#librarian babs

[welcometogrouchland]

I understand that literature nerd Jason Todd is kind of overblown in fanon compared to it's actual presence in canon (a few issues during his pre (and post?)crisis Robin tenure that highlight it) BUT consider that I think it's hilarious if the unhinged gun toting criminal has strong opinions on poetry

[fantastic-nonsense]

Hello!! As you can tell from your notifs somebody may or may not have gone through your Barbara Gordon tag haha. But anyways, I have been meaning to make a little slideshow for my friends about Babs for god knows why reasons and couldn't quite find enough of the Behind The Scenes stuff that you, and many other blogs like you seem to find. Do you know any good resources for this? Specifically though, I have been wondering a lot more about why they got her back to Batgirl for the N52. I've seen a lot of chatter about it but I've never really seen a genuine source (or i forgot, idk ;;).

But yeah, I know this is a lot to ask for, but if you answer, tyvm !!! rlly appreciate it :]]

Hi! Sorry about the delayed response. You're perfectly welcome to trawl through any tag you want. Thank you for liking my posts!

The answer to your question is a bit complicated, because quite a bit of it is a combination of "I've been in the fandom a long time," "I go hunting for interviews and explanations whenever I write meta or discuss things with people," "several industry professionals are on social media and answer questions/volunteer information occasionally," "I interact with a lot of people who read comics across multiple platforms and so see a lot of the information they dig up and post," and "sometimes stuff just pops across my dash and I remember it."

Because there's absolutely stuff to read about on some aspects of this, but other things are just pulled from my experience as a fan & long-time comic reader of ~15 years who happens to know a bit about the industry. There's not really any one place to look, unfortunately; half the battle is knowing there's something to look for in the first place, to be honest. Some of my more historical knowledge (especially as it regards the Comics Code and the impact it had on the industry) comes from academic resources and pop history books, but largely? A lot of it is just hunting down interviews and other peoples' write-ups and old twitter Q&As and forum rumors to see if you can get an industry professional on record saying it.

I have been wondering a lot more about why they got her back to Batgirl for the N52

I don't have time to do a full write-up on this question, unfortunately. It deserves one, because there's a LOT of nonsense and drama. But......tl;dr: sexism, ableism, racism, and a small handful of creatives and upper management who couldn't let go of their childhoods and allow characters to grow, age, and move on from the roles they occupied when those creatives were teenagers. Babs specifically has been subject to a ridiculous amount of industry-level sexism and ableism since Denny O'Neil retired as Head Editor/Group Editor of the Bat Office in the early 2000s, but both of those things were ramped up to 11 with the advent of the New 52 and it's had a dramatic impact on her narrative direction and the quality of the content that's featured her.

At some point I'll do a full write-up focused on Babs (rather than Cass, which is who the two write-ups I've already done have focused on), but....yeah. Dan Didio and a handful of other creatives couldn't stand that Babs was a successful, independent, disabled female hero in her early 30s with connections outside of the Batfam. So they de-aged her, gave her back the use of her legs, axed all of her friendships (especially with other women), disallowed reference to anyone or anything that acknowledged her pre-existing skillset or the existence of "Oracle" as a good thing, and refused to let her move on from The Killing Joke. Her character growth trajectory has been static and even regressive ever since.

[papaiyatree]

silly headcanon that means nothing : i think barbara gordon is a fan of maxi skirts and dresses, she likes how flowy it is and prefers it over pants bc more air comes in

[mistergreatbones]

Thinking about different fandoms I’ve been in and some of my favs have been Logan Sanders, Echo Badbatch, and Barbara Gordon. Apparently I have a type and that type is Lame.

[nobody-knose--archive]

reason number 94142 why webcomics are good: i can't think of many safer options in this day & age for a little kid than plunking them on a browser with an adblocker and letting them read an (age-appropriate) webcomic for as much as they like. it's got all the benefits of like kids' youtube minus The Algorithm

[oldfangirl81]

"Excuse me, Hi, I’m writing a term paper on the finer things in life and I was wondering if I could interview you?" Danny's voice didn't actually reveal his nervousness.

