#all of this happened/is happening esp with various retcons and how the titans have like. almost ceased to be a part of

[bluegarners]

What drives me crazy with Dick Grayson is that literally he's only " " canonically " " like what? 24? 23? He was an only child at least until he was 18 and within literally the time of a bachelor's and masters degree he went from just starting as nightwing never had any siblings but a team who loved him and now he has no external support and is supposed to be the "glue" for a ginormous family that's developed faster than he could blink. Honestly I think while Dick loves and enjoys all his relationships with his family half the time he still feels like he wishes they were all friends and a little closer in age instead of him suddenly being in charge and cleaning up Bruce's problems not just for Bruce, but now cleaning up Bruce's problems which cause everyone else problems which cause more problems which inevitably he has to fix because no one else will

And 6ish years ago he didn't have ANY siblings! The whiplash is crazy. I think the fact that Dick would resent all this proves how much he loves them all bc he still goes to such lengths for his family despite his frustration and aggravation

hiya anon! i think right now, dick is in his mid-twenties, say 25 or 26... which is CRAZY bc in my head i am always picturing him as 29 or early 30s... but canonically i think he's stuck with the mid-twenties just like tim is stick at 17

also, i get the impression that all my posts about dick being in a kind of limbo of "eldest daughter" and also estranged brother-son figure to bruce has kind of given the perspective that i think he bemoans his position in the family, but i think he honestly greatly enjoys it! there really hasn't been many instances in canon, if any at all unless looked at with a severe magnifying glass, that gives off the impression that dick more or less begrudges the amount of pseudo-siblings and other family members he has come into quick possession of. if anything, i think dick probably takes a lot of comfort in being able to have so many people around him again, as i think what a lot of people miss out on is that dick didn't come from an "only child family" but a village (haly's). we get glimpses of his family life before bruce, and ultimately it forms a picture of one where, yes, dick was the center of attention because he was the baby of the troop, but also he was more or less raised in a huge family that consisted of people entirely unrelated to him- aunts, uncles, people he looked to as sisters or brothers, grandfather figures, cousins, friends; all of these more familial lens people that he grew up with until his parents were murdered, and he was suddenly taken away from

i imagine the shift to being surrounded by many to being surrounded by exactly two would have been very startling. and, like you said anon, it wasn't until he fully integrated with the titans did that sense of a bigger family really come into perspective for him. however, it is interesting that you bring up how fast it all happened, as i agree, dick essentially got- what? four or five new "family members" within the span of five or so years? like, that's a pretty big shift from being a trio (dick, bruce, and alfred) for ten years, adding very few people (excluding the titans) that he could sincerely count on or even recognize as family (barbara, for example), and now all within the span of a bachelor's degree, he's had to hand off his robin legacy to three different people. damian came a bit after everyone else had more or less settled, but he's a wholeeee other topic of conversation considering exactly what had to happen for him and dick to even meet the way they did

but, going back to the quick new additions, again i don't think dick has ever for a moment thought to begrduge or resent the influx of people in his life. i think a really defining part of his character is his love of people, his love of being around them. while bruce loves people, he loves them in a kind of distant way, where he sees gotham itself as akin to a person he can love- a person composed of a million other individuals, but an almost singular entity. the same goes for bruce's love of the world, i think. but dick, dick loves people as individuals, as persons he can speak to, hold, comfort, cry for, touch, embrace, etc. dick likes the physical presence of people, as well as the whole of humanity like bruce, and i think the defining line of separation for the two and how they love people, is how they grew up

circling back to dick's early childhood, he was raised not only surrounded by the performers, but also the crowds, the fans. dick grew up loving being loved, and though that may come off as superficial or a purely egotistical thing, i interpret it as something that is a soulful, very human thing. bruce can love humanity without being loved, and so can dick, but dick is also willing to embrace the love he gets in return. it's why, i think, dick is also known for having so many lady friends (donna, kory, and barbara being the most outstanding examples). dick loves to be loved, and he also loves to love, so to me, dick suddenly feeling trapped because of a couple new additions to a family that has been so small for so long doesn't make complete sense- i'm not arguing with you however anon!! just making my case that, even though i do think it's an interesting thing to meta-textually analyze, with dick being in that eldest position as well as the next "bruce" (oof, that's shudder inducing), it doesn't quite follow his character for him to wish that things might be different in their circumstances

#again not arguing- i agree!! the whiplash is crazy and its like an out of body moment to really look at the timeline for when #all of this happened/is happening esp with various retcons and how the titans have like. almost ceased to be a part of #dick's usual day/comics #anon #asks #dick grayson #nightwing