Static Shock Robin and continuity: they just keep screwing w/ it...

[DerekPowers]

i'll admit, the new static shock slightly older robin design is nice, but this creates further continuity problems, cause, well, robin was younger during the rotj flashback, and now having him older makes no sense.

i know, bb is a possible future, but timm said the flashback applies to jl, stating that jl takes place before the flash back. so yeah, yeah, to all you bb haters out there, its only a possible future, but timm himself acknowledges it.

so, my question is, why not just leave the robin design alone and avoid this conflict?? it seems they are taking the continuity less and less into account, and its really starting to piss me off. i mean, its a great continuity and for those of us who are big enough fans to actually know it all and follow it, something like this is just a slap in the face. i mean, if they dont want the continuity to apply anymore they should just officially say it and end the conflictions already.

now, i dont know who is responsible for the batman characters on static shock, but imo bruce timm should have stepped in and said no to the older robin. i know this isnt such a big deal, but im just sick of all the continuity mess ups, especially ones like this that could so easily be avoided (not to mention the whole gl thing could have been fixed w/ a few lines in secret origins about kyles departure, so easy, yet they insist on making it complex).

am i alone in my feelings here? maybe i am a continuity purist, but i just think its only fair to stick to it, especially for the sake of the loyal fans. they can take liberties here and there, but it seems like lately they are just like, well, its up to you wheter or not this or that happend, and that to me is just NOT COOL. what do you think?

[Naraht]

Well, since I have yet to see the show, this is an assumption on my part, but I'm going to guess that they wanted Robin & Static to be roughly the same age, so that they can relate to each other....that's what I would do.

=\

[The Penguin]

Plain and simple. Static Shock is not a Batman show. Continuity isn't as much of an issue here because it takes place outside of the Batman Animated universe. They aren't in Gotham, they're in wherever the heck Static Shock is.

If Robin appears on JL and he's older, then I think there would be a more legitimate complaint about continuity even though I try not to get too caught up in it.

Then you can start arguing: Does Batman return to his TNBA costume when the Justice League stops? Why would he go back to an old outfit?

Each series is mostly separate and trying to sort out what makes sense and what doesn't for the sake of "continuity" just gets to be kind of a mess. But we could go on all day...

[The Game]

Plain and simple. Static Shock is not a Batman show. Continuity isn't as much of an issue here because it takes place outside of the Batman Animated universe. They aren't in Gotham, they're in wherever the heck Static Shock is.

I totally agree. It's not a Batman show, so it doesn't have to follow Batman continuity. If it bothers you that much, just ignore the Static Shock thing from the Batman world. That's what I do with JL.

[BWDK]

Don't forget, Batman Beyond is ELSEWORLDS, kinda ;)

[joshualane]

Is this supposed to be the Dick Grayson robin and not the Tim Drake robin? If it's Dick Grayson, why can't he be older? Dick didn't leave Batman until he graduated college right?

[Naraht]

No, it's Tim....(unless it's really a THIRD Robin..maybe a Jason Todd Animated Robin =O )

[DerekPowers]

you all make good points. actually, after i posted this i thought about it and realized its just a static shock episode, so shouldnt be taken too seriously. its more like a what if story, so i guess continuity doesnt really need to apply and anything goes.

but i still get mad that right now in the bat universe continuity is seen as a take it or leave it thing, which i think is wrong. i think timm and company should make more of an effort to follow the continuity and not conflict anything.

and i think they should finally admit once and for all that batman beyond isnt an elseworlds, but the official continuity of the animated universe. i mean, timm said he acknowleges it as having happend, so he should make it official. im sick of everyone saying its just an elseworlds so the continuity doesnt count. i look at it as the official future of the animated universe, so does timm, i think the whole leaving it open is getting on my nerves. i think bb has proven itself worthy, its a great show and can contend with the other series, so it should be counted. just my opinion. peace.

[James Harvey]

For anyone who hasn't seen clips from the upcoming Static Shock episodes, here's a comparison between the "TNBA" Robin design and the "TNBA-SS" Robin design:


Robin - The New Batman Adventures
http://wf.toonzone.net/worldsfinestpage/rotjrobin1.jpg http://www.toonzone.net/worldsfinest/worldsfinestpage/robin_tim02.jpg

Robin - The New Batman Adventures (Static Shock redesign)
http://wf.toonzone.net/worldsfinestpage/ssrobin2.jpg http://wf.toonzone.net/worldsfinestpage/ssrobin3.jpg


That should help a bit more with the comparisons. You know - The more I think about it, the more I think that maybe this is just a design tweak, and not an growth spurt. It's a bit hard to tell and I guess eveyrone will have to use their own judgement.

