Lyle Bolton - Tumblr Posts
The Lock-up episode of children's show BTAS really said "you know these villains who are seemingly never redeemed or improving? Well they're actually being horribly mistreated and abused in the mental institution that's supposed to help them by the American Police/Prison System made into a completely unsympathetic character :)" and made a more effective point about the state of most mental health institutions and the police than most things today.
I love this episode because it shows without a doubt that batman cares about these peoples lives and WANTS them to improve. He doesn't even humor Lyles bullshit, he just beats his ass up whilst telling him he has no compassion (based batman).
Because no matter how shitty people like Scarecrow(who has no explicit sad backstory in btas)are, they are still just people and need to be treated as such if they are to improve. You cannot expect someone to get better by treating them like vermin with no hope of change. They are in a mental institution. They are supposed to be treated with care to have any chance of rehabilitation.
Not like Lyle Bolton wanted to help them or see them improve anyway. He just wanted to feel powerful by abusing helpless people he had control over. And that's why people don't like Lyle Bolton while they do other villains. He isn't a fun concept. He's real. He represents a real issue. People like Lyle Bolton are real. As I'm writing this very post my father is watching a YouTube video in the living room from one of them. Abusers in positions of power complaining about being "censored" by the liberal media and how "those types" of people aren't people and don't deserve to live.
The entire trial scene is so hard to watch because even though the patients of Arkham are clearly being abused and threatened in front of everyone, no one (except Bruce) seems to notice. If Bruce hadn't instigated the patients freak-out, they never would have said anything about the mistreatment they were receiving from the very place that was supposed to help them. They literally end up huddling together, shaking in fear as Lyle, barely being able to be restrained, screams at them about how they're scum that deserve to be beaten to death. There's a theory that Scarecrow not only escaped to get away from Lyle Bolton, but to get help for the other inmates as well. And if that was the intention, well, I'm glad he succeeded.
The only unrealistic part of the episode is the fact that Lyle actually got punished.
"can it be, that you actually CARE about those creatures!? you are just as crazy as they are!"
and yeah, he sure does care. so let me present you, batman n' his 'creatures' aka you become forever responsible for what (who) you’ve tamed.
...
(i remember watching the lock-up ep as a child, and rooting for bruce to save the rogues. i always was a villain-lover type of kid, n' those 3 were one of my fav characters in the whole show, so naturally, i wanted them to be saved. but that aside, it also simply felt idk, ‘right’ for bruce to intervene? at that age, i didn’t fully understand the complexity behind the topic, but it was one of those episodes that stuck with me for years. it’s actually pretty mature for a kid’s show to show smth like that.
i honestly wish, that the ep was fully focused on inmates and/or bruce investigating the abuse vs how it went into bolton kidnapping gordon n’ other folks. but hey, what we got was nice too! there is something very lovely about the hero protecting their villains from anti-heros/villain-slayers. it’s a thankless job, clearly. but they still put themselves in harm's way, bc they don't approve of the abuse/murder. even if it’s their enemies. *or in some cases* esp if it’s their enemies.
now about the art...
idk, if the first one *the meme itself* was already done for lock-up ep or not. i mean, probably? maybe? either way, if it was done before, now there is another version for it.
n' ah. the second one is kinda just happen'. i was thinking about batman hanging out with every villain, who was in that ep. and how different it would have been, if it was actually about idk, batman, his rogues n' bolton trying to kill/capture them all or smth like that, rather than how it went in canon. anyhow, batman still wins in the end *naturally* and tries bring them all back into arkham, which is.....yeah, it prob will be difficult. mostly bc no one wants to go back lol. harley wants to see her trash man the joker, jon want to gas the city, wesker *actually* wouldn't have minded to go back, but the scareface wanna do crimes. n' bolton doesn't think, that he did anything wrong, so clearly he doesn't wanna be locked up *hehe, get it* with crazies as one of them. so basically, batman's battle for justice slowly turns into pokemon hunt.
in other words, bruce will have a long night ahead of him, with crane yelling into his ear the whole time. f in chat for our man bruce. he really needs it.)