Bamboo Firefly

she/her • maybe asexual spectrum somewhere• Ravenclaw • writer • FireflyWithBambooHat on Ao3 • Writing a danmei Webnovel 🖋️• •Read: Reborn To Be The Imperial Consort •

[ovenbakedseasaltcrackers]

BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD — NOTABLE MOMENTS OF JASON TODD’S CAPABILITIES

I won’t disagree that Jason has had some really bad consistency throughout his career as Red Hood, but that’s because writers post-UTRH literally don’t use him as the character introduced in his debut comic. A good quote that suits this can be taken from what Brandon Sanderson says about Hollywood trying to adapt already well standing stories:

“Producers and execs need the proof of an established book series [in Jason’s case a villain character emotionally close to the BatFam] to justify the production. [Writers] want to tell their stories, and this is the allowed method, so when given the chance at freedom they go off the rails, and the execs don't know the property well enough to understand why this can lead to disaster."

This has lead to fans looking at Jason and calling him Jason Fraud, because of cause they would! Pretty much every iteration of him outside of UTRH as Red Hood is a fraud of himself. For this post I want to specifically focus on ‘power scaling’ discourse that surrounds Jason, that being people (fans and writers) thinking all he’s good for is being ‘the brute force’ character who only knows how to throw punches. So, in my reread of UTRH I jotted down all of the instances OTHER CHARACTERS make comments about Jason’s skills plus some other moments not explicitly stated (may have missed some because I actually got a little distracted by the story, sue me, it’s my favourite DC comic lol).

- Batman: “He likes to talk. It’s not ego. It’s distraction. Fights smart. He came ready.”

- Batman: “Smart and ready.”

- Bought stocks from WAYNE INDUSTRIES R&D DIVISION for $5,260,000, removing Bruce from the board of directors cutting him off from accessing tools he deems necessary for his duty as Batman.

- Batman: “He’s quick. Not just fast. Agile. He’s not thinking about his next move. He’s just making it.”

- Batman: “He cut the line before it went taut. That would have to have been practiced. Either that or just plain dumb luck. But no. It’s not luck.”

- Dick: “impressive.”

- Jason makes Bruce and Dick get rid of Amazo for him.

- Once again positioned Bruce and Dick where he wanted them by using the kryptonite as an incentive and brings them to blows against Black Mask’s goons/Mr Freeze. This allows Batman to confiscate the Kryptonite taking it out of the market.

- Dick: “he’s very good.” Batman: “Yes. He’s very good.”

- Jason nails six illegal high tech weaponry shipments in a week, destroying them and taking them off the market.

- Jason notices Onyx has an injured shoulder and uses it to his advantage by running a knife through it and without her noticing.

- Jason builds a bomb that Batman cannot disarm.

- Black Mask Lackey: “truth? He’s better than anything we have on the street.”

- Black Mask: “you don’t know Batman. He’s not letting this lunatic just run wild… he can’t catch him either.”

- Bruce about himself: “Stupid, careless, and slow. [Jason’s] playing it rough. Can’t hold back.”

Batman & co constantly state that Jason is fast, agile, intelligent, skilled, ready, etc etc etc blah blah blah. He manipulates everyone in Gotham to his bidding, moving them where he wants them, showing them what he wants them to see, and always has an escape ready. He goes toe to toe with Batman, and even then only engages in combat when deemed necessary and if he has an outcome he views as favourable. Jason is not a dumbass. He is not an idiot. He thinks things through, he always has a plan. He doesn’t just run into situations guns blazing and thinking he can tank whatever comes at him.

But for some reason, that’s changed, and it’s because of the writers.

Here are some frames of thought from Tim in Robin (1993) #177:

This could either be Tim being a MASSIVE LIAR who already knows he’s had his ass handed to him by Jason in Titans Tower while Jason wore his ridiculous Robin outfit. OR it’s the writers trying to rewrite the narrative to make it seem like Jason is LESSER than Tim. Now, we can say all we like that Tim is an unreliable narrator. However I don’t think his own writers are going to do that to him, and especially not here because Tim proceeds to knock Jason down and then he gets arrested. Not just that, but Jason purposefully goes after Tim with an AK while there is a crowd of civilians nearby. In the UTRH film Jason blows up a helicopter causing it to almost go crashing into traffic as a distraction for Batman. In the comic, Jason NEVER uses the presence of civilians to pull a one over on Batman or Nightwing.

