French | 26 | Ace Arospec | They/She (Genderqueer)
I cannot survive if I'm not obsessed with a work of fiction, I need something to focus on to function, so here's a side blog for this. I tend to not stay focus on one fandom in particular. Today I'm obsessed with one thing, tomorrow it will be another.
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Things I do not tolerate:
Pro-shipping (imo, shipping is actively supporting the idea of two characters together, not a "one time/once in a while" thing. If you write a fucked-up fic or a toxic relationship without romanticising it, I will not judge. It can be cathartic. Fucked work of fiction are not a bad thing. I have an issue with painting a toxic relationship as okay)
Starting "debate" or "arguments" with no capacity to be polite. I'm super anxious so I really dislike debate and argument in general, and most of y'all cannot behave online. My complaining isn't an invitation to have an argument.
Finding excuses for abusive characters, especially toxic parents. Yes, I'm a good dad Batman believer, but I will not argue that some of his behaviors in some comics is abusive, I'm just against that characterization.
Some stuffs about me.
Favorite Anime/Manga: One Piece and Mob Psycho 100
Top Three Favorite non-animated Movies:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Rogue One
Lone Ranger
Top Three Favorite MCU thingy:
Big Hero 6 (it's marvel, it's a movie, I'm right)
Moon Knight
Captain America Civil War / WandaVision
My Top Three Archenemies (aka the fictional characters I have the most beef with):
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I don't like Willis Todd being an abusive father, because he didn't use to be (he wasn't for most of Jason's existence as a character) and I find it a bit classist how DC decided the father that wasn't abusive and had to turn to crime to feed his family and help his wife gets any type of relief from her sickness, needed to become abusive, while Thomas Wayne, who used to be portrayed not having a lot of patience for Bruce, neglecting him, hitting him or threatening to hit him, is portrayed as a good father.
Like, sure, they wrote Thomas like this because they didn't see anything wrong with it, but I don’t like how they are trying to clean his image as a father (if he does deals with criminals, it's another story), while the father that was poor af is now portrayed as an abusive father when NOTHING told us he was before. When Jason learned Willis died, he spent a whole day in bed grieving, he tried to avenge him, and Bruce comforted him.
Why do the rich man, who sometimes has done bad things to enrich himself more, must be a good father, but the poor man, who had to turn to crimes to feed his family, must be a bad father?
I want Jason to have two struggling and flawed parents that did their best for him, but it was not enough because they were doomed by the system. And Stephanie can have the abusive dad backstory, because it's literally why she became a vigilante.
Bringing this again just because I really need to make it clear that, currently, DC comics like to portray Thomas Wayne with connection to the mafia, but he is still a good man and a good father, when really, with the money and the power his family has in Gotham, he doesn't have any excuses. Especially because Bruce is doing so much for Gotham while refusing to work with the mafia and corrupted officials. Meanwhile, Willis Todd is a bad man because he used to work for a crime lord, when his social class makes it nearly impossible for him to escape crime, to survive without accepting to help criminals or work for them.
I often have a problem with how the Waynes before Bruce are portrayed, because it becomes "they were always great and good people", defying the idea that Bruce is good because of his own character, but also implying that his family could have become rich on stolen land while being good people, and not racist or unethical, which is impossible and propaganda. So the "Thomas was a friend of the mafia, but it's okay because he is rich and nice" is more salt to the wound, like being rich makes him innocent and good, which is the contrary of the message of Batman (who was first and foremost fighting mafia, gangs and corrupted officials, and helping goons to have a new start).
Why is tumblr putting so many Jason posts on my dash? I'm getting jumpscared by stupid ass takes like "Alfred was more there for Bruce (when he was a child) than Bruce was there for Jason (when he was a child)". Am I going to need to block his tag too?
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Imagine the fanfic plot in which Dick hates Talia so when Damian's born he vows to become the baby's favorite to get back at her. Though Talia doesn't hate Dick so anytime Dick is playing with Damian, she's in the background clutching onto Bruce gushing about how Bruce was wrong and Dick loves Damian.
When she was pregnant Bruce was more sensitive about the pregnancy around Dick than Jason because he knows about Dick's jealousy issues.
