#been watching btas and the batman recently

[sp00ky-scary]

Forever annoyed about how multiple DC animated shows will give Bruce more of a hooked nose and then eventually an artstyle change or a soft reboot happens and they straighten out his nose

Like what the fuck is this, do they just hate fun and interesting character design or something

[gritsandbrits]

In light of recent news over the passing of voice actress Arleen Sorkin, I wish to reflect on the impact of Harley Quinn on my life.

When I was a kid I grew with Harley. From getting fired from a tv show for giving questionable advice, as her backstory in the 2004 cartoon The Batman, to falling in mad love with her own patient as is the origin story in the 92 animated and subsequent media, Harley has such a big role in Batman lore I don't remember a single time where she wasn't involved. Sometimes I wonder what batman mythos was like before her inclusion.

The first thing that drew me to Harley was her design. Red and black the colors of danger which she was. But there was an added playfulness, that she genuinely enjoyed being herself. She was also VERY hilarious and at times out of pocket. Child Me was amazed. Did I want to be her? Not necessarily. But she did look like someone I'd hang out with.

The meta origin of Harley is just as fascinating. The creators of BTAS saw a performance of Arleen in a clown costume. From there inspiration leapt off the pages onto the big screen. Unlike most of the cast Harley didn't originate from the comics. She was created exclusively for the show, an OC if you will. OCs tend to have a mixed reputation. But Harley's concept and execution was so perfect, she almost feels like she could've been a real character in the comics.

And real she became!

Introduced as a psychiatrist, after receiving Joker as a patient, Dr. Harleen Quinzel begins to fall in love with him; and down a path to iconoclastic doom. Her love for Joker is obsessive, hilarious shallow, horrible but also downright entertaining to watch. I enjoyed every moment she was on screen: I still quote "rev up your Harley" to this day! I see her despair, her goofy outlook and morbid ruthlessness. I wanted her to get comeuppance but at the same time I can't help but feel sorry for her.

Joker abuses her, ignores her, and only complements her when she does something good for him. While the makes how awful their relationship clear, there are a good amount of fans who sees the pair as a glamorous whirlwind romance a la Sonny and Brenda or Jane and Mr Rochester. While such fantasies may seem morbid I don't blame them. No matter how horrible Harley is there is a tiny unavoidable spot that aches for her to win. Or at least see Joker for the monster he really is. While Harley is often held accountable for her actions her arc shows that no one deserves to be abused.

Arleen's performance played a major role in brining Harley to life. She nailed her weaknesses and strengths with such a sincere note that elicits pity, humor and shock at the same time. And of course that ear candy of the New Jersey accent that set the standard for future VAs. Whenever I look at a picture of Harley I hear Arleen. Not to say the other VAs aren't bad, but Arleen's performance is that iconic I can't help but think of her!

Over the years Harley grew apart from Clown Prince of Crime. She got her own spinoff comics, made appearances in other DC media. She even gotten her own tv show which sees the DC universe through her eyes. Harley has marginally healthier romances, primarily Poison Ivy (this isn't to say that pairing doesn't have it's share of toxic moments). The Harlivy ship is a fan favorite but even without shipping and the wars, Harley still shines bright as the Bat Signal.

In a way Harley's descent and eventual rise back to normalcy reminds me of my own struggles. I wasn't a happy child growing up, I've made a lot of mistakes and bad choices. To see a person like Harley work to take back control of her life, makes me feel a bit better for my own prospects. Of course I wouldn't torture a kid to near insanity or blow up a whole city but I can at least put my energy towards something constructive. Harley shows people like me thay we can be more than just screwups if we try.

Of course I can't forget Harley's design. The red&black suit is an icon by itself and inspires similar designs in and outside comics. I could talk all day about how cool her design is from a show and historical perspective but that would take me all day. While I prefer her classic palette, her recent blue and pinks aren't bad either and show just how far she's come out of Joker's shadow. It's even to the point where when, I see something black and red and white I have to point it out and say "Harley would love that outfit!"

Nowadays I complain about the oversaturation of Harley quinn (seriously what was DC thinking taking a team started by a disabled character to reclaim her agency) and overshadowing other cool DC villains. But I would be lying of I say she didn't leave an impact. And it's all thanks to Arleen Sorkin for breathing life into a character that proves you don't need to be be from "the comics" to be considered cool.

Thank you Arleen! May her memory be a blessing - Grits.

[swan2swan]

jumping off that post if you dont mind butas someone whos been watching btas for the first time recently, as an adult, I have to say that I dont really get the hype. Like theres been a handful of truly excelent episodes yes, the show looks good and it has a very easy watching vibe that good kids serials should have. But I feel like I must be missing something giving just how much its hyped up as peak superhero media when most episodes seem like stardard, if very solid, kids serial affair

An excellent question!

The answer is: you're looking at The Blueprint. The base. Classic superhero cartoons were solid, sliding action with cutaway impact frames and often played out more like read-along comic books. Dialogue was dramatic, delivered in that bombastic, attention-grabbing style of the old radio programs, meant to convey excitement above any other emotion. The dialogue between exposition also tended to sound more like when a book narrator puts on a different voice for a character.

Batman changed the game. The animation was fluid and dynamic, the visual tone dark and dreary, and the voicework was (mostly) far more suited for stage than radio. Men fought with swords, blows landed, a chair could easily be picked up and swung at any time. There was no laugh track, no silly music, not even a catchy jingle--this show was SERIOUS about its material, which fit perfectly into the exciting, action-craving culture of the nineties.

But below all of that was gravitas. Maturity and mystery spun the show into more than just gadgets and fistfights--there was emotional weight behind episodes, fear and anguish on the faces of our characters. And sometimes a laughing clown in a suit appeared to shake that up.

