HAS ANYONE SAID BRUCE HEADCANONS YET

Headcanon A:  realistic

in his head, rattling around like whispers in the dark are the words if you slip once, if you tighten your grip, if you falter, if you fall, you will be a killer. he hears it as he stands at the gallery with damian, as he watches cass dance, as he sits through duke's debate club, as tim sits beside him in the cave, as dick smiles at him, again, the same as he did when he was robin. you will kill your children. it's what you really want, isn't it? to make people hurt. to make them feel the way you do. he doesn't, obviously. the thoughts are intrusive. they hold no power in the daylight. he knows this. he knows he knows he knows.

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

sometimes bruce just... doesn't remember people's secret identities. like, he knows them. he has them on file. he has built a flamethrower robot with the face of their first love to cause maximum emotional damage should they ever go rogue and steal a nuke, but otherwise? the league recruits so many similar sounding people that he just can't bring himself to give a shit. what's that new guy's name? who cares. his costume is ugly and he looks like a hedgehog.

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

his greatest fear is watching the people he loves be gunned down in front of him, again, while he is helpless to watch. but what he fears, truly, buried so deep that even crane could not draw it from him, is that everything he's done to dick, everything he's said, all the times bruce has pushed him away and made it hurt, is hanging over his head like the sword of damocles. dick's anger is loud. he simmers then explodes, but there are some things that remain unsaid. how close is he from turning away from bruce entirely? what if bruce loses him while he still breathes? why can't bruce stop doing it?

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

one time as bruce wayne he spent an afternoon flirting with ronan farrow at an event, because he was so afraid that ronan was going to start asking him questions about like... why he keeps mysteriously disappearing and how all his kids keep dying. it was fine. he played it cool. he had to hide from michael lewis in the bathroom.

[marionluth]

This came to exist through another Reddit activity. The prompt was mathematics and of course I wrote about Tim. Beware! The fanon is strong in this one. 'Twas fun. I regret nothing.

Do the Math

Tim Drake was nothing if he wasn't good at math. Math was his superpower. And maybe it wasn't an overtly volatile superpower like those of the Supeys—the kind that could smash supervillains through brick walls—but math could sure as hell be volatile in the right hands. Tim's hands.

Tim could calculate success probabilities like nobody’s business. Of course, he’d then promptly ignore those probabilities and dive in anyway. But he knew, and that counts for something, right? Math could help calculate ideal timing for high-value target extraction because Tim didn’t just barge in guns blazing—that was Jason's thing. Dick’s too (minus the guns), if he was being honest. No. Tim calculated the exact second when security rotations would leave the least coverage on the target. The fact that Nightwing would then throw the whole plan off with some acrobatics that would take him way too long to land the damn kick he was supposed to land? Well, that was par for the course.

Math was an invaluable ally when it came to combat angles and attack trajectories, too. Tim could calculate the perfect angle for throwing batarangs, scoring maximum efficiency and damage with minimal visibility, accounting for variables like wind speed and throw angle. He’d tried to explain it to Jason once, but it didn’t go over well.

One might think that would be the extent of it, but Tim knew better, because forensic math was a thing, and blood spatter patterns could spill more tea than most apprehended suspects. Bruce was a man of simple pleasures and preferred his roughing-up-the-goons-until-they-speak methods, but Tim, with the right equations, could reverse-engineer a crime scene without bruising a single knuckle. And just don’t get him started on decoding encrypted shit. With enough Red Bull and focus, he could reduce complex ciphers to basic (for him) math patterns and—boom—problem fixed, secret meeting point revealed, riddle solved (and Riddler crying from sheer frustration).

And math’s glory doesn’t end there, oh no. Math is everywhere in Tim’s life. How else would he manage to balance AP classes, detective work, vigilantism, team missions, and a social life? Math. He had the perfect algorithm for distributing his study hours and maximizing caffeine intake sleep. Speaking of, he has calculated his optimal caffeine intake for maximum functionality and alertness, stretching the physical boundaries of his human nature. (Sleep is overrated, okay? He’s living proof humans can survive with small intermittent intervals of it every now and again. He’ll soon publish his data.)

But all superpowers have their limits, and so does Tim’s math. No matter how hard he tries, he hasn’t managed (yet) to figure out an algorithm to fix the whole Damian Wayne issue (that might be a problem to discuss with Jason). Sure, math could account for insults per minute and eye twitches per insult, or even the probability of assassination attempts per week, but no breakthroughs (other than certain acts B highly disapproves of for some reason) in terms of solving the problem have yet been found.

Math was all fun and games until it came to serious issues like figuring out why Steph, Kon, or Bernard was mad at him. Math couldn’t explain half the arguments he had with any of them—not for lack of trying. Probability charts, time-series analysis—the works—none of it helped, and he’d made his peace with it. Emotional math, in general, was a beast of its own, and Tim was out of his depth. Calculating when he should text someone back, or the “right” frequency for date nights or family quality time (that didn’t involve dressing up as bats and birds and red hoods and chasing down criminals)—total mystery.

