History YMMV / TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE17LockUp

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Lock-Up's meant to be seen as a hard-headed conservative nutcase with his rant about the inefficient politicians and the "liberal media" being the cause of the superpowered psychos. While "cause" might be a stretch, he's quite right about them being part of the problem. The police routinely fail to combat the maniacs, leaving Batman, a vigilante, to do 90% of the work. The people running Arkham keep it a barely-functional revolving door. The politicians, [[TheGhost as far as we can tell]], are doing nothing to improve Arkham or the city itself. And for one example of the media's faults, at one point they're shown positively portraying ''Poison Ivy'' instead of focusing on the murderous ecoterrorism. If they all did their jobs more efficiently and professionally, maybe there wouldn't be so many costumed freaks terrorizing the city. However, it is shown in most episodes that the authorities are doing the best they can when it comes to handling crooks and Bolton’s methods for keeping the prisoners in line were highly unethical, even when the prisoners are not out of line.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: So we have a man running Arkham Asylum as his own personal torture chamber and terrifying all of the members of the Rogues' Gallery to a degree that has [[HorrifyingTheHorror completely broken them and turned them into meek little sheep]] and the big discussion he brings to the table about how Arkham is a CardboardPrison full of irredeemable maniacs but there is still such a thing as going ''[[HeWhoFightsMonsters too]]'' far keeping them in line… and the Joker never appears. He is not even mentioned. Is Bolton actually effective at dealing with the Clown Prince of Crime or does the Joker [[TooKinkyToTorture just take it in stride]]?

* HarsherInHindsight: Lock-Up's qualms about Gotham's inadequate crime and punishment system are proven even more valid when ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' showcases that things still haven't changed much forty-some years into the future, even with numerous technological advances.
** Hell in real life, police and prison guard brutality has become more noticed and publicized, and it’s severity has pushed back on fans who argued for Lock Up’s case.

* DesignatedVillain: Bolton, at least [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope at first]]. He's supposedly a bad guy for keeping the Arkham inmates in check via brutal methods [[InformedAbility that we never get to see]], never mind the fact that many of the inmates richly deserve it. However, given that being a prison guard requires treating prisoners with civility even though they aren’t the most civil people, it really doesn’t help his case that he treats prisoners like wild animals.

* JerkassWoobie: The Arkham inmates are depicted as such. Despite knowing who they are and what they have done, you can't help but feel sorry for Harley, Scarecrow and Scarface. They're outright terrified of Bolton, who punishes (and even goes so far as to torture) them even when they're on good behavior.

* HarsherInHindsight: Lock-Up's qualms about Gotham's inadequate crime and punishment system are proven even more valid when ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' showcases that things haven't changed much even forty-some years into the future, even with numerous technological advances.

* HarsherInHindisght: Lock-Up's qualms about Gotham's inadequate crime and punishment system are proven even more valid when ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' showcases that things haven't changed much even forty-some years into the future, even with numerous technological advances.

** Some fans feel this way about Poison Ivy simply getting mentioned via a news broadcast. It might've been interesting to see someone usually so passionate & outspoken like her reduced to a quiet, withdrawn shell courtesy of Bolton's inhumane treatment.

* DesignatedVillain: Bolton, at least [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope at first]]. He's supposedly a bad guy for keeping the Arkham inmates in check via brutal methods [[InformedAbility that we never get to see]], never mind the fact that many of the inmates richly deserve it. However, given that being a prison guard requires treating prisons with civility even though they aren’t the most civil people, it really doesn’t help his case that he treats prisoners like wild animals.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Lock-Up's meant to be seen as a hard-headed conservative nutcase with his rant about the inefficient politicians and the "liberal media" being the cause of the superpowered psychos. While "cause" might be a stretch, he's quite right about them being part of the problem. The police routinely fail to combat the maniacs, leaving Batman, a vigilante, to do 90% of the work. The people running Arkham keep it a barely-functional revolving door. The politicians, [[TheGhost as far as we can tell]], are doing nothing to improve Arkham or the city itself. And for one example of the media's faults, at one point they're shown positively portraying ''Poison Ivy'' instead of focusing on the murderous ecoterrorism. If they all did their jobs more efficiently and professionally, maybe there wouldn't be so many costumed freaks terrorizing the city. However, it is shown in most episodes that the authorities are doing the best they can when it comes to handling crooks and Bolton’s methods for keeping the prisoners in line we’re highly unethical, even when the prisoners are not out of line.

* DesignatedVillain: Bolton, at least [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope at first]]. He's supposedly a bad guy for keeping the Arkham inmates in check via brutal methods [[InformedAbility that we never get to see]], never mind the fact that many of the inmates richly deserve it.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Lock-Up's meant to be seen as a hard-headed conservative nutcase with his rant about the inefficient politicians and the "liberal media" being the cause of the superpowered psychos. While "cause" might be a stretch, he's quite right about them being part of the problem. The police routinely fail to combat the maniacs, leaving Batman, a vigilante, to do 90% of the work. The people running Arkham keep it a barely-functional revolving door. The politicians, [[TheGhost as far as we can tell]], are doing nothing to improve Arkham or the city itself. And for one example of the media's faults, at one point they're shown positively portraying ''Poison Ivy'' instead of focusing on the murderous ecoterrorism. If they all did their jobs more efficiently and professionally, maybe there wouldn't be so many costumed freaks terrorizing the city.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Bordering on StrawmanHasAPoint, Bolton's methods are supposedly brutal, but considering the fact that his [[AssholeVictim "victims"]] are psychopaths who [[CardboardPrison escape from Arkham with annoying regularity]], some viewers wish that Batman and the press would back off and let Bolton give the inmates everything they deserve.

* JerkassWoobie: The Arkham inmates are depicted as such. Despite knowing who they are and what they have done, you can't help but feel sorry for Harley, Scarecrow and Scarface. They're outright terrified of Bolton who punishes (and even goes as far as tortures them) even when they're on good behavior.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Bordering on StrawmanHasAPoint, Bolton's methods are supposedly brutal, but considering the fact that his [[AssholeVictim "victims"]] are psychopaths who [[CardboardPrison escape from Arkham with annoying regularity]], some viewers wish that Batman and the press would back off and let Bolton give the inmates everything they deserve.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Bordering on StrawmanHasAPoint, Bolton's methods are supposedly brutal, but considering the fact that his [[AssholeVictim "victims"]] are psychopaths who [[CardboardPrison escape from Arkham with annoying regularity]], some viewers wish that Batman and the press would back off and let Bolton give the inmates what they deserve, ''especially'' since they tend to treat their stay in Arkham as some sort of holiday due to its practically nonexistent security ''and'' the fact that his methods actually kept them in check.

* JerkassWoobie: The Arkham inmates are depicted as such. YMMV on whether or not they deserve any sympathy.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Bolton's methods are supposedly brutal, but considering the fact that his [[AssholeVictim "victims"]] are mass-murdering psychopaths who [[CardboardPrison escape from Arkham with annoying regularity]], some viewers wish that Batman and the press would back off and let Bolton give the inmates what they deserve, ''especially'' since they tend to treat their stay in Arkham as some sort of holiday due to its practically nonexistent security ''and'' the fact that his methods actually kept them in check.