#hardac

Batman: The Animated Series - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles

The Cyborg Batman

As part of its diabolical effort to take over the city and eventually the world, the artificial intelligence known as H.A.R.D.A.C. had created robotic duplicates of Gotham City luminaries. This included a duplicate of Bruce Wayne.

And yet H.A.R.D.A.C. was destroyed by Batman before the Wayne duplicate could be dispatched. The android remained safe within a stasis chamber that managed to stay intact when H.A.R.D.A.C. exploded. Several months later, the android came online and emerged from the wreckage.

Without a connection to H.A.R.D.A.C. the duplicate had no primary instruction.  As such it believed itself to be the real Bruce Wayne and acted accordingly. This began with it donning the guise of Batman so to fight crime.  

Following an encounter with the real Batman, the android was forced to contend with the terrible realization that it was a synthetic being, that its memories were fabricated and it was not the true Bruce Wayne.  

Distraught, the android sought out the wreckage of H.A.R.D.A.C. and salvaged its core central processor.  It installed the processor in itself and planned to use The Bat-Computer to gain control over the world's computers and defense systems. 

The real Batman tried to stop the android. With its superior robotic strength, the android was easily able to defeat The Dark Knight and it threw Batman into a crevasse in the Bat Cave.

The android believed it had killed Batman, that it had taken a life.  A belief in sanctity of life was a critical aspect to Bruce Wayne’s psychological persona, an element that was passed on and replicated in the android duplicate.  It caused the android to suffer a kind of existential crisis; it could not cope with having betrayed its core principle. 

The android decided that it could not allow H.A.R.D.A.C. to take over and kill humanity.  As such it smashed its fists into the Bat-Computer, creating a massive explosion that destroyed not the computer, H.A.R.D.A.C. and the android itself.  

The true Batman had not perished in the fall and managed to climb back up.  He found the wreckage of his robotic duplicate and deduced what had occurred. Batman concluded that, although made of silicon, the being surely must have possessed a soul after all.

H.A.R.D.A.C. Batman by Chris Samnee

“I do wish you wouldn’t be so rough with your toys, Master Bruce.”

Episode: 38 Robin: No Writers: Brynne Stephens (Brynne Chandler) Director: Kevin Altieri Animator: Sunrise Airdate: November 16, 1992 Grade: A

Mixing the world of Batman TAS with heavy science fiction elements, particularly those related to computers, could have equated a heavily dated disaster. Even Batman’s bat-computer rubs me the wrong way sometimes, it sometimes seems out of place. I don’t think the decade helped much. I am not nostalgic at all for the computers of the 90’s and early 2000’s. They were a pain in the ass and they were ugly. Batman’s computer may be super advanced, but it was still a 90’s vision. Compare this to the futuristic world of The Jetsons. The Jetsons certainly had advanced technology, but it was also contained to what we already understood about technology. Because of that, it has not aged unnoticeably despite some aspects of that future still being a ways off from today. In many cases, we simply found different ways to advance, and things like the smart phone or the tablet were hugely instrumental in determining the way our technology would wander come the late-2000’s.

Heart of Steel isn’t set in the future, though, and this helps. Sure, the show was meant to be as timeless as possible, and therefore should somewhat translate to our modern times… Right? Ehh… I don’t think that “timeless” necessarily needs to mean that. The purposely dated aspects of the show (such as black and white TV’s) are now not much more retro than some of the technology and ideas featured in this episode. Eventually we will be at a place where the space between black and white TV’s and the Internet will be significantly smaller than the space between the Internet and present-day. Because of this technology in this episode seems less 90’s, and more like it fits in with the show’s atmosphere, blending together elements of the past and present. What do you get when you put together archaic technology with present-day technology? Something kinda in the middle. So we have weird, hybrid-era computers, black and white TV’s, and many other things that mostly existed decades apart, and it works. It’s all like a stew. A good story aids as well, and what Heart of Steel delivers is pretty interesting, incredibly creepy, and cunningly suspenseful.

When the episode starts, right off the bat, we can see that it’s unusually dirty-looking. The Blu Ray release features no such quirk, but goodness gracious, how did this much film-dirt pollute so many of the frames? Char thought it only added to the look, and I definitely won’t argue that. But a little film dirt goes a long way for me. When it’s looking this grubby, to the point where it could be god damn snowing, I see it as a little bit of a problem. Nothing I can’t look past, though. While we’re on the topic of animation, Sunrise is back, a lesser-used studio who, so far, as done a sufficient job, but not much beyond that. They have a style that I don’t recognize until I know it’s them. Hindsight bias? Maybe. But they’re kinda in between Dong Yang’s best work and Akom’s standard-to-best. They typically have some really weird shots every episode, and we get one here that is displayed down below in the section for screengrabs. They did a damn fine job at animating the suitcase robot, which was certainly not something you have to practice drawing every day, and the more dramatic scenes that popped up near the end. They were also able to give us an absolutely gorgeous Barbara and Randa. I have to call special attention to Randa’s design. Apparently she was modeled after Marilyn Monroe, and it shows. Char and I both briefly discussed how attractive she is. Too bad she’s a big ol’ bitch, right? At least Barbara is adorable inside and out.

