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silverwhittlingknife · 3 years

Note

Hii i love your Dick and Tim series and I love them too, I’m not sure if u take requests, but it would be so nice if you could fine times where Dick and Tim referred to each other as brothers. Or maybe Dick calling tim little brother ( I’m a sucker for that)

Top 10 Moments of Dick and Tim Being Brothers

Thank you for this delightful ask, wonderful person, I get emotional about this too. ❤ Let's do this! Here are some of my favorite moments through the years of Dick and Tim getting called brothers.

(in chronological order b/c I’m a nerd & also b/c it lets us save the best for last)

1. “He’s family. The closest thing to a brother I’ll ever have.” (Nightwing 6)

Dick and Tim have been getting increasingly closer over time, but this is a milestone: the first time Dick describes Tim as family.

In this comic, Tim is Dick’s first visitor in Blüdhaven, and at first Dick’s a bit suspicious, wondering if Bruce sent him to spy. But nope: Tim came on his own, and he insists he’s not going to say anything to Bruce if Dick doesn’t want him to. This is a big deal to Dick, whose relationship with Bruce is still rocky.

(I consider this agreement a key moment in their relationship. You can’t become honorary brothers until you’ve agreed on the key rule of brotherhood: no tattling!)

Later that day, when Tim gets caught in an ambush by mobsters, Dick tears through a bunch of enemies to save him, and thinks about how Tim’s like a brother to him.

2. “Got a friend visiting.” "Anyone I know?" “Little brother." (Secret Origins 80-Page Giant)

This is the first time Dick calls Tim his little brother!

By this time, Tim’s regularly visiting Blüdhaven, and Dick and Tim have gotten very close outside the masks. Tim is best man at Dick’s fake wedding, Dick tells Tim about his plan to infiltrate the police, Tim confides about his new girlfriend and her pregnancy, etc.

(You know they’re really becoming siblings, though, because they both have judgy opinions about each other’s relationship choices.)

In this comic, Tim’s hanging out in Dick’s apartment when Babs calls. She doesn't yet know Robin's secret identity, so when she asks if anyone's there, Dick first tells her it's a friend... and then says it’s his little brother. Well then, Babs says, she's got a case! Dick asks if Tim’s got his uniform with him, Tim says yes, and they head out as Nightwing and Robin.

3. “Guess I forgot about my other family.” (DCU Holiday Bash 3)

A little while later, Tim’s alone at Christmas - his dad and stepmom are in Chicago - and he’s feeling lonely. Then he gets an urgent message saying to come to the Clocktower at once for a mission. Tim hurries over...

...but when he gets there, it turns out it’s a surprise holiday party! (”Christmas for loners,” Babs says.) Tim realizes that he’d forgotten about his other family.

(The prank urgent-message was Dick’s idea. “Told you he’d fall for it,” he says cheerfully. This is not the last time that Dick will pull a prank on Tim. Simultaneously the best and worst older brother ever!)

4. “I was hoping to snag you, little Robin. But I’m just as happy with your big brother.” (Detective Comics 729)

A bit later, things are falling apart: Bruce is AWOL, post-earthquake Gotham City is about to be declared a No Man’s Land, the last bridge will be blown up in 45 minutes, and Dick and Tim are on their own desperately trying to defend Gotham from the villains who are already taking it over.

Dick protects Tim from an attempted kidnapping attempt - but in the process, he’s knocked out and captured himself! Gearhead tells Tim that he’s happy to kidnap Tim’s big brother instead. Tim’s not okay with that.

Tim’s on his own and on the clock, but he manages to track down Gearhead and rescue Dick by masquerading as Batman. Dick and Tim escape together and dive into the water just in time, as the last bridge in Gotham explodes.

5. “Are you as devoted to the well-being of your little brother?” (Gotham Knights 10)

(Answer: yes, yes he is.)

No Man’s Land has come and gone, Bruce is back, and Dick and Tim are closer than ever. This panel is from the Transference arc, one of my all-time favorite Dick and Tim stories. It features: Dick picking Tim up from school on his bike! Affectionate bullying! Tag! Popcorn! Tim talking Dick down from a panic attack!

Here, Dick tackles Tim to protect him from Hugo Strange’s bomb.

