There’s Some Common Threads I See In The Anti-voting Posts Going Around, And I Feel Like I Need To

coat ca. 1970 via The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Paolo Sebastian, F/W 2015

One thing they don’t tell you about sewing is that it is actually ironing

Dick Grayson and Trapeze

Okay, so I’ve been getting into DC for the past year or so after growing up entirely on Marvel and even more now that I can’t do anything else, and I love Dick Grayson! Because he is awesome, and also a circus person, and I am also a circus person. I’ve done circus for years, I worked at a circus school, it is a huge part of my life, circus is great! But oh my god almost all of the details are inaccurate and it’s finally gotten to me enough that I had to find and dust off my tumblr so I could post a rant about it. Will anyone care? Who knows! But I feel better now.

1. flying trapeze is not a solo act. Flying trapeze is not even a two-person act. Flying trapeze is at minimum a three-person act. You need a catcher, a flyer, and someone on board. Most historical flying trapeze family acts were four people (often siblings, or siblings and spouses) although of course that number varied I’ve included a picture of a rig below that I labeled so you can see what i’m referring to when I say flyer, board, catcher. 

-this is why I am all for the young justice canon where it was dick’s father and uncle and their wives, and then once they grew up dick and his cousin. Siblings and spouses is an absolutely classic makeup of a trapeze family. Alternatively, you could imagine that john and mary worked with other trapeze artists they weren’t related to.

-dick is not old enough to be the third person here. He’s old enough to fly – my school had a minimum age of six for people taking classes, but staff children were exempt from that. Part of the reason for the age was the kids needed to listen, and part was they needed to not freak out. Obviously this doesn’t apply to Dick. But one of the other things is height. With smaller kids (on our rig, anyone under 4’6 I’d say, although you can adjust rigs to the height of flyers to a certain extent) you could not hold onto the bar and keep your feet on the platform. It was too far away. Small kids would grab the bar and their feet would dangle in the air and I’d hold them back by their safety belt. There are a couple of ways around this, including rises, but point being, could dick fly and throw tricks? Sure. Could he work board or drop a return bar? No way.

-there is a type of trapeze called swinging trapeze that is a solo act and uses a similar rig setup to flying trapeze, but you don’t leave the trapeze

-there is also a flying trapeze style called bar-to-bar, which is when instead of flying to a catcher you would catch the bar yourself, and is actually what jules leotard did when he first invented trapeze, but it is very rare (like, the only time I’ve ever seen this is catchers returning to the board) and you’d still need someone to drop the second bar for you. Here is a video of a catcher returning to the board. If you’re doing bar-to-bar instead of having a catcher, then you’d have a different rig set up than with a catcher, with a platform on either end of the net. If you want to compare them, here’s a really cool company that uses a cross setup which has both a bar-to-bar rig and a bar-to-catcher rig incorporated. In Nightwing: Year One, the Flying Graysons are shown using the more traditional bar-to-catcher set up, but Deadman (and presumably Dick when he joins the act) seems to be doing bar-to-bar.

2. you cannot “work your way up” to flying trapeze. There is no mini trapeze, there’s no slow version, there’s no flying trapeze but low to the ground (there are different types of rigs and cross training and if anyone wants me to go into detail I will, but still). “Working your way up to it” in flying trapeze means starting in safety lines and then taking a trick out of safety lines (step three, for the graysons, would be doing it without a net). Even in lines, you have to jump off the platform 20 feet in the air. That is step one, and you just have to dive right in. Feel free to come yell at me about how this influenced Dick as he grew up because I can’t put it into words right now but there’s something in there about Dick’s ratio of planning-to-look before leaping.

3. One of the most common mistakes new flyers make is trying to grab the catcher. This is a no-no. Flyer’s job is to fly, catchers job is to catch. As a flyer, your job is to be there, arms out, hands flat, and easy to grab. The catcher is responsible for grabbing you. If you make grabby hands or try to grab onto them in return before they’ve caught you, you will miss. It’s a disconcerting feeling if you’re starting out – when you’re following through the air, you want to grab at the person reaching for you. You cannot. You have to trust them to grab you.

           -think of this, Dick, who has been raised with this mindset, watching his parents fall. Thing of this, Dick, who has decided it’s his job to catch everyone. Think of this, Dick, falling and hoping someone catches him. Think of the angst. Think of the fluff! The possibilities are endless! (please someone right this and also feel free to ask me questions about this I have feelings)

4. Look, all flying trapeze is built on timing and trust okay!! I remember my hair getting loose and in my eyes halfway through a trick and it’s weird because you’re flying through the air and you can’t see anything and you really would like to be able to see things but it doesn’t actually matter. It didn’t change what I had to do, which was listen to my catcher and let go when they said. I didn’t need to see them, I just needed to trust them and listen. It was a perfectly fine catch! Just, ugh, it’s all about trust!!!!!!

