Anonymous said: what did Bruce do on Tim's birthday???

@gothamsiren4: i’m afraid to ask what happened but what happened

I would have just included screenshots of the other ask + reply but I need the image space for panels . tumblr and this stupid image limit is going to kill me

ALRIGHT LETS GO OVER ROBIN #116-120!

So, Tim just had a whole adventure from #112-#115 where he was out of town undercover (it was a WILD time. there was a giant monster, this random guy Stephen that could let Tim walk with him through the woods really fast, Tim accidentally wore a mullet wig nearly the whole time- chaos, truly) and when he gets back to Gotham he is fucking exhausted and his sense of time is all sorts of screwed up- something Dana notices as soon as he gets home, when he doesn't recognize an important date coming up that week.

(Robin #116)

So Dana calls up Steph & Ives to come help celebrate, and they all give Tim a particularly surprising surprise party- because he forgot his own birthday! Things are going great until the end of opening presents- where Cole (the guy who works the elevator in their building) has joined the party and it's revealed a mysterious box was left for Tim earlier and they have no idea who it's from.

This makes Tim's Robin anxiety kick into high gear, leaving him paranoid basically the rest of the night

(Robin #116)

Later after the festivities, Tim brings the box to Bruce to start examining it, and Bruce ya know forgot Tim's birthday (Alfred didn't though <3)

(Robin #116)

They do some analysis, follow some leads, and narrow down the guy that delivered it at least. But ultimately they don't get very far before the box… activates, while Tim is alone away from Bruce. It shows a hologram message apparently from a dystopian future Alfred (from the year... 2012... for reference, this issue was written in 2003) who says that in his time period someone in the Bat Family is going to go bad and cause the bad future- and that Tim needs to stop them in present day before it’s too late. But the message is disrupted by Future!Alfred getting shot and killed with some laser thing before he can say who it was, right in front of Tim.

(Robin #117)

Which... well all of this is a lot on Tim's mind. He's torn between 'is it fake or real' and ultimately doesn't tell Bruce about what happened, instead deciding to try to handle this on his own. He at first thinks okay- it's gotta be fake, but who is trying to manipulate me with this and what are they trying to get me to do. He thinks someone is tailing him, and his prime suspect is Jaeger: a guy he'd gone up against a few times previously when dealing with monsters (Man-Bats and Charaxes). He runs into Dick (bc he wanted to wish Tim a happy belated birthday) who helps out- they stage a very convincing (they are ridiculous) fake fight to try to fool anyone potentially trailing Tim, this way Dick could then follow at a distance to observe and see if someone really was following him.

Ultimately though, nobody was tailing him, but Tim keeps investigating the Jaegar idea until eventually finding out he's actually in jail, so clearly not involved in this. When Tim gets home he's got an urgent message from Bruce, about some crazy new high-tech interrogation methods he used on the guy they tracked down, Yak, that had delivered the box to Tim's house and apparently unknowingly made it under a kind of hypnotic state.

(Robin #118)

And the voice from these recordings Bruce was able to get from Yak's mind, that gave him commands for building the box and delivering it? That's a voice Tim recognizes alright- it's the voice of the future Alfred! So now Tim is distressed because the hologram of future Alfred being real and him needing to stop a teammate going bad to prevent a bad future... is suddenly the most plausible scenario, and the only lead he's got.

Tim tries to go hook Yak back up to Bruce's new machine himself, to see if maybe the name that future Alfred got cut off from saying was somewhere hidden in his mind, but Yak had escaped his holding cell and in the ensuing fight he breaks the machine, so Tim can't use it. Instead he's stuck, forced to be paranoid about his friends- investigating them to see who could be the person that goes bad.

(However we do get a slight detour from the main plot to check in on some stuff with Steph- who'd been lying to Tim for the last few issues. Since finding out her dad died, rather than going home and facing her mom like she promised she would in Robin #111, she'd been renting a room on her own. Tim helps do some mediation with Steph and Crystal, so that she can feel comfortable going home again. Then that night he resumes investigation)

He trails Cass first (remember, this is 2003. She’s still like the newest Batfam member and the two of them aren't that close yet), but comes to no conclusions. He theorizes possible scenarios for how it could be Dick, then Babs, and we find out he spends about 10 days straight trailing basically all his Gotham allies trying to figure out who it could be.

He forms a plan to try to test his allies, by writing up a whole planned manifesto of the sort of ideals that led to the bad future according to that future Alfred, with the idea of showing/explaining it to each one and gauging their reaction (thinking that someone who didn't react extremely negatively could be the person who goes bad). However before trying this method out on anyone, he gets paranoid that maybe him doing this is the thing that plants the seed in someone's mind- and freaks out a bit... before-- WHAT?!

