Dick Grayson ✨
Different suits from his different stages (my AU- kinda)
A modern interpretation of his different ages, Basically canon stages (most of them), but from different lines joined into one, partly with HCs to give them coherence, lol.
Below I explain each of the costumes and a bit about the timelines in this AU (?)
Before I begin, let me clarify these things for this timeline:
Bruce was 27, almost 28, when he took in 8-year-old Dick.
Dick is only 3 years older than Jason, and Jason is only 2 years older than Tim. When Dick is 23, Damian is 10, almost 11 yo.
Now, let's start :D
1. Robin (9 years old).
He baby.
His costume consists mainly of 3 parts:
The green leotard which is made from his original Flying Graysons costume (he supervised all the work so that his costume would not be damaged).
The red vest, inspired by the red jacket worn by Pop Haly, the circus ringmaster, his first grandpa in everything but blood.
And his iconic yellow cape, of course; his tactic as Robin was, in fact, to steal the spotlight to make Batman even more invisible, so the bright colors suited him perfectly... Although he eventually learned to sneak around even in these bright colors, managing to scare even Bruce on more than one occasion. The cape is short to keep it from getting in the way of his stunts, but it is still resistant to things like fire and water, although not as resistant to weapons as Batman's because it would be too heavy.
In addition, his belt contained mainly elements to help with distraction and first aid items.
In my AU, Jason never received this costume, only Dick wore it because it was too personal, being literally his circus clothes transformed into his Robin uniform. (Aside from the obvious detail that it might not fit him, considering Jason was 13 and Dick was 9 years old, even if Jason was a little small due to malnutrition, Dick was also too small for his age).
2. Robin (13 years old).
Second version of his costume, a sign in some way of his passage from childhood to adolescence.
While it no longer had details from its original suit, it kept the essence of the suit as much as possible while beginning to give a more mature appearance, as well as including more efficient elements; such as starting to carry more weapons and not just distraction items on his belt, as well as more protection as he began to engage in close combat.
The black cloak on the outside helps with stealth, while he uses the yellow inner part as a way to draw attention if necessary. He still keeps his cape short so it doesn't get in the way of his stunts... Still not as durable as Batman's, but more durable than its first version.
As you can see, it is a mix in some ways of his costumes used in the animated series Young Justice and Teen Titans; so he also has things like gloves that he can use to connect to electrical equipment and hack them.
He started using it when he formed the Teen Titans team.
This costume only underwent minor changes until he was no longer Robin.
This is the suit Jason receives when he starts out as Robin.
Here I make an interlude to explain this part of the AU (again, it's a mix of different canon lines and some fanon stuff), where he goes from being Robin to Nightwing:
In my AU, Dick stops being Robin a few weeks before he turns 17. It doesn't exactly happen because he quit Robin or because Batman fired him, but in a way it's a mix of both situations.
Dick spent too much time with the Teen Titans, which bothered Batman as he felt he was no longer committed to Gotham and his role as his sidekick. So Batman confronts him about this... Not so much out of anger actually, but out of misplaced concern, as he felt he couldn't protect Dick if he was away from him, but he couldn't express himself. Bruce not knowing how to express concern resulted in a control that Dick was beginning to tire of as he grew older.
However, it was not only because Bruce was suffocating to him, but because Dick himself was beginning to doubt whether he really wanted to be a vigilante all his life. After finishing high school at a young age, he was admitted to university despite being younger than other students, which made him rethink many things.
Before he can express his insecurities to Bruce, he gives him an ultimatum: choose the Teen Titans, or choose to remain Robin.
Dick asks for some time to think about it, while he withdraws from both the Titans and Robin as he prepares to attend college.
However, Bruce takes his hesitation as a response, and "releases" him from his responsibilities as Robin and let him go to college.
That's when Dick, being away, just a few months later discovers that Batman now has another Robin as a partner through the news.
The short time that has passed causes Dick to misinterpret the situation as Bruce having spent much more time than he actually spent thinking about replacing him and training Jason, since Dick trained a full year before becoming Robin, he believes Jason must have gone through a similar amount of time, perhaps longer since Dick's training was short since he was kind of a prodigy (who also had physical training since he learned to walk); which makes him feel even more betrayed and angry towards Bruce.
This is when Clark contacts him, having also heard the news and wanting to know what had happened and, above all, how Dick was doing after this.
