You know I love how so many people are like “respect boundaries respect consent” until it’s time to respect people w OCD who can’t shake hands or be touched or when an autistic person tells their family member they can’t give hugs or when a chronically ill person tells you “no I can’t do this thing” and you think “maybe if I just make them do it anyway it’ll make them stronger” or when a mentally ill person or someone who has been abused is like “I don’t want to be around this person/thing it’s triggering” and you get people guilting them to “just get over it”
If you’re about consent and boundaries, good, you should be, but remember to keep that energy when moms of autistic kids are like “I still hug my child even tho it makes them have panic attacks” or when someone’s like “yeah they said they don’t want to be around this person cause it’s “triggering” but I’m their friend so they should do it for me” or when a disabled person says they can’t go up the stairs and you’re begging them to “try anyway”
Don’t lose that mindset, or that energy when it’s time to respect the boundaries or consent of mentally ill and disabled people.
NOT gonna say this again!! A CYBORG is something PARTIALLY ROBOTIC. An ANDROID is something that is FULLY ROBOTIC, MADE TO LOOK HUMAN. A ROBOT is FULLY ROBOTIC and NOT DESIGNED TO LOOK HUMAN!!
In Bruce’s defense, anyone who blames him for putting his children in the line of fire does not like…get his children.
Bruce adopting and training these kids is absolutely the only thing standing between them and even EARLIER deaths than the ones in canon that they all basically just…refuse to let stick.
Like, these are six incredibly determined little dumbasses.
Dick Grayson: breaks out of juvie and runs around rooftops tracking down the mob boss that ordered his parents killed in order to ruthlessly avenge them when he’s EIGHT.
Jason Todd: at age twelve, is caught stealing the tires off the goddamn BATMOBILE and upon being caught, his first instinct is NOT flight, its HIT THE GODDAMN BATMAN WITH HIS TIRE IRON.
Tim Drake: as early as age ten, spends his free time running around Gotham’s rooftops and back alleys stalking Batman and Robin with his clunky camera and absolutely no prior experience or training in either acrobatics or surviving Gotham’s back alleys.
Cassandra Cain: Upon learning Lady Shiva is her mother, ignores Batman yelling CASSANDRA NO and tracks down the most lethal and feared woman on the planet and bullies her into training her further, with Shiva going okay but then we gotta battle to the death and Cassandra going sure, makes sense, when do we start.
Damian Wayne: Early in life, is ordered to hunt and fight a bunch of dragon-type creatures. Adopts one as his pet. Finally meets his father, who does not trust him. Steals the Batmobile. Is fired from Robin and forbidden to leave the Manor for his protection while there’s a hit on his life. Calls himself Redbird and resumes Robin duties, citing that he was only forbidden from leaving as ROBIN, specifically. Is sent home during an attack on the city by a zombie army. Turns around and wades into the zombie army on his own. Etc, etc.
Duke Thomas: At age ten, the Riddler shuts down all the power in Gotham and says he’ll only restore it if bested with a riddle. Duke hears this and decides, this is a job for…Duke Thomas. Around age fifteen, he’s put in the foster system after his parents are affected by the Joker’s mind-altering gas during an attack, hears that some of the Joker’s victims have been found wandering around the sewer system that’s noted for being home to like….a cannibalistic crocodile villain, among other things, thinks well, guess I gotta go personally cover every inch of Gotham’s sewers on my own, by foot. Accidentally stumbles across a plot to bomb all of Gotham and decides, this is a job for…Duke Thomas. Etc, etc.
In summation, the Batkids’ shared family trait is Absolute Dumbassery and a Willful Disregard for Self-Preservation, and no, they do not accept constructive criticism. Bruce’s training them all as his partners was 40% fatalism, 60% Hail Mary.
He actually tried getting Dick to choose colors for his costume that would actually blend into the shadows, and eight year old Dick went nah, I’m gonna stick with bright red, yellow and green, thanks though.
