Do you think we'll ever see Tim and Stephanie as a pairing again

[NOCTPHOENIX]

That's only one demographic. They aren't reflective of the Tim fandom as a whole let alone Batman fandom. Tumblr is a very niche crowd that isn't a good demographic to invest in as Tim's solo showed.

[Fergus]

I seriously doubt those shippers are the ones keeping Jason going. If they did TD:R would still be on. Red Hood's fanbase is beyond shippers

Why are you being obtuse?
And why so obsessed with just shippers?
Shippers and casuals.

Do you think the entirety of Tim and Jason fans are shippers?
What's so difficult to understand about the fact that not ALL fans read comics or likes reading?
Some fans read, some play games, so simply like watching favs in motion or collecting figures. Some read comics and write fics.
Fans have varying hobbies and enjoy different types of media.

Jason has a far larger gaming fanbase than in comics.
Jason also has a far larger fanbase than Tim because of his outside media content.

You are a shipper who isn't a casual. You buy comics. So You are proof perfect that sometimes there are crossovers shippers do buy comics.

[Fergus]

That's only one demographic. They aren't reflective of the Tim fandom as a whole let alone Batman fandom. Tumblr is a very niche crowd that isn't a good demographic to invest in as Tim's solo showed.

Tim's solo didn't invest in the tumblr crowd. It was investing in Tim's comic fans which is why DC's been leaning very hard into recreating what made Tim appealing at his most popular.

Going back to Robin and call backs to the 90's even so far as reuniting him and Batman, recreating his Train hopping with Dick, his skateboard, and then him away from Batman solving mysteries with a cast around him.

They were banking on/investing in nostalgia. Thing is, Tim's not the character he was, comics readership isn't what it was and his fandom isn't what it was.

[Godlike13]

His popularity and gains that justify DC keeping RHATO going even past cancellation numbers comes from the same social media fans who 'like to oogle pretty boys .

Eeh, DC kept RHatOs going like they did because Lobdell was Harras’ buddy. For better or worse Jason became work fodder for the EICs buddy.

[NOCTPHOENIX]

Tim's solo didn't invest in the tumblr crowd. It was investing in Tim's comic fans which is why DC's been leaning very hard into recreating what made Tim appealing at his most popular.

Going back to Robin and call backs to the 90's even so far as reuniting him and Batman, recreating his Train hopping with Dick, his skateboard, and then him away from Batman solving mysteries with a cast around him.

They were banking on/investing in nostalgia. Thing is, Tim's not the character he was, comics readership isn't what it was and his fandom isn't what it was.

They were trying to bring in the tumblr crowd with the BL angle they tried to do with Tim and Bernard.

Why are you being obtuse?
And why so obsessed with just shippers?
Shippers and casuals.

Do you think the entirety of Tim and Jason fans are shippers?
What's so difficult to understand about the fact that not ALL fans read comics or likes reading?
Some fans read, some play games, so simply like watching favs in motion or collecting figures. Some read comics and write fics.
Fans have varying hobbies and enjoy different types of media.

Jason has a far larger gaming fanbase than in comics.
Jason also has a far larger fanbase than Tim because of his outside media content.

You are a shipper who isn't a casual. You buy comics. So You are proof perfect that sometimes there are crossovers shippers do buy comics.

Yeah but were discussing tumblr which is a very specific group for the most part that doesn't not only not read comics but rarely engages in the source material in general. If Tim's tumblr shipping fanbase really did matter we'd see more support for him but we don't and it doesn't appear they helped support hm in outside media as well.

[Noodle]

Who even still uses tumblr? No one under the age of 20 have probably even heard of it. It stopped being a thing for artists once Instagram took off, and everyone else using it migrated to Tik Tok. If there's any tumblr audience it's ridiculously small at this point. You severely overestimate how much pull it has on the comics industry.

[Godlike13]

They weren't trying to bring in the tumblr crowd, they were trying to make him more appealing to other media by adopting current social trends like many media companies have done.

[Frontier]

They weren't trying to bring in the tumblr crowd, they were trying to make him more appealing to other media by adopting current social trends like many media companies have done.

And look at how they've thrown Bernard into GK and Titans. Not that it helped .

[Jackalope89]

And look at how they've thrown Bernard into GK and Titans. Not that it helped .

2 early issues of Wayne Family Adventures (mostly mentioned, rather than shown), and not a peep or cameo since. Seems like he was just jammed into all three to try and promote him, and that was it. A one and done live action series, a webtoon series that has otherwise not even mentioned him, and another live action that was already well beyond saving, and ended not long after.