Anytime Talia is alone with Damian, Dick will come up to her, take Damian from her and start playing with him in front of her. Talia is delighted because now she can have a little cat nap.
If I quote whole songs, you can't complain. (Also, DO NOT TAG THIS AS BRUDICK)
I'm tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface
I don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
And every second I waste is more than I can take
I'm becoming this, all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you
Can't you see that you're smothering me?
Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control
'Cause everything that you thought I would be
Has fallen apart, right in front of you
And I know
I may end up failing too
But I know
You were just like me with someone disappointed in you
Numb by Linkin Park
To me, this is peak "Dick needing independence and becoming Nightwing", with Dick wanting to leave Batman's shadow but still wanting his approval, being afraid of failing, and believing Bruce doesn't trust his abilities, when actually, Bruce is just a worried parent who is struggling with abandonment issues and learning to let his baby go.
Oh, baby you're the only thing in this whole world
That's pure and good and right
And wherever you are and wherever you go
There's always gonna be some light
But I gotta get out, I gotta break it out now
Before the final crack of dawn
So we gotta make the most of our one night together
When it's over, you know we'll both be so alone
And I know that I'm damned if I never get out
And maybe I'm damned if I do
But with every other beat I've got left in my heart
You know I'd rather be damned with you
I'll be gone when the morning comes
When the night is over
Like a bat out of hell, I'll be gone
But when the day is done and the sun goes down
And the moonlight's shining through
Then like a sinner before the gates of Heaven
I'll come crawling on back to you
Bat Out of Hell by Meatloaf
This is the first of the many songs that I know are meant to be romantic, but it works for a platonic relationship like theirs. (batcest dni) This is alternating between Bruce and Dick's pov, about Dick needing to leave Gotham again and again, but he always comes back home one day, and the dynamic duo have the time of their life together.
I'm driving down this empty road
I'm so far away from home
Home is where the heart is
And I left my heart with you
And I left everything
With you
And I lost everything
Every night it's always darkest before dawn
And when you go, keep the light in your heart
Come to me now and we'll be alright when you're here with me
Cause every night it's always darkest before dawn
Fighting the endless, hopeless nights
You are the guiding light for me
I keep your spark in my heart
A flame that never dies
That never dies
You are the spark
That lights everything
Making my way through the dark
As the moon's about to set
Conquer darkness and time
To get back to you again
Darkest Before Dawn by Lolita KompleX
Again, alternating between Bruce and Dick, about when Dick leaves Gotham and is on his own, without Bruce, but also about how Dick is the light of Bruce's life, the reason why he needed to survive each night. At the end of the song, one of the singers sings without any instrumentals, it has kind of a lullaby vibe, and I can imagine Bruce singing to Dick while the boy is falling asleep.
I was just an only child of the universe
And then I found you
You are the sun and I am just the planets
Spinning around you
You were too good to be true, gold plated
But what's inside you?
I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you
But not as much as I do
I wonder if your therapist knows
Everything about me
The Last of the Real Ones by Fall Out Boy
This is from both Dick and Bruce's pov, but especially Dick, about the importance of the other in their life. The last two lines are just Dick, it's his obsession with needing to be the most important person in Bruce's life.
A word in your ear from father to son
Funny, you don't hear a single word I say
But my letter to you will stay by your side
Through the years 'till the loneliness is gone
Sing if you will
But the air you breathe, I live to give you
Father to son, father to son
Father to Son by Queen
Only Bruce this time, which makes sense as it's Father to Son, so Bruce to Dick. It also fits that period of their life after Dick left, and the period just before, with Dick not listening to Bruce anymore, and Bruce letting messages to Dick in case he dies.
She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then, when I see her face
She takes me away to that special place
And if I stared too long, I'd probably break down and cry
She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I'd hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain
Her hair reminds me of a warm, safe place
Where, as a child, I'd hide
And pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by
Where do we go?
Where do we go now?
Where do we go?
Sweet child of mine
Sweet love of mine
Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Rose
I think I already talked before about this song being about Bruce and Dick, and I will repeat it. Of course, you need to change the pronouns for Dick, but you get it I hope. The bridge part ("Where do we go? Where do we go now?") is about the uncertainty about their relationship (at first) when Dick becomes an adult.
