@shmoo92 asked me if I had any information on what Tim’s preboot theatre reno looked like. I was sick and miserable, so it was a PERFECT distraction. I now have a working monitor, so I’ve scanned the floorplan we worked out together and posted it to deviantArt. (Scaling for Tumblr is a pain.) Hope it’s useful for someone!
(Also, if anyone’s inspired to make a version, of a different DCU building design, PLEASE tell me. I love them.)
Inspiration used for my design of Red Robin’s converted Movie Theatre home. I’m posting the floor plan on deviantArt in a moment, but wanted to be able to link to my references. Using that site is confusing.
One of the things I love about Tim is how he always reuses other people’s abandoned names. So, I have given you a list of such names, and the circumstances which might lead to him adopting them:
Nightwing – Dick is dead and he’s trying to carry on the legacy. Less depressingly, Dick became Batman while Tim was in a slightly better place and asked Tim to step up to the position to support him.
Renegade – Tim is MAD, probably at Dick, and isn’t talking to anyone in the family. Probably isn’t talking to any of the Titans, either.
The Spoiler – Unlikely in canon, because comics almost NEVER have a guy honour a woman by carrying on her legacy. Again, Steph is probably dead and Tim is probably really angry about it.
Black Bat – Either Tim or Cass is undercover. I love this idea. Can we have Cass undercover and Tim filling in for her so nobody notices RIGHT NOW? And Tim ROCKING the costume and trying desperately to fight like Cass (no gadgets!!) and trying to minimize the Robin-quipping, because Cass’ jokes are all SUPER dry and minimal. Okay, thank you anon, I am in love with this new AU. Cass probably checks in with him every week or two and mocks him for all the ways he is definitely not acting like her. He despairs. Dick accidentally calls him ‘Cassie’. The world is infinitely brighter.
Redbird – HAHAHAHAAHAAA! Let’s have Tim take on the legacy of – – – his CAR! Yup. Totally not trying to get back at his little not-brother by stealing his name. NOPE. Has nothing to do with the little Prince at all. He misses that car. It was such a loyal and trustworthy companion.
I’ve read my fair share of Batman AUs where slavery is accepted and someone ends up a slave/servant of someone else. It’s usually Jason in the servant position, due to his background, but I have a much more interesting idea.
Jason is going to HATE the idea of slavery, possibly more viscerally than any other character could – so make him play master.
You’ve got Jason, the recently adopted son of the Lord of Gotham. Terribly awkward and uncomfortable with both the manners and the mindset of the culture he’s found himself in.
You’ve got Tim, formerly a minor noble, now sold to pay the debts of his deceased parents. Choosing Bruce’s house as the best option left available to him. Comfortable with high society and the perfect person to teach Jason how to act.
And Jason HATES THIS. Hates the idea of owning someone. Hates Tim for seeming to accept society how it is. Wants to burn everything to the ground and start over again.
And Tim is explaining that while Jason doesn’t NEED a servant, the estate takes up almost a tenth of Gotham and if Jason wants to eat it’s a ten minute walk to the kitchens. And Jason’s not going to be respected by others, and is going to make Bruce look bad, unless he learns how to pretend to be one of them. And that Tim doesn’t WANT to be treated like a person at the next party – he’d much rather be invisible than deal with former equals noticing him. And, NO, he ISN’T happy with becoming someone’s possession, but if Jason doesn’t learn how to treat him “properly” things are going to be much worse for him.
I don’t know, I just enjoy anarchic forces of justice forced to uphold the establishment. And Tim bossing people around while acting very polite and obedient. And everyone forced into positions they don’t like and trying not to resent the other person for the position that person has been forced into.
