One thing about Penguin’s bottle monocle, while I do think he definitely uses it as a sense of status, the reason he never takes it out is because it’s not just lodged into his face but his skull and taking it would probably kill him so he decided to embrace it.
I just wanna say that I really appreciate Monty's voice work in these games. I always appreciate it, but I know the boys give him some shit for not having the best accents, but hot damn he really nails the characters in these Arkham games
So they actually do explain what the deal with Grundy is in one of the unlockable Arkham City stories. Way back in the 1800s Cyrus Gold was a test subject for Ra's Al Guhl when he first started experimenting with the Lazarus Pit underneath Gotham City, being constantly killed and then resurrected over and over again until his mind was so far gone from madness all he remembered was the nursery rhyme "Solomon Grundy".
I think mainly Arkham-verse, because I remember one origin being about how he was a mobster that got killed near a cursed swamp, and the magic there brought him back.
Fun little Batman/Superman fact I've learned. People will ask how come Clark Kent isn't recognized as Superman with just glasses and a comb. It's because he also looks like a well known billionaire in Gotham. Superman and Batman canonically are lookalikes
You forgot to mention that, when fighting Joker in the Steel Mill, he has no skeleton when in Detective Mode. It was one of the more obvious clues that it was actually Clayface.
The in-universe explanation for the name Robin is that Dick's mother used to call him her "little robin," because his birthday is the first day of spring, March 21st. The name continued because both Jason and Tim sorta worship Dick and his legacy.
If I remember correctly, Joker's illness is the result of the Titan Formula mixing with the other chemicals saturating his body - the ones that make him green-haired and white-skinned. Hence why the illness doesn't turn people into Bane knock-offs. So the old cure won't work. Also, since the League of Assassins was behind Arkham City, it makes a bit of sense that the City was built over a Lazarus Pit.
When batman beats up mr freeze at the end of the boss battle and the joker face appears I always think it was the joker persona revealing itself to batman due to being infected by the joker's blood
I feel like the crew forgot about something when Chase was confused about why Batman doesn’t go after the cure during Protocol 10. He can’t go after the cure because for all Batman knows, Joker took the last of the cure and used it on himself. The only benefit of going after Joker in that moment would be to save Talia and stop Joker from using the Lazarus Pit. Granted, if Joker used the Lazarus Pit, that would be bad but the more pressing matter at hand are the thousands of inmates and political prisoners currently being slaughtered
I love the little hints for the end Joker reveal. During my second playthru I noticed that the sick Joker coughs softly in the background of the "update from General J" message where he looks healthy again. Like sick Joker is recording it or something. I think the camera shakes like the host is coughing, too. Harley Quinn saying "no, it's not YOU, is it?" And Joker tells her to shut up! So good!
The comment made about Batman's blood type is actually the primary theory for why Batman got so sick and would have died in just one night while Joker survived for several months. It wasn't just the Titan, it was a bad blood transfusion.
I believe the reason the EMP works at the end is because Strange was using Mad Hatter's tech to control the guards, so those short out as well. I might be wrong on that, but I thought that was established at some point.
Loved this as I do the rest! To follow up on the Harley Quinn thing at the end. That reveal was actually at the end of Arkham City done through the credits and then the test in the room (not sure if you can find it there before the final boss or if it is there after). Paul Dini was the writer for Arkham Asylum and Arkham Cirty but not the Harley Quinn Revenge DLC or Arkham Knight. So it was an idea that Rocksteady basically walked back. There are a bunch of tests to contradict the original one in the DLC.
The reason that they don't just use Lazarus Pits for everything is because it very consistently is shown to degrade the mind and may very well be addictive.
Robin is called Robin as a call back to Robin Hood. This is also the same call back used for a certain identity one of the Robins takes on later in life.
Whenever this series ends I would love to see a series on the American McGee's Alice series. They seem right up Chases alley and since it looks like the series is over for good due to EA it'd be nice to get more people introduced to the awesome 2 games.
