#regarding Alfred being upset with Bruce for abusing Dick | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

meara-eldestofthemall · 2 years

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Here’s something that in my personal opinion should be a chief writing rule regarding the Batfamily, maybe not necessarily a holy text that should be obeyed at all times but a general guideline that would be helpful when implemented:

Often times, whenever Batman doesn’t have a Robin, unless you’re establishing a world where such a partner won’t entirely be necessary and even proven a real danger to said partner I.e. the Nolan Trilogy and the first two films of the Burton-Schumacher series, Batman will have not just have a rougher time in dealing with supervillains but his entire demeanor darkens to such an extent the amount of scrapes Alfred has to patch up, the amount of criminals being transported to a hospital for even minor offenses and the amount of fear regular citizens and even potential Allies have of Batman, all that increase by 10 fold.

Opinions on this? I could be just talking out of my butt here but I remember both those panels in Batman #20 after he briefly lost custody of Dick and during that period after losing Jason (both the present day parts of Batman Year Three and part 1 of A Lonely Place of Dying) where it might be evidence of the guideline above

You are 100%, absolutely right, although you may be sorry you asked. I'm going to give a lengthy explanation here. After over 50 years of reading, writing and lecturing about comic books, I'm not sure I'm capable of giving a short answer anymore.

Tim's whole "Batman needs a Robin" is more than just a catch-phrase. Part of it is Robin being the light to Batman's darkness. That's why both Dick and Tim have worked better with him than Jason and Damian's Robins.

Jay and Dami have their own strengths as characters but they clash with the already grim Dark Knight. Jason particularly since his origin was retconned after the Crisis on Infinite Earths series back in the mid 80s. Remember, he was originally a Dick Grayson clone right down to his family being the Flying Todds.

After Crisis on Infinite Earths he gained the tire stealing, Crime Alley street kid origin in an effort to make him different from Dick.

Jason got darker, which may have actually sealed his fate with the fandom. The writers kept trying to make him darker and more edgy to prove he was a different kind of Robin than Dick was. How dark and edgy, you ask? Remember when Felipe Garzonas fell to his death after Jason Robin chased him?

Even back in the 80s Batman was dark and somber enough for a dozen heroes. A grim Batman and an edgy Robin are out of balance. It upsets the dynamic of the Dynamic Duo and can be down right depressing to read. This is the same problem that Damian has...

... but is also why he work so well when Dick Grayson was Batman. The dark and the light were balance between them. Thankfully, Damian is now light years from the unlikeable baby assassin he was when he first showed up.

ln the cases of both Jason and Damian their bad behavior canonically wasn't their fault. Jason was a severely traumatized child who had to do all sorts of awful things to survive on the mean of Gotham. Damian was raised as the Heir to League of Assassins, a place where it was perfectly acceptable to lob off someone's head if they took the last cup of coffee and didn't start a new pot. They're both products of their horrifically abusive environments. Slapping the domino mask on them and sending them out to fight crime was never going to end well. I'd ask what Bruce was thinking but this is a man who dresses as a giant bat and goes out nightly to beat up criminals. He's not exactly the poster boy for healthy coping mechanisms.

Without the balance Robin provides, Batman inevitably flounders. We all know how Bruce reacted to Jason's death. He was increasingly harsh; progressively more and more violent with street level criminals

And was allowing himself to get hurt. He was headed for death by vigilantism until Tim showed up.

Bruce was even worse when Damian died. The man was now willing to compromise his own previously unshakable ethics. He had no problem causing pain and grievous mental harm to accomplish his goal. He took Jason to where he died and tried to force him to relive it so Bruce could have a clue about how to bring Damian back.

He seems to either have no idea what kind of trauma he's inflicting on Jason or worse yet, does not care. This is the most heinous example of Batman's spiraling into darkness. Bruce is solely focused on his goal to bring back Damian (so, to hell with Jason apparently). Without the outside input of a trusted partner like Robin, Batman is left alone to let the darkness consume him. And it does, each and every time he's alone too long.

My point is that as psychologically disturbing a fact as it is, Batman has to have a Robin or he risks going off the rails. Tim summed it up nicely in a Lonely Place of Dying.

While Batman does work with other costumed heroes, Robin is more than just another capable vigilante. He's more than a side-kick. He's a partner, a son (yes, Tim is included although it took Bruce a long time to admit it) a reminder of his lost childhood and what he fights for now. Most of all Robin is family. Robin allows Bruce to at first recreate (with Dick), then eventually expand the family he lost to gunfire in a dark alley. Succinctly put, Robin keeps Batman sane.