All of this was backed by a symphonic score, too. This led to many wordless moments that further pushed the demands of animation to tell the story.

You have to imagine this as a NEW medium. A triumphant return of comic book heroes.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Do you have any idea when the Wayne fortune changed from Bruce being a millionaire to a billionaire? I’ve been watching BTAS since it’s on Netflix and I noticed that the amount of money is not adding up to what I remember the Wayne fortune being in either the Nolan movies (this one is iffy since it’s been a while) or the more recent Rob Patt’s Batman adaption.

Do you suppose it’s to do with the rising fame and general “positive” celebrity of fan-bro described “genius billionaire gurus” like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, etc?

oh it's because being a millionaire simply Does Not carry the same implication of bottomless wealth that it did when Batman was created. you have to remember Brucie baby is a product of the Great Depression; the billionaire was a very recent concept (John D. Rockefeller, often called the first billionaire, "achieved" that status in 1916) and a million dollars was Very Different in 1939 than it is now. don't get me wrong, it's still a lot of money and millionaires are doing way better than The Average Person, but the cultural context has changed greatly.

it's also notable that the amount of money necessary to fund being Batman has changed drastically over the years. at his creation Bruce was fundamentally a jazzed up detective with some fancy gadgets, but as the decades went on and Batman become more high tech (and, frankly, more militarized) it would have been obvious to any writer with even the slightest interest in plausibility that Bruce's fortune would need to be in the billions rather than the millions, especially if you factor in that he's also (sometimes) funding the Justice League partially or in full. Bruce being a millionaire just isn't sufficient to make the fantasy believable anymore; he needs more money! if Detective Comics Comics is still alive and kicking in another century I wouldn't be surprised if he's reclassified as a trillionaire.

[artbyblastweave]

I’ve expressed, at least twice, the idea that Steven Universe is as effective as it is because it shifts from an unironic children’s adventure show to, late in the game, an examination of the destructive psychological and interpersonal effects of being the protagonist of a children’s show, and this gives it a punch that it wouldn’t have if it was about those destructive effects from the word go. This was notable to me for being basically the only series I could think of that does this.

Recently, though, I thought of another one- it’s very possible to view Batman’s arc in the DCAU through this lens.

You have the four seasons of his own show- foundational to the animated canon- in which he’s unironically superheroing, having adventures, gradually expanding the size of the Batfamily, the Rogues gallery and the supporting cast. Crucially, one of the structural things I liked about BTAS was that it leaned in hard to the idea of a comic-book status quo; the idea that these weirdos are doing things and having adventures offscreen, Lots of adventures that springboard from other adventures, a lot of episodes predicated on the weirdness intersecting with the lives of everyday people, a lot of episodes predicated on the idea that the supervillains are sufficiently around and organized to have developed a nascent little subculture. This was a very earnest show!

Then you get the Justice League animated series, set later in the timeline; you see Batman as part of a team dynamic with equitable cape peers; you see how his mannerisms bounce off the others, you see his tendency to buck what the other capes are doing and go his own way, with good and bad effects; you see his martyrdom complex emerge at certain points, like when he attempts a suicide run on the Thanagarian force field generator; but you also see how is insane stubbornness and willingness to roll with any situation, no matter how ridiculous, is an asset, like in the episode with Dr. Destiny where he just starts chugging Coffee by the gallon to stay awake when he’s the last man standing, or his willingness to break into the pentagon and start walloping generals when everyone else stands down to keep the peace. You see his charming emotional constipation, the stoic mask that occasionally drops. This is the peak of his career.

And then you get to Batman Beyond, which is... predicated, actually, on the logical endpoint of traits he showed in Justice League that were quirky and charming in an ensemble dynamic, but in the long run kinda ruined his life.  He’s got strained-to-destroyed relationships with the rest of the Batfamily. He’s outlived huge swaths of his peers. He never got past his (genuinely entertaining to watch!) emotional hang-ups; he never resolved things with Diana, or Selina, or anyone else; He kept going, alone, as long as he possibly could, until he was too physically destroyed to keep to his own standards of conduct, and by then he didn’t have much left besides a mopey hermitage. His villains aren’t doing much better; the where-are-they-now episodes revisiting old foes find all of them in bleak, bleak circumstances. Superheroism as a whole isn’t doing too well; the BB-era justice league has like six people in it, all of whom are legacies of serious die-hard capes plus Superman; heroism sort of implictly....fizzled out, and given the state we find Batman and his rogues in it’s really not hard to guess what happened to the 100+ other superheroes. They got old. They got killed. They never struck the balance, and things just kinda wound down.

Terry comes on the scene, and he’s a great hero, but his mentor presents this great challenge- how do I not wind up like the last group of people who tried this? How can I do this and be happy? Because none of what I’ve described above is really an attack on superheroes in general; it’s not even an attack on Bruce Wayne; it’s just an extrapolation of Bruce Wayne as he’s been shown earlier in this continuity. In the same way that Steven Universe Future’s “deconstructive” elements are really just an extrapolation of his traits as shown in the first five seasons. (Remember how this started out being about Steven Universe?)

