#babsivy

Babsivy designs for an upcoming fic/art

"Pam? What happened to us?" - Barbara Gordon

I had this in works for a while, just a redrawn scene of Barbara Gordon and Pamela Isley meeting up... with a different background and Babs being hit by mutagen mulch. Again, it's a fun experiment, but I didn't feel the need to post it as I felt this AU scenario hasn't been explored in the wider fandom, especially fandom of The Batman (2004).

However, a fanfiction on AO3, called where the wildflowers grow (thick as weeds and snow), has been updated recently, which tackles this AU scenario. The latest chapter is Babs realizing that she has become a plant person, which is usually where most of this set of fan fictions ends, unfortunately. It's currently in private, however, so you better have an AO3 account to read it.

Well, it's the start of March and that means spring is around the corner. In the meantime, I decided to advance the next stage of whole Barbara Ivy AU side project. Whereas the past artworks were simply redrawing Barbara in screenshots as a plant person, this one is not based on any screenshots and instead have Barbara and Pamela Isley in new and original (or at least based on a pose I found on the Internet) poses.

It also gives me the chance to show the full body of Barbara Gordon for future references. Namely that her plant clothes are almost a symmetrical mirror to Poison Ivy, and while her plant straps are in the same limbs as Ivy, they're positioned differently to reflect Babs' wristband and Stephanie Brown's leg belt. Two peas in a pod.Now I still don't know what codename Barbara would take in this AU scenario. But I do know is that she will have to fight Poison Ivy at the beginning due to being more moral and sane. But in the end, the two would reconcile and rekindle their strained friendship (possibly blossoming into a romance). Whether it be Pam reforming or Babs turning to the dark side, I'm not entirely sure. They just look well together.

A Poisonous Reunion: Babs and Ivy

"Well, Red. It looks like we're truly are two peas in a pod." - Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley)

Well, I did mention I wanted to revisit this AU idea when I can get Barbara and Pamela together. Well, I haven't really drawn Pamela before, and the two only had one real interaction together post-Ivy transformation, which is the scene where Pam meets Babs in her room as Poison Ivy. I choose the moment where Pam puts a flower on Babs' head because well, many saw it as a ship tease.

Using past artworks I made of Barbara Ivy (and Poison Ivy's side-profile) as references, I manage to recreate the rose-like hair on the side, complete with a permanent ponytail so we can tell it's Babs we're seeing. Unfortunately, the screenshot only shows the top half of these characters, so Barbara's new look is mostly cut off.

The background was actually a screen cap from the actual show itself, specifically from "Fleurs du Mal" episode where we get to see a dreamscape garden that Poison Ivy uses to sedate her captives while their plant clones take their place. I initially wanted the greenhouse background where Ivy was "reborn", but I couldn't find a good picture of it without any of the characters.

Another AU artwork of Barbara Gordon if she was hit by Chlorogene's plant mulch mutagen and transforms into a plant girl. This time, I took more notes on Barbara's civilian design and noticed that she has a band or bracelet on her right hand (and only her right hand). It becomes clear for me that it would dissolve but Barbara's ivy leaves would grow there to mimic her past normal life.

Other modifications include removing the shines in her eyes (and give her sclera a green tint) since Poison Ivy doesn't have shines in her inhuman green eyes. The hairstyle remains the same from the last one I made, and the leaf dress is mirrored from Poison Ivy's dress.

An artwork from last year based on a hypothetical What-If scenario in The Batman (2004) that hasn't been truly explored

What if Barbara Gordon attempted to save Pamela Isley... and got hit by ChloroGene's mutagenic mulch along with her? Theoretically, she would be subjected to the same metamorphisis as her friend-turned-supervillain. It's a fan fiction idea that has only reached the beginning stage... but never the end. Like, what are the consequences for Babs to become half-plant/half-human? Would she continue allying with Pam in her crusade against plants, or would she oppose Poison Ivy and become a heroic superheroine with plant based powers?

The possibilities of this AU scenario are rich with potential. There needs to be more fan fictions... and fan art.