#DRAKE AND KATHERINE

[darthlordcommie]

Batman's Relationships with the "Batfam"

Alfred: Technically Alfred is his father-figure, but because Alfred actively chose to remain being Bruce's butler, and repressed his own issues, that just kneecapped Bruce's ability to heal, and enabled his worst impulses. Yes, they love each other, dearly. No, they will not communicate this unless they are on the brink of death.

Dick: I know, there's this whole thing with "eldest son". But first, Bruce was only in his early 20s when he took in Dick. And second, Bruce would have been actively avoiding trying to replace Dick's father, similar to Alfred. Their relationship is of close friends, and it isn't until they're both adults, well over a decade later, that either would even consider using familial terms to acknowledge each other. But that friendship is always the first level of their connection.

Barbara: There was hero worship that quickly died once Barbara got to see more of what Bruce is actually like. But there's still mutual respect and friendship, and Barbara is one of the few people Bruce actively listens to the input of.

Jason: Jason was the second Robin, but he was the first child who could accurately be called Bruce's son. When he meets Jason, Bruce is in a more balanced place in his life, he's on the path of healing, and he's willing to take in Jason not because he recognizes someone who's suffered the same way he has, like with Dick, but because he can help him. There's outright familial affection between Bruce and Jason, in ways we don't see with almost any other Batfam character. And then Jason dies, and Bruce's heart is shattered. Every single relationship Bruce has going forward is informed more by Jason's death than his parents'.

Tim: Tim and Bruce are a student and teacher. In many ways, Tim is Bruce's favorite student, but they aren't seeking family in each other, but that doesn't make their relationship any less deep or important to each other.

Cass: While a lot of comics tend to ignore or forget that Bruce outright adopted Cassandra to prove she would always have a home and family, the greatest truth is that Cass is Bruce's successor. Of all the batfam, she is the one who actively says she wants to take Bruce's place one day, and she believes in the cause of Batman stronger than anyone else. She was given a choice between cruelty and compassion, and like Bruce before her, she chose compassion. She's growing and improving, learning both from her own mistakes and from Bruce's, and ultimately, will be a greater hero than Batman before her.

Stephanie: A Mess. Not familial, but definitely a mess. Mostly because Steph's a victim of Batman writing at the time, and it never really got addressed to offer any improvement to her relationship with Bruce.

Damien: Damien is Bruce's son, but their relationship is fraught to say the least. Between being raised by the League, then Bruce being "dead" and Damien being raised/guided by Dick for a good amount of time, there's a lot of love there, but Damien is a victim of Bruce's decades of emotional repression and trauma in ways none of the other Batfam are, and both struggle to communicate, despite trying their best.

Duke, Luke, and Harper: All of these are colleagues at various levels of connection to Bruce. Duke is a younger vigilante just starting out, and Bruce is a grizzled veteran taking him under his wing, but not outright mentoring him the way he did the Robins. There's respect and teaching there, but not in the same way.

Kate Kane: They're cousins. They argue a lot.

[nrainyus]

so a while ago I drew the batfam as bunnies

based on Wayne family adventures on webtoon ep 54 I think but now I have decided to draw them again with a little more effort

Example A ⬇️

I've also decided to take requests so if there's anything you want me to draw the bunnyfam doing (in or out of costume) just send me an ask

Also I let my friends little sister color in Robunny

(it's based on bluey)

[bluetooththereptile]

I don't have a good skill in art like at all, but I'm tempted to give it a shot, so thanks honey, I'll be drawing this and step by step publish it on my blog!

Wish me luck! @lukestansblog

[professoruber]

Thoughts and speculation regarding Meridian before Birds of Prey (2023-) #5 drops!

Spoilers for Birds of Prey (2023-)

Please also keep in mind I am a novice when it comes to comics and their lore. I am also tired and writing this in my iPad, so please let me know if I am misremembering or overlooked any details.

Maps Mizoguchi! Or rather, Meridian! A very surprising addition to the latest Birds of Prey series. As someone who is a fan of Gotham Academy, even sometime before I started really becoming interested in comics like I have been recently, this definitely caught my attention and has led me to following this series in interest.

However… currently I have a number of thoughts of Meridian which I would like to get off my chest now before #5 releases and either gives us more questions or (hopefully) more answers.

I suppose my big question thus far is… why Maps in particular? Especially given the fact that her constant departures due to the apparent limitations of her time travel tech means she subsequently has limited ‘screen time’ to justify her involvement. Why was it a time travelling future Maps who kicked off events and not anything else?

I like Maps, but I still have begin to find her role somewhat odd; perhaps in large part due to a simple question it raises….

Is Meridian Maps’ destined future hero persona (instead of Robin)?

