I miss an evening and there’s a classic Animaniacs reference.
Deanatay
It’s cute that kids today think of Animaniacs as ‘classic’.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s good stuff, but I was in my 20’s when it came out. Looney Tunes, THAT’s classic.
Rose by Any Other Name
I will take that compliment.
That said, I actually meant ‘classic’ as opposed to the Hulu reboot (which tragically lacks Slappy).
Roborat
I was so excited when I heard they were bringing back Animaniacs, but I have been a bit disappointed with it so far. It is pretty good, but it is not as good as the original.
StClair
Same.
Heck, a lot of LT is actually older than television (as a medium, not an experiment).
Well you know, “the DAO than can be told is not the true DAO.”
therefore “Batman” is not the true Batman.
Also,
“mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.”
Darkness within darkness?
That’s right, you guessed it.
It’s Batmans all the way down.
this answers your question i think.
Jungle Dwayne
When you write it in all caps like this, I read it as talking about digital access objects, and it’s still true.
Thag Simmons
The characters reference specific real-world Batman media, sometimes by name.
Also if Batman was real in this world people would have treated Amazi-girl very differently
StClair
“I don’t want anyone thinking you’re like that nut in Gotham City.”
I occasionally watch speedrunners, whenever there’s some big breakthrough in a game that catches some headlines.
Those people are…is there such a thing as aspirational insanity? I work in software, and if I could put the sort of focus into understanding the minutiae how a piece of software functions that they do I’d probably be a millionaire. And they mostly do it for fun.
That being said, yikes, I also suffer from insomnia thanks to working nights throughout college, and I can say from experience that Amber needs to get some rest. Don’t let all-nighters become a habit at this age, because you get to my age, pull the occasional unintentional one, don’t bounce back like you used to, and spend the next day as the living dead.
Speedruns that focus on the route, optimizations, discovery, and exploiting mechanics are super interesting for me. It’s so cool to see a game I’m familiar with get broken down and rebuilt to achieve a goal.
Obsession over performing frame-perfect maneuvers in round after round of repetitive gameplay is where I lose interest immediately. Different strokes, I guess.
I have little interest in watching the speedrunners perform that kind of thing itself, but the documentary style video essays detailing the journey is often very interesting and sometimes inspiring.
Not to speedrun, but just to accomplish things in general.
Well, there’s an interesting difference between what is theoretically possible and what has been provably performed. Like, for a lot of games, you’ve got people who use tools to achieve impossible levels of perfection, and everyone nods wisely and agrees that asking a human to do this is ridiculous… and then a few short years later, humans are doing it somehow.
It’s kinda neat as a matter of defiance in the face of inevitable obsolesence. Like, an athlete will never outrun an F1 car, given a reasonably fair playing field (e.g. don’t run the poor guy over), right? Except an F1 car has to go in for multiple pit stops over 200ish miles, whereas Dean Karnazes went 800 without sleeping.
It’s not interesting to watch, but it’s cool to hear about.
Reminds me of when I watched Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and a clips of a few others have a multi part rage meltdown trying to reach the end of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy and then watched a speed runner get through it using some absolute brain defying fuckary faster than I could fully process what was going on. Was a HELL of a thing to watch. Sometimes I still watch someone like markiplier, jacksepticeye, or gtlive do a let’s play of a game and then look up a speedrun with that in mind. It kinda makes me appreciate the speed runners more ya know?
Unfortunately, the quality of mental healthcare available in the DC universe appears…spotty.
Hugo Strange, Jeremiah Arkham, Harleen Quinzel…I guess Jonathan Crane was a professor instead of a practicing doctor but he was still a psychologist.
I think first day at Arkham you get given a mug that says “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps!” and eventually start taking it literally.
Nobonesforever
Hey now! Dr Harleen Quinzel is a perfectly capable therapist! Just deeply susceptible to maniacal clowns
Doctor_Who
You know what I suddenly want? An Elseworlds story where she’s Bruce Wayne’s therapist instead of Joker’s, deduces from his psych profile that he’s Batman…but falls for him just like she did for Joker and decides to declare herself Batgirl and won’t leave him alone.
