'what am i to do?' a kneeling brother asks of another. 'what am i to do, now that we are this---unwanted, cast away, too soft where we bore scars, beaten down worse than any battle that we've faced? what am i to do when i have failed like this?'
'i do not know,' the other says to his brother, 'i do not know. we both kneel here on creaking floors rather than grass. we both kneel here before a door without a key. we kneel without swords and unknown skies outside. i do not know what you are to do, my king, but we are here. and we will live on.'
'how can you have hope where loss is all i feel?'
'our sister will forever know more. if nothing else, no silent lion or unmoved wardrobe, i have faith in her. as should you.'
'i am sorry. i fear i've grown into a burden rather than a king.'
'no burden, my king. they will not snatch silver and gold from us forever. grief will be carried by us regardless of your shaking hands. so let me help you up.'
'you are more than i deserve.'
'better remember that you named me justice between marble and sky, you stubborn oaf. i shall be the judge of what you deserve.'
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The Seraphim & The Concept of Self
I wonder who picked the Seraphim's outfits cause at first glance when you only look at S-Hawk and S-Snake it feels like there's a standard uniform. then you see the whole group and there's definitely some individuality going on; like S-Bear just wearing a mini kuma outfit, S-Shark with the gi, my man Moria got a little suspender situation going on over there. S-mingo wearing a whole ass hawain shirt. So there's definitely some variety though they all incorporate white in some way. And I wonder if maybe they got some input into what they wore one of the only acts of "free will" they were allowed was choosing whether they wore shorts or long pants which is as adorable as it is sad.
Because think about the implications that they are dressed to the taste of their adult counterparts, right down to how doffy and mihawk like to open their shirts (except for S-Snake which thank god) but yeah what if it wasn't an allowance of free will but a test to see just how deep DNA ran. If it could influence something as simple as choice of clothing, just another fact for Vega punk to marvel at.
Or maybe the clothes were chosen by one of the Vega punks (I can imagine Shaka doing it) or one of the other various lab assistants. And it's just another way to get them to embody the warlords, to reinforce who they were cloned to be, impressing on them that they are not their own people, their lives are not their own. They are already predetermined; from what powers they get, to what weapons they use, even down to what clothes they wear. Everything reinforces that they are not people, just "better" "stronger" versions of someone else.
Either way, and It might have not have been purposely meant that way because I'm pretty sure Vega punk doesn't really register them as human (which is weird cause he treats stussy very humanly and a whole other can of worms seeing as they seem to be aware and possess a personality to some capacity) it's another way of dehumanizing them, reducing them to the people they are meant to become. They have no "free will" no illusion of choice; they have a predetermined destiny, a pre-determined order, there was never any room for choice even down to the shirts on their back.
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Bruce isn't the best parent, but a chunk of the issue is that he's an only child. Should he stop Jason and Dick from throwing Damian back and forth like a human ball? Is Tim threatening to bite Cass an issue? Are those death threats serious or not? The poor man is an only child trying to run herd on at least a half dozen feral siblings. He exists in a state of constant confusion.
I.
This isn’t to be mean, but that is simply not the case.
I keep getting bad parent bruce takes and it sucks because all of them aren’t even proper reasoning for his character.
I’m just using you as an example, but hear me out.
Bruce is an extremely smart person, Homie has watched movies and read books, he can learn from situations around him that things are sibling things. Sure, he was excluded as a kid, but that isn’t nearly the main issue why he isn’t the best parent.
homie has so much shit wrong with him, he’s emotionally just not there, he keeps himself stuck in a perpetual state of grief and mourning for his parents of a thing that happened when he was a child, he has been trained by assassins and has experienced loss and pain to an insane extent, he has such an insane extent of paranoia and trust issues that it affects his daily life, is definitely autistic, and has issues with social cues.
I’m trying to properly articulate just why that’s not the case but my brain isn’t working with me so I’m handing this over to my twin @bonebrokebuddy who is far more articulate than me.
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Hi, it's Billy, Bones's twin writing because Bones had a hard time putting this into words and I'm more of a canon nitpick than her.
Uh- have you ever. And I mean even once, met an only child.
I promise, if you read even a singular comic, you could tell this take is incredibly out of character.
Bruce isn’t a good parent. He’s also not a bad parent. He loves his kids. He literally could not stop them from pulling dumb shit if they tried and putting themselves into danger.
Bruce is the worlds greatest detective. He knows how to spot and detect emotions and trouble in his kids. He’s The Worlds Greatest Detective.
His issue with being a parent likely comes from having Alfred as a father figure. Imagine having a dad that you can fire at any time, you pay so they can stay with you, and can just leave at any moment if they don’t approve of the person they work for. That will severely fuck up a kid.
His issue isn’t that he’s an only child, it’s that it’s every Robin’s god given right to go against and defy Batman’s orders whenever possible because kids are viscous little buggers who don’t like being told “you can’t do that” even if it’s for their own health, they’ll do it anyway.
After you’ve taught your kids how to exist in deadly situations, they think they’re invincible when it’s because Bruce is doing all he fucking can to make sure his kids don’t get hurt. If they feel like they can make the world a better place, they’ll do it, regardless of the risk because they’re inherently self sacrificing and good people.
Bruce’s issue with parenting is due to his relationship with his kids. Again, it isn’t that he’s an only child, it’s that the kids he adopted are their own people and they are even more stubborn and bad at communication as him.
Even more so, it’s due to the dang narrative.
Conflict between Bruce and his kids that cause them to separate has been the backstory for plenty of solo batkid runs to endure Batman isn’t as involved or the main focus of the run.
Narrative tension is literally the cause of all the bad parent decisions for Bruce, because conflict drives narrative or miscommunications cause the story to lengthen and complicate itself
it’s not as easy as “Bruce is bad dad” because he’s Not. Bruce is good with kids! He has a pouch in his utility belt specifically with suckers for kids!
But Bruce isn't a great world star dad either. He definitely inherited his ability to communicate with people outside crisis situations largely from trainers around the world and his arms-length-distance-at-all-times distance relationship with the butler who raised him.
Despite him being good with kids, his kids have lives of their own with morals and opinions of their own that conflict and clash constantly. It’s not a simple case of “Bruce is a bad dad.”
It’s a case of “everyone has slightly different opinions and approaches to situations so occasionally conflict happens when they clash or interfere with each other” because it’s a comic that tells a story!
Anyways, my recommendation? Pick up a comic. And preferably? Read it. Or watch BTAS if it’s more accessible to you. either works.
This opinion isn't your fault most likely, just the quality of the DC fan-content you've been consuming that are incredibly removed from the comics. If you want, DM me at @bonebrokebuddy and I can send you some good quality DC fics with in-character Bruce.
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Bones here again,
That basically sums up the exact stuff I couldn’t properly describe. I was using you more as an example because I have dozens of bad parent bruce takes in my inbox and I am 90% sure that the cause of them is that they simply haven’t read anything about the character.
Read a comic, read some strictly DC fanfiction, watch some of the many many TV shows and animated movies, there are even motion comics free online to watch that have voice acting and everything!
Being an only child doesn’t make you a bad father.
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