#tim’s parents suck
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phoenixkaptain · 1 year ago
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I don’t want to get into a debate on whether or not Tim’s parents were actually abusive, but I do want to state outright that it doesn’t really matter, because Tim didn’t trust his parents.
What do I mean by this? Well, the beginning of Tim in comics is A Lonely Place of Dying (I’ve talked about it ad nauseum at this point) and one thing you may see people mention is what Tim says about his parents in it.
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These are both from Batman (1940-2011) #441
Alfred asks, basically, “You do have parents, don’t you?” And Tim’s body language as he talks about them is strange to me.
Tim scratches his face. This is the only time Tim touches his face in these comics. And his eyes, he stops looking at Alfred, who he’s talking to, and looks at Dick, all the while changing the subject.
Is he lying? No. He’s uncomfortable. A part of this is that this interaction takes place before Tim tells them who he is, which Tim doesn’t want them to know. This is just the first time we see any hint of uncertainty on Tim. Interesting.
More interesting is, in the same issue
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“I never told them, but for years I kept having the same nightmare over and over again.”
This is pretty clear cut. He doesn’t tell his parents things. He doesn’t tell them important things. And, well, it’s probably because he doesn’t talk to them very often
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These two are from Batman (1940-2011) #444
First things first, Bruce brings up the subject. This isn’t the first time, post his introduction, that we see Tim and Bruce talking. They talk in #443. But Bruce has to broach the subject.
And Tim is avoidant. He says they don’t call often, and he isn’t bothered by it, or he doesn’t appear bothered by it. He doesn’t say what they’re fighting about, nor does he actually say what they’ll do if the trip doesn’t help. He’s very offhand about the whole thing. He almost treats it like he isn’t talking about his parents, but just two people in some circumstances he happens to know about.
Tim cuts Bruce off by pointing out the computer. He doesn’t want Bruce to finish, he doesn’t want Bruce making a promise he ultimately won’t keep, he doesn’t want Bruce to focus on him.
Tim’s relationship with his parents, especialy his father, is, from what I know, always presented in this detached way. Even in Young Justice, when Tim talks to his father, he does so through a newspaper. He doesn’t make eye contact, which is a strange thing because Tim always makes eye contact.
(That’s part of why Tim is a bit unnerving in his introduction. He is always making eye contact. Always.)
Tim doesn’t trust his parents. Why doesn’t he? Because they’re busy. Busy with work, busy with fighting, busy with each other. He doesn’t tell them things. He doesn’t tell them about his nightmares, he definitely didn’t tell them about his vacation week roadtrip, and he doesn’t tell them about Bruce.
Does that make them abusive? I guess not. Not in these issues, anyway. Down the line, I think his father especially crosses the line, but at this point? They’re mutually ignoring each other. Tim talks about his parents in a detached way, as though it doesn’t effect him. And, maybe it doesn’t. This was 1989, not exactly the pinnacle of mental health awareness with proficient knowledge of how absent parents effect the children they’ve not been raising.
Or, Tim used Batman and Robin as a proxy for affection, which is why he feels so strongly towards them and why he tells Alfred they mean everything to them and why Tim is unafraid in the face of his own death but panicky in the face of Alfred’s death. Batman and Robin are just his hyperfixation, something to obsessively focus on and keep track of to keep his head above the water, something he’s been obsessed with since he was three and saw Batman for the very first time, something he says himself he’s followed since he could read to the point that he listened to news reports on the off-chance Batman and Robin might be mentioned at the age of nine.
Who knows? ¯\ _(ツ)_/¯
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notrobinsomethingworse · 15 days ago
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Jason, freshly adopted from the streets. Still freaked out, wondering downstairs for breakfast.
Kid!Tim, munching on cereal: hi!
Jason: who are you?
Tim, wiping his hands clumsily on his pants and sticking it out for Jason to shake: Timothy Jackson Drake. Pleased to meet you!
Jason, shakes nervously before looking around: ah. Yeah. Jason.
Tim, seriously, eyes wide and innocent: did he steal you too?
Jason: What?
