#Harold Allnut

[ravenpureforever]

Actually it is deeply funny to me how the Batman fandom does not acknowledge Harold in any capacity so when I first saw him in comics I was fully jumpscared by “who the hell is this motherfucker”

Anyway more fics need to feature the full on Hunchback of Notre Dame subplot that apparently went down in the Batcave

I want Tim or Dick to offhandedly mention missing him or something while the newer kids are like what the fuck are you talking about what do you mean

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

these days the facto assumption usually seems to be that all of the Bats know everything about other members of the gang, so it's really interesting to get these jarring reminders that they used to operate with crazy levels of secrecy. like just in Nightwing #20 (1998) we have Barbara being the last person to find out that Harold even exists, years after he started living in the Batcave

and, even more drastic, Barbara and Tim meeting in person for the first time ever (also god they talk about Bruce like he's an elderly dog they need to keep track of lmao)

and Babs doesn't even know Tim's secret identity! when he and Dick head over to Wayne Manor to look for Bruce, Tim peels off to check on his dad next door, and not only does Babs not know why but Dick doesn't even tell her. she has no idea who Robin is outside of the costume and absolutely no one thinks that's weird.

they're sooooo dysfunctional I love them

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

Duke meets Harold

Duke is in the bat cave like normal it’s a normal day, he’s usually not in the batcave during the day. But it’s quiet and he needs to look up something. All of a sudden he hears a noise and it’s coming from the bat mobile.

Duke: who- whose there?

the clanking and clanging of tools alerts duke to their position.

Duke: I SWEAR if it’s you joker I will BASH your head in with a crowbar

all of a sudden a short hunched man appears from behind the Batmobile.

Harold: *waves*

Duke: WHO ARE YOU

Harold: *shrug*

Duke: are- are you supposed to be here?? WHO ARE YOU???

Harold: *nods*

Duke: *thinks for a moment* wait can you talk?

Harold: *shakes his head no*

Duke: damn, wait you don’t have a AAC or something?

Harold: *shakes his head no*

Duke: I don’t think you’re a criminal or anything but we are going to go out and grab a AAC, it’s not fair for you man,

Then duke and Harold go out on the town to go find a AAC device after a few stops and a lot of calls later Duke and Harold return home and all the while Harold's been testing out the AAC.

Harold: *presses some buttons on the AAC and a computerised voice starts playing* Hi I am Harold

Duke: nice to meet you Harold your getting a hang of that quick!

Harold: I have never heard of these

Duke: yeah they weren’t really a thing for a while, but technology and stuff got way better and more people were able to use them!

Harold: *presses buttons* Bruce and The family are really nice to me, but I did not think I would ever have a voice

Duke: I mean? Not many people do sometimes, also YOU KNOW BRUCE???

Harold: he took me in so I didn’t have to go back to the asylums

Duke: wait people were putting you in an an asylum???

Harold: many people like me get put in institutions and asylums, they are not good places.

Duke: wow I am learning things, well it’s nice to meet you formally Harold! Do you want me to drop you off anywhere or do you wanna go home?

Harold: I was in the middle of updating some parts to the Batmobile, and would like to continue.

Duke: sure dude, want any food before we go home? Because we are out already why not?

Harold: would not, but thank you

Duke and Harold make their way back to the bat cave, there Tim is sitting at the bat computer pouring over Case files.

Duke: hi Tim

Harold: hi tim

Tim: HAROLD???

Harold: I have a AAC now, duke got it

Tim: wait what is that?

Duke: dude, you don’t know what a AAC is?

Tim: no what is it?

Duke: it’s a device so that mute people or nonverbal people can communicate without having to speak, uh also why did no one tell me about Harold?

Tim: oh Harold usually sleeps during the night and tinkers in the shed, you never noticed his room?

Duke: uh, no.

Tim: wow no one told you?

Duke: yeah no.

Harold: I do not blame you, nice to meet you duke

Duke: you too man, wow uh so you really have been here the whole time?

Harold: yes HaHa

Tim: that thing really works wonders

From that moment forward Duke and Harold became good friends, and they started to talk often about all sorts of engineering and technology related things, and Duke would bring Harold cookies and cool things he picked up on his travels and fights.

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[mothemotics]

some contemporary reactions to tim drake's debut that i think are kinda cool (from Batman 471 but I think they're responding to 465, which is Tim's debut as Robin). overall they are very positive though that could be selection bias from the editors but here are some more specific commonalities, which i think highlight a lot of the strengths that would batman so great over the next decade

people are really happy batman is less of loner

2. people really don't want tim's dad killed off

3. people really like the small character beats in the supporting cast

[violent138]

The Batkids being the definition of "I'll do it myself" and Harold being infinitely supportive of their attempts to build new shit means the Batcave (and by extension Wayne Enterprises on the rare occasions that they don't leak the designs for free on the internet) is flooded with improved mobility aids, bikes with insanely specific modifications, 3D printing files for organs and weird metal detector proof weaponry, novel kinds of composite materials they've been field testing for months at the expense of people's eyebrows amongst many others.

