As a kid, I fucking loved Batman and ate up all his cartoons. As an adult, I still love him BUT now I'm hyper-aware that most of his Rogues gallery are villains because of a physical or mental condition. If his villains got proper therapy or surgery early on in life, they'd be pretty decent people. Now they spend their days getting knocked around by a rich kid dressed up as a bat with childhood trauma.

"I didn't mean to."

Screenshot redraw from one of my favourite BTAS episodes

371 icons of baby doll from btas s3ep4. Like or reblog if using icons. Download: here.

Baby-Doll Batman: The Animated Series

Bat fight by Dan Hipp

DC Comics: BABY-DOLL / Puzzleverse reference sheet / ALT text available

Rating Every TNBA Redesign Cos Why Not

The New Batman Adventures was the last season of the infamous Batman the Animated Series, although it moved to another less strict network. Because the producers wanted to do crossovers with the Superman animated series, they gave the series and its characters a more streamlined style to it. Now I dont wanna blame Bruce Timm entirely since there were many artists on staff back then who did the redesigns but because I hate this coomer, Im going to anyway. In BTAS, you can tell each character apart and they have their own unique outfits and looks to them. But here, these are some of the most unimaginative superhero/villain designs Ive ever seen. Although some did surprise me and were not that bad. So, for a bit of fun, here's my look at each Batman character's redesign in the final (and worst) season of the show.

(Not counting Robin cos he's a different character to Dick Grayson or characters that had very little changes like Clayface or Harley Quinn)

Batman

The big emo rodent himself. For his redesign, I like the more sleek look to Batman's cape...thats it. His original design is really hard to perfect. Its got everything. Why tamper with perfection?

Batgirl

I actually kinda like Batgirl's redesign. The yellow gloves and boots really help her stand out and its the one of the few times the darker toned outfits actually accentuate a design rather than ruin it. Too bad Bruce Timm couldn't stop salivating over her and the rest of the women in this show. So next time you see someone consider Bruce Timm this legendary storyteller of Batman, give them a healthy reminder that he shipped this college girl character with her mentor/surrogate uncle figure FOR YEARS.

Alfred

Its like they sucked away all of Alfred's snark and replaced it with a cardboard cutout. Literally, he looks so sterile and empty. Who had the idea of making Alfred look more bored and done with everything? Also whats wrong with his chin??

Commissioner Gordon

Good ole Commissioner Pringle got off pretty much unscathed but I think they made him a touch too old considering they gave him a more lanky body, which makes him look more feeble and weak. Dude looks old enough to be Babs' grandad

Joker

Ohhhhh boy. So Joker's redesign is infamously considered by fans as one of the show's worst redesigns, to a point even the showrunners were like yeahh. And thats not unwarranted. He looks like an inverted Dr Draken and im so glad they redesigned him again for Batman Beyond and onward.

Seriously he's A CLOWN WHERES THE MAKE UP?!!

Two-Face

I know Two Face is just a redrawn version of the original design with the TNBA streamlined art style but I want to draw special attention to the monster side of Dent's face. Notice in the original it looks more manic and feral? Heavily contrasted with the conflicted, guilty look on Dent's normal side? But here, in the redesign the monster side is less scary and Dent looks way too bored and angry. The overuse of black lines doesnt help.

Catwoman

She looks like Harley Quinn or Barbara wearing a catsuit. Starting to see a pattern here?

Baby Doll

Its a tough call cos they both look very good but Im gonna lean towards the redesign cos shes got that creepy doll look down to a T (Annabelle would be proud) whereas her original design looked more like a Tiny Toons character.

Scarface and the Ventriloquist

I like the redesign cos of the exaggerated style of the rest of the show perfectly captures Scarface since he's, yknow, a puppet and having the Ventriloquist be shown to be scared and submissive really does show how the puppet is ironically the puppetmaster.

Penguin

Actually I like both of them. They both give off that sophisticated element Penguin is known for and after so many reiterations of him being this crass Scouse-talking crime boss, its nice to see versions of him going back to his rich asshole roots.

Bane

In the original, he has a luchador-style mask and wrestling suit fitting his Spanish roots. Here, he straight up looks like a gimp. Its really bad. Embrace your heritage, Bane!

Riddler

They went from Frank Gorshin to Jim Carrey for Riddler (fitting cos Batman Forever came during TNBA's development) and I love that. So I love both of them. Nice to see a villain with some fucking colour in TNBA cos im tired of seeing all this black outfits. Also his cane being an extended question mark instead of a question mark on top of a regular cane is genius.

