“Bruce is emotionally incompetent and can’t step outside his own morality” yeah it’s a character flaw.

“Dick is extremely stubborn and thinks he’s right all the time” yeah it’s a character flaw.

“Jason has hypocritical tendencies” yeah it’s a character flaw.

“ Tim is entitled and doesn’t think about people when seeking results, and often acts uncaring” yeah it’s a character flaw.

“Damian is rude and bratty” yeah, it’s a character flaw.

Also, some people may not even regard everything listed above as flaws.

Having negative traits allows incredible flexibility within your characters, what makes them intriguing, what makes them easy to relate to. If you want to write people, then write people. But they can’t be good and clean all the time.

funny little phenomena I've noticed recently

Laios & "Chil"

Excuse the bad photo. But basically, this tidbit from the Adventurers' Bible says that "Only people are very close to an individual call them by their first name on its own."

So in other words, only someone very close to Chilchuck would call him "Chil".

Well, something I noticed...

Laios can be oblivious about names, but he doesn't call him this before [EDIT - he does! briefly when trying to snap Chilchuck out of the mermaids' song. thanks to people in the tags and replies pointing this out :) ] - and this is right after this scene:

where Chilchuck confesses to caring about him (& the others. but also him!) on a personal level. So I do think it's intentional. And Chilchuck clearly isn't objecting! Look at that grin.

This just makes me happy. Despite how he often acts like he doesn't care, of our main party of four, Chilchuck and Laois have known each other the longest, and they are good friends.

It reminds me of this moment from the prequel extra Kui posted on her blog.

He's scolding him, but it's cause he feels awkward in the group when Laios isn't there! Me when the one coworker I'm friends with is late. They're buddies! It's cute!!

listen, i have no idea what’s currently canon in dc comics and i really don’t care to BUT regardless of what continuity we’re in, i think jason todd might be the funniest character of all time. just the biggest hypocrite ever and i’m obsessed. like, so many people have pointed out how crazy it is to be pissed off at tim for replacing him as robin when he literally replaced dick while dick was still alive, but then to go and parade around bludhaven as a murderous nightwing while dick is (again) very much still alive and THEN form a team with dick’s ex girlfriend and best friend??? jason todd is THE definition of “replacement” or what the fuck ever he calls tim and i actually find it so funny. stay crazy girl <3

Tim: So, and for what reason was I 17 years old for the last 15 years?

Damian: That's what you're complaining about? They couldn't even bother to give me a proper characterization until much later on. And then it is one that does not align with my upbringing!

Stephanie: At least you weren't killed just because of misogyny

Dick: Yeah, I wonder how anyone let that through. But then again, I shouldn't expect anything else from writers who made me stuck as Ric for two years and all the, you know, Tarantula stuff

Jason: It's honestly like they just spin a wheel every day to figure out if I'm a villain, hero or anti-hero

Duke: Forget about the writers, the fans also have some... wild assumptions

Stephanie: Yeah, like that you're the normal one!

Cass: Or that I'm mute. Just there to give emotional support

Barbara: Or that the most traumatic thing to ever happen to me is framed as something good just because I became Oracle. I barely had one page of dialogue in that entire story!

Tim: At least they get one thing right.

Dick: And that is?

Tim: Bruce.

Jason: Yeah, what is up with that?! It feels like I've become his punching bag! Why is he considered a hero again when he is just plain abusive at this point?

Duke: Patriarchy

Barbara: And male power fantasy

i need a homo-magi tim drake au.

like, i find it very hard to believe that in that mausoleum of a mansion filled to the brim with ancient artifacts jack and janet drake collected throughout their travels, that not a single one of them was cursed —

— and that a nine year old tim didn’t use an ancient aztec macuahuitl as a baseball bat and now knows several dead languages with weird cursed powers from some ancient meso-american demon that camps out in his body.

but like tim has no clue that whatever is going on with him is not normal because he was never told it wasn’t not normal,

and then imagine other people’s reactions to this, especially other magic users like zatanna and constantine —

zatanna: i don’t understand why i can’t seem to get these runes right..

13 year old tim drake: because you’re working on them backwards, it’s supposed to be [fast paced nahuatl]

zatanna: how…?

tim (blissfully unaware of his abilities, smiling sweetly): the voices :D

and then i just imagine his shadow is some looming creature or something idk, kinda how in yj comics his shadow is batman’s silhouette

i actually think that after she's had time to catch up on some social development Cass is probably one of the better bats at passing for normal. she and Dick and maybe Steph have the best sense of performing "just some guy". Bruce, Babs, and Duke all overstep the mark and successfully pass as "not normal but not in a batman way more a this dude weird as fuck way" whereas Tim, Damian, and Jason are all under the mistaken impression that they can just be a version of themselves that is not a vigilante and come off as genuinely unhinged

The thing I'm wondering about is why it's Batman who always gets the blame for what is more or less standard fare across the DCU. "Batman indoctrinates children into his war, the Robins are child soldiers!" But where is this energy for Wally West or Roy Harper or anyone else? Why doesn't anyone call Barry or Clark or Ollie out for indoctrinating children? And in the same vein, Batman gets consistently torn apart for not killing the Joker, when I don't really see any other hero get this? No one is writing hit pieces on Superman for not killing Luthor, but somehow saying Batman is a coward and in the wrong for not wanting to compromise on his principles is a significantly popular opinion? Like, there are legitimate reasons to criticize Bruce as a character (his controlling nature, his tendency to be cold and distant and push people away, etc.), but why is it always the wrong arguments (that have already been explained and explored in depth in canon) that always get the most traction? And why is it always Batman?