Tim: Did Batman steal you too?
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timmydraker · 4 months ago
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CW: abortion/misscariage talk
Tim finding out that he really, legitimately, was an unwanted child.
It all comes to light when he’s looking through his old medical records after loosing his spleen. He wanted to check that there were no allergies he had other than shrimp and then looked into his family. Of certain cancers or disease were common in his linage, he needed to be aware so he could lessen the risk as much as possible.
That’s when he discovers that his mother, proud !feminist’ and independent woman that she was, had refused several surgeries to remove her uterus or have her tubes tied but still had several abortions.
And by several, the papers literally mean several.
Seven whole abortions of children she didn’t want, yet both her and Jack refused to do anything to jsut… prevent any pregnancy in the first place.
They got it all covered with hush money so it wouldn’t get out to the public, but they ended up making a mistake.
Janet Drake went to a Gala when she was unknowingly pregnant and a woman, whose husband was the owner of a prominent news paper company, noticed several signs that Janet was with child. She pointed this out to Janet and when she saw the look of familiar realisation on her face, promised to keep it secret.
Just a day later an article was shown with a photo of Janet with a barely there bump and just like that, Jack and Janet were forced to keep their baby.
Maybe if they hadn’t made several public statements about being against abortion it wouldn’t have mattered, but hypocrites rarely win.
Tim finds several statements by doctors in their files, hidden away behind several fake files and private stamps, that show the couple had tried to figure out a way to ‘remove’ the child before it was born so it wouldn’t be a problem.
Tim even goes so far as to look at his parents search history around the time and sees in horror as it goes from searches on how to force a miscarriage to the financial benefits of a child.
That’s where Alfred finds him, frozen and staring at his screen with enough tears to make a puddle on his desk.
The worst part?
He’s not even that surprised.
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xmultifandomsx · 9 months ago
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Olympics AU
Dick is a gymnast (duh)
Jason is a boxer
Steph and Cass are a tennis doubles team
Tim skateboards (reluctantly)
Duke does beach volleyball
Damian is a fencer (again duh)
Bruce is a retired Olympic Fencing gold medalist who coaches Damian but has encouraged all of his children to pursue their athletics to the highest level. Some of them (like Jason who he rescued from an abusive coach) he's found through the Olympics. So he's like known in the space for just having a shit town of incredibly gifted children who he's really proud of. Tim, who had always preferred computers over sports, found he actually enjoyed skateboarding but knew his parents would hate it. His mom and dad were an Olympic skier and snowboarder respectively. He knew they wouldn't approve of his sport so he just had fun with it in secret. He meets Kon, Bart, and Cassie through the skateboarding scene in Gotham. It's all fun and games until his parents figure out he's been sneaking out and find out about his secret. They're pissed and ground him until a video Kon posts goes viral and people start reaching out. Suddenly, his parents are way more on board and Tim, who was doing this as a kind of stress relief, is forced to take everything really seriously. This kills his enjoyment of the sport and eventually, he winds up at the Olympics. It's there that he meets Bruce's brood because their accommodations in the Olympic Village and right next to his. He gets into shenanigans with them (maybe they don't realize he's an athlete at first bc he resembles a baby bird). They catch on to the fact that Tim isn't stoked to be there and see how horrible his parents are and work to get them removed as his coaches and manager and Bruce files for emergency custody. Alternatively, Bruce threatens Tim's parents to behave better and offers to take Tim in to further his training which is perfect in his parents' eyes so they ship him off to Bruce. Fast forward a year later and the newspaper headlines are all just: Bruce has adopted yet another Olympic gold medalist.
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necrotic-nephilim · 4 months ago
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I started in DC by reading fanfics, but as I began to read actual comics, I started to be unable to read the actual fanfic that got me into it in the first place because it's so out of character.
But there are still some stories that I love to read because I love the found family trope so much, even if it isn't really accurate to the source material.
