What is the key to Harley Quinn's appeal, and what do you personally think of her character...

What is the key to Harley Quinn's appeal, and what do you personally think of her character? What's your take on her current trajectory and surge in popularity?

Complete whore, and she appeals to the whore crowd, but considering the age we live in I guess it could be worse

Did you delete the other thread and make this one because it had actual discussion instead of shitposting?

It'd be funny if he actually did it because of it

I like old damaged goods Harley. The deranged and genuinely pitiful minion of the Joker. She was in no way heroic, and the polar opposite of a role model, but she was a great character and highly effective in her role.

No, I didn't delete the other thread. I figured it was deleted because the OP's post seemed too much like bait.

>Why is the most popular female supervillain a gullible domestic abuse victim? Really makes you think.

I don't see the problem, but whatever. I worded the OP post a lot less provocatively in hopes that we'll get the same level of discussion and the thread won't be deleted.

>What is the key to Harley Quinn's appeal

I wouldn't know.

>nd what do you personally think of her character?

Boring. I enjoy the concept of the Joker slowly corrupting Dr. Harleen Quinzel. But any point after she would snap and effectively becomes Harley, she ceases to be interesting.

>What's your take on her current trajectory and surge in popularity?
Unwarranted and unwanted. I can't begin to imagine why a character who started as basically the Joker's piece of ass/henchwoman is so popular.

Okay, cool. As long as we are recognizing that this is a continuation of the previous thread. Sorry for assuming the worst, OP.

>I can't begin to imagine why a character who started as basically the Joker's piece of ass/henchwoman is so popular.
I think she did really well as the Joker's sidekick. She really broke out as her own character and really enhanced the Joker's portrayal and screen presence as well. And of course her design was memorable.

A post from the last thread I thought was very well put:

Because she had a unique gimmick that was sexy, funny, or genuinely sad depending on the presentation of the moment and who was writing her, all without changing any of the actual details. Harley is just a good character, and one of the best things that B:TAS invented right alongside Mister Freeze's sympathetic backstory.


She is overexposed these days, and popular characters tend to get ruined because they get passed around the office and different writers feel obligated to throw their own unique spin on things until it builds up into a shit heap. But the core concept of her character is solid yet flexible.

Besides, who is her competition for best female villain? Probably some femme fatale wannabe-superhero-girlfriend in the vein of catwoman, who can't keep a consistent personality from panel to panel much less issue to issue.

>She is overexposed these days, and popular characters tend to get ruined because they get passed around the office and different writers feel obligated to throw their own unique spin on things until it builds up into a shit heap. But the core concept of her character is solid yet flexible.
Didn't the same thing happened to Deadpool?

For boys, she's sexy and devoted

For girls, especially teenagers, she's what they want to be. Sexy, confident, rebellious

She's the female equivalent of like a guy who wears leather jackets, sunglasses and says "Pssh, nothing personal"

She was one of the most interesting Bat-villains of 90s. Her character is ruined after The New 52.

I like how broken Harley was. Cartoonishly wacky, sure. Cute, sure. But also dangerous and broken inside. As illustrated by the way she always returned to the Joker.

Is she still broken, or is she too cool for that now?

>pink and blue
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Correct.

Hurm. I wonder who could be behind this post.

a good old "abattoir full of retarded children" Rorschach

Always liked Harley, currently hate how they're handling her solo. It's just terrible writing and characterization (if there even is one). Also I agree with this and I'll add that without the Joker in the picture she's less compelling.

Her relationship with Joker.

Seriously, that's it. She is a totally fucked up very smart woman who knows being with Joker is very bad, but she just can't help it. Her biology overrules her intellect.

Everything about the character is framed around this, and its why women love her. She is their paradise and nightmare fantasies rolled into one. She's a strong woman, a psychiatrist, who understands how the human mind works, but cannot even control herself, and does anything for that Joker dick, for that Joker slap, for that Joker beating. She doesn't care. Her reproductive system overrides her higher brain function, and she will fight all of heaven and hell just for another chance to get fucked or even beaten by Joker.

Everything else Harley does is just her trying to cope without him, or resist going back to him, including her lesbian relationship with Ivy.

This is the appeal of Harley. She's immediately identifiable to every woman with a working sexual system.

It has to do with being unapologetically trashy

>OPs pic
>a contest
That's what New 52 Joker should have done with all those wannabe Harleys instead of just killing them: drop each one in different parts of the country to see who can cause the most mayhem and migraines for the Bat. The winner gets to find out how long they can avoid being killed by her puddin'.

