#one of my friends even has a villain group based on penguins

[frankenbuggee]

Character charts for my villain ocs!

Devious - Villain leader and CEO of Devious Enterprises (creative I know)

Rosa - Devious’ lawyer

Ruslan - Devious’ bodyguard.

Vil - the new recruit

Durga - A villain leader and Devious and Sergei’s friend.

Artemy - Devious’ teenage son and hacker

Sergei - Devious’ old friend and right hand man

Ivan - Devious’ main enemy

[sailormoonsub]

So you've watched a lot of different shows through the patreon and kori donations

If it's not too time consuming I was wondering how you would summarize those shows in a sentence or two

Or maybe just do the most memorable ones?

Not a bad idea! Here’s a one-sentence summary and a one-sentence personal note on every show I’ve reviewed more than one episode of on this blog. TLDR I’ve pretty much enjoyed everything that appears on this blog, though for different reasons. Links to all my posts about these shows can be found here! 

This is turning out to be a rather long post so I’m going to throw the list under a Read More. 

ANIME

Sailor Moon: I feel compelled to list it here but, like, I think you know enough about Sailor Moon by now.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun: Group of high schoolers write and draw a romance manga while simultaneously living the most chaotic reversal of common romance tropes. SO happy this was recommended to me because I never would have picked it up on my own but it’s officially a new favorite!!!

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: Gem expert and his assistant solve rock-related mysteries while engaging in homoromantic behavior. A lesser known franchise that I think deserves more love!

Snow White with the Red Hair: Herbologist in a medieval fantasy environment escapes her oppressive government and starts a new life in a neighboring kingdom where SHE makes decisions about her life. I’m not even that far into the series but I am OBSESSED with the premise and all the character dynamics are so genuine and honest in a way I can’t describe.

Penguindrum: Himari dies of Glamorous Victorian Illness but is resurrected by the Penguin God in exchange for a favor. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far, although it is Ikuhara so it’s often confusing and abstract and all the characters need therapy.

Madoka: Being a magical girl is bad actually due to the amount of sacrifice involved. Reviewing this one is so effortless because there’s SO much material to talk about and it has such a well-established presence in the mainstream pop cultural consciousness.

My Next Life as a Villainess: Girl is reincarnated as the villain in an otome game and rewrites the script by being nice. I’ve compared it to the Good Place which is one of my favorite shows, and I cannot get enough of these characters, especially, of course, our angel queen, Catarina.

Cardcaptor Sakura (and Clear Card): Sakura has to capture all the cards. I LOVE the low stakes, slow pace, sweet and friendly vibe of this show, which might frustrate some people, but for me it’s the very definition of a comfort anime.

Zenonzard: Speaking of cards; apparently a witch created a card game to get revenge on humanity and now it’s the future where everything is neon, there’s humanoid robots all over the place, and card games are a gladiatorial sport. The visuals are amazing, the world is fascinating, and overall I’m impressed with an anime that’s based on an app.

Princess Tutu: Duck turns into a ballerina and uses unconditional kindness to save everyone from sad feelings, while ALSO working against the author who is writing her fairytale. I can’t describe how much an impact this show left on me!! A Big Fave!!

Revolutionary Girl Utena: High schoolers with swords fight each other for a shot at finding something eternal. If you read this blog, you already know I had a delightful time with this series.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!: Three girls use their skills to make a hand-drawn anime. I only reviewed the first two episodes, but I had watched it while it was airing. I love series that delve really deep into a niche subject, and this one tackles the animation process in a fun accessible way while ALSO having a wonderful trio of protagonists with wildly unique personalities.

Fruits Basket 2019: Professional Cinnamon Roll Tohru collects friends who can turn into the zodiac animals. From what I’ve seen, the characters and relationships are a huge strong point in this series. I want to give them all a hug. This fell by the wayside a little while ago but I would love to get back into it!

CARTOON

Gargoyles: They are gargoyles, who come to life at night. Never got into it as a kid, but certainly appreciate it now!

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Girl from futuristic underground city arrives on the surface to find out that animals have taken over and have developed arts and culture. It’s so refreshing to see a post apocalyptic world that’s NOT a dystopia! It’s not earth as we know it, but it’s still bright and colorful and full of art.

LIVE ACTION

PGSM: I don’t think I need to list a summary, but WATCH PGSM OH MY GOD. Sailor Moon but with soap opera levels of drama, a killer soundtrack, an incredible cast, puppets, and a really cool reimagining of the Silver Millennium mythos.

Tokusatsu Gagaga: Office lady tries to hide her obsession with tokusatsu shows and makes friends who have similar interests. I fell fast and hard for Gagaga; if you’re a nerd who has tried to function in a non-nerd environment, you WILL relate to this 7-part series!!

Russian Doll: Natasha Lyonne relives the same day over and over and has to make connections in her life. First introduced to me when it won a Patreon vote, and even though it was different from my usual content, I was enraptured by the dark comedy and surreal vibe. Thursday, what a concept.

Good Omens: An angel and a demon low-key turn their backs on Satan and God in order to prevent a war between heaven and hell. I can’t even think of an adjective that’s good enough to describe how well this miniseries was translated from the book. Legendary casting, satisfying plot twists, hilarious commentary on religion.

Cutie Honey The Live: Robot girl fights off an organization that turns people into living weapons through various wacky schemes. Over-the-top in all senses of the phrase. I love a show that’s extremely silly, but takes itself seriously.

Gokushufudo: Former yakuza member becomes a househusband. Only just started this series but man, with a premise like that, how can you NOT fall in love.

[bookiemonsterph]

The Wrath And The Dawn

Synopsis:

One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Title: The Wrath and The Dawn Series: The Wrath and The Dawn Author: Renee Ahdieh Pages:  432 pages (Paperback) Published: April 5th 2016 by Penguin Young Readers Group (first published May 12th 2015) Characters: Shahrzad al-Khayzuran, Khalid Ibn al-Rashid, Tariq Imran al-Ziyad, Jahandar al-Khayzuran Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Adventure, Retellings

I have one thing to say. Khalid. Khalid was everything. This whole book was everything. I honestly have no words for it right now, other than brilliant, mind blowing and breathtaking, of course. Never in my life have I read a story more captivating than this one. All it took was the first three pages and I was completely hooked. It was a truly mesmerizing tale of love and sacrifice, an exquisite piece of fantasy literature based on one of the most intriguing stories of all time. A Thousand and One Nights has always been one of my favorite fairytales and Renee Ahdieh managed to capture its theme exceptionally well. I’m having a really hard time finding a book that will satisfy me after this one, and combined with the fact that I’m currently going through college exams and don’t have a lot of time to read in the first place, I think I’m heading for the worse book hangover of all times.

But let’s focus on the brilliance of this book and its amazing plot, which I would characterize with one word enthralling. That’s such an awesome word, isn’t it? Fitting because this book was awesome too. This book was a wild ride of conflicting emotions. Every single page and paragraph compels you to read further and I was dying to know the reason behind Khalid’s murderous sprint by the end of the first chapter! Granted, the plot might be a bit slow at times but Renee’s writing totally makes up for it and the intrigue and suspense is enough to keep you going until you’ve finally reached the end. I also have to talk a bit about the themes the book explores and the depth of the story and its characters. I found myself in a constant struggle to differentiate between the heroes and villains. The book teaches a wonderful lesson that nothing is black and white and that all is not always what it seems. Khalid, who is supposedly the villain, turns out to be the biggest victim of them all, while Jahandar, who is just a man looking for a way to save his daughter in the beginning of the book, ends up turning into the worst villain, even if his actions are somewhat justified. Even Tariq, who fights for his love, makes you question whether he’s right or wrong to do so and I was constantly conflicted about how to feel about him throughout the whole book. And that’s what I love about this book, the fact that it was real and honest and played with some important lessons in life without sugar coating situations.

And then the characters. Every single one of them had an impressive depth of personality that only added more brilliance to the story. Honestly, the characters are what really made this book for me and I was impressed by how much I connected with them in a very short time. Shahrzad has become one of my favorite female protagonists ever. She’s brave, strong and smart and managed to annoy me only once in the entire book which is a huge accomplishment. She uses her intelligence to survive when so many others have died, enchanting the caliph by weaving tales so mesmerizing that the king could not bear to kill her. And I have to add that I found those stories extremely interesting as well, even though they weren’t part of the main plot.

And then there is Khalid. Khalid is such a conflicted character. You know you have to hate him because he has killed so many girls for seemingly no reason, but at the same time you know there is more behind his seemingly cold and cruel personality and you want to get to know him and understand what defines his actions. And once you do, you can’t help but fall in love, just like Shahrzad fell in love.

Shahrzad’s relationship with Khalid is truly one of the most complex ones I’ve encountered in books and they weren’t even truly together for the most part of the book but I loved how she managed to love him even through hating him for what he’d done and how that love changed him and brought out his softer his softer side. And I also loved how Shahrzad became Khalid’s entire world and how he was willing to sacrifice everything for her. Shahrzad was determined to hate Khalid from the beginning and even though she never stopped holding him accountable for his actions, she recognized that what happened wasn’t entirely his fault and managed to forgive him and even love him once she got to know him better. But even though she did forgive him she still held him accountable for his actions and he held himself accountable as well. Excuses were never made and that’s what I loved about these two the most. That their relationship was so real and honest and that they managed to love each other despite the circumstances that defined them both.

Also, Tariq. I couldn’t help but love him even though I had decided pretty much from the beginning of the book that I wanted Shahrzad to be with Khalid. I found his character extremely interesting and the fact that he was so determined to fight for his love against all odds truly won me over, even though I kinda hated him for considering Khalid a monster. I’m really curious to see how his character and his relationship with Shahrzad will evolve over the second book and I do hope Renee will give him a happy ending. The side characters were also very well developed but I believe Renee could have worked more with them and give us more information about their past. I loved Jalal but unfortunately Despina left me completely indifferent. Rahim was also great and I though his humor added a nice light touch to the seriousness of the story.

Isn’t that just beautiful? Renee’s writing truly captivated me. The whole story and especially those last few chapters were mind blowing. My heart was literally racing while I was reading them. The writing was exquisite and the dialogue – especially between Khalid and Shahrzad was simply beautiful. I died a hundred times over while reading this. Especially towards the end. And that last chapter only left me wanting more. I wish May was here already.

The world building was also excellent. I loved the Persian setting and found myself transported into a fascinating world of Middle Eastern origins, rich with plenty of cultural references that I found extremely interesting  to read about. And I also loved the fact Renee wasn’t afraid to use non-English terms in this and thought it added a lot to the setting and the reality of the story.

Final rating: What else is there to say? This was simply brilliant. A total page turner and a book that deserves to be called a masterpiece in my opinion. One of the most beautiful stories I’ve read in a while. This was easily a five star rating for me, although I wish I could give it a lot more than just five stars. I can’t wait for May to be here already, so I can finally get my hands on The Rose and the Dagger and continue with this amazing story. And if you haven’t read this book yet, waste no time in doing so. You won’t regret it.

[anxiouslyfred]

A Quiet Birthday

I honestly intended to keep trying to stay ahead of my funbruary prompts, but then, Today is Deceit’s birthday and I can’t just not write something for that, please ignore all the other birthday’s I’ve missed so far.

We’ve got Anxceitmus and Roceit here

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Dee doesn’t ask for much for their birthday, just a rest, perhaps peace at or away from work. They’d always book the day off if possible, and refuse any attempts from co-workers or family to arrange something for it.

Their friends all knew how they liked to spend the day so it was rare for anything more strenuous than cake and chilling at home with a movie to be planned. That was what they were doing with Virgil when the text came through.

Reading it, Dee wasn’t sure if they wanted to curse Roman or kiss him. “Apparently we have tickets to see ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ performed live tonight.” They sighed in response to Virgil’s raised eyebrow.

“We? Roman doesn’t usually include me on your dates with him.” The comment made them smile, turning the phone to him.

“I get all my boyfriends there tonight. You’d have thought Remus would point out that I wanted a quiet day to his brother.” Dee chuckled a little, relaxing back into the sofa

Virgil paused for a second before cuddling up to them once more, trying to work out what would stop Roman from believing Dee at any point. “So you were irritated and sarcastic over something when your birthday came up with Roman?”

“The office had just banned listening to music while working.” The memory of their previous frustration was the opposite of what Virgil was trying to make their birthday.

He turned back to play the Princess and the Frog once more, having paused it when the text came through. Realising the scene they’d reached he started snickering, hoping it would work as a distraction. “Raymond is dating the moon.”

“Not sure if I should say ‘that’s rough, buddy’ or ‘you’re delusional, buddy.’” Dee joined in the snickering, easily relaxing back into the film, another few already lined up.

<3 <3 <3

“Your Majesty, and their Dear Prince, The time has come to prepare for your fantastical evening outing.” Roman announced his presence with typical dramatics, Remus slipping through the door just behind his twin.

Dee just glanced over, smirking. “If I’m a monarch then my wish for a quiet day wasn’t respected. Should I have your head for that?”

“Preferably not. I just couldn’t resist, given you wished to see Little Shop of Horrors performed live just last month. When I saw how perfectly the dates aligned I just had to arrange it.” Roman was unapologetic, sashaying over to kiss Dee’s hand before leaning closer for a proper kiss.

Virgil was shaking his head as he stood, stretching and accepting the kiss in greeting from Remus. “Am I meant to magically have an outfit suitable for the theatre here already?”

“Nope, I get to strip you down and dress you up tonight. Roro won’t let Dee into my clutches though.” The manic gleam in Remus’s eyes would have been concerning if Virgil cared about how he looked beyond snarking at Roman.

“Yes, I’ve arranged the perfect ensemble for their Majesty. The most wonderful outfit for our fabulous Dee to ever be conceived.” Roman agreed, sweeping them into his arms and carrying them off into their bedroom. 

Virgil caught a glimpse of a bag hidden under the ostentatious cloak Roman was wearing, presumably containing the outfit. Silently taking that in, as well as all the references to royalty had Virgil convinced that at least Roman had decided to be a Prince for the evening. “I hope your choices are more suitable for Little Shop of Horrors than whatever Disney film he’s taking inspiration from.” He groused, turning around and stepping slightly away from Remus to take in his outfit.

A bright purple suit paired with the hair that was always dyed green got a smile before the response came.

“Do Batman villains count? You get to choose between the Penguin and Poison Ivy since Roman only told me an hour ago that he’d already sorted out Dee’s outfit.” Remus was mock thoughtful for a moment, shrugging the bag from his shoulder to hold it up.

<3 <3 <3

Dee was in awe of the outfit Roman had handed them, a soft yellow shirt, a waistcoat somehow balancing the green Remus loved, the vibrant red that Roman gravitated towards and the royal purple that was Virgil’s favourite colour all together with a brown base colour. There was a choice between a long skirt with a leather band at the top that looked wonderfully steampunk with layers of dark grey and pale yellow, or a pair of black trousers with golden vines coming up the legs and spirals of purple, red and green coming from them.

After choosing the trousers, it was still winter after all, and dressing Dee followed Roman back to his other loves, only to burst out laughing at Virgil having gotten Remus into a headlock over what seemed to be ropes with leaves attached.

“What, may I ask, have you been trying to make Virgil wear?” Roman asked after a moment, stunned by the chaos his brother had caused with just one person around him.

“It’s that real poison ivy outfit. I copied the leaves as precisely as I could but the rashes I kept getting were itchy.” Remus insisted, laughing himself, though the rope was looking more and more likely to strangle him.

Virgil didn’t loosen his grip as he looked up until he took in Dee’s outfit. “Snakey, you look beautiful.” He said, releasing Remus to go and kiss Dee, finally showing that he was already in a skin tight suit, painted to look like there were vines running up and down his body. He’d even accepted a choker styled like leaves made it as well as a bracelet with vines that attached to the arms of his suit.

“I need a kiss too! Roman didn’t even let me have a hello kiss earlier.Mighty foul play of him I say. You’re sitting on my lap all night, right, Dee-dee?”Remus bounced after them, barely letting them finish kissing Virgil before tugging them into his arms.

Roman was face-palming at the reaction, but checking the time decided herding everyone out was more important. “Regardless of the fact we do have four seats booked, we need to be heading to the theatre now. I’m getting takeaway on the way home so we can all relax with a good show afterwards as well as the cake Remus has been baking all morning.”

“Don’t hurry us out as though, at least five minutes of the time spent changing was just taken up by you showering Dee in compliments.” Virgil called him out, having been pulled into a group hug and a few shared kisses by Remus and Dee now.

