Rekindle App
May. 21st, 2013 09:56 pmOOC Information
Player Name: Kevin
Player Age: 22
Player Contact: Aim Plurk and DW – dragon8writer
Player/Character HMD: http://acro-bat-ic.dreamwidth.org/917.html
Other characters in game: None
IC Information
Character Name: Barbara Gordon
Character Canon: The Batman – an animated version of the Batman comics, separate from DCAU, with its own timeline. OU.
Character Age/Gender: 18, female. (It’s worth noting that she looks almost exactly the same as she did at 16, though – Including the same outfit. Side effect of being a cartoon character.)
Canon Point: Following the end of S5 and the end of the series.
Character Canon History: http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Barbara_Gordon_(The_Batman) gives basic information, though it’s lacking a few details. For example, she got her official bat-gear toward the end of season 3, before Dick’s appearance in season 4 – though she wasn’t fully indoctrinated until after Dick joined the group, when Batman revealed everyone’s identities in order to try and make them form a more cohesive team.
The decision to become a crime fighter was somewhat impulsive, as she actually came up with this costume after a debacle with her then-friend Pamela Isley, that turned her friend into the super villain Poison Ivy. Barbara realized that her father would never allow her to become a cop after the fiasco – involving Batman, the mercenary “Temblor,” and Pamela Isley getting accidentally buried under some toxic fertilizer. Giving up on ever wearing the blue, Barbara decided to use a mask and put on purple tights in order to become a super hero.
As for Ivy, Barbara was fairly quick to draw a line between her old friend Pam and her current enemy. Barbara goes from wanting Pam to get better, to seemingly giving up on the idea that her old friend will ever return to her – though that doesn’t mean she’s completely forgotten the history they shared. Merely that she doesn’t hold back in her fights as Batgirl.
That led to a few months of essentially showing up uninvited at cases, after which Barbara finally managed to earn Batman’s acceptance - after saving his life and the city. With the arrival of Dick in season 4, the trio started to become a real team - although Barbara began to appear less often soon after, at least on screen. It’s implied she did solo work, and doesn’t seem to have been any less active in crime fighting despite her lack of screen time. The tie in comics –questionable in their canon though they may be – do show Barbara on more missions, as well as several solo work outs against big name baddies. Barbara also started college in Season 5, which would have led to some shifts in her personal schedule, though at least it would have been easier to fool her dad with her staying in the dorms.
Her day seemed to be filled with crime fighting, gymnastics, and school work. We know of no friends made since Ivy – and she is not shown to have any true social life. She appeared to spend her free time in either the Batcave or Bruce’s mansion, where they would all hang out in their civilian clothes.
Her home life (with her father) is generally nice, with some sorrow over the lack of her mother, who is implied to be dead and rarely mentioned. She loves her father, and it’s because of him that she wanted so badly to be a crime fighter. Unfortunately, he discouraged her from becoming a policewoman, concerned about her safety. Instead, he pushed her into gymnastics, believing she could play in the Olympics.
It is also worth noting that the “circumstances” Batman “manipulated” to maintain his secret – as mentioned in the wiki article - was actually a bump on the head that caused him to forget he was Batman He acted like something of a coward, abandoning Barbara when she tried to save him and convincing her for quite a while that he couldn’t possibly be the hero she admired.
Character Personality: Barbara comes off as a sassy and impulsive teenager, passionate about what she wants and willing to go after it. We don’t see that much of her life as a civilian, but what we do see of her at home isn’t that different from what we see of her as Batgirl.
She’s smart, answering questions in class but not seen as the teacher’s pet. When teased by the self-purported class clown, she sent back a zinger of her own with a far better reaction from the class than the original. She doesn’t make much trouble, that we see, but neither does she always do what she’s told. She makes that clear to everyone from the get-go, skipping gymnastic lessons to protest a company’s treatment of the environment, and lying to her father about it too. Barbara might respect authority figures… but she doesn’t let herself be ruled by them. She’s a willful young woman who isn’t afraid to go after what she believes in. Though, as her father points out, just what she believes in occasionally shifts. The environmental love was new, and most likely inspired by her friend Pamela Isley (later to become Poison Ivy).
That didn’t stop Barbara from devoting her all to it, though, sneaking into buildings to confront CEOs. The same ways she devoted herself to gymnastics, despite it being her father’s idea – his goal to deflect her from a career path as a police officer. The fact that she could match Dick, who’d been raised by performers to perform, shows that she clearly took the lessons seriously (despite occasionally skipping them to do other things.)
Her desire to fight crime goes more deeply than most of her impulses, though, and shines clear through to the surface. She’s wanted it since she was a child, practically raised in the police department, and she still wants it to the end. It comes out in the form of her bat costume – and again, she acts about the same in it as she does out.
Though it’s clear she’s intent on and passionate about what she’s doing as Batgirl, she’s also as impulsive as ever. She once leapt onto Batman’s motorcycle while it was on autopilot, turned it to manual driving, and ended up crashing it. Another time she leaped into Batman’s massive battle armor to fight the Joker when he was pumped up on Bane’s muscle-making formula. On yet another occasion, she took the helm of a villain’s flying headquarters to steer it away from the city and crash it into Gotham bay. At no point in of this did she receive one iota of training on how to use this equipment. The motorcycle she saw as a chance to have fun while catching up with Batman. The other two times she saw it as a necessity to stop a crook or save lives. Both times she did it without any real planning, coming up with ideas and acting on them as she went.
That’s not to say Barbara can’t plan. She’s an intelligent person who’s even been known to caution retreat when the odds are stacked too high against her. But she doesn’t always bother to plan ahead, when an idea takes her. Sometimes she’s apt to just leap into the fray of battle and start kicking butt. Once she and Robin left their stationed stakeout to get some snacks from the vending machine in the police office – and while there, they traded joking theories about how a man on a wanted poster had lost his eye. They almost got knocked out when the villains sprung their gaseous attack, but they did have fun; and when Black Mask’s henchmen tried to invade the police department, they stayed calm long enough to plan how to protect the building. They just did it while also cracking jokes at the expense of the villains.
After all, Barbara breaks out the sass on villains as easily as anyone else; whether they’re actually there to hear her or not. The sass is actually the side she often chooses to show the world in order to deflect people from her deeper motivations and to avoid showing off any fear. (Such as when she traded jokes with Robin after Black Masks threats, sharing theories about what he might be hiding under his facial coverings.)
For those more familiar with the comics, it would be good to think of this version as a mixture between the traditional Barbara Gordon, and Stephanie Brown. She even has a theme of purple running through her equipment.
To focus more on the inside, rather than the deflections: One of the most important things to recognize about Barbara is that she truly values justice. It’s the main reason she put on the bat costume. There’s no traumatic event in her past, or run in with the criminal element that caused her to make the decision. Her father is the police commissioner, and his passion for justice had the good luck to rub off on her. She in fact wanted to be a member of the police force herself, at first.
Unfortunately, Commissioner Gordon didn’t really want his daughter going into a job where she got shot at. He actively discouraged Barbara from joining the police force, and she suspected that he’d never allow her to follow the career. That’s why she made herself the Batgirl outfit. She thought it would be a way to fight crime regardless of what anyone else thought.
The second thing to realize about Barbara in fact ties into that first; this particular version of Barbara does everything with a youthful passion. On top of crime fighting, she also has an interest in the environment. She and her fellow redhead Pamela Isley joined together in order to protest companies that mistreated it. Unfortunately the protests turned out to be scouting missions for Pam, who would afterwards hire a mercenary to take out the buildings.
Barbara only learned this later. But she showed a loyalty that matches her love of justice when it happened. Rather than turning Pam over to the police, Barbara went directly to Pamela to try and talk down her friend. When that failed, and an accident with chemicals gave Pamela powers over plants, she still did not go to the police – instead, she went to Batman about the newly made “Poison Ivy,” recognizing the issue and hoping to find a solution. Trying to stop Ivy was in fact her first mission as Batgirl.
Most likely she felt a little guilty about Pam. After all, Barbara was there when the accident happened. She saw when the chemical laced dirt fell atop of Pam, and she was helpless to save her from it when her friend cried out to her. With that, and their past history, Barbara truly wanted to protect Pam. Yet that didn’t stop her from drawing a line between her old friend and this current villain, giving her all to take down Ivy. No doubt it helped that Ivy’s first mission was trying to kill Commissioner Gordon, making it rather clear that her friend had been changed.
I would like to note at this point that it is justice Barbara values, not just the law, and that neither ever entirely eclipses friendship or loyalty in her mind. When Poison Ivy first started up, Barbara did not really want Pamela to get arrested, she just wanted her friend stopped. In fact, when a classmate of hers later joined the Joker in a massive spree of practical jokes, Barbara worked to stop him without having him hurt. She didn’t want him being hurt over what she saw as a mere mistake. This is despite the fact that they did not get along in civilian life, and – unlike with Ivy – it had nothing to do with a previous friendship.