I wish DC would understand this basic character principal and let Robin work with Batman more often. There's a reason that Batman and Robin are iconic. He's better when he works with his children, especially Tim or Dick. I just wish DC would understand that.

#tim drake robin #robins!#batman needs a robin #not a clown hunter or whoever else DC puts with him #Batman currently has 2 robins for pity's sake #let him work with at least one of them

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bigskydreaming · 5 years

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To be perfectly honest, my biggest issue with handwaving away Bruce’s worst behavior with his kids as bad writing is it results in not only Dick being expected to fix or compensate for his own father’s badly written bad behavior for the sake of his siblings in canon.....but ALSO throws Dick under the bus by making him solely responsible for the canon problems he’s stuck fixing, as if HE’S the reason those problems exist, not Bruce.

This is a huge part of the problem with how he’s written in fandom imo and it desperately needs addressing.

Example:

Bruce fires Dick in various canons, is unsympathetic and unyielding resulting in Dick leaving in frustration, callously gives his name to Jason.

Canon results: Dick eventually comes back on his own, takes all initiative in repairing his relationship with Bruce, the one broken by his father’s canon bad behavior, and puts aside his initial resentment of his feeling replaced by Jason, for Jason’s sake.

Fandom spin, because fans don’t like seeing Bruce written as this poor a father: mitigating the reasons Dick left in canon by mixing and matching continuities so sometimes Dick left because he gave up Robin on his own, thus also had little reason to be upset Bruce gave it to Jason, or else generally just de-emphasizing Bruce’s firing of Dick in favor of emphasizing his bad behavior with Jason thus rendering Dick unsympathetic and leaving readers unconcerned with what made him leave in the first place.

Or another example:

Bruce hits Dick, blames him for Jason’s death and kicks him out of the Manor telling him to leave his key with Alfred.

Canon results: Dick retreats to the Titans and avoids Gotham and Bruce while Bruce gets excessively more violent and reckless as Batman, leading to Tim seeking Dick out and begging him to return as Robin, and while Dick refuses to do that, he IS at least motivated to return to Gotham to check up on Bruce, leading to him and Bruce being endangered by Two-Face, rescued by Tim as Robin, and Tim then becomes Robin with Dick’s approval and help, leading to Dick returning to Gotham more regularly to help with his training and thus by extension resulting in his relationship with Bruce slowly repairing over time, with Tim often credited as being the reason Dick and Bruce started talking again.

Of course, this also means (unacknowledged) Dick once again took the initiative in regards to repairing his relationship with Bruce...while Tim might have been the catalyst, all of the above nevertheless required that Dick yet again put aside his legitimate grievances with his father and his actions towards him, forgive and forget regardless of the fact that like with his firing, while Bruce may at times express regret for the way things happened or express that he missed Dick, this also never involved or led to Bruce actually apologizing for any of his specific actions or taking accountability for them, as well as forcing Dick to put aside his personal feelings about there being another Robin at all, given that initially in his grief for Jason, he was not at all on board with the idea of him being replaced in any way, or another child similarly being put in potential danger.

Fandom spin, because fans don’t like seeing Bruce written as literally having abused Dick in his grief: Either Dick had simply retreated to the Titans and stayed away from Gotham and Bruce because of his own grief for Jason, in which case Tim really was more responsible for getting him and Bruce to talk again, because he convinced Dick to stop thinking just about himself and realize how this was affecting Bruce too....or else Dick was selfish in his grief and blaming Bruce for Jason’s death, and it took Tim to knock some sense into him....or else Dick just had no patience for Bruce’s grief or else simply no idea how to help him or else stayed away out of guilt, because he felt like Jason’s death was his fault for being ‘a bad brother’ or else simply hadn’t cared all that much about Jason so felt uncomfortable intruding on Bruce’s grief, and either way, not only is this why he wasn’t there for Bruce and why it took Tim to get him to step up, its also why he was so quick and able to be a better brother to Tim this time around, by choice, and also legitimizes Jason’s hurt and resentment about being replaced and no one caring and Dick being a better brother to Tim and more invested than he ever was with Jason.

Or another example, from the Reboot era for some variety:

Bruce loses his shit after seeing Dick die in Forever Evil, and unable to process it well or healthily or react to it or the future threats to Dick because of being unmasked in any other way than get him the hell out of Gotham at all costs, he guilt trips, emotionally abuses, manipulates, victim blames and physically beats Dick into accepting the undercover Spyral mission despite Dick’s extreme protests, almost all of them centered specifically around the effect believing him to be dead will have on the rest of their family.