Mad Hatter

Both of them fit Hatter's deranged stalker vibes perfectly, but I wish they kept the colour scheme for the redesign cos Hatter's new colour scheme looks too rounded and doesnt stand out.

Poison Ivy

Killer Croc

Finally, now he looks like an actual crocodile instead of whatever the hell he was supposed to be!

Scarecrow

Okay, who the fuck decided to make Scarecrow look like the Babadook? Cos I want to give them a raise. Holy mother of piss, that is terrifying. That shit belongs in the Arkham games. I still prefer the old design cos it has that perfect blend of goofy and gothic. He looks like a Cacturne now that I think about it.

Mr Freeze

HONEY WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU?!! WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE A FUCKING FUTURAMA HEAD?!! WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?! YOU HURT MY HUSBAND, TIMM, NOW ITS PERSONAL

i hope i'm not alone in this thought but I think Baby Doll would make an amazing vigilante. She could specialize in tight spaces, and sting operations involving child kidnappings or trafficking. She'd become like a Chris Hansen-esque harbinger, maybe even renaming herself after a small but deadly predator.

The creators of animation have had to deal with censors for a long time. The people behind Batman: The Animated Series too did often complain about their difficulties with the censors. Here is a collection of their internal comments on some BS&P notes they received, from the book Batman Animated. They say, however, that the censors at Fox and WB were much more lenient than any other network and generally accepted that Batman was supposed to be something of a darker hero. Indeed older cartoon heroes were not even allowed to “make a fist, much less hit anyone with it.”

By the way, you can read the entire rare book at the Internet Archive!

Transcription of the images under the cut.

Bruce, the network says it is not their practice to show animal excrement hitting anyone on a children's show. They want us to cut the bat guano landing on Alfred's jacket and send them a fixed version of the episode.

Page A28: Network says no to Batman slugging Torchy in the gut with his fist. Kicking him, striking him with his whole arm or some such is okay.

Page 15: They won't let Scarface call anyone a "Scumbag".

Page 10: It'll break Alan's heart, but Penguin's joke about "picking up all the soap" in prison is out.

Network wants to cut Batman saying "Oh my God" from the audio cassette. They realize it's the logical thing for the character to say in the situation, but they feel many religious families would be offended by hearing Batman take the Lord's name in vain. It's okay for him to gasp.

Page A59: The third thug must be caucasian.

Page C41-42 Censor says Ras' looks too much like the devil. They want to lose the horned demon mask, glowing eyes, fangs and flames as he emerges from the pit.

Page 19: BS&P says Bane picking up Robin by the head is too easy for a kid to copy with a pet or smaller kid.

Page C16: Censor has a problem with Batman punching the skinny man in the face.

Page C39: Tell Dan he's going to have to restage this so Miriam isn't kicking Batman in the head.

Pages C97, C99, and C124-125: Baby-Doll can't bash Batman in the face with Mr. Happy Head.

Page C58: Robin kicking the thugs in their faces is too much. A body kick is okay.

Pages 4-5: I can't believe they want us to change the scene of the hyenas putting their heads into the baby carriage and chowing down!

Page 34: It has be clear through Harley's dialogue: "I think I made a mess on your cape" that she only barfed.

Pages 15 and 17: Censors want us to be more sensitive toward the families of those with mental illness. As Harley's just been released from the Laughing Academy, they don't want Bullock calling her a "fruitcake" or "screwball".

Page A15: It's okay to have Catwoman rake Batman's face, just don't show any blood.

Pages C10, C15, and C21: Censor wants us to figure out someplace for Catwoman to land other than on her face or breasts.

Page 26: We have to make it clear in the board that Batman's kneeing the Walrus in the stomach.

Inktober #9

I like to think Mary is able to salvage her film career after being rehabilitated. Maybe trying her hand at directing? I’d like to do a bit more with her post-Arkham career.

hi:) idk how to promote stuff for my youtube so i made a quick snippet of a playlist i made! it was fun to edit, watch it if you want. 👇 (i am very obsessed with batman and lemon demon right now lol)

Year of the Bat - Number 20

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’m counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January. We’ve reached the Top 20 of the countdown! TODAY’S EPISODE QUOTE: “Why couldn’t you just let me make-believe?!” Number 20 is…Baby Doll.