“I had to. Remus doesn’t like letting me share our love if you get them first.” Roman’s pout was more playful than sincere and soon enough they were on their way to the theatre.

Perhaps Dee does prefer quiet birthdays at home with their loved ones, but as the curtain opened and the show began, they couldn’t think of anywhere better to be than sat between their three boyfriends.

[spongeguyandlelouchvibridankia]

SpongeGuy Reviews Every Disney Cartoon!: Big Hero 6: The Series (1.1): “Baymax Returns”

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHOWS BASED ON ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHOWS!

Wish the pilot was just a BIT better, but still!

Big Hero 6: The Series is a show based on a very traumatizing moment in all our lives, featuring the adventures of 14 year old robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada and his superhero team, consisting of Health Care Companion Baymax, tough as hell GoGo Tomago, fearful Wasabi, enthusiastic Honey Lemon and the superhero crazy Fred, as they battle villains and chaos to protect their city.

I really like this show (even though the first few episodes are a little weak, and we’ll get there at one point), so let’s get to it!

SUMMERY:  After the events of Big Hero 6, Hiro discovers Baymax's personality chip and proceeds to rebuild his skeleton. Meanwhile, Fred tries to convince the reluctant group to return to crime fighting as the superhero team Big Hero 6. Elsewhere, Yama is hired by the mysterious Obake to steal an unusual paperweight from Professor Granville, the new dean at SFIT and Hiro's professor. Hiro rushes the rebuilding process and the skeleton malfunctions, escapes and is captured by Yama and his crew. Yama pressures Hiro to retrieve the paperweight in exchange for the skeleton. With Fred's help they get it, but Yama double crosses them. Wasabi, Go Go and Honey Lemon arrive, save them, and retrieve the skeleton and paperweight, but Yama creates duplicates of the skeleton, sending them out to attack the city. Yama steals the paperweight which is revealed to have powerful magnetic energy that affects electric appliances including a train that Aunt Cass is riding on. The Big Hero 6 stop the train and Hiro tosses the paperweight into the sky where it safely explodes. The next day, Granville gives Hiro Tadashi's old lab, so he can have a familiar environment to work in, and he joins his friends in becoming the Big Hero 6 while Obake contemplates his next move.

COMEDY: 3 Out of 5

The comedy in this show is... Mixed. Like, it’s usually well done (these ARE the people who made Kim Possible, Penguins of Madagascar and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command), so the team banter, the dialogue, the never ending barrage of quips, they’re all fun and interesting and a lot funnier than most cartoon humor.

However, there is a slight problem, in which scenes and characters tend to be undercut to just humor, so while this works in most episodes, it can kill the potential drama of certain episodes. Fred and Wasabi are arguably the guiltiest of this, but tbf, this is a small problem. The humor is a big benefit to the show, mostly raising a smile, so it’s a good job, if not the best. 3 out of 5 sums it up!

CHARACTERS: 4 Out of 5

Hiro Hamada is one of the best characters ever. Period.

I’m not joking, it’s like they took all the great stuff from Peter Parker, added more sass, and also didn’t press the retcon button. Hiro is a living breathing character who keeps becoming more lovable, humorous, complex and interesting every episode, even in the weak ones, and it’s no exception here! The natural transition to being obsessed with bringing Baymax back, and losing his balance due to trying to emulate Tadashi is just... Perfect, he’s such a great character, he really is!

And Professor Granville, the new addition, is great too! She’s a hilariously dry and serious character with much emotional depth as we discover later, perfect as a comedic and as a dramatic tool!

It’s the rest who stop this episode from reaching 5. While I do enjoy the translation of the foursome’s personalities, it’s hard to deny that their subplot is a little annoying (as we’ll discuss below).

Fred especially kept jumping from funny and likable to annoying and over the top, and it was hard to choose if I liked his stuff or not.

But I think it’s best we move this to story. Besides, Hiro makes up for it (HE’S GONNA SAVE PEOPLE!)

STORY AND HEART: 3 Out of 5

I struggled for a while with my score for this, but a 3 fit better than a 4. Again, the main story was great, continuing to expand Hiro into the hero he can be.

And I liked the villain plot, with Obake (a favorite of mine) just starting and already being just the best, with his playful evil banter and deliciously cold voice!

But the subplot...

Look, it makes sense that the gang (sans Fred) would not want to go back to the hero game, and their reasons are legitamate to their characters! And of course Fred would want to continue!

But my god, does it get old!

Scene after scene of Fred being annoying about it and GoGo, Honey Lemon and Wasabi (but especially GoGo) being annoying in return, ignoring the responsibility for plot reasons. Again, it makes sense, but it drags ON AND ON.

The show gets a better handle of them later. What’s important is Hiro, and as I said, his arc of learning to find the balance of who he is (a superhero and a student) is perfect, and I just love him so much! So he saves this episode from a lower score!

Someone has to help. (CRIES)

FINAL SCORE: 10 Out of 15

A good score for the pilot! The show gets better from this, so you’ll hear more praise soon! (now to prepare a defense of Karmi and why we must consider the POV of different characters)

Next time it’s The Wuzzles (since I couldn’t find all of “Stanley”). I... I am dreading this.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/194d3gsPrhlOsFPYsXU-lJirY4sWncrBl/edit

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

HGPC 15 - 16 | Muhyo and Roji’s s2 2 (14) | God of High School 2 | Deca-Dence 2 - 3 | Fugou Keiji 3 | Appare 4

HGPC 15

Is this Element of Water? Or Element of Plants?

HGPC 16

I sort of suspected the three broke up because it would have been like someone stole Fumi from Tetsuya…and I was right. You know that myth about how guys and gals can’t be friends ever? It seems to be in service of that.

It’s Nodoka Hanadera.

…I wonder if this vow will become relevant later?

There was a poster for the Ojamajo Doremi project, Looking for Witch Apprentices (Majo Minarai wo Sagashite). Makes sense though – they’re by the same studio.

Fest = festival, although not in the matsuri sense of the word. It’s more like a smaller, non-seasonal matsuri.

I wonder if the tree will be attacked?

I’m still wondering…how does a penguin have paws?

Is there a tiny tree?...Yep. Just a small sprout, but it is a new tree.

Muhyo and Roji’s s2 ep 2 (14)

…and they continue to misgender Goryo…the manga’s finished translation, so I don’t see why the translator couldn’t go and get a copy to check. (Unless I remembered wrong and misgendering him was actually something they did up until a point? Looks are deceiving, especially in anime…) It’s even on the Shonen Jump website.

I realised that I’m the only Muhyo and Roji’s fan, possibly in existence, in the English world right now…if I were to leave this show alone, it would die alone…and that would be far too sad.

The Showa era was a time of great Japanese prosperity, so it makes sense that there would be lots of building projects too.

“Working from home” – Makes more sense in this day and age.

Oh, I didn’t expect them to put in a really close reference! This probably refers to Minky Momo, except that seems to be an 80s series.

…if this were any other series, this girl would get isekaid.

Japanese doesn’t have a lot of gender-specific words, like I know Italian does. When Ebisu says “Ma’am”, he’s going “yes?” in the Japanese and Nana goes “kono hito…” (This person…) rather than “This woman…”…If they’re going to dub it with all these references to Goryo being a woman intact, then I suggest they not dub it at all.

I think this is the first time Muhyo’s thrown the orb he generates…

I know all this misgendering is going to bug me, but…this is one of the first series I finished. I can’t get in touch with the translators to tell them they misgendered a character, because I have no authority – if I, a rookie translator, went up against pros, based only on what I know of the Japanese language and my memory of the manga…I’d be toast!...However, I shall try, for the sake of the manga I still cherish the memories of.

God of High School 2

Apparently this dude *gestures at this bespectacled man in the first few seconds of the episode* is Iron Man (well, Robert Downey Jnr.)…but also the POTUS. Yeah, that’s confusing, but I’m just parroting what I’ve heard.

Okay, someone explain to me what “charyeok” i-Oh. It’s a concept endemic to God of High School. You could’ve translated the Korean term, people.

Mujin…that sounds familiar…ah! The organiser of the GOH tournament! That’s why.

LOL, there’s a “Yes Man” in the brackets, paired off with Daewi.

Mori is eating a banana, huh? Way to play up the monkey imagery.

Slipper jerk…? (I admit it’s been a few weeks and several anime since I saw the last episode, because I was working on the boss battle for the AniList watching club, so remind me whio that is…?) Update: That would be Manseok.

I would assume the flashbacks are actually the characters’ introductions in the webcomic, if Mori’s was any indication.

LOL, I forgot how much advertising they put all over this thing…

So Mori uses taekwondo, but what’s Daewi’s style again…?

I would assume this refers to the Korean War if it’s referring to anything real. I’ve never heard of a properly-named style of anything which was an “anything goes” style, unless you count the various wacky martial arts in Ranma ½.

Geesh, Elfen Lied with its gore was a breeze to get through, but seeing scenes like Nozomi getting tortured (in Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka) and Gamdo getting his arm twisted here…that’s nasty…

Uhh…I swear this is just Hisoka (from Hunter x Hunter)…or Chrollo (from the same series). (LOL…?)

Deca-Dence 2

W-Wuh? You mean, Deca-Dence is a game of sorts?! VR or something?!

This aesthetic is very much like neurons…and cartoons…

(Spoilers for Kado!) If you’re wondering what’s going through my head right now, I feel similar to when Kado became a a fighting show and zaShunina the villain.

Ah, giant ball trackpads (trackballs). I miss those…

I think “The Power” is “ka no chikara”, but I might be wrong. Update: Yup, that’s what the site says.

This ED is interesting, visually speaking.

Deca-Dence 3

I get the feeling the girl – the friend - was programmed to say things to dissuade people from joining the Power.

A lesser show would discard Fennel, I think. See, he popped up in conversation the other time and now here he is in the…uh, digital (?)…flesh.

Sounds like AI, doesn’t it?

This guy reminds me of Kamina from Gurren Lagann…then again, so do the Inferno Cop sunglasses on Hugin.

Those rings on the white-haired guy’s hands remind me of Hifumi’s…for some reason, the host has them.

Pipe is a Gadoll, but he (?) reacts terrified to the yell of “Gadoll!”, hmm?

Fugou Keiji 3

It’s backkkkkkkkkk!

Ooh, mooncake! Also, Daisuke…okay, calling Kambe by his first name is weird, so Kambe…only has one stud in his left [ear]. That’s interesting.

Notably, there is no age listed for Kambe on the official website. We only know he’s < 30.

…LOL, Kambe is such a petulant child.

Ah? Rounin? (That’s what you call someone who failed to get into uni and tries again.)

Atsuta Jingu. It’s in Nagoya.

LOL, got in trouble for a barrel roll. (partially joking)

Ah, so that’s what Onuki and Miyano (voices of Kambe and Kato) were talking about at the con – the fact the director says a lot with a little.

Huh? Is this like that one killer who was streaming their stuff online to garner fans for the YouTuber PewdiePie? (I forget which prolific case that is, though.) Update: I think that’s the Christchurch bombings.

The stud seems to be Kambe’s connection with HEUSC.

The group’s name is read “Yokoitsu”.

Those missiles were just for producing smoke, it seems.

I just realised the finger gun from Kato in the ED looks a lot like Spike Spiegel’s (Cowboy Bebop).

Appare 4

I missed this anime as well! AMQ makes you miss shows even more than usual, it seems.

I love how they made a Red Stapler incident (see TV Tropes on an explanation for that) out of this one boat-car.

Not even tea can convince the great Appare…(partially sarcastic)

You need a big imagination to do a test run of a car in your head…

The song “I got it!” seems very appropriate for a moment like this (Xialian’s racing debut).

I’m worried David will ram Xialian’s car…

…I predicted it. What’s going to happen now…?

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of DC: Week of March 27th, 2019

Best of this Week: Detective Comics #1000 - Various Writers and Artists

Possibly more controversial than I'm thinking it'll be, I'm glad Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo did the job of reintroducing Slam Bradley into the DC Universe. Slam Bradley, of course the way I choose to remember him, was one of DC's first characters and the precursor design to modern day Superman. He was a 1930s dick (detective in this case) who made his name in infamy with racist depictions of Chinese people being swung by their braids with toothy grins. He's likely the reason DC won't reprint some of the early Detective Comics works in a compendium.

This is without a doubt, a great celebration for one of the greatest comic book characters of all time, if not THE greatest. The difficulty in reviewing something like this, much like Action Comics #1000 (if I reviewed that one, I don't remember) is that so many stories have their ups and downs, hits or misses and there's so much ground. But some of these were so good that this book is getting an entry all on it's own this week.

He's been made better in recent years with a badass run as a side character in Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke's Catwoman (2001) as a cool former police officer with a son by the name of Slam Jr. on the force. He was probably some of the best parts of his short time there and was very compelling in interactions with Selina.

Kevin Smith and Jim Lee have arguably done some of the best and WORST Batman projects ever, but through the good and the bad, both have immense talent and their tale “Manufacture for Use” added a beautiful layer to the significance of the metal plate that his emblem is made out of.

The book is simple enough, a montage of Batman fighting his greatest villains shows in the background while his alter ego, Matches Malone, has a conversation with a merchant peddling in the various pieces of gear left by villains. He has Harley hammers, crazy quilts and even freeze guns, but there's only one weapon Malone is interested in; The Gun belonging to Joe Chill. The weapon that killed The Wayne Family.

He and others had been leaving Batman clues since his first days as a hero to have him join a guild of detectives, solving unsolvable or very difficult cases and knowing that Slam is one of the detectives along with Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, The Question, Detective Chimp, Elongated Man and his wife, Sue Dibny is relieving and fantastic.

I'm glad DC hasn't shied away from him given his past history. Even his inclusion in Superman of China based on his former character, warts and all, seemed like DC was kinda ashamed of it, but here he is, as awesome as he was later in life!

Upon seeing it, Alfred questions why Bruce would keep it as a trophy, nothing the ridiculousness of The Penny and the Dinosaur, he sees the gun as strange or even perverse. Batman, however, wishes to never see it cause anyone pain again, melting and forming it into an oval adorned with the symbol of a Bat.

Batman has dedicated his life to stopping crime in Gotham at all costs, but not everyone see his methods as being right or just. Doctor Leslie Thompkins has been looking over Bruce since his parent’s murder and oped that he would take his pain and do something productive with it, actually fix Gotham, but instead she sees how vengeance has consumed him, turning him into something of a violent monster himself and she’s not wrong. They meet each other on the anniversary of his parent’s murder in Crime Alley and are beset upon by a group of teenagers whom Batman viciously slaps the hell out of. Dr. Thompkins stops him out of fear and Batman looks like the real villain here.

If that isn't chilling...

Brian Michael Bendis is a GREAT Batman writer. Checking out his 15 pages in the Batman Walmart 100 Page Giants, much like Daredevil, Batman is a character that is PERFECT for him. “I Know” drawn by frequent Bendis collaborator, Alex Maleev, is amazing. Penguin started becoming disillusioned with the meetings put together by villains like The Joker on how to finally get rid of The Batman, Penguin begins to muse about who had the money to fund Batman. I believe he proposed the idea to the others, but they all shot him down, citing times Batman showed up when Bruce was a hostage or how he “blubbered like a baby.”

Penguin didn’t let it go, however, and prepared Suicide Bomb Penguins to attack Wayne Manor while Bruce was hosting a ton of high profile Gothamites. It would have been the end of Bruce Wayne.

Warren Ellis writes some very character driven stories, but when he has to get technical, he is a master as good as any. In “The Batman’s Design” he goes over Batman’s methodology when taking on criminals, treating things like a chess game that he’s already won. He leads the criminals to a trap and plays them like a fiddle, setting off an explosion that knock out or send some flying, determining a sniper’s location and just being so terrifying that the leader just hands him a bomb switch before his ass gets destroyed.

Becky Cloonan does a great job of alternating between cool and warm tones for when Batman is in the shadows vs contending with explosions he’s setting off. Batman looks slim, but imposing regardless. This is definitely some of her best art so far!

Now… if you ask any of my friends from when I was in The Navy, they’ll tell you about how I waited in line for Batman: The Arkham Knight. I was excited. I was elated. The conclusion to an amazing trilogy of games that shaped a newfound love for the character for me! And it bloody sucked. I HATE Arkham Knight with a passion. If it’s not The Batmobile, it’s the Joker, if not the Joker, it’s the Knight himself, if not him, then Scarecrow as the shitty final villain.

I really loved the noir tone that was set by Elizabeth Breitweiser’s colors over Steve Epting’s art. Things are very dark and cool. Batman is shrouded in shadow and Doctor Thompkins acts as a small light by comparison. There is great contrast when action happens with warm tones as Batman slaps the teens and Batman standing in the shadows as Leslie and the kids are under the one light is powerful.

