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Well Batman: The Caped Crusader just dropped on Amazon and I just finished watching episode 1. And making a spiritual successor to Batman TAS is something I would immensely gravitate towards I've been hyped for this when it was announced. So here's my Episode 1 review (Spoilers Ahead):

IT FUCKING SUCKS. WOKENESS RUINED EVERYTHING BRUCE TIMM IS A FUCKING HACK IT WAS ALWAYS PAUL DINI WHO WAS THE ACTUAL GENIUS OF BTAS AHHHHHHHH WHY THEY'D FUCK IT UP!

Okay so that is hyperbole autistic nerd rage, but this first episode did underwhelm me. The character designs are great clearly Bruce Timm still knows how to draw. But episode 1 is handicapped by some stilted animation and just what feels like bad writing to me. I can't ignore the big elephant in the room that they've genderswapped Penguin and this episode's introduction does no favors to this incarnation of The Penguin. It's supposed to be a Big Momma mobster and she's lacking any basic heart that even your mobster villian needs to have to be compelling. She literally drowns one of her sons and then tries to murder the other. Killing your children is what a mentally ill woman would do but what's supposed to be a Gangster mother killing off her bloodline without any real rage psychotic anger. It's dumb. Danny Devito's Penguin wasn't a perfect portrayal but he did have some empathy, it's sad when he finds his parents graves. and of course when his family the real penguins mourn him, You get where his character is coming from, why he'd become a monster who wanted to strike at a humanity that rejected him.
Am I being unfair to compare Burton's Penguin with this new "Oswalda Cobblepot?" I don't think so because BTAS was a defacto kid's continuation of Burton's Batman, that's why Penguin is deformed akin to Danny Devito's Penguin. Beyond that I just wasn't really moved by this, it feels like they're going way too dark of a universe where even the Gotham PD are all corrupt even my boy Harvey Bullock who was just an oaf in BTAS. It's just not a fantasy world I want to fall into like the childhood me fell into the BTAS cartoon. BTAS was funny, the characters were pretty much all likable in their own way. Harvey Dent starts off just being a realistic shitbag politician instead of a decent man.

I'm tired and feeling bummed out that episode 1 is so bad. This whole post is likely incomprehensible as it's hard to keep my eyes open right now. Here's to hoping the 2nd Episode (a clear Part 2) is going to right this because if Episode 1 isn't just a shaky start then I'm going to be so damn disappointed. Also Batman saves Barbara Gordon's ass at the end of Episode 1 just by hitting several goons with the Batmobile, like that's just boring, it's a damn cartoon Batman better be doing stuff with crazy ninja pizazz. When I say this first episode sucks it's frankly a 6/10, but that hurts because I'm hoping something Bruce Timm would be at least 2 points higher than that. Have a good night everyone.

Edit: So I just woke up and discovered that the show does not start as a two parter. That makes this first episode so much worse because I thought it was going to be a mob story between Penguin and Rupert Thorne. This episode is a 4/10 for me.
I want to like this show. I want to like it so much I woke up only a few hours after seeing Ep1 to see what happened next. I also poured myself a bowl of Reese’s Cereal and ate it like I was 8 years old again.

And well Episode 2 is better but this is still living in the shadow of BTAS. This was okay television but Ep2 is this show’s intro to CLAYFACE and Clayface is one of the most iconic BTAS villains. And I’m sorry it just doesn’t compare to what BTAS did decades ago.

Look at this animation, look at it it’s fucking awesome! Yeah this doesn’t happen in Caped Crusader, this episode isn’t even about Clayface it’s a Renee Montoya episode and to its credit I like that Montoya is a hero but it’s not that interesting. It’s just boring. I wish my observation was more intelligent but this isn’t very exciting.