She is the most versatile character ever created. She can be a heroine, antiheroine, villainess, straight edge sidekick, comic relief sidekick, the main character, a supporting character, a background gag, a positive role model, a negative personification, a cautionary tale or even a tragic figure and never once be out of character. Harley Quinn is that lightning in a bottle combination of personality and backstory that lets her be anything anyone wants her to be and still be herself.

There isn't another fictional character in history that possesses that quality.

I think you might be giving her a little *too* much credit, but nice trips.

Every teenage girl can relate to her because she's so quirky xd

It's really "in" right now for some reason and when SS was first released I saw it all over social media.

She became the world's most prominent female comic book/cartoon character in just five to twenty years depending on how you view things.

With Harley, ther's no such thing as too much crediy.

>go read obviously created by a DC/WB intern

Go do your market data research somewhere else!

I created the thread after the other thread got deleted, probably for being "makes you think" bait, and I can assure you no one is paying me for the privilege of looking at your clowngirl fart fetish pics.

>I'm about UNPAID intern.

Did you expect me to respect you at all after telling me that?

>What is the key to Harley Quinn's appeal
Hear appearances in B:TAS that portrayed her as a villain that was near a victim as all of her actual victims were. A few episodes with her in it were especially sad about her.
Being cute helped too.

I don't think anything of her because you neee to clarify; which version of Harley? There's like three major characterizations of her over various media and all are quite different.

>What's your take on her current trajectory and surge in popularity?
She doesn't really have one.
/tg/ thinks "well-known" means "popular", when it fact all means is that those who are not comic-literate finally knows who the character is. At best they know about the outfit and costume and basic origins.

In the comics her trajectory is capitalizing off of WB's pushing of her and making it semi-successful, but it's slowed down by the fact that she doesn't really have an "iconic" characterization and so instead they've borrowed a lot of inspiration from Deadpool and She-Hulk.
It works I suppose, but when something works when it comes to comics it's not so much "successful" by public definition and more "hovering barely above loosing money for the company".

She's sympathetic and fun. People latch onto a sympathetic and fun character. Also in this day and age, being a woman, an abuse victim at that, gets you points with the sjw crowd.

...

>that perky original Harley
Instead, all the general public will associate her with the "so insane and dangerous xD" idiot that the movie sharted out.

Criminal genki girl, and the Brooklyn accent didn't hurt.

Popular with casuals who enjoyed Kick Ass and Deadpool movies, as well as with "Le Comic Gurls" to project themselves onto

In the movie, at least, she was decidedly not too cool for that. They just downplayed and romanticized Joker's abuse, instead.

broadly, guys like her because she is hot, women like her because she is a well written woman, comic fans like her because she is pretty cool

she is several comic creators wifu, so got a lot of push

that made her appear popular, because they put effort in because they like her and she got some good stories that sold because they were good

that created a feed-back loop of author pushing-quality-sales-executive pushing

over the last five years, it became obvious she would be in the suicide squad movie, so she got even more push that foregrounded her further, so people know she exists, making her as popular (minimum) as green arrow

then she was actually in a movie so the normies like her more just for that

Nice phonepost faggot

A fucking porn game ahs a better harley than current harley.

Can you do me a favor, and give me the game's name? For purely research purposes, of course

>narwhal tooth on a horse
Why do people do this?

Something to do with mythology I think. Probably some weird pagan thing that got co-opted and rolled up into Christianity somehow.

actually its idiot European early AD monks making shitty drawings of rhino, then poets getting fanciful, which back-contaminated folklore

...

>What is the key to Harley Quinn's appeal
Fond memories of her original version from Bruce Timm's BTAS and comics.
The reason anyone gives a shit about her in her current incarnations in videogames and movies is the fucking incredible characterization and character design she had in her original appearance.
Now she's incredibly bland and coasting on her original reputation.

surge in popularity? people have always wanted to fuck her. That is the LITERAL APPEAL!!

PEOPLE JUST WANT TO FUCK HER

Original Harley was entertaining because she was a woman who was slowly convinced that she was denying herself by trying to live within society's rules. She abandoned it all to live in a fantasy with a violent lunatic, but doesn't see the problem because she's just having fun and everyone else is just being giant sticks in the mud by trying to stop them.

she'sa subby little bottom

they messed her up long before that.

A marginally empathetic character associated with Batman's arch enemy.

OP's can't delete their own threads anymore so probably not

yep. The only canon Harley is the BTAS one.

Something Unlimited......not even joking.

This. Men like whores and women secretly want to be whores. Harley is a complete lack of inhibitions and people find it incredibly interesting.