It’s not restricted to crime fighting alone, either, as seen in “attack of the terrible trio.” Even in her civil life, Barbara was quick to berate a bully for picking on a few misfits. She was just as quick to berate that trio for enjoying the pain of the bullying jock, after he was put in the hospital. Cliques don’t matter to her. Friendship does, but not enough that she’ll allow friends or former friends to go on hurting others. There’s a reason she never hesitates to take Ivy down, despite their past. In the end, Barbara has to do what she feels is right: whatever that happens to be.
Truthfully, Barbara is very independently minded - not to mention stubborn. She ignored her father’s protective orders and hid her face under a mask, so that she could go off to fight crime. When Batman told her no, she essentially told him that he couldn’t stop her. She wanted to work with him against crime, and she continued showing up and joining him despite all protests. She continued even when he attempted to ignore her, despite his rebuffing of her status as his partner. She continued showing up, and continued referring to herself as his sidekick with single minded determination to prove herself, until he finally accepted her. Mostly because she saved his life, saved the city, and kept going when everything else was falling apart. This independence and determination of hers is apparent whether dealing with friends, partners, or the law itself.
That said, she obviously values team work and respects Batman, her inspiration for putting on the mask. He’s the hero her father is always thanking. It’s likely that she (unconsciously) sees him as a secondary father figure: desiring his approval of her crime fighting, in lieu of her actual father who is not allowed to know what she is doing, and who has never approved of her desire to go into crime.
This is most likely why she continuously strove to be accepted as Batman’s sidekick, even while ignoring half his orders: always trying to prove herself, always pushing into battle in the hopes of getting a job well done from Batman (not to mention from the unknowing Commissioner – though his approval she could have in every other aspect of her life.)
It also explains why she was so often annoyed at Bruce throughout the series. First because he left her out of the loop, making her practically stalk him if she wanted to find anything out and only revealing information on a need-to-know basis. Then because he brought in Dick. an “official” sidekick, who had gotten to see the Batcave and knew Bruce’s secret identity despite neither being revealed to Barbara up to that point. Not to mention Bruce not bothering to know where she went to college. To quote Barbara, ““He can give you the atomic weight of iridium and the private phone number of the president, but does he remember that I graduated high school? No.”
Bruce did begin to correct some of this at the start of season 5, in the hopes of making them more of a team. He reveals his identity and takes her to the Batcave. It still left her somewhat jealous of Dick, though, not to mention annoyed with Batman for simply scooping up a partner after making her work so hard to earn her place.
Barbara did eventually come to accept Robin as a member of the team, and to work alongside him. Still, the rivalry between them was eternal, much like with actual siblings. Like a big sister, annoyed at how much attention baby bro is gaining for himself, Barbara is caught between annoyance with Bruce over how little attention she gets… and actual affection for the younger partner she didn’t want, but who’s presence she has still come to rely upon. The end result is mutual teasing. It’s something that marks both their rivalry and their bond, and shows up heavily in their quips when they’re working alone together. They reassure each other when afraid, complain about who has to do what, and worry when they think the other is hurt.
Of course, as much as Barbara relies upon her partners, as much as she wants Batman’s approval, her desire to fight crime predates both of them. With a police commissioner as a father, practically growing up in the station, her desire to fight for justice is still more deeply instilled than anything else.
Character Abilities: A skilled gymnast, she describes herself as an Olympic-hopeful – she’s capable of keeping up with Dick, who spent his entire life training to be an acrobat. Her greatest assets seem to be her dexterity, flexibility and speed – allowing her to jump cartwheel and all around dodge her way out of danger, leaping up to avoid shock waves or moving in time to avoid a punch. Physically, she’s not that buff -but she knows how to kick and punch.
While she’s had occasional training sessions with Batman and Robin, it’s fairly clear she has not had their level of intense training. Still - she knows how to protect herself, and keeps up with them on the field. She’s combined gymnastic training with self defense nicely.
She also rapidly learned how to aim – she is quite god at throwing her batarangs, and hitting her mark.
She is capable of using a computer, though she has hinted that she is not the best with them at this time.
She was able to make her own batarangs, implying she can do some metalworking.
Character Inventory: Estimating:
-Five batarangs – boomerangs shaped like bats that strike against an enemy and come back.
-A grappling hook, shaped like a bat, that can be used to catch hold of things. Contains a motor to pull her up.
-A purple gas mask, used to filter out poisons.
-Three smoke pellets, each capable of creating a billowing smoke cloud – most potent when used together.
-Three ice pellets – they are capable of freezing anything in the immediate vicinity when they explode. They work best in water, freezing the entire area (and often anything inside said water, particularly if it’s wet or susceptible to cold.)
-Three exploding pellets – each making a small blast, enough to blow a lock off a door but not meant to cause serious damage.
-Her bat costume – as seen here - including the utility belt which contains pellets, and is capable of holding other items as well. The cape is fireproof (or so I am assuming, since that is standard practice among batfam.)
Samples: [One third person/introspective sample, and one thread of interaction with at least one other character. There will be a test drive meme open before each application round, but bakerstreet, dear_mun, and previous game threads all count if you prefer to use those for your interactive sample, so long as they are threads for the same version of the character you're apping - so, a meme thread with an OU version of a character would not count if you were apping an AU version of a character, but would if you were apping them as OU.]
Barbara felt her cape fluttering as she peered over the rooftop edge. She tugged it closer around herself, the black material shielding her from the wind while she peered over the edge. There were people everywhere, touching hands – probably trying to stave off whatever strange illness was affecting people here.
If she was smart, Barbara would be doing that too. The costume didn’t just shield her from the wind, though – it shielded her from people. It wasn’t like she could go running among them with that getup on. Besides, right then she needed the thin barrier between her and the rest of the world. She needed the freedom to think.
Pops would be wondering about her by then. Her class mates probably wouldn’t have noticed; maybe Bruce would have noticed, if he wasn’t in Tibet with Robin or something. Robin… was probably enjoying having Bruce to himself.
At least it was for a good cause, she reminded herself. But it didn’t feel like she was making an impact. Not like she did back home… She wished there was someone to talk to; someone from home, instead of a bunch of lookalikes and random strangers.
With a final sigh, Barbara backed up from the roof and ran off of the edge. Landing on the next roof over, she kept moving; leaping from one to another, flipping through the air. She let the cool of night clear her head, as she sent a grappling hook out to let her swing over the streets and summersault her way to yet another building. Without quite meaning to, Barbara found her eyes scanning the streets for signs of crime: a mugger, a supervillain, maybe a bank robbery. She didn’t need Batman to be Batgirl, after all. Every world had its share of injustices for her to help fix. …Maybe she could even get them to call her Batwoman, this time around.
Grinning, the redhead set her sights toward the darker alleys. She’d be almost certain to find someone to bring in there.
And the thread
Player Name: Kevin
Player Age: 22
Player Contact: Aim Plurk and DW – dragon8writer
Player/Character HMD: http://acro-bat-ic.dreamwidth.org/917.html
Other characters in game: None
IC Information
Character Name: Barbara Gordon
Character Canon: The Batman – an animated version of the Batman comics, separate from DCAU, with its own timeline. OU.
Character Age/Gender: 18, female. (It’s worth noting that she looks almost exactly the same as she did at 16, though – Including the same outfit. Side effect of being a cartoon character.)
Canon Point: Following the end of S5 and the end of the series.
Character Canon History: http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Barbara_Gordon_(The_Batman) gives basic information, though it’s lacking a few details. For example, she got her official bat-gear toward the end of season 3, before Dick’s appearance in season 4 – though she wasn’t fully indoctrinated until after Dick joined the group, when Batman revealed everyone’s identities in order to try and make them form a more cohesive team.
The decision to become a crime fighter was somewhat impulsive, as she actually came up with this costume after a debacle with her then-friend Pamela Isley, that turned her friend into the super villain Poison Ivy. Barbara realized that her father would never allow her to become a cop after the fiasco – involving Batman, the mercenary “Temblor,” and Pamela Isley getting accidentally buried under some toxic fertilizer. Giving up on ever wearing the blue, Barbara decided to use a mask and put on purple tights in order to become a super hero.
As for Ivy, Barbara was fairly quick to draw a line between her old friend Pam and her current enemy. Barbara goes from wanting Pam to get better, to seemingly giving up on the idea that her old friend will ever return to her – though that doesn’t mean she’s completely forgotten the history they shared. Merely that she doesn’t hold back in her fights as Batgirl.
That led to a few months of essentially showing up uninvited at cases, after which Barbara finally managed to earn Batman’s acceptance - after saving his life and the city. With the arrival of Dick in season 4, the trio started to become a real team - although Barbara began to appear less often soon after, at least on screen. It’s implied she did solo work, and doesn’t seem to have been any less active in crime fighting despite her lack of screen time. The tie in comics –questionable in their canon though they may be – do show Barbara on more missions, as well as several solo work outs against big name baddies. Barbara also started college in Season 5, which would have led to some shifts in her personal schedule, though at least it would have been easier to fool her dad with her staying in the dorms.