By now, Dick and Tim’s brotherly bond is firmly established. Tim’s constantly in Blüdhaven, they regularly call each other for help, and they both know more about each other’s personal lives than even their closest friends do (Steph and Young Justice still don’t know Tim’s real name; the Titans only visited Blüdhaven for the first time after the end of No Man’s Land; both teams are currently kinda suspicious of Dick and Tim because of Bruce’s secret JLA files; etc. etc.).

But their relationship is about to be tested.

6. “We’ve all been through a lot, big brother.” (Gotham Knights 33)

When Bruce is accused of murder and refuses to explain himself, Tim and Dick have a fight: Tim thinks he might be guilty, and Dick’s upset that Tim could even consider the possibility.

(Their different attitudes reflect their current relationships with Bruce: Dick recently got adopted and is feeling especially defensive of Bruce, whereas Tim just had a huge fight with Bruce for telling Steph his secret identity.)

As it turns out, Bruce is innocent...but Tim’s still angry at him for keeping secrets. (By contrast, Dick and Tim patched up their fight quickly.)

In this panel, Tim grumbles about Bruce to his big brother, who then scolds Bruce on his behalf.

7. “We go to baseball games together. We’re like brothers.” (Gotham Knights 45)

Some time later, a suspicious social worker is asking questions about Bruce Wayne, trying to figure out if Bruce was to blame for Jason’s death. Bruce doesn’t show up in time for the appointment, so at first Dick and Tim get interviewed instead. When asked about Dick, Tim says they’re “like brothers.”

(Dick and Tim’s connection to baseball games is a longstanding one! Dick’s parents were planning to take him to a baseball game on the day they died; Tim first invited Dick to a baseball game shortly after the end of Prodigal; and when Dick and Tim hang out in Secret Origins, Tim’s wearing a Gotham Knights T-shirt - the name of the baseball team.)

8. “Stay focused, little brother.” (Batman 631)

The next panels may look grim and serious - and they are - but they’re also secretly really, really touching.

In order to get how touching it is, you need a bit of background, because a lot has happened since the last comic, and Tim’s been seriously doubting his connection to the Batfamily. He worries that if he quits Robin, Bruce and “even Dick” will never talk to him again (Robin 120). Then his father finds his Robin costume, Tim is forced to quit, and just as he feared, Bruce stops talking to him. (So does Steph - he finds out she’s become the new Robin from the newspaper.)

Then Tim’s school gets shot up. Bruce is sure he’s fine, but Dick’s panicked about his safety. Dick sneaks into Tim’s school to find him, protect him, and bring him weapons.

When Dick finds Tim, he calls not-currently-Robin Tim “little brother.”

Imagine how much it must mean to Tim, who’s been mostly convinced he lost all his ties to the Batfamily as soon as he lost Robin, to have Dick come and find him, and then to hear that old nickname after all this time not talking to anyone. Imagine how horrified Dick must be when he hears about the school shooting, especially since Dick’s own life is in shambles - Blockbuster has murdered almost everyone Dick knows in the past week. Imagine what a relief it is to discover that Tim’s okay.

(Of course, this is just a temporary reprieve. After this, they both go through even more trauma. It’s a bleak time in DC comics.)

8. “Having to fight the brother I came to rescue? Priceless.” (Resurrection of Ra’s al-Ghul)

This panel requires a recap too, because a lot of things happen after the school shooting (Dick goes into a shame-spiral and joins the mob! the Red Hood appears for the first time!), but the most important for Dick and Tim’s brotherhood is this: Tim’s dad is killed, making Tim an orphan.

Tim turns down Bruce’s first offer of adoption, partly because he blames Bruce for Steph’s death, and partly because he’s worried Dick wouldn’t like it. Instead, Tim moves to Blüdhaven with a fake uncle. But after Blüdhaven blows up - and Bruce and Dick and Tim take a round-the-world family trip together - Bruce offers again, and Tim says yes. So after years of being brothers in spirit, Dick and Tim are now legally brothers!

