kezahex

[kezahex]

Carol Ferris for another Twitter request!!

[kezahex]

"Jason was always vengeful and angry" he saved Harvey's life after learning he killed his father back when he was Robin. He had way more self control as a teenager than the grown ass man that adopted him.

The worst part about DC writers switching up Jaybin's personality is that it's so blatant that they've never picked up a book about him at all. This is a character defining moment, and it is NEVER brought up again.

[kezahex]

WIP Week (Work-In-Progress Week) Returns in June!

WIP Week is a week dedicated to updating fanfic or other types of fanworks.  All fandoms are welcome to participate.  Original works are also accepted.  Please tag your entries with the #wipweek or #wip week tag. Since multiple fandoms and ships are participating, please clearly list the fandoms, ships, and content warnings in the post so that they can be properly tagged for any potential readers.

The second WIP Week of 2025 will be held June 22-28. 

Each day will have a theme, but you do not have to post every day. You are also not obligated to follow these themes. You can work on one fic or fanwork for the entire week if you choose. If you’re not comfortable posting full updates but still want to participate in the week, you can post your daily word count and/or a small snippet from your work.

Here are the prompts for WIP Week:

June 22: Your Oldest WIP

June 23: Your Newest WIP

June 24: Your Most Popular WIP

June 25: A WIP Featuring Your OTP

June 26: Your Favorite WIP

June 27: Your Previously Unpublished WIP

June 28: Any WIP

You can post completed/updated fanworks to the official WIP Week AO3 Collection!

[kezahex]

I HATE YOU LOEB

I HATE YOU LOEB

I HATE YOU LOEB

ADTER THIS??? YOU WANT ME TO BELIEVE DICK WOULDNT BELIEVE JASON AFTER THIS???? FUCK YOU

[kezahex]

what gets me abt the whole talia manipulated jason against bruce trope is that

in issue 1 itself we get:-

talia telling jason that bruce misses him

(ignore ra's. he gets cranky)

and her telling jason that he was grieved

what's NOT CLICKING?

and lets tackle why she even kept jason from bruce for so many years.

a/ she had reliable info that bruces behaviour had turned erratic & he wouldnt be the caretaker jason needed then

b/ time & again she fought tooth & nail with ra's to keep jason & let him get better. & when she saw he would let jason be the way he was for the rest of his life she couldn't bear it. so she took him to the pits

and most of all

c/ love.

it could have started off as something selfish but talia's character is most defined by her compassion & ruthlessness. she cares too much to let things slide & will use whatever means necessary to achieve what/who she wants to protect/help

plus she's always vehemently, stubbornly believed in jason. she straight up threatened the doctor who dared suggest jason was not improving. she defied her father for him. she clearly said he was & i QUOTE a miracle. she says that he's & i quote MEANT for something. from the very start it was obvious. talia has a lot of love to give & jason needed a lot of love then. is it so selfish when they both needed each other?

not to mention jason kind of imprinting on her to the point where she's the only person he didn't consider a threat....... god. pls save me. im going to go crazy abt them. they're the only ones who believed in each other since the very start.

[kezahex]

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!!!!

mermay artwork for @kezahex

better the final day than late right? I wanted this to be really good becuase I was making it as a gift. Hope you enjoy!

[kezahex]

I headcanoned Dick as Rom from the early nineties. My Rom mother actively told me he was the best-written Rom character she had ever seen, and it was part of the reason she encouraged my love for comics.

anyone remember that time in nw 96 where dick's circus burned down and then his apartment and he was like homeless and then he got broken up with then raped. what was up with that

[kezahex]

WIP Week (Work-In-Progress Week) Returns in June!

WIP Week is a week dedicated to updating fanfic or other types of fanworks.  All fandoms are welcome to participate.  Original works are also accepted.  Please tag your entries with the #wipweek or #wip week tag. Since multiple fandoms and ships are participating, please clearly list the fandoms, ships, and content warnings in the post so that they can be properly tagged for any potential readers.

The second WIP Week of 2025 will be held June 22-28. 

Each day will have a theme, but you do not have to post every day. You are also not obligated to follow these themes. You can work on one fic or fanwork for the entire week if you choose. If you’re not comfortable posting full updates but still want to participate in the week, you can post your daily word count and/or a small snippet from your work.