All this show is making me want to do is watch BTAS. This episode is a 6/10. It’s just okay.
This was the first episode where I had fun watching it. Except for the excruciatingly dull B-Plot with Dr. Harley Quinn and unnecessary time spent going over young Bruce Wayne losing his parents. This is one of the better portrayals of Catwoman and the story was funny and it was cool to see her in her golden age costume. There’s still too much talking and not enough action. This cartoon feels more like a radio drama than a Batman cartoon. This is a 7/10 had some fun romantic tension between Batman and Catwoman.
This was one of the most interesting episodes because I didn't know where it was headed. Basically Gotham PD decides it's time to capture Batman and then things spiral out of control. It was better, less characters standing around arguing with each other. One detail I found hilarious was that Batman is rescuing two kids and Commissioner Gordon tries to arrest him, Batman points out that there's a third child that still needs to be rescued. Batman is so calm and nonchalant during this situation it made me feel like he would have just had to let the kid die in a fire if Gordon wasn't there.

But anyway "IS THIS SHOW WOKE?" And the strongest argument that it is is that the good guys of Gotham PD is Black Commissioner Gordon, Renee Montoya, and Defense Attorney Mulatto Barbara Gordon. Personally I think the show just sidesteps it in having the two corrupt cops be Harvey Bullock and a Black Arnold Flass. So it's not saying that all the bad guys are Whitey, this can't be used as a springboard for arguing Critical Race Theory. Most of all thankfully the White Billionaire Capitalist Bruce Wayne is still our hero, none of that bullshit that Batman is actually a fascist.

Beyond that my criticisms still apply to this episode, there's too much talking not enough action, this show just feels cheap in animation. I can't even imagine how much worse this show would feel if I watch Mask of the Phantasm before watching this. I just really hope that it does get a Season 2 and they get a bigger budget. This concept could have potential but it's just so badly hamstringed. Again it's living in the shadow of Batman TAS.

I think this will conclude my reviews unless an episode really surprises me. At this point I'm just running out of stuff to say.
 
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Tom Bombodildo said:
I've been meaning to ask what people think about Wakfu (and Dofus if you've seen it). S4 came out recently and I haven't started it yet but I watched S3 as it came out and it felt like the story was getting a bit out of hand. Still love the characters though.
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I enjoyed Wakfu S4 even though, as you said, the power levels are getting a little out of hand compared to S1 and S2. However, I didn't mind too much since characters becoming powercreeped started at least around mid S2 if not earlier. Also, best one armed insane eliatrope returns in S4 and I thought that Ankama did a good job using him in S4.

I did think that the main villian for S4 was better than Oroppo, but not quite as good as Quilby or Nox.

I will say that Ankama doesn't show or say what happened to the 12 Gods or why the Inglorium is in a state of complete destruction in this season. However, there is supposed to be a S5 coiming out which might answer those questions.
 
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IMO Season 4 was good but you can tell they're making it up as they go along. Still I'm fine with going on Tot's (co-founder of Ankara and the showrunner) Wild Ride wherever it goes.
 
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Tom Bombodildo said:
I've been meaning to ask what people think about Wakfu (and Dofus if you've seen it). S4 came out recently and I haven't started it yet but I watched S3 as it came out and it felt like the story was getting a bit out of hand. Still love the characters though.
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I've actually seen Dofus, though I don't remember much. I didn't hate it, otherwise I can't tell you much.
 
Outside of the usual controversies, the Caped Crusader cartoon has a Harley Quinn who is Asian and a kind of dumpy lesbian (though honestly that's a bit more realistic), but for all that seems to be an attempt (a not entirely successful attempt but a lot less of a faceplant than other aspects of the show) at a version that steers closer to the original, a space case who is a prisoner of her own self-sabotage, tragic somewhat but who can still be a cruel villain. I think Timm & Co. are not the only people who think the over a decade of her being made into a low-rent feminist pseudo-Deadpool for DC has been a prolonged bad idea.

Now, the Caped Crusader's version of the Penguin being a woman named Oswalda Cobblepot...how long did it take to come up with that name? Was simply thinking of a actual female name that starts with an O too difficult? How lazy is it to just slap an a at the end of a male name and call it a day?
 
