Professor Pyg (Arkhamverse)

Lazlo Valentin mutilated his victims and tried to make them "perfect" under the alias of Professor Pyg.

Biography

Lazlo Valentin, aka Professor Pyg, was the villain behind "The Perfect Crime" side mission, where Batman tracked him down by investigating the corpses that were left behind as Pyg's failed, and "flawed" experiments. After a fight against Pyg and his Dollotrons, Batman took him down and brought him to the GCPD Lockup.

Before Arkham Knight

Lazlo Valentin was obsessed with making himself and people "perfect" after he was berated by his parents that he wasn't "perfect" or "wasn't good enough" to please them. As an adult, Lazlo was a gifted scientist, but after he suffered a schizophrenic breakdown, he believed that people must have their uniqueness removed if they were to be perfect the way that he envisioned. After he took up the deranged persona of Professor Pyg, Lazlo became the ringmaster of the Circus of Strange, where he and his freaks toured the country, lured victims near his show, turned them into his Dollotrons, and "perfected" them as he saw fit. The end results were organic robots with doll masks that were grafted on their faces, their genitals presumably removed and were unable to feel or think anything. Those that he could not "fix" were simply tossed away like garbage. During his time as ringmaster, Pyg constructed a crudely made iron maiden with a female mannequin head that was attached to it, and called it his "mother of nails" as a macabre tribute to his mother. Eventually, Lazlo conceived a son, Janosz; and it's implied that he was born from a rape victim and Pyg had her either killed or turned into a Dollotron when she refused to be with him. At one point, Pyg turned the young son of a rich man named O'Neil into a Dollotron, and when O'Neil brought a suitcase of money to release him, Pyg refused to let the boy go, and had his Dollotrons, including O'Neil's son, capture him and prep him for surgery.

Batman: Arkham Knight

Batman found six victims that were strung up like a dressed deer in various places throughout Gotham City. Because the process of turning them into Dollotrons had corrupted their DNA, Batman had to use his Deep Tissue Scanner to look for any distinguishing features to identify them in the Missing Persons Reports. All of the victims had similar traits: they had troubled pasts, had been through surgery prior to being kidnapped, had scars on them from accidents, had genetic deformities, and they all went missing at state parks and playing fields around the country; all of which were where the Circus of Strange had stopped on its route. Alfred found only one associated name that was involved with the circus: Lazlo Valentin, who leased a beauty salon in Gotham, but it expired before construction began on Wayne International Plaza. Alfred also warned Batman to be cautious of Pyg, as even by Gotham's criminal element's standards, he's unstable.

Pyg was interrupted in one of his experiments by Batman, who demanded that he release all of his prisoners from his Monster Machine. Pyg refused and turned his Dollotrons upon Batman before he joined in the fight, and threw knives at him. After Batman defeated the Dollotrons, he arrested Pyg and took him to the GCPD Lockup. On the way there, Pyg also mentioned wanting to get back to the Circus of the Strange, due to their waiting for him, although Batman told him that he did various crimes. Pyg was baffled as to how Batman had solved them as they were supposed to be perfect, and admitted how the deaths were because he couldn't save them. Batman then told Pyg that his discarding of the bodies was how he had managed to trace him, and that thanks to his experiments, those people that he experimented upon suffered a fate worse than death. Pyg then threw a tantrum and vomited, which caused Batman to tell him that he had problems. Upon arriving at the GCPD Lockup, Batman then forcibly lead Pyg to the building and threw him into a cell, where Pyg mentioned how his mother would be disappointed in him. When he was thrown in, Pyg lamented that he could have done better and had been perfect. Batman then told Pyg that he had a chance to redeem himself towards his victims by telling the police everything that he did to them. However, Pyg told him he was an "artist" and that he could make a maiden from a monkey, a model from a miscreant, and a beauty from a bat. Disgusted, Batman told Pyg that, since he killed and maimed innocents, he would make sure that he never set foot outside of a prison cell again. Pyg then plead that he still had more to give and asked to see under the mask with the implication that he wanted to give Batman a makeover.