Canon results: Dick is hung entirely out to dry, with all of his family effectively holding him and only him to blame for their feelings of hurt and betrayal, on the specific grounds that they expect Bruce to make shitty, callous choices like this and by extension they expect Dick, his son, their brother, to be the one to pump the brakes because he knows better, regardless of the fact that Dick is just as desperate for their father’s rarely doled out approval and thus just as vulnerable to going to extreme lengths to please him, those lengths logically being further and further the more desperate and vulnerable he feels....such as being in an intensely vulnerable state post being tortured and feeling guilty and responsible for failing Bruce and his family and friends by getting captured in the first place, the very things Bruce exploited to get him to agree to the mission.

Fandom spin, because fans don’t want to view Bruce as being capable of being so callous and cruel and outright hurtful to his eldest son (often hypocritically given how many MORE fans are completely willing to view the events of RHATO #25 as viable Bruce characterization, in order to milk the hell out of his abusive behavior with preferred family victim Jason, an ‘actual’ abuse survivor and thus thematically more compelling to have been abused by Bruce): All record of Bruce as the motivating factor in Dick taking the Spyral mission is stricken from fandom record by these fans, as are all of Dick’s protests for his family’s sake, ironically the very same points echoed by those characters when they later crucify him for not caring enough about them to take into account how they would feel because of all of this, or just Dick thinking the mission was more important than that anyway.

IN ALL OF THE ABOVE:

Notice how not only is Dick written in canon as being expected or responsible for compensating for Bruce’s worst written behavior in regards to both himself and his siblings.....but when fandom attempts to compensate for Bruce’s worst behavior by ignoring, mitigating or justifying any of his actions or choices in these matters...

It is always, always, ALWAYS additionally at Dick’s expense, as the inevitable end result of removing or lessening Bruce’s own culpability in character conflicts that he himself instigated....is inversely, MORE culpability is heaped on Dick for those same conflicts in order to justify or keep the conflict’s very existence, even if he bore NO initial culpability or responsibility for the conflict in the first place, in canon!

When the core conflict is between two characters, and Dick is one of them and the other, Bruce, is deliberately UPLIFTED on the conflict see-saw so as to raise him out of the depths of badly written canon behavior and restore him to the heights of Good Dad Bruce....of fucking COURSE the extension of that sees Dick dumped down to those same depths of shitty behavior that Bruce was just raised out of, in order to make this possible.

AND IN ADDITION TO THAT....

Notice how in all of those instances, its not just that Dick is spun by fandom to be worse than he is in the actual canon instances....first, fans actively ignore or erase or explain away the EXTRA MILE that Dick was written going, in all of these instances in canon, in order to....compensate for Bruce’s shitty behavior and ‘fix’ what Bruce broke in each instance....

Even BEFORE fans THEN proceed to make Dick go the extra mile in the REVERSE direction, such as when FIRST its ignored that Dick put aside his resentment for Jason’s sake, THEN its added on that Dick was a total asshole to Jason. Or like FIRST its ignored that Dick put aside his legitimate grievances with what Bruce had done to him when Dick went to CONSOLE Bruce in the first place after Jason’s death, in order to help train Tim...THEN its added on that Dick only ‘stepped up’ and patched things up with Bruce because TIM got Dick to see that the father he was avoiding because he kicked him out of his own home NEEDED him. Or like FIRST its ignored that Dick literally, physically FOUGHT Bruce over the fact that Bruce wanted him to do this thing he KNEW would massively hurt the rest of the family...THEN its added on that Bruce didn’t even play much of a role in Dick’s decision at all, definitely not something that Dick actively pushed back against for his family’s sake.

AND THEN.

On top of ALL OF THAT, fandom repeatedly insists that the reason they go to all of these lengths when ignoring or avoiding addressing Bruce’s worst writing....is because they prefer him being a good dad, and having a good relationship with his sons, including and even especially Dick....and that’s WHY they do all this.

Ie....this is supposedly for DICK’S BENEFIT. In order to make Bruce a better dad FOR him.

So riddle me this.

How the FUCK does it work or make any kind of sense to take a son who has literally been written being abused by his father in canon - WHETHER YOU LIKE TO ADMIT THAT OR NOT - and THEN not only disregard how often canon expects Dick to essentially be the parent canon chooses at times not to depict Bruce as capable of being.....but ALSO actively write Dick as being WORSE than he is in ANY of these canon instances....in order to make HIM the catalyst, instigator or responsible party in these instances that BRUCE initiated....so as to avoid having Bruce be the bad guy.

How do you possibly spin that that’s for DICK’S BENEFIT?

I’ve said before that I don’t have a problem with Good Dad Bruce Wayne in and of itself, that in fact I WANT that, ideally, I WANT him being a good dad to Dick and the others, being good FOR Dick and the others - and I stand by that!

