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Back to my roots. The batfamily that I used to draw when I started posting on Tumblr.

I call it "always an older brother."

That's all folks.

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Buying you time

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PJO X DC

Duke Thomas would like to know which god or goddess he had pissed off to warrant the current situation. After his mother and stepfather were attacked by the Joker, and the whole We Are Robin event, Bruce became his legal guardian/adoptive father. Problem is that he isn't entirely without family, quite the contrary, he has too many family members.

Duke Thomas is a demigod.

Son of Apollo.

One of the few children of Apollo that had survived both The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Battle of Manhattan. Events that are known to have made the Apollo children almost extinct. He also happens to have the rare minor ability to control shadows thanks to being conceived during a solar eclipse. Though being a demigod brought a lot of problems like the one he has right now.

He usually goes to Camp Halfblood for the summer to be with his other side of the family. His mortal parents would make it a trip, go to the beach, visit museums, parks and eventually they would drop him off at camp. It helps that Gotham disguises his scent long enough that monsters don't bother him on his way to camp.

Problem was they weren't there this time. Instead he was with a mortal family that happens to be the best detectives in the world and don't know the concept of privacy even if it hit them in the face. They would probably hit it back if that happened.

Of course Duke had to forget about it and only remember a week before that he hasn't told his adoptive family about any of this. Worst part is that he remembered after having done a double patrol, done finals exams and haven't slept for more than 5 minutes in the last 48 hours. This unfortunately led to him making a terrible choice that at the moment sounded like a great idea. That should have been his warning.

Duke in his panic decided to contact camp but couldn't find a drachma. After tearing his room looking for one he remembered that he lives with rich people now. And rich people has expensive wines. Duke has access to the best offering for a certain God.

After sneaking around and taking some extremely expensive wine in the dead of night he makes his offering, explains the situation and prays for help.

Soon he wakes up from the floor to see the wine is gone and before he can process the thought one of his siblings is talking/screaming while dragging him to one of the living rooms. He doesn't understand anything there saying with how fast they are talking but once he gets inside the room he understands what all the fuss is about.

In front of him is Dionysus talking with Bruce Wayne while drinking diet coke.

"Well if it isn't my nephew. Took you long enough to get here. Aren't you supposed to be a morning person?"

.....fuck

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The Light of Gotham

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Fight little wolf!

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This is my official Batfam Magical Girl AU Masterpost (everyone clapped)

(Updated 4/16/25)

I’m going to do a brief overview and then go into more details for those interested.

Bruce being from old money (and apparently being connected to Camelot) inherited a mysterious mineral with unknown properties. In its raw form it’s very unassuming, but when cut like gemstones and added to accessories it can be harnessed into a tool. By altering the mineral into a wearable item it allows the magic within to be channeled. The magic of the mineral connects with its wielder to create an outfit and (typically) a weapon. These outfits do not grant the wearer special abilities outside of the transformation and the weapon, but when worn the wearer is granted (what is basically) hammerspace and a nearly impenetrable outfit. The uniform granted is not something they can alter the appearance of but will change gradually overtime to reflect how the wielder has grown.

This mineral will henceforth be known as Arcanium. It operates on Kryptonite logic in that it’s— allegedly— super rare but also shows up whenever the plot needs it. (I’m aware it shares a name with a card game, but I wanted my Kryptonite spoof)

Martha Wayne unknowingly started the cycle by turning— what she thought was a rare gemstone— into a brooch. She died shortly after having it made and Alfred held onto it in her memory. Like canon Bruce goes on his journey of self-exploration to train. When he comes back he enacts his plan the way he does in Batman: Year One, where he goes out in basically just make-up, and it goes poorly. He wanders his manor trying to formulate a strategy and is drawn to his parent’s room and finds his mother’s brooch. Cue the first magical girl transformation. From there he alters the brooch to fit his bat aesthetic and the Batman Brooch is born.

Dick comes into his life the same way as canon. Bruce takes him in as a ward, Dick tries to track down Zucco on his own, etc. Bruce decides to use the other raw sample of Arcanium to turn into a second magical artifact. He lets Dick pick the theme, and thus the Robin Pendant is born. The rest is history.

(Before I continue I want to warn that I’m making shit up as I go, so some of this is subject to change as I move forward.)

