I Think The Reason We Haven’t Gotten A Proper Adult Fab5 Titans Comic Since The Early Aughts Is Because

rogue fans and nightwing fans need to unionize bc i truly cannot stand the inordinate obsession with their asses anymore. we need to start killing people

They can never have a civil agreement

Question?

We talk about how Tim, Jason and Damian’s parents raised them pre Bruce but why don’t we talk about Dick Graysons.

Bc even before all of the court of the owls shit the way that man was raised was wild.

So remember Dick was a member and active participant of a circus as a child. A trapeze act without a net who was expected to pull his weight since he could walk.

That means that despite what everyone thinks John and Mary Grayson absolutely could not afford to gentle parent their child.

At all.

Dick had to know how dangerous his life was forever. He has to be perfect because if he fails him or his parents die. They die with a mistake. Don’t stretch your hand out far enough and someone falls.

And despite the fact that the Romani aspect of his character was born out of a writers need for fetish content. I still find it interesting to explore.

And since I am European! Halys circus truther

It gets more interesting because the anti-Romani sentiment in Europe is vile, obvious and violent. (And I say this as a poc who grew up outside of Europe and moved here for college. Like you’d never imagine the type of shit they say about a group of people with no shame before turning around and commenting about how crazy it is that poc are treated poorly in the rest of the world.) Now imagine your child is working a dangerous gig while being part of a hated minority and you have to go and advertise your whole families location because you are the centerpiece of a show.

Yall think Mary and John Grayson didn’t teach their kid to lie? To fit in with any group humanly possible.

You think Mary and John didn’t teach dick to switch from, mama to mom to Daj. To switch accents and tones and languages since before he could walk on his hands?

You think that this kid who grew up traveling everywhere wouldn’t know how to integrate himself so fully into the society he’s in that he’s invisible as an outsider?

When Dick talks to Bruce in Juvie right before hes taken in as a ward he has an American accent. A Gotham accent and not the ones the other kids has no Dick has a Bristol accent. When he first meets Alfred he has a charming softly British accent, the kind that isn’t immediately noticeable unless you share the accent. The softening of the vowels and heavy central consonants. Think kids who went to British schools abroad and learned English from people with British accents.

Bruce notices this but doesn’t think much of it I mean kids can adapt to their environments startlingly quick maybe the kid just kinda picks up accents.

But then Dick becomes robin and he’s horrifically good at it from the get go.

Which sends alarm bells in Alfred’s head because he raised Bruce at that age. He taught Bruce to defend himself at that age. Bruce wouldn’t be about to do 1/10 of what this kid can do.

No eight year old should be able to throw items with that sort of precision even a child as good at gymnastics as dick. No child should be that comfortable with a knife in his hand.

And of course dick always had an excuse, he grew up around fire breathers and knife throwers of course he’s good.

And Bruce notices when Dick goes out as Robin and begins to help people because for the first few months, he never speaks first.

He’ll save someone and when they thank him, he’ll reply in their exact accent.

The crime alley rougher tones

The high class smarmy Bristol accent

The open vowel Jersey accent

When he meets Superman there’s the barest edges of midwestern twang in his every word.

And it’s just unnerving

He flickers between cultures like their clothes in his wardrobe, accents like they’re a new set of perfectly fit shoes.

He’s just good at it.

And it’s a game to him.

He sees how close he can get to your accent without coming off as suspicious.

By the time he’s being doing the Robin shtick for a while and knows the areas he just immediately switches to the most common accent there even if there aren’t any people around.

His facial expressions and hand gestures change as well.

It adds to the myth of the Batman because the gcpd for a long while believes any Robin reportings to be a myth because one minute someone is reporting a Jersey accent the next genial Californian, or a tv safe reporter tone, one minute the kid is conversing in perfect Russian the next he’s speaking Spanish like he grew up in Mexico.

When he wants to get away with a mistake his voice switches to one indistinguishable from a scared child, with a mild stutter, overgramarization and the scared world slurring children do that makes your heart soft

When he wants people to listen to him his he’s eloquent and enunciating perfectly. He sounds far older than his years.