(Number is Tim’s probable age for death)
4/7 – John
and Mary Grayson – die while preforming in front of Tim. Tim had just bonded
with their son and had to watch him be orphaned12/13 – Jason
Todd – Tim has a case of hero worship for Jason/Robin. Jason mysteriously
disappears, both from Bruce’s life and the streets as Robin. Tim experiences
Batman plunging into despair and growing violent and sloppy.13 – Janet
Drake – Tim’s mom is murdered while in Haiti. Batman fails to save her. His dad
is also in a coma and then paralysed for a while.16 – Future
Alfred Pennyworth – Bruce’s messed up 16th birthday present for Tim
involved Alfred recording fake videos from the future asking Tim to avenge his
death and trust no one16 –
Darla Aquista and Stephanie Brown – both Tim’s friend and his girlfriend are
murdered during War Games (Steph
retconned to not actually have died)16 –
Jack Drake – killed by the Boomerang during Identity Crisis, shortly after War
Games. Tim’s step-mom suffers a mental breakdown (I believe this term is no
longer accepted, but I couldn’t track down a better one)16/17 – Michael
Lasky – Dodge wanted to be a hero with Robin. Tim blamed himself for not doing
better to stop him when Dodge was injured and fell into a coma16/17 –
Possibly Dana Winters – when Bludhaven
blows up, Tim’s step-mom is staying there in a hospital. We have no confirmed
death but she’s never mentioned again16/17 –
Kon-El – Tim’s best friend dies fighting Superboy/man Prime.16/17 –
Bart Allen – Killed by his clone, Inertia and a bunch of other Rogues while
he’s aged to adulthood17 – Matthew
and Hillary Armstrong – siblings to Anarky II, they were killed when Tim’s plan
to stop the villain backfired badly17 –
Bruce Wayne – seemed to be killed by Darkseid. Actually travelling through time
and becoming a bomb17 – 2(?) people he set fake hits on while earning the League of Assassins trust. He thought he could protect them. Also, Owens and Z, 2 young assassins that Ra’s sent to protect/win over Tim and died while trying to do so.
Nu52
16 –
Damian Wayne – the 11 year old adopted brother of Tim was killed by his own
clone at his mother’s orders16 –
Dick Grayson – Tim’s oldest brother was convinced to fake his own death by
Bruce
Conclusion: Tim’s life really, really, sucks.
After all
that complaining about how I DON’T CARE about queer stuff, I should probably
feel ridiculous posting this. BUT.
I really,
really, want a fic about Bart having as much understanding of gender identity and
sexual attraction as I do of romantic attraction.
Bart coming
to Tim and asking about some aspect of dating, or why people respond badly to
homosexuality, or something else Tim is COMPLETELY unequipped to explain.
And Tim
carefully asking questions to confirm that Bart still doesn’t get why he’s
supposed to go in the men’s washroom or not wear skirts. Because he doesn’t
identify with any gender OR feel any dysphoria when labelled. He doesn’t care,
and because he’s BART, he has no clue that he SHOULD care. And he has never
felt attraction to either gender (Carol and future!Rose can still have happened.
I’m happily married to my best friend. You don’t need romantic or sexual
attraction for a relationship). He’s never got that it’s a thing different than
friendship.
I want Bart
getting the talk I never got. From the ground up. Describing gender to someone
who’s upbringing allowed him to avoid any opinions about it at all. Describing
attraction, both sexual and romantic. With super basic examples.
And Tim
being SUPER AWKWARD but also surprisingly good at it. Because he sees things
from the outside all the time, so I’d think he’d be good at describing feelings
that someone has never experienced to them in a way that would make sense.
I want to
see sexual and gender identity explained as if they were magic, or some other
concept that doesn’t exist and nobody is expected to know anything about. And
the little lightbulb moments with Bart, as some weird behaviour suddenly makes
sense and he excitedly asks Tim if this is why people do __.
Also, SO
MANY bonus points if at some point Tim is explaining asexuality and Bart is
like, that’s how you are, right? And Tim fumbles and then says something about
how he’s complicated, because there are a lot of outside factors (trauma, neglect,
being an awkward nerd, etc.) for him. In this fic, I want a Tim who isn’t
asexual, just really uncomfortable with sex and sexuality. Because that
interests me too.
Even more
bonus points for a coda at the end with Bart excitedly telling Kon what he now
understands and Kon having his own little Eureka moment. Because his upbringing
also leaves the possibility for SO MANY gaps in his knowledge base he might
never have even noticed.