The Robin Pendant is passed down from Robin to Robin. Each Robin got their own unique look while using it. Following canon, Dick and Bruce have their falling out and Dick gives up the Robin Pendant in a moment of anger. In this au I think Dick, not having the pendant to fall back on, tries to lead a vigilante-free life, but of course falls back into it. During a fight he somehow manages to stumble across Arcanium in its raw form. Recognizing it he takes it with him. Like Nightwing: Year One he has his conversation with Superman and decides to become his own hero. Using his knowledge of Arcanium from his years with Bruce he creates his own magical artifact and becomes Nightwing.

This is a good place to interject that I’m not changing any of their hero names. I was asked about it a couple times due to the caption, “Red Bow & Sailor Nightwing” on my Dick and Jason designs. It was just a silly caption, because I didn’t want to simply state “Jason and Dick Magical Girl au.” But being serious, I don’t really see a reason to change their names, with the exception of maybe Red Hood, seeing as I didn’t give him a red hood. My au operates on Sailor Moon logic where despite the lack of masks no one recognizes them, and it’s just vaguely explained by magic. I think it would be funny if Bruce chose to wear a mask anyway because he’s that paranoid, but we’ll see when I actually design him. Anyway point is Red Hood is lacking a red hood, maybe he secretly has a red hood on his jacket or maybe he really does go by Red Bow, I’ll leave that up to interpretation.

Arcanium does not just accidentally appear. At the end of the day it’s still a mineral and it’s not sentient, but the magic has an element of “the wand chooses the user.” It’s not so much a “chosen one thing,” so much as the magic can sense intention. It doesn’t care about the morality of the user, the magic is more seeking a symbiotic connection. (Meaning yes rogues can in fact wield artifacts.) Simply put, it wants a host that will be able to wield it. In its raw form the magic is dormant but it seeks to be… not dormant, so when it finds those who actually have the potential to create an artifact and use it, it reveals itself. It was not a coincidence that Martha had the inclination to have the brooch made, it was not a coincidence that Bruce was drawn to his parent’s room, and it was not a coincidence that Dick found Arcanium in the alleyway.

Each of the Bats have their origin moments with their own magical artifacts. I don’t have the whole timeline down, but I will say there was a lot of drama between Tim and Damian, because Tim was forced to hand over the pendant. Even though he technically relinquished it, emotionally the connection wasn’t severed. No one was sure if the transition would work, but Arcanium responds to whoever needs it more and therefore who will use it more. Like canon, Tim is having an awful time during that era. On top of all of it he’s had his title stripped from him and he can’t even argue because if it wasn’t the right move the pendant wouldn’t have responded to Damian. Dick tries to comfort him by telling him that Arcanium will appear for him when he’s ready, but Tim is furious and impatient. So like a well-adjusted person he decides he’s going to engineer his own magical artifact artificially. It goes as well as his attempt to clone Kon does. It’s not until Tim starts to get back on his feet that Arcanium presents itself to him. My thinking is that while Arcanium finds its users when they need it most, Tim’s case is abnormal. His acquisition of the pendant was unconventional from the start since he showed up and demanded to take on the Robin role. Arcanium is drawn to individuals who will actually use its properties. Tim tends to rely more on his own detective work, which renders the pendant’s properties pretty moot. Especially when he’s going off the deep end, he becomes a hermit meaning a) he wouldn’t really need/use Arcanium’s properties and b) he inadvertently limited his own chances of stumbling across it “in the wild.”

In a similar vein I believe Barbara’s journey is abnormal in that she forged her own Batgirl artifact that operates a little differently than the others, seeing as she made it without Bruce’s influence. After the accident she shelved it, maybe she passed it down to Cass, but eventually she gets it back. She created the Oracle identity without it, and for a long time the Batgirl artifact is something she avoids using, until she gets the idea to combine it with her computer to create a magic computer… sort of. She gets a uniform that is basically connected to the computer.

Going back to Damian needing the Robin Pendant more, its reaction to his acquisition was unique. As I mentioned previously the suits typically provide a weapon, well Damian is the exception. Unlike all the other Robin’s Damian didn’t need more weapons in his life, what he needed was guidance. For the first time the pendant granted Damian a magical animal guardian, which is how he gets Alfred the Cat in this au. Despite being an animal lover Damian is extremely pissed at this development. He wanted dual swords or a scarier animal at least. He can’t formally communicate with Alfred the Cat but he understands him intrinsically, though Alfred the Cat seems to be able to understand human speech somewhat. Only Damian seems to be able to truly understand Alfred the Cat. (Cue the antics of his siblings trying to figure out what the cat means or trying to control him in any capacity.) Besides being an animal, Alfred the Cat is also unique in that he doesn’t dissipate when Damian isn’t in uniform the way that the weapons do. Like the weapons he can be summoned by the pendant, but he seems to have existed prior to the pendant’s creation. (I’m toying with the idea that while in uniform, the cat would also get some sort of uniform.)