5. While wearing a leotard with bare legs is definitely ridiculous if you’re planning on running around fighting crime, it makes total sense if you’re a flyer and you’re doing any sort of legs catch. (Not if you’re a catcher. Wearing a leotard with no pants is just asking for pain if you’re a catcher. Lots of catchers wear two pairs of leggings so they have extra padding.) Look, one of my friends tried to do a legs catch in full lengths leggings and even though she could connect she slipped out of the catcher’s hands every single time. Every single god damn time. Her form could be absolutely perfect but as long as she was wearing those pants that catch was not going to happen. Bare legs all the way for legs catches. (If you’re not doing leg catches, go nuts. If you’re a beginner, you definitely want the back of your knees covered because you’ll have your knees on the bar a lot. I’ve definitely flown in shorts before, but I also spend a disproportionate amount of time in knee hangs. If you’re not used to doing if, hanging from your knees when it’s just bare skin *hurts*, and having them covered helps). The Flying Graysons poster at the top shows Dick doing what is actually probably a double angel return, not a legs catch, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the Graysons had that trick in their show. (I realize that the video I linked shows a legs catch with long pants, so this is obviously a flexible rule, and depends on the material as well. Basically, whatever you want the costume to be, go nuts!)

 If anyone has questions or thoughts, feel free to shoot me an ask. Also, if you’re curious about flying trapeze, circus is more accessible than most people think. Lots of places have circus schools where you can go and take a class, no experience required! (not now, obviously, because we’re in the middle of a pandemic, but in the future). I’m happy to answer questions about that as well.

Dick Grayson Comics Timeline

Alright upon request (and after much compiling) I’m finally done with this pre New 52, fully referenced, Dick Grayson timeline @chestnutcats. It’s super long, so a short version here:

Parents die; becomes Bruce’s ward & Robin. Age: somewhere from 8-13, but usually on the younger end of that scale

Forms Teen Titans. Age: …teen?

(Barbara becomes Batgirl. Could be swapped with the above.)

Teen Titans split up. Age: <=18

Goes to college. Drops out of college. Age: college.

New Teen Titans form in NYC. Age: 19ish

Fired as Robin. No longer taking to Bruce. Fully living in NYC with the Titans, if he wasn’t already. Becomes Nightwing. (Jason becomes Robin.) Age: 19; Jason is 12

(Barbara shot. Jason killed. Tim becomes Robin. Talking to Bruce again. Age: 19 + however long Jason was Robin, so maybe 22. Tim is 13. Does Tim’s backstory make sense if he’s 9 years younger than Dick? Probably not, but writers don’t do math!)

New Teen Titans split up. Age: early 20s

Chillin’ as Nightwing, location unknown

Briefly Batman, with Robin Tim. Age: 20s, and age no longer matters. Tim is 14 or maybe 15, and the only hope we have of keeping the years straight.

Chillin’ as Nightwing, pt 2

Moves to Bludhaven. Helps out when things ultra-suck in Gotham.

Titans re-form.

(Gotham ultra-sucks for a while because Earthquakes and Government. Cass becomes Batgirl.)

Officially adopted by Bruce.

Titans split up. Reluctantly joins the Outsiders.

Everything Is Very Bad. Age: Tim is 16 by now, but comic book math is whatever you want it to be, and you needn’t be beholden to things like “numbers.” Dick is in his 20s, as he will be forever.

(Tim has to quit Robin; Steph becomes Robin; Steph fired; Tim Robin again; Steph “dies”.)

Jason returns, and then vanishes again.

The universe kind of explodes and then un-explodes. Bludhaven explodes and remains exploded. (Age: Tim is still 16, but eons have passed.)

Bruce & Dick & Tim go travelling for a year because fuck it.

Moves to NYC again. (Tim adopted. Damian first introduced. Age: Tim logically must be 17, and Dick is logically in his mid 20s, but logic never helped anyone.)

Leaves Outsiders.

Titans re-re-form.

(Steph returns, revealed to be not dead. Cass adopted.)

Leaves Titans.

Universe explodes again. Bruce (apparently) dies.

nananananana BATMAN (ft Damian as Robin). Tim off as Red Robin. Jason causing mayhem. Age: just about the same age Bruce was when he met Dick, and ain’t that a trip

Bruce returns.

The long version is under the cut, and by long version, I mean like 20 pages which is…possibly more than you wanted and surely more than you expected, but here we are.

This is half timeline, half reading list. The comics referenced here have occasional notes based on quality, but they’re mostly chosen based on giving you the major points and the best understanding of continuity. This is all firmly pre-flashpoint, because I Do Not Know the new52 or anything beyond, and also comes with the disclaimer that my chronological read-through has only reached 2009 and so the last section of this is suddenly a lot less thorough than the rest.

If anyone reading this wants more detail on any bit of it (whether specific comics and issues, timelines, character relationships, or what have you), or more info on a different character, I am happy to answer questions!!

If read mores don’t work for you, a person seeing this post…I am so sorry and just start scrolling.

