#haymaker thoughts

[haymaker-mva]

i love when i stumble across an artist that has redone a character.

like, for example, where they were once pale and stick thin, now they have actual blood/melanin in them and some meat on their bones. they have scars, some of them gnarly and textured like they realistically should be. their hair isn’t the same, but it’s so very clearly them. maybe it’s done in a slightly different style, or it’s dyed a little, or it’s grown out, or it’s curlier, or it’s like they took the canon version and just exaggerated it a little. they have top surgery scars, or wear a skirt, or have a pride flag stitched into their jacket. there are stickers on their cheeks and bits and bobbles on their outfits. they use a cane, have a CGM, a hearing aid/cochlear implant, a knee brace, a prosthetic, a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. they have freckles, or moles, or beauty marks, or dimples, or acne, or braces, or glasses.

this is the character, yes, but the character changed in the best possible way, like a beloved childhood stuffed animal. this is them painted over with clear love and care, with tender details that consider everything they have been and everything they could be.

“to be loved is to be changed”

[haymaker-mva]

AU where everything is the same except Bruce, early on in his career, when he said “i am Vengeance”, meant it as. a name. like: “hello, nice to meet you, my name is Vengeance.” yes he was bat themed but he, in all his edgy newbie glory, wanted to be Vengeance.

and then they saddled him with Batman.

he was so salty about it back then. but now he’s older and he’s chill with being Batman instead. it’s a lot less overly dark and brooding and so he’s kinda glad no one took him literally when he called himself Vengeance, and he knows no one can EVER find out. Alfred is the only one who knows the truth. everyone else rightfully would never let him live it down.

[haymaker-mva]

they can try to retcon jason into wearing pants all they want, but i know the truth: that boy was just as pantsless as the boy before him!!!

i personally prefer him with the shorts to differentiate him just a little, i think it suits him better, but TIM was the one to break the pantsless wonder streak.

dick had his leotard-type fit for his acrobat reasons, jason was the first ever followup so he had to be pretty similar—he was trying to be robin, and dick was the only robin blueprint—but tim? he was the one trying to NOT be the robin before him bc the robin before him fucking died. he needed to be different, better, for both bruce’s sake and his own. that’s why he broke the mold and made robin into what it is today. that’s why tim wears pants.

[haymaker-mva]

i don’t think Bruce has a favorite kid, at least not cognitively. i think he does favor one or the other but it really depends on what time and state everything is in. no, instead i think he has a specific TYPE of favoritism for most all of them.

with Dick: that’s his first child. that’s his first robin, and the one that had surpassed him by far. they butt heads with because they’re both grown with different ideas about how to do things, but at the end of the day he looks UP to what Dick has managed to create. Dick is his hero, and his greatest success. he can’t imagine Dick ever truly letting him down. he also struggles so hard to verbalize any of this to Dick because Bruce is Bruce and because of the arguments they’ve had in the past, but Bruce takes every opportunity to gas Nightwing up and that’s canon fact.

with Jason: people often write it like Bruce lets Jason get away with everything which is… kinda true? but also not? people write it the opposite way too, where Bruce never lets Jason have a single break which is?? sometimes but?? not exactly?? lmao. inconsistent writing in DC? gasp. anyways, it comes out to result in a complicated mix of those things. Bruce feels an immense amount of guilt for Jason’s situation, how he’s turned out. he feels responsible for Jason’s crimes in a way he doesn’t with almost anyone else because to him, BRUCE is why Jason has been pushed there. also he sees his kids as an extension of himself in some ways (yeahh not too ideal or very healthy… Bruce should go to therapy about that… lol as if) especially when they wear his symbol this mistake-type responsibility is on TOP of that stuff. so on one hand he’s harsh because he’s trying to “fix his mistake”, in a way trying to hold Jason back because he kind of takes on even more responsibility for him than he does with his kids on the regular, but he also lets Jason off and gives him chances again and again because that’s his son, damn it. and in the same way that Bruce is too harsh because of his perceived responsibility, he is also light because of it being not all Jason’s fault, but Bruce’s. it was Bruce’s failure that brought them here. cue the gaps, Bruce has a Guilt Thing. and it means Jason gets to come back and try again as many times as he wants, and gets to fuck shit up and get yelled at and iced out, but also to come back. every time. oh and the little stuff? Jason gets away with it so bad because it’s a miracle if he’s even remotely listening to the shit Bruce asks of him. small potatoes in comparison to the murder.