If the player locked Pyg up and visited him in his cell BEFORE they encountered Scarecrow, Joker hallucination would have Joker vowing to free Pyg first once he took over Batman's body largely because, since he's insane even by Gotham City's standards, he didn't deserve to be among the others in the cell. Similarly, Joker mentioned that Pyg was "sicker than [his] and Harley's honeymoon tapes," yet eagerly tried to have Batman take up Pig's offer.

Pyg was put on trial for kidnapping, murder, torture, and attempted murder.

Personality

Professor Pyg was obsessed with perfection, due to the constant chiding by his parents that he was never "good enough" for both of them, namely his mother who proved to have a deep-rooted influence on his unstable psyche. Seeing everything as something that he could make better, Pyg believed that the only path to perfection was removing anything unique or special about an individual, including their sex and DNA, and transforming them into his creations called the Dollotrons whom were immune to pain, which he viewed as another block to perfection. As he continued to create more Dollotrons, Pyg's delusions became more extensive and grandeur, and he likened himself as a God and claimed everyone as clay that he can mold to fit in his own image.

Pyg also showed a level of intelligence that was not hampered because of his mental illness. For example, Pyg's surgical skills and his using of the Circus of Strange as a cover for his criminal activities. However, Pyg's intelligence was affected due to his obsession with perfection as none of his victims were discovered, likely turned into Dollotrons and added to his society, but his frustration over his inability to turn them “perfect” due to their tattoos, scars, injuries or suchlike caused him to claim that they made him "sick" and he hung their mutilated bodies throughout Gotham with words, including "imperfect" next to them. That eventually led a trace back to Pyg and his subsequent defeat at the hands of Batman. Pyg was also something of an opera buff, and sang it even while he performed surgery on his victims, although his bio mentioned that he was an amateur of the matter.

Despite Pyg's insanity, he genuinely believes that by turning people into Dollotrons, he was fixing them by making them better showing that he truly and genuinely doesn’t know any better due to his insanity being so bad. It was also revealed through his Audio Tapes, that Pyg had a son called Janosz. He seemed to genuinely care about his son, and left him an Audio Tape so he wouldn't feel alone, and described him as "perfect" and saved him from his mother who attempted to kill him. Pyg did not describe Janosz's mother, and simply claimed that she was perfect, but after his mother attacked her, he claimed that "the nails had done their work" and dedicated a large portion of time into fixing her before he mercy killed her. Although, it was also implied that Janosz was conceived from a violent rape. Pyg seemed to dote on his Dollotrons, and worried what would happen to them when he was taken to the GCPD Lockup and in captivity.

Audio Files

Tape 1

Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! The Circus of Strange is coming to a town near you! Never before has such a host of talented performers gathered in one place, to amaze and entertain! Be astounded by Big Top! Is it a man, is it a woman? Who knows, but I guarantee it's the most gigantically grotesque assortment of flesh you have ever seen! Be dumbfounded by the acrobatic oddity that is Siam! Stare open mouthed as these conjoined triplets defy the limits of the human body and its imagination! And last and by no means least, be stunned and horrified by the combustible wonder that is Phosphorus Rex! Folks, you gotta see it to believe it! Come and join us and you'll never look at the world the same way again!

Tape 2

Janosz, my dearest son, my perfect child, I make these recordings so you are not alone, so that you know daddy loves his son. Daddy loves his little Pyg! The circus has traveled far and we have brought joy to many sad people. They join us now like a big family, growing week by week! Now they feel no pain, they know nothing of misery. I call them my Dollotrons. To each new home, we move at night, finding a fresh patch of earth to inhabit. Secret places in forgotten parts of town, ugly wastelands where the locals stumble unawares into our candy-stripe tent. The Dollotrons are the first to greet them with open arms and perfect faces! The climax of the show is when I take them to see mother! Oh, I tell you, they are amazed by my imagination, confounded by my dexterity as each is transformed into a beautiful work of art! But, mother is hard to please! She wants more, always more, never satisfied, always driving me to work harder, to obtain perfection! And I will! Night has drawn its curtains yet again and the circus moves on, our numbers swollen, to a different patch of Earth. On the dark horizon, the building tops glimmer, the heat and smog of industry shroud a den of criminals and beasts. Gotham is her name! Janosz, I tell you, the circus has come home!