So to round this out, this does feed into this idea I have, that Batman, more than any other hero, has a fun and compelling and necessary relationship with continuity; you need to show the guy, the same iteration of the guy, at many, many different points in his life in order to wrangle the full emotional mileage out of him. You gotta see him in year one, you gotta see him when he’s picked up a couple Robins, you gotta see him when he’s down a couple Robins cause they’re sick of his shit or dead, You gotta see him with some more Robins when he’s worked on himself, you gotta see him as a father, as an older guy, as an old guy. All the most interesting things about him are informed or enhanced or highlighted by the passage of time, the growth and atrophy of his network. You gotta show and establish enough of his status quo that you notice the development. The comics try for this, and are the source for this, with all those far-future Elseworlds and limited series like Year One and The Long Halloween highlighting pivotal events in his past. They’re like. A primordial soup of status quo from which meaningful character insights and developments are hauled out and momentarily examined, to the delight of all. And I think that we all have a sort of gesalt mostly-functional Batman-career timeline in our heads as a result of this. But I think the DCAU represents the longest-term, largest-by-runtime and most-involved depiction of a single iteration of Batman, flawed in my estimation only because it leaves out a lot of Batfamily characters like Jason, Cassandra, Steph, Duke, and others who have kind of become lynchpins in that gesalt interpretation of his timeline. I haven’t seen most of Young Justice, which was produced over a similarly long real-life timeframe to the DCAU and covers a long stretch of time; did that get close? 

[rootbeerrex]

@taters-for-tots ranks more dc characters: this time heroes

learning from our past mistakes, this version will be one long post.

once again, all opinions belong to

Superman (5/10)

"This kind is better because he's... he's just more wide, do you understand? he's more superman cause he's just very wide."

"Superman is like custard... and I won't elaborate on that."

"He's just. There's not many things you can say about him, everything's already been said. And also because he's a boring white boy. I am more interesting than superman."

"I haven't seen a superman who looked over the age of thirty in so long... this is what we should be doing. Superman should be a tired older man."

"Overwhelmingly average"

"The wonderbread of superheros, mostly in the color scheme."

2. Batman (6/10)

"We have discussed this before, but we need to bring up the duality of his ears..."

*looks up bat*

"order of flying mammals, that sounds like they're an organization" (Rex note: I don't think he knows what taxonomy is, but that's gonna be a shock for another day).

"what kind of bat is batman supposed to be. that's my question."

"'The batman cannot be comprehended and therefore cannot be stopped' I think I could stop him pretty easily. He can definitely be comprehended, I'm comprehending him right now! look at that, it's batman!"

"I'm just so desensitized to batman cause he's like. Everywhere."

(BTAS specific)

"Batman the animated series is so wild because- okay I love his design because he's so ANGULAR. This man is a POLYGON. that's just how things were in the 30s 50s 90s."

*rants about mickey mouse vs batman for about a minute straight*

"I know there were different rating systems when BTAS came out, but it's wild to be watching an animated PG series and seeing the joker fully pull out a machine gun and start SHOOTING at him. It's even MORE wild when he pulls out a pistol! And then it's not the little flag-gag like you expect, and he actually SHOOTS him!"

"I also think they got the length of his ears right on this one."

3. Wonder Woman (9/10)

"This crown design is. Goddamn."

"Wonder Woman is pretty cool. I have a Wonder Woman cape in my closet. I just think that she's pretty neat. I thought the Wonder Woman movie that came out recently- (rex note: it was 7 years ago) was pretty good!"

"I think it's cool that she's got her initials not once but twice on her outfit, and doesn't use a lot of weapons. She's got her lasso and her cuffs, and other than that she's just kinda punching people and that's awesome. And no one asked but she would beat captain america in a fight."

"Original comic wonder woman is also cool. She just always looks neat."

"The CALVE strength this woman must have to be doing all of this in high heels must be insane and I appreciate her so much for that."

"DC Superhero Girls newest version isn't very good because they made her too spindly, but this version looks like a person."

4. Martian Manhunter (guy/5)

"Hello?? who is this guy?? what's um... why is... what. who?"

*hearing his name without seeing spelled*

"John... Jones... Is his name???"

5. Flash (7/10)

"I want these boots. let it be known that I want these boots. Him eating a burger while running very fast.

"a lot of the rating for the boots, and the rest because his name is barry"

"I think it's fun that they were like- these other heroes have all these things like Superman has X-ray vision and flight, and Batman has grappling hooks and tech, and Wonder Woman is a GODDESS, and he just. He go fast and that's who he is."

"He's just a guy. He's just a little man. I like his little ear lightning bolts. Sometimes I forget that's what they're supposed to be and I think he's just wearing bluetooth headsets on both ears for some reason"

"I'd very much like to know what's going on here."

"This might've been a joke but... is there a reverse flash? What's his deal? I like to think that he runs really slow and it doesn't benefit him at all."

7. Cyborg (6.5/10)

"He's a guy. For sure. I don't know what's happening here where the skin on his fingers is all- like- crinkly? That's weird. But otherwise I think he's pretty cool. He's got a nice color scheme going on, I'll give him that."

"There's a cyborg guy, right? Is his name just cyborg?"

"I think he looks cool. It's a neat design, I just think he looks neat. yeah. I think he's pretty cool. I remember him mostly from the justice league ride at six flags because there's a really creepy animatronic of him standing outside the ride."

"Neat idea for a character, IDK a whole lot about of him, but he looks pretty cool."

---

And that is all for now, once again don't shoot the messenger for these opinions, @taters-for-tots is the one who called superman the "wonderbread of superheroes."