Feelings didn’t follow rules or probability. (Yes, he tried to make a spreadsheet once. No, it didn’t go well.)

If you liked it and want to give it some love in AO3, too, you can find it here:

[rosesgonerogue]

How to be a Dad 101

Chapter 1: First Meetings

Jasonette July Day 1

Masterlist

It was soon after Jason had agreed to Bruce’s pansy “no killing” stipulation. He could operate as Red Hood in conjunction with Batman and company but separate as long as he complied with that one very specific rule. 

 He hated it. While he’d rediscovered most of himself since his stint with death, that didn’t necessarily curb any of his bloodlust. Parts of him were damaged irreparable and one of those was the understanding that you shouldn’t want to kill people just for the sake of killing people. 

While he complied, apparently causing someone the maximum amount of pain possible was also looked down upon. Bruce gave him quite the lecture, and afterwards Jason just needed to escape. He wandered around Gotham’s streets, hopefully to blow off some steam before going back to the manor. Maybe he could - 

His train of thought was interrupted by someone bumping into him sharply. Irked, Jason turned around to bite their head off, maybe get a decent fight in, but he was completely caught off guard by empty air. He glanced around, confused  until he looked down about a foot and a half. He was met by a shade of blue he didn’t know the name of, but he desperately wanted to. Pale skin dotted with freckles was framed by inky hair, a combination that Jason should have been used to but seemed to be an assault on his emotions. 

Rapid words spewed out of the tiny girl’s mouth, and Jason would have sworn that his brain had simply stopped working until he heard the words, “Excusez moi.”

Ah, so she was French. Jason straightened up, wracking his brain for what little French he remembered from high school. “Uh, je m’appelle Jason. Uh…”

“So sorry, I spoke in French without thinking,” the girl said in only lightly accented English. “But I’m sorry for bumping into you. It was an accident, forgive me.” 

Finally freed from her bewitching blue eyes, Jason took a moment to scrutinize her and her apparent companions. The girl was distinctly shorter than the others, and she looked almost like a pixie with her hair tied up in pigtails. She was accompanied by two men, one blond clearly wearing designer clothes, and the only remarkable thing about the other was his chunky headphones. Behind them a girl with glasses and ombre hair was holding her phone up like she was recording or something. 

“It’s… fine,” Jason eventually said, realizing the pixie was waiting for an answer of some sort from him. “But if you don’t mind me asking, what are you all doing here in Gotham? I mean, you’re obviously not from here.” 

She grinned, face alight with mischief. “And what gave it away? Was it the fact that we actually wore a color other than black in Gotham?” 

“Nah, it’s the hope in your eyes. It doesn’t belong, especially when you four are headed to Crime Alley as we speak.”

“Are we really? I told you we were lost, Adrien!” the girl said, nudging the blond. 

“Nino is the one who lost the map,” he said, pointing to Headphones. 

“But you were the one who claimed to remember the way and wouldn’t let us use GPS.”

The one with ombre hair said, “But is Crime Alley completely out  of the question? If I got some footage of something going on I would get a great grade for my Criminal Journalism class.” 

Headphones groaned. “Babe…”

Pixie patted the other girl’s arm. “I’m not getting mugged for your project, Alya. Besides, it’s Gotham. I’m sure you’ll find something without needlessly endangering ourselves.” 

Jason couldn’t stop staring at the Pixie girl. She was gorgeous. Even with her tiny stature, she emanated confidence and poise. Somehow her movements reminded him of Dick, a surety and grace that came from knowing your own body. She was clearly the leader of their little group, and the thought of her wandering through Crime Alley left Jason unexpectedly feeling angry and a bit… possessive, which was insane. 

He couldn’t help but eye the blond. He wasn’t dating the Pixie, was he? The other two seemed to be in a relationship, but…

“So what is this, some kind of couples trip or something?” Jason asked, shamelessly inserting himself into the conversation once more.

“No,” Pixie and the blond said in perfect unison. 

“We’re just friends,” he said quickly. “Alya and Nino are dating, but the four of us have been friends since high school, and we just wanted to take a fun, celebratory trip.” 

“It’s a miracle we found the time to do it at all,” Pixie continued. “Alya is the one that picked Gotham because apparently she misses Paris being a dystopian hellscape overrun with masked weirdos.” 

“You can’t be telling me that all of that akuma crap was real,” Jason said, leaning against a nearby wall.

Almost perfectly in unison, all four foreigners scoffed, trading looks with one another.

“Gotham isn’t the only city with issues, pretty boy,” the reporter one said. “Don’t be so quick to dismiss what you hear.” 

Damn, Jason had let his curiosity over Paris’s heroes get the best of him. Since he knew Pixie was available he was supposed to work on charming her pants off. 

