I think it’s a neat bit of character work that when they first get sucked into the Unternet, where your self-perception affects how you look, Tam appears as a toddler in Bat-merch.
Tam is competent as hell. She’s nineteen, in college, working/interning at Wayne Enterprises, and when we first meet her she’s making business deals overseas. Yes, she’s the CEO’s daughter, but that’s still a huge amount of responsibility for someone so young. And Lucius Fox does not seem like the kind of guy who places nepotism over competence.
Tam is smart and highly capable. That’s why she’s drawn into the plot! Lucius trusts her to find Tim when no one else can, pulling her away from her original task.
She successfully tracks down Tim...
And is immediately in over her head, quite possibly for the first time in her life.
Kidnapped by the League of Assassins? Trying desperately to figure out what’s going on, and if Tim is really someone she can trust? Attacked by super assassins, some of whom are metas?
None of this is anything Tam is prepared for! And when they get home, she meets a reporter not in a curated press conference, who hounds her for information even while they’re running from more assassins. Tam panics, and the resulting cover (“We’re engaged!”) winds up in the papers. Her dad frames the headline and her sister teases her for it, neither of them knowing the full story.
Tam has never been involved in the superhero world before. Nothing in her life prepared her for this. It’s terrifying and exciting, and it’s making her doubt herself.
Tam gets sucked into the Unternet alongside Tim, while they’re combining WE work and vigilante work. Tam’s avatar is a toddler. A baby just old enough to waddle by herself.
That’s how she’s feeling! She doesn’t feel like the kick-ass college gal & businesswoman, she feels like a total newbie who can’t look after herself, is easily overwhelmed, and needs help even getting out of the dang car.
Which is a contrast to how Tim thinks of her; Tam was on the ball during an attack earlier and rescued their USB stick, hiding their hacking trail, and Tim thinks she’s doing great!
Once Tam get conscious control, she morphs herself into an adult again, in a retro action-thriller style.
She may feel in over her head...but she’s got this!