Live a life beyond the gate
Go the distance everywhere
Running wild and fight to choose your fate
One day, I'll be your hero
Burning fast, take my place in the world
One day, I'll win for you
Turning tears into dreams with my hand
One day
Wind of the night, my ancient sail
Wipe out the mist, let me rip off this veil
Waves seem like walls, facing the storm
Choose your own path, make it worth and return
It doesn't matter who you are
Be the hunter, not the prey
Look at the results achieved so far
I'll Be Your Hero by Rhapsody Of Fire
This one is also from Bruce's pov, even tho Dick wanting to be Bruce's hero one day also works. It's about Bruce raising Dick and wanting him to be great, knowing he will be great, and hoping he is good enough to protect Dick from his own pain and the world.
Sometimes, I get the feeling she's watching over me
And other times, I feel like I should go
And through it all, the rise and fall, the bodies in the streets
And when you're gone, we want you all to know
We'll carry on, we'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone, believe me
Your memory will carry on, we'll carry on
And in my heart, I can't contain it
The anthem won't explain it
Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance
This whole song is the Batfam anthem to me. It's about how Bruce started this crusade, how he turned his pain and misery in a mission, and even after he's gone, after he dies, what he believes in will live on through the Batfam, because they refuse to give up and step down, whatever others say. But the two first lines here are, to me, from Dick. "She" is either Gotham or Death (Death is feminine in French), and Dick has this desire to leave Gotham behind many times in the comics. He cannot stay in Gotham, so with Bruce gone, he would struggle with that desire to leave and his desire to honor Bruce and watch over Gotham.
I couldn't help myself, I had to come through
I don't understand why I love you
I guess I'm still lying
I shouldn't stop myself from starting all new
I can't keep running to your rescue
I guess you'll keep dying
Evermore now
You know that I won't let you down
Before the fall
You know that I won't let you run
Before you crawl
Anime Intro by Public Theater
Finally, Dick about Bruce again, especially during the earlier Timbin years, with Dick coming to Gotham to check on Bruce and get mad. "I don't understand why I love you. I guess I'm still lying" is, of course, Dick lying to himself about how he feels about Bruce, denying that this is his father. "I guess you'll keep dying" is about the many times Bruce is believed to be dead, and "dies" in front of Dick, like in Knightfall and Gotham Knight.
Are my explanations good? Not really. But I hope y'all still get what I'm saying.
Anyway, this ending doesn't make sense for me for their characters. We know that Bruce has celebrated Alfred on Father's Day multiple times, but Alfred only voiced seeing Bruce as his son, seeing his role at Bruce's side the role of a father, when Bruce was "dead". Bruce only dares to call Alfred his father for the first time to the man in his message to him if he died, showcasing a fear of being rejected. My problem is simple: there is too much communication going on here for Alfred "I'm quitting if you keep putting yourself in danger" Pennyworth.
He is a cutie patootie. Apologizing because he is distracted AND he is distracted because he is thinking about their dads being alone at the restaurant on Father's day, because that worse than them being in a trap for him.
I have so much to say about Alfred putting a tracker in 8 years old Bruce.
First, I don't know if it's the case in this continuity, but Bruce, when he was a child, went missing for a whole week trying to find the Court of Owls and if they were behind his parents' murder. Is this the event that led to Alfred putting a microchip in him? Because it would make Alfred a huge dick if he knew where Bruce was and wait a week before saving him.
Secondly, Bruce having a tracker means that when he went to travel the world on his own, Alfred knew exactly where he was, but never contacted him or anything. And I do understand why, he let Bruce some freedom, but also, I imagine it would be hard for Bruce to feel free with a tracker.
Thirdly, does Bruce know? When did he learned about it? I just mentioned his world tour, and I feel like he would have operated on himself to get it out if he knew, during that time.
Thirdly, I'm pissed. I'm pissed at DC and I'm pissed at the fans. Because DC is very much not portraying it as the awful thing it is (Alfred is painted as a loving father doing his best), when if it was Bruce doing it, they would. They literally have, as in the Titans show, Jason reveals to Dick that Bruce put a tracker in them (Jason knows but Dick doesn't, meaning he was not asked for his consent. Dick operates on himself with a knife in the bathroom to take out the tracker) For putting a tracker in Dick without his consent, Bruce is painted as a controlling asshole, because it is fucked up. But here, Alfred is given grace, which makes little sense because the batkids having trackers is acceptable because of who they are, vigilantes, but Bruce was a normal 8 years old. Rich and traumatized, but a normal child. Is it because it has become more and more popular for parents to put trackers on their children to "protect them"? (Weird behavior, btw) Or it is the continual sanism of DC toward Bruce, that he is "weird" so it's okay to treat him like this?