Jason Fraud? Of course he is when writers like this are only using him for what he can do for the main characters in their story, until it gets to a point when there is no longer Jason Todd but the flattened caricature of someone pushing against the boundaries of Batman’s dogma.

[firefly-with-bamboo-hat]

Scoured Pinterest hoping to find Long haired jason todd fan art. Why does no one else share my vision? This is a travesty, someone give me long hair Jason. Hulking Tank of a man with long hair.

[mosscantwrite-artandstuff]

Quick sketches cause artfight has left me a bit burnt out but this idea has haunted me. I do want to draw even more of long haired Jason, but here's me playing with hairstyles. They're very wonky and I don't like sideprofiles, but I spent maybe 10 mins doing them. I have so many ideas for art so I'm trying to get through them whilst I'm out of school

Quality is ass ignore that

[firefly-with-bamboo-hat]

Omg omg omg *gnawing at my enclosure* I drew too!

[firefly-with-bamboo-hat]

Father Todd by me. Long hair Jason Todd 🛐🔥🔥🔥 BE the change you wanna see!

[nivora128]

I suggest we, from now on, WILL use these words to describe Jason. No more angry reckless broken disobedience. No more angry annoying full of rage ugly stupic dumb brutal.

Angry WARM AND WONDERFUL

Reckless TOO BRAVE TO BECOME A MAN TOO GUTSY TO DIE LIKE THAT

Disobedience SUCH A GOOD BOY MUST HAVE REALLY LOVE HIS MOTHER

Annoying HELPFUL

Ugly PAINFULLY HANDSOME CHARMING AND MYSTERIOUS CUTE AND GRACEFUL AND PRETTY BOY

Leaps before he thinks  SMART AND READY 

Stupid dumb brute strength THE GREAT BATTLER A MASTER COMBATANT QUICK AND FAST AND AGILE AND GOT SKILLS

Ontologically evil kid HE’S A GOOD KID DEEP DOWN ALL HIS PROBLEMS AND HE STILL TURNED OUT SO GOOD

Batman’s greatest failure HE WAS THE BEST SOMEONE WHO WILLING TO DO WHAT BATMAN CAN’T WHEN THE WORLD NEEDS IT

Not Dick and an acrobatic and wasn’t ready to become Robin He has performed so well with the Batman that he has been invited to work alongside the Titans from time to time. An above-average athlete and acrobat. Robin is also adept at various forms of martial arts. His training is ongoing and his skills improve regularly. He can handle himself in hand-to-hand combat and has also developed keen deductive skills.

[firefly-with-bamboo-hat]

[pastelchelle]

@kashswag had the whole mood board for his fit and everything, I just took it and drew him. Teehee... fifth count of how many times I have drawn Jason in a dress... probably won't be the last!!

[firefly-with-bamboo-hat]

Everything

[moon-ayyye]

Jaybin victim blaming was originally started by Alfred, not Bruce. Alfred thought he could bury the hatchet with Jason and tried to get Bruce to stop wallowing in guilt because he prioritised Bruce and his wellbeing over the truth.

Because it's Alfred that made the comments about Jason being just like Willis. And I see a lot of people saying that Jason spent more time with Alfred than Bruce, so it's natural that Bruce also believes this. If the man Jason loved so dearly thinks this, then how can it be wrong?

However, it is ABSOLUTELY Bruce's fault that jaybin was blamed for his death by the greater community. Why would you ever say that? A kid DIED, you don't need to blame him to make sure other sidekicks are more careful. You're rubbing salt into the wound. This is genuinely the most unnecessary thing to ever happen, because you don't need to change the circumstances to make sure the message gets through

All you're doing is confirming biases and dragging your kid's memory through the mud because you're too 'manly' for therapy.

The reason this was also effective was Bruce intentionally isolating Jason as robin. Jason had to sneak out to work with the Titans, and never managed to make his own hero team because Bruce didn't want to give him that freedom since Dick did the same and doesn't speak to him anymore

If Jason had ANY friends at all, then the victim blaming would've been shut down really early. Bruce isolated Jason and used that fact to push the narrative that Jason deserved to die. Because if that's what everyone thinks, that makes it right. Right? He's not making it up, everyone knows that. I mean, sure, Donna herself said that Jason acted way older than he is, but she doesn't know him. They don't share a bond. How can she be sure that he really was smart?