“Look, I’ve got nothing to do the rest of the day,” Jason said, determined to change the subject. (He could make the Replacement investigate things later.) “I could show you back to  your hotel, or even show you around Gotham without getting robbed.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, I wouldn’t want to take all of your spare time,” Pixie said, blue eyes worried. “If you could just point us in the right direction-”

“You promise to make sure we’re not attacked or mugged?” Reporter demanded.

 “Alya,” her boyfriend cautioned. 

“You don’t want to go to Crime Alley because it’s dangerous, right? Well I’m sure we’ll be fine with six feet of muscle on our side.” 

“Alya, no.” 

“I’m not risking our necks at Crime Alley,” Jason said with finality. “But chances are that you’ll see at least something that might work for your class.” 

“Okay, it’s a deal,” she said decisively. 

“We don’t know him, Alya,” the blond hissed, surreptitiously glancing at him. 

Pixie was shamelessly scrutinizing him - she was staring him down intently enough to make Jason feel uncomfortable. He knew he looked a bit like a thug - between his sheer size and his usual scowl, it was easy to send people running. Most of the time he liked it and the fear he inspired, but he couldn’t tell whether or not he scared her, one of the first people he didn’t want to scare. What did she think of him? Why was he so nervous about a little girl who’d decided pigtails were totally age - appropriate at twenty-something years old? 

Her face cleared and she smiled widely like it was the easiest thing in the world. “Don’t worry guys, we can trust Jason.” 

He nearly startled when she said his name, but he shoved the reaction down. Even more surprising was the way the two men relaxed, totally willing to follow the girl’s lead. 

“We appreciate your help, Jason. These are my friends Alya, Adrien, and Nino. My name is Marinette.” Pixie - no, Marinette - was still smiling like he’d just given her the world. “We really appreciate your help, it’s very kind of you.” 

“Whatever,” Jason said, ignoring the slight blush on his cheeks. “Now let’s get the hell away from Crime Alley. I’m not your babysitter.”     

Taglist:  @jasonette-july-2k20

Notes: 

After Daminette December last year I didn’t see myself doing a month-long challenge again, but then I somehow got 500 followers??? As a thank you I’m putting myself through the ringer again, and I hope you all enjoy it! Not all of the prompts will be connected to this story, but the majority of them will. This is going to be another Mominette fic (because I haven’t been able to see my nieces and nephews for weeks and I’m deprived). If you want to be tagged just leave a comment and I’ll make it happen! I don’t have the mental capacity to keep a permanent taglist, but I’m happy to tag anyone that’s interested. 

[rachels-nightwing]

Liveblog: 03x13

“I give her to you,” ugh, that’s just skeevy and all kinds of EWWW! I really hope Barbara makes you regret those words.

V Margarita is working for A.R.G.U.S/Roy Harper, ah my ARROW heart!

Once again Rachel’s powers are awesome visually. Her growing confidence is fantastic and I’m hoping they might explore how Dick will react to her emotional growth. I think he’ll be super proud.

“You need to stay. This is where you belong.” Aw, his family’s understanding is wonderful, and quite refreshing.

Bombs in Gotham? God, this city really can’t catch a break! Oh, and can you just imagine the cost of insurance in this city?

Rachel: “But there are also four branches of the Wayne Institute for Child Development, each with a program for disabled kids, including the deaf. Do you think he'd target them because of Bruce's connection?” Dick: “Find the one closest to midtown. Near hotels, hospitals, apartment buildings. He'd want maximum damage.”

And suddenly, just like that, Conner has forgiven Dick for the Kryptonite? He was so angry before. I don’t trust this forgiveness.

Rachel is giving off unobtrusive, H.B.I.C. vibes in this kitchen scene when Conner draws on the board.

Another instance of Rachel using her powers! I love it! Oh no, it looks to be hurting her. Now I feel bad about being excited.

Selina Kyle. So, I’m guessing next season we’ll be meeting both Roy Harper and Selina Kyle, huh? They are constantly bringing in more and more characters and why would they mention them in this episode unless they are coming along later (a.k.a. next season,) you know?

“That’s for Gotham, bitch.” LOL Tim Drake being funny.

“…and you’re Raven.” I think that’s the first time someone’s actually referred to Rachel as Raven.

Another awkward scene between Barbara and Dick to close out the season, huh? Alright.

Okay so now I’m assuming we won’t be seeing Barbara, Blackfire, Dawn and/or Donna much, if at all, next season.

Rachel, second to agree to the R.V. journey: “Right, cause who would want to fly in a bat-jet?” Dick, in reply: “Exactly.”

Donna to Tim: “For what it’s worth, I think you would have made a pretty decent Robin.” I love that she felt the need to comfort him in the moment.

“Not this time,” then Dick steps back and lets Rachel do her thing. I love it. And I love that is the final interaction of this season.