And the fans, they piss me off because I have seen most of them find it funny that Alfred put a tracker in 8 years old Bruce. "Lol, he's like a dog 😂" That's a child that you think it's funny to deshumanize, a traumatized grieving child. But if Bruce did it, it's another story. When the Titans show did it, they call Bruce an abusive parent immediately. Some fans have hc of Bruce putting trackers into the batkids without their consent, because Bruce is an controlling asshole to them. And some people have hc of the batfam having trackers because Bruce asked, with the whole explanation that they are vigilante, and Bruce isn't a bad person because he asked for their consent, and sometimes it's mutual (I have read a fic where Tim pushed for Bruce to get a tracker too because he didn't want to lose sight of where Bruce was ever again) What I'm saying is that, when fans come up with Bruce putting a tracker in his kids, they can easily see that it would be wrong for Bruce to do it without their consent, but the moment Alfred does the same to Bruce, who is not even a vigilante when he did it, it's funny and ok.
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Tell me more about booster and gender!! If you were adapting booster’s story what would you write?
You've come to me with this ask at the Worst Possible Time. I will not be referencing any panels. I am sick. I have work tomorrow. It's getting late and my beans haven't finished cooking. But I have to answer this ask right now though or I'll forget about it forever.
The short answer is that Booster Gold failed at one masculine archetype (football player) and then went on to fail at another masculine archetype (superhero). He tries to fulfil a masculine role by dating women (and all of relationships are treated like jokes). His story is one of trying and painfully failing to conform to the patriarchy, emphasising the ways that capitalism shapes the ways we understand what a "man" really is. See: his PR. His advertisements. His corporatization. See also, the way he insists on providing for his family (his need to be the Man Of The House) and how it ultimately loses him access to other forms of masculinity. It's a no-win situation.
And okay. His origin/solo is a condemnation of the way that young men are harmed by unattainable goals of the patriarchy. But then this character who is fundamentally averse to gender roles goes on to apparently experience a joyous status quo for the first time by hanging out with his male best friend (who also fails at many masculine gender roles, but plays it better than Booster does). And that relationship (and the found family attached to it) redirects his life until he finds more important purpose than adherence to superficial (gendered) roles...?
And like. That's basically his themes!!! His other themes include being so intensely sad about his best friend's death that he engages in some Orphean timeloop bullshit in the name of love. Which doesn't exactly offer fertile ground for heterosexual adaptations.
So if you want to adapt it as something heartfelt and sincere, you need to read some Judith Butler and start using the term "performance" at least once every sentence, and the entire goddamn story of Booster Gold will be a deconstruction of masculinity and a meditation on the healing power of found family and strong homosocial bonds. And NGL even if that kind of story wasn't actually explicitly queer? It breaks with gender norms strongly enough that a story like that is functionally queer by the standards of what mainstream Hollywood can stomach.
Most superhero tv shows and movies have a very specific (male) audience in mind, and a deconstruction of masculine hero archetypes is simply not something that I think they think would do well. Which is a shame because it would be a good story.
Alfred, why does Bruce cannot get anesthetic when he asks for it? If it pains you so much to see him suffer, why don't you let him have anesthetic, and not alcohol like a soldier on the front? Is this a way to teach him a lesson? Why do you drug him against his consent but when he asks for drugs, he cannot have them?
I also want to point out how he says "what I could to protect him" and not "everything I could to protect him" which, with the added confession after that it's never enough, feels like he knows he could have done more and he is confessing just that.