But when the go-to default method of making this happen always ALWAYS seems to be....’make Bruce better.....by actively making DICK WORSE, so that Good Dad Bruce has an opportunity to actually ride to the rescue in situations that initially, in canon, HE CAUSED, and that DICK had to ride to the rescue on for himself and everyone else, like....we obviously need something for Good Dad Bruce to FIX, to make BETTER, to PARENT....ergo Dick logically has to fuck up some how, NEED Good Dad Bruce to fix it, to tell him its all okay, to make it better in the same way canon expects Dick to make it better for his dad’s fuck ups’.....

Like.

When that’s the modus operandi by which its believed Bruce is being made into or shown as being a better loving, caring, supportive father?

THEN HOUSTON, WE HAVE A FUCKING PROBLEM.

You fundamentally just can not claim to be making things better, healthier, happier FOR a character....by literally writing that character as WORSE than he is in canon, particularly in specific canon instances like the above.

(And on a personal note, I really really wish the people who were as defensive and protective of Good Dad Bruce Wayne and all ensuing fics, headcanons and meta, could be as aware and understanding of the fact that many fans can and DO relate to various Batkids BECAUSE of canon instances of Bad Dad Bruce Wayne, because THAT’S specifically relatable to some of us, and while that doesn’t preclude us from wanting to see the inverse of that just as badly or as often as you do, it does mean it REALLY FUCKING SUCKS to see the kid we acknowledge as having been abused and neglected at key points in canon....ACTIVELY WRITTEN AS BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HARM DONE TO HIM BY HIS OWN CANON ABUSE.)

#abuse cw

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ohmygoodnessgraciouss · 5 years

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Idk if you’re still doing requests but I have one in mind, a Jason Todd x Amazonian! Reader who are married and expecting a child and it’s all fluffy and cute

Masterlist

I’m so sorry it has been forever since you sent this in! I finally got to finish it, and I had more, but I decided to wrap it up here so I could answer this finally! It’s just a bunch of cute drabbles for the most part I think. Either way, I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: There is a part about morning sickness, so if you are sensitive that kind of stuff, I do recommend you skip to the next “~”!

Also there’s a ton of fluff.

Words: 2151

“Jason, I have something important to tell you,” You started off as he sat down on the couch after a day at “work.”

Jason wasn’t sure what you would have to say, so he motioned for you to continue. You sat down on the couch next to him, playing with your fingers slightly. This worried him a bit considering he was recently fighting Black Mask again. That man was notorious for using his enemies’ loved ones against them. "What is it?“

You looked up at him, quickly noting his concerned tone. You didn’t have to be an Amazonian warrior to pick that up almost instantly. If there was one thing about Jason, it was that he was a very emotional person. He couldn’t hide his emotions easily. "Oh, no! It’s nothing to be worried about, but… Jason, I’m late,” You suddenly blurted out.

His worry turned into confusion quickly. His eyebrows furrowed at the statement. "Late for what?“ He asked.

You nearly laughed at the question. You may still be new to the rest of the world since you only left your people a few years ago, but you figured that most men would know what it meant for a woman to be late. "I’m late for,” You hesitated slightly, trying to find the right words, “That time of the month.”

Jason started putting the puzzle pieces together in his mind. He remembered you mentioning something about starting a family one day only a few weeks ago. That was the catalyst that made him realize what it all meant. "You mean?“

You nodded your head, watching the smile on his face grow wide as his eyes lit up. You practically mirrored him as he threw his arms around you, bring you close. You laughed breathlessly as you hugged him back. Knowing that this was the same man who went out and killed druglords and sex offenders amazed you.

"We’re going to have a family, Y/N,” He said quietly, trying to make it sound real in his head. He couldn’t believe it.

“Ah, ah,” You stopped him. "We were already a family, Jason. I thought the ring on my finger proved that much. But it’s time for us to bring a new addition to our family.“

"I can’t wait.”

It didn’t take long for Jason to have second thoughts about it all. He was insecure and still constantly thought about his faults even a decade after the torture he suffered through from the Joker and his abusive childhood. He feared that when you had the baby that he’d be much like his father, cold-hearted and never there. One day he told you of this fear.

“Jason, you shouldn’t be so worried about it,” You shook his thoughts off. He was surprised by how calm you were by it all.

“Why shouldn’t I be? I could end up just like him. What if one day I don’t come back from a job? What if I turn to alcohol like he did and I hurt our child?”

You walked up to him and stood on your toes to meet his eyes. You smiled slightly at how worried he was, finding it adorable. "Jason Peter Todd, I have no doubt that you’ll be a great father. The fact that you’re already worried about how you’ll be as a father proves to me that you’d never harm our baby. And don’t say anything about not coming home one day for my sake,“ You joked.