Here are the prompts for WIP Week:

June 22: Your Oldest WIP

June 23: Your Newest WIP

June 24: Your Most Popular WIP

June 25: A WIP Featuring Your OTP

June 26: Your Favorite WIP

June 27: Your Previously Unpublished WIP

June 28: Any WIP

You can post completed/updated fanworks to the official WIP Week AO3 Collection!

[kezahex]

I think the way people villainize jason is so interesting considering that at his core jason embodies true empathy for victims of both violent and non-violent crime more than any of the bats.

Like you can't cut addicts off cold turkey, that only causes more harm. So he'll make sure your drugs are clean and you get clean needles. And when you wanna get clean he'll help. He'll kill your abuser, your rapist. Not JUST for you, because he will do it for you. But not only for you, but for anyone else that person could hurt.

Also ppl in fanon make it so that cass would hate him (and she probably might but not for what they think), but i think he'd despise her moral code just as much.

Her empathy for (1) singular individual has eroded her ability to empathize with any victim of any crime of any magnitude hereafter to ease her own sense of guilt.

Jason's entire moral code rides on doing whatever it takes to make sure that victims are safe and comfortable. Sometimes you aren't comfortable until the monster that stalks your nightmares is dead.

But they won't let him or other victims have that. They let people live in that nauseating perpetuity of "will they hurt me again?" And their only moral leg to stand on is that they don't kill. Like a prolonged death from extreme violence is any better.

I think cass would hate him for the moral dilemma he presents FOR HER. How does she grapple with the fact that the lives taken/hurt by the persons she CHOOSE to let live, is infinitely more than it would be if she killed like jason. (Didn't she break into a prison to free a serial child rapist on death row??? I cannot remember the exact comic but feel free to correct me)

Also people act like jason kills indiscriminantly, which he doesn't. We know he targets persons who target women, children, and people who enact sexual violence.

Idk i think the way people view jason moral code is a direct reflection of how they see real victims of crime and bad circumstances. They're quick to say violence isn't the answer but sometimes it's the only option between life and death. And its not wrong to want to live

- 🪼

!!!!

You can tell that some people have no fucking clue what harm reduction is based on the way they talk about Jason. Like “he was a crime lord he dealt drugs!!” BUDDY HIS ENTRANCE ONTO THE SCENE WAS “DON’T DEAL TO KIDS”

There’s something to be said about Jason doing anything to make a victim comfortable vs Cass doing anything to prevent death

I do find it interesting that people are always like “Cass should hate Jason” but never addressed the fact that Jason would hate her right back.

Aoughhhhh something about Cass only viewing herself as a murderer and Jason being a victim of murder and how it shaped their ideology in different directions is soooooo.

I also think that Cass’ moral code is one of the most fascinating. Because it goes beyond not playing Judge jury and executioner. Cause like you said, she broke that guy out of prison. He was on death row. Aside from my feelings on the death penalty. (Abolish it) the judge, and the jury had made a decision. And it wasn’t even like she went to the governor and beat him up until this guy was given a stay of execution. She took justice into her own hands like Jason is condemned for doing just in the opposite direction.

Like Cass’ no killing goes farrrrrr beyond Bruce’s and I don’t see that talked about enough

I do wanna say that I fact checked with my Cass friend, the guy she broke out just killed someone he was not a rapist.

But you’re so right about how people like to view Jason through real world lenses. It’s insufferable sometimes.

All that is to say honestly? I fear Cass’ moral code is not the bastion of purity people treat it as.

[kezahex]

It's also rejected largely because Starlin did very little to develop it. Starlin mostly wrote Robin by not writing Robin. The swings [for many] from Detective Comics to Batman seem extreme and without explanation in too short of time. Some also see it as inherently classist: ie: "He was the poor Robin, so of course he was gonna be violent/die." This isn't helped by the parallels with Stephanie, where, again, the poor, inner-city Robins are just stupid and are obviously going to get killed.

It also takes away from the moments like where he walks AWAY from Two-Face, despite the fact that Batman couldn't reach him and he could have ended him. That moment is, I feel, really important to who Jaybin is.

If I'm being honest, I actually prefer the version of Jason Todd who had a whole arc where the trauma of being Robin during one of Batman's dumb and edgy eras drove him a lil nuts and made him violent, reckless, whatever.

It is a central plot point in A Death in the Family, a comic that while I actively believe no one should read because it is cartoonishly racist, some (me) consider pretty important to understanding the circumstances surrounding Jason Todd's death.

