tr4sh-pl4nt

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

Go my Tennalings

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

Hi hi commfishions…..

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

watching my partner play chapter 3.. what a guy..

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

you again

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

‘you put that cig out, you can hold her’

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

What of Riddles and Murder?

I think I’ve left my Tumblr dormant long enough, don’t you? So let’s get into some analysis! Delve deep and see what we can see! And what better subject than one Edward Nygma! The Riddler!

But not just any Eddie.

No.

No.

No…

My favorite Riddler, the one who my own interpretation blends into the most (combined with a dash of Arkham and a fair bit of Pre-New 52 continuity rearranged)! Who, you ask! Who!!!

This smug bastard:

Zero Year Nygma is special for a lot of reasons. For one he’s a great amalgamation of what was old (the facial structure, nose, and being...well, ginger lend themselves to BTAS) and something delightfully new while touching on some beautiful, horrid symbolism (the Zorro mask is a prime example for the story he’s ‘debuting’ in). He’s also exceptionally violent in a way that simultaneously suits the Riddler in cavalier execution while being somewhat divergent in the sheer scale he inflicts said violence. That extends not just to the big event, but from his very introduction to the story.

The whole idea emerged due to talking with my roommate, a longtime friend who has been privy to every permutation and head canon I’ve carried for that gremlin over the years. In that moment I started to outline every single way he implies, instigates, or outright exacts some violence upon a person or the greater populace of Gotham City. Let’s walk through them, shall we?

From the outset of the story he was suggesting to Philip that the most efficient application of Occam's Razor is to Bruce’s throat. That it was the only option with the prodigal son setting a showdown with what had become a disgraced company in his absence. Even if the matter is tabled, rejected, and ultimately thrown back in his face it was one presented simply to prove that Eddie could read the board. A bone thrown on the pile as a means to validate himself and the clandestine power he held within that little cat’s cradle.

Not only does he push such an agenda with one of the more intense expressions of the arc (a stark contrast to his glib ennui at a baseline or the absolute mania of Savage City), he hints at that fact to Bruce himself after riling the young fledermaus up. Even if, contextually, he can’t understand it there’s a flex of “I know something you don’t know. Something you’d probably like to know. Something you need to know.” with deadly implications. All presented dull eyed and with a smirk after their game, a game he feels he’s thoroughly won on and off the board because those final words in the museum suggest that Mr. Wayne is in check and Edward will never have to see that particularly annoying piece ever again courtesy of the Red Hood Gang.

Then there’s the fact that he essentially pushed a very ill man to not only self experimentation, a deadly prospect in and of itself, but inspired what essentially became one of the most prolific (and horrific) strings of serial killings up to that point in the City’s history. All with silver tongued promises. All to cover for the theft of one Pamela Isley’s research in the panic between his own (comparatively) benign blackouts. And a guaranteed end to the murder weapon he had chosen, come hell or (literal) high water.

We’re already seeing a pattern within the violence of choice, yes? Before even arriving at the big ones it has the Riddler hallmark of being hands off. Yet there is something to be said of the frequency this young version of the villain chooses to employ it. Often while employing a sociopathic bit of emotional sleight of hand, putting on an impish face that can be perceived, at times, as downright goofy or even charming. That can truly mask how awful he is. Yet unlike some variants of the villain, he’s not pushed by a literal demon within the city’s heart or some deeply disturbing event which further cracked his psyche. He’s doing this from the outset and moving towards the trickster that people think of (we’re discounting King and some dismal attempts during the mid 2010’s to try and create a ‘dark’ Riddler renaissance in storytelling) rather than being pushed towards this outcome. Put a pin in that thought, it’ll come into the discussion as we move towards (petty, petty...petty) motivation in explaining how this creates a truly unique, petulant, bombastic and subtly terrifying version of this classic.

Back to the crimes for people who need a refresher!

After having effectively Karl Hellfern for everything his failing body and soul could take, he makes a show to Jim Gordon. We know the one. The string game. With a boulder. A more classic Riddler tact to be sure. Very in line with the death traps that cover an escape and yet the exception here is that there is no riddle. It’s simply physics: a promise of enough force to completely collapse a great part of that floor of a sturdily built office building. It’s a blunt statement wherein the only one playing is Edward himself. Which already suggests he’s stepping further and further into his persona while showing that vicious streak, now sparing that toxic green curtain he’d hide behind while putting on a performance that would put the Mighty Oz to shame. And there’s a glee to it. Literally holding something over someone’s head.