Barbara started laughing so hard at the expression Jason had on his face. She noticed Danny's friend was filming. Later she'd have to get a copy to send to the group chat.

"Is this a dare?" Jason was trying to remain calm, if only so Babs didn't yell at him breaking something again.

"Eh...kinda. Only the timing was the dare. I'd been wanting to ask you out for a few weeks. My friend Sam and I made a dare with no limits for the winner. She demanded I finally ask you out. Apparently I'm pathetic when I pine."

"Yeah, you are." Tucker was snickering over Danny not being any more suave with the same gender.

"So do you want to go on a date with me?" Danny asked ignoring Tucker and the laughing librarian.

[clockwayswrites]

City Pigeons Bleed Green - Part 13

Cass looked up as Jason came out of Danny’s room. He looked better.

After Danny had been stabilized, Cass had taken Jason away from the safe house and to Jason’s place with the gym in the basement. She knew what it was like to have that need to act— to hurt to ruin to end— burning under her skin. She gave Jason the fight that he needed, letting him punch and kick until they were both covered in bruises and he was shaking apart in her arms.

Today he looked better.

“N is going to stay with Danny,” Jason said with a little nod backwards.

Dick, Jason, Tim, and herself had all been taking turns staying with their new brother. He was sleeping a lot right then; he was waking with nightmares a lot too. Waking up with one of them touching him seemed to help him calm the quickest so they took turns staying close.

“Red?” Cass asked with a little tilt of her head.

Jason glanced at the clock on the oven as he opened the fridge. He wasn’t really hungry, but eating out of habit. “He’ll be over here in two hours, I he doesn’t get distracted.”

“Be nice. Red cares. He’ll be here,” she said.

Jason seemed to settle on something and popped the top off before throwing it in the microwave. “Yeah… yeah. Danny’s pretty much wormed his way into all of our hearts, hasn’t he?”

“Yes. Will for rest too.”

Jason snorted. “As if he already hasn’t with B. They didn’t need to meet for that. You know how the old man is, a real bleeding heart of stone.”

Cass rolled her eyes and ordered again, “Be nice.”

Jason frowned at her but she just smiled serenely back until he rolled his eyes. It was a win enough for her.

The heated food was set on a trivet between them and Jason stuck two forks in it.

“I’m thinking we get O in here in a few days,” he said around his own large bite of lasagna. “Danny is healing better this time, but we don’t know what sort of set back this will cause mentally and all. Having another set of hands would be good.”

“O will like him.”

“Course she will,” Jason said with almost a scoff.

“No O and Red,” Cass added thoughtfully after she had chewed her own bite. This was definitely Jason lasagna and not Alfred lasagna.

“Yeah… I don’t think I’m going to trust those three in a room together for a long time,” Jason said with a dawning sort of horror. “Danny took apart the remote here and now it has buttons for services I didn’t even know existed. I swear it will change shows on its own too if no one is paying attention to it. It’s useful, I guess, but a little creepy.”

“Ghost brother,” Cass said with a little shrug.

Jason’s eyes narrowed before he let out an exhausted sounding sigh. “I hate that you might be right. Our controller could be haunted now.”

“Alas poor Yorick?”

“Wrong character,” Jason said, pointing with his fork, “but that is a play with a ghost in it so good job.”

Cass smiled happily at the praise. “Once Red is here, you and me errands?”

“You just want to buy Danny another present,” Jason said, jabbing his fork in her direction.

“Yes,” she said with zero shame.

Jason rolled his eyes. “Fine, but we have to do groceries too.”

-

Babs had been warned that Danny was still very skittish, but he hadn’t actually expected him to freeze like a scared rabbit when she came into the apartment. She stopped rolling forward and moved her hands to where he could see them both clearly.

“Hi Danny,” she said with her kindest librarian voice that she had. “I’m Oracle. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Danny shook his head, the motion ran through him like a shudder and whatever had frozen him shook off him like water off a dog. His smile was still shaky though, so Babs didn’t think that whatever the reaction had been was completely done.

“Hi, Oracle.” His voice was soft, rough, a little broken.

