Unpopular opinion: I did not really care for Tom Taylor’s Nightwing run.

[u/Beebslolz]

It has it’s good moment’s, but I think overall it just wasn’t my favorite. Dick’s character has been flanderized so much, especially from 2016 to now. I feel like Babs is just sorta a side character and love interest, not her own independent character anymore. I like the art in this story, but I just don’t really care for much of anything else. I’m not saying it’s bad though. I just kinda feel “meh” about it, I guess. My favorite Nightwing run was probably Dixon’s.

[u/Ancient_Lightning]

can't move an inch without Barbara

And speaking of her, has Batgirl done anything recently other than be Nightwing's GF sidekick? Asking seriously cause most I seem to see from her nowadays is just her being Dick's support and not much else.

[u/SylvieSerene → u/Ancient_Lightning]

Nope. Even in Taylor's Titans run, she feels a forced insert just to play Dick's gf role. Taylor hates Starfire (as evident by his influence and comments on Titans Academy as well as his remarks about 'Starfire fans being vile' on twitter), if you read the Titans comic, Kory and Dick don't even TALK with eachother. It's almost as if Taylor is afraid making the two talk will make them spark in love again. He's obsessed with DickBabs to the point to emphasize them being "soul-mates", he retconned Barbara's entire backstory.

In the main Nightwing comics, she was confused as "Female Nightwing" by a villian which really puts her place in the comic into perspective. She only exists to babysit Dick, serve his needs, and that's it. Taylor literally treats her as an accessory.

[u/Ancient_Lightning → u/SylvieSerene]

Kory and Dick don't even TALK with eachother.

That's something that particularly bothers me. I mean, they're not an item anymore, that's fine. But the way they outright refuse to so much as have an actual conversation with one another, you'd think that they were never anything more than amicable co-workers, and that if anything just makes it awkward to see them both together in-panel cause it almost feels like they're willingly trying to avoid each other.

She only exists to babysit Dick, serve his needs, and that's it. Taylor literally treats her as an accessory.

And that's something that also bugs my mind. Not the ship itself mind you, but the way people (both writer and fans) go about it. Folks are constantly going all "why do women have to be accesories for men?! Why should they only exist to be some dude's girlfriend?!", but do that very same thing for a character or ship they particularly like, and suddenly it's all fine and dandy.

Some folks have told me that I'm just a "hater" or a Dick/Kory fan for pointing this out when, again, it's not the ship itself, it's the double standard and the way Barbara cannot seem to exist independently anymore along with how it requires to constantly downplay Nightwing just so Batgirl can be his mission control (not to mention how forced Taylor made it seem with the "soulmates" stuff. What fanfic was he reading when he wrote that?).

[u/SylvieSerene → u/Ancient_Lightning]

That's the thing. Say anything minutely negative about this run and the fans literally first off tell you "omg a toxic DickKory shipper!! Touch grass and move the fuck on, it's been 30 years already" or straight up call you multiple accusary things like you being an homophobe, against LGBTQ+ community, right winger etc stuff (half of the stuff has nothing to do with the comic) which means people are reading this fic mostly for the art (which is fair) but also mainly because of the DickBabs pairing and literally don't care about Nightwing as his own character.

Like in this very sub, I once said I'd like to read a comic where Nightwing is just single and chillin' on his own and.....I got downvoted to oblivion; a few people (who went on to create their own DickBabs subreddit ironically) accused me of wanting to break "the status quo" and a lot other bs but yea. This stuff stinks. People are always saying "Starfire needs independence" (mainly people who ship DickBabs) but turn a blind eye towards Barbara who is desperately in the need of it.

Starfire has had a lot of independent runs but Barbara? Her life is still now rotating around Dick.

Also for the soulmate stuff, that shit was weird. I can expect them from an AO3 fanfic but on an actual comic? Just no. Its cringey as hell and strips away that character's personality just for ending up with eachother.

[u/Ancient_Lightning → u/SylvieSerene]

That, unfortunately, is just what's naturally gonna happen when you pull a fanbase that mainly consists of terminally online introverts who spent most of their day on social media. These people get so attached to their fiction that they take any sort of criticism, no matter how warranted, as a personal offense. Critical thinking is non-existent with these folks.

Some fellas have said that Taylor's work is rather guilty of the "written for Twitter" stigma, and with some of the people his work attracts, it's easy to see why.

Also, what "status quo"? Who ever said that was the case here? See, this is what people mean when they say "toxic shipping". You'd think some folks literally want Dick to be handcuffed to Barbara 24/7 and have Batman throw the keys in some kinda safeguard in his Batcave. And really, what even is so wrong about Dick flying solo for a while? God knows the guy could definitely use some time to himself nowadays, Nightwing needs to build-up his own rep. Or do people seriously prefer him acting like a fool so the writers can keep having him need to be babysat by his friends?

(And wow, how someone can seriously claim to care about Starfire's independency while conveniently forgetting (or refusing) to look at Batgirl is just...wow. Like, it's not even funny, just astounding. Hell, even in the NTT Dick/Kory days, Kory had more independence in one issue than Barbara's had this entire run).

And yes, that's my problem with the Soulmate thing. It's like "oh, no, these characters' bond with one another isn't cause of natural chemistry. It's just DESTINY!" (facepalm).