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Why do people make Tim being “sent” to train under Lady Shiva a bad thing in fanfics?

UM… ACTUALLY! Everything about that sentence is wrong.

Bruce doesn’t send Tim to train abroad after “only a few weeks.”

Bruce doesn’t send Tim to Lady Shiva. Tim finds that trouble all on his own.

Point 1: Bruce doesn't send Tim to train abroad until after he's been trained by Bruce for months and has "earned" the robin suit by saving Bruce from The Scarecrow. Tim meets Bruce during Spring — as seen in the art during Tim’s time tracking Dick to Halley’s Circus during his intro comic — and is being trained by him until Christmas Eve where Tim defeats Scarecrow. That is a at least 7-8 months of training.

After receiving the Robin suit, Tim expresses doubt in his ability to be Robin to which Bruce says “You just need to gain physical prowess” and suggests a training trip in Paris.

Point 2: Bruce then sends Tim to Paris to train under one of Batman’s old teacher: a Tibetan monk who’s taken refuge in Paris and is a specialist in both healing and hand to hand combat. The monk is referred to **cringe** as “Lama.” Tim then gets caught up in a gang fight which spirals into a conspiracy and catches the attention of Lady Shiva all on his own!

(Total side note and I know it was like 1991 BUT SO MANY early Tim stories have awkward racism you can’t even squint past. You gotta just grit your teeth and keep reading. His parents are killed by an evil voodoo guy. He trains under a mystical Tibetan monk. He has some awkward run ins with a Chinese mob. He had to manage a couple of “angry black guy” characters. Like I’m sure lots of other DC properties were just as bad at this time. But then you remember that Tim’s Robin is one of THE MOST successful comic lines during the 90s and early 00s and it’s just awkward. And DC still won’t hire enough non-white male writers and artists when you have beautiful stories like The Boy Wonder written by brilliant POC artists. Like why?!??)

Look I'm not saying Bruce is a perfect mentor to Tim. His reactions to Janet Drake's death is not ideal. Bruce also tries to hide information from Tim when his parents are kidnapped and lets Tim think his parents are dead because "what if Bruce can't fix it". Bruce's control issues are on fine display for several issues.

But sending Tim to Lady Shiva is not a neglectful act on Bruce's part. Tim ditched Bruce’s safe training plan and gets involved with a DEA agent and Lady Shiva.

It turns out — as you find out at the end of the comic set about Tim’s training — Bruce has been lurking around watching and waiting to step in if things get out of control for a while sfter Tim ditches Paris but otherwise lets Tim think he’s alone until Tim has succeeded in his mission and defeated King Snake. Bruce does this is to help Tim gain confidence in the field, something he was lacking during the moment Bruce hands him the Robin suit.

It’s a really sweet arc actually and helps set up what kind of Robin Tim Drake is going to be! Plus it’s a fun read (ignoring the racism)!

There is no reason to treat it as one of Bruce’s failings. He makes plenty of those all on his own.

~ Detective Comics (1937)

Once again, we get Bruce's parenting technique of letting his kids get their anger out on him. He is even encouraging Tim to let it out, even if he is being yelled at. He is not even fighting Tim or arguing with him, he explains why he acted like he did and he is accepting Tim's anger and emotions.

And sad batblob is back at the end. Sad that one of his babies is in pain, and he cannot just take it away

If Jason didn’t die and Tim didn’t become Robin, Tim’s parents would have been killed by the Obeah Man** and Bruce would have become his foster father.

After all, who other than Bruce is qualified to foster a rich kid in Gotham? I doubt there are a lot of other upper crust folks who are capable or certified of being an emergency foster. And Tim is rich enough and public enough (a massive scandal where elite Jack and Janet Drake of Drake Pharmaceuticals is kidnapped in Haiti and ransomed by a foreign costumed criminal! It’d be headlines for weeks!!) to not get lost in the Gotham foster care. So off to the Wayne’s he goes.

I imagine angry and heartbroken at the death of his parents, Tim would see his fostering with the Wayne’s as a sign! After all, this is the same kid who asked if “Robins have to be Orphans” when his parents were kidnapped in the comics. He’s superstitious enough to believe in signs from the universe.

Imagine that first dinner. Dick has been invited over because Bruce has learned his lesson after Jason and he’s been busy reassuring both his sons that this is all temporary and trying to hid any proof he’s Batman in preparation for Tim to come. Alfred has cooked something simple and hearty for a heartbroken boy in the news whose big sad blue eyes remind him so much of the first Orphan he ever cared for. Jason is nervous about having another rich kid at the manor. And Dick feels like he recognizes this kid in the news from somewhere but he can’t put his finger on it.

And boom! Right after everyone is done scrapping their plates and thanking Alfred after a relatively normal dinner. Tim, who’s been very quiet, looks up and demands to be trained as a superhero. He’s not looking to be Robin, not with Jason alive. He’s not trying to replace Jason. But he won’t let what happen to him happen to any other kid. He wants to be a hero and he won’t take no for an answer.

Well fuck… I guess Bruce is keeping another one? What else is he supposed to do?

—-

** The reason Jack Drake lives is because Batman goes to Haiti to save him. If Bruce isn’t emotionally connected to Tim why would he care about this case personally? It has no effect on Gotham and he was in the middle of another a serial robbery case which is more pressing that he abandons to look for Tim’s parents. So I fully believe if Tim wasn’t Robin, Jack would have died with Janet.

Tim Drake is destined to be an orphan just like his brothers and sisters.