Tape 3

My dear Janosz, it is time you learned the truth about your mother, your real mother. I remember not her name, nor how she found me wallowing in that pit of despair. Like an angel, she swept into my turvey world, dragged me screaming from shapeless chaos and wrapped me into her arms. She was a beauty, Janosz. A masterpiece, perfect in every way. Until mother goat found her. Imagine my horror when I emerged from that dreamy soup and discovered what she'd done. Placenta face, gorgon smile, ribbons of fractured flesh. The nails had done their work, but, by then, my seed was already sewn. Your life already begun. Mother would have killed you both had I not stopped her, saved you from her rage. Day and night I worked, month after month, sculpting her loathsome clay to recapture the beauty that saved me that night. The night of your creation. She clung to me as you grew, as I toiled to make her love again, but nothing pleased mother goat! Nothing! I did all I could to fix her, to make her perfect, but by the time you came along, I couldn't even look upon the spoiled canvas that was her face. I couldn't let that be the face that greeted you in this world. I had to end it, Janosz! For you! For mother! She left me no choice.

Quotes

"Pyg make it all better. Pain is just the body's way of saying thank you!" (Dollotron)
"Here comes the choo choo!" (Dollotron)
"Almost finished, my darling! Almost...perfect!" (Dollotron)
"Oh no, no, no, no, no! Pyg not ready yet. She's all unique and wrong. All messed up, inside out. Pyg make her better! Pyg make all of us better!"
"But Pyg can fix you too! Make you perfect! Like the others!"
"And what are you?"
"Bad, bad, bad. Pyg is like clay. Pyg is like God. Pyg is here to fix us all!"
"That's it, my darling! Show him how perfect you are!"
"Pyg make you invincible! Perfect and invincible! Dollotron feel no pain!"
"Rise up, my precious! He cannot keep you down!"
"Encore! Encore! Show him how perfect you are!"
"Pyg coming for you Bat! Coming to make you perfect!"
"There's no perfection without a little pain!"
"Pyg make you one of us!"
"Destroy him! So daddy can rebuild him!"
"Fix him, my darling! Make him perfect!"
"Oh, that's it! That's it! You're perfect!"
"On your feet, my precious! Yes! Yes!"
"Kill! Kill! Make daddy proud!"
"Yes! Yes! Daddy! Perfect!"
"Yes, my lovely! Yes!"
"Bring him to daddy!"
"Let me fix you!"
"Just you and Pyg now!"
"Where are you taking me? Pyg go back to his Circus!"
"Pyg doesn't hurt, Pyg heals, Pyg fixes… My Dollotrons are works of art!"
"Not death... Pyg makes life worth living!"
"Too broken for Pyg to make better... too imperfect... They make mother angry... make Pyg feel sick..."
"No... not fail..."
"Pyg show you sick... Hmm, like to see?"
"Don't... Don't lock Pyg away, mother won't be pleased..."
"Pyg not good enough. Never good enough! So close until you stopped me. I can do better. So much better! It could have been so perfect!"
"It's not too late for you, Batman. Pyg is an artist. I can make a maiden from a monkey. A model from a miscreant. A beauty from a bat."
"No, no, no! Pyg has so much more to give. Come...show me what's under that mask. I can still fix you. Make you perfect. Pyg can take all the pain away. You'll see!"
"Pyg wants a hug! Pyg wants to feel the nails in his chest!"
"Oh mommy! Are you upset? Pyg tried his best, Pyg tried to help them!"
"Hungry! Hungry! Hungry like a goat..hungry like a rat!"
"Lock Pyg away and forget about him! Still so much to do, so much to improve! You could have been a perfect little Bat, so beautiful!"
"Where are my Dollotrons? My perfect creations...Are you treating them well? They will be frightened without their Pyg."
"Pyg feels sick, riddles no tricks..." (Riddler)
"Pyg can make Harvey right again! Dent can be a dolly!" (Two-Face)
"Mommy! Mommeeeeee!" (Penguin)
"Pyg on the cross, Pyg with nail, Pyg on cross, Pyg with nail!" (Deacon Blackfire)
"There is no God but mother! Mommy makes everything better!" (Azrael)
"Beauty is Pyg's specialty! Pyg can make you young again! Pyg can soften the scars!" (Deathstroke)