Suffice to say, I was not pleased when it was said that The Arkham Knight would finally be appearing in comics different than his video game counterpart, but… I dunno, I kinda like him here.

His characterization seems to be that of someone who has lived in Gotham and has seen Batman’s methods of treating the poor citizens, the weak and the sick. He sees Batman as a cancer, a darkness that needs to be exterminated for Gotham to truly thrive. The best thing, there’s precedent for this kind of character.

One of the first few arcs for Detective Comics involved a cool set of villains known as The Victim Syndicate, people who have been hurt or grievously injured in Batman’s relentless pursuit of crime. These guys put Batman’s team through the ringer, almost turning Stephanie Brown against him completely as Tim Drake had been presumed dead at the time. Another casualty of war. If I remember right, The First Victim noted that there was someone or something coming for Batman soon and if that’s the Arkham KNight, then I am excited.

The Victim Syndicate was one of James Tynion IV’s best ideas during his run and I really hope whoever the creative team is for Detective Comics thus forth lives up to the quality. Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke are both amazing, so I have high hopes if its them.

But Penguin had an epiphany. Ending Bruce Wayne would not end Batman. Batman would become focused. Driven. Possibly to the point of killing. Bruce Wayne is the only thing keeping these villains alive, so Penguin relents and never reveals what he believes he knows, until years later when Bruce is old and mute… but who says that Bruce has lost a step? He zaps Penguin who is taken away as Bruce tells him that he knew, pretty much calling him a “coward ass bitch” as he’s taken away.

Overall, while there were few misses, this collection of stories had great ideas, great characterization, heart and was just fantastic. Looking forward to another 80 years!

This one was just cute. The Batfamily interacts with each other and take a FANTASTIC family photo drawn by Tony S. Daniel. Starring, Batman, Alfred, Nightwing, Batgirl, “Robin” Damian Wayne, Red Hood, Batwoman, Catwoman, “(Red) Robin” Tim Drake, Spoiler, The Signal, Cassandra Cain Ace the Bathound and Huntress. It’s a well put together double splash page and everyone, even Bruce seems happy.

[laetro]

Penelope Gaylord: The Art Advocating Change

Penelope “Peng-Peng” Gaylord and her empowering representation of women has been cresting in this industry for the past 13 years. She talks about how she works on art that has an ‘emotional connection’ with the audience and leaves an impact. The zealous fellow aims for more experience in children’s books and creating change in ‘representation’.

A freelance character designer and illustrator based in Los Angeles, Penelope Gaylord co-founded Identity Comics Studios and has worked with various renowned companies including Imagine Entertainment, Penguin Random House, Crunchyroll, and DC Comics. Her sole focus on the character, upshots into the creation of an illustration that stands out. Not letting, not attending a formal art school become a disability, Penelope turned observation into experience, clearly visible in her work!

ORDER A CUSTOM ILLUSTRATION

Q. Could you describe your primary illustration style? What do you specialize in?

Penelope: I love putting fun and positivity into my art. I work to make my art have an emotional connection with the audience, even if it’s just a small one. I take a lot of influences from current and past animated movies, especially Disney and Anime.

Q. With over 13 years of experience, could you tell us a bit about your core skills and relevant expertise?

Penelope: I’ve had to teach myself and learn from peers and art professionals with regards to my art. It’s been a long and slow road, but it’s what I’ve had to do since art school wasn’t an option for me years ago. So when I get asked technical questions about art, I’m kind of a dummy on it. I know what I like to see so that is what I bring out in my work. It has taken me years to figure that out for myself, and I’m always constantly learning. Having said that, I guess my core skills are character concepts, and I try to bring personality and life into every one of them.

Q. Tell us about your process when creating illustrations. How do you approach concept development?

Penelope: When I’m trying to come up with an illustration, I usually start with what kind of emotion am I trying to evoke between my illustration and the audience it’s meant for. I try to tell a quick story with it so it’s a lot of internal processing before my pen touches the screen. My art is very character-driven so my focus is always on the character first, then everything else afterwards.

Q. How do you develop work when catering to a project outside your signature style?

Penelope: So far I’ve been very blessed with projects that approach me because they want to see my take on their characters/stories. A lot of the projects I’ve worked on recently have been extremely generous in letting me play in their sandbox, so to speak. But early on I’ve had to adapt to existing styles and nothing gets you there better than practice. Lots and lots of practice.

Q. Where do you draw inspiration from when creating work with no source material?

Penelope: Since I wasn’t fortunate enough to attend any formal art schools/colleges, I’ve had to learn from animated movies and shows, comics, and other artists around me. These things are a constant source of inspiration for me when I’m creating things with no source material. I know what visuals appeal to me so I draw from those to create what I would want to see. And then, of course, good ol’-fashioned research is a must when creating characters that have never existed before.

Q. Tell us a bit about Identity Comics Studio and the work it produces.

Penelope: ID Studios is a small, tight-knit group of creators that consists of myself, Jerry Gaylord who is my husband, and Bryan Turner who is a great friend and collaborator. We started this back when we all used to live in Maryland, born out of a need to find like-minded creatives in an area that wasn’t particularly artsy.

Our work has somewhat evolved since we got together some 15 years ago, starting with producing our comics to now all being in animation. But the one constant that has been our main goal since its inception is to create characters and stories that reflect the diversity that we see in our faces and the lack thereof in the media that we grew up with.

We have all since moved out to LA to work in animation and we are still creating and pitching stories with diverse casts and stories that reflect our own experiences. It has been said before, but we do want to be the change in representation that we wanted to see when we were young, that kids now can have an even more colorful future. That’s not just on-screen, but also behind the scenes in lead roles.

“There are so many diverse faces around us all the time, but the media we consume rarely reflects that for us. It’s hugely important to us that people can see themselves in roles of leadership and power and strength – be the hero in stories instead of constantly being a sidekick, or worse the oppressed or the villain. And the older I’ve got, the more I’ve been focused on looking at the people behind the scenes producing the content. It’s rare to see people in charge that look like me and I think that needs to be changed.”

Q. As the co-founder of Identity Comics Studio, what are your insights on providing value to your clients?

Penelope: Whatever work that our crew puts together, you can pretty much bet that it’s gonna have a little piece of us in it. Our faces will likely be part of the characters, our cultures will likely make it into our stories. We can’t help it, our cultures are part of our identity and we bring it to every project we do. It’s our unique experiences and diverse perspective that we bring to the table, along with our dope art skills of course. Eyyy!!

Q. What are your thoughts on diversity, inclusion, and representation within the pop culture art space? Do you think an artist has the responsibility to influence social causes?

Penelope: I think we all have a responsibility to use whatever platforms we have to bring about positive changes. It doesn’t matter if you’re an artist, an administrative assistant, or an executive – you should be the positive shift that you’re looking for. Representation is something that I harp on all the time, as do the rest of my ID Studios crew.

There are so many diverse faces around us all the time, but the media we consume rarely reflects that for us. It’s hugely important to us that people can see themselves in roles of leadership and power and strength – be the hero in stories instead of constantly being a sidekick, or worse the oppressed or the villain.

And the older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve been focused on looking at the people behind the scenes producing the content. It’s rare to see people in charge who look like me, which needs to be changed.

Q. Having worked on a few extremely popular franchises, which projects stand out for you the most from your career?

Penelope: Having the opportunity to draw a Captain Marvel Little Golden Book is probably my proudest project to date. I can see how much a book with a female superhero lead meant to small children. I also see how important it was for parents to be able to share that with their kids because the parents are from my generation or a little bit afterwards.

We didn’t have these types of books when we were small, especially for us little girls. We never saw ourselves as superheroes saving the planet or stopping the bad guys. But when the parents would show me how excited their kids are to read the book or tell me how they’ve read it so many times that the book has fallen apart, that let me know I was doing something right.

Q. Are there any other areas outside of comics and animation where you would like to apply your creative skills?

Penelope: I enjoyed drawing children’s books, I’d love to someday make my own. I’ve dreamed of drawing covers for some new crop of Babysitters Club books in my art style. And I’ve gotten a little taste of doing some toy designs, I think it would be fun to design more toys – see kids play with my dolls and figures.

Q. Bonus – You’re a superhero for 72 hours. Who do you pick and why?

Penelope: An existing one? Wonder Woman – no doubt, no question. Go around to heads of governments and tell them to get along and protect their fellow humankind. Haha!

[porgthespacepenguin]

first thoughts about episode 11

So a few hours behind most people, I have finally watched episode 11 and … what a ride!

First let’s start off by comparing what I had predicted earlier on with what actually happened:

The eye injury Michael inflicted on Voq in episode 2 ended up super important (Correct)

Voq revealed (Correct)

Voq fighting against mirror!Voq (Correct)

Lorca being revealed in the same episode (Wrong)

Ash/Michael going down in flames (Correct)

Ash vs. Voq being the only prime vs. mirror showdown (Wrong)

4/6 isn’t too bad a score, and the episode honestly exceeded my wildest hopes (which I keep low on purpose). I am happy to get stuff wrong as long as it’s better than I anticipated! And it was.

And I admit I’m pretty proud of figuring out the eye injury was important, as it was what almost immediately clued me in to Ash being Voq and I have not seen it discussed anywhere else (if someone else did figure it out as well, feel free to comment and I’ll amend my post).

Now onto the analysis. Beware, this is not a meta, just some ideas after watching the episode a few times.

Ash/Michael – welcome to tragedy, population: us

Forewarned is forearmed: the show definitely did warn us, though not in so many words, that this could only end in tears. Regardless, witnessing Ash and Michael’s relationship crash and burn was beyond painful.

I wrote in my earlier meta that I didn’t believe that Ash/Michael could come back from all this. I stand by my opinion more than ever after episode 12.

First and foremost, there is the fact that as soon as Voq got his memory back (and therefore his full agency) he made his choice, in full conscience.

And that choice was to murder Michael.

Let that sink in for a while.

He chose to murder her in cold blood.

Worse, if mirror!Saru hadn’t intervened, he would have gone through with it and succeeded. It was only because of Michael showing kindness to Saru earlier on that she didn’t die.

Later on in the episode, Voq shows no remorse. No regrets. Not even a hint of internal pain.

To me, more than anything, this highlights that their relationship is dead in a romantic sense.

You can come back from a lot of things – lies, double-crossing, even betrayal – but attempted murder without a hint of remorse or regret is more than a line crossed.

Especially as they are an established relationship, not two adversaries on a battlefield (I would not hold their first fight in episode 2 to the same standard, for example – that was a clearly different situation).

If the show did walk that back, and put them back together, I don’t think I could continue watching. I liked Ash/Michael but after watching episode 11, I’m out.

Some people have speculated that Michael could potentially find mirror!Tyler and pick up the relationship with him instead. I see many issues with this:

Assuming there is even a Tyler…

And his mirror!version is not a racist jerk…

Michael did not have feelings for Tyler, she had feelings for Tyler/Voq…

And just picking up a spare right after losing the original guy feels a bit… cheap?

I know, I can hear some of you saying: wait, aren’t you the one who wrote that long boring meta about how Lorca had a past relationship with mirror!Michael?

Yes, I am. And I stand by it, by the way. I truly think it would be really lovely storytelling to have Lorca finding his lost love in another universe after tragedy struck (and if Michael hadn’t been sentenced to life in prison, to a literal “future full of misery”, I’m not sure he would have interfered at all – just a gut feeling).

When it comes to Michael and Ash, trying to replace the original guy (who attempted to murder you) with a lookalike equipped with a better personality is problematic to say the least.

It would cheapen their actual relationship (past or not, it did exist!) and totally erase Voq from the equation, leaving us to wonder what purpose this whole arc served. Unsatisfying on so many levels, so that’s a  pretty firm no from me.

In the future, what will happen with Voq?

Until we go back to the prime!universe, probably not a whole lot. Michael might have to face him again to come to terms with some things, though.

Once we are back, from a story perspective Voq will have to resume his own narrative arc, which means potentially breaking out with L’rell and going back to the Klingons.

Perhaps a resolution to the war can then be found before the end of season 1 but it would necessitate a time jump: no way can we go believably from murderous fanatic Voq to “humans are not so bad” Voq in 2 episodes.

We might get there eventually, if his experiences as Ash can bring him the same wisdom mirror!Voq displayed. But again, this type of character development takes time.

Before we move on… in hindsight all of Tyler’s declaration of love and protection sound pretty hollow right about now. And yes, I’m bitter about it on Michael’s behalf.

Michael deserves better, dammit.

Michael/Lorca

The agony booth scene

So much to unpack here, it almost deserved its own post.

Before anything else… poor Gabriel. I mean look at him. He needs a hug and a stiff drink, is what he needs.

So, the agony booth scene. They are both standing. Lorca looks like hell, he is shaking and barely holding together. Importantly, this has stripped away a lot of his defenses. He is not in control the way he usually is, not anymore.

Michael is conflicted about what to do with the rebel base. Lorca’s response is immediate, do what you have to do and bomb them if you have to.

Now I have seen some people react to this as confirmation of Lorca being evil or being out to grab the throne for himself.

But let’s keep a few things in mind:

Lorca is familiar with the Empress, and he correctly foresees the fact that she will be mightily displeased at her orders not being followed. Michael is taking a huge tactical risk by being merciful, and it ends up having huge consequences.

Even if he is not affiliated with the rebels, it doesn’t follow that he would not be leading a rebel Terran faction of his own. As far as we have seen, the rebel group led by Voq doesn’t seem to have any Terran members. It would be fairly logical that there would be dissent within the Terran ranks beyond the non-human resistance.

The conversation that follows is pretty amazing. This is one of the first time we see Michael inspire Lorca, pulling him toward her idealism and Starfleet morals and away from the mirror universe’s darker, more ruthless standards.

After all, wasn’t that explicitely one of the reasons he chose her?

You chose to do the right thing, even at great personal cost.

That moment, all the way back in episode 3, made me certain that Lorca isn’t evil.

Dark? Maybe. Morally grey? Sure.

Evil? No.

I mean let’s be logical about this. If I were a villain intent on committing a villainous plot, I wouldn’t go ahead and specifically pick a person with a strong moral compass to help me with it. They would of course try to thwart me at every turn. It would make zero sense.

Ah, penguin, I can hear some people say, but what if Lorca needs her, specifically, to access the Empress? Wouldn’t he recruit her and then manipulate her into doing his bidding then?

Sure. So let’s take a detour to “How to manipulate someone 101”:

Destroy your victim’s self esteem

Use gifts and favors to create a feeling of obligation

Isolate them from their support system: family, friends, romantic attachments

Denigrate their achievements

Undermine their self confidence

Punish the victim for perceived transgressions

Right. And in contrast, so far Lorca has:

Helped her rebuild her confidence on her own (contrast the start and beginning of episode 3, it’s such an amazing change)

Given her a job and a place aboard a starship again, while avoiding her gratitude as much as possible

Helped her maintain or rebuild her support system: mounted a rescue for Sarek (family), gave her Tilly as a roommate (who was the only one good hearted enough to look past Michael’s transgressions and befriend her), and kept his opinion to himself concerning her relationship with Tyler (though he was undoubtedly jealous)

Praised her for her strategic mind and her strong sense of morale

Encouraged her to take pride in herself (“You did well, Burnham. You should be proud.”)

Trusted her with the most important missions

Ignored at least one transgression that could have landed her in the brig (that fight they had on the bridge in episode 9)

I’m sure I’m forgetting things but you get the idea.

Honestly, if he needed her only as a tool, it would have been much smarter to keep her under his thumb with her confidence broken. Look how pliable she was at the start of episode 3.

(Again, I do think that the fact that Georgiou is the Empress is significant, and that having Michael on his side against her is a tactical advantage – but that’s not the whole of it, by a long shot.)

Anyway, moving on.

Michael sweetens the deal by adding the part about finding out how the Fire Wolf leads his coalition, but essentially it all boils down to:

She appeals to his moral sense

She asks him not to force her to commit such a terrible act

And it works. Partly because after so much torture, Lorca’s defenses are way down. But I think it’s mostly because of Michael’s ultimate secret weapon: she says please.

Seriously.

She says please, and… that’s that.

Just like with the Sarek rescue mission, Lorca just gives in and makes an illogical tactical decision (which, I might add, results in the Empress coming straight for them at the end of the episode).

Visually, I don’t have much to say beyond the extensive use of choker shots. Those are very often used to create emotional intimacy and tension, as I’ve mentioned many times before. This is not a shot you’d use for people who are not developing a strong relationship of some sort (be it friendship or romance).