This is when he has the talk with Clark about what happened, his unofficial "dismissal" as Robin, and for the first time, Dick talks about his insecurities about being a hero, and also about his feelings about Bruce, since despite this, the man still sends him money and continues paying for his classes, plus he still responds as his mentor even if they haven't had a real conversation in months. Dick is angry and hurt, but he can't bring himself to hate Bruce, and clearly not Jason either, who he suspects doesn't even know the full context of the situation between him and Bruce.
Clark, who was always his second mentor and practically another father figure to him, supports him in this whole situation, not only telling him the story of Nightwing, helping Dick more than he thinks possible by making him see that he wants to continue being a vigilante... But also about his feelings about Bruce, and helping him translate Bruce's feelings as well, realizing that what probably led Bruce to do this was not distrust of him, but his way of giving him the opportunity to choose a life outside of vigilantism.
Although this last part is not resolved so soon, because even if he may have that in mind, the pain is still there... But at least, Dick has solved the first part of the problem, and with Clark's blessing, he's back in the game.
3. Nightwing (17 -almost 18- years old).
Dick's first suit as Nightwing.
It's a basic suit at best, not at all equipped like his previous suits, done primarily for the purpose of simply hiding his identity as Nightwing.
It's made of stuff Dick bought at regular stores, from a gym suit, the jacket, and even the basic pads and belts which, again, are mostly equipped with a first aid kit, as well as rudimentary weapons made by himself (more due to lack of money than knowledge).
We could say that this was his most "rebellious" stage as a vigilante, since even after Bruce discovered him and tried to scold him for his lack of equipment, Dick stuck to the suit for a while.
It's like the Discowing case to a certain extent, more than efficient, it's a suit suited to the fashion of the moment.
Since he could no longer be in Robin's colors, he took blue as the primary color for his suit, although this time saying to use black, as he didn't need to be the light that creates the shadow for Batman, so he decided it was his turn to be stealthy on his own.
Obviously he wasn't going to use just any cape, as it wouldn't have any resistance and would just get in his way.
4. Nightwing (18 -almost 19- years old).
Second version of the Nightwing suit, this time with more professional equipment. (Period of pseudo-peace with Bruce, Mostly for the sake of Jason, who he had become an unofficial mentor to).
It still leans more towards fashion than efficiency, but there's a better balance this time.
It is with this suit that he also begins to use his signature weapons.
(Instead of Mirage's infamous mullet, let me introduce: ✨ wolfcut ✨).
He also partly grew his hair out of depression after Jason died... Oops.
He dropped out of college to focus on Blüdhaven and return to the Titans full time.
5. Nightwing (22 years old).
I usually draw Dick at this stage, in his 22/23 years, even if the suit I once showed is not this one in reality- and probably if I draw it again I'll keep using the light blue/cyan I used before, I just used a dark blue now for the color palette, lol
There's not much to say, it's just a redesign of his current suit- At most I can add that his boots are special to allow him to move his feet more freely.
The suit is made of a more durable material, although definitely not as much as Batman's suit so as not to decrease his agility in any way.
(as I said many times: calisthenics body, not built like a fucking fridge).
(During this period of time he resumed his classes virtually and finished university).
Here the Titans are in charge of Donna, but they clearly still respect him as a leader as if he never left.
6. Batman (24 -almost 25- years old).
Having temporarily taken Bruce's place as Batman, Dick has to wear a different suit in order to fight on Bruce's level.
The suit is less heavy, meaning it is less durable, but it allows Dick greater mobility to make up for the lack of durability with his dodging ability.
The cape is shorter, but just as durable as the original, but, unlike the original, the cape is not attached to the hood and can be easily detached to break free from grabs or increase mobility.
At first, Dick used makeup to cover the visible differences between his face and Bruce's while was using the original Batman mask, but because he needed to be quick in emergencies, he opted to cover his entire face.
Projectile bat-ears :D
The boots are lighter, but the gloves are heavier.
Dick also trained to gain muscle mass, so he sacrificed some of his flexibility, making it impossible to maintain it with so much muscle on his body. He's still a lot more flexible than Bruce (and anyone in the family, tbf) tho.
7. Nightwing (27 yo).
Dick after stopping being Batman, returns to being Nightwing.
He still has more muscle mass than he had before, but he intentionally reduced his musculature a bit to return to his peak flexibility.
He made minor changes to his suit to suit his new fighting style, as it was influenced by his time as Batman.
...
And that's it :D