Welcome to my unpopular opinion but I am so, so tired of people and just the fandom as a whole vilifying the Drakes to an obscene amount. Like, were they the best parents in the world? No, but they weren't the abusive and neglectful monsters most of the fandom tries to write them as.

Jack and Janet were fully under the impression Tim was being taken care of when they were gone because he was in boarding schools, a responsible and logical place to put a child if you knew your work would have you traveling a lot. The only reason this wasn't true because Tim was the one to make it so. Tim was the one sneaking out of boarding schools and not telling his parents what he was doing.

Every time in the comics when the Drakes came back, Tim was excited and actually did spend time with them. We are given multiple accounts from Tim of him hanging out with both of his parents when they are back in town while Tim is being robin.

The Drakes also very much cared about Tim. The first thing Jack does when he finds out Tim was in a dangerous situation (being Robin) was get Tim out of it. Yeah, it sucks that Tim's opinions and thoughts were acknowledged, but Jack did what any loving and responsible parent would do the moment they find out their son was risking their life and doing something extremely dangerous and reckless and that's get him out of it! Jack moved Tim away from potential danger to keep his son safe. The moment Tim went missing Jack dropped fucking everything he had in terms of influence and fortune to get his son back. Is that the behavior of someone who couldn't give a shit about their son? Someone who clearly doesn't care about their safety and existence? No. It's not.

Besides, not even Tim himself vilifies his parents. Time and time again in the comics, Tim is shown missing his parents, talking fondly of them. Literally during the whole saga where Tim was traveling through time and the multiverse to find Bruce during failsafe, Tim embraces his mother and just enjoys being with her. Tim's ideal world and life is his parents being alive, it's Tim being with his Dad and Mom.

The Drakes are not evil monsters, and honestly, Tim's story and dynamic with Bruce is so much more interesting when the Drakes are loving and caring and Bruce isn't 'saving' him from his parents.

One day I’ll sell my crafts. But for now I’m glad I finished these!

A little Spoiler of something I’m working on:

Title: Will of Fire

Summary: Madara knows his sins and his faults. He knows, no matter what Hashirama thinks, there is no positive afterlife waiting for him. Maybe that’s why he’s returned to the past after bleeding out on that battlefield.

Still, there is nothing to do but get up and try again.

For Izuna.

For Hashirama.

For Obito and all those, he’s wronged.

He will take this chance and try again.

Ship: Hashirama/Madara

Tags: Politics, Slow Burn, Uchiha Family Dynamics

…

Madara wakes up to Izuna beside him.

He shouldn’t have. He should have died, should have walked forward into the pure lands all Shinobi knew awaited them: an eternal feast of friends and foes alike finally setting down their swords and kunai to eat and drink and laugh.

Hashirama had promised me a drink, Madara thinks mournfully as he takes in the rising sun creeping its way into the room, growing in strength. Hashirama promised him peace.

He lets himself mourn his death during the time it takes the late winter sun to drench the room in light. Fifteen whole minutes to regret and contemplate to consider what-ifs and almost. Fifteen minutes before Izuna wakes next to him, eyes narrowing at the sunlight and with such an amusing scrunched face that Madara cannot help but be reminded of the ornery cat he’d kept secretly within the cave.

(Obito had brought the cat because for all Madara and Zetsu had tried to break him, he’d still clung stubbornly to a love of life.

And god Obito… Madara has many regrets. More than any man should bear. Too many sins to atone for. But for Obito…. He will need more than fifteen minutes to mourn Obito.

He will need a lifetime.)

And then Izuna wakes up.

“Aniki ,” Izuna yawns, morning breath stinking up the space between them. With drool running down his chin and crust in his eyes, he looks a far cry from the Uchiha Beauty he is renowned for. “Why are you awake?”

Madara had lost count of the years between Izuna’s death and his own. Time makes things hazy, alters memories… alters reality. It isn’t until that moment that Madara realizes he’d forgotten the sound of Izuna’s voice. In his memories it is scratchy, broken by pain and suffering as he lay on his death bed while healers and medic-nin alike did their best to give him another day, hour, minute. Until there had been nothing left to save but a pair of eyes.

In his nightmares, Izuna’s voice is rough and booming, full of hatred, as he calls Madara for what he is: a failure, a betrayer, a liar, and--in his worst dreams--a murderer.

In reality, Izuna’s voice is soft and sweet, content to wake up next to his older brother and pitched at a low volume to avoid waking the household. Clinging to childhood, there is an almost squeaky quality to it. (As young as Obito had been)

A long-forgotten protective instinct flowers within Madara’s chest.

Madar looks away, tears burning in the corner of his eyes. But he cannot cry. The dead cannot do anything with his tears. He has no right to self-pity. Zetsu had led him to his grave but Madara had been eager to climb in and lie down.

He cannot be forgiven for his sins. There is no peaceful afterlife waiting for him. No drink. No Hashirama. He does not deserve it.

This is my penance, Madara thinks as he watches Izuna wipe the sleep from his eyes with the back of his hand, already scarred from a lifetime of struggle. I must make things right.

Madara stands up.

For Obito, for Hashirama, for the Uchiha he’d sworn himself to and then killed, for the village and Naruto and Itachi (and that strange, powerful boy who’d reminded him of himself and Izuna and all the best and worst of the Uchiha).

It’s time to get to work.

He will cry when it is all done.

.

COMING SOON TO AN AO3 NEAR YOU!

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.

| Last Night

I remember being so embarrassed when I drew this! I’d never drawn anything slightly sexual before.

My favorite details:

I think at some point Jason said “No Guts. No Glory” while not looking at an explosion and posing like an 80s action star with a machine gun unironically cause he wanted to feel cool

Doomed Siblings Core