Her day seemed to be filled with crime fighting, gymnastics, and school work. We know of no friends made since Ivy – and she is not shown to have any true social life. She appeared to spend her free time in either the Batcave or Bruce’s mansion, where they would all hang out in their civilian clothes.
Her home life (with her father) is generally nice, with some sorrow over the lack of her mother, who is implied to be dead and rarely mentioned. She loves her father, and it’s because of him that she wanted so badly to be a crime fighter. Unfortunately, he discouraged her from becoming a policewoman, concerned about her safety. Instead, he pushed her into gymnastics, believing she could play in the Olympics.
It is also worth noting that the “circumstances” Batman “manipulated” to maintain his secret – as mentioned in the wiki article - was actually a bump on the head that caused him to forget he was Batman He acted like something of a coward, abandoning Barbara when she tried to save him and convincing her for quite a while that he couldn’t possibly be the hero she admired.
Character Personality: Barbara comes off as a sassy and impulsive teenager, passionate about what she wants and willing to go after it. We don’t see that much of her life as a civilian, but what we do see of her at home isn’t that different from what we see of her as Batgirl.
She’s smart, answering questions in class but not seen as the teacher’s pet. When teased by the self-purported class clown, she sent back a zinger of her own with a far better reaction from the class than the original. She doesn’t make much trouble, that we see, but neither does she always do what she’s told. She makes that clear to everyone from the get-go, skipping gymnastic lessons to protest a company’s treatment of the environment, and lying to her father about it too. Barbara might respect authority figures… but she doesn’t let herself be ruled by them. She’s a willful young woman who isn’t afraid to go after what she believes in. Though, as her father points out, just what she believes in occasionally shifts. The environmental love was new, and most likely inspired by her friend Pamela Isley (later to become Poison Ivy).
That didn’t stop Barbara from devoting her all to it, though, sneaking into buildings to confront CEOs. The same ways she devoted herself to gymnastics, despite it being her father’s idea – his goal to deflect her from a career path as a police officer. The fact that she could match Dick, who’d been raised by performers to perform, shows that she clearly took the lessons seriously (despite occasionally skipping them to do other things.)
Her desire to fight crime goes more deeply than most of her impulses, though, and shines clear through to the surface. She’s wanted it since she was a child, practically raised in the police department, and she still wants it to the end. It comes out in the form of her bat costume – and again, she acts about the same in it as she does out.
Though it’s clear she’s intent on and passionate about what she’s doing as Batgirl, she’s also as impulsive as ever. She once leapt onto Batman’s motorcycle while it was on autopilot, turned it to manual driving, and ended up crashing it. Another time she leaped into Batman’s massive battle armor to fight the Joker when he was pumped up on Bane’s muscle-making formula. On yet another occasion, she took the helm of a villain’s flying headquarters to steer it away from the city and crash it into Gotham bay. At no point in of this did she receive one iota of training on how to use this equipment. The motorcycle she saw as a chance to have fun while catching up with Batman. The other two times she saw it as a necessity to stop a crook or save lives. Both times she did it without any real planning, coming up with ideas and acting on them as she went.
That’s not to say Barbara can’t plan. She’s an intelligent person who’s even been known to caution retreat when the odds are stacked too high against her. But she doesn’t always bother to plan ahead, when an idea takes her. Sometimes she’s apt to just leap into the fray of battle and start kicking butt. Once she and Robin left their stationed stakeout to get some snacks from the vending machine in the police office – and while there, they traded joking theories about how a man on a wanted poster had lost his eye. They almost got knocked out when the villains sprung their gaseous attack, but they did have fun; and when Black Mask’s henchmen tried to invade the police department, they stayed calm long enough to plan how to protect the building. They just did it while also cracking jokes at the expense of the villains.
After all, Barbara breaks out the sass on villains as easily as anyone else; whether they’re actually there to hear her or not. The sass is actually the side she often chooses to show the world in order to deflect people from her deeper motivations and to avoid showing off any fear. (Such as when she traded jokes with Robin after Black Masks threats, sharing theories about what he might be hiding under his facial coverings.)
For those more familiar with the comics, it would be good to think of this version as a mixture between the traditional Barbara Gordon, and Stephanie Brown. She even has a theme of purple running through her equipment.
To focus more on the inside, rather than the deflections: One of the most important things to recognize about Barbara is that she truly values justice. It’s the main reason she put on the bat costume. There’s no traumatic event in her past, or run in with the criminal element that caused her to make the decision. Her father is the police commissioner, and his passion for justice had the good luck to rub off on her. She in fact wanted to be a member of the police force herself, at first.
Unfortunately, Commissioner Gordon didn’t really want his daughter going into a job where she got shot at. He actively discouraged Barbara from joining the police force, and she suspected that he’d never allow her to follow the career. That’s why she made herself the Batgirl outfit. She thought it would be a way to fight crime regardless of what anyone else thought.
The second thing to realize about Barbara in fact ties into that first; this particular version of Barbara does everything with a youthful passion. On top of crime fighting, she also has an interest in the environment. She and her fellow redhead Pamela Isley joined together in order to protest companies that mistreated it. Unfortunately the protests turned out to be scouting missions for Pam, who would afterwards hire a mercenary to take out the buildings.
Barbara only learned this later. But she showed a loyalty that matches her love of justice when it happened. Rather than turning Pam over to the police, Barbara went directly to Pamela to try and talk down her friend. When that failed, and an accident with chemicals gave Pamela powers over plants, she still did not go to the police – instead, she went to Batman about the newly made “Poison Ivy,” recognizing the issue and hoping to find a solution. Trying to stop Ivy was in fact her first mission as Batgirl.
Most likely she felt a little guilty about Pam. After all, Barbara was there when the accident happened. She saw when the chemical laced dirt fell atop of Pam, and she was helpless to save her from it when her friend cried out to her. With that, and their past history, Barbara truly wanted to protect Pam. Yet that didn’t stop her from drawing a line between her old friend and this current villain, giving her all to take down Ivy. No doubt it helped that Ivy’s first mission was trying to kill Commissioner Gordon, making it rather clear that her friend had been changed.
I would like to note at this point that it is justice Barbara values, not just the law, and that neither ever entirely eclipses friendship or loyalty in her mind. When Poison Ivy first started up, Barbara did not really want Pamela to get arrested, she just wanted her friend stopped. In fact, when a classmate of hers later joined the Joker in a massive spree of practical jokes, Barbara worked to stop him without having him hurt. She didn’t want him being hurt over what she saw as a mere mistake. This is despite the fact that they did not get along in civilian life, and – unlike with Ivy – it had nothing to do with a previous friendship.
It’s not restricted to crime fighting alone, either, as seen in “attack of the terrible trio.” Even in her civil life, Barbara was quick to berate a bully for picking on a few misfits. She was just as quick to berate that trio for enjoying the pain of the bullying jock, after he was put in the hospital. Cliques don’t matter to her. Friendship does, but not enough that she’ll allow friends or former friends to go on hurting others. There’s a reason she never hesitates to take Ivy down, despite their past. In the end, Barbara has to do what she feels is right: whatever that happens to be.
Truthfully, Barbara is very independently minded - not to mention stubborn. She ignored her father’s protective orders and hid her face under a mask, so that she could go off to fight crime. When Batman told her no, she essentially told him that he couldn’t stop her. She wanted to work with him against crime, and she continued showing up and joining him despite all protests. She continued even when he attempted to ignore her, despite his rebuffing of her status as his partner. She continued showing up, and continued referring to herself as his sidekick with single minded determination to prove herself, until he finally accepted her. Mostly because she saved his life, saved the city, and kept going when everything else was falling apart. This independence and determination of hers is apparent whether dealing with friends, partners, or the law itself.
That said, she obviously values team work and respects Batman, her inspiration for putting on the mask. He’s the hero her father is always thanking. It’s likely that she (unconsciously) sees him as a secondary father figure: desiring his approval of her crime fighting, in lieu of her actual father who is not allowed to know what she is doing, and who has never approved of her desire to go into crime.
This is most likely why she continuously strove to be accepted as Batman’s sidekick, even while ignoring half his orders: always trying to prove herself, always pushing into battle in the hopes of getting a job well done from Batman (not to mention from the unknowing Commissioner – though his approval she could have in every other aspect of her life.)
It also explains why she was so often annoyed at Bruce throughout the series. First because he left her out of the loop, making her practically stalk him if she wanted to find anything out and only revealing information on a need-to-know basis. Then because he brought in Dick. an “official” sidekick, who had gotten to see the Batcave and knew Bruce’s secret identity despite neither being revealed to Barbara up to that point. Not to mention Bruce not bothering to know where she went to college. To quote Barbara, ““He can give you the atomic weight of iridium and the private phone number of the president, but does he remember that I graduated high school? No.”