Harley is insane, co-dependant and wacky.

Harley is at her best when she's playing off a straight man which is why i find her insufferable in her own series.

Despite being wacky she's actual incredibly competent when she puts her mind to something, but without someone to lead her her plans end up scattered and unrefined. This bugs the Joker because, if left alone, Harley does what he does even better than him.

>This bugs the Joker because, if left alone, Harley does what he does even better than him.

>considering the age we live in

Sup Forums?

I'm torn, I like the old school Harley and Joker pair but it eventual leads down the same story
>Joker takes it too far
>She leaves
>Teams up with Ivy
>Ends back with Joker anyway

There is nothing wrong with being a whore.

I liked the comic series where Harley kinda went around working as a sidekick for a bunch of different people before becoming her own love themed crime boss for a short while before everything blew up in her face again and she killed her best henchman

It's weird her pre-NU52 books sold like garbage and NU52 Suixide Squad sold like garbage.

It's only her Conner and Palmiotti book that people actually like.

I only liked her character in TAS run. I kinda don't like how they made her into a slut.

Because she's totally crazy random like me lolololol!!!!1!!

#relationshipgoals

>What is the key to Harley Quinn's appeal

Cramming her down peoples' throats until they love her, like a bad case of Stockholm's Syndrome. Also, she gave a bunch of people their first boners.

>and what do you personally think of her character?

Can't stand her, and she was only tolerable at best in the DCAU.

...yes.

Now shes more craaazy and dangerous than the joker. Its the reason waller recruits her to fight a god

OTOH Deadpool works as a stand-alone character. You can't really write Harley without bringing in her whole story with the Joker, and his story with Batman. And even then you still don't have much to work with.

That was a great run. It really pushed just how competent she could be when motivated, and that despite her charm and innocent demeanor, she really was a dangerous person who deserved to be locked up.

Coming from you that doesn't mean much.

Harley Quinn has always walked that fine line of being a hero and a villain which is what makes her appealing. Anyone can take a character like that and go either way with it. There is nothing concrete about her except her sanity.

She a Hot Topic Rape Victim.
...
So she an alright character in small doses.

Don't respond to him.
Tripfags feed of attention, and I would really like it if Boco starved to death.

>Batman dresses like a bat
>Catwoman dresses like a cat
>Joker dresses like a clown
>Harley Quinn dresses like a punk whore

bad girls are hot especially when they are also bimbos?
its not really rocket science, i love when braindead feminist complain about harley pandering to horny men, not shit sherlock
chances are if a girl where to become a super villain she would want to be hot and sleep with the coolest one anyways

Can't stand her and never saw the appeal.

>bad girls are hot especially when they are also bimbos?
That's not true those. Slutty bad girls are boring. Bad girls that are pure are hot.

Many women - not all, but most - want to do whatever they please without inhibition. They want the ability to say and do whatever they feel while some universal force they don't comprehend smiles upon them and declares "it's alright, what you have just done is just and true somehow because it felt good." They essentially want plot armor to handwave their moral transgressions and they want the ability to do whatever they want. People who say power fantasies are purely a male thing don't understand why characters like Harley (and indeed most maniac pixie girl characters) resonate in the female mind, particularly evil renditions.

Similarly, they want someone with an identical blessing to accompany them on this deranged and self-gratifying journey. They want someone who does and says whatever they feel and gets away with it, all while reserving the Harley in question as "that one exception." They want a man who is strong and confident and dominant, who battles the entire world to get what they want and wins, and they're willing to accept any degree of abuse if he embodies all of these qualities yet still keeps them on board for the ride. This has been true for about as long as apes have been breeding and it will continue to be true because that is how weaker women have evolved to survive.

In contract, women don't want a Batman. Despite Batman being strong, confident, wealthy and almost always winning, he is a solitary and reserved creature. He does not enable being a stupid amoral asshole. If you act like Harley Quinn and try to cry on Batman's chest when shit starts to go south, he's going to tell you outright you had this coming and won't coddle you. The Joker will insult you, berate you, beat you and probably come close to killing you, but he'll still drag you back in and shelter your idiocy in the end. Batman doesn't do this. He sends you to jail because you aren't special, and more than anything pathetic Harley-worshiping women want to feel special.

Today? Marketing and the "lol random xD unique" posture.

There is nothing interesting about it either. Literally anyone can make the decision to not care what society thinks of them, Harley just takes it upon herself to become the Joker's smacked ass on top of it.

