SiycoBat

@HarleyQuinnthusiast said:

This article is flawed on many levels. Harley's had years and years of alone time, and has not become any more independent than she ever was. And have any of you read GCS? In the comics thus far, Harley has tweeted, online shopped, online debated, sunbathed, walked the hyenas, eaten junk food, played video games and lounged around the hideout in her pajamas. Has she accomplished anything productive, liberating or empowering? no. By denying Harley a reunion with her beau for this much longer, she has become an air-headed couch potato bimbo with no real goals or motivation. She became a villain for the Joker's sake. He was and is her motivation. He gave her some excitement and laughter in an otherwise mundane existience she had been leading as Dr. Quinzel. He gave her something to strive for, to look forward to.
Also, Harley is not the leader type. She likes being told what to do, and needs to be told what to do in order to truly be productive. It's who she is. She has a very child-like mentality, and while she is dangerous, cunning, smart and menacing on her own, she needs a sense of direction to become truly sinister, or useful, or productive. The Joker gave her that direction, and that was when some of her most violent and sinister moments became apparent. Poison Ivy and Catwoman realize this, and while they give Harley something to do, it might not be enough, if she is still a lazy couch lump pining for her puddin'.
And the Joker did and still does care for Harley. In the comics that the pictures that this article links to are from to prove the relationship is loveless, there is evidence that they have intimacy, passion, and yes, even love. In the picture from Mad Love, in the next panel, Harley says "oh sweetie, I brought the whoopee cushion.." evidence that they have had, and still do have an active sex life, using the whoopee cushion as a sex toy. and also, "don't you wanna rev up your Harley??" She wouldn't be saying that if she didn't know the line would work, and it might have before...furthermore, in the "rocket scene" from batman: harley quinn that is referenced and taken completely out of context in GCS, the Joker openly tells Harley of his attraction and feelings for her. He is angry with her often because he hates the feeling of being attracted to someone else, having almost normal feelings for another. she humanizes him, he hates this, he acts violently and bitterly. except when he doesn't. he has, occasionally even without any manipulative motivation, kissed her, embraced her, caressed her, made love to her. He has had more than enough chances to axe her off, to get rid of her, but somehow, even at his most abusive, he never does. He is a merciless killer psychopath. If he truly, deeply hated and wanted to kill her, he would have already done it by now. If she truly meant nothing to him, wouldn't she be gone from the picture? fun fact: Paul Dini, the creator of Harley Quinn and the former writer of GCS had created the character of Harley Quinn in order to in some way humanize the least human rogue, the Joker.
and if you want to talk about character development and evolution, what about the evolution of the relationship? The Joker originally saw Harley has only a mere object, a toy for his own amusement and pleasure, a means of escape, and an extra pair of hands around the hideout. But over time, Harley has grown, and developed, gained strength and courage to fight back, and show defiance and individuality, and take a firm position in the relationship. And the Joker, while still viewing Harley as an Object and toy for his own manipulative and often abusive purposes, has come to view her as a loved one, someone with whom he can share his brand of humor with, someone who can truly become a main part of his twisted world. She has always made him laugh, that's what attracted him to her, but now she is in on all his jokes, she is a bigger part of his life. As poison ivy says in GCS, and I'm paraphrasing, "the Joker may have originally thought of you as a willing patsy, but eventually he let you in. He shared secrets with you he wouldn't have with any other living soul." They have grown into a dementedly happy couple over time, with more intimacy, passion and, yes, even love apparent in the relationship in the cartoons and the mainstream comics as their story progresses. to break them up now would be cutting off a brilliant love story half way though an unfinished chapter that has yet to be completed.

Harley’s been separated from Joker for 4 years now since Apr 2007 where they separate so exaggeration isn’t needed. Don’t make it sound like she had enough time to quickly get over Joker, who she’s been with since 1992. It takes time to heal from getting out of a relationship that’s been going on for so long.

The point to where Harley has developed a somewhat stable life that she now has hobbies other than stalking Joker is better than none at all. The point that her life can be described, regardless if you think it’s the life of couch potato is better than wasting hours through the day obsessing over and stalking a psychopath that decides whether you live or die.

Harley was an air-headed bimbo BEFORE Joker came into her life. The only reason why she has no goals or motivation now is because she’s aware of the likelihood starting a new career with her profile is slim to none because nobody wants a person that’s been associated with a dangerous sociopath. She can’t live the civilian life because most of the people around her already know who she is and fears being associated with her; her very identity and profile were publicized to the public. Don’t think that starting over is easy as pie for someone like her.

That’s true but don’t forget the times she’s been used as a punching bag from time to time by Joker and the fact that we’ve seen her question her role with him on many occasions but always ends up pushing it to the side when Joker turns the other cheek.

Just because Harley is a follower does not justify her being more suited with the Joker; that is nothing more than an empty excuse. She had plenty of things to do with Poison Ivy and Catwoman but even you have to admit that the ladies’ personal issues with romance was crumbing Harley’s efforts in staying away from her previous issues with her own.

What does their sex lives have anything to do with finding solid evidence that Joker and Harley have any kind of meaning to be together? How do you know Harley wasn’t trying to get Joker to have sex with her by saying and doing anything that might tempt him to. I’ve seen Harley try to seduce him on more than one occasion and Joker ALWAYS pushes her away to pursue his own plans.

You’re forgetting the fact that after the rocket scene, Poison Ivy saved her and Harley wanted revenge after what Joker did to her. Ivy gave her immunity to poisons and boosted her strength and reflexes that aided her in finally kicking Joker’s butt afterwards. Are you talking about Joker’s first response to Harley in GCS being “Hello Harley. I missed you.”? Are you serious?! Do you even realize how obtuse and completely unclear that statement is? That statement can be easily misinterpreted for something else. That’s not enough to prove that Joker has attraction and feelings for her.

What evolution are you talking about? Do you mean the constant re-hashing of the Mad Love plot between Joker and Harley? That can’t be counted as evolution if the relationship makes no change and it hasn’t changed in the slightest; the only thing that can be counted as change is Harley is slowly starting to wise up about her boyfriend’s true nature.

Now hold on a minute! When Poison Ivy said that, it was to convince Harley to let Joker go so the girls can kill the Joker because the kind of info she has on the Joker is dangerous and can get her killed! That line was during when the girls were attacked by the Joker, who turned later on to be a fake, in their own home. Besides that quote is not complete, the full dialogue is this: “Joker may have originally thought of you as a willing patsy, but eventually let you in. Whether he meant to or not, he shared with you things he’d never tell another living soul“. Harley agreed with her happily til Ivy remarked, “And did you really think he’d let you out unscathed?” That made Harley reconsiders her options then. You’re twisting dialogue to suit your own views! You really are no better than the typical JxH shipper that twists facts and ignores the dead-obvious abuse being dished out to Harley!

The love that Harley has for Joker, has always been and forever will be a joke. Anyone with common sense knows this fact and that is part of what draws people to Harley as a character. However, people are sick of seeing this same joke been told over and over and over again. It’s getting flat and really old; nearly 20 years old, to be exact. The drama has played out and people are getting sick of seeing Harley being used as a punching bag and marionette by the Joker.