As a Dick/Rachel fan, we didn’t get a whole lot of interaction/things to analyze in season three, but what there is, is certainly rich in things to enjoy. It’s quality certainly more important than quantity.

[polari-t]

[PROJECT SEGMENT #2]: Why Psychology and Philosophy is Important to Security

Previously, I have talked about what C-I-A does not perfectly achieve (only works to some extent), which only focused on problems associated with authentication like disguising. But, there is something else that it misses entirely. Consider cases in which information is being exchanged between 2 “trusted” parties, C-I-A protects them from external threats, but it relies on the assumption that either party is trustworthy. Meaning, if this assumption was to be proven wrong or is secretively violated unbeknownst to one of the parties, then each property of the triad is quite pointless. Even supposing the information transferred in private communications have good end-to-end encryption, that the content has not been externally tampered with and the intended recipient corresponds with the right identity, if these authenticated recipients are inherently untrustworthy, then C-I-A would not matter. It is still very possible that confidential information could be shared with unauthorized agents unknowingly and besides, the recipient could falsify and fabricate details to deceive you. Examples of this includes sharing of stories (plus screen shotting and screen recording) on Instagram by friends to other unauthorized users and sharing information from private conversations to external parties without consent (such as nudes). Like is the cases with ‘revenge porn’, and identity theft of employees by those working at HR (such as call centres), which occurs beyond the protective controls of C-I-A.

Insider threats again, directly plays into this, where if someone on the inside was an adversary to begin with, they could betray the other party that trusts them. This is evident by how criminals can escape maximum security prisons through bribery, by tempting under-paid prison guards with an attractive financial negotiation. This is similar to the logic of how you can have the best door in the world that can’t be lockpicked or broken with explosives and force, but if you forget to lock the door, then nothing else matters. Corruption definitely contributes to the inevitability of security being broken, via exploiting vulnerabilities in humans. Social engineering with blackmail or bribery allows even those who aren’t insider threats to begin with, to betray loyalty if the stakes are high enough. Therefore, anyone who can be considered as trustworthy (by judging their character and personality), can be equally untrustworthy (because of human nature), through manipulating their motivations. Even unintended consequences like the Stockholm syndrome, can contribute to operations centered around social engineering, where the hostage, victim and target, may form an emotional bond that is empathetic to the attacker. Another related fact worth mentioning is how privacy through VPNs and DNS resolver services, as well as data collection from companies, is not guaranteed by technological designs, but instead, it’s ensured by their policies, business model, purpose and values (which is based on trust, excluding independent audits). Aside from insider threats, another issue that is based around abusing trust, are supply-chain attacks. It’s when external agents has infiltrated a system and tampered with legitimate resources that gets distributed. A famous case of this is with the software CCleaner, where the hijacker has replaced the installer from the download servers with a malware-infected variant (but for this, I am not sure if ‘Integrity’ helps prevent it).

Then, it must be of uttermost importance that trust comes before everything else. Trust is unique to human values and thus, it is fundamentally a problem that concerns human nature. Converting those that are untrustworthy to being trustworthy or preventing people from betraying loyalty is an extremely difficult, even outside the domain of security (in terms of personal relationships). It’s impossible to live in this world without having trust, and yet no one is trustworthy, with the person least trustworthy being yourself. In Chinese philosophy, there is the debate of whether humans are fundamentally bad, but becomes good due to positive experiences or if humans are inherently good, but become bad due to negative experiences. Furthermore, you are susceptible to being drugged, getting drunk and leaking secrets, blackmailed to betray your own morals, subconsciously engage in self-deception and have memory problems (as I’ve explained in the previous segment). To expand on the topic of memory problems, the philosophy of the physical body vs memory theory of identity is related to this. The physical body of an individual makes up who they are as a person, with their outer appearance, face and other attributes. Whilst, at the same time, their personality and character. Personality is mostly determined by epigenetics, which is a complex interaction between the environment (experiences an individual accumulates throughout life) and genes (biological inheritance and evolution). These experiences are store in our memory and yet, just like how your computer would not be the “same” anymore if all the data has been wiped, if someone loses access to their memory, then their ‘identity’ would also be lost. You could damage someone’s hippocampus, which is the region of the brain associated with memory and this could lead to retrograde (lose past memories) and anterograde (can’t form new memories) amnesia. This is one of the reasons why the least trustworthy person is yourself (think of Elliot Alderson from Mr Robot with his personality disorder, identity crisis and memory problems). Additionally, how would Elon Musk’s Neuralink be affected by consequences like these? People who are particularly vulnerable, could be manipulated to do whatever the threat agent wishes for. Though, hacking and social engineering may not even be necessary when you can rely on human carelessness and self-sabotage. Statistics show a high rate of security incidents caused by misconfiguration. One extremely common occurrence of this, is whenever security cameras are installed by people with no IT background, the default password and settings are untouched the majority of the time, such that the open footage is easily accessible and is live-streamed to the internet. The irony is that security cameras are supposed to be used as a “safety solution”, yet the outcomes it achieves most of the time, compromises security, along with privacy. Additionally, how many people actually even check to see if there are hidden cameras embedded in the hotel rooms and AirBnb? Besides brain damage and disability, people are also susceptible to becoming mentally ill, which is often an unaccounted security problem. Imagine a kingdom having the best bodyguards, robust fortress architecture and strong internal security in order to protect the King, without ever conceiving the possibility that the King himself is also a threat to himself, only for the King to commit suicide. The best fictional example would be from Mr Robot, where Elliot sabotages his own plan as a result of his split personality, where he takes 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