As a comics purist (sometimes), are there tropes that you like enough that you'll still enjoy a fic even if it's not accurate to canon?
oh my god this is SUCH a fun question. bc while i started with the comics, there were certain characters and/or character dynamics where i was exposed to the fanon before the canon (just bc it's hard to read everything when you start out just to read some fanfic) and so i've definitely experienced the fanon to canon transition. (*especially* with Jason Todd. i had only read 80s/90s stuff where he was already dead or the New-52 bc that was on-going when i got into comics and man. the fanon misunderstandings i had about him before i got frustrated and sat down to read all his pre-Flashpoint stuff were absolutely bonkers.) and aside from that, whilst i tend to prefer canon over fanon, i'm not past giving fanon its flowers for occasionally having really interesting insights. occasionally. so some of my fanon "guilty pleasure" tropes would probably be
Morally Grey Tim Drake - this is one where if you try to back it up with canon, i *will* get salty about it. of everyone in the Batfam aside from maybe Bruce and Cass, Tim has the *most* black and white morals. often his internal conflicts are routed in such an inability to compromise his moral views and it can cause him to clash with other characters. he's *very* stiff and rigid in his beliefs and is *rare* to compromise in even the smallest ways. i mean, DC has repeatedly used Tim Drake of Tomorrow/Savior/Gun Batman!Tim for a reason. it's to demonstrate that of everyone, Tim *cannot* have his morals compromised. there's no grey area for him. he's zero or a hundred, so if he tips over the edge of "too far" he tips *all the way*, and doing so is one of his worst fears, how he could go "too far" if he let himself. a couple panels out of context from Red Robin (2009) (which was a grief spiral for Tim to begin with) don't change that. now that said. if it's done *right*, i sort of love Tim being morally grey in fanfic. it takes a specific flavor for me, and it's incredibly important to include that mental spiral along with it, of him struggling to justify it. i don't have any interest in "Tim Drake is loosy goosy with Bruce's morals and has the highest kill count and no one knows teehee" bc it doesn't play with the interesting parts of making Tim morally grey, which are fracturing his psyche. but all in all, i think it's fun to put Tim in a morally grey area and i will read it in fanfic and i enjoy writing it a lot
Joker Junior!Tim Drake - i've not written it on this account (yet) but on my main ao3 account one of my biggest fics surrounds this concept. this is one of those "well *technically* it's canon but only in a specific very divorced from the comics universe and would not work at all in the main timeline" so, i categorize it as fanon in that 95% of fics exploring the concept are not doing so within the Batman Beyond universe, but the main timeline. i just love it. I'll take any excuse to whump Tim, but this concept is so fun. psychologically breaking Tim will always be my favorite pastime. there are so many ways to explore the long-term effects this could have on him, how it could affect the Batfam. i'm not a fan of it being used as a "gotcha" to Jason or Babs' trauma with the Joker to paint Tim as the Ultimate Victim, but it is fun to see how their relationships would be affected by being mutual victims of him. (i have a vague JayTim idea where TIm fully retires from being Robin after being Joker Junior and killing the Joker, making Steph Robin for most of his typical Robin era and Jason still tracks him down out of curiosity bc he wants to know what happened and all. very underbaked but i've got thoughts.)
Renegade/Apprentice of Slade!Dick Grayson - this is another one where yes, this happened *sort of* in canon, but i highly doubt most people writing Renegate!Dick have read or are actually pulling from Nightwing: Renegade. it's just an exploration fo the concept fo Dick being Slade's apprentice and i will always eat it up in any capacity. whether Dick grows up with Slade from a young age, or chooses Slade for whatever reason later in life. it's not anything that works in canon bc it compromises Dick morally (similar to the above with Tim) and therefore will always come across incredibly fanon in most fics. but i can't say i don't enjoy it. it's fun to make Dick a little morally fucked up and see what you can make him under Slade's tutelage.