[Bird Boy]

yeah, having the chance to see it myself, it's just at Static Shock ep.

Plus, batman looks like a cross between the Miller and TAS batman. So, the designs of the characters are even altered, breaking up the continuity mess even more.

Don't worry about continuity...it'll just confuse the crap outt ya..lol

-BB

[James Harvey]

You make a great point Bird_Boy - even the Batman design is altered somewhat. The designs were altered so the characters could fit into the show. Therefore - this doesn't directly mean that the characters are older than their TNBA appearances.

[JusticeLeagueLegion]

Originally posted by Bird Boy
yeah, having the chance to see it myself, it's just at Static Shock ep.

Plus, batman looks like a cross between the Miller and TAS batman. So, the designs of the characters are even altered, breaking up the continuity mess even more.

Don't worry about continuity...it'll just confuse the crap outt ya..lol

-BB

You're right. After all, why worry about continuity when it's probably going to be tweaked again sooner or later anyway. It doesn't have to make sense. It's fiction...and when imperfect people write fiction they can easily make mistakes.

[Joe Tully]

Personally, I liked the changes because I always thought that the TNBA Robin looked too young. I think the News Page said that the redesign was to make him look older, but like BB says, I guess you can use your own judgement about whether he actually is older.

As for continuity, I just don't think about it. Thinking about it too much will make your head explode. I don't even try to care about continuity between shows like BTAS, STAS and JL, let alone continuity from TNBA to Static Shock to BB.

[JusticeLeagueLegion]

Originally posted by Joe Tully
Personally, I liked the changes because I always thought that the TNBA Robin looked too young. I think the News Page said that the redesign was to make him look older, but like BB says, I guess you can use your own judgement about whether he actually is older.

As for continuity, I just don't think about it. Thinking about it too much will make your head explode. I don't even try to care about continuity between shows like BTAS, STAS and JL, let alone continuity from TNBA to Static Shock to BB.

You said it...I used to care too much about continuity, but now it's like I couldn't care less.

[Alexander]

Can't you all just accept that BB is over?? What happens in TNBA or JLA will not be limmited by BB's future/past. I think you schould all stop looking at the animated series from BB's point of view. What happend to the preseny-day characters is what's important, not what might happen in a possible future.
And if Tim in TNBA continuity has had his 14th birthday, who cares if he was 13 when he killed the joker in an alternative reality show/movie.

I meen in Ep 6 of the second season of Gotham Girls, Barbara wishes her father a happy birthday, now, i don't hear any of you complaining that Gordon might now be 58 instead of 57...
I meen, the whole fact that Batman has a new costume in JLA wich is never shown in BB, doesn't bother any of you?? Because in BB: ROTJ he wore his normal TNBA costume.

Or how about the fact that in the flashbacks to the BTAS time in "old wounds" everybody has their TNBA looks instead the of BTAS looks. Wich doesn't make any sense. I meen, in "The Lost Years" animated comics, this was done a lot better.

Anyhoo, what i just wanted to say is, You all need to accept the fact that BB has now been overwritten, cause it will be happen more often, i have no doubt about that, and if you will denie it now, you'll all start complaining all over again the next time it will happen. Acceptation is the key to happieness.

Ta-Ta

[SoulQuarian84]

Originally posted by Alexander
Acceptation is the key to happieness.

is acceptation even a word...?
i think those who complain about continuity problems have a valid point. especially if the same story editor is involved in all the different Batman and Batman-related series'. now if completely different ppl were handling them, then problems are sure to arise. this might be the case with JL, where perhaps certain ppl have decided to ignore BB continuity. and with SS, the dude who write/animate that show might not have an adequate knowledge of the past-history of all the animted Batman shows.
could the reason be that individuals have either chosen to ignore continuity willfully, or have they just not researched enuff?

V.

[Joe Tully]

Originally posted by SoulQuarian84


is acceptation even a word...?
i think those who complain about continuity problems have a valid point.