And everyone thinks they’re hearing the real Dick Grayson speak and it makes their hearts happy because look at how he puts on a show for everyone but trusts me enough to talk without lying.

Without ever realizing that they’re one of the people watching the show.

I can’t write romance for the life of me but I go on break soon and trust me I will write so much DickRoy DickKori and birdflash fanfiction because I am in my feels

I already have like 9 dick and Donna (platonic) fics in the works

(Also listen I get the whole red blue thing that fuels JayDick but how about you consider the fact DickRoy does the same thing but so much better and without the incest?)

TOP Dick Grayson "Nightwing" ships on AO3

1.-Dick Grayson/Jason Todd (8685)

2.-Dick Grayson/Wally West (4201)

3.-Dick Grayson/Bruce Wayne (3092)

4.-Dick Grayson/Koriand'r (3084)

5.-Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon (2820)

6.-Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson (2700)

7.-Dick Grayson/Tim Drake (1691 fics)

8.-Dick Grayson/Damian Wayne (1400)

9.-Dick Grayson/Roy Harper (932)

10.-Dick Grayson/Raven (560)

This list doesn't include fanfics tagged with Dick Grayson/Reader.

Please don't comment hate messages, this post is purely informative. I don't want my notifications to be filled with ship wars/hate in general :ccc

reblog to give your headache to elon musk instead

Sorry to bother you, but I’m trying to get into comics and I was wondering if you had any comic recs? Your takes on the characters seem really interesting so I kinda wanted to know you’re favorite runs/ what you find interesting or important.

Thank you for your time, and have a nice day!

Hi dear! My advice is

Fuck everyone. If something sounds cool you can start there hell the first comic I finished was Grayson? Find your lil guy/girl and go for it!

If you wanna be more linear or if you wanna start reading about a character that you don’t know that much about then genuinely the best piece of advice I’d give you is literally go “Nightwing/arsenal/flash/batgirl/stephanie brown/cassandra Cain/literally pick a hero or civilian name it doesn’t even matter reading order Reddit” that’s literally how i got started

If you want my opinion, I’d avoid the new 52 for one of your first series. Despite all the shit I give the new 52 a lot of it is fun. But the best way I can put it! Is that a lot of the characters only exist in the new 52

Like dick and Jason are entirely different motherfuckers in the new 52. Dick specifically?? Wearing red?? Atrocious

My personally favorite runs right now are a mix of fun new stuff and older classics (and mostly Dick Grayson sue me if you have seen my lil account you know by now I am a dick Grayson Stan first human second call me Tim Drake)

This starts in a certain order and slowly devolves I’m sorry I tried! But… not that hard

-Batman year 1

- Batman and Robin year 1 (2024) - my son is adorable here

-batman the long Halloween

- absolute Batman (honestly all of the absolute verse the Wally stuff is looking really promising so far tho I won’t co-sign it yet)

- Robin year 1

-worlds finest! (Thank you Dan mora we all say in unison)

- Nightwing year 1

- teen titans (yes including Judas contract)

- new teen titans

- Nightwing 1996 (ik Dixon is a lil bitch but I like this run)

-outsiders (2003) - DickRoy divorce arc my beloved

- now technically you need to read rebirth but I fucking hated the himbofication of my son so read at your own risk

- Batman and Robin 2009 (villain Jay Jay my son)

-NIGHTWING ALL IN (the moment they de-lobotomized him I lost my marbles)

- supersons (cute, light hearted, adorable, if Damian doesn’t become a favorite of yours after this I’ll write you an apology note)

- Batman: under the red hood

- Grayson (this comic fucking sucks but I’m a sucker for this genre of super spy also the ART STYLE)

-Batman hush (also the new hush bc I like Jason’s suffering)

YOU DONT NEED TO READ ALL OF THIS!!!! If you want a lazy way to get all the background info! Fandom wikis exist! Literally pick and drop whatever you want. If anyone judges you! They suck!