[brucenorris007]

So, remember that episode of BTAS that’s all an elaborate illusion created by Mad Hatter where Bruce just gets to be happy with Selina as a fiancée, his parents are alive, and being Batman/protecting Gotham is someone else’s business?  I imagine that, like every other scenario that’s managed to catch him completely unawares, Bruce has done some intense mental training/mind palace thing to prevent falling for that sort of trap again. Thing is, whether it’s the Hatter, or some new strain of pollen Ivy came up with or a drug of some kind, it’ll still take at least a few minutes for his brain to Batman its way back to reality, which leaves Bruce aware yet still interacting with his parents. And instead of running off to brood about their deaths, because he knows he can’t physically make his body go anywhere until he comes to, he just talks to them. Thomas and Martha are, of course, Confused, but eventually just happy to listen to their son, and what does B talk about? His kids. About how he’s watched Dick grow into one of the most resilient men he’s ever known; the fact that regardless of how many times he’s found himself evicted, he’s kept his position in Bludhaven as an officer with prospects for making captain; how he’s actually been putting off a promotion because doing the work himself is so important to him, interacting with the people and being a teammate. That even so, Bruce still worries about Dick’s brittle, too-often smiles, that he puts too much responsibility for his family’s well-being on himself. About Jason’s latest essay that he wrote just because he could, how he casually quotes themes in Shakespeare and Austen in a given conversation; how, despite his history with the place, he’ll still visit Crime Alley armed with little more than worn out copies of Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes and clear away trash from what were once playgrounds and read aloud until he’s gathered a small audience. About Tim’s mind, the capacity to organize and locate the thread of logic amidst chaos that still surprises Bruce at times. How, as a brother, he’s finally starting to allow himself to be the child the Drakes always discouraged him from being; how he’s made real friends, gotten more than half a dozen acceptance letters to schools across the country. About Damian’s kindness, flourishing in an environment that actually allows him to express it; how he’s slowly shedding his militant outlook, gradually less befuddled by the dynamics of how a family works, that his insistence on the importance of pedigree are now more token and habitual than truly dogmatic. How many damn animals are in and around Wayne manor, now; how he’s started volunteering at animal shelters and how Bruce has started searching for veterinary internships for a couples years down the line. About Cass, who spent the vast majority of her formative years being raised solely for violence; how she possesses a staggering capacity for love that, as a sister and a daughter, she finally has an outlet for, taking every opportunity to hold Dick’s hand, bump Tim’s shoulder, or hug Jason and Damian just because she can and because she knows they need one. How she’s started picking up ASL because she wants another way to communicate without words that isn’t the one she was raised with; that she asked Bruce recently if she could find a way to work with nonverbal children and impart the practical cues she’s learned about body language and microexpressions to young women in Gotham.  About Steph, who isn’t even his in the same way the others are, but whose day he still asks after whenever he can. How brave she is, how bright despite coming from much the same Gotham that Jason was born into. How great she is for the rest of the kids; a sister for Cass, a reminder to Jason of what he used to be before the worst of his trauma and perhaps the one who understands him best, a friend who isn’t afraid to push Tim out of his comfort zone and doesn’t mind when he feels awkward.  Bruce spends around twenty minutes just... bragging about his kids to his parents, and it’s all he’s ever wanted. In an ideal world–Bruce’s ideal world–his kids would never have needed him to offer safety and shelter in the first place. Short of that? He wants to share what makes him proudest with his mother and father; not the crime-fighting, not Wayne Enterprises, but his kids.

[quandaryqueen]

Since ur requests r still open here's a lil smth : imagine the riddlers(YJ, BTAS, whoever) working, right? Watching them work on whatever project they have at the moment - and painting them. Quietly, while watching them work. And then giving it to them when they're done. I think that'd be cute as hell :D

Artful Endeavour

Edward Nygma X Artist Reader

At hours of working on your own projects, both of you had headphones on as to not disrupt one another-- with Eddie in his recent mayhems for Gotham while you were simply lounging around, art supplies in hand. Eddie didn't like it when you dub his brilliant as simply mayhem, but he does see why, but still. It's called 'plans' not mayhem. If you weren't cute, you wouldn't have gotten away with it.

Noticing how the shade of green of his clothes matched with your paint, you absent-mindedly sketch him for a moment... Until then you find yourself concentrating to draw him. You've finished your painting of him whilst he still wasn't done with his work, he seemed to have been frustrated with that glare on his face. Wanting to cheer him up for a moment, you stood from your seat and presented it to him.

💚 Young Justice

Due to the headphones, he didn't hear you calling his name. Lowering your headphones to your neck, you approached Edward with a kiss on the cheek, making him slightly jump. The tense frustration in his countenance dissipating exponentially from your sweet attention when he realises it was you. By this he finally takes his headphones off and eagerly attempts to return the kiss you gave him, when you handed him a watercolour painting of him.

"Whoa..." A smile break from his features, further pushing the tense emotion he has been feeling earlier at the least of his worries.

He is beyond flattered that you'd go out of your time and effort to paint him like this and depict him in a way he will never thought he will ever be, a certain beauty translated in paper and ethereal colours. By this he only have one word for it that's best suited to describe your work, no matter how fucking cliché it is;

"It's beautiful... Thank you."

💚 Batman Unburied

💚 Batman the animated series

When you tried to call for his attention, he heard you through the cluster of instrumentals and vocals in his headphones and immediately lifts an earpiece.

"Yes, my dear?" Though he was frustrated with himself, he cannot bring himself to use you as an outlet of his rage, though you can certainly pick up the edge of his tone. He may be a criminal, but this is a crime he will not forgive himself if he ever committed it.

"I made you something." Snatching the piece from your desk, you merrily walked over to present it to him.

Traces of tension from his face fades as his eyes soften at the sight of him drawn in watercolour. His lips pull up, along with his besotted gaze aligning with your cheerful ones.

"Soooo, how is it?"

God he fucking loves you. "Priceless."

Tapping on the top of his headphones, Edward pulls it down, hang it around his neck before glancing at you with a raised brow. Without a word, you handed his the piece of paper you have been working on with intricate watercolour painting of him. You can see amusement brimming his eyes as he analyses the piece then glances at you.

"What, do you want me to put it on my fridge or something?" He chuckles. Don't let his nonchalance fool you, he is melting inside.

"Oh I don't know, whatever you want with it I guess." You handed him the paper with a shrug.

"To the fridge it is." He jests, before tucking it between the pages of his priced journal, noting to himself to buy a frame to hang it on his bedroom wall later.