Victim blaming Jason is shitty. Always will be. But making it standard within a whole community to not be like him is genuinely one of the most cruel things I've ever seen in a comic book, and we're supposed to gloss over it, because Bruce is 'grieving.' This is why I genuinely don't think Bruce-as-Batman is ever going to be a good person. Good hero? Sure. Great even. But a piece of shit outside the suit

[liedownquisition]

To be honest I just think that the repeated take that "Jason needs to learn to appreciate Bruce's code by killing the wrong person and realizing why it exists" is the most boring and misguided approach to his motives possible.

First and foremost, this pretends that Jason's decision to kill isn't inherently in response to the failures of Bruce's no-kill rule in the first place. Jason was Robin first, he knows why the no kill rule exists, and he's not anti-redemption, you're just refusing to acknowledge that there's nuance.

In Superman (1987) #22, Superman executed three prisoners who committed planetary genocide of every human being from the earth of their reality, and swore to do it again if they ever escaped. Clark was forced to make a decision of whether or not to risk them following through with something they've already proven themself more than willing to do once, and putting an end to it for good and ensure that that possibility never came to pass. This is closer to the logic that Jason is working with, albeit more extreme. You could also, actually, compare him to Savior, though I would say he's more mild.

If I were to give canon Jason an actual political stance, I would put him as sort of... Social-anarcho-fascist. Yes, I'm aware that that's contradictory, which perfectly mirrors Jason's contradictory ideals & the biases he's never been given the chance to help. He's intensely critical and ultimately against the system itself, and always has been. He DOES believe in helping people, & especially in either his Robin run or in some of his more recent runs show some connection to community. He's far from perfect, mind you, but there are buds of it.

And, I would like to note, of course, that the fascism was inherited from Bruce, who I would mark as somewhere along liberal-fascist. Like, come on, guys. He's pro-cop, so he's not exactly batting a thousand in the politics department either. In fact, he's extremely adherent to the system. "But sometimes the cops turn on him and try to arrest him!!" yeah and then they expunge the corrupt cops and return to the status quo where Batman is the GPD's most specialest guy and nothing ever happened.

Bruce has repeatedly shown that he will talk the talk of people getting better and redemption from time to time, but he won't walk the walk: Whether it's Annual #11 "Love Bird" where he refused to believe that Penguin was actually trying to turn over a new leaf until it was too late for him to take back his accusations and he ruined Penguin's attempt to go straight & help other former convicts get their feet underneath them bcs the operation was technically a violation of parole, or Face the Face when -after installing Harvey as the vigilante in Gotham while he was gone for a year- he immediately accused Harvey of killing people again when he was being framed for it instead of trusting him and created a self-fulfilling prophecy of Harvey relapsing back into crime. His so-called "belief in redemption" is simply not stronger than his paranoia and hatred of crime itself, and it actively hampers any attempts to apply this effectively.

(Additionally, there were MULTIPLE incidents of Jason being the target of suspicion for doing things he hadn't. Under Bat-Fascism, if they have ANY reason to suspect you for a crime, especially if you have a history, then you are guilty until proven innocent. And this is an inherently anti-redemptive stance btw.)

Jason's methodology, his contradictorily fascistic politics, can all be attributed to Bruce's own flaws and being over-familiar with the system and not enough on the alternatives. To learning that at his knee and, as Jason said himself, "trying to be a better Batman." To want to be the kind of Batman that Bruce is, is to want to be effectively a shadow-dictator of Gotham.

There is no being a genuinely "better Batman" unless you can let go of Bruce's inherent flaws. First and foremost of which being the idea that he believes he knows what's best for everyone - himself, his family, the criminals he faces, and Gotham itself. He thinks he has rights to dictate what everyone in the city can or cannot do. Even beyond that, sometimes, but often he will ignore outside crimes that he would have punished with impunity within city limits. He's criticized for his controlling tendencies often. So are other members of the Bats who often hold very similar issues.

"The bats aren't fascists!" Yeah, they kind of are. Sorry to burst your bubble but I've already kind of explained some of it above. And if that's not enough let me remind you that Batman created "Brother Eye," that one of the bigger issues during Oracle's Birds of Prey runs was her and Dinah arguing about people's rights to privacy, that Bruce, through his connection to Wayne Industries, has complete & unfettered access to Gotham's powergrid and has been shown to be able to turn off portions of it on a whim. Just because you think they're benevolent, doesn't make them any less what they are?