Something of note that hasn't been mentioned at the point of the video I'm at; I can't remember if it's outright stated or if it's merely implied (0r if its just a head-cannon I slowly accepted as truth over the years), but the flower from asylum isn't a cure, it's an antidote, I.E. it reverses the acute effects of Titan, like the transformation and the heart problems, but it doesn't "undo" the long term effects that come from exposure. Jokers (and by proxy, Batmans) symptoms are chronic as soon as they become exposed, and therefore cannot be fixed in the same manner.
my brain just went *boom* processing the Cain & Able joke. I never thought about that idea before and it kind of shakes my entire core philosophy of Christianity as a faith. Also its a great laugh, hahhaha
The joker didn’t put the glass in penguins eye, some random guy at the Iceberg Lounge did. Penguin responded by blinding him and then made him cross a street during rush hour
My biggest problem with Arkham City’s story and this may just be me, but I hate how obsessed Batman is with Talia in this game. Not only does she have barely any redeemable qualities and I don’t understand how he likes her, but in the final hours of the game his focus pivots to her when I think Batman should have more willpower than that. I’m fine with him struggling over who to save but Talia? If it was one of the Bat family or even Catwoman I would get it but I don’t know, Monty what is your take on this?
I would love to see you guys do a remastered metal gear lore dump with neil being a regular member of lore dump now, but ik thats just a flight of fancy😔
I remember getting this on a whim soon after it released and it ended up being one of my favorite xbox games. Cheers lads can't wait to sit down and relive the story.
Once again another great episode I really love the banter between you three as well as Chases reaction to the story of Arkham - cause it's never what you think it's going to be 😂
57:49 apparently he is named Robin not after the bird but Robin Hood, but the colour scheme is coloured after the bird. Also ever notice that for someone who likes to be sneaky, he dresses his sidekick up in bright red, makes it easy to be sneaky with a bright red distraction
Wonder City is about in the right place that the theatre could be right above the lazarus pit. Also the healthy joker regularly uses references to theatre and performance.
So they are called birdarang and Nightwing's batarangs are called Wingdings Also you can play as Nightwing during the DLC Challenge maps. He doesn't have a voice hence why he isn't in more of the game like planned but his design is better than his later in the series
I think Joker actually split the two brothers! They used to be attached hence why they only have one arm each! He separated them then threw one of the brothers out into the cold! That’s where Penguin recruited him!
So regarding the Joker in the comics, depending on which timeline/continuity it is he would either slip into a life of boredom or just stop doing anything if Batman isn't around. -In the Dark Knight returns comic/animated movie, The Joker just stops caring due to how his beloved Batman isn't around anymore. But starts to do stuff again when hearing news reports of Batman's return. Please note, Joker is genuinely in love with Bats in this continuity. -There is a comic where he just gets a job at a office after seeing Batman die after falling off a roof. He does end up keeping Bats' dead body in his closet. -Another comic has The Joker just working at Gothan's DMV. Yeah he at least has a means to mess with the people of Gotham City -In the 2020 Film, Death in the Family, one of the endings has Joker about to move onto a new life after Batman died. But after a chance encounter with Jason Todd, the second Robin, he dies. Yeah the Film has multiple ending.
The robin names comes from Dick, supposedly after "robinhood". I like the headcanon that it was his moms nickname for him though and he wanted to keep the memory close. The mantle stuck, obviously
1:11:49 Sharp is wasted in City. It could have explored his madness and thinking he's Amadeus Arkham more. Instead that's retconned into him being drugged by Strange and Mad Hatter.
Not a retcon if it wasn’t revealed until city lol just how it played out lmao and really who cares about Quincy sharpe lmfao there are other villains who deserved better in city
For the glass bottle, I believe it can't be removed because it would cause complications that would be life threatening to the Penguin. So it's easier to leave in than risk his life by removing it. I can't recall if it's covered in the game via collectible or if it was mentioned in an external piece of media.
I replayed Asylum about a year ago, and it was real good fun. In my head i had remembered City as darker and grimmer, but clearly it's just poor memory because listening to this was pure camp and hilarity. I've gotta circle back and replay this one, what a fun ride of an episode, boys.
only found one story where that wasnt the story line. She dug up then threw Jason Todd into the Laverus Pit after realizing that Bruce was losing it. he was extremely close to killing someone and Ra Al Ghul was just waiting for him to snap so he could become the new head of the league. Talia decided to go against her father and resurrect Jason which is why he has that white strip in his hair. she also had to basically do extreme physical and psychological therapy on him due to him acting like a zombie. then she sent him to gotham and he started murdering gang members and kidnapped joker to try and force batman into killing the joker and if he wont then he'll kill them both. i think she did help him get his equipment and make his plan as well.