And finally… Lorca’s “Hurry back. Please.” just kills me.

That’s not an order. That’s a plea.

The meeting room scene

Their second scene together is quite different. Lorca is looking a little better, while Michael seems shattered by her recent betrayal.

By the way. I love how Michael (who is a tough cookie) is psychically exhausted after 3 days in the mirror!universe and how much reflection (pardon the pun) she is doing on it.

Hopefully it will help mitigate her anger at Lorca when she finds out he is from the mirror!universe too (and has spent his entire life there without turning into a human-shaped demon spawn like the rest of the Terrans). At this point, overthrowing the Empress is starting to look like a moral imperative.

Lorca informs her they have to stay longer, for reasons that are both tactically sound and highly convenient, because I’m pretty sure he plans to face the Empress at some point (though probably not right there and then).

There also a lovely little morsel I wasn’t expecting: Lorca sounds jealous. He can’t bring himself to say “liked” or “loved” (that little pause is very telling) and when he says “Tyler”, you can tell he truly wanted to say “what’s his face”.

As an aside, I think he only noticed Michael’s partiality for Tyler in the previous episode, when Ash had a panic attack in the worker bee. I don’t think I mentioned it in my main meta, but I adore the way Lorca manages to sound at once gruffly protective (“You can relax too. He’s safe.”) and jealous despite himself.

Moving on.

Michael just can’t take it anymore, she’s scared, and she just admits it to him, leading to this amazing exchange:

“I don’t think I can survive this place alone.”

“You are not alone, Michael. We will survive this place… together.”

And then Lorca takes her hand. This is the first touch we have seen him initiate with her. It’s also the second time he calls her Michael, and that’s not a coincidence.

Not Michael Burnham, not Burnham, not Specialist Burnham.

Just plain Michael.

Right there and then, Lorca is not being her captain. He’s just being a man, comforting a woman.

Even more importantly, @trashywestallen made a brilliant point in one of our discussions, which I hadn’t noticed until she pointed it out.

This scene is meant to be the mirror of the scene in episode 10 when Ash reaches for Michael’s hand during their discussion in the mess hall.

Both Ash and Lorca are on seated the left, while Michael is sitting on the right. (Very quick aside, the man on the left/woman on the right is imagery commonly found in classical paintings, with the Arnolfini portrait commonly cited as an example.) Both contacts are initiated by the man.

That’s where the similarities end, because everything else is inverted.

In the scene with Ash and Michael, the camera zooms in on their joined hands but very noticeably, the shot is obstructed by a teacup.

Contrasting this with Michael and Lorca: their hands are in plain view. There is even a shot with the light streaming in from behind through the window and onto their joined hands.

Another major difference: Tyler grabs Michael’s hand possessively to reassure himself. Lorca lays a calming hand over Michael’s to reassure her.

Ash takes Michael’s right hand with his right; Lorca covers Michael’s right hand with his left. Symbolically, this is hugely significant. The left hand is the hand (or arm) a gentleman or a knight would use to escort his lady: keeping the right hand, his sword hand, free to defend her.

Lastly: Ash asks her to let him handle things on his own; Lorca says they will figure it out together.

Point taken, I guess?

Everything else

Stamets! I am pretty glad to have been wrong about there being only one twin encounter. Go save your love, Paul. (Though mirror!Stamets freaks me out a little).

Empress Georgiou is utterly terrifying. I love it.

Michael lying to spare Saru (while Saru lies to spare her) is just lovely. Also interesting to note she is willing to lie for a good cause (not unlike other people I could name…)

Michael’s kindness to mirror!Saru coming back to save her is almost karmic.

Mirror!Voq was awesome. Wise, strong, everything a leader could be. Unfortunately, that means prime!Voq is the evil twin. Bummer.

Mirror!Sarek, who’s met Michael all of 5 minutes, is more validating and full of praise than our own Sarek. Seriously, dude, you’re going to have to step up the dad game, presto.

[jacobsmith321]

The Personality of the Characters.

It’s good to talk about the history and how much you love the films...but that doesn’t mean much unless you explain why there’s so much charm. The reason why the films also work are because of the characters that are written in, the quirks and redeemable or possibly irredeemable traits they carry.

Aardman has created a LOT of diverse personalities and why they work so well with one another or against each other, is due to a combination of realism along with fiction. The realistic likes, dislikes, quirks and lovable aspects, fused within a made up world, where anything can happen.

Examples

Wallace and Gromit

Wallace and Gromit’s dynamic is that of being best friends (more than master and owner, plus dogs are “man’s best friend”). They read together, eat together and work together. They both work average jobs and man very complex inversions that allow them to make simple tasks !easier” with such needless devises and ridiculous strategies (but they work), for simple tasks such as washing windows, baking bread or pest control. This part of their dynamic makes them interesting because they could make almost anything they wanted and their next mundane task can be taken to a hilarious and grand level.

As to how their personalities make them so great, takes that previous concept to a whole new level. Wallace is your typical stereotypical Brit; Wallance loves to drink tea, relax, read the newspaper and speaks in an old timely accent, having words like “chum” or “lad”. He even has mild mannerisms to not raise his voice, be patient and take it easy. But this personality trait can also make him very unaware of his surrounding, almost leading to him causing accidents accidents or forgetting very important tasks. This also leads him to being very unaware of danger and leading to a situation getting out of hand unintentionally. He’s a genius but not very smart. He’ll fall for almost any lady or believe someone too quickly. Also, he’s crackers for cheese and it’s his weakness and it adds that little quirk in his personality which shows how human and life like he is. His big cheesy grin and way he holds his hands up, shows he’s a very friendly and lovely chap.

This is where Gromit comes in. His personality is the exact opposite; he’s always got Wallace’s back no matter what. He’s the first one who’s always aware and suspicious of a situation. Gromit’s just like Wallace where he’s calm and wants to relax but when trouble’s afoot he needs to put down the cuppa and put on a fresh pot to see what’s going on. He may save Wallace from dangerous robot dogs, a hunter who wants to steal back his girl, a crazy bread baking serial killer or even a thieving penguin. Gromit’s a dog so he doesn’t speak or have a mouth but that’s the beauty of his design. You get everything from the expression of his eyes, movements and action alone. You can tell exactly what’s thinking and what his train of thought is, like rolling his eyes means he’s sighing, the slight moody with a lifted brow is suspicion or squinting his eyes with a lifted brow means he’s embarrassed...it just works. His quirkiness is that he’s still a dog, so he can’t be understood no matter how many times he tries to point something out and does become the butt of the joke when one of Wallace’s inventions needs something done or goes wrong, He’s still got chew toys, record labels like Puppy Love and still gets things like collars or leads.

Wallace is the comic relief and Gromit is the straight man (a person who has to be the mature and non-jokey person in the group). They make a perfect comedic duo, are always there one another and are 2 of Britain’s most iconic characters.

Feathers McGraw

Out of all the villains in British animation, this has to be one of the most scariest and hilarious ones. Feather McGraw was introduced in the Wallace and Gromit episode “The Wrong Trousers” where Wallace and Gromit have a new person renting a room in their house but when Wallace gets a new pair of techno trousers, all becomes hectic. The new person renting their room is Feather McGraw (a penguin) who is actually a master thief who wears a chicken hat in his crimes to not get caught when he takes it off. Feathers uses Wallace and the techno trousers to steal the diamond but thankfully Gromit had caught on to him and after a complicated heist and dramatic train scene, they Feathers and sent him to...a zoo.

Feathers works as a villain in the context of Wallace and Gromit because he’s a goody little penguin with a silly chicken hat...but that doesn’t make you laugh honestly. Due to his emotionless look, lack of expression and subtle movements made, you get this off vibe from him. Animals need to have some sort of emotional, indication; it doesn’t matter if the signals animals and humans get are angry, happy sad or bored, they need something. Feather has not emotions and even when he does that willy little thing when he flips the rubber chicken hat over his heads, it’s just a slight break away from the tension we get from him.

Gromit doesn’t like him and he honestly scares Gromit, with making his living conditions harder. Wallace suffers with a humiliation of being stuck in the techno trousers and even during his sleep he was forces to do a heist. During the train scene, Feathers had a revolver to shoot at them both to ward them off while he was getting away. That is insane and quite frankly frightening for a small flightless bird to have. He’s goofy in terms of his concept and design...but his lack of expression and devious actions make him more scary frankly. Also like Gromit, he says nothing and has no mouth (he has a beak but it never opens).

Morph

Morph is their oldest surviving character and series, even before their poster men of Wallace and Gromit. 

Morph is a Plasticine model who loves to play games and do silly antics with his friends. His main power is to...morph and become whatever he wants. He can also be pulled apart and stick pieces back onto himself. be flattened and brought back to normal shape, stretch himself and more. He can transform into objects and animals.

His personality is child like and goofy (since his program is very catered to the younger demographic), so he’s relatable to children when acting like this. 

He speaks but not with a normal voice, as it’s high pitch and their are odd vocals with no actual dialogue or proper wording, which can work as the character’s expression, tone of voice and actions can say more than actual words can, so more focus and fun’s put on the concept of the skits.

Morph works as a characters because he’s simple. He gets grumpy when he’s annoyed by someone or something doesn’t go his way but he likes to play and be silly, even pull jokes at times. He doesn’t need to be too complex but he’s expressive enough for kids to love him.

Ginger

Ginger is from one of my favourite childhood films, Chicken Run (also their first collaboration with Dreamworks). This Aardman product was brilliant in terms of writing, character depth, progression and development. It was a WW2 styled film about chickens that want escape the coop and farm they’re stuck in, before they’re turned into pies. They lead by a brave chicken named Ginger, who never gives up on wanting to leave and no matter how many times she’s put into solitary confinement, she manages to get back up. Eventually after an ecounter with Rocky the Rooster, they attempt to learn how to fly and after a load of events, it lead to them creating a plain to escape the farm and they manage to live a peaceful life.

As to how Ginger works as a character, she is your typical strong headed protagonist that never gives up but she has faith in others which makes her strong. She’s the most stable minded but even her aspirations can make her irrational. She has the best intentions and keeps the groups of chickens from getting mad and going off the rails. 

Ginger’s development with Rocky shows how even she needs faith herself and that she’s open to letting people give her hope, so when she finds out Rocky lied to her about being able to fly, she felt a sense of betrayal within her...but even then, she puts other’s feelings before hers and so she carries on working on that plan to create a plain and even defeats the farmer planning to kill her and the chickens. She even forgives Rocky for what he lied about when he returned to save them.

This shows that Aardman don’t just make films based off comedy but can be serious and apply subtle messages, themes and heart whelming stories.

Ginger personifies that greatly. She’s got a lot of wonderful, strong traits but her faults make her perfect, because she’s not perfect (no one is but everyone has their unique aspects, even the negative one). Also her character design is well worked with slight human elements to let her be practical and emotive but still look like a chicken.

Conclusion

Aardman don’t just make characters, they make people. They don’t make them perfect but that’s what makes them perfect. their struggles and life style feels relatable and real; the companionship, silliness, slightly serious moments and captivating quirks makes them human and likable.

They definitely add a lot of British elements into their stories and they personify those qualities well via their characters, in speech, actions and movements.

Aardman, knows what their doing and always had been,

Virgin Media. (2020, September 13). Ten cracking Aardman characters. Retrieved October 3, 2020, from Virgin Media: https://www.virginmedia.com/virgin-tv-edit/movies/our-favourite-aardman-character (Images are from)

[jacobtmcelroy-blog]

Batman the Animated Series: ALL Episodes Ranked

Over my lifetime, I have seen many live action and animated television programs. Out of all of those, I have never watched a show I have as much adoration for as Batman: The Animated Series. The series premiered in 1992 and could have been a cheap cash-in on the success of the first two Tim Burton movies. However, thanks to the storytelling skills of Bruce Timm, Kevin Altieri, and many others, Batman TAS was a massive success. The show was dark, mature, but still great for children and adults alike. Two episodes even won Emmy’s. So, I recently re-watched the series and decided I am going to take on the brave task of ranking every episode. Because there are so few purely bad episodes of Batman TAS, choosing the top groups was incredibly difficult. However, I did my best to complete the tall task and my hard work lies below.

The Dreadful, Horrible Tier

As I previously stated, there are very few bad episodes of the BTAS. Very, very few. However, those select few are pretty atrocious. Basically, this is the “what this show could have been with lazier, cheaper writers tier”.

102. Showdown

This episode has absolutely nothing to do with Batman. That is all. Let’s continue.

101. I’ve Got Batman in My Basement

Batman: The Phantom Menace. Seriously, these kids were as bad as Jake Lloyd Anakin. 

100. Tyger, Tyger

Who thought turning Catwoman into an actual cat was a good idea? It definitely was not.

99. Love is a Croc

Odd pairing couple strategy just ended up being... odd.

98. Cat Scratch Fever

Man, Catwoman had some bad episodes. This awkward commentary on animal testing was one of them.

97. The Demon Within

This just feels nothing like a Batman episode. The evil kid is really annoying too.

96. Critters

Joel Schumacher takes over the helm of this hilariously bad episode... at least it seems like.

Of Lower Quality Than Others Tier

While not horrible and a disgrace to existence like the prior episodes listed... these are not too great either. They are at least watchable. Usually these are either uninteresting, laughably entertaining, or just REALLY mediocre. At least there’s no “I’ve Got Batman in My Basement” here.

95. Prophecy of Doom

Batman versus... Miss Cleo, the fraud psychic from the 90′s! It’s about as interesting as it sounds honestly.

94. The Underdwellers

Hey Arnold’s Sewer King episode was much more interesting. Not much else to say honestly.

93. Terrible Trio

Talk about appropriate title names. The plot isn’t terrible, but the villains certainly are. One of the show creators called this the worst episode of the DCAU.

92. Make’em Laugh

See? Even the Joker can have a bad episode.

91. Blind as a Bat

“ALFRED, I CAN’T SEE!!!” Possibly the worst delivery from Kevin Conroy for one of the most melodramatic lines of the series. The Penguin has another flop here.

90. The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy

The poor man’s Riddler takes on Batman in this underachieving episode that actually could have been interesting.

89. The Forgotten

Cool Hand Batman! If the villain wasn’t a joke, maybe I would not forget this episode as much.

88. Moon of the Wolf

Entertainingly stupid, but also stupid. Why would “advanced werewolf-ism” cure werewolf-ism?!

87. Sideshow

A bit of a controversial placement on this list, but I just don’t think Killer Croc is a sympathetic villain. He is pretty much a pure evil character. Just my opinion.

 Jason Bourne Amnesia Tier..../Forgettable

We have escaped the very worst of what BTAS had to offer. The problem is there are so many good episodes of the series that some fall through the cracks. Oh, and there are also some mediocre episodes in this tier too. Especially, forgettable sequels to really good first episodes.

86. TIme Out of Joint

Basically, this is one of those. A disappointing sequel to a stellar introductory episode to the Clock King. This one also has too much of the Saturday Morning cartoon feel to it.

85. Animal Act

Mad Hatter definitely had some good episodes in this series.This one was not one of them. The writers tried to institute Dick’s circus past into this episode, but they just don’t do it very well.

84. Cold Comfort

Essentially, this is the Saturday Morning cartoon Mr. Freeze episode. Both of his other episodes were mature, dark, and tautly written. This one is not terrible, but it is just really disappointing based on his prior two.

83. Be a Clown

This episode isn’t near as bad as I remembered it to be and it actually has a nice lesson for kids and parents. However, there are some really stupid parts. Why did Bruce, Mayor Hill, Gordon, or anyone else not recognize the Joker in disguise... AS A CLOWN?! He even puts a bomb with a Joker face on the cake. Oh, and the kid is kind of annoying.

82. Fear of Victory

This is not a terrible episode either, but it feels a lot more juvenile than most episodes in the series. Comparing this to the other Scarecrow episodes makes that more obvious. Pretty forgettable too.

81. Bane

Bane’s sole appearance on his own in this series is fairly mediocre honestly. His fight with Batman is good, but Bane’s representation in this series is sort of laughable. His lines and character are ridiculously over the top and almost cringe-worthy at times. Also, Robin is a joke this episode.

80. Torch Song

I have always thought Firefly was an underrated Batman villain, but his iteration here leaves a lot to be desired. His burning the city plot is kind of cliche and the girl he is stalking is really unlikable. However, the ending has a nice “burning” feeling to it. (*facepalm*) One of the better of the series actually.