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Gorillion others said:
I wonder if Joker is gonna be in it. I wonder how they're gonna fuck that up.
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It says a lot that they didn’t even do a Golden Age Joker.

Something definitely happened during the production of this show where they just decided to not even try.

The only episode that got close to Batman TAS’s level was Catwoman’s. I really liked the simplicity that Catwoman would just steal because’s she’s a spoiled brat who just wants to lounge around with her kitties all day.
Commander X said:
Outside of the usual controversies, the Caped Crusader cartoon has a Harley Quinn who is Asian and a kind of dumpy lesbian (though honestly that's a bit more realistic), but for all that seems to be an attempt (a not entirely successful attempt but a lot less of a faceplant than other aspects of the show) at a version that steers closer to the original, a space case who is a prisoner of her own self-sabotage, tragic somewhat but who can still be a cruel villain. I think Timm & Co. are not the only people who think the over a decade of her being made into a low-rent feminist pseudo-Deadpool for DC has been a prolonged bad idea.

Now, the Caped Crusader's version of the Penguin being a woman named Oswalda Cobblepot...how long did it take to come up with that name? Was simply thinking of a actual female name that starts with an O too difficult? How lazy is it to just slap an a at the end of a male name and call it a day?
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I liked the angle that she’s a con artist who abuses her patients. I’m not an anti-psychiatry person btw it’s just a cool angle.

What’s dumb is that she should have had a scene where she did get close to breaking Bruce Wayne’s walls. The cartoon shows that it is a Bruce who isn’t totally in charge of his emotions (he has to go to her after punching an asshole who mocks his mother for wearing pearls while walking down crime alley).

That subplot is in the Catwoman episode (the best episode I saw) and it just doesn’t go anywhere because Bruce doesn’t let her get any control. It would have been an interesting interaction if she did. Seriously you’re doing a psychiatry scene with Bruce Wayne and the shrink doesn’t ask about Batman’s parents?

Also that weird sex dungeon thing she had in episodes after was weird. She had one dude getting tickle tortured. :cryblood:

Back to the topic yeah the highest praise I can give for this take on Harley is that they are saying indeed Harley is EVIL. I’ve written this before she should never be an antihero, it’s actually sexist to act like Harley only becomes bad because of Mister J’s influence.
 
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McMitch said:
We already knew this with the Dark Knight Returns movies.
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Fuck you, those were awesome. Also both Timm and Dini are hacks, they had a whole team keeping their autism in check. Dini is only really good at writing the Joker and frankly I'm not even sure about that anymore.

That being said, Caped Crusader is so bad I'm not even sure that Timm was actually involved all that much besides signing off on the designs and collecting his paycheck. I'm not even sure why it's called a Batman show since Batman is barely a character in it let alone the main one. The female cast seems to be getting the bulk of the screen-time.
 
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ArthuriusMartyrius said:
Fuck you, those were awesome. Also both Timm and Dini are hacks, they had a whole team keeping their autism in check. Dini is only really good at writing the Joker and frankly I'm not even sure about that anymore.

That being said, Caped Crusader is so bad I'm not even sure that Timm was actually involved all that much besides signing off on the designs and collecting his paycheck. I'm not even sure why it's called a Batman show since Batman is barely a character in it let alone the main one. The female cast seems to be getting the bulk of the screen-time.
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Daily reminder that Timm did the Batman and Batgirl sex scene.
 
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Gorillion others said:
Daily reminder that Timm did the Batman and Batgirl sex scene.
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And? Doesn't cancel out anything else he's done. Justice League: Gods & Monsters came out literally the year prior to The Killing Joke and it was a damn good flick.

Besides it's not like he's the only guy to have Barbara with a crush on Bruce. She was originally much closer in age to him anyway (in her 20s) before DC de-aged her to make her closer to Dick's age. Then we've also had her hooking up with Tim and Jason. Wouldn't be surprised if she ends up becoming Damian's girlfriend in the future.
 
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