Fuck, you guys love to use "royal" titles like "Prince of Gotham" and not actually confront what a monarchy in all of this actually means. Because spoilers: it's not a beneficial thing. He doesn't even live in the city proper.

They're like... the ideal of "communism" as people like to proudly proclaim themselves when being anti-US Gov't vs the reality of it. People think the Bats fit that shiny perfect ideal, some kind of benevolent dictatorship, and in some ways, sure, yeah, that is kind of the lie that the comics are selling you. But in other ways it's really, really not.

Bruce has historically frequently abandoned Crime Alley and only visits there once a year, and thinks there's "no hope" for Crime Alley. (that's not very redemptive now is it?) He also tosses people into Arkham, which has gone through multiple changes of leadership all of which were horrible fucking people who did unethical experiments on the patients. He never even bothered vetting them, or investigating the corruption enough to try and make the place more functional. Dick tried, but even he dismissed it as a place you only send people who are too far gone (notably, this statement I'm pretty sure was after Jason was sent there, lol).

Actually, if we're being blunt, it would be harder to find a prison in DC comics that wasn't the site of horribly unethical treatments and experiments than to find one that's a hell hole. Getting one that treats anyone humanely would be a literal miracle and probably actually secretly evil. As if it's any wonder that most of these people end up re-offenders. But Bruce never addresses that, he continues to feed people, even people you claim he understands "sometimes need to do crime to survive" into the woodchipper of DC's US Prison system.

(And let's be honest - the real life one isn't really any better.)

Jason is specifically operating off of the failures of the No Kill rule and how it hasn't stopped feeding children into the woodchipper. It hasn't stopped victimizing people who are trying to get by without the crime. When you are gardening, sometimes you have to prune the weeds to let the other plants grow. And yes, I know how inherently dehumanizing that sounds - I never said it wasn't flawed, I never said it was right. My stance is that there's no way that """Bruce's rules""" are ever going to change Jason's mind, because he's already based his entire approach to crime on them. He has made a deliberate choice to contradict them, he's made the decision that he's fine with the consequences.

"Well if it's okay to kill criminals why shouldn't they kill him." You know, like what was said in that one comic. Anyways, Jason has literally told multiple people to kill him. He told Bruce to do it to stop him from killing Joker, he told Ollie to do it and that holding back made him weak, he told Mia to do it and letting go was the only way to ensure that she'd be safe. I cannot stress enough how much Jason would be okay with someone killing him to stop him.

I think maybe he would feel a little bit of regret, but he wouldn't lose sleep over killing the wrong person. He didn't in Task Force Z. Granted there were bigger issues at hand but y'know. That's kind of the point. He's even mercy killed multiple people who asked him to even without a full understanding of their crimes.

I think the reason so many people refuse to acknowledge the fascism inherent in the Bats (and a lot of DC comics in general) is that they're so used to this milder form of fascism that it's normal, it's nothing, it's not an issue. You love using buzzwords like communism/socialism and harm reduction and acab and redemption and you don't actually know how to walk the walk. Because it's not something you're going to find anywhere in DC Comics (even Green Arrow got a little uncomfortably pro-cop in the latest series esp), and least of all within Batman, the #1 face of copaganda extraordinaire.

So like, comparing Jason's politics to the other Bats is just a matter of deciding which flavor of paint you prefer to paint over that. And at least Jason's more critical of the system at large on a fairly regular basis (well, barring Lobdell's time. He was pretty pro-cop there), and that struggle of trying to not be adherent to the system but still feeding into it because you've been so steeped in it that sometimes you're just running into another issue you need to unlearn can be pretty relatable to people who are trying to embrace and embody the ideals of a non-fascistic state.

[firefly-with-bamboo-hat]

Jason Todd, in heaven, reading when a disembodied voice calls his name. Then getting flashbanged by the owner of the disembodied voice after he gets dragged through the veil.

Jason Todd, resurrected in a pool of golden goo. "What the fuck! You know what? Good night!"

The Demon Hunting battle priests, especially the High Priest who tossed him in the goo: "..."

[nivora128]

Victim blaming can be defined as someone saying, implying, or treating a person who has experienced harmful or abusive behaviour like it was a result of something they did or said, instead of placing the responsibility where it belongs: on the person who harmed them.

Robin (1993) #0

This is victim blaming. To say that "Jason openly defied Batman's orders and that's what killed him" is victim blaming.

Instead of this, Dick could just simply say that "The Joker killed him", but he said "Jason was reckless, he defied Batman's orders and went solo against the Joker and that's what killed him" and that is victim blaming.