with Tim: after Jason’s death, Bruce wouldn’t have been able to deal with Tim dying too. this led to intense training and strictness, which Tim understood. Tim, to Bruce, is the kid he’s prepared the absolute best he can. it is because of this he can put too much on Tim, trusting him and relying on him. Tim was the one with him in his darkest times, and he wanted Tim to be prepared for everything he and also Jason never were. this leads to fucked up shit like Tim’s 16th bday. look it up, it’s fucked. Tim’s independent and trustworthy, but that’s not what he always needs/needed and Bruce didn’t figure that out in time to address it right. Tim is also so much like him sometimes, right up there with Cass and Damian, though for different reasons. he fully expects Tim to be the next World’s Greatest Detective. he respects Tim kinda like how he respects Dick, but like somewhat in an anticipatory way as well as the regular proudness Bruce has for most of his children (sorry Jay he loves you but he is NOT proud of the murder lol) slash vigilante mentees. i feel like i could have written this one better but i have so many feelings abt Bruce and Tim that it’s ironically harder for me to find the words for describing it like this lol.

with Cass: i know less about his relationship with her, but she is so much like him in so many ways. they butt heads the least because she gets him. she and him are both devoted to the Batman mission, are familiar and intimate with it in ways no one else is. i wish i had more to say and i will someday, but that’s it for now. #CassShouldBeTheNextBatman, thank you very much.

with Steph: not his kid, so i’ll keep this brief, but i almost think he wishes Steph WERE his kid because then he’d be able to order her around easier and he really wishes he could because he’s terrified at the idea of her dying for real. he sees so much potential in her and has tried to cultivate it, but her resistance to listening to him or treating him as an authority really pisses him off sometimes because he wants so badly for her to GET it so he can keep her SAFE. she doesn’t get much of a favoritism type or whatever because she’s not his kid, but she does “get” to shrug off his authority a lot. the daughter-in-law, regardless of if she’s actually dating anyone in the family.

with Damian: i also know woefully little about their dynamic as it sits now, but i’ll give it my best shot. Damian is so young and he’s suffered so much. Bruce wants to give him room to grow and fly but, sometimes, them being so similar (personality wise: stubborn, uppity, particular, harsh) can lead to their squabbles. he sees in Damian, ironically, someone he could have become if he’d been pushed a darker way at the right wrong times. this is why he lets Damian off so much at the start. he knows Damian can be better and he sees that Damian wants to, deep inside. it doesn’t hurt that this is his bio kid, which is so new for him. it doesn’t make Damian better than the others, but it trips Bruce up. he’s nowadays so, so proud of how much Damian has grown past the murderous assassin he once was. it gives him hope.

with Duke: slay me where i stand but i also don’t know too much about his dynamic with Bruce. i know his backstory now but like nothing about his actual canonical relationships with the batfam. so so so sorry. i do feel that Bruce is hesitant in some ways of overstepping because Duke’s parents are both still alive but that’s like all i’ve got. we’re supposed to be talking favoritisms, so i suppose Duke would get recency bias. new kid status. maybe. idk. sorry. someone please fill in for my deficiencies, i’m still catching up with slightly older comics.

this is what i’ve gathered from comics and such; i feel strongest and most secure in the first three, the rest is mainly me speculating and brainrotting. it’s like it deteriorates in canonicity/strength as it goes on, i’ve noticed. lmao. maybe sometime i’ll ramble about the kids’ side of things/perspective on all of this. PLEASE correct me if i’m wrong somewhere, i’m new and i love learning. or just give me your takes because i WANT them!!!