Jason & Damian Meeting in the League -there's no world where i believe this could work in the canon comics. (maybe in the Young Justice cartoon i suppose, but even then i think it's iffy) i would go as far to say it's wildly unrealistic. i don't see a world where Ra's would let Jason anywhere *near* Damian, bc Jason was Talia's pet project that he didn't approve of. that all said, there's something very interesting about how they *could've* met and them potentially bonding during that timeframe. them being somewhat brotherly during this time because Jason sees Bruce in Damian and sort of latches onto the kid and Damian is full of wonder hearing real stories about Batman and Robin, then that getting violently ripped away by Jason leaving the League is fun to me. it's fun how that could affect them within the Batfam and all. it's super fanon to me, but i do not care. i will eat it up
Bad Dad Clark Kent/Good Dad Lex Luthor - i will admit as a late, i've been less and less kind to this particular fanon bc of everything i've argued with people about, *this* one seems the most pervasive as misunderstood fanon. i don't mind when fanon exists, my gripe is when ppl try to claim it's canon. and the *arguments* i've had over this with people who can never seem to cite an actual comic are... frustrating. but that said, i think there is something fun to this strictly in fanon. the duality of who you expect to accept Kon and who you expect to hurt him being flipped is just sort of fun for the occasional guilty pleasure fic. it can make Kon's internal conflict a bit more interesting. the same goes for the Jon favoritism from Clark, it's not a canon thing (and i rlly wish ppl understood how complicated the timeline of Kon and Jon is and any distance from Clark toward Kon isn't malice, it's that Kon is from a timeline that Clark does not remember in the current canon so Clark just straight up doesn't know the poor kid.) but it's sort of fun to give Kon that complex of being overlooked and forgotten sometimes. making Kon just a *bit* more Luthor than Kent will *always* appeal to me in fanfic, especially if he *knows* it's wrong but craves approval from anyone who will give it.
Good Dad Bruce Wayne - i'll die on the hill Bruce is canonically a shitty father. maybe not to the extreme some people write him as, but he's not great at it. that said, i enjoy it in fanfiction. sometimes, i just want silly fluff or hurt/comfort where Bruce finally gets it right and manages to comfort whatever Batkid is in the fic. one of my favorite fics of all time is hinged on Bruce being a good dad, so i think it's just fun to explore how good the relationships *could* be, if Bruce was slightly less of an asshole. i usually prefer him as an asshole, but there are times i want low stakes nonsense.
Gotham Rogues Having Soft Spots for Robin(s) - just about every Rogue in Gotham has done something absolutely irredeemable, and most of them don't like or care about anyone in the Batfamily. but if there's a fic where one of the Robins inexplicably is sort of close with a Rogue and they have a cute silly relationship out of it? I'll eat it up i fear. Steph and the Riddler are besties? I'll believe it. Tim and Scarecrow get along pretty well? give me ten of these. Rogues protecting Robins just hits a spot. the unexpected nature of the relationship, as well as the fact they see each other regularly, can make a lot of good fodder.
#necrotic answerings#canon vs fanon#batfanon#batfamily#I was *going* to include “Janet and Jack Drake are bad parents”#then realized I don't really like that fanon anymore.#but I used to go *hard* for it even knowing it wasn't canon. it was all projection but still#nowadays I think the tragedy of Tim losing his parents the way he did is *far* worse if they loved him and were good to him.#I'm so serious about the Kon thing i've had *nasty* arguments where ppl got so rude to me telling me to “Google it”#like listen I get it. kon's canon backstory is currently difficult to understand#the timeline of the superboy mantle is a little confusing and most people have not read young justice (2019)#so for fanon it's far easier to simplify it as “clark just kinda sucks to kon” and i enjoy that#but the canon is also fun. it's fun when you consider how fucked up it is most people don't remember kon#and the timeline he remembers doesn't exist anymore.#also technically since they never killed off new-52!superboy on page there could be two superboys/kon-els running around rn. who knows.#i like to believe there is bc it's funny.#i have wanted to write a new-52!konkon/tim/kon sandwich#with the “is it selfcest or not” question#bc new-52!kon wasn't a clone of clark and lex.#so like. he's arguably a different character just sharing the name kon-el for some reason#also on the nightwing: renegade thing i know *damn* well most fanon-only fans haven't read it (no shade in that)#bc the fanon crowd despises devin grayson and she wrote it.#one day i'll write a meta about fandom treatment of devin grayson trust me.#this question was SO fun#i feel like i should have more answers?#if you'd asked me like six months ago this list would be three times as long#but the more i exist in this fandom somehow the saltier i get idk what's happening#so now i'm more and more attached to canon#but i will never begrudge someone for liking fanon#like i said my issue with it is the confusion of what is canon