Immediately after Tim gets adopted, though (the very next issue), Bruce discovers he has a biological son. And then Ra’s al-Ghul gets involved. Ra’s kidnaps Tim and Damian, and tries to win Tim to his side: Bruce will inevitably abandon you and replace you with Damian, Ra’s says, but I can be your mentor instead. Tim says no at first, but he’s tempted by the offer of the Lazarus Pit.

So when Dick arrives to rescue Tim, he discovers that Ra’s has tempted him into trying to resurrect his dad, girlfriend, and best friend. Dick drops from above to try to stop him, and they battle it out.

Don’t worry, though - in the end, Dick stops fighting, Tim gives in, and they do hug it out. Aww. Brotherly love reestablished.

9. “Nightwing...Dick...thanks for the present. It means a lot.” “Don’t get any stains on it. - Your big brother” (DCU Holiday Special 2009)

Now it’s Christmas Eve - the anniversary of the day Tim’s mom died. Tim’s gone to the cinema to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, his dad’s favorite movie. Dick finds Tim at the cinema and gives him a gift: one of Dick’s old Robin costumes with the original red-and-green design. Tim’s really touched.

This is the calm before the storm, though: this comic came out one month before Battle for the Cowl, when Dick and Tim’s relationship starts to implode.

10. “Welcome home.” “You’re my brother. You’ll always be there for me.” (Red Robin 12)

Ahhhh okay pardon me while I get emotional.

So there are about a million equally-fun-and-valid ways to interpret Red Robin, because it’s got a lot of narrative gaps and it’s often deliberately ambiguous, but in my favorite interpretation, this panel is a really touching moment of catharsis. And in order to really appreciate it, you have to know what’s come before, which is a disastrous mess.

Dick and Tim have a bunch of fights in the month after Bruce’s death, but - again, IMO - the most important fight is when Dick fires Tim from Robin, which Tim takes as a personal rejection.

So Tim spends all the earlier issues of Red Robin spiraling and wondering whether their brotherhood was ever real and half-convinced it wasn’t: “My name is Tim Wayne!” (RR 1), “[Bruce] is all I have” (RR 1), “If we really are brothers—” (RR 4), and so forth. And Ra’s—sensing an opportunity!—attempts to recruit him again. Tim ultimately says no, but he’s still not in a good place.

BUT THEN!

Ra’s threatens everyone in Gotham, Tim rushes home to save them, he remembers he has friends, he’s willing to die to save everyone...

... and then Dick saves him.

And Tim realizes that Bruce isn’t all he has.

Because he’s still got his brother.

Even though they’ve been fighting, even though they’ve both been keeping secrets, even though things are still tense... when it really counts, Dick trusts Tim and listens to him and comes to save him.

He always has. And he always will.

Final thoughts

As I’m sure you noticed, I really love this relationship. Over the course of two decades in comics, Dick and Tim go from tense strangers to found-family brothers who love each other and rely on each other more than almost anyone else in the world (”my best friend,” “my closest ally”). And like real brothers, sometimes they get on each other’s nerves or argue or fight.

But at the end of the day, they've always got each other’s backs:

“I’ve got you.” - Dick to Tim in Nightwing 25 (saved from death-by-train)

“I got you.” - Tim to Dick in Black Mirror (saved from death-by-drowning)

#dick & tim #why i like dick and tim in comics: an incomplete list #tim drake #dick grayson #I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH OKAY #LOOK AT THEM #LOOK #long post #my love and appreciation for this relationship does not respect character limits or image limits #lots and lots of images in this post #also many words #I don't know how long posts should be???#this is a thing that is confusing me on Tumblr #I do not know how soon to put the ''read more'' part #top ten lists

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cryptocism · 5 years

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So since pretty much everyone agrees that Tim needs a name change, and I think most people dislike the first two RR costumes (I dislike the pretty much Robin one too, because it seems like he hasn’t accept losing Robin, when I feel a lot of his comics right after Bruce W died was about that?) which leads me to: What do you think Tim’s costume would look like if he got a good outfit, and what name?