79. A Bullet for Bullock

I wish this was a more memorable episode based on the fun but complicated relationship between Batman and Bullock. However, the abrupt and awkward ending drops this episode’s quality significantly.

78. The Lion and the Unicorn

Looking into Alfred’s past and making him more involved was a good idea, but bringing back such a mediocre villain like Red Claw sure was not. Her accent is just as awful as it was the first time.

77. Fire from Olympus

Fire from Olympus is entertaining, but Maxie Zeus and his plot is honestly too cartoony and goofy for a cartoon with the tonality of BTAS.

76. It’s Never Too Late

This is not a bad episode by any means, but I forget it exists most of the time. Enough said.

75. P.O.V.

Remember what I said for the last one? Same case here.

74. Girls’ Night Out

Despite Supergirl’s appearance, Girls’ Night Out is by far the least memorable of the Harley/Ivy team up episodes. The dynamic between Supergirl and Batgirl is fun at times though.

Flawed... But Still Entertaining Tier

This next group of episodes is a decent step up from the last section due to them being a little less forgettable or at least trying a new concept, even if it does not fully work. Still, once again, these are where we are starting to venture into the decent category. (very good for most other shows...)

73. Chemistry

This episode had an interesting and much higher usagee of Bruce Wayne, which helped its cause. However, the plot feels way too similar to the superior “House and Garden” episode from the second season making it a retread.

72. Night of the Ninja

Kyodai Ken brings in elements from Bruce’s past, which I always like when the series does. However, his plot and overall character, in this episode, are just kind of boring and cliched. His fight with Bruce near the end (with a nice touch as Summer is covered by a curtain) was pretty solid.

71. The Worry Men

The Worry Men is fun and is full of fan service at the end, but its twist is just a little too predictable for my liking.

70. What is Reality?

The Riddler’s back... and he either watched Spy Kids 3, Tron, or Sword Art Online while he was gone! The use of virtual reality really has not aged well in this episode... at all. Still, it’s at least fun even if parts only sort of make sense.

69. Mad as a Hatter

Oh ho ho, another controversial placement. While almost all the established origin stories are good in this show, I have always felt this one pales in comparison with the others. Not saying it is bad, but Hatter’s first episode’s plot does not pop out to me as much as others.

68. Sins of the Father

Tim Drake’s origin episode should have been a lot better than this. The death of his father did not leave him with a single tear, which took out all the needed emotion in this episode away. Compare that to the masterful Robin’s Reckoning. Dick’s reaction after leaving the circus for the first time carried more emotion than this entire episode combined. Still, at least it is entertaining. 

67. Off Balance

Off Balance is thoroughly entertaining and introduces us to Talia and briefly Ra’as. However, it just does not stand on its own well. It’s well... off balance. (Da dum tis)

66. Eternal Youth

The sight of Poison Ivy’s end plan is pretty horrifying. Alfred and a lady friend are a bigger part in this episode, which is also a nice touch. The part that bothers me is not a single person recognizes Poison Ivy’s Clark Kent disguise. She should have had a lot of media coverage after trying to kill Harvey Dent, right?

65. The Cat and the Claw

Catwoman just could not stop from being paired with either bad villains or bad villain plots, could she? The parts that focus on her and her relationship with Batman in this episode were great as most would expect. However, Red Claw and her atrociously fake accent is such a boring villain that it takes away from the rest of the episode.

64. Avatar

Batman: Raiders of the Lost Egyptian Tomb. This is sort of an out there episode for Batman TAS, but admittedly it is pretty entertaining. Bruce, Talia, and Ra’as have such an interesting relationship that it makes any episode with all three of them in it at least fun. Once again though, this just does not feel much like a Batman episode.

63. Cult of the Cat

I really do not like the re-designed Catwoman suit in the later seasons of the series. I had to say it. Besides that, Cult of the Cat is a fun Catwoman episode that lets her be slightly more evil than normal. The action is high octane and kickass here too. However, the villains are kind of stock and bland making this episode not stick out as much as it should.

62. The Last Laugh

“You Killed Captain Clown!”. What a wonderful line and moment of the series. Besides that, line nothing really stick out from the pack of great Joker episodes in BTAS. The plot is okay, but forgettable. 

61. Lock-Up

This episode never reaches the heights that it should given timing of it to all of those villain reform episodes. It is entertaining, a little silly (Bruce’s smoke suitcase he borrowed from Clark Kent, I guess), but cannot land the Shoryuken it sets up before the time skip. However, the ending is brilliant and one of the best in the series.

Now These Episodes Are Good Tier

Now, this is what I was talking about. From here on out, I can say every episode it at least in the good category and would be really good for most other shows. Are episodes in this tier masterpieces? No, but while they would not be the first I would recommend, watching these will at least entertain and leave most viewers feeling mostly satisfied.

60. Paging the Crime Doctor

The creators of the show dub this episode as “the geezer episode”. Despite this moniker, the storytelling under the hood is both suspenseful and gives a different feel than many other episodes of the series. The only real downside is we never the see “The Crime Doctor” again in the series, which is a shame because he is an interesting character. It makes the episode lose some of its punch because of it.

59. Holiday Knights

While not groundbreaking, Holiday Knights is a really fun episode. In fact, it is the only anthology episode in the series, which gives it a different vibe. Of the three stories, the best one I believe is the Harley/Ivy going with Bruce on a shopping spree story. The following two are not quite as strong, but fun episode all and all.

58. Heart of Steel

Holy invasion of the body snatchers Batman! The fact this is a two part episode feels a bit odd to me, but it is entertaining despite it being way over the top. Building up Barbara’s character and her relationship with Bruce was a nice touch here.

57. Day of the Samurai

Batman meets anime. The Big O? Not quite, but we will get to that later. Day of the Samurai is a much better Kyodai Ken episode than his prior appearance, but still feels a little out of place. However, the setting and classic samurai style to the story makes Day of the Samurai an entertaining watch.

56. Zatanna

Zatanna is one of my favorite DC heroines, and her appearance here came out of nowhere for me. While the plot and Batman/Zatanna team-up is really fun, the villain is kind of average and forgettable. The flashbacks in this episode were particularly strong on another note.

55. Christmas with the Joker

“Jingle Bells! Batman smells! Robin laid an egg!”. Christmas with the Joker sure is not deep, but it is still a fun Christmas episode that I watch every year during the Christmas season. The only aspect of the episode that bothers me is that the ending is incredibly similar to The Last Laugh. Still though, nice Christmas episode.

54. Mean Seasons

When an episode like Mean Seasons only finishes mid-pack, you know you have a good show on your hands. Mean Seasons is a clever narrative on age and beauty standards in modern times in the entertainment industry. It stands up really well. However, for some reason or another I still forget about it when I do my watchthroughs of the show.

53. Appointment in Crime Alley

Roland Daggett appears in episodes all over the board in quality it seems like. While Appointment is not his best episode, it is definitely solid. The ending is another one of the best ones in the series. Once again, not much terribly wrong here, I just tend to forget about it.

52. The Mechanic

The Mechanic is a highly underappreciated episode of the show. I usually find it ranked in the bottom ten to twenty in most lists that I see. Unlike most, I think the Mechanic has great action and a nice, different twist on the origin of the batmobile and its creator, which one never really thinks about. Plus, the duck scene is one of Penguin’s most menacing of the series. Is it deep? No. Is it fun? Yes.

51. Batgirl Returns

Of all the characters who received great iterations in BTAS, one of the more underrated ones was Batgirl/Barbara. Her character is extremely likable. Combine her and Catwoman (plus a disapproving Robin) and you get a fun episode. This episode fades in comparison to her premiere episode, but this one is pretty good too.

50. On Leather Wings

The first produced episode of Batman is definitely a good one. In a rare occasion for this show, I believe the sequel to this episode is superior. However, that does not mean On Leather Wings is a bad episode. The action is great and it is a good early Batman against Bullock episode.

49. Baby Doll

Well, here comes another controversial placement. I do definitely think Baby-Doll is an emotional, zany episode with a solid ending, but it just feels too zany and unbelievable at times. Despite that opinion, Baby Doll is one of the more interesting original villains introduced in this show. She’s certainly a lot better here than in “Love is a Croc”.

48. Second Chance

While The Riddler will always be my favorite Batman villain, I personally believe Two-Face was the best and most consistently written villain in this series. All of the episodes based around him are good, but that also means some fade into the mix. Second Chance is one of those due to Judgment Day using a similar twist in a little better way. That is not to say Second Chance is not good. Because it definitely is. 

47. Beware the Creeper

Woah, what a zany, fun episode. This could also be one of the most risque in the series too, especially due to the very seductive, and hilarious, Harley Quinn inside the pie mix dance for her and the Joker’s anniversary. The Creeper himself is a crazier version of the Joker, created in the same way the Joker was in the 1989 film. I did not think a crazier version of the Joker was possible, but alas here he is. While I do not think this episode reaches quite the heights it could, the Joker screaming in fear to get away from the “crazy guy” is never not funny.

These Are Really Good Tier

Well, you read the tier name. Let’s continue.

46. The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne

Now, this is what I am talking about. An interesting plot, a great early series supervillain team up, and a hilarious twist make Dr. Strange’s lone appearance on BTAS a good one. My only real complaint is Bruce makes some uncharacteristically stupid decisions in this episode that propels the plot into motion.

45. Vendetta

Killer Croc has never been amongst my favorite Batman villains, but this tautly written episode makes the best use of (solo) Croc in the series. Besides Croc’s appearance here, the Batman/Bullock relationship is explored and is made a central focus of this episode. As one may expect, I like that. 

44. You Scratch My Back

As previously stated, Catwoman had some real duds in this series. However, her later appearances tended to be solid. Teaming Catwoman up with a rebellious and somewhat angsty Nightwing was a smart move by the writers here. While I saw the twist of the episode coming, it was still really entertaining and made for one of Selina’s best episodes of the series.

43. The Ultimate Thrill

So... this could be one of the racier episodes of non-adult cartoons I have seen. Roxy Rocket mounts a rocket for a large portion of the episode, gets off due to Batman chasing her, and is half-dressed a large amount of time. I can understand why this episode was skipped when it aired later on. Besides what I mentioned, The Ultimate Thrill is a really solid episode with really nice action setpieces. It all feels a little... strange, but still a good episode.

42. Legends of the Dark Knight

Episodes like this one with so many in jokes only comic book fans would understand are wonderful. The kids’ throwbacks to the 60′s campy Batman and the gritty Frank Miller Dark Knight Returns Batman are spot on. I also love the jab at Joel Schumacher with the kid named Joel’s ridiculous description of what he thinks Batman is like. It’s hilarious. The only real uninteresting part of this episode is the frame story.

41. Riddler’s Reform

Of all of the season 2 redemption episodes, Riddler’s falls into the upper tier. Yeah, a couple we will talk about soon are definitely better, but Nygma’s reform path is a good one. I like how Ed actually sort of wants to reform in this episode but is just to obsessed with riddling Batman and Robin to actually reform. Oh, and the ending is executed really, really well.

40. Read My Lips

I have always found the Ventriloquist to be an underrated Batman villain despite how silly he is in premise. The writers of the animated series always utilized the character’s multiple personality syndrome really well and in the most realistic way possible. As one may guess, the character’s premiere episode was really good. However, (unpopular opinion) I think some of his later episodes are a nice step up.

39. Joker’s Favor

How does the average Gotham citizen view the Joker? Well, similarly to how most of us would view a homicidal maniac it ends up. Joker’s relentless torture of an average guy is an interesting idea for an episode that is well executed throughout. Another plus is this episode created Harley Quinn. So, there’s that. Oh, by the way, that makeshift bat signal would not have worked if Bruce was 100 feet further ahead. 

38. Nothing to Fear

Besides one misstep of an episode, Scarecrow is another villain with a tremendous track record in BTAS. His premiere episode is a great introduction to the character and slowly introduces who the character actually is and why his motives are what they are. Crane’s later episodes are mostly improvements, so we will talk more about those soon.

37.  Shadow of the Bat

As I said earlier, Batgirl’s representation in this series is well done. The way the writers introduced Barbara first similarly to the way the writers introduced Harvey Dent and Two-Face gave viewers a basis for the character early. As most two part episodes in this series, Shadow is great. The slow burn of Batgirl being looked at as a joke to a somewhat reliable ally for Batman and Robin is written well.

36. Deep Freeze

Backing up Heart of Ice was an almost impossible task. While Deep Freeze is a lesser episode in comparison to the aforementioned masterpiece, Deep Freeze is a terrific Mr. Freeze episode... even though it inspired the plot of Batman and Robin. Despite that, the emotion is still here and Mr. Freeze’s voice is still kick-ass.

35. Mudslide

Similarly to Deep Freeze, Mudslide is a small step down from its predecessor, but Feat of Clay was one of the best of the series. So, take that as it is. Mudslide continues the tragic downfall of the drug addict Matt Hagan and his yearning to become fully human again. This episode does a stellar job at showing showing what desperation can do to those most in need of a cure to their ails.

34. Birds of a Feather

The Penguin had a few major clunkers in this series, but Birds of a Feather is far from that. In fact, it is another one of the best attempts at reform episode in the series. In fact, I was halfway cheering for Penguin during the course of the episode because of his sincere effort. The ending is both tragic and fitting for character like Oswald despite this.

33. Harley’s Holiday

If one would like to watch one of the funniest episodes of Batman, look no further than here. Parts of Harley’s Holiday are hysterical. One scene (at about 1:30 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J064TI8WDKo) where Harley recognizes Bruce’s chin and identifies him as Bruce Wayne rather than Batman is brilliant. In fact, all of Harley’s interactions with Bats in this episode are. A certain other comedic Joker episode beats this one out, but Harley shines here big time.

32. Joker’s Millions

Remember that Joker episode I mentioned one episode ago? Well here it is. Joker’s Millions is probably the funniest episode of the series. The fake Harley Quinn and tryouts to be the new Harley Quinn are possibly one of the funniest scenes of the series. (another certain Joker scene takes the cake though...). I found the twist a little predictable, but this episode is perfect if you want some Batman action and laughs at the same time.

31. House and Garden

Of the reform episodes of the series, this is probably my second favorite overall. Poison Ivy somehow becomes sympathetic and really disturbing in the same episode with a perfect mix. Without revealing spoilers, the twist is revealed in an effective, slow-burning manner.  Just give this one a watch. You will not regret it.

30. See No Evil

If I had to rank the most underrated or overlooked episodes of BTAS, See No Evil would easily make the cut on that list. Why is this exactly? Mainly, this episode is genuinely really, really creepy. A man with an invisible suit could have been a lame and cliched cartoon villain, but like with many other things, Batman did it right. The episode has some stellar dialogue, action, and a surprisingly funny moment in it. Oh, and Batman has one of his coolest lines of the series near the end.

29. Never Fear

Never Fear, one of the Scarecrow’s best episodes, dares to answer the question: what would Batman be like if he killed people? Never Fear uses the opposite formula (literally in a way) than the rest of the Scarecrow episodes as his fear toxin in this episode gives the unlucky victim no fear rather than all the fear in the world. Its effect on Batman alone makes this a fantastic episode. The guy takes out alligators with his bare hands in this episode for God’s sake.

28. Harley and Ivy

A Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy team-up episode did not have to work, but fortunately for everyone, it did. This is one of the first episodes to show what Harley could do without the guidance of her “Puddin’”, and the added new element to her character improved it even more. Poison Ivy is fantastic here as well in the mentor role to criminal noob Harley. Oh, the Joker’s material here is as good always too.

27. Dreams in Darkness

The best Scarecrow episodes are the ones that ask the most questions. Here, what if Batman was insane? Dreams in Darkness is my favorite of the many great Scarecrow episodes due to the challenge of Batman facing off against his sanity, (something he also does in a certain Mad Hatter episode...) which is something we do not see that often. The narrative all the way up to the ending with giant versions of his rogues gallery makes Darkness ultimately satisfying.

26. His Silicon Soul

I love many things about His Silicon Soul. First, the animation was done by Sunrise, the animator for Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, and The Big O. In fact, this episode was the single biggest influence on Sunrise on The Big O’s creation. That anime was essentially BTAS in look, characters, and tone. Good show. Another discussion for another time though. Back to the episode, this use of HARDAC was much better than the first time. Creating another Batman and sticking him in Gotham was more clever and deeper than the prior two-parter combined. The ending is also a work of art.

The Elite

During the NCAA basketball season, the polls and pundits keep a Top 25 list of the best 25 teams in the sport at the time. These teams are powerhouses, the best of the bunch, and not surpassed by any others. Same can be said here. Out of all the wonderful episodes of BTAS, these are almost the best of the best.