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qcomicsy · 2 years ago
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THERES NO WAY BERNARD GAVE TIM A NECKLACE WITH HIS INITIAL IN IT
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flying-cat · 2 months ago
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I can't imagine being anywhere near as insane as Trump supporters because my dad told me that he, earlier, drove past a guy putting a "Harris Walz 2024" sign outside his house and decided to yell out at him "TRUMP 2024 YOU COCKSUCKER" and flip him off. And he laughed when he told me because he thinks that yelling at a man (emphasized man because he thinks men should be "better" than women, and "better" would be voting for Trump in this case) who is voting for a "whore who slept her way to the top" (his exact words) is funny. And expected me to laugh with him. And got angry when I didn't and just stared at him in disbelief. Even though he already knows that I don't like Donald Trump. These people fully expect others to find their weird ass derogatory words and behavior FUNNY. Donald Trump is leading a cult of old people who he brainwashed into being delusional with him.
#vote blue#harris walz 2024#kamala harris#tim walz#i know some fucker is gonna be here saying like “it's true i was the tree”#i didn't see this with my own two eyes but i've lived 21 years with my dad and i HAVE seen him do shit like this#but it was mostly just honking at random people on the sidewalk or yelling “WHERE Y'GOING” in their direction out the window#like it's still embarrassing and weird but not derogatory#and since being retired and having nothing to do all day except watch trump and more trump and more trump he has gotten worse#not a day has gone by in the last four months where he hasn't insulted joe biden or kamala harris#and every single time he has expected my brother and i to laugh at his insult even though he knows that we don't like trump#it's so depressing watching your own parent become a worse person#he was already one of the insufferable republicans before trump and now he's a trump republican which is even worse#and yk what's even worse it's that my mom has no spine against men so if her boyfriend asks for her to vote trump she'll be like “okay”#she's not a republican she just doesn't care because she thinks voting doesn't matter#my aunt who i have always loved so much now calls up my dad to talk about trump with him and i never heard her swear until this year#my other aunt makes talking about trump her entire personality when she has a gambling addiction she should be treating instead#my dad's side is a bunch of trump supporters and my mom's side just doesn't give a fuck#and i can't vote because i'll get kicked out of here faster than the speed of light the second my dad sees#the paper in the mail saying that my voter history has been updated#even if it's not public who i voted for because he knows that whoever i vote for will never be trump#sorry#tag vent#this sucks#please vote
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roo-cifer · 4 months ago
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“ I’m not your son!” Tim yells as he run out the manor doors. Bruce and Alfred were stunned. What had gotten into Tim? What was wrong? “Woah B what’d you do?” Dick said dryly having over heard the tail end of the argument. “I- I don’t know.” Bruce was a master detective and even he was puzzled on what brought upon this outburst. “He’s having one of those gross ‘I need my dad’ moments but your not his biological dad and you didn’t choose him to be robin; he chose himself so now he’s angry-sad.” Jason said a lot of weird stuff and this was one of the lesser of some things he’s said but everyone was still very confused. “What?” Bruce asked. “He’s having a-“ “I heard you jay but how do you know that?” “He was mumbling about it when he got infected with fear toxin last time we fought riddler.” Once Jason finally shut his mouth he realized Dick’s and Bruce’s eyes were twitching. “And you didn’t think to tell anybody!?” Dick was not impressed by Jason’s lack of communication skills especially when it came to one of their brother’s feelings. “I tried to talk to Tim after he got the antidote and some rest but after about four words he started yelling very loudly until I stopped talking. Then later when I suggested he explain how he felt to Bruce he grabbed his bow staff and tried to smack me in the ribs with it; so I left it alone.” Jason said shrugging. By this point Batman had been face palming and pinching the bridge of his nose interchangeably for five minutes. “I’m going to go find Tim and talk to him. NO ONE follow me okay?” Bruce said opening the manor doors as Dick and Jason shook their head hard enough to give themselves whiplash.