…Huh, both Batgirl and Harley have been played by Tara Strong, so there’s our casting choice for the animated adaptation.
Jamie
I’m genuinely shocked to discover this isn’t already a thing.
Damnit, now I have to get hired at DC so I can make this story. I hope you’re happy.
thakoru
I would definitely read a series where Harley Quinn is Batman’s therapist. I don’t even care about all that other stuff you just said, Batman therapy sessions with Harley Quinn sounds amazing.
Needfuldoer
Words cannot describe how much I want this story to happen now. Thanks a lot…
Giguioto
The story I didn’t know ghat I wanted, and certainly the one I need
Shadowsnail
If she was going for a Robin vibe, there’s a real bird called the Harlequin Quail, but that would take the silliness to 11. I think Harleen as Batgirl with a skirt, bare midriff, and little bat wings attached to the back of her costume would keep the silliness at a solid 9.
Batgirl: You can count on me, Mistah B! I’ll detect that mean ol’ clown and tie him up in front of the police station before you can say “Chiroptera”!
So here’s what I’ve come up with based on this prompt.
Alfred hires Harleen Quinzel as Bruce’s therapist to help him with the loss of his parents (it’s basically his ultimatum for allowing Bruce to be batman is he has to actually work through his issues.) Harley talks to Bruce about the incident and how it affected him and he goes on about how for years he always wondered what he could have done to stop it from happening. But after a while he stopped blaming himself and realized there’s nothing he could’ve done and stopped blaming himself. He also mentions wishing there was someone there to stop it. Someone to help the terrified citizens out in their hour of need. Harley points out that that concept is an idea of comfort for Bruce, in the same way a lot of people in crisis wish for assistance from police or a hero or anything. She also offhandedly remarks that it’s kinda funny how now that he’s grown up there’s a cape wearing superhero out there doing just that. Bruce and Harley laugh about it, him remarking “I guess I was born a bit too early”
Harley continues to make house calls to the Wayne Manner and while Bruce seems like a well adjusted guy she can’t shake the feeling that she’s not making any progress with him. Like he’s got his walls put up. She begins exploring Wayne manner to see if there’s anything about it she can use to understand him better. When she begins coming down a hallway that leads to one of the entrances to the batcave, Alfred sees it on the batcomputer. Bruce tells him to keep her from going down there with a laser grid that will keep her from going any further. At first Harleen is deterred and starts to walk away. Then she takes off her shoes, gets a running start and acrobatically jumps between each of the lasers down the hallway. Bruce and Alfred watch her go through them, commenting on which spots are harder to get through than others and being impressed when she narrowly squeezes past them. She barely makes it to the other side and Both Bruce and Alrfred are understandably impressed. Before Bruce can dismiss it however Alfred opens up the entrance to the batcave. When Bruce tries to reject the idea Alfred tells him that this therapy will never be complete unless Ms. Quinzel is allowed to speak to the man and the bat. Bruce relents.
Harley is obviously amazed to see everything and even more shocked to find out that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Bruce tries to play off how uncomfortable he is with it but it’s pretty obvious Alfred put him up to it. He repeats with what Alfred said about her needing to know both sides of the story for this to work out. Bruce begins to talk to harley about what he’s been doing, the training he’s undergone, the places he’s been, improving his detective skills and using the money to try to make Gotham a better place. Unlike before where Harleen had the reigns, she is completely ENTHRALLED by Bruce’s tales. Sessions from here on become less about Therapy and more about Harley really falling in love with not Bruce, but Batman. Bruce begins to sense this and decides to start trying to resume their former professional relationship. Harley realizes this as well and dials it back a bit.
