http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE21FeatOfClayPart2
Matt Hagen, now Clayface, sets out for revenge against Daggett.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Acceptable Breaks from Reality: Unless Batman doctored them that way, all of Hagen's movies appear to have consisted entirely of full-face shots with him directly staring at the camera against differently colored blank backgrounds.
- Adaptational Badass: In the comics, Hagen was not nearly as powerful as he is here, his shapeshifting abilities were far more limited and dependent upon regular uses of a chemical he had discovered.
- Animation Bump: Noticeably, the animation in Part 2 is better than Part 1 as it was animated by a different company. Clayface's uncontrollable transformations at the end are practically movie quality.
- The Bad Guy Wins: A downplayed example with Clayface. Batman stops him from killing Roland Daggett, but he still publicly exposes the dangers of Daggett's skin cream and his insider trading, getting Daggett arrested and likely costing him a fortune in legal bills and his investments in a now-unsellable Renuyu cream. He also gets clean away, even tricking Batman into thinking he's dead.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: When Clayface turned into a naked humanoid at the end of his Villainous BSoD.
- Batman Gambit: After having one pulled on him last episode, Matt comes up with a plan to get close to Daggett by imitating whoever Daggett sends to finish off Lucius Fox. Germs is already in Fox's room, so he predicted that much accurately. He just didn't count on Batman.
- Batman, naturally, by luring Clayface into the recording studio and showing him tons of pictures of himself, causing him to lose control.
- Bittersweet Ending: Batman stops Hagen from causing more damage, Bruce's name gets cleared thanks to multiple people witnessing Hagen's shapeshifting, and Daggett is arrested for all of the crimes he committed, but Hagen's life is completely destroyed, fakes his death and escape the morgue, and is shown hiding in the streets of Gotham, accepting his role as the villainous Clayface.
- Body Horror: Hagen's death scene.
- Brandishment Bluff: Batman interrogates Germs by threatening him with an incurable disease. After getting the answer he wanted, the audience can see the container is for sea water, not "Crimson Fever".
- Cassandra Truth: Germs gives up pretty quickly that it was really Hagen who attacked Fox, but Batman doesn't believe him at first because, not knowing of Renuyu, not even a Master Actor like Hagen could work up a disguise good enough to fool Fox. He changes his mind pretty quickly once he realizes who and what Clayface is.
- Chekhov's Gun: Clayface's reflexive transformations.
- Clear My Name: Seeing that Lucius Fox really believed Bruce has come to hurt him, Batman continues his search for whoever was impersonating him. Later, during Clayface's Villainous BSoD, the cops barge in and see Clayface briefly turn into Bruce, finally proving Wayne's innocence.
Cop: Mother of mercy, it looks just like Bruce Wayne!
- Composite Character: Hagen's background is similar to that of the first Clayface in the comics, while his monstrous appearance and powers more resemble the second, whose name he shares. The disfigured aspect before he gained his powers and the fact he can't maintain a new form for very long comes from Preston Payne, the third Clayface, albeit he doesn't have Preston's poisonous touch.
- Creepy Crossdresser: Clayface appears as a woman in the audience before ambushing Daggett. He appears as a different woman at the end for the reveal that he's still alive.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: By the end of the episode, Hagen's become skilled enough with his Clayface powers that he can shapeshift long enough to walk around in public undetected. He could probably go back to acting and be able to play almost any role he wanted, but he's far too embittered and committed too many crimes to return to his old life.
- The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Hagen becomes so consumed by his desire for revenge against Daggett, he furiously shuns away Teddy, his only genuine friend, and turns into a full-fledged antagonist.
- Death Glare: Daggett gives a rather terrifying one to Germs when he worries about having to go into the hospital where Lucius Fox is recovering.
- Deranged Animation: Clayface's transformations in the climax.
- Dirty Cop: Germs has a contact on the force, making sure Raymond Bell isn't talking.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: While in disguise at the debut of Renuyu, Clayface lists some of the side effects of the treatment, including how going a while without using it leads to pain, similar to withdrawal symptoms experienced by long-time drug users.