“Tim?” Bruce called poking his head around the corner into the garden Alfred, Jason, and Cass had started. “Go away Bruce.” Tim choked out; it was evident that Tim had been crying. “I think I might know what is going on?” Bruce said it almost as if it was a question. “Do you really now?” Tim laughed dryly lacking any and all humor in his voice. “Jason told me something. He said that you didn’t feel like my son and that you felt you weren’t worthy of the Robin title-“ “that snitching bitch” “Tim language. But I’m glad he told me cause it’s opened my eyes to something I would have never thought about otherwise. Just because you chose to be Robin and I didn’t choose you doesn’t make you any less of a Robin and it doesn’t make me love you any less. Tim you are my son and although I may not be your biological dad, I can still be your dad if you allow me.” Tim sat there stunned. This was a lot of emotions for Bruce to be showing all at once and he didn’t know how to respond. He started to cry “Bruce… thank you. You and Alfred were the first real father figure I’ve ever had but it felt like I didn’t deserve it.” Tim said looking at his shoes. He never knew how to interact with Bruce and Alfred like all his siblings did; he wasn’t chosen like they were he just showed up exposing his secret identity and asked to be Robin. He wanted so desperately to go to Bruce when he was struggling; or as Jason ‘that bitch’ Todd called it: an “I need my dad” moment. He felt like had no where to go with his emotions cause the one person he could go to was rarely around. Dick used to always be there for Tim; letting him cry into his arms or sparing with him when Tim was angry. Now? Now Tim felt isolated and alone in his feelings. “Tim? Jason said something and I think that’s what’s going on right now. He said you’re having an ‘I need my dad moment’ and I need you to understand this: you can always come to me to complain, punch, or cry too no matter what. I’m your dad now and I want to be that support for you. Will you let me?” Tim didn’t know what to say. He just flung himself into B’s arms and cried. Bruce hugged him as hard as he could trying to get his point across that he was there for him.
The next day when no one was around Bruce cried a little feeling so happy and so sad all at once for letting one of his kids suffer in silence. That day he mentally promised his kids to never let them fester in their feeling for that long ever again.
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mamawasatesttube · 11 months ago
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you guys i have so many thoughts about tdr. i have so much to say. like i don't want to be super mean but dude that comic fucking sucks and i can't lie i think it made me kind of homophobic actually
#my stance up to now has been that i don't really care about tim/ber but now that i have read this. dude...#it sucks that they gave a canon queer tim narrative to someone who uses homophobia as shock value and virtue signaling points#and who actively tears down characters who don't like her special little uwu flawless oc (kate im so fucking sorry)#there's no substance to this relationship i don't see why they even like each other#bc she keeps just stating oh they're perfect they make each other so happy but she doesn't like. show that at all#and i HATE the shock value homophobia like i cannot overstate how much i hate it#oh these random cops are homophobic (that's how you know they're BAD!)#oh bernard's parents are homophobic (that's how you know THEY'RE bad too!)#it's so hamfisted and it reads like such. cheap storytelling#especially bc tim as narrator doesn't even get to have ANY thoughts on his own queerness or seeing this homophobia in the world around him#and then she can't go more than two pages without being like BTW BERNARD IS THE BEST EVER AND TIM CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT HIM#while against this ugly backdrop of shock value homophobia#there's no substance to this relationship. why do they even like each other. it just falls apart if you examine it at all#because she just is fundamentally incapable of writing either of them as people with character flaws#for fucks sake she can't even be consistent with tim's BASIC character tenets. ''i always dreamed of being batman'' false lmao#but then to follow it up with ''i never wanted to be batman i always wanted to be my dad''#and then on TOP OF THAT to make the Only mention of Jack drake and his impact on tim's life ABOUT BERNARD AGAIN.#yeah sorry im a hater now. this was shit tier#rimi talks
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littlefankingdom · 4 months ago
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I need more fic of Bruce and/or Tim coming to the realization that they view each other as a father/son, so I am asking you, gentle souls, to give me some recommendations if you have some.