Bruce did begin to correct some of this at the start of season 5, in the hopes of making them more of a team. He reveals his identity and takes her to the Batcave. It still left her somewhat jealous of Dick, though, not to mention annoyed with Batman for simply scooping up a partner after making her work so hard to earn her place.
Barbara did eventually come to accept Robin as a member of the team, and to work alongside him. Still, the rivalry between them was eternal, much like with actual siblings. Like a big sister, annoyed at how much attention baby bro is gaining for himself, Barbara is caught between annoyance with Bruce over how little attention she gets… and actual affection for the younger partner she didn’t want, but who’s presence she has still come to rely upon. The end result is mutual teasing. It’s something that marks both their rivalry and their bond, and shows up heavily in their quips when they’re working alone together. They reassure each other when afraid, complain about who has to do what, and worry when they think the other is hurt.
Of course, as much as Barbara relies upon her partners, as much as she wants Batman’s approval, her desire to fight crime predates both of them. With a police commissioner as a father, practically growing up in the station, her desire to fight for justice is still more deeply instilled than anything else.
Character Abilities: A skilled gymnast, she describes herself as an Olympic-hopeful – she’s capable of keeping up with Dick, who spent his entire life training to be an acrobat. Her greatest assets seem to be her dexterity, flexibility and speed – allowing her to jump cartwheel and all around dodge her way out of danger, leaping up to avoid shock waves or moving in time to avoid a punch. Physically, she’s not that buff -but she knows how to kick and punch.
While she’s had occasional training sessions with Batman and Robin, it’s fairly clear she has not had their level of intense training. Still - she knows how to protect herself, and keeps up with them on the field. She’s combined gymnastic training with self defense nicely.
She also rapidly learned how to aim – she is quite god at throwing her batarangs, and hitting her mark.
She is capable of using a computer, though she has hinted that she is not the best with them at this time.
She was able to make her own batarangs, implying she can do some metalworking.
Character Inventory: Estimating:
-Five batarangs – boomerangs shaped like bats that strike against an enemy and come back.
-A grappling hook, shaped like a bat, that can be used to catch hold of things. Contains a motor to pull her up.
-A purple gas mask, used to filter out poisons.
-Three smoke pellets, each capable of creating a billowing smoke cloud – most potent when used together.
-Three ice pellets – they are capable of freezing anything in the immediate vicinity when they explode. They work best in water, freezing the entire area (and often anything inside said water, particularly if it’s wet or susceptible to cold.)
-Three exploding pellets – each making a small blast, enough to blow a lock off a door but not meant to cause serious damage.
-Her bat costume – as seen here - including the utility belt which contains pellets, and is capable of holding other items as well. The cape is fireproof (or so I am assuming, since that is standard practice among batfam.)
Samples: [One third person/introspective sample, and one thread of interaction with at least one other character. There will be a test drive meme open before each application round, but bakerstreet, dear_mun, and previous game threads all count if you prefer to use those for your interactive sample, so long as they are threads for the same version of the character you're apping - so, a meme thread with an OU version of a character would not count if you were apping an AU version of a character, but would if you were apping them as OU.]
Barbara felt her cape fluttering as she peered over the rooftop edge. She tugged it closer around herself, the black material shielding her from the wind while she peered over the edge. There were people everywhere, touching hands – probably trying to stave off whatever strange illness was affecting people here.
If she was smart, Barbara would be doing that too. The costume didn’t just shield her from the wind, though – it shielded her from people. It wasn’t like she could go running among them with that getup on. Besides, right then she needed the thin barrier between her and the rest of the world. She needed the freedom to think.
Pops would be wondering about her by then. Her class mates probably wouldn’t have noticed; maybe Bruce would have noticed, if he wasn’t in Tibet with Robin or something. Robin… was probably enjoying having Bruce to himself.
At least it was for a good cause, she reminded herself. But it didn’t feel like she was making an impact. Not like she did back home… She wished there was someone to talk to; someone from home, instead of a bunch of lookalikes and random strangers.
With a final sigh, Barbara backed up from the roof and ran off of the edge. Landing on the next roof over, she kept moving; leaping from one to another, flipping through the air. She let the cool of night clear her head, as she sent a grappling hook out to let her swing over the streets and summersault her way to yet another building. Without quite meaning to, Barbara found her eyes scanning the streets for signs of crime: a mugger, a supervillain, maybe a bank robbery. She didn’t need Batman to be Batgirl, after all. Every world had its share of injustices for her to help fix. …Maybe she could even get them to call her Batwoman, this time around.
Grinning, the redhead set her sights toward the darker alleys. She’d be almost certain to find someone to bring in there.
And the thread
A harmless Prank...
Mar. 22nd, 2013 09:44 pmDick had told her about a mission. An undercover mission. An undercover mission, apparently, where Batman and Robin would be joining her... She just had to sit at a nearby table with a newspaper, wearing a red rose.
...Which she had been doing for the last half hour. She was honestly starting to think he'd pulled a prank on her. Except if he had, why hadn't he come out laughing already?
So she sat there, on the hard bench, with the cold tea, and tried to plot out exactly how she might get her revenge on him...
...Which she had been doing for the last half hour. She was honestly starting to think he'd pulled a prank on her. Except if he had, why hadn't he come out laughing already?
So she sat there, on the hard bench, with the cold tea, and tried to plot out exactly how she might get her revenge on him...
Teleios app
Mar. 15th, 2013 08:41 pmPlayer Info
Character Basics:
Canon Character Section:
Name: Kevin
Age: 21
Contact: dragon8writer on plurk and aim
Characters Already in Teleios: Faith and Ruby
Reserve: here
Character Basics:
Character Name: Barbara Gordon
Journal:acro_bat_ic
Age: 18
Fandom: The Batman
Canon Point: End of series.
Debt:Class A: 2 years
1 year – betrayed her father’s wishes that she avoid a dangerous life of crime fighting, by putting on her bat costume – and not telling him. (ongoing)
1 year – Betrayed Ivy’s whereabouts to Batman (in the hope of helping, mind, but still.0
Class B: 33 years, 6 months
27 years – 52 counts of assault over 3seasonsyears(?) of super heroism.
6 months – kicking batman (and otherwise assaulting him) to stop him from setting off a toxin.
5 years – 10 counts of breaking and entering into various hideouts.
6 months –burglering“borrowing” the batbot
6 months – taking control of batman’s motorcycle (and preceding to crash it)
Class C: 56 years
1 month, Escaping Custody – after Ivy kidnapped her.
2 years, six months – 30 counts of Ignoring a direct order by a superior (batman)
5 months - Misappropriation of police issued equipment – stealing her father’s trackers and other equipment for bat use (at least one on screen, assuming a few times off screen before she got official equipment.)
2 months - Reckless Driving (A motor cycle, and a car.)
3 months – trespassing (to get to villains)
7 months – falling sorry for oneself.
1 month - Going Against the Wishes of Someone Who Loves You – again, putting on the mask.
1 month – keeping secrets from loved ones – again
1 month – sassiness
1 month – crashing someone’s flying headquarters.
1 month – operating machinery you have no idea how to use (regardless of success)
1 month – sidekicking for a hero against their will.
1 month – continuously teasing the partner that’s been assigned to you.
1 month – giving up on a friend (Red AKA Pam AKA Poison Ivy)List crimes you’ve created for your character here.Crashing someone’s flying headquarters Sidekicking for a hero against their will. Operating machinery you have no idea how to use (regardless of success) Continuously teasing the partner that’s been assigned to you. Giving up on a friend
GRAND TOTAL: 91 years, 6 months
Canon Character Section:
History:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Barbara_Gordon_(The_Batman) is most of it – though I’ll add that she actually got the official batgear back toward the end of S3, before Dick’s appearance in S4.
Also, her home life (with her father) is generally nice, with some sorrow over the lack of her mother. She loves her father, and it’s because of him that she wanted so badly to be a crime fighter. Unfortunately, he discouraged her from becoming a policewoman, concerned about her safety. Instead, he pushed her into gymnastics, believing she could play in the Olympics.
She actually first came up with this costume after a debacle with her then-friend Pamela Isley, which turned her friend into a super villain. Barbara realized that her father would never allow her to become a cop. She decided to use a mask and skip towards being a super hero.
Personality:
Barbara comes off as a sassy and impulsive teenager*, always passionate about what she wants and willing to go after it. We don’t see that much of her life as a civilian, but what we do see of her at home isn’t that different from what we see of her as Batgirl.
