And yes, I do fully intend to talk about some small aspects of the Batman AU I’ve been holding off on talking about on Tumblr because people sure do like to steal ideas and then be awfully rude about it. And also character designs. Mostly character designs. So, buckle up. Or do not. I am likely not putting this in the main tags. Disjointed rambling ahead.
There are a few words to describe what I’ve ended up doing to this questionable AU of an AU version of Gotham City [it’s Holy Musical B@man!, but don’t ask...unless you desire to], and those are cramped, crowded, and deliriously looming. Near everything goes straight up to the skyline here, and I take inspiration from the Las Vegas Strip in that there's often several establishments housed in the same general building structure, stacked on top of one another; my Riddler in particular lives in a penthouse on top of several bars and attached restaurants, as well as Pandora’s Box. Think Showcase Mall in particular and that whole section of the Strip, if you’ve ever been to Vegas or even seen pictures. It’s oppressive, and it’s angular. That's precisely why Rogues like Basil Karlo/Clayface 1 are able to inflict a devastating amount of damage in such a short amount of time; almost everything is stacked together like Jenga. Literally, my Gotham is a tourist city/town at its finest. As such, lights, color, and sound make up a fair portion of it. Lots of duck architecture as well, things are a blend of larger cities such as San Francisco/Las Vegas/New York. Any hotels are fancy and range from having St. Regis Saadiyat Island to Waldorf-Astoria to Four Seasons energy. It's all about the glitz, it's ultimately for the tourists.
Suburbs and industrial areas both are away from the more bustling area because people do need to sleep; despite the narrow, crowded city streets there’s a lot of open space once you get away from the bulk of the thing. Houses are almost always attached to each other and are typically low to the ground, and built from brick or brownstone usually. No crazy colors either; think earth tones or heavily desaturated greens and blues. Things are upkept almost too well, to the point where at times the city can seem staged. Like someone’s idealized version of a city. I wanted to play off the "haha this is [literally] all staged" concept that I know the Langs did not want me to take literally, because I thought that would be fun. It also never gets completely dark out, in a meta sense riffing off the fact that overall this AU is lighter and a lot more silly than most fanon I’ve seen.
Still deals with potentially concerning themes such as assault and infidelity, however. Also there’s an immortal shapeshifter that eats people who the rest of the Rogues Gallery just try to ignore because they don’t want to piss him off next. Kind of can’t ignore him though.
