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timdrakeinorder · 9 days ago

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Batman #442 (My thoughts)

Alfred has known him for ONE NIGHT and he already gets Master Timothy status. It's unreal how fast he got endeared to this little shit. Alfred and Tim's relationship is so underrated and I will never stop saying it! In a way, Alfred mentored him before Dick or even Bruce did. Alfred has such an important role in teaching him how to be a support for Batman, and accepting how dangerous what they do is as someone on the sidelines

Alfred is so strong, he really doesn't get enough credit for how hard being Batman's guy in the chair, emotional support, nurse, and father is. He could lose his son every single night and he just has to sit at home and hope for the best

Right of the bat (hehe) Tim has SO much respect and appreciation for Alfred and it's really nice to see.

Hey look, it's the profile thumbnail!

It's like Tim can't physically restrain himself from jumping in to help when he sees a problem. He's so worried

This is where we get into one of my biggest gripes with fanon, the "tim forced batman to make him robin" thing, and also a bit of the "bruce was irresponsible and chose to endanger a random civilian child" thing, although the 'are robins child soldiers?' discourse is too heavy for me to get into.

The biggest problem I have with it is when Dick and especially Alfred are portrayed as being against the decision and forced to accept it by Bruce

As with a lot of fanon, it's rooted in canon and then horribly exaggerated. Tim talks Alfred into taking him to save Bruce and Dick, despite multiple attempts to talk him down both in the cave and in the car. Tim followed Dick all the way to Haley's circus to try and talk him into being Robin, if Alfred didn't drive him the little shit absolutely would've found his way to the fight anyways the second the man turned his back. He's extremely stubborn. And, as established in earlier installments, Batman has been reckless to the point where it is VERY likely he'd die out of his own lack of self-regard any day. I really can't blame Alfred for having a moment of weakness here. Bruce means more to him than anything in the world and Alfred can see that in Tim.

This is also where we get into the "did Tim stalk the bats and take pictures of them regularly?" fanon discourse. I definitely don't think there's canon support that he was following them every night on patrol as an extremely young child (he didn't even figure out their identities until he was 9. I've seen writers make him as young as FOUR trying to follow them and as a big sister to a 4 year old, y'all are insane) That being said, I think his use of the word "followed" could be interpreted in a few ways. It would be a perfectly valid interpretation that he means 'followed' in the way one follows the news, as in keeping track of. However, he does have A LOT of pictures of Batman and Robin and, in my opinion, a lot of them don't look like newspaper clippings. Plus Batman and Robin are rarely caught on film, I don't think the newspapers would catch them often enough for Tim to build a collection that big.

Tim also knows when Titans meetings are, where Dick's apartment with kori is and the fact that they're together as well as knowing what angle to peep through the window at and where to view both the tower and that apartment stealthily. He knows where Dick's New York apartment is, he knows how to get in, he knows how to get into Dick's safe.

He DID manage to follow Batman to that fight on the dam and photograph it.

I think that's too much evidence to completely dismiss the idea that he's followed them before

And here's the real kicker about the 'Tim forced them' thing. TIM DID NOT GO IN WANTING TO BE ROBIN! TIM SEES THIS AS THE ONLY SOLUTION TO BATMAN'S SELF-DESTRUCTIVE VIOLENT SPIRAL!

Tim is selfish. He is stubborn. He's reckless. He wants to help no matter the risk. He sees a problem that affects him deeply out of a VERY parasocial relationship and demands to be able to fix it no matter what anyone else has to say about the matter. And he's a 13 year old boy with a heart too big for his chest. Tim was made to be robin

(coming back for part two after work. we're still only on page seven and I have MUCH more to say)

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timdrakeinorder · 12 days ago

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"I'll come back for part 2 after work" well it's been over a month and I'm unemployed now, whoopsies

I am once again banging on the walls, begging the dc fandom, movies, cartoons, etc to give Harvey Dent more attention. He's SUCH a fascinating character! I'm so bored of Joker, man. Two Face is way more terrifying to me because he's much more grounded. There's also the tragedy of being a close friend of Bruce's that he failed to save. He's the murderer of Jason's father! He's been rehabilitated at least once and we see multiple times that there IS a chance for Harvey to be Harvey again, to live a good and honest life. The real tragedy is that it never sticks. Harvey can never escape this. I'd love to see more Batman media that explores the idea that Batman and Two Face are two sides of the same coin (pun absolutely intended) and they are both "cursed" to be what they are

Another fun thing here, Two Face has no idea that Tim isn't Jason. I haven't read enough of Jason's robin era to know if they have more development, but Two Face was Jason's first rogue! Jason went absolutely ape shit on him and just barely saves his life soon after. I also absolutely love how much the scrap metal Harvey is using looks like a crow bar, it adds so much more weight to this

I think Two Face starts puzzling out that this isn't Jason here. He can't put his finger on what's changed yet, but he's on the path

This nearly brought me to tears! This scene mirrors Jason's death so heavily, but Alfred was here this time! He could save Robin this time! After how hesitant Alfred was to let him do this in the first place, I can't imagine he didn't feel great responsibility and guilt here

They care about each other so much it makes me sick!!!! I'll say it to my dying day, Alfred deserves more credit than he gets for Tim's training, he had Tim's back from day one!

god </3

The guilt complex and need to self-sacrifice came pre-installed, Bruce didn't need to do shit but teach him how to hit good

He's only 13!!! He feels so much undeserved responsibility for these two. He's just a random civilian kid who knows too much, and they're highly trained vigilantes who have been doing this for 10 years plus! I don't even know how long Bruce has been Batman at this point, but ALPOD happens soon after the nightwing comic where he says it's been 10 years since his parents died

Bruce still hasn't even met Tim!!!

Dammit Tim, why are you like this?

God I miss the way comics used to use color, this is so tasty!

Alfred and Dick teaming up to talk Bruce into letting Tim be Robin! Tim isn't even advocating for himself to be Robin yet!!! Bruce is stressing out so hard right now and they are NOT helping

And here's where Alfred advocating for Tim to be Robin really starts to make sense. At this point, being Batman is Bruce's slow burn suicide, nothing Alfred can say or do will make him be more careful. Alfred's priority will ALWAYS be his boy, no matter what. And if having a Robin is what keeps Bruce alive, then so be it.

Tim is so little against the looming shadow that is The Batman but he's holding so strong. He's so determined

I think THIS is where Tim really starts endearing himself to Dick. I think he sees a lot of himself and, painfully, a lot of Jason in Tim. Dick is just as dedicated to Bruce as Alfred is

Cue Tim shifting strategies bc hunting down criminals matters to Bruce infinitely more than his own life ever will

Aaaaaand hit the image limit, part three incoming (in less than a month this time)