#not just saying this as a jason todd fan

[rmbunnie]

Look I don't dislike Tim Drake, honestly I actually do like him well enough, and more importantly he's interesting. I read some of the stuff with him in it and it was good! But as much as I am a firm believer on "don't engage with fandom too much and definitely don't let it inform your opinions" I have to admit I would have just SO much of a warmer attitude towards him if we stopped writing little imagines where he has the exact personality of a not-like-other-girls Fantasy-Romance protagonist and putting them on my fyp all of the time over the past 8 years. "Tim Drake seems so sweet and innocent and everyone goes on about how small and innocent he is but actually he did something super badass and cool and fucking blew up 20 batman villains in one night and everyone who's ever met him stopped in their tracks to gasp at how hardcore and badass he was!" I'm sorry but no he did not. He is, at his core, the most everyman trendy coolguy teenage boy from the 90s possibly ever! And that's beautiful, and necessary for the ecosystem. But we need to be real. At any given time there's a 50 percent chance he's listening to Oasis or some shit with Kon and the other fifty percent is doing Stephanie Brown dirty.

[casscainmainly]

The Batkids' deaths vary in severity/importance, but they all serve to shake some core part of their superhero identity. Sometimes it affirms their existing identity (Cass' first death), or it spurs them to discover more about what their current identity means (Damian, Tim); sometimes, however, it severs them from who they were. Dick's transition into Agent 37 and Cass' turn to evil both stem from very temporary deaths, where the death is not as important as what happens after. It's not the pill or Cass' dip into the Pit that actually changes them, but the boundary these events create between their old and new selves.

Which is why Jason's death is different from all of the above. Beyond being (at one point) permanent, his loss of self is irreversible. Dick and Cass claw their way back to their identities pre-death, Nightwing and Batgirl respectively; Jason does not. He cannot, because he doesn't fit Robin anymore, and Robin doesn't fit him. It's not only that his sense of self is shaped by his death, but that it was, in many ways, destroyed by it.

But it's ultimately Stephanie's death that links death so closely to the loss of a superhero identity. Her death, unlike the others, is instigated by loss - Batman fires her from Robin, which leads to the events of War Games. On her deathbed, Steph asks "was I ever really Robin?", and Bruce replies "of course you were." It's a sweet moment, but it's retroactive. He can only affirm her legacy as Robin in the past tense (it's over; it can't impact anyone anymore). Her non-existent memorial can be read not only as a lack of care for Stephanie Brown the person, but for Stephanie Brown the Robin - Jason's Robin is immortalised, Stephanie's Robin is erased. She dies because she was made Robin, and she was made Robin to die.

I guess my point is that everyone's deaths are linked to how much they are valued within their mantle, not just in a metatextual sense (as in, how much DC editorial liked them) but also in the text itself - deaths either instigate further ownership of their name, or dismantle their sense of self. This is why it's important to recognise Steph's tenure as Robin (both in comics and fandom). Recognising Steph-as-Robin is a direct refutation of her death, a long-delayed memorial.

[mikakuna]

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

[haveihitanerve]

The argument I will never understand Jason Todd fans, or bad writers writing Jason Todd, make is the whole “bruce should have never taken a child out with him to fight crime in the first place, he could've stopped him if he wanted to. Robin is his sidekick its his responsibility to watch out for him.” ….

NO. 

I mean, yes. But no. The entire point of Batman and Robin is that they are partners. 

Yes, Bruce is Dick’s dad, he’s Jason’s, he becomes Tim’s and Damian’s and etc etc. 

But Batman and Robin are partners. Equals. And they, jason especially, cannot demand to be treated as equals and adults, and then immediately backpedal when shit gets hard. 

It is literally so important to Dick’s character, to Bruce’s/Batman’s, that Robin is his equal, his partner, treated as on par with the rest of the adults. 

“We’re either partners in this war, or we’re not.” Dick’s literal quote about being left being by Bruce during a rough Batman/Robin fight. Batman was going to leave him behind because it was too dangerous. Dick said fuck that, it’s always dangerous. Take me along. We’re equals when shit gets hard or we’re never equals. 