[vermillioncrown]

re: new fandom/fuck around and find out fic, BATMAN??? i checked ur recent bookmarks and if this is true i am so gleefully delighted & even if it isnt i am STILL gleeful and delighted @ the thought of more of ur writing so honestly its a win win either way but oh my god, jason todd,?!?!?

y-yyeah... ☠

damn it i shouldn't have thirst-reblogged that jason pic on my main lmao

=

i have the concept and have been going through scenarios w @rozaceous, it's been rough bc i'm not too familiar with DCU and Batman beyond what I remember from BtAS, watched UtRH bc ofc jason todd has become my meow meow

and started playing the arkham knight vidya game

[lornaka]

Hi! After coming repeatedly to your page I'd like to say a big Thank you for sharing your art via tumblr - your style is simply beautiful and I love especially your TBB fan art. Also I've been made aware of GLTAS through your page and after watching it I've become a fan of this show… so thank you for that as well! Stay safe & cheers. (Addendum: The reblogged Batman content looks quiet interesting - do you recommend any comics/films for beginners? Thanks in advance.)

Hi! Aww thank you so much, that means a lot! <3 And I'm so happy you enjoyed GLTAS!! As for Batman, I'm no expert by any means. My love for the character/franchise began with Batman the Animated Series, and that one is just a timeless classic I would recommend to anyone. If you never watched it and are curious about the franchise, by all means go for it. After BTAS there is the Justice League cartoon in the same universe, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, you can continue with those if you enjoy BTAS. GLTAS was produced by the creator of those shows as well, so they have a similar spirit, too. When it comes to comics, I haven't read any for many years and I honestly can't remember any particulars series that I did read, I just went through a bunch of them in chronological order and picked up bits and pieces, reading what caught my interest and ignoring what I didn't like (like I do with pretty much all American superhero comics I touch). So I'm afraid I can't help you there. As for the live action films, they are all very different, and everyone has their own opinions and tastes. I quite liked the most recent one with Robert Pattinson, and the only other film adaptations I enjoyed before that were Tim Burton's two films starring Michael Keaton, although they exist a little on their own in my mind when it comes to characterization. In the end, there's nothing better than the BTAS and JL cartoons for me personally when it comes to Batman :D

[ashgunnywolf]

Five comfort characters and five tags! Thank you to @harleyshahas for tagging me <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

1) Batman. I've only just recently REALLY gotten into Batman, but I've been a fan for a long time. My father gave me an old book he had of full of classic comics featuring iconic characters' first appearances. I never got to watch the DCAU on TV bc I didn't have cable, so I caught up in the streaming age, and BTAS is just... so good. Hell, I even named myself Robin for a little while.

2) Danny Phantom. Speaking of characters I named myself after, I tried Danny out for a little while as well. This was another show I watched on streaming after I couldn't watch it on cable, and it worked in tandem with Rise of the Guardians (and tumblr lmao) to help me realize I was trans. I'm so proud that this wacky little fandom obsessed with vivisection is still going strong ten years after I joined it, and I thought I was late to the party back then!

3) Winnie-the-Pooh. I know this is a little cringe to care about a movie for babies, but fuck you. Pooh and his friends are so important to me, both the original books by A A Milne and the Disney movie. They're so innocent and cute, and they've got just enough attitude and dry humor to avoid being unpleasantly saccharine. Go read the books, by the way. They're really funny with a great British dry wit and not at all for babies.

4) Giorno Giovanna. He's so beautiful, what can I say? From the moment I saw him on my screen, I wanted to paint him. He and his friends are so spectacularly weird in such a delightful way. I love pretty much every Jojo character, but I limited myself to picking just one for this list, so I picked Giorno.

5) Bucky Barnes. I don't really care about the MCU anymore, thanks Endgame, but Mister Winter Soldier is different, even if only for nostalgia's sake. I was a stucky true believer back when CATWS came out, and deep down I knew it would never happen, but that didn't stop me from watching their every interaction through a romantic lens. The homoeroticism... off the charts, let me tell ya.

Honorable mentions include: Keith Kogane, Jack Frost, Jolyne Kujo, Kakyoin Noriaki, Bruno Bucciarati, Sergey Razumovsky, Ash Williams, Raven, Pitch Black, Vlad Masters, Superman, Calvin and Hobbes, Dio Brando, Foo Fighters, Kishibe Rohan (there are a lot of characters in Jojo, alright?), and probably more that have slipped my mind.

@sealessmoors @garfyfried @iamnmbr3 @januariat @imsorrybruce2 (and anyone else who wants to do it, really)

[celibate-batjokes-mpreg-yaoi-911]

sorry for putting something in ur inbox but can u help me. i've been kinda dy*ng for the past few days and now i'm feeling a bit better so i decided to do an in depth catching up with ur blog. and saw the joker funko pop anon. and now i kinda wanna buy one -_- should. should i. i know i saw superhero ones last time i was shopping but they didn't have anything batman related but they might now. also i watched the killing joke recently and wanted to watch btas but that's when the virus got me so maybe i deserve a treat 😒 - yaoi-chan

u shouldnt buy one but please do it anyway. merry terfmas

[zorilleerrant]

I know most people are generally more likely to be invested in movies and TV and all that and so my Batfandom experience may be different than everyone else's, but I'm enough of a traditional comics nerd to be like what do you mean you don't read the comics and, yeah, I instinctively consider them more canon than other media most of the time (except when I don't). but here's a breakdown of my familiarity with the Batfandom:

at any given time I'm reading a significant chunk of current Batfamily comics (and also other comics, but some of those feature Batfamily members, too)

I'm also reading or rereading older Batfamily content, going back as far as I can find them (I'm currently reading pre-crisis Jason, but I'm desperately trying to find a digital copy of Van's issue)

I saw Battinson but I disliked it immensely and will not be seeing a sequel if one comes out

between that and the real movies (Batman 89) I haven't seen any of the movies. or, like, I think I saw more than one but I don't remember them at all, and I know I hated whichever one I saw. this is a feat because I will watch anything with Cillian Murphy in it and usually love it even when it's a trash fire. I saw (only) one of the Harley Quinn movies and it was okay.

