MYTHOLOGY MEME

Also another thing that I cut out of my post about Dick and flying trapeze, but am posting here: height. Because I’ve seen a lot of talk about Dick’s height on tumblr recently. You can headcanon Dick at whatever height you want. Go nuts, have fun. But. First off – trapeze and aerials and acrobatics are all different things, and they are all different from artistic gymnastics. The “ideal” body for a gymnast is not the same as the “ideal” body for an aerialist or a trapeze artist. While there is crossover, they are not the same. (Example: I can throw a full twisting layout off a trapeze. If I’m on the ground, I can usually manage a cartwheel.) Dick in comics is obviously good at gymnastics as well. In the comics, on trapeze, Dick has been both a flyer and a catcher. I have a friend who’s 5’1, which would actually be on the tall side for elite women’s gymnastics. She is an amazing flyer. There are tricks on flying trapeze she is too short to throw. Not a lot of them, but there are some. In my experience, guys who are both great flyers and great catchers tend to be 5’10-6’0, 175-180 lbs. This isn’t a scientific study, this is just personal experience, and you can have Dick be whatever height you want in your story or headcanon or whatever, those are yours, but in canon I’d say this is something DC actually got right for once. And there’s no reason Dick can’t be 5’10 or even 6’0 and still be a great flyer. Being tiny is not a requirement for being a good flyer, those things aren’t mutually exclusive.

No Amazon. No Walmart. No Target. No Disney. No Google. No Apple. No Visa or Mastercard. And especially no Facebook. I will not be posting on Meta platforms for the next 24 hours in support of the economic blackout.

MYTHOLOGY MEME

1/1 Mythology: Irish

i had a joke about orpheus and eurydice but looking back it wasn't a good idea

Dick Grayson and Trapeze

Okay, so I’ve been getting into DC for the past year or so after growing up entirely on Marvel and even more now that I can’t do anything else, and I love Dick Grayson! Because he is awesome, and also a circus person, and I am also a circus person. I’ve done circus for years, I worked at a circus school, it is a huge part of my life, circus is great! But oh my god almost all of the details are inaccurate and it’s finally gotten to me enough that I had to find and dust off my tumblr so I could post a rant about it. Will anyone care? Who knows! But I feel better now.

1. flying trapeze is not a solo act. Flying trapeze is not even a two-person act. Flying trapeze is at minimum a three-person act. You need a catcher, a flyer, and someone on board. Most historical flying trapeze family acts were four people (often siblings, or siblings and spouses) although of course that number varied I’ve included a picture of a rig below that I labeled so you can see what i’m referring to when I say flyer, board, catcher. 

-this is why I am all for the young justice canon where it was dick’s father and uncle and their wives, and then once they grew up dick and his cousin. Siblings and spouses is an absolutely classic makeup of a trapeze family. Alternatively, you could imagine that john and mary worked with other trapeze artists they weren’t related to.

-dick is not old enough to be the third person here. He’s old enough to fly – my school had a minimum age of six for people taking classes, but staff children were exempt from that. Part of the reason for the age was the kids needed to listen, and part was they needed to not freak out. Obviously this doesn’t apply to Dick. But one of the other things is height. With smaller kids (on our rig, anyone under 4’6 I’d say, although you can adjust rigs to the height of flyers to a certain extent) you could not hold onto the bar and keep your feet on the platform. It was too far away. Small kids would grab the bar and their feet would dangle in the air and I’d hold them back by their safety belt. There are a couple of ways around this, including rises, but point being, could dick fly and throw tricks? Sure. Could he work board or drop a return bar? No way.

-there is a type of trapeze called swinging trapeze that is a solo act and uses a similar rig setup to flying trapeze, but you don’t leave the trapeze

-there is also a flying trapeze style called bar-to-bar, which is when instead of flying to a catcher you would catch the bar yourself, and is actually what jules leotard did when he first invented trapeze, but it is very rare (like, the only time I’ve ever seen this is catchers returning to the board) and you’d still need someone to drop the second bar for you. Here is a video of a catcher returning to the board. If you’re doing bar-to-bar instead of having a catcher, then you’d have a different rig set up than with a catcher, with a platform on either end of the net. If you want to compare them, here’s a really cool company that uses a cross setup which has both a bar-to-bar rig and a bar-to-catcher rig incorporated. In Nightwing: Year One, the Flying Graysons are shown using the more traditional bar-to-catcher set up, but Deadman (and presumably Dick when he joins the act) seems to be doing bar-to-bar.