Batman is stopping a crime and is being overwhelemed by swarms of criminals. That’s when a woman in a costume (Either a batgirl faccimile or robin faccimele) and uses her acrobatic skills to help him out. She narrowly avoids being fatally injured but manages to help him out. Batman being “THE WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVE” he instantly finds out it’s Harley and tells her to stop doing what she’s doing. She argues that he’s doing the exact same thing and she’s just here to help out. He warns her that if she continues doing this he’ll be forced to turn her into Gordon or take her to Arkham, but she counters with the fact that if he does, she can blow the whistle on Batmans identity. Batman’s kinda stuck and so he has no choice but to accept her. But he figures if she’s gonna do this, he should at least keep her safe. So he trains her, gives her gadgets, helps teach her detective work and his methods. He’s harsh and unforgiving and partly wants her to give up but he’s also a bit amused by how well she’s doing. Eventually she becomes a full fledged side-kick and works with Batman much the same way that Dick Grayson does.
I’m imagining a storyline where they have to fight the Joker and the Joker and Harley are separated from each other and he starts needling her.
“Y’know I’ve seen a lot of crazies in my day. I own a mirror after all, HAHA. So trust me when I say I know one of my kind when I see one. I’ve seen many such cases before. A person trying so desperately to cling to the rules of society. Such a fragile tight rope they walk. You might think you’ve got it all together up there but you’re just holding back your true potential. I can help pull that out of you if you’ll just let yourself go”
Batman comes in and takes him down. He asks harley if she’s alright and she’s a bit shaken.
Harley: “It’s like he was seeing right through me, every thought I’ve ever had, everything I’ve ever done. Like he truly knew me. Am I really destined to turn out like that?”
Batman: “I can’t pretend there isn’t any truth to his words. I’ve found myself coming to that crossroads many times. But I always choose this path, because I can’t allow myself to lose sight of what’s important. That’s the citizens of Gotham, That’s the kid who lost everything in that alley all those years ago. And it’s you too, Harley. If you can promise me that you won’t lose sight of that, I promise I’ll do everything to keep you on that path.
Harley does a big goofy grin and says and continues following batman.
Haha I’m super cheesy. I dunno it’s a fun dynamic to imagine.
Spencer
See the best part about coming up with ideas for characters that are inherently interpretative is that you get to swap the names and call it your own.
Batman exists because a talented artist (and some asshole parasite) cribbed super hard off of pulp character The Shadow. It’s all yours, Yoto, go for it.
There’s even an episode of TAS that pays homage to that, the one with the model cars blowing things up.
Rose by Any Other Name
@Yotomoe: I like it! It’s a fun storyline and an interesting dynamic.
@Spencer: Very true. While certain less-than-great current franchises have made it publicly official and obvious, the idea of fanfiction ascending into its own new IP is a tale as old as fiction itself. Just ask Dante.
Batman trained hard to be the best at everything. Including being the best at needing therapy.
I wouldn’t bet on that extending to also being the best at speedrunning Mario. There’s only so many hours in a day after all, so I’m happy to assume he limited his video game mastery to Dance Dance Revolution.
I mean I love Mario as much as the next nerd but that really sounds like a huge waste of time. Go back to therapy Amber. If you’ve even been to therapy at all that is.
I don’t know the content of your paper, but I’m here to confirm that games are DEFINITELY therapeutic. At least, they do so for me.
Any specific kinds of games you highlighted?
Dana
There is research that playing games like Tetris immediately after a traumatic event can help prevent PTSD. I’m have no idea how well the study or two I read about has held up, but given how something as silly looking as EDMR has a decent amount of evidence that it works for some diagnoses I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s held up well.
Masumi
I once witnessed a guy blowing his fingers off in a chemistry lab accident. Had heard of that study before, proceeded to play Tetris all night, and ended up with way fewer nightmares than expected. So for me it seems to work!
Rose by Any Other Name
… I have a morbid and probably ableist question to ask.
If he lost his fingers, or if they were freshly reattached and thus immobilized… how did he play Tetris?
Fuzzy
I think Masumi was the one playing Tetris, because they watched someone else blow their fingers off.
Rose by Any Other Name
OH.
That… that makes more sense, yeah.
not someone else
I’ve successfully used Tetris to stop flashbacks early in the process as well as the occasional obsessive daymare so I co-sign.