So we start at Wayne Enterprises, and this mysterious blonde woman (who turns out to be Randa) leaves a suitcase inside, leaving immediately afterward. A guard picks it up and starts messing with it, which seems a little stupid. I mean, god, that scenario has “bomb” written all over it. The guard gets the suitcase open, and it seems ordinary, so he leaves it for the night in case anyone decides to come back for it the next day. Big mistake, because once the suitcase is alone, it grows metallic limbs, a robotic eyeball, and starts scurrying around the building, making its way up to a vault containing some microchips. The microchips are one piece to the puzzle of free-thinking AI, so obviously they are incredibly valuable. The guard and Bruce Wayne take notice on their way out, and after an action sequence between security and the spindly, little robot, Batman follows it to a car being driven by the blonde lady we saw earlier. Unfortunately she is able to stop Batman from following, ending the action for the night.

After talking to Lucius Fox and Commissioner Gordon (who has Barbara with him, her first appearance), Bruce visits a place called Cybertron Industries. Optimus Prime is nowhere to be seen, but a guy named Karl Rossum is running the company, and has a sweet, delicious southern accent. Seriously, this guy’s voice is really good. Like many of the mainstays, it exudes so much character and sounds incredibly natural at the same time. Rossum shows Bruce around, introducing him to some of his mechanical inventions, and then shows him his masterpiece, a giant computer named HARDAC (Holographic, Analytical, Reciprocating, Digital Computer). Oh, and his assistant, who has her hair covered up so that the audience doesn’t recognize her as the same woman who left the suitcase. It is pretty obvious that this is her, though, and when Rossum refuses to reveal the purpose of HARDAC, this whole operation gets even fishier. Hell, when Commissioner Gordon earlier mentioned that the only team (that’s not Wayne Enterprises) researching this type of AI was Cybertron, we might as well have taken it as, “So Karl Rossum is the villain.” I don’t actually remember if he is the villain or not, it’s been too long since I’ve seen the episode, but I’m going to remain suspicious. I do remember another big detail, though, and I’m going to avoid mentioning it for the sake of spoilers. You’re welcome.

Bruce Wayne convinces Rossum’s assistant (Randa) to go on a date with him in order to squeeze information out of her. “Well… Squeeze might not be the best word.” as Bruce put it. I couldn’t even believe I heard that. Huge innuendo! But after leaving, Randa makes her way to a section in Rossum’s lab where she begins an incriminating conversation with HARDAC, and a machine spits out a copy of Commissioner Gordon, naked as a jaybird. This copy makes its way to his house, along with Randa, and takes his place, unbeknownst to Barbara. She can tell something is different with him, though, as he won’t talk to her like he normally does, he stops calling her “Princess”, and he nastily swats her stuffed bear onto the floor, despite the real Gordon seemingly being more attached to it than Barbara is. It’s a very startling moment, actually, and it jumped Char. It made me audibly gasp, and it also made me a little sad. You don’t mistreat stuffed animals like that, you monster!

At the same time, Randa and Bruce are on their date at Wayne Manor. Bruce has to leave for a little while in the middle of it, due to an information theft at Wayne Industries, and while he’s gone, Randa communicates with HARDAC again, seemingly with the aid of an earpiece. Because the information stolen was actually decoy information, HARDAC instructs her to search the house, and she happens to stumble across the Batcave in the search. This makes for the first major time anyone has figured out that Bruce and Batman are the same exact person (Hugo Strange’s efforts didn’t amount to anything), and it ends up being much more dramatic. During the search, Alfred is put unconscious, and when Bruce finally gets back, things are quiet. Randa is nowhere to be seen, and Alfred doesn’t seem to recall what happened. Is this the real Alfred? I can’t recall. He seems to act pretty normal, but he also has no idea what is going on. He could have hit his head, but it leaves me concerned. Another element to the story that I cannot remember from several years back. Batman heads down to the Batcave to investigate, but his computer starts going absolutely haywire. Some mechanical arms from above grab him, and drag him up, ending the episode. The techno-freak-out is just as frightening as the bear-swat from earlier with “Gordon”, and it makes for a great end to the episode. In general, the episode picks up as we get closer and closer to the end. The beginning is B-material, and the end is A-material easily. Because of this, I eventually went with an A, succumbing to the peer pressure supplied by Char (that’s a joke). We’ll look at Part 2 soon (the post for Perchance to Dream may be up first), where we’ll hopefully get a thrilling conclusion. So far, the second parts of the two-parters have been inferior, with the hard exception being Feat of Clay.