While, a real-life example of this is pilots who commit suicide by crashing the plane, along with the passengers, where airport security equipment and intelligence is essentially useless in preventing this. Overall, all of this goes to show that (as Bruce Schneier has said) “security is just a feeling, not a reality”, an illusion where we can feel safe without actually being secure and feel unsafe when we actually are. Just like how sensation can be different to perception. There can be objective, sensory inputs of nerve signals into the human body that indicate pain, such as high force, pressure and heat (nociception), without you necessarily subjectively experiencing the pain. Likewise, you can also experience the subjective feeling of pain in the absence of nociception (like phantom limb syndrome or emotional suffering). How and when will we ever be satisfactorily secure, is a question that will always be plagued with skepticism, highlighting the significance of epistemology (branch of philosophy concerned with how can we be sure that what we think we know is actually true and why do we believe what we believe). 

There are many other justifications that could be made behind why humans are untrustworthy in relation to human nature, with psychological, philosophical and spiritual explanations. However, as interesting as this topic may be, delving into this stray from relevance to security. As such, options to resolve the logic problem of trust would not be explored. Instead, a proposal would be made as an alternative, to at least address an aspect of the dilemma. This is the property of ‘veracity’ (truthfulness), the extent to which something is true. It could not be used to directly assess whether someone is trustworthy, but it could be used to verify if they are lying or telling the truth, which then could be helpful for making inferences to judge trustworthiness. That would act as a countermeasure against insider threats, hence, filling in the limitations of C-I-A. (Research from forensic psychology would be presented on deception detection in a subsequent segment).  

The other proposed solution to resolving the human aspect of security problems (not limited to the issues discussed so far), would be changing people’s cognition and behaviour. There are 2 ways to solving problems, one is to solve the problem itself in relation to the environment and the other is to adapt to the problem by changing yourself, such that it no longer becomes the problem (the “changing the way you see things, the things you see change” approach associated with self-help, religion and psychology). An example would be if people are getting skin cancer due to UV rays, you can solve this problem by either somehow reducing intensity of UV rays in the atmosphere and it that does not work, the only option is to get people to use sunscreen and avoid sun exposure. One focuses on changing the environment without changing people, and the other focuses on changing people without changing the environment. A network security example would be, if people are getting hacked by connecting to public wifi, then how could this be resolved? One way is to ensure no one uses unencrypted open public connections. However, if no one listens, then you would have to focus on the changing the technological aspect instead, such as using the next-generation wireless protocol WPA-3. But unfortunately, many problems requires changing both the environment and people, to deal with the fundamental underlying causes. It would not be enough to only change the environment, since the actions of humans shape the world and likewise, it can be insufficient to simply change people, since there is only so much one can do and there are things beyond our control (“illusion of free will”). These 2 aspects act as the yin and yang to one another, both is needed to ensure no systematic weakness, as they function dependently. In the security context, changing the environmental aspect may  involve engineering new technology, improving mathematical algorithms, implementing new protocols, patching vulnerabilities, upgrading firmware and hardening architecture. As for the human aspect, cognition and behaviour needs to be changed. And, the most effective gold standard for accomplishing this, as backed up by countless evidence, is the cognitive-behavioural approach. Analogous to the butterfly effect from chaos theory (the flapping of butterfly wings could lead to the event of a hurricane manifesting), psychological interventions have been extensively proven to be able to successfully create big impacts just from causing small shifts within people’s attitudes, then subsequently affecting actions.

[a-wayne-at-heart]

[Robin Panels] The New 52's "Batman and Robin Eternal" (2015)

I don't know about you guys, but Batfamily-wise, the New 52's "Batman and Robin Eternal" is just a gift that keeps on giving.

Be forewarned: this is going to be long and panel-heavy. I want to highlight precious, character-revealing moments from the series, and there are a lot. Thus, panels won’t be arranged chronologically, but thematically. 

Most of it will be focused on Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and Damian Wayne, though. But, story-wise, Cassandra Cain (then Orphan) and Harper Row (Bluebird) play central roles. Barbara Gordon (as Batgirl), Stephanie Brown (as Spoiler), Duke Thomas (then a "Robin"), Jim Gordon (then "Batman" in a mech suit), and Azrael, as well as others Batfrenemies, make appearances, too. So, yeah. Definitely a Batfamily affair.