Jon
I did no college term papers on the subject but Animal Crossing got most of my friend group through the early pandemic
Rose by Any Other Name
For me, Minecraft is the therapy game of choice. I almost never play Minecraft just for fun – I only pull it out when I’m upset about something because it calms me down. There is something wonderfully soothing about that game.
Needfuldoer
I think it’s the calm music and lack of mandatory objectives that do it. It’s just you and a wide open world to explore. Or not, no pressure.
I don’t doubt the therapeutic qualities of gaming. I’m all for it actually but this one situation specifically seems like an unhealthy use of Amber’s time. Not even the fact that she’s overly obsessing over a feat that is supposedly humanly impossible. Human’s break those preconceptions all the time. It’s the fact that she’s sacrificing sleep for it. I’m really surprised people quickly jumped to Amber’s side on this one.
Regalli
Oh it’s unhealthy as hell but given the standards of both Amber as we’ve seen her through this comic and speedrunners, which Doctor Who NAILED the description of with ‘aspirational insanity’? Yeah this isn’t actually THAT worrisome. Still worrisome! But uh. There are certainly worse.
I have seen in the last year a speedrunning strategy that requires overheating your console, a classic Famicom specifically of which there are a very finite number left in the world to shave off a few precious frames. Don’t remember what game it was, the fact that this was a viable strategy at all tells you something. A Super Mario 64 runner once managed to get a record run because of a stray neutrino hitting the RAM at just the right time to trigger an otherwise-impossible glitch. Wind Waker speedrunners spent a decade looking for a way through an impregnable barrier, despite being unable to come up with one even with computer assistance. There are now two different methods for performing a barrier skip, one in the original release and the other in the Wii U remake. One sleepless night is actually not that out there by these standards.
She should still sleep of course, because she’s not getting those two frames with dulled reaction times, but this doesn’t even rate in the realm of Questionable Choices or Bizarre Tactics Committed in the Name of Speedrunning.
Jamie
It’s only worrisome because we know Amber, frankly.
JBento
I’ve heard of a fighting game super-combo that required a DEFECTIVE CONTROLLER to work, and all the pissbabies threw a fit when the tournament scene banned the defective controllers.
okay all of this speedrunning stuff is news to me and it is fascinating
off to youtube
The Wellerman
I find it fascinating too!
And by the way milu, if you check your email, I do believe you’ll find something you’ll like that’s also game-related ?
Regalli
Was it Melee? I feel like this was Melee. (Though Melee’s wasn’t necessarily defective, just some potentiometers on the Gamecube controllers were more sensitive than others.)
JBento
That might have been it? I don’t really care for competitive gaming so I didn’t really commit any details to memory, it’s just something I remember reading.
Spencer
I’m pretty sure you’re talking about Melee, yeah. The Gamecube controller thing sounds familiar.
Edwin I Callahan
Uh, worse shows up tomorrow (already today if you have Patreon).
272 thoughts on “Peak human perfection”
Ana Chronistic
Batman is also FICTIONAL, Amber
…
wait
Doctor_Who
Skippy Squirrel: But Aunt Slappy, those were cartoons and this is real life!
Slappy Squirrel (to audience): Don’t tell him, he might crack.
Joe Moose
Classic!
Rainhat
Now THAT’S comedy! 🙂
Rose by Any Other Name
I miss an evening and there’s a classic Animaniacs reference.
Deanatay
It’s cute that kids today think of Animaniacs as ‘classic’.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s good stuff, but I was in my 20’s when it came out. Looney Tunes, THAT’s classic.
Rose by Any Other Name
I will take that compliment.
That said, I actually meant ‘classic’ as opposed to the Hulu reboot (which tragically lacks Slappy).
Roborat
I was so excited when I heard they were bringing back Animaniacs, but I have been a bit disappointed with it so far. It is pretty good, but it is not as good as the original.
StClair
Same.
Heck, a lot of LT is actually older than television (as a medium, not an experiment).
Kyrik Michalowski
How do we help fictional characters get over their belief in another fictional character?
Science is baffled.
Decidedly Orthogonal
He’s also a giant dick-bag.
