Riddler - The New Batman Adventures

The creators always admitted that they struggled with how to do Riddler in the modern age. He's innately somewhat campy just by design. Yet I really think they pull him off well in BTAS. They managed to both retain that trickiness and playfulness, the ego-driven madness, and the almost evil gameshow host persona...all while never boiling over into just full silly territory. It's a darker take, but also not too dark. You lose something special about this character when you remove any notion of fun or over-the-top. That's his identity; that's what makes him special in the first place. He's LOUD. He's OBNOXIOUS. He's a showman. This has been a running trend with the character his entire existence. It's so rare for people to get him just right, often going either too far in one direction or the other. He's either entirely a ridiculous cartoon of camp (Batman Forever/Batman '66), or they try to make him so serious, he's not even the Riddler anymore (The Batman); he's just the Zodiac Killer. There's a fine line between the two that you have to reach. I'd argue the best balance of legitimate threat and dark takes, but also not so dark that it's no longer the same character, is BTAS and, perhaps best of all, the Gotham TV show (flawed, but nailing Riddler) and the Arkham Asylum games' version of Eddie. That's a Riddler that indeed will kill you, but he'll do it in the most elaborate, egotistical, game show way. The guy needs to be flamboyant, loud, and even comical, but not in a way that comes off as harmless...and that's been lost in modern takes, making him nothing but just a monster.&nbsp;<div><br></div><div>...but this Riddler is a complete downgrade from the suited BTAS version. He's barely even in TNBA, mostly relegated more to cameo appearances than ever an actually starring role. It's somewhat surprising he got a TNBA figure to begin with due to that. Yet again we have a case of minimalism; there's just nothing to this Riddler. While the suit and bowler were also pretty grounded in their costuming...they at least added some oomph. This one is as basic as basic can get. He almost looks more like a generic goon of the Riddlers than the Riddler himself. He's clearly modeled after a more Silver Age comic version with the onesie. But for me, what's most jarring about this redesign is the fact that he clearly has no hair and mask. It's just...bland. There's no meat here. This may be the most forgettable incarnation of the Riddler in all non-comic mediums.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>But the figure does what it's supposed to do, which is represent this version of the character, regardless of whether or not I like this design. He's a worthy pick-up if you're looking for full representation of TNBA, but otherwise, he's pretty boring.&nbsp;</div>