#signal interlude

[himejoshiangels]

I adore this cover but also I hate it more than anything. u can literally see how warm and light filled dukes childhood was

[himejoshiangels]

obsessed w how bitter and upset duke is w Bruce in this arc. and he has every right to be! he knew Bruce almost personally at that point, and his parents were joker gassed in a recreation of the wayne murders in an effort to get to batman. they were collateral damage and duke had been suffering pretty much alone as a result. his whole ideology is that robin doesn't need batman but on a more personal scale, you can see why he thinks that! when he needed Bruce he wasn't there, when he needed batman he wasn't there either. And he'll fret like he didn't care like it didn't matter but it DID

Ik I talk abt this panel often but that's bcs KTZZZZ ITS SO CRUCIAL TO DUKES CHARACTER!! He becomes completely self reliant, isolates himself he can't wait on batman to save the city, can't wait on batman to find his parents or wait on batman to save him, he's all he could rely on, and that self-reliance later grew into an almost cynical worldview. it's why his whole "emphasis on the word 'we'" thing at the we of WAR meant so much. he had hope in not just his own beliefs but in others' as well.

ANDDD it's why his and bruce's dynamic drives me up a wall but that's another post for another time..

[himejoshiangels]

short interlude on my batgirl 2000 reread to go thru every comic duke has been in ever anyway first appearance, hair looking fluffy as ever

anyway thinking about the riddlers whole "get smart or die" thing and how that's a rule dukes been living his whole life by since then but we'll get back to that later

obsessed w how he talks and looks like a stressed out 40 year old in these panels. like girl you are 8 years old, you do not have a mortgage or taxes why do you talk like that. Giving him a major pass tho bcs it's the literal apocalypse. I live coming up w child duke headcanons from these panels. I think he's wayy more cheering than this, the end of the world has him down and a little done w the bullshit. he's so rambley and sassy

but that last part ERMMM! you're only crazy if it doesn't work...yeah we'll come back to that one too

[himejoshiangels]

obligatory dukes childhood bedroom appreciation post, this bad boy can fit so many hyperfixatation headcanons

ignore Bruce on the iv this ain't abt him..anyway childhood duke hcs for your viewing pleasure

-classic fave of mine is that dukes career as a forever dm started when he ran a campaign for a bunch of older kids when he was like 10 at the library

-and dukes favorite place was DEFINITELY the library when he was a kid. it was like baby's first mutual aid. he always returned his books on time. If there was an event, he was there, elaine and doug made sure of it. he feels like a know it all kid, the type who got in trouble for reading books about wizards under the desk instead of paying attention

- older hc but I think her wrote warrior cats fanfic basically but w dragons instead I just know he did in my heart

-in we are robin duke mentions an old childhood dream of wanting to be a paleontologist (mainly cuz he liked solving things and putting pieces together) but I dully belive the pipeline went wizards > dragons > dinosaurs (baby duke basically thought dinosaurs were like irl dragons

[himejoshiangels]

they make me sick!!

[himejoshiangels]

I hope everyone whose ever called we are robin a cult or a gang knows that every time they do that an angel loses its wings. they r literally just bffs..only reason they're ever called a gang is bcs they're inner-city kids but watching them interact GYAH! they're taking the Q train to fight crime and in a big group chat full of kids all over giving tips about they best way to throw a punch without hurting your own hand too bad

[himejoshiangels]

they should've put me into the writers room at DC in 2016 bcs in the cursed wheel and rebirth allstar batman there are inklings HINTS of such an intriguing potential dynamic between duke and bruce where duke is leaning away from bitterness but still a bit wary of just how much he can rely on Bruce and Bruce is so deadset on doing a good job at mentoring(and lowkey fathering) this time. he's still falls into some of his old occasional pitfalls but duke doesn't get the batman brand daddy issues this time around. I love the idea that in the begining Duke really does view this as a partnership almost like a work thing and Bruce is constantly struggling to not call Duke his kid

[himejoshiangels]

we are robin u will ALWAYS b famous..

this panel gets it across so well. kids all over Gotham in a fucking group chat putting together make shift robin costumes out of clothes in their closets. this is so fucking GRAH

STREAM!! (edit by @damianbugs BTW!!)