Before I get into Duke and his abnormalities, I want to address the Speedsters in this au. It’ll make sense after.

So the Flash. I want to say I don’t know if I will get around to creating full designs for them. I do have plans for Bart and maybe Wally, but I have determined how I want their mechanics to operate in the context of the au. Not all the heroes in this au are “magical girls,” in fact I’ve made the executive decision that you have to be human to wield an artifact. Arcanium may have magic in it, but it doesn’t grant its user magical abilities beyond the uniform itself. The speedsters retain their canon origins, hit by lighting blah blah blah, only with one key difference: they had Arcanium on them when they were hit. Instead of engineering an artifact Arcanium fused with their bodies granting them powers. I want to keep the magic transformation aspect (because it’s not a magical girl au without it), so instead of using a physical artifact as a channel for their powers, it’s instead the act of transforming that serves as a gateway to their speed abilities.

To me it was always important to maintain Batman’s identity of not having super powers and having to rely on engineering, which is why the Batfam have to physically build their artifacts. In a similar way I wanted to retain the integrity of the Flash’s identity of being meta but also still human. Which brings me back to Duke. I know in canon that Duke inherited his abilities, but for the sake of the au I’ve decide that he either had an accident when he was young in which traces of Arcanium fused with him or his parents had it in them and he inherited it from them, but regardless it’s less potent, but operates similar to the Speedsters. For years he couldn’t fully transform or use his powers and it wasn’t until— with Bruce’s guidance— he was able to create an artifact that allowed him to channel his abilities and transform. Even though he is a meta I wanted him to still have some of those Batfam qualities in there.

But what about the Superfam? They’re not human so how do their transformations work? The answer is simple: They’re not “magical girls.” At least not real ones, they’re faking. They’re not human (Kon and Jon are technically half human but they still get their abilities from their Kryptonian DNA), and thus cannot forge a connection with Arcanium. Truthfully I’m about to get silly— even sillier than this au already is— but I have decided that Clark is a fake artifact wielder. I like the idea that Batman has been operating longer than Superman has, so when Clark decided to become a hero in his own right his only example of how to style himself was from the bat themed vigilante, who might as well be a cryptid, operating out of Gotham. Only blurry pictures of him existed, so Clark designed his outfit based on his Kryptonian origins and Batman’s aesthetics. He had no idea about the existence of Arcanium or how it worked. This is also why Kon’s design looks so much like his canon outfit with a few magical girl elements (and definitely not because I think the lines in his canon suit already lend themselves well to a magical girl aesthetic and didn’t want to change much). Later when he gets to know Batman more he learns about the transformations, to which he panics and invents his own transformation using Kryptonian tech (ex: MAWS’s transformation). For years Bruce goes crazy trying to figure out Arcanium’s effects on aliens and if it grants them abilities on top of the ones they’re born with, and if Clark has plans to use it as a weapon, and how he managed to forge the connection in the first place— Clark comes clean as a fake once they reveal their identities to each other.

Side tangent but I find it hilarious that Green Lanterns are— by technicality— already “magical girls,” considering they’re granted magical accessories that give them powers and transform their clothing. Hal is very clear with the JL that he is nothing like Batman and constantly feels the need to assert that he is not a magical artifact wielder. The non-human members of the team still lump them together anyway.

Things I haven’t figured out:

- what each of the batfam’s weapons are

- what each of the magical artifacts are

- what to refer to magical artifact wielders as

Stepping outside the canon(?) lore of the au for a minute, obviously I’m redesigning DC characters using inspiration from a genre, because that’s what “magical girl” is. It’s a genre. This is why I refer to it in quotes and don’t call them magical boys, because I am always referring to it as a genre, which isn’t a gendered thing. However, in universe they wouldn’t call themselves magical anything, the same way the characters of Sailor Moon don’t refer to themselves as magical girls, but rather Sailor Scouts. As of right now I’m sort of just referring to them as artifact wielders, but I feel like Bruce would come up with a better name. On a similar note, throughout this whole thing I’ve been referring to Arcanium in it’s wearable state as an artifact. I don’t know if that’s the best term, but I can’t think of anything better for the generalized form of Arcanium outside of it’s raw state. For now I guess it will be “artifacts” and “artifact wielders.”