[WebLurker]

2 early issues of Wayne Family Adventures (mostly mentioned, rather than shown), and not a peep or cameo since. Seems like he was just jammed into all three to try and promote him, and that was it. A one and done live action series, a webtoon series that has otherwise not even mentioned him, and another live action that was already well beyond saving, and ended not long after.

Course, if DC still wants him branded as Tim's love interest, who's to say he won't pop up again later down the road?

[skyvolt2000]

Who even still uses tumblr? No one under the age of 20 have probably even heard of it. It stopped being a thing for artists once Instagram took off, and everyone else using it migrated to Tik Tok. If there's any tumblr audience it's ridiculously small at this point. You severely overestimate how much pull it has on the comics industry.

Aside from Neil Gaiman?

Here is what Tumblr really does....

It can make something look bigger than it really is because you have folks take what little is out there and put it there.

For a LOT of folks that website is their promotion. Which is why you see a lot of fitness, photographers and models on there.

So if you take Bernard-it will have all his appearances on there with some fanart and so on. So IF and I do mean IF someone gets interested and seeks stuff with him.

Guess what you got some slim pickings in material.

And remember a lot of this goes back to marketing the right combination.

We saw this in the 90s with the original Charlotte Hornets being tops in NBA sales. It had little to do with Larry Johnson or Alonzo Mourning. The teams colors like the Raiders, Bulls and Cowboys helped in selling clothes and you had folks who couldn't tell you the names of the players outside of a few or even watched sports.

[NOCTPHOENIX]

Aside from Neil Gaiman?

Here is what Tumblr really does....

It can make something look bigger than it really is because you have folks take what little is out there and put it there.

For a LOT of folks that website is their promotion. Which is why you see a lot of fitness, photographers and models on there.

So if you take Bernard-it will have all his appearances on there with some fanart and so on. So IF and I do mean IF someone gets interested and seeks stuff with him.

Guess what you got some slim pickings in material.

And remember a lot of this goes back to marketing the right combination.

We saw this in the 90s with the original Charlotte Hornets being tops in NBA sales. It had little to do with Larry Johnson or Alonzo Mourning. The teams colors like the Raiders, Bulls and Cowboys helped in selling clothes and you had folks who couldn't tell you the names of the players outside of a few or even watched sports.

I mean so far it hasn't worked with Bernard at all. Nor really anything. Remember Olicity and how big it was on tumblr? Where is it now?

[WebLurker]

I mean so far it hasn't worked with Bernard at all. Nor really anything. Remember Olicity and how big it was on tumblr? Where is it now?

"But Olicity..." isn't a good argument, and is kind of a different situation. That was an element of a singular adaptation vs. something from the source material that's been used a few times across modern media. Back when the X-Men: Evolution animated series was running, the unrequited love story between Rogue and Cyclops (albeit apparently not so unrequited in the series' epilogue) was pretty popular (still seems to be among people who watch and rewatch it), it never bled back into the comics. However, that's irrelevant to what the comics writers want to do with Cyclops' love life.

Tim/Bernard is a source material element. Love it or hate it, Tim/Bernard was not only adapted into the shows/movies/whatever before Tim/Steph, Tim/Steph has never explicitly appeared outside the comics, and Steph's first trans-comic romance was with Harper Row (which, seeing as Harper was created to be as Cassandra Cain stand-in, could mean that, from a certain point of view, the non-canon Steph/Cass ship got adapted before Tim/Steph, too).

As a Spider-Man fan, I can assure you that if the editors of a comic want to do something, it's success or lack thereof outside of the comics themselves is irrelevant to the agenda (the comic writers hate Peter/MJ, but they're still the official couple of the franchise as a whole). So, if the writers and editors want Tim/Bernard to be an official couple and erase Steph as his one true love (or whatever), I don't think the adaptations of it not flying will matter that much.

At the end of the day, we don't know what the future plans are for the characters or what future creators will want to do with them, but I think we can safely say that Tim/Steph isn't set in stone the way Spider-Man/Mary Jane or Superman/Lois Lane is (or even Flash II/Linda Park, if you want an example of a pairing that DC has worked hard to erase and survived) and that Bernard going away isn't a given.

[Jackalope89]

Course, if DC still wants him branded as Tim's love interest, who's to say he won't pop up again later down the road?

Considering the "Tim gets kidnapped" has had more references than Bernard in Wayne Family Adventures, with NO mention of Bernard in any capacity, I'd say it may be pretty well done going forward.

[Godlike13]

Bernard doesn’t matter, that it’s a dude is what matters.