Keep reading

So it’s known that I am crazy about mythology, and I couldn’t find a graphic challenge of any sort, so I decided to come up with one instead. So yeah, here it goes:

1 Mythology (greek, norse, roman, etc) 2 Mythological Objects 3 Locations 4 Titans 5 OTPs (Hades/Persephone, Thetis/Peleus, Loki/Sigyn, etc) 6 Muses and/or Nymphs 7 Norse Gods/Goddesses 8 Lengendary creatures 9 Greek Gods/Goddesses 10 Movies/Books based on mythology

If you do it, make sure to tag it as mythology meme (or link me to it, cause I’d love to see it)!

MYTHOLOGY MEME

2/2 Mythological Objects: Yggdrasil

The world tree, Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that connects the nine realms.

I mean...apparently the Gaonas exist in the DCU, so you wouldn’t be the first person to reference real life people in relation to dick grayson’s circus background 

I have so many stupidly niche headcanons that I usually don’t even notice myself having.

Like, okay, so Flash villain The Trickster and Dick Grayson both come from aerialist families, right? And it’s a pretty small community. (I think Trickster might have gotten a different background in the last reboot but I super don’t care.)

Anyway I headcanon they both know Nik Wallenda due to circus community ties and turn up sometimes when he does stunts like crossing Niagara Falls on the high wire, to show moral support.

If Dick notices James he pretends not to. They’re not on the super-clock.

Cocktail Dress

Jean Dessès, 1951

The Victoria & Albert Museum

Indigo means serenity.

Central Florida Emergency Trans Care Fund

Equality Florida

ACLU Florida

Tampa Bay Abortion Fund

Oh yeah, I’ve seen those takes too, and I’ve also never really got where there coming from either? Like you said, Dick’s experience would be different from Jason’s absolutely, but the idea that the Grayson’s would’ve had or would’ve left Dick a ton of money is so weird to me? Like, even in modern times (which Dick’s backstory is not originating from - comic books are weird) most performers are not paid amazingly well. Like, being a well known trapeze act is not the same as being a famous singer, those are in completely different stratospheres, which I feel like sometimes gets missed in the whole “the Graysons were the best at what they did” thing? Like they can be that and also poor because literally no one makes money in circus except for like, John Ringling, 100 years ago. 

[full disclaimer: I do/did (hopefully will again, although I’m in the US so probably not anytime soon 😓) perform/teach flying trapeze/silks/lyra, but I’ve never been part of a traveling show so my knowledge about those comes second-hand from family friends/people I’ve worked with] 

Definitely agree with you about Dick being a polyglot, which is actually canon (pre-New52/Rebirth at least - I don’t really read the post-flashpoint stuff). Dick brings up in one of the Nightwing comics that he spoke other languages (French, I think) before Bruce took him in. 

With the homeschooling, this might be one of the more modern updates, but I know a lot of travelling circuses now have schoolteachers who travel with them (at least, I know a couple of the major American ones did - your profile said Dutch so I’m assuming you’re experience is with European circuses, though I could be wrong).

That’s another nuance that I feel like gets missed, is the difference between European circus culture and American circus culture? Which obviously have similarities and crossover and exchanges, but are still kinda distinct things? And like, not even (or not just) in the fan stuff, but in the comics themselves. Like sometimes they’re on point and sometimes they are just soooo far off it’s laughable, and then fans pick up on that and perpetuate it.

Like one of the things I was thinking about recently because it crossed my dash was Devin Grayson claiming she “researched circus” and that was how she decided to make Dick Romani. And like, I’m not Romani, so I’m not going to weigh in on if people think that’s bad or good representation, since people who are Romani have done that on both sides, and they have more right to have a say in it than I ever will, but.

I don’t for one second believe she did any research. I don’t know enough to say about the presence of Romani people in European circus, or in American circus for that matter, but if I was a writer and I wanted to take a character with Dick Grayson’s back story and make them an ethnicity that was not white, I don’t see how with even 5 minutes of research you would miss the incredibly obvious answer of Mexican. There are so many famous flying trapeze families in North America that are Mexican, including Miguel Vasquez and the Vasquez family, aka the first person to throw a quad somersault (that trick Dick was famous for) in real life. And like, I would hesitate to do it now with Dick because I feel like that would play into the idea that representation is interchangeable, which it is definitely not, but if I was going to create a character with Dick’s backstory it feels like, given the prominence of Mexican and Mexican-American trapeze artists in defining and developing trapeze in the US, that would be the natural choice. (And, to be extra super clear about this, I’m not in any way suggesting Dick can’t be Romani. This is solely a comment on Devin Grayson’s terrible research and stereotypes when she decided to add that in. And also I’m annoyed that the Nightwing comic decided to reference the Gaonas but have Alex Gaona (or the madeup character who shares that name) be blond? Like, why?)

Anyway, your original post was super interesting, sorry for rambling on forever. I was just excited to talk circus and comics and circus in comics, and it’s way more fun talking to people than shouting into the void. I’ll stop now. 

People in this fandom have no fucking clue about circus life and the culture surrounding it. And it shows