This is consistent with his appearances in earlier stories, forming a character arc wherein he becomes increasingly violent and reckless due to the trauma of his early childhood in poverty and the increasing exposure to violence inherent in being Robin, filtered through the strictly anti-Robin lens of writer Jim Starlin.

Batman #411, he has what is obviously a violent trauma response after finding out Two-Face single parentified his mother.

Batman #422, Batman needs to pull him off a pimp after said pimp threatened his bottom bitch.

Batman #424. I posted this once and someone told me with their whole chest they actually for real believed this dude slipped and Todd didn't kill him which is how I realized that there's a whole generation of Batman fans who do not recognize 1970s-80s action movie tropes. An extremely humbling moment for me lol.

Anyway, notice the sequential nature of the issue numbers.

Now, I sincerely do not want to be a bitch here, but I don't know how else to say this.

The reason Jason Todd is not a violent loose cannon in his earliest appearances, even post-Crisis, is that characters later in their arc are not the same as characters at the beginning of their arc.

These two dudes, who yes are the same dude, have very different relationships with the concept of violent revenge. One of them even cut his own head off in a spooky metaphor cave that taught him about how violent revenge means destroying a part of yourself. The other dude just saw his parents gettin weenie roasted and is mad about that. To reiterate my point, they are the same dude.

But in fandom we have this weird thing where we flat reject this concept of Jason by insisting that no, this characterization was just later writers like Marv Wolfman being haters and retroactively character assassinating him through Tim Drake or something.

We insist on who he was at the beginning of his arc as if he should not, could not, would not on a boat, could not, would not, should not with a goat, develop into anything but who he was at that moment. I have never seen anything else like it in comics or in other fandom. Character development that is just so flat rejected and avoided, in a medium where we usually celebrate development because characters are usually set more or less in stone until the next big reboot event.

And look, if I'm being absolutely honest with you, the smooth clean safe not a wildcard roundhouse kick freak version of Todd that fandom has created is so fucking boring to me.

He is, to me, by far the worst version of the character.

To me, Jason Todd was this Robin specifically:

Batman: The Cult.

That's not Dick Grayson. That's not TIm Drake. That's not Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Carrie Kelley, or whatever other version of Robin.

Jason Todd is the "alright you sorry clowns, let's party" Robin. He was written in line with a bunch of action movie and buddy cop tropes. A Death in the Family was straight up a "hand in your badge McKlinsky, you're a loose cannon" arc. And I just feel like the fandom desire to smooth that out of him, whatever the motivation behind it might be, is ultimately in service for a far more boring, more "in line with Dick Grayson and Tim Drake" version of a character who should never have been in line with Dick Grayson or Tim Drake.

[kezahex]

"Secretly a cutie: Damian Wayne love from animals as a result of his adoptive brother Dick Grayson impact on his life." Says the tittle of today's new Gotham Zine.

Ra's al Ghul the first ecoterrorist of the modern world; founder, patron and personally responsable for so many protected areas, animal rescue centers and wild life preservation programs; both Damian and Talia mentioned he needs to try to look casual when visiting them in Gotham/Metropolis (shut up Talia is still the CEO of LexCorp in my heart) and so he is wearing an "Animals are better than people" t-shirt reading that: EXCUSE ME???? Do I mean absolutly NOTHING to you people?? *might send some ninjas after some jornalists soon*

[kezahex]

What I hate most about fanon woobie Tim drake is that he has to be the center of Jason's world. It literally doesn't matter what type of dynamic they have.

If they're acquaintances jason will be dumbed down and has to ask Tim for help, putting Jason in his debt.

or worse Tim will just insert himself without any social repercussions (as in no one fucking likes it when they're boundaries are violated even if they "need" it).

If you're going with the family routes where everyone is brother or sister, Tim has to be Jason's favorite brother (Dick Grayson who?). Because of how "nice and cool" he is or alternatively because tim is some poor wittle baby who needs big strong jason to take care of him.

Or jason and Tim are just "best friends" but it's never shown, jason just takes one look at this expensive saltless cracker and gets hit with the "omg child soldiers are bad! This poor kid 😟" but it only applies to Tim and Tim only.

If they're angst in the dynamic, there's never any nuance. Because they lovvveeee to hammer in the "titans tower incident😱😰😨😱😭😢😥😩" but never how tim was speaking so nasty about jason (a dead kid he did. Not. Know.) Because he was insecure.