Maps wants to be Robin, it’s been a thing since Gotham Academy, and it’s a goal which has been given both some focus and some credit via both the main Batman run and also the non-canon Batman Black and White.

The goal of becoming Robin is one which she was shown to be still determined towards even after experiencing the dangers which would come with the job.

So with this in mind, it seems kinda odd how they’ve also introduced the Meridian persona for Maps. While I do like the name well enough, the fact that it’s a geography term being a neat nod to her nickname, I can’t also help but notice that Meridian… doesn’t really seem to display any of the typical Robin or Bat-related skillsets?

She teleports around and shoots people with lighting, and I’m pretty sure that’s about it. She doesn’t appear to be notably tactical, nor does she display any martial arts (she just points her fist and shoots), which is honestly a tad disappointing. Maybe that’s just me, but I guess it just feels a bit odd.

Cresting such advanced technology also wasn’t exactly something I’d expect from Maps; but tbh she would’ve had plenty of time to learn science as she grew up so… hm.

Does this mean Maps is not going to become Meridian? Maybe?

Possibilities

A very interesting observation and suggest by @transpanda-1 was that Meridian was not in fact Maps Mizoguchi, but rather Katherine Karlo (the blonde girl picture with Maps in the comic snippet a little higher up); the daughter of Clayface. This is based both on uncharacteristic behaviour from Maps herself as well as her departure being described as looking like she is “made of dirt”, a very specific and odd way of describing what would otherwise be assumed by readers to be her disappearing in a flurry of static or energy.

Of course; any oddities, as well as any differences in the behaviours and skillsets of Maps vs Meridian, could be easily justified by the fact Meridian apparently comes from a post apocalyptic future, plus the general effects of aging.

But even still, I do really like this theory and think it makes a decent amount of sense. Especially given the whole “dirt” descriptor.

Katherine Karlo has displayed the ability to be at multiple places at once in the past, seemingly controlling multiple bodies with the same consciousness. She has also impersonated Maps in the past.

However, Katherine appears to be inspired by Annie, a character from BTAS who iirc was a ‘daughter’ Clayface who was created when part of him got separated from his main body and so developed a distinctive identity seperate from the main consciousness. I don’t think Katherine’s backstory has been delved into (correct me if I’m wrong) but I assume it was something similar. Therefore, if she is Meridian then perhaps the reason Meridian keeps disappearing is because maintaining control of a part of her so far away takes a significant amount of effort? Or maybe it is a time travelling Katherine instead?

Hard to say for sure. And also probably doesn’t exactly explain the lighting powers. But tbh I kinda would also kind of prefer this?

Would give Maps more of an opening/hope to still become Robin one day.

Motivations and Answers

This is the final bit of this rather long-ish post which may or may not get totally disproved by #5 tomorrow. But I’ve gotten this far so might as well cap off my thoughts.

If I remember correctly; Meridian is the reason for the general secrecy of this mission, not only from Diana and the other Amazons, but also from Barbara. I feel that big secrets from close allies, especially given Babs’ importance to the Birds of Prey, require big reasons. But from what I can recall we have yet to get any actual look into her reasons… or how she convinced Dinah for that matter (it’s not as if Maps Mizoguchi is some close confidant of hers, I doubt they’ve met before this).

If Meridian is a time traveler then perhaps she’s already attempted this mission via other methods which have failed, hence the reason for specific exclusions this time around?

Or maybe this is an evil future/alternate self kind of deal. I don’t think Meridian has acted overly suspicious apart from this secrecy but it’s still possible. At the very least, she may not have been entirely upfront with all her plans/motive/knowledge.

For all we know, maybe Barbara is involved and pulling the strings for whatever reason? Maybe not, but still.

I guess the reason I’m thinking on this is I feel excluding Barbara and causing a “hero vs hero” conflict seems like the kinds of things which require a very good reason for. And Dinah presumably found said reasoning quite convincing since she went along with it.

If Meridian isn’t from the future, then that just adds further mystery since it means for some reason Katherine Karlo (or someone pulling her strings) has posed as a future version of Maps to direct the Birds of Prey in a mission to rescue Sin. Why all this deception would be needed is another question (assuming she’s not from the future, anyway).

Conclusions

Let’s start wrapping things up. Despite my confusion/semi-complaints, I’ve generally enjoyed Birds of Prey so far and am looking forward to seeing how the story continues. I also am a fan of Maps and am curious at what kind of role she will have as this fort continues, and I also hope she gets her overall dream of becoming Robin one day.

Maps would make an awesome Robin.