o yeah i was not a fan of the cowl. and the n52 design is just… so busy and excessively accessorised (excessorised???) - i drew it a couple times for this project im workin on and the whole process was me squinting at reference panels and whispering softly but passionately “what the fuck” - and i agree on the rebirth RR design, it looks more derivative of dick and jasons retconned robin costumes than inspired by tims og 80s design (however. the unternet costume - its simple and appealing and clearly nightwing-inspired and i am a fan, also the giant scythe/halberd/mace thing was so ridiculous i loved it)

which is why i thank pat gleason for my life bc tims new outfit is such a good modernisation of his original robin design. so i mean to answer ur question i think tim has a p good design right now (although not for long i guess since they announced hed get a new look/codename soon) BUT if i were in charge of debuting a new design and name… hm……….

whatever his new name is, it’d preferably have something to do with wherever his personal storyline is headed, which i dont know, and for all my complaining abt how red robin is a shit name i dont actually have great alternatives lol. i did see somewhere the suggestion for the name “Cardinal” which i dont hate, so ill use that as a placeholder for now (although “Halcyon” is an interesting option)

tangentially, my personal preference for his robin graduation would be a miniseries featuring tim and damian both as robin, begrudgingly having to work together to fight some greater enemy and becoming true brothers along the way. ending with tim giving damian his blessing to be robin (a post-mantle blessing but still) with the first amicable passing on of the robin title literally ever

as for Look: his new design should a) accurately reflect his character b) mesh well with whatever tone his personal storyline is going for c) be a natural progression of gleasons newest iteration while still d) able to stand as its own iconic look

i always thought tim would do really well in a more grounded noir-style detective story, both using and especially subverting the tropes of the genre (for instance tim befriends every femme fatale and romances absolutely zero of them. theyre pals and have weekly movie nights or smthn) obvs using some of the mystery elements to springboard into classic comic wild times etc etc. theres also a great opportunity to include some more cyberpunk aesthetics to the look and feel ofthe story

i.e. tim is part of the waynetech r&d teams, working with them to develop new technologies, and proceeding to test out some of the prototypes while doing vigilante work (bc terry had to get his rocket boots from somewhere ok). gotham is still gotham, but its starting to see some of that neo-futuristic/blade runner flavour from batman beyond.

so. cyberpunk detective story starring cha boy tim drake. im not gonna draw it rn but lemme just gather some ref elements here in case i ever do

first off - motorcycle, obviously. redbird is back babey and this time its a two-wheeler. all his gear would be modded the hell out of, but the motorcycle itself would be an approximate balance of 70% ducati and 30% tron lightcycle situation. a speedy bike with ample room for the edgy overkill batfam aesthetic, with maybe a little akira in there who knows

same goes for helmet; 70/30 on this modern/cyberpunk situation. heres a quickly photoshopped “cardinal” helmet lol

although theres totally room for some daft-punk leds in there. serving as a heads up display AND a fun neon aesthetic. I really want to play into that John Wick neo-noir situation.

besides that… ive got a preference for street style over the superhero spandex, so… detective jacket. every detective has a good jacket. norm breyfogle made a comment on his early tim robin designs that itd be pretty either/or on jacket vs cape, merging the two looked a little silly. for robin they probably decided on cape to keep things classic, but for cardinal i can do what i want

and i want to bring back some of this popped collar.

which i basically did for that other tim design i drew, which i still like, so this one would probably be at least a lil borrowed from that.

attempting to merge cape/jacket might end up smthn like these:

which admittedly i like.

admittedly… i do also like the concept of wings introduced in tims n52 design, i just think they couldve been hidden/incorporated better

greig rapson had a sweet robin design that had a sort of flight-suit (which dove into the actual mechanics??? i love) and since id want to dive into tim testing out waynetech prototypes, its a pretty good natural progression from him to terrys glider thing

the whole ensemble would be fairly understated however - enough to semi blend in with any crowd, hero or civilian. after all the story focus would be just as much about solving the mystery as it is punching the bad guy

the various interchangeable gadgets would be both prototypes of terrys eventual batsuit, and also all the failed prototypes that never managed to get off the ground. just to add an element of tension/plot devices wherein tims gear could break or malfunction pretty much anytime.

im fixated on this rocket boot situation though so itd be a paired down version of terrys eventual seamless/invisible design. still noticable and clunky, but working with the sleek modernish style outlined by gleason

smthn almost similar to the prowler actually from spiderverse - as in: Clearly Rocketboots, and clearly diy’d the shit out of, but still working with that Aesthetic