Some various moments of the suitcase robot. The eyeball is the one thing that adds a little bit of camp, so they could have done without that. Wouldn’t a little seeing sensor work a bit better? 

The guard fiddling with the key while Bruce patiently waits. Clearly this is here to show the imperfect qualities of man when compared to machine (being totally serious here, without any sarcasm).

And here’s our Sunrise weirdness of the episode. What the hell am I looking at? 

Batman is looking a little husky, but overall it’s a good drawing. Better than that scary monstrosity above it.

Also a decent looking fire. The key is to avoid too many (if any) black lines if you don’t have the chops to really make them look awesome. 

Batman whips out his binoculars for a second to get a better look at the rocket (filled with the microchips) that leaves the suitcase. It’s quick.

Being a Wayne-owned building, Batman has a few secrets hidden around.

Actually, here’s another one I forgot to add earlier. Clever! 

No one pours anything into a bag like this, the shit will spill all over the place. 

Okay, I need one of these in my trunk for tail-gaters. 

More Sunrise weirdness. We can see through the wave, and there’s no Batman. When the wave comes back down, he’s there again. 

Nice water running over Batman’s costume.

Followed by a gross face that we hold on for a few frames. 

Here we see Alfred dusting Batman’s computer system, but Char at first thought that he was playing with a ball. I thought that was so amusing I had to include it. 

As Batman and Alfred discuss AI, we get this detailed shot of Alfred’s mop. I don’t get it. 

BARBARA!!! 

I love Jim and this bear. He takes it to the airport every time he picks up Barbara. “Well, he knows the way better than I.” That’s adorable. 

As Jim leaves, he realizes that Bruce is still holding onto it. He then says, “Barbara forgot her bear.”

Barbara’s first appearance is a strong one, since we have already gotten to know Gordon. She feels like an extension of him.

A little bit Jetsons, and that’s not the color I would have chosen, but a cute robot.

This one is my favorite. It makes music (that sounded like some sort of brass instrument). 

This big red button is for making cappuccinos. Brilliant. 

I’m sorry, but this looked like the worst foot-rub ever. 

This is HARDCAC. Jesus, how much did that run you, buddy? I’d spend more than double what’s in my bank account for a Macintosh laptop.

Seeing the construction of the Gordonbot was eerie. Before we see the face, we have no idea who it’s supposed to look like, so it leaves us in a bit of suspense. Also, HARDAC refers to this as the next duplicate. That has to mean there are others already out there.

Total 2001 vibes. HARDAC has a great voice. 

Isn’t she beautiful? I can see the Monroe-influence. I wonder why, though?

Really disturbing as Gordon answers the door, seeing himself cloaked in shadow. The stuff of nightmares. Basically a futuristic version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. 

The sound it makes too is so violent when you’re not expecting it. 

I feel like this scene represents that space that is suddenly between them. There is one point where the Gordonbot says, “I said I’m fine.” in a really aggressive tone that gives me the willies. Replacements/copies of humans are such a scary concept. 

A really well-composed screengrab. Could be an album cover. 

So is the Batcave entrance behind the clock, or behind this bookshelf..? Not both, there’s only one staircase. Inconsistencies! 

Oddly-proportioned Batman. 

So, why exactly does Batman keep his work files on his Batcave computer? Although I suppose this files this secretive, it’s not a bad plan. Until we run into situations like this, anyway!

Char’s grade: A Next time: Heart of Steel (Part 2)

DC Collectibles también agregará nuevos personajes a su línea favorita de figuras de acción Batman: The Animated Series (BTAS) y debutará con el primer Batcycle de la compañía, como se ve en la galardonada serie de televisión. Escalado para figuras de acción de 6", el Batcycle mide 9.25" de largo e incluye una variedad de funciones de iluminación y dos ruedas de giro libre que permiten que la bicicleta gire. La base de la pantalla de doble cara permite a los fanáticos "estacionar" el Batcycle en la Batcave o en las calles de Gotham City.

 El set de Batcyle también incluirá una figura de acción de Batman de BTAS que cuenta con dos cabezas de casco intercambiables, nuevos puntos de articulación que le permiten al personaje "montar" el Batcycle y una capa poseable.