Again, I'm very harsh on him, I'll admit. This issue is meant to be glazing Alfred and Jonathan as Bruce and Clark's fathers, and I have an issue with that personally, because Alfred has done his fair share of fucked up things to Bruce (like paying people to beat him up, sending him to Arkham, ...) And this issue does add more fucked up thing (the microchip in Bruce since he is 8), but Alfred isn't criticized for it, it is just painted as the bats being strange and crazy (mind you, if it was Bruce, he would be destroyed by the narrative)
Just saw a post tagged "Bruce Wayne" that was calling him Dick's groomer and comparing him to Slade (a divorced man who groomed a girl younger than his children and had sex with her, which is rape as she was a minor) and Terry Long (a 30s college professor who married 19 years old Donna and made her do his paper for him, keeping her at home and from her friends). And if you cannot see how out of pocket this comparison is, how insulting it is, I cannot save you. Bruce is Dick's father, he is not a groomer in the text, and painting him as such is homophobic as it was literally the homophobic bs people said about him and Dick because a single man couldn't raise a child that he hasn't sire in their eyes.
Meanwhile, Oliver Queen seduced a 20 years old native woman, younger than one of his children and that he literally calls "kid" at times because he is twice her age, using the fact that she was going through a hard time because her lover was dying to make her fall in his bed. And then he had the audacity to ask to be comforted by Dinah for using this girl and breaking her (because she is mentally suffering greatly for having cheated on her dying lover). Where are the posts calling him a groomer? No, only post saying he is better than Batman, and even if he has flaws, he is more human and people forgave him because he apologized, which Bruce would never do (he has, many times)? Ok
Alfred is such casual clothing, teaching Bruce how to ride a bicycle, it is really giving "normal father", and it feels kind of ooc to me? But I may be too harsh. Maybe there was moments like this where Alfred let himself live and, for a moment, it really felt like him and Bruce were father and son, then he went back to his role. Also, he is calling Bruce his son.
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When Dick was younger, he used to check over the Grapples.
They checked over the gear a lot, it was one of the first things Bruce taught him, you always know your gear, you always check it over before its used. Such a little thing could be the thing between life and death.
But it didn't become a thing until later, when the designs got changed, when Dick taught Batman how to fly, when Bruce started really getting in on how to change, how to improve every single bit of it to make it better, stronger, faster, better.
Until Robin nearly looses Batman to a fall because one of the grapples was damaged and neither of them realized.
It was a quiet thing, but after that Dick was the one pulling them apart, making sure he knew how they worked, how to optimize them, knowing them inwards and outwards.
That was fine, he was good at it and together him and Bruce made leaps and bounds with them.
The issue started when Dick started to check over the grapples. He'd grab them all, pull them apart to check their internals, put them back together, test shoot, test again, place it down, pick it up, pull it apart, put it back together, test shoot, place it down- over and over and over and over again.
Every time something happened, when one of them went down, when one of them fell, when a grapple was slashed or broke or was stolen, it would get worse. As time passed he started doing it any time he was stressed or anxious, like a coping mechanism that was just making it worse but was easy to fall into because of the repetitive nature.
At first he said he just wanted to make sure, then because he said it was methodical, relaxing even. But the truth was it was like a compulsion, a spiral of "Am I sure that was working or did I not look close enough? Did I put it back together wrong? Did I test the same one twice and miss the third one? Did I-" over and over and-
Once, Bruce came home after a Justice League Mission and realized Dick hadn't gone to an afterschool thing and instead had gotten trapped in this feedback loop of panic while going over the grapples, even to his socially inept self, it was clearly a lot more then Dick was saying.
Alfred and Bruce got pretty good at working Dick around the issue or distracting him so it broke the trap he got stuck in, and by the time years passed and he left and Jason came around, Dick didn't seek it out as much, and got way better at stopping, trusting himself. It happens occasionally but its rare and usually isn't as bad as it used to be.
Nobody else in the family was around, nor was it ever explained but every single one of them have had a moment like realizing Alfred saying with a more blank face then usual that " Master Richard is taking innovatory of the Grapples" elicits such a startled and almost panicked reaction in Bruce.
I'm reading this zoom on Gotham as Bruce thinking about sacrificing Gotham, which equal to sacrificing himself. Gotham matters so much to Bruce, so it may seems impossible that he would sacrifice her and her people for the world, but someone like Bruce realize that one city is not more valuable than the rest of the world. I also believes that, after sacrificing Gotham, he would kill himself, to die with her. So, he is thinking about sacrificing himself.
