[7.3/10] Solid premise to this one. I’m always interested in villains who have motives beyond “I just want to do evil, maybe with a slight gimmick.” Making “The Human Armory” not only a character we already sort of know, but one who’s motivated by wanting to provide for his (admittedly well-off) family after being fired from his job gives him more dimension than the average baddie. Sure, it’s hard to relate to someone who suddenly can’t afford the mansion on their mortgage, but you at least get the psychological motivation of Jim Tate, which helps. You get his background in special forces and arms development,, and you get his reasons for stalking through the night and trying to do some shady deals.
My issue is that pretty much all of the fights on this one are boring. There’s competent, and there’s the occasional juice of Tate driving a color-changing car or Batman having to backflip around laser beams. But for the most part, this is just a heap of standard combat without much to make it relevant, and it takes up a lot of the episode.
Still, it’s solid enough conflict, especially when Terry has a personal connection to it through his friend Jared. That too adds a wrinkle, as Jared is miffed at his stepdad becoming reclusive and too involved in his work, exposing his secret and eventually putting them in danger via the shady arms dealer Jim is dealing with. It’s standard stuff, but it works to up the ante in the end. To the same end, I also like how Max is initially resentful of Jared being a have when she’s a have not, but comes around to support him when she sees him humbled and leveled. It’s barley developed, but again, it’s something that adds a little more dimension to what’s otherwise a pretty stock story.
Overall, this one’s not going to be on anybody’s top episodes list, but it’s a good villain introduction that gives the antagonist more depth of motivation and character than some we’ve seen on Batman Beyond.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-05-30T18:58:03Z
[7.3/10] Solid premise to this one. I’m always interested in villains who have motives beyond “I just want to do evil, maybe with a slight gimmick.” Making “The Human Armory” not only a character we already sort of know, but one who’s motivated by wanting to provide for his (admittedly well-off) family after being fired from his job gives him more dimension than the average baddie. Sure, it’s hard to relate to someone who suddenly can’t afford the mansion on their mortgage, but you at least get the psychological motivation of Jim Tate, which helps. You get his background in special forces and arms development,, and you get his reasons for stalking through the night and trying to do some shady deals.
My issue is that pretty much all of the fights on this one are boring. There’s competent, and there’s the occasional juice of Tate driving a color-changing car or Batman having to backflip around laser beams. But for the most part, this is just a heap of standard combat without much to make it relevant, and it takes up a lot of the episode.
Still, it’s solid enough conflict, especially when Terry has a personal connection to it through his friend Jared. That too adds a wrinkle, as Jared is miffed at his stepdad becoming reclusive and too involved in his work, exposing his secret and eventually putting them in danger via the shady arms dealer Jim is dealing with. It’s standard stuff, but it works to up the ante in the end. To the same end, I also like how Max is initially resentful of Jared being a have when she’s a have not, but comes around to support him when she sees him humbled and leveled. It’s barley developed, but again, it’s something that adds a little more dimension to what’s otherwise a pretty stock story.
Overall, this one’s not going to be on anybody’s top episodes list, but it’s a good villain introduction that gives the antagonist more depth of motivation and character than some we’ve seen on Batman Beyond.