I love this series. By writing this, I'm going through it for the second time. 

Just like in the "Robin War" story arc, we see that Bruce manages to unite his family even in his absence. (Sure, they sometimes do so out of begrudging respect, but they really do love him!)

A little backstory (and SPOILERS):

Throughout the series, the present is juxtaposed with the past.

“No more secrets. No more lies.”

The story revolves around a villain that Bruce Wayne first encountered in his early years as Batman, way back when his Robin was still an enthusiastic, fresh-faced Dick. Simply referred to as "Mother", her goal is to produce "perfect" children. Believing that overcoming intense personal trauma is the key to pushing a child towards his or her full potential, she targets children, murders their parents, then takes them under her wing. With the help of brainwashing (and Scarecrow's fear toxin), she molds them into human weapons intent on pleasing her. Rich and powerful clients in search of ideal children avail of her, um, services.

To investigate deeper, Bruce posed as a potential client and pretended to be dissatisfied with his ward. 

While Robin continued to fight alongside Batman on a daily basis, Bruce purposefully left Dick in the dark about Mother. Later on, we find out why: dealing with Mother revealed some truths that Bruce was ashamed to face. Perhaps he was no different from Mother? That he'd been using the death of Dick's parents to mold him into Robin? Did he really want to replace Dick?

Take a gander at a very handsome younger Bruce Wayne undercover as... himself.

But before Batman could shut down Mother's twisted operation, he "died" and came back amnseic - but not without leaving a trail leading to Mother behind (in true Batman fashion).        

At present day, when parents turn up dead and children become orphaned, a mysterious vigilante (okay, it’s Cass!) leaves Dick a digital device containing Bruce’s confession to him and the file on the Mother case.  

“I’m not the man you think I am. I failed you. I failed all of you.”

And so, he enlists the help of his brothers to investigate and hunt down this “Mother”.

MORE, MORE, MORE UNDER THE CUT:

So, let's start with the eldest, the original, the legendary Dick Grayson, our beacon for all things Robin.  

In spite of all the masks Dick has worn over the years - Nightwing, Batman, Agent 37 -  he never forgets his superhero roots. He's still Robin at his core. 

So much so that even while wearing his Spyral uniform, he prioritizes Batman’s mission....

... and calls on the best. Back-up. Ever. (Who we’ll be discussing later on.)

He takes charge of the mission at the get-go, and his brothers know better than to argue with that. They respect his seniority and trust in his leadership (and for good reason).

Nearing the climax of the story, he delegates tasks to the rest of the Batfamily, then takes on the most dangerous one on his own. Not out of bravado, mind you. It's just the selflessness that comes in the Dick Grayson package. This is also personal to him, after all. An unfinished mission from both his and Bruce's past that's come back to haunt all of them.

A gazillion miles away, all alone, and he still manages to mother-hen everyone else. 

And in the final showdown, when Mother tries to turn him against Batman - tries to convince him that Batman failed the Robins -  he doesn't sway.  In spite of the secrets that Bruce kept from him, he still trusts in his former mentor's intentions. 

(Of all of Bruce's children, I do think Dick understands him the best. Over 75 years of partnership? Come on.)

As for Dick calling for back-up...

There's our "reformed" Jason, who's clearly enjoying being part of the Batfamily again... 

... even to the point of abiding by Batman’s “rules”. It's been so painful watching him fight his way in, then out of, and then in the family again, that it's such a breath of fresh air seeing him... back home.

He provides a lot of the levity in the series by way of self-deprecation and playful banter with both heroes and villains.

He's our resident street-smart former "street rat". (A lot more sophisticated now, though.)

He's matured quite a bit, too. Biting his tongue, holding back his punches. Using his own past failures to encourage others (like a brainwashed Harper trying to kill Cass).

I can't help but think that, for better or worse, Jason being portrayed as the venomous - villainous, even - antihero in the past makes all of his moments in this series (heck, even in DC's "Rebirth") much sweeter.

(I mean, if all his monstrous transgressions are still canon in this timeline, then he truly does have a lot to make up for. Maximum security jail time in the real world, really.)

Then, there’s Tim. When did our self-conscious, sleep-deprived Timmy get this confident? This... manly?

With Batman out of commission, he's currently the "World's Greatest Detective", expediting missions through brilliant strategies and A+ geekiness.

He's still a teenager, though (and apparently has to remind Jason of it). 

He's still cool, still calculating. But, somehow, more sure of himself, I guess?  

Let's take a few moments to appreciate the partnership between Jason and Tim in this series...

... and we'll see how much good comes out of two brothers outgrowing their resentment towards each other.

They go on assignment to Egypt in search of answers from the Order of St. Dumas. While Tim poses as an acolyte, Jason is subdued by its members and infected with a bioprogramming virus they created called “Ichthys”. 