Future Alfred comes back- not just a hologram this time! A real physical person! He explains that more things happened in the future- yes Tim saw him die its okay they were able to fix it- but ultimately Tim starts noticing holes in his story, for example his robot arm suddenly being on a different hand than last time.

(Robin #120)

Tim rips off this guy's mask and it's- PRESENT DAY ALFRED?

(Robin #120)

The "Have a drink, sir. I don't care what your birthdate says-- after tonight, you are of age." as Alfred pulls out a flask fucking killed me the first time I read this, it's such a funny line in the middle of this tense mess.

But yeah, it's revealed this was all Bruce's doing. Tim calls it a trick, Bruce calls it training. The entire situation was basically a test of Tim's abilities, to take him to the "next level" and Bruce is overall pleased with how he did... despite then going on to point out some of the flaws in how Tim handled the situation.

(Robin #120)

"I mean really, time travel?" is infuriating. Bruce. You know damn well time travel has happened in this universe.

Timmy is, understandably, fucking pissed.

(Robin #120)

This is one of the not-too-common instances of Tim swearing (like, in a way that needs to be censored. That's what's rare for him, he uses 'damn' and 'hell' regularly like most teen characters). He kinda quits- and very seriously contemplates doing so for real because this whole thing seriously fucked with his head... but after venting to Steph about it, he ultimately decides to go back to Bruce.

But it uh... doesn't get... resolved. Bruce does not apologize. Tim doesn't ask him to. The story just... ends. The ending feels extremely rushed imo. This was the last issue of Lewis' run though (Willingham's run starts the next issue) so idk maybe he thought he'd have more time to spend on the aftermath and that just didn't happen, I don't really know how that transition between writers went since ya know it was 18 years ago.

But yes, anyways, while a lot of these events happen after the actual day, this all started with Bruce having the box delivered to Tim on his 16th birthday.

Summary

Supernatural ran for 15 seasons. It was centered around the brothers Dean and Sam Winchester, played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. Castiel, played by Misha Collins, was introduced in season 4 and immediately became a fan favorite.

Destiel, the ship between Dean and Castiel, took off in the fandom, and many fans claimed that this ship was intended to be part of the canon, including eventual endgame for Dean and Castiel. Several prominent grifters pushed this belief to the point that many Destiel fans were utterly destroyed by the finale season, in which Castiel sacrifices himself for Dean while confessing his love. Dean dies in a routine hunt, with tearful goodbyes and expressions of brotherly love, and ends up in heaven, where he drives until Sam arrives. Castiel does not appear on-screen after his sacrifice; in Heaven, he is mentioned by Bobby as having helped Jack fix Heaven.

Many Destiel/Castiel fans had been convinced that Castiel would be part of the finale and Dean’s endgame. According to the conspiracy theories, this intended plan of endgame Destiel was thwarted by executives at the CW and WB, but was always intended, and absolutely would have become canon if not for executive interference.

To understand the full picture behind these conspiracies and the connection between the CW and WB, the companies being accused need to be defined. Based on Wikipedia, the CW network is defined as “...an American English-language free-to-air television network that is operated by The CW Network, LLC, a limited liability joint venture between the CBS Entertainment Group unit of ViacomCBS; and the Studios and Networks division of AT&T's WarnerMedia, the parent company of Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB. The network's name is an abbreviation derived from the first letters of the names of its two parent corporations (CBS and WarnerMedia).” [source]

The actual WB television network shut down its operations in 2006 and merged with the CBS corporation to form the CW like described above. So when people today mention the WB in difference to the CW they actually mean WarnerMedia. Wikipedia explains that WarnerMedia “... is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by AT&T and headquartered in New York City, United States. It was originally formed in 1990 by Steve Ross and formerly known as Time Warner from 1990 to 2001 and 2003 to 2018, from the merger of Time Inc. and the original Warner Communications. The company has film, television and cable operations, with its assets including WarnerMedia Studios & Networks (consisting of the entertainment assets of Turner Broadcasting, HBO, and Cinemax as well as Warner Bros., which itself consists of the film, animation, television studios and the company's home entertainment division, DC Comics, New Line Cinema, and, together with ViacomCBS, a 50% interest in The CW television network); WarnerMedia News & Sports (consisting of the news and sports assets of Turner Broadcasting, as well as AT&T SportsNet); WarnerMedia Sales & Distribution (consisting of digital analytics company Xandr and Otter Media); and WarnerMedia Direct (consisting of the HBO Max streaming service).” [source]