His eyes still showed that he was conflicted by it all. The best thing to do when he was like this is to give him as much affection as possible, at least from what you’ve learned over the past couple years of knowing him. If he kept going like this and zoned out he’d lead himself into an abyss that he wouldn’t be able to get out of. You snuck yourself under his arm and looked up at him. "Everything’s going to be alright,” You reassured him.

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that to you?” He asked, trying to lighten the mood. You laughed and used your hand to rub circles into his back. You could feel him relax under your touch.

“Maybe, but I don’t mind having the roles reversed every once in a while if you don’t.”

Morning sickness wasn’t something you had often in the first trimester, but there were days where you’d have to run for the bathroom as soon as you woke up. It’d be a lurching in your stomach and a need to gag that would have you sprinting for the door only a few feet away from the bed. It was usually around 3 AM when you’d get it. One time Jason wasn’t home at the time and was just wrapping up a final job with Dick.

You felt like a baseball player running for the home base that morning. You didn’t even need a light on to know where you’d be going. It didn’t even make you feel better, but it’d last forever when it happened. Being Amazonian didn’t affect how long it’d last, unfortunately.

You didn’t even hear Jason walking into the room at the time. He saw the bathroom light on and heard you. He sighed, knowing that it couldn’t mean anything good. He had looked up some symptoms that would happen during the first trimester, but he didn’t know exactly what happened in morning sickness. This was all new to him.

He grabbed a washcloth and wet it down slightly while getting a glass of water for you. Jason pulled your hair back as he realized you were just finishing up and he rubbed your shoulders slightly in a comforting manner. You appreciated his efforts greatly, even though you were still upset at being up in the middle of the night.

“So, how did it go tonight?” You asked him casually as you flushed the toilet. He chuckled at how quickly you could move on.

“It went great. Sionis is back behind bars and you wouldn’t believe the crazy stupid thing Dick did.” Jason smiled at the thought and looked down to see you leaning your head against his shoulder.

“That’s great, Jay, but for now I’m pretty sure you’re going to have to carry me back to bed. I’m too exhausted to hear about whatever your brother has done. Can I hear about it tomorrow?” You asked him as your eyes started to flutter shut.

You could feel his even breathing underneath you as his arms went under your shoulders and knees. You could feel him stand up and carry you to bed. You barely felt him place you down onto the sheets and place the blanket on top of you. "Of course I can. Goodnight, Y/N.“ He kissed the top of your head.

"Goodnight Jason,” You muttered sleepily.

“You know what sounds really good right now?” You asked Jason out of nowhere one day. Jason turned to look at you, an eyebrow raised.

“What?”

“Cream cheese, pickles, and chocolate.” It was no secret that you were approaching the time when you would have the weirdest cravings for absolutely no reason.

His face scrunched up in disgust. "Individually, right?“ He asked, knowing the answer would not be the one he’d hope for.

"Nope, I mean all together. I know it sounds really strange, but it sounds so delicious right now. Jason, can you please go to the store and get it? I still need to finish going through some of these papers,” You gestured to the papers on your desk.

“Give me a few minutes and I can run down and get it. I need to go see Bruce for a meeting anyway,” He says while writing something down.

“Thank you Jay, I love you,” You said in a singsong voice.

He smiled down at the papers as he stood up to put them away. "I love you too.“

Telling the entire family about your pregnancy was harder than it looked. It was hard enough to get Jason to do it already, but it was another issue to gather everyone together. Dick was constantly in Bludhaven, Bruce had problems regarding his company, Tim had to search the city for a criminal that got out, and Damian was just Damian. Some days you’d see Damian and other days you’d realize it’s been weeks since he was last home.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?” Jason asked as the two of you pulled up to Wayne Manor. Everyone was home for a gala that was going to happen later that night. No one had seen you for the past couple of months, so they had no idea of your growing belly.

“I’m positive. They’ll find out sooner or later when they get a frantic call from you about how I’m in the hospital and you’re panicked about what you’re supposed to do.”

“I would never!” He exclaimed while feigning shock and offense.

“Sure you wouldn’t. Come on, let’s go.” You rolled your eyes playfully as you knocked on the door. Immediately after, Alfred opened the door with a small smile.

“Good afternoon Miss Y/N, Master Todd,” He greeted coolly.

“Hello Alfred, are they all here yet?” You asked him. You were planning the good news with him all week. Alfred was happy for your announcement and instantly offered to help.

“They’re in Master Wayne’s office right now.” He stood off to the side to let the two of you in. You thanked him before rushing off to see them.