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yellowocaballero · 2 years ago
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I love how your Bruce is traditional but it is also like a mix of different types of traditional. Like he comes across as both "Rich white old money type" traditional AND "member of a marginalized minority group who take great pride in their identity to cope with years of ostracization and going "the world wanted me dead for my culture and religion so i might as well die loud and proud instead of conforming to their unachievable ideals" " traditional
Thank you for this ask, I really love it! I have a shitton to say on this topic, including a lot of worldbuilding decisions on Gotham cultures, immigrant spaces, segregation, how it ended up like 1920s-1930s NYC/Chicago mixed with my own city, Jason "Foil" Todd's Inferiority Complex, but that would make this depressingly long. Long time readers would know that I have, like, really complex and discrete religion headcanons for everybody I write. It's important.
Any decent Batman Story (TM) is about Gotham. It has to be a huge presence. It's like writing Dick Tracy without Chicago, or Cheers without Boston. When he's written well, Batman is a reflection of Gotham, and they metaphorically represent each other.
Most Batman writers get this, so there's always a lot of historical worldbuilding and everything. But I'm a community health person, and I grew up in the inner area of my own very large city, and creating a Gotham that feels real and rich is more complicated than the Court of Owls stuff. For me, cities are the intersection of culture, community, history, oppression/SES/war etc, and the modern day to day lives of people. When I want to make a rich city that was relevant and important to the story, I wanted to focus on immigrants and cultural minorities. You know - the people who create the cities lol. I decided on a history that involved the idea that Jewish families were the oldest in Gotham, and that they were one of the people to help create it and influence its culture.
I read a Daniel Handler quote just now that said "there is something naturally Jewish about unending misery". What is more Batman, Bruce, and Gotham than that, lol. The Jewish diaspora experience - the traditional history just as you outlined it in your ask - is baked into Gotham, it's the foundation. Gotham is a city of unending misery, but it's a city that stands tall. It takes a thousand hits and always gets back up again. People within it experience unending poverty and suffering, but they stand together. Just fucking refuse to die, as a whole. What's more Jewish than that! What is more Batman than that! Gotham should always be allegorical for Batman and Bruce, and through Gotham existing in that traditional Jewish experience, I think that's where you got the impression of Bruce as very traditional too.
Tim and the Drakes are the modern reflection of this. I was extremely explicit that Tim is alone in the world because of the Holocaust. I talk a lot in the story about how war and violence destroy children's lives, and that stretches back to the 1940s. About how war and violence creates violent children, which is what Tim became. His acting out was from the trauma of seeing his family slaughtered in front of him, and like a lot of people he used his religion to justify it.
There's a reason why the very first moment when Tim and Bruce actually connect as a family is when they find kinship and understanding through their shared backgrounds and values. They both saw their families slaughtered, they're both alone in the world - but they found each other, and they'll keep living.
OK BELIEVE IT OR NOT THAT'S THE SHORT VERSION. Seriously, though, I'm not. Uh. Actually fucking Jewish. This is like the fourth time I've talked out of my ass about this. I'm actually really interested in reading about the actual Jewish themes in Batman, because from what little I know they HAVE to be there. Any smart people out there who know about it, or who can link something written about it?
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g1rlr0b1n · 2 years ago
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Does anyone else ever think about how Damian might have had a semblance of a normal childhood if Dick had just like chosen not to relinquish guardianship of him? Because, I think about it a lot actually.
Like I know why he did but what if he didn't? Like what if Dick and Barbara raised him together? Like what then? Sure, it would be awkward because your bio-dad would also technically be your granddad and your father would also be your brother, but overall I think it would have been better for Damian.
I'm sure there are fics about this, drop them in the comments for me, will ya?