[haymaker-mva]

man i know absolutely nothing about the green lantern corps and stuff but i was introduced to the concept of and read one (1) fic about kyle rayner/guy gardener but the concept is so gas to me.

kyle “rivals dick grayson in hotness levels” rayner: i want that horrible, horrible man with the worst haircut you’ve ever seen so so bad

meanwhile guy looking up on google: is my hot coworker making me gay. does thinking a guy is hot make you guy. is wanting to be one of the girls your hot coworker flirts with gay. does crashing out after he dies make me gay

[haymaker-mva]

ok so obviously we all know jason was not necessarily the “violent” robin and a good bit of that reputation was retroactive, but let’s say that both are true because mish mash parts of canon and fanon to make happy cake, i like to say.

so imagine jason, happy and violent robin. the one that will barrel down an alley at you doing a crime with a huge grin and laughter and then he fucking brains your crime partner or whatever on the brick wall, what the hell, and HOLY SHIT he’s coming for you next–

but then batman is suddenly there, holding this insane creature up by the scruff of his costume like a cat with its kitten. he tells robin, no, be gentle, people break easily, and robin is like, fine, oKAY, and then batman opens his hand to drop/set robin free. in like no seconds at all he’s flying at you again. you wake up two days later in prison, and you tell everyone the new robin is a joyful and terrifying demon. they don’t believe you at first, but they will understand when they encounter him. they all will.

[haymaker-mva]

warning for incoherent rambling abt tim drake & his relationship w/bruce and dick because i have brainworms.

ughhh the dichotomy of bruce and his issues vs his other kids vs tim and the utter havoc this has on their relationships. the way bruce and dick both dropped the ball on tim because they learned the wrong lessons from each other.

nightwing wants space and respect and started pushing for it when bruce was younger and stupider and a less experienced father. jason wants space and acceptance for things that bruce can’t accept but also pushes people away and means it a good portion of the time and reacts badly to bruce’s hovering a lot. steph isn’t his kid but she also rejects his hovering. cass is the closest he gets to chill with it, but she’s also older when she comes under his care and has a life of her own and also travels a good bit.

but tim? tim is used to feeling independent and isolated and alone for a million and one reasons, but that’s NOT what he actually truly wants or what he needs. he finds and hunts down bruce on his own when he’s so young, gets emancipated early, he takes care of himself, he made the robin mantle into a hero of its own rather than solely a sidekick. he’s so so independent and strong. but he NEEDS the bruce hovering, at least he did before since he’s an adult now. but at that time? bruce was either dead/missing/whatever or trying to learn from his past mistakes of being overbearing. he didn’t want to overstep again, but tim NEEDED the coddling.

and then dick. the one who initiated bruce’s lesson on not being a helicopter parent. he tries to set tim free and encourage the same spreading wings event that dick had wanted and had to fight for when he was that age. but tim isn’t him. that’s not what tim wanted or needed. he loved robin. he made it into something more, and filled the role and reshaped it into a home for himself. robin was, in some ways and to tim, a symbol of his place in the family in his mind. and then dick, with the world on his shoulders and the kindest of intentions, took it away. he accidentally recreated the hurt bruce gave to him, all that time ago, when he recruited another robin in dick’s stead after he quit/was fired/continuity and timelines are confusing. point is, dick accidentally did the thing we all dread and became/acted like his father. talk about method acting.

they all mess me up so bad. dude.

[haymaker-mva]

i like to think about how certain characters would think about us shipping them, and i mean that genuinely. like their (assumedly) straight heterosexual “accurate” reaction.

dabihawks? they’d be appalled. flabbergasted. to be so for real that’s probably where it would end, maybe some posturing and stuff too, but. i can imagine them, if this were before the reveal, thinking it out and then scrambling to use it to manipulate each other (“aw, do you like me like that?“ “in your dreams, pigeon”) and accidentally getting into a gay relationship (situationship? fwb? who knows) while both being straight. imagine: manipulative gay chicken.

kiribaku? bakugou would probably be confused and fuck off. i genuinely can’t imagine kirishima (or bakugou tbh) as straight but for the argument let’s pretend i can. if he were, he’d so be the type of dude to lean into it and think that them being thought of as dating is so cool because clearly that means everyone can see they’re the bestest of bros. kirishima “i mean i’m straight but is he really your best bro if people don’t think you’re dating?” eijirou you are so precious to me.