With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

… wow, that's brutal.

 

Grayven...you interesting story cock-blocking bastard.

 

I don't see anything illegal about it. It's usually not a good idea because it looks bad, but Graven is a superhero, and he lives here.

 

Right. The point isn't the answer, the point is pushing him to declare his tribal loyalty.

Thank you, corrected.

 

Grayven has a special relationship with the Chinese government and has helped them just as much as he has helped the US, but because China is an emerging super power the US is worried they will lose its status as the hegemon of earth.

The question from the kid is loaded because is going to ruffle the feathers of Nationalists US citizens, personally I think all Grayven needs to do is demonstrate how silly human posturing is when hostile and more technological advanced life already has targeted earth several times and then go down the list to demonstrate how lucky the earth has been that most attacks have been from extremely weak civilizations that are pretty much coming to earth because the stronger ones lie in the opposite direction.

General Zod almost took control of earth and they were just a small group of survivors/refugees that came to earth because someone else was hunting and killing all Kryptonians.

The Durlans attacking China are a small organized group that fleed their country because it has become hyper space somalia.

The guys that attacked earth and led to the creation of the Justice League? Pretty much a combination of A and B... Grayven is helping earth countries because they need the help.

 

Yeah, international cooperation against a shared enemy is great and all... but people who are obsessed with guns also stereotypically tend to be those obsessed with the military, and also those who are against international cooperation. They think America needs to do things for itself, and working together with China or Russia, or being in any way like Europe is a horrible idea.

 

Grayven's stated position is this: having worked as a consultant with the US government, it is reasonable for the US public to be able to question him. Since Horne is the president and Knight isn't, he's going to be talking about what he's done with Horne.

In fact, he's toeing the line on campaigning because he obviously wants Horne to win but doesn't want to be too overt.

 

If it were Paul on the spot here, then he’d be in a real pickle. He’s done a few (executed witch boy) things on screen with them.

 

Yeah, but I doubt this crowd would disapprove of that

 

Part of me was wondering if the kid askong the controversial question is Lonnie Machin. Seems like the kind of thing Anarky would do.

 

Well, as we just saw in Paragon!Pauls update...CLAY IS PEOPLE TOO! YOU MONSTER!

 

Grayven need to be all like, "Yeah we all got together, and just had to put that mad dog Klarion, and his bois, down you know. Fiends like that just need killing."

 

I don't see any way that discussing a fictional character helping with the fictional Presidential campaign of another fictional character could possibly run afoul of Rule 8. Legally in the US I think anyone is free to volunteer with political campaigns, but for obvious reasons it doesn't come up much. Plus most politicians would be reluctant to have high profile foreigners on their campaign staff.

Traditionally superheroes don't get involved in political campaigns mostly because doing so would be a form editiorial suicide. Especially for controversial topics (which is a lesson the entire comic book industry seemingly forgot a while back and is now struggling to relearn). Zoat doesn't depend on this story for his income and thus doesn't have to worry about that. Worst case scenario for him is he loses some of the less reasonable/more reactionary readers.

I will mention that "trap" has always been somewhat derogatory. It was originally used to imply that the person it was referring to was trying to lure unsuspecting people into the bedroom, and got worse from there. Perhaps a better example of what you're trying to say is how a mispronunciation of the Spanish word for "black" eventually evolved into one of the most abhorrent words in the English language.

When Zoat made that comment he was already on their radar. I sincerely doubt that the mods over there could read every single post even if they wanted to.

 

I'm reminded of that Barack Obama Superman...

 

I’ve only ever seen it used in a humorous or semi-affectionate context, and learning how bigots were using it made me profoundly grumpy.

 

Also SB ≠ SV.

 

Well, the USA relationship with China is complicated... but nowhere as complicated as with Russia.

And if that kid wasn't a plant I will eat my cowboy hat.

Really Captain Marvel? Going into politics now?

 

I hope this is a live program, or at least has a favorable editor. It could still go pretty badly for him if they edit it right.

 

*the unusually

*he knows

*losers

"it's that *a legion of *murder-fairies from the future *bent on harvesting your civilisation *bothers me more."

 

That went better than expected. Grayven is Great.

 

Ah, the future Anarky. Howsabout you snip that in the bud right now, Grayven? Politely.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

That'd be like mixing Pitch and Naptha. Or it could result in total bromance heterosexual life partners...

Heh, I expect some of the kids would have words about that...

Nice cover for your extra-universal knowledge.

What would they even become New Gods of?

Are you actually planning to get the young child who can point out obvious flaws in your plans? Well done, young Overlord!

I'm sure it has many different elements he doesn't have contact with.

I could see that. 40's superheores were very patriotic, and I could see some having opinions about that sort of thing.

Seriously, people never seem to remember all the different alien races with designs on Earth.

Seriously, did Lonnie expect him to answer that? Or is his silence on the matter telling in its own way?

Some more willing than others, at that.

What, they send people who can sing as their own choir to break up riots? Or people who can change colors of things at a glance? <facepalm>

"Seriously, the world is not a video game, Mr Machin. People do actually remember things."

Nice touch, reminding people of the scary things beyond the solar system.

I'm sure they'll listen to a foreign preteen with all the seriousness they believe he deserves.

Ah, recruitment proceeds apace.
Correction: see me backstage'

And Lonnie Machin makes his appearance. In Renegade at least. No doubt the Paragon version is working himself up to running about Gotham in stilts, trenchcoat and gold mask as this happens...

 

"Hello small child-critic, would you like to come backstage with me away from the cameras?"

-Grayven, probably

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Okay, thst was beautiful. In fiction in general and fanfics especially, super smart children either railroad the heroes/villains or get a humiliating smack down.

Grayven was polite, yet dominated the talk but didn't humiliate him. Nicely done, Zoat!

 

I'm a bit confused as to what this sentence means, because surely Tawny/Michael is also a New God despite not being human. I'm not sure if the succupire children's souls are composed of earthly magics or hellish ones, but if it's the latter it would be interesting to see if Renegade and his allies could adapt the Awakening process to work on non-terrestrial souls.

Might I also suggest a link here to jog people's memories? For a while I thought this was some off-screen event that took place after Renegade overthrew the British government because I didn't remember the committee's name.

I'd say he's helped four of them, and in Immortal Man's case that help is significant; of course, Renegade doesn't have to be truthful here, but I don't see much difference between saying three and four if he's trying to hold things back.

 

I'm fully aware that that should be "I'm fully aware".

 

Well that was interesting, I like how you handled Graven talking to a super genius child, not condescending, but not being walked over either. One reference confused me though, how are Chinese soldiers going to be turned into social Trojan horses, and how is that a move taken from WWZ's Cuba? Just showing a handful of soldiers the benefits of living in a capitalist democracy wouldn't make a huge dent in a population as large as China's (Chinese students at American universities would serve a similar role if they were), and Cuba only became democratic due to the huge number of American immigrants eventually exerting influence on Cuban culture. Am I grossly underestimating the size of Luthor's space corps, or does Graven have something a little more potent planned?

 

YESSSSSS GRAYVEN WORK THAT REASONABILITY. Be that person that listen and responds on television. Provide allllll the communication.