History Recap / BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE18BewareTheGrayGhost

* PsychopathicManchild: When Batman ruins his attempts at blowing up the Gotham Library, Ted Dymer throws a tantrum more suited to a four-year old than a grown man. He whacks his control panel with a Batman action figure. Ted also cries like a child when Batman and Trent destroy his toy collection. His obsession with collecting toys is childish and would be harmless, except for the fact that he's willing to commit mass property damage and potential murder to finance it.

* AscendedFanboy: As a kid Batman was a big ''Gray Ghost'' fan. He was strongly influenced by the show and the character when he created his Dark Knight persona, right down to modeling the Batcave after the Gray Ghost lair.

* ButIPlayOneOnTV: An in-universe example: Simon Trent played a Batman-like superhero named the Gray Ghost in an immensely popular TV show which little Bruce was a big fan of. Decades later, Trent is now facing poverty partly because he cannot get any roles, because [[IAmNotSpock everyone still thinks of him as the Gray Ghost]]. Then Batman comes along on a case and ropes him in to assist him. Much to his own surprise, Trent makes a passable superhero (and more importantly, learns that the Big Badass Batman was primarily ''inspired'' by his portrayal of one). A fairly meta example, when you consider the [[AdamWesting actor voicing Trent]] is none other than Creator/AdamWest.
* CaptainErsatz:
** The Gray Ghost is inspired by Radio/TheShadow, who himself also inspired Batman.
** The Gray Ghost is also a CaptainErsatz of early DC pulp-hero the Crimson Avenger, who wore a Shadow-like costume. Unfortunately, Batman supplanted him a year or so after his debut. (The CA would later make a few appearances in ''Justice League Unlimited''.)

* CompositeCharacter: The Gray Ghost's entire concept is based on two heroes. The first is the 1966 version of [[Series/Batman1966 Batman]] from being played by a washed up actor that is best known for one role, and from {{Franchise/The Shadow}} that inspired the concept of Batman.

* ForWantOfANail: Batman would have figured out the cause of the explosions much earlier and never would have reached out to Simon Trent if young Bruce [[StoppedReadingTooSoon didn't fall asleep before he could see the ending]] of the episode of ''The Gray Ghost'' the villain's plot was based on.

** RebuiltPedestal: ...only to swing into action once Batmans words inspires him, donning the Gray Ghost costume for real, something he hadn't done even in his glory days. Ironically, he can almost keep up with Batman himself, despite the age difference.

* FreezeFrameBonus: At the end of the episode, look at the top of the blown-up ''People'' magazine cover when they pan up to show it clearly, and you'll see "Matt Hagen: Man of a Thousand Faces" across the top above the People logo.

* {{Homage}}: The plot device of remote-controlled RC car bombs comes from ''Film/TheDeadPool''.

* CompositeCharacter: The gray Ghost's entire concept is based on two heroes. The first is 1966 [[Series/Batman1966 Batman]] from being played by a washed up acter that is best known for one role and {{Franchise/Zorro}} super hero that not only inspired the consept of who Batman is but is also what Bruce say before his parents death.

* LoonyFan: Oddly enough, subverted; although Ted Dymer is something of a self-deprecating joke on behalf of Creator/BruceTimm and the rest of the creative team, and still enthusiastically buys Trent's old props despite low customer demand, he's willing to destroy the remaining cars in his scheme. Even despite being inspired by the old show and the toys themselves to re-enact the fictional Mad Bomber's scheme, his goal was never to bring the Gray Ghost out of "retirement" for a fight--he just needed money for his true love of toy collecting. In other words, he's much more loon than fan.

* OffModel: The animation studio Dust was used only for this episode. It's obvious that the animators couldn't understand English, which is particularly noticeable on the notes left by the Mad Bomber - the first note Gordon receives reads "Pay up or ''day'' the consequences", while a flashback mistakenly uses the text from the "real" Mad Bomber instead of the text from the fictional version (i.e. references to the fictional "Piedmont" read "Gotham" instead). And then there's the infamous "rubber Batmobile," which hugs a curve a little ''too'' closely and bends like something out of ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine''! Creator/SpectrumAnimation is credited for the episode, though an [[http://worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/btas/backstage/animato/ Animato Magazine]] from closer to the production of the episode discusses Dust instead.

* SecretKeeper: Simon Trent is implied to be one for Batman after Batman tells the Gray Ghost that he was his hero as a kid [[spoiler: and then Bruce Wayne tells him the exact same thing at a book signing]].

* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: [[spoiler:The Mad Bomber has the appearance of a harmless toy collector.]]

** When Batman originally asks him to try and remember which ''Gray Ghost'' episode the bombings are based on, Simon can't because he made hundreds of shows that all blurred together. When he hears the screeching of [[spoiler:the toy cars used to carry the bombs]], it helps him remember the specific episode.

* PsychopathicManchild: When Batman ruins his attempts at blowing up the Gotham Library, Ted Dymer throws a tantrum more suited to a four-year old than a grown man. He also cries like a child when Batman and Trent destroy his toy collection. His obsession with collecting toys is childish and would be harmless, except for the fact that he's willing to commit mass property damage and potential murder to finance it.

* PetTheDog: Ted does ask Simon if he's sure he wants to sell the original Gray Ghost costume for what Ted can pay for it.

* TheKnightsWhoSaySquee: Subdued, as is most of Batman's emotion usually, but Batman and Gray Ghost aren't this trope's image for nothing.

** realizes the toy collector is the Mad Bomber, before ''Batman'' no less.

* EurekaMoment: Simon realizes the toy collector is the Mad Bomber, before ''Batman'' no less.