I had a hard time deciding between this classic episode and “The Clock King,” our previous entry. Both are episodes that debut new villains for the show, and in both cases, they were villains with very few appearances, but who have developed a noticeable following in years since. However, I think Baby Doll – in regards to both the character and the story – hits harder on an emotional level, which is why this takes precedence over the Clock King. The plot focuses on Batman trying to stop a series of mysterious kidnappings going on across Gotham. The perpetrator of these crimes is a childlike supervillainess called Baby Doll. It’s eventually revealed that Baby Doll is one Mary Dahl; a former child actress. Dahl suffers from a condition called systemic hypoplasia; while she ages mentally, emotionally, and so on, her physical body forever remains trapped in the form of a little girl. Mary got her start in a sitcom, where she played a character called “Baby Doll,” which made her a star. Since she couldn’t age, she was able to play this adorable little girl for a full decade…but things changed when a new character was brought onto the show, and ended up upstaging Dahl’s own.

Jealous and infuriated, the fame having gone to her head, Mary quit the program. However, her childlike appearance, combined with her being typecast as Baby Doll, led to her being unable to find a stable career, and her whole life fell into a downward spiral. Her mind eventually snapped; she could no longer fully distinguish fantasy from reality. As the supervillain Baby Doll, the name taken from her old character, Mary tries to rebuild the fantasy life she always wanted and loved so much, kidnapping her co-stars and trying to recreate the perfect world she believes she once had.

While I can’t prove it for certain, I feel this episode MUST have been inspired by the horror film “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” That film’s titular antagonist was a former child actress. Her career tanked at some point, and her younger sister became a bigger star than she was, leaving the once-spoiled-with-success Baby Jane jealous and bitter. Over the course of the film, Baby Jane’s sanity deteriorates due to various things, as it becomes harder and harder for her to separate fantasy and reality. It all sounds disturbingly close to Baby Doll in this episode; even the name is similar! About all that’s difference is the twist about aging: in the movie, Baby Jane is depicted as an old hag by the time she becomes the villain. Baby Doll’s plight, however, is partially the result of her being UNABLE to physically age.

Regardless of inspiration, Baby Doll is an episode that combines so many great elements together, particularly when it comes to the matter of tone. There’s a lot of different levels and layers, tonally, to this story: as you might imagine from its title, and from the basic setup of the title character, there’s a nice big dollop of campy silliness involved in the story, and it does take full advantage of the humor that come from that. However, the episode can also be quite creepy in places, with the visual and story-based motifs of innocence lost and being trapped in an endless childhood, two wonderfully clashing ideas. On top of that, it’s really quite a heartbreaking story: while Mary’s fall from grace was at least partially her own doing, you can’t help but feel sorry for her. Through no real fault of her own, she’s trapped in an inescapable position in life, and it’s easy to sympathize with someone whose entire scheme stems from a place of wanting to go back to happier, simpler, better times.

This is also another episode – much like the two Riddler stories I covered earlier in the countdown – where a big part of what makes the story great is how it ends. The climactic finale to Baby Doll is widely regarded as one of the most disturbing and sad in the entire series. It’s a big part of why the character is so highly revered, and why the episode is a fan favorite. It’s genuinely surprising that, with the following Baby Doll has, she’s never been adapted into comics. Unlike the Clock King, the DCAU is where she got her start…but unlike characters such as Harley Quinn and Lock-Up, Baby Doll never really went anywhere after the fact. She’s made a few cameos and been homage in other media and mainstream comics, but this and her other appearance in B:TAS (“Love is a Croc,” where Baby Doll teams up with Killer Croc, of all characters) remain her only major stories of note. Considering how strong this particular episode is, maybe that’s not such a bad thing: sometimes, one great story is all it takes.

Tomorrow we move on to Number 19! Hint: “Hit me, Riley! Maybe I’ll wake up and be a millionaire, too!”

215 icons of baby doll from the new batman adventures s1ep13. Like or reblog if using icons. Download: here.

I Had 2 Dreams

1st One Was That I Saw Baby Doll (BTAS version) Singing Daisy Bell Beside A Pond Full Of Swans. It Was Really Peaceful When I Sat Down Listening To Her Singing & Watching The Swans.

2nd One Was About That I Went To An Amusement Park, It Had Rides Like Roller Coasters, The Twister & Those Rides Where You Shoot A Target. I Go On The Twister Ride & I Was Sat Next To Someone Else. They Had No Face & No Limbs Which That Literally Disturbed The Hell Out Of Me A Bit. After The Ride Was Finished, But Since The Person Has No Limbs To Get Himself Out, I Helped Them Out Until I See That They Had A Wheelchair Right Beside A Gate. The Staff Member Who Is Operating The Ride Brings The Wheelchair Over To Us & I Placed The Limbless Person On The Wheelchair. Although The Staff Helped Me Get Off The Ride Since I Got Worried A Little Bit.

