By Bannai Taku

You know that feeling when you're writing a fanfic idea for a tumblr post but then that fanfic idea becomes 4k long and you start wondering if it might be easier to just write the damn fic.

But hey! Get ready for some Dark!Bruce Wayne, Time Travel, Fix-it fic with some glorious Manipulate, Mansplane, Malewife vibes.

Here is a teaser:

While he was waiting for Haly's Ciricus to come to town, Bruce wasted no time checking on Jason. Batman spent several weeks sweeping through Crime Alley until he'd managed to peer through the right apartment window. Jason is a precious three year old. He toddles around the apartment with a confidence that suited him at every age. His step mother, Catherine Todd, is quick to follow him around, laying out strategic pillows to keep Jason from bruising his knees when he toddles too fast and falls. She's sober -- for now. In fact, according to the records Bruce found, she had yet to become an addict.  This is unacceptable.  Even if Bruce jumps the gun and puts Willis in jail -- it'll be so easy, too easy really -- Catherine is still a suitable, if poor, mother. So Bruce makes plans and then contingency plans, all on paper, all to be burnt at the minute of completion.

I love Dick Grayson! But man I wish they’d kept pre-crisis Dick & Jason’s relationship and let the man age gracefully out of Robin before handing it over to Jason.

Like it makes sense for Jason to cling to Robin and the period of time he was happy and safe before his death.

Just… give us some variety. Stop making Robin this thing the brothers steal from each other. Let them just age out of it!

I want Damian and Tim to be friends so bad. I want chaotic younger sibling energy team up to make everyone else’s life hell! They both have big gremlin energy and 0 chill and poor understanding of other peoples limits.

Stop being cowards @DC, let Tim and Damian wreak havoc!

If you have fics, pls rec and my life is yours!

twenty years across the sea

Anyone got some toxic timkon fanfic recs? Any variation and TimKon are together in the end. Obsessive/possessive behavior is appreciated.

I’m honestly surprised breakdown cut your hair in the bathroom at 3am and dye it hot pink isn’t more common in Batfamily fanfics.

But Dick definitely grew out his hair for years, researching the right conditioners and at one point giving into those weird hair gummy bear ads on insta. But after a bad night that shouldn’t be considered that bad considering the bullshit he’s put up with in his life, gives himself bangs at 5am in the morning and dyes it Cosmic Purple.

Tim has a manic breakdown and gave himself a rough cut that can only be salvaged by a bowl and Alfred’s sharpest fabric sheers at 3am after Steph’s fake death and he’s crying the entire time.

Jason had a phase where he was dying that white chunk ever color of the rainbow for months in an attempt to feel more in control of his body so he always had dye stains underneath his fingernails until it became stringy and gross and he had to shave his head. (Roy did it). (He hates that it grew back.)

Cass constantly cuts her hair. She tries lace wigs. She dyes it different colors. Always at a salon with Bruce’s credit card. Until one night, she can’t stand to look at herself in the mirror.

She feels numb. It’s been a shit day, week, life. And everyone can tells she’s pissed and she knows and they know she knows. But when they try to ask her what’s wrong she can’t get the words out because words suck and also she doesn’t know. So she just shaves off all her hair and her eyebrows and regrets it as soon as the trimmer touches scalp but it’s too late.

Having read a bunch of comics now (though lets be honest, not nearly enough and I'm still working through a lot of the young justice and red robin comics when it comes to Tim content) its really funny how Batman acts like Tim doesn't lies to him. Or that he can somehow tell when Tim is lying.

Tim lies all the time during his run as Robin. He lies to his friends, his parents, Bruce! He loves lying to Bruce! Hell, are we forgetting the fake uncle scheme! And yet in various stories, when Bruce needs one of the Robins to tell him something, he asks for Tim's word because the other's "lie." It doesn't make sense?

And then I got to thinking and I realize, when Bruce says Tim doesn't lie, what he really means is "Tim doesn't break his promises."

Even in the context of the panel above, Bruce isn't trying to extract information. He's trying to get his kids to stay out of the fight.

Tim is loyal to Bruce in a way no other Robin is. Dick and Jason left (Dick to find himself and less said about Jason the easier). Steph and Bruce have a sort-of relationship that never felt really close to me. Damian is a child with a burning desire to prove himself and no real understanding of his own limits. Plus -- for a good chunk of his run and really depending on his writer -- warring priorities. He wants to do right by both of his birthrights.

Tim found Bruce when he was sucidal. Tim found him when he was at his lowest and stayed. Tim found him in the timestream when everyone else thought Bruce was dead. Even now, with a new mantle as Red Robin, Tim has stayed! He’s not in another city. Yes he has his teams. But Tim is in Gotham. Tim works with Bruce. Tim is, first and foremost, an idealist boarding on a romantic with a deep belief in the power/symbolism of Batman & Robin. And that idealism means Tim is loyal to Batman.

So when Bruce says "Tim don't lie to me." What Tim hears is, "Give me your word and promise me." And I think that says a lot about their relationship.

You know… intellectual, I understand Batman, Superman, Ironman and Spiderman… all of the superheroes, really, are not improving the Earth.

Superheroes don’t fix wealth inequality or solve the reasons people commit crime in the first place. They don’t clean up the cops or stop the politicians from lying. They are a leaking dirty bandages on an open festering wound, who are designed to fight the rogues their very presence encourages to act out.

This is especially true for Batman.

So any medium — fan post or comic — that attempts to engage earnestly with the question “Is Batman helping Gotham?” instantly fails to capture my intrigue because the answer is no.

Bruce Wayne can save Gotham. Batman cannot. Batman can keep Gotham alive long enough for Bruce Wayne to save Gotham, maybe.

Depends on the writer.

Depends on the medium.

Depends on the social political awareness level DC wants to engage with to sell the most comics.

Partially this is because the premise of these heroes were created for another time, another era of America. Partially because these heroes continue to be written by older white men. Mostly because superheroes are made to sell and the popular opinion in America is not to dismantle that systems of late stage capitalism that encourage corporate greed, the concept of billionaires, and the desperation that makes people commit crimes.

I’m not really going anywhere with this. It’s just an opinion, a brainworm I wanted to type up before bed. I can engage with the concept of Superheroes and not need to worry if Batman is really saving Gotham beyond the villain of the week.

In modern comics, why are artists drawing Damian to look like Tim/Dick? His hair is no longer spiked, his eyes aren’t green but blue, he’s paler. It’s weird right? Like Damian looks a lot like young Tim and I don’t get it? At least they keep Damian’s costume unique.