Its the same with Jason, and Tim, and Damian and Steph and Duke and everyone. 

Yes Bruce/Batman watches Robin’s back and when he gets hurt comforts him and etc etc. But Robin is just as responsible for watching Batman’s back. 

They demand trust from him, reliability, demand that he trust them enough and trust what training he gave them, that they can handle themselves in battle, handle things without him having to constantly focus on them and can focus on his own fight. 

They cannot demand that from him and then turn around and argue that he should’ve been better prepared, been watching them better. 

They asked for him to trust them, and he did.

It sucks that that trust got Jason killed, but it is not Bruce’s fault. 

Anyway thats all. Just a rant :p

[birdiegray01]

I love complex mother Talia.

She’s helped and took care of Jason when she didn’t have to. She molded him into something to spite Bruce. She embraces and supports Damian’s way of life. She shows up to sow internal conflict and make himself question himself.

She loves them but can’t be near them. they’re her babies yet the moment she got her hands on them they became weapons.

She protects them but harms them wither she means to or not. She’s their mom but their tormentor. She’s their savior yet has violence thrust upon them.

She’s better than Ra’s but she raised and healed them in an abusive environment. She knows this all too, it’s why she stays away afraid of causing harm. She can’t stay away loving her children more than anything.

Talia Al Ghul is a complex mother and i think that’s beautiful.

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

Still very wild to me when people try to gotcha Jason with the whole "if you can kill other people for being evil why can't they kill you" when jason is like. One of the most passively suicidal characters I've ever seen. What if man

[glitter-stained]

I used to dislike Lazarus Pit Madness headcanons but I've seen people say "he doesn't need magic madness he has normal madness" and "why would you need a magical explanation for his behaviour have you people never heard of cptsd" and while I understand the sentiment (and Jason definitely has cptsd) this is exactly what I'm talking about when I say dc has a dangerous habit of demonizing/villanizing mental illness and it has a real impact on the fandom's perception of mental illness. Winnick isn't the worst when it comes to Jason's writers but the fact that he wrote Jason as both a brilliant hypercompetent villain and a sympathetic character that makes you go "oh hey, he has a point..." should not distract you from the fact that no, decapitation is not a common symptom of cptsd.

[johnconn]

The way Jason Todd lost so much aura because DC decided to make him just another batman side character instead of the vengeful super villain that he was.

[yvtro]

not enough appreciation for countdown #15 wherein jason meets alternative universe bruce who killed the joker (not stopping at this, he went on to eradicate most of gotham rogues gallery in a murder spree similar to that of red hood) and the utter disappointment that jay has in the person that this version of his father has become as bruce discourages him from helping donna in crisis. "we're both dead, batman." – what a raw piece of dialogue.

"go on, then, "jason." you're dead anyway. may as well make it official." "we're both dead, batman. any fool could see you've been dead inside for years."

[ghurab-alzilal]

Pet Training

Damian, teaching his new parrot : Ok Brown, what does the cow say?

Brown the parrot: Moo!

Damian: Great, and what does the duck say?

Brown the parrot: Quack!

Damian: Excellent, and what does the pussy say?

Brown the parrot: "Remember, Robin. Justice, not vengeance."

Damian, giving a prize to the parrot : Good bird!

Jason, mocking : It's so intelligent. Isn't it?

Bruce: *growls *

[lesbian-cowpoke]

Jason Todd being Tim's Robin in fanon stems from trying to make sense of the wacky timeline bullshit created by the writers doing their best to entirely erase Jason Todd. It's why Dick is Tim's favorite Robin. Dick was Robin from when Tim was 4-10, the longer amount of time, so he still could have been Tim's favorite Robin regardless, but it's also. The writers really really hated that little boy.

[wil-fae]

twitch streamers tim and jason !! they came to me in a vision today and i just had to draw them

[thegurlwhoisntthere]

Fun little thought I thought I’d share 😋

Imagine, it’s the big showdown between Red Hood and Batman, Joker’s unconscious form slumped nearby, completely bound.

Red hood, Jason, demands that Batman kill him. That after everything he’s done, all the people he’s killed, he pleads with his dad to kill the Batman (although he’d never admit that he still loves the man as a father, not yet).