The Wellerman
Yeah, right?
Get a sense of humor, ya fruit-sucking, bourgeois, underwear-obsessed excuse for a hero!
Clif
Well, we don’t actually know that Batman is completely fictional in the DAO universe.
Unless we do and I wasn’t paying attention.
milu
Well you know, “the DAO than can be told is not the true DAO.”
therefore “Batman” is not the true Batman.
Also,
“mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.”
Darkness within darkness?
That’s right, you guessed it.
It’s Batmans all the way down.
this answers your question i think.
Jungle Dwayne
When you write it in all caps like this, I read it as talking about digital access objects, and it’s still true.
Thag Simmons
The characters reference specific real-world Batman media, sometimes by name.
Also if Batman was real in this world people would have treated Amazi-girl very differently
StClair
“I don’t want anyone thinking you’re like that nut in Gotham City.”
oz
to be fait lots of fans say “batman go to theraphy”
Doctor_Who
I occasionally watch speedrunners, whenever there’s some big breakthrough in a game that catches some headlines.
Those people are…is there such a thing as aspirational insanity? I work in software, and if I could put the sort of focus into understanding the minutiae how a piece of software functions that they do I’d probably be a millionaire. And they mostly do it for fun.
That being said, yikes, I also suffer from insomnia thanks to working nights throughout college, and I can say from experience that Amber needs to get some rest. Don’t let all-nighters become a habit at this age, because you get to my age, pull the occasional unintentional one, don’t bounce back like you used to, and spend the next day as the living dead.
Jon
Speedruns that focus on the route, optimizations, discovery, and exploiting mechanics are super interesting for me. It’s so cool to see a game I’m familiar with get broken down and rebuilt to achieve a goal.
Obsession over performing frame-perfect maneuvers in round after round of repetitive gameplay is where I lose interest immediately. Different strokes, I guess.
Rocket Relm
I have little interest in watching the speedrunners perform that kind of thing itself, but the documentary style video essays detailing the journey is often very interesting and sometimes inspiring.
Not to speedrun, but just to accomplish things in general.
Jamie
Well, there’s an interesting difference between what is theoretically possible and what has been provably performed. Like, for a lot of games, you’ve got people who use tools to achieve impossible levels of perfection, and everyone nods wisely and agrees that asking a human to do this is ridiculous… and then a few short years later, humans are doing it somehow.
It’s kinda neat as a matter of defiance in the face of inevitable obsolesence. Like, an athlete will never outrun an F1 car, given a reasonably fair playing field (e.g. don’t run the poor guy over), right? Except an F1 car has to go in for multiple pit stops over 200ish miles, whereas Dean Karnazes went 800 without sleeping.
It’s not interesting to watch, but it’s cool to hear about.
Ana Chronistic
Yeah, I went bonkers just trying to get the Braid Speedrun achievement
World 6 just… ARGH
Bluewind
Reminds me of when I watched Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and a clips of a few others have a multi part rage meltdown trying to reach the end of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy and then watched a speed runner get through it using some absolute brain defying fuckary faster than I could fully process what was going on. Was a HELL of a thing to watch. Sometimes I still watch someone like markiplier, jacksepticeye, or gtlive do a let’s play of a game and then look up a speedrun with that in mind. It kinda makes me appreciate the speed runners more ya know?
King Daniel
Hovertext: YEAH Amber, you clearly belong at an Arby’s instead
Stephen Bierce
I beg to differ.
Captain Jack’s Chicken.
Doctor_Who
Staying up all night, haunted by strange obsessions, trancelike state?
If she didn’t visit a Denny’s at some point in the night, it’s only because one likely materialized around her.
Azhrei Vep
Or there just aren’t any Denny’s around.
Joe Moose
Considering the existential dread Arby is known for, I second that.
Giguioto
And who said Batman doesn’t need therapy? Everyone does, even Batman
Some1
Batman is basically defined as a character by his intense need for therapy.
Doctor_Who
Unfortunately, the quality of mental healthcare available in the DC universe appears…spotty.