- how the wonderfam fits into this

I really can’t think of a reason why Wonder Woman would be a “magical girl” in this au. She was born with abilities, she’s not human, and I can’t see her altering her uniform to match the aesthetic. A transformation would just be a waste of time for her. I could to see maybe Cassie or Donna wanting to match with their respective teams, and perhaps maybe that’s why they would alter their uniforms? All I know is I want see Tim, Kon, Bart and Cassie as a matching “magical girl set.”

Fin… for now.

[I’m just going to put this here preemptively, because I’ve gotten messages about turning my au into fics or tiktok skits. You’re free to use this lore HOWEVER you MUST credit me not just for the designs but for the creation of the lore. I’ve put a lot of time and thought into this and I love that people love it, so I just ask for recognition. If you want to make something that’s inspired by my designs or loosely based on my au, just a simple credit for the inspiration is fine. You’re free to change things this is just how my own au operates. Regardless I would prefer to be tagged so that people can find me but also because I’d love to see other’s work.]

Current designs:

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you: ✨exists✨

Jesus:

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Recently I was talking about this panel of Bruce moping around in Dick's room at the Manor -

- and people in the reblogs mentioned that this was after the earthquake that destroyed the Manor and therefore Bruce would have to restore Dick's room, which reminded me after some time of this panel from an earlier issue of this run -

Something so endearing to me about the idea of Dick saying, "This isn't the Wayne Manor I grew up in!" and Bruce then painstakingly recreating his room for him.

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Olympics that I think the bat kids would fucking OWN

Obvious ones out of the way first:

Dick ‘flying’ Grayson: Gymnasts (obviously)

Jason: Shooting

Damian: Fencing

But the rest of the kids are like insane skilled in their own right as well.

Cass: Swimming / any type of running (insane endurance and agility)

Tim: poll vaulting (agility and slim body type)

Barbera: any type of coding/strategy based competition / archery (I don’t know enough about the paralympics to comment on those)

Steph: MMA (gorl would love it) or badminton/tennis. (and also cause I don’t know a whole lot about her)

Duke: Volleyball (it’s cannon that he has extremely good reaction speeds, and is really perceptive so I think it fits)

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Bruce truly hates magic with every pump and beat of his heart.

What kinda curse is Slang, anyway?

“This is the best day of my life.”

“Bro really thought he ate with that.” Bruce physically feels a full body shiver, charged with nausea and cringe. “This is level 10 cringe. Can’t have shit in Gotham.”

Dick is his earth bound angel, but he laughs like a demon at him, holding onto Jason for support, pledging his eternal loyalty to Zatana and her pettiness.

—

“Hey, old bat, hook me up with an adrenaline shot.”

What he wants to say is Jay, do not try and fight with 6 bullets in your stomach.

What comes out instead, through Bruce’s grit teeth and intense, fierce glaring, “Not you trying to go back to your corpse era. See how I only took 2 shots? Very demure. Very mindful.”

Jason passes out from blood loss, but mostly laughter.

—

“Chat, is this real?”

Stephanie barely bites back a full belly cackle. “I think he just asked us if we copied.”

“I wish I was Jason, 15.”

—

“This is not a slay environment. Killing is flop behavior.” He keeps his eyes shut and buries his face in his hands. Trying to convince Damian not to stab someone doesn’t seem to work.

Damian gives him a pat like he’s a pitiful cat. “I’ll only stab the non lethal areas.”

“God, I wish that were me.”

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Times Bruce Wayne Broke Character in Public

• EVENT: Wayne Enterprises Charity Ball Incident: Waiter dropped a tray. Bruce caught a wine glass mid-air without flinching. Witness Quote: “He said ‘reflexes’ like we all have anti-gravity hands.”

• EVENT: Live GNN Interview Incident: Reporter asked about crime rates. Bruce answered with tactical percentages. Exact Quote: “The Narrows has a 62% chance of armed conflict after sundown.” PR Follow-Up: “Mr. Wayne is passionate about urban renewal. And statistics.”