I just thought up a scene where Kid Devil or Beast Boy are in the change room with Tim for the first time after they join the Teen Titans and afterwards have a very confused, awkward conversation with Bart and Kon about why is a girl allowed in the guy’s change rooms? And Kon and Bart are just ????
And it turns out that since Superboy was raised in a tube and Bart in future VR neither of them made a connection between body parts and gender. They’d never considered the idea that Tim being a slightly different shape under his clothes might make people think he was a girl. And EVENTUALLY Eddie or Gar figure out Tim must be trans, but it’s difficult because Kon and Bart don’t really get the idea and can’t explain.
Basically, I want the Teen Titans to be the safest place ever for Tim because neither of his two male best friends ever learned to question identity the way society at large does. And them thinking other people are just WEIRD when societal norms are explained and mostly dismissing the whole thing. I’m sure Tim would have lots of spaces where he could discuss the issues brought up by being trans. Titans Tower could be a place where there AREN’T really any issues.
I’ve been pretty okay with fandom’s belief that Tim is kind of a jerk to girls. It’s good for a character to have failings, and the idea that he has some ingrained sexism fits canon pretty well. But I was comparing myself to him idly today, which is a thing I do, and thought of something else that explains his canon actions shockingly well.
Tim being asexual.
I know the idea gets thrown around every so often. It’s nothing new. I just want to point out some of the cool parallels I saw.
Tim automatically thinking about a romantic relationship with every girl he meets. I know that seems counterintuitive to him being asexual. When I was a teen, though, I had no clue what sexual attraction could possibly feel like. Every time I enjoyed interacting with I guy, I examined my feeling to see if maybe I was interested. Several times I thought I might be, but decided to not pursue the relationship because I didn’t feel ready.
I was not, in fact, attracted to those boys. I’m pretty sure all I felt was mild friendship (I didn’t have many friends). I actually worried because the person I was most “attracted” to was my cousin!
It was easy for me to just ignore romance most of the time, because my religious beliefs suggested I not pursue relationships until I was ready for marriage, which I definitely wasn’t as a teen. I can easily see Tim, a generally lonely kid hungry for relationships, mistaking liking someone as loving them.
Tim dating multiple people at once. Steph and Arianna. Jubilee and Steph (probably not canon). Flirting with Tam and the Chinese Mob/Undercover lady with the animal name. If he was like me, and didn’t really get romance and love, it would be easy to slip accidentally into another friendship/romance with someone because multiple friends is normal. And even though he thought of it as dating, that was only a surface level belief.
Tim and Kon. Arguably, Tim’s closest relationship is either with Kon or Dick. A lot of people have interpreted his relationship with Kon as romantic, and it definitely reads similarly to how he is with Steph. But I think that’s because NEITHER relationship is particularly romantic. Really, the only difference is that one is with a GIRL, who Tim has been taught that guys date, and the other is with a boy, who guys don’t.
Tim and Cassie. One of his major platonic female relationships is with Cassie, possibly explained by her obvious interest in someone else for most of their relationship. Like, I’m not saying that Tim isn’t capable of platonic female relationships. It’s quite possible that those would be easier for him. He’s just internalized the idea that he’s supposed to be attracted to women, and so maybe tries to act the part? Just think about how he acts when he’s mourning Steph, Kon, and everyone else. He seeks comfort from Cassie, who’s one of his few friends left. And he partially does that by starting their weird, terribly unhealthy, attempt at romance. Like, he needs closeness and support, but she’s a GIRL and if you like or want to be with a girl then you must be in love. But they really, really aren’t.
I dunno, you guys. I was just thinking about how he acted around Tam, which was so – just so wrong for the emotional state he was in. Like I’ve read all the meta, and I agreed with it, but it’s always been the sort of agreement where I’m sure the other people are right because they actually know how this stuff feels. Most of how Tim’s been written acting made SENSE to me, seemed natural responses. And it sort of clicked, suddenly. What if the reason his actions made sense was because Tim thought the same way I did?
kiragecko 