It'd be nice if it was a story about how Tim was insecure ( not in the cutesy uwuw baby kinda way i mean the i shit on the dead because i can't handle feeling inferior to my predecessor) and Jason just didn't like him, but they work their differences and they wouldn't exactly be friends or anything but they were least acknowledge each other in a positive way through being Robin and stuff but that would never work because Tim is a character who can never be lifted without bringing others down. Because outside of Robin, he literally has nothing for him, and he knows it.

And like it's one thing if jason was like Dick. (Got fired. Had a crisis. Moved on.) because at least Jason would have the ability to defend himself/prove tim wrong whatever. But he wasn't. He was tortured to death for the cause.

The total lack of empathy from Tim is astonishing. It reflects a lot on his character. Forget Jason for a second. what type of hero shits on the lives lost to your villains?

Imagine your crying because your loved one died in a villain attack and Superman is like "ummmm they died because they fucking sucked and were inherently inferior. Not me though, I would have survived I'm better than them"

Yall don't think that attitude didn't stay when jason got revived? It definitely would, jason is the pariah, and if Tim felt safe enough to shit on a dead kid who at that point has not directly "defied batman" you think he wouldn't say that type of shit to the other robins, around jason or to his face?

Even if he didn't, jason would know because let's be real 🙄

But no, there's no nuance. Instead, jason has to grovel at Tim's superior feet, while Tim gets to feel benevolent and magnanimous with every godamn interaction.

(Also Canonically jason was basically testing Tim's mettle as Robin which Tim supposedly succeeded, thats why Jason left instead of idk knocking Tim out or something. If Tim is truly traumatized and can't be in the same room as someone who aggressively sparred with you, what the fuck are you doing out in the streets in tights you bitch baby go back home.

And if Tim isn't traumatized, the flinching and godforsaken whimpering just reeks of someone using their higher status "elite class robin" to get someone of lower class "street rat, pariah" into trouble. Like Tim going, " All I have to is flinch and act scared to get Bruce and other vigilantes to hurt you. It doesn't matter what you do, they'll never take your side. "

Which sounds ridiculous, but I've seen fics do this many times, and it's never acknowledged outside of "jason should stop being evil and keep apologize over and over"

Because fanon woobie Tim is never with fault. Even if he does something that might hurt someone, it's always overruled because he was "right" or too socially inept to understand what he did wrong thus instantly forgiven (a trait Bruce shares)

Fanon woobie Tim's feeling and conforts is always the priority, it doesn't what any other character is going through, Damian, Jason, Dick, Stephanie, Tim is automatically more important, and if another character has conflict with him that means they're in the wrong.(another trait Bruce shares)

Fanon and Canon Tim is defined by his insecurities, and he refuses to acknowledge or overcome it.

Which is why even in "jason centric" stuff Tim is always there in his face, and jason HAS to have a good opinion of him, he HAS to say you're a good robin. He HAS to say you're my favorite brother. He HAS to constantly affirm that Tim is smart and a good person. It doesn't matter if the titans tower Chapter is included or tim was on a victim blaming spree. jason has like/admire him anyway and should feel so stupid for not seeing it sooner.

[kezahex]

Jason Todd Meta Masterlist

With all the misconceptions and (frankly insulting and at times sexist) assumptions I've seen about Jason Todd fans, I've decided to make a post gathering the meta I could find that helps make sense of why he's my (and so many other people's) favourite character. (Spoiler: it's not because I'm shallow, it's not because he's hot, not because I love guns and the death penalty, and not because I think he's secretly a woman.) This list is incomplete for a bunch of reasons: I haven't read all the meta that exists, if there's a good meta with like one sentence I disagree with I usually don't include the meta, there's a lot of meta I disagree with, and if there's a very good meta analysing dynamics or characters based on a comic I really hate, I will simply not include it (for example i've seen good analysis of Nightwing Brothers in Blood, unfortunately it's one of the worst comics i've ever tried to force myself to read so I can't include any of it in Jason analysis without betraying a fundamental part of myself). This will include some serious analysis commentary, some lighter/trivia stuff, and there's also a part dedicated to some misconceptions I've seen running around and posts that address it. Some of this is jaybin analysis/appreciation, some of this is red hood analysis/appreciation, some of it fits for both, and there's nuance here due to the fact I'm very critical about many parts of red hood's writing, so some jaybin posts might be red hood critical, but they're still parts of the reasons why I like jason so I'm including them. If you have suggestions for more meta posts to add, feel free to share them, though be warned that I may not be able to edit and include them all due to reasons previously mentioned! (And do not be afraid to share your own meta we love self-promo in here).