25. Pretty Poison

While I have made many obvious and repetitive statements while making this list, I will say again Batman did a fantastic job of establishing its villains before they became villains. Pretty Poison establishes Harvey Dent as one of Bruce’s best friends before ongoing his transformation, and it pays dividends later on. As for this episode itself, Poison Ivy is established early as one of the most dangerous re-occurring villains of the show. She is seductive, tough, and clever all at the same time. Her plot in this episode is simple yet suspenseful due to tight writing. Make this an essential viewing.

24. Terror in the Sky

On Leather Wings was an entertaining and explosive start to the series that lacked... well... something. However, Terror in the Sky added whatever Man Bat’s first escapade was missing. The action in Terror is some of the best in the entire series from the motorcycle chase to the final showdown on the plane. Also, the twist is a classic in the series. Without spoiling anything, this overlooked episode of Batman is one of the very best action focused episodes of the series.

23. Judgment Day

Without spoiling everything here, Judgment Day probably has one of the best twist endings in the entire series. I was genuinely shocked after my first viewing of this episode. I may have been six or so, but still it is really clever. Aside from the ending, Judgment Day features some nice action, a mysterious new vigilante character, and whole lot more. Just watch it.

22. The Clock King

While Mr. Freeze is the most famous example of Batman’s rogues gallery being revitalized, The Clock King is honestly a close second. Clock King really had not been utilized since the 1960′s as a Batman foe, so using a gimmicky, sort of goofy villain here in a 1990′s cartoon was a shock. Luckily for the show, they had world class writers that converted Clock King into a gimmicky, but psychotic, vengeful villain. After being late for once ruined his life, Temple Fugate devoted his life to trying to humiliate and murder Mayor Hill in, of course, a time-themed way. This episode could have been really silly, but Clock King ends up being a fantastic villain in a well-paced, action packed episode of Batman.

21. Joker’s Wild

Of all the wonderful Joker episodes, I find this one to be the most overlooked and underrated. The episode starts off with a fun interaction between Joker and Poison Ivy, kind of like the awkward best friend who hates her friend’s boyfriend type of situation. After setting his sites on destroying a new casino designed after him, the Joker is actually shown escaping Arkham, which is a rare occasion in the series. What follows is a brilliant scene where Bruce Wayne eggs on the real Joker, high octane action, and the expected brand of humor. Simple, but great.

20. Catwalk

Now we are finally talking, Selina Kyle. Catwalk is one of Catwoman’s final episodes of the series, and it ends up being her best by far. After giving up her life up as Catwoman, Selina is trying to blend in with the real world with the aid of Bruce, but it just is not working. Subsequently, Kyle is given an offer by another certain rogue that she cannot turn down. Thus, Catwoman returns. What makes this episode strong is the twist, the dynamics between Batman, the other villain, and of course Catwoman. She gets to be more of a villain this episode, or at least more gray, and that is how it should be. Good job Mr. Altieri.

19. Old Wounds

After the events of Robin’s Reckoning, one could start to tell the relationship between Bruce and Dick was starting to weaken through their differences. A major wrench was thrown into that already strained relationship when Barbara played her hand as Batgirl. Thus, we have Old Wounds, one of the best flashback episodes of the series. Without getting into spoiler territory, a traumatic event on the night of Dick’s graduation from college, when Dick was already fed up at Bruce for pulling him away from, almost completely severed the head off their relationship. While the ultimate reason is a bit of misunderstanding and involved jealousy, it is really sad to watch unwind even if we know what is coming. Nightwing’s mullet suck still though.

18. Over the Edge

Let me get this out of the way. Over the Edge could have easily been a top 5 episode if the ending was not such a cop-out.  *sighs* Oh well I guess. But seriously, other than the asspull of an ending, Over the Edge is the most suspenseful episode of the entire series without a doubt. Without spoiling things again, shit hits the fan about five minutes in here and everything snowballs from there. Watching it is thrilling, unnerving, and feels nothing like most of the other episodes of the series. Seriously. When a certain other baddie comes in at the end (in a much better appearance than his first, mind you...), things get even more intense. Give this one a try even if the ending leaves something to be desired.

17. Perchance to Dream

Once again, I will start on the only tiny negative of this episode. If you know the villains’ theme music like I do, you will know who the villain is in this episode early on. Anyways, dream episodes when they really should dream episodes can be very good. HINT HINT. Perchance to Dream is definitely one of those. After waking up in a world full of his greatest desires, Bruce has to unravel what has happened to him and what actions he should take. That may sound vague, but I am trying super hard to avoid spoilers in these top few episodes. Just watch this one and wait for a wonderful ending and a great dual performance from Kevin Conroy.

16. The Laughing Fish

Who would have thought an episode having to do with copyright law and patents would be the Joker’s best episode? Not me. But, The Laughing Fish is indeed my favorite Joker episode (where the focus is on his plots). After making nets full of fish in Gotham harbor carry his signature smile, the Joker tries to patent the Joker fish. After being denied, old Jack Napier takes revenge on everyone who stopped his original plan in a demented, funny, and tightly written plot. Hell, there is a scene where the Joker dresses up like the Gorton fisherman. This episode is a blast.

15. Growing Pains

Well, I feel depressed after watching this one. Growing Pains is one of the most heart-wrenching episodes of the animated series. Not only is it painful for the viewer, but even moreso for Tim Drake’s Robin. I feel like this is the best utilization of his character. After not listening to Batman’s advice, Robin gets more wrapped into helping a young girl who is seemingly running away from her abusive father. This plot brings back Drake’s relationship with his own father and his empathy for others he sometimes lacks in other episodes. Oh, and the twist is brilliant and connects the later episodes to the original series satisfyingly. 

14. Double Talk

Ah, the best redemption episode of the series. Not only is Double Talk my second favorite episode in the later seasons, but it is one of my favorite dramatic episodes of the entire series. The Ventriloquist could have easily been a joke of a villain, but he has several stellar episodes in this series. Out of all them, Double Talk is definitely the best. The audience is cheering for Wesker to get over his issues, and his battle to overcome them is suspenseful and well written. The ending is poetic as can be, and I love it. Give this overlooked episode a watch and you will not regret it.

13. Feat of Clay

The downfall of Matt Hagan is one of the most depressing storylines of the entire series. The allegory for drug addiction with Matt’s reliance on Renuyu and the awful things he would do for just a little bit of it is a true tragedy. The allegory went over my head in my younger years, but watching now after seeing several people I have known my entire life struggle with addiction, the episode has a heavier hit. The two-parter’s first half ends possibly on the most horrific scene of the series. Anyone who has seen this knows what I am talking about. While the second half is not quite as strong as the first, Feat of Clay is a top flight Batman episode. 

12. Robin’s Reckoning

Speaking of depressing two-parters, Robin’s Reckoning is the closest thing to a tear-jerker in the series. The scene where Dick leaves the circus left the production staff silent for several minutes supposedly because of how emotional it was. While Robin’s Reckoning is one of the many Robin origin stories in existence, it is definitely one of the best ones. The raw emotion makes RR one of the best episodes of the series. Robin’s decision at the end of the second episode is tense. Maybe that is why it won a Daytime Emmy.

11. Harlequinade

Have I stated on this list before that I really like Harley Quinn and her episodes? I guess I have. Out of all of them, this is my... second favorite. Tough decision. It is painful making this one miss the top ten. Especially after Harley’s rendition of Say We’re Sweethearts Again. And Batman facepalming on a table. Literally. The plot revolves around the seemingly serious sounding plot of the Joker stealing an ATOMIC BOMB and threatening Gotham. Batman teams up with Harley Quinn in exchange for her immunity to bring down Mistah J. What results is one of the best and funniest episodes of the series. Just watch Harley’s karaoke moment of the episode if you do not believe me. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp6wLXj4-5A)

The Masterpiece Tier

The title should  say enough for these episodes of BTAS. While Batman of the 90′s has so many stellar episodes, these are the best of the best and incredibly difficult to rank. I tried my best though.

10. Almost Got’im

When this episode ranks as low as ten... woah. AGI is the best episode with mulitple villains collaborating in one episode. While they are not coming up with an evil plot in this episode (well, mostly...), the group discusses the closest each of them got to killing Batman. Each tale is fun and the other villains’ commentary on the other stories is even better. The interaction between Two-Face and Poison Ivy is particularly good. The final line of the episode is also wonderfully poetic. Almost got the that top spot...

9. Mad Love

Of all the top notch Harley Quinn/Joker episodes in this series, Mad Love takes the cake as the best one. Based off the graphic novel of the same name, Mad Love possesses all of the extreme emotions and dark realism as its source material... besides some of the racier stuff. Still though, Mad Love does not hold back. The relationship between our two leads is completely one-sided and abusive making this episode work as the perfect allegory for all too common abusive relationships in the real world. Just because the main focus is on the clowns this episode, does not mean Batman is not excellent this episode. Because he is. Also, the Joker says, “May the floss be with you” at one point...

8. I Am the Night

Possibly the most emotional episode in the series, I Am the Night takes the animated series to its darkest depths. While laying flowers on the site of his parents death site, Batman misses a police sting where Commissioner Gordon ends up shot and critically injured in the hospital. Batman, feeling useless and underappreciated, vows to stop being Batman because of his failure. Every supporting character is utilized perfectly in this episode to stretch Bruce’s mental health in very different directions. Bullock and Robin represent the most extreme opposites. The ending is super satisfying and can teach everyone a lesson if they are feeling underappreciated.

7. Heart of Ice

Before Joel Schumacher and the Governator took a steaming pile of crap on Mr. Freeze’s new origin, Batman the Animated Series revamped the character with this well-known masterpiece. Seriously, this one won an Emmy too. Before the 1990′s, Mr. Freeze was a lame, generic ice villain, kind of like how Firefly is a lameass fire villain in this show. Heart of Ice is shockingly dark, soaked with emotion, and cold-hearted to the core. Mr. Freeze’s voice is soooooo perfect in this series too. Not much else to say that has not been said.

6. The Man Who Killed Batman

The premise to this episode is so simple that it is unbelievable that it is so good. A small time crook nicknamed Sid the Squid, while awkwardly stumbling on a rooftop, appears to kill Batman. After this moment, Sid becomes an idol to all the criminals in the city. Unfortunately, this is not all good news for the squid. What follows is some top notch comedy when everyone in the city might want to fight him now. Even the Joker makes an appearance. That appearance I personally believe is the best for the Joker in the entire series. Don’t believe me? Watch this scene. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld0uIhst3TA) It is possibly my favorite of the entire show. All in all, watch this episode for something great from beginning to the end.

5. Beware the Gray Ghost

Alternating from the top comedy of the prior episode, The Gray Ghost is one of the more depressing episodes of the series. Without spoiling as much as I can, it is also one of the more uplifting that gives me chills almost every time I view it. A type-cast actor who used to play a superhero on a tv show is struggling financially, with his career, and overall emotionally. His state gets involved with Batman when the episode’s villain’s plot collides with a plot from an old episode of the Gray Ghost. At first bitter and not wanting to help, Batman soons teams up with his hero to take down the villain and it is almost perfect. Who plays the Gray Ghost by the way? Adam West. Whoever came up with that idea deserves a medal. Also, Bruce Timm plays the villain in this masterpiece, which is pretty badass.

4.  The Demon’s Quest

The second best two-parter of the series, The Demon’s Quest combines the best of Batman with arguably the best iteration of Ra’as Al Ghul as well. The whole episode feels like an Indiana Jones film, which is not a bad fit honestly. The first part does a nice job establishing Ra’as and Batman’s relationship, and the second half does a stellar job of completing the plot with major style. Talia and Robin also make major appearances in this episode and both really work. Once again, watch this rare world domination episode of Batman for something very different, but very good.

3. If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

Now, here is my sleeper episode in the top five. I see this episode on people’s list every once and a while but rarely this high. Is this a Riddler (my favorite villain) bias? Maybe a little bit, but I personally think this is one of the strongest episodes due to several factors. One, this iteration of the Riddler is terrific. John Glover is perfectly cast as the genius and knocks it out of the park. His plan involving revenge, video games, supposed mental superiority, and of course riddles is well written. Robin makes one of his best appearances in this episode as a good foil to Batman’s riddle solving methods, and having superior video game skills predictably. However, the most stalwart aspect of this episode is the ending. It’s chilling and perfectly poetic at the same time. Way to go, Nygma.

2. Trial

Remember when I mentioned Almost Got’im as the best villain teamup episode? I lied. Flat out. Trial combines all of the best aspects of almost all of Batman’s reoccurring rogues gallery and all of them are at the top of their game here. Batman is captured and put on trial in Arkham, and the new DA, who hates Batman and thinks he belongs there as well, has to defend the Dark Knight. Joker plays the judge, Two-Face the prosecutor, and several other villains take the stand as witnesses. Guess what? It’s an absolute blast to watch. The episode has good comedy, top notch dialogue, and a terrific ending note. Trial is guilty of nothing but being one of the best episodes in the series.

1. Two-Face

Not the most original choice, but Two-Face was my clear cut favorite episode of Batman the Animated Series from the moment I considered composing a list. As I stated before, Two-Face is the best villain in the animated series overall. This episode really aided in making that true. So did Pretty Poison’s establishment of Harvey Dent. Seeing Harvey’s downfall from beloved District Attorney, fiance, and best friend to Bruce is painful, tragic, and as well written as humanly possibly. I feel like the first half is slightly better than the second, but both are masterpieces and work perfectly together despite a time gap which all other two part episodes lack. So, all in all, Two-Face is what I believe to be the most masterful episode in a series full of masterpieces.

Thanks for checking out my list. I had a fun, but strenuous time making it and hope you check out my future lists too!

[blschaos3000-blog]

Its 12:02 am dark/cold/Pinky and the Brain

Welcome to “8 Questions with…..”

  I have been Twitter friends with our next guest,Dr. Evil for a quite a while now. Oh,did I say “Dr. Evil”,I meant Dr. Discord….seems that Dr. Evil went to a convention and discovered that a lot of copy cats had taken his name. Instead of unleashing his minions and hiring the cheetah to reclaim his title,he simply changed his name to Dr. Discord. A few months ago,the cheetah and I were guests on Dr. Discord podcast,”A Necessary Evil” and had a great time. In fact I loved it so much that I tapped into my former life and started to book a few folks on his show,I’m hoping to one day become a minion.   Kenny’s family is his pride and joy,whenever he mentions them,you can feel the love and devotion he has for them all. In fact his wife has been known to plan some good evil doings in her own right. Just think of them as the anti-Incredibles with a lot less monologuing.   The one thing I really love about Kenny is that he stays in character,he really is Dr. Discord and having discussions with him is quite a hoot. He is a very generous host,a hell of a editor and smart as a whip. His podcast is gaining some serious steam in terms of listenership and guests,during this COVID-19 lockdown,the cheetah and I urge you to check the good Doctor and learn to embrace your inner evil….links down below. But for now,lets go quiet as Dr. Discord answers his 8 Questions…….

        Please introduce yourself and tell us a little of your background.

  Hello, I’m Kenny Ketchens, although most people probably know me as my villainous alter ego , Dr. Discord.  I’m a proud father of 5 minions ranging in age from 24 down to 6. I’m a Data Analyst/RPA Developer for a 3rd party logistics company during the day and at night I educate the world on the finer points of being a villain.

 What was growing up in your home like? What are your three favorite memories growing up?

   Growing up we moved around a lot. I remember really enjoying how freeing it felt to be young and knowing ahead of time you’d be moving again soon. It really changes your perspective on things. I’d have to say all of my favorite memories growing up involve my father, whether it was helping him work on cars, or watching him make things from wood. It seemed like there wasn’t anything he didn’t know how to do and it inspired me to learn all I could and try to replicate that for my children. He always told me growing up to learn to do as much for yourself as possible. We’re human, specialization is for insects.

 How old were you when you became a fanboy and what were your three favorite comic books to collect and why?

  I was in my early teens when I got ahold of my first Comic, Green Lantern. I was hooked from then on. What could be more awesome than a power that would let you manifest whatever you could imagine into reality! Hal Jordan is the epitome of a hero in my eyes. Green Lantern led me to the Justice League which led me to Batman and by far the best assortment of villains in any fandom. I could really empathize with the likes of Joker, Penguin, and Riddler. They were just ordinary people that life happened to and made choices and stuck to their decisions. It really stuck with me that odds were that I could more easily become the Riddler than a member of the Green Lantern Corp.

 Why is evil necessary in today’s world?