Hugo Strange, Jeremiah Arkham, Harleen Quinzel…I guess Jonathan Crane was a professor instead of a practicing doctor but he was still a psychologist.
I think first day at Arkham you get given a mug that says “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps!” and eventually start taking it literally.
Nobonesforever
Hey now! Dr Harleen Quinzel is a perfectly capable therapist! Just deeply susceptible to maniacal clowns
Doctor_Who
You know what I suddenly want? An Elseworlds story where she’s Bruce Wayne’s therapist instead of Joker’s, deduces from his psych profile that he’s Batman…but falls for him just like she did for Joker and decides to declare herself Batgirl and won’t leave him alone.
…Huh, both Batgirl and Harley have been played by Tara Strong, so there’s our casting choice for the animated adaptation.
Jamie
I’m genuinely shocked to discover this isn’t already a thing.
Yotomoe
Damnit, now I have to get hired at DC so I can make this story. I hope you’re happy.
thakoru
I would definitely read a series where Harley Quinn is Batman’s therapist. I don’t even care about all that other stuff you just said, Batman therapy sessions with Harley Quinn sounds amazing.
Needfuldoer
Words cannot describe how much I want this story to happen now. Thanks a lot…
Giguioto
The story I didn’t know ghat I wanted, and certainly the one I need
Shadowsnail
If she was going for a Robin vibe, there’s a real bird called the Harlequin Quail, but that would take the silliness to 11. I think Harleen as Batgirl with a skirt, bare midriff, and little bat wings attached to the back of her costume would keep the silliness at a solid 9.
Batgirl: You can count on me, Mistah B! I’ll detect that mean ol’ clown and tie him up in front of the police station before you can say “Chiroptera”!
Yotomoe
So here’s what I’ve come up with based on this prompt.
Alfred hires Harleen Quinzel as Bruce’s therapist to help him with the loss of his parents (it’s basically his ultimatum for allowing Bruce to be batman is he has to actually work through his issues.) Harley talks to Bruce about the incident and how it affected him and he goes on about how for years he always wondered what he could have done to stop it from happening. But after a while he stopped blaming himself and realized there’s nothing he could’ve done and stopped blaming himself. He also mentions wishing there was someone there to stop it. Someone to help the terrified citizens out in their hour of need. Harley points out that that concept is an idea of comfort for Bruce, in the same way a lot of people in crisis wish for assistance from police or a hero or anything. She also offhandedly remarks that it’s kinda funny how now that he’s grown up there’s a cape wearing superhero out there doing just that. Bruce and Harley laugh about it, him remarking “I guess I was born a bit too early”
Harley continues to make house calls to the Wayne Manner and while Bruce seems like a well adjusted guy she can’t shake the feeling that she’s not making any progress with him. Like he’s got his walls put up. She begins exploring Wayne manner to see if there’s anything about it she can use to understand him better. When she begins coming down a hallway that leads to one of the entrances to the batcave, Alfred sees it on the batcomputer. Bruce tells him to keep her from going down there with a laser grid that will keep her from going any further. At first Harleen is deterred and starts to walk away. Then she takes off her shoes, gets a running start and acrobatically jumps between each of the lasers down the hallway. Bruce and Alfred watch her go through them, commenting on which spots are harder to get through than others and being impressed when she narrowly squeezes past them. She barely makes it to the other side and Both Bruce and Alrfred are understandably impressed. Before Bruce can dismiss it however Alfred opens up the entrance to the batcave. When Bruce tries to reject the idea Alfred tells him that this therapy will never be complete unless Ms. Quinzel is allowed to speak to the man and the bat. Bruce relents.
Rose by Any Other Name
I’d buy/read it.
Doctor_Who
Good stuff!