I have so many questions.

Here are some episode ideas 1

1. Episode name: Hat-tricks Episode for: Batman the Animated Series Summary: The hatter is in police custody, but Batman suspects something is afoot when he's on patrol and he apprehends another Hatter who disappears leaving his hat on the way to police station, this phenomenon repeat two more times after which Batman goes to the police station to interrogate the hatter, the interrogation is interrupted by two other Hatter's appearing out of nowhere and striking Batman unconscious, when he wakes up he's tied to a chair at tea table half the table sits 3 Hatters completely identical to each other except all three of them have different hair colors, the real Hatter explains that these duplicates of him are solid Holograms created by Tech he stole, they are also sentient which is demonstrated by the redheaded Hatter attempting to kill Batman to which he is interrupted by the brunette Hatter attempting to do with himself, this leads to a fight which gives Batman cut the Ropes and destroyed the device creating the Holograms, the episode ends with jarvis having conversation with Jonathan who says that one Hatter is enough 2. Episode name: Sidekick sitting Episode for: The new Batman adventures Summary: Tim Drake has caught a cold and has to stay home, unfortunately alfred is out on a business trip with blues and so a pair of babysitters are hired, unfortunately the babysitters are actually Jervis and Jonathan, the dastardly Duo are planning to Rob wayne Manor but also have to take care of a sick Tim who proves to be a distraction, they are Charmed by the boy and decide to actually take care of him, problem is they don't really know how to take care of a kid but they do the best and by the end that both given fat wads of cash by Alfred and they decide maybe this wasn't such a bad experience and they agreed to come back whenever they're needed 3. Episode name: Cabbages and comic-Cons Episode for: Batman Beyond Summary: Terry McGinnis is at comic con a new Gotham, but unbeknownst to him a digitally reincarnated Force of chaos slumbers, terry suspects something Fishy is going on when at the villain appreciation event at the comic con when the holographic hosts consisting of Mad Hatter, scarecrow, and The Riddler begin going off script, his suspicions are confirmed one of the cosplayers who is called playing the hatter attacks him with a prop ax when he has investigate as batman, when he subdues the mad cosplayer and continues investigating he sees that the electrical box to the whole building is hooked up to a hat that flashes and buzzes, next to the Hat is a video desk when it's played it shows that it's the last will and testament of Jervis tetch, who informs the Listener that aI copy of his Consciousness has been stored inside of a miniature supercomputer in the Hat got you hooked up to the electrical box, but before terry can destroy the Hat he's knocked unconscious by one of the it guys who hooks up the hat to a computer sending the AI into the internet, the episode ends in this perspective of the Hat AI who considers all of the wonderfully chaotic things he can get up to 4. Episode name: Almost had him again Episode for: Batman the Animated Series Summary: 5 criminals sit at a table playing poker, the criminals consist of baby doll, mad Hatter, scarecrow, riddler, and the music Meister, a group of criminals decide to compare stories of how or how they almost got the Batman Baby doll begins with a story about how she was robbing a toy store, when the Batman attempted to stop her she thought fast and almost crushed him under a pile of dolls but the Batman escape Suffocation by porcelain just in Time to stop the pint-sized crook The hatter speaks of croquet and a cage bat, the Batman was locked in a cage about to be bludgeoned by croquet balls, but in the end the back escaped his gilded coffin and another one of the Hatters hats ended up squasht this time under a croquet mallet A scarecrow tells a story about how he was ran into a cornfield and thinking quick he hid and creeped like a predator attempting to cut down the bat like a stalk of corn, johnny even got a good Nick into the bat before he was soundly punched and knocked unconscious The music Meister through a saxophone at him... It was a big saxophone The Riddler told a story about a time that he set up a game show and kidnapped people that Proclaim themselves to be smart to put them to the test, but Batman interrupted luckily the bat was apprehended and added as a surprise contestant, he even stump the greatest detective but before he could press the button to dunk the bat into the pool of piranhas, he was taken by surprise by another surprise guest, robin who punched him in the face The game ends and the hatter has won the pot but before he can celebrate, batman busts through the skylight and the episode ends jonathan and Jarvis both promise never to play poker again and just take the chest