   As cliche as it is to say, evil serves as a means to highlight the good. If nothing bad ever happened to you, would you ever really realize how good you had it? We need those lows to appreciate the highs, dark to notice the light, and so on. Our perception in general is based on comparing things to other things. So in a sense we’ll always need evil.

 Who are your three most iconic villains ever?

The Joker especially the Heath Ledger Version of The Joker in the Dark Knight. Such a powerful and Iconic Character.

Dolores Umbridge From Harry Potter, I think we all know someone similar in our own lives who lets the power they have go to the head.

Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men. Having your fate decided on a coin flip is such a terrifying concept for me. No chance for bartering or pleading, just chance.

How did you get into podcasting?

   Great question!!! Minion #5 my 9 year old wanted to be a youtuber. So being the supportive father I set up a channel and showed him how to make videos. It was his idea so I wanted him to be in control. I didn’t want to do it for him. He quickly decided it was too much work to make the kind of videos he enjoyed watching. As we were driving in the car I was listening to a podcast and he remarked that we could do that instead. He said it had to be easier since it was just sound and I probably already had stuff for it from being a musician in my younger days. He came up with the idea that we would talk about bad guys. They were an underrepresented group in his opinion. The first iteration of the show we mainly talked origin stories, powers cool story arcs of comic book villains and then it gradually turned into what it is today a resource for creative people to flesh out their villains more and a way for people to embrace that villainous side that we all have.

 What do you look for in a topic or in a guest besides their being somewhat evil?

  I mainly look for an opportunity to explore something from a different perspective. One of my favorite episodes started on the premise of common themes of the supernatural in pop music and ended up in discussion of why vampires are mostly portrayed as sexy and not werewolves or other supernatural creatures. Often I have writers come on and give their advice on handling antagonists and I get to learn something at the same time the listeners do. It’s just about having fun and maybe learning something new at the end of the day.

 What three guests have impressed you the most and why?

   I am in awe of the prowess that Jabe Stafford has when it comes to writing villains. He has the best tips and tricks to getting the most out of your villains.Danny Decellis came on the show to talk about Villains in Medieval Literature, I was expecting monsters like Grendel and such but I was surprised to find out it was more long the lines of people with low morals. Cowards, traitors and the like. Ami Mercury is another favorite, She came on to talk about morals in relation to professions. I learned a lot from her. They were all wonderful to talk with and I hope they came back on the show again at some point.

 Can you walk us through on what goes into making a episode of your show,the nuts and bolts of it?

  For the majority it’s as simple as sitting in my chair, hitting record and rambling. Then cutting out bits that veer off and don’t go anywhere or that don’t fit the topic. Some have some research like I did an episode on villain trends in movies of the last 50 years. So I had to look up data from a lot of movies and compile the data and see what trends began to emerge. For interviews I try to just keep it casual and informal, more conversational than just Q&A and I feel it serves me well. It’s a lot of just winging it. I like to fly by the seat of my pants and see where I end up.

How do you define “evil”?

   Evil is quite a subjective term and the standard definition of being amoral doesn’t help much either. From my perspective evil is selfish. Doing things for yourself. Looking at things from this perspective shines an entirely different light on lots of things. People giving to charity just to boast about it on Social Media, Evil. Youtubers adopting disabled pets for likes and subscriptions, EVIL. Setting your kid down in front of a tablet so you can get things done or peace and quiet, EEEVVVVIIILLLL!

 If you could interview anyone,fiction or non-fiction…who would they be and why?

   Jensen Ackles because my wife absolutely adores him and I’d let her listen while I was recording but cut her mic so she couldn’t talk so i could gloat about interviewing him forever! How’s that for evil!

 The cheetah and I are flying over to watch your latest film but we are a day early and now you are playing tour guide,what are we doing? 

First, We are hitting the Amish Deli and getting fresh Sasparillas,  then we are heading to Gettysburg and taking a quick tour of the battleground. Perhaps even a Ghost Tour if you’re up for it. As the sun sets it’s dinner time at the Copper Kettle if your in the mood for something fancy or the Flamingo if you’re in the mood for a burger.

  I like to thank Kenny for taking time off his plans to conquer the world and talking with us. I’m including a recent episode of his podcast which Dr. Discord chatted with film director Brendan Steere and producer Jesse Gouldsbury of the kick ass film “The VelociPastor”. Plus there are 88 more top of the line episodes to listen to as well. You can find the website for “A Necessary Evil” here.

You can follow Dr. Discord on Twitter.

If you’re new to the blog,you can catch up on the “8 Questions with……” interviews by going here.  Feel free to leave a comment.

      8 Questions with……… Dr. Discord of “A Necessary Evil” Podcast Its 12:02 am dark/cold/Pinky and the Brain Welcome to "8 Questions with....."   I have been Twitter friends with our next guest,Dr.

[infolibrary]

7 Brain Traps That Allow the Media to Manipulate Our Opinions

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7 Brain Traps That Allow the Media to Manipulate Our Opinions

Do you believe that television and other media regularly lie to us and manipulate our opinions? Maybe. But there is even worse news: our brain works together with them. It is so difficult for the brain to sort through the immense amount of information coming at it every day, that it is ready to just put up with the many misconceptions. And, as strange as it sounds, smart and well-educated people make even more cognitive mistakes that those who are less intelligent.

Bright Side found out which psychological effects the media uses in order to convince us of something or to influence our decisions. You will learn how to tell the truth from lies.

Sleeper effect

The effect: A persuasive message that is accompanied by a discounting cue seems more accurate over time.

Imagine that you hear a piece of information that seems true to you. For example, the production of a famous confectionery brand contains the chemicals that are dangerous to human health. But soon after this, you hear some information that makes you doubt that it was true. For example, someone tells you that the source of information was not reliable or that the news was fabricated by a competitor. As a reasonable person, you will most likely think that the original information was fake and you will try to forget it. But some time later, (the so-called sleeper time) you will go back to thinking that it was true. And you will never buy products from this brand again.

The sleeper effect appears only when these conditions are followed:

The information seems persuasive.

There is a following piece of information that makes you doubt the original.

There is enough time between the moment you receive the information and the moment you have to make a decision.

Framing effect

The effect: By changing the phrase, you can change its perception.

The way an idea is worded affects the way we perceive it. By highlighting the necessary part, you can make a person a hero or a villain. Compare: “3 out of 10 people remained hostages because of how terribly slow the police crew was” and “thanks to how well-thought-out their plan was, the police crew freed 7 out of 10 hostages.”

The thing is, we judge certain events of things not on their own, but based on their context. Usually this context (frame) determines the decision we will end up making.

And people are more likely to avoid losses than to try to win something. Also, with age, this effect becomes more powerful: elderly people pay more attention to the negative aspects of everything and are more likely to avoid their losses than to try and see the real advantages of an offer.

Here are some more examples of this effect:

People are more likely to react to the word “overpayment” than the word “discount.” 93% of people check in for a flight earlier when they know they have to pay more for checking in later. And only 67% check in earlier when there is a discount for early check-in. But the amount of money was the same.

You are more likely to buy 80%-lean beef that the same piece of meat that says it contains 20% fat.

In our everyday lives we also create our own reality, choosing words in order to describe a thing or an event. If you have an old wardrobe that you inherited from your grandmother, you can be a happy owner of a family relic or an owner of a piece of old junk. Mistakes at work can be a useful experience or trouble.

Semmelweis reflex

The effect: I see only what I want to see.

Of the many facts there are out there, our brain only chooses the ones that comply with our expectations and ideas. At the same time, it refuses to accept new knowledge and new facts that contradict our stereotypes (Semmelweis reflex).

This is why we prefer to watch the same TV and YouTube channels and go to the same websites. And this is also why we believe news programs so easily — because they comply with our opinion and they are easy to digest. If you are sure that GMO is dangerous, you will easily believe even the most unprofessional article on this topic and ignore the articles with the opposite opinion from serious journals.

The same happens to our attitude toward public people: haters usually only pay attention to their flaws and mistakes, and fans will ignore even the most obvious mistakes.

Identifiable victim effect

President Bush holds Jessica McClure.

The effect: “The death of one person is a tragedy and a million deaths is statistics.”

Across the world, thousands of people go missing and die of famine, but we rarely hear about this in the media. And the story of one person who was raped becomes the most-discussed topic for many months all over social media and the press.

This happens because a message about one specific person sounds more persuasive than statistical data, it creates a feeling like you know this person and it makes you feel an emotional response. This not only affects the audience, but also the government structures. Specific people receive help more often than groups of people.

The story of baby Jessica, who fell into a well in 1987, was shown live. After 58 hours of work on the part of the rescue team, the little girl was saved. As a result, the amount of donated money was about $800,000. At the same time, every year, 830,000 children die from accidental injuries and many of these deaths could have been prevented. But there is never enough money for prevention.

Anchoring

The effect: We take the picture of an event, cut out a piece of it, and show the fragment as the whole event.

This is a method where only one side of an object or an event if discussed and the other sides are either accidentally or intentionally ignored. This prevents you from understanding what actually happened and what decision you should make.

For example, the media is discussing the advantages of a new chemical fertilizer that allows us to get several times more harvest. But they never mention the ingredients of the fertilizer and how the fruit and vegetables grown with it will affect the human body.

Third-person effect

The effect: Everyone falls victim to propaganda, but not me.

We are prone to underestimating the power and influence of social media on ourselves and overestimate it when it comes to other people. This way, we separate ourselves from people who can be influenced and increase our own self-esteem. This effect is very evident when a person receives a piece of negative information (violence on tv, porn, reading some racist or sexist articles).

The third-person effect is directly linked to the theory of attribution. We are more likely to justify our own actions by the situation and when others do something wrong, it’s because they are bad people. (About ourselves: “I yelled at my child not because I’m irritable and angry, but because he made me angry when he spilled juice on the table.” About others, “She’s a bad mother because she can’t put a hat on her child’s head the right way.”)

Parasocial interaction

The effect: We feel very close to our favorite characters from talk shows.

When we watch TV programs, movies, or cartoons, we start to interact with the characters as if we are in a regular human relationship with them. Obviously, in such a close “relationship,” we can’t avoid inheriting some of their behavioral aspects and fall prey to their influence. This effect is very powerful when it comes to children and teenagers who are forming their own identity and trying to imitate their favorite video game, movie, and cartoon characters.

There’s something that’s known as the “Angelina Jolie” effect: just 15 days after the actress talked about having done a mastectomy, the number of women who had the test for the BRCA genes, which are responsible for the development of breast cancer, grew by 64%. And in 1987, when Princess Diana took her glove off and shook hands with an HIV-patient, thousands of people in Great Britain and the US stopped believing that this virus could be transmitted by touch. And before that, the scary articles in the media made 50% of Americans think that complete isolation of these patients was a good idea.

Princess Diana holding the child of an HIV patient at the London Lighthouse, 1996

It’s hard to tell reality from lies

Most news programs start with the anchor saying “Good evening” and then they explain why it’s not really a good evening. And if you watch TV programs often enough, the frame of everyday negativity doesn’t allow you to estimate the pros and cons of ordinary situations rationally. Spend more time on your hobbies and communicate with your friends — this will help you to avoid a negative mindset.

Try to be more critical of the news on social media: it’s there that fake news is spread 6 times faster than true information. This is mostly true for politics-related news. And fake news is much more “durable” because it continues to circulate long after it’s been proven false.

Here are some more ways to protect yourself from lies and make the right decision:

Try to find more trustworthy information. When you look at a problem from different angles, it is easier to make the right decision.

If you speak a foreign language well enough, try to think about the situation in it. This will allow you to keep a clear mind and not be influenced by emotions.

Don’t come to any conclusions about how things are by just using one example.

Take a break from information: when your brain is overloaded, it can’t think clearly.

Look at the statistical number correctly: If a commercial says that 85% of plastic surgeries are successful, it means there is a 15% chance of having a negative surgical outcome.

Use special resources to verify facts, for example, truthorfiction.com or hoax-slayer.com.

Bonus: Flying penguins

On April 1, BBC edited a funny video where they claimed to have found a new species of King Penguins that didn’t just fly, but could also migrate to hot tropic islands. 6 million views and 21,000 likes only prove the fact that fake information is spread at lightning speed.

Do you have your own methods that help you tell the difference between the truth and a lie? Which piece of news on social media or in newspapers looked completely fake or like nonsense to you?

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[amplesalty]

Day 10 - Bad Santa 2 (2016)

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Ten K reward!

This movie starts so cheerily. Bad Santa, depressing? Surely not, I hear you cry. Well, Lauren Graham is out of the picture, nothing but a fading memory and photograph that ol' Willie takes a piss on before trying to take his life. Yeah yeah, Phoebe Cates speech, red, white and blues. We get it.

I can't find my turkey anywhere! He even takes to scrawling a suicide note on a pizza box.

Well, at least he has a sense of humour about the whole thing...

Maybe Four Christmases has just set a new low bar but, honestly, this doesn't feel that dark and mean in comparison. What I think it is is that the vulgarity, the swearing, the sex stuff...it all feels kinda fake and over the top here? Four Christmases really bases itself in it's spitefulness but Bad Santa is just a heist movie behind an R rated filter so they can sell it as this crude, anti-Christmas movie.

Like Santa fucking Christina Hendricks up against a Christmas tree. I feel perhaps Lauren Graham is more strikingly attractive and cute but Christina has that whole red head thing going on and a fine set of lungs, as we say in the trade. It's a close call.

Clearly neither are a patch on butch, lesbian biker Kathy Bates though. Speaking of Phoebe Cates, forget her in Fast Times, Kathy's hot tub scene is the real height of Hollywood nudity.

And this movie still has the dysfunctional father/son relationship of Willie and Thurman. Love this kid, so wonderfully naive that he follows Willie all the way to Chicago wearing only a t-shirt and shorts. Do you know how cold it is there?

There is something charming to see Willie let his walls down for a split second from time to time, just when he's about to walk out the kid, he gets five steps out the door before that little shred of humanity he has left pulls him back. He even tears up a little bit seeing him sing in the choir. Awwww.

Not to say he doesn't get his cynicism in there somewhere. He even has to reduce himself to listening to all the little brats present requests again. Like one kid wanting just about every Xbox One game at the time under the sun. I feel this was a strange product placement, Microsoft.

Or the one little girl who wanted a penguin, it doesn't matter if it's dead. Okay, I don't even want to know what you have planned.

Overall, it's watchable. Nothing amazing or anything but it has some laughs in there. 'Villain' was very much stock and pretty much a non-entity throughout. I remember Bernie Mac and John Ritter being nice supporting characters in the first movie but here they're very much relying on the core group of Willie, his mother and Marcus to carry the whole thing.

Does have boobs though. Sadly not Christina's. Still, gotta get Christmas Tor in there somewhere. You're doing God's work saving us from those female presenting nipples there, friend.

[marcuserrico]

#BatmanDay: The strange but true history of Harley Quinn revealed!

Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (Photo: Warner Bros.)

Editor’s note: The original version of this story ran in July 2016, as Harley Quinn was about to make her big-screen debut in Suicide Squad. With Saturday designated as the annual Batman Day, and DC celebrating by giving Harley a co-starring role coinciding with her 25th anniversary, we thought it was the perfect time to revisit our first-hand account of the strange origin of one of DC’s strangest characters from the man who dreamed her up.

  ________________________

In the early 1990s, Paul Dini was a writer for hire, cranking out scripts for the ground-breaking, noirish Batman: The Animated Series, when inspiration struck. For a story called “Joker’s Favor,” Episode 22 of the show’s first season airing on Sept. 8, 1992, a previously unseen character popped up in the background. She wore distinctive jester garb, cracked one-liners and earned the ire of the Clown Prince of Crime, with whom she had some unstated relationship. Harley Quinn was born. Dini picks up the story…

It was always understood that the Joker was going to have a rotating gang of hench-people, everybody from street thugs to circus-type people — whoever we needed at the moment. And for this one, I wanted to give him a female hench-person, because I felt it would fit the tone of what we were doing. It hearkened back to the Adam West series in the ’60s where you’d see the Riddler with Jill St. John or the Penguin with a young moll… and we thought it would be fun to do a modern-day twist on that.

Harley was a glorified background character in her first appearance in Batman: The Animated Series (Clip: Warner Bros.)

I was looking for a name and thought “Harley” was a good one.  I’m a big one on puns or names that describe what a character is — it’s something that goes back to Charles Dickens… I thought “Harlequin” was an interesting, fun kind of a character and I split up the name — Harley Quinn. It was cute.

The idea for the character came from several sources, and Dini envisioned her fitting a certain Hollywood trope.