Yotomoe
Harley is obviously amazed to see everything and even more shocked to find out that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Bruce tries to play off how uncomfortable he is with it but it’s pretty obvious Alfred put him up to it. He repeats with what Alfred said about her needing to know both sides of the story for this to work out. Bruce begins to talk to harley about what he’s been doing, the training he’s undergone, the places he’s been, improving his detective skills and using the money to try to make Gotham a better place. Unlike before where Harleen had the reigns, she is completely ENTHRALLED by Bruce’s tales. Sessions from here on become less about Therapy and more about Harley really falling in love with not Bruce, but Batman. Bruce begins to sense this and decides to start trying to resume their former professional relationship. Harley realizes this as well and dials it back a bit.
Batman is stopping a crime and is being overwhelemed by swarms of criminals. That’s when a woman in a costume (Either a batgirl faccimile or robin faccimele) and uses her acrobatic skills to help him out. She narrowly avoids being fatally injured but manages to help him out. Batman being “THE WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVE” he instantly finds out it’s Harley and tells her to stop doing what she’s doing. She argues that he’s doing the exact same thing and she’s just here to help out. He warns her that if she continues doing this he’ll be forced to turn her into Gordon or take her to Arkham, but she counters with the fact that if he does, she can blow the whistle on Batmans identity. Batman’s kinda stuck and so he has no choice but to accept her. But he figures if she’s gonna do this, he should at least keep her safe. So he trains her, gives her gadgets, helps teach her detective work and his methods. He’s harsh and unforgiving and partly wants her to give up but he’s also a bit amused by how well she’s doing. Eventually she becomes a full fledged side-kick and works with Batman much the same way that Dick Grayson does.
StClair
yes
YES
(the Harley is out)
Yotomoe
I’m imagining a storyline where they have to fight the Joker and the Joker and Harley are separated from each other and he starts needling her.
“Y’know I’ve seen a lot of crazies in my day. I own a mirror after all, HAHA. So trust me when I say I know one of my kind when I see one. I’ve seen many such cases before. A person trying so desperately to cling to the rules of society. Such a fragile tight rope they walk. You might think you’ve got it all together up there but you’re just holding back your true potential. I can help pull that out of you if you’ll just let yourself go”
Batman comes in and takes him down. He asks harley if she’s alright and she’s a bit shaken.
Harley: “It’s like he was seeing right through me, every thought I’ve ever had, everything I’ve ever done. Like he truly knew me. Am I really destined to turn out like that?”
Batman: “I can’t pretend there isn’t any truth to his words. I’ve found myself coming to that crossroads many times. But I always choose this path, because I can’t allow myself to lose sight of what’s important. That’s the citizens of Gotham, That’s the kid who lost everything in that alley all those years ago. And it’s you too, Harley. If you can promise me that you won’t lose sight of that, I promise I’ll do everything to keep you on that path.
Harley does a big goofy grin and says and continues following batman.
Haha I’m super cheesy. I dunno it’s a fun dynamic to imagine.
Spencer
See the best part about coming up with ideas for characters that are inherently interpretative is that you get to swap the names and call it your own.
Batman exists because a talented artist (and some asshole parasite) cribbed super hard off of pulp character The Shadow. It’s all yours, Yoto, go for it.
Opus the Poet
There’s even an episode of TAS that pays homage to that, the one with the model cars blowing things up.
Rose by Any Other Name
@Yotomoe: I like it! It’s a fun storyline and an interesting dynamic.
@Spencer: Very true. While certain less-than-great current franchises have made it publicly official and obvious, the idea of fanfiction ascending into its own new IP is a tale as old as fiction itself. Just ask Dante.
Yotomoe
Or my favorite fanfiction, Lupiin the 3rd.
Dave the Inverted
I would absolutely watch/read the *hell* out of this.
someone
Batman trained hard to be the best at everything. Including being the best at needing therapy.
I wouldn’t bet on that extending to also being the best at speedrunning Mario. There’s only so many hours in a day after all, so I’m happy to assume he limited his video game mastery to Dance Dance Revolution.
Francoinblanco
I search this comment. Most comic i read pointed out that Batman is insane or that he should stop. Not a idol to copy
Sirksome
I mean I love Mario as much as the next nerd but that really sounds like a huge waste of time. Go back to therapy Amber. If you’ve even been to therapy at all that is.
Stephen Bierce
I did a college term paper on video games as a therapeutic activity. So there.