She’s smart, answering questions in class but not being the teacher’s pet. When teased by the self-purported class clown, she sent back a zinger of her own with a far better reaction from the class than the original. She doesn’t make much trouble, that we see, but neither does she always do what she’s told. She makes that clear to everyone from the get-go, skipping gymnastic lessons to protest a company’s treatment of the environment. Barbara might respect authority figures… but she doesn’t let herself be ruled by them. She’s a willful young woman who isn’t afraid to go after what she believes in. Though, as her father points out, what she believes in occasionally shifts. The environmental love was new, and most likely inspired by her friend Pamela Isley (later to become Poison Ivy).
That didn’t stop it from devoting her all to it, though, sneaking into buildings to confront CEOs. The same ways she devoted herself to gymnastics, despite it being her father’s idea – his goal to deflect her from a career path as a police officer. The fact that she could match Dick, who’d been raised by performers to perform, shows that she clearly took the lessons seriously (except when she chose to skip them for something else.)
Her desire to fight crime goes more deeply than most of her impulses, though, and shines clear through to the surface. It comes out in the form of her bat costume – and again, she acts about the same in it as she does out.
Though it’s clear she’s intent on and passionate about what she’s doing, she’s also as impulsive as ever. She once leapt onto Batman’s motorcycle while it was on autopilot, took it over, and ended up crashing it. Another time she leaped into Batman’s massive battle armor to fight the Joker when he was pumped up on Bane’s muscle-making formula. On yet another occasion, she took the helm of a villain’s flying headquarters to steer it away from the city and crash it into Gotham bay. At no point in of this did she receive one iota of training on how to use this equipment. The motorcycle she saw as a chance to have fun while catching up with Batman. The other two times she saw it as a necessity to stop a crook or save lives. Both times she did it without any real planning.
That’s not to say Barbara can’t plan. She’s an intelligent person who’s even been known to retreat when the odds are too much against her. But she doesn’t always bother to plan ahead, when an idea takes her. Sometimes she’s apt to just leap into the fray of battle and start kicking butt. Once she and Robin left their stationed stake out to get some snacks from the vending machine in the police office – and while there, they traded joking theories about how a man on a wanted poster had lost his eye. They almost got knocked out when the villains sprung their attack, but they did have fun.
After all, Barbara breaks out the sass on villains as easily as anyone else; whether they’re actually there or not. The sass is actually the side she often chooses to show the world to deflect from deeper motivations and to avoid showing off any fear. (Such as when she traded jokes with Robin after Black Masks threats.)
For those more familiar with the comics, it would be good to think of this version as a mixture between the traditional Barbara Gordon, and Stephanie Brown. She even has a theme of purple running through her equipment.
*Barbara’s about eighteen, at this point. She was sixteen when the series started, but – by this episode – had started college “Back in September.” (Since Barbara Gordon’s birthday is in September, at least in the comics, it’s likely she had her birthday and turned eighteen.)
Shifting the focus more inward, one of the most important things to recognize about Barbara is that she truly values justice. It’s the main reason she put on the bat costume. There’s no traumatic event in her past, or run in with the criminal element that caused her to make the decision. Her father is the police commissioner, and his passion for justice had the good luck to rub off on her. She in fact wanted to be a member of the police force herself, at first.
Unfortunately, Commissioner Gordon didn’t really want his daughter going into a job where she got shot at. He actively discouraged Barbara from joining the police force, and she suspected that he’d never allow her to. That’s why she made herself the Batgirl outfit. She thought it would be a way to fight crime regardless of what anyone else thought.
The second thing to realize about Barbara in fact ties into that first; this particular version of Barbara does everything with a youthful passion. On top of crime fighting, she also has an interest in the environment. She and fellow redhead Pamela Isley joined together in order to protest companies that mistreated it. Unfortunately the protests turned out to be scouting missions for Pam, who would afterwards hire a mercenary to take out the buildings.
Barbara only learned this later. But she showed a loyalty that matches her love of justice when it happened. Rather than turning Pam over to the police, Barbara went directly to Pamela to try and stop her. When that failed, and an accident gave Pamela powers over plants, she still did not go to the police – instead, she went to Batman about the newly made “Poison Ivy,” recognizing the issue and hoping to find a solution. Trying to stop Ivy was in fact her first mission as Batgirl.
I would like to note at this point that it is justice Barbara values, not just the law, and that neither ever entirely eclipses friendship or loyalty in her mind. When Poison Ivy first started up, Barbara did not really want Pamela to get arrested, she just wanted her friend stopped. In fact, when a classmate of hers later joined the Joker in a massive spree of practical jokes, Barbara worked to stop him without having him hurt. She didn’t want him being punished for what she saw as a mere mistake. This is despite the fact that they did not get along, and – unlike with Ivy – had nothing to do with a previous friendship.
It’s not restricted to crime fighting alone, either, as seen in “attack of the terrible trio.” Even in her civil life, Barbara was quick to berate a bully for picking on a few misfits. Importantly, she was just as quick to berate the trio for enjoying the pain of the bullying jock. Cliques don’t matter to her. Friendship does, but not enough that she’ll allow people to be hurt. There’s a reason she never hesitates to take Ivy down, despite their past. In the end, she’s got to do what she feels is right: whatever that happens to be.
Truthfully, Barbara is very independently minded - not to mention stubborn. She ignored her father’s protective orders and hid her face under a mask, so that she could go off to fight crime. When Batman told her no, she essentially told him that he couldn’t stop her. She wanted to work with him against crime, and she continued showing up and joining him despite all protests. She continued even when he attempted to ignore her, his repeated ditching of her, and his rebuffing of her status as his partner. She continued showing up, and continued referring to herself as his sidekick with single minded determination to prove herself, until he finally accepted her. Mostly because she saved his life, saved the city, and kept going when everything else was falling apart. This is apparent whether dealing with friends, partners, or the law itself.
That said, she obviously values team work and respects Batman, her inspiration for putting on the mask. He’s the hero her father is always thanking. It’s likely that she (unconsciously) sees him as a secondary father figure: desiring his approval of her crime fighting, in lieu of her actual father who is not allowed to know what she is doing, and who has never approved of her desire to go into crime.
This is most likely why she continuously strove to be accepted as his sidekick, even while ignoring half his orders: always trying to prove herself, always pushing into battle in the hopes of getting a job well done from Batman (not to mention from the unknowing Commissioner – though his approval she could have in every other aspect of her life.)
It also explains why she was so often annoyed at Bruce throughout the series. First because he left her out of the loop, making her practically stalk him if she wanted to find anything out and only revealing information on a need-to-know basis. Then because he brought in Dick: an “official” sidekick, who had gotten to see the Batcave and knew Bruce’s secret identity despite neither being revealed to Barbara. Not to mention him not knowing where she went to college. He didn’t even know that he had graduated high school, in the fifth season.
Bruce did begin to correct some of this, in the hopes of making them more of a team. He reveals his identity and takes her to the Batcave. It still left her somewhat jealous of Dick, though, not to mention annoyed with Batman for simply scooping up a partner after putting her through so much.
She did eventually come to accept Robin as a member of the team, and to work alongside him. Still, the rivalry between them was eternal, much like with actual siblings. Like a big sister, annoyed at how much attention bb bro is gaining for himself, Barbara is caught between annoyance with Bruce over how little attention she gets… and actual affection for the younger partner she didn’t want, but who’s presence she has still come to rely upon. The end result is mutual teasing. It’s something that marks both their rivalry and their bond.
Of course, as much as she relies upon them, as much as she wants Batman’s approval, her desire to fight crime predates both of them. With a police commissioner as a father, practically growing up in the station, her desire to fight for justice is still more deeply instilled than anything else.
Powers/Abilties:
Barbara is a gymnast – ones with the potential to go to the Olympics, to hear her father speak.
She’s got decent hand eye coordination, allowing her to successfully throw her baterangs, and has some minor ability as a detective. She was able to keep up with Bruce, at the very least, even when he wasn’t actually telling her what was going on.
Although her only formal training is in gymnastics, she has been working alongside Bruce for these last three months. She has effective combat skills, as a result – mostly based on her gymnastics – and is quite good with her weapons. These have mostly included grappling hooks and batarangs.
She can also pick a lock.
Appearance:
Red haired, young looking, and often wearing a bat cowl – she has large brown eyes, and stands at about 5’6. Her hair goes down to the shoulders.
Samples:Actionspam Sample: Have a thread? C:
Prose Sample: I used this in the devils see, if it works.
Barbara flipped, her purple cape catching at the air as she moved off the top of a branch, her fingers snatching at another tree’s limb. It bent, cracking open beneath her finger. She twisted, catching at another branch and twisting her way up on top of it.
“So… not like roof hopping,” she muttered, frowning down at her wood-burned fingers. No splinters so far as she could see. Go her.
Picking her next step more cautiously, she leapt to a sturdier branch, feeling it creak.