I was working at home on some other projects and I had doodled up a drawing of this crazy blond character in a miniskirt. I based her on [I Dream of Jeannie star] Barbara Eden. A 1960s blonde in a miniskirt.

Dini’s original Harley Quinn sketch refers to her as a “1940s screwball, Betty Hutton, Gloria Grahame, Claudette Colbert with an attitude.” (Image: Paul Dini/Warner Bros.)

I remember bringing it in to Bruce [Timm, the lead artist and co-producer on Batman: The Animated Series] and saying, “What do you thing of this?” And he looked at it and went, “Ooh. I think we can do better.” And he put my drawing aside and came up with something that was very sleek and very elegant; something I think he put a lot of heart and soul into. When I saw that first model, I said, “That’s perfect.” She combined a sense of fun and impishness. You could tell she was a gymnast or maybe a ballet dancer just from the way he drew her — up and ready to move.

I saw Harley as a wise-cracking Girl Friday-type character that you might have seen in a ’30s or ’40s screwball comedy. I like the fact that she could crack a joke and the henchmen would laugh, and the Joker would kind of glare at her. It gave the scene a Punch and Judy quality of one-upmanship.

I also based her in part on my friend Arleen Sorkin — who wound up doing the voice — who has that personality of the very snappy, wisecracking, bubbly blonde. She was on TV a lot at that time, on Days of Our Lives and a show called Duet playing largely that character.

Arleen Sorkin, with her own Louisville Slugger, as Calliope on Days of Our Lives (Photo: Joseph Del Valle/NBC/Getty Images)

So when I came up with Harley, I asked [Arleen], “Do you want to do the voice?” And she said, “Yes.” We brought her in — it was her first voiceover and she did a tremendous job on it.

Watch Sorkin on ‘Days of Our Lives’ in the character that helped inform Harley:

  But I really didn’t have plans for the character beyond that episode.

Although she was intended as a one-off character, Dini couldn’t shake Harley. The rest of the Batman brain trust also became smitten with the burgeoning Maiden of Mischief and soon enough, she was back on the show.

There was something about the character. We thought she was a lot of fun. We didn’t want to do every Joker story with her in it, because we didn’t want to overuse her or make it just about the two of them — because the Joker has to be a credible threat when he’s on his own — but thought every couple of episodes, it wouldn’t be bad if she was part of the regular group.

Blessed with Sorkin’s squeaky, Brooklyn-accented pipes, Harley perfectly channeled Dini’s sense of humor. She also developed a few early catchphrases, including endearing nicknames for the Joker.

Every time I wrote her, I tried to think of funnier things for her to say to expand her role a little bit.

“Mr. J” was a natural because that made her a wisecracking blonde. “Puddin’” came from that lunch with Bruce, where he just said she should have a really goopy [nickname] for the Joker. And we both hit on it. “What about Puddin’?” “Oh, Puddin’ is great.”

As Harley became a key member of the animated series, DC took notice of her growing popularity and decided to transition the character to the comics. But she didn’t leap directly to the pages of the main DC Universe continuity; instead she appeared in a book based on the show.

There was an issue of The Batman Adventures, No. 12. And that was the first time she showed up in comics. … It was an all-girl story with [villain] Poison Ivy, Harley and Batgirl taking center stage. It was a way of using characters that had popped up in the animated series in a comic book.

Harley’s first comic book appearance (Image: DC Entertainment)

Working hand in hand with DC, they saw all the episodes first, and they were able to see all the scripts as they came in, and it was able to dovetail pretty closely to her teaming up with Poison Ivy in the animated series. They saw what we were doing with her and they liked it. She showed up in The Batman Adventures book first, and then Bruce and I came up with the “Mad Love” story. Then she began showing up more and more in the comic books.

“Mad Love,” a one-shot 1994 special issue of The Batman Adventures, established the origin story for Harley Quinn. For the first time, we learn that Dr. Harleen Quinzel was an intern at Arkham Asylum where she fell under the sway of the Joker and busted him out. She adopted the persona of Harley Quinn in an attempt to win his favor.

I’m no stranger to therapy. I was spending some time in therapy and was in my head a lot around that time. Bruce and I were discussing her origin one day over lunch, because I had been approached by DC to do a special issue of the comic, and we were talking about what if there was some sort of surprise to her origin? What if she’s not just a hench girl? We came up with the idea that she had been a doctor at Arkham Asylum and the Joker had gotten into her head and worked her into being his follower. … Then we thought, what if Harley’s in the role of the long-suffering girlfriend?

Harley’s origin story is revealed in ‘Mad Love’ comic (Photo: DC Entertainment)

There was also an element of the fans who write to a prisoner who committed a terrible crime and say, “I understand you… I see the good in you,” and sometimes develop a relationship.

It didn’t take much effort for Dini to come up with Harley’s real name.

Let’s think. Harley Quinn. OK, what’s easy? Arleen does her voice, we’ll put an H on the front. What’s [Arleen’s] middle name? Frances? We’ll use that. Harleen Frances. And then Quinzel. I knew there had to be a name that shortened to Quinn. I had a teacher at Emerson College named Quenzel — spelled slightly differently. Dr. Quenzel, or Professor Quenzel — I changed the spelling of the name, and I’m sure he’s not even aware of it. [We attempted to contact George Quenzel to find out if he had any inkling of his role in Harley’s origin, but the professor passed away in 2012.]

By the end of “Mad Love,” Harley is broken both physically and emotionally after being abandoned by the Joker. As she’s locked into her own cell at Arkham Asylum, she decides she’s through with her beloved Mr. J forever, only to find a flower and a note from him. It’s the start of a demented relationship.

She’s still into him. That growth is hard. For a person who’s really codependent or whose self-esteem is dictated by how they think other people think about them, they’ll take a crumb of affection and turn it into a whole cake. So Harley could swear off him and be very strong, but If there’s even the hint that he wants her back or he’s reformed, she’ll go back.

Joker and Dr. Quinzel meet cute in animated version of ‘Mad Love’ (Clip: Warner Bros.)

When I did the first comic book that placed her in canon in the Batman universe, she really has Joker at her mercy at one point. She’s going to send him to his death and she goes, “I’m gonna kill you, and I’m gonna make my life right again.” He’s hanging by his fingertips and he says something like, “Would it help if I said I’m sorry?” And she goes, “Yeah!” We play it for a laugh, but I wanted to share there’s some tragedy involved with making these choices. I think that had that continued with the character going along that way, she wouldn’t be as popular. I think at some point, she has to wise up and go, “This guy does me no damned good. I am a doctor after all and I do see what he’s doing. They’ll always be something in my head that feels something for this guy at some level, but I have to value myself more than he does.”

I also see the Joker as like Pygmalion. He never knew that he’d fall in love with his own creation. I think more than loving who Harley actually is, he loves what he turned her into. I think he viewed Dr. Harleen Quinzel an art project almost. “What can I make of this? I’m going to get her to break me out of the asylum, but am I going to bump her off? What am I going to do with her here?” And then she far exceeded his expectations to the point where he’s like, “Hey, wait a minute…” He actually did fall in love with elements that he brought out in her. But he’s still an abusive jerk.

Eventually, Harley did try to forge her own path in the cartoon and the comics, often paired with another Bat-villain, Poison Ivy.

We had also established Poison Ivy as a character on her own, and I thought, “What if she and Poison Ivy teamed up — it might be a fun story, where a strong female character brings something strong out of somebody who’s not as strong.” And then we wound up with the two of them being friends. And that became its own dynamic. The more we used Harley and the more we used her in different roles, the more we discovered what a richer character she was; she just blossomed, in a very short time, to the point where she was just as interesting as Catwoman or Penguin or Ra’s al Ghul or one of the other core Batman characters.

For a long time I thought, “What if we just did a Harley show? What if we just do her off on her own? Can I do a short with her where she’s just a manic presence?” At one point they were doing these DC Showcase Shorts … and I thought, “What about a solo Harley short that has no dialogue, it’s just her causing trouble to music? Almost like a weird Fantasia sequence where we show her as this crazy sprite. The idea never got further than that, but I kept pushing to make her a solo character independent of the Joker and Batman.

She started out as one thing and morphed into another. Mickey Mouse is not the same guy steering the steamboat and squeaking, and Bugs Bunny has gone from being a nameless rabbit to an iconic character. Same with Harley.

In 2009, Dini launched the Gotham City Sirens comic book, focusing on Harley, Ivy, and Catwoman. When that book ended its run in 2011, as DC was preparing to reboot its entire comics line, Dini’s clown princess faced an uncertain future.

I was afraid she might be in mothballs, but no. I was really excited when the New 52 came out, and she was so prominently featured. They did a solo book on her, and the Suicide Squad was going to use her. She was also such a prominent element in the video games. Suddenly she was everywhere.

And with anticipation for Suicide Squad at a fever pitch, Harley is about to go next-level…

About two years ago, I found out she was going to be in the movie. It was one of those things I just heard about. “Harley’s going to be in a movie.” Wow, that’s pretty cool. In talking casually with friends and peers, I said that someone should do a solo villain movie to really establish their presence in the DC Universe and show why they’re credible threats to the heroes. We know who Batman is. We know Superman. Now do a villain movie. When I heard they were doing Suicide Squad, introducing everybody except Lex, who was in [Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice], I thought, “Good job.” It makes good sense to establish the key bad guys. And when I heard Harley was in the mix, I was going “Oh man, terrific.”

I’ve seen the trailer and some of the photos online. I love the color scheme. The candy-colored look. [Margot Robbie] looks great. Entertainment Weekly shows up on my door with the two of them on the cover [Robbie as Harley and Jared Leto as the Joker] and I think, “That’s so cool. That’s the live-action extension of the cartoon right there.” I have in my house the painting from her first comic book in the DC Universe… and she’s leaning back against the Joker. And I held up the cover [of Entertainment Weekly] next to it, and I said to myself, “15 years later, here’s what they’ve morphed into.” They’re still together and it’s still the iconic look.

Covers of Entertainment Weekly and Harley Quinn No. 1 (Photo: Entertainment Weekly; DC Entertainment)

_____________________ Paul Dini is an Emmy-winning writer whose most recent work, the graphic novel Dark Night: A True Batman Story, tells the harrowing tale of his brutal mugging and struggle to overcome his demons.

Paul Dini (Photo: Alan Weissman) 

[kaysta]

MMOs I have played throughout the years

This is gonna be a long one, so I’m gonna put a read more to not eat a whole dash board. It’s gonna show my age a little ^^;

MUDs: I didn’t actually play these myself, but I vaguely remember my parents typing white letters onto the black screen. One of them let you add more description as you entered a room as you got higher level. I believe my mom had green light in the shapes of trees and my dad had cold wind and skulls.

Ultima Online: I made a blonde named Sarah, based on one of my classmates. She chopped wood, cooked food, and was told not to leave town. I got curious and followed my parents into the forest to watch their raid, and got attacked. I was very upset when they ate my corpse. I don’t think I played again.

Everquest: ah my first 3D MMO. I had a woodelf which meant my starting area was in the trees, where safety railings did not exist. You learned quickly to walk instead of run, or else you would have to wander around under the city to find your corpse to get your equipment back. Skeletons that were dead looked the same as when they were alive, so sometimes a pile of bones would jump up and start attacking you. I got as far as a keep that led to the desert, and boats that took a long time to get you places.

Anarchy Online: The rare SciFi MMO, but I unfortunately played during the beta. Starter quests could not complete and many other bugs prevented me from enjoying it. The idea of implants instead of armor was pretty freaking cool though. I heard it did pretty well once the bugs were ironed out.

Dark Age of Camelot: I technically played this, but all I remember is auto following in massive clumps where you couldn’t see your character (no collision detection lol) in order to fight at keeps. I think I mostly watched my parents play this one.

Rune Scape: How do I bury bones? TEACH ME YOUR DAMN GAME. Got bored in the first hour.

Adventure Quest: A browser/flash game that was pretty cool. I think I got decently far before I forgot about it. Animation was basic flash but the art was good.

Eve Online: I tried this recently and just.... it’s not fun. I was trying to do the basic missions and figure out what skills I should train eventually and like... I don’t like video game homework. And this is straight up a second job.

Horizons/Istaria: Vaguely recall requiring people to move around so that resources in an area could recover from depletion. Being able to play as a dragon is pretty cool. Looking it up, I’m surprised both that it is alive and that it changed game titles.

Maple Story: I played this with my brother and it was pretty fun. Many killing of slimes. Don’t even remember what class I played.

Star Wars Galaxies: All I remember is dancing in the Cantina, I don’t know if I did much else. My mom did not like the crafting system and the lack of ability to label same shaped storage crates.

Toontown Online: My brother played this far more than I did, but I had fun when I did play it. Don’t remember what the name of my yellow cat was. The revival (fanmade) server is doing pretty well, last I heard.

City of Heroes: <3 My favorite MMO, I was there when City of Villains was an UPCOMING release. Played both my main hero and main villain to approximately the same level. I would probably pay a good $40-60 to play with that character creator again, especially if powers were included. The villain became my default D&D character, and the hero became a wanderer in my never-finished Kingdom Hearts fan comic.

World of Warcraft: Probably the most amusing rogue I played, and actually got to feel useful in dungeons (assuming I remember correctly). The last quest I remember was titled “Snakes on the Plain”.

Club Penguin: Briefly wandered around, danced a bit.

Roblox: I vaguely remember being in a difficult to control fighting match with my brother. I think one of the people from the community is still on my Steam friends list?

Lord of the Rings Online: Very beautiful, but somehow failed to capture my interest. My sister had great fun fishing and wandering around the Shire.

Age of Conan: My mom knew whenever I got a critical because my cackle could be heard from across the room. Was very satisfying to playing the beginning 20 levels a few times, but never bothered leaving the first city.

Aion: Two races of winged flying people fighting against each other for holes in the sky. As a female you either were “good” (wore high heels) or “evil” (had clawed feet that JUST HAPPENDED to be like high heels). My mom theorized that everyone was actually only three inches tall, which is why we had leaves for umbrellas and could, ya know, fly.

Wizard 101: A simple but polished game, with a sense of incoming paywall surrounding it. Didn’t get very far, but it was a decent concept and execution.

Rift: Play as the magic jerks or the machine nerds, each blaming the other for causing the end of the world. I really enjoyed that rifts open up and everyone runs in together, fights a good fight, then go back to whatever they were doing. I still fire this up once in a great while.

Star Wars KOTR: Had a good story, just like the original single player games. It forgot to expand the walkable area, however, in it’s transition to MMO. You always rode an object to the next location, with no option to just hoof it and explore. With a strict Lightside/Darkside, sometimes you got lightside points for just.. being efficient. No Mr. Evil Science, putting different brains in the creatures is not helping our cause of domination you are just wasting money. I am going to report you so we can get a competent scientist instead. *lightside points granted*

TERA: I played this briefly with a housemate in college, but she and her boyfriend wouldn’t stop to read what the quests were saying. May have been more fun with different people.

Guild Wars 2: Currently trying to play this one again, haven’t played since it was first released so I have a lot to catch up on. I always enjoy their stories and active encouragement of exploration. Getting enough points to unlock the new toy (a glider) was a bit of a chore, but not enough to stop my enjoyment so far.

The Secret World: Started playing this with my group of friends, definitely enjoyed the atmosphere and themes. Keep thinking I should play it again, but I never seem to get around to it.

Archeage: I locked onto this game in an obsessive way after college, since it was great at making me feel useful. I love fishing, jumping onto other ships to invade them, and building houses. Over time it has become more focused on gear comparing, since it is PvP only servers. Everyone took the politics of not killing each other (mostly discussed in voice chat) very seriously. I’ve never enjoyed the homework involved in PvP builds or top level gear, so I saved it to be the very last thing I tried. The random chance for upgrading gear, and massive decline in player population, really lowered my interest in logging in.

Elder Scrolls Online: This had a worse time than Star Wars KOTR transitioning into an MMO. While the world is technically more open, it still follows the MMO logic of “things that direction will kill you until level XX”. The main thing that hurt it, for me, was that I was playing with my boyfriend. If you are on the same quest with someone and go ahead a step, or make a different choice, you can no longer help them fight because the monsters DO NOT EXIST on your screen.

Revelation Online: Tried to make my usual sexy thief (City of Villains character) and was thrown off by how GIRLY the female Blademaster is. I’m talking cute swinging of arms, softly cheering up people, and RIDING A HORSE SIDE SADDLE. I want to be the strong independent woman stereotype, not the polite flower stereotype. In general, I was surprised that your height was restricted by your class but happy with overall character customization. My mom gave up on this one because it was even more pay to win than she expected.