I think it's a valid point, but at the same time I don't think that it's something worth wondering about to the point where it detracts from your enjoyment of the stories. I guess I just have the kind of personality where I can just forget about something like continuity between all of the series and enjoy a show on its own. I think that B_B put it well. Thinking too much about continuity just confuses you, and you don't really get any reward out of it. While I don't see a point in putting too much effort into figuring out the continuity myself, I can see where you guys are coming from. While it would be nice if everything fit together perfectly, my personal opinion is, it's best not to worry about it and just enjoy the show.

[Bird Boy]

Originally posted by Alexander
Can't you all just accept that BB is over?? What happens in TNBA or JLA will not be limmited by BB's future/past. I think you schould all stop looking at the animated series from BB's point of view. What happend to the preseny-day characters is what's important, not what might happen in a possible future.
And if Tim in TNBA continuity has had his 14th birthday, who cares if he was 13 when he killed the joker in an alternative reality show/movie.

I meen in Ep 6 of the second season of Gotham Girls, Barbara wishes her father a happy birthday, now, i don't hear any of you complaining that Gordon might now be 58 instead of 57...
I meen, the whole fact that Batman has a new costume in JLA wich is never shown in BB, doesn't bother any of you?? Because in BB: ROTJ he wore his normal TNBA costume.

Or how about the fact that in the flashbacks to the BTAS time in "old wounds" everybody has their TNBA looks instead the of BTAS looks. Wich doesn't make any sense. I meen, in "The Lost Years" animated comics, this was done a lot better.

Anyhoo, what i just wanted to say is, You all need to accept the fact that BB has now been overwritten, cause it will be happen more often, i have no doubt about that, and if you will denie it now, you'll all start complaining all over again the next time it will happen. Acceptation is the key to happieness.

Ta-Ta

Now, see, we don't care about Gordon's age. We care about how Robin into a little Joker Jr.

Age and turning a person insane are very different.

However, like I said before...don't think about the continuity. It'll just confuse you even more when you thought you understood it..

-BB

[Joe Wagner]

Has anyone considered that maybe Barbara Gordon could be remembering the Joker death event wrong? I mean once we have a memory it is instantly skewed to the way we think, maybe she thought the death of the Joker had occurred a year or two earlier than it had. This would explain how Robin was younger than in the Static Shock ep. As for the Justice League costume, just because it isn't in his case doesn't mean he didn't wear it - I mean the TAS costume isn't up in the case in BB either. Maybe he decided to switch costumes and than after he quits the league he switches back, this isn't uncommon in comics (look at how many costumes Spidey has had). Just a theory.

-Joe

[The Game]

I think the new Robin looks kinda fat. :cool:

[optimal321]

Here are some of my theories:

Both Batman and Robin changed a little to fit into the Static universe.

When dealing w/ costumes and everything, i think that Bruce has several suits down in the cave. Maybe it was just that one night in ROTJ when he decided to wear his TNBA costume in place of the JL one. And personally, i think they should have used the JL design in SS, because they don't use the TNBA Joker. And i'd also love to see a JL styled Robin. But maybe Bruce and Tim just decided to have a TNBA day, or something.

I don't think anything in Static Shock cancels out the continuity from Batman. At least not anything that a sentence or two from a producer wouldn't fix.

[Nightwing]

Originally posted by Bird Boy
Don't worry about continuity...it'll just confuse the crap outt ya..lol

-BB

Exactly what I was thinking as I read the thread subject. :) We shouldn't strain ourselves on Batman continuity ITSELF, let alone Static Shock stuff. Personally I like the TNBSA design better. He looks kinda....round...or something. I like it and all, just not as much as the original.

Although, as a side note, I had no idea the ponderings about continuity would involve questioning how Robin can be older since ROTJ supposedly happened before this Static Shock thing. I thought ALL fans automatically considered ROTJ as a little animated Elseworld type story.... That's what I do. I don't think nothin' of it. :)

[JusticeLeagueLegion]

Originally posted by jjwspider
Has anyone considered that maybe Barbara Gordon could be remembering the Joker death event wrong? I mean once we have a memory it is instantly skewed to the way we think, maybe she thought the death of the Joker had occurred a year or two earlier than it had. This would explain how Robin was younger than in the Static Shock ep. As for the Justice League costume, just because it isn't in his case doesn't mean he didn't wear it - I mean the TAS costume isn't up in the case in BB either. Maybe he decided to switch costumes and than after he quits the league he switches back, this isn't uncommon in comics (look at how many costumes Spidey has had). Just a theory.

-Joe

You make a good point...but even if it's correct, We really should stop worrying about continuity.