And I will say this again and again and a thousand times more if I have to, but: Jason didn't go after the Joker. He didn't go into the warehouse knowing that Joker was in there. He didn't recklessly go after the Joker. He went into the warehouse because he was following his mom. He was lied to and was betrayed.

New Teen Titans 1988 #55

This is another example of Jason being victim blamed for his own death, and yes, I will break it down for you all. For context, this happened after Dick found out about Jason's death and came to find Bruce.

B: I didn't expect to see you. D: I heard about Jason. I'm really sorry, Bruce...

This is their conversation after that:

D: Come on, Bruce, talk. Don't turn your back on me. I'm here... now. B: You were lucky. When you didn't listen to me, your injuries weren't fatal. Of course, by the time I properly trained you...

Dick came to Bruce to talk about Jason's death. When Bruce brought up this subject about how Dick was "lucky" and that his injuries weren't "fatal" when he didn't listen to him, he was implying that "You were lucky when you didn't listen to me, but Jason wasn't. When he didn't listen to me, it got him killed."

He was implying that Dick got injured before because he didn't listen to him, and Jason died because he didn't listen to Bruce. This is victim blaming.

Now let me ask you a question, do you think that Bruce was victim blaming Dick when he said that Dick was injured because he didn't listen to Bruce? Do you think it's okay to say that "Dick got injured because he didn't listen to Bruce," do you think that this is true and a completely normal thing to say and is totally not victim blaming at all? Do you think it's fine when you hear someone says that "Dick got hurt because he didn't listen to Bruce"?

If you can actknowledge that that was victim blaming, you can actknowledge that Jason was victim blamed when someone said that "Jason was killed because he didn't listen to Bruce." It's not that hard.

D: Jason wasn't me. I was a trained acrobat. I could think quickly in perilous situations. But why did you let him become Robin before he was ready?!?

In this sentence, Dick was saying that Bruce held responsible for Jason's death, because he let Jason become Robin before he was ready, but this is also implying that Jason's death was caused because of Jason's lack of skill, or because Jason wasn't ready to become Robin. To say that Jason wasn't Dick or an acrobat, implying that he died because he wasn't as good as Dick is victim blaming. To imply that Jason died because he "wasn't ready to become Robin", is victim blaming.

To say that Jason's death was because of anything he did, because of any traits that he carries, because of his actions, because of his lack of skills, because he was not good enough or strong enough, to say or imply that anything he did or said is something that lead to his own premise instead of Joker's action of murdering him, is victim blaming. To say or imply that the victims hold responsible, in whole or in parts of the crimes that've been commited against them, is victim blaming.

[nightowlqueen]

Matthew Rosenberg speaking through Jason directly to the DC Office

[foolnamedjoey]

YJ inspired Jason I stare at you

[movalise]

Fascinating how defensive Tim and Dick fans will get when people will note how Batman TAS and Dynamic Duo gave Tim and Dick Jason's backstory (guess what Timm and Dini thought that Jason's backstory was just more compelling than lpod) while erasing Jason or his heroism "oh Jason isn't the only character allowed to be a street kid !!!!!" but pre crisis Jason growing up in a circus was too much ?

[firefly-with-bamboo-hat]

Double standards be like:

[mikakuna]

the angst potential of jason overhearing this knowing he got the 'good soldier' treatment + jason realizing deep down that nobody would ever defend him like this, not out loud

bruce may also call jason his son but it feels different. when bruce calls jason his son or says something loving to him, it's typically after he completely shattered him, psychologically or physically, so the supposed sweet moment fails hard

jason goes crawling back to him every time tho and that about sums him up

[firefly-with-bamboo-hat]

Demon Hunter Jason Todd, long curly hair, built like a tank, wears those scooped gloves. Idc, I want it. I might even write it. Ship will be included.

I love the thought of jason with long hair sue me

[nevion]

Just remember, If Jason is 'canonically' ugly, then so is Dick. Because they canonically look alike not only in art style (where this stupid hc comes from), but the characters saying they look similar (E.g. Donna). You can't have one be beautiful while the other is ugly. If one is ugly, they both are and vice versa.

[firefly-with-bamboo-hat]

Scoured Pinterest hoping to find Long haired jason todd fan art. Why does no one else share my vision? This is a travesty, someone give me long hair Jason. Hulking Tank of a man with long hair.