The last company involved with the CW but rarely named in these conversations is ViacomCBS. This company is depicted as, “an American diversified multinational mass media conglomerate formed through the merger of the second incarnation of CBS Corporation and the second incarnation of Viacom on December 4, 2019, which were split from the first incarnation of Viacom in 2006. Headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, the company operates over 170 networks and reaches approximately 700 million subscribers in approximately 160 countries, as of 2020.” [source]

This theory that the executives and powers-that-be employed under the CW or WB or even CBS interfered with Dean and Castiel’s romantic and sexual canonicity plans that the writers intended is not supported by the evidence. There is a very long history of open discussions by the cast, crew, and executives of and behind Supernatural that document that the overwhelming majority of them never intended, perceived or wrote Dean to be bisexual, nor in love with Castiel.

At the same time, it is also clear that certain writers and cast members did support the ship, just not enough and not those in enough power to make a difference for endgame. Some of us working on this document are Destiel shippers who did see the possibility of it existing in canon. We just want to make clear where the credit and blame belong.

Throughout the series, the showrunners, crew, and many members of the cast have been clear that no romantic relationship would be a main focus for the show. Fans of Destiel thought it might possibly be an exception to this rule.

The concept of Destiel arose in fandom with striking popularity, even though Castiel was continuously described in text and by the cast and crew, when speaking seriously about the character, as a brother. Early interviews with Misha and the crew make it clear that the concept arose in fandom and was a surprise to those who worked on the show, much like Wincest before it. And even as the ship grew in popularity among the SPN fandom, the executives, showrunners, and Jensen himself continued to firmly counter rumors that the ship would become canon as late as 2019. Misha is a notable outlier here, often making Destiel jokes at conventions and talking about the ship in more positive terms.

Misha has said that he did not play Castiel as being romantically in love with Dean until Season 15. When Castiel eventually confessed his love to Dean in 15.18, Dean’s answer was left ambiguous; multiple sources have said the answer would’ve been ‘no’. Misha has confirmed that Castiel didn’t believe that Dean reciprocated.

In other words, Castiel’s romantic interest in Dean was something that was added in at the end of the show, rather than something planned from season one or season four and then taken out. On top of that, while Misha considers the confession romantic, many of those involved in the production of Supernatural considered the confession platonic or intentionally ambiguous. Jensen has said that the confession was like art, where the creators didn’t want to define what was on the screen, preferring to have the audience decide for themselves.

What is also true is, given documents presented to the Fandom (de)Bunker, that the Warner Brothers Studios’, a major film-making facility owned and run by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (a subsidiary of WarnerMedia), marketing department conducted marketing research in 2016 into why fans perceived a romantic relationship between Dean and Castiel. However, the intended purpose behind this research is unknown, nor is there any evidence that any policies were enacted or cancelled because of the research.

For this blog, we have not included the following:

Scripted or ad-libbed on-screen references to boyfriends, lovers or husbands, because these kinds of jokes have been wielded equally at Sam and Dean as at Dean and Castiel, often by the same person. Since the cast and crew have also stated definitively that there is no intended romantic relationship between the brothers, these jokes clearly are not intending to signify anything.

Remarks indicating an unwillingness to talk about Destiel or Dean’s sexuality that convey no further information.

Joking kisses, blowjob jokes, or declarations of love in the gag reels, as they occur between multiple members of the cast, are included as the gag reels as jokes - indeed, the entire purpose of the gag reels - and are obviously not meant to convey any hidden, non-humorous meaning.

“Likes” on shipping tweets or follows of specific fans on Twitter/Instagram, because a cast or crew member’s support of a fan’s enjoyment or theory does not equal proof of authorial or show intent.

Finally, this blog is sort of a living document and will be edited, revised and expanded to reflect new or corrected information. Wherever possible, we have transcribed and double-checked the transcription of videos (barring unintelligible audio) to include the full response to a question to provide full context. If a transcription is wrong or if a better recording is available, we will correct it as soon as possible. Please let us know if you notice any errors!

#1: glVertex2f

glVertex2f(-50, -50); glVertex2f(0, -50); glVertex2f(0, 0); glVertex2f(-50, 0);

#2: glVertex3f

glVertex3f(-50, -50, 0); glVertex3f(0, -50, 0); glVertex3f(0, 0, 0); glVertex3f(-50, 0, 0);

The two source codes produce the same vertices.