Re: Jab's Builds! (Lightning & Matter-Eater Lad! Laurel Kent! Saturn Girl! Duo Damsel!)
Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:05 am
There's that "dudebro" word again. You youngins make me glad the Urban Dictionary exists.
Where everything is possible.
http://echoesofthemultiverse.com/
The funny thing is how this somehow contradicts the original idea of the Legion as a "superpowered kid only club", yet it makes a lot of sense.Batgirl III wrote: ↑Sun Apr 15, 2018 6:33 pmNot that odd, she’d used some sort of super-science to give her super-powers. Like approximately 24,601 other superheroes.
By Bismollian standards, Tenzil doesn’t have any superpowers. He’s just a regular Bismollian, with an extra helping of charisma, courage, and quick wits. In TV Trope terms, Tenzil is a “Badass Normal” to his homeworld. Taryn is a “Powerhouse” archetype hero, albeit one with a time limit on her powers... She’s basically the Bismollian equivalent of Hour-Man!
Most alien Legionnaires have the same superpower as everyone else on their home planet, but are explicitly said to be more powerful and/or more skilled than anyone else. Everyone from Braal is magnetokinetic, but Rokk is considered to be the best at using it; every Naltoran is a precognitive, Nura is the most powerful... Tenzil isn’t any better or worse than other Bismollians are at eating stuff. He’s a superhero (to them) for his skills and wits, despite his lack (to them) of superpowers.
Matter-Eater Lad is the Bismollian MacGyver.
Like I said, I don't have a problem with the concept of having someone who is less than perfect on the Legion, especially in that setting. And having someone to create some tension on the team is good. I just object to it being Lightning Lad, as that went against a lot of his earlier characterization. If they were going to have that kind of person, they could have easily included a SW6 version of Timber Wolf and him being a hot-tempered, abrasive jerk wouldn't have been out of character. For that matter, they included several new Legionnaires like Computo, Dragonmage and Catspaw. If they were going to shake up the Legion personality wise, again, why not create a new character to act as the abrasive jerk? At least then you aren't having someone act wildly out of character and you can explore your new character's persona, reveal layers to them, etc.Batgirl III wrote: ↑Mon Apr 16, 2018 5:47 am I dunno, I remember that exact scene pretty well, and it seems like exactly h=the sort of behavior one sees from a certain sort of "Dudebro" teenagers and twenty-somethings. Maybe making Lightning Lad into the dudebro Live-Wire wasn't a good decision* such a scene was perfectly in character with the new personality.
* Personally, I liked it. It was nice having a team of good people who weren't necessarily squeaky clean Father Knows Best types, but also weren't total grimdark A-holes. This incarnation of these kids still acted like the teenagers and twenty-somethings they were meant to be, Live-Wire was a bit of a douche, but he was the kind of douche that still has friends because he's fun to hangout with, is never intentionally cruel, and does do "the right thing" when push comes to shove.
I'll also give Levitz credit for allowing Mon-El to be take out in the Great Darkness Saga and let other heroes save the day, rather than letting his pet character do most of the grunt work. Hell, from what I remember, Mon-El didn't really do all that much during the story.Jabroniville wrote: ↑Mon Apr 16, 2018 11:15 am The Great Darkness Saga is such a fantastic read. It's one of the only times I've felt that Darkseid maintained the grandeur he was created to have- he really seemed like he could have destroyed the universe.
Great moments:
* The new Invisible Kid, barely minted as a Legionnaire, sneaks into the portal the "minions" are using. And faces Darkseid. Who can see him. And Darkseid goes through this big thing about how courageous this was, darkly adding "It is common for Gods to grant a boon to mortals of great courage" and "gifts" Jacques with a look at the visage of their enemy. The result is a near-comatose, shaking Jacques with a white streak burned into his hair, muttering "Darkness... so cold..."
* Wildfire being an overprotective ass to Dawnstar, literally THROWING her out of danger at one point ("Drake Burroughs, you moron!"), before one of the minions- a GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE, taunts him that he'll keep Dawnstar as "a pet". Wildfire just FREAKS, belts out a single "NO!" as loud as he can, and unleashes his full power, VAPORIZING one of the most powerful beings in the universe in one shot.
* The encroaching terror that sees beings as powerful as The Time Trapper and Mordru beaten and humbled with ease.
* Darkseid's plan involving 4 billion Superman-class beings as his personal army. And that act of overreach ends up being his end as well.
I'm not aware of any explanation. I'd continue with the idea of the Legionnaires each being the "Batman" or "Martian Manhunter" of their respective peoples, with Carggites all being able to make duplicates of themselves, but the "average" one can only split themselves into 2 or 3 people, with "athletes" being able to make 4 or more, and I'd finally make Duplicate Girl (which works as a name) able to make a dozen or more.Goldar wrote: ↑Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:12 pm When I heard Triplicate Girl could make unlimited number of selves, I thought she was either a mutant who did not know she could do this or a power boost from using her powers so extensively, especially after the deaths of her other selves.
Was there ever an explanation why she could now make many selves?
Billiard showdown: Scott Summers vs Chuck Taine vs Clint Barton.Batgirl III wrote: ↑Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:14 pm Chuck Taine, much like Scott Summers, explicitly has a prodigy-level ability to calculate complex ricochets, angles of impact, reflections and deflections. It helps him use his power to the utmost in battle and makes him a terror to play billiards against.
One could almost make the case for Chuck having a single rank of the Throwing Mastery Advantage. He’s taken out heavy armored enemy mooks by throwing billiard balls at them, hard enough to bludgeon them into unconsciousness. Sure, they were obviously Minions, but it’s impressive.