There’s some dramatic back and forth where Batman refuses and Red Hood insists pleads that Batman Bruce kill the joker, until Bruce rips off the cowl and reveals that he did!

He did kill the Joker! He wore his favorite suit and grabbed two $1000 watches and used them as brass knuckles and beat the fucker to death! He burned his body and buried the ashes outside of the goddamn Fortress of Solitude so no one would find them! He folded up the bloodied suit and boxed them with the broken watches and put them a hidden compartment in the base of Jason’s memorial in the cave, where no one would ever touch or find them! He waited until Superman was off world so he wouldn’t stop him again and told no one of what he did!

And how that ends is up to y’all. I just think that it’s interesting how there are canonically 3 Jokers (possibly more if dc changes their mind) and wouldn’t it be fun if Bruce knowingly murdered one of them only for another to pop up and make him suicidal to the point where a little Timothy Drake needs to blackmail his way into being Robin so he doesn’t kill himself?

[mikakuna]

Hi! :) I realized turnabout is fair play so this is me asking for any jason fic recs you might have for me.

Have a wonderful weekend! 💕

hey, yeah of course!! this list is gonna be mainly angst and whump, with some fluff! check the tags of each fic so you don't end up reading something you don't want to see!

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/54591685

Jason struggles with expectation and reality; what Superman had been for Dick, what he could have been for Jason, and the nothing that he ultimately was.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54688366

Jason finds the younger Arkham Knight version of himself held captive by the Joker below Arkham.

https://archiveofourown.org/series/1328723

basically a series where jason escapes an abusive relationship and meets roy (protective batfam!! and small jason bc no capes au)

https://archiveofourown.org/series/2962401

a series of stories within the same time line, exploring jason's history as a victim of human trafficking and child sexplotiation

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53281042

an exploration of jason's parental figures

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54121165

Jason falls. Of course, he falls. Bruce wasn’t holding onto him. (a fic that delves into jason's expectations of bruce as a parent and how he struggles to prove his worth as bruce's new child)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15320190

an exploration of jason and dick's brotherhood:

Following his disastrous confrontation with Jason in New York, Dick can't get the note Jason sent him upon leaving out of his head. He talks it over with his psychiatrist friend Clancy and comes to a horrifying realization: it's not emotional manipulation. It's Jason trying to cash in on a promise Dick made to him long ago. A promise to always be there for his little brother.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/52453172

roy's perspective of jason's relationship with the bats

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53536696

bruce, during and directly after jason's death (gore warning but also ABSOLUTELY heartbreaking omg)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33947401/chapters/84421471

Bruce is racing across Ethiopia to save his son. Bruce is fighting in the Batcave to stop his son. Bruce is 34 years old. Bruce is 39 years old. Then Bruce is looking at ...Bruce. Uh oh.

(a time travel fic where bruce and jason, on the day of his death, find themselves in front of bruce and jason from five years in the future)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26820559

married jaykyle wherein kyle has some words for bruce after the events of rhato 25

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23062525

cute jason/joseph wilson multi-chapter fic where jason is also mute (from the batarang) and he learns what love is

https://archiveofourown.org/works/46774495

Jason survives Ethiopia and returns home; this is the beginning.

(GENUINELY DEVASTATING like i cried omg.. i won't spoil anything but definitely read!)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/38173990

Batman finds and apprehends the Red Hood after he attempts to murder the Joker, then surrenders him to the mental health facilities of Arkham Asylum. This is the best way to prevent more deaths, and it's also in the best interest of the Red Hood, who is clearly unstable.

Insane criminals cannot be permitted to walk the streets of Gotham. Certainly not ones raised by the Batman. Not under any circumstances.

(disturbing content; jason is abused at the hands of the staff in arkham asylum and is in a state of overmedication throughout the entire fic, amazing fic but read the warning tags carefully!)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45156520

a fic in which jason has dissociative identity disorder

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[notfeelingthyaster]

i think what we're missing in the batman fandom is shitty 2000 jokes

[betterthanbatman1]

Umm I love them???