Batman 89 are The Movies Of All Time and I rewatch them constantly, especially Batnipples. they are responsible for both my love of fandom in its entirety and my gay awakening. and obviously it's where I started with Batman

I mean I saw Superpets, which was excellent except for the monologue at the end which still pisses me off

I've read novelizations based on them, and spent my childhood rereading them over and over. I've also read other print novels but don't ask me which ones because I can't remember. yeah there are a bunch of Batman print novels actually! I don't know either!

I watched BtAS, Batman Beyond, and Teen Titans on the air. I rewatch them regularly. I recently watched through at least one JLA show (didn't care for it/them) and am trying to make it through Brave and the Bold but I don't really like it. I managed to get all the way through YJ on the promise of Virg but he's only in like three episodes??? season 1 was great but the rest of the show increasingly sucks. the vast majority of the cartoons I've never seen, especially all the movies

obsessively watching Harley Quinn show. it's the best thing I've ever seen. oddly, the comics based on it are one of the few comics I've ever returned because I feel bad returning comics usually

I saw all of HBO Titans, most of it as it was released, and I love it so so much. I wish it hadn't ended. I wish the Red Hood spinoff had actually gotten traction because I would watch the hell out of it. I hoped the CW show would have similar vibes but it's not very good really. I'm still watching it.

my absolute favorite DC shows are Birds of Prey (2002-2003) and Powerless. both cancelled immediately, which is a travesty. they are the best shows that have ever been made ever.

I'm not listening to the radio plays or podcasts or whatever. I can't really deal with that type of media mostly unfortunately

I have seen The LEGO Movie and all related LEGO Batman content. I love most of it but Damian??? that is clearly Tim wtf are you guys even talking about, you wrote Tim

I've seen the Adam West movie repeatedly. I've seen several episodes of the show but not in order and not the whole thing. I do plan a watchthrough soon.

I've never played a single Batman related game in my life, not even Batman branded Monopoly and stuff like that. I don't know what's in any of them and I don't understand references to them

anyway, so, I get that for normal people the movies are most likely, then the cartoons, then the live action shows, then the comics, but for me it's very much backwards of that. and it's weird to me when people assume that everyone's engaging with the same pieces of media in the same way

[ednyxmatic]

DNI & BFY:

— DNI if you’re aged under 18. No exceptions.

— DNI if have an ageless blog. You don’t need to share your specific age, but at least have “adult” in your bio or pinned. This blog isn’t inherently NSFW, but I likely will sometimes reblog NSFW stuff, so I ask that you be 18+.

Hello there! I’m Eclipse. I’ve been a Batman fan since 2014. Though I drifted away a few years ago, I have been recently getting back into it. My favorite Batman rogues, are the Riddler, Scarecrow, BTAS Mad Hatter, Two-Face, and Penguin. My favorite Batman movies are The Batman 2022, Batman 1989, and Batman Returns.

In terms of other adaptations, I love BTAS as well.

Currently attempting to watch Gotham. You can follow me on this journey under the tag #eclipse tries to watch Gotham

For my main blog, you can find me @lupinedreaming​ . That blog is 50% for monster and villain love, and 50% for me to post and reblog more personal stuff

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Thanks for the quick reply! That does make total sense… tbh I didn’t even realize he was possibly funding the Justice League, so with that in addition it makes total sense the amount of money the Wayne fortune is would need to increase.

That said, watching BTAS and comparing to recent adaptions, as you said the “militarization” of Batman is both interesting and perhaps frustrating… BTAS Batman gets the shit kicked out of him a lot! By guys who are low level mobsters sometimes! I have an incredibly hard time imaging Nolan’s Batman having that issue (caveat being it’s been a while since I watched) and while Rob Patt’s Batman got beat up a bit more…. It’s still not quite as much. I actually think watching BTAS has made me wish that Batman wasn’t quite so high tech and to some extent overpowered as he seems to be nowadays

That’s actually part of why I think I liked the recent Rob Patt Batman adaption, if only because it returns Batman to being more of a detective by putting him in a drawn out detective movie with superhero gimmicks in addition.

sorry I'm answering this like two weeks late BUT I do super agree that I like how stripped-down Bruce is in Thee Batman. the only really notably HIGH high tech thing he's got going on is the camera contacts + the facial recognition system it uses; other than that he feels very appropriately scrappy. a lot of people remarked on the Batmobile in particular and how it looks like a fucked up muscle car that Bruce could very conceivably have scrapped together in his garage, which is a huge contrast especially from Christian Bale's little tank.

it's just a mystery! it's just Batman being Batman trying to figure out what the fuck is going on and what it all means and drawing an insane deduction grid on the floor. he's good but he's got limits!

[taggingtim]

Why I love Pre-Boot Tim Drake and why the Reboot has ruined him

I love Tim Drake.  He is my favorite comic book character of all time.  I’ve been really upset the past few days about what DC has been doing with him lately, and I thought it would be cathartic for me to write something up about it.  (No, this isn’t a rant about Tim being bi/gay; it’s a much larger problem than that. But I’ll get to that in a bit.) Bear with me for a bit of history, first.