She’d heard from a number of the bats about the latest development and the trauma that went with it, but it as still something to see someone that looked like a young Bruce covered in bandages and looking more than worse for the wear.

“Are you alright if I come in? If you aren’t, that’s alright. I’ll just talk with Nightwing in the hall for a little.”

“No, you can come in,” Danny said, sitting up a little straighter. His eyes flicked over her again. “It’s just… your hair reminded me of someone is all. No one… no one bad.”

Babs offered him a smile and came the rest of the way into the apartment. “If that changes, just let me know.”

“It’s fine, really,” Danny said, though the words were still a little bit of a whisper.

“Well then,” Dick said, interrupting the end of the oddly tense moment, “Babs, do you want any hot chocolate?”

“Thank you, but without the mountain of whip cream I know you liked to put on it,” she said, giving Dick a playful glare.

He shrugged unrepentantly. “Danny?”

“Yes please,” he said. He was fussing with the blanket he had been sitting under, folding it up just so.

Babs moved towards the kitchen to give him a little bit of space and the illusion of some privacy.

‘What was that about?’ Babs asked Dick silently through raised eye brows, a slightly twisted frown, and a subtle nod towards the living room.

‘Not a damn clue,’ is what Dick’s shrug said back.

It almost made Babs sigh.

Danny was still a complete mystery to her. While they were being good and had avoided taking blood or fingerprints from Danny, Barbara had at least been trying to find Danny’s path through the city. She’d been saying for days now that the boy was like a ghost.

She just didn’t expect that to be as literal as it was.

The nickname had lost any of its fun.

“Danny, whipped cream for you?” Dick asked.

Danny’s eyes darted from Dick to Babs.

“Oh, feel free to have it like N,” Babs said with a smile. “I just don’t have the sweet tooth that he does.”

“She never has, it’s tragic,” Dick said with a sigh as he started to warm a pot of milk. “So, whipped cream.”

“Um, yes,” Danny said.

“I will take sprinkles though,” Babs said. “Do you have the little—”

“Bats?” Dick scoffed. “Of course I have the little bats. You can’t have proper hot chocolate without the little bat sprinkles.”

“Of course not,” words serious but unable to help the little smile that she sported.

“You all really like the theme, don’t you?” Danny asked, though he was smiling too now.

“The boy in the hoddie with the Bat logo on it does not get to talk,” Dick said and tossed a large marshmallow at Danny with pin point accuracy.

Danny caught it effortlessly and started to pull it apart with a little shrug. “Hood got if for me as a present.”

“Of course he did,” Tim said as he finally emerged from wherever he had been tucked away. He handed the tablet he was carrying over to Danny before he sat down in the neighboring armchair. “He’s just trying to claim you first, as if him and I didn’t find you together.”

“Hot chocolate, Red?” Dick asked while Danny was busy looking bewildered at that.

“Sure, but add some coffee to it?” Tim asked.

“No,” Dick replied far too cheerfully. “But seriously Dandelion, a Bat logo from a Bat means something.”

Danny’s face scrunched up at that and he looked down at himself. “I don’t think… he was trying to claim me?”

Babs snorted. “Oh, trust us, he was absolutely claiming you. He probably felt that he had to do something material to even start to compete with B.B., as if he wasn’t cooking for you all the time.”

Danny stared back at her with wide blue eyes. The open surprise and desperate want was odd to see on someone that looked so much like Bruce. Damian certainly never let himself appear that way.

“And Red is already souping up your tablet, I’m assuming— though if you really want an improvement let me see it,” she continued, talking over Tim’s little snort, “and N is making you the special hot chocolate. Even Signal is thinking what he can get you and Spoiler is whining that she hasn’t met you yet.”

“She is getting so annoying,” Tim whined while Danny stuffed the shredded marshmallow in his mouth, likely to get out of saying anything. He looked more than a little teary eyed. Tim gave him the out by continuing, “We’ll have her over one morning when she’ll be tired and easily distracted by waffles. You’re not up for the full Spoiler experience yet.”

“Trust Red on that,” Dick interjected as he stirred the coco, “he dated her.”