You entered the office room with Jason and you were greeted by several boys who were fighting. Typical Waynes, no doubt. They didn’t even notice that you still had your coat on. It was a particularly cold day, so it was the perfect time for Alfred to “accidentally” forget to take your coat.

A few minutes of polite chit chatter went through the room and you were surprised by all of it. Most of the time it would start as a polite discussion and quickly become an argument. You didn’t mind though because it would cause them to be even more shocked in a moment.

Alfred walked in quietly as Bruce was getting a drink for you. He was starting to pour a wine that he thought you’d like to try and Alfred waited. "Oh no, Bruce, I’m sorry, I can’t have anything to drink right now,“ You declined his offer.

Bruce smiled and nodded in understanding before placing the glass down. It was the final clue he needed. It didn’t take long for the World’s Greatest Detective to realize what was going on. The others were clueless though.

"Miss Y/N, I completely forgot to take your coat, my apologies.” Alfred reached out for your coat. You acted surprised and slid the garment off.

The boys’ eyes immediately fell on your stomach, shocked. Dick was the first to speak, congratulating you both immediately. "So my little brother is all grown up?“ He teased Jason.

Jason smiled sarcastically at his brother before wrapping an arm around your waist and bringing you closer. "Are you sure you want to say little?” He hinted at Dick’s height. It was no secret that Jason was easily taller than him.

Damian walked up to you and looked up. You were still a head taller than him, but you knew it wouldn’t last for much longer. "I believe this is when I am supposed to congratulate you. Congratulations, do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl yet?“

You smiled warmly at the boy. "We don’t know yet, nor do we want to know. We’ll keep it a surprise for when he or she comes.”

Tim gave his congratulations to you both as well and you thanked him. Jason was shocked by everything that was going on despite how he thought it’d go down earlier that day. "Congratulations to you both. I’m proud of you, Jason.“ Bruce placed a hand on Jason’s shoulder and gave him a smile. It was one that Jason never saw and he felt good about it. "If there is anything you two should need, let me know.”

“Yeah, if you guys want a few good cameras and baby monitors, I could set some stuff up with no problem,” Tim spoke up.

“I already call being the Uncle that lets his nephew or niece do crazy things.” Dick grinned as Jason rolled his eyes. “I have no doubt Babs will spoil them to no end.”

“And should you ever need any babysitting services, please do not hesitate to call me,” Alfred spoke up and smiled.

Jason chuckled and you smiled at the group. They clearly already cared for your child deeply. There were plenty of times in the past month that the two of you were worried about how you’d be able to manage it all.

You weren’t that worried anymore.

#jason todd #jason peter todd #x reader #batman #dc #comics #fanfic #batfamily #bruce wayne #robin #red hood #dick grayson #damian wayne #nightwing #tim drake #barbara gordon

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

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Why do You dislike Scott Snyder? I mean I have my reasons.. like a lot of the Court of Owls stuff, his convoluted plots, making Dick a punching bag for the broody bats, horrible at writing the family as a family he literally wrote Death of the Family I mean....*kill bill sirens* ... Also the ''son of a Damian'' line from Black Mirror etc. But I'm curious if you have more reasons since I'm pretty new and I'm told that he likes Dick and wanted to write Dick focused books and I don't.. buy it.

LOL yeah, all of that for sure, and I mean.....tbh, I don’t pay enough attention to his interviews and stuff to even be aware that he’s said that about liking Dick and wanting to write Dick-centric books, but I’m with you on that....not necessarily meaning anything.

God knows I’ve lost track of how many fic writers in this fandom swear up and down they love Dick Grayson and yet I avoid their stories with extreme energy, lmao, because I’ve read enough of their takes on DG that I’m like hmmm, yeah, we are not the same, lol. I mean, there’s a certain couple fic writers who just are like....DETERMINED to mention Danny Chase every single time I make a post about why I’m annoyed by the focus on Dick’s allegedly infamous temper. And its always the exact same song on repeat, they’re like “OH-HO, so apparently you don’t remember the time Dick choked Danny, a literal CHILD, just because Danny had the nerve to tell him Jason died, cuz like, I do, and it was AWFUL and Danny could have died TOO y’know, that’s how mad Dick was.”

And then I just kinda stare at these words that apparently mean things, and enter a fugue state where an unknown amount of time passes and by the end of it I feel 80 million epochs older, and its like....no, I absolutely do remember that time when Dick grabbed Danny by the shirt and yelled in his face because he just found out his brother died and Danny said “what’s the big deal, its not like it doesn’t happen all the time” and this was absolutely not an awesome and fun scene for anyone, no matter how understandable Dick’s upset was at the time. BUT, I also happen to remember, since y’know, it was in that literal exact same issue, how then Dick went to see Bruce, and due to BRUCE’S upset about Jason’s death, Bruce literally punched his remaining son to the ground, screams about how it was all Dick’s fault, and kicks him out of the house Dick grew up in and tells him to leave his keys with Alfred.