(most of the screencaps of prowler are dark af so im taking this from jesus alonso iglesias concept art)

im debating on the addition of more overtly birdlike/cyberpunk elements, so ill add this here cause its dope as fuck (from ahmet atil akar).

and a lot of batclan capes tend to end with that concave spiked look, which works great for bats but not really for birds. a tailcoat might emulate the bird tail, but it also might evoke Penguin a lil too much idk.

also in the interest of keeping everything within the same sort of design language, i would Love to see some new villains emulating deconstructionist/architectural kawakubo fashion:

like could you imagine the supervillain potential

so uhhh yeah. budding cyberpunk detective story with a little noir and a little technological advancement progressing in fits and starts. taking from the gleason foundation with heavy black featuring brighter coloured accents and modern sleekness, made a little dorky via prototype technology, with some extra neon blade runner shit thrown in there.

depending on how much i love or hate the new codename/design reveal i might draw this via inspired motivation or spiteful motivation lol

#asks #tim drake #tim redesign ref #tim scarlet redesign

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two-baes · 5 years

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I really made myself a wholeass spreadsheet JUST to make sure I’d done all the math for everyone’s ages correctly for when they came to live w/ Bruce in my batfam AU lmao (also it makes for a good comparison for age differences between them all).

Green represents their current age, pink for the 1st spreadsheet represents when they came to live w/ him (in Helena’s case it’s both), and in the 2nd it represents when they met him (or another member of the fam), all the other colors represent various other events in that persons life.

Black represents before they existed/were born (Terry, Matt, Helena, Max, and Nissa are blacked out right up until they came to live w/ him since they’re time displaced from the future and aren’t even born yet in the current timeline).

More in depth breakdown of the timeline & what the rest of the colors signify for each person below the cut:

Starting w/ the ‘main’ or core Batfam members (first spreadsheet)

Bruce: Parents die when he’s 8, then he officially dons the Batman suit at 25.

Dick: Parents die when he’s 12, where he then meets Bruce and is adopted and becomes Robin. At 18 Dick becomes Nightwing, 22y/o Dick does Spyral stuff for a bit, then returns to Nightwing-ing at 23.

Babs: Meets Batman and becomes inspired to become Batgirl when she’s 16, at 21 she's shot and paralyzed by the joker and takes up the mantle of Oracle for a bit, 23y/o Babs regains the use of her legs and resumes being Batgirl.

Jason: Meets and is adopted at 12, becomes Robin at 13, dies at 14 only to come back to life a few months after w/ amnesia; is picked up by Talia to be trained w/ the league (those are the lighter grayed out years of 15-16), at 17 Jason is tossed in the Lazarus pit, regains his memories, and is sent on his way home to his family who warmly receive him (a little after Harper & Cullen have been adopted, but a before Stephanie becomes a ward) At 18 he picks up the Red Hood mantle.

Tim: Adopted at nine (before Jason’s death), becomes Robin at 10 (following Jason’s death) moves on to become Red Robin at 15.

Harper & Cullen: Adopted at 15 and 12 respectively. Harper takes on the hero identity Bluebird at 17. Cullen isn’t currently a vigilante but is strongly considering becoming one now that he’s 17 (ie; I have plants for him).

Stephanie: Becomes a ward at 14, at 15 she has a brief stint as Robin (while Tim is injured, she fills in for him. I wanted to work in her time as Robin minus the drama), then following that (once Tim's back out in the field) she becomes Spoiler.

Cassandra: Adopted at 15, already operating under the name ‘Orphan’, later changes her name to Black Bat at 17.

Damian: Brought to meet and live with Bruce when he’s 10, becomes Robin the following year at age 11.

Duke: Meets and becomes a ward of Bruce at age 13, two years later at 15 assumes the mantle of Lark (later changes to ‘Signal’)

Colin: Experimented on by Scarecrow and becomes the vigilante ‘Abuse’ at 10. Meets and befriends Damian the following year, and is promptly brought home to become a ward of Bruce. Currently working on a better vigilante name for himself.

Maya: Takes on the mantle of ‘Nobody’ at age 13, shortly after meets Damian and is brought home by him and adopted by Bruce.