Whammied, Jason dreams of his final moments with the Joker. But, this time, instead of being defenseless, he turns into a Red Hood-like version of Robin and mercilessly beats the villain up. 

However, as Jason overcomes his most traumatic experience, he also loses himself to the virus (as Mother intended). Tim quickly realizes this and forms an alliance with a disgruntled Azrael (who just found out he’s been betrayed by his own order) and...

“And your not just the man under the red hood. You’re a Robin.”

Oh, and this one right here!

Speaking of banter in the middle of a life-and-death situation... we weren’t gonna leave Dick out of it, were we?

The ladies have them, too!

Last, and certainly the tiniest but not the least, our egotistical li'l darling Damian.

Although his superiority complex is perfectly intact, he's become more cooperative, more willing to concede to his brothers (just not, you know, out loud), for the sake of the mission.

In some ways, he just might be the most grown-up of them all. (Perhaps it has something to do with his recent accomplishment of the "Year of Blood"?) When his brothers start giving in to helplessness, he calls them out and reminds them of the legacy that he’s inherited.

Now, I think it’s important to discuss these parallels because they sort of address a polarizing issue.

“We chose to be a family.”

Jason sees the Robins as Batman’s army-turned-family...

... but Dick sees it very differently...

... and so does Bruce.

Oh, wait, do you remember this scene from an episode of “Young Justice”?

Wonder Woman: “You indoctrinated Robin into crime fighting at the ripe old age of nine.”

Batman: “Robin needed help to bring the men who murdered his family to justice.”

Wonder Woman: “So he could turn out like you?”

Batman:

(P.S. Please remember that this is fantasy, people. Not the recommended real-world parenting method.) 

At this point in the comics, the Batboys have already overcome a lot of their personal issues with one another - and with Bruce. They've all gone through enormous character development in their respective titles. (Writers seem to be making up for a lot of emotional damage to the fans over the years.) So when we experience them together like this, we find that they're more mature (which may come off as "gritty"), more accountable for other people, more efficient as a unit. And, dare I say, more grateful for Bruce's role in their lives.

“We’re Robins. And our work isn’t close to being finished.”

Big brother Dick puts things into perspective one last time...

“Sounds like a job for Batman and Robin.”

Of course Bruce is back before the series concludes. And this last part? I can't ask for better reunion panels.

Intense. Emotional. Action-packed. 11/10 would recommend.

[bobjlower]

Learn From The Most Successful Traders Of All Times – This Is What They Do

I have read dozens of trading and trading related books (my recommended reading list is here) over the years and I have extracted a huge collection of trading quotes with tips and advice I use in my daily trading. Listening to what the most successful people have to say, adopting ideas that helped them overcome their greatest struggles and following their advice can be of great value. At least for me I can say that following the best traders and incorporating their ideas into my own trading made a huge difference. This is why I am going to share with you the greatest tips, help you understand their meanings and how to use it in your own trading.

 Losses and risk management

It is obvious that in every trading book, dealing with losses and risk management always comes first. It doesn’t matter which trader you listen to, every top trader puts great focus on the importance of losing efficiently and having a good risk management approach in place.

 I tend to cut bad trades as soon as possible, forget them, and then move on to new opportunities. The elements of good trading are: (1) cutting losses, (2) cutting losses, and (3) cutting losses. If you follow these three rules, you may have a chance. – Ed Seykota

 A loss never bothers me after I take it. I forget it overnight. But being wrong – not taking the loss – that is what does damage to the pocketbook and to the soul. – Jesse Livermore

 The most important rule of investing is to play great defense, not great offense. Every day I assume every position I have is wrong. Always question yourself and your ability. Don’t ever feel that you are very good. The second you do, you are dead. Always maintain your sense of confidence, but keep it in check. – Paul Tudor Jones

 Risk control is the most important thing in trading. If you have a losing position that is making you uncomfortable, the solution is very simple: Get out, because you can always get back in. – Paul Tudor Jones

 You should always have a worst case point. The only choice should be to get out quicker. – Richard Dennis

 Place your stops at a point that, if reached, will reasonably indicate that the trade is wrong, not at a point determined primarily by the maximum dollar amount you are willing to lose. – Bruce Kovner

 The first rule of trading – there are probably many first rules – is don’t get caught in a situation in which you can lose a great deal of money for reasons you don’t understand. – Bruce Kovner

 The common denominator among all those quotes is that cutting losses fast and moving on the next trade is essential.  Don’t dwell over lost trades; a single trade is absolutely meaningless for your overall career as a trader, but most traders let losers get out of hand and they allow a single losing trade to have a significant impact on their account balance. Furthermore, honor your stop and always place it at a level where it indicates that your trade idea was wrong, not just based on money-related objectives or to achieve a certain reward:risk ratio.

 Emotions and mindset

Emotional stability and discipline is the foundation upon which a trader has to build his trading methodology. Without the ability to control emotions and the impulsive trading decisions emotions cause, the best trading system and the best thought-out risk management approach are useless. As we like to say, you are the weakest link in your trading system.