And its like......the very same people who LOVE to throw around references to Danny Chase in order to puff up the claims about Dick Grayson being volatile and extreme and having a Dangerous Temper like, flat out REFUSE to ever even ACKNOWLEDGE that scene with Dick and Bruce, from the literal exact same issue, because they at the same time claim that THIS was bad writing and OOC and Bruce would never.....but apparently, the writing from ten pages before it was just fine and completely accurate and Dick absolutely would not only ever, he would always, and thus Dick’s Legendary Dangerous Temper is canon and its why Dick can’t have nice things or people being nice to him in these writers’ stories, its too Dangerous, he might get mad I guess.

And each time this comes up on this site, I’m always like....hey, science side of tumblr, is it possible that insisting on vilifying Dick for his reaction to someone in the wake of Jason’s death whilst simultaneously refusing to acknowledge the scene of Bruce’s reaction to Dick is canon or in-character despite existing in the exact same issue and written by the exact same writer.....like....could this be one of those double standards I’m always going on about? And isn’t it in fact reasonable to question just how much or how little someone actually means it when they say they love a character but want that character flogged in the middle of the town square for a Bad Reaction to something that also prompted a Bad Reaction from another character but this character, they’ll like, throw themselves in front of a moving train if it keeps someone from daring to even suggest that THEIR reaction was canon and in-character and might potentially say something damning about their temper or behavior with friends or family?

*heaves endless sigh of endlessness*

Sorry, that example was right there on the tip of my brain today because like....I literally just saw another post around this oft-deceased and resurrected and killed to death again dead horse like, five minutes ago and then came to dip into my ask box for the first time today and it was like.....destiny. Assuming destiny has some free time to kill and nothing better to do, which, I mean, hey, everyone’s allowed a hobby is all I’m saying.

LOL sooooooooooo, ANYWHO, its just like.....ugh, I’m so over being expected to take at face value any writers, whether professional or fan, saying “oh but I love this character or that character, and due to that being my preface to everything else I say or do in regards to this character, you have zero basis for claiming that you do not like or trust my depiction of this character because ummm, read much? I literally JUST said, I love them though? Wow. Insert scoffs of incredulity here, I don’t even know how to talk to someone who thinks I don’t like a character I claimed I like just because literally everything else I say or do about them paints an opposing picture to the contrary.”

LMAO. Sorry. Had to get that off my chest. But yeah, like, I think EVERY canon Batfam writer has made a similar claim in recent years about pretty much every Batfam character, and at a certain point it starts to be like....okay, if all of you are telling the truth here, shouldn’t we see more canon evidence of like....these characters that you’re writing, like....actually even LIKING each other? At what point are we allowed to question the legitimacy of you saying oh I totes love this character, that’s why I write their family as abusing them, that’s just love, baby, that’s what it looks like.

Personally, I’d like to see more of us at least using qualifiers? I mean, I do say I don’t hate Tim, or Bruce, or any of these characters, but I get how people could be dubious about that and be all, umm, you rant about them a lot, because like...yeah. Fair. That’s a valid critique. SO its a lot more accurate for me to be like, I love 90s Tim and I just have become increasingly less enchanted with the character over the past twenty years since then, enough so that my knee-jerk reactionism to people bashing Dick’s character BECAUSE of what Dick did or didn’t do to Tim in their eyes, is like.....disinclined to view the situation or his character these days through 90s-Tim rose-colored glasses.

Similarly, I truly don’t hate Bruce, at least not when he’s not being written as physically and emotionally abusive and/or just plain neglectful, BUT I absolutely despise the abuse apologism rampant in most fandoms, but particularly in this one, where people will make like Cirque-de-Soilei contortionists in order to prove that Bruce beating this kid or that kid isn’t actually abuse, its cuz they made him do it....rather than people just being like, no, that’s abuse right there on the page and I don’t stand for it or stan that Batman, so I have zero desire to defend that scene or his actions there from his perspective, and am totally fine with taking a seat when someone speaks up about how much they hate what Bruce did to his kid there in that scene and how it affects their read of the characters as a whole.

Its like....that too, is a thing you can do, instead of just.....trying to explain why Bruce isn’t abusive see, because what happened there wasn’t actually abuse, since it couldn’t have been, because Bruce isn’t abusive, see, he would Never.