For now I guess we shall see whether #5 provides any answers, and if it does then we’ll see if my random speculation and thoughts were off the mark or not,

[pxmlx]

Rewatching The Order and Alyssa is so fucking dumb I forgot about that😭

Also I will never forgive netflix for cancelling after they gave us the best cliffhangers and revealing pieces of Vera’s past without further explanation COME ON I want to know more 😭

[wipbigbang]

WIP BIG BANG SIGN-UPS ARE LIVE!

The 2024 round of WIP Big Bang is now open for sign-ups! Any fandom is welcome, as long as the fic is 500 completed so far and will be at least 7,500 words upon its finishing. Signing up is easy: just fill out the form linked below after you read the FAQ and take a look at the schedule.

[sam-drakes-stupid-aviators]

Have my superpower au

Marlowe's just a bitch

Sully doesn't have powers

Rafe's a bloodsucking bastard

Talbot can do some like mind control

Nate has wings and enhanced speed

Elena has telekinesis

Chloe has either umbrakinesis or construct creation

Flynn has invisibility and somehow survives uc2 (I have an agenda that is 14 years too late)

Sam has pyrokinesis

Nadine has no powers (so far who knows)

[knotmycupofchai]

NEW MOON IN LEO

August 16th, 2023

Scorpio- Position of Influence & No sugar coating 🪐🌟

I see a change of position for many! A marriage or collaboration and a degree, license or certification is indicated 🪪📚

This is a time to work with others.

You will become the shoulder to cry on, the wise one, one held in high regard. You may become a counselor, teacher, guru, esthetician, guide or leader of some sort. Don’t forget to balance work, rest & play. Remember to be neutral & incorporate all the lessons you’ve learned. Don’t just tell people what they wanna hear.

[ladyseidr]

redoing tags, including adding character tags now. not including on hiatus muses. including testing muses at the end. so, tag dump:

[alexbrokenn]

long post below bc i want to share batfam headcanons. im insane and got noone to talk to

i EPICALLY came back to genshin after a 1.5 months break and i couldnt help but to vision assign batfam members...and think some headcanons on their skill sets and back stories 😖 this didn't blow up on tiktok so i hope tumblr is kinder (note: i didnt add steph cass and duke bc idk shit abt them😔)

i like to focus on characters' dynamic rather than the characters themselves, so maybe this isn't 100% accurate, i just wanted to make my fav duos work well together. the thought of tartaglia dick and kaeya damian poisoned my mind sm that i went and built cryo childe (very fun to play with emblem of severed fate kaeya)... i just cant get them outta my head and also cant decide what i like most: older brother dick or father dick🥹

diluc coded bruce who gets upset when another one of his kids gets anything but a pyro vision is so hilarious to me. he's so sad that no one of them shares his ideals. i wasn't sure with jason and tim tho, jason looks very much like pyro vision haver to me but i gave him anemo vision so bruce could be even more upset. more drama for drama god but it kinda makes sense in my head

with tim it was difficult... i just dk him much but dendro kinda made sense and i decided to leave it like this. aside from him being the smart kid he reminds me of tighnari so be it. i also think he's slightly dottore coded idk why... he was so pissed of being kicked outta the academia (he walked there through half of teyvat!!! on foot!!! just to educate himself!!!) that he burned the place down. and maybe (just maybe😉) some of his pyro friends helped him do that. ofc bruce wasn't very happy with that🙄

i also did this to some rogues and jla members but not enough to make separate posts so maybe later... when i finish hyper focusing on genshin god save me it happens again

[bishimightwing]

Tag dump vol.1 - issue#2 - naughty tag, TWs, OOC PSA, friend and foe muses tags, self and other blog promos

Friend/Loved ones tags get blue 💙 hearts

PLZ DON'T REBLOG

[drakefisher]

from the Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception manual (via The Manual Project)

[wearingraincoats]

There are hits and misses on this Nick Drake cover album but this one is definitely a hit. It’s been a while since I’ve yearned so hard for a song to be featured in a tv series, preferably at a key moment.

[unchartedperils]

Onto the longfics.

My first unofficially finished (will explain more below) longfic is an Uncharted 3 AU/Fix It with crossover elements featuring Elena kidnapped by Katherine Marlowe and her Hermetic Order in Yemen instead of Sully. We basically “fix” the second half in combo with kidnapping Elena, retconning Rameses and his pirate arc, and giving Marlowe/Talbot more proper boss battles at the end of 3 in Ubar.

