I once saw someone complain about the color of Cassandra’s eyes in Wayne Family Adventures, and blamed it on “colorism.” And that just annoyed me because one, her eyes were colored dark gray, I thought they were meant to be black, and two, Cass is half-white. She’s mixed. And as a mixed guy who looks more white than Asian it annoys me when people decry having ANY features from the white parent as “colorism” or “racism” on the part of artists. Cass is already pretty obviously Asian. Mixed kids exist too!

This also goes for some of the discourse on Damian. Yes, he should get features from his mom. Yes, lots of artists are weird about drawing him. Yes, he can still be lighter than Talia and it’s not racist.

Since a big chunk of the "Batfamily" fanbase is in the USA (or since the comics originate from the USA) a lot of the ways race is dealt with (or simply ignored) is through how race is perceived in USA society.

A lot of the time, people simply refuse to acknowledge that it's possible to hold features from multiple ethnic backgrounds because they want to lean hard on just a single one of those identities.

In terms of eye color and skin color, that is definitely variable in many ways. You can have an epicanthic fold and still have "colored" eyes. You can be of Arab-Chinese (like Damian is from his mother's side) descent and have an overall light skin-tone. The opposite is also true. You can still be mixed, and have features that people would consider average or normal for certain ethnic backgrounds.

Considering how popular Cass and Damian are, it is understandable that people want them to have certain ethnic features because the representation for those ethnic backgrounds are typically negative, stereotyped or nonexistent (at least in perspective of the USA).

I think with Damian's character specifically, it has more to do with the negative, racist and stereotypical ways Talia is often portrayed. Talia in many of her appearances is the definition of The Dragon Lady stereotype. A femme fatale, self-centered and motivated only by her own goals. Damian's character in that way, is perhaps meant to somehow remedy these faults. Either way, since he's a comic character and not real, there is no set depiction of him that fully confirms what physical genes he's inherited from either parents.

As for Cass, a lot of Eurasians in the USA with a parent whose ethnic background is Anglo-Saxon or Germanic (like David Cain whose nationality is American and thus, most likely of either of those descents) tend to inherit less color based characteristics from their (usually western) European descent parent and more physiognomical features (such as eye shape, usually having a weaker epicanthic fold or nose shape, having a higher nose bridge). Inheriting "colored" eyes is less likely but DEFINITELY not impossible. It all depends on where your parents are ethnically from and how your genes end up recombining.

Now, all that being said, positive representation in the USA of Asian people is still hard to come by, so it is natural for a lot of folks to want characters to have features more typical of fully ethnic Asians. However, everyone deserves to see themselves in a character and the dynamics of mixed features shouldn't be ignored. Unfortunately, the balancing act is difficult to manage and no matter what you do, you'll still have people made at you one way or another.

This was way more detailed than probably intended the stupidly expensive education I paid for was begging to be used at least a little.

-Jun

Man... I just LOVE watching the DPxDC community do their thing. I like them and just want to examine you all under a microscope because I find you all so very interesting! It's just absolutely TRAGIC that I have yet to find any storyline or AU that tickles my specific fancy, personally...

I acknowledge that this is purely a me problem and not a community problem 120%! The stuff that I just enjoy about Batman and Danny Phantom are just not things that the community are interested in as a whole and that's perfectly fine! But it does make me feel like a pure outsider when I wish that I could actually more earnestly engage with the community itself from within. Just... Siiiiiigh! And I just have not been able to think up anything to make the two verses blend together in a way that would be personally satisfying to me specifically!

Have some of my personal winging under the cut! No hate. Just explaining my tastes and yearning.

Absolutely no shade! All the more power to you for writing stories with these tropes and features! But I personally am not particularly interested in batfamily drama, and I see the kids in the batfamily as the children that they used to be in many ways. So stories about the batfamily don't interest me a whole lot, and I'm just not invested in shipping them with anyone (I'm also ace, so I really don't get pretty much anything out of batfamily romance) as a whole. What I like about Batman is that his stories are largely mysteries. I like the atmosphere and I absolutely ADORE the rogues! I like seeing the crimes and Batman clashing with his rogues, and most of all I LOVE the heart-wrenching DRAMA between Bruce and Harvey as Bruce DESPERATELY does everything he possibly can to save his best friend, while Harvey slips further and further into a hell that he wishes that he could climb out of but is just unable to alone! Harvey is just my absolute favorite and the sheer tragedy of his character has a tight grip around my heart that will not let go! Meanwhile with Danny Phantom, what I like about it... Well... I just think that Vlad is neat! There is also a certain tragedy to him as well, but he's also just a pathetic loser which is hilarious to me! Like, so often he comes off as so slick and cool and threatening... But also he's a loser and a goober. I also just love seeing how much of a simp Jack is for him. And I just like how redemption is always just barely in sight for Vlad... He just has to honestly reach out and grab it, but he just isn't willing to right now. Also ghost powers are neat and unique and I enjoy the unique possibilities and aesthetics of it. But sadly for me, these just aren't things that the DPxDC community is interested in. And that's perfectly fine, but it does make me yearn. Like there are interesting parallels to explore between Harvey and Vlad for sure! But I have no idea how to explore them in any interesting ways at all! Also I am just the kind of person who very much dislikes stories about destiny and stuff like that. So AUs like the twin demons or Ghost King!Danny just have absolutely no appeal to me. I'm just not interested in the inevitability that a lot of storytellers in this space have that Danny WILL join the batfamily. Also it feels disappointing to me whenever a writer just doesn't give the DC the credit that they deserve. It feels like people just want Danny to be super ultra overpowered, even more so than the super ultra overpowered characters that DC already has without exploring how these different things interact. Feels like people are more interested in erasing DC canon to make way for their Danny Phantom fanon instead of letting both things be true as is the usual DC way. Again, there's nothing wrong with doing that, but it just leaves me wanting. Also I really don't particularly like nor care about Ra's or Talia as far a rogues go, so only seeing them getting included in these things is just disappointing.

Lays down. Like, I don't want to sound like I'm hating on the community. I honestly am not. I'm just bellyaching because I am in this enclosure and am not receiving good enough stimulation in this space. It just feels like... It's a hot day, and I am REALLY craving some ice cream right now! But this ice cream shop only has 4 flavors and I quite dislike them all. I'm not angry at people for liking these 4 flavors. And this place is just SO CLOSE to being something I like! I enjoy the decor, the location is really nice and convenient for me. But alls I can do in just stare in the window and watch everyone else enjoying themselves while I bake in the sun. I admit that this is purely a me problem and not a community problem but it's just a bummer, y'know? Flops.