coat ca. 1970 via The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
I think the major reason why so many depictions of Batman rub me the wrong way is because, imo, the major character trait of Bruce shouldn’t be his anger or his darkness or his inability to move on from the death of his parents or whatever. It should be his empathy. His compassion. Those are his major flaws. No, seriously. They’re the reason why everything keeps going wrong in his life.
Because he can’t seem to delegate and prioritize? He has that sort of wide-ranging empathy that covers everyone, and it leaves no room for the people closest to him in his life. He cares, and that’s the issue, because he cares too damn much and it’s spread so thin that it goes right back to making him look cold and emotionless and detached. There’s no way he can save everyone, to be what every single person needs, but he tries anyway. And he can’t stop doing what he does because there’s always something going on, and he doesn’t have time to take care of himself or take care of those around him because that’s selfish! Because there’s always someone who needs him, someone who needs saving, and what right does he have to slow down? What right does he have to take a breather, to take a rest from The Mission when he can be out there making a difference?
And that’s probably the reason why so many people keep flocking to him, especially those in vulnerable positions like orphaned kids, because they see it. They see his kindness, his compassion, his genuine desire to help, and they know that it’s real. They know, because Bruce takes the effort to show them. Because Bruce is great at being kind to strangers! We’ve seen it demonstrated over and over again in every piece of media he appears in. He’s great at winning people over, great at getting them on his side, but it soon becomes apparent that they’re not his priority? And it’s okay when they don’t really know each other, but then he becomes a friend, a father, and he still doesn’t make time in his day for them. Still doesn’t hold them in higher standing than the rest of the world, because he can’t prioritize the people he likes. What right does he have to choose?
I just… I can’t see Bruce as being inherently selfish. I can’t see him being cold and unemotional when he wakes up every day (or night) and keeps fighting for a city that doesn’t seem to want to get better. That doesn’t scream logic to me? That screams of someone who feels deeply and intensely, who values hope against all else. Even if he’s pragmatic and pessimistic and a bit (a lot) of a mood-killer, there has to be faith holding him up.
And yk… emotional doesn’t mean he’s good at showing them. Doesn’t mean he knows how to show them. Bruce seems to have that neurodivergent and/or PTSD thing where the stronger, more intense his feelings are, the harder it is for him to actually show them. Maybe because he’s scared, or maybe they just paralyze him, whatever. So you’ve got this odd dichotomy where he can comfort strangers, he can make little kids smile both in and out of costume, but the closer you get to him the more he seems to withdraw from you. Because he feels too much. Because the words get jumbled in his head, and they don’t come out right, or heck, they just sort of… stop, somewhere, or maybe they just don’t even form. We’ve got so many examples of him saying the right thing to strangers, to acquaintances he only knows the name and face of, and so many examples of him phenomenally fucking up when it comes to his kids or anyone that he loves.
I have made you a chart. A very simple chart.
People say "You have to draw the line somewhere, and Biden has crossed it-" and my response is "Trump has crossed way more lines than Biden".
These categories are based off of actual policy enacted by both of these men while they were in office.
If the ONLY LINE YOU CARE ABOUT is line 12, you have an incredible amount of privilege, AND YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT PALESTINIANS. You obviously have nothing to fear from a Trump presidency, and you do not give a fuck if a ceasefire actually occurs. You are obviously fine if your queer, disabled, and marginalized loved ones are hurt. You clearly don't care about the status of American democracy, which Trump has openly stated he plans to destroy on day 1 he is in office.
this was my ask! :D :D :D your post about potential metas (and also your lovely dick grayson timeline) was one of the things that inspired me to dig up my old tumblr and finally start using it (the other being my need to rant about dick grayson and circus). i don’t really have anything to add other than i miss this dynamic and i have definitely been ignoring the modern stuff and reading 90s comics. and just ugh! siblings! family!
the dick and tim meta was not long (ok, it was but it was great) and you should definitely talk about their relationship! (if you feel like it) (i just want dc to let them be brothers again i miss it) (this is the void again btw, that's who i am now i guess 😂)
GOD i got this lovely ask way too long ago to have not responded yet, but I was trying to sort out if I had a well thought out meta for you. I don’t. I just wanna give a very unordered ramble.
Dick and Tim were really the first close sibling bond either of them had. Dick of course had Jason as a brother first, but at the time Jason was Robin, Dick was off being a predominantly Titans character in New York, and not vibing with Bruce, so even though they got along they weren’t close.
But Dick and Tim!! True sibs. The best boys.
Here is Dick calling Tim his little brother long before they’d become actual adoptive siblings [Secret Origins 80-Page Giant]. I love one (1) man.
Dick had his own life going on outside of Gotham, but he still became Tim’s mentor almost as much as Bruce, and his confidant far more. The number of times Tim and Dick hung out and Tim got big brother advice is...so many.
[Robin #61]
And they were Batman and Robin together the first time Dick donned the cowl, where they worked together perfectly and also had a fun time doing it. Plus, Dick lived in the Manor and made Tim learn household tasks
[Robin #12]
And also!! I get emotional! About them being so connected so early on!! Tim’s introduction was all about Dick, not about Bruce. His backstory was from Dick’s, and the first person he sought out in his introductory storyline was Dick, before he met Bruce at all.
Tim got a hug from a kid at the circus when he was a tiny tim and then saw that kid’s parents die, and that set the whole course of his life. He remembered details of that for yeeeears and it’s what led him to figure out Batman’s identity.
Obvs Dick’s backstory is defined by losing his parents, and so they both come from this same event which completely changed them in different ways, and then led them back together and I :’)
Dick genuinely means so much to Tim. That’s his idol, the Robin he looked up to, the kid he attached to so thoroughly, and then his older brother and mentor and confidant and partner. And Tim is Dick’s little-brother-by-choice, the first one he mentored to be Robin, worked with as Batman, could and would beat a clown to death to protect.
And then for like 15 years Dick and Tim were this tight trio along with Bruce (Babs and Steph having their own families, Cass being as much under Babs’s mentorship as Bruce’s, Jason being dead, and Damian not existing yet) and closet not-but-basically siblings, and great, and I love them.
[Gotham Knights #8]
In conclusion, current DC should stop sleeping on them and also everyone should read comics from the 90s which was the best batfam era, the end.
Wearing hanfu. The half-shouldered style resembles what would've been worn for ease of archery and the like during the Tang Dynasty
The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent’s King by placing it under threat of capture which cannot be avoided.
I’m kinda curious what this is referring to, because I haven’t seen any Really Bad Circus Takes recently (which obviously doesn’t mean they don’t exist, just that I haven’t seen them on my dashboard) and I’m just super nosy.
(totally understand if you don’t want to reblog the specific post or anything though. like i said, just curious!)
People in this fandom have no fucking clue about circus life and the culture surrounding it. And it shows
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