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misspickman · 2 years ago
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Ok like jack drake wouldn't be 'kill all queers' type of homophobic but you cannot tell me 90s canonicaly sexist jack drake wouldn't be casually homophobic the way so many people are. Hes the dad who casually drops a slur or makes a shitty joke and insists on it just being a joke if called out. Hes the 'im not homophobic but i dont wanna see that in public' type of guy who gets defensive if you call them homophobic but then says that of course hes glad his kid isnt one of those gays. Its a trend and a phase etc etc you'll grow out of it! Its ok
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detectim · 4 months ago
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saw a post talking about t.im as a 'nepo baby latchkey kid' and .... that's it that's him-
i think it was on the blog that i deleted a while back but i've always seen jack and janet d.rake in their late 30s / early 40s when they have tim, and only really having him because it's the societally acceptable thing to do. all their friends have kids already, and they need someone to pass things along to when they die, right? do they hate him? no. are they neglecting him on purpose? no. but are they good parents / do they put in any effort to parent responsibly? ALSO NO. <3
i definitely see the d.rakes viewing their parenting style as totally fine because 'what kid wouldn't want all this stuff? he's set for life!' janet stays with him when he's a baby, and they ship him off to the boarding school all their friends sent their kids to as soon as he's old enough. if his parents are gone on business trips during school breaks (really common), he's usually staying over at a friend's house or just vibing on his own at their estate when he's "old enough" (i wanna say 10-11 is when they start leaving him on his own, so he has time to go fan-stalk batman and the robins... but STILL TOO YOUNG).
t.im never sees it as a problem because that's how he was raised, he never really knew anything else. he treasures the time that he DOES get to spend with both his parents (going out to sporting events becomes something he's really into because he knows he can get them to go with him even if they'll spend most of the night talking business), but he's SO USED to being a latchkey kid and being left to his own devices that the mindset stays with him forever.
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jankillbride · 5 months ago
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There is something to be said about the fact that half the time, marginalized characters end up being the "normal" ones in fanon when that is so clearly not the case.
#thinking about all the cases of 'duke is shocked by the batfamily!'#effectively using duke as an outsider pov when he's literally not#or how cass is the Best Girl#also i say marginalized but i really just mean they're not white#oh actually another case of this is dick. he's schrodinger's character of color cause im pretty sure he's roma in like. maybe two runs#and then it was dropped. BUT actually i wont expand further that's for the circus posting#but regardless. the 'golden boy' rep does come a lot from. fanon. there's so many instances of him being the 'father' or blerg. 'mother' of#the group. and literally why. the only character he really has a fatherhood claim to is damian and that's because of the specific situation#stop making the eldest(s) in your ''''found family'''' the parents!!!!!#stop forcing your found family into a nuclear family structure!#anyways back to the point. 'why doesn't damian get this treatment?' 1) i said half the time and 2) racist introduction#damians also interesting because he is drawn so white for a lot of his appearances so he's also a kind of schrodingers white person.#chekov's white person? idk#project for later would be to compare character of colors' introductions and their portrayal in fanon#also admittedly batman is not the best media to analyze this through because there's multiple axes of shittiness#oversexualization racism classism ableism sexism... is tim the only one who comes out unscathed???#anyways the other reason batman kinda sucks for this (as well as dc) is just that a sizable portion of fans like. don't engage with the#source material. i've seen a lot of people say they've only ever touched fic/fanon. which. well. it becomes a feedback loop#ive also been in fandoms i haven't touched the source material for so i'm not juding. but there's a reason i've stopped that#jkb.talk
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lovelylonelymoonlight · 2 years ago
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You know that damian was already Robin before Bruce died and technically it was Alfred that made him Robin damian just agreed to keep being Robin while dick was batman
Dog if you except me to keep up with the nightmare that is the Batman timeline you have another thing coming
But since you askeeddd I’m gonna tell you about my perfect dc world which of course has a theme of …. Duplicity!!!!!
We have like 2 robins around at any given
2 batgirls running around
Someone running around with jokers old title even tho he’s in prison rn???
and then what’s this theme motif metaphor!!! There’s been multiple jokers!!! (Gunshots explosions etc) ohhh my god SYMBOLISM CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!
end part one of dc world part two to follow thank you for your time :)
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