When I was a kid I loved the Batman Animated Series.  I know this will lose me a lot of internet cred, but I always preferred the fourth season. In particular, I loved Tim Drake. He was fun and funny and I absolutely adored him.  I used to beg my mom to take me to the mall so I could buy issues of Gotham Adventures. For my birthday one year my parents got me a subscription to the comic, and I was blown away by the idea that I could have comics MAILED to my HOUSE.

Around middle school I started collecting Marvel comics, mostly X-men stuff.  I loved them, but when I started college I quit the hobby for financial reasons.

 Fast forward a few years, and I felt I was financially stable enough to start buying comics again. Rather than going back to Marvel, I decided to give Batman comics a chance.  I had no idea where to start, and when I found out my beloved Tim had his own comic series, I thought it was a perfect entry point into the Batman universe. I bought the complete series from a local comic shop and dove in.

 Tim’s Robin series was exactly what I was looking for in a comic.  He was very different from little Timmy Todd from BtAS, but I loved him. I built the rest of my comic collection around him, grabbing up every book that he was featured in, from Young Justice to Teen Titans to Batman, Detective Comics, Nightwing, Red Robin, and many others.  I have random books from series like The Demon just because Tim was in them.

 So why did I like Tim so much?  What about this character made me so excited for more?  I found in Tim something that I had never seen in a comic book before: character growth.  Somehow, though he was written by many different authors over many different years, Tim managed to have a character arc that is consistent and makes sense. Sure, there were a few small bumps along the way, but on the whole Tim has always stayed true to his character, and he’s developed in a way that the big name characters, like Batman, never can.

 When we’re first introduced to Tim, he’s a young teen who has been neglected by his parents growing up. He’s smart, healthy, and strong, but he lacks so much self confidence and has little sense of self worth.  Tim notices Bruce’s increasing violence as he grieves for the loss of his son, and Tim knows he needs to step in and help.  Batman needs a Robin.

 For most characters, this would be the part where Tim put himself forward for the job.  But he doesn’t.  He seeks out Dick Grayson and begs him to come home instead.  It’s only when Batman and Nightwing are in danger and there is literally no one else to help that Tim steps up and dons the cape. And once he does, he’s constantly plagued by self-doubt, terrified he will screw up and leave Batman worse than ever before.

 From there, Tim undergoes intense training.  He never begs to be in the spotlight, doesn’t push to go out on the streets before he’s ready.  His goal is to help Bruce as much as possible.

 Here’s where I started to fall in love with him.  All that self-doubt, the constant need to be useful?  That’s exactly what you would expect to see from a child whose parents had ignored and neglected him.  He finally has a parental figure who sees him, who values him, and Tim does everything he can to make himself worthy in the hopes that Bruce will keep him around.

 This is the first example of character consistency that we see with Tim.  And it continues.  When his mom dies and his dad is put in a coma, you see Tim struggle to come to terms with losing the people he loves, but never had a relationship with.  Tim almost never mentions his mom after her death, because she just wasn’t present in his life.  When his dad recovers and decides to stick around, Tim struggles to build a relationship with him.  He’s plagued with guilt because he’s finally found the father figure he needed in Bruce, but he thinks that he’s supposed to feel that way for Jack.  It’s a running undercurrent in their relationship that creates distance between them for years.

 This is already so long, so I’m going to try to summarize a bit more.  We get to watch Tim grow up.  We see his awkward relationship with his first girlfriend, Ariana.  He doesn’t know how to treat her; he’s never had the opportunity to observe a healthy relationship.  But he tries so, so hard.  All of Tim’s relationships are awkward, because he’s never had a model of a good one. Steph is a great match for him, because she’s very vocal about what she wants and needs, and she isn’t afraid to call Tim out when he messes up, which is exactly what Tim needs.

 Big things happen to Tim. He’s stuck with Jean-Paul Valley, who slowly goes insane, leaving Tim to try to keep the city in one piece.  He’s infected with the Clench, a plague that sweeps over Gotham and kills everyone it touches, and barely escapes with his life. His girlfriend is sexually assaulted, leaving him to deal with the fallout.  His family moves out of Gotham, and he has to sneak back in during No Man’s Land to help.  His relationship with his dad has intense ups and downs, resulting in him being sent to boarding school, punished in a variety of ways, and generally caused a lot of trouble in his life.

 Then people start dying. Over the course of about a year in his life, Tim loses his girlfriend, his dad, a close friend, and his best friend, each of whom dies under tragic conditions.  Tim’s grief is intense, and he is understandably traumatized by the losses. We see fundamental changes in his character.  He changes his costume from something bright and cheerful to something darker that reflects his emotional state.  He’s more subdued, his adventures a little more serious.

 When Bruce first tries to adopt him, Tim literally creates an uncle and hires an actor to play him, just to avoid dealing with the situation.  Bruce has viewed Tim as a son for years, so to him the adoption is an obvious step.  For Tim, it feels like a betrayal of his father, and it takes a while before he’s ready to accept Bruce’s love, home, and a place in his family.  

 When Damian shows up on the scene, Tim really struggles with him, and not just because early Damian is a horrid brat who tries to kill Tim on multiple occasions.  Tim has always felt the need to earn his place with Bruce, and Damian constantly throws all of Tim’s biggest fears in his face—he’s not wanted or needed now that the “real” son is here, he’s not worthy of a place in the family, he’s not good enough.

 Tim tries to clone Conner, his best friend.  He’s lost so many people, and he’s desperate to get them back.  Conner was cloned to begin with and fully matured over a very short period of time; the technology clearly exists, so why can’t Tim use it to get his best friend back?  And if he can get Conner back, why not the others he’s lost?  He eventually gives up, but when he eventually gets access to a Lazarus Pit, he immediately wants to incorporate the waters into his process so he can revive his loved ones.  With Dick’s help, Tim eventually decides to let it go, but it’s such a poignant moment for the character.