A crack reached her ears, up above. Her eyes darted up, scouting for a shadow. Maybe it had been a bad idea to try out tree hopping. Maybe it had been a worse idea shaking off all offers of help from the odd collection of bat-lings she’d found. “And maybe I should stop thinking about ‘maybe’s and get out of here…”
Another crack, and a branch fell toward her from above. She moved quickly, dodging out from under it. She could see a shadow at the edge of vision, moving toward her. She launched a batarang in response, the sea-battered metal veering off course before it reached its target. She veered as well, making a final twists to reach the ground and take off running, feet nearly sliding out from underneath her when she hit the floor. Her follower thudded to the ground a little behind her.
Batman had taught her that being small could be an asset. She was slight enough to slip between the trees, just as she had been light enough to move across the branches. The creature knew the territory better, though, and it was catching up. She wished Bats was there to help – but he wasn’t. So she was just going to have to make do without him.
Barbara knew she lacked the physical strength to take on the creatures. Worse, what strength she did have seemed to be flagging, her footsteps growing slower as her heartbeat pumped faster in fear. Glancing up into the branches, her vision seemed to blur, arguing against any attempt to move back into the trees. They’d warned her that things were harder here. Another thing she probably should have listened to.
There was no time for maybes, though. Just her and the too solid forest as she tried to make her way back toward the buildings, wondering what Batman would say if he could see her there. To think her pops had been worried about the life of a police officer, way back home in Gotham…
Barbara put that thought out of her mind, too, and just ran.
TDS Permissions
Dec. 23rd, 2012 09:31 am► Fighting? Yes! I'd prefer working things out before hand when it comes to serious injuries, though - just ask and we'll see.
► Death? A very cautious yes? There's a limited number of times a character can die on the island, and I'm in no rush for Ghost!Barbara. So I'd like to save her deaths for something plot-important.
► Violence/Gore/Squicks? I'm good with anything, so long as it fits the plot - I do get squicked out by torture and skinning in particular, but I'm willing to power through it for a good tag.
► Offensive Subjects/Triggers/Other Warnings? Nope! None that I can think of. :)
► Death? A very cautious yes? There's a limited number of times a character can die on the island, and I'm in no rush for Ghost!Barbara. So I'd like to save her deaths for something plot-important.
► Violence/Gore/Squicks? I'm good with anything, so long as it fits the plot - I do get squicked out by torture and skinning in particular, but I'm willing to power through it for a good tag.
► Offensive Subjects/Triggers/Other Warnings? Nope! None that I can think of. :)
Tu Shanshu App
Dec. 9th, 2012 11:01 amPlayer Information:
Name: Kevin
Age: 21
Contact: personal dw – dragon8writer.
Game Cast: None.
Character Information:
Name: Barbara Gordon
Canon: The Batman (an animated series, not to be confused with Batman the Animated Series)
Canon Point: following 3x11 “Thunder”
Age: about 16 (She was attending driver’s school.)
Reference: http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Batman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Batman_(TV_series)
Setting: In a world not too different from our own, there’s a city often accepted by the fandom to be somewhere in New Jersey. This city, known as Gotham, is home to billionaire Bruce Wayne, a seemingly normal citizen outside of his extreme wealth. He’s also an orphan. As a child, he actually watched his parents get murdered. This traumatic experience is what initially inspired him to become The Batman, a caped vigilante that fights crime in the name of justice and tries to prevent others from falling. Currently accepted by the city, and actively recruited by Police Commissioner Gordon for special cases, the Batman fights both normal crooks, and super villains. The latter are particularly formative enemies, often insane, and occasionally gifted with super powers.
Though there are a great many criminals, they include: the Joker – an insane clown-based criminal who uses laughing gasses and physical comedy props to terrorize the city.
Mr. Freeze, who uses his ice based powers to steal from others.
The Penguin, who – angry about his family’s lost fortune – has been trying to steal it back.
Not to mention Dr. Strange, obsessed with the Batman and constantly finding ways to play with his mind or push him to his limit. The police department willingly accepts their help, and provides support, calling them explicitly with the bat signal. Barbara gets messages especially from batman via her bat-wave device, which she receives in her last appearance of season 3.
The Batman, in contrast to his enemies, is… arguably sane, and has no powers. He relies upon a series of gadgets and athletic training to get his work done. Working alone for quite a while, he did his best to fight against the criminal element, sacrificing any real social life in the process. Although there are heroes in other cities, they have yet to date had any real impact on or presence in Gotham.
Until The commissioners daughter, Barbara Gordon, decided to put on a costume herself. She joined the Batman as the batgirl, ignoring his protests about working alone and claiming that he simply couldn’t stop her. Although he was reluctant, he did eventually accept her, and she became his first (currently only) partner in the fight against crime. Her father does not know to date. Together they regularly keep the city from being trashed.
Of course, the world of DC comics is bigger than just Gotham. There are other cities, as mentioned. Metropolis, which has Superman, an alien, fighting against his own criminals. The green arrow, the flash, captain America – all of these heroes are out there, fighting crime. However, until season 5, their impact on the city is minimal to nonexistent. These other heroes, and their assorted villains, do not show up. The Justice League, where these people blend together, has yet to be formed. Barbara is the Batman’s only partner. The setting is restricted to Barbara, particularly during the duration of season 3, which covers her introduction to her current canon point.
It’s also worth noting that, outside of the presence of super heroes and super villains, the world is essentially our own. The level of technology is about the same as it is for us. The cities mirror our own, with simply a few more sprinkled inside. It’s early in the twenty first century, and people are still taking the subway.
Personality: One of the most important things to recognize about Barbara is that she truly values justice. It’s the main reason she put on the bat costume. There’s no traumatic event in her past, or run in with the criminal element that caused her to make the decision. Her father is the police commissioner, and his passion for justice had the good luck to rub off on her. She in fact wanted to be a member of the police force herself, at first.
Unfortunately, Commissioner Gordon didn’t really want his daughter going into a job where she got shot at. He actively discouraged Barbara from joining the police force, and she suspected that he’d never allow her to. That’s why Barbara made herself the batgirl outfit– she thought it would be a way to fight crime regardless of anyone else’s thoughts.
The second thing to realize about Barbara in fact ties into that first; this particular version of Barbara does everything with a youthful passion. On top of crime fighting, she also has an interest in the environment. She and fellow redhead Pamela Isley joined together in order to protest companies that mistreated it. Unfortunately the protests turned out to be scouting missions for Pam, who would afterwards hire a mercenary to take out the buildings.
Barbara only learned this later. But she showed a loyalty that matches her love of justice when it happened. Rather than turning her in to the police, she went directly to Pamela to try and stop her. When that failed, and an accident gave Pamela powers over plants, she still did not go to the police – instead, she went to Batman about the newly made ‘Poison Ivy,” recognizing the issue and hoping to find a solution. Trying to stop Ivy was in fact her first mission as Batgirl.
I would like to note at this point that it is justice Barbara values, not just the law, and that neither ever entirely eclipses friendship or loyalty in her mind. She did not want Pamela to get arrested, she just wanted her friend stopped. In fact, when a classmate of hers later joined the Joker in a massive spree of practical jokes, Barbara worked to stop him without having him hurt. She didn’t want him being punished, or hurt, for what she saw as a mere mistake. This is despite the fact that they did not get along, and – unlike with Ivy – had nothing to do with a previous friendship.
In truth, Barbara is very independently minded, not to mention stubborn. She ignored her father’s protective orders and hid her face under a mask, so that she could go off to fight crime. When Batman told her no, she essentially told him that he couldn’t stop her. She wanted to work with him against crime, and she continued showing up and joining him despite all protests. He ignored Bruce’s attempts to ignore his, his repeated ditching of her, and his rebuffing of her status as his sidekick. She continued showing up, and continued referring to herself as his sidekick with single minded determination to prove herself, until he finally accepted her. Mostly because she saved his life, saved the city, and kept going when everything else was falling apart. This is apparent whether dealing with friends, partners, or the law itself.
That said, she obviously values team work – she wanted to work with Batman, not separate from him. She doesn’t devalue the thoughts of others. But when it comes to authority, Barbara isn’t willing to let anyone stop her. Not when it’s something she truly values.
As a final note, I would like to say that Barbara will be fairly accepting of the city. Her biggest worry will be about her father or Batman find out. The last thing she wants is a conversation about putting herself in danger, or to be stopped from going out once she returns home. Being told that the favored daughter went into a magical coma when she slept and ended up between life and death… isn’t exactly reassuring to most people, after all.
Of course, as she’ll be told from the start that time doesn’t move back home, she’ll calm down rather quickly. While she might find it odd at first, Barbara will adapt quickly and move on. She’s a fairly fluid and casual person. She’s the sort of person who hops on a motorcycle and starts driving, puts on a suit and starts fighting crime. Takes control of a plain, despite no experience, and steers it away without a second thought because that’s what needs to be done no matter the risk. She’s impulsive in a word, but beyond that – she’s proven herself capable of adapting to the strange and the random. I don’t believe that she’ll let the city do much more than take her aback.