With all that said, if you're a Jason fan looking for more meta, a comic fan who doesn't understand the hype and is genuinely wondering what people see in him, a fic writer determined to do his character justice, or new to fandom and wondering if it's worth it getting into him, this post is for you! And of course if you don't like him I'm not arrogant enough to assume I can change your mind, you're perfectly allowed your taste, all that I ask in return is that you do not try to police mine.

Now let's get to it!

Mental illness

So, this meta is kinda organized by how important those points are to me, and it turns out I'm a complete freak about psychopatholgy (the study of mental disorders). Now, is Jason a good depiction of mental illness? Eeeeeh... Compared to my other favs with stories building up around trauma like Mia Dearden or Jill Carlyle, he has a lot more material to sink our teeth into due to sheer number of appearances, and there's loads of interesting stuff in that, but he also often falls victim to dc's classic love for demonising metal illness. So what makes Jason's mental illness compelling to me, someone who loathes the Joker's character so much? That's a complicated question I attempt to answer in here. Now this is an ongoing compilation of different psychological analysis meta (we're playing meta masterpost matryoshka!! Yay!) and doesn't have all the answers yet because I need time to write this shit but anyway, if anything, it's a good opportunity to learn about psychology through Jason, and I think how much I love sinking my teeth into those depictions already shines into it. So basically: The depiction of Jason's mental illness, despite often very flawed, is extremely compelling to me.

On victimhood

Now say it with me: you can like several things at once. Jason's character isn't the only one who is a victim, and he isn't the only one where victimhood features as an important theme, and none of that diminishes the fact that the way victimhood is portrayed and handled in Jason's story is compelling both for its meta commentary on the narrative and the catharsis it can bring. Here are some meta that analyse Jason's character in relation to victimhood:

-Jason and Joker's other victims

-How Jason's story resonates with victims of SA

-Jason and childhood sexual abuse

-How Jason is blamed for his death

-Jason's UTH monologue is sincere, and he has a right to his anger

-Jason's point isn't about the villains, it's about the victims

Philosophy

Now when it comes to this section, a lot of people associate ethics (for instance what Jason considers right and wrong) and politics (what solutions/actions he thinks should be taken as a result of those ethical beliefs). Of course that makes sense with the way those concepts intertwine, but they're not the same question (crucially, you can agree with his position on one without agreeing on the other) so I've tried to separate the posts into those two categories the best I can.

Ethics

I couldn't find a jaybin post that was only on ethics (though the political jaybin posts cover it a little) but some of my favourite stuff about Jason is the discussion of ethics. Honestly I consider it much more enjoyable than the political part of the discussion, it has my preference for sure.

On love and Red Hood

A reading of UTH as an invitation to incorporate emotions into our ethics

Politics

I'm subdivising this one again because Jaybin and Red Hood wouldn't agree on everything here (I don't think the gap is irreconcilable, but it would require writers to put effort into bridging it which I never see dc do, at least not correctly.)

AS JAYBIN

Ethics, crime, grief and vigilantism

A philosophy of love and care

AS RED HOOD

Does Red Hood valorize organised crime?

Red Hood is a pimp (no, wait, listen)

On the death penalty

Jason's political thesis in UTH: you cannot rule through fear alone

Jason's point isn't about the villains, it's about the victims (yes, this one is here twice because it fits into both categories what do you want me to say)

Symbolism

You know I love me a character with some cool symbolism. I only got two posts on the matter so far but if anyone has articulate meta posts about Jason wrt Paradise Lost, Abraham and Isaac, Orpheus and Euridyce or literally anything else please share it I would love that so much I have so many thoughts about it but not all of them have a meta that develops them. Anyway here's another reason to like Jason Todd: he's got a lot of symbolism to sink your teeth into.