“I don’t know what either of us were thinking,” Tim said with a sigh. “We are both way too high maintenance in different ways for it to have worked.”

“You were still waiting for you bi awakening, baby bird, you were missing out on half the options,” Dick said. He dropped one of the oversized marshmallows in each of the four mugs before pouring the scalding hot chocolate over it.

Babs left him to his sorcery and wheeled over to the couch before working her way onto it. Danny helpfully moved the blanket out of the way and then offered it back after. She draped it carefully over her legs.

“So what did Red do to your tablet?”

“I actually didn’t do anything,” Tim said, and then had to pause. “Well, not after I gave it to Danny at least. I was just making sure everything was still good. Danny’s been tinkering with it.”

Danny gave a little shrug and picked at the edge of his hoodie.

“Do you like engineering then? Or inventing?” Babs asked, trying to encourage Danny to open up a little.

“Yeah, my— I—, I mean…” Danny stumbled over his words. He lost some of his color with each false start until he was worryingly grey. He swallowed thickly. “Yeah, I used to at least.”

“Danny, hot chocolate,” Dick said with impeccable timing as always.

Danny whispered a thanks and took the almost overflowing mug. He could basically hide behind the mound of whipped cream and he definitely tried to. Babs took the offered mug with a much more modest dollop but an absurd amount of bat sprinkles. Her lips twitched up in a smile as she took a sip.

Tim’s portion was somewhere in between Bab’s and Danny and of course Dick’s was practically laughable. It’s a wonder he didn’t make an absolute mess of himself drinking it as they argued over a movie to watch. It was clever of the Bats, really, they had started to narrow down how long Danny had been a test subject by what movies he had seen or not.

It was somewhere between seventeen and twenty-three months.

Nearly two years.

They were all lucky that Danny had made it out at all. They all knew the statistics of something like that.

Hot chocolate turned into dinner turned into Danny cuddling Dick on the couch and eventually resting against Bab’s legs. A good sign about her acceptance, according to the birds.

“Oracle?”

Babs had thought that Danny was asleep. She reached out to run the tips of her fingers through his hair. The lights from the movie that was still playing glinted off her pink nails. “Yes, Danny?”

“If I asked… would you be able to find someone for me?”

She tilted her head. “The person that I remind you of?”

“Yes. Just… just so that I know she’s okay.”

“Is she in danger?”

“No, she’s not like me. She’s…” Danny cut himself off, swallowing back the words.

“But you’d still like to know.”

“Yes.”

Babs hummed. It was technically an abuse of her powers, but they were something she abused all the time. “Yes, if you ask me to, I can find out if she’s okay.”

“Okay. I’ll… maybe I’ll ask. Thank you.”

“Of course, Danny.”

---

AN: I struggled with this chapter at first, but it was because I was jumping right to Barbara meeting Danny and not giving the others some more time to deal with the change in Danny. They still haven't really dealt with it, right now they're focused on healing and getting more help through Babs being around.

All our poor Bat's. So attached already and so traumatized.

But not as traumatized as Danny...

Stay delightful, darlings!

[daigah]

The world could be beautiful (non-batgirl oracle babs as a queer disabled wheelchair user in her 30s with her phd and librarian job)

[breadandblankets]

how i hc duke's relationships with the other (main) bats

bruce: mentor/friend/weird HS teacher u bond with kinda thing, i think bruce on his end still feels simmering guilt for not being there for duke when he needed him, duke feel simmering resentment towards bruce for being another adult that left him, this will boil over at some point but then they'll get over it, they will never be that dumb nuclear found family thing, i think doug and elaine would like bruce tho so maybe one of those friend of the family situations where u call someone ur not related to aunt/uncle

cass: very very good friends, would probably consider her a sister from another mister if u will, i would hesitate to call her a best friend *gestures at all of war* but i think she's up there, i really love the headcanon that there is some tension on duke's end because cass has the ability to be more efficient but she actively chooses not to, i think for a long time duke is going to be holding some unhealthy and unrealistic standards both for himself and also people around him, like everything else this causes tension then erupts before it gets resolved, cass i think would know about said tension the whole time but have no idea how to bring up the issue or how to even think about resolving it so it drags on