She will probably want to continue her crime fighting activities in one way or another, unless actively stopped from doing so – most likely by the bat family if at all, since she’s not afraid of just hiding her identity from the police. She will not recognize anyone but batman herself, for the record, though she might listen to them anyway. In this particular version, she pre-dates even Robin, and was the Batman’s first and – at this canon point - only partner.
(For those more familiar with the comics, it would be good to think of this version as a mixture between the traditional Barbara Gordon, and Stephanie Brown – she even has a theme of purple running through her equipment.)
Appearance:
http://images.wikia.com/batman/images/b/b1/Barbara_Gordon.JPG
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/16200000/Batgirl-the-batman-16220797-491-450.jpg
Abilities: Barbara is a gymnast – ones with the potential to go to the Olympics, to hear her father speak.
She’s got decent hand eye coordination, allowing her to successfully throw her baterangs, and has some minor ability as a detective. She was able to keep up with Bruce, at the very least, even when he wasn’t actually telling her what was going on.
She’s good with computers, and has some combat ability – although it’s worth noting that the only formal training we know about is in gymnastics. Most of it comes down to acrobatic maneuvers, as a result, which she works into her kicks and punches, and most importantly her dodges.
Inventory:
A set of five homemade batarangs (Bat-shaped boomerangs)/
An arm attachment that fires a bat-based grappling hook, complete with a motor to pull her up.
Her bat-girl outfit, as seen in the second appearances link
A utility belt, and a bat-wave communicator (which will be useless without any of Batman’s equipment, or her Batman.)
Pellets, which activate when thrown – including five mini-explosives, five smoke-bombs, and five freezing-pellets that cause ice to form when they go off.
All of this would be inside a purple box, given to her by batman . (I’d assume that she undressed before going to bed, but since she’d have only been given it that night, she wouldn’t have wanted it out of her sight just yet.)
Suite: Water suite, 1 floor. She’s young, and has no real money. She might move in with someone else, considering that fact – but she doesn’t really need anything expensive, particularly if she is by herself. Besides which, she’s not really used to having more than her own room. One relatively cheap room is more than enough.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
Barbara flipped, air sliding over her outfit and catching at the purple cape. It flared up behind her, giving a dramatic flair. It was a shame no one was there to see it, when she flipped herself about and landed on a flag post. No criminals to put the fear of bats into.
She sighed, wishing Batman was there. He always knew where to find crime – assuming it wasn’t actively looking for him. To this place, she was just a weird girl in a cape. So she was just going to have to prove to them otherwise.
Tensing her legs, she took another leap to a nearby roof. Her knees bent when she hit the ground, and she took off running without pause, jumping from one building to another. Her gaze trailing across the streets, she tried to spy out some particular bit of trouble. A mugging, maybe, or an attempted murder; or a really nice looking shoe shop. She was getting a little tired of fruitless paroles, while she learned the cities ins and outs.
Namely what she’d found was that it was out of crime whenever she was around. Not that she wasn’t happy with a peaceful city. But she just couldn’t shake the feeling that she was just missing the crime. Besides, if she was being honest, she sort of missed the thrill of dodging fists. Not to mention the feeling of praise when Batman smiled at her. .
A telltale sign of movement sent deeper thoughts screeching to a halt, and she paused at the edge of a rooftop. Two men approaching on a third, one with a knife drawn. No big deal.
Batgirl didn’t hesitate to leap off the building edge, catching at a handy surface and bouncing her way down with another flip. Before the knife wielder could recover from surprise, her foot shot out to strike the weapon from his hand. While he cried out in surprise, Barbara pulled her elbow back to hit his partner, and launched it forward to hit him in the face.
Sensing the other man coming up behind her, Barbara swept a leg out beneath him and took him to the ground, ducking beneath a blow and coming up with an undercut. The man wobbled back, one hand against the wall for support, and she wheeled about to kick him again and give her a little more distance from the second crook. He didn’t look inclined to get up just yet.
When she turned to the remaining opponent, he was already running down the street. She tried not to look relieved.
As nice as it was to be back in action, she had to admit it was harder without her partner. As limber as she was, she lacked both the brawn and the martial arts training to take down a crook with one hit. Not that she was going to let that stop her from giving a victorious smile.
…Except the victim had run away too. “Great.”
So maybe she wasn’t exactly he known heroic figure she wanted to be. She still wasn’t going to stop fighting crime. This was what she did, after all, to make the city safer. This, she knew, was how she did the people back home proud. This was who she was.
Besides which, it was kind of fun knowing she couldn’t die.
Network:
[Barbara’s face is set in a frown, as she taps at her keyboard. She hasn’t had much of a chance to work with it, yet. She looks surprised when she realizes she’s broadcasting. She recovers quickly, though, grinning at her shiny new toy.]
Hi, fellow not quite dead people, right? I’m Barbara. Guess we’re all stuck here until we wake up, huh? [There’s a small awkward pause, before she continues.]
…I don’t suppose any of you know where there’s a good shoe sale, do you? ‘Cause I’ve got to say I can use some therapeutic window shopping until I figure out what I’m going to do about cash. I’d take cute jackets, too, but I think I need the hard stuff for this one. Really wishing pops gave me an early allowance.
Unless this is all just some insane plot by Ivy or something, and I’m still in Gotham City. In which case I’d really like to wake up.
Name: Kevin
Age: 21
Contact: personal dw – dragon8writer.
Game Cast: None.
Character Information:
Name: Barbara Gordon
Canon: The Batman (an animated series, not to be confused with Batman the Animated Series)
Canon Point: following 3x11 “Thunder”
Age: about 16 (She was attending driver’s school.)
Reference: http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Batman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Batman_(TV_series)
Setting: In a world not too different from our own, there’s a city often accepted by the fandom to be somewhere in New Jersey. This city, known as Gotham, is home to billionaire Bruce Wayne, a seemingly normal citizen outside of his extreme wealth. He’s also an orphan. As a child, he actually watched his parents get murdered. This traumatic experience is what initially inspired him to become The Batman, a caped vigilante that fights crime in the name of justice and tries to prevent others from falling. Currently accepted by the city, and actively recruited by Police Commissioner Gordon for special cases, the Batman fights both normal crooks, and super villains. The latter are particularly formative enemies, often insane, and occasionally gifted with super powers.
Though there are a great many criminals, they include: the Joker – an insane clown-based criminal who uses laughing gasses and physical comedy props to terrorize the city.
Mr. Freeze, who uses his ice based powers to steal from others.
The Penguin, who – angry about his family’s lost fortune – has been trying to steal it back.
Not to mention Dr. Strange, obsessed with the Batman and constantly finding ways to play with his mind or push him to his limit. The police department willingly accepts their help, and provides support, calling them explicitly with the bat signal. Barbara gets messages especially from batman via her bat-wave device, which she receives in her last appearance of season 3.
The Batman, in contrast to his enemies, is… arguably sane, and has no powers. He relies upon a series of gadgets and athletic training to get his work done. Working alone for quite a while, he did his best to fight against the criminal element, sacrificing any real social life in the process. Although there are heroes in other cities, they have yet to date had any real impact on or presence in Gotham.
Until The commissioners daughter, Barbara Gordon, decided to put on a costume herself. She joined the Batman as the batgirl, ignoring his protests about working alone and claiming that he simply couldn’t stop her. Although he was reluctant, he did eventually accept her, and she became his first (currently only) partner in the fight against crime. Her father does not know to date. Together they regularly keep the city from being trashed.
Of course, the world of DC comics is bigger than just Gotham. There are other cities, as mentioned. Metropolis, which has Superman, an alien, fighting against his own criminals. The green arrow, the flash, captain America – all of these heroes are out there, fighting crime. However, until season 5, their impact on the city is minimal to nonexistent. These other heroes, and their assorted villains, do not show up. The Justice League, where these people blend together, has yet to be formed. Barbara is the Batman’s only partner. The setting is restricted to Barbara, particularly during the duration of season 3, which covers her introduction to her current canon point.
It’s also worth noting that, outside of the presence of super heroes and super villains, the world is essentially our own. The level of technology is about the same as it is for us. The cities mirror our own, with simply a few more sprinkled inside. It’s early in the twenty first century, and people are still taking the subway.
Personality: One of the most important things to recognize about Barbara is that she truly values justice. It’s the main reason she put on the bat costume. There’s no traumatic event in her past, or run in with the criminal element that caused her to make the decision. Her father is the police commissioner, and his passion for justice had the good luck to rub off on her. She in fact wanted to be a member of the police force herself, at first.
Unfortunately, Commissioner Gordon didn’t really want his daughter going into a job where she got shot at. He actively discouraged Barbara from joining the police force, and she suspected that he’d never allow her to. That’s why Barbara made herself the batgirl outfit– she thought it would be a way to fight crime regardless of anyone else’s thoughts.