The Wellerman
I don’t know the content of your paper, but I’m here to confirm that games are DEFINITELY therapeutic. At least, they do so for me.
Any specific kinds of games you highlighted?
Dana
There is research that playing games like Tetris immediately after a traumatic event can help prevent PTSD. I’m have no idea how well the study or two I read about has held up, but given how something as silly looking as EDMR has a decent amount of evidence that it works for some diagnoses I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s held up well.
Masumi
I once witnessed a guy blowing his fingers off in a chemistry lab accident. Had heard of that study before, proceeded to play Tetris all night, and ended up with way fewer nightmares than expected. So for me it seems to work!
Rose by Any Other Name
… I have a morbid and probably ableist question to ask.
If he lost his fingers, or if they were freshly reattached and thus immobilized… how did he play Tetris?
Fuzzy
I think Masumi was the one playing Tetris, because they watched someone else blow their fingers off.
Rose by Any Other Name
OH.
That… that makes more sense, yeah.
not someone else
I’ve successfully used Tetris to stop flashbacks early in the process as well as the occasional obsessive daymare so I co-sign.
Jon
I did no college term papers on the subject but Animal Crossing got most of my friend group through the early pandemic
Rose by Any Other Name
For me, Minecraft is the therapy game of choice. I almost never play Minecraft just for fun – I only pull it out when I’m upset about something because it calms me down. There is something wonderfully soothing about that game.
Needfuldoer
I think it’s the calm music and lack of mandatory objectives that do it. It’s just you and a wide open world to explore. Or not, no pressure.
Sirksome
I don’t doubt the therapeutic qualities of gaming. I’m all for it actually but this one situation specifically seems like an unhealthy use of Amber’s time. Not even the fact that she’s overly obsessing over a feat that is supposedly humanly impossible. Human’s break those preconceptions all the time. It’s the fact that she’s sacrificing sleep for it. I’m really surprised people quickly jumped to Amber’s side on this one.
Regalli
Oh it’s unhealthy as hell but given the standards of both Amber as we’ve seen her through this comic and speedrunners, which Doctor Who NAILED the description of with ‘aspirational insanity’? Yeah this isn’t actually THAT worrisome. Still worrisome! But uh. There are certainly worse.
I have seen in the last year a speedrunning strategy that requires overheating your console, a classic Famicom specifically of which there are a very finite number left in the world to shave off a few precious frames. Don’t remember what game it was, the fact that this was a viable strategy at all tells you something. A Super Mario 64 runner once managed to get a record run because of a stray neutrino hitting the RAM at just the right time to trigger an otherwise-impossible glitch. Wind Waker speedrunners spent a decade looking for a way through an impregnable barrier, despite being unable to come up with one even with computer assistance. There are now two different methods for performing a barrier skip, one in the original release and the other in the Wii U remake. One sleepless night is actually not that out there by these standards.
She should still sleep of course, because she’s not getting those two frames with dulled reaction times, but this doesn’t even rate in the realm of Questionable Choices or Bizarre Tactics Committed in the Name of Speedrunning.
Jamie
It’s only worrisome because we know Amber, frankly.
JBento
I’ve heard of a fighting game super-combo that required a DEFECTIVE CONTROLLER to work, and all the pissbabies threw a fit when the tournament scene banned the defective controllers.
milu
okay all of this speedrunning stuff is news to me and it is fascinating
off to youtube
The Wellerman
I find it fascinating too!
And by the way milu, if you check your email, I do believe you’ll find something you’ll like that’s also game-related ?
Regalli
Was it Melee? I feel like this was Melee. (Though Melee’s wasn’t necessarily defective, just some potentiometers on the Gamecube controllers were more sensitive than others.)
JBento
That might have been it? I don’t really care for competitive gaming so I didn’t really commit any details to memory, it’s just something I remember reading.
Spencer
I’m pretty sure you’re talking about Melee, yeah. The Gamecube controller thing sounds familiar.
Edwin I Callahan
Uh, worse shows up tomorrow (already today if you have Patreon).