Wayne Family Memes

How bad is Ollie and Roy’s relationship, actually?

So I’ve noticed a bit of a trend in the fandom to have a big happy Batfamily where everyone gets along and things with Bruce and Jason are just peachy, or at least they’re working on it, whereas Roy doesn’t even speak Ollie’s name because it’s Too Painful, and, like…it peeves me. I’m assuming this mostly comes from RHATO, but uhhh Roy and Ollie are basically just coworkers in RHATO, so it doesn’t make sense to use it as a source of Roy’s daddy issues. Also that’s the comic that had Bruce beating Jason so hard his metal helmet shattered, so, you know.

Anyway, because I’m pedantic, I decided to round up some panels showing what Ollie and Roy’s interactions were actually like when they were semi-estranged father and son, i.e. after Roy’s heroin use in “Snowbirds Don’t Fly” (1971) up through Ollie’s death in 1995. (After Ollie’s death Roy’s feelings on him change significantly, and they reconcile completely as soon as Ollie comes back to life.)

[Note: I can’t promise this is every time they interact or think about each other during this time period, but I tried to make it fairly comprehensive.]

The first time Ollie and Roy interact again is in Action Comics #236 (June 1974). Ollie’s investigating a case where expensive photography equipment is being stolen and hidden inside musical instruments, which makes literally zero sense but who cares. He decides to check out a local music festival and who should be playing but Roy’s band?

“It’s Roy Harper - Speedy - the orphan kid I brought up!” It takes Roy and Ollie like 20 years post-Snowbirds to consistently refer to each other as father and son instead of these awkward circumlocutions.

(Sidenote: Roy did not button his shirt all the way up for the entirety of the 70s. I’m proud of him.)

Anyway, Ollie figures Roy’s on the job and thinks “If I know Speedy…Roy…he’s got this case just about wrapped up!” because he loves his boy, but when Roy sees him he tells him to butt out and then punches him in the face. This is of course to keep his cover, and once Roy gets the bad guys to spill the beans, he and Ollie team up and take them down.

Ollie tells him he doesn’t need to go it alone: “Don’t be so headstrong! You’d have my help more often if you’d let me know where you are and what you’re doing once in a while!” (Translation: I miss you. I’m sorry I didn’t help before. I want to help now.)

Roy’s not ready to bury the hatchet, but it’s clearly as much to do with his own headspace as with their history. And Ollie finally remembers the word for “the orphan kid I brought up.”

Keep reading

Oh? You like the batfam? So, are you queer, neurodivergent, mentally ill, or all three?

Ok but fr, the amount of batfam fans I know that are at least one of the above, and often all, just goes to show how much this messed up family resonates with people like us.

Queer people adore the concept of found family because we are so often rejected by our blood family. The concept of superheroes is inherently queer, and especially trans. Having a secret name only a few trusted people know? Having an entire community of people just like you that you can't tell the people in your every day life about? Leading two entirely separate lives with only a handful of people who know both sides of you? Queer.

The batfam especially is found family, because only a few members are related by blood (Bruce and Damian). The far majority of them is either adopted (the Wayne kids) or very very close to the rest of them to the point they're considered family (Alfred, Steph, Barbara, etc). Most DC families are blood families, so it makes sense that queer people gravitate towards the batfam. (Queer people love adopting each other. Looking at all my friend-sibs.)

Multiple batfam members are neurodivergent coded (Bruce especially), although unintentionally so, and they're all severely mentally ill/traumatized. We look at these characters and think, yes, you are like me, I understand you.

A lot of traumatized people project on the batkids, because, well, it's kind of a wish fulfilment to have an adult come save you when you're at your lowest, huh?

(Also why I suspect so many people project onto Tim specifically, because his trauma is the easiest to relate to. Most people don't grow up as assasins, or have their parents murdered.)

(And also why I think there is so much batfam fan content. We saw these characters who are so much like us being mistreated in their source material and decided to take them in as our own and give them better lives, the same way we long to do with ourselves.)

Besides, a big part of fandom in general is made up of nd ppl. We tend to hyperfixate on stuff and produce a fuckton of content cause this is the only thing we can think about. It's only logical that there are so many of us in the batfam fandom/larger DC fandom.

There wasn't really any point to this, just... we looked at this broken, messed up family, saw ourselves, and called it our own. I don't know, I just think that's pretty meaningful.

It's a family thing 😌

best of tim drake

whatever u say timmy

squeamish bourgie whiteboy is also my stripper name

radicool

TIMOTHY!!!

lmao what a nerd

Steph counts as a robin