He actually tried teaching Jason Todd how to prioritize speed and evasion against bigger opponents, and 5′4″ Jason Todd went nah, I’m just gonna punch ‘em, thanks though.
He actually tried sending Tim home when Tim first showed up, and Tim went nah, I’m just not gonna do that, thanks though.
He actually tried getting Cassandra to be more careful and selective about inserting herself into every single dangerous situation she came across, and Cass went, sorry, lost my phone when I weaponized it against the bad guys and also I’m in Hong Kong right now about to face off with my killer mom, see ya when I get back, bye.
He actually tried benching Damian repeatedly, and Damian went, LOL. No.
He actually tried stressing to Duke the importance of leaving dangerous situations to the professionals, and Duke kept showing up at every dangerous situation in Gotham and being like oh hey, so weird we keep running into each other.
Every time another adult hero clucks at Bruce disapprovingly and says he really should’ve kept his kids out of the hero life, Bruce’s eye twitches and he grinds out: “Oh gee. If only I’d thought of that.”
Can you just imagine one day, everyone is in the batcave and they’re all ganging up on Bruce for bringing them into this life and he just snaps.
He goes on a 2 hour rant about how they practically forced themselves into this bullshit even though he told them to stop it multiple times so he decided the best thing was too teach them how to fight properly.
And they’re all just sitting there shamefully and all feel guilty, cause honestly? Bruce deserves an award for putting up with their bullshit for so long and not exploding earlier.
Fck YES
Nooooope. Okay, sorry, but though I’ve mostly let this post be since I created it, I gotta hop back in here to express something very clearly:
Things do not have to be all or nothing, and they SHOULDN’T be.
I’m not in favor of people giving Bruce shit for bringing the kids into the life or whatever, because that’s mostly a fanon invention that ignores the fact that suspension of disbelief is REQUIRED for the idea of child vigilantes in general. The idea of Robin, Batgirl and the various other teen heroes is one of youth empowerment, a power fantasy for young readers to see themselves saving the world rather than being reliant on others protecting them, especially if these readers feel unprotected and powerless in their own lives.
You don’t see the kids ganging up on Bruce for making them teen heroes in canon, because like I said, he didn’t really, that’s not how things went, and also - that defeats the purpose of there even BEING teen heroes in the first place in the DC universe, so its not remotely productive for the canon writers to make that case or take that stance.
So, we really only see the viewpoint (outside of the occasional Jason story, but he probably has the best case for taking this stance) of the kids ‘blaming’ Bruce for their lives as vigilantes and superheroes, in fanon and fanfics, from authors taking the child endangerment angle. And that’s what I wrote this post to push back against, because while you can certainly take that angle, its kinda pointless IMO as it renders the entire premise of the Batfamily and its subsequent suspension of disbelief like….null and void. What I mean there is like, if your stance is that teen vigilantes are never going to be anything other than child endangerment and you’re not looking to engage with the material on any level but one which treats that as such…..why would you really even be engaging with the Batfamily as a concept to begin with, y’know? Its a bit counter-intuitive.
THAT SAID.
As I expressed above, I’m all for pushing back against the “Bruce made them do it” or “they never really had a choice in the matter” takes as being counter-productive if nothing else. But that DOES NOT automatically equate to “they made BRUCE do it” or “BRUCE never really had a choice in the matter.”
Because just…no. I’m sorry, but no.
The purpose of this post was to express that making the basic premise of them as teen vigilantes a subject of blame for someone, ANYONE, is against the very spirit of the franchise.
It was not intended to enable making the father figure the victim of the children HE took responsibility for of his own volition.
Because that thing where people try and look at the grown man, billionaire, established hero, expert in a billion things, and make him the poor woobified victim of the various orphaned traumatized children he volunteers to be responsible for, WHATEVER that entails (because thats literally what you sign up for when you VOLUNTEER to be someone’s parent, WHATEVER comes with it, you don’t get to pick and choose selectively at your convenience)….nope, nope, a thousand times nope.