Note: unfortunately due to me not knowing much about let alone embracing the traditional chapter structure of AO3 until late 2021, this fic is in a “series” format as is Uncharted: Samuel’s Fortune, Uncharted: Drake’s Damsels, Uncharted: Flaming Abyss, and Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Marina Sanchez. And outside of the first chapter, it’s unofficially finished (lots of edits still to be done at some point chapter 1 onwards if I ever get time)

Warnings for Uncharted Finding Ubar: contains kidnapping, non consensual bondage (including mummification), groping, spanking and implied rape in addition to Uncharted 3’s strong language, violent action, featuring of creepy crawlies, drugging featuring hallucinations, temporary major character deaths, and major villain deaths

[incorrectbatfam]

Okay so it just occurred to me that Bruce’s initials are BTW, as in By The Way, something I’m sure he says a lot given he’s a Corrector™️ who Knows Things.

In that vein, what do all the Batfam members’ initials stand for (wrong answers only of course)?

Richard John Grayson: Really Just a Guy

Jason Peter Todd: Jersey's Public Terror

Timothy Jackson Drake: Tired Juvenile Delinquent

Damian Al Ghul Wayne: Department of Animal Welfare

Duke canon didn't give him one Thomas: Daytime Television

Cullen also doesn't have a middle name Row: Crying rn

Stephanie are you fucking kidding me Brown: Sourdough Bread

Cassandra Wu-San Cain: Cool Women's Club

Barbara Joan Gordon: Bureau of Just Google it

Harper i'm tempted to make one up Row: Home Repairs

Caroline Keene Kelley: Camp Kit Kat

Katherine Rebecca Kane: Know your Rights, Kids

Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth: All The Canon's Piss

Selina this is why dc sucks Kyle: Smol Kittens

Bruce Thomas Wayne: Batman's True Wife

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

KATHERINA MINOLA (THE TAMING OF THE SHREW) (CW: Domestic Abuse)

1.) We had to read this for English my senior year. I got so mad at the way she's treated. She's the titular "shrew" of the play. She has to be married off before her younger sister can get married, because that makes sense.

Then the most dogshit man imaginable comes along, and everybody thinks they're perfect. He literally gaslights her and denies her food and water.

Fuck Petruchio and Katherine Minola deserved better!

2.) Literally the whole play is about how she is so awful that the main guy needs to change her entire personality, which he does as a challenge not because he likes her, and then proceeds to her abuse her for the rest of the play. Yet, he is portrayed as the hero, not a villain and she is shown to have "improved" at the end. People will say, oh it's open to interpretation, it can be played different ways, it's satire, but i don't find abuse funny and there is a distinct lack of commentary in the play to count as satire imo. Taming of the Shrew is a tragedy not a comedy, I will die on this hill. Kate deserves better!

3.) The title isn’t joking, ya’ll. She literally gets broken like a rebellious feral animal and it’s treated as a happy ending.

BARBARARA GORDON (DC COMICS) (CW: Ableism)

1.) Famously fridged in 1988, which was so popular with misogynists it became canon. After almost 2 decades of being one of the only disabled characters, was rebooted to a younger, more fun version of herself whose only history is that she was fridged but not disabled by it.

2.) The Killing Joke is one of the biggest comic examples of a female character getting hurt to motivate male characters. Also tbe way different cannons will trade off who her romantic intrest is out of Batfamily is pretty disturbing ranging from Bruce Wayne in Batman the Animated series universe (ew) to Tim Drake in the Arkham games (ew). Not to mention DC now is not letting her grow out of being Batgirl taking away her legacy of other young female heroes taking up her mantle and her getting to mentor them instead forcing her into a Batgirl cycle of purgatory when she was always better as Oracle (Its a little more complicated in the new Batgirl book but its still not solving the issues in a way that feels meaningful enough to make up the damage).

3.) Was shot as angst value for Bruce and her dad, implied to be sexually assaulted in The Killing Joke with absolutely no respect for her long career as Batgirl. When Alan Moore asked if he could, the editor said "cripple the bitch." She became paralyzed from the waist down. THankfully, an actually good writer picked her up from there and then wrote one of the best stories ever written (Oracle Year One: Born from Hope). Was one of the most iconic disabled characters in comic book history, hell, as Oracle, she was definitely up there as one of the most iconic disabled characters ever as well as a fantastic character, period. There were a few moments where people kept trying to make things out of her disability and had her be shitty to other women for no reason but for the most part, she was awesome. During her time In 2011, Dan Didio and some other misogynistic/ableist comic book writers were responsible for "curing" her disability and forcing her back into Batgirl, despite her having shown absolutely no desire to do so, as part of the New 52. They also made it an editorial mandate that she couldn't have glasses, a cool secret base, and her time as Oracle couldn't be referenced. This was because those writers were nostalgic for the 60s Batman show where Babs was played by an actress they all had the hots for and couldn't accept she'd grown up and moved on. That was bad enough, but over time, she's been increasingly deaged and reduced even further to just Dick Grayson's on and off again girlfriend and a generic girlboss. Batgirl of Burnsides burn in hell.