 I truly feel that I could give away all my secrets and it wouldn’t make any difference. Most people can’t control their emotions or follow a system.  – Linda Raschke

 Markets are never wrong – opinions often are. – Jesse Livermore

 I don’t get caught up in the moment. – Ray Dalio

 If you argue with the market, you will lose. – Larry Hite

 The psychological factor for investing has 5 areas. These include a well-rounded personal life, a positive attitude, the motivation to make money, lack of conflict [such as psychological hang-ups about success], and responsibility for results.  -Dr. Van K. Tharp

 It is hard enough to know what the market is going to do; if you don’t know what you are going to do, the game is lost. – Alexander Elder

 These quote highlight the fact that, before you get into the nitty-gritty of your trading system and try to tweak your stop loss or take profit placement, you have to work on your discipline.

The reason why you are not seeing the results you want to have is not because you are using a wrong indicator or a bad setting, but most likely because you are not the master of your trading emotions.

 Development and self-improvement

Trading is a performance game and only the best will make it to the top and stay there. Professional traders work very hard and are often obsessed with trading, whereas the average amateur trader reduces their trading time to flipping through time-frames to hunt trades or read through forums trying to find a better system. Professionals understand that they have put in the work and that the learning never ends.

 Successful traders constantly ask themselves: What am I doing right? What am I doing wrong? How can I do what I am doing better? How can I get more information? – Bill Lipschutz

 I really value the fact that I’ve learned to trade as a craft. Like any craft, such as piano playing, perfection may be elusive – I’ll never play a piece perfectly, and I’ll never buy the low and sell the high –  but consistency is achievable if you practice day in and day out. – Linda Raschke

 I learned that each mistake was probably a reflection of something that I was doing wrong, so if I could figure out what that was, I could learn how to be more effective. I learned that wrestling with my problems, mistakes, and weaknesses was the training that strengthened me. Also, I learned that it was the pain of this wrestling that made me and those around me appreciate our successes. – Ray Dalio

 When you think that it’s too hard, remember that in the long run, doing the things that will make you successful is a lot easier than being unsuccessful. – Ray Dalio

 If you don’t work very hard, it is extremely unlikely that you will be a good trader. – Bruce Kovner

 The realization that you are responsible for your results is the key to successful investing. Winners know they are responsible for their results; losers think they are not. – Dr. Van K. Tharp

 Use this moment to look at your own trading and ask yourself:

Are you doing everything you can? Do you put in the work that you should? Do you constantly work on your trading skills and review your trades to build your edge? Or do you just play around and are one of those system-hopping traders who can’t let go of the illusion that someday they will just stumble over the Holy Grail trading system that just works all the time?

 More trading tips

Here, I gathered trading quotes of different areas and also with a few practical tips.

  I review my checklist. It’s a handwritten sheet laminated in plastic and taped to the right-hand corner of my desk where I can’t overlook it. – Marty Schwartz

Marty Schwartz who has made millions of Dollars still uses a physical trade checklist to control his trading and to avoid making mistakes. If one of the best traders in the history does not trade without a checklist, why should you?

  Systems don’t need to be changed. The trick is for a trader to develop a system with which he is compatible. – Ed Seykota

A system is not something that you purchase from a website and then just follow the instructions. A trading system is a complex structure and it has to be tailored to your personal strength, weaknesses and your mindset.

 Having a quote machine is like having a slot machine at your desk – you end up feeding it all day long. I get my price data after the close each day. – Ed Seykota

Although Ed Seykota refers to quoting machines, it can be easily translated to today’s world. Traders constantly watch their floating account balance and P&L. They babysit their trades and watch every tick of the move. This inevitably leads to impulsive decisions and trade mismanagement. Get away from your charts and let the markets do what they want.

  Money is made by sitting, not trading. – Jesse Livermore

Livermore highlights the importance of patience and just waiting; waiting for the right setup and the right time to enter the market, waiting for the right time to do something about your trade and being patient about trade exits. People always feel that they ‘have to do something’ and so move around stop loss and take profit orders and constantly micro-manage their trades.

 Always understand the risk/reward of the trade as it now stands, not as it existed when you put the position on.”– Bill Lipschutz

The dynamic nature of reward:risk ratio is totally misunderstood and often even completely neglected. The reward:risk ratio of your trade constantly changes which brings many questions. We talked about the dynamic reward:risk ratio in this video here.

 Conclusion:  Learn from the best

You will not be able to reach out to Paul Tudor Jones or Marty Schwartz and let them teach you how to trade, but you don’t have to either. There are so many resources and great books out there, in which the most successful traders share their journeys, their struggles and how they overcame it. I urge you to take the chance and start mirroring what the professionals do. If you want to get started, I highly recommend the complete Market Wizards series to kick-start your trading!

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