Hello Schopenhauer

Man, and here I thought my rum I'm drinking was bitter and then I read all this.
Maybe relax a bit and talk to someone about your issues rather like slicing your wrists open just so you can directly inject poison into the veins dude.
It's your choice of course, but your method never got anyone anything worth having or anything that they actually wanted and that seems like a bad deal for you to me.

That's pure poetry.

They're 100% right, whiteknight.

I hope my explanation has hurt you, not because I enjoy pain but because it means you have digested it somehow.

Once upon a time she was a funny and genuinely refreshing character who contributed something interesting to the Batman mythos.

Then Heath Ledger Joker happened and DC decided they needed a Deadpool and, well, the rest is history.

Never knighted for anybody.
Too much work for no payoff. It's against my general life choices to put constant work into something and not even get anything like warm feelings for it.
It's just a poor investment of time and effort overall you know?
It didn't, but clearly you've got some hurt you need to get off your chest.
I'm not saying you have to do it here (not really board-appropriate content), or that you even have to do it at all for that matter.
It IS your life of course, all I did was make a suggestion.

This is a promotional thread. This is paid shilling.

>expressing an opinion means I have issues

I don't think you understand people, least of all women. More importantly I won't pretend all women like or want to be Harley Quinn because people are made with many different outcomes. But the sort of weak, selfish, licentious, self-centered brats who want to become Harley rather than just marvel at her misadventures can all be summarily dismissed as awful people. If you disagree then I'm tempted to dismiss you in the same way unless you're prepared to provide a genuine thoughtful rebuttal.

I suppose that makes sense.
Actually, the vast majority of women (girls really, calling most of them women does a disservice to adults) who like the costumes she wears but basically know nothing else about the character, often up to and including the fact that her she is a joke and a play on words.
The majority didn't read comics, never watched much B:TAS and if they did can barely remember a single episode. One of them did, but it was the episode with HARDAC and robot the Marilyn Munroe looking chick. One of them hadn't even seen Suicide Squad for that matter. Two were absolutely convinced that Batman and Harley were lovers at some point because they either heard that or saw a picture somewhere.
Basically they mostly liked her because she was easy to cosplay as and they liked to cosplay. Them being Harley "fans" only really revealed that their fandom was fairly shallow and they were acquainted with only the basics of the character, and sometimes not even that.
The two I knew who were more familiar with her in the detailed sense were old enough to more accurately remember the B:TAS cartoon and liked her there but were not "fans" of the character. They just actually knew about her beyond what her outfit looked like.

So I feel like despite her sudden newfound "popularity", they basically aren't so much "fans" as they are aware that the character exists now I guess, and like to play dress up sometimes, either for attention or for the usual reason girls dress up (for themselves).

But yeah; if they liked her and knew more about her for the reasons you described I'd be inclined to buy into your theory.

What run was that?

Or the short version; most of the self-confessed Harley fans who belong to the female gender were like football fans who had a hard time remembering which teams were from where, who played for who, who wore what colors, or how the rules of the game worked but watched a game or two on TV once in awhile and decided they liked it.
They would technically be "fans" since anyone at all could be a fans, but they would basically lacked any and all relevant knowledge of the subject, even on a basic conversational level.

The vast majority of Harley Quinn fans I've met are men, actually.

>the usual reason girls dress up (for themselves).
why the fuck do women do that anyway?

Women just like dressing up.
Let me put in this way; you never hear about girls playing with Barbies so they can show off how well-dressed their Barbie is to the Ken doll or real-life guys.

They just like dressing up Barbie.
Later on in life they can hopefully actually afford clothes like Barbie dresses up in and can fit in them and so do the same thing for personal enjoyment.
Now apply the same logic to nerdier chicks who were never into Barbie but liked superheroes and cartoons and you have the reason why so many women in our little areas of interest are into cosplaying and costume stuff.

If you mean why as in "why do they like it at all", then fuck if I know.

Well, he's not wrong.

Always love this shot.

>Many women - not all, but most - want to do whatever they please without inhibition.
That's what everyone wants user

She's a sexy clown you want to fuck.

I think she's a sexy clown I want to fuck.

It's dumb because she's damaged goods, going back to the Joker because she's obsessed with him. She's only popular because "le geeky girls xD" want to seem cool and really reach hard to try to give her character positive traits when there really is none.
Case in point, when a bunch of tumblr girls took a panel out of Injustice where Harley rips on Doctor Fate for not being a real doctor while she technically is certified and they started wanking themselves off saying Harley has always been a character standing up for women's representation.

Bump.

Karl Kessel, Harley Quinn 2000

WHAT the FUCK

All according to keikaku.