The second thing to realize about Barbara in fact ties into that first; this particular version of Barbara does everything with a youthful passion. On top of crime fighting, she also has an interest in the environment. She and fellow redhead Pamela Isley joined together in order to protest companies that mistreated it. Unfortunately the protests turned out to be scouting missions for Pam, who would afterwards hire a mercenary to take out the buildings.
Barbara only learned this later. But she showed a loyalty that matches her love of justice when it happened. Rather than turning her in to the police, she went directly to Pamela to try and stop her. When that failed, and an accident gave Pamela powers over plants, she still did not go to the police – instead, she went to Batman about the newly made ‘Poison Ivy,” recognizing the issue and hoping to find a solution. Trying to stop Ivy was in fact her first mission as Batgirl.
I would like to note at this point that it is justice Barbara values, not just the law, and that neither ever entirely eclipses friendship or loyalty in her mind. She did not want Pamela to get arrested, she just wanted her friend stopped. In fact, when a classmate of hers later joined the Joker in a massive spree of practical jokes, Barbara worked to stop him without having him hurt. She didn’t want him being punished, or hurt, for what she saw as a mere mistake. This is despite the fact that they did not get along, and – unlike with Ivy – had nothing to do with a previous friendship.
In truth, Barbara is very independently minded, not to mention stubborn. She ignored her father’s protective orders and hid her face under a mask, so that she could go off to fight crime. When Batman told her no, she essentially told him that he couldn’t stop her. She wanted to work with him against crime, and she continued showing up and joining him despite all protests. He ignored Bruce’s attempts to ignore his, his repeated ditching of her, and his rebuffing of her status as his sidekick. She continued showing up, and continued referring to herself as his sidekick with single minded determination to prove herself, until he finally accepted her. Mostly because she saved his life, saved the city, and kept going when everything else was falling apart. This is apparent whether dealing with friends, partners, or the law itself.
That said, she obviously values team work – she wanted to work with Batman, not separate from him. She doesn’t devalue the thoughts of others. But when it comes to authority, Barbara isn’t willing to let anyone stop her. Not when it’s something she truly values.
As a final note, I would like to say that Barbara will be fairly accepting of the city. Her biggest worry will be about her father or Batman find out. The last thing she wants is a conversation about putting herself in danger, or to be stopped from going out once she returns home. Being told that the favored daughter went into a magical coma when she slept and ended up between life and death… isn’t exactly reassuring to most people, after all.
Of course, as she’ll be told from the start that time doesn’t move back home, she’ll calm down rather quickly. While she might find it odd at first, Barbara will adapt quickly and move on. She’s a fairly fluid and casual person. She’s the sort of person who hops on a motorcycle and starts driving, puts on a suit and starts fighting crime. Takes control of a plain, despite no experience, and steers it away without a second thought because that’s what needs to be done no matter the risk. She’s impulsive in a word, but beyond that – she’s proven herself capable of adapting to the strange and the random. I don’t believe that she’ll let the city do much more than take her aback.
She will probably want to continue her crime fighting activities in one way or another, unless actively stopped from doing so – most likely by the bat family if at all, since she’s not afraid of just hiding her identity from the police. She will not recognize anyone but batman herself, for the record, though she might listen to them anyway. In this particular version, she pre-dates even Robin, and was the Batman’s first and – at this canon point - only partner.
(For those more familiar with the comics, it would be good to think of this version as a mixture between the traditional Barbara Gordon, and Stephanie Brown – she even has a theme of purple running through her equipment.)
Appearance:
http://images.wikia.com/batman/images/b/b1/Barbara_Gordon.JPG
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/16200000/Batgirl-the-batman-16220797-491-450.jpg
Abilities: Barbara is a gymnast – ones with the potential to go to the Olympics, to hear her father speak.
She’s got decent hand eye coordination, allowing her to successfully throw her baterangs, and has some minor ability as a detective. She was able to keep up with Bruce, at the very least, even when he wasn’t actually telling her what was going on.
She’s good with computers, and has some combat ability – although it’s worth noting that the only formal training we know about is in gymnastics. Most of it comes down to acrobatic maneuvers, as a result, which she works into her kicks and punches, and most importantly her dodges.
Inventory:
A set of five homemade batarangs (Bat-shaped boomerangs)/
An arm attachment that fires a bat-based grappling hook, complete with a motor to pull her up.
Her bat-girl outfit, as seen in the second appearances link
A utility belt, and a bat-wave communicator (which will be useless without any of Batman’s equipment, or her Batman.)
Pellets, which activate when thrown – including five mini-explosives, five smoke-bombs, and five freezing-pellets that cause ice to form when they go off.
All of this would be inside a purple box, given to her by batman . (I’d assume that she undressed before going to bed, but since she’d have only been given it that night, she wouldn’t have wanted it out of her sight just yet.)
Suite: Water suite, 1 floor. She’s young, and has no real money. She might move in with someone else, considering that fact – but she doesn’t really need anything expensive, particularly if she is by herself. Besides which, she’s not really used to having more than her own room. One relatively cheap room is more than enough.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
Barbara flipped, air sliding over her outfit and catching at the purple cape. It flared up behind her, giving a dramatic flair. It was a shame no one was there to see it, when she flipped herself about and landed on a flag post. No criminals to put the fear of bats into.
She sighed, wishing Batman was there. He always knew where to find crime – assuming it wasn’t actively looking for him. To this place, she was just a weird girl in a cape. So she was just going to have to prove to them otherwise.
Tensing her legs, she took another leap to a nearby roof. Her knees bent when she hit the ground, and she took off running without pause, jumping from one building to another. Her gaze trailing across the streets, she tried to spy out some particular bit of trouble. A mugging, maybe, or an attempted murder; or a really nice looking shoe shop. She was getting a little tired of fruitless paroles, while she learned the cities ins and outs.
Namely what she’d found was that it was out of crime whenever she was around. Not that she wasn’t happy with a peaceful city. But she just couldn’t shake the feeling that she was just missing the crime. Besides, if she was being honest, she sort of missed the thrill of dodging fists. Not to mention the feeling of praise when Batman smiled at her. .
A telltale sign of movement sent deeper thoughts screeching to a halt, and she paused at the edge of a rooftop. Two men approaching on a third, one with a knife drawn. No big deal.
Batgirl didn’t hesitate to leap off the building edge, catching at a handy surface and bouncing her way down with another flip. Before the knife wielder could recover from surprise, her foot shot out to strike the weapon from his hand. While he cried out in surprise, Barbara pulled her elbow back to hit his partner, and launched it forward to hit him in the face.
Sensing the other man coming up behind her, Barbara swept a leg out beneath him and took him to the ground, ducking beneath a blow and coming up with an undercut. The man wobbled back, one hand against the wall for support, and she wheeled about to kick him again and give her a little more distance from the second crook. He didn’t look inclined to get up just yet.
When she turned to the remaining opponent, he was already running down the street. She tried not to look relieved.
As nice as it was to be back in action, she had to admit it was harder without her partner. As limber as she was, she lacked both the brawn and the martial arts training to take down a crook with one hit. Not that she was going to let that stop her from giving a victorious smile.
…Except the victim had run away too. “Great.”
So maybe she wasn’t exactly he known heroic figure she wanted to be. She still wasn’t going to stop fighting crime. This was what she did, after all, to make the city safer. This, she knew, was how she did the people back home proud. This was who she was.
Besides which, it was kind of fun knowing she couldn’t die.
Network:
[Barbara’s face is set in a frown, as she taps at her keyboard. She hasn’t had much of a chance to work with it, yet. She looks surprised when she realizes she’s broadcasting. She recovers quickly, though, grinning at her shiny new toy.]
Hi, fellow not quite dead people, right? I’m Barbara. Guess we’re all stuck here until we wake up, huh? [There’s a small awkward pause, before she continues.]
…I don’t suppose any of you know where there’s a good shoe sale, do you? ‘Cause I’ve got to say I can use some therapeutic window shopping until I figure out what I’m going to do about cash. I’d take cute jackets, too, but I think I need the hard stuff for this one. Really wishing pops gave me an early allowance.
Unless this is all just some insane plot by Ivy or something, and I’m still in Gotham City. In which case I’d really like to wake up.
Playing with Poison
Jan. 23rd, 2001 12:13 amBarbara moved into the subways, slowly. She'd been coming to see Ivy - Pam - regularly, for the last few days. Today was no different - just her and some food. Maybe an idea or three for antidotes that might never work. There had to be some way for her to make contact with her friend, without getting hurt....
A Night at The Fair
Jan. 18th, 2001 07:45 pmBabs drew her arm back, tossing the ball forward with an easy motion. It slammed into the bottles, knocking them loose easily, to the proprietor's apparent surprise. She wondered what their face would look like if they knew who it was that was playing with them. Or how determined she was to win Kara a prize.
Nothing expressed the confused feelings of liking someone like a giant stuffed teddy bear.
Nothing expressed the confused feelings of liking someone like a giant stuffed teddy bear.
