Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Speedy's Intervention

The Speedy action figure is from the Teen Titans line from Bandai, was it? And Aqualad, Red X, and Speedy all got figures in that scale before Raven and Starfire...hell, did Raven and Starfire ever get 5-inch figures?

Obviously, Speedy sleeps in costume to be ready for action.  Or, he nodded off with an armload of smack as soon as he got home.  Either or.
Man, I am getting a lot of mileage out of that toy syringe.
Even a helpful Batman is kind of spooky-scary.
This one is inspired by one of Lorendiac's Lists over at CBR's Comics Should Be Good: Who Knows Batman is Bruce Wayne? In the DCU, sometimes it feels like just. About. Everybody.

There's a fair number on that list that learn the secret, then are promptly killed, usually in the same issue or storyline. Then there's several villains that learn it, then get mindwiped or placed in a position where they can't or won't use it. (R'as al Ghul is probably the main one there: I didn't read his recent crossover, but I'm pretty sure there's more damaging things he could do then just sending a bunch of ninjas over to Bruce Wayne's house.)

Then there's the heroes, wives, hangers-on, etc. There's probably some that he would just as soon not know--I don't think he would lose any sleep if Green Arrow, Hawkman, or Hal Jordan suddenly forgot. But then, I think there's probably a few--a very small number, I'd imagine--that he's actually OK with knowing. Maybe it's because he's taking an interest in their career or training; but maybe, just maybe, Batman needs a couple of kids to know Bruce Wayne is Batman and think he's cool. That's a side of Batman that Dick or Tim would never see: some dads are incredibly strict with their kids, yet polite and friendly and easy-going with their kids' friends. And why shouldn't they be? The dad doesn't have the same expectations for them.

Hmm, a lot of thought into some jokes with some toys. How about this: Speedy was, without question, the worst 'actor' I've worked with so far. Not a ton of range on his arms. The bed is two cheapo dollhouse beds shoved together the wrong way, and I wasted a ton of time looking for the lamp accessory from a Peter Parker Spider-Man movie figure. Thought it would pull the bedroom together a bit more, but oh well.

3 comments:

SallyP said...

Now this was hilarious. World's Greatest Detective...indeed! But gosh golly gee, it sure was nice of ol' Bats to offer a nice utility belt for Roy. Boy has to keep his syringes SOMEwhere!

Reno said...

It always bothered me that the New Teen titans (in the 80s) knew Dick Grayson's secret ID. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together and come to the conclusion that Batman is Bruce Wayne. Yet, the other Titans didn't seem to know.

Or did I miss something during the course of that series?

googum said...

Apparently, based on the discussion over at the link, Denny O'Neil thought the Titans shouldn't know, so it was retconned out. Which makes the Titans rather dim, yeah.