What can I say about the rupturing of the retaining walls? Of essentially setting up an impossible game on only the slimmest of chances. Eddie, your carnie background may have been struck from your resume but it definitely showed here. The results are catastrophic. If you’ve watched The Penguin, go take in the first scenes of Episode 3 again and imagine that while the city is under siege by a super storm of historic proportions. In a blackout. With no hope of anyone coming to save them. There are no pumps to steadily restore even vestigial use of not just certain sectors, but the city as a whole.The visuals are horrific in a way I do not think that the illustration team on this run could have depicted. Nor should anyone have to endure the sheer heartbreak of such grandiose tragedy presented in as visceral a manner as it could be. All played off to a man who comments only to himself, answers to only himself. With that same glibness he applies to all potential casualties. A dull look. A haphazard smirk that is absolutely at home for a Riddler, but given the circumstances? Might have been wiped off the faces of others if presented with such an option. Even for clout.

Savage City is simultaneously where Eddie truly goes from simply himself to elevating into The Riddler. His M.O. is established with the same odds as always: near nil. The difference is that rather than focusing the crime upon a target (either an object or a person as is often the case), he is indiscriminate and demanding that people play his game. In essence he is the Sphinx demanding souls step forward for sacrifice, languidly looking on and pondering what measures to employ. Lions. Truly. The man lives for circuses of his own making.

Then there’s the deployment of weaponized drones, a planned one given his understanding of the weapons tech at his disposal after essentially leaving the back door open to steal everything from under Kane’s nose. These are suppressive, deadly automatons. And while there is some whimsy, it is, perhaps, a much more brutal arm to employ to a darker end than say...Arkham Knight Riddler. They are there to snuff out the competition, to keep the game in perpetuity. If anyone works outside the parameters the promise is humiliation and death.

And let’s talk about that promise, shall we? He is not only a typical sore loser of a Riddler, he is violently so. Basically creating a MAD scenario in which the only way to not essentially ring out the death knell for Gotham was for the would be hero to have lethal current run through them. That wasn’t even a sure shot. Death surrounds Edward Nygma at this point. He is a Rube Goldberg machine of it. By design.

Basic summary, doesn’t quite do the horrors he inflicts justice. He honestly deserves his little cocoon at the end of the arc. Truly. And I say that with certainty. Because not only do we have his body of work for this stretch but we have blatant motivation. If BTAS Eddie grabbed a scalpel to take to Mockridge upon receiving his pink slip, what would you say ZY! Nygma grabbed? And more importantly, why? Because I can tell you that man did not load a several megaton bomb (comparatively) with razor edged bits of esoteric trivia due to being fired. No, the job was always something that could be tossed away. It was the fact that Philip suggested he wasn’t something extraordinary. It was the fact that in suggesting that Edward Nygma was no one at all, a mere cog that tied together greater machines (machines that could move on without him), little Eddie had an identity crisis. A terrible tantrum that turned all that focused calculation into a deathtrap for the world that his mind had could not fathom going on without acknowledging him. His work. His greatness. And in rampaging like a toddler, moving in the reverse trajectory of just about every other Riddler (who again, often are pushed) finds what actually brings him joy. The acclaim of Zero Year? Oh, boy, does he cling onto that like a washed up high school quarter back. Even going so far as to recreate aspects to spook people so they don’t forget. And yet it’s the game that keeps him going. The constant back and forth with the Bat. The joy of a diversion with stakes that demand complexity. And, perhaps, in this manic, destructive regression, the New 52 Riddler was born hanging in that special ward of Arkham in his defeat. Emerging more focused, perhaps a bit more cautious. Still mildly more violent than other iterations...but more historically himself.

And I find that fascinating.

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

finished act 1 🔫

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

oh sweet light of my life

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

Party members looking at you choose to spare that fucking thang be like

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

Love is in the air

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

dr easterman's precious angels

this is how i believe outlast trials will end (drew it before franco, but i still think its true)

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

nortonesque crane

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

Blue and Orange Morality

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

still haven’t looked outside #builtdifferent

[tr4sh-pl4nt]

miss audio adventures so much......taken from me far too soon....horny filmbro scarecrow was everything to me.....

[tr4sh-pl4nt]