I may be reading too much into this, but it occurred to me last night that this design is sort of symbolic of Babs’ background. She often wears kind of muted colors as opposed to the bolder colors most of the others wear, yet her face is always expressive, like the way her eyes and smile are so bright here. It kind of symbolizes the fact that she’s physically “muted” but it hasn’t truly gotten her down because she can still use her mental skills to help the rest of the family, and she can still do things like be a mentor/big sister figure for Cass and Steph.
StarBite is one of the best Barbara Gordon artists ever. ❤️
I may be reading too much into this, but it occurred to me last night that this character design for Babs is sort of symbolic of her background. She often wears kind of muted colors as opposed to the bolder colors most of the others wear, yet her face is always expressive, like the way her eyes and smile are so bright here. It kind of symbolizes the fact that she’s physically “muted” but it hasn’t truly gotten her down because she can still use her mental skills to help the rest of the family, and she can still do things like be a mentor/big sister figure for Cass and Steph.
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #90 (2023) / Batgirl #15 (2001)
I have a theory that Cass is actually uniquely susceptible to mind altering effects and drugs.
We know that she cannot tolerate alcohol according to Superboy, and she frequently has more extreme reactions to mind-affecting stuff like the examples above and the time she got dosed with Soul.
My theory is that this is because Cass’s brain is so fine-tuned and constantly processing so much information. Anything that throws her brain off balance causes her to get flooded with overstimulation and makes things go haywire.
That’s why it bugged me in Batgirls when she and Steph got hit with fear toxin and she just no sold it and wound up carrying Steph outta there. Very much feels like Cass should have been the one wigging out given given how many times we’ve seen her getting her brain messed with (not to mention her emotional vulnerabilities) as opposed to Stephanie who has historically proven remarkably resilient to fear gas and even the Black Mercy.
@but-a-humble-goon regarding your tags: I can’t remember the exact issue, but Cass’ physical brain difference was indeed brought up at some point, I think it was near the end of her original Batgirl book, or perhaps in Birds of Prey. Oracle had been researching it, and she showed Cass a scan/diagram thing of her brain and explained how it developed differently than most people’s due to her unique background, which was why she was having so much trouble learning to read and speak.
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #90 (2023) / Batgirl #15 (2001)
I have a theory that Cass is actually uniquely susceptible to mind altering effects and drugs.
We know that she cannot tolerate alcohol according to Superboy, and she frequently has more extreme reactions to mind-affecting stuff like the examples above and the time she got dosed with Soul.
My theory is that this is because Cass’s brain is so fine-tuned and constantly processing so much information. Anything that throws her brain off balance causes her to get flooded with overstimulation and makes things go haywire.
That’s why it bugged me in Batgirls when she and Steph got hit with fear toxin and she just no sold it and wound up carrying Steph outta there. Very much feels like Cass should have been the one wigging out given given how many times we’ve seen her getting her brain messed with (not to mention her emotional vulnerabilities) as opposed to Stephanie who has historically proven remarkably resilient to fear gas and even the Black Mercy.
I think that it would also be a great balance to the typical ‘invincible’ Cassandra characterization because just because she’s one of the best martial artists/fighters in the DC universe doesn’t mean she’s not susceptible to mind control and/or mind-altering drugs.
It also opens up a lot of possibilities for whump and comfort.
Yes! This is the one thing Stephanie is canonically much better at than Cass! The willpower she showed in fighting and beating Scarecrow through the influence of fear toxin was what convinced Barbara to give her her blessing to be the third Batgirl. She drove Black Mercy, the plant that incapacitated Superman, out of her system on her own. Mentally, she is incredibly strong. And Cass is very fragile.
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #90 (2023) / Batgirl #15 (2001)
All this kind of thing tells me is how hard she has to work to keep those impulses under control. So rather than it being a sign of some sort of monstrous nature, it’s a sign of how strong she is.
People very often underestimate Stephanie Brown, y'all really don’t remember shit about her origin, do you?
Like, seriously, she has been swinging by Gotham since she was a literal child, she knew how to drive a bike perfectly at 14, she had incredible abilities in both stealth and martial arts even without any training, and then she went on to train with Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon. Stephanie defeated multiple villains, some of them completely on her own since at first Batman didn’t approve of her vigilantism.
With little to no time Cass showed to start seeing Stephanie as a worth student and for a assassin trained from birth to have any sort of respect for your abilities should already say something.
Stephanie is skilled af, she might not be the strongest member of the batfamily, but she certainly isn’t as weak or incompetent as people portray her.
Not saying you’re wrong, because I love both of them, but regarding Cass’ respect for Steph that you mentioned, I don’t think it was as simple as “respecting her skill.” I think there were two big factors there: 1) Cass noticed how determined Steph was even though Steph knew how overmatched she was, and that impressed Cass. 2) Cass appreciated Steph’s willingness to “communicate” in Cass’ “native language” by sparring, even though it was exceptionally hard for her physically. That and the conversation in which they compared fathers was the first time Cass realized that it was actually possible for her to make a friend, even one who can relate to her background.
Another thought: Cass has been learning many things unrelated to fighting from the others in the family, so much so that the lack of a normal education could have made her feel embarrassed or inferior. But Steph wanted to learn from her, giving Cass the chance to be the teacher for a change. And as mentioned, she was even willing to do it in Cass’ “native language.”