Also some of these aren’t good!! (Grayson) the fandom doesn’t like em but I LIKE EM! They’re fun! My

My takes on characters changes depending on like the era I’m reading and even the comic I’m reading (for example Jason is currently my son my lil baby boy and a month ago I wanted them to blow him up again) but I might make a post detailing like my actual canon only opinion of certain characters (mainly titans and core batfamily)

Anyway HAVE FUN AND HAPPY READING :D

Dick:….

Jason:….

Tim:….

Dick: okay so was anyone gonna tell me Bruce is dating Joe Chills daughter or was I supposed to figure that out by myself.

Jason: HES WHAT

Tim:???????

Damian: I think I just threw up in my mouth

Cass: …is this that Freud guy you were telling me about?

Steph: somehow worse? I think?

Jason: Idk where does dating the daughter of your parents murderer fall on the Oedipus scale of morality?

Tim: more importantly where did you find out this information?

Damian: please tell me it’s a tabloid so I can bleach my brain of this conversation.

Dick: Babs tipped me off that something was up and I stalked em for a week

Tim: Ah classic

Jason: you really have one trick Grayson

Dick: Hey! No I do infiltrations, Tim and Cass are the stalker duo

Cass: *nods*

Jason: so… Bruce is actually dating the kid of the guy who offed mama and papa Wayne. That’s cold. I’m a little impressed actually.

Tim: Clark was RIGHT THERE

Dick: so was Selina

Steph: we could’ve had a Step wonder mom

Cass: you’re not adopted

Steph: is Wonder Woman was in this family I’d marry into it

Tim: *nods solemnly* Bernard would understand

Jason: Talia was there

Damian: that might be worse actually

Tim: nothing is worse than this

Dick: actually I might agree with Damian

Dick: anyway zatanna

Jason: didn’t you date her

Dick: that’s another timeline ignore it

Tim: Constantine

Damian: Dent

Dick: I’d take viki vale over this

Jason: same

Dick:…hey Duke can see into other realities right

Jason: depends on the writer..

Dick: when does he get back from his families

Tim: he stops by for 45 mins to steal some pastries and check his gear before patrol

Dick: … wanna see if we can get him to look into other realities and see the worst person Bruce has dated

Jason: yes

Tim: yes

Damian: no

Cass: yes

Steph: yes

Dick: you’re outvoted Damian I’ll see all of you tomorrow at the cave bright eyed and bushy tailed!

Okay listen I adore batsibling content in fanon but each group gets a different type

Gossipy more like friends 80% of the time. will shit talk each other but if anyone says shit they’re getting decked. It’s fluffy but in the “you know I love you right?” Is said really awkwardly after the other sibling is surprised you’re on their side way Jay and Dick

Sweet and fluffy I don’t like angst in this at all give me a very healthy very wholesome soft relationship that’s just good all the way through Tim and Dick

So sweet it hurts tooth rotting fluff needs the same taste as cotton candy with the weight of a brick Dick and Damian

Bratty younger sibling and anger issues older sibling get into fist fight and are hugging 30 secs later. Will punch each other in the face and then defend the other one against their parents without blinking. Damian and Steph

Very very awkward affection like I love you and would die for you but we’ve had like 3 whole conversations. Damian and Jason (on Jason’s end Damian’s a lil shit)

You know when your little sibling is finally no longer insufferable and you can finally chill together at family events and you’re like. Fuck wait you’re growing up stop that’s illegal. Damian and Tim

“I broke your laptop”

“Yeah well I put nair in your shampoo”

“I should’ve killed you at the tower”

“Don’t be a lil bitch bc you couldn’t handle the gig”

Jason and Tim

Supportive big brother who brags about his sisters achievements while being a lil worried she’ll beat him and no one will ever need him again and baby sister who tries so hard and does so well and hopes she’s living up to their expectations (dick and cass)