When I've watched the Gotham Knights review by Monty back then, I did wonder about the ire towards Talia. But my knowledge about her is also pretty limited(I did know about the whole... nonconsensual night-thing with Batman, and her "appearance" in Batman Beyond), so I trusted Monty being an expert on this and have good reasons to dislike her. Now I am listening to this episode, and hearing him talk about Catwoman, I've realized, he is just being a shipper. Which is a reason I accept as good enough! b
The next Arkham LD and the behind-the-scenes essay on Monty's channel, all in one day. Good times. That said, while I know it's not a game, I do think it's unfortunate that there doesn't seem to ever even be mention, let alone coverage, of "Batman: Assault on Arkham", the animated movie which is apparently set between "Origins" and "Asylum". (I mean, unless it gets mentioned during the upcoming "Origins" LD, in which case oops.)
Listening to this and understanding how good the Arkham games were, it kind of tragic that Rocksteady went from this to Suicide Squad which doesn't have anywhere near the level of storytelling or quality of writing that their earlier games had. I'm looking forward to your take on Origins.
1:02:24 Bruce and Talia's relationship has never made sense. A guy strict about not killing wouldn't love a woman who's part of a cult that thinks killing most of the world's population will make it a paradise.
Honestly, hearing Chase with how he has had problems with how things work, from Metal Gears, RE diseases exc .... im curious how he would handle Monster Hunter or Ace Combat😅
I do have to defend my girl Talia a little bit, although I will admit that League of Assassins stories aren't for everyone and opinions on who Batman's OTP is are subjective (personally I'm a fan of Bruce/Selina/Talia myself) and Talia was infinitely more interesting when she was CEO of LexCorp instead. But it's worth mentioning that the plot point of Talia sexually assaulting Bruce is itself a *retcon*, and a really poorly done one at that. In the original story where Bruce and Talia sleep together and conceive a child, it's 100% consentual, and the baby is a miscarriage with maybe some hints about Talia lying to Bruce about it for stupid 'He Needs To Be Batman, He Can't Be Batman If He's Happy' reasons. Grant Morrison later retcons the sexual assault in, in the same story they retcon in Damian's existence, and for as good as their run is in places, they do engage in a lot of Islamaphobia with Damien in general and Talia in specific and I'm pretty sure even people who are broadly indifferent to Talia have hated that retcon ever since, especially because it plays into a disturbing trend in superhero media of sexual assault not... counting? if it's against men - like, Bruce and the rest of the Batfamily never act like what Talia did was sexual assault, and it never factors into their moral judgements about her, which is part of the reason why it's been relatively easy to retcon it back into a consentual relationship in recent times. Anyway, the point is that Talia is a complicated character, and I personally don't think it's fair to judge her based on an event that wasn't sexual assault at the time the original story was written, and isn't true now, and wasn't treated as seriously as it should have been even when it was sexual assault.
I haven't played these games in a while, but if memory serves me from reading all of the bio's and such. Professor Pig, or The Pig, the crazed surgeon was the one who did the surgery on Mr.Hammer and Mr.Sickle shortly before the incident in Arkham City. I believe it was upon the Jokers request, as he believed Mr. Hammer to be stronger than his twin, so after the surgery, they left Mr.Sickles' body by the akrham Bay, where CobblePot found him, patched him back up, and kept him as new muscle.
Man, Monty, can you imagine how much better it would be if the Court of Owls had came out in the comics just a few years earlier and THEY were the mysterious benefactor for Strange and the ones who provided the funding for Sharp's mayoral campaign? God, what a shame that we don't live in a world where THAT was the reveal instead of the entirely underwhelming Ra's al Ghul reintroduction. That way, the Talia arc could be cut off after getting enough dionesium for the cure and fighting Ra's. Skip Talia getting killed and just being so much of a major endgame plot point in general, and add a huge source of intrigue with the Court instead. Gah, what could have been.
Whats Happening? LD was once, one time a month and now it hasn't been two weeks since the last LD for Arkham Asylum. And I'm not complaining. I just rewatched the whole Remedy LD the last days. This is perfect.
the Jokers voice is in his head the Jokers voìce is in his head blaming Batman for for what happened in that prison now the clown is finally dead . 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 Azriel is going to unleash hell upon Gotham City also someTiger gaurds managed to get away plus there are still female ninjas they will continue the Leauge of Shadows oh one more thing I seen her first gotta fly .