Game Over Line

"Pyg happy, Pyg glad, Pyg gets to play with flesh, make it look pretty after death!" *snorts*

Gallery

Trivia

Professor Pyg almost always refers to himself in the third person.
Professor Pyg got his name from the play, Pygmalion, which reflected in the character's desire to transform people into an idealized state.
- Pygmalion itself is named after a sculptor in Greek mythology who crafted a statue of a woman out of ivory and fell in love with it, in which eventually the statue would then in turn come to life. A similar trait was used with Pyg and his Dollotrons albeit in a much more disturbing and sinister fashion.
Pyg's creator, Grant Morrison, described him as "one of the weirdest, most insane characters that's ever been in Batman. We hear a lot about Batman facing crazy villains, but we tried to make this guy seem genuinely disturbed and disconnected". That was also alluded to in-game twice: first, when Batman deduced that Professor Pyg was one who was responsible for the serial killings, where Alfred warned Batman to proceed with caution regarding Pyg as even by Gotham standards, he's unstable; and second, when visiting the confinement cell after completing his Gotham's Most Wanted Mission, yet before encountering Scarecrow, where a Joker hallucination commented that Pyg was "sicker than Joker and Harley's honeymoon tapes."
Pyg appears to have a God complex, believing he has the right to create anything he wants from whatever he can get his hands on.
Pyg seems to think his mother is still watching him, and going yell at him for not being good enough; this hallucination may be what partially drives his insanity.
Pyg was similar to the Dollmaker from DC Comics, where a deranged doll-maker altered kidnapped victims to make their bodies perfect.
The opera music that played near Professor Pyg and his victims and the way that Pyg sung along to the opera could be a reference to the opera Pygmalion, which, in turn, referenced his alias, Pyg.
While he spoke, Pyg had a lisp that resulted in him making various porcine sounds that befitted his alias.
In one of the audio tapes, Pyg called the conjoined triplets Siam, yet in the comics, his name was Kushti. Big Top and Phosphorus Rex were mentioned.
Some local surveillance quotes indirectly mentioned Pyg as a "freak" who chained up dead bodies.
Pyg's face seems to be stretched and pulled, with obvious creases on it, and his lips seem larger than normal, giving the impression that Pyg probably mutilated himself at some point in his life as part of his obsession with "perfection".
In the character showcase of Arkham Knight, Pyg is holding a knife in his right hand; this weapon seems reminiscent of that used by Heath Ledger's Joker from the Dark Knight (2008).
Pyg is one of the most insane members of Batman's rouge gallery he had faced, with numerous inmates (other than perhaps Deathstroke, who instead suggested that Pyg work with an old war buddy from Vietnam who was known to "skin Vietcong into wallets.") trying to avoid contact with him, Batman himself being disgusted by him, Alfred Pennyworth warning Batman earlier that Pyg was unstable, even by Gotham criminal standards, and even a hallucination of the Joker, a man who was completely insane in his own right, saying that Pyg was a total lunatic. Pyg's insanity is, in terms of severity, close to that, if not on par with, that of the Arkham Lunatics.
- He is also one of the most tragic members of Batman’s rogue gallery as he was once a relatively normal man whose parents were at least verbally abusive to him before he suffered a schizophrenic breakdown so severe it made him whose he is today as well as genuinely unable to understand that his actions are wrong.