I’m friends with your ex now and so sometimes I’ll bring it up to fuck with you bc I think it’s funny energy like Steph tells Cass about what Tim has done during their relationship and Cass who loves Tim but also women has to affectionately beat him up now (Tim and Cass)

Cass and Damian? I don’t think I’ve ever seen these too interact in a fic where Cass can speak actually…. Fuck we need more baby Assassins squared content in this fandom

Let us commiserate on the absolute cringe of everyone else here without acknowledging we are just as bad (dick and Steph)

Cass doesn’t like Jason and so I will leave them out

Remember these aren’t their canon relationships these are just what I like to read in fanon (inspired by their canon relationships in most cases but also fully canon with dick and Tim we ignore any authors who say otherwise my babies)

I just saw someone say that Tim was the only member of the batfamily who didn’t suck at math.

With the exception of Dick (acrobatics) and Cass (body language) none of the Batkids are THAT much better than the others at a certain skill

Yes Jason is a better shot

Yes Tim is a better detective

And on a technical level they’re much better

Sure

But that means that if they have a 0.001% chance of cracking a case or making a shot. There will be a noticeable difference between Tim being the character or say Damian.

Otherwise

Not particularly.

Think of each skill like a normally distributed curve okay with the mean being your average hero/olympian/hacker/genius

Right

The Batkids will be at the 96th percentile in the skill

With the exception of 1 of them being at the 99th percentile range

Unless you are writing something you can comfortably say is complex/difficult enough to warrant drawing attention to the 3% difference. It’s annoying to bring it up

I exclude Dick and Cass

Because Dicks introduction is the fact he can do something the rest of the kids can’t to the point where it’s an identifier within his own story. It’s how Tim found him, a signature only he can do.

And Cass because she is genuinely cartoonishly cracked in her own storyline and in batfamily stuff she’s borderline a mind reader

(Could also argue Jason for supernatural stuff and the all blades)

These are exceptions because yeah

If you told me Jason, Dick or Steph cracked a difficult case in a run I wouldn’t treat it as shocking information

If you told me Tim, Dick or Damian managed a tricky shot with a firearm in a dire situation (like what happens in the Grayson run) it would be interesting, surprising but like not? Shocking?

If you told me that Jason did a quadruple summersault off a building and landed on his feet I’d be confused as shit

And even WITH Dick and Cass the other kids are still FREAKISHLY good at D&Cs special skills but they both have unignorable signatures

This is a very long winded way of saying when an author simplifies a character down to

“Oh look nice flippy one”

“Smart one”

“Angry gun one”

“Pet collector”

It’s annoying because you basically ignore all the interesting overlap

Like guess what Dick literally has a habit of collecting strays (see the rabbit and 3 legged dog he lives with in his apartment in the new run)

Tim is fucking badass and is very good at dealing with explosives

Damian is canonically currently thinking of leaving the family business and no longer being a hero to maybe focus on helping people in other ways

Jason occasionally works with magic and demon bullshit

And every single one of them is a genius okay literally every single one of them could get a masters in physics, chem, bio and history in like 2 weeks flat.

Their stats are stacked

All of them know enough info to be able to do 99% of a task and yeah someone might call Tim or Dick in for detective help or Jason for muscle and restraining backup but in 99% of cases THE OTHER CHARACTERS SHOULD BE EQUALLY competent

hiii same anon who recommended that one fic ( i am really glad you liked it btw)

https://www.tumblr.com/theerurishipper/752161267004948480/twitter-au-masterpost

this one is not exactly a fic ( well it is on ao3 but there is not all the parts) it is a twitter au and i think you’d like dick’s characterization in this i really liked reading it ( it is a lot more lighthearted than the fic i sent obv 😭)

10/10 exactly the vibe I needed after the fuckfest today

I need about 40 more chapters

And yes I love My boy (also a big fan of the fact that he isn’t really on social media bc I love that for him)

Thank you so much anon it was lighthearted and funny and yeah a lil more on the batfamily fluff than I usually prefer but honestly I rlly enjoyed the character writing as well !!