My thoughts on catholic Jason Todd

Jason Todd VS The Bible

Abilities and skills

Now a lot of that was about what makes Jason interesting to me but one thing Jason is that he's also extremely fun. He's just all around an enjoyable character! To me his #1 best fun trait is how witty/funny he is, both as Jaybin and Winick's Red Hood, which is a shame because I don't have a post gathering panels of how funny he is (if anyone has one please feel free to share!). But his #2 best fun trait, to me, is that he's a hyper-competent jack-of-all-trades. And I don't mean a gary-stue! He's probably not one of the world's best at most of those things, but he's pretty good at a whole bunch of things and he's also very resourceful and underhanded, making for great battle scenes because it's always fun to watch pull tricks out of his sleeve! This is especially true for his villain era, because while hyper-competent heroes can become annoying, I find hyper-competent villains/antagonists super exciting. So here are just a tiny tidbit of metas I could find about some of his skills!

"The dumb Robin"

Jaybin is a skilled hacker!

Languages

Marksmanship (amongst other skills)

Jason and Bruce

Warning: if you're here it means you haven't blocked the anti batman tags but like, this isn't a super Batman-friendly blog. The meta in this part doesn't exactly hold Bruce in high regards so like, if you're a fan of him like, be aware of that.

With that being said, I find Jason's story, and the criticism of Bruce/Batman that ties into it, very interesting. I also am personally drawn towards stories around child abuse for cathartic reasons, and DC, albeit unintentionally, draws a very realistic depiction of abusive families within the batfam, which I also find really compelling. So here's a bunch of meta about Jason and Bruce and utter misery! Parenting tip: don't do that.

-Jaybin era Bruce was far from perfect

-Bruce projects on jaybin

-Parentification

-Analysis of Jason's grave

-Can you believe Bruce yellow-wallpapered Jason?

-Jason as a meta character

Some other misconceptions I found interesting to mention

-Jason isn't a loner

-A quick forray into pre-crisis: Jason and Dick's backstories were similar, but they had their fair share of differences! They're far from the same character.

-Jason and Mia :

So, this one requires some explanation. It's kinda funny to include this in a meta masterpost/character manifesto since 1) the ship is not canon and 2) i do not ship nor particularly like the ship (no offence to those who do!). However, a lot is said about these two characters, and as a fan of both characters I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on the matter, and I believe this post is a good breakdown of some conceptions and views wrt these two characters, even outside of the shipping length. I have more analysis about Seeing Red in the works, but it's bound to take a long time to happen!

Trivia

And finally, as a palate cleanser after all that stuff, some trivia for your writer's needs.

Jason's taste in food and drinks

Jason's music taste

Books Jason Todd has read

Anyway, shout-out to all these amazing people for all that meta, and please note that just because I included one of their post in my meta and character manifesto doesn't mean they have to agree with everything I said (should be evident but like, just in case. Leave those people alone if your issue is with me.)

I'm leaving you with these comic recs from laufire!

Hope you enjoy ✨✨

[kezahex]

Birdflash Zine Contributor Applications

Open until May 17th 2025

Here is the link for the contributor and moderator applications! Please feel free to apply to as many roles as you would like, just be aware that you might only get some of those roles!

Rules for Contributors:

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If you are applying as a writer, please submit at least 2 stories/excerpts from stories that are 200-500 words long. These do not need to be birdflash, but DC is preferred. If you apply for a writer of the NSFW portion please submit the same in NSFW writing.

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Note: no one in this zine will be getting paid except for a free copy of the finished work. All proceeds will go to a charity that will be picked by the contributors and moderators after the contributors have been decided.

@dc-event-calendar could you please boost?

[kezahex]

Canonically, at least in the beginning, Talia is only a few years older than Dick, max

headcanon where when damian was first introduced to gotham society there was a rumor that spread of people thinking the damian was dicks kid not bruce’s. this is mostly because both dick and damian are darker skinned and damian looks way more like talia than he does bruce. and what didn’t help is that damian is attached to dicks hip.

[kezahex]

Damian: I don't want to be Robin forever, I don't want to move into other names and roles either! I... I want to be a doctor... like grandfather.

Alfred: *beaming with pride* Oh that's excelent, Master Damian! I'm so glad to see someone in this family actually following late Master Wayne legacy. Thomas would be so proud.

Bruce: *discretly tearing up* Yeah, that's... that's... great, just great, chum. I'm very very proud.

Damian, who is inspired by Thomas but at the moment was actually refering to Ra's: Yes, reading and just hearing all those stories about granfather Thomas made me admire him a lot.