That is JUST as damaging a mindset, if not more, and sorry to be so firm on this, but I just really object to my own content being misinterpreted or reframed to function as Exhibit A for why Bruce is the victim of his children - especially when there remains a repeated and willful failure to critically engage with the already existing canon stories where BEYOND just enabling their careers as teen heroes/vigilantes, Bruce is written conducting himself with his children in manners that are at times outright abusive.
You don’t have to engage with those stories or those takes on him, by any means, but the answer to not being happy with them is not to invert things in a way that defies not just canon, but credulity as well.
Because again, I’m not at all in favor of the take that Bruce FORCED this life on his kids instead of helping them with what they were always going to choose anyway, as expressions of wish fulfillment for young readers who want proxies to explore stories where the kids can more than defend themselves.
But when you try and shift things the other way entirely, and make it the kids INFLICTING themselves and their desires to be teen heroes and vigilantes on a reluctant or outright unwilling Bruce….then you’re getting into a different kind of wish fulfillment entirely, and this being one of zero accountability.
Because the second you try and make THAT case, or try and express that teen heroes is something that SOMEONE needs to accept ‘blame’ for and the choices are either Bruce or his kids….then you NEED to confront the reality that there is no choice or resource any of the Batkids ever had available to them that Bruce did not have MORE of.
If your take is that the kids absolutely should never have been allowed to become vigilantes, and someone needs to be held accountable for that, either Bruce or them…..then your take needs to account for why this absolutely uncontested genius billionaire with the world at his fingertips couldn’t find ANYTHING to deter them. It needs to account for why he couldn’t come up with anything they might want MORE than a lifetime in pursuit of vengeance, justice, or some combination thereof.
It needs to ask whether or not Bruce ever considered or actually tried GIVING UP being Batman himself, in order to meet his kids fully on the level he wanted for them, one where they didn’t risk themselves every night, instead of bringing them to match up with his level as a vigilante. If not something he ever considered or tried, it needs to ask why it was fair for him to expect these kids that by his own words he definitively related to and sympathized with, to sit at home every night knowing he - their new family - was risking his life and the possibility he might not come home to them, and take this any more gracefully than he took the idea of THEM risking their lives and the possibility of not coming home to him. Yes, he’s the parent and they the children, and that’s all that’s definitively needed to make a case for HOW he could insist on having it be one way for them while he behaves to the contrary - do as I say, not as I do - but it neglects and overrides the reality that expecting traumatized kids who have already lost their families once to just make their peace with doing as he says while he does otherwise, is like…..not really a superior option.
Anyway, sorry to come down so heavy-handed here, but like, by all means point to this post as reasons why “Bruce inflicted this lifestyle on them” is a Fail on the Good Takes scale.
But please do not take it to the opposite extreme and try and use it to argue the case that Bruce’s kids inflicted themselves in this lifestyle on HIM, despite his objections and any possible alternatives he could come up with, because no.
Bruce is not the powerless one in this scenario, and there is NO scenario in which he EVER has LESS power and choices than the traumatized orphans he takes in as kids. And it is extremely concerning when people try and paint the power dynamics as such, because….and I can not POSSIBLY stress this enough:
At the end of the day, Bruce is their parent and they his children, and they are that way by HIS CHOICE first and foremost.
And no parent deserves an AWARD for ‘putting up with’ the bullshit of the children he volunteered to be responsible for.
ESPECIALLY when they had his willing - even if reluctant - participation and help with every step of the way.
i love that TMA introduced Gerry like “oh yeah hes suspected of skinning his mother. but he was acquitted i suppose” but it’s still super sketchy bc he’s very involved with a lot of statements, and then u eventually realize he’s possibly one of the kindest characters in the whole series?? like hes just a pretty cool dude?? he was still cracking dark jokes when he was dead and i love him so much
the fact that the coffin moans when it rains because it’s the sound of people in the buried crying out in defeat as they cascade deeper down into the earth with the flooding of water will haunt me forever