Terry & Matt: From a future timeline which no longer exists, escaped to the main timeline at ages 19 and 11 respectively. Terry and Matt still operate as ‘Batman’ and ‘Robin’ (although at Damian’s insistence Matt is referred to as ‘Flame Robin’ when the two Robins are in the field together).

Claire: Began operating as Gotham Girl at 17, shortly after her brother dies and she’s taken in by Bruce to help her recover from the trauma and to train her to be a hero without having to use her powers that sap her life. She’s not officially a ward, but she’s treated as such.

Maxine & Nissa: From the same future timeline as Terry and Matt. When they didn’t arrive w/ the boys they were assumed to be dead, until they showed up a full year later; the time device they used to travel back had apparently been damaged, making them arrive at the same coordinates but at a later date than they were supposed to (so Max, originally the same age as Terry as they were both 19 at the time, is now a year younger than him)

After getting settled Maxine has begun working closely with Barbara (adopting the mantle of ‘Oracle’ with the former's blessing), while Nissa has taken a step back from vigilantism, opting to put on her Batgirl suit only in the most dire ‘all Bats on deck’ type of situations. (She’ll resume full time in a couple years, but currently she’s coping with the traumatic impact of seeing all the casualties of her timeline dying, and isn’t quite ready to be back out on the field).

Athanasia: Shortly after Damian is sent to live w/ Bruce, Athanasia is born & aged up 10 years to match him. At 13 she’s also sent to Bruce, disappointed that she can’t become Robin since her brother already is, she decides on the name ‘Sparrowhawk’ as her identity.

Helena W.: From a (possible) future timeline, pretty much just showed up one day, and has been around since.

The second spreadsheet is ‘extended’ Batfam: cousins and close allies

Kate & Beth: Born two years after Bruce (it’s not indicated on the sheet but Bruce met them as babies). They’re kidnapped when they’re 12 along with their mother, their mother is killed, and Beth is thought dead as well. 30 y/o Kate becomes Batwoman. Following that, 2 years later Beth surprises her sister by being alive, having been brainwashed into being the villain known as ‘Alice’.

Kate manages to get thru to her sister and Beth gets therapy for a few years (and maybe exorcised since ‘Alice’ might in fact be an entity and not an alter-ego at all???), and is reformed working alongside her sister as ‘Brightbat’ at 36.

Bette: Becomes Flamebird at 15 y/o in order to get the attention of Robin (done before Dick switches to Nightwing and Jason takes over the role of Robin).

Charlie: 15 years old when she meets and is mentored by Barbara (basically becomes a pseudo-little sister), operates under the mantle ‘Misfit’.

Carrie K: 13 years old when she shows up on Barbara’s doorstep announcing she’s her second cousin on her mother’s side; ends up becoming her protege.

Helena B: Parents are killed when she’s 8. See’s and is inspired by Batman when she’s 16, and become Huntress the following year. Spyral stuff for a bit starting at 21. Goes back to to vigilantism as Huntress at 23.

Jean-Paul: 21 when he meets Bruce, already going by the name ‘Azrael’ and working under the Order, shortly after comes to Gotham to work with Batman.

Luke Fox: Meets Bruce at 26 and is offered the mantle of Batwing which he gladly accepts.

Mary: Due to the process that made her into a Talon she doesn’t age so her actual age is unknown, she appears to be around 19, physically. Was one of the Talons the Court of Owls unleashed on Gotham, however she ended up defecting from them and helping the Bats after forming a bond with Babs.

(Barbara has since brought her to the mansion to live, since with Charlie and on occasion Carrie, she didn’t have the room for her at her own place).

Calvin: 8 when his father locks him in a cage, manages to escape and run away, is found and trained as an escape artist by a Haly’s Circus performer shortly after. At 13 is given over to the Court of Owls where he’s trained for the next 10 years to be a Talon. At 23 he has his initiation, but goes on the run. At 29 he meets the Bats.

Selina: Meets Bruce for the first time when she’s 23 and just starting out her carrier as the burglar Catwoman. At 33 she meets Kitrina who becomes her very own protege under the name ‘Catgirl’.

#my batfam au #Earth 7777777

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