• EVENT: Gotham Academy Career Day Incident: Student asked “Have you ever met Batman?” Bruce paused for 6 full seconds. Then: “We’ve… crossed paths.” Tim’s Note: “You could hear Alfred sigh from the back row.”

• EVENT: PTA Bake Sale Incident: Someone made clown-shaped cookies. Bruce stared at them for ten minutes. Bought them all. Witness Note: “He said ‘no one should consume evil on school grounds.’”

• EVENT: Elevator Ride with Lucius Incident: Lucius sneezed. Bruce said “Bless you. Now duck.” Elevator was empty. No one knows why.

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yeehaw

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"Batgirl. Wow. I mean, I ship him with Starfire. But whatever makes him happy... I guess."

Nightwing (2016) Vol. 4: The Leap. Nightwing #98. "A Nite To Remember."

You know you're big in DC when you get an imp.

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The WonderFam, as drawn by Dan Mora

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The Batfam definitely has a group chat called "Official Mission Communications ONLY" that Bruce created with the strictest instructions about its purpose.

It lasted exactly 12 hours before Dick sent a meme.

Now it's just chaos, but Bruce never leaves because secretly it's how he keeps tabs on everyone.

Every few weeks he'll respond to 74 messages of nonsense with a single "Focus." and everyone behaves for approximately 5 minutes.

The real mission communications happen in individual texts directly to Bruce, who feels a tiny spark of relief each time his phone pings with "OFFICIAL MISSION CHAT (217 unread messages)" because it means they're all still alive enough to be annoying.

Occasionally in the middle of arguments about cereal rankings and who stole whose equipment, Bruce will just type "Status?" and everyone immediately responds with their location and condition. No one ever comments on this ritual, but everyone participates without fail.

Even Jason, who once replied "bleeding out in an alley but the cereal argument is worth it" which resulted in five vigilantes converging on his location in under three minutes.

The most treasured screenshot in Tim's blackmail folder is from the one time Bruce accidentally sent "proud of you all" at 3:42 AM after a particularly rough night. No one has ever mentioned it directly, but Damian has it printed and hidden in his sketchbook.

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No Man’s Land Event Timeline

I am of the opinion that more people should write fic set in No Man’s Land, but considering it’s like, 80 issues long (not counting the lead up) I’ve made this timeline to make it easier for people who don’t have time to spend like a month reading comics. (And also as a reference for myself. So, ever wondered what went down in No Man’s Land? This is for you.

(For a timeline of comics that made up the event you can check the other timeline I made here)

(Also available to read on AO3 for your convenience)

Part 1: The Quake

Before we actually get to No Man’s Land Proper, we need to get some facts down about why it happened in the first place. Which means we’re going to be touching on Batman: Cataclysm. (The Batman: Contagion event (where Gotham got hit by a plague known as the Clench) also happened prior to this and contributed to No Man’s Land being a thing, but this timeline is already long enough as it is so we won’t be going into detail about that.)

In late June/early July, at 7:03pm, a quake 7.6 on the Richter scale hit’s Gotham

While we don’t know the exact date, Batman chronicles #14 reveals that it’s before July fourth.

When the quake hits:

Bruce, Alfred, and Harold are all in the Batcave

Dick is in Bludhaven

Tim is on a plane flying back to Gotham

He’s just resolved to open up to his dad. That doesn’t actually happen.

Helena Bertinelli (a.k.a the Huntress) is in a subway car

Stephanie is at the mall

Catwoman is breaking into a building

Azrael is handing Bane off to the GCPD (Bane gets away)

After the quake dies down:

A number of prisoners escape Blackgate (including Cluemaster)

Lots of people die

Batman, Robin, and Nightwing all run rescue efforts. Huntress and Catwoman are also shown helping out

Alfred and Harold work to repair the manner and clear the batcave 

Batman runs around in a bat-monster truck (Not particularly plot relevant, but it looks cool)

Bruce works tirelessly both as Batman and Bruce Wayne to try and aid rescue efforts, pour in relief funds, and convince business owners to remain in Gotham

Part 2: The Abandonment of Gotham

Bruce goes to DC to speak to congress in hopes of securing federal aid for Gotham

Keep reading

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Ok listen I know I already have like several works in progress but I might need to draw Hal Jordan and Bruce Wayne in cowboy outfits.

This is from Batman Universe by the way. It’s not the greatest writing ever but damn if it isn’t fun.