Damian who still feels like he can't talk about the other side of his family. Who still feels like talking about happy moments or how despite everything his mother and grandfather loved him and did their best to make him happy or about the things he still admires about them will take away his place at the Waynes, will grant him eyes full of either pity or fearfull concern. Damian who knows his grandfather is evil and his mother is complicated, who choose a different path and who is starting to understand that being pushed to the path Talia and Ra's wanted was bad for him and unhealthy, that kids shouldn't be assassins (but should kids be Robins?). Damian who himself still has hatred and anger for Ra's but also who still has love and admiration. He got his love for animals from them, Ra's love for life. Damian who fundamentally still wants to be a Wayne very much but wishes being a Wayne didn't meant he had to give up on being an Al Ghul. Who wishes he could talk about them. Damian who admires Thomas Wayne and all the stories he heard about him but who was raised by the Al Ghuls, who heard about a santifield version of a healer grandfather and saw a demonized version of one. It was Ra's who bandaged him and Talia. Damian who is doing it for the Waynes. For these people he never got to met and wishes so much he had. Damian who is doing it for the Al Ghuls. For a mother who started wanting to be a doctor before wanting to run away and violence and cooportativism took it out of her, for a grandfather who is far from perfect but who always helps his own people.

Who wanted to be safe to talk about his first home with the people he loves the most. Who is terrifield that being inspired by Ra's will meant he doesn't belong with them.

Damian who didn't even lied. Who got the hugs and support. Damian who does not know why he is upset.

[kezahex]

Dick Grayson is drawn fine the way he is and claiming he isn’t is colourist. I’ll tell you why

First and foremost I would like to specify there will be mistakes in this rant as English is my third language and I am also Romani so obviously this gives me grounds to speak on this matter

Onto the rant I will start this by saying no matter how the Romani person appears - Roma are not white no matter how white passing a Romani person may look. Romani is also not specifically a race it is an ethnic group which depending on the subgroup can vary but most Roma simply consider ourself brown or will forego that and just state that they’re Romani

In this fandom there are a lot of misguided beliefs that dick Grayson is drawn “wrong” or that he is “white washed” in comics or fan arts which has resulted in harassment to people who haven’t done anything wrong

Roma don’t have a “look” there are millions of Roma world wide who look vastly different - there will never be a specific wrong way to draw dick Grayson because there is no right way to look Romani.

There are blond haired blue eyes entirely Roma just as there are dark skinned textured hair Roma

This leads me to: why do Romani people have such varying looks?

Romani people come from India and left India roughly 1,000 years ago and then settled all over the world but most of which went to Europe - where you will find the most variant subgroups of Roma.

European Roma faced slavery and attempts of ethnic cleansing for almost 5 centuries in which women were raped and Roma were killed - then almost 100 years later the holocaust happened which was the largest on scale genocide and ethnic cleansing of Roma there was.

This caused overtime majority of Western and northern European Roma to become paler and more white passing while today Roma from Far Eastern and southern Europe usually tend to be darker skinned

During American slavery it wasn’t just Africans who were taken forcefully to America but also Roma who had settled in Africa - along with Europe sending European settled Roma to America for the same purpose.

In the modern day Romani descendants of that are darker skinned as opposed to European Roma being lighter skinned

Of course - tragedies don’t dictate how Roma will look in the modern day, you can imagine when your ethnic group and your community has stayed in one place for hundreds of years you will at least start to look a little of like the people of the place you are.

Roma don’t throw people out of their community for not looking “Romani enough” white passing Roma are considered light skinned Roma and darker skinned Roma are considered dark skinned Roma - we are all Romani and we all belong to our Romani communities.

Claiming a Romani character or person doesn’t look right or is white blatantly ignores the tragedies Roma faced which caused communities of Roma to look the way they do - there is no such thing as not looking right as Roma and the level of how Romani you are is not dictated by the colour of your skin.

And while we never know what subgroup of Roma dick Grayson it is safe to assume he is romanichal (subgroup of Roma from the uk and other English speaking countries) of course until dc ever specifies otherwise.

His subgroup isn’t important but it could shed light on the struggles his community faced in the current and in the past.

Dick Grayson’s Romani identity isn’t decided by his skin it is decided by who he is and who he is is Rrom.

I could go into more intricate detail of Romani culture which is seemingly always butchered in fandom (especially in relation to language) but I will save that for another post