Did The New Batman Adventures do more bad than good?

[dmxx116]

I like the TNBA designs more then the Batman:TAS designs (IMO). And I stand by that.

 

[TheVileOne]

Finally, someone else who loves this Batman design. I wish they had kept it for JL/U. It especially looked great when his shoulder highlight was more pronounced:

I was never fond of the JLU tweaks. I I like the flat black, and I don't care for the navy blue cape and cowl. I mean he's Batman. I don't know too many bats with blue fur. But large black emblem > yellow oval for me.

 

[Spideyzilla]

I was never fond of the JLU tweaks. I I like the flat black, and I don't care for the navy blue cape and cowl. I mean he's Batman. I don't know too many bats with blue fur. But large black embled > yellow oval for me.

I'll agree on the JLU tweaks, that Batsuit is easily my least favourite Timm Batman design. I don't like the overly long ears, and I don't care for the purplish highlights on the cape. That said, I'll disagree on the comparison between TNBA and BTAS designs. TNBA isn't bad, but I do prefer BTAS. I know the colouring on JL and BTAS are similar, but I'd say the latter did it better. Like I said, it's the purplish look in JL that bugs me, while I think the blue in BTAS looks cool. I don't know why, but the greyish cape in TNBA never worked for me.

Also, the yellow symbol. I don't know why, but I have a soft spot for it. Always did. Yes, I know it makes no sense for Batman to have this yellow target attracting attention. I don't care, I still love it. And for me, that takes the original design over the edge.

 

[Revelator]

I'm speculating, but perhaps Timm thought TNBA Batman would look a bit drab in the company of the very colorful Justice League. So in the context of the show, I think the Justice League Batman design works and is necessary. The longer ears (which I like, just as I like Kelley Jones's version of Batman) were probably inspired by the longer ears of Batman Beyond and the 1939 look of Batman, when he was still sinister. The heels I could do without. The yellow oval I can take or leave--it's a strong design but can also limit the size of the bat symbol.

 

[Yojimbo]

I'm speculating, but perhaps Timm thought TNBA Batman would look a bit drab in the company of the very colorful Justice League. So in the context of the show, I think the Justice League Batman design works and is necessary. The longer ears (which I like, just as I like Kelley Jones's version of Batman) were probably inspired by the longer ears of Batman Beyond and the 1939 look of Batman, when he was still sinister. The heels I could do without. The yellow oval I can take or leave--it's a strong design but can also limit the size of the bat symbol.

You're on the money, Revelator. Here's what Bruce Timm said circa 2001 at a SDCC panel about it (Karkull had the quote on his JL Watchtower site)

He actually has a little bit more of a radical redesign, even though it’s not really apparent to most people because he’s got the black cape and everything. But we kind of went back to basics with him. He’s a kind of mélange of both the revamped Batman and the original Batman: the Animated Series Batman. Since this is a much more colorful show than anything we’ve done in the past, we kind of wanted to have him blend in with the other characters a little bit better. So we went back and put the highlights on the black and we gave him the longer ears—we kind of like that because it looks like the old Bob Kane version. And Glen [Murakami] found this really neat color palette that’s kind of a charcoal purple instead of that electric blue we used to have.

 

[BigFatHairyDeal]

I don't have any reference photos right now, but I seem to recall that JL Batman's head was shaped like a peanut at times, and I didn't care for it.

And yeah, I also didn't like the really long ears.

 

[CyberCubed]

It's only crime was it was only 24 episodes, It needed at least 52.

Riddler was redesigned and didn't get an episode. Tim Drake and Nightwing didn't even appear in many episodes.