[us-the-batfam-blog]

HAROLD HAROLDDDDD MY MANNN!!!!

[dc-tournaments]

Why do they deserve to win?

Bruce Wayne

Harold Allnut

[hood-ex]

Honestly feel so bad for Dick whenever he's blindsided by something that his family never disclosed to him. Like he literally almost attacked Harold until Tim was like, dude, no, Harold lives in the batcave now, he's cool. And Dick was like he fucking what? He lives in the batcave and he's hoarding a billion almond fudge bars in it?

I mean, sure, it's kind of funny until you remember that Dick's been excluded from other important familial/home changes like when Jason became Robin or when Jason died. No one in his family told him about those events, and I feel like it's gotta hurt to be the last to know about stuff like that, and to know that no one had the intention of telling him about the events in the first place.

[aliteralchicken]

dc made Sparrows weapons wrenches I think it’s only fair they let Harold teach her some of his mechanic knowledge so she can use them for things other than beating people

[zahri-melitor]

In terms of Harold Allnut, I think in some ways he’s actually very ripe for the sort of ultra-reset we’ve seen in a bunch of characters after 2011. In that you can go in and do a whole lot of character updates to make him less of a walking ableist stereotype. But of course the line on that is the new version still being recognisable as having continuity with the original.

Because the major things you need to fix include the following issues:-

Set up a clear method of communication (and a decision whether Harold is simply mute or has additional communication barriers – I’m actually cool with either option, because ‘Harold uses sign’ works but also given his past appearances, having a character who say only communicates via email and their presence is something I’ve seen done well if treated with respect – think Molly and Foxglove from Rivers of London, who do not speak, are uninterested in learning to sign, but still get their points across)

Give him a specific area of expertise that is respected by the other characters – this mostly already exists (he’s the fix-it mechanic) but he’s also treated somewhat as a pixie or cobbler elf. Having characters commission things from him, and giving him a non-vigilante role would also help – when Bruce is eventually back living in either the Manor or Wayne Tower, put Harold in charge of maintenance of the civilian vehicles.

Move Harold into Tim’s carriagehouse apartment so he’s not living in the Cave.

More appearances in situations that are not played for laughs. I’m very fond of the fact that Harold got invited over for Christmas by Barbara in Alone for the Holidays (and Bruce didn’t), and Alfred and Harold watching tv together in the Cave was an interesting character note, but just…more moments that treat him as a person and individual rather than a cypher.

Just…appearances outside the Cave. Give him civilian moments and more personal interests, even simply communicated by background art.

There’s arguably a benefit if the art for the reset used someone like Peter Dinklage as a facial model, because that would have readers mentally link the character with an actor whose physical appearance they are already willing to accept as different from normal but still having personhood and interiority. If this was for an Australian audience I’d also suggest Dylan Alcott as a model.

I don't think he's unsalvageable. But I do think he needs work and a creative team that's interested in showing him as a human.

[timdrakeinorder]

Batman #449: The Penguin Affair: Chapter 3: Winged Vengeance

Released: June 1990 Written By: Marv Wolfman Pencils: M.D. Bright Inks: Randy Emberlin Cover By: Norm Breyfogle Synopsis: Continued from DETECTIVE COMICS #615! The Penguin threatens the security of the United States…and there's not a thing Batman can do to stop him!

Part Two

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

just read detective comics #650 and i've decided that harold is the best batman character

god this reminded me that Harold and Ace used to be buddies

and more importantly AND WORRYINGLY, they went into hiding deeper in the caves together while Jean-Paul was having his little AzBats temper tantrum. while Harold came back when Bruce, Dick, and Tim cleaned out and took the cave back, Ace just straight up vanished. completely gone, not even mentioned. what the fuck happened to him.

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

sometimes the found family is made of the surrogate grandfather, the family member who you cannot imagine life without, parasocial weirdo who somehow became family, the adoptive father with C-PTSD, and the stray dog you found randomly in the middle of the night.

90s Batman is such a trip, I love Harold <3333

[obscure-batfam-bracket]

Can we get some Harold Allnut appreciation?

...

[violent138]

For years Babs and Dick just thought Bruce was playing some really bizarre joke on them when he kept mentioning Harold. And the two of them definitely attempted to figure out how on earth those repairs that Bruce waved off even happened.

[us-the-batfam-blog]

HAROLDDDD MY LOVE HAROLDDDD