- Elemental Shapeshifter: Clayface seemingly turns his hand from putty-like human flesh (or whatever) into metallic constructs such as a steel claw to fight Batman.
- Empty Eyes: The episode ends with a woman laughing maniacally and grinning as her irises and pupils disappear, leaving her eyes blank yellow slits identical to Clayface.
- Evil Laugh: The episode ends with a random woman on the street laughing uncontrollably, until her pupils vanish and her voice deepens until it is obvious that she is really Clayface victorious.
- Faking the Dead: Clayface seems to be electrocuted during his Freak Out, but Batman later discovers that his mass is unaffected by electricity. The body in the morgue is revealed to be a hollow shell and Clayface is hiding in Gotham under a new disguise.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: At the end of the episode, Batman is testing a piece of Clayface's mud that came off in the fight. He demonstrates to Alfred that shocking it with electricity only causes it to randomly morph and mutate but very much alive. This means that being "shocked" couldn't have killed Clayface. Cut to the morgue where "Clayface's" body falls apart as nothing but an empty shell as Batman remembers "first and foremost, Hagen was an actor..."
- Foreshadowing:
- When Batman confronts Clayface on the hospital roof, the startled shapeshifter uncontrollably shifts into his likeness for a few moments. Knowing he shapeshifts reflexively when distracted turns out to be key to fighting him.
- Even before he seemingly dies, Clayface remarks, "You know what I would've given for a death scene like this?"
- From Bad to Worse: Being chased by Batman, bad. Being Terrified of Germs and getting cornered in a lab with infectious disease cultures and active disease samples? So much worse!
- Hope Spot: When Hagen discovers he can shapeshift, he morphs into his original self. But he's unable to hold it for long because it feels like "tensing a muscle."
- How Do I Shot Web?: Clayface gets better control of his powers with some practice. He even learns to hold a disguise long enough to sneak into the audience of the Gotham Insider TV show and to walk around in public undetected.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Batman tries to get through to Clayface's old self showing him images of his old roles and telling that he could return to acting once more. Although it's implied that some vestige of Hagen remains, Clayface has a full-body Freak Out and starts lashing out at the images, seemingly leading to his death.
- I Lied: When Batman corners Germs in the hospital's sample room, he gets him to talk by threatening to drench him with a jar of Crimson Fever. Afterwards, the audience finds out it was really just seawater for analysis.
- Ironic Nickname: Despite (or maybe because of) being Terrified of Germs, Daggett's henchman is nicknamed "Germs."
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Batman played upon Germs' fear of germs to get him to reveal who impersonated Bruce Wayne.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Daggett was arrested for his part in the creation of Clayface, as well as his involvement in Fox's attack and his scheme to takeover Wayne Enterprises to sell unsafe Renuyu.
- Master Actor: If his impersonating other people wasn't enough, Clayface showed off his acting ability when he faked his death. Batman himself even said it was the greatest scene of his career.
- Mood Whiplash: After realizing that he's been turned into a large, blobby clay monster, Hagen screams "I'm not even a man!" and begins sobbing. The very next time we see him, not only has Hagen apparently resigned himself to spending the rest of his life as a freak of nature, he is now gleeful about it, because now he can "morph" himself into various nonthreatening characters, sneak up on people he doesn't like, and kill them.
- Morality Pet: Teddy tries to be this to Hagen when he begins his descent into villainy. Hagen isn't having it.
- Mr. Exposition: Done in a natural manner when Hagen recalls how he thought his career had been over after the accident he was in years ago, which also explains how he ended up doing jobs for Daggett.
- Not Quite Dead: "A death scene so real, it fooled us all."
- Obliviously Superpowered: Matt Hagen is convinced that he's just been horribly disfigured instead of superpowered, loudly proclaiming his career to be over. However, as he muses over framed production shots of him in past films, his face automatically changes to match each depicted role; Matt doesn't even notice until Teddy points it out to him.