And yet so rarely do people actually do that, and we have people literally championing themselves as members of the Good Dad Bruce Protection Squad when the frank reality is there CAN BE NO GUARANTEE of him ever and always being a Good Dad, when like....his characterization, ultimately, is dependent on how he’s written by canon writers who ARE NOT US. Which makes that desire to see him as just a good dad and nothing but a good dad always, like....not quite as understandable as it otherwise might be, and instead just kinda....willful, an admission that a lot of fans in this fandom will just flat out ignore all evidence to the contrary of this stated claim about what Bruce inherently IS, when inherently all he is happens to be a character who manifests whatever those in creative control of him choose to manifest via him. Like.....there are ways to go about that kinda thing, its just....that isn’t it. Something like “Proud member of the Keep Bruce Wayne a Good Dad Squad’ or something along those lines? I’d have ZERO issue with, because that’s ACTIONABLE, not WILLFUL. It posits not that Bruce simply IS this way and there’s no ifs, ands or buts about it, but rather that just because he isn’t this way in some instances, that doesn’t mean we have to agree with it or condone that interpretation of him, y’know?

But people are like....unwilling to make that distinction or hold that nuance a lot of the times, so my dislike of Bruce as he’s written in certain ways or by certain writers like....grows and evolves and mutates into Godzilla rampaging through downtown New York, until its understandable that people reading my blog intermittently and who don’t follow everything I say on the subject are like.....”Bold of you to claim you like lizards in this one post when I have here nine other posts where you’re just like, FEAR the murderous monster-lizard destroying New York for it is Dangerous and Fearsome. Cuz one of these things is not like the others, bud.”

*Shrugs* Anyway, all of that’s just my allergy to Staying on Topic, so make of it what you will, hopefully you get what I mean though even if you don’t have like, the requisite Kalen-Garbled-Nonsense Secret Decoder Ring. Back to Snyder though....yeah, he can claim he likes Dick all he wants, because y’know what, Tynion says the same thing and its been well established by moi that my fondest wish for Tynion is that he be kept far, far away from Dick’s character whenever possible. And I’m pretty sure Tom King claims he loves all these characters and we’re all like HAHAHHAHA and we know Lobdell insists he loves Jason Todd and its like wow how curious then that hardly any other Jason Todd stans love you.

The ironic thing about my random bouts of ugh Snyder in a lot of posts however, is that......tbh, its not even his depiction of Dick that makes me dislike him as much as I do? LMAO. I mean, I’m not a fan of it personally, for a lot of the reasons you mentioned, but I don’t like a lot most canon writers’ depiction of Dick these days and haven’t for years. The thing I really dislike Snyder for, personally, is his depiction of Damian.

Its just.....its very Not Good, a lot of the time. Oh, there are moments here and there, but you could claim that for any writer, really, but for the most part, like.....ooof, I haven’t read Snyder’s work on Damian recently enough to really cite specific moments off the top of my head, because I’ve been avoiding anywhere he’s writing Damian for awhile now BECAUSE of it, but....a LOT of the ‘demon brat’ shit in regards to Damian comes from Snyder’s work, and like, I’m always kinda like “hey is making Demon anything the go-to nickname for a kid of Arab descent who is already compared to a terrorist enough as it is like....really the best we can do” to begin with, and Snyder absolutely 100% does not help with that.

To be fair, its not remotely like its all just on him, the stuff that has had a lot of us complaining for years about the blood son crap and the insistence on acting like there’s this stark divide between Bruce and Damian and the rest of the Bat siblings, I mean, see: Tom King again, its just. Ugh, okay, Im gonna have to get back to this in the near future with actually sourced gripes about why I think Snyder’s Damian in particular is absolute crap and could he just not, though. Because it really is my chief complaint with him, like I was never gonna be a fan of his in general just because he’s someone who's like DARK MULTIVERSE BATMAN FUCK YEAH and I’m someone who’s like DARK MULTIVERSE BATMAN UGH FUCK WHY.....lol....BUT like I mention in other posts.....its not like he’s incapable of doing decent stuff or that he’s never written anything I like, because ironically, he IS the biggest canon backer of Duke Thomas and pretty much single-handedly responsible for Duke retaining as much of a presence as he has in recent years instead of just appearing and blipping out of existence like a one-hit wonder, and that can’t be overlooked or considered inconsequential.

That just also kinda makes it all the more annoying that his Damian is so very.....objectionable to me, but yeah. Anyway, that’s the curious case of my very mixed feelings on Scott Snyder, with a side dish of generalized “lol oh, so you do in fact love this character? Well magically all my criticisms of your take on them have now disappeared!”

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