dick: i think duke holds a grudge for the robin war thing, and i think he fucking should iykyk, (the way he just leaves duke on a roof??? with cops????, i was shouting at my fucking comic) idk i think dick would probably make light of it for a while but duke would be real fucking clear that he remembers and won't be forgiving and forgetting any time soon, i think they're acquaintances at best but realistically, coworkers

damian: like cass Extremely good friends, found family if you will, honestly i think they got a lot of their interpersonal issues out of the way before duke becomes signal, so really its a matter of time before they actually become friends and not just acquaintances, they're old man young to me, i think they do old man things like feed birds in the park and play Go together, i think damian is probably one of the only people duke doesn't hold to his standards, he thinks damian deserves to be a kid, making damian be a kid is probably some of the only time that duke is forced to relax by proxy, therefore duke and damian's friendship is strongly encouraged by bruce who is out of his depth for what to do with both of them and throwing them at each other seems to be working (👍 parenting)

tim: i honestly don't think they know each other well, like i think they may have talked once??? so i don't have shit to base their relationship off, generally i think they're amicable if distant, like a coworker you say hi to at the coffee machine

babs: i Need them to interact, honestly it would be really funny if duke meets babs for the first time as oracle and he's just like??? you're my favorite librarian? and babs is like !! we missed you when you stopped volunteering!!! and duke has to be like yeah that was the joker, i think they would have a good relationship, they don't work together all that much cause oracle doesn't run duke's ops and duke isn't usually on the night shift but they know they can call each other in if they need. one of duke's few trusted AdultsTM

jason: i think rocky at the start, duke would definitely have some Memories of the red hood, that would probably be a hill to overcome, but i generally think that jason will eventually move into a more positive position in the city even with the shadows of all that stuff following him ofc. they are absolute Assholes to each other in a way that is clearly affection, jason will let duke get away with anything up to and including murder, duke will never let jason get away with anything, its like a typo in the group chat

steph: re same as tim, and babs practically nothing to base the relationship on BUT i think they would get on like a house on fire, like cass: sister from another mister energy, steph is giving duke the "you just found out ur dad is a supervillain" support he needs, they are the only bats successfully going to college they probably go to events on campus together, idk they have so much potential as the forgotten robins and all that, i think they should bully bruce together that would be so fun.

[trexiejan]

My opinion : Babs was deaged to be with Dick.

Okay so I've seen so many dickbabs shippers try to deny that Barbara was deaged to fit Dick for the purpose of defending dickbabs or make them look better i guess. They keep saying that wasn't the reason why she was deaged. they always point to the 1st time she got deaged.

like why are they so upset when they see people say that. I wonder if they care more about the ship than barbara as an individual character.

cuz if they truly liked Barbara separately from Dickbabs maybe all the anti-dickbabs comments wouldn't be an issue for them. 🤷‍♀️

anyway i'm going to explain why it's true.

here's the thing :

Barbara was deaged more than once.

Crisis on Infinite Earths wasn't the only time she was deaged, she got deaged again in other books/continuites.

So The real question is where did they deage her to be the same age as Dick to make them work not when was she first deaged. (we all know it's always in dickbabs comics where she's written as the same age as dick, i wonder why)

The 1st time she was deaged was in Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was so Jim could be younger but they only decreased her age slightly because she's still written as older than Dick, here is a panel from Secret Origins #20 that was published in 1986 exactly 1 year after she was deaged in Crisis on infinite earths (1985) she said Dick is too young for her and that batman is always the one on her mind. So Dickbabs during this time still has a big age gap so they're still unable to work.

The 2nd time or 3rd time she was deaged is in dickbabs comics where she was finally made the same age as Dick so dickbabs can finally work as romantic pairing. 

Instead of being older she's now written as a part of Dick's generation.

From a congresswoman to someone who went to highschool prom with Dick.

Even Tom Taylor wrote them as childhood sweethearts so he can portray them as soulmates in his comics. a huge wtf moment for me because Babs wasn't originally this young when she first met Dick 😭

pls She had a PHD, has been working as a librarian and congresswoman when dick was still a young boy in gotham.