- Oh, Crap!: Batman, when he first witnesses Clayface's shape-shifting power.
Batman: What in the name of Heaven?
- Possession Implies Mastery: Clayface gets really good control of his new body and its capabilities within just a few hours.
- Power Incontinence: Subverted. The main reason Matt can't just continue his acting career is that he can't hold a form beyond his default Clayface one for long without extreme concentration. He reasons that he'll never be able to stay in character while performing and maintain the adequate concentration necessary to stay disguised. This is further proven when he first fights Batman and morphs his hands into several different weapons. He soon finds that he grows exhausted quickly from the strain. However, by the end of the episode he's gotten skilled enough with his powers to stay shapeshifted long enough to walk around in public undetected. He probably could return to acting, but he's too far gone both mentally and morally by that point.
- Rebuilt Pedestal: Once Clayface's existence is revealed and Wayne's name is cleared, Lucius Fox mentions on the news that he was glad to know that it wasn't actually Bruce who attacked him.
- Reduced to Dust: The shell from Clayface's body that was taken to the morgue cracks apart and crumbles. It helps solidify the belief that he was dead.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Before he reveals himself on the talk show, Daggett was under the belief that Hagen was dead.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Clayface goes on a justified one against Daggett.
- Sequel Hook: The episode ends with Clayface still on the loose. He would return in "Mudslide".
- Shapeshifter Baggage: Somehow Clayface has a huge amount of himself to detach and throw around without apparently losing any mass. He also shrinks into human forms easily, although he may be making himself very dense.
- Shapeshifter Default Form: While he can morph himself into other forms if he concentrates, Clayface always eventually slips back into his hulking mud-person form.
- Shapeshifter Swan Song: When Batman shows Clayface all the roles he used to play, he reflexively begins to transform into all of them at once. Subverted since it isn't his last appearance.
Clayface: Stop it, stop it! Turn them off! I can't control it! I can't be all of them, not all at once!
- Shout-Out: One of Hagen's first involuntary transformations during the climax looks an awful lot like Dr. Claw's arm from Inspector Gadget, another TMS production.
- Terrified of Germs: Germs, one of Daggett's goons. He is hesitant to assassinate someone at a hospital "with all those sick people."
- Tested on Humans: After his accident, Hagen was visited by Daggett in the hospital, who offered to make him the first test subject for Renuyu.
- That Man Is Dead: "'Comeback'? Like this? Face it, Teddy, Matt Hagen's history. This time for good. He's never coming back!"
Batman: Hagen, listen to me.
Clayface: There's only me now: Clayface!"
- And later, during Clayface's breakdown, "No! Hagen's gone! Make him stop haunting me!"
- The Needless: After his transformation, Clayface no longer needs any food or sleep.
- Tragic Villain: Clayface
- Undying Loyalty: Hagen has Teddy's, even after throwing him around and treating him like dirt.
- Villain Has a Point: While disguised at Daggett's public showing of Renuyu, Clayface makes sure to rip into Renuyu's various "rumored" side-effects that he knows are true from experience, capping it off by revealing his true form while demanding him to tell the world what an "overdose" does.
- Villainous BSoD: After Batman shows images of all of Matt's movie roles on the screens, he's unable to control his transformations and can't stand to be reminded of his former life.
Clayface: Stop it, stop it, turn them off! I can't control it! I can't be all of them! Not all at once!
- Vorpal Pillow: Germs tries to kill Lucius Fox this way, until Batman arrived.
- Was Once a Man: "I'm not an actor anymore! I'm not even... a man."
- We Used to Be Friends: One of the most tragic moments of this episode was Clayface cutting ties with Teddy, his stand-in, confidante, and best friend. At the end of the episode, Teddy, under the impression that Hagen was dead, bid him farewell, unaware that he was watching from nearby and laughing at him.
- Worthy Opponent: Batman has to give props at the end for Hagen pulling off "the greatest scene of his career" fooling everyone, including Batman, into thinking he was dead to escape.
