#babs meta

That plus there are indications Babs and Jason knew each other even in the 80s stories. It was all offscreen because DC hated Babs and women so she wasn't being given any real stories and interactions with the others as Batgirl. Like "The Last Batgirl story" is actually all about how she's useless and irrelevant because Dick and Jason already are on the scene of crimes before she can even get there (indicating she knew the new Robin even if she wasn't shown directly interacting with him in that story.) Then the Killing Joke happened. The reason Jason and Babs weren't given screentime together is 100% down to misogyny, so why would you want to honor that?

But, yeah, even with all that, there are still significant signs in that era they had a relationship offscreen. She was one of the few people who attended Jason's funeral, and considering she'd just gotten shot in the spine, so recently that wouldn't be surprised if she was still hospitalized at the time, and with how much effort it must have taken to drag herself out to be there while dealing with all that, I would like to think it wasn't just to support Bruce but because she actually knew Jason and cared about him. It makes no sense that they wouldn't have known each other, like I'd think Jason would have at least wanted to give his condolences after the Killing Joke etc, she's a friend of the family and Jason was around for a year at the very very least while she was an active hero in Gotham.

All that plus the earliest retcon giving Jason and Babsgirl a story together was 1989, only a year after Jason died.

(Not to mention there are high chances any Red Hood fan swears by UTRH and that story has him explicitly call Babs a "friend" and include what happened to her as a reason why the Joker shouldn't be alive (valid of him). So I guess if you want to throw out a Jaybin and Babs friendship you have to throw out UTRH too, those are the rules I just made up)

Talking about stuff reminded me I've seen some Babs "sexualizes Cass" discourse and it's like, lets be clear, she does that under Dylan Horrocks and Dylan Horrocks only, which makes is more of a Horrocks issue rather than anything that says anything about Babs. If she never shows these characteristics under any other writer, it should not be seriously considered when talking about her character. I think blaming the character and failing to hold the writer accountable, especially when it comes to stuff with a misogynistic slant, is part of the problem. Horrocks sexualizes Cass a weird amount once he comes on, and it warps everyone around her in the process.

For example suddenly Babs Batgirl costume is extremely especially sexy or something (despite being a standard superhero costume no more skintight than the one Cass wears) and emphasizing how hot Cass is in it leads to a super OOC moment from Tim (who, under Dixon and Lewis as the main people who wrote him at the time, is not the type of person to tell a girl she's hot or openly drool or whatever. He doesn't even do that to his actual girlfriends. And I think he's smart enough to realize saying this to his girlfriend's bff 1. will probably not impress her and 2. is tempting Steph's wrath if it gets back to her, I cannot imagine being that stupid).

But I see no one deciding to bring that up over and over when discoursing about Tim and Cass's relationship, for some mysterious reason.

(To be clear, I do think this stuff is subconcious for Horrocks, he was disgusted by Steph's death and it was part of why he quit DC irl, he clearly did care about Cass as a character, he highlighted that Devin Grayson fought back against it too, so on. But this stuff can be so ingrained you don't notice it)

Honestly, the fact she didn't do fieldwork more as Oracle preboot as time went on is just down to ableism and easily fixable.

Babs' reaction to Cass and Steph officially joining the Batfam being "FINALLY WOMEN BESIDES ME IN THIS FUCKING BOYS CLUB" (love her <3) is so tragically funny when you remember Steph will be unceremoniously ejected in a few months and then just when we've finally returned to the Cass and Steph being back on the main team again, the new 52 will come along and Cass and Steph will be erased from existence so Babs is stuck being only woman on the core team for a long while.

Again, Damian was assigned a cat, Jason and Bruce wolves, and Helena a panther by the actual beast world comics thing…

but what about the rest of them… I must assign animals but will not allow robins or bats that's too easy.

Babs is obviously an owl, bird of prey, associations with intelligence and Athena, can see 360 degrees so they can ~watch from anywhere~

My immediate thought for Steph was a dog, not just bc disturbing way people tend to talk to her like one, but protectiveness, enthusiasm, vicious when provoked… but she needs to be a really stubborn dog… ooh. Ooh!!! Pitbull Stephanie Brown. Does not let go when she sinks her teeth in. I see it.

I also like Lion Steph. It’s the animal she’s been compared to in the comics (heart of a lion), lionesses do a lot of thankless work while the men don't do shit for them, protetctiveness...

I could see Cass as a cat, that would have been my immediate thought if Damian hadn't already taken it, there's even a really cute fic where she turns into a cat.. Catsandra Cain.

(Blackfooted Cat comes to mind, small and unthreatening looking but one of the deadliest and most successful hunters in the world. She could also have been a panther if Helena hadn't taken it already :()

But looking into things... ok, this is a weird choice, BUT...weasels are extremely agile and sneaky, can take down prey ten times their weight, do a funky dance to attack...dancing hunters...hmmmm...

Dick's a monkey. the teen titans 2003 cartoon was correct about this. Mischevious, intelligent, flexible and acrobatic, look out when they're mad, chatter a lot...

Tim I could see as a crow? Intelligent, extremely observant, and can even memorize human faces and follow people, has a network of allies...they're also symbiotic with wolves, so that could go with Bruce

(I was mentioning this to my partner and they were like "dangerous crow boy with Superboy" (I've mentioned Tim/Kon is a popular ship to them) but which animal is he" and I was like "oh Kon's a peacock for sure")

My partner said Alfred was a secretary bird and they're so right.

I'm having a hard time pinning down Kate (tempted to just choose a really goth animal but. Bats are off the table, I assigned Tim crows/ravens, cats and owls are taken...not too much left). Maybe a horse? Riding off to war, serving others, strong and fast...yeah, a war horse could work. Feel free to chime in with other suggestions.