Oh geez, this is complicated. Uh, okay, starting with this:
Terry is the goddamn (second) Batman. Like Bruce Wayne before him, he's got a strong sense of honor and justice and the murder of a parent driving him to try and keep "evil" off the streets. He refuses to kill, prefering to fight hand-to-hand, and while he'll use batarangs and freeze guns and pipes and things like that, he almost never uses serious things like actual guns and knives. He doesn't really have a sense of fear -- for himself, anyway -- and he's just as stubborn and serious as his mentor, Bruce Wayne. And of course, just as emotionally distant and reclusive and introverted, though he's the type to keep people away with snark rather than srsbsns, and he does have one friend... maybe two...
It's weird. As Terry, in his day-to-day life, he's pretty unassuming and boring, kind of serious. A "good kid," you know the type--a studious kid, a responsible kid, a kid who will stand up to bullies that come his way but doesn't really make waves, decent grades but nothing spectacular, not part of any specific social group, kind of awkward in social situations and not exactly the brightest and a little prone to being rash but he's nice enough. A good kid. With the suit on and adrenaline pumping, it's like he's a different person entirely. His sense of humor really starts to shine (dark things can shine, ok), he's more confident and composed, and weirdly enough, more laid back when he's fighting crime than doing his Math homework--and he's shooting snarky oneliners all over the place. Even when it's smarter not to do it.
Because unlike Bruce Wayne, Terry... is a little reckless. And a little ruthless. Even not as Batman, in the very first episode, he tries to take on an entire gang even though he knows he'll lose and have to run. That same episode, he steals the Batsuit and goes after Powers, alone, without even knowing how to properly use the suit (which again, he just freakin' STOLE. FROM BATMAN). He doesn't ever kill, but he's never sorry about hurting very badly, and he has absolutely no problem with fighting dirty -- you wouldn't see Bruce Wayne grabbing any handy weapon or hitting dudes in the crotch unless he had to, would you? While Terry is the type to do both of those and then mock whoever he's just PUNCHED IN THE DICK. Hey, old man, times change. Whatever stops the bad guy, stops the bad guy, right? And they totally deserved everything they get.
Which doesn't sound so bad or unforgiving -- until you figure in that Terry's been there himself. Sure, he's cleaned up now, but he used to be an angry kid (protip: he still is one, he just doesn't realize it because he's learned to stop lashing out) who used to be in a gang with other angry kids. A gang that tried to rob a bank. He's had his own run-ins with the police and broken his share of laws, and was close friends with another boy just the same as him. And yet he has no pity on the teenagers who are right where he was a few years ago. If you asked him, he'd probably tell you that he's cleaning up the streets and sympathy isn't his job.
And yet -- there's a weird duality to it. Yes, he sees the world in black and white, good and evil, and whatever happens to the bad guys as long as they're not dead, he doesn't care... or at least he'll always start off that way, until he starts figuring people in. He's shown sympathy to practically everybody who has shown themselves to him as persons and not just "criminals" -- he actually shows far more sympathy than Bruce Wayne for criminals like Mr. Freeze and Ten of the Royal Flush Gang. If you asked him, he'd probably tell you that he's cleaning up the streets and sympathy isn't his job -- but if the actual person he were trying to arrest did the same thing (unless it were Powers, he is an exception, grudge forever until his son tries to kill him and makes him feel bad goddammit), Terry would probably stop and think about that.
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Oh geez, this is complicated. Uh, okay, starting with this:
Terry is the goddamn (second) Batman. Like Bruce Wayne before him, he's got a strong sense of honor and justice and the murder of a parent driving him to try and keep "evil" off the streets. He refuses to kill, prefering to fight hand-to-hand, and while he'll use batarangs and freeze guns and pipes and things like that, he almost never uses serious things like actual guns and knives. He doesn't really have a sense of fear -- for himself, anyway -- and he's just as stubborn and serious as his mentor, Bruce Wayne. And of course, just as emotionally distant and reclusive and introverted, though he's the type to keep people away with snark rather than srsbsns, and he does have one friend... maybe two...
It's weird. As Terry, in his day-to-day life, he's pretty unassuming and boring, kind of serious. A "good kid," you know the type--a studious kid, a responsible kid, a kid who will stand up to bullies that come his way but doesn't really make waves, decent grades but nothing spectacular, not part of any specific social group, kind of awkward in social situations and not exactly the brightest and a little prone to being rash but he's nice enough. A good kid. With the suit on and adrenaline pumping, it's like he's a different person entirely. His sense of humor really starts to shine (dark things can shine, ok), he's more confident and composed, and weirdly enough, more laid back when he's fighting crime than doing his Math homework--and he's shooting snarky oneliners all over the place. Even when it's smarter not to do it.
Because unlike Bruce Wayne, Terry... is a little reckless. And a little ruthless. Even not as Batman, in the very first episode, he tries to take on an entire gang even though he knows he'll lose and have to run. That same episode, he steals the Batsuit and goes after Powers, alone, without even knowing how to properly use the suit (which again, he just freakin' STOLE. FROM BATMAN). He doesn't ever kill, but he's never sorry about hurting very badly, and he has absolutely no problem with fighting dirty -- you wouldn't see Bruce Wayne grabbing any handy weapon or hitting dudes in the crotch unless he had to, would you? While Terry is the type to do both of those and then mock whoever he's just PUNCHED IN THE DICK. Hey, old man, times change. Whatever stops the bad guy, stops the bad guy, right? And they totally deserved everything they get.
Which doesn't sound so bad or unforgiving -- until you figure in that Terry's been there himself. Sure, he's cleaned up now, but he used to be an angry kid (protip: he still is one, he just doesn't realize it because he's learned to stop lashing out) who used to be in a gang with other angry kids. A gang that tried to rob a bank. He's had his own run-ins with the police and broken his share of laws, and was close friends with another boy just the same as him. And yet he has no pity on the teenagers who are right where he was a few years ago. If you asked him, he'd probably tell you that he's cleaning up the streets and sympathy isn't his job.
And yet -- there's a weird duality to it. Yes, he sees the world in black and white, good and evil, and whatever happens to the bad guys as long as they're not dead, he doesn't care... or at least he'll always start off that way, until he starts figuring people in. He's shown sympathy to practically everybody who has shown themselves to him as persons and not just "criminals" -- he actually shows far more sympathy than Bruce Wayne for criminals like Mr. Freeze and Ten of the Royal Flush Gang. If you asked him, he'd probably tell you that he's cleaning up the streets and sympathy isn't his job -- but if the actual person he were trying to arrest did the same thing (unless it were Powers, he is an exception, grudge forever until his son tries to kill him and makes him feel bad goddammit), Terry would probably stop and think about that.