Barbara is now written as a part of his generation and his one true love since day 1. (from an independent congresswoman to Dick's childhood sweetheart and girlfriend who revolves around him)

Before Dickbabs couldn't work because of their age gap but now they can work. thanks to dickbabs comics deaging barbara again and this time for the sole purpose of reducing Babs into Dick's love interest.

So Just because she wasn't deaged to be with Dick in her 1st deaging doesn't mean she wasn't deaged to be with Dick in her 2nd or 3rd deaging 🙃

Dickbabs shippers can deny it all they want but at the end of the day dickbabs wouldn't have worked out if she wasn't deaged to be the same age as dick.

and even if they're right, let's say for the sake of their argument they're right that babs wasn't deaged to be with dick, it still doesn't change the fact that dickbabs is weird.

Regardless if Babs was deaged to be with Dick or not, It's still weird to see Dick being put in a relationship with a woman who was originally a congresswoman when he was still in highschool.  

It's like deaging Batman into a teenager (like let's say it's because they want to make Bruce appealing to teenagers) but years later they decided to give him a love interest who is also a teenager as part of the new batman stories.

So even though his deaging has nothing to do with women or shipping in the first place, it's still weird to suddenly see Batman in a relationship with women who are a part of dick's generation knowing he was originally much older than them.

Like Bruce/Raven or Bruce/Starfire suddenly becoming a thing 🤢 No amount of deaging would be able to justify those pairings.

The same happened to Barbara she was originally a part of Batman and Superman's generation.

for goodness sake she dated Superman!!!! She was so much older than Dick.

Also remember when Dickbabs was originally a pedo-like ship and it was so controversial and hated the same way Brucebabs was hated today? Because Barbara the adult woman is kissing minor grayson but now she's fully making out and having sex with minor grayson in dickbabs comics.

The reason why Dickbabs fans don't want people talking about this is because they care more about making dickbabs look good than barbara's independence. They don't care that Barbara lost her independence, her phd, her solo careers, her librarian and congresswoman job because of dickbabs shipping.

They don't view Barbara as a character seperate from dick. Barbara is trapped in this relationship because of people like them. They don't fight for Barbara's independence. The only thing they want from her is to be the girlfriend of Dick and nothing else. It is so hard for them to let Barbara Gordon be independent and not just “Nightwings girlfriend."

Barbara's real enemy is the dickbabs ship. Before, she is able to stand on her own, but now she's nothing more than just a love interest who can't live without dick and too dependent on him and his solo books to exist.

DC really needs to get Barbara some actual character building that doesn't involve Nightwing whatsoever but it's hard to do that when she won't even stop chasing Dick nonstop like a dog in his solo books and thinking about him 24/7 because of writers like tom taylor who is always busy making babs' entire personality all about dick than writing solo babs stories.

Dickbabs is unnecessary and disservice to her character, it does nothing for her independence. She is forever demoted to Dick's love interest unless they free her from this ship.

poor babs she deserves better than people who only want to associate her with dick 24/7.

[franollie]

Oh for the outfit meme Babs as A3 or C6 cuz those give major librarian vibes to me

a babsies for you

[mysterycitrus]

Thinking about Jim, do you think he also gets this good cop good father protection because of Barbara Gordon's admiration of him? Reading it from Barbara's perspective like all her stories have Jim Gordon as the best dad and her wanting to be a cop or as a child being the gcpd little cheerleader. Like trying to tie that with her role as Oracle but then even thinking of like The Hill where Jim shot and killed a teenager and his response to the mother was that the kid was armed like... it is hard to think that she would have that blind admiration of him. I also think she is more willing to work with morally questionable characters since she has a history of working with those types of characters. What do you think DC needs to do with Barbara Gordon to get actual interest in her again?

the solution for babs is simple — she needs to be oracle again.

