He was a really great villain for a kids show. Compared to other action shows on the CN at the time, they never introduced comic relief to the character. Aku from Samurai Jack went from a demonic terror into a joke 10 episodes in, but with Slade, they just made him increasingly into a serious villain as the series went on>debut in Teen Titans, tricks a couple of beings with superpowers into causing terror and havoc>then he forces Robin to be his apprentice and threatens to kill his friends and make them suffer >THEN he grooms terra to be his apprentice, and when she makes errors serving him, he, a 60 something year old man, beats the shit out of a girl.>dies, but then there's an entire PTSD episode where he comes back as a ghost from the grave, literally haunting robin, making him go crazy, and almost killing him from stress>Comes back one last time as a demon from the dead, all the teen titans think they're going to fight some dumbass like Gizmo, and when they see Slade back from the dead, they shit their pants as Slade helps to unleash a literal Hell on Earth.He curbstomped Aku, Him, and Father in terms of an evil and serious character on a kid's cartoon, bonus points for the fact he was voiced by Ron Perlman. The "Haunted" episode doesn't even feel like something written for children
>>144629199An anon has theory tbat he has a secret apprentice working behind the scenes/ in tandem with him at moments and I could 100% buy it. What makes slade dangerous is how he can be ahead of you in ways you wouldn't think off.
>>144629437>>144629199If this version was a mercenary like in the comics he'd make a killing
>>144629437>An anon has theory tbat he has a secret apprentice working behind the scenes/ in tandem with him at moments and I could 100% buy it.Red X
He was easily one of my personal favorite aspects of the show when it was airing, he really added a heavy weight to everything.
I like that we never know exactly what his goals are without making his plans feel like arbitrary choices for the sake of the plot. A little mystery goes a long way.
>>144629437I want to headcanon that since coming back from that whole Trigon debacle, Slade has taken on Madame Rouge's daughter Gemini as his latest apprentice, and one he doesn't need to manipulate as she has her own axe to grind with the Titans (and especially with a certain green-skinned shapeshifter).
>>144629199He was really intimidating to a kid. He's the closest you can really get to a child predator in a kid's show without going over the line. He was constantly toying with the Titans and manipulating them, and the way Ron Perlman delivered his lines was especially chilling.