 Then Bruce dies, and Dick takes Robin away.  Tim switches to the Red Robin persona as he travels the world, alone, trying to prove that he was right.  He has to deal with the trauma of losing another father, finds out that his girlfriend never died but let him hurt so much for so long.  His brother and the only close friend he has left both think his grief has overwhelmed his sense and that he’s gone crazy.  He’s utterly alone.

 The Red Robin series is such a great culmination for Tim.  He finds a place for himself as a hero, as a CEO.  He gets parts of his family back—Bruce, Steph, Bart, Conner.  He finally figures out who he wants to be and creates a place for himself.

 This overarching character development is what I love about Tim.  His many, many traumas impact his decisions, and you can clearly see how he changes over time as a result of them.  I didn’t even go into his development as a leader from his early fumbling with Young Justice to his strong leadership of the Teen Titans, or how his relationships with Conner, Bart, and Cassie develop so fluidly and realistically over the years.

 This is why I love Tim. Characters like Batman are static; nothing that happens to them will ever have a lasting impact, because in the end the character always returns to what they were.  Tim, on the other hand, has changed and developed A LOT since his initial appearance.  His growth has always been consistent and logical.

 When the reboot happened, all of that character growth was lost.  Tim was replaced with a jerk who betrayed his friends and cheated on his girlfriend.  DC has basically retconned all of this and tried to turn Tim back into who he was, but by taking away all of the things that have happened to him over the years, Tim has lost SO MUCH.

 I keep looking for my Tim in recent comics, and I just can’t find him.  It breaks my heart, because I love him so much, and it feels like he’s lost to me forever.  The most recent Young Justice comic series actually gave me hope; I felt like maybe, finally, someone was going to write Tim correctly.  He had his primary friendships back, his relationship with Steph was developing (even if they seem to have completely dropped all the development around Steph’s decision to let Tim think she was dead).  The actual book itself wasn’t fantastic, but it felt like they were headed in the right direction.

 Over the last few days, I read the Batman: Urban Legends books.  I actually read the Batman/Red Hood story first, which was fantastic.  I was really excited to read Tim’s story (though I already knew how it ended).  Jason’s character was handled so well, and he seemed to actually have some character development that will hopefully last.  I anticipated the same for Tim.

 But Tim’s story was awful. The plot was all over the place—kids are being kidnapped, so Tim has to join a pain cult to get them back?  He’s somehow helping Oracle with computer issues while simultaneously questioning witnesses?  He’s broken up with Steph, off camera, shortly after telling her how much he loves her, but Steph somehow thinks that they should have a caring relationship where Tim tells her what he’s feeling?  Bernard has somehow become a good enough fighter to stand side by side with Robin?  Tim STILL doesn’t have a code name?  Why is everyone suddenly hounding him about what he wants to do with his life?

 It’s just such a mess of a story.  If it didn’t end with Tim agreeing to go on a date with Bernard, no one would ever have even mentioned it.  There’s nothing particularly re-readable or enjoyable about it.

 I actually liked that they brought Bernard back. I really enjoyed him in the original Robin series. It’s been a while since I read that part of the series (I’m actually working my way back through it now).  I know Bernard always read as gay to me, yet somehow I felt like he was out of character in these books.

 And then, the climax of the story.  Tim is bi, or gay, or has at least agreed to go on a date with a boy.

 If this had happened in the pre-boot, when Tim was Red Robin and had an actual character arc, I honestly wouldn’t have had an issue with it.  I do think it would have needed a LOT more build up than it was given here.  Tim has always been a very introspective character, and we’ve been party to so much of his internal monologue over the years.  It seems very strange to me that such a huge thing just sneaks up on him out of nowhere when he’s never even thought about it before.

 But more than that, this story just feels like the final death blow for the Tim I loved.  The whole arc is about how Tim doesn’t know who he is or who he wants to be.  What will his hero name be?  Will he go to college?  What is he going to do with his life?  These are all great questions, and his answer to all of them is… date a boy?  

 Is this going to be his defining characteristic going forward?  From here will we just see Tim exploring and discovering his sexuality?  The Tim we have now doesn’t have a family, a team, a purpose, or even a code name.  Why was this the thing that DC decided to give us?  It feels like they wanted to make a gay Robin and decided it would be Tim because they didn’t know what else to do with him.

 It’s stupid, but I honestly feel like I’ve spent the past few days grieving the loss of a loved one. The Tim that DC is presenting now is just not the person that I knew.  Tim would never break up with Steph that abruptly for what he admits is no apparent reason.  He would never say “just call me Robin, since Damian’s out of town.”  Everything that I love about Tim seems to be gone, and in its place DC has given me a date with a boy.  

 Again, it’s not Tim being not-straight that I have an issue with.  I’ve never read the character that way, but it’s something I can live with. My issue is the way it was handled. Why not make Tim an actual person first, and then explore his sexuality?  Send him off to college!  He’s obviously thinking about it!  It’s the perfect opportunity to give him his own book.  He can move to a different city, choose a new name, and DC can introduce a whole new set of characters.  Figure out which parts of Tim’s backstory are still canon, and which have been dropped. Make him a person again, and then let him explore his sexuality.

 I know this post is all over the place, and I don’t have time right now to go back and edit it.  I just really needed an outlet for my frustration.  Right now it feels like there are so many people who are so excited about Tim being bi/gay, but they don’t know anything else about him.  I keep seeing people comment how DC has been “dropping hints for years!” with no evidence other than “he and Superboy were really close!”  I guess I’d just really like to have some dialogue with other people who are fans of Tim, rather than fans of Tim-as-bi/gay or fans of Tim-as-straight.

 Does anyone else feel this way?  I’d honestly like to have a dialogue about it with other long time fans.