2. you cannot “work your way up” to flying trapeze. There is no mini trapeze, there’s no slow version, there’s no flying trapeze but low to the ground (there are different types of rigs and cross training and if anyone wants me to go into detail I will, but still). “Working your way up to it” in flying trapeze means starting in safety lines and then taking a trick out of safety lines (step three, for the graysons, would be doing it without a net). Even in lines, you have to jump off the platform 20 feet in the air. That is step one, and you just have to dive right in. Feel free to come yell at me about how this influenced Dick as he grew up because I can’t put it into words right now but there’s something in there about Dick’s ratio of planning-to-look before leaping.

3. One of the most common mistakes new flyers make is trying to grab the catcher. This is a no-no. Flyer’s job is to fly, catchers job is to catch. As a flyer, your job is to be there, arms out, hands flat, and easy to grab. The catcher is responsible for grabbing you. If you make grabby hands or try to grab onto them in return before they’ve caught you, you will miss. It’s a disconcerting feeling if you’re starting out – when you’re following through the air, you want to grab at the person reaching for you. You cannot. You have to trust them to grab you.

           -think of this, Dick, who has been raised with this mindset, watching his parents fall. Thing of this, Dick, who has decided it’s his job to catch everyone. Think of this, Dick, falling and hoping someone catches him. Think of the angst. Think of the fluff! The possibilities are endless! (please someone right this and also feel free to ask me questions about this I have feelings)

4. Look, all flying trapeze is built on timing and trust okay!! I remember my hair getting loose and in my eyes halfway through a trick and it’s weird because you’re flying through the air and you can’t see anything and you really would like to be able to see things but it doesn’t actually matter. It didn’t change what I had to do, which was listen to my catcher and let go when they said. I didn’t need to see them, I just needed to trust them and listen. It was a perfectly fine catch! Just, ugh, it’s all about trust!!!!!!

5. While wearing a leotard with bare legs is definitely ridiculous if you’re planning on running around fighting crime, it makes total sense if you’re a flyer and you’re doing any sort of legs catch. (Not if you’re a catcher. Wearing a leotard with no pants is just asking for pain if you’re a catcher. Lots of catchers wear two pairs of leggings so they have extra padding.) Look, one of my friends tried to do a legs catch in full lengths leggings and even though she could connect she slipped out of the catcher’s hands every single time. Every single god damn time. Her form could be absolutely perfect but as long as she was wearing those pants that catch was not going to happen. Bare legs all the way for legs catches. (If you’re not doing leg catches, go nuts. If you’re a beginner, you definitely want the back of your knees covered because you’ll have your knees on the bar a lot. I’ve definitely flown in shorts before, but I also spend a disproportionate amount of time in knee hangs. If you’re not used to doing if, hanging from your knees when it’s just bare skin *hurts*, and having them covered helps). The Flying Graysons poster at the top shows Dick doing what is actually probably a double angel return, not a legs catch, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the Graysons had that trick in their show. (I realize that the video I linked shows a legs catch with long pants, so this is obviously a flexible rule, and depends on the material as well. Basically, whatever you want the costume to be, go nuts!)

 If anyone has questions or thoughts, feel free to shoot me an ask. Also, if you’re curious about flying trapeze, circus is more accessible than most people think. Lots of places have circus schools where you can go and take a class, no experience required! (not now, obviously, because we’re in the middle of a pandemic, but in the future). I’m happy to answer questions about that as well.

Look.

I have made you a chart. A very simple chart.

People say "You have to draw the line somewhere, and Biden has crossed it-" and my response is "Trump has crossed way more lines than Biden".

These categories are based off of actual policy enacted by both of these men while they were in office.

If the ONLY LINE YOU CARE ABOUT is line 12, you have an incredible amount of privilege, AND YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT PALESTINIANS. You obviously have nothing to fear from a Trump presidency, and you do not give a fuck if a ceasefire actually occurs. You are obviously fine if your queer, disabled, and marginalized loved ones are hurt. You clearly don't care about the status of American democracy, which Trump has openly stated he plans to destroy on day 1 he is in office.