no ifs whens or buts — babs being batgirl again is such a spectacular downgrade from her time as oracle it’s almost unreal. babs as a character, her growth after being shot, her rediscovery and pursuit of her own autonomy, her vindictiveness, her need for control, her relationships with the birds and wendy and cass and steph, make her an infinitely richer and more interesting character than when she wears the cowl. that’s even ignoring the ableist rhetoric behind her “reclaiming” her power by getting an implant and leaving her chair, which like, vom, because it’s a whole other can of worms.

unlike batwoman where there’s a completely different identity and mantle that’s seperate from bruce, batgirl is unequivocally the subordinate to batman. the girl denotes her lack of authority. cass and helena come the closest to shaking this off, but it’s still a very deliberate character dynamic that dc upholds. batgirl 2009 also successfully orients the mantle around babs and steph, but a large part of that is that bruce isn’t present in the story.

babs was at least two years older than dick in the original canon. she was a librarian who had a life outside of the community. she was a support for other disabled women. she’d tell bruce to shut the fuck up to his face. she was singularly the most important resource to the league and all other hero teams. she was a complicated person with a lot of trauma, not the cool girlfriend archetype. i also dislike that she’s dating dick while he’s nightwing and she’s still batgirl. imagine if they made dick robin again and had him date babs as oracle. it’d be so weird!

wrt jim gordon— a lot of babs’s unequivocal support of him comes from dc’s general inability to admit that he’s a deeply flawed human being in a position of power. the narrative rarely actually criticises him over his decisions. however, i also think people forget that like…. a lot of babs’s politics is tied up with the police. she’s essentially a one woman surveillance state, and she historically struggles with boundaries around the people she loves. she does work with people that the other bats wouldn’t — isley, waller, etc, but i don’t think that necessarily separates her from the police because often the police or armed forces do the same thing. her modus operandi is also very similar to bruce in a lot of ways too.

in saying that tho, i do appreciate that she’s willing to just say fuck it, full throttle and getting a god damned law degree to bust bruce out of a murder charge. she’s an icon. let her be cunty again!!

[5-7-9]

There’s a level of irony here about how a daughter of a cop who she dearly loved and believed in, being symbolized against cops

in fact, even in the comic her campaign manager is a former police detective. Furthering just how connected she was/is.

I know they offhandedly make sure we knew Babs changed her mind about vigilantism+police after Batman’s and Gordon’s death, but so did Harvey in every recreation of his Two face backstory ever.

Babs barely even confronts the criminal system in her works unless it was supporting her father who is commissioner or generic vigilante business. In fact, she even got a law degree so she is technically a lawyer, just like Harvey. She even went one step further into law, and wanted to become a congress woman!!! 👏 Would love to bring that back., if it’s possible to combine it with her librarian aspect.

They even point out how they both have disabilities!!! Which i wish dc comics canon actually tried exploring how Twotwo is literally physically disabled and should technically not be capable of talking or eating normally so easily (and i don’t just mean the rasp, he’s literally missing a cheek!!!)(he is also practically blind in one eye).

Babs showing interests in her dad’s detective duties, Twotwo showing interests in his old friend Gordon’s daughter’s life, Harvey and Babs’ father working together against the mafia, how in the world has no writer thought they should have an interesting dynamic at all is a wonder. It is legit not fair they were pitted against each other, when in fact they have a lot in common and tied together.

[nonas-third-tantrum]

something that I think really speaks to the composition of the tlt fandom is the lack of palamedes/babs content. I guarantee that in literally any other fandom those boys would be a fan favorite pairing. pretty boy swordsman x nerdy librarian? the fans would be all over that. but here? in the sword lesbian fandom? there are *checks ao3* four (4) fics. and I think that’s both beautiful and hilarious. as a wise princess once said, “who cares about Babs?”

[babsggordon]

From the moment that I close my eyes, take a deep breath and feel the sun kissing my skin delicately until the moment I open my eyes again with a clearer mind. And there's always one though that is in the back, watching me over every step and reminding me everything I've been through.

And its the fact that I would never change a thing in my life. Because every point converges in the epitome of the current moment I cried, I smile and I will appreciate.

