Harley Quinn in Gotham Knights is not Batman comics’ “manic pixie”

pcgamesn.com:

The Harley Quinn in Gotham Knights is very different from the maniacal yet adorable persona that we’ve fallen in love with over the years, and Warner Bros Montréal have shone a bat-shaped spotlight on why it chose this iteration of Harley for the RPG game.

While people have been excited to see what Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin will get up to in WB Montréal’s upcoming Batman-inspired saga, Gotham Knights, the villains are what people really want to get a good look at.

And who better to kick the rogue’s gallery reveal off with than Harley Quinn, former psychiatrist-turned Joker’s maniacal partner in crime. Unfortunately, the announcement didn’t quite go as planned, with players  being left unimpressed by Gotham Knights’ take on the self-professed queen of the underworld.

Speaking to IGN about their vision for Harley, creative director Patrick Redding reveals that they wanted a more subdued, mature version of the character in Gotham Knights to fit with the overall tone of the game.

While the Harley Quinn of Gotham Knights is the exact same character as the one in the comics and films, Redding reveals that she’s at a very different point in her rebellious cycle.

“She is coming not from a place of, ‘oh, I’ve got to be zany. I’m your manic pixie.’ She doesn’t need to be the manic pixie anymore. She has gotten to a point where she knows who she is. She has a very clear sense of what her identity is, and she’s going to present herself in this much stronger, developed supervillain way.”

This iteration of the classic character comes after the turbulent romance with the Joker, but doesn’t see Harley take on a somewhat anti-hero persona in the vein of Suicide Squad or Birds of Prey.

“For us, we thought, ‘well, that idea