So I was inspired by @kiragecko to create a floor plan of Wayne Manor. I started out trying to be accurate to the comics, but eventually gave up because it changed so many times that was impossible. This is more like the manor shown in recent comics, specifically from when Dick and Damian were Batman and Robin, but I also pulled references from a bunch of different comics and from different timelines and the Gotham tv show. At this point this is the floor plan for the mashed up canon that exists in my head. Aside from @kiragecko’s own floor plan, other references included Biltmore, Filoli, Casa Loma, The Breakers, Rosecliff, Marble House, and Darlington/Crocker Mansion. I tried to make it mostly to scale, although I hand drew this and then cleaned it up digitally, so it’s probably a little off in some places. Blue text is what the current Wayne/Batfamily use the rooms for, green is what the historical use was, and black is what they’d likely be listed as on a real estate listing. Green doors are hidden or jib doors, basically doors that aren’t obvious but don’t require a pass code to get through or lead to the Batcave. Purple “doors” are the secret passages like the one hidden behind the grandfather clock that even an observant bystander shouldn’t be able to find and involve much more security. More explanations under the cut. 

So the comics are unclear on how the Waynes got Wayne Manor. They say that Nathan van Derm designed it for Darius Wayne, but then also that Darius’s grandsons, Solomon and Joshua, purchased it after Jerome van Derm died. At some point after Joshua died (in 1860), the manor was abandoned and Solomon’s son Alan (Bruce’s great-great-grandfather) rebuilt it. 

In my head, the east and west wings of the W would have been later editions. The first version of the manor, up to at least when Alan Wayne rebuilt it, would have probably just been the central portion, out to the 2 towers. Original kitchen would have been in the basement, as well as additional servants quarters. It’s not shown on the plans, but in this version the basement has been renovated to include a gym, movie room, and game area (leaving aside the much cooler basement underneath.) Also not pictured is the third floor/attic, which includes servants quarters and a third floor sitting room above Thomas Wayne’s den that looks out over the front lawn. 

With the east and west wings, you can see the very clear divisions in purpose. The west wing was a guest wing, probably added when serious entertaining became a thing, with a dedicated ballroom and guest bedrooms. The east wing downstairs was the servants’ wing - kitchen, staff dining room, butler’s pantry, bedrooms for upper household staff. East wing upstairs was the children’s/nursery wing. 

In the center of the house you can see a male/female divide that went with the historical idea of some rooms (billiard room/smoking room/study/library) being “men’s spaces” and some (drawing room/morning room) being “women’s spaces. The bedrooms for the permanent residents of the manor in the 1860s (Solomon and his wife, Joshua, Celestine) follow this divide as well, though unlike other “great houses” Wayne manor didn’t go so far as to have a separate bachelor’s wing. 

Regarding the jib doors vs secret passageways - secret passageways are basically entrances to the batcave, although they would’ve also been used by Solomon and Joshua as part of the underground railroad. Off the servery you can see the entrance to the wine cellar where Joshua’s body was eventually found. The jib doors (in green) would have been used by servants or family members to pass between rooms without going into the main hallways. Great for sneaking up on people!

Ok, going into some more specifics - headcanon time! Basically everything beyond this is just in my head, and the Batfam stuff is set at some point in the future. (It’s a really shame they stopped writing Batman Comics right after Bruce came back from they dead. Ric? Ric who? don’t know what you’re talking about). 

First, Celestine Wayne. Celestine Wayne is not a comic character. She was loosely inspired by the history of the Waynes from Gotham the tv show, and by loosely I mean her name and the fact that she lived during the Civil War era. There is a C.L. Wayne from that time period who founded the Gotham Botanical Garden in the comics, and in my head they are definitely the same person. In the Wayne family tree in my head her father was Caleb Wayne, and she was Solomon and Joshua’s cousin who became their ward for.......reasons undecided yet. Her father was leading wagon trains and so never home. Something else happened. You pick! She never married (imagine whatever reason you want here, I tend to stay away from the tv show explanation and go with she just wasn’t interested, but any reason works) and so when she became an adult and was still living at the manor but not the “lady of the house” the floor plan was slightly modified to give her her own suite of rooms. Joshua Wayne has something similar in the sense of having his own private study next to his room, although his were only connected by secret passage. Sometime between Dick moving out and Tim moving in permanently, Dick moved from his childhood room into these rooms (leaving Tim free to move into his old bedroom, a thing that actually happened in the comics). Maybe this happened when he was adopted? Maybe when he and Bruce kinda reconciled after Bruce got his back broken? Who knows! There was definitely a period where to Dick the Manor was Not His Home Anymore, and so in his mind he probably didn’t have a permanent room there (and tried to avoid staying there). Think of the moving to the “grown up full suite” as a really old fashioned way of Bruce or Alfred or both saying “I recognize you’re an adult with your own life and autonomy and I cannot treat you like a child, but also this is your home and you will always have a permanent place here.”

