#they're never allowed to grow or evolve or be shown to have platonic relationships with the batboys or even consistent relationships

[mid-nightowl]

steph as nightwing??? 👀

Yes, a hundred times yes. 

For me, the idea came out of this meta that @benbamboozled did ages ago (that I for the life of me cannot find now :( ) about how Barbara should have been the one to mentor Tim, but she wasn’t because dc (and superhero comics generally) are too cowardly to let a female superhero mentor a male hero. And it got me thinking--there were three “older” vigilantes and three younger vigilantes in the Batfam at this time, which then led to the whole Barbara mentoring Tim, Bruce babysitting Cass, and Dick mentoring Steph. Which would then eventually lead to Steph taking on the Nightwing mantle.

Nightwing!Steph was also an idea I had regarding the Batman!Dick era and the Tom King pitch of Tim becoming Nightwing during the Ric Grayson arc. In my delusional AU idea, after the “death” of Bruce, Dick would be Batman, Damian would be Robin, Barbara as Oracle, Cass would return as Batgirl after a short hiatus or be Black Bat, Tim would be Red Robin, Jason as Red Hood, and Steph would take over the Nightwing mantle while also attending college (a similar start to Dick’s own trajectory).   

I don’t have like a full meta on this (and I haven’t read everything regarding Steph so please correct me if I get something wrong or the vibes are off!), but I think Steph could be a worthy successor to the Nightwing mantle if there were a point in time where Dick moved on or couldn’t be Nightwing anymore. 

I think Steph embodies a lot of the same ideals and values that Dick/Nightwing resembles: hope, determination, and guts. There’s also the immediate similarity of the two of them being more light-hearted and quippy compared to the other Bats, which (almost) hides how capable and competent they are, but also how this happy-go-lucky mask hides anger and trauma.

Both of them had the guts to go out on their own, to create their own mantle and mask despite being told “no.” They both have the drive and determination in their actions to help others and stop criminals, and an innate need to be a hero/vigilante and that they can’t stop being a vigilante. And out of all the Bats, Stephanie has the most potential to represent hope, just as Dick does. 

To me, Steph has all the criteria to be one of the best vigilantes in the Batfam, but just doesn’t get the opportunities to do so. She’s got the foundations and the materials, she just needs help getting there. Being Nightwing (or being mentored by Dick) would give her the chance to showcase that. 

Being a vigilante that has ties to the Batfam but isn’t necessarily considered a sidekick character or in need of a mentor (like Batgirl or Robin), Steph could grow as a person and a vigilante with the Nightwing mantle. Nightwing is also a key component to the Batfam and is often the middle ground between the smaller groups within the family and I think Steph can easily step into that role, especially given her past relationships with Tim, Cass, and Barbara, her similarities and the trauma-bonding she does with Jason, and the older sister-younger brother relationship with Damian. Not to mention, Nightwing’s role as a leader in the Titans, which would give Steph a chance to show her capabilities to be a leader. But, Nightwing is also a stubbornly independent loner, a solo-act vigilante. So, not only can Steph be an important team player (in the Batfam and the Titans/equivalent team) but she'll also have the freedom to do her own thing. 

Nightwing (imo) was all about moving on, growing up and maturing on your own, and while Dick might not have realized what it would become later on, it’s grown to represent hope, the “universal constant,” and creating your own legacy. The transition from Robin to Nightwing is all about this, and I think this transition would have made a lot of sense for Stephanie (Spoiler to Nightwing = growing out of her anger towards her father but also growing out from underneath Batman/Batgirl’s shadows). I think there would still be issues and insecurities of Steph living up to a predecessor, similar to when she took on the roles of Robin and Batgirl, but I want to believe that Dick would train her well enough and his own belief in Steph taking on his mantle would alleviate these problems. 

There’s a lot of AU potential with Stephanie being Nightwing (I’ve got a few myself 👀), but canon wise, I don’t think we’ll see Dick move away from the Nightwing mantle ever. I think you could probably make a good argument for Steph to be Flamebird in canon and really introduce that mantle back into the Batfam (and her and Bette can bond over terrible mentors/families, being Batgirl, and being rejected).

I've got some more thoughts circling in my head about Dick mentoring a Spoiler!Steph, but I've kind of touched base about that here so I'll leave that for another time lol

thanks for letting me ramble about this idea<3 <3

[formashimataichi]

I mean I love tchy and their growth throughout the series and as that person said that even if they had to get together it'd still be a deconstruction of unhealthy romance tropes bcs they have learnt/are learning from their past experience but I also agree with you on rest of the things like if I didn't love taichihayarata and accept chrt I couldn't imagine enjoying it to the extent I do as of now,and in the end i'd just want him to get a worthy conclusion after developing amazingly all this time (sorry if I said too much,I still really like your blog,your unbiased-ness in reading amazes me I hope to reach that level of tolerance one day/pos)

No worries, I understand what you're saying! That's precisely what I love about Taichi and Chihaya's relationship, is the thing, and what still makes it one of my favorite relationships explored in the entire manga despite the fact that I don't ship it anymore. I think it's very rare to see a narrative so dedicated not just to deconstructing the development of harmful behaviors within a relationship like theirs, but also emphasizing on how people can change for the better and ensure the survival of their relationships with the people they care about if they address certain behaviors. There's been so much time and effort put into helping Taichi and Chihaya move past their codependency on each other while staying true to the fact that they're always going to be supporting each other, even from afar, and it's incredibly endearing to me. It's so often in shoujo / josei that we see "second love interests" fade away into the background because their importance outside of the romance is irrelevant, but what Suetsugu seems to really solidly establish with Taichi is that he's not just important to the narrative because of his feelings for Chihaya. He's important for being his own person with his own problems and with his own dreams, and we get to see those explored at length because he's an integral part of the story in aspects beyond one subsection of genre. Even more gratifying is that, past all of that, his relationship with Chihaya is still important and shown as worth maintaining. They don't suddenly disappear from each other's lives, and the narrative doesn't give up on their friendship. It's allowed to persist and help them grow even while it's evolving into something better than what it used to be, and that's something really refreshing to do in a genre that often doesn't know how to reconcile unrequited love between friends without making one party or the other permanently disappear. Obviously, it's painful to have to transition from that state of loving someone romantically and accepting that they'll never feel the same way about you, and it's definitely something that Taichi is still in the process of, rather than it being resolved within him completely; but I find it to be very hopeful that Suetsugu insists on the importance of believing in our relationships and caring about people and recognizing that romantic love and platonic love do hold equal, if distinct, ground in our lives. In general, her entire perspective on human relationships is very hopeful, and I think that can be a bit jarring for readers who expect otherwise. People need people. That's something she's worked hard to emphasize from the beginning of this tale to its end.