One of the most frustrating things about the common "Tim only thinks murder is wrong because of Batman" misconception is... No, that's Steph. That's literally Steph.

If Tim Drake never met Batman, Tim would still believe that killing people is wrong. It's a foundational part of his morality, he literally came to Bruce hoping to stop him from reaching that point of no return (or the one where he works himself into an early grave).

If Stephanie Brown never met Batman, she'd have killed a bitch by now. Probably her father.

I kinda wanna write a cryptid!Batman AU where Clark has explained to Kon that the Batman is a terrifying eldritch horror given human(-ish) form, actually, and Kon is therefore under the impression that Robin is going to be into weird shit like being brought damning evidence and deadly criminals and dangerous problems to solve and also will appreciate being occasionally stalked by a half-alien clone. The bat-cryptids stalk EVERYBODY, right? So it's fine, it's like their love language, Kon figures as he's collecting a bunch of random shiny trinkets to leave out for Robin like he thinks he's a fucking magpie or a crow or something, and maybe also some nice pebbles to cover the penguin angle just in case. Just, like, stuff he might like to decorate the cryptid-nest Kon is assuming he has with.

Kon is fully correct about Robin appreciating the weird shit and shiny trinkets and being reciprocally stalked, actually, although now TIM has to figure out how to explain to Superboy that he is actually just a normal human teenager who just decided that his local protection spirit needed an emotional support sidekick before it could get corrupted into a local VENGEANCE spirit. Though he does like the shinies, please don't assume this means he doesn't like the shinies or wants a normal relationship with, god forbid, boundaries about not stalking each other or whatever.

I love how nowadays Tim Drake's base of operations is the Robin's Nest when in the modern era he literally bought, refurbished, and lived in the movie theater the Waynes were murdered outside of. He didn't even ask Bruce his thoughts until after the purchase. Why did he do that

Bruce stared. He had just been lecturing one of his son on his gala manners. Dick or Jason were usually the ones misbehaving like that, not Tim! What had gotten into his son to behave like that in public when he wasn't even in a sleep deprived state. Of course, Bruce had to lecture his kid and benched him for the night to get some sleep because Tim had to be sleep deprived to act like that. That was untill said son, he was lecturing, came through the front door shouting at him for leaving him behind at the gala.

His head swayed between Tim and the teen he had apparently just abducted and possibly has now knowledge of their secret identities.

Okay, maybe Alfred was right about his amount of sleep. Bruce brain went to overdrive, he could play it all of with an extended Brucie act.

That was before the teen lifted on hand in a calming manner and sheepishly smiled at him.

Danny: I get the whole secret identity thing, but i dont think it's a good idea to bench me, when ghost might come attacking. I won't tell a soul about yours if you keep mine! I can make a death vow if that helps. So can I call vlad now? As much as I like getting on his nerves and away from him. HE is my original ride home.

Tim: Wait, Vlad Masters who pestered ME all night is your guardian?

Bruce continued staring at the teen that looked like Tim and was now talking to his son while his son was parallel texting on his phone. No doubt telling his other sibling.

Good, they will never let this go and Alfred will use this situation against him next time he works through several nights.

Bruce, picking up a stray: "He reminds me of me!" :333

Bruce, a couple of years later: "Why is he such a stubborn, self-destructive drama queen??" >((

I have a dumb idea

The justice league (Minus Clark and Diana) thinks that Robin is an immortal being that changes form every 5-10ish years because Bruce never told them he had different robins

Robin I and Bruce having issues near the end was just due to the transformation coming near

Robin II only lasting so long and Bruce’s grief after they attribute to something going wrong with the transformation and do think Robin is dead

However when Robin III comes they assume that Bruce’s grumpiness is attributed to him being over protective after the disaster of the last transformation

The Steph comes and goes back to Tim and they’re all thrown but like maybe this version of Robin is genderfluid and they don’t want to be rude so they don’t say anything

And when Damian comes after 5 years it just solidifies this theory as well as Robin probably being genderfluid cause of Carrie

Yes the bat kids have come to the watchtower as Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Spoiler

Bruce is unaware

The batkids know and are keeping up the act as they wait for the perfect moment to descend from the celing, all wearing the robin uniform and traumatizing the Justice League