Other rooms of note - most mansions I referenced did not have a dedicated armoury, but it’s Batman! Of course there’s an armoury. For historical artifacts, a lot of these weapons sure seem functional......

The tea room was not originally a tea room but somewhere along the way at least one of the Wayne matriarchs was very fond of afternoon tea. With Alfred in the manor it is definitely a Space for Afternoon Tea, although it also gets used for other meals occasionally and Alfred will do a lot of his meal planning/any other paperwork there, even though he technically has an office. 

When Thomas and Martha were alive, there were actually full time staff living at the manor beyond Alfred and the staff quarters got used, and the “servant’s hall” actually got used as a staff dining room, but now this is where the family members tend to gather if there’s too many of them to just eat in the kitchen. (In my head, Wayne Manor during Thomas and Martha’s life is basically the Wayne Manor described by @unpretty who has written some of my favorite Batman fics ever.)

When Bruce was growing up, Thomas Wayne’s den was the “casual family living room” that every other sitting room in the manor was not, and after he died Bruce couldn’t bear to touch anything in it and avoided it unless he was doing some hardcore brooding. When he moved back/took in Dick, he converted one of the bedrooms to a tv room because he wanted a space that was casual and none of the other spaces felt like a tv belonged in them, but he still couldn’t go in his father’s den. As things have gotten better, and also as Tim and Damian’s relationship improved and Tim started coming around more, Bruce was finally ready to let this go and this became basically Tim’s workspace for whenever he’s at the manor. Bruce will work on stuff in there if Tim is in there, but he still doesn’t spend a lot of time in there on his own. (Ok, this was a little bit inspired by a Rebirth comic, don’t know which one, not gonna find it, I’m sure the rest of it was silly). Bruce tends to use the study downstairs if he’s working on W.E. work or other stuff like that. Jason and Dick’s go to places for any type of homework (when they were living at the manor) or any other work they might have to sit down and do are one of the libraries or wherever Bruce or Alfred are, depending on their mood and what they’re working on, and how long they’ve been living at the manor. 

I’m pretty sure Martha Wayne painting/drawing is canon, but I don’t remember the comic it was referenced in. Anyway, she turned what was being used as a sunroom into her art studio because it had the best light. With Damian in the manor it’s slowly being reclaimed by art supplies.

There are definitely rolling mirrors and freestanding barres in the ballroom that Cass uses for dance practice.

Not pictured: the massive garage, stables, tennis courts, basketball courts, gardens, pond, and basically everything on the grounds. 

If anyone is curious about what comic panels I referenced (or ignored), or what real world rooms/houses inspired specific parts, shoot me a message! Also, feel free to use this in art/fics/whatever if you want a reference!

Coat

1930s

Nasjonalmuseet for Kunst, Arketektur, og Design

Another fun part of the Nightwing One Year Later comics, when Dick is searching for a job:

-”Ric” isn’t the first time Dick tried being a taxi driver

-Dick actively decided he didn’t want to join the NYPD when he was searching for jobs

-when he first goes to Bones gym where he ends up teaching trapeze, this happens:

(Nightwing #126)

which was a trip for me because it’s not every day you read about someone you know in a comic. The Flying Gaonas were/are a circus family, one of the best flying trapeze families ever and someone young Dick Grayson was probably familiar with. I’ve only met one of the Gaonas, and only in passing, but it was a name that surprised me to see it pop up. I assume Alex is a made up character, but I wasn’t expecting the reference! Incidentally, this book as an accurate explanation of how to do a proper swing on the trapeze, so someone writing this knew what they were doing. Between this and Dick working at a real-life museum a few issues later, this arc feelings much more grounded in the real world than other ones have. 

So it’s known that I am crazy about mythology, and I couldn’t find a graphic challenge of any sort, so I decided to come up with one instead. So yeah, here it goes:

1 Mythology (greek, norse, roman, etc) 2 Mythological Objects 3 Locations 4 Titans 5 OTPs (Hades/Persephone, Thetis/Peleus, Loki/Sigyn, etc) 6 Muses and/or Nymphs 7 Norse Gods/Goddesses 8 Lengendary creatures 9 Greek Gods/Goddesses 10 Movies/Books based on mythology

If you do it, make sure to tag it as mythology meme (or link me to it, cause I’d love to see it)!