Whenever I close my eyes I find myself, I find the thirteen year old girl who lost everything. I find the girl who got adopted by the world's greatest Dad. The same girl who saved Bruce Wayne from kidnapping, in a silly old custome which I thought to wear because having a female version of Batman at the time was unthinkable.

That same event that lead me to what would became the career that gave me my whole life and everything I cherish for. From my beloved friends which I love to see and help everyday, the kind man who extended his hand to us all, and the man who taught me that romantic love is only a thing I can experiment with trust from years.

I fin that girl, who watched her adoptive mom die, the one who got paralized and standed by for months by an hospital bed, hoping every day her Dad recover his self afteer being pushed by the limit. All done by the same man.

I find the girl who decided not to let the man win, and still find kindness in life. Working everyday to help and seek the truth for the sake of the few good people in gotham.

I find the girl who recovered, I find the girl who succeeded.

I find Barbara Jean Gordon, I find me.

Babs, Barbie, Barb

Oracle | Batgirl

|29| September 23 - 84'

Librarian

Taken (by @dickiegraysonwayne | Dick Grayson)

Demisexual

MUN's timezone: GMT-6

Mildly active between 7 AM - 10 PM. Most active 10 PM - 2 AM

Updates: ANGST ≠ stop being silly. I will interact and respond as normally despite my character arc

MUN ooc blog: @sillybigbird

September 24 - 04' | Bi | She | MX | Graphic designer

Yes, muns an adult, you may proceed

Other RPs:

@sillybigrobin

Detroit: Become Human | Chloe | Android | RT600

@igotyourip

Oracle

@gothams-daredevil

Matt Murdock

[tourettesdog]

DP x DC Prompt where Dani's condition doesn’t stay as stable as she would prefer following her second trip to Amity Park.

She's not destabilizing but she's not quite… the same. It begins with a slight weakness and ache in her legs. Dani doesn't think much of it at first, assuming she's just been pushing herself too hard, but it doesn't go away with rest.

It worsens overtime, until she starts to exhaust much easier in her ghost form. Dani plans a return trip to Amity, worried that something more serious could be going on again.

Dani finds herself making a detour to Gotham on the way, however.

The ambient ectoplasm draws her in and Dani welcomes it with a relieved sigh. She plans to rest up for a couple of days before moving on, but… Dani’s honestly not sure if she’s strong enough to safely leave the city. Her legs are still aching and walking is becoming a chore at times. She can always fly with her ghost form, but without the ectoplasm of Gotham Dani isn’t sure how well she’ll favor traveling.

She stays in an abandoned building and gets by on the streets, starting to learn the ins and outs of the city. Dani can’t help but fall into step with the vigilantes at times, finding it just as fun to annoy Batman and his birds as it is to actually help out.

They try to corner her plenty of times for questions, but there’s nothing they can do when she turns on her invisibility and intangibility to slip away.

As the weather starts to shift and the ache in Dani’s legs worsens with it, she starts to spend a lot of her free time in the library. She’s stumbling a lot more while human now, and she’s even more exhausted from spending extra time as a ghost to avoid tripping over her own two feet. It’s nice to sit in the warm library and read for a bit— sometimes the nice librarian even gives her snacks.

Babs isn’t sure what to make of Dani the first few times she sees her. She can tell that the kid isn’t necessarily well. She’s rail thin and has a strange gait with some apparent muscle weakness. Every time she sees her it seems to get worse.

Babs starts to befriend the girl, offering her snacks when she can and trying to carefully learn more about her. It couldn’t be more obvious that Dani is homeless, though Babs is finding it surprisingly difficult to find any further information on her. Hell, even when she tries to have Tim and Jason keep an eye on her, the kid somehow manages to slip out of their sights.

The way she disappears puts thoughts of the newest meta in mind, and from then on it becomes a subtle game to earn her trust and try to help her before the kid gets hurt.

Things take a turn when Dani collapses at the library one day.

Forced to acknowledge that her legs are getting weaker and she’s not equipped to handle that on her own, Dani accepts more help from Babs. It’s a bit of a mess, navigating losing the mobility in her legs and dealing with the Gotham vigilantes. Fortunately for her, Babs has experience with both.